Mesmer Or Theif

Mesmer Or Theif

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Posted by: Andy.8543

Andy.8543

Hey guys

My first character in GW2 and i’ve levelled both toons to about 10. I love both the lore of the classes, and they both seem really fun. My biggest issue is, I cant choose which one i want to continue to main!

I’m probably going to be doing mainly pvp, but thats not all i want to do…Can anyone give me some insight into what both classes are like end game? Would really appreciate it. Do they both have high skillcaps? Which one do you guys find more fun?

Any input will be greatly appreciated

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Posted by: Zach.2618

Zach.2618

Mesmer is at a better spot right now in almost every aspect of the game than thieves:D both are fun and usable just depends on which you enjoy More:D

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Posted by: Adine.2184

Adine.2184

It really depends on your style of play . If you like getting in peoples faces then Thief is the way to go where as if you prefer a bit of room Mesmer is . One thing to keep in mind is that Mesmers have more room for error since the Mesmer has 15,922 heath at 80 where as the Thief only has 11,645 which is a significant difference . I personally find Mesmer to be more fun than the Thief since you have more utility . Then again my Mesmer is my main where as i havent touched my Thief in over a year ( both 80 ) so ive got a bit of a bias

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Posted by: Riku.4821

Riku.4821

Mesmers are versatile for controlled range combat, and strong melee to boot.
They do damage in three different means. Self, phantasm, conditions. To max damage you will need to accommodate all of these. You can also max precision damage and do crazy reflect damage.

Thieves are very in your face, see me when I want you to character. Strong melee, disengage and reengage. Their damage comes from themselves and their position. Stealth, backstab, flanking will give you more damage. They lack good ranged combat. Most of their damage is also critical damage.

This should cover the jist of lv80 generic information.

I have played since pre-launch or the core game and still don’t have the main, with 20 characters and a dozen level 80s.

Guild Leader of Lunar Tree[LT].
Officer of Power Overwhelming[ZERK].
First term Forum PvE Specialist.

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Posted by: Andy.8543

Andy.8543

Mesmer is looking to be the more of the character that im after. I can also fill a support role in giving my Friends buffs.

I’m very interested in going Chronomancer and Daredevil When i hit 80 though. So i dont know whether that will have a chance in peoples opinions. The only thing that worries me is ‘juggling’ the 3 forms of damage the mesmer uses.

Before i decided to give a theif a look.. mesmer was the ‘go to’ class for me, just from reading things about them and their lore

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Posted by: PopeUrban.2578

PopeUrban.2578

Mesmers are, generally, more awareness focused and strategic in playstyle. You don’t spend a lot of time reacting with a mesmer, but rather taking in the big picture of what’s going on around you and using the right combination of skills to counter the whole battlefield.
How you use your skills together, and what the opportunity cost of having them on cooldown is is very important to mesmers, as a lot of their abilities are only truly effective when combined with other abilities in the proper way.

Thieves are more reactive/impulsive in playstyle. The initiative system and thief’s general low survivability means being much more aware of where you sit in the fight from moment to moment, and you’e making an endless series of quick decisions with not much advance planning. Unlike mesmer, who thrives on making great plans, the thief thrives on making good reactions.
While thieves have a few important skill combos (stealth sttacks and certain leap finisher interactions) thief skills tend to be more independant of one another, where using a single skill and havin g it on or off cooldown (in the case of utilities or elites) is a bigger consideration than how your skills interact. The ability to react well tends to be much more important than planning well.

Basically, if you like “setting up” to get a win, go mesmer, but if you like “countering” to get a win, go thief.

Guild Master – The Papacy [POPE] (Gate of Madness)/Road Scholar for the Durmand Priory
Writer/Director – Quaggan Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky2TGPmMPeQ

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Posted by: Andy.8543

Andy.8543

Yeah definitely going to go mesmer i think Thankyou for your help guys. Are there any decent guides i can look for? Any preferred weapon set ups?

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Posted by: Teaniel.9052

Teaniel.9052

Chronomancer is fantastic – possibly my favorite elite spec, tied with herald (I’m going off of beta weekend experience – haven’t unlocked a full elite since launch). I haven’t heard any complaints about it, except maybe that it’s too powerful.
Haven’t heard a lot about daredevil, but mostly negative feedback, and I was not impressed, personally. Even more ‘in your face’ than a regular thief, and looks tricky to master.
Also, if you like helping people, mesmer ports to vistas and jumping puzzles are a great way to do that. I enjoy porting anyone who happens to be around as I do a puzzle – even if I can’t make it myself, maybe someone I helped did.

EDIT: just read the the posts above mine – that’s a very good summary, and explains nicely why I like my mesmer. I like having a solid plan of attack that I can rely on, and can’t survive PvP with a thief precisely because my reactions to other players aren’t fast enough.
I start with meta battle builds and tweak them until I find something I like.
Staff/sword-pistol is nice for leveling – I switch staff for gs for jumping puzzles (and usually grab the asura golem elite to distract mobs)

We’re going to devote our energies to sports, gardening, all the cultural pursuits;
in fact, we’re going to put the goons to sleep.
Meanwhile – we dig.

(edited by Teaniel.9052)

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Posted by: EazyPanda.6419

EazyPanda.6419

While it seems that you have made up your mind, I find a lack of feedback from thieves, so I though that I’d share some insight, from a thief’s perspective.

As a thief main, I’d have to agree, mesmer are in a better spot for Pvp at the moment. And thieves arguably have a higher skill floor compared to mesmers, especially in Pvp and and the Jungle.
Mesmers have similar, if not higher bursting capabilities, has access to stealth, yet does not rely on it, and generally brings more to the table compared to thieves.

Thief is a class that grows on you, not so much as a pick up and play class. As a thief, you are required to not only know your own skills, but to know your opponent’s as well, since you cannot just press a series of buttons and win a fight. Make one mistake and you are dead, while needing to play almost perfectly to win against other classes.

It is a high risk, mediocre reward class, but as stated before, it is a class where you have to play reactively. New thieves are certain to die, and are expected to put in hundreds of hours to be regarded as decent thieves.
When two players of the same skill level are dueling, the thief is expected to lose. Yet, a skilled thief is a monster to fight against, and can turn the tide of a match very quickly.

In PvE, unskilled thieves spend more time on the ground, or on their shortbow which deals low damage, or retreating out of range of the boss after taking a hit, and can be considered a liability to the party. On the new maps, the thing that made thieves meta, group stealth, is not as important as they are in dungeons.

After saying all this, why do I keep playing my thief? Simply because it is fun. The freedom of not being restricted by cooldown, and the feeling when you beat the odds.
No zerker in the new jungles? My daredevil is proudly wearing zerker gear and surviving decently.
Thieves die easily in group content? My thief is still soloing Mai Trin after my party wiped and is trying to respawn.

Thieves are really bad in Pvp? Yet I’m still at the top of the scoreboard at the results screen. (a rare thing these days I’d have to admit)

Thieves are bad in group fights in WvW? Tell that to the enemy zerg’s elementalists and necros that are on the floor, leaving the enemy with no way to deal damage. (again. A rare thing to be honest).

What I’m trying to say is, find your own class. Some people found the game boring after a while simply because they are playing the wrong class. Try out all the classes. Once you fall in love with a class, the game just feels a lot more thrilling.

Anet logic:
where bashing people over the head with a stick deals more damage than a stab to the heart.
-My D.A. = http://eazypanda.deviantart.com/

(edited by EazyPanda.6419)

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Posted by: fireflyry.7023

fireflyry.7023

Why not both?Just role two mains from the start.

I did this when I started the game, switching from a Thief to a Guardian as I leveled. It’s a good way to break up the game play so you have more variation and leveling is fast anyway. Was cool to get two toons to 80 and geared out at around the same time, gives you options for latter content.

PS.Go Thief :P lol

If your having adventurer problems I feel bad for you son, I dodged 99 arrows till my knee took one.

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Posted by: PopeUrban.2578

PopeUrban.2578

While it seems that you have made up your mind, I find a lack of feedback from thieves, so I though that I’d share some insight, from a thief’s perspective.

As a thief main, I’d have to agree, mesmer are in a better spot for Pvp at the moment. And thieves arguably have a higher skill floor compared to mesmers, especially in Pvp and and the Jungle.
Mesmers have similar, if not higher bursting capabilities, has access to stealth, yet does not rely on it, and generally brings more to the table compared to thieves.

Thief is a class that grows on you, not so much as a pick up and play class. As a thief, you are required to not only know your own skills, but to know your opponent’s as well, since you cannot just press a series of buttons and win a fight. Make one mistake and you are dead, while needing to play almost perfectly to win against other classes.

It is a high risk, mediocre reward class, but as stated before, it is a class where you have to play reactively. New thieves are certain to die, and are expected to put in hundreds of hours to be regarded as decent thieves.
When two players of the same skill level are dueling, the thief is expected to lose. Yet, a skilled thief is a monster to fight against, and can turn the tide of a match very quickly.

In PvE, unskilled thieves spend more time on the ground, or on their shortbow which deals low damage, or retreating out of range of the boss after taking a hit, and can be considered a liability to the party. On the new maps, the thing that made thieves meta, group stealth, is not as important as they are in dungeons.

After saying all this, why do I keep playing my thief? Simply because it is fun. The freedom of not being restricted by cooldown, and the feeling when you beat the odds.
No zerker in the new jungles? My daredevil is proudly wearing zerker gear and surviving decently.
Thieves die easily in group content? My thief is still soloing Mai Trin after my party wiped and is trying to respawn.

Thieves are really bad in Pvp? Yet I’m still at the top of the scoreboard at the results screen. (a rare thing these days I’d have to admit)

Thieves are bad in group fights in WvW? Tell that to the enemy zerg’s elementalists and necros that are on the floor, leaving the enemy with no way to deal damage. (again. A rare thing to be honest).

What I’m trying to say is, find your own class. Some people found the game boring after a while simply because they are playing the wrong class. Try out all the classes. Once you fall in love with a class, the game just feels a lot more thrilling.

Agreed. Thieves aren’t “bad” per se, but they do require a much higher level of play for the same reward. They’re a high skill floor class. A bad mesmer will still probably live and might kill some people or mobs. A bad thief will simply die.

I brought a new player in to the game afew weeks ago, and he decided, against my warning, to roll a thief for pvp, having never played GW2 before. he died instantly and decided the game was dumb. after a week I suggested he try an easier class to start off with, and gave him a warrior build to try. After which he decided he liked the game and hated the thief.

Meanwhile I play thief almost exclusively and do decently with it (within its sadly still to strict limits) in pvp and generally outlast or outdamage other party members with it in pve.

Guild Master – The Papacy [POPE] (Gate of Madness)/Road Scholar for the Durmand Priory
Writer/Director – Quaggan Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky2TGPmMPeQ

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Posted by: fireflyry.7023

fireflyry.7023

Gotta agree.

I suggest Warrior or equivalent class to any player new to the genre and have had similar experiences in guilds with new players. Ele is another one with all the tune switching, I find many new players just hate it.

Warrior is always a safe bet.

If your having adventurer problems I feel bad for you son, I dodged 99 arrows till my knee took one.

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Posted by: Azure Prower.8701

Azure Prower.8701

If you want to PVP… Hell… Even PVE. Don’t go thief. Anything but thief.

Thief is high risk, little reward.

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Posted by: Daniel Handler.4816

Daniel Handler.4816

While it seems that you have made up your mind, I find a lack of feedback from thieves, so I though that I’d share some insight, from a thief’s perspective.

As a thief main, I’d have to agree, mesmer are in a better spot for Pvp at the moment. And thieves arguably have a higher skill floor compared to mesmers, especially in Pvp and and the Jungle.
Mesmers have similar, if not higher bursting capabilities, has access to stealth, yet does not rely on it, and generally brings more to the table compared to thieves.

Thief is a class that grows on you, not so much as a pick up and play class. As a thief, you are required to not only know your own skills, but to know your opponent’s as well, since you cannot just press a series of buttons and win a fight. Make one mistake and you are dead, while needing to play almost perfectly to win against other classes.

It is a high risk, mediocre reward class, but as stated before, it is a class where you have to play reactively. New thieves are certain to die, and are expected to put in hundreds of hours to be regarded as decent thieves.
When two players of the same skill level are dueling, the thief is expected to lose. Yet, a skilled thief is a monster to fight against, and can turn the tide of a match very quickly.

In PvE, unskilled thieves spend more time on the ground, or on their shortbow which deals low damage, or retreating out of range of the boss after taking a hit, and can be considered a liability to the party. On the new maps, the thing that made thieves meta, group stealth, is not as important as they are in dungeons.

After saying all this, why do I keep playing my thief? Simply because it is fun. The freedom of not being restricted by cooldown, and the feeling when you beat the odds.
No zerker in the new jungles? My daredevil is proudly wearing zerker gear and surviving decently.
Thieves die easily in group content? My thief is still soloing Mai Trin after my party wiped and is trying to respawn.

Thieves are really bad in Pvp? Yet I’m still at the top of the scoreboard at the results screen. (a rare thing these days I’d have to admit)

Thieves are bad in group fights in WvW? Tell that to the enemy zerg’s elementalists and necros that are on the floor, leaving the enemy with no way to deal damage. (again. A rare thing to be honest).

What I’m trying to say is, find your own class. Some people found the game boring after a while simply because they are playing the wrong class. Try out all the classes. Once you fall in love with a class, the game just feels a lot more thrilling.

Agreed. Thieves aren’t “bad” per se, but they do require a much higher level of play for the same reward. They’re a high skill floor class. A bad mesmer will still probably live and might kill some people or mobs. A bad thief will simply die.

I brought a new player in to the game afew weeks ago, and he decided, against my warning, to roll a thief for pvp, having never played GW2 before. he died instantly and decided the game was dumb. after a week I suggested he try an easier class to start off with, and gave him a warrior build to try. After which he decided he liked the game and hated the thief.

Meanwhile I play thief almost exclusively and do decently with it (within its sadly still to strict limits) in pvp and generally outlast or outdamage other party members with it in pve.

The skill floor of thieves and mesmers are both high. Survavibility and the skill floor are not the same concept. The combat method of mesmers just allow for more survival since we are a ranged class first and foremost. Skill ceiling gives the reverse situation. A mesmer has to deal with long skill combos that contain multiple instant skills. A thief can reinitiate a combo if they mess it up. A mesmer cannot. Mesmers have to deal with positioning of illusion and complicated mechanics in order to deal damage. Mesmers were given some instant stuns to make the process of landing shatters easier, but it did not change the skill ceiling.

However I agree that thief has a higher skill floor for base survival.

“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.

(edited by Daniel Handler.4816)

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Posted by: fixit.7189

fixit.7189

Do not roll a thief, we bring nothing to the table another class cannot do 10x better with far less skill needed.