How I would fix deadeye - "Dead Reckoning"

The Deadeye's kneel mechanic makes sense in the context of the rifle, but the fact that it takes up 1/5 of the combat abilities just seems dumb. The fact that the rifle is the only weapon on which deadeyes really feel like expert marksmen is also a problem for me.

So I got to thinking, if it were up to me, how would I carry the idea of "deadeye" across the spectrum of thief weapons. Here's what I came up with.

New F2 - Dead Reckoning (Replaces stolen items)

Dead Reckoning takens the "stance" function present on rifle's kneel and expands it to all thief weapons. While in "Dead Reckoning" the initiative bar is replaced by the Malice count. 1-5 weapon skills are replaced, for all weapons. These new skills all cost exactly one malice per use, with the exception of the 5, which has increased cost or special effects.

While in "Dead Reckoning" you are immobilized and will automatically block (by parrying with your weapon) attacks at a cost of one malice per attack. (E.G. entering the rifle's "kneel" and being shot at will automatically block the attack via shadow magic)

"Dead Reckoning" uses the same red haze for all weapons, flaring up as it blocks attacks. The design goal being to give thieves a choice between keeping stacks of malice for flat damage buffs or discharging them for more powerful attacks or utility abilities at the cost of losing that raw damage buff.

Pressing F2 while Dead Reckoning is active will return the Deadeye to their normal weapon skills, and unspent Malice will remain on the target. Using wasd to move will also automatically exit Dead Reckoning.

Basic first pass design, no real hard numbers on condition durations or damage because why bother.

RifleRifle's Dead Reckoning is thematically identical to the current version, with a new 5 intended as a new "better killshot" ability The damage and conditions for 1-4 would likely need to be revisited so that their new malice resource cost is worth the activation of each ability

1-4 remain the same

5 - Named Bullet - Become revealed. Spend additional malice every 1 second you hold down this shot. When you run out of malice or when you release this attack, fire an unblockable shot at your target, dealing more damage for each malice charged in to it. If this ability is charged for at least five seconds, instantly kill downed targets struck.

Keep in mind being struck in Dead Reckoning uses up malice as it blocks. The appropriate counterplay to this attack is to rapidly strike the deadeye that is charging this, to force the shot to fire without much power backing it up.

PistolPistol's Dead Reckoning focuses on AoE damage and crowd control.

1 - Fan Fire - Fire three shots in a cone in front of you. These pierce through targets. for moderate damage.

2 - The Low Road - Fire three low damage shots in a cone in front of you. These shots pierce through and apply slow and cripple to the first target hit and cripple to targets beyond the first.

P/P 3 - Flight of Doves - 400 range PBAOE version of unload. Targets selected at random for each shot. Each shot fires both guns in stead of one. Get your John Woo on.

P/D 3 - Draw - Channel for 1s, wielding your offhand dagger. Any enemy that strikes you during this channel is blocked, ending the channel, and you fire a pistol shot that stuns them for 1s. Ranged attacks blocked in this manner are reflected.

4 - The High Road - Fire Three shots in a cone in front of you. These shots daze targets they hit for .5 seconds.

5 - Ricochet - Target the ground within 900 units, and fire a shot that ricochets from that point to hit up to 5 targets for high damage. Costs 2 Malice.

DaggerDagger's dead reckoning focuses on ranged single target throwing attacks to finish or escape from targets.

1 - Dagger of the Hamaseen - Single target poison, 900 range, 3 stacks

2 - Dagger of the Shadows - Single target chill, 900 range

D/D 3 - Assault Enchantments - Throw two daggers, each one converts a boon to a condition. 900 range.

D/P 3 - No Escape - Throw a dagger, then shoot it, extending its range. Moderate damage, 1200 range.

4 - Shroud of Distress - Shadowstep 400 units away from your target, and heal. Healing is increased if you are below 50% health.5 - Deadly Paradox - Knock back your target, and apply 1 stack of torment for each remaining point of malice. Consumes all remaining malice.

SwordSword's Dead Reckoning focuses on lightning fast parrying abilities, punishing attackers.

1 - Way of the Master - Focus on reflecting projectiles with your sword. Reflect all projectiles for 1 second. Can be held to automatically recast.

2 - Way of the Fox - Focus on parrying melee blows with your sword. Become immune to melee attacks and strike any melee attacker for 1 second. Can be held to automatically recast.

S/D 3 - Way of the Lotus - Gain 1 initiative and 10 endurance for each strike taken for the next 1 second. Can be held to automatically recast.

S/P 3 - Way of Perfection - Return fire at any ranged attacker with your pistol, and strike any melee attacker with your sword for 1 second. These retaliatory attacks deal 80% of the incoming raw damage and condition damage/duration, but use your stats. Can be held to automatically recast.

Keep in mind that for the 3 abilities, since they do not add a reflect or immunity, the maximum amount of attacks they can activate on is 6 from a fully traited 7 malice stack, as they are automatically spending one malice to block each incoming attack.

ShortbowShortbow's Dead Reckoning focuses on single target condition based damage and magical shadowlace arrows. 1-4 Dead Reckoning attacks are 100% projectile finishers.

1 - Viper Arrow - Fire an arrow that poisons your foe (2 stacks)2 - Immolation Arrow - Fire an arrow that burns your target (1 stack)3 - Barbed Arrow - Fire an arrow that bleeds your target (3 stacks)4 - Shadowlace Arrow - Fire an arrow imbued with shadow magic that blinds your target and steals health.5 - Shade Storm - Aim at point on the ground and fire an arcing barrage of shadowlace arrows. Enemies in the area are inflicted with 1s of torment and blind. Allies in the area are granted 1s of stealth and regeneration. Can be held to automatically recast once per second. Shadow field.

i think you should rename shortbow 5since reaper gs 4 skill is nightfall

@Ghostt.1293 said:i think you should rename shortbow 5since reaper gs 4 skill is nightfall

Ah right, I forgot. Renamed "Shade Storm" because reaper already got the better lore appropriate name.

I like the concept. Not all the skills as described, but the concept is cool.Now, bear in mind this is also something very difficult to implement. Making 5 new skills per weapon is just not gonna happen.But you have good intentions.

On the one hand, it could be cool, and I'm not like "this is awful," but on the other hand, this would be a lot of work, and I don't see the devs adding new attacks for every weapon like that. I mean, Mirage got 3-4 new attacks outside their new weapon, Eles got a couple dozen maybe, but that was a pretty special case. They rarely go with more than 5-10 new abilities per expansion class, and that would include the 5 that Rifle gets.

Nothing posted by players in the vein of class or ability design is reasonable TBH. Anyone posting suggestions on the forums with an eye for getting them implemented without Anet specifically asking for feedback is wasting their time. Posts like this one (or any "my elite spec idea" posts) are pure fantasy theorycraft in the first place.

In general posts like these serve more as a barometer of what the commnity thinks is "cool" rather than design blueprints Anet is likely to use.

If someone had posted Weaver's insane mechanic and skill requirements, I'd have said the same thing you two just said, and it is much more likely any version of any player idea serves as a nugget of inspiration for the idea of new specs than total overhauls of existing ones. Mostly I just do it for fun.

I'm glad you guys think the basic mechanic of "reverse initiative" is cool though.

You expect too much. They are not going to go change anything vastly like this.

The most they are willing to do is tweak numbers with this spec, as demonstrated from beta and demo to live.

See the post above yours.