Q:
should I level a theif or mesmer to 80
It all depends on what you don’t like about the thief. I rerolled from a thief to a ranger after about 35 levels because of the low health always killing me. If that was your reason for example, a mesmer will only have more of that problem. Find out how you want to play. If you’re into standing in a crowd and beating them down with a heavy strike- go for a heavy armor class. The Light armors are about timing spells and weighing your opponent down with conditions and never letting them get close enough to hit you. The mediums run between this with decent power and defense often using range and traps.
This is a pretty good website that goes more in-depth than I did.
http://www.guildwars2hub.com/guides/basics/choosing-best-profession
Level the classes that most appeal to you to at least 10. Make sure you attempt to learn all of the weapon skills with each. Continue leveling the one you like the most.
I’m assuming you’re chasing what are considered to be the top pvp classes, or at least the most complained about. I’ll just warn you to be careful chasing perceived strength; generally you’ll fare better playing what suits you best instead of forcing yourself into roles just because others say they’re relatively strong. Plus, in the time it takes you to level + gear them, class balancing can happen, and that relative strength can disappear quickly.
I apologize if my assumption was entirely off base, and your interest in these classes are independant of their relative power.
I keep trying to enjoy thief but its very hard for me. Mesmer (pve especially) is a breeze by comparison. My hats off to anyone who made it to 80 on thief!
That’s me, ymmv.
Agreed.
It really depends on your personal playstyle.. Id say level a mesmer to 10-20ish and get a good understanding of how clones/phantasm’s work with the Shattering mechanic. If you DONT like the shatter mechanic in any way shape or form, id suggest trying a different class. (plausibly thief.) Much like an eng/ele, if your not taking advantage of our F1-F4 abilities, then you’re gimping yourself, and will most likley have a very un-fun experience leveling/playing your Mesmer.
So, get a feel for the Class Specific mechanic, and then choose from there.
Also, one more sugestion, level each to 2, and go to the Mists…. test out each character on the test dummies. If you’re having trouble understanding traits and abilities, google a video or 2 showcasing each class, and go try a few different builds out…
$0.02
I have a lvl 18 mesmer and I tried out the thief to lvl 7 so far, and I was surprised at how squishy the thief was. Mesmer was way, way easier to level.
You just have to keep in mind that every class plays differently. With mesmers, your illusions are your main tools and keeping as many of them up as you can, using phantasms, and shatters at appropriate times are what constitutes the mesmer playstyle. Trying to play them like a burst-them-down thief won’t give you success. Mesmers are better at drawn-out fights, which is likely the biggest thing that made that class easier than thief for me.
I have a level 80 thief and I’m working on a mesmer. My original character was actually a mesmer but deleted it not long after the beta and rerolled with thief as mesmers get the kitten nerfed out of them and Anet hadn’t figured out what they were doing with mesmer at that point.
Thieves are typically more difficult to play as you are almost forced to go GC to do any significant damage in dungeons and WvW from what I’ve seen. It also makes you squishier than you would be normally. If someone actually does a lot of damage as a thief without going GC then that’s great, but I know quite a few players that are elitist-types and they’ve all spec’d for GC. My own thief is built around my personal play-style, so whenever I try to do dungeons I feel like more of a burden than anything when I can’t do a kittenload of damage in a few seconds, which is why I rerolled as a mesmer. My thief is still hella fun to play and I’ve sunk a lot of time and gold into it, but I wanted to have a character that didn’t require perfect timing and constant attention.
Thief and mesmer are a lot alike and very different. Mesmer, as one of my friends said, is like a magical thief. Thief is based on stealthing, critting and condition damage (poisons and bleeds), whereas mesmers may be built around shattering or phantasms (or condition damage with confusion, but I mainly see people talking about shatter/phantasm builds.) Both classes require a certain amount of evasion (thieves moreso than mesmers in my opinion because mesmers shoot kittening lazers out of their weapons instead of having to dance around enemies.)
Mesmers are apparently great dungeon runners. My aforementioned friend is very well known for constantly doing dungeons and leveled his mesmer to 80 in a few days just so he could do better in dungeons than he did with his necro (which took him 5 days to level – he’s a major elitist and likes his mesmer much more than his necro.) They don’t require the attention that thieves do though, which makes them a lot more appealing. Some people just enjoy rolling difficult classes, and I personally think thief was a lot easier to level and reach 100% map completion on than my mesmer. Thief and mesmer to me are like dervish and ritualist from GW1, which were my favorite two classes, just like thief and mesmer are my favorite classes in GW2. In the end it just depends on your preference though.
So far out of lvl 80 ranger, lvl 80 ele, I enjoy the heck out of my lvl 80 mesmer. as stated above they are super helpful in dungeons and events, clones work wonders. PvP and WvW they are awesome also more than half the guys have no clue which is the real you haha. Condition dmg mesmers are good and so are shatter builds. I have not tried the tank spec yet, just not my style of play. If you like being all stealthy and getting the jump on opponents in PvP and WvW, then Thieves are your way to go, in PvE most die a lot from what I have seen. Just even in PvP and WvW they are squishy to me also, but they have amazing spike dmg.