Rifle would be useable if...

[Urejt.5648]

1. Rifle autoatacks were slightly stronger.

2. Rifle 4 shadowstep back costed less initiative. I think it cost too much when compered to shortbow teleport.

[Curennos.9307]

Usable where? PvE? PvP? Both? Raids?

 

Maybe Pierce could be worked in there somewhere? I was doing all areas of the game with my Deadeye yesterday and it pained me that my shots could be blocked by just...anything that got in the way. It was horrid. My aoe damage is nearly nonexistent. If that's too much, maybe they could make it only pierce a certain amount of targets (2-3?).

 

I do agree on both of those points, though. My autos suck, and rifle 4 is clearly inferior to SB 5 (though not by much, imo). I don't think rifle 4 should be a copy of SB 5. They have different functions, but rifle thief could really use something that moves it away from depending on shortbow. SB5 gets 150 range per initiative, and I believe rifle 4 gets 120. Reducing the cost by 1 or increasing range by 100 would bring it to 150 range per init. Don't forget that rifle 4 also has a small condi cleanse, poison, damage, and leap finisher.

[LazerusKI.7485]

> @Urejt.5648 said:

> 1. Rifle autoatacks were slightly stronger.

> 2. Rifle 4 shadowstep back costed less initiative. I think it cost too much when compered to shortbow teleport.

 

and that would change exactly what and where?

his damage would still be horrible...but yeah great that you can atleast run away from a fight then

[Saraneth.6021]

> @Curennos.9307 said:

> Usable where? PvE? PvP? Both? Raids?

 

I think he means where the majority of the game is... PvE.

 

 

[eldrjth.7384]

I played DE since the release of PoF although I used mainly P/P. I think they should change these things:

 

Reduce the initiative cost of double tap/3rb to 3 or return 1 initiative when all bullets hit. This becomes the sustain dmg dealer.

 

Make kneel profession skill 3, applicable only when you use a rifle. This would free up a skill slot.

 

Death's judgement can be used when standing and becomes the default skill 4 and its initiative cost reduced to 5 (I still cant see this a main dmg dealer cause of the high cost).

 

Move the roll skill to slot 5.

 

Make mark instant cast because the 1/2 delay affects dps and makes it uninterruptible (intended?) . Instead have marks have an internal cd of 1s before it can be used on a new target. If its intended offset the dps loss from it directly (like +25%dmg for 2s after marking a target to account for 0% dps for 0.5s).

 

Even if these changes were made I still think Rifle DE will be too fragile/immobile for PvE. Its kinda a flawed concept unless theres something to really offset the survivability loss.

 

 

 

 

 

[Vindicus.2130]

The lack of piercing or ricochet proved to be the biggest problem for me with rifle. Yes the DPS is low, but it's really just unplayable without pierce imo--not to mention the beyond horrible mobility of the spec..no just, no. I took my rifle deadeye into a couple T3 fractals just to feel it out and it was pure pain simply trying to hit the target I wanted to hit. I'll never step foot in with rifle again. I think a good middle ground rather than shots piercing everything in their path is that they pierce everything in their path until they reach your marked target. That way you can generally hit what you want to be hitting, and everything behind it is still safe from pierces.

[Keyang.3729]

Ive never played a ranged class, does the longbow ranger have these problems as well? Oh wait they arent rooted

[Doctor Hide.6345]

> @Keyang.3729 said:

> Ive never played a ranged class, does the longbow ranger have these problems as well? Oh wait they arent rooted

 

Deadeye has to be rooted though to get the damage buffs it needs. In order for A-net to buff the damage, the trade off has to be the kneel mechanic unlike LB Ranger who will eventually have lower damage because they get mobility with the range while deadeye gets power.

 

I know it is not that way now, but give them time to buff the rifle skills with all the feedback we are giving them.

[Relwin.7569]

In my opinion Deadeye's malice mechanic is not rewarding enough in compare with trickery (core thief) or Daredevil. Trickery can provide perma 15% bonus, Daredevil can trigger most of time its 27%. I know that Deadeye may be ok in PVP, but in PVE it REQUIRES split balance.

 

First of all - Raise damage gain on malice from3% to 5%. Trickery provide 15% boost on everything u hit. Daredevil gives 27% on everything close to you while doing rotation dodges. Deadeye gives bonus to single target, it should be much stronger, in PVE at least. Rewarding for patience for choosing target/contract to kill. Monster won't complain on your damage, but player will, so split balance is necessary.

 

Secondly: AA needs piercing. Even one more target to hit with AA is a boost. 3 target piercing would be awesome. If piercing will happen, then dmg should stay as it is. If not, Damage on AA should be raised whether in general or mechanical. Offers:

A ) Increase damage in general. Can't say number because it's balance thing.

B ) Increase attack speed. Also can't mention numbers.

C ) Conditionally raise its damage. If projectile hits marked target, damage is incread by x%.

D ) Give it an additional damage increase based on gained malice stacks.

 

For PVE more important may be sustained DPS than burst DPS. In that case, double and tripple shots (3# skill) requires buffs, not nerfs like in last patch. Due to nerf, it's even less useful. I would offer to change its mechanic to rely on malice as well as DJ (4#) does. Offers:

A ) Give it initiative return for all hits (unload clone, not recommended).

B ) Give it initiative return per amount of malice already reached. Situationally powerful - it gives a choice whether to do sustained damage or burst damage with DJ. It'd be something like (example): 3 malice - 1 initiative return and 5% dmg boost, 5 malice - 2 initiative return and 10% damage boost, 7 malice - 2 initiative return and 20% damage boost.

C ) Lowering baseline intiaitve cost from 4 to 3 would also work but it's boring solution.

D ) Increasing damage is also boring solution.

 

Death's Judgement 4# is ok in my opinion. It gives HUGE crits, even reached 57k in fractals. I can't say that rifle is not a burst weapon because IT IS a very bursty and powerful one. But for PVE burst is not enough. Sustain is necessary.

 

Playing Deadeye without rifle is MEH. I feel pistols stronger in core thief build, just will miss lack of mark mechanic. Deadeye is designed to be ranged power dps. If you say: go melee - no thanks. If I want to go melee I'd rather pick Daredevil.

 

I purchased this game to enjoy mostly its PVE aspect. Sadly i feel like game is balanced all around competetive PVP while leaving PVE behind. I feel like casual that plays multiplayer campaign where competition in group content does not exist. Competition will always exist - in fractals, dungeons AND raids. Let's look at current PVE class balances - game is unfair. You can play how you want, but it does not feel good when you feel like a bargain in group. Feel that you're useless is not entertaining. Devs can say that raids can be done with any spec, but truth is that, there's difference between competetive play and being carried by group of friends. I'm not yet disappointed though as I wait for balance patch. But i think first balance patch won't change anything. I hope I'm wrong.

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

> @Urejt.5648 said:

> 1. Rifle autoatacks were slightly stronger.

> 2. Rifle 4 shadowstep back costed less initiative. I think it cost too much when compered to shortbow teleport.

 

I'm not too sure about number one. The auto attacks hit hard. A slight increase could be benefitial, but a little too much may make the weapon overpowered. The second one however, I do agree that the initative cost needs to be one less, but I am fine with it right now. It is a Shadowstep, so it bypasses traps and hazards naturally, the weapon does not require a bullet to travel to the desired location, and it does not require the user to select a destination which makes it faster to use. What it does need though, is a bug fix and consistency.

 

> @Relwin.7569 said:

> In my opinion Deadeye's malice mechanic is not rewarding enough in compare with trickery (core thief) or Daredevil. Trickery can provide perma 15% bonus, Daredevil can trigger most of time its 27%. I know that Deadeye may be ok in PVP, but in PVE it REQUIRES split balance.

 

The problem is that DD can only achieve 27% with staff, and it requires three traits. 17% without staff, and it requires 2 traits. 10% from selecting a specific dodge mechanic. And 7% at the Adept trait. It does not offer a lot of flexibility for optimized PvE scenarios.

 

DE does allow you to choose any weapon you wish that it can access and still grant 15 or 21% bonus damage to it, while also giving you access to boons thief normally won't be able to get. Protection, Aura, Superspeed. I'm not entirely sure if boosting the 3% malice to 5% is a good idea. 25% to 35% damage without being limited to a specific weapon. And having less complicated rotations.

 

A large bulk of DE's damage with rifle doesn't just come from the percentages, but also how quickly he can stack might. 30 power per stack up to a maximum of an additional 750.

[Kuulpb.5412]

> @Urejt.5648 said:

> 1. Rifle autoatacks were slightly stronger.

> 2. Rifle 4 shadowstep back costed less initiative. I think it cost too much when compered to shortbow teleport.

 

Bish, Warrior Rifle needs a buff before you get any sort of buff to deadeye rifle.

[Saraneth.6021]

> @Kuulpb.5412 said:

> > @Urejt.5648 said:

> > 1. Rifle autoatacks were slightly stronger.

> > 2. Rifle 4 shadowstep back costed less initiative. I think it cost too much when compered to shortbow teleport.

>

> Bish, Warrior Rifle needs a buff before you get any sort of buff to deadeye rifle.

 

But... rifle thief was the new thing for thiefs in this expansion. The entire spec was supposed to be designed around rifle... yet they dropped the ball on it. Shit tier DPS :(

[BobbyT.7192]

Delete.....

[Zacchary.6183]

How about a straight 15-20% damage increase across the board for rifle? I mean if people are mostly complaining about damage and comparing it to p/p doing so would push it over p/p's dps.

[Tringsh.2380]

> @Zacchary.6183 said:

> How about a straight 15-20% damage increase across the board for rifle? I mean if people are mostly complaining about damage and comparing it to p/p doing so would push it over p/p's dps.

 

There's way more issues than just the damage. Rifle is bloody awful.

[LazerusKI.7485]

> @Zacchary.6183 said:

> How about a straight 15-20% damage increase across the board for rifle? I mean if people are mostly complaining about damage and comparing it to p/p doing so would push it over p/p's dps.

 

that would be a start, revese the 16% nerf on TRB and instead buff DJ when it wasnt used.

remove the cooldown from Cursed Bullet

add piercing to the skills (atleast in pve)

[Falcord.3608]

Apologies for cross posting but I opened a thread with some suggestions to improve rifle here: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/7051/a-couple-ideas-to-improve-the-rifle-while-making-it-more-engaging#latest

 

I tried to go in the direction of conditional effects based on the opponent's movement. Should be an increase in power but not straight up damage.

[Barzah.8019]

> @Zacchary.6183 said:

> How about a straight 15-20% damage increase across the board for rifle? I mean if people are mostly complaining about damage and comparing it to p/p doing so would push it over p/p's dps.

 

Put it on malice gain instead of straight buff while increase malice gaining rate while using rifle will totally balance rifle output. Again, rifle is a type of weapon that based on damage build up instead of spam as early as possible

[Maugetarr.6823]

I like where the damage is currently on rifle auto, however, Double Tap , Three Round Burst, and Death's Retreat could all have their initiative cost reduced by 1. I would also like like to see Snipers Cover be the default rollover for Kneel, with Kneel being 1 initiative at 0.25 seconds cast time and remove the count from it, and Snipers Cover being at 3 initiative and a 0.5 second cast time with the same count and recharge as now. Jumping, moving, and dodge rolling should all break kneel. Silent Scope could keep the 20% bonus to accuracy and make kneeling shots pierce 2 targets allowing them to hit up to 3 targets.

[BlaqueFyre.5678]

One thing that would make Rifle a little more useable if the Kneeling Ranged Skills actually were the proper range.