Guild Wars 2

imo there are only 2 problems with backstab, and frankly none of them is the backstab:

a)steal→CnD

the main thing is that all other stealths have either a long-ish cd or a drawback (like being stationary, being your heal and etc)
CnD’s drawback is the cast time, it gives time to your opponent to react. by combining the instant 900-1200 range steal with it you remove that drawback.

b) missing backstab doesn’t break stealth
this is simply oversight imo. if this was addressed, then most complaints would be fixed (or they should imo).
the thing is now that if a thief steals→CnD’s you they have 3-4secs to get your back and there is nothing to prevent that. Dodge? they can try again. Blind? they can try again. Block? same and etc etc etc

if either one of those 2 problems are fixed things will be reasonably better. p.e. if the second “flaw” was fixed then the moment a thief stealths near you you can drop an aoe blind to prevent them landing that backstab on you for (usually) 5secs (longer than stealth, so they would need to go back and retry)

or if the first one was fixed, you can do a blind/block/dodge on the CnD.

the option exist for thief to pair it up with BV, which has a 45sec cd, close to most people’s stunbreaker CD. so if both people’s cd is up then they come out equal (thief can’t kill the opponent, but can leave and retry without any actual harm if he is not a scrub) but if your stunbreaker is on CD then the thief’s elite skill has done it’s job and prevent’s you from activating that block/dodge/blind that would prevent his burst)