Consolidated Suggestions for DE Changes

[Volrath.1473]

@Robert Gee.9246 said:

@"Volrath.1473" said:My question is, do you have the means/tools to apply some kind of buff for 1/2 second that would prevent stealth from braking?

This was a potential solution we considered when we were looking at our options. We chose to go a different route since it was more difficult to determine what kind of impact this would have across the whole game. (This is the type of change we'd want to apply globally since it would be weird if only a single trait had special functionality.) Changing a single trait is much safer than making a new rule for stealth and we wanted to keep things within the scope of a Deadeye update.

I understand, it would be possible but allot harder to implement.My train of thought was wile having this trait apply this "buff" for the duration of the dodge roll. The impact would be close to none besides fixing the problem we face atm.

If we are stealth and dodging, there is nothing that can break stealth except if it's duration come to an end.

This way you would only affect the trait and not stealth in general.

But yeah I understand the amount of work involved opposed to simply moving the stealth to the end of the dodge but I'm sure you agree that at the beginning make much more sense ;)

Edit: this buff would be attached to the dodge, not to steath.

[Robert Gee.9246]

@DemonSeed.3528 said:How about changing bullet velocity so it doesn't have a chance to break stealth? Would that be too inconsistent a change?With the current implementation, the stealth is applied as soon as the roll begins. Dodge rolling has a more or less an instant activation, so there's no way we could make the bullet fast enough with the current system that you couldn't start your dodge roll (and get the stealth) before it hit.

[Schnuschnu.9857]

@Robert Gee.9246 said:

@Volrath.1473 said:My question is, do you have the means/tools to apply some kind of buff for 1/2 second that would prevent stealth from braking?

This was a potential solution we considered when we were looking at our options. We chose to go a different route

since it was more difficult to determine what kind of impact this would have across the whole game

. (This is the type of change we'd want to apply globally since it would be weird if only a single trait had special functionality.) Changing a single trait is much safer than making a new rule for stealth and we wanted to keep things within the scope of a Deadeye update.

I think this or any solution like this would be far to strong as this could be used to backstab while the buff is up (players would find a way to pull this off) because you remain mobile. Would be a bit like the Cloak&Dagger thief without reveal in the old days. Maybe a seperate stealth mechanic could be used like the camouflage from the ranger in the beginning. As long as you remain still after the dodge roll you stay hidden no matter what. If you move/ or are moved you get revealed. Would fit with the sniper theme of getting the perfect cover and sniping away from a static position. Stealth attack cooldowns would keep the spam in check and animations would give away your location to allow counterplay.Edit: Would also allow for higher DPS in PvE which was crushed by the changes.

[DemonSeed.3528]

On the other hand the more I think about it, this mechanic although not my cup of tea would be able to seperate skilled players but I would rather have some kind of dmg output compensation. Having the stealth at the end of roll with your direction of roll exposed is a big liability, unless that Dodge was somewhat like a mirage ambush skill (call it slither or something). Or maybe have it add a blind if you Dodge within certain time of the shot, so a well timed Dodge gives you stealth that doesn't reveal, but too early after the shot and it just blinds but adds a self reveal dmg bonus.

[Volrath.1473]

@Robert Gee.9246 said:

@DemonSeed.3528 said:How about changing bullet velocity so it doesn't have a chance to break stealth? Would that be too inconsistent a change?With the current implementation, the stealth is applied as soon as the roll begins. Dodge rolling has a more or less an instant activation, so there's no way we could make the bullet fast enough with the current system that you couldn't start your dodge roll (and get the stealth) before it hit.

Sorry to say this Rob but how did you guys miss this wile testing the trait? One or two fights would have been enough to stumble on this bug...

[ShadowAgent.6053]

@Robert Gee.9246 said:

@"Volrath.1473" said:My question is, do you have the means/tools to apply some kind of buff for 1/2 second that would prevent stealth from braking?

This was a potential solution we considered when we were looking at our options. We chose to go a different route since it was more difficult to determine what kind of impact this would have across the whole game. (This is the type of change we'd want to apply globally since it would be weird if only a single trait had special functionality.) Changing a single trait is much safer than making a new rule for stealth and we wanted to keep things within the scope of a Deadeye update.

Hello, would just like to point out that the Deadeye utility "Shadow Gust" has a similar issue. It has a cast time, but also a dmg component to it so in melee it does not stop your auto attacks thus instantly revealing you after use. The cast time also makes it impossible to face away from your target or sheathe weapons like one can with Blinding Powder from core thief.

Thanks.

[Vulcaruss.9567]

@"Robert Gee.9246" said:Heya, thanks for the thoughtful and well-formatted feedback. I wasn't sure if I should post again after my last "thanks for the feedback" post was misinterpreted. But I wanted to give it one more shot since I thought some of these ideas were pretty cool.

So first things first...We are planning to move the stealth application on the Silent Scope trait from the start of the dodge roll to the end. There are pros and cons to each version so I want to explain the reasoning. We originally put the stealth at the beginning of the dodge to make it more responsive and to give it a sneaky feel by hiding the direction of your roll. However given problems some players are having with being revealed by bullets in flight, we've decided to move it to the end. This should make the moment-to-moment gameplay with rifle feel smoother and more intuitive. We are also removing the in-combat restriction from this trait.

Moving forward from here…You'll see this change in an update coming in a few weeks. (I think we'd all like that to happen sooner but our team doesn't control the update cycle and we need to wait for other changes in the update be implemented, tested, etc.) While this doesn't address all of the feedback we've seen so far it was the one we were able to ship in the shortest amount of time. We will continue to follow up as necessary so please continue to leave your feedback on the forums.

Mr. Gee I understand your ideology with the Silent Scope trait, in concept it is a cool idea, to dodge away into stealth away from your opponent. Unfortunately in reality you have effectively made Dodge, and Endurance an Offensive Mechanic, rather than a Defensive one like it was originally intended. The Incentive behind the new malice system is to dump it when you reach max charge on a stealth skill. Well if someone has to dodge and evade an attack prematurely before max Malice is obtained, they have a split second choice on whether to waste the incomplete stacks on a stealth skill or to reveal again to continue charging only to perhaps waste a second dodge alone on the stealth skill, thus leaving them open cause they had to waste 2 dodges just to use your mechanic. Sure it can be placed as a tactical choice on the player for them to preform this action, but I feel you're forcing us to use Endurance too offensively now.

As for the Malice mechanic, I get you want Deadeyes to partake a more active role in combat by giving us the ability to manually stack Malice now rather than over time. But this has the unfortunate side effect of players simply spamming 1 skill such as Unload, Double Shot Burst, and Triple Shot Burst. or using Shadow Shot on D/P over and over on an enemy till max Malice is obtained, a quick poof into stealth to unload malice on a Stealth skill only to repeat the same process again. If you ask me it seems kind of unintuitive and overly repetitive after a while, and doesn't encourage more tactical play which the Thief in general prospers off of.

My Solution would be to find a way to utilize Malice consumption in more ways rather than just on Stealth Skills. The new Deadeye Malice system in a way pigeon holes a player in a situation that forces them to need and require stealth regardless of build to be effective, and some players avoid stealth all together. I personally think player preferred play style needs to be preserved while making and crafting such changes.

[Tashigi.3159]

@Robert Gee.9246 said:While this doesn't address all of the feedback we've seen so far it was the one we were able to ship in the shortest amount of time. We will continue to follow up as necessary so please continue to leave your feedback on the forums.Do you mind commenting on our damage as it stands after this patch?The previous update which brought DE damage in line with other DPS classes seems to have been invalidated by this update. Any plans to address this issue?

[Vulcaruss.9567]

@Vulcaruss.9567 said:

@"Robert Gee.9246" said:Heya, thanks for the thoughtful and well-formatted feedback. I wasn't sure if I should post again after my last "thanks for the feedback" post was misinterpreted. But I wanted to give it one more shot since I thought some of these ideas were pretty cool.

So first things first...We are planning to move the stealth application on the Silent Scope trait from the start of the dodge roll to the end. There are pros and cons to each version so I want to explain the reasoning. We originally put the stealth at the beginning of the dodge to make it more responsive and to give it a sneaky feel by hiding the direction of your roll. However given problems some players are having with being revealed by bullets in flight, we've decided to move it to the end. This should make the moment-to-moment gameplay with rifle feel smoother and more intuitive. We are also removing the in-combat restriction from this trait.

Moving forward from here…You'll see this change in an update coming in a few weeks. (I think we'd all like that to happen sooner but our team doesn't control the update cycle and we need to wait for other changes in the update be implemented, tested, etc.) While this doesn't address all of the feedback we've seen so far it was the one we were able to ship in the shortest amount of time. We will continue to follow up as necessary so please continue to leave your feedback on the forums.

@"Robert Gee.9246" said:Heya, thanks for the thoughtful and well-formatted feedback. I wasn't sure if I should post again after my last "thanks for the feedback" post was misinterpreted. But I wanted to give it one more shot since I thought some of these ideas were pretty cool.

So first things first...We are planning to move the stealth application on the Silent Scope trait from the start of the dodge roll to the end. There are pros and cons to each version so I want to explain the reasoning. We originally put the stealth at the beginning of the dodge to make it more responsive and to give it a sneaky feel by hiding the direction of your roll. However given problems some players are having with being revealed by bullets in flight, we've decided to move it to the end. This should make the moment-to-moment gameplay with rifle feel smoother and more intuitive. We are also removing the in-combat restriction from this trait.

Moving forward from here…You'll see this change in an update coming in a few weeks. (I think we'd all like that to happen sooner but our team doesn't control the update cycle and we need to wait for other changes in the update be implemented, tested, etc.) While this doesn't address all of the feedback we've seen so far it was the one we were able to ship in the shortest amount of time. We will continue to follow up as necessary so please continue to leave your feedback on the forums.

My Solution would be to find a way to utilize Malice consumption in more ways rather than just on Stealth Skills.

I know I'm quoting myself here but I thought it would be better than Editing the old one. I've been sitting here pondering after I posted that on a way to use Malice outside of Stealth Skill, and I think I just figured out how.

Mr. Gee, would you be beyond adding a new F3 skill to the Deadeye? I've seen people recommend it before but, not in a manner like I am going to propose to you now. Basically as it stands I cannot see a way of adding a malice consuming ability to any of the weapons by itself. And to be honest I am fond of this new Stealth System but only on certain weapons. IE: Certain weapons meaning everything BUT Rifle. I feel moving Deaths Judgement was some what drastic and threw off the balance of the weapon.

Any who, my new Idea is giving Deadeye an F3 ability which consumes Malice. This ability would be based upon the main hand weapon the Thief is holding. It's a bit of a knock off of the Warrior Adrenaline F1 skill, but I cannot see any other way to make Malice consumption usable outside of Stealth in it's current interpretation. Obviously there needs to be advantages and disadvantages to using either the in stealth skill or the out of stealth skill, I'll leave that decision to the team if this Idea is good enough to adopt. But it goes with out saying, the skills for the F3 being based upon the Main Hand Weapon need to be comparably strong to the stealth counter parts. Since Stealth Skills are unblockable maybe knock off the unblockable perk on the F3 skill.

This is all just a suggestion though. I'll leave you the decision as to whether it's suiting enough to be used. And thank you for taking the time to listen and respond to feed back. Always a welcome sight.

Edit: I just thought of this real quick, but maybe as to not conflict with the F3 skill while in stealth, the F3 skill could change over to a more defensive based skill while in stealth that consumes malice too that way the there won't be this disparity of confusion about using the F3 skill while stealthed. As to whether this skill is weapon based too or not, I'll leave that up in the air for now.

[eldrjth.7384]

@DeceiverX.8361 said:The only issue I have is trying to expedite malice gain further on potent skills like Double Tap/TRB over the less-powerful iterations. The only reason for this I have is M7's refunding of initiative. As I explained in another thread, M7 + Rifle 2 = permanent initiative if the attacks land when accounting for cast times and base initiative recovery. Increasing Malice stack gain with more expensive skills would just make this interaction more problematic as it may as well just call for the removal of initiative on rifle skills altogether.

All that means is that instead of using AA as a filler one can use an ini spender similar to unload on pistol. The extra initiative can now actually be used on util skills like the new cover skill. Having more initiative is not inherently a bad thing. Could it cause some imbalance issues between DD and DE? maybe? but DD can focus more on auto attack style of play and DE focus more on initiative skills while it has to operate around a 2 resource system of initiative > malice.

I think that since initiative refund is such a strong mechanic it should be made baseline to all DE builds even when traited into bqobk or fire for effects. The difference between taking bqobk or m7 becomes whether one wants to focus on malicious strike damage or whether they want to boost dmg done by other attacks. So M7 would increase malice count to 7 so the malice build up is longer but it would also gain bonus dmg for malicious strikes. Maybe something like gain an extra 5% bonus dmg per stack of malice so you get 35% extra dmg at 7 stacks (edit: or maybe even consider that you only get bonus dmg to malicious strikes if you M7 trait). They can also gate the frequency of malicious strikes behind malice gain by not having it count more than once even when criting, but also count auto attacks. This would make DJ usable almost as frequently as prepatch. I would then change Malicious intent so it starts the malice count at 1 every time you hit with a malicious stike (rather than marking a target or using a heal skil). Now it takes only 6 attacks before one can use DJ.

If they implement something like this I would also like to see dodge roll prime a malicious strike rather than needing stealth which not all weapon sets have easy access to.

Other changes I would make are:-

• make silent scope baseline to rifles. (freeing up one master trait slot)
• replace burst of shadows with payback
• reinstate peripheral vision as a master trait
• Malicious Intent, malice counts starts at 1 when hitting with a malicious strike
• I havent come up with something to fill the last master trait slot with, I got peripheral vision and premeditation there atm.

[Crab Fear.1624]

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Malicious_Restoration

This heal has been nerfed.

What if for each transferred condition up to 3, it gave the extra 808 base heal?

Possible to get a reduced recharge on cantrips? Thief is single target class, even the infamous scourge has punishment skill reduced recharge.

[ulgnaw.8376]

@Gaile Gray.6029 @"Robert Gee.9246" Since this thread is getting attention, I'd like to point out there was a lot of feedback in the original thread where the DE changes were announced. I suggest reading through them. I'd also like to echo that there is still a group of DE players that would just rather have the entire change reverted, with the chief reasoning being that the new deadeye playstyle is not sniper-like.

It would be nice to get a response on whether or not a sniper-like playstyle will ever be supported again. Because as it is, the new deadeye playstyle is less unique. For example, if I'm phasing in and out of stealth for deception to set up a shot, I'd rather just play Mesmer/Mirage which has its own deception mechanic and is much more potent in traditional combat.

The reason there's a deadeye "community" so to speak is because it afforded a unique playstyle that can no longer be found. It would be nice to hear this addressed or at explicitly noted that it will no longer be supported going forward.

[AikijinX.6258]

By the way great structured listing on the current problems with DE rework Saerni. @saerni.2584 I was going to write something up myself, but you beat me to the punch.

@Robert Gee.9246 @Gaile Gray.6029 : While your current attention is shifted towards this thread, can we also get a look at the interactivity with Kneel and Sniper's Cover (Kneel 4).

Problem: At it's current state, the interaction between the 2 skills are very clunky, and sluggish. Which either ends in having to double click #4 which results in a double Snipers cover (Wasted initiative) or the skill just doesn't register at all. This disrupts, and contradicts a Thief's fast pace nature and play style.

Scenario: You're engaged in a heated battle with a ranger, or any said class with a ranged weapon equipped. You see them pull out their range weapon, and with your quick thinking, you want to counter, and destroy their projectile's with your smoke screen (Sniper's Cove), but die due to the fact that Kneeling, and then activating #4 immediately after takes far too much time.

Solution: Make Sniper's Cove instant cast, so there is no conflict or slowness with the use of skill presses. Or an Alternative would be to make Kneel instant cast which would result in being able to get out of kneel quicker and utilize (blast/combo) the smoke screen sooner.

Thoughts?

[DeceiverX.8361]

Kneel needs an animation as it'd look silly otherwise, so it'll probably never be instant as then it'd also need to be a stunbreak (OP). Cutting the aftercast would probably be enough to make it fluid in use but not usable while in CC or some other tell just like every other skill.

There are probably some other mechanics that could be utilized with an instant kneel such as abusing crit chance gains for standing DJ's into the kneel during projectile animation in order to get the extra crit chance boost, while then also reverting out of it immediately following the projectile landing to suffer no real mobility penalty, basically defeating the purpose of the interaction.

They could probably keep it clunky and let Kneel skills provide an additional malice. This would uniquely help the rifle in some of its weaker areas and reward some more risky plays using it. The only concern here is yet again M7's initiative recovery; it'd allow for two skill activations in kneel to max which is fine, except that it'd allow for basically infinite spamming of TRB and DJ just by dodge-rolling.

I guess the conclusion is that M7 is a problematic trait with the initiative recovery it has. Unless there's a definitive sacrifice or risk for the initiative gain (like Stygian Charge in my Deadeye proposal), lots of free init just seems too potent and too difficult to make compatible with a number of possible changes.

[babazhook.6805]

I just noted something very odd as I started more play on rifle.

If you use skill 4 for SNIPERS Cover and immediately follow up the laying down of the field with TWO deaths retreats in a row even if the second no longer in range of the field, you will stack stealth twice. This happens ONLY in WvW (I have not tested PvP) If you do the same thing in PVE you get one stealth trigger. Whether intended or not I do not know but I sort of like it in WvW.

[DemonSeed.3528]

@babazhook.6805 said:I just noted something very odd as I started more play on rifle.

If you use skill 4 for SNIPERS Cover and immediately follow up the laying down of the field with TWO deaths retreats in a row even if the second no longer in range of the field, you will stack stealth twice. This happens ONLY in WvW (I have not tested PvP) If you do the same thing in PVE you get one stealth trigger. Whether intended or not I do not know but I sort of like it in WvW.

that was actually the first thing i tried, multiple stacking but I couldn't get it to work the way i wanted. Are you laying them in the same area right on top of each other or at a slight distance between? when the changes first dropped that was the first thing i wanted to see if stealthed could be stacked due to how little initiative the fields were but I dunno, I will keep trying.

Ok, I reread your post, i see what you are doing now, i will test.

Ok test done, you were right I think they do double stack.

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

@DeceiverX.8361 said:Kneel needs an animation as it'd look silly otherwise, so it'll probably never be instant as then it'd also need to be a stunbreak (OP). Cutting the aftercast would probably be enough to make it fluid in use but not usable while in CC or some other tell just like every other skill.

Can be sped up however. The animations all look like they are slowly hunkering down. Now with Deadeye being much faster - it'd make sense to change the animation to Deadeye dropping on his rear instead. Sounds silly, but it's actually a thing. What's happening is you're landing on your rear and an outstreatched leg, and setting the rifle on your other knee like a stand.

To speed up the animation for them getting up. Standing leg (the knee you rest the rifle on), and empty hand pushes on the ground at the same time for a quick hop to get your feet under yourself.

@saerni.2584 said:

Stealth Attacks

Malicious Backstab

• Issue: Due to 10% per malice damage scaling this is now the preferred stealth attack. While it lacks the unblockable aspect it gains potential oneshot capacity which overshadows other stealth attacks which have comparatively weaker bonuses. Weaker doesn’t mean every skill should be oneshot damage. It just means that the bonuses have inconsistent tactical value.

I know Anet's first instinct is to nerf this rather than giving the player a reason to use something else. So I will provide a solution.

Solution: Give other Stealth attacks a unique property about them at max malice, and reduce their current malice effects if needed. These are just examples to get the idea across. Not suggestions I expect to get added. At Max Malice, the enemy becomes a Nemesis.Sword: Malicious Tactical Strike behaves as normal. At Max Malice, Tactical Strike behaves like a Smoke Scale's shadow assault. Spreads attacks across group of enemies.Shortbow: Malicious Surprise Attack behaves as normal till max malice. At Max, venoms applied to the first shot is applied to newly spawns arrows without additional charges at reduced effectiveness.Pistol: Malicious Sneak attack behaves as normal. At max malice, gives a few stacks of Ricochette at the end of the attack.

It seems a bit rediculous. But most specs have good synergy across their weapon sets. Not so much with Deadeye. To help offset the power lost - we can go the route they are already going and make the sneak attacks for the weapons stronger in their own way.

Dagger being Massive Single Target DamageRifle being the above at Ranged.Shortbow being focused for Condi UseSword for Catching and HarassingPistol... ???

[Specialka.7290]

@Robert Gee.9246 said:

@DemonSeed.3528 said:How about changing bullet velocity so it doesn't have a chance to break stealth? Would that be too inconsistent a change?With the current implementation, the stealth is applied as soon as the roll begins. Dodge rolling has a more or less an instant activation, so there's no way we could make the bullet fast enough with the current system that you couldn't start your dodge roll (and get the stealth) before it hit.

The stealth at the end of the roll will be a nerf to the pvp side, that is kinda a shame :(. I understand because of the limitation, but still, I would have prefered another solution.

And rolling to get stealth is not always good, especially when you are near ledges and such. Would have been better to get a reliable way to get stealth (apart from utility skills which have their own uses).

And P/P DE does not need buff, it is enough braindead with a spammy 3 gameplay.

[bq pd.2148]

@saerni.2584 said:Malicious Intent

• Issue: This bonus to malice gain feels half baked. Malice on Mark makes perfect sense. Malice on Heal does not. All other malice gain is tied to attacking and so thematically it makes little sense as it permits perma-stealth gameplay. It also contributes to issues with how malice is generated (see below).
• Solutions: Replace malice gain on heal with malice gain on landing a stealth attack. This improves generation rates and promotes 100% active engagement to generate malice.even if you replace the malice on heal with malice on stealth attack, you can still get to m7 without leaving stealth with only marking wich may take up to ~ 3,5 minutes but hey even more annoying. and as long as it is possible to gain that malice without attacking people will complain about DE being too cheesy. therefor i would low this, altho very low 'passive' malice gain to be removed completly and support more active malice gain.one issue especially with rifle and pistol builds is the lack of unblockable access, altho rifle has unblockable DJ this will consume malice so you canot build malice up if there is alot of projectile hate and without malice DJ wont deal any meaningful damage. for this i would like Malicious Intent to make our attacks unblockable during reveal this way if our opponents use too much projectile hate we can go into stealth and unload or trb or similar from there to build up malice.Malice System
• Issue: Malice generation rate is either fast or extremely slow. This is mainly due to critical hits which are somewhat RNG the lower your crit rate actually is. Malice gain is also the same no matter what the initiative cost is, which makes landing high initiative skills less rewarding.
• Solution: Make malice gain from skill use somewhat depend on initiative spent. Initiative spent rolls over from skill to skill and resets to zero when malice is spent. At 3 initiative per malice gain a 4 initiative skill + 5 initiative skill would grant 3 to 5 malice instead of 2 to 4 under the current system. This is a slight but QoL increase for those not running high damage spam abilities like Unload that can generate malice very efficiently.is this malice gain per ini on any skill usage that costs ini or on any actual hit with an ini skill? because if it is just for using a skill that costs ini, this again will enable m7 without breaking stealth and therefor lead to complains.

as the other thread is closed:my suggestion was to make all the traits in the middle line : Collateral Damage, Pay Back and BQoBK additional to their current triggers, also trigger when you hit your marked target while on max malice with your stealth attack. because they do not trigger often enough in most situations to be worth taking currently.

@babazhook.6805 said:

thing is do you need further aoe damage after the target is down or rather a constant AoE preassure? i think we lack AoE and triggering collateral on every stealth attack that hits the target while

on max malice

would improve our AoE. so not every time but you need to build up malice before. same is for BQoBK its rather low uptime on quickness, considering you dont have those perfectionists buffs and ini anymore with it. and payback is so weak i dont think that would be too much then.I am just going to speak to BqoBk'ed here as a skill and why your suggested fix would be overpowering.The current 4 seconds quickness on applying a mark is deceiving. Quickness is a very powerfull trait which is why the base time of most quickness is low when compared to other boons. I have a boon duration build that invests in Quickness uptime using all sources of the same to push uptime over 50+ percent. This does come at a cost as I need to trait haste in utilities and take BOA in traits along with that boon duration. Under your system I can all but guarantee 100 percent quickness uptime in specific weaponsets even as I drop haste.In particular I speak to d/p which already saw a significant boost to its damage via the backstab and new Malice. Stealth is easy with d/p and under your system I can easily apply quickness on an ongoing basis even as I benefit from malice max stacked for that damage boost. I feel this just too much at once. Yes it possible to do a backstab with full malice after a mark under the current system but this is not guaranteed to happen and its not something that can done at will. BqoBk using hidden killer for guaranteed crit, with 5 malice running for the backstab +200 power and having 100 percent crit chance for 2 seconds with quickness running will be sick.you invest in a boon duration build to have Quickness on YOU. now a mesmer can do the same and have quickness on a full party along with other powerfull buffs etc. and that with a uptime of 100% not just over 50%.you also have to think what options you give up for it. with my suggestion you get per full malice + stealth attack either : 7 ini + 10 might(10s), fury(10s), protection(5s), regen(10sec) swiftness(10 sec) and vigor (10sec) or you gain 4 sec quickness wich further improves power and precision. this then is an even choice.now everyone will go for M7, supportes for FfE, but BQoBK you will only use if you think you cannot land a stealth attack like in a rifle pvp build as DJ is too obvious and stealth breaking.

[Scud.5067]

While I would appreciate a QOL tweak to Silent Scope, I think we can agree that in its current incarnation it does require a degree of skill to utilise effectively. Having to time shots and dodges certainly presents a challenge. While we wait for a (possibly in vain) for said QOL tweak, its something that can be practiced - an actual player skill that can be developed.

EDIT: Tho, to be clear, it does not do the team any favours when such an obviously flawed ability is put into play. They've demonstrated they know what causes the problem, an obvious relation between stealth and projectile velocity - so why... implement it. If it is to encourage a player developed skill, it seems out of place compared to the rest of the game's design, which is decidedly easy on the player.

[Lucinellia.9247]

@"Robert Gee.9246" said:Moving forward from here…You'll see this change in an update coming in a few weeks. (I think we'd all like that to happen sooner but our team doesn't control the update cycle and we need to wait for other changes in the update be implemented, tested, etc.) While this doesn't address all of the feedback we've seen so far it was the one we were able to ship in the shortest amount of time. We will continue to follow up as necessary so please continue to leave your feedback on the forums.

Thank you for the response and please, please keep on communicating with us. It is essential after a rework as damaging as what Deadeye has experienced.

May I please suggest that if we do have to wait three or more weeks for this change, that it comes with considerable improvements to Rifle DPS (which, due to limitations of no utility, no CC, no cleave, no piercing, no movement when kneeling and now having to use a defensive ability - dodge - to access a, relatively, nerfed Death's Judgement) that puts this Deadeye build at the absolute top end of single target DPS and mechanical and synergistic improvements to dagger/dagger. You may also want to consider why you have so heavily nerfed Malicious Restoration to the point where it is our worst heal and will not be used in PvE.

I really do hope you are taking our feedback seriously - this is the "quiet majority" speaking out. Many of the people here, including myself, are posting on the forums and trying to communicate with you for the first time because the rework concerned us in the first place and subsequently has not been handled well. I wish you the best in fixing the problems since thief has been, and still very much is, in a bad place.

@"Gaile Gray.6029"Well, thanks for noticing, but in this case I'm just doing a little sensible reorganization to keep things more focused. You folks are the "subject matter experts" and your feedback is welcome and will be read. :)

Thank you. I hope you guys can turn this one around. I really, really do. I feel waiting a few weeks for the change is a touch too long but I'll give you all the benefit of the doubt. Again. Please take what we are saying seriously, please keep listening and please push out the changes that we need. Thief needs to be a viable and reasonable choice in instanced PvE content and we haven't really been there for a while. This needs to change.

[Lucinellia.9247]

@Tashigi.3159 said:

@Robert Gee.9246 said:While this doesn't address all of the feedback we've seen so far it was the one we were able to ship in the shortest amount of time. We will continue to follow up as necessary so please continue to leave your feedback on the forums.Do you mind commenting on our damage as it stands after this patch?The previous update which brought DE damage in line with other DPS classes seems to have been invalidated by this update. Any plans to address this issue?

Addressing this is essential. Please do not ignore how badly thief is doing as a whole in instanced PvE. Thief DPS has been low or mediocre for years now and constantly being hamstrung because of the profession I picked more than 5 and a half years ago, and fell in love with when leveling up and playing before the advent of raids, is really dispiriting.

[MegiddoZO.3409]

(To Preface, I'll be talking from a PvE perspective here)

Would it be possible for the new Kneeled #4 skill to apply Stealth to the user in some way, like a combo leap finisher already does through a Smoke field by shooting through it? I'm asking this because while the idea of making dodges offensive like that to trigger Death's Judgement sounds good, but in practice feels clunky and most importantly, makes the Deadeye that much more fragile. The idea of offensive dodges works great on Daredevil, because the spec is completely build around dodging and has many, many spare dodges available when that one massive attack comes around from that Raid boss that requires evasive maneuvers. For Deadeye, dodges in this situation are much more of a required defensive tool, especially with it being your only movement option while Kneeled. With how it is now, you're going to run in those situations a lot where you end up either eating a big attack in the face because you ran out of dodges, or can't spend your malice for a big attack because you ran out of dodges.

Putting a way to stealth by combo finishing on the #4 skill would eliviate this issue, as it would leave the dodge as your defensive option, while giving much more control over when you can pull off that big meaty Death's Judgement hit. It also would expand the use of skills out in a more varied rotation, given you'd need to use 4 of the 5 rifle skills to get an optimal rotation off.

Aside from that, could D/D Deadeye be looked at, as well? Currently, this weaponset doesn't really interact with the Malice system at all, with #5 being the only skill that is contributing to Malice gain in rotations. This is because using skill #2-4 is simply too much of an opportunity cost, and actually hurts your overall sustained damage output(with a possible exception of #2 below <25%). It would be great if say, the last attack of the auto-attack chain would also provide Malice as well. This way, you could build up Malice much more streamlined on this weaponset, and would make the build up to that big boost of Malicious Backstab that much more satisfying.

[TwiceDead.1963]

@"Robert Gee.9246" said:Heya, thanks for the thoughtful and well-formatted feedback. I wasn't sure if I should post again after my last "thanks for the feedback" post was misinterpreted. But I wanted to give it one more shot since I thought some of these ideas were pretty cool.

So first things first...We are planning to move the stealth application on the Silent Scope trait from the start of the dodge roll to the end. There are pros and cons to each version so I want to explain the reasoning. We originally put the stealth at the beginning of the dodge to make it more responsive and to give it a sneaky feel by hiding the direction of your roll. However given problems some players are having with being revealed by bullets in flight, we've decided to move it to the end. This should make the moment-to-moment gameplay with rifle feel smoother and more intuitive. We are also removing the in-combat restriction from this trait.

Moving forward from here…You'll see this change in an update coming in a few weeks. (I think we'd all like that to happen sooner but our team doesn't control the update cycle and we need to wait for other changes in the update be implemented, tested, etc.) While this doesn't address all of the feedback we've seen so far it was the one we were able to ship in the shortest amount of time. We will continue to follow up as necessary so please continue to leave your feedback on the forums.

Thanks for the Update.

[Lucinellia.9247]

@MegiddoZO.3409 said:(To Preface, I'll be talking from a PvE perspective here)

Putting a way to stealth by combo finishing on the #4 skill would eliviate this issue, as it would leave the dodge as your defensive option, while giving much more control over when you can pull off that big meaty Death's Judgement hit. It also would expand the use of skills out in a more varied rotation, given you'd need to use 4 of the 5 rifle skills to get an optimal rotation off.

As nice as that sounds, it seems like it will be clunky and possibly a further DPS loss. That could be offset by damage buffs, which is needed anyway for PvE.

Aside from that, could D/D Deadeye be looked at, as well? Currently, this weaponset doesn't really interact with the Malice system at all, with #5 being the only skill that is contributing to Malice gain in rotations. This is because using skill #2-4 is simply too much of an opportunity cost, and actually hurts your overall sustained damage output(with a possible exception of #2 below <25%). It would be great if say, the last attack of the auto-attack chain would also provide Malice as well. This way, you could build up Malice much more streamlined on this weaponset, and would make the build up to that big boost of Malicious Backstab that much more satisfying.

Heartseeker being buffed in PvE could also be a solution but then dagger/dagger would need to be a very high DPS single target option due to the loss of cleave. Auto-attack granting Malice could work, but does leave us with an insipid and boring rotation.