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Kageseigi.2150

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Everything posted by Kageseigi.2150

  1. Don't let your memes be dreams! Let's bring it back! And let's make it better! =)
  2. 12 ini: Black Powder + Heartseeker/Cluster Bomb allows 6 seconds of Stealth for D/P or x/P + SB6 ini + 100 end: Bounding Dodger + Black Powder allows 6 seconds of Stealth for Daredevils10 ini: Sniper's Cover + Death's Retreat allows 3 seconds of Stealth for Deadeyes100 end: Silent Scope allows 2 seconds of Stealth for Deadeyes (4 seconds with Shadow Arts)8 ini: Infiltrator's Strike/Return allows for 6 seconds of Swiftness for S/x100 end: Expeditious Dodger allows for 12 seconds of Swiftness with Acrobatics100 end: Unhindered Combatant allows for 20 seconds of Swiftness with AcrobaticsThat's basically what a Thief can stack without hitting a target. A lot of Stealth and Swiftness. Stealth stacking only allows for the Thief to have more opportunity to choose the best moment to engage. It doesn't matter if the Thief has 3 seconds of Stealth or 20 seconds, as soon as he strikes the target, all benefits of Stealth stacking disappear. Being able to get the first strike in is very important for a Thief, and should not be discouraged. Swiftness stacking for combat just allows for kiting and pursuing targets, exactly what a Thief should be able to do. While Swiftness can help to disengage, dashing Daredevils are already loaded with Swiftness in excess to do just that. Yes, there are other benefits that can be gained be resetting initiative (mainly first-strike on-hit bonuses or having an initial 4-seconds of a Daredevil's dodge benefits... they don't stack), but those are very niche. It was unreasonable to increase Infiltrator's Arrow's initiative cost by 33%It was unreasonable to add a daze to Choking Gas and increase its initiative cost by 75%It was unreasonable to destroy Feline Grace in order to give Daredevil a third dodge (and make people pay for it)It was unreasonable to remove the ability to shorten Heartseeker's leapIt was unreasonable to remove the ability to jump-cast Infiltrator's StrikeIt was unreasonable to double the interval time of Black Powder blindingIt was unreasonable to make Swipe unblockable and halve the range compared to StealIt was unreasonable to remove Lead Attacks' ability to stack Out of CombatMany seemingly unreasonable things have happened against the Thief. It's about time for something good, whether reasonable or seemingly unreasonable, to happen in the Thief's favor.
  3. Buff:If Out of Combat, when the Thief strikes an opponent, the Thief gains 12 initiative and 100 endurance (refilling a non-Trickery initiative bar and a non-Daredevil endurance bar). Reasoning:The Thief is unique in its design. It relies on a single initiative pool (cooldown) to use all of its non-auto-attack weapon skills. It also relies on its evasion (dodges) to survive. The Thief is also pigeon-holed into playing the mobility role in PvP. In order for the Thief to fulfill that role, it must use its precious initiative (and endurance if Daredevil or Acrobatics) when Out of Combat. This results in a Thief with no-to-low resources left for combat when arriving at a fight, leaving the Thief much more handicapped than every other profession attempting to do the same (the Thief having ALL weapon skills on cooldown as opposed to only one or two mobility skills on cooldown). Recent initiative cost increases have compounded the problem. By implementing this change, a Thief will be free to use its mobility in order to get to a needed point/fight as quickly as it needs to (the purpose of the Thief), but will also be able to fight effectively once the Thief arrives... if, and only if, the Thief makes the first strike on the enemy. Defense: This change will NOT allow a Thief to escape a fight. Once engaged, everything operates as normal. This only affects the beginning of combat. And it only affects a Thief that successfully gets the first strike. If the Thief gets hit first (directly by an enemy attack, a random trap, etc.), then this "reset" does not take place. This also does NOT allow a Thief to reset while In Combat even if it jumps from fight to fight, but enough time or distance has not been achieved to exit combat. This does allow a Thief to close in to combat with an enemy by use of skillful dodging. For an example, if a Thief is on open ground closing in on a Ranger, a Thief may avoid Rapid Shot by dodging twice, and then regain the lost endurance by striking the Ranger first. This is a reward for skillful play by a Thief. The Thief MUST be the first to get a strike in on the enemy. It must plan ahead or be quick to react in order to secure this reset. There is always a risk that something will go wrong, and the Thief may be left without initiative and/or endurance at the beginning of the fight, so the risk must be weighed against the reward.
  4. It's time again for potential fixes that can improve the Thief as a fighter. Today's improvement focuses on initiative and interrupts. And here it goes... Buff:Every time a Thief successfully interrupts an opponent, the Thief is rewarded 3 initiative. Reasoning:Interrupting is expensive. Sure, if a Thief interrupts a big attack, it can avoid a lot of damage. But by attempting to interrupt, it sacrifices offensive potential for defense. The enemy is out an attack, but so is the Thief. That's a neutral result, not a positive one. The Thief needs the ability to counter and punish. By rewarding the Thief with 3 initiative for successfully interrupting, it guarantees that the Thief will have enough initiative to counter-attack with at least one skill on any given (land) weapon set. This would also help relieve the burden of increasing initiative costs for certain skills. Further still, it would make non-Trickery builds more viable. Precedent:Unload refunds initiative if all shots hit. Defense:Yes, 3 initiative may seem like a lot, but it allows only one skill. It is also the difference between a Trickery build and a non-Trickery build. Yes, a skill like Headshot is "spammable" and only costs 4 initiative. But initiative would only be rewarded if the skill successfully results in an interrupt. If it fails to do so, it's a waste of 4 initiative. So what if a Thief can successfully interrupt four straight attacks in two seconds? It sounds like a skilled Thief to me. The enemy can still auto-attack. Disabling the enemy's ability to fight effectively is exactly the type of combat the Thief should be involved in. And yes, I use the word "reward" for a reason. It is rewarding a skillful player, not a skill spammer.
  5. If you're sitting on a point, and a Thief isn't visibly also on the point, what does it matter? If a Thief is sitting in Stealth while you're capping a point, and you are on a profession that is normally not glass, then a decent Thief is likely going to wait for you to leave so he can decap quickly. If you are just sitting on point for defense, then a good Thief isnt going to attack you because he has better things to do. Now, if you actually have reason to suspect a Thief is present (or he's already shown himself) then using some skills (traps, etc.) Is not wasting cooldowns. Auto-attacking costs absolutely nothing, and is effective if the Thief gets close. Then again, if you do nothing to defend against a Stealth Attack, so what? It's not going to kill you. You've still got all of your skills off cooldown. And now, the Thief is visible for counter-attack. Thieves are not designed to be fighters in this game. They are designed to annoy and frustrate. If you knock them down to 20% health, and they disappear, so what? Just sit on point long enough to secure it, then continue to rotate. The purpose of Conquest is to secure points, not to kill. Thieves cannot secure points or kill independently. They can only steal points that are unsecure. The purpose of the Thief is to stop the bleeding, that is all. The old sports saying "take what the defense gives you" is literally the philosophy of the Thief. Most professions can impose their will on the battlefield. Not the Thief. The Thief must manipulate the will of others. It is the digital manifestation of the principles of Ju and Aiki. If a Thief can get you to chase him off point, he has won. If he makes you frustrated because you can't see him or kill him, he has achieved his goal. It's a pathetic goal, but it's all a Thief has... which is what I want to change.
  6. Not rhetorical at all. A Thief in Stealth cannot fightA Thief in Stealth cannot contest a point A Thief gets one strike out of Stealth. That's it. Aegis cancels that out. Unless it's some insane glass build against some insane glass build, one strike barely makes a dent. It's good against an AFKer, but what isn't? Two strikes from the opponent downs the Thief. Besides, there are defenses against Stealth. Constant auto-attacks do work. So does AoE. Marks, Wells, Traps... they all provide an initial defense, and they are extremely effective at countering a possible Stealth ambush. Infiltrator's Arrow and Shadowstep are/were superior skills to escape. Stealth is an escape tool, but it's definitely not "safe." There are legions of dead Thieves who took their final breaths while invisible. Besides, like I said, a Thief can't fight or contest a point in Stealth. If you're using it as an escape tool, you've already lost. The "I can't kill a Thief" is an anti-Thief whine. Is that the point of the game? To kill your opponent? If that's the case, then NOBODY has any room to complain more than Thieves. Yes, bonuses that require Stealth. Again, every second a Thief is in Stealth is a second surrendered to the enemy. If you're in Stealth, you've either lost or you're in the process of losing. Stealth is great for repositioning or hiding or setting up an initial strike. That's it. I'd much prefer to have more evades or invulnerabilties or natural mitigation. Besides, to take Shadow Arts, you have to give up another traitline that is more combat oriented... that you can actually use 100% of a match, whether in Stealth or not. In other words, you can play to hope to win a fight instead of resigning yourself to already losing it. Shadow Arts is better than it used to be for combat, but it's still not good. If they put Hidden Killer and Revealed Training in it, then it may be a different story. If there was a trait to daze or Immobilze or even increase the cooldown on enemy skills on every Stealth Attack... something that can be used to control the enemy when not actually in Stealth, then it would be more balanced as a combat line. Even a trait that would grant a few initiative or endurance on a successful Stealth Attack... or a trait that would double initiative or endurance regeneration while Revealed. Those would make Stealth a lot more useful for combat. It would promote tactical Stealth use, and would remove the incentive for camping in Stealth (if such a thing even exists in today's game).
  7. I'm not against the concept of those traits, just the practical execution. Stealth was much more effective in WvW before mounts and AI that could Reveal you after a couple of seconds. The problem with such traits in PvP is that in the time it takes me to heal up in Stealth, the enemy has already captured the point even though I was standing on it. I would have done much better to just heal up by running away to the next point (exiting combat to heal) than to stay engaged with the same enemy who has had time for skills to cooldown and now has full control over the point. It's really time for ANet to change the rules. Allow a 3-second grace period for a Thief to contest a point while in Stealth. Even if a Thief can't actually capture a point while in Stealth, they should at least be able to contest/defend it.
  8. I don't want anymore "While in Stealth" traits... At least not while you can't stay in Stealth for more than 2 seconds without getting Revealed (WvW) or cannot contest points while in Stealth (PvP). There's a reason I play an evasive non-Stealth Thief with no Shadow Arts. Because half of the time, the entire traitline is rendered useless because of the rules/situations. Choosing Shadow Arts is the equivalent of sending a soldier into battle with a fully stocked first aid kit, but without any grenades or extra ammunition. Nobody else has to deal with such foolishness.
  9. I just want an independent Thief that is a truly lethal threat in PvP/WvW. A Thief that can fight, survive, and kill against a single opponent of equal skill/experience (regardless of profession). Maybe not a 50/50 chance in a fair fight, but at least an equal shot if the Thief plays dirty and gets the first strike in. A Thief that is more than just a +1/Decap bot that relies on Shortbow mobility or Stealth. P.S. There used to be a fun "Ninja Nurse" build in WvW, but they gutted it. It was fun to watch an invisible Thief run around in the middle of an enemy zerg, reviving fallen allies... especially when the player had become very proficent at it.
  10. They may not be able to "fix it" properly, but they can easily improve the consequence. All they need to do is refund the initiative spent if the arrow shoots, but the shadowstep fails. A better solution is to check for an initial valid path before the arrow shoots, and if one is found, then the skill will use a true teleport instead of a shadowstep (which seems to require a second pathfinding operation). Sure, it may allow a Thief a little more flexibility in some situations, but they are rare and limited (shooting an arrow along a cliffside, jumping off the cliff, then transporting back onto the same cliff... again, the arrow would only shoot if there was an initial valid path). I can attest that it happens at the most inopportune times, enemies or no. I don't ever remember it happening from a projectile being destroyed, though. It can happen on any given cliff-face/wall/etc. There are no guarantees it will work. However, there are definitely places where it reliably fails including the following... On Legacy of the Foefire, on the "ramp" going from the Blue base toward the Quarry. You can see different colors on the ground (maybe rocks or dirt). If you hit one of those whIle on the move, the skill fails, and you lose initiative. It happens so much, I learned to just not even try IA there. It was better for me to be a bit slower, but have my initiative still intact.On Eternal Coliseum, going from a spawn point to the side node. If you shoot the circular bricks around the columns, you will most likely lose your initiative there.On Forest of Niflhel, on the section between the two bases, you can easily lose initiative if you shoot certain places. I believe it's usually the path or other off-color sections there.It's annoying as can be. I'm sure there are many other places that I've had issues with, but those are the main three that have stuck out so much. And yes, randomly hitting spots like that happens too many times with enemies in pursuit, so I know what he means when he says it's a death sentence.
  11. Thank you for posting this. I found the link to my old Unkittening the Thief thread there. It seems as relevant today as it did back then... maybe even more so now.
  12. Easy. You show him the Thief section of the latest patch notes, then walk away. Trust me, he dies a little inside each time. Many a Thief are long dead from such a merciless attack.
  13. Does anyone have any current data on this? Exactly how much mobility/speed advantage does the current Thief have?
  14. Exactly this. If Infiltrator's Arrow was ever overperforming (it wasn't), and you absolutely had to put it on an 8-second cooldown, then put it on an actual 8-second cooldown as an F3 function. Remove it from the initiative system like Steal. There, solved. It probably should have been like that in the first place. It would allow a Thief to actually use it to engage/reposition/disengage without completely giving up all of its offensive capabilities. And it would finally allow a Thief to remain viable while wielding two actual combat weapon sets. That's always the excuse and rationale. The Thief player ALWAYS has to "use more skill now"... after EVERY SINGLE PATCH. But why? I chose the Thief when I started playing because it already required the most skill to succeed with... in 2014. I'm tired of it. No... the Thief player shouldn't have to be god-tier just to remain competitive against average players. They just shouldn't have to be. This is a casual game... Thief players who play for years shouldn't be struggling against other players who have played only for months with other professions. Every single time a decent Thief build is found, it gets hammered into the ground. Not just shaved, but hammered. Besides, why should every Thief be forced to play Daredevil just to decap? Daredevil was supposed to be a brawler. Why can't I give up mobility for lethality? Now, there's no choice... lose a significant amount of mobility, yet no more lethality or sustainability. It's a joke. I'm really starting to believe that Consume Plasma was never overpowered. It never turned the Thief into a god. All it did was set the Thief on even footing with other professions, and the actual Thief player's skills were just so much superior, they curb stomped their opposition.
  15. Or just throw a big monkey wrench into things, and give everyone equal health, but allow everyone to choose their armor class... heavy giving more durability and CC-resistance, light giving more mobility/evasion and faster attack/skill speed, and medium giving a good balance between the two. If nothing else, at least give each profession a choice of two armor classes. For example, Thieves could choose between light and medium, but be locked out of heavy (unless, perhaps, an Elite Specialization was designed around it).
  16. Haha, I definitely agree with the sentiment that Thieves are broken! :p
  17. Thanks! :-) Now, if we can just get the Thief to be able to use Unload during gliding in PvP while wearing those fancy aviator goggles from April Fool's! :-D
  18. Honestly speaking, that's just the nature of the Thief. But the Cat-vs-Mouse game isn't limited to Thieves and GW2. The same concept is easily experienced in flight sims. Take the WWII era for example. You have slower turn-fighters such as the Spitfire, Hellcat, Bf109, and Zero, then you have the faster energy-fighters like the Mustang, Focke Wulf 190, Corsair, and Thunderbolt... The entire basis of an energy-fighter's strategy was to come in on a target from a higher altitude so it would be going so fast that it could line up its guns, take the shot, and fly right past the target without ever giving its opponent an opportunity to return fire. After it passed the target, it could just continue flying away, extending the distance and regaining altitude until it had reset its initial positional advantage. Such tactics can be referred to as Hit-and-Run, Hit-and-Fade, or Boom-and-Zoom. The turn-fighter, on the other hand, was all about baiting the energy fighter into giving up the safety of its speed and altitude in order to get a clean shot by using its superior maneuverability to stay out of its opponent's gunsight. As long as both planes were playing their own game, the turn-fighter was absolutely at a disadvantage. While it had the ability to force difficult shots, it would always be at the mercy of the faster plane. It could not escape by outrunning... it could not counter by chasing. The energy-fighter, while virtually untouchable as long as it stayed fast, had difficulty lining up its sights on such a slippery target while at high speed. The energy-fighter could very well improve its chances at getting the kill on a pass by lowering its speed in order to get guns on target, however, that would leave it much more vulnerable to the slower, more maneuverable turn-fighter. Once the energy-fighter loses its energy advantage, it is dead... but that would only happen if the pilot chose to do so. Basically, if the pilot made a mistake. Which brings us back to the Thief. It is a Hit-and-Run fighter. That's its game. It's meant to harass and annoy. However, unlike airplanes, one solid burst from a Thief won't kill its target. It takes repeated "passes" for a Thief to achieve that kind of lethality. And not only does a Thief have to hit hard multiple times, it also has to avoid getting hit... because it only takes one to two bursts for the Thief to go down. In such an example, the Thief is like the energy-fighter that gets forced into a turn fight. It has to in order to do any decent amount of damage, but it's extremely vulnerable when it does. Its only hope of survival is to get enough guns on target before it has to go into a defensive dive for its life... and then extend out, climb high, and repeat the whole process again and again. Perhaps an even more appropriate example would be an energy-fighter versus a B-17 bomber. Yes, the fighter comes in hard and fast, and although the B-17 can't maneuver, it is tough, and it has 13 guns placed all over it, so there's constant defensive fire being shot at the fighter no matter the angle... all while the bomber is making its merry way to its target... A Thief not only has to make enough successful passes/bursts against its tough target, it also has to avoid all of the defensive fire (random AoE, channeling skills, etc.) while doing so. And it has to do so within a limited time in most cases (before a point is captured, target escapes, or enemy reinforcements arrive). Yes, a Thief can run away and hide all day long. A Thief player could avoid getting killed by just not logging on to play. But what's the purpose of either of those things? The game isn't about surviving, it's about capturing and defending points. In WvW, Thieves stalk prey... but for what? It's basically all they can do. Unfortunately, it's like hyenas hunting lions. The prey has a much stronger bite than the predator... it's just a matter of not getting caught by those teeth. The lion may not be able to catch the hyena, but it's a lion, so why does it even care about the existence of a lone hyena? The hyena knows it's a hyena, so it's just looking for relevance in the world.
  19. Hahaha, this isn't Hide-n-Seek or even Tag. Being able to running away and hide means absolute zilch. If you can't do it on-point, it's not defense, it's retreat and surrender. This is a combat game. Thieves aren't made for defense. Thieves are made to hunt and attack. They are predators by nature. Their "defense" is utterly unbearable offense. At some point in time, they lost that, and they've never recovered.
  20. It will happen anyway. No sense in not getting something great out of it. The alternative is to make the Shortbow into an F3 weapon itself... or an Engineer-like utility (Elite maybe?) that replaces weapon-skills. This still allows for the Thief to take two real combat sets while not giving up the mobility that's required for being competitive (as well as keeping it separate from being used while other weapons are active). Two combat weapon sets would be huge for the Thief, even if it doesn't make the Thief any more lethal directly. Yet, currently, two combat weapon sets means absolutely nothing without viable mobility.
  21. I'd say that it's situational... especially depending on the other weapon set. But the Thief isn't generally dangerous as it is anyway. Thieves already disengage as soon as they need to. Whether they are locked into Shortbow or not, if they disengage due to health or cooldowns, they have to wait it out anyway. But there are other reasons to disengage, for example, moving from one fight to another. In that case, it's not really a bad thing for the Thief to be able to reengage immediately with its primary weapon set. It has already blown its initiative by Shortbowing around anyway (which is another issue that should be looked at for the Thief). Personally, I see removing the weapon swap as allowing a LOT more versatility for the Thief. Sword/Pistol could Black Powder + Cluster Bomb during combat and get a Tactical Strike off. Pistol/Dagger could combine with Dagger/Pistol to get constant pressure alternating between Shadow Shot and Shadow Strike. Pistol/Pistol could actually become more viable by being able to reposition during combat with Infiltrator's Arrow (though still having to balance between mobility and lethality due to initiative). Staff Daredevils could become more deceptive with vaulting through X/Pistol's Black Powder and getting a lot more Hook Strikes (without needing Bounding Dodger). Rifle Deadeyes could become much more aggressive melee fighters with Dagger/X, being able to dodge roll for Stealth to get Backstabs, and always having the option of gaining momentary distance with Death's Retreat, taking a shot or two, and switching back to Dagger. Even the Shortbow itself could be much more useful as a combat weapon by being able to harass enemies when needed without fear of being locked out of the Thief's primary weapon. It truly does fit the Thief thematically to be able to be so adaptable and able to immediately improvise. And because of the shared initiative system, it doesn't make it unfair to the other professions. In order to be lethal, the Thief is still required to engage, making it vulnerable. In order to be effective, the Thief still has to engage. This change would just allow the Thief to engage more on its own terms. That's not a bad thing, especially with all of the disadvantages the Thief currently suffers from. P.S. Even if removing the weapon-swap cooldown altogether is too much (maybe, maybe not), even shortening it would be of great benefit. I'd argue for 1 second, but even 3 or 5 would be greatly helpful. Still very annoying, but much better than 10 seconds.
  22. While the Thief definitely needs a lot of help initiative-wise and thematically (which I may write up a suggestion post if I can convince myself it's worth the time to do so)... ^ THIS needs to be done immediately! There's absolutely no acceptable excuse not to... not anymore. Replace or alter Quick Pockets if needed, but there's absolutely no reason for the Thief to have a weapon swap cooldown in today's game. Let us use our initiative as we see fit with no arbitrary cooldowns on weapons.
  23. Simple. Revert Choking Gas to a simple pulsing Poison field as before.Replace Infiltrator's Arrow with "Flashbang" that initially dazes for 1 second, blinds for 3 seconds, and creates a 3-second (non-pulsing) Smoke field.Create an initiative-based F3 skill "Elusive Shadow" that acts just as Infiltrator's Arrow minus the blind. EVERY THIEF WINS!
  24. Or, you know, it could have been created to keep itself in balance by Someone who actually understood how to do it... unlike GW2.
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