Guild Wars 2

(Slightly hesitant) bump? Just got this staff in a JP chest. Same issue. It’s account bound and stats need to be selected. Beautiful staff, too.

havoc.6814:

I think that Cloak and Dagger rewards the thief by stealthing him. That is a whole lot of reward. A revert of the damage nerf would be a really bad idea. Add torment to dancing daggers? Nope. Between the torment and the revert to the damage nerf of CnD, the DD thief would become an unholy terror.

I’m quoting this because that last line made me giggle. Like, a lot. Hehehe.

That said, s/he’s right. These “proposed buffs” are bad. CnD had the 33% damage nerf because it was too strong. Revert it, and people will start using it too much again and it will just be nerfed. Just because people have stopped using something, doesn’t mean it’s okay to revert it back to its previous state. Stealth is reward enough. A good thief comfortable with their D/D build will be able to land CnD 9 times out of 10 (with a margin of error, because there’s always going to be someone better than someone).

I can agree that Dancing Dagger could use a slight damage buff. Slight. No torment, though. That’s… silly. Really silly.

Adam.4103:

Well considering you’re mixing so many stats it can’t be anything but bad. If you were as good a player as you seem to claim you would have no problem staying alive in full zerker gear.

I said, and I quote, “I think it’s safe to say I’m relatively good at what I do.” Not a definite. Not a “LAWL, I’M THE BEST.” It’s that I think I’m okay at what I do [with thieves]. There’s plenty of people better than I can ever hope to be.

I can stay alive. Doesn’t stop me from being bored to tears.

Wow. A lot of responses. xD

I’m not overly concerned. I just think it’s a semi-interesting observation when comparing the two games. Guild Wars 1 had these HUGE decorated trees that were really rather nice.

ThiBash.5634:

Instead of a tree, we got a decorated golem. That’s much better!

I will accept this. nods

Adam.4103:

Anaeli.8053:

I play a thief running some mixed build (primarily Power and Toughness, with just the right amount of precision, conditions, and vitality). I can’t stand zerker gear/standard builds because they bore me to tears.

I am also usually not the one to die first. But I’ve also been playing my class since Headstart, so… yeah. I think it’s safe to say I’m relatively good at what I do at this point.

So using a bad gear combo is fun for you?

I like how you’re automatically assuming it’s bad. Nothing to contribute. Good day.

Bunmaster.9734:

Don’t want to bust your party but “not dying first” does not mean you are doing great.

For example, i can go full zerk and go range, pack up escape skills, run at the slightest sign of danger and never ever die. I highly doubt anyone would ever call me a good player.

Going zerk is more exciting since every hit counts. Support comes in the form of your utilities and weapons, so you can dps and support. There is no “all-around” build. Your low condi dmg eats into someone else who is specialized in condi (which is still not good to use anyway).
The additional toughness and vitality won’t make a real difference, even is you fully stack it, some bosses will still 1-shot you. So you have 3 addition stats that doesn’t make much of a difference in a pinch.

I am not flaming you nor am i going to convince you to go zerk. But the build you are describing seems pretty bad. Also it is possible you find zerk boring because you are downed or dead for stretches of time?

And playing since headstart is no way of telling how good you are, i know some ppl who had been bearbows since headstart and still defending it.

I found zerk boring because it’s what everyone uses, on top of the fact that everyone seems prefer stacking and skipping everything in a dungeon. Does zerk work? Yeah, or else it wouldn’t be the meta. I’m not gonna deny that, I even have a second thief in full zerk gear for when I’m up to it and wanting to do the absolute max damage. But no one every uses it to its fullest potential beyond what happens during a mandatory fight that’s unskippable, and even “unskippable” fights might have a way around them now.

And, believe it or not, I’ve managed to survive a 1-shot skill or two. Thieves have an abysmally low health pool to begin with. Running in with 10k-13k health seems like suicide no matter what.

The build I use sounds a lot worse than it really is. Take my word for it or not, but there’ve been moments where I’ve ended up having to solo bosses and, had I been in full zerk gear/meta-style traits, I probably wouldn’t have been able to. Just last night, even, I ended up having to solo the two golems at the end of SE Path 2 (and died because thank you, internet hiccups, you’re clearly useful). I don’t like running from a fight.

Also, reminder, I did say class. I didn’t say that build specifically. I’ve gone through 4 at this point, zerk included.

You’re right in that zerk bores me because of how long I can end up staying down. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the group. I don’t know because it varies just way too much.

I play a thief running some mixed build (primarily Power and Toughness, with just the right amount of precision, conditions, and vitality). I can’t stand zerker gear/standard builds because they bore me to tears.

I am also usually not the one to die first. But I’ve also been playing my class since Headstart, so… yeah. I think it’s safe to say I’m relatively good at what I do at this point.

Okay. So.

1) I’m not entirely sure where this goes, so feel free to move it where ever it needs to go ANet Mod-Boss(es).

2) It’s… really a minor issue, but a little baffling. A guild member of mine and I were talking about lore, and she brought up that elementals were considered demons. I say no, they’re not, bring up the official wiki, and it’s more or less an open-and-shut case… until they bring up the Sigils of Demon Slaying, which say they gives a 3%/5%/+10% Damage vs. Elementals.

What confused me was there are also Sigils of Elemental Slaying… which say the exact same thing. I figured there’s a reason for this and I’m ready to apologize because I might have been wrong indeed, so I look for the Potion(s) of Demon Slaying… except they’re damage against and protection from a set damage by demons (and sure enough, Elemental Slayer potion is elementals only).

tl;dr — The tooltips on the Sigils are either wrong or they’re intentional and I can’t tell which. Figured I’d bring it up here since I can’t really screencap in-game. See wiki shots below as well as these handy separated links in case that makes life easier:

Demon Slaying Potions
Sigil of Demon Slaying
Sigil of Elemental Slaying

So, just an observation, really. In the first Guild Wars game, there were trees with decorations and lights, similar to Christmas Trees, in LA (and Ascalon City, too, I think?), but here in Guild Wars 2, there’s none of that. Just presents, snow, candy-canes and tinsel. o-o

Kind of curious. Were the trees forgotten? Or is this more of a thing to avoid stepping on any toes? (Official Dev response in charge of this would be, like, fantastical).

frans.8092:

Are there any non-qq threads from non-thieves here?

I think I found an HS-spammer.

Now onto the OP. Yeah. I hear you. My main’s a thief, and HS-spam has… never been fun, and overly ridiculous and completely laughable.

But here’s the thing with Heart-Seeker. It is really the only skill in the D/D line that does a decent amount of damage. Death Blossom’s damage comes from its bleeds, Dancing Dagger was already nerfed into the ground, and CnD’s benefit is more the vulnerability and stealth than the damage. And it’s kind of laughable to assume that you just auto-attack to win.

So. Does HS need a nerf? No. No, it really doesn’t. Because HS-spammers are usually the thieves that can’t dodge for kitten. They’re a one-trick wonder and if you throw off their game and root them to the spot (immobilize will be your best friend, promise), or even slow them down and stay out of their reach, they can’t do a thing to you.

And to end this: Obligatory “Necro condispam OP, nerf nao.”

To be fair, the poison field is already pretty big. Like, the size of some traited (or untraited) ele AoEs. So I think it’s good where it is.

As for the Pistol #5, well… I just don’t see that happening. Especially since it’s more like a personal shield than anything.

Oghier.7419:

- D/P got nerfed. This was a cheesy spec. They don’t like cheesy specs. Nor do most of us

This, I agree with in full, and I’m actually glad to be hearing that I’m not alone in this opinion when it seems like all I hear is people who adore them.

- S/D mobility got nerfed. ANet thinks this was a cheesy ability, a pseudo-stunbreak on a weapon skill. I think most of us disagree, but that was their stated thinking

Personally never ran S/D all that much, but when I did, I didn’t notice any cheesiness. It was no more cheesy than some of the cheese that warriors have. But, hey, I guess that’s why we’re the players and they’re the developers?

- The new heal is an attempt to make a venom share/ support spec more viable. Personally, I think it’s a bad idea poorly executed. I like the intent, though. As with the initiative changes, they’re trying to give thieves more options for viable builds (note, they’re doing the exact same thing with elementalists)

Wait, really? Hm. I might have to look back on the new heal, but I do honestly like the idea. The execution might be bad, but it does feel like a good idea. Venom share/Support specs might benefit from it. Or it’ll be OP out of the gate and nerfed to the ground. Kind of hoping it turns out for the better. (Also, I haven’t looked much at elementalists, as my ele seems to be comfortable where she is 99.9% of the time)

Sir Vincent III.1286

ArenaNet looks at the different playstyles of Thieves and they try to makes changes so that those who mindlessly attack a target through stun, blind, and retaliation should be rewarded for their mindless effort, tenacity, and perseverance. These are new players playing Thieves who didn’t know any better but instead of helping these players grow, ArenaNet choose to lower the standard instead.

In the same way, it is too much for noobs to handle a well played Thieves so ArenaNet attached some balls-and-chain to prevent Thieves from dodging too much.

Think about it like Thieves are professional basketball player, but instead for playing professionally, we are playing in a charity event — of course, in that event, we should tone down our abilities to make every one else look good. In a sense, WvW and PvP are charity events.

… Okay. That… is one of the things I was afraid of. And it makes me angry. I don’t want the class easier. I love the challenge. It’s the only thing keeping me from being bored to tears nowadays.

I’m just struggling here to properly understand what the thief class is ultimately supposed to be doing. I thought it was supposed to be powerful single-target damage, but that keeps getting hit. Evading and dodges are one of our only escape mechanics, but that’s getting hit. Thieves have one of the lowest health pools overall, and we might be getting help, but you’re right that “Hard to Catch” is… complete trash. We’ve all seen how well that kind of thing works with Mesmers, what with them getting stuck in walls all the time before.

Who are they even listening to when they’re doing these changes? I’d like to have faith in the ANet team, but it’s hard when some of these things just aren’t making sense. =/

So, I read through of it. It’s not… all nerfs, and most of it doesn’t really majorly affect my own build, but… the developers are confusing me here.

“… [W]e are trying to improve the survivability of thieves in the Acrobatics line through easier access to the Hard to Catch trait and increased effectiveness of the Assassin’s Reward trait. This will reward thieves who are actively engaged in the fight rather than those who are just dodging over and over again.”

So… how do they want us to play, exactly? I’m glad that we’re maybe getting some improved survivability, but it’s not like we could really dodge for ever, even with a shortbow equipped (I’ve tried and failed, even with all the initiative regens, and that’s probably getting shot to hell even further with the initiative nerfs).

Do thieves need a nerf? Speaking as a main thief player, yes, probably, and the perma-stealth thing is ridiculous, but I’m legitimately confused on what’s being done to this class.

It would. The first time it happened, I’d honestly thought I’d accidentally destroyed it, but then, all I did was equip a new item? So I have no idea. It’s something that definitely does need to be looked into, because now I’m just terrified of taking off ANY armour piece. Because its not just the boots that’s done this but chest piece and gloves, too.

So. This is actually an issue that’s happened to me a few times now. Normally I didn’t care, because I didn’t lose much more than level 60 rates, and those are still relatively cheap and not too much of a hassle to replace.

But then, not even 15 minutes go, I switch out the level 80 exotic, runed, and transmuted pair of boots that I’ve had for close to a few months now to just take a look at a pair of whites that, hey, maybe I like those better? Turns out I don’t, so I go to switch back to my exotics and they’re gone. Completely gone. Not a single trace of them.

“That’s silly,” I say. “Maybe I sold them?” I was nowhere near a merchant, they’re not in my bank, and they’re definitely not in my inventory. They’re legitimately gone into some void that apparently exists, and I don’t know what the condition to triggering it is because it seems to be completely random, but this is sort of annoying. As I said, I would care too much, but those were transmuted exotics.

Not really asking for much, other than a look into this issue?

If you want to (attempt) to reproduce —>
- Wear rare/exotic-level armour piece
- Switch to white-level armour piece directly from inventory

So if you’re reading this, you’ve accepted that youve either done the story or just don’t care for spoilers. I hereby relinquish all responsibility for spoilers and will promptly ignore all raging about it. It’s not… entirely major, depending on how you look at it.
—-
So, I’m swimming along in Bloodtide Coast, and suddenly this dynamic event pops up. Not weird, right? Except this one was a Risen Commander, and the words it said are what stuck me as odd: “You should have died with Forgal.” And then she disappears before I even have a chance to hit her.

WHAT IS THIS? Is this a new event that gets triggered after a certain point in your personal story, out in the open world? I’m really just looking for answers here. And does this apply to all the different orders as well?

I’ve played a thief since Pre-Launch. Maybe — just MAYBE — the only OP thing I can think of about thieves would be the signets. Use them right, and yes, they deal a massive amount of damage that should probably get a little bit adjusted. Oh, and the culling in WvW. Yeah, that… never understood that. Kind of feel guilty about it so I don’t do much PvP on the thief nowadays… hoping that is something that gets fixed…

But when I look at these forums — rarely, mind you — I can’t help but be completely baffled by the fact that people already want a stealth rework. Or they want thieves to be nerfed until they’re just a useless sack of potatoes. Yeah, lets jut take out all their damage and just throw conditions on every oneof their attacks. THEN it’s fair. Yup. No wait! Then they’ll STILL be OP!

No. Just because you get caught by a thief and he decimates you because you don’t seem to understand the fact that you have a DODGE BUTTON as well as other tactics you can probably pull out of your kitten — and trust me, there are definitely ways to outrun a thief, I’ve done so on both my tissue paper ele and clunky-as-hell Guardian — does NOT justify a full-on nerf. I’ve been stopped by rangers, mesmers, eles, Guardians, Warriors — lots of Guardians and Warriors, jeebussotanky — everything. It’s completely relative to knowing how to play. LEARN your class instead of crying and crying for a nerf to something you don’t understand. AOEs work on any stealthed thief. Any. WvW, not even a thief can survive getting pelted by 6-7 arrow carts. Want to kill them as they try to run or stealth? Frickin’ root their feet to the ground so they stop jumping around and knock their face into the dirt, and you have no problem now in killing them. See? Easy!

I love this class. I will not have it ruined for me because of a bunch of crybaby idiots that can’t understand their own class and gameplay and want the easy way out. You want a nerf? Show me you can play first.

Especially mesmers. I hate them. And it gives me immense satisfaction taking them down simply because it’s hard as kitten as a thief. All those illusions and what have you…

If you need me, I’ll be in the game, ENJOYING IT, and PLAYING IT, because that’s the ONLY way that I’m going to get better. These forums do nothing for improving skill level. Just deteriorates your brain cells. So, no, I won’t be responding to anyone.