Guild Wars 2

Swiftness will stack with speed passives, but speed passives will not stack with each other.

Sydrek.5146:

Everything start’s to indicate that investing in defensive stat’s is essentially nerfing yourself horribly

Well, except for Vitality, the only defensive stat that actually has real value.

Guys, Smoke Bomb is not Blinding Powder or Smoke Screen. Smoke Bomb is the Downed skill, the third one, which stealths you.

My post wasn’t really meant to be “helpful” exactly, because there’s really not much I can extrapolate on. Most people who are struggling, instead of thinking “kitten I must be doing something wrong,” are leaping immediately to blaming the profession, or blaming the game mechanics.

Most of the time, the only thing a person can do to stop struggling is to keep playing, keep trying, and get better. Practice makes perfect.

If you’re struggling, it’s absolutely true that traits won’t solve the problem. They will merely treat the symptoms, and you will still end up struggling in many situations.

Eh. with the way so many people complained about how “hard” it was to kill Thieves in the beta (it wasn’t, people were just bad and relying 100% on the finisher), I doubt they’ll be buffing this anytime soon.

bwillb.2165:

That thief could have easily wasted his burst on a clone and then been entirely useless against you.

You say that like it’s actually hard to tell the real guy apart from the clones without simply a few seconds of using your eyes.

Other than that, I agree with what you say.

RashanDale.3609:

most stupid thing is that some helmets only cover the charrs forehead while their long neck is completely naked.

Precisely why my Charr warrior doesn’t show his helm, ever.

Actually, quite a lot of asura inventions DO go wrong. Need I bring up the sewer incident?

Can you define what you mean by difficult? Because high boss HP and damage doesn’t seem THAT difficult. I’ve certainly seen more fun encounter designs.

Why are people over-reacting to this balance changes? All you see is “AMGHERED SOMETHING ON THE THIEF IS WEAKER TIME TO GO COMPLAIN!”

Try to think about the given changes and realize that they have had good reason for these changes. This change is good because being able to constantly drop Blinding Powder again and again and again is ridiculously powerful because of it’s blind effect. Consider that Mesmers could use Portal Entre and have a Thief run through it to repeatedly drop these.

These are not “kneejerk” reactions – these are changes that they spend a lot of time deliberating on.

Wolfe.3097:

we are gonna be nerfed into oblivion cuz anet does kneejerk nerfs witout letting te meta evolve

So far as I’ve seen, they don’t do “kneejerk nerfs” at all.
They were right to “nerf” Heartseeker earlier, because the nerf did exactly one thing: forced people to specifically use it as an execute.

You can use this build tool and it’s usually up to date. It’s the most robust and accurate I’ve seen yet.

Leaf.3156:

Find Irish/Welsh/Scottish name.

Done.

Nearly every sylvari NPC you encounter will have the same naming convention. They don’t seem to bother with titles or last names.

Well they don’t seem to bother with “second names” in general, which is why I went for the titular naming style. It’s probably easy to find a unique Celtic name that isn’t used yet, but eventually they’ll all be used up!

And yeah, my own name choices aren’t Celtic, but that’s specifically because I’ve used the names before. I’ve got a LONG list of names I typically use for RP-friendly characters.

Ramanthes, even if it’s not “ragevision” it’s simply the way the human brain functions, 9 times out of 10. Have you ever noticed the way people get when they post about being hacked or, even worse, being banned?

In the re-telling of the story, they make themselves sound flawless. Perfect. They didn’t make a single mistake. So it can’t possibly be their fault! Right?

Yet, when the truth is revealed by somebody with officially verifiable information, they are outed as liars. That they did make significant mistakes, and that they are the cause of their own demise.

Often it’s simply that they want to avoid the social stigma associated with failure and making mistakes, to the point that they’re willing to risk the significantly worse social stigma of being a liar.

Sharpclaw definitely has the right idea.

Maderas.9741:

So… what happened to him? I chose to help him escape and he said he'd contact me later when things had settled, but he never did.

I’m completely done with all the personal story quests now. Was it like this for everyone, or is it a bug? At one point it sent me on a mission to rescue some lady I’d never heard of who supposedly helped me acquire an artifact I’d never seen before, so I’m wondering if my personal story got borked somehow.

You will likely never hear from him again in the personal story, though it’s possible your character is contacted outside the story and it’s never talked about. Simply put, each and every story arc is specific to that range of 10 levels, and it doesn’t branch beyond it. (although, supposedly, our home instance is supposed to change to reflect our choices in the personal story)

I’m more concerned about the simple fact that I recruited Soure Doomsday into my warband, but haven’t seen him since level 10, even though Elexus Shredskin still follows me around.

Why did I recruit him if he never helps me?

AuldWolf.7598:

As for Dinky being ‘special?’ I don’t buy it.

I love Dinky, but I don’t buy it. He’s often wise, and clever, and cracks a good joke. I think that he ‘pretends’ to be special so that his fellow warband members won’t take offence at him protecting them on the field of battle, because that’s just ‘Dinky being Dinky.’ It’s the sacrifice he’s made.

There are often hints in the writing that Dinky is way smarter than he pretends to be. That the whole goofy thing is just a finely crafted act, and one that he only ever rarely slips up on. It’s part of the charr personality, and something I’ve been trying to explain within this thread.

The charr are in a very precarious situation, and everyone does what they need to to fit in, or to cope, or to just excel at whatever situation they find themselves in. Maverick is a front-liner, a warrior, so he talks big to keep his confidence up. He knows it’s ironic, but he also knows that if he falters and doesn’t make that strike when he needs to, then one of his warband might die for that mistake.

You really have to get inside their heads to understand them. But that I’ve been thinking about this so much just shows how great the charr writing is across the board. They really get the feel of a war-time scenario down pat. Way better than games like Call of Duty do. You can actually feel the conflict, and you can see what people are doing to deal with it.

The charr aren’t perfect, emotionless robots. They’re people. And people deal with things in their own way.

I think Dinky is about as “special” as Goofy is among Disney characters. He’s not so much “slow” or “dumb” or “special” as he’s just different, and the other Charr have no other way of understanding it.

I fully agree with you about Charr writing, though. It’s the one race that seems well-written, to me. With the others, they barely tried.

Dinky is awesome. He’s so tough that he swallowed a thumbtack.

Oh, and don’t forget that one single Charr in the Black Citadel Imperator Core (bottom floor) that, upon speaking to, is openly pondering about the idea of using electricity for power, instead of steam.

AuldWolf.7598:

• They invented cannons (the Luxans only had a very crude type of bombard), guns, tanks, military-grade encryption, mortars, cars, airships, fans, gramophones, the printing press, turrets, flamethrowers, alchemical processes, and lots of other things which are now commonplace in Tyria.
• Every prototype they create is pragmatic, functional, and thus able to be mass-produced.
• And they are mass-produced, in their factory cities!
• The charr mine all their own materials, using machines of their own construction, and manual labour. They’re truly self-sufficient in this regard.
• The charr can process and purify most (or all) metals.
• The charr use a scientific process of understanding, thus their creations don’t rely upon any kind of crutch (like… oh, say… magic).
• The charr believe in cooperation which goes beyond politics. If you put three hundred charr in a hall, you’d end up with brilliant plans and fantastic ideas, all of which could be put to use.
• The charr believe in only self-reliance and the worth of their fellows.

They also invented the printing press, which allowed all the major races to be able to communicate through shared language and writing.

It’s pretty hard to find a good head-piece for a four-eared four-horned giant cat with massive teeth and a long thick neck. Most of the time, I feel charr don’t even need helms, because they’re so hard-headed.

I figure, we should have a thread talking about this, for those of us who like to use “proper” names for our characters in regards to the lore. (frankly, I’m thinking each race sub-forum should have a thread stickied for discussion of naming conventions)

I personally have a fondness for, in particular, giving sylvari “titles” in their names. Such as my elementalist, Nadriel the Silver. I’ve also got a sylvari thief set aside for the future, named Redax of Nightshade.
I’ve even got a third sylvari set aside. I intend to follow this same naming convention, but have yet to choose between Silent, Swift, or Nimble.

How do some of you go about choosing roleplay-friendly names for your sylvari?

I suddenly have to wonder if sylvari have allergies.

SilverRule.7426:

I don’t think that you people understand that Sylvari do not have a gender. They may look like males and females, but they aren’t. They are all just plants, so if one “female” sylvari likes another “female” sylvari, its not gay, because they don’t have a gender in the first place. Its just the overall appearance.

They are male and female as defined by sylvari culture and standards, just not by human culture and standards. And I think the former should matter much more in regards to how things are defined for other races.

No straight sylvari? What about Tiachren and Ysvelta? What about the green knight storyline, (which is the VERY same one you bring up mind you), with the female sylvari (Gairwen?) mourning for her lost beloved male sylvari, being hounded by Bercilak’s unwanted affections?

The “gay” that’s being thrown in your face is simply all you care to notice.

Aza.2105:

Healing power is fine the way it is imo. If they made it on par with the other major stats, what would happen is players would try to become dedicated healers.

Try actually reading the post before you respond. And especially remember this:

DIFFERENT ABILITIES SCALE WITH HEALING POWER AT DIFFERENT RATES, AND CAN BE ADJUSTED INDEPENDENTLY

Phy.2913:

From the OP it looks like +healing is more beneficial to the other people you’re healing then it is for healing yourself.

Exactly what I was trying to point out.

Though I’ve noticed that, for Mesmers, the opposite is true, and not in a good way. It’s simply the case that the stat is all around useless for them, rather than having some mild use as a support stat.

Ojimaru.8970:

Balancing the scaling for Healing Power is a tough one, I would expect. Too little and it becomes a pariah; too high and you’ll see more “dedicated healers” popping up like weeds.

Not necessarily. Remember that each individual skill has it’s own scaling. What I’m specifically asking for is for my self heal to actually scale with Healing Power so that it’s worth using as a defensive stat.

Funny. I go D/D and P/P and don’t have any major problems… What you’re saying here seems accurate on paper, but doesn’t match my actual experiences. Seems everybody hates my favorite weapon sets, and stick to using those that are my least favorite.

I’ve actually got 6 characters, and have made plenty of short-term temporary characters by now, and my Guardian and Thief are about even in level and gear. I enjoy my Norn Guardian simply because I love the “big beefy guy that can support his buddies” playstyle I’ve come to cultivate from years of playing a Tauren Shaman.

But my Thief is my main, because the evasive stealthy playstyle is just as fun, arguably more fun. I have played every profession, and find them all fun, but Thief is my main purely for the aesthetics and playstyle.

If I felt “weak” I’d go back to my Guardian. And I don’t.

I keep my bindings simple, across all professions.

Standard 1 through 0 for the normal skills, Shift+1 through Shift+4 for the F keys, Shift+5 for weapon swap.
I bound dodge to mouse button 4, which is at the top left corner of my mouse right by my index finger.
I also bound weapon swap to a secondary mouse button 5, which is just below mouse button 4.

I guess I should mention that I use the original Razer Naga.

Starting to think people do it on purpose to troll, honestly. Nobody misspells Warrior. Or Elementalist. Or Ranger. Or Guardian.

Seriously, why is nobody doing “gaurd” instead? it sounds the same, right?!?!

From now on, instead of telling people in-game “It’s THIEF!” respond by calling them a misspelled version of their profession.

Sylvia.8395:

I was trying out different builds and went a pistol whip build. to my dismay in only an hour about 5-6 people had whispered me raging about gimmicks and crying overpowered. Not only this build but others as well. I havent tried anything involving HS yet but im sure people cry about that too. I got a few rage whispers while using condition damage d/d build. Why do people cry so much?

The general gripe with people was that I was spamming the same move over and over. I don’t understand what they expect me to do, switch to my other weapon and use abilities that do subpar damage compared to spamming death blossom or pistol whip?

People cry when you beat them, period. It doesn’t matter how – if you beat them, you’re clearly using a gimmick, because it’s impossible that you’re actually any good or, god forbid, they’re unskilled. If you are using a gimmick, its counter is extremely easy, and thus they’re unskilled – gimmicks are, by their nature, easy to defend against/avoid.

Just /ignore them or, even better, if they’re breaking the rules of the game, report them and get them banned for 3 days.

Eh… define tanky? The idea isn’t necessarily that you have to take damage, just that you prevent yourself from dying every time an enemy looks at you.

OP, if people are dumping all their build and utility into spamming a single skill, that’s not intended by design. That’s simply those people not knowing how to play this game.

Mine hasn’t been missing unless I actually stop moving and wait for the animation. And I have no reason to do that. You’re not rooted when you push the button, you can keep moving. I often activate CnD as I’m running into melee range, timing it so that the attack hits right as I’m in range.

Yeah, no, you’re blatantly wrong.

D/D: Death Blossom has a built-in Evade. Can throw a dagger to cripple multiple targets. Can stealth to avoid damage for a few seconds.
P/P: Ranged Daze. AoE Blind + smoke field, which blinds and can be used to stealth if needed.
S/D: Flanking Strike has a built-in evade, plus the dagger throwing and stealthing. Stealth attack will blind, daze if you’re behind.
S/P: Stun. Plus the ranged Daze. Plus the smoke field.

Do I really need to go on? Because the Thief is not lacking for defense, it’s just not “I CAN TAKE A DOZEN HITS BECAUSE OF ARMORS!” You’re a mobile leather-wearing Thief. You’re meant to be tricksy, evasive. Play to your strengths.

And if you spent all of your initiative on a damaging hit, that’s your mistake. Don’t blame the profession on poor decision-making.

Handling multiple mobs at low levels is easy if you know how to stay alive. Don’t rely on traits to fix your problem if you suck at surviving low level pve without them.

uhh… you realize that the Speargun #1 attack has most of it’s damage loaded into the Bleed?

Throw Gunk is actually really, really useful when combined with combo finishers. Death Blossom especially, but also Heartseeker of course. Hell, you can even drop down Black Powder in it, and it SHOULD cause the blast finisher to interact with Throw Gunk.

Yay for Ethereal combo fields!

It’s amazing how many people are willing to jump into PvP without stun breakers, or at least skills that remove immob/chill/cripple.

Ah. Had not considered using Haste and Pistol Whip together.

Also, no, Heartseeker is not doing less damage than auto attacks. It’s incredibly bursty… WHEN THEY ARE BELOW 25% HP

Which is how it’s meant to be.

I feel I should point this out:

When you see someone on the outskirts of a fight, or solo, ESPECIALLY if they are not full health, then you should switch to your dagger/dagger combo and annihilate them (IF… IF you have your cooldowns up).

Everything, and I mean everything rides on your opener into the fight. If you fail the opener, switch to your shortbow and book it, if you can — unless you feel that you can pull off the win. Remember, you are a glass cannon.

Durzlla.6295:

DrakeWurrum.6049:

Do you mean “less damage” as in things kept hitting you for less as you faced higher-level enemies, or do you mean it was less of your total HP? Because remember that as you level, your base HP goes higher.

Less as in less damage, like undead were hitting me for 900, then i’d level and they’d hit me for like 800 or so, and even taking 50 less damage for every 100 toughness is pretty major, i know one of my friends stacks toughness and when i try to deal damage to him with any non conditions it just flat out doesn’t work, so it may look bad on paper, but it really shines in actual use.

Hrm. We’ll have to see.

Erebus Delirium.4892:

And it isn’t just me, he can kill me and then the next guy just seconds apart.

Highly doubt that.

Tulisin.6945:

I think a lot of people miss the fundamental fact that the thief is built to spam certain abilities. Other professions’ ability cooldowns force them to vary what they’re using, with most abilities pushing multiple mobility/damage/control roles. Thieves, on the other hand, are meant to use whatever ability suits the situation. If they want damage, they use their damage ability, if they want control, they use their control ability. This means that when a thief wants to do one specific thing at a time, they do it really well. When that thing is damage, it often means spamming the one ability on the bar built for damage. It isn’t that the ability is broken, it is that instead of all attack types being broken up throughout a bar that is supposed to be fully utilized, they’re all compartmentalized to be called upon in specific situations.

It’s also designed so that, if you spend ALL of your initiative on doing huge damage to an enemy, and then the kitten hits the fan, you’re boned.

Consequences for poor decision-making!

Revelstoke.8924:

for the same reason they’ll fix bullrush + haste + hundred blades on warriors

There’s no need to “fix” that considering Roll For Initiative (and any other stun breaker for that matter) instantly defeats that combo and wastes his only “IWIN” button (plus two of his utilities to my one)

Yes – definitely cannot ignore what kind of build the OP was using.

Mayama.1854:

Its because every thief build is a one trick pony build around one function.

That’s just how people have been building/using the Thief. That doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it.

Clearly it’s not, because of how “brutal” the counter shut down is.

The meta game will evolve, and people will find smarter ways that don’t involve just spamming a single ability.

Revelstoke.8924:

You basically hit you’re cloak and dagger then steal ability, in that order, instantly. The result starts the CnD animation while putting you next to your opp. You instantly go stealth when CnD finishes

Hrm, that would definitely be an unintended mechanic, imo. They probably need to fix that.

However, the damage from Backstab as it is… still just as powerful as I remember it being back in BWE1. If it’s survived that long, I doubt it’s overpowered, and people just need to learn how to counter that. Assuming, of course, that other things are not broken, like what is described above.

You might notice from the posted link that the build does have weaknesses:

Cons:

-Survivability (there are many times where you can’t stomp thanks to enemy team members / aoe damage).
-No cc breakers (see Options section, at the bottom)
-Time between burst (looking at between 45 seconds and 1 minute, assuming you want to wait for your haste buff, which is a good idea).
-If you use your haste buff, well. All you got is your shortbow to make a getaway, since you can’t dodge.

He can’t dodge, and he basically builds the entire playstyle around jumping into stealth and backstabbing you, which is meant to be a “viable” build with counters.

Remember that when stealthed an enemy can still be hit.

So long as they address shadowsteps not interrupting the CnD animation, it should be perfectly fine. (Even then, Steal’s range is 900, 1200 when traited – you should be able to see him from a distance, and move accordingly)
Then again, there were so many many many thieves on the forums crying about the inability to “set up” an ambush because of how short duration stealth is, I won’t be surprised if it’s not nerfed. (because, seriously, the range of Steal puts them in a range close enough to not only be seen, but attacked)