Guild Wars 2

PookieDaWombat.6209:

OK, so new test.

I think I’ve gotten to a point with my new guardian that i know roughly what i might be dropping in gold for traits, but that’s not realistic because i have gold to burn.

So I’m pulling a wooden potatoes and doing a soft reset on my account and leaving myself without access to that gold or mats or anything else like that and going to try a new toon straight from the beginning with no bonuses except for those that are now account bound. Let’s see just how easy or fun it is for a new player.

I made a new Guardian a couple weeks ago and crafted to 80, I’ve been running the same build since. Getting the new traits is an absolute chore and having the “just buy them” option isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s also very tedious to get the skill points.

Have you tried rolling a mesmer since the trait patch?
They were the worst class to level by far before the patch. They only got good when they hit 40 and access to decent traits. The update now, has made them close to unplayable.

There are several items in the Wardrobe that cannot be obtained.

There’s also a Destroyer weapon called the Destroyer Scythe.

Lightsbane.9012:

insanemaniac.2456:

i dont understand
have you seen it in game or just in a preview
everything about the predator screams bad-kitten and imo it works excellent thematically for an engi, especially because of the fuel lines on the stock

dude. it’s a sniper rifle. our rifle is a shotgun. it’s meant for warrior.

Let’s not forget that it’s actually called a “Rifle”.
A Sniper Rifle.

I’ve been playing this build a lot. It’s insane. Engineer is probably my least played class at the moment, but it’s the only class I’ve managed to win a full 3v1 in SPvP. Turrets do crazy damage with this build, plenty of CC and a ton of boons.

With Turret set down + Elite you’re close to unkillable.

I run this build in SPvP and it absolutely amazing.
If you use all 4 venoms and then Shadow Refuge and attack your enemy with pistol 1 (stealthed) through the Dark Field it has some of the highest burst in-game and not only that, but steals an absolute ton of health.

Try it out in SPvP on a target dummy, it’s beatiful.

That’s odd. When I’m playing my P/D Thief I only see D/P.

It would help if you told us what this build was for.

If it’s WvW, then you’re not going to do too well. You lack defense and reliable condi removal.
If it’s for PvE then you really don’t need air attunement with staff at all. Fire and Water are the main ones for PvE.

It’s all about preference though. If you enjoy it, use it.

I’m certain I read they fixed the damage stacking from using teleports . Maybe this is the problem?

I definitely haven’t seen anyone using lightning flash with fiery rush in a long time.

Bo Van Swill.7619:

This i am sure is out there as a build but its what i use and it takes skill to stay alive but its the best balance i have found so far.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFQQJAoYnMISND24A+NAfEGgAQIusY4ARKIMVGA-TVjFABDcgA+TJIc7PkkShTU3ZJlcrpDAgHAwRKDIUlAM0QchWgkPhABAQAuZAQ+MczbezbezbWKAKWGB-w

I would take a Cleric amulet instead and swap out Soothing Winds for Zephyr’s boon. Those few seconds of Fury really do help.

0 2 0 6 6 fairly straight forward choices

AikijinX.6258:

S/D is horrible. Worse than P/P

Care to elaborate?

…………

• I’d like to see where you got the figures for “half the community”
• Why create another thread, when one already exists?

S/D is great in WvW. It’s lovely for zerg skipping and if you’re in zerk gear you crit upwards of 4k for many hits.

JohnnyZero.5619:

Stop running Shadow Arts traits.

Take off the training wheels.

Step into the light.

Problem solved.

Can always count on there being atleast one elitist.

Hi folks. I’ve been using the forums for quite some time now, and I’ve never been able to work out how people manage to get multiple attachments within 1 post (no edits).

It’s more than likely really easy, and I’m just being stupid.
When I go to attachments, there is only n option to add one. I need to insert one then refresh page and go to edit, then and only then does it show another line to add a further attachment.
I’ve also tried pressing Shift/Ctrl + more than one image, but it doesn’t work.

Is there something I’m missing here?

-doh-

see here
Thanks!

8/10.

I quite like the basic look. I’m not a big fan of the glasses though.

I’ve opted to look “scout” like. No robes or clunky gear. Not sure why, but for some reason this seems to work for me.

In short. No.

If you take Aquatic Benevolence you can do some seriously high heals. I’ve been playing a full healer Ele in SPvP every now and then. There’s no denying it’s really fun if you find a spot where you can free-cast.

To be honest, the blocks and reflects Gaurdians provide make them the better support.

I’d definitely play full heal Ele if you haven’t already. It’s extremely fun if you manage to find a good spot to cast from. Auto-Attack heals for a good 1k+.

I also main a Thief and have been playing Ele frequently lately. One thing I noticed is that you don’t make good use of Signet of Restoration when kiting. You should continue to attack as you will restore health.

I had this issue myself to begin with, I think it comes from playing Thief so long. Where you don’t want to break stealth by hitting anything.

You should try using this build. If you use Shadow Refuge + venoms and fire through the dark field from Shadow refuge you wouldn’t believe how much damage it does. Not only that, but you heal practically a full bar.

I still prefer full zerker D/D. You said you lost a little DPS, but you’ve lost a whopping 500 power. Not to mention you don’t crit as much on non-stealth attacks.

Stratos.9375:

You CANT go full berserker in WvW, you’ll be dying a lot. Backstab thief is not what it used to be, it is less bursty now and fights can get prolonged.

Well that’s wrong.
You CAN. I’ve been running full Zerk since I started Thief, and yes.. I’ll die to zergs or other bursty Thieves. Though, I don’t have any real problems with anyone else unless they are better than me.

You don’t need anything but Berserker.

I crafted to 80 and got a full set of Berserker gear with Scholar runes since that day. Even to this date I still do extremely well with it, and can manage to wriggle my way out of most situations that aren’t in my favour.

Thieves have access to so much heals and condi cleanse you don’t need to worry about being defensive other than the way you play (and not gear).

To be honest, It’s best you leave Conditions to Necromancer.
They can get some insane Condition duration, can apply them very fast and Epidemic is amazing for clearing trash.

I D/D + S/P in fractals.

Nope.

15characters

Sorrow’s Embrace Shoulders are probably the “heaviest” shoulders available for Medium armour type.

You don’t really need a “build”.

I play Venomshare Condi Thief and when Skyhammer crops up, I just swap out Skale Venom for Scorpion Wire.

Creating a build only for the purpose of pulling enemies through holes isn’t going to contribute much to your team.

I have noticed if you try to pull someone when the floor has disappeared it often glitches and just knocks them down. If you learn the rough time it takes for the floor to disappear and pull them just before, it tends to work. If you want to seal the deal, then pop Basilisk Venom beforehand for the stun.

I just asked someone in SPvP why they play Meta build and not make their own build and the reply I got was;

“WHY WOULD I NOT PLAY META <innapropriate name here>?”

Why do these people even play the game? Where’s the fun in taking the game seriously and just copying everyone else. Some people genuinely forget that games are for enjoyment….

Good looking guide. Not to be mean, but you made me giggle a few times when you called Shadow Refuge “Shadow Refugee”

To be honest, I think it should. As much as I hate when it happens, it gives people one less thing to complain about saying we are overpowered.

I’m not quite sure why you would want to do this opposed to just Backstabbing. Much less effort and time consuming.

Though, I suspect this is a “troll” thread. AKA stupid thread.

You’re right. The build is really good, however.. if you make a mistake you get punished very badly for it. For this build to work properly, you need to be very good at it. Anyone who has taken the time to learn it and become good with it. I say hats off to them.

I’ve tried it, and I immediately missed my 6 points in Shadow Arts.

I’m by no means an elitist nor do I believe myself to be better than X person. Though, I play a standard full zerker DPS build either with D/D or S/D. Both of which are extremely easy to solo with.

If you’re D/D it’s just a case of burning your targets down 1 by 1, making sure to stealth often to lose cripple/heal up.
If you’re X/P then ofcourse lure your melee mobs over to ranged and Black Powder on them.
S/D again, just burn targets down and stealth for heals/condi loss. S/D is great for interrupting mob heals, not to mention the dodges.

I also tend to switch to Dagger Storm and run into the middle of the group. Does a good amount of damage and in most case will make your ranged mobs use their heal at low health if not killing them completely. From there it’s just a case of burning them down quickly and getting the easy melee mobs.

I definitely wouldn’t create a build to purposely capture camps and hinder your performance in roaming.

If they use DS then just stealth up. When you’re about to come out of stealth you can re-stealth immediately after by using Cloak and Dagger again (avoiding the revealed debuff so long as you don’t break stealth by hitting). Let their DS tick down, or if they come out of it you have several seconds before they can enter again.

Thief is great for harassing, some times you’re better off knocking their health down bit by bit rather than trying to all in one go.

I’d love a staff of any sort on a Thief.

I used to play Assassin with a staff and Deadly Arts, it looked so funky :’)
Guildwars 1 ofcourse.

Cufufalating.8479:

Because they are annoying. You cant play the way you normally do against thieves because either they spend half the fight in stealth or half the fight way out of range shadowstepping about with the sword. In a 1v1 situation its very hard to overwhelm a thief with enough CC to actually pin them down and get enough damage into them before they disappear off agai.

They are just.. annoying to fight, and it makes people frustrated, which is then compounded if they lose so they come and call OP, when what they mean is “I hate them”.

This is pretty much it.
Basically every other class is just a case of out-damage them. When you’re against a thief you need to play tactically. Guess where they are in stealth (put yourself in their shoes, where would you move to?). Dodge/evade when you think they are going to open from stealth. It’s all about playing tactically and a spot of luck on your side aswell.

MrSimpleMan.6194:

Zach.3264:

The build you have linked is full ascended, do you have this?
If not, a build showing EXACTLY what you run may be a bit more helpful. Even if you use cheaper food etc.

EDIT: I have amended the traits to something I personally use.
Build

Has good condi clear through stealth, good fury uptime and a ton of stealth heals.

The key to Thief is either stealth or evades. D/D is stealth based. In this case, you want to stealth often to clear conditions, stack might, heal and give you the advantage of re-opening.

Thank you I’m going to those traits a try right away! Guess this is more of a defensive setup, where I’ll be giving away a bit of damage for a way to clear condis and sustain. Should be a fair trade. Thanks again

e: are you using full zerk as well or valkyrie with zerk amulets (i know thats a popular gear setup)

e2: would you say 2 points in trickery is worth it as opposed to this : http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQJAoYlsMp0pdPxyJ8PNBNBtdFGeI4uGrYGaFAA-TFCFwA61DA4BAcVJISleCOBAOVGUb/BVq/QKArWGB-w

I crafted my Thief to 80 in a day and have been using full berserker since. It still works a charm

Apologies ye, I’ve been using Condi build recently and forgot I don’t use that in my Power one. This is the exact build I use for D/D

The build you have linked is full ascended, do you have this?
If not, a build showing EXACTLY what you run may be a bit more helpful. Even if you use cheaper food etc.

EDIT: I have amended the traits to something I personally use.
Build

Has good condi clear through stealth, good fury uptime and a ton of stealth heals.

The key to Thief is either stealth or evades. D/D is stealth based. In this case, you want to stealth often to clear conditions, stack might, heal and give you the advantage of re-opening.

As long as you have a sigil on one of your weapons you will keep the stacks. The stacks do not carry over when you enter water, or leave water however.

Because Thieves are built for 1v1. When people die to a Thief in a 1v1 they think they are overpowered. Though, in group play Thieves provide no where near as much help as other classes do.

It happens a lot.
Someone like a Warrior who is playing a part-damage part-tank build, they get picked off by a Thief and come on forum complaining the class is broken. Some of them are funny though.

I’m not entirely sure the scoreboard is at fault here. I haven’t even bothered to check the score sheet at the end of a match in a very long time.

Full berserker is all you need.
(not even joking).

I’ve been running full zerk from day 1 and it still works a charm. Some people like to play Valkyrie and take the 100% crit from stealth trait, but in my opinion berserker is far better.

To get those stats you claim to have, you must have seriously low Power and Ferocity.

If what you say it true, then he was using cheats.
To only lose 20% health he must have avoided the brunt of the damage in some manner, whether that be evade/dodge/immune.

This thread started out great, until about halfway through where you’re basically saying Thief are godclass.
Thieves are made for 1v1/small group. Why are you complaining that you died in this scenario when you said yourself that your build is for group play?

By all means go play a Thief, but you won’t be able to do much in a zerg, unlike Warriors can.

All I can suggest is go make a 1v1 build and learn your class and you’ll eventually even out. In my opinion, the outcomes of most fights on Gw2 all boil down to how good the user is with their class, and not the class its’self.

No Thief hits “20k in 1 go”. So, unless you have some figures we can work from then I wouldn’t suggest complaining about the class in their own forum.

You wouldn’t be happy if I made a thread in Warrior forum saying something along the lines of..

“OMG a Warrior just sneaked up on me, used Shield Bash then Hundred Blades and killed me in 1 second!?!? BROKEN CLASS”

Or how about I mention Warriors infinite pool of CC?

Please..

Stompy.1387:

Next up, you say that he killed you in exactly six seconds.. How do you know this so precisely? Either you have a video of the fight (which I’d like to see) or you must have stood there calmly counting the seconds of the fight while he was killing you.. Which might explain why he killed you so quickly, if you just stood there.

Knows he died in “precisely 6 seconds”.
Doesn’t know what he died from.

Seems legit, yes?

style.6173:

Zach.3264:

apocom.3172:

Zach.3264:

NinjaEd.3946:

I’d say nerf ally vision before nerfing HS. I get where you’re coming from, since I see thieves doing this all the time and often dying. Doesn’t mean nerf the skill, its just bad players making bad decisions.

Yes, and to encourage bad players to get better and spread into different builds. Maybe the best course of action is for Anet to push them in the right direction by altering their beloved HS spam.

It really can’t be as terrible as some people are making it out to be, otherwise no one would bother using it.

You realise that this threads tend people to spam hs? Because some people cannot find their dodge key and so they think that hs is op.

Srsly, I think I can beat a hs spammer with a warrior, guardian, engi, thief without even moving.

…………..

I give up.. having to keep repeating myself.

Maybe it should be a hint to you that you are wrong. As others have told you, HS spam isn’t really effective against anything other than the worst players. When above 50% health, a HS doesn’t do much more damage than a regular auto attack. So, if someone wants to HS spam, let them. They are an easy kill.

Think about it this way…. would you rather someone sit there auto attacking you and still have a full initiative pool, or someone spam HS, and be out of initiative?

I’m giving my opinion, how can I be wrong?
Also, did you even bother to read the thread?

Not once have I said that HS is good/bad/whatever. I’ve said (several times now) that I still see countless people spamming it for whatever reason they may have.

If I’m in SPvP and I have someone on my team who thinks it’s a good idea to do that, no.. I shouldn’t just sit there and “let them” do it (although in the end it’s up to them). I’ll ask them to look into a proper build where they can be of use to the team.

Let’s look it from another perspective. When I roam in WvW I want good fights, not fights I can tell right away that I’m going to win.
I don’t want a fight where a Thief will just HS spam me. I want a Fight where I have to actually put effort in.

I’m not sure what your preferences are (or many others on this thread) but if you like free kills, that’s entirely up to you.

You can sugar coat it all you like. Say what YOU like using it for. However.. at the end of the day, it’s really not suited for D/D.

Maugetarr.6823:

Zach.3264:

dylan.5409:

The denial is strong in this thread lol
Its a strong ability, too strong imo for an auto target with so many extras (leap finisher, high damage under 25%, gap closer)
Thieves have enough on demand burst, they can be stressful to fight against, they dont need extra burst

I wonder how long it takes for someone to reply now with “if you die to HS you’re bad, I never die to HS because I’m amazing!”

Or something along those lines.

How about something to the effect of HS does less DPS than autoattack above 50% health, about equivalent between 50% and 25% and superior damage only below 25%. This means that if someone is dying to HS at above 25%, they would be dying even faster against just autoattack. Meanwhile, the thieves spamming HS at the higher levels of health could be saving their initiative for more effective uses.

HS should not be changed because above 25% it fills the role of utility with a leap finisher and gap closer. Below that it fills the role of a player finisher. Spamming it outside of these 2 cases us a waste of initiative, but it’s not the role of the game to spoonfeed you that fact, just like it doesn’t stop eles from using blast finishers if they didn’t put down a field to finish. Nerfing this skill just to show newer players how/when to use this skill just nerfs the utility side of it for potentially speeding up someone’s learning curve is a bad idea.

You should be allowed to use it as a leap and a gap closer. I don’t think you should be able to spam it though.
Making it cost slightly more may also put an end to the “perma stealth thieves are op”

The only con to my Thief build in my opinion is lack of stun break.

SaintSnow.6593:

Yes the steal bundles do counter the class. Most warriors run longbow as it’s the best pvp item so whirl’s reflect counters that entirely making the fight much easier. Throw gunk stacks condis onto engi’s which have a hard time sustaining against (and can crit procing your air and fire sigils if you’re running them). Healing seed is so kitten good it helps with anything with that condi clear and prolonged water field. I can go on but it’s a fairly simple concept.
Yes what I stated you have to trait for but honestly, what build doesn’t trait for it? All current meta builds do and always have in the past since it’s too good to pass up.
Long story short, steal is perfectly fine and doesn’t need buffs. I myself don’t mind it but most of the pvp community believes it’s actually a bit too powerful still.
In all honesty this potential list is full of ridiculously overpowered traits. Got to think on more realistic terms.

I’m sorry, but I’d like to see some evidence of “most warriors use longbow”.
If anything, they use it for the root, fire field and blast. I can’t say I’ve seen many Warriors using it as a primary weapon.
Oh, and it’s not difficult to weapon swap from bow to primary when you’re being reflected regardless.

Healing Seed may be good, yes. However, it doesn’t necessarily counter Ranger like you said. It just helps a great deal.

Again, Slow Gunk is great for the Chaos bubble, but it doesn’t “counter” Engi in my opinion. It’s very easily avoidable because it’s such a slow projectile.

I won’t deny that they help a great deal, but I wouldn’t go quite as far as saying they counter the class stolen from.

dylan.5409:

The denial is strong in this thread lol
Its a strong ability, too strong imo for an auto target with so many extras (leap finisher, high damage under 25%, gap closer)
Thieves have enough on demand burst, they can be stressful to fight against, they dont need extra burst

I wonder how long it takes for someone to reply now with “if you die to HS you’re bad, I never die to HS because I’m amazing!”

Or something along those lines.

apocom.3172:

Zach.3264:

NinjaEd.3946:

I’d say nerf ally vision before nerfing HS. I get where you’re coming from, since I see thieves doing this all the time and often dying. Doesn’t mean nerf the skill, its just bad players making bad decisions.

Yes, and to encourage bad players to get better and spread into different builds. Maybe the best course of action is for Anet to push them in the right direction by altering their beloved HS spam.

It really can’t be as terrible as some people are making it out to be, otherwise no one would bother using it.

You realise that this threads tend people to spam hs? Because some people cannot find their dodge key and so they think that hs is op.

Srsly, I think I can beat a hs spammer with a warrior, guardian, engi, thief without even moving.

…………..

I give up.. having to keep repeating myself.