Playing range: LB Ranger or Deadeye Rifle?

Hey thereI'm new to the game, Or in fact, no, I'm not: but I'm back after a 5-6 years break and all feels quite strange.I'm starting from scratch with two new toons: a ranger, that I level with LB and GS. And a thief, that I plan to develop into Deadeye speciality later on, so far with P/P and later with a rifle.I aim mainly for outdoor roaming with a nice touch of WvW. No competitive pvp, no high end pve.That's the plan.So, which one is, in your opinion, my best bet? The LB/BG ranger or the P/P - Rifle Thief?(and btw is the combo Pistol/Pistol + Rifle any "viable". Viable would be enough, I dont aim for playing the best possible thing, as stated above with my modest plans)Thanks a lot in advance for your replies and advices!

This same question was asked less than a week ago, read this thread https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/103327/deadeye-or-longbow-ranger/

From experience, Ranger is the better of the two for PvE. Overuse of Thief shadow arts shenannigans will reset mob health if they can't target you, while ranger pets will act as pseudo tanks and keep bosses in combat while you pewpew from afar. There is also no way to stop enemies approaching you, because breakbars, so expect a melee regardless of what you choose.

Given how mobs tend to come in swarms, melee is so much better because melee weapons can cleave while few ranged weapons have a reliable/useful pierce or richochet.

Depends how you like to play but overall especially in WvW Ranger has far more options.Rifle can be very clunky in my opinion, I tried it and just couldn't get used to it so my thief is back to using shortbow for range attacks, It's a lot easier to stay on the move with.

i have both LB ranger (soul beast) and Rifle thief (deadeye). it really depend on what is your play style. everyone hate deadeye in WvW. too sneaky. deadeye its hard to be kill. its good for lone wolf. for group fight its not fun. u may kill 3~4 player in a battle.i more prefer soul beast. in wvw. its lot more helpful in a group fight.

for deadeye i prefer to go with rifle and D/P (search "lord hizen" on youtube he is an expert deadeye user)

I have to agree with many of the others; the Dead-eye's rifle wasn't developed for fast, mobile game-play, but rather semi-stationary. Plan on your other weapons as a main and swap to ranged support as needed.

As far as the bows, the Renegade has better overall skills with a SB than the thief and Dragonhunter outclasses the ranger with a LB. But that's my opinion.

I started with a ranger main, but shortly moved to Dragonhunter.