'Go after those two young hobbits, and guard them. . . .' - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Breaking of the Fellowship"
A doughty fighter and protector of the weak, a skilled Guardian can face even the toughest foes and survive. The Guardian is one of the few classes willing and able to try to draw more blows onto themselves, so they can retaliate with devastating maneuvers in response.
The Guardian will be the class of choice for players that enjoy drawing the attention of their foes in combat and taking advantage of their missteps. Masters of the defensive arts, Guardians use taxing attacks and irksome taunts to draw and hold opponents' attention, relying on their shield and weapon to turn aside incoming attacks with blocks and parries. A Guardian's combat style depends on creating openings during an opponent's attack to provide the opportunity for their own counterattack.
Skills
Challenge: The Guardian knows how to goad his enemies into attacking, leaving his allies free to maneuver.
Shield Swipe: After successfully blocking an enemy's blow, the Guardian may attack with both weapon and shield.
Bash: After a successful Shield Swipe agaist an enemy, the Guardian may bash it again with his shield, possibly stunning it.
Vexing Blow: The Guardian is capable of drawing an enemy's attention to himself with this attack.
Protection: When wielding a shield, the Guardian may protect one of his allies, improving his ally's defense and allowing the Guardian to react to attacks made against him.
Stamp: Enables the Guardian to break his enemy's concentration, interrupting its actions.
Warrior's Heart: The Guardian has the ability to improve his morale for a time, even beyond its normal level.
Guardian's Ward: The Guardian's great skill enables him to strengthen his defenses for a short time.
Thrill of Danger: The thrill of danger allows the Guardian to regain power, increasing with every enemy near him.
Traits
Guardian's Ward: Guardian's Ward increases the Guardian's natural damage mitigation. All of his special attacks also more strongly direct his enemy's ire towards him.
Selfless Defense: The Guardian's Protection skill makes his target less threatening, while drawing the enemy's ire towards him. All of his special attacks also more strongly direct his enemy's ire towards him.
Through my experience, it is very easy to achieve the Undying title while playing as a Guardian. With so much health and the ability to have better armor than the other classes at low levels, the guardian is the perfect choice for those wishing to get that title. Also, I find that tanking with the guardian is actually really fun. Even though the button presses can be monotonous, its fun to see the guardian bash their foes with their shield abilities.
Guardians start off being able to wield all 1h weapons and shields. They can use light and medium armor. I at level 15 Guardians can learn heavy armor (not from their trainer tho, IIRC). At level 10 they can learn most 2h weapons (except staves, I think).
Yes, they can learn heavy Armor and Heavy Shield from their trainer (I learned from the Guardian Trainer in Thorin's Great Hall). Just a little correction. This may also have been a change which occurred during the final stages of Beta, or when it went live, so i am not hammering on the person who said you could not train from the Guardian Trainer.
You play (just from reading your post of course..not actually having seen you in real action yet) like a noob. Just guessing obviously here. But yes..I would say...like a noob.