Guild Wars 2

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Laraley.7695:

Spurrlock.3219:

^ True words. Things go baseline because a class can’t function without them. Bountiful theft doesn’t fit that criteria.

When did you see a viable thief build without Bountiful theft in pvp?

I see plenty of thieves running with the tricks trait over bountiful theft and they do just fine in the AG tournaments.

Uhhh… No?

Covis.6037:

Bacon.4918:

The June 23rd patch undid two years of balancing. The game was far superior before these changes.

Tao.1234:

I’m from EU, and I still dunno who are those TOP whatever he means.

Probably because you’re a noname and not a single good player speaks with you I guess?

I dont understand how random mesmer newbies who started winning some 1v1s can say “Mesmer is OK” when 2 of the best mesmers around (Coulter and WoC) have stated that it was overbuffed and that it needs nerfing.

Of course, I’m only talking about the forums. Ask ANY good mesmer and he will tell you mesmer is broken atm.

Just learn your place, really.

-also, LOL at the player with 238 games as mesmer. I can do that in 1day in hotjoin, if i wanted. Do you even lift?

TyPin.9860:

But well, that’s just me it seems.

It’s not just you. Any sane player believes PU is in absolute need of HEAVY shaves – both mesmers and all other players.
It’s just that coming here to QQ is pretty much useless because of all the insane amount of trash players trying to defend a build with which they have started to win some 1v1s with and, thus, are enjoying the sensation of feeling like a god.

So yeah, the devs are probably aware of this so a nerf is already in the air. Just wait for a few more days. This is not the only thing that needs to be shaved though.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Flatley.1620:

Slightly confused… my main character has well over 500 skill points. Does that mean I’m going to get loads of mystic forge stuff? It also says hero points will be used to progress characters when HoT launches. How does my 500 SP’s translate into that?

Every level 80 will get 400 hero points and the number of skill points done in map, up to a max number. Those Hero points will be used to unlock your skills and traits. Any skill points you have above that max will be converted to spirit shards, usable to buy items from the mystic forge NPC. Any skill point scrolls in your inventory/bank will become a consumable that becomes the spirit shards.

Thank you for the clarification. I have one last question though:
will ALL Traits AND Skills that I have ALREADY unlocked on my characters (including the ones I “bought” with the books at the Trainer vendors) be reset?
Like, one of my characters has very few skill points (with 0 map completion) but has everything unlocked: will I need to unlock EVERYTHING again after the patch?

Those screams

The Life Blast 1shot shows how kitten3d damage in WvW is.

While it’s disgusting how cheesy 60606 will be after the expansion, don’t forget some kittenedly OP traits other classes are going to get.
Elementalists in particular, by going 00666 will be extremely hard to take down.

So I don’t know. While it’s undeniable that traitlines like Critical Strikes are going to be underwhelming PvP-wise, I’d refrain from saying how godly 60606 will be compared to other classes. On paper, every class is going to get HUGE buffs, so it’s all up to how much thief buffs are going to be compared to the other classes’ buffs.
It’s still to early to determine that, though, especially because we still don’t know “some” values of some traits, we still don’t know the statistics of the new amulets/gear, we still don’t know what weapon skills are going to be introduced and we still don’t know much about other specializations (not including the revenant).

BondageBill.4021:

What should I focus on as a Thief in an uncoordinated team? For what I’ve read, it should mainly be stealing undefended nodes and creating mismatched (+1) fights. I normally play more point-fighter type of characters in PvP, so this is a different playstyle for sure.

+1 fights is always good. Aside from that, try spiking the targets who are at lowest hp OR the opposing damage dealers (other thieves, rangers, mesmers, s/f eles mostly). If you join a fight and you see someone below 50%hp and no “squishy” classes around, try hitting the guy below 50% to proc Panic Strike.
You burst, then get out. Do not, DO NOT, EVER EVER EVER fight ON point, let the other tanky classes do the work. If you go down while you were bursting a target because of random AoE, it’s 100% your fault.

BondageBill.4021:

When do you use Steal? Do you primarily save it for boon rips? Are there other good times to use Steal, for example against specific classes where you want the stolen item more than the boon rip?

Steal is usually used as a FOLLOWUP of your burst. Start with a backstab, then after they dodge proceed to Steal to interrupt their possible Healing skill.
In theory this always work. In practice, good players won’t get fooled by that. However, as a general rule, try to avoid opening with Steal unless the added 2k dmg is guaranteed to kill him OR severely cripple him.
Aside from bursting, Steal is usually used as boon rip as well. I always try to keep it when I join a teamfight if there’s an enemy warrior around, so that I can interrupt his Banner. Same if there are other possible Stab-rezzers. Aside from this, use it to strip Stability from classes that usually have a Stability skill (guardians, Eles)…

When do you equip Infiltrator’s Signet versus Blinding Powder? Obviously having another stun-break is useful, but I don’t find much need for the extra teleport between Shadow Shot, Steal, and Shadowstep. Is the signet mostly held for stun breaks?

Entirely up to you. If you’re scared of the enemy thief or if you’re the only damage dealer in your team you might go for Blinding Powder. Blinding Powder in general is better for solo plays. Infiltrator Signet is better if you have a team that calls targets, so you can easily port to a marked enemy without worrying about LoS.

On the other hand, since it is easy to enter stealth with Blinding Powder and Heartseeker, what are the reasons you would want to equip Blinding Powder? Is it mostly used as an opener for Backstab?

You can use it in an offensive way, but I usually like to keep it as a defensive utility (either for disengages or condi cleanse), especially in soloq (UNLESS the "free"backstab that it gives you 100% will kill the enemy you’re facing).
In group plays, the group stealth + Blast finisher can provide a “free” 6s group stealth (so can be used to deny enemy stomps or safestomping or to set up a coordinated burst).

When do you use Shadowstep? I mostly use this for escaping a bad situation, making the second half of shadow step less useful. I also see how it could be used for jukes, but I haven’t really practiced that too much. It seems like I am missing opportunities to set this up for better use, but I just haven’t seen them yet.

Mostly for escape, but don’t be afraid of using it if a teammate needs help ASAP and you are far away from him. Remember: if you only use your skills defensively, there is a chance you will never use them in the entire match (which would mean having, virtually, a wasted skill slot).
Can also be used for safestomping or for a condi cleanse.

Ensign.2189:

Fat Disgrace.4275:

people cry about last refuge revealing them but its ok for vamp runes to interrupt them at the same health thresh hold…

Players at a skill level where Last Refuge is considered a problem are not going to be using Vamp runes.

Uhm, what?
If you mean that good players won’t use Vampirism, you’re mistaken basically all top thieves run Vampirism (Renna, Chozen, Sizer, Sindrener, just to name a few).
If you mean that “bad” players won’t use Vampirism, you’re mistaken as well, because I see many average thieves that run Vampirism (and gets carried by it).

People that are “up to date” with the game will use Vampirism. Pack is a viable alternative, but Vampirism is just ridiculous as of now.

Video overall is decent, but the build is too op, anyone dueling with that build shouldn’t be too proud of winning 1v1s…

Jelzouki.4128:

Zord.6130:

People hate rangers because they hate seeing half (or even more) of their HP depleted by rapid fire, when it takes absolutely 0 skill to do from that range.

I know, rangers have lots of weaknesses and everything, and I never complain about them in chat, but I still hate to see getting downed by a guy who, after 1m, I engage in a close fight and discover he is a keyboard turner (and a clicker possibly as well) who backpedals until he dies.

Also, about Legendary Champions… do not bother them. Most of them acquired their title through rank farming, and even when they didn’t, it doesn’t show anything, really. I killed “Legendary Champions” with only one weapon lots of times, so it’s not like their opinion is worth more than anyone else’s ^^

Lol rank farming? Eat your little heart out mate.

Wow, did I hurt you maybe? Are you one of the frequenters of these servers? Did I, perhaps, insult your legitimately acquired rank 80?

If rank farming to r80 is really not a thing, then tell me what are 120+ people doing every moment of the day in these servers.

@Random Weird Guy:
the fact that you cannot acquire more than a specified amount of rank points during each day does not prevent people from still farming it through hotjoins. Also, this thing (the rank points cap in hotjoins) has been introduced quite recently, so there are still a lot of people out there who obtained that rank in such a way.

Reason: We lost 500 to 140 (twice in a row)
Time: 9:30 to 10:00 GMT+1
Map: Khylo, then Spirit Watch
Arena: Unranked
Datacenter: EU
Account: Zord.6130

The enemy team was made of “decent” players. My team was made of players that WIPED 4v2 mid.
I kept 2 guys busy at far. An enemy Turret Engi set roots in our close. Only 2 enemy players were holding mid, and yet my team managed to score a complete wipe.
Sometimes I tryhard and carry games easily, but I need at least TWO players to rely on, with proper build and at least some game knowledge. These two times, I could easily admit were the WORST in my entire GW2 experience.
/rant off

Meh. Even in EU 1v1 servers people don’t /bow before duels. They just say “r”, or will just start using a ranged attack. No need for all this formality: if a player is kittened by the other player’s behaviour, he will say it out loud.
Even in the Obisdian Sanctum, in which /bow is important, I usually don’t wait for the full bowing animation and will start attacking the moment they do. If they are kittened, we will just do another duel after that and they will do the same to me – I don’t care :P

This aside, good fights. But Caed misses Steal too many times on a class that should be quite easy to read

Savage.8741:

hey man thx for the answer. But, can you explain why it is better then traveler or Scholar?

While it depends mostly on the build, you will never be wrong with Pack.
The added Precision helps a lot. Plus, if you have Thrill of the Crime (which you should) it will guarantee basically a 100% Fury uptime.
I’d say, try getting at least 50% Critical Chance (base), then invest the rest gear in some PVT or Cavalier stats. And, for doing this, Pack are the best choice around.
Scholar are ok but only for 1shotting people… and in a prolonged fight, you will easily lose the 10% damage bonus.
As for Traveler, sure it will make it easier to move around but you can always take Signet of Shadows if you’re lazy and then swap it out just before engaging an enemy. However, the damage with Traveler is definitely lackluster.

Other good choices are Strength and Ogre… but for Price, Utility and stats, I would go Pack with every Power Based build I’d play on thief.

Pack

People hate rangers because they hate seeing half (or even more) of their HP depleted by rapid fire, when it takes absolutely 0 skill to do from that range.

I know, rangers have lots of weaknesses and everything, and I never complain about them in chat, but I still hate to see getting downed by a guy who, after 1m, I engage in a close fight and discover he is a keyboard turner (and a clicker possibly as well) who backpedals until he dies.

Also, about Legendary Champions… do not bother them. Most of them acquired their title through rank farming, and even when they didn’t, it doesn’t show anything, really. I killed “Legendary Champions” with only one weapon lots of times, so it’s not like their opinion is worth more than anyone else’s ^^

Reason: We won 500 to 140
Time: 6:12 GMT+1
Map: Temple of the Silent Storm
Arena: Unranked
Datacenter: EU
Account: Zord.6130

I’ll also would like to add that it’s been a lot of matches that my team had a lot of classes stacked (no premades)… is anything under development about the class stacking? With these new dailys it is expected to find more of a certain class than others, HOWEVER having 3 thieves in the same team and having 0 thieves in the other team is definitely something I would not like to see happen very often.

Justin ODell.9517:

I’ll just leave these here…

• Anchoring or focalism The tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor,” on one trait or piece of information when making decisions (usually the first piece of information that we acquire on that subject)
• Availability heuristic The tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events with greater “availability” in memory, which can be influenced by how recent the memories are or how unusual or emotionally charged they may be.
• Availability cascade A self-reinforcing process in which a collective belief gains more and more plausibility through its increasing repetition in public discourse (or “repeat something long enough and it will become true”).
• Base rate fallacy or base rate neglect The tendency to ignore base rate information (generic, general information) and focus on specific information (information only pertaining to a certain case).
• Clustering illusion The tendency to overestimate the importance of small runs, streaks, or clusters in large samples of random data (that is, seeing phantom patterns).
• Confirmation bias The tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.
• Conjunction fallacy The tendency to assume that specific conditions are more probable than general ones.
• Conservatism or regressive bias A certain state of mind wherein high values and high likelihoods are overestimated while low values and low likelihoods are underestimated.
• Conservatism (Bayesian) The tendency to revise one’s belief insufficiently when presented with new evidence.
• Curse of knowledge When better-informed people find it extremely difficult to think about problems from the perspective of lesser-informed people.
• Focusing effect The tendency to place too much importance on one aspect of an event.
• Negativity bias Psychological phenomenon by which humans have a greater recall of unpleasant memories compared with positive memories.

A lot of people should read this post.

This is how you beat the turret engis.
Read chat as well.
(do note: the enemy was a full premade team of 5 people, my team consisted of 3 pugs – me included – and a pair).

You can guess what the final score was.

Chaith.8256:

Also Magnet is not brokenly instant,

The “istant” part was related to the rifle combo (started with the “istant” knockback) not to Magnet

Loool @Eurantien. Just spam your Entangle when the engi is Blocking and see him melt.

Chaith.8256:

Sol.4310:

I don’t get why you would say something like this when you already know this. Live stream almost every weekend shows Engineers winning almost every single 1v1 on node fight.

No, that’s not true. Unless you instantaneous crateous, you will never beat an equally skilled D/D Ele, Shoutbow War, Necro, other Engi, Mesmer, Condi Ranger, if you refuse to let the point go neutral and stubbornly fight confined to the point. Bunkers have one job. Keep the point from changing status. D/D Ele and War can bunker. Grenade Engies should get off and actually focus on winning the 1v1. Because they’re a duelist/roamer type.

Your real gripe about Engi is that it’s 1v1 matchups are almost as good as D/D Ele, even if it gives up the point to do so. Engineer does have too good matchups same as the D/D Ele, we all know it’s OP but it’s not because Engineers can bunker, lol.

Ele and War can keep the node capped because that’s their job. Not the Engineer’s job. Ele even has better overall matchups than Engi.. why would Engi be doing that instead of an Ele.

Any fight size above a 1v1, say 2v2, if there is an Engi spending time on the point, not kiting away or using LoS, if there’s ranged focus on him, or AoE pressure on point, that Engi is a liability to winning the fight. You can’t eat people’s AoE and conditions.

Engi assaulting a point is a lot better use of the Engi. That’s not a bunker. Do you see why me saying Engi is not good at bunkering is true?

The Engi is best at being duelist/roamer, not a bunker/point holder (defensive) or dedicated support. Why don’t you get why I would say that? Winning a 1v1 =/= bunkering a point.

Chaith. I have been playing Cele Rifle Engi a lot in the last days. And this is what I found out:
Your team fighting capabilities are way less impactful than the ones a DD Ele, a Warrior or a Guardian provide. As you said, you can’t stay in the fray of a teamfight: Burning eats you alive (unless you have someone who cleanses it) and using Healing Turret as group cleanse is a very bad idea since you are extremely vulnerable to any sort of Condi Spike (be it a CC-like Condi or a Damaging one). And with this I agree with you.
I also agree with you when you say that an Engi is extremely good at single targeting. The amount of plays you can do with Magnet is insane, and the simple (and brokenly instant) Combo rifle4+2+throw wrench/rifle5 deals enough damage to pressure any enemy, especially when you keep your pressure up with Grenades after that burst.
However, what I don’t agree with you is the bunkering ability.
With a Cele Rifle Engi, the only class you should really fear unless you have crate is a Necro (and even then, the necro must be good, as I managed to destroy a lot of Condi Necros). If I am HOLDING a point, and assuming I don’t use Crate, I can easily hold a good DD Ele there for close to 1 minute before I need to start kiting and leaving the point. Same with a Celestial Warrior. Holding a node for 1m is a lot of time honestly, and even if you won’t be able to fight indefinitely (against an equally skilled opponent) it’s still enough time for a roamer (thief or mesmer) to come and cleanup.
In addition to this, I can safely decap ANY class that is not a Guardian within 30 to 45 seconds. So, yeah, even though you don’t have the “stalling” potential of another dedicated bunker, your bunkering (and de-bunkering) abilities are very high.

… And with the nerf of DD Ele, I believe the match up will be an endless stalemate after the patch. I usually noticed that I can’t put enough pressure on them because they out heal my pressure with Lightning Whip stow weapon. But if they lose that massive boost to their sustain, they will need to start playing defensive more.

In a true 1v1, Cele Rifle Engi loses against: Necro (Power and Condi), D/D Ele, Cele Shoutbow, Shatter Mesmer, Rabid Engi, even Condi Ranger can beat you (Entangle, duh).

Lol, my thread unexpectedly became the “meta” thread in the spvp forums xD

update: 6 games, 4 skyhams, 4 4v5s

5 games, 4 skyhamer, 3 4v5s
get on my level, yo

My Fierce Kurama <3

Chabo.7498:

Until they fix this you can just create a one man tpvp team without submitting (example screenshot) and that should stop them from inviting you. I tried this with two friends and I couldn’t invite them to tpvp so hopefully the trolling won’t get out of hand.

Yeah, the same thought occurred to me a few minutes ago. Thank you for testing it out anyway, it seems the only solution to this problem for now.

This sigil REMOVES a boon: it does not STEAL it.
Also, this would put some counterplay to Eles and Warriors, whose damage potential is too high atm, and a lot of people agree with me on this.

Also, try thinking about WHICH classes could sacrifice a sigil for this role.
Will it be thieves? Then they will gain 1v1 potential but will lose burst (from Fire/Air).
Will it be Mesmers? Unlikely, as they already have enough boon stripping already, and are the only class that can reliably keep a Warrior/Ele out of Might.
Will it be Warriors? Unlikely, as the combination of Intelligence+Energy/Leching+Doom+Battle is dominant around the meta.
Guardians? Meh
Necros? Maybe condi necros could get a use of this
Engis? Don’t think so.
Other Eles? Nope.

I got “harassed” the whole night by some guys I won’t mention. I literally couldn’t do anything because every 10s I got invited to a teamq roster.
I tried blocking them, or going invisible. Nothing worked.

Is there any way to prevent this? And, if it isn’t could it be implemented?

Yeah but right now no one is using this sigil, and taking it means that you lose important things.
Furthermore, Might Stacking (warriors and eles) is already game changing because of the amount of damage that these classes can do despite being extremely resilient. Taking this sigil means that you can counter these specs a little better, but even with this, they can easily maintain 7-10 might Stacks.

Can you change this sigil to prioritise Might removal? Also, you could change it to be “On Hit” rather than “On Crit”. This would make it a good choice for countering bunker classes that stack might to insanely high amounts.

Because any kitten can walk around dropping Grenades or Bombs on a point, melting enemies with PbAoE conditions, or drop turrets and let them do the work for you.
Most engineers could play blinded and still be effective.
Remember: the more professions/specs you see around, the easier it is to play that profession/spec.

Kolly.9872:

hihey.1075:

Cam Ron.4170:

hihey.1075:

I wrote a long post but the forums got dizzy and lost it.
Won’t type again, but Trotsky, just know this: S/D is now a BALANCED set. Before, it was not.
You want damage? Go CS. You want survivability and sustain? Go Acro. You want utility? Go Trickery.
Your choice. You can’t have all 3 together anymore.

Also, I won’t brag about my experience but trust me that I have plenty, and most top players agree with me (such as all 55hp monks).

Lollllll, you must think D/P thief is crazy OP if you think S/D is now “balanced”…. Or are you going to make the argument that S/D is as good as D/P…..

D/P (regardless of the spec used) has always been inferior to S/x specs, especially in 1v1s.
If you lose to a D/P when playing Acro+Trickery S/x, you got outplayed hard.

if I can beat your D\P and S\D thief using an S\P thief do you will state that S\P is more OP than the other 2 sets?
Do you will state that all of these 3 sets are viable in PvP and not subpar compared to the majority of builds around nowadays?

The only advantage that a DP thief has over a S/x Thief is IF the DP gets the jump on him. Which CAN happen in a pvp match, mind me, but is the S/x’s job to be alert all the time and be ready to react or avoid that burst.
In an actual 1v1, a DP will NEVER land a clean backstab on the S/x (assuming good players), and the amount of evades and dodges available to the S/x are enough to make most of the DP bursts to miss. Also, landing a steal on a S/x is extremely difficult, while landing one on a DP is easy as pie.

Of course everything can happen in a 1v1, and getting outplayed can ensure the win of the DP side.

I believe if you beat him kitten while he plays SD it only means that either you are a better thief than him, or that you outplayed him for that round.

Also, all these sets are viable in PvP, but the best one IMHO is DP, because it suits the role of a thief better (one shotting enemy zerkers or weakened foes). SD is still viable because you can actually hold a point with it for a while, and SP, well… It’s a mix of both the previous sets, but I don’t like it really much and haven’t played it a lot so cannot say anything

Lol carrying in hot join. Some people are so try hards

Rangers are OP? Lolwut?
I kill rangers with only one dagger. Good rangers take pistol offhand too, but those are REALLY rare.

I don’t know, the only thing that kills me now are zerk rangers or the occasional thief.
Maybe I’m too clever to just laugh at PU mesmers or Condi thieves, and then run away?

Remember that sometimes, dodges are used to take a small breath and see what’s happening around, including your conditions, your buffs, enemy positions, things you can use to LoS…
Sometimes I watch old videos of me random dodging, but I know that there is a why to 99% of my dodges.

Dude, you just got outplayed. Take a deep breath and go oneshot that Ranger.

Thank you for sharing some of your aids with us.
This is why PD is the laughing stock of thieves nowadays.

Aegis and Stability are the first on the priority list. I’ve never had my Steal blocked by an Aegis.

Ah, so I was not the only one finding that thing weird.
Imho they should revert the Stab priority (hidden) change, as it added a lot of depth in the thief playstyle in conquest mode: sometimes, it is better to not use your Steal in a team fight because you want to use it to rip the stability from the guardian when he starts ressing his teammate. It’s a very risky, yet very rewarding, approach. With this change, doing that is pointless and it’s better to just spam steal whenever it’s off cooldown.

I’ve noticed that our trained steal does not prioritise Stability anymore. I’ve tried using steal Twice on the same DD Ele, full of boons with Armor of Earth on, and I clearly read “immune” at the top of his head, without triggering the daze.
Would like to see some more opinions on this, as it might have been an unlucky attempt.
Has anyone else noticed this so far?

FYI, steal(when trained with bountiful theft) always prioritised 2 boons: Aegis and Stability.

Rofl necros are OK. They’re currently one of the most balanced class in the game

Rofl I love American people and their lists

Are you talking about 1v1 on point, or general 1v1 there? Because if it’s the latter, a LB Ranger should win against most of those specs now.

DeceiverX.8361:

I think they’re in a pretty good spot at the moment, frankly. Further buffs, especially in AOE’s when piercing is an option, would warrant them overly-useful in medium sized groups. I could only see barrage buffed if RF would be nerfed since the burst would just be too crazy to handle if it were to be without any negatives.

And no Zord, thieves have substantially better DPS – around three times the DPS, actually, of LB when optimized for damage on both classes.

I play with a 6 5 3 0 0 build on my Ranger, and my rapid fire deals way more damage than my thief’s backstab (6 0 2 0 6).
Both classes are full zerk.
Also, some guilds have already started running rangers in focus parties

They suck in sieges (especially if attacking). But they are awesome in anything else.
They are basically as good as a thief, with more damage, more range and more safety.
You are there just for one thing: single target damage.

If you’re an Asura you can always techno babble.
And I’ve yet to see (recently at least) a DD or PD thief who doesn’t run DP as secondary set. Your Shortbow is useless anyway, so just switch to do and interrupt.
Also, if you’re full Dire PD, what are you complaining for?

Despite being a main thief, I’ve been having a lot of fun against thieves nowadays with my LB Easy mode Ranger.

But I agree that a skill that is undodgeable, not affected by Los, with no cast and that ignores blind, it’s a little too much. I’ll just shoot 3 arrows to a thief, then use sic em, then BAM, rapid fire and gg thief