Guild Wars 2

stof.9341:

Approximately never as far as I remember. On the other hand, nerfs were plenty.

Yeah, I should’ve included

Kicker.8203:

Id be more happy if they reworked the current weapon skills than releasing a new weapon type. d/p+sb is all they can buff each patch

I’d like a buff to SB, to be honest, although D/D or better; SA is more important to me.

The buffed SB? When?

I deliberately signed for a server that had been classed as medium when I started this game.
Half a year later I started to play wvw.
A lot can change in half a year.

Yes, we will recruit until we drop =)

Exciton.8942:

No i thought the lowest they show is medium and something like 500 gems.
Wish there is also a low for some those pretty empty servers.

You’re right, medium was/is 500.

Hule.8794:

Can you remind us what is the cost for each population level?
Full – no transfer possible
Very HIgh – 1800Gems
High – 1000Gems
and we havent seen other levels very long so reminding those gems would help too.

I think everything below that was free.

Ashen.2907:

“U2 can be trapped on a low pop server.”

Yeah but Bono can afford any transfer fees.

+1

Cynz.9437:

WvW was never balanced. WvW has too much varierity where pvp has stable things like amulets, no food, 5v5 etc.

SA would be fine if SE change would get reverted, imo.

No, still you can balance it like I just said – someone somewhen balanced even food. All anet needs to do now is to maintain things – it can’t be that one game mode is completely lost because anet says they’re overwhelemed when it comes to it.

And: I don’t play pvp that’s why I say “in wvw” when I refer to something because I can’t speak for pvp.

ETA: I’m a D/D thief, so I’d like at least SE, CiS and SRE as it has been before but the lack of might is also noticable.

Edit²: Spelling and grammar and stuff.

Edit³: And also the nerf to CnD.

Cynz.9437:

Let’s assume thieves are balanced (i think they are besides few bugs and few tweaks). That means that other classes need to be toned down. Why? Power creep is unhealthy for pvp.
Why do you base your opinion on wvw? Even devs said it is not balanced and never intended to. Also, why do you base your opinion on 1v1? This game is balanced around team pvp.

Because I play wvw and because things were pretty much balanced before this patch, so I don’t think it’s impossible to balance around wvw.
I don’t think my point is invalid even if it comes to group play – SA is underpowered.

Zodryn.4216:

Stealth skill – Huge Backstab: instantly kill your target. Becomes Huge Backsweep if you are shorter than your target, in which case cut off their legs, permanently removing their ability to move.

Yay my Asura thief needs twilight!

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

No I was talking cavaliers. (toughness/power/ferocity) as a damage mitigation instead of valkyrie (power/vitality/ferocity),

Yeah, I always call cavalier’s clerics.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

Also conditions are easily cleansed by aoe condition cleans (light fields & whirl?) or shout cleanses ? maybe a support character can give youi some suggestions, guards warriors? or use a condition removing sigil?

Why? I’m doing fine – I won’t change the gear of my main and not of my zerker thief.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

Jana.6831:

²For skills I use Shadow Refuge, blinding powder and smoke screen and surprise I use none of these skills for myself but to rez my party members or to blind mobs if my party is about to be wiped.

So you do use stealth for defence instead of toughness…

Read again? I dodge for defence.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

and other active defences, stealth to make sure you do not get hit, added to the other active defences (smoke screen is a block/blind… so a typical example)

Stealth doesn’t make me invulnerable – I had blind on stealth which was a defense but I don’t use it anymore.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

I’m primarily used to play dungeon and WvW, Valkyrie is a WvW set in my eyes, in dungeons I’d expect most thieves to run full zerk. I made a error in asuming you were a WvW runner as well.

I am, but I don’t get what your “I would use this gear” has to do with anything.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

I’m glad you like thief, but why do you think people would run support or toughness or healing?

What? where did I say that?

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

You seem to need to rely on healing from your partner ( blinds/aegis/reflects/heals/protection/regeneration)
You seem to need added condition removal (often used by support builds, you can heal people up but if they still have their 25+ stacks of -fill in name here- they’\ll continue to die faster.

No, I don’t need any of this – you failed to get my point.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

In the end you can be what you are due to a support based character, even if he runs full zerk.

Oh my, you are an elitist “using a defensive skill is suboptimal” ;)

Lets call it a day, ok?
I don’t need any advise of you – it’s great if you would use this or that gear in this or that envireonement but I’m doing fine in the gear I have and in fact I’ve got 4 thieves at 80, all with different gear and runes and my valk thief is still the strongest ;)

Oh and: Give thief a try some day then you’ll learn that stealth is no real defense and that you don’t really need to stealth in dungeons (for defense).

Edit: Btw: I don’t advertise my gear – there are more optimal but I don’t really feel like making yet another ascended gear with runes which cost ~5-10 gold a piece just for dungeon runs. If I were in a real speedrun guild I would do so though.

I think the loot from wvw mobs is really good – escort some yaks, flip frogs, ogres and moles and see what you get.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

But your thief uses another mechanic to stay alive, instead of toughness it relies on not getting hit through stealth otherwise known as an active defence (like blinds, aegis, weakness, protection, invisibility (looks the same, is not the same) and DODGING…

No, my thief doesn’t survive because of blinds as I’m running 11001 in dungeons. Cloaked in shadows is in the third line². I used that before but in the end I’m doing the same everybody else does – I dodge. And even if – your argument was that people use clerics instead of valk and that’s not really true- my problem usually isn’t direct damage, my problem are condis. And for that valk is the way to go – but valk also helps against direct damage as I have a higher health pool, so something hits me slightly harder but I have a slightly higher health pool than someone wearing clerics.
²For skills I use Shadow Refuge, blinding powder and smoke screen and surprise I use none of these skills for myself but to rez my party members or to blind mobs if my party is about to be wiped.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

You are using a dungeon set, with some precision replaced by vitality.
IMHO You are running thief in WvW as in a dungeon, though I’d probably run full zerk in dungeon. (used to run valkyrie (chest/legs) myself on thief , now changed it to Zerk. And in WvW I’d probably go valkyrie with assassins (and maybe some zerk).

Thanks for this insight and that has to do with what? I only explained how it comes that I ran valk in dungeons – because I was running around with that gear anyway and because it worked/works.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

If you wouldn’t have stealth would you still use Valk?

I don’t know, I can run any dungeon with no matter what class (although I have never done one with my engi), most of them are full zerker. But I guess I’m the most useful with my thief as that’s the class I can play best. And by the way, I also have an full zerker thief and I survive with him just as good. But truth be told: my dungeon groups are usually pretty good, so part of my survival is because of a good guard.

Jayden Ennok.3687:

This should also come with server selection for new accounts on entering wvw first time, not when they get the account.

Sort of like the pvp tutorial, you log into wvw first time, go some small funky place where npcs takes you through usual wvw things like getting supplies, building siege etc (skippable). At the end the npc would offer a list of NA/EU servers the new player would chose from with short attached lore and server population. There should be explanation of what the server pop means, ie, full/very high – huge battles are common but so are queues during prime time, high – best of all, low – smaller scale battles, more roamers and almost no queues.

So new players wouldn’t get into that sort of situation, “oh hey, I can choose a server! Underworld sounds so cooooool, loved it in GW1” logs into wvw and stops smilling.

That’s a good idea, actually.
Although my best wvw memory was when we got my first server from 17 to 9 (within 3 months). I probably wouldn’t have chosen that server with a tutorial how lost they are ;)
Edit: And come to think of it: it might make things worse as no one would sign up for the lower tier servers.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

knight and valkyrie?

No they wouldn’t… They’d use cavalier and zerk/sin as the only thing you need to surviuve would be toughness. DPS counter = toughness…

vitality is stricken as the larger healthpool will make draining it a little bit timeconsuming but NO CHARACTER CAN REFILL IT AGAIN! due to the dumb way healing functions. Thge fact it did grow makes for an even worse problem when trying to get your healthpool refilled. worsening its problem,

As a matter of fact my main, who’s the strongest out of all my thieves (I also have a full zerker), uses valk armor, rest zerker – that’s my wvw setup and I ran with that gear and also the traits for forever, no matter whether PvE or WvW. He’s the strongest because of his runes of strength. Since he’s mainly a D/D thief my valk armor is as good as zerkers, damage wise. My other (zerker) thief would be only marginally stronger with runes of strength (he’s using pack) – My valk armor does help me if I’m stupid, although it’s only 2,2k more health and my guard buddy can refill my health to 100%. So yeah, there are these insane people who use valk.

Cynz.9437:

1. i don’t think that thieves are really that bad the issue is that other classes are too good atm

Yeah well, if other classes are too good then thief is really bad, right?
But an example why even thief vs thief is broken:
I duelled a D/P thief in wvw yesterday. First time around I used my usual roaming build = 01101, he got me easily. Second time around I changed my traits to 11001 and won. I need SA to deal with all the condis flying around but in the end the whole line is that weak that it’s no comparison to what a thief being able to use 11001 can do. My problem wasn’t my D/D, it was the SA line – If I trait into SA, I want something in exchange.

@Dev: Please don’t see this as another proof to nerf the offensive traits, how about some defense instead?

Aetrion.8295:

snip

Honestly, I’m so tired of threads like these.
If you want a trinity this isn’t the game for you.
We don’t need healer in PvE – if you want to be a healer, go to wvw, there you will be appreciated.
And you can always look for a guild – most guild mates don’t really care about the build of others.

If you play this game for a bit longer you likely will be able to do any PvE content in full zerkers – and maybe you’ll find that this thread was unneccessary.

Against it – my 13 chars would all become thieves (currently it’s only 5).

MADAIR.1948:

snip

D/D thieves are very rare, they have been rare for now at least 1,5 years.
A D/D thief who can stow his weapons in midst of an attack is even rarer. So I don’t really get why you take this example-and why you add you want them to be rewarded.
A thief who can play like in your example has got perfect timing – and that as well is very rare.
A D/P thief though can “spam” stealth. But know what? I’m ok with that. As long as eles have got traits which stun you every time you attack, as long as guards kill with their burning damage alone, as long as mesmers can easily outstealth a thief and don’t have a red AOE circle revealing their position, as long as rangers just have to press 2 to get 12 stacks of bleeding and 10k raw damage into you (and so on) I’m fine with thieve’s stealth.

Cruss.2734:

But I’m doing mainly PvE. Isn’t D/D actually stronger there?

It is.

Edit: Explanation: You have to black powder, heartseeker, position to backstab – costs a lot of initative wheras you can just stand behind the boss and CnD +1 for quite a while. CnD does damage, black powder doesn’t.

rapthorne.7345:

Server transfers should be a cash service only. Too often people, and entire guilds, completely negate the entire point of participating in wvw and just transfer out to a higher ranked server.

You seem to think that as long as xy and z are on your server you’ll be winning – that’s not true. You can force people to stay on your server but not to play.
There are a lot of reasons why people transfer – they don’t like the community, they feel a bit lost when it comes to the “skill” of the people on their server, they are tired of the always same matchups, they want more than karma train, they only want karma train, they only want zerg fights.

I think a new system to determine the wvw population of a server is a good start but only a start, wvw needs some attention. Not new stuff but balancing of everything. Maybe it’s too late for that – it’s seriously a wonder that the lot of us keep playing.

BFMV.3198:

Jana.6831:

Zero Day.2594:

Or, you know… Give us the greatsword…

I want that too
If it isn’t Greatsword, I don’t care.

Greatswords are lame. They are generic, do not suit thief, and currently 4 professions (soon to be 5) will have access. No thanks

Rifle or Staff. If staff is done with a shadowmage feel where there is a lot of shadow magic, I will love it

“I want GS” is a joke, at least when I say it – I don’t want anything but a working D/D thief – that’s thief for me.

Edit: And currently it’s not working (speaking of wvw) – everytime I kill someone I think “That was against all odds” – bugs, lags, nerfs – I’m stupid to still play this game.

Zero Day.2594:

Or, you know… Give us the greatsword…

I want that too
If it isn’t Greatsword, I don’t care.

Sallouce.1395:

You are right, I’m not the most experienced player and a lot of the issue could be to spec and skill but am I the only one feeling that thief is considerably weaker after the update?

It is, they decided that thief could take one more for the team.

bump
…………………

BillFreist.1527:

I put together a fix for a pretty nasty performance issue on our game servers. This should make it into our next release so I’d be curious to see if it makes a noticeable improvement. The bug looks like it was introduced around when this thread popped up.

I also got a couple client improvements that should help reduce framerate hitching with lower-mid range video cards and/or higher shader settings. Coming next release, too.

-Bill

Wvw improved for me after you did maintenance some days ago, PvE got worse, the mobs ported all over the place. That’s gone, I think since wvw reset last night but the wvw “lags” (it’s not really lags, I just can’t properly hit and my opponents seem to port from time to time) are back.
I hope that weren’t the changes you meant but the real ones are still to come ;)

oxtred.7658:

An experienced player would kill for more challenging dungeons, and yet here you are complaining the class is too squishy in pve.

That was uncalled for.

Anyway @ OP:
Try the Shadow Arts line as a training wheel. I used to run with it no matter what before the patch as although my buddy is a great guard, he couldn’t take all condis from me.
I’m now running 11001 in PvE and that’s usually enough.
I have a really bad memory when it comes to dungeons, for whatever reason, but if I remember that a lot of trashmobs are ahead I’m switching to S/P and Signet of malice. My second weapon is always SB and I’m almost always running with daggerstorm as Elite and I also use smoke screen in dungeons. So when my party members get low on health I’d pop smokescreen and daggerstorm, that usually saves them. Same with S/P. And yeah one thing when learning theif is to know when to get out of a fight, so don’t be afraid to disengage, you can only stand at one spot if your party is really good.
And to be honest, I’m pretty much a potato when it comes to dungeons but no one ever complained – although they can’t see the damage I dish out, they still think thief is only good for single targets ;)

psyco.4082:

release HoT, xfer everyone to their home server at first login after release, lock xfers.

then you can start monitoring server data and make smart decisions about server/pop #s anet

No offense but they just announced that they have a system, so I don’t really get why people think it would be a good time to make suggestions – it’s already settled.

Jayne.9251:

Yes, oddly, I live in EST zone (NA) and I find my ping better on my EU account than my NA account for some reason. I have no idea why.

My ping is at ~25 from EU on EU (or rather ~50 in game as the game counts back and forth)
I think it was around 150+ last time I have been to NA – I don’t really want that again ;)

I called this idea insane and bought myself another chacter slot to have something to do during the week – but turned out I had a lot of fun.
But I think that is because I have given up on defending anyway as it currently isn’t possible. And my server usually doesn’t have golems, so that was kind of new to them.
And hey, I won’t have to scream “GET ON THE CANNONS!” nexttime we’re overrun by a golem zerg ;)

Jayne.9251:

If NA is smart, it’ll take this opportunity to emulate EU and spread out for the fights — not the blue ribbon (which is meaningless now).

You underestimate the effects of a high ping.
I have been on NA and wouldn’t go back there because of the ping.

Zodryn.4216:

I added this to the bug list thread, please provide some more detail there if possible. Thanks!

Thanks.
It happened to me at Jormag too, it’s like “the old” bug when stealth was broken a few weeks ago.
I don’t think I had any conditions on me at Jormag and in most cases in which I was “revealed”.

briggah.7910:

Aegis Fang.5394:

Wow so that’s where my money has been going? Both of those tools can move to Fire Island together while their game goes into the toilet. There’s NO WAY I am giving that smug bald prick one penny more of my money wow. What a pompous, abrasive kitten that guy is.

2 years ago you said you were done with this game.. You also post a lot about pvp and classes getting nerfed and are so fed up with this game. I guess you to just play WvW too right?

briggah, no offense but you look like a stalker.

Bumping this because it just happened to me again against a warrior and mesmer who both can’t “reveal” me – popped SR, waited until the house went away, was stealthed for about 1 s and then “revealed” without being revealed.

In wvw again.

Mattigan.6395:

Nice vids, Jana. Thank you for sharing.

DA-CS-SA, I presume? Or is Acro in there?

That isn’t me, that’s just to show that D/D thieves aren’t one trick ponies.
And yes, that’s pre patch.
I still don’t spawn camp though ;)

There are only two videos of how I fight actually – one against my friend (thief) and one zerg fight – both in potato quality as I should install water cooling if I want to make more footage of how I fight ;)

Fat Disgrace.4275:

I have always seen d/d as a 1 tricky pony but they also really have 1 real chance at it

Pft. Have you never seen me fighting? (GH too, Josteinn)
Or: Here’s my favourite D/D thief:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thGwGzQvajw
D/D thieves are more than One Trick Ponies

T raw.4658:

D/D can beat D/P. Does D/P have an advantage over DP? Yes it does but not a hard counter like a lot of DD thieves like to announce to the world.

It is and I just explained why and why I beat D/P thieves.

T raw.4658:

Try running scorp wire ^^ remember 1 good burst and any thief is basically downed.

Probably a good counter, yes, for one 5+2 combo.

T raw.4658:

snip

I know, I say nothing else. But that doesn’t mean that D/P doesn’t hardcounter D/D -that’s my point right here – and I don’t want anyone to lie about it so their spec has got better chances not to be nerfed – D/P doesn’t need a nerf, D/D (and S/D probably) needs a buff.
And sorry, but I won’t shut up if someone gets his facts wrong ;)
Try D/D against D/P, I bet a lot of our thieves would duel you in PvP, if you’re EU I can get my dusty pistol out, if you like.
And btw a Hard counter is rare, that would be D/P to D/D as they remove everything D/D needs to stealth, and D/D against the pre patch mesmers as D/D uses all of their clones to stealth. That are hard counters – a class shutting down the skills of another class.
Edit: Or better: build/weapon set – you know what I mean.

T raw.4658:

I remember a d/d thief I dueled once. When I fought him with D/P he just got ran over. Eventually he refused to fight if i was using D/P because it was lame. Now I wasn’t using SA at the time but 2 6 0 0 6 build. He whined a lot. He complained about it.

BTW he was running full SA…..

So? D/D shouldn’t have a chance against D/P, especially if the D/P thief is heartseekering all around the place as D/D needs to land CnD to stealth. SA wasn’t and isn’t op, especially if you can’t stealth because your opponent is in a smoke field or jumping around, or interrupting you, which x66xx D/D thieves couldn’t do.
Just to get that straight – D/P is the direct counter to D/D.

I can still kill some of them because I outplay and outdamage them, but at the moment a lot of wvw is really wonky, so it’s really hard to tell what’s skill and what’s bug.

TheMurkMuffin.8213:

(I was gonna complain that I never got an invite, but I was reviewing my comments and I never actually posted here… Fail.)

I promise I will train my thought reading skills! ;)

Maybe anet just quit playing without telling us.

Anet.1234
Lions Arch
Unknown

gin.7158:

Any suggestion where to farm spirit shards nowadays?

Frostgorge champ train and dungeons.

DHawk.2687:

adjustment does not mean nerf. look it up

Yeah of course, you want it adjusted so it is more powerful, that is what you meant.
Since if you meant that it should be adjusted to be less powerful it would be a nerf.
Come on, I’m not that stupid.

forum bug

woahchickawaahwaah

DHawk.2687:

mfg how many times do i have to say i want to see a buff rather than a nerf, I’m just trying to be realistic since we won’t see a buff in a long time
are we done now? I NEVER demanded a nerf of dp

DHawk.2687:

dp does need some kind of adjustment imo, i think the blindfield and the fact that you can just heartseaker through it stale, boring and a bit too strong compared to all the other thief weaponsets, not even mentioning the shadowshot and daze

The Boxman.2863:

It’s a good feeling.

Oh my lol – great video – I’ll show that to my friend who hates pve and everything that comes with it.
“Come on, you know you want it! Now here’s a mining pick and an axe, lets do some farming!”

Congrats, btw!

Andrew.6487:

Bad comparison too, d/d teef is the most bursty set, just like s/f ele ; D/p teef has most adaptation to all situations of 1 on 1, just like the d/d ele. Btw, d/p has been nerfed a lot too, what u should expect is make all weapon sets viable, but not take d/p down.

No, DP has been buffed with the latest patch. SA now gives initative. And they can take the whole trickery line. The limiting factor for D/P has always been initative which is now no problem anymore.
(Anet, don’t you dare to nerf initative as you would nerf all other thieves as well! – but you could put cloaked in shadows into the second tier so D/D thieves could use that and shadows rejuvenation – that would buff D/D thieves)

DHawk.2687:

yes I’d rather prefer a buff to the other sets as well, i don’t want us to be nerfed again, but honestly, what do you think will happen, since we are still op for everyone else xD

So you see only thieves in wvw and that’s why you think it would be a good idea to nerf DP to the same level as DD instead of buffing DD?
(doesn’t make any sense)
By demanding a nerf to DP you would weaken thief as a class even more.

DHawk.2687:

dp does need some kind of adjustment imo, i think the blindfield and the fact that you can just heartseaker through it stale, boring and a bit too strong compared to all the other thief weaponsets, not even mentioning the shadowshot and daze

No, D/P doesn’t need a nerf, S/D and D/D need a buff.
Don’t just compare thief vs thief, someone already said it, we’ve got other classes to fight against who in most cases have equally utility like D/P.

Edit: Forgot about SB – a SB buff would be nice too.

I tried both sigils. It’s hard to tell what the cooldown of air is in wvw as I fought npcs and the fights didn’t last that long.
Blood triggered nicely and might be the best choice if you look for some healing. Superior sigil of leeching is also okay but only for emergency weaponsets you don’t really intend to use (like shortbow in my case when it comes to small scale fights) it’s ~1k healing and also 1 k damage.
In my case blood is a pretty good choice as I’m using my SB mainly in zergs and hit a lot over quite a while = I get a lot of small heals in.
In the end: Try it, it’s pvp you don’t have to spend money on it ;)

I would try rune of the pack and mug (trait).
Also ~50 critical chance is usually enough, you don’t need 100%, so try Marauder Amulet, maybe.
Also, you don’t really need haste as a trait and a skill (it’s hard to tell when that trait will trigger and to time the skill accordingly), you can swap the skill for something more useful.
I think you should step away from all the assassins stats and with that you’ll have more survivability and can use air and fire.
I’m using Leech or Blood and Energy on my shortbow, so I have some more sustain when weapon swapping, but that might not be the best choice for D/D or D/P.

Edit: My main uses fire and bloodlust (wvw), so I only “know” about sigil of fire, I can test air a bit though, my other thieves have got fire and air on their daggers.
Edit²: I’m not really happy about Leech and I never really noticed how blood works – I usually use my shortbow in zergs, so I’m kind of not really focussing anything except staying out of AOE, maybe I should observe that sigil too. I will, promised ;)