With the reveal of the thief profession in Guild Wars 2, we found ourselves entranced by the playstyle of the quick and dirty fighter, and demanded to know more. Lead Designer Eric Flannum heeded our demands, and we present here an exclusive chat about the thief - as well as a delicious new video.
games.on.net: How does the thief play in comparison to the assassin from Guild Wars 1? Many people are drawing parallels between the two, what's your take on it?
"the thief can deal damage, support his allies, and even control mobs through clever use of dodging and movement altering effects"
Eric: The thief is quite different from the assassin in many key ways, which is why we chose to rename the profession. The first major difference is that we wanted the thief to be a more versatile profession (as all Guild Wars 2 professions are) than the Guild Wars 1 assassin. Whereas the assassin is mostly a damage dealer the thief can deal damage, support his allies, and even control mobs through clever use of dodging and movement altering effects. The assassin was also much more of a burst damage dealer in Guild Wars 1 relying on specifically chained skills to deliver big damage with a finishing move, the thief does not have this sort of mechanic instead being more of a hit and run pressure character, dealing damage and then darting out of combat to safety. Finally, in our lore the assassin is very much a profession that has its root in Cantha and since we aren't visiting Cantha in the initial release of Guild Wars 2 we didn't want to draw any lore parallels between this new profession and the assassin.
games.on.net: With the thief, can you play in a duellist-esque manner, or is the class focused specifically on stealth attacks and well-positioned backstabs?
Eric: The duellist method is actually the main play style for the thief. Stealth is used most often as an escape mechanism. In many games with stealthy professions they are designed around the stealth mechanic as characters who need to use stealth in every encounter to set up a big “all or nothing†attack. With the thief we very much view stealth as a supplementary ability and not as the core ability of the profession. The initiative driven energy mechanic, mobility, and the steal ability are really the core abilities of the thief.
games.on.net: What do each of the races bring to the table as a thief? Are any races barred from the profession?
Eric: No races are barred from any profession in Guild Wars 2. Each race brings a unique story, feel, and aesthetic to the profession. From a power perspective each race will also add a small amount of utility, for example, norn can call upon the spirit of Wurm which will give them a temporary stationary ranged pet. Other races bring other things to the table such as the sylvari who might hamper the movement of enemies, causing plants to twine around the legs of their opponents.
games.on.net: Does stealing items have any effect on the person whose items was stolen? For example, can a stolen shield no longer be used?
Eric: Stealing items has no effect on the person the item is stolen from. The steal skill creates a new environmental weapon for the thief to use.
games.on.net: How does this balance for PVP play, and does the thief bring any specific concerns for PVP?
Eric: While what the thief steals in PvE is determined by the type of monster, in PvP it is determined by profession. Since the item is not actually taken from the target this means that the thief really plays no differently in PvP vs. PvE and presents no real balance concerns beyond those of other professions.
games.on.net: The thief feels very much like a profession which is meant to be harder to master than the others available. Is this a deliberate design decision, and if so, are there any professions that have been designed to be more accessible?
Eric: Yes, it is very true that the thief requires a somewhat higher degree of skill to play than some of the other professions. We did design certain professions to be easier to play than others although we never want this gap to be too significant. In particular the warrior, ranger and elementalist tend to be more straightforward to play than the other professions although even the “simple†professions have a lot of depth and nuance to them.
games.on.net: Are there ways for the thief to extend their initiative or reduce the initiative cost of certain attacks, depending on their build?
Eric: Yes, there are traits that will cause certain skills to cost less initiative.
games.on.net: Can the thief use a single rifle, much in the same manner as a bow? Or is the only blackpowder weapon available to the profession pistols?
Eric: The thief cannot use rifles, only pistols.
games.on.net: As well as crafting, the revamped attribute system is very intriguing. What has changed since Guild Wars 1?
Eric: Attributes have changed a lot since Guild Wars 1. Instead of profession specific attributes we have gone to a pool shared by all professions. The attributes are power, precision, vitality and toughness. We went to this system so that we would have a set of attributes that are valued by every profession and to lessen the ability of a player to make a bad character by putting points into the “wrong†attributes. A shared set of attributes also helps increase the ratio of useable equipment for a player. It was often the case in Guild Wars 1 for example; that you would find a staff which would be useful only to a specific build of elementalist and if you were a mesmer, necromancer, ritualist, etc… that staff was useless to you. In Guild Wars 2 this is no longer a problem and it is much more likely that any given piece of equipment that drops is something that the player will find useful.
