Every now and then I get people that tell me that I shield too much in Lockdown. It's not like I'm told that all the time, but it happens often enough to make me seriously consider if I'm using my shield too much.
So, I'm uploading my three most recent games here, in hopes that I might get a second opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjGSGg09z7k&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQQB1nYhr1Y&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP8GsbXF1j8&feature=youtu.be
You can't 'shield too much' in LD.
Tbh, I didn't watch much of the videos, but from what I can see, you're trying to support your allies with your shield. As in you are literally defending them while they attack for you.
That's fine. Totally fine.
I can only say that you'd be shielding 'too much' if you were walking around with your shield up all the time.
Nope, you're defending your allies. That is all.
Unless of course you also factor in the idea that defending your allies reduces your shield's energy due to all the hits it's taking, but honestly, I'd do the same. Have done.
Back in T2 always asked for an attack buddy. One of us would go Guardian, the other would attack from the shield's defensive sphere.
TL;DR: No, you're not.
True story: When I first tried Lockdown, I was about to give up on it as I was trying to be a recon and wasn't very good at it. Everyone else were strikers and I had no interest in doing that since I'm a bomber.
Then one match, I met a guy who picked guardian. Under his protective bubble, I could bomb freely and together we held CPs like nothing else.
That is the story of how I came to like Lockdown. If you keep your shieldy ways, you might do the same for someone.
Didn't even watch them; you're not. Guardians can't ever shield too much, unless you literally never drop it while you walk around and such. The guardians taht annoy me are the ones that put all their time and energy into tryin' to get damage and kills. If you're a guardian around your teammates, focus on defending them; only try and take attacks when the opportunity arises, but prioritise keepin' them alive.
Yes, you shield too much. Firstly, there is no need to shield your teammate while walking to another capture point. It is better to arrive faster to the next capture point. The real objective of this game is to capture points, not to survive or kill other people.
Secondly, in T3 LD, the guardian shield is like paper. The protection role is not very valid in T3. Moreover, it take 1 sec for your teammates to stay in your circle in order to be protected. In a heated striker battle, they rarely don't run out of your protection circle and they dont stay put at 1 place long enough for the protection to take effect. It is usually better for you to take part in the battle and double team the enemy (a distraction is much more useful) than a protection than might never arrive in time. If your shield break, you can't even do shield cancelling. Just reserve the shield for your own use.
TL DR
Don't shield while moving between points.
Don't shield during battles to protect others.
Do shield at capture point before anything happen to prevent ambush.
@Misten:
You can still shield-cancel with a broken shield, you just won't get the shield effect while you cancel. Same applies to recon cloak.
Also, if your teammates are being guarded by you and they walk out of your shield zone...then there's not much the guardian can do but try to follow them. It's up to your teammates to work as a unit with your team and try to stay inside shield zones as much as possible, and to lure the target to attack you whiile in them. The shields may break quickly (although slowly against virtually anything other than slow swords) but it only needs to protect the striker against 1 attack to negate a lot of damage. If your striker steps outside the shield and gets hit/dies, then that's entirely their fault. They could have stayed inside and been protected.
Not to mention that half-heart every half-second starts to build up really fast while inside that shield, so not only are attacks being negated, but when the shield finally does break, the striker will have more health than he did before.
If the guardian joins in the fight and doesn't happen to be totally rad at killing, all he's doing is speeding up the teammates health decrease at potentially no benefit. A shielding guardian is as much a distraction as an attacking one.
Honestly, the best guardians I've seen have spent a lot of time shielding their team. That doesn't mean they can't clock 10k+ damage, but they focus on keeping their team alive first and foremost.
Go look at his video and see how much 'distraction' you think he did.
Don't shield while moving between points.
Don't shield during battles to protect others.
Do shield at capture point before anything happen to prevent ambush.
So basically what you're trying to say is that I shouldn't use my shield at all?
FYI, I was shielding my teamate on the way to the capture point to heal him. Last I checked, that's one of those important things guardians are supposed to do.
Yes, the shield is very weak, but that only applies to melee attacks. While the shield will break in 1 - 3 hits from a sword, it can easily tank 10, 20, sometimes even 30 bullets before it gives out. Not only that, it can keep out status bombs indefinitely. Also, the guardian shield recharges very fast if you drop the shield before it breaks, allowing you to keep the shield up and your teammates protected far longer than guardians who just keep it up and wait until it breaks.
The tactical advantage of being able to heal every single person on your team whilst simultaneously protecting them from harm is more than enough of a reason to shield in all of the situations you've explicitly stated I shouldn't.
I know I posted this thread because I was unsure if I was shielding too much, but I know enough about this game to know that your claims are totally inaccurate.
EDIT: Upon rereading this post, I realize I came off as a bit... "hostile". I apologize, but being told to essentially stop shielding at all while playing as a guardian aggravated me.
You practically slow your whole team down while healing them because everyone is moving at a crawling speed. The health that you healed cant even be compared to half a hit from a gran faust. Anyway, you gotten your second opinion. It is up to you what you want to do with it. Won't post after this. Sorry,once again, I'm not motivated to prove my points to other people.
Guardians don't slow a team down at all. Nobody is forced to stay within the shield, and the entire game doesn't get played out entirely in the shield.
The guardian is expected by the team to be there, shield ready, when he's needed.
And when those times come, the team is expected by the guardian to actually bother to use the shield to their advantage.
If he's spending too much time shielding across paths, then all it takes is his team to just head out of the shield towards teh next CP; he'll catch on that they're healed and un0shield to follow them.
Sayin' that; shieldin' across paths out of fights is unneccessary regardless of situations. Ambushes don't happen frequently enough to justify constantly being shielded and moving at that speed. Shield heavily at points, then move quickly between them.
Exactly.
If a teammate is actively using my shield bubble to heal himself, it'd be rude and unhelpful to just drop it and run to the next point, leaving him wounded and forced to go all the way back to the spawn to heal up.
Likewise, its just as rude for someone to just wander around inside my shield after he's already been healed, while I keep my shield up and slowly crawl across the stage ignorant of the fact that there's no reason for me to continue shielding him.
"Don't shield while moving between points.
Don't shield during battles to protect others.
Do shield at capture point before anything happen to prevent ambush."
...
If one's going to use the Guardian shield like that, one may as well get a Recon cloak. It'd be more effective 'teleporting' around your enemy and not getting hit than hiding in plain sight and running out of Shield energy.
"The real objective of this game is to capture points, not to survive or kill other people."
Dead players can't capture points; the same applies to your teammates corpses on the CP.
"The health that you healed cant even be compared to half a hit from a gran faust."
That was answered with "Yes, the shield is very weak, but that only applies to melee attacks. While the shield will break in 1 - 3 hits from a sword, it can easily tank 10, 20, sometimes even 30 bullets before it gives out. Not only that, it can keep out status bombs indefinitely."
Sorry i didn't watch the vids but here are some general guard shielding tips:
DON'T shield while walking between points
DON'T shield if you're with someone who is terrible and will die anyway, if you know he's going to take your shield strength and then die regardless don't bother
DO shield if you're with a bomber on a point
DO shield if you're on a point with someone who is as good or better than you
ALWAYS shield if you're on a point with someone WAY better than you
It's alright to drop your shield and fight once it gets down around one hit away from breaking, that hit probably won't save your buddy and your shield recharges faster if it's just low rather than broken, but this is situational, use your judgement.
If the point's captured it's usually a better use of your time to move to capping the next one rather than healing everyone first, it'll depend on the situation.
I go guard gunner when I got like 3-4 good clones on my side. Soaking 2-3 hits for your lil striker buddy makes a huge difference, since most confrontations are over in about 10 seconds. Also great for when capping and there's a good recon out there (they are rare!).
Just gota use your best judgment.
GUARDIANS ARE SUPPOSE TO SHIELD. YOU'RE DOING NOTHING WRONG BRO. :D in fact I would probably follow you around the entire match if I was a striker on your team..If people say you shield too much, they're probably jelly of your guardian skills :3