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Post by martial on Dec 24, 2012 13:56:23 GMT -5
Hello everyone. I'm thinking of starting to play Guild Wars 2 and joining Jaded.  I kind-of like pvp especially in groups. But I mostly like pve. How is pve in Guild Wars 2? How is pve after reaching lvl 80? Also I've been reading the Guild Wars 2 forums and I have a few questions. What is culling? And how dangerous are thieves in pvp? Thanks for your help guys and girls. |
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Post by duhgeneral on Dec 24, 2012 15:08:33 GMT -5
Guild Wars 2 is great and pve becomes really fun once you hit lvl 80 cause you get to run all the fun deungeons and start making some serious cash thru farming. and thieves are only as dangerous as the player lets them be for example i can smash thieves with my warrior if the thief is not skilled. But a guy named bllades in our guild is a really good thief and he owns me all the time. and im not sure what culling is either never heard it used before
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Post by Vecuu on Dec 24, 2012 15:37:44 GMT -5
Culling is the term used in WvW when the game fails to render all of the players on the screen. It's used negatively, since, due to culling, people will occasionally walk right into an large group of enemies and die a horrible death.
The best PvP we do as a guild is a roughly bi-monthly get together to brawl in the Eternal Battlegrounds Jumping Puzzle. It's a great, fun way to earn your monthly WvW kills.
Thieves have a couple of benefits in PvP, some being: stealth, mobility, and burst. If a glass cannon thief fights a glass cannon of any other glass, the Thief will probably win all things being equal (such as player skill and assuming the Thief gets the opening [which he should]). Thieves can, however, really struggle against heavily defensive opponents (Bunker Guardians and Eles to name a few [although I would add my Ranger to that list]).
If you still have any questions, let us know.
-V
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Post by martial on Dec 24, 2012 17:16:52 GMT -5
Seriously, thank you both for answering my questions and I thank everyone who viewed this post. Culling seems to be a very bad thing and hopefully will be removed/fixed. I'm looking forward to pve after level 80. I think I'd be happy about participating on the bi-monthly pvp event. Should be a fun way to test one's skills. How long can a thief attack for? In other words, how long do thieves attack for before deciding that they can't do anything more and run away? Can thieves attack continuously without having to eventually run away? |
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Post by Vecuu on Dec 24, 2012 18:22:35 GMT -5
Culling isn't all bad. Without it, a large majority of the playerbase couldn't play WvW due the high population of players and how demanding it would be on their computers. It just needs some minor optimizations to allow players with top of the line computers (not myself) to not have hordes of enemies not be rendered on their high-res screens. It's not really an 'event'. Someone usually just says something to the effect of, "Oh, yeah. I need my WvW kills," to which someone else responds, "Let's kill people in the jumping puzzle!" Much laughter and entertainment follows. It just happens. With regards to Thief combat (mostly from a PvP perspective), it's important to realize a couple of things: -Thieves use Initiative as a resource instead of individual skill-cooldowns -Thieves are among the professions with the lowest base health in the game -the #1 skill on most weapons is the primary source of damage (not always true) What you end up with is a situation where you want to hopefully kill your target before you start to become Initiative starved and before you die. The #1 skill is for DPS wheras the 2-5 skills are typically bursty or utility-based. There are tons of builds out there, and the answer to your question will change depending on how you build and play your Thief. -V |
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Post by Darktrinity on Dec 24, 2012 19:41:54 GMT -5
Without Culling, low-end comps would lag and/or lock-up in areas with large numbers of people swarming around. If you have issues with it later on, turning your settings down might help. Guild Wars 2 is a bit different than other MMOs when it comes to builds and combat in general. Most professions come in several different flavours, with very different playstyles. As far as Thieves go, here are the most popular (in my opinion) kinds: the stealth-based thieves, which typically stay hidden for a few seconds then backstab their opponents; the Heartseeker thieves, which use the auto-attack (the 1st ability) and Leaping Death Blossom (I think?), until hitting their targets for big numbers after half health; and the stun thieves that try to lock-down their targets, preventing ability use and/or movement while doing a whole lot of damage. This last kind tends to be less used in PvP, since it can be a bit challenging to get used to at first. Typically, in sPvP and WvW, the kind you'd be most likely to see tend to have something to do with twin dagger builds, like Backstab (stealth) or Heartseeker. I call these the 'WoW Thieves'  GW2 is a really great game in both PvE and PvP, I think |
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Post by Raelin on Dec 24, 2012 21:44:24 GMT -5
Glad you joined us. PvE and PvP are both very rewarding in this game, and this comes from someone who was never overly into PvP gameplay. Hope to see you in game and I look forward to running dungeons/other stuff with you in the future
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Post by martial on Dec 25, 2012 9:51:59 GMT -5
Thank you Vecuu, Darktrinity, and Raelin. Raelin, I'd be happy to run dungeons with you  , and with everyone else. I understand that culling is important. But they should allow people close to us to be seen and only block farther players from view. All people close to us should be seen. Then it might be harded to get ganked by a group. I don't know if they already do that. And perhaps we may still be ganked by large groups since we can't see and avoid them from far. And perhaps there should be a mechanism that automatically optimizes the computer graphics settings depending on the number of people on screen. But that might take up some cpu resources and RAM. Out of all the types of thieves out there, the most scary are the stunlock thieves. I would require skills to get away from thieves. I will roll a thief but my main will be a mesmer . I understand that, how long thieves can attack for depends on the thief's playstyle. But I have just one more question. How long can thieves stay invisible for while attacking? Would it be just a few seconds? Does it depend on playstyle as well? I'm trying to brainstorm different ways to beat a thief. There's a lot for me to learn. Thanks for answering my questions! I really appreciate it. |
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Post by Vecuu on Dec 25, 2012 10:20:12 GMT -5
Thieves mostly only stay invisible for a few seconds at a time. Any prolonged stealth is from using multiple short duration stealths.
The big exception here is Shadow Refuge, which gives over 10seconds of stealth (which is a massive amount of time in GW2 combat).
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Post by Darktrinity on Dec 25, 2012 15:05:49 GMT -5
Usually the Thief's main weakness is heavy damage because of their general lack of health and toughness, though AoEs are also good counters for stealth thieves. Stuns are also bad...Actually, Stuns are bad no matter what profession you are ;D 'I'll kill you first or run away before I die' is the usual mentality of Thief players (experienced Thief players, anyways ), and they tend to hit for lots of damage at or shortly after the start of combat, stealthing or porting away if the target is either too tough or scarily powerful. Sometimes the stealth Thieves will resort to hit-and-run tactics, hitting, then stealthing and hitting again when your guard is down or when you move away from any allies. Thankfully, It's pretty rare to see a stealth Thief with any stuns. Most of the stuns and interrupts are focused around the sword/pistol builds, and, aside from the few right-bar skills that grant Immobilize (Devourer's Venom and Needle Trap), the other builds are completely without any stun-locks. However, there are some out there (Shadow Refuge and Blinding Powder)... Out of all the types of thieves out there, the most scary are the stunlock thieves. Yes, yes we are... ;D |
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Post by martial on Dec 28, 2012 14:10:56 GMT -5
Hello Vecuu and Darktrinity . I think they nerfed Shadow Refuge stealth down to 3 seconds. wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_RefugeI still think that Shadow Refuge is a good skill since it cloaks multiple people and heals aswell. Can thieves combine different stealth skills and stay stealthed for a longer period of time? For example, combining two skils with 3-second stealth to grant 6 seconds of total stealth time? Also, when we do damage to thieves while they're in stealth, would they temporarily become visible? Or would we still not be able to see them? Darktrinity you're a stun-lock thief? >  I better watch my back when pvping against you.  Thanks in advance everyone. |
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Post by shadowmouse on Dec 29, 2012 13:36:10 GMT -5
Welcome to jaded.
Yes you can stack duration of stealth as long as you don't attack to get the reveal buff. I believe they stay stealth even if they take damage. Stealth just drops target but you can still hit they in stealth with AoE and stuff. I don't find stun lock thieves that bad. There are many stun breakers you can pick. Pistol whip is not too bad because you can move away from the channel after the stun unless they have quickness. Back stab thieves tend to be more problematic in WvW because of all the buffs from food and stuff make they hit like a mack truck.
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Post by martial on Dec 30, 2012 21:19:27 GMT -5
Thanks Shadowmouse. I'll watch out for backstab-thieves as well. And I do have my eye one some good stun-breakers just in case I run into a stun-lock thief. Because I'd hate to get dazed or stunned. And thanks to everyone who answered my questions. And I think I can thank on behalf of everyone that viewed these answers too. And I thank everyone for viewing my posts . I'll go create my character very soon. |
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Post by martial on Jan 1, 2013 21:55:42 GMT -5
Hello. Thank you for answering all of my questions.
I've created my character. My ID is Martial.4916. Is it alright if I join Jaded?
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Post by Vecuu on Jan 2, 2013 12:54:57 GMT -5
Of course it's alright. I'll send you an invite momentarily. -V |
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, and with everyone else. 
I better watch my back when pvping against you. 
