Guild Wars 2

So, according to some of the post on this thread , the thieves on this forum are not afraid of most thieves in WvW or PvP because most of them are bad. My question is: how can I not be one of these people? How can I not be bad?

Ps: I mainly play s/d

Practice. Watch streamers on twitch and YouTube videos

I feel as though I need to be a small beam of light. Not to talk bad about anyone, or condescend others, but the reality is “bad” is an incorrect term used to describe most thieves. Now then, most “thieves” are just like the other 7 classes, a majority do not main the class and therefore have no incentive to thoroughly understand the class, its advantages and its weaknesses. For example, I alt a necromancer, but I main thief. Now I have spent hours on my thief, and hours on my necromancer, but loads more hours on my thief. I do not know the ins and outs of necromancy. To a veteran necromancer that has the same mentality as some of the veteran thieves here, I would be, by definition, bad. Plain and simple. Now I know for a fact I am not “bad” with the necromancer as I have done a lot of PvP with it, but I am by no means nearly as good with it as my thief. I’d say I’m slightly above the average necromancer player, but by no means really good.

Now then, veteran thieves will use the term “bad” quite a lot, when the correct term to use is inexperienced. I don’t consider someone bad if they are trying to learn, just new, and I am personally heavily against that term. It seems to be used by anyone who is of high skill level and anyone below them is therefore bad. And to be fair, some thieves may be bad. They may complain about the class and not care to learn it and blame teammates, etc. Or that thief may be having a bad day competition wise, it happens to the best of us. Regardless, I prefer the term inexperienced, or noob(in the literal sense of newbie).

That aside to answer your question, if you wish to learn, you won’t be bad. Just watch other thieves play. People will tell you to watch good thieves. That’s great advice, but also watch inexperienced ones in spectate, watch their mistakes and learn from them as well. But most importantly, practice, practice, kittening practice. Get out there and make a name for yourself, the bad thieves are the ones that give up

As everyone said, it’s all practice. There are tricks and habits you have to pick up yourself, and it’s the only way to find out the quirks of a class.

Also, don’t get discouraged. See if you have a friend who’s better than you, and willing to teach you. It took me months to finally beat my mentor. Every defeat was another lesson. Every loss, I learned something new. I learned what my mistakes were, and how to correct my technique. I’m no ‘godly’ thief, but at least I don’t fall flat against everything in WvW.

a t s e.9614:

Most thieves are not bad it’s just that its hard to play. You don’t see many “bad” hambows in PvP because the build is so easy that you can’t even be bad at it.

A bad thief will die in a second due to no passive defenses, low health pool and armor. A bad warrior will still survive 2484838*385883 seconds because of Endure Pain x2, Berserker’s Stance, Healing Signet, high hp pool and armor. Bad thieves show, but bad warriors are not nearly as noticeable with their build carrying them with passive effects until they ultimately get downed.

Op, you play S/D, so your whole build revolves around not being there when the nasty punches land. Master your dodges/flanks, know enemy key skills/cc, interrupt heals and nasties with steal (assuming you’re trickery), dive in and out a lot with Sword #2, avoid running out of ini, endurance and utilities to spare. Only use CnD (generally, usually it’s just a waste of ini) for stomps, res interrupts or on ambients. That’s a few tips and tricks you can work on if need be, you’ll do just fine if you can master these. Thief is a lot about doing the learning yourself, so it’s ultimately up to you how you will do.

Practice makes perfect. Know when you can’t win a fight and back away, or lure the targets into traps.

Depends if you want to be good at dungeons, pve, spvp, or wvw. Have your build work towards the goal you like the most.

I’d suggest you find a thief on your friends list who is better than you. Then set up some times do duel and listen to their critiques after each fight.

Take a lot of dirt naps in OS.

Also, if you have not already, try going 6 into SA but play it aggressively with s/d physical damage (and find some other ways in your build to improve damage modifiers). Condi clear, aoe blind, and heal over time on each stealth allows you to make some mistakes.

Then again, trial by fire is also fun. It can hone your skills much more quickly too. In that case, run as stealthless as you can for a few days, take no points in SA, and survive as long as you can! When you return to a “safe” build, it’ll be like everything is in slow motion.

Pretty much what the others have said. Most thief players are like players of any other class, there’s just a lot less margin for error on most thief builds than certain other classes. Throwing yourself in the deep end with no SA/blinds is a great way to improve, assuming it’s not zerg o’clock. I’m by no means the best thief but I’m definitely better for having done that.

Speaking of good thieves, watch Woaden’s vids (link in his sig above). I struggled a lot initially with S/D acro after playing dagger SA for 8 months, watching him play really helped me get a feel for the flow of the set. Many thanks! ^^

kaikalii.4198:

So, according to some of the post on this thread , the thieves on this forum are not afraid of most thieves in WvW or PvP because most of them are bad. My question is: how can I not be one of these people? How can I not be bad?

Ps: I mainly play s/d

My bad, I wasn’t trying to discourage thieves to play. In my opinion most thieves are bad and the reason they are bad is because the inexperience with the class. I’ll be honest I suck with every class but thief and I’m fine with that. I’m not good with any other classes because I love to play my thief and it’s the most fun for me. If you want to learn s/d we’ll you can watch my videos or arkadius (who posted above). I’m also on SoS so if you need any help feel free to message me.

kaikalii.4198:

…My question is: how can I not be one of these people? How can I not be bad?…

Add some salt.

And play to learn. And to win.

Thanks for all the great, positive, helpful responses guys!

Another question though, specifically about s/d.
Is it generally better to use flanking/larcenous strike more ad dance around someone, or is it better to infiltrator’s strike in an out while doing damage with auto attacks?

kaikalii.4198:

Thanks for all the great, positive, helpful responses guys!

Another question though, specifically about s/d.
Is it generally better to use flanking/larcenous strike more ad dance around someone, or is it better to infiltrator’s strike in an out while doing damage with auto attacks?

Yes. No i mean it really depends on the situation. I personally strike in, dance around and auto attack, then return out as they blow skills. But gameplay is reactionary so encounters may require a different strategy

Kill it with fire.

Knowing the other classes really helps.

And then there’s general rules like “never fight an Engineer inside his supply drop” and “when fighting a Warrior, watch out for Berserker Stance and kite it” etc.

And stuff like Whirling Axe being able to reflect and thus is best used against projectiles etc. I.e. stuff that’s not hard to understand but not intuitive either.

But most of all situational awareness makes a good Thief.

For me,the best way to be a thief is to master all other proffesions.