Guild Wars 2

Do any other classes by this point really have nearly so bad a downed state as the Thief?
I’ve known for a while that the #3 skill was terrible for literally anything but stopping a stomp in PvP (compare that to the Warrior or Ranger’s self rez), and the #1 attack does terrible damage. But I’ve recently realized just how bad the #2 is as well. First of all, the only thing it’ll do for you AT ALL in PvE is get you out of a boss’ AoE so you take a little less damage (you don’t even move far). But in PvP, at least a quarter of the time it fails to even let me avoid a stomp.
Why? Because one of two things will usually happen; either the botched up downed-state camera will prevent me from targeting a spot on the ground far enough away in time (since it has a very low range, leaving a somewhat small viable target between being too close to actually avoid the stomp and too far to successfully trigger it), or it will just straight up fail to move me where it should have because I get stuck on a bump in the terrain and I get stomped anyway.
These abilities seriously need to be looked at.

the problem is that the downed state for thieves is very polarized. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in PvP and WvW, but in PvE it is near useless. Anet is a lot less willing to separate skills for PvE and PvP this time around, so it will likely just be left alone, or made even better than it is for pvp by any PvE buffs, which will probably lead to nerfs making it even more useless for PvE and hurting PvP and WvW as well.

It’s not so bad once you get used to it. Practice. Well, ok, try not to practice, but totally practice when you get the chance to. But really, try to use the rest of your stuff to avoid getting to practice. That would be best.

3 got a big hit with the patch that made mobs remember you once you come out of stealth. Your issues with 2 sound like you just need more time with it.

1 should one shot every enemy it bounces to. It’s in the 1 slot, so it should be The One.

The teleport is great in many situations, I’ve never had it fail, the bouncing dagger isn’t that bad either (though I accept its damage is rather poor) I’ve scored a few rallys from it just bouncing off and hitting something that subsequently dies.

The big issue is smoke bomb, 2 seconds of stealth that you can’t use to escape (unless the teleport is off cooldown) is next to useless in PvP situations and in PvE with the removal of agro dropping its completely useless there also.

In Beta the Teleport used to be a lot cooler, at least it could move you through obstacles and alot further than it does now. The drawback was it moved you in a more or less random direction and you might just end up in a bad place. Mostly it got changed, though, because people were screaming about how overpowered it was. The old TP made our downed state usable in PvE; anymore it’s pretty much worthless.

There are some issues for sure.

-#1 is only useful if your target is near death already and it has a chained effect that only works with #3, which is bizarre. The stealth is short already and using #1 immediately breaks it and you’re unlikely to get a second shot at the chain, which means any other use of #3 is out. I don’t think I’ve ever used the chain except by accident.

-#2 teleport is nice, but the targeting issue is a real problem. If you’re in terrain that has any sort of ripple, hill, dips, you’re unlikely to be able to use the teleport at its maximum range and unlikely to teleport to any real effect. Getting out of a static AoE is nice, but if the enemy then takes 3 steps to finish you off, I don’t much see the point of doing it. It works best in group situations where someone else picks up the aggro or where you have the time to teleport out of line of sight and then stealth with #3. But with the targeting issues, that’s fairly rare and if you’ve given your target a condition, its also unlikely to work without someone to pick up the aggro (see 3 below).

-#3 is essentially useless unless there are many other factors in your favor. It used to be mainly to break aggro. But that rarely works now that they fixed the aggression problem where thieves would stealth and the target would runaway and reset. Since it doesn’t break aggro, without someone else to pick it up, it has no point. Oh I guess there’s the chain with #1, for what that’s worth.

Jack of Tears.9458:

Mostly it got changed, though, because people were screaming about how overpowered it was.

Is there anything about the thief that hasn’t been nerfed all to heck?

I care little about the downed state since I rather not to go down in the first place.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

I care little about the downed state since I rather not to go down in the first place.

“I do not care for it, therefore I am perfectly happy for it to be totally inadequate.”

Something’s not right there.

Grimwolf.7163:

Do any other classes by this point really have nearly so bad a downed state as the Thief?
I’ve known for a while that the #3 skill was terrible for literally anything but stopping a stomp in PvP (compare that to the Warrior or Ranger’s self rez), and the #1 attack does terrible damage. But I’ve recently realized just how bad the #2 is as well. First of all, the only thing it’ll do for you AT ALL in PvE is get you out of a boss’ AoE so you take a little less damage (you don’t even move far). But in PvP, at least a quarter of the time it fails to even let me avoid a stomp.
Why? Because one of two things will usually happen; either the botched up downed-state camera will prevent me from targeting a spot on the ground far enough away in time (since it has a very low range, leaving a somewhat small viable target between being too close to actually avoid the stomp and too far to successfully trigger it), or it will just straight up fail to move me where it should have because I get stuck on a bump in the terrain and I get stomped anyway.
These abilities seriously need to be looked at.

PvP Wise, I literally can’t remember a single time where a rock or other terrain feature prevented me teleporting the correct distance – though the camera is occasionally an issue.

It’s one of the strongest downed states in game for pvp. Damage is ridiculous and you can easily prevent two stomps.. So unless they have different downed abilities between pve and pvp I think your outa luck

I think that it’s an absolutely horrid downed state, although it depends on the situation. If you have a cloud of allies nearby, then you can port to them and likely be rez’d. However, in just about every other circumstance, I pretty much go grab a snack and wait to see how long it’ll be before the enemy realizes they can stomp me without any resistance whatsoever. I just hate it.

On the other hand, I love the mesmer’s downed state. With a powerful autoattack that stacks confusion on your opponent, a clone that does the same, and, if you survive long enough, an insanely powerful phantasm, they have so much going for them.

Yeah being situational the port can be well placed and save your bacon from lazy opponents. Bring a pet or illusion into the frey and their auto targeting will sniff you out however, and that’s a bummer. It can work however not all down state actions are awesome. Ele’s mist form in sPvP is pointless and I evil laugh when I see it where as in WvW it can be pretty good. The self res is about the best.

Warriors have it pretty bad, their skill 3 makes it so they rally then die.
Unless traited then its OP.

Thief downed state is the worst in PvE right now, is almost a sure death in most case wen you are soloing. That is one of the several reasons why new thieves have so bad times leveling up. I hope anet at least split the downed state betwen pvp/wvw and pve.

Update for the devs.

With an 80 of every class except Engineer/Ele, I’ve gotta say that thief has one of my favorite downed states of the bunch in PvE. #2 is unbelievably useful for getting out of AoE circles, teleporting near allies so that they can rez you, and getting behind corners. #1 bounces so you can easily tag as many things as possible to help you rally when your teammates kill something. #3 is utter garbage, but oh well. That’s not at all uncommon for downed skills.

It does kinda suck for soloing, but how often are you getting downed while soloing? Especially as a thief with a million tricks for getting away? Who cares? Maybe your 500 hours played thief would have died 3 times less with a better solo downed skillset. It doesn’t matter.

As others have said, it’s pretty good in PvP but it’s easily the worst downed set in the game for solo play. Along with the Thief’s tendency to go down more easily than other professions, this makes them exceedingly difficult and frustrating to play at low levels in particular.

Smoke Bomb should really last longer in PvE and drop aggro.

i like it. its very good in pvp.
pve? i dont care :P

I love the teleport in PvE. It is dramatically useful, allowing you to go from the likely very deadly area you’re in, to a safe area on top of the rest of your party to be revived easily. It frequently means the difference between being back up or being killed, and at the very least saves your party from a ton of damage they would have taken trying to get your kitten back up. Mind you, I wish it would let me go into tower portals in WvW, bloody Elementalist run. /:

Smoke Bomb however… Yeah, it used to be amazing for PvE when it could drop combat so I could get back up easily. Now its just kind of useless. /:

Pfft! Engineer’s down state wins!!!! We get to pull enemies to us so they can finish us faster!!

Agreed, but as i dont like no.1 skills Idc for it in general.
no.2 somehow doesnt even let me enter my tower in WvW which sucks compared to Elementalists that fly in =’[

no.3 hmmmmm usefull in PVP, completely useless in pve

no.4 well obvious…..

trait 1 is AMAZING in PVE i NEVER die. almost never anyway. skill 2 is good if it were longer ranged….skill 3 should be longer invis OR summon thief. if these happen i think its fair and balanced IMO

Try the down state for Guardian. #1 just pulses some damage onto the enemy, #2 just pushes enemies back, and #3 puts down a really subpar signet to heal you that can easily be outdamaged.