Guild Wars 2

Hello,

Am I the only one who really doubt the upcomming change to blinding powder is good?

I think I will hate it…

Scenario:
I follow a player and slash at em with some attacks, then I want to do a quic backstep, so I use blind powder to interupt my own autoattack so I can do a very quic follow up backstap.

If that is gone it will make it only more annoying…. at least for me.

Anyone else really doubting the change for the ’’better’’ will only make it much worse?

what do other thiefs that use the utility think?

but who knows it might be even more brilliant. time will tell ^^

S-

EDIT 27 – Jan -2015 --—————————
Patch just came out!
Tryed it, and wonder above wonder it actually feels better 0_o….. getting mad over nophing best thing is prop that it does not interupt dodge either. its just about getting used to it.
s-
btw.
I use blinding powder a lot as a d/d thief with shortbow in wvw. it is a livesaver and the blast it does is a nice little addition added a few month ago.

Just another skill that will kill you by revealing you, especially with the lag that is so common in this game.

It will have the same problems as last refuge has now and be unusable with projectile weapons since you will never know if you still have projectiles in mid air (especially with bouncing or piercing projectiles).

It will be nice for stealth ressing though…

anet just likes changes that dont really change anything havnt u caught on by now

It kinda sounds good I think. Or maybe I just got it wrong.

Doesn’t “BP no longer interrupts your own skills” mean, that it won’t interrupt your aa chain and thus avoiding the slight aftercast u get while auto attacking? So by using BP during ur aa chain u gain stealth, aa instantly changes to stealth ability (backstab in ur case) which will hit ur enemy as if it was a skill in ur reguall aa chain.

If that’s the case the scenario u described would look more like this:
U run behind ur enemy and aa, then press BP and hit him with an instant Backstab (assuming u keep aaing).

Ironically, as someone who plays mesmer a lot I would love to have this change for Decoy..
:(

Who uses Blinding Powder? — I surely don’t. I use D/D, D/P, S/D and P/P and I don’t see value in taking Blinding Powder.

Start from who ever uses this and see if this change has any significant effect.

I don’t see any advantage on using this. If you do use this, please let us know how this is affect you and your build.

I’m curious to know what made ArenaNet think this is even important.

I think you’re trying too hard to find something to complain about. I use blinding powder, and I think this change is great for the utility. This will help you secure stomps and res allies more effectively. If you want to cancel a skill, you should be using weapon stow in the first place.

Note that this isn’t comparable to last refuge at all because you control when you activate blinding powder. If you’re getting accidentally revealed, that’s entirely your fault for activating the utility at the wrong time.

the problem is that thief attacks usually aalmost always have a second attack triggered that will go off a sec after u stop attacking which will hurt us with this change because now we will have to wait even longer than we would to make sure that second attack doesnt hit after the blinding powder… BP was already an instant cast i see no reason to even change this wont help us it will just be something else thief has to be aware of and wait out like aftercast and projectiles or bouncing attacks

Patch just came out!
Tryed it, and wonder above wonder it actually feels much better 0_o….. getting mad over nophing best thing is prop that it does not interupt dodge either.

s-

btw.
I use blinding powder a lot as a d/d thief with shortbow in wvw. it is a livesaver and the blast it does is a nice little addition added a few month ago.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Who uses Blinding Powder? — I surely don’t. I use D/D, D/P, S/D and P/P and I don’t see value in taking Blinding Powder.

Start from who ever uses this and see if this change has any significant effect.

I don’t see any advantage on using this. If you do use this, please let us know how this is affect you and your build.

I’m curious to know what made ArenaNet think this is even important.

last refuge triggers it…

I’ve used Blinding Powder in my WvW roaming D/P kit for almost two years now, and it has become my core ability for surprise backstabs in mid-auto attack rotation. Now, with the action interruption component of BP gone, what CAN happen (and already has, multiple times) is that you pre-cast one of your auto attacks in the middle of the rotation, and then use BP expecting to land a surprising backstab. But no, because the AA was pre-cast, it will hit instead, making you waste the whole cooldown on nothing but a mere auto attack you would have got off nonetheless.

On the other hand, being able to use BP in the middle of the stomp animation is great. However, I do think that the cons outweigh the pros here.

“We feel that removing the skill-canceling nature of this skill will improve the overall value of the skill and provide better potential for both damage and support. " -justification for this change in the balance preview of Jan 16th.

In terms of damage, I think the change was a failure. The interruption used to serve as a failsafe to prevent that kind of annoying little things like wasting it in the middle of the rotation from happening. In terms of support? An undeniable success. Stomps and revives were made easier.

I guess it’s just about getting used to and being more precise with it. I’d still rather have the old BP though. Now I kinda wish that I could have the best of both worlds, but I don’t think that that’s possible.

My input: Give me my old BP back. It’s already a niche skill and outshined by numerous other thief utilities, and this just made it even more worthless in terms of multi-purpose utilities.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Who uses Blinding Powder? — I surely don’t. I use D/D, D/P, S/D and P/P and I don’t see value in taking Blinding Powder.

Start from who ever uses this and see if this change has any significant effect.

I don’t see any advantage on using this. If you do use this, please let us know how this is affect you and your build.

I’m curious to know what made ArenaNet think this is even important.

It is trivial I agree but this does make it usable to stomp while channeling. It also … Yeah that’s probably the only good part about it. Go buffs?

Can I please have my blinding powder back like it has been before?

Edit: Well, maybe it isn’t too bad, just didin’t really work in a blobfest yesterday.

Selver.1307:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Who uses Blinding Powder? — I surely don’t. I use D/D, D/P, S/D and P/P and I don’t see value in taking Blinding Powder.

Start from who ever uses this and see if this change has any significant effect.

I don’t see any advantage on using this. If you do use this, please let us know how this is affect you and your build.

I’m curious to know what made ArenaNet think this is even important.

It is trivial I agree but this does make it usable to stomp while channeling. It also … Yeah that’s probably the only good part about it. Go buffs?

That’s basically it. They just don’t want to get interrupted while stomping when Last Refuge triggers.

IMO, whoever still trait SA in PvP deserved to be interrupted.

I’ve never had much use for Blinding Powder ever, I’m used to blast finishing Black Powder, rather than using up a utility slot for which could used by a signet with low CD. The only set id use it for is D/D for the blind really.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Who uses Blinding Powder? — I surely don’t. I use D/D, D/P, S/D and P/P and I don’t see value in taking Blinding Powder.

Start from who ever uses this and see if this change has any significant effect.

I don’t see any advantage on using this. If you do use this, please let us know how this is affect you and your build.

I’m curious to know what made ArenaNet think this is even important.

I use the utility BP to stealth allys when we run from a zerg, a few seconds stealth can still confuse a lot of zergling’s. yes we all know shadowrefuge can do that “better” but that means standing still for 4 seconds. or when an ally is about to get stomped also I use BP to imbo people with the short bow sneak attack. it isnt just the stealth but the aoe blind can be anoying too. This is when I play full sa in wvw 2/0/6/0/6 and trait for master of deception

there is a lot of thing’s you can do with this utility. i have even used it to set up a back stab from 800 range away and steal in. I use this both offensively and defensively

also its a blast finisher xD

Alright, after testing the skill in roaming for a day now I can say that I definitely want the old Blinding Powder back. What you essentially did was turn it into Last Refuge 2.0. Please reverse the change.

Routa.4136:

Alright, after testing the skill in roaming for a day now I can say that I definitely want the old Blinding Powder back. What you essentially did was turn it into Last Refuge 2.0. Please reverse the change.

Their intent was to prevent Blinding Powder from interrupting stomps when used or when Last Refuge triggers. Thus, agree or disagree, it is working as intended.

yes, please bring Blinding Powder back. It should interrupt your current action to work as intended

I have no idea how you guys can consider this change a nerf. It’s a substantial buff to be able to blind mid stomp or continue reviving as you stealth. There’s pretty much no downside to this.

Gonna quote myself here:

mango.9267:

Note that this isn’t comparable to last refuge at all because you control when you activate blinding powder. If you’re getting accidentally revealed, that’s entirely your fault for activating the utility at the wrong time.

mango.9267:

I have no idea how you guys can consider this change a nerf. It’s a substantial buff to be able to blind mid stomp or continue reviving as you stealth. There’s pretty much no downside to this.

This is exactly the problem – people like you think that it is merely a tool for stomping and reviving now. Shadow Refuge already has the role of being the supreme support skill, and even if you do want to use BP for these purposes you might as well use it BEFORE initiating the said action. For example, if you run pistol in offhand most of the time like I, you could lay down Black Powder prior to blasting it with your Blinding Powder for longer stealth and leaving behind a blinding field.

The added support capabilities are GOOD. I can’t deny that. But this took a massive toll on my favourite way of using it as a filler in the middle of a combo or a burst, essentially just removing that way of using it (and reducing the damage capabilities of this ability by a large margin in the process). Blinding Powder was way more versatile than it is now. It is not merely a tool for stomping. Even if it was, chances are that Shadowstep would be better at it, as well. A tool for reviving? The aforementioned Shadow Refuge would like to have a word with you.

Is it worth it to have just a generic stealth skill with a 40s cooldown, that can sometimes just go absolutely down the drain? Nah. Although CrimsonNeonite doesn’t seem to understand the value the ability had, in its current state I would agree with him – taking a low cooldown Signet might be more beneficial.

Routa.4136:

This is exactly the problem – people like you think that it is merely a tool for stomping and reviving now. Shadow Refuge already has the role of being the supreme support skill, and even if you do want to use BP for these purposes you might as well use it BEFORE initiating the said action.

First, shadow refuge does much more than blinding powder does. If you can help it, you generally don’t want to waste shadow refuge on a stomp or a res. This is where blinding powder comes in as a less costly alternative that allows you to preserve refuge. Second, it’s not always possible to secure a stomp by initiating blinding powder before the stomp (e.g. standing in a guardian’s symbol as they go down). By being able to active blinding powder mid-stomp, you’re able to secure stomps much more effectively.

Routa.4136:

For example, if you run pistol in offhand most of the time like I, you could lay down Black Powder prior to blasting it with your Blinding Powder for longer stealth and leaving behind a blinding field.

The blinding powder change doesn’t affect this at all.

Routa.4136:

But this took a massive toll on my favourite way of using it as a filler in the middle of a combo or a burst, essentially just removing that way of using it (and reducing the damage capabilities of this ability by a large margin in the process). Blinding Powder was way more versatile than it is now.

You can still use it in the middle of a combo. In fact, it’s even easier to use in mid-combo because it’s now insta-cast. If you want to cancel an animation, use stow weapon. If you’re getting revealed, either turn off autoattack or time your blinding powder better. There’s no possible way this reduces your damage.

Routa.4136:

It is not merely a tool for stomping. Even if it was, chances are that Shadowstep would be better at it, as well. A tool for reviving? The aforementioned Shadow Refuge would like to have a word with you.

Like I said, you’re better off securing stomps without blowing either of those two utilities.

i just love the new blinding powder i can now stealth an ally that is being stomped while i am stomping an enemy this changed the tides of many battles already.

you could say you can do that with steal 2 yea but who keeps steal off cooldown in tough fights?… and you can only do that against one stomping enemy.

even so i’m still waiting for an opportunity to: “start stomp use shadow return , stealth an ally that is being stomped , steal/interrupt another foe close by stomping another ally , return to your starting position with shadow return , finish the stomp and rally your allys saving the day” ……. ah… epic moments