Guild Wars 2

I’m pretty torn between these two classes and need some advice and information so I can settle on one, maybe even restart it and learn it proper. I’ve played both enough to know I enjoy them, but I want to try and focus on just one. Dividing myself too much between multiple characters usually ends up leaving me feeling disconnected and taking extended breaks from the game, and kept me from breaking into a lot of the content available because I was always screwing around with alts or on a break. There are a few things I’d just like some info on before I commit to one or the other.

-How welcome are engineers and thieves in PvE content?
I’d like to be able to reliably participate in dungeons and such, but the one time I tried getting into a dungeon group for the arrah story mode at the end of the personal quest I got dropped for a guardian. =/ That led me to rolling a mesmer, guardian, and warrior but didn’t enjoy any of them and resulted in one of those aforementioned breaks from the game. Not sure what’s changed since then. Sounds like the upcoming LFG system will help, but I’d prefer to be seen as a liability because I’m bad, not because of what class I like.

-Is it possible to play an effective engineer, or put even put out respectable damage without being overly kit dependent?
I like kits, especially bomb and elixir gun. I just don’t like having three at once, but that seems to be the way of most videos I’ve seen, and that makes me feel like I’m trying to play high APM Starcraft, which I’m bad at. It just always feels like others are seriously out damaging me during any events, but that could just be me.

-Is it possible to play a support oriented thief for PvE or PvP without making my damage output a joke?
I looked into a poison share build, but I’ve heard you have to sacrifice a lot of damage traits to make that work, and the long poison cool downs make it a bit lackluster. I like the addition of torment but it doesn’t feel like that’ll pull the weight.

Anyway, I’d appreciate any info or advice or tips anyone can offer here. Really hoping to get back into the game soon.

Hey man in my opinion Engi would be the better choice way more usable in different situation useually pve wise unless its like cof and the silly group requires zerk gear engi would be more welcome just based off being able to stay alive my current main is an engi and the only kits i use is med kit and tool kit and i can bust down alot of things faster than a thief can while have 20k hp and almost 3000 armor rating just to spread it out thief is a great choice but as far as support on thief is really limited to venom share and even that i don’t find very useful in many situations thief was my first 80 and for me its at a point were i dont have much fun playing it just for the fact if you want to do big numbers you take HUGE numbers and just doesnt balance out for me

90% of all pve thieves suck and die in two hits, you’re better off going engie since they are a jack of all trades and have a lot more versatility. Thieves might do crazy damage but they don’t do damage if they’re eating dirt.

Second answer idk because I only just recently started my engie

I always wanted to try support thief but I’m not really so sure if it’s worth it, really the only team-oriented things are Bountiful Theft, Thrill of the Crime, maybe Shadow Protector, and Venomous Aura (though venoms in and of themselves are kind of lackluster atm).

You’d more than likely have to sacrifice some of the str or crit line to get some of these though, and depending how deep you’re going into other non-dps trees, you would cut a lot of your damage.

I’d recommend engineer over thief (I’ve got both at 80 and both get plenty of play time) if you’r looking for group oriented combat.

In e.g. a dungeon an engineer can provide decent support with healing turret, medi kit or elixirs or stack vulnerability with grenades. A thief can give group stealth with Shadow Refuge which can help rezzing as well as smoke fields (which the engi can do to a lesser degree as well) and share venoms if they run that particular build (don’t know if it’s any good in dungeons though). I prefer to have an engi over a thief since they tend to die less but if the thief knows what he is doing then it’s not a problem.

An engi gets a lot of damage is the more popular builds from kits but I wouldn’t say it’s necessary, especially not to go 3 kits. One popular build is the HGH elixir build (it got nerfed a bit and lost it’s stunbreaker but that’s not as important in pve as in pvp) or you can just go for one high damage kit like grenades or bombs. There is also the Static Discharge build which relies on toolbelt skills but I’m not sure how useful that one is in pve.

A support oriented thief would probably be most useful by either running a venom share build or by using the skills mentioned earlier (Shadow Refuge and smoke fields), the venom share build might lose out on some dps but you can use smoke field with some of the highest dps builds available (offhand pistol)

I have played an engineer since beta and I absolutely LOVE it. I am hooked on the utility of the class, as there always seems to be a “tool for the job” in many cases. Some people rag on me for choosing turrets most often, but with the right trait setup, turrets can be a godsend. As long as you can think strategically, you can set up an almost unstoppable defense with your turrets, and get in there to do some major damage. In boss fights I will often scatter turrets all over, switch to tool belt (melee), and get in there with the warriors and guardians. Very rarely do I drop… VERY rarely.

I also have a thief but I will be honest with you, it does not play the same to me. With my thief I specialize in hit and runs… using as much stealth skills as possible to preserve my health. It is a very glass cannon build.

I definitely prefer engineer.

Hope this helps you!

If you mainly/entirely worried about PVE content, pick the Engineer. They are multiple playstyles/builds that only use 1/2 kits and it really depends on what you go for. The Thief while it can succeed in dungeons and even be a very useful is much harder to play as they are innately squishy and most of their support/utility is greatly ineffective against bosses.

Arah is a really difficult dungeon in difficult dungeons I would only advice health or defense builds for classes that have hardly any resistance or can’t steadily get away from enemy aggro.

I can’t really speak towards PvE or the Thief as i spend little time on both.

Regarding kits I typically run a single kit(occasionally 2) build. One or two kits is usually the norm from what I’ve seen. Leaving a utility slot for something like Rocket Boots or Elixir S. I’m currently running Mask’s P/P + TK HGH.