Guild Wars 2

Do any of the thief traits function according to their description? Here is a list of traits I have found do not work at all. I am unsure how many are not completely broken and are are simply functioning improperly.

Potent poison – does not increase poison duration at all
Improvisation – does not reset any skill
Master of deception – does not decrease stealth recharge
Meld with shadows – does not increase stealth by 1 second
The last trait I’m going to list works but is worthless.
Hard to catch – sure you warp away but you stay stunned and they can just run or jump right back on to you, because you stay stunned

Robotface.8927:

Do any of the thief traits function according to their description? Here is a list of traits I have found do not work at all. I am unsure how many are not completely broken and are are simply functioning improperly.

Potent poison – does not increase poison duration at all
Improvisation – does not reset any skill
Master of deception – does not decrease stealth recharge
Meld with shadows – does not increase stealth by 1 second
The last trait I’m going to list works but is worthless.
Hard to catch – sure you warp away but you stay stunned and they can just run or jump right back on to you, because you stay stunned

Opportunist:
20% Chance on Critical to gain 1 Initative.

Never seems to work.

I’ve noticed that as well. There’s a serious issue with class traits doing anything anymore.

Robotface.8927:

Do any of the thief traits function according to their description? Here is a list of traits I have found do not work at all. I am unsure how many are not completely broken and are are simply functioning improperly.

Potent poison – does not increase poison duration at all
Improvisation – does not reset any skill
Master of deception – does not decrease stealth recharge
Meld with shadows – does not increase stealth by 1 second
The last trait I’m going to list works but is worthless.
Hard to catch – sure you warp away but you stay stunned and they can just run or jump right back on to you, because you stay stunned

Master of deception and meld with shadows does work.

Robotface.8927:

Do any of the thief traits function according to their description? Here is a list of traits I have found do not work at all. I am unsure how many are not completely broken and are are simply functioning improperly.

Potent poison – does not increase poison duration at all
Improvisation – does not reset any skill
Master of deception – does not decrease stealth recharge
Meld with shadows – does not increase stealth by 1 second
The last trait I’m going to list works but is worthless.
Hard to catch – sure you warp away but you stay stunned and they can just run or jump right back on to you, because you stay stunned

Meld with Shadows works, tested.
Improvisation also works as far I know.
Master of Deception works also.
Dunno about Potent Poison, I think it works, but anyway I’m not going to miss him if it don’t work.
Hard to Catch works as intended, it is not listed that it is a stunbreaker. Every other “trigger on stun” skills of other professions keep you stunned anyway.

meld with shadows works

The reason I say master of deception and potent poison does not work is after I selected those two traits it did not effect their duration and cool down timers. The duration on spider venom did not increase and when I mouse over hide in shadows in the toolbar it still says that the cool down time is 30sec.

improvisation works in pve…
stealing recharges all skills of ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! type. venoms, signets, traps, tricks, decceptions.

this means that if you have a full signet build… lets say:
signet of malice,
signet of shadows,
signet of agillity,
infiltrator’s signet
and they are all on cooldown, you have a 20% chance to reset them all if you steal.

you could also use a different utillity settup lets say:
signet of malice(signet),
scorpion wire(trick),
ambush(trap),
shadow refuge(deception).
now there is a 80% chance that one of these skills will reset if you steal.

if you use the last example and add basilisk venom as your elite there is a 100% chance one of those 5 skills is going to reset if you steal.

hope this made it more clear. this is the behavour in pve i dont know if its any different in pvp.

Toversletje.9345:

improvisation works in pve…
stealing recharges all skills of ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! type. venoms, signets, traps, tricks, decceptions.

this means that if you have a full signet build… lets say:
signet of malice,
signet of shadows,
signet of agillity,
infiltrator’s signet
and they are all on cooldown, you have a 20% chance to reset them all if you steal.

you could also use a different utillity settup lets say:
signet of malice(signet),
scorpion wire(trick),
ambush(trap),
shadow refuge(deception).
now there is a 80% chance that one of these skills will reset if you steal.

if you use the last example and add basilisk venom as your elite there is a 100% chance one of those 5 skills is going to reset if you steal.

hope this made it more clear. this is the behavour in pve i dont know if its any different in pvp.

And it has a chance to do absolutely nothing.
20% Chance to reset Venoms? (Nope, next one!)
20% Chance to reset Deceptions? (Nope, didn’t proc, next one!)
20% Chance to reset Traps? (LOL Nope, didn’t proc, try again!)
20% Chance to reset Signets… (AND ITS OUT OF THE PARK, NONE OF EM PROCCED, TRY AGAIN NEXT TIME SUCKA!)

Daecollo.9578:

Toversletje.9345:

improvisation works in pve…
stealing recharges all skills of ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! type. venoms, signets, traps, tricks, decceptions.

this means that if you have a full signet build… lets say:
signet of malice,
signet of shadows,
signet of agillity,
infiltrator’s signet
and they are all on cooldown, you have a 20% chance to reset them all if you steal.

you could also use a different utillity settup lets say:
signet of malice(signet),
scorpion wire(trick),
ambush(trap),
shadow refuge(deception).
now there is a 80% chance that one of these skills will reset if you steal.

if you use the last example and add basilisk venom as your elite there is a 100% chance one of those 5 skills is going to reset if you steal.

hope this made it more clear. this is the behavour in pve i dont know if its any different in pvp.

And it has a chance to do absolutely nothing.
20% Chance to reset Venoms? (Nope, next one!)
20% Chance to reset Deceptions? (Nope, didn’t proc, next one!)
20% Chance to reset Traps? (LOL Nope, didn’t proc, try again!)
20% Chance to reset Signets… (AND ITS OUT OF THE PARK, NONE OF EM PROCCED, TRY AGAIN NEXT TIME SUCKA!)

You forgot tricks, haste,roll for innitiative and such. If you play realy mixed build you will have 100% chance to recharge something…. but there is chance that lets say 2/5 your abilites arent even on CD as you mostly start battles with steal. or use it early battle most of time.

Robotface.8927:

The reason I say master of deception and potent poison does not work is after I selected those two traits it did not effect their duration and cool down timers. The duration on spider venom did not increase and when I mouse over hide in shadows in the toolbar it still says that the cool down time is 30sec.

Why would deception decrease Hide in Shadows?

Improvisation works, it’s just a really stupid RNG based mechanic that makes it useless majority of the time. They should replace it with something else.

Stin.9781:

You forgot tricks, haste,roll for innitiative and such. If you play realy mixed build you will have 100% chance to recharge something…. but there is chance that lets say 2/5 your abilites arent even on CD as you mostly start battles with steal. or use it early battle most of time.

Edit: After testing it, it seems that it effectively always recharge skills of one type, instead of a flat 20% chance to work

Still, IMO, this feat is totally worthless.

Robotface.8927:

The reason I say master of deception and potent poison does not work is after I selected those two traits it did not effect their duration and cool down timers. The duration on spider venom did not increase and when I mouse over hide in shadows in the toolbar it still says that the cool down time is 30sec.

Hide in shadow is a healing skill not a deception. Look at Shadow Refuge or Blinding Powder with that trait on.

Stin.9781:

Daecollo.9578:

Toversletje.9345:

improvisation works in pve…
stealing recharges all skills of ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! type. venoms, signets, traps, tricks, decceptions.

this means that if you have a full signet build… lets say:
signet of malice,
signet of shadows,
signet of agillity,
infiltrator’s signet
and they are all on cooldown, you have a 20% chance to reset them all if you steal.

you could also use a different utillity settup lets say:
signet of malice(signet),
scorpion wire(trick),
ambush(trap),
shadow refuge(deception).
now there is a 80% chance that one of these skills will reset if you steal.

if you use the last example and add basilisk venom as your elite there is a 100% chance one of those 5 skills is going to reset if you steal.

hope this made it more clear. this is the behavour in pve i dont know if its any different in pvp.

And it has a chance to do absolutely nothing.
20% Chance to reset Venoms? (Nope, next one!)
20% Chance to reset Deceptions? (Nope, didn’t proc, next one!)
20% Chance to reset Traps? (LOL Nope, didn’t proc, try again!)
20% Chance to reset Signets… (AND ITS OUT OF THE PARK, NONE OF EM PROCCED, TRY AGAIN NEXT TIME SUCKA!)

You forgot tricks, haste,roll for innitiative and such. If you play realy mixed build you will have 100% chance to recharge something…. but there is chance that lets say 2/5 your abilites arent even on CD as you mostly start battles with steal. or use it early battle most of time.

thanks for telling him. there are 5 different things you can use
Venom
Deception
Traps
Tricks
Signet
so if you make a build with Signet of malice for your heal, basilisk venom for elite, and use a trap, deception and a trick as your 7,8 and 9 utillity skill than there will always be one to recharge when you steal.

those traits work

All of the traits work, although hard to catch is fairly useless. Even potent venoms works, you just can’t increase your condition duration beyond a certain point (80% I think) and its quite easy to hit if you use food and runes along with the passive trait bonus.

Improvisation works, definatly in sPvP.

It’s actually one of my favourite traits and I rarely leave home without it. Double caltrops? You got it!

I’m rather surprised that this thread has not picked up more traction. I think broken traits is an unacceptable state of the game.

I came here to speak about 2 thief traits I know are either broken or wrongly labeled in the tooltip: improvisation and hidden killer. Improvisation works sometimes but there is no indication of a proc rate in the tooltip. But I have confirmed this multiple times using all venoms in my skills bar. And Hidden Killer does not give 100% crit while stealthed. It just doesn’t.

So I think my fellow thieves should know that some builds are just not going to do their jobs. Be wary of what traits are working and adjust your builds accordingly.

I know this is too much to ask but it would be nice if Anet gave us a list of traits that are know to be dysfunctional and give us a time frame for their repair.

Hidden Killer gives 3s of 100% crit when you stealth, and the buff is removed when you exit stealth. But the buff isn’t refreshed when you stack more stealth so a Shadow Refuge (most common case) will lose the 100% chance effect even before the red ring on the ground disapears.

stof.9341:

Hidden Killer gives 3s of 100% crit when you stealth, and the buff is removed when you exit stealth. But the buff isn’t refreshed when you stack more stealth so a Shadow Refuge (most common case) will lose the 100% chance effect even before the red ring on the ground disapears.

This. Im not sure if its 3 or 4 when traited or even 5 in case of shadow trap, but this is the case, hiden killer works only for first 3-5 seconds of stealth which is the original stealth time, not the time you get by stacking stealth.