Guild Wars 2

http://i.imgur.com/nm1z9.jpg

Thief was the first class I played, and the only class I’ve taken to 80.

The journey was long and fun, I used Death Blossom a majority of the way to dispatch groups of enemies and I don’t know, I guess it wasn’t really the most effective choice, but I had fun with it.

Then I hit 80, picked up a Dungeon Chestpiece so that I could LOOK like a level 80 instead of level 10 (Sorry, I’m also disappointed with the Medium Armor styles >_>), then jumped into my Endgame, World vs. World, with a very dedicated WvW guild.

Soon, I found that my D/D Death Blossom was a not popular Thief strategy for WvW, and I branched out and tried many builds and weapon combinations. I tried the “glass cannon” D/D backstab thing, tried P/D but didn’t feel like I was contributing much, and I bit the bullet and tried S/P but I just didn’t find it very fun at all.

I often feel like I took another class to 80, and I tried with Necromancer and Guardian as you can see in the picture, but I always return to my Thief. I think it’s because I’ve been spoiled by the passive 25% movespeed sigil, and also since it was 80, and that I invested a LOT of time into it, so I might as well make the best of it.

Has anyone else been a similar situation? How did you make playing Thief fun to you again? I’d like to hear something cause I’m not sure if I should continue to commit time to my Thief or just bite the bullet and invest an enormous amount of hours on a new character.

Thief has always been fun to me. It’s the most fast-paced, exhilarating and entertaining profession in any RPG, let alone any MMORPG I’ve ever played.

Don’t force yourself to play what you don’t want to play. If you don’t enjoy the Thief, then keep mixing it up until you find a class and playstyle you enjoy.

All the other classes offer a lot more for WvW than thief. Necros with wells, Warriors with banners, Elementalists with their vast number of skills, etc.

My personal suggestion would be to roll an elementalist. However, keep in mind that they have a pretty high learning curve (which is why you see so many whiny people calling elementalist bad…because they can’t handle it).

The Thief is currently my only character. I like the general play-style, stealth etc. but I find the class a bit lacking in depth and support.

This is partially due to Initiative, although the builds I use don’t evolve around spaming a single ability and partially due to the lack of weapon diversity and damage skills diversity.

We don’t have the skill-ceiling of an Elementalist, the great utility of a Mesmer, the awesome support of a Guardian or the vast diversity of a Warrior.

I enjoy my Thief.

Sometimes I do let some criticisms of the class get to me. The “low skill ceiling”, the “cheap gimmicks”, the “the class is OP, you’re not good” talk. Then I realize I see it on pretty much every other class forum in any MMO I’ve ever played that had PvP, and I press on.

I tried an Elementalist before my Thief hit 80. It seemed like it was a little more involved, and I enjoy it a lot. There’s a bit of a learning curve to them, but the class is awesome in all aspects I’ve played. I’ll definitely be working to a Legendary on my Elementalist.

I actually started on a Mesmer before the Thief, but I’d like the Shatter issue to be ironed out (and surprise, surprise, I get called skillless and OP on the mesmer, too). I’m currently focusing on my Guardian and an Engineer. The Engineer is entertaining and reminds me the most of the Thief’s active style, and the Guardian is very bland – I don’t get excited about Traits or utilities the way I do with the Thief or Engineer.

I want to get all that out there so that you know I’ve been where you are, and I still feel my Thief is my number one.

It sounds like your main woe isn’t with class comparison, but WvW. It’s true that you aren’t as impactful as the mesmer’s utility or the guardian or elementalist’s aoe tools, or even the banners of a warrior.

With PvP I like to use Sword/Dagger for the mobility and dazelocking in skirmishes, but I do find myself using the shortbow a lot. The on-demand finisher is great, and it’s great at pounding damage into a zerg.

You ask how to make it fun, so this how what I do for “fun” in WvW:

Smokescreen – it’s not a reflect, but it’s still great for blocking ranged assaults. I’ve held down Lord room defenses with this tool, and it can be traited for a snappy cooldown. It’s just useful all around if you play with it. The blind is a bonus – use it for the cheap wall.

Scorpion Wire – When I’m not on a siege weapon, I love to dart in and yank down the overzealous defenders from their wall. Your fellow attackers will enjoy this, and if you kill them before they get back inside, you can wage a war of attrition. Also, use it to be a jerk in the jumping puzzle. Hey, usually THEY started it!

Shadow Refuge – I drop it on/in front of a group of ranged during back line fights or anything like that. Whee, utility.

Dancing Dagger – Try it in a group during skirmishes. You’ll enjoy it.

Dagger Storm – Always cried about, and always handy to clean up unorganized zergs.

Traps – Traps do take work, and in the grand scheme of WvW combat sometimes don’t feel like much. But like smokescreen or the Guardian’s Wall of Reflection/Line of Warding, I like knowing that my stupid little tripwire or spike trap screwed up the zerg JUST ENOUGH to buy time when my friends come in. I usually enjoy this on the bridges during battles over supply camps.

For me, the Thief has always been fun because of Initiative and the varied traits and utilities. Yes, I do play with a Backstab build sometimes (I mix up my builds nightly), but I never thought that was the big trick to the profession. Damage is nice, and kills are frustrating, but since it’s a team game, I do love using all the little thief gimmicks (caltrops, traps, creative shadowstepping) to help the opposition fall to my teammates.

I still love my thief. If you don’t, and if WvW is your focus, you might want to try a support Thief build. Focus on healing and Power, use Shortbow to lay poison fields and throw cluster bombs, drop Shadow Refuge, traps, and blind/anti-range fields to defend your fellow players. That might give you something fun and beneficial to do in WvW.

I’m pretty happy with my thief be it in pve or pvp.

I admit i use my necro more in pvp though, and will probably do the same in wvw simply because i find the thief lacking in pvp in comparison to other classes (yes i know, it might shock some people) unless i go venom share or support builds (which i like playing), i also like to go tanky dps with d/p + sb and some stealthy/support utilities.

After trying ele for like 4 pvp rounds, i already see 2 time more potential in that class than thief (once again it will shock some people) so i might use it more aswell.

But as far as pve goes, thief all the way. It’s fun and the mobility is what i seek for.

I love my thief in WvW. So much fun picking off stragglers from the zergs and just AoE’ing with the short bow.

Love dropping fools in 3 hits as well and then stealth stomping them before their friends no what hit em

Someone’s got a grudge against thieves.

Anyway, there’s a decent amount of ways to play thief, although not as numerous as some other classes. Plus WvW isn’t really our strong suit unless you’re going around taking sentries / Supply camps. We’re made more for small skirmishes, not so much for the zerg fests.

Turtles All The Way Down.5608:

Yes OP thieves are overpowered and boring, so if you level a OP/boring class to 80 first and then switch to an alt, you’ll have to choose between being overpowered and not having fun, or having fun and feeling like you need to complain on the forums a lot. Welcome to my world.

Look, dude, you were destroyed by a few dozen Thieves, we get it, but stop spamming our forum with crap about how OP we are. Roll a Thief, learn the class, then learn how to counter it on your main. Complaining on the forum doesn’t help.

Play another class. There is no sense of contribution in WvW, just a massive zerg with no skill. Dungeons and sPvP is where the challenge lies

If you have a dedicated WvW guild I would keep rocking the thief. Bust out that short bow and combo combo combo! Really its kinda crazy the dps and utility you can put out with that simple spammy blast finisher and some well planed fields.

Blazer Hellsing.9184:

There is no sense of contribution in WvW, just a massive zerg with no skill.

Too bad there are no alternatives for a highly mobile and deadly profession to make a difference aside from butting heads in a giant group.

I really enjoy the thief. I don’t play WvW tho because my gear is terrible and I get owned in like 2-3s by almost everything. I can’t solo worth a crap in wvw, but in pvp I can kill lots of things 1v1. I don’t feel overpowered but I don’t feel underpowered. I am heavy venom spec, 30DA, 20SA, 20CS. I’m not super experienced player or anything but I am enjoy it. I usually start with devour venom, get them low, then spider venom so they can’t heal, then basilisk for the final kill.

I use that recharge poisons trait on steal when all poisons are down.

you can get green level 80 gear for a song and dance at the AH, if you are strapped for cash. That will make you 90% as effective as someone in all exotics.

Go full Carion gear. 30 Trickery, 20 in acrobatics and 25 in Shadow arts (or you can always do 25 in deadly arts). 2 Carion daggers. Shortbow.
Hide in Shadows interchangeable with Signet of malice.
Caltrops, Shadow refuge, Signet of shadows, and dagger storm.

Run through your zerg into the enemy zerg, or around the enemy zerg and come up behind them. Put down shadow refuge to find the right moment or to naturally prevent you from popping. Drop caltrops, hit DB 2-3 times and dagger storm toward your own zerg. So far this is the most contribution you can get in wvwvw, any other build either completely relies on long cooldowns or is glass cannon and s only good fighting the lone soldier, which is not really contributing.
you will have like 18k-20k hp with no orb buffs. 2300-2400 armor and 1400 Condition damage. I use 2 Superior rune of the krait, and 4 superior rune of the Undead

Full Carrion gear.

Shadow step in zerg → DB*3 → Steal (stealth), use stolen item → DB*2 → roll for init → DB*2 → Dodge(caltrops)*2 inside of zerg → DB → Shadow return.

Hello, you just spread a minimum of 18 bleeds on the majority of the zerg while being completely immune to them during the whole.

Hey no need to thank me! <tries to unglue OP from his leg>

Red Falcon.8257:

Full Carrion gear.

Shadow step in zerg -> DB*3 -> Steal (stealth), use stolen item -> DB*2 -> roll for init -> DB*2 -> Dodge(caltrops)*2 inside of zerg -> DB -> Shadow return.

Hello, you just spread a minimum of 18 bleeds on the majority of the zerg while being completely immune to them during the whole.

Hey no need to thank me! <tries to unglue OP from his leg>

That doesnt make you immune. DBs evade doesnt cover the entire animation. Also you don’t have utility caltrops which is a staple ability for bleed thief.

Love the profession as it combines superior mobility with avoidance and mitigation tools. A tanker’s dream profession. Loving the dynamic in the damage/control/support trinity

Incurafy.6329:

Turtles All The Way Down.5608:

Yes OP thieves are overpowered and boring, so if you level a OP/boring class to 80 first and then switch to an alt, you’ll have to choose between being overpowered and not having fun, or having fun and feeling like you need to complain on the forums a lot. Welcome to my world.

Look, dude, you were destroyed by a few dozen Thieves, we get it, but stop spamming our forum with crap about how OP we are. Roll a Thief, learn the class, then learn how to counter it on your main. Complaining on the forum doesn’t help.

Thieves cannot into reading comprehension I guess! This is no surprise. Go back to the part where I said I rolled an OP class that was boring, then made a different class to have fun but felt like I needed to complain a lot as a result (on account of, every other class in this game has legitimate things to complain about).

i think chasing people in wvw is fun. superior running abilities ftw!!!! also shortbow :P

Khairos.3890:

http://i.imgur.com/nm1z9.jpg

Thief was the first class I played, and the only class I’ve taken to 80.

The journey was long and fun, I used Death Blossom a majority of the way to dispatch groups of enemies and I don’t know, I guess it wasn’t really the most effective choice, but I had fun with it.

Then I hit 80, picked up a Dungeon Chestpiece so that I could LOOK like a level 80 instead of level 10 (Sorry, I’m also disappointed with the Medium Armor styles >_>), then jumped into my Endgame, World vs. World, with a very dedicated WvW guild.

Soon, I found that my D/D Death Blossom was a not popular Thief strategy for WvW, and I branched out and tried many builds and weapon combinations. I tried the “glass cannon” D/D backstab thing, tried P/D but didn’t feel like I was contributing much, and I bit the bullet and tried S/P but I just didn’t find it very fun at all.

I often feel like I took another class to 80, and I tried with Necromancer and Guardian as you can see in the picture, but I always return to my Thief. I think it’s because I’ve been spoiled by the passive 25% movespeed sigil, and also since it was 80, and that I invested a LOT of time into it, so I might as well make the best of it.

Has anyone else been a similar situation? How did you make playing Thief fun to you again? I’d like to hear something cause I’m not sure if I should continue to commit time to my Thief or just bite the bullet and invest an enormous amount of hours on a new character.

Not quite sure if you are talking about all level 80 end game or just WvW. Personally, I like my thief in WvW. I heartily dislike the D/D BS build, so generally play something else (most of the others are good) but actually rely heavily on my shortbow.

Having said that, I got tired of my thief in sPvP, being a bit samey on most builds and always the spectre of D/D FotM hanging around (if you use it you are lame in my view, but if you don’t use it, you feel kinda irritated when you underperform). So I tried a few other classes.

I settled for the last few days on necromancer. It’s a good all round class and has competitive builds in both sPvP and WvW without being OP. And if you think you’ve been spoiled by the speed signet on thief, consider this – most thieves would say that signet compromises the effectiveness of their builds, whereas a necro can easily make a perma-swiftness build and move noticeably FASTER than a thief without any significant compromise.

PsionicDingo.2065:

I enjoy my Thief.

snip..

You ask how to make it fun, so this how what I do for “fun” in WvW:

Scorpion Wire – When I’m not on a siege weapon, I love to dart in and yank down the overzealous defenders from their wall. Your fellow attackers will enjoy this, and if you kill them before they get back inside, you can wage a war of attrition. Also, use it to be a jerk in the jumping puzzle. Hey, usually THEY started it!

Shadow Refuge – I drop it on/in front of a group of ranged during back line fights or anything like that. Whee, utility.

Dancing Dagger – Try it in a group during skirmishes. You’ll enjoy it.

Dagger Storm – Always cried about, and always handy to clean up unorganized zergs.

.. snip

QFT

I play a P/D venom/leeching build which I love in WvW. I swear it is designed as the ultimate griefer build. While I do not one shot people.. I never lose 1v1.. I probably bat 95% in 1v2 and survive much longer than most classes and have probably won 50% of the 1v3’s too. One of the HUGE advantages thieves have, and it totally shines in WvW, is stealth stomping. Cruise up to someone while they are downed.. slap them with a CnD and proceed to stomp them into oblivion. This really is a huge help in skirmishing and even larger combat. I pretty much roll at the fringes of the battle, regularly flank the enemy, steal/CnD into someone towards the back to get into the fray and just start to cause havoc.

Most people have tunnel vision during these large scale fights, and they rarely think someone is going to come up behind them when they have 20 of their teammates in front of them.. It is so fun for me personally that I see how long I can stay engaged “behind enemy lines” before I have to bug out to regroup. No other class can live on the edge that way and impact a battle in such a way, and RUN AWAY when it gets to be to much. Sure I on occasion screw up or get gibbed, but those to me are learning experiences on what I could do better (although most of the time it is me cursing because I missed a CnD at a critical moment). Now if you put together a little strike team of 2-3 thieves doing this you can make a serious impact in a large battle and even break an enemy zerg because they start seeing dead bodies around them and get scared and run away (Visualize Monty Python in your head..) No joke.. seriously happened in WvW the other night.. I was running with a 3 man thief strike team and we rolled up on a battle that was easily 3:1 odds against our server (30 on 10).. we rolled up behind the enemy force and proceeded to send them packing even though we only killed 5-6 people.. it was enough of a spook that made the team break ranks and run.

This class has a ton more options and depth than my 80 ranger did and I’m so glad they nerfed SB so I could enjoy the class. Just when you go down.. you see the thief run towards you and then poof.. he is gone.. you wait.. knowing that.. soon… he will drive a stake threw your heart and send you back to waypoint land.

You have to say to yourself “Get over here!” everytime you scorpion wire though.. it is mandatory entry into the thieves guild.. serious.