Guild Wars 2

In the higher team arenas I note an almost complete lack of mesmers and elementalists. Rather, the standard seems to be one thief (not more) for DPS on demand. It’s not that mesmers or eles don’t have huge DPS – they do. Lots.

But there’s nothing to beat a thief for sheer mobility. If close point is under attack, a thief can rotate back very quickly to turn a 1v1 into a 2v1 and burst down a weakened target in seconds and then run back to where they were before. This makes them pretty useful and it’s no surprise that I don’t see any other pure DPS classes.

How about a tradeoff between damage and mobility? If you want huge DPS, then you have to be slow and lumbering. If you want to move quickly from place to place, then you can’t bring huge damage with you.

How does this feel as a balancing idea?

P.S. Just thought – perhaps a new “mobility” stat…if you take it you don’t get the precision/critical damage stats etc. Just throwing the idea around.

bhagwad.4281:

How about a tradeoff between damage and mobility? If you want huge DPS, then you have to be slow and lumbering. If you want to move quickly from place to place, then you can’t bring huge damage with you.

It could work, if mobility wasn’t thieves’ best survivability. Just give thieves 20k hp and I’ll agree

you forgot that thieves have basically 0 survival outside of stealth or evades (depending on build); they also don’t have access to excessive CCs like certain classes do

Cynz.9437:

you forgot that thieves have basically 0 survival outside of stealth or evades (depending on build); they also don’t have access to excessive CCs like certain classes do

Just like guardians have basically 0 survival outside of their skills and virtues, toughness and vitality

Cynz.9437:

you forgot that thieves have basically 0 survival outside of stealth or evades (depending on build); they also don’t have access to excessive CCs like certain classes do

I see blindspamming as a survival mechanism aswell,its incredibly strong vs a double melee with no immunitys vs condi’s.

Cynz.9437:

you forgot that thieves have basically 0 survival outside of stealth or evades (depending on build); they also don’t have access to excessive CCs like certain classes do

I was thinking mobility not in terms of within the fight circle itself, but between points.

Impossible. Thief’s mobility comes from weapon sets. The only way to nerf that would kill the theif’s viability.

bhagwad.4281:

Cynz.9437:

you forgot that thieves have basically 0 survival outside of stealth or evades (depending on build); they also don’t have access to excessive CCs like certain classes do

I was thinking mobility not in terms of within the fight circle itself, but between points.

if you nerf thief moblity outside of points nobody will take one for pvp…. that is sole reason they are taken in tpvp instead of another condi tank or warrior

thieves have terriblle point presense, only thing they are good at is fast in/fast out and decaps which is why they need mobility

Cynz.9437:

bhagwad.4281:

Cynz.9437:

you forgot that thieves have basically 0 survival outside of stealth or evades (depending on build); they also don’t have access to excessive CCs like certain classes do

I was thinking mobility not in terms of within the fight circle itself, but between points.

if you nerf thief moblity outside of points nobody will take one for pvp…. that is sole reason they are taken in tpvp instead of another condi tank or warrior

My point is that without mobility between points, people will also start taking mesmers and eles instead of just thief.

To address your primary concern (why no mesmers/eles in “high” level pvp):

Essentially glass thieves hard counter glass eles and most glass mes. On top of that their burst recharges faster, hits more reliably, and some also bring limited team utility via stealth resses etc…

Its not only a matter of how much damage or mobility an ele or mes has. Its simply that a thief preys on glass classes very efficiently.

bhagwad.4281:

Cynz.9437:

bhagwad.4281:

Cynz.9437:

you forgot that thieves have basically 0 survival outside of stealth or evades (depending on build); they also don’t have access to excessive CCs like certain classes do

I was thinking mobility not in terms of within the fight circle itself, but between points.

if you nerf thief moblity outside of points nobody will take one for pvp…. that is sole reason they are taken in tpvp instead of another condi tank or warrior

My point is that without mobility between points, people will also start taking mesmers and eles instead of just thief.

so let’s delete the class from pvp? great idea