Maugetarr.6823

 

> Adding an f3 to a class that previously had none breaks the rules of the game the profession skills are built off. Each class has the same amount of profession skills available, even Holosmith although the new skills replace the weapon bar. Its the same rule applied to steal in general which is why DE's have stolen skills at all. Its to keep consistency with the whole profession and rules of the game.

 

Berserker, spell breaker, and chonomancer all got additional F-skills over their core class.

 

 

 

> @"Will.9785" said:

> My thread was merged/closed, which means now no one will see it and comment, so I'm mentioning this again here.

>

> I would like to see them address the issue of requiring stealth to make use of malice.

>

> I would like you to seriously consider adding an F3 where we can consume malice stacks for an attack boost (either for the next weapon skill or some period of time - though I feel the former is closer to the current design implementation).

>

> F3 - Consume Malice - An instant-cast ability that boosts the next weapon skill's power and condition damage by 7% per stack (10% if the attack is done while stealthed)

>

> Why this change? Several weapon sets do not have easy access to stealth and/or the new malicious skills are underwhelming (sword) or clash altogether (e.g. pistol/pistol malicious attack is condi-based).

>

> With this change the malicious skills would not be needed, as players would be able to control when the malice is used and on which skills. It would also mean that malice has some use on non-stealth builds (just like it did before the rework) while providing a little added benefit while stealthed.

 

An F3 attack would actually be an awesome idea. Maybe something like F3 stealths you for 3 seconds and a 10 second CD, and rolls over to the malicious version of the stealth attack they just added for 3 seconds (having the rollover stay up whether you're in stealth or not). Activating the malicious version would consume the malice (whether it hits successfully or not) and a successful hit could reduce the recharge of F3 to 8 seconds. That way they could gate the hard hitting skills like malicious Backstab and Death's Judgement behind it and offer better access to stealth for the weapon sets that don't have great access to it. It would also balance out the F2 skills which seem generally weaker. Maybe they could remove the damage portion of the F2 skills and make them pure utility which buffs yourself or debuffs the marked target to help you land or buff the F3 attack.

> @"Robert Gee.9246" said:

> > @"TheMaskedGamer.5708" said:

> > I have found and issue while attempting to do a combo with the new Deadeye. I really enjoy the new Silent Scope trait that allows you to go to stealth after a dodge roll. Makes a great opportunity to dish out your stealth attacks immediately after. However, I've found an issue when attempting to do that with the rifle.

> >

> > The issue comes with the nature of projectiles taking their time to hit the target. In the combo, I of course would Mark the target, use Iniciative skills to charge Malice, go to stealth specifically the Slient Scope dodge roll to stealth, then attempt to use the new Stealth Attack, Death's Judgement. However, if doing this at maximum range(kneeling or otherwise), the autoattacks takes about a second to hit the enemy target. Within that second I roll in order to stealth and use the stealth skill, but by the time I go to stealth, the autoattack projectile finally hits the target. The issue is that once that projectile hits, it reveals me before I could use the Stealth Skill. It cancels out my stealth.

> >

> > Now I've heard that persisting attacks (as an example on Longbow Ranger, use the AoE skill 5, and then try to use Skill 3 to stealth, but gets revealed immediately since targets are getting hit.) or attacks that take its time to reach the enemy cause this problem. There should be a fix to eliminate this issue. Like any attack or skill persistent or not that comes out before stealth should not reveal you.

> >

> > Hope this feedback helps.

>

> Thanks for the detailed feedback. We'll keep this in mind for future adjustments.

 

Can I make few suggestions for future adjustments?

 

Move the new Snipers Cover to the #4 of standing Rifle.

 

Remove double tap.

 

Put a leap skill in the #3 standing rifle.

(Edit for leap skill suggestion: 'Blinding leap: Leap 300 units, blinding nearby (radius 240) foes as you start the leap.' Functions similar to Engineer's rocket boots, but without the condition removal or damage.)

 

Put 3RB in the #4 kneeling rifle.

 

Put Death's Retreat in the #3 kneeling rifle, maybe make it ground targeted, so the thief can move while kneeling at the expense of initiative.

 

Take the stealth on dodge out of Silent Scope and have it make kneeling attacks pierce with the +20% crit chance. Call it something like AP Rounds.

 

 

 

 

This was actually really helpful. I didn't know it functioned this way and it smoothes out rifle play a bit.

Rifle thief.

 

The best way to troll your team and the opposing team simultaneously.

Power Deadeye is decent in PvE. Condi D/D beats it out it in a group setting, but if you're not worried about being optimal it dps, I'd probably go power gear first so you can switch between the various weaponsets, specializations, and game modes without having to have two sets armor and trinkets to begin with.

 

A point that I should have mentioned in my response initially to this thread would be changing the SA traits Shadow's Embrace, Cloaked in Shadow, Resilience of Shadows, and Shadow's Rejuvenation. I'd like to see them moved to a more active version that revolves around gaining stealth, rather than just sitting in stealth by having them be reworked into a combination of how Shadow Protector and Daredevil dodge traits work (non-boon buffs). Something like, "when you gain stealth without having stealth 'effect' happens for X seconds. (ICD You seconds)." Gaining stealth in this context would mean going from not having stealth, to having stealth and not a re-application of stealth while you're already stealthed. So stealth stacking for longer periods of time wouldn't be encouraged as much whereas gaining stealth and then attacking would be a more appealing option.

 

So for Shadow's Embrace it would be something like "upon entering stealth, lose 1 condition. Upon leaving stealth, lose 1 condition, ICD 5 seconds."

 

Cloaked in Shadow - Gaining stealth blinds nearby foes. You cannot be critically hit for 5 seconds, ICD 5 seconds. This would change it to allow you to keep the effect for the 5 seconds even if you attacked, but if you stayed in stealth for longer than that, you'd lose it, until you came out and re-stealthed.

 

Similarly, Shadow's Rejuvenation would be something like gain 1 initiative on entering stealth (ICD 5 seconds assuming they change initiative regeneration rate per my other post). Gain 200 health per second for 5 seconds upon entering stealth. ICD 5 seconds.

 

Resilience of Shadow's would be "upon stealthing a player, that player receives 25% less damage for 5 seconds."

 

I think changes to these traits could make the Shadow Arts line be more engaging in combat rather than encouraging sitting in stealth for so long.

 

 

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> ToTC, Preparedness, Lead Attacks, and either BT or Trickster depending on your other lines are all standalone reasons to take Tr.

> Even with preparedness baseline I'd still take it solely for ToTC and Trickster alone because no other trait lines come close to providing this level of PvP utility.

>

> The thing about Trickery is that it's the one line that does more than one thing, and what it does, it does **really** well to compensate for the innate weaknesses of the rest of the thief.

>

> It's gotten slightly better since we finally have a real condi cleanse utility these days, but any kit not running OH pistol for example only has an interrupt via Trickery. Increased initiative is global cooldown reduction by an effective 25%. Lead Attacks is DA-level damage. Even fury application coming from CS being contingent on hitting a lower-health target is just objectively worse than ToTC which applies it and a mobility effect on-engage.

>

> Trickery is basically the same as the previous iteration of Soul Reaping on necromancer and the Defense line on warrior; without them, the class just kind of falls apart entirely unless all of the benefits are overcome elsewhere, which pigeon-holes you into what are usually just worse builds or ones which aren't any fun.

 

Trickery definitely has more going for it than just preparedness, but as @"Slugonaut.9841" pointed out, I think 2/3 of the minor traits in that line create a major problem for thief balance. I think it should have been made baseline when they did the initiative trait rework a couple of years ago where they moved both the top and bottom of initiative regen towards the middle. What I was putting forward was basically doing the same again, so hopefully Trickery would follow suit with CS as being a decent line, but not being necessary. A point I glossed is RFI, which might need a nerf with these changes I suggested to something like only gaining 3 initiative, but putting the CD at 30 seconds. I'm going to disagree slightly on preparedness though. It's not a CD reduction as much as it's an extra 0.5-1 charges for a single skill for the ammo system since it doesn't change the rate of regeneration. That's why my suggestion actually included a 25% increase to initiative regen while reducing some of the initiative gaining traits. Kleptomaniac is actually just as big of a hurdle as preparedness as it can represent a 10-20% increase in initiative gain depending on build and usage. Anyway, I think addressing those two minor traits would allow them to balance thief more easily going forward with perhaps moving damage from autos to the 2-5 skills as well.

I wouldn't do a full redesign, just make it so trickery isn't a necessary trait line, although still remains a nice one.

 

Steal 25 second CD base

15 initiative base

Initiative regeneration at 1 every 0.8 seconds

Replace Kleptomaniac with a 3 second blind on steal

Replace Preparedness with a 3 second chill on steal

Change Quick pockets to 1 initiative on weaponswap (ICD 5 seconds), have it reduce weaponswap CD to 3 seconds

Remove the steal CD reduction from Sleight of Hand, make it give you 1 stack of stability for 3 seconds (at the start of steal so stuff like reapers protection is negated) and keep the daze

Lead attacks unchanged.

 

Forgot two:

First change is to remove the bounce and Cripple from dancing Dagger, reduce to 2 initiative. When it hits your opponent, you get a rollover skill for 2 initiative: instant cast, shadowstep to the player you hit with dancing Dagger and Cripple them (3 seconds), with no damage at all. My hope is that this helps D/D and P/D without adding any significant buffs to S/D.

 

The second is to make deathblossom a skill shot similar to warrior's GS#3. Range 300. Total cast time 0.75 seconds, evade frames for 0.5 seconds right at the beginning. All the damage and bleeds stay the same. My hope is to keep it viable for condi builds, but raise the skill floor while making the utility more usable for power D/D builds.

> @"panchovilla.5986" said:

> This is what happens when I add my gear to it, and there's no way this is going to work as a condi build, all my gear is power.

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVl8MhGnYhTw4JQ/EH0E1OPHu9UHATYE4zi0oMA-jBxfABAovhD1fQV5nEKBBA-e

 

If you have the laurels, I'd recommend changing your trinkets/rings/amulet to berserker stats. If you don't have any expensive sigils in your weapons, you can also convert them to berserker stats in the mystic forge. Valk armor with zerk for everything else is pretty decent for both PvE and WvW so you don't have to have 2 different armor sets. Runes of strength (balanced, good for power), the pack (balanced, decent utility), the scholar (dps oriented) , and the wurm (budget choice with vitality bonus while learning thief) are all decent choices as well.

 

D/D and the traits you have are great for PvE. If you want to do PvP/WvW with core thief, S/D is a good idea using DA/Acro/Trickery, picking up Mug, Panic Strike, Improvisation, Pain Response, Swindlers Equilibrium, Upper hand, thrill of the crime, bountiful theft, and Sleight of Hand for your traits.

 

For PvE, your utilities are great, maybe with the exception of your elite. Basilisk venom is great for sharing the stun to help with break bars for mobs that have them. For PvP/WvW, I'd recommend shadowstep, signet of agility, basilisk venom, withdraw, and your personal choice for the last (mine being Roll for Initiative).

 

Edit:I forgot to mention, if you like D/P in PvE, that's probably fine unless you run into groups that want you to be "optimal." The utility of D/P won't be much of a benefit against AI though, making D/D the better choice for PvE. D/P is great for PvP, but I haven't played core D/P in a long time so I can't help you there. Use what you enjoy in PvE and play with friends so it won't really matter what your weapon set is.

> @"babazhook.6805" said:

> > @"Maugetarr.6823" said:

> > I could get behind removing the burst as it currently exists from Deadeye Rifle, but it would need some big reworks to the other skills to offer utility, CC, and strong sustained damage. Standing could be shorter range than pistols, but with more sustained damage and evasive skills, while instead of entirely rooting, kneeling could be a -66% change to movement speed. Death's Judgement could be cut down to 1.5 multiplier base, +10% damage per malice stack(2.25@5 and 2.55@7) with a 0.5 second daze, 1.5 seconds quickness and slow with a +20% duration to both per stack of malice to make the burst more like a bullet time attack, extending the burst over DJ+Auto Attacks rather than loading it all into DJ.

> >

> > I want to emphasize that as compensation for lowering the burst, both offensive and defensive sustain would need to be increased.

>

> The problem with this approach is it made too close to other weaponsets. The suggestion of "adding more utility" is simply too vague. What utility? if the utility added akin to that of d/p why play one over the other?

>

> Weaponsets should play very differently. While Rifle still needs a bit of work , that we give up mobility for that ROOT does not mean it a bad thing. If it made more evasive and having more mobility then we are just playing another s/d with range. We have evasive sets in s/p ,d/p ,DrD specs ,s/d and even d/d condi. I personally like the concept of OK you give up a bit of that mobility and evasiveness with the RIFLE (Albeit i think Deaths retreat should be 1 ini less) but in return you will pack a punch at range , easily avoided punch but a punch that will hurt.

>

> IF damage lowered on DJ then the main change they have to make to that skill is making it have LESS in the way of tells. It will also mean more damage to AA and again in game terms begins to play out very much like another weaponset which will lead to "I took 10k damage in a split second with no warning" type complainst over "I took 20k in damage from a single DJ" complaints.

>

> If utility added then IMO it can not be a duplicate of the utility that we get out of d/p or weaponst X/X. It has to be unique to the set meaning Daze not so great an idea or more CC as we have that covered with headshot and all our immobs. (P/x 2 s/x 2) When I look at "utility" I am looking for stuff that would be unique to rifle such as things like "Grappling shot" whrerein you can pull an enemy off point or adding AOE reveal to spotters shot. I am not saying these examples should be the utility one adds, I am merely using examples of utility that might give more reasons to use this set.

>

> In summary , I personally support Rifle more in form and function as it currently exists over making it into a knockoff of what other weapons provided with added range. I am not suggesting that you are advocating such either but simply pointing out that when a weapons utility or play works too much like another sets utility or gameplay , the result will be to always use the one which does those things best.

 

I did do a full writeup that I didn't post here because this is a general thread (https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/19878/rifle-rework-ideas#latest). Basically piercing would set it apart from other sets and the damage would be sustained instead of burst, differentiating it from pistols. It would also offer 2 different playstyles in one weapon to be able to choose which mode works better for what the situation calls for. I think one of the pitfalls with the current DJ also is that 3RB overlaps too much with it. Basically if you wait the 8-10 seconds for a fully charged, untraited DJ, you're going to hit with a 2.8 multiplier. Alternatively, you could take BQoBK and Unforgiving, and hit with a total of 2.85 multiplier between cursed bullet and 3RB, unblockable with a stun, generating 9 might, and corrupting 2 boons, without the laser beam tell, right at the beginning of the fight. Yes, you can do both, because the attack scenarios I just laid out aren't mutually exclusive, but DJ is a largely redundant skill as I see it. That's why I want it to give quickness, slow, and daze because it will boost the outgoing sustained damage and deliver some control effects aiding your teammates in a group fight in PvP and helping with breakbars in PvE.

 

Your point that my ideas could make it overlap with other weapon sets is valid though. My ideas might do that, so I see where you're coming from.

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> > @"Maugetarr.6823" said:

> > > @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> > > > @"eldrjth.7384" said:

> > > > > @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> > > >

> > > > > Conversely, both sides can be correct.

> > > > > Everyone who denounced the sniper concept before the DE was even released knew that this would happen. You can't balance a sniper OHKO thief. It's a complete failure of design, not numbers.

> > > > >

> > > > > With obvious counterplay to negate the damage, it's weak. Without such tells, it's absolutely broken. If you cut the OHKO potential out but keep the playstyle, it has no value anywhere and can't deliver the numbers the concept needs.

> > > >

> > > > If they got rid of the one hit kill and raised the overall dps on the weapon set then there wouldnt be a problem. Who says an ohk power **had** to be part of the kit in the first place? (its ohk but think about the long ramp up time to achieve this move) and who says that in order to balance a class for PvP you have to hamstring it in PvE? Maybe its Anet who should have thought about balance more carefully when they designed DE. The rifle set as a whole feels clunky to use, kneeling should be a profession skill roll shouldnt share the same skill slot as DJ, and Dead eyes mark shouldnt take forever to cast and be uninterruptible by a players own action. Totally bad execution. Its not like they couldnt fix the issues right now, or that a sniper class is inherently a bad design, even if they wanted DJ to hit hard. Could just make it a 3 hit kill skill that cost less initiative so players can react to their HP going down.

> > >

> > > DPS rarely correlates to PvP success, especially in this game-state. Aside from builds with a lot of long-duration sustain tools, burst is pretty much always how things operate in terms of actually killing a player in PvP in action-based games. Find the gap (or make one), and punish as hard and fast as possible in that time while not exposing yourself to counter-attack.

> > >

> > > If they gave rifle a multi-hit burst attack, then there's really no distinction really between it and P/P Daredevil. Except P/P DrD has more mobility, better sustained boons, probably better sustained pressure, and overall superior damage with similar or superior stealth uptime. So unless DJ's damage was better than Unload (which already hits for absolutely stupid damage), the build is then forced into being a gimmick that just camps the backline and fires haphazardly, skill-lessly, while generating downs/kills. There's a reason Bearbow rangers are/were made fun of in the olden days. The same for ZvZ hammer power rev. It's a stupid build which carried terrible players into being... slightly less terrible via frustration because of one or two overtuned abilities. The DE would end up in the exact same boat and that's a slap in the face to everything the thief as a profession is designed regarding.

> > >

> > > If the rifle DE is designed to fill that "sniper" fantasy, it's going to be all about burst and stealth. And there's really just no real fair or fun/interactive way to make that concept work as a whole without just changing how it plays and the entire concept of the spec. The warnings and tells are there as they are because those are the necessities to be able to out-play a massive nuke from a ranged, mobile combatant who you don't know where is located. Unlike most other stealth nukes, you're limited in your own capability to react, almost solely determined by build. D/P SA/Bound thief is just as guilty and is why I advocated for the removal of such unhealthy styles for so long. The clunkiness is a consequence for allowing the kit to exist because otherwise it simply **will** be overpowered by design based on the core thief's kit.

> > >

> > > If they were going to buff DJ's consistency and speed of application, they would have to increase the initiative cost to prevent spam and probably nerf the overall amount of stealth accessible. The DE can't be a super-competitive pick without being downright oppressive or unfun to play against. And there is zero merit to trying to defend something that isn't fun to play against in a PvP context. Absolutely none.

> > >

> > > The sniper concept just isn't compatible with the rest of GW2.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> >

> > More and more I wish it had been a running hip-fire mode and a walking aim-down-sight mode instead of normal and kneeling mode. The running mode would be all about sustained damage and more of a short-ranged brawler whereas the aim-down-sight mode would be more focused on hard and soft CC with slightly less damage than the running mode as a tradeoff. That way you could support your team off while standing off point and control the opponent's bunkers, or you could run into a 1v1 with it.

> >

> > I'm going to agree with you because there's not really a middle ground on how rifle operates due to the mechanics surrounding the damage it delivers. It's either going to be OP or UP depending on the opponent's specific build, and I don't think they can balance it with number adjustments at this point.

>

> I just wish the profession developers could have seen it coming or looked into the reasoning section of my proposal. Of all things, I'm upset they took the name. There's always a degree of unknown when people make claims about "they don't know what they're doing," but the pure existence of the DE as it is and the pursuit of that concept is quite d-kitten-ing.

 

Well, the short video interview they had with Wooden Potatoes they addressed their attempts to balance the burst with using the malice mechanic (

@~6min). I think the real problem is they did try to make a FPS sniper and basically tried to use the lens flare tells you'd see in battlefield for counterplay. It wasn't a terrible idea, but I don't think it worked out the way they thought it would. So that's why I have suggested a rework based on different aspects of FPS games, basically using hip fire and aim down sight mechanics instead, with skills modeled after PDWs and DMRs instead of sniper rifles. In games like BF4, both of those have strong damage in their respective ranges, but neither one is a one-shot type of weapon. It could have added more flexibility to the weapon to theme it that way I think, and they could have kept the malice mechanic to build it out as more of a brawler class, getting more powerful as the fight drags on with increased boon duration and control effects instead of just more damage. Anyway, I really hope they're doing a rework, because to balance it around where it is currently, I think they're going to have to nerf the numbers into the ground in PvP/WvW so the skills end up harmless except for the glassiest of builds. I like the rifle theme, I just want to see it implemented differently than how they decided to go this time.

I could get behind removing the burst as it currently exists from Deadeye Rifle, but it would need some big reworks to the other skills to offer utility, CC, and strong sustained damage. Standing could be shorter range than pistols, but with more sustained damage and evasive skills, while instead of entirely rooting, kneeling could be a -66% change to movement speed. Death's Judgement could be cut down to 1.5 multiplier base, +10% damage per malice stack(2.25@5 and 2.55@7) with a 0.5 second daze, 1.5 seconds quickness and slow with a +20% duration to both per stack of malice to make the burst more like a bullet time attack, extending the burst over DJ+Auto Attacks rather than loading it all into DJ.

 

I want to emphasize that as compensation for lowering the burst, both offensive and defensive sustain would need to be increased.

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> > @"eldrjth.7384" said:

> > > @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> >

> > > Conversely, both sides can be correct.

> > > Everyone who denounced the sniper concept before the DE was even released knew that this would happen. You can't balance a sniper OHKO thief. It's a complete failure of design, not numbers.

> > >

> > > With obvious counterplay to negate the damage, it's weak. Without such tells, it's absolutely broken. If you cut the OHKO potential out but keep the playstyle, it has no value anywhere and can't deliver the numbers the concept needs.

> >

> > If they got rid of the one hit kill and raised the overall dps on the weapon set then there wouldnt be a problem. Who says an ohk power **had** to be part of the kit in the first place? (its ohk but think about the long ramp up time to achieve this move) and who says that in order to balance a class for PvP you have to hamstring it in PvE? Maybe its Anet who should have thought about balance more carefully when they designed DE. The rifle set as a whole feels clunky to use, kneeling should be a profession skill roll shouldnt share the same skill slot as DJ, and Dead eyes mark shouldnt take forever to cast and be uninterruptible by a players own action. Totally bad execution. Its not like they couldnt fix the issues right now, or that a sniper class is inherently a bad design, even if they wanted DJ to hit hard. Could just make it a 3 hit kill skill that cost less initiative so players can react to their HP going down.

>

> DPS rarely correlates to PvP success, especially in this game-state. Aside from builds with a lot of long-duration sustain tools, burst is pretty much always how things operate in terms of actually killing a player in PvP in action-based games. Find the gap (or make one), and punish as hard and fast as possible in that time while not exposing yourself to counter-attack.

>

> If they gave rifle a multi-hit burst attack, then there's really no distinction really between it and P/P Daredevil. Except P/P DrD has more mobility, better sustained boons, probably better sustained pressure, and overall superior damage with similar or superior stealth uptime. So unless DJ's damage was better than Unload (which already hits for absolutely stupid damage), the build is then forced into being a gimmick that just camps the backline and fires haphazardly, skill-lessly, while generating downs/kills. There's a reason Bearbow rangers are/were made fun of in the olden days. The same for ZvZ hammer power rev. It's a stupid build which carried terrible players into being... slightly less terrible via frustration because of one or two overtuned abilities. The DE would end up in the exact same boat and that's a slap in the face to everything the thief as a profession is designed regarding.

>

> If the rifle DE is designed to fill that "sniper" fantasy, it's going to be all about burst and stealth. And there's really just no real fair or fun/interactive way to make that concept work as a whole without just changing how it plays and the entire concept of the spec. The warnings and tells are there as they are because those are the necessities to be able to out-play a massive nuke from a ranged, mobile combatant who you don't know where is located. Unlike most other stealth nukes, you're limited in your own capability to react, almost solely determined by build. D/P SA/Bound thief is just as guilty and is why I advocated for the removal of such unhealthy styles for so long. The clunkiness is a consequence for allowing the kit to exist because otherwise it simply **will** be overpowered by design based on the core thief's kit.

>

> If they were going to buff DJ's consistency and speed of application, they would have to increase the initiative cost to prevent spam and probably nerf the overall amount of stealth accessible. The DE can't be a super-competitive pick without being downright oppressive or unfun to play against. And there is zero merit to trying to defend something that isn't fun to play against in a PvP context. Absolutely none.

>

> The sniper concept just isn't compatible with the rest of GW2.

>

>

>

 

More and more I wish it had been a running hip-fire mode and a walking aim-down-sight mode instead of normal and kneeling mode. The running mode would be all about sustained damage and more of a short-ranged brawler whereas the aim-down-sight mode would be more focused on hard and soft CC with slightly less damage than the running mode as a tradeoff. That way you could support your team off while standing off point and control the opponent's bunkers, or you could run into a 1v1 with it.

 

I'm going to agree with you because there's not really a middle ground on how rifle operates due to the mechanics surrounding the damage it delivers. It's either going to be OP or UP depending on the opponent's specific build, and I don't think they can balance it with number adjustments at this point.

> @"Volrath.1473" said:

> Yeah sorry I didn't give more details...

> Before I stopped playing gw2 in 2015 I was a beast! I was playing core (I stopped before Hot was released) S/D-SB DA/TRIC/ACRO with great success.

>

> Atm I'm trying to make Deadeye work.

> I've been playing DE/TRIC/ACRO and DE/TRIC/CA with rifle and so.e times S/D some times S/P.

>

> So far it's working fine with both weapons sets and also either with ACRO and CA.

>

> I find that with acro it works better though as for mobility I must say that with practice you can move around as fast or even faster then with short bow using rifle #4 and shadow step.

>

> Same playstyle as before with core S/D. Shadowsteping all over the place and extreamly dodgy. Plus the kiting capabilities and burst from rifle.

>

> As I said b4 I've been having fun with both and been very successful with both. But I want to pick one to stick with and perfect it instead of constantly changing... both have pros and cons, I'm just not sure witch is better/more useful then the other ?

>

> Btw atm I'm jumping between gold and silver. Use to be gold T3 but tilted off prime time and got a ridiculous losing strick that took me down from gold t3 to silver t3. Now I'm floating between then.

 

I'd go with acro. If you have the quickness on mark and stun on next attack after mark, swindlers equilibrium could help a lot. That said, if you're focusing on using rifle more, the damage traits in CS are hard to pass up.

Well, using Daredevil with bound, I chose S/P because of pulmonary impact and the on demand stealth for disengaging. If you use steal after the evade on PW starts, you can help your team spike down Scourges pretty well without too much risk.

I think they could have really have had Deadeye Rifle be more of a sustained damage weapon over the spike that it has now. The kneel mechanic is interesting, but I think it could have been done differently. I would have liked to see rifle fill out both sides of pistols in terms of range, with standing being very short range (600-750) while focusing on very strong sustained damage, speed boosts, an evade, and some decent utilty (vigor, fury, might). Kneeling would have actually been walking speed (-66%) while giving long range attacks (1200-1500) with good sustained damage (less than standing), some hard hitting CC (soft and hard) , and _much_ less of a spike than currently. Rifle could have been a flexible weapon that helped with different phases in boss fights in PvE, or different enemies in PvP. Let pistols keep the burst and give rifle a different role.

 

The trait line is actually not terrible, but I do like the idea that @"Chaith.8256" had for giving a unique next attack buff to allies with fire for effect. Sort of like a venomshare build, but focused differently.

I was able to play 1 game tonight. I think the queue was about a minute or so, game ended with a difference of about 20 points. Not bad, but I'm probably in the middle/low-middle in terms of skill grouping.

I don't know how much work the idea I'm about to propose would be compared to fixing all the nav mesh, but in my head it's more like painting the terrain with a broad brush rather than finding a needle in a haystack.

 

Would it be possible to put tags on sections of the nav mesh (for simplification, we'll just use A, B, and U). So when you attempt to shadowstep, instead of trying to find a path along the nav mesh, it'll look at the tags at the start and end location. So if you're standing on a piece of ground tagged "A" and attempt to shadowstep to a part of ground also tagged "A" it will automatically succeed and teleport you there more like how portal works (ignoring the actual path in between the two). If you try to shadowstep from a place tagged "A" to a place tagged "B" it will default to the current path finding mechanic, and if a successful path is found, it will shadowstep you. This second check would be due to stuff like the inside of keeps and tops of walls in WvW, and inside the lord area of foe fire in PvP needing to be tagged differently from the outside of them to prevent going through walls. This would narrow your hunt for broken nav mesh down to only where changes in the nav mesh tags occur.

 

Alternatively, instead of the current pathing check to see if a wall or gate is down, have a trigger that when a wall or gate is destroyed, it applies a universal beginning and end to a shadowstep in a 2k radius around the piece of terrain. So the way it would work then is if a wall is destroyed, in a 2k radius around it, the nav mesh would be tagged "A&U" on the outside of the keep and "B&U" on the inside. The "A to B" check would fail, but the "U to U" check would succeed, triggering a successful shadowstep.

 

I have no idea what your code looks like and how hard it would be to add a new script to do this check of shadowstep abilities, but it seems simpler than looking for all the wrinkles and disconnects in the mesh.

 

Edit: P.S. I will try to document problems when I find them though to help with your search.

@"Ben Phongluangtham.1065"

Quick idea on the obsidian weapon skins:

 

Take the glacial weapon skins and change the color to black and just use that instead of going forward with the design direction that the set is currently headed in.

I'd like to see them replace kneel with an "aim down sight" mechanic instead. Basically all normal skills (the non-kneeling ones) would have their range cut down to the 600-750 range, but you'd get a passive +25% move speed bonus, strong sustained damage, and an evade skill on it that granted Superspeed. Kneeling would be replaced by limiting you to walking speed (-66%), but change over your skills to the (mostly) current ones with 1200-1500 range with stronger sustained damage than currently, more control, and a slightly weaker burst.

> @"Turk.5460" said:

> > @"Maugetarr.6823" said:

> > The initiative changes to Death's Retreat on Thief's rifle could have been made game wide instead of splitting it. It would be the same distance per point of initiative as shortbow 5, however it wouldn't have the same ability to aim it and use it for z-axis shadow steps, making it pretty balanced versus shortbow. I'm going to suggest putting a short blind (3 seconds) on it at the beginning of the cast too, since it doesn't have any evade frames. I know this was a balance patch out of the normal rotation so I won't throw a whole slew of change suggestions at you, but I think the above change could help nudge the rifle in the correct direction in PvP.

>

> I agree that the initiative change to Death's Retreat should have been in all modes.

>

> Your suggestion to add a blind due to lack of evade frames is confusing. You are comparing DR to IA, IA does not offer evade frames either, nor does it have a poison, nor does it clear a condition. Adding a blind to DR would over-stack the skill.

 

Well, my original suggestion for the skill back in a thief thread was to replace 1 of the stacks of poison on the skill with a stack of blind instead, but they just doubled the duration while eliminating 1, so that's out. I know IA doesn't offer evade frames, but SB has a set of evade frames on it allowing for some flexibility in combat. The problem I see with rifle is that it promotes sitting back and not even using the standing skills in a closer fight. The windup is long enough that even if you use DR reactively, you can still get hit before the shadowstep happens. IA offers the ability to choose how to reposition yourself whereas DR simply shadowsteps you directly away from your target. So my idea comes from the fact that you have much less control over the effectiveness of DR, so if used reactively, it should prevent 1 hit from a character in melee range while not affecting someone using a skill from range.

 

Overall, I think rifle has good damage, but lacks utility that would help it in a pvp setting outside of surprising someone. I didn't want to go into a huge list of possible changes they could make in a general feedback thread, but this one suggestion I think would help rifle significantly with a minor change.

The initiative changes to Death's Retreat on Thief's rifle could have been made game wide instead of splitting it. It would be the same distance per point of initiative as shortbow 5, however it wouldn't have the same ability to aim it and use it for z-axis shadow steps, making it pretty balanced versus shortbow. I'm going to suggest putting a short blind (3 seconds) on it at the beginning of the cast too, since it doesn't have any evade frames. I know this was a balance patch out of the normal rotation so I won't throw a whole slew of change suggestions at you, but I think the above change could help nudge the rifle in the correct direction in PvP.

Initiative changes for Rifle should probably have been made for all modes, at least the cost for Death's Retreat. Then it would be point for point the same distance as shortbow without of z-axis mobility or ability to aim it easily.

> @"Daffan.8924" said:

> > @"Ertrak.9506" said:

> > > @"Daffan.8924" said:

> > > When is this coming out so I can judge if this game is worth playing any more or not

> >

> > If you read the op and not just comments you'd know

>

> Yeah but it could be 12:01 I WANT TO KNOW!!!!!

 

Usually around 10am PST