[GW2] Thieves and initiative
I was playing my thief a bit more this evening, and I think I figured out why I don't like the initiative system. It's simply a matter of visibility and memorization.
That is, I can easily see how much initiative I have -- roughly. It's hard to see exact numbers while in combat, and even though I know it's a maximum of 12 initiative, a quick glance doesn't tell me if I have four or five or maybe six.
But I also have to memorize each skill and its cost. Off the top of my head, Unload takes... um... four? Six? Maybe it's five initiative. And this is a skill I use all the time on my thief. Quick check of the wiki, and it's confirmed at five initiative.
So if I use the skill twice, how long do I have to wait before it's usable again? I'm not sure. I don't know the regeneration rate. Check the wiki again, and I see that it takes 1.67 seconds per pip. Multiply by five, and by my calculations looks like just over 8 seconds. Unless you have traits. Or use stealth skills with certain traits. Then it might be ready sooner. Some traits regenerate initiative more quickly, some add pips when you stealth, and so on.
It all seems very unpredictable and makes it hard for me to judge when to use skills.
Contrast all this to the cooldown system of other classes. What's the cooldown on my necromancer's Feast of Corruption? Off the top of my head... no idea. And it doesn't matter. I get a very obvious cooldown graphic and there's even an option to show numbers to count down until it's ready again. And turning on the numbers was one of the first things I did, it's nifty.
Anyway. If I don't know how much initiative I have at a glance, and don't know how much my skills cost, and don't know the regeneration rate of initiative, I feel like my thief is just pressing skills blindly and hoping for the best.
(unrelated -- I could talk about the Lost Shores event, but really there's not much more to say than "interesting content, not really a fan of running dungeons so haven't even attempted that, but it's a real shame that everything else is so darn buggy.")
That is, I can easily see how much initiative I have -- roughly. It's hard to see exact numbers while in combat, and even though I know it's a maximum of 12 initiative, a quick glance doesn't tell me if I have four or five or maybe six.
But I also have to memorize each skill and its cost. Off the top of my head, Unload takes... um... four? Six? Maybe it's five initiative. And this is a skill I use all the time on my thief. Quick check of the wiki, and it's confirmed at five initiative.
So if I use the skill twice, how long do I have to wait before it's usable again? I'm not sure. I don't know the regeneration rate. Check the wiki again, and I see that it takes 1.67 seconds per pip. Multiply by five, and by my calculations looks like just over 8 seconds. Unless you have traits. Or use stealth skills with certain traits. Then it might be ready sooner. Some traits regenerate initiative more quickly, some add pips when you stealth, and so on.
It all seems very unpredictable and makes it hard for me to judge when to use skills.
Contrast all this to the cooldown system of other classes. What's the cooldown on my necromancer's Feast of Corruption? Off the top of my head... no idea. And it doesn't matter. I get a very obvious cooldown graphic and there's even an option to show numbers to count down until it's ready again. And turning on the numbers was one of the first things I did, it's nifty.
Anyway. If I don't know how much initiative I have at a glance, and don't know how much my skills cost, and don't know the regeneration rate of initiative, I feel like my thief is just pressing skills blindly and hoping for the best.
(unrelated -- I could talk about the Lost Shores event, but really there's not much more to say than "interesting content, not really a fan of running dungeons so haven't even attempted that, but it's a real shame that everything else is so darn buggy.")