Guild Wars 2

Firelysm.4967:

I did fill it in, can we get the same one for ranger ? PLEASE

Here you go, dood!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/POLL-a-ranger-introspective/

Not too many responses so far, but already starting to see that yeah, the meta really is affecting you guys, too!

Anyway, things have been updated with the new URLs (seeing as I’m at a PC and not on a smartphone this time), as well as a link to the results.

Comments are welcome, and yes, changes can be made to introduce new questions or content I (likely) overlooked.

I … can’t be mad. I mean, our concerns are being addressed, but just in the wrong way. I propose that the datamined traits, if they are indeed to be our elite spec, instead become Acrobatics. Almost as-is.

I’ll outline the full proposal below.

The Enforcer
Thieves who are swift, strong, and unafraid to dirty their hands with blood as well as booty are amongst those chosen to become Enforcers, so named for their knack of extracting what is owed their guilds and ensuring that compliance continues. Forcibly. Their weapon of choice, the staff, is seemingly innocuous until wielded with brutal efficiency.

Staff
Slightly increased melee radius (175), cleave(3) on auto-attack, #2, and #5.

1. Strike (chain): Hit your foes.
   • Sweep (chain): Sweep your staff and strike your foes again.
   • Withering Assault (chain): Whirl the staff and strike all adjacent foes, applying weakness.
   • -> Takedown (stealth attack): Pummel your target into the ground, causing knockdown and dealing damage again when they land.
2. Harrowing Leap: Leap at your foe, launching them into the air. Combo Finisher: Leap.
3. Rattling Blow: Dart around your target, evading (3/4s) their strikes while unleashing two of your own.
4. Feint: Drop into a defensive stance. If you are struck, the attack is blocked and you counterattack; otherwise, restore 4 initiative (net loss: -2).
   • Seven-sided Strike: Shadowstep (1200u) to the foe that struck you, unleashing a flurry of seven attacks that cause vulnerability. If the final attack hits, your foe is also dazed.
5. Dust-up: Crash your staff into the ground, creating a plume of dust that blinds nearby foes. Combo Field: Smoke.

The design here draws a bit from other classes (namely Ranger), the Sword, as well as the aquatic Spear weapon. It primarily focuses on disabling foes and leaving them at the Enforcer’s mercy.

And yes, it does self-combo in a manner similar to Dagger/Pistol if you know how to use it.

Traits
Keeping with the theme of an agile yet merciless “enforcer,” the Enforcer specialization compounds on Acrobatics (now mostly the originally datamined spec tree) whilst adding in a focus on keeping foes disabled and making them easy picking (well, thematically, at least…)

• (Adept) – Enforcer Training: you may wield a staff and use physical skills.
  • Brawler’s Tenacity: restore 10 Endurance when first activating a physical skill; their cooldowns are reduced by 20%.
  • Staff mastery: deal +10% damage while wielding a staff; staff skills restore 5 Endurance for each foe they strike (max: 25).
  • Bloodthirsty: staff attacks restore a small amount of health against targets below the health threshold (75%).
• (Master) – Bone-breaker: critical hits have a 20% chance to cause 2s of weakness and cripple.
  • Racketeering: stealing inflicts fear if your foe has less health; otherwise it taunts them.
  • Untraceable: shadowstepping grants stealth (3s) and blinds foes near (~300u) the point where you started.
  • Outmaneuver: striking a foe from the side or behind has a 33% chance to restore 1 initiative.
• (Grandmaster) – Heavy Blows: daze, stun, and knockdown last 25% longer. Staff attacks gain a range of 200 unless otherwise specified.
  • Bruiser: deal 10% increased damage to disabled foes.
  • Unforgiving: staff attacks are 15% faster.
  • Pole-vault: tour dodge is replaced with a leap that carries you 30% further that acts as a leap combo finisher when activated, and counts as a blast combo finisher when it ends.

Conceptual Highlights
So obviously, Enforcer is the big nasty bruiser type that’s the bear you didn’t want to poke (remember character creation?). The staff, being a slightly longer weapon than say, a greatsword or hammer, thus gets a teeny increase (+25u) to its melee range — which can be increased by another 25u to a more formidable +33% in total by traiting. This plays to the original idea of a melee brawler while still giving a Thief that slight edge and distance that keeps them alive (and smart).

Ergo, to keep with that, the staff is used as a combination lethal and hindering device; skills inflict non-damaging conditions that are used as a setup — to then strike your foes while they’re down!

However, the odd obsession with Endurance regeneration in the original is kind of pointless (especially since that was Acrobatics’ schtick in the first place). As such, I’ve given in more variance and a flavor on beating the ever-loving kitten out of your foes! Because you know … that’s what an Enforcer does. They beat people up and take their stuff (rather than sneak in … and take their stuff).

As a whole, the specialization is designed to:

• actually keep within the theme of the profession
• make physical skills slightly more rewarding to use (the additional dodge should be in Acrobatics)
• play to the strengths of the Staff weapon
• serve Crit, Stealth, and Evasion builds well
• nominally improve survivability
• and provide synergy with most any other specialization.

Hey marksmen! As requested by a user, here’s a version of the Thief poll for Rangers!

The goal here is to help aggregate your thoughts, feelings, and sentiments regarding the class, where it stands, and where you think it is (or should be) headed.

If there’s anything you not happy with or want changed, come on in and reply! Perfectly fine? Reply anyway; your voice matters just as much.

Short URL: http://goo.gl/forms/m5auGz8ZDX

Long URL: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yau_gZUfDxeq4W2WjR5UOD-NKgVZXd8CaRprk9NXs4Q/viewform

View results: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yau_gZUfDxeq4W2WjR5UOD-NKgVZXd8CaRprk9NXs4Q/viewanalytics?usp=form_confirm

There’s is an option under the F11 graphical settings, Effects LOD, to decrease particle effects (applies Level-of-Detail style culling) to reduce them and remove those from further away.

Disabling Depth Blur (right above it) may also help with more distant foes and effect sources by keeping them from getting blurry.

Try it and see if you get any positive change.

As for things right up in your face, I’m not entirely sure.

Back in my day it was a single attack that initiated as an evasive strike and ended in a second that ripped 2 boons from the target.

It cost a bit more to use up front, though.

With any luck, a theory of mine might have been “post-cognitive” in that Distractions may allow us a way to break the Reveal debuff.

And if so …

… we’re either going to become the same QQ b’awwwww-fest as before or quite possibly the reason everyone got all that Reveal.

BobbyT.7192:

Gray.9041:

Zero Day.2594:

Wait, we do have a way to apply burning…?

not really, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be in the poll. it’s a good way to see if people are happy without burning or want access to burning (anyone who says less however, is a kitten ed fool.)

They just want less then zero burns, this that so much to ask for? -1 stack of burn, cleanse a enemy’s burn, that’s what we really need.

I’m surprised how many responses this gotten, Also surprised no one loved assassin,’s retreat, it was really good trait, 2 min of swiftness, yes pls, (pve applicable)

My old Pack rune build that went CS/Ac could achieve nearly 5 minutes after a few kills because of all that +% swiftness duration and such, and let me tell you, getting around maps (or blitzing combat) was SO amazing <3

Solution:

Instanced content (story, dungeons, fractals) should scale based on “stats over average,” where a baseline is used as the median / ideal level of power.

Thus, rather than needing to throw a million Elite-this and Champion-that at us, groups that use highly optimized builds and are running full exotic and ascended gear would actually be faced with a harder run, because their “baseline” is now significantly above the target.

As it stands, content seems to ignore just how much damage (from skills AND conditions) that players can dish out, and I can reiterate what the OP says. I’ve pugged way too many dungeons and even a few fractals where a conjure-spec’d elementalist (or two) with Ice Bow would destroy even Legendary foes with relative ease, often in a fraction of the time anyone could in a classic all-out zerg rush.

This solution wouldn’t work for PvE overworld maps (downscaling is already too buggy without introducing a fluctuating power threshold that’s based on the aggregate of all present players), but for the actual “hardcore” content? Yeah. It could definitely help.

Slowmelt.8547:

Girbilcannon.8259:

Actually the most accurate thing we could call the thief elite spec is “The Crutch”…since it seems to be the only thing left to hope for to keep us going as a profession lol

Even after all the invested time, maxing out my Thief’s bag slots and getting ascended materials and so on, my position is that the Elite Specialization has to be a total game-changer for the Thief or I’m switching my main to Rev.
I have to.
The Shiro Legend is basically just a better combat Thief, and I have never played with a lot of stealth. The Rev does everything that my Thief does better, and gets a whole other legend. It’s frustrating…

Two of their traitlines are all but what ours used to be, no less:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQBQZTRYHnedbgEPA-w

Kocoff.7582:

where the hell is my weekly reveal………

We prayed at the wrong dieties guys. You should have offered our blood sacrifices to dat_shaman.

Rely on iron, not on false gods.

(Speaking of shaman, I need to go check his blog posts…)

EDIT:

Looks like a previous thread tangentially remarking on dev silence was just eradicated (and all comments in it) about an hour ago. Seems they’re paying attention (or at least their @mod lackeys are), but they don’t want us critiquing them in any way.

It’s only acceptable to praise their glory (read: appreciation posts)?
Double-edit: Looks like that got locked, but not removed; so I suppose it still stands in part?

Do respond while this poll is still accessible from the forums.

I don’t have a reddit account (and don’t plan to have one as I rarely use the site anyway; you’d sooner find me on stackexchange or stackoverflow), so I’ll comment here:

Why no “buff”, “nerf”, or “thief is too strong” options?

This survey was created in response to how fragmented the thief forum is, yet how many of our threads are requests, demands, and outcries against the changes made to the profession. The intent is to unify and consolidate these feelings into data points.

While I can encourage people who might not play thief often to respond, I cannot say the survey is designed for them.

The same holds true for the ambiguity used in the language. Yes, it could be more specific, but it’s also personal. I want to know how YOU, the person on this forum, reading this post, and playing the Thief profession, feels.

That’s why I’m not using terms for “buff” or “nerf,” only for change and subjective good/bad. I do not want to open up that tin of eldritch horror! That’s why if you don’t like something or want to see it changed in ANY way, please indicate it as needing change.

That’s our goal: to bring to the developer’s attention what we, as a community want to see changed and to help open targeted dialog. At least this way it’s all in one place and based on actual, quantifiable responses.

Kocoff.7582:

Zero Day.2594:

Kocoff.7582:

237 results so far. The Community’s “Public Opinion” is starting to take shape. Ty Fluffy.

I just keep thinking “What’s so hard about making a comprehensible survey?” If Anet had done that a week after that cursed patch for every profession, we wouldn’t be complaining so much. Seriously Anet.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3i43gx/poll_a_thief_introspective/

read Erih’s response.

I did actually. Although that ranger has some very good points it doesn’t push aside the fact that an official survey from Anet would be greatly appreciated. It is true there are flaws in this survey.

Just the fact that a player has to go out of their way to make a survey tells me that there is a lot of things Anet should start focusing on. They have people reading the threads 24/7, but that’s not satisfactory at all, especially when the only feedback I got so far was infraction points. That’s far from satisfactory.

Yes. Results are questionable, and I knew the formulated questions would draw some critics, but guess what, I welcome this survey with open arms.

At least here, we have a quantified idea how many people (may or may not) actually think this kittenty trait called “Acrobatics.”
About 80% of us (may or not) think that way, so we have a general idea of the quality of this spec.

This isn’t an econometrics thesis guys and this survey is better than nothing.

I would like to point out that the entire “In Detail” page / section is OPTIONAL and need not be filled in. It’s largely there to survey groups who might have been playing before the patch went live and wish to “comment to the devs,” so to speak, on how changes were received.

As for the lack of definitive “buff” or “nerf” responses, I’d rather see people saying “this is what I want changed most” rather than “omg just buff everything” (or the counter “nerf teef plox” responses). Pointing out what needs change is far more productive than giving people the opportunity to be greedy.

As for being anything but academic? That’s the entire point.

A clean, clinical, controlled scenario is how we end up with where we are now. By permitting bais and sampling whoever takes the time (and thus cares enough) to fill out this fairly long survey, we can actually demonstrate the number of people who want change.

At over 340 responses or so thus far, the trends are not only apparent, but showing strongly. Is it single-minded, biased, and likely only a specific subset of Thief players who are responding? Maybe, but the sheer volume responding to the OPTIONAL PvP Face-Off segment (compared to those who preferred PvE) is as telling as the overwhelming demand to have Acrobatics changed.

And yes, I admit this is intentionally biased in points. It’s designed to aggregate and quantify the voices of the board into a single place. If the devs aren’t willing to dig through a million threads demanding the same thing, let’s put it in bright colors and pretty charts.

Serious Thought.5394:

Which weapon do you think needs the most improvement? *

WHERE IS DAGGER DAGGER 3?!?!!?!?

OH SNAP LEMME GO CHECK MAN.

Added and re-ordered. Sorry about that!

Exactly as it says on the tin: I’ve compiled a poll with questions regarding common points that have been raised in the forum (eschewing calls dev interaction).

No need to sign in and responses are completely anonymous.

I’d like to use it to aggregate people’s outlooks, thoughts, and usage of Thief in the present game as a means to see what people both want most and what most needs to change.

Short URL: http://goo.gl/forms/8vYT6Ghx3w

Long URL: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-cpLjUs33rsfD1BaSssxbKX9b5Is5wAXhFzjoOIwYQs/viewform?usp=send_form

If you don’t feel like responding and just want to view the results (this includes you, developers!), please use this link.

Note: did I miss something? Probably! Don’t be afraid to add suggestions for things to be included.

CHANGELOG:

• Added Dagger/Dagger (#3), Pistol/Pistol (#3) skills as “weapons needing changing” options.
• Changed all condition responses to be OPTIONAL after browsing reddit linked in a reply below.
• Skill groups needing traits is now OPTIONAL. (Aug 23, ~19:05 EST)
• Added missing Confusion condition (thanks all!) and the also missing Stun and Daze conditions (Aug 24, ~08:50 EST) — 720 responses at this time.

YOUNGaz.5690:

I think most the thief community feels a little beat up and tired at the moment and it doesn’t help they’re saving our elite spec for the end and we still don’t even have a confirmed weapon yet. If indeed our spec doesn’t help us out at all, or they feel the need to not help us out in our other trait lines, it’s going to be a sad.

While I think Reveal may soon become a huge game-changer for the class, I really am more and more worried about how this Elite will shape up and whether we’ll even make it to the next BWE.

And frankly, while all of us are saying “it’s staff,” we’ve yet to get any sort of hard confirmation to be sure of it. Hell, we all saw what happened to Tempest even after they were teased with having a sword.

After Dragonhunter and Tempest, it’s really hard to feel good about this reveal … whenever it will be. And I swear, if it’s anything other than staff (or focus would be nice, too), I might just quit. I’ve become too invested in my thief character to ever get the same level of enjoyment and wonder out of any of the others. Nostalgia is grand and all, but it really does turn poisonous once things go bitter.

And kitten it all, tings weren’t great before the big Overhaul Patch, but at least we weren’t a complete joke.

Wow, at the start they were doing just fine, too!

Hell, once they let themselves be led into the ambush, that’s the only time things went south. Warrior was tanking most of it for the first half of the video.

sebradle.7034:

While the name is not my favorite. I can’t really think of any other names that would suit it. Assuming the daredevil is in the acrobat trope the only names I can think of are acrobat and stuff that has to do with the circus.

Seabreeze.8437:

Admittedly, I would’ve preferred Vagabond, but it’s not like I’m gonna lose sleep over this.

Let’s dream up some alternatives and crack open a few splatbooks ….

Vagabond, Wanderer, Second-story Man, Delver, Explorer, Trickster, Footpad, Vigilante, Ravager (because lol warrior), Disciple, Scourge, Harrier, Blackguard, Mountebank …

All this and not even a quarter through the list of all prestige classes. And look! All of the ones listed could well be “high concept” for what Thief may soon become (but which we know little about), and all of them embody a different vision and meaning while holding in line with the free spirit and ne’er-do-well attitude espoused of the class.

All I’m asking for is something both creative and evocative of what it is, you know?

Let’s look at others:

• Chronomancer: literally “diviner of time.” That’s the entire spec right there. In one word.
• Reaper: you’re either thinking of the spirit that comes to take your dying soul or someone felling crops. Either way, you’re doomed.
• Dragonhunter: a “hunter of dragons,” or apparently someone who played the story, fought the Shatterer, smote Jormag, survived Teq, etc.
• Tempest: well, at least our reaction to it has qualified as a “storm” or “violent tumult of commotion” ….
• Herald: “a messenger or harbinger of portents,” which sums of the Revenant’s style quite nicely.
• Berserker: “one who fights in a frenzy” seems to describe the new spec well, too.

And now:

• Daredevil: as an adjective, “recklessly bold or adventurous.” This is the entire opposite of Thief and the style it presents. I mean, recklessness and stealth don’t really work together.

Overworld.9613:

Going by the thread title we don’t have to call it that, but if the datamining did hit paydirt then someone will

I’m glad you’re a very clever individual, but seeing as we can’t address the lords and masters of the forums (that’s an infraction, you know), I’m forced to settle with “we.”

You, on the other hand, are free to call it a smeerp.

“Dragonhunter” was pretty terrible taming, considering it doesn’t look like skills for hunting dragons, and just … really? That’s the best we could come up with? Dragonhunter as opposed to things like “Seraphim” or “Adjudicator” or “Justicar” or “Exemplar” or “Paladin” or even something really high concept, “Crusader”?

(that was a joke, by the way. kind of)

The possibility of my elite profession being “Daredevil” doesn’t give me much hope, either. It’s lackluster, over-used, and frankly tells me nothing about what it will bring — and what it does imply will likely be anything but!

I get that we don’t want to call it a “Ninja” or act like we ever liked Cantha or anything, but we don’t need a far-eastern name for “some jerk with a staff.” Even the old standby of “Rogue” or “Brigand” or “Marauder” could work, albeit the latter doesn’t seem very … staff-wielding.

Heck, “Dilettante” is more befitting and could help Thief break into an almost ‘refined’ aesthetic (seeing as apparently no one on Tyria knows how to pick locks).

So before the expansion goes live or we’re revealed, can we please please please get a name change (assuming it is, indeed, “Daredevil”)? There have been dozens upon dozens of suggestions from players and fans of the profession for months now, and many of them are quite good.

As it stands, “Daredevil” makes me think of the third most dangerous profession in fantasy worlds (the second is Blacksmith’s Apprentice).

Apceroz.7964:

I think I prefer the old blue skill point icons.

I really miss the big huge BLUE CHEVRONS that were incredibly easy to find on the map.

With the new icon, I’ve walked past tons of points simply because I couldn’t tell it wasn’t:

• sand
• a mountain
• trees?
• maybe just something on the map

Kocoff.7582:

I am affraid you took it the wrong way. I did spell out everything that is wrong with it. I believe not talking about it is in fact " letting the disease fester further". I was pointing out that the fact that, skill, being our only true line of defense, makes this balancing scheme quite unreasonable and totally unfair. An unskilled Mesmer/engi/necro (anyone really) could easily take out a skilled Thief with well placed AoE.
THAT IS WHY, it needs to change. I hope it’s clearer now

Yup, looks like I did. Sorry about that.

Gray.9041:

Amineo.8951:

Mesmer because it’s OP and more versatile than Thief (and you can even use stealth as Mes which makes no sense in my oppinion…).

this, with the addition that mesmer’s stealth is as good as, if not better than, Thieve’s

Need Shadow Refuge (and mass stealth)? Mass Invisibility. Or Veil.

Need Infiltrator’s Arrow? Blink.

Need to escape a fight? Spawn a phantasm or wield a torch.

Need conditions? Wield a staff, scepter, or just plain use shatters.

Too many conditions (or boons)? Null Field.

Need more HP to tank hits because you’ve only got light armor? You’re already a mesmer, but Carrion and Valkyrie trinkets will do wonders.

Need to reflect attacks, bar foes, or gain stupendous amounts of DPS? Glamours and a focus.

Rocky Horror Picture Show? Do the Time Warp again.

Having played Thief religiously through dungeons for a while, then taking my mesmer through Ascalonian Catacombs using the below build: I 100% recommend mesmer.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8dnsIClqh1pBeoBUrhlUD6MKNJJkDoEBA9LrZ7A-ThhDABrobQH1fUZ/BXVC6jyPAM/BA-e

A lot of dialog going on right now seems to ignore the fact that thief has zero durability altering traits outside of the Shadow Arts line (excepting Invigorating Precision, which must contest with the obscene No Quarter).

Our suggestions regarding altering the mechanics and usage of stealth aren’t just a “let’s kitten the poor Thief further” suggestion, as some seem to believe, but a fundamental change of the paradigm itself; change Thief and stealth, not just one.

Because that’s the problem we face. Stealth is proving less and less an assurance and more of a huge, gaping flaw. Thief has no real defenses outside of a few evasions, and as many have pointed out time and again, stealth remains our only real go-to.

What needs to be done is to remove Thief’s dependency on stealth for survival, and that’s precisely what we’re asking for.

It’s not about counter-play to Revealed, which my prior posts may not have gone into enough depth to truly spell out the errors in such logic (and the sweeping changes that would leave the class exactly where it is now); it’s about bringing Thief up to the same base-line as other classes which don’t fall apart when their singular form of physical burst damage and only defensive mechanism is denied them for a minimum of 4 seconds.

Gray.9041:

as mentioned above, some tankiness/defence would help with this. the idea being if we weren’t insta-gibbed on reveal, it’d only impact our damage and strategy – it would be more skill-based – counter play to stealth as an offensive strategy without crippling our defences.

As Gray mentioned above, Reveal is our bane right now. If we can turn Revealed status into a mere denial or debuff (think of it like a Champ’s Defiance but as its effect on the player), then Thief would need to have its survival boosted to compensate.

Thus our worries are resolved: Revealed would no longer kill us outright in many cases; Thief could finally take some hits; and Stealth would no longer be a necessity to do so while still allowing us to dish out burst damage, break LoS, escape, and overall harass our foes.

Edit:

Kocoff.7582:

Our safest defense line is skill. In other words we are not supposed to get hit. period simple AOE or AA can wreck us, we have to dodge this even while hiding in the shadows.

You do realize that you’ve literally spelled out everything wrong with our dependency on stealth, right? All you’re asking for is more assurance against a symptom, and in so doing letting the disease fester further.

If we can’t even survive hits, it doesn’t matter how “skilled” we (or our opponents) may or may not be, it’s just a matter of time.

And besides, how many times have we accidentally dodged into an AoE from a foe and gotten smeared across the floor? Retaining the broken Stealth/Revealed system won’t fix that.

Gray.9041:

Kocoff.7582:

Arewn.2368:

Non-thief player chiming in.
I actually think they should increase the revealed time, and buff other forms of thief survivability to compensate.

No no no. Increase reveal time? 4 seconds is long enough to get us killed. Not only that but our most efficient skills namely, Backstab, require stealth.

Thief and stealth is inherently bounded. Anet cannot expect to add a Reveal skill to half the professions AND expect Thieves to casually cope with this. Something has to be done, the more powerful the reveal, the weaker the Thief. This is a direct correlation.

Maybe they do need to rework on the Stealth mechanism like some of us are suggesting, but anyone who played thief just a few times would understand how deadly Reveal is most combats. For the Mesmer, Invisibility is optional, Trapper Ranger, Invisibility is clearly optional, I am pretty sure Stealth is not optional for the thief.

All those reveal mechanics makes me think Thief Elite spec with Staff will not have any invisibility skills.

I dunno. if we could take hits, then reveal would be less of an issue. the issue with reveal at the moment is that we’re squishy enough that we can die due to a single reveal quite easily. if we got to a point where we could tank hits enough to survive a reveal or two, then it’d have more to do with damage/positioning, and less with health.

if we got to a point where we could tank hits enough to survive a reveal or two, then it’d have more to do with damage/positioning, and less with health.

Which is precisely the matter at hand and why we’re so up in arms over Reveal, everyone. Thank you, Gray, for spelling it out so nicely.

Faux.1937:

Counter play is fine if thief wasnt so Dependent on it. Either make less counter play to it, or give thief more options.

Honestly Im for thief more options one.

What I’m trying to recommend is that we break said dependency. Thief is entirely too reliant on being able to reliably (and frequently) enter Stealth right now, both in PvE and PvP modes.

OP pointed out how there are now too many sources of Reveal, which severely limits our capacity for … much of anything because, as you said, our class is crippled without Stealth.

If Acrobatics didn’t suck and Shadow Arts served more of a purpose than forcing us into Stealth-focused gameplay — and thus gave Thief the baseline durability that was gutted from us during the content patch — we’d have more options because we’re no longer dependent on Stealth to survive.

Faux.1937:

I dont agree with making stealh harder to use/get. I like Stealth play. It adds to the game, it adds to pve, wvw and pvp, you take it away in one part of the game it goes away in all parts.

I enjoy it, too. Spent too long skulking about in Elder Scrolls games to say otherwise.

Unfortunately, it seems that stealth is becoming a Sisyphean battle. To retain it as-is, Thief desperately needs more counter-play against Reveal, but in so doing, we’d be creating a scenario where Stealth will just become an exchange of Stealth-Reveal-Stealth-Reveal wash, rinse, repeat.

If anything, creating another scenario of “how many times can I proc X?” will be the same reason that Blind fields got nerfed, except this time, it would come down to “how many sources of Stealth/Reveal do I have off cool-down?”

(If you’ve ever played the Disgaea series, this is the point where you imagine a Thief’s Stealth vs. Reveal in PvP/WvW as the stupidly long counter attack chains …)

The most favorable act is to give us the survival we need while allowing Stealth to serve a purpose rather than act as our panacea, and that means fundamentally altering the way the mechanic operates and is tied into the class.

Arewn.2368:

Non-thief player chiming in.
I actually think they should increase the revealed time, and buff other forms of thief survivability to compensate.
To be frank, stealth shouldn’t be the default state you fall back to as soon as you’re not attacking. But thieves are so squishy and lacking in other forms of survivability that it seems they don’t have much of a choice but to do exactly that.
Revealing yourself should be something you commit to in combat, and stealth should be a precious resource you occasionally go into (“occasional” in the context of GW2 combat, is perhaps something to the effect of every 15 to 20 seconds on average). Forms of perma-stealth playstyles are just too unfun to play against and as such are unsuitable for an MMO.
You have to have very well developed stealth mechanics for them to be fun for all involved parties, which is necessary for any sort of multiplayer environment. But GW2 doesn’t have that, GW2 just has straight up invisibility on a cooldown.

I agree wholeheartedly, as both someone who has been playing other classes and a huge advocate for Thief.

The core problem with our class is that the stealth mechanics are our life-blood, so to speak. Too much of our survival is based around breaking PvE enemy aggro by entering stealth and using it to recoup initiative, health, and cool-down.

It’s also our means of usurping opportunity, which, in the vanilla game and PvE realms, has always felt like Thief’s purpose. Even our skill mechanic, Initiative, gives an opportunistic feel.

Right now Arena Net has two options:

• Reformulate Stealth: Scrub the stealth mechanics and start over, giving Thief a more solid baseline of combat potential and survivability and re-imagining Stealth as it should be: a combination of diversion and clever positioning to seize the upper hand and beguile your foes.
  -or-
• Add Reveal Counter-play: Dial up the effectiveness of Stealth and provide more access to Revealed whilst also making the latter a true condition that can be removed (such as by reworking some of the redundant skills into Diversions* to act as a counter-counter-play methodology).

As things stand, our biggest problem is PvP, where it’s no longer breaking aggro but visibility. Humans don’t just turn around after 3 seconds and wander back to their patrol area, they hammer the vicinity in AoEs. And because PvP likes to complain very vocally, a vast portion of the game has been changing to accommodate (after the decision was made not to split the two); this means that the second option would be a moot point. Improving Stealth would only anger people further, and the last thing we need is more “teef op wah” threads.

So frankly, it makes sense to redesign Stealth mechanics entirely, as that seems to be what most everyone complains about. Not to mention Stealth, to enemy players, should be that “oh kitten!” moment, rather than a “not again …”

*: To explain the Diversion rationale, Revealed is one of the only player-invocable, non-removable debuffs I can think of. While it serves a purpose, it feels designed to counteract stealth mechanics on NPCs … which are almost nonexistent outside of Skelk. Keeping it universal as a holdover from maintaining a more simplistic design instead placed the burden upon the PCs; Thief has a debuff almost unique to them which, when active, severely limits their survivability and combat potential. Since ArenaNet seems to be very into “counter-play” of late, especially with the Boon/Condition pairing, it would seem logical to add a counter-play to the Revealed debuff by literally creating a diversion to remove it.

Edit:
In the reworking of Stealth, I would say this could well maintain the status quo inasmuch that it has been viewed for some time as our main form of burst/spike damage. Backstab and Sneak Attack can devastate foes if done correctly, and Thief is the only class to receive Stealth Attacks.

Consider it as being the analog to Warrior’s adrenal skills.

If these attacks were enhanced alongside a reworking of the Stealth mechanic, and Thief received a much-needed boost to durability, little would ultimately change. We could still maintain a Stealth-focused style of gameplay whilst providing both a reason for Stealth to exist (as something other than our go-to defense) and for Reveal to be as commonplace and potent as it is.

Reveal seems intended as a shut-down or denial. If so, we should restructure Stealth to legitimately warrant such a treatment.

Usually try to avoid talking on the forums, but I’ll step in as this is a discussion we need to be having.

I’m one of the original thief players in GW2. I’ve mained thief since launch, blah blah blah, yeah. Like the total noob I was, I went D/D and a glass cannon build because DPS synergies back in the day.

Over time that moved to Acrobatics (+3k HP), and by swapping Deadly Arts for Shadow Arts, I was able to exploit good stealth, Blind-on-stealth, and maximize the synergy between Signet of Malice and Invigorating Precision (then 5% or 8%, depending on patch) to become surprisingly durable at the expense of dealing from 30-60% less theoretical damage.

But the thing was, having come from a glass cannon build that carried me to ~Lv.70, I understood just how precious that extra HP and healing was. And because I’d sacrificed Hide in Shadows to gain more healing, I was using D/D for the Cloak and Dagger skill to gain rapid access to condition cleansing and stealth.

It was very much a sacrifice that was worth making.

So now that I’ve lost 3,000 HP, another 7% precision-to-vitality when Practiced Tolerance got changed, my acrobatics trait line is now nigh useless (goodbye, old Feline Grace), and the Shadow Arts line got relatively nerfed despite having 3 full trait lines, it kitten well hurts to play Thief.

I can’t necessarily afford to drop the 100g+ to replace all of my gear with something more durable or to swap to a different play-style capable of higher sustainability in a fight. Sure my skills remain largely unchanged, but I feel forced into a Deadly Arts / Critical Strikes / Shadow Arts build if I want to survive at all (because taking Trickery means losing almost all condition handling), which is never, ever good design. Worse, with the introduction of No Quarter, I’m once again losing out on significant DPS capabilities by having an interest of being able to survive a fight with a character that went from a deceptively durable build to a full-on glass cannon overnight.

A build I thought I could finally put behind me, but which ANet felt needed to be shoe-horned back into the play style.

Ergo, yes, hearing that there will be more sources and even stronger forms of Reveal is a deathknell for Thief. Sure we gained the potential to out-damage most non-condition builds through sheer critical DPS, but the cost of that was too great.

Now that we have no choice but to be trapped in the lowest HP bracket, our only real defensive capacity beside piddling evades (Ranger bests us quite handily in melee in that regard) is now becoming our greatest weakness. Like complaints about Elementalist being a “sitting duck,” too much of our stealth involves keeping put (a la Shadow Refuge) or attempting to flee.

And let’s not forget the nerf to Resilience of Shadows, either:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/index.php?title=Resilience_of_Shadows&oldid=772121

Though I suppose I could just get Executioner (Deadly Arts GM), Invigorating Precision (Critical Strikes GM), and Lead Attacks + Preparedness (Master, Adept minor traits on Trickery, respectively) to get back most of the damage loss, run Eagle runes to smooth out the rest, and hope Dagger Training (Deadly Arts Adept) procs often enough for Exposed Weakness (Deadly Arts minor Master) to grant that final +10%.

You know, because forget actually having a cohesive build or diversity when we can focus it around the most non-synergetic means of DPS stacking conceivable.

Azure Prower.8701:

Any one concerned about the new changes regarding gear and traits?

I’m one who still runs full berserker stats on gear. But I had shadow arts to add a bit of survival with its support stats.

Now that’s going away, I’m left with my full ascended, berserker gear leaving me as a pure glass cannon now.

Any one have this concern and any one think this may not be a down side if our elite specialization focuses on range DPS?

Let’s see what all I’ve lost:

Raw Stats (Berserker armor, Assassin trinkets):

• -3,000 HP (Acrobatics 6)
• -7% Precision to Vitality (-4,248 HP total; -3508 HP after adjustment)
• -300 Precision (+111 after adjustment) (Critical Strikes 6)
• -300 Ferocity (-141 after adjustment) (Critical Strikes 6)
• -30% Boon Duration (Acrobatics 6)

Traits:

• Crits no longer restore Initiative (Opportunist)
• No longer get +10% damage with Initiative over 6 (First Strikes)
• Lose ~20% additional damage potential by to Invigorating Precision (GM; conflict with Unrelenting Strikes)
• Lose swiftness for 26s on kill (Assassin’s Retreat)
• -1/2 second of swiftness on Dodge (Expeditious Dodger)
• No longer get flat +15 Endurance on Dodge (Feline Grace)
• No longer get +10% damage when <100% Endurance (Fluid Strikes)

And that’s only for a Critical Strikes / Acrobatics build.

kitten it all, we’re not just being turned into glass cannons, half of our actual damage potential is being stripped away as well. And that’s to say nothing about builds that relied on Pistols + Ricochet, the Potent Poison vs. Executioner conflict in Deadly Arts, Cloaked in Shadow went from Adept to Grandmaster in Shadow Arts, and gaining stealth no longer grants 15s of Might (Hidden Assassin).

Or how Resilience of Shadows got nerfed from 50% to 25% damage reduction while in Stealth, and Assassin’s Equilibrium is gone too, so there goes our only source of reusable Stability (since Dagger Storm is kind of a joke).

Compared to everyone but warrior (who really didn’t change, wow), we got completely nerfed across the board.

But hey, if I use Unrelenting Strikes and Superior Runes of Rage, I can achieve 100% Fury up-time and a semblance of the same power I had before the overhaul, albeit with none of the sustainability!

No, I’m really not pleased with how this has come to be.

Edit note: I forgot to compensate for the +74 Vitality received by bringing base stats from 926 up to 1000

Bluefox.9580:

… of partial lines being a choice. No one will be going partially into a line any more, yet there’s still 3 minor traits and 9 major traits that progress in a lesser to greater power way of thinking.

New players and characters will not instantly fill a trait line, obviously. They will still need to progress.

Bluefox.9580:

In the old system this makes sense because putting more points into a line meant sacrifice for specialization

You will be able to fill all three (3) trait lines you select at Level 80. This was confirmed around the announce of the design change.

Bluefox.9580:

Why weren’t all the minor traits compacted into one […]?

For the exact reason of the above two answers: it provides a similar mechanism of progression for new characters and players, while retaining a parity once everyone is able to do the equivalent of a 6/6/6 build.

TL;DR: none of what OP has described will be a problem, as you will be able to complete your three chosen trait lines once you’ve reached 80.

Phantom Master.9582:

Fellow S/D Thieves, we’ve been nerfed over and over again and we’ve finally achieved a state of balance and we’re still kinda viable(for the most part).

We’re not too dangerous but we can still hold our own, however Hearth of Thorns might be our end. With the upcoming changes to Feline Grace, our main defensive trait is being reworked into a vigor trait.

At first I wasn’t too worried, 2 seconds of vigor is about the same amount of endurance we got back from dodging with the current version of this trait, and in fact it encourages us to always carefully time our dodges, or else we loose our biggest defence tool.

But then I noticed the 3 second cooldown, having a 1 second cooldown would be plenty to avoid this trait from activating more than once per evasion and still keep the build fine, however a 3 second cooldown is a cruel nerf, especially to a build that now barely holds itself viable.

I know this decision isn’t set in stone, but this change will most likely force all other good thieves to go D/P along with possibly the new elite specialisation. Please don’t limit our build diversity like this.

TL;DR: We’re getting nerfed to the ground.

Update: (To those saying this is a buff)
2seconds of vigor (with the +20% vigor buff) = ~ 15 extra endurance(Same from current)
But we only get a proc with a cooldown of 3 seconds, since this depends on if the opponent throws out a dodge worthy skill, lets make it ~3.5seconds.
How many times do you have to roll within the first 3.5seconds? If its a aggresive necro or warrior that answer should be around 3. Which means we get 45 endurance back, but with our ’’buff’’ we get… 15… and wont get another 15 for more than 3seconds.

Ensign.2189 Has a valid point here

I’ve spent a good amount of time watching replays of duels and small scale fights from a thief’s perspective to understand just how often this will actually proc; the best estimate seems to be about once every 10 seconds.

Yes, you dodge or FS important attacks more often than that, but because both of those involve a lot of movement they frequently take you out of range of the attack before it would land – which means they see a miss, you never see an evade, and FG would never trigger.

I’d been thinking this since first it was revealed. I hope ANet doesn’t keep it this way, or IN THE VERY LEAST changes it to be a “this effect cannot occur more than once per dodge,” similar to life steal on venom activations.

Same effect without the ridiculous overhead of multiple dodge sources being rendered moot and it prevents being “OP” because you cannot receive more than the approximate 15 endurance regen from any single dodge.

Doing that would — if points in prior posts about all evasions including dodge activating the Vigor effect are correct — in fact give acrobatic thieves a much-needed edge.

And speaking of changes:

What happened to Assassin’s Retreat?

Where is my ability to rack up 4 minutes of Swiftness and cruise through maps while I have a lovely time feeling awesome and can get rid of Signet of Shadows always being on my skill bar?

(Or, you know, the 45gp I dumped into Pack runes to make that happen and worthwhile)

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If you’re going to ask to remove things that give the different sexes flavor and uniqueness, why not ask for the ability to wear armor across both sexes also?

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Why not allow asura to have charr haircuts?

I see we’ll need to adjust the trajectory on the Cattlepult to get this one to hit you two squarely between the eyes. Looks live we’ve got it a few dozen clicks too high right now.

nexxe.7081:

Oh great, more political correctness infecting our video games.

You’re a very special kind of bookah, but since it was inevitable that someone was going to drag all that in here, I might as well say it:

This is, has been, and always will be about my vanity as a player in a game built by a company that has monetized our vanity.

That aside, if you’re so terribly threatened by people not fitting your preconceived molds for them, perhaps the internet (or outside at all) isn’t quite the place for you?

Harper.4173:

You’d be better off fixing bugs, clipping issues or creating new content.

Simply put – with limited time and resources you want to get the most bang for your buck when you work on something.

Indeed! In fact, ANet is so dedicated to fixing bugs, clipping errors, and introducing new content that just about nothing has been done about misaligned and mishappen hitboxes on numerous objects, animation problems on multi-input, armor clipping on charr everything, a load of heavy and light armor just trying to become a defense singularity, and the Silverwastes and Dry Top being about the only fundamentally “new” content we’ve seen in months!

Yes, tell me more about this buck-banging.

that aside …

To Doggie.3184, Kal Spiro.9745, and Jelle.2807: thank you for taking the time to read the OP and chime in. Your input is invaluable.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

(PS: I’m a freelance 3D artist myself who studied 3D visual effects and I’m currently studying game art & development, I’ll be getting my Masters degree next year if everything goes well.)

Please continue to wave your “credentials” around. It’s truly so very inspiring.

I’m still amazed you haven’t caught on to how the very faces and “skulls” in the game you’re talking about even work.

bob.5680:

Sorry, not worth arguing over to me. I really don’t care. Good luck with this.

Thank you! May your own requests be fruitful as well.

(Though I must question why you ever cared enough to comment in the first place.)

RoRo.8270:

The people that want this is minuscule so it won’t happen and it’s pretty weird you want this tbh

Yeah wow, jeez, like Iron forbid we might just happen to like a certain hairstyle only available on male Charr but have a female Charr character and think to ourselves, “why not go all the way while we’re at it and let everyone have some fun?”

I mean, wow. Who would ever have different desires or think of other players, amirite?

LucosTheDutch.4819:

fluffdragon.1523:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

[…] they’d have to adjust them to fit the female head shape, and vice-versa. The time it takes to do that could just as well be used to create entirely new hairstyles, which they are doing now.

Goodness, as though the technologies of having mappable bone structures that allow us to dynamically change the size and shape of the head and facial features (that themselves can cause things like the scalp, forehead, and even temples to change drastically) do not exist! Surely they must have developed 1000+ variations of each hairstyle to explicitly fit the shape of all these combinations of head and face sliders! I suppose the hair styles that move and bob too must have a dozen or so different shapes to provide the illusion of motion, as most certainly they too are entirely static!

You don’t know what you’re talking about. Being able the scale your head and therefor scale the hairstyle with it is entirely different than having to accommodate for the fundamentally different shapes of the skulls between male and female.

Welcome to blend shapes and morph targets! Using these allows you to take a skeleton and animate it in hardware through the use of programmable shaders, thus letting you skin a mesh. It’s how we handle lip-sync in speech, fluid and cloth animations, and a bunch of other things.

http://antongerdelan.net/opengl/blend_shapes.html

bob.5680:

Simply put, there are more pressing matters to attend to.

I see your dissenting opinion and raise you Lion’s Arch, Kessex Hills, Gendarran Fields, Divinity’s Reach, and all of the other left-over Living Story Season 1 content that has yet to be cleaned up, removed, addressed, or otherwise looked at.

Though maybe this coming Halloween we’ll get something new. Or perhaps some extra Fractals. Or additional dungeon paths. Or more upgrades to PvP and WvW. Or have animations and starting content returned to us.

Come on, argue at little harder than that.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

[…] they’d have to adjust them to fit the female head shape, and vice-versa. The time it takes to do that could just as well be used to create entirely new hairstyles, which they are doing now.

Goodness, as though the technologies of having mappable bone structures that allow us to dynamically change the size and shape of the head and facial features (that themselves can cause things like the scalp, forehead, and even temples to change drastically) do not exist! Surely they must have developed 1000+ variations of each hairstyle to explicitly fit the shape of all these combinations of head and face sliders! I suppose the hair styles that move and bob too must have a dozen or so different shapes to provide the illusion of motion, as most certainly they too are entirely static!

Warlord.9074:

Because it takes, work and money to do that and this is a free game.

By the six, you’re right! A game we’ve paid for and will continue to do so while ArenaNet monetizes on Cash Shop items that are only available through transactions of real money. And let’s not forget that expansion that’s coming out or all the Living Story content they gave us.

Their interest is in selling the game and keeping us buying things. If that means needing a Makeover Kit to swap between gendered customizations, so be it.

Body shapes and faces aside, why are customization options not explicitly tied to the character’s sex (things like hair styles, tattoos, horns, etc.) locked to male or female characters?

I made a topic before about adopting a unisex policy for Charr — one which could easily be replicated across the Asura as well, seeing as they follow the same mechanism for armor display — but after some thought, I’ve elected to recreate it in a broader scope.

What I’m asking for is why don’t we allow anyone to use either male or female customization options when creating, re-styling, or giving their character a makeover?

Considering we’re all playing digital avatars with their own fantasy lives in a make-believe game world, there hardly seems reason to stop us from representing ourselves and our characters as we see fit.

(I can also promise you my guardian’s golden locks would look positively ravishing were they even longer!)

So why not? Let the ladies enjoy some shorter and lighter cuts from time to time, and let the gents grow it out a bit. Considering that two races don’t even use the visual cues of armor to denote gender, it seems pretty silly to maintain a strict dichotomy with hair and other features.

TL;DR: I want to use style options available to a gender my character isn’t and after speaking with other players, have found that many do, too. No, I don’t want to change gender to use it; my character is happy as they are.

Harper.4173:

Just because the game is designed to be casual friendly doesn’t mean the veteran players have to be casual friendly. Being friendly and nice towards a group of players is a choice.

Some people choose to be friendly and help casuals. I usually just avoid them every chance I get.

Players that expect the game to give them all the info they need to play are perfectly fine – but they shouldn’t expect people who take their performance and execution seriously to give them the time of day.

If you can’t bother to watch a 10 minute guide on the dungeon run you’re about do to – I can’t bother to carry you through it.

Players need to realize that the path to self-improvement comes from within.

“Wah, I wanna be a jerkbag to people who don’t meet my expectations!”

Yeah …. see? You’re absolutely right: it’s a choice not to treat you like crap.

Moving on.

This probably isn’t the right forum for this thread, but the OP’s heart is in the right place. Dungeons and even Fractals are still a stress for both myself and many other players, simply because PUG runs tend to devolve into waiting for someone who isn’t still running “ZERKER ONLY OR KICK” mentality nonsense, or dealing with people who flip out the very instant that something isn’t a perfect speed-run.

Just take a little breather everyone, and remember that some people really are new to the game, have been gone for a year or two, or maybe just never played certain content before.

Acting like self-righteous scumbags helps no one, and is the reason many people are driven away from content.

So instead of saying “it’s my choice to be a dilweed to other players,” maybe go out there and help them out, give some direction, or in the very least pick them up off the ground. There’s a reason we have cooperative capacities in the game.

After perusing the new hairstyles and such released in the latest vanity updates, I’m starting to feel that segregating the Charr by gender is … well, silly.

On near every basis aside from the creation of our characters, the Charr have been unisex. It’s actually something I’ve come to greatly enjoy about them, too. Yet for some reason it has been decided that hair styles (or horns, which seem a little odd to split as well) need to be kept separate.

… okay, I’ll be honest: the reason I’m posting this is because I main a female Charr and I’m intensely jealous of my male counterparts who got some fabulous new hairstyles I will not be able to make use of. (I’d even considered shelling out for a makeover kit, but that feels wrong, you know? I can’t just erase the character I’ve played for years for a hairstyle!)

Since all our outfits and almost everything else are already unisex, why not just make “CharrLooks” be a thing and let all Charr mix and match? I could understand keeping faces separated (mostly because of structure issues there and the hassle of remapping bones to different bodies), but horns and hair seem quite trivial.

I bring this up from having spoken with a few guildmates earlier in the day. Several replied with similar feelings: wishing they could have used a female-exclusive set of horns, or wishing they could use a male-only buffed-up appearance.

Considering how long the vanity of the players has been a huge focus for ArenaNet and the Guild Wars franchise (I have very fond memories of GW1), it almost seems silly to have this sort of a limitation!

(I would even go so far as to say the Sylvari are another good candidate for a unified chargen palette, all things considered.)

Too lazy to +1 just about every post in here, so I’ll just turn to ANet and say:

U wot, m8?

So I’ve been trying to get back into the game again, and I’ve been spinning off ideas of things I’d like to see in Tyria and GW2 as a whole. A few of these are probably repeats from the (likely) hundreds of other such topics, but no matter; they bear repeating.

More Weapons
I know it has been “planned” to expand what professions have access to what weapons — like why Engie doesn’t have mace and hammer — but I think it’s high time ANet gets around to conceiving some new weapons entirely. In the very least, it would be nice to see some weapons that are “unique” to certain professions, or help epitomize their style within the world.

Some suggestions:

• Battleaxe (2H axe): we’ve already got the Greatsword and Hammer, so it seems a bit silly not to get a bigger, choppier weapon involved. Focus could be on harrowing foes with conditions and debuffs — like a revival of the broken armor status from GW1. A great addition to the front-line Warrior and those Necromancers wishing to dish out more pain.
• Spear (2H polearm): for some reason, I can see the Ranger and Elementalist getting along with bringing the spear turf-side. Both could benefit from a melee weapon that allows them to engage foes from a distance while maintaining poise and maneuverability.
• Whip (1H, main ? ? ?): extending the idea of extended range, let’s give the Mesmer and the Guardian a whip, providing a “control”-oriented weapon to the professions. It seems thematically sound (mesmers dominate their foes, while Guardians bring justice … or just subjugate), and would certainly be neat to see.
• Hand Crossbow (1H archery): sure the Thief already has the Shortbow and Pistol, but they need something that combines the pistol’s precision with the bow’s spontaneity. It also fits the image of a “silent take-down” well, and could provide more avenues for skill direction.

As for Engineer … they’ve already got a load of kits and packs.

More Elite skills
Let’s be honest here: racials aside, each profession gets 3 elites. The majority of the whole aren’t even usable underwater, and the way most tie in with profession traits is inconsistent at best. So in the spirit of having added more healing skills, it seems fair to expand the number of elites as well.

Give players and professions more variance to help break up the meta.

Expanded utility skill usage
Some of the skills which can’t be used underwater make sense, while others don’t. A trap could easily act as a spherical “mined” region (same with the Healing Turret and Lich Form’s inscriptions), while ground-targeting skills could defer to using a "targeting vector.

The use of a vector (like Whirlwind Attack’s activation sequence) could allow lines of effect, and thus allow more professions more utility while underwater — as a few of them suffer rather significantly in aquatic combat. Sure Shadowstepping or Teleporting however many units in a straight line might not be optimal, but reintroducing the option of escape — or being able to pop a sphere of nastiness on clustered foes — would be invaluable.

More “hidden” areas
Exploring is fun, and stumbling across jumping puzzles and finding loot makes it even better. There are dozens upon dozens of little nooks and crannies hidden in Tyria, but few of them hold real purpose. A little polish could amend this and really help expand the world.

It’d be nice to see more reasons to return to prior areas and re-explore the game world by keeping it alive with new places being uncovered, and old ones expanded upon to give players even more things to do. That, and it could coincide with introducing another Daily category of “Find a Hidden Chest in [xxxx],” similar to the old Jumping Puzzle Daily and Monthly.

And lastly …

More Styles
It’s great that there are tons of BLTC outfits and looks available for purchase with gems, but a fair number of gamers also enjoy working to obtain their favored appearance (it makes our vanity feel worth it). Introducing more armor and weapon appearances, skins, and collectibles obtained outside of festival tokens — whether through mechanisms similar to dungeons, karma, laurels, or just plain luck — would really broaden the amount of customization, detail, and creativity players can put into their looks.

(Oh, and while you’re at it … show the Charr some love and fix up that whole “tail-clipping-through-armor” issue, please? It’s weird when your butt-appendage looks taped on.)

RedSpectrum.1975:

Lunaire.5827:

I’ve always felt that the sword skills are very slow and disjointed feeling in comparison to the rest of our weapon sets.

Then I made a ranger that used S/D and fell in love with the skills due to how thief-like they felt. I really wish I could swap those for our S/D skills.

Dat Serpent Strike

I’ve yet to make a ranger, but jeez … just looking over the style of them sounds way more like how I would imagine a thief wielding a sword to begin with, you know? Mobile, rather than just … standing there. Not to mention I am absolutely envious by the number of multi-function evades a S/D ranger gets. Or the number of conditions! For a class with a tree dedicated to empowering and using venoms and poisons, it’s rather surprising that Thief has so few … well, poisons.

(excuse me while I test this now …)

Lunaire, you’re absolutely right. While I’ll discount the differing Dagger skills, there’s absolutely no contest on sword: Ranger is a better thief than Thief.

The skills are faster, more fluid, more acrobatic, have more visual flourish, and are far better at actually handling combat. My only complaint would be that the Kick and Pounce skills (second and third attack of the basic auto-attack chain) “lock” you in place, making it hard to circle-strafe foes.

Impact.2780:

Counter suggestion: No.

I also don’t have much time so I’ll keep it brief. The flow of combat is fine. Infiltrator’s return is an escape from AoE and incoming pile, and it’s a much needed condition cleanse. Quite often flanking strikes will be evaded, or just be used to evade your opponent. If larcenous strike was merged, you’d lose that strong boon theft attack. As it is, you can actually go and land it if it wasn’t landed, and even chain it with a shadow step. Merging wouldn’t increase flow, it would reduce skill level required but also reduce versatility and I would consider it a nerf.

I’m going to assume this is in regards to PvP play, rather than PvE where foes rarely (if ever) use evasion?

The Deets — Part 2
Let’s look at the Sword/Dagger dual skill, which was reworked some time ago.

• Sword/Dagger #3: Flanking Strike — evade your foe for 0.5 seconds and deal damage. This skill cleaves. Chains to:
• Sword/Dagger #3’: Larcenous Strike — deal damage to the target and steal a boon. This skill is unblockable. (*Not listed: this skill remains “live” for 4 seconds before expiring, causing the chain to reset).

Now, originally this skill was a single action that dealt two strikes as evidenced in the link. As a result, it worked as a secondary dodge that cost 4 Initiative, and if timed correctly, could be used in combination with standard Dodge to truly frustrate your foes. The fact that your first strike stole a boon was just that extra bit of candy.

But again we end up with a problem. The breaking apart of the skill means that you must then use Larcenous Strike to “reactivate” the ability to use Flanking Strike, and thus evade again. This effectively places the focus on the second attack in the chain and its ability to steal a boon. It also, again, disrupts the flow of combat by splitting actions.

And before anyone says that allowing a thief a nearly at-will evasion is unfair, let me remind you of two professions with basic attacks that are capable of a brief evasion: Power Stab, Evasive Strike, and Evasive Strike.

Proposal
Alright, I’m going to say that the 5 Initiative cost for the combined skills is actually pretty acceptable. It places a hefty cost on the skill and focuses not on abusing it, but rather on careful execution. That’s fine.

However, let’s merge the skill chain back together the way it used to be, but with one caveat: the boon steal remains on the second strike (as opposed to its original behavior as part of the first). This returns the feeling of speed to the action and the weapon set, and maintains flow by not having an awkward toggle (or double button-press) to fully execution the action.

And while I understand that having the ability to use Larcenous Strike on a second target is quite useful, it honestly feels very counter-intuitive to have split the skill into a chain in the first place. Especially because you’ve got 4 seconds to activate* the second attack if you were intending to use it elsewhere.

So I’ve been trying to break away from the DPS-heavy builds I’ve been running for ages at this point — which, don’t get me wrong, work great … they’re just a bit too heavily focused on doing nothing but damage.

While chatting up a guild mate about wanting to get back into using Sword/Dagger (which I remember having seen the skill get reworked an age ago), he gave me an interesting suggestion for a build which I promptly tried out in the field. Huzzah for free re-spec of traits!

But suddenly I remembered why I went from a Sword/Dagger build back to Dual-Dagger: the Sword skills are a pain and feel out of place with the rest of the “speedy” flow of regular Thief skills.

The Deets — Part 1
Alright, cloning out portions of the wiki for those of you who’d like a local copy here (accurate to Jan 19).

• Sword #2: Infiltrator’s Strike — shadowsteps 600 units to a foe and immobilizes for 1 second. Does damage. Chains to:
• Sword #2’: Infiltrator’s Return — shadowsteps 1200 units to the point where Infiltrator’s Strike was activated. 0.5s activation time. This skill chain remains “live” for 10 seconds, and must either expire or be used to reset it.

Alright, this right here is kind of a problem. Shadowstep is an awesome mechanic which defines the Thief class (alongside stealth and stealing), and the ability to suddenly surge up to an opponent and unleash bladed fury is invaluable. As a chase, it rivals Heartseeker for versatility (if not damage) thanks to the immobilize, and can be very useful for counteracting knockback effects.

But the usability ends the moment you’ve activated it. You must either sacrifice the activation time to return to your original position (which can be up to double the range away) in order to use it again, or wait 10 seconds for it to expire and “reset.”

This really breaks the “flow” of the combat, and can be a real headache when you’re trying to manage multiple foes at a time. Moreover, the (buggy?) half-second activation time has turned Infiltrator’s Return from a very convenient escape into another break in the flow.

Proposal
This probably won’t be a very popular one, but in all honesty, Thief already has a built-in Shadowstep ability that actually still breaks stuns (unlike the reworked Infiltrator’s Return). Moreover, it has no cast time and a 1200 unit range … albeit a 50s cooldown. It’s called Shadowstep — which then becomes Shadow Return and is nigh the same ability.

Thus, let’s strip out the functionality of Infiltrator’s Return and leave Infiltrator’s Strike as an at-will shadow step. This will serve to improve the flow of combat and allow a Thief to very rapidly traverse a field and strike foes. To compensate for the loss, I would suggest decreasing the cooldown of Shadowstep, thus making it a more versatile utility and helping to bring focus to its use as an escape as well.

Tranc.6780:

One gripe I have with the Dye and Wardrobe (and indeed a lot of GW2’s selection menus) is you can’t sort it Alphabetically.

If I know the name of a dye, I should be able to sort them in alphabetical order so I can find it quickly, instead of hunting around for it because I don’t know it’s rarity, material, etc.

Ah! That was something I was thinking of last night when I’d misplaced my Cream Shade dye:

We need a Search function in the Dye panel. Hunting through types and hues is a real pain, and the Favorites section doesn’t really help when you’ve got a dozen or so entries because each of your characters has their own color scheme.