andrewlcl.8176

Considering your build, I would probably ditch the Sigil of Battle and run Cleansing instead. Past experience with this build showed that it was easy to get to 25 might stacks and keep it there, while in terms of condis, I had the most trouble with immobs or when surprised with a massive condiload. The roll Heal and Shadowstep do help to deal with immobs, but again, I'd overbuild against condis (especially Immob) when running this, and it'd be an even greater PITA to deal with.

Yes, this build (or its likeness) has been around for some time, also in its cele/Aristocracy guise. A number of people have claimed credit for the original build. The mechanics of the build is strong enough that you could change a bunch of things and it's still perfectly playable and very effective. For example, I've gone Deadly Arts instead of Trickery, or used the Venom heal for an insane recovery due to Leeching Venoms. Against some players, you could have no weapon swap, two utils and no elite, and you'll still win. Even if caught by surprise, you can easily retaliate and rapidly even the odds, followed by winning the fight. Some folk are good enough to 'rupt/disable before you can get Pistol 5 off. And I've run into a very good DE that puts up screen, followed by kneel 2 for perma immob so you never get to dodge. WB also can put up a good fight with their burst, instaports and immobs. SB as mentioned can be troublesome, as well as bursty condi builds, which seem to outburst this build. At the most basic, if they can figure out how to stop your dodge, your damage and survivability drops dramatically. Projectile reflects/blocks will really draw out the fight to infuriatingly long durations and could win the fight, in the right hands. But in the end, yes, this build is pure cheese, easy to play, and I still rarely use it when I want to WvW in braindead mode. Edit: should also say, I like this build when solo roaming (or when functioning as a yak slapper and sentry flipper), but less so when partied up or in squad, and fighting groups of enemies that are 5 or greater. In those fights, it lacks the burst I really want to drop enemies quick to give our group a leg up. And in those same fights, you also run the higher chance of facing off against projectile hate and group condi cleanses. Furthermore, we haven't built into piercing projectiles. All those things will seriously hinder your effectiveness.

Ranger's free kill.

Question is, if the DE ran away, did it really win the fight? The whole idea in Wvw roaming is to either stomp your enemy, or if you can't win, at least stalemate till you can escape or get friends. Anyway, it's borderline humorous reading all this talk about how OP the DE is. Sure, then, please put 50-100 hours into it and report back to us. By then, you'll either be a DE god (because, OMG it's sooo OP), and we can discuss how to nerf it, or maybe we will be whaling on other builds/classes, complaining that they need to be adjusted. I still contend that DE in general, feels the strongest when it becomes an unexpected +1 in group fights, or when catching a solo roamer unaware (which funnily enough, backstab daredevil does better). DE loses its advantage when you already see them coming, or know they are in the vicinity. In theory, and at the most basic mechanic, they only need to press 4 keys to win a fight against an unsuspecting enemy. But they make one wrong step against someone competent, and they are burnt toast. Rifle DE at this point has to be built glass, otherwise it puts out insufficient pressure to even accomplish what the build is meant to do. DE is low skill floor, high skill ceiling. Easy to get into (hence a lot of DEs being absolute rubbish) and a lot of room to gain mastery (hence the odd 1/1000 DEs being nigh unkillable while killing everybody else). But, where have we heard that all before? Oh, I know. Many, many other classes or builds in GW2 are low skill floor/high skill ceiling, too! As I said in an earlier post, many, many builds and classes trivialise DE fights. Play one, and you learn pretty quickly.

Where is all this crap coming from? Dagger Storm isn't an invul frame, it's an evade frame that is susceptible to things like ele Shocking Aura, Static Field, guardian wards and Dragon Maw, warri Magebane Tether, amongst other things. And you still take condi damage while in Dagger Storm. DE can no longer remove revealed and its been that way for maybe a month now. Thief wep skills are on 0 CD because they run on an initiative system, which comes with its own pros and cons. It's not as if thief gets a free pass and presses pistol 5 repeatedly, and trololol. Oh, and you fought a DE that uses mainhand sword on one wep swap, and dagger/pistol on the other? A DE that doesn't use a rifle at all? Pray tell. BTW, while the thief is doing that "unlimit" blink with sword mainhand, it probably isn't doing any damage when it's not in melee range, plus burning all its initiative just porting. Sword/dagger thief needs some skill to play, most fellas run something more facerolly now. Also, running away to reset, then changing build templates and engaging again, is nothing new in WvW. Many other classes do the same. It's a joke to complain about that in WvW.

What exactly is the DE doing to get infinite ports? They just don't have that. If we are talking about rifle 5 (kneel) - - > rifle 4 and rifle 4 again (within the confines of the field only), then we have Anet and ourselves to thank for that. We asked for permastealth DE to be changed, and Anet got creative, giving us SA changes and Death's Advance. Still, all the old DEs mourned for months that their build was totally gutted and useless now. I'd wager very few DE can even use these skills well, and they are clunky to use in real world scenarios. Those that can use it are still susceptible to a myriad of enemy reveal skills, plus revealed from their own attacks, and temporarily reduced mobility while using skills in kneel and in small confines. If we are talking about a DE single handedly fighting off 3+, then we need to look at the circumstances. A competent or pro DE against 3+ melee-only build noobs with no gap closers or projectile denial is a win to the DE, because it should, no pun intended, run circles around those guys. The sheer difference in skill level and the weaknesses of the builds play to the DE's advantage. Even a Spellbreaker or Dragonhunter can make things very difficult for DE, with either build on its own being able to win, if played competently. We know that DE elite has seen a heavy nerf, it is not as great a threat as it once was as it no longer removes revealed. Reaper of course struggles with DE, as it should, because it struggles against anything that can kite it, such as ranged damage. It has limited mobility outside Spectral Walk and Wurm, and only hopes to buy time with DS #2 or Corrosive Cloud (if it's running that). The fact that the other guys let a single DE kill their reaper actually is quite telling, because they have no idea Wtf they are (or should be) doing against a DE. If they ran away as a single group into the nearest tower/keep, none of them should even die. I come across rather few DEs in WvW, and can only surmise they are, 1) not as overpowered as we think they are, 2) not as easy to play as we think, with infinite ports and permastealth and all that kitten, and/or, 3) unable to 100-0 someone in a blink/win a fight without using a single dodge. We are simply better off playing Catalyst or Willbender, even cele Harb, all being much more common, and probably for very good reason.

It's laughable that DE is even on that list, because all the other listed classes/builds (including sic 'em railgun instakill soulbeast, which was not mentioned) trivialise a DE encounter. Only the harb would have issues with a DE, and only in an open field without any means to LOS. If you have the latter, just hide behind a pillar (for example) and wait for friends to come. The DE will either run (which is most of them), or you're in trouble with the one in a thousand l33t DEs that will still kill everyone, and I only know one fella who can do that. Cele harb does an easy 3 V 1, I've seen it multiple times. The only thing doing the babysitting is its mini. Anet has put up some terrible power creep with the last load of elites, leading to woefully overtuned builds. WB and Catalyst are the biggest offenders. Anyway, it sells more copies of the expansion I guess, so Anet did a great job out of that.

Everyone was once a new player. I went to WvW partly to get some easy rewards (ie. mindlessly zergball and press 1 and F1, in guardian staff when it was still a conal AOE, for those that remember...or put my 2 supp into a wall before the contested timer runs out), but also partly because it was there. Today, I exclusively play WvW, not counting the break in-between headstart and now, of about 6 years. People's interests can change over time. Consider the potential of the gamer, rather than the type of gamer that they are today.

Well, perhaps it's never crossed your mind that some players might be grown-ups who just want to play the game mode [hopefully] as it was intended. I just admitted to solo repairing objectives even when getting zero to non-existent reward, during downtimes mostly when population is down. (because, why defend and drive out hostile when we aren't even gonna repair afterwards) And I implied sitting in a camp to defend it, plus scouting, also for zero to non-existent reward. (because, why let hostiles stop supply and pvdoor when we can all get in for an honest fight) There's no need to be a cynic about this, to imply this thread has some secret agenda to push, by a syndicate of reward-nerds who are deadweight SMC wall humpers.

Complain about thief enough, and they might delete it from the game.

The latest change was unnecessary and definitely a regression. There's still a chance to reverse those changes and I hope they do. I'd definitely like to see more fights over camps. Now, it's just common to get questions from bewildered folk, wondering why we even defend camps, and how we get our rewards for sitting in/scouting a camp. Edit: forgot to say, repairing two walls by oneself is tedious as hell. It used to be that defenders would speed repair an objective while it was still contested, as it would yield some form of reward. Now, many don't bother with repairs at all and disappear as soon as the hostiles are driven off.

Yeah that's definitely a thief. Somebody once called me a ninja. A ninja is not a guardian.

Balance does not exist in Anet's dictionary.

Don't count on it. Ranger can get you from mount to down before you can press a key. The follow up damage from One Wolf Pack ignores your ports.

I think both were fine (ie. great) prior to the suggested change, especially within melee range. Burning Speed does its damage consistently. Earthen Rush spikes more enemies also in its current state. The evades will likely not work as well after the change. Post change, I can only see both skills working better if they were used as a gap closer to the target.

The trouble is, Anet's idea of high risk/high reward is a Willbender that wombo combos someone, or escapes like Jackie Chan if it fails. Core guard one-shot is high risk, not even high reward. It is largely ineffective in many roaming scenarios because it doesn't consistently pull that sort of damage as in your videos. We need 1) element of surprise against an almost asleep target and, 2) target that's built about as well as a snowflake. It's laughably fun sometimes (and kudos to using it), but let's not make it look more effective than it really is.

Kai, the thread necromancer, strikes again!

Projectile denial skills that destroy or reflect, and even plain blocks, are effective against DE while also denying the advantage that BQoBK would normally grant. Want to make things interesting? Try the new Shadow Meld. Description Stealth yourself. If you successfully do so, your attacks are unblockable for a brief time. Effect Stealth: 3 seconds Death and Taxes: 3 seconds. Your attacks are unblockable.

I suppose we are being overly optimistic, since these trolls live in their mother's basement, have questionable health and hygiene, and are totally lacking in class. Additionally, Anet should scrap the /sit emote in WvW and replace it with /teabagging, which is just the /sit emote played in a loop. Those trolls would use it a lot. Other than that, yes, I completely agree with you.

Sure, it's fun, sometimes we get a good laugh. But admittedly, we could do consistently better on other builds with less effort. Against players that are actually awake. Thieves also, have been one-shotting glass players since time immemorial.

Couple of weeks ago I saw the same DE and mesmer doing it at SWT, repeatedly. We'd take it, and they'll just take it back after the RI was over. It happened four times. Add their lousy behaviour and stealth. What a giant waste of time.

Folks. Stop worrying about elementalists. Let’s talk about cele harb. They can beat you while standing still. It might take them 5 minutes, but they get there eventually.

Are you kidding? I've dabbled with thief for about 4 weeks. First as s/d, then as DE and p/p + p/d condi DD (switching as I feel like it), and it's some of the most fun I've had in awhile. No, I didn't buy the recent expansion, hence have no access to some of the 1-press win builds in there. There's easier things we could play. Sword could probably be more fluid and punishing (even if already strong in its own right). But speaking as someone who has previously been on guardian/ele/necro, thief is definitely still worth playing.