Misconceptions about Thief specs.

Misconceptions about Thief specs.

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Posted by: Leriff.8362

Leriff.8362

I often see phrases like: “heartseeker spammer noob” and “you use cookie cutter spec, so you’re noob” and things of that nature. So, I’m here to pose a question.

You have an attack that does very high damage against low armor targets. As the meta currently values high burst, low armor players, obviously you have a lot of targets to use this attack on. You can:

A) Use this attack and kill the people stupid enough to not bring toughness
B) Not use this attack and find some other, less efficient way of handling these people that do not have toughness

Which do you do?

Obviously, you’re PvPing. You play to win (or, really, to have fun, but winning is fun). You use A.

I just described Heartseeker.

People speak as if using these moves makes you a joke of a player. Let’s face it, if you have one move that does a whole lot of damage, is a gap closer, costs very little initiative and is a execution move to boot, why wouldn’t you spam it against targets that die quickly?

“But, Leriff!” you say, “these specs can be easily countered, so people who use them are bad!”

That is true, but is also a misconception. You see, just because something is easy, and can be countered, does not mean it is not effective. A player who spams Heartseeker and does not realize it can be countered is bad because he does not understand the game, not because he spams Heartseeker. The same goes for Unicorn builds, Pistol Whip, or truly anything you can think of.

Heartseeker can be beaten by armor, and dodging when a thief is ready to pickpocket. Pistol Whip and Backstab can be beaten by causing the thief to flub his opener. Backstab has wasted its opener, and due to Haste, Pistol Whip has literally nowhere to run unless he shadowsteps away. Unicorn specs are beaten by a simple condition remover.

The point being, before you go off and insult all the “noob thief players” for running spam builds, you have to realize why they run them in the first place. It’s because those spam builds work, because people build glass cannon in these early days and those builds punish glass cannons.

“But, Leriff” you might say again, “it’s too easy! They’re just pressing one button!”

Every class is generally easy, so that argument only holds water if you find something else hard. (Which, some people will. I, for the life of me, can’t play Guardian right. I should be able to. I mean, I just stand there and be an impenetrable wall! It’s not like it’s hard! Hnnnngh.)

Skill in PvP is less about what button you press, if you only press one or two, or anything of that nature. It’s learning when to press these buttons that matters. Once more, if someone runs in and spams Heartseeker against you, wastes most of his initiative and then has to run away, he’s not a bad player because he uses Heartseeker, he’s a bad player because of poor game knowledge.

People are not noobs because they use specs that punish the very common glass cannon player. They’re being smart. Occam’s Razor. The simplest solution is the best solution. (While usually more about hypothesis, let’s relate it to specs.)

If I can beat your spec by pressing one button over and over again, that says more about your spec and less about mine, don’t you think?

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Posted by: Ashanor.5319

Ashanor.5319

If you are using Heatseeeker against someone above 50% health you are not using it correctly. I think that is what they mean. Well, at least, that is what I mean when I make fun of Heartseeker spammers.

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Posted by: Shomaruki.7395

Shomaruki.7395

The issue isn’t the spam, it’s the not being able to target someone who is in constant stealth spamming. As for people complaining about glass cannon builds, If you say just build toughness that’s pretty much saying Toughness beats everything. I don’t need toughness fighting a warrior (Simply cause they can’t get to me) And I don’t need it to fight a ranger. (Cause I use their attacks against them).

I’m using one of the newest gen computers and even in WvW I catch hell only and to only a thief simply cause I can’t target them most of the time.

I’m the [Captain] of the T.Coast

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Posted by: Leriff.8362

Leriff.8362

“If you are using Heatseeeker against someone above 50% health you are not using it correctly.”

Not entirely true, simply because, other than auto-attack, dagger does not have a straight nuke. Dagger/Dagger has Cloak and Dagger as your nuke, but is incredibly initiative heavy, so if you miss it, it hurts a large amount, and Dagger/Pistol does not have a nuke at all other than Heartseeker. The issue is more about Death Blossom being useless for non-condition thieves, as its direct damage is largely minimal.

“If you say just build toughness that’s pretty much saying Toughness beats everything.”

Also not true. Condition damage is not mitigated by armor, and thus toughness is useless against it. You simply need either the skills to avoid attacks if you’re glass cannon, or enough toughness to survive to unleash your own.

“I’m using one of the newest gen computers and even in WvW I catch hell only and to only a thief simply cause I can’t target them most of the time.”

This is not a problem with the thief class, but rather one of the game, one which the devs have stated is a known issue and one that will be worked on. Many are having issues of things not appearing, and it is not just those who spam stealth.

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Posted by: Wolfgrey.2049

Wolfgrey.2049

I see Heartseeker spamming as a noob move simply because you can counter it so beyond easy it makes them weak as a kitten. Simply whenever i see one i think of it as a free kill.

My thief is a blindness/stealth build.Dealing with Heartseeker spammers is as easy as going into stealth once.They are blinded, i get a free crit on them, and then just blind them again, another free crit, and so on.

At that point they have blown all their initiative and i can just use my 2 to get ina nd then 3(pistolwhip) and nearly instakill the thief. Even if they roll away from the last part of that burst i switch to dual pistol and finish them off.

You have to understand we make fun of them because their damage is subpar, their counter abilities are subpar , and they are a laughing stock.

Why use heartseeker when i can just do a 3 with my dual pistols and do more damage in the first place? Sure you will do more damage at less than 50% but at over 50% i have the advantage and i can assure you wont get me down to below half anyway.

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Posted by: metaphorm.6904

metaphorm.6904

whats a Unicorn spec?

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Posted by: PsionicDingo.2065

PsionicDingo.2065

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/45902-lowells-ultimate-spvp-thief-guide-wip/

Scroll down to 5.4, D/D builds. Those are Unicorn specs.

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