I know exactly what you’re talking about. A friend and I spent a good 10-15 mintues sitting there, trying to keep the camp clear, and then eventually moving into the surrounding area to try to figure out what was going on.
Might be a bug related to a DE, but we never saw a related event before getting bored and moving on…
You mentioned that the thieves you’d played with were very damage focused. This is a pretty easy mistake to make, as in most RPGs the Thief/Rogue/Ninja/Whatever is a pretty pure damage dealer.
While a talented Thief can certainly deal a lot of damage under the right conditions, surviving to do so with a pure damage build is much more difficult than it is for other classes. In addition to this, the Thief has very powerful utility and situational tanking abilities. Give the choice between the two, the support/tank thief is really the best use for the class in most Dungeon scenarios.
Hell, in PUGs, Scorpion Wire has to be the best utility in the game, hands-down.
I actually like the flip. If you dodge forward through someone, it can actually look a lot like the startup for LDB, so you can use it as a fakeout unless they’re really on the ball.
Thought it might be appropriate to give Lowell’s builds guide a bump here. It’s primarily sPvP focused, but there’s a ton of good info that’s transferable to any style of play.
Changed my whole outlook on the class, and a pretty funny read, imo.
I think this whole ‘spamming’ debate is really just a lot of hot air. If you’ve been paying attention, the majority of thief gameplay isn’t spent killing things, even in very extreme glass cannon builds. Our few damage abilities are just the point of the spear.
Things a Good Thief Actually Cares About:
How much Initiative do I have?
Do I have a stealth available?
Can I dodge?
What are my other mobility options?
Are my cooldowns available to help my burst?
Can I steal?
What did I steal?
Once all of that is taken care of, then and only then can you really start to mash 2 or 3 with a clear conscience.
Our relative frailty forces us to plan every encounter out in detail if we want to have any hope of survival, and god knows that plan doesn’t actually hold up for more than a second or two. We worry far more about our mobility as an exit strategy and damage mitigation tool.
Do we really need a fake rotation and false, imposed variety tacked on? Lets leave the clean, simple damage dealing aspect of our class intact.
it’s insanely hard to accurately fire pistols at two different targets at the same time. Actually, I’d call it pretty much impossible without a lot of set-up time.
No love for The Shadow? You’ve never see Hard Boiled, or Face/Off, or any other John Woo Movie?
On that note, this is now a petition thread to have white doves fly around during the channel duration of Unload.
Does anyone else feel like the Thief pure ranged options are thematically reversed?
Currently, PP is designed to control and deal heavy damage to a single target, often while standing stock-still and carefully aiming during volleys. The short bow sprays an aoe smorgasbord of magical bouncing arrows, poison gas clouds, and cluster grenades.
Totally backwards!
I, for one, would think that the weapon set that could, you know, actually shoot at two things at once, would be the go-to for an aoe set, and that the long-ranged, committed shot against a single target is way more of an archery deal. Hell, even give the bow 1200 range while you’re at it. (^_^)
I definitely agree there’s something weird going on with the Asura camera, probably due to it’s height placement, as noted above. God help you if you have to follow some action going on directly above you while in downed state.
Hitbox and the camera is unrelated. I’m not sure you ever done 3d modelling. The camera can offset anywhere to the x, y, z coordinate.
People don’t click on target to target, we use TAB or auto target. So your point is irrelevant.
I said “balance out”, not “results from”.
Also, I take it you only do sPvP? Try that tab-targetting in WvW, in fights of 20++ players, or just around a Norn Mesmer covering for a handful of Asura players. You might very quickly understand why being Asura is such a PvP benefit.
And if the camera “issue” was resolved, then this benefit would stand without a balancing drawback. And hence, Asura would be the go-to PvP race (this discussion came up plenty in beta, we’re not the first here :P ).
Also, you ignored #2.
The low pivot point is what makes Asura feel small when playing them. And Norn feel tall. Since it would be entirely unfair to not also fix Norn (their camera tend to clip into the ceiling in tunnels), would you deprive both races of their size-based feel? I mean, the specific problem mentioned in this thread is a clipping issue, and is unrelated to pivot height.
I’ll agree with you about the Asura ‘feel’, but I think that’s trumped by usability issues. And arguing that this helps pvp balance…? I think there are better ways to achieve that then disrupting the immersion of someone’s UI.
I like where this is going, especially leveraging the signets into more initiative. Seems like you might want to switch your heal into Signet of Malice, though.
I’m really, really liking the flexibility of roll for initiative, and getting Preparedness→Uncatchable has really given both my initiative and kiting a shot in the arm.
Since I think I’m going to to go for a high precision build, I’m looking down the road at the critical strikes trait tree. Ankle shots actually looks pretty cool at the master level for a super kitey build. Has anyone had a chance to play around with that trait, or is it too much to give up for another slow vs the other options?
Hmmm, I’ll have to try some of those, and see what sort of bang I get for my buck.
I’m also trying to feel out my openers in various situations. Is it generally considered best to stealth pre-emptively to try to stack the bleed from the stealth attack quickly? And is it worthwhile to use a Body Shot or two before laying down Unload?
I haven’t found a ton of quality info about dual pistol builds out there, could anyone recommend builds/utility skills/traits/stat focuses?
Currently, I’m just trying to get into the swing of things. My biggest issue so far (lvl 24 as of this post) is that I can’t seem to get my initiative to catch up to my use of Unload, which seems result in a lot of dead time, especially compared to the other weapon sets.
