Guild Wars 2

Made my ranger (~100hours now) to kill thieves specifically (kills others pretty fast too as a bonus) and this upcoming update is going to be crazy as hell.

TBH im actually a little concerned the “SicEm” buff will be too kitten thieves. 4seconds is pretty nasty as is. And that rapid fire burst will just destroy anything under 3k armor/20k hp.

The greatsword changes are ok. I think swoop really should evade while swooping, not attacking though. Kinda wish maul was a blast for healing spring/lightning fields ;-) The block is ok currently but yeah im glad it will get some streamlining on its after cast. Think it could use its streamlining on the block/kick transition more though. But that 3 second daze/stun, good lord lol ;-)

I want this patch cause it will be SOOO good for the ranger. Im a little concerned it might end up being crazy OP though and put the ranger in a spot where people will hate them for it like people hate thieves currently.

In my mind, R.I.P. thieves, your reign of terror has come to an end.

Nah. Depends on a variety of factors, though. I think people will start seeing less berserker armor and more valk or cavalier armor getups, or simply just more people playing signets, venoms, etc. on damage builds. One has to remember that RF’s change ultimately makes it easier to dodge the damage and it will not stealth track for the entire duration of stealth, making some players feel more dependent on Sic ‘Em. I’m more worried about Engis getting a reveal (or simply even more classes in general), as it was manageable on rangers, but there may be a little too much revealed debuff going on in WvW roaming now.

Personally, as a signet thief, I don’t think anything in my build or style will change. If anything, the Signet of the Wild’s stability is going to be the most difficult thing to get past. That said, I like to engage before my enemy knows I’m even tailing them in the first place. Anything under a tank warrior/guard/necro in DS is something I burst down within the first three attacks usually.

As a ranger, I look forward to being able to burst players down, especially thieves animating HiS to kill them before rejuv can heal, but I still don’t know if I’ll even play with Sic ’Em. I can see it on perhaps some more utility-oriented rangers, but DPS ones will/should already have enough aggression on their utilities for damage likely not to warrant consistency for only one or two class matchups.

I specialize in killing thieves because as a power roamer and guy that starts on the edge of combat setting up with a bow I have to kill thieves or be useless.

I went through many iterations of sic em builds. Ultimately I can’t live without LR and SoTH (for my speed AND pet’s speed and occasional extra burst) so there is only one slot up for grabs in power IMO. This is now the condi clear sig for both that and extra stun break. It is ultimately more useful than sic em because:

Not all thieves even use stealth, and the good ones are going to avoid a pet. We’re talking s/d and perma evade both that can juke a pet forever effortlessly. Even P/D can by virtue of not having to be close to a pet to attack in the first place.

The lesser thieves I was going to kill anyway without the help of sic em. If a thief is actually vulnerable to sic em he is vulnerable to getting outplayed with the weapon sets alone for the most part I find if that makes sense.

After the patch update my only optional slot will change to signet of stone because the toughness and ability to trade burst in the thief’s face will be far more useful than a maybe pet boost from sic em only applicable to 3/4 of thieves, and far more useful in non-thief scenarios as well.

Justine.6351:

I want this patch cause it will be SOOO good for the ranger. Im a little concerned it might end up being crazy OP though and put the ranger in a spot where people will hate them for it like people hate thieves currently.

In my mind, R.I.P. thieves, your reign of terror has come to an end.

It will not be crazy OP but put LB/GS power rangers more on the table instead of being a joke that people are embarrassed to get killed by currently (which troll aspect I will miss XD). If people hate a class that means it’s effective in some basic way.

Thieves will still be able to blind spam us down for the most part. Speaking for a power spec. However they will not be able to walk away free from a stun/maul burst will be the major change. The RF tracking won’t be as long but it doesn’t matter since they always move to one HS leap/pistol sneak distance anyway and the faster burst window will be better overall since it can free you up for a second action faster is the real key.

The net result will be that good thieves won’t be able to get away with making so many mistakes and cover them up with blind spam and stealth heals as they do currently. Good thieves will still have the advantage of dictating terms of the fight at close range countered by rangers dictating at long range.

Two things I have to say for you.
1.S/d thieves.
2.thieves will get balance patch aswell,so just wait and see.

Otaking.4675:

I specialize in killing thieves because as a power roamer and guy that starts on the edge of combat setting up with a bow I have to kill thieves or be useless.

I went through many iterations of sic em builds. Ultimately I can’t live without LR and SoTH (for my speed AND pet’s speed and occasional extra burst) so there is only one slot up for grabs in power IMO. This is now the condi clear sig for both that and extra stun break. It is ultimately more useful than sic em because:

Imo Signet of the hunt is only good for the initial burst, but is it worth ? I prefer to use Traveler runes instead and gaining that extra util slot for something less situational.

I usually run with LB+S/W and my util skills are LR-SoR-SotH + RaO, this will give me enough skills to create a gap between me and my target while keeping pressure at them and building up might in the process.

I feel the balance change will fix 4 of the biggest issues I have with power ranger

1. The damage of LB is not good enough under 1k units
2 Signets need a trait to be completely usefull
3. The arrows travel very slow giving the target enough time to evade them, plus some skills like barrage take too long to cast
4. the reveal time of sic’em is not good enough for me to use it over another util skill.

The changes in paper look almost OP but we still need to see what the balance patch will bring to the other classes.

sminkiottone.6972:

Imo Signet of the hunt is only good for the initial burst, but is it worth ? I prefer to use Traveler runes instead and gaining that extra util slot for something less situational.

It’s an easy yes for me because:

-Pets lack enough damage and at 25% slower they might as well not be on the board IMO for how many hits they will actually land on a player. Traveler only works for yourself.
-Runes can make a huge difference but traveler runes don’t help a power spec very much beyond the speed.
-Of course the burst is helpful and it’s on a short CD.

Totally agree with the rest of your post.

use spiders if you use traveler

It’s dependent on how you play.

For me, on a DPS character, a mobility signet and scholar runes or mesmer runes is always more worthwhile than surrendering such stats just for the mobility bonus, or simply not having the mobility bonus at all.