Guild Wars 2

Here is how the standard thief vs necro fight goes in the best scenario possible:

>I cast first spell, probable a slow mark
>Thief invis.
>Necro Evade first invis attack.
>Necro evade second invis attack.
>Thief fear.
>Necro DS and Fear. Only thing Necro can cast while feared.
>Both get out of fear.
>thief invis again
>Necro gets chain stunned and lose.

I cant cast Fear mark i can’t blind i can’t do ¤#&¤ all.
How is this fun and competitive game play? I can press every button available and still lose, while Thief can can press 3 buttons and win. Ive tried all builds recommended on the forum ive tried my own build for 2 days now and nothing works.

No build is even remotly close, no build has enough survivability. Ive seen a fare share of unbalanced games but for this to even get out of Alpha is just beyond me.

Sometimes players say to Devs “Do they even play the game” and they respond, “Ofc we play the game, you have to be more specific with what the problems are”. Well seriously, take just a few hours of a day and try it, you actually have to try it yourself to see how laughable that balance is. Even if it was in a rock, paper, scissor game it is just ridiculous.

In GW1 classes were balanced because the wide array of skills available so if you got stomped by a class/build you could switch build to specifically be good against another build/class. In GW2 that concept is just thrown out the window, and i am extremely disappointed with that, and I’m getting fed up with this.

Uh necro is actually pretty strong against thief. Sounds like a l2p or l2build issue. You shouldn’t get chain stunned and lose. Pistol whip (which seems to be what you’re talking about, if you’re not mixing two thief builds together) does pretty crap damage against a high toughness necro build. With 25khp, high toughness and either plague for the lolsurvivability or golem for the knockdown you should be able to last a while and then pick a good moment to shut the thief down.

So what part of the “I’ve tried all builds recommended on the forum ive tried my own build for 2 days now and nothing works” didn’t you understand?
So if it is a L2P issue explain to me the scenario then instead of just “Durr L2P my class is fine”
Start with the if i get the opener, and then if he gets the opener, if it is a L2p issue i will gladly take it. And not just toughness fixes everything, as i said, i tried the different builds.

im confused. a thief spaming stealth but using stuns? your playing vs a odd build there, most of the time they dont need stuns if they are using backstab.

also whats he doing to gain this stealth? depending on his weapon set and his utilities.

but really, a necro with condition damage should kill a thief so long as that thief isnt a stupid glass cannon backstab thief with his CD’s up.

Flappy.2837:

So what part of the “I’ve tried all builds recommended on the forum ive tried my own build for 2 days now and nothing works” didn’t you understand?
So if it is a L2P issue explain to me the scenario then instead of just “Durr L2P my class is fine”
Start with the if i get the opener, and then if he gets the opener, if it is a L2p issue i will gladly take it. And not just toughness fixes everything, as i said, i tried the different builds.

trying them=/=getting good at them

most people over estimate there skills too

but honestly, necros need buffs (or maybe not since the last set i dont know) and there are aspects of thieves that need nerfs.

well the solution has largely to do with your build… but usually as soon as a thief goes stealth I cast everything I have on myself.
while stunned/immobile FG charge and worm blink still works
while just stunned we have a lot of spectral skill that break stun, some even auto cast when we hit a certain health…

It is hard to direct you on how do do something without watching the fight and not every fight is predictable.

also some thieves are just kitten
and some are giant trolls and will run away as soon as you get a foothold.

Necromancers are one of the stronger classes against thief Imo. Must be your build.

Wolfe.3097:

Flappy.2837:

So what part of the “I’ve tried all builds recommended on the forum ive tried my own build for 2 days now and nothing works” didn’t you understand?
So if it is a L2P issue explain to me the scenario then instead of just “Durr L2P my class is fine”
Start with the if i get the opener, and then if he gets the opener, if it is a L2p issue i will gladly take it. And not just toughness fixes everything, as i said, i tried the different builds.

trying them=/=getting good at them

most people over estimate there skills too

but honestly, necros need buffs (or maybe not since the last set i dont know) and there are aspects of thieves that need nerfs.

Names … give me names. Saying “most ppl think yadayda” … you might as well have said “most ppl think the moon turns green, when not looked upon” and made a survey of 1. Why can’t ppl argue in a way where at least some methodical consistency is preserved, instead of this imaginary blabber?

You have three ways to break stun, fleshwurm, spectral walk (after use), and plague signet (which every necro in their kittening mind uses). Pick one, and after you break stun and they try and gangbang you again just DS and fear.

You should never lose to a theif one on one, a good theif will just escape the fight.

Poxxia.1547:

Wolfe.3097:

Flappy.2837:

So what part of the “I’ve tried all builds recommended on the forum ive tried my own build for 2 days now and nothing works” didn’t you understand?
So if it is a L2P issue explain to me the scenario then instead of just “Durr L2P my class is fine”
Start with the if i get the opener, and then if he gets the opener, if it is a L2p issue i will gladly take it. And not just toughness fixes everything, as i said, i tried the different builds.

trying them=/=getting good at them

most people over estimate there skills too

but honestly, necros need buffs (or maybe not since the last set i dont know) and there are aspects of thieves that need nerfs.

Names … give me names. Saying “most ppl think yadayda” … you might as well have said “most ppl think the moon turns green, when not looked upon” and made a survey of 1. Why can’t ppl argue in a way where at least some methodical consistency is preserved, instead of this imaginary blabber?

give you names? really? this is a largely anomynous game unless you try to get to know a player, heck even in guilds i dont try to get to know someone personally.

but its not imaginary blabber. People tend to either undervalue themselves (no confidence) or over value themselves (confidence). its just human nature.

but give you names? lol you mine as well of come out and said you have no real counter argument.

I think he speaks about the thief leaving stealth but the game doesn’t render him visible. It is quite annoying you just hear “ding, ding, ding” and suddenly your life bar drops like hell and you do not know why and where the thief is.

Also, a fight vs a thief is not easy at all (but doable – however, there is not much room for screwing up). People act as if the life force bar would be full 24/7 and if you run a squishy build…oh well, let’s say the thief plows through it in seconds.

Nevertheless we have it most likely easier than elementals and maybe rangers (if life force is there, that is)

@asmodean, i agree they really need to fix that rending issue with stealth, i think it would make worlds a difference.

then nerf/remove assassins signet and probably signet of power (2 important pieces to the rediculous bakcstab glass cannon builds)

but honestly the difference between some glass cannons and non glass cannon builds can be far too much toughness and HP. even with nerfing damage thieves will just because of there mechanics be a bain on any glass cannon build they get the drop on. they would have to nerf the damage so the average glass cannon thief would do maybe 3k crits tops on a glass cannon build, which would mean vs a warrior with 20-25k hp you dbe doing like 1-1.5k crits.

hard to balance with such a big gap.

Wolfe.3097:

@asmodean, i agree they really need to fix that rending issue with stealth, i think it would make worlds a difference.

then nerf/remove assassins signet and probably signet of power (2 important pieces to the rediculous bakcstab glass cannon builds)

but honestly the difference between some glass cannons and non glass cannon builds can be far too much toughness and HP. even with nerfing damage thieves will just because of there mechanics be a bain on any glass cannon build they get the drop on. they would have to nerf the damage so the average glass cannon thief would do maybe 3k crits tops on a glass cannon build, which would mean vs a warrior with 20-25k hp you dbe doing like 1-1.5k crits.

hard to balance with such a big gap.

I agree with you, it is really hard to balance especially because thieves are quite squishy outside of stealth. However, the burst damage in this game is just insane. 8k Backstabs are simply over the top – glass cannon (whereas the power necro is maybe a glass sling but not a cannon however that’s a different story) spec or not. If you make one tiny mistake stance dancing as a power necro vs one of the burst classes it is over.

Long story short, they should really reconsider if those extreme bursts are fine in the game.

However, as aforementioned, the render bug for stealthers make this even more an issue for them. They do not only have the first strike but the 1-3 Hopefully it gets fixed

I think necros still feel like they’re in beta compared to a lot of classes given the huge number of bugs and issues with entire traitlines/utilities (minions, life steal).

@wolfe: No … now you are doing it again: You are saying “this is right, because it is human nature”.

I am quite serious … of course I don’t want names (as irl names), but referring so nonchalant is not a serious way to debate. Even professions, that traditionally are not falling into the category of statistics use some sort of method when coming with claims. You are just referring to some universal truth, that you take for granted.

I hope you get my point … I am not trying to be spiteful or anything.

@flappy
- thief hide
- necro put mark of “fear” under himself
-a ???
-a profit
—
-b thief steal
-b thief goes feared
-b necro spam 15 stack of bleeding on him
-b necro DS and fear
-b thief die
—
a good necro can die only if he is distracted by something else.

Keep in mind, as stated by the Devs a few times, Necromancers have the highest skill ceiling in the game. That said, when I PvP on my necro, I poop on thieves rather constantly. If you’re using a staff, trying not just spamming some of your marks on your target. I always place my fear one off to the side sometimes for key moments to bait them into. Chain that with a chill, a DS fear tap and my two well drops…nothing with less than 15k HP can survive for long.

You just have to practice! I do agree that thief burst is crazy high…but keep in mind, that’s what they are building for. They have little to no defense. Stealth is laughable with marks and Deathshroud life siphon.

-Caiden

not really sure how im supposed to give names when i have a guild i havent gotten to know very well yet, and 2 RL friends that play the game. i dont take the time to remember names of my enemies, let alone my teamates in hotjoin.

I think one thing that should be done for pvp is standardize hp pools to a degree. trying to balance glass cannon vs regular builds is difficult when you can have a 10k hp elementalist and 28k hp warrior. that 8k backstab is redic vs the elementalist, and merely good vs the warrior (ill say its good anyways)

but once stealth bugs are fixed, i really think the squishiness of thieves will become more apparent, that and smarter players.

you cant take a glass cannon spec with no aoe/non targetting CC and expect to not die when a glass cannon thief gets the drop from stealth, or uses stealth defensively, this is poor spec design that people are being inflexible about. I dont use the one dimensional builds many thieves use cuz they ahve the same issue, working vs x, failing vs y and z.

Asmodean.5820:

However, as aforementioned, the render bug for stealthers make this even more an issue for them. They do not only have the first strike but the 1-3 Hopefully it gets fixed

Yeh, today a thieve put me 2 backstabs in 1 rotation, but always they start with steal (trait to do dmg) theres nothing u can do….

i have 1.8k toughness, so maybe 4-5 per backstab and 2k for steal, you are pretty dead, the only thing that they have to do to finish you is spam the super original well design Heartseeker.

I don’t have much trouble with theives, build for condition removal and lots of toughness. Use your countless aoe’s from scepter/dagger and staff for when they stealth, use DS when they burst (spam 2 hurr durr), fill the rest in with building up bleeds and kiting. Necro’s are tanky and shouldn’t be an easy target for theives.

Thieves are still pretty tough even when I have 29K+ hp and 2K toughness.

As a thief player, I must say that these cheesey instagib builds need a nerf. Period.

Shukran.4851:

@flappy
- thief hide
- necro put mark of “fear” under himself
-a ???
-a profit
—
-b thief steal
-b thief goes feared
-b necro spam 15 stack of bleeding on him
-b necro DS and fear
-b thief die
—
a good necro can die only if he is distracted by something else.

This pretty much… I also like to chuck a well of darkness under myself.
Retaliation on death shroud is great for the spin to win skills too

Yeah and that super smart defense with the well of darkness/fear mark works all the time, because all thieves are morons that step into the red circle instead of just… I dunno… doing some super advanced stuff like pulling back and then coming back 10 seconds later when the well/mark are gone and both skills are on CD.

Shukran.4851:

@flappy
- thief hide
- necro put mark of “fear” under himself
-a ???
-a profit
—
-b thief steal
-b thief goes feared
-b necro spam 15 stack of bleeding on him
-b necro DS and fear
-b thief die
—
a good necro can die only if he is distracted by something else.

Right so i started a thief to see this “Necro poop on thieves, its just a l2p issue, thieves and Necro are fine”
Ive played for like an hour on the thief and ive seeked out necros, usually this is what i do.

>Stun venom 1 sec
>Shadowstep
>I get feared
>Teleport to Necro
>Necro is stunned, i setup up Pistol Whip
>Here he usually breaks stun or something, but then i use my forward key to catch him.
>Necro DS and feares and tried to do some 15xbleed skill which he can under the fear window.
>I heal invis, and remove the omgz 15stacks bleeds that the necro can put on with on ze button lol)
>Teleport to necro
>Haste
>Knockdown trap under
>Pistol Whip
>Somewhere here he gets immobilized 4 sec from trait and i switch to daggers sometimes to finish them off quickly
>profit

If i mess upp or get some annoying dodges i use invis to reset, or heal invis because usually they dont have time to do much besides trying to get away so when the fight is over they havnt got many if any offensive skills cast, because everytime i use pistol whip, Necro casts get intetrupted. And i can just dodge into his marks to make them disappear, fear problem solved.
And as pointed out, this is if i get hit by a fear mark in the beginning, which for the necro is a best case scenario.
And for those “Durr L2P, i r 1337 and efveryting is fine because i r guud” instead of the L2P give a scenario on how to counter and how to win, since your comments are just showing you noobiness by not actually commenting on how it is done if it is so easy.

I have by playing thif got some extra insight what i can do and i will test it later, but to those that just leave these useless comments and don’t know the game, just.. go away. Shoo. Go be useless somewhere else.

Someone stated that devs were mostly playing warriors during beta btw. (Just a side note in reply to any “devs should play X” talk.)

On my thief a good necro let me stack 25 bleeds on him only so he could put them all on me =P

Flappy.2837:

Here is how the standard thief vs necro fight goes in the best scenario possible:

>I cast first spell, probable a slow mark
>Thief invis.
>Necro Evade first invis attack.
>Necro evade second invis attack.
>Thief fear.
>Necro DS and Fear. Only thing Necro can cast while feared.
>Both get out of fear.
>thief invis again
>Necro gets chain stunned and lose.

I cant cast Fear mark i can’t blind i can’t do ¤#&¤ all.
How is this fun and competitive game play? I can press every button available and still lose, while Thief can can press 3 buttons and win. Ive tried all builds recommended on the forum ive tried my own build for 2 days now and nothing works.

No build is even remotly close, no build has enough survivability. Ive seen a fare share of unbalanced games but for this to even get out of Alpha is just beyond me.

Sometimes players say to Devs “Do they even play the game” and they respond, “Ofc we play the game, you have to be more specific with what the problems are”. Well seriously, take just a few hours of a day and try it, you actually have to try it yourself to see how laughable that balance is. Even if it was in a rock, paper, scissor game it is just ridiculous.

In GW1 classes were balanced because the wide array of skills available so if you got stomped by a class/build you could switch build to specifically be good against another build/class. In GW2 that concept is just thrown out the window, and i am extremely disappointed with that, and I’m getting fed up with this.

You did not say or describe what build he was. Pistol Whip thieves do not have that much stealth but they can stunlock, and backstab thieves can stealth a lot and do a lot of burst damage from stealth

EoNxBoNx.9213:

Flappy.2837:

Here is how the standard thief vs necro fight goes in the best scenario possible:

>I cast first spell, probable a slow mark
>Thief invis.
>Necro Evade first invis attack.
>Necro evade second invis attack.
>Thief fear.
>Necro DS and Fear. Only thing Necro can cast while feared.
>Both get out of fear.
>thief invis again
>Necro gets chain stunned and lose.

I cant cast Fear mark i can’t blind i can’t do ¤#&¤ all.
How is this fun and competitive game play? I can press every button available and still lose, while Thief can can press 3 buttons and win. Ive tried all builds recommended on the forum ive tried my own build for 2 days now and nothing works.

No build is even remotly close, no build has enough survivability. Ive seen a fare share of unbalanced games but for this to even get out of Alpha is just beyond me.

Sometimes players say to Devs “Do they even play the game” and they respond, “Ofc we play the game, you have to be more specific with what the problems are”. Well seriously, take just a few hours of a day and try it, you actually have to try it yourself to see how laughable that balance is. Even if it was in a rock, paper, scissor game it is just ridiculous.

In GW1 classes were balanced because the wide array of skills available so if you got stomped by a class/build you could switch build to specifically be good against another build/class. In GW2 that concept is just thrown out the window, and i am extremely disappointed with that, and I’m getting fed up with this.

You did not what build he was. Pistol Whip thieves do not have that much stealth but they can stunlock, and backstab thieves can stealth a lot and do a lot of burst damage from stealth

After playing thief i know what he did, and you should if you have played a thief.
>Steal, auto attack and traited damage
>I dodge
>I dodge again
>I get feared
>Thief character gets rendered somewhere i around here, this is when i saw him
>I Death Shroud and fear
>Thief uses Infiltrators strike and ports back and immobilize 1 sec
>Thief invis and haste
>I get trapped in a Pistolwhip (he only uses pistolwhip as attack from here)
>I get Below 50% and get auto immobilized 4sec
>i Die

Everytime i tried casting fear mark under me i get interupted by the Pistol whip stun and maybe some other stun, i couldnt get a single spell off. Come on if you thieves play the class and just say “L2P” you should really see what spells he used.

And to stay on topic, I was testing my Necro again to come up with counters, currently i am using condtion build
30 Curses
20 Death Magic
20 Soul Reaping
1.1k toughness
25khp

I got hit for
4.9k Cloak and dagger
5.3K Steal
16k Backstab and here is when thief rendered

Soo, all “Durr get more toughness and L2P” tell me how to avoid this serisously, don’t even bother comment unless you say how to counter this, because then you sure as hell have no clue what the issue is. And you have to remember when you are casting spells and is not repared, so you have to count in the human factor. If another class should have reaction time and immediately realize that he is jumped by a thief, then you should have put more effort into the complexity a class that does this with 2buttons… Completely ridiculous..

pistol whip and CnD are 2 different builds.
i think it is a l2p issue only because you see the thief but you wait for him to melee you to use marks. it seems… and about “everytime”, i would like to know if it is 5v5 or 8v8.

Shukran.4851:

pistol whip and CnD are 2 different builds.
i think it is a l2p issue only because you see the thief but you wait for him to melee you to use marks. it seems… and about “everytime”, i would like to know if it is 5v5 or 8v8.

I know they are 2 diffrent builds does that make it ok? “Oh its ok to kill people without a chance of retaliate because we can do it with more than one build! Nothing to see here!!!” I mean god, i told you not reply with non meaningfull remarks like this. And wait for him to melee? Ever heard of Steal?
So in conclusion some of you l2p people say “If you see the thief attack him and don’t let him jump you” and some say “Let him walk into your marks” Seems you like you know… know how to play yourselves… good stuff.

well, flappy, first of all you didn’t answer my last question.
2nd, i don’t play necro as main, but i find it very strong and funny.
3rd, i play thief, and i know what i am saying.
4th, i think necros are better as holder than roamers, so what is wrong saying you to put a mark under you at a node and wait?
so, have fun, complain about thieves and think about they are op. because maybe suggestions are too mainstream for forum users.

Your original post relies on a thief having 140 trait points and 3 weapon slots and like 5 utility slots to be able to run both pistol whip and c&d backstab at the same time. I can see how that thief woud roflstomp my necro but that thief doesn’t exist. In reality they are one or the other. If they’re backstab spec the key is surviving their initial gib attempt. If they’re pistol whip they don’t do all that much dps so it’s not that big a deal just to pick a good time and pwn them. Not to mention if you have plague up it’s pretty much an i-win vs a pistol whipper. GG 20 seconds of stability. Even golem pwns a pistol whipper.

There’s not much one can do to reason with someone who displays no reason.

Well, Shukran, you didn’t even come close to answering mine, you can’t give a scenario how to beat them as a necro, but with 1h game time, i had no problem coming up how to beat a Necro as a Thief flawlessly.
But since by answering this question you can help me, yes? I will answer it, it was in 8v8.

Put a mark under me and hold a position… seriously… must i argue with these kind of things with people who claim it’s a l2p issue… dear lord.
Very well, just to show you, you can’t ever use the phrase “l2p” ever again, like so many others that have come here and just said that.
Lets say i put a mark under me and hold. Firstly, does this sound like fun gameplay? Secondly, I then have them on CD and a thief can just dodge into them to make them disappear.

Yukishiro, read what i’ve posted or don’t reply. I described how i did it, maybe you needed 140 points but i needed 70, well 50-60 really and didn’t even need to change weapon set. So as you pointed out “There’s not much one can do to reason with someone who displays no reason.”.

What also surprises me with these “l2p” replys (who also none has anything constructive to add) is that, why don’t they want more depth to the class than a 2 button class? I just don’t understand it, isn’t it fun to use more skills? Usually as a thief i didn’t even need my utility skills, i just added them for that extra control when someone had a lot of toughness.

But as you said Yukishiro, yes Plaugue is one of the best skills against Pistol whip, but not a iwin button. Its mainly a irunandhide button, so what the necro need is full life force and Elite up. Then is when Necro has a shot at attempting to think about even try and play.

A half-decent condition Necro is the only thing I fear on my Thief.

Animosity.5231:

A half-decent condition Necro is the only thing I fear on my Thief.

Explain why or your answer is just null and void, and that you don’t fear guardians just makes me more certain that you don’t know what you are talking about.

Enough with the non-constructive posts, if you don’t have anything except some bad attempt at saying l2p but actually don’t have any clue about it, just don’t post. I can really explain a condition Necro vs Thief fight and show you a scenario, but as you don’t have anything useful in your post i just mirror your respond “l2p if you have problems with a condtion necro, seriously”

Animosity.5231:

A half-decent condition Necro is the only thing I fear on my Thief.

Seriously? Only thing a condition necro is good is against a tank spec guardian, condition necro in tpvp won’t get far with the constant condition cleansing, but the boon stripping/converting is what can kill bunker guardians.

Teknobug.3782:

Animosity.5231:

A half-decent condition Necro is the only thing I fear on my Thief.

Seriously? Only thing a condition necro is good is against a tank spec guardian, condition necro in tpvp won’t get far with the constant condition cleansing, but the boon stripping/converting is what can kill bunker guardians.

Thiefs tend to not run with condi removal. If the necro can survive a decent bit and land some CC, his conditions will tear the thief up. A smart thief will just avoid that 1v1 altogether unless they’ve got Thieves Guild (IWIN) up.

edit: In a team setting, a necro that’s paying attention and watching to condi up and CC the thief will be the one that saves his teammate’s kitten from the 75% → Downed.

Irascible.8210:

Teknobug.3782:

Animosity.5231:

A half-decent condition Necro is the only thing I fear on my Thief.

Seriously? Only thing a condition necro is good is against a tank spec guardian, condition necro in tpvp won’t get far with the constant condition cleansing, but the boon stripping/converting is what can kill bunker guardians.

Thiefs tend to not run with condi removal. If the necro can survive a decent bit and land some CC, his conditions will tear the thief up. A smart thief will just avoid that 1v1 altogether unless they’ve got Thieves Guild (IWIN) up.

Why wouldn’t a thief run with condition removal in PvP? That makes no sence.

Flappy.2837:

Irascible.8210:

Teknobug.3782:

Animosity.5231:

A half-decent condition Necro is the only thing I fear on my Thief.

Seriously? Only thing a condition necro is good is against a tank spec guardian, condition necro in tpvp won’t get far with the constant condition cleansing, but the boon stripping/converting is what can kill bunker guardians.

Thiefs tend to not run with condi removal. If the necro can survive a decent bit and land some CC, his conditions will tear the thief up. A smart thief will just avoid that 1v1 altogether unless they’ve got Thieves Guild (IWIN) up.

Why wouldn’t a thief run with condition removal in PvP? That makes no sence.

Because I’m not in LoS or visible long enough for them to apply significant conditions to me. Plus, usually someone on my team has AoE condi removal, anyways. My only condi removal is hide in shadows.

So you think condition Necromancers a problem but you say you chose to not run with a healing skill that has more controlled healing and removes conditions, and you have teamates removing conditions and you have a another condition removal… i don’t see how the condition necro can be a problem.

Flappy.2837:

So you think condition Necromancers a problem but you say you chose to not run with a healing skill that has more controlled healing and removes conditions, and you have teamates removing conditions and you have a another condition removal… i don’t see how the condition necro can be a problem.

I never said there was a problem.

So why bring it up if thieves have no problem with it?

I do think necros have a problem with thieves, because a necro can counter a close in burst build or a ranged plinking build, but not both. The thief just needs to switch weapons to ensure victory.

Flappy.2837:

So you think condition Necromancers a problem but you say you chose to not run with a healing skill that has more controlled healing and removes conditions, and you have teamates removing conditions and you have a another condition removal… i don’t see how the condition necro can be a problem.

its amazing you can make this an argument yet when people tell others to run stunbreakers or defense skills they reply “i shouldnt have to spec to avoid one class!”

talking about thief of course.

Necro is really good against thief. I play both classes. You can plague signet the fear they cast on you back to them then stack them with conditions then fear again. Stack with conditions again. If they are able to get you in a pistol whip or stun use DS and fear, then stack more conditions. Use chill and cripple to slow them down. If you are a well necro, then you have it even easier.

One word. Two actually.

Bunker. Wells.

And Rune of Superior Geomancy.

Burst, in general, needs a pretty big nerf in this game. Now, specifically with respect to thieves: I play a power necro ATM. If I have full life force I can beat a bad or average thief pretty kitten easily. If I’m up against a good thief then I have to have full life force and my elite up (I use plague form instead of lich form for it’s tankiness) to have a chance at winning. You can use plague form to blind the thief and drain his initiative.

I think it’s unfortunate that I pretty much have to use an elite to counter stealth, backstab, heartseeker spam when up against a good thief.

But, the thing that really irritates me about the thief is when I get jumped by them, counter their burst and start winning only to have them… you know, just leave whenever they want to.

The risk versus reward for thieves in GW2 is absolutely the worst I’ve seen in any MMO I’ve played. In other games stealthers were appropriately punished for making bad choices or bad plays. Not this game. They can just… leave when they screw up or get outplayed.