Guild Wars 2

So what’s everyone’s thoughts? I am kind of sad that IS isn’t global.

Thief
Thief has two very strong options between the dagger/pistol and staff builds. We’re putting in two small changes in this release that might open up additional options for pistol main-hand and sword builds. Sword already does top-tier damage between its auto-attack chain and various 3 skills – the changes to Infiltrator’s Strike should help make that damage land more consistently. The change to Shadow Strike should hopefully give a bit more punch to some off-meta condition builds.

Infiltrator’s Strike: The range of this ability has been increased from 600 to 900 in PvP only. Immobilize duration has been increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.

Shadow Strike: Increased the amount of Torment applied by this ability from 2 to 4 stacks in PvP only.

PvP only? I think that’s awesome for spvp players if it opens up the map to that set more. Would love that extra range in WvW though, without an easy way to cancel the return than make it a proper ranged closer.

Yeah pvp only would love it in all game modes but it’s a start, even though Sword needs more love than that to make it viable

More torment on P/D…

I am happy.

I really do not think these changes unwarranted in WvW. They are subtle, not overpowering and will make p/d and s/x a bit more usable.

That increase in immob duration is bigger then it looks and the 900 range on infiltrators much more competitive with shadowshot.

would have also liked to see a change to cloak and dagger. but at least thieves got something??? but seriously take away the 1sec cooldowns on SA.

The change to IS looks nice. I do wonder how the extra immob works out with S/P chaining into pistolwhip. Might get some crying about that, especially with quickness on engage setup.

I’m not sure if the P/D change will really have enough impact. But its good that they are considering making more builds viable and giving an alternative to D/D condi spam.

Gaile Gray.6029:

We’re putting in two small changes in this release that might open up additional options for pistol main-hand and sword builds.

This statement itself is more than enough proof that they don’t know what to do with thief.

Btw, those 2 changes…are not going to change how dominant D/P will continue to be.

Given that I’m already running P/D in spvp, and intend to take my build into Season 5, I’m extremely happy about the proposed buff.

On the other hand there are some nice downwards adjustments on other classes healing (through heal contribution swaps) that will make thief overall more viable imo.

The IS range increase will only be beneficial if shadowstep pathing is not buggy as heck. At the current state of SS pathing, it will be really annoying not shadowstepping correctly to a target.

The other proposed changes are good and I understand why they split these skills. They’re still not sure how these changes will impact PvP so it will be adjusted further after some play time. They wouldn’t want to affect other part of the game while they tweak these skills throughout the season. When they find the sweet spot, I hope they roll out the changes for the rest of game because that IS change is really good.

Good changes I’d like to see going general too. A good start which needs to be continued because much more is needed (CnD for instance). Also I still have a problem on how inconsistent sword MH is (top tier damage only if you manage to land your strikes which is not that easy). Would love to see infiltrator’s return improved (possibility to cancel it, usable while CCed or something).

Pomdepin.7068:

Good changes I’d like to see going general too. A good start which needs to be continued because much more is needed (CnD for instance). Also I still have a problem on how inconsistent sword MH is (top tier damage only if you manage to land your strikes which is not that easy). Would love to see infiltrator’s return improved (possibility to cancel it, usable while CCed or something).

I would gladly pass on the extra distance if I could cancel it easily, or just revert back to before that “fix”.

noone in their right mind will use sword or p/d competitively in spvp

Lexander.4579:

noone in their right mind will use sword or p/d competitively in spvp

I agree. The changes are good but not competitive good.

Both P/D and S/D are waiting for a CnD buff.

Still is missing the essential recognition that OH dagger is poorly-designed.

Until OH dagger changes, nothing about the thief will.

DeceiverX.8361:

Still is missing the essential recognition that OH dagger is poorly-designed.

Until OH dagger changes, nothing about the thief will.

Id say Oh dagger is rightly designed and that many other things are poorly designed XD. We are more likely to get a OH dagger rework than a massive rework of everything, however.

OH dagger isn’t the worst thing in the world. Obviously the biggest difficulty is that it can be blocked/invulned in addition to positioning and dodging as a way to avoid letting the thief gain stealth.

That said, I’ve been using it successfully in WvW and sPvP matches (more recently) so saying it can’t work is not accurate.

While I do not PvP , I think that change to P/D while seemingly not a lot will in fact help that build a lot. Whether it displaces d/p another story so I look forward to feedback from those that try it there.

One thing about a p/d build as far as the INI concerned is it tends to need to burn that INI on stealth and or the Immob 2. Both of these IMHO give a better return on INI spent then did shadowstrike.

The doubling up of torment stacks will allow the p/d layer to inflict much more without having to stealth and make it an even better build for kiting. I would really like to see this go gamewide and to Saerni in particular look forward to your feedback.

On Off hand dagger I think making the CND unblockable could put it over the top.

Infiltrator Strike change should be across all game modes. A 50% increase in range is a huge mechanical change.

Justine.6351:

Infiltrator Strike change should be across all game modes. A 50% increase in range is a huge mechanical change.

This. Any change that is above 25% change should be considered a mechanical change. Thus should be evaluated for all game modes.

Even multiple changes over time that cause large discrepancies should be addressed across all game modes. It may be fine now, but further down the road if anet don’t keep stuff like this in check they are going to back them selves into the a corner having to do 3x the work, in addition to confusing the base from game mode to game mode.

Again I’ll say it split balance is needed soley because PvP does not use the same stat format the rest of the game does.

As Sir Vincent mentioned, if these changes work out in spvp, they’re likely to be installed into other game modes. I’d rather not have it than have it for a minute to be taken away again if it’s broken.

I feel like PvE and sPvP balance matter “more” to Anet than WvW. Mainly because WvW is hard to balance given the possibility of 30+ vs 10, or 50 v 50, etc.

They have said they will be watching the sPvP seasonal adjustments and then possibly integrating those changes into other game modes. It seems likely that if, for example, the torment adjustment of P/D 3 isn’t overpowered that it will be carried into PvE and WvW as well.

I often use P/D 3 when people are running away because it is much faster than a CnD + SA combo. Torment is a great “finisher” because if people are panicked and trying to get distance they are invariably going to take more damage. Similarly confusion is great when someone has just taken a lot of damage and are flustered, trying to spam skills.

babazhook.6805:

On Off hand dagger I think making the CND unblockable could put it over the top.

Agreed. OH dagger is largely doomed as long as the number of blocks and invulns as high as it is, though.

From pvp perspective:

Won’t change anything. Thing that killed core thief were massive amount of aoe, reveal on demand and mobility given to other classes. None of that was addressed with the patch.

Sword mh is meh, condi p/d will never be a thing unless drastic changes happen.

kash.9213:

As Sir Vincent mentioned, if these changes work out in spvp, they’re likely to be installed into other game modes. I’d rather not have it than have it for a minute to be taken away again if it’s broken.

I actually like this way of doing things. While understanding the differences in game modes if any of these changes prove to be OP or too negligible for PvP to make a differnce, they can be field tested for a month or so before the next balance patch due (late january).