Guild Wars 2

Chi Malady.2015:

The swap bug has been fixed. I only wish that all of its weapons were buffed to the level of GS in terms of usefulness. I’m not a fan of melee combat so being pigeon-holed into that role on tPvP teams sucks.

Play a profession that uses ranged. Problem solved.

400 bonus toughness while ressing someone is a “crap bonus.” 5 roamers can almost get my HP bar to 75% in the time it takes me to res someone! It should be 9001 toughness.

For PvE:
R. Shot>H.Pull>T.Slash>Parry>M. Frenzy

After playing a couple hundred games of sPvP with warrior, these are the builds I found to be the most effective:
Pure Roamer -
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-sg-7w;0VK-Q0h4oK-60;9;4JT;0J48-49B;426-I-k36;1G3G3G3G35Bc
Hybrid (My favorite) -
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-s7BCx;0VK-Q0h4oK-60;9;5TT9;234B48A1;3IRk3C;1TsW6TsW65Bv

Copy/Paste to view. These were not created by me. I’ve only altered them slightly.

How to melt faces:

In General-
The warrior can cover an insane amount of distance very quickly with his abilities, which is very, very useful when roaming and getting away. Make sure auto-target is off. When not fighting, use Rush whenever it’s up. Evis and Bull’s Charge are also great for getting away in a pinch. And if you are roaming, by pinch I mean whenever somebody targets you. You are not a tank. Hit and runs are how team fights are won. Other than that, keep a cool head and use your abilities at the appropriate time.

Roamer-
The one thing I cannot stress enough is DO NOT OPEN WITH BULL’S CHARGE. More often than not good players will stun break it and get away, making the fight a hell of a lot harder. Open with Rush immediately followed by Bladetrail. Autoattack for a few seconds or until your target dodges at least once. Whirlwind them and swap to your Axe/Shield. There are mainly two ways to follow up from here: If you are not in range and snared, use your signet and Mending, then immediately go into Shield Stance. Run right up to the target. If you are in range, skip all that and just move onto the next step. Shield Bash immediately followed by Throw Axe. Use Cyclone and then smack around the target a bit. If you are not re-snared and the target has most likely used up their endurance, go for the Eviscerate. If you are snared, or the timing doesn’t feel right, switch to GS. Use Whirlwind if it can reach them, Bladetrail if it cannot. You can try to use Rush to close the gap, but I actually like to use it at point blank for a quick big hit when I can. You’ll probably need to use dodges to help close gaps by now. (not that you should be saving your endurance til now, use it whenever you need it) If you have not killed anything at this point, you’ve probably gone into a fight you should have avoided and it’s time to run away.

The opportunity for 100b isn’t really set to any part of a combo. If your GS is out and the enemy is worn down, go for the Frenzy>Charge>100b. If people are trying to res or stomp someone, pop it and punish them all. I wouldn’t recommend using it for anything else. For it to do a considerable amount of damage compared to just auto attacking, the entire cast needs to finish.

Hybrid-
Pretty forgiving build, just don’t expect to run around dropping everything in 2 seconds. If for whatever reason you want to chain stun someone, use your abilities in this order:
Throw Axe>Tremor>Shield Bash or Bull Rush>Shield Bash or Bull Rush>Skull Crack
You are better off playing around with those abilities and figuring out when it’s the best time to use them.

Now then, time for a big, unorganized, vague explanation of how I play this. Pommel Bash is an interrupt with a 0 cast time and is absolutely amazing. Use it to extend a stun, or better yet, to interrupt the casting animation for a heal. If you need to go on the defensive, try to use Shield Block and Endure Pain early. The Axe is where your damage comes from. Use it with Frenzy and Endure Pain if you want. Or just save Frenzy to quick stomp/res. Usually I use Skull Crack as my adrenaline ability, but evis is good for quickly finishing people at low health. Pop signet when you are ready to deal some damage with your axe, but never before. The extra adrenaline is really helpful.

It’s a pretty fun build to play with, and it was what I was using the first time someone complemented my bunkering while I was playing with a Berserker Amulet on. Just be careful in pub games. It has a nasty habit of causing mass rage quits.

EDIT: I figured out where the hybrid build originally came from:
http://www.twitch.tv/cpham642/b/334368374
Hope he doesn’t mind me tossing the build up. >.>

Pirates? Psh, I’m the hawtest break dancer in the ‘hood when I start poppin’ off the Death Blossoms.

Let’s up the TP tax. I look forward to the day when I randomly find a Dusk and can’t afford to sell it at asking price.

Kerithlan.1659:

Have fun playing wrong then. The name of the game in GW2 is bob and weave, and dodging in and out of melee-mid is how the guardian was designed. Dodge in -> attack -> dodge out -> support -> repeat.

Actually, in a PVT set with a AH build dodging isn’t even necessary.

Stats seem to make more of a difference in how much you’ll need to dodge. Ranged or melee, if someone isn’t packing some source of survivability they are going to have to be very, very careful in a dungeon or world raid. On the flip-side, I can just run in with my hammer and auto-attack just about anything to death without moving an inch. Sometimes a boss will have a really nasty ability and I’ll have to pop a shout or two to get some prot/regen boons, but usually… 11121112111211121112 It causes a respectable amount of damage, keeps prot, retal, and a small lightfield up 90% of the time, and keeps at least a few might boons on my team at all times. And while this is all happening, I’m healing myself for absurd amounts constantly. I see it as what support in GW2 is intended to be.

I’m not exaggerating here. Guardian is probably the only profession in the game capable of doing this. >.>

I thought playing a guardian in pve was about using AH and pumping out a ridiculous amount of buffs. Like a bard in plate.

Isabis.9561:

You can’t have unkillable class in a game without a dedicated healer ok? It totally breaks the game balance.
You can’t have such a huge difference in a downed state between each class.

Farewell until the next balance patch.

What is this unkillable class you speak of?

Still confused as to why people are complaining so much about balance. The great thing about GW2 is that you don’t need to grind a character to the level cap to PvP with them. Just make a character with a profession that is currently functioning well, play through the 5 minute intro, and you are good to go. If someone wants to make a well thought out post with suggestions on how to improve the game, that’s great, but right now, it’s usually the same repetitive solutions if any are given at all. I remember seeing a post a while back where someone actually made a top-down blueprint of an entire PvP map and explained how it worked. There are several threads spread throughout the class forums with inventive builds and a lot of effort explaining how it can add viability to their favorite class. I’d really like to see more creative posts like these.

Quick Note:
The last thread I read addressing issues with a thief actually suggested that making backstab have a huge annoying animation was an acceptable fix. Threads like these are polluting the forums and really, really need to stop.

IceTenacious.4126:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cv0YiiTKi4

:(

Could have been from a rally mid-mist, but I did notice that mist form occasionally brought my ele back to life a couple weeks ago. Haven’t had it happen in awhile though.

Mrbig.8019:

Well, let’s start…

So basically everything I just said, except worded in a way that makes me wonder if you read more than the first paragraph.

1. I mentioned that S/D was mainly for control, and briefly touched on how it could still be done with other builds. As far as 1v1 builds go, my first post touched on how there was no reliable way to down a bunker, and that the thief prof is currently only useful as a “hit and run” build. I could see how this might not be clear, as I was actually addressing the topic proposed by the original poster in that post.

2. The entire point of both my posts was that thieves have no reliable way to mitigate damage, which was making other builds (such as condi) terrible to use. Also, slightly curious as to what you mean by a superspecialized strat. That almost sounds like you are suggesting that every build that isn’t a hybrid is terrible.

3. Nowhere did I suggest ressing someone while they are stealthed. All I said was that stealthing a downed player made stomping them impossible. I’m not entirely sure how you got confused there. I’ll even re-type the exact sentence for you:

“-Stealth downed players, preventing them from being stomped”

EDIT:

Actually, Bull’s Charge takes about 1 second to land.

Almost missed this post. Usually a good idea to use frenzy right before the Rush; need it for 100b to be worth using anyways. (the final strike needs to hit for there to be a big damage gain over auto-attack, hard to do with a 3 1/2 sec cast)

Mrbig.8019:

Dunno what you were trying to say with your post.

I must have misread the title. Is this thread about thief burst annoying new players or is it about wanting S/D back? Because it’s starting to sound like the latter.

Something you’d probably be interested in knowing:

Good warriors don’t open with bull rush; that’d be a complete waste, as the target would just pop a stun breaker and get away. It’s also important to note that Bull Rush takes no more than a split second to land. It’s highly unlikely that the warrior being unveiled as the rush connects will gain a significant edge, as the target is most likely going to react to the resulting knockdown, not the animation of the warrior speeding towards him . Stealth is in no way going to aid a warrior in defeating enemies. There are far better types of support a thief can provide with the right builds. Stealth can however:

-Stealth downed players, preventing them from being stomped
-Prevent teammates from being interrupted mid-stomp by making them untargetable
-Hide teammates at a control-point to prevent the enemy from knowing what they’re getting into until they commit to the point

All of these come from the same utility and have absolutely nothing to do with S/D. Unless I’m confused, the build’s primary function was to provide a large amount of Immobilize, which can be accomplished through Venomous Aura from a safe distance just as easily. Boon removal is neat, especially when it takes off stability, but neat is not enough to justify a build. Nothing else in those builds could not be accomplished with one using different weapons.

I apologize if I mislead you, but I thought my post made it fairly clear that I felt thieves needed more survivability; the lack thereof was making alternative builds far less viable. There are many other builds out there, Assassins Reward, Death Blossom, Condi-P/D, etc, and they all work fairly well but ultimately don’t make the cut unless used in an extremely well constructed team comp, which most players aren’t capable of finding.

Creating an 8v8-style tournament that restricted teams from using more than one of each profession would be a step in the right direction.

Running around with a mace and constantly blocking? This is guardian in the first person!

My vision of pvp in the future:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiftKSfmTCo

I do not know you. Also, as much as I’d like to sit down and study up on my trigonometry in the middle of Khylo, you cannot take classes in sPvP. Also also, couldn’t you have found one of the other hundreds of thief threads on this board to post in?

Also also ALSO, I kind of like the idea of increasing health pools a bit. :P

Spoilers: 100b actually does not do much more damage than auto-attack. I am not kidding. Test it.

Trigr.6481:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz9p5ekQlvU

Regardless if this is an exploit or not. But to achieve such a amount of stealth does nothing for yourself and or the game in general. It’s simply not fun to watch “in regards to pvp”, sure it funny but stuff like this isn’t really promoting a fun pvp experience. One of the many reasons why people don’t like watching guild wars 2.

GJ standing in his aoe. You sure showed him.

Certainly interesting that most of these threads get posted by former S/D thieves instead of people concerned in the general well-being of the profession. The problem isn’t that a small nerf has made a single build unusable, it’s that burst on a roaming thief is necessary.

Try playing a thief against a good team. You aren’t going to bring down a bunker by opening up with a burst and in a team fight you’re so squishy you can easily die from aoe before you’re even noticed. Now, let’s say you do well and down someone. Now what? Pop your aoe stealth cooldown and hope that no-one runs into it and pops a knockdown? Hell, someone could just stand over the target while auto-attacking. The damage would be quick enough to kill you before you even finish stomping. Without being able to deal a HUGE amount of damage in a short time and get away (which normally requires several cooldowns due to the majority of init being eaten up by the burst) so teammates can finish the job, the thief would be pigeonholed into gimmicky builds that aren’t quite on par with any other profession. (which seems to be another issue) If anything, the thief profession is starting to lose it’s viability as people begin to figure out that they need to put more emphasis on survival in their builds.

SIDE NOTE: Really no point in comparing us with mesmers. I’m pretty sure AN has already stated that the newly improved might trait is getting reset to it’s original description. Not sure why they haven’t done it yet though.

Ever since last patch I’ve been getting terrible lag in sPvP. Starting to get a little concerned that this issue has not yet been addressed.

Server: Maguuma

Try greatsword and axe/shield. Greatsword auto attack on it’s own should be able to get you through anything you could possibly encounter while working on map completion. (I assume this is how you are leveling) I am not kidding.

Uncheck auto-target as well. Your gap closers can be used to cover HUGE distances in a very small amount of time.

I always feel confused when people make posts comparing GW2 to a game they feel is absolutely perfect. Why not play the game you love so much? If GW2 was to match it’s exact play-style wouldn’t it just be the same thing as said-game?

I’d ask for a Kill Shot nerf just to stop warriors from thinking it’s good. Stop using ranged, you have plenty of gap closers on melee weapons with so much more utility and damage.

So wait, I’m the only one who starts drooling when they see a fire field?

Dodge twice. Problem solved.

Best way to keep your pet up is to get into the habit of using Troll Ungent. Works nicely in sPvP, works somewhat well in dungeons. (better than anything else)

In dungeons, if they grab aggro, it may be a pretty good idea to call them back after using a cripple, causing them to kite the target, and giving yourself a safe opportunity to let the damage fly.

Turning into a text wall now but…

The ranger isn’t a “pet class” or at least shouldn’t be. Pets should function as a Profession Skill, (their skills are already in the right slots!) providing the ranger with a bonus to whatever play style he is using. When they are used as his primary source of damage, he is often punished by seeing them die quickly.

Super secret tip:

If you want to make a healing and/or tanking build, use the pig. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Golem is the most amazing looking minipet by far though.

The lag doesn’t appear to be affecting everyone, at least not at the same time. I’ve definitely been getting it too, though.

Glad I picked up in sPvP…

But seriously, normally I don’t complain about AN not being “fair”, but it seems kind of ridiculous that they couldn’t have just given it to us as a skin that could be used in either spvp or pve.

Bah… Am I the only one that sees the lack of a “holy trinity” as the freedom to play however you want? You don’t need a certain build or profession to complete a dungeon.

As for “threat”:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro

EDIT: This is much better in explaining the diversity in the mechanics:
http://gw2ita.wordpress.com/review/interview-with-colin-johanson-by-mmorpgitalia-and-gw2-italian-blog/

Item drops have to go.

Item drops promote players to not be their best they can be, hinder their teamates which is greedy and not cool, item drops needs to be gone from mmos, just make grind based with no item drops and it would be basicly the same thing as having item drops. Don’t think about it. I do not want to take the gold farm route, therefore no others players should be allowed to do so. I also hate spell check.

Tiger.7506:

some people are deluded, every game has grind, up 1 to 80 is a big grind.
But i love Gw2 !
with or without grind!

There was a point going from 1-80 where you absolutely had to repeat content? When I hit 80, I still had 4 zones I had not even entered yet.

bojangles.6912:

Other mmo’s seem to have had no problems with big content updates within 4 months of launch. Just sayin. Holiday events are just candy that goes away after a certain time.

What mmo’s do you speak of?

I was talking to Tixx while waiting for a map to kick in. (figured it filled up) Suddenly got tele’d as soon as I asked him for the gift. Nothing in my bag. No chest.

But… A mini is supposed to be a miniature representation of a being. If it was the actual size of a baby quaggan, wouldn’t that mean we kidnapped a baby and took it around on our adventures of mass zombie genocide?

Can you imagine what life would be like if people got this mad over losing the lottery?

Just because you bought the ticket doesn’t mean you’re entitled to the prize.

Then again, you can’t buy the prize on the TP for less than the value of a bag of circus peanuts, so maybe this is a bad analogy.

I really can’t understand why having an incredibly rare item in the game is a bad thing. Does every single thing have to be obtainable by ordinary means? Why can’t we have items that actually seem special? Legendaries are even starting to lose their charm.

There are only three things a warrior should be concerned about:

Is there any other class that can keep fury up 100% of the time?

Looks like some pretty good roaming to me.

Braxxus.2904:

^
Exactly right. Rock paper scissors is one of the most terribad balance models ever for pvp games. Basically equates to: L2CharacterScreen

Yes, there are no amazing e-sports using R/P/S classes (a.k.a synergy).

ahem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Fortress_2

Dolan.3071:

longbow

Can’t believe anyone is taking this thread seriously.

I’d honestly rather just see signet of air moved to an elite slot.

Mitycondria.7052:

I ran some tests with the Sigil of Battle (pistol) and Sigil of Geomancy (shield) and only the Battle procs. If i take the pistol off, the Geomancy works.

So, idk if we can use two different runes, looks like we can’t. i’m going to test some combinations tonight.

There’s a 10 second internal cooldown on different sigils.

Einherjar.6709:

Magnetic Grasp is now a leap finisher, and therefore gives 6 seconds more of fury, swiftness, and burning damage — ontop of the 12 seconds of fury and swiftness you get from Shocking Aura (air3) and 6 seconds from Frost Aura (water4).

It was a leap finisher before the patch. It just didn’t say it in the tooltip.

EDIT: Vid posted September 23 showing the combo working. See 4:11

Flamethrower and every effect like it (i.e. Guardian and Elementalist abilities) always hit when used in a certain way. You have to be either approaching a target directly forward or backward, or stand still and let auto-aim handle it. Turning is troublesome; try ‘leading’ your target with the fire slightly ahead.

Besides turning, only issue I have is sometimes missing objects if I’m standing at a weird angle.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wintersday/Basic-Event-Overview

Please read this.

Dude, did you use those reindeer tonics? They are O freaking P. To the max.

Sithaco.4673:

I heard some guy playing ‘Lost Woods’. It was really good.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU75uz0b8EU

Note: That is just what he was playing, didn’t record it sadly.

Oh man that brings back memories. I used to play that on the piano when I was a kid. >.>