Guild Wars 2

You can argue whatever you like but heartseeker is out of control. I realize it isn’t as bad when you are stacking toughness or wearing heavy armor but when you’re not it simply melts through health. I’m all for a very bursty thief but that burst needs to require finesse, not every player should be capable of achieving such results. I hate to call nerf but something has to change, the ability is breaking hot join matches. It’s very hard to be competitive with no team coordination and 3 or 4 thieves running around every match, it isn’t really an issue in tournaments however, but still shows it’s over-reaching ability.

Thanks for your time…

Yes heartseeker is bad, but other skills can be just as deadly, dancing daggers can crit for 4-8k for me depending on what health the mob is at, with a short bow and cluster bomb i can do upwards of 40k direct dmg (not even figuring in bleed dmg) to everything around me in about 6 seconds. Pistol whip can be just as brutal but better in 1v1 situations.

hot join is not a good indicator of how good a build is and i hope they’re not balancing around the zergfest that is hotjoin

As a thief that builds around heart-seeker or pistol whip in PvP, I think anyone that has a problem with those skills should try them.

To get the damage that a lot of you are seeing means the thief is going all out precision and power. Traits and gear. Also, abilities are chosen specifically for that burst. Haste and Assassins signet usually.

So what you end up with is a super bursty glass cannon that cannot soak damage, cannot mitigate damage, cannot remove conditions, and can only do a full skill rotation on a target about once a minute. AND we still have to hit with it. Heart seeker isn’t the easiest thing to hit with, and pistol whip roots you in place to be punished if you whiff.

Beyond that we are usually running for our lives to circle cap abandoned command points while we are on cool-down or picking off players with low health from a safe distance with a short-bow.

Minimal investment in to toughness, dodging heart-seeker, or any sort of interrupt once a thief starts running at you usually means he has already burnt his abilities for the attack and you have just nullified the entire thing.

Nerfs aren’t always the answer. Recognizing and understanding how to combat the class is the answer. That might mean you need to try it yourself for a little while to see what works, what doesn’t and how things are actually done.

Massive balance (nerfs AND buffs) changes are needed across all professions, starting with thief.

AcidicVision.5498:

As a thief that builds around heart-seeker or pistol whip in PvP, I think anyone that has a problem with those skills should try them.

To get the damage that a lot of you are seeing means the thief is going all out precision and power. Traits and gear. Also, abilities are chosen specifically for that burst. Haste and Assassins signet usually.

So what you end up with is a super bursty glass cannon that cannot soak damage, cannot mitigate damage, cannot remove conditions, and can only do a full skill rotation on a target about once a minute. AND we still have to hit with it. Heart seeker isn’t the easiest thing to hit with, and pistol whip roots you in place to be punished if you whiff.

Beyond that we are usually running for our lives to circle cap abandoned command points while we are on cool-down or picking off players with low health from a safe distance with a short-bow.

Minimal investment in to toughness, dodging heart-seeker, or any sort of interrupt once a thief starts running at you usually means he has already burnt his abilities for the attack and you have just nullified the entire thing.

Nerfs aren’t always the answer. Recognizing and understanding how to combat the class is the answer. That might mean you need to try it yourself for a little while to see what works, what doesn’t and how things are actually done.

Very well said, yes we do great burst dmg, but can die in 3 hits if not prepared. Thiefs are suppose to be burst damage hence no recharge timers on weapons. I don’t believe classes need nerfs, but i do believe toughness needs a boost.

Even if they nerf heartseeker, lets say… made the dmg condition instead of direct (because even if they raised the inititive cost i’d use it how it currently is), i would have plenty of other skills that i could focus on to deal crazy dmg.