ZOS, please stop what you are trying to do with Warden for a moment and think

phungducanh369

Hello everyone, I speak as an end game PvE player (completed 4 trifectas and vRG HM) that also dabble a lot in PvP (have played against well known players and streamers a lot in BGs and Cyro), have written and tested a lot of combat mechanics theory. I'm not bragging but simply showing that I am not some first timer that doesn't know what I'm talking about, and what I'm saying next is not baseless babbling.

The changes to Warden since U35 is, in short, disaster (for PvE DPS). The class was absolutely fine before, people love to bring it to trials and dungeons, it deals competitive damage in intermediate level, can excel to one of the best class in an experienced hand (tracking OB, aiming with your shalks). It rewards high APM play, but doesn't punish those without it (I have seen people with only 6-7 active abilities dealing good DPS with it).

But ZOS, for reasons you have yet to explain to us, you attempted to mini-rework the class in U35, effectively bring it down to one of the worst PvE class in history. The class now has to juggle 9 DOTs, have 0 sustain and still deal the least DPS in all classes. The changes to Advanced species was nice for PvP, but gutted the PvE aspect of it whereas you could've totally gone for something like SD/WD or keep the %dmg increase that helps both sides. The class spammable and identity DOT (winter's revenge) deal wet noodle damage and is not worth slotted over many generic dots. You also tied it to the destro staff, which is a big [snip] to your mantra "play however you want". Since then, the number of Warden DPS I've seen in PvE has been close to non-existence.

But in U36, you continue to double down on all of the mistakes mentioned above. You changed Advanced species from one capped stat to another (a worse stat in both PvP and PvE btw) then attempted to band-aid it by reworking another passive, something that no one ever asks for. You tied another passive to an inferior weapon for DPS, making sure to remove all other playstyle that doesn't use it out of the equation. Class abilities still deal no damage, the class itself is a pain to optimize in a group setting, even for mid-tier and below as they have little knowledge about capped stat and can easily over cap it.

Done with the rant part, now comes the suggestion. I think the easiest solution would be: just revert all the changes in U35, a fair amount of warden players I know would rejoice to have this. But in case you still dont want to ZOS, here we go:
1. Change advanced species to give SD/WD, an uncapped stat, wanted by all players. I would also suggest giving a flat amount instead (somewhere 90-120) as giving % boost is stronger in heavy optimized setting but weaker in unoptimized one, so it strengthens your goal of raising the floor
2. Make the spammable deals increased damage for 22s after they hit an OB enemies. This ensure the playstyle around OB while still keeping it competitive to other spammables
3. Remove the tie to destro staff of winter's revenge, but instead buffs its damage against chilled enemies
4. Change piercing cold to increase your damage against brittle enemies (somewhere 5-10%), this ensure the ice staff playstyle still have its place in unoptimized group where they dont have dedicted tanks to brittle, but still reward the optimized group with one.
5. Not related to Warden, but buff the damn destruction staff skill line if you want people to use it. Virtually only 1 passive is worth using the weapon for, and that passive is also incredibly weak for lightning and frost staff.

Thank you for reading, please pardon any grammar as English is not my first language, hopefully we can get ZOS to do something with this post

[edited for profanity bypass]