Guild Wars 2

Hello community

I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 on and off (more off than on to be honest) and miss playing an MMO, so I figured I should come back yet again.

Last time I played the game, thieves were in a pretty bad spot, being considered sub par for pvp (save for 1v1) and a burden on their teams for pve, more often than not.
1-Does this still hold true or have things changed lately?
2-If I hop back on a max level character that I haven’t played since forever, will I be lost among the new content and changes or will it be okay? Wouldn’t really mind starting over anyway.

Thanks for reading, friends!

If I were you I would look at the recent proposal for Dec 10th patch notes, and read some of the comments (perhaps ctrl + f to find comments related to Thieves). The commentary about the change will give you a relatively good idea of where Thieves are at right now, and how they’re going to change in the near future.

PvE – in a poor position, about to be nerfed again. can be decent for high level fractals though due to utility of black powder and access to group stealth for skipping mobs.

WvW – in a poor position, about to be nerfed again. perma stealth is one of the better builds for roaming right now. about to be nerfed into uselessness though.

GvG – always been bad

ZvZ – always been bad

PvP – S/D is actually one of the better builds right now, but about to be heavily nerfed into uselessness.

Outlook: cloudy with a chance of blizzard.

Warrior is good at all of those modes (ANET golden child and most played class), and guardian is good at all those modes too except for roaming. ANET bias is very obvious. Right now you play a thief if you like its gameplay or you want a challenge.

Even the most hardcore of thieves ie. Jumper will play a different class (likely warrior, most thieves are rerolling/have already rerolled a warrior) after Dec.10 path in tPvP.

(Yes, it is “doom and gloom”, but it’s also true. the truth is saddening.)

Don’t listen to the vocal minority. Thieves are fine and will get better next patch. the howls you are hearing are from baddies who relied on cheesy specs and want their OP specs to remain. I still enjoy my thief and look forward to the patch. welcome back.

^

Sanduskel.1850:

Don’t listen to the vocal minority. Thieves are fine and will get better next patch. the howls you are hearing are from baddies who relied on cheesy specs and want their OP specs to remain. I still enjoy my thief and look forward to the patch. welcome back.

Sanduskel.1850:

Again, sample size of 1 an anecdotal.

See what I did there?

Ignore the troll, with the exception of the crap about Anet bias, what Excalibur said is right.

Don’t listen to Excalibur’s tears. While he’s not completely wrong he’s overly dramatic.

Thieves are fine in sPvP and still a regular in most matches. Even highly ranked teams still use Thieves. But they are taken for their extreme mobility and burst, rather than their ability to win fights.

The prevalence of Conditions and AoE damage spam makes it hard for Thieves to contribute in fights. Their entire survivability is based around either perma-blinding or perma-dodging their opponent.

But once you rid yourself of the idea of having to win every fight and instead focus on capping you will remain a valued asset to your team.

As for WvW, most Thieves I encounter still run D/D and that play-style and burst is practically unchanged. D/P is slightly different, with less burst, but higher survivability thanks to Black Powder. However the Stealth mechanic can be extremely frustrating if you’re new to it. Constantly Heartseeking into critters, minions or invisible players can make you pull your hair out because it breaks stealth.

I wouldn’t recommend you play it since it will be nerfed by the time you’d be used to it.

Most of the QQ that complained about stealth for the past year was overly dramatic. I think it’s our turn to complain.

Sanduskel trolls the thief forum all day, every day. It’s wise not to take his advice.

I can only comment on what I know as a thief, which all I do is WvW. In that reguard, it’s been getting worse.

- Shortbow cluster bomb range was nerfed w/o any buff.
- d/p is about to be made irrelevant
- Shadow refuge is also about to be nerfed to hell.
- anti-stealth traps were introduced
- rangers have an anti-stealth ability on their pet

Im sure I’m missing more but this is only for WvW.

At higher skill lvl(pvp wise) a thief is closers to the bottom of the ladder. Though on the other hand the thief is the ultimate scrub killer and there is a high number baddies in wvw and hotjoin.

Evernessince.8035:

Sanduskel trolls the thief forum all day, every day. It’s wise not to take his advice.

I can only comment on what I know as a thief, which all I do is WvW. In that reguard, it’s been getting worse.

- Shortbow cluster bomb range was nerfed w/o any buff.
- d/p is about to be made irrelevant
- Shadow refuge is also about to be nerfed to hell.
- anti-stealth traps were introduced
- rangers have an anti-stealth ability on their pe

Im sure I’m missing more but this is only for WvW.

I haven’t read anything about shadow refuge are you talking about infiltrators return?

Awe.8049:

… or have things changed lately? …

Thief hasn’t become stronger. Shadow Trap has seen it’s moment of g;ory before it got nerfed back to another, yet just as obscure state it had, S/D has seen a buff but has been nerfed and is about to be nerfed to a state worse then before it’s buff. And to promote skilful play they’re about to reduce active initiative gain from various traits and skills and temporarily increase passive initiative regeneration so that it can be reduced to below the current level in a later patch.

This pattern is familiar from Guildwars 1.

Sanduskel.1850:

Don’t listen to the vocal minority. …

No nee to waste all those bits, the OP seems wise enough to know not to listen to the vocal singularity.

If you thought thieves were in a bad spot before, they’re worse today. That’s all I can really say.

Hype.8032:

If you thought thieves were in a bad spot before, they’re worse today. That’s all I can really say.

^^^ whether thieves are in a good spot right now is subjective. What is objective is that since you left some things were buffed then nerfed down below where they were before while others were just nerfed or are about to be nerfed. In the case of sword 2, it’s about to be nerfed for the 3rd time. It was arguable that its original iteration was too powerful, but objectively it has been made less useful twice and will be again on the 10th.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I’ll keep an eye out for things and might just level my warrior for now.

Excalibur.9748:

…Warrior is good at all of those modes (ANET golden child and most played class)…

I see what you did there.

Arganthium.5638:

Excalibur.9748:

…Warrior is good at all of those modes (ANET golden child and most played class)…

I see what you did there.

:P well, the OP will find out the hard way eventually.

Awe.8049:

Thanks for all the replies guys. I’ll keep an eye out for things and might just level my warrior for now.

good choice

Incurafy.6329:

Ignore the troll, with the exception of the crap about Anet bias, what Excalibur said is right.

have to agree and disagree here bro. ummm…. the whole bias thing is right. hard to imagine it being an oversight. if u think its not a bias or preferential tuning…what could it be. how is thief bad in every aspect other than 1v1 (which has no real spot/purpose in game) and guardian/warrior is not just good but leading in ALL categories. seems a lil outside the realm of coincidence no?

Lol. Thieves are definitely NOT bad in every aspect of the game other than 1v1. sheesh.

Awe.8049:

Hello community

I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 on and off (more off than on to be honest) and miss playing an MMO, so I figured I should come back yet again.

Last time I played the game, thieves were in a pretty bad spot, being considered sub par for pvp (save for 1v1) and a burden on their teams for pve, more often than not.
1-Does this still hold true or have things changed lately?
2-If I hop back on a max level character that I haven’t played since forever, will I be lost among the new content and changes or will it be okay? Wouldn’t really mind starting over anyway.

Thanks for reading, friends!

1. Yes, this still holds true, even more than it did a month or so ago (When we had a viable S/D build for tPvP.). Expect PvE viability never.

2. Read the patch notes and you’ll be caught up. Most changes have been living story related and have disappeared since then. WvW has gotten some pretty significant changes. PvP is untouched and ignored mostly, save for 2 maps.

Sanduskel.1850:

Don’t listen to the vocal minority. Thieves are fine and will get better next patch. the howls you are hearing are from baddies who relied on cheesy specs and want their OP specs to remain. I still enjoy my thief and look forward to the patch. welcome back.

what he said. d/p sleight of hand is already pretty strong in the right hands, and it will be stronger after the december patch. All the thieves you see complaining are d/p perma stealth abusers and s/d easy mode aficionados. Plus, s/d will still be good, but people have gotten used to spam dodges and #3 without any thought and they will have to make the transition into thinking about what they are doing once again, which can be hard I guess.

Thief will be fine. Certain specs will be better than others but play what’s fun for you. The more fun something is the better you become at it since the more time you’re likely to put into it. If you become good at the game rather than play something people think is “OP” you will kill other people because you’re a better player than they are, not because your build is good or bad.

It’s a video game, you should get some enjoyment out of it.

Cheers, and good luck

Caed

Excalibur.9748:

PvE – in a poor position, about to be nerfed again. can be decent for high level fractals though due to utility of black powder and access to group stealth for skipping mobs.

In general PvE, Thief is actually in good position, not sure why would you say that?

There might be some survivability issue post Dec 10, but I am very optimistic about the Initiative changes that normalizes the init-gain among all builds and not just for Crit builds.

WvW – in a poor position, about to be nerfed again. perma stealth is one of the better builds for roaming right now. about to be nerfed into uselessness though.

It is “World” vs “World”, not roamer vs roamer. If you stay in a group, you get to accomplish more than just going off alone.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

It is “World” vs “World”, not roamer vs roamer. If you stay in a group, you get to accomplish more than just going off alone.

I think it’s fair to say that everyone enjoys different play styles and has a different idea of accomplishment.

In regards to the d/p nerf, I’m excited for it. Although that build is fun as hell, it’s super cheesy and I’ll be glad when there is one less thing for bads to complain about.

capmasterflash.5690:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

It is “World” vs “World”, not roamer vs roamer. If you stay in a group, you get to accomplish more than just going off alone.

I think it’s fair to say that everyone enjoys different play styles and has a different idea of accomplishment.

In regards to the d/p nerf, I’m excited for it. Although that build is fun as hell, it’s super cheesy and I’ll be glad when there is one less thing for bads to complain about.

You can, definitely, but you cannot say that because your play style no longer work that it means that the Thief in other play style is in poor position.

Yes, no worries about how well you play. Just have fun. Work on your cloak and dagger..

Excalibur.9748:

Even the most hardcore of thieves ie. Jumper will play a different class (likely warrior, most thieves are rerolling/have already rerolled a warrior) after Dec.10 path in tPvP.

Not to rag on anyone personally but if one is ‘’hardcore of thieves’’ and moves to a different class after a balance patch then that person is not ‘’hardcore of said class’’.

vincecontix.1264:

Evernessince.8035:

Sanduskel trolls the thief forum all day, every day. It’s wise not to take his advice.

I can only comment on what I know as a thief, which all I do is WvW. In that reguard, it’s been getting worse.

- Shortbow cluster bomb range was nerfed w/o any buff.
- d/p is about to be made irrelevant
- Shadow refuge is also about to be nerfed to hell.
- anti-stealth traps were introduced
- rangers have an anti-stealth ability on their pe

Im sure I’m missing more but this is only for WvW.

I haven’t read anything about shadow refuge are you talking about infiltrators return?

Likely he is talking about infusion of shadow not functioning with the pulsing aspect of shadow refuge.

bettadenu.5483:

Excalibur.9748:

Even the most hardcore of thieves ie. Jumper will play a different class (likely warrior, most thieves are rerolling/have already rerolled a warrior) after Dec.10 path in tPvP.

Not to rag on anyone personally but if one is ‘’hardcore of thieves’’ and moves to a different class after a balance patch then that person is not ‘’hardcore of said class’’.

If you run with a premade team then you need to bring whats best for your team. If you have a team that can peel for you, I think a really heavy damage oriented thief would do great (so would a mesmer), but in soloque you aren’t going to have the communication for that sort of play. In soloque i find myself often swapping to my condi engi or bunker warrior to fill a role on my team that no one else is willing to fill (even though i want to play my thief). I think we will just have to see how the metas change (ive noticed pretty big differences in team and solo arena gameplay).