Guild Wars 2

Frosch.7809:

~snip~

I got a gut feeling that you’re wrong about this one. When Rytlock and Logan first met, Logan wants to take the sword back but Rytlock will give his life to keep it. This to me shows that the sword is not just something Rytlock have looted, but it was handed to him as a symbol for something. That something I assume is to bring the Prince back to Ascalon. By planting the sword on the ground, Rytlock will summon the Prince and confront his father. The curse was not brought by Magdaer, it was Aderbern’s resentment of the Charr that brought the curse, the sword was just a power focus that amplified his wrath.

The king hated the Charr and by extension hated his own people for not being able to push the Charr back — but the Prince loved his people and gave his life to see them safe in Kryta. It was the hate the placed the curse and it will be love that lifts it.

panicbutton.1053:

I think were not understanding each other. Whisper me in game with DD ready so I can show you how likely that scenario(kiting) is on my necro/engi

What do you think that will prove?

mango.9267:

Thieves, especially d/d thieves, get kited all the time. Necros drop marks at their feet, engis drop bombs/run to turrets, mesmers run in between clones, warriors gs 3/gs 5 around, etc.

What kind of a Thief we’re talking about here?

Are you two seriously telling me that you fall for that kitten?

Geez, give some credibility on what you’re saying.

“If you can’t close the gap then stealth”. How are you going to do that in a 1v1? If you can’t close the gap, you can’t CnD. Unless you want to waste a utility stealthing, you’re not going to be able to stealth.

The stealth was a response to the CC comment. It was a mean to buy time to kitten the situation.

The fact remains that d/d doesn’t really have a gap closer built into the weapon set. Heartseeker is terrible when you’re crippled or chilled, and the animation is way too long, IMO

Any leap is a gap closer. Just because there’s a counter to it doesn’t negate the fact that it is a gap closer.

Behellagh.1468:

The reason I say it does change because there have been times when I click buy that the amount of gems I can get goes down by one. Of course there could be hundreds of other buyers and sellers executing transactions around the same time.

If you play with the amount of gold you are willing to sell with the mouse wheel you will see that the rate does change while you are on the screen and it doesn’t seem periodic in time, like every 15 seconds so transactions could be batched. If the price changes to much from the time you enter the amount of gold/gems you are willing to trade I’ve had the transaction “fail”. JS has mentioned that the exchange will only take what’s actually needed in gold to give you X gems so you can’t be overcharged. Example, if you enter 3g and it says you will get 22 gems, those 22 gems may only cost 2g90s so that’s all the exchange takes out of your bank.

As a matter of fact JS just answered something about the calculation for the exchange and how it processes requests. You may be disappointed by the answer.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/I-have-a-question-about-the-economy/4228667

This is actually the answer I’m looking for. Thank you.

panicbutton.1053:

Stealth isn’t god-mode, and is predictable if you dont have any movement tricks off cooldown.

Anyways, I’m just throwing out an example.

The example is unlikely if not non-existence. Thieves are accused of running away from fight, but never as being kited. If you can’t close the gap then stealth, that’s very basic. Or if you’re really worried about movement impairment, you can always bring Withdraw.

Behellagh.1468:

The exchange rate is calculated using the amount of gold and gems are currently in the exchange. If it’s a simple ratio or a more complex relationship, we don’t know, that’s all John Smith has told us. He also told us the the exchange was set up with an initial small amount of gold and a massive amount of gems. So as gold is exchanged for gems, gems become worth more. When gems are exchanged for gold, gems are worth less.

Yes, that’s exactly what I want to know. At what point does the worth of gem fluctuates? Is it every 100 gems exchange? Is it per single gem? Or is it time based where it calculates after 3 minutes?

It does appear that the rate is recalculated after each exchange.

If that is the case, then the exchange viewer is not real time. Also if that is the case, then the exchange is making calculation every microsecond to handle the amount of transactions going on within a given minute. Thus I doubt that would be the case.

It is more likely that they freeze the rate for X amount of gems, then recalculate. For example, they recalculate for every 100 gems exchange.

Thus from my example at the OP, a 1600 gems exchange will yield ~1480gold if the starting rate is 1:1 and drops 1% per 100 gems.

Or they freeze the rate for X amount of time, then recalculate. For example, they recalculate after 1 minute.

Thus it is a guaranteed 1:1 rate for the whole 1 minute and I will get 1600gold for my gems if traded within that time frame.

Can you point me to the post where John Smith talk about the exchange rate? Thanks.

Lévis.5489:

Anet writers ignoring their own game’s lore again. You need Sohothin, Magdaer and a descendant of Doric to break the curse.

That was based on a legend that is yet to be proven. According to Charr’s account of the Foefire, King Al struck the ground in desperation to kill Charrs and cursed them in the process. Thus, Rytlock thinks it would be the same way, striking the ground, to release the curse…maybe.

I would like to see Rytlock summons the Prince instead…it would be very interesting seeing the ghostly Prince confronting his ghostly dad.

panicbutton.1053:

A number of classes attempt to kite a thief. I’m referring to when a DD has steal/infil on cooldown, and is heavily under conditions(with chill). For example a necro…

It doesn’t matter what is in cooldown, you just don’t allow yourself being kited as a Thief. Thieves are not Warriors, we have stealth for a reason.

Nimrud.5642:

Hello,

my first question is about sigils. Should I just go Air+Fire both ob SB and D/P? Sigil of Generosity or Sigil of Blood look tempting, however I dont know whether they outperform the double proc combo or not. 60% of the time I play soloq, so I cannot rely on teammate cleanses or heals.

If you want cleanse and heal sigils, you’re better of with “of Water” and “of Purity” since these sigils don’t require crit hits.

As D/P, heal and condition is really the least of your worries when you can bring your target down ASAP, thus Fire and Air is preferred for pure brute damage.

However, it all depends on your playstyle, for example, I choose Force and Battle on both sets.

My second question is about runes. Ogre runes somewhat seem to be a common consensus for D/P.

Vampirism Rune is only good if you’re really aggressive and built using both Invigorating Precision and Assassin’s Reward…otherwise, I personally do not recommend it and you should stick with Ogre.

Vampirism sychronizes well with Withdraw for an aggressive playstyle which gives you a lot of staying power and a passive fail safe (mist form) when you stayed too long.

panicbutton.1053:

^Yup! Heartseeker makes for a complex situation when you’re being kited by someone dropping conditions, including chill. In which case the heartseeker animation and distance absolutely sucks.

Shadow shot > Heart Seeker

Eh?! I never heard of Thief being kited before. If that is true, then that Thief needs to go back to basics.

Arghore.8340:

@Sir Vincent, that would be quite an interesting surprise and twist as well … do you expect that this time he will just stay with the group, and instead ‘not’ run off to try kill every Charr in sight…

Actually, that’s the King — the Prince wanted to seek refuge in Kryta rather than fight the Charr.

The most interesting piece of history I would like to know is; How did Rytlock got a hold of the Prince’s sword?

Hopefully, we’ll get some interesting, less stupid, answer.

It seems that we’ll have a special appearance from the dead Prince himself.

Riccardo.7254:

D/D is the second best set but lacks a gap closing skill (forcing you to rely on steal or utility skills). Even if this set can look more straightforward it’s in fact a more subtle one because it relies more on stealth and landing Backstabs.

D/D uses Heartseeker as gap closer so you’re not really forced to use steal or utility skills.

Saifon.9857:

Hi

I’ve noticed that when feared or knockdown, or any other CC.. pressing F1 on thief acts like a break stun… this isn’t in the skill description.. noticed mainly on the land giant.. if your too far for a steal.. you’ll break the knockdown or fear and have that 5 sec recharge.. Is the skill supposed to be a ‘break stun’ also?

S.

It doesn’t break stun. It simply allows you to use Steal but you still keep the negative status. In WvW, Thieves uses this to get out of jam when stunned by stealing on critters.

Remember the good ol’ days when Thief uses rifle before it was given to Warrior? I surely do. I miss those days.

Palador.2170:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

AFAIK, Braham is in shapeshift form trying to hide his real identity, like Superman pretending to be Clark Kent. thum-thum-thum

He doesn’t shift because he can only do wolf form, and in that form he looks surprisingly like Garm.

Nobody wants to deal with the questions that raises.

Nobody.

Or…he only shapeshift in private moments with Rox…

My advice while you’re still at low level are;

- Get used to the timing of the skill activation and the initiative recharge.
- Get familiar with the Revealed duration, so you won’t waste your stealth skill.
- Get familiar with your skills so that you’ll know when to use a CnD vs. 3x Heartseeker when you only have 6 initiatives left.
- Take note the different weapon ranges, you don’t always have to dodge to avoid a melee attack, sometimes all you need is to side step — and Longbow shoots for a far far ranged especially from a high elevation.
- Know that bouncing projectile will reveal you, so do practice on how Ricochet (Pistol), Bouncing Daggers (Offhand Dagger), and Trick Shot (Shortbow AA) affects you in stealth.
- Most of all. Learn to remain calm. Unlike other professions, if you panic, the cooldown saves you from activating the same weapon skill more than once…with Thief, you can activate any weapon skill multiple times as long as you have Initiatives. If you panic, you’ll end up wasting resources.

That’s all I have for you…everything else I’m sure you’ll learn along the way.

If I have 1600 gems and I want to exchange it to gold, the current value of the gems, for example, is 100 gems -> 100g. I would assume that when I make the exchange, the value of gems will drop, thus when I expect a 1600g from 1600gems, I’ll actually receive something lower.

For example, if the value of gems drops by 1% per 100 gems, then instead of 1600g, I’ll receive ~1480g. That is assuming a 1% drop per 100 gems.

1. Is there a certain amount of gems where the gem-to-gold exchange depreciates the value of gem to gold?
2. Does the gem exchange respect the current value and exchange all gems to the current value or the depreciation applies?

Thank you for your time.

D/D is more like 1vX because skill #3 and #4 are better with more than one target.

For single target, you can either use S/D or D/P, but since Sword is better with multiple targets, you’re left with D/P.

CaptainVanguard.4925:

Taimi

Well… being disabled myself with Tendonitis, Aspergers and Dyspraxia where do I start.

“The Golem Solves Everything”. This, to me actually annoyed me, a lot, we just suddenly find the prodigy child is just suddenly in her golem perfectly fine everything’s dandy and nothings wrong.

I want you to picture something.

When you immerse yourself into your character, doesn’t it somehow eliminates everything from the real world? Your character is not disabled and “everything’s dandy and nothing’s wrong”.

Now picture being in Tiami’s shoes immersing herself into her GOLEM…

Yet again… they are trying to make her useful, but it feels like she is actually becoming the spotlight character since she has:

- Broken down Vines with a Golem when Braham could have done this.
- Started activating Asura machinery because machines and Charr have nothing in common right?

Asura machinery is arcane based, while Charr machinery is mechanical based…and Rox is not an Engineer. She’s a ranger who loves nature than machines.

- Doesn’t even care that Belinda died.

She’s an Asura where her people use other species as test subjects. It didn’t really surprise me. It would be out of character for her to care IMHO.

If you asked her about Belinda, she would probably say something along this line; “The vines are dangerous to human. Noted.”

- Fails at being an Asura by doing the incompetent thing of throwing herself into Omadds Machine despite the fact she KNEW what the consequences were going to be.

She had calculated the end result and she had concluded that her mind is superior to Scarlet’s thus her chances to going evil is very unlikely.

And people like her?

She jumped in there like a child she is seeing a new toy or a new game.

- Taimi is an idiot for rushing into a machine she KNEW VERY WELL made Scarlet go insane, so much for that “Asura Genius” people keep preaching about.

She already considered this into her calculation that’s why she eager to go in. If you review the conversation, you’ll understand.

If you have an Asura character, you’ll find that Asura just throw their progeny into the fire, per se. While doing the Asura begining area, you’ll see what they have to go through…which in the end makes them more sure about a lot of things.

When she was first introduced, I liked her rather quirky and spunky attitude but now I find it highly annoying and a little bit obnoxious.

Well, I find her curiosity and the way she explains things rather adorable.

It also doesn’t help she practically serves as a-nets conduit to remind us we have to feel sorry for Scarlet because her biggest fan-girl never shuts up about her.

Nah, Scarlet is evil, I don’t feel sorry at all. Taimi, on the other hand, might get too obsessive.

Overall it seems to me you want Taimi to represent you, however Taimi represent nobody but herself.

What ever happen to accepting people how they are instead of accepting people on how we want them to be?

PopeUrban.2578:

Or he can’t, which isn’t unprecedented. Jora couldn’t become the bear in EOTN because of the influence on her of a certain dragon champion. It’s entirely possible that Braham’s inability to transform comes from an outside source, and might even be a future plot thread. Aside from where he used to live, and his relationship to Eir, we really don’t know much about his past at all.

AFAIK, Braham is in shapeshift form trying to hide his real identity, like Superman pretending to be Clark Kent. thum-thum-thum

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

I definately don’t think my idea for a longer cd on BS is the way to go now. I’ve been playing with a full(ish) zerker, 5/6/x/x/x build and the damage does seem okay.

You don’t say?

“Pain teaches lessons no scholar can.”
— Kamahl, pit fighter

Ariella Goldstein.3562:

Again my biggest complaint is that there’s only ONE way to take the shield down, and it slows the fight.

I’m playing a guard using staff/greatsword (switch to the latter for the hold and pull in order to TRY and get the wolves off, though they still can jump at the minions even when chained) and I don’t see my DPS on staff doing all that great.

You don’t really need to DPS the wolves, I’ve ignored them the whole time and they somehow disappeared after the minion exploded. Sometimes, the wolf even attacks the boss. lol.

Your weapon of choice is ineffective as you said. The ideal weapon for this is Hammer since you can trap the wolf or knock them away.

I mean how can you not feel frustrated when you get the thing half way down, die, and on the way back from checkpoint, not only are the characters who are supposed to be supporting you gone, but the kitten thing has regen to full strength. It was after that I said to hell with it.

Yeah it was frustrating when Jory and Kas bailed on me, but I still finished it with my Thief. I would use a hammer with my Guardian.

tigernic.4756:

Sir Vincent, I’m curious as to why you’re being such an a-word to somebody who’s merely asking a question/making a suggestion towards the possible betterment of a class.

FYI, it’s not for the “betterment of a class”. The suggestion is based on limited game play and biased perception.

I thought I have specified that already, yet you’re still curious?

Lonewolf Kai is being ten times as mature about this discussion, as you are, and he’s not making any rude statements either. I don’t understand why you have to insult a player who’s new to the class.

We’ve had a lot of players who are new to the class who have posted here that doesn’t make bold suggestions because they are mature enough to know that they have a lot more to learn before making suggestions.

Do you honestly think these are required to make a suggestion towards a class? The reasonable answer is, of course, “no.”

“reasonable answer”? What’s reasonable about that?

If you have not played the profession to max level and have not played it even more after that, the reasonable answer is YES — else you’re just being ridiculous.

Your idea is that you have to play every single class for your entire life before you can try to think of a way to better a class? You’re ridiculous.

You know what’s ridiculous? Blowing it out of proportion. You even cut ans paste what I’ve posted and still made this ridiculous mistake. Let’s review it, shall we?

“- Fight every professions in every build you can.”
“- Run every dungeons, fractals, and world boss you can.”

Look at that, does that makes you look silly?

Even if the OP fight each profession once, do a dungeon once, fractal once, and world boss once — it would be enough to give him a more informative perspective about the Thief profession.

Instead, he played it almost to level 80 and make a silly suggestion. That doesn’t constitute a suggestion for the “betterment” of Thieves.

As for the actual discussion, I honestly don’t have an opinion one way or the other. I don’t know enough about the class or the nerf early on, to make a suggestion.

Look at you. You see, you’re more mature than the OP. lol.

But I wouldn’t dare ask a question about it, because rude people like you would jump down my throat, insulting me, and just giving a bad impression about the Guild Wars 2 community to anyone who might consider joining. Have you ever seen “Click?” Because I feel like you’re Adam Sandler when he tells his kids their ideas for hotels are stupid. Enjoy your lifetime of betterness and close mindedness. Goodnight.

Good night to you too sir/ma’am.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

Wow, that was pretty cool. I’m guessing he was using the x/6/6/x/x build? He seemed to have pretty good healing along with +16k health and still dealing the occasional 8k Backstab from what I saw. I don’t guess you can get those same stats and still have decent damage now unless you Might stack?

Note that this video was taken before the crit. damage “improvements”.

You need to stay in stealth for the full duration if you want to benefit from SA. Otherwise, all points allocated into the trait would be useless. Thus, staying for the full duration of stealth while playing sPvP means you’re not contributing much to your team. So I don’t buy this argument that D/D needs SA. D/D needs stealth, that’s for sure, but not necessarily SA.

I can see the use of SA in WvW, but it’s still unnecessary especially with all the anti-stealth tools available in that game format.

3 Thieves

1. - Valkyrie + Soldiers – Pistol, Dagger, Sword, Shortbow
2. - Assassin – Dagger, Pistol
3. - Carrion – Dagger, Pistol, Shortbow

I’m thinking of rolling a 4th one with full ’zerker…not sure yet.

Donari.5237:

It spawns in one of 4 places every time, actually. I failed miserably at it solo on my thief despite knowing what to do, but a fellow thief came and saved my rear, then we teamed up with more guildies to help them through. Worked pretty well with 4 of us, one on each spawn point, using blinds, roots, snares, anything to stymie the wolf attacks on the minions.

Pistol Whip + Scorpion Wire kills them every time. I completed it with my Thief on first run doing just that.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Thrill of the Crime and Bountiful Theft provide support just from stealing, Shadow Protector gives regen through any stealth source, Shadow Refuge helps with healing the downed, Smokescreen stops any and all projectiles from getting through, Signet of Agility to refill endurance and remove a condition, etc. The tools are all there, people need to get creative instead of acting like stealth is our only support tool.

All you did is name all the support skills without addressing the main issue. Yes, be creative by start pretending that everything is ok.

P/P + Venom Share = you just made the worst possible build in any circumstances.

Just because your team members are carrying you in a dungeon, doesn’t make your build viable.

XPGAMER.7324:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

XPGAMER.7324:

Now I understand that d/p thieves using shadow arts abuse the traitline with easy permstealth that isn’t even target dependent, but d/d actually relies on the shadow arts line for survival, because none of its weapon skills have any defensive components unlike most other thief weapon sets.

I just want to highlight this inaccuracy.

“Permastealth” was borne of D/D, not D/P.

Once upon a time, a D/D Thief can endlessly stealth by using CnD on a wall to easily retake the tower in WvW. That “cheesy” method was long been eliminated with the changes to the wall and the cost of CnD.

Even today, D/D can easily chain stealth if done correctly.

I didnt say it was impossible to permastealth with d/d. I just pointed out that d/p permastealth isnt target dependent, d/d permastealth is, and therefore avoidable (Not every fight has walls)

I’m actually pointing out that D/P is not the only one that abuses the SA traitline.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Yes, because it’s not like this game is devoid of a Holy Trinity…OH WAIT, IT IS.

There’s nothing dictating what you can and cannot do in terms of control, support, and DPS for each class, outside of their traits and skills. The game itself gives you enough traits to specialize in any of the 3 as every class (though some need help on some fronts, I’m looking at you Rangers). Just because you don’t think a thief should support doesn’t mean you’re right. Your opinion does not equal fact, especially in a game without the traditional trinity.

You got it all wrong. I don’t think that Thieves shouldn’t support, rather I am being realistic that Thieves cannot support outside Shadow Refuge.

Many Thieves have been trying to get ArenaNet’s attention concerning the Thieves incapability to support a team outside Shadow Refuge. Instead, they give us other “fixes” that many Thieves never asked for.

You see, I will not pretend that Thieves support is “fine” or “great” or “viable” because it’s not. Most of the support skills are given mostly to Warriors — I mean, they have banner, shout, warhorn, shield and hammer that can provide support in any level, in any situation. There’s some serious imbalance here, Warrior even took Rifle skills that are perfect for Thieves — but I digress.

XPGAMER.7324:

Now I understand that d/p thieves using shadow arts abuse the traitline with easy permstealth that isn’t even target dependent, but d/d actually relies on the shadow arts line for survival, because none of its weapon skills have any defensive components unlike most other thief weapon sets.

I just want to highlight this inaccuracy.

“Permastealth” was borne of D/D, not D/P.

Once upon a time, a D/D Thief can endlessly stealth by using CnD on a wall to easily retake the tower in WvW. That “cheesy” method was long been eliminated with the changes to the wall and the cost of CnD.

Even today, D/D can easily chain stealth if done correctly.

RyuDragnier.9476:

^To hell with the meta and that line of thought, play what feels fun for you. I didn’t like the idea of Venom Share until I ran 2 fractal groups with it. Now I know I enjoy it and will continue using it with groups simply because I like playing as it.

Nobody is dictating what you should or should not do. My post is based on observing the expectation.

If you like Venom Share, then it’s perfectly fine and acceptable. What’s not fine and acceptable is when the Venom Share user starts believing that their “support skills” matters — they don’t — and that it is a viable build — it’s not.

Besides, by your line of thinking, why should you even play DPS as a Thief if Warrior can do it better?

No, you’re wrong.

My line of thinking is this.

Why play a Thief if you’re playing support and not DPS? If you want to support, play other profession because other profession can do support way better than Thieves.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

I’m not trying to be insultive to anyone, and I fail to see my immaturity or where I’m senseless in my discussion.

It is insulting to suggest about something you know nothing about. It’s like suggesting to German Engineers how to build a car just because you’ve been driving one for as long as you remember.

Players who plays Thieves have built Thieves like German Engineers built cars. You, on the other hand, are just taking it for a test drive and you already want to make changes to the acceleration, to give it more power, but make it incapacitated for a few seconds.

And you mean not to insult? If you don’t like the car, then drive a different car. Don’t play a Thief if you don’t like it…your Guardian might already feel neglected.

It’s simply an I idea I had after a month or so of playing the thief.

Spend more time playing the profession and keep your ideas to yourself until you can justify why you think your idea is good. There’s a big difference between;

“Buff the stealth attacks but put a cooldown on them for balancing”

and

“What do you guys think will happen if the stealth attacks are buff but put into cooldown?”

The former is insulting, the latter is opening a discussion.

I will allow you the inexperience comment, but only as a thief.

Allow me? Wow, gee, I am so humbled to have gain a permission to comment on your inexperience.

However, I’m not new to the game. I’ve been here since before official launch. My experience is from a Guardian, admittedly 90% of my /age.

That doesn’t mean anything. There are Thief players who have more experience and in-depth knowledge than ArenaNet — and they built the game. lol.

I am including my experience as a Guardian when wondering if Backstab could be more because right now, as a Guardian, I don’t worry when I see a thief go ghost. I’m also not a full tank or glass, just to note. To me, there’s something inherently wrong with that notion. If there’s a zerker D/D thief on me, I should be worried. I think that’s what that particular set up is designed for, single target takeouts. Perhaps I’m wrong in that thinking.

This is what I’m saying all along. You need to play Thief more and play against other professions as much as you can. Only then you’ll understand how ridiculous and insulting your suggestion is. You’re vision is too narrow and looking at your godly Guardian thinking that you’re doing the Thief a favor trying to buff backstab. Well you’re not. There are 8 professions to consider not just Guardians.

I remember thieves when Backstab did nice damage. I did think single one hit kills was over the top, but I’ve never understood the full nerf they’ve done to it. The damage should have just been adjusted a little, not halved. And I’m speaking as the target of the move, not the wielder. But again, this is just my opinion.

The problem lies on the changes to crit damage, not on back stab.

Backstab used to be broken. It has a leap and deals crazy damage. Then they nerfed it to uselessness. Then buff it up to the damage we know now and remove the leap just before Release.

So, with that in mind. Which “nice damage” are you talking about?

RyuDragnier.9476:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

You don’t really need to go all through that since I am a P/P user ever since beta (I despise shortbow) and I know all it’s strengths and weaknesses. As a Thief, you’re not in a group to buff, you’re in a group to deal damage. Other professions can do the buffing better than the Thief, so it’s better to leave it up to them.

And if you think that Venomous Aura is actually a good thing then we really have a problem here.

It is when you’re just there to support the frontline. Throw out Skelk Venom to help the frontline heal just from doing what they’re doing, Devourer Venom to stop the enemy players from moving or running, Basilisk Venom to just Daze for Days, and Ice Drake or Spider Venom depending on whether or not you want to completely shut down their recharges/skills or to lessen the amount they can be healed.

It doesn’t matter how much you glorify the venom skills. They are currently in a state of dormancy held hostage by the horrible trait know as Venomous Aura.

As long as Venom Aura exists, the venom skills will never see improvements.

It’s viable, but you’re there to just help out and support against other players (in pve you will help with damage due to no real threats), and to Head Shot any possible healers/support on their side. Works wonders with any other class helping providing backline support on your side. Even Rangers work well with this. Venoms + Barrage = AoE suffering

What support that is exclusive coming from Thieves outside Shadow Refuge? Any other support that Thieves can bring other professions can do better. Thus, it is expected for Thieves to play DPS and not Support.

Belinda only has an impact if you are a Human Noble and have defeated Zhaitan. Any other scenario makes her feel like a nobody.

I was actually looking forward into meeting her and her mother back in Divinity’s Reach. I thought she was kinda flirting with my character and my character flirts back. It seems that ArenaNet was leading us to a brighter tomorrow only to pierce my heart for letting her die.

When the two forts were know to have been attacked, I wouldn’t choose to go to Concordia first knowing that Fort Salma was also in trouble. But I guess either way Belinda’s tragic ending was set and even if I choose to go to Fort Salma, ArenaNet have already killed her, so it didn’t really mattered.

EDIT: By the way, good job ArenaNet, great story — you did got me there. You kittened me off for killing Belinda.

Zacchary.6183:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Zacchary.6183:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Zacchary.6183:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Zacchary.6183:

MLGKorno.5419:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Here’s a diagram that will help you decide your build.

(not mine. credits goes to the unknown owner on this image)

Actually, here’s a more accurate diagram I created based on your image:

That diagram is inaccurate. Here is the proper diagram.

Also to the OP, you are not going to find a good all around build because most of them are heavily invested in damage, making your toon squishy.

Warrior is a profession — not build. And within the Warrior profession, this diagram still applies when building them.

I wouldn’t doubt that it applies to them aswell. However, it doesn’t apply to them as much. More so if the player is good. (edited for sense)

But in the end, we will all eventually fall into warriorism.

I don’t believe that. I’ve seen a lot of bad builds even for Warrior only because they never consider the trade-offs, albeit they are easy to build.

Are you sure it was the builds?

All it takes is a peek at the Warrior Forum.

Why trust a person’s word when you can just play the profession? I have a warrior that I leveled to 80 and did a little theorycrafting on it for a few months. I can tell you there are more than a few builds that can deal out good damage while maintaining an impacting level of tankiness and group support.

Unlike you, others who take on their own theorycrafting still fails. Evidence of this can be seen in the Warrior forum.

The diagram helps the builder to improve their own build since they can see what they are sacrificing when they focus on one area.

So then, they don’t have to trust other person’s word.

It is all because the profession is about passives and fire-and-forgets. But not only that, the traits reward you well for not using adrenaline. Since adrenaline can be quickly filled anyway, you can still use bursts and maintain those bonuses’ uptime. That’s just another form of passive, but a passive nonetheless.

Yes, but even then you still have to consider the trade-offs. It might be minimal for the Warriors, but it’s still there.

All in all, the warrior is in a place right now where the only thing it needs are bug fixes simply because the profession has it all. If the OP wants a guaranteed multipurpose build, he will want to go play warrior.

I agree, but a multipurpose build is in no way a “high” on anything. It’s all about considering the trade-offs and the risk/reward.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Limited viability? P/P is perfect for team play in all modes, especially if you’re running support and conditions, at which point it can be downright dangerous.

Being perfect on team play is the limitation on viability implying that it is not perfect in any other situation.

You don’t even need to damage the enemy since Body Shot will prevent escape and Head Shot will interrupt anything not with Stability. You can even Black Powder on the enemy while they’re immobilized to completely make them useless.

You don’t really need to go all through that since I am a P/P user ever since beta (I despise shortbow) and I know all it’s strengths and weaknesses. As a Thief, you’re not in a group to buff, you’re in a group to deal damage. Other professions can do the buffing better than the Thief, so it’s better to leave it up to them.

And if you think that Venomous Aura is actually a good thing then we really have a problem here.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

You admit to have a limited time using a Thief and you’re making a suggestion that can significantly break the profession?

You are out of your mind.

Once again, thx for the insult. Didn’t know you cared so much about me. Very flattering.

Anyways, I made the topic to discuss backstab and the other stealth attacks. I’m certainly not in power to make any changes to this game. I’m not a dev. But ideas can certainly be discussed with some vague meaningful dialogue, but I guess not. Instead, we must regress to a level of less maturity. Welcome to the internet, right?

No mature individual will entertain ideas from inexperience, nonsensical, and immature person. That’s like letting a 4-year old gets her way all the time.

The problem here is your premise, it’s insulting.

- Get more experience.
- Fight every professions in every build you can.
- Run every dungeons, fractals, and world boss you can.

Then formulate your ideas based on your experience. Only then you’ll have a solid premise that more than likely many Thieves will agreed on since they too have experienced the same thing. You see, you have not established that connection.

Regardless, I will digress the OP. After spending some time in WvW I realize a further CD of stealth attacks would certainly mess things up a bit. However, I still feel that the benefits of stealth attacks, backstab in particular, should be brought back to a degree of the former glory they once had. The risk to pulling off a backstab on a target that has a certain amount of survivability doesn’t seem worth the reward. And in WvW, survivability is quite popular.

The risk of pulling off a back stab on a target that has certain amount of survivability is minimal, thus your reward is minimal.

Why?

Because those targets have sacrificed their damage for survivability.

A high risk target is a glass cannon, thus it gives a high reward. If you failed on taking out a glass cannon, it can easily backfire and ends on your demise.

Again, as the saying goes; “get more blood on those daggers before you talk”

My own theory is this.
- Primordious opposite is Jormag. (fire vs ice)
- Kralkatorrik opposite is “Bubbles”. (desert vs sea)
- Zhaitan opposite is Mordremoth. (death vs life)

The death of Zhaitan throws everything out of natural order, thus it became necessary to wake up Mordremoth ahead of schedule. Only Mordremoth can naturally absorb the power and essence of Zhaitan, perhaps even restoring Orr in the process. Then filled with magical power, Mordremoth goes back to hibernation.

However, the corruption seems to be overwhelming Mordremoth and nothing is going as expected. So who knows what will happen next. I believe that the vines are the result of the clash of Mordremoth’s and Zhaitan’s power battling for domination.

Zacchary.6183:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Zacchary.6183:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Zacchary.6183:

MLGKorno.5419:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Here’s a diagram that will help you decide your build.

(not mine. credits goes to the unknown owner on this image)

Actually, here’s a more accurate diagram I created based on your image:

That diagram is inaccurate. Here is the proper diagram.

Also to the OP, you are not going to find a good all around build because most of them are heavily invested in damage, making your toon squishy.

Warrior is a profession — not build. And within the Warrior profession, this diagram still applies when building them.

I wouldn’t doubt that it applies to them aswell. However, it doesn’t apply to them as much. More so if the player is good. (edited for sense)

But in the end, we will all eventually fall into warriorism.

I don’t believe that. I’ve seen a lot of bad builds even for Warrior only because they never consider the trade-offs, albeit they are easy to build.

Are you sure it was the builds?

All it takes is a peek at the Warrior Forum.

You can go all out with continuous attack barrage with this. You won’t even need fury because Keen Observer will bring it to 100% and all the passive healing will keep you above 90% health.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0MpwplOx8J8PNRPRtdAEbDoXPR3/watDA-TFCBABBt/AWK/A4JAYo+AGOEAjq+DEnAgzUCGA4A43C33hD43ff+3n/tUAjKMC-w

I mean, why not?

alccode.1297:

~snip~

alccode.1297:

~snip~

alccode.1297:

~snip~

Very well written and you’ve touched on the issues I’ve been trying to convey. With that, I have nothing more to add.

Thank you.

TeamBattleAxe.3901:

No, the only reason ArenaNet is hesitant on fixing anything is because they’re lazy AF.

I wont’ call them lazy, more like unacceptable decisions on priorities.

If they are lazy, we won’t see new items in the Gem store and Black Lion Tickets and people won’t ever get banned.

That’s why we’re still getting “balance” updates consisting solely of adding skill facts to skills/traits that have been around since launch.

There has been a lot of “balance” update and most of them are nerfs against the Thieves — so I would also be hesitant to ask for a “balance” update — I’d rather see bug fixes and specifically buffs. I despise the word “balance” because it never is.

Dagins.5163:

People fail to understand, that P/P is best utilized in teamplay, where your allies take on themselves focus of your enemies, allowing the glassy thief to be safe at range.

It is fully possible to play P/P in sPvP with 6-6-x-x-x traits plus zerker amulet and not dying more often than a bunker. A thief which is geared like that, raining down unloads on the enemies in the middle of a node is very valuable. You can always steal+black powder to secure a stomp (can do that without steal from range if timed well), or save your allies by interrupting enemies with headshot.
For a squishy zerker it’s a nightmare to be focused by a such thief in a teamfight, because damage from chained unloads is exhausting, and offensive combos can be easly interrupted.

Any unreasonable buffs like stealth on #5 or extra damage on unload will overbuff this set. Right now, I could only change body shot, because it’s way too situational and useless in 99% cases.

You’ve just stated the main problems of P/P;

1) “P/P is best utilized in teamplay”

2) “A thief which is geared like that, raining down unloads on the enemies in the middle of a node is very valuable.”

3) “For a squishy zerker it’s a nightmare to be focused by a such thief in a teamfight, because damage from chained unloads is exhausting, and offensive combos can be easly interrupted.”

4) “Right now, I could only change body shot, because it’s way too situational and useless in 99% cases.”

Do you honestly believe that this limited viability is not a problem? And the only reason ArenaNet is hesitant on fixing P/P is because 4/5 skills are shared with other weapon set.

messiah.1908:

i dont agree it is only two skill and if you use only 2 of them you will have 5 stack of bleeding (500 dps) 2 torment (200-400 dps) poison (150 dps) and 5 confusion (1000 dps)

so smart play will dodge and get maybe 1-2 bleed which make the dps probably 1500 if using skills so lets say its around 750 dps which is very low

The issue is the Thief’s ability to apply those conditions in almost an instant and repeat again sooner than any condition removal skills.

The only profession that is literally immune to conditions is a DS Ele.

i think pd is strong because with venom which put 3 more torment and also ppl cleanse too early but i agree that the longer the fight the advantage is for the condition base combine with good escape tool as stealth .

Might stacks is worst than venom because it applies to all kind of conditions, not just one.

condi necro is much dangerous but have less escape tools

I agree, it’s as it should be. The only difference is, condi necro cannot apply conditions as fast as Thieves can.

MightyMicah.7451:

It sounds to me like you have a problem with condition builds in general, and not just P/D thief.

I have no problem with the condition builds in any shape or form since I know how to handle myself. I’m simply stating the fact about P/D Thieves since I’ve used it myself in the past. The near instant application of conditions is what causes discomfort to others.

The main reason why P/D is cheese is its ability to apply multiple stacks and multiple kind of conditions in almost an instant.

Example:
Pre-cast CnD → Steal (poison) → CnD (vulnerability) → Sneak Attack (bleed) → Shadow Strike (toment)

Trait for Cloaked in Shadow to add blindness to CnD. Trait for Shadow’s Embrace and Rejuvenation to counter a fellow condition build. Trait for Bewildering Ambush to add Confusion to Steal. Then just auto-attack to maintain bleeding.

By that time, your target have multiple stacks and multiple kind of conditions in practically two skills.

Like what I’ve always been saying (see signature), P/P and D/D will need their own unique 5-skills so that they can have their own auto-attack skills that will not affect the P/x, x/P, D/x, and x/D builds.

If P/P gets it’s own 5-skills, ArenaNet can buff the auto-attack to their heart’s content until P/P is respectably a competitive choice for a single target ranged weapon.

Zacchary.6183:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Zacchary.6183:

MLGKorno.5419:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Here’s a diagram that will help you decide your build.

(not mine. credits goes to the unknown owner on this image)

Actually, here’s a more accurate diagram I created based on your image:

That diagram is inaccurate. Here is the proper diagram.

Also to the OP, you are not going to find a good all around build because most of them are heavily invested in damage, making your toon squishy.

Warrior is a profession — not build. And within the Warrior profession, this diagram still applies when building them.

I wouldn’t doubt that it applies to them aswell. However, it doesn’t apply to them as much. More so if the player is good. (edited for sense)

But in the end, we will all eventually fall into warriorism.

I don’t believe that. I’ve seen a lot of bad builds even for Warrior only because they never consider the trade-offs, albeit they are easy to build.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

But it doesn’t mean the story wasn’t about my charr, just because they fumbled the persistence of that detail. It still was about the charr and finding the treasure, not anyone else.

That is my point, primarily and once more stated again because you’re not listening.

You just proved my point. It’s about “the charr” and not “your charr” or “my charr”. Generic vs specific and “personal” demands specifics.

Just like saying,

“By the way, I bought you a new personal toothbrush, but you’ll be sharing it with Larry, Curly, and Moe.”

Don’t call it “personal” when it’s not.

But . . . that’s almost always the case when you have a setup like this one. It’s always the case in Elder Scrolls that the character might make no sense for what role they need you to play (“A Khajit as the Nevarine? Why not?”). It’s always the case in most games where the role is not so tightly defined and the actions meticulously scripted to make sure there is no doubt about your character’s . . . character.

That’s not the issue here. The issue is the notion of “personal” story, about a game that is about “us”, that changes we made sticks, that the village we save remain save, etc.

None of those exist in game. Those are nothing but an advertising hype.

At the end of the day, I expect you to call it “Personal Story” (proper noun) because that’s what it’s called. Doesn’t make it so, but at the same time, your insistence doesn’t make it not personal 100% of the time.

That’s the thing. It seems that they’ve started off making it a personal story, but along the way changed their mind due to undisclosed constraints.

Yes, at the end of the day I will still call my dog “Kitty” because that’s her name.

Well, from experience, it’s never personal, or all about one person at the gaming table. Or if it is, your GM has done something terribly wrong and needs to be flogged with gusto. The story of a tabletop RPG needs to be about the group as a whole, not a singular character.

We agree on that, that’s why it was a must see if ArenaNet can pull off this “personal story” hype — unfortunately, that’s all it was, hype.

It always matters.

In MMORPG it doesn’t matter.

Actually, no, it was a bedtime story which was adlibbed for a large part of it and it wasn’t until Lord of the Rings was started details needed to be added and retconned to make “There and Back Again” into something consistent in-universe.

Not getting into that. lol.

Oh, it’s all about the player. Not necessarily the character at all times. But it is about the player, outside the Personal Story, and what they do with Tyria as presented to them. Or don’t do, in the case of the people who largely play WvW.

Now, whether this is executed well . . .

That’s a weird interpretation of the campaign ad where the player become their character in game — specifically “Our Time is Now” ad campaign.

So when you say things like “it’s all about the player. Not necessarily the character” is weird and contradicting because the player and the character is advertised as one and the same.

Hakan.9240:

How about P/D?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAqYVl0Mp0pNNx7J8PNRSBx9CCQC8sF1ozTMVA-T1RAABA8EAi+UAoo+AUV/ZSlg9s/wYK/CAgAMzysMnZAzcmzcmzcmlCAi5AA-w

High Health? Check with 19k
High Toughness? Check with 1,9k
High Damage? Check
+ Dodge every 1-2 seconds

It´s not perfect in every situation.. but which build is?

To find the high damage, you need to look at the profession and invest everything into damage then, only then, you compare that to a Dire set to see if it can even deal as much damage.

Do the same with toughness and health.

For example, your Dire build doesn’t have 21k health compare to a Sentinel/Soldier set so it cannot claim to have High Health.

I can simply do what you just did by using a full Soldier set and claim that it’s high damage, toughness, and health — but that would be dumb.