No Guard Thank Guard!

[Gidonoidon_Sur]

I thought it was dumb because why wouldn't I want to guard if I had a shield to guard with?

[Gidonoidon_Sur]

I detested the need to use the ability "Guard". I would have liked to have seen "Guard" turn into a mode of some sort - something like how "Defender" is now:

e.g. "Guard" - allows the chance to block incoming attacks. Attack power is reduced while guarding.

However, I'm happy with the shield/blocking changes announced in the patch notes. Maybe the Palading job will have more buffs/actions that are geared more towards shields.

Yea, I was definitely hoping for that. Exactly actually.

To build on that idea a little, I think it would be cool if all classes had 'stances' that would affect their play style. For example, PUG could have a counterstance in which they counter more but do less damage on ws and auto-attack. Alternatively they could have an 'attack' stance in which they do more damage but counter/evade less. Lancer could influence their enmity or tp generation, so that generate tp quicker but generate more enmity, or something. Just speculating. Could be cool.

[Reaujien]

I thought it was dumb because why wouldn't I want to guard if I had a shield to guard with?

Right - my thoughts exactly lol

[Esk]

No Difference, I've never got why people have trouble with it lol, ah well easier is easier for easy people.

[syntaxlies]

yea, like stances, that would have been nice.

[PikachuLink]

the stance like marauder had would be displeasing imo only for the fact that a tank should be moving to repostion and not stand in fire lol so i am for the way its been implemented in 1.19. unless it was like a buff you got like marauder that wasnt effected by standing still (then again why even have the buff)

[Krin]

My issue with Guard was the lack of visual cues for both it's up/down state and if Phalanx was available. Sure, you lift your shield when you punch the skill the first time, but the animations (for Midlander at least) would reset to the normal stance after my next ws/auto-attack. Also, you had to guesstimate from damage or constantly read your combat log to see if you triggered Phalanx after that last attack.

Most of my time in Gladiator was spent reading my Combat Log. I want to look at the pretty battle on my screen, not play a MUD.

Honestly, at rank 14 my Gladiator battles reduced to mashing my WS's, and during cool downs randomly mashing Guard/Phalanx just in case. I think if they had put more thought and debugging into the visual cues so it could be done w/out the combat log, it would've been an awesome mechanic.

At least now I just mash Phalanx after every enemy attack. :-P

[Cycloptichorn]

Also, you had to guesstimate from damage or constantly read your combat log to see if you triggered Phalanx after that last attack.

This is the real question - will the animation/message for guard be obvious enough to let me know when Phalanx can be triggered, and when it can't?

[Krin]

This is the real question - will the animation/message for guard be obvious enough to let me know when Phalanx can be triggered, and when it can't?

From the release notes, I feel a resounding "No". But it's still an improvement that I only have one mystery skill, as opposed to two. :-P

[Cycloptichorn]

BTW, Gladiator gets about 50 times as awesome here in a few ranks, when you start to get more of your advanced skills and more cross-class skills to use. And when you get higher than that, and in groups more, it switches to hate management and damage mitigation.

Surprised there hasn't been more commentary about this:

Aegis Boon ・Effect duration raised from 15 to 30 seconds.
Outmaneuver ・Effect duration raised from 15 to 30 seconds.
Deflection ・Effect duration raised from 15 to 30 seconds.

!!!!!!!~!!!!!!!!!!!!lol

30 sec Aegis boon with no change to cooldown = super happy Cyclops