From a PvP standpoint –
Body shot is still useless because P/P is a joke and P/D is an underperforming condition spec. If P/P and P/D are fixed, perhaps this buff will prove substantial. As it stands, its pointless.
Steal – Yes, a buff. Steal is still on the weak side untraited, but can be potentially very strong while traited. I’d like to see steal buffed a tiny bit, and the traits nerfed a tiny bit, so the gap between traited and untraited steal is smaller.
Death Blossom – If thieves ever get varied access to conditions, this will be a great buff. As it stands, having access to a single damaging condition and poor access to “cover” conditions make a “condition thief” (IE a bleed thief) easy to counter in the current meta.
Shadow Trap – It’s like SS with less utility. It’s great as a “return to defendable point” teleport. It’s poor as a stunbreaker. If it’s triggered and you don’t need to break stun, or don’t want to disengage your target…well, it’s a waste. You’re paying an additional 15s CD for that stunbreaker. Drop Stunbreaker, leave other changes in, reduce CD to 35s and you have a fantastic skill.
Merciful ambush – Sounds strong, but competes with thrill of the crime, buffed Long reach, and Uncatchable. Testing required to see if it can bring enough utility to be better than those.
PW – Still carrying around a 15% damage nerf from when quickness was a problem. Maybe it’s better, haven’t tested – can people still walk out of the last few swings?
People’s problem with SHbow nerfs is that they feel undeserved. For a long, long time, SHbow has been considered the “perfect” thief weapon. It’s flexible, all the skills are worth using, and it didn’t feel OP. Then they just kept chipping away at it. 15% CB dmg nerf, Trick shot seeking nerf. Now a CB range nerf, and the Lotus Poison/Choking gas Nerf. They buffed weakness to the point where now Choking gas + lotus poison was too strong, and their change to lotus poison feels excessive. They SHOULD have cut weakness from lotus poison to 2s and given it a 5-6s per target CD, to encourage counterplay. Instead, its 4s every 20, which screams at the thief (and other players) Burst burst burst, run away.
I can agree that P/P isn’t a good set in PvP (but it is quite good in PvE), mainly because shortbow is always a better choice as ranged weapon and P/D lacks synergy, but the Vital Shot buff is still a good buff.
Stacking vulnerability as easy on boss is a good thing.
Thieves have access to more conditions. Venoms have a whole set of conditions that can be applied on demand. You can cover your bleed stacks with Torment, Poison or Chill. Plus, there are several traits in the power traitline which grants situational conditions. Don’t forget also stolen things. Some of them give some extra conditions and CC. Condi thieves, now, are pretty much forced to build around steal too, so it is a factor to take into consideration. Not every condition spec needs to have access to every condition in this game.
If you want your Shadow Trap not to trigger, just put it when you know it doesn’t trigger. It isn’t that hard and I can easily place them in safe spots to run away when needed. It is a very strong skill as a stunbreaker, mobility and escape.
Merciful Ambush is the right trait to pick when you have only 10-15 points into trickery. It competes with nothing in that case.
Regarding PW, it is possible that people escape to some hit, but with Sigil of Paralization, it is quite hard that some hits misses. 15% damage nerf is low. I can crit for 8k in sPvP in zerker gear, I don’t think it can have a damage buff without getting into the OP side.
Don’t forget, also, that SB had an implicit buff. Choking Gas + Cluster bomb still gives weakness, which is now really really strong. This alone makes me forget about the range nerf to cluster bomb.
