The aim of this thread is to open more doors for thief on traits that alone, are too weak. I also have a ranger and warrior and will probably make a thread on that eventually but wanted to start on thief as it is my main. I know many have their issues with thief, but you can’t blame 1 profession especially for how little they effect the game (zerk warrior dungeon farms, bunker ele in tpvp, guardian or mesmer in wvw, etc). No one class is taking over, so any negative,“thief is op” comments arn’t welcome. With each change I suggest, I will also place a reason (No I’m not playing the role of a Dev, merely explaining why I think its a suitable change. I don’t know what’s best for the game but I do know every profession has their traits/skills that feel too weak). - is a change, = is the reason
-[Master trapper] Merged into [Corrosive Traps]. Additionally swap the location of [corrosive traps] with [combined training].
=traps in themselves are fairly weak. Aside from maybe holding 1 trap in utility there is very little and the current traits affecting them simply don’t bring enough to the table as other traits do. Additionally, with 2 bonuses to traps I think it’s only fair it moves up to tier 2 major traits. Combined training feels pretty weak on its own so moving it to tier 1 imo feels more correct.
-[Fleet shadow] merged into [cloaked in shadows] Reduce movement bonus to 25%.
=again, Fleet shadow alone isn’t that important. Thief can utilize the other tier 1 major traits much more than a movement bonus which they already have soo much of w/o. The movement bonus nerf is only because [Cloaked in shadows] is fairly strong.
-[Assassin’s Retreat] changed to “Blind foes at the location you shadowstep to. Blind duration 5 1/2 seconds. Radius would be the same as infiltrator’s arrow.”
=Another one of those stand alone major traits that weren’t useful(5 seconds isn’t much when tied to a cooldown). Infiltrator’s arrow will basically not be affected by this but there are other shadowstep skills.
-Add a new trait in Acrobatics, [Smoke trapper]. “When triggered, traps will activate smoke screen. Smoke screen duration 4 seconds.”
=Brings more utility to traps. Also smoke screen as a utility skill doesn’t last very long and in places like dungeons it could use a little extra.
-Change [Instinctual response] to [Blinding breeze]. “Smoke fields you create last 20% longer”
=Instinctual response as a major trait had 2 problems. 1 being you couldn’t really work with it especially if you were swinging and it proc’ed openly revealing you against your will. The 2nd being there are much more solid options for tier 1 options in trickery. The new trait is to make skills like [Black powder shot] and [Smoke screen] more effective for team play.
-Move [Fleet of Foot] to tier 1 and add [Sneaking recovery]. “While stealthed, gain 1 initiative everytime you dodge.”
=[Fleet of foot] moved only because the other trait seemed to strong for a tier 1 trait. [Sneaking recovery] is only in place as a controllable option for intiative gain in acrobatics. [Quick Recovery] is for those who don’t want to worry about that quick, and timed recovery while [Sneaking Recovery] would be for those who want to mange it themselves more. Keep in mind a thief in “perma stealth” isn’t harming you. Even if this trait lets them stay in stealth easier that just means you got more time to recover from their last attack. If a thief traits for massive initiative gain they are missing out on much other useful utility/damage traits so the overall effectiveness of stacking this new trait with the others isn’t that valuable.
-Change [Needle Trap] to behave like [Spike Trap]. It would immobilize at first with poison, then for a couple seconds after (4 seconds perhaps) it will only cripple and poison.
=A 1 time 1 target immobilize/poison is just pathetic. No one is crazy enough to use this utility skill atm (unless they’re new to thief).
-Change [Trip Wire] to [Static Wire]. “Set a trap. When triggered, foes at the trap site will be stunned by an electrified wire (1 second). Foes crossing the wire over the next 3 seconds are dazed for 1 second. Combo Field: Lightning.” Cooldown increased to 35 seconds.
=Single target kd isn’t effective when it’s a giant box on the ground plated at your feet that has to be tripped to activate, making it entirely avoidable unlike static field. Also for a 30 second cooldown, stability could simply ignore it altogether. In simple terms, this skill just isn’t that useful in slowing down pursuers or making use in open combat. This would atleast open the trap as a mini [Static Field] when triggered and actively be a useful escape tool whether it be closing a choke point or forcing the enemy group to walk around. This also makes thief in zerg play for wvw more effective.
break. I feel like they should be back by now..”
(edited by NinjaEd.3946)