Guild Wars 2

Bugged for me as well

The global nerf of quickness wasn’t needed. They should have specifically nerfed the Mesmer/Warrior ones because of CoF p1 – but the ranger and thief pendants were fine. “Nobody” was using [Haste] 24/7 in sPvP/WvW…

At least give us our pistol whip damage (15%) back to give an alternative to d/d; SB.

<- 385 times 4 rare daggers into the MF gave me Spark.

Opened 250 heavy moldy bags yesterday – no dust. Farmed Event-chains in Orr – no dust. Opened more bags… no dust.

Guesting needs to be changed.

I wasted a lot of time and missed three meta-events in my rare spare time today (1) on my “own” server due to all the people who are server-hopping to farm their dragons/events in a more time efficient way – I got moved to overflow because of disconnects or because I wasn’t in the zones “hours” before the events.

I thought the intention of guesting was to allow friends from different servers to play together without limitations for others – but it’s getting too ridiculous… it’s an anti-social feature.

(first time since the BWEs that I have a little grudge about the otherwise awesome game).

(1) those days add up. It’s not the first and won’t be the last, I think

Slowburn.5319:

I guess needing 5 players for a dungeon party is also needless gating of content…. just so unfair.

… You don’t have to join a guild or build up any relationship which some people don’t want just to complete dungeons. You can do them with random people from /m or gw2lfg. Those missions (and the new gear / precursor chances) force you to sozialize with institutions and theis specific structures (preferably large guilds) that some people don’t like. I prefer friends / contacts / random strangers over guilds that need a lot of caring…

I don’t want to join a guild just for the access to the new BIS-items. I like to play with friends or random strangers without commitments. Now I HAVE to join a guild to get the fastest / “easiest” access to the new ascended trinkets / rings. That’s not fair – people from (preferably large) guilds get a huge headstart in the new itemization which causes imbalances though gear gating. Let me play your awesome game without being forced to join a guild for personal incentives. No guild deserves that.

I also agree with: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/New-guild-missions-opinions-concerns/page/14#post1522077

I dislike that I have to join a (preferably big) guild just to get ascended best in slot trinkets in time. I’d rather like to play with friends outside of guilds and random guys out there. Now I HAVE to participate in those guild missions just to get the BiS-items in an acceptable amount of time to be at par in WvW vs. the people from large guilds who got theirs with the new currency… I don’t want to join a guild just because of almost exclusive gearing conditions.

(Right now – without the advanced achievement system – it takes to much time to get those trinkets with laurels & ectos compared to the players who like to play in guilds)

“A lot of WvW players want the AoE cap removed because it currently encourages zerging. Instead they want to nerf AoE? If 50 people are stupid enough to mindlessly run through a tiny gap, a smaller force using AoE should be able to punish them. All I see this doing is making zergs feel safer.”

Iatrogenic, jan. 2013

Dear devs – is it an exploit?

Thanks Jonathan. I’m lookin’ forward to it.

Original title: Punishment for the Snowflake Jewelry-Exploiters

“I made about 500g doing this since Saturday. But it is tedious and boring”
(cf. links for citation)

A lot of people think that there are some [<—EDITED] exploiters who weren’t punished for their misdoings. [<—EDITED] I’m for severe punishments.

Yes, we heard from those who were panalized for exploiting the “21-karma”- bug. But that’s all. After that there weren’t any publicly known redemptions for the community (e.g. “64+ rare to precursor forging”-exploit) as far as I know.

Of course, some exploits are results from misplannings on Arenanet’s side but those happen every so often. One can’t say that it’s completly their fault. It’s quite obvious that exploits like the ones I mentioned aren’t intended. Those exploiters were repeatedly performing certain steps to gain huge profit margins. They knew what they were doing. Ignorance is no excuse in law.

Although the recipes have been disabled, the money of those rich exploiters isn’t out of the market… They have propably generated ten thousands – if not houndred thousands – of gold (by selling the ectos) out of nowhere. More money in the world means that the “normal“ players have to play more than ever to get what they want. You almost have to exploit in gw2 – perhaps [<-EDITED] too many people got rich by exploits without any punishments since the release…

It’s time to lay down a warning to others. It has to stop.

What do you think? Do you want punishments for those cheaters?

Have you ever wondered why (e.g.) mithril rised dramatically in demand (+~33% !!!) and price since the 14th.? It wasn’t just because there were again more active players. This exploit was far more widespread than we might think. Let’s check the required materials for their demand since the patch that introduced the mentioned exploit:

Both materials were rising continually since the wintersday patch. They’re now crashing since the items that were salvaged for profits were disabled.

Thank you guys for all your previous replies. I could only read them partly on the mobile phone on my way to work. I’m sorry for the fact that your answers have been deleted, too.

Yeah. Let’s make all classes exactly the same. They should just look different with different names for the respective skills. Wait, let’s just remove all classes from the game. Let there be only be one class (e.g. warriors) and and one armor type. Of course!

Specific classes having special features is essential to a class based game.

Also, I don’t know thy elementalist (with one of the highest mobilities before the 14th patch) and necromancers (why?) got the speed buff, too. It’s not as if they were designed to be fast scouts etc.

Nah, the thief is fine. People already figured out how to deal with them. That’s why one should let the meta evolve/develop/unfold itself…

A LOT of people exploited this method over and over. Some have made several thousands of gold since Saturday. Ten thousands – if not hundred thousands – of gold have been created in no time without any effort. I hope that those exploiters will get punished.

Crapgame.6519:

1. Go to map A, location X, and kneel down in front of Y statue for a 30 to 60 minute buff that yields agony prevention of Z percent.
2. Based on fractal instance, you could change the map location of A. Would need to predetermine so people would know ahead of time I guess – so maybe scratch that.
3. Fractal well. Again sort like #1 above, put wells around that grant the buff

What’s the reason for the agony-mechanic if all a player has to do is to type /kneel (or any similar suggestion that doesn’t require any effort, gameplay, creativity etc.) to prevent agony at all. At that point you could also just remove it from the game.

(end in itself?)

Alur.7510:

Tribune.3782
12 dailies 1 ring, that doesn’t even suit me… sure RNG is amazing right?

Give back the token system, was working flawlessly.. and btw why fractals weapons that drops has no stats ? to make us buy stones to transmute them or what? that as well bothers me a lot.

Spiky.8403:

And when you get nothing out of 10 tries in a row, am sure you will still like it.

Ofc I wouldn’t like it as much then. But threads exclusively containing complaints of players who came away empty-handed appeal as if there were only “unfortunate” people (vocal minority of unlucky folks?). I wonder what the “drop rate” actually is for rings (from the “daily”) to better judge about the unfortunate runs. I know that there are some basic approaches to document drop rates for ascended rings etc. but they’re not reliable enough, yet.

Also, one might think that it’s as likely to get nothing out of 20 runs as if was about as likely to get two precursors out of the LS-event. It only very rarely happend but forums and community sites tend(ed) to overhype these unprobabilities.

GL with your drops. I am curious what I’ll get tomorrow

6 dailies, 4 rings, not the ones I wanted but agony isn’t a problem anymore on current stages. I like the “gamble” – I always wonder what I’ll get each day

I’m almost speechless.

The jumping puzzle was okay. I don’t get why so many people couldn’t finish it. It’s only about a minute of proper jumping. It took me 45 minutes to complete it the first time and only 5-10 tries (maximum) after that to do it every time!

I. Don’t. Get. It.

Thanks Josh for this content. Don’t blame yourself – there are a lot of people who can’t control their character properly and aren’t able to make a progress or learn basic movements although they had days (!) to complete it.

It’s just sad that this awesome guy has to apologize for a content.

…

Keep up the good work Josh!

I also wonder whether Coolmoose’s screenshots (cf. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Backstab-time-to-nerf/page/5#post606858 and the following posts) also illustrate a cumulation of

a) pre-signet nerf numbers (~35% more damage on BS)
b) effects of orbs (e.g. +50 stats each)
c) possible squishy targets (necromancer and a thief/ranger (?))
d) conditions on targets – fresh 80s or even upleveld targets (denied by him)
e) temporary boons (e.g. food, team)
e) some “one in a hundred”-hit(s)
f) no garanteed reproducibilty (everything has to crit, geared enemies, e.g. in sPvP environment)
g) him being an absolute glass cannon (hp)
etc.

EasymodeX.4062:

I’m level 80 in full exotics, and backstab crits me for 15k (which is my health pool, fyi).

You didn’t say which class you were and which traits/gear/runes/sigils etc. you used to have…

Redscope.6215:

Thieves QQ “L2P” and then this happens: […]
Awesome.

Quite a gleeful guy, aren’t you?

Redscope.6215:

Look, guys, you’re playing an OP class right now. Nerfs have been hitting EVERY patch since release.

Just because there have been nerfs doesn’t mean that the class is overpowered right now or that there must be future nerfs. Just because s.th. has been bad doesn’t imply that it’s still bad. Logic…

Redscope.6215:

Your “L2P” posts show that you’ve never played another class against a skilled thief.
Here’s the issue: Thieves have stealth – Thieves have high mobility – Thieves have high spike damage – That combination spells out one thing, “skill-less dps class” …

Other professions have other advantages. That’s just a bunch of unfounded opinion.

STRanger.5120:

My main is lvl 80 too, don´t have full exotics, and the highest backstab I encountered was for 12K (that was pre-balance/nerf of Assasins signet). Taking my Class (Ele) and build (+0 toughness, +150 vitality), I dealt with it because I deserved it. Can you understand this? Also, Backstab is very far from being an instant ability

/agree

Daeqar.8965:

So, I would really encourage working on the mechanics of all those stacking effects before considering significant changes to raw ability damage coefficients and such. There might even end up being more balanced/sustainable builds out in the wild if that max possible burst capability comes down a bit.

/agree²

bow.6179:

You needlessly nerf the thief and I’m done with this game.

We’ll find new ways, strategies or adjustments to the build(s). The whiners/casuals are probably generally worse players because they can’t improve their gameplay so it should nonetheless be easy for us – the more advanced players – to win.

Busko.7408:

Right… you complain about thief maybe you should try one at 80? […] ohh but thats so OP i want to be able to do that also please Anet nerf guardians they just soak up to much damage.

Patience. Bunker/anchor-guardians are next on the nerf list again

Busko.7408:

As far as i see your pic its several skills combined to your death not just Back stab

That. And he even isn’t (totally) vitality/toughness specced. He’s using a lot of berserker and other stuff, too. Almost 3000 Attack and about 50% crit as a guardian but still complaining about being killed too fast…

Busko.7408:

Here is a pic of one skill doing 2x damage of what you QQ over the back stab: http://i.imgur.com/TLRNW.jpg

Warriors and grenade engineers can have a higher burst than thieves. Shatter mesmers (although they need to build up) can have about the same – theirs isn’t just front-loaded…

Busko.7408:

Bring out the nurf bat everyone run around with a stick poking each other.. yey…

MMO main forums…

EasymodeX.4062:

If I create lvl 1 mesmer and go to WvW, I will be punished with these hits too, but not because backstab is OP, but because a low lvl char sux in WvW, just like that…)

I’m level 80 in full exotics, and backstab crits me for 15k (which is my health pool, fyi).

That said, I could deal with 16k backstabs if they weren’t instantaneous from 900 range.

Concerning thieves, a possible combo:
Activate new Assassin’s Signet: 15% on next 5 attacks
Cloak and Dagger activation
Steal (mug)
Cloak and Dagger now hits
Backstab
Autoattacks or Heartseekers

Everything from Mug through Backstab lands within 0.2 seconds.

That’s not true. It all depends on whether your target is facing you or not. Therefore the time may differ and it’s getting only semi instant. Altough the cone (“behind the target”) is wide it’s not instant to activate a signet, hit steal, hit C&D, move “behind the target” and land a BS all while you target’s moving, dodging, AOE’ing, blocking or anything else. So the scenario becomes more complex than your isolated ragdoll theorycrafting.

EasymodeX.4062:

The only counter is to spam dodge against any Thief within 900 range of you, all the time. Only class in the game where their presence alone demands that you dodge or die. Of course, you have to take the time to identify that the player is a Thief in the first place. Unless you make a habit of wasting all your endurance any time someone so much as walks within 1200 range of you.

There are also other defences than dodging or stun breakers. It was just an example of how you’d be able to easily defend yourself. Furthermore, you didn’t say what class was your main and how you specced/traited/geared etc.

EasymodeX.4062:

You’re just digging yourself deeper into the nerf hole.

I hope that they don’t balance based on typical forum user feedback and do intensive internal testing. But it’s nice to see your FoTM-concept of the Arenanet team.

frans.8092:

“What does the rendering issue have to do with backstab damage when backstab is conducted from stealth?”

It is part of why the thief profession is perceived as too strong by some. If you can’t see a the player who just hit you like a truck the I can imagine it’s a bit overwhelming too fight them

Culling’s going to be improved/fixed in near future (official statement on progresses). Overhasty nerfs to compensate for networking/rendering issues are subpar because that would afffect sPvP and PvE, too.

JoEWas.1409:

Balancing GW1 seemed easier when you looked at a patch note and seen every class had like 10 skill changes, now with the “simplified” version of set skills = weapon they hit the nerf bats even harder. I’m still waiting for them to complete omit a skill like in GW1 when certain skills got nerfed beyond usefulness in PvP terms.

I think that cautious and slight adjustments are the better way to balance in general. If you make to many changes at various levels you risk creating new imbalances because you didn’t let the metagame adjust first. People learn to cope with supposed problems. And I don’t mean “culling” – that needs to be fixed and will be fixed soon.

SKuDDer.1860

Your first problem is you said this: sPvP-ranked guilds/teams. This whole thread is based around WvWvW. SPvP is a separate entity where stats are not even close to being the same.

I follow some the sPvP streamers and “friends” of mine who are playing tournament sPvP on a high elaborative level. I know that there’s no absolute measure of “rank”, yet. So’s your friend’s. You don’t know exactly how good he is and whether skill also implies that he’s not biased. So take that with a grain of salt.

You’re right – sPvP gives some other possible stat-combinations than WvW – but the general concepts of 1on1 or small group fights do apply – people with a higher skill set don’t usually complain about thieves. They complain about e.g. the current anchor-metagame. I don’t follow any specific WvW scenes except the one I’m participating. So my WvW knowledge’s more or less just my own experience while I have a more diverse range of inputs and opinions on/from sPvP.

SKuDDer.1860

What does completing a puzzle have to do with anything? I completed this so I must be legendary? I beat clocktower

As I mentioned above it’s no absolute measure of skill because it’s quite easy. I just used it as a basic metaphor for a indirect expression of the current state of the userbase. People can’t even control their characters properly in stressful situations. PvP (WvW/sPvP) may also be (for most people) a somewhat stressful situation. So what I wanted to imply is that there are a lot of people participating in balance discussions and whine-threads who are not even able to move a character from a) to b) in a jumping puzzle alhtough most of them tried it for hours and hours (95% – according to Anet).

Furthermore, it implied that most people are not able to make reasonable progress within arguably long time spans. They get frustrated and want to let off steam. Some go to forums and complain in hope for an auditorium.

I did not say that you specifically are not able to cope with basic character movement (and thereby being disqualified for further balance discussion). I just said that forums are also a location that attracts the attention of a lot of people who don’t have a clue.

Devoted “Pied Pipers of Hamelin” here have the ability or chance to transmit alledged preconceptions such as “thief OP – nerf everything” (exaggeration).

So, finally people should just put more effort in improvements of their own skills instead of whining in hopes for developers to adjust alledged imbalances.

Cond-thieves are in general not up to par with other professions which were skilled for conditions. Venom-share and bleed builds are okay-ish, but it lacks something.

There are a lot of “high tier” tournament thieves who can’t properly deal with any anchor (such as guardians, warriors or even necromancers with certain speccs that are currently in trend). They just have to wait for assistance. It’s not like you can kill everyone in a wink. But that’s anecdotal knowlege that I critizied before.

SKuDDer.1860:

So tribune, its ok for a thief to do 9k dmg with one hit to a non glass cannon build? They can’t buff armor or toughness anymore otherwise they would make warriors and guardians too strong. So they are forced to adjust the raw burst of abilities such as this.

If the thief could land a 9k hit on a non glass cannon player then the thief isleft with:

• around 12k hp (low vitality)
• “CD” on stealth
• squishyness (low toughness – low effective hp)
• vulnerability to conditions

If we assume that he’s now facing a (non-anchor but a balanced/solid) warrior with around 15k-18k hp (after BS combo has landed) it looks like a fair fight. But there are other situations. A thief could decide to leave after his combo because it didn’t do well and that’s fine, too. He either has to fight or leave. The latter will cause people to go to forums and complain. But that’s the mischievous character of a thief. The hit and run, mobility, possible instability in exchange for damage and vice versa is a fun and unique mechanic compared to the other professions. If Arenanet decides through their internal testing that it’s overpowered without drawbacks and that they want to please more casual masses then it’s fine, too. The above average players will cope with it and develop new strategies to compete or support the team well enough.

SKuDDer.1860:

Pyrial.2917:

Leave the burst, adjust the stealth mechanics associated with it.

Yeah well that’s the problem, I don’t think they can fix the rendering of players in WvWvW easily, so to counter they are going to have to adjust the skills. Technically speaking thieves are inadvertently exploiting a bug.

They definitively should fix that stuff (or improve the situation) and then let the “meta” unfold over time. Solid balance decision.

Loco.4561:

@ Tribune.

I agree that there are a large percentage of players who struggle in a PvP situation, some don’t react in time, make poor decisions, don’t position properly, don’t use stun breakers etc… etc… and that definitely plays into peoples perceptions when they get killed by someone.

I have yet to speak to anyone, ever, anywhere who has stated that Elementalist’s are OP :P And as for the thief I play with, I duo with this player daily, I watch him down players before I even get into range, repeatedly. I am going from 1st hand experience of what I see him doing, he tells me how he does it.

And as for the “3 shot” not existing, it’s not existing because YOU are saying it doesn’t exist.. I have combat log screenshots + fraps footage of this in action.

Alpha strike builds like this are not good for any game, it leads to calls of unbalance and rightly so. People are not calling for the profession to be nerfed into the ground, they are calling for balance.

Then tell us how you alpha-strike (3 key presses) is done (gear, skills, traits, runes and sigils). Then we can evaluate whether it’s possible or not. I know that BS can crit for well over 13k-15k+ on a glass cannon elementalist/thief – but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t deserve it:

• Skilled/traited for low survivability / health / toughness ? check!
• Lowest health pool and not the highest armor tier? check!
• No situational awareness or preparedness for thieves (stunbreakers or anticipation of thief moment etc.)? check!
• No team to even the kill count? check!

Then, dear Loco, the opponent has to die. He himself specced for squishyness to obtain other advantages. Then he has to die if he’s moving alone through “enemy territory” etc.

Until you post the combo that one of your friend’s using (such a skilled player) – that didn’t happen. More anecdotes from friends of friends.

Fletch.3572:

sorrow.2364:

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

I

Want some suggestions?

- Backstab should get a maximum of 6k damage critical on a squishy glass cannon build.
[etc.]

My text sarcasm meter is off, this serious?

I thought he was trolling.

SKuDDer.1860:

Grimwolf.7163:

I’m a bit amazed they’re actually going to nerf Backstab. Thankfully he claimed they’ll be buffing other stuff in return, but still.
Backstab is so freaking easy to counter; way easier than Hundred Blades. You don’t even need to see the Thief coming. Just dodge AFTER you get hit by CnD and they’re still not gonna get the Backstab itself in. Worst case scenario they used a poison to hold you, and you’ll have to pop a skill to break it first, which is no worse than having to break out of the Stun used by a Warrior for Hundred Blades. The damage itself sure as hell is not greater, and requires specific traits as well as at least two utilities dedicated to it.

How can you possibly compare Hundred Blades to backstab. 3.5s channel where you cannot move vs instant damage.

Warriors can have a higher damage output with killshot and hundred blades. You can’t just walk away from that 3,5s channel (it’s EVEN shorter with frenzy ~ 1,75s!). Okay, killshot requires you to build up adrenaline and hundred blades needs your target to stand still and face tank it. But warriors also stun their opponents to achieve that hit-combo. The counter to these burst builds is to have your finger on a stun break or blind at the right time. That’s not hard. But it’s hard if someone can’t manage to finish a “tower jumping puzzle” and plays 7 alts at the same time for about 20 hours each since release. The casual userbase will complain – there are not many complaints from “higher tier” sPvP-ranked guilds/teams.

Loco.4561:

So we figured out how he was doing it, my friend replicated his build (we spoke to the opposition player who was doing it) and showed me, it was possible.

I think you were suprised by the thief. That’s fine. The game is new and has some issues (builds that may abuse culling issues – sometimes by accident)… nerf profession abilities or fix the underlying network/rendering issues?

Loco.4561:

Don’t assume that every player who is complaining about thieves is some kind of back-peddling half-brain with the reactions of a sloth.

I didn’t say that everyone is like that. But there is a huge percentage of players who can’t even keep up proper controls over their character while being stressed (jumping puzzle, only 5% succeded – according to Anet). Most PvP-situations are a similar scenario. It’s not meant as an conceited insult. I just think that most players and thereby a lot of forum readers can’t ensure that they’re capable of participating in balance discussions because they don’t even know how to walk and jump properly (I’m aware of that exageration – it’s intended to serve more like an analoque)

Loco.4561:

There are good players with legitimate concerns over the state of thieves and as I’ve said, thieves themselves admit aspects of their profession are overpowered

There are players who even argue that elementalists are overpowered. You’ll find persons with all different opinions. That doesn’t mean that it’s a fact.

Loco.4561:

(anet agress),

They just take their userbase seriously. They’ll look into that. I have no problems if they decide that something’s imbalanced. But I also think that decisions based on knee-jerk reactions to forum whiners were never good. Proper balance needs time an a “meta” to develop itself.

Loco.4561:

I duo with a thief who kills people in 2-3 seconds (he engages from stealth, so they cannot counter), he himself agrees that thieves need toning down, other thieves agree that they need toning down.

I have a friend of a friend of a friend… yeah. I have a friend of a friend of a friend who says that elementalists are OP. Nerf elementalists… even some elementalists say that they’re OP – so it MUST be a fact. Nerf them!

Loco.4561:

Then there are the players who don’t want anet to take their toy away, those who rely on class gimmicks and not skill.

That’s just opinion. Your “3-shot” does not exist except against undergeared glass cannon thieves and elementalists (lowest health pool).

More anecdotes please.

Loco.4561:

I am an above average player, I solo roam or I duo with a thief buddy, we fight against larger groups of players and normally win. If I’m solo, I expect to get into 1v1’s, 2v1’s, 3v1’s etc… I know how to handle myself and regularly get messages from players I killed saying I’m a good player. I know the consequences of solo/small group roaming. I have THREE stun breakers (cantrips) on my utility bar, just so I can avoid getting stunned.

Everyone thinks that he’s above average. That’s fine. So you did account for possible nuke builds with stun breakers and you said that you are doing fine and players admit that you are a good player. Then I don’t get why it needs to be tuned down. You seem to be able to cope with it. That’s what it’s about – people learning and preparing for certain situations. But one cannot prepare for everything. That’s “life”… (I think you even overprepared for possible stuns – but strategies may differ – no offense).

Loco.4561:

Thieves CAN and DO “1-shot people”, technically it takes 3 key presses and they are normally using Devourer’s Venom. But I’ve been killed by a thief with this same combo and been unable to react in time before I’m down.

No, you’re wrong. 3 key-presses for a venom build you mentioned:

• venom activation
• steal
• “walk” around the target / positioning
• backstab

-> that won’t kill anyone except other thieves and elementalists with them also having a heavy glass cannon build (both professions with lowest base hp).

Loco.4561:

Point 2, Thieves can have an extended time in stealth while repeatedly stealthing and retaining very. very decent damage.

That’s no permanent stealth. We need to be accurate with our choice of words to prevent the spread of misconceptions.

Loco.4561:

Just the other day while roaming, myself and my thief buddy came across a thief doing this exact same thing. We honestly thought he was hacking, due to the constant stealthing and the damage he was able to put out.

Culling is a problem. But that’s not the problem of the thief you’re mentioning. Your anecdote may be influenced by personal perception. If he was able to give you a hard time then you are doing something wrong. Given that all players are on the same level two guys should never have problems dealing with one player or they’re screwing up.

There are no “1-shots” or even “perma-stealth” builds without drawbacks:

Some repeated misconceptions:

1) 1-shots: there’s always time to react if you’re an average-skilled player (but most players are casuals who didn’t even manage to complete the “tower jumping puzzle”). Even the engineer-burst video isn’t a one-shot. It needs several grenande volleys on a stunned player. So it’s either dodgeble, blockable, breakable (stun) etc.

Concerning thieves, a possible combo:

• Activate new Assassin’s Signet: 15% on next 5 attacks
• Cloak and Dagger activation
• Steal (mug)
• Cloak and Dagger now hits
• Backstab
• Autoattacks or Heartseekers

This is no 1-shot and needs positional accuracy which can easily denied. Also, the thieves doing this are often experienced roamers (WvW/sPvP) and know how to take out a target. It’s your own fault if you don’t specc for survivability/vitality/toughness and move across a map without support. Then you may be in a serious danger of dying – that’s fine. If you’re specced for survivability etc. then you may get hit very hard, too but you still have plenty of time to react.

One problem though: a lot of WvW/sPvP players haven’t even played a main for a continuous time and aren’t maxed (gear in WvW) or use subpar gear/trait/skill sets vs. people with very specific and efficient burst builds. They have to learn how to improve. But they rather fail on the event jumping puzzles…

Also: No Thief can sneak up to you from distance without getting noticed. If a thief gets into steal-range you gotta be prepared – if you don’t have a stun breaker then it’s your own fault. You seriously have to die and that’s fine, too. You have to account for these situations if you’re a roamer, change your build and not complain on forums because you take your loss as a personal insult.

2) There’s no such thing as perma-stealth. There’s only a problem with rendering/culling (mesmers/thieves/shadow refugees). But a thief cannot maintain a huge and repeated uptime on stealth without reducing damage significantly because he had to choose stealth skills instead of signets for his utility slots. There are some videos of thieves abusing the rendering issues (point capture) – but they won’t “5-shot” (cf. above) anyone.

You can only get them with dungeon tokens (check the vendors @ LA).

I dislike this idea because it forces me to gather a group of experienced and skilled players. I consider myself to be above average skill, but I also like playing with less skilled people or RL-friends without making or joining an elite guild just to get the legendary (item/precursor). I want to be able to get it without the danger that the project to get a legendary changes the way I choose my fellows.