Guild Wars 2

This more of a question and if the answer is “don’t know” then its a suggestion.
What with windows 8 being pushed on to every new pc. Just wondered where does ArenaNet stand with this?
Will there be an app on the windows store for gw2 players to have a live tile detailing friends and more functionality using the live tile system.

Hi guys,

Currently I have a lvl 80 Mesmer and a lvl 11 Necro. I enjoy both, however, I do not know what the Necro is like at “end game”. I am looking at the professions from all of the games aspects and would like your input.

In the end I would like to just play the one profession and master that one. I am uncertain about the Mesmer due to myself not actually applying conditions and using clones to do so. This in itself is limiting due to the targeting system nulifying any attempt at masking who i am.

Primarily I like to focus on conditions.

So I ask you guys and girls, which In your opinion is better at being a Condition based profession that has some survivability?

P.S. I realise that by asking this in the Necro section I will get a biased reply.

For clarification I have tried the Necro in the mists against each of the Duelists and I am still in two minds.

The persistence in hitting and hitting more often make them one of the best clones for bleeding. Staff clones are very good but their attack is not as persistent. But i swotch between GS and staff as it suits me as i can change my playstyle or method of attack during a fight. I also use the conditions from clones in pve as my filler dmg, just so im constantly doing damage and spike with the gs and shatters. 9% dmg with 3 clones up is a decent amount in a boss fight.

Actually, the Greatsword is a mixed direct damage and condition build weapon.
Simply due to the fact that with Sharper Images + GS clones hitting 3 times per attack cycle each means they have 3 times the chance of applying a bleed per attack cycle.

Mix that in with the ability to throw a Mirror Blade every 4.6secs and the extra bounce trait from Illusions you can maintain 9-12 stacks of might.

Couple this with the fact that the iBerserker hits multiple enemies multiple times and therefore increasing chances of crit allowing a GS user to aoe bleed (might not be high stacks)

I use rampagers gear to use a hybrid gs/staff build, which works very very well in PvE and works insanely well in WvW.
Shatters inflict confusion and direct dmg
Clones produce bleeds and burst dmg when i need from shatters.
GS crits are not the best but they are decent and whatever i miss out from zerker gear i make up for in condition dmg.

To be honest, I would have liked a title to show that i beat it. something along the lines of playing off a nursery rhyme “Hickory Dickory Dock”

The whole theme reminded me of the scarecrow stuff in batman arkham asylum which is cool.

Only completed the climb once, but there were a few charr and norn that annoyed me. But imo they wasn’t doing anything wrong. I changed my dye colours to something very bright and could see where i was quite easily even if I saw a glimpse of my shoulder or something.

I like jumping puzzles ALOT and it’s one thing i’m holding out on experiencing in GW2 simply because at some point i’m going to have run all the dungeons over 50 times and was some more content.

The JP was very very fun and enjoyable. I would like to see more of these in the world. I would also like to see very long JP spanning over a few mountians. to get to the top of a 3rd mountian that kicks off an event that sends the whole area into chaos from an awakened terror… so to cap a JP that very very few people can actually do (not included in achievements panel to avoid upsetting anyone) that causes a rarely seen event that causes town criers in each major city to cry about the problems that X area is having due to a disturbed and awoken terror that needs to be laid to rest…. oh also, no saves, you gotta master the jumps to do it.

Also if possible, make jumping puzzles that randomly seams 5 different jumping sections together from a pool of 20 so its next to impossible to make a guide for it.

I run a hybrid gs/staff bleed/condition + direct dmg.
With 20/20/10/0/20
Stack condition dmg till bleeds hit about 75 per tick (about 700 condition dmg) and get crit up to about 45% and the rest in power until you feel things are dropping quite fast then put stats into vit or toughness as required.

People say this doesnt work however i can crit with iBerserker for about 3k and stack 3 bleeds ticking at 75 each and that scales up with might on yourself. All the while being able to switch to a staff to debilitate, kill and support.

Pure condition builds take forever to kill objects and i feel the mesmer’s specialty lies in fighting several fights at once. So the ability to switch between ranged and close between direct, condition, shatters and phantasm for choice of attack is key.

i love the new FOV change, at first i didn’t notice it, it wasn’t until I used screenshots to compare that i noticed how much i could see now.

ohamee.1569:

i disagree i dont want dungeon tracker/finder

but would be so nice if u can check how many times u have done the Dungeons

The idea behind the tracker would be so altaholics like myself can see what characters has done what. I have really bad memory and to tally a notepad to keep track of things is annoying. The LFG thing is in the works, they want to improve the current version which does not feel anything like a LFG tool.

Spamming LFG blah blah, in map chat is boring because I have to sit there and spam it, rather than playing the game and having a system do the matchmaking for me. Computer systems are there to do the monotonous jobs so we dont have to, why do we need to spam LFG.

Im just suggesting a way of tracking what toon has done what on each day. even if i cant see what my other toons have done until i log on them, it would be nice to see the current ones.

Far Shiverpeaks….
From the evidence, most of your server appears to be in WvW lol

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/World-Ratings-update-for-October-12/first#post428997

2nd in the rankings for EU.
It would seem your server is fully populated and from my experience (yes i have been against Far Shiverpeaks as Whiteside Ridge) we get rofl stomped by your server due to sheer numbers.

My Suggestion would be to move to a FULL server that isn’t high on the WvW list. that would point to people being in sPvP or dungeon crawling.

I had an idea, and I call it Dungeon Tracker.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could track if we have done the story modes for each dungeon on each character.

To further this idea, I would also ask for there to be a way to track how many times (lifetime and daily) that we have done each dungeon path. This in addition to the LFG system that ArenaNet want to implement would be fantastic.

@Embolism,
iWarlock scales with power and crit and the number of conditions on the target, so yes a full condition build would limit the iWarlock. Hybrid builds where one uses both conditions and power would be useful here. At lvl 66 my mesmer hits for 1.2k dmg with 5 conditions on the target and i have the pwr, crit and conDmg gear.

I use the GS and staff. The GS 2 skill give you might and with reduced cds you can get 12 stacks of might, that allows you to increase both direct and condition dmg. At my lvl i see bleeds hitting for 65dmg and my GS 2skill critting for 500-600dmg each hit.

Nuka Cola.8520:

Another thing most seems to forget. When you create clones they do not have all the sigs under their health bar (or any skill that shows under skill bar) so its extremely easy to distinguish a real person and a clone. If its that easy, what’s the point of even having them the exact copy of you? Just make them transparent like all the phantasms and it won’t make any differences.

This is what i outline in my post 3 posts up from yours

Tbh, the two tell tale signs i use to tell which is the real mesmer are

Health: clones spawn with full health. l while the real mesmer has a health deficit.
Fix: have clones spawn with their max health but this is displayed as the same as the mesmer. In other words, mesmer is at 50% hp, clone spawns with 5k hp (or whatever the max health they spawn with) but their total health is 5000*1.5 (the .5 is the mesmers health deficit in , so a mesmer at 25 health the formula would read 5000*1.75) this would allow clones to spawn with the correct amount of health while showing the same deficit as the real mesmer. This should be ok as clones cannot be healed iirc.

Boons and conditions. This is so obvious. Simple solution is to spawn clones with the boon and condition icons but it isn’t the most effective but will do.

The reason for these suggestions is that the game is ment to be played, not the UI, implementing these changes would allow the mesmer to skillfully play owing to the fact that if the mesmer messes up, the other players know which is real, currently it stands that no matter what the mesmer does, anyone with a fast eye will see that the real mesmer has conditions and a health deficit.

Under these changes the enemy will have to look for tiny changes in behaviour, or ensure that the mesmer has a dot on them and follow the dmg or even as little as to running away and looking for the mesmer with the limp seeing as the real mesmer will be affected by the conditions on them while clones will not.

I think adding a blast finisher onto it would help the skill but its aoe radius would have to be increased, stripping one boon is cool but i would like it to do something else aswell.

Ooh maybe make it a chain skill where we can teleport to where we mind stabbed and cause the same effect (dmg + boon removal) upon teleport.

MLieBennett.9031:

Well, random ideas.

Mantra of Recall
Elite Mantra skill. Cost 30 skill points. Cool down: 210 seconds
Meditate, charging a spell that recharges all other skills and charges other mantras.
“Echo, Recollection, Déjà vu.”

This is cool.

Another Elite Mantra could be
using 1 charge of the mantra would give you 2 secs of quickness
this allows you to charge mantras in 2secs or complete other tasks faster.
dont know what to call it.

It would be nice to see the mantras have a trait that reduces the charge time of them by 25% making it a 3 sec charge.

another skill,
Refeshing Signet
Active effect: Swap places with the illusion furthest away.
Passive effect: If a illusion dies due to target dying, they heal the mesmer for X (thinking 300 at max lvl with no +healing).
CD: 50 secs

It would be awesome if an event chain got harder and scaled up as you pushed it closer to the end event which would give a sense of desperation as your server succeeded.

For example ill use the centaurs.
Centaurs take over the map to which they have extended themselves too far and are easily pushed back, however the closer you push them back the more determined they are to survive (hit harder, more health, maybe spawn more vet centaurs) and the more resources they have to push you back as a server.
This would lead to the two forces finding a middle ground, until one side makes a push for dominance, centaurs could have supply lines that need disrupting to prevent them from pushing and the server would need to advertise an assault on the centaurs and gather in numbers by player organisation.

I know this is partly in, however i believe it could be so much more interactive.

There should be centaurs trying to disrupt our supply lines making it hard to maintain a presence in an area.

So much could be done.
Wish i had the tools the ArenaNet devs have at their disposal to design events for an entire area.

As a programmer, surely it would be better to change the party leader variable from a string to an array of strings that contains each of the 5 group members (making each member a co-leader) and should someone leave just have the array shuffle round so array 4 (5th party member is empty) and who ever joins is put into that slot. I understand the problem then is that for the cut scenes the party must have a leader to appear, this is solved by instead of referencing to the party leader you reference to the array0 (1st in line)

This should be applicable to the code behind the scenes.

I have afked at a way point to come back 20mins later and gained half a level due to my pet participating in events that had mobs randomly attack me :P

There is a fine line between exploiting and clever use of game mechanics :P

To be honest, if the warden kept moving it might be annoying to use him to break LoS from your attacker.

There was only the uk version in there :S
Removed the key keybindings as i can see myself getting annoyed with it. Lol

Anyone think that the 5 secs between phantasm skills starts after the skill has been used? So therefore actually displaying the correct 5secs between skills?

Also they have to fix bugs before truly balancing the professions. Or they will end up balancing professions around op/up bugs and when they do fix a bug then it is again out of balance.

Would you prefer to have a 3min cd on iWarden? Cause it was more of a game changer that a few elites in the game. That is what would have happened if they balanced around bugs

VirtualBS.3165:

Does pressing Ctrl+Shift or (Left) Alt+Shift fixes it?

Well you learn something new every day.
Yes it does, thank you.
Thats an interesting shortcut lol
Disabled it now.
It would seem that you do not need the US keyboard layout installed to take advantage of this feature.

VirtualBS.3165:

That means you confirmed you hadn’t the US keyboard layout selected there?

Do you also have that bug when using a software keyboard?

I installed the system, the US keyboard layout wasn’t installed
and no i do not have the software keyboard bug

VirtualBS.3165:

Open the Windows control panel and search for “Region and Language”. Make sure you have everything set to “UK”. Also, make sure that under the “Text Services and Input Languages” you only have the UK keyboard selected as default (remove the US keyboard from there).

I am a microsoft certified engineer, i know how to configure windows :P
yesterday i could type with shift + 2 being " but now its @ …. just annoying as hell

Superplush.8720:

I don’t know if it’s anything to help your problem but doesn’t GW2 ( Like most other games ) run on the Windows settings. So surely setting it in Windows would help your situation ?

I have my PC set up correctly, as I am certified in doing so
I have no idea as to why it is like this, using the forums i can use my UK layout, but in game i can not.

Additionally, I have a european version of the game which i downloaded from ArenaNet and am on a EU server (whiteside ridge)

I have no idea where to put this as it is a mix between a bug and a suggestion.

There is a difference between the two, the most notable one is the shift + 2 for UK keyboard PC owners (not mac) it is the quote " and not @.

This is quite annoying when I’m typing in game and this happens.

Would it be possible to add a check box or a drop down menu in the menu near the language to select UK or US keyboard layout this could be further enhanced by placing other keyboard layouts here?

Devil is in the detail, on the surface the thief is a spamathon, however, when you look at their finishers, they can pull off some of the most amazing combo finishers (i know this isn’t profession specific, however they arguably have the most finishers to hand right away) which adds complexity to the class. Each class mechanic can be used well, even the Thief’s steal (which is amazing imo).

I believe that the OP doesn’t know that Phantasms are ment to recreate hexes in a physical form. Now taking that information, if a hex stopped when the target died it makes sense, if a hex transfered to another target when the target “host” died then it would be op. Also, try not using phantasms as the target dies. And dont get attached to them, I mind wrack mine as and when i want the burst damage and only use them for actual dmg if I feel the fight will be a long one

Just add 10 tokens for all trash or most trash (within a threshold) killed by the time the last boss is killed. Adds incentive to clear trash and makes the dungeon longer.

Wait, so moa is op? When did this happen?
I regularly bait mesmers into using this on my thief, i LoS for 10 secs and work out which is the real mesmer and summon my Thieves Guild elite and focus the real one using the shortbow and let my elite kill the mesmer while the #1 skill on the shortbow takes all the illusions out of the equation ensuring my elite focuses the mesmer.
Speaking as a thief, Moa is not op, if you get killed in it, its because you got rooted in place while another class burst you down. Anyone running moa with a confusion build would be counterproductive.

metaphorm.6904:

this is the community discussion forum, not the game manual.

please try to find a tutorial and maybe use wiki.guildwars2.com for some basic game systems information.

And the OP is discussing the game mechanics, no need to try and police someone who is new to the game and is requiring help from his fellow thieves.

But yes, the wiki contains all the information you need. Anything else you are unsure off, ask in game or back here.
:)

actually, stealth can only be stacked to 10 secs, I don’t know why this was nerfed lol

For a profession that was said to be able CC well… I’m having trouble finding the CC. It seems that other professions can CC better than the thief with less effort.

I like running dagger/pistol or sword pistol with the shortbow with scorpion wire, immobalise venom and shadowstep. But really dont feel like i can cc/dodge to a point where i mitigate the damage coming in.
What am i doing wrong?
I love the thief and i love ccing

@Drakewurrum
Stealth does work, chances are you either had a knife bouncing as you stealthed or stealth ran out as they stomped. Stealth lasts less than the stomp animation.

Im afk but it is suggested that it is. Hopefully they remove the root to make the thief feel fluid. I love the dagger pistol build but it is brought down by the root.

Why not build on your idea Cyricus and place a gain 1 init each time you use a different skill? And lose an init each time you hit the same skill more than once.

This would reward use of other skills and punish anyone spamming the same ability. And add more depth to the thief profession.

So if i hit heartseaker once it costs 3init but if i spam it, it costs 4. but If i change ability i would gain an init which would make other skills more attractive.

The reason for adding a init and not just make the skills cost one init less is because you would have people being able to use hs at 2init and that doesn’t reward init management.

Even in pve. a steal on everyhing has a chance to generate 1 of two skills.
The item generated is based off what stole from. It could be a tuff of hair from a wolf or warg, aoe fear from a necromancer, aoe poison from a spider, feathers from a moA. Its something you need to experience and learn. additionally each humaniod type of race has a profession (warrior, mesmer, ect) tied to them. So if you see a mob using mesmery style magic, steal from them and theres a high chance you’ll get a item that will give you every buff in the game.

To recap,
press f1 – shadowstep and steal from target
Press f1 – use stolen item.

The ability’s cd still ticks when you have your stolen item there.

Have fun

“Dropping player down so fast.. lol try to stand 3 second in metor shower please.”

Did you know that the ele causing said storm has 13k hp if they didnt stack vitality. And doing that damage it seems that the ele does have 13k hp.

Warriors have almost double that has standard.

Tbh, would it not be better to swap it out to be the gs’s burst skill and move the current burst skill to replace hundred blades?
Think about it, no being able to pair it with a axe burst skill or anything like that.

If i am grouped with friends in spvp and we are on opposing teams and i stealth, they can still see me. Not a biggie, just really annoying and should be changed. I understand there is a way round it, leave group, but i like the party chat.

Also, cloak and dagger is hard to land. I dont know if it is a bug but there has been times where i am next to a moving target, i use c+d and nothing happens. Either a short ranged teleport (like rangers GS hilt bash) or greater distance on the hit would be nice. It seems to be only in hectic movement situations it becomes almost impossible to land

No lol. Could he have taken damage from another source at the same time?

I encountered being kited alot as a dagger dagger thief focusing on stealth. There are a few options open to you.
Steal
D/D 4 skill (ranged cripple)
Blinding powder
Shadowstep
Infiltrator’s signet
Scorpion wire

Once on the target try to keep cripple up on the target.

Also you can trait a 4sec immobalise on hitting someone under 50% health

Traiting for stealth to remove conditions and 33% stealth speed would help. Also traiting stealth to blind foes nearby helps with the being hit situation.

Hope these help
:)

Im using dagger pistol for single target and shortbow for aoe.
Blinding and dodging sees me toe to toe with most veterans.

Also crit and crit dmg is really good with the thief because mathematically the more times you hit the chances of crit.
Traits while lvling dont matter too much. Just pick ones that you like and go well with ur playstyle. Like my build favours dodging so i picked up might and swiftness on dodge and endurance return on dodge. Also picking up vigor on steal when i can

Try running the game eith administrator privileges. I had a similar error and running the game in administrator worked

It would have to located in the Mists. but it would be nice to be able to fiddle with interactions between friends to see how skills reacted to other skills. As well as a way to throw down the gauntlet and challenge your friend to a mano a … char-o?

I suggested it for LotRO and i’ll suggest it here.
The ability to change hairstyles via an npc would be awesome.
Additionally due to how ArenaNet have fantastically done this game (implementation wise) you would be able to add new hair cuts for each race and actually have someone shouting about it via a town crier or something.
The Sylvari could have a gardener visit them in the grove to trim their “hair”.

While on the subject of altering looks.
Maybe implementing a gym to change the physical build of your character. Not the height, just build. This would give players the ability to define how they want their character to look in the armour they earned.

I agree with 1. Even adding a commander at various parts of Orr to act like scouts for events would be a fantastic way to do this.

Number 2 im not too sure about. maybe a NPC to explain the strategy (could be an dialog option in the commander)

3 would be awesome.

4 would be hard to do because of the cap per map and would just lag/crash the server lol.

as for the lower level events. more would be nice. even in cities, have robbers try to steal from others or a kid that is lost (could be portrayed by a worried mother shouting her child’s name?)
also have scouts report various events to people who visit them.

the ones that are instigated by players (ill escort you quests don’t need to be shown here.)

Tried to report your post for good use of punctuation and use of optimism :P (Joke at the expense of Doomsayers who type too fast)

But yeah they have done a fantastic job. I feel like I could tank some fights as a thief but not in the traditional sense of tanking, but evasion and blind tanking

it doesnt help against fast hitting targets, :P
for that you have 4 to interrupt :P

for stealth hit 5 then 2 then backstab

The clusterbomb is a blast finisher and blast + poison field = aoe weakness. Fantastic to use to support your team. Additionally. Weakness stacks in duration so detonating so all 3 bombs hit the field will result any enemies in the poison field will take 3xweakness, poison and bleed.