Guild Wars 2

Thanks Cynz!

Just went through all the Game Update Notes since I left… a little bit more up to date now, think I’ll dump Engi though one character is enough especially if thats thief

of course i own HoT, and I didnt seriously try S/D since the nerf for more than a couple of games, D/P does at least a bit of its job reminding of the good old 60206 days

When I left thieves were probably/definitely the least liked PvP team mate, a short look at metabattle & their two thief builds did give me hope that there is a place for us right now though

again thanks! got at least some hope for thief/me enjoying the game

hey guys

well I’ve stopped playing GW2 around may last year [05/16] but i’m considering to start playing again

so if you could give me a short insight into what has changed since may 2016 regarding PvP, thief & engi and their options in that game mode, that would be great!

thanks in advance

hey guys

well I’ve stopped playing GW2 around may last year [05/16] because i couldnt forget how life was with S/D before 23/05/15 and i’m considering to start playing again

so if you could give me a short insight into what has changed since may 2016 regarding PvP, thief & engi and their options in that game mode, that would be great!

thanks in advance

I remember the good old days were I would always solo roam for hours on the borderlands because I hated EB… nowadays I only roam on EB for an hour or so, get bored, dream of the old borders and throw the new ones an angry look.

Tyaen.5148:

I was out of the game for a while and never asked when I came back – do on Crit sigils work together now?

I usually use Energy and Corruption (Bloodlust if you are a power build) in WvW.

Yes, you can take air/fire or air/blood… you can also take energy/battle or whatever, these also work together now

Ragnarox.9601:

Yea I’ve noticed that too…plus ppl are hitting me through hammer #3 evade like hell, 5# is laggy as hell especially #2.

Something need to be done.

Hammer #3: you got three evades, in between these you hit and can be hit – if the evade was for the whole duration of the skill, i feel like it’d be too strong

on hammer i like to use energy, strength or blood, i also wanna try out incapacitation though, and leeching isnt bad either.
on rifle it’s energy, strength or intelligence for me.

Hey all

well I’ve been playing a bit with the Hammer now (WvW Solo Roaming and from time to time PvP Ranked) and I gotta say, i always end up missing the control & range that rifle offered me.
Anyone else with me?

For me, Hammer got some nice dmg on #2 and the mobility, block and stun (followed by grenade barrage) are good as well, but the rifle simply allowed for so much better burst & combos, that I feel like I’m falling back for it for now.

Any thoughts on drawbacks/advantages when using a hammer or rifle? Any personal experiences & decisions?

condi engi is better due to toughness scaling in high level fractals, dont know about raids. the toughness scaling was announced to get changed in december though, meta may change but thats unlikely (at least for really high lvl fractals).
i would reccommend you, if you really wanna play engi in pve you should get a couple of different exotic combonations:

• everything berserker for low level fractal (at least that what i would get as i always prefer berserker over condi, condi may be better though / be aware that engi has the most complex dmg rotation)
• everything condi for high level fractals & raids
• some tanky weapon/trinkets (like knights) for places where you wanna run power but still need some defense (or where dmg doesnt matter that much, like world bosses)

however, i dont know whether power engi is better in low level fractals because i only roam in wvw or play pvp… (got some knowledge due to getting to fractal lvl 50 after HoT came out)
as you already are full berserker already though, i’d simply say keep your gear for now as you never know what will be the meta in a few months, and then slowly get some condi stuff (if you need/want to for whatever you enjoy doing in gw2)

I am

• r80 for a year & main PvPer
• an ex WvW roamer
• Champion Shadow/Genius/Magus/Legionnaire
• mainly playing Shiro/Glint Revenant atm (De/In/He as I like hard hitting power builds, would be okay with switching to X/Re/He)
• currently Solo Qing
• 18 years old
• having more or less inconsinstent gaming times (2-7x a week, 2-5hrs each time i’m on)
• Emerald (goal: get to ruby at the very least)
• having ts3
• okay with full time representation

looking for a guild

• to queue with (3+ groups; not necessarily/forcedly consistent teams but rather forming off online players with ts3)
• that is kind of relaxed when it comes to gaming times (see above)
• that is semi-hardcore when it comes to winning, personal skill & teamplay/rotations
• that is fun to be with

Azure The Heartless.3261:

Tarkan.5609:

Well we hard counter …
(aka uncontested points)

uh uh uh

we don’t hard counter uncontested points anymore.

Hmm I still win the fight against an empty point. Usually at least.

Well we hard counter noobs (aka other thief players ) and really bad rotation (aka uncontested points)

Muchacho.2143:

I’ve enjoyed reading this thread. I’m new to the game (just picked it up a month ago) and after watching your match this past week, you inspired me to give the thief a try. I’m only rank 30 in pvp so far, so obviously my experience won’t necessarily reflect that of people with higher MMR, but I’m having a fun time with your build. I love the mobility. None of the other classes I’ve tried give you as much freedom to move around the map. Any advice to somebody very new to the class?

Don’t get used to winning in Solo Q.
Seriously, whether a Thief is useful in a comp or not depends on the comp and how they use it (as caed mentioned before in this thread).
Played two pvp Solo Q matches today (not a lot of time)… when I was on my thief (champion shadow, main for two and a half years), we lost 350-500, when i tried revenant (been casually playing rev from time to time since HoT) we won 500-100…

maybe it was just luck but that reflects basically the last month of pvping

EDIT: nevertheless, stick to thief if its fun. thats what most of thief mains nowadays did, despite of losing.

fumcheg.1936:

I think vault should cost 8 initiative because it deals damage as against Infiltrator’s Arrow! Even 6 ini is too OP!

8?
Okay.
Go away please.

Maybe reduce Infiltrator’s Arrow Ini cost to 4 then? Good deal?

For real though, I think backstab could use something but not a damage buff, I don’t like to see too many nuke abilities in any game generally.
It could steal a boon (and maybe deal extra dmg if no boon is stolen?), penetrate armor as stated above, steal health, apply some stacks of decent-duration-vulnerability (long enough to land at least another BS in that time, indirect dmg buff), have a slightly higher range or whatever.
Ah and as Backstab is tied to D/P or D/D (and I think D/P as a weapon set is totally fine), C&D could use an Ini reduce to 5 and/or a short (1-2s) small radius blind or something around there, while overworking SA.

Uhh seems like I’m gonna level up slowly… really slowly… if at all, may enjoy PvPing more than a toughness scale festival.

Thanks though

Hey all

I recently decided to rank up a bit in Fractals, simply got some questions…

a) which classes do you feel are the best for high level fractals (75+)? same as 45 or 50, or does the boon steal make a big difference?

b) do you usually rather run sth like 80, 90, 99 or 80, 83, 90 or do you prefer lower level fractals like 40/50? don’t exactly know how extreme the toughness and/or vita scaling is.

c) any information on exact drop rate changes in higher fractal levels yet?

Narkodx.1472:

Tarkan.5609:

Narkodx.1472:

If you can’t out play your opponent and be content with playing a much less forgiving class the time to reroll was 2 years ago

Thief has always been less forgiving and more mechanically intensive
“Work twice as hard for the same result”

The time for kittening and crying and asking Anet for buffs is long gone – simply not going to happen

Either make the class work or reroll

At least some of us are still using Thief and making it work we don’t need buffs

Actually, if we (according to yourself) have to work twice as hard for the same result, we’d need buffs. That’s what balance is at least.

It was in quotes for a reason

Just because you have to press more buttons than a Necro to do the same damage does not mean it is UNBALANCED

What is balance anyway?! Honestly it is all in your head and everyone who claims that they would win more if Thief wasn’t “underpowered” is simply getting outplayed and can’t face the facts

Just reroll

Well no thanks, gonna continue to main Thief/Engi.
However, I also didnt say anything in this thread about me thinking DD is inferior to other elite specs. I was just explaining the kind of logical problem you had in your post.

Narkodx.1472:

If you can’t out play your opponent and be content with playing a much less forgiving class the time to reroll was 2 years ago

Thief has always been less forgiving and more mechanically intensive
“Work twice as hard for the same result”

The time for kittening and crying and asking Anet for buffs is long gone – simply not going to happen

Either make the class work or reroll

At least some of us are still using Thief and making it work we don’t need buffs

Actually, if we (according to yourself) have to work twice as hard for the same result, we’d need buffs. That’s what balance is at least.

Skyline Crash.6254:

Tarkan.5609:

i tried a P/P and Staff build for some time (hoped the added ranged damage would help to not miss SB) but apart from Unload (or Head Shot, if you decide to go for a Interrupt Build) you deal terrible damage.
The possibility to kite incredibly well (Dash) or to have on demand Stealth was nice, but yeah thats about it.
Some DD skills & traits are really good though, all the adept traits are awesome for example (at least in the view of a power thief, wouldn’t know about condi).

well you use the on demand stealth to just spam your stealth attack, which is kind of like unload. so basically you just are unloading all the time. its not bad

apart from the fact that the sneak attack does worse damage. the only reasonable thing to do with Black Powder and Bound, is to dodge and gain stealth. Then #1 through the black powder for perma blind.
One problem is, that that will deal less damage and still cost you more than one unload (6 initiative and one dodge for the whole combo).
While you can be getting possible benefits from the stealth, in order for it to be situationally more useful than unload, you can’t stay in stealth for long.

Also, since you take DD, and Trickery is our best core specialization, you’d have to chose between SA for the stealth to actually give you benefits OR either CS (+10% damage + cripple with pistols, high crit dmg increase, perma fury/invigorating precision) or DA (mug, panic strike/with that combo maybe even Revealed Training, improvisation)

i tried a P/P and Staff build for some time (hoped the added ranged damage would help to not miss SB) but apart from Unload (or Head Shot, if you decide to go for a Interrupt Build) you deal terrible damage.
The possibility to kite incredibly well (Dash) or to have on demand Stealth was nice, but yeah thats about it.
Some DD skills & traits are really good though, all the adept traits are awesome for example (at least in the view of a power thief, wouldn’t know about condi).

Kaliny.8265:

Fixed a bug when thief’s initiative system was not affected by Chill or Slow. Now when under those effects initiative will not recover for the whole effect duration, additionally when the thief uses a spell under this effects he will now take damage per initiative spent as properly intended.

Also fixed a bug where Thieves would be able to get precursers from loot bags in WvW.
note: We felt as Thieves are not supposed to kill anything anymore, this would be a better incentive for Thieves to entirely focus on scouting.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Not necessarily worth it. Marauder being a meta only means that there is no other worthy choice. IMO, Marauder is not for Thief simply because the distribution of stat points doesn’t benefit Thief at all.

What the Thief needs from an ammy is at least 1200 power, 560 Precision, and 900 Ferocity — if there are stat points left, they can go to either vitality or toughness.

Then I simply don’t agree with you.
I always try to hit 15k health, 12k just isn’t enough imo as any AoE will get your health down a lot.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

[zerker] it is still the best, only because the Thief’s damage is so pathetic.

Ehm I’m sorry but no matter how underpowered thief is, the damage of it isn’t bad. It’s (along with mobility and initiative = “CD freedom” kind of) probably the main reason for a lot of thief mains.

So an underpowered damage isn’t bad? What? That’s the very definition of bad.

Read again. I said even if Thief is underpowered, it’s damage isn’t.

[…] berserker’s will be one-shotted way easier or just get downed due to AoE.

Being one-shotted nor downed due to AoE never happened prior to Marauder. So I don’t know what you’re talking about here.

oh sorry, I didn’t know I talked to a Thief God here who can always dodge stealth bursts and avoid team fight AoE’s due to his superior overview of the battefield.

The Thief can deal massive AoE damage that can put a lot of pressure to the opposition which is only possible if the Thief uses Berserker. A couple of well-timed Vaults will put the opposition into defensive.

In order to do that you first need to survive.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

IMO, Marauder is not worth it even in PvP.

Marauder is the PvP Meta, not berserker.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

[zerker] it is still the best, only because the Thief’s damage is so pathetic.

Ehm I’m sorry but no matter how underpowered thief is, the damage of it isn’t bad. It’s (along with mobility and initiative = “CD freedom” kind of) probably the main reason for a lot of thief mains.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

You sacrifice a lot by going Marauder from ‘zerker…and for a Thief it is a bad trade-off. You’re losing 150 power and 20% crit damage traded for 6k more HP and 8% more crit chance. It’s a bad trade. […]

losing 150 power and 20% crit damage while gaining 600 vitality and 120 precision isn’t bad at all. Of course the lost stats make me sad but in the end, but marauder simply gives you more stats (that also are valuable) than berserker. berserker’s will be one-shotted way easier or just get downed due to AoE.
also, due to our heals (channeled vigor / withdraw) having good hps, having a higher health pool isn’t wasted.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

swinsk.6410:

Trolls will be trolls!

How is this a troll when the title is very clear that it’s “Dev balance request” and not “Thief balance request”?

Uhh you’re good, I gotta give you that.

Nocta.5274:

Basilik is pretty key to hitting a full fist furry. Without a real stun you may feel like everyone just dodge some of the hits of it and you’ll never get the Palm Strike.

^ This.
If you really wanna use Fist Flurry, I’d recommend taking Basilisk Venom over Impact Strike.
You can destroy squishier targets really quickly if you baited their stun breaks before.

Hey Guys
I’ve been a Thief main for a long time and picked up Daredevil when HoT came out.
Usually play WvW, sometimes PvP if I don’t find opponents roaming in WvW

I’m currently trying to figure out the new Especs and one opponent that caught my eye was DH… while noob DH’s are still easy to beat, I’ve found good DH’s to be quite a threat.

Not saying they are overpowered (also not saying that they’re not, I wouldn’t know at this point), I guess it’s mostly that I don’t know the important skills to dodge and combos to watch out for yet as DH is so new.

Any help would be appreciated.
I would go and give DH a try as that’s what I did with every other profession pre HoT in order to know how to beat them, however I don’t have too much time to play right now so I have to do that at some point in the future.

Zodryn.4216:

Thief only has an F1 and F2 ability, and they typically stay in one weapon set during fights. Because of this, thief is MUCH easier to control compared to other classes with F1-5 and their crazy piano playing. Make thief harder to play by giving them an F3 so they need to press more buttons. You could make it toggle dodge types or something.

All we thieves want is some harder gameplay! Time to stop all these Warrior Mains to switch to and abuse the Thief power for PvE 1 spam! Make it happen!

Heimdallr.7021:

I have both to 80 and i’m completing the map with rev right now.
I am undecided as well but rev feels more ‘fun’ to play with his mechanics but the profession has some flows right now IMHO:

• some legends are lackluster, i’m locking at you mallyx
• you are almost forced to spec into herald to be really competitive
• underwater combat is incompleted at best
• almost no access to stability
• conditions destroy you

I will play rev for a while because it’s the new and shiny thing, i will decide after the next balance patch what to main

if you really want stability: retribution + herald = 2stacks of stabi on dodge

Narcarsis.5739:

The only thing I’d really suggest is dropping Havoc Mastery for Brawler’s Tenacity. In WvW you have a large amount of damage as is, being able to heal more often will also result in more endurance giving you more options – however that’s partly because I’d take Bound over Dash.

True I didn’t think of that.
I’ll have to test it, as 4s os quite significant on such a heal… however I feel like Brawler’s Tenacity + Channeled Vigor + Bound would be a better combo, as Dash’s usefulness is limited to kiting or dodging+immob curing

kash.9213:

Anyone using this build or generally the same template in WvW, do you still use Bound or do you switch to Dash? If you still use Bound out there, do you make up for speed anywhere else? I don’t have much of a problem using Bound anywhere else and I prefer the way it feels anyway, but in WvW I have a hard time not having something for sustained run speed, especially while on my own and Utility slots are slim as it is.

I’m usually solo roaming in WvW (sometimes PvPing, less since my team broke up), played around with a yolo P/P + Staff Build (Vault + Dash + Staff Mastery got some mobility really close to SB + Dash!)

I tried out this build today

It’s close to Caeds but with Infiltrator’s Signet over Blinding Powder (can do some nice bursts with Staff #2 and Steal/IS), Dash over Bound for mobility and immob-immunity, using the new healing skill (absolutely love it) and therefore not using the Trickster-TR-Variant but the “usual”/“normal” TR trait spread

in short: I use Dash over Bound in WvW, the mobility and immob-immunity is just so nice there, in PvP I prefer Bound though

messiah.1908:

Impact.2780:

messiah.1908:

i will ask again why take DA over CS
you loss improvisation but get perma fury and about 30% – 41% more dmg
so with extra dmg you can take with DD weakening strike and escapist absolution

1) DA has great synergy with Trickery, while CS doesn’t.
2) DA has a damage modifier regardless of health thresholds, Improvisation is good utility, Panic Strikes can secure a kill, and Mug is of course more damage and survivability. CS only offers better damage than DA while a target is above 50%.
3) If you get fury from other sources, the effectiveness of CS is reduced since permanent fury is a large portion of the damage increase it offers.
4) If more damage is what you want, you’ll get it by taking Executioner in DA over Improvisation. Not only will your damage be better than had you taken CS, but your best damage will land on targets under 50% health as opposed to above, helping you down them.

who DA synergy with trickery?
CS does 10% more dmg when you target is above 50%, practice tolerance gives 12% more dmg when crit and no quater gives 17% more dmg when crit

DA executioner gives 20% when target is below 50% and you have 10% more dmg when target is with condition.
mug does okish dmg every 20 sec and healing

with the build above you dont have much fury only from other allies.

after testing the dmg is much higher with CS while i am losing immobilize which most classes got some way to reduced (dash thieves), necro 33-66% reduced duration, warrior immunity etc…

also the loss of swiftness how is it feel in the role of decap rotate the map faster?

DA/TR synergy: Mug + Improvisation + Poison + Weakness more frequently

CS does 10% extra CRIT dmg while the target is above 50% health

Warrior’s immunity to Panic Strike is only in WvW

swiftness is – while really useful – not too much of a big deal on thief for decapping, as you are really fast with SB#5, no matter whether youve got swiftness or not

for WvW i’m actually using dash for mobility reasons (and having no problems with immob) but bound is the more dmg/less defense/less mobility/no-immob-cure dodge

while CS is nice (i use it with staff to easily solo towers and t3 camps with ogre/whatever support in wvw), improvisation is gold against warriors (with pistol OH), other thieves, mesmers and condi rangers (also gives you a better chance vs d/d eles)

Link.1049:

Daredevil is A..W..F..U..L… granted… if you trying playing without daredevil you’re worse off than playing just as a thief. Though honestly all the mechanics seem like an afterthought. If you do go Daredevil leave the staff at home, it’s better as a decoration than something useful in combat.

i actually love my staff as my second weapon kitten far, my main weapon was ranged

didnt try it as a main weapon yet though, planning on doing so the next time that i can play more than two hours at once

damage is nice, mobility with dash is nice as well (my favorite dodge in wvw roaming) and i love the staff trait

assassin.7895:

it’s easy to outplay noobs, doesnt necessarily mean your build is viable :P

I wouldn’t call thief viable anyway.

it’s a build i play around with because of good ranged damage, good melee damage, mobility and kiting ability (and because it’s something else than S/D)
my main point doesnt have anything to do with my build though, if you continue to play thief you may not get the same results as playing for the same time with other professions but a main is not a main if you switch it every time it’s worse than other professions

minizero.1432:

Also, if i got someone to help me complete a lvl 50+ fractal, could i then buy the boxes right away ?

can someone confirm the “myth” i’ve heard about this?

I’m currently beating people around with a f***ing lantern..

Thieve’s are not in a good spot, however I would never ever switch my main if I enjoy it, especially not because others tell me to.
Continue playing thief and you can make it work, that’s what I have done and while my opponents hate me for kiting with P/P, they also hate me when I weapon swap to Staff and outplay them there… not a big deal, just continue playing thief and make it work

Cynz.9437:

Azure The Heartless.3261:

theyll just change it to “gain boons.”

already see next patch something like: fixed description of the spell “consume plasma” to match the effect… kek

the sad thing is that i am expecting just that…

wouldn’t mind it much IF they decide to buff some of the other stolen skills (ranger’s stolen skill has a 12 or 13s CD… improvisation = useless there if you steal frequently)
and engineer’s stolen skill… wow, just wow

ZachAttack.3957:

Or, you know, you can just buy the box on the TP xP

was fixed as far as i know, but if i knew that before the fix… maan

Wethospu.6437:

You just need to complete scale 50. Your personal scale doesn’t matter.

really? i thought you’d unlock the chest if your personal scale is 50, thanks for that though

Manasa Devi.7958:

And if you’re doing low level runs anyway, do all of the first 20 and you get a fractal weapon box with the achievement.

hm thats an idea, then i may do 1-20 and as soon as i got 20 pristine relics + enough AR i’ll complete a scale 50 fractal

Minx.7521:

Get pristine relics >>> buy them both with 20 pristine relics each. Easiest way.

need to get to fractal rank 51 or 50 though right?

Just a quick question as I’m a WvW Solo Roamer but I wanted to get a Fractal Dagger and maybe Sword for a long time now… (Fractal Level 31)

at which Fractal Level do Fractal Weapon Skins begin to drop post HoT? And what about these Fractal Weapon Chests, any way to aquire them apart from getting to Level 51 and buying them?

Jana.6831:

alchemyst.2165:

Yeah sorry about that You might be able to bypass it, but I’m not sure how.

ProxTube

Youtube Unblocker

I don’t make videos, I just record (not enough time)

I’m playing a P/P, Staff Daredevil in WvW currently, working on getting the Scrapper Rune Recipe for a S/D, SB Daredevil (I could buy them of course, but I rather wanna really work for them)

Doing pretty decent with my current build (1v2s, rarely 1v3s), and if you want me to give you one or two videos just pm me and we’ll find a way

Because I still wanna learn the animations I’m currently not PvPing, got 4 Champion Titles though

Hey guys

It’s been a few days since I fully unlocked Daredevil and now… well I have the same problem as pre HoT, unspent Hero Points…
I know Anet gave some information on how to spent Hero Points apart from Specializations, I just can’t find it anywhere.
Any tips?

(Currently working on Scrapper because I want the Runes for a Daredevil Solo Roaming Build, so another question):
Any way to help my Scrapper Unlock with the Hero Points I got leftover on my Daredevil? I know about unlocking Hero Challenges via WvW but maybe there’s a direct way?

Xtinct.7031:

I think vault is absolutely overtuned, the damage alone needs to be looked are for a nerf yet alone the mechanics.

I mainly use Vault for the evade and damage… if I don’t need the evade though, only the damage I use Staff #2, as it deals almost the same amount of damage, if set up correctly, while costing only 3 initiative (WvW solo roamer)

The Marauder Stats are good, in total it gives more stats than Berserker for example.
However, due to power and precision having the same amount of stats, I only run with marauder weapons, valkyrie coat, berserker/valkyrie rings and rest full berserker (in WvW)

otherwise my power would go poof and precision is also worth less after you hit (i think) 60% crit chance

this is what i found to be a decent health pool (~15k) while still having ~60% crit chance, perma fury, more than 2600 power (without bloodlust) and more than 205% crit dmg

Roarkin.1068:

hmm perhaps it is steal then, guess i still dont know ALL the tricks of the class =P

No it can be shadowstep. (easiest way to check wether they used steal/infiltrator’s signet or shadowstep is for the icon for teleporting back to the former location)
I didn’t perform that particular stomp in a long time (mostly because I’ve permanently been running with 20s Steal and Infiltrator’s Signet for the last year), but when levelling my second Thief in WvW (duo or trio “roaming”) I first performed the exact stomp you mentioned… felt so god-like afterwards, it’s only quick reactions, waiting for you to port and maybe also luck with having the mouse at the right place

Happened rarely but always felt like a boss after that

Zodryn.4216:

There is a very good reason for that. It uses the hammer animation.

Honestly I’m thinking about switching my huma female back to human male simply because I hate the way human females carry their hammers… but I like the jump animation with hammer, so I’m torn in between

Zodryn.4216:

knight.8926:

I don’t know why your complaining about not being “buff” enough but I just played thief and wow was it OP and fun to play. For those thinking its weak I main a mesmer and warrior and playing thief is seriously easy mode compared to those two. I’ll stick around thief for a while knowing how fun it is to play

Translation: I ran berzerker amulet and got assassinated by a thief. I’ll pretend I just picked up thief and say that I think it’s super fun, but subversively throw in a “thief OP” message. Nobody will suspect a thing.

Sneaky sneaky… gotta admit, sneakier than me and I’m a thief main

knight.8926:

not trolling here and I believe in finding your own build that works right for you. But thief is honestly fun and refreshing to play. Now I just need to find a way to get quickness every once in a while and its set

So you’re not gonna share your op build with us?