Guild Wars 2

Demonts.4593:

Im just fielding thoughts. I mean the 2 skill is hard to counter but i dont think its really OP. Also i said i dont think removing a boon from sword 3 is a good idea

After discussing sword 2 you said: “I also do not think they should remove a boon. It is kind of ridiculous…” Hence my confusion.

Anyway, I think boon-hate is excellent. I rely on it to remove stability, something that’s especially important when using S/P. And considering how long stability can last on Warriors and Guards, removing it is incredibly important. Retaliation can also cause a lot of damage, and Thieves need a way to mitigate that.

+1

I want more options, more viable builds. The pet is often a detriment, one I do not want to be forced to take. Or give me a non-combat pet, like a parrot that sits on my shoulder tossing out boons. I don’t care what the solution is. I just want to be able to play my Ranger without worrying about my pet get eaten by bosses or AoE regardless of anything I try to keep it alive.

I’m so… confused.

You say sword 2 is broken and suggest a cooldown.
I disagree with you.
You agree with my disagreement completely.
Then you say sword 2 is ridiculous because it removes boons.

… This was a joke thread, right? I missed your joke. Sorry.

And be the only Thief weapon skill that has a cooldown? No thanks. If Anet feels like there needs to be more counterplay against sword, then I would hope that they would only do something like make the skill animation more visible or slightly increase the cast time.

But honestly, it’s fine as is. There are so many other skills I would rather see them adjust instead.

EDIT since I didn’t see your last post in time:
Which skill are you talking about? Sword 2 removes a condition, 3 removes a boon.

Broken? How so? Spamming it drains your initiative fast and deals practically no damage. It’s an amazing skill, don’t get me wrong. But I fail to see why it needs a cooldown.

Okay. You’ve convinced me to try Withdraw with my P/D setup. I’m afraid without Centaur Runes Withdraw won’t be as nice, but there’s no harm in trying.

Very nice video, excellent gameplay.

Bacon Please.8407:

So what I have done is Gone with Rabid Gear (4/6 pieces) Carrion trinkets with Runes of the Undead so I have around 2k Condition damage. What weapons have good synergy with this type of gear? I am loving P/D using Shortbow as alt Weapon

You might consider D/D as a secondary set (Death Blossom for AoE bleeds). You don’t really need two ranged weapons. Telling by your gear you should feel pretty tanky (for a Thief), so you should be safe in melee range.

We don’t apply enough on-crit effects to really make use of Rabid. Even though I prefer toughness over vitality, I would go with Carrion. I do use Rabid trinkets though, since I’m cheap and swimming in karma.

Runes are up to you. I like Perplexity. Bleed duration is nice, too.

Vaikenn.8371:

What Ate Some Ways I Can Make Use Of The Thief Support, That’s What I’m Asking Ultimately.

Here’s my PvE build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYQQNAsaVlcmaPneS6E95Ex2jeKUeyVooePI7YDLA-jQCBYLERjkFDRjKAM5RZNBSQsMsIasqFYqSER1eDFRrWKAzVGB-e

Shadow Refuge: use it to rez allies or sneak the party past groups.

Smoke Screen: reflects projectiles and creates a smoke combo field (cluster bomb spam for more group stealth).

Shadow Step: I always keep a stun breaker, and the return cures conditions.

Signet of Malice: with my traits, I can use it to gain 6 initiative every 12 seconds, and I like having a heal with a short cooldown. Withdraw would also work, but you’d only gain 4 initiative every 15 seconds, but it would also free up a trait. If you take another signet, Signets of Power might be a better trait choice than Furious Retaliation.

Steal when you’re standing next to allies for AoE fury, swiftness, might, and vigor.

Watch when you burn initiative, so you can make use of the minor traits First Strikes and Lead Attacks. But make sure you burn some initiative just before you heal (by dropping Black Powder or Cluster Bomb spamming in combo fields).

Your highest dps is from auto-attacking with sword while maintaining max initiative. Only swap to short bow for Cluster Bomb spam in combo fields or if you absolutely cannot maintain melee range. Using Omnomberry Ghosts will help keep your health up. Use Shadow Return (either the sword or utility skill) to clear conditions. Your position in combat is key to staying alive.

Ricochet pistol builds are much safer, but you’ll provide more dps with sword if you can stay alive. Regardless of which weapons you use, I’d still consider the utility skills I listed above.

I feel like you’re missing out on a lot of utility by taking only signets. I would either swap some traits to boost your signets (like Imagi suggested) or drop the signets for more useful utilities like Shadow Refuge and Smoke Screen.

I also think you need more condition removal. Signet of Agility isn’t enough, especially without reducing the cooldown. You can’t always rely on Guardians to clear your stuff, especially if you’re sitting in the back.

Honestly, thief builds like this bring nothing but dps. We have a lot of utility available to us that can significantly boost a group’s success rate and clear speed without sacrificing any significant dps. Why not make use of that?

I prefer 10/0/30/0/30 with Perplexity Runes (interrupt with F1 and Scorpion Wire).

Runes of Melandru would be tankier and would be a better choice if you don’t want to have to time interrupts.

I run Carrion armor with Rabid trinkets (slotted with quartz), and I feel pretty tanky.

As much as I hate to say it, I would choose Warrior over Ranger right now. The sad truth is, Ranger is not always effective. A good Warrior is always effective.

Castaliea.3156:

Sube Dai.8496:

Castaliea.3156:

Sube Dai.8496:

Also depends on whether you want to do direct damage or condition, and zerg or roam.

Condition ranger is better for roam where as dd warrior is better for zerg.

Also gs/sword/dagger is not a good combo IMO. GS is a power weapon where as sword/dagger is a condition combo. And if you’re going to go conditions you should run axe/torch or axe/warhorn on your other set.

If you want dd run bow/GS. But warrior would be better in this role. Power rangers have little survivabity.

Idk, Longbow + Sword/Sword Warrior has some sick Condi roaming potential and that combined with Warriors newly buffed sustain…. scary effective.

Well that warrior has bleeds and burns but the ranger can have those as well as 2 poisons and a bunch of evades. More damage and survivability on the ranger.

He also has Torment. I’m not saying Rangers suck at it I’m saying Warriors can easily be just as effective at it. Also, “More damage and survivability on the ranger.” isn’t necessarily true but I’m not going to get into that huge argument.

Ranger has bleed + poison + fire.
Warrior has bleed + torment + fire + confusion (Distracting Strikes).

Throw on some Superior Sigils of Doom on Warrior, and now they can poison (I can’t find confirmation that Doom has a cooldown, so in theory, Doom would provide Warrior with 100% poison uptime if they take Fast Hands). Warrior’s bleeds also last a lot longer. I’ve also heard good things about Perplexity Runes on Warrior, increasing their Confusion to 9 stacks per interrupt.

The only thing condition Rangers can claim over Warriors is slightly better AoE or support… which is sad, because I really love my trap Ranger.

Edit: Okay, Rangers have more dodges, too. But Warrior has hard cc. Different classes, different playstyles. Dodges are stronger than cc in PvE, but you could argue the opposite in PvP. In the end, both are viable. But right now, I’d still choose my Warrior over my Ranger in every area of the game.

Traps are amazing when you’re wanting to farm events. Fire Trap absolutely melts mobs. I’d suggest a trapper SB/S+D (or torch) build, unless you plan on primarily running dungeons where the effectiveness of condition builds varies on your team. But for world exploration or while leveling, traps are amazing.

Trappers also do well in WvW. Traps are especially useful when facing off against Thieves or other classes that like to get in close and can be hard to predict for new players.

As for Fractals/dungeons, you will probably want to avoid condition-based builds and bring more group-friendly skills.

I found LB #2 to be pretty easy to mitigate (dodge, interrupt, shadow step behind the Ranger, etc.), which is why I’ve stuck to SB when I’m on my Ranger. But I have to admit, this Ranger was pretty good at timing it after one of my dodges or after LB #4. I had to waste an interrupt or utility, but I still ended up eating at least 2-3 shots each time.

Thanks for listing out those traits. Does this look accurate? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJARTjIV91BWWWs2Bg1j9C8vmiJtkp4QGLYTF-jEyAYrhoRfGiWyTZN7JIWULiGreBTZSEV7NKiWtUARMGA-w

I just had a ton of fun dueling a Darkhaven Ranger on Sea of Sorrows Borderlands near the south camp. I was on my P/D Asura Thief and he was a GS/LB Norn Ranger using hounds. I got the first kill, but he came back once I started to solo the camp. We fought again for a bit, before a YB guy ran up. I asked him to leave, and the Ranger and I continued to fight across the river. I downed him after a while, but only because I managed to interrupt his heal twice in a row. I /bowed and let him rally, and we continued fighting until some SoS interrupted.

I honestly can’t remember the last time a LB Ranger gave me trouble, so this fight was particularly interesting. I just wanted to say thanks for the awesome fight, in case that Ranger happens to see this.

So can you guys help me guess what this Ranger was running? His pet didn’t hit particularly hard, so I don’t think he put any points into Beastmastery. He was really tanky and had very consistent condition removal. His main burst of damage came from LB #2 and some combination of GS skills (leap + daze, then Maul I guess?). I’m curious because I have a trapper Ranger and wouldn’t mind trying something different.

Here’s my P/D gear: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYQQNAqYVlUmiu3cS6E+5EB3Dnm0m694rj1saFwJA-jEyA4MioRaBI9RRjQAkCLiGrmBTlSEV75LiWtUAQsGA-w

I like Perplexity Runes since I daze on steal and run Technobabble (Scorpion Wire might work, but it’s been a while since I’ve used it). I also tend to mix rabid in with my carrion. Power > precision for condition Thieves, but I like toughness better than vitality, too. I found a mix that works for me.

As the other posters have pointed out, you would gain much more by putting points into Critical Strikes instead of Trickery. But if you really want to run those traits, you might consider this:

I run 10/0/30/0/30 P/D + SB conditions with the new Perplexity Runes. I get all the nifty things you get from stealing, except I also apply confusion when I use it to interrupt. I also get more out of the constant poison from stealing. For instance, let’s pretend I interrupt someone’s heal with my F1. Then I Cloak and Dagger while they’re dazed, dodge for some Caltrops and pop out of stealth for some more bleeds just before their heal comes back. So let’s tally up what they have to deal with before they get a chance to heal:

- 5 Confusion stacks
- 15 seconds of Poison
- 6-10 stacks of Bleed (ignoring what I’ve already applied before stealing)
- Blind for 7 1/2 seconds
- Cripple for 4 to 16 seconds (if they stand still in Caltrops)
- Vulnerability for 10 seconds, applied whenever I crit

With Skale Venom, you could also apply 3 stacks of Torment and some more Vulnerability, but I don’t like the long cooldown without traiting venoms. If I really want Torment, I can Shadow Strike. All of the above can be applied in under 5 seconds.

Stealing can be awesome. You just have to make use of all the affects you trigger by stealing. But in a Backstab build, you’re giving up way too much damage for a relatively small gain.

Anyway, here’s my build if you’re curious (skill builder doesn’t have Perplexity Runes yet): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYQQNAqYVlUmiu3cS6E+5EB3Dnm0m694rj1saFwJA-j0xAINioRaBIVZIapwioxqZwUpER1e+ioVLFAErBA-w

1) P/D, D/P
2)10/0/30/0/30
3) WvW

Regardless of what you think about the Mystic Forge or the current state of how to obtain a precursor, the OP decided to gamble… and he lost. It sucks, but that’s typically what happens when you gamble.

Today’s lesson: don’t gamble. Don’t blame RNG when you specifically chose to rely or bet on RNG.

I agree with you. After about 25 attempts across 2 or 3 of my 80s, I beat Liadri. I didn’t use a guide, so the bulk of my attempts were me learning the pattern of the AoE. I really enjoyed the challenge of learning how to approach the fight. What I didn’t enjoy was being one-shotted. Instant failure upon making one mistake tends to discourage/enrage players, and I think that’s what has caused a lot of the complaints.

I also didn’t like how aegis wouldn’t block the AoE, but my shield abilities would. I don’t like abilities working inconsistently across content. (I understand where aegis would simply be too strong in this instant. I’m saying the “insta-kill” should have come in 2 or 3 quick pulses of damage. Then aegis could have been used to block one pulse.)

I enjoyed the challenge a few of the fights brought. I just think Anet should move away from one-shotting their players. From a new player’s perspective, it’s hard to see what you’ve done wrong when one little flash of color brings you from full health to downed.

I definitely want to see more challenging content from Anet, don’t get me wrong. But GW2 gets new players every day, and the Living Story stuff is open to everyone. Anet can’t forget that. I think if the fight with Liadri was more approachable (even if it was more difficult), you’d have fewer complaints about it.

Excellent post… it’s a shame these issues haven’t been addressed.

+1

Rottaran Owain.6789:

The ranger is a great class that occasionally falls flat on his face due to certain pieces of content that makes his pet next to worthless.

My personal recommendation: If you plan on maining a ranger, have a second character of another class to fall back on when you hit these areas.

Regardless of how you feel about the pet, this is unfortunately true. I love my Ranger, but I take my Guard into dungeons and my Thief into WvW. If I could rely on longbow and a ranged pet, I might see the point of bringing Ranger into dungeons. But longbow puts me out of buff range, and the pet likes to sit in AoE or get one-shotted by bosses.

Honestly, until we see some improvements to how pets work, my Ranger exists solely to occasionally farm events with her fancy traps.

(This skill builder doesn’t have Perplexity runes yet)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYQQRAqa6YlUmKNncT6E+5EB3Dnm0m694rk1saFwJA-jEyAItioRTLgpKDRjKAmCLiGrmBTlSEV75LiWtUAQsGA-w

In theory, with Slight of Hand you could daze your target, apply 5 stacks of confusion and 15 seconds of poison, and gain fury, might and swiftness for 10 seconds. This can occur every 18 seconds… I think I just found a new build to test!

Yeah, I’m having trouble getting actual numbers on how many stacks a thief can realistically maintain. Everyone seems to way over-estimate it… or maybe they really are that nice? If so, I expect Anet will nerf them.

As for initiative, if I’m willing to give up Cloaked in Shadow (blind) for Infusion of Shadow (initiative) if it nets me more condition potential. Plus, it seems like a better trait for d/p since you already have Black Powder to blind them when you stealth.

Edit in response to Jekkt:
That sounds pretty good. 8-13 stacks is more than enough for me to try these runes out!

So I have to ask, have any condition thieves tried Perplexity Runes yet? As a little Asura Thief, I’ve been very tempted to try them out while running p/d, d/p and Pain Inverter (racial skill that causes confusion). I’d try it myself, but I’m strapped for cash, and I couldn’t seem to test them in sPvP.

In case you don’t feel like looking up the rune stats:
(1)+28 Condition Damage
(2) 15% Confusion Duration
(3) +55 Condition Damage
(4) 20% chance to cause Confuion on hit (15s CD)
(5) +100 Condition Damage
(6) +15% confusion duration. Causes 10s of Confusion on interrupt.

Sunflowers.1729:

My build is:

0/30/30/10/0 + D/P. Berserker Gear, Cavalier Accessories, Beryl+Ruby jewels.

As you can see, having 2700 armor isn’t squishy at all. Since then I’ve added in some ascended pieces for 15600 hp and >100% critical damage, with 1700 toughness (not armor).

For videos, I’m still working on one but keep getting sidetracked (and my video software keeps messing up). This week’s matchup was against Blackgate where the pretty well-known [RIOT] guild is. Obviously trying to 1v3 them is suicidal, but during fights with them the build proves to have good sustained damage+survivability.

Okay, I had to +1. That’s a really nice gear combination. Your toughness/vitality is incredibly similar to my p/d Thief, which I didn’t think could be done with a backstab build. And good luck against Blackgate! I’m on Yak’s Bend, so comparatively, I have a much easier time.

If you have a channel already put together, I’d love to sub.

Sunflowers.1729:

I did – my Thief is the easiest character to play and I frequently 1v2-3 because if anything goes wrong, it is so easy to escape. The amount of damage you can avoid with stealth+blinds if used properly is amazing. This doesn’t even take into account how broken Hidden Killer is because of the uncontrolled crit-damage scaling outside sPvP.

The only annoying part is that being effective in a zerg consists of going to the back and picking off people quickly which, while good, doesn’t net a lot of bags.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that everyone seems to be insulting the OP (because he sucks or whatever). That doesn’t change anything – he has a valid point.

I’d love to see your build and videos against good players. I’m not calling you a liar; I’m just saying 1v3 only works against awful players/builds. Sure, you can escape if something goes wrong. So can my Mesmer and Elementalist.

Is your issue with Hidden Killer or with high crit damage builds? In either case, stacking crit damage leaves a very squishy thief. And if they’re using Valkyrie, that means their health is high, but they have no toughness. Meaning, their heal will be pretty small (and probably on a 30 second cooldown). A smart player shouldn’t have much problem dealing with a backstab Thief.

I play a p/d Thief, and I’ve found myself quite effective in zergs. I do the same thing my d/d Elementalist does in a zerg: lure people forward and punish them for over extending (or lure people from the sides).

Esplen.3940:

Except Mesmers get nerfed every patch. I can count the number of patches where we didn’t get nerfed on one hand.

Eh, I’m not really here to argue whether or not Mesmer is strong right now. But every class gets nerfed every once and a while. I will admit Thief has gotten some positive attention lately (torment additions, s/d rework), but that has nothing to do with stealth. In fact, more viable build diversity will move some Thief players away from perma-stealth d/p builds.

I think it’s time all you complainers make a thief, play them to 80, gear up and head into WvW.

Seriously, that’s what I did after having trouble against stealth. Now, glassy, over-confident thieves are my favorite target. And after playing pretty much every decent thief build, I definitely do NOT think stealth needs a nerf.

Remember back at launch when everyone was complaining about Mesmers? No one knew how to fight them, and they wrecked in WvW. But now that’s not really an issue. Even if you’ve never played as one, you learn their patterns. You learn how to spot the real one. The difference is, you can’t see what a thief does in stealth when you’re fighting them. It’s harder to learn how their mechanic works when you’ve never extensively played as a thief in PvP.

So quit complaining and roll a thief. If you don’t feel like leveling, try them in sPvP. The experience is different than WvW, but you’ll start to understand why stealth doesn’t need a nerf.

(No, I do not main a thief. I have 5 different 80s I cycle between. Fighting thieves is not a problem with any of my characters, including my Ranger or Elementalist.)

Travlane.5948:

everyone has their own flavor. laela blackbird is a great p/d user and likes d/p as a backup. i prefer to stay with one kind of build and keep it p/d p/d so ic an flop in battle to really take advantage of the sigils on my weapons. with an inverse set you cant do that. but ont he same thing u cant perma invis yourself in a tower and wait for everyone to leave. it depends on what you like to do.

my p/d is a “power” build …. i mean my sneak attacks hit like 1400…. can go much higher but thats the normaal….a low is 1100….high is like 1800. play what you enjoy and have a goal in mind. some builds are better 1 v 1 some are better ZvZ….just have a goal in mind of build for everything but master nothing. :P all up to u bro

Yeah, I think that’s where I saw the P/D + D/P combo. I remember being impressed by the videos, but that could just have been the quality of the player. Ultimately, you’re right. We should play with what we enjoy. I’m just having trouble figuring out what that is with Thief.

Fade.7658:

Something I threw together in a few minutes using celestial gear:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlUmaPXey5E9JFyWhKk7BT5UJl/hvq/wVB-jkCBoeCiUAAEEgUHQJfFRjtEsIasqaER1qbYmbDRzmL1SBAxYA-w

Add 250 to power for the sigil of bloodlust, there’s a toggle for it, but it doesn’t save in the link.

3K power
68% crit damage, with 31% crit chance
732 condition damage, with 75% bleed duration
17.5K health, with 2751 armor and 736 healing power

Hidden assassin adds 140 might on average (4 stacks). That’s another 140 condition damage and 140 power on top of all that.

It might work decently, I don’t have the laurels or gear to try it though.

That’s a lot of power! Personally, I think I prefer different runes and a higher crit chance, but that’s an interesting way to hybridize. Unfortunately, I have five different 80’s competing for laurels, which is why I’m using exotics for gear calculations.

But your post got me looking at what I put together again, trying to emphasize more condition damage. Now, with 25 sigil stacks and food I hit nearly 1.5k condition damage (1k without). Condition duration hits 50% with food. Crit chance sits at a comfortable 50%, and crit damage is increased by 54%.

As far as traits go, I get +10% damage with pistols, and +20% damage when my target falls below 50% health. I’m worried I don’t have the power to make as much use out of those traits, but that trait line also gives a lot of critical damage and precision. In general, I feel like that’s going to get me the most damage per trait point than anything else. But I suppose if I want more power, I can swap the Tuning Crystals out for Sharpening Stones.

At this point, I’m over thinking it. I just need to test the build and see what I think.

vinceftw.5086:

LOl my engi fully geared for condition damage has 1.5k condition damage, no stacks. How do you ever expect to get to 2.2k?

I haven’t, actually. But I could have sworn I’ve seen some Mesmers hit 1.8-2k (maybe they were taking into account might stacking with the might on shatter trait?). The only condition build I’m running on any of my characters is a hybrid trapper build on my Ranger. She’s sitting at 1.3k condition damage, so I guess 1.1k isn’t as low as I thought.

Haha, “disappointing at best” wasn’t what I was hoping to hear! I threw this together and was hoping to test it out later (if I could afford Divinity Runes, I’d use those): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY4YlUmKNHaS6E+5Ex2Dg+Tey9wpJtpdFwKA-jEyAo+ioRTLCNVZIa5wioxWWLiGrmBTlSEV75LiWtQALWDA-w

Unfortunately, it only has 1.1k condition damage and 52% crit damage, which just feels too low on both accounts. But then again, that’s about half as much condition damage as I’d want in a condition build, and half as much crit damage as I’d want in a direct damage build.

I don’t know… I may still try it out. I expect it’ll be mediocre, but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Any advice on gear or traits before I invest too much into it?

Evilek.5690:

P/D is not bad power build ! Yout CaD make good DMG -4k crit,autoattack +-850 and Sneak Attack +-2.6k, 60DMG per stack of bleed and skill “3” make really good dmg to +-.1.6k + jump back.

Huh, then I might try a hybrid build (or at least play with one in an editor). Maybe with Celestial armor or trinkets, it could work.

It’s a shame to hear that P/D’s direct damage is low. In the web-based build editors it looked alright.

Well, you guys have convinced me. If I want to try P/D, I’ll swap to conditions. I guess with torment and the buff to blind, it’s only gotten stronger since I last played it. What secondary weapon set should I use? D/D?

Hmmm… I didn’t consider the blind on stealth trait. Is it really that necessary for p/d? Obviously d/p requires melee range too, but it doesn’t seem to need that trait.

(disclaimer: I’m still pretty new to thief)

I’m curious. I just swapped from s/d to d/p, and I’ve been loving perma stealth. While looking at different builds, I noticed some p/d condition builds take d/p as a secondary set for the constant stealth combo. I was wondering if it’s viable to do the inverse.

Basically, if I’m running a typical d/p bursty stealth build, would using p/d instead of shortbow provide me with better ranged dps? Here are some other reasons I’m looking at replacing shortbow with p/d:

-access to Cloak and Dagger
-Shadow Strike provides another escape
-pistol’s Sneak Attack looks like it would provide nice ranged damage even without conditions

But of course, I would lose Cluster Bomb and all the magical things you can do with a spamable blast finisher. So what do you think?
——————-
EDIT:
I’m planning to try this hybrid build, and wouldn’t mind some gear/trait advice before I invest too much into it: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY4YlUmKNHaS6E+5Ex2Dg+Tey9wpJtpdFwKA-jEyAo+ioRTLCNVZIa5wioxWWLiGrmBTlSEV75LiWtQALWDA-w

In WvW it’s harder to see Asura attack animations, especially for thief. And on a similar note, it’s hard to see any pretty gear we’ve collected. But if you do look closely, we have some of the best animations. And in jumping puzzles, it’s nice to have a tiny model.

Zaxares.5419:

One thing to be aware of if you’re planning an Asura Thief though. I believe they do not get that cool “blur” animation that Thieves of other races get when they dodge. (ANet may have fixed this though? I’m not sure.)

Nope, we still don’t get the fancy dodge animation.

I felt like crap after wasting $10 on these boxes and getting nothing but candy. I don’t make a habit of throwing money away, but that’s exactly what I did. Anet, I shouldn’t be able to say that about your store. I would have gladly spent $10 on the ticket I was after. Instead, I’ll just be sure to never buy these RNG boxes again.

After reading some of these other posts, I really feel bad for anyone who’s spent money in the gem store lately. The only explanation for these boxes is greed. Cut it out; no one feels good about wasting their hard-earned money. I think I would have been better off buying lottery tickets.

This is how you kill the goodwill you’ve built with your fans.

+1 for sure!

I really enjoy GW2, and I’ve been playing since launch. I support Anet, and I trust they will continue to try to provide us with content. But I still share all of your complaints.

I hope they see your post.

Gwalchgwn.1659:

Scorpio Spork.9568:

I like it underwater, actually. We have so many gtfo abilities underwater, so SW is a nice re-engage.

Yes, great skill underwater, unlike our “gap closer” throwing spear skill .. seriously I don’t get why you’d use that one.

Because I’m still learning/leveling my thief, and because I like pulling enemies into a friendly zerg instead of pulling myself into an unfriendly zerg. It actually got me several easy kills earlier today.

I like it underwater, actually. We have so many gtfo abilities underwater, so SW is a nice re-engage.

Swagg.9236:

Dragon’s Tooth

• Dragon’s Tooth now uses ground-targeting.

I’m just posting to show some support for this. I actually like most of Scepter’s skills, but Dragons’s Tooth really could use to be ground-targeted. As it is now, the only time I really drop it is on top of a downed foe. Man, I love punishing a group for rushing forward to rez one guy.

Expiatus.4210:

Actually, I would play an elementalist if I could always use those sweet wepons you have. I like the idea of a “battle mage” type character.

But you can!

Even without traits, you can rely on a 50% up-time for each conjured weapon on your bar. You could probably figure out a nice conjure build with +30 in Fire based on blasting your long fire fields with Lightning Hammer… and now I’m off to play with a skill editor! XD

I don’t know how conjure builds compare to the typical 0/20/0/30/30, but it sounds like a ton of fun.

I’m so torn on this idea… On the one hand, I would love to have a Hero or two available so that I could duo dungeons with my husband (he hates PuGs). On the other hand, Heroes in GW1 meant that anyone could literally complete content without taking any skills on their character with no/minimal Hero management. AFK farming Glint’s Challenge comes to mind.

I would honestly rather see Dungeons and Story better scale to the number of players completing the content. Done right, ANet could allow players to complete dungeons with 2-8 players instead of locking us at 5. They would have to incentivize taking the time to put together a group of 8, though. Otherwise everyone would simply choose to speed run it on a stealthy, dps Thief or Mesmer.

In short, I don’t think Heroes/Henchies is the right answer to unbarring group content to solo players.

Hey, ArenaNet! If you make mini pets more awesome, maybe more people will buy your lovely event minis!

OP, I like your suggestions. #3 could be solved by adding a “mini pet equipment” slot in the hero panel. You could also have separate armor and town clothes minis equipped that way, too.

The only downside I can think of is that LA would be covered in mini pets. But that means everyone would collect minis (or at least buy one to fill the equipment slot). And that means the gold price of minis would go up, which means Anet would sell more minis…

Okay, so better minis isn’t a downside for anyone.

Rifles, pistols, Mesmer Greatsword and Staff, Elementalist Scepter, Guardian Scepter and Staff…

Basically anything with a straight-flying projectile or a non—arcing beam/bolt runs into obstruction issues when looking up at targets on a wall.

I’ve had an easier time defending than attacking with the weapons I listed, but I have to put myself in a vulnerable spot standing on the very edge of the wall. The other option is to pop outside and harass before running back in for cover. Of course, that’s not always an option, and that usually doesn’t net any kills.

I think the easiest solution would be to adjust the walls instead of adjusting each individual weapon skill that’s having trouble. I’d really appreciate a fix to this. I feel like if I can clearly see the target’s head and torso, I should be able to hit it if I’m in range.

Warrior and Guardian would both be good. But I leveled my Ele alongside my husband’s Mesmer, and that worked well. We were both squishy, but we could escape anything. In that respect, Thief would also work.

As far as synergy goes, Thief and Warrior would probably be able to make more use out of the Ele’s combo fields than Mesmer and Guardian (depends on the weapon, though).

Yep! I get the same problem with my Sylvari Mesmer. The bird also clips into the back of my head, but I don’t really mind that since it looks like a hologram.

I was a bit disappointed, but I’m still glad I picked it up. I love that the bird is animated.