remove use function while in stealth
Why do we need to fix Stealth Stomps and Stealth Rezes in any aspect of the game?
What are these exploits with Smoke fields? Are they absolutely exploits or combo field mechanics?
Stealth is already a tool for increasing survivability, and the aforementioned smoke field with blind is where the juking lies.
What’s wrong with Shadow Step, why did it enter this conversation if the main concern seems to be Stealth Stomps? Is the concern that Shadow Step and Arrow help Thieves zip around to get the Stomp?
Not arguing, I’m genuinely curious what prompted this.
My psychic knife. The focused totality of my psychic powers.
well I don’t see the need for stealth stomps , if some one down give them the chance to get back up. Stealth stomps contradicts to whole point of the down state.
“Thank you for rezzing me”- Thankful Stranger
“Np, it part of the Job :) " – Proud Guardian.
“Np, it part of the Job :) " – Proud Guardian.
AoE knockbacks and interrupts and things of that nature will work just fine to stop stealth-stomps and stealth-rezzes. And heavy AoE damage in the area will make the thief waste their very limited stealth while dodging it. There’s nothing really to fix here.
Also, nerf to passive speed? What? Thieves have the same passive speed as everyone else. We have a nice speed boost signet, but it loses almost all of its effectiveness when you’re in combat. Which, by the way, if the thief has to stealth and run away from something, they often get stuck in combat for a good while.
Stealth rezzing is a tactic and requires the use of a skill (or skills) and waiting out their cooldowns for the sake of an ally.
No nerf needed here.
> well I don’t see the need for stealth stomps , if some one down give them the chance to get back up. Stealth stomps contradicts to whole point of the down state.
The Thief is also using one of their survivability tools to do this—it’s not a “free lunch”. It’s no different from any other class using a blind to stomp someone; it’s the same net effect.
[TKG] Mollify
Well… the thief is op. Not horrible own your face over powered, but it is the best roaming and killing class in the game.
Why? Well shadow step is good. Infiltrator arrow is the best teleport in the game, and that signet is pretty handy. All of this on the best utility in the game (stealth stomps and rezes). Makes the thief… too good at what it does.
No truly competitive team of 5 would que without one.
So… it needs a nerf. I suggest this one. It keeps the class viable and we will still see it used alot as a roamer, but with this change a team could consider leaving the thief out if they wanted.
Why? Well shadow step is good. Infiltrator arrow is the best teleport in the game,
In your opinion, perhaps. It takes a pretty hefty initiative cost so you’re not going to get much use out of it in battle. Mesmer portals are infinitely more useful in my opinion, they can get an entire zerg behind enemy lines. Also shadowsteps can’t go across gaps, while portals and leaps and surges can.
and that signet is pretty handy.
It’s okay. Like I said, it loses most of its effectiveness in combat. It’s more useful for map completes than anything else. There are a lot of good utility skills we could be using in its place that would be much better in combat.
All of this on the best utility in the game (stealth stomps and rezes).
It’s really not the best utility in the game, and it’s really easy to counter with an AoE. It’s not even the best rezzing utility. You know some classes have skills that can rez people without even having to be right on top of them? Those are pretty cool.
Well… the thief is op. Not horrible own your face over powered, but it is the best roaming and killing class in the game.
Why? Well shadow step is good. Infiltrator arrow is the best teleport in the game, and that signet is pretty handy. All of this on the best utility in the game (stealth stomps and rezes). Makes the thief… too good at what it does.
No truly competitive team of 5 would que without one.
So… it needs a nerf. I suggest this one. It keeps the class viable and we will still see it used alot as a roamer, but with this change a team could consider leaving the thief out if they wanted.
These ideas make no sense at all. First of all, stealth ressing is not great in PVP, it’s good for dungeons, but you can still hit people while they are stealthed so it’s your fault for not paying attention to them. If it was Shadow Refuge they used to res then it’s highly obvious and if they used Blinding Powder it only lasts 3 seconds. Stealth finish is perfectly fine as is, it’s not even as good as blind finishing.
Infiltrator’s Arrow is not the best teleport in the game, it’s clunky and slow. Shadowstep is worlds better, instant, longer range, breaks stun and has the option to return which also removes 3 conditions and removes another stun.
And well last of all, thief is not overpowered I don’t get where you get the idea they are required for tournament play. I’ve even seen tournament groups ask for no thieves in their group. It’s a good class that has it’s strengths and weaknesses, but definitely not overpowered.
Well… the thief is op. Not horrible own your face over powered, but it is the best roaming and killing class in the game.
Why? Well shadow step is good. Infiltrator arrow is the best teleport in the game, and that signet is pretty handy. All of this on the best utility in the game (stealth stomps and rezes). Makes the thief… too good at what it does.
No truly competitive team of 5 would que without one.
So… it needs a nerf. I suggest this one. It keeps the class viable and we will still see it used alot as a roamer, but with this change a team could consider leaving the thief out if they wanted.
These ideas make no sense at all. First of all, stealth ressing is not great in PVP, it’s good for dungeons, but you can still hit people while they are stealthed so it’s your fault for not paying attention to them. If it was Shadow Refuge they used to res then it’s highly obvious and if they used Blinding Powder it only lasts 3 seconds. Stealth finish is perfectly fine as is, it’s not even as good as blind finishing.
Infiltrator’s Arrow is not the best teleport in the game, it’s clunky and slow. Shadowstep is worlds better, instant, longer range, breaks stun and has the option to return which also removes 3 conditions and removes another stun.
And well last of all, thief is not overpowered I don’t get where you get the idea they are required for tournament play. I’ve even seen tournament groups ask for no thieves in their group. It’s a good class that has it’s strengths and weaknesses, but definitely not overpowered.
Wow, we’re really just grabbing at anything in an attempt to nerf the thief, huh? Being able to stealth and then revive/stomp doesn’t need a nerf, gimme a break. It’s in no way some massive broken gameplay mechanic that requires a fix. You say thieves are the best roaming and killing class in the game, well… duh? We’re the new incarnation of the former assassin class, which by definition is supposed to excel at murder and subterfuge. There’s nothing wrong with a class being the “best” in a certain facet of gameplay, somebody has to be the best. Maybe after I post this I’ll go QQ on the elementalist forums about how it’s unfair they’re the “best” at AoE and they should be locked into a single attunement during combat because life isn’t fair and I can’t be bothered to learn tactics.
Gimme a break already, every day it’s a new “QQ OP” thread… L2P.
Losers make excuses, winners make it happen.
No more broken than blind stomp or stability stomp. As a matter of fact, I will trade stealth stomps for stability stomps, deal?
no they just need to get rid of the downstate in spvp
Norn “cows” go moot.
People just hate stealth, hate stealth in any form and want to get rid of it completely; people who don’t play thieves, that is. Mind you, if we want to take away their defining class skills that’s out of the question – and what were you thinking anyway? – but a Thief, who has fewer hitpoints and lower armor than any warrior class, while getting so close to actual combat … taking away her survive-ability is just fine.
This is such a tired complaint.
I’m sorry I stepped outta yer box, don’ worry, if
ya whine enough they’ll put me right back.
AoE knockbacks and interrupts and things of that nature will work just fine to stop stealth-stomps and stealth-rezzes. And heavy AoE damage in the area will make the thief waste their very limited stealth while dodging it. There’s nothing really to fix here.
Also, nerf to passive speed? What? Thieves have the same passive speed as everyone else. We have a nice speed boost signet, but it loses almost all of its effectiveness when you’re in combat. Which, by the way, if the thief has to stealth and run away from something, they often get stuck in combat for a good while.
Exactly, and don’t forget there are other classes that can actually move across the field faster (ie: mobility) then a thief without blowing hefty cooldowns or wasting initiative
no they just need to get rid of the downstate in spvp
I’m okay with this. Thief’s downed-state is kind of useless anyway unless you’ve got allies fighting to get you up. Such weak weak damage and two slots taken up to do less than the mesmer can do in one…
This person doesn’t even know what the signet is called or his other abilities. He’s never even played a thief and is calling for nerfs? Lol
tilts head infiltrator arrow allows free movement along the z axis, most teleports dont allow this, so it is the best. It grants the most mobility.
Elementalist aoe probably should be nerfed in pve, but im not very experienced with pve so im not going to get behind that.
The thief really is a staple of serious competative teams. Having different classes ideal for different roles is sometimes fine, but the role the thief excels at is too useful not to have in a team of 5.
I really dont mean to flame here, but the thief does need a nerf and im proposing a very soft one, because i dont wish to see it over nerfed.
Also the vs stability stomps is a valid conversation, but i think most people will agree they would rather play with stability stomps.
Blind stomps are not good at all. Im not sure why you think thats an issue.
The thief downed state is pretty solid, probably 2nd best in game. That needs changing too but only because downed states in general need fixing.
(1)tilts head infiltrator arrow allows free movement along the z axis, most teleports dont allow this, so it is the best. It grants the most mobility.
(2) Elementalist aoe probably should be nerfed in pve, but im not very experienced with pve so im not going to get behind that.
(3) The thief really is a staple of serious competative teams. Having different classes ideal for different roles is sometimes fine, but the role the thief excels at is too useful not to have in a team of 5.
(4) I really dont mean to flame here, but the thief does need a nerf and im proposing a very soft one, because i dont wish to see it over nerfed.
Also the vs stability stomps is a valid conversation, but i think most people will agree they would rather play with stability stomps.
Blind stomps are not good at all. Im not sure why you think thats an issue.
(5) The thief downed state is pretty solid, probably 2nd best in game. That needs changing too but only because downed states in general need fixing.
I split your post into numbers so I can better reply to them.
1. Infiltrator’s Arrow is good, yes, but it’s the sole reason short bow is even viable as an offhand weapon. Thieves basically give up a second weapon set for more mobility, which other classes can get without even having to do so. Short bow deals low damage, and can only actually kill someone through kiting. Infiltrator’s Arrow also costs a ton of Initiative (tied for the highest cost at 6), and can only be used twice before having to wait for more initiative to regenerate. I really don’t understand how this ability can make a class OP; it’s movement and nothing else.
2. This makes absolutely no sense. You’re claiming something needs nerfed when you know nothing about it. Coincidence?
3. I don’t get how this is really a point. In groups, it’s best to have a balanced team. You’re going to try and choose a team that is the most versatile, whether or not it includes a thief is irrelevant. Unless thief is so OP that a team of 5 thieves is the best team, bar none, this isn’t a viable point.
4. Explain what it needs a nerf in. Don’t just state random, “this class needs a nerf.” Please provide actual points and reasons behind the nerf. Claiming a class is OP without any explanation just makes it seem like you want every class but your own to be nerfed so that you can play what you want and how you want it without any counters to it. This is actually how I see most people who complain about thieves; they want to build glass cannon and expect the best burst class (the assassin class – who would’ve guessed it!) to somehow be an easy kill for them.
5. This is where you get even more ridiculous. You claim it’s the second best, then claim it needs “changed” (I’m assuming you mean nerfed). There is no reason to nerf something if it’s “second best”. The fact of the matter is there will ALWAYS be one class that’s the best in a certain area. This can’t be fixed unless all classes are the same. Something only needs nerfed if it’s far more powerful than any of the other classes.
I’d also like to add that thieves are NOT the only class that can stealth. No idea why everyone in this thread thinks nerfing stealth is somehow only a nerf to thief.
Blind stomps are not good at all. Im not sure why you think thats an issue.
The thief downed state is pretty solid, probably 2nd best in game. That needs changing too but only because downed states in general need fixing.
Blind stomp is great and yes it’s not an issue, it’s working as intended, your ignorance is truly spectacular. Thieves down state is horrible, once again your ignorance is amazing!
@OP
Warriors Can AOE res a group of down players.
Again, the thieves are what?
I’m glad this terrible suggestion will never be taken seriously by anyone that matters.
Good day
OP finds one thing that thieves can do that his class can’t. Demands nerf so that all classes are exactly the same.
What a muppet.
I read this and all I can see is:
“The class that is supposed to be best for mobility and single target damage has mobility and single target dmg. Nerf now.”
it is correct that thieves can stealth, but they should die suddenly after having activated it. This is the only way other professions will stop to whine, and it will be balanced.
Black Thunders [BT] – Gandara
Just no, that kills ALOT of thief utility that a thief actually brings to a sPvP match or tournament. Pretty much all utility lol. That they bring to a team fight that is.
(edited by Nande.6810)
Just a quick note besides the fact that the OP is just /raaagggeeeee. I know he’s a warrior btw. They always rage when their HB didn’t get an insta-kill and they couldn’t run away.
Short Bow is amazing. It’s crazy DPS if you use it right, and has some of the best utility in the game. The DPS is not single target, that’s the only catch. My favorite uses are against Rangers and Mesmers, because the shot bounces off their pet/illusion and back to them – doubling the damage they take from each shot. Combined with Quickness procs, you get some crazy good numbers.
But also, 15 points in Deadly Arts makes your Poisons apply Weakness. With Choking Gas from the Short Bow, you have the only apply-on-demand AOE weakness in the game. That means you can reduce a team of 5 to a 50%-less-damage team of 5. I often start a fight with Choking Gas spam all over the enemy and then go in with daggers. They’re hitting for 50% less and your whole team is hitting full damage. Easy numbers game there.
True OP is pure QQ LOL QQ MOAAR!
Apparently OP hasn’t been killed in less than 1 sec by a Warrrior ;p
True OP is pure QQ LOL QQ MOAAR!
Apparently OP hasn’t been killed in less than 1 sec by a Warrrior ;p
loll! xD
tilts head infiltrator arrow allows free movement along the z axis, most teleports dont allow this, so it is the best. It grants the most mobility.
What? It hasn’t done this since pre-beta.
@Krathos:
1) Yea I didn’t say nerf Infiltrator arrow, I just pointed out that it’s amongst he advantages a thief has which could be considered candidate for nerf. The shortbow is alright by the way, it also has a really handy Blast Finisher. Probably the best weapon swap option for the thief, because of how initiative works adding another set of cooldowns would be meaningless, so that altered utility is really handy.
2) The Ele comments were a reply to someone who noticed I play Ele the most and was trying to make a pass at my own class by suggesting AoE damage be nerfed. My comment was intended to illustrate that I’m really not here to cry nerf thief because my class is underpowered… I play GW2, not really a particular class.
3) The point is that there are 8 classes and 5 slots on your tPvP team. When you have 1 class that every team has to pick inorder to be competitive, well now there’s really only 4 slots. It detracts from the metagame to have a single role that is of such immense tactical significance filled so overwhelmingly best by one specifc class.
4) The Thief needs a nerf which will somehow allow teams to elect not to bring one if they so choose, without feeling that they are throwing the game by doing so. There are a number of advantage which put the Thief notably ahead. It’s class based survivability via shadow step and stealth allow it to spec very glassy and provide amazing burst. It’s unmatched mobility, and it’s incredible utility. If you accept the premise that the Thief needs some nerf (I can see many of you do not) then the question becomes what do you want the Thief to still excel at? I suggest team fight relevance is the most interesting thing for them to give up.
5) Again, the downed state comment refers to a previous posters comment regarding downed states. I do think downed states need some redesign, and in that redesign the thief will probably suffer more than most, but the goal is to roughly equalize the downed states, which are currently not balanced. Why do I say the thief downed state is so good? Because it allows you to slip a stability stomp, something your teammates often cannot do for you (except by stealthing you, a bit of utility the thief will still have). Against good players, the person stomping you will usually have stability, which makes the thief one of the more easily revived team members.
@all: Look I’m not intending to attack your sacred class, I’m aiming to discuss balancing of an individual class, primarily for tPvP. My comments come inspired more from watching matches (largely from BWE3) featuring team paradigm, legacy, synergy, GS, GuSu, etc — and post launch from listening to and watching Last Pride, War Machine, Idiot Savants.
The current metagame really shows that the Thief, along with the Guardian and Mesmer are fairly indespensable picks. I’m also not crying buff the class I play most, it’s a fairly popular 5th slot class too. If I was going to point the buff wand anywhere it would be at Necromancers or Rangers. My opinion on buffing, however, is that necklace options just need to be expanded. I think a big part of what makes Thief and Mesmer so popular is that previously discussed attribute-independant survivability. These classes have mechanics that allow them to get away with using the Beserker Amulet. Few classes work that well with their amulet, if more amulet choices existed…
But I digress, the Thief would still be a cut ahead of everyone else as things currently stand.
Oh and I don’t play Warrior, in fact that’s one class I play almost none of.
I don’t think HB Warriors are a problem at all, though I think Quickness is bad and shouldn’t be in the game.
No, you can still infiltrator arrow up and down ledges that you can’t shadow step (and that mesmers can’t blink, and elementalists can’t Lightning Flash. Though Necromancers can Necrotic Transversal them last I checked.)
No, you can still infiltrator arrow up and down ledges that you can’t shadow step (and that mesmers can’t blink, and elementalists can’t Lightning Flash. Though Necromancers can Necrotic Transversal them last I checked.)
Show me a current video of this happening. It has not exhibited this behavior anywhere I’ve tried since BWE1. Even the clock tower in Battle For Khylo where this feature was first discovered doesn’t work. All it does is shadowstep you to the location on your current plane closest to your target.
< a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4xPV5jw2VI&list=PL51BE336EE539271B&index=4&feature=plcp”>This</a> video features a number of Thief tactics, including a number of infiltrator shots not usable by other professions. You may notice some of them (while neat) are usable by others, which still brings us to:
costing 6 initiative is still by far the smallest cooldown in the game.
I feel I should remind people: This is not a thread proposing IA nerfs. It is a thread reviewing the various advantages a Thief has and deciding which of them could be taken away without making the thief then unfun to play or not viable. Arenanet tends to overdo their nerfs, I wanted to put out a mild suggestion that they might try.
maybe you should leave game design to game designers. you seem to not even be particularly well informed about what you are criticizing. you have no ground to stand on for suggesting changes.
< a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4xPV5jw2VI&list=PL51BE336EE539271B&index=4&feature=plcp”>This</a> video features a number of Thief tactics, including a number of infiltrator shots not usable by other professions.
Interesting. Looks like there’s a bug here somewhere. Either a bug that it is working from those specific angles, or a bug that it doesn’t work from any other angle. They never mentioned the nerf when it happened and ignore any questions about it, so it could go either way.
costing 6 initiative is still by far the smallest cooldown in the game.
It can be, but keep in mind that that is taking out of a resource pool used by all of our weapon skills. It’s not an isolated cooldown like other classes have. This is something a lot of non-thieves keep forgetting.
here’s some more explanation on the initiative cost thing, since that was just a particularly egregious piece of misinformation from ryston.
Initiative recharges at the rate of 1.67 seconds per point of initiative. Therefore a skill that costs 6 initiative is the equivalent of a 10 second cooldown on another class. HARDLY the shortest of any class in the game. 6 and 8 second cooldowns are common on weapon skills, 10 seconds would be right in the middle of the road.
but initiative is not directly comparable to other cooldowns since it is a shared resource. imagine if another class had a skill worded like this “10 second cooldown. when you use this skill add 10 seconds to the cooldown of your other abilities that are recharging.” do you still think initiative is a small cost?
The rate of recharge was not meant to compare to other classes weapon skills. It was meant to compare to other classes teleport utility skills, which vary with low end being mesmers blink.
Oh also, the idea that its a shared resource is sort of negated by the existence of the utility slot skill thats comparable to every other class.
Again, i wanted to discuss the impact of removing object interaction in stealth and the awesomeness of infiltrator arrow serves only as context.
Nobody has yet even mentioned that thieves would still have high utility as they can stealth an ally to be stomped and save them in a way not negated by stability.
Instead im seeing people apparently try to argue thieves arent more mobile on the battlefield than other classes? Is that really in question?
Why havent i seen the team paradigm vs legacy match where paradigm wint kyhlo without a thief when legacy has one? That would be a hard match for me to explain! Instead im seeing a lot of people passionately defend the class they love and play. Im happy you found a part of the game you enjoy, can you try to be more objective in your reviews? Im very interested in constructive conversation about this. We havnt had much of that yet.
Personally I don’t think there’s much constructive conversation to be had on balancing until some major bugs are fixed. It’s impossible to get an accurate view of where classes stand when you have bugs such as player culling and teleport exploits (exploits that allow you to teleport, not teleport skills) muddling the mix. Pretty much all balance threads at this point are just people running into something that seems stronger than it is because of a bug or because they don’t understand it and assuming it’s a balance issue. Hell, just fixing the kittened camera issues would solve a lot of the problems I have facing off against certain class abilities.
The rate of recharge was not meant to compare to other classes weapon skills. It was meant to compare to other classes teleport utility skills, which vary with low end being mesmers blink.
Oh also, the idea that its a shared resource is sort of negated by the existence of the utility slot skill thats comparable to every other class.
why would you compare a Thief’s weapon skills to another class’s utility skills? thats an apples/oranges comparison and doesn’t prove anything.
your reasoning is just falling apart here. it doesn’t make any sense. the initiative system is a key part of the balance of Thief weapon skills. we are talking about WEAPON SKILLS like Infiltrator’s Arrow and Cloak and Dagger. initiative is part of the balance of those skills. i pointed out that you seem to have an incredibly misinformed understanding of how initiative works. apparently you still do.
@all: Look I’m not intending to attack your sacred class, I’m aiming to discuss balancing of an individual class, primarily for tPvP. My comments come inspired more from watching matches (largely from BWE3) featuring team paradigm, legacy, synergy, GS, GuSu, etc — and post launch from listening to and watching Last Pride, War Machine, Idiot Savants.
So wait, I just want to make sure I’m clear on this. Your proposed nerf and dubious knowledge that you’re tossing around isn’t even from your own experience with/against the thief? You listened to some people talk about the class and watched some videos and now you’re an expert on thief mechanics? Seriously?
Wow… /thread please.
The amount of ill informed players who think thieves just run around with 6 arms all holding soul eating katanas that we forged in the sun and can just spam abilities with no consequence is absolutely absurd. Such ignorance is not to be unexpected, but it’s still appalling to see.
Losers make excuses, winners make it happen.
(edited by Cyric.7485)
@meta: so i want to get this straight, you think the thief is more, about the same, or less mobile than other classes?
@cyric: if i understand, you prefer balancing decisions not center around what high skill players are able to do, but be based upon each persons individual opinion and abilities? Also, i have played some thief, i just wouldnt say ive played a lot of it.
Ryston, please, show us your greatness with the thief, get some action going and record it and post on the youtube and show us the awesomeness the thief brings to shake the whole balance of everything as thief apparently is the center of everything.
Bad players will always be bad players there is no way around it.
The thing you started this thread of farce of yours centered around stealth ressing and stomping.. in all seriousness so you would take the last remaining thing from the class that would bring support (stealth resses) or the lack of stability stomps which many other classes have and way to counter away.. wow dude, just wow.
If you are against the thief and downed, hit by once and thief vanishes.. use your abilities what you would otherwise use. If you cannot bother even that or your allies are not interested about saving you well, rage at your team/party/voice chat with your face red and smashing your keyboard.
The next thing after your proposed nerfs is that you’d come here once again and start calling nerfs for the burst damage that can kill 100 man zerg with just one hit from 666666 miles away.
I used to be a forum warrior like you, but then I took arrow to the knee.
@meta: so i want to get this straight, you think the thief is more, about the same, or less mobile than other classes?
@cyric: if i understand, you prefer balancing decisions not center around what high skill players are able to do, but be based upon each persons individual opinion and abilities? Also, i have played some thief, i just wouldnt say ive played a lot of it.
If I understand you correctly, yes. I don’t think just because 1 out of every 100 thieves can chew someone’s face off in 2 seconds flat that the class needs a nerf. I also think, as seems to be tradition in any MMO with a rogue archetype, that people are quick to call for nerfs on thieves instead of taking the extra step to learn how to effectively combat them. What people fail to understand is that each class is designed with certain values in mind and they’re obviously going to excel at these values. It’s rather tiring to have to constantly read how OP every class is in some regard and to see how these QQers just want every class to be similar. What’s the point of even having classes if we’re all just gonna be doing the same thing?
The way I see it, each class brings it’s own unique element to the field and that’s what makes all forms of combat (PvE, PvP, or WvW) enjoyable. If a class is running around all willy-nilly just AoE one shotting people or has a very low skill cap on an incredibly potent move, then yeah sure, it’s OP and needs a nerf. Otherwise, I don’t see a problem with classes excelling in a specific arena.
Losers make excuses, winners make it happen.
@Cyric: Well I think we have some common ground here. I don’t think balancing decisions should come from a top 1% player stomping the lower 50% of the player base. It’s difficult to separate out what’s overpowered about the class and what’s overpowered about the player.
So when I try to discuss balance, I spend some time playing the class, but since I’m not in that top 1% I try to watch videos of players that seem like they are maybe close. IE Team Paradigm vs Team Legacy. Because I trust that both teams have very highly skilled players who know how to counter the thief, and they have highly skilled players playing the thief, I can get a better view of what actually is and isn’t overpowered.
For example, I have a hard time dealing with a certain thief build on some of my characters. It uses Assassin’s Signet and Backstab to open, and then follows quickly with a steal (with the damage trait) and spamming heart seeker.
In watching videos of more skilled players, however, I can see that this build is not nearly as effective. This primarily seems to have to do with player awareness. As a result, you didn’t see me cry that theif damage is too high and why did I get crit for 11k — the damage might be high at my current level of play, but that just means I need to get better at the game.
In watching the videos, however, I can see that the thief does do some very potent damage (a very capable killer), that it is extremely mobile, and that it offers a good amount of utility in a team fight. I also notice that the high end teams very rarely play without a Thief in their lineup and when I get the chance I talk to them about the whys and why nots.
The impression I walk away with is this: The Thief is not quite as invaluable to a team as the monk was to a GW1 team. It’s a class that you simply cannot do without at least 1 of. Stacking thieves, or monks, wouldn’t be all that effective, but it is a role that you cannot leave unfulfilled and still feel competitive. (This is a slight exaggeration. I think a no thief team has much better odds than a no monk team. Still, the comparison has some truth to it.)
Since GW2 is a game that’s all about not having indispensable classes, this means some balancing changes are in order.
I am simply proposing what I consider to be the most mild meaningful nerf. I actually don’t want the theifs incredible burst damage to get nerfed, even though it currently forces me to run with more vitality and toughness than I would otherwise require. This is just a challenge for me to overcome as a player.
I don’t think being a valuable member of a team equates to needing a nerf, arguably rogue archetypes are inherently biased to be exceptional at PvP. As I said up above, everyone is going to excel at something in the game world’s combat and it just so happens that thieves excel at player vs player combat due to it’s very nature.
In the end, I disagree with your proposal because I think stealth stomps/revives are nothing more than a clever use of the stealth mechanic. As also stated in a couple arguments here, other classes have special abilities (stability, blind) that mesh well with the stomp/revive mechanics and if the thief were to see a nerf in this regard, then I feel it would only be fair that all classes would receive a similar nerf.
Losers make excuses, winners make it happen.