ASP.8093

To be clear: You're talking about WvW, right?

> @"reib.6589" said: > This build looks too swap intensive and melee hibrid. I prefere to stay full ranged if possible. You can just run another rifle, then. All the big ideas for Shadow Arts are there. Playing double rifle does mean you're going to have a hard time cracking builds with a lot of reflect uptime, as well as dueling other thieves. It's not a total dead end but you're trading a lot of versatility for sigil effects. If you want less Shadow Arts, just take Vallun's Crit Strikes build. (You will absolutely need a melee set in that case.) > @"anduriell.6280" said: > Did you check out this build? > https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Deadeye_-_SA_Rifle_Roamer > > I personally would use Valkyrie / Zerker set instead marauder but that build is better for beginners Valkyrie is quite weak for modern thieves, imo. You absolutely want 95-100% crit chance (after Signet and Fury) since that's central to Deadeye resource management, and any build that tries to guarantee sneak-attack crits with Hidden Killer would be getting bigger, more reliable damage running Practiced Tolerance + No Quarter instead.

Tyrian Exchange Voucher is another easy way to get them.

> @"Tiilimon.6094" said: > Imo, real healer QOL would be to see condis in squad ui. A "hybrid" squad UI where you see your party in full and then the little square icons for everyone else would be great, imo. As would the ability to get full info for all 10 members in a raid-mode squad.

> @"KrHome.1920" said: > You can zerg with teef. Just pick staff, CS, Tr, Drd and something between marauder and soldier gear you feel comfortable with. It's not meta, but far from useless. Swipe (17s cooldown) grants might, fury, swiftness, vigor + 3 stolen boons (stability!) to nearby allies. The big problem with Staff Daredevil is your only shtick is melee-range damage (with about 600 range worth of gap-closing potential, if you don't count going full YOLO Shadowstep once every minute), backed up by some evade frames and combo finishers for survival. And because of your class mechanics you can't "burn through" one weapon's special abilities on the pre-engage and then switch to the other for melee. So you're having to compete with, e.g., Reaper, which has stronger ranged potential with Marks/Wells/SpinalShivers and then gets to output similar damage melee AOE when it's time to spin-to-win on the full push. You can still make it work if your group has all the bases covered already, perhaps, but imo you really need to be bringing *top-notch* damage — well in excess of what your half-Marauder/half-Zerk Hammer Herald buddy is dropping with CoR + Phase Smash — to make it worthwhile.

> @"kamikharzeeh.8016" said: > @"ASP.8093" with "mesmer", it's meant "chronomancer". wellsupport, boonstrips, evtl pulls, veils, illusion o. life. I've covered this, I think: Focus pull is legit good, Gravity Well is the only good chrono well, necro is far superior at boon rips in ZvZ (even reaper), Veil is weak in the current meta. Guess I left out Illusion of Life but /shrug. The point is that overall you're a utility bot with less actual utility than a scourge spamming barrier at the same time as they're spamming damage.

> @"Einlanzer.1627" said: > That's great - but, ultimately, it's not really relevant to this topic. POF being a tedious chorefest isn't simply a L2P issue - mobs are more numerous, more pathy, and have higher aggro range than in most of the game and there's no real justification for it as these zones don't retain large numbers of players to offset it. Even if you have no trouble killing the mobs, it's routinely tedious and annoying for no good reason. The justification is that it makes the maps livelier and more fun. Any map where enemies placidly stand around until you tag them is a dull map.

If you're with a raid group, ask a Windows user to post the DPS reports for you to look at after a run. That's the best way of actually making sense of what Arc is telling you anyway.

Everyone saying "You can play Mesmer in zergs!" needs to be honest about the fact that it's mostly using Focus 4 and a few long-cooldown utilities (the Feedback rez is also nice, imo — probably undervalued right now). Your contribution to buffs, DPS, &c. is pretty meager. To the point that usually you just see commanders who want Portal &c. doing it themselves, because it's easier for the driver to run a selfish do-nothing uber-bunker build with a few clutch utilities than it is to have a mesmer build that actually fills a traditional "support" or "DPS" slot in a typical comped group. You don't contribute much to AOE burst, your best buff skills are kneecapped by their tiny range, your boon rips are harder to use in a mass battle setting, Veil is garbage compared to engineer stealth, and the global damage nerf means people are easily out-healing the greatsword (non-projectile, so at least it's not getting blocked/reflected constantly!!) tickle-beam autos. At the zerg level, it's not really balance-patch thing, either: your problem is more that one of your major resources (clones) is very unreliable in big fights, your powerful "on interrupt" traits are unreliable against Stab spam, and the cool stuff your class can do by comboing insta-cast abilities just doesn't help in large-scale nearly as much as it helps in duels. It's not a *useless* class, but you need to work pretty hard to find a group that actually wants you, and most people's ideal number of mesmers tends to be 0-1. Moreover, I think you'll have a hard time learning the class unless you first do a bunch of roaming/small-scale/SPvP to actually experience situations where most of your abilities are relevant. (Also, and this is more of a personal preference thing, but imo groups that constantly do portal-bombs are incredibly dull to play in. I absolutely love being able to use Portal to, say, bust an enemy group that's turtled up defending a choke point, but some commanders just do nothing but stealth up and portal-bomb, and it makes for some high-stakes but *incredibly* repetitive fights. YMMV on that, of course, but be careful that your own class choice isn't inducing the group to play in a way you personally find less fun.)

> @"aspirine.6852" said: > Thief is played by sad people, and mesmer is played by cool people... Which is to say staring at the mesmer patch notes will eventually make you feel very sad and you'll switch to thief.

The problem isn't tagging up, it's actually *driving.* It's true that sometimes everyone in map is just durdling around waiting for a tag, but if you just pop a tag and start doing stuff, you'll get them for about 10 minutes if you repeatedly get pasted upon contact with the enemy. Because what they're actually waiting for is a *driver* who can direct the group usefully. If you can't bomb or push, many people will just drift back to YOLO semi-independent clouding mode because it's more effective than getting killed on tag. Most open PUG tags have some core of a guild group because that gives them at least the starting point of a little well-comped group that's willing to coordinate in voice chat. (A well-comped group willing to follow you even when you suck is basically the only way to actually learn how to be a driver, too.)

I'd pay good money for a "siege disabler skin" that triggers some kind of incredibly obnoxious animation if my siege disabler hits its target.

I do the sneaky-cap thing from time to time, and basically I get terminally bored if I don't have a whole group ready to recap as soon as the RI timer expires.

I think the important follow-up is: outside of PvE groups with heavy Firebrand support, how viable is it to keep up 100% coverage on Improved Alacrity?

> @"Yasai.3549" said: > At least with other things which seem invincible, yu can teach a newbie, and a newbie can visually identify what is causing them problems. Enhhhh, sorta, but honestly I'd have to say this game's "look at the animations!" design is kind of a huge failure. A bunch of critical skills are under-animated, effect auras obscure a lot of stuff, in big fights it's just a pile of barely-differentiable red circles and sometimes the reflect barriers don't even render, &c. I feel like a lot of learning GW2 WvW/PvP ends up being learning to just anticipate certain moves based on combos or movement instead of actually watching animations. Which is kind of sad because that was one of their big "action combat!" changed from GW1 but it's ended up kind of a mess. Plus you're *still* staring at the buff bar to see whether enemies have Aegis, Protection, Stability, &c. So the actual "look at the player model!!" design failed there, too. Not to mention in WvW you basically start every small-scale fight by mousing over the enemy's food buffs to figure out whether they're power, condi, or support. :/

> @"ArchonWing.9480" said: > It's a pure support class so no less bags. You can tag a lot if you use Ashes of the Just and then just heal your team, as long as the engagement lasts longer than like 20 seconds.

> @"Strider Pj.2193" said: > And only stealth classes would be bitter about that. It's one of the things I consider quite fair about playing thief, actually: if I want to go all slippery do-nothing stealth-spam in a fight, then my opponent gets a free cap on the camp, or sentry, or tower, or whatever. If I care about holding the objective, I need to measure out my stealth usage just like a ranged build needs to be careful with its kiting. Downs contesting is fine (in WvW, at least; I don't have a strong opinion for SPvP) because usually the node just *stays* contested while you're fighting anyway. For heavy stealth users, you just have to finish your target quickly, but thief, mesmer, ranger, and engineer all have very viable ways to secure a stomp without using stealth.

imo both Scourges and Power Staff Guardians have gotten nerfed a lot harder than Hammer Rev (with the shade target reduction a few months ago, and the Staff damage shave last week, respectively). The recent damage nerf makes a single uncoordinated Phase Smash a lot less powerful but you're still pretty much the best ranged burst build for zergs. The Guardian Holy Strike build *is* pretty fun and easy, though, even in its current nerfed form, so if you're just looking for a change of pace, by all means give it a try.

This is very old (2011), very handwavy, and a lot of the commentary is premised on the idea that making it *easier* to achieve a set of strategic goals (the "rules") makes for a better game, which is a very faulty premise for evaluating or understanding games. To pick one of the points as an example, > 4. Know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles, you will never be in peril. > In most situations in all three games, it's really more important to know yourself, your players, and the tendencies of the PUG's within your group (if you have any). However, WoW and DAOC actually trump GW 2 in this regard because there is NO rotation of enemies which means you can actually get to know your enemy. There is rotation for arenas in WoW, but I'm fairly certain you'll face a rotation of teams in GW 2 arena fights as well. Pre-Lich King WoW and DAOC had you pitted against rivals that you got to know and hate over time. Real rivalries could spring up (and you could get to know your enemies' tendencies). The one downside to rotating who you fight against in WvW for GW 2 is that your enemy never stays the same. Though WvW rotation is superior in many ways to RvR in DAOC, in this one way, it is inferior. It's true: introducing a variety of opponents is an impediment to your "know your enemy" strategy (whatever that really means). That's what makes it more challenging. *Your* strategic goal is to "never be in peril." But the *game's* goal is to *put* you in peril, because peril is fun. That tension between your goal and your circumstances creates the challenge and gameplay in the first place. And, like, with ten years of hindsight it's obvious that the rotating setup of WvW (both the modern one and the original system) doesn't somehow erase your past knowledge of the people you've played. The idea that "real rivalries" don't develop within a larger league structure has no basis in reality. So I'd suggest this analytic framework is mostly useless "as a measuring stick" to either a designer or a player.

They're called thieves but everyone just absolutely loses their minds if they ever actually steal a tower or something.

> @"Dawdler.8521" said: > > @"Gotejjeken.1267" said: > > Neither class is particularly wanted in zerg play, and only slightly tolerated in small group play. If you are dying to a thief and weren't ganked, or dying to any ranger at all in general...you need to rethink how you play. > "Slightly tolerated" in small groups? No matter what you think they *are* meta roaming/smallscale classes and they can be incredibly good at it. > > You might as well say that if you are dying to another player or dying to any class in general you need to rethink how you play. Because it has as much meaning to it. Judging players by the lowest common denominator is easy. I've also killed rangers that stand still and try to facetank with a longbow, that must mean I cant die to any ranger or I'm a bad player. > > Unless what you're defining as "small group play" is 10 man guild groups where 8 of them are minstrel firebrands and scrappers so they dont have room for anything but a scourge and a rev. Then I understand. Exactly. Thief and ranger are both valuable in small-group play for their flexibility in focusing targets — not the size of their burst but the ability to redirect where it's going quite easily, to surprise someone who's playing greedy because their friend is taking the heat for them. (And… that's good. That's a good thing about those classes that shouldn't change just because a few people rage when they get caught with their pants down, because that's their whole role.) The whole line like, "If you get killed by One-Wolf Pack Rapid-Fire you're just a bad player" is pretty silly because it implies you should only be dying to — what instead, exactly? Reaper spin-to-win? Fast-casting into 15 Confusion stacks? Kitten-hugging a grenade engie? Attrition after three minutes of playing ping-pong with a cele ele? What's the "correct" way to die in smallscale?

Isn't like 70% of "melee DPS" right now just dropping COR right on top of your target?

> @"kamikharzeeh.8016" said: > @"kash.9213" see, on our server at least you don't have full pros. maybe yours is different there... > > but let's say NC, show me how you effectively chase the thief kents with let us say five to eight people. > > yeah if that is also roamerbuilds/ spvp ones, it works likely. but the "i play for fun", roleplayer, dailies doer, doesn't have any option to effectively fight a thief and rather rally them worst case. you rather have to take care that the other ppl just don't completely sleep, since one single thief can down a target really fast, and another one can finish it etc. Those people also get dumpstered by *any* halfway-respectable roaming build, though. Equip Marauder or Trailblazer gear, make sure your build has 2 stun breaks, some reliable condi cleanse, and at least one good juke ability for when you get swarmed (I've been able to run away from scrub-tier opponents using nothing but Swiftness and Call to Anguish) and you're basically set for life as far as fighting those sorts of players goes. And you made up the "roleplayer" thing because, no, people aren't "roleplaying" meaningfully in WvW. > @"kamikharzeeh.8016" said: > that isn't a group composition lol. it's what smallfolk that still even cares to defend outer objectives like camps. it's rather questionable that roamerpacks exist in these days. you guys only look for the cheap ganks, and then argument "uh but u could run a full roamergroup on spvp sets, so we cannot gank you".... imagine if NPC damage was buffed to constant supervior-invuln power. you thief people would be the first to make twenty raging cry-postings, since u cannot sustain that :P You seem confused about the "sustain" thing. Thieves usually don't facetank damage when fighting camp NPCs. Most dedicated roaming builds have better personal sustain than PvE-style builds or non-support group builds.

M7 on Deadeye transforms all the core weapons — you can freely cycle high-Initiative-cost abilities as long as you have a way of giving yourself stealth or killing your target quickly. That means you're not pigeonholed into Rifle to do damage. If you're worried about thief viability in group PvE (besides Staff Daredevil), that has more to do with the design of the core weapons than the design of Rifle.

> @"kamikharzeeh.8016" said: > Anet: "we remove tournaments bc we don't want ppl to play very long" > 70%+ of Wvw-population "we play verylong anyways smh" Ok, but cutting the tournament grind did actually change things considerably. Back in the day, there was a ton of frustration and interpersonal messiness related to the server-wide organization required to win Coverage Wars. I know I personally burned out real hard from staying up to try to keep the map from immediately going to shit during our weaker timezones. Easier to *just play* now without treating it like some horrid little-league regional playoff season, imo.