Guild Wars 2

I’ve spent my Nth time this week trying to get thief to not kill my wrists (an earlier attempt quickly ended up with me offline for several days, with my arms feeling slit open). But, I am getting bored overall with the game and want to make the classes I’ve never played work for me.

This past week has somehow worked out OK, though I’m still in some minor pain (better than that last attempt though). But if I really plan on taking this to a ‘full-on’ PvE / Guild Mission / etc alt, with L80, Exotics, DareDevil unlocked, and full Story runs completed, I will need some assistance in getting a more defensive build mapped out. One that can be forgiving if I make a slip, which DD seems tailor-made for.

All suggestions welcome, and thanks in advance. Note I already have plans for what race to commit too (yet another member of my Leapur ‘warband’), but if you can give good utilitarian arguments for another race’s synergy with Thief, I’m willing to hear it. I know Norn would work out well (and admittedly can look just as cool), but I absolutely, positively despise trenchcoats. So its usually Sylvari or Charr for Medium classes. :p

Need more wrist training then. I can recommend some but one should be obvious, basically alternate between both hands.

Yes, I have a powerball exerciser (which is quite fun actually), but what I have is not normal RSI. When I meant ‘arms slit open’ I should have mentioned that it was along the entire forearm, not just across the wrist. On occasion I also have numbness on the ‘resting’ side of the hand (pinky side), so it may well just be pinched nerves in the arms.

So far, staying away from computers (or anything requiring a desk) as much as possible for a couple days will counteract it just fine. But as a programmer/sysadmin I find it frustrating, and there are several other classes (Guardian and Ranger in particular) where you can easily build in the ability to take a hit or two, so you can pace yourself slower and not have this problem in the first place.

Thief isn’t exactly an entry-level class I suppose. It’s easy to get into and fall in love with(as I did for the majority of 3 years), but difficult to master. It’s a very active class that requires you to be at your best and focused at all times, as there’s a lot of risk vs reward gameplay going on.

It used to be more forgiving, in a way, when there was actual diversity to builds. I remember when a thief was made into a combat medic or even some tankiness. Now, however, not much diversity, nor options there.

So I guess you’re playing staff.
I’m a former chronical carpal tunnel syndrome “patient” – I know how it feels when the wrist is starting to get too much – and staff is giving it too much. (My “bad” wrist is the left but I’m right handed and while playing staff my wrist became sore) – the reason for this is that it isn’t exactly well designed: you have to AoE too close so your wrist is pressed into akward positions and that will hurt after a while.
All other thief weapons are pretty fine but if you have an overly sensitive wrist and don’t know how to set your mouse so your turns don’t take too much effort (camera changes, once upon a time everything was fine) – then you will have problems with thief, the whole class.

Sungak Alkandenes.1369:

Yes, I have a powerball exerciser (which is quite fun actually), but what I have is not normal RSI. When I meant ‘arms slit open’ I should have mentioned that it was along the entire forearm, not just across the wrist. On occasion I also have numbness on the ‘resting’ side of the hand (pinky side), so it may well just be pinched nerves in the arms.

So far, staying away from computers (or anything requiring a desk) as much as possible for a couple days will counteract it just fine. But as a programmer/sysadmin I find it frustrating, and there are several other classes (Guardian and Ranger in particular) where you can easily build in the ability to take a hit or two, so you can pace yourself slower and not have this problem in the first place.

And yes that is carpal tunnel – go to a doc.

Jana, I did indeed see a doctor – when the original injury (a bus accident) occurred 25 years ago. It was determined then that the cartilage sheaths were damaged, but as long as I did not overstress myself, I would be fine. And that’s borne out fine over many hours in many games: about a year’s gametime within multiple Bethesda games, about 500 hours Minecraft, 6 years Myst Online, 3 years Eve Online (where your mind and soul will likely break before the body does), and almost 4 years here.

But so far, this game (and only this game) caused problems under two cases:

1) Thief class mechanics. This was actually the less worrisome of the two, as it seems the class requires what I call ‘twitch reflexes’ gameplay. I’ve not liked that style as I do not have the reflexes for it. But with the most recent attempt, I figured there is now the possibility of making it work.

2) LS1’s pacing, while delivering content that was engaging, also required a bit too much constant grind for my tastes. I eventually pulled back and just went for the story bits (which is what I like most), and tossed everything else aside. LS2 and the expansion has been a better direction for me, where I can pace things as I see fit and keep me interested for longer.

While the other comments have been helpful, I will continue this over on the Operation: Union forum instead. Thank you for your time.

Not sure if I’m too late to the thread but does it hurt when you use you left hand fingers or is it both hands? I recommend getting an MMO mouse(Razer Naga-style) and binding the most used skills to it. One thing I would do if you go through this route is to bind dodge to the closest thumb button. Using your thumbs for your main skills should help since it’s much stronger than your other fingers.

As for race, I started with a Charr thief and switched over to Sylvari. I love the backstab animation on Charr but hated their heartseeker jump. Sylvari’s backstab and HS animation is good but one of the main reasons I switched is because I kept getting hate in spvp with my charr even though I played the same. I think there’s a hate(racism?) char gets that more “humanoid” toons don’t. Whatever the reason, I didn’t want to have this stress over a game. I think Charr looks better on trenchcoats than my Sylvari. On the Charr, I look like a pimp, on my Sylvari, I look like I’m wearing a dress.