Guild Wars 2

I just finished my 100% world completion (yay!), and I have to say, when the day comes that I will be finishing Orr with my other characters, I will suffer a lot!

I understand where all the complains about Orr come after exploring it 100%, as apparently someone is selling pulling hooks to every zombie there, and if you’re swarmed fast and CCed, you’re dead… unless if you’re a Thief

I didn’t event run an Acrobatics build, neither I used SoS for the +25% speed increase (imagine if I would have!) just with our precious precious precious Infiltrator’s Arrow and Hide in Shadows plus Shadow Refuge (best skill in the game! incredible utility, incredible at saving you from all kind of situations, incredible at resurrecting, incredible at skipping hard fights, best skill in the whole game!), and I managed to explore Orr 100% in a fairly short amount of time.

The pulls were annoying, yep, but nothing more than that, I could always throw an IA to scape and keep running, even when they pulled me after an IA, I still had Initiative for a second one. I managed to complete very hard corridors full of risen just for the sake of the challenge and I didn’t have any problem, sometimes I didn’t even need the Refuge.

Another good part of this is that when I was forced to fight, I could do it in my terms (never more than 3 opponents at the same time if there isn’t any other player) and my P/D set up did really well fighting those risen.

I SRed every possible Skill Point challenge (except under water where I had to wait for cycles of patrols and then HS to commune) because there are a huge lot of commune based skill points in Orr (there are so many points there that I was expecting more variety, but luckily it was this way hehe). Everytime I saw a Champion standing over the communing point, I felt pity for the other professions while I threw my IA and proceeded to SR commune the skill point.

And during the group events at the temples I felt like I was doing a lot in the team fights too, my build is support based so that’s normal, but there were some cases, like in the Temple of Lyssa, where we needed to resurrect some NPCs and avoid agroing creatures to them, so SR resurrect was perfect in that situation too.

I think I really enjoyed the experience of exploring Orr (weird, I know, many are finding Orr a nightmarish place where they don’t want to return), but if there is a zone that seems to be made for Thieves to use all its pros is this one!

Anyone else felt that “thanks to the six I’m playing a Thief on this map” sentiment in Orr?

And if there is some Thief that desisted on exploring Orr because it’s too annoying, resume the task! You have more advantages there than any other profession!

I post this mostly because I’m finding many “Thief is bad at PVE” comments around here, and I think it has some amazing tools for PvE, both exploring/event and dungeon completion!

I know exactly how you feel, it’s so easy to get around as a thief! I love pve as one, despite what everyone says. So much utility, so much mobility, it’s just so much fun.

Thief is bad at actually fighting in PvE, namely things worth killing (bosses, not just the trash roaming the zone). Thieves are great at exploring, due to their fast mobility. This doesn’t mean they’re good at PvE. Thief would be my last choice if I was recruiting for a dungeon.

I really can’t believe you think running away from trash mobs makes a class good in PvE.

Krathalos.3461:

Thief is bad at actually fighting in PvE, namely things worth killing (bosses, not just the trash roaming the zone). Thieves are great at exploring, due to their fast mobility. This doesn’t mean they’re good at PvE. Thief would be my last choice if I was recruiting for a dungeon.

I really can’t believe you think running away from trash mobs makes a class good in PvE.

Yeah, exactly that. Thieves are good at exploring. That’s a large part of why I originally picked the class. Also, I really hate Orr. When I actually need to kill something, sheesh, thieves weren’t designed to be taking on a group of 5 high-hp targets…

…..unless you’re a unicorn thief.

Meh the thief can do well in Orr but whatever it can do other classes can do better.
I currently run a 80 Thief in Orr and have minimal issues until I get pulled by 3 different mobs in the space of 0.5 seconds.

What game are you people playing?

Thieves bad @ PvE? I almost wet myself I laughed so hard. Acro + Shadow + Skill = me practically soloing every boss in the game.

And apparently bwillb has never equipped a shortbow during the entire span of his toon short life. 5 mobs? That’s your skill limit? I pull mobs by the dozens. That’s plural BTW.

Step 1.) Get a shortbow and learn how to use it.

Step 2.) Equip signet of malice.

Step 3.) Go slaughter stuff by the dozens.

You’re welcome.

would a gear mix between Cond and Power/crit work better for Orr? For the moments when you pull 3-4 mobs.
Most of the setups I saw up to now used either full Carrion or a mix of zerk/something. Never both condition & power/crit in the same setup.

As far as I saw up to now, GW2 does not look like a game where you should min/max the way you (I) did in WoW for raids… still..

Yeah I supose shortbow does alright in aoe, I just find spamming a single ground-target skill to be really, really, boring. I didn’t mean it’s not possible to take on that many, just that I don’t find it to be an enjoyable experience. I much prefer a situation where I can make use of stealth attacks and shadowsteps and dodging big attacks without rolling into the pack of 5 mobs over there that respawned 5 seconds after I killed them.

@rogerwilko I don’t recommend investing in both crits and condition at the same time. Invest in power all you want in combination with any of them, but you need to choose one of them, conditions or crits, if not you end up not being good at any of them as both require heavy investment to really make a difference.

I was running a venoms&support build, with P/D for bleed stacking and I did quite well in Orr against multiple mobs. I also did a lot of Crit based with S/P but I ended up bored because with that set you don’t move too much and I love to maneuveur. Both builds work really well, but you shouldn’t mix crits and conditions, at least that’s my advice.

Babelfish

I currently run a 80 Thief in Orr and have minimal issues until I get pulled by 3 different mobs in the space of 0.5 seconds.

Those mob types only really do their pull once per fight when you initially aggro them. A dodge at the beginning of a fight will usually negate that. Optionally, close with them faster and they won’t feel the need to pull you into melee range because you’ll already be there.

Lokheit.7943:

@rogerwilko I don’t recommend investing in both crits and condition at the same time. Invest in power all you want in combination with any of them, but you need to choose one of them, conditions or crits, if not you end up not being good at any of them as both require heavy investment to really make a difference.

This is a common misconception with GW2, mostly brought over from other games. Stats scale linearly, so it isn’t a matter of “a heavy investment to make a difference”, but rather what the majority of the skills you’re using will benefit from. Condition damage and crits are mutually exclusive on paper since conditions can’t crit. However, many thief skills both apply conditions and do regular damage, meaning they’ll benefit from both. Some thieves still choose to completely min/max their offensive stats and leave parts of their skills un-synergized, but I’ve found it is far more effective to use things like +all stat bonuses (Divinity Runes, Triforge) and might (power/condition damage) than it is to push purely one stat when you aren’t using purely one stat.

Thief is easily the most fun in PvE. I whiz by every single mob in Orr without a problem. Since I run Acrobatics and Shadow Arts as standard, I can dodge, stealth and blind almost infinitely and go from one side of the island to the other without a hitch.