Guild Wars 2

This thread is more of a response to the suggestion that thieves should receive rifle with a “sniper” like thematic. While this is nice idea and thieves desperately need new weapons there some inherent design problems in making such a weapon due to how the thief works.

1.Range increase: for such a sniper build to work 900 is much too little to work with in terms of staying “safe”. Even the ranger has major problems with this and they have the longest range in the game. This can lead to dmg mitigation abilities on sniper to compensate which instantly puts in a secondary slot for dmg thieves. Plus with the inherent utilities and traits on stealth a thief can be able to escape ALMOST anything at that range( not be necessarily effective in a fight, but just good at running away )

2.Static gameplay; the very nature of the sniper means that you must be stationary to do dmg, this has been in almost every game featuring a sniper I’ve ever seen. Thief survivability relies heavily on moving and stealth not tanking hits so this type of style would be completely against what a thief does currently

3.Steal: Probably the biggest ache for someone who considers themselves a competent designer. Steal is melee ability, it’s a gap closer. And a gap closer is certainly not what sniper is all about. Ignoring steal isn’t an option, for it is a profession skill, it’s supposed to a unique button besides the weapons that you have, all weapon sets have to benefit in some way from profession skills. Not doing so isn’t very elegant and competent (Cough pistol/pistol cough).

4.Burst: sniper’s only direction is big burst. It’s what you expect, it’s what they expect, it’s what everyone expects when they hear the term “sniper”. Balance issues aside, I am speaking strictly design wise, thief is more than fine on the burst side.

TL:DR

Play/watch on youtube a video of a sniper in SWTOR. Can you see that type of play style remotely fitting in with the thief?

-#1 is the problem the request is meant to solve, namely giving thieves a solid >900 range option. I’m not sure it is a good solution, but “You can’t use X to fix Y because of Y” isn’t really a good counter argument.

-#2 is a good point, it all depends on how a long-range weapon would function. That said, a weapon that lowers thief mobility could be interesting tactically.

-#3 is a problem with steal, a problem that should be fixed. Steal should synergize better with ranged setups than it does.

-#4 is a design decision. Flavor can be altered to suit mechanics.

Tulisin.6945:

-#1 is the problem the request is meant to solve, namely giving thieves a solid >900 range option. I’m not sure it is a good solution, but “You can’t use X to fix Y because of Y” isn’t really a good counter argument.

-#2 is a good point, it all depends on how a long-range weapon would function. That said, a weapon that lowers thief mobility could be interesting tactically.

-#3 is a problem with steal, a problem that should be fixed. Steal should synergize better with ranged setups than it does.

-#4 is a design decision. Flavor can be altered to suit mechanics.

1-How is it not a good counter argument? Thieves want something that cannot be done in their current design. You can’t ask a designer to move heaven and earth, redesign a class, because you want something. Nothing indicates that thieves NEED this long range option, it’s pretty obvious that thieves were made to be melee and short ranged kitting.

2. No it wouldn’t. It would be hell to balance, because you can give them no def and you can make them do immense dmg from afar to compensate, and since thief is all about those 10% dmg traits you can imagine where that will go. You can also give them dmg mitigation on rifle but that goes against class design and people will immediately start using it has a clutch secondary weapon.

3. Agreed but changing an entire profession skill (theres like 10 traits associated with it) not to mention all the items you can steal will probably require an expansion. I can’t see the devs doing it in a weekly patch.

4. I think it’s more context than flavor. A blatant “gameplay or context decision” especially in a game where you make your character can be very grating for a player.
Sniper has pretty much always been associated big dmg. Going back to swtor, a lot of people where “irked” by the bounty hunter that could “shoot” healing bolts/syringes at you, if you want an example of this.

I agree. I don’t think thief needs a long range, sniper build. Warrior already has that. P/P needs a rework, and then thief’s range will be fine (mainly Body Shot and Unload, though).

I’d like to see axes on the thief; it would fit the whole pirate theme a lot of the armor wants to go to. It’d also give us a nice melee AoE option, since we severely lack one.

Krathalos.3461:

I’d like to see axes on the thief; it would fit the whole pirate theme a lot of the armor wants to go to.

You seem to be forgetting that the Medium armor is meant for more than just the Thief class. Rangers already have use of axes and it wouldn’t be too far fetched for a Pirate to have a really close animal companion/slave.

Krathalos.3461:

It’d also give us a nice melee AoE option, since we severely lack one.

And no melee AoE? My MH Sword would like a word with you. Oh and lets not forget about his best buddy, a trusty old flintlock, who has some choice verbs to describe your lack of knowledge.

I’m aware that medium armor is meant for more than the thief class. And it’s hideous for all classes. Ranger axe is also ranged, nice try though.

I’m also aware of sword and it’s FRONTAL AoE. Sword and pistol also has more single target than AoE, since Pistol Whip is only good for a stun, and its stun only hits one target. Having to abuse auto attack for damage on sword AoE isn’t a good melee AoE option.

Acting arrogant doesn’t make you seem smarter, by the way.