Guild Wars 2

Power.2957:

Alrighty, this screenshot should clear some things up. See attached image.

Sounds like a fantastic solition would be to bump the queue accecpt timer up to 1 min, and allow us to do sone other things while waiting.

22:38 Japan Standard Time, Legacy of Foefire, Ranked, NA, this account, 5 solo queue with noobs vs 5 man premade. Terrible match.

Half the streams of GW2 PvP are of players playing other games…

Is that really the impression you want to give about GW2?

I’ve had the same experience in ranked yesterday for the last 3-4 matches I played. Matched up with, or against players probably playing their first PvP matches… 0 rotational and mechanical knowledge at all. Was quite appalling to see on my team, and pathetic on opposing team.

Not fun to play with or against at all.

I like to think my MMR is (hopefully) not that low, but maybe Justin will come in and correct me =x.

Justin ODell.9517:

I just checked the numbers for unranked arena.

Skyhammer has 7.5% of the votes, and is the map used in 7.2% of games.

I know quite a few people that enjoy the map, so I wouldn’t just assume only trolls vote for it.

This is interesting. Would you be able to share or publish your map popularity data at all? I’m sure the community would be interrested in it.

Played Falselights in a few PvP matches, and know for a fact that this build is very difficult to deal with 1v1.

Hey Diage.

Its been a while.

I get the feeling that the reason they abbandoned gw1 style/formats of PvP boils down to them feeling it was “too elitist,” and not “bad player/scrub friendly” enough.

This “scrub friendly” mentality has permeated everything in this game even to the point where the leaderboards for competitive PvP don’t even show who the best players are anymore. Only those who grind the hardest. Apparently to “reduce elitism and give all players a chance.”

Justin ODell.9517:

• One team has killer hairs and another has sickly dragons.

I think you’re looking for “hares” not “hairs”…

It takes two to get out of combat. Just some food for thought.

NOM.9712:

I was there and backpack didn’t 100-0 kronos engi vs engi, it was more like backpack almost lost three of them but used some controversial LOS to his advantage and turned it around later. I’d say that’s pretty embarrassing already as backpack mains engi, has macros for engi and kronos doesn’t (to both).
And idk why you think a celestial meta engi accomplished something by staying alive vs a thief in a ONE v ONE encounter. I’ll applaud backpack if he can do the same vs kronos’ mesmer.

Your entire post and pic shows that you’re really kitten about kronos and his guild and just care way too much. Calm down.

Didn’t want to get into this… but this post is just funny.

“Controversial” LOS?

Is strafing projectiles “Controversial” as well?

I don’t know about “Meta” but I’ve been messing around with a spec similar to what you have OP.

Just focusing a bit more on might stacking.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0MpwpVOx7J8PNBNRtdF0BVoWBQ3RRfdEA-TpBFwACOBAl2fo9RAYxhAoaZAAPAAA

Morwath.9817:

Supreme.3164:

Rangers have one of the best condi build in the game, that one works quite well against tanks which are resistant to burst dmg

Necro is much better

Necro might be better in a teamfight where their stuff is AoE. But in a 1v1, rangers can stack bleed like nothing else in this game. Its a bit ridiculous actually.

The “problem” with designing a mmorpg with “no endgame/elder game/whatever” is that the levelling experience needs to be the retention point. That usually means long leveling times, unforgiving of mistakes, open world PK and kill stealing etc.

IMO all of those would make gw2 a much better game for me, but I’m not sure most of the gw2 population would agree.

Victory.2879:

I always find it amusing that the so-called pvp’rs in this thread always ridicule the far superior build choice that is available in wvw as opposed to the restrictions forced on you by spvp. WvW allows you to fine tune your build much more than spvp ever will, leading to more varied encounters. Gear isn’t really all that much of an issue in wvw, there isn’t that much difference between exotic and ascended unless the players are perfectly balanced in every other aspect, which almost never happens in spvp, never mind wvw.

If it’s 5v5, then it is just another 5v5 map with bells and whistles and won’t appeal to guilds any more than any other 5v5 map does- even less so, if it contains more pve elements.

PvP players don’t ridicule the build variety in WvW. What PvP players ridicule is the obvious absolute lack of balance and broken mechanics available in WvW due to all sorts of blatantly broken things such as consumables etc. Builds based upon broken and blatantly unbalanced functions in the game are ridiculous.

Build variety is great, but it having build variety should never trump having a balanced game.

Its nice sustain against residual damage in a teamfight with shortbow, but I don’t feel like it helps too much for what the thief’s role is, nor does it provide a sufficient buffer for the thief’s weaknesses.

Sounds like you want to play ele or warrior.

I’m pretty sure Anet simply wanted “player skill” to be a factor in their new competitive game mode.

Its a 1v1 build, and if you’re going to be 1v1’ing someone all day then surefine, but there are already far stronger 1v1 builds on other classes that can do the same job AND maintain point control.

I play from Japan, so average about 200 ping.

At the end of the day it comes down to what you consider “viable.”

Lets just say that if you are good enough, ping won’t matter for 99% of the opponents you play against in this game.

However against that 1% that it does matter against, whatever profession you choose to play is irrelevant.

Yo I’m signing up.

Depends what you want to do.

Win the fight? None. There are no builds in this game that can win 1v2s or more on build alone assuming equal skill between all players. If there was this build would be blatantly broken and everyone would be running it. Turret Engineer on a point in PvP gets close depending on the two though.

Escape? Shortbow probably.

Not die? Some sort of shadowarts tank build.

“Do well?” The setup and build you are most used to.

naiasonod.9265:

The problem with economists is that they foster economies only another economist finds stimulating or interesting.

I’m John Q. Player, and I don’t give a rat’s tail about ROI metrics, velocities or variable exchange rates.

I want a cool sword to hit the giant dragon with while my buddies shoot fancy spell effects out their bums, and a rousing battle tune to go with it.

Only kitten way to function in this game anymore is o turn into a wallstreet maverick spending more time paying Spreadsheet Wars and aggregating data than anything else.

Economists should never be involved in making anything fun for anyone but economists. The commonality of this tendency for MMOs to all be turning into Investment Simulator Online makes me want to know exactly how hitting dragons with swords and fireballs came to this.

Bugger it all. People can turn anything into drudge work, and apparently will if allowed one minute alone with anything.

This is exactly why poor people will always stay poor. Real life or in game.

Amir.1570:

Your ideal world would be the most boring one that I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t want a stagnant playstyle for a class and no one ever should.

You may be right in some respect, but this idea should just never happen.

Please elaborate why this should “never happen.”

In GW2’s various incarnations, each class only has had up to 3 relevant builds at any one time, and everyone is playing these builds, so the factor of customization, or lack thereof is obviously not that important.

As such, giving up this unimportant factor for far better balance seems like a decent trade off to me. It will also help anet achieve the goal of balance in PvP far more easily. If we are actually prioritizing the discussion of balance, then I don’t see why this should “never happen.”

NeXeD.3042:

Yeah let’s just turn this game into a MOBA…..

Not sure how this is even relevant. Gameplay and game format for GW2 is distinctly MMORPG’ish.

Personally I think if you want balance in this game, you need to cut customization.

Players can select a class, and when they enter a competitive match, they will pick between 3-4 “Anet Approved,” “Balanced,” preset builds that they can run perhaps with minimal customization to said builds.

If one of these builds is obviously overpowered or whatnot, all that needs to happen is for anet to tweak said build.

Allie.9268:

Did anyone happen to catch the benefits of the program?

I think it’s a good idea to help bridge the gap. It’s better than silence, no?

From what I can read, there are no benefits.

Additionally, unless these forum specialists are getting some sort of insider/unpublished/priority information, the gap won’t be bridged. Just the same (lack of) information being pushed around in circles.

All stat combos are viable.

Its PvE. As brought up earlier, you can clear most content without any sort of gear at all.

Now, making other PvE stat combos “optimal,” is a completely different story and will be impossible to do, simply because if one stat combo becomes optimal, all others die out.

style.6173:

It certainly can be detected. If a player consistently does the same skill with the same timing in between movements, it becomes obvious. That’s one say ANET detects botters.

That said, you missed the point of my message. No guarantee that someone will get banned for it. Some have and probably most haven’t. I just don’t want to hear people complain if they decide to cheat and get caught.

In a perfect world, where latency is 0 and jitter is at 0 then in theory this could happen.

Unfortunately we don’t live in this world, so your proposal to detect macros falls flat.

Especially when it comes down to fractions of a second.

Transfers to servers in lower tiers than your current server should be free.

Transfers to servers in higher tiers than your current server should be exponentially more expensive.

Should be implemented after a complete reshuffle of the entire GW2 population into even groups for servers.

How about we just solve the issue by removing Meld with Shadows and Shadow’s Rejuvenation…

I’m getting it in NA as well. Not just PvP though, but the whole game in general. Lag spikes, random disconnects, etc.

Depends what you mean by “well.”

I play at 200 ping from Japan and do decently for myself.

There is another thief I know who does decently and plays from Australia probably with 200+ ping as well.

You just need to make up what you lose in reaction ability (due to ping) with strategy and prediction.

Keksmuffin.1450:

Pokemon is more esports than gw2 will ever be and rng and matchup are a big part of it. You might not like rock-paper-scissors stuff but in a teamgame it is a pretty legit concept tbh.

I wouldn’t say RNG is a big part of Pokemon. It definitely plays a part, but in most competitive matches it isn’t that big of an issue and usually mitigated by good prediction and smart play. Unless of course speed ties, in which case it can be kind of annoying.

If you’re playing WvW travelers is fine.

The builds don’t rely too heavily on runes or sigils, so you can tweak those details yourself.

D/P Trick and D/P Burst has been given in the above.

D/P Panic Strike (not really sure what else to call it) is also quite strong and plays a bit different from the other two.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAoaVlsMp7plOxyJ8PNBMBxVP8ONnpNangdHAA-TpBFwACOQAI3fgwJAo9hAoaZAAPhAA

Not as popular on NA though, not sure about EU. I know Shad used to run this for a while.

Heal can be Hide in Shadows or Withdraw. Your pick.

Potato.7318:

Mayama.1854:

Which type of engineer and in which scenario.

As always make on yourself and learn how the class works is the best answer.

Sorry, I did enter a mini tournament with my guild and the 1 class that beat me was a turret Engineer I believe.

well if you have to fight on point, good luck.

Any thief build vs turret engineer on point is like a 1/9 matchup favor Engineer. Its really close to a hard counter if there is one.

You can’t range because of shields
You can’t melee because all the turrets are in the way.
You can’t pressure because of no stability and getting knocked around all day by accelerant packed turrets due to the above.
You can’t really damage the engineer either because the counter pressure from the turrets is far stronger than what you can dish out to the engi himself.

Mayama.1854:

Uh from a engi perspective here, staying at range with shortbow is a free invitation to bleed/weakness stack the thief at 1200 range. Never do this you will not win a range fight against a condi engi with elixir gun which almost any condi engi uses. He can kite you and outranges you.

Fighting in melee against a condi engineer is a free invitation for him to spam grenades at his feet and kill you randomly.

Just add a ticket/key thing that unlocks the bank-area. Can be bought for gems or is awarded for free at rank 80.

The goal of this is to give a bank area to dedicated pvp players, something for non-pvp players to work towards in pvp (bank access from anywhere), or if they are lazy, gem purchases.

I’m going to have to agree with Caed, Steb and Sizer.

This is a side-grade. Not a nerf or a buff. Slightly nerfs S/D’s damage output, but increases bunker potential ridiculously.

Now all of this could have been side-stepped by introducing more non-evasion frames into Flanking Strike’s animation. Kind of like SB#3. But I guess how anet decided to do it is another route. I do think that non-evasion frames will probably be needed to be added onto the skill eventually though.

it would probably be more balanced if they made the uniform reveal time to be 4 seconds instead of 3.

I do agree that it should be uniform though.

I’ve been critical of Blu in the past, but he definitely deserves this for the effort he has put into this game. Congratulations.

Leeto.1570:

In August 5 guys will fly all the way from NA to germany to compete for ingame items, how more esports can you get?

About 5 million dollars more esports.

OlrunTheBlade.1486:

I think the main problem with complexity is it doesn’t leave much room for extremely clutch plays. If you watch LoL, you’ll see someone Flash through an Ashe arrow to win a 1v1 that snowballs into an Inhibitor push. In Guild Wars you’ll see two people whacking at each other and dodging periodically. It’s hard to have clutch moments like in LoL.

This can be done in GW2 as well. Just double the damage of everything and reduce time to kill severely.

I’d just like to see more counterplay to something like 10-15 seconds straight of dodging.

Perhaps some build/ability to put out 10-15 seconds straight of lethal damage FORCING the S/D acro thief to burn all available dodges.

On the surface it may seem like that. However, he still gets might stacks from Hidden Assassin in SA, so I don’t think might stacking is the only reason why he runs Strength over Pack on Acro.

Just curious about the logic here.

I’m curious what your opinion of Rune of the Pack compared with Rune of Strength is.

Specifically why you run Rune of the Pack over Rune of Strength on your SA setup, and why Rune of Strength over Pack on Acro.

As a thief, most of your damage from your melee weapons will come from #1.

Treat 2 3 4 and 5 as utility skills to use for when the time calls for it.

XPGAMER.7324:

Yeah, I tried the d/p build once, a build I have 0 experience with so if you would have lost, it would have been quite sad. And here’s this “SA d/d build” thing I’m trying to figure out. Why not just call it d/d? d/d implies SA at this point.

If you would have lost to d/d while using d/p, pretty sure you’d still be crying. I’m not sure why you find beating me with a direct counter impressive. It doesn’t show skill, it shows the abillty to press 3 repeatidly so I can’t land any cloak and daggers. I’m not complaining about d/p, It can be used for more than just that, but against d/d honestly that’s all you have to do. Its simple logic, your 3 skill is a ranged blind that deals damage, and also costs less initiative than a cloak and dagger. whenever you see me cast cloak and dagger, simply press 3 and deal dmg to me, while I waste half my initiative. Brag about that to people who care. Fight me on d/d sometime and then if you win you can talk kitten

I killed you with SB most of the time. Just used D/P to finish off. Unless you’re claiming that SB is a “direct counter” (the word you’re looking for is hardcounter) to SA D/D, in which case I yield as there is nothing more to say.

26006 D/P is also definitely not hardcounter to SA D/D. Hardcounter matchups are 1/9 or even 2/8 matchups, which this matchup is not. I’d say its about 5/5 with argument for 6/4 advantage D/P, basically determined by how long the matchup lasts and what the other weaponsets the players were running.

If we are talking about just D/P and D/D smashing heads against each other and facerolling their keyboard then yes, advantage would be theoretically for D/P. However, firstly, I definitely hope that this isn’t the caliber of player we’re talking about, and second, GW2 is a game where players can equip two different weaponsets.

Also not bragging. Just clearing up some facts that you are trying to misrepresent.

XPGAMER.7324:

Based on my experience vs you, I fought you on your terf (pvp) and I used d/d against your d/p. You cannot directly counter me and then expect me to win lol (Though sometimes I do)

we went 3 matches, and it ended up 3-0 my favor.

Once you used the same build I did. 26006 D/P.
Twice you used some SA D/D build with some rules about no walking out Graveyard.

I didn’t expect you to win, but it wasn’t because of your build.

Anyway bringing things back on topic, my opinion of why D/D SA or just SA in general isn’t viewed highly in the minds of PvP-oriented players is for the following reasons.

1. Shadow’s Rejuvenation. This trait is far too forgiving. This leads to a comparatively lower necessary player skill level to do “decently” in 1v1 or 1vX situations. Pretty much the same as the Prismatic Understanding trait on the Mesmer. It doesn’t go well with the conquest format at all though, mostly because of the prerequisite of stealth. Also, most players that get used to playing with Shadow’s Rejuvenation don’t pick up necessary player skills necessary to play at higher levels of competitive PvP as they can basically facetank everything.

2. SA is a completely greedy traitline. It doesn’t benefit any player but yourself. Any build that runs 6 SA is basically a 1v1-oriented build and doesn’t really bring anything to the team. In the conquest format for PvP it may actually be disadvantageous.

3. Its incredibly boring to play as and fight against compared with 26006 or 20066. For most other classes, there really isn’t enough counterplay to SA.

Personally I think SA as a traitline could be interesting if Shadow’s Rejuvenation were removed. Traits such as Resilience of Shadows or Cloaked in Shadow are interesting and open up lots of options, and could be fun to play with.

the build is kind of begging to use “Invigorating precision”

XPGAMER.7324:

Next time before you call a WvWer unskilled, stop and think for a moment. He could be one of those few roamers who are actually good enough to hand you your kitten .

Based on my experience vs you I’d have to disagree. There are currently two WvW-main thief players that come to mind who I think are decent players. I probably go 50/50 vs them, although I do think (and they also think) that they have build/matchup advantage when we “duel.” I’ve yet to run into one who “is actually good enough to hand me my kitten” though, that is for sure.

Tengu.5267:

Yeah, i don’t run d/p, I run the same traits but with s/d

Then I think you’re still at a disadvantage.

26006 S/D is probably also about a 4/6 matchup vs Hambow, advantage Hambow, especially if the Hambow is running Soldier’s setup. Better than D/P though. Berserker is easier to kill 1v1. Probably 5/5.

The issue with the matchup basically comes down to Combustive Shot. Especially on a smaller point, this skill is very strong. It makes melee combat vs a decent hambow warrior quite difficult as anytime you try to pressure the warrior he gets free pressure back onto you, and his superior sustain will basically allow him to tank the damage you can put out, while you just die to burning of combustive shot.

How I would deal with fighting a Hambow warrior is basically use your Sword #2 very well. Whenever combustive shot is on the ground, just back out of LoS, and re-engage once its gone. Save your Whirling Axe for his Pindown.

At the end of the day though, its still not a “good” matchup for the thief IMO.