Guild Wars 2

There should never ever in any case, ever be a team of 4 stacked classes, yet, this is happening with Necros, and only necros. Never have I seen a team of 4-5 of the same class than Necro.

I have a hard time with tanky condi burn zerker warriors. They just tack on 7 stacks of burning and lots of other condi’s while I melt and do no damage. =\

Just play something else, man. Sad to say it, I really am. I’ve loved Thief since beta, but as of now, when I played my Thief, I lost just about every ranked game. Swapped to a support Ele and started winning.

I wish this game were more about skill than about the class you’re playing.

I’ve tried playing my Thief in ranked today. Lost so many games just trying to push through. I switched over to my support Ele and magically started winning. It pains me to see that as a Thief, I’m a total liability to my team, yet I change class and things get better.

I wish this meta allowed for Thief to be played at the same level as other classes because as of now, it just doesn’t seem so. Pretty sad about it. At least I can play support. /criesinterally

Darknicrofia.2604:

Anomaly.7612:

Keira Ferland.5619:

Anomaly.7612:

This post just drools with arrogance. 10/10.

He does bring up a good point with subpar players being able to reach legendary by playing only against other subpar players.

Yeah, I agree with that, but as it stands now, it seems like the only way to get out of amber is to either be in a premade on TS, or just be a soloQ hero who can magically carry the team on their winged steeds. No thanks.

what? I got out of amber in 9 games as a solo que, the first 7 of which were played on mesmer to finish out the meta achievement.

Just…..HOW? I’m getting terrible matches each time and it’s getting tiring.

I still don’t understand how if you’re a “good” player, you’ll just go on a winning streak. How are all these “good” players carrying their team if, like you say, it’s a mish mash of terrible and good?

Not sure how you managed those wins as I too, waited until tonight, and I’m doing nothing but losing, and I KNOW I’m not a bad player.

Keira Ferland.5619:

Anomaly.7612:

This post just drools with arrogance. 10/10.

He does bring up a good point with subpar players being able to reach legendary by playing only against other subpar players.

Yeah, I agree with that, but as it stands now, it seems like the only way to get out of amber is to either be in a premade on TS, or just be a soloQ hero who can magically carry the team on their winged steeds. No thanks.

I agree with so much of this. I have 400 ranked games played and thousands unranked. Been playing since beta. Yet I’ve only won a single game out of 10 tonight when that wasn’t the case before. Sorry, but I can’t carry my whole team. I’m just one Thief, which may be the issue.

Had I been playing Scrapper, I’d probably be fine.

This post just drools with arrogance. 10/10.

Has got to be kitten me. Out of 10 games played tonight I only won 1? At this rate, I’ll never make it out of amber, this just seems atrocious and I’m not the only one having these issues. I’ve talked to people who have a 25 loss streak. What gives? Something needs to.

Throwing in the towel for now. No point in playing when it just seems impossible to win.

(Continued to remove tanky amulets).
#TopKek

Anet is telling me to play a Scrapper, Reaper, Necro or support Ele. I don’t like feeling that I need to play one of these to be competitive. I really wish the “minor balance updates” we were supposed to get today even changed anything relevant.

I see they changed pistol whip’s damage to reflect PvE’s damage and no longer is increased by cripple on the target. Was that a buff or nerf? Kinda sounds like they’re baking in the damage.

Iason Evan.3806:

apocalypso.4895:

Iason Evan.3806:

I don’t own HoT. If I wanted to come back to at least try the new season, should I bother? If I should bother, what core professions are competitive? Thanks in advance.

Simply put, you don’t stand a chance, check my post above yours.

Your post was what made me respond. I wanted to gauge how you guys felt about it. Is that really the overall consensus? That Elite specs re pretty much required to be competitive? They say they are trying to grow esports and then hide all the competitive specs behind the HoT paywall? I guess I’ll wait to return then unless someone has a core spec or two they’d like to share that is competitive. Thanks again for the feedback.

Theyre not competitive. Don’t waste your time. Balance is a complete joke. If you don’t own HoT, you can’t compete. HoT elite specs (aside from Thief, Mesmer, warrior), are completely overturned and need changes that ANET obviously doesn’t care to do as all their MLG pro teams kitten with mirror comps of 2xRev, Scrapper, Reaper, Tempest.

Find a better game. I know I am. (Been playing off and on since beta). I hear a lot of people are going to Blade and Soul, Black Desert or The Division.

Iason Evan.3806:

I don’t own HoT. If I wanted to come back to at least try the new season, should I bother? If I should bother, what core professions are competitive? Thanks in advance.

None of the core profs are viable. The only ones worth playing are Scrapper Engi, Reaper Necro, Revenants, and Tempest support Ele. #AnetBalance

I just want PvP armor back. That is all. 0/

But really though, I do like your ideas. Anet should just hire you. They’d have a much better rewards system.

The damage from DH LB 2 needs toned down. If it can hit for 9K and is on a short CD, that’s just too much. Tone down the damage or increase the CD, it can’t just have both.

A Thief friend of mine is leaving due to balance issues as well. I too have begun looking around at other games while I wait for some proper nerfs to the power creep and OP things in general. (Engi in general, Necros, condi’s in general, Rev damage/sustain).

Classes should either have sustain or damage. Not both. That is the primary cause for all of this. It’s like all the classes that already had good sustain through invulns and blocks just had their damage tuned up to a Thief while Thief only got one more dodge, lel.

Stand The Wall.6987:

if you constantly complain about aoe, maybe anticipate/ dont stand in it. play more carefully.

That doesn’t really work in a game that is all about capturing and holding the same point that has AoE lines all over it. SOMEONE has to sit in there.

Orion.3812:

DHawk.2687:

now to sum it all up, my last point, if a whole thread disaggrees with your point of it being op in wvw/pvp, ppl that have been maining thief since get go, that have been present in this forum since forever, don’t you think you should rethink your somewhat silly argumentation?

No, I shouldn’t, because there have been several in the thread that seemed to agree that the autoattack buff was not the change that thieves needed or liked the idea of more interesting mechanics instead. I have even received a private message from a person who agreed with me but didn’t want to deal with the toxicity they knew that they would get in response for publicly agreeing with me on the subject.

You’ve made comparisons in your post to abilities that are nothing like backstab, with completely different damage models, cast times and counters, as a way of trying to argue that the autoattack buff was merited. This thread isn’t about backstab being overpowered. It’s about autoattack, which contributes a large portion of thief personal damage even in PvP. Talking about every mechanic or ability that other classes have that is good is only deflecting the argument without addressing it.

I completely agree on one point, that you can’t just follow someone around autoattacking them and expect to live. However, in the course of one fight with the d/p weapon set you’ll frequently find yourself with a blinded target. What should you do while your target is blind? Autoattack. After every shadow shot, after every smoke field, and at least once after every backstab until they turn to face you, you’re autoattacking. Like it or not, thief autoattack is a significant portion of thief damage in a realistic scenario.

Did you know that staff thieves reflect missiles during their autoattack chain? That’s right, one of the best autoattacks in the game for DPS provides missile reflection for a full second, every two seconds. That’s 50% uptime on missile reflect, plus 4 stacks vulnerability, for every autoattack chain. Does Dragonhunter’s longbow 2 seem a bit ridiculous, compared to backstab because of its similar damage and 1200 range? At first glance, sure… but then you have to consider that backstab can only be dodged or blocked and that Dragonhunters can end up eating their own True Shot… because the thief used autoattack.

I agree. Skill based combat isn’t based on auto attacks. This game favors auto attacks and condi’s for sustained damage all too often. Move damage out of AA’s and into skills, and get rid of all this auto proccing nonsense. The power creep is real and needs to be toned down on all accounts. The tankier the game gets, the more power people want. Roll back the tankiness and power and we’ll have a better situation.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I’m running 3750 armor and 21k health, mussels gnashblade for the 10% damage reduction and several sources of Protection and now instead of being able to beat thieves 1v1 and at least escape 2v1, I am down within seconds. It is exactly as described above; Basi, Steal, BS, AA a couple of times.

Utterly absurd damage increase.

I don’t know what you’re smoking, but I want some. Mostly Valk with Zerker and I open on a tank like you and get them down 1/3 of their HP. They just block/invuln/dodge/heal and back to full then look at me and bap me on the head and I’m down. #rektm8

Simonoly.4352:

Daredevil/Thief is woefully superfluous in sPvP until Shiro gets nerfed.

True and I’m salty that Revs have basically sidelined Thieves. Hopefully tomorrow after the “minor balance changes” that I hope to god aren’t that minor, we Thieves will be all like……

kreven.6017:

plz up our dps or nerf their tankiness I’m zerk teef I’m not supposed to hit 600 crit

Nerfing tankiness on them needs to happen as this game doesn’t need anymore power creep, but I feel your pain. I just don’t engage a scrapper 1v1 as it’s not worth it.

TheOneWhoSighs.7513:

200-250k on any mesmer build you could name, is pretty normal.
It’s a small amount of total damage because you’re applying that to singular targets throughout the whole game.

Basically, you don’t provide a whole hell of a lot of cleave.

Thieves have superior cleave, and more damage overall.
Therefore you getting 360-400k sounds about right.

I haven’t played thief in a long while, so Idk where it should actually land. But what you’ve suggested doesn’t seem outlandish to me.

One, I thought your name was, “TheOneWhoSleighs,” which would have been amazing, but I still like your name as is.

I agree, I can see what you mean by that. Thanks for the info as I was curious. Kinda bummed because I’m not sure what a mesmer brings to the table that another class doesn’t aside from a portal. Any help on that? What makes a mesmer worth bringing to a team? Because I really enjoy the play style a lot, but I want to feel like I’m contributing.

Ananeos.4587:

Power shatter is a burst build. Burst != sustained damage.

Does != also mean, =\= ? An equal with a slash through it? If so, I agree. :L

So how much damage does the average power shatter build do in PvP? I’ve been playing a mesmer and I’ve been finding that I do barely 200K per match on average. Why is this? On my Thief I can easily do 360 or break to 400 depending on if my team is well coordinated.

Do I just need to L2P more, or does Mesmer just not have that much damage to dish out?

I’d love to see minor tweaks here and there when needed throughout the season instead of flipping the meta on its head every 3 months or so. Also, I’d REALLY love to be able to participate in public test servers. I’d give a lot of feedback on new changes being tested if this were possible. WoW had it, and it helped the game out a lot in terms of player feedback.

Asrat.2645:

i doubt the build diversity had any connection to thieves not beeing in pro leagues.

You can thank overtuned Revs making Anet more money through HoT sales for that one.

With spvp in the disgusting state it’s in, I’m actually really enjoying WvW for the first time. So thank you HoT for allowing me to find enjoyment in areas of the game where Thieves still matter.

(EDIT: Scratch that, my Thief is utter garbage against anything in WvW for the same reasons as spvp. Currently taking a break from the game until they fix some glaring issues).

Azukas.1426:

So after the pro league finals we saw not one thief present.

So before I get to suggestions on what can get thief in meta ima gowing to ask a simple question:

Y’all on board with DP not needing nerfs now?

I honestly believe a rev nerf done right would allow thief to enter meta along with minimal thief buffs. I would buff the boon strip on SD back to 2. I would slightly increase back stab and see what happens. I also advocate for less AoE kitten storm game play from all the other classes.

Thoughts?

I completely agree. Other classes need to be toned down. Thief is just fine right now, but other classes like Engi, who can do an AoE bullkitten storm that does backstab crit damage but in an AoE on a CD is just kittened.

We need less AoE and to nerf the Rev enough to where we’re actually viable as a pick again, because as it stands now, a Rev brings everything a Thief does and more. It’s just sad. Even Magic Toker is playing a Rev now when before he was Thief all day.

Auudam.2971:

WuGzaGenius.5684:

Auudam.2971:

Esports is growing more then ever.
I love this game but it’s not Esports friendly in this pvp mode.
Arena could make this the biggest MMORPG Esports game.
Over and out.

As much as I would love arenas, Its what drove WoW into a kittenhole. The viewer experience was so bad watching people basically duel in small maps…

You’d think it would be more intimate to watch but Gw2 Needs, NEEDS an in game spectator for these types of events much like CS:GO. You open up the client go to the game browser and spectate each and every person.

This would open up to looking at their builds ON YOUR OWN WATCH, checking out each players perspective whenever you want.

Immersion is the way to go, watching this game like a chess game isn’t.

I would sure like that, really. Like in Dota 2 for example when you can join any game and watch from a player perspective or just free camera. That’s a really good idea.

I didn’t really play WoW, can u elaborate your tought a bit more about why the arenas drove the game backwards (or at least from a viewing prespective)?

Thx for good post

These are all such great ideas!

Auudam.2971:

Smaller Arenas like 2v2 or 3v3, heck even 1v1 would not make it to bad to watch. It’s just to daem hard to follow what’s happening in a conquest match. I really tried watching the Pro Leauge this week but for me it was to hard. The camera just jumps around and you’re missing to much.
It gets hard to highlight a play someone did and so on, do you follow my tought?

I watch alot of Esports and the conquest just seems like all over the place from a viewers perspective.

I might be wrong tough, just my 2 coins.

You really hit the nail on the head. There’s just so much cleave, AoE, random CC, boon and condi spam that makes watching this game just dreadful, no thanks to the badly utilized camera system. We need to be seeing the PoV of the players themselves to see the skills they’re using. Highlight exact plays. Hell, even have a slow motion replay showcasing how a certain played used X move to counter Y and change the game. They have to do so much better for this game to be accepted as Esports because as of now it just seems like a joke. I often wondered when the shoutcasters were getting all excited if it was just fake hype because they too didn’t seem to know what was even going on.

“OH! They got downed, they over extended. I don’t know if they can come back from this one!”

Just seems really generic to me.

Yashuoa.9527:

I have had several times that someone with a knockback, knocks me into a wall (literally into it). Next I am stuck in there and cant get out, unless an enemy kills me with aoe through the wall,
but if they dont, then i am stuck there all game.

Would be welcome if they fix this and implement some button or option to get free or respawn at base or so.

Otherwise a knockback can basically turn a game into 4v5.

I’ve had this happen to me on skyhammer. Getting knocked into a wall next to a base and wasn’t able to get myself out or even die.

I’m sorry, but even watching WoW tournies is more interesting than this. You actually see the ability chains that end up turning the tide of a fight. You see the cooldowns used that made that last big play that took down a healer, or a main target, which leads to the game being won or lost. WoW arena can turn on a dime in moments due to a perfect play of all the teammates coordinating their abilities.

That’s called skill. This game is just everyone spamming their AoE’s on point and trying to outsustain. I actually didn’t think there were that many kills. I personally felt it very uninteresting to watch teams playing a mirror comp, which was a very limited one at that. There’s no build diversity or profession diversity. It actually makes me not want to play this game at all anymore as seeing that my main profession (Thief) isn’t even in a place to be played at high levels like that, so why play? They’re basically telling me to play a Rev, Engi, Necro, or support Ele. Coincidentally, five professions I don’t enjoy at all.

There needs to be some MAJOR changes made to this game in order for it to be anywhere near balanced or in a place where it can be “E-Sports.” In LoL, for example, there are plays where different ults and abilities line up from different players which leads to a big push in one direction that wipes the team and ends up resulting in a win or loss. I just saw none of that. It was just a long drawn out slug fest of AoE.

No longer motivated to play this game. It’s just unfun. Too much random CC/AoE/Condi just flying around like bacon grease in a hot pan of pork strips.

I watched all the matches, and I have to say. How is it ok that the only viable classes are Revenant, Scrapper, Druid (barely), Necro (barely, they were a weak link the whole time), Ele (only a support).

On top of that, only one build for each of them is really viable, save for Rev who can go Mallyx/Shiro instead of Shiro/Glint.

What’s going on with this game? It was really boring for me personally to watch two teams of the same exact comp go against each other. It just wasn’t that interesting. They were all tanky/bunkery, but still did enough damage to finally kill one another. Just makes me sad to see how boring (in my opinion) this meta has become, even with the removal of tanky ammy’s and nerfs to certain traits.

There just needs to be more variation and flavor because as it is now, there’s hardly any.

I’d really appreciate having the mystic forge and crafting stations in HoTM if we’re to be sitting in there for long enough. The map we have is pretty big and has a lot of potential for expansion within it. Tutorial island still exists and there’s still a way to get there.

Tutorial island is complete underutilized space as well as a lot of other underutilized space within HoTM. Let’s expand on the options for what we can do in it to keep us busy during ques.

For all those out there that have legendaries, what was your way of attaining them?
I personally don’t have map completion on any character, so it seems like Gift of Exploration is as far off of an achievement as the legendary itself is.

What route should I take? Farm gold to then just buy it outright, or try and take the time to craft it? (Note: I also don’t have 500 level weapon crafting).

All Matters Fecal.9560:

Can’t comment on D/P vs rev personally, but using the strat I use with S/D, spamming the dodge skill flanking strike during UA, works well.

Just dropping a blind field with black powder if using D/P while they teleport to you should work. Or just git gud and learn to interrupt it during the initial cast (I still have no idea what that looks like).

Hmmm, I do like the interrupt idea with more headshots. I’ll have to go to a dueling channel to try dueling them more.

So, what do you all think? With the average D/P meta build, what are your strategies? I just seem to be getting ruined by them even when pressuring them. They’re able to block and heal to full quite easily while I use a lot of evades of their 2 skill, UA.

What should I try?

People would jump onto the hype train of individual and guild player housing. I can understand a guild hall needing some time and effort, but it’s too much right now.

It’d be a big step in the right direction to make it cheaper, and even have individual housing too.

It’d be nice to see an honor system, much like league. A symbol next to a player’s name that can signify that they have positive behavior, or one to signify that they’re probably going to be a troll. Anything would be nice.

That’d be really nice. Anything to cut down on the toxic trash talk that I’ve been witnessing a lot more of lately.

Wow, thanks for the tips! I think I’ll just go for an ascended quiver instead as it’s the cheapest route for now.

Ah, I see! I agree that the new maps seem far too large. The EBG maps seem pretty great, though. Reminds me a lot of EoTM that I’ve always enjoyed. Maybe it’s good that I wasn’t spoiled by the old maps? xD

So on my Necro I chose initiate’s and my Thief I chose recruit, but I was wondering if it was possible to continue the achievement for the upgraded initiate’s pack on my thief, even though I chose a different one for him?

Also, Isn’t the final form of them ascended?

Vayne.8563:

I’m still having fun. Finally got 161 mastery points today. Pretty long haul but I wasn’t particularly focused on it either. Crafted Kudzu after making the precursor. Finished one of my elite specialization weapons. Pretty close to getting my vigil backpack. Running more Fractals than I used to.

So yes, I’m still having fun.

But I’m also glad Anet is going to do something to make the game more approachable for people who don’t have as much time.

How long does it take to finish the backpacks? Would I be better off buying an ascended quiver if I don’t have one?

So I’ve never been too into WvW, but I’ve been getting more into it recently now that I’m in a guild that enjoys it, but I keep seeing people talking about how it’s now bad? I think I’m missing something as I’m not sure what they’re referring to.

So…What’s going on? Honestly curious to see what people have to say.

My only qualm is just how difficult the average NPC can be to fight. On my Thief, (mostly zerkers), I end up dying to just about everything including the tiny demons aka: pocket raptors.

Other than that and how the maps can seem purposefully confusing at times, I’m enjoying the beautiful landscapes.

I’m curious about how long did it take players to finish the story? Also, do you end up with an ascended backpiece by the end that you chose at the beginning?

I’m wondering as I chose Whispers on my Necro and Vigil on my Thief, but I want both backpieces for skins as well as stats. One was valk, the other zerkers.

Thanks!~

Hey! These two builds are really solid. Most run with zerker gear, but feel free to change out rings to something more tanky if you feel you need the added sustain. Getting ascended rings and ammy’s from laurel merchants is super cheap. Also, if you PvP, the weapon and armor boxes you get from the dungeon tracks are great! I just made an 80 Necro last night!

His name is Xyranthion Rasmus. Feel free to add me! I’ll be doing HoT maps with my guild as well to unlock the reaper line.

Hope to see you in game! ~

Yeah, that’s nice! Do you recommend Valk gear if you can’t afford Viper?