Developer's Diary – Warden Updates from OnnMacMahal

[Cordovan]

Developer's Diary – Warden Updates

Intro

Hello everyone! I’m OnnMacMahal, and I’m here to start talking about the upcoming Warden class changes.

The warden is a challenging but rewarding class to play. Fundamentally structured around gambit skills which have almost no cooldown, gameplay is focused on maximizing the usage of Masteries, supported by a small number of standard skills. These allow you to rapidly build and execute a range of gambits, while adapting as proactively as possible to changing gameplay circumstances. We want to maintain the warden’s focus on proactive gameplay and the gambit system, but we also want to make sure that the class is able to compete in effectiveness with others in tanking and damage-dealing roles. We’re also presently planning on making the Assailment trait tree a non-specialization tree, but we’ll cover that in more detail below.


Current State Overview

So what headwinds are wardens currently facing?

Arguably the biggest issue facing wardens is a lack of defensive cooldown abilities for Determination wardens. Never Surrender is great, but only available infrequently. For the Free Peoples has a strong effect, but it has a lengthy ramp-up period, requiring you to use a lot of gambit builders which you otherwise want to avoid (in lieu of Mastery skills) as much as possible.

Gambit chains are an underutilized tool. Since gambits have essentially no cooldown, the class has multiple features designed to promote the use of many gambits, rather than leaning on your strongest gambit(s) indefinitely. Gambit chains are one of these mechanisms, and in theory they are especially helpful at promoting the use of short (2-length and 3-length) gambits. But the gambit chains which currently exist only affect a few specific gambit sequences, and three of those sequences are DoT-based gambits, which already promote multi-skill usage. Since a single gambit’s DoT can only be applied on a target once, you’re already likely to use as many different DoT-applying gambits as you can before the oldest ones start to expire. We’ll cover them in more detail below, but we want to make gambit chains a little more general, flexible, and meaningful in affecting your gambit sequences.

For damage-oriented wardens, Seize the Moment looms too large over all other class mechanics, and (along with stronger Marked and Diminished debuffs) makes the moderately debuff-oriented Assailment Specialization capable of dealing more raw DPS than the Recklessness specialization at high levels. While we appreciate that Seize the Moment speeds up warden gameplay, part of the inherent design of Mastery skills is that they are a resource limited by their cooldown times. Even without being locked behind Assailment, Seize the Moment removes so much of what limits a warden that it makes the class feel much more ‘feast or famine’ than it ought to. For these reasons, we intend to remove the Seize the Moment effect. Its spirit will be retained in the new skill ‘Rapid Techniques,’ as well as the trait ‘Strong Foundations’ which will make your gambit builders reduce the active cooldowns of their related Mastery skills.

Damage-dealing wardens also have a distinct lack of instant damage. While wardens are capable of applying many DoT effects to a single target, they suffer greatly in any situations with lower average mob health that don’t give you much time to stack multiple DoT effects.

While it isn’t a major issue facing wardens, the class also has a considerable amount of effect clutter. As much as possible, we’ll be trimming this down in the forthcoming changes. Skills like gambit builders don’t need small, stacking DoTs, and effects like the specialization bonuses (which give a 10% proc chance to apply minor buffs and debuffs) mostly end up cluttering the space below your vitals. Some of these effects will be consolidated into fewer, stronger buffs, while others will be removed outright.


Non-specialization Assailment

You said Assailment is becoming a non-specialization trait tree?

Yes. Like the recent change undergone by the minstrel, the warden’s Assailment trait tree will become a passive, non-specialization trait tree. This means you won’t be able to choose Assailment as a primary specialization, but you’ll still be able to get plenty of bonus ranged damage, debuff effects, and utility out of the Assailment traits.

Why remove the ability to specialize in Assailment? The Assailment specialization doesn’t meaningfully impact your playstyle relative to specializing in the Recklessness tree, and the ‘warden at range’ identity doesn’t require a full specialization, since any warden can toggle the Assailment stance on. Most of what makes Assailment appealing right now are a few debuffs and effects which would actually benefit the Recklessness tree more if only they weren’t locked up in the Assailment specialization.

For those of you who prefer playing your warden as a ranged-damage class, you’ll still be able to do so. You’ll just choose Recklessness as your specialization, then prioritize ranged damage traits in the Recklessness tree.


Goals

Wardens specializing in Determination should be able to stand side by side with Guardians, Captains, Brawlers, and other main tanks with confidence. In addition to your defensive gambits, you should have a few normal tanking skills, bound by cooldowns rather than being gambits, which still interact with the gambit system. This should help you deal with brief moments of significant spike damage like other meta tanks do, but without fundamentally altering your skill flow.

Wardens specializing in Recklessness should still be versatile damage dealers with a wide range of gambits for dealing with different situations. In a pinch, offensive wardens should be able to line up some skills and gambits to deal meaningful instant damage during encounters. While damage-over-time effects should still be your most reliable and consistent damage, we don’t want wardens to feel completely shut out in encounters with a greater emphasis on groups of mobs that have smaller morale pools.

Gambit effects should be cleaned up a little bit across the board. This will be covered in greater detail later on, but the general principle is that there are a lot of different gambits, so no individual gambit needs to have more than one or two effects. This extends to gambit sequences as well as the heuristics of which gambit builders lead to which effects. While there will still be some outliers (looking at you, Dark Before the Dawn) players should be able to reasonably infer associations between gambit builder sequences and their outputs: like Spear gambits and instant damage, Shield gambits and defensive bonuses, or Fist gambits and dealing damage over time.

Finally, a note about wardens leveling up for the first time. We’re planning to reinstate the leveling paradigm for wardens in which you start off with access to only 2-length gambits, later unlocking 3-length, then 4-length, then 5-length gambits. This will have no impact on any warden already over level 50, but will hopefully help make learning the class a little more manageable for those stepping into it with little prior knowledge of the class or specific gambits.


Gambit Chains and Advanced Technique

Gambit Chains
Gambit Chains will be staying with the class, but they will become a little more flexible. Completing a gambit chain will require using a three-gambit sequence: a 2-length gambit, followed by a 3-length gambit, and then completed by subsequently using a 4- or 5-length gambit. After beginning a gambit chain with a 2-length gambit, the following gambits in the chain will gain improved damage, healing, and buff durations.

These gambits could be any of the gambits available to you, and they will no longer need to be part of a specific gambit sequence. That means you could use Persevere, followed by Maddening Strike, followed by Spear of Virtue. Or you could use War Cry, followed by Combination Strike, followed by Warden’s Triumph. In this last case, both Combination Strike and Warden’s Triumph would benefit from the bonuses of being part of a gambit chain, and Warden’s Triumph would also grant you one count of Advanced Technique.

The only exception to this rule will be potency gambits (Deft Strike, Defensive Strike, and Goad) which will not count as beginning a gambit chain.

Advanced Technique
Several new Warden skills will be ‘normal’ skills bound by cooldowns, rather than gambit skills requiring builders. These skills will have short, strong effects and moderate cooldown times. However, rather than being freely available at full strength, their potency will be driven by Advanced Technique. Each skill will require at least one Advanced Technique, consume all of your Advanced Technique when used, and will become stronger with each additional Advanced Technique consumed when the skill fires.

And how will you earn Advanced Technique? You’ll receive one count every time you complete a gambit chain, up to three maximum, until they are either consumed by a skill or you leave combat.


Summary

We hope this has been a helpful primer on some of our plans and goals for the upcoming warden changes. A few core mechanics will change, augmenting the inherent power and flexibility of the gambit system. We’re excited to share more information with you soon, including a closer look at specific changes and some actual gameplay.

Thanks for reading!

[OnnMacMahal]

Thanks for reading! One quick heads up: I'm going to update this second post as soon as I can with more detailed information about some of the specific changes we've got in store, so keep an eye on this thread. In the meantime, I'll be responding to as many questions and comments as I can below.

Updated (Friday, Jan 27)

A note about gambits:
In general, we’ve done away with the notion of gambits having different effects in Assailment. Assailment will make all the usual gambits work at range like you’re used to, but there’s no reason for a melee gambit to have a DoT while its ranged version doesn’t. Especially in cases like Unerring Strike, which currently applies nearly-identical (but stacking, because they are technically different) DoTs in its two versions, this is needlessly confusing for players. In the future, if a gambit has an effect while ‘In the Fray’ it should have the same effect while ‘Assailment’ is active.
Additionally, to maintain parity, no gambits will be locked behind a specific specialization, and no gambits will have longer-than normal cooldowns. That means Shield Mastery and Shield Tactics will always be available, and Shield Tactics will no longer have a 10-second cooldown.


Gambit Sequences
Gambit sequences should make sense. In particular, all of the two-of-a-kind gambits should have more consistent effects with other gambits in their sequence:

? Gambit Sequence: Offensive Strike through Unseen Strikes (Spear-Fist Gambits)
Gambits in this sequence have improved initial skill damage and deal damage to multiple targets in front of you.

? Gambit Sequence: The Boot through Cauterizing Steel (Spear-Shield Gambits)
Gambits in this sequence have greatly improved initial skill damage and will only deal damage to your current target.

? Gambit Sequence: Persevere through Restoration (Shield-Spear Gambits)
Persevere will give you a minor buff, but otherwise this sequence is entirely focused on personal healing.

? Gambit Sequence: Impressive Flourish through Conviction (Shield-Fist Gambits)
With the exception of Conviction, this sequence is entirely focused on personal defensive buffs.

? Gambit Sequence: Precise Blow through Spear of Fate (Fist-Spear Gambits)
Gambits in this sequence will apply Light-damage DoTs to your current target. These DoT effects will pulse at a slightly faster rate than your other DoTs, and will not be cleansable, so monster players will not be able to remove them by using potions or skills.

? Gambit Sequence: War Cry through Desolation (Fist-Shield Gambits)
Gambits in this sequence will apply Light-damage DoTs to a group of enemies. These effects will be weaker than your single-target effects. These DoT effects will be the ‘Cry’ resistance type, so monster players will be able to remove them.



Tanking Cooldowns
Restorative Shield-work
This skill will require at least one Advanced Technique, and will convert all of your tiers of Advanced Technique into tiers of restorative shield-work (+2 baseline, so 2-5 tiers depending on AT consumed) for 10 seconds. While you have at least one tier remaining, you will gain +30% Partial Block chance. Each time you’re hit (up to once per second) one tier will be removed, healing you for 10% of your morale.

Desperate Combat
This skill will consume all of your Advanced Technique, transforming this skill for 30 seconds, and giving you a number of skill uses equal to the number of Advanced Technique consumed plus one. Desperate Combat has 3 possible versions (spear, shield, or fist) depending on your last gambit-type used. You can use more than one type of Desperate Combat skill by using different gambit types in between uses of Desperate Combat.
Desperate Spear: Strong AoE frontal damage, which applies a short debuff increasing your target’s incoming damage.
Desperate Shield: Weak AoE frontal damage, which heals you for each target hit.
Desperate Fist: Moderate AoE damage, which applies a force taunt (not a threat copy) to each target hit.

For the Free Peoples
For the Free Peoples will no longer require you to use gambit builders to tier up its effect. Instead, it will immediately consume all of your Advanced Technique, instantly giving you and your fellowship a buff reducing incoming damage. Your personal damage reduction will be stronger than the group-wide effect, and the potency of both will scale depending on the number of Advanced Technique consumed.



Javelins and Assailment
Lasting Mark
This trait has been split into two traits: ‘Marked Targets’ and ‘Diminished Targets.’ The first rank in each gives the corresponding effect to certain gambits. Marked Target will be applied by any skills in the Boot – Cauterizing Steel gambit sequence, and Diminished Target will be applied by and skills in the Precise Blow - Spear of Fate gambit sequence. Subsequent ranks of both trait increase the durations of their corresponding debuffs.

Battering Strikes
The first rank of this trait adds a Critical Defence debuff to gambits in the Offensive Strike sequence. Subsequent ranks increase the potency of this debuff.

Suppression
The first rank of this trait adds an Outgoing Damage debuff to gambits in the War Cry-Desolation line (rather than the Offensive Strike line).

Javelin of Deadly Force
Javelin of Deadly Force would be essentially unchanged, except that it will deal more damage, and will also apply the Marked and Diminished debuffs to any enemies hit. This would give you an infrequent way to apply both debuffs immediately to clusters of mobs.

Ambush
Ambush no longer requires you to be out of combat to use. It still retains its induction, unless you have the Adroit Ambush trait and have used Adroit Manoeuvre in combat before using Ambush.

[istvana]

I haven't focused on warden in a long time. Every year it gets harder to remember not just gambits but entire chains of gambits. This isn't a criticism of the system - and I know there are add-ons to help.

Yesterday I created a new warden intending to focus on ranged combat not melee. One might guess that I am posting to complain about yellow being eliminated as a specialty. Not so - it was distinctly weaker for most purposes and I applaud its elimination as a specialization and agree with the reasons given.

[Palentian]

So, overall I am encouraged. I like the idea of making yellow line a boost line like the brawler. I also like going back to getting 2 slot, then 3 slot later. It made learning the gambits easier and I felt had a really good sense of advancement when levelling. I do have concerns about making more "clicky" skills rather than gambits. While I'm not the type to holler about "you've ruined the class!" the last time gambits moved to "clicky" skills didn't go over well. LOL And indeed, the class is all about the gambit for a reason.

[Perks]

so what did my good friend STM become

[Ulderen]

so what did my good friend STM become

Perks asks a great question, as STM is a staple for yellow line. Would love to hear how hefty skills like STM are being moved over.

[Seschat]

It has been a long time since I focused on my Warden, so I'll leave commentary on the mechanical changes to the more knowledgeable players.

HOWEVER, the number one complaint I've heard over the years is that a Warden Tank depends primarily on B/P/E mechanics to survive, and endgame raid content over the last few has focused on bosses non-mitigable attacks. Either you have the right combination of capped heavy armor mitigations, the right emergency defense power, and ludicrous Morale, or you're dead. A tank that depends on Block/Parry/Evade (which do not apply to such attacks) to reduce the incoming damage, is just plain dead.

I would greatly appreciate hearing how this issue is being addressed.

[OnnMacMahal]

so what did my good friend STM become

From the diary:

Its spirit will be retained in the new skill ‘Rapid Techniques,’ as well as the trait ‘Strong Foundations’ which will make your gambit builders reduce the active cooldowns of their related Mastery skills.

Tentatively, Strong Foundations gives your gambit builders up to -2s Mastery cooldowns of the same type. So for example (with the trait) Quick Thrust would reduce the active cooldowns of Sp-Sp, Sp-Sh, and Sp-Fi by 2 seconds. This won't reset all of your Mastery skills, and it won't let you use the same mastery 3 times in a row like StM does, but it will mean that when you're leaning hard on gambits of a certain type (if you're trying to pump out lots of Shield-Spear gambits to heal in quick succession, for example) using a normal gambit builder when you have to will help get some of your Mastery skills off cooldown.


the other resource is a skill called Rapid Technique, which simply consumes Advanced Technique to reset all of your masteries ever 2 seconds. This also won't let you click the same mastery 3x in a row, and it has a much longer cooldown than Seize the Moment, but it will let you build several gambits rapidly when you need to.

[Dragonetti]

Will there be changes to LI legacies? I've found it hard to fill out a full melee dps build with useful Word of Mastery legacies.

Also, I think that the harrying effect (triggered by being attacked in melee while in Assailment) is a large hurdle to being a ranged Warden. Any changes there?

[OnnMacMahal]

It has been a long time since I focused on my Warden, so I'll leave commentary on the mechanical changes to the more knowledgeable players.

HOWEVER, the number one complaint I've heard over the years is that a Warden Tank depends primarily on B/P/E mechanics to survive, and endgame raid content over the last few has focused on bosses non-mitigable attacks. Either you have the right combination of capped heavy armor mitigations, the right emergency defense power, and ludicrous Morale, or you're dead. A tank that depends on Block/Parry/Evade (which do not apply to such attacks) to reduce the incoming damage, is just plain dead.

I would greatly appreciate hearing how this issue is being addressed.

BPE is still very valuable, but yes, Determination wardens are going to get a little love outside of BPE in some of their shield gambits, traits, and skills.

My goal is not to strip the class of BPE in part because we can attack this from multiple angles. Most tanks rely on BPE stats and effects to some extent, so we shouldn't just call the whole BPE system a lost cause.

[19Euan96]

As long as played ranged is still viable as a reckleness warden I'm happy. I always liked the ranged style but hated how many of the assailment traits were all related to just about switching back into melee stance anyway. I would ultimately rather have two good trait lines and and passive booster than 3 ok lines. It's probably party why I like the Brawler so much, because it just feel slike you're getting lots of extra stuff without it costing 2 points. Hopefully ranged warden is even stronger after this revision, looking forward to the bullroarer

Interested to see how the gambit changes play how, but on paper it sounds fine.

I imagine then that yellow guardian and yellow hunter will be on the chopping block as well now, but I can deal with them being passive lines and well, esp. since I main a blue guard and red hunter haha!

[Mikuma]

Will wardens remain a medium armor wearing class or will the ability to wear heavy armor be an option when in tanking mode?

[Valather89]

I really like the philosophy behind most changes so far.

I like the bit about players getting 2-slot gambits, then 3-slot, then 4 and 5. Getting a 5-slot gambit at level 16 (Conviction) felt a little too hardcore. Kind of related to that: I'm wondering if the level at which Wardens acquire Masteries could be tweaked. I know they're an integral part of the class and that it's important for players to master them (pun intended) early on, but IMO getting 9 new "buttons" all of a sudden at level 21 is overwhelming, especially at such a low level. Maybe it'd be better for the players to get them more gradually over their leveling process (like 1 new Mastery per 2 levels, or 3 per 4 levels, or something like that). My 2 cents.

[Daugon]

I like a LOT about what I'm seeing. Streamlining the Warden without gutting the core of the class. Also, completely agree with yellow line becoming non-specialized.

Here are a few things I'd really like to see commented on. Firstly, how will the self-heals will be handled? Currently, Warden is in a really rough spot with blue line self-heals. I mean, the Guardian has a skill on a 2m cooldown (Warrior's Heart) that is SIGNIFICANTLY better than Never Surrender (the Warden's only emergency skill) which has a 10m cooldown. That'd be "fine" if the Warden actually had any gambits that could make up the difference, but nothing even comes close to literally just that that one Guardian skill. That's not to even mention all the other amazing emergency skills the Guardian has.

If anything, I'd love to see all the gambits that provide direct healing or morale leeching become % based heals. The number system feels archaic compared to other classes, not to mention how many times the level cap has changed causing certain gambits to become entirely forgotten. There have been literal years where certain healing gambits have been useless due to being numeric values that failed to scale properly, rather than a percentage which scales nicely pretty much no matter what. Is this a modernization you intend to implement with these class changes?

And similar to our lack of burst damage, Wardens have a severe lack of burst healing. Is this something which will be addressed with those new emergency skill you talk about? Gambit wise, I'd love to see something like Celebration of Skill add a decent instant percent heal, should you execute it at the end of a gambit sequence. This would give you the option to go with either the HoT on Restoration (which would heal more, but over a long period), or an instant burst of healing at the cost of the total health Restoration provides.

As a nearly 16 year player, and a pervious Warden main, these are my two cents!

------

One other thing that comes to mind: I'd love to hear your thoughts on completely removing Battle Preparation and simply making all gambit builders available to use, for free, while out of combat. Battle Prep already does this, but adds a LOT of completely needless animations and clunk to the process. Just cut it out entirely and streamline the process.

[Perks]

I like a LOT about what I'm seeing. Streamlining the Warden without gutting the core of the class. Also, completely agree with yellow line becoming non-specialized.

Here are a few things I'd really like to see commented on. Firstly, how will the self-heals will be handled? Currently, Warden is in a really rough spot with blue line self-heals. I mean, the Guardian has a skill on a 2m cooldown (Warrior's Heart) that is SIGNIFICANTLY better than Never Surrender (the Warden's only emergency skill) which has a 10m cooldown. That'd be "fine" if the Warden actually had any gambits that could make up the difference, but nothing even comes close to literally just that that one Guardian skill. That's not to even mention all the other amazing emergency skills the Guardian has.

If anything, I'd love to see all the gambits that provide direct healing or morale leeching become % based heals. The number system feels archaic compared to other classes, not to mention how many times the level cap has changed causing certain gambits to become entirely forgotten. There have been literal years where certain healing gambits have been useless due to being numeric values that failed to scale properly, rather than a percentage which scales nicely pretty much no matter what. Is this a modernization you intend to implement with these class changes?

And similar to our lack of burst damage, Wardens have a severe lack of burst healing. Is this something which will be addressed with those new emergency skill you talk about? Gambit wise, I'd love to see something like Celebration of Skill add a decent instant percent heal, should you execute it at the end of a gambit sequence. This would give you the option to go with either the HoT on Restoration (which would heal more, but over a long period), or an instant burst of healing at the cost of the total health Restoration provides.

Lastly, Warden seriously needs an instant single target taunt on a fairly low cooldown, again, similar to what the Guardian has with Fray the Edge. This is critical for drawing a boss's aggro in an emergency.

As a nearly 16 year player, and a pervious Warden main, these are my two cents!

warning shot exists

[Daugon]

warning shot exists

Completely forgot about that, tbh.

[Regero]

BPE is still very valuable, but yes, Determination wardens are going to get a little love outside of BPE in some of their shield gambits, traits, and skills.

My goal is not to strip the class of BPE in part because we can attack this from multiple angles. Most tanks rely on BPE stats and effects to some extent, so we shouldn't just call the whole BPE system a lost cause.

I LOVE your changes! So far, everything I'm seeing either looks extremely promising and interesting, especially the use of the semi-cooldown skills and how they interact with the gambits and Advanced Technique, or are things I've been asking for since Moria, like more 5-length Gambits finishing off chains. The gambit changes themselves also look very good! You've simultaneously cleaned up a lot of old, dated, mechanics and also added new mechanics and addressed old short comings of the class. Seriously, from what I've read so far, here and other places, massive props! Trait changes, new skills, everything: 10/10.

The only two I'm just a bit worried about are the self-heals and the BPE. Self-heals need love, especially Conviction, though the new Celebration of Skill sounds very promising. Two CoS's (one built, one from Battle Memory) sounds like it could be very good. My either concern really is the BPE though. It sounds like, particularly with the removal of the 2% buffs from builders and the Persevere-line gambits, we are losing a lot of BPE, especially partials. I think it's smart to stream-line and consolidate the effects of Gambits, and removing the 10% chance for minute effects to proc off builders is fine, but I like the niche of the Warden as an avoidance tank and would really like to see that retained in the class. I think it should be moved somewhere else, definitely, but at least tack it on to the Shield's Up line. Maybe each of those gambits gives 3% Partial BPE or something.

I also like the names you picked for things. Nice to see Shield's Up back as a Gambit, and nice to see Way of the Spear/Fist/Shield return. Now give us Way of the Warden back (only good this time)

And, again, good job OnnMacMahal; You've clearly put a load of thought and attention into this revamp and it looks great!

[Hadrigar]

I really appreciate the communication and allowing for questions. I would really enjoy testing these Determination Warden changes out myself, but it will have to wait. The "cooldowns" being added, I hope are not all directly tied to battle flow. This would make the start of pulls, a huge disadvantage for wardens tanking. You would have to build up stacks of chaining gambit after gambit to use anything "substantial". The other tanks have rotations and skills that are locked being combat stages(guard with catch a breath, cappy with battle readied skills) but those are not the super clutch buttons they press. Guard has superb solo self healing and huge damage mits baseline and on CD. I just hope these are all considered when the entire pull for a warden tank is changed.

Again I am very thankful for the chance to relay my feedback directly and thank you for the work to update my favorite tanking class in any MMO

[Jokeurthewise]

I would say it looks good so far. I will miss Seize the Moment but I have to agree it was a bit too RNG based (at least in single target fights) to really rely upon.

I agree with everything written in your assessment of the state of the class, which is a great start!

I have a question about the gambit chains, do you need to use 2-length, 3-length and 4/5 length in precisely that order (with no other gambits in between)? When you start building the chain, can you mix it up with the "wrong" length of gambits and then pick it up later? If you can, then that sounds pretty nice. If not, then it's adding an extra constraint on top of : which masteries are available and which gambit would give the best benefice in a specific circumstance. I guess that is called : "meaningful choices during gameplay" but I am not yet convinced, I feel like I'm already keeping track of a lot of things (buffs, debuffs, dots, hots, etc.) Some of which require plugins because the icons are many or are exactly the same (like the spear dots).

I like the idea of the new non-gambit skills being "powered" by gambit usage / chain completion (it's innovative), but that will still make the beginning of fights a bit rough on warden tanks. There has been a lot of boss fights lately in which the tanks have to run in with a "cooldown" skill active for instance, to survive the initial hit(s) until the heals can start rolling in.

As previous posters mentioned, the self-healing definitely needs to be looked at. It doesn't scale well with increasing level caps (as was pointed out), but it also doesn't scale at all during gear progression inside a given level cap. In the first month of a new expansion, stats aren't high, mobs don't hit too hard (the high tier instances aren't available yet, etc.) and the self-healing feels mostly ok. But as you get better gear, your morale pool increases, the higher tier instances come out and your self-healing numbers remain exactly the same as they were, which isn't nearly enough anymore. Increasing your incoming healing isn't enough to bridge the gap. The simpler fix would probably be to make them % based as morale / vitality is pretty much the only stat that will really increase with gear progression.

Thank you for your work, looking forward to see the changes on Bullroarer!

[Halphast]

No Seize the Moment, replaced by Strong Foundations... which sounds like we have to chip away at mastery cooldowns by using weak gambits in between, and there's no opportunity to use the same mastery several times in a row. Which is necessary when (for example) 3/2, 3/2/3, 3/2/3/2, 3/2/3/2/3 is a useful gambit chain..........

No yellow warden, now just have to be red and focus on range.

Advanced Technique - special skills that don't work at full strength unless we perform gambit chains to build up a new resource.

So.

My main character is a yellow with an exclusively range build, relying on my high crit rating which regularly sets off Seize the Moment. Everything I value about the class is going in the trash, and I'll basically be a level 140 character learning a brand new class that I didn't choose to switch to. New skills, new mechanics to make the most of those skills... re-learning every gambit since it sounds like so many are changing... will my traceries be worth anything? Will they even exist?

I'm trying to keep a cool head, but it really sounds like my class and build are just being cancelled and replaced with something completely new and un-tested, and there's nothing I can do about it.

[auximenes]

I know they're an integral part of the class and that it's important for players to master them (pun intended) early on, but IMO getting 9 new "buttons" all of a sudden at level 21 is overwhelming, especially at such a low level. Maybe it'd be better for the players to get them more gradually over their leveling process (like 1 new Mastery per 2 levels, or 3 per 4 levels, or something like that).

Agreed. Perhaps start out at 21 with just the '2 of the same' masteries and add more at 26 and the remainder at 31.

[Faudyen]

I look forward to your work on this class. I’m having trouble digesting how the Warden will become a viable tank if Im honest, here is my reasoning. Warden tanks start out pretty weak and buff themselves with gambits and healing. In order for a warden tank to buff themselves to the point they are at an equal level with a guardian or a cappy in a raid, it seems they would almost be OP for any other content because their stats are self provided as much as gear provided.
Either way Im super excited to see the coming changes and how it will all work.

Thank you for all the good changes coming to Wardens. I didn’t see it in your post but maybe forced march can stay on? That would be a nice quality of life bonus.

[Kaeneth]

STM is not always ideal, but it is one of the most fun parts of playing the class when it triggers. Not sure how I'm going to feel about its removal and replacement, but I'll give it a shot before passing any judgment.

One thing that wasn't mentioned here though is a bit on warden animations. I think one of Warden's biggest issues still is how many animations it has, particularly out of combat, though not exclusively so, that just feel slow, clunky and unnecessarily long.

The biggest ones I'm thinking of are battle preparation itself with the weird hip twist movement, and then a lot of the pre-battle buffs. The individual gambit builders themselves also feel rather clunky both in and out of combat, and then as a result even the tiniest amount of lag really messes up that rhythm and with it your entire gambit you were trying to build. I know lag is a separate issues on its own, but I sometimes wonder if the animations on builders were quicker/smoother if it would help out at least a bit.

In any case I'm very much so looking forward to whenever these changes hit BR as both the captain and warden are former favorite classes of mine, but over time have fallen to some of my least favorites. I'm hoping that their updates will help me learn to love them again.

[teitei]

Will wardens remain a medium armor wearing class or will the ability to wear heavy armor be an option when in tanking mode?

I'm a returning Warden and I would also like to know why Heavy armour has not been considered for Wardens in blue line as a way to rebalance the
warden as a viable tank. All other classes that have a tank line use heavy armour. Others have mentioned that BPE would have to boosted significantly or new instant skills would be needed but why not allow Wardens to have the option to use Heavy armour in this line? This would negate the need to significantly change heal/bpe gambit mechanics and additional instant heal skills. Tanking in medium armour has not been viable at raid level let alone 6 mans for the longest time. Heavy armour would allow Wardens to become viable tanks again since the time level 75 was the cap.

My other question is will the changes to the gambits make them easier to use or remember? This class is the most complicated to play so when I read that the changes would make the gambit system more 'flexible' I am very concerned. Adding more complexity to the gambit system will make it harder for existing and new players to fully exploit the capability of the warden class. Why not make gambit chains assignable to a key, or at least have this as an option. or even have the longer gambits assignable to a key. Maybe this is already possible and I am not aware of this but what I am getting at is I hope the changes will make it easier to use the gambits and that being more 'flexible' doesn't mean adding more options which make it even harder to remember what to press.

[olimaxnik]

First of all, I would like to thank you for finally revising the Warden after all these years, when it was almost useless as a tank for endgame. On the whole, the planned changes sound interesting, even if they are only very roughly described at this point. The following things I would like to note or ask:

- Self-healing: As some others have already mentioned, this is in a really catastrophic state. To give just one example: Restoration I have unbuffed arround 2 Mio Morale and it hits myself with arround 38k every 3 sec. The skill, as well as many other skills, including morale leaches which are good for groups, are far too low in terms of morale as well as the "strength" of the enemies. I'm not sure if further development of the Gambitchains would be sufficient here.

- Why won't we be able to save "Advanced Technique" when we are out of combat? Is there a possibility to "take" at least a part of the points from the fight? Often things happen that you have to react to quickly at the beginning of a fight until everything is in order. Wouldn't it be advantageous to use at least a certain number of points outside the battle? (Of course, it depends a bit on the planned skills, which can be activated with this, just want to give some food for thought).

-BPE: In my opinion, BPE has lost its importance in the past years, especially for the warden. If I remember back to level 75 times was felt every 2-3 hit blocked, dodged or parried. This was very helpful in that it gave the warden a breather to be healed. However, since the opponents now hit so hard, you have no other option as a warden but to stack vitality, which also doesn't help much since the self-healing is too low and you can no longer BPE many attacks. Are there concrete approaches to increase the importance of BPE again, or will we have to rely more on "For the Free Peoples" in the future?

- Satisfaction: Currently, in my opinion, the buffs that the warden has are too low. Even if I keep all my buffs up, which are some more compared to other tank classes, I have no chance to get them. It just doesn't feel satisfying even when maintaining all the buffs. As I can see from the diary a change is also planned here, I also just wanted to point out again that significant improvements are also needed here.

I think that's it, thanks in advance for the answers.