Thief's new axe is poorly designed

[YAMBE.8104]

I just come back from a break, try the new axe, and guys, I'm disappointed.

First of all, nearly all profession except thief get a main/offhand weapon. Thief have been since 2012 with only pistol/dagger. 12 years. Not to mention that axe's skill 1 and 2 are basically the same. 1 for power, 2 for condi, nearly identical animation with a color change of the floating axes from yellow to green.  They are slow and clunky, the teleport to your enemy with the dagger is useless in pvp (why in the hell I want to teleport to my enemy with a mid-range weapon). They also remove the skill 3, the one that only appear when you wear only axe without offhand,  (we have that in the beta of february). 

I almost never take part in discussions about favoritism and preferences, but compared to other professions, axe design lack of originality and versatility.

Edited March 22 by YAMBE.8104

[Iustitian.9176]

On 3/22/2024 at 2:49 PM, YAMBE.8104 said:

I just come back from a break, try the new axe, and guys, I'm disappointed.

First of all, nearly all profession except thief get a main/offhand weapon. Thief have been since 2012 with only pistol/dagger. 12 years. Not to mention that axe's skill 1 and 2 are basically the same. 1 for power, 2 for condi, nearly identical animation with a color change of the floating axes from yellow to green.  They are slow and clunky, the teleport to your enemy with the dagger is useless in pvp (why in the hell I want to teleport to my enemy with a mid-range weapon). They also remove the skill 3, the one that only appear when you wear only axe without offhand,  (we have that in the beta of february). 

I almost never take part in discussions about favoritism and preferences, but compared to other professions, axe design lack of originality and versatility.

I'm totally with you in every point. 

I hoped for a melee condition axe or a new offhand weapon (axe, sword or focus). What we got is nothing what a thief needed.

[Palikka.8249]

OW deadeye axe/pistol is nice. Also i kinda like power axe/pistol wvw roaming, but nice build can get you only so far.....

[Doggie.3184]

The developers just have very little passion for this class, I just don't see it at all anywhere~ they just put in the bare minimum effort and move on to things they actually enjoy working on. Staff in HoT was the last thing that felt like they were actually trying to make something cool and fun.

Then we just get 3 copypasted ranged weapons ina row with some small twists done to them that aren't even entertaining. Kneeling/RP Walking... Ally Targeting (which was so intensely pathetic on release cuz no AoE healing)... A pointless extra button with no animation to recall Axes... wow, exciting. They still all generally fill the same niche Dual Pistols did, which P/P actually did way better before they gutted them and killed Ricochet. 

Then they make all the new weapons obnoxiously noisy so everyone can immediately know their most hated class is nearby so they can throw tomatoes at it.

The Assassin archetype is just gone from here.

So many dud weaponsets that aren't designed with fun or QoL in mind with bugs/mechanical flaws that remain issues for far too long. I don't think there are enough left who care though and if it pulls high numbers on a stationary golem then more chances of the things that actually matter being ignored like 'does it actually feel fun to play?' 

Edited March 25 by Doggie.3184

[roamzero.9486]

Speaking from a non PVE angle Axe/Dagger is completely dead in the water, I rank it down there with Ranger daggers as a sort of failed concept. Burst is really good but the stars have to align for you to pull it off and not die in the process because it requires you to teleport to the target. Not enough initiative to work with to incorporate cloak and dagger.  MH pistol or Scepter are better condition-weapon options.

Axe/Pistol is decent as a hybrid weapon option however. Even though both the thief and the axes needing to be in 900 range it janky and should be readjusted.

Edited March 26 by roamzero.9486

[Sahfur.5612]

It had a niche before the range "fix". Yet pets and traps on other classes got no such fix and still use the same two ranges we used on axe before that fix.

Range 1 (placement). Player -> location for trap.

Range 2 (attack of entity toward other player): entity -> targets players range.

Having a very high range between player and the traps functionality is what everyone else gets. It was fine. It wasn't capable of one shotting, and it was incredibly telegraphed and easy to dodge, especially compared to a stealth burst with a portal back.

Other classes such as DH and ranger can use their traps at a range with forethought just fine. But we can't because anet couldn't get a clue if you put them in a mystery isekai for babies.

In other words, thief is not having to play by the same rules as everyone else even though axe was very, blatantly designed as a mini trap weapon to be used to set people up for bursts and that -should- include bursts at range since the player had to be in range of the location the axe would land and the axe had to be in range of the target when bursting.

 

Edited March 28 by Sahfur.5612

[Bunny.9834]

The devs that are left got no clue on how to deal with the thief class unfortunately.  

They also def don't listen to player feedback unless it's a complain about the thief. 

 

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

On 3/30/2024 at 4:03 PM, Bunny.9834 said:

The devs that are left got no clue on how to deal with the thief class unfortunately.  

They also def don't listen to player feedback unless it's a complain about the thief. 

 

While I agree, we must be careful to not attack arenanet on forums...I copped a 3 day ban on forums with permanent flags on my account. Just be nice but give your opinion