So thief has always been one of my favorite classes in the game; I’m sure if you’re here on the thief forum, chances are you feel the same. But I’ve been wondering what thief mains play when they are taking time away from their mains.
For me, I have really enjoyed the elementalist (much less since trait revamp) and engineer (also much less since revamp, and also elite specialization). Otherwise, I find all classes offer a fun gimmick, but I have a hard time dedicating much time.
Ranger: Pew Pew
Mesmer: Burst or “how can I eat this sandwich while I beat the hardest hero challenge”
Guardian: Boom
Necro: I wish I liked you
Warrior: Knock people around
Revenant: Has nice rhythm.
I really like to play ranger when im not in my thief. I foten fool around and try to find new builds, and tbh, i feel like ranger offers the broadest amount of builds that actually work. Lately different melee builds have been my favourites, mainly core ranger Ones!
When I do try the other classes, I tend to look at trying builds most would not use. As example a mace/mace warrior using the arms line over the meta stuff. A Condition warrior using hammer and the on stun effects. Rnafer I want to toy with the Grestrord or sword dagger build.
The way I figure it If I am going to try another class out , it not required I do what everyone else does better. Yes I do in time settle for a more “acceptable” build but the other professions are as much experimental for me as anything much like zalt above and that makes them more fun.
I hate playing other classes, i find them extremely boring (just my personal taste, not trying to offend anyone). I do play them because i have to (e.g. we have 3 thieves on team; no way i am getting in raid group as a thief so i have to roll as mes, ele etc.).
warrior: too safe, too straight forward, ihulk ismash
engi: core = piano, just spam whatever has fire icon on it; scrapper = see warrior
ele: piano……….for more comfort put towel on keyboard before facerolling
mes: i would say generally it is relatively hard class to play and there are some interesting aspects to it, but it lacks the flow that thief has – idk how to express it better. The reliance on AI just bothers me too much.
necro: too slow
ranger: let my AI do the work while i pretend i am contributing!!! weeee!!! Honestly i don’t feel like playing pokemon simulator.
guard: never was fan of paladins, once again too boring, too many fail safes, too slow for my taste
rev: i am still too salty from the fact that this class was made to replace thieves. I miss the dynamic gameplay of thief and stealth when i play rev.
Bottom line, if i really really had to chose to have an alt, it would be probably a mesmer (and i do play my mes a lot in raids at least).
I play every class on a pretty regular basis. but after maybe an hour I always miss my Thief and hop right back on it.
That said, I do got some classes that I play more often than others. After Thief, my most played (and enjoyed) class is Mesmer, it’s similar to Thieves in that it’s a playmaker and that’s just a role I feel comfortable with.
After that it’s probably Revenant and Engi. Anything else, I just play whenever I feel like it or when my team needs it.
My main alt is a mesmer. It’s just a thief in disguise on so many levels. And a bit of party utility once in a while is refreshing.
Next are necro and shortbow ranger. Necro is for fun when I’m bored of paying 200% attention to every single skill. It’s the Booom→Slash→Arrrgg → dead from condi enjoyment thing. As for ranger I don’t know, I just like shortbow really much as a weapon. It reminds me of the burn ranger from gw1.
main ~ Esper Jace (Thief )/ Ellundril Jiluan
(mesmer ) – EU [Teef]
I’m coming from the other side, Thief is my favoured alt – although by a hair, as I enjoy my old Mesmer origins still & play Ranger and Necro when I am able as well. Revenant is my main, I like it mainly for the damage (or healer) + support aspect although I do realize other classes can do it better. Anyway, I love Thief for the fast and smooth gameplay – I may be in the minority when I say primarily for the Staff, I just love bounding about with one. As you can tell… preferences maybe not 100% from efficiency alone, but the fun factor.
The only other I can think of is if Dragonhunter was a class. Everything about it; the longbow skills actually feel cool unlike ranger, the traps feel extremely satisfying, and its F skills have flavour & are good. Too bad it’s connected to my least favourite class – Guardian.
I tried to look for a class that complemented the thief role, in case i did have to switch.
Thieves are very good in quickly outnumbering smaller fights and at bursting down squishier targets. On the other hand however, they struggle in team fights due to their lack of aoe and can have a hard time against bunkery classes, if your team lacks high-pressure damage dealers.
I choose to go with necro, since they can handle those exact scenarios, where thieves might run into problems.
I used to main Engineer, as well as occasionally hopping over to Ranger and Elementalist. Then I finally played Thief, with its absolutely ridiculous movement speed and the Initiative system and its usage of my two favorite weapons, dagger and pistol… And now I can’t bring myself to play anything else.
