Guild Wars 2

Hi i started guild wars 2-3 weeks back and i play theif at lvl 80 with all exotic gear by now. What is starting to concern me is that as HoT is approaching i am noticing that thief might be getting worse as a class. Now since im new i have very little knowledge so i just want some expert advice. I read the forums a lot and everywhere all i see is theif dead, theif worst class, theif weak class, mesmer op, this op that op.
Even when i sit for hrs on twitch and see different streamers no one bothers with thief or talks good of it. Have i made a wrong choice? i mean i find all classes fun to play.
So its not like “play it if its fun to u” cause there will be no fun left when u try ur best and hardest and still be at the bottom of the table just cause ur class limits u.
Could someone with experties plz guide me in this. Dose thief have a good future? or shall i just go play some other class like mesmer or necro or something?

Dose thief have a good future?

No.

or shall i just go play some other class like mesmer or necro or something?

Yes. Revenant will be very strong, chrono as well.

Looking like they’re leaving thief to die off . . .

Their elite spec. of DareDevil is amusing. They’re making them into a monk?!

Someone at Arenanet must have netflix.

thief is a garbage class now and will probably be one forever because the people who work at arenanet don’t like playing against them

Just because you don’t know how to play thief doesn’t mean the classe is dead.

Good bye

Thief is going to die because people constantly complain about it, which will in turn cause people to not want to play it.

Because I guess permastealth, high single target burst, and crazy map mobility is weak.

Edit: people will play classes that they find to be fun, regardless of how powerful it is.

It’ll live because it’s simply an enjoyable class/playstyle.
We are however very weak in comparison to all the other classes (mobility keeps us viable, really). While everyone can make fundamental mistakes during a fight, the Thief can not or he/she will simply die. That’s all there’s to it. Our defense is getting gutted even more with HoT up to the point where we really are little more than a Ranger’s pet or something.

It’s doable, but risk vs. reward wise, other classes are currently and likely will remain a better option (sadly).

EDIT: What it comes down to is our lack of out-of-stealth survivability. The only proper defensive line available to the Core Thief is Shadow Arts (which has been nerfed). The effects of Shadow Arts are tied to Stealth. So to keep it simple: Stealth is our survival (Condi cleanse, damage reduction, healing ect.). Now there are getting more and more anti-stealth mechanics in the game, it won’t be long until all classes get mechanics to reveal us. So while our defense can be negated almost completely, that of the other classes can not.

What do we have outside of Defense through Stealth? Evasion.
Sad part is that the core thief spec’s evasion line had it’s make-or-break trait ‘feline graces’ gutted. Sure there’s some nice things in there, but as it stands the Acrobatics traitline is severely lacking.
The other option is gated behind a €50,- paywall. Daredevil certainly has potential, even that is still a massive middle finger to the Thief though. It’s pretty much a properly done Acrobatics, with a mechanic that was claimed to be OP in Acrobatics pre-June 23 (having three dodges instead of two). And comparing that to the other Elite Specs leaves anyone at least a bit salty. The Elite’s mechanic is one single extra dodge. In order to make it somewhat decent we have to pick grandmaster traits for an effect.
Great.

Oh yeah, there’s also upcoming content that will be undodgeable so our defensive traitlines are all getting useless.

CadeRG.4508:

Because I guess permastealth, high single target burst, and crazy map mobility is weak.

Well, I wouldn’t say perma-stealth or mobility is weak. I would say it’s not strong. It is simply utility.

As for the high single target burst, I think that is relative. What profession does not have that in the current game? Can Thieves hit hard? Yes. Can they hit hard enough? No, not against today’s defenses.

However, I can say without a doubt the the Thief is literally weak in its defensive capability. 11k health with little Armor is truly glass… very fragile glass. Sure, glass is sharp and can cut you, but there’s a reason swords are made with steel instead of glass.

Thief is “fun” for “fun” activities (i.e. Exploration).

Thief is not fun for serious activities. (i.e. Raids, Fractals, Dungeons, etc.).

to me it all sounds like ppl who complain abotu thief cant even play the class propely… dont listen to most of them, daredevil seems more to be more of a pvp profssion than a pve, but it still has its uses, and thief is FUN FUN FUN

Vornollo.5182:

It’ll live because it’s simply an enjoyable class/playstyle.
We are however very weak in comparison to all the other classes (mobility keeps us viable, really). While everyone can make fundamental mistakes during a fight, the Thief can not or he/she will simply die. That’s all there’s to it. Our defense is getting gutted even more with HoT up to the point where we really are little more than a Ranger’s pet or something.

It’s doable, but risk vs. reward wise, other classes are currently and likely will remain a better option (sadly).

EDIT: What it comes down to is our lack of out-of-stealth survivability. The only proper defensive line available to the Core Thief is Shadow Arts (which has been nerfed). The effects of Shadow Arts are tied to Stealth. So to keep it simple: Stealth is our survival (Condi cleanse, damage reduction, healing ect.). Now there are getting more and more anti-stealth mechanics in the game, it won’t be long until all classes get mechanics to reveal us. So while our defense can be negated almost completely, that of the other classes can not.

What do we have outside of Defense through Stealth? Evasion.
Sad part is that the core thief spec’s evasion line had it’s make-or-break trait ‘feline graces’ gutted. Sure there’s some nice things in there, but as it stands the Acrobatics traitline is severely lacking.
The other option is gated behind a €50,- paywall. Daredevil certainly has potential, even that is still a massive middle finger to the Thief though. It’s pretty much a properly done Acrobatics, with a mechanic that was claimed to be OP in Acrobatics pre-June 23 (having three dodges instead of two). And comparing that to the other Elite Specs leaves anyone at least a bit salty. The Elite’s mechanic is one single extra dodge. In order to make it somewhat decent we have to pick grandmaster traits for an effect.
Great.

Oh yeah, there’s also upcoming content that will be undodgeable so our defensive traitlines are all getting useless.

^ this. Well said

Cait.5368:

to me it all sounds like ppl who complain abotu thief cant even play the class propely… dont listen to most of them, daredevil seems more to be more of a pvp profssion than a pve, but it still has its uses, and thief is FUN FUN FUN

I played over 4k games on thief, i have won tourneys, i was top 100 on LB before they were changed to farmfest: i do not think thief is fine or rather will be anywhere fine in HoT. The class lost powercreep battle and simply lacks mechanics to deal with all the stuff other classes got. Also, playing a pet and not a class in pvp is simply not fun.

Daredevil seems fun and all but it really does feel like it’s just returning stuff that was already taken from us or should of existed in acrobatics already, like dropping condi on evades. Is there really a reason to use acrobatics at the moment? I may end up liking Revenant more. Not sure yet.

I finally went and tried all the new elite specs, and DrD seems to be the weakest in terms of cool effects / skills / mechanics. As others have said above, I feel like DrD is going to be really fun for PvP, but in PvE, I don’t know if it has a place because it really doesn’t seem like there is a focus for what role this class should play.

Lamuness.3570:

I finally went and tried all the new elite specs, and DrD seems to be the weakest in terms of cool effects / skills / mechanics. As others have said above, I feel like DrD is going to be really fun for PvP, but in PvE, I don’t know if it has a place because it really doesn’t seem like there is a focus for what role this class should play.

depends on build

d/d perma evasion condi daredevil is a very powerfull choice right now, with dire stats you are technically untouchable while still applying over 30 stacks of bleed very quickly just by death blossoing and impaling lotus, used it on HoT content, spvp (wich carrion since unfortunally there arent dire stats on spvp) and today tried it on raid to great results http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQRAoY4Yn8MB9OhdmCONB0PhFqiy7C+gBoLCCgGYO77+wH-T1RAABAcSAUU/Aqq/MpSQPeCA9s/wYK/CAcAwv/+7v/+bpAgZaE-w

it seems the “class trinity” that arenanet brough isnt the usual dps,tank,healer, but from what could be tested today more like; raw dmg, condition dmg, support(aka druid, ventari reve)

condi daredevil currently success greatly at the condition dmg department and since condi dmgers will be needed in raid they have a nice place secured