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Guild Wars 2 |OT4| The only subscription you need is this thread.

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H

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Levyne said:
I say that sounds reasonable. One week tagged, 2nd week untagged.

Edit: Hmm, will have to look into that. Thanks, Kos.
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I missed that, but that sounds reasonable! I was asking for 48 hours but the first week would definitely give anyone interested in keeping up with the storyline "live" a chance.
 
Z

Zeroth

Member
Granadier said:
This is how I live my life.
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image.php
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Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
coming back to game after long abscene ive made a new char gonna walk in fresh.

name is angel dark heart/queen of hunting/angel chay.

3 different chars all set up ready to go, just asking to join guild too :p
 
C

Callunah

Neo Member
ashley678 said:
coming back to game after long abscene ive made a new char gonna walk in fresh.

name is angel dark heart/queen of hunting/angel chay.

3 different chars all set up ready to go, just asking to join guild too :p
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Invite sent! Welcome! Dont forget to rep and join us in guild chat!
 
S

spiritfox

Member
Hawkian said:
Is this for PvP you're talking? If it's PvE I'm surprised that Dire would be considered at all better than Carrion or Rabid or a mix of those two. Thieves are best at, you know, doing lots of damage. ;) You need to get your sustain from mobility and trickery for the most part unless this is meant to be some sort of condi support build where damage isn't your biggest priority, but it doesn't sound like that. Consider at least shadow refuge and possibly, shadowstep and blinding powder- all three if you need them. Otherwise caltrops for more bleeds. If you're in trouble, use stealth to reposition rather than for the attack. Sneak attack from shadow refuge also does lifesteal.

Also, it sounds like you're focusing on getting ALL your bleed from Sneak Attack with pistol? You can and should also spend initiative on rapid bleeds by making d/d your other set. Death Blossom with high condi will make groups kinda melt away in many PvE settings.

If you really want to go all out with this, I suggest Sigils of Earth and Geomancy and Superior Runes of the Krait along with Basilisk Venom.

Bear in mind, even with all this trickery, hitting a 25 stack by yourself as a thief is just not practical, that's not what you're aiming for.

Also bear in mind that in PvE, direct damage is rather likely a better option for thief almost all of the time. Conditions ignore armor which is awesome, but thieves can pump out HUGE numbers in spikes a variety of ways. I have a hybrid condition build myself as one of mine, and it's a lot of fun, but I'm just saying, if you're not happy with the damage you're getting with it at present...
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Katoki said:
@Hawk: Likely PvP/WvW that is being mentioned there. Thieves aren't squishy in PvE for the most part with dire stats.



What're you hitting for your personal best in terms of maximum stacks? I once fought a dire p/d as a berserker p/d and he went pretty quickly save for some shortcomings. The problems I had was that I bled out from stealing into caltrops on dodge and had nearly non-existent means of condition clear.

Use SR, shadow step, and switch out between blinding powder and the caltrops utilities as you see fit. Otherwise, please provide more information/feedback so that either Hawkian or I know how to proceed.
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Sorry, I was sleeping. Yeah, this is for WvW roaming. I hit around 10-12 stacks normally, but the problem is I keep running into Heavies whom have lots of HP, making it a pain to fight. I'm running BP and Shadow already, but the last slot is for Signet of Shadows because I can't live without the speed boost. Secondary's a SB for utility and 2. I think I just need to get used to playing Thief more, since she's so squishy compared to the other classes I normally play.
 
K

Katoki

Member
spiritfox said:
Sorry, I was sleeping. Yeah, this is for WvW roaming. I hit around 10-12 stacks normally, but the problem is I keep running into Heavies whom have lots of HP, making it a pain to fight. I'm running BP and Shadow already, but the last slot is for Signet of Shadows because I can't live without the speed boost. Secondary's a SB for utility and 2. I think I just need to get used to playing Thief more, since she's so squishy compared to the other classes I normally play.
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Speed runes and caltrops on dodge. The former will free up the last utility but you'll need to weigh it against whatever stat bonuses you may have had the opportunity to receive. Caltrops on dodge is free bleed stacks whenever someone decides to gap close you.
 
H

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
spiritfox said:
Sorry, I was sleeping. Yeah, this is for WvW roaming. I hit around 10-12 stacks normally, but the problem is I keep running into Heavies whom have lots of HP, making it a pain to fight. I'm running BP and Shadow already, but the last slot is for Signet of Shadows because I can't live without the speed boost. Secondary's a SB for utility and 2. I think I just need to get used to playing Thief more, since she's so squishy compared to the other classes I normally play.
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Hmm. Okay, WvW roaming makes more sense for sure. First off, what's your trait setup for this? A handful of thief traits can alleviate the movement speed thing- you've at least got points in Trickery for Condition Damage, right? Thrill of the Crime will give you 10s of Swiftness on Steal, even without a target, out of combat. Nowhere near the relaxation of a permanent 25% speed boost, but not to be overlooked.

I'd consider picking either Shortbow and dropping Signet of Shadows for Caltrops (use Shortbow 5 for traversal to compensate for the lack of 25% movement speed) or Signet of Shadows, and drop Shortbow for D/D. When you engage, especially against a high HP, you can't be counting on Sneak Attack and Body Shot alone to maintain high bleeds. I'm assuming you've been running P/D and thus spending most of your initiative of Cloak and Dagger so you can get to Sneak Attack again. While this is great especially if you need breathing room, another source of condition application is almost always demanded by one of these builds.

Consider (with P/D+D/D) you pick your target, open with Blinding Powder + Sneak Attack, then Shadow Shot to get in close, weapon swap (Sigil of Geomancy will stack another 3 bleeds), one chain of Lotus Strike (land poison as a covering condition+regen a couple inititative), then blow all your remaining intiative on Death Blossom, then use one of your stealth options, weapon swap again, Sneak Attack, etc. Or, if they're low health at the last step, just go for the backstab and see if you can down them. This can lead to a ton of bleeds and damage in a short time span while also giving you evade- crucial for staying alive.

There's also the option of focusing on a hybrid bleed/torment build with D/P and Sigil of Torment. Torment is an often-ignored condition and you can keep pretty substantial stacks of it while luring heavies to chase you. Let me know if you're interested in this and I'll explain better.

About the "get used to playing Thief" thing there is definitely some of that. We're sooo squishy. Sometimes you have to just keep in mind that if you can't win a fight, you stealth and get away and live to fight another day. You still denied a kill. To some degree, that's a big part of "sustain" for a thief, being able to slip away as soon as you realize you're in a losing fight.
Katoki said:
Speed runes and caltrops on dodge. The former will free up the last utility but you'll need to weigh it against whatever stat bonuses you may have had the opportunity to receive. Caltrops on dodge is free bleed stacks whenever someone decides to gap close you.
Click to expand...
That's another way to go... but to maximize this build I really can't think of a better option than Runes of the Krait + Basilisk Venom...
 
G

Granadier

Is currently on Stage 1: Denial regarding the service game future
Ludovico said:
:"(

Main PC is down til I can get a replacement PSU, but my school laptop runs it JUST FINE, thank you.


Really, though, I'm tired of running this game on a toaster...
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Are you kidding. A toaster is the greatest. You can make sandwiches and grilled cheeses and shit while you play. It's legit.
 
S

spiritfox

Member
Thanks for the tips guys. I'm not sure if I want to lose my Krait runes for the speed boost, so I might just drop SoS and use my SB to travel, though it's a bit annoying. I'm using a pretty standard trait build so I have the last row maxed out and caltrops on dodge. But I think the main problem is how I engage. I keep forgetting to use Basilisk and Shadowstep, and I have an aversion to keeping close since I'm so squishy. Like I said, I need to get used to the class.
 
H

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
hockeypuck said:
I'm certain it was you who showed us that coffin the first time a few of us ran path 2.
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nope there's no way, i'm really not even sure exactly where it is! maybe you're thinking of the oozes? I can lead people to
their deaths in front of
them with my eyes closed :)
spiritfox said:
Hawk, did I get 100% map completion before you :p
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everybody did I think! I've never "tried" for map completion. I'm at 80-something on my thief, just from leveling and doing whatever I come across as I feel like it. Wouldn't have it any other way though <3
 
B

BraXzy

Member
Hawkian said:
The sylvari city? I'm pretty sure I haven't even 100%ed The Grove on my Thief yet o_O

Rata Sum is the simplest to complete because it's the most logical. *folds arms*
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I didn't for quite awhile on my Warriro. It's not my favourite city for map completion, but it ain't no Black Citadel.

I'd agree with Rata Sum, it's quite big but you can't really go wrong.
 
G

Granadier

Is currently on Stage 1: Denial regarding the service game future
I've been playing since 2012 with ~600 hours, and the highest map completion I've gotten on a character is 40%.

Sometimes I wonder how I've managed that.
 
L

Levito

Banned
Hawkian said:
That's... wha?! It's an input emulator. It doesn't hook into running game files or inject any DLLs or anything like that. It should have quite literally zero impact on framerate or 3D performance of a game, which is to say, not halving your framerate, not just a little bit, none. As far as the game is concerned you're just hitting keypresses and using your mouse as normal. I am flabbergasted by this one honestly! I even googled "xpadder framerate drops" but don't see anything concrete...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was a while back and I couldn't figure out what was happening.

Tomorrow I'm going to look over the instructions in the OP give your solution a shot.
 
Icomp

Icomp

Member
So,

I'm level 37 at the moment. Been doing that Ascalon dungeon a few times.

Is the dungeons different in the end-game content? It seems really weird to not have specific tanks/healers at this rate. I love the game, I really do. However I miss the feeling of being important as a tank/healer.

Playing as a defender at the moment and I love every bit of it.

Did a sort of a world boss also, which seemed so random, just like 100 people all mashing at one guy, nothing happening until he's dead.

Will there be more engaging fights?
 
N

Nemesis121

Member
Icomp said:
So,

I'm level 37 at the moment. Been doing that Ascalon dungeon a few times.

Is the dungeons different in the end-game content? It seems really weird to not have specific tanks/healers at this rate. I love the game, I really do. However I miss the feeling of being important as a tank/healer.

Playing as a defender at the moment and I love every bit of it.

Did a sort of a world boss also, which seemed so random, just like 100 people all mashing at one guy, nothing happening until he's dead.

Will there be more engaging fights?
Click to expand...

Game has no Healer, Trinity system doesn't exist here, you have classes that can AoE heal or cast a few skills that can heal, you have classes than can tank but at any sec you can lose aggro, so no one dedicates themselves to tanking or healing, it's a game where you can play have fun and don't worry about having a role, the most important thing in dungeon runs rez the down player...
 
Icomp

Icomp

Member
Nemesis121 said:
Game has no Healer, Trinity system doesn't exist here, you have classes that can AoE heal or cast a few skills that can heal, you have classes than can tank but at any sec you can lose aggro, so no one dedicates themselves to tanking or healing, it's a game where you can play have fun and don't worry about having a role, the most important thing in dungeon runs rez the down player...
Click to expand...

So I guess a "raid" would be just like 100 people mashing on a guy until it's over to get some loot?

I don't know, seems as if it's taking some of the fun out.

Also what I find dull is that dungeons isn't available until level 30, big let down, even though the leveling itself is quite fast.

Anyway, I'm having tons of fun so far. I just hope I won't get tired of the skills available. (I hope they implement something like catching elite skills from mobs like they had in the original game.)
 
H

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
The Dragon's Reach... damn.
Icomp said:
So,

I'm level 37 at the moment. Been doing that Ascalon dungeon a few times.

Is the dungeons different in the end-game content? It seems really weird to not have specific tanks/healers at this rate. I love the game, I really do. However I miss the feeling of being important as a tank/healer.

Playing as a defender at the moment and I love every bit of it.

Did a sort of a world boss also, which seemed so random, just like 100 people all mashing at one guy, nothing happening until he's dead.

Will there be more engaging fights?
Click to expand...
When you say you've done the Ascalon dungeon a few times, have you done all three explorable paths then? For all intents and purposes, every dungeon is more or less end-game content; you could level from 79 to 80 by doing an AC run if you wanted to.


Most world bosses (especially ones accessible at your level) are pretty much loot pinatas for people who like that.

That said, yes, there is content that requires much more coordination and specialization, though nothing like the trinity will ever be in gw2. You'll probably be interested in fractals, the 8th and toughest dungeon (Arah), the Golem mk 2 fight, Tequatl, and the Triple Wurm, stuff to try when you're closer to or at 80.
 
D

duma

Neo Member
Icomp said:
So I guess a "raid" would be just like 100 people mashing on a guy until it's over to get some loot?
Click to expand...
When you are facing world bosses, generally speaking, yes. But in GW2 the "raid" concept doesn't apply. The endgame consists of dungeons, WvW and ultimately getting your legendary weapon(s).
 
H

Hellers

Member
Icomp said:
So I guess a "raid" would be just like 100 people mashing on a guy until it's over to get some loot?
Click to expand...

If it was that simple I'd never go to a fail Tequatl event :) The one I attended on Sunday I think I was the only person manning a turret. I lasted about 3 seconds :)
 
S

spiritfox

Member
Even a World Boss at a low level zone like Shadow Behemoth is actually more just just hitting 1. If nobody went to kill the portals or the mobs that spawn from it you'll never go anywhere.
 
L

Levyne

Banned
I think the less you try to draw parallels to trinity based gameplay, the better. I think trying to find the equivalent here is just going to make you disappointed in what you do have.

Even though there is no trinity based gameplay, class based group synergy of sorts is definitely a thing. One of the common criticisms of the game is that "Everyone is DPS" (again, people trying to apply trinity terms that don't really fit). But what you're going to be able to do with 3 warriors, a thief, and an elementalist is different from what you'll be doing with a guard, two warriors, a ranger and an engi. Warriors will lay banners to buff their group, or will trait into shouts as heals or to deal with conditions. Multiple warriors should try to learn what the others are running so that equivalent banners are not being run by two people, or that only one person is traited into Empower Allies. In some cases, you might want a warrior using a hammer or mace to work as a cc unit (helpful in some fractals, for instance).

Guardians are good at providing reflection (also Mesmer somewhat I think) and protection. Stability as well. Reflection's not the end-all-be-all, but it approaches it, probably the most useful thing to have in many dungeons. Multiple guards will want to make sure they aren't providing the same benefit to the group at the same time (usually if you see two walls of reflection go up at the same time, you know someone screwed up).

Rangers can provide spirit buffs, Spotter, some fury and regeneration (which is unfortunately not the greatest boon in the world) and a decent water field that removes conditions. Elementalists can lay fields of most all of the elements and provide conjured weapons that do amazing damage to structures. Thieves (and Mesmers) can allow groups to skip mobs via stealth that isn't as easy to pull off without that ability. Engis can also lay great water fields and provide good sustained damaged even at some range. Aside, sorry if I'm not giving the best little blurb for each class since I'm not equally familiar with all of them.

As for most of the world events being 100 people mashing a loot pinata, I don't have much of a defense for that. It's true and a little lame. The Tequatl Dragon event and the Triple Wurm event are some of the first that provide a few more wrinkles into the mix such as requiring different specializations in a few places (Knockback/immobilize at one of the Teq batteries, condition and reflection focused teams at each Wurm head). Hopefully we see more meta events like that. Sand Giant in Dry top is a little bit in between the brainless 100 man dps whacking and the two events mentioned earlier. You have to know when to avoid his stomps and deal with his fears in order to do enough damage to kill him within the time limit.
 
N

Nemesis121

Member
spiritfox said:
Even a World Boss at a low level zone like Shadow Behemoth is actually more just just hitting 1. If nobody went to kill the portals or the mobs that spawn from it you'll never go anywhere.
Click to expand...

I really hate the fight because of those portals now, in the beginning every player helped killed the portals now 75% of the zerg sit on their asses and wait for other players to do the portal part, i haven't done SB in 3 weeks...
 
Icomp

Icomp

Member
Levyne said:
I think the less you try to draw parallels to trinity based gameplay, the better. I think trying to find the equivalent here is just going to make you disappointed in what you do have.
Click to expand...

First of all, thank you very much for taking the time and writing that.

I guess I am trying to make it into a sort of WoW-clone when it clearly isn't.
I think what I need is a guild to do some sort of events/dungeons with, to get a little bit of structure and tactics behind the combat.

As of right now everyone is pretty independant and don't really bother with the other players unless they're dying.

It's too bad that I play in the EU and can't join in on the fun that people seem to have in this guild.

I do understand why the world event champions at lower levels are a bit dull, I mean, not everyone playing the game for the first time know what they're doing besides hitting a mob. I admit it took a while until I learned how to evade effectively, I probably suck at it too.
 
L

Levyne

Banned
Yeah, I hope you end up taking to liking the systems in place here, but obviously not everyone will.

I think it's just fairly neat when I'll place a water field just outside of a mob group because some people are low on health and then blast it and see a few other people also step out to blast and then go back into the mob to get might from a fire field from an engi or elementalist and keep things going smoothly. Things like that are great signs of group synergy. Or I will place the Healing Spring right on top of the mob if the group needs a cleanse, though usually a trooper runed heavy or maybe a traited elementalist attuning to water will take care of that. Depends on who is in the party! It's also super neat to see a guard or a mesmer (or me, the ranger if i can hit multiple people with a pulling axe ^^ )pull a bunch of enemies together and then see the whole group unload with their highly damaging abilities on the stacked enemy blob. Or if a party member goes down, you have to decide whether you need to pop stability (or potentially an invulnerability if the downed played is within a powerful aoe attack like the Ascalon fractal boss) or whether it's better to focus fire on a weak enemy to force a rally. Or fighting Mai Trin in fractals and having to get to a player who went down during the cannon fire and you have to get him up without succumbing to Mai yourself. It neat when you see great teamwork at play and frustrating when you see someone (or yourself) make the wrong decision ("i should have resed the downed player instead of trying to kill the high healthed mob in order to rally him") .

Even in groups that prioritize speeding through the dungeons with stacking and high damage, being able to pull enemies together, combo high might fire fields, efficiently cover banners and other party buffs, and provide stability so that the party can force their will so to speak are all very important.
 
H

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Icomp said:
I guess I am trying to make it into a sort of WoW-clone when it clearly isn't.
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Absolutely. This is a recipe for disaster, especially in the sense of "endgame progression." There will never be the motivational carrot of getting past a gear gate to be able to complete new content. When new content arrives you can simply do it, and spend as much or as little of your time in the world as you'd like.
I think what I need is a guild to do some sort of events/dungeons with, to get a little bit of structure and tactics behind the combat.
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Uuummm.. *whistles* Are you in NA?

It's too bad that I play in the EU and can't join in on the fun that people seem to have in this guild.
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Oh... well, we have a substantial number of EU playing with us. Do you have people over there you play with that you wouldn't want to abandon?

I do understand why the world event champions at lower levels are a bit dull, I mean, not everyone playing the game for the first time know what they're doing besides hitting a mob. I admit it took a while until I learned how to evade effectively, I probably suck at it too.
Click to expand...
In addition to that, a lot of the world bosses do simply cater to people of low skill level. The rewards (especially for the effort and time) are pretty good, and you have so many people helping that you can't really screw up the way you can in a dungeon. I find most of them kinda boring, but nice to look at, although there are a few I really enjoy: the Golem Mk II, Megadestroyer, Orr Temple bosses, Fire Shaman, Taidha Covington, and the more complex "mega" bosses, Tequatl the Sunless and Triple Wurm, all have more going on than the others. Claw of Jormag is long but well-designed, I like to do it every once in a while. I used to love Karka Queen but since this megaserver thing, there's just so many people wailing on her she dies to brute force :p

edit: Love those two posts Levyne
Levyne said:
As for most of the world events being 100 people mashing a loot pinata, I don't have much of a defense for that. It's true and a little lame. The Tequatl Dragon event and the Triple Wurm event are some of the first that provide a few more wrinkles into the mix such as requiring different specializations in a few places (Knockback/immobilize at one of the Teq batteries, condition and reflection focused teams at each Wurm head). Hopefully we see more meta events like that. Sand Giant in Dry top is a little bit in between the brainless 100 man dps whacking and the two events mentioned earlier. You have to know when to avoid his stomps and deal with his fears in order to do enough damage to kill him within the time limit.
Click to expand...
Good point, some of the other stuff in Dry Top points to better design as well, Notchli and the Inquest Commander require a lot of avoidance and situational awareness, Three-Toed absolutely needs timed interrupts. The Giant is no joke though, I've seen as many failures as success against him during my time in the Uplands so far.
 
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