In every game that has stealth as a mechanic, the classes that have higher access to it (GW2 cases being Mesmer and Thief) will be generally the most loved by it’s (ab)users and hated by everyone they fight, but they also often, and especially when it comes to GW2 have extremely high importance. It’s well debated how effective a Thief is in PvE content (including dungeons) is, we know it’s harder to survive for the Thief without good play and it doesn’t have the advantages that many other classes have like group utility, naturally high defensive capabilities and good sustained damage.
However, PvP, whether in S/TPvP or WvW is where the class shines in a lot of aspects, and it’s definately a whole lot more than just roaming or straggler sniping.
- Morale; normally thought of in a group or general context, instead applied to just individual players can tell a whole lot, and prior to just today after gearing my Thief to be WvW worthy, I can’t count the number of times I’ve been kittened off by or even just logged off thanks to thieves, and I know for certain I’m not the only one. Whether it’s another roamer being backstab burst down out of nowhere or a member of a rolling group, you’ve weakened their force leaving the rest of the opponents that bit more susceptible to your attacks, or at the very least if they rejoin the fight they’ll either try and focus you down or get more frustrated when they get dropped again, one way or another your providing good skirmish support.
- Blast Finishers; having access to a spammable blast finisher is pretty kitten awesome, applying might, stealth, swiftness or weakness to allies or enemies turns the tide of the fight quickly.
- Deciding when to fight; aside from the Mesmer, near no other class has the options of initiating and disengaging like thieves do, makes it even better when a large majority of the skills thieves possess can very quickly dispatch or easily hinder an opponent, and even in a failed attempt, you’ve got your opponent on edge.
- Stealth; yes, you can be killed whilst you’re in it by smart players, that fact doesn’t make it any less useful though; stealth stomping, stealth reviving, stealth recuperating (health, conditions, initiative) and moving unseen are all incredibly powerful in-combat fight changers, and no other class besides Mesmer can do this, and even they can’t harness the potential Thieves can with it.
Yes Thieves are great at roaming, yes Thieves can dispatch opponents with considerable ease when they get the drop on them, which is incredibly often, but you apply the qualities of the Thief to group fights; small, large or even zerg scales, Thieves can still pack a very distinctive punch.
Save my heart tomorrow.
nothing more. roaming builds dont take camps….. those are difkittends of builds set for attrition. camp taking can be useful but any class can do that. thief isnt even as pro at 1 v 1 as it used to be so even just cutting off reiunforcements is a tall task….cant really do a 2 v 1 anymore like we used to. even if u undid all the nerfs for last 7 months we still wouldnt be good in pve/wvw/pvp. just the way it is. another thign is these videos where people stockpile these 20 sec clips over a weeks worth of footage…any nub can look amazing. doesnt show the 75% of the time them getting downed/having to run away.