Guild Wars 2

I’ve been wanting to create a new character on guild wars and narrowed my profession down to a ranger or a thief. I just can’t decide though. Based on my previous experience with fantasy games. I enjoy being stealthy, but also being good in combat. I like using swords and bows. I took a look at what each class can do, but it’s still tough. I would probably play PvE, PvP, and WvW, so it would be nice if the profession can do all three. I would greatly appreciate some advice.

Thief is probably better since it has a better role in large scale wvw. Ranger just doesnt have enough mobility or cleave atk to be really useful in wvw.

In pve and pvp, both classes are almost the same. Thief probably can dish out more dps and support in pve, but ranger is much easier to play.

If this is your first character, all i can say is that both classes have downside when it comes to leveling. Ranger is really easy to play (pets do all the pve job), but at the same time it really doesnt encourage players to understand the game mechanic (dodging, and avoiding red circles). I found thief is really annoying to level, because most of your damage only comes from autoatk. And since thief is really squish, you’re pretty much stuck with offhand pistol to cc and blind your foes.

Thief. Leveling a thief is a bit like watching paint dry, but the payback at 80 is worth it. There’s really no competition. If you haven’t made yourself a thief yet, you want to go with that first.

Rangers are… relaxing to play in open world PvE, but they’ve got nothing going on anywhere else. Their damage is pretty bad because they’re skills are pretty bad. You really don’t have a lot of options in terms of mobility with the Ranger. Once you hit an ability you’re locked into it. You can’t move, can’t stop, you’re just watching your character flail around. Where rangers have use is range. If you lag a lot and don’t want to be subjected to crashing during a world boss ranger with a longbow at max ranger is great. They make good farmers too and are good at material farming, but don’t ask it for anything in WvW. It is all disappointment.

I think it’s a lot depending on your personal playstyle. I you have two free character slots I would advice to create both and play around with them. They are so completely different, you’ll quickly see which one keeps your interest longer.

I myself have a thief at lvl 50something for over a year now. On the other hand I have three rangers, two on lvl 80. I like rangers and can’t agree with Eirdyne, I play them in WvW and PvP too with much fun (although I am not a hardcore player so others can perhaps say more about that, I’m just talking about fun). Ranger is easy to level with a bow but when it comes to the other weapons and playing with others you have to learn what every class has to learn. Plus you have to learn to control the pet what’s not always as easy as it could be

Would be nice to know what character you roll in the end g

Have fun!

I played a ranger for a little while and didn’t really like hanging back with a range weapon all the time. Then I tried thief and it became one of my mains. It’s a lot of fun zipping in with stealth, dealing big damage on a couple of hits and then dancing out quick because your armour is too crappy to stick it out in a toe-to-toe.

Like the previous respondant said, feel free to try both – it really doesn’t take too long for you to get a feel for the abilities, weaknesses, and play style of a class. Learning how other classes operate will help you in PvP and WvW as well, so it’s a win-win.

Eirdyne.9843:

Rangers are… relaxing to play in open world PvE, but they’ve got nothing going on anywhere else.

Ranger got nothing going on anywhere else? lol :p

Ranger is pretty good in PvP (some argue OP, in certain cases). Especially in soloq.

Furesy.6935:

Eirdyne.9843:

Rangers are… relaxing to play in open world PvE, but they’ve got nothing going on anywhere else.

Ranger got nothing going on anywhere else? lol :p

Ranger is pretty good in PvP (some argue OP, in certain cases). Especially in soloq.

Totally agree. Rangers are pretty good in a lot of the games content. I have no problems doing wvw roaming, dungeons or fractals. Stay away from the meta and enjoy playing whatever and how ever you like.

Like others have said. Try both classes as they can be very different but both enjoyable in their own right.

Thief is likely to be better overall compared to Ranger in PVE/PVP. The pet is an integral part of the Ranger class, and you’d have to keep an eye on it to play it well. Ranger sword is also unique and harder to get used to. Thief is more high risk high reward gameplay and both classes make good use of bows/melee in different situations. Trapper Ranger in WvW can be fun for roaming with superspeed and stealth with traps.