Guild Wars 2

I hate to be the one to start this given my record of disdain for the devs and their decisions made towards this profession…

but all of that became an afterthought after witnessing how ballsy the spec design is. Leap finisher on dodge!!! Do you know what that means?! Every melee set has access to stealth through skills!

Thank you Karl for this gift. THIS is the direction thief needs. Oh god… the tears… they will flow endlessly. My buckets are ready.

It takes a lot to impress me. I only have 4 words.

ALL HAIL THE MCLAIN.

I think its too early to say if he’s done a good job BUT the spec looks really interesting and I see a lot of potential in it. Just remember there’s more than one dev working on these.

I can get behind this.

Lookin’ good K Mac!

So far so good, I’ll remain in a skeptical state of joy until at least this Friday.
It looks good, almost too good (aside of the sleazy move on Acro).

well, everyone can do better, but Karl seems to be doing a great deal better recently, and it’s that kind of improvement I like to see. between Daredevil and the improving feedback notes for DH, it certainly seems like Karl – and the whole dev team – are moving towards a much better level of interaction with the players, so good on them.

Wonder if there’s a feud going on at Anet on which team makes the best spec. Despite it odd having 2 acrobatic traitlines naow it still sounds awesome and I would probably buy xpan naow if I wasn’t poor. XD

Nice to see this Daredevil spec after my frustration at how much more impressive the Warrior’s spec was compared to the others, imo. There’s a lotta things I’ve wanted for a long time in it. The fist skills, the hidden weapons, evasion/block style; all which feel GW1-ish, the mobility to pass warrior on racetrack, and non stealth condi removal that isn’t kitten y like Pain Response. Then all the bonus stuff. Like more weakness spam~ I personally love Lotus Poison and think people underestimate how good weakness is.

Looking forward to seeing the Animationz.

I’ll sign on to this with 1 caveat. I am still bummed out about the nerfs to FG….

That said, it seems like Karl has been lurking here in the background taking notes on feedback and has given us a spec that is more cohesive and interesting than 90% of what the old acrobatics had. I will continue to make suggestions on how I think some of the core issues with the thief could be fixed, but I think we’re at least getting visits from the devs even if they’re not leaving comments.

Thanks Karl and other thief devs!

Rain.9213:

I think its too early to say if he’s done a good job BUT the spec looks really interesting and I see a lot of potential in it. Just remember there’s more than one dev working on these.

That’s true. I have no doubt in my mind that this spec will get nerfed so long as anet devs know not to nerf it too hard.

Karl, who we’ve only seen use his thief in 2 videos, has actually listened to us and gave us a few of the things we asked for for a long while. But most importantly, it was done with little regard to the opposing end. We were heard more than they were. This is what I am really thanking Karl (and anyone else involved) for. First this has happened in 3 years.

What we really need is for those platinum balls to resist the nerf bat.

I like the design of DD, but I’ll have to wait (and hold unto my money) and see what they’ll do after launch when the PvP season rolls in.

Maugetarr.6823:

I’ll sign on to this with 1 caveat. I am still bummed out about the nerfs to FG….

That said, it seems like Karl has been lurking here in the background taking notes on feedback and has given us a spec that is more cohesive and interesting than 90% of what the old acrobatics had. I will continue to make suggestions on how I think some of the core issues with the thief could be fixed, but I think we’re at least getting visits from the devs even if they’re not leaving comments.

Thanks Karl and other thief devs!

Sir Vincent III.1286:

What we really need is for those platinum balls to resist the nerf bat.

I like the design of DD, but I’ll have to wait (and hold unto my money) and see what they’ll do after launch when the PvP season rolls in.

^ Basically what both of you said. A bit more on the conservative side in terms of handing out thanks and seeing a bright future – due to history.

The amount of cohesion in the trait line is unparalleled, which impresses me the most… It would be amazing if they did that to every trait line – not only for thieves either.

Don’t worry karl though we love to troll you, we don’t hate you.

I’m sure most of us understand the real enemy is upper management and lack of funding

It also means aoe dmg on dodge, every white critter or clone or pet hit is going to reveal you, no dodging in stealth….

Turn on your brain you just got Karled.

Bazzoong.7145:

It also means aoe dmg on dodge, every white critter or clone or pet hit is going to reveal you, no dodging in stealth….

Turn on your brain you just got Karled.

If you’re worried about this you could take unhindered combatant instead.

1) Make a new spec that looks so good on paper and, probably, during beta WEs.
2) Be hailed by thief players as the savior of the class.
3) Sell expansion.
4) Nerf it to the ground after the expansion is out as it’s always been the case with the thief class.

Just a friendly warning guys.

I’ll deliver Karl his congratulations… right after he says hello

yolo swaggins.2570:

Thank you Karl for this gift. THIS is the direction thief needs. Oh god… the tears… they will flow endlessly. My buckets are ready.

It’s refreshing to see you post something positive like this, but perhaps this is also a good lesson for you to not judge things before they’re revealed. I mean, you openly insulted those that were showing an interest in the elite spec (even going so far as to say they don’t care about thieves and are ruining the profession), and now you’re singing its praises saying it’s exactly what thief needs.

I know your stance on melee staff, and I know you hated the hype for it, but now you see that the elite spec brought much more than just a staff (which I’m still excited about, btw).

Apologies. I don’t mean to imply “I told you so,” because we still don’t know how concrete these are (as in, certain things could be nerfed, but hopefully not). I’ll say again though that it’s quite a surprise to see you posting something positive about our new elite spec.

Seabreeze.8437:

yolo swaggins.2570:

Thank you Karl for this gift. THIS is the direction thief needs. Oh god… the tears… they will flow endlessly. My buckets are ready.

It’s refreshing to see you post something positive like this, but perhaps this is also a good lesson for you to not judge things before they’re revealed. I mean, you openly insulted those that were showing an interest in the elite spec (even going so far as to say they don’t care about thieves and are ruining the profession), and now you’re singing its praises saying it’s exactly what thief needs.

I know your stance on melee staff, and I know you hated the hype for it, but now you see that the elite spec brought much more than just a staff (which I’m still excited about, btw).

Apologies. I don’t mean to imply “I told you so,” because we still don’t know how concrete these are (as in, certain things could be nerfed, but hopefully not). I’ll say again though that it’s quite a surprise to see you posting something positive about our new elite spec.

From what it sounds like, melee staff is going to be friggin’ awesome and a ton of fun (thieves FINALLY get a proper vault)! And it’s doubly cool that we’ll get to try it out in the next beta event. Let’s hope it plays as good as it looks.

I’m sure Anet could come up with a cool set of skills for when thieves eventually get rifles, but as it stands, I’m so glad staff came out as the victor!

Dissapointed and too early for celebration.

still… this name Daredevil, imo does not fit in the Gw2 theme at all, feels out of place.
i would love to hear the reason why this name was selected… I hope they explane this no the stream.

Edit: have you searched for the meaning of Daredevil?
here u go:
A professional daredevil performs standalone stunts for their dramatic value. He or she usually has an organized performance in which a handful of challenging tasks are displayed for the public. Daredevils may broadcast their shows on television or sell tickets for monetary gain. Making a career as a daredevil is tough and dangerous work; it requires self promotion skills as well as stunt training.

Basically a Clown! tks Karl

Volrath.1473:

still… this name Daredevil, imo does not fit in the Gw2 theme at all, feels out of place.
i would love to hear the reason why this name was selected… I hope they explane this no the stream.

Pretty sure GW2 has Circuses in Divinity’s Reach. Theme obtained.

Every timeline enjoys stunts.

Seabreeze.8437:

yolo swaggins.2570:

Thank you Karl for this gift. THIS is the direction thief needs. Oh god… the tears… they will flow endlessly. My buckets are ready.

It’s refreshing to see you post something positive like this, but perhaps this is also a good lesson for you to not judge things before they’re revealed. I mean, you openly insulted those that were showing an interest in the elite spec (even going so far as to say they don’t care about thieves and are ruining the profession), and now you’re singing its praises saying it’s exactly what thief needs.

I know your stance on melee staff, and I know you hated the hype for it, but now you see that the elite spec brought much more than just a staff (which I’m still excited about, btw).

Apologies. I don’t mean to imply “I told you so,” because we still don’t know how concrete these are (as in, certain things could be nerfed, but hopefully not). I’ll say again though that it’s quite a surprise to see you posting something positive about our new elite spec.

You are right on me putting to much negativity towards the spec. However, most of the things i’ve said more or less ended up happening.

I predicted staff to come out lackluster which thieves atm are looking forward at using their vanilla weapons more than melee staff. While these staff skills might not be the final design, the current design falls short of p/p in terms of practical appeal.

I also said that unless the melee staff was OP that nobody would really use it. Granted the spec ended up WAY better than our current specs and staff was revealed as a gimmick. However the same concept still applies. Daredevil is now going to feel like a requirement. Something I also stated.

I stated that melee staff and most of the popular themes players tend to push on it would not fit or be redundant. Thematically it doesn’t really make much sense, nor did the themes injected into the melee staff concept make much sense. Functionally, it a modified and buffed version of acro. Redundant but then it buffs evasion in a different way.

I said that anet listens to us. Dec 10th 2013 is proof and a few of the revealed traits are also proof.

I said that this elite spec will get nerfed and judging by anet’s track record it is very likely. Now is a kitten good time for the thief community to show anet the direction they need to take if they really feel DD needs a nerf. And its starts by keeping the elite specs as close to where it’s at as possible until we see how the meta changes.

I’m just glad we have another skill that throws the thief backwards to safety. Enjoying the look of diversity amung the traits and skills and the risk they’re taking in giving the profession everyone hates for stealth stomping an even cooler way to do it (land first two hits from the elite skill, stealth, deliver the crushing blow).

Maybe also include a “Last enemy skill that hit you before you died was:” for PvP so when people complain they can do a better job (let us know exactly which skill we used to 1-hit KO you so we can tell you how to counter it)

There’s already been a couple of posts on reddit, people saying something along the lines of “didn’t they already have enough evasion?”. That will amplify once the game comes out, hype dies down, and people start looking again at what’s “OP”… QQ’s will return in the form of “they’re evading too much” – “QQ perma-evades”…. Right now it’s just novelty around hype built around the upcoming expansion, once that wears off, things will return to normal.

Yeah it does look good as a trait line, probably a must now, but, again, once things settle down – I want to say, stabilize – and the normal/real balancing starts, that’s when we will know for sure just how much the elite spec had and impact on the class.

Like, if you could skip time to 1 year from now for a brief second, and take a look at the elite specs again the judgment that you have then will be worth more than it is now.

Fun times right now. (See conditions, the bugged traits (guardian’s and engie’s) that made through for a brief time).

Not sure if that makes sense to you guys, but yeah.

Our class problems might be the least of our worries, god forbid that that IGN leak is true. At that point there will community wide problems. Hopefully it will be restricted though…

All i can say is D/P BlackPowder>Dodge(Leap)>Staff>Knockdown chain

I personally can’t support this appreciation thread because Karl McLain’s dev skillz are inconsistent.

I mean yeah daredevil traits look amazing, if not a rehashed form of acrobatics, but kitten like latent stamina and imbued melodies and pretty much almost all of the tempest traits are literally the worst trait ideas I’ve ever even dared to imagine. I mean how can someone come up with traits that useless?

The rebirth of S/D is nice. It’s also nice that D/P will profit from a lot of these traits as well.
And what’s with D/D? And by that I mean Dagger/Dagger.
Can’t chime in until my spec is viable again, sorry – I don’t feel that the work on thief is done.

Thank you Mr. McLain. The Thieves’ Den is definitely indebted to you for this spec. GG.

Jana.6831:

The rebirth of S/D is nice. It’s also nice that D/P will profit from a lot of these traits as well.
And what’s with D/D? And by that I mean Dagger/Dagger.
Can’t chime in until my spec is viable again, sorry – I don’t feel that the work on thief is done.

Totally agree with you, maybe we can met (if you play EU) on next beta weekend to test things for D/D, spec that I also use.

kitten widget.9301:

Totally agree with you, maybe we can met (if you play EU) on next beta weekend to test things for D/D, spec that I also use.

I am EU but don’t have HoT yet.

Thanks Karl (I never thought I would write this).
I have no idea if the spec will be op or up or something, but the ideas you guys put into this sounds so great.
This will be the greatest specialisation for sure (Mesmer also looks good, but not that fun to use)
There so much really great looking stuff in this new spec, I can’t wait to test it.

Thanks again.

I’m really excited by the Daredevil. We’ll see how it plays of course, but the spec seems like it was designed specifically for me My thief playstyle is based around dodging and Caltrops, so the focus on evasion and the new dodge variations are right in my wheelhouse. Plus, I think staff is an awesome weapon in general.

So yeah, looking forward to trying it.

Vax Tezhme.7128:

I’m really excited by the Daredevil. We’ll see how it plays of course, but the spec seems like it was designed specifically for me

That’s exactly how I feel as well, especially getting a melee staff as a weapon!

Yay! POI is today! Here’s hoping its got awesome animations to go along with it!

Volrath.1473:

still… this name Daredevil, imo does not fit in the Gw2 theme at all, feels out of place.
i would love to hear the reason why this name was selected… I hope they explane this no the stream.

Edit: have you searched for the meaning of Daredevil?
here u go:
A professional daredevil performs standalone stunts for their dramatic value. He or she usually has an organized performance in which a handful of challenging tasks are displayed for the public. Daredevils may broadcast their shows on television or sell tickets for monetary gain. Making a career as a daredevil is tough and dangerous work; it requires self promotion skills as well as stunt training.

Basically a Clown! tks Karl

You know, when I look at my letter from character creation, it does say I regret i never joined the circus.

beware the grizwhorl

Jana.6831:

The rebirth of S/D is nice. It’s also nice that D/P will profit from a lot of these traits as well.
And what’s with D/D? And by that I mean Dagger/Dagger.
Can’t chime in until my spec is viable again, sorry – I don’t feel that the work on thief is done.

I totally agree, they have more work to do, however it is still a good news that they have finally realized that in order for Thief to survive it would require this much evasion and I hope that they keep it that way.

I’m still waiting for a P/P redesign. I hate that I am being forced to use Shortbow.

After seeing some of the rather disgusting things Eles have to say in their forum (which is turning into a cesspit of overdramatic negativity) its great to see a thread like this.

People forget that people are people sometimes.

The Twitter feed has a lovely gif of a female sylvari thief kicking a moose.

https://vine.co/v/eIahW7aWxub

I am psyched to see the PoI!

the elite ability’s third attack should have a different animation… they simply used the same as the stomp animation… and weaponless just like a regular stomp

I will appreciate Karl when he removes death blossom from my power dagger dagger build, or at least make it useful.

Vavume.8065:

I will appreciate Karl when he removes death blossom from my power dagger dagger build, or at least make it useful.

don’t hold your breath bro

Vavume.8065:

I will appreciate Karl when he removes death blossom from my power dagger dagger build, or at least make it useful.

this is at least a good third of my condition dagger dagger build. I’d prefer he add more conditions to the other skills.

there’s two sides to every coin bud.

This time I totally agree. Daredevil seems to be one of the coolest specs revealed so far.

I wanted to say something similar, but I wanted to wait after stream. I think I am not only one who feared this elite specialization will be weak, based on thief’s past updates. You proved us wrong and I am so glad for it. So…

Good job Karl! The specialization really looks awesome. There will be probably some minor changes but overall solid design offering new possibilities.

I just have one request to make. Please don’t forget about thief after HoT release. There are still some specializations, skills, weapon sets that need some dev’s love. Take a look at those once you have free hands after tuning Daredevil.

Gray.9041:

Vavume.8065:

I will appreciate Karl when he removes death blossom from my power dagger dagger build, or at least make it useful.

this is at least a good third of my condition dagger dagger build. I’d prefer he add more conditions to the other skills.

there’s two sides to every coin bud.

Make it useful as in making the evade 0.5 seconds on a 0.75 second skill like a lot of our weapon evades.

Maugetarr.6823:

Gray.9041:

Vavume.8065:

I will appreciate Karl when he removes death blossom from my power dagger dagger build, or at least make it useful.

this is at least a good third of my condition dagger dagger build. I’d prefer he add more conditions to the other skills.

there’s two sides to every coin bud.

Make it useful as in making the evade 0.5 seconds on a 0.75 second skill like a lot of our weapon evades.

This. I like deathblossom condi as well, but that evade needs a buff for both power and condi d/d, even if they have to up the init cost to do it.

Well, I think this thread is more appropriate nowadays than it’s ever been.

GOOD G R E A T J O B K A R L.

><

If the rumors are accurate, then Karl is forgiven.

trifle ? .

I started to get excited…. Then I realized this thread is over a year old XD

Amante.8109:

If the rumors are accurate, then Karl is forgiven.

Just that it has a rifle? Hardly.

I may be in a position to be the single most appreciative player in the game but even I am kitten ed hesitant to believe that the Deadeye will be any good because I’m near-certain they butchered what I proposed and just took the name/weapon.

If they didn’t, he’s redeemed for letting the job get done by someone who knows how to design the profession the way it needs to be. Though that’s improvement by sidestepping and not actually getting better. It also still demands no other professions get power-creeped and the HoT specs also get nerfed since what I proposed was actually fair.