Guild Wars 2

I have a general rule I follow when making new characters which is, don’t make a new character until the character you’re currently playing is at level 80. With this said, the Mesmer I’m currently leveling is at 70 and when he hits 80 I was thinking about making a Thief.

Reason for this interest in making a Thief is, I don’t have a medium armor profession. I have a level 80 Guardian and Warrior and soon to be Mesmer. So all of the Armor professions are covered except for the medium armor profession.

Also, I’ve been told that the Thief profession is extremely fun to play. With this said would any veteran thieves care to share their feelings and experiences ?

Also, have any of you soloed to 80 and achieved 100% map completion in pve ?

Thanks.

The thief is definitely a fun class, and, at least to me, can feel faster paced than some other classes. that said, leveling in PvE can be a horrible experience for a thief as they have less margin for error than the other classes, so they tend to die a lot.

Mainly because of that, two main leveling builds have cropped up that make leveling a breeze, and both have a variant end game setup that can be used for at least something. d/d condition damage uses death blossom, caltrops, and short bow’s cluster bomb to AoE bleed things to death while kiting, and is extremely effective, but slow at lower levels. the other leveling build is s/p using black powder to blind and auto attacks/pistol whips to take out enemies, once again with short bow’s cluster bomb, for more than 3 enemies. both use signet of malice to heal by hit volume and avoid damage through blind/evasion.

end game you have several ways to build around several weapon sets, most of them having good mobility and some fun tricks. d/p is an easy to learn, versatile weapon set, d/d is more bursty and has cheaper(and harder to acess) stealth but also has less utility. s/p is more of a PvE set, but in WvW I have found success with it in small roaming groups as the mobility of the sword main and the control/utility of the pistol off hand really mesh well for smaller fights. s/d recently got an ability re-work and can steal stacks of boons, has a daze from stealth, and the mobility that main hand sword brings to the table. p/d is a condition build that likely wont kill someone unless they just really want to sit there and fight it out, but it lives forever and is a nice build to screw with people and distract zergs/hold a position until reinforcements arrive. p/p has decent ranged burst but the weapon set is plagued with issues due to the pistol main hand. lastly short bow is a high mobility weapon that has a spamable blast finisher for combo field play.

I hope all that gives you a decent over view of the classes weapons and leveling, and if you decide on thief welcome to the community.

900Hours thief here.

I did solo to 55 in pve, then joined wvw to 70 and made the last levels With cooking.
I’ve Tried every class , but the most entertaining and fun is idd the thief. Every other class will be destroyed of you play your thief properly.

OP, you should definitely make a thief.

PS: Take my words as a wvw/pvp point of view. i never pve, i hate it.And btw, gz for the mesmer as well, another great profession.

It’s true that not all people have the same gaming preferences, but here’s my story, and it’s what I would tell anyone who likes games the way I do:

Take a look at so many console games: the controls are designed to be intuitive, you usually have a myriad of actions you can perform at lighting fast speed. Reflexes and timing are key. The only cooldown periods you have is the time it takes you to decide what skill to use. You are in control, not a timer.

Computer games (to me): jumping was a step in the right direction; dodging was a step in the right direction. The initiative system that is unique to the thief in this game was a step in the right direction.

Honestly, when I was first introduced to this game, I had no intention of playing it. “Oh great, another press-button-red-numbers-pop-up game. Thanks, but I think I hear my chess board calling.” Someone else let me fool around with the character slots on their account, and I accidentally made a thief. Now, I’m hooked :P

Again, not everybody likes to play the way I do. But I harbor a secret fantasy: a week in spvp where no class has any cooldowns on their skills. I know the way the game is designed now, it would be broken. But it would also chaotic, hilarious, fast-paced FUN.

And that’s why you should play a thief.

^^ Makes a good point. In MMos I play the stealth archetype so no otehr class was ever a question for me. Having said that the gameplay in GW2 really amazes me with its fluidity and how fast reactions can be a part of that (how sub based MMOs never managed this fully I mean Warhammer to me now is plain clunky and a bit rubbish and I played that for three years) – in GW2 the thief takes full davantage and enjoys this aspect to the full, observe a good S/D thief the fast paced dance in combat is quite unique amongst the classes. Players who play thieves subsequently seem to be more aware in the game also, what I mean by this is that so often when in a fight I’ll see others in my team banging on a mesmers illusions whereas I’ll be locked on the actual mesmer solid.

Thanks for these replies. I don’t have a problem with dying a lot. When I started the Mesmer, I died a lot lol.

I find it odd that the Thief profession would die more than other professions since they wear medium armor and have such high damage output and quick healing abilities ( So I’ve been told ).

To be honest I don’t die an awful lot. Thieves have some of the best survivability tools. Thieves who are dying are glass canons with few hit points and no get out abilities – I personally run with Shadow Refuge, Hide in Shadows and Shadowstep – wouldn’t leave home without ’em.

Elmuerto.9840:

To be honest I don’t die an awful lot. Thieves have some of the best survivability tools. Thieves who are dying are glass canons with few hit points and no get out abilities – I personally run with Shadow Refuge, Hide in Shadows and Shadowstep – wouldn’t leave home without ’em.

Thanks for your reply.

GuildWarsPlayer.5608:

Thanks for these replies. I don’t have a problem with dying a lot. When I started the Mesmer, I died a lot lol.

I find it odd that the Thief profession would die more than other professions since they wear medium armor and have such high damage output and quick healing abilities ( So I’ve been told ).

we die a lot while leveling in PvE outside of a couple of high survivability builds, and while learning the class in the end game, as all of our defense for the most part is active via dodging, evading, blinding and stealthing. stealthing isn’t that great of a defense in PvE since being invisible wont stop an instant death AoE or a nasty cleave that a warrior, necro, or guardian could just eat. not saying we aren’t survivable, just thakitten takes more practice than the classes that can actually deal with incoming damage in ways other than outright avoiding it. that is what leads to a lot of deaths for new thieves, and in the case of dungeons, bad ones.

GuildWarsPlayer.5608:

Also, I’ve been told that the Thief profession is extremely fun to play. With this said would any veteran thieves care to share their feelings and experiences ?

What you need to master while you’re at low level is shadow step and positioning. Shadow step, when mastered early on, will give you a better experience in playing a Thief. Positioning is important since many skills and traits favors flanking your target. Also it is important to know the range of each weapon type because this will allow you to position better without risking getting hit. Sometimes a simple back step outside the swing radius will save you from taking a big hit. The reason this is important is so you’re always within melee range of your enemy, but outside their swing radius.

Once you master these two basic fundamentals in survival, you can start practicing your stealth timing. The reason why shadow step and positioning is more important than Stealth is because stealth had become unreliable in PvE due to many changes on its functionality in the last consecutive patches.

My suggestion in weapon choice is either Sword/Dagger or Dagger/Dagger to start at low level. As you level up, you might want to switch the weapon set to compliment your play style. The reason I am suggesting these weapon sets is to give you the ability to perfect your shadow steps and positioning. If you start with a ranged weapon like Pistol or Shortbow, you’ll have a tougher time leveling up later on since you have not learn the basics in survival.

Other than that, may your experience be better than mine.

Also, have any of you soloed to 80 and achieved 100% map completion in pve ?

Thanks.

I have played all professions (see my sig) solo, but I only have 100% map completion with my Thief. A lot of places, my Thief can just slip by where my alts will have to fight their way through. So yes, it’s an easy map completion for my Thief.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

GuildWarsPlayer.5608:

Also, I’ve been told that the Thief profession is extremely fun to play. With this said would any veteran thieves care to share their feelings and experiences ?

What you need to master while you’re at low level is shadow step and positioning. Shadow step, when mastered early on, will give you a better experience in playing a Thief. Positioning is important since many skills and traits favors flanking your target. Also it is important to know the range of each weapon type because this will allow you to position better without risking getting hit. Sometimes a simple back step outside the swing radius will save you from taking a big hit. The reason this is important is so you’re always within melee range of your enemy, but outside their swing radius.

Once you master these two basic fundamentals in survival, you can start practicing your stealth timing. The reason why shadow step and positioning is more important than Stealth is because stealth had become unreliable in PvE due to many changes on its functionality in the last consecutive patches.

My suggestion in weapon choice is either Sword/Dagger or Dagger/Dagger to start at low level. As you level up, you might want to switch the weapon set to compliment your play style. The reason I am suggesting these weapon sets is to give you the ability to perfect your shadow steps and positioning. If you start with a ranged weapon like Pistol or Shortbow, you’ll have a tougher time leveling up later on since you have not learn the basics in survival.

Other than that, may your experience be better than mine.

Also, have any of you soloed to 80 and achieved 100% map completion in pve ?

Thanks.

I have played all professions (see my sig) solo, but I only have 100% map completion with my Thief. A lot of places, my Thief can just slip by where my alts will have to fight their way through. So yes, it’s an easy map completion for my Thief.

Well with this said, It’s A go. I’ll be back with a lot of questions after I hit 80 with my Mesmer.

Once again, thanks for all the replies.