Guild Wars 2

No character slot still.

This is excellent. Great work!

Happy birthday Ropechef

And Mery X-mas/Happy Holidays

I just use my thumb to press space and v at the same time.

The reason all the meta pvp builds use longbow is because of the type of pvp we have. Due to the nature of conquest, the longbow adrenaline skill is just way too good to pass up in most cases. You keep all your fights on a point and can use that field to either force your enemy to stand in a powerful fire field or back off preventing them from stopping a cap/neutralize. At the same time, warriors are able to use this field to stack a lot of might thanks to strength and hoelbrak runes.

You can surely make your own build or find a build running both but, as I said, due to the nature of conquest, longbow is really really good.

I think you could enjoy playing an elementalist. They fit all of your requirements in all aspects of the game (PvE, PvP, WvW).

Lindbur.2537:

I can’t be the only one who’s more interested in watching Nike and Zelyhn argue than the thread topic.

TBH, after adding this thread to my favorites and giving it 100 views as I read the discussion between the two, I felt obligated to post and acknowledge it’s original intent.

Great kill! Very well done.

I have one of those. I carry it in my backpack to use with my laptop at school and etc. It’s a great mouse. The contour is awesome.

ekarat.1085:

I’m on a trackpad, not a mouse, and that changes everything.

Well that’s a pretty big factor in an action based combat mmo. I’d hate to play gw2 with out a mouse. Now I see why you had trouble aiming the skill during combat.

Clicking the skill will launch you in the direction of the camera based on the test I did using teamviewer on my phone because I am not at my home computer. Either way, I would strongly advise against clicking this skill or any of your skills in GW2. Use hotkeys on your mouse and keyboard for all your skills and try instant cast as suggested or even fast-targeting.

Edit: Since you asked about what instant does I’ll tell you what fast-targeting does in case you don’t know. Fast targeting allows you to press and hold the button for the skill you are casting, place the location or direction of the skill based on the mouse position, then release the button to cast it.
Still better than the default, also only 1 button press, might be a little easier until you get the hang of things better, idk.

It sounds like the OP might be skill clicking if he is having trouble aiming whirlwind. If this is the case, try using the hotkey instead. If not, try Miku’s suggestion too!

If you think that guardian would be better suited, please keep in mind guardians have much smaller health pools and as such may rely on even more skill to stay alive by using blinds/aegis/blocks. Taking damage as a guardian is a lot less forgiving. As for necro, it is notoriously bad for most PvE situations. I would suggest sticking with warrior for now.

Like Miku said, you’re trying to learn and that’s good. I like that you aren’t just blindly accepting what has been said here despite that it is coming from some of the best/most well known warriors in PvE, because understanding the reasoning is just as important.

Troll thread too stronk
nyce 1
g’day m9

Dear zcearo.1897,

Don’t try to lie to Tixx. Tixx saw you pull your sister’s hair. Tixx saw you make fun of you brother when he scraped his knee and had to wear a pink band aid. Tixx thinks this was especially rude because he scraped his knee when he fell as a result of you pushing him off his witch’s broom. Tixx sees how the toys he lovingly made you last Wintersday sit in the corner collecting cobwebs as you have long since abandoned them (for which the toys are thankful as they no longer undergo your abuse). Tixx sees you and you will receive only [Spike]x10.

Please behave,
Please
A letter from Tixx

PS Last year there were exactly half as many cookies as the year before that. Tixx thinks this is unacceptable.

I don’t necessarily agree that “Stealth >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> blind” because they serve completely different purposes. Stealth is very useful for skipping mobs. Blinds are very useful for completely mitigating most damage for your entire party from pretty much everything except bosses and dredge. Two separate mechanics with separate functions, both extremely powerful, both hard-carry through dungeons.

I always feel the need to point out to a new thief asking for help the power of blinds specifically because a lot of people watching thief videos or speed clears don’t always see all of the mechanics going into it and one of these commonly missed is blinds. When a team does a stealth run, it’s obvious, but a new player might not realize the importance of a smokescreen or a black powder during a trash fight. Blinds might not directly speed up a dungeon run but if pressing 5 with your pistol out as you and your team burst down the mobs stops a pug from going down it saves you the time that you would have spent rezzing them. It also allows your team to dps with out stopping to dodge in most situations.

I am absolutely not downplaying the importance of learning when and how to stealth. It is a function most people will expect you to know and perform at the right time with out being told. At the same time, people expect you to drop a blind on trash because its literally the easiest thing ever and mitigates most damage even after the black powder “nerf”.

Excellent. Great advice and information. Much appreciated!

#1 Thief tip for dungeons and fractals: Blinds are OP.

I’m just wondering if there is enough of a trend in how the currency exchange fluctuates that can help me predict the best time to convert gems to gold. I’m aware you can see the trend history on gw2spidy and I’ve used it to some extent, however I thought it might be worth asking on the forums to see if I could get some information from people who have a better idea of trends on a larger scale that might help give me some direction.

In other words, do trends exist that any of you understand well enough to suggest to me things such as what is likely the best:

Time of day to convert? Day of the week? of the month?

Thanks in advance.

This would be a very nice QOL change when it comes to people with a lot of alts. I hate having to swap gear over so much that my thief/warr/guard/ele (the alts I play) all have their own sets of zerk trinkets just so I can be spared a little bit of the gear swapping. This plus the build saver-like function people have mentioned would make me really happy.

My only point is that stacking is not the cause of a poor dungeon experience but the result of how the game and dungeons were designed. Stacking isn’t the issue. Stacking is only a strategy that, due to the design of the game an dungeon, has been proven the most optimal for a large amount of the dungeon encounters.

Sparrow.5936:

RagNoRawk.3625:

The most appealing part of stacking to me is it conducive to clearing dungeons faster. The reason why speed clearing is my only priority in dungeons is because the dungeons aren’t fun or challenging, nor are they rewarding enough to be something with truly challenging content. What I’m saying here is that stacking isn’t what made the dungeon experience poor. Poor design made the dungeon experience poor and resulted in stacking. Forcing mechanics that make stacking irrelevant won’t fix the problems with dungeons.

Despite your best efforts , you’re actually helping my cause.

You’re right. If the bosses get harder, the dungeons should be more rewarding too. Time spent vs reward should always be a priority. All good ideas to help make the game more fun.

You clearly don’t understand my intentions of posting because you seem to think my “best efforts” are to tell you that you are wrong. This is not what my intentions of posting are. The point of what you quoted, which I summarized clearly, was that fixing stacking alone isn’t enough to make the dungeon experience fun and rewarding enough to be considered “in a good place” because as we all know, dungeons are not in a good place. Stacking is simply the result of players trying to get the content out of the way faster because it isn’t fun.

Sparrow.5936:

So I think more bosses in this game should have some sort of attack that can wipe a group or severely damage players if they are just stacked on top of each other fighting like mindless nubs.

The stacking strategy is for “mindless nubs” because the OP doesn’t personally enjoy the current meta for running dungeons quickly and efficiently.

Sparrow.5936:

To all those who will reply with “you don’t have to stack, let it be the players choice”. Well first off, you will get kicked out of 90% of all parties out there if you don’t. And let’s be real, you just want things handed to you on a silver platter in easy mode.

You do realize there are many guilds entirely composed of players who refuse to take part in stacking and skipping mechanics and are always welcoming like-minded players into their ranks, right?

Sparrow.5936:

No more stacking! Let’s make this game fun again!

The most appealing part of stacking to me is it conducive to clearing dungeons faster. The reason why speed clearing is my only priority in dungeons is because the dungeons aren’t fun or challenging, nor are they rewarding enough to be something with truly challenging content. What I’m saying here is that stacking isn’t what made the dungeon experience poor. Poor design made the dungeon experience poor and resulted in stacking. Forcing mechanics that make stacking irrelevant won’t fix the problems with dungeons.

Xanario.5718:

Hello, i know u all will say greatsword but, i will run dual wield, so. 2x sword or 2x axe for pve ?

I know you said 2x sword and 2x axe, but dual wield can also apply to combinations so I’m curious if you are considering running Axe/Mace and Axe/Sword. Axe has always been one of my favorite weapons in gw2. Both Axe/Mace and Axe/Sword are very powerful weapon sets. Mace offhand brings a high damaging line-aoe knockdown and some good vulnerability application while offhand sword brings a block, counter attack, a sword throw which stacks torment and ends with a large damaging attack.

If you insist on either 2x sword or 2x axe, I don’t really have a suggestion for you. Offhand axe is weaker than your offhand alternatives. S/S is a good set if you run pure condition with a longbow on swap, but it is really only good for solo content.

Hope this helped.

Personally, I find the “issue” with thief is that it requires a good understanding of the mechanics of the game to be played effectively. This takes a little patience and a little practice (or for some, a lot of both). A good PvE thief must be among the best at taking advantage of blinds and dodges to make the most out of themselves. The ones who are good at this can get the most out of their characters.

I would strongly suggest running the Feline Grace build to newer players instead, taking smokescreen, signet of agility, and Shadow Refuge or Assassin’s Signet.

The build: 5/6/0/3/0

Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVl8Mp6pFOx7JsPNRLBtdHi+H09CBovqA-ThRBwAX3fU+dT9HU6DAcKAy/EAMrEEA-e

This is a great build for both new and old thieves for dungeons and fractals. Keep a short bow on your swap, run S/P for trash mobs and D/D for bosses. The build is very forgiving for wasting dodges. If you run this and still find yourself with out endurance and need a dodge, you can pop signet of agility for a full bar. Also if you don’t think you can have a good up time on scholar runes, you can swap them for something else.

I don’t really see how the 2/6/6/0/0 build is going to help out much. The blind on stealth won’t do anything against bosses and against trash you are better off using S/P and black powder.

For the first build of 3/6/2/0/3, the 3 points in trickery don’t do anything to improve survivability and the 2 points in shadow arts only net you condition removal in stealth which isn’t really an issue in PvE.

This is why I’m a big supporter of the 5/6/0/3/0 build for people needing a little bit more from their thief. It’s all about learning to use blinds on trash mobs and dodge attacks from bosses (and in a feline grace build, you can dodge liberally).

I like that you are out here trying to help the thief cause though. Please keep in mind I’m not saying your suggestions are bad! I’m just giving some personal opinions of mine!

Edit: P.S. My favorite part about your post is that you didn’t say “Just run PTV and expect to not have to learn to dodge instead”.

For leveling, I imagine D/D or S/P would be pretty good. I don’t really remember what I used.
In terms of PvE later on, there are really 3 main weapon combos and 2 MAIN builds.

Weapons
D/D: Your main weapon set for bosses.
S/P: Your main weapon set for trash mobs.
SB: Your utility weapon for blast finishers (might/stealth) and mobility.

Builds:

5/6/0/3/0: Good for fractals and beginners.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVl8Mp6pFOx7JsPNRLBtdHi+H09CBovqA-ThRBwAX3fU+dT9HU6DAcKAy/EAMrEEA-e

6/6/0/0/2: Good for all other dungeons.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoYVl8Mp6pFOx7JsPNRLRtdHEdfgXnh2XQAEiA-ThRBwAX3fU+dT9HU6DAcKAy/EAMrEEA-e

MAIN is emphasized highly in terms of thief builds as a lot of times a good thief finds themselves swapping traits and utilities a lot. This knowledge comes from watching videos and personal experience.

Guide:
The following is a well written thief guide with a lot of useful information written by members of popular PvE speed run record guilds.
http://dulfy.net/2014/07/10/gw2-thief-pve-class-guide/
Here is a thief specific guide by Brazil.
http://www.dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/12497961-dnt-thief-build-415-patch

These guides cover everything from builds and utilities to gear and sigils/runes.

Enjoy

My name is Barack Obama and I approve this message.

The OP actually mentions it was in WVW.
There are a few different things that could have happened and things to take into account when you engage your target. What class were you fighting? Was it a full tank heavy armor warrior on his way back to his zerg? Was it a guardian who popped protection as you engaged? Did your backstabbing actually hit in the required zone to trigger the double damage?

As evil apprentice mentioned, a link with your build including armor, trinkets, runes, and sigils would be helpful in diagnosing a wimpy backstab.

Things like this are really discouraging. I personally really enjoy grabbing a few guildies and chugging through fractals even though the rewards are disparaging. However, as time goes on, even for someone like myself who enjoys the content, it begins to grow stale and getting little in return makes it that much less appealing.

Along with many others, I have a large issue with the lack of usefulness of the ascended trinkets with stats you have no use for and will never have use for. Especially when there are so many easy and valid options (i.e. mystic forge dump, turn in to a vendor for something at least remotely useful but better than a measly 4 silvers, any of the other countless suggestions floating around the forums…) It is especially discouraging when there exists a vast number of potential solutions that all seem very reasonable.

I really wish fractals would be revisited because I really do enjoy them…its just over time with a string of bad luck even enjoyable content feels stale and unrewarding.

Trying to keep this post strictly inline with your purpose for this thread of “opinions as to why air is rarely mentioned in guides and the like” to avoid more volatile comments from you towards people offering information:

One reason it isn’t brought up more often is the fact that it is single target whereas the more common options discussed above (like force/strength/slaying) are do not face this limitation.

In such situations it loses out greatly to something like force where if air is +8% to a single target force’s +5% to multiple targets (even just one additional target) will be more beneficial.

Of course, you may have considered that in your test but you didn’t mention anything about it so I thought it was worth discussing.

I have discipline.
Will you please run strength banner?
No, you are shout heal.

I always start off my pvp time by hitting the hot join reward cap. Despite the stigma associated with hot join, I must play it. I can’t stand all the downtime from solo and team queue. Even during the (in my experience) rare times were you aren’t waiting in queue for 5 and 10 minutes, you still have to wait before the match starts because nobody ever presses ready. I understand the time is there for a reason. People want to see the comp of their team and opponents and tweak builds and etc etc but I just can’t stand the waiting.

Of course once I cap rewards I move on and queue up, but lately I’ve only sat through a few rounds because the downtime works so heavily on my patience.

Astral Projections.7320:

The Wizard’s tower was in Guild Wars 1
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Wizard's_Tower
And now in Guild Wars 2
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Wizard's_Tower

After 250 years of not being able to get inside, I’ve concluded the occupants are antisocial.

If there are still living residents, then either they are VERY old or VERY inbred

I actually liked the backpack with the bearskin draped on it. Would look sick on my asuran.

Llyren.3904:

Quite unreasonable. People that believe in playing how they want, sometimes communicate how they want to play with others through their recruiting messages. This is the opposite of not caring how others play.

Kittens are Kittens no matter their fur color, or lack of fur.

I disagree. Kittens with out fur are disgusting alien babies. Not kittens.

Wethospu.6437:

Would you consider this person tolerant?

He definitely isn’t an elitist.

Thank you. This is the best read I’ve had in awhile.

J Eberle.9312:

friend

I mostly get kicked when I play my warrior in a pug dungeon or fractal and encounter a shout heal warrior who refuses to exchange one shout for a banner. I always ask, and normally they are accompanied with a guildie that is instantly viciously aggressive concerning the matter. “No! He is shout heal. He is keeping us alive. Banners are kitten.”

Making me the PuG banner kitten because shout heals too stronk.

Keep in mind the meta dungeon ele builds spec so that when an ele blasts a fire field, the ele also grants their party fury. So ele→Might and perma fury for the group.

Warriors with armored attack (gain power based on your toughness) gain extra power when equipping dolyak signet (gain 180 toughness).

+1 from somebody with a set of exotic zerk with str runes sitting around after I finished my ascended and a set of knights with hoelbrak from an old wvw build.

over 100g just sitting in that gear going to waste.

Polygamy pls

Sparrow.5936:

No, health pool didn’t even move a little. But it makes you wonder what else it’s not working with. Food/Consumables? etc..

Hmm. Definitely something I want to look into. I wonder about the effect of banner of discipline and spotter as well.

Purple Miku.7032:

Probably shouldn’t even bother posting, but I just thought I’d say…

NTY.

Nice vid, some good fights there. I’m also curious about the little circle…

So if my memory serves me correctly…

Practiced tolerance gains you 7% of your precision to vitality and signet of agility adds 180 precision. This yields an addition of 12.6 vitality, so 13. This SHOULD increase your hp by only 130.

Because it is such a small additional amount, I have to ask whether or not you are SURE it didn’t add anything. 130 hp to me is hardly noticeable.

I’ll test it for myself when I get home, but either way I doubt the extra 130hp is going to be the difference maker very often :P

Nice vid. More pls

Waiting for the feels per second (fps) count so we can get this baby a sticky

It doesn’t really take luck to get it to crit since its one of the burst skills and a kill shot warrior probably has the increased crit chance on burst skills specced. However, looking at the combat log, his kill shot did proc both sigil of air AND fire in the same hit, which was kinda lucky I guess. REKT.

Scryeless.1924:

RagNoRawk.3625:

Not really. Why? Because instead of trying to CC a stack of trash to death, you can just let a thief throw down perma blinds while you release superior-to-hammer dps.

This seems to be a common theme amongst GS fanboys. “I’ll do what I want and someone else can do all the work.”

Why would I hurt myself with hammer when somebody else can do the job so much better? perma-blinds> 3s stun
Which is basically their primary job for trash mobs and they sacrifice nothing to take advantage of this.
All you are doing is deflecting with out making real points.

maha.7902:

I kind of want someone to do a hammer abomination kill now. It’s the perfect boss to perform vacuum rotations on so if the hammer kill is noticeably longer or on par with Greatsword then we can see what the damage difference is.

If you can do a sub 4 minute kill I’ll uninstall gw