Guild Wars 2

Some of the screenshots has rendering issue, I know because it happened to me when previewing it. It loads as generic skin then if you wait a while, your machine catches up and renders the item. It takes longer if you are in a populated zone.

What I do to see the full detail of my items is to go to HoM since I’m the only one there — or go into your Home instance.

No this is more appropriate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6inwzOooXRU

“Why do THIEVES suddenly appears…”

lol

swiftpaw.6397:

- In real life, spirits of the wild don’t exist.

That’s what you think.

- I’m not beating around the bush, i’m choosing to be offended!

Getting offended is not a choice, it’s a normal human reaction. What you can choose to do is not to let it bother you.

- How can I be offended of something about Asia if I’m not Asian? What? Didn’t you state earlier that even you were offended? Are you Asian? Do I need to be asian to get angry about asian things? I’m not Chinese and I’m offended by it.

I’m Asian, but not Chinese.

Getting offended and getting angry are not the same thing.

- And yes, if someone was doing something in public, I could choose whether or not to be offended. Easy. The Chaser’s War on Everything is an excellent show btw. They do crazy stunts in public all the time, and some people decide to go on the warpath about it while others dont care, or get mad about it.

I said “inappropriate”. And just because they don’t care nor get mad doesn’t mean they weren’t offended by it.

-Where is this petition? I read the thread with the dev response and I don’t recall seeing a ‘petition’ with ‘many’ people. I specifically remember them saying that someone higher up made the decision, of their own volition. Where’s this petition?

Right, it was a “one man” decision — my bad. sheesh.

- Oh and I can easily interpret the norn as a barbaric and uncivilized race, because my idea of what that is could be considerably different to what yours is. Same as what your idea of negative representation is in regards to cantha could be very different to other’s ideas.

Interpretation is not the same as representation. You should care to know the difference.

Jumper.9482:

The Primary.6371:

Because he thinks being the first to show footage with him duelling someone with the spec is enough to allow him to wear the self proclaimed title. Actually that duel did show the clear cut counter to it but what ever.

I guess being the first one to bring my build into competitive play doesn’t cut it.
Nonetheless winning NA’s first major cash tournament.
Before Curse, having a thief was viewed as a liability and it was difficult for even me to find a team even willing to try to play with a thief. Even I myself was questioning whether this experimental build that seems to do ok in hotjoins would even work.
Others even laughed at the idea of it being played in tournaments.

Haters gonna hate so just ignore them.

Even though your build is for PvP, I’m using your playstyle in PvE — very useful — since the basics are the same.

@OP

Magic find only helps you find Coffers from drops, but does not affect your chances from the Coffer.

swiftpaw.6397:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

swiftpaw.6397:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Cantha was a horrible representation of the Asian culture, more specifically, the Ancient Chinese culture.

I’m not Chinese and I’m offended by it. Ancient Chinese culture is not just about over-crowding, oppressions, gangs, and other bad stuff that the Canthan expansion portrait, which 1/3 of the expansion is centered around these negative stuff. And it took a group of foreigners to liberate the country — oh my.

Yeah Anet’s creative team really did harm with that expansion and you cannot rationalize it. You can see it for yourself.

The rule of a Chinese Dynasty would not be for so long if the culture is all about the negatives like that from the Canthan expansion.

Except it doesn’t ACTUALLY have anything to do with the Chinese because it’s not China, the Chinese Dynasty, nor Asia in any way. It is Cantha with their own history and problems whose developement culturally mimics the chinese, cosmetically.

This is the problem, people get bent out of shape about stuff that isn’t actually a representation of anything, nor meant to be. It’s just a way of adding another human culture into the game world and lore, in such a way that makes sense.

Regardless. Even if it is “based” on the true story and not the “actual” story, it still presents some connection that no one can deny.

Besides, you cannot prevent anyone from being offended. What’s important is, what do you do when you offended someone. Anet’s solution is to sink the whole quarter of Divinity’s Reach.

Sure we lose out on whatever content that it would have given us, but it’s better than having problems along the way.

By that same token I can say that the Norn are the representation of European/celtic culture and should not be included because they could offend someone. The human race.. is representing humanity IRL.. The asuran are the typical nerd stereotype, which I’m sure could offend someone there.. etc etc. God forbid they add Elona because we might end up offending middle eastern cultures along the way as well.

It’s all gotten quite silly, NC Soft are a bunch of looneys.. I thought they were bad back in the Aion days.. I hope A-Net gets their way with Cantha in the future.

You missed the whole point. Not because it is depicted from those cultures but what aspect of that culture did they used. This is not about stereotypes. It’s the misrepresentation of a real life culture.

Even during the time of the Warring States in China, it’s not all about tyranny and oppression and power. Each State wanted peace, but in their own term.

If you watch any of the cultural movies made by those countries — not by Americans — you’ll see that the Western perspective or Asia is corrupted and short-sighted.

All I’m saying is — there was an opportunity where Anet could’ve used the good qualities from the cultures but instead they chose to use the bad qualities.

Everything in Cantha is doom and gloom, so depressing.

I added stereotypes because those tend to offend people as well. However, Celtic culture is pretty obvious in the Norn, and that is/was a real life culture and to me, I see that as a bit mocking, everytime I walk past the lady that says ‘I pray to the spirits of the wild but they rarely answer.’ I chuckle to myself because, well duh, you idiotic norn, it’s because they probably don’t exist..

Um, yes they do. What game are you playing?

They are all brawn and not particularly smart in comparison to the other races, I could easily see that as a negative representation of Celtic/Paganistic culture.

Again you missed the point. You are just beating around the bush.

If Anet took the Celtic culture and simply depict it as barbaric, irrational, and uncivilized, then yes, you may have an argument — but Anet didn’t do that. Look at Cantha and see the silliness on what you’re saying.

The way I see it, it’s not that content is offensive, it’s that people choose to be offended. Which is why some people are offended and other people are not.

How can you be offended of something about Asia if you are not Asian?

Do you choose to be offended if someone is doing something inappropriate in public?

Don’t be silly.

My boyfriend for example, is Chinese, and he enjoyed the Canthan campaign the most out of all the GW1 campaigns and thinks it’s ridiculous that it is to be left out of GW2. He does not share other people’s sensitives, even though he is a very politically aware individual.

Well that’s good for him. One out of many people in Asia who petitioned NCSoft to sink the Cathan Quarter.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Cantha was a horrible representation of the Asian culture, more specifically, the Ancient Chinese culture.

I’m not Chinese and I’m offended by it. Ancient Chinese culture is not just about over-crowding, oppressions, gangs, and other bad stuff that the Canthan expansion portrait, which 1/3 of the expansion is centered around these negative stuff. And it took a group of foreigners to liberate the country — oh my.

Yeah Anet’s creative team really did harm with that expansion and you cannot rationalize it. You can see it for yourself.

The rule of a Chinese Dynasty would not be for so long if the culture is all about the negatives like that from the Canthan expansion.

Except it doesn’t ACTUALLY have anything to do with the Chinese because it’s not China, the Chinese Dynasty, nor Asia in any way. It is Cantha with their own history and problems whose developement culturally mimics the chinese, cosmetically.

This is the problem, people get bent out of shape about stuff that isn’t actually a representation of anything, nor meant to be. It’s just a way of adding another human culture into the game world and lore, in such a way that makes sense.

Regardless. Even if it is “based” on the true story and not the “actual” story, it still presents some connection that no one can deny.

Besides, you cannot prevent anyone from being offended. What’s important is, what do you do when you offended someone. Anet’s solution is to sink the whole quarter of Divinity’s Reach.

Sure we lose out on whatever content that it would have given us, but it’s better than having problems along the way.

What story? Again, it’s not based on anything, it is a cosmetic similarity. It LOOKS similar, but other than that it’s like saying that Japanese culture or Vietnamese culture is based on the Chinese because they have similarities.

lol. No. You’re wrong.

Japanese is Japanese, Chinese is Chinese, etc. The similarity that you are seeing is your bias and a bit of racial profiling.

They are their own cultures, and the Canthan culture is their own because they have a history completely unrelated to anything that happened in Asia, because they’re not part of Asia in any way.

The official GW wiki disagree with you.
“Cantha is heavily based upon Eastern Asia and its cultures.”
Link: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cantha

ANet’s response was not due to offending someone, it was due to being told at the last minute that they couldn’t put something they put a lot of effort into in the game. They had no time to rework it, so they just tore the whole thing out.

Really? Read this and educate yourself.
“At one point, Divinity’s Reach contained a Canthan district similar to the Ossan Quarter. The district was removed late in development because NCsoft received negative feedback from the Asian gaming markets, who were uncomfortable that Chinese and Korean architectural styles had been mixed, damaging the possibility of a Canthan expansion”
Link: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cantha

swiftpaw.6397:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Cantha was a horrible representation of the Asian culture, more specifically, the Ancient Chinese culture.

I’m not Chinese and I’m offended by it. Ancient Chinese culture is not just about over-crowding, oppressions, gangs, and other bad stuff that the Canthan expansion portrait, which 1/3 of the expansion is centered around these negative stuff. And it took a group of foreigners to liberate the country — oh my.

Yeah Anet’s creative team really did harm with that expansion and you cannot rationalize it. You can see it for yourself.

The rule of a Chinese Dynasty would not be for so long if the culture is all about the negatives like that from the Canthan expansion.

Except it doesn’t ACTUALLY have anything to do with the Chinese because it’s not China, the Chinese Dynasty, nor Asia in any way. It is Cantha with their own history and problems whose developement culturally mimics the chinese, cosmetically.

This is the problem, people get bent out of shape about stuff that isn’t actually a representation of anything, nor meant to be. It’s just a way of adding another human culture into the game world and lore, in such a way that makes sense.

Regardless. Even if it is “based” on the true story and not the “actual” story, it still presents some connection that no one can deny.

Besides, you cannot prevent anyone from being offended. What’s important is, what do you do when you offended someone. Anet’s solution is to sink the whole quarter of Divinity’s Reach.

Sure we lose out on whatever content that it would have given us, but it’s better than having problems along the way.

By that same token I can say that the Norn are the representation of European/celtic culture and should not be included because they could offend someone. The human race.. is representing humanity IRL.. The asuran are the typical nerd stereotype, which I’m sure could offend someone there.. etc etc. God forbid they add Elona because we might end up offending middle eastern cultures along the way as well.

It’s all gotten quite silly, NC Soft are a bunch of looneys.. I thought they were bad back in the Aion days.. I hope A-Net gets their way with Cantha in the future.

You missed the whole point. Not because it is depicted from those cultures but what aspect of that culture did they used. This is not about stereotypes. It’s the misrepresentation of a real life culture.

Even during the time of the Warring States in China, it’s not all about tyranny and oppression and power. Each State wanted peace, but in their own term.

If you watch any of the cultural movies made by those countries — not by Americans — you’ll see that the Western perspective of Asia is corrupted and short-sighted.

All I’m saying is — there was an opportunity where Anet could’ve used the good qualities from the cultures but instead they chose to use the bad qualities.

Everything in Cantha is doom and gloom, so depressing.

For some reason this is more appropriate;

Top of the World by The Carpenters.

It just makes me happy.

Only Norn and Charr looks good in them unfortunately.

The scaling of the helm is horrible for the smaller race.

Blazing Rathalos.1904:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Cantha was a horrible representation of the Asian culture, more specifically, the Ancient Chinese culture.

I’m not Chinese and I’m offended by it. Ancient Chinese culture is not just about over-crowding, oppressions, gangs, and other bad stuff that the Canthan expansion portrait, which 1/3 of the expansion is centered around these negative stuff. And it took a group of foreigners to liberate the country — oh my.

Yeah Anet’s creative team really did harm with that expansion and you cannot rationalize it. You can see it for yourself.

The rule of a Chinese Dynasty would not be for so long if the culture is all about the negatives like that from the Canthan expansion.

It’s a combat oriented game, most of it is going to be negatives, something for you to fight. You want to fight against happiness and prosperity?
Anyway, most of Tyria was a hellhole as well. Do you recall many positive things about post-searing Ascalon? I mostly remembered the ageing insane king that refused to admit defeat and retreat. And then you get to Kryta, which is ruled by an oppresive religious cult that hides everything from its people.
Sure, that all sounds very positive.

The difference is, in Ascalon, we’ve experience the common peaceful way of life in Pre-Searing. Also you get to travel to the kingdom of Kryta.

The negativity was not brought by the people who live there, rather by some exterior presence. In Cantha, you got slap in the face with negatives brought by the people and its government even before Shiro goes bonkers.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Cantha was a horrible representation of the Asian culture, more specifically, the Ancient Chinese culture.

I’m not Chinese and I’m offended by it. Ancient Chinese culture is not just about over-crowding, oppressions, gangs, and other bad stuff that the Canthan expansion portrait, which 1/3 of the expansion is centered around these negative stuff. And it took a group of foreigners to liberate the country — oh my.

Yeah Anet’s creative team really did harm with that expansion and you cannot rationalize it. You can see it for yourself.

The rule of a Chinese Dynasty would not be for so long if the culture is all about the negatives like that from the Canthan expansion.

Except it doesn’t ACTUALLY have anything to do with the Chinese because it’s not China, the Chinese Dynasty, nor Asia in any way. It is Cantha with their own history and problems whose developement culturally mimics the chinese, cosmetically.

This is the problem, people get bent out of shape about stuff that isn’t actually a representation of anything, nor meant to be. It’s just a way of adding another human culture into the game world and lore, in such a way that makes sense.

Regardless. Even if it is “based” on the true story and not the “actual” story, it still presents some connection that no one can deny.

Besides, you cannot prevent anyone from being offended. What’s important is, what do you do when you offended someone. Anet’s solution is to sink the whole quarter of Divinity’s Reach.

Sure we lose out on whatever content that it would have given us, but it’s better than having problems along the way.

AtlasSi.9130:

This has got to be the stupidest achiv required for the wings. Win 20 games? Can you pass me what you were smoking when you implemented this? Not everyone is a hardcore mini-game pvp type. This has been the worst experience I have had in my GW life. Counting GW1 days as well. I asume hate will come saying I don’t help in DB. But, any one else feel the same about this achievement? -_-

lol I never like the PvP aspect of the Living Story and Holiday contents, I never complete them. I just go in there and see what it’s all about then I take my leave.

Even if it is required to complete the achievement, I’ll never commit myself in doing it. I rather lose out on the achievement than brainwash myself to believe that I was having fun.

Cantha was a horrible representation of the Asian culture, more specifically, the Ancient Chinese culture.

I’m not Chinese and I’m offended by it. Ancient Chinese culture is not just about over-crowding, oppressions, gangs, and other bad stuff that the Canthan expansion portrait, which 1/3 of the expansion is centered around these negative stuff. And it took a group of foreigners to liberate the country — oh my.

Yeah Anet’s creative team really did harm with that expansion and you cannot rationalize it. You can see it for yourself.

The rule of a Chinese Dynasty would not be for so long if the culture is all about the negatives like that from the Canthan expansion.

Kedryn.2981:

so, who would play a game where 3 on 5 is a secure loss, 1/5 is a marginal earn (10s) and only 1/5 is some earning (90s).
statistically is a secure and huge loss

When did a gold sink ever makes you more gold? O.o?

I rather sink my gold porting all over the place for the holo-creatures than sink it on crazy moas. But there are people in my server who enjoyed it.

If you’re only willing to pay 10s, then have a group of 5 people giving 10s each and have one of you to be a “broker” who place the bet and split the winnings.

Be more friendly…jeeze.

Delgan.8619:

What i want is a challenge not running around LA finding and then pressing F with the caption CONGRATS, now repeat this 100 times.

Um, you don’t have to do what you don’t want to do.

I personally hate the PvP portion of the Living Story, so I just played it a couple of times just to see what’s it all about and then I never bother with it again.

As for the Pinatas, you don’t have to run around and complete the achievement in one day — it was meant for your to do it everyday. If you pop 10 every day, you’d be done in 15 days. You’re the one who forced yourself to pop them all in one day that’s why you’re thinking that it has to be repeated 100 times.

And I’m sure, you’ve ran around more than 100 times mining nodes. So the question is, why are your running around mining nodes?

What I also want is what I pay for… not to pay for the chance to obtain something I want.

It’s not a bait-and-switch. Anet posted what you get BEFORE you spend your money. If you don’t want it, then don’t buy it. Buy something without chances like Make-over kits and character slots.

Would you rather have them sell the keys to open the coffer for a chance of getting something good like the BLC? That way, you get what you pay for…a key.

We clear? …I can guarentee I’m not alone in this either.

I can also guarantee that you are all alone on this one.

See what I did there? I’m assuming without supporting evidence. You might want to consider that next time.

You should only DS inside a combo field. Those who demands invulnerability deserves to die anyway for misusing this skill.

Kilaelya.1420:

I get more coffers by just farming mobs. I stopped bothering with the holograms.

It’s for the achievements.

But I rather camp one than waste money porting all over the place.

You can’t complete that achievement until the 18th so hopefully it is fixed by then.

I’m not a mini-pet collector and I don’t usually agree with the direction Anet is taking GW2 — BUT — I do appreciate it when someone in Anet, despite my disagreement with their decisions, recognizes the support coming from me.

For that I am also grateful.

P.S.
By the way, after I receive this thank you letter from them, I bought 10 Rich Coffer from the gem store and got my first Jade Ticket and a Holo Risen Knight. So I got my Colossus and my Jade Shield skin. Thanks again Anet.

Seetoo.9316:

So I was thinking maybe I can play a thief like a warrior.

You’re setting yourself up for disappointments.

As long as the main person in the balance team uses a Warrior…there will always be hate towards us Thieves.

mPascoal.4258:

Hi
Anyway, if they are not useless in PvE or WvW, what weapon sets do yu recomend to play with traps? Are traps better to play defencive, or I can play an offencive style with them too?

With the many S/D builds, you can virtually take any Utility skill you want.

Ambush can be used as both offensive and defensive. Offensively for added DPS and defensively if you want to drop aggro and heal — or simply use it as live bait as you run away. I’ve stopped using this skill as soon as I reached Level 20.

Needle Trap is definitely useless for the most part. I only use this for fun trolling.

Shadow Trap is good only because of it’s long range and tracking capability. The problem is, who or what are your going to use it on that demands for its range and tracking ability. That’s right, none. If I am that far away already, I usually don’t really care anymore. So this trap has no offensive nor defensive value, but it’s fun to use for trolling.

Trip Wire has no offensive value since we can’t even take advantage of our target being knockdowned. If this is GW1, then yes, it has many uses. But defensively, you can use this to slow down pursuers — but then again, we’re better off using a Shortbow. So this one also has a fun trolling value.

So for the fun part, having 3+ Thieves in your group laying down traps will guarantee turning even a bunker Guardian into a rabbit. With 3 Thieves, your group can have Needle Trap approx. every 10s, if you timed it correctly. Knocking someone down and having 3 Thieves jump on them is fun for us, not for them. As a fail safe, Shadow Trap can be placed behind a bottle neck just in case someone in stealth had passed thru.

I won’t go as far as calling them 100% useless since some of them has a use in less conventional way.

SharadSun.3089:

S/D is a pretty hard counter to Mesmers right now. It’s impossible to land proper CC on anyone who’s dodging and stealthing and evading that much, while still maintaining ridiculous damage output.

That’s the thing I hate about them, their illusions deals so much damage on top of the confusion stack on you.

Excalibur.9748:

what’s this infiltrator strike spam bug?

I think he meant when you accidentally double clicking it, that there should be a delay in between IS and SR. This is due to a “lag bug” that delays your first send command forcing your to press it again only to have it send the request twice making you IS then SR right away.

If it’s not that, I don’t know what it is.

Jumper.9482:

My opinion on Thief balance (pvp) and suggestions.

Traits:
Critical Strikes is FAR too good. Either the traits need nerfs or the base stat gain needs to be halved. The base thief dmg should be brought up a substantial amount to allow for different amulet/trait choices (leaving Zerker, 30CS at the same dps as is now).

I completely agree that CS is far too good. Too good that it’s in imbalance in PvP but it is necessary in PvE where mobs scales upto Level 84 Epic.

If Anet is to consider tweaking this, they better limit this in PvP only.

Deadly Arts is lacking. Improv is extremely situational. Backfighting is amazing, except when you go down in a teamfight as a thief, you are almost NEVER getting back up. Mug is a ‘meh’ trait now. Exposed weakness is ok but there’s a 25 trait 10% bonus in every other tree too.
Traits like Dagger Training, Combined Training, Sundering Strikes should be brought up by at least double. Right now, 30 in CS is mandatory for dps output. It would be great if DA could become an alternative with different tradeoffs than just being vastly inferior and supplementary.

I’m afraid what the trade off would be, but if Anet will limit this for PvP only, then I’d be fine with that.

We get a warning flashing red when using Shadow’s Refuge that we just activated Into the Void and have 2 seconds to dodge out.

WonderfulCT.6278:

Ok so mesmers are really easy to pick out from clones.

Simple things to look for:

-Item buffs

-Bloodlust stacks

-Chaos shield (clones can have this too so this isn’t a sure thing)

-Weapon being used

-The skills they use

A skilled Mesmer will know this and they know how to act.

As I said,
“Part of the discipline is to control yourself from shattering your illusions because this will give you away — unless — you know how to act and run towards your target just like your clones.”

I’ve seen this multiple times, when a Mesmer shatters and running along with their clones towards you. Then as soon as the illusions shatters, they pop Mirror Images , losing track of the Mesmer again.

-If they chase you when you unstealth. Generally if I can’t discern which is the real one I put space between us and see what chases and how it chases. I don’t play thief too much anymore so it’s much easier to pick the real one due to them auto attacking more frequently. If not using stealth just keep moving and occasionally put some distance between you two if having trouble finding the real one it creates much easier givaways.

They’ll never give you that time to distinguish which is which. Most of the clone generating skills are on a short cooldown.

-If they do or don’t move. This is more something you get used to picking up on but trying to blend in is a waste of time since it is almost impossible to move exactly like an npc would. Also I find most players trying to blend in don’t auto attack making it easier to pick up on them. Dodging and moving in a way that isn’t directly towards you (as their pathfinding allows) is also a dead givaway.

You’re describing an unskilled Mesmer.

This is why I said;
“So the lesson is, if you stay at the back trying to attack me from ranged — you’re a dead man walking.”

Only unskilled Mesmer stands out like a sore thumb.

-Look for conditions and condition ticks. I don’t waste time attacking clones so typically it is most likely that the real one would be taking the most from conditions.

Very situational and you’d be relying on the fact that they don’t bring condition removal — again, only unskilled Mesmer will not bring a conditional removal. They either have a Null Field or Arcane Thievery.

-Target the real mesmer, yes this seems obvious but it seems a lot of people don’t do this. Mesmers don’t run directly at players or stand still when being chased. If a mesmer stealths wait for him to unstealth at which point it is easy to get the real one. Also target the real one from the start.

Again, skilled vs unskilled. It only takes one visit to the Mesmer forum to know the difference between them. And everytime the Mesmer create a clone, via Mirrior Images or Phase Retreat (staff #2), you lose your target.

A mesmer standing amoung clones can only do damage and blend in if you let him. You can also CnD off the clones without too many problems and it can also be used to find out the real one as usually the real one won’t notice you for that split second you appear and dissapear.

The only problem is, this thread is about how a Mesmer can beat a thief. So saying that Thieves can simply CnD the clone doesn’t help the OP.

Besides, what kind of Mesmer doesn’t spec 25 in Dueling and not using a Sword in main hand? Obviously not a very good one.

Zunhar.4079:

Am I the only one that has difficulty in defeating skilled Mesmers with S/D? Basically any other profession is mincemeat except for Mesmers.

Anyone have tips?

Yeah, I hate skilled Mesmers also especially the ones using S/P and S/F weapon sets, especially the S/F because of IttV and Warden.

All I can tell you is that I feel your pain.

I like CnD a lot, so I choose S/D.

The synergy of skills in an S/D set is better than that in D/P set — better as in, it compliments my playstyle very well.

Anubarak.3012:

Don’t know exactly but I think since 2 weeks… 1 Month ago anet started to make swirling winds from ele useless there, later WoR and after that smoke screen and shield of the avenger

As far as I know nothing can block his projectiles now

I ran Fractal with my Ranger but not recently and I usually hide behind my spirits during the fight — so when you say “nothing can block his projectile”, does that include spirits?

Woaden.9425:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

- Why 10pts in CS and not in DA given that you have 30% cooldown reduction on Steal?
- Why Quick Recovery instead of Power of Inertia?

I like 10 in DA, I think you could move 10 points over there for sure. In actuality, the core of the build is x/x/x/15/30 so you could really move anything else around. This combo takes the most advantage out of Withdraw, which has synergy with Lyssa (Vigorous Recovery/Hastened Replenishment) and gives high evades.

Power of Inertia I would consider in place of Vigorous Recovery before I would consider replacing Quick Recovery, it’s just too good, and ensures a steady stream of Ini recovery, which you need in this build.

If I was going to go 10 into DA, I’d actually take the last 10 from Acro instead. Replace one heal (Assassins Reward), with another (Mug) and gain that great poison on steal and some more burst in the process. I stick with 10 CS because I built this with high Crit Damage/Crit Chance in mind, so the additional fury helps, as does the passive 100 prec and 10% crit damage.

Thanks for the clarification. I knew there’s a reason for it.

How about your gears? Your link doesn’t include the type of gear you use.

@OP

Questions:
- Why 10pts in CS and not in DA given that you have 30% cooldown reduction on Steal?
- Why Quick Recovery instead of Power of Inertia?

I’m just curios with those choices. Do they synergize with your group composition? If so, how?

Thanks.

RedSpectrum.1975:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

WonderfulCT.6278:

I have to dissagree with your post as well, mesmers are very easy to pick out from clones and standing there with them is not going to help. It just reduces their dps and makes getting close and landing hits easier since they aren’t moving.

I said;
“Even though Mesmer has a limited access to stealth, they can still hide in plain sight. This is what drives me crazy when a Mesmer knows their profession too well. "

“So the lesson is, if you stay at the back trying to attack me from ranged — you’re a dead man walking. Instead, blend in with your illusionary crowd and you’d be safe.”

So where did you get your idea from?

And those who said that they can CnD the clones, this is what I said;

“Another thing I hate the most is the Confusion upon shattering an illusion because if I get it wrong, I get a painful stack of Confusion.”

It is fairly obvious who are those who has not fought a good Mesmer…only kittenty ones.

Take your aggressive judgmental comments somewhere else. Don’t even bother replying to what I said if you’re not even going to comprehend what I posted.

Patient thieves shine on mesmers. If traited, CnD will stealth you for 4 seconds, if your CnD kills a clone, you have 3 seconds of confusion, your stealth will outlast and outheal the confusion and the dmg given by the shattered clone. CnD’ing off of the clone is one of the better tactics for a DD thief, and I don’t remember me ever quoting you directly and insulting you/doubting your playstyle.

My reply was not directed at you or a direct reply to your post, rather about CnD-‘ing a clone in general against Mesmers who knows what they’re doing.

The mesmer class was one I, like many others, feared greatly. But it turns out that that tactic is actually one of the better ways to deal with them. As for hiding in their clones, anyone’s guess on how to counter that counter is as good as mine.

That’s the thing. There are people in this thread who are so hasty on calling others names when in fact they have no idea what they are talking about. A decent, but not a good, Mesmer knows this basic principle about their profession that standing inside your clone (meaning clipping inside the clone) hides you in plain sight.

That’s why I said;
“…blend in with your illusionary crowd and you’d be safe.”

And if you review the responses to my post, it’s clear as day that either they are Mesmer who are full of themselves, or they never fought a good Mesmer while playing their Thief.

And the best advice he gave was,
“…The honest truth is in most cases shatter is easy to out play because once you see the illusions running in you know to dodge and burst. Half the time your literally going to have to control them with knockdowns, immobilize, and stuns to get anything done.”

lol, seriously? Obviously he doesn’t realize that the more he moves the more he stands out and I can escape his shatters by a simple Steal/Showstep/IS.

This is the advice of someone who said;
“@Sir Vincent III You definitely don’t play mesmer so sit back on this one. I am serious about this. Acting like a clone is not going to help vs anyone playing more than a week.”

lol. Well, I sure wish TheGuy.3568’s advice works for you.

Goodluck running around where I can pick you out and Steal+CnD+BS+HS you to the ground.

Oh yeah, take his advice and send all your illusion to me as soon as I pop-out of stealth, because while your illusions are running towards me, I will be up to your FACE in an instant.

I’m currently using Wurm since my build is focused on raw power and survivability. I think this will benefit you also given that you allocated 30 in SA.

But yeah I feel you. I would purchase a better rune if I can afford it (need to stop rolling an alt ;P).

@OP

I’m sorry I misled you.

I did some digging and it appears that I got “Rabid” and “Rampager” confused in my last posts.

So to answer your question, the only Rampager Set is either Human Cultural or Aidan’s Armor, neither from Karma.

Doomdesire.9365:

Thoughts? Opinions?

I don’t like it only because none of the new weapon skills will synergize with my traits and gears.

Mechant.3458:

I am sure there are posts that give the details, but I did not find any on a few searches.

Can someone point me to one that goes into the technical aspects of our stats?

E.g.
Whats the most important factor for X skills?
Precision, Power, Crit , Crit damage, condition damage etc

Are their soft caps or hard caps?

Is there any value is getting 5k power? Or over 100% crit?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Mechant

Most of your question can be answered with this spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3A3Op-Hj3dOUkJRU0xvcng5ZWc/edit
Made by our fellow Thief, Puandro.3245

IMHO, gearing for Crit chance is a waste since there are other ways to get 100% crit chance, so I personally focus on Crit damage. And no, I don’t know if there’s a benefit past 100% crit chance.

UndeadCreepshow.5316:

Yes i want it for the stats. where can i buy it with karma instead of gold?

In Arah, you have to particate (or wait) in the invasion. For each altar, certain gear with certain stats can be purchased.

For example, you want berserker soldier gears, you may have to shop around 3-4 locations.

Here’s the list of the gears;
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_armor_sets#Exotic_Karma_armor_sets

EDIT:
Ok that was a bad example. “Soldier” instead of “berserker” since there’s no berseker set.

EDIT 2:
Human cultural has “rampager” stats, by the way. Charr has the “berserker” stats.

What I know is that if you want the skin, you have to buy it from the Cultural Vendor, but if you just want the stats, you can buy it with Karma.

WonderfulCT.6278:

I have to dissagree with your post as well, mesmers are very easy to pick out from clones and standing there with them is not going to help. It just reduces their dps and makes getting close and landing hits easier since they aren’t moving.

I said;
“Even though Mesmer has a limited access to stealth, they can still hide in plain sight. This is what drives me crazy when a Mesmer knows their profession too well. "

“So the lesson is, if you stay at the back trying to attack me from ranged — you’re a dead man walking. Instead, blend in with your illusionary crowd and you’d be safe.”

So where did you get your idea from?

And those who said that they can CnD the clones, this is what I said;

“Another thing I hate the most is the Confusion upon shattering an illusion because if I get it wrong, I get a painful stack of Confusion.”

It is fairly obvious who are those who has not fought a good Mesmer…only kittenty ones.

Take your aggressive judgmental comments somewhere else. Don’t even bother replying to what I said if you’re not even going to comprehend what I posted.

TheGuy.3568:

@Sir Vincent III You definitely don’t play mesmer so sit back on this one. I am serious about this. Acting like a clone is not going to help vs anyone playing more than a week.

Did you even understand what you read from my post?

Obviously not.

I have to agree with Daecollo on this one since it would be a pretty bad Necro if they fall with just any Thief build. It would be a stalemate at best and a dead Thief at worst.

Are you seriously having a hard time killing a Thief? Mesmer is the profession I hate the most as a Thief.

Honestly, I think it would be more beneficial to learn being a Mesmer first before you try to learn your would be opponents. Ok STOP! This is not a L2P comment, it is based on an ancient wisdom concerning training.

So back to what I’m saying.

Even though Mesmer has a limited access to stealth, they can still hide in plain sight. This is what drives me crazy when a Mesmer knows their profession too well. The major part of being a Mesmer is acting — that’s right, learn from Norgu — learn to act.

What exactly am I saying?

If you can discipline yourself to act as if you’re one of your clones, I simply cannot tell the difference and always waste my skills trying to find the right Mesmer. Part of the discipline is to control yourself from shattering your illusions because this will give you away — unless — you know how to act and run towards your target just like your clones.

So the lesson is, if you stay at the back trying to attack me from ranged — you’re a dead man walking. Instead, blend in with your illusionary crowd and you’d be safe.

Another thing I hate the most is the Confusion upon shattering an illusion because if I get it wrong, I get a painful stack of Confusion.

Bull Zooker.1672:

ah ok, I used to play s/d before the 3 skill buff with a cleric venom share build. but really didn’t enjoy the play style after a few sessions in WvW even though I got great results.

never picked the stealth on steal trait before and I feel its more beneficial for p/d play as I gain a good attack opportunity. also if I dont target something like you say Vincent its an awesome defensive skill too.

Yup I used to reserve it and all my other stealth skills for defensive purposes. Way back when, the one thing I hated the most was knockdown and I use this to steal from another opponent away from the Warrior and then vanish in stealth — since I’m knockdown I won’t be revealed.

Daecollo.9578:

The skill is very hard to use in PvP, and easy to use in PvE, separating it would make it useful for PvP.

Atm, Pistol Whip is an absolute joke to my necromancer. Hes not even the best SPVP class.

It does less damage then autoattack, WHY Not raise its skill cap and separate it and add some diversity? IT WOULD ALLOW people to use more then 3 3 3 3 3 3…

lol PW is also on the 3rd slot :P

I use to run it when I was using GC with D/D. Very useful in WvW, but you have to discipline yourself not to use it offensively — only defensively, otherwise you will run into problems with auto-attack as you mentioned.

But nowadays with S/D, there’s no need for it — especially how fun S/D is with the “Endless Dodge” build.

randomfightfan.4091:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Daecollo.9578:

Separating the skill allows me to stun and if the enemy moves away and breaks it, I don’t have to commit to the full spell, I can Infil-strike/then use my evade

That’s my issue with it. Not that I don’t like it, but having that potential will make PW a candidate for nerfing.

So if we are to improve skills for Thieves, let’s also take into consideration what would be the potential consequences that might merit a nerf and try to avoid that avenue.

A nerf might even be worth it if you were to add that level of usability to the skill. My opinion at least. Putting this into a pve perspective, it’d be amazing and wonderful if I could use the stun portion (the part where you’re rooted, doing no damage, and vulnerable) away from the boss then move in for the frenzy+evade part. It would really help with the insta down near insta cast stab/kick ability the grawl has along with allowing thieves to go in and melee the boss even when the rest of his team is being wusses and ranging. It’d also be great b/c you’d finally have a good damaging while evading ability when fighting Lupi or any other boss where you’re dodging 50% of the fight, bringing thief effective dps potentially on par with warriors IF played right. A lot of variable I know, it might make the weapon set op for sure, but it’d be pretty cool to have complete control over the skill.

If that is the case, then it would be better to just replace the “flurry” part to a single attack/stab. Since you want complete control, rooting mechanic is your greatest enemy whether it evades you or not. I personally hate rooting mechanic on offensive skills.

Splitting it to two skills will actually spawn 2 versions of it for PvP and PvE. But to be honest, since we have PvP only gears, I don’t understand why they didn’t went all the way to have a PvP only skills. That way PW can be as OP as it can be without them worrying about how it would play in PvP environment. A lot of the recent nerfs are PvP based anyway that just aggravates the PvE community.

We need OP skills in PvE because the difference is, in PvP, they are not fighting a Level 84 Champion mob or a world boss.

With that said, revert haste and PW back to it’s former self in PvE and keep the junk versions in PvP. Thank you.

- One spin
- Hit every opponent within the radius
- damage, cripple, bleeding still applies

The animation can be simplified to have the Thief in a crouching position then spins around to send out daggers in all direction. The daggers will travel up to the edge of its range then drop to the floor.

No more 8s of spinning like an idiot.

My condition build for PvP focuses more on Condition Damage than duration. The higher it ticks, the faster they die.

But having 420 condition damage from your build is way too low. My condition build runs 1492 unbuffed condition damage. Opponents tick for 120+ damage per stack.