[Guardian] Considering the jump?

[Grayfeather]

Any other guardians out there considering swapping to a different tanking class?

I personally started polishing a Blood Deathknight just based on the fact that they feel more fluid and fun to play. They got hit with the nerfbat too, but overall their survivability is still strong and intact. They seem to have a higher skillcap which is a breath of fresh air compared to the current guardian "rotation".

Over the course of this expansion I've felt increasingly useless in some encounters. Trying Challenge Modes before Highmaul was released quickly became excruciating, and I'd be willing to bet other bears had similar experiences.

Highmaul provided some more challenges as well. Brackenspore, Ko'ragh/Mar'gok adds (arcane damage melee swings ftw!), etc.

Now having a neutered version of thrash makes fights like Tectus a struggle. Snap threat took a big hit.

Nothing seen coming up over the horizon for survivability so far...so I wait in hope while having a backup plan with a new possible main.

Anyone with similar thoughts?

[fled]

Tanked Guardian (casual) in MoP.....picked it back up alongside a Monk Brewmaster to 100....I'll be frank....based on leveling to 100 I have to say that Bear is now uninspiring to say the least. Please note I was taking Bear and Prot warr in MoP over a Monk because I thought it was too frantic and just entailed me looking at timers. They REALLY made the Monk more manageable and the utility is just out of this world. The Bear's mechanics are primitive compared to newer tanks, in my humble opinion of course.

Regardless, Druid T15 will always be one of the most beautiful armor sets Blizzard ever conceived and I shall remember it fondly.

[Ragethorn]

I'm still holding out hope for 6.1
If nothing new is coming for Bears, I'll be retiring my bear and probably quitting the game until the next expansion is released. I won't get started here, but this expansion, for me, is even worse than Cataclysm.

[coocoo]

Jumping? No...
Quitting? Starting to look tempting...

If I get this shit from my healers one more time to "reroll warrior already", I'm just gonna piss off.

[Chuckadoodle]

Yes very much so, I have tanked as a Bear since early wrath when I switched from my pally, I have mixed in a BrM and a DK along the way but always came back to da Bear... if some changes aren't made soon I will prob finish leveling my Monk and be done with it.

[Mit]

I'm considering just quitting honestly, I'm 675 and 2/7 Mythic but i'm getting wrecked by Brackenspore, the lack of magic mitigation makes me want to cry. The thrash nerf was a given as we were pulling ridiculous AoE dmg on massive pulls but I think they went too far. They should be looking at fixing our survivability and our utility, not nerfing our AoE.

[Deleted]

I only play casual and PuG HM Heroic but the fact that I'm rejected sometimes because of my spec speaks volume, the community and players know Guardian spec is in a bad way at the moment.

I have one of every class at 90 and can easily level another respective class to 100 for tanking as that's what I enjoy to do, but I'm very fond of my druid, its one of my originals and it pains me to see the spec I enjoy most absolutely run into the ground.

[Zautix]

Monks are superior to Guardians on every metric, and our lone snowflake utility is Stampeding Roar which any Druid can bring. You could make some minor arguments about Tooth and Claw reducing damage while you're not tanking, but let's be real, the mitigation it provides is fucking pathetic.

Why does anyone play this spec again?

[Geckoo]

I just started playing guardian druid this expansion, currently in imperator mythic with my guild. I have no regrets, really.

We need some tweaks, no doubt about that, but we are in a better shape than most people think.

[Deleted]

4/7 Mythic here.
Go full mastery and enjoy.

[Grayfeather]

I'm not saying that tanking as a bear is impossible. 7/7 Mythic is still doable...

I'm saying that:

1) Tanking as a bear is boring comparatively (It was previously and it hasn't improved much since)
2) Our survivability is lacking comparatively
3) Our raid utility is laughable comparatively
4) Our DPS niche has been crippled (I know it was needed, but it was practically the only godly thing we brought to the table for some fights)

[Deleted]

Im holding out hope, Im still 'maining' my druid, giving him all the cool stuff I get, tabards, rep, etc. as hes been my main for 8+ years now.

But I levelled my warrior, and in comparison playing a druid is dull. So very dull. I dont have half the tools the warrior has, and warriors are just so much more rewarding than druids, Im far more in control of everything. Im seriously considering the switch, Im not worried so much about numbers, Im more interested in improvements to our overall kit. Might of ursoc back, a baseline charge, some mobility like heroic leap. Some decent cc even, I dont see why intimidating roar can't work like dragon roar.

[Captainn]

Already switched and not regretting it. The survival difference is astounding and hilarious. Was able to do our three Mythic kills right after we cleared heroic once on another tank.

If there are changes in 6.1 I'll consider going back. But until then there's no reason to put forth double the effort of another tank (lollaceratetabtarget) and get half the results. No thanks.

[Suribear]

I've already made the switch to my monk and I'm happier for it. My only regrets are the time invested in my bear tank this expansion and the fact I had to switch. My Druid has been my main since vanilla and I've been a main tank since it was viable (even tanking on niche fights in vanilla). Makes me a sad fats to give it up.

[Jaydenkor]

Switched to Prot pally after going 2/7m
Now 3/7m and looking to be getting 5/7 this weekend.

Only changes that would bring me back to bear, maybe.:
- Incarnation Bear form rework; some sort of actual defensive %DR benefit
- Savage defense.. %dodge reduced, %DR added or other *reducing RNGesus fucking you over* changes.
- Thrash Dot changed to mimic/duplicate Lacerate, so that pulverize can be used in an aoe situation.
- Non Pulverize L100 talents modified... Where is our passive option that is worth a damn? DK gets extra 10%Dr CD, Pal/Monk get spellblock, War gets free 5%dr, or aoe dmg +Parry CD..
- Another 3min or 5min CD added. (or the incarnation talent turned into an actual worthwhile CD) - Paladins get Barkskin, Survival instincts (1charge, 8sec duration tho), and then on top of that, Argent Defender. DKs get AMS (as barkskin), the 1.5 minute parry CD, a 3min, 50% 8sec DR, and then talented CDs... etc etc etc.

[Deleted]

- Another 3min or 5min CD added. (or the incarnation talent turned into an actual worthwhile CD) - Paladins get Barkskin, Survival instincts (1charge, 8sec duration tho), and then on top of that, Argent Defender. DKs get AMS (as barkskin), the 1.5 minute parry CD, a 3min, 50% 8sec DR, and then talented CDs... etc etc etc.

I actually think it'd be cool for the armoured bear to actually gain a defensive bonus from having armour. We already have our 'ohshit I need more rage' cooldown with berserk (which they improved the duration of in WoD).

[Geckoo]

- Incarnation Bear form rework; some sort of actual defensive %DR benefit

That would make sense, armored bear = less damage. But it's dangerous to make it be our big 'oh shit' button if we don't want to be complaining about the lack of options in that tier again.

- Savage defense.. %dodge reduced, %DR added or other *reducing RNGesus fucking you over* changes.

In theory, the way we reduce RNG fucking ourselves is with our mastery and TnC. I honestly think that there is nothing wrong with that, looks like something solid.

But i think that the spec needs to have more sinergy overall, and a way to do it would be to have our mastery have some impact in savage defense. I think that our mastery should also increase the amount of dodge from savage defense. Now, it can't be too much, we really don't want to reach 100% dodge without something like trinket procs, and it would probably mean that the base dodge from SD should be lower.... but something like 1.000 mastery meaning 10% extra dodge, with a baseline dodge of 30% could be enough.

- Thrash Dot changed to mimic/duplicate Lacerate, so that pulverize can be used in an aoe situation.

I think that a workaround for this and some other issues with pulverize could be to make it consume something else instead of lacerate. So each time we use lacerate or thrash in our target we also place a debuff, no effect at all, it will simply stack up to 3 charges and then we can consume it with pulverize. Our lacerate doesn't get removed, it works with thrash and we can even make it work with mangle while berserk or incarnation is active.

[teddabear]

Feral is unfinished but Blizzard never even started on Guardians.

[CenariusTheForestLord]

That would make sense, armored bear = less damage. But it's dangerous to make it be our big 'oh shit' button if we don't want to be complaining about the lack of options in that tier again.



In theory, the way we reduce RNG fucking ourselves is with our mastery and TnC. I honestly think that there is nothing wrong with that, looks like something solid.

But i think that the spec needs to have more sinergy overall, and a way to do it would be to have our mastery have some impact in savage defense. I think that our mastery should also increase the amount of dodge from savage defense. Now, it can't be too much, we really don't want to reach 100% dodge without something like trinket procs, and it would probably mean that the base dodge from SD should be lower.... but something like 1.000 mastery meaning 10% extra dodge, with a baseline dodge of 30% could be enough.



I think that a workaround for this and some other issues with pulverize could be to make it consume something else instead of lacerate. So each time we use lacerate or thrash in our target we also place a debuff, no effect at all, it will simply stack up to 3 charges and then we can consume it with pulverize. Our lacerate doesn't get removed, it works with thrash and we can even make it work with mangle while berserk or incarnation is active.

Your ideas are really interesting. I was thinking the same thing for pulverize, but with all our rage generating abilities. Each rage generator gives a stack of "TEMP DEBUFF" it stacks up to let's say 12. Every stack consumed by pulverize gives us 1-2 second uptime on pulverize. (Yes this is stolen from Brewmasters, but I like the idea)

[mmokri]

Current bear is more traditional bear than MoP one.