Quick Questions from a Newbie-Guardian.

[VragonBral]

Hey Team Awesome of the Light-Stick-Brigade of Kickass.

 

*Cough* Yeah. Less silly. I just wanted to jump on here and make a thread asking a few questions. Since I have spent the last 2 weeks haunting the threads being posted here and trying to get a good grasp on the Jedi Guardian and it's playstyle. So far I have noticed the huge rift between Vigilance and Focus believers, and the fact Guardians are "late bloomers".

 

1st Question:

 

Are there any established Vigilance/Focus builds? Are there any hybrid builds that have gotten recognition?

 

2nd Question:

 

Are Sentinels really that much better then Guardians? (Damn you, General Chat.)

 

3rd Question:

 

Guardians, are they the "Underdog" still? (Even after the buff's/changes to their skills?)

 

4th Question:

 

After the Surge nerf, is the "Sweep Bombing" style as effective?

 

5th Question:

 

What tree would have the most complex rotations for the Guardian at the moment?

 

 

Thanks ahead of time for any answers. Right now REALLY enjoying my Guardian, which has made me have to split a lot of my time between my Vanguard.

[Mystry]

1st Answer:

 

Hybrid builds don't work well on Guardians. There are several established builds for each spec though.

 

2nd Answer:

 

No, we are both underpowered as hell.

 

3rd Answer:

 

Yes, very much so.

 

4th Answer:

 

Yes.

 

5th Answer:

 

Vigilance, although that's still easy.

[dizzyMongoose]

As for the first answer, there are a good number of converts to a 14/27 Defense/Vigilance hybrid Soresu tank, something similar to this:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500dMG0uZhGrMMhdzMM.1

 

The main idea here is that the Vigilance tree contains a surprising number of defensive buffs at higher tiers, so the hybrid:

• Takes Commanding Awe and Protector to help damage mitigation;
  
• Replaces Guardian Slash with the higher damage Overhead Slash with buffs;
  
• Still can take Warding Call for a panic button, and the Riposte Soresu improvements;
  
• Can use Unremitting and Guardian Leap to generate 20% damage resistance.
  

The downsides to the hybrid are that:

• Focus generation suffers without the use of Courage/Cyclonic Sweeps or Shien form;
  
• Less utility: no Hilt Strike threat, no shortened Challenging Call cooldown, no awesomesauce Force Stasis.
  
• Max use of the 20% DR buffs requires the Guardian to constantly be jumping around;
  
• No Plasma Brand to buff your DPS.
  

Edited February 17, 2012 by dizzyMongoose

[Tityn]

Guardians are great force sweep spec still rocks. We are not underdogs, I go into warzones alone as Dps and come out with around ten medals and do over three hundred thousand damage everytime. In big spec you have to us sunder strike before plasma brand. I hardly lose one on one fights....

 

Still don't know what everyone is complaining about, this class is fine. I would say most people are having problems because of the amount of abilities and you cant macro things. If you like me and never really used macros, this game and the rotations and abilities it comes with are not hard to handle.

 

Hope you continue to enjoy you guardian as much as I have. They rock!!

[Tityn]

Guardians are great force sweep spec still rocks. We are not underdogs, I go into warzones alone as Dps and come out with around ten medals and do over three hundred thousand damage everytime. In big spec you have to us sunder strike before plasma brand. I hardly lose one on one fights....

 

Still don't know what everyone is complaining about, this class is fine. I would say most people are having problems because of the amount of abilities and you cant macro things. If you like me and never really used macros, this game and the rotations and abilities it comes with are not hard to handle.

 

Hope you continue to enjoy you guardian as much as I have. They rock!!

 

Vig for big, sorry auto correct on tablet device.

[VragonBral]

Thank you Mystry, Tityn and Mongoose. Your answers are really helpful to the questions I posed. And yes, so far I have been really enjoying my Guardian! I love the feel of the "Traditional" Knight feel to the storyline and playstyle.

 

Really looking forward to gaining more levels, questing and PvPing with this AC!

 

 

Thanks again!

 

@Tityn, yeah, I am use to having a giant bar of buttons to hotkey. (Never used macros)

 

So its a fetish for me to have lots of complicated ways of mashing buttons on my keyboard to do things. I really dislike the 1-button-for-every-situation type of characters, it just goes against how I have been playing for years. Lol.

 

@Mongoose.

 

That build looks really good to me! The Pro's/Con's you put out really help a lot too. It gives both sides as to what its purpose is. Seems like it would be a great PvP build with it's ability to Guard, Retain a Panic Button, Mitigation from Leap and Immune to Snare's/Knockbacks after it, some steady DPS.

 

But it's not a specialized setup, so it is less skilled in any one department. It's like a jack-of-all-trades rather then a pure DPS or Tank build.

Edited February 17, 2012 by VragonBral

[RydelFox]

I think you may have read some of the Pros and Cons backwards - the Vigilance tank build is actually more of a specialized tank than the defense one - it sacrifices some utility (Stun from Hilt strike and unchanneled Force Stasis) for more survivability

[VragonBral]

I think you may have read some of the Pros and Cons backwards - the Vigilance tank build is actually more of a specialized tank than the defense one - it sacrifices some utility (Stun from Hilt strike and unchanneled Force Stasis) for more survivability

 

You could say it is specialized, for the fact it is not a true tank or a true DPS. Since it sit's right between those two a bit.

 

It doesn't have the full utility of a Tank.

 

Doesn't have the full damage capacity of a DPS.

 

 

But does have more Survivability then a pure DPS.

 

And has more damage then a full Tank.

 

Or am I wrong?

[RydelFox]

I'd definitely call it a full tank.

 

The big things that a tank needs are threat to hold the enemy and survivability since they'll be the one taking all the damage. This build has that better than any other that the Guardian has.

 

The biggest piece of utility that it loses is the stun from Hilt Strike, which is on a one minute CD and doesn't work on bosses or the Channel-free Force Stasis, which is nice, but just lets you get out 1 more attack per minute if used on cooldown.

 

Also, although you already have Guardian Leap, this build's playstyle encourages its use more, which helps group survivability

[VragonBral]

I'd definitely call it a full tank.

 

The big things that a tank needs are threat to hold the enemy and survivability since they'll be the one taking all the damage. This build has that better than any other that the Guardian has.

 

The biggest piece of utility that it loses is the stun from Hilt Strike, which is on a one minute CD and doesn't work on bosses or the Channel-free Force Stasis, which is nice, but just lets you get out 1 more attack per minute if used on cooldown.

 

Also, although you already have Guardian Leap, this build's playstyle encourages its use more, which helps group survivability

 

Thank you Rydel. Now I understand what your saying. And thinking about how you explained it, makes a lot of sense.

[RydelFox]

Sorry if I explained it poorly before - I post from work and sometimes get calls while writing, then return having lost track of my point.

[VragonBral]

Sorry if I explained it poorly before - I post from work and sometimes get calls while writing, then return having lost track of my point.

 

Thats fine. Lol. I have had the same issue. But it usually double posts for me.