Guild Wars 2

Its most likely we will get rifle for HOT, but I’m trying to get my head around the fact that thief’s are one of the squishes classes which would mean itl will have to have alot of evades or knockbacks’ just to survive. Any thoughts on how how a thief will survive with rifle cause I just don’t see it working

I don’t see how it’ll be hard to imagine it working, really. Just think how the standard longbow Ranger can manage to stay alive while running full berserker’s gear… but now, give them loads of stealth. If anything, I think a rifle Thief would have an even easier time of it than a pewpew Ranger, and probably have to sacrifice some sustained damage to balance them out.

Thief shortbow probably gives a good baseline for how resilient they can be at range, with its one evasion skill (#3) and mobility skill (#5) being more than enough. There’s pistol too, to a lesser extent, with an immobilize on #2 that can be spammed to kite a single target. Unless the Thief’s elite specialization changes their resource system entirely to be cooldown-based, any evasion/CC skills they might get would have no cooldown as well (and so knockbacks are pretty much a no-go, since it would be a one-skill CC chain).
You’d probably have to look at their pistol skills to get an idea of where they’d go with a rifle. Immobilize/cripple on a skill, probably vulnerability or maybe fury off something… daze/blind is another possibility, though the daze would need to be short like on Head Shot unless it also had a cast time, because of the no-cooldowns problem.

Personally, I’d expect them to turn into something of a sniper, with a way to gain stealth, some mobility-impairing effects, and a charged high-damage shot kinda like the Warrior’s Kill Shot. I don’t know how much they’d want to let Thieves venture into territory already claimed by longbow Ranger and rifle Warrior, though.

Lb pew pew ranger is also good cuz of its offset synergy like greatsword to make it more durable. A rifle thief with initiative mechanic would prbl have to relay more on the rifle for both pew pew and survival, so im guessing u could be even more offensive or cc with it.

On the other hand i wouldnt say no to torch offhand, could open up more combos in xcontent than what rifle could

Well it would have to have very strong cc/ evasion skills or a good stealth skill to gain distance between you and the mob/player, take SW for example, the mobs there have night damage and very high condition damage pluss most are extremely fast like the terra’s .

I always liked the scout class from snowball mayhem.
-Charged shot, dealing more damage, the longer you aim
-volley shot, firing unaimed projectiles in a cone pattern. Good to fire into a crowd or to execute immobilized people on close range.

Just to name two great skills.

That being said, I’d also love to get a torch.

if we get a rifle the only role for us is to be snipers
so mainly 1 targeted and not aoe
huge dmg depend on the range
the range give the ability to miss so the further you are the chance to miss are higher but the dmg is higher either
the longer you are not moving dmg will be higher
maybe 1 skill with stealth (as we got evade with sb and s/d)
maybe even the longer you press the botton skill (charge) the more initiative you use and the more dmg you do

it can be fun idea probably with 1200 range and not 1500

also the stealth skill can be cc kd etc if the rifle wont get much stealth abilities like d/p

From the looks of the mesmer’s elite spec which is nothing ground breaking just an extension of the existing, it will most likely be a rifle (though I hope a GS) for the thief and the thief will remain either dependent on stealth or on evades to survive… Eh, o well, silly of me to hope for anything else really.

Zero Day.2594:

From the looks of the mesmer’s elite spec which is nothing ground breaking just an extension of the existing…

There’s been plenty of Rifle threads but this point is bugging me also. I expect the specializations to turn a class into something elite and focused but a rifle sounds so bland if it’s just a longer pistol and so out of the range of what a Thief should be if it’s more of a sniper roll out. I had hopes of a staff or unarmed but I don’t see that happening. On your point about the mesmer elite spec, it does simply look like a patch update of what they already have but I suppose I just don’t know enough about Mesmers.

I hope if it’s rifle that it’s medium-high sustained damage with good utility so you can maintain pressure and save initiative for actual counterplay instead of the the initiative dump that is P/P.

kash.9213:

Zero Day.2594:

From the looks of the mesmer’s elite spec which is nothing ground breaking just an extension of the existing…

There’s been plenty of Rifle threads but this point is bugging me also. I expect the specializations to turn a class into something elite and focused but a rifle sounds so bland if it’s just a longer pistol and so out of the range of what a Thief should be if it’s more of a sniper roll out. I had hopes of a staff or unarmed but I don’t see that happening. On your point about the mesmer elite spec, it does simply look like a patch update of what they already have but I suppose I just don’t know enough about Mesmers.

Yeah, I probably should have noted too, I don’t play mesmer either – just by the video and the description it doesn’t seem like much of a change, I guess i will go over and lurk on the mesmer forums for a bit….

Update: People seem to be cheery as ever on the mesmer forums… Maybe it’s because their elite spec has just been posted, or maybe it’s because of the skill resets that presumably will be able to do… But no one seems to think or given thought to that it’s just an extension… Not like “HOLLY kitten MY MESMER JUST BECAME OPTIMUS PRIME” – I guess I have high expectations.

I think they’re going to let us dual wield rifles. I mean, come on, what person rhymes with Master Thief? HL3 confirmed.

all i can think of is the rifle would get some sort of a trap mechanic that would deal some damage and stealth us when someone tripped it, kind of like a…….. stealth claymore, that and probably something like a snipe button, could do something cool like “hit a foe, and gain evaision or vigor for x ammount of time”

Frankly I think that a rifle thief is a terrible idea. One of our most important abilities, steal, puts you right in melee. Unless of course the new specialization will change this mechanic, it will definitely do more harm in my opinion. Frankly I’d rather see a specialization that makes them more of a swashbuckler (Axe.. Or possibly O-h Sword) possibly trading full on BERSEKER for a more melee competent.. Tankish kind of thing. Because honestly it seems like 90-100% of the builds that are for thieves are for ripping your opponent apart. Granted main hand sword is kinda like that, but adding in a rifle may just completely hurt the purpose of a longbow ranger.

Gallagher.1630:

Frankly I think that a rifle thief is a terrible idea. One of our most important abilities, steal, puts you right in melee. Unless of course the new specialization will change this mechanic, it will definitely do more harm in my opinion. Frankly I’d rather see a specialization that makes them more of a swashbuckler (Axe.. Or possibly O-h Sword) possibly trading full on BERSEKER for a more melee competent.. Tankish kind of thing. Because honestly it seems like 90-100% of the builds that are for thieves are for ripping your opponent apart. Granted main hand sword is kinda like that, but adding in a rifle may just completely hurt the purpose of a longbow ranger.

Thief specialization will be something like assassin so forget this “Rifle is not thief” or “steal” bull because it will be a different class in essence

I’m just saying that because thiefs are so squishy the damage will have to be high or each will will have to have some sort of cc or evasion some thing in those lines , I just don’t want it to be the same as engineer or ranger or itl be a pointless class.

Jio Derako.7638:

I don’t see how it’ll be hard to imagine it working, really. Just think how the standard longbow Ranger can manage to stay alive while running full berserker’s gear… but now, give them loads of stealth. If anything, I think a rifle Thief would have an even easier time of it than a pewpew Ranger, and probably have to sacrifice some sustained damage to balance them out.

Thief shortbow probably gives a good baseline for how resilient they can be at range, with its one evasion skill (#3) and mobility skill (#5) being more than enough. There’s pistol too, to a lesser extent, with an immobilize on #2 that can be spammed to kite a single target. Unless the Thief’s elite specialization changes their resource system entirely to be cooldown-based, any evasion/CC skills they might get would have no cooldown as well (and so knockbacks are pretty much a no-go, since it would be a one-skill CC chain).
You’d probably have to look at their pistol skills to get an idea of where they’d go with a rifle. Immobilize/cripple on a skill, probably vulnerability or maybe fury off something… daze/blind is another possibility, though the daze would need to be short like on Head Shot unless it also had a cast time, because of the no-cooldowns problem.

Personally, I’d expect them to turn into something of a sniper, with a way to gain stealth, some mobility-impairing effects, and a charged high-damage shot kinda like the Warrior’s Kill Shot. I don’t know how much they’d want to let Thieves venture into territory already claimed by longbow Ranger and rifle Warrior, though.

Signet of Stone, that’s how pewpew Rangers survive.

BFMV.3198:

Gallagher.1630:

Frankly I think that a rifle thief is a terrible idea. One of our most important abilities, steal, puts you right in melee. Unless of course the new specialization will change this mechanic, it will definitely do more harm in my opinion. Frankly I’d rather see a specialization that makes them more of a swashbuckler (Axe.. Or possibly O-h Sword) possibly trading full on BERSEKER for a more melee competent.. Tankish kind of thing. Because honestly it seems like 90-100% of the builds that are for thieves are for ripping your opponent apart. Granted main hand sword is kinda like that, but adding in a rifle may just completely hurt the purpose of a longbow ranger.

Thief specialization will be something like assassin so forget this “Rifle is not thief” or “steal” bull because it will be a different class in essence

How will it be a different class? Aren’t Rangers still messing around with pets as a Druid? And, the Chronomancer doesn’t seem all that far removed from the base Mesmer, it just seems like a nice patch to that class.

kash.9213:

BFMV.3198:

Gallagher.1630:

Frankly I think that a rifle thief is a terrible idea. One of our most important abilities, steal, puts you right in melee. Unless of course the new specialization will change this mechanic, it will definitely do more harm in my opinion. Frankly I’d rather see a specialization that makes them more of a swashbuckler (Axe.. Or possibly O-h Sword) possibly trading full on BERSEKER for a more melee competent.. Tankish kind of thing. Because honestly it seems like 90-100% of the builds that are for thieves are for ripping your opponent apart. Granted main hand sword is kinda like that, but adding in a rifle may just completely hurt the purpose of a longbow ranger.

Thief specialization will be something like assassin so forget this “Rifle is not thief” or “steal” bull because it will be a different class in essence

How will it be a different class? Aren’t Rangers still messing around with pets as a Druid? And, the Chronomancer doesn’t seem all that far removed from the base Mesmer, it just seems like a nice patch to that class.

Pretty sure that’s just for hype-building, a sales pitch, at least based on the Chronomancer.

It’s confirmed we will have a ‘sniper’ class or is just speculation?
Because maybe we’ll get a sceptre (off-hand) with shadow-stealthy magics or something like that. Something dark, maybe! Who knows.

Igneel.2618:

It’s confirmed we will have a ‘sniper’ class or is just speculation?
Because maybe we’ll get a sceptre (off-hand) with shadow-stealthy magics or something like that. Something dark, maybe! Who knows.

Speculation. :P

Personally I want a greatsword.

I don’t care what it is, as long as there’s interesting and viable playstyles that can be gained from it. A strong set of standard Rifle skills might be viable, but I wouldn’t find it interesting. Give whatever weapon it is a proper Thief-y/shadow-y twist so it and then I’ll be happy.

Well the interesting thing about elite specialization is whether they have synergy with other trait lines without having to use said weapon.

Especially if its Rifle, I see that as a WvW weapon for the most part. Personally Rifle just sounds bleh to me, but thats me.

I don’t really see why everyone is assuming it’ll be a sniper rifle. Rifle itself seems pretty likely, but it just seems like everyone is imagining Kill Shot from stealth, which just doesn’t sound that reasonable to me. Rifle could be fun with a more action-oriented moveset. More Ghost in the Shell and Matrix than Enemy at the Gates. Off the top of my head:

1- Chain. Shoot[basic damaging attack], Double-tap[quick higher-damage attack], Launch Charge[slow arcing-projectile attack dealing high damage and leaving a short combo field like fire or poison]
Stealth- Clobber[damage and knockback target with rifle butt, possibly apply confusion]

2- Ice Bullet[inflict chill and blind]

3- Chain. Action Shot[perform an evasive roll while shooting quickly], HE Charge[slow attack that does high damage and blows out the target plus enemies in a small radius. Blast finisher.]

4- Reckless Leap[Leap at the target for high damage, blinding them. If you hit, you are knocked down briefly and gain stealth. Leap finisher.]

5- Flare[Ground-targeted large light field. Enemies cannot be stealthed within the field and are inflicted with weakness; allies cannot be blinded and gain fury.]

YuiRS.8129:

Jio Derako.7638:

I don’t see how it’ll be hard to imagine it working, really. Just think how the standard longbow Ranger can manage to stay alive while running full berserker’s gear… but now, give them loads of stealth. If anything, I think a rifle Thief would have an even easier time of it than a pewpew Ranger, and probably have to sacrifice some sustained damage to balance them out.

Thief shortbow probably gives a good baseline for how resilient they can be at range, with its one evasion skill (#3) and mobility skill (#5) being more than enough. There’s pistol too, to a lesser extent, with an immobilize on #2 that can be spammed to kite a single target. Unless the Thief’s elite specialization changes their resource system entirely to be cooldown-based, any evasion/CC skills they might get would have no cooldown as well (and so knockbacks are pretty much a no-go, since it would be a one-skill CC chain).
You’d probably have to look at their pistol skills to get an idea of where they’d go with a rifle. Immobilize/cripple on a skill, probably vulnerability or maybe fury off something… daze/blind is another possibility, though the daze would need to be short like on Head Shot unless it also had a cast time, because of the no-cooldowns problem.

Personally, I’d expect them to turn into something of a sniper, with a way to gain stealth, some mobility-impairing effects, and a charged high-damage shot kinda like the Warrior’s Kill Shot. I don’t know how much they’d want to let Thieves venture into territory already claimed by longbow Ranger and rifle Warrior, though.

Signet of Stone, that’s how pewpew Rangers survive.

That’s the thing, though, Signet of Stone is definitely a good skill for them defensively, but Thief can be doing the same role already simply by going stealth for pretty much as long as they please. (they’ll also get 50% damage reduction in stealth now, if they like.) What I’m trying to say here is that Thieves already have the tools needed to keep themselves safe, so giving them a weapon with little-to-no defensive options in its skills wouldn’t mean they’d roll over and die if they got in a fight.

The real question is will we have weopen swap or will we be locked in into one weopen for example the engineer . If so then we only have a small way to gain stealth unless the rifle skills have some form of stealth build into them. I have a feeling stealth wont exist with the new specialisation. I reckon itl be all knockbacks or the new slow .

If it’s added, it’ll prolly be an alt to the secondary SB. I’m sure some would build around it though… but I don’t see how it could be anything more than a fallback weapon, just prolly more single target focused compared to the sb aoe’s /me flicks daggers out and pities the foo

Igneel.2618:

It’s confirmed we will have a ‘sniper’ class or is just speculation?
Because maybe we’ll get a sceptre (off-hand) with shadow-stealthy magics or something like that. Something dark, maybe! Who knows.

It’s purely speculation. It’s just that the rifle has been asked for since the release, people don’t want to go Engineer or Warrior and want to fulfill their commando dreams despite the high incompatibility in gameplay and the immense level of toxicity from most of the suggested skillsets. I’d be happy with a simple pistols rehaul.

I want powerful explosive microfusion ammo that aoe knockdowns. That’ll handle my cc survival needz.

YuiRS.8129:

Signet of Stone, that’s how pewpew Rangers survive.

It lasts for 6s out of every 80s, its not exactly god-mode.

Zero Day.2594:

Personally I want a greatsword.

Necro is getting a Greatsword so I doubt they will double up and the GS doesn’t fit thematically, really.

I bet it isn’t rifle, it just makes no sense for the thief. It will be another melee weapon, perhaps a mace MH or even a sword OH. The rogue archetype always ends up with a mace.

If they ever fix P/P, I could go for a Rifle and P/P thief. Force Recon ftw.

Black Frog.9274:

If they ever fix P/P, I could go for a Rifle and P/P thief. Force Recon ftw.

Bullet Hell Thief. And folk wonder why I said they should grab some S.S.H and Touhou Project soundtracks …

Black Frog.9274:

If they ever fix P/P, I could go for a Rifle and P/P thief. Force Recon ftw.

I think they’re tryi g to shoehorn P/P into a condi role though with the torment on interrupt. If that stays, you could get confusion/poison on steal, bleed on auto, torment on interrupt, and you wouldn’t need to dump initiative into unload.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Zero Day.2594:

Personally I want a greatsword.

Necro is getting a Greatsword so I doubt they will double up and the GS doesn’t fit thematically, really.

Everyone is under the assumption that if one class got a weapon then no other class can get the same weapon. As far as I can recall, they haven’t explicitly said so. It makes as much sense as a sword (which we already have, and hey look it works!), a torch (hope not though), or even the rifle (which will probably be the least game changing).

UKADAM.3910:

The real question is will we have weopen swap or will we be locked in into one weopen for example the engineer . If so then we only have a small way to gain stealth unless the rifle skills have some form of stealth build into them. I have a feeling stealth wont exist with the new specialisation. I reckon itl be all knockbacks or the new slow .

That would be interesting, a specialization that removes weapon-swapping… I don’t think they’d do anything quite so big, but it’s a possibility, for sure (or even giving weapon swaps to Engineers or Elementalists).

I really doubt they would remove stealth from Thief, however. Remember here, the elite specialization will give us one new traitline, which will also grant changes to weapon availability and potentially change the class’s mechanics. You will still have access to your core specializations/traitlines however – your choice of two of them – and in the Thief’s case, multiples of those traitlines still contain traits that deal with stealth. Removing stealth with the elite specialization would be a detriment to the class as a whole, since it would also remove/nullify numerous existing traits and pretty much the entirety of the Shadow Arts line.

It would, but if there removed weopen swap with the new spec, the skills and utilities would have to have alot of survivability and I hope it doesn’t have to rely on stealth. If we do get rifle I hope we get a skill like rangers barrage, a rain of bullets xD. The new trait line I have no idea what Anet could make of it haha, maybe a trait line that focuses on toughness and reflects /blocks. Maybe have some form of inflicting chill and slow .

If anything I hope rifle thief doesn’t look anything like rifle engineer.

Wow a thief with a sniper would be amazing!

How about instead of a sniper thief, the rifle skills would be for close combat? Like a commando going close with guns blazing with the rifle? Giving us a lot of dodges and such instead of being static because being a long range sniper.

We will only accept bayonets!!

Rifle:
1500 Range
Attacking from stealth apply Weakness for a short duration.

1. Shoot at your foe, successive attacks add damage.
2. Take Aim for 3s, shoot your foe with an unblockable bullet for very strong damage.
3. Stab your foe with the pipe of your rifle, followed up with a charged shot that pushes your foe back a short distance.
4. Stealth and gain superspeed for 2 seconds.
5. Focus for 5s, instantly consume remaining innitiative, every second you regain 2 innitiative.

Well I thought if Thief would be getting Rifles then they’d be getting Trap Utilities, but with the Dragonhunter utilizing them I’m left wondering what utilities could work with a Rifle Thief?

I reckon reflects and speed utilities. Hopefully some form of causing chill and the new slow :P, slow would fit rifle. I hope no more traps , there fun but not viable.

Mar.4839:

Well I thought if Thief would be getting Rifles then they’d be getting Trap Utilities, but with the Dragonhunter utilizing them I’m left wondering what utilities could work with a Rifle Thief?

Gun Turrets. That’s why they nerfed Engi to pre-nerf Thief? :P

Needs to be unique though so Cluster Bomb, Machine Gun and Poison Grenade Turrets…. :s I’m scaring myself now so I’ll stahp.

thief is already extremely mobile so i can see them adding some long ranged more stationary sniper like thing. combined with stealth i think it could be pretty cool

Well…
Bright side is we’re not the ones getting traps as utilities. The not so bright side is that the DRAGONHUNTER didn’t really seem awesome, even less so then the Chronomancer – which didn’t really impress me either (o well, high expectations I guess), so…. not really looking forward to the thief’s elite spec reveal – we’re either going to get a rifle with a dumb name or a torch with a dumb name. Getting a rifle with a cool name could happen but probably has a less chance, and a greatsword with a cool name is just not going to happen.

QQ #firstworldproblems

Jio Derako.7638:

YuiRS.8129:

Jio Derako.7638:

I don’t see how it’ll be hard to imagine it working, really. Just think how the standard longbow Ranger can manage to stay alive while running full berserker’s gear… but now, give them loads of stealth. If anything, I think a rifle Thief would have an even easier time of it than a pewpew Ranger, and probably have to sacrifice some sustained damage to balance them out.

Thief shortbow probably gives a good baseline for how resilient they can be at range, with its one evasion skill (#3) and mobility skill (#5) being more than enough. There’s pistol too, to a lesser extent, with an immobilize on #2 that can be spammed to kite a single target. Unless the Thief’s elite specialization changes their resource system entirely to be cooldown-based, any evasion/CC skills they might get would have no cooldown as well (and so knockbacks are pretty much a no-go, since it would be a one-skill CC chain).
You’d probably have to look at their pistol skills to get an idea of where they’d go with a rifle. Immobilize/cripple on a skill, probably vulnerability or maybe fury off something… daze/blind is another possibility, though the daze would need to be short like on Head Shot unless it also had a cast time, because of the no-cooldowns problem.

Personally, I’d expect them to turn into something of a sniper, with a way to gain stealth, some mobility-impairing effects, and a charged high-damage shot kinda like the Warrior’s Kill Shot. I don’t know how much they’d want to let Thieves venture into territory already claimed by longbow Ranger and rifle Warrior, though.

Signet of Stone, that’s how pewpew Rangers survive.

That’s the thing, though, Signet of Stone is definitely a good skill for them defensively, but Thief can be doing the same role already simply by going stealth for pretty much as long as they please. (they’ll also get 50% damage reduction in stealth now, if they like.) What I’m trying to say here is that Thieves already have the tools needed to keep themselves safe, so giving them a weapon with little-to-no defensive options in its skills wouldn’t mean they’d roll over and die if they got in a fight.

You can’t attack while you’re stealthed though. A Thief using P/P is dead meat mostly because that set has no real defenses. Thief is extremely glassy (I aint talking WvW cheese builds right now), so lacking a defensive mechanic may mean they eat one serious hit and keel over. We’ll have to see, but I want the new weapon set to at least have decent in-combat mobility.

Zero Day.2594:

Well…
Bright side is we’re not the ones getting traps as utilities. The not so bright side is that the DRAGONHUNTER didn’t really seem awesome, even less so then the Chronomancer – which didn’t really impress me either (o well, high expectations I guess), so…. not really looking forward to the thief’s elite spec reveal – we’re either going to get a rifle with a dumb name or a torch with a dumb name. Getting a rifle with a cool name could happen but probably has a less chance, and a greatsword with a cool name is just not going to happen.

QQ #firstworldproblems

Why do people care about names so much? And what’s so bad about “Dragonhunter” anyway? You hunt dragons in a game about hunting dragons… it’s alright.

YuiRS.8129:

Zero Day.2594:

Well…
Bright side is we’re not the ones getting traps as utilities. The not so bright side is that the DRAGONHUNTER didn’t really seem awesome, even less so then the Chronomancer – which didn’t really impress me either (o well, high expectations I guess), so…. not really looking forward to the thief’s elite spec reveal – we’re either going to get a rifle with a dumb name or a torch with a dumb name. Getting a rifle with a cool name could happen but probably has a less chance, and a greatsword with a cool name is just not going to happen.

QQ #firstworldproblems

Why do people care about names so much? And what’s so bad about “Dragonhunter” anyway? You hunt dragons in a game about hunting dragons… it’s alright.

We’re all dragon hunters in the game’s sense…. The name is just cheesy sounding, besides that it’s giving to a guardian… Not a deadly menacing warrior of some sort, but a noble knight in shining armor…

They would never make a specialisation that doesn’t fit at least one mode name are just names, thief couldn’t have gotten traps because we already have them and they will be better after traits changes. Since it’s supposed to be a mix, with thief rifle I expect thief+war.

Sagat.3285:

They would never make a specialisation that doesn’t fit at least one mode name are just names, thief couldn’t have gotten traps because we already have them and they will be better after traits changes. Since it’s supposed to be a mix, with thief rifle I expect thief+war.

We’ll get rifle and shouts!

“BOOM! HEADSHOT”-Increase next ranged stealth attack damage by 50%

“NO-SCOOOOOOOOPE”-+50% Crit Chance for 7 seconds

“GET REKT!”-Crit hits apply 1 stack of vulnerability (10 seconds) for the next 10 seconds (no icd). Break stun

“Come at me bro!”- Taunt up to 3 enemies for 3 seconds

I think those would be sufficiently troll-y enough and fitting for the thief.