Guild Wars 2

What does everyone think about the nerf to the spy kits?

I personally do not like the way they work now or the timer attached to them. I typically only used them while getting people back up while in sticky situations. What was once a hot item will now be tossed to the wayside and practically never used again. I don’t really see a need for them but maybe someone could help me out.

it almost had to be done. They were being massivly used to trivialize dungeons. I don’t think the nerf should have been quite as bad though with having to equip it, activate it and suffer the cooldown. They are pretty worthless right now. They could be made usefull if they actualy pulled you out of combat when used though.

I’ve never used consumables and so it doesn’t affect me.

Perhaps I’m shooting myself in the foot by not using them but I’ve never saw a need to and without a dedicated consumables bar, I just can’t be bothered.

I haven’t used it pre or post nerf but doesn’t it still have the same application? Can you not rez people while holding bundle items? 10 seconds of invisibility to res someone for only 28 karma still sounds like a huge boon. You just have be more careful about how you use them.

nope you can’t, cuz they also changed how mobs react to invis: they just stand still for a while (longer than 10s) instead of lose aggro.

Just to clear up how you used them before and now how they currently work.

Before: You would just double click it in your pack and you would go invisible for 10 seconds right where you were. There was no cool down to this.

Now: You double click it in your pack then your action bar change, then you could use action “1” and then you will go invisible for 10 seconds. Now there is a 60 second cool down timer attached to it.

The only issue I have with this “nerf” is that you cannot use them instantly. An internal cooldown is possible to code without making it like a engineer toolbelt skill. These could have been used to get you out of tough situations. Now you will die by the time you activate one.

However they were easy to exploit. Just stand and spam-click and you gain perma invisibility. So fully understandable why they did it. It was just executed in a very overcomplicated fashion.

Personally they could be like most skills. Use it once, and the icon in the inventory becomes greyed out until the CD ends.

Oh there was also an exploit for the ash legion kits, which allows you to move while in stealth. If you lightly tap a direction button while in stealth in short bursts, you can sort of nudge yourself to one direction without breaking the stealth field. Not efficient enough for most people, but still, worth mentioning.

I think these kits were never intended to be used in challenging group content (like dungeons or fractals), and this change removes any potential to “exploit” them (i.e. bypassing or significantly easing difficult content through invisibility).

Really, is it a bad thing that players can no longer rely on a dirt-cheap novelty item to beat difficult content?

Honestly, without an easy way of even activating temporary powers (like a moveable 5 icon bar where you can drag in temp powers or something), there’s no real point in using them without fiddling with the inventory while fighting.

If these kits weren’t intended for use in PvE content, and just for novelty, maybe it’s better off if it’s removed from the game completely.

it does move them into the category of ‘almost never used’ – which is right next to the other hundreds of items purchasable from random vendors around Tyria you’ve almost never used and probably haven’t heard of because they weren’t on a ‘top consumable items to carry with you’ list.
All in all, I agree that they needed nerfing, and I like the method of activation change. It’s no longer an item to be used repeatedly, so you can’t just refresh it while you’re reviving a downed somebody during a boss fight, and is now more of a specialty tool.

They’re trash now, Order of Whispers Spy Kit is even more of a trash item though, 3 seconds of invis with a 60 second cooldown…AWESOME!

Not to mention the thousands of useless depleted power crystals now, wasted funds, can’t even resell the kitten things.

As someone who got most of their enjoyment out of hunting down different bundle items, stocking up and just messing around with them, this patch is VERY disappointing for me.

If using them in dungeons was the problem, they should’ve made it so they couldn’t be used in dungeons, just like WvW, I never do dungeons anyways since they refuse to give difficulty scaling based on player count, I still used every bundle I found outside of them though.

If they considered those to be broken, I have to wonder how long until healing seeds are given a cooldown, or boulders, or rusty scraps, all these fun little tools that I enjoyed, I have absolutely no interest in them anymore, seeing that they’re being made worthless, with that loss of interest goes my interest in this game as well.

Hardly played at all yesterday, no real interest in playing today, suppose I’ll just go play some classic console games since mmo’s seem to be all about removing fun from gaming now.

Better play the way they want guys, or they’ll nerf you. ;[
I’m done.

They should have been banned from dungeons and fractals (like WvW), not nerfed into oblivion. Now they are utterly useless, and the stacks we purchased before are worthless and may as well be destroyed.

And it cost you what? 28 karma apiece?

Perform a daily achievement or two, drink the Jugs and you’ve recuperated your losses.

Jornophelanthas.1475:

And it cost you what? 28 karma apiece?

Perform a daily achievement or two, drink the Jugs and you’ve recuperated your losses.

…Many of those items cost copper, which adds up when you’re stocking up thousands of them.

Depleted Power Crystal for instance, 16 copper per now have a 40 second cooldown, when I did the event and stocked up on them I’d buy anywhere from 2000-4000, now they’re utterly useless.

Those have a kind cost as well, many of the bundles I’ve stockpiled have had a cost of 40-80 copper per, I can only assume they’ll be nerfed too eventually.

So don’t try to act like there’s no investment in the content they’re killing, I’d say probably half my overall gold income on this game has gone to bundles since I started, without abusing them in the awful dungeons/fractals that I never run anyways.

Back to browsing my list of Super Nintendo games, atleast they don’t let me down (often)..

The only other merchant-purchased consumable I use: teleporter gun. how will they nerf that next? can’t use it to get somewhere you couldn’t otherwise jump?

I still use it. It’s still quite useful in a clutch situation, esp if you’re being overrun and you only need 5 seconds till your heal skill is out of cd. To me, it’s no longer staying invi indefinitely, but rather having a breather.

Just ease the dredge fractal and i don’t care. and just to add to the " dirt cheap" tactics comment….i’m a thief. there’s nothing a kit could do a thief couldn’t to bypass anything in a dungeon. I feel this stupid kit has caused unnecessary aggro towards stealth that wouldn’t have existed and now hurting the thief class. we have the lowest hp pool in the game and need to rely on rolling, evades, and stealth to accomplish what a stupid tank can do just standing. stupid as in outburst of anger, nothing against the class. the other classes using thief stealth is just them joining in the fun, their stealth should get nerfed like the cross hairs buff when you get pulled out of stealth or something. it makes our stealth pointless now when we are about to die, last one up, the mobs chased us there and we know we are doomed because they just stand there waiting to kill us. what the eff is the point of stealth then. we turning this into metal gear solid where they can hear our footsteps and smell us? change our base health pool and or resistances and then i’ll stop complaining. this invisi change is unbalancing the equation. for the record, i was against the ash legion spy kits. put the thief on controls in the cage and whatever. also takes the hatred on “stupid squishy thief” away. the class gets enough negative feelings from the rest. I have to use soldier gear and fighter runes with 20 into toughness traitline to do my daily 28 and above. I don’t see how a thief can do it otherwise.

Writ.4371:

Just ease the dredge fractal and i don’t care. and just to add to the " dirt cheap" tactics comment….i’m a thief. there’s nothing a kit could do a thief couldn’t to bypass anything in a dungeon. I feel this stupid kit has caused unnecessary aggro towards stealth that wouldn’t have existed and now hurting the thief class. we have the lowest hp pool in the game and need to rely on rolling, evades, and stealth to accomplish what a stupid tank can do just standing. stupid as in outburst of anger, nothing against the class. the other classes using thief stealth is just them joining in the fun, their stealth should get nerfed like the cross hairs buff when you get pulled out of stealth or something. it makes our stealth pointless now when we are about to die, last one up, the mobs chased us there and we know we are doomed because they just stand there waiting to kill us. what the eff is the point of stealth then. we turning this into metal gear solid where they can hear our footsteps and smell us? change our base health pool and or resistances and then i’ll stop complaining. this invisi change is unbalancing the equation. for the record, i was against the ash legion spy kits. put the thief on controls in the cage and whatever. also takes the hatred on “stupid squishy thief” away. the class gets enough negative feelings from the rest. I have to use soldier gear and fighter runes with 20 into toughness traitline to do my daily 28 and above. I don’t see how a thief can do it otherwise.

Don’t you know? The thief class was designed solely to troll people in wvw/pvp. You’re not supposed to be any good in pve. Besides…something tells me you’ve never played a ranger.

I play all three game modes thanks. I also play my class well enough to do anything in PvE. In most cases you’re correct, the thief can’t hold his own in PvE. They make it hard for the good thieves to find pug groups for the harder dungeons. I don’t have to defend myself because I’ve already made a good reputation for my thief in my community and server. What I am saying is: it’s increasing the curve for those trying the class, those that want it badly and don’t have the skill level, and those that are barely making it with the skill level.
Correct, never played a ranger, never want to. I hear enough from the guildies on all the negative things about them. I also hear how fun they are. I play mesmer/thief. I don’t want any other classes to dull my reaction times.
On a side note, those that think the thief/mesmer class itself make the player in spvp. you’re are terribly mistaken. It’s not an easy class to play well. The ones that obliterate you know what they are doing. I say this with the least respect going out to back stab builds. Also I’m not into feeding trolls. Just not my thing, I don’t know why, I wish I could. So this’ll be my last check back on the thread. I’ve given my input, hope it strikes a thought to the Anet devs.
Cheers.

Writ.4371:

On a side note, those that think the thief/mesmer class itself make the player in spvp. you’re are terribly mistaken.

I can’t comment about thieves in spvp, but thieves are by far the easiest class to win with in wvw. Mostly due to the way stealth affects culling.

Ever seen an average thief take on a 20 man zerg, kill several players, and then escape unharmed? I have.

The funniest thing in MMOs is how people try to overcome difficulty by exploiting, and when exploiting is fixed the forums become filled with complaints.
Gaming revolves around improving your skill to overcome difficulties; if you suck, you don’t do fract46 with exploits, but train on 10 until you’re good enough.

The needs of the Dungeon outweigh the needs of the many. Or something like that. The kits needed a cooldown, but the nerf was overkill and it all goes back to what’s best for Dungeons trumping other considerations. Some people just like to suck all the fun out of a game, because, you know, games are not supposed to be fun, right?

HannaDeFreitas.4236:

The funniest thing in MMOs is how people try to overcome difficulty by exploiting, and when exploiting is fixed the forums become filled with complaints.
Gaming revolves around improving your skill to overcome difficulties; if you suck, you don’t do fract46 with exploits, but train on 10 until you’re good enough.

Spamming level 10 fractals is not going to prepare you for a level 46 fractal. I can run level 10 fractals in my sleep, but I wouldn’t dare set foot in a level 46, even if I had the appropriate AR.