I have a feeling I am going to like this place.
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Guild Wars 2 Launch Date announced: August 28th, 2012
- Thread starter Mr. Luchador
- Start date
Weltall Zero
Member
Before, you had to right click and select show/hide. Now there's literally a checkbox on top of the item, so it's just one click.
There's two ways; the aforementioned "select target with your stick", or, when there's too many targets (as indeed is the case with WvW melees), I have cycle next/previous target mapped to D-Pad left and right. This is actually more intuitive and faster than Tab/Shift tab.
Unless you target enemies by clicking on them, which is all well and fine, but I find it much more prone to error (especially with allies in the way, etc).
50 enemies within attack range, aside from meaning you'll be dead in a couple of seconds, would mean easily 200 players fighting at once (at least 100 per side). Good thing I've never encountered anything close to that number, even defending forts, because I'm quite sure my computer wouldn't be able to handle them at all.
Thanks a lot for spreading the word!
"Fun" may be an understatement here!
I spent quite some time in WvW during this beta, and only died when severely outnumbered. I killed quite some people in zergs as a melee (sword/sword) mesmer, how about that? I'm not "good" by any means, and I'm sure most people here would mop the floor with me, but the thing is that they'd be able to do so as easily (or more) if I was using Kb+m.
The very first weapon skill (1, or X in both of my configurations) is what would be an auto-attack.
No, no; you misunderstand. It's not that it's not mapped, there IS no autoattack, unless you count the first ability, which is usually a regular attack of sorts, has no cooldown, and is set to auto-attack by default.
That sounds outright amazing. So eager to see it, now.
I like your Sylvary much more than I thought I would a bluish-skinned one (although your blue is bark-gray so it works great). And yeah, the night-glo Asura eyes are awesome.
Is that why your character was sitting in the middle of Metrica Province for most of the stress test? I see.
btw this:
Is fucking badass.
It really is; loving it so much now that it's all antialiased and smooth.
Ok, that is FREAKING AMAZING. i can't believe they actually went that far to make racial skills attractive to Engineers. Man, are they spoiled or what?
Also, I realized the turret abilities are in addition to making them explode (you have one out, it explodes; you don't, the other ability fires).
Four posts apart or so, too.
That's a good observation; no point in making a lot of normal-looking sets when a few is enough (if you like them, transmute). Give something for everyone. (haven't seen the pics, imgur is down).
Oh, I did't know this forum censored "ass" as "...."
Oh yeah, forgot to upload an Ultra-HD version of it. There you go:
http://i.minus.com/ibpwc7LfROrJWF.jpg
Didn't know about that! Only thief I played was a Norn (so as to try a combination I'd never use in retail), and I don't think he had that.
I would be totally for this, but ArenaNet has to get their money from somewhere... :/
Was about to post that.
RepairmanJack
Member
I would suggest just trying to experiment with the class a little more. But if it doesn't click with you it may just not click.
The class more revolves around confusing the opponant than it does just jumping in battle and doing a lot of damage. A lot of it's skills, including it's steal, have a shadowstep mechanic to get to the enemy quick. Some skills even have a return alternate skill where once you use it it will get you back out of combat fast. If you couple these things with the steal shadow step, the stealth skills, and use the crossbow for the targeted shadowstep you can jump in and out of combat and be very confusing to the enemy.
This is at least how I try to play the thief. I only played it one BWE and only in sPVP so I didn't get very proficient in it, but that seems to be the basic gist of the class. Move, Move, Move.
The more I talk about thief the more I think about it being my main and first character.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Well, that's pretty high praise!
they can one-shot you even with 20k HP though (in a matter of 1-2 seconds), so you'd barely have enough health left to use your stealth
Yeah, I finally got to watch the video. It's Ebonhawke.
EDIT: To celebrate the Engineer's new innuendo skills, I plan to make my first build as a Crotch Engineer.
aramanKain
Member
Take your time, it's an important decision that messing up could cause a lot of heartache.
Right.
Maybe one specific build can do that which I have never actually seen in any of the games I played.
But I can assure you that you do not get 1-2 shot as a Thief if you are not some idiotic glass cannon build everyone seems to think the Thief needs to be.
FTFY
It's not like I didn't enjoy playing a thief, it's just that I'm not sure if played correctly. If that makes any sense. I think the steal mechanic and the shadowstep stuff is really nice, I just have the feeling that I did it wrong.
It always seemed to me that I didn't quite have enough initiative too use my skill. I remember always having this weird downtime where I was waiting to get initiative to use the next skill, which also made the weapon switching kinda useless to me, because there was really no point to switch to another weapon if I didn't even have the initiative to use the skills. When I was playing a mesmer or elementalist I never had these resource problems and I was doing just fine.
That's why I think I may have just played the wrong way.
I linked to a couple of Elementist sPvP videos with the Updraft + Burning Speed + Fire Grab combo that can easily deal 20k+ damage (and is very difficult to avoid). Aside from the usual Bull's Rush + Hundred Blades combo, the Warrior's Eviscerate can still hit for 10k+ damage, and another 5k+ with the whirling axe attack. I also posted a video of a Guardian that kills another Guardian in 2 seconds flat.
what they all have in common though is that they're indeed glass cannon builds, well, as far as Warriors or Guardians can be anyway
Some actual gameplay of Fields of Ruin. Be sure to change to progressive streaming for HD.
http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/1wdjyc/guild-wars-2-fields-of-ruin-gameplay
Oh FFS it's all Hearts...ugh.
http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/1wdjyc/guild-wars-2-fields-of-ruin-gameplay
Oh FFS it's all Hearts...ugh.
Were you expecting something different?
"Revolutionary events" are just normal quests that add and remove themselves from your screen at their leisure.
You eventually figure it out. While other classes tend to want to use four or so of their skills before weapon swapping, as a thief you tend to concentrate on two or three for certain combos, keeping afar for the right moment while using your auto-attack and building up more initiative, and then hit a burst combo for either damage or general confusion. You have to use your skills a lot more deliberately as a thief, since they share a cooldown, and a lot of them are 4-6 in initiative cost. It's one of the reasons the Batman comparison is so apt.
Your utility skills help close the gap a lot though.
That may have been my problem, as I was always trying to use all my skills before swapping to the other weapon set. That Batman comparison was also the reason I decided post, because I actually expected to play something roguelike.
I'll definitely give the thief another try come release. Seems like a cool class.
A question concerning the ranger: Do you have to use a pet? If so, how much do you have to babysit it? Does it have it's own set of skills you have to keep track of? Didn't play one during the weekend events, but this would be my backup class if the thief really isn't for me.
I heard that they recently gave the option for you to "put away" your pet as a Ranger.
As for the pets themselves, they each have a set of four skills, three of which they use at their own discretion and the last of which you choose to activate with F2. They tend to not make good tanks, as they have an overall smaller health pool, but there are pets designed to be more tanky, like bears. If you see your pet as someone to stand in the way in fights, get a bear. If you see them as someone who supports you while the enemy targets you over the pet in fights, you'll get a lot more enjoyment of the class, I think.
Unfortunately, in PvE pets tend to run in first, and enemies tend to target the closest enemy until they see the entirety of the fight before them. In sPvP and WvW, the player tends to get targeted over the pet more.
As for the pets themselves, they each have a set of four skills, three of which they use at their own discretion and the last of which you choose to activate with F2. They tend to not make good tanks, as they have an overall smaller health pool, but there are pets designed to be more tanky, like bears. If you see your pet as someone to stand in the way in fights, get a bear. If you see them as someone who supports you while the enemy targets you over the pet in fights, you'll get a lot more enjoyment of the class, I think.
Unfortunately, in PvE pets tend to run in first, and enemies tend to target the closest enemy until they see the entirety of the fight before them. In sPvP and WvW, the player tends to get targeted over the pet more.
What I'd like to play would be something that is a ranged class but not using magic or pets. Like a ranger without pets . But if the pets aren't too cumbersome I'd be ok with one. I just tend to forget about pet skills when playing with one so I'd rather not have to manage a pet.
. But if the pets aren't too cumbersome I'd be ok with one. I just tend to forget about pet skills when playing with one so I'd rather not have to manage a pet.Quadrophenic
Member
What I'd like to play would be something that is a ranged class but not using magic or pets. Like a ranger without pets
Warrior with longbow/rifle?
Teknopathetic
Member
"What I'd like to play would be something that is a ranged class but not using magic or pets. Like a ranger without pets . But if the pets aren't too cumbersome I'd be ok with one. I just tend to forget about pet skills when playing with one so I'd rather not have to manage a pet."
Could just play Warrior with Longbow/Rifle.
Also, Engineer.
. But if the pets aren't too cumbersome I'd be ok with one. I just tend to forget about pet skills when playing with one so I'd rather not have to manage a pet."Could just play Warrior with Longbow/Rifle.
Also, Engineer.
fluffydelusions
Member
So has everyone decided on a main yet?
necro.. for now
No! It's killin me!
I'm actually building my warrior for primary rifle. They're really good.
I played an Engineer the most in BWE3. I did not have much fun.
I'll probably be boring and chose a Warrior.
BrettWeir
Member
Engineer.
I'm actually very surprised at the amount of people rolling Engineer. Heck, it's leading the pack in the GAFGuild forum poll.
What level did you get to? For some reason, I think it's one of those classes that opens up at 30 after you get your elites.
Guardian
BrettWeir
Member
Ugh. I watched a great video the other day showing off all of the Engineer skills. Unfortunately I can't find it now. Wanted to show its versatility.
Noisy Ninj4
Member
Goodbye GW1, helloooooo GW2.
Still maining a Charr Warrior. Human elementalist will probably be a close second, though.
Still maining a Charr Warrior. Human elementalist will probably be a close second, though.
Damn you hit 50? How long did it take?
BrettWeir
Member
Seriously, you crazy.
Congrats!!!
About that Engineer video.....History FTW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm4m7lhI2j0&feature=player_embedded#!
My main will be either a Mesmer, Warrior, or Thief. The order listed is the current order of preference. I'll definitely make all three within the first 15 minutes, but I can't decide which I'd prefer to run in with friends and the GAF guild for WvW.
Thief has Shortbow and Dual Pistols. Not only do I love them, but the Shortbow also has a poison field and a blast finisher to provide area weakness. Or I can just use the Shortbow autoattack to spread poison farther since it bounces across multiple enemies. Or swap to pistols and use an unload. Now that I think about it, a nice change would be to have anything that has a lower than 100% chance to work as a finisher (unload has a 20% chance per bullet, right?) should be affected by precision.
Warrior has Longbow's burst allowing for a fire field, and the number 3 skill is a blast finisher. Area Might, or keep firing with the bow to stack burns. The number 5 skill is an immobilize, and one thing I did during yesterday's stress test was immobilize someone with it, swap to main hand Sword, and use the main hand's burst skill which comes with it's own immobilize to keep an enemy in one place for even longer. I'd knock out a chunk of their health, and keep them in place for 5 or so seconds for my friends to pound them into the ground. Then there are the offhand choices... I tend to use Warhorn a lot as the number 4 skill not only grants swiftness but will also remove cripple/frozen/immobilize, and the number 5 skill places weakness which is great for tanking keep and tower lords. But offhand Sword allows me to stack more bleeds, and offhand Axe gives me a whirl finisher to use with my Longbow's fire field. Decisions, decisions.
Mesmer's Sword/Pistol + Staff is fun. Plain fun. You cannot avoid having fun with it. The ability to stun, throw out cripples, and the existence of the skill Blurred Frenzy means that I'm a competent tank as long as I remember tanking means keeping the enemy focused on you, not taking damage. Switching to Staff adds a backstep ability to this, and my favorite skill in the game, Chaos Storm.
So, I know I'm making a Human Mesmer, a Charr Warrior, and a Sylvari or Asuran Thief. I just don't know how I should structure them, because I like them each so much that once I start playing with one I won't switch until after I've gone to sleep for the day.
Thief has Shortbow and Dual Pistols. Not only do I love them, but the Shortbow also has a poison field and a blast finisher to provide area weakness. Or I can just use the Shortbow autoattack to spread poison farther since it bounces across multiple enemies. Or swap to pistols and use an unload. Now that I think about it, a nice change would be to have anything that has a lower than 100% chance to work as a finisher (unload has a 20% chance per bullet, right?) should be affected by precision.
Warrior has Longbow's burst allowing for a fire field, and the number 3 skill is a blast finisher. Area Might, or keep firing with the bow to stack burns. The number 5 skill is an immobilize, and one thing I did during yesterday's stress test was immobilize someone with it, swap to main hand Sword, and use the main hand's burst skill which comes with it's own immobilize to keep an enemy in one place for even longer. I'd knock out a chunk of their health, and keep them in place for 5 or so seconds for my friends to pound them into the ground. Then there are the offhand choices... I tend to use Warhorn a lot as the number 4 skill not only grants swiftness but will also remove cripple/frozen/immobilize, and the number 5 skill places weakness which is great for tanking keep and tower lords. But offhand Sword allows me to stack more bleeds, and offhand Axe gives me a whirl finisher to use with my Longbow's fire field. Decisions, decisions.
Mesmer's Sword/Pistol + Staff is fun. Plain fun. You cannot avoid having fun with it. The ability to stun, throw out cripples, and the existence of the skill Blurred Frenzy means that I'm a competent tank as long as I remember tanking means keeping the enemy focused on you, not taking damage. Switching to Staff adds a backstep ability to this, and my favorite skill in the game, Chaos Storm.
So, I know I'm making a Human Mesmer, a Charr Warrior, and a Sylvari or Asuran Thief. I just don't know how I should structure them, because I like them each so much that once I start playing with one I won't switch until after I've gone to sleep for the day.
"What I'd like to play would be something that is a ranged class but not using magic or pets. Like a ranger without pets
Could just play Warrior with Longbow/Rifle.
Also, Engineer.
I may try that. The only classes I spent any considerable time on are the thief and the mesmer.
ComputerMKII
Banned
Female Norn Ranger.
Yeah just holding down the fort.Is that why your character was sitting in the middle of Metrica Province for most of the stress test? I see.
Gorgeous.
My main is an Asura Thief by the way. I haven't decided which Hawkian he shall be, though...
Noisy Ninj4
Member
Technically, 6 and ahalf years. I started playing at the end of 2005, had a one year hiatus, and made 49 points by last december. I decided to stop bothering for 50 at that point because the last thing on my list was getting obsidian armor and I already had GWAMM (which was more important to me).
Well, with GW2 so close, I got the farming bug again and I took a week getting myself a set. So... 50/50 for me.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832784011
Use promo code EMCNBNG58 at checkout.
$50 today.
Use promo code EMCNBNG58 at checkout.
$50 today.
This doesn't get you early access I believe.
I didn't know grenades have such a huge range - might be quite useful for WvWvW
This.. really makes me want to main a Thief instead of Mesmer. Goddamn!
I believe their range were buffed by BWE3.
Fleshfeast
Member
One specific complaint about thief I've seen a couple times now is the PvE experience. Since I've spent 90% of my time in PvE (got my charr thief to 32 before the reset for BWE3, then got my Asura to 15 in BWE3), here's what I've been doing.
Most of my time was dual daggers/shortbow. For the typical enemy, I Steal to teleport in if it's available, use the stolen ability if it's useful in that situation (usually is). Cloak and Dagger (5) to apply weakness and get into stealth, then Backstab (1). Autoattack (1) while waiting for the stealth timer. When it's about to expire, start casting Cloak and Dagger (5) again and Backstab (1) again. When the enemy is low on HP, you can hit it with a couple Heartseekers (2), which do more damage to targets below 66%, and even more to targets below 33% health.
For any AoE, I'd switch to shortbow and use mostly Choking Gas (4) and Cluster Bomb (2). Choking Gas leaves a cloud people can combo off of, and Cluster Bomb can be detonated mid-air by pressing the key again for higher damage and a larger radius. If you get in a bind, Disabling Shot (3) will slow your target by 50% AND make you just backwards, allowing you to retreat while doing damage.
Using the above tactics, I felt like I was killing fast with single target melee. My AoE damage with the shortbow seemed alright, and I could even kite if I was fighting something too tough to melee (got up to the level 19 personal story quest while at level 13 by kiting stuff). This was all with my points spent in Shadow Arts, which buffs your toughness and healing, not your damage.
For this last stress test I tried this build from an Anet stream someone posted a few pages back. I was low level and not doing sPvP so I couldn't get many of the traits and skills, but I did go with pistol dagger. Use Autoattack (1) and your stealth attack on #1 to apply bleeds, and the heal skill (6) and Cloak and Dagger (5) to get into stealth for the stealth attack. Then add poisons to the mix and dodge them while letting them bleed. This build definitely seems to rely on traits a lot though, giving defensive buffs, kiting tools, and damage buffs. It worked, but was noticeably weaker for low level PvE.
Also one of the important things I had to learn as a thief to get the hang of it: Most of your attacks don't don't have a cooldown. This means if you spam them, you can get locked into the animation doing the attack more times than you want. With a mainhand dagger, number 2 is a semi-spammable leap attack. You can press it twice really quickly (second keypress goes off just as the animation for the first is starting), and you will do it a second time and get a second animation for it. If you spam this ability, you'll get stuck in the animation doing it 3-4 times, then have no initiative left for anything else. coming from other games where I could just mindlessly spam the 2 key, this was messing me up a lot at first.
Most of my time was dual daggers/shortbow. For the typical enemy, I Steal to teleport in if it's available, use the stolen ability if it's useful in that situation (usually is). Cloak and Dagger (5) to apply weakness and get into stealth, then Backstab (1). Autoattack (1) while waiting for the stealth timer. When it's about to expire, start casting Cloak and Dagger (5) again and Backstab (1) again. When the enemy is low on HP, you can hit it with a couple Heartseekers (2), which do more damage to targets below 66%, and even more to targets below 33% health.
For any AoE, I'd switch to shortbow and use mostly Choking Gas (4) and Cluster Bomb (2). Choking Gas leaves a cloud people can combo off of, and Cluster Bomb can be detonated mid-air by pressing the key again for higher damage and a larger radius. If you get in a bind, Disabling Shot (3) will slow your target by 50% AND make you just backwards, allowing you to retreat while doing damage.
Using the above tactics, I felt like I was killing fast with single target melee. My AoE damage with the shortbow seemed alright, and I could even kite if I was fighting something too tough to melee (got up to the level 19 personal story quest while at level 13 by kiting stuff). This was all with my points spent in Shadow Arts, which buffs your toughness and healing, not your damage.
For this last stress test I tried this build from an Anet stream someone posted a few pages back. I was low level and not doing sPvP so I couldn't get many of the traits and skills, but I did go with pistol dagger. Use Autoattack (1) and your stealth attack on #1 to apply bleeds, and the heal skill (6) and Cloak and Dagger (5) to get into stealth for the stealth attack. Then add poisons to the mix and dodge them while letting them bleed. This build definitely seems to rely on traits a lot though, giving defensive buffs, kiting tools, and damage buffs. It worked, but was noticeably weaker for low level PvE.
Also one of the important things I had to learn as a thief to get the hang of it: Most of your attacks don't don't have a cooldown. This means if you spam them, you can get locked into the animation doing the attack more times than you want. With a mainhand dagger, number 2 is a semi-spammable leap attack. You can press it twice really quickly (second keypress goes off just as the animation for the first is starting), and you will do it a second time and get a second animation for it. If you spam this ability, you'll get stuck in the animation doing it 3-4 times, then have no initiative left for anything else. coming from other games where I could just mindlessly spam the 2 key, this was messing me up a lot at first.
Were you using their stealth abilities like backstab? I didn't find any problem with them in PvE at all, except getting one hitted in big pve mobs... but that seems a problem with any melee. I find their condition damage is awesome. Bleeds from their death blossom and poisons is brutal.
True. However you're looking at early access and maybe an in-game item that will be replaced vs $10 off, physical copy and free 3 day UPS shipping.
Audioboxer
Member
Getting really pumped! I wish I hadn't started paying attention till a week before release or something, but I guess a month is nothing compared to those who've been following GW2 for years.
Decided I'll play a Warrior, will work well with my GFs Elementalist.
Now to hunt for deals, gutted I missed out on the GMG £24.99 deal!
Decided I'll play a Warrior, will work well with my GFs Elementalist.
Now to hunt for deals, gutted I missed out on the GMG £24.99 deal!
BrettWeir
Member
That, and turrets, are the main reason I want to play one. Seems a lot more beneficial in WvW than the Ranger I had previously planned on maining.