So ive been following and reading many of the suggestions and speculations to what Thief might get as a new weapon set for our elite specialization. However, having closer looked at the way Anet approaches the design level of their elite spec choices i feel more convinced that we wont be getting the rifle as a weapon set but either one of the existing weapon sets unlocked for our offhand (sword), or staff.
First of all these are my own speculations alone and of course i could be very much wrong but i thought i would share anyways.
The first reason i will like to bring up is that Anet is trending to looking at themes of what the class already has and enhancing them yet diversifying them.
Thieves, from a class design perspective, are the masters of close combat, tricks, stealth, mobility, and control. If we look at our current weapon sets we are very spread out in that field from Conditions, hybrids, power play. What thieves have which most of is their ability to get close to a target quickly. Therefor eliminating the need for a long range weapon such as rifle and long bow.
Anet nerfed the range of Clusterbomb from 1200 to 900 to put in the level of the rest of its skills. I do not believe that Anet would want to give thieves the power that rangers and warriors have of “long range” sniping as stealth alone is deadly enough to get in close and do some hard hitting. Combine stealth with long range and we might break the game (Or not, again im just speculating).
So what could thieves be getting for their elite spec? Well i like to look back at GW1 references as that is what Anet is currently doing with combining old with new.
The GW2 necromancer elite specialization looks to be a fuse with Dervish (Cold and scythe attacks) and Guardian with Paragon (Spear throwing and control). The mesmer with the once planned but never released Chronomancer class.
So it could be plausible that thief might revisit or fuse more with the Assassin class from gw1.
The assassin class mechanic was about burst and control through dagger spam or hexes. And hexes don’t exist anymore in gw2 but is seemingly coming back in a form of new conditions. What the assassin had a lot of was poison, knockdown and blocks which the thief currently is very weak with. Now, having looked at the new changes to the specialization lines we can already see the changes to Poison getting a major buff. So we could potentially speculate that our elite specialization might have some synergy with our current specializations. Which brings me to my next point, new utility skills. What Utility skills would make most sense for thieves to get? Probably manipulation.
Manipulation might be thieves answer to comeback of control through the old system of hexes. Now i am not going to speculate on what these utility skills will do although i have a lot of suggestions, i would much rather focus on why these set of skills could further influence the idea on which weapon set we will get. And this would be the staff.
looking into the world of Tyria we will see that there are various forms of ether (Magic) and professions that utilize them in multiple forms. Fire, earth, water, air, illusions, domination, death, blood, smite and healing prayers, and lastly Shadows.
Shadow arts was a form of control of ether which let the user manipulate shadows to move around or control. Which would be a great use for a manipulation skill and Staff.
And this would give thieves something new, and something that we need. Casting, range, control, and well fits in to a theme that i my self find most suitable and authentic to the thief as a class.
What are your thoughts on this matter and why? Do you have other ideas and arguments which could lead to why thief might get a different weapon set like scepter, mace, torch or even greatsword? Remember that our current spec lines could/will have synergy with our elite spec and our utility skills will too compliment them.
