Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,
i’m level 52 Thief, so i don’t want to talk about nerfs/buffs/balance ecc…
I don’t know my profession well as most of you know.

I see that Thief is in hotspot about nerfs and that’s because they do mass damage in short period of time combined with good mobility. But this isn’t supposed to be how thief should be?

My question is: What do you expect thief should be? Why you choose this class?
If i choose guardain, it’s because i expect to have a lot of survivability, helping other teammates with supporting skills and heal. I’m no expecting to have a mass damage.
If i choose a Ranger is because i want mass damage from distance and so on…

I choose thief ‘cause i like glass cannon, goes around with stealth backstabbing people with the aid of venoms. But when i’m exposed i’m vulnerable and easy killable.
Lot of concerns about thief is that they do too much damage, but if you nerf the damage on a thief, what we get?

Thief is not about stealth in GW2. I’m so sad about that, because i like stealth classes like Assassin in SWTOR or Rogue in WoW or a Thief-build in Skyrim.
In GW2 we can’t run around in stealth, i think this is because of WvW balance so it’s ok.

So, if you have to spend more time uncovered and unstealthed how you imagine your gameplay?

I’m a little worried about that, ‘cause i’m afraid the rage nerfbat can change the meaning of being a thief and not about the damage but about the background of this class.

Well, look at the name – Thief. No Assassin, just Thief.

Currently, Thief is basically an Assassin. Appear, kill someone in 2-3 seconds, disappear. While the class description in the game says things like using stealth, deception, going where they’re not meant to go and traps. Doesn’t say anything about assassinating someone in 2 seconds.

In my opinion, the class should play as Thief. That is, stealth, acrobatics, traps, cheap tricks, etc., but NOT brute I-kill-you-in-2-seconds damage. This, coupled with stealth, is what breaks the game.

And while I’m on this topic, I feel NOBODY should be able to kill anyone else in less than 5 seconds. Even glass cannon vs glass cannon. Any class capable of under-5-second kill should have its burst potential toned down. It just isn’t fun when the game basically plays like an FPS. It has more depth than that, but the insta-gib stuff just…insta-gibs that.

Seto.4917:

Hi guys,
…
If i choose guardain, it’s because i expect to have a lot of survivability, helping other teammates with supporting skills and heal.
…
If i choose a Ranger is because i want mass damage from distance and so on…
…
I choose thief ‘cause i like glass cannon, goes around with stealth backstabbing people with the aid of venoms. But when i’m exposed i’m vulnerable and easy killable.

While it is perfectly fine for you to have concepts in mind when building a particular profession, the simple fact is that GW2 doesn’t work that way. Guardians are not high survivability healers, rangers are not long-ranger mass damagers, thieves are not glass cannon backstab specialists.

They can all be built that way, yes, but restricting each profession to one particular playstyle just because you have some preconceived archetypes in your head ignores the fact that every profession can be built a multitude of ways. I might prefer to play a highly offense-based Guardian that uses movement-placed control abilities to get the enemy where I want them and cut them down with burning melee weapons, Jedi Knight style. I might prefer a trap-heavy melee ranger that lures opponents into a favorably conditioned battlefield and destroys them with a greatsword. I definitely prefer a sword-using duelist thief that openly closes with multiple opponents to engage in toe-to-toe melee combat, utilizing evade, interrupts, and battlefield control to create a dangerous melee presence instead of jumping in and out of combat.

These are more than gimmicky “fun” builds in GW2, they’re all completely viable playstyles. By ignoring every option except the ones presented by your initial impression of each profession’s archetype you’re missing out on the majority of what GW2 skill customization has to offer.

thieves are vicious kittens and that’s why people complain.
But c’mon they are thieves … otherwise ANET should have done musketeers for a fair and honorable duelist.

Daendur.2357:

thieves are vicious kittens and that’s why people complain.
But c’mon they are thieves … otherwise ANET should have done musketeers for a fair and honorable duelist.

I have no problems with people ignoring playstyles outside of the ones they enjoy, that is kind of the point of having malleable professions that can work many different ways. It doesn’t make you a bad thief to only play one way.

The only point at which it becomes an issue is when people seek to narrow the profession to conform to their favored combat doctrine or try to convince those ignorant of the myriad of options that “my way is the only way to play a thief”. Generalizations like “thieves are glass cannons” as opposed to “I play my thief as a glass cannon” are defeatist and detrimental to the community, doubly so if community->developer feedback becomes overly focused on the shortcomings of the profession in one particular playstyle.