Guild Wars 2

I don’t know about everyone else but the idea of a dual wielding thief is an extremely cool idea I think. The only problem is, lets be honest, this P/P weaponset is severely flawed. In fact, P mainhand in general is also flawed.

So here are some idea I have to try to address it:

P/P needs some AoE badly, or at least some form of mobility. Pistol is the only mianhand or off hand that offers absolutely no mobility, and p/p is confusing as hell with condi damage off of stealth and burst damage every where else. Only explanation I could think of is that Anet was thinking of P/P be a rampager gear weaponset, which is a pretty sweet idea but only ONE skill applies bleeds, and only off of stealth. The one way to consistantly stealth would be to run P/D, but then you lose all the burst potential and have a pure condi weaponset. So, again, P/P makes no sense.

Richochet is a dumb trait, rather than making players waste a trait spot they should make that the default autoattack and make it hit at least 2 targets every time rather than whatever percentage of time that trait does. Trickshot already does that on its own why does pistol need a trait for it?

Or, make unload a ground targeted AoE like smite is for guards or like CB on sb. Common sense dictates that if u are “unloading” everything you’re spraying bullets everywhere, not hitting just one single target.

Or, rework the 2 skill to give it some kind of mobility so even if it doesn’t have any AoE’s we can at least kite mobs while focusing them down individually. Currently, if there are a bunch of melee mobs there is no built in evades or weapon mechanics (outside of BP) that helps with mob management. BP works very well if ur mainhand is dagger or sword because u WANT to be in melee range with those weapons. You DON’T want to be in melee range with pistols, and BP would only work in melee range. Yet another confusing lack of synergy.

To summarize, I think if any of the following occurs (and if more than one!!! happens) P/P will be a very viable weaponset for thieves:
1. Reliable AoE something along the lines of changing unload so it ground targets, like smite or CB.
2. Change the 2 skill to something like the 5 skill on sb or Shadow Step, or even a built in evade animation like the 3 skill on SB helps!
3. If the 2 skill is an evade and assuming it does what it already does, you can kill 2 birds with one stone by making it a leap finisher as well. This way, BP + 2 skill gives you the built in stealth in the same weaponset, so you get your sneak attack off for your condi damage, and once you’re out of stealth you can go and burst (the 2 skill’s vulnarability helps). Even if they change the 2 skill to be a leap finisher and still do what it does, minus the evade and all the other ideas I threw up, it makes a rampager thief very much possible and P/P therefore becomes useful.

Out of all the ideas I presented I think number 3 is the most simple and elegant solution, which alone can open a brand new build option esp if they also buff the ricochet trait to always richochet rather than a percentage of the time.

While P/P does have a number of issues, by far the single most glaring is how weak Vital Shot is. As I’ve elaborated on in post after post, it is critically important for Thieves that the autoattack of any weapon be a viable source of DPS on its own because of the way Initiative works. This is a problem for the Shortbow also.

My 2 cents –
Vital Shot – Buff dramatically for bread/butter single-target DPS
Body Shot – swap with headshot, make it cripple/vuln hybrid
Unload – Make it spray instead of single target
Head Shot – swap with body shot, improve daze to 1/2 second
Black Powder – Fine as is

Richochet – 40% chance of bounce
Pistol Master – back down to 5%

A problem with P/P is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Vital shot seems to fit for a condi build, and isn’t awful in a P/D bleed build with its stealth burst. But in P/P you don’t have much stealth, so the auto becomes very meh. Unload seems to suggest a straight power build for single target ranged damage. They don’t synergize well together. Body shot probably just needs a rework.

Currently it has some rare situational usage against pve bosses that require ranged where unload spam beats the aoe damage of SB. It’s never seen in pvp play unless it’s a joke build or someone new that doesn’t know better.

Einlanzer.1627:

Body Shot – swap with headshot, make it cripple/vuln hybrid
Head Shot – swap with body shot, improve daze to 1/2 second

The entire thief spvp community would rage so hard if that ever happened

Nettle.9025:

A problem with P/P is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Vital shot seems to fit for a condi build, and isn’t awful in a P/D bleed build with its stealth burst. But in P/P you don’t have much stealth, so the auto becomes very meh. Unload seems to suggest a straight power build for single target ranged damage. They don’t synergize well together. Body shot probably just needs a rework.

Currently it has some rare situational usage against pve bosses that require ranged where unload spam beats the aoe damage of SB. It’s never seen in pvp play unless it’s a joke build or someone new that doesn’t know better.

Einlanzer.1627:

Body Shot – swap with headshot, make it cripple/vuln hybrid
Head Shot – swap with body shot, improve daze to 1/2 second

The entire thief spvp community would rage so hard if that ever happened

I have to admit it’s not so much a mechanical suggestion as it is a thematic suggestion.

For some some reason it really bothers me that you’d aim more precisely with your off hand than with your main hand. It seems like you’d aim for head with your main hand and just shoot sporadically with your offhand.