Why do you play a Guardian in 2021?

[Treadstone87]

Guardian has always been my favorite class, thematically. I love the idea of wearing the heaviest, bulkiest armor in Middle-earth and focusing more on having the defense necessary to stand up against the deadliest foes in the realm rather than the offense to cut down a swarm of weak grunts.

But the latest expansions have not been kind to the Guardian, and there's a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the class now.

Despite everything, I'm tempted to return to the Guardian. So I thought I'd ask those of you still playing the Guardian in 2021 - why are you doing so? What keeps you coming back?

[DavidmeetHal]

Because I love sword and board, always have ever since pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons back in the late 70s.

[Starkorm]

So I thought I'd ask those of you still playing the Guardian in 2021 - why are you doing so? What keeps you coming back?

It's my only character with an original challenger title.

[Hyos]

I am the most "hardcore" player in a small casual kinship of friends that needs a tank and already has another player playing support captain. Since this group never raids and does 3mans/6man on T2 max only, a Guardian is a perfectly fine tank for the group, and the players appreciate me taking on that responsible role.

I also play a Champion that by now is better equipped and that I use to join pug raids and higher level instances.

[ItaOperor]

Because I like smashing mobs in the face with a shield. There's nothing quite like a good meaty Shield Smash.

I've tried all the classes and Guardian is the only one that has really resonated with me. The other melee classes just feel a bit lightweight and I don't mind the slower pace of fights. It makes completing an area feel a bit more worthwhile instead of blitzing through it like you can with other classes.

[LeRaginAsian]

Because it was the first character I ever created 14 years ago and I am a very sentimental creature.

I don't get to play it in raids very often because several officers in my kin have guardian mains and tend to get dibs when one is needed, but when I do break it out PUGing 6/3-man's it still has the same feel and experience as it did all those years ago and that's oddly comforting in these crazy times.

Try to ignore the doom and gloom. Every class has had its ups and downs over the years and the guardian has been the exception until now. It's not even that the class is broken persay (though there are some glaring issues waiting to be resolved) as much as changes to threat calculation and new raid mechanics have completely upset the balance of tanking overall to heavily favor the captain. By the end of the year I expect the balance to shift again like it always does with new content and a new level cap.

So if you enjoy playing guardian, keep playing it because good times will come back around! And maybe level an alt or two for when times are bad.

[HolyDuckTape]

because i love alting to cappy to complete content

[Bhoris_they_spider]

Every class has had its ups and downs over the years and the guardian has been the exception until now.

Guardian wasn't great during early Moria as the longer instances like Stairs (Grand Stairs!) and 16th Hall could be DPS tanked by Fervor Champs. Also when they brought crit defence in to the game it 'protected' Guards from critical heals. Still was the best tank for Dark Delving though and was OK main tanking Watcher so not as bad as things are now.

[elyxthaxzus]

It was one of my two mains back in late vanilla and MoM days. I love tank classes, and being able to run a 2h as a solo option was fun. Heck, I used to even run 6 mans back in MoM with a 2h setup. it was my favorite class back then and I wont give up on my waifu. In my smaller guild it was always wanted, from just helping out a guildee to group content.
Hunter was an interesting class for me then too. I loved how they could use aggro to help the tank control the flow of the battle. They were like a backup tank to me. Sadly, both have been changed drastically over the years, but they are still my best. At least the hunter can still DPS.

[Tubalcain]

Guardian has always been my favorite class, thematically. I love the idea of wearing the heaviest, bulkiest armor in Middle-earth and focusing more on having the defense necessary to stand up against the deadliest foes in the realm rather than the offense to cut down a swarm of weak grunts.

But the latest expansions have not been kind to the Guardian, and there's a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the class now.

Despite everything, I'm tempted to return to the Guardian. So I thought I'd ask those of you still playing the Guardian in 2021 - why are you doing so? What keeps you coming back?

Because this is the toon I created when this game was still in beta, and still love playing. I have a 108 Hunter that I play when I need a break, but my main is my guard!

[hfe]

I found myself enjoying shield and sword on my captain main the past year, but there was nothing really for the shield there except the visual appeal. I have mained a warden until RoI, but that class got destroyed for me many years ago.

So actually the Shield is what got me into Guardians. Now, I'm playing with a burglar together, I run red line with shield, and try to deep dive in blue to get the extra shield skills. Truth told, my DPS is more than sufficient, granted I'm still only in the 60s. The 30s charge duration is a very pleasant breather too. I'm just enjoying the journey really, doubt that my guardian will ever see end game though.

[Alan_Quinn]

I had a human Guardian that I played into the 30's and had lots of fun with him. I ended up with a two-handed weapon called Othniel, which seemed to do some decent damage in combat. I can't remember how I acquired it though. I'm starting over from scratch (lost access to old email and account) and this time I want to do the Guardian right. I am going to be primarily soloing with maybe the occasional joining of a group (Skirmish?). I'm trying to decide whether to go with a Human or a Dwarf for the race, though...

[hfe]

I had a human Guardian that I played into the 30's and had lots of fun with him. I ended up with a two-handed weapon called Othniel, which seemed to do some decent damage in combat. I can't remember how I acquired it though. I'm starting over from scratch (lost access to old email and account) and this time I want to do the Guardian right. I am going to be primarily soloing with maybe the occasional joining of a group (Skirmish?). I'm trying to decide whether to go with a Human or a Dwarf for the race, though...

For min-maxing, Man is the best one due to

+5% sword damage, sword better than axe due to Parry bonus %
+5% inc healing
+2% morale buff
+Block/parry/evade bonus is better than block bonus from dwarf

Man heal is not so good as it doesn't scale well. Whereas the dwarven racial -50% incoming damage is among the best for tanks... But long cooldown makes it unreliable.


Main reason to pick a dwarf: the shouts are so much better... eventually you'll be hearing those a lot.

[MimDerZwerg]

Very nice shield animations and fun on aggro control when it comes to many enemies.
Also good for content where you need to interrupt.

[StinkyGreene]

I play a Guardian so my friends I travel with don’t get hurt so bad.