Guild Wars 2

Right now I run Phantasms in PvE.

I’m going to start running lockdown in PvP in the next few days, when I can find some time.

Blacklight.2871:

Hard to believe there are people who embrace the stripping away of their freedom, but of course, it’s usually not THEIR freedom at stake, but someone else’s.

“Freedom”? Oh, please. You make the champion train sound like a victim march.

When people who kill champions outside of the zerg are no longer subject to public shaming for being “selfish” and “rude”, I’ll be willing to consider their “freedom” as an actual topic of debate.

Zero Day.2594:

Imagi.4561:

So, if I understand this correctly, it heals for the same amount as Withdraw overall, but it’s split into 5 small heals…and has a 45 second cooldown?

Wow
So venom
Such heal
Many interesting

Wow

That dog looks like a potato chip….

Doge is love. Doge is life.

So, if I understand this correctly, it heals for the same amount as Withdraw overall, but it’s split into 5 small heals…and has a 45 second cooldown?

Wow
So venom
Such heal
Many interesting

Wow

Star Ace.5207:

Holland.9351:

redkat.1892:

And for some reason when doing harder content like champs and group events i get attacked most of the time and ran out of dodges fast.

The more toughness you have, the more you get attacked.

Not true 100%-common myth, though, so I am not blaming you. A friend of mine in-game hated so much that his Thief got seemingly targeted on his squishy setup most of the time on Dungeons, and the one time I accompanied him my Warrior wasn’t full “zerk”, so by your numbers I should have drawn the agro 100% of the time.

Not using any toughness to avoid agro is just a forever perpetuated pseudo “fact”-some people use such “knowledge” to preach how much better offensive gear is, but it’s not based on reality-only ANet knows (if indeed they do! perhaps it’s random) how their enemy critters choose to pursue party members.

On subject, I will miss old Natural Vigor quite a bit. My plan is just to get used to 25% (keep using it for now to see how it works) and rely on my other good weapon dodges, though some builds will suffer more than others.

Isaiah Cartwright did a Ranger PvE guide in which he specifically says toughness/armor causes aggro. It’s at 2:54.

How exactly is that “pseudo-fact”?

I feel like that has to be a glitch. Out of curiosity, did you file a bug report?

If you don’t like the “stancedance” playstyle, then D/D is definitely not your weaponset, if Elementalist is even a class you would enjoy. Staff is probably the closest you can get to one static attunement, but even then each attunement has its role and you will need to cycle as necessary.

I feel like some of the pet problems could be addressed by allowing Rangers to see and manipulate the pet’s entire skill bar, as was the case with Heroes in the original Guild Wars. It would be more micromanagement and possibly a larger migraine, but it would also give Rangers much more discretion over the way their pets function.

If they worked it in such a way where you could prioritize the pet’s skills—or put them on a queue—and essentially give every pet a skill rotation, I think that would be the ideal. That’s just my opinion, however.

aussieheals.6843:

Better: Guild Wars 1 – Based on the fact that they were once built on there ability to interrupt targets and high skill play.

Worse: WoW – Kitten Game

I’m surprised no one mentioned the original GW in an earlier post; I had a blast on my Ranger in that game. So much fun, in fact, that I had 4 of them.

Zero Day.2594:

guys! guys!
It’s all good.
We’re getting a new heal move.
Everyone relax.

And it’s another venom! Oh, praise the Six Gods, for we are saved.

Cynz.9437:

idk about retaliation but high dodge on long CD would be nice

What do you mean by “high dodge”?

One of my primary concerns with the coming PvP changes is the removal of finishers. I enjoy PvP, but I’m not ambitious or skilled enough to earn a high leaderboards rank; so while it may seem insignificant to some, earning new finishers—particularly the phoenix finisher—had been my long-term goal.

Can the PvP team discuss their plans or ideas for new long-term goals? I’d be very interested to see what they’re thinking about implementing, even if it doesn’t make it into the game.

stof.9341:

WTB Flashing Blades http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Flashing_Blades

Or invulnerability.

glaphen.5230:

You can spam Cluster Bomb on yourself inside a group of enemies and heal 1197 a cast and do this every 3 seconds. Not every heal is good on every build. Elementalist signet is useless without the Written in Stone grandmaster trait. Warrior signet is countered by burst so a zerker Warrior is risking a Backstab and Heartseeker spam to die in 1-10 seconds. Thief signet needs multi-hit attacks to do good healing and still has a decent active heal if traited.

EDIT: Actually I just tested it and Cluster Bomb actually hits 5 targets so you can get 1995 per cast and Choking Gas gives you 665 per second when hitting 5 targets. You also get 399 per .95 second each auto attack if there’s at least 2 targets compared to Healing Signets 392.

If you need healing, it seems impractical to run inside a group of enemies and spam CB. I’m not even sure how commonplace it is to encounter a group of 5 enemies where you can do this, outside of WvW and large hotjoin servers.

Auesis.7301:

xcavars.5049:

Caithe Ferborn, my sylvari thief. All them human thieves look the same

“ALL THESE THIEVES LOOK THE SAME”

posts a carbon copy of Caithe

Sorry, not a special snowflake. Pretty much the same situation as the Norn that get T3 and make themselves look exactly like Eir. Lol.

I am so glad I’m not the only one who saw the irony in that.

In my opinion, the Norn should have been slaughtered by Jormag. Wiped out. Made extinct.

It could have been a tragedy for people who played the original Guild Wars, who could fondly reminisce about Jora and the drinking games and the vast, cold wilds of the Shiverpeaks. It would have felt like something was tangibly gone. That we, as people experiencing Tyria, lost something because of the dragons.

But the Norn survived, and they serve absolutely no purpose in the game.

I think their shamanistic culture is interesting. But I dislike the way the Spirits of the Wild were retconned—I think in Guild Wars it mentions numerous Spirits, but the only one that seemed to be of any significance was Bear, and that was the only form they could/did take. I dislike how their sheer bulk leaves so much to be desired aesthetically, as they make everything look clumsy and painstaking slow.

But most of all, I dislike their racial personality, which contains all the “macho” attitude of the Charr and all the egoism of the Asura, but contains none of the quirks or cultural structure that gives those other races depth.

They serve no purpose.

/rant

This is just a rehash of other people’s opinions, but I can’t articulate how much I like the Charr on the right. He looks fantastic.

Also, I think the tiger stripes look is striking, but overdone.

8.5/10

I love him! That particular shade of purple is a little dark for my tastes, but purple/orange is my favorite complimentary color combination. I’m also not fond of his armor—I don’t think it looks bad, per say, I just don’t think it really matches him.

This is my Elementalist and favorite girl, Rosabis (although even with her at lvl 80, I’m not sure I like the name). She’s a little bit of a “less violets, more violence” type.

I’m stuck with the acolyte armor skins for the time being, but I can’t settle on dyes. Any opinions on the matter would be welcomed.

I’m sorry for your misfortune, but when I saw that comparison picture I couldn’t stop laughing. That discrepancy is hilarious—how does that kind of thing go unnoticed in armor pre-production?

It’s a shame that Sylvari males have such trouble—I really love their voice and Sylvari in general are beautiful and fun to create, but I feel like trying to outfit one would drive me to the limits of my sanity.

I feel like 35% was a good improvement to make it worth the master slot. It’s not worth 30 trait points sunk into Acrobatics, especially since post-move there will be nothing I’d want in the master tier.

DocJDMD.5307:

So getting a refund makes it ok? What if I changed my character from male to female and bought dyes to add to the armor? If I spent RL money on gems to get the 800, are they going to refund me my money? If I spent gold to get the 800 gems, am I going to get all my gold back? Gold > gem conversion spiked at this time and I doubt it is a good use of man hours to look through code to determine what the gold investment was to get the gems per person.

They screwed up, yes. However, to punish the people who bought the armor is not right either. Give all t3 cultural owners 800 gems and a pat on the butt and call it a day. As well as discontinue the sale of the armor on the gemstore as is. Move on, it’s a friggin game and stop crying about kitten

We can play the “what if” game all day, but it won’t contribute anything valuable to the discussion. Extra purchases like dye are completely separate, and it would illogical and unrealistic to expect a refund for them. And people can get back the 800 gems they spent, and re-spend them as they please; how players acquired those gems in the first place is not ArenaNet’s concern.

Burnfall.9573:

As the saying goes, “just because you say the sky is yellow and i say it is blue, it doesn’t make us not human”

Norjena.5172:

Imagi.4561:

A problem I foresee with this is that it would essentially force all Rangers to run the highest-DPS pets; there would be no benefit or consequences for doing otherwise.

A ranger who is runnig bear/pigs an so on, is usually not a usefull partymember anyway.

Learn to let your cat/bird survive, or pick up another class. Sometimes a range pet can be a choice, but picking them means rangerdps<warr/engii/necro….

But there are a few 1shot attacks or bosses with too much AoE to let a pet survive. I think AoE reduction in dungeons is ok and a good deal.

Pets like moas, hounds, and drakes can provide buffs or CC, and help a group manage large pulls or difficult fights. Pets options aren’t simply limited to birds, cats, bears, and pigs.

neytiri.9105:

Zaxares.5419:

Having a “better” version of an existing armor in the gem store, for less than half the cost, was not a good move.

Yes, taking back the item from the people who bought is much better move!

People who bought it get to keep it until it is changed. Once it is changed, they can either keep the new style or get a refund. No one is simply having their purchased snatched away from them without compensation.

A problem I foresee with this is that it would essentially force all Rangers to run the highest-DPS pets; there would be no benefit or consequences for doing otherwise.

As someone who has played Thief for a long time, I can second the “Shocking Aura” strategy. I know the Ele skills and I still noob it up on that stun. There a variety of other ways Eles can defend themselves without a target, especially with area denial, damage reduction, and temporary immunities.

This is the best advice I can offer: Thieves are, in general, predictable creatures. When they stealth, chances are good they’re preparing for a Backstab. All forms of stealth except Shadow Refuge will give them 3-4 seconds to position themselves and strike. Plan your defense accordingly.

And, if they do use SR, they have an area that they cannot leave for several seconds if they wish to remain in stealth, which gives you plenty of time to nuke the area. Stealth does not make them immune to damage.

I’ve recently learned an FA burst build, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable in a tournament with it. I’d love to watch, though.

ina.3791:

Another human, sry :/

I can’t describe how wonderful I think your character looks.

teg.1340:

In my opinion thieves need better access to swiftness. Swiftness is 8% more speed compared to Signet of Shadows (25%) which IMO is a huge difference.

My warrior got perma incombat swiftness due to Swiftness on crit + traited Signet of Rage. This paired with traited GS feels so much more mobile than my thief. Sure Swiftness can be stripped but thats not a big deal with Furious Speed.

It feels wrong to me that thieves lack a Swiftness on crit trait.

You might want to try running with an Acrobatics build. The swiftness-on-dodge trait can provide you with the swiftness, and Feline Grace combined with Signet of Agility can give you a lot of dodges.

Cygnus.6903:

Imagi.4561:

I don’t think it’s completely outrageous, but I think it’s excessive. In my opinion, terrible mobility should be their trade-off for high health, damage, and armor.

That’s the thing, without mobility the warrior does not have any damage at all.

It’s fine the way it is. Thief with shortbow can be the most mobile class, if you’re unsatisfied with mobility outside of shortbow, then don’t compare yourself to a warrior. They are completely reliant on GS or mainhand sword for mobility. Whereas thief has escape mechanisms on every weapon set they can use except pistol pistol.

I’m not really sure why anyone is jumping to the conclusion that I find Thief mobility unsatisfactory. I don’t. In my opinion, Warriors are very capable in many areas—damage, armor, health, and mobility—but don’t trade off any significant benefits for those capabilities. That opinion does not involve Thief mobility or Thieves at all.

I compared Warriors to Thieves in my recent post because that was the manner that someone responded to my original opinion—a comparison. I was responding in kind.

runeblade.7514:

Imagi.4561:

runeblade.7514:

Warriors trade off boon removal, poison, and the ability to ignore snares through shadowsteps.

The ability to remove 1 boon with Larcenous Strike on the sword—a weapon that is being nerfed on Dec. 10—and the ability to remove 2 boons with a traited Steal is not exactly what I’d consider an overwhelming advantage, but it’s true that Warriors can’t do it. Poison, though? Really? Warriors get knockdowns, knockbacks, burning, and 2-3 second stuns. As a Thief, I would gladly give a Warrior my ability to poison in exchange for those.

And I understand your point about shadowsteps, but they don’t cleanse snares. They just relocate a Thief so they are snared somewhere else.

I was about going to write a paragraph to counter your points but then we would get off topic. Those are the small trade-off of a warrior. Thief gets stealth, evades, blinds and shadow steps to protect themselves. Warrior gets high health and high armor to protect themselves. Warrior trade off certain things for certain things. Thief trade certain things for certain things. Your thief will never have everything and be the best at everything. No amount of arguing is going to change that.

If you want to continue whining about that you want these certain things on the thief or, about how the smallest detail of warrior is better than the thief, then go play a warrior. It may turn out that warrior is better for your playstyle.

Warriors are not thieves. Thieves are not warriors.

I wasn’t really “arguing” or “whining” any more than you were, but whatever you say.

Have a nice day!

“Sonic Bloom” was a Sylvari Engineer that I saw yesterday, and I had to compliment them on that name.

Zacchary.6183:

Don’t worry guys we are the best gathering and crafting profession.

Someone help me, there’s a veteran mob guarding this rich mining node!

This sounds like a job for… Superstealth!

I’d love to do an Ele tournament—although that sounds like it could be a really long match—but first I have to learn how to PvP on my Ele.

Skyhammer is a map that favors Engineers—they can bunker down on the points where there is very little room to maneuver, and they have a variety of ways to upset the positioning of other players.

Try the Scorpion Wire trick: stand on one of the blue tiles, SW the engi to you, and then immediately dodge roll forward. If everything goes according to plan they should fall to their death, no fight necessary.

runeblade.7514:

Warriors trade off boon removal, poison, and the ability to ignore snares through shadowsteps.

The ability to remove 1 boon with Larcenous Strike on the sword—a weapon that is being nerfed on Dec. 10—and the ability to remove 2 boons with a traited Steal is not exactly what I’d consider an overwhelming advantage, but it’s true that Warriors can’t do it. Poison, though? Really? Warriors get knockdowns, knockbacks, burning, and 2-3 second stuns. As a Thief, I would gladly give a Warrior my ability to poison in exchange for those.

And I understand your point about shadowsteps, but they don’t cleanse snares. They just relocate a Thief so they are snared somewhere else.

runeblade.7514:

Volrath.1473:

I’m talking about GW2 here, do you fins t acceptable that warriors have more mobility then thieves? Is it justified that they keep nerfing what’s left of thieves,mobility outside SB?

A vertical teleport is better than a 1200 dash. A warrior going up two flights of stairs would take 10 seconds while a thief can shadowstep up and escape.

If the teleport works on the stairs, yes. Teleport skills aren’t particularly keen on gaps (even miniscule ones)or changes in elevation.

runeblade.7514:

Even with that. I think warrior mobility is acceptable. They are melee professions. Their kitten nal is full of melee weapons. Without mobility, they will hit the air more often than the enemy.

I don’t think it’s completely outrageous, but I think it’s excessive. In my opinion, terrible mobility should be their trade-off for high health, damage, and armor.

“Motor Mouth” on an Engineer in hotjoin was very amusing, although he didn’t talk much.

Sanduskel.1850:

I didn’t say all. I said most. All would be hyperbole.

But if “most” players enjoy the Thief, and not all, then how have they “balanced it so that all players can enjoy it”?

Sanduskel.1850:

They haven’t ruined the game. they’ve balanced it so that all players can enjoy it. Most thieves still enjoy their thief and will continue to enjoy playing it long after the December 10th patch. As anet said, the init change is a massive buff. You should trust them.

I’d be very interested to see the evidence you have to support the claim that “all players enjoy Thief.” I’m assuming, of course, that you’re not basing it out of bias and hyperbole, since you are quick to point out these flaws in the opinions of others.

Travlane.5948:

link to those stats plz?

I’m pretty sure he’s talking about the graph at the bottom of this page, which shows Mesmers tied with Engineers as the least-played class in GW2.

If you’re curious for more information, or ever want to find the original source of an official GW2 post that someone mentioned, you can find it by using the remarkable magical engine that is known as Google.

In my opinion, mesmers are generally the best at 1v1. Phantasms and condi mesmers are both extremely annoying at best.

Mochann.5298:

I’ve run the tower as both Ele and Mesmer. And yes they were both hell! Got easier though when I brought some mango pie.

I did fine in the tower on my Ele, all things considered. I actually had an easier time with Ele than I did with Thief, even with stealth and a lot more Thief experience. Attunement boons, Obsidian Flesh, cantrips, and Evasive Arcana helped greatly with my survivability.

Oghier.7419:

Online gaming attracts some interesting folks.

That is the most divine of all divine truths.

I think that was the best advertisement I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, I am but a Thief, and know little of the ways of optimized PvP.

I’ll give you a bump, though, in the spirit of sportsmanship.

I’ll be your friend, Esle.

JTan.1687:

She is sweet person everyone would love talking to curie. Curie i think you will get alot of followers now.

Hahahaha

Burnfall.9573:

Doggie.3184:

I miss Assassins.

same here; it was Balanced for sure.

I can’t tell if that’s sarcastic or not.

This thread looks like the blackboard from my sophomore statistics class.

Make it stop.

EnemyCrusher.7324:

the Spider Queen

We don’t speak the name of that boss. I tried 4-manning it with some guildies and it was a nice tall glass of nope.

It’s too bad that they blocked it off. I would’ve liked to explore it.