Guild Wars 2

oh boy

/15char

Yeah you should take a break if you aren’t enjoying it. That being said, you typically don’t play on prime time, which is when most top tier teams are queing.

It was awesome having you around, and we hope to see you back soon.

Haven’t denied you yet. Gonna see what I get before I make a decision.

I never thought I would be doing this, but due to encouragement:

As the title says, I’m looking for a potential team. I main a d/p thief. You may have seen me on my other incredibly creative names such as:
Cpl Aeroxe
Guardian Aeroxe
Aeroxe (with an accente grave and such)
Aeroxe (with an accente gauche or something)
Aeroxe (with a hat on the A)
Aeroxe
Aka Aeroxe
Ranger Aeroxe
Ketchup Days

Here’s what I bring to the table:

1) Been playing thief since beta (2k tourney games). I used to main a triple d/d cantrip ele, but I have mained thief for almost a year now. I know the combos, tele spots, and am known amongst the pvp community for, as some would put, “on-point” backstabs.
Arguably, I can hold my own against the more well-known top tier thieves.

2) I never rage. I honestly don’t. I can be constructive, but I never get angry/emotional.

3) I’m pretty active, but the most reliable time for me is 11:15PM EST-about 1AM)

4) If there was anything that stands me apart from other thieves, it would be good judgement and “clever” plays. I don’t have caed-like mechanics or the communication of toker. Or the charisma of steb, the swag of muffinz, the 1v1 potency of davinci, or the creativeness of ben zy. What I enjoy about thief is the ability to engage at will, and a capacity to analyze the situation and know when to take someone out.

5) I have played all classes. I’m not blind to their mechanics and skill rotations, and thus am able to multiclass somewhat and react accordingly to them

6) I’m a very open player (I play with pretty much anyone). I’ve played with the majority of the pvp community, so I know what people tend to do.

So, whisper me in game, or post down below if your team is interested.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

If you’re still free by december 20th, let me know. I’m thinking of maybe starting a team, but I’m still trying to work out the kinks, and improve my own play to become good enough before that happens.

And….here we go again.

Josh Davis.6015:

I can confirm that perceived popularity is not factored into matchmaking.

There is just too much win in this. +1

woops. clicked the wrong button

kirito.4138:

For ~90% of the PVP population (non leaderboard players) this new match making was good and made games more fun. Hopefully because they are enjoying it more the playerbase as a whole will expand…

However, in the meantime, for remaining veterans… games are cringe worthy. It’s like a basketball game with a mix of highschool and kindergarden players.

This. Sure games are closer, but that doesn’t mean the matchmaking is better or “funner”. For this remaining 10% of the population, every game seems like you are doing a lot (aka carrying), but yet the rest of your team seems to not pull their weight. Ultimately when you get that loss, it’s really, really, REALLY discouraging. I cannot emphasize how really discouraging it is.
Of course, I could just be really bad. But it really does seem like I have a huge weight dropped on to me that I have to tug alongside my own.

Hey guys,

I just want to add that we are mostly looking for condi necros and spirit rangers. That being said, if you think you could contribute, mail Jin, as potential subs or replacements would be cool if things don’t go out as planned.The goal is to create a friendly but competitive team atmosphere, and just have a fun time in this game.

If the team does happen, practices should occur at around 10:30/11:00 EST to maybe 1:00AM some weekdays and Sunday. After December 20th, at least for me, practices will be much more flexible.

Btw, Jin plays engi and I mostly play thief.

Thanks guys for taking the time to read this post, and hopefully we will see you ingame!

SpehssMehreen.5897:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Rieselle.5079:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Nilgoow.1037:

I would agree that if I lose games there is definitely something wrong with the system. I consider myself to be ‘good at games’ and probably in the top 80% of GW2 players by virtue of [fill this in later].

What I’m saying is that I’m good and Anet needs to build a system that recognizes that instead of punishing me personally because they hate me.

Faith in society…-1
or bad troll

Neo Annubis.7429:

cymerdown.4103:

In general, I felt the direction of the balance patch was a bit out of touch with what the community has been asking for (example: improvements to AI specs like MM necro and AoE specs like bomb Engi and staff Ele, when the PvP community has been asking for less AI clutter and lower AoE spam).

Right, because Necros need more buffs.

The direction of the balance patch is in the right direction, but I don’t think it satisfied many people in terms of AoE condis still taking over everything. There was also a lot of “hype” around this patch, when really it was just going to be yet another small balance patch. Not that small balance patches are bad, but man there was a lot of hype around this one.

Thief will always seem to have a place in this metagame, no matter how much thief gets nerfed because of thief’s class mechanics, mobility, and burst potential. There are other classes that need to be looked at first (ex. mesmer and elementalist) before some love is given to thief.

Tyler Chapman.1832:

Thanks got this one guys. I actually kind of like that it doesn’t use up both CC’s at once with this but I can see how that is inconsistent with how it used to react.

Please in the future report these bugs to the game bugs section of the forums.

Thanks.

Awesome! Thanks for the response Chapman. And yeah, in the future I’ll post bugs in the bug section.

NevirSayDie.6235:

Friends, it’s been 13 hours since the original post. Most of those hours passed in the middle of the night. How fast are the devs supposed to respond?

True. Just didn’t want this thread to disappear from the front for just a little while longer.

final hopeful bump

Can we get a dev response on this? I’m sure they care for thieves too…

This is also assuming you have sleight of hand trait.

Hi devs, I’m not sure if this is intentional but….

Before the patch, if you applied basilisk venom to steal or headshot, the stun would take precedence over the daze. After the patch, the daze takes precedence, killing off any stun that would have happened with steal or headshot. This is a big nerf to thief stun bursts with steal.

I was wondering if there was going to be a fix for this or not.

Thanks!

OP is surely the official cruuk (see what I did there) so let’s take everything he says as 100% truth!

A lot of people are familiar with the term of cognitive dissonance, but not that many are familiar with alternate theories. There are, in fact, many alternative theories…but let’s restrict our understanding to three alternate theories. The first is known as self-perception theory, which bases around the concept of there being no aversive arousal to trigger dissonance, and that attitude change is a result of looking at one’s actions and rationalizing our attitudes. Another theory is the impression management theory, which states that people change their cognition due to wanting to appear competent and kind. The last theory, which is probably the best one, is the self-affirmative theory, which states that people change their cognition not because of dissonance, but due to being honest and good people.

I’ve always thought that it would be really cool for new players to be able to spectate and watch replays of high level tournies ingame. I’ve suggested it on the forums before, but a replay system along the lines of starcraft 2 would be phenomenal for the skill and competitiveness of this game.
Going on gw2pvp and trying to find vods of certain plays is really cumbersome.

Thanks for your contributions to the game Xeph. It was great having you around.

Sol.4310:

cymerdown.4103:

Sol.4310:

Guys, let’s face facts here. Spirit Ranger’s really not that great, stop complaining to Anet. L2p.

Signed,
Spirit Ranger

Well put.

Truth hurts doesn’t it you ______ ____. I’ll let you fill in the blank’s.

Your prob one of them morons basing there fact’s off Solo Que, them arena’s will never be balance ever.

Now team que, may not be balanced but all the QQ about spirit ranger’s cracks me up, simple minded kittentards have no idea.

Actually, Mini Ken is a good guardian and plays tpvp quite often. I never see you around though.

You would no longer be a member of the legendary legion of Papa Dock and Friends.

But in seriousness,
The only downside I see would maybe be a bit of server lag, and maybe language barriers? Eu is definitely more competitive though.

I know this might be stretching it, but maybe a simple DPS given number and DPS recieved number somewhere in the UI for each party member (would update every second) would be pretty cool. Some res timer notifications and “who ressed who” like the ones for finishes and downs would be pretty sweet too…ofc those can only have to appear for the spectators.

+1 Hopefully this is looked at.

Jumper.9482:

JonathanSharp.7094:

As I’ve said, if we split EVERYTHING and maintained 3 versions of every skill in the game (PvE/WvW/PvP), we’d be adding a LOT of work for the balance team. As it is, we try to keep most things consistent, and only split where we feel it is needed.

Isn’t it harder trying to make compromises between the three? Rather than tweaking numbers a little between each?

I mean, they are already incredibly split due to the overwhelming effect critdmg and foodbuffs have. It would be nice if we could get some consistency between modes through number tweaking.
eg. Killshot 1shotting people in WvW while being near useless in PvP. Backstab critting for upwards of 14k in WvW while D/P thieves are considered only a tier above warriors in PvP.

Basically this

Updated July 22…fixed build+thanks for the support!

Also probs the last time I update this. No one really likes necro posts lol.

Yeah I know that daze breaks stun, but I had always thought that basilisk was special because it was a “stone” instead of a “stun”. I guess it sort of just sucks….but if this was unintentional then maybe devs should look at it.

Hi devs,

After some testing I have discovered (I believe this is a bug…if it isn’t then my apologies) that hitting a target with basilisk venom and then a steal (traited with sleight of hand) causes the stone to disappear prematurely. This allows a target to easily escape a burst without stunbreakers. I know this might not be the most pressing issue, but it certainly shafts many builds that use basilisk venom and sleight of hand.

Authority.6145:

Burn.5401:

Pretty much how I’ve always played my thief, props OP. I wonder how long it will take all the s/d wannabes to start playing with this build considering how they get destroyed by conditions and that’s where the meta seems to be going.

First of all, there is no such thing as S/D wannabes. S/D is a weapon set just like D/P and D/D.

Secondly, thieves are still forced to play S/D in TPvP because S/D is still superior than D/P for the reasons below;

1.S/D can make a thief “immortal” if played right (always surviving in team fights; aka Jumper’s build).
2.S/D is more effective than D/P because it removes conditions not only from weapon skill but also from using your elite as well as giving boons to your self.
3.S/D is more efficient with escaping from bad situations or bad positioning.
3.S/D is a pain in the kitten – You either deal with S/D thief or you let him keep stripping off your boons and generally annoy you while you focus other targets.
4.D/P has nothing more to offer than burst because it lacks initiative regen and condi removal (which you can only remove three specific conditions).
5.S/D can challenge a closeholder, D/P cant.

Also at the OP regarding Shadow Trap. There is nothing decent with it. It is so strong that I could write you too many examples and explain you why. Every Thief should always bring Shadow Trap because

a.There is no reason not to just as there is no reason for a mesmer never to have portal with illusion of life. It completes your role as a thief.
b.Teams bring you for a specific reason and everything that you choose must be team related and not personal choice.

I think this is all a matter of perspective and the situation. You can argue s/d is better and d/p, however that may just be in your own experience. There are still tons of s/d and d/p thieves out there….it’s pretty clear that both are pretty viable.

On the issue with shadow trap, the only reason why I said it was decent with d/p was because it is contradictory to the thief’s role with d/p. I do however believe that s/d with shadow trap is amazing and should pretty much be used all the time like you said. But again, it’s perspective, and my guide was just a perspective and not a jab at anything.

Updated. Might make it into a guide, but dam forum constraints.

This is quite true. Good job +1

cymerdown.4103:

Aeroxe.8140:

Good point you brought there. But a lot of times there is a bunker at their home, and that is when neutralizing doesnt always work.

If you’re lucky enough to be playing against a team that perma-leaves a bunker on their home point, then enjoy controlling the other 2 points for the rest of the game 5v4. Otherwise, wait till their home point bunker is spotted elsewhere on the map, then go for the quick backcap.

5v4 means that you don’t have a bunker at home…meaning that they can easily backcap you. In that situation, you might have mid, but you have lost side points.
All in all, shadow trap can work. I’ve seen it been used to great effect, but I just don’t like it myself. Assassin’s signet usually means a kill or myself killed in a lot of fights.

cymerdown.4103:

Well, the point isn’t to 1v1 at their home node with Shadow Trap, though. The goal is to use it to quickly neut/cap their point and then leave after winning a team fight. You never stay there and fight — leave them to recap their point and return to mid quickly for the 5v4.

Good point you brought there. But a lot of times there is a bunker at their home, and that is when neutralizing doesnt always work.

cymerdown.4103:

Another option for this build now is to take Shadow Trap instead of Assassin’s Signet. It’s true that your burst will be decreased, but now you will just avoid trying to burst full-health targets by yourself (something that the Mug nerf made harder to do anyway). Instead, you will only target mid- to low-health targets in teamfights, but now you provide your team the added benefit of being able to easily decap the far node at any time using Shadow Trap. The increase in mobility you will gain will put a lot of pressure on the enemy team’s ability to keep their home node without leaving someone there permanently.

Shadow trap is decent, but because thieves really kind of suck at 1v1 (unless you get the jump or running a different build), I would much rather have a mes running portal as they are good 1v1ers. Having a thief use shadow trap is a bit contradictory to their role in a team.

ens.9854:

Thief was never great in teamfights, cluster bomb is slow as balls. You still can interrupt stability stomps/dps spikes (and elite shennanigans), poison field rezzers, and more importantly, dive their dps without dying immediately.

As for damage, it is comparable on shortbow if you use executioner/zerker because of the +1% per init… but that doesn’t take advantage of the changes thief has just seen, and you will be chased off from team fights just like the old days.

Thief IS great at teamfights because of the insane burst potential that no other class can achieve. It is this burst which allows teams to bring a thief to the match. Without this burst potential, one might as well go hgh engi or necro as clusterbomb does mediocre damage in comparison. Smart play (stealths, shadowsteps) allows a thief’s survivability in teamfights, making them not as squishy as one would think in team fights.

The sleight of hand buff was not bad, and is great in spvp. But not in tpvp. I would much rather go 30 in shadow arts if you are looking for a good 1v1 build with d/p (or s/d is good too). Just because thieves got some new toys doesn’t mean that we must use them…old builds still work. But hey, if it works for you then by all means go ahead.

ens.9854:

Rassase.7943:

nice post, do you have any advice for same build but with d/d?
why double fire sigils, they share same internal cd or not? and does fire sigil beats air sigil in your opinion?

I’ve been using d/d recently with 10/30/0/0/30 and hidden killer, soldier amulet (z jewel) and slight of hand. It works extremely well: 20 sec cooldown for a steal that strips stability/protection and then dazes (thx anet!), guaranteed crit on the backstab, and the survivability of running soldiers.

Sleight of hand is just bonkers now paired with bountiful theft, everybody who plays thief should give it a shot. Being to use the steal combo multiple times really made thief a joy to play; I even run scorpion wire in hotjoins for yet another 20s cooldown method of landing cnd.

I can see this working in spvp but I can’t see it really working in tpvp. Sure you might win 1v1s and see big numbers and feel invincible, but this is a team game, and sometimes just winning 1v1s and staying alive is not helpful. You might be able to fulfill the role of a farpoint assaulter such as with cruuk’s or s/d, but in a massive team fight with tons of condi aoes you are useless prettymuch. Even if you bring shortbow, not having 25 in deadly arts really hampers damage and makes shortbow next to abysmal.

What D/D suffers is shadow shot and head shot. These two skills are key, especially head shot. I love D/D and cloak and dagger, but unfortunately death blossom and crippling dagger are pretty useless (esp. crip dagger). I would not recommend D/D…however that shouldn’t stop you from playing it if you really like it.

Double fire sigils because even though they do share the same internal cd, both sigils are just…better than anything else really. Usually you have a 70% crit rate with fury, and you really notice the sigil work when shortbowing or backstabbing.

Fire sigil definitely beats air because of the AoE. Remember that you are a team fighter…not a 1v1er.

Updated July 22. Thanks for the support!

Hi,

My name is Aeroxe and I am a r47 tpvper since beta who mostly mains a backstab thief but also plays necro and ele. I’m no means a pro (I’m really lackluster compared to the more well known thieves out there); however, I do think I have some knowledge and I thought I might as well share some helpful tips for the awesome community.

THIEF OVERVIEW:

The general stereotype of an assassin is one that quickly takes down a target and then gets the hell out of there. If you play a backstab thief, that is generally what you will be doing; laying low in stealth and taking down a single target as quickly as possible.

A backstab thief is a mechanically easy class to play and is great for newcomers, but, unlike common perception, takes some intelligence and game sense to play well.

BUILD:
10/30(side strikes, signets of power, executioner)/0/0/30(thrill of the crime, bountiful theft, sleight of hand)

Utilities: Hide in Shadows, Shadow Refuge, Shadowstep, Assassin’s Signet, Basilisk Venom

Scholar’s Runes

Beserker’s Amulet+Jewel

D/P: Sigil of Fire+Sigil of Force
Shortbow: Sigil of Fire

MINDSET/STRATEGY: (probs the most important part of the guide)

1) Your role as a thief is a team fighter. That’s right….a team fighter. You don’t like 1v1s. Bad thieves like 1v1s (unless you are running a farpoint assaulter or 1v1 build). Unless you get the jump on someone (your burst fully connects), you really shouldn’t be engaging in any 1v1s, esp. with the current meta of condis. In team fights, you should be taking out squishy targets as soon as your burst recharges and shortbowing the rest of the time.

2) Patience is key…wait for protection or stability or c’ds to end or the end of the dodge to strike. Do not be overambitious and know when to disengage (you cannot take down 2 people by yourself…most of the time).

COMBOS: (Basilisk Venom (dont use steal if you basilisk most of the time) and Assassin’s Signet beforehand)

1) Blackpowder+Heartseeker (in middle of animation use steal)+BS
The most well known combo. Use this when you are entering a team fight without shadow refuge or you are going into a fight with your teammate already engaged with just one other (they are having a 1v1). Shouldn’t be using this as much.

2)BS+steal in the middle of the animation (stealthed before hand…mostly from shadow refuge but also from heal)
The most important combo. Use this as much as possible and when engaging in a forced 1v1 or defending a node against one other. Positioning is most important here because if you aren’t faced toward your opponent your backstab will miss and you will be unstealthed.

AFTER COMBO:

1) Heartseeker spam
Do this when you know that it only takes one hit left.

2)Headshot->Heartseeker
Do this when your combo wasn’t really enough.

3)Shortbow
Do this when you are in a teamfight or low in health.

STOMPING/FINISH HIM/HER!:

Here are the special ways to stomp as a thief:

1) Blackpowder->Stomp
Use this as much as possible. Will protect your stomp from being interrupted by all projectile knockdowns/dazes/stuns.
2)Blackpowder->Stomp->Shadowstep away->Shadowstep back before stomp animation finishes
Not used so much due to needing the shadowstep utility available, but good if you really need to get that stomp down for your team and there are a ton of people coming at you.
3) Stomp->Cancel->Stomp->Shadowstep(sometimes) before animation finishes
Mes and ele.

With all stomping, one must decide whether to just kill the downed enemy or stomp. This decision really comes down to game sense and what your team is doing, but generally, you should just kill the downed enemy if they are glasscannon.

OTHER STUFF:

1) Timing “1” right after the “3” skill on d/p when it connects allows you to backstab and still have the shadowstep towards your foe.

2) Do not underestimate shortbow. You should be using the shortbow 70% of the time or you are probs playing thief wrong.

3) Inverting the camera above you (bird’s eye view) let’s your heartseeker a shorter distance, allowing you to get more heartseekers into the blackpowder smoke field.

4) Steal is also an escape if you find yourself in a bad situation. Use it when all utilities are on cooldown.

5) BACKstab. If you have to maneuver around your opponent after your stun to get to your opponent’s back….do it. Unless you are sure that a halfdamage backstab will finish him/her off, then go around.

6) Successful Heartseeking: Watch for your opponent to dodge. When he dodges, hit heartseeker. By the time your heartseeker hits, your opponent will be at the end of their dodge and vulnerable.

7) The third auto attack really sucks because of the aftercast.
Doublestrike->Wildstrike->something else (such as heartseeker) gives the most dps with daggers.

1) Warriors. What does anet think of them and the recent changes to them? Any plans?
2) Necros. What does anet think of them and the recent changes to them? Any plans?

One other thing:

I think people really just need to l2p and post valid questions instead of posting questions that are clearly qq intentional towards the current necro metagame. Necros are not “clearly” OP or “blatantly” superior.

I’m not sure if this has been discussed yet, but I thought it would be pretty cool if some replay function could be implemented in the game for past tournament pvp matches. It would be pretty awesome to look at recorded lost games from a list and see where one went wrong, what one did right, and other players’ movements. It would be even cooler to be able to download other players’ past tournament replay files and see how they play in order to learn.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that a replay function along the lines of sc2 replays I think would really promote the improvement of player skill and community.