Guard mechanic

[Rok]

Guard (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1363)
This ability doesn't work exactly as advertised. When you Guard someone they take 50% less damage per hit (after mitigation) but you take a flat amount of damage based on your health, something like 1% of your total health.
I've tested this with Champion mobs and level 1 rats and the tank always takes the same damage per hit unless they change their max health.

Futhermore you can Block and Parry (and probably Disrupt and Dodge) the damage from Guard.


How the damage is calculated and whether or not you can Dodge or Disrupt that damage remains to be tested.

[Gyr]

Guard (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1363)
This ability doesn't work exactly as advertised. When you Guard someone they take 50% less damage per hit (after mitigation) but you take a flat amount of damage based on your health, something like 1% of your total health.
I've tested this with Champion mobs and level 1 rats and the tank always takes the same damage per hit unless they change their max health.

Futhermore you can Block and Parry (and probably Disrupt and Dodge) the damage from Guard.


How the damage is calculated and whether or not you can Dodge or Disrupt that damage remains to be tested.

Read this. Guard is horribly broken right now, and I suggest everyone report it. The op did some additional tests down in the middle of the thread:

http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159684

Posted by Cadien:
Ok, I did some testing against some mobs with a 33 AM guildy in Praag. We first tested against level 33 mobs at one of the ch17 pq's. Initially, it seemed to have worked as intended. He was taking 66 dmg, and I was taking 66 damage. Then we moved on to other mobs, where he was taking 211 damage, and I was taking 66 damage. Switched mobs to where he was taking ~99 damage, and I was still taking 66 damage. Switched yet again, to where he was taking ~100 damage, and guess how much I was taking...66 damage.

We went to the pq in the RvR lake where he had bolster, and attacked those mobs. Initially, he was taking 211 damage from the casters, while I was taking 66 damage. I dropped guard and he was taking 211 damage still. I reapplied guard, and he was taking 211 damage, while I was taking 211 damage. We switched to melee mobs, who were hitting him for 66 damage with guard up, while I was hit for 211. I dropped guard, and he was taking 132 damage, then reapplied it and the damage was evenly split again.

It seems that the first hit you take for guard, at the moment, will be the same amount of damage you get hit for on all subsequent attacks, no matter how much your guard target takes. Dropping and reapplying the guard makes it a "fresh" guard, which will take a new value for it's damage and apply that from then on. At least, that's the way it seemed during these tests.

Also, it seems the "them" in the guard tooltip is the attacking enemy. That is to say that you have to be within 30ft of ranged classes, and not your guarded ally, in order to take effect. I had my ally get to max range on casters, and while I was right next to him, I took no guard damage. When I moved right next to the caster mob, while my guildy was still at max range, I began to take guard damage again.

I recommend other people test this out, and confirm or refute what I found here. I wonder if this is just an isolated incident, whether it's just Swordmasters, whether it's just Order, whether it's everyone (which I believe it is).

Edit: Just tested the whole range aspect of it again. It seems that if I am within 30ft of my ally, I take protect him from 50% of the damage, but it's only if I am within 30ft of the enemy that I take damage. That is to say, the tank guarding the ally has to be within 30ft of the ally and the enemy for it to work as intended. If I am more than 30ft away from my ally, but within 30ft of my enemy, I take the guard damage but do not protect my ally from 50% of it. If I am within 30ft of my ally, but not my enemy, I protect my ally from 50% of it, but do not take any damage from the enemy.

[Cadien]

The weird thing about it is that sometimes when dealing with RvR, it seems to work as advertised. RvR, however, is a more chaotic testing ground, so I was unable to test it reliably other than noticing some odd big hits. I would like to see if others can replicate my findings in a similar manor, or whether this is some sort of weird anomoly.

[CMK]

I noticed this as well. I play often with my girlfriend, who rolls a Sorc. Now, I know they're squishy and all, but still...we were running around in T3 (we're 28), doing an old PQ for level 21 greens to salvage.

The regular mobs there were doing ~30-50 damage to her per hit, while I was taking 195. Every.single.time. No joke. It was quickly depleting my health.

Guard is BORKED. Please fix it. I can still weather this damage and it seems the threat-transfer works as advertised, but the damage taken is staggering at times. Sometimes it works, other times it's WAY off.

[Loric]

/signed

guard killed me several times in city dungeons

once where i was guarding a healer when he accidentally overaggroed during an aoe pull.. mobs which normally hit me for around 150, were each hitting me for 1500.. which brought me down really fast - i could live with that assuming it really halves the damage the guarded target is taking, but

i tested it on the 'pigs' in the east wing of bilerot burrow who hit like truck.. tank was taking about 1500 per hit.. i put a guard on him.. he keeps taking 1500 per hit, but i also start taking 1500 per hit.. i disable guard and i stop taking damage and he keeps taking the same

the aggro portion seems to work tho

[Isifel]

I get the feeling this may be a more widespread problem than just with Guard.

For example, while farming influence in a ch. 13 PQ I used Broad Swings to farm three mobs at once when the morale was up.

However, I consistently hit my two additional targets for exactly 200 damage with every hit regardless of what damage I were dealing to my main target.

This wasn't the case before 1.0.6.

Reading through the issues with Guard it seems it's very likely that Broad Swings uses some of the same codebase that been borked with Guard.

[FuriCuri]

Can anyone confirm that guard still broken after 1.1a ?

[LeviathanXIII]

Can anyone confirm that guard still broken after 1.1a ?

Can confirm the opposite. Guard is fixed after 1.1a and now properly splits damage after mitigation, unlike before when the first hit determined the damage for every hit after. Guard is now safe to use and will produce the expected, intended results.

[FuriCuri]

Can confirm the opposite. Guard is fixed after 1.1a and now properly splits damage after mitigation, unlike before when the first hit determined the damage for every hit after. Guard is now safe to use and will produce the expected, intended results.

Thanks. Good to know.

[Zarek]

Can confirm the opposite. Guard is fixed after 1.1a and now properly splits damage after mitigation, unlike before when the first hit determined the damage for every hit after. Guard is now safe to use and will produce the expected, intended results.

I don't think it is. I was in Bilerot last night guarding a BO tanking. I was taking 2600 dmg a swing and the BO's damage was not reduced. We stopped guarding and though my damage stopped the BO's didn't go up. We tried this on 2 different bosses and both times I was taking the same damage as the guard target w/o reducing anything, doubling the damage he was putting out.

[LeviathanXIII]

I don't think it is. I was in Bilerot last night guarding a BO tanking. I was taking 2600 dmg a swing and the BO's damage was not reduced. We stopped guarding and though my damage stopped the BO's didn't go up. We tried this on 2 different bosses and both times I was taking the same damage as the guard target w/o reducing anything, doubling the damage he was putting out.

I've tested it pretty extensively on dozens of mobs and RvR. It's fixed.

Now, I've noticed some wonky damage coming from several bosses but it wasn't coming from guard. Lady Arkaneth for example was dealing me 23 damage (28 mitigated) and 700 damage to the DoK I had guarded, for whatever reason.

But you can look at combat logs yourself, guard now splits damage.

[Zarek]

I've tested it pretty extensively on dozens of mobs and RvR. It's fixed.

Now, I've noticed some wonky damage coming from several bosses but it wasn't coming from guard. Lady Arkaneth for example was dealing me 23 damage (28 mitigated) and 700 damage to the DoK I had guarded, for whatever reason.

But you can look at combat logs yourself, guard now splits damage.

That's exactally what I did just the other day. BO getting hit for the same or near same damage 2300-2600 / hit and guard hitting me for 2300-2600 damage. Stop guarding and I stop getting hit. With all the buffs/debuffs from the group the numbers varried some, and it's possible the guard accounted for some of that ~300 difference in the attacks but that in no way makes up for the 2300+ damage I took from guard.

[FuriCuri]

That's exactally what I did just the other day. BO getting hit for the same or near same damage 2300-2600 / hit and guard hitting me for 2300-2600 damage. Stop guarding and I stop getting hit. With all the buffs/debuffs from the group the numbers varried some, and it's possible the guard accounted for some of that ~300 difference in the attacks but that in no way makes up for the 2300+ damage I took from guard.

I'll try to test it when I come home.
Anyone can test it in RvR? Maybe guard working separately different in PvP and PvE.