Sir Vincent III.1286

You fix all that by removing Shortbow#5 all together without any compensation You don't have to remove it altogether, just make it require a target. I am not sure if that would make sense though. Why would a Thief want to port to an enemy using IA? That would result in almost terrible waste of whole lots of Ini for one blind and a port that is already on most weapons for less Ini, more dmg and utility. lol, with 120 radius, it can only blind one target unless multiple target are on top of each other. It is already a waste of Init when used without a target. But IA currently serves only as a movement skill that's the most crucial skill in current pvp thief builds, that's definitely not a waste to use it as its currently required to be used. I don't agree that it's crucial. It is the skill that labeled the Thief as decapper. Without it, the Thief has to build something that is actually useful and productive. Thats exactly what I suggested in this thread just few posts above these.What I meant is that it is crucial in the current build which it is, thats why the build exists.I do agree with you on that, except the part I quoted since it's not necessary to remove S/B #5.

You fix all that by removing Shortbow#5 all together without any compensation You don't have to remove it altogether, just make it require a target. I am not sure if that would make sense though. Why would a Thief want to port to an enemy using IA? That would result in almost terrible waste of whole lots of Ini for one blind and a port that is already on most weapons for less Ini, more dmg and utility. lol, with 120 radius, it can only blind one target unless multiple target are on top of each other. It is already a waste of Init when used without a target. But IA currently serves only as a movement skill that's the most crucial skill in current pvp thief builds, that's definitely not a waste to use it as its currently required to be used.I don't agree that it's crucial. It is the skill that labeled the Thief as decapper. Without it, the Thief has to build something that is actually useful and productive.

Even if the Signet of Malice synergies with Sanctuary Rune, why would a Thief take this rune? I'm genuinely curious.

You fix all that by removing Shortbow#5 all together without any compensation You don't have to remove it altogether, just make it require a target. I am not sure if that would make sense though. Why would a Thief want to port to an enemy using IA? That would result in almost terrible waste of whole lots of Ini for one blind and a port that is already on most weapons for less Ini, more dmg and utility.lol, with 120 radius, it can only blind one target unless multiple target are on top of each other. It is already a waste of Init when used without a target.

Well, you're not wrong. I would never bring my Thief (or Mesmer) in any instanced game mode. It's not fair for the rest of my team to bring a liability profession. I love my Thieves, but I know their limitation. Besides, why work so hard in playing Thief when I can easily play my Necro? Or Guardian? Mesmer (Mirage or chrono) is meta in many Raids and so is thief. necro however is The worst class for instanced content. I bring my Necro in PvP and Guardian in PvE instances. Mesmer might be meta, but not all players can play a meta build/profession. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that Thief and Mesmer are liabilities.

Are they being reapplied? Facet of Chaos, for instance, applies Protection every 3s or Revenant and Engineer gains protection when disabled. Guardians gains Retaliation if you steal/rip Aegis. So it's hard to say unless you provide more info.

Wow, two year time warp? lol, nobody checks for time stamp anymore. :)

You fix all that by removing Shortbow#5 all together without any compensation You don't have to remove it altogether, just make it require a target.

1) If you're going to take Panic Strike, keep in mind that there's a cheaper way to stack Poison instead of using S/B #4 -- Spotter' Shot (Rifle #2, kneeling). It costs 3 init for 2 stacks of poison. This is the reason why I don't use S/B in my DE Condi build.2) If you're going to use M7, you should always have Mal Intent. I know I'm just echoing baba because it's true.3) Just to echo baba again, 1K Needles > Spider Venom4) If you're taking Trickery, you have to take Scorpion Wire. This is the cheapest Condition Cleanse you'll ever going to have. Plus, you can pull your target to your Prep (1k Needles).5) If you're going to take Sleight of Hand, you need to make sure Stealing actually does something -- meaning take Thrill of the Crime. Otherwise, just do what baba said, take Bewildering Ambush.6) Ok this is just my own choice, I wouldn't take Trailblazer Armor, instead I would take Apothecary. Since you're not taking Shadow Arts, there's very little source for healing, thus making Withdraw count will make a big difference. In addition, I will take Mug over Deadly Ambition just to have another source of healing, which also works well with Sleight of Hand. In the end, it will look something like this:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PakAURlNw4YQMKmJO0WrvKA-zRhYRhdFkBXUBkBlXIZWBhnAdEC6NLV5pB-e If this is my build, I wouldn't even take Trickery, instead I'd take Shadow Arts. Fun Fact: If you take Shadow Rejuv and you're kneeling while in stealth, you recover 2 initiative every 3s. That's a total of 5 initiative every 3s (1 init from SR, 1 init from Kneel, 3 init/3sec = 5 init). You can refill your init bar really fast you don't even need RfI. EDIT: typos

Well, you're not wrong. I would never bring my Thief (or Mesmer) in any instanced game mode. It's not fair for the rest of my team to bring a liability profession. I love my Thieves, but I know their limitation. Besides, why work so hard in playing Thief when I can easily play my Necro? Or Guardian?

When it comes to the Thief, is there really a difference? So to answer OP's question: none :p Exactly. The moment a Thief think about support, that Thief is a troll. Ah, ok. Got confused by :lol: You cut the last part that I assume was a given

When it comes to the Thief, is there really a difference? So to answer OP's question: none :p Exactly. The moment a Thief think about support, that Thief is a troll.

When using Heartseeker, you'd lose about 1- 2 seconds of stealth time that's why it looks like it's just resetting the timer. You're netting about +2s of stealth time each HS. Given the fact that it's about 5s as you observed, you netted a +1s stealth time. I understand this fully, I fail at stacking stealth too using HS. Yeah, get the Deadeye fully unlocked, it the best spec for chaining and stacking stealth.

The Core stolen items predates Fractals and Raids and is balanced. With that in mind, you can see the ones that is causing all the issues are the designs of Fractals and Raid. Thus, my argument is, the solution to these issues are in the Fractals and Raid. Just as issues that arose in PvP, the solution should stay in PvP. Now it is the Devs decision not to make all builds viable in a Raid, for example. That is a raid design decision. If they want certain build to be viable in a raid, they can redesign the raid to make those build viable -- no need to change the profession at all. My position is that, you should propose changes to the raid, not on the Thief since the change you're proposing has no benefit outside the Raid, in fact, it will be broken outside the Raid. Do you even realize how a snowballing conditions based on condition damage will do in WvW? Or what your "another Backstab" will do? Of course not. Your suggestion is so narrow- and shortsighted and only care about Raids. Raid is like building a house and the Devs built a narrow door. The problem is that not everyone can enter through that narrow door. My position is for the Dev to redesign the door and widen it. Your position is, "nah, everyone just need to lose weight."

When it comes to the Thief, is there really a difference?

Your argument makes zero sense, that's why. You want a certain Thief build to work on all raid boss, so why not change the raid boss? As I've said, changing the Thief will have ripple effect outside the raid while changing the boss will only affect that raid. The solution to your problem is to make all stolen items from the raid boss non-random. Problem solve. No need to mess with the Core. Even using Deadeye, if you're a power build and stole a condition damage item, it's useless to you. If you're a condition build and you stole a Fury, it's useless. No difference whatsoever. That is why stolen items are inconsequential. In addition, Core and DD share the same stolen item table. Thus changing it for the Core build will have a ripple effect on DD builds. Then it will require that the DD will have its own table of stolen items just to keep it balance. Now the Dev is changing not just the Core, but also DD. Then they will have to run test for both -- and the list of ripple effect goes on.

It seems that the problem is not the Thief, but the raid boss design. It should always be that the Dev designs the raid for every profession. Instead, you want the profession to be redesigned for every raid. Redesigning a raid has less ripple effect than redesigning a profession. IMO, you should be proposing to redesign the raids to be similar to Mathias and leave the Core Thief alone. However, I'm sure you wouldn't want that because raid would be boring since they'll all be the same encounter. So then, we're back to where we started because you cannot make up your mind. ;)

shortbow 2: spam blast finishers into combo fields for group stealth / heal / cleanse / might / swiftness(good vs. guild cores that are tightly stacked) You can port into the enemy backline, jump some free casters, especially weavers that go for meteor shower, and thus keep away lots of damage from your squad. So you're more like a "pre-frontal" (lul) off tank than a pure damage dealer (some damage mods recieved significant nerfs lately).(good vs. dispersed pug zergs that cloud a lot) steal + trickery: gives group vigor + fury + swiftness and partly stab + protThe boons are applied around your starting location, not were you land the steal. You don't need a firebrand group slot, so more boons and heals for your team mates. If needed dispatch from your zerg and scout the enemy zerg or check objectives that turned in-fight. Nonetheless, you still won't replace FBs or Ingies and not recognized as a support class, but a selfish DPS ;) You might not even get a squad slot, but still can use their water fields with SB2, dodge, vault. It's so easy to taunt players in WvW using Scorpion Wire and when they start chasing you, you can lead them to an ambush or better yet, pull them into one. Your job really is to draw attention and evade attacks. Your team should be doing all the damage. Pulling players into Pitfall and 1k Needles is so much fun.

On the contrary, you can predict what stolen item you will get. However, the item you get doesn't really matter. What matter is using Steal out of cooldown. Are you going to hold your Steal just because you don't like the stolen item that you're going to get? Really? The idea behind Steal is the Thief sticking their hand into someone's pocket and get whatever it is they can get. And yes, there are times that the thing you steal are not of value. It adds so much flavor to the Thief profession. Not all stolen item has to be valuable. Now if the Thief want's to steal something valuable, they stop becoming a common Thief since they are now specializing in some form of stealing. And that kind of Elite Spec wouldn't be too bad.

The reason for the stolen items being useful with DE is because...wait for it...it's...an...Elite...Spec. tada! Kidding aside. Changing the Core will have a lot of balance issues that I don't think ArenaNet is willing to allocate time and money into. Keep in mind that the whole game is built upon the Core skills and whenever they change any of the Core skills, they break a lot of mechanics in the game world. For example, Black Powder 2s interval is the first thing I can think of, but nobody cares about that anymore because Black Powder is no longer a defensive skill, it's now a toll to get in stealth. Black Powder as a defensive is useless and very expensive and if you use it, you better leap into it. Black Powder was a very effective defense in my P/P build, but now that's broken. Next the changes to Acrobatics, then Mug, then Critical Strikes, then Shortbow short range, then Shadow Arts, then traps, etc. Every single change to the Core breaks a lot of things in the Core world. I have always advocated that if the problem is in the PvP, changes has to be limited in PvP. Unless ArenaNet is willing to test the new changes in open world, Fractals, dungeons, Raid, story instance, etc. If they are willing, then why not. However, history taught us, they never do that. They make changes then hopes for the best. They expect the players to do the testing for them, however instead of receiving feedback, players simply pack up and leave. Players wants to play a completed game, not beta test it. I'm not a big fan of the changes they have made to the Core so far, but I have to admit that some changes are positive (i.e. Shadow Arts). Vanilla Feline Grace was far superior, Ricochet and Opportunist in CS was far superior, Mug able to crit was far superior, Black Powder with 1s interval was far superior, and many others. I like Preparations, but I also like the Traps back. Every change they make to the Core makes the Thief not the same anymore. That is why I am not a big supporter whenever a proposal to change anything to Core is proposed. Any "new" ideas should be reserved for an Elite Spec.

Exactly why I said, "it would be an Elite Stolen Item Specialization called the Smuggler" because that is exactly what you're looking for.

The stolen items are inconsequential except for Consume Plasma. And if you want flavor, that's what we have now. The Core (aka Vanilla) stolen items are fine as is. If they will change it, then it would be an Elite Stole Item Specialization called the Smuggler.

Everything should be Consume Plasma. The End.

Evading Bunny build (Tr/Acro/DD) is a very good support. A.K.A. live bait.

Most warriors trait Healing signet as the heal and are unwilling to use it actively. They then rely on adrenal for added heals. Keeping poison on in particular can neutralize the heals on these builds. If in Daredevil you can also maintain high weakness uptime so their signature attacks not as reliable. Ive been hearing weakness can really cripple opponents, so Ive been doing more to upkeep it lately. Honestly, he tried every heal he had available, and was doing everything he could to drop conditions. trick ended up being to keep that constant pressure on him, and drain his resources. In a war of attrition, bow Daredevil seems to bring quite a bit to the table.Since that night, ive sparred a few other guildies. a Mesmer, another warrior, Dragon hunter, Firebrand, and Necro. Havent had any trouble with any of them, and all five are either PVP or WvW players. Granted we were under the effect of pve balance in the guild hall, so idk how it well it would translate in to other modes, but for now, for the first time in years, im not dreading my next gift of battle farm. If anyone is curious here, here's the build, just remember, its a slow but steady build.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?Pa0AUpjlRwYYKsN2JO2StNPA-zxQYroGzDrUKIESpAqJCyMBMfWm0BD-eThat a nice PvE and WvW build, unfortunately that won't transfer well in PvP since there is no Dire Amulet there. You can either go with Vitality+Condi or Toughness+Condi, but not all three stats like Dire. You can go Celestial but that will bring even crappier result.