Guild Wars 2

So, I’m a super new player to gw2. I’ve been playing for just a few days now, and I’d like a little bit of guidance.

First, I can’t really decide which weapon set I’d like to use. I think I enjoy d/p as the most fun, but the utility of the 2 ability on s/p is really good. And that offhand blind is great, as much as i would enjoy d/d.
Anyway, I’d just like some insight on the pros and cons of the different weapon sets.

Second, traits are a mystery to me. I don’t really know what I’m doing there, and I just hit level 12, so I’m fresh into them and very lost.

Lastly, reading these boards are pretty discouraging for a thief! Everyone seems to think that they are not viable endgame, or even as good at any other class at doing anything. I’m really interested in the Mesmer class, but I don’t want to reroll my thief, because I’m just playing for fun and I really enjoy the thief flavor. So can anyone expand for me what a thief really excels at over some other classes?

Thank you so much, everyone. Sorry if these are common questions, I don’t find the search function really helpful, but I assure you I tried.

So many people viewed but nobody replied. That’s a bit sad to be honest!

Anyway off to the answers! I can only talk about my personal experience with the Thief class ofcourse.
For PvE I strongly prefer Sword/Pistol over anything else for melee. Cleave for more damage and mini AoE plus Black Powder from pistol….so so so good. Play that well and the party shall be really safe with all the stacking parts in dungeons, stuff won’t hit you :P

Daggers and Pistols are fun but more of a PvP/WvW thing for me.

Onto traits….well I personally use the venomshare build a lot. A build which utilises venoms to give them to nearby members and also lets people affected by one of your venoms heal a bit with each hit they do. So a support build
Thief is a class which relies really heavily on traits to function. You will feel really weak throughout the first 30 to 50 levels, for me playing a thief after 50 levels is where it got really fun in PvE (with more initiative regain etc). I strongly suggest playing around with traits on a skillcalculator or in the PvP area to get accustomed to what traitline has what kinds of traits. This is something I suggest with all classes to get to know them better :P

And yeah, the Thief forum is pretty depressing to look at. I can’t deny that. If I didn’t have 3 legendaries and so many ascended stuff for my Thief, I would have played something else a bit more, but the Thief still stays one of the most fun to play classes for me. You will have a lot of issues with PvP at first (unless you are just really good :P) and you will learn from trial and error. This however ensures you will get to learn what your build can and cannot do.

Sticking to a Thief isn’t for everyone. It’s not particularly strong nor is it particularly weak. I think Thief is one of the most balanced classes out there at the moment. Sure a lot of people cry about stealth in WvW…I think 10 december will change that a bit but there will always be cries to nerf stealth because people will have to think :P Don’t mind that. Enjoy the class!

I know! I was beginning to wonder if anyone would answer me.

Anyway, being really weak until ~lvl 50 seems pretty daunting. But I guess I’m not opposed to sticking it out. I think the thing that will keep me going is just how darn cool the thief is. I really like the medium armor in this game, and that’s what’s kind of keeping me away from Mesmer, which I think uses light.

But thank you so much for your input. I suppose I’ll stick with sword/pistol for now, with a backup short bow. And looking at the traits in a character builder is a great idea. I don’t understand why they are hidden from the beginning, anyway.

As much as I like pvp, I do have league of legends for that. I suppose I’m looking for more of a pve experience with gw2.

I’d love to hear some more input, though!

I’d suggest trying some very simple weapon sets like pistol/dagger and sword/pistol to find some ways to get easy kills. In both cases use your weapon skills for control and let the auto attacks do the damage. Button mashing gets you nowhere. That will give you the platform to experiment with other weapons and utilities.

I’ve used a think all of the weapon combinations, I just don’t fully understand things like condition damage and the like… So I don’t really know e ins and outs of the different weapon sets and character builds. But just from utility alone, I like the s/p and d/p the most. D/d is super fun, but it doesn’t seem as powerful. Also, I can’t find a second dagge that’s very good xD

When we say they’re weak until ~50 that’s generally compared to playing other classes. It’s not like they can’t be played in pve until that level it’s just that other classes have it a lot easier. Once you get a bit more experience and get used to the play style, you won’t have a problem.

I recently just levelled my thief up to 80, using s/p and d/d, changing to p/p or p/d for occasional fights. P/d is incredibly useful against melee attackers that you can’t afford to take damage from, since it offers you so much safety with it’s ability to kite and the stealth. D/p or s/p has the same reliable safety in the blind spam and near instant interrupt on pistol 4, s/p I find the better option for pve because of the AoE damage you can put out with the added mobility of sword 2.

Don’t be afraid to give d/d a try though when you’re fighting a tough single target. It’s single target damage is incredible, just by using dagger 5, backstab (the dagger’s stealth autoattack) and autos. I wouldn’t recommend using it for general pve, but when you’re left with single targets you can take them down pretty quick with this set.

All in all, thieves are not the greatest at most things, but they’re by no means the worst either. If you stick to it and really learn the ins and outs of the class, you can be a real threat in pvp or invaluable dps in pve. I think out of all the classes, thieves have the best potential for outplaying opponents in pvp (along with maybe mesmers, but I haven’t really played them much to know). Don’t listen to what others tell you is good or bad, try for yourself. You can make anything viable in any situation if you really work on it, learn the pros and cons, and find a way to exploit what you have learned and translate it to the situation you’re in. In a way it’s similar to league of legends, learning a champion to it’s fullest there will give you an immense advantage over even counter picks. That applies to professions in GW2 as well. At the end of the day, it’s YOUR skill that matters, not what everyone tells you based on their skills and experience.

Edit: after reading your previous post about d/d being fun but not as powerful, it’s mostly because thieves are very reliant on traits for a lot of their power. Just because it feels weak now, try it again when you’re nearing max level, then decide :P

Thanks guys. This is all great input!

Well, as I said and Dilige said. Daggers are fun but you need to be skilled with it to make it pay off. You are putting yourself in really great risk compared to having a pistol offhand. And indeed LoL applies to the Thief class aswell. Learn your class and you will be good with it.

For the main PvE play as thief, I really then strongly suggest venomshare and the utility called Smokescreen to be unlocked eventually. Smokescreen is probably one of our most underrated and underused abilities. A 6 second wall which ABSORBS projectiles is very strong for PvE.

Also, make sure to have a Norn Thief! +1 in that case! :P

I’m playing a human thief. How much does that really matter? /:

GinghamLion.3614:

I’m playing a human thief. How much does that really matter? /:

It doesn’t really matter at all in PvE, and in WvW/PvP racial skills are unusable.

It doesn’t really matter? It matters a lot! Norn comradery and brotherhood all the way!!! :P

lastprelude.4826:

GinghamLion.3614:

I’m playing a human thief. How much does that really matter? /:

It doesn’t really matter at all in PvE, and in WvW/PvP racial skills are unusable.

Racial skills are very much usable in WvW. Dat Norn snow leopard skill comes to mind If I wasnt completely put off by the size of them I would roll one for sure. Too slow for me. Human is the way to go ;D

OP, I don’t have much to add to the above posts as they cover the basics. S/P is the go to PvE weapon set and it performs magnificently. For PvP/WvW, it all comes down to personal preference most of the time, but of course there will be better performing sets.

Shoot me a mail here or in game if you’d like to know more, I have played a variety of playstyles during the past ~1600hrs on my thief. I’d be happy to show you in game as well!

Welcome to the game. I’m new also, only just a tier “older” than you as I’ve been playing a few weeks. Ironically the two main characters I play are mesmer and thief. I started with mesmer because the idea of an illusionist in an online game struck me as unique, but I found it quite hard to play. I made a thief because I also like the playstyle and well, it’s been pretty hard to play also.

My main suggestion is to ask questions, lots of specific questions. Plenty of great, smart people on these forums who will be happy to advise you.

Use the wiki.. a lot. It has tons of info. You can even access it from within the game by typing /wiki <subject>.

Until you get used to the traits, use builds others have put together. Or start with them and tweak them, that’s a great way to get up to speed faster.

Most thief builds are “high-risk, high-reward”… you can kill the other guy quickly, and also get killed quickly. There are a couple that are more defensive. I’m currently running a very defensive build that is not like most thief characters in that it doesn’t kill quickly and sometimes not at all… but it’s super tough and gives me more opportunity to practice the ins and outs of combat while not getting killed myself very fast. I also personally find it fun to play “catch me if you can!” as usually they can’t.

Just keep playing and learning, figure out what areas of the game you like most, and it will start to come together. Happy to answer any questions I can.