Guild Wars 2

Really, the “only” difference now is that thieves get destroyed if they are focused by 2 pewpew rangers.
Same thing that happens to ANY other zerker class when another zerker joins the fight and gets the jump on them.
In 1v1, LB rangers are easily countered by any DP set.
Look at their Signets and guess if they have Sic Em.
Infiltrator Signet if you get Knocked back. Shadowstep if that happens again. Then you should have ANOTHER Infiltrator Signet if that happens a third time (ugh).
Stick close to them and interrupt the rapid fire with Headshot. Shadowshot if they use stealth skill to get some distance.
After their Rapid Fire and Point Blank Shot are used, they should be easy to kill.
If they pop invulnerability, use refuge to go in stealth. They won’t be able to “Sic Em” you if you use Refuge. Wait for the Invuln to go away and then backstab them with the long stealth you get.
If they go into GS mode, use Shadow Shot on the block so that their kick will miss, then just auto. Dodge Maul (easy). You can get hit by the GS#5 interrupt since it will only be a short daze if they hit you in the front (which they should do), just remember to dodge afterwards ONLY if they go for a Maul, since they can bait out the dodge with the daze and then use Maul after you are out of dodges because you avoided some stupid autoattack.

I’m having A LOT of fun playing Ranger now, because killing SA thieves is extremely easy now (regardless of the spec – be it PD or DP or DD). But that is only because they are clueless as to how to fight a Ranger.
I agree that it takes 0 skill to play (with only 2 days of playing zerker ranger I’ve already beaten other really good players on their main classes), but it’s fun. And it’s counterable.

And for those who don’t know me (not that you must know me anyway), my main is, and will always be, thief.

EDIT: as another guy pointed out, the Warrior’s stolen skill is a reflect which could come in handy. I’m not really fond of that as I play Trickery and as such I use my steal as another interrupt for engaging the ranger, but it could work for SA thieves. Just use it when you get “Sic Em” and reflect all their burst.

The two posts above me pretty much sum up the things. I won’t argue with some EZ moders who just whine because they lost their godmode.

If you can’t stay alive without stealth, have fun getting blown up in 5 seconds

Also, another thing.
As a thief main, i “feel” your pain. I, too, when the patch hit, was totally rekt by random rangers spamming autos/rapid fire. But it has ALWAYS been that way – this patch has only buffed Ranger’s survivability with the Signets buff, but you ALWAYS died if you got hit by a full Rapid Fire and 2-3 autos from max range.
Every zerker class has a hard time roaming now. With a thief, especially if SA specced, it was extremely easy to survive even if outnumbered. “Now”, because of the influx of new rangers, this thing may disappear, as it only takes ONE ranger to kill one thief fighting outnumbered.
Remember that you are NOT supposed to win a 1vX – merely surviving is good enough a result.

I’m not calling anyone a noob or anything (unless you are PD condi, ugh!), just follow the tips I’ve given you. And if you are being targeted by 2 rangers while out of cooldowns… just accept the fate that ANY other zerker class would meet.

I agree though that roaming now is really hard as a thief.

i think it’s great that rangers got buffed. and honestly i’ve had little problem dealing with rangers using sic ’em 1v1 or 1v2 because most of them are made of glass. and this is running a sa d/d hk spec.

but that’s not the issue. the issue is is that and entire trait line has been disabled.

‘well just don’t put 6 points into shadow arts,’ isn’t a balanced or fair answer either.

i’ll quit kittening about it. maybe i’ll just switch to s/d. oh wait…

“Oh no! I can’t cheese around anymore with the kittened stealth mechanic in this game! I have to actually think about two things in a fight, qq.”

/thread

Mahkno.7593:

i think it’s great that rangers got buffed. and honestly i’ve had little problem dealing with rangers using sic ’em 1v1 or 1v2 because most of them are made of glass. and this is running a sa d/d hk spec.

but that’s not the issue. the issue is is that and entire trait line has been disabled.

‘well just don’t put 6 points into shadow arts,’ isn’t a balanced or fair answer either.

i’ll quit kittening about it. maybe i’ll just switch to s/d. oh wait…

You kill a Ranger’s pet, you’ve disabled a trait line. Kill their spirits, you’ve disabled another one. And I worry about you if you can’t survive for 6 seconds outside of stealth with a full 6 points in SA (that toughness helps a lot). Do you just run around with your head cut off? Or do you actually dodge, daze the enemy, and buy as much time as needed for revealed to get knocked off?

Tell me how to dodge and daze with p/d or d/d builds, when you have 2 dodges and no daze. Go on.

RyuDragnier.9476:

You kill a Ranger’s pet, you’ve disabled a trait line. Kill their spirits, you’ve disabled another one.

great… give us an instant cast ‘kill pet/spirit’ or ‘un-analyze’ utility. same thing, right?

RyuDragnier.9476:

And I worry about you if you can’t survive for 6 seconds outside of stealth with a full 6 points in SA (that toughness helps a lot).

thank you for worrying about me, but re-read what i wrote. i’ve had little problem killing glass rangers while revealed. that wasn’t the issue.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Do you just run around with your head cut off? Or do you actually dodge, daze the enemy, and buy as much time as needed for revealed to get knocked off?

yes. i just run around with my head cut off. it’s very liberating. and yes i use my 2 dodges, but sadly i don’t have a daze.

Yes it sucks that your p/d 6 SA or any other SA thief build has a counter in wvw now but guess what?.. endure what all other class have to endure, like how a necro instant wins against condi engineer or that warrior automatically loses to condi mesmer. Also again, if u play spvp it would not affect you at all as nobody goes SA p/d thieves or other similar nonsense.

fumcheg.1936:

Tell me how to dodge and daze with p/d or d/d builds, when you have 2 dodges and no daze. Go on.

Dodge: Dodge with natural endurance regeneration if you don’t build for more.
Daze: If you have no dazes you cannot daze. Nothing says P/D or D/D cannot trait Sleight of hand though.

More constructively though, if you need that additional survivability, build for it…

If you’re an Asura you can always techno babble.
And I’ve yet to see (recently at least) a DD or PD thief who doesn’t run DP as secondary set. Your Shortbow is useless anyway, so just switch to do and interrupt.
Also, if you’re full Dire PD, what are you complaining for?

Try and you’ll see. I’m not going to spend time in convincing of ppl who do not know what they are talking about.