It’s that time of the game everyone: The alt craze has begun. Up until this point, My Asura Thief Mrell has not only been a joy to play, but the only character I’ve spent any significant amount of time with. Sure, I’ve got a crafting Alt, Herros Kraitbane, the Charr Ranger, but I don’t intend to do anything other than craft with him. But, only a week ago, I felt it was time to try something else, to start fresh and experience another class.

This week, We’ll see what I learnedabout playing my Thief from playing my Warrior.

Obadiah Thorn: Descendant of the Mad King

 

Mrell: Thief and Procurer of Fine Wine

   I started out, like we all did at level one with Obadiah Thorn, a Human Warrior, named in such a way as to match with the upcoming return of the Mad King.  Even from the first moments of playing this new character, I knew things were going to be quite different.

Mobility

Thieves, we have a gift. A gift for movement. And while there are certainly things that we have sacrificed for this ability to move (more on those later), it’s very clear that other professions don’t have the same kind of mobility that we do.  Warriors cannot move like the Thieves can. Granted, with heavy armor, you don’t need the same amount of mobility, but I still found it a difficult adjustment to make. “What do you mean I can’t dodge three times? I don’t have a dodge utility skill? What is this crap?”

Thieves be Squishy

Now, there is a reason that Thieves have to be mobile. We are as squishy as a rotten bunch of grapes. While the lack of mobility was certainly something to note, the fact that I could take twice as many hits as my Vitality and Toughness built Thief was very welcome. Warriors are quite simply far more durable. It was a welcome moment of realization for me of just how fragile we Thieves are. Yes, I knew it to be so, but I didn’t really have a solid concept of it until I had played a warrior.

A Limited Selection

The other thing that I realized about the Thief when I played the warrior was how few weapons we had to choose from in our arsenal. The warrior has a plethora of death dealing devices to choose from, where we only have a few instruments. This is both good and bad. We get to know our weapons quickly and I imagine are far more comfortable with them than the Warrior. Beside, more importantly, we save on bag space. Now, the Warrior does have more flexibility and can do a lot more in different ways, but I think I, personally, like a more limited selection. Besides, it’s cheaper to get all the exotics you might want when you only have a half dozen weapons to buy rather than the full bakers.

Heavy Armor

Some of it looks really good. I mean, I still love the Noble Set on my Asura, but the heavy armor is nice. Just an observation. Also, I like being able to have a shield and a rifle. Just sayin’.

Why the Thief over the Warrior

There is one thing that this game has introduced to the MMO scene more than anything else, and that’s movement. The ability to dodge role, to simply move out of the way may not be entirely revolutionary, but it is certainly something new in the AAA MMO scene.  If you’ve followed Lock & Key for a while now, you’ll likely have caught on to the fact that I’m a fan of mobility. I think that it is the most important aspect for survival and success in this game, and there is no greater profession for mobility than the Thief. I’ve said it before, but my first twenty levels of playing a Warrior only drove the point home.

 

So, stay mobile Tyria,

Wormwood