Traps were so much better than Preparations

[saerni.2584]

And Trapper runes are still a dominant mode of play. Both rangers and guardians run them as a common choice in roaming. Usually as very glassy in the case of the DH roamers because you can't just step on the trap to reveal them if even a single hit will chunk your HP. That was, sadly, never a risk for thief traps because the damage was so low.

I'd say Preparations are fine as a replacement because honestly, only bad players died to permastealth condi trapper thief. They "fixed" that, not by removing traps for preparations, but rather by adding a small power damage component to the traps. But, that change made the traps, otherwise useless, completely useless. Leading to Preparations, which at least have some better uses in terms of Shadow Portal.

I just wish the Preparations did more actual damage. It's a trap that the thief has to trigger. It should do something big in exchange for being visible (maybe only when the enemy walks into it).

[Heizero.9183]

I don't have anything to add to this other than stating the title is straight facts.

[pureskullz.7536]

@Shiyo.3578 said:

@pureskullz.7536 said:

@Shiyo.3578 said:Shadow portal is useful in PvE, the condi trap is good for PvE dps, all the traps are pretty useless in PvP outside some niche shadow portal usage.

check again.

What am I checking? Nothing I said is wrong.

Pitfall(3 sec knockdown with pulsing vuln) is one of the strongest preps and so is seal area(AoE projectile destruction and also preventing melee from easily moving through it without giving up a dodge or stab) also shadow portal is unmatched in Ganking. Thousand needle is often used with pitfall with condi builds and if you're caught in it you're dead. I've dueled with preps and used them in roaming and also 2v2s they're very viable if you actually set the build up correctly.

[Taylan.2187]

Meh, didn't seriously use traps, and don't use preparations, so I have no hard opinion, although I did very much enjoy running a condi trap meme build for a while. Did some ridiculous poison and bleeding damage but mostly didn't work well on players, just NPCs.

[Alchimist.4738]

They really need to remove the after cast delay to Preparation skills, it's not only extremely awkward to use normally, but considering Thief is a class build around mobility, you just can't afford waiting 3 seconds to interact with your skills, it leaves way too much time for whatever enemies (being a player or a npc) to move away from it.

Preparation skills should be online after the casting time, like traps, but unlike the latter you have to trigger them manually.

Furthermore, why Preparation skills don't have a trait enhancing them, unless I'm forgetting something all skill categories across all classes (and e-specs?) have one trait enhancing all skills within their category.

[Virtuality.8351]

@Trianox.3486 said:I love preparation skills, visuals, effects, actual functionality BUT for PvE, the 3 sec delay is waaaay too long. We move fast across the battlefield, chainkill, or basically the fight location shift quickly... So the current skills are really lacklusters.

Their only use case in PvE at the moment are against relatively immobile foes with very high HP that won't go down in less than 10 secondes, else it's just not useful at all and any other skills end up being a better option.

I love the Seal area potential for crowd control and such, but fields effect are too weak (so whirl don't really make it shine that much) and against by the time I would pop it monsters inside and outside are already dead.I used it on the past as a safe zone I would place on the floor to pop instantly later in the fight when I needed to reset the fight, but ....when my build is DPS oriented, foes get downed too fast or I can fight without ever a need for reset when rotation is spot on... So... :-/ not that great.

A 1 second prep time instead of 3, would totally solve it for me for the knock down and the condi ones.Portal is more of a PvP or WvW... And Seal, I wish would have an additional effect for PvE.

Agreed. Everything about Preparation is awesome excep that 3 s delay. If there must be something that functionally differentiate it from the Trap skills, it should be anything but.

[Yasai.3549]

I've got a suggestion :

Replace Trickery's Burst of Agility with a trait which turns Preparations into traps.(Burst of Agility is the skill where yu gain Lesser Haste when attacking from flank or sides and a super niche pick)

The trait will make all the Preparations into Traps and turn Shadow Portal into Shadow Trap which Blinds, open up a Smoke Field and inflicts Cripple while inside it.

I can still see people clinging onto Shadow Portal, and idk how Shadow Portal will work as anything but a Preparation.

[ArielRebel.3426]

@"Yasai.3549" said:I've got a suggestion :

Replace Trickery's Burst of Agility with a trait which turns Preparations into traps.(Burst of Agility is the skill where yu gain Lesser Haste when attacking from flank or sides and a super niche pick)

The trait will make all the Preparations into Traps and turn Shadow Portal into Shadow Trap which Blinds, open up a Smoke Field and inflicts Cripple while inside it.

I can still see people clinging onto Shadow Portal, and idk how Shadow Portal will work as anything but a Preparation.

As Trickery already has Trickster , I would suggest instead to have it in Deadly Arts on the second tier instead of Revealed Training which is EXTREMELY niche and I would even say too situational to be worth it. Also the "art" of placing traps or preparing ambushes would lore-wise fit into that specialization more than trickery imo. But yeah, a trait that changes a bit how the preparation skills behave would be nice. Something like : lower CD by 20% + say shave off 2sec of the 3sec for the traps to arm OR make it so steal now pulls your victim to you (for trap + steal combo) like scorpion wire.

[yiksing.9432]

Preparation is OK but choking gas change is shit, the old one was way better.

[DemonSeed.3528]

I have an idea - since there are technically 0 traits for preparations itself, they can introduce a trait for either going with the old mechanic of trap with just setting it down and no manual activation. Arm time needs to be removed for preparations also, they already have 1/2s cast time. This way it will be nice for people who prefer the old trap settings, whilst people who prefer the newer manual activation can still opt for that too. The only problem is where to put this option in the traitlines.

[Straegen.2938]

So much this. They could roll thief back 5 years it would be SOOOO much better.

[ASP.8093]

I feel like the Seal Area bubble would actually be pretty amazing as-is if it wasn't so easy to negate with Stability.

[Yasai.3549]

@ASP.8093 said:I feel like the Seal Area bubble would actually be pretty amazing as-is if it wasn't so easy to negate with Stability.

Oh dear, it's not like Boons are op or something, nah that couldn't be.

[ASP.8093]

@Yasai.3549 said:

@ASP.8093 said:I feel like the Seal Area bubble would actually be pretty amazing as-is if it wasn't so easy to negate with Stability.

Oh dear, it's not like Boons are op or something, nah that couldn't be.

Make it rip a boon or two when it pops and you'd actually have a pretty nifty skill that will 100% lead to tears on the forums.

[DemonSeed.3528]

@ASP.8093 said:Make it rip a boon or two when it pops and you'd actually have a pretty nifty skill that will 100% lead to tears on the forums.

This would be pretty interesting actually if it did rip a boon or two, but I remember a long time ago I might have mentioned it might be compared to as a mini wod. Outside of ripping stab, how about converting boon to a condi?You could also go as far as steal boon and giving it to you instead of just stripping it.

[Laila Lightness.8742]

Shadow portal should be reworked to function like mesmer portal also 2 way tp