Guild Wars 2

Rebuff Pistol Whip damage by 15% in PVE, leave it as is in PVP.

I think that is a fair compromise.

I agree with the OP. I think this is a good idea. Pistol Whip is kind of a joke at this point.

Wvw already uses all the pve versions of skills that have been changed in PvP, why should pistol whip be any different? Besides, WvW was never intended to be balanced like PvP.

I agree with OP

What was the big deal with phistol whip anyway? Everybody and their mom uses a stunbreaker nowadays. Even backstab glasscannon thief or greatsword warri with bullcharge, speed and 100b can kill you without one.

Molch.2078:

What was the big deal with phistol whip anyway? Everybody and their mom uses a stunbreaker nowadays. Even backstab glasscannon thief or greatsword warri with bullcharge, speed and 100b can kill you without one.

The big deal was if you burned Haste and Basilisk Venom, then used a shadowstep to close you could actually chainstun people enough to keep them in place while executing multiple PWs. You can still do this, it just has much less damage potential. But, really, either way you’re burning most of your utilities and initiative to kill someone slower than most people can with the backstab opener.

Might’ve had something to do with it being the only skill that allowed DPS above and beyond auto attack for sword-using thieves, but I doubt it.

And thats the point I dont understand. Thief uses utility slot, elite slot, F1, all his endurance and a bit initiative, enemy uses one stunbreaker, done. Counter’d by pressing one button.

And if your stunbreak is on cd, the previously mentioned GCwarri/BS Thief can kill you even faster.

Molch.2078:

And thats the point I dont understand. Thief uses utility slot, elite slot, F1, all his endurance and a bit initiative, enemy uses one stunbreaker, done. Counter’d by pressing one button.

That is the thing, unlike the backstab combo, Hasted PW has better resistance to stunbreakers, since every PW will apply a short stun. It is literally the only thing PW does slightly better than backstab, and it usually doesn’t matter.

Molch.2078:

And thats the point I dont understand. Thief uses utility slot, elite slot, F1, all his endurance and a bit initiative, enemy uses one stunbreaker, done. Counter’d by pressing one button.

And if your stunbreak is on cd, the previously mentioned GCwarri/BS Thief can kill you even faster.

I think it’s fair. If a thief is built so that it is 100% countered by one ability, is it fair to blame the build, or the ability?

Eviator.9746:

Molch.2078:

And thats the point I dont understand. Thief uses utility slot, elite slot, F1, all his endurance and a bit initiative, enemy uses one stunbreaker, done. Counter’d by pressing one button.

And if your stunbreak is on cd, the previously mentioned GCwarri/BS Thief can kill you even faster.

I think it’s fair. If a thief is built so that it is 100% countered by one ability, is it fair to blame the build, or the ability?

I don’t think Molch was debating that stunbreak should be a viable counter. Quite the opposite, Molch is saying that because stunbreak is a viable counter there was no reason for PW to have its damage reduced by 15 %.

ArenaNet’s decision to nerf Pistol Whip by 15% yet do nothing about the D/D spec nearly one-shotting players is what surprises me. And they say they have meetings on class spec? How can they have meetings on these sort of things when Pistol Whip locks you to the ground after its animation kicks in yet look past HS spamDeath?

I’m still shocked PW got nerfed, but what do I know; I’m just a gamer.

Meetings? What meetings?

Crawford.4135:

ArenaNet’s decision to nerf Pistol Whip by 15% yet do nothing about the D/D spec nearly one-shotting players is what surprises me. And they say they have meetings on class spec? How can they have meetings on these sort of things when Pistol Whip locks you to the ground after its animation kicks in yet look past HS spamDeath?

I’m still shocked PW got nerfed, but what do I know; I’m just a gamer.

Meetings? What meetings?

Honestly, I never really understood the reasoning either. Pre-nerf PW only did like 5-8% more damage than auto-attack. I don’t really see how it warranted any nerf, let alone a 15% one.