Guild Wars 2

That would be George Coe, who sadly passed away just a few days ago.

He’s done work for Skyrim as well, voicing characters like Tolfdir, Calcemo, Calixto, etc. Very talented guy.

Sonickeyblade.8415:

I hope Thief is revealed next. Just to end the major debate.

I agree completely. I’m extremely eager to know what the thief elite is going to bring, but also I just want the staff/rifle war to end already. It’s pretty ridiculous at this point.

Also agree with yolo swaggins. The suspense is real.

Kocoff.7582:

well I am pretty sure we are bound to get both weapons eventually. Point here was to see wich one would come first. I mean, it would take another year or even more for that second weapon to make an appearance. lol

Well as far as that question goes, I think melee staff is looking pretty solid going by what we’ve been presented with. And y’know, I’m totally cool with it. It’s got potential to be really fun and dynamic.

Rainbowsand.2438:

For example in HotS bodyblock is a big strategic feature and in WvW zergs it gonna have an impact. Glitching through each other is kinda lame no?

Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA (or hero brawler, depending on what side you’re on for that debate). There’s no more than 10 players in one area if you get in a full-blown team fight in any given match. Yes, body blocking is a very important strategy in that game, but you can’t compare it to an MMO like Guild Wars. The gameplay mechanics are worlds apart. Model collision in the context of Guild Wars would be way too detrimental, not to mention annoying.

MOBA =/= MMO

Basaltface.2786:

well… just imagine what trolls would do with this “gift”… thats all i gonna say about that

ReaverKane.7598:

You know Concept art is the first thing they do, so having concept art is really not indication of anything, and the Shield could be made for another class, or not even related to any elite spec.

We all know it’s not 100% certain until Anet announces it, but looking at all that’s been provided makes me more confident in staff than rifle.

We have an actual in-game model of a staff that perfectly matches the trait background art for thief (which looks more like final art than concept to me). Also, the shield looks like it was modeled after a dragon’s wing, assumed to be Glint. Given that Glint is almost a certainty for the revenant’s elite spec, we can also be fairly certain that they will be getting said shield as well.

Again, not 100%, but pretty compelling nonetheless.

Ghotistyx.6942:

The name of the thread talks about Ricochet. Most of the drama I’ve seen is directly attributed to ricochet, not just the other traits. Now yes, thief did outright lose traits that affected many builds, but so did other professions. Thieves aren’t alone in this. Pistol Mastery still exists, it just has its bonus tied to cripple now. Other professions have had similar changes. P/p is doing more damage than before the update (ignoring aoe potential from ricochet) so making the extra damage require cripple isn’t much of a burden. Ankle Shots provides a cripple, extra damage based on cripple, and the unlisted range increase. I’d hardly call that mediocre.

All I’m really asking for is to hold off on the drama, and at least wait to see what the elite specialization brings. Then, we can ask for things we’re missing.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like a damage boost for 3 seconds on a single enemy with an internal 8 second cooldown is fairly mediocre, even if you spec for condition duration, whereas Pistol Mastery was a permanent 10% increase. The range increase is still cool.

For the thief elite spec, I’m definitely hoping for melee staff first (it sounds like it could be crazy fun). Can’t say for sure if that’s what we’re getting, but signs are definitely pointing to “yes.”

However, there is another reason why I don’t want the rifle spec to be the first one we get. It’s because I feel like the pistol changes are still too fresh for the devs to really adjust to player feedback. I want Anet to look closely at this set and take the time to read our feedback and suggestions (like the one I posted at the top of page 8, the #gunslingers4life one), explore ways to improve the loadout and perhaps allow for more than one cookie-cutter build. I don’t want a rifle to simply replace dual pistols. Rather, I want a rifle spec to support them, like a Gunslinger elite, as been suggested quite a number of times already.

I know Anet has a lot on their plate, but the dual pistol weapon set really needs to be addressed sometime, and I want them to have as much constructive feedback and suggestions as we can provide. I’m confident that they do in fact check these threads out from time to time.

Zodryn.4216:

Ricochet was our pseudo AoE…

A high precision dual pistol Ricochet build with a superior sigil of fire. Good times. ;_;

How does one look at their infraction record? Not that I have any, to my knowledge, but I’m curious nonetheless.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Because it is a display-only issue, if you go back and +1 the posts again, it will turn off your upvote (though display the opposite).

You only need upvote them once, and ignore the display anomaly. =)

Oh dude! I get it now. So I just upvote what I like and then leave it at that, despite the button changing back.

Inculpatus, you are seriously like the MVP of these forums, bro. Always helpful and friendly, and I very much appreciate it.

nikdik.1934:

Even if Thief gets Staff first, it’s safe to say they will get Rifle as one elite spec somewhere down the road. I like the sound of both tbh.

This is exactly the point I’ve been trying to convey during this whole staff/rifle war, but having a preference for melee staff paints a target on yourself for the more hostile rifle enthusiasts.

It’s like they think it’s impossible for someone to like the idea of both while still preferring one over the other. I don’t doubt we’ll see both make it into the game. I’d just like to see melee staff first, that’s all.

I also want them to fix dual pistols when they release a rifle elite spec.

So it’s been a known bug for a while now? Huh. Well, it’s not a deal-breaker by any means, but it is a little annoying having to re+1 all the posts I liked whenever I enter a thread I’ve visited before.

Thanks as always, Inculpatus!

Here’s another post from the aforementioned dreadlocks thread:

Seabreeze.8437:

Crimson Clouds.4853:

…and perhaps more styles of afros.

This too. The lazy “make a render of a sphere and call it a day” afro just doesn’t cut it. We need more Caribbean style afros like these ones. It’d be especially cool if they even gave it physical properties, like having it bounce around when you move.

As a side note, can we please get better facial hair for human males, please? Why we don’t have at least a simple chin goatee like Carlito here (the bottom pic) is beyond me.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Lot of really nice hairstyles (and faces) guys. I don’t have a human male and I only made a human female for the story line achieves. I dislike all the baby faces they have to offer on both human males and females and it was a struggle to find a hairstyle I could tolerate for the female. The male options were awful.

Keep up these great suggestions.

Right on, thanks!

I’m really digging this thread. As suggested, I’m gonna bring a couple of my posts from the dreadlocks thread here for further reference, but I also provided a link to the original thread in my first post for further reference.

Seabreeze.8437:

+100 if I could, I’ve been wanting more dreadlocks styles for soooo long! This would actually be good timing considering Heart of Thorns is going to be set in the jungle.

Like someone already stated, asura are getting really nice dreadlocks (especially the male one with the bandana), and I’d like to see humans get similar styles. I’m sick of all the lame boy band styles that are all basically the same. Let’s see some creativity, Anet!

Also, I’d like to see some dreadlocks with accessories like beads and ties for a surfer/beach look (we already have examples of that with asura and charr). Headbands look nice too. There’s just so much room for creativity that I’m surprised that humans have been getting the most boring styles with every hair kit update.

Solori.6025:

The thing I like about dreads is that a lot of the styles can be gender neutral ( so less work if they are made right)

Very much agree. Here are some examples of what I’d like to see as unisex hairstyles.

This sounds strange, but is anyone else experiencing an issue where posts you upvote suddenly go away when you re-enter a thread? It seems like whenever I click the +1 on a post, then go back into the same thread later, the +1 is reverted back to being unchecked.

Am I missing something or is this a weird bug on the forums?

Tachyon.5897:

Given the insane amount of clipping already present in this game, I can’t believe that they’d have the nerve to cite ‘clipping issues’ as an excuse not to include guild capes.

+1 because it’s true!

arenta.2953:

Seabreeze.8437:

It seems most of the pro-rifle crowd have more or less given up on P/P, and that sucks when a weapon set reaches that point. I hope Anet doesn’t give up on it though. I still use it on my thief main, even though it’s not quite the same.

i tried not to give up on pistol/pistol

but after 2 years of trying to get it to work, and seeing it only get WORSE (it was bad BEFORE it lost the 1050 range and rickrockets)

i’ve given up because its clear anet is not going to fix it. at best it will return to the level it was before it lost its trait for range.

can’t even tell you how many times i get KICKED from fractals or dungeons for using pistol/pistol.

when you get kicked that much, and Anet hasn’t so much as looked in your direction in OVER 2 YEARS (possibly since launch, i wouldnt know there as i was playing ranger, warrior, and engi back then) you begin to resent the weapon and wish it was never put in game to start with

and we still LACK a rifle for medium armor!
engi doesnt count as its a kitten shotgun. your character doesn’t AIM. they just hipfire.

Even though our opinions differ on the melee staff vs rifle debate, I totally feel your pain. Pistols can still get their range boost from Ankle Shots, but that trait is pretty mediocre in itself. This is why I would hope that a rifle spec would do more than just “give thieves a rifle” so to speak. But I dunno, this sucks. I loved my dual pistol Ricochet DPS and sustain build. It wasn’t meta by any stretch of the imagination, but man it was fun in PvE with all the mobs you have to deal with.

Totally off-topic, but your point about engineers using rifles as a shotgun makes me wish there were more shotgun skins for rifles.

Anyways, I still want melee staff first, but I want Anet to finally take a good look at the state of pistols and explore ways to improve them alongside an eventual rifle elite spec release.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Ricochet-gone/page/8#post5337839

^ Also off-topic, but on my first post on this page I explain pretty much what we already know about why P/P is so lackluster, but I’m also looking for ways to improve said weapon set, because I’m not going to give up on dual pistols! Don’t give up either, arenta!

Guild cape are okay, but I do think we need cloaks in general.

Also, rather than having them as back items, I think cloaks like this one would be better off as shoulder gear (capes can probably stay as back items, I guess). I think that’d minimize potential clipping issues. Some clipping is unavoidable, but I’d happily accept it if we could get an awesome variety of cloaks.

stof.9341:

And rifle will replace P/P and Shortbow ranged weapon role …

^ This. I don’t understand why people are saying melee staff would be redundant and then say that rifle would be completely new (other than having more range, which would be really its only unique feature I think). I won’t count shortbow since its more utility. Dual pistols (which can still get the range boost from Ankle Shots) would be good, but they’re in a weird place right now, and I’d be disappointed if the rifle became the replacement for P/P, my favorite weapon set (even though Anet killed my Ricochet build ):)

I’m not opposed to a rifle spec, but I don’t want dual pistols to become obsolete because of it. I’d want a rifle spec to bring dual pistols back into the realm of viability, and heck, maybe even really effective!

It seems most of the pro-rifle crowd have more or less given up on P/P, and that sucks when a weapon set reaches that point. I hope Anet doesn’t give up on it though. I still use it on my thief main, even though it’s not quite the same.

Girbilcannon.8259:

Ghotistyx.6942:

If your entire Guildwars2 experience is ruined by the removal of one trait, you might have larger issues than just the removal of that one trait. You have the entire game available to you and that’s the reason to leave? I certainly won’t miss you.

Your mistake here is that you are not looking at why people are really complaining. It was NOT just a single trait that was removed, but rather 3 traits removed. Ricochet just so happened to be the one that enhanced the effects of every single target effect and made this build actually worth something. Other traits removed are Pistol Mastery and Opportunist. Maybe if you paid more attention to this post earlier on, you might understand that.

This does not just go for you, but for anybody else saying that everybody should stop complaining for its removal. I mean, I would constantly remove the ricochet trait on single target fights or if we had really strong AoE in the group, but that wasn’t always the case. It was a VERY necessary trait (along with the other 2 i mentioned) to make this weapon set the slightest bit tolerable.

No offense to Ghotistyx (at least I got your name right, though), but Girbilcannon makes a good point. This thread is focusing on the cornerstone of dual pistol builds, Ricochet, but in reality there were a handful of trait losses that contributed to it’s fall from… well, not from grace, since it was never really there to begin with… it’s fall from somewhere. I don’t like that the range boost was lumped into the mediocre Ankle Shots trait, and most of the others are either altered in a negative way or just straight-up gone (like Pistol Mastery, for instance).

In my previous post I give my honest opinion on why dual pistols aren’t doing so well, even more so now that we’ve lost our Ricochet builds. Check it out and let me know what you guys think. Feel free to add any suggestions of your own as well, as I’m still optimistically believing that Anet devs are in fact reading these forums, even if they aren’t actively responding to threads, so the more brainstorming the better!

yolo swaggins.2570:

p/p can’t decide of its a condition weapon or a power weapon. Staff won’t be able to decide if its a melee weapon or a ranged weapon. You see the comparison? X can’t decide if its a Y weapon or Z weapon.

I 100% agree with you on the dual pistols part, but how do you know about the staff? Despite evidence supporting staff, we don’t even truly know if it’s the thieves elite weapon, let alone the skills that are going to come along with it.

Side note, I’d prefer the staff to be a melee weapon, as a magic-wielding, ranged “shadow assassin” theme would fit better for a focus or scepter in my opinion.

Jana.6831:

That’s your opinion, but not mine nor a fact. Faces do matter a lot when it comes to hairstyles -ask any hairdresser. There already are some quite kitten hairstyles (both mohawk styles, the undercut and some more) but the male humans still look like from a boyband – because they’ve got baby faces. It’s not that hard to understand, is it?

Yes, it’s an opinion, thank you captain obvious. You views are also opinions. Seriously, though, what’s your problem, Jana? This is simply a thread asking for more variety in human hairstyles, why do you sound so opposed to that idea? It’s not like this is a “nerf profession X or buff profession Y” thread.

Honestly, some people just have to argue for the sake of arguing. (rolls eyes)

Anyways, let’s keep this thread relevant to the topic at hand, yeah? Here’s some more examples of hairstyles I think we should have (along with facial hair concepts, to boot). Also, I threw in a batch of female hairstyles as well, even though males need a bit more help in the “cooler styles” department. :p

Jana.6831:

Seabreeze.8437:

^ Dude, that looks awesome! We totally need this… like right now.

Also, you know human male hairstyle kit options are in a bad place when you hardly ever see anyone in the game using them. Seriously, every time I browse through them with my spare makeover kit, I think, “wow, I forgot these ugly do’s were in here.” That’s because everyone knows they’re terrible and nobody ever uses them!

Not true. Also two of my friends opted for the new mohawk (without knowing from each other – they actually look pretty similar).
I always said that if there was a better haircut than that of my main (second pic) coming along, I’d grab it.. but somehow his “My sister cut my hair”-style still suits him best.

Yo, don’t take my words so literally. Also, just because you know one or two people that use them (or even a few), doesn’t mean these styles are super popular. Yes, on occasion I’ll see someone using one of these weird hairstyles, but by and large they’re mostly ugly and repetitive. Like, how many parted haircuts do we really need honestly when we don’t even have any really good ponytail options? Having all these edgy haircuts wouldn’t be so bad if we could also have a selection of more rugged styles like the one the OP posted.

Tyr.6097:

I’m more interested in more faces that doesn’t look like anime/metrosexual/babyface.

I’m more interested in hairstyles, but I agree the overabundance of babyfaces is also annoying.

notebene.3190:

wok wok wokka…wok
wok wok wok wokka…wok

:)

NUUUU!! DON’T REMIND ME OF THAT HORRID NOISE!

…spot on impression tho. :p

^ Dude, that looks awesome! We totally need this… like right now.

Also, you know human male hairstyle kit options are in a bad place when you hardly ever see anyone in the game using them. Seriously, every time I browse through them with my spare makeover kit, I think, “wow, I forgot these ugly do’s were in here.” That’s because everyone knows they’re terrible and nobody ever uses them!

All of my +1. Human males have been getting the short end of the hairstyle stick since the very first kit update.

It’s honestly so surprising how hairstyles like this haven’t made it into the game by now. We need some really good hairstyles for humans in general, but I agree that males need it the most.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Suggestion-Human-Norn-Dreadlocks/first#post5318405

^ Here’s another thread about the subject, specifically about better dreadlocks. But we also desperately need hairstyles like the references you posted, Leviathan.

It’s hard to make a rugged barbarian when all you’ve got to work with are ugly hipster cuts.

Black Frog.9274:

After doing a bit of digging I found the original Reddit post. Zooming in, I couldn’t help but notice that there is something that looks a lot like a strap strung from a small circle on the underside near the top, under his forward elbow, under the stick/barrel across the chest, and then over what appears to be (maybe) the top of his other arm. There is something that looks like the frayed end of a rope close to the forward ring as well.

I guess we’ll all know soon enough.

Well, the datamined staff has a ring on either end with a strip of red cloth hanging from it, if you’re referring to what I think you are. Check it out, it actually looks really cool when you move it around, which would in turn provide for some neat visual effects when swinging the staff around in melee fashion.

I’ve still been running my dual pistol build on my main, and have been finding a bit of success, but admittedly it’s not as enjoyable as it used to be.

The more time I’ve been without Ricochet though, the more I notice how bad all the other weapon skills are outside of very specific situations. I mean, I already knew they weren’t great, but the lack of Ricochet really brings to light how much help this set really needs.

• The auto-attack is arguably the worst AA in the game (terrible condition damage, even worse raw damage, and annoyingly slow rate-of-fire), and there is literally NO synergy between that and Unload given that Unload is all about DPS.
• Body Shot is pretty lackluster with conditions so short they’re meaningless unless you spend all your initiative to spam it, which isn’t worthwhile at all when you could just spam Unload instead.
• Headshot is a bit more useful (less so without Ricochet), but it still is very situational especially in PvE, and is typically still not as good as simply using Unload.
• Black Powder Shot got hit pretty hard with the nerf stick, making it far less useful than it used to be. I enjoy using it on S/P, but dual pistols are quite simply better off using Unload as the sustain from SoM and IP is better than trying to keep mobs blinded with BPS.

When a weapon set is almost entirely dependent on one single skill, you know there’s something wrong, especially when the auto attack is one of your worst skills as well.

I’ve suggested this before, but I feel like—because it’s hard to balance P/P without inadvertently overpowering other pistol builds like P/D and so on—the only way to bring dual pistols into a more respectable light is to make the entire skill set unique to that weapon combination. I know it’s a crazy idea, but this is where I believe elite specs could really shine. If they implement a Gunslinger elite spec, then perhaps only by speccing to that trait line would your dual pistols have a unique skill bar. I haven’t actually thought too much on what these unique skills would be, but maybe we can brainstorm and get some ideas going.

Dual pistols are in a weird place right now. I sincerely hope Anet is looking at this weapon set and exploring ways to bring it out of its current underwhelming , under-performing, and all-around lackluster state.

#gunslingers4life

Orpheal.8263:

I wish I could just take my own made characters and recruit them as “Heroes” to form up with them 5 Man groups with that I could play personal story/living story instances or do with them dungeons/fractals solo..

This would open up also finally more options for RPers to play and roleplay as a “Family” for example, travelign together with family members in case you gave multiple characters the same family name

So much potential

As easy as it is to find people to party up with via the LFG menu, this is still a cool idea. I’m also an RPer with characters that I’d like to travel together but can’t due to having them on a single account.

I wouldn’t really use this feature for dungeons or fractals, but I’d definitely use it for personal story. +1 from me.

Laurence.6751:

Zaoda.1653:

I personally think this will be the final specs:

Ranger – staff
Thief – staff
Ele – warhorn
Warrior – torch
Mesmer – shield
Revenant – shield
Engineer – hammer
Guardian – longbow
Necromancer – greatsword

Agree.

This looks about right. Obviously we won’t know for sure until Anet shows us more elite specs, but this list looks good to me. I’ll admit I’m quite intrigued what warrior torch could bring, considering the elite spec name is most likely going to remain “berserker.”

You’re a little late to the party, dude. :p

Akikaze.1307:

Belzebu.3912:

Tyr.6097:

Based on the current needs for thiefs, staffs wouldn’t fit or help in any case.

Melee staff could be the cleave/AoE sustained DPS for thief.
Currently thief has ok sustained DPS and high single target burst and quite bad AoE damage.

Sword/Pistol. Sword auto attack cleaves.

Warrior greatsword and main-hand axe. Both auto attacks also cleave. What’s your point?

sebradle.7034:

Random.4691:

Llort.9267:

The staff doesn’t suit the thief class at all, as he ceases to be the thief/assassin type class at all. Martial arts monk is not a ninja, as some people seem to believe. Monks don’t rely on stealth. As for ninjas, their main weapon was katana, which is a sword, daggers, shortbows, and a bunch of throwing weapons. These are basically all the weapons that the GW2 thief can use to this point. Pistols would be exception, but it seems OK to have a ninja with a pistol in a game with steampank elements. The only suitable new weapon for the ninja among the existing ones would be a torch, as ninjas very often were used for sabotage. That and kits with throwing knives and granades would be the better choice over the staff, in my opinion. The only problem is that current thief is pretty much a ninja already.

As for the rifle, that makes the thief more of a secret agent class, that uses range weapon to kill an enemy from afar, probably has some tricks to disorient and fool them beforehand, and uses stealth to escape if needed. And this would also give the thieves what they lack – more range.

I hope it’s either one of those two, especially as both rifle and torch are two most underused weapons in the game.

You realize that it is kind of the point to make the thief not a thief with the specialization ?

I think a lot of people miss that point about elite specs. Also it’s so interesting to see that we have so many ninja historians on these forums.

+1 Yeah, pretty much.

yolo swaggins.2570:

Kocoff.7582:

Staff. we don’t need 1200 range. let’s keep it up close and personal, this time with a metal stick.

Why is it such an issue to be the only class not to have access to long range weapon? We got all these teleports to facilitate the assassination, no need to shoot people from far with a snipe.

Staff is the solution.

Because staff would be redundant. Why do we need another dps set when we got d/d? Why do we need another CC weapon when we got s/p? Why do we need another chasing weapon when we got d/p? You see where I am going with this?

Staff would be as useful as dead players during a world boss.

I’d like a ground-target AoE vault like engie’s rifle blast jump, perhaps dazing targets within the landing impact. A targetable leap finisher would be a nice alternative to heartseeker. There’s also some cool underwater skills for the spear that might translate well on land like Nine-Tailed Strike and Shadow Assault. This is just off the top of my head, though. Melee staff has the potential to be a really flashy, acrobatic fighting style.

And dude, why can’t we have options? Aren’t axe and greatsword warriors both dps (I don’t play warrior much so forgive me if I’m wrong)? Why must we have only one weapon per role? I’d play dps melee staff if I found it more fun than d/d thief, because… well, I play for fun. What a concept, huh?

I just don’t understand the notion that thieves absolutely positively neeeeeeeeeed a 1200 range weapon. I can kinda see a need for it in PvE, sure, but in competitive modes, given their abundant disengage options, a thief popping you at max range would be utterly impossible to catch. You take one look at him and poof he’s gone.

It’s not that I don’t want a rifle spec, it’s just that I’d prefer a melee staff right now. Eventually, I would hope that we get a future spec that not only gives us access to a rifle, but also improves all firearms for the class and brings dual pistols to a level that can be fun and highly effective. That’s what I want most out of a rifle spec, honestly: support for dual pistols. I don’t want new weapons to replace weapons they’ve ignored. I want Anet to address the weapons that need the help first and foremost.

I guess that’s where we differ, yolo. Regardless of my personal preference to melee staff, I wouldn’t mind seeing either weapon make it in, as more options offer more styles, even if there’s some overlapping. I’m sure whichever one thieves don’t get, we’ll eventually get it in a future spec. But the idea of a melee staff seems to personally offend you (and other rifle enthusiasts) in such a way that you can’t possibly accept that other people might actually find a weapon like that fun. (shrugs)

In any case, the thief elite spec had better be next in line so we can put an end to these round-about forum arguments.

supa suop.8026:

TBH I just want this kitten Specialization to be revealed already so we can put these kittening threads (no offense to you and your thread OP) to rest

Don’t get me wrong here, I have enjoyed some discussions that has been talked about this topic, but more often then not they always turn in to shouting matches. And at this point I think we have beaten the horse with to death with our Rifle butts/staves for too long.

But… mini rant aside, to answer your question I would prefer the thief to get a staff. If we do Great! If we don’t also Great! At least i’m getting something new to try out.

+1 Well said. I agree on every level.

Staff, as long as it’s melee oriented.

We may be on opposite corners of the Melee Staff vs Rifle 2015 Summerslam Cage Match, but on this I agree, especially because of the annoying skill lag.

…well, except for the note about the pistol whip activating on hit. I enjoy making my asura flail around while I’m waiting around. She’s so cute!

Genesis.8572:

The people who have the idea that ninjas are not associated with bo staffs clearly never grew up watching Ninja Turtles.

You get a +1 since Donatello is my favorite. <3

Belzebu.3912:

Melee staff could be the cleave/AoE sustained DPS for thief.
Currently thief has ok sustained DPS and high single target burst and quite bad AoE damage.

That sounds cool. I would prefer this as opposed to having it be a support weapon.

The rifle crowd sure is a salty bunch.

Tyr.6097:

YuiRS.8129:

The datamined stuff is pretty compelling evidence.

It means nothing.

The fact that the datamined staff weapon matches the background image perfectly, I’d say that’s pretty compelling. Plus, the way the red strips hanging from the staff stretch with movement, it looks like it was made for swinging around said staff bojutsu-style so that it’d make a cool red-streak with every motion.

Man, we just need the thief elite spec to be revealed already so we can put this argument to rest.

Serious Thought.5394:

I WOULD LOVE IT IF RIFLE PLAYED LIKE NOVA IN HEROES OF THE STORM!!!!! I mean, I would just auto delete everyone on my account and just…play Nova. I’d buy a rename, I’d look for the armor, I’d PAY ANET SO MUCH! TAKE MY MONEY ANET! LEMME BE NOVA! Sorry…ahem. You didn’t see that.

Nova’s in a weird place in HotS right now though, and a playstyle like that sounds like it would be absolutely broken as hell in this game. I mean, with all the disengage options the thief has access to (shadowsteps, stealth, among others), thieves would be literally impossible to catch at 1200 range.

Speaking of Heroes… I’ve seen people suggesting a bard-type elite spec suggesting the use of an axe guitar (not for thieves obviously), and I can’t help but think of E.T.C. and how much I would love that (yeah, E.T.C. is my fav).

This is awesome! Just unlinked and relinked the authenticator, and it looks great!

I think DevilLordLaser needs to see a doctor. His sodium levels are through the roof.

sebradle.7034:

Your not talking to a wall you are just having difficulties getting that other people have different preferences then you. That is why it does not stick imagine that. I mean do you see anyone here that wants staff going around saying that the thought of rifle thief fills with them with disgust lol.

Dude’s got the right of it. This is what I’m seeing:

Melee staff crowd: Yeah, melee staff would be pretty fun.

Rifle crowd: WHAT!!? Noooooo! You people make me sick! Excited? More like disgusted! Ludicrous! This is worse than Dragonhunter! (insert paragraph after paragraph of off-the-wall hyberbole) People who want staff are nothing but kung-foo panda fanbois that have no idea what thief really needs! There is no amount of creativity in the entire cosmos that could ever conceive something for staff that could make it remotely useful! Screw fun! What a waste! I’m mad! Why do I even try to talk to you unreasonable people!!!?

I mean seriously, calm down, bro. You don’t see any melee-staff supporters calling the rifle supporters Call of Duty fanbois or anything. By the way, I think Dragonhunter looks great.

Nike.2631:

I’m way more interested in a pole-vaulting in-close acrobatic fighting style twirling a staff than a park-and-wait-off-in-the-distance sniper, given how badly this game takes a dump on ranged damage builds for any profession.

I mean, they could a rifle-based Espec for Thieves, but the laws of physics (and damage coefficients) in Tyria would actually outright forbid it from being good.

This is how I feel. Melee staff just sounds so much more fun to me (but who cares about fun, right?). Admittedly, I thought we were gonna get rifles for a while (acutally I was hoping for a gunslinger elite spec to revive my lost Ricochet trait for P/P and maybe even make it a better set overall). When the datamined stuff came out and warhorn ele was revealed, I’m now thinking signs are pointing to melee staff, and that’s okay too (here’s hoping we get a ground-targeted vault jump and flashy-looking bojutsu melee skills!).

In any case, I’m looking forward to whatever we get—my preference for melee staff notwithstanding—but I can only imagine the conniptions certain people are going to have if they don’t get rifle. Meanwhile, I’ll be having fun with whichever. Fingers crossed for melee staff though!

Linken.6345:

And a rifle medium armor guy most likely thief.

And you know this how?

Linken.6345:

sebradle.7034:

You know I was just thinking the most damaging thing against this http://i.imgur.com/xA8qvVk.png picture is that the guy is in full sneak-thief. So there is no elite spec armor piece on him. The only thing that could be it is the gloves but they are too heavily stylized to really tell.

Yea that could be a staff and it could be the barrel of long rifle we dont see the whole weapon, as I stated earlier both are up for grabs since both weapons represent what they lack atm a 1200 range weapon and a 2h melee one.

Never said I wanted either just dont like people claiming they get this as fact when it aint.
What ever the thief get my alt will probabely still sport shortbow/sword+pistol still

Except for that very weapon has a skin in the game. It’s an ascended bo staff. I won’t link the in-game code because I don’t know if it’s against the forum rules, but it’s not hard to find.

Sure that pic could be an artist’s elaborate troll, but here’s the thing: that pic was found BEFORE we found the in-game staff. Which means the artist knew of the staff skin before everyone else did. Finding the in-game staff skin to match that trait line background is just further evidence supporting staff thief.

And dude, we’ve been repeating ourselves in saying that it’s all speculation. No one is claiming this as fact. You’re just seeing it as though we’re heralding it as undeniable proof. Maybe some people are, but I’m just saying there’s a lot of stuff to back up our speculations. Again, we could be totally wrong, but we’re looking at what’s been presented to us and going with that.

Linken.6345:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOUk2y0K2m8

Look 01:04-01:09 and tell me that looks like a staff.

Hold on. Let me log in to my Engie and screen cap him.

Thief rifle confirmed.

sebradle.7034:

All most people in the pro-staff crowd are saying is that there is more concrete (data-mined) evidence that supports thief getting staff while there is zero actual evidence that shows thief will get rifle. All the pro-rifle crowd can conjure up is their opinions on what they feel anet is thinking and the perpetuation of the one unique weapon per an elite spec myth.

This.

So… much… this.

CodeHavoc.7926:

1) Data mined info is not gospel, Anet can change anything at anytime. (As seen with tempest)
2) Teef maybe getting rifle seems more themed with an infiltration type class.

1) True to an extent. Yes, datamined into is not gospel, but your wording suggests that they were working on sword ele until the last minute and decided to swerve us all by scrapping it and creating the tempest with warhorn. They likely planned on warhorn tempest early on and we just predicted wrong. If they’ve been working on a staff thief, then that’s what they’re going to roll out with. They won’t change it all the sudden at a sudden whim just to troll the whole player base. We could be wrong about that too, I won’t lie, but there’s also much stronger evidence supporting staff thief, that’s all I’m saying here.

2) Entirely your opinion. I think melee staff will work better. Entirely my opinion. I also absolutely abhor the term “teef” to describe the thief. Also my opinion. :P