Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone,

I just recently returned to GW2 after about a year break when I heard that they were finally gonna release an expansion. So naturally i was excited to see all the changes.

Well, the first thing i noticed when i logged back on my thief was all the trait changes. Apparently since i’d been gone they made our acrobatics line really meh by taking away feline grace (more players complaining it was OP i guess?). This move really confused me because when i left it seemed that the devs were trying to steer thieves away from pure stealth builds and towards builds like i was using for WvW and PvE before i left ( S/D, S/P. SB evasion spec which i really enjoyed). Taking away that extra dodge really hurt my survival and i felt a little kitten when i came back.

Anyways, I looked past this because we were getting a sweet new Elite Spec in the Expansion, right? I was about to preorder but decided to wait until I could read some feedback from my fellow thieves as well as watch some livestreams to understand all the awesome changes coming.

This is the part that I’m confused about.

From everything I’ve seen and read it seems to me that our new Elite Spec is a repackaged version of the spec I was already using before I left and before the nerf??
Relying on dodging and evasion for survival isn’t a new concept to me. The only difference I’m seeing is that by using Staff instead of, let’s say, S/P, I’m losing an aoe blind field for stomp preventions or trash clearing in PvE.

I’m naturally thinking that I’m missing some core changes that Daredevil brings. Some of the abilities on dodge seem somewhat counterintuitive to me. Specifically the damaging slam one. I mean, I’m used to dodging to live, not attack, although the Lotus Blossom one seems kinda cool for a condi build.

Anyways, i’m rambling on, but my point is this:

It seems like the “new” elite spec is just a repackaged version of the spec i was used to running before – only now they are charging $60 to use it??? If so, this is just showing a terrible lack of creativity on the Devs part. And, aside from Ele (not impressed with the changes), it makes the new thief Elite Spec seem really bad compared to the others and more like an afterthought. Am I missing some other changes? I would like to preorder but I’d really appreciate some clarification before I do!

Thanks in advance to any answers! =D

DD is Acro 2.0 because the devs thought it was cool to destroy acro so we all need DD to be more evasive which apparently will be pointless in new content as not all damage can be dodged…

Something to think about though is that it’s not really repackaged, it’s just got all the Major traits that Acro should have had. It doesn’t have the increased endurance regen that acro used to have, so it actually only has one more dodge than base thief with no trait lines. If they would increase the regen by scaling it with the endurance pool, it would be acro 2.0.

Kill.3458:

DD is Acro 2.0 because the devs thought it was cool to destroy acro so we all need DD to be more evasive which apparently will be pointless in new content as not all damage can be dodged…

So, if I understand you correctly, they are giving thief back Acro just in time for it to be ineffective? That doesn’t seem to make much sense. Why give a class with very little base survivability a core survival mechanic (as well as base an entire “new” Elite Spec around it)while knowing ahead of time that will be generally ineffective?

I mean, that takes the redesign from the realm of lazy and uncreative into the realm of spitefully and knowingly aiming for failure.

Again, I hope I am missing something, because i love this game and love thief but am having a hard time justifying buying the expansion from what i’m hearing.

They’ve been making a lot of vague or incorrect statements about the raids lately (requiring ascended gear, “not being able to dodge things”, etc). I think it is safe to assume that the Daredevil dodges will be reasonably useful in raids.

But yes, it’s hard to escape the feeling that Acro was gutted in favor of selling us Acro 2.0. What is most frustrating is that the DD “elite mechanic” of an extra dodge is measurably worse on its own than Feline Grace was. I really hope they adjust it so that regen scales with higher base Endurance, as well as Endurance-restoring effects being percentage based instead of flat (as they appear to be but are not). Unfortunately, due to the lack of current engagement from our lead developer, I’m not expecting these things to change.

Troublesome.5670:

Kill.3458:

DD is Acro 2.0 because the devs thought it was cool to destroy acro so we all need DD to be more evasive which apparently will be pointless in new content as not all damage can be dodged…

So, if I understand you correctly, they are giving thief back Acro just in time for it to be ineffective? That doesn’t seem to make much sense. Why give a class with very little base survivability a core survival mechanic (as well as base an entire “new” Elite Spec around it)while knowing ahead of time that will be generally ineffective?

I mean, that takes the redesign from the realm of lazy and uncreative into the realm of spitefully and knowingly aiming for failure.

Again, I hope I am missing something, because i love this game and love thief but am having a hard time justifying buying the expansion from what i’m hearing.

From past trends, Anet isn’t giving Thief as much (if any) love as other professions.

For example, Engi’s got their Magnet Pull fixed so that the target will always come to you… Scorpion Wire was ignored and is still buggy as kitten.

Consume Plasma claims to give all boons, but doesn’t give you Resistance and Quickness, two new buffs added in June.

Anet seem to be overlooking Thief at every turn and patch. Professions get QoL changes which Thief should also get, but we don’t.

But they buffed Pistols to a point where the damage is decent enough on Unload to actually use instead of Shortbow for more of a fighter presence. However, the pistol 2 is still not worth touching.

Seems like Anet is playing hard to get, if you get me.

meepeY.2867:

From past trends, Anet isn’t giving Thief as much (if any) love as other professions.

For example, Engi’s got their Magnet Pull fixed so that the target will always come to you… Scorpion Wire was ignored and is still buggy as kitten.

Consume Plasma claims to give all boons, but doesn’t give you Resistance and Quickness, two new buffs added in June.

Anet seem to be overlooking Thief at every turn and patch. Professions get QoL changes which Thief should also get, but we don’t.

But they buffed Pistols to a point where the damage is decent enough on Unload to actually use instead of Shortbow for more of a fighter presence. However, the pistol 2 is still not worth touching.

Seems like Anet is playing hard to get, if you get me.

Very true. I had extremely low expectations from the patch on Tuesday and was mostly hoping for bug fixes, but they failed to deliver even that. I don’t need Thief to be the best profession or even in the top 50%, but seeing other professions get bug fixes or QoL changes that could easily be applied to the Thief (but are not) really frustrates me.

Troublesome.5670:

Kill.3458:

DD is Acro 2.0 because the devs thought it was cool to destroy acro so we all need DD to be more evasive which apparently will be pointless in new content as not all damage can be dodged…

So, if I understand you correctly, they are giving thief back Acro just in time for it to be ineffective? That doesn’t seem to make much sense. Why give a class with very little base survivability a core survival mechanic (as well as base an entire “new” Elite Spec around it)while knowing ahead of time that will be generally ineffective?

I mean, that takes the redesign from the realm of lazy and uncreative into the realm of spitefully and knowingly aiming for failure.

Again, I hope I am missing something, because i love this game and love thief but am having a hard time justifying buying the expansion from what i’m hearing.

Honestly, even i’m struggling with the incompetence demonstrated in our Elite spec’s design, it could certainly be a cool concept but is missing far too many features to be viable in the content that they’ve described. We have one of the lowest health pools, terrible damage mitigation/condi cleansing, our range is sub-par, stealth has become less and less unique, traps are STILL one of our most unloved utilities, and now our evasiveness isn’t all that amazing anymore

I personally will still train my thief into it just to mess around with builds, but I honestly primarily bought HoT for the story, Guild Halls, Revenant, and Reaper. It sucks that one of my favorite (and first) professions is constantly getting butchered at the mercy of the other player bases/dev faults.

Wait, so we got an extra dodge bar, but our endurance regen didn’t increase to reflect the bigger Endurance pool? In other words, we recharge dodges at about the same rate as other professions? So that means once we use that third dodge we are almost on the same playing field as everyone else as far as dodge mechanics are concerned?

I noticed there is a trait we have now that increases the regen from Vigor boon, but, tbh, i couldn’t tell much of a difference with or without it.

And yeah, Pistols have been Meh for so long i’d almost forgotten that I could use one in MH. As well as Scorpion Wire being buggy at max range. Wow, those issues have been around for ages and still haven’t been addressed? I thought after being away for over a year that maybe Thief would have gotten some attention by now….

On Another Note****

After watching some gameplay for Rev Shiro I couldn’t help feeling as though i was watching what Sword thief should have been….it gave me chills. Maybe it’s time to reroll to Rev? I’m beginning to think that’s what the devs want thieves to do. The animations and skills look amazing.

I at least expected our endurance to regen noticably faster than all the other professions given that its our Elite Spec’s main selling point. Hmmmm.

Troublesome.5670:

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On Another Note****

After watching some gameplay for Rev Shiro I couldn’t help feeling as though i was watching what Sword thief should have been….it gave me chills. Maybe it’s time to reroll to Rev? I’m beginning to think that’s what the devs want thieves to do. The animations and skills look amazing.

Already gathering stuff to reroll when HoT drops. Shiro looks incredibly fun and I too got the “S/D” feels from it.

The only reason I’m ok with daredevil is that we finally get a leap with staff. Otherwise, the DD traitline should have been acro in the June patch, and our elite spec should have been something different. The only way I can see to remedy this is to make acro something new and unique (so DD is basically an old spec and a new acro gives us a different way to play).

meepeY.2867:

Troublesome.5670:

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On Another Note****

After watching some gameplay for Rev Shiro I couldn’t help feeling as though i was watching what Sword thief should have been….it gave me chills. Maybe it’s time to reroll to Rev? I’m beginning to think that’s what the devs want thieves to do. The animations and skills look amazing.

Already gathering stuff to reroll when HoT drops. Shiro looks incredibly fun and I too got the “S/D” feels from it.

Yup, i’m beginning to think that i know what i’m going to do with all my exp scrolls and ascended mats now….

After hearing about the state of thief as it is and as it’s going to be, i believe i will still get the expansion, but roll and play a Rev until thief is either phased out completely or is entirely reworked. A year away from the game and a new expansion just on the horizon and thief is in the same (worse?) place that it was when i left….thats inexcusable imo, therefore I won’t support it. Thank you to everyone for feedback so far =D