Kiza.1823

With the patch around the corner can we please get traction to just get Withdraw added to the list for a lower CD as it's not affected by the planned Trickster changes? Please upvote so devs see this and do something about it before the patch goes live. I don't want have more of a reason to rely on Hide in Shadows or some SA based build for sustain please. Let me actually consider Withdraw and run Crit Strikes or Deadly Arts instead of SA to mix things up thanks.

I am so confused with this thread lol From a PvP perspective, Thief seems fine as it stands. - It does it job, it can do it's job well which is decap and mobility. - It's easy to play, hard to master - If that's a problem for some, go play warrior or something lol ???

[EcK] has asked me to comment my opinion from a PvP and WvW exclusive perspective. So hello all o/ I'll format this per Specialization branch/class within Thief so it isn't as "wordy". Before we get the ball rolling, I've seen numerous changes to Thief over the years (I'm from the Beta days) and now just accept that Anet really do struggle with putting Thief in a balanced spot. However, they get there eventually every now and then so I feel we should view these changes in a way to figure out the direction they are going rather than "they hate this so nerf it" mentality some of us may have. Signet of Power changes are a welcome change, It'll mix it up considering nobody in PvP considers getting anything apart from a spicy Infiltrators Signet or Signet of Agility (the G.O.A.T signet). While Trickster no longer reduces cooldowns of trick skills, it would only ever benefit people who took Roll for Initiative and Dagger Storm because they run Shadowstep, Blinding Powder or Signet of Agility, SR in the other slots on DD or similar builds so I actually consider this a buff and worth considering over Hide in Shadows at this point in time. TL:DR because it won't really affect majority of us in PvP due to the CD buffs to the abilities mentioned above. Edit: Also Dagger storm used to be a crummy 90s CD Dagger storm without all these extra movement speed stuff it has now so this is where I am coming from regarding Trickster nerfs being not that bad for OG Dagger Storm users. Caltrops is nice, maybe we would pick it over other traits for condition damage builds (probably not but we will see). I view Roll for Initiative as a slight buff actually, because Roll for Initiative breaks stun and Stuns are annoying in the current state of PvP for Thief. If you do the math it's 12 points of Initiative gain in 100 seconds, but now it's 12 points of Initiative every 105 seconds but 3 stun breaks in return (not bad in my opinion actually). Skelk Venom and Keen Observer nobody really picks for PvP and Observer is not relevant here. However a buff is a buff for Venom so cool. I remember a few years back everyone being super emotional with Steal being switched out, Swipe took a while to be in a good spot with future patches after they nerfed the range. I feel Steal is a welcome change because the extra mobility is nice and for us in maps like Forest, Shadowstepping to insane places from insane distances makes us far quicker considering Shortbow 5 is still garbage from what it used to be (I don't like how it uses like 2 points more initiative). Impairing Daggers with a lower cooldown is awesome, but nobody picks it because there are better things out there. This might change now for DD builds (doubt, but buffs are good). Impact Strike is pretty huge, lower CD means you can stomp every 30 seconds instead of 40 seconds. When HoT first came out this was the new Meta Elite because you'd run around the map with Finishing Blow and it just had insane kill potential. So me likey this direction. Nothing here really matters for me except Shadow Meld. This SUCKS, BUT similar to Silence in League of Legends it really doesn't give any counterplay at ALL. If I look at all these planned changes it looks like Anet wants us to be more mobile and proficient in our abilities instead of sitting in Stealth 24/7 on DE. So, while this change isn't welcome by all I feel we should wait out their direction because they will most likely buff other areas to make up for Shadow Meld being a useless elite now for a majority of Thieves. Instead of pushing about how we just don't like this, we should be pushing for Anet to give us something back of equal value. Big chungus nice, no problems from me. Edit: These are first impressions at a glance. So I'm probably missing something or failing to comment that withdraw is unaffected by trickster changes etc. 🤷