Guild Wars 2

After playing an engineer for a while and getting nerfed (my main build was a condi confusion build, and I didn’t feel like regearing) I went to thief. That didn’t last long due to how many are scrubs and freak when their burst combo fails. I’d rather avoid being compared to them. I like the ideas of mesmer, and have one at level 31, but I admit I’m not that great currently. I’ve read osicats guides and will use those until I’m better with the profession.

But here is my biggest challenge; other mesmers. I’ve got a hard time keeping track of my illusions position and keeping track of the real enemy mesmer at the same time. Has anyone else had this issue? What are some tips for getting better at it?

Mine are vs Rangers. Good ones I must admit. Built to survive, while having decent damage via traps (which dont work on me) so I become their mini pet. They block and evade everything, their pets miss me, I avoid the traps. Looks like a conga line lol

That being said…. If you post another, better video, I’m sure you’ll get better responses.

So I was in a, yes. Hotjoin match. I downed a mesmer but needed to go hide for health for a moment. I stealthed, and ran behind a wall. As
Soon as I unstealthed, the Phantasm rushes over, with me still being behind a wall, so not actually visable to the area the mesmer and Phantasm were, and uses its ability. I’ve seen pets and minions also do this. Have also had Ranger pets chase me literally across the map (pets are more of a threat than the Ranger usually) while the Ranger was doing his own thing on the furthest point.

Is this something that’ll be fixed or is it for some unknown reason, intended?

I tip my hat to some of the better Rangers I’ve fought. Glad to see they do actually have some good builds available. Although pet ai is nuts

I didn’t really see any 1vX? Unless the x was your team v 1? I watched the full 2nd video. Did I somehow overlook it?

That was my intention. Once I learn to play better start dropping some stuff for more power.

Thanks for your help! Tbh I expected troll responses. Your a true asset to the thief community.

Ok, well I’m going for a somewhat balanced build. 15.7k hp, 2263 power (5k effective power) 2380 Armor. I don’t want to instagib. I want to deal sustained damage with a small burst here and there while being able to take a few hits.

You say high 3k low 4k is high power. So my 2200, would I even be able to kill anything? [Power stat, not attack stat]

Just curious as to what stat highs and lows are generally considered? Like hp; what is considered a lot and little?

HP; high x/low x
Attack; high x/low x
Armor; high x/low x
Etc etc.

I run s/d d/p. I do use backstab but usually only after I’ve stolen some boons to make me stronger/them weaker. But there’s more to what I do than backstabbing and heart seeking.

I have it narrowed down to;

Thief- Pros- Great solo play, Acceptable damage, Enjoyable to play
Cons- Too many already, generally have a bad name, and always worried about what the will nerf next with everyone complaining

Mesmer- Pros- Also fun to play, good party, and solo action based from what I’ve seen
Cons- Worried they will become more overplayed than thief, leading to tons of nerfs potentially.

Ranger- Pros- Not many in PvP in comparison. I’ve seen and fought kitten good rangers and respectfully lost to them. Imaginable PvE ease/enjoyment, solo or in group. I’m also an animal lover :p
Cons- I tried one in the mists… 4 rounds, 0 kills. Thief, engi, and mes usually get 10-20 kills in a single round, so guessing I would really need to l2p the profession

I’m on sor… I can’t count the hours I’ve been in pve without seeing a single other player… wvw on the other hand… you’ll find the entire server in 1 spot. Typically all dead or running away… Then again I’m not usually on during “peak hours” I assume.

I’m back again looking for a new character… Maybe…

I only have 1 level 80 character, but since the recent nerfs, my primary build is toast… (Engi, condition/confusion build using elixer s…) I’ve started a thief, and although it is quite fun at times, I find some drawbacks. Not really wanted in dungeons, and outside of SB, I can’t see myself doing much in wvw when I’m in a zerging mood, unless I sneak around and try to pick off stragglers. But even going to the hotm, it is hard to tell a professions potential unless they are geared and 80. But my BIGGEST issue by far is the sheer number of thieves running around, and to make it to level 51, I have had to keep telling myself with the upcoming balance patches, and eventual new professions being likely, maybe there will be a smaller % of thieves…

I’m looking for a profession that;

Is good in either group or solo roaming in WvW
Can be made decent in s/tPvP
Can also do decently in dungeons
Involves more than standing in 1 spot pressing 1 or two skills

When I say decent, I don’t mean top tier, but not impossible to find a group for anything.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|8.1g.h14.a.1g.h1|c.1g.h8.8.0.h2|1p.a1.1p.a1.1n.a1.1p.a1.1p.a1.1p.a1|3s.d17.2s.d14.2t.d14.2s.0.2t.0.2s.d14|0.k31.u54b.k19.0|39.2|57.5h.5b.5f.0|e

It is similar to Yishis’s D/P build, with an alteration to the gear, and buffs. Something to use until I understand the profession better/my playstyle choicees

Just want to say, as a thief who uses s/d, that I do use the new larc strike on more than guardians and eles… I see engis as mobile boon stations now… It’s also fun to be kitted by a Ranger, catch up and stealhis regen and swiftness and killing it Thanks to it’s own buffs. (Depending on how good said Ranger is) point of this post? Sure it helps with eles and guardians a good deal, but it has useful situations against any profession really.

I’m probably a noob if you ask any pros but I’m a d/p s/d thief with a sb in my inv. Bunkers used to be near impossible for me to kill unless they sucked. But since the update I feel like a bigger troll than a mesmer. "Oh? You haz boons for me? How sweet! " I take some boons, go to d/p for some damage and blinds, rinse and repeat till they are dead. Note: I’m not a glass cannon, so it can take me a few times sometimes.

P.s. As for escaping, I usually can, but stealth doesn’t always work as some players get lucky with my location, or blast me out of stealth lol

As I said. I’m not a pro, so take it as you will. I win some I lose some.

Similar thread in thief forum… Most Common answer was more people going gc. Although I suppose it’s possible they flat out accidently forgot to mention defense nerfs or just accidently nerfed it?

I’ll start by saying I switched to thief, with the intent on making it my new main, being as I figured engi would be hit hard with nerfs. I was right. It broke my primary build in several ways. Anyway… playing around with gw2buildcraft, I can make my thief have double the effective power, more toughness, and 7k hp less than my engi. The question is, do you think that would make for a better roamer than my engi, who was full carrion specced and did very well in wvw and pve, and spvp (mostly hot join, some tpvp) after I learn my build better, of course. I still haven’t figured out how high the importance of stats are, nor can I really figure out the damage difference between raw and condi damage.

Any info is helpful. Thanks.

P.s. I don’t like using spvp to test builds I’d use for pve/wvw for a few obvious reasons, but would rather here from the more knowledgeable players of both the game and the thief profession.

Geiir.7603:

I use that skill for one purpose only – interrupt a heal or any other dangerous attack. I don’t care about the damage, because I will never use it for dps. Interrupting a heal means target = dead.

It doesn’t need to change, it works perfect just the way it is!

Exactly this. Who cares about the damage of a single skill that can turn the tide of a fight easily when the rest of your weapon skills already have plenty of utility and damage… But guess I’m a noob that prefers to live and still to damage than hit a little harder and possibly die :/

Not sure what you were getting at?

You say bring friends, when that is what this post is attempting to do?

I saw a thread up there for looking for a team but it seemed to be rather empty being as it’s been around for 4 months. I’m looking for a somewhat casual tpvp team as I do pve and wvw also. But whenever I soloque it feels like hot join vs tpvp. I’m looking for a group to play with where I can learn how the group plays and play accordingly.

I’m a thief, usually on during the later hours of the night (NA) I do very well in hot join, and not terrible in tpvp, and would obviously getbetter playing with the same people over and over. Feel free to pm me in game for questions.

I didn’t feel any more squishy? Then again I was too busy taking peoples boons… xD

Yea, I know for WvW roaming, I will have the S/D and D/P on my bar, and my SB for zerging… I think S/D is fine without a burst, as it is nice sustained damage, and offers mobility and boons! xD

Thanks dristig. I will give that a shot! It sounds so. .. thief like.

I absolutely love sword dagger now… I tested it in hotjoin and it’s quite reliable now! It was also nice to swipe the swiftness and regen of a Ranger that was kiting me. He died… may he rest in piece. :p

I’m sure we will see a lot more s/d now. Good to feel like we will have some real diversity. Next up, pistols?

O.o <3 Shake on it? :p

Well I’m in sor… which map would you think best for finding 1 or 2 enemies alone?

Thanks for the tips Anvi.

Style, which servers would you suggest for good roaming?

I’ve seen trick shot cut an L before to hot its target. So guessing that was “fixed”

I use sword pistol, SoM, caltrops, blinding powder… I don’t have many issues in PvE usually, but I do try to make sure I have melee mobs on me.

Roaming with a zerg isn’t my play style. I don’t mind doing it now and then, and firing my short bow, but that gets old fast…

Also don’t want to just kite, I want to actually fight…

Which servers have decent roaming abilities? I don’t expect a barren wasteland, but at least find a few people that are alone…

I’ll start by saying if all you can say is “lol l2p noob” then go kitten your kitten kitten and kittening kitten…

Anyway…. I’m on a t1 server… It is once in a blue moon that I find someone who isn’t in a zerg. However I far more enjoy the concept of roaming solo. What are my options to solo roam and not get steam trained around every corner? Any other successful roamers on t1? What do you do?

The spiders remind me of the nes game 7 up. I used to love that game…. It saddens me that I’ve not really seen that mentioned…

Tbh I’ve never been in a fight where dagger storm did anything for me… Most people just come in and wail on me taking me out. I usually go with thieves guild. It helps me force down more tanky characters or even the odds when outnumbered. If I feel I have the element of surprise on a less tanky profession I’ll use bv though.

Tl; dr I’ve never found dagger storm beneficial.

Oh no. Thieves being mobile/slippery with the ability to burst but not go toe to toe because they are squishy? Whodathunk?

Sunflowers.1729:

Dasorine.1964:

It comes down to how strong is chain stealthing really.

Your going to be in the area and vulnerable to AoE or just regular attack spam while at the same time doing negligible damage.

Even if everyone suddenly forgets about you your still not doing anything other than maybe “scouting” at which point you could do just as well stood 3000 range away popping back and forth as any of the mobile classes.

Its not like things like protection have any form of penalty on trying to keep them up and they are mechanically more effective and don’t rely on the enemy forgetting you.

If I stealth for 3 seconds, the area that I can possibly be in is massive. For every extra second, this area increases even more. While it is true that AoE can still hit a stealthed thief, don’t forget that the thief can still dodge out of it (if it is even in the right spot). Obviously, if the thief keeps running in a straight line, that’s his problem.

Sure you can say ‘predict his movements’ but that’s just a sorry excuse for a counter to this mechanic. Any Thief who has played for longer than a day knows that the moment you enter stealth, you change directions.

I prefer to mix it up. Sometimes I go straight then cut to a direction, sometimes zig zag, but I never repeat a pattern.

But more on topic… In less than a week I’ve seen so many nerf post is kitten Someone wants cooldowns on thief weapon skills, someone thinks we have to much initiative regen, so many people claim a thief stealth stacking is op, even though we still take damage, doing this cuts our dps/burst, if we are hidden chances are your getting a moment to prepare for the next move, evasive offensive or otherwise.

Waiting for someone to start a petition to literally delete the profession….

For me the Ranger was doing the kiting but I had plenty of shadow steps. If not I’d have been blown to oblivion. The pet was keeping a ton of pressure on me though.

So what your saying is I need to pressure both the pet and Ranger at the same time, whilst avoiding traps? Will take some practice. A very solid build! Grats! Not op but very good!

The Rangers name did start with an I. But hats off to that build. What’s its counter? Lol

But knowing how this game is, one should expect things like this and plan accordingly regardless of profession… at least I would think others would share my mindset? I’m not just saying this as a thief, but also as an engineer. I make sure that if need be I’ve got a way out depending on what is coming in. Say you as a Guardian finishes your fight. .. why does it have to be a thief to finish you while you’re skills are on cooldown? Why not an ele? Or a mesmer?

Exactly. So a thief who plans ahead should be punished?

Same goes the other way. A thief kills an ele but had to blow all its initiative. Guardian comes up and slaps him around while the thief is defenseless. Same thing…

seacanari.4583:

As I have also played thief, I can agree with the original poster.
I’m not complaining, I’m just saying.
It also doesn’t help that you can’t see it coming and react accordingly to at least defend yourself a little.
These skills do need a cooldown however, all the other professions have cooldowns with their weapon skills and thieves don’t because of the factor of initiative. The same rules should apply to all professions.

Ok. Give us a burst or f2 f3 f4 utility if “the same rule should apply to all professions”

This happens to me also. But only when I shadow step while stealthed.

Nevermind. Done wasting my time on this kittenty community. Anyone without a hardcore elite tpvp guild needs to l2p it seems.

To the two of you giving legitimate answers, thank you! That is all I wanted to know.

I’m guessing you were thrown at a wall as a child? I CAN KILL THEM EASILY, BUT PLAYERS MORE SO!

Let me see if I can dumb this down for you…

I can easily kill the NPCs.
However, I can kill most players easier.
My question is; Do the EASY TO KILL NPCs have otherwise unobtainable stats/gear than EASIER TO KILL players.

Ok, you people are just plain dense….

What part of THEY AREN’T HARD, BUT HARD>>>ER<<< THAN MOST PLAYERS can no one get through their thick skulls? Then again, judging by the “They r realy easy to kill” and " i didnt met pvp player" I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by the actual question being ignored…

Opc.4718:

The NPCs make good punch bags when you’re testing out new builds. Also, they cheat and somehow use all the utilities available to a class at seemingly random cool down times. However, they don’t dodge but you can’t push them off convenient cliffs either :<

Ya, I like to use them to test builds also… They just feel like they get like WvW gear instead of spvp gear with how hard they can hit vs how hard they can be hit… I’ve not found a single player who can do both so well without lots of evasive techniques.

Can ANYONE in this forum say anything other than L2P?
http://i.imgur.com/hzSrHgP.jpg There. I L2P. That doesn’t make the NPCs any easier. I didn’t say they were actually HARD, but they are hardER than most players I’ve come across.

Ok, this may not be the correct forum, but in Heart of the Mists, the training NPCs seem insanely strong. They can hit hard, and have a nice HP pool, and armor… I have hit warriors for 6k before in yes… Hotjoin… but I am lucky to hit the warrior NPC for 3k with the same build, when he turns around and hammer bashes me for 4k. The guardian is the same story, and the thief… Holy kitten!

Are these NPCs using real HotM builds/gear/stats? The NPCs feel harder than near any player of the same profession most of the time…