Guild Wars 2

I have not played in roughly 6 months due to my job…

Back when i played D/D was the way to go next to D/P.

Whats the current state of thief?

Dueling wise
Roaming wise
Team wise
and build wise.

Is D/D viable at all?

thanks everyone.

521111111 or 3333333

yea thief still good

this guy^ must play the worst thief in the game if thats what he does. Thief is hardest class to play in the game if u wanna play it well. But the meta is d/p

how can u say that any class in this game is hard? -_-

can i get some details please

outside of few nerfs here and there not much changed for thief really, still gotta run glass to do dmg, still end up dead if you make a mistake hehe

dueling they are pretty decent i would say, althrough certain builds/classes like PU mesmers are better

roaming still one of the best classes thanks to moblity

team wise, not much changed there really, nuke target, decap points, refuge rez, rez interrupt etc.

builds: s/d got nerfed so most people either run s/p for port -> PW spam or d/p trickery

d/d is only viable in wvw and HJ due to lack of utility and heavy reliance on CnD, but it is my opnion

there is full nerf and buff list on thief forums if you wanna see what changed

overall, thief in vaccum is ok, meta did shift to more AI and condi tanky build + hambow wars so picking targets while being spammed by endless condi aoe is bit harder now ._.

it is still fun class to play and does have it’s spot in team pvp, however pretty unforgiving so certain dedication/time investment is expected~

you will need alot of condi removal skills if you want to survive=meta
i hope anet bring some updates for thief class, it’s getting boring…

pdemo.8312:

this guy^ must play the worst thief in the game if thats what he does. Thief is hardest class to play in the game if u wanna play it well. But the meta is d/p

LMFAO

Bsgapollo.5364:

pdemo.8312:

this guy^ must play the worst thief in the game if thats what he does. Thief is hardest class to play in the game if u wanna play it well. But the meta is d/p

LMFAO

Depends. in hot join thief is easy.

At upper levels of play, spirit ranger, engi, warrior, necro, and guardian are all easier to play. Ele and any non PU Mesmer build are more difficult to play.

Juan Ignacio.8903:

how can u say that any class in this game is hard? -_-

He never said it was hard, just hardest.

I don’t think any class is difficult, but if you really want to play thief… artfully (in a manner of speaking), then you really need to have some serious skills. It certainly isn’t a 3 spam or a 5-2-1 spam- at least, it’s certainly not any more spammy or faceroll-y than any other class.

And Apollo, just cut it. We all know you play ele, and nobody argues that ele isn’t one of the two most underpowered classes by a huge margin. That being said, I and others have already given you pages worth of advice for countering thieves, and your complete ignorance to our advice is, at the very least, rude, if not downright outrageous and hypocritical.

Luxorflip.5243:

can i get some details please

I think Cynz summed it up well, but I would add that it is not so much how thief is different but how other classes are different.

Warriors are now basically godmode- a total reversal from what they were like for quite some time after launch. Necro are now also significantly stronger, eles are weaker (for a while they were really strong). Tanky condition/cc builds that take a long time to kill and can do a lot of damage over time are really popular on many classes.

That means that it is much harder to play d/d burst thief now than it was. I’m pretty sure d/p is so popular mainly because it gives a good chance of beating beginner to mid-tier warriors.

Also unless you are really good, the condition removal in stealth trait is necessary if you are not playing sword.

Arganthium.5638:

Juan Ignacio.8903:

how can u say that any class in this game is hard? -_-

He never said it was hard, just hardest.

I don’t think any class is difficult, but if you really want to play thief… artfully (in a manner of speaking), then you really need to have some serious skills. It certainly isn’t a 3 spam or a 5-2-1 spam- at least, it’s certainly not any more spammy or faceroll-y than any other class.

And Apollo, just cut it. We all know you play ele, and nobody argues that ele isn’t one of the two most underpowered classes by a huge margin. That being said, I and others have already given you pages worth of advice for countering thieves, and your complete ignorance to our advice is, at the very least, rude, if not downright outrageous and hypocritical.

I actually have taken some of your advice and I’m using some of it at this very moment. I just find it hilarious how someone can think that thief is one of the hardest classes to play while there are tons of other classes out there that require a lot more depth.

Thief is still a very strong class to play. Not that easy and not that hard to play with one. Very efective in their role.

Juan Ignacio.8903:

how can u say that any class in this game is hard? -_-

Because many come from a LoL/DotA background where managing 4 skills is hard. Not everyone is used to WoW generation games with managing 50 skills.

Dee Jay.2460:

Juan Ignacio.8903:

how can u say that any class in this game is hard? -_-

Because many come from a LoL/DotA background where managing 4 skills is hard. Not everyone is used to WoW generation games with managing 50 skills.

i come from wow and mained rogue, i think i had something like 60+ keybinds on her and ironically i find playing thief in this game is actually harder…

yes, this game doesn’t have piano like spells bars but it can be a downside too

in wow classes relied more on passive survivability, including rogues (50% evasion, cloak of shadows = immuity to magic, combat readiness = kind of like pain sup etc), in this game you have very active defense, at least on thieves, where your positioning matters way more since you literary have no defense but stealth and dodge on thief and there is no holy trinity so you can’t rely on pocket healer like in wow

secondly, due to lack of spells you can do only so much in certain situations… my rogue in wow had many tools to keep enemy CCd or ways to dps or defend themself, in gw2 thief has only so much, it is more on reaction based than wow is imo

also, wow didn’t have such thing like combo fields/projectiles etc., in gw2 you have to be more aware of your enviroment imo

LoL is a bit different story, yes you have very few spells there but game is not based around playing one champion, as you decent player you should know how to play well many champions to be able to fill any role and counter enemy, so at the end you are once again sitting at 60 different spells

i have played wow, LoL and some other game and personally i don’t think that thieves are THAT easy to play as people claim and there IS certain depth to class simply due to gw2 combat and class mechanics

the most braindead thing i tried out so far in gw2 was hambow warrior tho… the build is so kitten one dimensional idk how people can enjoy playing it

imo gw2 combat requires more skills then wow. number of keys is hardly a measure of skill. all games are ultimately sequences of 0’s and 1’s, it’s their combination that matters. i have 6*12 bars on my wow elvui interface, but you use around 20 or so. when healing, most of my “playing” watching and clicking unit frames.

Thief meta seems to be might stacking from singets atm. I been running this recently with 4 singets. 5 stacks of might per singet and 2 stacks from going stealth so 22 total might stacks. can get all 25 if you blinding powder and heartseeker through it twice and steal/stealth to your enemy. Singets all have pretty short cooldowns so you can burst somebody down again less than a minute later.

Chuck Zitto.2367:

Thief meta seems to be might stacking from singets atm. I been running this recently with 4 singets. 5 stacks of might per singet and 2 stacks from going stealth so 22 total might stacks. can get all 25 if you blinding powder and heartseeker through it twice and steal/stealth to your enemy. Singets all have pretty short cooldowns so you can burst somebody down again less than a minute later.

wat….

i didn’t see signet thief in spvp (or in wvw for that matter) in ages…

s/p or s/d and enjoy your risk free fights. and d/d thief hasn’t been the main meta build since like november 2012

^ as my good friend would say.

Gw2 takes skill insofar as good reflexes and decision making are ‘skill’, except for maybe fire grab, that kitten is hard to land. Also maybe burning speed too requires some basic ability to aim and manage proper spacing. But 99% of skills are just about pushing the button at the right time.

Cynz.9437:

Dee Jay.2460:

Juan Ignacio.8903:

how can u say that any class in this game is hard? -_-

Because many come from a LoL/DotA background where managing 4 skills is hard. Not everyone is used to WoW generation games with managing 50 skills.

i come from wow and mained rogue, i think i had something like 60+ keybinds on her and ironically i find playing thief in this game is actually harder…

yes, this game doesn’t have piano like spells bars but it can be a downside too

in wow classes relied more on passive survivability, including rogues (50% evasion, cloak of shadows = immuity to magic, combat readiness = kind of like pain sup etc), in this game you have very active defense, at least on thieves, where your positioning matters way more since you literary have no defense but stealth and dodge on thief and there is no holy trinity so you can’t rely on pocket healer like in wow

secondly, due to lack of spells you can do only so much in certain situations… my rogue in wow had many tools to keep enemy CCd or ways to dps or defend themself, in gw2 thief has only so much, it is more on reaction based than wow is imo

also, wow didn’t have such thing like combo fields/projectiles etc., in gw2 you have to be more aware of your enviroment imo

LoL is a bit different story, yes you have very few spells there but game is not based around playing one champion, as you decent player you should know how to play well many champions to be able to fill any role and counter enemy, so at the end you are once again sitting at 60 different spells

i have played wow, LoL and some other game and personally i don’t think that thieves are THAT easy to play as people claim and there IS certain depth to class simply due to gw2 combat and class mechanics

the most braindead thing i tried out so far in gw2 was hambow warrior tho… the build is so kitten one dimensional idk how people can enjoy playing it

yeah and u realize thief has many of the best active defense tools? high evade-amount, blind, stealth and teleport. some of that stuff even on weaponsets. so yeah thief is the easiest and best roamer u can play in this game.. but like every other roamer mistakes hit u harder then on bruiser types like hambow or conditionbunker.

The current state of thief is, to do well with one in Conquest mode, u have to have really good timing skills and know where to be and when to be there,

Aside from that, thief is highly overrepresented and most thieves are incredibly bad at the class, which is great since they have like 0 hp,

Most of the time thieves are a non threat and burden to their team.

Cynz.9437:

Dee Jay.2460:

Juan Ignacio.8903:

how can u say that any class in this game is hard? -_-

Because many come from a LoL/DotA background where managing 4 skills is hard. Not everyone is used to WoW generation games with managing 50 skills.

-snip-

But the number of skills does matter. It gives each situation far more potential maneuvers and outcomes.

WoW had a number of very reputable players that were quite a bit ahead of everyone else and could consistently outperform everyone else.

In Guild Wars 2 anyone who can reliably hit people with Cloak and Dagger has essentially “mastered” the Thief class. That’s not to say that it doesn’t take skill. But it means that “mastering” the mechanics of a class takes far less effort in GW2 than any other MMO.

90% of skill in Guild Wars 2 is derived from situational awareness. Class mastery is a fairly minor aspect. That’s why if you’re good on a Mesmer or Guardian you will quickly be able to perform well on a Thief or Ranger.

Unlike WoW, mastering a class in GW2 is a matter of hours, not weeks because most of your PvP skill is independent of the class you’re playing.

Yasha.5963:

Luxorflip.5243:

can i get some details please

I think Cynz summed it up well

I agree Cynz summed it up well – but one additional note is that sleight of hand was buffed which made the 10/30/0/0/30 build (typically d/p but I think it works for s/p too) a popular meta build due to the team fight utility of interrupts through stability.

As Elementalist I (only do hot join right) I can only say, that even as bunker thief can burn you down very fast (thats why I dont bunker anymore, cause conditions melt you away and thiefs still do enough dmg to you, ahhh and you do so few dmg, that you cant even kill a full glass build)

The Problem I see with thiefs in Hot Join are often plain stupid, you see them vanish, you know exactly when the backstab is incoming.

I saw a few really strong thiefs though, dont no how he did it but looked like permaevade with shortbow, even took down a hambow “easily”.

Cynz.9437:

it is still fun class to play and does have it’s spot in team pvp, however pretty unforgiving so certain dedication/time investment is expected~

Pretty much this.

Thief is extremely strong in tpvp but requires a lot of dedication to master.

It also is so different from other classes in terms of playstyle/rotations that I would recommend playing only thief (not multiclassing) if you want to get good at it.

Best thief specs right now are Sword/Pistol, Sword/Dagger, Dagger/ Pistol with offhand shortbow on every build

kitten SBOW!!!!1111one

ens.9854:

Gw2 takes skill insofar as good reflexes and decision making are ‘skill’, except for maybe fire grab, that kitten is hard to land. Also maybe burning speed too requires some basic ability to aim and manage proper spacing. But 99% of skills are just about pushing the button at the right time.

Lol just try playing a dagger mainhand ele: “kittenmit! Sit there for 2 seconds while I blow crap into your face!”

All while being in “Imma kill u easy, silly ele” range.