Guild Wars 2

First of.. I recently just created a thief and find it pretty awesome.. Playing since the release, I was never really interested in the class and was trying out one cause I suddenly became curious.

I love the fact how quickly everything dies in Open World PvE.
Also, the class feels very “dynamic” and “fast”, what I really love.
Plenty of questions came up tho.

1) Whilst in open world; and not having access to the DD (which I will use as soon as possible) – I use D/D and SB. In which situations do I use S/P? Also, whilst using S/B; should I perma use skill #3? Or is the damage by autoattack better?
Correct me if I’m wrong: whilst encountering Open World mobs, I usually use F1 to get to them or just run to them. Use #5 until they are <50% life and then spam #2. Of course its recommendable to stick to the auto simply when the mob needs like 2 hits anyways If sticking to stronger enemies either using SB or S/P (if perma blinding is possible)

2) Whilst stealthed; I noticed the thief dishes out some extra damage on his next attack. Does the require me to attack from behind or doesnt that matter?

3) Initiative mechanics: Does it load up faster while fighting enemies?

4) Is the thief really SO disliked? I’ve scrolled through some threads here and read the people said that its not viable, bad, lacks utility, is hard to play, dies easily while not watching..

That’s really sad if thats true; yet I don’t know if these people are just the “typical complainers” that moan about everything or if it’s true. Would be nice if someone could answer me that question who is objective. Really enjoying the playstyle and dynamic of the class (tried out the staff for the short time in PvP and loved it), I would like to use my thief / DD in any mode of the game – PvE (raids, fracs, open world), WvW and PvP. I don’t strife to play “the best” class, but it’s important to me that the class I play is somewhat viable, or at least “decent”.

Is the class really THAT hard to master? For the moment, at least for PvE, it seems pretty simple to me.

First, I’d like to mention that a majority of QQ is PvP related (and justified, mind you). Top thief PvPers have either re-rolled or lost heart.

As for non-boss related fights (anything not instanced, basically) is far too easy. I suppose S/P #3 spam would be the easiest burst to pull off without getting into more complicated mechanics.

Honestly, it isn’t a matter of being difficult to play. Everything and anything can be learned in due time (mechanically, warrior is the hardest). The issue is that thief, with a majority of their DPS sets being melee oriented, has to walk into what is currently the worst case of AoE bursts the game has ever seen. Reapers swinging left and right cleaving like madmen, drahonhunter traps, chronomancer wells, scrapper fields, the usual ele AoE + ridiculous party aura uptime, etc. All of this, combined with the reveal an engineer or revenant could possibly be throwing around makes team fighting impossible. One, naturally, would assume that thief is meant to hunt after 1v1 encounters, but the issue is that certain classes (a lot) are capable of holding their own 1v1 with a thief AND THEN SOME.

Nefarius.9702:

First of.. I recently just created a thief and find it pretty awesome.. Playing since the release, I was never really interested in the class and was trying out one cause I suddenly became curious.

I love the fact how quickly everything dies in Open World PvE.
Also, the class feels very “dynamic” and “fast”, what I really love.
Plenty of questions came up tho.

1) Whilst in open world; and not having access to the DD (which I will use as soon as possible) – I use D/D and SB. In which situations do I use S/P? Also, whilst using S/B; should I perma use skill #3? Or is the damage by autoattack better?
Correct me if I’m wrong: whilst encountering Open World mobs, I usually use F1 to get to them or just run to them. Use #5 until they are <50% life and then spam #2. Of course its recommendable to stick to the auto simply when the mob needs like 2 hits anyways If sticking to stronger enemies either using SB or S/P (if perma blinding is possible)

2) Whilst stealthed; I noticed the thief dishes out some extra damage on his next attack. Does the require me to attack from behind or doesnt that matter?

3) Initiative mechanics: Does it load up faster while fighting enemies?

4) Is the thief really SO disliked? I’ve scrolled through some threads here and read the people said that its not viable, bad, lacks utility, is hard to play, dies easily while not watching..

That’s really sad if thats true; yet I don’t know if these people are just the “typical complainers” that moan about everything or if it’s true. Would be nice if someone could answer me that question who is objective. Really enjoying the playstyle and dynamic of the class (tried out the staff for the short time in PvP and loved it), I would like to use my thief / DD in any mode of the game – PvE (raids, fracs, open world), WvW and PvP. I don’t strife to play “the best” class, but it’s important to me that the class I play is somewhat viable, or at least “decent”.

Is the class really THAT hard to master? For the moment, at least for PvE, it seems pretty simple to me.

People don’t hate the thief per se, but those of us who have been playing it for awhile have lived through a series of nerfs. Thief is not what it was a year ago, much less two years ago.

As Slayer noted, most complaints regarding thief are from PvP mode, where thief has to deal with the massive amounts of AoE that every other class now brings.

Thief is also unwelcome in Dungeons/Fractals, or so I’ve heard. Widely regarded as a weak class at this point.

Backstab with dagger does the most damage when you are flanking in stealth. However it still does improved damage if you are facing your enemy.

Initiative recharges at the same rate for all thieves, in or out of combat. However there are certain traits and skills (for example, Signet of Infiltration) that will improve your initiative recovery.

Thief works well in general PvE because just about everything works well in general PvE. I’m not knocking the class, I still main a thief and I spend plenty of time in various game modes. General PvE is just more forgiving than the other game modes, like WvW, PvP, and Dungeons/Fractals.

In the hands of an experienced and skilled player, Thief is still a good choice. The only way to get experienced and skilled is to keep playing, so get after it.

SlayerSixx.5763:

As for non-boss related fights (anything not instanced, basically) is far too easy. I suppose S/P #3 spam would be the easiest burst to pull off without getting into more complicated mechanics.

What I simply would like to know is.. whilst wealding S/P.. for better damage output (no matter whether its a boss that requires to be stunned by #3), should I stick to the autoattack chain or to #3?

Sword/pistol is great for time sensitive story quest like LS 2 chapter 8’s eight minute achievement. You’ll want to do some unorthodox strategies and bring some fire elemental powder for it (use that in the second phase, it has a 30 minute cooldown) or bursting things really fast like the HoT quest with the turret (spike trap and dagger storm are decent there).

The good thing about thief is you can stand back in stealth, make sense out of the dynamic chaos, then tactically strike when you see an opening or ready otherwise. Death obviously should be avoided since you’ll look like a noob and hamstrung in your goal. Thief is a tactical class that requires good observation. Things love to run up attacking the fire bucket guy, so put a spike trap on the stairs that are the only way to reach you. Dagger 5 then sword 1 trolls and single menders, shortbow 4 mender groups as poison reduces healing effectiveness, scorpion wire single menders, dagger throw fire fields from ele staff 2 or 4 to help stack burning, etc. You have so many options but require improvisation and observation.

Nefarius.9702:

SlayerSixx.5763:

As for non-boss related fights (anything not instanced, basically) is far too easy. I suppose S/P #3 spam would be the easiest burst to pull off without getting into more complicated mechanics.

What I simply would like to know is.. whilst wealding S/P.. for better damage output (no matter whether its a boss that requires to be stunned by #3), should I stick to the autoattack chain or to #3?

S/P 3 is one the strongest skills in the game, so spam that when you find the opening.