Guild Wars 2

So I have played my thief for a couple hundred hours (not nearly as much as some of you I know) and one of the bigger issues I have with the profession is the fact that sometimes infiltrator’s arrow simply doesn’t work.

I know this doesn’t seem like a huge deal but after dying due to thinking I could arrow somewhere while running away and then I see myself just appear in a cloud of smoke in the exact same spot and die from mobs. What’s even worse is that half the time I try to arrow somewhere and it fails my engineer friend just rocket jumps to the exact spot I’m trying to get to.

So is this intended?

Tl;dr- Infiltrator’s arrow won’t let you port to certain places and it’s pretty lame.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrqPaTyE3U

This is the video showcasing exactly what the issue is. Sorry for the quality I think it will get better over time.

I noticed this as well. I think this is happening because Infiltrator’s arrow i prevented to shadow step you between gaps, holes and places you can’t walk in. So sometimes this will happens when you have a rock on path of your shadow step or differences in ground level.

After a while you learn what you can and cannot cross. I’ve used it so much I don’t ever ‘miss’ it anymore (out of range or can’t go to the spot). Practice makes perfect :P

Infiltrators arrow is a short range blink, like any blink it will not take you to a place you cannot reach yourself. Unlike rocket jump where it is a Dash, and it will take you to where ever you land.

The general rule for Infiltrators arrow is: “If you can’t jump across it, walk across it, swim across it or reach it in any physically tangible way, you cannot use this skill to reach it.”

There are plenty of places that I can get to where the arrow doesn’t work, and just because practice makes perfect doesn’t mean that it’s not a bother.

Amiray.1845:

There are plenty of places that I can get to where the arrow doesn’t work, and just because practice makes perfect doesn’t mean that it’s not a bother.

Yes but you often have to work at it, it’s not a straight climb or a straight jump. Also Blinks never go vertically, they are purely horizontal skill, it’s how they remain balanced.

Borigrad.7354:

Amiray.1845:

There are plenty of places that I can get to where the arrow doesn’t work, and just because practice makes perfect doesn’t mean that it’s not a bother.

Yes but you often have to work at it, it’s not a straight climb or a straight jump. Also Blinks never go vertically, they are purely horizontal skill, it’s how they remain balanced.

Even then there are a quite a few places where even horizontally the arrow doesn’t work. I’ll have to make a video showcasing it. I can see the balance aspect of it but how does it make sense that an engineer or a warrior can get to places that no one else can but I can’t arrow certain places if it is a little high up or hard to get to.

For example there is a spiral ramp coming from the water in bore lynch (the dredge mines with the rebels in frostgorge sound) where you can swim to the ramp just fine but you can’t arrow there when I think it would be perfectly fair if you could. That’s just one example out of many that I’ve experienced.

If you ever played a Mage in WoW, Infiltrator’s Arrow is no different. Can’t use it across different terrain tiles or features (rocks), just like when I would borrow a friends’ Rogue and Cheap Shot Mages trying to Blink in/out of the WSG tunnel

Remove that wickedly OP skill.

Problem solved.

Amiray.1845:

So I have played my thief for a couple hundred hours (not nearly as much as some of you I know) and one of the bigger issues I have with the profession is the fact that sometimes infiltrator’s arrow simply doesn’t work.

I know this doesn’t seem like a huge deal but after dying due to thinking I could arrow somewhere while running away and then I see myself just appear in a cloud of smoke in the exact same spot and die from mobs. What’s even worse is that half the time I try to arrow somewhere and it fails my engineer friend just rocket jumps to the exact spot I’m trying to get to.

So is this intended?

Tl;dr- Infiltrator’s arrow won’t let you port to certain places and it’s pretty lame.

I agree about the inability to port to places, such as a clif that is just above your head… I see the reason for this being that it makes puzzle jumping easier, and PVP ramifications. However, shadowstepping/porting like that has always been the cornerstone of any thief/rogue archetype. It is why we choose the class. It is part of our niché. Our little, “gimmick”. Im sure other classes have one or two things that are really unique to their class that make them stand out as a “Yeah, only a Guardian can do that…cool”.

Never had a problem with it. Follow line of sight rules like table top games use. It’s not a teleport, people.

The problem is that LoS still doesn’t really work as it should in this game. Ever shot a mob from 15 meters away and got the obstructed message when all there was between you and the mob was air? I have, and so have my guildies. And It’s a hair pulling situation. That same invisible pixel(or whatever it is) also blocks infiltrator’s arrow. I have noticed this happening more often in Orr than anywhere else(though iron marches and blazeridge steppes also have their frustrating spots).

However I do think that shadow step is fine as a straight line LoS teleport. Shouldn’t have up/down/over gaps functionality(and really neither should engineer or any other class, as it allows for cheesing of jumping puzzles/vistas and getting into areas much easier than you should by avoiding packs of mobs)

I think when the LoS issues get fixed, infiltrator’s arrow will as well.

I have problems with it all the time on flat surfaces.
First, I hate that it’ll still fire off (and use its cooldown) when it’s outside of range. Sometimes I think I’m in range, especially in WvW, and it shows no red line underneath, but by the time the skill goes off I’m out of range. Rather annoying.
Second, sometimes it doesn’t pull the entire distance. A mob could get caught on a pebble that’s barely visible on the terrain.
Third, said pebble could cause the skill not to fire at all.
Fourth, some mobs are inexplicably immune.
Lastly, for some reason, the last time I was in a dungeon and tasked with pulling mobs, I would accidentally start fights with entire groups because I’d walk up into range and my #1 skill would auto-fire before I could click the arrow. I wasn’t doing anything that I know of to cause that skill to fire, it just would.

Karthaugh.6532:

The problem is that LoS still doesn’t really work as it should in this game. Ever shot a mob from 15 meters away and got the obstructed message when all there was between you and the mob was air? I have, and so have my guildies. And It’s a hair pulling situation. That same invisible pixel(or whatever it is) also blocks infiltrator’s arrow. I have noticed this happening more often in Orr than anywhere else(though iron marches and blazeridge steppes also have their frustrating spots).

However I do think that shadow step is fine as a straight line LoS teleport. Shouldn’t have up/down/over gaps functionality(and really neither should engineer or any other class, as it allows for cheesing of jumping puzzles/vistas and getting into areas much easier than you should by avoiding packs of mobs)

I think when the LoS issues get fixed, infiltrator’s arrow will as well.

I have yet to see this, but I’m sure I will sooner or later. I’ve heard people talk about it, but thought it was rare. Guess not.

The problem with infiltrators arrow is that it is terribly inconsistent. For example in metrica province you can not reliably shadowstep (with the arrow) down or up a set of stairs that you can normally run up and down. However, in the same map you can shadowstep fine up a much steeper ramp than those aforementioned stairs.

Also, the fact that it does not work vertically is also inconsistent, sometimes you can port to a jump high ledge little ways away, but not always. Also, why can’t we port down below however far we want (I would even happily take fall damage if that is an argument, but we can’t even use this to go down small ledges, see stairs above).

Also, as if it wasn’t bad enough, the same restrictions that apply to regular shadow step skills (such as the arrow, or the utility) do not seem to count for the downed skill, so yet another inconsistency to keep track or.

I get that using infiltrators arrow to reach un-routable terrain is an issue, and that is why it is so limited. But at the very least make it consistent in what it can and can’t be used for. Also like I said, let me take the fall damage but please let me port down ledges.

If I can walk five steps and jump to get to the end point, then I should be able to arrow there, but right now as it stands it may or may not happen, there are way too many inconsistencies.

I use Infiltrators Arrow to go up hills I’d otherwise have to go around. I have never had a problem using it. Obviously trying to use it to get on rooftops or high rocks probably won’t work.

Like others have said, “If you can’t walk to it, you can’t IA to it”. Learn areas you can teleport to.

Infiltrator’s Arrow is slow to use to run away. Try Shadowstep(utility). The onlt thing I use Infiltrator’s for is to blind enemies.

It’s very easy to say “learn areas to teleport to” but I don’t think you understand I have used this skill since level 2. Go to Lion’s Arch and try to use it in places where you think it would work I bet you half the time it won’t. There are plenty of examples of places where you can easily walk up to, yet you can’t arrow there.

The shot also is linear in that, let’s say you’re on one side of a small hill, for example near roads, and you shoot to the road – you will appear on the crest of the hill many times instead of on the road. This is because it’s line of sight. It’s not WoW where line of sight doesn’t matter. You can actually sneak by PvE mobs, hide behind rocks, and so on. For the shot, just learn it’s quirks and adapt.

Yet again someone saying to learn how to use it. Line of sight isn’t the issue here. I have hit the top of something plenty of times where the arrow should have worked following all the “rules” you guys have stated and it doesn’t work.

I know what you mean, but “learn how to use it” is saying “Yes, it doesn’t work where sometimes you intuitively think it should, however it is what it is right now – many would say amazing as it is with the balance of sometimes not working exactly every time – and I’m sure the devs are aware and if they think it’s part of the design they will fix it, but for now, adapt and overcome.”

Isn’t the point of the forums to come and discuss though? There are a few examples already of anet listening to the player base. Even if this doesn’t get changed I’d rather know I tried then just said “Well it probably won’t change, oh well”. I am uploading a short 20 second or so video showcasing how broken it can be. It should be up soon.

This is the video showcasing exactly what the issue is. Sorry for the quality I think it will get better over time.

Yeah I think everyone totally agrees with you and I’m glad there’s an effort to get it changed. But we also note we have to make due and it’s great as it is. I was really hoping I could go up on enemy Keeps when I first found out about the skill. But that would break a lot of things. And in PvE there are plenty of spots it works, and others it doesn’t. I had reliable teleport up to a single ledge 900 units up that was like a mushroom, every time, but can’t use it to get up a tiny rock nearby.

For sure don’t get me wrong I love the skill, it’s amazing, but I just think it could use a little tweaking. If anything it would be nice if Shadowstep could work in more places than the arrow due to it having an actual cool down.

Amiray.1845:

This is the video showcasing exactly what the issue is. Sorry for the quality I think it will get better over time.

It is the mechanics of the skill. Even though it ‘teleports’, its just a horizontal movement. Mechanically, it draws a straight line between you and the location. If there is any terrain object considered impassable by walking (the drop, a wall, etc), it will tele you to the closest point to that object,

I see, but how come sometimes it decides to work on certain ramps/drops/walls/etc? Hell most of the time I can shoot the bottom of a ramp (literally the bottom, like standing under it)and it will teleport me to the top of it.

It wasn’t always just a horizontal teleport. I remember seeing a pvp video from one of the WBEs in which the guy playing used it to get to the church building’s balconies several times.

Amiray.1845:

So I have played my thief for a couple hundred hours (not nearly as much as some of you I know) and one of the bigger issues I have with the profession is the fact that sometimes infiltrator’s arrow simply doesn’t work.

I know this doesn’t seem like a huge deal but after dying due to thinking I could arrow somewhere while running away and then I see myself just appear in a cloud of smoke in the exact same spot and die from mobs. What’s even worse is that half the time I try to arrow somewhere and it fails my engineer friend just rocket jumps to the exact spot I’m trying to get to.

So is this intended?

Tl;dr- Infiltrator’s arrow won’t let you port to certain places and it’s pretty lame.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrqPaTyE3U

This is the video showcasing exactly what the issue is. Sorry for the quality I think it will get better over time.

It USED to work like that. But for some reason Arenanet decided shadow step and teleports shouldn’t be allowed to cross gaps to easily traverse jumping puzzles and said warriors, guardians, rangers, and engineers are the only classes authorized by Arenanet to cheese jumping puzzles with skills aside from the spacebar.

Is there any reason it doesn’t work like that anymore? I’m sure there could be some sort of medium.