Guild Wars 2

Hello,

I am returning to GW2 as the story arc is ending and preparing to play more as soon as the next season starts. My main was a conditions thief which I enjoyed the most during Open World PvE. I don’t sPvP, and since I am not part of a guild currently, no WvW either.

What about the Thief has changed? It’s been about 6 months since I’ve played. I did a couple days of play during Wintersday but that’s just about it. I have exotic gear, but nothing ascended (only Fractal lvl 8 ). Can you point me to a build that is currently the most popular (best?) in PvE?

I also thought about lvling up one of my alts. I have a 32 Necro and a 25 Guardian.. Do you suggest I maybe switch to one of those?

Much appreciated.

I’m in exactly the same situation as you mate so will be interested to hear what people think. I was playing s/d thief before and I think they’ve fixed the 3 attack…so might be a little more viable now!

Good luck and welcome back anyway

Hey,
I just started playing again too after stopping for 6 months..
I was S/D as well , and I played mainly PVE with a sprinkle of WvW when bored.

I’ve only been back in the swing of things for a week or two now, but the major changes I found so far are:
-Thieves passive initiative regen is faster (but they nerfed a few traits that would have normally helped restore ini)
-Infiltrator Return has a .5 cast time and no longer breaks stun (This absolutely killed my S/D build, and most of the more fun boss fights out there. I miss this soooo much)
-There is a new condition called torment that damages you over time while you are moving.
-Pistol whip was reworked to be more smooth on the animations, and it’s more spammable now because of that.
-No one in dungeons knows how to play the game without ‘Stacking’ during every fight. (I mean seriously.. if i wanted to stand still and attack.. id play WoW or Old Republic)
-Magic find has been reworked to something called ‘luck’ instead, which is a passive magic find, so if you had magic find gear previously for farming, the stats are something else now.
-Trickery line was reworked, and if you invest in it , your steal will be on a much shorter cooldown and you can steal boons with it if traited.

S/P zerker PVE seems to be the way to go nowadays. I mean obviously you can play any weapon set and be fine, but S/P is easiest.

Sparrow.5936:

Hey,
I just started playing again too after stopping for 6 months..
I was S/D as well , and I played mainly PVE with a sprinkle of WvW when bored.

I’ve only been back in the swing of things for a week or two now, but the major changes I found so far are:
-Thieves passive initiative regen is faster (but they nerfed a few traits that would have normally helped restore ini)
-Infiltrator Return has a .5 cast time and no longer breaks stun (This absolutely killed my S/D build, and most of the more fun boss fights out there. I miss this soooo much)
-There is a new condition called torment that damages you over time while you are moving.
-Pistol whip was reworked to be more smooth on the animations, and it’s more spammable now because of that.
-No one in dungeons knows how to play the game without ‘Stacking’ during every fight. (I mean seriously.. if i wanted to stand still and attack.. id play WoW or Old Republic)
-Magic find has been reworked to something called ‘luck’ instead, which is a passive magic find, so if you had magic find gear previously for farming, the stats are something else now.
-Trickery line was reworked, and if you invest in it , your steal will be on a much shorter cooldown and you can steal boons with it if traited.

S/P zerker PVE seems to be the way to go nowadays. I mean obviously you can play any weapon set and be fine, but S/P is easiest.

“No one in dungeons knows how to play the game without ‘Stacking’ during every fight. (I mean seriously.. if i wanted to stand still and attack.. id play WoW or Old Republic)”
Its funny how some people have no clue why its done and even think that its gw2 specific thing and cry about it when its done in most games for years, specially the ones with heavy aoe. Reasons to that:
1. Stacking trash in corners makes it faster to kill them with aoe/cleave instead of running around like brainless chickens and killing them one by one and/or dieing in the process.
2. Most corners are chosen because they break line of sight for ranged mobs forcing them to come in melee range and stack up nicely together for aoe damage.
3. Strict formation in corner prevents people running around like brainless chickens and pulling bosses/mobs all over the place making it easier to melee them.
4. Staying in melee range prevents some bosses/mobs to use some of their ranged abilities (Mai Trin fractal for example – she uses shadowstep while in range what hits for tons of damage)
5. Its simply faster to group ress downed people when they are directly at your feet
6. You gotta stay close for group boons/heals/cleanses and even closer for projectile walls ect etc.
7. Many bosses spawn trash who start running all over the place and cause trouble. Stacking in corner that prevents line of sight from their spawn place makes them come right into you aoe.

So no ppl stack in dungeons not because they don’t know how to play game without stacking, but because its simply the most effective way to do it – thing that ppl try to achieve in every game. Also Gw2 is made around stacking.

Duuude.. i know why people stack.
It’s just boring is all. It’s like cheat mode, and it’s no different then when people stand on tree branches and switch on auto attack. This game wasn’t “made around stacking” , you nerds who need to do things the most efficient way because god forbid that dungeon isn’t completed 5 minutes faster, you guys made it that way. Relax bro. It’s a game.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates

Sparrow.5936:

Duuude.. i know why people stack.
It’s just boring is all. It’s like cheat mode, and it’s no different then when people stand on tree branches and switch on auto attack. This game wasn’t “made around stacking” , you nerds who need to do things the most efficient way because god forbid that dungeon isn’t completed 5 minutes faster, you guys made it that way. Relax bro. It’s a game.

Read again my entry Nr. 6. This game is made around stacking.