Initiative
- Base regeneration increased by 33%
- Most initiative gain from traits reduced by 33% to 50%
This change makes the relative initiative gain from traits very small.
Example: Quick Recovery
Old initiative regenaration: 7.5 initiative / 10 sec
Old initiative gain from trait: 2 initiative / 10 sec
Old relative gain from trait: (7.5 ini + 2 ini) / 7.5 ini = 1.2666 (26%)
New initiative regenaration: 10 initiative / 10 sec
New initiative gain from trait: 1 initiative / 10 sec
New relative gain from trait: (10 ini + 1 ini) / 10 ini = 1.1 (10%)
This reduces the effectivity of this trait by 61.5%.
But the change to the base regeneration is a great buff.
You get more initiative with the new base regeneration without trait then you would get with the old base regeneration with the old trait.
As a result the initiative gain from traits will become kind of useless.
Buffs
- Initiative regeneration increased by 33%
- Pistol Whip. Reduced the after cast on the first half of this skill by .25 seconds.
- Critical Strikes VI – Practiced Tolerance. Increased conversion from 5% to 7%.
- Critical Strike X – Critical Haste. Increase trigger chance to 25%.
- Acrobatics IV – Assassin’s Retreat. Increased swiftness duration to 20s.
- Acrobatics X – Assassins Reward. Increased healing scaling by 35%. Moved to Grandmaster Tier.
Nerfs
- Shadow Return on Sword. Renamed to Infiltrator’s return. Added a 1/4s cast time.
- Initiative
- Shadow Arts V – Infusion of Shadow – This trait functionality has been changed to “Gain initiative when you enter stealth.” 2 init.
- Deadly Arts VI – Sundering Strikes. Increased the trigger chance from 50%. Remove ICD. Decrease Vulnerability duration to 6s.
- Critical Strikes VIII – Signet Use. Reduced initiative gain from 2 to 1.
- Acrobatics IX – Quick Recovery. Reduced initiative gain from 2 to 1.
- Trickery 5 – Kleptomaniac. Reduce initiative gain from 3 to 2.
- Vigor
- Acrobatics III – Vigorous Recovery. Reduced Vigor duration to 4s from 8s.
- Trickery VII – Bountiful Theft. Reduced vigor duration to from 15s to 8s.
Feedback
The major changes are
- increased initiative base regeneration
- increased healing on Assasins Reward
- reduction of initiative gain from alot of traits.
- reduction of vigor duration from traits.
I think the increased initiative regeneration is a change that will help the thief alot to keep his overall damage up and is a good change for sure. The reduction of initiative gain from traits on the other hand will reduce their relative effectivity greatly and some will become traits for the “useless” category that no one would pick.
One of my favourite changes however is the Infusion of Shadow nerf.
I am thief myself and i know that the trait worked way to well with dagger/pistol.
The change i dont like is the reduction of the vigor buff.
I think that vigor is something that the thief needs alot to survive.
The plan to increase the healing on Assasins Reward sounds great, but in reality the acrobatics traitline does not offer enough that would make it worth to go for it.
It would result in 93 health / 1 initiative. With the regeneration of 1 initiative / 1 second it would be like 93 health / second.
Compared to the Shadow Arts grandmaster trait that gives 323 health / second when invisible, the heal from Assasins Reward will still be low. Even after the change the Shadow Arts line will be way stronger then acrobatics.
I know this might sound a bit crazy but i think the heal of Assasins Reward as grandmaster trait could very well be increased by up to 100% instead of the 35%.
Other changes could include increased condition remove and mobility in the acrobatic trait line. I think the Warrior can be even better at “running away” with all his charge skills then the thief at the moment.