Guild Wars 2

I’ve heard that D/P Daredevil counters Staff Daredevil really hard. But when playing D/P, fighting Staff players doesn’t seem like an easy win to me. A lot of the problem is I don’t see it in Ranked enough to get good practice in, and then when I do see it I’m struggling against the BD and Vault spam. Not that I always lose, but it doesn’t seem to be as easy a win as people make it out to be.

Pretty sure I’m doing something wrong or approaching the problem incorrectly, so any advice would be appreciated.

Azure The Heartless.3261:

Apparently my sarcasm was not loud enough

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law

It was the “This” that threw me.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Daredevil_-_Dagger/Pistol

Counters

• Most 1v1s (it’s simply not your role to engage in duels)

In a vacuum, we’re objectively the worst class. Our worth in team fights is severely reduced due to the current bunker meta. Additionally, other classes can approach our decap and +1 potential, making us less worthwhile to have.

Azure The Heartless.3261:

I mean come on, being completely aware of where trap spec classes are at all times so you can see them place their traps even if they break line of sight or are across the map, is just standard L2p.

This doesn’t really hold up as you could use the same argument against plenty of stuff that’s already implemented in game. Why give Scrappers the ability to mass AOE reveal? They should be able to anticipate where the thief is when stealthed. L2P

And yes, it’s not difficult to see a DH lay down a trap, but in a game where your attention is being pulled in multiple directions I don’t think it’s ridiculous to suggest some sort of panacea for the class that already has to out play their opponents by a wide margin in order to have any hope of being successful.

Also I’m not saying this is something that should be done, just that I think it’s an interesting idea that would be thematically appropriate. One of many alternatives to just upping base damage and damage coefficients.

Because when the balance patch rolls around, and they “balance” thief by just cranking the numbers higher, people are going to wish they had done something as simple as just letting thieves see traps.

Everyone at some point in their GW2 lives has been ganked by a thief and some people have remained salty ever since.

Kodama.6453:

I don’t like this idea. Seems like a too strong hard counter for traps to me.

Considering the number of ways other classes have to put Revealed on a thief, thus negating one of their core mechanics and making them visible and susceptible to damage from the ENTIRE enemy team, I hardly think a trait that lets the thief alone see enemy traps is overpowered. Also this wouldn’t make a thief immune to traps since a skillful DH or ranger could still bait the thief in and drop the traps at an opportune time.

I just got done getting crushed in a Conquest match when I got into a team with another thief against a team of 2 Dragonhunters. Suffice to say, it didn’t go well for us.

I was thinking about ways thief could be balanced when I was struck with the idea of thieves having the ability to see enemy traps. It would be incredibly thematically appropriate. The rogue archetype in Pen & Paper RPGs is dependent on trap detection and disarming. DH would still be able to effectively contest a point against a thief but it could prevent the dump all traps YOLO one shot from happening.

It could be added to Trapper’s Respite to make that trait more appealing.

This happened to me once when switching back from Action Camera. For some reason my character kept shooting at the ground with SB #1. Relogging resolved the issue though.

“Black Powder:
Increased the interval between pulses to 2 seconds. Reduced the duration of blind to 2 seconds.”

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-September-9-2014

Considering how small the AOE is, I’d like to see it pulse every second again.

I originally thought that my older characters were the ones that were broken, and while that is true to an extent, one of my characters that is 735 days old is fine, while another that is 734 days old is broken.

It seems like the breakage may be related to the completion of episodes of Living World Season 2. The characters that haven’t touched Season 1 or were only on the first episode are fine.

Cynz.9437:

no offense, but i will never understand why people roll charr thief….

Because Ash Legion?

Anyway, here’s my main. Sneakthief Coat, Legs, Shoulders, Gloves and Boots along with the Subterfuge hood. As a charr, definitely give the Sneakthief coat a look. The flap at the rear of the coat drapes over the tail rather than having the tail clip through it.

Thief will continue to be valuable due to our high mobility and ability to disengage. That said, I would like to be valuable as more than a +1er. Our team fight survivability is the absolute bottom of the barrel.

With the Feline Grace change, Practiced Tolerance change, and Vigor nerf, our survivability has gone down while damage from all sources has gone up.

I like the shape the Shadow Arts tree is morphing into, but even specced into that won’t stop a mesmer from bursting you into oblivion.

Since ANet is doing small incremental balance changes every week or two until Heart of Thorns, what I’d like to see for a start is an increase of thief base health to the middle tier (Engineer, Ranger, Mesmer, Revenant.) This would help both PvE as well as PvP. Right now if you go full Zerks in PvE, there are plenty of attacks that will kill you in one hit in high level Fractals. Other classes get much more wiggle room. I’ve had to slot in some Valkyries pieces, which isn’t inherently bad, but other professions don’t have to sacrifice as much to stay alive since they either have larger base health or primarily attack from range.

I also don’t think it would be that gamebreaking to have Resilience of Shadows back to it’s original 50% damage reduction considering it only applies when you or your team mates are in stealth and other classes have the ability to become unkillable for brief periods while rezzing or stomping.

This resembles one of the bugs that was present during launch. Occasionally we can only get 4-3 members in the same fractal instance. The remaining players get a prompt that lets you select your fractal level.

I believe this may be reproduced by “rolling” for a specific instance in the beginning with people in your party and them selecting [Cancel]. But I’m not sure.

Thanks Karl! Your checking into this is much appreciated.

I’d still like an official confirmation so in the event that it is in this current state then it doesn’t fall through the cracks.

The latest Ready Up episode has the Master Minor Critical Strikes trait, Unrelenting Strikes described thusly:

Unrelenting Strikes – Gain fury for 4 seconds when striking a foe whose health is below 50% health. This effect has a 10 second internal cooldown.

Karl McLain said during this portion of the episode that he believes it’s a typo.

Can we get some sort of confirmation from one of the devs what Unrelenting Strikes actually does if it is indeed a typo? Because as it is listed right now, it seems completely out of place and lacks synergy with the other Critical Strikes traits. Ferocious Strikes, the Grand Master Minor trait, for example, increases critical damage against enemies with health above 50%. It doesn’t make much sense to me that both of these traits, which are mandatory for the line, don’t synergize at all with each other. Instead they pass each other like Ladyhawke. As soon as an enemy drops below 50% health, one turns on and the other turns off. That can’t be right.

Ark Bladesteele.2943:

Incorrect. New players get the base game for $0. Whatever we paid in the past for the game, be it $15 or $60, it is still more than $0. We do not get an extra copy of the base game. New players are de facto getting a better deal than any veteran player ever could, because regardless of the cost of the game in the past, it is still greater than 0. There is no way around that.

Or you can look at it this way. For $50 both you and a new player can play in exactly the same world when HoT comes out. The money you paid for the core game (be it $15 or $60) bought you enjoyment and progression in the game world from the point of purchase up until today when you could in theory preorder HoT. The enjoyment you received in that time is worth more than $0, hence why you paid more than $0.

Guys, there’s a term “Time value of money.” At its most basic level it means that money now is worth more than money later. Similarly, getting into an MMO at the ground level is worth more than getting into it later. You’ve had much more time to play the game and many more opportunities to progress than new players.

Let’s say that back when GW2 first came out, you went to buy it and were given an offer. You can buy the game now at full price and play it, OR wait for three years and you’ll get the game for free when you buy the expansion. I guarantee most if not all of you would have went with the buy now option. The core game was worth more when it came out than it is now. The new players are not getting a better deal than you.

Cecil.9205:

You’re at a store, and I notice that you want to purchase a shirt and pants. I sell you said shirt and pants for 50 dollars (just representative price). Then, a while later, while you’re still there, Joe comes up (new customer) and I offer to sell him a pair of shoes for $50, but now I’m going to throw in a shirt and pair of pants, at no additional charge (free), for him. You of course, as a previous customer come up and say, “Hey, I want some shoes as well.” in which I reply, “That’ll be $50. And sorry, but since you already have a shirt, and a pair of pants from us, you get nothing else. Thank you and come again.”

Except that analogy isn’t even remotely close to what is actually happening. We aren’t all sitting at the store with our freshly bought shirt and pants. Most of us bought our shirt and pants years ago. We already took our shirt and pants home and have worn them on many occasions. We’ve gotten a ton of use out of that shirt and pants. They’re a little worn now, but comfy and familiar. We have good memories of these clothes. We see them and smile as we fondly remember the good times we had while wearing them.

Three years later we hear that the same store we bought the shirt and pants from is now selling some sweet new matching shoes, but unless you’re wearing the shirt and pants you own, those shoes just wardrobe malfunction right off your feet.

You see Joe walk up to the counter and purchase the shoes for $50. The clerk says, “Since you need this shirt and pair of pants in order to wear the shoes, we’re including the shirt and pants for free.” You smile at Joe. Lucky kitten. He doesn’t even know what he’s getting into with that shirt and pants.

So you walk up to the counter with the shoes and your $50. The clerk says, “Here’s your complimentary shirt and pants.” And you say, “No thanks. I already have a shirt and pants that has three years of memories attached to it. Also they’re slightly worn so it’s super comfortable and familiar. I’ll just take the shoes. Thanks.”

If you really think new customers are getting such a better deal, then start a new account with your brand new shirt and pants.

ETA: Also, if you are still “at the store” (ie you bought the core game recently) Anet has said that if you contact them, they will work with you to upgrade to a HoT purchase.

smitske.4912:

You know as well as me that is marketing BS, you are already ripping off many people, dont treat them like fools too. Have a bit of respect for your players before you say things like that.

Behaviour like this is wy nobody likes marketeers, you not even made yourself look like a condescending prick but many people in your company too.

Guys, disagree with the pricing all you want, but please don’t attack the Arena Net employees. That’s a human-kitten-being on the other end of that keyboard. It’s also a bad way to argue your point, because you don’t come across very well.

Castaliea.3156:

Everyone is kittened because ANET literally just admitted to caring substantially more for new players than any current or former players.

Your logic doesn’t follow. The expansion was going to cost some amount of money. The amount of money has been revealed to be $50. Period. They could have just as easily not included the core game and the expansion still would have been $50.

Giving the core game away with HoT does not mean that they care more about new players than established players. It just means that they want to make it as easy as possible for new players to start playing. (In fact, that’s something we as established players should want too. Who wants to play an empty MMO?)

Pricing the game at $50 does not mean that they don’t value established players. It just means that $50 is the price Anet thinks is reasonable for the expansion.

Again, if you think $50 is too much for the expansion, that’s fine. But if you think Anet owes you more or a cheaper price for being a veteran player, then you’re just being entitled. And if you think new players shouldn’t get the almost three-year-old core game along with the expansion, then you’re just being selfish as that idea is self-destructive to GW2. It benefits us as much as Anet to have a large player base.

I don’t understand all the negativity in this thread.

Let me start off by saying that it is perfectly within your right to think that the expansion is overpriced. Anyone criticizing anyone else for that belief is being a jerk. It is a perfectly reasonable plan to either not buy HoT due to the price or to wait for a price drop before buying it.

However, what is not reasonable is to assume you are entitled to anything that is not on the tin. The expansion is $50. Period. You are not entitled to any kind of discount, bonus, or second GW2 key just because the expansion comes with the core game for new members. You are not entitled to anything from HoT just because you’re an established GW2 player. The only thing you are entitled to are the things that are listed for the price they are listed. If you don’t think they’re a good value, then don’t buy them. Or wait until the price is lowered to the point where you feel it’s a good value. I personally will be playing HoT day one.

Also, consider World of Warcraft. Warlords of Draenor costs $49.99 too, and that has subscription fees ontop of that. WoW also grants you all the previous expansions if you buy the latest. But it used to not always be that way. So anytime a new player would come along, they’d have to buy the core game and several expansions just to get caught up. It was ridiculous.

Anet including the core game with the expansion is a kindness and convenience to new players, and it makes smart business sense. It is not an excuse to try and wheel and deal a lower price for yourself. People getting the core game for free now does not detract from the joy and value you’ve gotten out of playing GW2 up to this point. So please stop acting like Anet has kitten in your cereal.

I’d suggest that they combine Power of Inertia and Expeditious Dodger, since they’re both “Gain X on dodge” abilities.

I’m kind of sad to see Power of Inertia go away as I use Runes of Strength on my PvE gear, and it was how I consistently kept Might up while solo.

64-bit Client
DirectX10/11
New Maps
New Dungeons
More Fractals
More Guild Missions
New Weapon & Armor Skins
New Set of Legendaries (One for each weapon type)
Guild Halls
Player Housing where you can choose any city as your home (Charr aren’t restricted to the Black Citadel)
More Traits
More Utilities
The Ability to Select Weapon Skills from a Pool of Skills
Build Templates

PCanineBrigade.4916:

0.05-0.07, right?
Now that I noticed it, it cannot be unseen.. ever. Creepy stuff.

That’s exactly it! I know this is some minor stuff in comparison to other bugs, but…I REALLY like the idle animation. My charr looks super cute doing it (That’s him in the first video), but now it’s ruined to some degree.

I made a post about this on the Game Bugs forums, but I thought I’d point to it from here so it might get some traction.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/New-Charr-Idle-Animation-Bug/first

Re-posted here for ease of reference:
—————————————————————————————————————————-
I noticed this on 3/22/2014 so I’m assuming this was introduced in one of the recent patches. During the charr idle animation, the charr’s neck and head seem to jut to the side in an unnaturally smooth fashion as part of the first head swing. It’s as if the head is on casters and not actually attached to a neck.

Here is a video I made showcasing the bug:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJqYqwsD3zY

And here is a video of the idle animation pre-bug:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbNpAr181eQ#t=1m11s

You will probably have to boost the quality up and go Full Screen to see what I’m talking about.
—————————————————————————————————————————-

I know this isn’t going to seem like a big deal to most people, but I really liked that idle animation, lol.

I noticed this on 3/22/2014 so I’m assuming this was introduced in one of the recent patches. During the charr idle animation, the charr’s neck and head seem to jut to the side in an unnaturally smooth fashion as part of the first head swing. It’s as if the head is on casters and not actually attached to a neck.

Here is a video I made showcasing the bug:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJqYqwsD3zY

And here is a video of the idle animation pre-bug:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbNpAr181eQ#t=1m11s

You will probably have to boost the quality up and go Full Screen to see what I’m talking about.

Confirmed that this still doesn’t work.

hihey.1075:

Now, with the 10% chance on crit to gain 1 ini, there was a chance that this trait does not even proc in this limited time frame. With the increased chance of 50% the chances that it will proc by such quick bursts is highly increased – actually I would say that you will CERTAINLY get it to proc at every burst you do.

Umm… Opportunist as it is today is a 30% chance on crit.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Opportunist_%28thief%29

I think this is overly nerfed when compared to how other traits are. Either decrease the ICD to 2-3s or make the proc chance 100% on crit.

Revitalizing an old topic as I am now having the exact same issue as of yesterday with a good friend of mine. When I try to whisper her, it looks like she goes offline and I get the message “The player you are trying to whisper is not online.” After a few moments it looks like she logs back on. The weird thing is it’s only with her. Everyone else seems to have no issue.

If I try to invite her to a party I get the following error message:
Network error .
Please check your Internet connetion and try again.
(Code=3015:1002:3:1933:101)

I’m in the States and she’s in Iceland so maybe there’s a routing issue?

ETA: False alarm. She had accidentally blocked me. :P

mercury ranique.2170:

Ok, I didnt make that out (you said you could make screenshots, so I interpeted it as a retorical situation). Mabye post the ticket number here. I’m pretty confident the support liason will see this post and she might be interested in it

Gotcha. And…that couldn’t hurt.
Support Ref # is 130903-000558
Open Date: 09/03/2013

Last night he was harassing a friend of mine, asking him to find out from me where in Bloodtide Coast I was so that he could find me. My friend sent me a screenshot of this conversation. Can I report him with this even though the conversation was between him and another party?

mercury ranique.2170:

Im asking you to report through a support ticket, not through the ingame report system. Make sure that you explain that this person has been stalking you for a prolonged time now.

I understand that. That’s what I’ve done. How else would I attach screenshots to any sort of report?

I understand everyone telling me to report the harassment. Believe me, I have and will continue to do so. However, understand that he is harassing me in a way that is difficult to really present evidence for. Since I have him blocked, there is no chat log of him talking to me. I could take a screenshot of him standing next to me, but that doesn’t prove anything as I could have just as easily tracked him down. In order to get something reportable I’d have to unblock him and allow him to talk to me. Admittedly, I’ve done this, but it is less than ideal.

The only other thing I can do is encourage my friends who he is currently verbally harassing to report him as well. As I said in my original post, I’ve already been doing this. Hopefully something will come of it.

Regardless, there is no reason a person that you have blocked should be allowed to see when you’re on. You should appear as invisible to them all the time.

Dear ArenaNet,

I would like to make a simple request. I would like it if accounts that I have blocked could be prevented from (1) having me on their contact list, (2) see when I am logged on, and (3) see what zone I am in. (Note: Adding someone to your blocked list shows #2 and #3 for them as well.)

For the past several months I have had an individual that despite being on my blocked list, continues to harass me and several of my friends. If he sees me and a select few other friends on he will:
(1) Locate our position in the zone we are in, and even though he can’t communicate with us via whisper/say/map, he still does what he can to disrupt our playing. This includes swinging his weapon at us or emoting (/cry) in an attempt to distract us. As we are on a roleplaying server, this is incredibly disruptive to me and the other people I’m with. It’s also just generally creepy to have this individual follow me around and stare at my character.
(2) Continually attempt to /join a party I am in over and over.
(3) Contact other people I’m with that don’t have him blocked in an attempt to get at me. He’s told several friends of mine that he would commit suicide if I didn’t unblock him and talk to him.

I don’t want to get into any more dirty details, but suffice to say this is ruining my enjoyment of the game when it comes up. I have already reported this person for harassment (with screenshots) as well as encouraged others to report him as well, but since he chooses to harass me in a way that is not verbal, nothing has ostensibly been done about it.

This change, while simple, would be a major quality of life improvement as it would at the very least limit his ability to harass me and others that have blocked him.

Please please PLEASE make this so. I’m at my wits end.

Me, fittin’ mid-fractal.

There’s a guy on Tarnished Coast named “Tribune Brimstone” that’s done a pretty good approximation.

I’ve done every single jumping puzzle in the game to date with my charr. For the most part, doing them as a charr isn’t too much of a detriment. If you have trouble with the running on all fours thing, you can occasionally attack with your weapon and you’ll run on your hind legs with your weapon out (This doesn’t work on the Mad King’s Clock Tower though, which forces you to run on all fours).

The only jumping puzzle that I feel is sufficiently harder as a charr is Troll’s End. Unless they’ve adjusted it since I did it originally, it is unfairly brutal. Some of the spaces are so tight that the camera just gives up. The camera will be inside your character, and it won’t offer any hint as far as his/her position and which way they are facing. You have to rely on the minimap and guessing to beat this as a charr. The game could really benefit from a first person camera mode.

Got stuck during FotM dungeon as well. Now I’m stuck permanently in a party and it won’t let me leave. I can not join any parties which means I am dead in the water as far as doing more dungeons.

Attempting to leave party gives me the following error: “The player or channel cannot be found. (Code=3008:1009:2:186:101)”

More people need to be saying what you’re saying OP.

As I said in the suggestions thread, the way I see it, ANet can temper this setup in one of two ways:
1) Make it so you can’t use Steal while Cloak and Dagger is casting
2) Make it so Steal cancels the Cloak and Dagger cast

I think they would both get the job done, it would just be a matter of which is easier to implement.

Dear ANet, please don’t hurt PvE Backstab thieves that don’t do this.

First of all, to the OP, this thread is a great idea. ANet has shown appreciation of constructive feedback in the past. So if we can crowd source some good ideas such that the non-glass cannon PvP thieves don’t get screwed in the process of rebalancing, then that would make me a very happy thief. The idea of reducing burst via an Assassin’s Signet nerf was a largely popular one in these forums prior to ANet changing it, so let’s continue that trend.

Doomdesire.9365:

Unable to cast cnd while using steal along with steal not activating basilik venom should be good enough if anet ever fixes the rendering issues. Make it harder to execute, fix the rendering issues, and don’t nerf raw damage is how I would do it.

I’m glad to be seeing these ideas popping up, because I think it’s the way to go. I think there are two things they could do.

1) Make it so you can’t use Steal while Cloak and Dagger is casting
2) Make it so Steal cancels the Cloak and Dagger cast

I’m not sure which of these would be preferable. I think they would both get the job done, but it would just depend on which is easier for ANet to implement.

Paranoid.9542:

Adding conditions would not compensate any where near enough because backstab is primarily used in damage/crit based builds, which ususally involves no focus on condisions at all.

I agree. Turning Backstab into a condition ability would force a lot of people to have to collect a whole new gear set since Backstab thieves focus on Precision and Crit Damage. It also goes against the flavor of Backstab, in my opinion. The Hidden Killer trait , for example, would be killed off completely for D/D builds.

If they were going to shift around damage, they could potentially nerf Backstab and buff the Double Strike -> Wild Strike -> Lotus Strike chain. But I feel like the damage for all these moves is in a good place. As people have said before me, it’s the combo of Basilisk Venom + CnD + Steal + Assassin’s Signet + … + Backstab that is OP.

jayem.2630:

I think the Mug > CnD > Backstab combo should be kept, It’s rare enough as it is for thief skills to have good synergy. The issue is purely about damage numbers, rather than mechanic.

The damage should definitely be tuned down, but there should also be an option for high burst damage; I’d suggest
1) Cutting the damage from CnD and backstab, and
2) Change assassin’s signet to increase damage by X% (say 100%) of all attacks for 2 seconds on use with a 120 sec recharge time, moving it to an elite skill to replace basilisk venom.

The 2 – 3 min recharge time will force players to use it intelligently, instead of using it every 30 – 45 seconds whenever steal/basilisk/devourer is on up.

These changes, as is, would severly cripple PvE Backstab thieves though, which is precisely the kind of thing we’re trying to avoid. When it comes to thieves, ANet has so far done a pretty admiral job of balancing PvP which leaving PvE unscathed. Let’s hope they continue.