[Declined] BG - rethinking Dark Protector and increasing group utlity

[Aurandilaz]

Reasoning:
As it is currently, BG is not a weak class, but it happens to be "less awesome" compared to the other 2 Destro tanks; Chosen with their auras and BO with their good damage and plentiful stat steals.
One of the core reasons why BG is lacking behind in being equal to other tanks is the lack of support a BG bring to the team compared to the other two.
The main issue being a career mechanic that simply aims at buffing one ally over buffing the entire party.
Well so be it, DP (Dark Protector) can remain as a single target ability, but it needs to become something that equals, or at least lacks less behind when comparing to BO/Chosen and their party utility.

Suggestion One:
Remake Dark Protector into a buff with 15 second cooldown with a 15 second duration effect.
BG will keep gaining Hatred as before, but the buff that DP offers ally has to become something that a party desires, and considers an equal choice to take when deciding which tank class to invite to a party.

Idea a) Ally with DP buff will take 10% less incoming damage.

Idea b) Ally gains 160 toughness (equalling tank toughness tactic numbers, less strong in T1, better in T4)

Idea c) When buffing an Ally with DP, increase targets chance to Crit by 1% per 20 Hatred, with a full 100 Hatred cast DP increasing crit by 5%

Idea d) For each 10% healthpoints that your ally has lost (at moment of gaining the DP), BG will gain 10 Hatred. (ally has 90% health left, gain 10 H, ally has 50% HP left, gain 50 H, ally still lives with 20%, BG gains 80 H from casting the DP on the ally)

Now a) and b) stacking might be quite too strong, so maybe one of them will only be implemented ideally. Or alternatively, mix them and consider "5% less dmg and 80 toughness buff" (or any possible combination, but I think 10% dmg reduction is quite nice core idea for discussion and IMO should probably be the upper limit for the buff)
The idea being, that despite lacking the group buffing utility, a BG would be able to bring The Best Guard to the party, if Guard + DP stack. (or in smallscale a BG could throw DP to one ally and Guard the other) - If one can't make BG into a tank with group utility like Bo/Chosen, then make it into an awesome single target buffer.
If idea a) is implemented in that form, then there might not be any need for idea b), as a) alone is enough to make DP into a relevant ability that truly helps the party member that BG wants to save.

With idea c), Destro gains one way to increase crit for party members, but considering how it remains single target and requires full Hate to become great, it doesn't make BG into a lethal member of a meleetrain, but it makes BG able buff the ally with DP in ways that other tanks might not. Consider it a greater incentive to choose a BG as your tank.

Idea d) is somewhat less important, but I thought I'd share it anyway, as BG is quite a Hatred consumer, regaining Hate from choosing to protect a badly mauled ally allows BG to perform a potent punt or a potent KD instantly after having switched to protecting the mauled ally. (hopefully being able to save their life fast with well used CC)


Now these all combined together might be a bit strong, so maybe drop one of them, but hopefully some of them are worth considering, if the proposals advances and if there is some consensus for BG needing some kind of changes to make them less lacking in utility compared to other Destro tanks. Ideally, the same changes could be applies to IB and their Oathfriend to bring up their utility too, but since I do not have a r40 IB I would rather not theorycraft on them too much.

Also in case it is deemed that BG DP would become a "must have" for a premade, consider changing the effect on ally into something that is removable, a Blessing or a Enchantment; meaning a good enemy team would easily be able to counter the effect of a BG, resulting in the buffs only lasting for few seconds instead of the full 15 seconds.



Suggestion Number Two:
BG has a severe lack of group buffs that makes them less ideal tank for a group needing buffs from their tanks.

Idea e) Driven By Hate will give a speedboost to all party members within 100 feet of the BG;
Option X: 30% speed boost for 5 seconds
Option Y: 20% speed boost for 10 seconds
Option Z: 20% speed boost for 5 seconds
Option V: 15% speed boost for 10 seconds

Now I don't know whether QE implementation will stay long in the game, but if it stays, there might be less need for such a speed boost from BG to their allies. If it doesn't stay in game, a BG gaining the ability to boost their allies movements for a short duration would further bring their group utility closer to that of a Chosen or a BO.
Driven By hate costs 40 Hatred and has a 20 second cooldown, gives back 160 AP to BG. Those values might need to be tweaked if considering making it into a group wide speed buff, most likely the cost would be a longer cooldown (30 sec?, 40 sec? Full 1 min?). Also If choosing a stronger speed buff, increase CD and possible cost, and decrease AP regain possibly.
Similarly this DbH ability could also see its IB mirror Grudge Unleashed become improved.

I'm not sure if this brings BG/IB group utility to the level of Chosen/Kotb, but it's certainly a step towards that direction.

Last thoughts:
Current DP is very much "meh", you cast it on your Guarded ally at start of scenario and maybe switch it somewhere in the middle of a fight to some other ally who is taking more damage. It is now of secondary importance when compared to other abilities that a BG player must manage in a fight. When the core ability of your class is 2nd rate hotkey to press, the class might have some needs for a change. Also before calling me out for "l2playisses", I consider 1st rate hotkeys all those related to Guarding your target and making sure they are alive, such as Guard + CC. Next of importance I would say is getting the needed debuff on the target, whether snared, armour debuffed or what else. When that is over, I might think "hmm, maybe I need to change DP to someone else", because in its current state DP (the core your class mechanic) is simply something that barely requires thinking when throwing it to someone and then maybe switching it in next scenario 15 mins later. In orvr you might not need to switch DP for hours, which really makes me feel like the DP-mechanic needs some kind of change.