Guild Wars 2

I personally use a Thief and usually can outrun anyone. Basically I have 25% permanent signet boost as mentioned before, to which I add 10 sec swiftness on steal and use heartseeker for fast leaps – I can usually use 5-6 of them before initiative has to replenish. The only problem I have with HS is that it will auto-target mobs on the way, so either you have to turn auto-targetting off or be aware when to use it.
All this coupled with 2-3 stealth skills and dropping caltrops whenever I dodge makes for a very good explorer class that can get you in and out of mob-full caves without much hassle

If you want additional healing skill – use shadow refuge + Dagger storm = Leeching bolts. If you have a group of enemies around, this combo can heal for good amount and deal great damage at the same time. If you have a Necro with you, then you can use Dagger Storm on his Wells without wasting the shadow refuge

It is possible to stay stealthed almost all the time, but you are not able to do much damage in the meantime as well. It would help to know what weapons your thief-attacker was using and how much damage he did. Also if it was in WvW or in sPVP – because apparently charecter culling issue affects stealthed players in WvW, making them appear later than they actually come out of stealth.

Crafting is not for money making currently – everyone is trying to level up, so raw materials are definately worth more than the final products

If you cannot get through 1-15 levels you must be doing something wrong. I was able to level my crafting for tailor on one charr and leatherworker on another without much farming. Key to success – Discovery, Discovery, Discovery!

Thief profession is great IMHO – it basically forces us to do what thiefs/assasins should do – make a quick strike and then retreat or hide in shadows until we replenish the initiative.

As for steal mechanics – I am still getting used to that, as in the heat of the battle it takes time to check what skill have I stolen and decide when to use it, but paired with 2+1 seconds of stealth and backstab I like it. Still takes some time to learn all the ropes with thief, which is rewarding in the end.

Cannot complete two map areas because of the missing NPCs on the Far Shiverpeaks server:

1st and most popular – Warmaster Yulia in Vigilant Hills! 3 days on a lunchbreak!
2nd – Fight the Quaggan Pirate in False Lake? Not sure, as the quest NPC is not there and Quaggan Pirate is always dead
3rd – Defeat Lionguard Mette at Stonescatter Wash – NPC is not there for 2 days, probably having fun with Warmaster Yulia in some tavern

Just wanted to share my 5 cents, as I have been levelling with my thief and almost exactly the same specs, except for putting a bit more into vitality as well.

First thing you have to realise is that thief is not face-to-face tank type damage dealing profession, so running up to mobs and turning on auto-attack will lead you to your demise, especially with the way you have built your thief without any surviveability.

The way I play my D/D + SB thief is this (and I can deal with 2-4 mobs at a time without much trouble and I am not close to being any hardcore MMORG gamer) – run up to the mob/s ,do 2-3 death blossoms over them, then dodge away to replenish initiative while they bleed, now depending on how healthy they are, you can either:
1st – come back for more death blossoms (most likely in case of 2-3 weaker mobs)
2nd – come back with heartseeker (in case of one weaker mob)
3rd – change to bow and kite them away with poison shots/cluster bombs

If you are fighting one strong (veteran) mob, use steal+stealth for some nice backstabs and heal yourself in the process, make them bleed with death blossom and if all else fails, switch to shortbow and use 3rd skill, which slows them down to kite them as long as necessary.

The key to playing thief is staying mobile, evading or in stealth while still dealing damage. Death blossom is the simplest solution as it lets you also evade and do insane amounts of damage, so common mobs go down in 3-4 seconds and you are left without a scratch.

Later when you level on I recommend using utility skills that grant speed – Signet of shadows (for easier kiting and adventuring) and Shadow refuge, which basically grants you 10 seconds of peace and quiet if you run into problems you cannot solve. I have also traited in acrobatics and trickery to leave caltrops and gain swiftness whenever I dodge, which is useful for getting away from the face-to-face situations thieves are not so good at.

Hope this helps