Guard Mechanic

I was wondering how people felt about the strength of the guard ability. If run with a proper healer you can beat pretty much anything within reason. My only issue with it in a PvP environment is that it seems like the Sage/Sorcerer bubble shield is more effective. Not only do they not have to stay within range for the bubble to work, but it negates up to 9k damage instead of redirecting it, and only leaves a 5-10 second time period with which you can kill before it can be reapplied (20 second reapply).

So what are peoples strategies using guard? I know a lot of the time I guard the sage first because thats usually the enemies first target, unless of course he is a DPS spam Sage; in which case I switch to trying to find a commando healer I can tank with.

Disclaimer: This is not a QQ or "BUFF/NERF THIS BECAUSE IM 1337 AND CAN'T BEAT THIS" thread about the bubble or guard; I just want to see how other people use guard and how they feel it compares to bubble. More of strategy talk.

Funny as a CM as soon as someone put the bubble on me I follow them around like a puppy...and they obviously get a lot of me healing attention.

I notice a huge uptick in medals and wins when I have a guard and when I don't