Not sure what to choose: engineer or thief?
Warrior.
versatile in which weopons you can choose which makes your abilities versatile. Good damage, tanky, certain weopons allow mobility.
Other than that you might be looking for a 1 player game. If there was a perfect twink class with all strengths all the time, everyone would be it so no one would be facerole and dominant anymore except for skill. :P
Warrior.
versatile in which weopons you can choose which makes your abilities versatile. Good damage, tanky, certain weopons allow mobility.
Other than that you might be looking for a 1 player game. If there was a perfect twink class with all strengths all the time, everyone would be it so no one would be facerole and dominant anymore except for skill. :P
not the best in everything…just though,without long cooldowns and tons of mobility (not like swiftness,i mean blinks,dashes,evades) …or just a versatile class without true disvantages.
what upsets me about the engi is that your weapons’ stats don’t affect kits,and same for signets :X
Warrior.
versatile in which weopons you can choose which makes your abilities versatile. Good damage, tanky, certain weopons allow mobility.
Other than that you might be looking for a 1 player game. If there was a perfect twink class with all strengths all the time, everyone would be it so no one would be facerole and dominant anymore except for skill. :P
Yeah because we don’t already have too many warriors as it is since the bottlenecking and weakening of the adventure classes began that’s all we’ve seen is people going in droves over to the warrior class because they seem untouched by the nerf hammer.
You should choose engineer if you like lots of choices in your ability arsenal even without being specced for them, or thief if you like the ability to escape and still pack a wallop when backstabbing.
I play both at 80 they are both fun and have their uses.
Balance Team: Please Fix Mine Toolbelt Positioning!
Warrior.
versatile in which weopons you can choose which makes your abilities versatile. Good damage, tanky, certain weopons allow mobility.
Other than that you might be looking for a 1 player game. If there was a perfect twink class with all strengths all the time, everyone would be it so no one would be facerole and dominant anymore except for skill. :P
not the best in everything…just though,without long cooldowns and tons of mobility (not like swiftness,i mean blinks,dashes,evades) …or just a versatile class without true disvantages.
what upsets me about the engi is that your weapons’ stats don’t affect kits,and same for signets :X
Yeah they definitely need to make kits scale with stats/gear been requesting that for some time now. They also need to make kits be affected by sigils and runes.
Balance Team: Please Fix Mine Toolbelt Positioning!
Yeah because we don’t already have too many warriors as it is since the bottlenecking and weakening of the adventure classes began that’s all we’ve seen is people going in droves over to the warrior class because they seem untouched by the nerf hammer.
he didn’t ask who he should play to offset the class that remains untouched by the nerfhammer. he seems like he was actually looking for that class that remained untouched and not bottlenecked, so that’s what i gave him.
What i’m looking for is the class i’d enjoy the most.
At the start,when i was downloading the game,the choose was between mesmer and thief…then the mesmer showed up to be incredibly weak in PvE compared to other classes…and i’ve also taken in consideration the engineer and the elementalist.
I’ve then rejected the ele…and i’ve taken in consideration the guardian,warrior,ranger and necro.
The necro and the warrior looked a bit boring to me(i had the minion build in my mind with the necro),the guardian is just a spin 2 win,and the ranger is even better melee than ranged O.o
I then tried the engineer,and i’ve found it both awesome and awful for the reasons stated before.
I had then decided to reject the thief,for his low AoE abilities…then i tried the necro with a different build,i didn’t like it,so i rolled the thief again,and i’m liking him as much as the engineer.
So,atm i’ve a low amount of informations about the PvE mesmer,a decent amount of the Engineer (lvl 21) and a decent amount with the thief (lvl 15)
So…i don’t think the mesmer can be a better choose than the thief or the engineer…as clones do almost no damage (when i played it,clones kept spamminkittenage against all enemies O.O) and die way too fast…probably my favourite class but only for PvP…that leaves the Thief and the Engineer alone,on my top place.
You have identified what you like and dislike. Only you can answer how you would enjoy what you like and get used to what you don’t like. looking at what you dislike from the other classes, there isn’t a class that doesn’t have disadvantages.
faceroll is boring but challengeing isn’t a guarenteed win.
You have identified what you like and dislike. Only you can answer how you would enjoy what you like and get used to what you don’t like. looking at what you dislike from the other classes, there isn’t a class that doesn’t have disadvantages.
faceroll is boring but challengeing isn’t a guarenteed win.
If the mesmer’s auto attacks would have a little of AoE… x.x
If you like conditions, support, but still would like to have some high power potential please do consider Necromancer as well. Their dagger power builds are loads of fun in world PvE and they are a huge boon in dungeons.
On mesmer, you should play it further. Around level 40 the class really picks up in terms of PvE. Of all my characters, I am the most confident I could handle an infinite steady stream of adds with the mesmer; they’re just unkillable in PvE if played right unless the incoming damage can 1 shot you.
Thief. low aoe?
Try cluster bomb, or pistol whip, then come back and say that again.
Would also agree with kirindave.
Mesmer. has some AMAZING builds hidden in the traits.
Like mine is a glamour mesmer. It is not something that is blatantly obvious.
But, it focuses on null field, feedback, timewarp. I can trait glamours to aoe blind, aoe confuse on entering/leaving. longer duration. In addition to their basic effects.
On top of that, each is a ethereal field. Phantasms work with this really well. As zerker, and warden both WHIRL combo. As well as deal huge direct damage themselves.
Lots of crazy options to buff phantasms too btw. ret, regen, bleeding, etc. But we are just cdr and +damage for a glamour build. So, now with GS, swap to focus OH, I have 2 phantasms that AOE confuse 3 stacks in addition to the glamours themselves.
(OH focus is traited for reflecting temp curtain, warden as well)
(90% of my mesmer’s damage is me confuse/reflecting it back at you)
MH sword or scepter has options themselves. Sword is heavy melee aoe damage. and a leap combo. chaos armor in eth field. That /distortion/evade is really strong.
Scepter is just longer range, and more confuse. Get that 33% duration(20% cond passive as well), and the confuse starts really stacking up.
More of a wvw build obviously, but still calling it weak in pve would be silly. its not remotely.
It is actually one of my main complaints about engineers. we are supposed to be versatile.
But in reality, we are the opposite of. Look at the mesmer traits. Phantasms. every weapon spawns one. Several, are in utilities. Many varied traits effect them. These phantasms effect many things, with combos etc. The distortion traits. distortion is on the class mechanic, as well as a few weapons.
Engineers on the other hand. Very specific overly strong traits. Grenadier. Juggernaut, hgh, power wrench, etc. These have no cross-purpose. Why don’t explosive traits, effect explosive shot, acid bomb, or flame blast?. Why don’t elixir traits effect EG?
(edited by Casia.4281)
If you want to be useful in end-game dungeons, pick Engineer. Thief has pretty low non-melee damage, and offers zero support. If someone mentions Shadow Refuge, I will find them and [kittens everywhere]. Taking the heat off a few players and putting them all on another is not sufficient to bring something to a team. And don’t mention venomshare, it’s.. blughtastic.
Engineer? AoE heals out the wazoo, AoE blinds (yes thief does this too I realize), all the conditions, stuns, 7.5s AoE chills (this is a big one right here), just bucketloads of stuff.
I think the question you should ask yourself is – are you good at microing? Do you want to play a complex class that will reward your efforts? Then pick engineer. If you want to just push 1-2 buttons per fight, maybe you should go with thief.
If you like conditions, support, but still would like to have some high power potential please do consider Necromancer as well. Their dagger power builds are loads of fun in world PvE and they are a huge boon in dungeons.
On mesmer, you should play it further. Around level 40 the profession really picks up in terms of PvE. Of all my characters, I am the most confident I could handle an infinite steady stream of adds with the mesmer; they’re just unkillable in PvE if played right unless the incoming damage can 1 shot you.
The issue is that i can’t play all the professions x.x
I’m pretty nice,imo,at choosing the best option…but sometimes there’s just no best option and i’m lost when this happens.
I love to play the mesmer in pvp,however i don’t see how a trait could change so much about a profession O.o
Ok,some builds are based on traits,like Engineer’s static discharge build…and some professions are much better,like the thief,after a certain level (because a trait can give a thief a lot of bonus initiative) however i still have to understand how a trait can transform a mesmer from very bad and painful to being able to crush everything that doesn’t 1shot you :x
Anyway,i really like condition damage…however i’ve a big issue with the necromancer: If i don’t take minions with me i feel too squishy,and i’ve a very limited set of skills to use.
Of course,i like being able to stack marks in a place and then making an enemy go there…or to being able to apply 17 stacks of bleeding…but it really feels like “this way or no other way”.
A little bit like the engineer: good until you spam grenades,mediocre when you don’t,of course a rifle/turrets build is fine but grenades may be better in any other way.
The best thing,that i’ll sure do,is to bring all these awesome professions to level 80…but i’ll still need a profession to start with!
I know that for some professions i should think “wait for lvl X then you’ll pwn” …but when i think all the bad time i’ll have to reach it i’m like…just…sad,it feels like i’d never get there.
With that said…i really start to think that i’d really take some little pieces of paper,write the professions in there,put them in a box and shake,then i’d pick one and play that profession,but i’d then think “and what would have happened if i picked something different?”
…Anyway! These kind of decisions are very hard for me,the thing that’d really help me now is:is there a profession,in pve,that will never let me think “ kitten if i’d have picked another one i would have been able to get past this easily,instead it took me a lot of painful time with this one.” ?
“Anyway,i really like condition damage…however i’ve a big issue with the necromancer: If i don’t take minions with me i feel too squishy,and i’ve a very limited set of skills to use.”
Early on, you use a dagger+warhorn build with wells and lifesteal aggressively (with lots of power & heal and reasonable crit it hits like a truck. Use DS to give your heals time to recharge. The amount of damage this build can drop if it has to in an AoE against mobs is pretty stunning, and the dagger auto-attack spam does great damage.
My engineer is my furthest along but my least favorite character. I just do not understand what it’s supposed to do. The idea that it can do many things at once is a weird statement, since the challenging play often happens in groups and you get your bases covered anyways.
honestly, I would not recommend engineer atm.
I feel we are currently half a profession.
Turrets are not working properly.
Flamethrower is not working properly.
Gadgets are nearly unusable.
Kit scaling is too low.
that leaves us Elixirs-great.
Grenades-great.
Bombs-ok at best. Good for bunker builds, in spvp, but not much else.
Toolkit-underrated honestly. Probably ignored due to turrets need to be buffed.
EG. underrated. but kit scaling interferes with it keeping up.
If you want to be useful in end-game dungeons, pick Engineer. Thief has pretty low non-melee damage, and offers zero support. If someone mentions Shadow Refuge, I will find them and [kittens everywhere]. Taking the heat off a few players and putting them all on another is not sufficient to bring something to a team. And don’t mention venomshare, it’s.. blughtastic.
Engineer? AoE heals out the wazoo, AoE blinds (yes thief does this too I realize), all the conditions, stuns, 7.5s AoE chills (this is a big one right here), just bucketloads of stuff.
I think the question you should ask yourself is – are you good at microing? Do you want to play a complex class that will reward your efforts? Then pick engineer. If you want to just push 1-2 buttons per fight, maybe you should go with thief.
I don’t agree: the thief isn’t the easiest class to use,and he offers the damage to a team.
a bit of time ago i’ve seen a pistol whip+haste build…it seemed pretty useful in dungeons imo!
I agree the engineers are useful in dungeons,however the issue is that they can’t do it all at once! And some builds are clearly better than others! just think at the cleansing explosion trait,the trait that adds a extra grenade when you use your 1st skill with the grenade kit…and the grenade spam! All allies will have 0 conditions!(am i right?)
Of course it’s a great tactic,but then you’ll lack somewhere else! for example damage output.
Also,the thief can AoE blinds as much as the engineer,that isn’t a problem! pistol’s 5 is a perma blind as powerful as the engineer’s smoke screen using the flame turret.
The thief can also stealth AoE,both with stealth refuge and another ability i don’t remember the name of.
I don’t really like the venoms,but the thief is capable of chilling too through it,not just the engineer.
ATM the bigger issue is that when someone tells me about a PvE build,or their experience with a profession,my eyes shines and i think it’s the profession for me…then someone else does the same and i’m in trouble again.
Engy can do it all at once. It’s called kits. I equip 4 for my fractals of the mists runs. Medkit, elixir gun, grenade kit, toolkit.
Gives me access to:
Group-wide AoE healspam (double super elixir via refined kits – this includes double condition removals, AND light fields that remove a condition on yourself when you use a projectile finisher through them)
Immense self-sustain (medkit + super elixirs)
An emergency block (3s block from toolkit)
Incredible ranged damage (grenade kit)
Monstrously good mob control (7.5s chill via grenade kit, double box of nails via tool kit)
And, this’ll sound crazy, but I actually use my main weapon from time to time:
2.5s root
Emergency knockback
Spike damage (with rifle out, use throw wrench, grenade barrage, blunderbuss, and jump shot, then swap to toolkit to use prybar, swap to elixir gun for Acid Bomb, then swap to grenade kit until everything’s up for your next spike).
Crazy what happens when you know how to play a class, huh?
Engy can do it all at once. It’s called kits. I equip 4 for my fractals of the mists runs. Medkit, elixir gun, grenade kit, toolkit.
Gives me access to:
Group-wide AoE healspam (double super elixir via refined kits – this includes double condition removals, AND light fields that remove a condition on yourself when you use a projectile finisher through them)
Immense self-sustain (medkit + super elixirs)
An emergency block (3s block from toolkit)
Incredible ranged damage (grenade kit)
Monstrously good mob control (7.5s chill via grenade kit, double box of nails via tool kit)
And, this’ll sound crazy, but I actually use my main weapon from time to time:
2.5s root
Emergency knockback
Spike damage (with rifle out, use throw wrench, grenade barrage, blunderbuss, and jump shot, then swap to toolkit to use prybar, swap to elixir gun for Acid Bomb, then swap to grenade kit until everything’s up for your next spike).Crazy what happens when you know how to play a class, huh?
I have a flexible mind,i though about this too while taking a look at the wiki,and after a test on the mists…my idea would have been healing kit+utility googles+rifle turret+tool kit,using a rifle.
The combo would should be: apply vulnerability,use 2,3 of rifle,throw wrench,4 of rifle,googles to recover from stun immediatly,rifle 5 to catch the opponent,surprise bullet while i’m on air,on land switch to tool kit,confuse,cripple…then place the turret,and keep hitting.Of course with the static discharge for extra damage.
Theorycrafting is easy to do,and the engineer rocks in pvp,however the scaling on kits,being forced to use grenades to be useful,the fact your weapon is useless if you use kits…is keeping me from rushing an engineer to lvl 80.
It seems to me like you don’t want to use grenade kit. If you don’t, I’ll admit – the engineer underperforms damage-wise in a consistent manner. Without it, your main damage comes from the spikes every 15-20 seconds through rifle skills. If you’ve tried grenade kit with smartcasting and still didn’t like it, then I guess engineer isn’t for you. I have seen a decent medibomber setup for dungeons, and it’s fairly supporty – but it’s taking advantage of a glitch currently on one of the engineer skills to provide some quite blatantly OP support, that I’d rather not divulge right now. Still – it’s an interesting, supporty, tanky build. Just don’t expect healing bombs with healing traits and whatnot to be obliterating mobs in a few seconds.
It seems to me like you don’t want to use grenade kit. If you don’t, I’ll admit – the engineer underperforms damage-wise in a consistent manner. Without it, your main damage comes from the spikes every 15-20 seconds through rifle skills. If you’ve tried grenade kit with smartcasting and still didn’t like it, then I guess engineer isn’t for you. I have seen a decent medibomber setup for dungeons, and it’s fairly supporty – but it’s taking advantage of a glitch currently on one of the engineer skills to provide some quite blatantly OP support, that I’d rather not divulge right now. Still – it’s an interesting, supporty, tanky build. Just don’t expect healing bombs with healing traits and whatnot to be obliterating mobs in a few seconds.
You guess right,my idea of “auto attack” in an automatic attack that’s on 24/7 to deal continuous damage…and grenades need ground targeting,that make them very annoying and painful to use. Of course i use the smart cast!
Anyway,now i’m thinking on Thief and Mesmer…but i think i’ll probably start with thief,then i’ll do a mesmer when the thief will be level 80,specially because if mesmer’s early levels are painful,it’s better to have a nice amount of skill when i’ll have to face them.
Thief and Engi happen to be my only level 80s.
I much prefer the Engi. Thief is a boring character to play. It takes no thought or effort and has very little to get excited about. Engineer has a nice variety of abilities, which give DPS, healing and utility, depending on how you use them. You always have something useful to bring and there are plenty of opportunities for creative application of skills.
Thieves and engineers are very different classes; I don’t quite understand why you need people to compare them for you.
From what I’ve heard and experienced for myself, thieves have some of the most boring PvE in the game due to their spam-friendly initiative system. However, if you leveled a thief to 15 and didn’t notice that for yourself, it might just be the perfect class for you.