Warden's REAL Role? (Post-"Useless Class" Debate)

[Krydel_Darkwalker]

**All negative comment towards Wardens in this post are not my opinion, i personally love the class, these are the comments of people in-game**

I've just been in a very length discussion in game on OOC and the general consensus by the 5-6 players contributing were that Warden (my class) was a bit of a pointless class.

Could anyone enlighten me to our true role?

They seem to think:

- Useless as a tank
- Off tank at best
- Terrible at pvp
- Take too much damage
- Low morale
- Medium armour = fail.

I love my warden, and im not getting all the hate towards them. That, and the "i sparred a ward with my guard and i won in 5 secs" stuff.

It's a bit of a downer to be told your character isn't wanted in fellowships or raids because you are a solo only class :/

[Anda%]

Krydel, just to assure you: there are quite a few people who like to group with wardens, including myself.

I like the way they (you) do the tanking, they are capable and make it look easy. Don't let the others convince you about the opposite, Warden is NOT a solo-only class. Been through several instances (50+) with a warden friend tanking, having no problem at all.

I didn't like playing a warden but i like playing WITH one

[Hyksos]

I think most of these comments come from those who have had little experience playing alongside wardens or perhaps have only spent time with low level wardens playing who still have a poor selection of skills available. Quite often I feel almost invulnerable when using the group heals as it's crazy how much damage they can help you soak up, even moreso when you've got your best B/P/E buffs active. I'm not sure we are the best choice for tanking against single monsters that hit incredibly hard since that is when the medium armour is exposed as a weakness, but the class does an excellent job of herding up groups of monsters and keeping them under control.

[Aslird]

sadly it seems that wardens are frowned upon a lot in groups, purely i expect becasue do not really 'get' the class yet. I think this may vary by server tho, as on my server, eldar, people seem to happy to group with wardens.

Useless as a tank - we are the best class at keeping aggro on a group of mobs, with our high aoe threat generation and threat transfers.

off-tank at best - if i am grouped with a guardian, i will ask whether they want me to tank or they do. Wardens are perfectly capable of doing the off tank/peeling role, and we can use our (ok) dps better then. If the tank laughs at the thought of a warden tanking, well, i will steal his aggro and show how good we are :P

terrible at pvp - never tried pvp, but at a guess we are pretty poor, what with the time it takes to pull off gambits, and zero escape skills

take too much damage - capped block and evade with self buffs, the same mitigation as a dual wield champ, self heals, all help us avoid the damage.

low morale - i have 4.7k atm, with only 1 piece of radiance armor and only quest rewards for my jewellry. At a guess, 5k morale is entirley possible (i have grouped with 60 tanks with only 4.5k morale)

medium armor - don;'t forget, our shield adds a lot of armor value as well (900 i think for a level 55 crafted shield). Off the top of my head, my warden has 5k common mitigation (around 35%)

[Hanto Sunslayer]

Both leveling a warden to mid 40s so far and playing with them as a 60 guard.
they work well in an off tank/MA role with guards holding agro of most of the mobs and the warden pealing off the target tanking it while burning it down (my guard can generate much more agro with a warden in the group with prot on the warden my block chain can be spamed)
Tanks and PvP almost never mix live with it and roll a creep if you need a PvP fix as for spars we have a guard in our kin who happens to be good at them and beats all comers most of the time and guards are not known for being good at them.
its true that migration is better than avoidance in the long run but the self heals make up the difference.
Guards need 4.5K+ morale much more than 5K is a waist i have seen 5.5k Wardens so no they do not have low morale.

[squiggle]

Just want to say I've had very good experiences grouping with wardens as main tank on my burglar. I dont think they are useless!

[laemmerhirt]

They are apparently nice for the minstrels too, because they can also heal a little. Or so I've heard. Didn't have the chance yet to group with one unfortunately.

[vladrak]

2 Hanto: i think self-heal, b-p-e making us pretty good tankt, im going to hit CM cap 40%, yes, in some cases we are off-tank (we keeping aggro for multiple mobs better then champ or guard), but mainly we are designed as a main tank and it really depends on you when you are in a group with guardian to be main or off tank

[Doremias]

At level 38, i still dont feel like a real tank...

It just takes to long to grab agro..
And when building agro and keeping agro i can't use to many
selfheals or defensive gambits yet.
So in that case my health drops rather quickly
Peeling also takes way to long when a ranger has over dpséd
Or a minstrell has overhealed.
Mobs that add to a fight i can easilly peel tough


I am a survivor, sure..
I am usefull to a group, sure
But i can only maintank if the group addapts his playstyle
Currently at around 40 Guardians have the tools to grab agro quicker
Peel faster and take the initial damage in a fight better then Wardens..


But i can not play any other class anymore, because the warden fits my playstyle so well.
Its fun fun fun and even more fun.....and when the delays in executing skills have been removed in book 7, all things will be even better.

But i can only hope that things get better at the high end and that i have abbilitie sthat both taunt and heal at the same time...

[Willowfine]

Don't worry Doreimas, it does get better. A lot better! (Although only really once you've got access to LIs.) Find yourself a LI with +EoB threat and +Piercing Strike Threat and max them out and you'll be golden. I'm still using my lvl 51 axe (yes, axe) as my tanking weapon because of the threat legacies at lvl 58 and no-one is taking my agro! Once you've got that, you can spend time on your buffs and heals without worrying.