Thief Elite Specialization Prediction & Speculation Discussion

[Tails.9372]

With the flame symbol going to elementalist it's now pretty save to say that we're going to get the demon mask symbol which leads me to assume that it's going to be some kind of cultist based on the Outcasts from GW1 and at this point I can only see this going one of three ways: 1. some kind of shadow priest that buffs allies and / or debuffs enemies, 2. some kind of demon summoner that summons demons as minions (similar to necro minions) and 3. some kind of demon summoner that turns itself into a demon (mechanically similar to necros shroud). Other things are ofc. still possible but would imo be rather surprising.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Tails.9372

[Doggie.3184]

Lets hope it's edgy af demon void magic sorcerer then XD

or like Issac from Castlevania TV show if it's summoner route. o3o it'd also explain why all 3 mediums are last considering the Engi leak... if all 3 of them are pet classes. o.o

Edited September 16, 2021 by Doggie.3184

[Geoff Fey.1035]

I'm hoping for something similar to Jade Brotherhood or Am Fah. Possibly even Oni (but that seems a bit too obvious).

Necromancer-Harbinger appears to be the evolution of the Am Fah mixed with a bit of Shiro's Afflicted. So maybe some Jade Brotherhood mixed with Shiroken?

Or, my personal favourite, Ministry of Purity inspired Assassins

Edited September 16, 2021 by Geoff Fey.1035

[Grand Marshal.4098]

lol u guys better brace yourselves for some big failure like ele and warr

[Tails.9372]

6 hours ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

lol u guys better brace yourselves for some big failure

Wdym? Excitement is a prerequisite for disappointment and thief players never struck me as particularly excited about the new e-spec, especially since A-Net revealed guard getting the "like an assassin" spec. Even those who wanted a more "magic" oriented spec went "but focus tho", I think at this point for most people it's more curiosity as to how they are going to screw up this time than anything else: e.g. them making a main hand scepter that's condi focused (just like every other main hand / two hand mid ranged weapon option thief has already access to) while also giving it an Oni transformation profession mechanic which is entirely power based.

 

 

[Grand Marshal.4098]

2 hours ago, Tails.9372 said:

Wdym? Excitement is a prerequisite for disappointment and thief players never struck me as particularly excited about the new e-spec, especially since A-Net revealed guard getting the "like an assassin" spec. Even those who wanted a more "magic" oriented spec went "but focus tho", I think at this point for most people it's more curiosity as to how they are going to screw up this time than anything else: e.g. them making a main hand scepter that's condi focused (just like every other main hand / two hand mid ranged weapon option thief has already access to) while also giving it an Oni transformation profession mechanic which is entirely power based.

 

 

at least you may be getting a cool symbol 

[Tails.9372]

20 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

at least you may be getting a cool symbol 

TBH not a big fan of the symbol but all it would take to make me happy is scepter being a power focused mid range weapon.

[Naneel.2348]

Maybe we get Glyphes or Mantra (with old animation) , making Finger-Signs and going full ninja 🥰, will probably never happen but would be cool.

For Scepter I hope it will be condi-based and some AoE, maybe buffing or debuff.

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

5 hours ago, Tails.9372 said:

Wdym? Excitement is a prerequisite for disappointment and thief players never struck me as particularly excited about the new e-spec, especially since A-Net revealed guard getting the "like an assassin" spec. Even those who wanted a more "magic" oriented spec went "but focus tho", I think at this point for most people it's more curiosity as to how they are going to screw up this time than anything else: e.g. them making a main hand scepter that's condi focused (just like every other main hand / two hand mid ranged weapon option thief has already access to) while also giving it an Oni transformation profession mechanic which is entirely power based.

Unfortunately this is too true. To be honest I've not even played the game much recently as I can't see it coming out in a way that will be remotely interesting to me. 

[Tails.9372]

59 minutes ago, Naneel.2348 said:

For Scepter I hope it will be condi-based and some AoE, maybe buffing or debuff.

The issue with condi based scepter is that it would be incredibly redundant as all already available mid range options are already predominantly condi. Scepter is the only traditional main-hand option for mid range combat left so it not being power would be a huge waste, the thing you want to get out of here in terms of mid range condi damage is better left for off-hand torch while support is more fitting for focus / warhorn. If scepter is going to be "condi-based and some AoE, maybe buffing or debuff" then pretty much every other mid range option they could pick for future e-specs would make it obsolete due to them having better synergies with already existing weapon options.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Tails.9372

[Naneel.2348]

23 minutes ago, Tails.9372 said:

The issue with condi based scepter is that it would be incredibly redundant as all already available mid range options are already predominantly condi. Scepter is the only traditional main-hand option for mid range combat left so it not being power would be a huge waste, the thing you want to get out of here in terms of mid range condi damage is better left for off-hand torch while support is more fitting for focus / warhorn. If scepter is going to be "condi-based and some AoE, maybe buffing or debuff" then pretty much every other mid range option they could pick for future e-specs would make it obsolete due to them having better synergies with already existing weapon options.

Haven't played Thief in a while. What other condi option besides Shortbow do they have? Pistol still seems to be power focused 🤔

[Tails.9372]

9 minutes ago, Naneel.2348 said:

Pistol still seems to be power focused

Main hand pistol is condi with a focus on bleeding, only P/P is played power but that's entirely bacause of the dual skill.

[AikijinX.6258]

I’m trying to be optimistic about the potential new scepter as a new weapon, but it’s very hard lol. I’m not hyping myself up for anything. Honestly at this point, what we get is what we get. I hope it’s strong but I won’t get my hopes up.  Not trying to be a downer haha, I’m just coming to terms with the reality of how this team balances, “creates”, and recycle things like skills and animations. So it’ll be cool if we get something amazing, but meh. We already have Drd that’s leagues better than almost any other spec with respect to holo. But hey, fingers crossed.

Edited September 17, 2021 by AikijinX.6258

[Naneel.2348]

1 hour ago, Tails.9372 said:

Main hand pistol is condi with a focus on bleeding, only P/P is played power but that's entirely bacause of the dual skill.

1 stack of bleeding on Autoattack does not really make it a condi weapon, more like a hybrid (at least for me).

[Tails.9372]

15 minutes ago, Naneel.2348 said:

1 stack of bleeding on Autoattack does not really make it a condi weapon, more like a hybrid (at least for me).

And pistol 3 applies 5 stacks of bleeding. Also, one stack of [insert condition here] on AA is standard for every condi weapon, going by that logic then "condi weapons" don't exist and everything is either "power" or "hybrid".

Edited September 17, 2021 by Tails.9372

[Naneel.2348]

23 minutes ago, Tails.9372 said:

And pistol 3 applies 5 stacks of bleeding. Also, one stack of [insert condition here] on AA is standard for every condi weapon, going by that logic then "condi weapons" don't exist and everything is either "power" or "hybrid".

Didn't know they changed that (pistol 3). Okay with this it is condi, thanks for telling me.

[Tsumiju.3071]

Personally, having had a forced break from Gw2 due to a head injury last year, I'm hoping that Thief get something decent. After getting gliding and mounts, I was hoping for a bit more than fishing and boats - but that all depends on how it plays so I can't cast too much judgement yet

I like the sheathed weapon aspect of the new warrior class, and would like to see something along those lines perhaps with Thief 

[Psycoprophet.8107]

1 hour ago, Tsumiju.3071 said:

Personally, having had a forced break from Gw2 due to a head injury last year, I'm hoping that Thief get something decent. After getting gliding and mounts, I was hoping for a bit more than fishing and boats - but that all depends on how it plays so I can't cast too much judgement yet

I like the sheathed weapon aspect of the new warrior class, and would like to see something along those lines perhaps with Thief 

Unfortunately I doubt thief will get any sheathing skills along side scepter as a weapon. I'm guessing the spec will be more magic oriented vs martial.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Psycoprophet.8107

[AikijinX.6258]

Bladesworn was pretty cool. But I still think staff/d-p drd still folds it. 
 

With the amount of effort put in to this round of elite specs, I feel like it can only go up from here. Now I’m kind of looking more forward to this new spec. Please have a cool and FITTING name. These elite spec names have been lackluster. 
 

I wonder if this scepter will be bonk stick(staff drd’s little brother) or magic based or maybe a bit of both. 

[draxynnic.3719]

17 hours ago, Tails.9372 said:

And pistol 3 applies 5 stacks of bleeding. Also, one stack of [insert condition here] on AA is standard for every condi weapon, going by that logic then "condi weapons" don't exist and everything is either "power" or "hybrid".

The impression I have is that the distinction between a condi weapon and a hybrid is that the latter usually still has fairly high power coefficients while the condition application is still relatively weak.

 

Which I think is what we see with the thief pistol auto. 0.575 coefficient is fairly respectable for a ranged weapon that also has a condition attached, and one stack of bleeding for 4s is nothing to shout home about. You could compare with, say, engineer pistol, which has a significantly lower power coefficient of 0.4, but which has 50% more bleed.

 

The trick with pistol is that what it really is depends on your offhand. Run pistol/pistol, and you're probably mostly focusing on Unload, which is pure power. Run pistol/dagger, and you're probably mixing up between Repeater and Sneak Attack, which is bringing a lot more condition damage to the table.

[Vidit.7108]

I think at this point considering they gave warrior another damage spec, we're probably getting condi. It might have some way to provide group quickness and fury since that would at least make the detonate plasma nerf make more sense. 

Besides the fact we've not really had core traitlines touched up to give more group support or healing, I think we can say major support/healing is probably dead in the water. Maybe they could give us some kind of radical spec mechanic that carries a support build all on it's own. Considering what they did with the Bladesworn, it's possible we'll get something that big. But I'm not expecting more than a traitline on the dps build that adds more boon output.

Even if we did get a huge mechanic overhaul, it's kind of like "why". At that point we're not really playing thief anymore and considering how few weapons this class has to start with doing something that throws out the base class a little bit like Bladesworn just seems unlikely. At least with Virtuoso getting rid of illusions that's after the class has a lot of different support power and condi options.

[nopoet.2960]

There seems to be some logic behind how the classes were released.  The first group had a single target focus. The second group were all multi target classes.  I wonder what could unite the third group?  Like others are saying I suspect pet summoning.  Not sure how i feel about that for thief but the possibility has me really interested in what they will do for rangers.

[AikijinX.6258]

15 minutes ago, nopoet.2960 said:

There seems to be some logic behind how the classes were released.  The first group had a single target focus. The second group were all multi target classes.  I wonder what could unite the third group?  Like others are saying I suspect pet summoning.  Not sure how i feel about that for thief but the possibility has me really interested in what they will do for rangers.

What I would not like to happen is they give us some type of “trap” type of utilities. Knowing them, they’ll give us back Traps and each of them can generate 1 Thief  ally summon. Like what our old Ambush Trap used to do. 

[Tails.9372]

28 minutes ago, nopoet.2960 said:

I wonder what could unite the third group?  Like others are saying I suspect pet summoning.

Wouldn't be that far out there, ranger is already a profession with a focus on the pet mechanic, engineer is rumored to get some kind of pet mechanic and the golem looking symbol would be another indicator for that and as for thief, well in GW1 players could use an item called the "Demonic Summoning Stone" to summon an oni ally so having a spec that uses dark magic to summon and control demons would actually make sense here, both in terms of lore and what we get for a weapon.

[draxynnic.3719]

1 hour ago, Vidit.7108 said:

I think at this point considering they gave warrior another damage spec, we're probably getting condi. It might have some way to provide group quickness and fury since that would at least make the detonate plasma nerf make more sense. 

Besides the fact we've not really had core traitlines touched up to give more group support or healing, I think we can say major support/healing is probably dead in the water. Maybe they could give us some kind of radical spec mechanic that carries a support build all on it's own. Considering what they did with the Bladesworn, it's possible we'll get something that big. But I'm not expecting more than a traitline on the dps build that adds more boon output.

Even if we did get a huge mechanic overhaul, it's kind of like "why". At that point we're not really playing thief anymore and considering how few weapons this class has to start with doing something that throws out the base class a little bit like Bladesworn just seems unlikely. At least with Virtuoso getting rid of illusions that's after the class has a lot of different support power and condi options.

Eh...I'd say that the Shadow Arts rework looks to have been made with an eye towards making the thief more support-capable. The healing numbers aren't great, but an elite spec that brings a hefty increased-outgoing-healing trait, along with two other support-oriented major traits and a suitable utility or two, could well make a trickery/SA/elite support build viable.