Hello, long time thief player with thousands of hours play, both in pvp and pve. I wanted to talk about the thief and its meta, what DD brought to thief, what it could have been and why dodges might have been a bad idea.
1st thief is an amazing fun class, the play style is completely different than any other, the ability to spam skills, go in and out of fights is very unique, many players dont agree with this play style, but thats why there are warriors and guards for them
But its hard to balance for PvE/PvP due to its uniqueness. but there is a way!
The best new mechanic that no one is talking about or added detail to.
Physical Skill, Impact Strike!
This skill is very unquie and has some of the highest potential in a skill Ive seen in ALL gw2 history.
Why? b.c of its 1>2>3 Combo, this was something GW1 did for the assassin alot, it was a good mechanic in gw1, but in gw2 its AMAZING. It is Amazing for 1 reason Balancing PvP and PvE is hard to balance we all know and we know PvP is balanced before PvE.
Having more Skill with 1>2>3 (or 1>2 and even 1>2>3>4) is so easy to balance, here is why, In PvP getting 2 hits, 3 hits and 4hits in a row with 1 skill is hard to do, with blinds, blocks, dodges, player moveing, teleporting, traits proc’ing, invuls etc.. etc.. its almost impossible without a good set up to pull off 3-4 hit combos for a Skill WITH and Animation, BUT in PvE its not.
In PvE you can have 3-4 hit combos from 1 skill hit almost everytime, But not so much in pvp.
Skill Ideas
Weak Spots: 1>2>3 3rd hit puts Debuff on the Mob, Increasing all sources of damage by 15% for 10sec.
Shinning Blade: 1>2>3 Throw Reflectiing Shurikens, if all hits for the next 5sec, your crits deal 50% more damage and Blinds target for 5sec
Fake out: 1>2, 1st hit Blinds target 5sec, 2hit teleports behind giving Reveal Debuff and striking for Huge damage
Fatality 1>2>3>4, A brutal set of hits if all connects it removes the Break bar (or daze 3sec), granting 5 allies Quickness for 5sec
These are just small ideas. I feel that the 1>2>3 mechanic could really add more to the thief, giving it a better balance in PvP and PvE, making it more useful and wanted but at the same time not forcing players to Need it or want it.