Guild Wars 2

Just a quick share about an elite spec idea, focused on the unique mechanic.

It has access to a rifle and alchemical skills. Would also work well with pistol mainhand/offhand and shortbow.

The alchemy skills are little containers that are thrown using ground targeting. Similar to how engineer could throw elixirs. These containers slowly mix two chemicals and it becomes unstable once thrown. The containers will explode in time on their own, or can manually be exploded by being struck by the players, their allies or even enemies.

Two effects can be created by a thrown container. One effect is ‘primed’ but waiting for an explosion to happen. This effect builds in potency over time until the container is broken. The second effect seeps out of the container once thrown, becoming active immediately, but it weakens over time. There is a ‘sweet spot’ in the timing of when to break a container in which both effects are given a useful boost.

Of course the effects can be anything you can think of. They can damage, impede, aid allies. Anything you can think of.

Long range skills are very valuable to help break containers while being on the move around the battlefield, but are not entirely necessary. You can use shadowstepping and stealth as well to safely break containers.

Lastly here’s where it gets a little crazy. You can use Steal on containers. This allows you to shadowstep with steal by using a container as the target. Your stolen item will become the container which you can throw again, or you can let it sit in your stolen items slot. While in your stolen items slot you emit the ‘seeping’ container effect. Becoming a mobile version of the container.

That’s it! Hope it sounds cool, as I am having fun just thinking about it.

Also, just to get people thinking about effects the containers could do… one type of container could grant alacrity.

It could be interesting, but it might trample a bit thematically on the Engis. It’d be fun to play with, at least.

I kind of like it, but yeah, it’s a bit close to what engis do. I’d love an arsonist-type thief, though. Maybe even a flamethrower.

How long did you think over this OP ?

I just ask because reading this text gives you as reader honestly the impression that all of this was nothing but a 5 minutes brainstorming with barely ending up with any “content”

There are literally only a hand full of aspects you can see in this text, that get barely in detail described. This text is basically nothing else but bones without any tasty flesh on them.

I can reduce all of this text down just to a few words:

Saboteur
Rifle
Ground Target Alchemy with 2 Effects

Thats it

But honestly! What has this please to do with the concept of a Saboteur?

With these 3 little to not at all described headlines can nobody make usage of, because you say – “they can do basically anything you can think of”

wow ..ehm..ya

GW2 doesn’t need some jack of all trades I can do everything you want-classes. with mechanics thrown together in a 5 minute fantasy, which then don’t get described in detail, how that thign should work together in a way, that the reader can get a good impression about the concept behind your thoughts and that more than just only

Saboteur
Rifle
Ground Target Alchemy

Because these 3 things so far just tell me only one thing.

That you want basically the next Thief E-Spec to become an Engineer Clone

Bah

No thx
——

And sorry if I sound now here harsh (but honest), but this “concept” just isn’t good at all.
I’ve seen already bad concepts in the Elite Spec Thread that consisted of more details, than this here that had more content and depth in details than basically “I want Class X 2.0 as E-Spec for my Class” like this here.

To write also at least a few skill examples for the chosen weapon in the concept surely also isn’t too much work to think about and to wish for as a reader to take a concept of somebody serious, because the things are it to help a reader to grasp better your concept, how the things you write about should work later and what the tasks of that concept should be later in the game.

Because I say it as it is – I personally can’t take any “concepts” here of anybody serious, when the writers are unable to have enough creativity to come up at least with based on the chosen weapon 2-5 example skills and maybe eventually a few examples on the chosen “skill types” that get used for the heal, utilities and elite.

I’d love to see the Thief getting a Saboteur-Spec.
Its personally one of my Top 3 concepts I ever had for them from the moment on I suggested in the character progression CDI to add Sub Classes to GW2, what literally lead to Elite Specs later on and I’d love to see more well thought out Saboteur Concepts from others – this doesn’t count to them (yet), because practically copying an other Main Class isn’t really, what I’d call “creative”

I’m sure, you can do better OP

I like the concept, personally. I could see it be hard to work with in a PvP setting though, ground target abilities that rely on travel-time and a some kind of delayed detonation really only serve as area denial tools. I am not saying that is not valuable, as it is, I just see it hard to work with as it seems that all the opponent would have to do is side-step it to counter it, limiting it’s usefulness to chokepoints, which would make it incredibly niche.

Sounds great for a PvE setting though, if the barrels contain fuel, or toxic waste, or anything of the sort to create AoE condition pools of death. Maybe even boon-barrels? Maybe thieves could finally get some teamplay going with boons and maybe become desirable for group content for more than just their damage and stealth, which other classes already have plenty of.

Ignore Orpheal, you don’t need to be super detailed when you’re just sharing ideas, as the best things are often created when a group of people are just bouncing ideas of eachother.

I am sure people have a free enough imagination to fill in the blanks on their own if they find an interest to engage in the discussion about it.

While the design ideology seems neat, I feel like this might actually end up better off as an engineer concept more than a thief one. The whole mixing-pot chemistry thing seems more suited to the class based around that philosophy more than the thief.

I would like to see a bit more specifics as to what you’d envision, OP. How does the rifle and pistol play into this, and more importantly, how do the rest of the available weapons perform in conjunction?

A common mistake I see coming from people suggesting elites is a bit too much coupling with the spec weapon or an existing one. Ideally there should be soundness to using all previous weapons as well.

The name and theme were just a way to help reference the mechanic. I wanted to share the idea of that mechanic for a discussion on things that could be done with it.
Thanks for understanding TwiceDead! The topic didn’t go so well, but I got to share what I thought was a fun idea.