Guild Wars 2

First lets look at the main reason people have been complaining about these abilities (even after the HS nerf). (read everything before posting)
1. They have no cooldowns as they are fueled by initiative
2. They are both high damage dealing abilities, allowing spammable burst scenarios
3. They are incredible coupled with haste

Now im going to go into two short parts

1. Is there a problem? if so what is it?

A) the problem is not as obvious as stated. In a 1v1 situation both skills being spammed are actually a deterrent (this is not a bias but a fact, ill go into it). The problem comes from how mobile the thief is and how it affects winning a fight that’s already been started.

If I’m fighting someone and I see a thief spamming pistol or heartseeker or even pops everything to do a backstab burst, I will die. If I’m aware of the thief and have my cooldowns up, it will not work. When they get the jump on me and I have my stunbreaker down from fighting someone else, it becomes fairly ridiculous.

—So the “no skill” technique against good players will be overpowered in a correct roaming scenario, but underpowered in a direct assault or defending scenario. Making it balanced but in a bad way.

2. How I counter thieves abusing said mechanics in the current state.

A) First of all, in this game you really have to be aware of your surrounding and conditions. The moment I see devouring venom hit me (immobilize) I use my stun breaker (shadowstep) and port away. They just wasted haste and 2 full blown pistol whips. They are left with no endurance and low intiative. I have literally won every 1v1 vs a pistol whip thief in the last week.
On my necro its a bit harder, but I just use spectral armor and DS efficiently to block burst and get out of the roots/stuns.

B) Heartseeker spam is just hilariously bad in a direct assault. If they couple it with devouring venom and haste its relatively similar to the pistol whip function. It will do less damage but allow them to somewhat gain distance with it. Again stunbreak the immo and dodge roll a couple times, then destroy the thief.

I do however tend to spam heartseeker whenever I steal a rangers tree as the water aura heals me for a lot. I dont like the overall idea, but thats one of the only times its effective.

This also goes with hundred blades. Warriors overall are in a worse position than thieves so it doesn’t get as much whining, but the concept remains the same.

So basically, HS and PW spam strategies can deal great damage to unprepared/inexperienced players, but they lack the versatility to stand up in anything but low level play.

When they get the jump on me and I have my stunbreaker down from fighting someone else, it becomes fairly ridiculous.

That’s not a balance issue, that’s how the thief is designed. Thieves are designed to jump in, take out a weakened target, and jump out. The entire class is based around this concept. You are alone and weakened against a fully rested thief. This is precisely the scenario where the thief was designed to reign supreme. To try to destroy this would be to try to remove the thief class from existence. If you don’t like how it is designed, perhaps guild wars 2 pvp isn’t the place for you.

That’s not a balance issue, that’s how the thief is designed. Thieves are designed to jump in, take out a weakened target, and jump out. The entire class is based around this concept. You are alone and weakened against a fully rested thief. This is precisely the scenario where the thief was designed to reign supreme. To try to destroy this would be to try to remove the thief class from existence. If you don’t like how it is designed, perhaps guild wars 2 pvp isn’t the place for you.

I’m not at all suggesting destroying it, I’m suggesting they need to put more thought into it. I can make a pistol whip build and wait for fights, and it can go 1 of 2 ways.

Either my allies correctly make them use a stunbreaker then I go in and its so one sided its hilarious

or my allies fall behind and no stunbreakers are used and when I go in my pistol whips are all evaded and i’m near useless.

It feels almost out of my control, thats why I dont like the setup. Thats ignoring how poor it is in a 1v1. So I try to utilize builds more in my control.

Its too powerful in situations you can control, and its too weak in some situations you cant control. So it comes off as a bad balance scenario.