Guild Wars 2

Well, condi became a thing again because power shatter fell off. Power shatter fell off because with the constantly rising power creep in the game Marauders now doesn’t give us enough survivability and Paladins gives us the survivability but doesn’t give us enough damage. Berserker amulet is pretty much irrelevant at this point for us. The power creep just got so high that if you don’t have any tanky stats at all you will get 1 shot by pretty much everything. Especially Thieves, whose jobs are to specifically follow us around and counter us the entire game and now do tons of damage with their recent AA buffs.

Hence why condi became a thing again. Since we can’t successfully play power in the current meta, the top players tried condi. Mercenary amulet turned out to be literally the best amulet in the game. It lets us to keep pressure enough through hybrid damage while giving us the tankiness of Paladins.

IGN: Dark Memes
Play: PvP, WvW, GvG
Server: Borlis Pass
Role: Tester & Instructor
Time: EST NA prime

Who cares about iAvenger damage when you have 2x blocks & alacrity.

Right now in PvP I’m playing a GS/ S/S interrupt mantra build with Inspiration. I abhor PU and I think it’s insanely overrated and boring to play. In this build I have stun on interrupt, all the burst of a regular shatter mes, a lot of condi clear, and still have great sustain. Not to mention sword/sword is my favorite weaponset, offhand sword doesn’t get enough love. The swordsman phantasm is bae, and the daze synergizes well with Confounding Suggestions.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8cl0nhG1YNawMNwsGLnG05Tiy1JDwCWeZGae4A-TpBFABCcBAEvMABHBgFOIA6s/AAPAAA

Which one do you guys prefer for solo/small group roaming? I cant’ decide which one I like more. SD has a ton of burst but no survivability and condi has good sustain & survivability.

Personally, I think condi might be better, because running full zerk for SD is way too glassy. Half the time I get 1 hit out of stealth from a mesmer or thief that I don’t know is coming and I don’t have enough defensives to react after that and counterplay.

If you are getting kicked from guilds because you’re playing a class you like then you aren’t joining the right guilds.

Tseikk.9032:

Looks like they are just bored as hell.

As a BP player, I can confirm this. We currently have gotten thrown into a matchup by RNG that is atrociously boring.

Besides, even if that “glitch” was troublesome it wouldn’t even matter. BP has been ticking 600+ since reset lol.

I can definitely see Thief getting rifle. Only other weapon I see us getting is OH sword, and I doubt they would give Thief that when ele’s are already getting sword. Seems the trend is every profession is getting something different from the others.

I think the rifle spec is either going to be a “Sniper” or a “Saboteur”. Hard to imagine what they’ll do since Warriors basically already have Kill Shot. Honestly, it’s all up in the air.

Someone posted this on reddit and I thought it was cool. http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2zdfwy/thief_specialisation_conceptidea_the_saboteur/

I agree that there should be more builds out there for thieves to utilize, however I don’t think that lessening the reliance on stealth is the solution. We are squishy, yes, but we also have the some of the scariest burst in the game. Making us tankier and more of a “warrior” type would mean that we would have to sacrifice something else, and that something could be our strong spike damage. Stealth is our defense. We use it to run, we use it to clear conditions, we use it to regen, we use it to gain the upper hand in fights. Without stealth we are nothing.

Not to mention, stealth is the sole reason many thieves (including me) play thief. It’s just fun. The stealth & burst gameplay has been a thieves role since launch, and I don’t see them changing it any time soon. Even if they did do something this drastic, they would have to change the whole SA traitline too.

Also, to go along with timing, thief is very reliant on patience. You can’t just run into fights and mash your buttons. You need to synergize timing, patience, and positioning together in order to be effective. This is why thieves are one of the hardest (if not THEE hardest) profession in the game. People really just don’t care to play “carefully”, they just want to run in and smash in some faces.

I watch some thieves who sometimes will panic and mash a button like Black Powder (pistol5) to get the smokefield down, and then have no initiative to Heartseeker into stealth. You CANNOT mash buttons as a thief. You will die and be VERY ineffective. This is where dodge rolls come into play. You need to use your dodges in a way that allow you to regen initiative while not taking damage because thieves are incredibly squishy.

Well, I play in a zerg busting guild and the reward for me is the satisfaction of wiping a 40man zerg with 10-15 people. That’s one of the greatest feelings in this game.

Also, as gimmicky as the server tier system may be, it could be rewarding to be on a server that’s moving up.

Hey everyone, so I made a necro recently and have been absolutely loving PvP with this profession. Much conditions, very AoE.

My question to you more experienced necros out there: What do most new necros not know about that the more experienced ones do? Is there any tiny gimmicks that can be utilized to increase effectiveness (like the thief when they start backstab animation then steal before the animation is finished to get a “shadowstepped” backstab)?

I’m mostly just asking if anybody has tips they’d like to share to a fellow necro who is just getting started I’m pretty experienced in PvP so I know the “gist” of necros but I was just curious if there were cool interesting tricks you can do with certain abilities/utilities.

Bump! We are still recruiting! See above posts

Azure The Heartless.3261:

If you’re gauging thief viability on preorganized, bow-first duels, note that the thief in this instance is watered down because he has agreed both to reveal his presence beforehand and not leave the arena during, both of which are key tenets of a thief’s general playstyle.

Well said. I guess this is what I was trying to say by saying Thieves are “predictable” in duels.

Xtinct.7031:

individuals with great skill at the class can appear to be unstoppable

But what about when you’re going up against another individual who is amazing on their class? For the most part when I see thief videos it’s just them fighting scrubs.

Just curious what everyone thinks. I’m by no means an expert thief but I think thieves are very predictable when it comes to duels and it makes them suffer in 1v1 situations. I feel like any competent player who has played thief before can easily evade the backstabs and play around the stealth.

Do you guys think Thieves are good or bad? I hear some people saying Thieves are the best profession for duels but then I also hear people say that Mesmers or Engis are. What do you guys think?

I personally prefer Scholar runes because I use Hidden Killer over Executioner. The crits are insane. Full zerker backstabs crit for 8.5k on squishies. Kinda useless though after the initial opener because if you get pinched you lose like half health and it completely negates the effect of Scholar runes. It’s just fun for me and that’s why I use em. I like big numbers.

But yeah, Pack runes are probably best.

The future of WvW is going to be the same as it is now. All about community.

Some of the WvW communities (like the one on Borlis Pass) are absolutely incredible. It’s not about winning or losing matchups or about coverage, it’s about playing with friends, relaxing, and just having a good time. I feel like majority of players expect WvW to be perfect, but fail to realize that it never will. There’s too many variables. If you want balanced PvP then sPvP is your place to be (however I find that the sPvP community is way more toxic than WvW communities).

choovanski.5462:

wvw needs low tier servers to be merged.

Horrible idea.

Sure d/p is the “meta build” for roaming but besides that. Just curious what you guys like to play with when roaming. Some thieves prefer d/p, some prefer d/d, some s/d, some even prefer s/p. Which do you like the most and why?

As far as my personal favorite goes, I’m a big fan of d/d because of the insane burst and Cloak and Dagger is possibly my favorite thief ability.

#T8MasterRace #NoQueueSwag

I agree. My d/p thief definitely feels more effective both roaming and in groups because of the power of shortbow.

Glad it isn’t just me who thinks this. I was also looking at the frontliner build people say to try out but honestly if I’m playing a ranger I want to be in the back pewpewing people, not in the front being a damage sponge.

I’ve been playing my ranger recently (power ranger LB/GS build) over my ele and it feels very underwhelming. Barrage and Entangle are the only AoE we have that “matters” in blob v blob fights, as well as the small AoE rapid fire provides if you take piercing arrows.

Do you guys feel useful at all to your group? I run with an organized guild group most of the time with 10-15 people and 99% of the time I find me telling myself “Man, if I was on my ele for this fight I would be a lot more useful to the group”. Rapid fire is crazy burst, sure, but it’s single target.

Was just curious as to what you guys think. I really do enjoy playing ranger, and I could just be over thinking the whole thing.

bumperino we are still recruiting!

I think this is a good idea if and only if the free transfer is for only moving down tiers. If they allow free transfers to people who want to transfer to higher-tier servers then the imbalance has just grown tenfold.

The majority of the meta has shifted towards “pirate ships” yes, but there are still some guild comps that can be ran that allows melee to be effective. Key word here is stealth.

I do agree that it’s incredibly stale now when it comes to fights. It’s like two zergs are playing ping pong for hours on end with no outcome. I hope HoT brings another meta change that spices the game up a bit.

In my opinion, an increase to the health pool by 5k would be way too strong if nothing is sacrificed for it.

I can see it being a good change if they nerfed our healing to compensate. I’d like that change, actually. It’s just crazy how there’s classes that can barely break 13k hp and then there’s warriors who can almost make it up to 35k.

Hellz Barrage.8074:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFIQJAoYhcMKcW5wxBf0AhAB5tlkRBljHTB-TFyFwApUpooSqSqrMV5yFtAW0BAQJoq9HIFwXTAA-w

Would this work?

I’d recommend using Lightning Flash over Mistform, it’s incredibly strong when paired with burning speed, earthquake, etc. Also, if you’re solo roaming, it is important to note that aurashare won’t be as valuable as it would if you were running with a group. I’d switch out Powerful Aura out for Cleansing Water and switch out Arcane Resurrection for Elemental Attunement.

I also think that you might have too much Zerker, you might be really squishy. If you find yourself dying too quickly I’d replace some of it (or most of it if you want) with Knights. Knights is gonna be your best friend for roaming (if you don’t have cele of course).

Still the same versatile beasts that we’ve always been. I’d even argue that ele is the best class atm because of their ability to fit any game type and be the best at it.

I’m primarily a roamer as well, and I can vouch for T8. Down here in T8 it’s literally roamers all day long. The only time it gets blobby is NA prime and even then it’s only for like a couple hours. Sure, it might take you a bit longer to fight other roamers to fight, but that’s the price you pay for less zerg encounters. You have to decide which one you want.

T8 is a roamers paradise. If you’re interested and/or have any questions feel free to mail/whisper me

Bump! Still recruiting

We are opening up for recruitment!

So, who are we?

Enigmatic Warfare [Jynx] is a GvG/WvW/PvP-centric guild on Borlis Pass focused on WvW but also does sPvP/tPvP on the side during off-time and maybe even some PvE with raids coming out soon. We are mainly focused on GvGs and WvW. Jynx is not your ordinary guild, we are renowned for our effectiveness on the battlefield. All of the veteran BP players know who we are, and love when they see [Jynx] tags running around. We participate in GvGs regularly with other guilds from other servers/tiers, and we are going to be doing a lot more GvGs when HoT releases with guild arenas. We are looking for reliable & skilled players for our 1st string, although we still need more for a 2nd string as well.

On top of all of this, we have an awesome community of great people and are willing to both help teach new players and make new friends. You will have no problem fitting in, we are a very diverse group. We also have a guild website that we use very frequently and communicate through. Feel free to sign up! http://jynxguild.enjin.com. You can also sign up on Borlis Pass’s website as well if you like! http://borlis.org

Requirements

We have 3 requirements: 1) You must use Teamspeak 3, you don’t have to talk just listen so that we can coordinate effectively. 2) You must run required builds that are given to you. 3) You must represent [Jynx] whenever you are playing with us. There are no exceptions to these requirements. Also, we are an 18+ guild, so please do not apply/join if swearing and things of that nature offend you!

Contact Us

If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to message one of us either in-game or on the website. We’d be happy to help!

Some of our in-game names to contact us with include: Dark Mistake (me, also can use Buell.3701), Warmaster Gibbon.4765 (Guild Leader & Driver), Warminister Grehn (2nd guild leader), Shammy Likes Brains, or Wanderthorn (Hexxy.4081).

I found this video recently and wanted to share it with you guys. It’s a guy going through an elementalist’s (Terra Dactyl) gameplay during a GvG step-by-step. He’s very good at explaining why, when, and how things are done and what ele’s role is in team play. I think it’s a good watch and very informative. It helped me learn A LOT on the class and I’m hoping it helps some other people out too.

TomoHawkx.8139:

lol

Gr8 feedback m8 i r8 8/8. I rel8 and str8 appreci8 next time we should convers8.

I’m currently on BP.

BP is all about community. We have community nights every week and we’re one big family. That being said, we don’t have enough people for coverage during hours outside of NA prime for WvW (also the reason why we are in last). If you play during hours that aren’t 8pm-12am then it will probably seem like a ghost town for you in the Borderlands/EB. During prime hours though it’s a blast and thriving. BP has a ton of potential though and has plenty of skilled players, it’s just we don’t have the coverage to move up through tiers.

I’d say join if you like being in a friendly community. We have a website borlis.org that you can join and browse the site to see if we fit you. If you don’t care for community then honestly I’d just go somewhere else.

Furthermore, I know nothing about Blacktide. Good luck!

So me and a few other elementalists have been testing out the s/d fresh air build out again. It’s super bursty, almost too bursty. It kills people (albeit not bunkers) before they can even react and use defensives. On top of the damage, it also has ridiculous survivability with Water3 and Earth2, and has the same mobility of d/d.

You guys think this will be the new meta over d/d cele? I feel like this build is very underrated. It’s super strong. Try it out and see.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_S/D_Fresh_Air

I’m talking about NA btw, sorry for the confusion. I should’ve mentioned that in the OP.

Also, when I say community, I’m talking about the forum website, VOIP, etc. Actually talking people voice-to-voice is far more superior than talking to eachother in map chat.

Which servers do yo guys think have the best communities? Also, how would you correlate the relation between tiers and their communities? Does T1 have the worst? Does T8 have the best? Is T4 the best mix of both?

I’m asking because I’m debating on transferring servers, and preferably I want to go to a server with a great community as well as the ability to fight well.

Not sure why this is even a thread.

If he enjoys the game, let him play it. Him playing means more publicity for the game, which means more money for Anet, which means more content for us.

Besides, his community isn’t that toxic. You should see some League of Legends streamers’ chats. Good lord.

Hey, I’m coming from the WoW PvP scene. This game is much more balanced and more enjoyable.

Keep your heads up. It could be a lot worse. Like, WoW worse. Not to mention the community on this game is stellar. I’ve already met some wonderful people.

Hey all, so I’m coming back to the game after a 1 or 2 year hiatus and want to get back into PvP. However, I see that Borlis Pass is literally dead last in T8 (go figure) and was wondering if it really means anything? I primarily solo roam on my thief but I like to run with blobs sometimes but I can’t even seem to find a single soul on the server. I roamed for a bout 2 hours and only found 2 enemies from SF who just ran away. I even tried to join a zerg but I couldn’t find any commanders.

Is BP truly dead now? Should I just spend the 1800 gems and transfer to a T4-T5 (chose them because I heard they are the best for solo roaming)? Really need some advice here. Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone. I took a long break from Gw2 for a while but I plan on getting back into it.

I want to spend most of my time sPvP’ing and WvW’ing.

Edit: I’m on Borlis Pass but I’m willing to change

For WvW I have my main (geared out Thief)
For sPvP I have my alt which is an ele (I’ve practiced ele quite a lot)

If anyone has any guilds free for me to join I’d be more than happy to oblige

-Dark

Hello everyone. Just a quick question here. Does anyone know why my laptop has a frequent (every say, 20 seconds) fps drop? I go from running completely smooth (40-50fps) right to choppy gameplay (0-15fps). I’ve searched online but haven’t really gotten a “fix”. Hope you guys can help!

Laptop specs (HP Pavilion dv7):
- Windows 7 (64 bit) Home Premium service pack 1
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6370
- RAM = 6GB
- Processor = Intel® Core™ i5 CPU M 460 @ 2.53GHz, 2534 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

If you guys need any more info feel free to ask I will post it!

I agree with you there. It’s transferable between characters but once you open it it’s soulbound to whoever opened it. I like it.

Reasonable answer. Thanks for the feedback. But I still feel this whole idea, regardless of “discouraging sharing armor sets” needs to be removed as this happens to many people and then -discourages- the actual player from the game.

But if the tokens are account bound why not have the items account bound also in case this situation happens again? I didn’t know that, personally.

Why are dungeon armor/weapons soulbound? What is the logical reasoning behind having these items soulbound on acquire? Is there a specific purpose?

Please, take into consideration my story, which happens everyday to people all over the world as well. I’ll shorten it up.

I’m on my level 80 warrior. I decide to get the CoF set for my thief for when he hits level 80 himself. I get the chest piece and the legs in about say, 5 days. I buy the pieces, on my warrior, and deposit them into my bank. Thief reaches 80. Go to bank and the items are soulbound. ~5 days and ~650 tokens down the drain.

My suggestion, as this is a suggestion sub-forum, is to make ALL dungeon armor and weapons ACCOUNT BOUND. I legitimately cannot see a good purpose for having these items soulbound, as they can be soulbound to a character who can’t even use the armor type. It’s dumbfounded.

Thank you for reading my suggestion. Feedback is appreciated. Thank you

This sounds like an awesome idea.

My vote is for Borlis Pass. I’m not very willing to change servers but if we can get this rolling shoot me a PM. I have a problem that may result in me switching servers.

As for the guild name, how about The Dark Brotherhood? [TDB]

Hey friends, quick question for you all.

I’ve done my fair share of researching on these forums for an invisibility/backstab build, and have come to find that I rarely came to a thread involving it. I figured it’s the “main” thief build to roll with, so I thought it would be pretty easy getting the information needed but I got nothing. So let me just post MY build and see if you guys approve or have any advice.

P . S . – I want this to be a WvW central build, so keep that in mind!

Right now I’m using obviously D/D, and I’m also using Shortbow for the mobility/\aoe. (Thinking of switching to S/P)

I’m only level 47 atm, and so my traits are low at this point, but I’ve watched some videos and read some posts that said do something along the lines of 10/30/20/0/10.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t optimal for a total glasscannon/backstab build. Good thing you can change your traits easy and cheap right?

As for my gear I plan on getting the CoF set, because I feel like Power/Precision/Critdmg are the best glasscannon stats. I also figured if you have Precision, you need crit dmg to compliment the crit chance. And you can never have too much Power, right?

Thank you for checking my thread out and I hope to get some feedback!