Guild Wars 2

Dahir.4158:

Around 1AM you’ll get overlook poi. Have faith in night crew.

3-4am more like with the WC and stuff, still not likely this week IMO so you’ ll have to wait patiently, try being a part of our WvW community and get on TS. (We have cookies)

We’ve been red so many times on EB like its our home away from home especially with Fergie’s house right outside the keep.

I suggest using gap closes like Infiltrators strike and signet whilst dodge rolling – and using shadow return whenever necessary to engage and disengage.

Use Flanking strike to activate larcenous, otherwise most of your DPS will come from the Auto attack chain and selective use of Cloak And Dagger – after that if you can land Tactical Strike from behind to daze it gives you an opportunity to lock the guy down so you can focus some DPS.

Also don’t panic, I’ve seen some thieves who use Blinding powder as a utility when they get immobilized which can be cleansed with withdraw, and IR/SR is still a viable condition cleanse even with the cast time , unless you’ve been feared/stunned.

This time last year we had the same problems, a major guild left, others followed and commanders were burned out, we were also stuck in T1 with no sight of us dropping anytime soon.

What happened is a bunch of us dedicated people decided to make an effort to fight back, painting our borderland our color at the end of the night was our aim.
And then a people like me stepped up to command, guilds formed/transferred and improved – once we dropped we had the chance to rebuild.

Our community must be lucky though as our WvW pop fluctuates, transferring might of been an option at one point, but for those who stuck around we were proud of our achievements, it might not be the same case for you though.

The point I’m making is the grass isn’t always going to be greener on the other side, every community is different so you probably won’t find yourself happy in some way.

Tl;Dr – Desolation has had many lowpoints where you thought we would freefall compared to many other servers in the past, but each time we’ve rebuilt even though we’ve had to fight outnumbered for months.

Probably this hambow warrior who thought I was a easy kill, then he started standing around like ‘lol wtf?’ and so when I got his health down to 10% HP he started running.

Also anyone I manage to pull with scorpion wire, catches them by surprise lol.

Two weeks in I think most of us are getting more variation post Tournament which is nice, over here in the EU.

Generally you won’t find a fair fight in wvw, you will find that most of the time you’ll be chasing or running away from zergs, or from certain Classes running “Cheese” builds that are not easy to counter.

Personally I also scout out guild groups and any other zergs running, and sometimes I get to lure them towards our own zerg or my guild.
In the end I still have a good time even if I get chased or ganked., I merge with other roamers if needed – but sadly I rarely find many fellow Roamers on Desolation post Tournament.

I wish the game was actually balanced for more variation in Large Scale Open field fights, but it’s mostly Zergs running Melee Trains with Ranged AOE unless it’s a random pug composition, even then some Servers have taught their Community to run Blob Trains the same way, but with less Build crafting and coordination of course.

GvG lacks the support and can be toxic to some communities if the Guilds aren’t open minded, PPT brings a Community to work together – sadly it’s a flawed Scoring Metric that doesn’t really show Server Superiority in terms of Strategy and Tactics, it only rewards Servers with more people playing at night or day.

A well specced and skilled enough Thief should be good enough, with that said I wouldn’t put the average Thief high on the list otherwise compared to a Ele, Necro or even Engineer tbh.

But decent DPS, blind fields, Venom share, stealth ressing and a spammable blast finisher isn’t too shabby.

S/D despite all the nerfs. Not because of any other Thieves

It is mainly #5 and #2, while #3 is also a nice gap closer and blinds.
Last night I saw a d/p vs d/d duel and d/p is much more efficient, trying to pull off cloak and daggers takes practice as there isn’t easy access to stealth unless you use other utilities so that you can land a backstab.

I’ve got to mention that the d/p user was quite new to playing a thief!

Everybody knew SFR would win the coverage game, yes we desolation has an army of Greeks, Canadians and Zombies at night which is only countered by Baruch Bay, it was fun while the hype was high and every server we fought was trying – although the format as you imagine allowed a bit of manipulation.

Never mind the talk of collusion and politics, thanks to SFR and everyone involved in the Gold League during Season 2.

Credit to you for coming up for it first, but that’s how things goes in terms of who made it popular when it became viable – this thread doesn’t do you much favours aswell, just don’t take constructive criticism as trolling unlike people like Cro.

Sizer comes from my own Server, I’ve heard of him, but I’m not much of a PvPer, more of a WvWer really.

I’m sure many others like me like to mess about with Builds and Gear in WvW for personal lolz, I wouldn’t refer anything that I find viable as my own or anyone else’s.

Title is a bit misleading here as it’s not really a Pure S/D Montage I see D/P and P/D and some bad/squishy players, but that goes for alot of WvW montages though.

Better rewards outside the Seasons, less coverage wars, make zergs less OP and a better Scoring system.

It won’t stop stacking on Servers unless Anet collects data on each Server’s WvW population and puts a cap once it reaches a a limit, but with EoTM that is that fix for the queues – sadly that is just a PVE Farm mainly.

I myself get ganked by blobs all the time, but maybe cause I’m a scout.. still it happens when I’m not as I’m kitten in’.

My favourite moment is probably when we stopped Vizunah Golem Rush on Deso BL AND EB , then they attempted to take SM and also failed, but they ended up dropping fireworks all over SM which was a nice gesture.

As Dakheus suggests S/D might be a better idea, but S/P isn’t bad it’s just not as mobile even though you’ve got access to a blind field.

I still insist that an Evade Build using full Acrobatics is your best bet, but putting 2 in Shadow Arts for a bit more toughness doesn’t hurt.

Probably most thieves apart from p/d which is kinda tricky the way I play, rangers because a lot are pretty bad as it’s a popular class that is hard to master in some ways.

You can turn off Emotes, but Whispers.. some of them are bad yes, just block and or ignore them and report them if they get abusive. You are feeding their ego in a way if you keep arguing back.

I’d rather have Direct Damage while in large fights and Condis while Roaming to down people sooner rather later.

When I command I use S/D and Venom share, so for the initial bomb I double dodge using Flanking strike and any evades, and I then switch to Short Bow for some AOE aswell as Daggerstorm if I need additional Stability.

^^FYI the DDOS turned out to be a hardware fault or do you mean last night? TS was fine last night afaik.

All we want is a balanced competition, but will they make significant changes to WvW in between? Doubtful, so I am happy to have these Tournaments as long as they learn.. which isn’t the case.

But I like having these Tournaments rather than the usual RNG stuff where you just have to play for rankings and ratings, as long as they are more flexible and shorter in the future.

Necros, but last night I fought and lost to this necro twice – the third time I managed to kite him enough for a stalemate using no SA. It’s all about adapting if you get the chance!

I know a lot of Thieves roam with D/P and P/D mainly, but I love using S/D or S/P.
Of course I struggle against some other classes more than others especially, but I would not change for the sake of countering certain builds which are strong while roaming especially 1 on 1.

I think apart from the usual classes, Engi should be a lot of fun and should have plenty of viable roaming builds.

Be thankful it’s just recycled old content, until Living World Season 2 begins it won’t hurt PvX populations like Desolation.

Terrahero.9358:

This whole format is a joke.

And now we have a hilarious situation where BB and Riverside both want to be holding back so their glicko rating is lower then the other. Whoever has a lower glicko rating will next week, last week, get to stomp tier2 for easy 5 points instead of fight in tier1 and risk getting but 1 point and likely no more then 3.

Yea.. such a bad format really, BB is setfor an easier match-up and will probably get 5 points in the final week, while SFR might stop slacking next week so Deso will end up joint 2nd all because of how the Swiss Style system is working.

But still Deso should be proud in many ways no matter what position we end up in, even though Gold League is not the standard like last season.

Wanze.8410:

During the last 3 days of the last match up, FSP pushed hard to come first with the matchup of AM and Gandara. Many members put in night shifts and personally, i didnt play much since reset because of it. It also shows on our tick that there are many more like me on FSP right now.

I remember last Season when you put in a insane effort to overtake Fort Ranik, obviously later on when you faced us you were burnt out unlike us, where pretty we much dominated every one of our Match-ups.

I know how it feels though, putting all that effort in for your Community to ‘win’ it feels good, but doing it for 9 weeks in a row with politics in between is asking alot..

D/P thieves using Shadow Rejuvenation are frustrating, they aren’t impossible to counter, but being able to disengage using Shadow Step, go into stealth and come back for another burst is frustrating unless you can lock them down and take them down.

This is in a 1v1 situation though where some Builds aren’t so balanced in WvW that you’ll need a Build to counter which I don’t like to do.
In a group you’ll often get so focused on you can’t avoid the backstab when it happens.
Any changes to black powder will need consideration towards S/P.

The amount of points Desolation has gained from Stomps has been pretty kitten impressive during the Tournament afaik. I don’t know the statistics for everyone else, but if people were to use it to their advantage it would be abusing the system , thankfully most Match-ups are still determined by taking structures and having superior coverage anyway.

So I don’t see anything wrong if small groups of people from the same Guild are playing on separate Servers, as it won’t make that much of a difference.
Let those who don’t abuse the system have their fun.

As above says SFR focused on BB when they took the lead, now Deso is seen a threat – they’ve been slacking a lot this week.
Chill out, people are being way too competitive over this, be glad when this is over.. 9 weeks too long and we might have to endure each other for another 2 weeks!

That’s the thing really, you can disengage from a fight, heal and prepare for your next move – all while being under stealth. Without it, it isn’t as easy but it is definitely doable especially with an active heal like Mug and an Active/Passive heal like Pain Response or Assassins reward which isn’t as potent as Shadow Rejuvenation, yet they’re still useful traits for some Sustain.

phaeris.7604:

It’s boring fighting the same two servers who use the same boring tactics week after week. SFR- a blob with no roamers. BB – only fight empty keeps and run at the first hint of an encounter.

I don’t think Deso are saints themselves, but that’s Gold league for you.. you aren’t on topic though. We blob, we gank in groups and we Golem Rush when people sleep.

After-all WvW is Coverage Wars it’s a team effort, if you burnout you only have individuals to blame for taking it a bit too seriously cause it’s still just a game, it shouldn’t be a chore, but the way WvW is designed it is.

I think it’s the best Melee weapon for Zerging, but also for decent while roaming – watch out for any Guardians popping retal though it will hurt.

You don’t really need it, but it helps and synergizes well with certain builds and weapon-sets

Dee Jay.2460:

Make sure your enemies are distracted. That’s by far the most helpful thing when running a Thief which is why it works so well to run with a tanky partner.

This. Let’s say you are solo roaming in wvw; most of the time while you are outnumbered you won’t beat a decent enough group with a good setup especially 3 thieves using D/P and P/D, they will focus on you with all their Burst and Condis and even if you manage to down one they will just res each other. -.-

Otherwise pick the easiest target out of the group and hope for the best.

You just need to pace yourself if your match-up is a blowout or your league is one/two-sided. At least the EU Gold has been fairly competitive http://mos.millenium.org/ I Imagine BB, Deso (us) and SFR will take a long vacation after this tournament.

I still see plenty around over here, and that’s against Baruch bay in the EU who have a group of 10 thieves that run together.

I’ve tried it out myself and I found it viable even without the right rune set, strength runes should work out nicely tbh – but its not my preferred style, its still very forgiving.

Because of population imbalance and the way transfers were handled I dont think any format would be fair, but in the EU Gold League between Desolation, BB and SFR it has been very much competitive unlike the weeks one of us dropped down where Desolation and BB have won quite easily.

You may find you have to use Shadows embrace and hide in shadows against heavy condis especially in wvw with all those stacks and duration food, that is even with Lyssa runes which are still viable.

I just got called a 3 spammer by a D/P Thief of all people.. for using S/P

I love fighting against the odds in WvW, you have to pick your fights as a Guild, Roamer or even as a Zerg against the best Guilds. It’s one the best times you can have in wvw.

Defending a Keep or tower while outnumbered is not impossible if you Siege up properly – I know many people dislike defensive Siege, but it’s the only way we can defend our own Structures without a Zerg and it does feel more rewarding compared to just joining the zerg.

You don’t need a commander though, more people need to learn to take the initiative rather than follow the dorito, not that its bad to do that now and again for some social zerging. YOLO.

I think S/P has far more use than S/D even though I love the play-style of the latter, but there are people who QQ about Pistol whip! The thing about D/P is blind Spam and the thing about P/D is the condi bunkers running around, the moral of the story is you’ll find someone QQ’ing about some build in WvW because there isn’t much balance.

I got ganked in the OS last night while looking for some duels, maybe I QQ’d to myself but I never whispered anyone in rage, it’s a PVP area after-all. Srs Business.

Klonko.8341:

Also being able to regen ~300 health per sec in stealth is also VERY TOO STRONG since being in stealth is being invul to single target skill. So its some free 300 health tick going every 3 sec giving them the power to outlast an enemy than can retaliate 3 sec per 5-7 sec. Combined with the huge amount of pressure, that class has everything to win any build when played

Finally the D/P problem for me is the black powder initial gunshot that apply blind. It prevent you from doing counter play like an interrupt while they do their HEARTSEEKER.

As a thief pistol whipping them outside the BP makes d/p thieves cry.
I don’t think SR Is an issue unless traited into additional heal under stealth, I don’t but a lot of thieves do and come back in good health as much cluster bombs I try to spray.

Seriously some of the qq here has been embarrassing, this tournament was supposed to competition with more purpose and reward , its turned into something that’s been taken too seriously – its a game kitten . It’s still WvW with all the things that need changing and fixing with a slap of competitive paint in a funny format.

As for Double teaming it happens, 1st place focuses on 2nd and 3rd on whoever they want which is usually 2nd place, or wherever they can get points or want to fight.
It is no where near as bad as what’s happening to BG. but that is still legit and playing by the book in terms of WvW Fairness there is little to none.

Anyway we all deserve slack weeks even SFR, BB has been going against the odds so far despite it not being a multinational server that’s not Vizunah. I think the coverage wars can take its toll on all of us, take it easy and good luck in the last couple of weeks.

The S/D set has also been nerfed a lot from the larcenous nerf, vigor, shadow return nerf and lyssa nerf – the only other way to keep endurance regen up is through bountiful theft and points in acrobatics, with sigil of energy as optional.

Nymph of Meliai.6739:

well I suppose according to the statistics we have focused Deso 55% and BB 45%… must be a case of double teaming… can’t deny that 5% extra focus on Deso. Although in fairness when Deso painted the map blue the other night it was because our commander wanted to take BB keep in ebg…. and when a competent commander took over they had no choice but to focus Deso because there was nothing else to focus on.

Yeah I noticed that, I think it’s fair enough if you focus on us.. we did close the gap a little while you slacked and then BB wants 2nd.

Double teaming is expected on your Home BL’s and on EB is you are the weaker side – earlier this morning mostly everything was wooden so it’s easy to flip unless it’s sieged to the teeth.

Please use gw2wvw.net not here. everything is wooden on EB
Back on topic it looks like Vizunah overtook elona overnight, I miss those guys.

I don’t know what you mean by this Perma Dodge, sure we have Sword Skills and Withdraw along with our usual Evades, but it is far from being OP as we don’t have access to boons or invulnerability.

Compared to Stealth you get so much more going pooling into Shadow Arts and you can Burst under stealth also, if Anet listened to each and every QQ about Thieves they might aswell Delete the Class .