Guild Wars 2

Ive tried both engineer and theif..both to level 11.

Well the Theif does amazing damage…but he dies in like 2 or 3 shots (Once im out of endurance and cds are gone) and if its more than one enemy..i might as well stealth away.

Engineer..they were decently squishy too and there damage was super low besides grenades.

Engineer i was going precision theif power..

Am i doing something wrong or is this just how this game is? Other classes that may have an easier time?

Having leveled an engineer to 74 and a thief to 31, I can say both are somewhat squishy, particularly at the lower levels. I have, however, seen excellent tank builds for both classes. As an engineer, your turrets are simultaneously a blessing and a curse, considering how much aggro they draw, which was the biggest issue I was having as a lowbie.

If you’re looking for something with a better solo ability, I would suggest guardian or warrior.

Pretty much all classes (save Guardian perhaps), but especially the squishier classes, actually have a harder time at lower level when you don’t have as many tools available to you and mobs hit like a truck. There’s something a bit off with the scaling, but you will notice it get less bad as you climb in level and pick up really useful traits and utilities.

Having said that, while the engineer from what I hear is pretty good, thieves are one of the weaker if not the weakest PvE class because they just don’t have effective damage mitigation and don’t really have good enough DPS to compensate.

I face rolled my thief to lvl 80 and let me tell you even my warrior felt squishier than him lol. People seem to say thief are squishy but after lvl 20 or so if you build correctly you will faceroll through content like crazy.

Since you’re high enough level to have weapon swaps, do you have ranged weapons for your thief?

You have not put much information as to what you have played in the past. If you are new to the genre then you have a little learning to do. Even if you are not new to MMOs You have a little learning to do as GW2 plays differently to many.

I suggest you roll a few different characters while you learn the game and get the hang of dodging big hits.
One thing I know will help you. If you are used to clicking the buttons on the bottom of your screen try to learn to use key binds instead. See the screenshot below for how I have mine set up.
Use your mouse to move by pressing the left/right buttons together. This takes some getting used to if you have played any other way. Once you start and stick to it muscle memory takes over and you do not even have to think about where you skills are or whatever.
This will allow you to actually look at the detail on the mobs you are fighting and dodge more effectively, as you can see them winding up for a big hit etc.
With regard to your thief. Have you tried all the weapons? I go with a dagger/dagger set up and bleed the targets. You use skill 3 three times and start running away, the mobs will be dead before you have run 10 yards. While you are using Skill 3 (Death Blossom) you are evading too. There is also a talent in the traits that drops caltrops behind you on a dodge which further helps you escape while the bleeds tick away. A thief can play many ways, do not just run up to a mob and smack away till it is dead, you can do it that way, but it will be a miserable time as it is not effective in this game.
Try a guardian or a warrior if you are used to that sort of play-style, they are less squashy and can take a few hits. :-) Although it is not as effective as being “active” during fights with ANY profession.

I hope this helps.
Please do not give up on the game, give it time instead and try to play without clicking the on-screen buttons. You will thank me for it :-)

On your thief.

You can use a short bow.
bow 3 jumps you back and lets you evade an attack.
bow 5 jumps you to the targeted location (used correctly, lets you evade an attack OR blind so the next attack misses)
AND you have 2 dodges.
AND you have a skill you can get early that lets you dodge as well. (forget the name).

Between all those skills NOTHING should ever touch you.

you can also use 2 pistols for meduim ranged attacks.
Still have 2 dodges.
Still have another skill that lets you dodge.

Worst case if you use a dagger offhand
dagger 4 criples. It also does decent damage and bounced to additional attackers. You can kite with this.

You can also use a sword in your main hand.
Sword 2 temeport you in, 2 again tepelorts you out.

Theives have a TON of mobility that let you stay out of harms way.

I found the best way to level my thief was dual daggers.

You hit death blossom, wait 1 second, death blossom, wait 1 second, death blossom – you now have it and anything around with 9 stacks of bleeding. It will die very quickly if it’s not already dead. While you are death blossoming you are evading, so you barely get hit doing this.

Once you get traits, add traits which give you initiative for stealing, +1 initiative and increase initiative regen.

Then you can DB, DB, DB, steal, use steal skill (if stealth, backstab), then DB again

EDIT: Using the DB method, you can easily take on groups of enemies. I personally solo’d 5 ettins quickly with relative ease using DB.

Another thing to consider – you don’t have to stand face to face to an opponent while in a slugfest – aside from all of the dodges and attack skills (as mentioned before, on my thief w/ dual daggers, #3 (death blossom) is my favorite tool in the arsenal) – move around, do strafe runs around the mob to try to stay on the move and behind as much as possible.

Unlike so many other MMO’s and various RPGs, the last thing you want to do is sit in front of the mob button mashing without movement.

It does take a bit of practice, but once you’re accustomed to it the play style is a lot of fun and you may even find that MMO’s (and single player RPG’s) that make you stand still will start to feel boring.

Another tip. I’ve found that at low levels your equipment gets outclassed VERY quickly. For the first 20 levels I would buy new weapons on the TP every two or three levels.

Similarly, your armor may be outclassed. I usually buy new armor every 4-5 levels, or whenever I feel like I’m getting owned.

Both those classes start kind of slowish if you are going for a direct damage build approach.

Engineers do better focusing on conditions until you get quite a few levels and have the traits and better gear options to support direct/crit damage in my experience. Same with thieves, but their direct damage options are much better, much earlier opening up after level 20. Both classes need to kite and dodge around a lot, so learn it and love it.

I finally decided to try a thief, so far I have made to level 15 with little or no issues, typically the only time I die is when I get mobbed by multiple mobs. But there are skills for pulling single mobs from groups. For most play I like using pistols, along with the Shrapnel mine and the needle trap. Played right you can kite very nicely. With the Sword/Dagger Combo you can slice and dice using shadow step type moves. Yes I have died, but no more than any other class.

I also have an engineer who is level 31 again have not really had any issues you can use a rifle and traps for kiting, healing turrets for some great healing, You can solo any class in this game you just have to figure out what play style suits and then mix and match your weapons and skills to match. Also at the low level the TP is a good place to upgrade your weapons for few coppers at this point. I recommend for Thief class to keep the DPS on the weapons high because you are more dependent on Burst damage and critical then other classes.

I had some trouble with thieves until I found some decent combos. Pistol offhand is ridiculously awesome. pistol 5 gives a blinding field for a couple seconds that you can combo with. I like using dagger/pistol because I can sit in the blinding field for a couple seconds and not be hit by anything then use dagger 2 for a combo leap that gives me stealth (and does pretty decent damage to injured foes) and then backstab from stealth. sword/pistol works about the same way but sword hits all foes around you instead of just one.l

The hardest time I’ve had levelling (via combat rather than dailies), was on my Staff Ele. I was only staying with Fire rather than swapping around. Even then I only had issues if the enemies were all ranged and just stood there shooting the sherbet out of me, or a bunch all swarmed me.

Once you cross 30 things are alot better. I have my thief set to a condition build and I spec alot of bleeds. No problem taking out 3-4 equal level mobs if I plan it right. Have managed mobs 6+ levels above me as well, although it does require a CD dump to ensure your survival.

Glass cannon builds are boring in PvE, as all you are doing is waiting for CDs to pop.