(edited by ipan.4356)
The reason I went for precision is that I wanted to work Sigil of Generosity into my defense.
But I agree – the dmg. isn’t quite good enough.
Anet talks about build diversity, but I don’t see it in the game.
Two solutions:
Retool the Ranger so that it’s possible to create pet-independent builds, or
Tone down the power of pets slightly, and make them unkillable.
I play a 10/30/30/0/0 build with D/D and P/D.
Assassin’s gear and full set of Grove or Monk for the Healing Power.
I wanted to use Signet of Malice, so the idea was to nearly max out healing power, and heal through AoE DB’s most of the time – the heal I get from hitting a crowd with DB is only second to Dagger Storm – which I also use.
I used to put 10 pts. into Trickery, for extra initiative (in addition to being an Executioner, I also put pts. into flanking, x-tra init, and init on skill 1) – this was to facilitate more DB spam. I even tried init on stealth, but I didn’t use CnD as much so I switched that out.
Prob was, I wasn’t hitting hard enough, so I put those 10 trickery pts. into Power instead and saw some improvement.
Works real good in PVE, but I don’t consider the Thief a PvP class, unless you want to play the cookie cutter build, so I avoid it.
Does anyone have a good D/D Signet of Malice build?
I use the Longbow simply to deal some extra dmg to melee users who are closing with me – as soon as they are in range, I swap to Sword/Warhorn and go toe to toe.
Since there’s this gap between when they reach me and when I can hit them, I figure why not do some damage along the way – that’s what the LB is to me.
Change pounce so that it only causes you to leap if your target is out of range of the weapon – as long as you could still hit the target without pouncing (i.e., target is in melee range), then pounce doesn’t trigger.
Think of it like the 3rd attack in the chain actually has two possibilities – a strike (maybe with a little evasion thrown in), and a pounce which triggers when your target moves away from you.
More condition removal and stun breaks built into every weapon set.
TU is really, really good, but I’d like to seem some reworking scaling it with Healing POwer a little better.
Pets will always be broken, because artificial intelligence isn’t advanced enough yet. There’s nothing Anet can do, except give us options to build our Rangers without pet dependency (something I already do).
I run around with a Snow Owl and a White Raven just for show. The little bit of autoattack dmg they do is a nice bonus, I suppose, and when I really have nothing else to do I’ll press F2 or maybe swap them around a bit – but for the most part, I ignore my pets because the control system for them is completely screwed, and always will be.
You can’t fix pets until someone creates an extremely advanced AI and that is a few years away.
In the meantime, how about making Rangers more independent of their pets?
I love the idea of increasing the bows range.
I play Long Bow/Sword-Warhorn, and I have a lot of fun. I use a lot of birds. Call Owl, Hunter’s Call, my Snow Owl and my White Raven.
I have lots of birds. It’s lovely, and the evasion of Sword is nice (I tried Dagger, but I really missed Hunter’s Call, so I switched back).
I use Sword/Warhorn, and I don’t use autoattack at all.
In fact, my skill rotation hardly uses Skill 1 (sometimes I will when I’m just screwing around killing trash).
My utilities are Viper’s Nest, Call Owl (I’m a Norn), and I switch off between Signet of the Hunt and Signet of the Wild.
I use Warhorn to soften people up at a distance, while I’m closing for a Serpent’s Strike and Hornet’s Sting. At range, I can Call Owl, then Hunter’s Call, then Call of the Wild as I close in.
Or, I start with LB barrages, switch to Sword/Warhorn as they close to me, and go through the rotation.
By the time I’m done, Serpent’s Strikes, Viper’s Nest, Hornet’s Sting, Call Owl, Hunter’s Call all recharge – so, realistically, I am never really forced to use autoattack.
Sometimes, I swing just cuz I’m fighting a trash mob that’s so easy it doesn’t matter. But, if I don’t want to, I never work Skill 1 into my rotation.
Rogues have always been the bane of MMOs.
They are not meant for group games – Rogues are inherently a solo class.
Play a Warrior.
I used to play a Witch Elf in WAR and, of course, I played a Rogue in WoW.
Naturally, I wanted to main a Thief in GW2 – the Rogue archetype has always been my favorite kind of character to play.
Thinking about all the problems I encountered with Rogues and Witch Elves, and now Thieves, I realize it’s always the same, no matter what game it is:
This class is not meant to fight in the front lines.
The Rogue/Thief/Assassin/Witch Elf is a SOLO class. Everything about the class is meant to be solo (or at best, with a small group, as in dungeon play).
You skulk in the shadows. You try to take your opponent down in a flurry from which they cannot recover, then retreat until you can reposition yourself for the next kill.
You don’t work in a sustained fight, if you could, you would be a Warrior or a Guardian.
Anet has two choices: leave the Thief forever broken, and unusable in PvP, or modify them until they are more like another class that is actually good at fighting on the front lines: the Warrior.
IN which case, you might as well play a Warrior.
Everything about the playstyle of a Thief screams solo, but PvP is NOT solo – it’s a group fight, a grand melee. The Thief simply doesn’t belong there.
I suppose Anet could redesign the PvP environment itself, adding elements that are exclusively meant for the Thief (example: there used to be talk about rappelling for Thieves – what happened?) but this introduces problems of it’s own – either you have to wait for a Thief to get there, or you don’t really need that particular thing done anyway, in which case it’s trivial.
Let’s face it – the Thief is kinda fun for PvE, but in the end, it will never be a PvP class because PvP is inherently group oriented, and the Thief – in our very nature, the core of our being – are a SOLO class.
I have a similar build, but I trait for initiative regen traits and flanking as well as precision.
Something like this:
With a Sigil of Generosity for condition removal.
One thing that I think the devs overlooked is tying more traits directly to the amount of initiative you have.
And maybe making initiative a more valuable resource on it’s own.
For example, Critical Haste’s bonus could be based on the amount of initiative you have in your pool, instead of a static bonus.
Initiative could give a chance to dodge (independent of any traits) – giving all Thieves a natural defense built right in, as they are so squishy.
I was quite surprised to find out how often Anet reuses models.
Everywhere I go in Tyria, it’s Skelks, Drakes, Moas, Bandits, Harpy’s, and Undead.
There are so few kinds of monsters and animals in Tyria.
Please make more.
Many more.
Like 10 times more.
I believe that the Healing Power attribute (Compassion?) should be paired with Precision instead of Toughness.
This would allow for more diverse builds, since if I want to stack Healing Power really high, I am forced to give up something offensive.
By pairing Healing Power with an offensive trait (I suppose it could also be paired with Power – I just chose Precision because I prefer crits and on-crit runes, like Generosity) I can take it – or Toughness – while still getting some offensive power.
In fact, let’s extend this argument to every defensive trait for the Thief:
All of them should be paired with an offensive trait.
Vitality should be paired with either condition dmg or condition duration. Power should be paired with toughness or healing power, as should precision.
Here’s a link to the build (I didn’t fill out any of the armor – just weapons and traits):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgEQRAsf7clwzyrnQTgGf9IhJF923oUgdvT6hpV9rB-w
I started playing a Sword/Torch and Scepter/Sword build that I’ve been having incredible fun with in PvE, but haven’t really tested it in sPvP or WvW yet.
The Phants die, but in addition to the health signet and trait, I also took reduced cooldown on Torch skills, so my Phant mage refreshes faster.
I don’t think the placement of all the traits and skills were intended for an entirely Phant build – so I have some other things up my sleeve, and don’t rely 100% on Phants.
Skill 2 on Scepter (forget the name – block, torment) and I use Skill 4 on off hand Sword (some kind of counterspell – summons a clone if I block, daze if I fire it) along with the interrupt traits.
So, in addition to good Phants (extra life, reduced dmg to me, increased dmg), I also have counterspells, distortion (main hand sword skill 2), invisibility (Prestige), and lots of Torment stacks.
I also use Runes of Torment, for the AoE Torment on Heal.
Also, the Scepter has a Confusion causing skill (3 I believe) that goes along rather well with the Torment.
I guess, its a hybrid build.
But, the solution I found to Phants not living as long, was to diversify and not rely on them 100% of the time, as much as I love my Swordsman and my Mage.
(edited by ipan.4356)
There’s a couple problems with DB.
Rather than being limited to 3 targets, it should hit everything that you physically hit with it, making it a much better melee attack (and it would also sync better with Signet of Malice/Healing Power).
The animation causes a pause right before lift off, and also on dismount. If you are trying to “strafe” crowds with DB (which is what melee condition dmg ought to be – it’kitten and run, the running part being where they bleed out as you run to safety), then it would be better if you could perform DB without missing a step. In other words, if I activate DB while running, my character should maintain momentum in whatever direction I am moving without pause – without missing a step.
The evade should be a little longer, like 1/2 sec or 3/4 sec. Because when you’re a squishy Thief, and you’re up close, you’re supposed to be slippery and “dodge” all the time. This of course is the intent behind the 1/4 evade already on DB, it’s just not enough.
It needs to be designed so that it is good, but different, depending on whether you put points into power or precision. It kind of is, already. If I am stacking precision, then the three hits increase my chance of getting a crit. With power, each of those three hits do more dmg. This concept needs to be explored further, perhaps by adding some effect (another stack of bleed, a cripple, something) based on crit, and something else based on power……don’t really have any specific suggestions here, other than it should be useful either way, but work a little differently.
Maybe it should reflect projectiles.
Signet of Malice should be a little more powerful, because it would work really well with DB (lots of hits = lots of heals).
Why not create a solo version of each of the dungeons in the game, with reduced rewards?
I prefer to play with friends and family, so while I do enjoy groups, I almost never look for random strangers to play with.
The people I do play with, aren’t always available, so it’s rare that I ever get to play a dungeon (I have 6 chars, 1 80, 1 60, and the rest 40+) and I’ve only played a dungeon once this entire time.
If dungeons had an alternative solo mode, I’d at least get to experience them when my friends are too busy to play.
Seriously, I don’t know why no one has filed a lawsuit yet.
$50 for a completely unusable product.
My girlfriend (I play on a PC) want a refund Anet.
Either Healing Power in general, or Signet of Malice ought to be improved slightly.
Currently, to make the Signet work at all (and it’s debatable how good it is even with 30 pts. in Shadow Arts and Apothecary gear) you have to sacrifice nearly everything else.
Perhaps pair healing power with precision, or increase the amount of health healed slightly.
One of the reasons I play D/D Thief is for the acrobatic fluidity of the D/D skills.
However, I noticed something that interrupts my flow when using DB and HS.
The launch and landing animations cause the Thief to stop moving – on execution, the Thief stops all forward movement for a split second, launches, then lands (at a full stop). Only then will she continue to run in whatever direction I happen to be pressing at the time.
It would be far preferable for mobility and agility and positional based fighting, if these two skills allowed for continuous, fluid movement during their entire execution.
One of my fighting patterns is to engage autorun, and activate abilities as I pass by targets, never stopping, never slowing down. This strafing, flanking style of play seems to be supported in the talent trees (by skills like flanking strikes, etc.), but many of the Theif’s attack animations aren’t actually conducive to this playstyle.
There may be other skills that also need to be modified in this manner, but DB and HS are primarily the two I am concerned about, as I rely upon them heavily.
Thanks.
Yes please.
My fiancee just bought the mac version of this game, after seeing how much fun I was having.
She is severely disappointed, because it is unplayable. She has tried nearly all of the suggestions for fixing it, and nothing has helped.
She plays on a relatively new Power Mac laptop (about a year old).
It drops her between every 5 minutes, to every 30 seconds.
I told her how awesome Anet was, and she bought the game on that premise.
Don’t let us down, Anet.