TakeCare.3182

Has anyone been able to get the WvW skills to work? I was playing with a friend and Panic Strike is using PvE balance, even though I talked to the NPC and the tooltip says otherwise. I tried using it in and out of the arena, but it applies a 4s poison no matter what I do. I didn't test any other skills.

Oh man, I totally didn't make the connection with the trait or I would've just added to this post. Thank you for that! I will just use something else until it's fixed, I guess. It is way too jarring in combat to be worth the trouble.

I was roaming on virtuoso earlier this evening and I noticed that sometimes my dodge would bug out and not give me the full movement. I thought maybe I was lagging so I opened the settings window and left it open while I was playing to gauge my ping, but that didn't seem to be too informative. I swapped to daredevil and the issue was gone. Is anyone else experiencing this? Video Example

Hey, man! This is a pretty cool idea. If we were on the same server, I'd take you up on the offer - or we could at least try to roam around a bit. You've been pretty fun to play against this week. You're a good mirage. 😛 Anyway, just wanted to give this post a bump and wish you well. I hope your recruitment pops off!

That's actually a really interesting idea and I wouldn't mind seeing it in action - though it may be too annoying to play against. Either way, I have always hated old pulm, but it feels like we could use a slight damage boost now after the nerfs.

My observations from a WvW standpoint: I don't see thieves often anymore, but when I do they're almost all running Shadow ArtsBackstab isn't doing so hot, but dagger builds in general are still playableVault and Larcenous Strike both do more damage than Backstab, assuming you rip two boons with the latter.Staff feels like the best set to me, but I pretty much only play D/P dash so I can't say for sure.

I hope you are incorrect, but I fear they will try to push a support spec. They love weird shit like that. I would be interested to see an elite spec centered around revealing yourself and getting bonuses while being revealed, but maybe that would be trash.

"Sic 'Em!": Command. Your pet rushes at your foe, revealing them and dealing increased damage.Effect (10s): 40% Damage, 40% Movement SpeedRevealed (6s): You cannot stealthRange: 2,000 Sic Em' by definition reveals and the only counter to it is to never come out of stealth. Your suggestions are bad. Deadeye is the only class that abuses stealth to an unfair extent. As far as adjustments that need to be made to stealth - I think it is mostly fine. I believe marked is OP and should be removed from the game. The individual class reveal skills are fine as is, but making them all more like DH pull where there is an opportunity to dodge would be nice. I think stealthing with bound dodge or the rifle trait is unfair because they cannot be interrupted AND can be used multiple times in a row. The deadeye skill that removes revealed should also be removed and there should be a GM trait added to Shadow Arts that removes revealed some way or another - that way the entire trait line isn't invalidated by one button. This could easily be done by moving Cloaked in Shadows to Master tier where it belongs and removing one of the meh traits that are currently there.

TL;DW: "Why can't my skill stun someone for an hour and do half their health at the same time???"

I think more frequent balance patches are essential to player retention. All of the WvWers and PvPers that I used to play with quit the game because the patch cycle is just too slow. It's fine if things are over or under powered, but it goes on for so long that the game gets stale and people find other things to do. The living story content is great, but it's short lived and not everyone is interested in running PvE metas all the time. ANet should establish a new patch cycle where we get one small balance patch every 2-4 weeks and a big patch every 6 months. It would look something like... Small patch (every 2-4 weeks): This patch would include small to moderate changes to over and under performing builds in the meta. It should also include buffs to non-meta weapons/skills/classes to incentivize theory crafting and the introduction of new meta builds. Occasionally, ANet could also add one new skill to every class, like they did with the new heals back in 2013 or the new Grandmaster traits they introduced in 2014. They already do a pretty good job of adding new runes, sigils, and stat combos so no need for change there. Essentially, they just need to make changes that are big enough to keep everyone interested, but small enough that people don't have to completely upend all their gear and start over every patch. Big patch (every 6 months): This patch would include large changes in order to shift the meta or improve the state of the game. This is where class reworks should go. This is where unhealthy and unfun builds get deleted. This is where new trait lines and/or weapons are introduced. That isn't to say that every 6 months ANet has to reinvent the meta or dump a bunch of resources into new content. But if any of those kinds of changes are to be made, it should be done in a big, telegraphed patch that everyone saw coming, like when they reworked stats with the introduction of Ferocity or overhauled the trait system. Maybe that is asking too much at this point in the game's life span. I just find it hard to stay engaged with the game when they only balance every few months. It feels especially bad when you read the patch notes and they've clearly missed the mark so you know you're going to be waiting another few months just to have a chance for things to change. It has taken way too long to nerf Soulbeast, just like it took way too long to nerf Deadeye and ghost thief and all of the other problematic builds of the past that made the game awful.

Pretty hard counter, but S/D and staff fare better in this matchup than other sets. Bait out their F1 and other cooldowns. Hold steal. Once they waste some of their damage, go in with sword 2 and burst with sword 3. Use steal to interrupt them when they try to return damage, preferably when you aren't in a sword 3 evade frame. If they don't die then back out, rinse, and repeat. You should just be able to go ham on them. If they pop reaper shroud, disengage. You can ooc if you want. They can't really do anything about it. Use steal to interrupt axe 2 or their heal, preferably the heal. You can also use tactical strike, but it's not super practical. They are only dangerous if they surprise you. Otherwise, you have all the tools you need. Don't even bother fighting scrapper. It's not worth your time. Holosmith is hard, but since they nerfed the passive elixir s, you can win. Treat forge mode like reaper shroud. Once you have some pressure on them, you can outplay them in forge mode, but it's risky. Don't commit to that unless they are low and you are confident you can time your evades. Otherwise, you just have to go in and out like you're fighting a reaper.