Vornollo.5182

The ability to hotkey Stow Pet.

Well aware of their original statement from months ago that it'd only be Main-Hand. However, on this today's post they messed up. Their writer team has reworked their post now, but originally it said "Weapons: Main-Hand and Off-Hand Axes". ANet's own writers fed the misinformation, lmfao.

I've now been made hopeful that we're getting Main-Hand and Off-Hand Axes... Really hope that wasn't a mistake on the writer's end - just a Main-Hand already didn't sit right as we're much shorter on off-hands. But I guess we'll see, it sounds quite interesting on paper anyway. EDIT: Well aware of their original statement from months ago that it'd only be Main-Hand. However, on this today's post they messed up. Their writer team has reworked their post now, but originally it said "Weapons: Main-Hand and Off-Hand Axes".

Would love to see the damage aspect for the Scepter weapon adjusted if it meant having the full range of Initiative...

Voted Engi Focus, though I'd like a more "magitech" approach to a scepter on it. Staff could fit the theme too, though. Thief vote went to Focus too. I'd love for off-hand Sword, having the potential for an actual proper bruiser-type of setup (that S/D almost was, years ago) would be amazing. I don't much like having to run from most 1v1's in competitive modes once player skill levels get close.t But I think a focus could tie in better towards the Shadow Magic aspect, which is currently lacking outside of scepter(/Specter). Ranger Rifle seems a no-brainer. Sure it's a lovey-dovey protect nature type right now, but a wee bit of brutality can't hurt and in nature it's sometimes necessary to cull the population of certain creatures to benefit all.

Would very much have preferred either a Sword Off-Hand, or even a Focus to pair with Scepter for example for that matter. Either a bit more of that swashbuckling (into duelist/bruiser) feel, or a better tie-in to Shadow Magic... Off-Hand would be nice to provide more "core" options, there's plenty of Main-Hand already (and Two-Handed stuff is a real copout out of the dual skill...)

Guardian GS is nice. Untamed Great sword is the most enjoyable to me though.

I'd like a split here between PvE and Competitive modes. The new iteration definitely benefits PvE, but it's lost all flavour. Worse, playmaking potential for competitive modes takes a big hit. Getting more and more forced into Shadow Arts, sadly...

You are absolutely right about that. That said, I think it's touching on an overarching problem I have with the intuitivity of Specter (and previously Druid, to an extent Necro too). One can only gain shroud in Combat. Now, I don't think the approach that Druid has where you just gain your resource passively, be it Shroud or Celestial Avatar or whatever, is a good idea. Rather, why not make it possible to gain shroud by casting Siphon on an ally, or by buffing them up a bit while using up Initiative? Right now you do indeed just simply get people to stack it up by just hitting a trash-mob for a little bit anyway, or like you mentioned to cheese it on a structure. Investing into the "normal" way of gaining shroud but now out of combat, still has you risking being low on CD's or Initiative if you're being silly about it so at least it has a bit of a downside to it of being caught off-guard. Investing actual resources into the upkeep of a boon isn't a bad thing in my opinion. But that it's attached to cheesing it on structures and such, rather than off of allies is just a design flaw on multiple fronts.

Thief main, so... Sorry! Improvisation: Little bit sad, it's good for PvE (especially in light of Quickness DE), but it'll reduce playmaking potential in PvP and WvW... I get it though. Acrobatics: Overall solid changes. Don't quite like Pain Response just being a weaker version of Ranger's "Evasive Purity" Daredevil: Solid, makes absolute sense from a PvE point of view. Forced movement is still rather problematic on it though. Kind of let down that they labeled the stolen skills as Daredevil though. They work like that for Core too..? Deadeye: Not bad, quite intrigued to try it and see how viable it is between ranged and melee options. Not sure how Binding Shadow will work now since it already immobilized, anxious to see it though. I'm quite fine with them nerfing it though. Shadow Flare changes are solid for stealth-play, not too shabby at all. Specter: Oh boy, rather let down by the reworks, I just expected more to it. Good changes to Shroud and Scepter having a little AoE support on it. Happy to see Alacrity moved off of Wells, but bummed that now PvP and WvW Specters got no Alacrity access anymore. Would have loved to see some changes to the Wells themselves, make them feel more unique and impactful etc. put a stunbreak in there somewhere, make them worth taking for something other than the Alacrity, hah. Making Siphon proc Thrill of the Crime without a target and such would be a massive help. Also rethink the -3 initiative, it's just messing with the flow of combat. Another thing I'd love to see updated is Shadow's Refuge. The fact that it still reveals you when leaving it is just redundant at this point. Heck, people are actively using it to grief/spite groups in WvW... So for the Specter Alacrity adjustment, I'd much rather keep the Alacrity for WvW/PvP, Protection feels more suitable flavor-wise for other support-type professions. Especially keeping in mind the "Protect the King" theme they want to go for. Generally, the "King" in WvW especially will be a Guardian, who does a far better job at providing itself with Protection anyway. Putting more Protection on top of it... Ehhh, just doesn't really feel useful. I also just don't find Protection a thematically fitting boon for Thief. Overall, good changes for Thief, stuff's moving in the right direction. PvE changes are solid, some of the things could be improved upon for the competitive modes.

Improvisation: Little bit sad, it's good for PvE (especially in light of Quickness DE), but it'll reduce playmaking potential in PvP and WvW... I get it though. Acrobatics: Overall solid changes. Don't quite like Pain Response just being a weaker version of Ranger's "Evasive Purity" Daredevil: Solid, makes absolute sense from a PvE point of view. Forced movement is still rather problematic on it though. Kind of let down that they labeled the stolen skills as Daredevil though. They work like that for Core too..? Deadeye: Not bad, quite intrigued to try it and see how viable it is between ranged and melee options. Not sure how Binding Shadow will work now since it already immobilized, anxious to see it though. I'm quite fine with them nerfing it though. Shadow Flare changes are solid for stealth-play, not too shabby at all. Specter: Oh boy, rather let down by the reworks, I just expected more to it. Good changes to Shroud and Scepter having a little AoE support on it. Happy to see Alacrity moved off of Wells, but bummed that now PvP and WvW Specters got no Alacrity access anymore. Would have loved to see some changes to the Wells themselves, make them feel more unique and impactful etc. put a stunbreak in there somewhere, make them worth taking for something other than the Alacrity, hah. Making Siphon proc Thrill of the Crime without a target and such would be a massive help. Also rethink the -3 initiative, it's just messing with the flow of combat. Another thing I'd love to see updated is Shadow's Refuge. The fact that it still reveals you when leaving it is just redundant at this point. Heck, people are actively using it to grief/spite groups in WvW... So for the Specter Alacrity adjustment, I'd much rather keep the Alacrity for WvW/PvP, Protection feels more suitable flavor-wise for other support-type professions. Especially keeping in mind the "Protect the King" theme they want to go for. Generally, the "King" in WvW especially will be a Guardian, who does a far better job at providing itself with Protection anyway. Putting more Protection on top of it... Ehhh, just doesn't really feel useful. I also just don't find Protection a thematically fitting boon for Thief. Overall, good changes for Thief, stuff's moving in the right direction. PvE changes are solid, some of the things could be improved upon for the competitive modes.

Oh please no, don't ask for that! Being able to proc Thrill of the Crime without a target is huge! In fact, like Doggie mentioned above, most thief players would really like it if it worked with all variants to Steal on the Elite Specs.

Like for a long time... Off-Hand Sword. Stances, allow it to be a proper duelist/bruiser. We've done some "aspects" for Thief specs already in some (odd) ways..: Evasion/Acrobatics - Daredevil Stealth - Deadeye Steal/shadowstepping - Specter I'd like the Off-Hand Sword spec to lean heavily into our Dual Weapon abilities. Prior to Weaver, that used to be unique to Thieves. Cut back on the stealth drastically, but allow stance-dancing of sorts, inspired by GW1 Assassin, LOTRO's Warden etc. Being able to actually jump into a fight as more than a quick +1 (dps or support) would feel great and I believe there's plenty of room for it. Also, sorry for those who want GS, Hammer etc. But I really feel like getting a 2-handed weapon on a profession that has Dual Skills as a "unique" mechanic, is a real gut-punch and a major cop-out.

I quite like the majority of points you're pulling up, probably because they align quite a bit with my own, hah. Two standout things to me would be that I'd rather have the Stunbreak on the Well of Bounty, rather than Silence. Feels a bit more thematically fitting, though either of them would suit me fine. I could imagine that in case of the Well of Bounty getting the ammunition treatment, it would be a bit too bloated of a skill. Reworking Shadow Arts in that way seems amazing on paper and I would like it very much! That said, I do believe that taking away the thematic feeling of Shadow Arts of working around and with Stealth. Essentially even going almost strictly against it, isn't the best of ideas. Add to that, I'm not a fan of changing the Core Profession due to issues with an Elite Specialization. I'd rather solve them in the actual Spec. Though if anything, your suggestions might quite well fit and roll into a mix of Acrobatics and Trickery instead. Adjusting some of Acrobatics to make it an actual option to pick in certain game modes would be great (though core S/D thief might suffer...). If anything, they could consider doing a bit of a Ranger type of thing, where traits interact different depending on your picked Elite Specialization. Having Shadow Arts equipped as a Specter could quite well make (some of) the traits proc by going in/out of shroud, for example. Also, reworking Traversing Dusk to provide everything simply on Shadowstep (Alacrity reduced) wouldn't be a bad idea, though I do believe it would make it too strong of an option due to how easily we can spam out shadowsteps...

Honestly only got one glaring issue with Specter at the moment, being that Thrill of the Crime doesn't proc when targeting an ally with Siphon or without a target, for that matter. Things like the Wells being direct Shadowsteps rather than flipovers or placed at range, I actually really like that the more I play with it and think about ways of utilizing it etc. That said, I do think there's room for improvement. The recent changes to Specter with the Well of Silence providing Condition Removal and Shadow Sap to also provide AoE Might is a great step in the right direction, having the Allied target variant of it provide AoE Protection would make it feel a lot more natural when switching between the type of targetting you're doing. Well of Gloom could definitely do with Regeneration on it, rather than Cripple, or both if ANet would be okay with that... Not like Cripple is incredibly strong or anything at the moment. Well of Bounty to get a Stunbreak on it, as none of the Specter utilities has such a stunbreak component to it and this one seems suitable Shadowfall or Well of Tears to strip boons in addition to the atrocious damage would be quite amazing, maybe a bit too much. Even if it was only on initial placement it'd be a good addition. Dawn's Repose to steal a boon would be great, or even steal 2 at the cost of the Fear component. Grasping Shadows could absolutely be improved to provide an actual AoE condition cleanse with 2 conditions cleansed (or 1 converted) of the siphoned ally... Mind Shock to provide at least a single stack of stability to the full party in WvW would be a great benefit. I'd prefer Sc/P Measured Shot on an Enemy to come without the Shadowstep, actually. As mentioned, it puts you outside of Wells, which is generally not desireable. For Sc/D Twilight Combo... Well that thing's just buggy in general, even when there don't appear to be randomly placed blocks etc. Revisiting the -3 Initiative would be amazing for competitive modes, though admittedly not neccesarily needed. AoE Siphon would be incredibly strong and absolutely make Specter wanted for WvW groups, but I shudder at the though of trying to play melee against it (playing melee in WvW is already really demanding...) I do like the idea of AoE Allied Siphon though, maybe not for sPvP. A trait would be rather suitable for this. In general I feel like Specter is pretty okay. The main issue with it is the identity that ANet wants to give it as a single-target type of supporter. GW2 as a game doesn't really have a lot of room for that. In most encounters you're expected to be functional for the full group or at least your party, Specter has now gotten a reliable way to provide AoE Might, but it's still lacking. It also doesn't compensate for it well enough with amazing single-target abilities... If I had to constantly switch targets but was at least able to get the job done, I'd be fine with it. But the game is generally not designed to work in that way. Rather, I think the identity could be held by having minor AoE effects for allies, and great effects on your Siphoned ally. Basically allowing it a bit of a pocket-support type of function until you end up in a real sticky situation and then the specter can hone in on that specific single target. So in essence, have all (allied) effects be AoE for 5 man, with a greater effect on the siphoned Ally. It's okay, it's better then people make it out to be... It's not perfect and it's definitely overshadowed by the majority of support builds. At least I'm still having fun on it. Also, I really, really, really despise that it can realistically only be played as a Condi build atm, simply because there's no comparable Power type of gear available. Been having some succes with Wanderer's Gear but it just ain't doing it outside of a silly WvW Frontline type of setup. So please ANet, some power-based support gear types soon..?

Interesting... The Thief changes appear extremely counterproductive. You want to hit Shadow Arts Thief? Nerf the "Hidden Thief" trait so it doesn't give a cooldown reduction to Deception Skills. Nerfing the actual Deception Skills' cooldown times will just make Shadow Arts more of a reliance. These changes just hurt other Thief builds får more than they hurt Shadow Arts.

I can't recall Deadly Arts ever at any point being mentioned as a dedicated Condition Traitline by official sources. I quite like the choice of Utility that Deadly Arts can bring. It's a pity that Shadow Arts just outpaces it at this point in 2 out of 3 game modes, though. Especially since that has always had more of a "apply conditions, then sit in stealth while you watch your enemies die" type of feel to me.

The problem isn't Thief, it's Deadeye. More specifically the Shadow Meld elite. Don't get Thief gutted over a single poorly thought through Elite utility. There's already the Marked mechanic in the game (which really just messes up the playability for everyone BUT those who it was actually aimed at), on both sentries and structures so... Additionally there's Stealth Traps, most classes could actually slot a reveal nowadays (DH, Warrior, Herald, Ranger, Engi, Necro) so there's options to counter both Core Thieves and Daredevils if desired. Also got to remember that Stealth might make one I visible, but not invulnerable. You can still damage and cc stealthed opponents (and it actually becomes easy once you've learned how Thieves work and play in general). So, target is to rework Shadow Meld. Give some leeway to the passive Marked mechanic from Structures so you don't mess up the legit players that don't try to abuse Stealth, or are just trying to find a little spot to duel etc... Think that might make every proper player left in this game mode a little happier..?

Could be that your firewall/network protection doesn't let through GW2.exe anymore. It's happened to me too like a week or so ago. Manually re-adding it to the Allowed Apps solved it for me. Might be a completely different issue, but who knows... Good luck, hop you can get it sorted soon! EDIT: For those who are actually crashing... Have you got the DirectX beta active? That's known to cause crashing too.

Honestly, anything with Shadow Arts and Dagger/Pistol will make you unkillable. The only reason you'd die on anything with that set up, is if you actually choose to stay and fight.

Another thing is that there's the Mount that could "sniff" your location despite being stealthed. There's Sentries that will Mark you, forcing you out of stealth ahead of time. Then there's also the "Watchtower" upgrade for structures that will pop that "Marked" on you anywhere in the vicinity of the structures... Too many people don't understand how stealth works, the resulting outcry has resulted in these ridiculous changes. Don't rely too much on your stealth, basically.

Preparedness' 3 initiative should just be baseline, really. Opens up some room to swap off of Trickery more reliably too. General initiative generation would be quite welcome for that matter, though I don't feel it's that's necessary to be fair.

None of the beta specs currently available worry me at all. Virtuoso being a Mesmer inherently struggles with thieves almost and is in fact even easier to deal with due to cast times on their shatters and LoS being a big, big issue on their spec. Harbinger basically kills itself despite having shroud and is remarkably easy to bait out so... It's more mobile for sure, but easy enough to stick to them and punish any potential misplay (currently usually bad Blight management). Willbender, meh. I very much prefer fighting one of them than a core Guard or even DH. More mobility, but overall low sustain and their mobility definitely doesn't match up to what a any kind of Thief spec could do. Only thing I'm slightly bummed about is to see new Elite specs get "new toys" which are the things that Thief used to have, Engineer needs and that many Thief players have been requesting for ages. Nothing new there, but still. But who knows. Our own Elite Spec hasn't been revealed yet (outside of a potential bait leak, bit like a certain silhouette), it might just blow everything else out of the water. We'll just have to wait and see.

I do feel like Engi's are getting the short end of the stick here, yeah... Like, sure. The expansion needs sales. Bending over your existing playerbase for "purity of purpose" and then pulling these sort of stunts, I'm not too keen on that.

Context is important... Soloqueue? Yeah, you're kinda at a loss if you, or your team, doesn't know how to play (with a) Thief. AT's? Thieves can swing games, commonly happens. Win conditions can change, Thief has some of the easiest time adapting during the game.