Guild Wars 2

@Brigg- I do that all the time XD. Withdrawal ftw.

@Clint- how many posts would it take to necro that thread? SPvP is getting to heavy. Rarely see anything funny. =(

=D That was well done. Need to change my name to just wondering. But yea, I thought it would be funny. =P

I have to ask: how crazy would it be to request a 10% increase in damage for this skill? Or making Assassin’s Signet just like a Ranger’s Signet of the Hunt? Have to wonder just how many tears we would finally get. Maybe Thief Packs would be real in WvW… still waiting for that.

Seeing as most posts here are not very happy (observation, please no flames), I decided to make what I saw the dungeon forums had. A funny moments in your spvp career thread. It can be anything you thought was hilarious, fun, or just plain crazy. Off we go.

A little while back I was running around my Warrior with a rifle crit-nuke-pierce build. Battle of Khylo is amazing (sure I spelled it wrong) for said build. Everyone runs CT and then I just line up Rifle Burst…power/crit banners + might shout… bang! Lots of down people. Funny for me, not sure rest. Always nice to see a thief knocked down when they stealthed in the way XD.

Another funny- Has anyone seen how you can do 10k maul on ranger with only your own buffs? Yep. Doing it. Getting backstabbed by a thief, turning around, might stack+maul+signet active slam them back for 4k more. Thats fun too.

What about you guys?

Because I am forum hunting down mesmer posts and haven’t actually gone to this one yet ( =P ) I have to ask: Which builds are you all talking about? And for some of us (like me) who did not and will not watch the live stream for various reason, can you either summarize or bullet-point what they said about mesmers? And maybe thieves? I play both as main, but thief is a dirt-kisser in competitive play compared to Mesmer/Thief/Ranger/Necromancer/Engineer/Warrior/Guardian/skilled-elementalists right now. Thanks much.
My only question right now is: I made a previous post that the DE nerf would wreck my hybrid mesmer build that granted regen to nearby allies (stupidly small radius) and then granted me protection, my signet gave me another boon and I could use that to save team briefly. These would be unkillable (+70% hp) and have retaliation and some other fun stuff. Will this build not work anymore? Because as a tanky support, this build is beautiful.

My $0.02. I swap through builds a lot with my Mesmer because I like the diversity. I never PU. The problem IS NOT DECEPTIVE EVASION!….. the problem is STEALTH SPAMMING WITH PRISMATIC UNDERSTANDING. I didn’t get to see the stream, but you guys are saying that one of the changes, an extreme nerf imo, is DE now does not proc when all 3 clone/phantasms are procced. Ok, that does not help on-death traits. If you wanted to nerf on-death clones, then you should have reprogrammed the on-death to be only on death like shattering- shattering does not apply cripple,condi,confus only sshatter (edit is here, abbreviating shatter to its first 4 letters gets it replaced) effect. Nerfing DE makes PU, Phantasm (yes, phantasm), pure condition, full support, hybrid condi/support and other builds (which I am testing out and don’t want to report yet) get a punch in the face. I main this class. I win with this class. In spvp and wvw I never get killed or run from a fight unless the opposing side severely outnumbers my side, and pve/dungeons I use support which requires DE to proc clone replacement. So this is seriously wrong =(. Again, I could be off because I did not watch the stream but you know.

selan.8354:

gw2 mes is a complete mess with barely any build variety

Maybe I can help you with that.

A few current builds that are viable with my opinion on required skill level.

Shatter – this requires very little knowledge of the class or skill. Just gs4, swap, sword 4 then 3 then 5 then 3 then 2+F1 for mindwrack. Then pop decoy and mirror images + F2 for cry of frustration that stacks confusion to 8+ and watch them self-knockout with their lack of hp.
Phantasm- a little bit harder, yet easier if you understand the class some more. Throw in same weapons and same idea, but don’t ever shatter and make sure to stay out of sight of target until you need to replace one of the phantasms which have +70% hp from trait and signet.
PU condition mesmer- super easy, just stealth for protection and make sure to have plenty of on-death clone traits.
Pure condition mesmer- harder if you don’t understand the class and can’t stay hidden. Clones apply cripple,confusion, and a random condition on death.
Hybrid condi/support mesmer- same difficulty as Pure condition but has extra team utility. Clones have retaliation, apply regeneration to nearby allies and apply random conditions.
Those are just a few. =)

Ok, so this is more of a question that I didn’t know where to post other than here or bugs. And I think it was intentional and not a bug BUT!

On scepter/focus elementalist condition build:
10/ Burns last longer
0/ n/a
30/ bleeds last longer and more dmg to bleeding, stabil in earth, gain condi dmg from toughness
20/ cantrips recharge faster, remove condition when attune water
10/ 50% more endurance regen while wielding scepter
Undead runes. Corruption and Might-swap sigils.
When I started adding Undead runes and it went to gain toughness (it does condi,tough,condi,tough,condi,convert) instead of going up like its supposed to, my condition damage went down. It still applied the extra 5% convert at end, and condi dmg still went up when runes said to but when it went to toughness, it went down. I had no prior runes attached.

Bug aside, this is kind of funny to fight with because you through down flame-wall in the middle of a capture point and watch the opponent team run through it and get ~800 burn damage in 1.5 seconds. Pretty funny.

My question despite the quick side-track and massive amount of detail is: does condition damage have an unknown cap? Or does stat conversion have an unknown cap? Please help. Or tell me I done goofed, and this info is wrong. I will appreciate either.

I am unsure if I posted this already (been bouncing around the forums reading stuff…so much to read, its not even funny…now I know why its hard to take all the things that get posted) but my top 3 are:

LOTRO cosmetic adaptation- I know that sounds bad/weird but its already been mentioned: LOTRO had a great cosmetic system. It had slots independent of stats BUT still allowed you to see what armor you were wearing if you used the Equipment tab- and even then you could toggle of certain things like Hats, Gloves, Boots. Thats already half of a great cosmetic setup- ADD that to your dye system/transmutation system and you have an amazing cosmetic system. Also, if we transmute/salvage a weapon or piece of armor it would be really nice if a pop-up came and asked “Hey you, would you like to keep the skin of this item for later use?” or something similar because on occassion I find wep/armr skins that look fantastic that I either have to vendor trash or spend tons of my grinded gold in gem store for trans stone for. Not quite “fun” or “immersive” when you have to hit the store all the time to keep an item that you like.

Skill Selection Without Power Creep- I would love to see either A)current weapon sets get more skills you can choose from and you can swap them into your current set of 5 skills (so still 5 skills on bar) if you would need those for your build or something or more weapons. I already have a great idea for Thief-a rifle. For choice A the idea would be (Thief mainhand dagger, offhand nothing example) same auto attack (no way to replace that since its a bit weapon defining) but skill 2 could be either Heartseeker or a new skill that worked for condition thieves- range 600, kind of like Ranger’s axe 4? And then the player could choose either Heartseeker or this new skill depending on if they were burst built or condi….

And of course my thrice mentioned Race changing tonic. Allows you to use a full makeover kit that now includes the ability to swap races- be careful players, this will reset all of your racial skills and you will have to re-earn/buy them. Gem store price- 600?

And now I will stop spamming thread…with my random postage…..

Serious Thought.5394:

Kulvar.1239:

@Serious Thought :
Can cause unbalanced side effect. If a player invest all his points in power he can shoot anyone in one hit. if one invest all in toughness, he can’t take any damages and be nearly immortal.

Well maybe a cap. Like (spvp example) berserker amult gives you 798 power. An example I could give (developers can figure out real numbers if they like this idea, which I hope they do along with my racial wardrobe change from gemstore/black lion chest) is say you are going from level 38 to 39 (thats the rare lvl right, 39?):

Your armor would jump from giving 10 points a lvl (common) to 15 points a lvl (fine) to 25(masterwork) to now 35 a lvl.
So you saved up 40 points (from common) + 150 points(from fine) + 600 points(from masterwork) + 35(first level of rare now) for a total of 825(again example, this might be too high or too low) for total armor (not per piece, as pieces are now cosmetic) and weapon. Defense and base damage would go on their own like they do now, the points only apply to changes in power/prec/tough/vit/crit dmg/etc.
It would take 2 points a stat (except for boon duration, condition duration, crit magnitude) and you decide to first invest in power: at this lvl, the stat cap would be (still an example) 150. You spend 300 (2 points a stat unless a age, %age at 25 this high lvl and costs 4) leaving you 525 points and also want max precision putting you at 225. You max out crit magnitude (25%) and that leaves you 125. You then raise your vitality to 30 leaving you 65 and your toughness to 30 leaving you 5…
Does that work better maybe?

EDIT Oh, probably need to say how armor/weapon transition would work. You would level up normally and when you reached the level to go up in armor/weapon a popup like the chests you get for completing a dungeon or meta event would pop up (no idea what symbol would be, but not a chest…or a bunny…) and you’d click on that, prompting you to upgrade. Might have to retrospec stat points or something…no idea, but this would help horizontal progression a bunch.
Common-lvl1=free
Fine-lvl4= 5 silver
Masterwork-lvl14=40 silver
Rare-lvl39=2 gold
Exotic-lvl65=7 gold
Ascended-lvl80= 80 laurels and 150 gold
Legendary(weapon only)-lvl80= 1500 gold? I have no idea how this would all work. Maybe include trinket stats and stuff? Or not…=/ not the best thought out idea it seems. Thoughts though?

Kulvar.1239:

@Serious Thought :
Can cause unbalanced side effect. If a player invest all his points in power he can shoot anyone in one hit. if one invest all in toughness, he can’t take any damages and be nearly immortal.

Well maybe a cap. Like (spvp example) berserker amult gives you 798 power. An example I could give (developers can figure out real numbers if they like this idea, which I hope they do along with my racial wardrobe change from gemstore/black lion chest) is say you are going from level 38 to 39 (thats the rare lvl right, 39?):

Your armor would jump from giving 10 points a lvl (common) to 15 points a lvl (fine) to 25(masterwork) to now 35 a lvl.
So you saved up 40 points (from common) + 150 points(from fine) + 600 points(from masterwork) + 35(first level of rare now) for a total of 825(again example, this might be too high or too low) for total armor (not per piece, as pieces are now cosmetic) and weapon. Defense and base damage would go on their own like they do now, the points only apply to changes in power/prec/tough/vit/crit dmg/etc.
It would take 2 points a stat (except for boon duration, condition duration, crit magnitude) and you decide to first invest in power: at this lvl, the stat cap would be (still an example) 150. You spend 300 (2 points a stat unless a age, %age at 25 this high lvl and costs 4) leaving you 525 points and also want max precision putting you at 225. You max out crit magnitude (25%) and that leaves you 125. You then raise your vitality to 30 leaving you 65 and your toughness to 30 leaving you 5…
Does that work better maybe?

Don’t know if this was already mentioned BUT:

Maybe all armor/weapons could be cosmetic and you could place your stats how you wanted for more customization. Kind of like traits, and maybe even a new vendor called Armor/Weapon-Mender or something. Seemed interesting- so at lvl 1 you have 20 points, lvl 2 40 points, so on so forth. Its probably not the best idea- I just thought it sounded nice and would really alleviate the armor/weapon grind need to stay competitive in PvE/WvW especially when coupled with a skins locker. Thoughts?

Oh and-

4) Race change. It would be nice if we could do this, even if it was 1200 gems or something. Could be done like the Makeover box (name right?) where you change absolutely everything about your characters appearance except for the race. I would even be very willing for an item like this to force me to re-earn my race specific skills. It is a far more enticing item than any other simply because if I wanted to have a level 80 asura thief, but I was a level 80 Charr thief with no slots left to use, I would be forced to delete my Charr and anything that was bound to that character THEN go through the trouble of getting all of that back on my Asura. Its harder than it sounds, especially if you have an ascended trinket or some such.

Nike.2631:

Tons of very helpful information. Thanks.

And thanks to everyone else, I +1d everyone above this post that gave/tried to give an answer to me =).

Hopefully I got this right:

1) Difficulty stages in PvE. I agree with a few posts already made that PvE can be done with little input- an easy example is a Ranger can fully trait its pet with Autoloot on and just afk in a zone(not all , but quite a few). Easy skillpoints, levels, money and all for no risk(assuming done right). My suggestion would be to expand the living world a bit to allow for tiers of mob difficulty like the Vet/Champ/Leg mobs and stuff. It doesn’t have to be new maps (would love that) as that would make World Completion more difficult, but it would be nice if in some hard to get to location in every map you had a small section of mobs at the highest map lvl (so map says 15-25, these mobs are 25) that are tiered up or maybe a tower of tiers up. Quick Summary attempt Add corner to each map that has tiered up or multiple up-tiers of mobs and maybe rename them a bit so you can tell like (Cursed Shore example) Risen Noble would become Adept Risen Noble and (if multi tiers) the next level would be Master Risen Noble and the next Grandmaster Risen Noble (kind of like our traits)- Vet/Champ/Leg mobs would have Adept Vet/Champ/Leg Risen Noble. The tier of difficulty would be something like a 10% increase in stats on said mobs?

2) Skin lockers. Others have posted, I don’t think I need to say much. Something like the way we can pull Zenith weapon skins from our Achievement Panel would be an easy-ish way to implement said change while also satisfying a vast amount of your player base, even if this “Skins Locker” only allowed said change with Gemstore obtained or Achievement-ed Skins.

3) Map Specific Drops. Already being done with crafting items and some weapons. Would be nice for extra cosmetics to be zone specific.

I want to add more, but can I post about skill/trait/weapon changes? I want to add more diversity and I have an idea on how it can be done .

Sorry to sound dumb- but what does “horizontal character progression” entail?

Cosmetics? Traits? Stats? Would appreciate a list of things I can comment on because I would really like to help. =( I type walls of text with lots of information…enticing? No? Yea, I know. But hey, its a good read. Anyway, please answer what all I can discuss in “Horizontal Character Progression”. Thanks. =)
Oh!! And how do I get a signature that I can show?

Class checklist: Warrior
Damage:yes
Tankiness:yes
Mobility:yes
Sustain:yes
Melt:yes
Invulnerability:yes
Undectability:No
Self-heal:yes
Instant Gank possibility:yes
Leech:No
High Population of users:yes
High population of skilled users: unknown
…did I miss anything? XD This class is almost maxed out. (humor intended with mild seriousness)

Serious note( no offense intended nor is this an attack- just an observation)- the classes (other than war, war needs a break from the class change treadmill for nerfs AND buffs) need to be fixed back up. Second set of “op” classes are Guardian and Mesmer (not sure where to rate engineer, so will put here). Everything else is falling behind. Current class “op” (used in light way, meant as- almost perfectly built) ranking(and yes, skilled players can jump the ladder and vice versa, this is just an average):
Warrior=Mesmer
Guardian=Necromancer=Engineer(? to engineer being here, not sure where to place)
Ranger
Elementalist=Thief… maybe Thief is not as good or maybe better.

This is not entirely based on their ability to beat class ABC, but on their ability to adapt and be diverse, as well as their ability to fight , as the term goes, “being on cooldown”. Right now, anything below Necromancer has a CD to almost all builds, some of which are quite high (90 seconds for some I have seen). I don’t really care if this means they need to L2P or whatever, but the fact the only build I see with a high cd on War is banners (which really goes to about 20 seconds, and if using regen 0) and on Mesmer highest I see is 22( some kind of condi/confuse build i saw).
Again, L2P aside this is true. The fastest build I have seen on ranger is about 25-30 second cd to get best results, fastest on elementalist is unknown as they have become more and more situational with utilites, and thief is at 36 (venom traited)…
Of course, I could be completely wrong in which case I ask to be corrected with details so I know where my mistakes lie.
Thanks for reading text wall.

Dual.8953:

A common arguement I see from players defending HS is that Warriors need it to stay viable. If that’s the case, why do most Warriors I know in game seem to favour Healing Surge?

Not sure if you wanted the answer or just to see people argue over whether or not Warrior is op, but heres my answer as far as I can see:

Healing Signet allows Warrior to focus fully on output while minimizing downtime. You are constantly getting healed over time (HoT) which sucks against burst builds ,in general, but you don’t have to back away like you would to get a burst heal (Healing Surge) because that hp is coming back to you while you put pressure on the burst allowing you to get berserker build with far less risk. People claim HSig is op because they don’t understand it’s downside- less burst strikes.

Healing Surge forces the Warrior into a “second wind” kind of build. Your hp will not regen (assuming no outside heals and no boons) naturally which sticks you into backing up to heal so you can burst strike(Eviscerate great for this) in an attempt (not always successful) to cow the target into defensive play so that you can have a chance to win. People claim HSurg is op as well because of the above- they don’t realize that its a one time heal in most fights (1v1 only) and all you have to do is crit once to go past and dodge the burst hit—-most classes have a roll trait that lets them fight against this specifically. Guardians are only ones that don’t b/c roll=heal not damage.

HSig=HSurg in the way people claim its op. HSig scares players because ,despite hard efforts, they can’t see past your hp bar nor are they willing to try and gauge your adrenaline. HSig sacrifices high end burst to keep steady dps. HSurg scares players because they CANT SEE PAST THE HP BAR and they see it go down, then go up and then see their hp ,only, go down 10-25% from your burst skill (minimum, 9/10 second cd iirc).

Hope that helps.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Awesome post! TY for the laugh

=) glad someone liked it. Do I get a +1? =P

This is more humor than QQ, so don’t get offended please- thought it belonged in thread complaining about people complaining:

Warrior: Banner build- “I’ma stand here and continue blocking your skills with my regen boon+regen signet + 30-35khp…and not hurt you.”
Thief:Backstab build- “DIE ALREADY!”
Mesmer:Shatter build- walks up and watches Thief continually stab War in back and War laugh while spamming Shield5. Throws out GS5 “Yea, I went there”
Warrior: Slams Hammer in Mesmer face, watches Mesmer make 2 sets of butterflies. “Um…where you go?”
Thief:STAB STAB STAB , still following warrior around while war auto attacks with hammer to find mesmer, “OMG Y U NO DIE?!?!?”
Warrior: Turns around, slams thief with Hammer f1, then autos it dead while thief is stunned. “Come’ere Mesmer…”
Thief: “What just happened? My hp just vanished….”
Necromancer:Minion Build- stares blankly at Thief “Why can’t I rez this thief to fight for me? QQ, logic invalid QQ”
Mesmer: is right behind Warrior “This guy is dumb….” continues walking behind Warrior, careful to be directly behind and out of camera range. Seems odd that War is still autoing with hammer.
Necromancer: Pops Deathshroud, shoots random balls of darkness at War, watches Minions chase him down, uses fear, leaves Deathshroud. Begins snacking on popcorn while watching War get wrecked by Minions with no input from Necro.
Mesmer: Famous shatter combo- GS3,2 swap, sword3,decoy,sword3+2, Mind Wrack- is used on Necromancer who dies immediately. Minions vanish.
Warrior: “What…who?HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!!?” Is lying on ground unable to get back up and fight, but somehow strong enough to throw 25 lb rocks at the Mesmer.
Mesmer: walks up and waves hand in air, “Sometimes being patient and lazy is good.” places shining hand on ground next to warrior, random banner slams through his face.
Warrior: Groans despite banner in face.
Thief: Groans while surrounded by Wars banners.
Necromancer: Groans about not being able to self rez due to being able to summon the dead.

I enjoy Mesmer far more than Thief (mild complaint/rant ensue followed by suggestion to see rest in Thief forums) and was wondering:

Is it possible to be condition built or confusion built? Are you required to hybrid them? Please provide builds with answers are yes.

Is it possible to make a build based off letting your clones/phantasms take your target for you? Please provide build with answer if yes.

Any additional information/builds appreciated. I already know shatter.
Also, do said builds work in spvp?

So I haven’t tested Thief in a while. Been using other classes and lately, been doing lazy dailies with said classes to get them maxed.
What can I do on Thief? Looks like we only have 3/7 weapon sets- d/d, p/d, and sb. Am I wrong? They nerfed s/d and I don’t know how much. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, I am old school and still use Backstab build of 25/30/0/15/0 d/d sb berserker full. Also any tips on getting legendaries for this class? Still seems to be most fun class despite being consistently nerf bombed =(

OMG I JUST GOT NECROED. =(

@Kolly- why are you bashing at me so hard? I ask a serious question, offer my experience/opinion and you just bash the bajeezus out of my posts with a ton of tl;dr’s. I said “I have used it in sPvP and WvW with a high success rate.” please take my post seriously. Also, I mainly spvp when I try to see if something is “competitive”. WvW is far too easy since condi dmg bypasses toughness ratings- meaning burst scales slower than condi in the long run. Interesting, right? =)
@Hype- yea, used to run those builds with pistols instead for the pistol bouncing attacks+unload bombing…now its useless- pistol dmg is really weak.
In general- I can’t get myself to use/enjoy anything involving the sword…feels very unassassiny to me. I have never read/heard/watched anything with an assassin using a sword- its always with some exotic weapon or dagger or rifle or some-such. =/ Not bashing the sword, I just can’t use it because it doesn’t fit my play-style/image of a thief.
I consider thief to a Mesmer without clones basically- lock-down, high dmg, high confusion, stay mobile. =) Did anyone try the build? Can someone explain to me how to use s/d? The auto seems weak, 2 stills you during the after-cast (when you hit target), the evade on 3 has a cd or init cost if you want a no cd and the dmg is fairly negligible if you get ranged down, the 4 and 5 are skills I use because I am a dagger thief. But they don’t fit into sword play-style…a daze from behind is odd, a blind is more helpful to me. Any-who, how do I use s/d effectively? (am an experienced thief, can use all your terminology and stratagems and such and so.)

Well, hopefully, someone will try out my new-found build and at least tell me how viable it is [[IN THEIR OPINION]]. I have used it in sPvP and WvW with a high success rate. If it doesn’t work for anyone else, I need to closet the Thief and look elsewhere for a good class.

30/0/30/0/10- Pistol/Dagger and Shortbow
The Power row- Venoms grant might, venoms recharge faster, venoms last one extra time.

The Healing row- Stealth blinds, venoms siphon health when they hit (it adds dps and makes you far more survivable) and venoms apply to nearby allies as well as their benefits.

The Class row(steal)- This is preference, you could toss this into Acrobatics for might dodges or faster stealth movement. I have caltrops for the cripple because this is a ranged build.

HiS, Spider/Skale/Basilisk Venom + Shadow Refuge.
Single target, very easy- Cloak&Dagger+Steal for that ranged stealth + gap closer- dodge for caltrops that don’t break stealth and use Pistol 1 in stealth (no venom yet). Wait for revealed to end (number 3 is great, it gives you a free evade basically-use on HB or similar). Use HiS and Spider/Skale Venom- toss down Shadow Refuge, tap Basilisk venom- stay in the SR field, use Auto 1 for a massive lifesteal. Field+skill+trait. Also applies high condi. Should be downed or will down soon- if not down, your steal should be back shortly, keep evading repeat rotation or swap to shortbow and escape.

Multi-target is Shortbow- Pop Spid/Skal venoms and just auto (this works for 3 targets or less, otherwise just run- I haven’t made this work for 3 yet, but 2 is fabulous) until you run out of venoms. Tap your 3 if they are close otherwise, HiS and do poison field and immob the melee if there is one or the fragile if not. Stay alive for that revealed, make sure to use steal on whichever is situationally profitable (always thief if there is one, makes escape possible), SR when you get stealth available again- pop poison fields on top of them until you get 4s of stealth left. Use Basilisk venom on whichever is lower or more dangerous. Lower-burst it down with your might stacks:Dangerous-kill the weak one.

Again, this works for me (shortbow is just if they aren’t perfectly coordinated (blind guard+fear necro for example) and I want someone elses opinion. =/

Sorry for wall of text. I have noticed that thieves are less and less viable per patch… only reason I see for nerffest is that no one seems to understand thief gameplay unless they run a backstab build… =/ Above post, your signature says it all.

I do agree that wars need a better reflect than traiting 10 into 3rd line for blocking gives reflect… far too subjective.

Whirling Axe- animation: a large spinning circle closely confined.
Description: Spin and attack nearby foes. You can move while spinning. 3+1/4 duration in seconds
Damage: 219
Number of Attacks: 15
Combo Finisher: Whirl
Range: 1200 (related to whirl finisher)

Dagger Storm- animation: thin circle with thin circles flying out.
Spin around, reflecting projectiles and throwing daggers that cripple and bleed nearby foes. You can move while spinning.
Damage:510
Stability: 8s (actually lasts until you drop Dagger Storm, personal input)
Bleeding 7s: 677 damage
Cripple: 2+1/2 duration seconds
Dagger Storm Duration: 8 seconds
Combo Finisher: Whirl
Range: 900

So…WA does not reflect and as far as I know never has or will. Dagger storm reflects and makes as many visual displays to alert as I can tell- ranging from icon on player using it to making them spin and throw things at you while having a black ring. The only thing WA thief does better than WA war is that thieves trait to dps, wars trait to dps and otherwise so we do more dps always. Stack a thief against a war similarly geared/traited and the result is the same dps on both.

Its not letting me , nevermind. But thanks for contributing =D, how do those builds work? I +1d you guys.

I said “off the top of my head” not “the only”. Those are builds I use and can use well, those are builds I consistently am winning 2v1s…except when a third shows or when the other is a shadow refuge/blinding powder thief…that’s annoying as can be…got to burn them down twice each then. And thanks for fixing that, I will edit my first post to accomodate those correctly. I was not looking for a fight, was trying to figure out why we cant win in peoples opinion. I’m winning =/

Noticed some people not liking the class and am trying to find why. Seems to be that people don’t think they work anymore.

I have 5 quick builds off the top of my head, and others I can throw into when I want to test for another, hoping that maybe this will help people.

Heartseeker spam: 25/30/0/0/15…everyone knows this one- steal does dps/heal and dagger dmg with the 100% from stealth and more dps/chance behind target…just add in power signet, haste, skale and basilisk venom. Nuke, restealth and wait for a recharge or ranged…
Auto ftw: 30/30/0/0/10- same deal as above, you just dont use anything but auto until they move and then just HS for a follow.
Just following someone with lots of heals : X/30/30/X/X 100% crit from stealth and heal while in stealth.
Steal build: 20/20/0/0/30- Steal dazes, grants 4 boons + steals some- does dps/heal, allows C&D. It gives 10% more damage because of bundle holding, whatever you want for the crit spot.
Venom Tank: 30/0/30/0/10- Venoms grant might, recharge fast, have an extra apply, apply to allies, steal hp when they hit. Stealth blinds and dodging leaves caltrops. P/d and shortbow- use HiS, Spider and Skale Venom, Shadow Refuge for free poison while stealth (Shortbow 4 does not break stealth, good for getting those last few ticks) and Basilisk venom. SR is for lifesteal or escape, not for reentering fight.

Hope this helped…didn’t want to post on build thread since I don’t know if people go there….

Provided builds I have not used:
10/30/0/0/30 D/P
10/30/0/30/0 S/D

Thanks for all the input, and no worries for the derail. Made me look at ranger. I tried it, but it doesn’t go fast enough. Its a bunch of management, and if you want fast-paced, a lot of pre-planning a fight. I don’t mind it, but it takes forever for a short speed burst =(
Um, I probably should have pointed my question more- sorry.

I like the Thief because it can either instant burst or instant melt a target, but its limited to one and only 1-4 skills that you can use WHILE USING A SKILL ALREADY.

I like the Elementalist because it can do the above, but it doesn’t melt as quickly. I.E= I run d/d ele because it is quick, going 15/15/15/15/10. So, I can be in the middle of fire 3 (d/d still), pop fire 4/arcane wave/ earth attunement at the same time as fire 4 is queueing, then go to do earth 4, then the earth 5+blink combo while queueing up air attunement and shock aura. Lots of skill popping, and very very little downtime.

I like the Mesmer because of Illusionary Persona- can use any of the shatter skills while using a weapon or utility skill. I like it because I can do (no offense to guards) a better boon share than them.

I was hoping for help with figuring that out, or a suggestion. So, which should I pick or another class + build you would suggest? Or is that it, do I have to keep them seperate…? Again, thanks so much for the help!

What’s the best way to farm gold at this time? I was told Frostgorge sound (think that’s the name of Jormags map) and just follow champ train. Despite various difficulties, this got me a few things in a week that I really wanted. I was wondering if there was a quicker method?

The other thing I need help with is picking a main class. I am looking for a very FAST class. So far, it seems my choices are stuck between Mesmer, Elementalist, and Thief since they have very fast combat. I was hoping to have help picking between them or another option with an explanation… By fast I mean very quickly queued skills and action pace, efficiency isn’t as important since I can work around that…

Hopefully I get a response on this thread- I have dropped a few threads with no answers.

I don’t mean to spam, but its been a long time and no one has responded, though there are some views… I was hoping to get an opinion. And just to say, it’s an idea not an exact render of what I would prefer- I just want MORE options. =) Please respond, please?
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Idea-for-New-Trait-System/first#post2800068

Critical Strikes (I consider Critical Strikes line to be a pistol based, pure burst line)
5 points: Keen Observer , Critical-Hit Chance is increased by 5% while health is above 90%. Sharpshooter , +50 more pistol range. Planned Fight , Signets recharge 5% faster. Silver Bullets , +1% critical damage.
15 points: Opportunist , Critical Hits have a 20% chance to restore one initiative (one second cooldown). Long Barrels , +100 more pistol range. Powder Overload , Black Powder applies a smoke cloud at your targets location as well and requires one more initiative.
25 points: First Strikes , 10% increased damage when initiative is over 6. Perfected Pistols , +4% critical damage(stacks with Silver Bullets) and +150 more pistol range (total of 1200 range).

Shadow Arts (this is what you do while in and when coming from stealth)
5 points: Last Refuge Use Blinding Powder when your health reaches 25% ( 60-second cooldown). Quiet Recovery , conditions applied to you while in stealth deal 20% less damage. Hidden Healer , grant 3 seconds of protection to yourself and nearby allies when you stealth yourself. Trapper , traps recharge 10% sooner.
15 points: Meld with Shadows , stealth skills last 1 second longer. Become the Shadow , while in stealth you move 15% faster. Hidden Fury , grant 5 seconds of fury to yourself and nearby allies when you stealth yourself.
25 points: Hidden Assassin , gain might for 15 seconds when you go into stealth. Predator , shortbow damage is increased by 5% and shortbow skills cast 5% faster.

Acrobatics (this seems to be a evasive mini tanker, I use it for boon by dodge)
5 points: Expeditious Dagger , gain 2 seconds of swiftness on evade. Swift Delivery , +3% run speed while out of combat. Sharper Wounds , when you dodge your next attack applies bleeding ( effect does not stack, icon could be like Sharpening Stone for Ranger). Big Lungs , increase Vitality by 1% and increase endurance pool by 5%.
15 points: Feline Grace , dodging returns some of the endurance used. Refocus , when you dodge you gain 1 initiative (2 second cooldown). Huge Lungs , increase Vitality by 1% and increase endurance pool by 5% (stacks with Big Lungs).
25 points: Fluid Strikes , increase damage by 10% when endurance is not full. Massive Lungs , increase Vitality by 1% and increase endurance pool by 5% (replaces Stacked Huge Lungs and stacks with Big Lungs and Huge Lungs).

Trickery (I use this line to steal and keep a target from getting too far)
5 points: Kleptomaniac , stealing gives you 3 points of initiative. Twitchy , stealing has a 50% chance to reapply its effects. Clingy , you have a 20% chance to refund one of your initiative when using a skill that consumes initiative. Trickster , your Trick skills recharge 20% faster.
15 points: Preparedness , Increase maximum initiative by 3. Foundation , when you steal apply a smoke field. Frenzied Haste , reduce initiative cost of all skills that consume initiative by 1.
25 points: Lead Attacks , Increase damage by 1% per initiative. Overload , attacks are 1% faster per initiative.

Sorry for wall of text. Just a reminder, you would have the same choosing system as the Major Traits… Thoughts?

Please do not flame, derail, or otherwise make this thread invalid. Please do provide honest criticism, preferably detailed. If you like this, please say. This purely an opinion based post with a singular example. Thank you for reading, incoming wall of text.

I honestly love the trait system, 30 point lines with a choice of Major traits also makes it have more variety than not. I do not like the minor traits in most cases. They seem to (pardon me if this is rude) pigeonhole someone into a forced choice that may or may not work for the build. So, really, when you spend 30 points for 6 traits you sometimes only get 3 that you want (sometimes less, but the major traits can be rearranged if it gets to that kind of point). I would prefer a similar selection system, even the same design concept, for the minor traits. Um, meaning, that 4 Minor trait choices for the 5 spot, 3 more for the 15 spot, and 2 for the 25 spot. Going to use Thief Traits as an example.
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(all stat lines keep the stat changes and Major trait choices, I am just listing the Minor traits which are intentionally weak because they are Minor and so shouldn’t be game changing.)
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Deadly Arts (I consider Deadly Arts to be a dagger-based, mixed damage line)
5 points: Serpent’s Touch , stealing applies poison for 10 seconds. Adept Training , +1% dagger damage. Seal the Deal , +100 range to Heart Seeker . Venomous Strikes , 5% chance to apply poison for 3 seconds on any attack with a dagger skill.
15 points: Assassins Speed , +15% movement speed while a dagger is in your main hand. Bold Crime, when your foe loses 10% of their health in one strike you have a 50% chance to gain a random boon. Master Training , +2% dagger damage(stacks with Adept Training).
25 points: Exposed Weakness , deal 10% more damage if your target has a condition. Grandmaster Training , +3% dagger damage(stacks with Master Training and Adept Training and replaces the Stacked Master Training).

Fair enough, I completely forgot blinds.

EXTREME CC= ECC= Pushes, pulls, knockbacks, knockdowns, stuns, fears, and launches.

This post was prompted by terms I am sure most people know about: “fear spamming necros” and “stun bombing warriors”.
The reason these are so hard to fight against is that both of these builds have a ROTATION around these mechanics, and most classes that fight back only have 1 stability and/or 3 stun breakers. It makes fighting back excessively difficult since the defender can run out of ways to counteract stuns/fears(warriors have both btw) and the agressor does not since, as stated above, they have a rotation. (this is assuming 1v1, and on occasion 2v1)

Proposal: A new boon on expiration, and a new boon upon skill effect.

“Focused!”(name)- You are immune to pulls, pushes, fears, stuns, launches, knockdowns, and knockbacks for 2 seconds. (Picture would be a big Red Exclamation point because its easy to see)

“Struggle”(name)- Your current ECC cannot be stacked, and you are currently immune to other ECC. (Picture would be this—> { } )

I think it’s reasonable because combat is fast paced, and any higher would entirely ruin group coordination. The buff “Focused!” would be applied upon expiration to avoid chains of these after “Struggle”, and “Struggle” to keep chains from happening before “Focused!” was applied.

Please either state why not, or why you like it. Please do not flame, derail, or otherwise make it difficult to return or stay upon topic. Thank you, I look forward to any and all responses since I am still getting used to others opinions about these. =)

I agree and disagree.
I think there should be a penalty or defense against spamming certain CC (see my post build (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Necromancer-Grey-Bar-Build/first#post2646449)), but I don’t want it removed.
From the sounds of it, some of you do. =( I just came from a game that took this CC hate to a new level and turned everything into a DPS race, and GW2 doesn’t have enough healing for that to mean much more than the literal term (which I like, since healing then becomes tactical not spam).
So, quick summary- see my build, GW2 please add some type of defense or penalty against CC spamming, and please please please for the love of everything that exists in this world do NOT NOT NOT make it a DPS race…

Just my $.02 =).

I could do Sigil of Energy, but I have a little bit of a problem using my dodge to actually dodge and more of to roll through my target. Otherwise I fully agree.

On a more humorous note, should I claim this build for my own? And call it the Greybar build? =P

And on a much more sad note, should I be worried? Perma disabling an opponent makes winning less fun =(.

Thanks and I am grateful for the swift reply, I will probably put in a Force sigil since my build revolves around increasing damage in one form or another, it seems to fit.

Does the build seem op to you at all? I can keep people from fighting back consistently and burn through any and all stun breakers since I have so many. And I just realized I answered one of my own questions.

Also, have you seen any Necromancer’s using this kind of build?

Thought I’d share my build and also ask for some clarity (I understand some, so it’s more confirmation then anything else).

SPvP build:
Armor is Nightmare runes for the fear at mark 6.

Weapons: Staff with Geomancy Sigil and Dagger with Accuracy/Warhorn with Accuracy

Util skills: Consume Conditions, Spectral Grasp, Signet of Spite, Spectral Wall, Flesh Golem

Traits: 30/25/0/15/0
Death’s Embrace, Chill of Death, Close to Death (Spite line)
Reaper’s Precision, Terror (Curses line)
Vampiric Precision(Blood Magic line)

Rotation (general, I usually rotate differently per fight and how much Deathshroud I have): Flesh Golem summon (if not already), Flesh Golem trigger knockdown, Immobolize with Dagger, Daze with Warhorn (3,4), Auto attack through one chain for life force, pop Deathshroud for the fear + torment while feared, leave Deathshroud, Spectral Wall, usually Consume Condition by now, then Signet of Spite, swap to Staff (try to get close if you can for the bleed), 2+3+4+5 for the bleed + chill + weaken + fear with lots of damage, use 2 auto attacks, pop Deathshroud and use the fear then Drain (4), get out of it, go back to dagger, life drain (2)(dodge out if necessary), Golem Knockdown should be up again so use it, Spectral Grasp in case they are running away or if you need life force, get the staff fear rotation set back up (2,3,4,5), go to Deathshroud again and use claw(2) to make sure you don’t lose them then fear again…

I was wondering if this was considered a good build, bad build, etc…
Also, why do people complain about perma fear, don’t most classes have stun breaks? As far as I can tell, stun breaks break fear, so use a stun break, dodge through rings etc…? Thoughts, please post… Bit of a confusing paragraph. Much appreciated.