Guild Wars 2

Revenant elite spec is getting shield. So definite confirmation that weapons aren’t exclusive to elites.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Teaser-pic-for-this-week

Our guns are ready -Team Rifle-

Sagat.3285:

Our guns are ready -Team Rifle-

LOL… thanks for the laugh mate. :-)

There is still hope for Thief to get some kind of gun !

Team thief hammer

I’d love staff. And to people who claim that super clicheed sniper gun fits the class theme while staff does not:

Thief =/= Assassin

stof.9341:

There is still hope for Thief to get some kind of gun !

LOL!

This doesn’t mean anything.

yolo swaggins.2570:

This doesn’t mean anything.

Nonsense… it takes away the (widely held) belief that staff was out for Thieves because no two elites have gotten the same weapon previously. Now staff is definitely back in play.

Hexalot.8194:

yolo swaggins.2570:

This doesn’t mean anything.

Nonsense… it takes away the (widely held) belief that staff was out for Thieves because no two elites have gotten the same weapon previously. Now staff is definitely back in play.

Let deluded people be deluded. That theory against staves was ridiculous and unsubstantiated in the first place.

Hexalot.8194:

yolo swaggins.2570:

This doesn’t mean anything.

Nonsense… it takes away the (widely held) belief that staff was out for Thieves because no two elites have gotten the same weapon previously. Now staff is definitely back in play.

It is anything but a widely held belief. The staff hype is a recent phenomenon whose only form of evidence ONE picture and ONE model. Rifle has been around long before, since right after the announcement anet was planning on adding new weapons to the professions. There are decent topics about it, speculation based off of anets track record and the fact that rifle gave things thieves did not have. When anet made that official, the first thing people thought thieves were going to get was rifle. The only reason why staff is a big competitor now is because the players who want it have hyped it very hard and constantly assumed staff based on unrelated data. Its annoying.

Staff was always in play, but you guys still have a picture and a model that could easily be discarded. Kinda like those few sword skills for tempest.

yolo swaggins.2570:

Hexalot.8194:

yolo swaggins.2570:

This doesn’t mean anything.

Nonsense… it takes away the (widely held) belief that staff was out for Thieves because no two elites have gotten the same weapon previously. Now staff is definitely back in play.

It is anything but a widely held belief. The staff hype is a recent phenomenon whose only form of evidence ONE picture and ONE model. Rifle has been around long before, since right after the announcement anet was planning on adding new weapons to the professions. There are decent topics about it, speculation based off of anets track record and the fact that rifle gave things thieves did not have. When anet made that official, the first thing people thought thieves were going to get was rifle. The only reason why staff is a big competitor now is because the players who want it have hyped it very hard and constantly assumed staff based on unrelated data. Its annoying.

Staff was always in play, but you guys still have a picture and a model that could easily be discarded. Kinda like those few sword skills for tempest.

You’re still on the denial stage mate. Move on to bargaining already!

I did but the bargaining part made less sense.

It’s a little irritating that Revenant elite spec is coming out before Thief’s. It would really not surprise me if they have done nothing in regards to designing ours at all. The dev(s) responsible really don’t know a thing about balancing thieves whatsoever.

Still waiting on whether I’ll even bother spending money to upgrade to the xpac at this point.

yolo swaggins.2570:

Hexalot.8194:

yolo swaggins.2570:

This doesn’t mean anything.

Nonsense… it takes away the (widely held) belief that staff was out for Thieves because no two elites have gotten the same weapon previously. Now staff is definitely back in play.

It is anything but a widely held belief. The staff hype is a recent phenomenon whose only form of evidence ONE picture and ONE model. Rifle has been around long before, since right after the announcement anet was planning on adding new weapons to the professions. There are decent topics about it, speculation based off of anets track record and the fact that rifle gave things thieves did not have. When anet made that official, the first thing people thought thieves were going to get was rifle. The only reason why staff is a big competitor now is because the players who want it have hyped it very hard and constantly assumed staff based on unrelated data. Its annoying.

Staff was always in play, but you guys still have a picture and a model that could easily be discarded. Kinda like those few sword skills for tempest.

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

Nephrite.6954:

stof.9341:

There is still hope for Thief to get some kind of gun !

LOL!

hehehe nice one

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

Wait isn’t that right there in my post. Hello… is this thing on.

Everything right now is ridiculous and unsubstantiated, like using random pics and 2010 concept art as proof for the next weapon. The lot of you don’t want to play Thief.

Team Rifle, lets go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sagat.3285:

Our guns are ready -Team Rifle-

sebradle.7034:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

Wait isn’t that right there in my post. Hello… is this thing on.

Just because a picture and a model was part of a datamine != staff skills exist. This is the same kind of deductive reasoning that has been used since thief staff became a thing.

Concept art is posted > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Entirely new class gets staff as a base weapon > OMG MULTIPLE CLASSES GETTING SAME WEAPON > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Its borderline kittened.

#TEAMGRENADEKIT #TEAMBOMBKIT don’t know about you guys but my 3rd utility slot is always interchangeable after SR and shadowstep. Putting kits in play would solve my problem

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

Wait isn’t that right there in my post. Hello… is this thing on.

Just because a picture and a model was part of a datamine != staff skills exist. This is the same kind of deductive reasoning that has been used since thief staff became a thing.

Concept art is posted > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Entirely new class gets staff as a base weapon > OMG MULTIPLE CLASSES GETTING SAME WEAPON > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Its borderline kittened.

Sooo… is this still pragmatism or are you salty now?

Seabreeze.8437:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

Wait isn’t that right there in my post. Hello… is this thing on.

Just because a picture and a model was part of a datamine != staff skills exist. This is the same kind of deductive reasoning that has been used since thief staff became a thing.

Concept art is posted > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Entirely new class gets staff as a base weapon > OMG MULTIPLE CLASSES GETTING SAME WEAPON > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Its borderline kittened.

Sooo… is this still pragmatism or are you salty now?

Its still pragmatism.

staff= even more ded teef

yolo swaggins.2570:

Seabreeze.8437:

Sooo… is this still pragmatism or are you salty now?

Its still pragmatism.

K, just making sure. :p

On a sort of related note, I’m starting to get the feeling that Anet is purposefully holding the thief elite spec back just so this war can drag on. It’s so worn out that I just want to know what it is already!

OMG… What’s the point of arguing about it anyway? It’s not like we get to vote for the spec or anything. I mean look at tempest, they’ve received warhorn! And they can’t do kitten about it. So guys, just stop spamming threads about it. We need space for threads that highlight issues the thief truly possess.

yolo swaggins.2570:

Just because a picture and a model was part of a datamine != staff skills exist. This is the same kind of deductive reasoning that has been used since thief staff became a thing.

Concept art is posted > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Entirely new class gets staff as a base weapon > OMG MULTIPLE CLASSES GETTING SAME WEAPON > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Its borderline kittened.

Did I say staff was confirmed I said its highly likely based on what we know. That is deductive reasoning bro formulating a hypothesis and defending it with available facts. Then you can come to some conclusion. My current conclusion is that it is highly likely we will get staff not guaranteed (BECAUSE IT IS NOT CONFIRMED).

Your the one not using a deductive approach cause you wanna stick your fingers in your ear and pretend like there is no available information, you would rather just play devil’s advocate and just say that it could not happen. Well no duh everyone here understands that nothing is final until it is CONFIRMED. That is why we are speculating and not writing Anet’s thief elite spec reveal blog post for them.

Here is what we know:

On the June 23rd patch:

A bunch of elite spec weapon models and art pieces believed to be elite spec backdrops were datamined.

http://dulfy.net/2015/06/24/gw2-upcoming-items-from-june-23-patch/
http://imgur.com/a/cIOW3

these models/art pieces include

- a warhorn, now confirmed to be tempest’s warhorn
- tempest elite spec artwork now confirmed was used in beta weekend

- dragonhunter’s bow confirmed in the dragonhunter’s reveal video
- dragonhunter’s backdrop used in the beta weekend

- a shield, now confirmed to go with the revenant’s elite spec
- an art piece of Glint, most likely used for revenants elite spec (Not confirmed)

- reaper’s greatsword confirmed in the reaper’s release video and artwork
- reaper’s elite spec artwork used in the beta weekend

- chronomancer’s shoulder pieces, confirmed in the chronomancer release art
- chronomancer art piece used in the beta weekend

- engineer’s elite spec head piece, confirmed in HoT reveal trailer
- a blank art piece with the words forge assumed to be place holder for engineer elite spec window (not confirmed)

- a blank art piece with the words berserker assumed to be place holder for warrior elite spec window (not confirmed)

- an art piece of a ninja like character holding a staff
- an ingame model of the same staff

So how does this help confirm my hypothesis that it is LIKELY we will get staff NOT CONFIRMED that we will get staff.

We have a bunch of ingame model’s of weapons/armor pieces that have all now been confirmed to belong to elite specs datamined from the same patch. Each one of these models has an art piece that belongs to it that are also confirmed to belong to the elite spec of its appropriate profession.

The only model not confirmed yet is the staff that goes along with an art piece of a ninja carrying a staff. So it is highly likely this pattern will hold out and we are getting staff. But like you said for the fiftieth time this could all change like those tempest “sword” skills (they were actually just dagger skill being used as placeholder for sword skills).

MarauderShields.6830:

Thief =/= Assassin

More of an assassin than monk…

Nephrite.6954:

OMG… What’s the point of arguing about it anyway? It’s not like we get to vote for the spec or anything. I mean look at tempest, they’ve received warhorn! And they can’t do kitten about it. So guys, just stop spamming threads about it. We need space for threads that highlight issues the thief truly possess.

The majority of people don’t want to play a Thief. Either full fledged one-shot assassins or Warriors that have a bit more grace than the actual Warriors. There’s a lot at stake for them with what the specs will offer and they might not accept it.

Tyr.6097:

MarauderShields.6830:

Thief =/= Assassin

More of an assassin than monk…

Oh, Monk… GW1 Monks wouldn’t be happy about this.

Weapons aren’t exclusive to elites for the original 8 professions. Leave me alone, I want my rifle.

At the end of the day we’ll get something super exiting like torch so we don’t get lost in shadows.

Tyr.6097:

MarauderShields.6830:

Thief =/= Assassin

More of an assassin than monk…

What ever happen to the idea of the saboteur?

I’d like a Wanderer/vagabond kind of elite spec with staff and a lot of mobility buffs and skills (and good stability… would be cool)

cherry on top of cake : Give us shadow clones >:D (since mesmers get better cloaks than us). And maybe call them “mirages”. Like, after a while walking in the desert they mastered the art of mirages xD (BS background lol)

^ Vagabond would be a cool name for a melee staff thief, by the way.

Seabreeze.8437:

^ Vagabond would be a cool name for a melee staff thief, by the way.

Knowing the creative geniuses over @ Anet, they will undoubtedly name it something like the:

Staffholder (low high concept)
or
Dragonstalker (high concept)
or
Dragonstaffthumper (super high concept)
or
Dragonshadower (ultra high concept)
or
Purity of Pistols Defender (so high concept no mortal will being to understand this)

Tabootrinket.2631:

I’d like a Wanderer/vagabond kind of elite spec with staff and a lot of mobility buffs and skills (and good stability… would be cool)

Those are good names too, but the reason I like saboteur is because it fits well with Team Stick , and Team Boom Stick.

That is if we get one of those weapons when the thief specialization is revealed.

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

Wait isn’t that right there in my post. Hello… is this thing on.

Just because a picture and a model was part of a datamine != staff skills exist. This is the same kind of deductive reasoning that has been used since thief staff became a thing.

Concept art is posted > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Entirely new class gets staff as a base weapon > OMG MULTIPLE CLASSES GETTING SAME WEAPON > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Its borderline kittened.

Staff has a model, and artwork, both of which were released in the same batch as the elementalist art and warhorn, and the Revenant shield.

whereas Thief Rifle has literally nothing. no skills, no art, no weapon, no anything.

none of this stuff confirms staff thief, but each piece Increases the amount of evidence for it, as well as removing any (however nonsenicle) arguments against it.

so no, thief staff is not confirmed. but it’s a kitten sight closer to being confirmed than rifle – or any other weapon – is.

Odyssey.2613:

Seabreeze.8437:

^ Vagabond would be a cool name for a melee staff thief, by the way.

Knowing the creative geniuses over @ Anet, they will undoubtedly name it something like the:

Staffholder (low high concept)
or
Dragonstalker (high concept)
or
Dragonstaffthumper (super high concept)
or
Dragonshadower (ultra high concept)
or
Purity of Pistols Defender (so high concept no mortal will being to understand this)

Let’s not give ’em ideas, Odyssey. Especially not that last one.
As for somewhat serious name options, I dig Vagabond. Ruffian could also work out, I would think

Are we doing new elite spec names?

I am thinking Specter, Infiltrator, Duelist, Specialist.

Elite name: Nerf Bat
Weapon: Staff
Theme of spec: hitting people with your Nerf bat skills will diminish other classes ability to use core mechanics just like arena net has done to thief.

Gray.9041:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

Wait isn’t that right there in my post. Hello… is this thing on.

Just because a picture and a model was part of a datamine != staff skills exist. This is the same kind of deductive reasoning that has been used since thief staff became a thing.

Concept art is posted > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Entirely new class gets staff as a base weapon > OMG MULTIPLE CLASSES GETTING SAME WEAPON > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Its borderline kittened.

Staff has a model, and artwork, both of which were released in the same batch as the elementalist art and warhorn, and the Revenant shield.

whereas Thief Rifle has literally nothing. no skills, no art, no weapon, no anything.

none of this stuff confirms staff thief, but each piece Increases the amount of evidence for it, as well as removing any (however nonsenicle) arguments against it.

so no, thief staff is not confirmed. but it’s a kitten sight closer to being confirmed than rifle – or any other weapon – is.

The thing is elite specs are supposed to expand upon what each profession do in combat. Melee staff will not provide a single role that the thief will not already have. What thief absolutely does not have is terrestrial long range anything and if there just so happens to be ranged attacks on melee staff it ceases to become melee staff and another p/p or d/d with it’s mixed loadout. We all know how good those weaponsets are.

While both might end up kittenty anyways, melee staff almost a guarantee to be kitten. It provides nothing the thief can already do offensively and defensively and if it does, it’ll be either OP with so many heals and damage mitigates it would kitten off guards or a gimmicky themed weaponset like d/d 2.0 as a power set with it’s random condi skill and ranged skill.

With Rifle it is guaranteed that thieves will have long range capabilities. Range in itself is a defense so there’d be no need to pack the set with defensive stuff to make it work. And unlike staff there are already rifle skills and traits designed for it. No need to plan rifle skills because someone already did it. Granted it might be a warrior rifle copy but at least it expands the roles thief can do in combat without really doing anything.

EDIT: Seriously, which sounds easier to design at this point? Which one has a better chance of enhancing the health of the profession?

yolo swaggins.2570:

Gray.9041:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

yolo swaggins.2570:

sebradle.7034:

So forum discussion counts as evidence because people had these discussions before any actual evidence came out in the form of actual data-mined art assets. So far every art asset mined from the same batch has now shown up as elite spec in-game artwork. Also two of the multiple mined elite spec weapon models the war horn and now shield are elite spec weapon models. (Both were mined from the same data-mine batch as the thief staff along with all the art works that are not utilized in game for elite specs.)

So unless anet wanted to throw thief on the back burner and make a bunch of changes which I don’t think is highly likely in game development seeing as how they are time crunched as it is. Staff is highly guaranteed now obviously could still not happen but anet would have to have gone back to the drawing boards for it to not be.

What makes you think the staff skills exist in the first place?

Wait isn’t that right there in my post. Hello… is this thing on.

Just because a picture and a model was part of a datamine != staff skills exist. This is the same kind of deductive reasoning that has been used since thief staff became a thing.

Concept art is posted > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Entirely new class gets staff as a base weapon > OMG MULTIPLE CLASSES GETTING SAME WEAPON > OMG STAFF CONFIRMED

Its borderline kittened.

Staff has a model, and artwork, both of which were released in the same batch as the elementalist art and warhorn, and the Revenant shield.

whereas Thief Rifle has literally nothing. no skills, no art, no weapon, no anything.

none of this stuff confirms staff thief, but each piece Increases the amount of evidence for it, as well as removing any (however nonsenicle) arguments against it.

so no, thief staff is not confirmed. but it’s a kitten sight closer to being confirmed than rifle – or any other weapon – is.

The thing is elite specs are supposed to expand upon what each profession do in combat. Melee staff will not provide a single role that the thief will not already have. What thief absolutely does not have is terrestrial long range anything and if there just so happens to be ranged attacks on melee staff it ceases to become melee staff and another p/p or d/d with it’s mixed loadout. We all know how good those weaponsets are.

While both might end up kittenty anyways, melee staff almost a guarantee to be kitten. It provides nothing the thief can already do offensively and defensively and if it does, it’ll be either OP with so many heals and damage mitigates it would kitten off guards or a gimmicky themed weaponset like d/d 2.0 as a power set with it’s random condi skill and ranged skill.

With Rifle it is guaranteed that thieves will have long range capabilities. Range in itself is a defense so there’d be no need to pack the set with defensive stuff to make it work. And unlike staff there are already rifle skills and traits designed for it. No need to plan rifle skills because someone already did it. Granted it might be a warrior rifle copy but at least it expands the roles thief can do in combat without really doing anything.

EDIT: Seriously, which sounds easier to design at this point? Which one has a better chance of enhancing the health of the profession?

okay, staff could provide: Control, decent cleaving attacks, good melee AoE attacks, possible tankiness (revenant staff provides some heal on basic attack chains for example)

Rifle would be more or less incompatible with stealth. either, they disable stealth for rifle users (bad move) make rifle weak (bad move) or give thieves a 1200-range backstab (baaad move. that’s balance breaking right there).

while thief’s ranged needs work, I don’t think there any properly balanced ways to do it that wouldn’t end up being lackluster.

but then again, I’m not talking about what we want/need, I’m talking about what we’re likely to get

P.S.: user-designed skills do not count. if Anet went down that route, it’d only be a number of days before DR is overrun with NPCs like “Yolo the Hedgehog”. c’mon, be a little reasonable.

swinsk.6410:

Elite name: Nerf Bat
Weapon: Staff
Theme of spec: hitting people with your Nerf bat skills will diminish other classes ability to use core mechanics just like arena net has done to thief.

10/10 would revert Mesmer PU with my nerfbat.

Two things:

1. (keep saying this…) People quickly assumed that there would be no weapon overlap between elite specs based on a trend that they saw. ANet at no point in time explicitly stated that it wasn’t possible. People just kept pushing the trend like all the other garbage in the world (memes!).

2. There’s absolutely no guarantee that one weapon will be better than the other. They could potentially both turn out to be kitten (which wouldn’t be too surprising…), if two weapons could be released, or if we could preview what was ditched for the weapon that got released. Who knows.

—

Also, as far as I can tell from other profs, the elite spec doesn’t stray too far from the base class… So, chances are, we will remain squishy and dependent on either stealth or evades (which really rules out me wanting a great sword, but o well).

They also like to re-use skills from other classes, so… you can kind of piece something together for rifle as well as the staff (great sword skills?).

Whatever thief will get, it’s going to suck.

Gray.9041:

yolo swaggins.2570:

The thing is elite specs are supposed to expand upon what each profession do in combat. Melee staff will not provide a single role that the thief will not already have. What thief absolutely does not have is terrestrial long range anything and if there just so happens to be ranged attacks on melee staff it ceases to become melee staff and another p/p or d/d with it’s mixed loadout. We all know how good those weaponsets are.

While both might end up kittenty anyways, melee staff almost a guarantee to be kitten. It provides nothing the thief can already do offensively and defensively and if it does, it’ll be either OP with so many heals and damage mitigates it would kitten off guards or a gimmicky themed weaponset like d/d 2.0 as a power set with it’s random condi skill and ranged skill.

With Rifle it is guaranteed that thieves will have long range capabilities. Range in itself is a defense so there’d be no need to pack the set with defensive stuff to make it work. And unlike staff there are already rifle skills and traits designed for it. No need to plan rifle skills because someone already did it. Granted it might be a warrior rifle copy but at least it expands the roles thief can do in combat without really doing anything.

EDIT: Seriously, which sounds easier to design at this point? Which one has a better chance of enhancing the health of the profession?

okay, staff could provide: Control, decent cleaving attacks, good melee AoE attacks, possible tankiness (revenant staff provides some heal on basic attack chains for example)

Rifle would be more or less incompatible with stealth. either, they disable stealth for rifle users (bad move) make rifle weak (bad move) or give thieves a 1200-range backstab (baaad move. that’s balance breaking right there).

while thief’s ranged needs work, I don’t think there any properly balanced ways to do it that wouldn’t end up being lackluster.

but then again, I’m not talking about what we want/need, I’m talking about what we’re likely to get

P.S.: user-designed skills do not count. if Anet went down that route, it’d only be a number of days before DR is overrun with NPCs like “Yolo the Hedgehog”. c’mon, be a little reasonable.

And I am talking about what is better vs what everyone thinks they want or what thief is getting. Staff, whether we get it or not, is not going to do anything for the profession. Thieves already dropped their profession once. They can do it again and if the elite spec doesn’t do anything for the profession, more thieves will reroll or leave.

Staff atm is redundant and if it isn’t redundant, it’ll be OP or gimmicky. Since I already talked about how it could be OP, lets focus on it’s redundancy.

Control (x/p), Decent cleave attacks (sword), good melee AoE attacks (s/p and SB if you count Clusterbomb spam), however thief cannot tank. The only reason why heavies, and to a point necro, can tank is because they have ample amounts of healing, condition cleanse and defensive boons. Thieves do not have enough access to condition cleanses nor defensive boons nor do they have the HP to effectively tank. If staff were to provide tankiness either it’d suck at it making it pointless or it’d be OP and eventually get nerfed, making it pointless.

And user designed skills do count. If you would talk to RedSpectrum, he’ll tell you that necro’s elite spec’s concept was based off of his idea. There were players supporting both of their ideas and so far one of them happened. No reason to not suspect it’ll happen again.

Finally, this profession’s diversity is suffering. It doesn’t have any long range capability but people would rather pretend they are shinobi, throwing shuriken/kunai everywhere while screaming “kawaii no waifu” than give players another option for combat. Who the hell cares if terrible players start getting ganked by the same profession that has killed them since forever? Thieves have been adapting forever while other professions get decked out with passives. Time to stop sucking, eh?

implying that staff will be OP when rifle is much more likely to be is odd, but okay.

offhand pistol has a daze and a blind. knockbacks, for example, are something we don’t have.

Sword cleaves are okay, but a larger area attack would be nice.

S/P isn’t really full AoE in any way, and Shortbow is by no means melee.

the lack of defensive abilities I will concede – it’s a point I’ve made elsewhere, and needs fixed. I don’t see rifle helping on that front though.

and while Anet’s final product may resemble/draw inspiration from user-made content, it’s presence is in no way indicative of the final product. they’re far more likely to do what they think is best, and if it resembles an existing suggestion, so be it.

and yes, I do think theif’s ranged capabilities are shot, and need some major fixes. I think a rifle would be good for this, and I hope to see thief rifle one day. but today will not be that day.

I think one thing they could do with staff is give it a lot of proper mobility. aimable dashes, teleports that don’t land you on an enemy’s face, this sort of thing, coupled with knockbacks, etc, would give us the option to decide the layout of the fight, which would be a nice addition.

uglydan.1638:

Whatever thief will get, it’s going to suck.

Please tell me where you purchased your crystal ball!