Guild Wars 2

I rarely post on these forums as half the community here make me sigh in disbelief but this caught my attention.

The Thief is annoying but if they weren’t I don’t think they would be considered a Thief. The mobility and option to pop out of view (within reason) is the backbone of the profession: If we aren’t buzzing around you like a bothersome fly that won’t go away then we’re not doing it right!

There’s a trait bonus that grants us 15% endurance back after we dodge meaning (with a full bar) we can evade 3 times in 5 seconds and some weapon sets offer poor damaging + evade skills but burning through those leaves us in a worse situation if we actually want to escape and we won’t have any initiative left to do something fancier than auto-attacking. As for stealth, well, you might not see us but you can still hit us. Several times I have been downed having just entered stealth because the opponent predicted where I would be or used some AoE on where I was last seen. You might have also been standing in a black powder pool generated from the pistol 5 skill which applies a small AoE blind for 4 seconds. Generally speaking we have low toughness and a lower health pool as well so when you can hit us it does hurt a fair bit and if you’re facing a berserker Thief then any landed hits will make them melt faster than butter on the surface of the sun. In some respect we are the definition of glass cannon.

You mention being 3-shotted and automatically I think you’re exaggerating due to understandable frustration but if true then I have to assume you’re some kind of low toughness/vitality build and had been attacked by a full berserker Thief. In that situation 7-9k backstabs and 3-4k heartseekers aren’t unheard of but landing that particular scenario isn’t easy unless the target is stationary and not looking around. First we’d need to spot the target and then hide behind structures until they get closer or stealth to avoid them seeing our where-abouts. Then we’d need to catch up to them whilst remaining unseen which is often a bad joke unless they are running nearby. There are perma-stealth builds so in theory you can tail someone in the open while remaining unseen but the mandatory stopping to “top up” means our travel speed is severely hindered and chasing a constantly moving target is genuinely impossible (plus a keen eye can spot our tell-tale black powder rings, so even then there is still a way of knowing about our presence). It’s nowhere near as easy as you might think!

To mirror the other replies, more toughness would greatly help in such situations. I guess in some aspects it’s that age-old “rock paper scissors” deal and generally speaking a berserker Thief will beat a berserker anything else if he gets the jump on him.

The consensus appears to be “don’t bother, move on” and I can’t argue with that.

I’ve got an offhand Shortbow but I rarely make use of it so I’m not against giving S/D a shot.

A lot of the Guardians I run into during WvW are built like tanks and I have a tough time making any lasting impression. Damage I deal is soon mitigated via protection, regeneration, blocks and further healing abilities, leaving me in a situation where I can hardly make a dent. There have been many instances where I have engaged for several minutes with a sturdy Guardian only for it to end in a stale-mate as one of us gives up and walks away. If I do give chase there isn’t much I can do to stop them and they successfully retreat into a nearby safe-zone. While I can stay alive during the fights and escape whenever I want, so too can they, making the whole thing a pointless waste of time.

One example of many (this happened today): Took down an Elementalist and saw an incoming Guardian, so I stealthed away to heal. Engaged whilst she was trying to revive her team-mate. Thus begins a 2 minute battle where I dodge, stealth and blind to avoid her damage while she absorbs and heals everything I give back. Realising I’m not a huge threat she begins reviving the downed player and between breaks of healing and counter-attacks she succeeds. I retreat and re-engage the Ele alongside his new bodyguard(ian), downing him once and downing him again to get the kill. By this point the Guardian begins to flee (maybe due to boredom), escaping to a nearby Tower that happens to be in the middle of getting taken over and attracting the attention of 2 others. She exits and heads west with 3 of us on her tail. She manages to walk from that tower, across the bridge, around the island and then back over the other bridge on the opposite side before she is finally downed and killed.

Is there anything I can do as a Thief to win in a 1v1 situation against a Guardian built like a fortress? Or should I just face facts and avoid engaging/leave the fight the moment I realise they are too tanky to take down? I’m a D/P build, using Valkryie armor with Beryl Orbs and exotic Berserker stats for everything else.

Hype.8032:

>run 0/30/20/20/0 w/ divinity runes and a mix of zerk/valk/cavalier/soldier.
>I use hidden killer rather than executioner so I can keep a lower crit chance
>lot of the damage from this set comes from auto attack
>try black powder to HS, backstab, one auto chain, then back to black powder + HS.

I changed to those traits a couple of days ago. I miss gaining 10 seconds of regeneration when entering stealth but the 100% crit chance on backstabs is nice, though I’m surprised about you saying that a lot of damage comes from auto-attacking as it hasn’t been hugely rewarding for me. I’ve been trying that rotation and it does a decent job against fragile classes but I’m still having trouble with your average Guardian, Elementalist and hunkered-down Engineer.

Thanks for the replies, the help is appreciated.

Josh Mitchell.1596:

>10 points from shadow arts up to critical strikes to gain the hidden killer trait
>back piece has no jewel
>recommend Butternut Squash Soup […] as well as Master or Quality Maintenance Oils if you want more precision or Superior or Hardened sharpening stones for more power.

That makes sense, I will give it a shot. Last night I finished the back piece with another Exquisite Ruby Jewel and put Ruby Orbs on my weaponry until I get enough gold together for something better. I’ve been using Bowls of Curry Butternut Squash Soup on my Berserker Warrior but never thought to use them on this guy, I figured if I was going to use _Yishis_’ build for reference I should use the same food too.

Atherakhia.4086:

>All burst from d/P comes from backstab and heartseeker.
>took this premise a step further by trading off even more burst in favor of faster initiative regen
>go with the more typical 10/30/30 or 0/30/30/10 build until you get a handle on things.

I think part of my problem is not knowing what to do when Backstabs and Heartseekers are not ideal, aka during the revealed time when the enemy is above 50% HP. At the moment I have been trying to stick to them as close as possible while auto-attacking and stealthing the moment I have an opportunity but this isn’t doing much by itself. Without the extra initiative regen from Infiltrator’s Signet the Heartseeker and Black Powder combination stops working after a few uses and it’s not possible to maintain permanent stealth. Admittedly this trick is not needed for smaller fights but it’s great for scouting zergs and stalking enemies. I shall give those builds a look.

ryokoalways.3450:

>Heavies will take time to kill but you should be completely unkillable using perma-stealth.
>take on multiple targets at the same time for the same reason

Yesterday I fought a tanky Guardian and after a few seconds of me avoiding his damage via Black Powder he decided to run off and I was too weak to stop him. I could hit and Backstab all I like but he would heal back up and negate a large portion of the damage I was dealing. A similar thing happened with an Elementalist, only it was myself and 2 others versus her and despite a good minute of combat she must have got bored and decided to retreat to a Keep with a sizeable amount of health still intact. I have to admit, that fight was incredibly frustrating. On a better note I did manage to engage in and win a 2v1 against a Mesmer and Ranger. It wasn’t the most spectacular of fights but I was quite pleased considering my inexperience so it was a morale victory to say the least.

Brando.1374:

>you can try and use this for a bit more dmg and HP

Thanks, I shall give it a look.

Maugetarr.6823:

Well, this is what I’ve been using lately. Works pretty well

Thanks to you as well, I will look it over. I hadn’t considered using a Sword before.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a Thief for solo and small-group roaming in WvW and on Monday I hit level 80. In the past 2 days I have spent enough time in WvW to complete both of the monthly achievements. Playing as a Dagger/Pistol Thief it has been great fun tailing enemy zergs, scouting the area for threats and being a nuisance, however when I enter combat I feel rather weak. My survivability is great and if I want to run away or not engage in a fight I’m often able to thanks to the Heartseeker and Black Powder combination but if I choose to stick around my attempts at bringing someone down are embarrassing (nobody has said this to me but I feel that is the case). I can kill up-leveled or bad-squishy players with relative ease but anything else I am not confidant with.

A lot of my inspiration for bringing a Thief to WvW has been from bemeric1 on YouTube (otherwise known as Yishis from the Blackgate server) and my current build is very similar to the one he uses in a couple of videos. I don’t expect to be taking on 2, 3 or 4 people at a time like him but I can barely handle myself around a single player: If he can go 1v2+ with that build and not break a sweat then there must be something I am doing wrong if I struggle with a 1v1. Before anyone says it I have only been doing this for a couple of days and practice makes perfect, I completely agree… However even when I am constantly on the tail of a not-bad-but-not-good player in a 1v1 situation I still don’t have the ability to take them out, or if I do it’s a sloppy kill.

My build is below. Please note I do not have Chilling Sigils, they are a place-holder for other things that will soon replace them. Also note that the critical chance is affected by the Keen Observer and Side Strike traits, so it should be 38%.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.1|8.1g.ha.a.1g.ha|5.1g.ha|1p.a1.1p.a1.1p.a1.1p.a1.1p.a1.1p.a1|1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.8g.0|0.k13.u54b.k19.0|40.2|57.5f.5h.5b.5v|e

I know this is a lot to ask without some gameplay footage (which I intend to get in the near future) but can any of you veteran Thieves give me some tips, guidance or general advice? I know I am doing something(s) wrong and until I can get over this hurdle I can’t see myself getting any better with this profession. I will answer any related questions you guys may have.

Thank you.

Astro Zombie.6451:

When I was on Underworld server I had it since the Flame & Frost started; I moved on Seafarer’s Rest and I had it just once.

Funny that, a few days ago I swapped servers from Seafarer’s Rest (where I had no problems) to a very high populated server (where you were once from) and have since had problems with skill lag during peak times. Maybe it’s not just the Warrior but the entirety of the server when “too many” people are online at once.

I just moved servers from Seafarer’s Rest (medium) to Far Shiverpeaks (very high) in order to join a friend and since doing so I have noticed some skill delays during peak times on my Warrior, e.g. pressing a number key and having to wait from half to a full second in order to see the action take place.

One could assume that because of how populated the server is it might well be the server causing the delay but because I only play a Warrior it’s not possible to tell if the problem is coming from the Warrior itself or the server I am on. The effects are made even more obvious in WvW, if that has any relevance.

Either way it’s a frustrating thing and it ruins the flow of gameplay.

I wanted to change from the Signet build because the general consensus is that it loses usefulness around level 60 but I did some testing and found that is no longer the case, likely due to the recent buff Signet of Fury got. I’m currently level 65 and I still get a noticeably higher critical hit chance when using 3 out of the 5 potential passives and assuming Signet of Rage and For Great Justice are being constantly activated for Fury, Might and Swiftness.

Looks like I will be sticking with the Signet build for a little while longer.

Are there any popular recommended builds for a level 60+ Warrior, much like how the Signet build was considered a staple for early and mid-game levelling?

I’ve yet to buy the Master Training Manual and reset the traits as I am not sure what direction to head in but I am very partial to the Greatsword / Axe + Warhorn combination, swapping the later out for a Rifle against Champions and Bosses (Hundred Blades and movement skills, Axe auto for DPS, Warhorn for movement increase).

Thank you for the responses, I was worried about this topic dying without a reply. I will give this a thorough read and reply accordingly.

I’m a level 55 Warrior and this is my first “main” character. I know the consensus is that Warriors are one of the worst professions for PvP but I would like to try and get into it regardless.

A little history/information thus far: I have played a few games over the past 3 days and I’m currently rank 5 but naturally I still consider myself very inexperienced. Recently I have been using a Greatsword/Rifle combination with 10/30/0/0/30 stats and in my opinion I haven’t been doing too bad with above average score/placing at the end of the game. My main thought process during a fight is to stay at range with the Rifle, using the cripple and vulnerability skills followed by the spam shot. If they get close I either swap to the Greatsword or use the 5 skill on the Rifle to knock them backwards. When adrenaline is full I use the F1 kill shot (which has varying degrees of success in terms of damage, I don’t know enough about it to determine why it does that) and then proceed to use the Greatsword while the cooldowns are present. The ranged weaponry feels far more accessible to me, possibly due to being able to land more hits and it’s easier to chase people with.

I cannot say how much I win or lose in a 1v1 situation against what professions or ranks because I honestly have no idea but I would say on average I lose more fights than I win, though to give myself some credit the opponent is usually down to their last 25% of health.

There are times when I am facing two or more players and no matter what I do there is no escaping the inevitable crowd-control chaining. I am not sure if this is due to my inexperience or whether it’s something that “just happens” in PvP (or for Warriors), either way it’s a very frustrating thing and is the main cause of me being killed.

That’s about it. What I’m asking for is some general advice about Warriors or decent builds or anything which can improve my performance. As I’ve said before, I know Warriors don’t have a good reputation for PvP but I am determined to see it through, at least until I hit level 80 and choose a better profession for this part of GW2.

Thanks.

Thanks to both of you.

Thanks for the response. I am inclined to believe that, though there’s a lot of conflicting answers on the net. I am not sure if the nay-sayers have actually tried it out or are simply saying “it doesn’t work” because in their opinion it won’t.

Same as the title. If a player starts the weekend trial on one server can he later buy the game and choose to start on a different server? Or will he be “locked” to the server he originally chose during the trial period?

One of my friends is on a server different to my own and we’re currently saving up enough in-game gold to buy a transfer so I can move over to his, however another friend has recently downloaded the trial and we’re not sure if he should come to my server (where I am free this weekend) or his (where he is busy this weekend). I don’t want him to start the trial with me if it means he cannot transfer over at a later date if he purchases the game.

I get the odd 1 or 2 second spike where everything apart from the animations and music seems to pause before it catches back up to itself. It’s not common enough to be a huge problem though (shows perhaps once or twice in an hour of gaming).

I do have one prominent issue however and that is with the delay between hitting a key and seeing the effects on screen. Take my Greatsword Warrior as an example and assume he is out of battle with nothing else getting in the way of results: I hit “2” on the keyboard to activate the Hundred Blades skill and there is a half-second pause between that key press and the animation starting on the screen. To me it feels like pulling the trigger on a gun and seeing the bullet fire half a second later. It should be practically simultaneous but it feels unresponsive. The same thing happens for dodging/rolling too, in fact anything which involves the character doing something.

Back in September I was unexpectedly admitted to Hospital and during this time my account was subject to password attacks spanning several days. Only when I came home did I see the many e-mail warnings and realise everything had been taken. Unfortunately ArenaNet was unable to help so with that news and the state of my health at the time I decided to stop playing as I had lost all motivation.

It is now the present day and I am ready to get back into the game. The problem is I have not kept track of any changes since I left and my knowledge of GW2 is pretty much back to that of a newbie, not that I knew a great deal in the first place (low level Warrior and Elementalist around level 20). Thus, I am back to the initial question of “what profession should I start with”.

I am not going to ask out-right what I should pick, instead I would like those reading to help me by recommending some of the more effective classes for certain things which are a key part of the game. Once I have seen a decent amount of responses and opinions I will have enough information to choose for myself, at least that is the plan.

- – - – - – - – - -

In your opinion (I cannot stress this enough, I do not want to start a flame war) what are the more “effective” professions for the below (please give reasons why or specific weapon types if they apply):

1. General PvE – Solo play
2. Running Dungeons
3. PvP
4. WvW
5. Fun factor – PvE
6. Fun Factor – PvP and WvW

From what I have seen skimming these forums I believe the Warrior and Guardian are great for PvE and Dungeons whilst the Elementalist using Dagger/Dagger is great for PvP but I have no idea if they are good for anything else or what the other professions excel at. I am completely lost.

Thanks for any help I receive.

Issue: Hacked Account

Ticket: 120909-003690

This query was submitted on the 9th of September and 6 full days have passed. To summarise, my account and e-mail was broken into whilst i was admitted to Hospital (after several attempts from around the world) and everything i owned – including the Digital Deluxe items – were liquidated and/or traded away via mail. Basically i don’t have a single copper to my name.

Thank you for reading.