Return of Reckoning

I know I know. But hear me out.

Guard ruins this game's balance. It kills the melee vs ranged dichotomy. On one hand, multiple mdps with Guards can simply run over a group of ranged dps with little effort. On the other, an mdps without guard can't even poke his head out without combusting instantly. This is probably why rdps in general are so popular. It has more versatility in all aspects of the game. If classes were all balanced without the presence of Guard, you'd have a much more balanced game.

BUT the role of tanks is what makes this game truly unique. Another thing that makes this game unique is the synergy in a group vs solo. It's not like say...World of Warcraft, where every class has its own plethora of cc's, damage mitigation, healing, and dps. For anyone that's been in a 5v5 arena match, you know what kind of chaos that brings. To preserve this spirit, I propose you give tanks much more crowd control, dmg mitigation, debuffs, and just about anything else that exists in the game to control the flow of a fight.

This way, the "skill" aspect remains in the game without turning it into a "who got punted when" standard. It would also make class balancing much easier, and enable all archetypes to enjoy WAR both inside and outside of premade groups. It's just something that's been on my mind over the years with every patch leading to attitudes of "**** melee" or "**** rdps". See you guys in game.

p.s. **** rdps

Declining. Tanks have a plethora of CC as it is, and the removal of guard would have huge ramifications in every aspect of the game, which would mandate a complete paradigm shift in how we approach the role of tanks in PvP/PvE; tldr a lot of work for something that isn't broken ('if it ain't broke, don't fix it' springs to mind).

Different archetypes are balanced around being played alongside other archetypes: healers rely on tanks to absorb the blows and mitigate damage for them, as do DPS; tanks rely on DPS to get kills with their improved resilience via guard; DPS rely on healers to keep them afloat, while tanks bear the brunt of damage.

This suggestion stems from an environment where tanks are in short supply/where guard isn't present; it stems from an environment where people just aren't playing tanks. As such, this isn't a balance issue but a player issue.