Yojimbosan

The first thing we must keep in mind when spending AA points is that there is no "best setup". We must also keep in mind that most of our abilities have softcaps, hardcaps and diminshing returns (Ex: +1.5% shield effectiveness could add +.05% avoid to one toon and +.20% avoid to another depending on your current avoidance and shield) so most of our AA abilities will affect different players differently.

The main point of this thread is not to tell you how to spend your AA points as much as it is to help you become better aquainted with them so that you can make your own decisions based on your goals. There are several ways to spec a Guardian and with the AA mirror you can currently only have 2 specs at a time. Some of the specs are the group tank, raid tank, solo, solo PVP, group PVP, all-around, multi-target, or maybe you just want to make a fun spec. Either way, your first step is deciding which 2 specs you will use the most.

Spending your AA wisely requires a lot of knowledge not just about the Guardian but also about hardcaps, softcaps, diminshing returns and how they work. I'm not going to get into that here but a little research will go a long way when trying to optimize your AA's. The last thing to note before I get started is that all of my information below is based on how AA affects my own toon and like I said above could affect different toons differently. I am a level 80 Guardian with 200 AA and above average (but not amazing) gear so I should be a good comparison for most Guardians.


General: Very weak branch overall. I would pick 2 of these and stick to 10 AA in this branch.
Pet of the Gods -Increases casting speed and attribute bonuses of your diety pet by 10%. I don't know of any pets that would make this worthwhile as it will typically only add 3-4 attribute points.
Bountiful Feast - Increases duration of food and drink by 2.5%. If you put points into this you better have some damn good food and drink to make it worthwhile.
Ample Harvest - Harvest a 2nd time on 3% of harvests. This ability is actually very useful but only on a crafter/harvester toon.
Hearty Constitution - Each point spent here will add approx 69 health. This is the only ability in the general branch I couldn't imagine a Guardian being without.
Swift Journey -Increases your mount speed by 2%. This is my choice for a 2nd ability but mainly because I play on a PVP server.
Enhanced Mind - Each point spent here increases your power by approx 33. This would be my 2nd choice if I played on a PVE server.
Swift Strides - Each point increases your out of combat speed by 1%. Guardians do not have hardly anything which increases speed. Because of this I feel that all Guardians should ride a mount which makes this ability very limited.
Swift Creation - Increases tradeskill progress by 2%. Obviously only good if you are an avid crafter.

Fighter: Better than general but still a weak branch. Pick 2 and stick to 10 AA here as well.
Consummate Defender - Each point spent here increases your avoid by approx .1%. Every bit of avoid and mit you can get helps if you are a MT but if not I'd stay clear of this one.
Swinging Strike - Each point spent here will increase the DPS of this spell by 3% (approx 30). It will also increase your crits with this attack by 2%.
Enhance Rescue - This ability is not needed at all. Putting 4 points in the Enhance Rescue from your Guardian tree will already have your recast on rescue capped out.
Offensive Prowess - Each point spent here will increase your slashing, crushing and piercing by 2 each. It's not much but could be worth it for a 100% pure DPS spec.
Riposte Mastery - Increase riposte damage by 5%. Pretty much worthless for a Guardian.
Battle Hardening - Reduces physical damage by 50 for each point spent. This is easily the best ability in this branch and I wouldn't be without it in any spec.
Sneering Assault - No brainer here...a must have.

Warrior: A fairly good all-around branch.
Saving Grace - Adds 1 hate position to Rescue. If you can't get and hold aggro with the plethora of taunts the guardian already has you prolly shouldn't be playing a tank. This ability is simply not needed at all.
Rallying Cry - Each point spent here will add 21 spell and combat art damage to each group member. Easily one of the best places to spend your AA.
Shield Slam - Each point spent here will add approx 60 DPS to this attack and increase the hit modifier by 2. A very strong ability that goes well with Belly Smash from the Warrior tree.
Aggressive Nature - This adds a small amount of hate whenever you block an attack. I have tried this out several times now and can't notice any difference at all when I have it. Really only worth it if you are having problems holding aggro.
Absorbing Blows - 2% chance to resist stun effects. This might be worth it if you don't have your Mythical yet but if you do I'd put your AA elsewhere.
Veteran's Shielding - Each point spent here will increase your mit by approx .2%. Similiar to the Consummate Defender, worth it if you are a MT but if not I'd put my AA elsewhere.
Cry of the Warrior - Another no brainer...a must have.

Guardian: Incredible branch with several great choices.
Hateful Assault - Each point increases the DPS of this spell by approx 24 and adds a little bit of hate. One of the weakest abilities in this branch.
Added Constitution - Each point adds 180 health group wide. Amazing ability that no Guardian should be without.
Decimation - Each point spent increases the DPS of this spell by 92 and improves skill reduction by 2%. I strongly recommend having this as well as Enhance Decimate from the Guardian tree.
Strategic Assault - Each point spent here increases the DPS of the spell by 237. This ability also applies to Lay Waste and actually makes it more potent than Mar. Very good use of AA.
Guardian's Will - Each point spent here increases mit by .1% and avoid by .2%. Not bad except this is a temp buff. I would only recommend this if you have Stance Mastery from the WIS branch in the Warrior tree which I don't recommend doing.
Reversal -Gives caster a 3% chance to strikethrough a successful avoidance check. This ability seems to increase my DPS by quite a bit.
Defensive Minded - One of the best overall Guardain abilities. Get this as soon as you can.
Sentinel Strike - Another truly amazing ability. Get this as soon as you can as well.

Pinski

This is terribly inaccurate.

I advise you to never post again, anybody who states that an AA increase the DPS of a CA by 237 per point is just dumb. If that were the case, then there would be parses of Guardians doing over 1k from a single ability, but the reality is there isn't. So please, learn exactly what the AAs actually do.

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Calaglin, Former Illusionist/Guild Leader of Dissolution on Nektulos
Calaglin, Former Illusionist/Guild Leader of Confirmed on Unrest

Yojimbosan

Well, if spells didn't have recast timers then what you say is true but they do. You can't just sit back and cast the same spell over and over and over again. The reason you have such a huge increase on strategic assault is that it also lowers the casting time of the spell which greatly increases the DPS of the spell (not of you)...big difference. The DPS of any one particular spell is figured by adding the low and high damage amounts of that spell and dividing by 2 to give you the average that it hits for. You then need to make that amount = to 1 second. My numbers are accurate and that is exactly what that AA ability does. It is a very strong ability which is evident by your unwillingness to believe just how good it actually is. That number is also against a single target and it is an AoE attack so it could actually be much stronger than even that.

Pinski

DPS of an ability includes recast. Calculating it without recast is just dumb because as you just said you can't just spam the ability all the time.

__________________
Calaglin, Former Illusionist/Guild Leader of Dissolution on Nektulos
Calaglin, Former Illusionist/Guild Leader of Confirmed on Unrest

Chumann

I took the liberty of quoting everything from your post that was assonine, stupid, absurd, and/or just downright incorrect.

If you're a guardian that wants real answers, please don't listen to this guy. He couldn't be more wrong in so many things.

Please don't. If it's anything like this post, it'll just be a waste of everyone's time.

Anap KaSplat

Dunno what Yojimbosan is thinking, but he left out the most important TSO AA you can possibly get....

... the chance to multiple harvest FTW!!!!!

__________________

Maybe EQ2 just isn't your game. I know! Let's have a spelling contest!

Titanite

I would sooner take advice from the retard in the park than a Guardian who uses the Wisdom line. Belly smash is the absolute worst ability we have in that tree, as for his suggestions in terms of the shadow line Chuman is bang on calling this scrub out on some retarded choices.

What would be nice is to see a real thread on AA choices with screenshots and debate from people who have actually played the class for more than a week.

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Tumor73

I am speechless. Please go play a SK, and help them figure out their best AA setup.

Yojimbosan

I never said that I used or even recommended the wisdon branch. My speed on my mount is 89% and it also increases my hate gain by 3% and gives me 250 health...why in the world would you not want that? Here is my current AA setup for my all-around spec.

Chumann

The reason is because it has ZERO effect on combat. The boosts you get from your mount would be there with or without the additional run speed, so you can shorten your above point to

My answer: Because I don't give a fuck how fast I run when I'm not in combat. Hooray, I can get to the zone in before my guildmates can? Who cares.

Even the +power AA or the +god pet cast time has at least SOME combat/raid practicality (albeit almost trivial).

Besides, your 1st line TSO AA choices weren't what made your post stupid. Everything else was.