Usually I don’t go into a forum war with other people, but this post simply is annoying.
Now to let you know – I play a thief and I consider my self to be pretty decent, so what I’ll do I’ll let you know of a few weaknesses for the thief (-.- the whispers community will hate me for this). Any way – I wont argue that STEALTH (note – i did not say backstab) mechanic might be just a bit too powerful, but that’s if you actually invest in stealth.
Let me explain – if I invest into stealth, I’ll have conds being removed from me, I’ll have a bit of healing and I’ll be safe while doing that. Keep in mind that Warrs or Guards can do that with block as well, the difference here is that a thief can run away. BUT why did I say that stealth is just slightly powerful? Yet again – you have to invest in to it – that means you loose damage. The more you want to stay in stealth and the better it becomes – the more damage you loose. Thus you make a pick whether to hit hard or play safe.
Now for the back stab – yes the damage is high, BUT (love that word) you need to invest in to that – meaning you need crit and power traits – making your stealth… Err… well crap. You don’t remove conditions, you don’t heal as much and it lasts for a very short duration.
From the analytic point of view (I work as an analyst in a bank – trust me, I’m pretty good at it): don’t say back stab is impossible to avoid. If the thief is using the pistol blinding powder and 2 to go in stealth – his stealth will be just a few seconds long. Assuming he has the signet and traits for damage and not for stealth – he wont be able to remove conditions. You were arguing in the begining of the post with someone, that using AOE’s is useless – well, sunshine, if the thief needs to wait in stealth – he has around 2 secs, then 4 secs before he can get back in to stealth again. The long stealth skills have high cd’s (if no traits invested into that). It will be around 45seconds. What that means ? If hes squishy – he cannot go near you, if he leaves the stealth – well gg. Blindness and blocks work as well – you just need to watch the map: you see a thief icon and then don’t? Might as well use block/blind or what ever. You see a thief running towards you and disappear – well its really the same as with a mage – run around, spin around an place a few aoe and he will NOT have a successful backstab (unless its a really lucky thief).
To sum up: I am a thief and even I can counter other thiefseses back stabs without using stealth. A skilled guard will SURELY counter that as well. Biggest crit I have ever done was probably around 8k but I don’t see these numbers often as I like to play safe and I don’t have all traits on damage like an idiot as then classes like warrs, good hunts, mesmers, engineers and necros will eat me up (other words I will only be useful against glass mages and guards as their hp pool is low). Average crit for me is around ~4-6k – if you don’t believe me these numbers are legit – ask around in your guild. But with low dmg I have good sustain, thus I can wear out warriors, mesmers and w/e I meet.
FINALLY (really sorry for the long post): Complaining about a single mechanic – isn’t very intelligent. As each class and each other champ has powerful combinations as well. YOU HAVE DODGE for gods sake. If a thief like that leaves stealth – hes dead, hit him twice (2 seconds pass – 2 till he can re-stealth) at this point 1 second cc should be enough to kill him. I do not believe stealth + backstab is toxic, as the issue here after reading this forum seems to be stealth rather than backstab. Remove that backstab – thief can still hit you, go into stealth and wait till he can hit you again. But to be fair.. well.. stealth is the ONLY good mechanic that thief has at the time being.
, but might as well extend it to the other participants in this thread. I tend to get really hot in this topic, and my points tend to get derailed and even exaggerative. But my point stil stands firm; stealth/backstab needs some some solution.