Please fix protect

[Tint]

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being forced to press the button more often is not really a fix.

and while switching between protect and shell may sound like a nice idea at first, the game design doesn't allow that.

all aoe damage is magical, or some kind of a fixed damage wich you can't reduce. the defense stats of the classes are balanced around that. meeles have more life, but less m-defense, while casters have less life and more m-defense. a physical aoe will wipe out the casters, while meeles with their higher physical defense and life will survive with no problem.

so shell > protect in nearly all cases, except on the tank maybe, but then it should be better turned into a single target shield (but do we really need any more of them?).

[Seraphor]

being forced to press the button more often is not really a fix.

But it will feel like you're actually doing something with it, it'll be more satisfying to use.
That's the idea around every single skill in the game.
You could boil all healers down to one mitigation skill with a 30m duration, one HoT with a 30m duration and a GCD heal and it would all work out fine and balanced, but it wouldn't be interesting or satisfying to play.

On Shell/Protect mutual exclusivity and damage types: You're right, if these were still role skills.

But I think if they were a WHM only mechanic, they wouldn't be seen as strictly mandatory (because AST doesn't always get the Bole out and SCH doesn't always get a Critlo) so it would simply be a weaving skill used as a bonus, and would make WHM more interesting to play.

[Shurrikhan]

But it will feel like you're actually doing something with it, it'll be more satisfying to use.
That's the idea around every single skill in the game.
You could boil all healers down to one mitigation skill with a 30m duration, one HoT with a 30m duration and a GCD heal and it would all work out fine and balanced, but it wouldn't be interesting or satisfying to play.

On Shell/Protect mutual exclusivity and damage types: You're right, if these were still role skills.

But I think if they were a WHM only mechanic, they wouldn't be seen as strictly mandatory (because AST doesn't always get the Bole out and SCH doesn't always get a Critlo) so it would simply be a weaving skill used as a bonus, and would make WHM more interesting to play.

This.

Hotshot felt most like pointless bloat after it was turned into a 60-second buff. Straight Shot felt silliest and most lackluster after being extended from 20 to 30 seconds.