Guild Wars 2

Please tell me I’m not the only one feeling iffy about what Anet described regarding the Thief. Basically, they want to increase our auto dmg and rework the Acrobatics line. Two things came to mind.
1.) I’ve NEVER had a problem with Thief auto.
2.) I’ve NEVER used the Acrobatics line anyway.

The damage increase is fine I guess but even if they do rework Acro, I believe it still won’t be used because Trickery and DA would just be more superior to it.

What I would have liked is:
1.) 15k Hp base
2.) 15 initiative base
3.) Significant CD on many of the Thief skills. (Black Podwer, 40s CD for a 3s stealth? Seriously?)
4.) Some form of access to protection and invulnerability
5.) Rework of skills’ initiative cost. (Pistol 5 and dagger 5 is 6 initiative. They’re need to be decreased to 5 imitative for pistol 5 and 4 for dagger 5.)

It’s also hilarious how he specified “melee autoattacks” when 90% of P/P’s problem is related to MH Pistol’s very weak autoattack.

Shovel Face.4512:

2.) I’ve NEVER used the Acrobatics line anyway.

To me, that’s the reason why it’s getting a rework.

Going down the list of traits;
- Fleet of Shadow – useless, need something new. Just delete this trait.
- Pain Response – useless. It would be better if it triggers a 3s Regen and removes a condition on hit without ICD.
- Feline Grace – should go back to refunding endurance. Even if it requires an evade would be better than this as long as it doesn’t have an ICD.
- Guarded Initiation – useless, need something new.
- Swindler’s Equilibrium – useless. Thief can get a better CDR from Trick without the stupid sword evade requirement and ICD.
- Hard to Catch – lower ICD. 25s would be perfect.
- Upper Hand – remove ICD. The dodge regen is enough of a CD. Increase initiative gain to 2.

So yeah, the trait line needs a lot of work.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Shovel Face.4512:

2.) I’ve NEVER used the Acrobatics line anyway.

To me, that’s the reason why it’s getting a rework.

Going down the list of traits;
- Fleet of Shadow – useless, need something new. Just delete this trait.
- Pain Response – useless. It would be better if it triggers a 3s Regen and removes a condition on hit without ICD.
- Feline Grace – should go back to refunding endurance. Even if it requires an evade would be better than this as long as it doesn’t have an ICD.
- Guarded Initiation – useless, need something new.
- Swindler’s Equilibrium – useless. Thief can get a better CDR from Trick without the stupid sword evade requirement and ICD.
- Hard to Catch – lower ICD. 25s would be perfect.
- Upper Hand – remove ICD. The dodge regen is enough of a CD. Increase initiative gain to 2.

So yeah, the trait line needs a lot of work.

Pretty much agree with your points, but here’s my take on what should be done.

FG just should be moved to Daredevil. That whole line is built around dodging, and feline grace is really the only thing left in Acro that’s built around dodging (well, upper hand and swindler’s equilibrium exist too I guess….). Just rework acro into something that’s more in line with stealing boons, chasing, and overall destroying sustain and it might round out core thief better. Keeping the same theme on acro would result in 2 lines attempting to achieve the same goals if they got it working. Scrapping the line and adding a minor tweak to daredevil would be a much easier process I think.

The AA is being adressed mainly because of raids. Due to thieves class mechanics the become less and less effective if a fight is exceeding a certain duration. In case of raids a fight can go up to 7 minutes (sometimes even longer with certain tactics) and that is not a healthy duration for a thief to fight. this is one of the reasons thief is not popular in this game mode right now.

I would focus more on nerfs to other classes than I would buffs to thieves.

Thief is actually quiet strong at the moment if played right. Problem is that other classes are just much stronger. Arguably much much stronger.

In particular I’m hoping to see cooldown nerfs to DH traps, and duration nerfs to protection, weakness, and possibly chill.

just waiting to see what traitline they’ll gut this time before giving it back to us in a “reworked” Acrobatics.

I’m fine with my nightblade as she is now… Oh, wait! Wrong game! Silly me. -_-

@Vornollo +1

There is no hope. It’s a mesmeric illusion. =)

Shovel Face.4512:

What I would have liked is:
1.) 15k Hp base
2.) 15 initiative base
3.) Significant CD on many of the Thief skills. (Black Podwer, 40s CD for a 3s stealth? Seriously?)
4.) Some form of access to protection and invulnerability
5.) Rework of skills’ initiative cost. (Pistol 5 and dagger 5 is 6 initiative. They’re need to be decreased to 5 imitative for pistol 5 and 4 for dagger 5.)

Total bullkitten.
invuln and prot would be out of character, just like CDs, and thief does need auto increase compared to other classes. dagger and staff is OKish but sword and pistol are terrible

Well assassins in GW1 had some pretty tanky talents. Shadow Form or Flashing Blades for example. I wouldn’t be against giving the thief some utility that gives some duration of non channeled evade.

Flashing blades wasn’t “tanky” at all. It just made you have an 75% chance to evade/block (can’t remember) while attacking. Easy to shut down with mesmer or necro hexes. Secondly that’s an assassin, not a thief :p.

I agree that staff and dagger are in a good spot for aa, but sword is not. I would like sword to be fixed. The dmg it self on the aa would be ok if they only they increased the aa speed. Also I would like to have the aa itself easily over rided – flanking strike works when you activate the skill, not lock up for half a second then do something. Pistol, meh. Let’s watch this space.

Well the thief AUTO does include those attacks from stealth. In theory this means backstab damage should increase significantly , along with the sneak attack off s/x. At this point I will not read too much into the “melee autoattacks”.

It should also mean in theory that one can shift ones gear layout to a bit more survival , tweaking up vitality or toughness at the cost of power while perhaps doing more damage off the AA then we can do now .

Fat Disgrace.4275:

Flashing blades wasn’t “tanky” at all. It just made you have an 75% chance to evade/block (can’t remember) while attacking. Easy to shut down with mesmer or necro hexes. Secondly that’s an assassin, not a thief :p.

I don’t say if was a good PvP option but was an example :p Also GW1 had plenty of unblockable options to deal with a meta too focused on blocks anyway.

One I liked better than Flashing Blades in PvE was Critical Defenses : 75% block for xxx seconds and duration refreshed to max each time you crit. And one other talent that even got a PvP specific nerf : http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shroud_of_Distress_

Fat Disgrace.4275:

I agree that staff and dagger are in a good spot for aa, but sword is not. I would like sword to be fixed. The dmg it self on the aa would be ok if they only they increased the aa speed. Also I would like to have the aa itself easily over rided – flanking strike works when you activate the skill, not lock up for half a second then do something. Pistol, meh. Let’s watch this space.

Sword AA might be in a bad spot compared to dagger and staff but it doesn’t mean the AA buff mentioned is meaningless. I think it’s a good change in the end because the current version where lots of the thief DPS comes from dumping our initiative pool isn’t really viable. Bunkers outsustain your initiative then turn back on you while you are out of lots of defensive options. The other way : DPS from AA and initiative for utility/defense has more potential I think.

It’s won’t be that bad in PvP since melee AA is rather hard to stick on targets. You’ll be pushed to spend initiative or utilities to help land your AA chain. And in PvE if gives a controllable and sustainable thief DPS buff they might need.