2/3/2023 Shadow Meld Preview: Can I Just Say "WTF?!"

[Ixian.3948]

Maybe give shadow meld a reposition mechanic 🙂 Shadow steps back 600 rang removing 1 one condition then stealth's you.

[Doggie.3184]

Just now, Ixian.3948 said:

Maybe give shadow meld a reposition mechanic 🙂 Shadow steps back 600 rang removing 1 one condition then stealth's you.

Nah, that would make it annoying in PvE like Measured Shot, Shadow Strike and Death Blossom is, which is why barely anyone uses those builds. Too many PvP only mechanics on Thief. We need more control over how our skills move us, not less. It'd also prevent it from being used offensively in PvP if you're trying to catch someone running.

[cyberzombie.7348]

3 minutes ago, Ixian.3948 said:

Maybe give shadow meld a reposition mechanic 🙂 Shadow steps back 600 rang removing 1 one condition then stealth's you.

Death's Retreat + smoke field already does that

[Ixian.3948]

yea but it thats burning through your initiative maybe make  shadow meld shadow step you  ground target then and stealth 🙂 then if thats to much a pain and a support side bring one ally with you stealthed. and if they gonna keep nerfing our stealth then our repositioning or kiting ability should still remain on top >:/ it's like everyone can do our things these days.

[Doggie.3184]

20 minutes ago, Ixian.3948 said:

yea but it thats burning through your initiative maybe make  shadow meld shadow step you  ground target then and stealth 🙂 then if thats to much a pain and a support side bring one ally with you stealthed. and if they gonna keep nerfing our stealth then our repositioning or kiting ability should still remain on top >:/ it's like everyone can do our things these days.

I mean they nerf those too. Staff DD used to be our only useable WvW zerg build till they destroyed Vault's iframes and nerfed Dash endurance and buncha other Endurance related things (meanwhile revenant vindicator dodges every few seconds nonstop with god invulnerability preventing full squads from killing them even with immob spam). It's pretty hard to survive on stealthless builds now that they gave our mobility to every class in EoD. They designed Specter for stealthless survival through Shroud but nerfed that too. lol. And Specter is ultra slow mobility, the reverse of everyone else. Even tried making it work with Acrobatics but the traitline is just awful.

I used to never use Stealth builds in PvP and WvW cuz being fast and agile is more my playstyle but now I feel like Stealth is the only option to stay alive but then I have to deal with massive amounts of Reveal spam from both players and the environment. Other classes have high mobility now + block, evade and invulnerability spam, reflect spam, the same teleports we have and stealth access as well on top of it for some.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Doggie.3184

[DeceiverX.8361]

11 hours ago, Lithril Ashwalker.6230 said:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/"Sic_'Em!"
2000 range...sorry pal

Fair enough, though realistically, no ranger is casting Sic 'Em at precisely 2k unless you're doing 1v1 lobby stuff where people see each other on opposite sides of an open field and have time to prepare for skill activations EXACLY on their range thresholds, and really, you have a bigger buffer than 1800 if you really think there's a risk there.

The bigger issue you presented Earlier is the SotH buff I missed.  In my experience, not many pewpew rangers historically ran it, but with such a drastic cooldown decrease, they might actually do so now.

[Yasai.3549]

I'm just gonna go ahead and say there are grievances with Deadeye but Shadowmeld isn't the core of the problem. Anet as usual just hammering whatever they like instead. 

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

7 hours ago, Doggie.3184 said:

I mean they nerf those too. Staff DD used to be our only useable WvW zerg build till they destroyed Vault's iframes and nerfed Dash endurance and buncha other Endurance related things (meanwhile revenant vindicator dodges every few seconds nonstop with god invulnerability preventing full squads from killing them even with immob spam). It's pretty hard to survive on stealthless builds now that they gave our mobility to every class in EoD. They designed Specter for stealthless survival through Shroud but nerfed that too. lol. And Specter is ultra slow mobility, the reverse of everyone else. Even tried making it work with Acrobatics but the traitline is just awful.

I used to never use Stealth builds in PvP and WvW cuz being fast and agile is more my playstyle but now I feel like Stealth is the only option to stay alive but then I have to deal with massive amounts of Reveal spam from both players and the environment. Other classes have high mobility now + block, evade and invulnerability spam, reflect spam, the same teleports we have and stealth access as well on top of it for some.

We need a tthief main spokesperson to represent all thief balance changes tbf. Furthermore the dev team needs someone dedicated and KNOWLEDGEABLE in those classes to do so fairly.  Seems 1 sided the way things are going tilted towards heavy and light armor favored.

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

On 2/5/2023 at 9:27 AM, cyberzombie.7348 said:

One idea I have would be to give it a condition where if you're already revealed, meld removes it but doesn't give you stealth. So that way it isn't an instant get out of  jail free card, but at the same time it won't just be blind powder with less utility.

Edit: If they really dont want stealth spam to be the thing, rework the kits that's supposed to reward agressive play (i.e., acro traitline)

see i like this idea.

Shadow Meld: Remove Revealed. If not under the effects of Revealed, Go Stealth. This, if forced to use it, will force deadeye to blow both ammo counts lowering the sustain, but still allowing synergy with Instant Reflexes. Given that acro still sucks it would see a use as an elite worthy skill then.

[yiksing.9432]

Remove shadowmeld, give me a elite skill that gives 2s invulnerability and unblockable on DJ.

[andrewlcl.8176]

Projectile denial skills that destroy or reflect, and even plain blocks, are effective against DE while also denying the advantage that BQoBK would normally grant. Want to make things interesting? Try the new Shadow Meld. 

 

Description

 

Stealth yourself. If you successfully do so, your  attacks are unblockable for a brief time. 

 

Effect

 

Stealth: 3 seconds

Death and Taxes: 3 seconds. Your attacks are unblockable. 

[Arheundel.6451]

On 2/5/2023 at 5:06 PM, Doggie.3184 said:

All I know is I been 100% to 0'd in 1-2 seconds by sneaky Rangers a lot in WvW from a bazillion range, even when on a mount wearing Sentinel armor and I literally have to have godlike reflexes to break stun the split second I'm cc'd and hopefully not get CC'd again and use every dodge when it comes outa nowhere with inescapable range which I don't even think two dodges clear it all.

I have had 0 deaths to a Deadeye's Stealth attack and may not of ever even been hit by it before due to it's 100 telegraphs and slow speed, and generally kill them or shoo them away. We're even fighting Mag which throw a lot of Thieves around. In fact my Ele on a celestial build I never played before that I was testing 1v1'd one at the tail end of me fleeing from a Zerg ambush with me starting at half health cuz of Fall Damage got him to 5% before a Necro jumped down and nuked me, lol. 

They also run way more SB than DE because obviously they've going to take advantage of how broken Sniper Rangers are. They are #1 Server and fight dirty literally 24/7.

Not to mention I am a veteran pvper with several thousands of hours of experience. I see these same Rangers instantly drop people around me constantly who are new or less experienced and even more vulnerable to such abuse all the time and protecting them fast enough just isn't possible. 

"I am an experienced PvPer"....."All I know is I been 100% to 0'd in 1-2 seconds by sneaky Rangers a lot in WvW"...like an experienced pvper would know how to strife/dodge/LoS...and teleport

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

On 2/5/2023 at 4:03 PM, Ixian.3948 said:

Maybe give shadow meld a reposition mechanic 🙂 Shadow steps back 600 rang removing 1 one condition then stealth's you.

wouldnt work because it has a cast time. shadowsteps should be instant, even the wells

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

On 2/6/2023 at 6:08 PM, Lithril Ashwalker.6230 said:

see i like this idea.

Shadow Meld: Remove Revealed. If not under the effects of Revealed, Go Stealth. This, if forced to use it, will force deadeye to blow both ammo counts lowering the sustain, but still allowing synergy with Instant Reflexes. Given that acro still sucks it would see a use as an elite worthy skill then.

Agreed again, this is a really good idea for a change that's healthy in every direction tbh

[ZeroTheRuler.7415]

Maybe shadow meld could have given a defensive boon if revealed was active when shadow meld was used pressed instead. I think that would be fair given that reveal cleanse is in a way a defense against reveal.

Edited February 12, 2023 by ZeroTheRuler.7415

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

1 hour ago, ZeroTheRuler.7415 said:

Maybe shadow meld could have given a defensive boon if revealed was active when shadow meld was used pressed instead. I think that would be fair given that reveal cleanse is in a way a defense against reveal.

Revealed training could see this use as offensives and defensive. Just pulse protection every second revealed, could work in wvw greatly as well. 

On top of the power bonus as well mind you

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

Honestly, id work as arenanets main thief guy if minimun wage and proper training and would sign a contract to do it. But alas it may never happen...id be here for the forums folks left n right necause it seems like they need insight badly, not that im slandering but thief needs a voice 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Lithril Ashwalker.6230

[Yasai.3549]

5 hours ago, Lithril Ashwalker.6230 said:

Honestly, id work as arenanets main thief guy if minimun wage and proper training and would sign a contract to do it. But alas it may never happen...id be here for the forums folks left n right necause it seems like they need insight badly, not that im slandering but thief needs a voice 

Honestly we don't need anyone who aspires to be "voice for x class" we're in this sort of mess because previous balance team people were exactly like that. Everyone remembers Ele bias, Mesmer bias, Guardian bias and funnily enough, ANTI ELE BIAS. Yea no, we need people who objectively looks at the game as a whole and give and take from each class in terms of their strength and weaknesses. 

[Jitters.9401]

On 2/4/2023 at 1:56 PM, Lithril Ashwalker.6230 said:

you miss the fact that 

• Signet of the Hunt: The active component of this skill now grants superspeed in addition to unblockable stacks. Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 20 seconds.
•  
• GL blocking those rapidfires now.

Well... now we know what the developers and/or their family plays. 

 

A ranger can already dismount you while doing enough damage to kill. Let's make it unblockable.

 

So some developer or dev family member got upset that their burst damage got blocked once and is crying for vengeance?

 

This is one of the most ridiculously stupid (not just stupid but ridiculously stupid) things to be implemented. This just gives rangers free kills with no skill needed. They just need to hang back amd wait for the easy target or shoot off of walls. 

 

Super lame "af"

 

I bet it was my fault.  I cannot outrun anything and there was a ranger that came at me from range... I dismounted, blocked, teleported as close as I could (1200 blink), F1 blades, dodged the next attack to restock blades, f1 blades again  which killed the ranger. Not my fault the person was far too overconfident with their glass burst damage.

 

But now rangers get super powers. 

Lame.

[Jitters.9401]

9 minutes ago, kai.5149 said:

Hey thieves can spam dodge & port still, other classes are more affected by this

You are 100% correct.

 

[andrewlcl.8176]

13 hours ago, kai.5149 said:

Hey thieves can spam dodge & port still, other classes are more affected by this

Don't count on it. Ranger can get you from mount to down before you can press a key. The follow up damage from One Wolf Pack ignores your ports. 

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

SM isnt worth the elite slot in competitive modes RN "stealth yourself".....thats it, no tradeoff, nothing else elite worthy. hopefully we have a thorough balance patch for thief BEFORE may...also addressing Acrobatics cuz kitten. also needs ricochet back

[FinalShield.1968]

Just give it 1s Superspeed and maybe 2.5s fury and it's perfectly fine. Or make it more interesting with defensive boons like Aegis and Regen or something. Maybe have it synergize with rifle better by giving Vigor? Tbh, I hate how stealth works in this game and would prefer it if it was changed to how it works in stuff like League of Legends or Heroes of the Storm.

Edited February 15, 2023 by FinalJustice.5824

[Zaret.1450]

On 2/4/2023 at 12:21 AM, Kodama.6453 said:

First sneak gyro, now shadow meld.

Feels like anet has started an anti-stealth crusade.

and im up for it, i mean it would be better if skills to make enemys visible were better, because right now noone ever uses them, and lets be honest, how tf do you fight something thats perma invisible, has too many teleports, etc etc, i mean yes, ranger is absurd on lb 2, but outside of druid with its invis, or soulbeast that stacks buffs and then deletes you if youre not carefull, you can play against them, i mean if you can use a reflect or project block soulbeast is playable against, untamed can be played against too, thr most troublesome is druid with movement, traps stealth and inmob.

There are several classes that are, you could say unfair, oneshotting etc, but stealth has no counters, maybe a cc but if you have something that can cc it and burst it in a sec.... well, i still see thiefs running and making people mad with stealths.

And you can finish someone from stealth and using a teleport, like, come on, youre not even that bad.

[Blind.4162]

On 2/14/2023 at 6:26 AM, kai.5149 said:

Hey thieves can spam dodge & port still, other classes are more affected by this

Funny how thief is the only class being blamed for dodge and port spams. What about

Not a thief so, all good?