Guild Wars 2

I just got Guild Wars 2 and I’m trying to decide on a class. I’ve narrowed it down to Elementalist and Thief. Which one is easier to play? Which one is more fun to play? Which one is best in PvE? PvP? WvW?

Thanks in advance for the help!

I would suggest trying both as the playstyles are similar but different. Both can be fun in their own way.

Elementalist has a little bit of everything, but we are pretty sub-par at it all right now. You can still do alright, and I think it is the most fun class (most important). I play Dagger/Dagger (D/D) which zips around a fight dishing out damage and trying to wreak overall havoc. You can play S/D (Scepter/Dagger) and do a lot better single-target burst damage, but you will have even worse survivability. Staff is viable in PvE (anything is), but really shines in larger groups rather than small-scale things. Eles can do a little bit of conditions, a little bit of direct damage, a little control, and good amount of healing.

Thieves, on the other hand, are almost all about damage and mobility. Thieves have multiple different ways to deal damage from medium-long range to short range, and can do quite the burst b/c of how their skills can be spammed. They also have stealth, which is an easy crutch to lean on while learning. They don’t tend to heal as well as eles, but have their own advantages.

Both can be rough going at lower levels when you are learning the mechanics (especially when to dodge properly). My first was an ele, though, and it has been my favorite. I am not sure about thieves, but eles don’t really come into their own until you reach about level 40 (its tough surviving at lower levels w/o all your traits). They get a lot more powerful after that.

In pvp, thieves are always good, no matter what happens. They roam solo/small group very well in WvW, and anything works in PvE. Ele’s are in a tough spot in pvp (we used to have a spec that was considered king, but it has been significantly nerfed), are good-great in WvW, (roaming with D/D or S/D or doing tower defense/zerging with the staff), and anything can still work in PvE.

I will say, I suggest you PvE to learn a bit (or hop right into PvP to learn the class at their fullest potential, but will miss out on the feeling of progression if you spoil yourself too much). I wouldn’t recommend going into WvW at too low of a level as you will be a very easy target and will have a tough time surviving, especially if you are learning your class/the game.

Feel free to p.m. me if you want any coaching/help in game. I will be glad to show you the ropes if I am on.

Elementalist takes a lot of skill to play well. Coupled with engineer it has highest skill cap in the game. I wouldn’t recommend elementalist to anyone who didn’t like a big challenge or gives up easily. Frankly elementalist is a horrible pain to learn…i know i am trying it just now, having played every other class in the game except necromancer…i believe elementalist is hardest…really punishes you when you make mistakes.

Thief is fairly easy to come to grips with, mastering the class is a challenge few manage…but to play to an average standard is easy and they are pretty strong even when played at that level. That being said…as a thief you have an escape mechanism that allows you to recover from all but the worst mistakes…so fairly fun even if your bad like me!

From a PVP point of view. PVE i have no idea how elementalist is…thief is good solo but fairly lacking anything special in group PVE.

Right now I would recommend thief. Ele has seen so many nerfs in every single patch and is quickly becoming unplayable and useless in most areas of the game. Thief on the other hand is extremely OP and has a very low skill cap to get good at it. Until they hire someone with some semblance of intelligence on the class balancing team, I can’t in good conscience recommend this class to anyone.

are you really asking this in the Elementalist forum?
obviously Thief, really. The Ele is pretty useless in 90% of the game

Nikkinella.8254:

Right now I would recommend thief. Ele has seen so many nerfs in every single patch and is quickly becoming unplayable and useless in most areas of the game. Thief on the other hand is extremely OP and has a very low skill cap to get good at it. Until they hire someone with some semblance of intelligence on the class balancing team, I can’t in good conscience recommend this class to anyone.

There is a lot of miss information in your post, and its fairly easy to tell you are biased. Ele does have a high skill ceiling, but it is by no means “unplayable” and it is most certainly not “useless.” PVE: any class does well, and in dungeons if you can have a mesmer pull the boss into a wall the ele can put out more dps than any other class with FGS. SPVP: you can use D/D ele very well in hotjoin. There is little to no coordination between teams and a valk, soldiers, or zerker, D/D ele can do very well here (while getting lots of glory and having a lot of fun). TPVP: most high level teams are bringing 1 scepter/dagger ele for the ranged burst damage. WVW:D/D and S/D ele are both viable at roaming and do very well in 1v1 situations. Staff ele is absolutely required for a wvw zerg to do well and most zergs want multiple staff eles (they also want warriors, guardians, and necros).

Your thief comments are not realistic. the thief is not “extremely OP” it has a medium skill cap, and a very high skill ceiling (similar to ele, but the ele has a medium-high skill cap and a very high skill ceiling). Thief does VERY well against people who dont understand its class mechanics, are new to the game, or do not pvp often. If you truly stuggle with thieves you can either 1) roll one yourself and play it until you understand its mechanics (i do this with every single class. i play ALL of the meta builds in dueling servers until i better understand what does or doesnt counter them) or 2) duel against thieves in spvp or in wvw until you can figure out how to beat them.

And about nerfs? Thieves have had more nerfs than eles had. I know that ele had a 60% damage nerf in the beta but that was absolutely necessary and thieves had very similar damage nerfs during beta/the first month of game play, (the assassin signet going from 150% damage on the next attack to 15% damage across next 5 attacks is an example) and the nerfs for both classes were needed. You should also note that thief is the only clas without access to any attacks with more than 900 range. This can make wvw a pain if you are trying to defend a tower/keep.

To the OP, both classes are in a good place right now, but they play very differently. I recommend you go to spvp with some builds you can find on the forums and try them out. Whatever you enjoy playing you are going to do better with. I am extremely biased towards thief and think you should make one because they are so awesome to play. I have made multiple thief guides for different styles of play, if you would like to see one/all of them just say so. If you ever want thief advice in game send me a pm IGN: Rand x Althor.

Deneb.2697:

are you really asking this in the Elementalist forum?
obviously Thief, really. The Ele is pretty useless in 90% of the game

This^. Thief hands down. Ele is a dead class.

Thief too, elementalist is * right now. I prefer to censure my world because I don’t like my class anymore I feel so weak again every others class in every aspect of the game..

pantsforbirds.9032:

Nikkinella.8254:

Right now I would recommend thief. Ele has seen so many nerfs in every single patch and is quickly becoming unplayable and useless in most areas of the game. Thief on the other hand is extremely OP and has a very low skill cap to get good at it. Until they hire someone with some semblance of intelligence on the class balancing team, I can’t in good conscience recommend this class to anyone.

There is a lot of miss information in your post, and its fairly easy to tell you are biased. Ele does have a high skill ceiling, but it is by no means “unplayable” and it is most certainly not “useless.” PVE: any class does well, and in dungeons if you can have a mesmer pull the boss into a wall the ele can put out more dps than any other class with FGS. SPVP: you can use D/D ele very well in hotjoin. There is little to no coordination between teams and a valk, soldiers, or zerker, D/D ele can do very well here (while getting lots of glory and having a lot of fun). TPVP: most high level teams are bringing 1 scepter/dagger ele for the ranged burst damage. WVW:D/D and S/D ele are both viable at roaming and do very well in 1v1 situations. Staff ele is absolutely required for a wvw zerg to do well and most zergs want multiple staff eles (they also want warriors, guardians, and necros).

Your thief comments are not realistic. the thief is not “extremely OP” it has a medium skill cap, and a very high skill ceiling (similar to ele, but the ele has a medium-high skill cap and a very high skill ceiling). Thief does VERY well against people who dont understand its class mechanics, are new to the game, or do not pvp often. If you truly stuggle with thieves you can either 1) roll one yourself and play it until you understand its mechanics (i do this with every single class. i play ALL of the meta builds in dueling servers until i better understand what does or doesnt counter them) or 2) duel against thieves in spvp or in wvw until you can figure out how to beat them.

And about nerfs? Thieves have had more nerfs than eles had. I know that ele had a 60% damage nerf in the beta but that was absolutely necessary and thieves had very similar damage nerfs during beta/the first month of game play, (the assassin signet going from 150% damage on the next attack to 15% damage across next 5 attacks is an example) and the nerfs for both classes were needed. You should also note that thief is the only clas without access to any attacks with more than 900 range. This can make wvw a pain if you are trying to defend a tower/keep.

To the OP, both classes are in a good place right now, but they play very differently. I recommend you go to spvp with some builds you can find on the forums and try them out. Whatever you enjoy playing you are going to do better with. I am extremely biased towards thief and think you should make one because they are so awesome to play. I have made multiple thief guides for different styles of play, if you would like to see one/all of them just say so. If you ever want thief advice in game send me a pm IGN: Rand x Althor.

Well said.

I would recommend the thief if you want to roam and the elementalist if you enjoy guild raids and larger fights.

pantsforbirds.9032:

There is a lot of miss information in your post, and its fairly easy to tell you are biased.

said the guy with 90% posts in thief forum….

Thief
WWW LOWEST skill floor/ceiling of the game and totally OP
PvP wont comment
PvE/dungeon/fractal High skill floor…..extremely strong

Ele:
WWW High skill ceiling and useless or low skill ceiling and marginally useless. (but people like their buff/cc pet that will be your role)
PvP won t comment
PvE/dungeons/fractal may be useful in really few situations……but remember you are either using a weak version of a guardian or a weak version of a warrior…..if you try to play ELEMENTALIST with his identity (see not conjured nor focus) well its a pain and useless.

Best of all is other nerfs are incoming because a certain dev seems to not like elementalist….
(fiery GS)

Said that i don t recommend ele because they killed profession identity with nerfs.
Unless you feel good swinging hammers melee and stuff like that.

LordByron.8369:

pantsforbirds.9032:

There is a lot of miss information in your post, and its fairly easy to tell you are biased.

said the guy with 90% posts in thief forum….

Well, if it makes you happy, I have no posts in the Thief forum and I completely agree with him….

I stopped playing my elementalist since Anet destroyed the way I played the class (glass canon). I made a guardian since then which is really fun to play, and a ranger, equally fun but less fun than the guardian in WvW I find.

I am currently levelling a thief, my 4th character, and it’s true that it is VERY easy to play and has by far the biggest single-target dmg burst.

LordByron.8369:

pantsforbirds.9032:

There is a lot of miss information in your post, and its fairly easy to tell you are biased.

said the guy with 90% posts in thief forum….

Thief
WWW LOWEST skill floor/ceiling of the game and totally OP
PvP wont comment
PvE/dungeon/fractal High skill floor…..extremely strong

Ele:
WWW High skill ceiling and useless or low skill ceiling and marginally useless. (but people like their buff/cc pet that will be your role)
PvP won t comment
PvE/dungeons/fractal may be useful in really few situations……but remember you are either using a weak version of a guardian or a weak version of a warrior…..if you try to play ELEMENTALIST with his identity (see not conjured nor focus) well its a pain and useless.

Best of all is other nerfs are incoming because a certain dev seems to not like elementalist….
(fiery GS)

Said that i don t recommend ele because they killed profession identity with nerfs.
Unless you feel good swinging hammers melee and stuff like that.

Thief:

I indeed post in the thief forums more than many others, but I do post in almost every class forum if I find the top interesting. You may also want to note that the majority of my posts are guides or theorycrafting. Much like the post you are responding to, I try my best to give unbiased, objective advice to players. I know the thief class better than any other, and so I feel most qualified to give advice on it; however, I will give advice to other classes I play when applicable.

WVW lowest skill ceiling? I actually disagree with that, I personally think has one of the lower skill floors against new players, and the thief class has extremely high skill ceiling (amazing players on a thief can achieve amazing things, but average players are going to struggle more). Some class has to have the lowest skill floor, and if isn’t thief it’ll just be another class. Thieves are almost always specced for 1v1 fighting and mobility, so it would make sense that they beat any player specced to run with a commander (assuming near equal skill levels of course). If you are specced to roam and you get killed by a thief? You got outplayed, or his build is a good counter to yours (example being a s/d boon steal thief vs a d/d boon duration ele).

PVP: 1 meta build (s/d), although more builds are viable.

PVE: Potential to be very strong, but very hard to play compared to other dps classes, so I agree with you here.

Ele:

WVW: I personally don’t see ele as a hard to play class at all. I think they have lots of skills to use, but i don’t really find that overwhelming (although some people will have a hard time with the amount of skills and when they should use each one. I think ele has a high skill ceiling like the thief (in regards to solo roaming). For zerg fights a staff ele is absolutely necessary. They have amazing combo fields for your zerg and a zerker staff ele can out dps almost any class when killing defenders on walls (or attackers attacking keep).

PVP: one meta build (s/d), but more are viable.

PVE: how are conjured weapons not part of an ele’s identity? You only have 3 options for you elite, and tornado doesn’t work against defiant, so fgs is a fantastic choice for dungeons.

Lastly the ele was not “killed with nerfs” it was brought down from god tier to the level of other classes (d/d wasn’t nerfed in pve nearly as badly as It was in spvp). As a thief player I understand how frustrating nerfs to your profession can be. The mug nerf killed my d/d thief (in comparison to other more viable builds), but I still play with it every once and a while and do quite well. Buck up man and show some pride for your class, and if you really think ele needs a change post constructive feedback, but don’t whine.

Naab.4301:

LordByron.8369:

pantsforbirds.9032:

There is a lot of miss information in your post, and its fairly easy to tell you are biased.

said the guy with 90% posts in thief forum….

Well, if it makes you happy, I have no posts in the Thief forum and I completely agree with him….

I also agree, however I see Assassin Signet from 150% down to 15% for kittens as a buff, not a nerf (nerf to 1 shot damage, but when the change came out you could do more damage with the revised Signet)

Elementalist has had a hits to its healing sustain, at the same time thief took hits to its damage.

The thief is a very fun pvp character, I have only played 5 matches with one, but enjoyed the time I played it. I main an elementalist in PvE and PvP (though I do much more of the latter). I enjoy the Elementalist in PvP, however the thief I find much easier to play (considering the build I run doesn’t use stealth much at all, about once every 20 seconds).