Guild Wars 2

Tao.5096:

Just saying but
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAoYWjc0Ubb1Nm3wfbinhS6HIAa2ZDhLgufA-T1CEAB+pPIKlGE8AA2SJoBnAAmUGMp6PScIAaSJWO7PAwRAgMA6bB-w

IF i were to try these traits out, must i have cavaliers? im kinda stuck with zerker and will try to work around that gear/playstyle.

Thanks for all the tips guys

http://i.imgur.com/MI2qBcK.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SIOWl7x.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fS8XlAI.jpg

Donov Belfonte – 80 necromancer. A mix of abyss, black, charred, midnight fire dyes.

IF the armor could be changed then why not change the weapons too? They made them account bound because they saw how “rare” and hard they are to get. What differs from legendary is that you can change the stats, since its even more of a bigger commitment. Just my 2 cents

Anet has released a ton of content since launch. I may not agree with much of it, but at least theyve been busy.

They have a long road and I’ve yet to see long needed feats such as GvG. But that doesnt mean we need an expansion, it’s better to have content roll out at a steady phase.

Also we should be grateful for gw2 being different than the traditional treadmill we see these days among mmorpgs. A grand example is a certain known mmorpg in space that releases like 3 expansions a year, with the exact same setup: 1 or 2 new zones, 5 new lvls, new gear pve and pvp, rince an repeat! This is a cheap way of “creating content”, it’s not fun it’s just a grind. At least in gw2 when you are 80 and have exo/asc you are done!

Hey!

Been playing a thief for a year but now I’m off to new adventure! On my second day as a lvl 80 rookiemancer I’m having various results fighting good warriors in WvW as they always time their stuff vs my DS 4 and 5. Im also feeling that Im not putting enough pressure on them, the fight can go on but I have issues getting them low.

Im running this build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAoYWjc00bbxNG1wfbCchC6DIAaho2Aqbj04ZB-T1SBABFpEKw9HKUHAXKFMTJYEnCgrU2cj6PootZhjAAAPAAyAkvFA-w

Any input on playstyle or build tweaks is most appreciated. Thanks!

As you know, when wielding a legendary, part of the effect from said item is changing the animation of certain skills you use. In most cases it is for the better, often the sole reason why you obtain a legendary, but in some rare cases it may not be for the better:

As a necromancer who is wielding incinerator in main hand, it changes the animation on life blast when in death shroud. Since said mechanic is often used by the necro, Im finding myself often having to watch a burning dagger flying towards my target (with an odd sound), rather than having the default animation which is a black/green shadowy ball that fits the death shroud form/necro theme. From an aesthetic standpoint it hurts the eye.

Does anyone else find such stuff annoying and takes a little bit of immersion away? It would be nice for a way to turn off such animations (while I do love the footprints :P).

Yargesh.4965:

The whole philosophy of pve in this game is cooperation. The last POI reinforced this. You can now this minute 1v1 PvP with two clicks. What benefit would rewriting the game code from the ground up give to the game?

I guess it could give a less sense of a lobby game, while embracing the beautiful scenery this game has to offer

Theres been talks now and then throughout the times since launch about dueling. Some wants it, some doesnt. Both for various reasons, as there also should be ways to control it (i.e. duel requests off on default in options).

What Im wondering is would it require quite some manpower and resources to implement? Yes we have hotjoin maps, but we also have the open world (not counting WvW). For instance there are times you are with a friend, or a guild waiting for activities, and sometimes it just feels natural being able to interact with one another in different ways than just chat and emotes.

Without going into the yes or no debate whether you want dueling or not, is it easy or hard to add in open world? A dev would problably have the better answer to this..

I’d say it requires skill, anything in any game does require some kind of coordination or knowing what works in what order.
For instance some abilities in gw2 has synergy, i.e. a theif can heartseek through black powder to gain stealth. That same thief can then use signet leap aimed at enemy player’s backside, and right before you press backstack #1 so that it lands on the player once leap ended for max damage output.
As a squishy target you also want to avoid taking damage, something that is possible in most encounters since you can read animations carefully (most or some) and chose which 2 dodges you want to use.

I think something that needs to be more clear here is that this game isnt about 1v1 and during matches there will often be group fights. As a thief you have a harder time “making a difference” for your team when several players colide solely because the class relies on clever stealth use/dodges, and knowing when to act and withdraw. It’s a hit and run concept, but it doesnt help with stealth in group fights or being “in the fray” with dodges as the thief is the easiest and most logical target to shut down. That is the tradeoff for the thief. It’s a different dynamic in a group fight should you switch from thief to for example necro which can take more due to different mechanic and possibilities.

Each class should bring something to the fight, and thief is a good roamer, and while it can be strong in 1v1, it may not be “just as easily” done vs class X (such as a necro, engi, guard) depending on the meta.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

I think the current spam of in-combat stealth every 3/4 seconds is what causes a lot of upset players.

There is no “current spam of in combat stealth every 3-4 seconds”! Not only do we not have the inititiave for it, but it would also severely take away the damage potential you usually spend initiative on. Pluss you have revealed that prevents you from restealthing.

lorndarken.3702:

Turamarth.3248:

You would have to overhaul the whole thief class.
This change would also make it far more difficult if not impossible to sweep a castle for enemy mesmers after you have conquered it.

the overhaul on thief would not be that high , their damage output would be slightly increased and their health pool and their toughness would also be slightly increased to make up for their dps sustain . as for sweeping for mesmers its not impossible , they take damage they would come out of stealth , and their skills alone should be more than enough to make up for this care bear version of stealth we have already . i say if you want to play a stealth class , fine so do i , when it was done the right way in daoc which can be brought over here . imagine a group full of thieves all stealthed ganking people or roamers , or do strike forces to drop down siege and try to ninja a tower or keep , with this it would add a lot more excitement to the game .

and now ur making the thief more like the other classes, so why play a thief. gw2 is known for class diversity

For WvW Im full zerker D/P 2/6/6/0/0. That leaves me with just about 13700ish hp, but I have max in guard killer and the other wvw perk which adds another 100 power condi dmg with 2500 hp = roughly 16200ish hp which is fine. Traveler runes for QoL.

For SPvP shadow arts line wont work, still running D/P but the trickery build that is around stealing 2/6/0/0/6. This is with zerker amulet, and having mixed results with divinity runes.

The trickery build struggles more with condi enemies as you only have shadowstep as condi removal.

For organized zergs then the thief may have a lesser role, but I disagree that it “sucks in zergs”. Go with a shortbow with sigil of fire and the auto attack damage does wonder. Run with the commander while you spam cluster bomb aoe / use auto attack, or do some well timed dagger storms (bcuz of aoe caps ur able to stay in the front as long as u position urself among many allies). If you find the perfect balance between cluster bombs and normal auto attack aoe, youll be able to tag most for a high wvw rank points gain.

In situations where your zerg is dying you can much easier get out with mechanics like shadowstep, insta stealth / shadow refuge into a teleport to nearest wp for meetup (where you keep your bloodlust/wvw stacks). Another thing to note is that when in zerg on class X, if you dont position urself properly you can get stuck and die in zerg fights, whereas on the thief you can just infiltrators strike / shadowstep to the side/ closer to your allies, avoiding death.

Im lvling my wvw rank much easier on this class than any other, and more importantly im having a blast because it is so easy once you pay attention to above examples.

Ive also gotten alot of qq lately. It’s like as if when they see a thief they expect you to be able to beat any class/spec. Ive killed engis that in return downed me the next encounter and repeatadly jumped on my dead body’s head. Ive also had frustrated lines throwed at me “wannabe thief”, and left wondering okay whats a wannabe thief like, how am i supposed to be a real thief Those who are most sad are the ones actually whispering and taunting.

What is a bit annoying, but thats the internet, is that some expect you to perform 100% all the time. What about the times where you are testing new builds or classes and cant perform top, and then they have the urge to flame

How viable is being tanky/bunkery or condi in the current meta?

as someone who is at work atm and unable to check, and new to the mesmer, any chance you could link the to this shatter and lockdown builds?

Thank you for your time!

It only made LB rangers more viable than what they were before, they have now a more solid weapon option. Rangers deserve to shine though as theyve had their time in the dark. I can understand how rangers can wreck if they focus you in a group fight/small scale fight, but 1 v 1 on the thief we can take them.

i also dont like using withdrawl when i have dagger main hand as the roll can work both ways.. some times to catch enemy distance but often its just more of a nuisance and makes u get further away from the enemy

The game has been out for over 2 years and Im just wondering why we only have 1 game mode in SPvP? Doesnt it get stale? Wasnt GW1 filled with more modes? I am but rookie that dont play very often but surely this must have an impact on the game itself.

Perhaps there are official responses on these matters after such long time, of why they arnt focusing on such?

Ty

Yeah I agree rangers needed the buff. I know wvw aint tpvp but i had a 1v1 in there on my cookie cutter D/P thief and won. I would have died if i didnt dodge most of his rapid fire burst, but it was a lil lengthy fight so the ranger was pretty guuuud. Point being people jumping on the qq nerf band wagon dont know what they be talkin bout.

Sometimes before posting it is always nice to take a look at the first page in the forum section that is relevant. For instance this thief guide is a few posts below yours, when you posted this thread I apologize for my snarkyness though!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Guide-Book-of-Shadows-The-Thief-Handbook/first

CobOfCorn.6352:

I think the problem with thieves after patch is now every other class can do what thief can do, but better. Elementalists have high mobility, and can spike just as fast as a thief can (faster most of the time) and have access to more defensive skills. Rangers, Engineers, Necros, DPS Guard and good Warriors hard counter us on any build we decide to play. Especially with the shift towards AI builds from Anet (buffing spirit weapons, leaving turrets (almost) and minion master as is, mesmer PU) excelling as a thief in pvp will only get harder from here on out. But aside from the qq, give it a month or so and someone will find a strong build again. (Personally, I am starting to use the old EU panic strike meta, 60206, which now seems to be coming back into play on NA)

Also: If Anet could realize that useless traits are useless and buffing them slightly won’t cause thieves to run them, that would be great.

I dont think this arguement has much hold to it though. Every class can do a little bit of any class. Yes ele may have mobility but it’s not even close to ours.

Some weapon sets like S/D needs tweaking, and many utlities/traits should be redone, but at the moment thief is the pure skill class where you really need to read and know what your opponent is doing and going to do.
Just because we arnt good enough at X atm doesnt mean we should have more or same strenghts like an ele for instance, diversity is what one should aim for. But what we should excell at should be unique, and mobility alone isnt going to cut it.

It’s all situationall, there really isnt a specific set that works best for all. For instance now that daggers cleaves you may want to stick with dagger in an aoe fight with just 3 adds if they are close to each others, as dagger dmg does more dmg than shortbow. I generally like shortbow with packs of mobs or in wvw.

Again D/D or D/P is a trickster one. For instance I did the evolved wurm event where you have to pick up loads of stuff while being chased by mobs. I found CnD on demand stealth D/D to be very strong as I were able to survive. While in stationary fights with adds piling up its nice wit the D/P blind. But agian, any of those can work, and those mechanics wont save you alone. Its all about positioning and using ur ways to stay alive while dishing out damage.
As for P/P with ricochet perk can be very strong for aoe as well, tho I dont have the numbers

In the end it comes down to what playstyle you prefer and try to be good at it. You dont want to be a dead thief

Dagger does most single target (D/D gives you easier stealth, though D/P gives nice blind aoe), your second weaponset should be shortbow with sigil of fire and bloodlust.

As others have stated this is the cookie cutter DP build for WvW. Im using everything the same though im running full zerker gear with valkyrie weapons. I may have a little less hp than you but I like the extra crit I gain which means more damage as long as you manage to dodge or blind those key attacks. The nr 3 on dagger is key vs ranger/classes that likes to kite you, instead of “wasting” initiative on the BP into HS combo.
For SPvP having 30 in shadow is a waste, rather have the rest in tricerky and relay more on stealing/burst/control than stealth/regen.

Swizzle.7982:

“In most games, you go out, and you have really fun tasks, occasionally, that you get to do, and the rest of the game is this boring grind to get to the fun stuff. ‘I swung a sword. I swung a sword again. Hey! I swung it again.’ That’s great. We just don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2. No one enjoys that. No one finds it fun.” ~ A Sword Swinging Backpeddler

OMG this is pure gold. I laughed so hard.. not because it was funny but because it is a sad truth

BEHOLD! I am hereby the new Hero of Shaemor!! And all it took was my number 1 key

..who dislike the new noob experience, I hereby present a fix:

Use an experience scroll, and feel free to add a couple tome of knowledge as well

New Runes and Sigils in PvE and WvW
Superior Sigil of Cleansing:
Remove 1 condition when you swap to this weapon while in combat.

Does this work on attunement swap? Pretty nice for eles if so

Hello

This question problably has been answered in the past but it is with a twist this time!

Basically I want to focus on the D/P playstyle, and with the upcomming patch the meta doesnt seem too changed. With that In mind I need to decide what armor type I want to go with, be it pure zerker or valkyrie. My goals will be a mix of PvX but possibly a little more towards WvW. My asc weapons currently are valkyrie, while most offsets are zerker. My main 6 armor set pieces are currently zerker exotics.
As you know Valkyrie provides the health, but us thieves only truly excel when we avoid those crucial hits, so in the end you kinda want zerker for the full output? (on the other side my hp is really low..)

If I were to go for full zerker ascended on my 6 main armor set, would those stat gains be substantial enough to make a difference? The latter is subjective but feel free you voice opinions and numbers/%. Also would this be rather costly?
For runes I was thinking travelers as the 25% runspeed is very nifty for the QoL, but I guess Ogre provides power one shouldnt lose out on?

Thanks again for your time

Aranvir – a thief from the streets, grown up a beggar now with desires beyond emptying pockets.

Im usually silent on these forums but I noticed quite a stirr the last mount where some claimed misfortune due to lack of “veteran content” in this feature pack, that most catered to new players.
While many of the changes benefits the veteran players as well, I saw to or three threads where devs actually responded stating that this “veteran content” would be highlighted in later blog posts (that it would “appease the masses”), possibly last or this week? Have these blogs been posted, is this type of content/additions revealed?

Can i just ask where u guys get your swiftness from, making it worth to go with pack instead of travelers or ogre? Im running the DP trickery build and therefore I dont access to the gain swiftness upon dodge trait.

Heres some thoughts I’ve had that could make WvW more meaningful and rewarding:

- Increase all health points on gates and walls so that any keep, tower etc. cant be captured as easily. How frustrating isnt it to spend hours upgrading your base, only to see it easily taken by a small force who “auto attacked” the gate? It would make more sense to make gates and wall strong and give you that sense of “security”, despite the amount of players you have defending. Make the attackers actually having to work for their assault, which would make both sides care more about the facility that they can lose or took control over.

- Gates can only be taken down with siege weapons. Make more people actually want to pick up / use the siege systems in game. This makes it more complex rather than running in a large force, hammering the gates down with class skills. It’s also shame to see the defenses such as cannons build walls go down as quickly, there should be more incentive: do more damage, be harder to take down.

- In light of above changes one could also take a look at the systems implemented for defenders, ways to make it worth defending a keep (while you’re preparing/building, while you’re stationed on guard).
A siege shouldn’t be over in a minute or two, attackers should have to work harder to take a base regardless of defending force, while both sides should be more rewarded in their tasks. A siege should be an ongoing, lasting effort.

These are just a few ideas, WvW is a great concept, but some of the current game systems needs tweaking. As you can see in the examples this doesnt take much work, all it needs is to alter some numbers, you dont have to add new stuff.

Could u guys be so kind to link the meta S/D build? Thanks

Thanks alot! Ill be sure to try out this DP trickery build. I see you run with Air and Fire sigils, have they been buffed / are they that much better than 5% base dmg incr sigil? Or perhaps that % is too low since we wanna take down our target as quickly as pos, and air/fire sigil crits quite high?
Secondly, are there other runesets than Ogre that could give more power (since ogre is cheap?). Currently i use travelers which are quite nifty for the 25% travel speed.

Other than that yeah it feels like D/D comes short compared to D/P.

Hey fellow theives and cutthroats!

For about 6 months ago I was my own shining light in the borderland fields. Now out from prison where most seemes to be new i am but rusty dagger.
I feel I must be even more careful with my iniaitive play, while I may lack the damage. At the same time theres no doubt I must master my playstyle once again.

Before I used to run a cheese D/P build which relied being able to stealth and pick on my enemy (have more control), and “tanky” in terms of stealth perks (regen, debuff removal, etc).

Im wondering if I could make a D/D or D/P build work that is pure glass, hit hard and get out to regain iniaitive. Like with pure zerk? We dont relay that much on armor/hp anyway.. Will I have enough upkeep or is there a meta build for such a play? I may end up going for a different set involving a dagger since Im a bit tired of the traditional D/P BS with HS “spam/mechanic”.

Anyway I appreciate all feedback I can get as pockets needs to be emptied.

Hello!

Im an 80 thief looking for likeminded WvW/general gameplay fellows to team up with, preferably on Far Shiverpeaks realm. It would be a bonus to be part of a guild that has a fairly active teamspeak and with WvW events now and then.

Ive decided to go with berserker dagger/focus and staff build since it looks like everybody’s favorite

Ive read sir dekeyz guide and i somehow cant make my comet hit my firefield (i tried the camera upward thing and move then hit the comet skill) i still cant aim it properly xD

What timezone are you guys in? Im interested to join but im from oceanic timezone. Might not be able to do guild events and guild runs etc

Thank you for the infos and tips.

I decided to try dagger focus elem.

@Karode

I will definitely try that if i see myself having a hard time with a full zerk. Thanks!

A lot seems to go for dagger/focus fresh air buikd with full zerk

With 6fire6air2earth

Is this average player friendly? Or i have to 100% play perfect to avoid getting downed?

Is this guild still active? Send me an invite please

I just got back after a year long hiatus.

Im surprised to see the elementalists became viable dps build. A year ago, elems are stuck to being toughness vit build because of their squishyness when going full berserk. And going vit / toughness still makes you a good dpser.

Ive been reading other elementalist topics and guides and found out that people wanted dps elems in dungeons more than any kind of elems. I even saw a post saying that if youre an elem and not in zerk gear gtfo of my dungeon party run.
Ive also read that playing a zerk build elem is very very difficult and that you have to have very fast reflex. Or else you will die from bosses in a few hits.

Since i stopped playing a year ago, i am once again a noob (i was average a year ago xD). And was asking for opinions of those who knows the class very well.

Is my build still viable

6 in arcana (arcane evasion) for water cleans every dodge extra heal is helpful
6 in water for vit and heal power + condition removals
2 in earth for that stone armor

Equips are full zerk accessories and weapons.
PVT armor
I mainly use D/D for this build and staff for range

Or this build will only hinder me from joining groups? (Last time i check groups in gw2 arent choosy, but now it seems people have adapted the WoW group mentality where everyone is an elitist and only wants generic zerk dps build in their party)

Also, if i go full zerk, what traits should i invest in? Did they boost the survivability of elems in full zerk gears? If yes, how so?

I mainly d/d or d/f and staff. I dont like scepters.

but i thought everyone deserved a second second chance..

Im returning on friday and unsure if Ill be able to get these weapons before theyre taken away? Can I lets say purchase a Marjory’s dagger via the trader? Are they expensive?

How lame Would be so cool to have a duel area outside spvp with different stats.

I havent played for months and I read about this GvG area added at the JP area in EB. Could someone verify how this area works, can friendlies attack each others (making it possible to duel), or can you only attack enemy player (only making it possible to duel cross server).

Thanks

Thank you for that Sneek. Yeah I ended up buying 6 travelers, I cant stand running without 25%, esp solo.