Make Mug a knockdown for 2 sec instead of damage. Take away vulnerability from CnD, make it so it doesnt work with steal and instead of the vulnerability stacks, have it do like 3s of chill .
Take away direct damage from backstab front hit, have it cause something like 10 stacks of bleeding at high duration, and poison at high duration. This adds synergy to condition builds,
Trust me, a backstab thief would much rather have knockdown with steal rather than damage. Knockdown would just make even more QQ because now they really have no chance. Warriors can still pop endure pain, however(which even works against the current backstab builds, any warriors out there)
ANET is fixing it,
They wont be nerfs
It to bring a class in line with the others
Isn’t that what they did with “OP pistolwhip”?
By nerfing it to the point where the auto attack chain was more powerful and ignoring the real problem with it (haste)
Honestly scabies, that is my biggest concern right now, is that I’ll have to focus on condition builds using venoms and bleed because that’s all we have left. I hate that. Cannot stand condition builds. I like direct damage, that’s where I shine, not hitting someone and watching their health go down slowly.
The problem is many thieves including me are tired of having to rebuy different gear and learn new playstyles patch after patch.
Given – backstab isn’t really complicated to learn, but I still had to spend a massive amount of money buying gear to complement it, and that lasted for a week or two after I got my gear and now I’m learning I have to do it again? I don’t even like condition builds. I’ve moved from stealth build to pistol whip to backstab and now what?
I’m not a condition build player. Never have been. Don’t like it. I like doing direct damage. And now anet is nerfing it. Given – we don’t know what kind of nerf we are getting yet. If it isn’t a pure damage nerf, I won’t have to change hopefully, but if they totally kill the skill (like pistol whip) that means I have to buy new gear, find a new build, get accustomed to it, and then probably have to move onto another one as that will eventually get nerfed to due to thieves just being an all around hated class.
That’s why so many thieves including me and saying anet is destroying the thief, they might as well delete it, because it’s just constant nerf after nerf (also given, assassins signet wasn’t a nerf depending on how you see it, I see it as a nerf, however) and the complaints never stop, and Anet listens to them, instead of rationalizing with the entire community. When does it get to the point where even the non powerful thief builds get nerfed? The nerf train isn’t stopping anytime soon, and it will be run into the ground, just like the rangers.
(edited by Doomdesire.9365)
Thx for the replies, keep them coming. Very much appreciated.
Unable to cast cnd while using steal along with steal not activating basilik venom should be good enough if anet ever fixes the rendering issues. Make it harder to execute, fix the rendering issues, and don’t nerf raw damage is how I would do it.
Jonathan, as long as you are hearing out the entire community, even if nerfs ensue, I will be happy.
Forgive me, but I just feel as if it’s only the pleads of those who want nerfs that is being heard as if the devs only read the title…
In my effort to gather some information, I would like to have the opinions of you guardians and warriors out there. How do you guys feel about thieves, especially glass cannon and backstab thieves? Do you feel they are too powerful against your class? Or are they just right? Do they need to be nerfed in your eyes?
Thanks to all who responded
100B is only easy to avoid if the warrior doesn’t use knock down, in which case they usually do, you’re dead before you get back up. Thief can pump backstabs out every second, if they have any stealth skills left. CND is not a viable option for continual backstabs because it destroys initiative and heartseeker would be more useful if your first “chain(which requires at least 40 seconds of cooldown)” is sucessful. Unless he trades a utility skill for blinding powder, I doubt it’s likely they continue pumping out backstabs. I would much rather heartseeker from stealth if they are under 50% hp.
I can assure you they are coming again dear sir.
As many of you know recently a developer came on a thread inferring that a backstab nerf to thief was inevitable. This was made in regards to a thread where a warrior wanted a nerf because he took a 8K damage hit (keep in mind, any thieves running full glass cannon to achieve that type of damage are probably all too familiar with taking 6K+ damage from warriors and other glass cannon builds). By doing this, anet is essentially turning a thief’s only glass cannon build into a glass cannon build with the cannon part. This is not the right way to balance things. These constant nerfs need to stop for thief. Enough is enough. Anet, if you’re reading. Answer me this question : Why do you feel the need to nerf a glass cannon thief while not nerfing 100 blades + frenzy combo that can do more damage than 8K damage dealt from warriors that aren’t entirely glass cannon.
Thieves who are against this nerf need to speak up. If you are against this, make your own thread, so anet can hear us out, because our pleads are not being prioritized, compared to the few who make pleads for nerfs. If we don’t speak up now, the thief class is going to be destroyed. The nerfs are not going to stop. Stealth is next, then condition damage.
Any immobilization/stun/knockdown. They’ll prob go invis if you immobilize, but they still cant move. Just keep whacking away. Also if you’re a thief yourself use dagger storm. Signet of malice also tells you if you’re getting hits on them provided you aren’t 100% hp.
The only respectable and comparable playstyle left after this is condition damage. I could accept pistol whip nerf, assassins signet nerf, but plain out nerfing raw damage isn’t what should happen. What have thieves left after this, besides condition damage? And then what makes thief unique after this nerf? Surely it’s not the condition build, as almost all classes can do it.
If Anet wants to keep nerfing my favorite class why even play the game anymore?
I respect your development skills Jonathan and you’ve made a great game, but I think I speak for the majority when I say this “nerf” isn’t needed. What respectable build will thieves have left after this? Condition damage? That’s it. The only I can think of at the top of my head. Thieves can survive pistol whip nerf, assassins signet nerf, but reducing the raw damage for multiple builds(keep it mind, you said nerfing the raw damage for some builds meaning not only backstab) and my question to you is: Why? Thieves are already squishy as it is, so why nerf raw damage? What does backstab in particular stick out to you and not equally powerful things like 100 blades + frenzy + knockdown combo? Warriors using that always get my thief downed before he can get up, yet you don’t see me complaining. OP hasn’t even posted all the facts, and it’s sketchy at best. You said you would compensate. But how? To nerf elements that make backstab what it is, is to also nerf crucial elements many other builds use. How would thieves recover from that? Maybe it’s time to hang up thief and go with another class, but then again, I don’t have time to level to 80. Maybe I should just quit
It still works folks, the only difference is now the squishies die in 2 seconds instead of 1.5 sinister laugh
New chain
Basilik > Assassins signet > CND > immediate steal(while CND is casting) > backstab > heartseekers if needed. Haste will also speed up the process if you want to sacrifice endurance.
Actually cogbyrn that’s a good point. This nerf may be a blessing in disguise. One less skill to have to worry about activating when you already initiated the attack, and potentially even more deadly heartseekers.
With the new assassins signet “update” how does this actually pair up with the new damages? Can anyone do the math?
Doesn’t matter we backstab thieves just got nerfed pretty badly.
Welp. They nerf every class we use. It’s official. Anet hates thieves.
It’s really big. about 7600 files and a painstacking 50kb/sec average due to high traffic
It worked for me. Now it’s downloading the real file. It’s pretty big…
Everyone should form a line behind me so we can get playing in an orderly fashion :P
I got a connection error…