I … can’t be mad. I mean, our concerns are being addressed, but just in the wrong way. I propose that the datamined traits, if they are indeed to be our elite spec, instead become Acrobatics. Almost as-is.
I’ll outline the full proposal below.
The Enforcer
Thieves who are swift, strong, and unafraid to dirty their hands with blood as well as booty are amongst those chosen to become Enforcers, so named for their knack of extracting what is owed their guilds and ensuring that compliance continues. Forcibly. Their weapon of choice, the staff, is seemingly innocuous until wielded with brutal efficiency.
Staff
Slightly increased melee radius (175), cleave(3) on auto-attack, #2, and #5.
- Strike (chain): Hit your foes.
- Sweep (chain): Sweep your staff and strike your foes again.
- Withering Assault (chain): Whirl the staff and strike all adjacent foes, applying weakness.
- -> Takedown (stealth attack): Pummel your target into the ground, causing knockdown and dealing damage again when they land.
- Harrowing Leap: Leap at your foe, launching them into the air. Combo Finisher: Leap.
- Rattling Blow: Dart around your target, evading (3/4s) their strikes while unleashing two of your own.
- Feint: Drop into a defensive stance. If you are struck, the attack is blocked and you counterattack; otherwise, restore 4 initiative (net loss: -2).
- Seven-sided Strike: Shadowstep (1200u) to the foe that struck you, unleashing a flurry of seven attacks that cause vulnerability. If the final attack hits, your foe is also dazed.
- Dust-up: Crash your staff into the ground, creating a plume of dust that blinds nearby foes. Combo Field: Smoke.
The design here draws a bit from other classes (namely Ranger), the Sword, as well as the aquatic Spear weapon. It primarily focuses on disabling foes and leaving them at the Enforcer’s mercy.
And yes, it does self-combo in a manner similar to Dagger/Pistol if you know how to use it.
Traits
Keeping with the theme of an agile yet merciless “enforcer,” the Enforcer specialization compounds on Acrobatics (now mostly the originally datamined spec tree) whilst adding in a focus on keeping foes disabled and making them easy picking (well, thematically, at least…)
- (Adept) – Enforcer Training: you may wield a staff and use physical skills.
- Brawler’s Tenacity: restore 10 Endurance when first activating a physical skill; their cooldowns are reduced by 20%.
- Staff mastery: deal +10% damage while wielding a staff; staff skills restore 5 Endurance for each foe they strike (max: 25).
- Bloodthirsty: staff attacks restore a small amount of health against targets below the health threshold (75%).
- (Master) – Bone-breaker: critical hits have a 20% chance to cause 2s of weakness and cripple.
- Racketeering: stealing inflicts fear if your foe has less health; otherwise it taunts them.
- Untraceable: shadowstepping grants stealth (3s) and blinds foes near (~300u) the point where you started.
- Outmaneuver: striking a foe from the side or behind has a 33% chance to restore 1 initiative.
- (Grandmaster) – Heavy Blows: daze, stun, and knockdown last 25% longer. Staff attacks gain a range of 200 unless otherwise specified.
- Bruiser: deal 10% increased damage to disabled foes.
- Unforgiving: staff attacks are 15% faster.
- Pole-vault: tour dodge is replaced with a leap that carries you 30% further that acts as a leap combo finisher when activated, and counts as a blast combo finisher when it ends.
Conceptual Highlights
So obviously, Enforcer is the big nasty bruiser type that’s the bear you didn’t want to poke (remember character creation?). The staff, being a slightly longer weapon than say, a greatsword or hammer, thus gets a teeny increase (+25u) to its melee range — which can be increased by another 25u to a more formidable +33% in total by traiting. This plays to the original idea of a melee brawler while still giving a Thief that slight edge and distance that keeps them alive (and smart).
Ergo, to keep with that, the staff is used as a combination lethal and hindering device; skills inflict non-damaging conditions that are used as a setup — to then strike your foes while they’re down!
However, the odd obsession with Endurance regeneration in the original is kind of pointless (especially since that was Acrobatics’ schtick in the first place). As such, I’ve given in more variance and a flavor on beating the ever-loving kitten out of your foes! Because you know … that’s what an Enforcer does. They beat people up and take their stuff (rather than sneak in … and take their stuff).
As a whole, the specialization is designed to:
- actually keep within the theme of the profession
- make physical skills slightly more rewarding to use (the additional dodge should be in Acrobatics)
- play to the strengths of the Staff weapon
- serve Crit, Stealth, and Evasion builds well
- nominally improve survivability
- and provide synergy with most any other specialization.
