I used to play a very long time ago, as such, my information might be a little outdated. Races provide no bonuses to any stats, races simply change your starting area. I believe thieves are pretty strong, or at least they were back when I played. I’d recommend a thief, weapons of your choice, I went with the dual daggers/shortbow and also got my thief to level 80. I browsed the forums a bit and heard that thieves got nerfed somewhere, I can’t confirm this, however. Regardless, it won’t be long until a GW2 vet comes sees this thread and corrects me.