Guild Wars 2

Good vid! I’d like to try out a bleed build myself, I’ve really been enjoying shortbow and I’ve always loved stacking bleeds on my Necro.

Also, I don’t mean to be a critic but you should start using your heals sooner :P. Around 85 – 90% health is a good time to drop it, you’ll jump back to 100% and by the time you need it again it’ll be off cooldown. Still, good video!

flow.6043:

First of all, you are underrating WoP.
Secondly, everthing you said depends on the situation, your own build, number of players and professions/builds involved, the terrain you’re fighting on, whether you’re being focused or not…
A general statement like “you’ll be range-spamming aoe and nothing else…” is almost never going to be what your actual engagements will look like. And usually this kind of gameplay will do less for your team than occasionally standing right in the middle of a fight and taking some hits.

^This
WOP has never failed me.. To those saying it’s not so great I challenge you to tell me that you are never overwhelmed by conditions. Personally, I find the more stunbreakers and cleanses I have the better.. And WOP is a two-for-one. I’m not saying the other stunbreakers are bad by any means, just that I personally find WOP to be far, far more useful. On top of that, you don’t need to stand in it for the entire duration to get the full effect of it. It provides cleanses for your team, gets you out of stuns while also cleansing, and if you roll back through it a few times you get more cleanses. I fail to see how it’s not so great, I never go anywhere without it.. Even in PvE (unless it’s a dungeon I know I won’t need a lot of cleanses for or something.)

After using this trait, and sticking with it, I can honestly say in small scale fights or 1v1 it’s healing is very sub-par similar to that of siphons. Whiles the return is noticable it’s still not lifesaving in most situations. In a ZvZ however, holy hell… Hop in to Plague and tag as many people as you can and no matter how many conditions are piled on you your health will go up faster than it will go down thanks to this trait. Parasitic Contagion is basically the trait to have if you’re zerging and a conditionmancer. The more marks I lay on the battlefield the longer I stay alive and the more people I kill, it’s awesome.

Kharr.5746:

I think this thread is funny since the other top thread is asking for a nerf to hard condi-counters.

Yes, condi builds got buffed. Most of us saw this with the trait preview. Power builds are also stronger now with the new runes and double sigils.. in general, you just die a whole lot quicker in sPVP.

Yep, I agree. I also think that conditions are just fine to a degree. Although I completely agree that they have next to no tells of their casting and are extremely difficult to avoid, I don’t feel that they’re exceptionally OP compared to power spec’s either. Basically if you have a problem with condition users kill them first you’re good to go… Condition builds become more dangerous the longer they’re alive, they’re not like a power spec where either you dodge or you die. They’re that person that if you let them slip out of your hands for long enough you’re going to melt at their feet. When people focus me down in PvP I can barely drop their health below 90%, if they neglect to attack me everyone starts to feel that pressure and goes “KILL THAT ONE NOW.”

Bhawb.7408:

Honestly I rarely even use a stun break on anything but a necros fear because it just isn’t that scary unless they are directly following it up.

^ This

Who am I to tell you what to do? Just some random person… But still, I feel inclined to say it because it’s been bothering me lately… Does anyone actually have any originality when it comes to making a human female? At least all the guys look different from one another whether it be height, face, hair, hair colour, what ever… But all the human females, or at least 65% of the ones I see, have the same hairstyle (the long one with the flower in it), very often light or dark blue, the shortest height and the same face with the painted on eyebrows.
Again.. Who am I to tell you what to do? If you enjoy that fine… But seriously? Do people find this attractive or what is this? When it comes to MMO’s, or any game with character customization for that matter, I’d think people would want to make their characters as unique as possible.. The only thing my characters share in common is that none of them are white. They’re all either dark skinned or black, which is uncommon in and of itself.
/rant

Anyone else bothered by this extremely overused meta | : ?

Ranger is a powerful profession whether people want to admit it or not. They are the 1v1 duelist profession and if used properly can provide a fair bit of group support. Unfortunately being a duelist in WvW doesn’t get you much unless you like to solo roam, even then you’re not going to always be fighting just one person, and in a zerg and/or havoc any other profession can fill the bill better than a Ranger can. Ranger was formerly my main and I love the profession to death. If played properly they can be a huge asset, especially in PvE dungeon runs where they’re actually one of the most useful in a speed clearing group composition. But as for WvW, well… They’re squishy, their pets die fast, Spirits are basically out of the question in anything larger than 4v4 and the only real AOE they have is Barrage which, although if timed right can be pretty awesome for crippling mass amounts of people, does little to no damage unless you’re full zerk. In which case you’ll probably die within 30second of zerg contact.

Basically… If you’re a Ranger in WvW you can do what ever you like as you’re entitled to play the game the way you enjoy it most. But if you want to be in any way effective you’re better off solo roaming because 1v1 the Ranger is second to none. You just better hope you can either get the hell away or you’re a kitten good Ranger if anyone else decides to join the fight.

Yeah like others have said already I bet you play a Mesmer, lol. Pulls, stuns and dazes for daaayss.. If any profession needs a nerf it’s Mesmers and that’s the only profession I’ve ever thought needed one. Not only are they confusing as hell to fight they can jerk you around like a ragdoll if you don’t have stability or enough stunbreakers. And as a Necro, stability is pretty well out of the question unless I want to go in to Plague and cheese blind spam them to death.
As for Sig of Spite, yeah I could see this needing a bit of a nerf. Personally I really dislike using anything that’s like an insta-win button. Sig of Spite is kitten close. It’s the “I don’t know how to stack all those conditions myself so it’s a good thing there’s a button that does it all in one attack” utility.

Well Of Power and Corrupt Boon are the two utilities I always have on me. The third being interchangeable. The first two have so many great uses though that I can’t be bothered to replace them. WOP is, IMHO, the best stunbreaker. Because if you get immobilized, stunned, dazed, anything like that, a lot of the time conditions are stacked on you as well. As soon as you cast WOP you get a stunbreak as well as cleanses. It has a lengthy cooldown but it means you can cleanse conditions without using Consume Conditions. As for Corrupt Boon, well.. Maybe I’m just bias because it’s my absolute favorite utility in the game but nothing satisfies me more than rofling at people who pop a bunch of boons and watching them all go poof.
Still, no matter what profession you choose to roll, in a PvP environment, stunbreakers and/or stability are an absolute must. I currently have 2 in my bar just to be safe as I seem to be crossing a lot of Mesmer’s lately that like to daze, stun, push and pull me like a godkitten ragdoll.

Azreell.1568:

Seigfried.5938:

Azreell.1568:

Reverence.6915:

All classes have their role in WvW. Even certain ranger builds are highly viable.

Best overall is guardian, followed by elementalist. Both are highly flexible in terms of play style.

Guardian roamers are really underestimated.

That’s because roaming is not only having the ability to fight and win when required but also to be able to flee a fight when you can’t win or out numbered.

Thus why so many classes are actually not good at roaming. The ability to break combat for a roaming class is more powerful then the ability to kill on one.

So true. I used to be an ele roamer, but always had a hard time against necros, so I made one. Necromancers are truly awesome in 1v1/x, but I get so frustrated when I get zerged because I can never disengage.

Oh I know since I main a necro, but roam on mesmer.

The classes who can disengage more easily usually make the best roamers.

Yep. I roam on a Necro and although I can fill the bill for winning battles, tapping towers, killing yaks, flipping camps, etc. etc. If a zerg comes by I’m toast. I have to be constantly on edge when roaming, which is a big part of why I enjoy solo roaming with a Necro. It adds a lot of excitement to it and I really have to pick and choose who I’m going to fight. I don’t engage every person I see because if it’s a dangerous spot to fight I won’t be able to get away if more come. Still, as long as you have Spectral Walk you can be surprisingly viable by yourself as a Necro, just don’t go fighting every person you see or you’re going to get rolled by zergs a lot.

Emrad.9260:

I think we’re working with different definitions of pvp here, even with the assumption that a spvp match can be won or lost without any side doing any fighting, it’s still a competition between players, and hence why I would still accept calling it pvp.

More options like in GW1 would be very nice, but imho that doesn’t mean that what’s already implemented in GW2 isn’t pvp.

Valid point. I didn’t think of it that way so I very much agree. But when I imagine PvP I imagine players fighting players. It just doesn’t feel that way to me with the current system. Still, you’re very right. Players are competing with one another for the winning score. But when I think PvP I don’t usually think of it as who has the most points I think of it as who has the most points via kills. Though, that’s a very subjective thing so, I have only myself to blame.

Mitch.4781:

Azure Prower.8701:

Mitch.4781:

Azure Prower.8701:

You do know you can buy them straight up for 3 gold and 20 skill points each right?

You don’t say……

So, what’s the problem? You’re complaining that you’re not getting it for free because you don’t want to invest the time waiting for it to open?

God what an awful attitude….Seriosuly..that’s NOT THE POINT! ..and if you lack the good grace and smarts to understand that, then it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if you were a griefer too.

I agree. If you don’t want to buy the traits and you have the option to get them through an event, why should you be forced to buy them because other players are being ignorant pricks?
You should be able to play the game the way you want, not the way others want you to play it.
I don’t suggest you waste your time trying to reason with these people but if you have as much time on your hands as I do you can always try to pick them apart until they find something better to do.

Talyn.3295:

WvW is not about loot. PvE is that way.

WvW is about fights. If they do something silly like only droping rares or more then average loot we would see an influx of loot farmers. I do not like the idea of losing a T3 structure because people would rather farm then play.

I agree completely. If WvW had better loot we’d get more fair-weathers only in it for farming. It’s bad enough we have achiev hunters in there filling up Q space while we lose our territory because our dedicated scouts and/or roamers aren’t there to make call outs.

Omg what if there was a trap that worked like Line Of Warding but ignored Stability and lasted 4 seconds? That’d be awesome and also frigging hilarious xD. Could you imagine laying a trap near your tower gate and watching an entire zerg faceplant in to it and falling on their kitten a bunch of times before it wore off.

Why would anyone want this | : ? I understand that there’s a lot of power creep in WvW, I’m not denying that. But it’s 115 ranks and not everyone gets it within those first 115 ranks. On top of that I worked for those ranks and I’d be kitten angry if someone could spend a bit of karma or badges to strip me of that effort. It may only be 115 ranks but that’s like saying you didn’t work to get your character to level 80.

Warrior. They’re supposed to be the versatile profession and they clearly are. They have the largest selection of weapons, highest mobility and plenty of survivability. They may not be the fastest camp flippers but I’ve more than a few times come across some random Warrior from either my own or another server who is literally standing in the middle of all the NPC’s DPSing them down. I don’t know how everyone else does it but I prefer to pull one or two at a time not dive in and risk getting killed to AI.

Anyway back on topic, if used properly any profession can be good at all aspects of WvW. But that argument can be used for anything. Warrior is pretty much the best choice for beginner or veteran. Still, as someone has said, if you want to be good at all aspects of WvW you’re going to be sub-par at all aspects. You don’t usually go in thinking you’re going to do a bit of everything, or at least I know I don’t. I have two sets of gear myself, one for zerging and one for solo roaming.

Rym.1469:

Stack that might, please.

It’s soo good to corrupt might capped guy with Path of Corruption and watch him panic

<3 that new trait so much. Oh, I see you have swiftness and might and are trying to escape my clutches… -Path Of Corruption- Oh look! Now you’re crippled, chilled, bleeding and weakened! Sorry not sorry.

a t s e.9614:

Oh no condi bunker got instagibbed . how sad

xD, Might with a Condition build is even more OP. I may be misunderstanding what “instagibbed” means but if you’re saying Sigil Of Strength is the bane of Condition bunker you are sorely mistaken :P. If anything it’s very much in our favor. Trust me I’ve been having a lot of fun stacking might and a ton of bleeds watching them do stupid amounts of dot damage. Who needs Sigil Of Bursting when you have Sigil Of Strength.

PvP in general in this game isn’t good. Because there is no real PvP. PvP would be things like a team death match or a free for all. Not capturing points. If anything you want to avoid fighting other players because it’s only wasting time you could be spending capping. Same thing in WvW. The only good it provides your server is when you have Bloodlust and stomping people gives extra points.
I enjoy PvP to a degree, but I feel like it’s really all an illusion and the players are just obstacles more than they are objectives. Which isn’t how PvP should be.

sternenstaub.8763:

Another option would be to add secondary and maybe tertiary skills (F2/F3) to the necromancer to use our class energy (Life Force) for different purposes that synergize better with certain builds and thus making DS just a buildchoice for the immortal god of death.

Interesting idea. What if we were able to use our LF as an offensive mechanism while not in Death Shroud. Such as being able to cast Doom or Life Transfer with F2 or F3 while not actually in the Shroud. Casting Doom would drain a percentage of our LF while Life Transfer would refill it. Meaning we could choose to refill a portion our LF bar before entering Death Shroud or we could choose to lose a portion of it. I think it would add an interesting element of utility to our otherwise clunky class mechanic.
Or to have it function better with other builds, maybe we could have a few traits that allow us to actually choose what attacks we’ll have available to us when using DS. Like being able to trait for having Doom or replacing it with something else that might better benefit your build.

Idk, just brainstorming :P. But anyway as I’d said before I still enjoy Death Shroud despite it being a bit difficult to work with at times. I really hate using it as a method of turtling but when things get hot it’s a life saver. Being able to hop in to DS when you have 10% of your health left but a full bar of LF can be game-changing. It’s like having a really long block, lol.

Bhawb.7408:

Press the tab button, try clicking. I play MM and face other MMs, even with 12 little craps running around on the screen I manage to target the other MM just fine by clicking them.

You can place the blame on me for choosing to use a laptop but I play with a mousepad. Clicking on my enemies or clicking my skills (as some people do) is extremely unconventional.
So although yes it’s my fault for not using an actual mouse I still feel the targeting system in this game is bad. Unless your enemy stealths or moves out of range you shouldn’t ever drop target on them once you’ve gotten it. All people have to do is move to my side or back and I have to re-target which is very clunky in combat regardless of whether you play with a regular mouse or a mousepad like I do.

It is kind of poorly designed but I still enjoy it very much. As a conditionmancer I don’t get a whole lot of utility out of it but the longer you play a Necromancer the more you learn neat little tricks.
Being a conditionmancer, I’m traited heavily in to Curses. One of the minor’s being Furious Demise which grants me Fury on entering DS. I’m also traited to cast Enfeeble when entering DS, which means when near my enemy I’ll quickly bounce in and out of DS for AOE bleed/weakness as well as Fury to proc more bleeds with my Barbed Precision and Sigil Of Earth.
This is just an example mind you, but I’m just saying that although yes, if untraited to specifically improve the function of DS, it’s not very effective, you can still use the benefits DS gives instead of using DS itself.
… This makes more sense in my head than it does on paper. Anyway it’s like saying; a butterknife might not seem dangerous because it’s not sharp, but in the right hands it can still kill someone.

@ shadowpass; I was comparing the fact that Death Shroud and Life Force are our special mechanics. All professions have a unique mechanic to them and ours is the only one that is knocked back to 0 and is also difficult to regain if we don’t have the proper utility to do so. Where as all other professions such as Warrior and Adrenaline for example, can regain their special mechanic with ease regardless of their weapon choice or trait points.

@ Neko; Thank you! I’ll have to try this out. I use a very customized build that, although very effective in combat, has a major flaw I can’t work around, which is constantly having 0 LF. It’s not a problem in WvW or PvE because there are always things dying nearby so I never have to worry about it. But in tPvP I hardly ever reach even 50% LF, so I have to be really careful about how I spend it.

Zach.3264:

MM is extremely easy to play because of how bad the target system is in this game.

Exactly.
I have no trouble defeating people who have only one pet, or are just on their own. But anyone who has 2 or more pets, MM’s, Mesmers, Thieves with their 2 extra Thief buddies, Spirit Rangers, etc. are so difficult to nail down because even if you tab-target all day you’re constantly dropping target whether you like it or not. Drives me up the kitten wall.

This is just IMHO, but does anyone else agree it’s kind of silly we start with 0 LF in PvP? Not all of us are spec’d, nor using weapons, that allow us to regain LF fast. With my current set up I rarely make it over 50% because most, if not all actually… Of my LF is gained from deaths, none from weapon or trait skills. I’m not saying we should start with a full bar. Just that what ever we have currently in our bar shouldn’t be pushed back to 0 when the match begins.
I don’t think Thieves start with no Initiative… And I don’t think Rangers start with dead pets… | :

With full Rabid, armor, weapons and accessories, I like to use a Superior Sigil Of Strength in my offhand weapon with a Superior Sigil Of Earth in my main. Earth in my Scepter and Strength in my Dagger.
With lots of precision, you’ll be getting plenty of might stacks. And if you have as many buffs as I like to have (Applied Strength, Applied Fortitude, Rare Veggie Pizza, Master Tuning Crystal, Corruption), Might will make your condition damage pretty much nuke anyone you cross paths with. Especially considering your Might gain will stack almost as frequently as your Bleeds. You’ll be on the squishy side, but being a Necromancer you’ll still be more durable than most.

What I find amusing is that you can speak with the offending team through /say, /map or what ever else, while in WvW you can’t even see the offending servers character names let alone talk to them. I would consider PvP a lot more competitive and with higher potential for abusive commentary than WvW. Especially when you consider you’re going to be fighting the same small group of people for an extended period of time, where as in WvW, someone kills you and you may not see them again for a week.

As for the people spewing insults at you and your team, just ignore them… It’s a game. Some people need to learn that. I’m guilty of cussing out my opponents on more than a few occasions because I have a short temper (which goes back to my saying it makes no sense you’re able to speak to the other team), but for those who have been ordering around the team or insulting certain individuals, I either block or humor them.
You can’t reason with ignorance. Fight fire with fire if you so choose to object to someone who is insulting you and be as ignorant as they. Sometimes all they need is a look in the mirror to calm themselves down.

@ Those saying condition builds require no skill.. Lol.
What, kiting doesn’t take effort but standing eye to eye and mashing away at people does? It’s two sides of the same coin… Neither are particularly skillful, end of story. It’s a flaw with the games design in that player versus player combat is very hazy when it comes to defining what’s skilled and what isn’t.
Either way I stand by my previous statement. Crit damage nerf = well deserved. You probably rolled a zerk in the first place because conditions weren’t as good, now you’re going to roll a condition build because zerk isn’t as good… Adapt and stop crying nerf or we’ll all eventually be wearing foam helmets and throwing bubblewrap at each other.

Because nothing in this game is as satisfying to me as stripping people of their defenses when they need it most.

Corrupt Boon, Well Of Corruption, Spinal Shivers (both focus #5 and trait), Dark Path (Path Of Corruption trait which converts 2 boons in to conditions) and Unholy Feast. All of which you can have in your possession at any given time. Meaning none of these are too much for your utility bar, weapon slots or traits.
This is just IMO of course, but as I said nothing is more satisfying to me than going “oh, what’s that? I see you have Stability.. Now it’s Fear!” -Maniacal laugh-.

That, and Necromancer is just a durable profession. Of all the professions that can build for high DPS (Berserker), Necromancer still has the highest vitality and can still stand a few slaps to the face even full glass. The only downside to Necromancer that I’ve ever found is that we have no way to disengage from a fight, but if you choose your battles carefully (speaking from a WvW/PvP perspective) it rarely proves to be an issue. On top of that, running is too mainstream anyway. I personally enjoy staying with the fight until only one of us is standing. So for me at least, Necromancer is, and as far as I’m concerned given that I’ve tried every profession, always will be, my favorite profession.

I noticed this as well. A few weeks ago I felt like maxing out my Fear durations so I could be extra annoying and Fear people to death in WvW (yes, I was trying to troll but failed). Unfortunately after getting everything in line I noticed that even with all circumstances being as in my favor as possible the Fear’s didn’t seem to last noticeably longer. It was like maybe a half second to a second longer | :

I have no sympathy what so ever for people complaining about this. Critical damage nerfs = well deserved.

\o/ ! More QQ ! If it’s not one thing it’s another. Oh well, I’ll melt ya on the battlefield.

Either way I absolutely love it personally. Path Of Corruption is also great. I personally love stripping my opponents of their defenses and a big part of the reason I love Necromancer so much is all the boon removals. Axe #3 Unholy Feast, Corrupt Boon, Focus #5 Spinal Shivers, Spinal Shivers trait and now Path Of Corruption as well. There are others of course, but these are all the ones I have available to me at any given time with my current build. Which, with the addition of Path Of Corruption, means boon removals/conversions for daaaaayssss <3. I’m so happy with the new additions !

Anyone else love this new trait as much as I do? I get so much return for conditions applied I’m actually feeling like it’ll end up getting nerfed.

Cogbyrn.7283:

This sounds like a lag issue. I’ve never had a situation where Fear wouldn’t have gone off at all, unless maybe the enemy has Quickness (which is highly unlikely these days).

In either case, Necro downed state is a strong competitor for the worst downed state in the game, so unless it’s sPvP and there’s a team involved where I might be able to help myself get back up by buying a bit of time, I just usually sit there and do nothing until I get stomped. As a WvW roamer, for most intents and purposes I might as well just not have a downed state.

Pretty much. Although I’ve experienced the Fear being a bit delayed I haven’t had it to quite the degree OP is explaining here. Still, a longer Fear duration would be great if any alterations were to be made at all.
And on the subject of having a horrible downed state, 100% true. Although the siphoning can be handy for sustaining yourself until someone comes to save you, it’s extremely rare it proves useful. And unless you’re a condition build, which not every Necromancer is even if a lot of them are, Fetid Ground won’t do very impressive damage.

Make tower/keep walls thicker to more easily avoid AOE bombs when standing on them and using siege on them.

Make maps roughly twice the size of EotM without changing the current player limit per-map (meaning approximately 80 – 100 per server). Massive maps with few people will force teams to split up. One massive blob cannot cross the map quickly enough to effectively take the lead, meaning small groups would be much more logical.

Players respawn automatically after being spiked.

Allow commander’s a function similar to the “join squad” action, but instead allowing them to hide their pin from selected individuals. Also adding a feature which makes all siege placed by a commander glow a dim white, thus allowing those following to differentiate between which siege has been placed by the commander and which hasn’t.

Having one of those “F**k I love Necromancer!” moments <3

I want one. Like the Champion Engineer in Edge Of The Mists has. Vacuum Turret + Thumper Turret = launch and pull for daaayss.

Too many thieves in a ZvZ, there’s your problem.

I’m not arguing with the + condition duration foods being OP because I can completely understand the reasoning for them being considered so. However, even if you spec completely in to a tree which gives extra duration, you end up with only a maximum of 30%. With specific runes, maybe a maximum of 50%? So, I think what the food is trying to balance out is that you can’t reach 100% duration without it. Where as with power or critical chance builds (eg. berserker) you can reach 100%.
Again, not disagreeing, because without specing in to a tree which gives extra condition duration, I can immediately have +40% duration just by consuming a food.

Either way, as many have said here on the forums time and again, you can’t blame the people who decide to use these things. Just like you can’t blame a Thief for having stealth. It’s the developer’s who designed this system not the players, instead of suggesting nerfs to one specific thing, you could suggest balances to multiple things. Knocking something down slightly, and pushing something up slightly, makes for better balancing than pushing something way down while leaving another thing untouched.

I’ve never been more disappointed in this server than I am right now. I appreciate our commander’s, our server mates and our prowess on the field, but the decisions we’ve been making and actions, or lack there of, are inexcusable..
I truely hope we do well this season and I plan to come back next week to see how things have progressed. But with what has been happening this week I won’t be participating until next week.

Good luck and I hope the wise ones make calls where it counts.

Yep, yep. To those saying Necro is amazing in WvW I completely agree. We may have to sacrifice a utility slot in order to have sufficient mobility but it’s not a hindrance to do so. Signet of The Locust or Spectral Walk are both great in their own respect. Speed in a fight, especially if you’re kiting people, can make a huge difference.
We have a ton of condition cleanses and transfers, hit like a semi on jet fuel if we’re spec’d for power, can melt through high armor low vitality opponents in seconds if condition build, and my personal favorite, we can strip boons like crazy.
Necro’s aren’t exactly “optimal” in PvE, but not many professions are. And we can still provide some awesome DPS given we know what we’re doing. But to say a Necromancer is in any way lacking in WvW or even PvP means only that you need more practice. But come the day you, or anyone else, gets a good understanding of what to use and when, you’ll be an absolute powerhouse. Necromancers are kitten near top of the food chain in WvW, we might not have many ways to chase our opponents down if they decide to run but personal experience has shown me that most people don’t get the chance to run.

jpersson.7368:

I’ve started to grow tired of the “condition meta/op” rants. Let me first state I run both as condition and power necro, as well as other classes.

1) WvW is not, first and foremost, a 1v1 arena, and I seriously doubt 1v1 balance in WvW is high on the game designers’ priority list.

2) Conditions are strong in small fights, but that’s about it.

3) Of all the damage I receive in WvW, I don’t think half of it stems from conditions.

Now… I’ve had thieves surprising me out of nowhere, landing some devastating combinations and I’ve dueled thieves who knew how to counter necro:s. They get my respect and if we party up, it’s always on friendly terms.

I’ve also fought brash thieves with predictable movement, announcing their presence, happily walking in my marks/wells and trying to out-tank me. If I party up with them I know I’ll be called cheesy.

Who would you listen to?

I can tell similar tales about other encounters, but you get my drift. I don’t think I’ve ever been called cheesy by a seasoned roamer.

Edit: gramma

Good to know, and also very true. I suppose I’m a bit too concerned with what others think in a place where people fight to kill not for respect. So although for the most part I certainly don’t feel bad when defeating someone, I do sometimes question just how many people realize I would be effective with or without a relatively meta build.
Either way, I’ll continue to do what I’m doing as it’s what I enjoy. Conditions suck in PvE, are difficult to manage in large scale fights, and have their place in small scale fights. But as a solo roamer, I find more often than not they serve me more than well in my encounters. So I’ll just hope they don’t get nerfed any further, and look forward to having to put more effort in to condition stacking when Dhuumfire is placed as a Death Shroud ability. Because as is, I can honestly say I enjoy successfully getting off a rotation on someone that I’ve put a lot of practice in to mastering. One more step in that rotation will just make the reward feel even better ( :

Use your LF wisely, use your fears wisely, and cripple opponents as often as you’re able.
LF is valuble, don’t sit in Death Shroud for lengthy periods of time unless it’s an emergency and don’t throw around random fears. Save them for when they have no stability/you have remove their stability and/or they are low health. I use Signet of The Locust, which I absolutely hate using because that slot could be put to much better use, but it helps with mobility. And unless an opponent decides to disengage very early in the fight when I’m not at all expecting it, people rarely have the chance to run.

Not scrutinizing you or saying L2P, just giving some tips on how you can prevent being left in the dust. But in regards to having 0 LF yeah, without any Life Force a Necro is extremely vulnerable. It’s like a Thief without initiative or a Mesmer without clones. Which again brings me back to, utilize your LF wisely. Sip don’t gulp!

Thank you for your responses, I think I’ll keep doing what I’m doing despite the hate. As I’ve said, I’ve had about the same success with fights on other professions so although I am using Dhuumfire, I can’t say it’s my crutch for winning these encounters.
I’m currently working on a power set so I’ll eventually be able to rotate depending on my mood. But conditions will always have a special place in my heart : 3.

Also, D/P Thief, PU Mes and as far as I could tell an average Guardian were the ones that told me conditions are OP, so.. For most of them I couldn’t help but saying “and you have any room to talk?”
So I totally agree with you, oZii. People will hate me either way so I suppose it doesn’t matter what build I run. Sometimes I think I get more hate for all my boon removals than anything. I’ve gotten stripping them down to a science so I’m constantly taking peoples defenses away. Especially Guards or Lyssa rune Thieves ~ Corrupt Boon = one mad and/or dead opponent.

oZii.2864:

I told Wolfineer (popular youtube engineer) that not running perplexity runes wins you no points when you know they are the best runes to run. There is no honor in roaming in WvW every class complains about the others roaming builds. If a person doesn’t like you because your running perplexity the chances are he doesn’t like you because your running conditions anyway. You not running perplexity just maybe means he likes you a little more then the perplexity person but he still doesn’t like you.

He probably only knows that your not running perplexity if you announce it to him anyway. That’s how I feel about dhuumfire if it never existed people would still complain about necros. Even if the trait was made so bad nobody would run it anymore people would still complain about necros.

Look at the balance forums people say Necro’s OP they don’t say I hate dhuumfire necros but love non-dhuumfire necros. Nobody mentions power necro’s as if they don’t exist it’s just all necros are OP. Most of the condition whines aren’t even targeted at dhuumfire specifically some people want all conditions nerfed.

90% of my encounters in WvW I win. Some with struggle, most with relative ease. For the longest time, Mesmer’s were a problem for me. But after enough practice they’ve officially been crossed off my list for threatening professions.
I’m full condition damage, 0 physical damage. I have a good deal of vitality/toughness so I can take quite a beating and can burst people down pretty fast especially if they’re still long enough for me to get off my full rotation.

Anyway, 3 times in one day… I’ve had people party me saying “conditions are OP.” I understand that they deal high damage but, should I roll a different spec to avoid being a “cheese build”? Or should I just keep doing what I’m doing | : ?

I just ask because I really don’t like to have the upper hand in fights.. I’m a duelist. I like to /bow and have casual fights if I’m given the opportunity to do so. I want to be on as even a footing with my opponent as possible even if “fair” isn’t exactly WvW’s purpose.

And for the record, I’ve played every profession and have had about as much success with winning on others as I have my Necro. Only I find Necromancer to fit a lot more comfortably with my playstyle and thus why it’s my favorite profession.

Imho, you have two good options. Another Thief, or a profession that can hold the enemies attention well. Such as a Necromancer. Necro’s don’t have any good methods of escaping combat, but if built right they can withstand a lot of punishment. And most people will try to kill the Necromancer before they kill the Thief. Which ever they choose though, it’s going to be the wrong one with that pair. Because if they try to kill you, the Thief will just keep tagging them when they’re focused on you until they’re dead. If they try to kill the Thief, you can just keep fearing them or dumping conditions on them until they’re dead.

So I’d say either go with another Thief, or go with a profession that can take a lot of punishment so your partner can go in for the kills.

Ryoki Hokishami.2756:

Elricht Kaltwind.8796:

Ryoki Hokishami.2756:

You’re not sacrificing anything. Wolf/canine pets are meta in PVP scenarios.

lol, meta. Yet another poor excuse. I do not play by “meta” and I should not be expected to in order to have a downed state as effective as everyone else’s — no other class has to play by meta just for basic survival.

And tell me how being able to fear/attack/stun an attacker is somehow worse than say, a warriors setup, who has a single stun and then must wait for vengeance, which by the time it’s ready, he will already be stomped.

Because when a warrior’s Vengeance charges they are instantly immune to execution? When a Ranger’s #3 charges they are slowly healed by a pet who can be killed and have no option to defend from execution. They are not even in the same league.

You’re just another person who doesn’t want to admit that Rangers are all about the pets, it seems. Mesmers use clones while their downed. Why is it so wrong to use pets while downed?

Right, but mesmers can stealth (which makes them invulnerable to execution for a few seconds) and teleport (which can move them to safety), and they get clones on top of that. Compare that with what you’re saying, basically that rangers need to use their pets just to get basic defensive abilities. Mesmers don’t need to use clones to achieve that.

because of the pets, rangers have the highest DPS while downed if traited for beastmastery (which I usually am in PVP modes.) Even if you’re not using a wolf, a lynx F2 while downed deals the same amount of damage, which can be substantial.

lol there is no way a ranger deals the highest DPS while downed. Some downed skills do a terrific amount of damage, including AoE damage, but ranger doesn’t have any of them. And even if pets did good damage while downed (if you want to compare with beast mastery traits you would also have to consider other classes’ trait lines that improve downed skills) pets are easily killed, negating their damage completely. Rangers’ #1 and #2 skills are among the worst downed skills in the game in regards to damage. I can experiment with the exact numbers when I get back on the game but after playing a level 80 of every class I can say that with certainty.

Rangers might not be the BEST in PVP modes, but they’re far from the worst.

They are the only ones with absolutely no way to defend themselves from executions and that makes them the worst from a pretty objective standpoint.

Why are you being so rude? really? You just want to hate Rangers, I’ve seen it before. I wasn’t even counting the output of the downed skills, mainly the output of the pet when it comes to DPS vs other downed skills. Have you seen how much damage a traited cat does, for example?

Also, pets are not “easily” killed in SPVP, if you have a brain in your head and switch them when they’re low on health.

Also, what’s wrong with thunderclap? It’s the same essentially as the warrior stun, but AOE. #1 does decent damage relatively close to most #1 downed skills like engy, except it is guarenteed to bleed.

You also missed the point of my vengeance comment. I was saying rangers can do more VS warriors up until the point where vengeance is ready, which is basically a moot point in PVP same as lick wounds because you’re likely dead by that point, barring some miracle (again, this is the same for most classes.)

Like I get the Ranger hate, I deal with it every day, but why do you WANT to hate my favorite class? Just, why exactly?

I mean I gave you tons of examples on how they can defend themselves from execution, and you go ahead and say “they have absolutely no way”, which is totally untrue, but apparently “pets dont count”, am I right? Is wolf fear somehow different from necro fear? AOE stun is apparently worse than a single target knock down? Like really, what?

And I say this as someone who loves to SPVP. Maybe you’re just talking about WVW. I don’t know. But my downed skills serve me well in SPVP, and the benefit of having a large chunk of my damage still under control while downed has won me MANY 1v1s. I have proof that it works. There is no way another classes downed skills do more damage than my downed skills +roughly 30-35% of my base damage. It’s silly to even argue this.

Stop trying to validate your opinion to someone :P. I agree with most of what you’ve said but you don’t have to prove yourself to some random person who believes Rangers suck. He’s allowed to think that if he wants.

I’ve been every profession in the game and I honestly find, by a long shot, Lick Wounds to be the best downed skill.
The pet will keep ressing you no matter what until either the pet’s dead or you are. Not only that even after the pet’s dead if you live long enough for the cooldown on Lick Wounds to wear off you can use it again and the pet will just come back to life to res you again.

So imho:

Ranger
Elementalist
Guardian
Thief
Warrior
Necromancer
Mesmer
Engineer

With all my buffs, food, Corruption stacks, Applied Strength, I get around 2,369 Condition Damage and 70% duration. I enjoy nuking people with plenty of toughness and health to boot.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vQEQRAod7Yjc00Tb5NW2wfbCZqw3A9IXwFQM6BxcMBDA-zEDBINCyoOg0CwUFQk0gk3AZSFRjtGsIasqbYKWJVHTQ2jIpBAQAYmzcoJzSBso0I-w