Guild Wars 2

We can all agree that the general thief player is looked up to if they seem to be good at killing other players. But, what is the general opinion of seasoned PvE thieves? It seems to be evident that PvE is waved away or shrugged off when it comes to a measure of a players worth. Though I feel that some instances, especially for a thief, can’t be done by just anybody. Also to add, we are hated in dungeon groups, in general. At least from what I’ve read. I have personally never had a problem getting a PUG group (and I’m full zerker lol, just don’t say anything and they’ll think you are). In dungeons, minus the very first time (obviously) I’ve proven to hold my worth better than other classes that should be better. And I’m sure many of you have as well. But I’m rambling on at this point, to the main point of the thread:

Shouldn’t we respect PvE thieves as well? Some dungeons are flat out notorious. Not to mention our class isn’t exactly PvE friendly. I feel as though we give too much attention to the PvPers. And yet some of us do this content regularly at least clearing our name for the others behind them instead of being just another statistic. We should see some more PvE vids.

RedSpectrum.1975:

We can all agree that the general thief player is looked up to if they seem to be good at killing other players. But, what is the general opinion of seasoned PvE thieves? It seems to be evident that PvE is waved away or shrugged off when it comes to a measure of a players worth. Though I feel that some instances, especially for a thief, can’t be done by just anybody. Also to add, we are hated in dungeon groups, in general. At least from what I’ve read. I have personally never had a problem getting a PUG group (and I’m full zerker lol, just don’t say anything and they’ll think you are). In dungeons, minus the very first time (obviously) I’ve proven to hold my worth better than other classes that should be better. And I’m sure many of you have as well. But I’m rambling on at this point, to the main point of the thread:

Shouldn’t we respect PvE thieves as well? Some dungeons are flat out notorious. Not to mention our class isn’t exactly PvE friendly. I feel as though we give too much attention to the PvPers. And yet some of us do this content regularly at least clearing our name for the others behind them instead of being just another statistic. We should see some more PvE vids.

Thiefs are an interesting class. We are disliked in PVP for being too good and disliked in PVE for being “Bad”. But we are one of 3 top tier PVE classes in Arah, and harder instances. In lower level, easy runs we are considered bottom tier though. It’s kind of funny. I’ve had entire groups drop at my feet while the glory that is my perma evade DPS build soloed the bosses in the run.

When it comes to thieves and record speedruns I would say they are somewhat similar to warriors, most of the time you want one, but not more.
The damage a thief can put out might be pretty good, however a thief is not an ele (well duh), and because of that he lacks the “OP dps skills”, icebow, FGS and LH.
A single thief can provide stealth to your group (aswell as area might), however the “efficient” application of these traits require you to coordinate with your party. Droping a shadow refuge often times costs more time than it saves and stacking up 16+ stacks of might needs a firefield, which only a party member can provide (and even then the main usage of it is prestacking might).
There are rare cases where the aoe blind of thieves can be useful and most of the time a guard or an ele could provide enough blinds aswell.
For inexperienced groups a “good thief” (who knows how to blast a smoke field…) can be a saviour when it comes to skipping.

IMO thiefs suffer from the same issue rangers have. Their class is actually really good when it comes to running dungeons (even if you clear, blinds OP…), however a lot thief players just give the class a bad name, by running dual pistol or similar junk.

I was in a dungeon group some time ago. In the boss fight I saw 25 stacks of vulnerability which stunned me. I was told much of that came from the thief. I forget how she did it and I don’t know because I am still leveling mine, but it was very impressive. That boost to the parties dps was fantastic.

It’s always good to remember the source when the conversation deals with a classes’ or builds’ worth. Often enough it is someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about and/or they like to sound like they do. I will know for sure in this instance if and when I can reproduce that

Can’t remember the trait name 10pts in DA, recently buffed to, took icd off it for vuln stacks.

Agony I agree with you when I’m on my guard, and I pve 8/10 times the thief auto attacks with a bow or is constantly humping the team with sirens. A good thief is always good to have in your group just a matter of finding one.

Thieves and Rangers are pretty equal in PvE. The pro teams will take one or two, the pug teams will never take either unless the player is a friend of theirs.

In the end, who cares. As long as you enjoy the game, you’re fine.

I have never had any trouble joining pugs with my zerk thief, though the pugs i join are zerker groups. In dungeons, thieves are pretty good, dps and support wise.
The “Bad” category consists of rangers and necros lately, thieves are quite welcome nowadays judging from lfgs.
The stacking meta isn’t very favorable for thieves, since it is hard to see what the boss is doing with all those effects. But it can be done nonetheless, just not as easy as some of the other classes.

Bunmaster.9734:

I have never had any trouble joining pugs with my zerk thief, though the pugs i join are zerker groups. In dungeons, thieves are pretty good, dps and support wise.
The “Bad” category consists of rangers and necros lately, thieves are quite welcome nowadays judging from lfgs.
The stacking meta isn’t very favorable for thieves, since it is hard to see what the boss is doing with all those effects. But it can be done nonetheless, just not as easy as some of the other classes.

just turn off the particle effects in the graphics category and you are set.

Rangers are, yet again, unwelcome because people still refuse to use proper dungeon meta builds instead of running whatever they want…..what a shock…

Thief is really strong in dungeons – if played right. It’s one of the more unforgiving professions to play because we do good in melee, but if we mess up once we are dead because of the hard hitting attacks in PvE.

I can’t remember how many times I have been asked if I don’t have a warrior or a guardian instead. I have, but I tell them that if we fail I will get them. I have yet to get them. Most people are used to seeing thieves down on the floor asking for revives, but the good thieves are the ones reviving and often soloing content / bosses because the group wiped ;p

Geiir.7603:

Thief is really strong in dungeons – if played right. It’s one of the more unforgiving professions to play because we do good in melee, but if we mess up once we are dead because of the hard hitting attacks in PvE.

Do you mean AC and CoF, the easiest dungeons in this game or even harder dungeons?

What ever you mean, PvE is not all dungeons and stealth. The Openworld is even a part of (end-)PvE and there are they very weak.

Black Teagan.9215:

Geiir.7603:

Thief is really strong in dungeons – if played right. It’s one of the more unforgiving professions to play because we do good in melee, but if we mess up once we are dead because of the hard hitting attacks in PvE.

Do you mean AC and CoF, the easiest dungeons in this game or even harder dungeons?

What ever you mean, PvE is not all dungeons and stealth. The Openworld is even a part of (end-)PvE and there are they very weak.

Openworld PvE? Like temples? Like you can control what ppl run for a temple, that content is easy, no one notice the classes that are there. Openworld PvE is just Zerg and that doesn’t even mater the build you are running.

The thief’s problem in PVE content is that he has many tricks for evading damage, but PVE enemies generally tend to just flat out ignore many of these tricks, which puts holes in his defense. We naturally do better in PVP as our abilities are much more consistent there.

A warrior is easier to play as he only has a few, very broad defenses to worry about. Very generally, a warrior depends on: High defense, high regeneration, and his dodges. Since the warrior is so self contained (his defenses rely on him, not whether or not the enemy is immune to one of his abilities) he tends to be a much more consistently alive character.

A thief can have much better mitigation than a warrior but it requires more precise application of his abilities and the ability to change strategies if a boss winds up simply being immune to things he can do. A warrior on the other hand has a very distinct amount of punishment that he can take, and then dies, while a thief can go beyond this provided that the person playing the class is very competent.

Which isn’t to say that a warrior does not require skill to play, but that it is a lot easier to play a warrior without skill than it is to play a thief without skill. Both classes generally improve if you know what you’re doing, but thief really requires that you know what you’re doing.

What sort of opinion do you want of PvE thieves? At the top end the elites just want narrow dps builds and specific play styles so a thief can fit in there. In PUG dungeons a good thief can run any coherent build and still be able to get through and contribute. Bad thieves will just die too often and PUGs will kick them.

The big problem is that the thief isn’t the class you’d pick to do your dungeon since if you’re going to just stack in corners you might as well do it in heavy armor. That’s the reality of PUG dungeons.

There nothing wrong with Thf and this is coming from a player that has play all class to 80, I like thf so much that I made him my main class in pve.

The problem with thf is not the class but the player , thf is not a class that just any player can pick and play it. thf requires a lot of attention to what you are doing and your surrounding and thf is the only class in the game that uses a point system to make any kind attack or def , you need to know when you need to use does pts for def or offence, on like the warrior or guardian who can spam there GS attack and use def ability with out effecting there use of there offence

This is the reason so many player try Thf and fail and what happen is that ppl either go around spreading rumors that thf suck b.c they fail or ppl get the impression that thf sucks b/c ppl suck at it

Stooperdale.3560:

The big problem is that the thief isn’t the class you’d pick to do your dungeon since if you’re going to just stack in corners you might as well do it in heavy armor. That’s the reality of PUG dungeons.

This is a example of a bad player spreading bad rumors.

When ppl stack it all means you need to be in a 200 range it doesn’t mean you have to be humping each other

For example on AC run for the spider fight every 1 stack right in the corner where it meet the side of the stairs and reason for stacking is to avoid her aoe poison field, now I actually move to the other side to avoid here aoe range , ill try to make a stick picture so you can get a idea

I-I <——- X is where ppl stack for the spider boss
x I

xI-I <——- but this where I stay when we fighting the spider boss and its how i
I avoid getting hit 90% of the time,

This apply for every stack fight ,I never stay on the same spot as the other. 90% of the fight that requires to stack is to stop bosses from doing certain attacks and for that all you need to do is to be at a 200 range distance from the boss,not humping each other

I’m all for splitting off the stack at the right time with smart positioning. I do that on my thief and ranger. With that in mind, it is still far easier to stack in one spot with a heavy armor class.

Agony.3542:

When it comes to thieves and record speedruns I would say they are somewhat similar to warriors, most of the time you want one, but not more.
The damage a thief can put out might be pretty good, however a thief is not an ele (well duh), and because of that he lacks the “OP dps skills”, icebow, FGS and LH.
A single thief can provide stealth to your group (aswell as area might), however the “efficient” application of these traits require you to coordinate with your party. Droping a shadow refuge often times costs more time than it saves and stacking up 16+ stacks of might needs a firefield, which only a party member can provide (and even then the main usage of it is prestacking might).
There are rare cases where the aoe blind of thieves can be useful and most of the time a guard or an ele could provide enough blinds aswell.
For inexperienced groups a “good thief” (who knows how to blast a smoke field…) can be a saviour when it comes to skipping.

IMO thiefs suffer from the same issue rangers have. Their class is actually really good when it comes to running dungeons (even if you clear, blinds OP…), however a lot thief players just give the class a bad name, by running dual pistol or similar junk.

p/p is actually the best set you can run in dugneons like Fractals …especially lvl 50. but i THINK what you mean to say is BAD players running bad builds…not bad weaponsets.

Stooperdale.3560:

I’m all for splitting off the stack at the right time with smart positioning. I do that on my thief and ranger. With that in mind, it is still far easier to stack in one spot with a heavy armor class.

Yea that’s find you can choose a heavy armor or like a heavy armor because is just easier to play, heavy armor are just a class that can DPS with there face’s so it make them a easy dps class but that doesn’t make the class better which is the main issue with this majority of crapy player that are on this games, they think easy= better but the fact is a good player using a thf can out dps a warrior in pve in any dungeon