I'm considering coming back to the game.....Just wondering how Guardian is doing on TLE and current expansion. I've never really played a Guardian to max level in the past, I've heard they have very low DPS, so what do they bring to the table that other tanks dont, since their DPS is sooo low? I really like the Sword and Board look, which limits me to Guardian or Crusaders and Im not really into the Crusader classes. From what I have been reading, the game sounds very in-depth and Im pretty lost on what to do. But before, I jump in, I want to see how the only class Im interested in, is doing. Lastly, are tanks a rare commodity or dime a dozen.....TLE and normal server?
Guardians for the most part on TLE are fine. Yes low on the dps but almost imperious in defensive stuff. In one word, if you want to take things slow and want a relatively populated server (not sure how it is after expansion launch though), then start here. You will not be overwhelmed with stats and things to do. Its a nice steady learning curve if you can find a busy casual guild who can help you along the way. If you want more dps then berserker would be your go to choice. All plate wearing fighters wear sword and board so you can pick from 4 classes: Guard/Zerk/Shadowknight/Paladin Guardians on current expansion is a different thing altogether. You will have to do a fair bit to stand a chance at being a heroic/raids as a main tank. The game since Terrors of Thalumbra have taken a very different turn (not to everyone's liking). Starting low here, you will mostly like not find many people playing at low level. The real population is at the current max level 110. If you want to see how level 100 guards are like then you can avail yourself with a free level 100 character boost when you buy the expansion. If you want to take things slowly, i think you will feel better on TLE as things are not hectic as they are on live servers. To answer your last question. Anybody can be a tank but to be an effective tank, you need to put in a lot of effort/time/patience and that's when you know there are not many playing at max level who do the latter. I am sorry im not selling the game to you like this but that's what you will be getting.
Thanks for your honesty, Arclite. Sucks that Guadian isnt that great...I vaguely remember a few expansions where they were just ok. Like any MMO, people always choose the class in the best current state, which means some classes will be chosen over others for the same role.....having the exact problem in WoW atm. Anything good Guardians bring to a group that other tanks do not? I thought Zerker used two handed weapon, not Shield ?
You can dual wield on guardian or zerk. Zerks can fair better as they can deal with incoming damage better but i think very few people tanks dual wield these days as you have so much of inflated stats to play about with. As for a guardians utility. They have a lot of group defensive buffs that can help the group by a lot. A few top end guilds still use guards at their raid MT. As i said before, you would need to put in a lot of effort to get gear and learn how to play them effectively. It is not to say that guards are rubbish its just for any new aspiring player, the class can be overwhelming to learn. Other fighter classes have an added advantage of higher dps and can equally hold their own if played right.
Could you also give me your opinion of Monk versus Berzerker? I played Bruiser heavily in the past, so I understand them, just not what the differences are with Monk. With most content how do Monk versus Berzerkes compare....utility, damage, survivability?
Monks are overall a better tank to play than zerks in my opinion. They bring a lot of defensive/aggro stuff and can dps fair bit. Think of monk as a leather equivalent to a guard but only it does a lot more dps and has comparable survivability with gear/skill.
To be honest guardians are exceptional tanks, however, they are harder to play. When I say harder to play I mean they require a high attention to detail, stat/gear/ balancing, and AA/prestige tweeks. Not to say other tanks don't require this care, but having tanks of the other archtypes I have noticed they are a bit easier to play. As far as dps guards can do really well, however this again requires a lot of work.
