This isn’t a QQ about the recent patch; most of the changes I was either happy or mostly neutral about. However, I want to point out there are still some elements of the class that are objectively off, and I have no idea why they haven’t been addressed yet. In no particular order, here they are:
1. Last Refuge cooldown reduction was pointless. The major problem with this trait is that it attempts to utilize Stealth in a defensive manner when that’s not really how Stealth works. It doesn’t even drop aggro anymore! So, all that really happens is that you get the revealed debuff at inopportune times. It’s a liability more than it’s a boon, and you don’t even have the choice of not taking it if you want to spec in Shadow Arts. It’s a neat idea, but at the very least it needs to be a 10-pointer that you can choose not to have if you’re, you know, good.
2. Speaking of that, Stealth needs to drop or at least reduce aggro. I have not once heard a single justification for this change that made even the tiniest amount of sense. Thieves are melee oriented and extremely squishy with no real forms of attrition or aggro deflection; they need away to escape dangerous situations in PvE.
3. The Downed State remains wretched in solo PvE, much worse than any other class I’ve played, and thieves are supposed to be slippery. What is the point of Smoke Bomb, exactly? Again, it’s the same problem as above – Stealth doesn’t really work as a defensive tool, it’s designed as an offensive one due to PvP. You need to find a way to make it work both ways. It could work more like Shadow Refuge, or it should drop aggro and give you enough time to escape the LoS of your enemies. The sneak attack on the #1 should also get buffed so that you get more offensive benefit from using it.
4. MH Pistol is still bad. The Ricochet buff was badly needed and helps, but the biggest problem, especially with P/P, is the weakness of Vital Shot causing excessive resource dependency for DPS and consequently ruining the utility of the set. At the very least, Vital Shot needs a .1-.2 sec aftercast reduction, which I’m surprised and disheartened it didn’t get in this patch. Sneak Attack should have had a bleed duration increase like the Ripper did. The Pistol matery trait should be brought back to 5% so it matches similar traits. That was a poor fix.
5. Venoms seem to be balanced around Venom Share, and are therefore way too weak without it. Venoms need to be buffed substantially, then Venom Share needs to be reworked to decrease their potency when shared across multiple people.
6. Support in general is lacking. One thing in particular I feel is bizarrely missing is something like a Party MF boost trait or utility. Thief support should include more than Venom sharing and the occasional SR.
Those are the biggest issues I can think of, but I’m sure there are smaller ones littered throughout that really should be addressed as well.
(edited by Einlanzer.1627)