Guild Wars 2

I would like confirmation if this is or is not an exploit.

How can it be? You can res while stealthed, you can stealth other characters, and if traited right can remain permanently stealthed. ALl of those things were intentionally designed in the game. If you saw a dead body in light armor and you didn’t station someone to watch them, you messed up. Simple as that. It’s just like people not sweeping keeps completely and calling “hacks” when you lose it.

If you see a dead body not releasing in a keep you just took or one they broke a wall down in, you can bet your next yellow drop that there will be a thief just waiting for you to leave so they can be ressed.

It’s definitely game breaking sometimes =p
I don’t see them doing anything other than nerfing stealth by making ressing break stealth. Or each time the thief stealths adds another seconds on their can’t stealth cool-down, which was meant to prevent chain stealthing =P

I haven’t read anything indicating it’s an exploit. It can be done very easily, even if your stealth breaks you can simply reapply it as soon as ur debuff drops and at times people still may not see you. So they should nerf culling =D

The only thing which breaks stealth is attacking, i dont really see it as a problem…

The perma thing yes is just lol, since you dont require another factor such mana, magic, or any other name thing for keep it up…is not nice.

Everything would be fine if at the end of each stealth…in any profession you would aquire the ’’detected’’ debuff which wont be able to let you to go again in stealth even if you cast/try for lets say ten secs (thieFS and stealth lovers going to flame me)

Im really surprised that they havent fixed this yet. You should not be able to interact with another player in any way shape or form while you are stealthed or otherwise invulnerable (that includes mist form rezzing…which Im pretty sure actually IS a bug since you have to hit mist form after you begin inducting)

This is really separate from the culling issue although the culling issue tends to make it easier for perma stealth thieves.

For most classes there is no counter at all to a stealth finisher. Warriors hammers go straight through you. Mesmers cant port/stealth without a target. And this is assuming that you even know theres a thief thats stealthed and about to finish you. (Or a mesmer which I see occasionally)

Something needs to be done about stealth in general. Its far too potent as is. In the right hands you can literally run circles around a zerg picking off lowbies. (seen it done)

But since I doubt anything is going to be done anytime soon. To the OP the only advice I have for you is sweep harder. really dig into those cracks around the edges of your keeps. and if you see a body on the ground make sure they release before you move on to the next thing. Or go hide near by out of LOS and see if someone tries to rez them. As of right now this is not an exploit.

Depends if they are using the cnd wall exploit where you can stack infinite stealth.

Why not just AoE the body when you see the Mesmer’s health goes up? Thieves are really squishy.

All except 1 stealth mechanic requires really short refresh, a couple AoEs would’ve stopped all that. I suppose it’s easier to complain than learn about the class mechanics that you are having trouble with.

DancingPenguins.9875:

Why not just AoE the body when you see the Mesmer’s health goes up? Thieves are really squishy.

All except 1 stealth mechanic requires really short refresh, a couple AoEs would’ve stopped all that. I suppose it’s easier to complain than learn about the class mechanics that you are having trouble with.

Why come to state the obvious…not an excuse to be perma stealthed…and he OP is practically asking why stealth isnt removed by an action…besides who looks in the bodies when they are already laying in the ground so dont even know if its being ress or not unless you actually see people on it, but…if it came invis and was invis the whole time…how to know?

Doomdesire.9365:

Depends if they are using the cnd wall exploit where you can stack infinite stealth.

Pretty much this since cnd a wall doesn’t break stealth.

I witnessed a perma-invis Thief earlier today; not in combat but hiding in our keep.

The only thing which gave him/her away were little red circles and a sound effect every 5-10 seconds and the stray black line or odd little puff of smoke (which blinded me apparently). Only at one point did we see the Thief for a fraction of a second as he ducked behind the roof of the supply depot. Unfortunately I didn’t start recording until after so I couldn’t go frame-by-frame to see his/her tag.

I have no idea how they managed to remain invisible permanently with 4-5 people actively searching for the Thief in a relatively small area (Hills inner); but all to no avail. But I don’t think this should have been ArenaNet’s intention for the Thief. Stealth in my humble opinion should be a situational tool, not something that allows the user impossible to locate indefinitely.

(sorry for the low quality upload, working on getting a HD version up soon)

I would be fine with perma stealth as an actual ability for thieves if they would just nerf its potency. Should not be able to interact with anything while stealthed.

Have you guys actually tried perma stealth thieves?

It forces you to waste 40 points in traits in lines that give toughness boosts or boon duration then to make 2 of your 3 utility skills to be stealth based not damage.

you effectively get perma stealth but its easy to counter, you have less damage and its easy to mess up and die.

Learn to counter instead of whining about a class you know nothing about :/ sigh you can even see where hes been because it requires him to put down combo fields all the time

Phoenix.3416:

Have you guys actually tried perma stealth thieves?

It forces you to waste 40 points in traits in lines that give toughness boosts or boon duration then to make 2 of your 3 utility skills to be stealth based not damage.

you effectively get perma stealth but its easy to counter, you have less damage and its easy to mess up and die.

Learn to counter instead of whining about a class you know nothing about :/ sigh you can even see where hes been because it requires him to put down combo fields all the time

As an avid thief player I agree with you, however the CnD on wall thing if I’m understanding what is written is probably a bug, I’ve never seen it in practice.

Wait..what? Let me get this straight…

People leave unreleased bodies unattended in towers/keeps? You know you can see their health bar going up if they are being rezed right?

Quote: you effectively get perma stealth but its easy to counter

Rubbish. If it was ‘easy to counter’ then the OP would be countering it.

You cannot counter what you cannot see, if you cannot see it how are you supposed to know it’s there?

Try spending 15 minutes running around Hills trying to track down something that is invisible and can move faster than you then come back and tell us how much you enjoyed it.

Even a backstabbing noob thief can hide effectively inside the keep as their mobility allows them to escape even when seen.

Players shouldn’t have to be forever throwing aoe all over the place just on the off chance it actually hits the thief (in any situation).

Until they fix stealth so that it slows you down (you know, STEALTHY instead of completely invisible at mach 10) thiefs will continue to be completely OP and broken in wvw.

Victory.2879:

Quote: you effectively get perma stealth but its easy to counter

Rubbish. If it was ‘easy to counter’ then the OP would be countering it.

You cannot counter what you cannot see, if you cannot see it how are you supposed to know it’s there?

Try spending 15 minutes running around Hills trying to track down something that is invisible and can move faster than you then come back and tell us how much you enjoyed it.

Even a backstabbing noob thief can hide effectively inside the keep as their mobility allows them to escape even when seen.

Players shouldn’t have to be forever throwing aoe all over the place just on the off chance it actually hits the thief (in any situation).

Until they fix stealth so that it slows you down (you know, STEALTHY instead of completely invisible at mach 10) thiefs will continue to be completely OP and broken in wvw.

Lets try this again from a more tactical view.

You are chasing thieves, who can’t actually get people inside a base even if they are inside and invisible so why chase them for 15minutes?. You should camp the mesmer body instead since thats the target he needs to get to, he has to come to you and if the body is gone then he is useless.

If you catch a thief he is lower in dmg and stats than you and has less skills he can use to defend himself, if you net him he cant stealth away and run, if he shadow refuges you aoe the circle and he loses stealth

You can see him put down AoE rings to stealth, every 4 seconds at the most he has to put another down so its easy to spot where he is going.

I can kill thieves on characters half the level of those thieves they are so messed up in traits and skills.

Tactics solve all problems.

‘camp the mesmer body’? So you want someone to stand in one spot staring at a dead body for 15 minutes on the off chance the thief is so inept that he doesn’t catch you asleep and insta kills you?

‘if you catch a thief he is lower in dmg and stats’? Since when? Did I miss nerf to thiefs so steal/mug/one attack/cnd/backstab no longer can kill in under one second?

Note I wasn’t talking about a perma stealth thief, noob instawin thief builds can run around Hills for ages- you might see him every now and then but he can easily outdistance you.

Net him? Wait, every class now has a net skill? must have missed that update too. HE’S INVISIBLE I can’t even target him much less snare him.

AOE the circle, ahh yes, i have infinite aoe’s to waste hitting a spot he is no longer in.

‘easy to spot where he’s going’ he’s faster than us, so yes, there he goes blink ah he’s invisible again.

I’m glad you can kill thiefs on characters half the level of ‘those thieves’. Personally I find it either very boring and tedious or a complete waste of my time to have to chase something that moves way faster than me and is invisible most of the time, whether it be a perma-stealth thief or noob thief. And of course decent thiefs will catch you off guard at some point in this endless chase and instakill your uplevelled classes. Not sure what tier you play in or the standard of play, I’ve seen a thief and mesmer keep 10-15 people occupied in Hills for a long time abusing stealth – 2/3 guarding mesmer body and every now and again the thief would wonder over and casually instakill one of the guards before anyone could react.

Tactics doesn’t solve all problems when the problem is thiefs. Properly thought out game mechanics would.

Phoenix.3416:

Victory.2879:

Quote: you effectively get perma stealth but its easy to counter

Rubbish. If it was ‘easy to counter’ then the OP would be countering it.

You cannot counter what you cannot see, if you cannot see it how are you supposed to know it’s there?

Try spending 15 minutes running around Hills trying to track down something that is invisible and can move faster than you then come back and tell us how much you enjoyed it.

Even a backstabbing noob thief can hide effectively inside the keep as their mobility allows them to escape even when seen.

Players shouldn’t have to be forever throwing aoe all over the place just on the off chance it actually hits the thief (in any situation).

Until they fix stealth so that it slows you down (you know, STEALTHY instead of completely invisible at mach 10) thiefs will continue to be completely OP and broken in wvw.

Lets try this again from a more tactical view.

You are chasing thieves, who can’t actually get people inside a base even if they are inside and invisible so why chase them for 15minutes?. You should camp the mesmer body instead since thats the target he needs to get to, he has to come to you and if the body is gone then he is useless.

If you catch a thief he is lower in dmg and stats than you and has less skills he can use to defend himself, if you net him he cant stealth away and run, if he shadow refuges you aoe the circle and he loses stealth

You can see him put down AoE rings to stealth, every 4 seconds at the most he has to put another down so its easy to spot where he is going.

I can kill thieves on characters half the level of those thieves they are so messed up in traits and skills.

Tactics solve all problems.

Meanwhile, If you have multiple dead mesmers scattered in a keep, a thief or two continuously using invisibility, high mobility going from body to body, getting updates of people around them from the dead mesmers. I’m sorry but that isn’t a nice way of enjoying your weekend. I just think this is an underlying problem. While I agree with you, a casual player or even just a not very skilled player shouldn’t be punished for bad mechanics. But that’s just my opinion.

to achieve perma stealth you have to set up a proper build with specific skills, traits and equip. You also have to put down fields to make combos.
Fields are visible = dead thief.
Stealth ress is comparable to guardians’ bubble ress and become strong when used with other players (shadow refuge + 4 ppl ressing). I often save an aoe stealth (shadow refuge or blinding powder) for a downed mate; stealthing him will prevent stomp, but not aoe dmg.
I think thieves, in large fights, have to use their stealth and mobility to ress overextended allies and to stomp “unreachable” foes. That will make the difference, not a 7k backstab…

Cloud.7613:

Meanwhile, If you have multiple dead mesmers scattered in a keep, a thief or two continuously using invisibility, high mobility going from body to body, getting updates of people around them from the dead mesmers. I’m sorry but that isn’t a nice way of enjoying your weekend. I just think this is an underlying problem. While I agree with you, a casual player or even just a not very skilled player shouldn’t be punished for bad mechanics. But that’s just my opinion.

before complaining, try to do it and see how easy it is to move inside a keep with guards and ppl looking for you.

I mean, not exploiting walls.

In those topics it’s so easy to spot the thieves it’s stupid. For me, a non thieve, it’s simple, ressing in steath and for some seconds after should not be possible and also what victory said, stealth should bring you to walking speed not mach 2. That should fix it, thanks.

you guard mesmer bodies. if the bodies are guarded then the thief cant rez its as simple as that.

The perma thieves are pretty much useless in combat, they can just stealth.

Daendur.2357:

Cloud.7613:

Meanwhile, If you have multiple dead mesmers scattered in a keep, a thief or two continuously using invisibility, high mobility going from body to body, getting updates of people around them from the dead mesmers. I’m sorry but that isn’t a nice way of enjoying your weekend. I just think this is an underlying problem. While I agree with you, a casual player or even just a not very skilled player shouldn’t be punished for bad mechanics. But that’s just my opinion.

before complaining, try to do it and see how easy it is to move inside a keep with guards and ppl looking for you.

I mean, not exploiting walls.

Before complaining? It was constructive criticism about flawed mechanics, I wasn’t even talking to you, have a nice day though.

Cloud.7613:

Before complaining? It was constructive criticism about flawed mechanics, I wasn’t even talking to you, have a nice day though.

it was a constructive criticism based on nothing. On your impressions, on what you see (or see not) and not on what you tried.
I think you have no idea of how stealth really works but you call it a “flawed mechanic”.
Try to ress a defeated player, even on open field, with enemies around.
Have a nice day you too.

I have a thief, which i generally don’t use, and using a basic glass cannon type insta noob build and practically no time played on a thief I managed to run around in Hills for ten minutes with several people trying to kill me, netting several kills in the process and managing to ress two of our own players. Guards don’t look for you, only the patrols do and they are laughably easy to avoid, know your detection range and you can stand and wave at guards all day.

Did they manage to catch me? No. I got bored playing ‘run around the castle’ and logged on to a proper class.

You’re a bad kitten dude

Victory chances are the folks looking for you had never played as a thief or tried to perma stealth. I’ve done both and frankly the signs are easy enough to spot if you know what to look for particularly in a confined space. Additionaly as a warrior main it is rather trivial for me to have perma swiftness so just outruning me in stealth isnt happening either. I’ve hunted down many thieves in hills trying to pull that stunt, once I know they’re there and get relitivly close their only chance of geting away is to either somehow kill me or to jump over the wall and get onto open ground where they have more directions they could go makeing it harder to follow. Frankly outer bay is harder to catch a thief in than hills, that place may as well be open field.

Your story of your thief is about as impressive in my eyes as a group of 5 thieves useing spin to win to wipe out 20 or so green arrowed pugs in a choke point. only good for either a laugh at the victems stupidity or as part of a nerfX post.

The “camp mesmer body!” is a joke, you cant break the afk timer while dead meaning you might have to camp that dude all night. Just face the fact that it’s broken and uninteresting. We should have the option to pick up enemy corpses and throw them off the side of the wall or something =P
For those unfamiliar with thieves or how people can get crazy stealth uptime inside towers and stuff. The #5 dagger off hand cloaks ya, its a little expensive except… you have a trait that returns some initiative after you use it making it not bad.
Other traits you can use to help achieve ultimate cheezness
Shadow Arts:
V Shadow Infusion : Gain 2 Initiative when using a skill that stealths you.
X Patience : Regain Initiative faster while in stealth.
Meld with Shadows : Stealth skills last one second longer.
Acrobats:
IX Quick Recovery : Gain 2 initiative every 10 seconds.
Skills:
Shadow Refuge, Infiltrators Signet, Blinding Powder.

You can actually achieve perma stealth without ALL of these, next time you and your mesmer buddy get in, have him die in a low visibility spot. You walk to a wall and CnD stealth until everyone leaves. Then go casually walk over to him while in stealth, res him while in stealth, and giggle, while you port your team back up.

They won’t find you, some abilities like the guardian aoe sword pull can kinda give ya away if they get lucky and use it near ya but overall just giggle as you watch a zerg running over you trying to find you.

Edit: also be sure to turn off your auto attack cuz that will give you the 3 second debuff.

Shaojack.3871:

The “camp mesmer body!” is a joke, you cant break the afk timer while dead meaning you might have to camp that dude all night. Just face the fact that it’s broken and uninteresting. We should have the option to pick up enemy corpses and throw them off the side of the wall or something =P
For those unfamiliar with thieves or how people can get crazy stealth uptime inside towers and stuff. The #5 dagger off hand cloaks ya, its a little expensive except… you have a trait that returns some initiative after you use it making it not bad.
Other traits you can use to help achieve ultimate cheezness
Shadow Arts:
V Shadow Infusion : Gain 2 Initiative when using a skill that stealths you.
X Patience : Regain Initiative faster while in stealth.
Meld with Shadows : Stealth skills last one second longer.
Acrobats:
IX Quick Recovery : Gain 2 initiative every 10 seconds.
Skills:
Shadow Refuge, Infiltrators Signet, Blinding Powder.

You can actually achieve perma stealth without ALL of these, next time you and your mesmer buddy get in, have him die in a low visibility spot. You walk to a wall and CnD stealth until everyone leaves. Then go casually walk over to him while in stealth, res him while in stealth, and giggle, while you port your team back up.

They won’t find you, some abilities like the guardian aoe sword pull can kinda give ya away if they get lucky and use it near ya but overall just giggle as you watch a zerg running over you trying to find you.

Edit: also be sure to turn off your auto attack cuz that will give you the 3 second debuff.

yes, but you missed the “without exploiting walls” part….

Daendur.2357:

yes, but you missed the “without exploiting walls” part….

Yeah from what I’ve seen the wall exploit is becoming very common. I’d really like to see it fixed or something from DEVS saying it’s an exploit because right now with out those you can assume it’s WAI.

Aveneo.2068:

I witnessed a perma-invis Thief earlier today; not in combat but hiding in our keep.

The only thing which gave him/her away were little red circles and a sound effect every 5-10 seconds and the stray black line or odd little puff of smoke (which blinded me apparently). Only at one point did we see the Thief for a fraction of a second as he ducked behind the roof of the supply depot. Unfortunately I didn’t start recording until after so I couldn’t go frame-by-frame to see his/her tag.

I have no idea how they managed to remain invisible permanently with 4-5 people actively searching for the Thief in a relatively small area (Hills inner); but all to no avail. But I don’t think this should have been ArenaNet’s intention for the Thief. Stealth in my humble opinion should be a situational tool, not something that allows the user impossible to locate indefinitely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nORxEijpOls

(sorry for the low quality upload, working on getting a HD version up soon)

Working as intended. No exploit or hack used. Only utilities and use of combo field.

I do not see a dead mesmer inside so it is safe to leave. 1 thief cannot solo a keep lord…

It’s more of a troll build and he suceeded since he trolled you to make a video of it.

Pvp.2758:

I would like confirmation if this is or is not an exploit.

I am guessing you are just trolling, but of course it isn’t an exploit. There is a really cool feature called revive. Try it.

Sifu.6527:

Working as intended. No exploit or hack used. Only utilities and use of combo field.

I do not see a dead mesmer inside so it is safe to leave. 1 thief cannot solo a keep lord…

It’s more of a troll build and he suceeded since he trolled you to make a video of it.

Good to know the Thief was only using his own abilities and no exploit/hack. As to the matter of ‘working as intended’ I personally doubt this very much.