Guild Wars 2

Dear Dev Team, during the creation of the thief class, have you ever considered making every skill (except auto-attack maybe) unique for every weaponset? And if not, can you imagine doing so?

I first thought of it, when the new flanking strike/larcenous strike mechanic was implemented – my first thought was (and I actually do like it better than the previous flanking strike): Darn, they need more keys!
Given the small number of different weapons (6 counting mainhand & offhand separately) and set combinations (7) AND the difficulty of balancing the initiative system (mainhand skills do have an impact on offhand skills and vice versa by sharing the same resource) I have the feeling that individual skills (or even just individual skill costs/damage modifieres) might benefit the class as a whole and open up the possibility to balance black sheeps like P/P better.
But mostly I’m interested if this, more holistic but also much more complicated approach was ever being discussed?

You mean each weapon having differen skills on each different set instead of just a different 3rd dual skill? Like OH Pistol having different #4 and #5 skills with a Sword main hand or a Pistol main hand?

I think that would get messy, and some player would even prefer some specific skills a weapon have with weapon A on his build when pairing the same one with weapon B instead. Also they would have to do this with every profession as it would be unfair (just one skill is right, but when every weapon combination is treated like a different 2 handed weapon you’re diverging too much from other classes).

Simply adding an OH Sword and a Rifle would put us with 11 to be in the lines of Rangers, Necros and Guardians. I agree that right now we have too few options. We have nearly as many weapon skills as an Elementalist on a single weapon. We need some more variety in weapon combinations, we’re closer to the “no swap” professions (and those 2 got a huge load of versatility through mechanics and utilities) than we are to the weapon swap professions.

Yes that’s what I’m talking about. Of course I know that not everyone would probably be happy with such changes – but in the same way probably not everyone is happy with how our weaponskills are combined.
My question though goes more into the direction of game design – was it ever a question, and if so why was is scrapped? Or, if not, might it be a good idea for balancing lets say P/P & P/D which suffer from sharing #1 & #2.
Also could the added diversity create more interesting sets (thieves actually want to use every weapon skill every now and then, because they’re all designed as a group and don’t mess with other sets anymore (can’t buff Vital shot because of P/D – sry P/P!).

Just some rnd examples no “omg OP” or “that exact skill I don’t like”, please. These are just examples to show what I’m thinking of, and I’m making them up just as I write this:

- S/P – let’s say stays as it is, but its attack from stealth gets changed to something more damaging (reason: no easy access to stealth & already 2 dazes).
- S/D – gets a Larcenous strike on #2 with a short leap, “Riposte” on #3 dagger block → sword stab, gets flanking strike (as it is now) on #4 & keeps CnD on #5
- P/P – auto attack doesn’t do bleeding anymore but adds vulnerability (its attack from stealth gets the same treatment – vulnerability instead of bleeding), #2 becomes headshot (which S/P still has on #4), Unload stays (buffed or not, doesn’t matter here), #4 becomes crippling shot a single target cripple (or, should P/P have access to some AoE a cone attack that cripples) & #5 “blackpowder evade” – AoE blind and short evade back. Most of its damage comes from unload still.
- P/D – #1 stays as it is (again, mechanic wise), #2 becomes headshot, rest stays the same too, maybe some slight change to CnD.
- D/D – Loses backstab but gets shadowslash (or whatever you want to call it) which adds 3 bleeding stacks if done from behind – direct damage as backstab front. #2 heartseeker becomes bloodseeker (does more damage to bleeding targets instead of low targets), #3, #4, #5 stay as they are.
- D/P – #1, #2, #3 & #4 stay the same (including backstab), black powder becomes an aoe blind that stealthes (6 initiative cost skill ofc), auto attack damage would probably need to get buffed a bit.
- SB stays the way it is.

These are examples I pulled ouf of my… head just now. Don’t strangle me, they’re just for showing diversity. Not everything might be needed (or even just well thought out).