Guild Wars 2

Here are some initial bugs and feedback from this weekend. I’ve been playing Deadeye and daredevil:

Deadeye: In all of the pvp maps obstruction is an issue. A gently sloping hill can be too much, or on the Capricorn, the flat terrain that makes up the point area can be an obstruction. It’s a disaster for the updated steal skill as it forces it to a long cooldown. It will usually say “obstructed” or “no line of sight” (most common on flat terrain). Hopefully this is a fixable bug. For the most part you’re ok if you imagine that your line of sight should be assumed to be measured from slightly below your feet.

While on the new steal… it may need tweaked as right now it can be blocked, obstructed, etc… and that’s IF it fires at all…sometimes it just does a quick spin cooldown without connecting.

All the skills are slow…they may take 1/2-3/4 of a second to cast…but then there’s another delay as the bullet has to travel with a noticeable tail. It’s a sniper shooting laser’s through a cloud of light fog like at a nightclub basically.

The patience aspect is nifty… though malice does take a lifetime to charge up… and by the time it’s fully charged it’s often gone. the 4 skill, which is the primary dps of this spec often fails to account for malice when it hits. when it does…it’s like a train…a train that took a very long time to get to the station but you’re happy it did. For those worried that it’kittenting too hard… keep in mind that it’s costing 10-20 seconds (likely in the middle) and 10-11 initiative a shot to fire (kneel then 4 skill). it’s the expensive glue holding the rifle together.

I’ve found going with the third column middle line trait is helpful because it gives this build 4 seconds of quickness…which it desperately needs.

The 3 skill is where I see most the fast damage coming from in the form of might stacks,

I’ve found the kneeling skill 2 helps on svanir

As for traits… it’s all top line. You can sub the first column middle, and the last column middle… third line has no utility. 2nd line sounds neat, but needs the daredevils pulmonary impact or something to flesh it out. The rest of the build seems to flow with anything except acrobatics (because you’ve essentially been turned into a dredge turret).

For utility skills… Withdraw is nice because it helps you keep your distance. Roll for initiative is handy because you’ll burn through it like a coke-fiend. Signet of Agility can be substituted here for condi removal. If you’re in pvp the cantrip that pushes people away is helpful as it’s the only cantrip other than the elite with a relatively fast cooldown and casting time. They have introduced a new shadowstep…which can be used in pvp but I found it more helpful in wvw where you have more space should you need to get away. The cantrip that allows you to drop a house on your enemies has an ENORMOUS tell and weeklong casting time. The mercy Cantrip would be better if it had more utility.

That said, don’t waste anytime on an ele using stone heart. I think it’s a bug, but stone heart makes them so they can’t be critically hit… which currently translates into they can’t be hit. 1 skill will hit them but do pretty much no damage— nothing else will though. You may not even get numbers. Just don’t do it. Walk away and hope that it is indeed a bug and will be addressed.

Oh…and shadowstepis invaluable…. like it is in pretty much every thief build ever.

If you haven’t gotten it already… distance is your friend with this build. Most people are either spamming 3 or waiting on skill 4 to charge. Some thieves are carrying either sword/pistol, or dagger/pistol around for when distance is closed or they come up against other thieves. It means they can beat other thieves and deadeyes (since everything a deadeye does requires a windup).

Oh… I keep talking about WvW and deadeye…but to make it simple…don’t. It’s a terrible idea.

To finish off skills… the elite cantrip is pretty amazing as it has a short cooldown and breaks revealed. It’s a lifesaver. Bow down and praise it’s existence.

I tried for a short period but don’t think this makes a great condi build. It’s better as a slow throat punch build…. seriously… imagine you’re a villain that has to explain your plan in detail before committing to killing the hero. That’s deadeye.

As for how this stacks against the other classes:

Guardian: Deadeye effectively eats core and trap based guardians pretty well as long as you remember to keep your distance and although you have to plant yourself to be effective, you’ve got to move as much as you can. If they can close and drop on you you’re in trouble. It does decent against firebrand just again…. distance and patience is key… it’s better than daredevil at handling guardian specs.

Revenant: This one I think needs more testing as renegade seems to be overall meh so I haven’t seen them in pvp much this weekend. When I have run into rev they seem to be running the basic revenant…which if he closes on you again can be a problem. When you die, you’ll die quick. Overall if anet is going to do fixes before release I’d guess renegade would get a boost.

Warrior: These guys take awhile, but you’ve actually got a decent chance against them. People seem to be liking spellbreaker, watch out for reflect and of course their permastun that if they manage to clip a single hair on you you’re done for.

Engineer- Unless an engineer is hard up in my business, deadeye is eating them. So much easier than with daredevil. This goes for holosmith as well… avoid their protective skills and follow general deadeye rules.

Ranger- Soulbeast-. This one flat-lined for me. balance-wise. I don’t really notice a huge difference between that and its druid thing. they tend to be a bit tougher because they also have good range, and arrows fly faster than bullets in gw2.

Thief- The other meta thief builds destroy deadeye quite handedly. They can close distance, have access to blinds and stealth and interrupts. If you can hit first or manage to get a reset you’ve got a chance, but odds are ever in their favor.

elementalist- weaver… I mentioned this before, if they are running stone skin, it is completely pointless to engage them at all right now. there is an alternate build running around that is doing ok, but can be contained if you’re keeping your distance

Mesmer- Mirage… this is the meta of this expansion. 20k power and condi burst out of stealth, with zero tells and no build up is easy on this build. Or go straight condi…. they can get you at a distance, they can get you up close. The ONLY way I’ve countered them is running dagger pistol, and that’s usually because of a lucky fluke. If you’re running against a mirage… this is the one to focus otherwise they’ll take you 3 or 4 v 1. It’s the main reason to carry signet of agility and shortbow. (anything to deal with or get away from the illusions). They are faster than you, you don’t have all the dodges you did with daredevil…this will eat you. This spec is seriously THE strongest spec they’ve put out so far.

Necro/scourge- this one is ok… it’s like the other necros in that as long as you can keep your distance you’re solid. If they close on you, remember you have the mobility of a dead person. Don’t be that dead person.

Based on my play so far, I’d recommend Amet takes another Mirage, the Weaver, Deadeye, and Renegade. Mirage because it’s game-breaking op for a basic player, Weaver mainly for bugs, Deadeye for trait utility and it’s gonna need some timing adjustments… and there are some bugs with terrain and targeting, and Renegade because that seems to be the spec left behind so far.

One more thing regarding feedback so far… pretty much every class has a passive trait that will block steal, which really blocks skill 4… ele, engi, guard, and warrior if they are running it are basically immune to a deadeye.

Think another bug with deadeye… in deadly arts the second line middle trait applies poison stacks to enemies you immobilize, and immobs when you hit someone under 50%…but it has a 20 second cooldown. Currently, that cooldown is missing, so you can stack like 30 stacks of poison almost immediately.

That said, the current version makes an insane condi build which I previously didn’t think possible