Guild Wars 2

The only reason why the player featured in the video was able to set the trap is because he did so while in stealth. If he had tried to set the trap while not in stealth, the other Thief would have burned him down in 3 or 4 hits (probably before the channel was half complete). In a typical 1v1 encounter against a Thief, anybody that stops fighting for 4 seconds to set one of those traps is going to find himself looking at the respawn screen. The only probable exception to this are Warriors or Necros that stack Vitality, and even they would find themselves in such a HP deficit that the Thief shouldn’t need stealth to finish them off.

Seriously, all the histrionics being displayed in this and other threads do nothing but identify the bad players. If a Thief can’t burn down an opponent that isn’t fighting back in 4 seconds, you were never good.

Isaiah Cartwright.8569:

Thieves: The main thing I wanted to get across with thieves was not meant to be a commentary on balance but just on how you spend your time. There are many builds set up to be defensive and with good evasion and positioning you can run a group around in circles no matter what profession you are. If you let 1-2 people run your group around in circles and get a lucky kill here or there your letting the enemy tie you up when you could move on to another objective.

The problem being, there’s nothing you can do to stop the thief (or thieves) from following you to your objective and having a major effect on the outcome of what you’re trying to accomplish.

Five people want to flip a camp, but picked up a thief tail on the way? Thief laughs as he begins trolling them with stealth/ports/blinds/evasions. If they turn on him, then the NPCs start beating on them. If they focus on the NPCs, he picks them off one by one.

Apologies if this point has already been made. I haven’t read all the posts yet.

Something else I’ve been noticing: using Rush results in a Wiley E. Coyote character animation. That is, the character looks like he’s running for a second or two before he actually moves.

I must say, thief tears are quite delicious.

None of us even know how this ability will be enacted in game, yet a vocal segment of thief players are claiming their class will no longer be viable.

I’ve been experiencing this as well. Even weapon switching seems to lag which has been screwing with my attack choices.

I’ve also noticed that the overshoot on Bull’s Charge, Rush, and Shield Bash has gotten even worse. Many times tonight I’d see these attacks go wayyyy past the target. Sometimes missing altogether, sometimes hitting, but me being so far away that the target recovered from the stun by the time I got to him.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

gimmethegepgun.1284:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I consider things like “hundred nades bug” to be OP, where a single attack dos 26k damage in an AOE.

/sigh that photoshopped picture keeps on making the rounds doesn’t it?

There was actually a super awesome video of it in WvW, where I watched a single engi take out a group of guardians and warriors by jumping into the middle of them, lol. I looked for the video, but this is all I could find. I feel it’s good enough to represent it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gXAliTpRwk

There’s really not much difference between what that engineer was doing & what thieves do.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Poxheart.2845:

Second is the comments pointing that a necromancer was involved in the fight, so necromancers must have something to offer, but if you pay attention to the necromancer, you’ll see that he gets downed/dies a few times and is essentially a non factor.

She’s far from the only one to go down, nor does she really spend all that much time down, all things considered. Even the viewpoint Ele goes down a few times, though he’s mostly saved by lucky instant rallies.

Yep, other defenders did drop during the fight.

Watch the video again & pay attention to the necromancer (Powerz). At one point you hear him say, “I’m going to drop wells – Oh kitten I’m down.” At another point he says, “I’m really squishy; one whirlwind took me out.” Aside from using Signet of Undeath a couple of times and Plague at the end as the attackers pushed up the ramp, it didn’t seem like he was contributing much to the defense. On the other hand, once they lost the elementalist (Hman?) that was updrafting & “earth fiving” the enemy, they pretty much lost the tower. Swap the necromancer out for another elementalist and they probably would’ve held long enough for him to get back.

Reading this thread there are a couple of things that stand out:

First is the irony of all the comments on how poor the enemy players must be for them to have been held of by that much smaller group, yet there is so much praise for the video in this thread when, quite frankly, the opponents shown are as bad, if not worse than the ones shown here.

Second is the comments pointing that a necromancer was involved in the fight, so necromancers must have something to offer, but if you pay attention to the necromancer, you’ll see that he gets downed/dies a few times and is essentially a non factor.

Stop fooling yourselves, necromancers can never carry a fight the way those staff elementalists did.

That was pretty entertaining.

Right now I have 2,640 armor.

I don’t know anything about the servers or the nature of his opponents, but this dude seems to do pretty well against multiple people.

I’ve tried the build with similar gear in NA Tier 1 with mixed results. I chalk that up to me still developing after transitioning from a keyboard to an Orbweaver.

randomfightfan.4091:

I understand you want 4 zerker warriors and a mesmer. I understand you not wanting anything else. I DON’T understand why even if I bring my zerker warrior, you refuse to start the dungeon until I link EVERY piece of my armor, and are willing to kick anyone and wait another 5 mins until you find that perfect warrior. I DON’T understand why you act like jerks (not all of you but it happens way to often) to people with some build that isn’t yours or who has something like 30 points into healing shouts. I DON’T understand why you rage if someone wants to bring a zerker thief or something but don’t give a kitten if the mes is wearing all lvl 1 whites.

…

I know not all warriors are like this (probably most of you aren’t) but lots of angry people have given you a bad name. It is to the point that every time I see a post on the lfg site saying zerker war only, link gear, I whisper them once with just a " " so I can block them and move on… and I know I’m not the only one who does this. I want to go back to being e.l.e (everybody loving everybody), so tired of this unhealthy relationship going on

On this last sentence I have an anecdote. Keep in mind, I’ve got no problem pinging gear if that’s the stipulation on the lfgsite. I generally avoid those groups because in my experience too much time is spent waiting for the group to fill and the runs do not go any smoother.

So, yesterday I was hanging out in Lion’s Arch, crafting some levels on an alt when I got a whisper from somebody on my friends list that I had run CoF with before, asking “wanna do CoF?”

“Sure, lemme switch” I said, then dropped from the party I was in, switched to my warrior, accepted the new party invite and ported to the dungeon entrance b/c it was uncontested. My warrior is wearing full CoF zerker armor w/ruby orbs, axe/mace, and Twilight. Trinkets are ascended DPS pieces except for the earrings. I’ve probably acquired close to 6K CoF tokens in the past few months, so I think it’s fair to say that I’m familiar with the dungeon run.

Group is guardian (the guy who invited me), mesmer, warrior & me. They were already inside. A 5th warrior joins, links all his gear and somebody starts the NPCs. While waiting at the first door, the new warrior says, “Doesn’t a guardian make this slower.” “No,” I said, sticking up for the dude that invited me because past experience was that he did just fine. The guardian said something to the effect of “watch & learn.”

Somebody does a banner check & we have double strength, so I link discipline (just as somebody else does). Lols all around. Go through the door and it goes OK, couple of people get downed. Fight the first boss and it goes alright. Not blazing speed, but not bad. Run through to the acolyte room no problem, kill them and get through the tunnel. I remind the warriors to use FGJ at the end of the hall & when we get there the other 4 people in the group run to the braziers. So I switch out my discipline banner for frenzy & go to the controller. Kill it no problem & run into the last boss.

Fight starts, banners drop, but there’s no discipline banner b/c I couldn’t switch out. Mesmer rages “WHERE’S DISCIPLINE kitten ” Others say, “Pox linked it.” I said, “Switched it for frenzy for the controller.” Boss dies we leave & start another run.

This time we clear the first two fights no problem & get to the acolytes. The new warrior asks the mesmer & other warrior to link gear. Guardian says, they don’t have to they run with me all the time. Then one of them says, “Pox link gear.” Keep in mind, this is during the fight. I say, “Hehe” & link a blue zerker bow dropped during the first run. Then the guardian tells me to link my gear. I say, “Why should I, you invited me to this group.” “No you joined from lfgsite.” I reply, “Scroll up in you chat window.” “Why won’t you link your gear.” I say, “linking gear during a dungeon fight is dumb.” New warrior says, “kick him if he doesn’t link.” I laugh then see the loading screen.

Once out get a whisper from the guardian that invited me. “Why didn’t you link your gear?” I said, “Eff you. You invited me to the group.” “Because you know it’s garbage,” he said. So I linked some armor pieces, told him eat a D, then blocked him.

I’m seriously considering keeping some low level blues for a different class in my bag just in case I run into another jerk that starts demanding a gear check during the middle of a run AFTER inviting me to the group.

TL;DR: Even people who you have grouped with before can turn into raging kittens at the drop of a hat.

The thing that struck me the most about watching those fight clips is that you were able to actually get 1v1 fights in T1. Seems like every time I go out roaming looking for those 1v1s I end up running into 5+ JQ or BG.

I’m curious to see the traits & gear used in the video. Seems pretty effective.

Check the announcement for 26 Feb under the Balance, Bug-Fixing, Polish heading.
“Changed the way monsters react to players using stealth.”

I would like to thank the nameless Jade Quarry or Sea of Sorrows invader that dropped Zap for me this afternoon in the Eternal Battlegrounds. Was pretty surprised to find it when I went to clear my bags at the merchant.

My necromancer wears a full set of AC armor with soldier crests, has AC dagger/focus and a p/t/v staff. Gradually adding p/t/v accessories through badges of honor (although now that I think about it, I need to check if the temple vendors now have p/t/v accessories).

I’m pretty happy with it, though I keep tinkering with my traits.

So last night I tried this path twice with two different groups. One was a full PuG, the other was a guild group where I was the extra. Both attempts were pretty spectacular failures. I checked the forum last night & this morning and saw a number of people post that they think the fight is easier now than before. I’d like to ask any of those people for some specific information on what they did that made the fight easy (group make up, armor/weapons, skills used, etc). Maybe a video of the fight so I can see for myself.

For reference, the first group consisted of 3 warriors, 1 guardian, and 1 engineer. I can’t speak to how they were specced, but my warrior is outfitted for a tanky/dps role (knight armor w/divinity runes, valkyrie & ascended accessories, berzerker greatsword). After the first attempt to see what the changes were like we tried stacking in front of Magg to dps everything down & marked the assassins when we saw them, but that didn’t work at all. Tried switching my utilities around for more stability, tried the Warbanner, but neither made a difference.

Can’t remember the make up of the second group, but the results were pretty much the same. Big cc/damage spike when the encounter started, then lots of ping-ponging between the down state & rallying before the mobs eventually overwhelmed us and killed Magg.

So, any detailed tips on what you did to get through this fight would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Oglaf.1074:

Any chance for a sneak peek? Just one encounter….?

:P

Throw us a bone here!

I was hoping it would be a surprise, but sure. I rebuilt the “Defend Magg while he plants the bomb” event in CoF (path 2). It now involves a special flame legion assassin who must be killed before he reaches Magg, while dealing with never-ending spawns of (non veteran…) flame legion out to distract the players and add pressure.

Last night I had two groups fall apart attempting to do this. You might want to reexamine the amount of CC those non veteran mobs have. And in response to the person above me, both groups were loaded with non-squishies.

Just had a group disband because at the defend Magg stage of Path 2. Group consisted of 3 Warriors, 1 Guardian and 1 Engineer. Tried a couple of different approaches to the fight, but the amount of CC the non-assassin mobs had was ridiculous.

I bookmarked this thread for future reading once you start doing WvW stuff. I’ve enjoyed your Guardian videos.

I frequently run around with another Necro in my guild (Mordaunt). We both use variants of power/toughness/vitality builds and have had moderate success. Not the kind of success two thieves would have. Unfortunately, finding small fights has been difficult lately because of the lopsided match up we’re in.

And yet nobody has explained the change that prompted this thread.

TheDevilWithinU.7092:

covenn.7165:

Anyways, word of warning to any NA guilds that are considering transferring to SoR… queue times were running well over an hour this evening. We also have had queues nearly every night of the last match up at those hours as well.

It’s reset night. You should expect queues.

There was a queue for every map on Thursday night pacific coast prime time. Haven’t seen anything like that during in forever.

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

uhm…. you also have the skill on the warhorn, combine it with spectral walk and you get permanent swiftness….

The warhorn skill also has a snare associated with it that will put you in combat (thus slowing you) if you get too close to neutral mobs. Using Spectral Walk for swiftness means that you can’t count on having a stun breaker available when you need it.

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

skill 2 in DS is a teleport/grab… wasn’t there also the spectral grab and an immobilize spell… The Necromancer has a ton of tools to use its just really hard to do, gotta practice for a couple weeks.

The number 2 skill in DS is a teleport, but it is so slow that you’ll frequently find yourself on your target by the time the effect happens. The pull skill is a little faster, but I find that it isn’t very reliable. Targets are frequently out of range by the time it the attack lands. The root is the number 3 dagger skill and has a pretty short range, making it difficult to use.

The necromancer’s tool box may look diverse, but after more than a few weeks of practice I find that there are on a few that are worth having on the skill bar.

Furiousbeard.7602:

Bump!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFQTrRFhcpQ

Interesting fight. I’m curious to know the build (traits, runes, sigils) you’re using.

Pretty nice video. Looking forward to seeing more.

The fight you had with the elementalist (starting around the 2:41 mark) is a perfect example of just how bad the Necro pet AI is. At one point your flesh golem can be seen in the background fighting one of the minotaurs that added into the fight.

The only thing I like about Reanimator is that when a jagged horror spawns I know to hit “f” for a loot bag. There are no other redeeming qualities. I have never seen the horror attack a target that I am actively fighting, but I lost count of the times I’ve seen random (passive) mobs suddenly aggro on it. If I had a choice I would never choose this trait.

Roughneck.2509:

If you see 10, take a different route? Why would you pick a fight with 10 guys?

If you see 10 thieves, then at least one of them has seen you. Given that thieves have some of the best mobility in the game (infiltrator’s strike, heartseeker, steal), how do you propose a non-thief, non-elementalist get away?

Just now I experienced something alarming when sending a mail containing crafting materials to a guildmate. I had my inventory and guild windows open and right clicked on the name of the person I wanted to send the items to, then selected the “Send Mail” option. A new mail window opened with that person’s name in the To line. I then right clicked on the first item I wanted to attach to the mail and selected the “Mail item to…” option. At that time I noticed that the name in the To line changed. This new name did not have any numbers after it. I closed the mail and tried the process again since I had never experience this before, but the results were the same.

Next I opened a new mail and typed the name of my intended recipient, then right clicked the first item and selected the “Mail item to…” option and noted that the name didn’t change. I added a few more items and clicked send, only to note (too late) that the name had changed at some point.

The person I was sending the materials to is offline, so I can’t ask if my mail made it to him, but given the nature of the items I wanted to send (orichalcum and ancient wood) I am concerned that somebody has figured out a way to divert mail containing valuable crafting materials.

I did submit an in game bug report, so I’m posting here to see if anybody else has experienced something similar.