Protective Bond

At what levels of Protection Prayers does Protective Bond go down in Energy taken? I want to know what number of points would take it down to either 3, or 2 energy taken for every hit reduced. If someone could help me, it would be appreciated

2 energy - 16 protective prayers
1 energy - 17 protective prayers (using an icon)
the 1 energy cost may be nerfed in a near future it is was not meant to be due to the invici-monk build.

so 3 would be 12ish eh? thanks for the help

no idea, i only use it at 16 prot prayers for the invici-monk build. There s no other use for it

hmm.
question: (if I missed it) Can i please get the specific quote from Anet/GW that states that +17 prot was not meant to be.

*I think that since every class has the ability to have +1(w/ % chance) to skills that it was not a mistake...someone just discovered that there was a use in a build.

*I have the solo monk build (would not call it "invincible") and have used +16 and +17 prot and I dont see the critical difference, (i usually leave it at 2 energy and dont spam to get 1 energy) unless you want to account/calculate every detail of a build.

-that's just me.

Starsky-Sama...

The one energy does make a pretty big difference in the 105/85/55 builds. At least for my build.

As for nerfing the protective bond... that isn't what they will do. At least not what I think they will do. More then likely they will just add a few creatures that can strip the enchantments off. As everyone is well aware without the bond you die in one hit...

I agree..the -1 prot bond is essentiall to my build. Otherwise I can't keep my energy up as essence bond and balth spirit are only offsetting the prot bond.

I do believe it will be nerfed...arenanet has adopted a strict policy of ball washing and thus a large stir usually results in a nerf...err I mean "fix". I believe the skill is working as it was originally intended and arenanet simply didn't foresee anyone putting the skills required for the "invinci-monk" build together properly. The skill isn't broken...it works exactly as it was intended.

Why all the speculating people? What evidence does anyone have that they are going to nerf the build, or make the area harder? I read the forums and I have not seen anything but rumors, speculation, and flat out lies regarding the "invincimonk" build. Just relax and enjoy the game.

Santanus...there are numerous screenshots of the frog, notoriously controlled by the development team, speaking to the town.

and I quote
"Those who once appeared invincible will no longer....."

that's a pretty big clue that prot bond is getting hit with the nerf bat...erhm I mean "fixed"

-2 energy taken starts at about 13 or 14. Paired with Life bond makes a good combo for protection.

I realize this is speculation, but I am also leaning towards them nerfing PB. There are many many ways they can nerf it too:

Make Protective Bond Elite and...
Make Bonetti's Defense Elite
Make Blessed Signet Elite (after all Offering of Blood is Elite)
Cap it at -2 or -3 energy per hit
Give it a time limit (not maintainable)
Raise the maintainence cost/casting cost
Make it "target other ally" only

Make Bonetti's Defense Elite
Make Blessed Signet Elite (after all Offering of Blood is Elite)[/QUOTE]

These three skills SHOULD have been Elites to begin with...they are among the most powerful skills in the game.

Not a fan of the capping it idea. If you want to take it to -2 or -3 energy per hit redo the math so that it stays proportional to level.


This wouldn't do much unless you gave it a rediculous recharge time and that would make it useless. A normal recharge time and people could effectively spam them with the right weapon selections.

Also won't do much as you only need to cast it once...so as long as you have enough energy to cast it one time raising the price won't be too effective.

invinci-monks everyone unite in two man teams to farm the hell out of even higher level areas!

i'm sorry i made a mistake, i meant it will be nerfed IF it was not meant to be, i'm not going to edit the original message so the whole thread will still make sense

No, it's a big clue that something will be done to curtail supermonks, not that protective bond will be zapped. It's working exactly as it should. Perhaps they'll make it a non-maintained enchantment with a time, perhaps they'll throw some degen beyond bleeding into the UW. Perhaps they'll add more Obsidian Behemoths to drop NR. Till they actually do something, there's no reason to make predictions as to what it will be because there's many things that it could be and no evidence that anyone has more favor in the eyes of the dev's

I hope you're right. I don't think "fixing" skills just because the small minority of the community thinks it should be nerfed is a good idea...but we've all seen that arenanet has adopted a policy of washing the proverbial balls of the minority of its community...and they're calling for a nerf. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if the skill is capped a -2 per hit...not that this will stop the farming build...it may for those who ripped it from the forums and don't understand it...but for the rest of the people that understand it all it'll do is make us carry one more skill. The "let's just add enchant strippers to every mob" fix is pretty pathetic....i've never seen a design company employ tactics THIS pathetic before.


still...I put my money on prot bond getting the bat.

I'd rather see changes to a skill, rather than adding monsters or adding skills to monsters that counter the effect. By doing the "add enchant strippers" method, the devs are lowering the usefulness of enchantments.

Everyone is expecting the PB nerf, though, in all this speculation, is this true, maybe the devs have something totally in mind, aside from nerfing PB or adding enchant strippers.

Blessed Signet. Let's see. 3 energy per maintained enchantment. Casting time of 2 + recharge of 10 = 12s between casts. During those 12 seconds, 1 pip of regen would have generated....4 energy. So, in effect, Blessed Signet allows you to maintain your enchantments "for not quite free". But it is not really that simple. Because now you are having to "waste" a skill-slot for this lowcost maintenance. And it is not automatic. You have to keep casting. If you are running from some axe warrior waiting for your E to recharge so you can heal yourself...well you can't do that with Blessed Signet. And woe be to the monk that gets interrupted while casting it too! No I don't think it is "elite".

Bonetti's - it does not last long. You can't use skills if you want to keep it on. It requires alot of adrenaline. It only gives you E from melee attacks. There are many attack skills and stances that bypass it. But I guess in the end I can see how some might consider it Elite.

Prot Bond - making it elite will not stop the invinci-monk. They do not rely on any other elites to solo, so it would not hurt to make this one elite. Any other elite they take is just to speed up the kill. I'm sure they could substitute it out for something a little less efficient. Besides, Prot Bond is difficult to use in regular gameplay--either PVE or PVP. In a team setting, to effectively use prot bond and not run out of E, you really need to devote 5 skillslots: Prot Bond, Life Bond, Essence Bond, Balth. Spirit, Blessed Signet. That leaves you with 3 skillslots to take care of the rest of the team Well...if you are putting it on yourself you don't need Life Bond. And in a PVE setting, you *can* take the time to recast it until you get the level-17 version. But in PVP you just don't have time for that.

I still think they are going to "nerf" Prot Bond and Prot Spirit by changing the way the damage prevention is calculated. Either making it an absolute number like Shielding Hands or by changing the "max health" figure it is using to base its %-age off of. Either of those methods leaves its "regular gameplay" utility fairly unchanged, but removes the ability to turn death penalty and superior rune penalties into an advantage.

I agree with Dazzler in that guess.

I also think they'll alter the InvincyMonk build just 2 inches as to make it useless for soloing UW, but they'll leave the chance open for a party with a monk with that build to do that area easier. Having a smiter of that kind, plus a healer and a necro, 1st for healing 2nd for energy, you can still make it work.

No way. Take a look at the necro spell Offering of Blood. Even at Blood = 18, it gives only 22 energy, AND requires a 10% sacrifice with a 15 second recharge. It is Elite.

You're telling me that a comparable Monk spell that could return a max of 20 energy, with NO sacrifice and FASTER recharge time (10s) shouldn't be Elite????

No way. Either remove the Elite status from OoB or make blessed Signet Elite.

OoB definitely deserves it's elite status, necros can do absurd things with order, even with the regen time and sacrifice.

Blessed Signet has longer casting time, so it's dangerous to rely on, and in reality, it only gives 3 energy per enchant. I doubt you'll see many monks maintaining more than 2 at a time in pve or pvp outside of soloing. OOOOOO, 6 freaking energy for a 2sec casting time and long recharge, not elite. It's also completely useless unless you're maintaining some enchantments. Order is never useless (unless you have less than 10% hp).