Showing Posts For matthen.5024:

[Video] S/D Teef Duels :D

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

poor use of infil return.

I’ve watched you play on twitch, and I think you are one of the better SD thieves out there… certainly one who takes a pretty varied approach to different fights . Any advice on what constitutes good versus bad use of Infil strike/return?

White Sword Removal Very Helpful

in WvW

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Only people who are in servers that been winning lately are saying the changes are good, like Ehmry Bay, Gate of Madness and Kaineng.

Nice generalization based upon very little information… The vast majority of people who post on the EBay forums (and who I personally talk to) hate the change for the reasons already mentioned by the opponents of “no white swords” in this thread. At our tier, it makes defending more of a chore, and it’s harder to draw out fights, etc…

To those who suggest that people who don’t like this change should be shifting to sPvP… yup, that’s what a some of us have been doing because WvW just isn’t nearly as fun ATM. Surprising how that works… but, hardly an argument in favor of the new game mechanic.

Can someone give me good thief streams?

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matthen.5024

The tPvP ones mentioned above are a pretty good to watch. For WvW action, I would just periodically click through the streams. There are some pretty decent thieves who I have seen streaming WvW… I just don’t know their names off the top of my head (note: they may have 5-10 viewers, so don’t limit your search to the top streamers).

GS/LB for WvW roaming

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

I actually run 0/4/6/0/4, too… but I’ve seen people do really well with 4/0/6/0/4.

From my perspective, choosing a build depends on what you want to be good at, who you run with, and who you are fighting. Remember, LB has no mobility skills. Going 4 into arms gives you extra mobility via the -20% CD on GS.

(1) For max mobility, go 4 in Arms for Furious Speed and Forceful Greatsword (make sure to shoot all ambients you pass. With SoR, you’ll have perma-swiftness in fights, unless it is corrupted.

(2) For max damage and fighting potential, go 4 in Strength for Great Fortitude and Slashing Power.

(3) For a decent mix of damage and mobility, go 4 in Arms for Furious Reaction and Forceful Greatsword.

There are really a lot of different ways to make this build work. The one drawback for me is that LB/GS seems to have more “hard counters” in WvW, than my hammer/GS build. You’re either going to be light on interrupts or light on stun breaks. However, it is still my favorite build to play.

Also, if you’re used to a hammer/GS mentality, you’re going to have to adjust your play style to make LB/GS work well for you. You’ll see what I mean once you start running it. Don’t give up right away if it doesn’t work out for you at first.

Finally, all bets may be off post patch… going to have to see how everything fits together.

That’s my 2cp. Good luck.

GS/LB for WvW roaming

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

I run something similar, but with Holebrak runes. There are lots of ways to make GS/LB work in WvW. It’s not the best dueling build, but it has a lot of flexibility so that it can adapt to different WvW situations.

Good luck.

[WvW] Advice on Hammer/Dual mace build

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matthen.5024

I’m probably one of the few people who actually played hammer + dual mace in WvW for a while. I did it when the game was first out… mostly because I loved Taugrim’s sPvP Captain Hammer vids. I also like playing builds that are diverge from the meta… which is why I give you props for trying this out.

Now for the bad news.. while you have great CC with this weapon combo, you have few tools to avoid being kited by many of the opponents you will face in WvW. You have even fewer tools for escaping, avoiding bad situations, or even creating space so that you can take territorial advantage of terrain, etc. For these reasons, most WvW builds use either Greatsword (highest mobility), Mainhand sword (next highest mobility), or both.

Since you seem to want to play a build with high CC, my first suggestion would be to focus on a CC-based weapon combo that has a little more mobility. A fun one that has fallen a little out of favor in the last 6 months, but that can still work well, is hammer + sword/shield. This augments Hammer’s CC with decent mobility, a good stun from shield, and a really nice finisher (Sword #3) that you can land on CC’d opponents. 0/4/6/0/4 still works well. You can take merciless hammer or shield mastery. If you wanted to be more original, you could use hammer + sword/mace… but this probably won’t work as well as sword/shield. Mobility in these builds comes from Sword #2… deselect your target if you want to jump in the direction you are facing (versus at the target).

If you are dead set on running hammer + dual mace, I think that you need Dogged March (not “cull the weak”) and minus condi-duration food. This will at least make it harder to slow you down. Bulls charge will help as well, but obviously, it will take away one of your stances. Maybe even consider the Mobile Strikes trait (which I generally avoid in most circumstanes).

Anyway, that’s my two cp. If you want, I can post a build that fits your gear setup.

Dual Swords+Hammer, carrion stats?

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

I assume that your build concept is to stack conditions with sword/sword, and then swap to hammer to deny condi-clears (via stunlock). You’ll have decent power with carrion so you’ll do some damage outside of conditions. However, I am not certain that you will be able to apply sufficient condition pressure to take down well-played opponents… most warrior condi-builds rely on both weapon sets.

Regardless, I think that Vincecontix’s advice is spot on. I would try doom and geomancy on the hammer, and perhaps mess around with krait runes. If you are determined to try something that is “outside the box”, Balthazar Runes with Mending would be entertaining (hehe… they’re cheap so it’s worth a try).

All that said, a more conventional approach would be run Dire Long Bow + Sword/Shield with Bulls charge. This has the possibility of decent mobility for WvW, and it provides a lot of tools for keeping your condi’s ticking. I had a lot of success with this approach, but I ultimately found power warrior to be more entertaining.

Good luck.

Warrior WvW Roaming Suggestions

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJARSjMdUFaZIOewJagfgC9t3C7gpAQ9bk7dBA-TliFAB1eEAwTXwI7PMo6PXpE0IleA8AAYSZADHCgEuAABAQA25OTn7MwQH6QH6QHa7coDdn7colCYJhRA-w

This is the build that I use personally. Hammer/Greatsword allows you to CC your enemies to death, preventing them from doing damage to you while simultaneously bursting them down.

What? No LB/GS?

Personally, I like Hammer/GS a lot in WvW, and the above build looks good. However, I haven’t had a lot of success with Hammer/GS in outnumbered fights. It probably has to do with how I spec and play, but Hammer/GS seems tailored for either 1v1, or small group versus small group.

If you are interested in outnumbered play, I have always found LB/GS to be more forgiving. Think of it this way: mobility is key to staying alive when you are fighting outnumbered using a GS build. If you are using GS mobility, you are often going to find yourself at range… and obviously, it is easier to apply pressure at range with LB versus Hammer. That’s my 2cp. YMMV.

killahmayne actually has a few LB/GS vids that are pretty good… although, as you can see, he doesn’t use the build anymore.

[Vid] Berserker Axe/Shield, GS Warrior Build

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

This build may have fallen out of favor, but has pretty much always been strong. I have beent thinking of gearing up a slightly tankier version of it ever since the April 15th patch made it so easy to swap builds on the fly.

This leads to three questions:

1. Why not use the shield recharge reduction instead of Defy Pain? You use shield skills a lot in your video, but only rarely proc Defy Pain.

2. Do you think this build work work with a mix of knights in armor? I often roam with knights in head, legs, and chest… and zerker’s everywhere else. Some builds just don’t seem to work if you don’t have every last shread in the offense.

3. How many stacks of might do you think you get from of the Strength Sigil? I am having a hard time letting go of the extra dodge from an Energy Sigil.

Any feedback is appreciated.

[Guide] WvW Shatter Post Patch 5/11/2014

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Brilliant.

Love the text, too. Very informative.

Staff vs. GS in a power build

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Most of the time, I prefer GS over staff in a power build… for obvious the obvious reason: more power damage. However, staff has a couple of upsides, particularly when you want to play defensively. I carry both, although I rarely use the staff.

Three things to keep in mind with staff:

1. Staff phantasm does power damage, and it hits like a truck. It does more damage, the more conditions are on your opponent… so, stack a couple of different conditions on them before you summon it (if you can).

2. You can fit the Staff Recharge trait easily in 20/20/30 build. Another plus.

3. Unless they’ve changed it recently, bounces on your staff AA will pull you out of stealth. So if you’re PU, sheath the staff before you use a stealth skill. This is a signficant minus if you’re not up to micromanaging your play.

Have fun.

Condi Warrior Build - Perfected and Perplexed

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matthen.5024

I agree with everyone above regarding Spiked Armor in this build. Shield Mastery seems better, especially with perplexity runes.

One question: Is the bonus on Perplexity #4 actually “on hit” or is it “on crit”?

New Video (LB/SS) Power build

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matthen.5024

I seen this message too but cannot find a place where it says whats the different formula of retaliation in PVP vs PVE, can you link to some place it’s written in?

I looked around online, but I can’t find an authoritative link. Most of the random stuff I read was a 33% reduction in damage. I am pretty sure I saw my retal damage go from approx 400 to around 270… so that seems about right.

Harley Quinn - P/D 10/30/30, Power Build

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matthen.5024

If you would, I’d like to see a link to the build. I messed around with it in a build calculator and didn’t get to 60% crit. I want to see what I’m missing.

I geared up a P/D condition thief a long time ago (before dire gear), but don’t play the character much anymore. The promise of something new is intriguing, although buying another set of traveler’s runes is not…

New Video (LB/SS) Power build

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matthen.5024

Nice vid. Been messing around with a similar build. I kinda fell into it because I wanted to try LB/SS, but didn’t have any dire gear.

One thing: today’s patch reduced retaliation damage in WvW to match s/tPvP, so even if you like Spiked Armor before, you’ve got to like it a little less…

[sPvP/tPvP] Hamhorn Build (& Guide)

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matthen.5024

One question:

Why 0/10/30/0/30 or 0/0/20/20/30 over 0/0/30/20/20… is burst mastery that good in this build? I.e., it looks like you are taking it over both the Quick Breathing and Merciless Hammer.

[p.s., apologies for the + two week bump]

[Video] Hammer Highlights by TDB

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matthen.5024

Really like your videos.

For the last six months, I have been solo roaming with a 0/0/30/20/20 hammer + sword/warhorn build that shares a lot of similarities with your build. I do pretty well, but I wanted to try something a little more conventional for roaming.

I tried the build in this video, and found that I was having a hard time dealing condition specs (especially if there was more than one). Any general tips?

Also, on your first fight against the GS/Hammer warrior, it looks like he procs Protection on activating Healing Signet. Do you know how he did that?

[sPvP/tPvP] Hamhorn Build (& Guide)

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matthen.5024

Omg another warhorn warrior besides me??!!!

LOL! I was thinking exactly the same thing… Love when people have success with “non-meta” builds.

I mostly roam (not zerg) WvW with a Hamhorn warrior, but I do jump into sPvP when WvW is not giving me enough fights for my liking, and I feel like I need more focused small combat practice.

Anyway… Great post! I especially enjoy the tips on fighting different opponents. I run 0/0/30/20/20 Hammer + sword/warhorn (traited). I used to run axe, but sword let’s you get away with dropping Burst Mastery… you just have to work hard to set up your Final Thurst (Sword #3).

Mender's Purity and Mantra of Recovery

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matthen.5024

but then that makes the claim of 6 condition removals every ~14 seconds even more unrealistic, because now I also have to coordinate the timing of recharging my heal mantra with recharging my stability mantra.

Add in the fact that the mantra doesn’t start recharging until the last charge is spent… so that theoretical maximum rate doesn’t occur unless you brainlessly spam the three charges as soon as the mantra is loaded.

My point is not that it isn’t decent condition removal. It just not as good as some make it out to be.

Mender's Purity and Mantra of Recovery

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Yup. Also, I tried running these before the patch to test out the timing. It doesn’t remove “4 conditions in 20 seconds” like people are fond of stating, as you have to account for the time associated with charging and discharging the mantra.

Yeah you’re absolutely right, its nowhere near 4 conditions in 20 seconds – when fully traited it remove 6 conditions every ~14 seconds.

2.75s charge (no condition removal)
1s cast (2 conditions removed)
1s cast (2 conditions removed)
1s cast (2 conditions removed)
8s cooldown
= 13,75s

Sadly I supect menders will be nerfed soon enough, by giving it a 5-10s cooldown or something. So enjoy it while it last.

Well, I meant 4 conditions in 10 seconds. 4 in 20 is what they said before the buff to mender’s purity. Clearly, I also wasn’t talking about the fully traited mantra build (with the 3 cast GM trait), which should be significantly better after investing 40 trait points beyond then 10 points in Mender’s Purity.

However, none of this changes the fact that if you play it against a skilled opponent, you will have a very hard time getting anything near the numbers you suggest (beyond the initial charge). You have to play carefullly, hold your CDs, and do your best to meld your charges into the flow of battle. Against unskilled opponents, it doesn’t matter what you do… you can pinch a loaf in the corner and still spike them. The point is that it’s not a simple “fire and wait”.

Regardless, I don’t see them nerfing it in the near future. Why would they nerf an ability that a minority of mesmer’s take (other than the fact that we’re talking about ANET)?

Mender's Purity and Mantra of Recovery

in Mesmer

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Yup. Also, I tried running these before the patch to test out the timing. It doesn’t remove “4 conditions in 20 seconds” like people are fond of stating, as you have to account for the time associated with charging and discharging the mantra.

Still, you can get it to work pretty well with Staff, Torch, and Stealth utilities. However, I wouldn’t use it without at least two of the above.

Mesmer December balance updates-OP edit 11/5

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matthen.5024

  • Inspiration IV – Mender’s Purity. Now removes 2 conditions.

Am I basically going to be running around removing 6 conditions every 10 seconds now (with the ability to stealth while waiting for the CD to be nearly over with)?

Don’t think so, unless they are changing that in the patch. Currently, I’m pretty sure you don’t actually remove conditions on charging the mantra, only on spending the charges. Also see this:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Mantra-of-Recovery-Mender-s-Purity

So… it’s a maximum of 4 conditions every 12.75 secs (approximately) + time time it takes to discharge the mantras back to back (which is not instantaneous). Of course, you typically start the fight with them loaded (which makes it better), but then you can’t just spam recharge or you’ll get interrupted by anyone with any skill (which makes it worse). Right now it’s two conditions in the same time frame. Three in a little more if you trait for three mantra charges.

I’ll let you decide if the buff is OP.

Fort Aspenwood Mesmers

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matthen.5024

Recently fought a three-player mesmer unit outside Bay… under water. Kitten impossible to track all them down when they are cycling Mass Invis, Portal, Decoy, Spear 4.

It was pretty cool. They couldn’t escape, but they tied up a significantly larger force for quite a while. It helped to get a few mesmer players down there to sort out what they were doing and where they were likely to end up.

New mesmer healing skill

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matthen.5024

As someone who plays a shatter mesmer, I’m really disappointed in the direction of the Dec 10 balance changes, which appear to be favoring already popular Phantasm and PU condition builds. This signet would further reinforce this theme.

If this is real, it makes me wonder if their “data mining” considers not only how many people are playing different types of mesmers… but also how many of those mesmers are active played (versus shelved).

Shatter mesmer need more damge..

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matthen.5024

Shatter needs a significant sustained DPS increase in PvE. Not sure how to accomplish this but it really needs it. I’d love to play shatter in dungeons.

I guess I was thinking about this topic in terms of burst damage. It is my sense that shatter mesmers are less effective than other types of builds across both PvE an PvP metas. As you suggest, one way to address this would be to increase sustained damage.

One idea: have the IP trait include an extra reduction in shatter recharge (similar to “Slight of Hand” for thieves). Small adjustments could allow for more shatters per unit time, and therfore more DPS. This would not increase the type of burst damage that can insta-kill someone.

Just a thought.

Shatter mesmer need more damge..

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matthen.5024

I don’t think shatter mesmer’s need more damage, but they do need something. Insta-killers are no fun to play (or play against).

Personally, I wonder if there is something that Anet can do to buff IP. Although it’s clearly a powerful trait, few use it except for the small number of shatter mesmers that are still out there. Not sure what a balancing buff to IP would look like.

Torch 5

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matthen.5024

Torch 5 is painful IMO, but you put up with it to get Torch 4. The best thing I can say about it is that I have no problem shattering it.

Mesmer December balance updates-OP edit 11/5

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matthen.5024

Actually, at least my shatter build is getting a nerf by not being able to take Illusionary Invigoration and Illusionary Elasticity at the same time :/

<- still running power shatter only

Right. Mine is too… forgot about that because I already switched out of Illusionary Elasticity (to Precise Wrack), so that I could get used to it.

Power only shatter here, as well … and it’s our own kitten fault for not giving up on it.

Mesmer December balance updates-OP edit 11/5

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matthen.5024

I really like the buffs to mesmer in this patch. However, it does seem like shatter mesmers are going to fall even more by the wayside. This list of changes differentially buffs non-shatter builds. The reduction in Illusionary Invigoration is far from game changing, and shatter mesmers already get IC.

As it stands now, it’s already pretty uncommon to find a shatter mesmers running around. I couldn’t get through all 10 pages of this thread, but how many people are talking about how awesome x/20/x/x/30 builds are going to be? I’ll bet it’s few. There will be the same old shatter builds, and lots of new phantasm and mantra ones.

On the positive side, I’m happy that the profession is not getting more nerfs.

December 10th Warrior Changes

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Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Hammer
We are taking damage away from the hammer skills that do CC, because we don’t think it is ok for skills to do both of these things. I see a lot of comparison with Greatsword damage, but the Greatsword has no interrupts and a single cripple on the Bladetrail. We left the skills that do not do hard control alone such as Fierce Blow and Hammer Shock, as we are ok with those skills hitting hard because they do not actually disable. We also left Backbreaker alone because it has a long cast time and a long cooldown. The standard hammer build is still going to be very strong after this change, but it will open up options for mace to make a comeback as the control weapon.

Comparing Hammer CC/damage to Greatsword CC/damage misses the primary reason for running Greatsword, at least in WvW . Greatsword is powerful because of the evades on WWA and tremendous mobility on WWA and Rush (GS5). Good greatsword warriors mitigate damage by being hard as heck to pin down… [Note: don’t nerf GS!]

Sure, Hammer 4 was overly buffed with the new animations, but Earthsharker has always been a pain to land (except in large group warfare… where lots of people are swinging hammers on both sides and it evens out).

League Of Shadows = Ehmry Bay

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matthen.5024

Good job Ebay, thieves.

[Analysis] Incoming nerf to hammer

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matthen.5024

I never had an issue with the damage nerf on staggering blow. It is way more useful now than it was three months ago due to the extra mobility. I think we’re still ahead on that one.

I was initially bothered by the Earthshaker damage nerf because it already takes a bit of work to hit a skilled opponent with that attack… at least in small group combat. However, then I realized, who cares? What’s the big deal of losing 20% damage on an attack that is so hard to land to begin with? (20% of 0 is 0, after all… heh). I’ll just use all the effort I spent setting up Earthshaker to do something else productive.

Now, I play WvW, and I actually haven’t been running my hammer warrior that much recently. Similarly, I haven’t faced off against that many hammer warriors. I can’t even remember being taken down by a hammer warrior in the last month, unless they were fighting in a large group. Are hammer warriors really a serious problem in WvW? or, are the complaints mostly for Hambow warriors in sPvP?

Anyway, my biggest issue with these changes is that they are “across the board” nerfs to warrior hammer. Now, all hammer builds are weaker. While it is debatable whether some hammer builds were OP, many non-meta hammer builds clearly were not. Overall, it seems like these changes are likely to reduce the diversity of hammer builds… which leads to less interesting play. That can’t be a good solution

A potential good healer?

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matthen.5024

I don’t think that this type of spec is all that bad. Two caveats:

1. If you run mantra healing, don’t play like a healbot. Even with MoP on short CD, there are often better things that you can be doing with your time. Charge mantras when it makes sense given the run of play… also slot two non-mantra utility skills (per suggestions above). Above all: don’t’ forget to smash face.

2. Under the current game design, this is probably not the most effective build you could run. But if you play it well (and don’t be a turtle healer), you’ll contribute fine.

My 2cp.

Let's talk about Mantras (Sensotix)

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matthen.5024

I have been messing around with mantras (WvW). I am no expert, but I enjoy the challenge.

First, what drew me to mantras in the first place is the condition removal from “mender’s purity” combined with ability to frequently activate “mantra of recovery”. They work well together because 9/10 times that you want to cleanse a condition, you could also benefit from the heal.

Second, I the more mantra’s you have, the more you have to charge. I could never get a full mantra build to work. I’m running Mantra of Resolve plus one more (situational) Mantra. For my other utilities I’m using Decoy and Blink for the stun breaks, general utility, and synergy with mantras. I’ve been kicking around the idea of dropping in MI for some quick shatters.

My general question for you (Sensotix) is why the Greatsword and MH Sword? They are great weapons, but in my mind, they don’t have particularly good synergy with mantras. If you are going GS and Sword/Pistol (and no Mender’s Purity) what do the mantras add to what seems to be a full burst build? What am I missing?

As noted, I am not an expert.

WvW Hammer Warrior Builds

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matthen.5024

Regarding the Tank/DPS build:

I love Hammer/GS… I rarely run it, but it’s so much fun. While your build is pretty standard, it’s clear you’ve tweaked it to fit your play… which is a big plus in my book.

Two questions:

1. Why Rending Strikes over Merciless Hammer? Merciless Hammer really helps hammer builds IMO.

2. Why FGJ? Perma-Fury is less important because you are running Opportunist. I could see FGJ if you were using soldier runes, but you’re not. I think you could get better offensive utility with Bulls Charge, and of course, you could get better defense with EP or Zerker Stance.

Couldn’t watch your vid on my device so maybe more insight is in there.

TPvP Theorycrafting: Hammer

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matthen.5024

No offensive or defensive, just feel not right when I see someone slander others in forum.

I appear to be missing the slanderous remark.

However, it would be great if you (or anyone else) could tell us what he’s using for his other weapon set.

Looking for some advice on GS/Hammer builds.

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matthen.5024

I’d say 0/20/30/0/20 to get dogged march, cleansing ire, and merciless hammer in the defense tree… however, the best thing to do is probably to start with 0/20/20/0/20, and mess around with adding the last ten points in different spots.

Good luck.

Unskilled peons....

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matthen.5024

You got downed by two thieves, or did I miss something? Fighting two thieves is harder then most 2v1’s…. but it’s still a 2v1. You’re not supposed to win.

Looks to me like you would have dropped the first guy if the second didn’t enter the fight. Good video.

[Guide/PvP] CeiMash's Guide to Stun-ting

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matthen.5024

Very interesting build. Like the combination of Unsuspecting Foe, Sharpened Axes, and Burst Mastery.

Any tips on landing Earthshaker and Backbreaker? Seemed like you didn’t get dodged, blinded, or interrupted very much.

Celestial Armor

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matthen.5024

Maybe celestial is okay for hybrid builds that use a good mix of power and condition damage? That throws in one more state. Healing, too… although he scales like kitten with healing power in most builds.

This is not a definitive statement… more if a hypothesis worth testing. Shortbow comes to mind as a weapon that benefits from both power and condition damage. Not many pure Shortbow builds out there, though. P/D gets some power damage from skills 3 and 5. However, it seems pretty sketchy given all the work it would take to craft the items.

Thief WvW P/D Roaming #1

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matthen.5024

Skale Venom is amazing since it has Torment and a lot of people still don’t understand how it works. If I blast 6 stacks of bleed into you and 3 stacks of Torment and the target is moving, that is an instant 12 stacks of bleeds.. people melt, especially if they have no condition removals.

Skale Venom over Caltrops anytime.. I only use Caltrops to cap camps/towers/keeps. :P

I thought tormet while still was 75% of bleed, and while moving it was 150% of bleed? Thus, 6 bleeds + 3 tormets = 9.5 stacks of bleed. Still, nice cover condition, something we lack.

I tried skale venom again after reading this thread. I still like caltrops better. It’s good for clearing space, minor damage, cripple condition, and I love dropping it on downed players when I’m too busy to get to them.

The OP does fine the the venom, though… so, it seems to boil down to play style.

Thief WvW P/D Roaming #1

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matthen.5024

was the build in the video?

Also, could you tell me what you think of my P/D build (any one):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY4YlUmKN3ay5E/5EB3Dnm0mqp4m2sTBWlPA-jkyA4sBRTLCN9JQpwioxWwiWNLIlvwqZw0oER1ekioVLEwi1A-w

Thx

All builds have their strengths and weaknesses. The two things that stand out to me:

1. No stunbreak. If you are fighting other players, it’s hard to get by without a stunbreak. This is especially true with a condition build that kills slowly. SoS can be activated while stunned, but it’s not the same.

2. Centaur runes + Signet of Shadows. The main reason to run centaur runes is to keep fast movement without having to dedicate a movement slot to SoS.

Personally, I’d either run SoS and switch to runes with condition duration, or keep centaur runes and swap in shadow step (great utility + stun break). However, it all depends on your play style. You need to get into some fights to get a feel for how it meshes with your playstyle.

Good luck.

Thanks, I struggled deeply with not having a stun breaker, every other profession I play has a stun breaker as a permanent fixture. TBH I never even considered Centaur Runes as a way to compensate for SoS which I deemed mandatory for CnD to work -at least for me, I have little chance of landing it without movement speed enhancement up.

So how exactly would Centaur Runes compensate for SoS? Via dodge/evade?

Either a fast cast heal (e.g., withdraw), or using traits like “swiftness on dodge” and “thrill of the crime”. I run the later with HiS, which yields permanent swiftness.

Thief WvW P/D Roaming #1

in Thief

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

was the build in the video?

Also, could you tell me what you think of my P/D build (any one):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAqY4YlUmKN3ay5E/5EB3Dnm0mqp4m2sTBWlPA-jkyA4sBRTLCN9JQpwioxWwiWNLIlvwqZw0oER1ekioVLEwi1A-w

Thx

All builds have their strengths and weaknesses. The two things that stand out to me:

1. No stunbreak. If you are fighting other players, it’s hard to get by without a stunbreak. This is especially true with a condition build that kills slowly. SoS can be activated while stunned, but it’s not the same.

2. Centaur runes + Signet of Shadows. The main reason to run centaur runes is to keep fast movement without having to dedicate a movement slot to SoS.

Personally, I’d either run SoS and switch to runes with condition duration, or keep centaur runes and swap in shadow step (great utility + stun break). However, it all depends on your play style. You need to get into some fights to get a feel for how it meshes with your playstyle.

Good luck.

Thief WvW P/D Roaming #1

in Thief

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Interesting video. I agree that it should be slowed down… maybe show fewer fights, focusing on those that either demonstrate interesting tactical decisions or are against more skilled opponents.

Also, why not caltrops over the venom?

Did warrior get buffed for running away?

in Warrior

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

I guess the only thing is that the thief will “catch” the warrior by matching the movement speed, but he won’t be able to kill a competent warrior by the time he caught up.

This… with only minor exceptions. Thanks, skullclamp.

No reason to play Warrior.

in Warrior

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

I’m pretty sure it got buffed as well. Let me play around with the numbers and get back to you on that. I’m thinking swapping out shield for Warhorn due to Weakness being so strong now.

This. Definitely looks like there are buffs in there. Just have to re theorycraft the builds.

DB,EB,SOS

in Match-ups

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Prepare thine anus.

Fine. I’ll let you choose the flavor.

Double-Teaming ruins WvW

in WvW

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

While I’d agree that alliances are not particularly honorable, it’s a subjective opinion.

In general, I really don’t get all these posts about how it’s “supposed to work”. You are supposed to try to win, or at least improve your lot. That’s what the score tells you. Maybe that can involve an alliance… maybe it doesn’t. It depends on the situation.

The funny thing about the alliances I’ve seen in WvW is that they mostly benefit one server in the matchup. The best part is reading all the rhetoric in the forums whereby the benefactors of the alliance tries to convince the lackey that the alliance is in their best interest.

POLL: Which WvW Ranking system do you prefer?

in WvW

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

I like the concept of the new randomization system (2), but it seems like the variance is too high. Maybe this will mellow out in a week or two.

I do think that there needs to be some system in place to keep servers from being “Tier locked”. There should be a way to do this that is more deterministic than the current system. E.g. Some modification of winner moves up, loser moves down, and the only ranks that matter are the “Tiers” (with colors assigned randomly at the start).

New matchups ARE today - see latest

in WvW

Posted by: matthen.5024

matthen.5024

Thank you ANET for ruining WVW for my server. More then haff our WVW community in Ehmry bay is not playing this week. And I’m not going to play your game ever aging.

WVW is a competition you move up by WINNING and we won!. We where suppose to move up a tier and play new servers this week and we did it on our own!! Thanks for stealing that from us!!!

as an ebay member who frequently follows goldiy around, i completely agree. we EARNED a new matchup. When i saw that we were up against BP and AR again, as in, 3 months and counting now, it took a lot of wind out of my sails in relation to this game.

keeps getting harder and harder to log on

T5 certainly missed out this round. It’s really bad luck. Let’s hope you see new faces in a week’s time.

Let’s hope those new faces aren’t all from T7… well, at this rate, EBay won’t have very many people logging in, so maybe that will be about right.