I checked out all the Guardian on PTS recently. It's my favorite class to play and I've enjoyed it thus far on the PTS. All three spec still feel very similar to how they are played today. I'm predominately a PVE player but have played PVP enough to grasp how the changes made to the Guardian affect both. Here a few thoughts I had on each spec as I tried them out on Onderon and the Ops dummy.
All: Blade Burst seemed like an excellent alternative to Cyclone Slash at first. However, as I tried to use it on mobs I noticed the conal damage effect only spreads out from the target I hit, not from my character. This made it very cumbersome to line up the shot correctly to get the AOE effect. Also, the cone of damage seemed very narrow. NPCs standing next to the target never received damage. Overall, it was too hard to get the AOE effect to make this option worth giving up Cyclone Slash. I really like this idea and alternative burst AOE, it just needs to be reworked so it's easier to use. I highly recommend changing the AOE damage effect to damaging all enemies within 5 meters of the target so it doesn't miss and you get the AOE damage effect as intended.
Defense: Having to choose between Awe, Saber Reflect, and Blade Blitz did sting a little, but I think this is a manageable choice and can be maintained for 7.0. I'm going to pick Saber Reflect every time because it's the best DCD and provides threat generation (the essence of what it means to be a tank). Also, I was disappointed to see the nerf to the Grit Teeth tactical. It was an absolute life saver in PVE operations, but I understand that it unbalances PVP. I think a good compromise would be to increase the cooldown reduction to 3 seconds and include Warding Call in the cooldown reduction with Saber Ward. This ensures the tactical is only used by tanks (as intended) and offers more uptime on two key DCDs to offset the loss of more Focused Defense. Additionally, I love the cooldown reduction on both taunts offered by Threating Focus. At first, I thought it was clunky because the damage effect on taunted targets made me rethink/rework my opener for focus generation. I think the damage effect has marginal effect for PVE content but is definitely useful for PVP when you can use AOE taunt on a large crowd. I'd recommend adding a high threat generator to Threatening Focus' damage effect. This will offset the loss of threat generation from having to use it after the taunt (because taunts only multiply the threat you have before using the taunt).
Vigilance: The rotation/priority of active abilities all work and feel the same. Burning Focus adds a degree of complexity, however. Combat Focus was always in the opener rotation for focus generation. Now, we have to choose between using it in the opener and losing the burst damage (because no burns are on the target yet) or using a GCD to build focus in the opener (Sundering Strike) then apply burns before using Burning Focus. This presents a challenge for the opener focus generation and overall DPS. Additionally, the level 49 options are a bit difficult to tell when and where each of those would be useful. Force Clarity seems the simpler option for this spec (keep the focus builder AND get an OCD, vice giving up the focus builder for an OCD; or lower CD on focus builder and no OCD). It's really the only choice that makes sense. I'm going to put this spec through some more paces and may have more to add later.
Focus: I thought this was a very fun burst DPS. The classic rotation is still there and is very smooth. I did notice a bug with Critical Conditions passive where Combat Focus grants 2 stacks of Felling Blow. Both stacks were getting consumed with one activation of Focused Burst or Force Sweep. I don't think this is intended. If this is fixed, that would be great and allow Force Sweep (with auto crit) to be added to the rotation greatly increasing DPS without substantially changing the rotation.
Overall, I think the changes are good, but some tweaks still need to be made. I generally agree with other posts that the DPS output and survivability of the Guardian DPS specs need to be on par with the other melee DPS classes. Keep this Combat Style an exciting spec to play by ensuring it's both a solid tank and competitive DPS Combat Style.
