Guild Wars 2

Your videos are immensly helpful in terms of overarching goals in the matchup, and it is obvious you have put a lot of thought and talent into making them. I notice you are mostly a WvW player and dueler, and am very happy to see you tailor your build to a more realistic arena setting. (I.E Staff only, maybe the inclusion of a shortbow tech would be nice.) The comments were extremely pertinent and just shows me I still have a long road ahead of me in terms of improvement.

Your point about being able to disengage while valid, is a bit dicey for me at this point since I feel i’m not good enough atm to fight builds without the drain on init, and most builds with any sort of focus on condi requires me to shadowstep. Hell, even thief 1v1s or GS warriors require shadowstep most of the time. But that could be because I am bad.

Taking EA has really helped in almost all macthups and now seems favorable compared to staff master. General matchups I try to simply be unpredictable with vault and bound, while also not throwing it into an invuln or block. It’s not like staff 1s don’t hurt. If they panic dodge you punish very harshly. As far as videos on condi mesmer I think at this point it would seem illogical in regards to my current situation.

If I had any say in your creation process i’d recommend taking meta builds of whatever season is going on and showing 1v1s with thief vs. those builds that have favorable or relatively even matchups against us. I’d be extremely interested in videos about that. Also, do you stream? Thanks again.

I seriously question the validity of a build with no shortbow in arenas. However, i’ve now figured out that i’m actually an idiot and started trying out escapist’s absolution rather then staff master and it has helped me immensely.

Anyone have any comments about the PvE side of the game?

So i’ve played GW2 very off and on since release. I remember the OP on release days, the berzerker dungeon meta, the S/D 1v1 far forever meta, and the “LOLUSTILLPLAYTHIEF” meta. Purchased HOT at release, tried out raids(Berzerker gear, only ascended weaps/accs), VG on release was mind boggling for some, though nowadays most people seem to pug him and most things just fine.

My questions are as follows:
PvP: I really struggle with current meta builds. I am still running what staff/shortbow ran at launch, I believe i switched to using bandit’s defence and that seem’s like a popular current meta choice.

For some reason condi mesmers destroy me (Power mes matchup is a joke, but then again, so is power mesmer…) I have no idea what to do if i can’t signet the confusion off. This is a matchup i’ve been told I should win aswell, facotring equal skill. If the fight goes long, i just drop with no condi cleanse outside of agility. Plasma puts in overtime but if I whiff steal, I might aswell /gg

DH are extraordinarily difficult to deal with. In the event I do 1v1 them and am winning the fight, it takes so long with the blocks and invulns that an inevitable + 1 comes and I either die or am forced to disengage. This is a matchup i’m told I should lose factoring equal skill. As Staff this matchup feels 7/3, maybe 6/4 if I wasn’t bad. As d/p this matchup feels completely kittening hopeless.

I get the feeling my builds are out of date, but i’m positive i’m not playing to the best of my ability aswell. D/P is ran with bound and fists of flurry.

Necros, unsure the build. at a loss. Pushing damage quickly seems the best option but even if agressively go in, I usually die for the samme reasons, no condi cleanse. This also is a matchup i’m told I should win. As d/p this matchup feels really simple to do, if you get the jump(which you should).

For PvE:
Currently I have only a few bosses killed as an achievement as i’ve only just begun to raid this week. Seems very fun so far. The bosses i’ve killed (Escort, VG, Gorse, bandit trio) all seem relatively simple. The trouble I find it actually convincing a group i’m able to do the boss without having much prior experience. WoW SunWell trash was harder then this. As I am to understand the patch notes aswell, rev’s being axed make thief less appealing in raids. What would the advice you would give to someone trying to get into pugs? What are some of the easier bosses after those listed? Is full ascended armor that helpful? It seems like a relatively minor increase. Should I just learn to chronotank? Seems those are in quite the demand.

Expereinces overall so far: Lying got me into the gorse. 0 runs had voice. wiped a total of 10 times on all bosses, with bandit trio being a huge problem(unsure what was going on, I was mortars.)

All in all, I must say this past week or two has been extremely pleasant for a returning player. I just hope to be able to continue raiding aswell as improving myself in pvp.