Guild Wars 2

swinsk.6410:

HS spam is probably the worst thing you can do on a thief.

Sure I hit the HS key once when I need to close a gap on someone (better than dancing dagger now since nerf). Then immediately I will hit CnD->BS. Maybe throw in a DB if I see them about to use some major hard hitting attack.

The only time I actually spam the HS button is when they are below 50% and I have a lot of init to kill them with it.

I just think thieves get a bad rep because some thieves spec for glass cannon and use haste+other abilities and end up spamming HS from 100% hp.

Thieves like me who use HS for what it’s intended for get called noobs when they rack kills in spvp. I had like 15 something kills most games because I keep running up on fights where people were less than 50% and I finished them off in a few HS’s.

my thoughts exactly. the main thing i use HS for is as a gap closer, so i don’t particularly care if it actually does much damage, if any at all. once i’m close, there are much better options for me to work with.

Serelisk.6573:

The amount of hubris displayed in this post is irritating. You also didn’t address why he was responding, which was that you initially stated Fort Aspenwood is not a challenge and that you were discontent because of it. If that is so, then go to Yak’s Bend borderlands where there is a challenge. But if you’re not willing to do that much, don’t mention “wanting a challenge” at all because it’s evident that you’re only seeking to boast how many points your server puts up at the end of the week.

We know what it takes to improve as a server WvW contender and trust me, we are trying. But to use the analogy of war puts an unnecessary and largely irrelevant emphasis on what people are trying to get out of this game. To many people, it’s first and foremost about fun. Not to say that TC is not doing so as well, but if you aren’t having fun then what is the point of playing the game?

i’m sorry if the facts come off as hubris, but they remain as facts. take a look back through the threads of the previous matches, you’ll notice that several FA players state that TCBL remains all green and YBBL remains all red. (i guess it’s ok when FA players complain about it, but when a TC player complains about the exact same thing, it’s “seeking to boast how many points our server puts up”.)

for the record, i suggested that YB and FA should team up against us. why? because we’ve held out own borderland, our areas in EB, and extra bonus areas in EB and the other two borderlands. we don’t have our backs to the wall, and can afford to be sloppy, which is the problem. us having more bonus areas won’t solve the problem. us being down to a single tower over all 4 maps will. it’s all about our performance and execution. the score doesn’t factor in whatsoever.

if we’re getting careless, then even if we own every bit of all 4 maps, it’s still a problem. the fact that have to argue and practically beg the other two teams to stomp all over is, quite frankly, absurd. you should be jumping at this opportunity to take the screws to us. instead of continually insulting us by saying that we don’t want a challenge. if “team up and beat us senseless” translates to you as “we don’t want a challenge” then what backwards logic do i have to use to get you to do it? tell me, and i’ll give it a shot.

after doing a lot of WvW, i’ve been trying to think up a way to make a healer build. there doesn’t appear to be many options for that. the shadow protector trait, coupled with shadow refuge and blinding powder seems to be majority of what i’m capable of doing. are there any other options or “must haves” that i should be focusing on? my goal is to provide healing and support while our team is making an offensive push into a target, and be able to get to people in the downed state to rez them. so, i could use some advice on how to proceed here.

Kasei.8726:

Phantom.8130:

you don’t get it….. we want a challenge, but we don’t want to have to regress to get it. we don’t want to make laughable tactical blunders, we want to move toward perfection.

“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.” – Sun Tzu

i’m sorry if you don’t agree with that, but you can’t possibly think you know better than the guy who literally wrote the book on warfare. if you try to argue against it, you will lose every single time and you will end up looking like an arrogant fool while doing so.

war is a very cerebral thing. if you try to lead with your manhood, it’s going to get chopped off. instead you have to pick the most opportune target, and take advantage of it. those who beat their heads against rocks expecting the rock to split before their skull will only end up with a massive headache.

Your references to war are irrelevant since this isn’t a war. If you try to argue that WvW is equivalent to war “you will lose every single time and you will end up looking like an arrogant fool while doing so.”

“we want a challenge, but we don’t want to have to regress to get it”

And that’s where we differ. My goal in this game is to have fun, challenging battles. If my server happens to win the match through those battles, all the better. For example, I don’t even play the weeks when my server dominates all the maps, because it isn’t a challenge: it isn’t fun. If my server happens to be holding a map well, then I will specifically seek out an outmanned borderlands to play on for a challenge. From what you guys have posted (not necessarily the entire server), you do not. If you call that regressing or bad tactics, then there’s nothing left for me to say.

My point is simple: It’s fine if you care about points first, but go out and seek a challenge before you complain about the lack of one. Not to go off-topic, but it reminds me of those players who complained about the lack of content in the game, when they hadn’t even visited all the maps yet.

I will have shoddy internet for the next week or so. So you guys will have fun without me, later.

the consequences may not be nearly as severe, but the tactics and strategies still apply. if you don’t accept that, you will never stand a chance against us. we will forever be your glass ceiling. if you’re looking for fun, challenging battles without warlike strategies, it sounds as though what you’re looking for is sPvP or tPvP. not WvW. while they both can have fun, challenging battles, the strategies involved are different. what may work in one won’t necessarily work in the other. you can accept it and improve, or you can deny it and watch as your WvW population dwindles until you find yourself back down in tier 4. it’s your call.

Kasei.8726:

Kerithlan.1659:

Kasei.8726:

Kerithlan.1659:

Arkard.3970:

Night score update below:

Just to comment about FA’s defenses vs YB’s defenses again, this is not the first time we’ve had basically this same exact picture these past few weeks. We (Tarnished Coast) have trouble taking anything from Yak’s borderlands because their defenses are strong/off-putting. You guys are easy mode in comparison.

I’m not trying to talk smack here. I’m trying to get you guys to play better defense so that we’re challenged. You guys are 8th place, Fort Aspenwood. We might not have a ton of servers but that’s still the top ten. Have a little more pride in your defenses.

You want a challenge.
You don’t think FA is a challenge.
You think YB is a challenge.
So you continue to focus your attacks on FA.
Nice logic right there.

FA is quite frankly spread too thin at this point. It’s difficult to maintain defenses when man power, supply, and siege is needed everywhere. I’m not complaining, since I’d much rather be in our shoes than yours. I love having a challenge, it’s fun. Contrary to what you want believe, your words and the actions by your server tell me you do not.

I don’t think that you understand how it works. As long as we’re able to constantly flip FA in the Eternal Battlegrounds and FABL, YB isn’t a serious threat to us (anywhere). Having the easy meal (FA) means that we can focus more on defense.

There is a door that must be opened. It is locked. You have the key. Do you use the key, or do you kick it down? Obviously you will use the key because it is the logical course of action. The door that we’re opening is points, and FA is our key.

We’re asking you to take our keys away.

Actually you just proved my point. You just said it yourself, you don’t want a challenge, you just want points. You’d rather take the easy meal to open the door of points. I honestly couldn’t care less about points or what server wins or loses at the end of the day, as long as I get to have challenging, hard fought battles.

Soba.3041:

You can keep the keys. We play to have fun and it’s way more fun to kick down doors than it is to use the keys.

^ This.

you don’t get it….. we want a challenge, but we don’t want to have to regress to get it. we don’t want to make laughable tactical blunders, we want to move toward perfection.

“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.” – Sun Tzu

i’m sorry if you don’t agree with that, but you can’t possibly think you know better than the guy who literally wrote the book on warfare. if you try to argue against it, you will lose every single time and you will end up looking like an arrogant fool while doing so.

war is a very cerebral thing. if you try to lead with your manhood, it’s going to get chopped off. instead you have to pick the most opportune target, and take advantage of it. those who beat their heads against rocks expecting the rock to split before their skull will only end up with a massive headache.

Radiant.5729:

Azelroth.6801:

I would love for YB & FA to tag team us – we need to feel the pressure again!

A lot of our players are becoming complacent due to this long match up of ours and because of that – things are starting to feel really stale.

Please form an alliance and 2 vs 1 us – I really miss that feeling of a true challenge and the feeling of being the underdog in battle. Which makes us grow stronger in the end.

BRING ON THE PAIN!

I hope you’re joking.

he’s not. we’ve been saying it for a few pages now. team up and kick our teeth in. we want it. we thrive on it. in fact, we need it. put us on our heels. push our backs against the wall. corner us. give us two options. do or die. put the fear back in us. make us desperate again.

seriously.

Choko.6821:

Phantom.8130:

Choko.6821:

Not sure about it, I posted kitten where you guys rather take FA out over YB or TC. And now you gotta play hostile, and because of such defensive coming from TC. Thus you are playing alliance with YB.

you…… missed the point entirely. i’m saying that i wish FA and YB would team up against us. to be clear, they aren’t currently and there are no server alliances going on involving any of the 3 servers involved in this match up.

what i want is a tough match where TC’s back is against the wall, and we’re in desperation mode again. if FA and YB would team up against us, that would create that situation. once again, for clarity’s sake, there are no alliances going on.

Fight BG for that. I heard there is also ocean/Europeon players to deal with it.

i have. when they were rising up though the ranks, and before they (apparently) started losing guilds. the TC/BG/FA match. which, aside from a small handful of FA players ended up being the TC/BG match. coincidentally, the (horrible) orbs were still in play then, and BG had a stranglehold on all 3 for the entire match up. SoR was the same way. (if you take a look at my first post, you see that both of those servers were actually mentioned) we were pushed off the map more times than i could even be bothered to count, and it was still far more enjoyable than standing around in a tower for 6 hours hoping i don’t lapse into a coma.

if you’re suggesting i transfer servers, sorry, but that’s not going to happen. i joined TC because it’s the NA unofficial RP server, and i’m also a roleplayer. i’m also fiercely loyal. the only place i would ever consider transferring is piken square (the EU unofficial RP server) and that would only be for a week to discuss and swap techniques. then i’d be right back on TC. i’ve made a good amount of friends here, and that’s more important than any individual facet of the game, or even the game itself.

Choko.6821:

Not sure about it, I posted kitten where you guys rather take FA out over YB or TC. And now you gotta play hostile, and because of such defensive coming from TC. Thus you are playing alliance with YB.

you…… missed the point entirely. i’m saying that i wish FA and YB would team up against us. to be clear, they aren’t currently and there are no server alliances going on involving any of the 3 servers involved in this match up.

what i want is a tough match where TC’s back is against the wall, and we’re in desperation mode again. if FA and YB would team up against us, that would create that situation. once again, for clarity’s sake, there are no alliances going on.

personally, there are very few games where i’ve actually liked how stealth was handled. GW2 isn’t an exception. it’s far less “stealth” and far more “klingon cloaking device”. what i want from stealth is exactly what games like thief 3 or even the elder scrolls series offered. something you actually have to put more thought into than just “click button”. shadows, environmental factors, line of sight, outfit color, silhouette. realism. what games currently offer isn’t stealth. it’s invisibility. with persistent stealth, i can stand directly in front of someone’s face for 3 hours and they can’t see me. here, it’s 3-4 seconds, or up to 12 with shadow refuge. but it’s still just invisibility.

what i’d love to see is environmental stealth be possible. no more neon signs over my head. no more emote chat spam. give me an ability to mask these, as well as block tab targeting and the highlight button all while only when i’m not in combat, and i’m a happy camper. let people be able to target me with their mouse if they see me, and then the excuse they have is that they were oblivious to their surroundings.

put in a “backstab” button that would remain active for, say, 10 seconds or until they hit someone that can only be used out of combat. then the thief could pop that, step out of their hiding spot, and backstab for an opener. or better yet, make it a “stealth attack” button to give them a few options. backstab for burst damage, sap for a knockdown, or garrote for bleeding damage. you could even make them invisible for that time frame, or give them a significant movement speed increase so that a zoomed out camera isn’t an all encompassing counter to it.

for escape? a 10 second smoke bomb that actually makes smoke. yes. a giant cloud of actual vision impairing smoke. they can use it to escape, they can use it to disorient, they can use it to distract. they can open with it, or they can exit with it. have it break targeting and channeled abilities and put it on a 1-2 minute cooldown. then people can swing away blindly inside the cloud and be able to hit if the thief just stands there like a goon. much the same way people can still hit thieves inside shadow refuge now.

NineOnine.4327:

Nut.4713:

TC still seems to have stupid numbers. Wonder why. Not very good, per usual but yeah, zerball ftw. Where’d ya get the extra people from, I wonder.

I’m from TC and i agree with you having played 4-5 days a week of WvW on this server since launch pretty much…. A few months ago we were the underdog, it was way more fun. Now there is nothing but TC care bears posting on this thread who 90% of, when we were down were nowhere to be seen. I feel like a core group of about 100 people hold the fort 24/7 and did what we can to secure any points we could it was a real rush having out man’d buff most of the time and still making a dent.

The commander level on TC has dropped overall, I watched as my own guild new commanders spend 3-4 hour tonight trying to take Yaks keeps (which they eventually did). To me it felt like they were on a self indulgent quest, all it achieved was giving half the map to FA, ego, and losing huge sums of badges/gold in siege, while making 0 for the people following them. As you say the only reason we got anything done was numbers.

Again when we were down, getting smashed by CD, sos or blackgate etc, a few months ago there was no queue, now every time i try and get into EB i have to wait. I’m sure its the same story on any server that’s wining their bracket. Sorry for the negativity but i can’t help but feel this way….. Maybe it’s time for some TC to move to FA or Yaks and even the score.

i have to agree. working the night crew against SoS, getting overwhelmed by BG and SoR, were the best times i had in WvW. now i’m spending 6 hours in a tower ticking siege that rarely ever even needs to be used. the good habits that were slowly being built are starting to fade away. i felt like i was helping to make a difference in those tough matches. now, it doesn’t really seem like i’m all that necessary anymore. the main thing i’m doing when i log in is handling the jobs most people don’t want to be bothered with. the janitorial work. that’s not to say that there aren’t others who share the responsibility, just that a growing portion of players don’t. cap-n-dash is starting to make a comeback, with giant chunks of players leaving the map entirely the instant everything is green. regardless of the shape of the areas. repairs go neglected. upgrades get ignored. siege gets wasted. just offense offense offense. the few dedicated people who stick around to defend end up carrying the workload, while the majority don’t even think to offer to help out. and that majority are the ones who are strangely missing when we’re not winning. it’s pretty telling, really.

i greatly preferred the matches where we were getting slaughtered. zerging was non-existent. we had to be pretty creative to take even a single area, and even more creative to hold it. we had to rely on each other to handle the boring jobs. we worked as one, because we needed to. i’d LOVE for YB and FA to actively coordinate to team up against us. take away everything we have, and spawn camp us. ruthlessly. force us to tighten up again. the tough will overcome. the weak will fade away. we’ll be much better off for it.

no. it just kinda happened. not sure why. i even tried to go back to edit it out, but to no avail

TC: 249,522 (325)
YB: 180,097 (275)
FA: 178,804 (+95)

it could be lag during the click itself causing a second one to end up in the action queue. i’ve had that happen with heartseeker many times. i’d hit it once to act as a gap closer so i could use death blossom for positioning, then CnD +backstab, and end up doing 2 heartseekers which would leave me without enough initiative for the CnD at the end. ideally, there would be an option to turn off action queuing entirely, but i haven’t been able to find anything even remotely resembling that.

my mouse has 2 extra buttons near the thumb, so i bound the one as my auto attack and the other as death blossom. shift + those buttons are steal and my elite skill. the middle mouse button is my CnD. heartseeker is E and dancing dagger is Q. my heal is C, as that’s always my preferred button for stealth in games and i use hide in shadows as my heal. 1 and 2 are my first 2 skills, and my third skill is always a signet so i left that unbound.

just as a little tip……. the name they post here as, and the numbers that follow it, is their login ID. just pop that into the little box that pops up when you type /w and you can talk to them regardless of what character, or even server, they’re on.

Oliin.9581:

Huh, no points in arcane on that ele at all.

But yea, they can do that once every 45 seconds …

45 seconds you say? say….. doesn’t steal and basilisk venom finish it’s cooldown at that exact same speed? wow, what are the odds?

Jaxon.5392:

When there’s no prize, there’s no drive

Anet simply has to introduce rewards for WvW weekly results before it suffers in the middle and lower ranks any further

actually, that would cause it to suffer the most. people are already transferring(even with with 7 day cooldown) to win when there’s no rewards for it other than to say that you won. if you add a reward into the equation, saturdays are just going to be mass exoduses to whatever server happens to be in the lead at the time.

this is a first. i actually agree with ever single one of the suggestions in this thread

increase the siege timer? very much yes
a visible, uniform timer on siege? very much yes
being able to break siege down? as long as it’s only the person who originally placed it, yes.
being able to deposit supplies? yep, this one too.

i’d also like to add to make sure that unfinished siege keeps its fairly short despawn timer. that would prevent people from plopping down a ton of rams somewhere to eat up the siege limit. with the deconstruction, have them be able to salvage 50% or even 75% of the supplies used to build it, with a 10-25% chance of being able to get the blueprint back. for the siege timer, a buff would probably be the easiest way to go, and would be extremely helpful to the owners. for the actual amount of time, 2 hours seems to be a good amount of time.

short timers make them less worth setting up ahead of time, because then someone has to stand there bored out of their skull until someone decides to show up, or the siege just plain never gets set up because it’s a waste of resources. too long, and night cappers can take over a map, and set up a ton for the morning crew. the key is to find out how long an average keep siege lasts (an actual siege, not a 50 man zerg PvDoor siege. one with actual defenders.) and make the despawn timer a short amount of time beyond that. say, 10 minutes extra, so people can have enough time to run back to wherever they were pulled out of when the defense needed reinforcements.

the thing is, though, all of the pieces of this puzzle would need to be put into place to ensure that it’s a working system. put in just one, and the puzzle is an incomplete mess.

now to break off on a few tangents.

culling
the biggest problem that has created the most misconceptions and rage about the thief class. fix this, and a large portion of the thief hate disappears immediately.

preventing WvW caps via stealth
it’s fun and exciting for the thief, and it can be countered by the people attempting to cap the camp if they know what they’re doing. however, sPvP prevents stealthed players from affecting the capping circle, so it really only makes sense that WvW would adhere to the same standards.

stealth and initiative
someone earlier had suggested making stealth drain initiative. this could be feasible, depending on how it was implemented. it would have to be a completely separate system to the current short term, in combat stealth already available. make it similar to the “perma stealth” that other games already have. lower the movement rates, have it cost 1 initiative per 2 minutes of stealth, give it a fairly long debuff on it (somewhere in the neighborhood of 1-5 minutes), have it create the normal revealed debuff when any attacks are used so that the player can’t immediately enter one of their short term buffs, and have it only able to be entered when out of combat. i’d also recommend giving players a 1 in 10 chance to see though it, to reveal the semi transparent image that thieves see on their own screen while currently in stealth.

though, what i’d really prefer is environmental stealth. let me hide in a bush, let me blend in with some rocks, let me use camouflage to hide like it’s done in real life. this would require 4 things to happen, and really only 4. number 1: fix culling. number 2: get rid of the annoying chat spam when using emotes such as /kneel, /sit, /sleep. number 3: provide a way to remove the giant neon sign floating over a thief’s head when out of combat as well as auto-target options. mouse clicking to target would still work. number 4: let the actual dye colors of the thief’s armor to show up on everyone’s screen, at least until they’re targeted. then it becomes a matter of one player’s perception vs the other player’s knowledge and skill with hiding. true player versus player.

now, to comment on the class itself…..

shadow refuge
a fantastic skill in PvE, not so much in PvP. the debuff forces the thief to stand in for the full duration, and the house symbol might as well be a giant neon sign that says ’HEY! THROW ALL YOUR AoE HERE!!!" my suggestion is to remove the debuff unless the thief actually attacks something while in stealth, remove the giant obvious house symbol from a stealth skill, and make it an elite skill on a 90 or 120 second cooldown.

shortbow #1
the arrow bounce on the #1 skill may seem nice, but it’s counter productive to the real reason people use bows instead of guns. bows are silent. you can sneak in somewhere and accomplish your goal and get out without alerting everyone of your presence. however, if that arrow starts ricocheting around to enemy players/mobs, you’ve drawn a ton of attention to yourself and are most likely about to die. my recommendation is to change the power shots trait in the shadow arts tree to “trick shots” to allow both it and the harpoon gun to bounce to multiple targets and make that a tier 1 trait.

shortbow #2
cluster bomb is the only 1200 range weapon skill the thief has, at all. it’s absurdly slow and mind numbingly simple to avoid at range. it can only be fired after the initial shot has already landed or was prematurely detonated. it’s main use is to get up into melee range and shoot it directly down at your own feet over and over. that’s, quite possibly, the worst tactical use of a bow in the history of archery. my recommendation is to keep the 15% damage nerf, and speed the arrow’s flight up considerably.

shortbow #4
choking gas sounds like a wonderful skill, in theory. poison doesn’t create damage stacks, so you only really need to use it once the initial poison has worn off. add in that it only has a 900 range, and it’s pretty much just good for throwing the occasional one into the cluster bomb foot spam. my suggestion is to increase the range out to 1200 and increase the speed of the arrow’s flight as well.

pistols
i think most of their deficiencies have already been covered already, but i do have a suggestion for them as well. i recommend changing the trait that allows the bullet to bounce, to allow it to piece multiple targets, and to increase the likelihood of this happening up to 50%. have it do only 75% of the possible damage per each target it’s pierced.

daggers
the weapon set that receives the most thief hate directed toward it. though, to be fair, it’s really just one particular combo on one particular build: the glass cannon preloaded CnD->mug->backstab. how do we remedy this situation without just pointing to the people who have already learned how to deal with it and say “LOOK! just do what they’re doing!”? well, you could get rid of the ability to use mug in the middle of the CnD animation to get both off and end up in stealth, though other classes are able to perform the same combination actions so that wouldn’t be fair to thieves. you could nerf mug damage, but that would affect other builds who don’t use the 3 hit combo. you could nerf CnD, and you did, but that affects anyone who uses a dagger in their off hand, regardless of what’s in their main hand. you could nerf backstab, that would affect anyone who uses a dagger in their main hand, regardless of what’s in their off hand. so it’s quite a conundrum. personally, here’s what i recommend, instead of the 33% nerf to CnD, change it to only a 10% nerf. tone down backstab by 10%. change what mug does. perhaps a 1 second knockdown, or push back, or confusion, or daze, or anything besides burst damage really. then create an instructional video on how to avoid the combo and post it any time someone complains that they were killed by it.

katniss.6735:

I don’t think I need to do a write up. The screenshot pretty much sums up the thief class and how OP they are:

i notice that you have less than 2300 armor. less than half of my own gear has toughness on it, i only gain 200 points from traits, and i’m at around 2600 armor. what relevance does that have? well, i’ve run into glass cannon thieves many many times, and never once have i been hit for that much damage. (the highest i’ve ever been hit for was 3k, 4k, and 8k, but that was before the change to assassin’s signet.) now, if less than half of what i’m wearing has any toughness on it, and i still have 300 more armor than you, that leads me to one of two conclusions. either you’re a glass cannon build yourself, which according to the pop up over your armor score, you’re not a full glass cannon. though, you do still have lower cores in both toughness and defense than i do, with less than half of my gear having toughness on it (1535 toughness and 1064 defense, compared to your 1368 and 920). or you’re wearing cloth armor, in which case you have other ways to deal with the damage. just ask any competent d/d elementalist. if you were caught by surprise by the thief’s burst combo, then that’s really more a problem with your situational awareness. add in the fact that you have very little invested into your damage mitigation, and well, there’s your problem.

simply posting a pieced together partial screenshot is in no way, shape or form a compelling argument for anything, on any planet. using words, details and facts to present a case will have much more gravity than photoshop ever will.

i’m from TC, and i’d like to say that YB has been very impressive. creative strategies, strong defensive effort, a feisty “never say die” approach, and a class act on the forums. if i was looking for a server to join, YB would probably be my top choice. it’s been a lot of fun going against you guys these past few weeks, and you’ve presented some interesting challenges. i’d really like to see more of you guys, so i’m really hoping you get some more like minded groups to add to your roster.

Ireniicus.2167:

Phantom.8130:

to be fair, i’m not surprised that there appears to be a possible double team going on. YB defends their areas, TC defends our areas, FA admitted to overlooking defending their areas.

“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.” – Sun Tzu

if you capture an area, you get the points once. if you hold an area, you get points every 15 minutes, as well as extending the front line. so you gain far more from defending than you ever could from a simple cap-n-dash. and if 1 side is going to vigorously defend their areas and the other side isn’t, the side that isn’t becomes the logical target to attack.

As a YB I can agree. By midweek we go to TC borderline and it will be defended with super reaction times. Goto Fa less so. That said FA are better than CD at defending

yeah, because FA doesn’t keep the bulk of their forces in the oh so valuable jumping puzzles lol

to be fair, i’m not surprised that there appears to be a possible double team going on. YB defends their areas, TC defends our areas, FA admitted to overlooking defending their areas.

“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.” – Sun Tzu

if you capture an area, you get the points once. if you hold an area, you get points every 15 minutes, as well as extending the front line. so you gain far more from defending than you ever could from a simple cap-n-dash. and if 1 side is going to vigorously defend their areas and the other side isn’t, the side that isn’t becomes the logical target to attack.

i’d love to see each server have their own unique borderland based off of the name of said server. tarnished coast could be a beach area, crystal desert would be a desert, sea of sorrows could be a series of islands, etc. obviously, SoR and BP(i think it is) would need a special customized version, as they’re not based on areas in tyria, but on people. perhaps the maps could take the shape of the face of their namesake?

it would give each server a better sense of identity, and a “home field” feel to their borderlands. it would also create a variety of new and unique challenges when facing new opponents.

my favotite class to target is whatever class is trying to build a ram within range of my catapult, or a catapult withing range of my treb. or the one person who brought a golem and tried to solo a door within range of my cannon. i think she was an elementalist, because she mist formed from the down state back into the golem. which ended up killing the golem when it wore off.

i’m on TC, so i ended up imagining up that character’s perspective. a down trodden waif, who had recently decided to join the military and wanted nothing more than to prove herself to high command by singlehandedly capturing the target that the rest of her allies were unable to, despite countless tries. perhaps there were even nay-sayers and bullies who would attempt to demoralize her and play mean pranks on her back at the barracks. her success would prove all of them wrong, which made it all the more important. so she got herself a golem, we’ll call him sal. she went and captured a camp, or remained in a camp after it had already been taken, building and nurturing sal, teaching him to read and helping him take his first steps. the time was right, so she brought sal to her chosen destination, more determined than ever, and then she found me there, the living embodiment of her oppression. who ruthlessly cut her and sal down in the prime of their lives with my evil cannon of doom. such a dramatic tragedy….

either that, or it was someone that was new to WvW who had gotten a free golem blueprint from completing the trahearne storyline, and figured they’d give a shot. but i prefer my version better.

KiNgPiN.2075:

Phantom.8130:

other classes can stomp without hindrance, not just thieves. and if you want to talk about honor, there’s nothing honorable about throwing a temper tantrum and logging out because you got beaten in a video game. that’s the type of behavior exhibited by 5 year olds. people need to learn how to man up and take their lumps, then get back into the field to dish out some of their own.

if the 1.5 silver repair bill seems like a lot, grab a couple people and go capture a camp. kill the yaks that are there, and you’ve actually turned a profit on the whole deal and helped your team out to boot.

Well at least ele can be killed by allies while casting finishing move, in the case of Thief i can scrab my oo because he is invisible. If they abuse reendering issues other ppl are abusing altF4, totaly fair.

are you familiar with the phrase “two wrongs don’t make a right”? if the rendering BUG is affecting a thief, it doesn’t give people the right to alt +f4 out of the game. one is involuntary, the other is voluntary. one will be fixed, the other shows a complete lack of character.

and…… elementalists gain damage immunity. that means that, no, no one can kill them during the stomp. they’re immune to damage. so they get the stomp in regardless of how many people are swatting at them. the same goes for the other classes that can use damage immunity to stomp. also, in case you’re not aware, a thief ISN’T immune to damage while in stealth. if you have someone in the downed state, you should expect a stomp to be coming in on them. stealth, damage immune, or otherwise. toss out some AoE. you can kill the thief, but you can’t kill the damage immune classes.

but regardless of how the stomp mechanics work, it doesn’t justify ragequitting like a child because you got beat up in a VIDEO GAME.

so it doesn’t matter if they can stomp you and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it, just as long as you can see them doing it….?

other classes can stomp without hindrance, not just thieves. and if you want to talk about honor, there’s nothing honorable about throwing a temper tantrum and logging out because you got beaten in a video game. that’s the type of behavior exhibited by 5 year olds. people need to learn how to man up and take their lumps, then get back into the field to dish out some of their own.

if the 1.5 silver repair bill seems like a lot, grab a couple people and go capture a camp. kill the yaks that are there, and you’ve actually turned a profit on the whole deal and helped your team out to boot.

http://mos.millenium.org/matchups#NA

the TC/FA/YB match is very close. the BP/GoM/AR match looks to be just as close too.

before i figured out how to deal with the sound bug, my game would crash all the time. a couple times, it happened when i was in the downed state. i was more upset about the time i’d lose while trying to get back through the loading screen and any potential queues than the paltry silver cost of the repair bill. i can’t understand the mindset of someone who would actively alt+f4 their way out.

there needs to be some kind of deterrent to it. broken gear, having to wait a long amount of time to get back in, a fat guy dressed as a clown hired to come to their door and boot them in the groin then honk a bicycle horn. whatever. i’d be fine with all 3. if there’s a way to determine that the person logged out/ used alt+f4 versus a legitimate crash, even better.

otherwise there’s the risk of what was going on on SWTOR. the instant a team took a lead, half (or more) of the other team would leave immediately. there wouldn’t be enough people left in the match and it would shut down, or new people would come in and have to deal with getting slaughtered because they had fewer people than the other team. (in fact, i designed a build to specifically make people ragequit, but that’s a story for another time )while WvW doesn’t particularly care about how many people are on each team, it still leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

there’s a reason no one likes a quitter. it’s terrible sportsmanship, and extremely petty. those who are afraid to lose just plain don’t deserve to win.

the way i look at it, if i wanted a raid i’d go play WoW. i don’t want a raid, so i play GW2.

The Twin Chalice Collective has also recently opened up a WvW division, which I’ll be shifting my own focus onto. If you operate on the TC Borderlands, you might recognize me (Phantom The Aspect), and would know what to expect. For those that don’t, or are new to WvW, I do my fair share of leading in there based on overall, comprehensive strategies guided by Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”. I’ve worked with many of the commanders we have, and have also entered our guild into the Alliance War Council.

We’re looking for numbers who wish to come in, learn the strategies we’ve been working, and utilize them with deadly effectiveness. People to make up the strike teams to handle the various things that need done. Scouts, ninjas, camp cappers. The backbone that allows the zergs to operate. Once we have enough to cover the core needs, we can begin to focus on specialty units. Ram teams, gankers, flash builders, supply runners. Ideally, we’ll have enough people to handle rotations to keep everyone active and having fun.

We’ll probably be building everything up slowly, so that we can get to know everyone. Not only their interests, strengths and weaknesses, but also as friends. RP is heavily encouraged in this division, but isn’t mandatory, as there are some things are easier to relay OOCly. Though, finding a creative way to do so ICly certainly helps everyone get into the war time spirit, and will be a big plus overall.

If you’re interested, check out our site (that Pek posted above) and/or contact me in game. I only play one character, who is named “Phantom The Aspect”.

indeed you can, and it’s a good way to help whittle down the number of defenders in there. their best bet is really just to hope no one else noticed, and that they can scramble back into the door before they get killed. it very rarely goes that well for them.

the new range should make it a bit easier to get a working angle to pull them down too.

in reality, they would use a counter ram inside the gate, to mitigate the effects a ram on the outside would have. i’m not sure if using rams like this is even really possible in the game, due to how targeting works. which leaves catapults as the only viable option, unless something is changed. they could rework the rams to work similarly to how trebs and catapults do, in that their direction needs to be turned manually, and they “fire” in whatever direction they’re facing. if there’s a gate in that direction, it and whatever is behind it, take damage. if used behind a friendly gate, it mitigates the damage, and damages whatever is behind it. they the gates (and walls) could be set to where AoE didn’t pass through them. which would eliminate the need for catapults set up behind them.

oil is completely worthless. not only because of its HP, but also the fact that anyone who tries to use it will be AoE’d to death the instant they get close enough to use it. cannons suffer from the same problem. they’re not defenses, they’re traps. once the attackers are at the gate, the prebuilt defenses are immediately abandoned in favor of player built siege. perhaps if any incoming damage was directed into the oil and cannons, and not the player using them, they’d actually be used more. i.e. make the player using either be immune to damage, but make the oil and cannons take double damage when there’s a player using them. then it’s just a matter of tinkering with the HP of the cannon and oil until the sweet spot is found.

Urrid.4593:

TC – Home of the Shame Ram. If you break through the outer walls of the Bay you may be treated to a ram inexplicably built on a rowboat.

I would say the Quaggan is TC’s mascot because people zerging with Commander Commander Jadon and his infinite supply of Baby Quaggan potions is rather fun!

we could cut out the middleman, and just make quagganmander jadon our mascot, but only when he’s a quaggan.

Tarnished Coast: shame rams.

something to keep in mind though, the number of gems you can actually buy for 1g has been plummeting since launch. which means that the cost of black lion keys in the gemstore has skyrocketed, and will continue to do so. while they may be cheaper that way right now, that won’t always be the case.

Mikitten058:

Tulisin.6945:

Just have the Karka invade WvWvW too. Regular karka assaults in towers/keeps, and a big karka boss camping Stonemist. Problem solved.

Haha.

Have it spawn if 1 server is outmanned, and kill the attackers/help the outmanned people.

New Buff Karka!!!

that’s way better than the current outmanned buff, as it would actually be useful. i like it. where do i sign up to support this?

Deathdom.8250:

unless you have solid proof that CD does it the most, just stop.

um…… i think you’re confusing “observation” with “accusation”.

Bones.5762:

Thrumdi.9216:

I know the developers are probably proud of this skill, but it is almost worse than stealth in its cheesiness.

Totally taking away two weapons bars of skills, your heal, utilities and elites for 10 seconds goes far beyond any other sort of crowd control in the game. It cannot be cleared, only dodged or blocked initially. In a WvW environment it can be almost impossible to see it coming.

Either make it clearable by stability, condition removal etc., keep the original skill bars, or remove it from the game.

Otherwise, it’s essentially an “I Win” button.

It’s only a iwin button for 1v1 scenario, and if it can be easily cleared with something like condition removal/stun breaker/stability it’s not worthy of being an elite skill. I personally hate this elite, and want it replaced with some kind of AoE elite skill.

two things

first: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Basilisk_Venom

second, you lose all of your utility skills, so you can’t clear it yourself. meaning, in the situations it would be useful, it’s the full 10 seconds, though the target is probably dead before that.

i’m not really arguing for or against changing moa. i just like people to have their facts straight.

i have to admit, this round of changes is a bit of a headscratcher to me too. i expected a bit more of a nerf to the CnD->mug->backstab combo. someone said it should have been 10% to CnD and backstab and 50% to mug, which was about what i was expecting to actually happen. the nerf to cluster bomb, while pretty minimal, was kinda out of left field. especially without speeding up the flight time to compensate. the scorpion wire didn’t really need a range increase, so that’s another one from our of left field. blinding powder’s cooldown seemed fine as it was, so that’s another one from…… you get the picture.

overall, i’m not bummed or happy. i’m too confused to be either.

Greebler.7843:

It isnt over yet! Also yes funny how daily server transfer being changed actually made it where things were a lot more fair overall.

I think this makes it alot more fun, maybe they should change server transfer to monthly or bi-annually, to make it even more fair:)

there’s that, and the lack of the orbs is a big factor too. personally, i think they should extend the transfer lockout by at least an additional week. that would ensure everything settles into it’s proper spots. tier 3 looks to be a pretty solid 4 team race, but some of the other tiers are still sorting themselves out.

aaron.7850:

You guys are like that spoiled rich kid crying because his dad confiscated a car

You are still the most fun class to play in wvwvw… killing people in 3-6 seconds and dissapearing when you get targeted, no other class can do that.

you’re missing the point. they nerfed the builds they were supposed to buff, and barely touched the single build that everyone was crying to get nerfed. which will result in MORE glass cannon thieves running around.

using your example, it’s like a rich kid’s dad confiscating his bike, and kicking the tires of the kid’s car. it’s just plain facepalm worthy. the whole thing is just absolutely mind boggling.

i just learned about this bug a couple minutes ago, as i’ve never seen any bonuses pop up when i hover over the WvW button. i’ve been playing since the beginning of the pre-order period, and have never transferred servers.

considering that the bonuses were advertised as a key feature of the WvW system, and results in a lower amount of in game gold for those it affects, which ends up being supplemented by paying real money to gem store, it sounds as though it could be prime bait for a class action lawsuit here. they’re making extra profits due to an advertised feature that isn’t working. this isn’t an issue they can really afford to ignore, or even really be silent on.

i had no idea about this. this seems to be pretty huge here. if it’s affecting a lot of people too, it should be a pretty big priority, if it isn’t already.

thank you for bringing attention to this massive issue.

YojimboJones.6243:

I would like to see something implemented like the “resilience” stat on pvp gear in world of warcraft.

and that’s where you screwed up. this game isn’t WoW. PvP specific stats are a horrible idea, and whoever came up with them should be slapped in the face. they factor skill out of the equation, and make it all about who stacks the highest PvP stat.

if you want WoW-like PvP stats, go play WoW. or go play SWTOR (WoW in SPAAAAAAAAACE).

Haralin.1473:

remove 5 Target AOE and implement an AOE that gets weaker from the inside to the outside

i like this idea. have it work in a series of rings, with the most damage done toward the center of the ring. people at the edges would get grazed by the blast, but the people who take it in the face will catch the full force. then, if you see an AoE coming in, you can run out of the way, and avoid part of the damage. run and dodge will most likely avoid the full damage. it’s far more realistic, and easy enough to manage.

for the yaks, i’d like to see the rewards come back in as well. i’ve been told that they were removed to counter bots, but….. so what? at least the bots were somewhat useful then. instead of grouping up in a giant fleshball to auto-attack the kraits, or running laps in the skritt cave. bots are easy enough to report if people see them. if they’re pushed to areas of the maps that people rarely ever actually go to, they’ll be harder to report. simply because people won’t be aware of them. plus, they’re not exactly hard to kill. from what i’ve seen of them, they follow a set pattern, and just spam auto-attack. chances are, they’ll be naked rangers with bear pets. ignore the pet, report the naked bot, kill the naked bot, kill the yak, collect loot, move along.

i think it might be because you can get enough badges solely by doing the jumping puzzles. granted, farming the cash in PvE isn’t much better of a system (if even better at all).

if it’s a title that’s able to be bought, people will always end up avoiding the process of learning how to do the job properly, and focus solely on farming whatever currency it takes to get the blue dorito. through the easiest means possible. they’ll come into WvW say “I R a liter!” form a zerg and get it wiped over and over. there’s a 50/50 chance at that point, said "liter"will rage and blame the people following him, often using gratuitous misspelled insults. word will pass around the regulars that that particular “liter” is a clueless imbecile, and shouldn’t be followed under any circumstance, but new players won’t have access to that warning and will still fall prey to the trap.

basing it off of achievements is a bit better, but if someone has been doing WvW long enough, they’ll probably end up getting the achievements at some point anyway. and that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re fit to lead. however, it does imply that they know the gameplay and are familiar with the maps. which is a good first step.

if that’s used as a first step, then there would need to be a second one. i’d suggest having them, at that point, be open to an “evaluation period”. whereas they get a trial dorito. the trial dorito would be a different color and shape (maybe a trial frito, or trial funyon?), and would allow them to test commanding, and allow those they’re leading to rate their performance. there would need to be a few categories, such as: tactics, organization, personality, etc. the trial commanders would be able to see a review of the rating they receive, so that they would know which areas they might need to improve on. once they’re able to maintain a certain rating, say 75/100, over a set period of time, say 5 trial attempts, they would graduate up to being a full fledged commander.

Titan.3472:

Last word: When I hear or read shame ram I am thinking some people has nothing else to do than to try to find something useless to “name and build”. I saw such ram in mid’ field and i screamed:“Comon who is the kitten that is building rams in mid fields with garison supplies thats a griefing !” Just pointless and for sure a waste.

it might help if you know the “the legend of the shame ram”.

we were attacking the NW tower on one of the borderlands. we had set up some catapults to hit the wall. we wanted to put one more down, but the person misclicked and put down a ram instead. sure enough, it ended up fully built. which was a bit of a /facepalm moment for us.

we ended up taking the tower, and shortly afterwards, we had to defend it. the enemy moved around to the side where our catapults were. they took down all of the catapults…… but left the ram standing. i commented about it in /team, and someone responded by saying that it was to remind us of our shame. about 5 minutes later, that ram was killed, and i said in /team “shame ram down”. there was a bit of laughter, and thus the term was born.

they’re basically a goofy pseudo-punishment now. enemy wants to corpse spy? that’s a shame ram. catapult placed at a indestructible wall? that’s a shame ram. someone gets killed 3 or more times running out of the gate at the spawn area to try to solo a zerg? that’s a shame ram.

only one should really be built at a time, and only with supplies from camps. we have more important things to focus our resources on. but the occasional one here and there is no big deal.