Guild Wars 2

Quick question:
Is there current consensus in the meta or the pro level on whether a thief should stay on point after decapping to get the cap?

I understand this is contingent on things like respawns or if there’s a fight nearby I should +1. But let’s say, for all things being equal – if I know I can get the full-cap, am I better off just decapping and finding another point to decap or +1?

Depends how many dead people are on your team. If you team looks fine and alive, just full cap. If someone is coming, just decap. If team needs help, decap.

If you don’t have a good chance of retaining that point after you fully cap it AND there somewhere else more useful for you to be (i.e. plusing a fight, decapping another point), just decap and move on. If you won’t retain the point for long, but there’s nowhere else more useful for you to be (e.g. your team has just full wiped at mid), full cap it. If you will retain the point for awhile, and full capping isn’t a tremendously bad idea due to some other in-game factor, full cap it.

You generate rotational advantage for your team in two ways via decapping. The first is, Thief is very fast, so you have less time spent moving to and from the point compared the other team. The second is that it takes 15s to cap a point from nothing, but only 5s to decap the point: you’re guaranteed to waste a minimum of 10s of their time by decapping. In addition to the score advantage generated (minimum 7 points).

The decision will often depend on the circumstance, and you’ll probably learn with experience.

Disclaimer: I don’t play thief, but here is my brief take on it (I watch what thieves on my team do, and I can tell which actions pay off and which don’t). You should always be wasting more of your enemy’s time than your own. You should also see where else you can be productive. Decap if: there is a high chance that an enemy will show up within a few seconds of you capping the point, or you can see that your help will obviously benefit the team elsewhere (and you can make it in time; ex., +1’ing). If there is a low chance of the point being contested right after you cap it, or you can’t see where else you might be useful, then full cap it.

At higher levels of play, the second instance may be less frequent, but that doesn’t mean it’s never a good idea.

I would say De-cap 87% of the time, however if your team currently has no capped points then you should be capping. Very Circumstantial but if your de-capping while the rest of your team does their job hopefully you can pick guys off between points and or get them to chase you off points.

Unless your team needs help, or an enemy is coming, or there is an enemy near the point, you can recap. If you team needs some help or you’d be forced to duel another class then just decap.

It depends on circumstance, yeah, but most of the time circumstance says to just decap. Thus, if you’re unsure or playing too lazily to determine if it’s a full cap or decap situation, just decap and get back to a fight.