Guild Wars 2

I think thieves are pretty much supposed to be the anti-caster. That is the paper to our scissors, where heavy plated folks are our rock. The great thing about this rock-paper-scissors game is that it is possible for a paper to outduel a scissor, and for a scissor to outduel a rock.

A smart thief will know which target is the best to target and slaughter, followed by a quick exit from combat. You spelled out all of the reasons why your post is premature: you are new to PvP and everyone around you is relatively new to PvP. There are plenty of skilled players out there that would wipe the floor with you, regardless of their class.

In short, I think your post was reactionary in nature. You had a stint in PvP, did fairly well in the situations you were in, and claimed OP. Surely you can see why this is silly.

Tyrantis.8640:

No offense to your guys’ tastes and all, but most people aren’t happy with the skill.

And where are you getting your “most people” numbers from? By the responses in this thread, I would say that most people are actually happy with it. I sure am.

Doom.8647:

Once you take damage, you’re “in combat.”

I have not found that to be universally true. There are plenty of times when I was not struck by an enemy, and my speed was slowed down to in-combat rates. Whether this is intended or not is another matter.

Doom.8647:

There is a difference between movement speed in and out of combat for everyone. AFAIK the movement speed in combat is still faster with the signet, but it’s slower than your out-of-combat speed.

Precisely.

From the GW2 Wiki page on Movement Speed:

Non-combat forward run speed is approximately 300 range units per second. Combat forward run speed is approximately 210 range units per second. Strafe speed, in and out of combat, is approximately 180 units per second. Backpedaling, in and out of combat, is approximately 105 units per second.

In and out of combat speed is different for everyone. The 25% passive speed increase makes a thief’s out-of-combat speed 375 units/sec, and in-combat speed 262.5. If you are on a mob’s aggro list, you are considered in-combat. Someone else mentioned something about putting weapons away to force one’s self out of combat, but I can not confirm or deny that.

I’m confused. You claim that the game seems to be cookie-cutter based, yet you then go on to explain how you were destroyed by two different types of thieves, one used melee (presumably), and the other used pistols. The face mashing you received should be proof enough that different builds are viable.

As far as gear, the one thing you can not say about the game is that is gear dependent, like WoW. With very minimal effort you will receive the best gear available to you when you hit 80. After that, the only ‘upgrades’ out there are cosmetic.

I think you need to re-examine your builds, your itemization, or your skill.

• Any build can be viable, situationally. If your build does not contain toughness or vitality, then you need to realize that any hit is going to cripple you, and so getting in the first hit is very important.
• Itemization is important. It allows you to make up for some of the shortcomings of your build. Enjoy playing your build, but having a hard time with survivability? Stack vitality/toughness gear. Got plenty of survivability in your build but want to pack more of a punch? Power/precision will be your friend there.
• Lastly is your skill, which is by far more important than any of this. You definitely do not know how to PvP with your prof/build at this time. You definitely have not researched all of your skills and skill combinations. You haven’t gained a familiarity with all of the classes so that you can counter them. And you know what? That is fine, because neither have we. The game is too new. Even the best players have a to learn. Right now, you’re merely frustrated that you are not stomping faces. Well, again, that should be proof that this is a skill-based game. If you hit 80 and started destroying everyone you came across, I would tend to think that the game lacked a skill-based learning curve.

I also come from a WoW background, and that is certainly a gear-dependent, cookie-cutter game. This game is anything but that.

Monado.5709:

Nod.9613:

Monado.5709:

I’ve been playing a thief a lot lately in Spvp and I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve tried 2 builds that I’ve been labeled as a “noob” for using. The builds are: Pistolwhip/quickness burst build and D/D heartseeker burst spam. I’ve had people type to me after I burst them down saying stuff like “play a real class”. It’s all pretty lol-worthy, but it’s driven me to look for some good builds that can’t be stamped with a noob label. So I guess I’m asking you guys if there’s any strong tested builds out there that require more brainpower then spamming 2 or 3. Essentially I want to feel like I’m doing more to earn my kills and victories. I’ll be looking into my own builds as well, but I figured it would be a good idea to ask here too.

Have you tried a D/D build that is based more upon backstab and stealth? The basics are 30/30 in Critical Strikes and Shadow Arts and potentially 10 in Trickery. Make sure to pick up the +stealth when stealing, +2 init when stealthing, and 100% crit chance when stealthed. You’ll end up getting guaranteed backstab crits and you’ll have plenty of initiative left to finish your opponents off with HS when they are low.

I’ll see if I can build it in one of the online generators, but I can’t find one that is completely up to date. The wiki has Hidden Killer at 100% critical chance when stealthed, but others have it at 50%. I believe it is 100% in game.

I’ve really wanted to try a Thief build that is centered around stealth. I actually made one myself when I first tried a thief and it ended in disaster. If you made a solid build like that I would love to see it.

Okay, so I won’t use an online generator because they all seem out of date. I can’t find any that are not.

30 in Critical Strikes:

• Adept: Choose any.
• Master: Choose any, but I like Signet Use, since I use Signet of Shadows
• Grand Master: Hidden Killer

30 in Shadow Arts:

• Adept: Infusion of Shadow
• Master: Hidden Thief
• Grand Master: Shadow’s Rejuvenation

10 in Trickery:

• Adept: Uncatchable OR Instinctual Response

The results?

Any time you go stealth:

• You gain +2 initiative
• Regenerate health
• 100% chance to crit on your first attack (Backstab or HS situationally)
• Gain might

Ways to go stealth:

• Stealing (will gain +3 more initiative)
• Hide in Shadows which is pretty much the best thief skill ever.
• Cloak and Dagger
• Automatically when you go below 25% hp due to Blinding Powder
• Automatically when you take a 20% hp hit if you pick up Instinctual Response
• Various utility skills

The biggest issue here is that you have to do a fair amount of thinking. Try to save your Hide in Shadows skill for escaping big fights in a hurry, but feel free to use it in combat in 1v1 situations. We have a lot of great situational skills that can drive our opponents batty.

Monado.5709:

I’ve been playing a thief a lot lately in Spvp and I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve tried 2 builds that I’ve been labeled as a “noob” for using. The builds are: Pistolwhip/quickness burst build and D/D heartseeker burst spam. I’ve had people type to me after I burst them down saying stuff like “play a real class”. It’s all pretty lol-worthy, but it’s driven me to look for some good builds that can’t be stamped with a noob label. So I guess I’m asking you guys if there’s any strong tested builds out there that require more brainpower then spamming 2 or 3. Essentially I want to feel like I’m doing more to earn my kills and victories. I’ll be looking into my own builds as well, but I figured it would be a good idea to ask here too.

Have you tried a D/D build that is based more upon backstab and stealth? The basics are 30/30 in Critical Strikes and Shadow Arts and potentially 10 in Trickery. Make sure to pick up the +stealth when stealing, +2 init when stealthing, and 100% crit chance when stealthed. You’ll end up getting guaranteed backstab crits and you’ll have plenty of initiative left to finish your opponents off with HS when they are low.

I’ll see if I can build it in one of the online generators, but I can’t find one that is completely up to date. The wiki has Hidden Killer at 100% critical chance when stealthed, but others have it at 50%. I believe it is 100% in game.

I have to pretty much agree that if you aren’t using steal, you’re neglecting a huge weapon in your arsenal. For those that are playing the thief as a ranged fighter, I can understand why it does not excite you. For melee, especially main hand dagger, it is insanely good. Properly traited, in the middle of a fight I can dodge away, steal (which grants me +4 initiative and stealth for 2 seconds), land a guaranteed critical backstab, and still have a free stolen skill to use at my leisure.

I understand the complaints with the 45s cooldown, but that is consistent with other thief slot skills. Stealing is amazing.

Shael.4703:

Yes, it is a blocker-type bug.

The best interim solution is one of the following:

• Restart the server
• Restart the zone/map
• Restart the specific event only

Let’s just hope that GW2 was programmed to have those restart features (just like in the game the ANet founders used to work for).

I wonder if getting into an overflow instance of the map would be a solution as well. As far as I know, there is no way to force one’s self into it, but entering the map at a very busy time of day might help.

Maguuma server still bugged.

It has become sort of cliche around here, but the best method is to take the path that is most fun for you. Personally, I like playing content that is on or slightly above my unscaled level. Therefore, as soon as I am finished getting 100% completion on a map, I move to higher level content.

It seems like you are coming from a craftsman point of view. The fine crafting items (claws/bones/etc.) are something that you will pretty much never have enough of. My theory was that by staying in zones around my level, I would make more money, and be able to buy the mats that I did not farm while leveling, and it has worked out well. Most crafting guides I see want you to have 30x of each fine crafting component, which would be tough to get even if you did every starting area.

So, in staying within the spirit of doing what is most fun for you:

• Are you okay moving on to higher content so that you can purchase lower level crafting components? If so, go ahead and venture into the higher leveled zones.
• Would you prefer to gather all materials yourself? If so, do all of the starter areas and farm the materials yourself.

Lysidian.4653:

Thanks Karast and Daari.

@Daari, my suggestion for Spark is to take up weapon smith if you havent maxed it already, and craft the exotics to stick into the forge. I dont know about your TP but bones are really cheap, ectos are coming down in price and rest is fairly easy to gather yourself. Or atleast that was my game plan.

The Trading Post is global, meaning that it is shared between all servers.

Clem.2963:

Nice find, but their numbers seem a bit low.

I’m running a 3570K + 670 and I’m getting better frame-rates than they claim (looking at their 2500K and 3930K charts).

I have an i5 3570k myself, along with a 5 year old nVidia 8800 GTX, and I get a solid 50-100 FPS on medium settings. This game is, first and foremost, CPU heavy at its most basic settings. If I stretch the game to its highest settings, I still manage 25-30 FPS.

If you are building a budget machine, pick a quality processor like the i5 3570k before going for a high end graphics card, especially if you don’t need to play on uber-max settings.

Durandal.4150:

yeah thats what I did, now ill do it again just to make 100% sure but I am certain that I have all the POIs in the overworld

You’ll find it. Please update us when you do!

Durandal.4150:

I just this afternoon spent around 50 silver teleporting to every single map, and found nothing, is there some secret point of interest in the mists or somewhere that I wouldnt normally go?

When you went to each zone, did you specifically look to make sure that you had 100% completion for each zone? If you went to every single zone, and each one had a full X/X for points of interest, then I’m stumped.

Durandal.4150:

OK so i am facing a problem, and I was wondering if there are ANY people out there like me that are facing a similar one.

For the purpose of this topic I will be referring to the “Vanquishing” of zones, this term is from the original guild wars and you got it from killing every monster in the zone. In this game when I say vanquish I mean getting all the way points, vistas, points of interest, and hearts in a zone

So now on to my problem I have vanquished every single zone and town in the over world, I have vanquished 3 out of the 4 pvp zones, and I am still missing a single point of interest that I have no clue where to find it, has anyone gotten the full 100%?

here is a screenshot, I know where the last 3 vistas and 1 of the points of interests are.

As it was already said, you already know where your last 3 vistas are, as well as 1 of the 2 points of interest. How are you so sure that you vanquished all of the other zones? My best guess would be that you are missing a PoI in one of the zones that you thought you vanquished.

nomad.2814:

Its not for a sense of “achievement” its because this is an RPG and stats mean EVERYTHING IN RPGS. An RPG with “meaningless” stats is not an RPG.

Stats are not meaningless. They have plenty of meaning in this game. Each profession has multiple ways of stacking and mixing stats. The only difference between GW itemization and WoW itemization is that GW does not drag out the process of achieving the best gear in the game. The question then becomes, “what is there to do once the best gear in the game is obtained?” For many WoW players, they never have to answer this question because they never get to a point where they have best in slot gear for every slot. But for the ones that do, they often turn to PvP. In GW2, I think it is quite obvious that the ‘end game’ is PvP centric, even though there is a solid PvE leveling experience.

It looks like you don’t ever want to have to answer the question above, which I can respect. For you, the fun part of MMORPG’s is feeling a sense of neverending progression. I, too, love that feeling, but find GW2 to be an incredibly refreshing change.

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Nod.9613:

Hmmm, interesting. I completely understand keeping posts on topic for the particular forum, but where exactly would a post of this nature fit? I do not see a forum that allows for players to provide feeback to developers, or discuss the current/future state of the game. Perhaps an actual General forum should be created? Or perhaps you want to exclude this sort of talk altogether from the boards, which is your prerogative.

As we have mentioned each day in our game status updates, other sub-forums will be opened when our development team is satisfied that the forums are performing well under heavy load. There will be sub-forums that are more appropriate for providing feedback. For now, please stay on topic and use the sub-forums that are open for their intended purpose.

If you have further questions about this, please do not use this thread for it.

Alrighty, well I suppose that effectively culls this thread. I can respect that.

Since this game is about providing help to other players, does anyone know of a different community for discussing such topics until GW2 is ready to broaden its conversational scope? I certainly enjoy these topics.

grebber.5916:

No gear to get once 80.
No rewards for pvp or pve
You basically just play, hit 80, then what? Do the same thing you been doing since lvl 1.
I’m gonna play my toon to 80 to get my money’s worth. So far it is fun but I’m worried it’s going to get boring fast. With nothing to shoot for then why bother?
I would play just to mess with the dungeons but I hear they are so hard it isn’t even fun. I’m holding judgment on that since I haven’t been in one myself yet..
I’m not a hard core player by any means so when I get a chance to play I need to make it worth my time. Just seems there’s no goals to be met in this game tho.
Am I wrong?

This is sort of like asking what keeps someone playing a first person shooter (multiplayer). I’d say the challenge of PvP is really the only thing right now, just like it would be in something like Counter-Strike. Besting other players is something that many find appealing. One could make the argument that this game was marketed towards PvE players, yet contains very little ‘end game’ PvE. I would mostly agree with that, and normally I hate PvP, but I’m going to give it a shot and treat it like I would treat Counter-Strike.

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Friendly reminder: please keep this topic tightly focused on helping players understand Guild Wars 2’s approach to the concept of “endgame” and not on requests, suggestions, or feedback. If this thread does not stay on topic, the moderators will need to lock it. Thank you.

Hmmm, interesting. I completely understand keeping posts on topic for the particular forum, but where exactly would a post of this nature fit? I do not see a forum that allows for players to provide feeback to developers, or discuss the current/future state of the game. Perhaps an actual General forum should be created? Or perhaps you want to exclude this sort of talk altogether from the boards, which is your prerogative.

Progression gear does not have to ruin PvP balancing. As far as I know, PvP occurs in a vacuum (instance), so there is plenty of control over it. When players enter a PvP instance, initiate a hard stat cap to keep the playing field level like it is now. The result would be that you can still use your neat looking PvE gear in PvP while maintaining the same sense of gear control, while simultaneously creating PvE content that yields progression gear.

Gnies.2903:

Other than port ya next to the opponent?

Steal is probably my favorite tool. As the above user said, press it once to jump to the target and steal an ability, and then press it again to use the stolen ability.

Draemond.7236:

Current CPU Speed: 2.5 ghz (dual core)
Current GPU Mem Clock and Core Clock speeds: 1gb, core 738MHz, memory 2200MHz
Current DRAM speed and amount: 8gb ddr3

Hopefully that helps out, nothing is overclocked either…

I know you were asked for your CPU speed, but keep in mind that this is a poor way to measure and compared the performance of one CPU with that of another. Some CPU’s are able to accomplish more per cycle, even though they run at the same speed.

I recommend that you take a look through this multi-page article at Tom’s Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html . It will effectively tell you that the i5 3570k is the best gaming processor available right now before diminishing returns start to kick in. It will run you $230 unless you can find it on sale. Pairing it with a motherboard, like I did above, is one way to knock $25 off of the price.

Draemond.7236:

Hi,

I’m currently running an old Intel E5200 and am thinking of getting a i5 3450
I plan on using my same video card nvidia geforce GTS250 (as i’m tight on money) so I figure an upgrade to the CPU would be the best bet,
Currently i average about 15-20 FPS on all Low settings (reflections off, shadows off etc…)

So I’m wondering with the upgrade to CPU, do yuo think I’ll be able to handle the game on Medium settings minimun and get around 30FPS?

If I need to provide more specs let me know as well…

Thanks,
Drae

At the most basic settings, this game (and others) are incredibly CPU dependent. If you have a 5 year old CPU and a 5 year old GPU, you will get the most benefit out of a new CPU. I know this from my experience in IT, and because I just did it.

I was getting 20-50 FPS In CS:GO, and GW2 was essentially unplayable with my Athlon X2, and my nVidia 8800GT. I upgraded my processor, motherboard, and RAM and now get 200-300 FPS in CS:GO and 70-100 FPS in GW2, both on medium-high settings. Since I am getting such acceptable rates on reasonable settings, I don’t see the point in spending $200+ on a new video card just to maintain those same rates but on higher settings.

The reply above me is still correct in that your machine is only as good as your bottleneck, but you already have a newer, higher-end graphics card than me, and my CPU replacement made all the difference. FYI, this is the combo I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1033223 . That $350 combo is going to far outpace any increase you’ll get from a new graphics card.

Keep in mind that your CPU is also used to run your operating system, background processes, and applications. Your graphics card is almost plays almost no part in those areas.

Lovisek.7103:

Lazrial.1083: Thank you for the answer (but please can you also suggest wich of the PCs above should I get) ?

DABhand.2079: same question as Lazrial.

Someone else mentioned it already, and I’ll just reiterate it. You will not see any benefit from going for the i7 over the i5 while gaming. If money is a consideration, get the i5. I just upgraded my processor, motherboard, and RAM, specifically for GW2 and CS:GO. The mobo/processor combo I bought was this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1033223

The 3570k just came out a few months ago, and will serve you well for many years to come. The ‘k’ in the model number means that it is unlocked (able to be overclocked). Do not bother overclocking it when you get it. Instead, wait several years when you are not quite getting the FPS you had hoped for in newer games, and then over clock it. The locked version is about $20-30 cheaper, so you can save money there too if you never plan to overclock.

In CS:GO, I was getting 20-50 FPS before making this upgrade. Now, I get 200-300 FPS, and I’m still using a 5 year old nVidia 8800GT. An upgraded video card would allow me to maintain that same high FPS, but on ultra high settings. Right now I play on medium-high.

As far as my FPS in GW2, I get 70-100 FPS on medium-high settings. There really isn’t much benefit in having a higher framerate in RPG’s, so I’m not going to bother with a better video card until I absolutely need to. If you go with the mobo/processor I suggested, and any of the video cards you listed, you will have an amazingly smooth game without overspending on an i7.

Xahz.8406:

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?

Because it takes forever. When you have four people beating on you its better to usually just let them die to AoE damage or bleeds or something. I stomp them in tournies, but in 8v8 its usually not even worth it.

So thieves are harder to stomp than other players? I’d imagine this is due to a skill/trait that I have not yet come across.

It would be the fact that you can teleport 600 range away and stealth for two seconds. So three seconds for the first finisher, which is interrupted. Three to run over to you, another three for the second finisher, which is stealthed. That’s two seconds of stealth and three for the third finisher. So that’s 13 seconds of my time wasted trying to stomp one player in the middle of a melee. Yea, not worth it.

Thank you for the great explanation. Very much appreciated.

Xahz.8406:

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?

Because it takes forever. When you have four people beating on you its better to usually just let them die to AoE damage or bleeds or something. I stomp them in tournies, but in 8v8 its usually not even worth it.

So thieves are harder to stomp than other players? I’d imagine this is due to a skill/trait that I have not yet come across.

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?