I’ll try to be as unbiased as I possibly can, and I’ll try to see everything from every angle.
In no particular order, I’ll just mention points worth discussing, and I hope you will quote single items if you want to discuss these in a civil manner.
Initiative:
Many see this as an overpowered system, allowing the thief to use the same abilities over and over, as long as he has sufficient initiative. From their point of view, it might seem incredibly overpowered, and I do understand their concerns.
However, the other side of this case, is that initiative doesn’t help the thief, as much as it restricts the thief.
Having a resource system as the only profession in the game, means the thief NEEDS to have mediocre weapon abilities, otherwise it will be overpowered, as you can spam these.
If the thief had a knock-down weapon ability that costs initiative, it would be considered overpowered as the thief could chain this over and over.
This is why initiative is a curse rather than a blessing.
Heartseeker:
I see on the forums that this single ability is the source of many discussions, that may or may not get out of hand. Let’s look at what it does:
A leaping ability that does mediocre/okay/good damage (depending on the HP of the target), costing 3 initiative and rendering the thief unable to control anything.
The damage aspect of this ability is strangely put together.
Dealing more damage depending on the health of the enemy you’re striking makes it an “executioner” ability.
This means that preferably, the thief shouldn’t use this unless the target is low on health. However, due to the low initiative cost, and the decent damage along with “stickyness” on the enemy, most thieves tend to use this ability repeatedly, regardless of enemy health.
So those who dislike Heartseeker will argue that a Heartseeker-spamming thief is overpowered.
However: For heartseeker spam to be worth the initiative cost, the enemy needs low health, and the thief needs to have a strict glass-cannon build for it to deal any damage, if the enemy is at decent health.
Heartseeker also does NOT have an evade included, and as such, if you lock down a thief, with ANY ability, he will be taking a beating.
Heartseeker deals its damage fully in one blow. One blind effect is all it takes to completely negate the damage, and have the thief waste initiative.
If you have a ground targeted blinding AoE, you can safely prance around in it, watching the thief miss over and over.
And let’s not forget that the thief has NO control of where he’s going mid-combat, if he decides to use heartseeker. Use this to your advantage.
Long story short, I don’t think it can be considered overpowered, and I’d argue it need its initiative cost increased, but also have a condition of sorts attached to it. This is just my opinion and I’ll leave this for discussion down below.
Pistol Whip:
I really want to copy paste the segment about Heartseeker, as Pistol Whip is countered by roughly the same things. The thief is immobile while channeling it, and all you have to do is lock down the thief with something.
The major difference here, is that Pistol Whip is several blows instead of a single strike, and as such, a single blind effect will not save you.
In conjunction with the shadowstep ability from having a sword equipped, it might be too strong. And I would highly suggest the initiative cost was increased to a much higher cost, making a thief unable to use this more than once, before waiting for initiative to regenerate.
Shadow Refuge vs Blinding Powder:
Why is Blinding Powder even an ability?
I really can’t think of a reason to pick Blinding Powder over Shadow Refuge, in all honesty.
Stealth:
The way stealth works in Guild Wars 2 is how stealth should always have worked. It is a useful ability that allows you to shift in and out of visibility midcombat, allowing for confusing the enemy and stabbing them where it really hurts.
My one gripe with it: Thieves who appear out of stealth are not always immediately visible, and I have often taken damage a good second before the thief was visible.
My suggestion: Upon using a damaging ability (this would require some specific skills to be adjusted) , you leave stealth immediately, regardless of whether you hit your target or not. This isn’t too much to ask, and I hope an ArenaNet employee can confirm that a thief doesn’t appear until damage has been done. Therefore my suggestion would be that as soon as the attack animation is started, the thief leaves stealth. Feel free to discuss.
Basilisk Venom
Why are we required to spend a second on casting this venom, to stun the target for a a second, when a Mesmer can transform people for 10 seconds with roughly the same cast time?
I’ll be updating this as I think of more.
(edited by Rika.7249)