(edited by JStereo.6953)
Showing Posts For JStereo.6953:
It would be nice, but are you seriously saying that you have less motivation to pvp because of what your character looks like at the login screen? :/
Cloak and Dagger is fine as it is. It should definitely not return initiative or stealth if missed. This is an ability that requires a lot of practice to use successfully and should punish users for missing it or spamming it too quickly.
Tactical Strike from behind is probably one of my favorite things when timed well. Remember when you hit from the side or behind out of stealth it dazes, rather than blinding. You can interrupt channeled abilities and heals (Take that HB Warrior.) With it’s root, Infiltrator’s Strike might be the best gap closer the Thief has, with the ability to use shadow return to remove a condition or escape from a bad situation. Flanking Strike is decent, but I don’t tend to use it much. With Cloak and Dagger + Tactical Strike you can daze your target very frequently. Not nearly as bursty as D/D but I like it better personally because of it’s added utility. S/D is my preferred build in sPVP.
If I take off signet of shadows it feels like im playing in slooooow-mo
The punishment was less damage at high health. The nerf translates to ‘massively less damage where no one wants to use it anymore unless the enemy is low health’. Not just ‘Use it above 50% and get some benefit over autoattack, but see big differences when the enemy is low health.’ Spam HS on a 100% mob and see how far you get in 4 attacks pre-nerf. Nowhere. Maybe 70%. Now it’s even worse?
You shouldn’t be spamming heartseeker on a 100% mob anyway. Why would you even do that?
And I said most useful skill.
It still is a useful skill, just because you can’t rely on it doing damage above 50% target health doesn’t change the fact that it’s still an excellent ability that’s useful for closing the gap and finishing off your target. It’s less useful than before, yes, but it’s not going to ruin the Thief.
What other class is punished on a main damage skill 50% of the time?
Other than ele and guardian I haven’t played the other classes much, as far as I can tell heartseeker is totally unique in regards to it’s scaling damage with target health. There’s nothing wrong with that, it just means there’s a right time to use it and a wrong time.
Where else do the ‘mechanics’ of the attack make you feel it’s not worth using 50% of the time?
The fact that the class was nerfed doesn’t sit well with me at all either, but all I can say is that out of all of the ways they could have nerfed it (decreasing ALL damage, increasing initiative cost, decreasing range, for example.) they picked the least damaging way to the class to do it. In my opinion this doesn’t effect the thief in any significant way. I hope this doesn’t become a habit of theirs, this class really didn’t need to be nerfed in the first place.
(edited by JStereo.6953)
This isn’t a big deal. Heartseeker is still useful as both a gap closer and a finishing move. Nerfing the damage it did above target 50% health just hurts the Haste + 2222222222 spammers.
Actually, it hurts our entire gameplay, making the skill far less worth using for every PvE and PvP engagement 50% of the time. Think of it – your most useful skill only usable 50% of the time without severely kittening yourself.
They promised not making these kinds of nerf-bat changes. And here we see it WITHIN 20 days. The Thief BEGS for skilled players to play it. There’s probably a 2:1 favor of skilled players playing Thief than any other class. Good players know they can turn the utility into massive K/D ratios. They could have done it on any other class, but the Thief begs for it to be used that way.
The only problem I have is the 20% damage nerf above 50%. If it becomes no better than your auto-attack, yes it still has use for a gap closer, but then you’re not using it 50% of the time. In fact, you’re punished for thinking of using it for damage now. In your mind, you’re going to be saying, “Ah nope don’t press that key, it’s not even worth it anymore until he’s at 50%”
Is that the game design everyone was promised? To have skills made unviable 50% of the time? Was the idea to take out the nerf bat within 20 days? Was the idea to make players not use 1/5 of their skills half the time? Or to at least be punished for doing so.
Just an odd nerf this early into the game.
If the skill increases in damage when the target is low health then it’s pretty safe to assume that it was intended to be an execution move. You don’t use execution moves on targets with high health. It’s a situational skill, there’s nothing wrong with a game punishing you for using a skill at an inappropriate time.
I disagree that heartseeker is the most valuable skill. Cloak and Dagger is great for weaving in and out of combat (and reducing toughness), Dancing Dagger is great for crippling multiple enemies, Death Blossom for the evade and going well with condition damage build. Are you seeing a trend here? D/D play should be that way, not just spam one skill until the enemy is dead or you’re out of initiative. This nerf only hurts people who relied on heartseeker too much to get their kills. Direct damage still has stealth/back stab to hurt the enemy and heartseeker to finish them off and/or close the gap.
This isn’t a big deal. Heartseeker is still useful as both a gap closer and a finishing move. Nerfing the damage it did above target 50% health just hurts the Haste + 2222222222 spammers.