I want to share my vision for a redesign of the Thief profession. Based on my 750+ hours on my Thief and overwhelming forum feedback it is clear that a lot of Thief mechanics don’t mesh well within the larger context of the game.
The goal of this redesign is to present Thief players with:
a) more interesting choices in combat
b) a system that rewards resource management over spamming
c) a more universal Stealth system usable by all builds and weapons.
The core of this redesign focuses on the replacement of Steal and reworking of Initiative.
1. Initiative
On a functional level, Initiative will remain unchanged. It will still be used as a resource for weapon abilities just like currently. However it will also be used as a resource for Stealth. As such, it limits how much Stealth can be used within a certain window and forces the player to chose between offensive pressure and stealth.
Also instead of regenerating at a steady rate of 1 point every 1.33 seconds Initiative will replenish faster, the more you have and slower, the less you have. As a guide line, Initiative should replenish as follows:
1 point every 1.0 second when above 7 Initiative
1 point every 1.5 seconds when above 4 Initiative
1 point every 2.0 seconds when below 5 Initiative
The goal here is to discourage ability spam without removing the choice. Players will be rewarded if they manage the resource well and starved if they dump it too quickly. Other MMOs have used similar resource systems to great effect.
Note: Some Initiative replenishing traits and abilities would require revision with such a system.
2. Stealth/Steal
Steal is no longer a base-line profession ability. Instead it replaces the current Infiltrator’s Singet and becomes a standard utility ability. Instead Stealth becomes the new profession ability. It would work like the current Blinding Tuft or Bliding Feathers you steal from mobs and Thieves. It would stealth you immediately until your exited Stealth either by attacking or pressing F1 again.
However unlike other Stealth abilities this Stealth would consume Initiative at a rate of 1 per second. This puts a cap on how much a Thief can stealth and forces him to chose between offensive ability use or defensive stealthing. For balance reasons Stealth would need a minimum duration of 2 seconds so people cant just dip in and out of Stealth constantly. The Revealed mechanic would function as usual.
-This Stealth mechanic would also require the conceptual revision of all other Stealth abilities. Cloak and Dagger for example would need to be altered (and lose it’s stealth component) while Shadow Refuge could remain largely unchanged.
-Initiative costs for weapon abilities would also need revision since Initiative is now required for both Stealth and Damage. Most Initiative costs would be lowered (except for Heartseeker).
-The Shadow Arts tree would need revision too as a few traits grant initiative while in Stealth. This would be imbalanced with the new system. Instead you could have traits that reduced the rate at which Initiative is consumed in Stealth.
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While we’re fixing the Thief there are a number of abilities that require revision:
1. Cloak and Dagger could provide a stun or daze instead of stealth.
2. Heartseeker is too effective and too easy to use. Limiting the range would be a good start.
3. Body Shot is just downright bad. Consider giving it a Snare similar to Disabling Shot. It would help the viability of Pistol/Pistol too.
4. Dancing Dagger is too expensive since the nerf.
5. Flanking Strike needs to work more reliably and could be more interesting (maybe allow us to Steal a boon)
6. Shadow Strike could use some improvements as well although it’s not fundamentally flawed.
Aside from major balancing issues regarding Stealth and Damage in PvP, Thieves have problems in other areas, most notably PvE where they offer comparatively little in terms of group support and utility as well as poor survivability (especially for a melee profession).
Traps offer real opportunity for improvements in this area. They could provide more long-term combo fields as well as useful effects. For example, maybe if traps didn’t trigger just once, but could trigger every 5 seconds or so a lot of their utility would become desirable.
But combo fields and multi-proccs are just some ideas on how to make traps more interesting.
I believe these changes, if rolled out and balanced correctly, would enhance the Thief profession making it both more engaging to play and also more interesting to play against.