Doug.4930

They do not lock servers regardless of active population. Population is determined by play-hours in WvW only. So if you are full, then you have enough people playing enough hours to where you're over the threshold. I don't know your exact situation, but if you are not seeing anyone, maybe people are running with invisible tag or you have a lot of off-hours population. Maybe a lot of pugs who afk in keeps and don't help. Whatever the case, those play-hours are coming from somewhere. I know it's unfortunate you can't recruit - but that's kind of the point of locking servers. It's an incentive to transfer to lower-population servers. But there's no denying that some full servers are way more "full" than others. Only a few months ago this game only had one full server (NA). The server that shall not be named. Recently however there are now 9 full servers. Are we seriously supposed to believe that there has been a resurgence so great that the floods of players filled up 8 more additional servers? I find it highly more likely that Anet has either greatly lowered the server capacity, or they simply locked the 9 most popular servers, regardless of the population gap between the most populated of the 9 and the least populated. I don't care about ppt or the score. I was pretty happy and had good fights coming dead last for 8 straight weeks last relink. But I do find it ridiculous that anet has "full" servers that are certainly nowhere near full. I completely understand some servers need to remain locked lest they break the already awful population balance that exists presently. But 9 full servers is rubbish. This game does not have enough players to "fill" 9 servers, not by a long shot.

Yea double tap is only pressed when you fat finger, and you're punished greatly for those slip ups.

I know people who really like the sound of gw2 WvW, but its impossible to bring new players into the game to play with us because we happen to be on one of the main servers (and one of the underpopulated ones at that). This business of just straight locking certain servers regardless of their active pop is killing the game. I would love to get new players into the game, but Its not an option for 6 of us to pay to transfer to linked servers just so we can play WvW with our new players. Which eventually leads to them not buying the game. And opening full servers has led to stacking and to terrible matches and people leaving wvw for the week maybe even permanently, there's bad consequences to either side. Only one server I think. If you actually believe that, let me tell you about a bridge that I have for sale. There have been a few bandwagon stacked servers throughout the years, but that fact that you know which server I was referring to off the bat speaks for itself really. So there is a server named Brooklyn? Let’s see... Do you mean the stack on SoR?Or the one on SoS?Ahh no.. maybe it was the one on JQ?Hmmm.. Could be BG?Or maybe post links was it.. SoR again?Or AR?Or SBI?Hmmmm... Or maybe you were speaking about the current issues on EU which, quite honestly I cannot name the servers, but just ask ‘em.You can play ignorance all you like, you know exactly which server I'm speaking off.

I know people who really like the sound of gw2 WvW, but its impossible to bring new players into the game to play with us because we happen to be on one of the main servers (and one of the underpopulated ones at that). This business of just straight locking certain servers regardless of their active pop is killing the game. I would love to get new players into the game, but Its not an option for 6 of us to pay to transfer to linked servers just so we can play WvW with our new players. Which eventually leads to them not buying the game. And opening full servers has led to stacking and to terrible matches and people leaving wvw for the week maybe even permanently, there's bad consequences to either side. Only one server I think. If you actually believe that, let me tell you about a bridge that I have for sale.There have been a few bandwagon stacked servers throughout the years, but that fact that you know which server I was referring to off the bat speaks for itself really.

I know people who really like the sound of gw2 WvW, but its impossible to bring new players into the game to play with us because we happen to be on one of the main servers (and one of the underpopulated ones at that). This business of just straight locking certain servers regardless of their active pop is killing the game. I would love to get new players into the game, but Its not an option for 6 of us to pay to transfer to linked servers just so we can play WvW with our new players. Which eventually leads to them not buying the game. And opening full servers has led to stacking and to terrible matches and people leaving wvw for the week maybe even permanently, there's bad consequences to either side. Only one server I think. They want to play with us their friends, we are all playing gw2 at the moment. They don't want to join some random server and play alone that defeats the point. This question gives me decades old flashbacks to the teacher asking me why I didn't go to the bathroom at lunch.

I know people who really like the sound of gw2 WvW, but its impossible to bring new players into the game to play with us because we happen to be on one of the main servers (and one of the underpopulated ones at that). This business of just straight locking certain servers regardless of their active pop is killing the game. I would love to get new players into the game, but Its not an option for 6 of us to pay to transfer to linked servers just so we can play WvW with our new players. Which eventually leads to them not buying the game.

core d/d can easily keep stealth uptime vs d/p. No. No it most certainly cannot. Yes and thats what makes it difficult. D/D relies on getting close to your target and landing an initiative expensive skill to gain stealth. D/P relies on you pressing 5 and 2. You don't need to get up close and personal, you don't need to land the skills correctly to gain stealth, you barely have to do any work to stack stealth. Not to disparage D/P, but to say D/D is more cheese than D/P bewilders me.

@Fish.2769 @Sleepwalker.1398Combo stealth implies stealth gained through combo's, such as leap and blasts. In this case I was implying that I prefer dagger dagger which does not rely on spamming stealth combo finishers.

See as long as the warclaw is 54% faster than walking or 16% faster than swiftness it will never be useless. You could nerf it so that It had no evades and one hp and everyone would still use it because it would still be the quickest way to traverse the map. So yea warclaw is under powered compared to what exactly? Maybe shortbow thief can move faster? But shortbow thief has to use cooldowns. The mount give you 54% speed boost for free with an 8k shield and two free evades that also act as speed boosts. The mount has been and remains overpowered. Its much better with the nerfs, but its still a feature that 100% of the player base that has access to it uses.

Core Dagger dagger will always be the purest thief in my eyes. It requires patience, timing and precision to pull off. No evade spamming, no stealth combo spamming, just well timed strikes. A testament that you're able to pull it off in the current meta. D/D is <3

The point is, building a ballista, a catapult, even getting a dune roller, requires effort. Contesting keeps and objectives would require effort. Now it is effortless. Warclaw does make it effortless. But then again having a tier 3 waypointed keep used to require effort, whilst now its entirely automated.I'm fine with effortlessly built waypoints being effortlessly easy to contest. Tit for tat. Edit: Anet censoring expressions lol

The Warclaw and downstate.

Probably an unpopular opinion but I'm 100% fine with tapping the door disabling the waypoint. Given the speed, ease and automation of keeps getting to tier 3 these days I think waypoints are too much of a crutch. You've got speed kittens anyway. If someone is bothered to camp a keep tapping the waypoint good luck to them. If a group is tapping the keep while you're in a zerg fight nearby then its a valid tactic. Whats so wrong with death being punishing. You don't need to get back into the fight 10 seconds after dying. Maybe if waypoints were a tad rarer then maybe there could be reason to change the current system. But the top server having waypoints in all 3 keeps is bad enough. Just walk back or don't die.

Never really liked underwater combat. So many skills the devs just never bothered to code for use underwater. I'd wager that it takes a back seat balance wise too. I think the devs and the community agree the game doesn't need any more underwater pvp, so its fallen by the wayside. Basically I've built 2 nomad underwater weapons with energy and cleansing sigils on each of them. Which aid me in staying alive so that I can exit the water asap.

Seen a few people who think this and I don't quite understand it. I far far far prefer this meta over the previous. Just from the thief perspective its nice to have actual fights where I need to make decisions and conserve my skills instead of just spamming the target for 25k crits and oneshotting them. I mean why bother to learn my opponents build/skills/mannerisms when i can literally one hit KO them? Last Meta was the worst, this one is a step in the right direction. But as always there needs to be far more frequent balance updates.

That's an interesting perspective, since from what I usually see, it is the larger group that has the people to spare to ride into a fight and stomp those in downed state. And since the Warclaw has 9k health and is CC immune, a warclaw mounted player going for the stomp, as you say "is basically a tactic with no thought, no counter and extremely little risk in 99% of situations". So from my perspective, downed state + warclaw stomp BOTH favour the larger group, and regardless of whatever dreams you have of either downed state or the warclaw ever being removed from the game (hint: highly unlikely to ever happen), let's instead talk about what we have now, and how to make the best of it..and by removing the stomp, we remove one additional advantage the larger group (or the group whose reinforcements show up first) receives. And it isn't about downed state being a 'crutch'. I hardly ever get revived or rally - if I go into downed state, 9/10 times I'm defeated. My issue is that short of another mounted player using a lance, there is nothing to stop a player from riding into the lords room, and leaping into a sea of red circles to finish off 3 downed players, and then likely dodge roll out to safety. Stomps should be worked for or cleaved down. You want to come stomp my team mate, you better load up on stability, blocks or invis, and at least we can try to intercept and prevent it. The warclaw circumvents all that. Arguments can be made about revives being too quick, etc etc, that's a different topic. We're talking about the mount stomp, and all it does is give more power to those with larger numbers, and promotes a cheesy tactic of players waiting in the corridor on their mounts..unlike the clutch tactic you described which at least demonstrates some strategic thinking. You bring up some good points, but I would add that unlike downstate mount stomp has the potential to be used in a way that can on some occasions benefit the smaller group. Sure you're right more often than not the larger groups gets more out of mount stomp, but the potential for small groups to take advantage of it in some instances is there. Downstate however will always be a hindrance when fighting outnumbered. In no situation does the smaller force gain a tactical advantage from downstate being balanced the way it is now. That's an interesting perspective, since from what I usually see, it is the larger group that has the people to spare to ride into a fight and stomp those in downed state. And since the Warclaw has 9k health and is CC immune, a warclaw mounted player going for the stomp, as you say "is basically a tactic with no thought, no counter and extremely little risk in 99% of situations". The thing you need to consider in situations like this however is are these players circling on mounts doing more good or harm to a fight? For instance If Im duo roaming and fighting 4 people, I'd prefer it if 2 players turning up to the fight stayed on their mounts looking for a cheesey mount stomp instead of dismounting and turning a 2v4 into a 2v6. If one of us goes down in a 2v4 its usually gg anyway. One player can't out revive a 4 person cleave. So the 2 players circling on the mounts are a moot point. They simply bring about the inevitable double down a bit more quickly than they would have regardless. So quite often if you're fighting outnumbered going into downstate is usually a death sentence anyway, sure the mount stomp makes it even easier, but in my experience the only time mount stomp has screwed me is when an ally is already down in an even numbered fight and they happen to rock up at the most inopportune moment. I still hold out hope hahaha. I don't think removing downstate is possible (that dream is dead), however I still hold out hope that Anet will finally balance downstate. And like I explained above I am able to find situations where having mount stomp has enabled me to win fighting outnumbered that, because of downstate would have been impossible otherwise. As also mentioned above, I find when fighting outnumbered going into downstate is gg anyway, and the mount stomp doesn't really change the outcome. The topics are interrelated. The only reason mount stomp benefits me on occasions is because of downstate. You can't dismiss the broken state (heh) of downstate when discussing a mechanic that can be used to completely nullify it, and whether it has a place in the game or not. I completely agree mount stomp is cheesey, has no counter and is extremely low risk. I would just really enjoy its removal being coincided with a rework of downstate, because removing a mechanic no matter how brain dead that has the ability to counter downstate will only further exacerbate how broken downstate is, and takes away strategies in which smaller groups are able to outplay AND win outnumbered fights. As it stands In 99% of instances, the smaller group can consistently outplay the larger by continuously downing their opponents, but due to downstate's balance they will never achieve the victory they deserve. TL;DRYea its super long and too much to summarize, so you're probably just better off not reading my garbage.

Sniff is fine. Mount stomp is cheesy and really shouldn't be a thing, but sometimes its the only way to deal with the vastly overpowered downstate. In a 3v5 fight its sometimes just impossible for 3 players to cleave a 4 man rez. It takes all their skill and cooldowns to not only survive the 5 attacking them, but to also outplay and down one of them, only for downstate to swoop in and ensure the better players can't win because 4 players rezing an ally is basically a tactic with no thought, no counter and extremely little risk in 99% of situations. Sometimes in situations like this when one of our enemies who outnumber us greatly gets low, one of us gets out of combat and mounts up, so that we can instantly double down one of our opponents before they can abuse downstate. Because as stated above in a 3v5 thats quite often the only way you're going to get a double down. Sure I get burned by mount stomp too from time to time, but If I'm already in downstate then I've already messed up and died. My frustration of being mount stomped by players circling fights is far outstripped by revive speed of a single player being excessively quicker than stomp animations Nerf downstate to the point that its no longer a crutch for larger groups, then remove mount stomp. TL;DRDownstate bad. Mount stomp skips downstate, = mount stomp good sometimes.

Hard to say, I wouldn't say one class stands tall above the reset like holo did pre patch. Safe bet would be to say condi though. Pretty much every class has an extremely powerful condi build available to them. Whilst the same cannot be said for power. Condi mirage and power mirage being a perfect example of how much of a difference choosing between condi and power can make on the same class either being a god, or a walking bag. Choose a class with mobility, make it condi, profit. EDIT: Not to say power is under powered now, because it certainly isn't. But after the most recent patch you're going to get far more bang for your buck by running condi than you will power.

Everything you said is 100% true. But, not gonna lie it does feel kind of nice to have a broken mechanic that allows a small group to get one over on the larger group. The amount of times I've wanted to throw my keyboard because we lost a 2v5 solely because of downstate being the crutch for larger groups that it is, or trying to escape from 10 people only for them to constantly keep you in combat with mounts that should be deleted is numerous beyond counting. As broken as it is, I cant deny the personal satisfaction I feel when i can finally get some small revenge by taking away a t3 keep with 3 players from a group of players who need to 20v3 to win fights. Does that make me a bit of a tool? maybe, nobody's perfect I suppose.

What tradeoff?Oh yu mean Kneel still allowing dodge rolling for Stealth and using Shadow Step? A real trade off is to stop DE from rolling in Kneel :^) I've always thought marked was the trade off? Core thief 1200 unit teleport. Dare Devil 600 unit teleport. DE no teleport. Oh the abominable builds I could make If DE had a 1200 range steal. But that would be overpowered, thus the trade off.

Yeah, its so absurd that people want an elite spec that is completely unviable in both PvP gamemodes to be buffed. Though, that being said, a rework is better, just cut kneel. The only type of DE that cant be killed is the one that also doesnt do anything. That is equally useless. You dont need to catch up to a class when that class is entirely useless, just ignore them and enjoy your free 5v4. And Silent Scope is still just a 1 second stealth that basically does nothing. It’s better in WvW where you can use food to get +40% endurance regen. That lets you chain a lot more stealth and effectively stall out most people permanently. I think the bigger problem with perma stealth is the amount of blind fields DE/thief has access to combo. DE being able to drop snipers cover/black powder/smokescreen and swap to d/p or short bow for the blast/leap finishers essentially ensures nothing can out stealth them. Then ofcourse by the time the stealth has ended all init that was spent stealthing would have regenerated. If a class wants to stack stealth they should at the very least be forced to use cool downs that won't be back up by the time their stealth ends. Of course you can counter this by standing in the blind fields, but this essentially gives the thief a free hit/burst. Dodge food is great don't get me wrong, which is why I'm actually running it, but it only works out to be an extra dodge every 15-20 seconds or so, which is amazing, but not the greatest method of perma stealthing. Hey Doug! I was that thief you were fighting in the ruins :D Wouldn’t the big endurance gain be from the food plus Vigor? I more meant that the food is what makes the Sniper trait viable as a consistent source of stealth. With the nerfs it is definitely not the main stealth access if you are built for stealth stacking. Oh hey hahaha I didn't recognise your account name :D .Tbh I'd say that the sniper trait (silent scope?) is still viable without 40% food, don't forget the base stats it give you when using rifle. I'd agree its definitely the most consistent of course, but I think its strength lies in weaving in and out of stealth. Constantly firing DJ to the point where your enemy simply runs out of cool downs. This ofcourse varies depending on what and who you're fighting. Blind field combo finishers are in my opinion the most efficient way of abusing perma stealth. Using initiative to stack stealth is far cheaper and less punishing when the alternative is using dodges/heals/utilities to remain stealthed. One method sees you coming out of stealth without any dodges or utilities. Whilst the other usually ensures your initiative has regenerated by the time stealth ends allowing the thief to immediately go on the offensive with the cool downs/initiative available to run away if they choose. The former method does not have that luxury. So whilst food + Vigor give amazing endurance regen, its still comes at a price if you can catch them out, whilst blind field combo's are a far safe and more efficient way of achieving superior results.

pretty much what this guy said. Mounts are still incredibly strong. The speed in which they could move in their own territory before the nerf was overpowered as hell. Fighting was painful due to how quickly downed opponents could jump on their speed kittens and run back. Taking an enemy garrison was painful, even if you consistently won fights it wouldn't matter because dead players would be back in under a minute. Mount nerfs were the best thing to happen to mounts since they were added. The addition of lance and mount speed nerfs actually has made WvW playable again.

Yeah, its so absurd that people want an elite spec that is completely unviable in both PvP gamemodes to be buffed. Though, that being said, a rework is better, just cut kneel. The only type of DE that cant be killed is the one that also doesnt do anything. That is equally useless. You dont need to catch up to a class when that class is entirely useless, just ignore them and enjoy your free 5v4. And Silent Scope is still just a 1 second stealth that basically does nothing. It’s better in WvW where you can use food to get +40% endurance regen. That lets you chain a lot more stealth and effectively stall out most people permanently.I think the bigger problem with perma stealth is the amount of blind fields DE/thief has access to combo. DE being able to drop snipers cover/black powder/smokescreen and swap to d/p or short bow for the blast/leap finishers essentially ensures nothing can out stealth them. Then ofcourse by the time the stealth has ended all init that was spent stealthing would have regenerated. If a class wants to stack stealth they should at the very least be forced to use cool downs that won't be back up by the time their stealth ends. Of course you can counter this by standing in the blind fields, but this essentially gives the thief a free hit/burst. Dodge food is great don't get me wrong, which is why I'm actually running it, but it only works out to be an extra dodge every 15-20 seconds or so, which is amazing, but not the greatest method of perma stealthing.

I actually like everything about these ideas.

Go to mesmer forum, open Jazz post, look at how he manage condi mirage with only 3 condiclear (one condi) on his power spec : https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/29548/video-power-mirage-roaming-gameplay-tips#latest (particulary obvious on his n-1 vid where he do 2v2.)Go to mAt stream, go to quater final, look at how other class manage condi mirage when facing misha : https://www.twitch.tv/videos/602371124 So you look pretty fun whinning about mesmer but let's be real, if you die versus condi mes, you die versus every other class faster.So yeah lmao, l2p or keep dreaming. Ermmm..... Did you really just link me a video from 2018 showing why condi mesmer isn't that great now? Mate that was 2 years ago. Before the giant DPS nerf.And you're linking me Spvp videos? I don't care about Spvp in this context, read the title of this thread please, stop linking build choices/statistics about Spvp players in a thread about WvW. Also @mortrialus.3062Don't care about Spvp right now, this is about 1 dodge in WvW. WvW and Spvp are a completely different kettle of fish. What is good in WvW is not necessarily good in Spvp. If you think mirage should get 2 dodges in Spvp make a thread about how mirage should have 2 dodges in spvp. I stand firm that condi mirage in the right hands is a very effective class in WvW, and giving mirage back its dodge would be further buffing a build that simply doesn't need buffing. It can build for high stealth uptime/stunbearkers/mobility/invulnvs/gap closers/condi clears/high damage all at once. Its a kitten effective build. I'm not whining about it crying for anet to nerf it, hell after some of the meta builds seen in the pre power nerf patch condi mesmer isn't really that bad. But to say that Condi mirage is ineffective with only one dodge is just not true at all. It is in my opinion one of the strongest roamers in WvW. Feel free to disagree with me, I don't feel like im projecting salt here, I'm just giving my opinion. If you think I link 2018 videos, the l2P issue is higher than what we though. The first step to progress is to learn to read. @viquing.8254 said:Go to mesmer forum, open Jazz post, look at how he manage condi mirage with only 3 condiclear (one condi) on his power spec : https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/29548/video-power-mirage-roaming-gameplay-tips#latest (particulary obvious on his n-1 vid where he do 2v2.)Well I went to his n- 1 vid (did you mean number 1 in that thread? or was i supposed to filter by view count on their channel?) and it was from 2018. I'm not going to dig through entire video's looking for a specific condi mirage fight. Regardless, it wouldn't be relevant anyway. Jazz could just be an awesome mesmer fighting a sub par mirage mesmer. Builds can be overcome if the skill gap is great enough. No effectiveness in WvW and Spvp are completely different. The two types of game-play do not go hand in hand. 2 roamers fighting eachother in WvW is nothing like a 5v5 spvp match. I'm afraid that bringing Spvp pick rates into a discussion about how a class performs in WvW is simply a non factor.