Bleh a three minute timer spoils this a lot for me.
SA from any direction is just lazy, do work thfs
But it just doesn't seem conducive to the playstyle or damaging aspect that thief thrives in, which is indirect, deceptive, stealth like attacks.
I think of Thief as a fragile speedster damage dealer in terms of metagame. We aren't just pick-pockets like "Thief" evokes; we're closer to Rogue and Assassin types. We specialize in devastating attacks while the target is unaware, but can still fend for ourselves if we don't land a 1-hit kill.
While I've always liked the positioning aspect of THF, the problem is that melees that don't stand in the same position and turn the mob constantly. It's problematic that we can't unleash our full potential due to the retardation of other herp derp engage'n'ws melee.
Moving forward, while in a party setting I think positioning shouldn't be as important as the monster's attention. A good Assassin exploits distractions, whether he is behind or in front of his target. What better distraction is there than a raging Warrior swinging a battle hammer at the target's head?
In that respect, the Bully was pretty useless until the Sneak Attack add-on, but it's a step in the right direction now. Although a lot of it is spoiled by the recast/duration being too short, it's an improvement.
Moving forward I'd like to see more emphasis damage through abilities and traits that work while we don't have hate rather than just based off what position we are in.
Also I'd rather have ways for us to dump our accumulated enmity onto a tank rather than increase our enmity (and get the mob's attention) by taking mage enmity. The hate cap is far too low for a one minute Trick Attack WS bomb to be effective these days. That's also why Tanks generally can't keep hate very well now because they can't generate enough enmity comparative to damage dealers with just Flash/Cures/Stun/Voke
Stances seem to be SE's kick right now, so let's kill two birds with one stone. How about a stance that makes it such that *all* actions we perform behind a party member have enmity transferred to that party member? If we're worried about making tanking too easy, we can modify the hate flow such that while in this stance all actions accrue reduced enmity.
We could have an opposite stance that works like Innin to increase our damage potential once the mob is focused elsewhere.
And also, what Assassin fights fair? Dirty fighting techniques to cripple an enemy in the vein of Feint would be useful as well. Something like "Gouge" for a blind effect, or "Break Joint" for attack down...