I realize this post is a bit preemptive as the Ready-up livestream that is demoing stronghold is being released in a few hours, but after reading the description of stronghold I have a bit of a concern with thieves and the number of roles they seem to be able to fill.
First, here are the described roles in Stronghold.
- Assaulter—This player clears the way of enemy players, trebuchets, and NPC guards, giving doorbreakers a clear shot at the gate. A high-damage build for bursting down NPCs being healed by defending players and the ability to go one-on-one are a must.
- Smuggler—Smugglers gather supply and spend it at the barracks. They keep an eye on which unit best suits the current situation and then send that unit down the offense lane. Swiftness, stability, and evasion are a big help when gathering and running supply, but be prepared for a team fight at the supply depot when being quick and sneaky isn’t enough. Smugglers will also be well positioned to compete against enemy players to channel mist essence and call forth a hero, thus possibly turning the tide of a battle.
- Shepherd—The shepherd meets up with units spawned by the smuggler and shepherds them up the lane to where the assaulters are keeping the lane clear. This is a role perfectly suited for players who love to play support. They keep their doorbreakers moving, buffed, and—most importantly—alive as they protect them in face-to-face confrontations against enemy defenses.
- Defender—The defender’s job is to stop the enemy and their doorbreakers from breaking down their gate and advancing. You can play a high-damage dueling build to kill the enemy assaulters and shepherds in order to pick off doorbreakers as they come through, or you can take a more defensive approach and focus on keeping your guards alive so they can stop doorbreakers in their tracks.
- Trebuchet Master—The trebuchet master operates their team’s trebuchet in order to rain fiery death on assaulters, shepherds, troops, and anyone else who dares approach their stronghold. They also exert control on distant parts of the map, such as the strategically important supply depot. An effective trebuchet master must be prepared to fight duels to maintain area control and prevent opposing players from summoning a hero to gain the upper hand.
- Roamer—The roamer is a jack-of-all-trades. This role is for the generalist who fills in wherever needed, in any number of situations, by bouncing constantly between lanes, the supply depot, and hero channels to fight enemy players all over the map.
- Slayer—This player tries to break apart and destroy other player roles. They hunt down players who are smuggling, shepherding, defending, or manning trebuchets to wipe them out while mostly ignoring NPCs.
At only a glance, it seems to me a thief can fill every one of these roles except for shepherd. What makes thieves balanced in conquest are the capture points. Thieves are mobile and deal lots of damage, but they can’t take damage: they need to avoid it. This makes them particuarly bad at holding points, but fantastic at neutralizing them. However, stronghold doesn’t have capture points, and so thieves can use their superior mobility to escape and get to key locations without any worry.
Because of the thief’s mobility and high damage, coupled with the mode’s lack of bunkers, thieves seem nothing less then mandatory. The high damage fits the Assaulter, Defender, Roamer, and Slayer roles. The high mobility fits the Smuggler and Trebuchet Master roles (If the trebuchet is anything like in Kyhlo). Channels seem to only be interrupted by using a CC or killing the enemy, both of which the thief does well. Trickery-traited-Steal targets stability first, and daze shot can be used at any time without restraint.
To reiterate, conquest limits a thief’s potential with the usage of capture points. Without them, it seems thieves will reign as king in stronghold, being able to fit nearly any role, shut down other players (especially other berserkers), and can use their mobility and stealth to control objectives with little effort, and all on the same build.
>>>>>>> What are your thoughts on this? Do you think other professions will be able to counter the thief, or will the thief reign supreme?
(edited by Loki.8793)
