Guild Wars 2

I’m surprised no one has started a thread about this, but I have to say I’m kind of concerned.
The new Elite-spec seems amazing and all, I’ll definitely try it out, but what about the Core-Spec? Core-Spec seems pretty under-powered and lacking compared to the Elite-Spec. If I remember correctly the idea isn’t to make the Elite stronger, but rather different, at an equal ground. I’m honestly concerned about how Core-Specs will do when Elite comes around.
Thoughts?

Thief core specs are and have been in need of work for some time. several threads have been made, covering most if not all of the issues in varying levels of detail, but we have yet to see any developer response. we’re hoping that we might get some time in the spotlight to raise these concerns with the release/feedback of the Daredevil, but right now all we can do is identify the problems and hope that the devs are listening.

This is truth. Nobody’s started this exact thread, but we’re all saying that acrobatics in particular now needs some trait options that make it worthwhile, but different than DD. Personally I’d like to see acro be reworked more around environmental exploitation like better scaling damage on back hits, revenge damage when attacks against you are obstructed, range increases, extra trap buffs, height advantage damage, jump buffs, and other such things that would make acro more about using your environment.

This would allow acro to still be a good combo with DD, but would also make it an attractive option to use with SA, or with a build geared more around positioning than evasion.

I’d like a complete spec rework in the style of the berserker traits.

in the Berserker, the traits are pretty clearly split between three options:

• Pure Damage options
• Condition Damage options
• Defensive options

I’d like for normal specs to be like this. as it stands, and condi thief probably needs SA just for venom share, as well as using trickery for the conditions on steal. power thieves use DA for some of the power-based traits, and no-one uses trickery. it’d be nice if we could say, for example:

DA = conditions
CS = crit/power
SA = stealth perks
Acro = evasion defensive
Trickery = Steal perks, Initiative perks, etc.

currently, our specs feel like a mess and there’s no clear correlation between builds and specialisations.

Well DA is pretty good. Dagger training and trap’s trait are lacking, but Trap themselves are lacking so.

CS need a bit more work that DA, but it’s a great trait line. Pistol being the big mistake here.

SA is in the same situation as CS. Some great trait, but some bugs and less good trait. Not a big deal.

Trickery is great. The problems are minor here.

Acrobatic is where it hurt. The worst part is that it’s way too similar in concept to Daredevil with both being around evasion.

In my opinion.

Daredevil should be build around dodge and endurance like it is
Acrobatic should be build around vigor, mobility and break stun.

A Daredevil should be hard to hit, while an Acrobatic thief should be hard to catch. A Daredevil should be in melee range and survive with evade. An Acrobatic thief should be all about hit and run.

That way both have an identity.

Gray.9041:

I’d like a complete spec rework in the style of the berserker traits.

in the Berserker, the traits are pretty clearly split between three options:

• Pure Damage options
• Condition Damage options
• Defensive options

I’d like for normal specs to be like this. as it stands, and condi thief probably needs SA just for venom share, as well as using trickery for the conditions on steal. power thieves use DA for some of the power-based traits, and no-one uses trickery. it’d be nice if we could say, for example:

DA = conditions
CS = crit/power
SA = stealth perks
Acro = evasion defensive
Trickery = Steal perks, Initiative perks, etc.

currently, our specs feel like a mess and there’s no clear correlation between builds and specialisations.

Back in vanilla when that was EXACTLY what we had (albeit DA was more of the condition/power split)?

Yeah … what the KITTENS happened to us? Dyslexia? Amnesia?

Liberal application of Confusion and or a permanent Drunk effect?

Whatever’s going on, it feels like the Specialization patch shuffled everything around rather than condensed it all.

The DD traitline seems like it’s what we we had in the Acro line before the 23rd June patch, hence the community calling it Acro v2. I honestly don’t like how they took something away from us, only to be able to sell it again, even with some differences, but I digress on that and will wait to see how it all unfolds.

My main concern though is how we’re just about 1 month away from the XPack and the Core-Specs are still a mess. I was looking through the patch notes and (mistake me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure this is what I saw/read) Thief had the LEAST fixes/balances SINCE the 23rd patch. Some patches Thief didn’t even show up on the list, whilst other classes did, as they always had something to be fixed/balanced.
So, again, 1 month left and I’m wondering how exactly they’re going to balance/fix things until the xpack. Unless they’re planning on bringing a Thief-Only patch, which besides not believing that, it’ll also be a bad move considering that by then the Thief community may not have enough time to adjust until the XPack hits.
If DD and Chrono are balanced, great! But what about Core Thief and Core Mesmer? Mesmers have pretty much replaced us, or am I seeing this wrong?
(I’ve merely followed the forums lately, haven’t logged in to the game for a while due to how unmotivated I felt whenever I got replaced by another class)

Whether you agree with the particulars or not, EVERYONE is in agreement that Thief’s core traitlines (and arguably core skills+stats) need work to be viable in HoT and beyond.

If there’s one piece of feedback that I hope Karl and the dev team absorb and act on, it’s this. Other professions are getting core improvements by their elite specialization designers… we shouldn’t have to settle for any less.