Guild Wars 2

Looking for some thoughts on the 1 sec CD on stealth attacks. Seriously I haven’t noticed the difference, so all I think it did was weed out the kittenty thieves who can’t land/time their back-stabs correctly. a little 1 sec CD and one less stun on basi didn’t really hurt thief that much, if at all, imo.

The only real difference it’s made for me is in thief v thief when we’re both in stealth, and we can’t spam it any more. Otherwise, it’s actually improved my play. My timing is much better overall, and I’m paying more attention to enemy movements. I actually can time my backstabs so I can hit them right after their bound during stealth, or do the same with a noscope shadow shot.

Although the CD is annoying and didn’t take backstab’s aftercast into account, I’m starting to get used to it.

alchemyst.2165:

The only real difference it’s made for me is in thief v thief when we’re both in stealth, and we can’t spam it any more. Otherwise, it’s actually improved my play. My timing is much better overall, and I’m paying more attention to enemy movements. I actually can time my backstabs so I can hit them right after their bound during stealth, or do the same with a noscope shadow shot.

Although the CD is annoying and didn’t take backstab’s aftercast into account, I’m starting to get used to it.

Since I’m a non native: I found anoscope but no noscope – what are you talking about? :P And what is “right after their bound”?
And one random thing: You’re the thief who plays the most accurate I’ve ever seen.
I partly agree: I got a bit used to it, but the cooldown doesn’t feel right, it’s a mess in smallscale where someone uses CC – so I still don’t think this really should’ve been brought into game and not 1s long.

Jana.6831:

alchemyst.2165:

The only real difference it’s made for me is in thief v thief when we’re both in stealth, and we can’t spam it any more. Otherwise, it’s actually improved my play. My timing is much better overall, and I’m paying more attention to enemy movements. I actually can time my backstabs so I can hit them right after their bound during stealth, or do the same with a noscope shadow shot.

Although the CD is annoying and didn’t take backstab’s aftercast into account, I’m starting to get used to it.

Since I’m a non native: I found anoscope but no noscope – what are you talking about? :P And what is “right after their bound”?
And one random thing: You’re the thief who plays the most accurate I’ve ever seen.
I partly agree: I got a bit used to it, but the cooldown doesn’t feel right, it’s a mess in smallscale where someone uses CC – so I still don’t think this really should’ve been brought into game and not 1s long.

What I mean by noscoping is simply launching shadow shot in their general position when they are stealthed (noscope = without targeting). Basically, when a thief is Bounding through black powder, you can predict when their bound is going to end, and fire shadow shot in their black powder (you can hit someone right at the end of their dodge, but it takes practice/good timing). The cooldown has pretty much forced me to reinforce good timing, is what I’m saying. But I do completely get where people are coming from with the cooldown not being needed. I honestly just think it will separate good thieves from bad ones more, in the long run.

Ok, thanks.
And yes, it probably will, but I don’t know if D/D really needed to have a higher skill floor (I always mix ceiling and floor up, you might cry NOOB if I just did that again).

Biggest issue with the 1s cooldown is that it disproportionately hurts the weaker sets. The big difference between the strong PvP sets (D/P, Staff) and everything else is that the strong PvP sets have a clear workhorse skill that gives incredible value for the initiative (Shadow Shot, Vault) on a kit that otherwise provides good utility – and that workhorse is still very good from stealth. If you are playing D/P and miss a Backstab, a Shadow Shot from stealth is a very good option for you – there’s a good chance you are out of position, and it still applies a blind with pretty good damage on the hit. Not ideal compared to hitting a Backstab, of course, but still very good. If you’re stealthed in staff (not uncommon as more people switch to D/P + Staff) firing off a Vault onto a target that is out of range of / you have missed a Hook Strike on is quite strong. It’s really hard to dodge a Vault from stealth, it gap closes for you, and it hits harder than Backstab!

Basically, in both cases, even if you miss your follow up is a gap closer + big payload that you don’t feel bad about using at all.

On the flip side, if you are playing power D/D, or are playing with a sword, you’re basically screwed if you miss your stealth attack. D/D gets to…Heartseeker as a backup? Do less damage than autoattacking and spend initiative, oh boy. S/x doesn’t have any heavy hitting attacks to follow up on, just utility and more mobility. If you don’t hit your stealth attack with any of those sets, you’re pretty screwed.

So if you’re playing one of the core, strong sets, the 1s cooldown is probably just forcing you to play better, and to use an alternative pattern if your stealth attack misses – yeah, it sucks, but it’s not so bad compared to using Shadow Shot / Vault from stealth anyway. If you aren’t playing one of those sets, and make good use of stealth? You’re pretty much screwed, and every missed stealth attack is going to make you rage.

Ensign.2189:

Biggest issue with the 1s cooldown is that it disproportionately hurts the weaker sets. The big difference between the strong PvP sets (D/P, Staff) and everything else is that the strong PvP sets have a clear workhorse skill that gives incredible value for the initiative (Shadow Shot, Vault) on a kit that otherwise provides good utility – and that workhorse is still very good from stealth. If you are playing D/P and miss a Backstab, a Shadow Shot from stealth is a very good option for you – there’s a good chance you are out of position, and it still applies a blind with pretty good damage on the hit. Not ideal compared to hitting a Backstab, of course, but still very good. If you’re stealthed in staff (not uncommon as more people switch to D/P + Staff) firing off a Vault onto a target that is out of range of / you have missed a Hook Strike on is quite strong. It’s really hard to dodge a Vault from stealth, it gap closes for you, and it hits harder than Backstab!

Basically, in both cases, even if you miss your follow up is a gap closer + big payload that you don’t feel bad about using at all.

On the flip side, if you are playing power D/D, or are playing with a sword, you’re basically screwed if you miss your stealth attack. D/D gets to…Heartseeker as a backup? Do less damage than autoattacking and spend initiative, oh boy. S/x doesn’t have any heavy hitting attacks to follow up on, just utility and more mobility. If you don’t hit your stealth attack with any of those sets, you’re pretty screwed.

So if you’re playing one of the core, strong sets, the 1s cooldown is probably just forcing you to play better, and to use an alternative pattern if your stealth attack misses – yeah, it sucks, but it’s not so bad compared to using Shadow Shot / Vault from stealth anyway. If you aren’t playing one of those sets, and make good use of stealth? You’re pretty much screwed, and every missed stealth attack is going to make you rage.

You’ve totally nailed it.