I’ve noticed that i’ve gravitated towards s/d DA,Acro,Trck for PvP. The passive procs of the line are actually very helpful in surviving and fighting. I’ve noticed I can break down and kill bad players on OP builds.
I’ve been using that build as well for the same reason and though I’ve felt a hit to my stopping power I feel like I’m getting more kills on a normal WvW day than before. I suppose it could just be a matter of me being able to stick within ground zero of the zerg nukes for a split second to lock someone down more often or get that last boon rip or whatever. The one thing giving me some trouble is making sure that when I’m floating around a fight I position each move to conserve Flanking Strikes for when I really need it to proc.
I feel the same audio and visual instant when I hit someone (do we call that “impact”?) as I did before and I’m using the Acro line instead of Critical. With DA and Crit working together you have both halves of the fight covered with Critical traits walking you into Executioner unless you get spanked unexpectedly. It’s becoming more apparent that Flanking Strikes is just good all around to roll up some damage discrepancy in a short amount of time while also serving at least two other functions effortlessly. I think Flanking Strikes will work well with your Critical choices.
…Since I usually opened with Steal, there weren’t many scenarios where I could count on a skill recharge. If it guaranteed a specific skill type, like, say, BV, then you could build around it in sPvP a little bit.
I have that same problem where I more often need to use Steal before I have things on cool down on the utility side and it’s also very rare that I use a stolen item twice before dumping at least one in favor for a specific item I know I’m going to need a step or two ahead.
It seems a little early to completely say that you are forced to play d/p DA/SA/Trick. Honestly I think that DA/CS/Trick is stronger anyways, but maybe that is just me.
S/D isn’t nearly as strong as it used to be, but if its your favorite spec then you can always play it and still be viable (assuming you’re a good player otherwise). Playing around with s/d using DA (or CS which I think is possibly actually better with S/D), Acro and Trickery was not too bad overall. The damage of the build is higher than it was before with the increases to stats, but the survivability did take a hit. Using withdraw, signet of agility, SR, and Shadowstep gave me decent survivability while having more dmg than before with s/d.
I know that a lot of people who used to main s/d are not happy about the acro changes and there are some aspects that should not have been nerfed as much (Feline grace probably should’ve just been changed to give less endurance back instead of just vigor), but playing acro myself I didn’t feel like it was absolutely terrible. Probably has to do with how I didn’t play acro before the patch so I wasn’t acclimated to the amount of dodges that were available.
I’ve been playing DA/ACRO/TRICKERY for the most part and I fee like I survive much better than before between Pain Response, Hard to Catch, and any of the last three really. I play mostly DA/CRIT/TRICKERY in open pve but in WvW the acro line feels a lot more clutch in action than it looks like on paper.
Like yourself though it might just be a matter of how I play since I normally float around the main zerg doing my own stuff until I see the need to jump in and intercept or plus-one for commanders or Shadowstep smart bomb onto enemy artillery to inspire a rush. The Acro line currently is a little more forgiving for those purposes than it was before and I still feel mostly in control of a fight with executioner on the closing half of even without a +10 damage modifier but damage does feel a little too labored without the Crit line.
For WvW that’s right about what I’ve landed on, probably setting in on Don’t Stop and Executioner, and I’m still trying out Pain Response for how the action in open world breaths in and out. I’d probably take Roll for Initiative in sPvP but I keep going back to Signet of Shadows in WvW, which is probably more to do with how I wander around the map than it being better.
So it’s not the need for more damage but to do as much as possible before they go invulnerable? Hopefully one of the knowledgeable thieves will sort it out but if you can corral their movement and give yourself some flanking area you can burst to Executioner range and then Flanking Strike and auto attack with the Quickness. Maybe hold your stealth or prep Basilik to daze them before they go Invuln and rip some boons if they do.
hmm i tried shadow arts instead of acro but honestly i dunno where you friend is pulling run speed from?
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m using Runes of the Traveler which gives me a permanent 25% movement increase. I’ve used them for a few weeks, but this patch seems to make them even more important… at least, in PvP. It also frees up a slot on my utility bar so I don’t need Signet of Shadows.
Ps. I’m running Sword/Dagger with Deadly Arts, Critical Strikes, and Trickery… having a whole lot of fun with the Flanking Strike + Trickster traits! :-D
That sounds like my build, how do your hits feel with Traveler Runes compared to The Pack?
I like the additional functionality. Not as much having to use F2. Probably just a matter of getting used to, but feels a little more clunky than it used to.
It starts out feeling awkward and there’s going to be miss clicks. I put F2 on Left Ctrl so it’s not too near the same neighborhood of keys as Steal to cut down on miss clicks and I only have to lean and press down to the left a little with my left lower palm so there’s no hand or finger lift off, plus leaning to the left feels kinda gangster.
Man this is all taking me back two years in time to the great Ascended gear introduction riots. I almost quit the game over its introduction, but didn’t. I did struggle to make my ascended gear at first, but it became easier as time passed. I’m no where as miffed as I was about it years ago.
The hard part is armoring up your main, the time gating hurts as you want it NOW. For me on alts I just went slower allowing my mats to build over time and making the armor as I could.
I still wish it had never been introduced. I don’t think there is a way to change it now without major pain to many players. If it becomes easier to acquire by too much older players will feel hurt and resentful.
It is and always has been a leg up on anyone not wearing it. Diminish that and folks who made it again will be kittened off.
I have no idea what possible a solution to this is other than just leave it be and let everyone suffer through making it.
It is a grind!
If the devs can mess around with WvW progression skills to make new WvW players feel like they’re not left behind then the devs can make similar concessions to players who play the rest of the game more than crafting. WvW players complained about that change, and the devs cared none at all so, let people who spent all their time and money crafting Ascended complain a little after allowing for more active ways to acquire the gear. It’s not even giving it away or making it easier, it would simply mean providing the top stats through the different areas of activity.
Some of the "forced disagvantage " claims in this thread are comical. Everyone has equal opportunity to aquire the same ascended armor.
Everyone has equal opportunity to work for a living as well but some people chose to stay at home and grind in a game instead. We also have equal opportunity to have someone knee us between the legs for five to ten hours straight with the promise of strengthening our groins against future encounters, doesn’t mean it’s time and effort well spent for everyone.
I don’t think anyone really has to worry about GvG in guild halls replacing WvW or hurting the WvW population. The difference is pretty clear, open world PvP is all about the unexpected, wont be any of that in the guild hall arena and GvG matches will have to be planned for so definitely not a 24/7 thing. At first some guilds might spend a lot of time in there but in the end it will probably serve a pretty narrow purpose with use for special occasions or practice sessions.
That being said, guess it is time for me to go guild shopping for HoT since my little guild of one isn’t going to cut it for this kind of fun. The guild hall stuff looks pretty sweet but too bad it doesn’t come in more flavors, hopefully more styles can be added later . . . please not in the gem store tho ><
I am happy GvGers were given something more workable than OS even if it is something I am not personally going to be spending a lot of time on. Speaking of which, what becomes of OS when HoT comes out? Might it get a rework as well to go back into jumping puzzle status with maybe a more worthy reward? Still is a fun map to sneak around on if it saw more use.
I wouldn’t worry about GvG absorbing the WvW crowd either, if I were a guild leader I would just do regular runs in WvW for conditioning my team anyway and as a bungle-dump to get all the stupid out before a match. Although if match stats and persistent stats are thorough than guilds could very well spend all day cranking out matches since they wouldn’t have to worry about keeping track of their standings, they can just manage their ratios by playing a lot more.
I do hope there’s some tie in to WvW somehow but I doubt it, it would just be cool to say good luck to one of the regular guilds as they head off for a fight instead of just having a dead map for an hour.
You don’t need ascended for pretty much all of PvE (except the highest of fractal levels, which is not worth doing anyways sinces rewards are underwhelming)
You don’t need ascended for sPvP
You don’t need it to zerg in WvW…
Its biggest area of impact is WvW roaming build diversity and min/maxing dungs..rest can easily be done in exoctics, just like its been doing since the release of ascended…
You wont need it but groups will think they will need you to have it. You will certainly cripple any group who forms with a tier of gear in mind. That’s fine, I’m nearing a set of Ascended and will be in okay shape for my one specific build, but with no one trying new builds or gear combos the future of grouping in this game looks pretty bleak and from WvW to small events in stater zones, everything you do will be in preparation for whatever exclusive piece of content is going to require Ascended gear, whether or not you plan to make any.
I want to hear why this change was made – you’ve completely reversed your position on tiers now.
Here is your answer:
When we decided to rework core specializations, this meant moving stat points from traits to gear. This inherently made all gear stronger, including Ascended gear. This also gave us an opportunity to provide a more meaningful distinction between Exotic gear and Ascended gear.
Higher stats, infusion slots, and unique skins weren’t meaningful enough? It’s gone from meaningful to required. Also someone mentioned in a now closed thread that you can still do most pve in exotics, that doesn’t matter. In Age of Conan I could run my guild through most raid wings in blue gear with a few purples but if I showed up at anyone else’s raid I’d get turned away and laughed at.
I don’t see how minor attribute buffs affect WvW zergs (or even medium sized roaming groups). This also doesn’t make any of the current content harder, not sure if the few extra stat points will be “required” for HoT bosses – although I doubt it.
Is this a violation of their original stance? Yes.
Long term, will it be nicer facing pve content with slightly more stats (versus the same tier enemies?) also yes.
On a side point, if the author of this thread is still around, could you change the full stop at the end of your topic title to a question mark? The way people mis-represent their threads on this forum is really starting to irk me. If I wanted click-bait I’ve got plenty of other sources to accommodate me.
People keep saying something to the effect that this increase is only minor, like people claimed before when the Ascended gear was introduced, but then why increase it at all unless the devs have some idea for a change or addition of content to warrant the stat increase while excluding those who don’t have it, which is fine, but that usually means the rest of the game becomes simple feed for the exclusive raid or dungeon and everything you do in the game funnels you to that point. So no matter what your area of interest is in this game, you’re going to be farming for Ascended one way or another.
Exotic gear will be just as good as it was before, maybe even better since trait stats are now re-balanced onto gear. All I see is a buff to a largely unused tier of armor, which nobody should be complaining about. But alas, you guys will complain about anything…
It’s not largely unused and after this change anyone not using it will be farming for it because it will be required for pretty much everything aside from sPvP.
It won’t be required. You will be just as strong (if not more) in your exotic gear. Ascended armor was simply buffed, so now there is an actual reason to get it when there wasn’t before. Don’t get it if you don’t want it.
“The attribute difference between exotic and ascended gear has been changed from 5% to 10%”. That’s the difference between those two tiers of gear, it doesn’t matter that exotic might get buffed, Ascended gear is jumping ahead of exotic regardless of where exotic gear is. Sure, we can say I don’t want Ascended and I refuse to get it, but good luck getting in on any content that isn’t helping new players in starter zone events.
Exotic gear will be just as good as it was before, maybe even better since trait stats are now re-balanced onto gear. All I see is a buff to a largely unused tier of armor, which nobody should be complaining about. But alas, you guys will complain about anything…
It’s not largely unused and after this change anyone not using it will be farming for it because it will be required for pretty much everything aside from sPvP.
The increase to 10% isn’t a gear treadmill. It’s just a scuzzy move to get more players from the “ascended isn’t worth it” camp into “I better get working on the ascended grind if I’m going to keep up”.
Which means everyone who mostly plays WvW will not be in WvW for a good year because they’ll be farming for Ascended gear. Or they’ll just quit.
Timberline Falls had one of the more varied designs of terrain and content but it all came together seamlessly and was just visually pleasing. I like the overall design of Silver wastes and Dry top as far as looks and mechanics but I would love to have the sand storm over dunes look of Drytop with the Silverwastes event chain since I think SW has been the most naturally social map I’ve played in most games.
Sometimes when everyone is hanging out before an event kicks off you can see people pivot and edge this way and that. You can see that some people are checking out others gear and look but they’re not likely to say anything about it. What you might now know is that people tend to be more interested in the non rare but obscure items they see that they might have over looked and will now go hunt down.
And to DecieverX and Kash, please teach me how to use DD effectively. I rarely use it, though I know I should. If I need range, I just go to shortbow.
There’s no pressing reason why you should use it, it’s not great when you review the Thief as a whole. I use it a lot because it’s something I can use for three initiative that slows people down to bunch up badguys together, does a little bouncing damage (which has finished off trebs from defender bounces where even my short bow couldn’t manage the angle), and I can use it from range on the borders of zergs. So, it’s more a thing for a floater like me who pokes zergs a little too much.
I second that plea, it’s been my go to skill when other skills can often be at the mercy of game bugs or finicky terrain. It’s also been reliable to quickly tag targets and helps a little in choke points when you need to clog it up while standing back a little.
Since I came back to the game a couple of months ago I have some catching up to do. I’m currently trying to get some weapon skins from Dry top and building an ascended materials surplus. I imagine Drytop and Silverwastes maps might take a hit at least right when the expansion hits.
I use mostly berserker with chest and legs as Soldiers or Valk, I’ve got a few switch outs laying around. I don’t feel like armor stats decide my fate very much.
Since you’re going to bite it a lot anyway for awhile, spend your growing pains phase to try out every crazy move you can think of and use your reviving trip to clean out inventory after you repair. Use your groups or zergs as more equipment for yourself and peel around your groups AOE if you can’t shake a badguy and they’ll be gobbled up and know when to swoop in for a quick leap or blast finisher in friendly fields at the right time.
Also come to terms with having to save yourself when you can see your groups/zergs doom shortly ahead and keep one toe on the opening you’ll use if you have to break out. One thing I try to remind myself of is that sometimes you “know” you’re going to lose and you feel like running but sometimes you might have actually powered through a fight but you died running instead, you really just have to feel out the moment as you play more and get a better feel of how the map breaths.
Edit: get to know the good commanders and act as a body guard of sorts and intercept for them. You do yourself a favor by keeping competent commanders alive and most likely you get the top of the line team support right around your commander anyway. just learn to move within and around the general pace on your own without having to be told, again, learning how the map/groups/zergs breath.
We get it, you’ve said your piece and then followed up with one short snarky post after another. You instigated the last few posts which showed that you haven’t done everything and what you really mean is that you want Anet to cut out everything you don’t like nor have any interest in and only have the content you want to do and forget everyone else.
There’s not a content drought, there’s too much for most people to catch up on, if there’s a problem it’s that what we currently have doesn’t have the daily draw that content in some older games might have had us rushing home after work to play. WvW isn’t the open pvp world people like myself expected to live in and sPvP hasn’t held on to enough competitive teams to make that a thing and much of pve doesn’t allow for much ‘hanging out’ with people, it’s all a very rapid check list. I enjoy the game and have my goals at the moment and I have my own gripes but I’m not going to make broad statements and assume I speak for everyone else.
I just traveled around and got my hands on everything I ran into when I came back to the game. I’d also follow waypoint links when people would post them since they’re likely a boss or some event so, why not? While you’re bumping into everything for awhile, harvest and gather what you can and hold on to stuff until you have a handle on the game again because you might end up needing them, you can sell it all once you have a focus. I still agonize over the stuff I didn’t think was important and sold but now I’m buying most of that stuff for my own needs.
That door Garth mentioned, and the one very high cliff at the crash site with that chest at the top were the two parts that stumped me for a bit. Once I learned them, I felt stupid because they turned out to be obvious and easy (or make sense which I was too aggravated to realize at first), but now I can really appreciate how this map is designed and now my feet feel a little heavy on normal maps compared to the multiple ways to to get around in Dry Top. Once you know the map you’ll know how to get to the events quickly and you’ll notice those geodes stack up.
This is so weird to me, ask a new dungeon and most ppl don’t care, make party sizes a bit bigger and call it a raid and suddenly there’s a giant kittenstorm raining down on the topic… Sigh…
Currently, the rest of the game isn’t a forced precursor to dungeons, which is what most content is for raids in other games. Right now, I’m gearing my character both for stats and for looks and I think I’ve stepped into a dungeon once and I didn’t even have a reason to. If “raids” were introduced, they would come with the institutionalized idea that the game will revolve and cater to them and that everything you do will culminate in a Raid night for a piece of gear, maybe. We can argue the description of the word all we like but the sound of that word creates an image in our heads at this point.
There are some decent coats that are a bit long but the only chest piece that can complete a look or keep that slot simple to show off the rest of the gear slots is the Glorious chest piece from the spvp rewards.
Here’s the thing about thieves. I’ll break them down in the 2 PvP oriented situations in gw2.
sPvP:
The reason a support thief doesn’t work in sPvP is because it’s an invis class, and with the ability of invisibility there is nowhere that a thief can hold a point which is what a support class does. They hold points and heal the teamates. Additionally, thief has the best single target fighting ability in the game. If there was a chance that a support thief was viable, then there would be a huge loss in DPS and a high chance that people either run zerk everything to compensate for it or there will be a 2 thief comp, 1 support and 1 zerk, and so far nothing supports as good as a shoutbow/cele engi does.
WvW: This is just silly to thing a support thief is viable here. In a zerg, the warriors/guardians give all support they need and nearly everything else is dps based so why would we change a class with very low toughness/vitality base to a tank to do with this too?
Idk, I’m all against support thief simply because if you want to be nearly unkillable right now just run full shadow arts and that’s getting buffed.
I have to agree with your breakdown and I think people need to allow themselves to understand the difference between supporting a team and just being a toolbox for your team to use. I support my team consistently by intercepting and locking down the other side quickly and bursting fast to either end it or put them out of the fight for a few minutes at least. All within a few seconds I can intercept for a teammate or commander, control a couple of badguys, put someone in a down state, and maybe revive someone before breaking out. My build has been simmered down to do exactly that within a few actions, it’s just not sparkly and I don’t hold my hand in the air to shoot a magical beam of light on a teammate to support them.
Edit: of course any build is at the mercy of it’s user, I tend to do a lot of stupid stuff and forget I’m not my broken DPS Tank Guardian from Age of Conan so even a slightly supportive thief build in the hands of someone who’s actually good should be able to turn a fight around in a blink.
IGN: Kashaun
Playstyle: WvW mostly | PvE for exploring and crafting | sPvP for specific rewards, same limiting feel as dungeons for me.
Server: Maguuma
Experience with thief: Betas, post launch for a few months, came back about three months ago. I’ll switch to any set for what’s needed though my main roll-out is S/D with any build I feel like playing at the moment, the set feels right but I’m also locked into it for a bit since I’ve crafted Ascended Sword and Dagger and I make my living in WvW so I need to loot my keep again.
The blink one got fixed i thought but this is still different actions same result and nothing from anet. Weve been seeing entire guild groups use it, even members from aclaimed top tier gvg guilds, even the ocx/sea pvd blobs will use it vs no defenders.
It’s always a real mood killer for me. We’ll have the momentum, knocking out everything we run into, I’m cheering at my screen and feeling nothing but love for my server, and then we get to that gate in SM sort of as a treat for a good run and most of the gang glitches up there leaving me standing there looking stupid and I walk home and log out of WvW. I don’t think ill of them even if I’m not going to do it, mostly it’s just a weird moment so I need a map change at that point.
The D/D build that I run, has quite a bit of utility. With a bit of a change to it, namely different runes, can lose at most 1k on cloak backstab combo and gain more utility.
I’ve fought s/d thieves to stalemate, I’ve relished hunting d/p thieves before just because, and have them wonder why they can’t burst me down while I do 2-3x the damage they do. If they are really good, though, possible stalemate and it would again come down to whether or not they accidentally waste initiative or I do, or one or both deciding it’s a waste of time. Sometimes their reactions are rather funny when you walk into their blind field and keep attacking them. I suppose that’s more viable a tactic now with the change from 1s pulse to 2s.
No, D/D isn’t intended for brawling, you may need to run sometimes and return. And no it isn’t really viable in sPvP afaik, not without quite a differently playstyle and build setup, although in a dueling situation in an sPvP arena it was fine enough with friends, likely since that is what I was comfortable with already. (I don’t sPvP on thief though)
In WvW, D/D is most definitely viable. With the right setup you’ll have all the utility you need to survive solo/small scale and in zergs (of course if you are sitting in the middle of the zerg, you are dead, but that’s most thief power builds).
I’ve fought with D/D this past weekend a lot and the only build that I feel like I can keep a momentum with is a panic strike/improv build. Not having a good gap closer aside from short cool-down Steal is a bit rough for me and feels uncomfortable and landing stealth can be a pain in large fights where people are flying around or being pulled and tossed. Though, I do like the build in terms of managing my Steal for the damage bonus, deciding who to Steal from and when to unload the bundle for a gap closer and what I Steal next, I don’t respect the decisions with Steal as much with other builds.
I’m going to play it more probably just because I like the look of dagger animations and the d/d animations, I just need to fill in the odd downtime where I can’t decide how to best spend my initiative and I space out for a second, no smoke, cc, or boon rip for the team so I’ll wake up from my short stupor and pull out the short bow and blast finisher until a reward chest pops up or I need to chose a waypoint.
I took huntsman for short bows (have a bunch now hah). Yes you need 500. You could always hang out at teq with us every day at reset, might get an ascended drop. Get there like 15-30m early.
ascended drop like a random item or a box?
im probably not gonna get an ascended pistol through crafting anyway, i’ll just hope they make d/d stronger and nerf d/p in this expansion or something lol
The box drops as a stat combo and you can decide which weapon of that stat type to take. My last drop was Carrion I think which I don’t use so I grabbed the pistol for the skin. I’m in the same situation as you though, deciding if I should hold out and save up materials and refinements for my sword and work up huntsman for the right pistol or make another dagger and tell myself I was shooting for that build anyway.
I think most people do WvW these days simply to fight other people.
I do because it’s something I enjoy but it’s also what I have time to do so WvW and some spvp is basically my game world. When there are commanders who move and the other servers are pushing their weight around also than I get plenty of loot that will leave some gold the next day for me after salvaging and some pretty good open field fights. There are times however when it feels like it takes all night to gather people around one tag only to run to nearest keep, get wiped because we’re all stupid, and that’s the last thing to happen all night so you only end up with like two things to salvage to cover repair costs. So, you really do need to go into WvW for the fights and teamwork when it happens.
Always rep the latest anniversary title (currently “Veteran”).
Wear something that looks good, but isn’t tacky. Any fool can craft a Twilight and walk around like they’ve accomplished something, but what takes real skill in this game is making yourself look like the type of girl that people don’t want to mess with. I walk through cities in the game, and see the tacky outfits with legendaries galore and constant flashy effects, but niche items like the “Of The Mists” weapons and the Spirit Weapons, with humble, yet stylish armours are a good way to get the message across. “I am a better catwalk warrior than you.”. With the anniversary titles, this really gives off the vibe: “Gurl. I could wear a tacky paper-texture legendary, but I don’t want to, because im better than that.”
FashionWars2. Embrace it. The only way to show you’re a veteran, is to dress like one.
The seedy underground world of GW2 fashion sounds kind of scary, I think I’ll take it casually and just do some pvp instead.
If almost everyone already uses it it probably doesn’t need extra help from traits.
actually it does lol, it is more like second utility bar and not actual weapon lol
No, it actually doesn’t, it is a main weapon as almost every thief will have it in any given game mode. Those that claim they don’t use it will have something else for a few days so they can say “I’m different” but they’ll put it back on because it’s such a needed weapon. If the short bow was made any more powerful that’s all we’d be allowed to have out in every game mode.
How about instead of negative effects, the effects of Ascended food would only kick in somehow where there is a lack of Ascended armor or weapons. That way, food could supplement for lack of armor or to allow people to temporarily fill a roll for a dungeon or a fight where it’s currently too expensive and time consuming to alter or try different Ascended builds. So, a food effect of Rabid Omnom Berry Sandwich could be Ascended level Weapon damage, Condition damage, Precision, and Toughness if there’s not already those stats from an Ascended weapon. So, someone who doesn’t have Asc weapons or has Asc weapon berserkers stats could have some lunch and go fight.
Eh, I’d rather it not influence WvW, and I’m all for functional stuff to play towards as well.
That’s what it boils down to for me, I really would have preferred a different gear goal for WvW where the track to create or obtain pieces or materials was applicable to how I played the game, which would have been a great chance to add something fun to the part of the game we like to play.
I’ve been slowly going off and on with and without it but on my server at least, where my side aren’t bad but at times of the day I’m on can be a pretty slim team, being able to hit a lot of enemies at once with a decently powerful hit and having a blast finisher ends up ruling out having my S/D w/ anything other than shortbow. I tend to “roam”, or at least harvest on my own and hover around or hook up with a zerg or group if their interest converge with mine and often one of our people has to be effectively three or more.
You might want to look around the MetaBattle.com site a bit and get a more simplified starting point to grow from, your build and gear looks like it’s hampering maybe if you’re starting out and don’t have a feel for connecting abilities to targets or effects nor if you’re building for damage. If you were to build while playing towards what you’d find you need, you might ask yourself why you’d go 5 in deadly arts and not 6 and why only 3 in trickery, and why only two pieces of berserkers if you’re going damage to not having the crit chance to propel the ferocity.
I would grab a meta build and go out and fight everything in pve and pvp and don’t allow yourself to think too much on it, just play until you’re connecting actions instinctively, then start re-working your build, only slightly for what you need. Also, fail a bunch and get in some ridiculous situations and fight and move like a feral cat. You’ll die a lot but one day when you’re done seeing red you’ll still be standing to pick up bags.
It’s the traits that give the high amount of dodges, not the weapon set though the weapon set does move you around, I play S/D often with 26006. About the trait build you chose, I still use that often also and I have to condition myself to always keep in mind that the mechanics of that build are just as offensive as defensive since as of right now until the new trait system, dodging gives us might and a damage boost when our endurance isn’t full. You have to keep an internal rhythm to dodge or evade to keep your boons up but also stay under 100% endurance while fighting, while also having a dodge in the pocket for actually dodging damage or effects.
Since I have to maintain dodges for damage, I use it for positioning at the same time even if I don’t have any modifiers for flanking, keeping the target turning at my direction and pace has it’s own effect. Just have some peripheral vision so you know where to turn your target to give you the ground you’ll need to dodge, Withdraw, Shadowstep, and so on. Apart from any general advice for a Thief, make a keybind layout that won’t destroy your fingers because the current 20066 build is consistently hands on.
One of the nice things in this game is there’s nothing you actually need to buy from the gem store.
I don’t really agree with this. You definitely have to buy bank tabs from the gem store. I have invited several friends to the game and with all the crap that ArenaNet pushes onto players from the personal story, living story, and in general, you can barely make it through the first month with the extremey limited single bank tab.
Some people do get around this by making their own guilds for the guild vault. But it is limited to storing tradeable items only. And alts used as mules use up a character slot and cannot be used to store any soulbound items either.
Personal inventories are also extremely limited, even if you use a full set of 20 slot bags it is unlikely that you will be able to carry more than one set of gear on a character without buying an additional character bag slot, unless you like having only a single loot bag and having to salvage every few steps in lv80 maps.
More bank tabs still aren’t needed unless you’re a pack rat and keep absolutely everything and craft heavily on top of that. I feel free to delete a lot of junk I get from all sources and I craft as I harvest so I use up materials right away. Given, I have a first- in-first-out habit and I don’t sit on tasks or materials and I also really only do other stuff after or while I’m wandering and fighting in WvW.
Everything Trahearne was too sparkly, too wordy, and stank of Tumblr. This angered me having to be pulled through the story stuff after killing or sending off well written and delivered characters leaving me wanting more of them, only to give me the same bite of Trahearne cheese over and over. Zojja was overdone and forced also like a student written drama club play but at least those scenes didn’t drag on as long. I would have enjoyed the character as part of my story more if he just guided me along and pointed things out saying more with a look, but he never shut up.
From what I understand, Revenant is the last profession to be added. They will be adding new specialisations in the future though, so it could be possible that we’ll see some “monk-like” aspects in a future specialisation.
I doubt we’ll ever see a class that fights with open hands/fists. We require weapons for their stat benefit and sigils and I doubt they’ll introduce something like brass knuckles as a weapon (for many different reasons).
It could be possible for a future specialisation to be given dagger (or mace) mainhand+offhand and have animations that look like close-combat fighting and with close-combat style names. Use weapons with small skins and it will look more convincing.
Oh- also, it seems like we’ll be getting bo-staff melee style combat with Revenant, so there’s that to look forward to.
There are mesmers who shoot lasers from great swords, I would enjoy it if my thief could do unarmed combat as an Elite specialty with a couple of daggers or scepters equipped but resting on the back of my belt visually.
Having crafting be the primary method of acquiring top end gear is good for the overall economy because it ensures that lots of players will be participating.
I always hated other MMOs where the economy was irrelevant due to the fact that everything was grinded. Yeah, they “had one”, but it was meaningless. Its only purpose was to gouge new players who were still leveling.
Here, we get a dynamic system that keeps up with the game, and that’s a really nice achievement.
Everyone who has time to farm gold and take time from playing to craft. That’s as much of a slap as having the only way to get the best gear being Raiding and leaving crafting as an obsolete hobby. I still wouldn’t mind it if they just increased the drop rate even a little or even compartmentalized how and where certain stat combos would drop, I’d be fine with taking more time to get the stat combo I need while playing the game I want to play. Anyone who feels the need to spit the usual arguments about their crafted ascended can save it, I’m talking about how going extreme one way or another isn’t fair, it’s just tipping a scale in another way.
No, Ascended armor is crafted for high level fractals, And for other people who like to invest something into the game they play it is a way to get best in slot gear. The stat difference however small is welcome also. We who have made multiple sets of ascended armor have worked hard to do so, why should that be negated to give people the same stats with no work done for them. This just seems like “they have it but i want it but i dont like to work for it” argument to me, kind of entitled.
Tl;dr, If you want something, invest a bit of your time/effort to get it, instead of expecting the world to give it to you no effort required.
So pressing a craft button over and over again is effort and deserves reward but being in active content working with other players and actually playing the game is undeserving? There’s no sense in what you’ve said, your’e simply saying that people who have more free time during the day to waste much of it crafting deserve better gear while people who have to work and commute and want to actually play the games challenging content with the time they have can F off with exotics.
Didn’t say that ascended is challenging, effort in this case is time required and acquiring the materials in whatever fashion the player sees fit. I flip things on the AH, run harvesting runs, PvP reward track, WvW player drops and do some dungeons. Those actions require effort in accordance with time. If you want to roll challenging in that then that’s where speed runs in harvesting/dungeons come in, winning in PvP and WvW to reduce delay in player loot all come into play. The point is there should be a difference in the gear considering the difference in required cost to make it. Now I am not saying go crazy but the current or even double of the current difference do not seem out of line, and remember I say this while NOT using it for the most part either. Good hunting!
You make a good argument even though I disagree, except for the part about how the difference in stats should be more. There’s no way most players are going to be able to craft multiple sets let alone one full set and especially people who mostly pvp. That creates a gear tier of players like any other mmo and the player base would simmer down to the haves and will never have which would be worse in this game since they can’t even reliably raid for it since it’s not only a small chance at the gear itself, it’s an even more abysmal chance at the right build stats. That would turn a game where people sort of play how they want into GW2 crafting and GW2 SPvP.
The guild hall stuff looks pretty sweet but too bad it doesn’t come in more flavors, hopefully more styles can be added later . . . please not in the gem store tho ><