How is the Thief those days in PvE?
That’s a loaded question. What do you consider to be the prime factors for “competence”. Being able to spam Stealth skills? Dealing out insanely hit spikes of damage? Actually having multiple melee weapon set choices? Etc etc.
Stealth is being continually nerfed into the ground. Although the most recent patch reverted the increased Revealed debuff back to its original 3 seconds for PvE, WvW is continually getting new anti-Stealth options. Even for PvE, people question the value of Stealth since it no longer wipes off mob aggro. (If you’re not planning on a Stealth build, then these aspects don’t matter to you.)
ArenaNet is against spike damage. With the latest nerfs / changes to Mug, a Thief doesn’t have the same kind of alpha strike options that it used to use. People care about these changes for PvP and WvW. Yet for PvE, you could debate over just how much this has been affecting you.
The dual skill of Sword/Dagger got revised and buffed. People can actually hit with it now and it’s actually a useful skill. Between the built-in evasion of Sword/Pistol and the viability of Sword/Dagger, you’ve got melee choices.
Pistol/Pistol is still terrible. Shortbow’s attack #1 arrow no longer automatically hits moving targets, which has reduced its viability in WvW and PvP.
We’re supposed to be getting buffs in the mobility department, but they haven’t happened yet. Only time will tell if these theoretical changes will be actually useful.
There’s really no content that playing a thief will prevent you from completing, although playing them can certainly be more difficult than playing a guardian doing the same thing for example. Any profession can do high level fractals and contribute in WvW, some at just better or easier to play when doing them.
Whether the enjoyment from playing a thief makes up for their disadvantages in some content is up to you.
Thanks for both reply.