Kovu.7560

I remember many years back a video of a 1v1 at the windmill except as soon as the two players /bow a group of others SR stealths in, builds a ballista on the spot and the fellow in the 1v1 starts using it in the fight. One of the funniest wvw videos I've seen but its ancient and I can't for the life of me find it. ~ Kovu

What a kick in the rear. Disappointed. ~ Kovu

There's been a decline in the fish population since climate change caused quaggan island to explode into a mess of ruins. ~ Kovu

I mean the cooldown nerfs to the auto-revive utilities is a good move at least. Personally I'd have given them drawbacks rather than longer cooldowns, but its better than nothing. Undeath signet has a massive drawback, banner has a three hour cooldown and S&R and can be cleaved as its not an auto revive so they don't really bother me. ~ Kovu

Weird, I see more permastealth deadeyes (well, I guess I don't actually see them) of both the power and condi variant than any of all of those professions listed above except for ranger and necro -- and usually in the case of necro they're not actually roaming, rather trying to return to their zerg. (Though those condi bunkers are around.) I still see plenty of DD and core, too, usually d/p sb with shadow arts. I have a build on my tab specifically for thieves, but often they're trying to burst me from stealth and I'm rarely able to switch to it. You're certainly right about folks never seeming to leave home without their pocket support, though. What can you do. ~ Kovu

cursed

You lose rating. That's good enough. I've been placed together with with some of the worst players I've run into in the gamemode who also happen to be some of the nicest folks I've had the opportunity to chat with in the game. I actually had a person comment on my toon's hat while they were in downstate and I was trying to revive them. Time and a place buddy. It's the Gold 2-Plat 2 folks whom tend to be toxic and feel the most personally attacked while being on the losing team. Silver/early gold players are like "w/e we know we're bad but we're having fun". At the end of the day not everyone is playing on the same field (folks have slower reflexes due to age or chronic ailment, others have inherent disabilities.) The matchmaking in this game is also, uhh, subpar, so there's that. Nothing quite like having the system pair you with a bunch of folks one tier below you several times in a row just to get your win/loss ratio closer to 50/50. ~ Kovu

Honestly I was expecting the reasoning for this to be more associated with necromancers being able to indefinitely keep AoE denial in the smaller circles. I chuckle that the reasoning is thieves. Poor thieves, not allowed to do anything without getting a thread on this forum as a result. Fight at the points, sure, but accept the fact that sometimes you won't be able to fight _on_ them. The problem with Foefire mid point is that if a particularly bunkery team is able to capture it they can essentially hold it indefinitely while still having their team cycle to the relatively close side nodes (essentially forcing the other team to play sides). I've spent near entire games camping mid on that map with my 31k health condi scourge. Gold 3, to be fair, but still, lots of room to move around. I do think the middle points should be a little larger than the side points, but not Foefire-sized. I do agree its too easy for AoE specs to deny points for a prolonged amount of time. ~ Kovu

One could make the argument that individual teleportation skills aren't the issue so much as a couple of professions being able to chain them together along with stealth. That said, I feel the game needs fewer teleports that allow folks to disengage and more teleports that allow players to close the gap and/or reposition slightly. Leap skills are a little different because they're telegraphed, can be interrupted, aren't nearly as instantaneous and usually don't cover the same distance as a shadowstep skill (barring the exception of some ranger leaps). Tack a little skill onto the use of these teleports and force them to require a target such as a guardian's sword. I like the change they made to Ride the Lightning many years ago in that if the skill doesn't end with a hit on the enemy the cooldown is doubled. The game should have more of that to encourage folks to fight rather than run away and I would be entirely okay with every movement skill in the game getting that treatment in some form. ~ Kovu

This right here. Part of the reason they're not fun to fight is due to how much visual clutter they create, especially in group fights. Its enough of an advantage. Though admittedly this is more of pvp gripe, not sure why anyone would even care in wvw. I guess for roaming? Regardless, tab targeting should always prioritize the actual enemy player, regardless if they're playing mesmer, petting zoo or some sort of ranger with adds. ~ Kovu

Power immobeast with stance share, greatsword axe/axe and prelude lash pet. Takes a bit more effort than OWP / Longbowing into an enemy group, but the spike damage on greatsword axe/axe is solid and the roots will allow your revs and scourges to land their AoEs. Muddy terrain compliments a mesmer's focus pull quite well if timed correctly. No, we're not wanted as much as other professions and you won't be topping dps charts during a pirate ship engagement, but open minded guilds make it work well and those roots can be clutch at breaking up enemy groups. Run scholar runes and damage stacking traits from Skirmishing, BM & SB. 90%ish crit chance, 250%+ crit damage before scrapper/firebrand buffs. Marauders, or zerk if you're feeling spicy. ~ Kovu

Yes, it was an entertaining watch. No, I do not personally think its especially healthy for the game. ~ Kovu

Oooooh, are we theorycrafting balance now? Ok, my turn. Give every profession an extra 10k health but cut healing potency across the board by, say, 25%. This'll nerf the heavy bunkers from sustaining indefinitely while also cutting back on the 100->0 bursts, (from stealth or otherwise). Cut back on AoE defenses such as healing, reflection, cleansing and boonspam in some way. These are the things that powercreep large scale battles more than raw stats or individual contribution. Remove non-targeting teleports from the game, severely reduce their range or don't allow them to break stun. They're so much better than traditional leap skills. Alternatively, give them all the RtL treatment in that if they're not being used to close a gap they have a much higher cooldown. Breaking a stun should give you a brief window (like 1/3rd of a second or so) where you cannot be re-stunned. Stability should cap at about 5 seconds but be non corruptable. Wait, what was this thread about? Oh. Uhh. Nah. ~ Kovu

Good thing I have an offshore tax haven account on Blackgate. ~ Kovu