Guild Wars 2

Bit of a rant…

So ‘competitive’ PvP is back and so is everyone blaming the thief for them losing.

My understanding is that our job is to decap and add on to fights to give your team an advantage. Assist the called targets, kill the squishy. This is what I do… but no matter what if the team is losing it’s always… “Our thief is terrible.”, “Thief decap!”, (while I am doing so) “I hate having thieves.”… same noise all the time. Everyone is playing perfect and the thief is screwing up the game for them.

Now I don’t consider myself that good, but I play a solid build and I do my general job.

Are we expected to be able to win every 1v1 we encounter? The way I look at it… no matter what I do, there are some builds I cannot beat. But it seems people expect thieves to always win a guarded point 100% of the time. If I run into a build I have no chance against, they sit on the point and I can’t decap it. This is when I get the flack. “Thief decap!” “I can’t beat him 1v1.” “You suck!”.

So IMO if they bunker far and I can’t kill them… then the focus moves to home and mid right? If they put another person on home that I can’t kill than this is when all hell breaks loose. My team refuses to assist me in decaping a point. They are typically all piled on one point expecting me to solo any and all players guarding a point they are not fighting for. In the end… it’s always my fault.

Then you get these games where there are… TWO (or more) thieves on your team. For whatever reasons thief seems to be a class that some players choose as their ‘main’ class and they play nothing else. Unfortunately I am one of these people. I know this makes me a pretty weak player as I have no versatility but this is how I enjoy the game, sorry. When you have two people of this mindset both on thieves… the game is generally a wash. Two guardians? Np. Two rangers? Np… two of whatever class… np. Two thieves? Not good. I wish when they came up with this algorithm to choose teams they would have added something to avoid adding multiple thieves to a team…

Anyhow I know I’m mediocre at best but shoot… it’s not always my fault we lose. I feel as though the thief is always the scapegoat for a loss. It’s very frustrating.

Strictly sPvP Thief seeking a casual sPvP focused guild.

Thousands of games played…

I join a match and I’ll have around 50 ping… I’ll join another match and have around 100 ping… then I’ll join a match and I’ll get MAJOR lag spikes upwards to 1000-3000 ping to the point the game just stops. Network performance in sPvP matches are completely inconsistent.

I’ve been monitoring my GW2 traffic and it appears when you connect to a sPvP match you connect to a new IP address each time. Some of these hosts work better than others while others are completely unplayable for me. I assume this has something to do with my ISP conflicting with whatever host is currently hosting the sPvP match I am in?

Is there anything to be done? Going to really suck to join future tournament matches where I murder one match and the next I’m dealing with unplayable lag spikes.

Having much success running Daredevil in sPvP.

Marauder + Rune of Durability (Not listed on gw2skills.net)

75% Crit Chance (with Fury, which is up nearly 100% of the time), 200% Crit Damage, 2k base Power, Fire + Air procs on weapons, potential 42% bonus damage above 90%.

18.5k HP, 1175 Toughness, 15% heals from Crits, 25% Boon duration. Know when to evade! Many of your skills Evade… use them wisely. Bandits Defense… one of your bread and butter skills. Available for use every 12 seconds! Block + Knockdown?! No wai!

Your goal is knockdowns… when they are on the ground you Vault them! Knock them down again… Vault… when they are ressing a teammate… Vault! Don’t chase people around trying to Vault, you will miss every time.

Make sure you time your Impact Strike elite perfectly so to stomp them INSTANTLY when they go down. Personally I like to Fist Flurry (CC) them first and combine it with an instant Impact Strike.

Don’t under use Steal (Daze up every 20 seconds) and the skills you obtain from your opponents. They are far from useless.

Daredevil is played very frantically! Act fast and know your opponent. Understand if they are a glass cannon or a tanky build…

Infiltrators Arrow + Shadow Step + 100% Swiftness… you’re able to cross maps to nodes at your leisure. If you’re about to get zerged, bail out!

Personally I went from struggling with 1v1s on Thief to full confidence with Daredevil. Very fun!

Practice your burst on the beasts in Heart of the Mists… practice makes perfect!

Here is the build I use… but like mentioned, the Durability Runes are not listed on this site.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQJAWVn8lCFmiVmCmOBkmilxiybACgDYbDLrbbe379jH-TJBFABCcFAEvMQI7PAwjAAA

Good luck!

Still seeking a TEAM focused guild for sPvP. Mail me! semi-hardcore/casual. Not looking for a egotistic group of players. Thanks!

Main Thief/(Bunk) Guard seeking a competitive team to queue with. 9am-6pm/8pm-12am EST. Over 4k matches played… (voip ready for pm times only).

Seems you run a very similar build to what I use in sPvP. Personally I love Signet of Shadows and I have a very hard time moving away from it. Just wanted to add that I do not believe that 25% movement speed from the signet and travelers runes stack. At least I didn’t notice a difference when I tested in sPvP…

Here is what I run: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVl8MpzpNOx0J8PNhPRsdQSD3hVfdVD-TJBFwACODAl2foaZAAPCAA

I chose Rune of Strength since this build revolves around stacking Might. Typically I am over 20+ stacks of might during every engagement.

Key elements to success here are landing your backstabs with stacked might and keeping your target blind…

Thanks! That about sums up what I was asking about.

I’ve noticed WvW is AE heavy… was considering coming up with an AE build of some kind. If you know a good one please share. ;D

One off topic question I still have not got a clear answer to…

If I put +dmg on an offhand is that +dmg for ALL my damage when wielding the weapon or just +dmg to the dual skills?

Thanks!

Thanks for your replies.

I don’t have ascended armor or weapons but I have tons of saved up gold/laurels/mats. I will have to figure out how to make the ascended armor/weapons but in the meantime I am using exotic armor set I receive from PvP track grinding and some exotic weapons I purchased off the market. I am able to buy all the ascended accessories using my saved up laurels I never spent in the years of strictly playing sPvP.

Anyhow this is the build I hope to use for WvW (I didn’t add infusions since I don’t have to gear to do so). It is pretty much what I use in sPvP. I know it’s not what is considered ‘meta’ but I’ve had great success. I’ve played the meta builds, they are great and but I’m personally not a fan.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVl8MpzpNOx0J8PNhPRsdQSD3hVRdND-TlSBABgqWBN7P8wDAgSVVMTJYEHBgrUShlyFAOFA5pPIAACA7cn7cn7cnlCQPlRA-w

Basically I’m stacking 20+ Might at all times by popping signets constantly and relying on will timed stealth/blinds for defense while accurately landing backstabs. Plus the speed… I can’t live without the speed. Simple and easy to execute…

Thanks again!

So I love the build on my Thief in sPvP and I’ve been pretty successful with it… I’d like to start playing WvW for a change of pace. Note that I have zero experience in WvW and PvE.

I am interested in setting up my Thief’s PvE gear to match the stats of the sPvP Berserker Amulet so my build does not change much.

Now I’ve noticed that Berserker PvE gear does not have vitality. However… I have managed to match the stats of the sPvP Berserker Amulet nearly perfect by mixing different gear.

Not knowing anything about WvW is this a bad idea? Do sPvP builds not do well in WvW?

Thanks for your feedback.

Does Resilience of Shadows effect only allies that you stealth or does it effect you as well?

Thanks!

When I started playing GW2 at its release I got into the game and entered heart of the mists never looking back. I have done no PvE and only have done sPvP.

I took a few months off from the game and I return to sPvP post this April 15th patch… My world has flipped outside down and I am not sure how to proceed.

I treated sPvP like any other player vs player fps game like CoD or w/e. I jump on the game when I feel like it and I join matches and proceed to have fun. Log off when I like, no strings attached sorta thing… My rewards were gaining ranks, reputation and building up my sPvP locker.

The other night I decided to jump on the game so I downloaded patches and logged on my character. I had NO idea what had happened to sPvP and I was lost as to what to do. All I wanted to do at the time is join some hot games and play… I could not do this and it was very disappointing. So I started asking a few questions in the mists and players told me I had to now unlock gear and skills. Gear and skills that I had access to over the last 2 years that I’ve earned 50+ ranks with. I played Gw2 sPvP for quick games. The ability to jump into the game and play against other players with the same gear as me is what I loved about the game. Is this not what sPvP is now? If I have to spend large amounts of time to “unlock” skills and gear in order to compete then this game is rather dead to me.

Perhaps this isn’t true and I can easily and quickly return my character back to the state it was before I left. So my question… Are there any guides out there as to what has changed and how to go about getting back into the fun quickly? I’ve read the patch notes but the amount of changes listed just left me lost as to what to do now…

Thanks!

Any idea how to receive this item in sPvP?

wait what… I have to PvE now in order to sPvP? When I bought GW2 the day it came out I clicked that Go to the Heart of the Mists button and never looked back… why is this changing? WHY?! rage! qq boooooo!!

-Rank by character not account

If I farmed 56 ranks of glory using an Engi 100% of the time then it’s silly I get credit for being a “rank 56” guard even if I never played one before.

Never really understood why town clothes were not allowed in sPvP… More opportunity to make $ from their gem store.

Posted a thread to discuss a question. I misunderstood the requirements and was confused that I was told I had rewards when I did not. The requirements have been discussed and the question has be answered many posts ago. I thank everyone for the help. Yet… people always feel the need to takes things further on the internet. To take a question and somehow turn it around to attack the person even if so slightly.

Wait wait wait… you said this first and now you’re blaming this… Having to dig at the person just to prove what? That I clearly misinterpret the AND? You win. I did. I’m dumb. Move on. /wink

Yes when I read that page sir it says “Guild Wars AND Guild Wars: Eye of the North”. I owned “Guild Wars”. I was under the impression owning just Guild Wars was enough. Linking the accounts only furthered the confusion. Clearly a comprehension issue on my part. I am not sure why you feel the need to dig so deep. The question has been answered.

Oh the internet… gotta love it!

I understand. I was just under the impression I’d get 3 pieces for linking my old GW1 account. Dug it out of the closet, contacted support to recover the account info… linked… it told me I was now able to access some rewards and I wasn’t able to. That’s it. Despite the quoted facts in this thread that’s what it says…

Ah ok. So I do have to spend more money to earn items in the game. Surprise… surprise…

Perhaps they should reword this message that appears after linking the accounts because it is false if you don’t own Eye of the North and 1 of the campaigns…

“Congratulations! You have successfully linked your Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 accounts. In doing so, you now have access to the exciting rewards awaiting you inside the Hall of Monuments.”

le sigh

I guess where I get confused is that you automatically earn 3 points to spend for linking the accounts, this is a known fact. Then I am told that I have earned rewards by linking the accounts. When I go to claim the rewards, there is nothing to claim.

Clearly I don’t want to play GW1. I want to use the 3 points for linking the accounts. I don’t want everything in HoM… I understand I need to ‘earn’ the rewards by playing GW1 but shouldn’t I have the 3 points to spend just by linking the accounts? This is where the misunderstanding comes in… I have to buy 2 different games and play GW1 to use the 3 points. This was not explained when I linked the accounts. When I linked the accounts it told me I earned rewards already…

Did a bit of searching on my question but guess I’m not good at it so going to ask here…

Linking GW1 and GW2 gives you 3 points which I believe can equal 3 pieces of heritage armor. That’s great! That is all I want… 3 pieces. So I did this… I linked my 2005 GW1 account to my GW2 account to earn the 3 points. I get this message:

Congratulations! You have successfully linked your Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 accounts. In doing so, you now have access to the exciting rewards awaiting you inside the Hall of Monuments.

When I read HoM info page I read this:

Earn special Guild Wars 2 rewards based on your achievements in the original Guild Wars and Guild Wars: Eye of the North.

Now when I go to the HoM in GW2… the NPC offers me nothing. After a bit of research I am finding that I may need to own Guild Wars: Eye of the North, one of the 3 expansion packs, and a level 10 character in GW1 that has accessed the HoM in game… Is this true? To use my 3 points I need to pay for $50 in expansions and actually play GW1?

Thanks for your feedback

Main thief alt ele… seeking causal & laid back team for tpvp. est

2000+ matches, rank 40+ tPvP player seeking guild. Currently main as Thief and alternating Ele.

Looking for a casual, laid back team to tourney with. EST

I gave up on grinding glory by rank 40. Essentially I gave up GW2 at rank 40…

This drives me insane… After taking a break from the game I come back and go to join a server that is 13/15 after a refresh and it sits there doing nothing. When this happens typically I’ll just log out.

Rank 40+ Thief seeking casual tPvP guild. EST evenings

JQ

Niptease.8971:

Lol… an sPvP all-star thinking he is better than guilded “pro” tPvPers. Clearly you have never played tPvP at any high level. These “pro” players you speak of, would no doubt beat you 1v1, in fact, you could clone yourself, play two characters at the same time, and they would win 1v2.

That’s fine. You’re welcomed to that opinion however I do not agree.

Rythgar.2896:

You and the OP is the very first to ever mention/say this as far as I know. So I’m gonna guess it is a very rare thing. Feels kinda weak to rant at the whole tPvP community because some/a few people who consider themselves being “cut of better cloth” down-talks you :p

Still, always a first for everything!

I don’t post nor complain all too often. I saw this thread and decided to comment. Just sharing my experience and opinion on the topic.

Rythgar.2896:

@ Bohab: I did not read the whole wall of text, so I am sorry if I am taking you a bit out of context. But where do you get this part “I am also tired of tPvP players coming in to hot join claiming to be so great in comparison and how no hot join player would ever “last” in tPvP.” from?

Granted I don’t hot-join much these days. But I have yet to see a single person go on like this in hot-joins. Kitten me, I’ve been in hot-joins for up to an hour with the same people not seeing a single word uttered in /team or /map.

I get it from experience of playing hot joins. I am that player I describe in my post. I have played many games and all too often some headstrong tPvP will join and be pissed at me claiming I would never have what it takes to tPvP. They have no respect for my talent as a player just because I’m in a hot join game. To have that mentality makes them look completely ignorant. Are all tPvP players like this? Of course not! But keep in mind I’m speaking on behalf of the topic of this thread.

For the most part I have to agree with the OP. I am also tired of tPvP players coming in to hot join claiming to be so great in comparison and how no hot join player would ever “last” in tPvP.

Look I understand you must have some type of talent but like the OP mentioned, you are a team in tPvP. For the most part it’s about your team, your team’s strategy and not necessarily always about how good YOU are as a player.

So as a team member you play your character in a build based on the strategy your team wants to use. So lets say you are the bunker Guardian for your tPvP team or you are the ‘glass cannon’ Thief for your tPvP team. So what exactly are you doing with your character? You are playing one or two single builds and never exposing yourself to actually learning how to fully play that class in PvP.

Now take the hot join rank 40+ Thief that has played 1500+ games. Over that amount of games they have mastered a S/D dazelock build, P/D cond. build, and of course D/D dps builds. They have also mastered the agility and tricks of the Short Bow and a complete knowledge of the maps. Remember this player is on a small map vs a team of 8 playing through and adapting to situations that would never come up in “pro” tPvP. Even then to match the tPvP mentality they roam and 1v1 bunker built players of all different classes for points. They have played 1500+ matches having to play vs all the classes of all different builds of all different player skill levels.

To be fair hot join does have a fair percentage of new players and flat out bad players. I am sure there are rank 30+ players that only achieved so playing in a zerg whacking downed players. I also understand knowing how to play as a TEAM and being able to follow and to successfully execute a strategy is a skill in and of itself. But to claim EVERYONE who dedicates themselves to playing hot join or wvw is a bad PvP player and that only tPvP players are the creme de la creme of the GW2 PvP community is just plain ignorant to state.

It’s a matter of being AWARE. When the Warrior starts Bull Charge, dodge out of the way! If you couldn’t Dodge at that time, Dodge the instant the stun is up… not always will you get out of the way but if you try a little harder you just might now and then.

I believe invulnerability skills have the same mechanic. When it’s up you can gain no capture progress. This is working as intended for awhile now… a Shadow Refuge stealth can last a very long time and wouldn’t be very fair especially with a team of multiple thieves.

Been playing a Thief for 41 ranks now…

Knockbacks and Knockdowns are the best counter to stealth IMO. These are what make me the most frustrated when lining up for Backstab or Tactical Strike.

Most abilities excluding a full Shadow Refuge only allow the Thief to stealth for a short period of time (5-3 seconds). As you get a feel of the game you should become aware when the Thief is going to hit you with thier ability, most of the time they will instantly try to Backstab or Tactical Strike and this is when you want to Dodge. Yes… Dodge… this is what it’s called when your character rolls quickly forward, to the side or backwards, try using it.

Also as mentioned anything that channels will track the movement of the player while in stealth. You can also notice the stealth “graphic” which appears when they re-stealth or when stealth ‘really’ fades. Many thieves use a dodge trait that will drop spurs on the ground, these appear even while they are stealth.

I think there is too much being expected from people Hot Join sPvP. For the most part I have only done Hot Join matches, I believe I’m around 1,300 matches at this point and I’m rank 40. With that said I gave up a long time ago on trying to win the matches. Many players are either too new to understand or just don’t want to listen. Hot Join sPvP has no structure and I have no faith it ever will. I’ve learned tPvP is where you compete to win the match and hot join is where you go to farm ranks/glory.

Was messing around with Rune of the Mesmer and Sigils of Palatalization today.

x6 runes says to give 33% duration increase. Now I know Daze is very short term so 33% may be hard to see. But honestly, I don’t even see it at all after all the times I tested it. When I use Tactical Strike on my Thief I see Daze on my target for 1s then fast blinks while 0s. Whether I have 6 Rune of the Mesmer or Sigil of Palatalization the amount of time my target has Daze on it looks exactly the same even with no duration increase runes/sigils.

edit: Actually isn’t Daze suppose to be .75 seconds? Even without those Runes or Sigils it’s over 1s long and the tool tip even says 1s. Something smells fishy?

Ahh ok, these all make sense. Thank you for the feedback!

Malicious.6742:

Moreover, there is obviously a bug with Blinding Powder. If too many attacks connect to you character it will fail to stealth you for some weird reason+triggering revealed. This is often the case against rangers.

I believe this is the most relevant in my case as I do find most of the time when I want to stealth and reveal is “randomly” up there is a Ranger attacking me.

Besides attacking out of stealth, what else can cause revealed? Lately I’ve received revealed in fights where I haven’t even touched a stealth skill. Anyone happen to know how?

For hot join? No I have to close GW2 every time someone walks in my office.

After 1200+ games played… I shall /sign this one for sure

Isn’t the “insta-kill” Thief a counter to a Bunker spec’d player? I mean once the burst is done the Thief pretty much dies while possibly not even killing the bunker spec…

IMO the problem isn’t these alleged “OP” builds it’s players not being able to deal with the fact they die. Everyone gets killed, get over yourself.

Well just hit PvP rank 30/Avenger playing just my Thief over the last few weeks. Gosh I don’t know… something 700+ sPvP matches with the class. I’ll weigh in with an honest observation…

Firstly I’d like to state that the quality of players in sPvP at least on my server has increased slightly, at least when it comes to playing on servers 001-100.

With that said… I rocked the “glass cannon” instagib build. This I felt at the time was rather OP as it wasn’t exactly hard to pull off and the players I was up against were not exactly aware of how to manage their classes properly. I used this build for maybe a week until I noticed the other players were getting keener to countering it. It was no longer fun killing another player instantly only to be instantly killed yourself. In sPvP I want to farm points and I don’t believe the “glass cannon” build is where it’s at.

From ranks 15 to 30 I’ve used the same build. This is a 21k hp, 1.2k tough, multiple stealth options, quick stealth cooldowns, healing & condition removal while in stealth, 55% crit chance, 47% crit dmg, bloodlust sigils putting me around 1900 power before swapping out dagger, and swiftness up nearly 100% of my time playing. The dps for all its survivability is pretty decent. I don’t kill players instantly… but I don’t die often. Out of 10 matches my character dies maybe 3 or 4 times total. I am constantly invisible, regaining health and moving around the map in an instant via HS, 25% movement, and swiftness.

Honestly if I were to think the Thief as being OP it would be the build I described being far more OP than the “glass cannon” but I don’t hear complaining as often because I don’t “instantly” kill another player. The fact that one can kill somebody within a few seconds is what pisses people off. But what people overlook is the fact that, the build stops there. That’s all it does… they die, then you die. It has nearly no value other than the fact it makes people mad.

I don’t understand why people are bringing up the argument that the thief is just there to do damage… that is so far from the truth. Stealth is not JUST for the thief, it’s a tool for the WHOLE team. The thief just has to have the knowledge of how to handle it properly to res, finish, heal and conceal. The thief is a useful tool when played properly and of course it will look overpowered when wielded by a good player, all the classes do! Want some tips? Knockbacks… Knockbacks… Knockbacks… we hate them!

Needs to be more structure to building tPVP groups other than people shouting “lfm” in the map. The LFG function does pretty much nothing and I never see people flagged even on JQ. Furthermore would like to see more structure for LFGuild… even EQ2 has a guild advertisement/recruitment feature in game. With better guild recruitment features the more tPvP matches there will be.

As far as voice communications… lots of games now have built in voice com. channels in the game (EQ2 again, EVE, etc). Would think features like this would be in a game called Guild Wars.

Seen an elementalist build that nearly make them unkillable. They barely DPS but I have more luck killing a straight bunker tank than whatever this elementalist build is they use. Basically moving around very fast, chilling over and over, hardly taking any damage while also healing.

OP you listed 5 of the 8 classes as being overpowered… just sayin’…

<3 HS in it’s current state. Makes people join games as a Thief thinking they will dominate. Making it much easier for my Thief to play cleanup.

Still looking for a tPvP guild on Jade Quarry. Thanks!

Rank 20s Thief seeking tPvP guild on Jade Quarry. Semi-Hardcore, EST, and 21+.

Only class I’ve played in GW2 is a Thief. I’ve pretty much only done sPvP the entire time since release on a casual playtime.

I can see ‘steath’ being annoying to non-thieves. Annoying in the fact we have an escape from the instant kill you are about to bestow on us. Stealth is our main line of defense, without using stealth we die very quick.

My thief runs a solid survival build. 1.8k vit, 1.3k tough. Even with all that defense I can die instantly caught out of stealth. Take away my ability to stealth often and I may as well re-roll warrior.