Complete Thief Overhaul

[Simply Kedde]

Stealth is about the stupidest difficult mechanic to balance in a game. I'm glad to see it toned down to a damn minimum. What stealth achieves in pvp in most games can be achieved through other less gamebreaking mechanics.

[GrimShade]

So I’m sure you guys all checked out this video as it was in the Mez threads, and Mez is the most important class….behind warrior.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...4Cc7TFs#t=505s

Watch how the thief uses stealth to just disappear in the middle of the fight. This seems to make him un-targetable and if played well you pop in and out of being targetable during the fight. As to setting up an ambush I’m sure you still can get in to the fight in three seconds, but GW1 is all about mobility, I don’t see why you would just sit and wait for anyone in GW2, just sneak up on them from behind while capping. Thief is a poor name for Assassin so I’m sure there is some type of shadowstep in there as well, thought I saw it at the beginning of the fight, but can’t be sure. So you can end up with three seconds of stealth plus a shadowstep to get that first hit…

I'm sure with just three seconds of stealth things will be annoying enough.

[Alaris]

Shadowsteps are in, it's not clear if they can be snared though atm.

Thief imo was chosen instead of assassin to emphasize the stealthy and evasive nature rather than the combat. The thief is meant to rely on stealth and evasion afterall to stay alive, he has medium armor and low health, and not a lot of options afaik to improve his survivability outside stealth and movement.

[kokabel]

I personally couldn't give a damn about stealth. I want to play Thief because of the Initiative mechanic, and because of the fun the steal mechanic may provide (and the lolz, for sure). Also, because... pewpewpew, etc. It just has so many cool options, from what I can recall, I'll probably rarely bother with stealth.

[Akirai Annuvil]

If I played thief, I would hide somewhere,

Bad idea. All PvP victory conditions are based around capturing a point or a flag. Hiding somewhere with the occasional kill isn't anywhere near as useful as just going after the objectives.
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The UI doesn't auto-cue nearby enemies. You can ambush people reasonably well through use of terrain. Considering stealth doesn't break on damage, seems more useful mid-combat as a defense measure (or a quick setup) than as an initiator.

[Alaris]

Akirai, I meant WvW, and I meant when goofing off.

Good point about victory being dependent on doing things though, a hidden thief is as good as a missing player.