Guild Wars 2

I agree with the original poster.

There are no OP professions at the moment, just bad players who can’t adapt.

And adapting is a pretty big deal in PvP, that’s where the skill lies.

So because there’s that one game out of 10 where there’s say, 5 mesmers and 3 warriors, this means they’re OP.

Uh, well then do I have a surprise for you!

Necromancers are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 necros present.

Elementalists are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 present.

Thieves are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 present.

Engineers are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 present.

Warriors are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 present.

Guardians are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 present.

Mesmers are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 present.

Rangers are OP, I have been in several games where there was more than 6 present.

By your logic, everything is OP.

STOP.

That has nothing to do with it.

If there’s 4 Mesmers on one point, they’re doing something wrong, and you will win.

SPvP is not about who’s got the best ganking build. It’s about capturing points and pretty much avoid any combat that does not affect capture-points.

I’m really confused as to why targeting matters in a game where a target isn’t required to perform abilities.

I literally couldn’t care less about what target I have when fighting say, a Mesmer in 1v1, because I’ll just follow the real one and my hits will land on him regardless.

If there’s an enemy between you and your target, you’ll hit the enemy instead of your target anyway. So you’re thinking WAY too much about targeting.

Thieves are fine.

Mesmers are semi-fine (moa needs a nerf)

Elementalist down state needs a buff (or every other downed state needs a nerf)

Fix’d.

I was thinking researching a glory booster for your guild isn’t too bad an idea?
Just to boost the amount of glory currency you get – not boost the speed of rank-gaining.

The only issue an ele has is that its downed state is weak.

And honestly, instead of buffing their downed state, I’d rather see everyone nerfed to their level.

Currently the balance is close to being great. We just need to get rid of Moa and I think we’re set.

Could we please have that?
The skull looks so awkward when it’s dyed blue and red. Just leave it white?

cyrealkylla.7145:

I think the Warrior’s and Thieves are right, there’s nothing whatsoever OP about those skills. Infact I think there so balanced that every class should have a one button 8-17k ability.

I think everyone should be able to spam one button and skill somebody! Then we can all call each other noobs and whiners and say LTP or use your stun breaker.

If you’re taking 8-17k damage from ANY ability, you’re lacking toughness.

If a Thief decides to waste all his initiative on using heartseeker from 100%-?%, you will win, as he just wasted all his initiative, and now his defensive/escape abilities are burned.

A warrior using 100b is easy to see coming. Dodge the charge – win.

Gear defensively.
Dodge.
Don’t whine about non-issues that are non-issues.

IDICERI.4268:

I think they made medium armor pretty good.

Yeah, that’s the part we think is horrible.
Coats.
Coats everywhere.

It’s funny how I could post 7 pictures where it was full team of mesmers, or rangers, or warriors, or elementalists, or necros, or engineers, or guardians.

But I never thought it would be necessary to screenshot the score-board. It’s not like people created a specific profession character, which proves they’re “working as intended.”

The most interesting part of this thread is the first picture, where you appear to be humping a bush with your camera.

This thread is silly.

Izziee.8392:

Rika.7249:

Izziee.8392:

Rika.7249:

It’s the ONLY viable tactic to finish someone. Else you’ll just find yourself being dazed/knocked/whatnot’ed to death.

Stealth finishing is clever use of stealth, and the reward is appropriate.

So what you’re saying is, it’s the only viable tactic?

So then, it’s balanced that only a couple can do it?

Okay. Sounds fair.

Either that, or you can place a blind on the downed person and you can pray someone’s there to daze the guy who’s trying to resurrect him.

Also, it’s not like it’s a surprise out of the blue. You’ve been fighting the thief/mesmer/engineer/anything because of combofields that create stealth.

It’s not exactly hard to predict when they’re going to fill your throat with a banner.

Besides, you can still hit people in stealth you know. Just throw in the general direction where you think he might be.

ZigWentZag.6082:

its not the only viable tactic the only reason you say that is cause thiefs and memsers are so hard to finish cause there downed abilities but thats a topic for another thread i just feel it would be better if stealth broke when you started casting the down cause you could still get the jump on people but it wouldnt be a free kill like it is now

No. I’m only saying that because the stealthed person has used a cooldown to finish the guy who’s lying on the ground, bleeding to death slowly.
He’s used a bloody cooldown to do that.
OF COURSE he needs to be rewarded for doing so.

So now, you defend the only viable tactic as though it can be countered easily.

That would make it not the only viable tactic.

Yet, you just stated it was.

I see some contradiction in your post there.

So, if it is the only viable tactic, pretty unfair to the other 6 classes, perhaps they should all get a stealthed finisher.

If it isn’t the only viable tactic, then it wouldn’t matter if you lost it, because as you’re stating it is, that must mean you think it’s strong enough to warrant being so.

Interesting.

Blimey, you got me –
I’ll take it back. It’s not the only viable tactic for finishing in general.
It IS however, the only viable 100% finish-in-first-try ability, partially followed by a blinding field on target.

Now, your 200 words have been in vain and I’m patiently awaiting a response as to why stealthing to kill someone should be punished. I know it’s funny derailing discussions into those depressing corners of “I don’t care what your point is, you said this earlier. I don’t care what the point is. You said this, and I read it this way. I read what I want to read, and your point is not what I wanted to read.”

INTARDAZTING.

inb4 another flyby laugh when you come up with some other way to absolutely secure a kill in first try.

ZigWentZag.6082:

ya to bad engi has like the worst downed abilities really the only classes you are saying that you need stealth to finish are the classes that have broken downed abilities so you reasoning is its viable because how else do i kill the op stuff which is something you should never have to say

If I decide to use a cooldown to finish you, that’s my problem. The guy who’s lying on the ground should be laughing his bottom off. That cooldown might be what’s killing me 20 seconds later.
Yet, it’s the only way you might get away with a first-finisher. Except against an Elementalist. Their downed state is just pitiful.

Nkrdbl.8160:

Rika.7249:

It’s the ONLY viable tactic to finish someone. Else you’ll just find yourself being dazed/knocked/whatnot’ed to death.

Stealth finishing is clever use of stealth, and the reward is appropriate.

Where’s my warrior classes stealth if its the only viable tactic to finish someone?

It’s right there when you decide to stomp or leap through any darkness/smoke field. It’s going to last 2-3 seconds. Just like any other stealth ability. Which means you can’t even finish someone in the time you’re stealthed, unless it’s a Shadow Refuge from a thief – in which case he’s just used a 60 second cooldown to finish someone. And you’re saying he shouldn’t be able to do so?

Nkrdbl.8160:

Edit: I suppose while we’re at it, the only viable way to rez someone is doing so while stealthed, too?

It’s a great tactic that should be rewarded, for clever play.
And it’s absolutely interruptable. Just look at the downed fellow. He probably hasn’t moved since he got stealthed by his ally. Now you know where to use Stomp. Or the Hammer knockdown. Or… All the other control abilities you warriors run around with.

Izziee.8392:

Rika.7249:

It’s the ONLY viable tactic to finish someone. Else you’ll just find yourself being dazed/knocked/whatnot’ed to death.

Stealth finishing is clever use of stealth, and the reward is appropriate.

So what you’re saying is, it’s the only viable tactic?

So then, it’s balanced that only a couple can do it?

Okay. Sounds fair.

Either that, or you can place a blind on the downed person and you can pray someone’s there to daze the guy who’s trying to resurrect him.

Also, it’s not like it’s a surprise out of the blue. You’ve been fighting the thief/mesmer/engineer/anything because of combofields that create stealth.

It’s not exactly hard to predict when they’re going to fill your throat with a banner.

Besides, you can still hit people in stealth you know. Just throw in the general direction where you think he might be.

ZigWentZag.6082:

its not the only viable tactic the only reason you say that is cause thiefs and memsers are so hard to finish cause there downed abilities but thats a topic for another thread i just feel it would be better if stealth broke when you started casting the down cause you could still get the jump on people but it wouldnt be a free kill like it is now

No. I’m only saying that because the stealthed person has used a cooldown to finish the guy who’s lying on the ground, bleeding to death slowly.
He’s used a bloody cooldown to do that.
OF COURSE he needs to be rewarded for doing so.

I didn’t even know there was tournament chests.
Oh wow.

It’s the ONLY viable tactic to finish someone. Else you’ll just find yourself being dazed/knocked/whatnot’ed to death.

Stealth finishing is clever use of stealth, and the reward is appropriate.

I’m just dropping in to say:
Yeah, no.

So because thieves do high damage (they don’t, without sacrificing EVERYTHING. Not a viable tactic)
Guardians are defensive,
and Mesmers have clusterminions, they outperform everyone.

Sure. But a thief won’t survive a 1v1.
A Guardian will go down eventually regardless of who’s attacking him.
And Mesmers’ only problem is Moa – see Necros for information about having many minions – I don’t see how Mesmer’s outperform them there.

A warrior is a better thief.
A necro is a more survivable mesmer.
A warrior is also a better guardian.
Depends how you trait and gear of course.

Point is: There’s no such thing as “X outperforms Y+Z, don’t play Y or Z” present in the game.

I’m fairly certain MacDuff is the one who says that line, when he’s about to fight MacBeth.

The reason this isn’t going in, is that the professions are balanced around conquest, and it would require so much work to implement another gamemode.

PvP isn’t necessarily about who’s best at ganking the other team. That’s what all these thief-whiners are forgetting.

The game types should stay conquest, simply having several game types will result in more balancing issues.

The “team with most warrior thieves and guardians will win” is bull.
You can say that with every profession. Really, you can. All ranger/engineer/mesmer and they’ll still eat you.
It’s not the professions, but the people.

Trebuchets should be more effective. It’s too easy to take down compared to the effort required to repair it (unless you’re a mesmer, or a thief) Sharks should stay the way they are. It’s not hard to get the point in the Ruins.
I don’t know what gates in Forest of Niflhel you’re talking about. There’s 2 mobs worth 25 points there. No gates at all.

I like the downed state, BUT
The downed person should NOT be able to deal any considerably decent damage when downed, and the downed person should NOT be able to avoid being finished within the first 10 seconds of lying on the ground.
This makes teamwork more important, and the lack of teamwork will result in downed state not being a second barrier you need to burst.

Also, rallying should ONLY occur on the person you’ve damaged the most – for example: If you did 10k damage to X, and only 2k to Y, even if Y goes down and dies, you should not rally. Only if X goes down, should you rally.
I’m tired of teamfights consisting of downed people quickly tagging everything around them, so they get a free rally quickly.

And then we all remembered that a glass cannon ele is just as lethal, and then Otiz badgered off.
And then we all remembered that glass cannons are only viable in a larger picture than a 1v1. A glass cannon to assist others in a fight is a perfectly fine tactic.
Note the tactic bit. It’s useless without that bit.

Right click the person and press “Report”, there’s a vile language reason there.

I’ve reported several already. It is especially in Spvp that your enemy starts running their lips. It can completely ruin the fun for me.

I don’t see the issue here.

Play PvP and get PvP rewards. Play PvE and get PvE rewards.
Is this an issue? Really?

That being said, I have come across what I’d call a hacking warrior.
Not in PvP, though, but the guy stands in the same zone day and night farming the same mobs, teleporting to each one. Teleporting. Not charging. Teleporting. Now I don’t know what abilities warriors have with axes, but I’m sure they can’t teleport with them on a 5 second cooldown at max? Ah wel.

@Humorless:
It is skilled. A thief has just burned all of his chances of survival to secure a kill, a kill that could easily have been lost if the victim had dodged and locked down the thief.
Pressing the buttons isn’t skill. Knowing when to, is.

Who needs a dumb horse when you have Asura?

Tomus.8632:

First time my mesmer was noble who lost her sister, second time I choose “parents”.
Rika: I like this story, why you are dissapoint?

I am disappoint because my sister didn’t matter at all.
In the beta, I accidentally said that we originated from Orr, which resulted in me getting a black sister. Now, I don’t dislike black people, but I was a pale white blonde woman.
Second time, I carefully picked Krytan, which gave me an equal looking sister.
And the chapter after that, I never hear from her again. Disappoint!

Tom Chesterson.6905:

Bamboodel.3164:

Hi, I can’t evade a short range jump and attack. Plz nerf it, thief too stronk.

Meme? Check.
Poor grammar? Check.
Sarcastically attempting to satirically defend his broken class without contributing anything to the conversation? Check.

What compelled you to actually press “Post” after writing that abomination?

Well, you’re claiming heartseeker is overpowered, when the thief is essentially kittening his team in Spvp. What compels you to post anything here?
Switch the thief with a mesmer, an engineer, or a warrior, and the thief is so terrible, it’s hilarious.

I see where ArenaNet are coming from with the initiative system.
But it’s a restriction, not an advantage. To deal any proper damage, one might need to spam Heartseeker. Damage, that is free, and doesn’t affect other cooldowns on ANY other profession. And these professions just so happen to have powerful weapon abilities.

It has a cast time.

How does one justify this, compared to Mesmer’s Moa?

Tom Chesterson.6905:

Tom Chesterson.6905:

Rika.7249:

So what the problem essentially is, is that you refuse to move yourself away from a threat, Tom Chesterson.

I see where you’re coming from, I’d also say it’s stupid to lock down the thief who is wasting all his initiative and effectively wiping any chance of surviving that he has, by pressing 2 repeatedly.

Basically, you’re saying that you want to be able to tank the Heartseeker damage in melee, when running a glass cannon build (because heartseeker doesn’t kill anyone running toughness-vitality builds)

I don’t run heartseeker builds, because you won’t kill anyone competent.
Is that OP? Hm.

Except I play a ranger with Natural Vigor, Lightning Reflexes, and Quick Shot and constantly use dodge against Thieves and they will still end up catching up to me. You’re grasping at straws with false information. There’s a reason every sPvP game has a minimum of 5 Thieves right now.

Except there’s no thieves to be found anywhere. Literally.
I see Engineers and Guardians everywhere however. There’s a reason they’re OP, by your logic. (although they’re not?)

Also, they’re able to catch up with you. Boo hoo, so they catch you with a single heartseeker out of 5, and you lose 1k hp.
Oh, and the thief’s dead by then, against a ranger.

So what the problem essentially is, is that you refuse to move yourself away from a threat, Tom Chesterson.

I see where you’re coming from, I’d also say it’s stupid to lock down the thief who is wasting all his initiative and effectively wiping any chance of surviving that he has, by pressing 2 repeatedly.

Basically, you’re saying that you want to be able to tank the Heartseeker damage in melee, when running a glass cannon build (because heartseeker doesn’t kill anyone running toughness-vitality builds)

I don’t run heartseeker builds, because you won’t kill anyone competent.
Is that OP? Hm.

I’ll try to be as unbiased as I possibly can, and I’ll try to see everything from every angle.

In no particular order, I’ll just mention points worth discussing, and I hope you will quote single items if you want to discuss these in a civil manner.

Initiative:
Many see this as an overpowered system, allowing the thief to use the same abilities over and over, as long as he has sufficient initiative. From their point of view, it might seem incredibly overpowered, and I do understand their concerns.
However, the other side of this case, is that initiative doesn’t help the thief, as much as it restricts the thief.
Having a resource system as the only profession in the game, means the thief NEEDS to have mediocre weapon abilities, otherwise it will be overpowered, as you can spam these.
If the thief had a knock-down weapon ability that costs initiative, it would be considered overpowered as the thief could chain this over and over.
This is why initiative is a curse rather than a blessing.

Heartseeker:
I see on the forums that this single ability is the source of many discussions, that may or may not get out of hand. Let’s look at what it does:

A leaping ability that does mediocre/okay/good damage (depending on the HP of the target), costing 3 initiative and rendering the thief unable to control anything.
The damage aspect of this ability is strangely put together.
Dealing more damage depending on the health of the enemy you’re striking makes it an “executioner” ability.
This means that preferably, the thief shouldn’t use this unless the target is low on health. However, due to the low initiative cost, and the decent damage along with “stickyness” on the enemy, most thieves tend to use this ability repeatedly, regardless of enemy health.
So those who dislike Heartseeker will argue that a Heartseeker-spamming thief is overpowered.
However: For heartseeker spam to be worth the initiative cost, the enemy needs low health, and the thief needs to have a strict glass-cannon build for it to deal any damage, if the enemy is at decent health.
Heartseeker also does NOT have an evade included, and as such, if you lock down a thief, with ANY ability, he will be taking a beating.
Heartseeker deals its damage fully in one blow. One blind effect is all it takes to completely negate the damage, and have the thief waste initiative.
If you have a ground targeted blinding AoE, you can safely prance around in it, watching the thief miss over and over.
And let’s not forget that the thief has NO control of where he’s going mid-combat, if he decides to use heartseeker. Use this to your advantage.
Long story short, I don’t think it can be considered overpowered, and I’d argue it need its initiative cost increased, but also have a condition of sorts attached to it. This is just my opinion and I’ll leave this for discussion down below.

Pistol Whip:
I really want to copy paste the segment about Heartseeker, as Pistol Whip is countered by roughly the same things. The thief is immobile while channeling it, and all you have to do is lock down the thief with something.
The major difference here, is that Pistol Whip is several blows instead of a single strike, and as such, a single blind effect will not save you.
In conjunction with the shadowstep ability from having a sword equipped, it might be too strong. And I would highly suggest the initiative cost was increased to a much higher cost, making a thief unable to use this more than once, before waiting for initiative to regenerate.

Shadow Refuge vs Blinding Powder:

Why is Blinding Powder even an ability?
I really can’t think of a reason to pick Blinding Powder over Shadow Refuge, in all honesty.

Stealth:
The way stealth works in Guild Wars 2 is how stealth should always have worked. It is a useful ability that allows you to shift in and out of visibility midcombat, allowing for confusing the enemy and stabbing them where it really hurts.
My one gripe with it: Thieves who appear out of stealth are not always immediately visible, and I have often taken damage a good second before the thief was visible.
My suggestion: Upon using a damaging ability (this would require some specific skills to be adjusted) , you leave stealth immediately, regardless of whether you hit your target or not. This isn’t too much to ask, and I hope an ArenaNet employee can confirm that a thief doesn’t appear until damage has been done. Therefore my suggestion would be that as soon as the attack animation is started, the thief leaves stealth. Feel free to discuss.

Basilisk Venom
Why are we required to spend a second on casting this venom, to stun the target for a a second, when a Mesmer can transform people for 10 seconds with roughly the same cast time?

I’ll be updating this as I think of more.

Notice how everyone who thinks it’s OP come up with the following situations:
I was fighting this guy and I was doing okay, and I was dodging all his skills and then
OMG A THIEF APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE SPAMMING HEARTSEEKER AND KILLS ME, CLEARLY OP.

No seriously, dodge heartseeker, slow the thief, blind the thief, daze the thief, immobilize the thief, run away. Heartseeker is countered by EVERYTHING.

Also, no matter what spec you roll, you’ll be called out for being a lamer.

I was called a lamer today, I never even used Heartseeker or Pistol Whip.

I used Shadowstep, and outsmarted a minion-master Necro.
Apparently, that is lame.

Here’s a thing: Immobilize the thief.
Here’s a thing: Daze the thief.
Here’s a thing: Blind the thief.

I am pretty sure every profession can cover at least 2 of the above.
If you land any of the above on the thief, you’ve won the battle because he was running a glass cannon trait spec that isn’t viable.

My human story was never finding my sister.
Don’t do it. I am disappoint.

I’m back!
Ponytails! They are nowhere to be found!
I hope they will be included in a future patch, along with a hairstylist, so we can change our hair! (Possible gem-sink, ArenaNet! Wink wink, money money!)

Warscythes.9307:

There actually is a follow up. She comes with you to Orr.

Nope.
She goes home. And you never hear from her again.

I was at least expecting her to be in the Home District, and with that, some housing options. Maybe we’ll see that in future patches.

If you’re dying to a heartseeker build thief, it’s your own fault. You can completely lock them down and destroy them so easily. Dodge their heartseekers, slow them, immobilize them. Suddenly they have no initiative, and you have roughly 90% health left.
Look, a free kill!

Also, Moa needs a nerf. Or specifically, the Moa form needs a buff.
Make them have the Moa screech that dazes for 4 seconds and heals you for 2k each second while doing it. Herp!

Go 00/00/30/20/20
Survive forever, win games, deal good damage as well.
Double Dagger, Double Pistol.

I can’t see how anything like Dagger+Pistol or Sword+Pistol could ever be viable.
The damage from a mainhand dagger 1 skill is very high, and delivers a poison at the end, and you need a dagger in the offhand for Cloak and Dagger.

Oh, and I wouldn’t ever go heartseeker. Heartseeker thieves are so easy to kill.

Defensive builds.
This goes for anyone.

Go crit+power build, deal no damage and die instantly.
Go defensive builds, live forever, deal just about the same damage.

I honestly don’t use my initiative as D+D for anything else than Dancing Dagger if the target is trying to avoid my damage, otherwise I use it primarily for Cloak and Dagger.

And heartseeker once they’re below 50% ish. Leaping Death Blossom is generally a wasted skill unless you REALLY need to dodge something, and don’t have the endurance and / or are immobilized.

Freya Valentin.1839:

I don’t use the F1 Skill .
Sometimes I forget it even exist…Not that I hate the idea of stealing stuff from your enemy’s . But environmental weapons seem to have the same effect…As a special skill i find it lacking some kind of more interesting approach when you compare it with other classes. When I am playing an different class I have more feeling for the f1 skill that I don’t simply forget this skill . Or is it just me …? Don’t get me wrong for the rest its my main character…….How do you feel about this skill?

At first I hated it.

Now I can’t live without it. Dealing 3k damage, shadowstepping, gaining 3 initiative, being stealthed, putting you into position of a great backstab and / or saving your life, letting you escape? All that, for pressing F1. AND you get a great item most of the time.

I’d say it’s just you – you’ll get addicted to it once you learn its usefulness.

If you’re losing to a heartseeker spamming thief, you’re doing something wrong.
Same goes for a Pistol Whip thief.
They’re wasting initiative if they miss, initiative that could be used for Cloak and Dagger, Dancing Dagger, and even a free evade with an applied bleed effect.
Unless they’re using devourer venom, I don’t see how it’s possible to get hit by heartseeker that many times.
And if they’re using devourer venom, dodge.
Personally, people greatly underestimate the power of the number 1 ability. Save your initiative, use it for when it counts.

Truhan.8912:

Try my tactic, it works wonders in these personal stories. There’s always a huge amount of groups that seem impossible to kill, but Caltrops, Spider Venom, Healing Signet and Dagger Storm does the trick!

TsaF.6270:

omg, so fast specific and gentle answers in not time. This ‘..u cant totally ruin your player..’ little worried me, but i really really thank you gyus for all the above reasons.. I like this game everyday more .. <3

Also never be afraid to spend your skill points. Once you get to level 80, you continue leveling, but do not gain an increase in power – you gain a Skill Point every time you level, so you have an unending supply of Skill Points.

Combat is very active. You’re required to actively dodge in-coming attacks from your enemy. The default dodge key is V, and you can also activate the double-tap feature, which lets you double-tap a direction key to dodge in that direction.

Skills are based on what weapons you currently have equipped. At level 7 (I believe?), you can actively swap weapons midcombat to a second weapon set, giving you twice the amount of abilities to use on the go.

As an elementalist however, you won’t gain access to mid-combat weapon swapping. Instead, you have attunements placed on your F1, F2, and so on keys. These greatly alter your playstyle and you should often switch between them midfight.

Guild Wars 2 separates itself from other MMOs in that it does not have a given linear questpath. You are never required to go anywhere you don’t want to go. If you desire, you can level from level 1 to 80 in the first zone without ever leaving.

The hearts you find on your map are “Renown Hearts”
These hearts are the closest thing to a linear questline you can find. It is a quest where you can do different things to complete it. For example, you can feed chickens, or kill worms – it will count towards completing the quest. You can usually read what you need to do in the top-right corner. There will often be a “bar” that fills slowly when you complete objectives.

Upon completing these, the questgivers will sell you things for “Karma”, a currency you recieve when you complete quests and events.

Dynamic Events are events that are triggered by a million different things. These events happen all over the world, and if nobody is there to save the day, the event will fail. Should the event fail, the event doesn’t actually end. Rather, it branches to an aftermath event.

Here’s an example:

A bandit raid is happening at the nearby town.
Nobody stops the bandits, and the bandits have now taken over the town (event failed)
A new event begins, where you must kill every bandit in the town, to drive them out.

If you had stopped the bandits in the first place, you might’ve been asked to follow them to their stronghold, so you could dispose of them.

There’s a lot to learn and a lot to grasp.

I’ve been wondering the same thing.
Leather is a weird resource to gather. I find that killing humanoids is the best way to get leather. They will often drop those tiny bags of loot, which will often reveal leather.
They may also drop leather scraps which you can salvage. That’s the only means to get Leather, as far as I know.

You can buy gems from in-game currency. Gems are fairly cheap, something like 40 silver for a 100 gems. That gives you a fair amount of transmutation.

You don’t even have to directly trade with anyone

Press O to bring up the Black Lion Trading Company Store,
Click the “Exchange Currencies” tab.
Click “Trade Gems for Gold”
Add how much Gold you’re willing to spend
It will show you how many gems you can get for the amount you’re offering.
Click exchange, and badabam! You’ve got Gems. Without using a single Euro!

Also, Correct me if I’m wrong, but Daily Achievements can also award Transmutation Stones I believe – as such, you can never run out of ways to get them.