Guild Wars 2

My main is thief, and I hate high burst-or die thief builds. But with this patch there is literally nothing you can do. Trickster build is not too bad but ineffective, and with the richochet gone, pp builds will not be viable as they were ( numbers were already low). So there is nothing a thief can do if she wants to stay in wvw teams or spvp teams. If you slow down just for one second, a condi burst can literally kill you easily. Because you lack the necessary hp, condi cleanse and toughness. Only exceptional thing thieves have is the crooked archetypal idea of Anet about them.

I think Robin Hood would use a bloody gun if he had the chance. But if you want to focus on that aspect then give me a short bow buff. Build diversity is way worse than before.

Thoughts on the latest patch and beyond;

Conditions are powerful, yes. I am not currently playing any condi characters, but i feel that the problem is not with the power of conditions but other professions. With this latest patch, the build diversity is lessened tremendously.

Thief’s are just playing burst or die builds, because acrobatics nerfed to the extremes. Other builds are mostly around burst or die. And with the beloved richochet gone, PP thief will be history.

Mesmers and Necro’s are the stars of this patch. They will tear down everything they can. Mesmer’s should be nerfed, they were already powerful enough.

Guardians and Rangers will either go thier archetype ( bunker guardian, zerker ranger) or try condi dmg. Their condition dealing abilities are greately buffed. ( I can deal 25+ stacks of bleed in 5 seconds easily with ranger)

Warriors were already gods of the battlefield, they will be stronger than before. You should watch out for them. With the right build, neither thief nor ranger can stand more than 6 seconds.

Elementalists are also buffed to the extremes. Everyone thinks fresh air build is useless because of the bolt to the heart loss. They are wrong, and will see that i guess in one week. It is way more dangerous than before. And DD eles, well i do not need to state the obvious.

Engineers… Actually I do not have a bloody clue about engineers. Never played, never cared. So i can not talk about them.

So before the patch we have different builds. There was a “meta” in the game but we were free to choose, free to try. Now we are stuck. No creativity, no originality for us. Instead of being similar to other games, I expected something unique from the Guild Wars team, as uniqueness was their “meta” before.

I am playing a thief and I totally hated the latest patch. Thief is just “burst or die” now. With the latest changes, many thief options are not viable anymore, so you either go " zerker suicidal omg damage!" build, or you see the conditions kill you fast

But I agree, ele’s are insane right now. I was shocked really shocked when I wiped the entire are with my ele. It felt wrong somehow

Before the patch, medi guardians (gs / s-f) were the bane of rangers, and thieves were just so-so counters. After the patch, rangers got a huge buff to their damage but they have not realized it yet. Nobody I have seen is using the dangerous traits “yet”.
As a ranged weapon fan in other games, I think the Ranger in GW2 is not broken, but boring. I love my Ranger but can not stand to play with it too much. It is very easy to counter, and provides little support for the party. If you have a problem with the ranger, ask a mesmer, necro, guardian, thief, or ele to deal with it. It will be easy for them.

If you can not counter a thief, friend I have grave news… It means you lack the experience in pvp/WvW. Troll thieves aside ( with the latest patch it will be harder to play thief), countering a thief is easy. Countering a thief who focuses on stealth is easier. Reason people think thieves are easy to play and forgiving is that they either never played with thief and they are afraid, or they play “omg spam heart seeker, press pistol 4 spam spam death!” style bad thief. I was playing like that before I got experience, it is normal.

So if you think a class is too powerful, just try it in Spvp area. With the latest patch, i assure you, thief will be one of the most boring professions in the game. It will be burst or die, and with the latest changes to other professions, they will die.

ps: try retaliation buff if you can not form a good counterplay. It always hurts thieves who are not paying attention.

I would like to say something, something important.

Playing a thief is the most easiest thing in the game. You just press heartseeker mindlessly, until everyone else dies, and then they give you a trophy and the key of the city. Is it like that? Hell no.

Playing a thief is hard. It does not give you much. There are meta builds of course, as D/P, or D/D suicidal thief. But when you really like a concept, like pistols and being a gunslinger, you try to be “more” than any of your fellow thieves with meta builds. Why? because it is already hard to play with that bloody P/P build. Richochet was the only thing that helped us to survive.

So you say that the nature of the pistols are not in harmony with the richochet? Ok, i agree. Bullets do not bounce that much. But bullets “pierce”. If ANET really thinks that the “reality” of the weapon is important ( apart from a kitten ed engineer summoning a turret from his rear, or a ranger throwing a kitten greatsword, or even the Mesmer shooting phantasms from her gun) then give something back! The new traitline that is introduced is already boring enough. Just like bloody WoW. There were already too few pistol thieves. But with the latest patch, I guess thieves will be “one shot or die” only.

Before finishing my kitten long post, I would like to remind you all something. Especially to those who claim that thieves are meant to be “melee only”; " Robin Hood was a bloody THIEF.