Guild Wars 2

New player here.. trying to decide between the two. Looking to mostly focus on pvp with some pve sprinkles thrown in.

I enjoy both classes, but mostly wondering if there are any glaring problems with either at max level. Any thoughts?

You should roll a warrior or guardian.

Zacchary.6183:

You should roll a warrior or guardian.

Second this. You won’t stress much and you will shine in every situation. An up-leveled guardian has arguably as much (and a bit more) sustain/survivability in WvW as a level 80 (exotics, ascended accessories/trinkets) thief, from my experience.

It’s a bit confusing because you said pvp and max level… if you mean sPvP you can just remake/have both.
If you mean pvp as in WvW… yeah thief would be the last option (i would even say pick ranger at least you will have 1200 range (same base armor, more health)).

Between Ele and thief… ele.

(i would even say pick ranger at least you will have 1200 range (same base armor, more health)).
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You could also mention engineer, same range as thief, same armor, more basic toughness.
Wow, engineers and rangers are OP! Well, wait a second: Rangers can’t stealth, their healing has got a super long cooldown and they depend on their squishy pet which likes to fight and keep them in combat (I know F3 but sometimes that doesn’t help) thus slowing them down making it very hard to escape. Well, then engineers must be OP in regard of the other two. Yes, they have all conditions availlable, they have super nice healing options, tons of condition removers, still they have to roll a condi build which means “indirect” damage. Not good in every situation.
How about this: Most classes are more or less equal and it depends on the player if the character is any good or not, that also includes that people have different preferences, I don’t like guard f.e..
I’m playing all 3 mentioned classes, by the way, and I kind of would appreciate it if people (no matter what class) wouldn’t make things up about other classes to make them sound OP.

They all have everything available. However, some are better than others and in most cases much better than a thief.

Jana.6831:

…

I agree with it being also dependent on the player’s skill, which no one can really measure. Excuses like “Rangers can’t stealth” (which btw they can, Hunter’s Shot, on a longbow), well “Thieves don’t have pets”… yup pointless…
Reason I brought up 1200 range and same base armor plus a bit more health is: as a thief it’s kittening confusing what you are in a zerg… are you a frontline since you have melee? Nope, you’re squishier then war/guard. Are you a mid-line? Nope, you really only have close range range attacks.
As a ranger I would imagine you can take a long bow and stay at a 1200 (+300 if traited) range (midline, even a bit more backline to be safer) and attack from there. You can help out attacking from a keeps/towers wall…

“Well thieves can roam”, almost seems like that’s the only thing we can do slightly better than others… at the same time mesmers can, warriors can while still providing something in the zerg. Also, roaming is nowhere near as rewarding as zerging. So, great we are better at roaming in which we won’t be rewarded equally as those that stay in a zerg. (Not to mention in my opinion roaming is boring. It’s like you’ve been told to go peel potatoes.). Looking over towers/keeps anyone can do, they just stand there and on vent/ts tell their commanders “oh kitten there’s a zerg hitting X”. Following a zerg, while it does provide information, commanders may not fully use that information. While following, you’re getting 0 rewards, besides a “thanks”.

Zacchary.6183:

You should roll a warrior or guardian.

what he said.

Well, I was just changing main from ranger (nearly 3k hours played on him) and went to guardian… after 3 weeks I nearly quit game. Making thief saved me and now I’m happy*. I know others who left thief for ele. You won’t know until you try all yourself.

*mainly wvw player. Prefer thief over guardian even in zerg fights.

None tbh. If i really need to choose one i would say eles are a bit more viable thanks to the conjured weapons but then again playing as a mobile weapon dispenser is a bit underwhelming.

To the peeps saying roll guard/warr. What if he’s attached to certain archetypes? for example i will NEVER roll a heavy char aside from a alt alt…..

Big Tower.5423:

To the peeps saying roll guard/warr. What if he’s attached to certain archetypes? for example i will NEVER roll a heavy char aside from a alt alt…..

Then that’s his choice. However, I am saving him from hell by showing him an alternative course of action.

Try both, in fact try all classes!

I’ve levelled an Ele to 32 before rerolling a Charr Thief, which I’m enjoying immensely. Granted, he’s only 27 but I’ve always been more of a Thief/Assassin kind of player. I also had a few Birthday scrolls that can level my character to 20 straightaway so that helps.

Thief, I feel, requires a lot of movement and awareness so if you enjoy rolling around and bleeding/poisoning/crippling stuff like me then you’ll enjoy Thief a lot!

See you in-game!

Most powerful PvP classes:

Warrior/Guardian/Necro

Stop being drama queen, between ele and thief in pvp situation thief is much better, and i would say even funnier to play, but a fact is that thief lack of pvp variety and every month you have to heavly change build to adapt to the nerfs (thats why i almost completely stopped doing pvp)

Now you’re being a drama queen. The “nerf” people refer to here are completely exaggerated and they are often combined with buffs people never seem to mention again.

Whatever,

when it comes to Thief vs. Elementalist here are a few things to consider:

• The Elementalist has much more build and weapon diversity. You can play tanky, burst, with lots of AoE, as ranged, as melee etc. A Thief has less options, mainly Condition vs. Power or Sword mainhand. None of the builds is especially tanky.
• Stealth is invaluable in WvW and will often save you from needless death by zerg.
• Thieves however are useless in zerg fights while Eles can contribute quite a lot.
• Melee DPS isn’t always a viable option on many PvE situations.
• In sPvP the Thief has a clearer role than an Ele. But none are anywhere near as useful as a Warrior, Guardian or Necro.
• Elementalists feel more “fun” when played well with lots of mobility and flexibility.

Thief can do two things well. Stealth and burst. They are currently 2nd best at both of those (no.1 stealth mesmer, no.1 burst warrior).

Ele can do one thing well. AoE. They can stack the most AoE in 1 spot at the same time.

Everything else, both of these classes either suck, or several other classes do it way better than they do.

I play with a small covert-ops style group for WvW (around 10-15 people), and I find my thief is incredibly useful in that situation when we go and get ourselves into small skirmishes or need something scouted.

As for large scale zerg battles, my Ele is far more useful.

But honestly? Play what you enjoy the most.

P.S. Telling him to roll a guardian or warrior is pretty stupid when he asked specifically; Ele or Thief.

@Scyril….. btw, the name isn’t an Archer reference is it? Not sure you’d need to roll a “spy” character… though…could be entertaining

My advice: Go to the mists. Do PvP or practice in the training area… get a feel for what works for you with a class. Avoid ALL PvE for the time being and just have fun in PvP. After a bit of doing that, you can make a PvE alt just to see the rest of the game.

Some things to keep in mind:
- DPS melee > ranged, always. Risk vs Reward is the meta. Best to just accept it.
- Warriors are the most straight forward class, thus the more straightforward to learn and play. They make good starters to get into the game, but your playstyle may take you from it to something more like what you want. Regardless of what folks say, just play what you like.
- the QQ train has stops on every forum. Folks are kitten ed about some things and jealous of others. Play it yourself.
- The game isn’t a trinity game (no tanks/healers), but IS a duality game (damage/utility). Some classes have more direct dps/condi or more useful util than others for certain things. Learn what those limitations are and accept them. Play what works for you.
- PvE/WvW is completely separate from straight PvP (different gear, different paradigms, etc). One game doesn’t need the other…. If you are really into PvP, just do PvP for the time being. Living story adds fun extras, but you don’t “need” them. Just play how you like.

and finally – thief or ele -

Thief is unlike other classes in that its skills are initiative based, not cooldown based. You can actually just spam one move as long as you have the init. Makes them bursty, but still pretty straight forward. Most folks in PvE seem to pick weapon sets for one or two attacks and just use the others situationally anyways. I’m playing one up now in PvE and enjoying Sword/pistol and shortbow a lot.

Elementalist is unlike other classes because it has flavor and complexity in spades. For every one weapon/set you have four elements, each with their own attacks, although the weapon sets have certain themes (staff is defensive, daggers are short ranged). You’ll have more abilities and choices to keep up with, but more capability. I also don’t know of any other class with so many choices of combo fields and finishers, which if you take advantage of can be pretty amazing. They also can summon their own weapons, like lightning hammer, flame sword, ice bow…. All that complexity takes a lot of practice to get good with, but if you have the patience and skill. I’ll make one at some point.

I’d recommend thief between the two for new players, but its a playstyle/flavor choice between most every class. Although, if you want something between thief and ele, you could roll mesmer and be all manners of awesome. Just make sure your character looks great… you’ll be seeing a lot of you