Thief Elite Specialization Prediction & Speculation Discussion

[Zenakou.7853]

1 hour ago, Sons.5493 said:

After seeing the Silhouette they released today with the greatsword im gonna take a big dose of copium and hope this is true, probably not. I'm fine with either tbh Copium

Strong cope indeed. Scepter thief is here and we're all gonna cope hard because the community has cleary voiced their dissatisfaction with the choice.  

[Sons.5493]

10 minutes ago, Zenakou.7853 said:

Strong cope indeed. Scepter thief is here and we're all gonna cope hard because the community has cleary voiced their dissatisfaction with the choice.  

I mean scepter can be cool too, it's just that the rev spec shadow looks super cool... and they seem to have an oni mask on too

[Crey.5263]

I'd love for the Thief to get a minion master build, like all the other classes get (clones/phantasms, minions, turrets, banners, spirit weapons, spirits, elementals).  I think this could blend nicely with the scepter if they got some shadow fiends that they could swap places with.  Manipulations would be a good skill type for the utilities.

[Fueki.4753]

10 hours ago, Keldaros.8695 said:

With the leaked loot boxes i think there's a higher chance it's a rev with the greatsword.

There is no confirmation whether those boxes actually contained the new elite specialization's weapons.

As far as I know, they weren't even named after professions, so they could really be anything.

They could even be a hoax made by Arenanet to spark speculation.

Unless there is an official confirmation, there is no way to narrow it down.

 

But a greatsword for either of them already is a major let down.

Especially, if it turns out to be just another power weapon.

[Geoff Fey.1035]

6 hours ago, Sons.5493 said:

I mean scepter can be cool too, it's just that the rev spec shadow looks super cool... and they seem to have an oni mask on too

 

I like to think the silhouette is the thief, and that big sword is actually the scepter. Logic being that scepter skins are usually quite big with long handles that the wielder holds high up on the grip--similar to the outline. Thief & revenant staff showed how dramatically they can change a weapon's usage and for the longest time there were only 2 skins (Daredevil Staff & Bo) that were "melee staves". It's possible the scepter being a Chinese Broadsword would be the start of more sword appearing scepters.

 

That said.... I do hope we get some sort of minion-mancer skills or something. Am Fah brotherhood or somesuch.

[Doggie.3184]

Just now, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

 

I like to think the silhouette is the thief, and that big sword is actually the scepter.

Nah, our Scepter will be a bonk stick and based on the baseball bat assassin and uses shadow orbs as baseballs. 

[Fueki.4753]

1 hour ago, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

for the longest time there were only 2 skins (Daredevil Staff & Bo) that were "melee staves".

There are some Staves that came before HoT and look quite viable for melee.

At least to me, skins like Adamant Guard Staff, Bandit Spire and Ceremonial Staff look perfectly fine for melee.

 

[Geoff Fey.1035]

4 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

There are some Staves that came before HoT and look quite viable for melee.

At least to me, skins like Adamant Guard Staff, Bandit Spire and Ceremonial Staff look perfectly fine for melee.

 

Absolutely, they did look viable for melee. It's just the majority of staves even now are the Gandalf style or have heavy ornaments on the top. I was just thinking there's precedent for them coming out of left field with new skins to fit a specific elite spec 

[Doggie.3184]

anyone notice there's like.. a ball attached to the bottom of the sword? could be the floor doing something weird or part of the sword. Or an edgy skull.

[Geoff Fey.1035]

Was just thinking, let's say it is Scepter (sword skin) Thief. A helluva "gimmick" would be if it essentially makes all 1-hand weapons 2-hand.

 

Like, we have dual-attacks (Weapon Skill 3) depending on your main- and offhand. And when you equip just a main-hand weapon (no offhand) it gives you a particular "dual-attack" for just that weapon.

 

What if EoD thief spec now gives us skills 3, 4 & 5 with the main hand weapon? Suddenly thieves will have quasi-greatsword (1 hand sword becomes 2 hand) and quasi-mace (scepter skins)--both of which thieves have been asking for for ages.

 

They could have the offhand weapon hidden (i.e. stats apply but the weapon doesn't appear and none of the weapon skills can be used) so there's no huge interruption of current weapon/stat mechanics.

 

Just theorycrafting--very doubtful this would be the case but it'd be a really cool idea.

[draxynnic.3719]

4 hours ago, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

Was just thinking, let's say it is Scepter (sword skin) Thief. A helluva "gimmick" would be if it essentially makes all 1-hand weapons 2-hand.

 

Like, we have dual-attacks (Weapon Skill 3) depending on your main- and offhand. And when you equip just a main-hand weapon (no offhand) it gives you a particular "dual-attack" for just that weapon.

 

What if EoD thief spec now gives us skills 3, 4 & 5 with the main hand weapon? Suddenly thieves will have quasi-greatsword (1 hand sword becomes 2 hand) and quasi-mace (scepter skins)--both of which thieves have been asking for for ages.

 

They could have the offhand weapon hidden (i.e. stats apply but the weapon doesn't appear and none of the weapon skills can be used) so there's no huge interruption of current weapon/stat mechanics.

 

Just theorycrafting--very doubtful this would be the case but it'd be a really cool idea.

Hrrrmn. Rather than making the offhand 'hidden', a possibly approach here could be to make this what happens when you don't have an offhand selected for the set with this specialisation specifically. However, part of the mechanic is that when doing so, the stat bonus for the weapon is doubled.

 

Would be interesting to see those one-handed "dual-attack" skills actually seeing use outside the starting levels, even if most of them are basically just a less flashy version of the skill you get from dual wielding the weapon (or using offhand dagger in sword's case).

 

(I will note, though, that I'm sceptical of sceptre being used as a bonk stick when mace is still there.)

Edited August 26, 2021 by draxynnic.3719
Added parenthetical observation

[Legion.4198]

I wonder if an enchanted Kusarigama skin could work as a scepter. 

[Keldaros.8695]

Anet posted another post https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/status/1431345968809533444; this makes me more sure that the teaser is about a revenant and not a thief. Kinda unfortunate because the image looks awesome 

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

On 8/24/2021 at 5:49 PM, Sons.5493 said:

I mean scepter can be cool too, it's just that the rev spec shadow looks super cool... and they seem to have an oni mask on too

It can be... but I don't see it flowing well with thief without Anet doing something utterly unexpected. I can't see a thief going full on edgy lord Voldemort as being cool enough to play if the mainhand is actually aweful in practice. And everything I think of, scepter doesn't really give the thief anything.

 

Focus? Yes, that would have definitely fit well with the assassin aesthetic,  and it would have given thief some interesting utility options. Warhorn? Yes, you can go full on marauder or bandit with that aesthetic. Greatsword? You can dress like a kensai, or a madlad. Longbow? Having solid AOE options at range would be great. And they all have cool skins. Heck, the most recent Focus skin is a noodle dragon curled around your arm!

 

My personal love would have been the Greatsword. The animations on them with other classes actually look pretty fluid. And the real life combat style for Greatswords, Longswords, etc are very fluid and fast. Why wouldn't a thief take that? And think of the sneak attack? You can go full on mordhau. and make the elite "End Them Rightly" where you throw a pummel at their face and dunk them hard.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497

[Salvatore.3749]

Honestly, I'm praying for off-hand scepter with ritualist vibes. Summoning spirits to steal and attack while simultaneously providing the thief with a shadow form type cloak. They would be a bit more dualist oriented. Then thief will have more dual attack skills and different off-hand skills. 

I posted something from a dnd website that had the thief stealing with a phantasmal hand. That thread got deleted, but here is what I predict the new thief specialization will be like:

http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/rogue:phantom

Something with channeling or communing magic from Rituatlists in Guild Wars combined with thievery.  Looking at lore, we know assassins were mercenaries and then disappeared because of the Iron Emperor and we know they trained other thieves. We know Ritualists also disappeared. Revenant isn't the true Rituatlist because they channel the mists, Ritualists channeled the Underworld. This would be prime time to bring both classes back. This would make thieves a new dueling and support class. Virtuoso and other elite specs were provided with more utility skills than other elite specs prior so I think this is what will happen for thief.  Pay attention to the shadow form theme (ghost walk in the article). 

FYI - this is Virtuoso:
http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/rogue:soulknife

Edited September 2, 2021 by Salvatore.3749

[Felices Bladewing.3914]

2 hours ago, Salvatore.3749 said:

Honestly, I'm praying for off-hand scepter with ritualist vibes. Summoning spirits to steal and attack while simultaneously providing the thief with a shadow form type cloak. They would be a bit more dualist oriented. Then thief will have more dual attack skills and different off-hand skills. 

 

 

i like the idea of that, but i can't get why everybody is ignoring the fact that scepter is a mainhand-only weapon (or did i miss something - i mean that seriously). I mean focus would be an option as an magic-orientated-offhand weapon but if we gonna get scepter it is mainhand for sure. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Felices Bladewing.3914

[toxxa.7482]

Please no AI stuff... that screams single target and we need a bursty cleave spec, doesn't matter if condi or power

[AikijinX.6258]

Bruh I’ll be okay if we get some type of 1500 range steal. Some type of weapon skill thats 1500 range or trait making steal 1500 range. If we are using dark scepter magic then I want some type of magic that increases our steal range. 🥲 (scepter speculation)

[Doggie.3184]

So from the new picture reveal it looks like it's Warrior Pistol/Sword, probably, and if going in order it's the Oni mask icon which would be weird if it's not the Bullet looking one. So it might be going out of order.

The Revenant Eye could be Thief though, which would be interesting since Revenant took Thief's ini system and then Thief turns around and takes their channeling legendaries mechanic... Channeling a shadowmancer sorcerer from ancient times? XD

Edited September 3, 2021 by Doggie.3184

[Salvatore.3749]

On 9/2/2021 at 11:53 AM, Felices Bladewing.3914 said:

 

i like the idea of that, but i can't get why everybody is ignoring the fact that scepter is a mainhand-only weapon (or did i miss something - i mean that seriously). I mean focus would be an option as an magic-orientated-offhand weapon but if we gonna get scepter it is mainhand for sure. 

As of now, it's main hand only. Staff was magic only until HoT.

[Geoff Fey.1035]

2 hours ago, Salvatore.3749 said:

As of now, it's main hand only. Staff was magic only until HoT.

Further to Salvatore (love his books, btw), when ANet created the Daredevil they created specific unique animations not used by any other profession. They originally created a couple odd animations but they didn't feel right and were revamped to what we have today. If I'm not mistaken, I believe some of the "original Daredevil staff" animations were just moved over to the Revenant instead.

 

I don't understand why people think "Scepter = Spellcaster". They already showed they'll turn that on its head, it's most likely the Thief Elite Spec is going to have a melee Scepter. And if that artwork is indeed the Thief, we could either see them using the Scepter in an inverted grip like a dagger

[Acheron.4576]

If the weapon really is scepter like a lot of people say, then perhaps a spec based around shadow magic. With e-specs being essentially an answer to dual class system perhaps this e-spec borrows from necromancer and use shadow copy minions with each type of shadow being a different kind of thief (like a dagger, a sword, pistol, etc) 
The scepter skills being focused around hexes while the rest of the skills being minions not to different from necromancer minions (perhaps more offense focused instead of defense)

[Zacchary.6183]

9 hours ago, Doggie.3184 said:

So from the new picture reveal it looks like it's Warrior Pistol/Sword

Inb4 ShoGUN

[Felices Bladewing.3914]

5 hours ago, Zacchary.6183 said:

ShoGUN

that's neat

[Voraxen.2035]

+1 for Ninja with Two-Handed Sword and Shadow Magic.