Guild Wars 2

Compared to the other classes, almost all the thief traits have “set-limits” that are completely lack-luster, and most of the boons are completely temporary compared to the other classes.

With all the nerfs coming to thief, I wonder if they are going to look at our “shared” traits with other classes and realize (Hey… these guys have the same traits, except there traits are horrible compared to the other classes!)

Stealth traits are some of the best ones we have, and with them being nerfed by half by doubling the reveal buff, I wonder what else a thief should be able to do.

Another silly question… why do we have 30% boon duration when we have little to no boons?

Why do almost all our traits have a ridiculous GCDs? Why are half our weapons useless?

Try playing a ranger then come back and answer your own question.

Stooperdale.3560:

Try playing a ranger.

Rangers have some of the best traits in the game, they just have weaker class skills due to being a pet class.

Daecollo.9578:

Compared to the other classes, almost all the thief traits have “set-limits” that are completely lack-luster, and most of the boons are completely temporary compared to the other classes.

With all the nerfs coming to thief, I wonder if they are going to look at our “shared” traits with other classes and realize (Hey… these guys have the same traits, except there traits are horrible compared to the other classes!)

Stealth traits are some of the best ones we have, and with them being nerfed by half by doubling the reveal buff, I wonder what else a thief should be able to do.

Another silly question… why do we have 30% boon duration when we have little to no boons?

Why do almost all our traits have a ridiculous GCDs? Why are half our weapons useless?

No they wont, at leats not for a loooooong time. Time to suck it up

Daecollo.9578:

Stooperdale.3560:

Try playing a ranger.

Rangers have some of the best traits in the game, they just have weaker class skills due to being a pet class.

Not even close. As one example, all of their “On Crit” traits last only 1 second. Small chance for 1 stack of bleeding for 1 second, small chance for 1 stack of Might for 1 second, etc. Full blown useless.

To be honest i don’t see the point to compare those two classes. They both have half of their trait not even worth being picked at all, with half of those only being worth picking in specific builds.

Sundering strike so good.

Another silly question… why do we have 30% boon duration when we have little to no boons?

Swiftness on kill, Swiftness on dodge, Might on dodge, Might on stealth, Regeneration on Stealth, Fury/Might/Swiftness on steal, Vigor on steal, Regeneration on reaching 75% health, Regeneration on bleeding 5 times, Might on venom, Regeneration on heal (HiS), Might on signet, Fury on enemy reaching 50% health

In addition, some runes/sigils give boons, too.

Daecollo.9578:

Another silly question… why do we have 30% boon duration when we have little to no boons?

The better question is:

Why do we have 30% Boon duration in the trait line that provides only short duration boons (2 seconds swiftness, 4 seconds swiftness, 8 seconds Vigor, 10 Seconds Regen, 1 Might stack for 15 seconds) meaning that the 30% provides very little while Trickery provides traits that give 10 seconds of Might + Fury + Swiftness and 15 seconds of Vigor (+2 Boons stolen) to self and allies in an area whilst at the same time reducing the cooldown of the ability that grants these.

Why do almost all our traits have a ridiculous GCDs?

I’m not sure what you mean by this… Other classes have similar traits (Regen when hit and below 75%, some life saving ability at below 25%, ability use when CCed etc) with the same cooldowns.

The only “Thief” ones that are unique are the proc on crit ones (Quickness… 30 second cooldown is amazing for that when compared to Utilities and their downsides) and the when target is below 50% health which at least some of them are pretty powerful effects (Such as Fury)

Why are half our weapons useless?

Uhh… None of our weapons are useless.

Only 2 of the weapon sets are weak, (P/P and SB) but at least Shortbow makes up for it with the utility it provides (It’s the preferred off-set for most Thieves regardless of build or content)

Grimwolf.7163:

Not even close. As one example, all of their “On Crit” traits last only 1 second. Small chance for 1 stack of bleeding for 1 second, small chance for 1 stack of Might for 1 second, etc. Full blown useless.

While some of their traits are bad (The on crit ones) some others are pretty amazing.

Take Natural Vigor for example, a 5 point minor trait that provides a passive 50% endurance regen. Even Zephyr’s Speed with it’s 2 seconds of Quickness on pet swap (20 seconds cooldown base, 60 if a pet dies 15 point minor trait to reduce cooldown by 20%)

Seezungenschleuder.8319:

Another silly question… why do we have 30% boon duration when we have little to no boons?

Swiftness on kill, Swiftness on dodge, Might on dodge, Might on stealth, Regeneration on Stealth, Fury/Might/Swiftness on steal, Vigor on steal, Regeneration on reaching 75% health, Regeneration on bleeding 5 times, Might on venom, Regeneration on heal (HiS), Might on signet, Fury on enemy reaching 50% health

In addition, some runes/sigils give boons, too.

To boons that last 3-10 seconds, and spread around so there is no way you can take all of them.

Swiftness on Kill is worthless, IMO. Swiftness on Dodge is ok, except you waste a dodge roll if you go for it. Fury Might and Swiftness is ok, except its in the wrong tree. Regeneration when bleeding 5 times, again in the wrong tree. Regeneration on heal, sure, if you use that heal. Fury on an enemy reaching 50% health? all this does is help burst builds even more, the Fury lasts next to nothing.

What are you expecting? All boons in one trait line? You have to choose, of course.

Fury on an enemy reaching 50% health? all this does is help burst builds even more, the Fury lasts next to nothing.

It lasts 10 seconds. That is certainly NOT next to nothing. Also, Swiftness on kill is not worthless. It’s a wonderful outdoor PvE trait.

Seezungenschleuder.8319:

What are you expecting? All boons in one trait line? You have to choose, of course.

Fury on an enemy reaching 50% health? all this does is help burst builds even more, the Fury lasts next to nothing.

It lasts 10 seconds. That is certainly NOT next to nothing. Also, Swiftness on kill is not worthless. It’s a wonderful outdoor PvE trait.

Meanwhile, other classes can be perma fury or perma swiftness, or perma regeneration, or perma protection.

You would think the most “mobile.” class would atleast have perma swiftness.

Meanwhile, other classes can be perma fury or perma swiftness, or perma regeneration, or perma protection.

You would think the most “mobile.” class would atleast have perma swiftness.

The thief is not the problem here. Other classes are the problem. Their boons last for too long. That’s why bunker builds are so strong. I expect Anet to shorten the boon duration of other classes to match the thief, not the opposite way.

Seezungenschleuder.8319:

Meanwhile, other classes can be perma fury or perma swiftness, or perma regeneration, or perma protection.

You would think the most “mobile.” class would atleast have perma swiftness.

The thief is not the problem here. Other classes are the problem. Their boons last for too long. That’s why bunker builds are so strong. I expect Anet to shorten the boon duration of other classes to match the thief, not the opposite way.

They said they were NOT going to do that in the videos, they wanted more traits that did that, not less.

Daecollo, stop making threads whenever you get bored.

Edit: I’d be more willing to actually engage this topic if OP provided clear, defined examples of the traits they felt were lackluster, alongside an argument demonstrating how enough of the traits qualify for this moniker to necessitate implying all thief traits are sub-par.

In my view of the traits for thieves, I think that some of the possible options aren’t as well thought out or complete as the others.

For the burst builds for example, one can opt for a few different traits that bolsters the burst. Let’s say you decided to go with the signet buffs in the critical strike trait line. For activating one signet from the traits buffs alone, you get 5 stacks of might, 2 initiative back and signet recharge rate is reduced by 20%. Excellent synergy with the actual signet itself, like ’sin’s signet for some more offense (15% more damage on next 5 attacks) or signet of shadow to blind things, etc. Works really well!

Looking at another possible option, the condition damage thief, I feel like the trait lines don’t offer as much synergy. I like the idea of the venoms (which I guess is technically condition damage) but it feels fragile, gimicky, incomplete when using, and the damage output is nowhere near that of a bleed condition thief, (but oddly there are more traits that rewards applying venoms but not as much for applying bleeds). I really feel like there should be a trait or a skill that lets us take advantage of the various conditions we can rack up w/ venoms (like the mesmer’s phantasmal warlock which does increased damage based on the number of unique conditions on an enemy).

A condition damage thief is a bit flawed in general. They focus more on venoms with little if any bonuses for bleeds, but venoms are all utilitarian with negligible damage.
I’d like to see a trait that drastically boosts the damage of Poison you apply, as well as some kind of bleed-boosting trait.

I totally agree I’d love to see some buffs to bleed condi thieves, ideally along the lines of increased vigor or healing based upon the amount of bleeds racked up (the regen on bleed that we already have is meh at best).

I defn think venom thieves need more work, as it stands now it feels very incomplete. It’s main appeal to me is sharing boons with allies which in the right group can be awesome but that’s too situational.

Have you ever looked at thiefs mechanics. They are one of the best if not the best. What do you do as a thief stealth, right? Well lets give them a skill when they get out of stealth it does more damage if they hit them in the back as well as if you go into the right traits you are gonna always crit coming out of stealth. But not to mention stealthing breaks sight and again if traited correctly can blind as an aoe. So you break sight and if they are gonna hit you they cant. One more thing the heal removes conditions. And not conditions like weakness. Its burning bleeding and poison so the only damaging condition you need to worry about is confusion.

Warrior heal is less than half of their health. And to work good needs to be glass cannoned. Where as a ranger you kind of have to rely on your pet or traps to keep you safe or if your safe its because you went tanky and your pet is the source of you damage. Now you cant really control your pet other than their greatest attack or when to back off. But thief who can stealth for a time of almost 15 seconds without trying is bad and needs better traits. Maybe you just need to look for syneregy in traits

I just wanted to let you know you made me laugh when I saw this thread. Hope you were being sarcastic when you made it.

Why does it feel as though the people saying that the Thief traits aren’t lacklustre are the same people who hate the class and want it to be nerfed into oblivion?

The funny thing is that me and my mates are all considering Thief traits are amongst the best.

And I can tell because I play several professions and know every profession.

Daecollo.9578:

Compared to the other classes, almost all the thief traits have “set-limits” that are completely lack-luster, and most of the boons are completely temporary compared to the other classes.

With all the nerfs coming to thief, I wonder if they are going to look at our “shared” traits with other classes and realize (Hey… these guys have the same traits, except there traits are horrible compared to the other classes!)

Stealth traits are some of the best ones we have, and with them being nerfed by half by doubling the reveal buff, I wonder what else a thief should be able to do.

Another silly question… why do we have 30% boon duration when we have little to no boons?

Why do almost all our traits have a ridiculous GCDs? Why are half our weapons useless?

R u kiddin? Thief have one of the best trait placements in the game!

+1 to post about ranger

Deadly arts for best tree.

Guys, should i pick back fighter, sundering strikes or improvisation (rng for the win), mug is a given and i don’t use dagger nor am i venom share, halp.

Half of this tree needs to be deleted and i’m generous. Otherwise there’s a few terrible traits in every single trees but it’s not that bad.

Thieves have pretty good traits. Not everything is stand out spectacular, but on the whole I can always find stuff I want. In terms of good trait trees, I’d say they’re on the high end. Meanwhile, my condition necro can put 30 points into curses, 10 into blood, and then have 30 trait points that may as well not be there because there is literally nothing at all I want. Not a single trait. I also wanted to play ranger on release but decided against it, partly because the traits are so incredibly bad. And don’t get me started on elementalists.

Thief traits are pretty good, if you want to see lackluster go play a necromancer, especially a power/crit build. Just having to go down 2 trait lines to get the 30% crit and 30% crit damage is bad, but on top of that most of the traits in those lines aren’t great, don’t go with a power build, or have zero synergy with other traits. Not to mention their weapon skills are usually split between condition damage, power, or non-damaging conditions, which further infuriates you when you want to go in one direction.

I think thief traits are pretty good for what it is designed to do I can’t see anywhere the traits are lacking except for a few like ricochet and hard to catch, last stand come to mind. For the most part thief traits are good though. That was one of the first things I noticed when I switched from mesmer to my thief was how the traits compared seem to be better.

Incurafy.6329:

Why does it feel as though the people saying that the Thief traits aren’t lacklustre are the same people who hate the class and want it to be nerfed into oblivion?

Youtube me, thief traits aren’t lackluster.