Guild Wars 2

So I’ve played thief since release…and we have a lot of problems right now. Most can be traced back to “but thief has stealth and I hate stealth nerf thief!” However, thief can’t function as is without stealth so they nerf other aspects of thief. That’s another topic that is already been discussed enough.

It’s probably too late for this elite spec, but I was in the shower and thought what if…

What if the thief elite spec in its trait lined changed the stealth buff to a “shadow form” (yeah that infamous skill) where the thief benefits from all traits that buff stealth however, 1) the thief isn’t invisible, just gets some visual indicator its active, like a black shroudy thingy 2) the thief cannot use stealth attacks and 3) the ‘shadow form’ doesn’t break when you attack – there is no revealed, so it, and any trait buffs attached will last their entire duration.

This would give thief a more bunkery build with shadow arts + whatever block/evade weapon skills we get with staff or sword etc. It would avoid the can’t see thief q.q balance mess and it would not invalidate stealth skills and trait lines. Maybe thief staff could have a block next attack, gain shadow form/stealth if an attack is blocked skill. It also means there wont be any complaining about tanky thives bursting people instantly because there wouldn’t be any backstabbing involved. Hidden killer might be kind of OP though…

Anyway just a thought…

If the thief can’t use stealth attacks, why bother playing a thief at that point?

I’d prefer to see an emphasis on the revealed effect, such as all of the skills applying large amounts of revealed to the thief, but for stat gains similar to Revealed Training.

Some traits will need to be modified, like Revealed Training for instance, to accommodate for the lack of reveal under shadow form – otherwise they will become completely useless.

It would be nice if shadow form doubled or even trippled it’s (stealth’s base) duration… and/or there could be additional buffs…

Since…

Part of what makes stealth defensive is that the enemy can’t see where you are, allowing you to properly position yourself to say avoid (entirely) any attacks… Otherwise, in the instance Shadow Refugee, where they know (though, some, might not consciously acknowledge or make use of) where you are (in that circle), they can just auto-attack/AoE that circle… Which will be the same kind of problem with your proposed shadow form.

That and not being able to use stealth attacks.

Sorry mate. You pretty much described a Necromancer with that list. A thief you can’t attack from stealth isn’t a thief. plain and simple.

However I like the staff skill, blocking grants stealth. Me gusta.
Hidden Killer isn’t OP.