Guild Wars 2

Doggie.3184:

Zero Day.2594:

Um…
Is but-cape-less armor really in game?

Looks like new armor. Can’t get too excited though cuz it might have a butt-cape on male version.

False. That thief armour is already in the game. The chest piece was Krytan Jerkin, and the pants were Duelist Pants.

Actually…both 2nd and 3rd animations were changed.

Happy with the changes I saw (animation-wise…not the legendary staff), but, staff will still need work compared to what it was in BWE3 if it wants to compete with S/X, D/X, and SB.

Haven’t seen any update in about a week. I sincerely hope Staff is getting some nice changes, especially to 2, 3, and 4.

I’ve already voiced what I’d love to see on page 2, and I’m hoping it was at least considered. I don’t want the set to provide any fields, but at the same time I don’t want it to suck so bad compared to the current sets that in the long run, it turns out to be another P/P wreckage.

Now that we’ve had a brief look at the new legendaries through screenshots, can we see an improvement on the arm effects caused by incinerator going forward?

Also, regarding legendary armours, how will the interaction between these new legendaries and legendary armours work?

EDIT: So apparently my message was merged into this thread…okay…

Dara Potocska.8196:

A commendation vendor will be present in the Guild Initiative Office that offers many of the goods it offers currently. And there will be upgrades that bring in new vendors that offer goods in exchange for commendations that you can obtain once your guild claims a guild hall and starts to restore buildings.

So, they’re not a currency that will be obsolete, and will be still acquirable? Did I understand that correctly?

Also, eventually, with all upgrades taken into account, will there be any items that are currently offered but won’t be available anymore?

Thank you for the quick response.

Do we know what’s happening with them? If anything?

Should we use them all up, or will they still have a part to play in HoT?

Nike.2631:

Not if you’re blithely assuming that a moderate number of people posting to this sub-forum were reading it then, when the name was in common use. You’ve succeeded in making me feel old. Well done .

The name was never in common use. I’ve played since beta and I’ve never seen anyone refer to that build as what you claim. Furthermore, your last response to me had a lot of assumptions regarding what I said, even though I thought I was crystal clear about it.

Idk why you’re finding the need to be so pretentious about this, but honestly, I’d prefer we keep this thread on track, discussing about how to improve DD and thief in general…not going off on a tangent about some randomly named build that you’re attempting to widespread.

Karl McLain.5604:

Here’s a couple other updates that had been in the works and are now in testing.

• Vault: Reduced aftercast by 80ms. Added a 500ms evade at the start of the ability.
• Distracting Daggers: Projectiles from this ability are now counted as 100% projectile finishers.
• Impairing Daggers: Projectiles from this ability are now counted as 100% projectile finishers.
• Weakening Strikes: This trait now grants 10% damage reduction when being struck by a weakened foe, in addition to weakening foes on critical hit.

Thanks for the update Karl, but a lot of us are more concerned about Staff in general. I hope you guys are still working on it; especially skills 2, 3, and 4. It needs a lot more to be competitive in comparison to the other weapon sets.

BrunoBRS.5178:

except calling it by a pet name doesn’t give me anything about what the build itself is. i could very well know the build, but not recognize it because you’re calling it by a name that doesn’t describe the build.

It’s almost like he’s trying very hard to widespread the term for a build that he believes no one else has every used before.

Why not just have a F3 that lets you toggle the special dodge currently equipped on/off?

Brujeria.7536:

Fist flurry does offer some insane amount of damage, it is supposed to be hard to land. Its supposed to be chained onto a CC’d target. Thief and especially Daredevil has some very potent access to CC, Panic Strike, Basilisk Venom, Staff stealth attack, shortbow stealth attack, Bandits defence, also things like quickness can easily get this to get a full channel. This gets much easier if you consider teammates can also CC, and as a thief you mostl likely will +1 fights to end them quick. The amount of power this offers in regular play is just too much already, buffing this even further will turn it into a no brainer. Skills that are hard to land should get a big benefit, the benfit in this case would be way too high for the difficult.

Yes there are some heal skills that have an even lower cast time. Most of them do have counterplay to them. Lithany of Wrath can be counterplayer by disengaging as soon as it gets popped. Same as Defiant stance. Necro heals have long cast times to be interrupted. Healing skills in general can be poisoned. Skills that cant be countered so easily like shelter tend to have longer cooldowns or a lesser amount of healing. The amount of defense a Daredevil has once people realise theres more stuff then stealth is already huge, the amount of counterplay is also low, blocks with no cast time, a very high number of dodges, mobility and cc, stealth from traits and a second weaponset. This further eliminates every counterplay.

While thief will never be as durable as a warrior by nature it lacks a lot of counterplay. Many mechanics of the thief cant be countered unless youre another thief. They slowly add ways to counter stealth which is a good thing, this also enables to buff the other defensive aspects of the thief on the long run, yet they repeat the past mistakes by putting more stuff onto the thief with close to no counterplay attached. Even if the cast time would be upped to 3 seconds, you can still shadowstep away easily before using it. Or leaping away. You can also reduce the cast time a bit, but also adjusting its effect. Keeping it at the current strenght while minimizing the amount of potential counterplay is just over the top.

No offense, but I’m going to make an assumption here and say you main a necro. Judging by your comments in this thread, I am also feeling a bit confident in saying that you probably don’t know a whole lot about the state of thief, because you don’t actually play one competitively.

Thief is by far the weakest class currently in the game, as far as PvP goes (I’m talking skilled players only). Their “role” of being a “+1” (which I don’t agree is a role at all, because literally anybody can do this), and a “decapper” is kind of sad. Take away SB5 from a thief, and they are literally nothing, which can be replaced by just about any other class. The entire thief class currently is carried by SB5.

I saw, quite literally, one DD thief using Fist Flurry (FF) throughout the entirety of BWE2 & 3 in sPvP. Why?…because the class is hurting for better utilities than what it’s forced to use to stay alive. Shadowstep for stunbreaks and condi clears, SR to rez and run, SoA for bonus dodges, and Bandit’s Defense for stunbreak. Do you know what happened to that thief that was using FF? He ate dirt. If he ever attempted to use FF, he either wasted it without being able to land all the hits (wasted utility), or if he used it with BV, he got kicked in the teeth from stunbreaks, like Bandit’s Defense. The only real use for FF would be to increase your DPS in PvE…and really, the damage it deals is nothing out of this world that would break PvE.

You’re discussing on paper, while I’m talking about REAL application. In reality, at any given time, a thief does not have access to EVERYTHING, and they need to survive desperately. It’s a class that melts so fast that it doesn’t have room to waste a utility slot.

Karl McLain.5604:

Aloh,
As we continue screaming toward launch, I’ll update this thread with the goings-on for Daredevil. Here’s a few things we’re testing now:

• Reduced channel time of Channeled Vigor from 2.25 to 0.75
• Vault: Fixed an issue that caused it to not travel its full distance.
• Fist Flurry: Reduced cast time by 20%. note: The final strike occurs just prior to 1 second.
• Evasive Empowerment: This trait has been renamed to Havoc Master and grants the player 7% bonus damage to enemies within the 360 range threshold.
• Impaling Lotus: Increased bleeding duration from 8 to 10 seconds.
• Bounding Dodger: In addition to granting access to the Bound dodge ability, the thief will gain 10% bonus physical damage for 4 seconds after dodging.
• Lotus Training: In addition to granting access to the Impaling Lotus dodge ability, the thief will gain 10% bonus condition damage for 4 seconds after dodging.
• Unhindered combatant: In addition to granting the Dash dodge ability, the thief will gain 10% damage reduction against physical and condition damage.

We like the interaction that Evasive Empowerment had with your endurance bar and wanted to carry it further, but didn’t feel like it could have the desired impact in the adept tier. Thus, each of the grandmaster traits have their own version, geared toward their specific style of play.
Havoc Master has taken its place, as we felt that the line could use a more guaranteed damage increase. For trait mods, we’d like to experiment with Weakening Strikes slightly, adding a secondary to it within its role of debilitation. Options we’re looking at it:

• Inflict X (torment, bleeding, something) when you weaken a foe.
  or
• Receive less damage from weakened foes.

Once again, thanks for your continued constructive feedback. It’s greatly appreciated.

-Karl

First and foremost, thank you for your continued efforts to communicate with us and attempting to make this class better, than its current state. We really appreciate the communication. Having said that, let’s get down to the DD discussion.

Vault: Thank you for the fix to the range bug, but has the bug of the AoE radius been fixed yet? It was not damaging in the radius it was supposed to have been. Also, are you still adding evasion frames to it? I, along with many others, believe it is extremely important for the skill to have evasion frames, as currently, it’s a death sentence to be flying around the place with its long and exaggerated animation. Furthermore, are there any plans to increase the range of the skill?

Fist Flurry: So, based on my understanding, does all kittens connect within 1s? Or am I misunderstanding this statement?

Havoc Master: Does this trait increase your condi damage as long as you stay within the 360 radius, or is it only physical damage?

I like the proposed changes to the GM traits. They all seem suitable for each dodge type and follows the theme of DD.

Weakening Strikes: I personally believe the reduced physical and condi damage from weakened foes would be the better option, as thief is not entirely hurting for more damage, but rather survivability. They need as much help as they can get with survivability, being the only class with no access to aegis, protection, stability, or invulnerabilities.

Now, as for things that haven’t been addressed yet, both DD and Thief in general, the following are some to consider.

Bandit’s Defense: The skill’s block duration is extremely low to utilize the block effectively. 9/10 times good players can easily notice and hear the cues and simply stop attacking you for that 1s. It also does not help with things like minions triggering the counterattack, leading to an unfortunate death. The block duration being increased to 2 or 3s would prove to be the perfect fix for the skill.

Finishing Blow from the Impact Strike is still not using personal finishers.

Driven Fortitude’s heal amount is far too low to play any role at all, even as a minor trait. Either scrap this trait for something better, or increase the heal value.

Escapist’s Absolution, though great on paper, does very little to save you or buy you time against condi builds, which just chews through thieves. Relying on Shadow’s Embrace gets quite tiring. I feel like the internal cooldown could be reduced to 0.5s, without breaking the game. This way, depending on the type of dodge used and situation, a successful dodge would benefit you from either 1 or 2 condi removals. Furthermore, should this trait act as a replacement for Driven Fortitude, it would massively help thief’s survivability.

As for Staff, I still feel like this weaponset is far too weak (I’m not talking about damage) compared to the existing weaponsets. D/X, S/X, and SB performs far better on a DD than Staff, and I really don’t like the feeling of this. I feel like Staff should bring something so good that it truly has a place to compete with these existing weapon sets. S/D especially performs far better than Staff as a stealthless weapon. It brings everything Staff does, plus more: weakness, vulnerability, shadowsteps, condi clears, evade frames while sticking on enemies, boon stripping, daze, stealth, cripples, immobilize, disengage, and even blindness; all on top of doing consistent high damage. I’ve previously outlined my expectations from Staff in the last post BW2 update/feedback thread. So, I’ll bring back some of it that I feel should be highly considered.

• First and foremost, I am happy with the AA as it functions currently, though the damage might need a bit of tweaking.

• Weakening Charge: Again, I am happy with the skill as is currently damage-wise, however, I can’t help but feel that an evade in the skill is very fitting. Having said that though, should evade be added to this skill, I feel that the evade should rightfully be removed from Debilitating Arc, and the initiative cost for the two skills be swapped (4 for Weakening Charge and 3 for Debilitating Arc).

• Debilitating Arc: Continuing with the list, as I previously mentioned, I feel like the evade from this skill should be moved to Weakening Charge, with the initiative costs being swapped. Furthermore, this skill should have an added condition to it, it’s “debilitating” after all. So, I propose that the skill applies a short duration immobilize (2s) on hit, OR a very short daze (0.5s). The daze will act like a reactionary skill (rewarding skillful plays) and will also allow the weapon set to synergize with one of the traits DD offers: “Impacting Disruption”.

• Dust Strike: I am honestly surprised that you haven’t touched on this skill yet. For this one, I would like to bring back one of my old suggestions:

Silverbolt.2301:

There are so many problems with this skill. It feels out of place, strange to use, and just plain awkward. I’m sure many would agree that instead of a ranged blind, a PBAoE blind would be best. Damage can stay as low as it currently is and range can be reduced with a 5 target PBAoE blind effect (similar to that of “Blinding Powder”). Furthermore, I disagree that this skill should leave a smoke field. In fact, I feel like the Staff should be more about finishers, than generating fields. Therefore, I think adding a “Blast” finisher to the PBAoE skill would be more beneficial for the weapon, while staying in line with its theme. This way, staff can be the provider of 3 finishers; “Whirl”, “Blast”, and “Leap”, which could be used as required, based on a given situation. As for animation, a simple recycled “Staggering Blow” from Hammer Warrior could be used, with some clean up.

Finally, I would like to bring back some of the old issues with thief in general that should REALLY be addressed. The main one being the Trickery trait line. It’s suffocating to think how desperately thieves rely on this single trait line. It’s disgusting to even think about it. So, I would like to revive an old suggestion I made:

Silverbolt.2301:

“Reducing “Steal’s” base cooldown to ~22s, while removing the bonus 20% reduction that “Sleight of Hand” provides would be amazing, as currently, it feels like that trait itself, along with the “Preparedness” trait forces thieves to always take that trait-line, no matter what they try to do. This is a very poor design, because it takes away from the already severely lacking options.”

Preparedness’s bonus initiative should really be baseline, and the minor should be replaced with something better.

Once again, thank you for your continuing communication with us, and let’s make DD the best we can at launch. It needs all the love and attention it can get, as currently all the other especs offer something great, beyond their base class. Thief/DD also felt completely irrelevant in the raids…and that is just horrible if an entire class feels off and irrelevant for end game content.

Saku Joe.2857:

Impact Strike – yet an other skill that will be hard to balance. Devs put them-self in bad situation one more time. I’ve done some instant kill combo doing IS + steal dealing:
-2K steal
-2K IS
-5K uppercut
-4K pulmonary
-5K finish blow + insta stomp

Now the second and third follow up of ImpStrike are so hard to land making the skill miss almost 80% of the time, so I’m wondering sometime if it’s even useful…

What are these? Fights against an imaginary enemy?…or…upleveled people?

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Would you say this ability is fair?

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

…definitely takes skill and timing to pull off…

There you go, you answered your own question.

Personally, I’d prefer improvisation recharging 1 of your 6-0 skills. It doesn’t have to be selected from recharging ones only, but only 1 skill out of the 5 equipped (even if it’s not on cooldown). This way, there’s a 20% chance to recharge 1 of your equipped skills. The more you have on cooldown, the better the chance of recharging one of them.

How about simply changing the base HP from lowest to highest (in line with necro and warrior)? Not like thief has access to any reliable protection, stability, aegis, block, or invulnerability. They’ll only have a 1s block in HoT, on a 15s c/d.

You’re in lala-land if you expect ANet to give you something like that on thief.

You’d be better off hoping that one of the other classes get something like that. It’s more realistic.

Karl McLain.5604:

Re: Dash update!
The original reason we had removed the extra distance on Dash was that we lacked the tech. Since that post, it’s been resolved. Thus, the distance of Dash is back, with a fervor. Now you’ll travel a full 450, up from the 360 previous (~300 base dodge), while moving at a faster-than-running speed. Swiftness duration increased to 10 seconds, up from the 8 we talked about originally.
This thing’s about solid movement, so we’re going to push it in that direction for this BWE. Please check it out and let us know how you feel about it. The animation’s going to remain as your character’s run for now.
We are aware that this new distance will cause some de-sync in synergy with Shadow Refuge, but feel that the open-field movement capability for daredevil needs to take precedence over this abliity. note: You can still dodge from edge-to-edge and remain inside the field, but it’s pretty tricky.

Thank you for the update, and I’m glad the extra distance is back…and better. Can you comment on if anything’s being worked on for staff skills specifically? Or the possibility of migrating the GM dodge traits out to a mechanic of its own?

blarghhrrkblah.3412:

What is wrong with fixing broken skills? Making the class feel fluid and fun to play is going to be more important than it’s performance in a game mode. Once everything is working properly, then they can focus on looking at our changes, but for now I think they have the right priorities. Besides, there is nothing “simple” about fixing animations and functionality. That stuff is so much more than just a number that needs tweaking.

I think you missed the point I was making. Never did I say they shouldn’t fix broken skills, in fact, there’s numerous broken skills that haven’t been fixed for over 3 whole years.

Shalien.9018:

I’ve taken the liberty to take my example UI a step further. Now it’s broken down into two images.

• In the first, you see what it looks like when you have a dodge selected
• In the second, you see what it looks like while selecting a dodge

This needs to be baseline for Daredevil so that we have the same access to Tier 3 Grandmaster Traits as all of the other elite specializations.

That’s EXACTLY how it SHOULD be. Only swap-able out of combat, but not a GM trait nonsense. I talked about this back on page 3 as well.

Nike.2631:

Read. What. You. Just. Wrote.

There are other professions in game that have bonuses when they have less than max endurance. Daredevil is the only profession in the game that can still be sitting on 2 dodges for emergencies (the maximum safety margin for most folks) and still proc those traits.

The Daredevil’s benefit of 3 endurance bars is MONSTEROUSLY powerful. It’s a third pulse of on-demand godmode combined with a deeper cistern to trap time/vigor. Don’t let the simplicity fool you: it shames most of the other Espec mechanics for raw power and people here are treating it like a footnote. Its not “one more dodge per encounter” it’s “when any other profession would be out of endurance and stuck in a one-shot death zone you are sitting pretty — repeat as many times as you manage your endurance/vigor well.”

Why’re you trying to troll the thief forum so bad and have the e-spec turn out to be so garbage that no one ends up playing it, besides the typical D/P nonsense, compared to what the other classes get, when thief is already struggling as is, besides the all mighty SB2&5? Thief should just be renamed SB.

Feline Grace by itself was BETTER than the +1 endurance.

Karl McLain.5604:

Fade.5904:

So does this mean Dash will still use the Warrior GS animation but now shorter?
Cant imagine this will look anything but clunky and juddery which is a shame since thief dodge looks so nice usually.
Cant you just make it a shadowstep for the old distance? One that’s instant but add 3/4 sec evade during and after?
A shadowstep would fit better with some existing thief sets and not be as likely to launch you off cliffs..

Dash, right now, is no longer the greatsword charge and will just run you in whichever direction you desire, while evading. As indicated, it’s in flux!

As for a shadowstep dodge: It’s not really in-theme for the daredevil, being a more of a physical-moving type of specialization. We’ve definitely talked about it internally. Here’s some of the collective thoughts on it:
Theory-wise, if we were to implement Shadowstep in lieu of dodge, you more than likely wouldn’t get any evade frames attached to it, being as it’s instant movement… Unless there’s a cast time to it. Typically with dodge-roll design, you’re only allowed to evade so long as you don’t have control. Example: stand in place and evade while ‘charging’ your shadowstep, or begin a dodge and get a few evade frames, then again when you land at the spot. In addition, there’s many areas in the game where you’d want to move the distance (I.E. standing on top of a rock), but simply couldn’t move at all because there’s no valid path and the shadowstep would fail.

Wow, I went from being impressed to sorely disappointed between your last updates and these.

It’s almost like you took everyone’s amazing suggestions, and then ignored every single one of them, except the ones that would be simply fixing what’s already plainly broken…the evasion skills.

I hope you realize that, at its current iteration, this e-spec will fail at an epic proportion, compared to the other classes’ (I’m sure druid will be better too at this point). In no shape or form will this e-spec be able to overshadow the current weapon sets. I don’t need to repeat why, because numerous people (myself included) have already talked about this numerous times.

Time to learn anything but thief (if you don’t know the others already).

If the last 3 years wasn’t enough of an indication that ANet doesn’t know what to do with thief, nor do they care; then, these e-spec reveals (including DD) should have been enough.

Nefejrangh.2584:

that reveal its 900 range, 5 sec duration with 20 sec cd . . .

6 seconds duration.

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Agemnon.4608:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Jana.6831:

Guess the purpose of this thread is to show what “reveal” would do to other classes.

so +1 from me

Except most of that is exaggerated. I play thief often; I know what sic em (for example) does, and it isn’t to the extent of shutting you down completely. At worst, you blind, LoS and reset the fight. The thing is, a thief’s time is very valuable. You should not be getting into fair fights as a thief. Yes, you can win them…but it’s a waste of time. Better to find a fair fight and make it an unfair fight via your arrival. That way, you get more kills more quickly, and when you cap the point your teammate there can defend it while you continue to roam. Daredevil will be different: an on-point fighter with evades instead of stealth as the primary defensive mechanic.

But simply joining a fight is something any class can do. If the class can’t 1 vs. 1 it’s underpowered, period.

I never said that thieves can’t 1v1 (in fact, I said the exact opposite). I said it is a waste of a thief’s valuable time to do so. Other professions don’t +1 nearly as well because they don’t have the mobility to be where they should, when they should.

I agree; thief should have its name changed to SB5. It’s the only thing keeping the class alive after all.

I know what I’m doing come HoT, unless DD gets some serious fixes and enhancements…

…playing a different class as main.

It’s not even about the “reveal” skills/traits for me. It’s more about how the current DD is pathetic compared to the other e-specs. Thief already melts, and with HoT, they will melt even faster with some of those e-specs.

The 3rd dodge is nothing, but a nerfed version of “Feline Grace”.

It does not need a chain skill, that is what Weakening Strike and Vault should be for, and they should be balanced to do that job well. Flip back to avoid, use a different attack to launch back in.

WS will never cover the distance that DA puts in (it even failed to do so in the BWE2). In fact, WS has a shorter range based on Karl’s post here.

I prefer ranged blind. It’s currently the only option for the Staff to have any impact outside of melee range.

Just because it’s PBAoE, doesn’t mean it has to be 130 radius (something like Blinding Powder, which has a 240 range is more than enough). Staff should be melee ranged anyway, and Vault covers 600 range.

I don’t see a good solution to this though. If they are given more actual vertical than a normal dodge then that would be a huge combat advantage in some cases. The only possible solution would be to reduce the jump height of the animations, but I’m not a fan of that. It’s worth noting that Lotus uses the same animation as Death Blossom, and not too many people complained about DB not leaping over objects well enough.

You mean like jump dodging? Where jump dodging gives you “a huge combat advantage in some cases”? DB actually leaps over objects that LT does not. The verticality of Bound and LT are imaginary. They don’t exist! It’s false! Fake! It doesn’t need a fix per say, but one would be appreciated.

Currently, the things that staff provides will not be enough to replace D/X, S/X, and definitely not SB, with just some padding and number tweaks.

Okay, let me start by thanking you for your efforts to try make this e-spec work Karl. I actually really appreciate you taking the time to communicate with us regarding the ongoing changes to the DD. I want to see this e-spec be as successful as possible for multiple reasons, including both playing it myself and playing against it. I want thieves to be able to play a stealth-less build without melting in seconds, and I think this is the perfect opportunity to make it work.

Below, I have underlined some possible changes and ideas to help make this e-spec be truly fun, and useful, so it does not become another P/P disaster (please bear with my wall of text).

• 1: The replacement of the various dodges from the GM traits to something like F-keys is something that could add a great deal more flexibility to the class (make it feel like an actual e-spec; the 3rd dodge feels like “Feline Grace” currently…except worse tbh), as well as allow for actual GM traits, as many others have suggested. However, I do not think it should be F3-F5. Personally, I think it would be best to have just a tiny icon (the size of F1 & F2 icons) that comes with a drop down type of menu (like legends for Revenants and pets for Rangers), allowing you to select the type of dodge when out of combat. Something very simple, but frees up 3 spots for actual GM traits (I’m sure you’re not hurting for ideas for real GM traits…right?!?).

• 2: Now, as far as Staff goes, currently (based on the last BWE) staff felt extremely lackluster, clunky, and pitiful in its damaging capability (as everyone else pointed out). The ability to stick to your target, while being evasive enough to stay in the fight was missing (something that S/D does really well, amongst other things that Staff fails to do). Now, I noticed there are some changes you’re looking to make to help with this. However, I can’t help but feel that it won’t be enough to allow the weapon to compete for use with the others. I don’t want to see Staff become another P/P disaster; therefore, I would greatly appreciate seeing some of the following, if not all.

• a: I like the increase in damage that you’re making in the AA chain. However, I feel like the entire chain will still be far too slow. If “Punishing Strike” was made slightly faster, I think this issue would not pose a problem. However, this is something I am uncertain about until I try the new AA in practice (hopefully in the next BWE).

• b: I am pleased with the changes to “Weakening Charge”, as long as the aftercasts and wind-ups don’t feel clunky in practice, as they did during BWE2.

• c: “Debilitating Arc” is a great skill, however, there’s one major problem with it. It puts you farther away from your target (and away from cap points), which is contrary to what you want to achieve with this weapon set. This opens up an opportunity to add a chain skill to it. Something to close the distance you just created. A simple recycled animation from something like “Earthshaker” from Hammer Warrior (with a bit clean up) can fill the role. Staff currently also lacks a way to slow your target down to stick to them. This chain skill would be the perfect place to add an effect like Cripple, as well as a very short Daze (we’ll come back to this later in 3b). It would require “Debilitating Arc” to connect to access it, and would require a high initiative investment from the chain to apply the debuff (just like FS to LS).

• d: Now, about “Dust Strike”. There are so many problems with this skill. It feels out of place, strange to use, and just plain awkward. I’m sure many would agree that instead of a ranged blind, a PBAoE blind would be best. Damage can stay as low as it currently is and range can be reduced with a 5 target PBAoE blind effect (similar to that of “Blinding Powder”). Furthermore, I disagree that this skill should leave a smoke field. In fact, I feel like the Staff should be more about finishers, than generating fields. Therefore, I think adding a “Blast” finisher to the PBAoE skill would be more beneficial for the weapon, while staying in line with its theme. This way, staff can be the provider of 3 finishers; “Whirl”, “Blast”, and “Leap”, which could be used as required, based on a given situation. As for animation, a simple recycled “Staggering Blow” from Hammer Warrior could be used, with some clean up.

• e: I like “Vault”. This skill was obviously designed to be the main focus and highlight of the Staff weapon. I think the reduction in cast time is going to be very beneficial. However, as for the evasion or no evasion, I would highly recommend adding an evasion aspect to it; perhaps a ½ second evasion, starting shortly after the beginning of the animation. The initiative cost can remain as 6.

• 3: As far as traits go (ignoring the GM traits; they should be something else), there’s little to say about the Minor traits, besides “Driven Fortitude”. Honestly, the benefit this trait provides is nearly negligible, and there are a hundred different things that can replace it. For example, if you bring back the old (now removed) “Opportunist” in its place, it would serve a much better role.

• a: Amongst the Adept traits, the change you mentioned that was made to “Evasive Empowerment” sounds nice on paper; however, if 2 seconds is good enough or if 3 seconds is required remains to be seen from actual practice. Besides that, “Brawler’s Tenacity” feels like an extremely underwhelming trait; but, I wasn’t expecting anything great considering most utility recharge reduction based traits are terrible.

• b: As for Master traits, I feel like the 10% boost to Staff damage from “Staff Master” should be made unconditional, because it promotes unnecessary use of endurance all the time, when you may not want to do so, given a situation. Furthermore, getting back into what everyone is unhappy about, “Escapist’s Absolution” should have its ICD reduced to ½ second. I think this would make this trait a lot more desirable over always relying on “Shadow Arts” trait-line for “Shadow’s Embrace”. Finally, regarding “Impacting Disruption”, I think the trait is perfectly fine as is. Especially if something like a “Daze” condition is made available on Staff, through something like 2c (a chain skill following “Debilitating Arc”).

• 4: Let’s talk about the heal now. Karl, come on man; “Channeled Vigor” is garbage to put it nicely. About 2.5 seconds (including wind-up) for a heal is just asking for pain…and more heal when endurance is full? How often do you see someone trying to heal when they have full endurance? If anything, add something like a defiance bar or stability stacks to it (while it’s being channeled). That should fix the major problems with this skill.

• 5: As for the utilities, I think everyone is fine with “Bandit’s Defense” having a higher cooldown. However, I am pretty sure they would also like for it to block for 2 seconds, and not 1 measly second. “Impairing Daggers” on the other hand has a problem with the projectiles being way too slow. Most often, than not, the projectiles would just disappear midair and fail to even hit the target. I like the change you made to “Fist Flurry”. However, the cast time (with wind-up) is just too long to ever reliably hit a target with all five hits.

• 6: The “Impact Strike” combo is great, but it’s strange that “Impact Strike” itself doesn’t actually stun, but simply dazes (not that it’s a problem, but the tooltip is very misleading). Finally, as many others have requested, it would be highly appreciated if “Finishing Blow” played your equipped finishers (we did pay and buy them to use and enjoy them after all) when you actually managed to kill someone with it.

• 7: I noticed that no one brought this up yet, so here it is; “Bound” & “Impaling Lotus” are not actual jumps. What this means is that obstacles, including pebbles, can prevent you from moving. It is very strange and does not flow. You essentially see yourself flying a mile high in the air, but are stuck on an invisible wall. However, this doesn’t really need a fix, unless it’s possible.

In closing, I hope you did not mind reading through my wall of text, and hopefully I was able to help spark some ideas in you to truly make this e-spec work, while ensuring that Staff does not become another P/P disaster.

PS: If you can, reducing “Steal’s” base cooldown to ~22s, while removing the bonus 20% reduction that “Sleight of Hand” provides would be amazing, as currently, it feels like that trait itself, along with the “Preparedness” trait, forces thieves to always take that trait-line, no matter what they try to do. This is a very poor design, because it takes away from the already severely lacking options.

1up! Keep it! Great concept, exceptionally fun.. nothing more needs to be said.