So High damage output+ high survivability are ok with class balance. You wonder why so many complaints arise from theives abilities. I always thought the two traits were trade offs.
Use your logic.
A single class of character should not dictate what other classes “have” to have in order to survive more than a few seconds. That is ridiculous in a game.
So everyone has to Max defensive abilities because they will die in 1 sec if not? Everyone has to place max toughness on every piece of gear to even have a chance against a thief?
What is the problem here……..
And don’t say L2P because that is insulting to people.
All those people who claim thieves are not a problem please post your gear build…….
Chances are you have stacked toughness and vitality to the point that you’ve limited your offensive capabilities….
Tell me again is it right for a single character class to dictate playable builds?
This is the question that developers must ask themselves when designing a competitive game where classes has different abilities.
Let me ask thieves this…..what if RTL caused instant 7-9k damage without being able to dodge? Would that be fair? Well that is what a steal/mug/backstab does. Then follow with a spammable skill doing 4-6k damage that is a gap closer.
All other class burst skills can be seen and dodged so why allow thieves the ability to do so without fear of missing. It is basically a free hit that places others at a serious disadvantage. Stealth should be a defensive ability not an offensive one.
The suggestions I made have pointed out viable fixes to this imbalance though i feel base skill damage reduction is in order. No one should get a free 9k hit……….
Don’t know if this belongs in suggestions or here but here is a suggestion that may solve many burst damage issues. Build in Critical hit damage resistance as a secondary attribute for toughness. Its far to easy to stack crit damage with gear and stats but no feasible way to counter it. Toughness builds mitigate some damage but when you have additional 70% crit damage modifiers (stats and gear attributes) it creates insane amounts of burst. When combined with stealth as a defense it becomes the problems we are seeing now. Glass cannon builds shouldn’t be feasible IMHO unless its with group play.
Removal of stealth upon initiating an attack is another method to tone down the offensive capability of stealther classes making it more of a defensive mechanism though the first suggestion would probably solve more problems.
Another suggestion would be to place a drawback on stealth like frenzy for the warrior…..double incoming damage while in stealth.
As to the culling issue perhaps making shadow stepping more of a leap allowing a visual feedback can help remove the model re-rendering issue as well as providing a possible defense response.
Now look at stealth trait line…..So many bonuses attached to one skill for thieves.
Condition removal (trait)
Increased movement speed (trait)
increased initiative regain (trait)
100% crit hit chance (trait)
regeneration while in stealth (trait)
2 initiative gain when using a stealth skill (trait)
Gain Might 15s (trait)
Look at how many ways to get stealth……
Stealth for 2 sec upon steal (this one should be removed because its a gap closing/attack in one keystoke when combined with mug) trait
cloak and dagger -weapon skill
hide in shadow (heal skill)
blinding powder (which can stack stealth) -utility
shadow refuge (stack stealth)- utility
shadow trap -utility
No negatives for a stealth build all positives from what i see.
All in all diversity is what should make this game more enjoyable and class balance is key to that. A zerg of thieves is not what the devs was planning but soon it maybe all that exists in GW2 given the OP-ness of Stealth+High DPS+Mobilty as a combination.
Just to point out every attribute/build should have a counter to it, like how critical chance % requires more precision per % point as levels progress, conditions can be removed, direct damage mitigated through toughness…..only thing not being addressed is crit damage stacking.
I feel that critical hit damage % should be affected by the amount of toughness a person chooses to place upon their characters.
With the amounts of damage being produced and the ability to stack crit damage percentages and crit rates, i feel a way to counter it should be made available as the current toughness- damage ratio doesn’t provide enough benefit against such builds.
Critical damage % could be made to never go under 50% but higher toughness should provide some protection against crit dmg builds.
To clarify I didn’t mean stealth is dropped when damaged, I meant they should lose stealth when they decide to attack someone which means no multiple attacks while invisible. Thieves will still manage to attack singular targets with ease but will have to make decisions on engaging more than one enemy like everyone else.
I feel that stealth should drop upon attack making it more of a defense skill not an OP attack method. I mean getting hit multiple times from an invisible opponent is ridiculous, especially if there is no way to remove it, not being able to target an invisible target is unbalanced for certain classes who have limited AOE capability ie rangers. Perhaps they may allow pets attack invisible enemies…..or knock them out of stealth. Just a thought on how to balance abilities without breaking a class.
With 20-30 points stacked in this trait line boon duration bonus should be 20-30% and with runes of monk and water shouldn’t it be around 50-70%? With attunement bonus set at 5sec shouldn’t it be around 7 secconds with bonuses?
Just a question because it seems not to work at all.
Make skills that block/absorb projectiles absorb aoe projectile types? Strategic skill usage would offset heavy aoe barrages……..