On the latest episode of Points of Interest, Rubi Bayer was joined by Game Designer Karl McLain to discuss the thief’s new specialization, the daredevil. The daredevil is defensive by nature, with an enhanced effectiveness at staying in close combat. They have an increased endurance bar for a total of three active dodges, which they’re able to customize with useful effects through traits. The daredevil darts through enemy lines, using a melee staff to perform area of effect attacks. They’re not tanky, Karl said, but they have plenty of tricks up their sleeves to maintain presence in a fight—or to leap in and out as needed.
Daredevils have access to Physical skills, which help them defend themselves without the use of their standard weapons. They’re able to block incoming damage, retaliate with kicks, throw hidden knives, attack with a flurry of barehanded blows, and even combo from a series of brutal punches into a finishing blow. Finishing Blow—the third part of the elite Impacting Strike combo—is the only finisher attached to a skill in the game. This helps the daredevil take down enemies close to death before they can rally, which Karl described as their specialty.
Karl encouraged playtesters in the upcoming Beta Weekend Event to provide feedback on builds, vulnerabilities, and play styles, and said that the elite specializations are still being iterated on. One of the previous versions of the daredevil, for example, changed which dodges were available depending on how much endurance was in the bar, but the team considered it too complicated and decided to separate the different dodge effects out into traits to give greater opportunities for customization.
In addition to the daredevil demonstration, Game Director Colin Johanson stopped by to talk with Rubi about Guild Wars 2’s third anniversary and confirm some exciting news: Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ will launch on October 23, 2015! ArenaNet made even more major announcements over the weekend at PAX Prime: Raids are coming in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns and everyone can now play the core Guild Wars 2 game absolutely free.
If you missed the latest episode, check out the recording below!
