Guild Wars 2

Why do stealth attacks have a one sec recharge time now? It’s so stupid it makes playing a thief feel so slow and useless.

Helseth Pubstomped Anet Devs on stream using a Staff Thief, next day Anet adds 1 sec CD to Stealth Attacks.

So should I blame Helseth or Anet Devs for sucking at the game? I need to know where to aim my pitchfork before that gets nerf too.

In one of the recent AMAs with the Balance Team I asked and the response was that they felt there was no “cost” to using the stealth attacks (i.e. no initiative cost) and felt that instead of making it cost initiative (impliedly thereby requiring a rebalance of the initiative costs across all skills) they imposed the cooldown as a compromise “cost” for using the skill.

I’m not sure that the Helseth pubstomp was a huge factor here since I don’t think the lack of a use cost on the ability really made a difference in that match. (I’d have to go back and watch the video of that match to be sure though).

the ICD on stealth attacks was awkward at first but now it feels normal. It made me better at making sure I land them correctly the first time. If I miss I feel like I deserved the ICD now. If I’m really impatient after a failed backstab and have the upper hand in a fight I will usually just break stealth with a heart seeker/Headshot PI/ or shadow shot to keep the pressure up.