Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone, i just bought Guild Wars 2 (ye, i know maybe a bit late) and i started playing as a thief.

I always preferred the “rogue” class in an MMO so i rolled one here as well, and i am having some troubles.

I am playing on server Gandara (EU) and i am still level 14, but i find it difficult to level up, i die fast (i know about evasion but it’s not much help if stamina gets low), i run out of quests fast and i have to grind plus i cant do many events because i am mostly alone.

So far, i’ve seen that this game is made with having in mind that there are gonna be many players around an area of leveling so they would help each other, but i rarely see any other player.

I have had some help so far from some players in some group quests, but other than that i don’t really see them around.

Could any higher level thief (or anyone else with some knowledge) tell me what traits, skills and weapon combination to use so i can have more survivability and make my life a bit easier while leveling?

I read that thief is not an easy class to play, but since i used to play with rogues i am willing to give it a shot, hoping that ill improve later on, after all i just started.

For traits i started using Shadow Arts for toughness, as for weapons i use ether shortbow or S/D.

By the way i am Sylvari, so i am at that starting zone, and i am almost ready to leave it.

Any help/tips are more than appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Hello Mate,

Welcome to GW2. I play on Gandara server, it is a pretty much heavy populated server. It is true that you barely find people on starting areas, this is mainly because most of them either farming World Bosses, or in Southsun (Current world event).

I totally agree with you that thieves are a bit tough to get used to at the beginning, but things will pick up fast as you level up. Now, learning the tips and tricks the thieves got to offer will help you survive A LOT!

Logic.2358 set up a nice site to help you out with such question. This is the thread.
This is his site

Very fun class to play! Enjoy!

Don’t worry about traits right now. Just put your first 10 into critical since precision scales disgustingly high at low levels. 100% map complete the first zone or 2 you get into. It gives you a lot of experience, gives you some decent rewards, and do your dailies. Do story missions. That is your fastest souce to get exp right now. Also don’t buy any armor or weapons, right now, it’s a waste of money, something that you don’t really have yet. When you get to level 20-25 (and your story missions are at or near level 30) craft through cooking. artificing, or jeweling. You may find this boring but each of these crafts only take 1-3g to level from 0-400. That’s a very fast and cheap 10 levels right there.

Once you do that, finish as many story missions as you can then go to the char zone and do ascalonian dungeon. This is an instance where you will need a group of players. You WILL die, fail, and hate it for the first run or 2. Then you will figure out what’s going on. After that, dungeons will become easy, give you lots of money, make you a better player. Dungeons will become some of the most fun and rewarding content in the game. Ignoring repair costs (if you have to repair), you should be getting around 1 gold per dungeon run. It is slightly less at lower levels b/c the game scales the end money down for w.e reason.

The reason you do dungeons is because at the end of every run, you will get a lump sum of dungeon tokens. They are used to buy some of the better looking gear in the game and they have the best stats. It’s a very nice leg up when you can instantly become fully exotic at level 80 (along with getting very inexpensive, rare quality gear as you level up). Worry about the stats later.

Any build you run will most likely have 10 points into shadow arts. It is an AMAZING trait line and has no drawbacks (except a useless 5 point trait but that’s more than made up for).

Use steal, it can be your best skill. If you use it against the ghosts in ac, it gives you a massive aoe fear. If you hold onto it until steal is off cd, you can chain 2 fears, making it VERY easy to kill an encounterthat would have been considered horrible.

Short bow is amazing in pve, d/d is pretty good for single targets but it’s hard to use when you’re just learning. I suggest using sword/pistol for now. Don’t use pistol whip. If you’re fighting regular mobs, use blinding powder (5 skill). Bosses, use auto attacks for your damage, shadowstep for skilled dodges and mobility, headshot (4) for stripping defiance, but don’t use blinding powder. Bosses are immune to it.

tldr ~ get to level 35 then do ac for levels. Keep doing story missions to progress your story and enjoy yourself! Thief is rough when learning dungeons but if you get through it, you will be ready to tackle any content in the game with ease. Edit – Woah I wall of texted there. Oh well, hope this helps you

Thanks a lot Azraeel, i’ll read both his site and the thread and prepare myself as much as i can.

I am sure that it is a fun class to play (with all the teleports and skill combinations) but i need to learn more about it.

You got +1 from me.

Thanks again.

@randomfigthfan, thanks for pointing out not to buy weapons and armors cuz i’ve already bought some hoping that it will boost my survivability, which it didn’t.

First map (Starting Zone) is 89% complete, i didn’t leave anything out, i searched everywhere, only few places left to go, so i’ll keep doing it till i get the treasure.

Also thanks for the tip about the crafting and how easy it is to help you level, i am jewelcrafter and leatherworker at this point, but ill do what u suggested later on to get the extra lvls faster.

Also thanks for the info about dungeons, ill keep an eye on them too, as soon as i get to the right level ofc.

+1 aswell

Only thing I would add is when you start AC, or get into the 30s, try to keep you equipment as upgraded as possible. Masterwork (green) is usually cheap and readily available on the TP. At least upgrade every 10 levels, though I’d suggest 5. Power/Vit stats will probably yield the most benefit for you early on.

I know randomfightfan suggests against it, but while it may not matter as much in open world, it can make a difference in dungeons. Considering how cheap it is, not doing so only handicaps you.

Also, with respect to tokens, just save them. Karma as well. As you can use karma to buy pieces of lvl 80 Exotic armor. Another cheap way to insta-gear @ 80.

GL!

If you were leveling an alt, I would have agreed with what randomfightfan suggested, but for a first time leveler, I personally love exploring the contents. Everytime you reach the level of a dungeon, a mail will be sent to your inbox showing you the place of the dungeon. Do the story mode there for some nice lore. But there isn’t any need to farm it, yes you can level up fast while farming dungeon, but you will be short of two things. First you will reach 80 and you won’t even have explored half of the world maps, and second you will have to buy all the materials to level your crafting. Unlike if you actually fully explore the areas where your story quest line is, and you can Mine (need pickaxe), Harvest (need sickle), and Chop (Axe) as you explore. You can deposit all the materials into a special bank, called Collection Bank (Right click on item, then select Deposit or click on top right of your inventory, and select deposit all). This collection bank along side your private bank is shared by all your characters. You can access both from any crafting table, or bank NPC in towns and cities.
Another good way to motivate yourself, everytime you level 5 levels (starting from 10), you can reward yourself by crafting a set you can use. In other words, when you reach level 10, craft yourself a full set of level 10 (leatherworking), then go explore/farm/level/story-quest. When you hit 15, go back and level your crafting until you craft a full set of level 15 armor/accessories.

This is a personal preference which I like to do to motivate myself while leveling hehe.

@Azraeel Heh, nice motivation, i did some crafting, but i cant say i crafted something really useful, i think i should probably farm more materials than i do.

@Mourningcry, thanks for you info as well, i do keep karma, though i bought a few stuff that were much better than the ones i have.

One thing you should not forget is Food Buff. Always have one active since it gives extra experience per kill.

Also try to join a Guild since they may have Exp Banners and Guild Perks that can help you on your adventures. Also a Guild is a best source in finding people to help you on Group Events and Dungeons.

You should bug Azraeel.1238 to invite you into his guild since you both are in the same server.

Vincent that’s a great idea, I will pm Noshiz in-game as soon as i get back home and see if he likes to join our guild The Fiery Titans [TFT].

I just saw the posts.

Azraeel did pm me last night, but i was already in a guild, didn’t see the above posts earlier, otherwise i would have wait.

But thanks for all your help guys

GW2 has indeed a great community, and i’ve been told so long before i start playing.

Use Sword / Pistol for grinding.

Use black powder (pistol 5#) and attack with normal attack 1#.

BP basically makes you immune to any kind of meele damage, since it gives constant blind on any target at the circle.
This basically makes fighting any mob below veteran a sinch, and nothing besides ranged enemys will kill you. Plus Sword deals area damage, so you don’t need to kill mobs one at a time (like daggers or pistols)

For equipment, use Master craft armors and rare weapons (when available). You may change equipment every 10 or 15 lvls, depending on your income.

For utility skills, give preference for all sigils (passive bonuses are awesome), Haste, Subterfurge (for better stealth) and maybe shadow step for condition remover and emergency scape. For elite, learn the skill that summons 2 thiefs, its perfect for PvE. The rest you learn at your due time.

At traits, Critical Strike to 30 for precision, Furios retaliation (trait I), Critial Haste (trait X) and Executioner (XI). The rest its up to you, thiefs doesnt have much traits that help with grinding at low lvls.