Feedback:User/Rukh/Balancing Tele/Stealth

Rogue/Assassin Mechanic

Both teleporting and invisibility present the same problem that throws off game balance: the ability to unexpectedly appear behind someone and spike them down. However gaming companies like Anet will probably want to entice gamers with flashy shadowsteps and ninja stealth ganks (that don't require stealth-minded individuals to perform), simply because they possess that 'cool' factor. So it comes down to toning down the spontaneity of these skills while still allowing people to live their naruto fantasies. So like the elementalist attunes, I think both of these states should be given their own skill set and 'mode' to further control what can be done with them.

If one can consistently kill straight off of a shadowstep or coming out of stealth then most would consider it overpowered unless the downtime is drastically increased - but that slows down the gameplay and kills would have to be very reliable otherwise the mechanic becomes obsolete. Heck, even infrequent cheap deaths are still cheap. The instantaneous movement is also a concern for a game that stresses positioning.

If I was to balance shadowstepping I would take this in the opposite direction: make it so the one couldn't straight up kill an opponent (in most cases) off of a shadowstep nor remain at his new location for very long, but be able to perform this frequently.

example: you teleport to target foe and it is snared for 3 seconds. your attacks are temporarily replaced with ones that can disrupt, cripple, stun, daze etc, none of which do high damage (to prevent multiple sins telespiking). your armor is reduced and cannot be healed/enchanted for the duration. after 3 seconds you return to where you were. 12s recharge

This wouldn't completely solve the positioning issues, but if the he wants to continue pressuring his target beyond a couple attacks he has to travel to it on foot. Also, the lower armor/no support will punish anyone who blindly teles right into a suspecting mob.

Again, to randomly appear behind someone followed by instagib is something that should be avoided. So again, I would go the way of neutering damage when it comes to stealth. When the one enters stealth mode he gains attacks that debuff the enemy and inflict heavy degen (sneak a poisonous dagger into someone's back, release a powder that dazes an enemy, temporarily force opponent into ‘downed’ state). While in stealth mode his armor and movement speed is significantly lower. So if he is 'caught' (however they would decide to implement that mechanic) or decides to transition out of stealth then he will be extremely vulnerable for a period of time. So now our rogue-like profession has 3 of these 'modes':

A normal mode focuses on dps and survival (damage)

A very brief mode that focuses on mobility and disruption (control)

A sneaky mode that focuses on debuffing and degen (control)

All of these would have to be very CQB oriented for a higher risk/reward style to differentiate from a curses necro or domination mesmer.