Can someone explain to me why this supposed “perma” stealth is op? I play every thief spec. And being able to stealth a lot has really only bonus: annoyance. The spec is laughable for zergs, it’s inefficient for tpvp/spvp(node capping lol), and doesn’t have a whole lot of evasion(talking typical 0/30/30/10 build). There ARE counters to this “perma” stealth. It’s not hard to disrupt this stealth spamming: stand in the powder so they hit you with heart seeker, interrupt them, knock them out, fear them out,etc. Stealth is about the only defense this spec has. No stability, no ridiculous evasion spam, little to none condition clearing(Shadow’s embrace looking like it will being ineffective with short duration stealth). When a thief sits in stealth, they aren’t killing anything. Its only good at small scale roaming. And even then it is outclassed by other professions.
It all boils down to one thing to me: people are just annoyed by it. A dodging player who knows how to keep his back away from you sure as hell already makes it a pain to get a good backstab in with only 4-5 seconds to position behind someone’s back(Excluding you do a steal/shadowstep backstab, in which case time is not of an essence).
So does all it take is a whining population to nerf something that’s marginally annoying? Play a level 80 thief for a day or two. You’ll realize how ineffective you can make other thieves vs you in the short windows they have to get at your back in stealth.
I laugh at this idea that s/d evasion spam is somehow more talented/honorable. Spamming my dodge key is a lot easier than stealth spam. And on top of that, the stealth spam with s/d is still really easy. An on command shadow return on top of that. I realize s/d is getting nerfed, but it is not getting a ground breaking nerf like d/p.
After all is said and done, people will kitten about all the d/d thieves running around and still staying in stealth. But somehow, d/p stealth is this shunned idea. I can’t find a good argument anywhere for it. Sound like a bunch of women not using logic. In fact, it’s a little easier to stay in stealth(d/d) with pve mobs and groups of players with their pets/illusions.
The only way to sustain very long durations with JUST heartseeker/black powder combo is to pan your camera and get 4 heart seekers off(not easy to do continuously). If you can’t stop a thief doing that while he can’t even see you coming because of your over-head camera angle, you really are bad.
If you really are obsessed with stopping stealth duration with that trait, try a small change first. 2 initiative when entering stealth, 1 initiative returned while already in stealth.
Let the flaming begin by a bunch of fanboy s/d elitists(a far more effective and unbalanced build when played correctly) and people who don’t have a clue about countering stealth.