Guild Wars 2

Rampager gear gives you both.

Molch.2078:

Kasama.8941:

And is arguably the best damage support profession.

How?

I was referring to PvP here. In sPvP the Thief is the best damage support, simply because you can reach a destination faster then any other profession. In WvW the Thief can easily take out stranglers in a zerg, without being in danger of getting focused damaged, and apply a lot of pressure using a shortbow, thanks to initiative.

Lord Rager.8543:

We got a system in place already. Its call talk to them. most commanders have a sig under each post like me that saidds server and commander on it. pm 1 of them and set it up.

IoJ and SF have done that to a point and the back stabbing has been great. NO NO NO NO to anyone being forced to be ally with anyone. its wvw not wv2w.

The point of this would be to include everyone on a server, not just a commander or two. People who read the forum are a minority.

I don’t know where you read that there would be anything forced? What each server does with the team work, is up to them. Nothing would be changed beyond a visual indication of the team work, and a possible buff to go with it.

Azure Prower.8701:

There will always be rebels who want to ‘go against the flow’ and do what they please unless they are forced to.

But with our new super weapon fully operational. Blue and red will be fighting each other for some time whilst we take what we want.

How is that different from how it works now?

Gwalchgwn.1659:

Few flaws (though I agree that the 2v1 should somehow be worked out)
100 players in green server – 30 players vote no, 50 vote yes, 20 don’t vote at all
100 players in red server – respectively 20, 50, 30
Now you still have about 20-50 players in each server who are “allied” who’ll still kill each other despite the fact they are allies.

Also, when a battle is won by temporary allies, a lot of backstabbing will happen.

All players can still kill each other, even if on team. But the idea would be that the decision would be based on highest vote, not personal vote.

Backstabbing is fine, and fun.

CuRtoKy.8576:

No I don’t think that idea is good. The thing with 2v1 is that it is based on blind trust where you don’t really communicate with anyone on the other servers. Yes I know people talk to opposing players on others servers. But hypothetically if you didn’t you don’t really know what the other server will do exactly (if you are part of the 2 servers attacking 1 server). So like sure both servers may 2v1 another server but at some point maybe one of the servers are like hey letkitten something completely undefended by the other server. In a way this is an interesting dynamic.

As for implementation, it will never work because if you are 2v1 a server and attacking their keep say in EB. You will obviously kill people from the other server when both servers break into inner. You (for your own server) want the keep for PPT but not let the other server who may have “helped” you with the 2v1 get it. It doesn’t solve anything since you have to consider who captures it and PPT

The fact that the majority of people on each server have to agree to work together, is all the communication that is needed. The message of the agreement would be constantly visible under the quest log, as long as it is effect. What each server does with it, is up to them.

It would be a “written agreement”, not a merging of two servers. The point would be to work together with a common goal, not to literally be on the same team. The dynamic would still be there. You could potentially agree to be on team with the other server, and then when they go to attack the high score server’s borderland, you break the agreement. Or when the server you’re working together with, are about to take the high score server’s keep, you kill them all.

The difficult part of this system would be cause and effect. If you chose to cancel the agreement, by killing the server you were working together with, there would have to be some sort of lose. Maybe in the form of a buff, similar to the ‘outnumbered’ buff.

One of the original ideas of WvW, was that two servers could team up against a single server, if that server was ahead on points. But when playing WvW, this is not something that really happens, other then by coincidence. Mostly, each server tends to just grab the camps/towers/keeps that are the easiest to take. So I was thinking, since we are starting on a new matchup system, that could potentially make one server dominate two others, how about adding a system that literally allows the two servers, with the lowest amount of points, to team up?

This is how it could work:

• Blue server is ahead of Green server by 50.000 points (just as example)
• Green and Red server both get an automatic message, that says something on the lines of (from Red server point of view); “Blue server is now 50.000 points ahead of Green server, would you like to team up with Green server? – Yes/No”
• Blue server would not be able to see this message
• Votes are then received by all the players of Green and Red server, that are logged onto a WvW map, over a period of time (like 12 hours)
• The final result of the votes are shown as a message to all three servers
• If the end result is “yes”, the team up between Green and Red server would then last one or two days
• If the end result is “no”, nothing happens
• During this team up, Green and Red server would still be able to attack each other
• But by killing players, or taking camps/towers/keeps, from the server you’re teamed up with, there would be a point penalty, as indicated by a bar
• When that penalty bar becomes “0”, the team work will end, regardless of the official end time (the one or two days)
• The penalty bar, and official end time of the team up, would be located under the quest log, and be visible by all three servers when logged into a WvW map

That is the rough idea I got. As for the benefit of being in a team, I’m not sure what should be. I think that an indicator that says “you’re in a team work with another server”, will do a lot on its own. But maybe there would be a buff associated with the team up, as well?

What do you guys think?

TL;DR
A voting system that gives each lower scored server the option of work together for a common goal. This teamwork would be indicated in the form of a “visual agreement” (placed under the quest log), much like how the commander icon is also visual indication that gather players for a common goal. Next to this visual representation, there should also be some form of buff gained from being in a team work. The team work would be for a limited duration.

Einlanzer.1627:

Thieves aren’t that great in PvE. Anyone who says they are is in denial. That does not mean that they are either unplayable or unenjoyable, though.

They have a melee focus but go down really easily in zergs
They have a pretty lousy downed state
They lack proper threat reduction
They are not really offensively stronger than any other class
They don’t have amazing support builds. Venom sharing is about it and it’s meh.
Their ranged options are fairly underwhelming

It’s really simple – the Thief’s toolset benefits them more in a PvP setting than it does in a PvE setting. Nowhere is this more obvious than in their downed state.

In WvW, I run straight into zergs all the time, shoot my shortbow AoE skills around, even stomp a player or two, and then run out again. Easily. All the while my allies are standing at distance, trying to take foes out with their ranged attacks. And I’m playing a shortbow-pistol/pistol build. With a stealth build, it honestly just becomes overpowered. PvE it’s no different, you just have to keep moving a lot more.

Like any other downedstate, it has its ups and downs. But there are worse downedstates then the Thief’s. If you are close to an edge or corner, in PvP, it is possible to teleport your way down the edge, or behind the corner, to hide and revive yourself. The only really good downedstates in PvE is the Ranger and Warriors.

What the Thief lacks in boons, it gains by being extremely evasive. As a Thief, you don’t really need stealth for anything ells then stealth skills. It is possible to survive on movement alone.

The Thief is offensively stronger then other professions, by design.

AoE stealth is amazing for support. In WvW you can stealth dolyaks or golems close to permanently, on your own. If you are two Thieves, and you coordinate your stealth skills, it is possible to do permanent AoE stealth. Stealth, together with superior movement, also means the Thief is the best profession at reviving. Next to that the Thief has one of the best AoE weapons in the game. And is arguably the best damage support profession.

As a Thief you don’t need 1200 range, as you have more movement speed then any other profession. If a Thief decides to really chase a foe down, he will not get away.

It’s not only from word alone that this rumor has emerged. The Thief playstyle is vastly different from any other profession, as the Thief has very low health, but makes up for it by being extremely evasive. This makes it very hard to level up at early levels, if you don’t consider that you constantly have to keep moving. And even if you do, you still only have a limited amount of movement skills, mostly because you feel limited by initiative at first (at least I did). So, many players get a bad first impression of the Thief, and so they naturally think the Thief will be equally “bad” at higher levels. Because they don’t consider that the Thief has a very high learning curve. It’s much easier with the Mesmer, as it has a turn around at level 40, but the Thief takes practice to learn, even well into level 80.

1. Profession balance
Just separate balance between sPvP, WvW, and PvE completely. We all know it’s going that way, eventually. Then go through everything; base stats, weapon skills, healing skills, utility skills, elite skills, traits, and so on. Give each profession a complete overhaul.

2. Solo queue
Should have been in at release. It’s pretty much vital to getting more players into sPvP.

3. More build variety
I would like to see at least three viable tPvP builds, for each profession. But balance each profession first, please.

The original implementation of stealth was good, what it now has evolved into is bad. Stealth was made to improve the movement of the Thief, which was a great way to incorporate stealth. But it has now turned into an almost permanent thing, and is based around stealth skills. So basically, the Thief has turned into an Assassin as it is known in so many other MMOs. But stealth doesn’t need to be removed completely. Simply removing stealth triggers from weapons, so it’s restricted to healing, utility, and steal skills, would go a long way.

CyrusRiffs.4376:

Yeah, for roaming in WvW it’s amazing. I’ve never been so confident going 1vX with a class. Not even Mesmer.

Try playing a bunker Mesmer ;p

Condition damage for the Ranger mainly comes from traps, shortbow, and torch or dagger. The Lynx is a great condition damage pet (especially with the Rending Attacks trait), and spiders can give you some more poison and ranged attacks.

I’m surprised you didn’t go 15/25/30/0/0, as the 3 seconds of confusion from Confusing Combatants is great.

I wouldn’t know what to choose first. Fix traits? Fix pet targeting? Fix pet survivability against AoE? Fix F2 pet skill responsiveness? Make F2 pet skills have a larger impact? Increase attack rate of longbow and greatsword? Improve the overall burst capability of the Ranger? Make new shout skills that actually affect allies? Make spirits invulnerable? Improve active abilities of spirits? Improve active abilities of signets? Give all pets the ability to revive allies, without having to use a utility slot? The list is long..

You have very similar stats to my own build, except I have 2200 power and 1500 toughness. I use axe/axe as main weapon, and greatsword as second. Since you are playing greatsword as main hand, I would suggest you go with Frost Trap. This will also help you make Whirling Defense hit up close. If you want to get away, you always have good old Swoop, and I can see you already have a stun removal in traits. You should also try the River Drake as your main pet, only because the F2 skill is superior. After you use that, change back to Snow Leopard for its F2 chill.

In case of builds you chose the right profession. The Mesmer can play all builds, so just take your time and get to know the profession a bit, then make a choice.

This is partly due to how ArenaNet chose to advertise the game, before it was released. Saying that they wanted sPvP to be eSport, then releasing it with next to zero support for it, is a great example of this. ArenaNet set the bar high, and so naturally, players expect great things from them.

Personally, the combat system is the main reason why I’m still playing. Content wise, I think ArenaNet are losing the battle. Sure they give us new content, and some of it is great, like Fractals, Super Adventure Box, Halloween, and Christmas. But it’s also becoming very shallow, because they have to create content for three different game modes, at the same time. Player response is a bit like; “hey, new content!”, and then two days later; “oh, that was it?”. And when players have such high expectations, shallow content isn’t going to be enough in the long run.

In case of open world PvE, you can pretty much use anything you want. But going axe/axe would give you better AoE damage, and switching out ‘Signet of the Wild’ for ‘Signet of Stone’ would allow you to get more berserker gear. Entangle is also better in PvE, unless you are fighting a single boss, or you need the stability for something.

The Mesmer already has a ton of movement in combat, and in the case of traveling, you can change to focus by equipping it from your inventory. Just double click the focus, use Temporal Curtain, and then equip your former weapon again with another double click. Easy. I can see why people want a 25% movement speed signet for the Mesmer, I would like that for my Guardian as well, but it’s not needed at all.

ProxyDamage.9826:

Kasama.8941:

Yes, it’s quite ironic that the Ranger has the strongest build in the game at the moment, with the bunker-beastmaster build, alongside two of the weakest builds in the game, with burst and support builds. Says a lot about how unbalanced the Ranger is.

See, this is typical overreaction from bad players that have no earthly idea what they’re talking about…

The ranger has arguably, possibly, the strongest 1 on 1 build in the game. The BM bunker performance drops dramatically as soon as the numbers increase (and I mean for both sides, obviously not 1 vs many). It’s viable, it’s strong, but it’s only really borderline “OP” in 1 on 1s. In fights any bigger than duels the pet’s survivability drops massively (particularly if you’re running emphatic bond, one of the ranger’s much needed sources of condition removal) even without being focused and with it roughly 99% of the ranger’s damage. Without their pets BM builds are just damage sponges, and they can’t tank more than 1 player if they can’t kill them…

That said the ranger does have other viable builds, for example condition damage trap build, but they’re all defensive “bunker-ish” builds.

I wish people would at least try to contain their knee jerk reactions and actually analyze things for a second.

I can’t tell if you agree or disagree with me. But nevertheless, I agree with you. No build is good for all things, but in regards to the general understanding of a “powerful build” (i.e. high survivability-high damage), the bunker-beastmaster is the best.

The pet rarely dies, because it’s not worth targeting the pet, and it’s often switched out to take advantage of the F2 skills. The bunker-beastmaster Ranger doesn’t need to attack more then one player, because damage from other foes can pretty much be ignored, so you can just take out one player at a time.

Condition trap builds aren’t as viable anymore, as they use to be. Most players have learned how to avoid the traps now. And if no one is stepping on the traps, you can’t really stack enough damage.

It doesn’t make any difference, because the passive skills don’t make any difference. WXP is basically just another carrot stick system, because the skills have no valuable impact on the game. The extra supply use to have a minimal amount of value, but with the introduction of supply traps, that little extra supply became pointless as well. And so all we have left is a system that’s made for players who likes titles next to their name, and watching a number increase.

Yes, it’s quite ironic that the Ranger has the strongest build in the game at the moment, with the bunker-beastmaster build, alongside two of the weakest builds in the game, with burst and support builds. Says a lot about how unbalanced the Ranger is.

Havana.8625:

Kasama.8941:

Strongest weapon: staff

I’m guessing the staff endorsers are talking full out CD builds?

If by CD you mean condition damage, then no. Boons on auto-attack, backwards teleportation, Chaos Armor, and Chaos Storm, are equally valuable regardless if you’re playing condition damage or direct damage.

The Ranger has two ways of gaining stealth. One is by the trait Hide in Plain Sight, the other is from the boars F2 skill Forage.

Teleporting isn’t possible with the Ranger, aside from Mesmer Portal and PvE environmental weapons, of curse.

The pet reviving while defeated under water, is a known bug. This doesn’t work on land, though.

Spirits vs. Banners is my favorite example. But the fact that none of the Ranger’s shouts affects allies, is funny as well. Or how about Signet of the Wild vs. Healing Signet; 62 healing vs. 200 healing per second, active skills gives more damage vs. more healing (healing is arguably more useful on a regeneration signet), and 60 second recharge vs. 20 second recharge. Signet of Stone is also the weakest toughness signet of them all; the active is “pet takes no damage” vs. “retaliation to nearby allies and weakness to nearby foes”, “gain stability”, or “immobilize”. But even though it’s the weakest toughness signet, Signet of Stone also has the longest recharge time of 80 seconds.

I don’t know what ArenaNet were thinking when they made the Ranger skills. Maybe they though the pet was going to be better then it actually is?

Yamato Shinobi.4378:

I don’t doubt that axe/axe has a use for the ranger. Though I ask myself, and of you, how often do you find yourself in a one-one situation in WvW, and if so, how long does it last until a friend or two of the enemy comes to your opponent’s aid?

If you’re with a few friends of your own, then there’s your balance, but not necessarily the best indicator of how you can survive on your own against 2-3 enemies IMO.

I think if you like playing in small groups, the axe/axe shines a lot more. However, as a solo mechanic, it’s only so good as long as you’re dealing with 1-1. The Ranger class just isn’t as resilient as the d/d ele, thief, or even guardian for surviving such encounters of multiple enemies.

If you go full on bunker with traps etc, you’ll fair much better in the resilient department, though your damage output won’t be as good.

I think if we see the pets F2 abilities increased and the casting time for them lowered more in WvW(I think they did this in PvE already), and the LB gets some more love, we’ll indeed see the Ranger class become as scary to content with such as the Thief.

Axe/axe is superior in 1v1, as ranged direct damage. It deals faster damage then longbow, which is vital against professions like the Thief, and it even deals more direct damage then shortbow, thanks to off-hand axe. When it comes to straight direct damage output, then longbow and sword will always be better. But I’ve found that longbow lacks the versatility of axe/axe, and sword makes you way too vulnerable in melee range. Axe/axe is like a nice middle way. Plus it has the best AoE of all the Ranger’s weapons, so no, it’s not only good in 1v1.

You do realize that you just mentioned the only three professions that can survive playing against three opponents on their own, with a berserker build, right? The Elementalist survives only off boons, nothing ells. If you play a Mesmer, try throwing Null Field under an Elementalist, and watch his health melt away. The Guardian survives mostly off boons as well (boon removal is equally effective here), plus his constant regeneration, and aegis. The Thief survives off stealth alone, and by downing foes so fast, they can’t recover. All of these advantages the Ranger just doesn’t have with a burst build, regardless of which weapons you use.

The bunker-beastmaster Ranger is very capable of defeating 2-3 players in WvW. You have to consider that pet damage isn’t affected by player stats, only the beastermaster trait line. So the pet makes sure your damage isn’t low.

The Ranger needs a lot more fixing then that. But that is going off topic a bit. We are really only talking about berserker builds here, which is one of the builds that the Ranger is having a lot of trouble with.

Best match up I’ve played yet. Thanks Miller’s Sound and Far Shiverpeaks, hope we’ll meet again!

ensoriki.5789:

“Great secondary utility weapon set”
Relative to what exactly, Mesmer Torch?

What are you talking about in terms of D/P serious? The combo is marginalizing in terms of intra-professional balance but that’s about where the puck stops.
HS+BP aside it’s a well pieced together set, though it lacks damage once that combo isn’t a factor. Shadowshot lets you zone in, not having to worry about traps and can even get past factors in elevation. Get to squishy/weakened targets and you can finish them off with Heartseeker, stop em with HS, and finish with BP or defend yourself with it. The only synergy is the combo? That’s false. With steal on a kitten cooldown at maximum it’s not a consistant gap closer which is part of why shadowshot is a good skill because it is a reliable gap closer that you can use multiple times.

Why does it have to related to anything? Pistol/pistol just give you different tools that are great to use as one-offs. Vulnerability stack, ranged burst, an interrupt, or blind to protect yourself. The problem is that, because of the initiative cost and low pistol base damage, none of them can really work together as a whole.

The Thief is always moving, so you always have to worry about traps. Even though Shadow Shot lets you get close past a trap, you might fall into that trap when you have to get distance again. And if your opponent is standing on a trap, this doesn’t have a lot of value anyway. Steal also has the ability to elevate you to place that are otherwise not accessible. Infiltrator’s Shot or Shadowstep can even do that. Hell, if you go into stealth, you can run around the elevated area and Backstab your foe. So Shadow Shot doesn’t give you any noteworthy advantage. Dagger/dagger can already finish foes off with Heartseeker or Dancing Dagger, and then stomp them using Cloak and Dagger. Even when Steal is recharging, you still have Shadowstep as a utility, which every Thief I’ve ever seen has equipped. Dagger/pistol doesn’t give you anything that you really need. Since most of your initiative is spend on Black Powder+Heartseeker, you have no real initiative left that can allow you to use Shadowshot, or any other skill, multiple times. If you removed the leap combo finisher from Heartseeker, reduced the initiative cost of Black Powder, improved the base damage of dagger, and put Shadow Strike on the weapon set, it would be awesome. But as long as the stealth trigger is there, everything is secondary. As mentioned, why use Shadow Shot, when you can just go into stealth, casually stroll over to your opponent, and then Backstab him? No one even cared about dagger/pistol, until players found out how easy it is to trigger stealth with Black Powder+Heartseeker. That says it all right there.

I was hoping for a system that took player activity into account. This sounds like it’s just going to be one server dominating the other two. I don’t think players simply want new match ups, but fair match ups. Anyway, I will reserve my judgement until the score system has been in effect for a few weeks. But as it looks on paper, I’m not convinced.

Bryzy.2719:

Update: I’ve switched out Rampage as One for the Entangle Elite, and like Kasama mentioned it works brilliantly with Whirling Defense and Path of Scars, providing the enemy struggles to get free. If you activate quickness you can get some REALLY high damage – entangle will provide an awesome bleed while you can easily get around 8k total with Whirling Defense, and Path of Scars almost always gives great damage. Because they’ll be immobile it also increases the likelihood that both hits will strike.

Don’t forget that Whirling Defense also reflect projectiles. So if the foes you’ve hit with Entangle try to hit you with a ranged attack, they are dealt even more damage. Whirling Defense also works very effectively against Rapid Fire by the way :p

Stof.9584:

Kasama.8941:

The only synergy dagger/pistol has is a stealth trigger, which is something that off hand dagger already can do. But the fact that you rely on a stealth trigger to make a weapon set viable, says everything about how broken the Thief is. If gaining stealth from weapon sets is all the Thief’s got going for it, something needs to happen. At least my change would make it interesting to play.

D/P is one of the most versatile weaponsets in the game, actually.

Dagger has a brilliant auto-attack, both range and aoe cone are superior to most swords and greatswords. Ofcourse, Backstab is essential!
Heartseeker scales amazingly with the increased damage on low HP traits, it evades and gapcloses.
Shadow Shot is an unblockable gapcloser with decent range and it blinds to boot.

The Daze on Pistol is nearly spammable and instant, it’s borderline overpowered.
Blind field is used for stealth, but it is incredible to set up stomps without requiring stability too.

It is near perfect in design and outshines D/D by it’s initiative costs, unrelience on melee range and basic utility. All skills are required for the combo, which creates a high skill cap and they synergize with utilities, traits and stats.

On topic: P/P damage = Unload and any channeling skill is terrible in GW2. They fail on dodge/block and are impossible to cancel (confusion). P/P is flawed and I have little hope for it becoming near to viable again after the Quickness nerf.
Since the off-hand skills are exactly the same on D/P but Pistol main hand lacks the synergy with the off-hand there is logical reason to run it besides gimmick builds.

Everything ells but Backstab is a bonus. You already have a gap closer in steal, and since you are in stealth for the majority of the time, your opponents are clueless about your location, and therefor don’t know how to effectively gain distance to you. Further more, running with Signet of Shadows makes sure you are never slow. All of this makes the gab closer from Heartseeker and Shadow Shot nothing more then a nice bonus, at best. Seriously, dagger/pistol is just dagger/dagger, without the downside of having to gain stealth in melee range. Using Black Powder when stomping, isn’t any different then using Cloak and Dagger when stomping.

I don’t see how you can have more initiative with dagger/pistol, when you spend more initiative on Black Powder+Heartseeker, then dagger/dagger does on Cloak and Dagger alone.

Right now, pistol/pistol is a great secondary utility weapon set, as it can offer damage stacking with Body Shot, ranged burst damage with Unload, interrupt with Headshot, or stomping with Black Powder. But as a main weapon set, it is pretty bad. The problem is the skills are just too expensive for it to be really effective. Body Shot doesn’t really work with Unload, as the 5 stacks of vulnerability isn’t effective enough to justify spending 3 initiative. Using Unload one time isn’t enough damage on it’s own, because pistol damage is too low. This means you really need that Headshot available to interrupt a possible heal, except it costs 4 initiative, on top of the 10 initiative you just used on double Unload. And because Black Powder is the only option for avoiding damage with pistol/pistol, you need that as well, in between the other skills.

As mentioned earlier, an idea could be to reduce the initiative cost of Black Powder so that pistol/pistol Thieves could avoid more damage. And increasing the overall damage of pistol would mean that it wouldn’t be necessary to spam Unload two or three times. Body Shot has its uses against “bosses”, but I would love to see how adding 2-3 seconds of swiftness, instead of the vulnerability, would change the weapon set.

Strongest weapon: staff
Best burst weapon: sword
Best utility weapon: focus

That is, of curse, my opinion.

This is just one of the Rangers’ problems. As another example, try comparing spirits with Warrior banners. Banners don’t die, they can be picked up and moved without using any trait, and they have more active (and useful) skills then spirits, once you “equip” them.

Don’t worry so much about your stats when it comes to traits, worry about synergy. Stats comes from armor, weapons, and tickets, first. The stats you get from traits are secondary. That’s not to say they aren’t important, it just shouldn’t be your first concern if you haven’t decided which gear to use, yet.

Sigil of Rage is highly underrated, and much needed since the Ranger has weak burst damage. The downsides are a 45 second recharge, and that you need a high critical chance. But don’t dismiss it before you try it. It’s cheap as well.

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one using spirits this way in dungeons =)

I hope any dev reading this doesn’t think that this means spirits are fine, though. They still need to be made invulnerable, while having a shorter duration as balance. There’s just no way around this.

Paz Shadow.9715:

I play as a beserker build, full exotics/ascended etc etc the whole deal… I use lb/gs but in the past have used lb/axe/axe.

From my perspective, I do not like axe/axe as a main choice of weapon because it just does not have the range that a beserker ranger desperately relies on to be effective. I am not sure about you, but as far as 1v1 goes having the initial range advantage and being able to get off the first hit is huge with a beserker build, and having to close the gap to 900 range when one can stay as far as 1500 range has issues (our vit/tough is really low to begin with). The base attack of an axe is mediocre unless there is more than one target around, the #2 and #3 are very low damage, #4 is an amazing burst so I understand why it is useful and #5 is just too annoying in a 1v1 fight because it immobilizes you and only is really effective assuming you are fighting a ranged opponent.

Also, a similar concept applies with zergs, just too hard to get that close to the action without taking serious damage that a beserker ranger just cannot take. An example would be asking yourself if you could do more damage to a zerg with barrage at 1500 range or an axe at 900 range, for me at least barrage easily outdoes it and keeps me at a great distance away from most people.

I am not bashing the build, I am just making observations from how I have played with axe/axe in wvw. I LOVE having duel axes because I personally think it looks cool and I enjoy the skills, but as far as practicability goes it just cannot replace the longbow (although that has it’s own flaws).

What server are you on? Send me an email in game if you want I would love to see your play style, always nice to talk about the beserker ranger build

I’ve found that when playing with longbow, I quickly fall into bad habits. Like not moving enough once I get into close range, and failing to realize that my health is low. I’ve also found that longbow attacks are very easy to dodge, especially at long ranges. Rapid Fire is very easy to spot, and you always know it’s coming when you see a Ranger with a longbow. And once you start dodging, Rapid Fire basically deals half damage. Next to that Barrage is also very easy to get out of, as the red ring appears long before the skill hits, and the cripple has a very short duration (although still nice to have for CC stacking). And as said in my earlier post, Point Black Shot is very rarely used at long ranges, and Hunter’s Shot is always recharging, because it’s always the first skill you use.

Axe/axe deals faster damage then longbow, and for that reason alone, it’s just plain out better. And opposite to longbow, the #1 skill on axe/axe is also less important, as your other skills are more “available”. Meaning you don’t blow them all in the first few seconds of your attack. Overall, axe/axe is more of a reactive weapon set, compared to longbow which is more of an active weapon. For instance, I use Path of Scars to deal some good initial damage, which also means it will recharge faster, allowing me to use it again. After that it depends on what my opponent does. If he gets closer I use Splitblade, if he tries to get some distance I use Winter’s Bite, and if he tries to burst me down in melee I use a snare skill (Frost Trap, Entangle, or Snow Leopards F2 skill), and follow up with Whirling Defense. Meanwhile Ricochet makes sure that I can keep the pressure up, as the axes are flying out very fast. I also use Sigil of Earth (bleed on critical hit) and the trait Sharpened Edges (also bleed on critical hit), which helps a lot. Even though I only have little over 100 condition damage.

But as you say, it is harder to go axe/axe if you run full berserker. I use soldier armor with berserker weapons and tickets, which gives me around 19000 health and 1500 toughness (using Signet of Stone), so that allows me to be in close range. I would never use axe/axe with longbow either, as Swoop on the greatsword is too valuable as an escape skill. Plus, since I’m already at “close” range, the burst from greatsword is just easier to follow up with (Maul and Crippling Throw hurts a lot, if you get a critical). However, I still switch out my greatsword to my longbow whenever I’m defending a gate, as it’s just easier to defend with the longbows superior range.

As a side note, if you guys haven’t tried it yet, use the River Drake. It is by far the best burst pet when it comes to F2 skills. Entangle, Lightning Breath, and Whirling Defense (or Rapid Fire/Barrage) = very dead player.

evilapprentice.6379:

Kasama.8941:

evilapprentice.6379:

Kasama.8941:

But if you removed the combo finisher from Heartseeker, and then changed Black Powder to cost 4 initiative, it would make pistol/pistol a lot more viable.

So your suggestion to fix P/P is to destroy D/P’s synergy and nerf HS for no reason just so you can slap a (ultimately ineffective and ill conceived) band aid on P/P.

Can’t Tell if trolling or genuinely clueless.

The only synergy dagger/pistol has is a stealth trigger, which is something that off hand dagger already can do. But the fact that you rely on a stealth trigger to make a weapon set viable, says everything about how broken the Thief is. If gaining stealth from weapon sets is all the Thief’s got going for it, something needs to happen. At least my change would make it interesting to play.

Still cant tell if trolling or mentally deficient from too much time on the boards.

“If your class relies on access to its designed defensive measures and primary class mechanic, it just proves how broken it is. Taking away that access would make it interesting to play”.

Hahahahaha.

Once again, stealth is not the primary mechanic of the Thief. Movement is, and it always has been. Stealth is the primary mechanic of the Assassin, which is not a class in Guild Wars 2. Just because 5-1 builds are the meta, it doesn’t mean that’s how the Thief is designed to be played. In fact, in beta and at release, stealth was barely used at all in builds. It was only once people found out how good burst damage Backstab deals, and how much easier it is to play with stealth then movement, that everything changed.

Taking away weapon stealth would make the Thief more interesting to play, as a movement based profession is arguably a lot more fun to play, then a stealth based one. And it’s defiantly a lot more fun to play against a movement based build.

I would have said ‘direct damage’ as the first thing. It’s been a few months since I last played Necromancer, but I clearly remember that I was very surprised at how bad direct damage was when I played it. Even with over 2200 power, I still, somehow, couldn’t deal any worthwhile direct damage.

Rayya.2591:

Kasama.8941:

The Thief burst is fine, and 1400 toughness is enough defense for most things, it’s just that the Thief can get some very high critical hits. I have over 1500 toughness on my Ranger, and I still get the occasional 4k hit, from just Cloak and Dagger. The real problem is the Thief’s ability to repetitively apply stealth, as it means there’s very little drawback to running as a glass cannon. Removing culling made it easier to down a Thief, but the 4 seconds reveal changed nothing, as Thieves have quickly learned to adapt. I would love to see stealth removed from all weapon sets, and be replaced with more boons like stability or aegis, leaving stealth to be applied with healing, utility, and steal skills. But that’s not going to happen..

this is an awsome ideea, however some thieves skills would need re-work (like backstab -hit only from stealth )

Backstab wouldn’t need a change, as utility skills already provide enough stealth, together with Hide in Shadows. Of curse some skills would need to have their recharge time reduced, like Blinding Powder going from a 40 seconds recharge time to 30 seconds, and (the new) ‘Cloak and Dagger’ and Black Powder going from 6 initiative to 4 initiative. Next to that, the overall weapon damage would need a buff as well. But that’s really about it.

Just remove it all together. It gives no real advantage anyway, it’s just another system that has no real impact on the game. All it does is make allies give up and leave, and attract the majority of foes.

The Thief burst is fine, and 1400 toughness is enough defense for most things, it’s just that the Thief can get some very high critical hits. I have over 1500 toughness on my Ranger, and I still get the occasional 4k hit, from just Cloak and Dagger. The real problem is the Thief’s ability to repetitively apply stealth, as it means there’s very little drawback to running as a glass cannon. Removing culling made it easier to down a Thief, but the 4 seconds reveal changed nothing, as Thieves have quickly learned to adapt. I would love to see stealth removed from all weapon sets, and be replaced with more boons like stability or aegis, leaving stealth to be applied with healing, utility, and steal skills. But that’s not going to happen..

Killing stranglers is a fair tactic. As long as you are out on the battlefield, anything is fair. When it comes to a Thief, the trick is to damage him enough so that he runs away, and then use that time to run away yourself. You should never ignore the Thief and just run away, as the Thief will deal a lot more damage to you with your back turned. Bottom line is; know when to fight, and when to run away.

Sentaul.2138:

This is the thing. Thieves are great in 1v1s and soloing in PvE, but honestly in a group fight they’re kind of useless. That is the balancing point for them. Good at single target, terrible in multi-target fights. You’re complaining that a thief killed you as you were trying to regroup, which I assume means you were running back by yourself. Solution? Wait for some other people and travel as a group. You can’t complain something is OP because they excel in one circumstance.

That’s a common misconception. The Thief shortbow is one of the best AoE weapons in the game. The Thief can use AoE stealth to great effect, for either protecting dolyaks, golems, or a small group of players. Stealth also makes the Thief the best profession at reviving. Next to that they can share venom effects, or give swiftness, might, and fury to allies when stealing, with Thrill of the Crime. And they are the best roamer profession, making them ideal scouts.

evilapprentice.6379:

Kasama.8941:

But if you removed the combo finisher from Heartseeker, and then changed Black Powder to cost 4 initiative, it would make pistol/pistol a lot more viable.

So your suggestion to fix P/P is to destroy D/P’s synergy and nerf HS for no reason just so you can slap a (ultimately ineffective and ill conceived) band aid on P/P.

Can’t Tell if trolling or genuinely clueless.

The only synergy dagger/pistol has is a stealth trigger, which is something that off hand dagger already can do. But the fact that you rely on a stealth trigger to make a weapon set viable, says everything about how broken the Thief is. If gaining stealth from weapon sets is all the Thief’s got going for it, something needs to happen. At least my change would make it interesting to play.

If you have under 1400 toughness, go for Signet of Stone. If you have 1500+ toughness, go for Signet of the Wild.

Edit: Echoing what Tierce said; it also depends on what you are up against. Signet of Stone is rather useless against the end boss in Volcanic Fractal, as that fight is pretty much all about preventing condition damage. Therefor Signet of the Wild becomes the preferred option here, even if you have under 1400 toughness.

I play a soldier/berserker build, and I’m very surprised how well axe/axe works. I tried changing my exotic longbow out with a pair of rare axes (I use greatsword as 2nd), and the difference is quite noticeable. I manage to down a Thief quite easily, something I’ve had a lot of trouble with when using a longbow and greatsword, due to their slow rate of attack. Using Entangle with Whirling Defense is incredibly powerful as well, even more so then using Entangle with Rapid Fire. Axe/axe is also a better AoE weapon set then the longbow, as it has three AoE skills, compared to the longbows single AoE skill. I also found a sense of freedom in the fact that I can use all five weapon skills with axe/axe, for different purposes, as opposite to the longbow, that has Point Blank Shot, which is extremely situational, and Hunter’s Shot, which is always on cooldown.

So yeah, I’m sticking with axe/axe until ArenaNet figures out that longbow needs a serious buff.

Indoles.1467:

Two issues I see off the bat.

1. No where do I see a build, just weapons. This quickly leads me to believe it works as a moderately skilled player vs bads since any good player will show a build and be able to explain the synergy.

2. Axe 5 is terrible in zvz warfare at t3 and up as the way to win these fights is to keep up movement, stability, and heal stacks. (Making one useless skill on the offhand axe). Axe main hand isn’t bad, but I find a weapon evade practically mandatory on most ranger builds.

The Ranger is the best professions when it comes to CC stacking, so snaring foes isn’t necessarily a problem. As an example, using Muddy Terrain with Winter’s Bite will stack immobilize, cripple, and chill. If the foe gets out of that, follow up with Frost Trap or Entangle.

Laurels are already easier to get in WvW then in PvE, and the next update will probably make it even easier. It’s hardly anything to worry about.

I did not know this site. Great layout, fast loading, a lot of statistics, I’m impressed.

Pistol mostly just needs a bit of a damage boost, just like sword does.

Black Powder is a combo field, meaning both your initial shot with Black Powder, and any other projectile you shot through the field afterwards, will blind the foe you hit. So in its own right, it is a solid skill. The problem with Black Powder is that it’s too expensive to repetitively use with pistol/pistol, and the initiative cost can’t really be reduced because that would make dagger/pistol even more powerful. But if you removed the combo finisher from Heartseeker, and then changed Black Powder to cost 4 initiative, it would make pistol/pistol a lot more viable.

While 10% more damage, or 250 more power, is nice to have, it doesn’t make you a god. It’s a bonus, nothing more. If your build sucks, or you’re playing against someone who has no idea how to play PvP, it won’t make a difference. I can also get 420 more power on my Guardian, just by using Empower on my staff. Neither PvE or WvW is meant to be competitive. I’m sorry if you thought otherwise.

I would agree with the statement, if all the content we’ve gotten so far was released at the same time. But seeing as they are removing most of the content they add, it doesn’t feel like an “expansion worth of content” at all. Next to that, the content ArenaNet have released so far is rather shallow, because they have their hands too full, trying to make content for three different game modes, at the same time. I would much rather have one full expansion, focusing on either PvE, sPvP, or WvW, with more depth and larger impact to it, then a handful of updates that I can barely be bothered to remember.

They gave it a shot, but so far I don’t think it’s working. The living stories have had some really bad writing so far, and story arcs that evolve so fast, you barely get to know the characters in them before it’s all over again. WvW skills are forgettable, and blobs of 70-100 players are still formed too easily, because there is no real benefit of running in groups of 30 players. sPvP, I’m not even going to bother writing about, as there are still too many things to mention.

I wish ArenaNet would just take out three months, and focus on only making a deep living story in PvE, with some great writing and character development. Or focus on making WvW more engaging for smaller groups of players, while making an actual interesting WvW skill system, that has some impact on the game. Or just work on making sPvP worthy of the name that is eSport, instead of the beta product that it currently is. I’m tired of getting half kitten content for all three modes. It just doesn’t work.