Guild Wars 2

… instead of adding a cast time.

Around 5 seconds would be ideal. The Thief will have to choose between staying past 5 seconds to keep up pressure, or to disengage and re-engage using Infil Return and spending extra Ini.

There will be an Ini deficit if the Thief uses it to engage and disengage continously because, 5 seconds is how long it takes to refill 5 ini post buff, but Infil Return needs to be used within 5 seconds under this new availability window.

Cast time on a skill makes reactive use impossible for everything but the most heavily telegraphed skills, and Thieves need this mechanic to stay instant to actively displace themselves before/while CC’d because we have no passive immunity to CC or passive damage mitigation.

While I don’t mind the the additional cast time, simply because for mode preferences…

I agree with this suggestion!

Reduced availability window would be a “buff” rather than a nerf for me lol .. how often I wish I had the gap closer again to snare someone while it’s still on “return”

Yes it can be a situational buff to chasing, in exchange for the nerf to disengage availability. I feel this is fair since Sword sets are rather mediocre at chasing compared to D/P or SB to begin with.

Out of curiosity, did they state how long this cast time would be? I mean if it is something minuscule like 1/4 a second I can’t see it being such a huge problem, it’ll still do the trick, just not while we’re stunned which I imagine is why they’re changing it, because they don’t want it to basically be a version of Hard to Catch that is easier to control and removes conditions. In my opinion that means Hard to Catch needs to be reworked though but that is a topic for another thread.

I like it – it’s a buff in some situations, but a good change to emphasise managing the skill a little more than just a fire-and-forget escape button. A much better solution than a cast time (for latency and many other reasons that have been covered hundreds of times).

Also Necrotize, it is 1/4s.

Very good idea, I support this suggestion!

1/4 second seems manageable. Obviously it’d be better if it was instant but still, that is fast enough to basically prevent immobilize lockdown now that it stacks up to 5 seconds(which I personally am really enjoying with devourer venom and Sbow sneak attack). I personally would’ve like something like a dirty fighting skill(which seems to fit nicely with the boon stealing and pistol whipping of sword) so you shadowstep to them and say attach a chain, go through the cast time and teleport backwards, pulling the target with you and causing a knockdown.

I don’t know though, that’s just my personal view of the sword because I always thought of it like a street fighter’s weapon where anything goes and you play dirty tricks on your enemy to get the upper hand.

How about 8 seconds to bring it in line with partially traited mesmer staff.

Meh I feel it should have the cast time and reduced infiltration buff but usable while stunned…srs.
…with a damage increase.