Guild Wars 2

Before I get started: I do realize that the questions I’m about to ask are not strictly thief-realted, but my own answer to them is ‘thief’ – so I thought this would be the best place to find out if I’m wrong.

Hello guys,

I’m a noob(ish) player. My GW2 carreer goes back like a month or so. In this short time frame I leveled my Thief to 80, got a 60ish ranger and a lvl 22 warrior. And now that I’m starting to understand game mechanics I think its time to decide which character to choose as my main. I enjoy all 3 professions but still thieves look somewhat better to me (seems like this class is the hardest to master which is a great, motivating challange).

So my question is: does the meta comp being 1 guard and 4 warriors hinder me badly? Does the meta comp mean that high-end PVE content is only doable with that setup? Or does it only mean that the 1 guard, 4 warri setup is the easiest way to complete those dungeons? So if I have a good group and coordination, then I’ll be fine with the thief too? (If I dont have a good group then being a warrior/guard wont save me either.) Or will others simply tell me: “Level a guard or a warri, otherwise dont even try to come with us.” And I’m excluding ignorant elitism from this (because if I dont, then all answers will be “roll a warrior”. :P)

So I just add some surviveability through weapon choice/traits/gear and I’ll be just as functional as a warrior?

I’ve already discovered the PvP perspecives for myself as a noob player, and they are quite promising. But I also enjoy PvE and dont want my main to be a ‘no-no’ in harder dungeons.

And first of all (I think I should have started with this question), do these “What profession is good for… ?” questions make sense? I mean I saw warroirs ranked as the total underdogs of PvP in threads that are a few months old, and now they are top. Going a little further back in time and you see the same with elementalists. Is the PvE class balance also a roller-coaster like in PvP? Or should I level a warr and a guard if I want a safe spot in meta PvE comp?

ty for the answers

Nimrud.5642:

So if I have a good group and coordination, then I’ll be fine with the thief too? (If I dont have a good group then being a warrior/guard wont save me either.)

Correct. You won’t be strictly the best option, but this game is full of people who aren’t Warriors/Guardians that still want to do dungeons, so you can play with them and succeed, albeit more slowly.

So I just add some surviveability through weapon choice/traits/gear and I’ll be just as functional as a warrior?

Sort of. You’ll probably want to get survival through weaponskill like Black Powder rather than traits/gear, since you don’t want to hurt your damage output (primary thing a Thief brings to PvE), but basically you have the means available to you to be a contributor.

do these “What profession is good for… ?” questions make sense? I mean I saw warroirs ranked as the total underdogs of PvP in threads that are a few months old, and now they are top. Going a little further back in time and you see the same with elementalists. Is the PvE class balance also a roller-coaster like in PvP? Or should I level a warr and a guard if I want a safe spot in meta PvE comp?

As you have already figured out, predicting the future is a fool’s errand. balance changes knock people off the top of the hill all of the time.

The best thing to do, is just play what you enjoy, because it means you’re going to have fun no matter what the situation is.

EDIT: that being said, I think Guardians are basically immune to the meta. They always seem to be useful for something.

Don’t worry about meta compositions, seriously. Having 4 warriors is also just unnecessary. You only need 1-2 for banners and other DPS classes can fulfill the exact role they would. In many cases I would pick 1-2 eles for fiery greatsword stack than having 2 more warriors.

As for the role of thief, your black powder and smoke screen can contribute a bit for your party members. You can also stack vulnerability with either venom share or sundering strikes while dishing out similar DPS output as other DPS classes. And lastly, Shadow Refuge is useful to skip and res downed members. So don’t sell yourself short about any meta comp, please.

The perfect team composition, in my opinion, would be 2 Warriors, 2 Guardians and 1 Mesmer. That said, it’s not like other classes cannot be amazing contributions. In contrary, a good thief can make a huge difference, save time, and make a lot of encounters extremely easy.

Unfortunately, inviting random players of classes not of the wonderful 3, usually ends up with incompetent players utterly incapable of contributing to the team. To be fair, it’s not like the Warriors/Guardians/Mesmers are all great players for some mysterious reason, but the required skill to play one is dramatically lower. For that reason, and that reason alone, random parties usually pick classes with the best ease of use to effectiveness ratio.

So, find a nice guild that understands this and runs with you (a good thief?), and you will be fine.

First and foremost, who told you the meta was 4 warriors and a guardian? The real meta has never been and will never be 4 warriors. The pug meta used to include 4 warriors because a mediocre warrior will always be more useful than a mediocre player using another class. Warriors are now reduced to banner mules in organized groups because of their severe lack of contribution. And thief will always have a place in the meta. No other class can bring the same amount of aoe blinds and aoe stealth.

I thank all of you guys for the answers, they were all helpful. And being able to use your experience instead of accumulating them on my own saved me a lot of time and headache.

If any1 else feels like being able to add something constructive, feel free to do so.