Guild Wars 2

Honestly, shut up.
No one likes turret engis. Suggest changes that will give it active play please.

honestly i didnt watch at all but i really like the color correction you used. v hipster, but the music not hipster enough.

you throw away your steal too much, try comboing it with an immob or basi venom. your condi management could also be a lot better, poor use of infil return. I guess not bad gameplay but it just looks like button mash without purpose honestly.

SA significantly lowers the skill floor of thieves and it just annoys me that thieves will no longer be punished for taking it in spvp. I was fine with it in wvw as long as it stayed there, but thief is headed in a bad direction right now.

What needs to happen is it needs to trade places with Resilience of Shadows. RoS is way too OP as a minor trait and blind on stealth is useless as GM.

yes s/d acro will be trash compared to panicSA dp.

way too many threads on this. you didn’t cover anything that hasn’t been already

yolo swaggins.2570:

Even though the original feline grace is gone that 1 lost second doesn’t mean much. Thief has a high dodge uptime already. The most this trait does is add reward to those who use evasions properly.

Maybe post patch but in comparison to current gamestate, we already have perma vigor so we aren’t really getting much. But with the loss of the boon duration in acro the vigor will be worth it.

60606 thief is going to be godmode end of story please stop complaining friends. Yes acro and crit strikes got nerfed but that spec is a godsend to thieves especially in pvp.

The Influenced Strikes trait would definitely be OP as hell but I guess that would make CS worthwhile.
It’s kind of a joke what they did with the CS line. I’m not really complaining because we got one of the specs in the game now. But I just find it funny that all they did was reverse a few adept and master traits, give it a pve trait from deadly arts, and it lost both traits that made it worth using over panic strike. Like honestly what were they thinking giving deadly arts executioner and then giving critical strikes an unbuffed ricochet I just find it comical. Oh and the offensive stats are gone lol.
At this point there’s no reason at all to go dps 66006. Thieves will no longer be punished for going SA which is stupid in my opinion.

MakubeC.3026:

I’m not very happy about these changes. It’s not that they are bad as a whole, but that compared to some of the other traits other classes got, they seem incredible simple and lackluster. Like if they ran out of imagination for the Thief iteration.

1. Don’t stop looks good, but why just not make it work without the swiftness?
2. The Ricochet + Invigorating precision combo is gone.
4. Improvisation being a GM now is a joke.
5. Guarded Initiation is our only access to Resistance and we’re supposed to get with it with full HP. I don’t even…
6. Flanking and Side Strikes did not get merged.
7. Rangers get “Strider’s Defense” and"Most Dangerous Game", etc, etc.
8. Warriors get Rending Strikes while we are stuck with Sundering Strikes and also get the break immobilize with “Warrior’s sprint”.

What is the Thief exceeding at now? It sure isn’t single target damage, could arguably be mobility, can’t clean conditions or resist that much outside of the Godly sent “Resilience of Shadows” and isn’t even the faster attacker.

And then we have a whole set of “Is that all?” traits like:

1. Serpent’s touch
2. Pressure striking
3. Keen observer
4. Bewildering Ambush

I’ve played Thief only since pre-release, and I admit I’m not the best player ever, but with pain in my heart, I think I’ll just move on this time. Time to use that Engi I got to lvl 80 through KTs.

I really don’t know what you’re talking about. 60606 thief is going to be godmode.

honestly there’s no reason to complain about SA not being good enough at this point. Shadow Rejuvenation + Resilience of Shadows in the same build is broken. But yeah, it is an extremely weak GM trait and should probably trade places with resilience of shadows. That would fix some OPness of the build and would fix the useless GM trait.

Coronit.9432:

oEnvy.3064:

Ensign.2189:

Currently an Acrobatics thief gets ~+100% more dodges than a non-Acro thief, between Feline Grace and the improved vigor uptime. Post-change, it looks like Acro is going to provide around +50% more dodges; that is, the endurance regen from stacking all the traits has roughly been cut in half.

On top of that the line has lost Fluid Strikes (-10% damage) and Power of Inertia (bunch of might stacks, enabled Strength runes).

The current iteration of Acrobatics is trash. There’s little question that you swap back to Deadly/Trickery/(Critstrikes or the new line) on S/D if it goes live as-is.

Yeah 60606 D/P is definitely going to be the dominant build. S/D acro is going to be strictly a fun build with the steal recharge trait.

Swapping back to DA? Why should you swap? With the same distribution as before (20066) you will have 60066. I don´t like critical strikes-traitline so far right now. Best thing got changed to DA. Using SA instead of acro is a possibility though. But not one I like. (played S/D SA long time ago)
You took into account the +20% Effectiveness from the minor trait? Does somebody know if its 20% duration or endurance recharges 20% faster than normal. if you look into the vigor from the traits you see 120% Endurance regeneration. Acrobatic

And don´t forget the new hard to catch which is awesome imo. Maybe changing signet of infiltration to signet of agility again. A lot of dodges and the stunbreak from infil-signet comes from hard to catch.

60066 will still be a viable build but I was just looking at it from a pvp standpoint. Honestly the buffs to acro were lackluster which came with crippling nerfs. Like the loss of 10% damage and feline grace. I will still play it but no matter how you look at it the 60606 d/p build will be far better as 60206 panic strike already overshadowed s/d acro.

Why would condi thief need help? But yes you got a new trait in trickery where it applies 3 stacks of torment on interrupt. Have fun spreading the aids.

Ensign.2189:

Currently an Acrobatics thief gets ~+100% more dodges than a non-Acro thief, between Feline Grace and the improved vigor uptime. Post-change, it looks like Acro is going to provide around +50% more dodges; that is, the endurance regen from stacking all the traits has roughly been cut in half.

On top of that the line has lost Fluid Strikes (-10% damage) and Power of Inertia (bunch of might stacks, enabled Strength runes).

The current iteration of Acrobatics is trash. There’s little question that you swap back to Deadly/Trickery/(Critstrikes or the new line) on S/D if it goes live as-is.

Yeah 60606 D/P is definitely going to be the dominant build. S/D acro is going to be strictly a fun build with the steal recharge trait.

Vurse.9873:

Time to craft some Dire armor?

Yup
3 stacks of torment on interrupt no icd, spam headshot on people and they die.
It’s like pre nerf perplex.

Coronit.9432:

“Lead Attacks will now give an additional 15% cd reduction to steal”
Hm, before it was 30% from the traitline and 20% from “sleight of hands”, now 15% in that traitline and still 20% from the trait. Nerfed.

The dagger possibility to inflict more poision on AA-cain… Not sure if serious. We already have poison on the third attack and poison from steal. Not worth it imo.

Removing the Haste-part? Why not on the regular Utility, too?

Don´t stop seems to be interesting. Dodging rapid fire and some arrows between the frames gonna be evaded, too. Have to try out what is better, Quick pockets or Don´t stop.
“evade the next attack when you get Swiftness” – maybe-change – What if I already had swiftness? Or does it mean ALWAYS when getting swiftness, like on every dodge? :P

Acro master-traits will be difficult to say right now what seems to be best. being immune to conditions for 5 sec can make a difference. But I honestly like hard to catch more. Swindlers Equilibrium will be tested ^^

What I´m really concerned of are the removal of the 10% from fluid strikes and the lack of boon duration the traitline was given before.

S/D acro
A lot of efficiency comes from that Boon duration. Overall a nerf to the dodge ability imo at the moment. I was running S/D with pack since a long time ago, swapping between pack and strength runes a lot and without that much boon duration and power of inertia removed I think pack will get better in that point.

Wow I forgot about the stats from trickery yeah wow that nerf sucks.

Auesis.7301:

A few things to note about the stream:

- Dagger Training is wrong. They said that the 5% damage is already added as base to the dagger skills, and that the actual trait gives dagger attacks a chance to apply Poison.

- They are heavily considering removing the Haste element from Flanking Strikes and just giving the Quickness boon.

- Don’t Stop is wrong too. They said that they were still messing with the trait’s function and that it may become something like “evade the next attack when you get Swiftness” or something like that. We’ll have to see what they come up with.

That trait sounds useless then. Considering dagger auto already gives poison lol.

eatkimchi.7316:

oEnvy.3064:

Resilience of Shadows
So yeah. That old thing that gave you might in stealth is gone, but it has been replaced by this. Take 50% less damage in stealth do I need to explain how OP that is?

This needs to be changed back to being a grandmaster major trait or nerf the %. Currently running it in WvW havoc/roaming and its just way better than shadow rejuv. It also applies to allies and stacks with protection(lol?) making it VERY strong in organized groups.
Having SA thieves with resilience + rejuv is almost game breaking and if these changes go through, expect the QQ posts about SA thieves to go up.

100% this. Honestly I think the whole idea of 60606 thieves to be OP. Considering you don’t lose offensive stats anymore, critical strikes is useless. So thieves in pvp won’t really get punished for running SA anymore. Also yeah, Shadow Rejuv + Resilience is 100% broken. SA was already OP.

Xiahou Mao.9701:

oEnvy.3064:

Feline Grace
This is a pretty huge nerf. We no longer get the 15 endurance return on dodge, and instead we get 2 seconds of vigor every 3 seconds. The vigor is pretty strong but considering the fact we had almost 100% vigor uptime from withdraw and steal this nerf hurts.

You didn’t mention the other boost, that Vigour with Acrobatics now restores 20% more endurance than before. That means that with the 100% Vigour uptime you mention, things start looking much more like the old Feline Grace. It just adds some counterplay to it, in that opponents can strip your Vigour to mitigate the dodging a bit.

Honestly the 20% vigor buff is pretty good. But considering we already had 100% vigor uptime before this change and that we’re losing out on 10% damage I still consider it a nerf.

lol rip the threads

60066
In my opinion S/D acro thief got the short end of the stick here. It will be getting all the benefits of the new and improved deadly arts line however I don’t think it’s as huge of a buff to s/d to this build as it is to the other considering every class is getting buffed. I love the S/D acro playstyle and this is probably what I will be playing so I will be leaving this here.

http://i.imgur.com/38S946i.jpg

Feline Grace
This is a pretty huge nerf. We no longer get the 15 endurance return on dodge, and instead we get 2 seconds of vigor every 3 seconds. The vigor is pretty strong but considering the fact we had almost 100% vigor uptime from withdraw and steal this nerf hurts.

Guarded Initiation
This seems to be decently strong as it gives us access to 50% resistance uptime as long as our health is full. The fact our health has to be 100% makes me think this trait will end up being useless. Depending on how strong resistance really is, anet should consider changing this trait to proc at above 75% health threshold for it to be viable.

Swindler’s Equilibrium
Yeah so this trait looks like it will be very fun to play around with. Basically the only reason I’m looking forward to playing S/D acro after the update. Upon successfully dodging an attack while wielding a sword, you reduce your steal recharge by 1 second.

Hard to Catch
This is Swindler’s main competition and probably the better trait overall, considering the Feline Grace nerf the endurance refill is extremely valuable. It’s also a 100% reliable stunbreak as it no longer ports you which in my opinion is a plus.

Don’t Stop
I feel like this was anet’s sad attempt at making thieves qq less about rangers. A passive projectile dodge every 5 seconds while under the effects of swiftness. Honestly this trait seems like it will be more helpful vs dp thieves than anything as it will avoid headshot/shadowshot/black powder.

With the new changes it looks like there will be some ridiculously OP thief builds (in current game terms anyway, we don’t know how they will stack up to what how the game will be after the update.) One thing I noticed is that Critical Strikes is now by far the worst traitline as all they really did is reverse some adept and master traits, got rid of Crit Haste and Executioner and gave it an unbuffed Ricochet of all things. I originally thought 66006 thief would still have a place but considering critical strikes will no longer give you the huge offensive stats it used to I don’t think it will be worth taking at all unless it’s for some cheesy pvt hidden killer build.

60606
This is by far the best build that thieves will have available in my opinion as it takes the strengths of current meta Panic Strike PvP build 60206 and classic WvW build 20606 and combines them.
Deadly Arts
http://i.imgur.com/AAKfqHT.jpg

Mug – Standard
The Needle trap on heal is interesting but overall I would say this is still the better choice. The Dagger damage is also a joke, it only applies to poisoned foes and 5% damage is irrelevant in comparison to a 2k heal 2k damage instant cast.

Panic Strike – Standard

Executioner/Improvisation
This is the crazy part, you now have the choice between Executioner (huge 20% dmg buff) or Improvisation. Improvisation received a HUGE buff in that Hide in Shadows is now a deception and Withdraw is now a a trick. What this means is that upon hitting steal while using Improvisation you have a 20% chance to immediately recharge your heal skill.

Shadow Arts
http://i.imgur.com/h89VO99.jpg

Shadow’s Embrace
Still the best option here.

Shadow Protector/Hidden Thief
Honestly I find both of these to be pretty mediocre. But with blind on stealth and initiative regen moving up to GM you don’t really have a better option. I would probably opt for the regen trait as it would synergize extremely well with Shadow Rejuv. Also hidden thief has never been a great trait in my opinion.

Resilience of Shadows
So yeah. That old thing that gave you might in stealth is gone, but it has been replaced by this. Take 50% less damage in stealth do I need to explain how OP that is?

Shadow Rejuvenation
I don’t think this trait really needs an introduction. It’s very very OP and it has received quite the buff in that it will also regenerate initiative which is nice.

Trickery
http://i.imgur.com/mw4pbze.jpg

Thrill of the Crime/Flanking Strikes
I’d probably still take Thrill considering the negative effects of haste.

Bountiful Theft
This slot got some interesting additions but this is overall still the best option here imo.
The 3 second cd reduction off withdraw is very nice and a viable option but still not as good as bountiful imo. The torment on interrupt will make for some pretty aids condi potential.

Lead Attacks/Sleight of Hand.
So one thing that immediately jumped out at me about this line is that the 5th slot Lead Attacks will now give an additional 15% cd reduction to steal which is very nice.

I set my weapon holster to middle mouse button so I can spam it all I want without losing much. Pressing escape will also cancel skills without holstering your weapon which is preferable sometimes. Unfortunately you can’t rebind the escape cancel, and pressing it more than once will annoyingly open the settings menu. You can easily macro escape to something else though.

there were so many cnds missed for no apparent reason though lol, they weren’t even dodged.
on a side note there are obvious ways to help secure landing a cnd (immob, basi, ports) also you can holster it if you’re going to miss. ALSO, those definitely weren’t good opponents at all.

Puz.8529:

Wolfield.9812:

A nice mix build that doesn’t go just for pure damage that can be killed by one wrong move, is more enjoyable to watch than a guy that pvp’s for 5 weeks and takes out his 5 perfect fights and claims he is pro.

Using SA, is not a bad thing in my view.

I completely agree with this. All the anti SA since it’s not for pro’s shouting is just saddening.

For a chance against good opponents with the very high chance of getting adds, SA is what can still make the thief fun (for the whole session).

Sure it’s nice to run a more ‘pure’ damage spec and pwn noobs in your perfect cut video. But that’s not what most of us are doing out there when we play. I play for fun and quite often I respec ‘back’ to SA since there is just too much adding / zerging going on to enjoy the purebred style..

my issue wasn’t with sa more so other things. like the poor random dodges, missing cnds, straight up being saved by last refuge. you can be skilled with sa and it’s very easy to tell when one is however this doesn’t seem like one of those cases it just seems like they’re being straight up carried. and yeah I know what you’re talking about those no skill d/d instagib combo videos are disgusting and I hate that people think that’s skill.

how is playing SA in 2015 something to be proud of I don’t understand what you mean. anyway this is okay gameplay just very sloppy at times, SA outright carried you from dying many times. you random dodge more than me and i’m an acro thief lol.

Gear I used for the video:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAsYVl0Mp0pFOx7J8PNBNB5dY+SZ0KAdfko0XA-TlSDABdquyBPBgEOFAPps7FVKgSpAI6D4Z/BAMBpgSwAAIAczbezbO0ECo8WA-w

Yes that’s my twitch thank you I forgot to link it.

So basically these clips are all from 5 hours of gameplay ripped from my stream I thought it was pretty entertaining. Kind of an unconventional roaming video imo but given the time spent gathering clips I think it’s okay.
All clips are using 20066 S/D. Let me know what you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXYCQ6QjcK4

Also this is my twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/bey0ndb

Shadow’s Embrace is far better, just trust me on that. The solution for your initiative problem would be to pick up trickery. 20606 is the most efficient trait spread a thief can run in WvW basically no matter what build or stat spread they’re using. Learn how to use sleight of hand and mug on a ridiculously low cd and you will easily make up for the damage lost from crit strikes. Honestly with 20606 dp you can literally just spam shadow shot and autos with air fire and easily outdps and outpressure the boring backstabs you get from x6/6/x/x.

What a great thread.
Btw Amon is actually the best acro NA pls stop guys, I don’t even kittening like him and I can admit that. Fighting Kronos in wvw is literally cancer and I don’t see how anyone can defend full pvt or whatever.
theres my 2 cents idc about your 2 cents

It really doesn’t matter how “easy” it is to beat or whatever. If it wasn’t viable then you wouldn’t play it end of story. The fact that any new player who has no idea what they’re doing who knows how to drop turrets and run in circles can consistently perform at a decent or better level is disgusting. Quit defending autopilot builds, viable or not, they don’t belong in this game.

runeblade.7514:

It’s bad, but its fun.

I like using P/P with Roll for Initiative + Withdraw. It makes me feel like a gunslinger. If P/P gets buffed, I don’t want unload to be removed.

I rather that Unload gets a damage increase and/or lower the initiative cost. Maybe increase the dodge range/initiative gain or lower the cooldown for RoI because it goes very well with P/P.

Unload gets a damage increase? The damage is already crazy, but yeah let’s turn p/p thief into a faceroll class like ranger rather than simply give it a skill cap.

You used to be able to Heartseeker > Shadowstep > Steal but since that September feature patch that broke steal completely (surely you must remember those days where steal would go out of range or obstruct 90% of the time before getting fixed) the Shadowstep will just teleport you back to where you were and steal will out of range onto 5 sec cd. Pretty sure they fixed most of the bs with steal but forgot about every other teleport.

Not much to complain about here, was a nice video. I don’t typically enjoy d/d or non solo roaming gameplay very often. I’m impressed with the high standards you had for clips although a few seemed kind of filler, I’m guessing you were saving them for a while since I noticed that swap utility bug from a few months ago in one of them. Your combos with cnd teleports have gotten a lot smoother since your last video.

Xtinct.7031:

oEnvy.3064:

don’t play aids

haters gonna hate,

But seriously tho, consider running carrion or if you are really good at positioning and dodges try out rampagers.

don’t defend the easiest kittening build in the game. I’ve seen people who don’t even play thief pick this kitten up proficiently, never seen a bad condi thief. it’s OP

don’t play aids

Who needs true sight when you can just play a ranger and hit sic em/rapid fire?

+1
#Revert
/15char

it’s okay it’s already irrelevant

mompen.7952:

Can you make it available for phone? I like to watch and hype my self up while on work, lol.

Sorry it’s the music, nothing I can do at this point.

Tell me what you think boizzzzz.

hey it’s me!!!!!

Let me know what you guys think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfS7A_yN2Kk&index=1&list=UUaqKDWTTc1EngWmKItPlymA

The Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAsY4al0Mp0pFOx7J8PNBNhwdtVz8O83yaFA-T1SDABdquSPKxO4JAkwJB4JlDvoSBUKJ4Z/BQ0PAgJOFUCSGAztA-w

yung amon’s a beast

I’ve noticed this too pls fix

I noticed this happening too. Fix pls

YUNG KINNY KINZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

kinny kinszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz