Guild Wars 2

mrsrachelm.7618:

Trismegistos.3046:

tl;dr

pve player should shelf GW2 altogether.
and install it when he becomes a pvp player.

:P

PvP is not the only type of play style nor the ONLY one people enjoy. I very much dislike the attitude of PvP’rs who seem to think that all games should or do revolve around them and them alone and PvE’rs are nothing but second class players. Take that elitist attitude elsewhere, thanks. I have the utmost respect for PvP’rs and the skills required for that style of play. I can do it and have, I simply don’t enjoy it. What I don’t respect is the idea that ONLY PvP’rs exist in a game or that only PvP is worthy of time or consideration by gamers or game developers.

I think it’s more of a jab at how nearly all the thief’s traits are geared for PvP and nothing else.

It’s not easy doing PvE with a thief.

Shooopa.5632:

mrsrachelm.7618:

Trismegistos.3046:

tl;dr

pve player should shelf GW2 altogether.
and install it when he becomes a pvp player.

:P

PvP is not the only type of play style nor the ONLY one people enjoy. I very much dislike the attitude of PvP’rs who seem to think that all games should or do revolve around them and them alone and PvE’rs are nothing but second class players. Take that elitist attitude elsewhere, thanks. I have the utmost respect for PvP’rs and the skills required for that style of play. I can do it and have, I simply don’t enjoy it. What I don’t respect is the idea that ONLY PvP’rs exist in a game or that only PvP is worthy of time or consideration by gamers or game developers.

I think it’s more of a jab at how nearly all the thief’s traits are geared for PvP and nothing else.

It’s not easy doing PvE with a thief.

No it was a clear attack on PVE’rs. He said “pve player”, not “pve thief”, and he also said should leave GW2 all together, not reroll another class. I love my thief in PVE (and find many traits very useful, more useful than PVP actually) and have no interest in PVP in this game (ironic as how most people think that’s its focus… even though most of the development effort clearly went into PVE). I am so sick and tired of PVP’ers ruining every every single MMO that comes out, and then moving on to their next victim leaving behind a broken game for PVE’rs.

Okamakiri.8746:

I am so sick and tired of PVP’ers ruining every every single MMO that comes out, and then moving on to their next victim leaving behind a broken game for PVE’rs.

+1… can’t count the number of games I’ve initially loved that got nerfed into oblivion or became a different game altogether a few months after release due to PvP “balance” issues. I just want to explore and experience new content occasionally, PARTICULARLY when I can do it in a co-op group – defeating other players just isn’t something that interests me, I guess.

To the OP:

Lots of people have talked about how to work with various weapon combos, so I’m not going to get too much into that. I ran P/P and S/D all the way to Orr, when I dropped the S/D for Short Bow and rarely swap off it. I also run heavy critical strikes and shadow arts.

What I want to emphasize though is ways to use your utility skills to get good survivability.

1: Signet of Malice is your friend. The thief is a burst class, so, using a burst to deal damage (say via Unload) will also result in a burst heal. It’s a good thing. More on synergy with this awesome signet later.

2: Signet of Shadows. First off, I have a hard time taking it off my bar because the run speed is so awesome. It lets me flat run away from fights I’d rather not be dragged into, and gives good in combat mobility. But, it has a 2nd very key benefit, especially with Veteran / Champion foes. When in one of these knock down / drag out fights, you rarely need the speed boost… so activate it for the targeted blind.

3: Caltrops. Live it, love it, throw it out there whenever viable. If you’re getting more things than you want to deal with, toss caltrops and back off… it will cripple the extra foes you were hoping to avoid and give you breathing room, in addition to the damage over time and other bonuses. And… it triggers Signet of Malice… more healing when your pulling back from that extra large group you didn’t want in the first place.

4) Venom. Don’t under estimate the value of using venom to apply damage over time, or to slow down your opponent. Poison on a foe means that even when you don’t have a burst to pull it down, you have damage piling up while you’re dodging and getting yourself in position to deal with the threat.

5: There’s a trap you can get at lower level (at work, don’t have time to look up the name of the skill,) that summons an extra thief for a little while. Set it and draw your foe into the trap, if the mob goes after your summoned friend, then it gives you breathing room without taking as much damage. If it goes after you… at least your summoned friend is pounding away with you and you don’t have to sustain damage for as long. At higher level, use the elite skill Theives Guild for 2 extra theives… run both for 3 thieves and turn your 1 thief into 4

6: Steal. there is nothing bad that you get from stealing. Even if you’re just throwing gunk, it’s a handy extra option. Once you get in the habit of stealing frequently, you will learn what mobs tend to give what kind of bonuses… the AoE Poison you can luck into off many spiders is a prime example.

There is no wrong way to play a thief… and my suggestion on traits to avoid feeling like you have to be a math major is to do what you like doing, find skills you like, and then go look at traits that benefit those skills, rather than feel like you have to look at traits to see what’s good and then pick skills from there.

I’ve tried to go from my thief to a warrior…. My warrior in GW1 was my main and I rarely touched the Assassin… but in GW2, I just cannot feel satisfied on the Warrior after the amazing fun time I have on a thief, and I hope you find as much fun in this class as many of us have.