THIEF:

This update for the thief is focused mostly around the deadeye specialization and fixing bugs that were hindering them from reaching their full potential. Fire for Effect has also been simplified slightly, as we felt the range restriction on the second set of might and short radius on might application made this trait difficult to use. This improvement, along with the changes to the warrior's Phalanx Strength and the druid's Grace of the Land, should offer multiple professions the opportunity to grant group might. One important balance change in this update is the change to Unhindered Combatant. While thieves, and by extension daredevils, are intended to be slippery combatants, the escape potential for this trait was a little too high.

• Skills

  • Deadeye Stolen Skills: These skills can now be used while jumping or during skills that jump into the air. Fixed a bug that allowed stolen skills to be wasted by casting them on targets other than your mark. Stolen skills will now always be cast on your mark even if your mark is not your current target.
  • Rifle: All rifle skills that fire projectiles will now attempt to face the target before determining if they should activate.
  • Death's Retreat: Updated the description to indicate that this skill shadowsteps away from your current target. Improved the reliability of shadowstep in areas with complex terrain.
  • Death's Judgment: This skill now only deals its bonus damage to your marked target. Updated skill description.
  • Free Action: This skill can now be used to cancel Kneel if the player is sent airborne by an enemy skill. Fixed a bug that could cause this skill to not remove all instances of the listed conditions.
  • Cursed Bullet: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from working with the Rending Shade trait. Boon steal from Rending Shade occurs before boon corruption.
  • Bandit's Defense: The recharge of this skill has been increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
  • Binding Shadow: This skill now performs a range check before activating. Removed range and line-of-sight restrictions from the delayed attack.
  • Shadow Meld: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from being recognized as an elite skill for the purposes of some rune effects.

• Traits

  • Expeditious Dodger: Swiftness granted by this trait will now occur at the end of the dodge.
  • Unhindered Combatant: Breaking inhibiting conditions with this trait now causes the thief to lose all endurance regeneration for 4 seconds. Direct endurance gains will still apply the full amount. Swiftness granted by this trait will now occur at the end of the dodge.
  • Improvisation: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working with ammo skills. It now restores 1 use to affected skills.
  • Renewing Gaze: Updated the text description for clarity.
  • Don't Stop: Removed the erroneous cooldown skill fact.
  • Perfectionist: Updated the description to clarify that boons are only gained when reaching full malice stacks. Gaining malice while at full malice stacks will not trigger this trait. Removed internal cooldown.
  • Fire for Effect: Added a 1-second internal cooldown to this trait. This trait now grants might around the player and the marked target regardless of distance, but it can only grant might to the same target once per activation of the trait. Might applied has been reduced from 10 stacks for 15 seconds to 8 stacks for 12 seconds. Increased might application radius from 240 to 360.

It's ok. I already cried for the lack of buffs anywhere. I am grateful for the bug fixes, but it's not enough at this point. At least power reaper is making a come back.

Guys, we need to fix deadeye...by nerfing the only thing that keeps thief in the game. Can't say I didn't see this coming. ;)

Have fun people. I'm gonna go spend a lot more time on my mirage and weaver than I already was.

Wow they actually listened to us! I wonder if it had anything to do with me contacting Karl directly to look at my Deadeye fix thread. ;)

@Asur.9178 said:Guys, we need to fix deadeye...by nerfing the only thing that keeps thief in the game. Can't say I didn't see this coming. ;)

Have fun people. I'm gonna go spend a lot more time on my mirage and weaver than I already was.

Nice knowing you. (and good riddens)

So basically instead of adressing the problems DE has with Malice Generation and Energy Cost...They nerfed him even more?!

@LazerusKI.7485 said:So basically instead of adressing the problems DE has with Malice Generation and Energy Cost...They nerfed him even more?!

Sounds about right. Nothing like getting kicked in the stomach while you are down to put a smile on your face.

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:

@LazerusKI.7485 said:So basically instead of adressing the problems DE has with Malice Generation and Energy Cost...They nerfed him even more?!

What are yall talking about? They made PS warriors a little less great to make us look a little less crappy. You guys don't like that change? /s

Good Bye GW2. Played 99% Thief. But this is ridiculous.

no malice or cantrip buffs that's the only thing i wanted, cyz ya in 3 months xD

The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

@Zacchary.6183 said:The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

I am more mad at the lack of buffs for rifles which clearly needs help to get to at least 31k. I am glad for the bug fixes, but it's not enough. They basically just said screw you ranged players. We don't give two kittens about you.

@Zacchary.6183 said:The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

i hope you see the problem yourself. Rifle was allready garbage.IF DJ would have been changed into a piercing ability, THEN this would make sense...but this? This is just a joke...

A decent patch. Very stoked to use Rending Shade with Rifle. Though unhindered combatant nerf a little unnecessary - the classes that are able to spam immobilize are not the ones that need help fighting Thieves using UC.

It's ok. Daredevil wasn't built around dodging anyways. /s

@Turk.5460 said:A decent patch. Very stoked to use Rending Shade with Rifle. Though unhindered combatant nerf a little unnecessary - the classes that are able to spam immobilize are not the ones that need help fighting Thieves using UC.

It's not immobilise that you should be worried about, it's cripple and chill which are waaaaaay more available. ALL movement impeding effects trigger the 4s endurance regen halt, so good luck fighting scourges that just cover a massive radius in shades pulsing AoE cripple on a dash melee build.

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Zacchary.6183 said:The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

He doesn't. Probably doesn't even play thief anywhere other than open world PvE. His post history and responses in this thread alone speaks volumes.

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Zacchary.6183 said:The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

TBH most of the people who were running around with rifle deadeye had no clue how to play it. They complain about damage when they don't use the main damaging skill DJ and spam TRB instead. They complain about in combat mobility but don't use Death's Retreat. They complain about survivability when they spec glassy and not let the damage bonuses and self buffs make up for the lack of glass stats.

The issues with rifle are on the player. I have been saying this since day 0.

@Zacchary.6183 said:

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Zacchary.6183 said:The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

yeah because the damage from DJ istn that high when you consider its "chargetime". There are other skills on other weapons that deal far more damage. Whats the use of Quickness for example on a Rifle when Malice generation isnt affected by it? Meanwhile its great for Unload spamming, which kills most normal pve enemies after one or two uses without actually wasting energy thanks to the refund it has. Thanks to the recharge of the mark on kill you can profit from all the "on steal" effects as often as you want too.All of that was discussed over and over again, the slow Malice generation, the lack or area attacks or piercing shots, the lack of energy for skills...And all we get is yet another nerf that limits stolen skills and DJ to the marked target?

"Stolen skills will now always be cast on your mark even if your mark is not your current target."

This has got to be the stupidest change of them all. In group fights, I want to be able to say steal on ranger and use the stolen ability on another target that is low to immob. Way to lower the skill ceiling even more anet. This game is officially dead.

@Jugglemonkey.8741 said:

@Turk.5460 said:A decent patch. Very stoked to use Rending Shade with Rifle. Though unhindered combatant nerf a little unnecessary - the classes that are able to spam immobilize are not the ones that need help fighting Thieves using UC.

Yeah but that's why I singled out immobilize. Scourge does need help fighting Thieves. Most Thief builds can dismantle a Scourge and not break a sweat. Sure we've got to be on our toes, but it's been widely agreed that Thief counters Necro in most circumstances. This includes DD/DE and Reaper/Scourge.

I haven't lost to a Scourge as a S/D Daredevil using UC. Even before their bug fixes, they were just too easy to kite and wait out things like DS and ToA. This change might make it a little more challenging.

So every Necro I've fought against is a potato? In my thousands of hours solo roaming?

Edit: Player I was responding to deleted their post, or it was removed by mod?

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Zacchary.6183 said:

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Zacchary.6183 said:The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

This is exactly what I am talking about. The Deadeye was meant to be a long ranged burst/support spec. Single target. It wasn't supposed to have AoE or "energy". It wasn't meant to be fast-paced. Yet players seem to think that is how its supposed to work and are having a horrible time with it.

Why was malice generation not touched (increased) or at least giving rifle a way to regain initiative?? They could even make death's judgement cost 0 initiative at max malice on a marked target, at least in pve to provide some sustained damage before malice disappears. Perhaps even malice slowly decaying not instantly. So many suggestions given to the devs, really hope they don't wait till 3 months to do this.

Deadeye stolen skill change also makes no sense.

I am not exactly enthusiastic about these changes. Nothing really changed... We had some bug fixes, a QoL change to FoF and that was it.

I stopped using Daredevil after discovering Acrobatics, so the UC nerf doesn't bother me. Meh.

@Zacchary.6183 said:

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Zacchary.6183 said:

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Zacchary.6183 said:The only thing I am laughing about is how everyone is making a big fuss about about nothing. The biggest nerf in the set is DJ only working on the marked target. But it isn't like 80% of you guys use it anyways LOL!

I play my Deadeye on boss fights just like you do. I mark then I have to AA until it fills because I can't waste ini on any other skill to use DJ which is not right. Yes, I know it hits hard, but DE need to use other skills besides that in the meantime for charge up which counteracts the way we are supposed to use it by saving ini. That needs to change because it is the sole reason our damage cannot reach 33k like the DD can. We only use one move which is DJ due to ini costs.

As for PvP, I have killed people before, but I wasn't using DJ because they always block reflect at the last second making it useless. I can kill faster with be quick or be killed using 3 round/2round burst because malice is so slow and DJ so block-able.