Guild Wars 2

Killface.1896:

Dont think Anet gonna give broken stealth class 1200m sniper rifle O.O

Well they could always give thieves underwater torch….

Rin.1046:

Calling it now: melee staff, but 1200 range attacks through kits.

I would accept this. Although it would be more than odd throwing daggers at 1200 range, especially with pistols and shortbow only shooting 900 range.

I think getting rifle as the new weapon and melee staff as a kit makes far more sense. It even makes sense with the datamined image: weapons dont have skill icons associated with them, but kits do. I doubt it’s a skill icon for a single weapon attack, cause there would have been 4 more along with it, so it makes sense for it to be the icon for the thief staff kit.

The problem with a thief having 1200 range is, it would probably be completely broken. Thieves are hard to catch as it stands right now, giving them 1200 range would make them next to impossible to catch. Enemy gets close they can stealth or SS away or any other of the plethora of escape abilities they have. It would not be fun for anyone except maybe the Thief to fight a class you simply could not fight back against.

When new weapons were even hinted for the future, the thief community immediately jumped on the idea train and started developing weapon skills for thief’s next available weaponset.

Rifle and offhand sword skills were the first to appear that showed any promise. Both were well recieved. When elite specializations were first brought to light, the immediate speculation started off with rifle.

At the time, rifle was more anticipated over OH sword because rifle simply had more to offer than offhand sword. While sword was looking like it was going to be essentially sword + more DPS, rifle was overshadowing it because it filled an empty space thief had. That was more appealing.

Staff ideas came later but were still unpopular. They were very few and none of the threads bearing staff skill really trumped the rifle speculation because rifle remained more appealing. It wasn’t until staff was being sold as a ninja/monk playstyle that it started competing with rifle.

Now staff is being hyped up above rifle because of a picture and a bo-staff model are fueling staff speculation. On top of that, you have people who are afraid of getting ganked at long range and those who simply hate the thief profession using everything they can think of to make the elite spec suck.

In fact, all the hype and subtle ire is inching the speculation way towards stupidity.

Now it isn’t about what’s best for the class but how cool the elite spec looks. A melee staff might look cool because players can pretend to be Ryu Hayabusa but a sniper-like set of rifle skills would give thieves a long range option while taking the profession away from the constant fast paced feel of combat into a slow calculated pace. And it will not replace the Shortbow either. I don’t know where people get that idea.

EDIT: The fear of getting ganked at 1500 by something you probably weren’t going to notice anyway is also asinine. If a buttcape hero with a rifle disappears for over 2 seconds, find a rock and get behind it. You just countered rifle thief. kitten .

Thief Teaser with Staff incoming

Thief gets Mace. Except it’s mace in a can.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Thief gets Mace. Except it’s mace in a can.

Called kits.

Am I the only one who would love a melee staff thief ?

Barab.9016:

Am I the only one who would love a melee staff thief ?

No!

I would LOVE to see thief get a rifle. Anyone, really (hopefully one of the classes I have already). It is the most underused weapon in the game. Finally I would have a use for that charzooka in my bank.

Barab.9016:

Am I the only one who would love a melee staff thief ?

You’re not, but there’s an equally vocal portion of the playerbase that would be Dragonhunter-level upset at the Thief – which has something like six different exceptional melee sets that all do different things and promote different builds – getting another melee set instead of something it actually needs, like a ranged damage option that doesn’t suck more than Blood Magic Minionmancers in Nomad’s.

The Staff skins in this game are all absolutely horrible melee skins. The proposed bo staff is one of maybe four that you can use and not feel like a doofus. Furthermore, six of nine professions can already use staff – Elementalist, Mesmer, Necromancer, Guardian, Revenant, Ranger (Druid) – while only two can use rifle, and neither of those use it well.

Furthermore, the staff is a melee option which gets no Dual skill, and thus would not be able to benefit from Dual skill traits. This is a weakness shared by rifle, of course, but the rifle’s lack of dual skill would be at least partially mitigated by its ranged attacks, while a melee staff is basically 100% inferior in any realistic respect to either Sword/* set.

They’re not going to put long-duration/heavy impact control skills on the Initiative bar – Sword/Pistol’s as much control as you’re going to get on Initiative and all those Staff geeks bloody well know that. Rifle is not necessarily a 1200-range D/D headshot supahgankah. Nobody wants that. What we want is something that hits somewhere other than melee range, and is not complete and utter garbage the way P/P is.

Now, if the speculated throwing knife kit (somehow) hits at 1200 range, thus outdoing both the shortbow and the pistols…well, that would be weird, but I suppose. That said, the opposite could be true – the oh-so-vaunted melee staff could be a kit, instead. “Collapsible Staff” kit, ensuring that the weapon equipped is actually a melee weapon and not a two-handed Meteorlogicus, and leaving the specialization weapon open for rifle. Rather than being a bad ninja/martial artist, the Thief elite spec could use rifle as its primary weapon and kits in the form of hindering throwing knives or the collapsible staff to defend itself once an enemy closes distance, acting more like a military commando (NOT the capital-C Commando, and sorta but not really Batman) with various weapons prepared for its various needs.

That would fit much better with the sneaky, dirty-tricks-and-subterfuge Thief archetype the class is based on, taking it more into the realm of a prepared operative/infiltrator rather than a back-alley mugger with a handful of cheats. As opposed to saying “It’s an Ascetic now because the Thief has become guilty over all the things it stole and it’s trying to mend its ways with martial arts and spiritualism!”

That’s…yeah. You thought Guardians raised a ruckus over the Dragonhunter thing? You have not seen ruckus yet, man…

Just started leveling my Thief to get ready for that Staff! Really between that and engie I have no idea which one to main.

While I would rather have Staff over Rifle thematically, I feel it would be odd for 2 of the 3 medium armor classes to get the same elite weapon (melee staff).

Morv.9837:

While I would rather have Staff over Rifle thematically, I feel it would be odd for 2 of the 3 medium armor classes to get the same elite weapon (melee staff).

No, why would it ? Is there some rule that says multiple classes can not get the same elite weapon ? We all know the weapon abilities are going to be vastly different per class.

Thief only has 2 main hand melee weapons. Heck, one can argue that in PvP thief only got one melee weapon set that works in D/P

Also, it doesn’t matter that the staff skins are horrible for melee. All that matters is that HoT adds new skins that are fine for a melee staff and that we use those.

Staff would be the most stupid weapon i can imagine. There is simply no need for that. 6 of 9 classes will using staves, 2 of 9 classes currently using rifles. Also thiefs lacking in the long range department. And last but not least: How lame would it be to give rangers AND thiefs both the same weapon? A staff would be so far away from the class concept, i kitten brix if that’s coming.

Tyr.6097:

Staff would be the most stupid weapon i can imagine. There is simply no need for that. 6 of 9 classes will using staves, 2 of 9 classes currently using rifles. Also thiefs lacking in the long range department. And last but not least: How lame would it be to give rangers AND thiefs both the same weapon? A staff would be so far away from the class concept, i kitten brix if that’s coming.

- A melee staff might as well be counted as an entirely different weapon.
- Rifles are boring. Also, no class needs that many physical ranged weapons. Thief already got two options so getting a 3rd is a waste. Especially when it feels like rifle will do the same role as P/P. They should rather fix P/P in the first place.
- Thief doesn’t need a long range weapon. It’s only “needed” in WvW zerg pirate ship fights. I’d seriously annoyed they dedicate a full elite spec just for filling that kind of role while we could be getting some useful sPvP or PvE weapon.
- Not lame at all. After all, Mesmer and Revenant both get Shield for their elite weapon. Also, ranger gets a mage staff while thief will probably get a martial staff so they are really two different weapons.
- As I said, thief getting a martial arts melee staff fits perfectly the concept

Barab.9016:

Morv.9837:

While I would rather have Staff over Rifle thematically, I feel it would be odd for 2 of the 3 medium armor classes to get the same elite weapon (melee staff).

No, why would it ? Is there some rule that says multiple classes can not get the same elite weapon ? We all know the weapon abilities are going to be vastly different per class.

This is before we learn that the assumed Hammer Engineer elite spec is, in fact, also a melee Staff set, and that what everyone assumed was a hammer in the trailer is, in fact, an unusual Staff skin introduced specifically for the new spec. With the Staff, the Engineer elite spec will be able to provide magical healing in the form of scattered energy gears to its allies utilizing its newfound connection to the depths of the earth and the wells of magical energy hidden there.

And that the Warrior elite spec is also going to be using melee staff, with a skin designed to look something like a two-handed torch. How it ‘vastly differs’ from the Hammer is something only ArenaNet can tell us, but I imagine it’ll work by smashing healing into the faces of your allies, and possibly lighting their hair on fire to grant them Regeneration through the cleansing blue flames.

The Thief’s staff is actually a melee weapon whose abilities center on sneaky bursts of shadowy energy scattered by its attacks, which can provide healing to allies who walk over them. It’s their new support weapon that everybody’s* wanted Thieves to have. The Druid’s staff differs from all of those in that while it is a melee weapon, it generates special glowing flowers instead – walking over these flowers grants natural healing to allies.

…have I made my point yet? if you give the new class and three of the specializations within the new expansion the same ‘melee Staff’ elite spec, then that option gets old, tired, and overexposed. Everybody is running around bonking people upside the head with wizard sticks, and the concept of ‘melee staff’ gets diluted and turned into a joke.

Well, more of a joke than the Rev’s melee staff already is. Lord this thread depresses the hell out of me. Why do I keep showing up here, again?

Tyr.6097:

6 of 9 classes will using staves, 2 of 9 classes currently using rifles.

I’d rather the thief get a weapon based on the skills and theme it would have, rather than based on how many other classes already have said weapon.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

This is before we learn that the assumed Hammer Engineer elite spec is, in fact, also a melee Staff set,

It is already quoted by ArenaNet themselves that some profession is getting the hammer:

“while some other lucky profession will finally get access to a hammer.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/specializations-part-two-reward-tracks-and-elite-specializations/

Morv.9837:

While I would rather have Staff over Rifle thematically, I feel it would be odd for 2 of the 3 medium armor classes to get the same elite weapon (melee staff).

As odd as two scholars getting shout skills….

DevilLordLaser.8619:

Barab.9016:

Morv.9837:

While I would rather have Staff over Rifle thematically, I feel it would be odd for 2 of the 3 medium armor classes to get the same elite weapon (melee staff).

No, why would it ? Is there some rule that says multiple classes can not get the same elite weapon ? We all know the weapon abilities are going to be vastly different per class.

This is before we learn that the assumed Hammer Engineer elite spec is, in fact, also a melee Staff set, and that what everyone assumed was a hammer in the trailer is, in fact, an unusual Staff skin introduced specifically for the new spec. With the Staff, the Engineer elite spec will be able to provide magical healing in the form of scattered energy gears to its allies utilizing its newfound connection to the depths of the earth and the wells of magical energy hidden there.

And that the Warrior elite spec is also going to be using melee staff, with a skin designed to look something like a two-handed torch. How it ‘vastly differs’ from the Hammer is something only ArenaNet can tell us, but I imagine it’ll work by smashing healing into the faces of your allies, and possibly lighting their hair on fire to grant them Regeneration through the cleansing blue flames.

The Thief’s staff is actually a melee weapon whose abilities center on sneaky bursts of shadowy energy scattered by its attacks, which can provide healing to allies who walk over them. It’s their new support weapon that everybody’s* wanted Thieves to have. The Druid’s staff differs from all of those in that while it is a melee weapon, it generates special glowing flowers instead – walking over these flowers grants natural healing to allies.

…have I made my point yet? if you give the new class and three of the specializations within the new expansion the same ‘melee Staff’ elite spec, then that option gets old, tired, and overexposed. Everybody is running around bonking people upside the head with wizard sticks, and the concept of ‘melee staff’ gets diluted and turned into a joke.

Well, more of a joke than the Rev’s melee staff already is. Lord this thread depresses the hell out of me. Why do I keep showing up here, again?

Yeah your point is to argue with hyperbole good job.

Who here is speculating that warrior, engi, thief, and ranger are getting staff? Noone. That is so outlandish as a counter point lol.

I really don’t get your point cause it isn’t grounded in reality where we don’t know anything about warrior weapon, engineer IS getting a confirmed hammer, druid IS confirmed to get staff, and we have some evidence that thief MIGHT get staff.

I main a thief, would much prefer a melee staff over a long range rifle. Long range = boring and not really challenging to pop off players in wvw from long range.

penelopehannibal.8947:

It is already quoted by ArenaNet themselves that some profession is getting the hammer:

“while some other lucky profession will finally get access to a hammer.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/specializations-part-two-reward-tracks-and-elite-specializations/

Sure, they said that back in the initial announcement. perhaps they changed their minds? I mean heck, everyone wants them to listen to their playerbase more, right? And let’s face it – every player of every profession in every game mode wants one thing more than anything else, and that’s melee staff. Right? I mean, melee staves are awesome and all karate and stuff, and they fit the professions’ themes better!

sebradle.7034:

Yeah your point is to argue with hyperbole good job.

Who here is speculating that warrior, engi, thief, and ranger are getting staff? Noone. That is so outlandish as a counter point lol.

I really don’t get your point cause it isn’t grounded in reality where we don’t know anything about warrior weapon, engineer IS getting a confirmed hammer, druid IS confirmed to get staff, and we have some evidence that thief MIGHT get staff.

My point is that it’s absolutely ludicrous to assign ‘melee Staff’ to any other profession currently in the game, to the point of being absurd – and yet the exact same awful weapon choice being foisted off on Thieves is somehow just the most amazeballs awesometastic idea everz because KUNG-FOO. Never mind that Engineers, Warriors, and even Rangers would all scream if ArenaNet gave them melee Staff because melee Staff is a bad weapon; the Thief players are supposed to be all crazy excite because KUNG-FOO.

No. No excite. Substitute ‘disgust’ for excite.

A’ight, let’s be a bit more serious here. You guys say you want melee staff because it ‘better fits the theme’ of the Thief, yes? A’ight – explain why. Staves are almost universally gigantic gaudy wizard-sticks with particule effects galore and awkwardly-shaped heads great for casting magic and horrible for whacking faces. They’re large and impossible to conceal, they don’t work with the dual-skill system. People who see ‘melee-staff Thief’ as some sort of Zen martial artist out of their favorite kung-foo (my God, the horrors this forum’s cuss filters inflict on language…) movies are forgetting that the Thief is a Thief. It doesn’t have fancy flashy kung-foo moves, it has caltrops and backstabs and bags of blinding powders and other dirty, nasty, underhanded stunts meant to give it an unfair advantage.

Trying to turn it into a noble martial monk is twisting the class harder than ArenaNet twisted the Guardian to produce the Dragonhunter, and the backlash against the Dragonhunter was instant and torrential. Why should Thief players be subjected to the same horsepuke without even a shred of the right to snarf and complain that the Guardian players exerted?

I may be alone on this but Staff thief sounds pretty fun. Especially if it’s more martial arts themed with quick animations for getting in and out.

Rifle thief might be the popular preference but I think the only way it’d be awesome is if it brought back ricochet.

It’s like I’m talking to a wall with frowny faces painted on it…

Candy, what do the fancy flashy martial-arts animations do for the class? Sure, it’s awesome to look at – for a few hours on launch day. They had fancy flashy animations all over the place for the Assassin, back in GW1, and you know what happened? Play an Assassin for fifty hours and you don’t even see the animations anymore. Not really. You see “Lotus Strike, Death Blossom, Moebius Strike…chain accomplished, cycling.” The animations stop being cool, stop being a big selling point, and just become there. I’m in a position to know, I put thousands of hours into my GW1 Assassin. Ask me if I gave the remotest flip about the fancy dagger attack animations for the staggering majority of those hours.

Melee Staff adds absolutely nothing to Thief. It adds less to Thief than the Tempest Warhorn adds to Elementalist, because the Elementalist only had two really excellt top-class offhands for the Warhorn to not compete with. Virtually every melee weapon set the Thief has is absolutely stellar somewhere. Sword/* are both great in PvE, with Sword/Pistol being one of the best melee sets in the game for general PvE work, D/D is an absolutely masterful thing which rewards careful positioning and play with stupendous damage, D/P has peerless mobility and a gripton of soft control via Blinds as well as perfectly serviceable damage. Hell, even P/D has a niche, albeit a narrow one, as a bass-ackwards Malice-centric Backstab build.

How in all the hells that ever were can melee Staff find a spot to actually add something to the class inamongst all of that?

I’ve said this crap before. kitten near verbatim. Why does it never stick? T_T

Your not talking to a wall you are just having difficulties getting that other people have different preferences then you. That is why it does not stick imagine that. I mean do you see anyone here that wants staff going around saying that the thought of rifle thief fills with them with disgust lol.

I HOPE thief gets rifle and not staff. That being said, at this point I BELIEVE is more likely to be staff than rifle, ONLY because of datamined evidence, nothing else.

Also, martial arts are not the exclusive stuff of holy and noble monks. Dexterous bandits and cold assassins also use martial arts. I doubt Anet will “twist” the profession to be “Monk-like”. They will force it a little to be “Ninja-like”. Monks and ninjas have a lot in common, and in some circumstances they could merge, but they aren’t the same.

Ninjas have been extremely abused, misrepresented and grinded to the point they are now incredibly lame and boring, so I get to my initial point again. I hope Anet don’t transform GW2 thieves into ninjas. I hope they just give thief a simple rifle and stop the kitten.

Seriously, why rifle? Just to get an extra 300 range? For what? Shooting people from walls one bullet at a time?

And to do that you have to gut your melee capabilities or survivability by taking an elite spec oriented for ranged combat?

stof.9341:

Seriously, why rifle? Just to get an extra 300 range? For what? Shooting people from walls one bullet at a time?

And to do that you have to gut your melee capabilities or survivability by taking an elite spec oriented for ranged combat?

Do you know any profession that can do that in GW2?
There. Its new.

Reasons I can see thief getting Rifle:

•Thieves always needed some kind of long ranged weapon outside of MH pistol
•Any kind of fresh game play is needed (Sorry, sword/Dagger thieves)
•Outside of Engineer the rifle is the least used weapon (Sadly Warriors barely use that kitten rifle)

Reasons while I can’t see thieves staff:

• You already have heavy competition for the “front lines” (Warrior, Gaurdian, D/D Elementalist, Revenant?) And soon to be reaper. Now unless thief gets some kind of sustainable utilities it’s not going to last a punch from a rampage warrior.
•We already have 5/9 using staff already (Druid makes 6). Getting another class to staff is kinda….meh.

Staff sounds pretty amazing thematically I agree with this point. Pretty true. I’d love to have it for the overall feel. However!!! I’d much prefer thief to get rifle, we need it! Remember elite specializations, are meant to bring the weak areas of the class forward. To add an additional playstyle to those we already have for each profession.

Base thief is amazing in melee combat… Perfect almost. I’m a horrible thief, but there’s still very few classes I find even close as fun/rewarding to thief in melee range. Even the warrior. Or my personal favorite other then thief, ranger..Lol..(srs melee ranger so much fun)

Thief doesn’t have any good Ranged damage/support/cc/Condi/aoe. Nothing really.

Adding a rifle to this class would do exactly what specializations set out to do, bring a new play style to the class. Not improve the base class, no. But to bring a new play style to it.

Like what stof said. We’d (possibly) have to gut our melee damage Or survive ability to spec for Ranged. And what’s wrong with that? Anet said there will be benefits to using the elite spec. In some areas, and using the base class in others.

Like I said thematically melee staff sounds amazing… It sounds like so much fun … But to me most of that will come from the animations, the feel. The theme. What most people have been saying will make it good, but this doesn’t mean it’s the better option .

Rifle can be amazing too! And with the base thief we have now, adding a rifle will be more then just a ’re skinned melee thief with Pretty animations. It will be a new thief with pretty (hopefully) animations, themes, and mechanics and functionality that the thief is currently lacking..

That’s my take on why I want rifle. Even though staff sounds amazing…

P.s. I’m bad at owning my statements. I’m speaking for myself and myself alone not on behalf of all of tyria. Please don’t yell at me

Edit: I’m not finished with you yet!!!! (I have more to say)

Lets take a look at all existing professions for a sec
Ele: amazing Ranged /amazing melee

Warrior: amazing melee/pretty good ranged(shoutbowhambowect)

Mesmer: Pretty awesome melee/ pretty awesome ranged

Ranger: amazing ranged/ pretty good melee

Engineer: idk what to say here. Amazing ranged/ amazing In melee range Anyway? Idk. They good alright

Guardian: amazing melee/poor ranged. (Dragonhunter fixed this)

Necromancers: lol.

Thief: best melee imo imo/ not to good ranged.

Every class has a pretty good balance here. Thief does not. Thief needs rifle. Thief wants staff. Thief can have staff next time. I’d rather take what we need now

stof.9341:

Seriously, why rifle? Just to get an extra 300 range? For what? Shooting people from walls one bullet at a time?

And to do that you have to gut your melee capabilities or survivability by taking an elite spec oriented for ranged combat?

ArenaNet has, thus far, shown themselves to be either unwilling or unable to make pistol mainhand, or the supposed ‘go-to Thief ranged set, P/P’, not absolutely abhorrently awful. They are married to the incredibly weak Vital Shot as the weapon’s autoattack and have done nothing to address the fact that Vital Shot deals absolutely pathetic damage, both Power-wise and Malice-wise, or that in order to do any damage whatsoever on P/P, every last single point of Initiative you have needs to be dumped into Unload. The P/P set’s skillbar may as well look like “___, ____, Unload, ____, ___”. It’s been this way for three years. The only trait which made the pistols set even halfway tolerable, Ricochet, was a casualty of the Specializations update, leaving P/P to deal weaker damage than the Shortbow, which already deals exceptionally weak damage for a ranged option and is only saved by/taken for its excellent utility, and also dealing weaker damage than every other ranged option every other class in the game has.

I would rather fight with the Guardian’s scepter than with P/P on the Thief. The P/P set is that putrid, and ArenaNet is that hellbent on keeping it that way.

So yes. I will take a specialization with a rifle and gun-related traits and a distance combat-adjusted tweak to the profession mechanic over l33t h@xx0rz n!nj@. I can already do l33t h@xx0rz n!nj@ with a D/D set and ninja-themed armor we already have in the game. I still cannot make a dangerous rifleman in GW2, on any class, with any trait set-up. It is impossible to make a powerful rifleman; the Warrior has absolutely zero support for its rifle and the rifle itself, while solid and fairly sensible, has little play to it, another weak autoattack (which pretty much always ruins a weapon) and no real ability to pressure enemies, especially compared to its longbow, and the less said about the schizophrenic disaster that is the Engineer’s ‘rifle’, the better.

Do I need a stationary 1200-range boomheadshot gun on the Thief? No – but then, I never figured we were going to get one. Is it going to ‘gut my melee capabilities or survivability’ to take a rifle? Not really – S/P does its job just peachy-keen fine with nothing but Critical Strikes and Trickery, it doesn’t need the one weak trait still in the game to support sword to be everything I already make it. I’ll just use the rifle when I currently switch over to P/P long enough to dump Unload at things while waiting for melee to be bearable again in whatever fight I’m fighting.

You think that all there is to any potential rifle set is stand-stock-still plinking? Cool – keep thinking that. If it would even remotely help I could post at least half a dozen different Thief rifle sets with different themes, mechanics, and options for play. Some at 1200, some at 900, some even at 600 if you really wanted. None of that matters, though. My take on what Thief rifle could be doesn’t matter – only ArenaNet’s does. Provided we get the rifle and not “Let’s transplant the Rev’s staff over to the Thief! Huzzah, elite spec done!”

DevilLordLaser.8619:

stof.9341:

Seriously, why rifle? Just to get an extra 300 range? For what? Shooting people from walls one bullet at a time?

And to do that you have to gut your melee capabilities or survivability by taking an elite spec oriented for ranged combat?

ArenaNet has, thus far, shown themselves to be either unwilling or unable to make pistol mainhand, or the supposed ‘go-to Thief ranged set, P/P’, not absolutely abhorrently awful. They are married to the incredibly weak Vital Shot as the weapon’s autoattack and have done nothing to address the fact that Vital Shot deals absolutely pathetic damage, both Power-wise and Malice-wise, or that in order to do any damage whatsoever on P/P, every last single point of Initiative you have needs to be dumped into Unload. The P/P set’s skillbar may as well look like “___, ____, Unload, ____, ___”. It’s been this way for three years. The only trait which made the pistols set even halfway tolerable, Ricochet, was a casualty of the Specializations update, leaving P/P to deal weaker damage than the Shortbow, which already deals exceptionally weak damage for a ranged option and is only saved by/taken for its excellent utility, and also dealing weaker damage than every other ranged option every other class in the game has.

I would rather fight with the Guardian’s scepter than with P/P on the Thief. The P/P set is that putrid, and ArenaNet is that hellbent on keeping it that way.

So yes. I will take a specialization with a rifle and gun-related traits and a distance combat-adjusted tweak to the profession mechanic over l33t h@xx0rz n!nj@. I can already do l33t h@xx0rz n!nj@ with a D/D set and ninja-themed armor we already have in the game. I still cannot make a dangerous rifleman in GW2, on any class, with any trait set-up. It is impossible to make a powerful rifleman; the Warrior has absolutely zero support for its rifle and the rifle itself, while solid and fairly sensible, has little play to it, another weak autoattack (which pretty much always ruins a weapon) and no real ability to pressure enemies, especially compared to its longbow, and the less said about the schizophrenic disaster that is the Engineer’s ‘rifle’, the better.

Do I need a stationary 1200-range boomheadshot gun on the Thief? No – but then, I never figured we were going to get one. Is it going to ‘gut my melee capabilities or survivability’ to take a rifle? Not really – S/P does its job just peachy-keen fine with nothing but Critical Strikes and Trickery, it doesn’t need the one weak trait still in the game to support sword to be everything I already make it. I’ll just use the rifle when I currently switch over to P/P long enough to dump Unload at things while waiting for melee to be bearable again in whatever fight I’m fighting.

You think that all there is to any potential rifle set is stand-stock-still plinking? Cool – keep thinking that. If it would even remotely help I could post at least half a dozen different Thief rifle sets with different themes, mechanics, and options for play. Some at 1200, some at 900, some even at 600 if you really wanted. None of that matters, though. My take on what Thief rifle could be doesn’t matter – only ArenaNet’s does. Provided we get the rifle and not “Let’s transplant the Rev’s staff over to the Thief! Huzzah, elite spec done!”

+1 agreed. Calm down though too angry. Got me all worked up too.

I’m way more interested in a pole-vaulting in-close acrobatic fighting style twirling a staff than a park-and-wait-off-in-the-distance sniper, given how badly this game takes a dump on ranged damage builds for any profession.

I mean, they could a rifle-based Espec for Thieves, but the laws of physics (and damage coefficients) in Tyria would actually outright forbid it from being good.

I think DevilLordLaser needs to see a doctor. His sodium levels are through the roof.

sebradle.7034:

Your not talking to a wall you are just having difficulties getting that other people have different preferences then you. That is why it does not stick imagine that. I mean do you see anyone here that wants staff going around saying that the thought of rifle thief fills with them with disgust lol.

Dude’s got the right of it. This is what I’m seeing:

Melee staff crowd: Yeah, melee staff would be pretty fun.

Rifle crowd: WHAT!!? Noooooo! You people make me sick! Excited? More like disgusted! Ludicrous! This is worse than Dragonhunter! (insert paragraph after paragraph of off-the-wall hyberbole) People who want staff are nothing but kung-foo panda fanbois that have no idea what thief really needs! There is no amount of creativity in the entire cosmos that could ever conceive something for staff that could make it remotely useful! Screw fun! What a waste! I’m mad! Why do I even try to talk to you unreasonable people!!!?

I mean seriously, calm down, bro. You don’t see any melee-staff supporters calling the rifle supporters Call of Duty fanbois or anything. By the way, I think Dragonhunter looks great.

Nike.2631:

I’m way more interested in a pole-vaulting in-close acrobatic fighting style twirling a staff than a park-and-wait-off-in-the-distance sniper, given how badly this game takes a dump on ranged damage builds for any profession.

I mean, they could a rifle-based Espec for Thieves, but the laws of physics (and damage coefficients) in Tyria would actually outright forbid it from being good.

This is how I feel. Melee staff just sounds so much more fun to me (but who cares about fun, right?). Admittedly, I thought we were gonna get rifles for a while (acutally I was hoping for a gunslinger elite spec to revive my lost Ricochet trait for P/P and maybe even make it a better set overall). When the datamined stuff came out and warhorn ele was revealed, I’m now thinking signs are pointing to melee staff, and that’s okay too (here’s hoping we get a ground-targeted vault jump and flashy-looking bojutsu melee skills!).

In any case, I’m looking forward to whatever we get—my preference for melee staff notwithstanding—but I can only imagine the conniptions certain people are going to have if they don’t get rifle. Meanwhile, I’ll be having fun with whichever. Fingers crossed for melee staff though!

The staff doesn’t suit the thief class at all, as he ceases to be the thief/assassin type class at all. Martial arts monk is not a ninja, as some people seem to believe. Monks don’t rely on stealth. As for ninjas, their main weapon was katana, which is a sword, daggers, shortbows, and a bunch of throwing weapons. These are basically all the weapons that the GW2 thief can use to this point. Pistols would be exception, but it seems OK to have a ninja with a pistol in a game with steampank elements. The only suitable new weapon for the ninja among the existing ones would be a torch, as ninjas very often were used for sabotage. That and kits with throwing knives and granades would be the better choice over the staff, in my opinion. The only problem is that current thief is pretty much a ninja already.

As for the rifle, that makes the thief more of a secret agent class, that uses range weapon to kill an enemy from afar, probably has some tricks to disorient and fool them beforehand, and uses stealth to escape if needed. And this would also give the thieves what they lack – more range.

I hope it’s either one of those two, especially as both rifle and torch are two most underused weapons in the game.

Killface.1896:

Dont think Anet gonna give broken stealth class 1200m sniper rifle O.O

We get it. You suck at Warrior.

If we follow the timeline rifle comes over staff which only became a recent want after we knew melee staves are possible but most just want a new s/d, I don’t see OH sword ever happening, thief rifle could include a bayonet so it’s not 100% range nuker SB has melee uses as well and overall it would be more refreshing to get rifle.

Gern.2978:

First off, Revenant already has melee staff, and it would be more than a bummer to get what is basically the same thing on thief.

Melee staff on thief would not have to be the same thing as on Rev. The Rev staff is already pigeon-holed as a support weapon. Even with whatever changes are being made to Rev staff coefficients in the wake of the Rev beta weekend, it’s hard to imagine a support weapon being high damage under the ANet system.

I, for one, would love to see a fast animation, high-damage attack style with melee staff, as this is something Rev does not provide. ANet also seems married to the idea of, "If it’s two-handed, it looks slow. Melee staff does not have to follow this pattern for verisimilitude. For some idea, look at:

Oh, and some more staff skins that don’t have lanterns, flowers or whatever other bizarre attachments on them would be nice.

With the ANet track record on Elite Specs, though, Elite Thief will be ranged support.

This is the same sort of thing as when I say guardian needs a move speed signet.

“It’s a heavy class of course you’re not supposed to move as fast as everyone else”

Well, you’re the most mobile class in the game, you don’t need longer range.
In fact, you need to not have longer range.
If anything your range should be cut to 600 max.

Not every class needs/gets everything that every other class gets.
What, are you going to start demanding pets next cause rangers get those and you don’t?
And Illusions, you need those too, and some elements to swap, and some spirit weapons. All the things! Because if another class has it and we don’kittens not fair.

Heck, why have different classes if we’re going to make them all the same?

meeflak.9714:

Adding a rifle to this class would do exactly what specializations set out to do, bring a new play style to the class. Not improve the base class, no. But to bring a new play style to it.

Have you seen the Chronomancer reveal which is basically a Shatterer 2.0? Or the glorified Auramancer 2.0 Tempest Ele? ^^ At this point, saying sepcs add something new to the classes is basically lying to yourself… sadly.

I agree. Thief already has decent melee options, but does not have a single-target power-damge ranged weapon.

Akuni.8604:

meeflak.9714:

Adding a rifle to this class would do exactly what specializations set out to do, bring a new play style to the class. Not improve the base class, no. But to bring a new play style to it.

Have you seen the Chronomancer reveal which is basically a Shatterer 2.0? Or the glorified Auramancer 2.0 Tempest Ele? ^^ At this point, saying sepcs add something new to the classes is basically lying to yourself… sadly.

They messed up the idea of bringing something new to each class badly with ele I’ll agree. While not a bad elite spec overall. It brought nothing new.. I agree.

Chronomancer I can’t speak too Much on, but reaper and Dragon Hunter did exactly what the elites were designed to do.

So one flopped . Chrono may have flopped, I can’t say to much again. And reaper and Dragon Hunter did very well..

None of this changes the fact that these elite specializations where designed to do exactly as I stated.

To say that the tempest and chronomancer didn’t meet the design, or your expectations is fine. But to say that the idea behind elite specializations no longer exists is wrong. My point about rifle thief elite spec. Still stands.

The people who have the idea that ninjas are not associated with bo staffs clearly never grew up watching Ninja Turtles.

Tempest do bring a new playstyle. Staying on only one attunement? What Ele in his/her right mind do that? It may not be so different in the final impact (Tempest continues to play in the front line like D/D), but the way to execute is very different.

Genesis.8572:

The people who have the idea that ninjas are not associated with bo staffs clearly never grew up watching Ninja Turtles.

Also the fact that they are ignoring that the bo staff is ubiquitous among nearly all eastern martial arts.

I think thief will get some magic with staff if he gets staff, like cloning himself but not like a mesmer but more like something from the game assassin’s creed. Going in the crowd and striking when you don’t see him.

There’s a point being made that it looks like members of Destiny’s Edge and DE 2.0 are being changed to the new classes.

I will forgive them entirely for giving thieves a staff, if they do this to Caithe, and the next time we see her she’s carrying a custom staff. One made out of Faolain’s spine, with her head still stuck on the end of it.

That, as a storyline moment, would be worth it.

Genesis.8572:

The people who have the idea that ninjas are not associated with bo staffs clearly never grew up watching Ninja Turtles.

You get a +1 since Donatello is my favorite. <3