I know for established players the “good” is merely what we have come to expect, while the “bad” always seems so very broken (Why don’t they fix that!?). But speaking as a new player who has yet to cap any class (I’m still exploring!), the “good” feels fresh and interesting while the “bad”, well, I haven’t fully realized the consequences of that just yet!
So, as it looks like thief will be my first class to level 80, here are my thoughts (for what they’re worth!).
The “Good”:
Coming over from WoW, I am VERY impressed with the mobility inherent to combat here. Where very few classes in WoW have active defenses that feature physical evasion, here it’s par for the course for every class! But I feel the thief class out of all of the classes I’ve tried so far has by far the best mobility.
This results in a playstyle that, at level 72 running d/p with a tricks/SA/DA setup feels amazingly fluid. Running around in the open world completing objectives and events is a joy – near-constant swiftness, no-cooldown shadowsteps and leaps, plus stealth make it a breeze to get around quickly. In combat I’m constantly applying blinds and boons, moving in and out of stealth, and shadowstepping and dodging around the battlefield.
Moving in and out from close to mid-range, teleporting, blinding, stealthing, and evading attacks while buffing allies and staying alive. I can hardly imagine a better presentation for a nimble thief that finds himself at home right in the thick of combat! And with my bag of tricks, I rarely find myself out of options!
Best of all, thematically it all makes sense: the centerpiece of the build are the stealth and steal mechanics (and shadowstepping, but that’s thief-y too!).
The “Bad”:
It seems a bit buggy. At times, I can see the reveal debuff is gone and yet I apply stealth and nothing happens. It could be working as intended and I’m simply too new to understand what’s happening when stealth fails unexpectedly, but it happens a lot and I probably cover it with more stealth abilities on my bar than strictly necessary.
Other times I’m prevented from shadowstepping by terrain effects. But this has become fairly predictable and avoidable. Not really a major concern.
All in all, a wonderful job as far as the leveling experience goes. I just hope I don’t reach endgame and find myself in a position where the playstyle I enjoy isn’t particularly effective due to balance issues. But so far this game seems fairly flexible, so I’m cautiously optimistic.
I’m not sure what to ask here really. I suppose I could ramble a bit and you could critique me based upon the information provided and perhaps offer alternative methods and perspectives?
So far I’m up to level 58. I mostly rely on mace/axe (Recommend another weapon?), have power/precision/condition on my gear (Stat priority?), and specialize in corruption and devastation (Recommend different specializations?). I’ve found the dwarf stance to be most useful (Recommend stances and relevant tactics?).
I often like to lead with axe 4 to close distance, apply chill, and place me behind the target. I drop mace 2 while they turn to apply burn, then drop inspiring reinforcement to apply weakness and gain stability. I then dodge forward to end up behind the target and blast with mace 3 for swiftness and 3-6 stacks of might, also applying torment and possibly poison. Then I dodge backward, drop axe 5 for the brief knockdown and more torment and poison.
This seems to apply a lot of conditions that make it difficult for enemies to land much damage and leaves me outside of melee range where I can apply -20% damage reduction plus heals to recover any lost health before moving back in to the assault. It’s also 100% area effects, so it works well against multiple enemies if I can get them grouped up.
I was thinking my next specialization would be retribution. There’s quite a bit of damage reduction there, and potentially some mobility and self-healing as well. I think I’d be pretty difficult to take down as far as what I’ve experienced so far is concerned.
I’d appreciate any thoughts or feedback. I’m not having any difficulty, but I feel I have a lot to learn and want to hear from experienced players.