This applies to both WvW an SPvP. The main reason why me, and many of my friends have given up on any sort of PvP (whether it is wvw, or sPvP, or tPvP) is
Stealth
As simple as that. After countless hours playing all sort of encounters, playing thieves ourselves, we have decided that the mechanic is too broken at the moment.
An example of stealth done “right” is mesmer, and this is arguable, but once you learn the mechanics of the class, you can get around pretty easily. Thieves on the other side dont, and here let me explain point by point why;
- Stealth offers many benefices
You can go unnoticed, scout, have the fights start on your terms, disengage at will, stealth your alies, stomp enemies without they even knowing you were even there, revive allies, get behind the front enemy line, kill someone before they have a chance to retaliate. Comes with boons like regen, swiftness. Which brings me to the next point:
- Too many benefices, no handicap.
In any sort of balanced game stealth comes with some sort of handicap (no, not being able to cap is not a handicap, if anything sometimes it helps thieves since if a capture point were to suddenly stop being capped you would know a thief is there), some of these handicaps are:
>not being able to use it in combat unless you use a very long CD skill
>decreased mobility
>a chance to get revealed
>damage reveals
>CC reveals
>some sort of item, condition, skill, circumstances that reveal them
Currently none of these have been implemented, and there is literally no way to counter stealth. AoE does not cut it, given that those generally speaking come with long CDs, are not guaranteed to hit and a thief have still swiftness, regen and teleports as well (if he is any smart) will move away from the red circles, which are now on CD for the enemy and the enemy still doesnt know if it were any effective, even if one tick managed to hit.
- Stealth is too accessible
A well medium to well played thief is able to keep constant stealth if he manages the skills well, this allow for little to no counterplay, and even if one were to win the fight due to focus fire from 3+ people (usually you cant afford this in a tPvP match) , the aftertaste is bitter, no rewarding feeling knowing he will be back in 10 secs doing the same. The only fun comes from the thief knowing they are giving a hard time. Which brings me to the other point;
- Fun ratio of stealther/defender is not there
Usually beating a mesmer, seeing through all the mirages feels good, stomping the real one feels good, both the attacker and the defender feel good about messing around with the fight. It allows for changing tactics, skills, making decisions. With thieves this is non existent. A thief can pop out of nowhere and end you before you can do much, if you manage to live all it takes is a couple of more seconds to repeat the process, unless you run. There is no fun in running (or dying) or having the enemy always run away when you manage to do something to him. The fun is sure on the thief part, none on the defender. Which brings me to my last point;
- Thief are too effective at taking down targets
As simple as that, the rotation is very simple 9 1 222 6 1 222 8, repeat until dead. Currently not even blocking the first attack can free you from the guaranteed 6-8k backstab that follows it. There is literally nothing you can do to prevent a thief with countless gap closer to get onto you and insta gib you. While you can survive and run, point of the matter is; once again, they offer too little of a window for retaliation
Solutions; well, for starter make block reveals thieves, CC get them of stealth (a guardian pull should do it, a knock back should do it, roots dont, but any sort of stun should). Reduce the damage of backstab, add it to skill that require some planning, some sort of “RISK”. To make up for this; give them some more team utility, it will fix their PvE problems as well as given them something to do in WvW and tPvP. Like I said, move the damage from backstab to other skills, and have backstab have an internal cooldown of 15 secs.
Legendary SoloQ
(edited by Fortus.6175)