Guardian in 8.1

[Kaeth]

We're looking at a potential record here, folks. No mention of bear spec in patch or hotfix notes that I can see going back to late in the Battle for Azeroth alpha test.

What potential changes or buffs/nerfs are you hoping to see for Guardian in 8.1? Increased damage and threat, improved utility? Post your thoughts below.

Or do you think we'll be completely ignored again?

[Unholyground]

I think they need to give Iron Fur a static damage reduction on top of the armor since we have no way to mitigate spell damage except heal after the fact and pulverize. A 15% damage reduction when iron fur is up would be a nice start.

[Dethxx]

don't worry they're just saving the nerfs till the patch releases

[Arawrabearialis]

I think they need to give Iron Fur a static damage reduction on top of the armor since we have no way to mitigate spell damage except heal after the fact and pulverize. A 15% damage reduction when iron fur is up would be a nice start.

Our mitigation is not a problem, it's the lack of utility and low damage/threat. Both of which were brought up numerous times during beta and ignored.

[Kaeth]

Both of which were brought up numerous times during beta and ignored.

Guardian being ignored is becoming a noticeable trend now. I'd love to see just a single blue post saying, "hey bears, we didn't forget about you."

If warriors get just a few good changes in 8.1, at this rate we'll be left alone at the bottom of the tanking ladder.

[Deleted]

I think they spent the resources more on the new models for druid forms than actually looking at the state of the spec (j/k i know they aren't the same departments). I feel massively inferior to other tanks, nobody wants me as stated by a lot of players & as a player I shouldn't feel to enjoy this game I need to seriously consider rolling another spec or heaven forbid another class.

I don't hold out for any substantial changes for Guardians personally.

[Puupi]

They should buff the dps, Swipe and Mangle mainly.

Frenzied Regeneration cooldown should be shorter.

[Kaeth]

My personal wishlist:
- Increased damage
- Increased threat
- A snare effect
- An offensive cooldown
- Mark of the Wild

My expectation for 8.1 patch notes:

- Guardian
Ironfur now grants 65% of Agility as armor (down from 75%)

[Arawrabearialis]

They should buff the dps, Swipe and Mangle mainly.

Frenzied Regeneration cooldown should be shorter.

I'd be happy if they just took it off the damn GCD.

- - - Updated - - -

My personal wishlist:
- Increased damage
- Increased threat
- A snare effect
- An offensive cooldown
- Mark of the Wild

My expectation for 8.1 patch notes:

- Guardian
Ironfur now grants 65% of Agility as armor (down from 75%)

We don't need MotW back to be useful, just the rest of that list. Not that it wouldn't be welcome, but I'd rather they buff our dmg/threat and give us some usable utility. Your expectation is probably not far off from reality though.

[axxey]

I'd like to see Rage of the sleeper again giving them a baseline cooldown or incarnation baseline.

Not going to happen, most dull spec ever.

[Deleted]

My personal wishlist:
- Increased damage
- Increased threat
- A snare effect
- An offensive cooldown
- Mark of the Wild

My expectation for 8.1 patch notes:

- Guardian
Ironfur now grants 65% of Agility as armor (down from 75%)

at this point its becoming a meme now

[Gameforreal]

I left my guardian / feral for first time since TBC this expansion.. its hard.. i still do only dailies on the druid.. but i do myth + and raids as a DK tank now =/

How can you do this to me blizz =( - when my DK was 325 itemlvl and my druid was 365 - my DK was already doing better, so myth grp asked me to reroll to another viable tank (DK or DH)

[Frostyfire14]

Even a 25% slow to Thrash would help in 5 man content tremendously. Right now, its just charge in and hope for the best. Like others said, no utility outside of Roar.

[Zoraxe]

Getting outdps'd by the priest & druid healers in our heroic runs at the moment so would defiantly like to see a ~20% dps buff. generally sit around 6.5-7k on most raid bosses and the other tank (monk) is always around 8.5-9k. He pulls agro at least once a fight without taunting and nothing i can do about it besides spam taunt. FR off GCD would be great & return it to % of damage taken over last 5 secs , DK bloodstrike gets that so seems reasonable we can as well. Chuck in a slow on thrash even just 30% and we will be in a good spot.

[Deleted]

Doubt it, Blizzard ignoring Legion beta feedback that allowed the class to be overpowered is apparently on the players...

[Unholyground]

Our mitigation is not a problem, it's the lack of utility and low damage/threat. Both of which were brought up numerous times during beta and ignored.

Mitigation is shitty when you first cap unlike other tanks so it is in no way perfect. I do agree about damage though, I hardly do any.

[Mgemnusratsl]

I picked druid as main, because tank, healer and range dps whatever i want is accessible. As my guardian spec ilvl is 362 eq. A 345 dh or dk tank does better than me in dungeon. In raid i have no problem. In m+ especially no kiting is problem and fortified weeks are nightmare without magic damage mitigation. Where dk can pull magic shield often, we take hit and wait for heal.

Answering your question i dont expect much, blizz dont care at all. They act like druid had their time in legion while i was not maining.
Some flat buff to ironfur shit. Then nothing.

[exochaft]

Getting outdps'd by the priest & druid healers in our heroic runs at the moment so would defiantly like to see a ~20% dps buff. generally sit around 6.5-7k on most raid bosses and the other tank (monk) is always around 8.5-9k. He pulls agro at least once a fight without taunting and nothing i can do about it besides spam taunt. FR off GCD would be great & return it to % of damage taken over last 5 secs , DK bloodstrike gets that so seems reasonable we can as well. Chuck in a slow on thrash even just 30% and we will be in a good spot.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to the amount of healing FR provides, as the new amount is lackluster in PvE but immensely better in PvP since it never scaled properly when it came to damage taken by players in Legion. As we are currently balanced, I almost feel like we'd still need an elevated baseline heal for FR, scaling beyond that baseline when the damage is too great. For example, baseline was 5% in Legion, but I feel we could stand to have that baseline much higher than Legion if we bring back damage scaling to FR when considering all the other changes done to bear.

In general, it's kind of tough to figure out what we exactly need, as the right tool for the situation changes even if the general problem is the same in every situation. Would they go the route of DK where you get a tool for every scenario? I doubt it, as bear has usually been more of a small set of tools that works across a large range of scenarios. MoU was that kind of tool: simple yet universal in application. Not necessarily saying we go back to MoU, although I think its perceived power was largely due to the content design at the time compounded with what bear already had going for it outside the ability (as well as in comparison to all other tanks). However, it's a risk that Blizz has to take with bear design, as if you want bears to perform well with simple tools, they're going to have to be pretty powerful else bears will be underwhelming. It's similar to the line Blizz flirts with when it comes to blood DK's and their self-healing: due to the scaling involved, it either ends up overpowered or underwhelming with little room in the middle. Same as Ignore Pain with warriors, as we've seen how the ability has gone from one extreme to the other.

*edit* - Randomly was thinking about this, so I figured I'd mention it: what if Blizz had separate scaling of some bear abilities depending upon the size of the group you're in? The tech already exists when it comes to Tranquility, as it does double the healing when not in raid since the ability's power needs to change based upon content.

[slime]

Is bear the best tank with a healer? Because it feels the worst without one.

[Findme]

I hope for a big yes, but it's most likely a no, and this will be the time to end my WoW sub. I won't support lazy devs with my money and i don't want to reroll to the current FOTM tank class.