Celtic Heroes

Do they make a difference at all in Damage taken? And what about Bless?

Yes they make a difference to damage taken, but they need to be maxed for it to be even slightly beneficial. Even then there aren't many who use wards, as there are more critical ways to use skill points.

As for bless, I have it maxed, and it's only alright. Sometimes you evade, sometimes you don't. It really only gets effective once it's maxed, which is a real bummer. I think points would be better spent on a dps skill like lightning. The only way I see it could be made useful, is to have it as a group buff, and even this isn't ideal.

So all in all, bless and wards are really not that great, and fall short of expectations. Since bosses can deal more than one type of damage, bless kind of wins by default, as it raises all your skills evasions, although it doesn't really matter when you dont evade
It feels like the skill could be way too over powered, and it was decided to dilute it to the state it's in now. Which is great when it works, but since it's random and needs maxing, leaves it unreliable and, frustratingly, another druid skill that just doesn't justify the use of so many skill points.

A ward is a slightly enhanced bark just for a single attack type.