Guild Wars 2

Ashanor.5319:

Backstab is not the problem and neither is the Thief class as a whole. There are a few things causing problems that should be addressed, but the Backstab skill itself is not one of them.

[…]The reason this combo is so deadly is because Cloak and Dagger can be interrupted mid cast (pre casting) by Steal, which then instantly puts you in range to land the C&D and then use your Assassination Signet Backstab (for 150% damage thanks to Sig). This damage all happens in about a second. That is the problem, not Backstab. […]

You keep repeating that, but I don’t buy it. I’m pretty sure those 2-hammering thieves didn’t evolve to actually do something so fast and so hard to coordinate. This discussion is not about pro PvP, it’s about beginner to advanced PvP, and people want a way to win against thieves who don’t really do much besides spamming one button.

No offense. I like the class, play it myself, but when I see the enemies (or myself) spam just the one thing, and see it being that effective, I know that something needs to be done.

In my opinion the best possible build for a D/D or S/D ele is a focus on the Valkyrie PvP Set. Valkyrie is Power/Crit Damage/Toughness, in sPvP you can use a Berserker’s Jewel to balance out with some Vitality. When playing sPvP I am usually at full hp again with one proper water rotation (the heal at the swap, Trident, Cleansing Wave and a dodge roll with the “Evasive Arcana” trait).

Now the point is, as a burster you need offensive stats, but you can take out Precision (Critical Chance) and invest in full defense instead. Why is that?

Arcane Power (Your next five attacks do critical damage.)

Arcane Power balances the scales. You have relatively low damage per second and in exchange, you can survive very long. But as soon as you use Arcane Power, you become a burster.

There are two things to take into consideration though. First, it requires a highly refined playstyle, because your cooldowns really have to hit (luring stunbreakers in advance, keeping track of their endurance etc.). And second, Arcane Power is still bugged. I’ve never seen it actually hit five attacks.

Runes of Divinity with that of course.

daphoenix.4283:

@Arian
I don’t really have a guild that specializes in sPvP, so it would be hard for me to make a video without getting seriously annihilated because of lack of coordination.

I have played against a match against team paradigm before, we lost horribly but I ended up pressuring their mesmer treb to retreat from treb (I didn’t record this)

I’m aware that Wv3 is not a good indicator of skilled gameplay. I’m currently against Blackgate(one of the top servers), so I usually go off and find some really competent players to fight. Usually ends up with me dying b/c most of their Wv3 players travel in PvP guild groups.

Well that is impressive, but as I can’t see it I can’t learn anything from it.

You can find a random group to do the tournaments, most use teamspeak and some even really know what they are doing. You don’t need a coordinated team to do a proper 1v1 though.

I know the problem with people running around in groups. You should try the jumping puzzles, I find many 1v1s there.

Your build looks interesting. I am at the moment trying to work out a proper build myself so I look around other people’s ideas.

What I would really like to see of you is a video where you do 1v1s in sPvP, best premade tournaments. I tried to judge your effectivity in your sPvP video but failed, because mostly someone else was there too, and I could not make out how much you did and how much they did.

The rest of the time you run around in WvW, which is – as we all know – very equipment-dependent. I have not watched all of the videos you made so understand if I missed something.

I don’t mean to be offensive but if you lose to the majority of people who run around in the hot join matches you are clearly doing something wrong. Try out different builds and practice a little, get to know your class. The only thing that really destroys us elementalists are the bugs on a variety of skills (Dragon’s Tooth, Ride the Lightning, Fire Grasp – just look at the bugged skills thread).

It’s probably the best skill to go in dungeons with random groups. I used to have it on permanently for a while. In earth it will fully resurrect three people from a dead (not downed) state. Underwater it doesn’t even cast for a second.

If you’re in a dungeon you can save the teleport + run time for up to three people. There is nothing better in a boss fight, really.

I find it inappropriate that thieves accused of dealing too much damage always point to warriors. Those classes are indefinitely different, although Pistol Whip might feel a lot like 100b.

The thing I’m missing with thieves is a skill filter. I really don’t see myself as a bad player and I know when I lost because of my own mistakes.

But look, if you miss to dodge a Bull’s Charge you can still use a stunbreaker, and if the warrior is bad, he won’t even hit you with his 100b and by that give you a free win basically.

But if you’re half hp (and I’m not talking glass cannon) until you even notice someone’s there, and in the next second you’re getting Heartseeker’d into the ground, knowing that this player only pressed 3 buttons (autohit included), you begin to think if that’s the way PvP is meant to be.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not whining. I don’t have a problem with this hammerer-type of Thief, because I know my way around. Thieves just need to get that hard feedback. Have those moments where they can say “wow, now I lost because I really kittened up”. But you can’t do much wrong with hammering one button, right?

TL,DR: Make the bad thieves worse and reward the good ones

Enenion,

your text seems incredibly well thought-through and on first read makes perfect sense. I think it’s a great idea to give the losing team a buff to make it easier for them to defend and/or comeback.

Thumbs up!