Guild Wars 2

Man IDK about yall, but I’m having some great success using DA/TR/Acro (YEP ACROBATICS). I decided to sPvP, so I went to the mists. I havent been there since Feb this year, and I pretty much just used what was already preset.

Running D/P – SB, with Withdraw, Roll for Initiatiave, Infil Signet, and Shadowstep, with basi venom for the elite. Using sigil of Force/Air on both swaps.

I use basi venom, puts it on CD, and I stay buffed with it until 10 sec left on the CD. Open up with shadow shot, hit hit (most stunbreak at this point lol), roll into attack chain, shadow shot again, steal (they’ve put up some kinda boon by now), and at this point they’re sub 50% easily, and burnt 1 or 2 stunbreaks. If done right, I’m full health or >90%. I use shadow shot offensively, as well as BP if I see them not moving around a lot, and if i get the chance to use BP, it’s HS>Backstab combo time.

The reason why this is relevant is: I’ve gone against a few D/D thieves, they were doing the whole +1 bit (which I find repulsive and dont commit to that), and they simply cant hold a candle to me, it’s sad. Don’t be like them.

I’ve downed, and finished: Burn Guards, Some GS/Rifle warr, D/D Thieves, Staff Ele’s, Wellomancers, LB Rangers… I only really have a problem with Condi shatter Mezmers. It’s stupid I have to burn a stunbreak+teleport to clear condi’s. Edit and condi Engi’s, F those dudes. Anything with lots of condi & utility/support, which I guess is meant to be the weakness of thief.

As anyone can see, this build isn’t strong counter-condi, then again nothing with the thief is. If you’re on key with your shadow shot spam, you’ll blind them enough to not get condi’s in the first place.

What happens when you add Fiery Greatsword and Basilisk Venom? Hilarity ensues.
Edit I mostly do Unranked Arenas, idk WTF that is really, but I like it.

mompen.7952:

…or ‘gain quickness for 5s while revealed’.
I don’t know, alot of classes gain almost a direct counter to stealth, while we gain nothing in return.

If this buff came to… I’d never leave acro, period.

thegreatbronk.6890:

Hi, as someone who has run S/D forever, I could not disagree with the post above more. SA is NOT greater than Acro for defense at all. Especially for S/D. SA offers very little in-fact. Adds a bit of stealth time, cures some condis, and you regain health in stealth which is not needed. SA hinders more than it helps a good thief. Acro is way better and I’m glad you realize this as you want to build your S/D thief around said traitline. Conditions are not an issue with my build as long as you use SS, HiS and Infil Return correctly. If the opponent is full blown condi then well…skip them…they’re not even worth the time.

Acro by all means offers MORE in it’s current state than the previous version ever did. You now have a stunbreaker with Hard To Catch (Plus 100% Endurance Refill) and are basically immune to Chill/Cripple with Don’t Stop. These things will kill a thief more often than condi’s from my experience so it’s such a plus to have traits that counter this. The old Acro sucked, simple as that. Feline Grace was nerfed, but if you only ran Acro for that reason alone…it’s likely you were bad at dodging…just saying…. the current Feline Grace is JUST fine and in some cases it needed a nerf because the dodges were ridiculous. With vigorous recovery and dodging well, you have enough endurance for any fight.

Dare Devil is meh…pretty lame imo. Not viable with S/D really. I see S/P and P/P having a good chance with it though. But I see no reason to use DD over the other much better traitlines unless you’re looking to add some stealth game to your S/P or P/P action.

My build is focused on Stunbreaks and Stuns. I can lock people down if I want with 4/5 stuns, and I can escape pretty much anything with my 3 stunbreaks. It is a very good roaming build as you will see. It is built for sustain. Damage over time. Valk Armor/Zerk everything else with pack runes. Sustain for the longer tanky fights, plenty of burst to take down people quickly. Especially those that are squishy

By all means, check out my Build on YouTube as well as my roaming videos using it. I posted it the day of the June 23rd Patch when everyone said Acro was no longer good and how I was dumb for making my build Acro based. Almost anyone who has watched my video and tried my build for themselves have changed their mind. Let me know what you think

Build;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkfvePTjBjI

Roaming;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ULl62omaHw

Very nice videos and build, I’m going to try this out. I remember seeing yall on Maguuma earlier this year before my hiatus, what a small world Always enjoyed watching yall duel.

Hah! Wouldn’t it be funny, with all the game changing updates to the other professions, if all Thief got for their elite mechanic was an extra dodge, like they used to have in acrobatics line?! Hahaha!

Owait…

No Reaper/Celestial Form, no F5 [Change your profession mechanic] button, no “Shadow” form, different-mechanic for steal, another steal, AoE Reveal because Thief is the “Master of Shadows” and they know what to look for……

Late April fools?

this made me laugh, great vid

Vornollo.5182:

It’ll live because it’s simply an enjoyable class/playstyle.
We are however very weak in comparison to all the other classes (mobility keeps us viable, really). While everyone can make fundamental mistakes during a fight, the Thief can not or he/she will simply die. That’s all there’s to it. Our defense is getting gutted even more with HoT up to the point where we really are little more than a Ranger’s pet or something.

It’s doable, but risk vs. reward wise, other classes are currently and likely will remain a better option (sadly).

EDIT: What it comes down to is our lack of out-of-stealth survivability. The only proper defensive line available to the Core Thief is Shadow Arts (which has been nerfed). The effects of Shadow Arts are tied to Stealth. So to keep it simple: Stealth is our survival (Condi cleanse, damage reduction, healing ect.). Now there are getting more and more anti-stealth mechanics in the game, it won’t be long until all classes get mechanics to reveal us. So while our defense can be negated almost completely, that of the other classes can not.

What do we have outside of Defense through Stealth? Evasion.
Sad part is that the core thief spec’s evasion line had it’s make-or-break trait ‘feline graces’ gutted. Sure there’s some nice things in there, but as it stands the Acrobatics traitline is severely lacking.
The other option is gated behind a €50,- paywall. Daredevil certainly has potential, even that is still a massive middle finger to the Thief though. It’s pretty much a properly done Acrobatics, with a mechanic that was claimed to be OP in Acrobatics pre-June 23 (having three dodges instead of two). And comparing that to the other Elite Specs leaves anyone at least a bit salty. The Elite’s mechanic is one single extra dodge. In order to make it somewhat decent we have to pick grandmaster traits for an effect.
Great.

Oh yeah, there’s also upcoming content that will be undodgeable so our defensive traitlines are all getting useless.

^ this. Well said

I’m not buying HoT until I see Thief improve to a level on par with other professions, simply put. I’m in no rush to spend $$$ on a game that simply wont deliver.

I’d like to hear more development on this. If we could move more in a soldiers/condi direction vs. the standard zerk, then hopefully survivability/sustain will be addressed… at least in part.

MrForz.1953:

I wonder. What part of this Warrior is derivated from Thief?

I always thought the Thief’s role in a group is to finish off the weak links, or to ‘assassinate’ certain key targets, using stealth to get in close in order to do so. This guy does just that without the use of stealth. Edit from 1200-1500 range as well…

Sure the ability is bugged to hit twice rather once as it should, the damage is still pretty high IMO, and it’s on what, 6s recharge? Less?

Unload and Body shot got dmg buffs. They know p/p needs work, and hopefully would agree the entire profession “needs work” as well. I would assume ricochet would be brought back somehow, MAYBE AS A TRAIT WITH 300 RANGE INCREASE?! Maybe NOT have the Thief as the ONLY non-1200+ range profession?!

Otherwise no, no word on ricochet. So for now, the best ranged AOE you’ll have for the foreseeable future is your Shortbow.

I’m just gonna leave this here….

https://youtu.be/364N7-VAdlo

My suggestion to fix thief… remove reveal, except when applied by other prof’s skills/utilities, and not have it as an inherent function of stealth removal by any means; it just doesn’t scream “Master of Shadows” and it’s plain dumb IMO.

I’ve been thinking about the Thief, and honestly it’s the ONE thing holding me back from buying HoT. It’s why I’m looking at all the DD footage to see if the purchase is worth it, before I invest.

I made a full ascended set for my Thief, and I’ve been thinking about switching that via Mystic Toilet to a +healing stat and roll Druid (I’ve always enjoyed being a healer in MMO’s). I specifically started playing this game to play a Thief, and with the changes and present state, I pose to myself “why play?”. Sure people will argue “just roll another prof”, how about: I just walk away. Check my acct. history, I’ve only recently come back, and that’s to evaluate the state of the profession I want to play.

TL;DR:
Thief = only reason I started, and would continue to spend time w/this game.
No Thief, No game, No money. <—note the period
Self applied/inherent reveal is just dumb.

swinsk.6410:

Mr Putin, What do you think about this thief HoT situation?

I’m in tears, laughing at this thought:

In a new, awesome HoT Raid, massive AOE damage incomming, on Teamspeak:

Raid Lead: “Alright everyone bunker down, pop CD’s. Thiefs burn your dodges and initiative bar”
Guard: “Really?”
Raid Lead: “Ya”
Guard: “They burn their entire initiative bar? To evade all this I take it?”
Raid Lead: “Ya”
—As Thiefs flail about trying to evade it all…
Everyone not a Thief: “BAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!”

I see what the problem is here. The thief/s in question did more than 2k dmg, and thus Thief profession is overpowered.

This could easily be solved with:
– Thiefs being ‘buffed’ with revealed while wielding any weapon.
- Neon green & pink dye set, mandatory for the Thief profession, at all times in PvP/WvW.
- Re-balance Thief damage, to a flat 50 base damage for all attacks while any specialization is chosen.

these balance changes could be polished off by offering a sword/dagger/staff skin of “wet noodle” to all thiefs, for 1000 gems, or 5 black lion keys.

Until these changes are made, this game will forever be imbalanced, and always cater to the thief profession. /rant

At most, I look forward to unlocking (note: UNLOCKING) the DA and SA GM traits, only because I’d toy with them in 2 builds I like; but neither would have a permanent spot in any builds I use considering the other GM traits. Otherwise, 0 [thats a zero] interest in the others.

The traits for the other classes have synergy with their line, and builds that are shared with that line. I really dont see any synergy with any of these proposed traits. Even the steal condition build. Am I going to give up 20% recharge & a daze for… 5 stacks of confusion? How bout 5 stacks of torment or something useful.

well not all at once now >.<

I did 10/0/30/0/30 to have some serious stealth for combat interrupt. With 30 in stealth tree, you can tailor the traits for whatever you’re doing. I chose it for some WvW I plan on trolling with D/P.

Build I’m playing with at the moment
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vYAQRAoa6YlsMp8pdOx7JsPNRw9IpItpePI7YNrWBaC

Steal seems to be a pretty strong ability now, but to maximize it you gotta sacrifice 30-40 points lol.

Edit Also you could do something focused on Torment for WvW/PvP
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vYAQRAsY6Yl0MpppVOx0JsPNR494rj1saKopN7UwVqC-w

Hello, I have a suggestion to spark new interest in GW2, for new players, veteran players, and for the ‘alt-o-holics’ like myself.

My Suggestion: Order specific ‘Mysteries’. The different orders pride themselves on their specific niche they fulfill to protect Tyria. The Priory researches a threat to find a weakness to exploit, The Order of Whispers uses guile and deception to infiltrate and exploit a weakness, and the Vigil prefers their prowess in open combat to assault the enemy until they crack. Each order would have their own mystery that would relate to events in the Living Story, Dungeon Lore, Personal Stories, or general GW2 lore.

Edit Mysteries to be completed as Weekly ‘quests’ or twice a week due to the number of tasks required, rather one-time deals. I’m talking about something repeatable every week or done twice a week at most here.

Examples:

Whispers: The player would overhear a conversation in the Order’s headquarters, containing information that would lead the player to chase the ‘rumor’, leading the player to Queensdale, particularly to the farms. The player could converse or overhear conversation of those working the farms which would lead to the discovery of different construction methods for the sprinkler systems used. There could be 8 sprinklers on one farm and 7 on another. The anomalous sprinkler could be interacted with to wet the ground and reveal a buried note, left by the author ‘“just in case”. The note could contain information pertaining to the construction of the sewer system in Divinity’s Reach. The player would use this information to discover a back entrance, created by the co-designer of the sprinkler systems, used by enemy agents to steal food and supplies for their faction. The player could team up with fellow players in the Order of Whispers and infiltrate the backdoor, disguised as the enemy faction as to not spark alarm; doing so would result in the players being mobbed or killed. Ultimately ending in a fight with the co-designer himself and the leader of the faction, gaining prestige within the Order of Whispers, and Divinity’s Reach.

Priory: The player would be tasked with a mundane and routine research assignment requested from one of the main cities, being sent to a field in the Iron Marches. After recovering some artifacts, the player discovers an artifact not native to the area, resonating with dragon magic. The artifact is taken to the priory headquarters where the player would use an array of testing techniques (many) to determine behavior and origination of the artifact. Upon completion, the player would learn the artifact is also imbued with the same magic as artifacts from the city of Orr! The player would start in the Straights of Devastation, then onto Malchor’s Leap, searching the over-run and collapsed ruins of the ancient city. Discovery of artifacts along the way lead the player to realize they’re from a ship long crashed along the southern area of the Cursed Shore. The player would discover they require the assistance of 4 others from the Priory, to enter the ship (guarded by undead) and acquire the last artifact needed to complete a complex puzzle, which the player and their cohorts would solve (5 required players to solve) at the Priory’s headquarters, by directing beams of light off mirrors to open the final artifact. Completing this earns the player and their cohorts prestige among the Priory and the city that sent the research request.

I’ll leave it to the dev’s to determine any ‘tangible’ rewards such as armor, weapons, crafting mats, recipes, skill advances in professions, or multiples there of, etc… The mysteries would follow existing lore, and could help piece together any real mysteries in the lore itself (I don’t know the lore…). The above examples is to get the dev’s thinking in the suggestion’s direction.

I believe not only would this spark new interest in the game, but in the lore itself and help to make the game more Interactive, given the current platform. Let me know what y’all think!

“commonly caused by firewall or router settings,…” might want to update this part..

Yep same problem, just adding my name to the growing wall of anxiety. Maybe I’ll go for a run or somethin =/