Guardian stealth nerf: talent completely removed on test; no mention in 1.2 pnotes

Guardian Slash was buffed, and although Swelling Winds was nerfed, the hybrid was nerfed more. Melee damage was also buffed 6% for both specs, but with more focus to work with I feel like the Def spec can use that better. Cyclone Slash was buffed by +19% attack, which the hybrid build can't take advantage of.

Basically aoe threat has gone down for both builds, but since the Def spec can utilize Cyclone Slash better, it is hurt less. Guardian Slash + SSM is also a huge buff to single target threat. No survivability was nerfed. I never used Command anyway, and alternate hybrid builds were hurt more by its loss imo. So not a lot of buffs, but still buffed. Aside from SSM, the hybrid received only nerfs.

Protector jumping once or twice (at least) per minute was the only way the hybrid had more survivability than the Def sec. without the protector half, i really cant figure out why people think the hybrid is still more survivable.

Point for point, I'm actually starting to think Dust Storm doesn't seem that great. The first option would give you Six more focus at the beginning of the fight, meaning two more Slash/Cyclone Slashes you can get off to front-load the damage and get the threat going. Plus Solidified force is a GReat skill for pvp, and can be a nice tool for pve to keep mobs rooted in place for force sweeps and such

That's a little convoluted, to be honest. Originally Defense could put 3 points into Pacification for +15%, and the hybrid just had no damage bonus. Now, however, with SSM and Swelling Winds adding bonuses, both builds gain +26% damage, and the full Defense can take Pacification to tack on another 8%. So really the hybrid gained more Cyclone Slash damage than Defense did from where they were before, but Defense can throw down 8% more damage in total.

The Def spec can throw down 100% more damage from Cyclone Slash than the Vigilance Spec. the hybrid tank does have the focus generation to put Cyclone Slash in the rotation

If swelling winds was nerfed, what is the bonus given in the 1.2 patch?

We get a joke of a healing/threat dump skill that burns through large amounts of focus and the heal only works when we are hit which costs focus. The purpose of the skill is to get critters to ignore us, which they generally do already unless the tank is another guardian, so we wouldn't even be getting heals in the first place except from area attacks.

20% instead of 30% for 2 total point instead of three. The cooldown reduction remains the same though. Also Pacification went from 15% to 8% for 1 point instead of 3

That bites. Why did they feel the need to nerf Force Sweep? It wasn't exactly world ending to begin with.

There are several. Dispatch from 30% instead of 20%, free Awe, free Kick, no interrupts for Master Strike, and stun added to Force Leap (which some call a nerf but whatever).

Perhaps more importantly, several classes got nerfed bad by 1.2, which obviously raises our relative strength.

Swelling Winds wasn't exactly "nerfed," it just got made a 2-point skill instead of 3. You just have to shift a point someplace else, you don't lose any effect on a per-point basis. There are other things that could be beneficial to you depending on your build; for example, single saber mastery applying to Soresu will be a nice improvement for tanking guardians.

The skills wasn't nerfed, just the damage output.

Swelling also applies to cyclone slash now too