Thief vs Engineer

How does these 2 compare in all game modes? I already have a Thief but I'm considering deleting it (73 hours of playtime after 3 years, I played my Mesmer 4 times more in a year) because it's not that great anymore outside WvW roaming...

PS: Deadeye is garbage, had high hopes that it would be fun but apparently it's not...

All relative honestly. What do you want to achieve in what game modes?

Your comment implies that you haven't tried Deadeye, but rather let other people determine it's garbage and not fun for you. There's no better feedback than your own objectivity.

@Tinnel.4369 said:All relative honestly. What do you want to achieve in what game modes?

Your comment implies that you haven't tried Deadeye, but rather let other people determine it's garbage and not fun for you. There's no better feedback than your own objectivity.

I tried Deadeye in PvP, it was slow (+ the crouch leaves you to vulnerable if you get spotted) and I didn't like it compared to Daredevil, it's like P/P Thief but worse somehow because there's very little mobility.

In PvE, what can I say? Power Thief below everything except Necro (even Condi Warrior does more damage), nice joke, at least there's condi DD but how long till it get nerfed for no reason? Brings nothing also outside more CC.

I don't play Deadeye in PvP or PvE, but I think it has a really nice/fun niche in WvW. I have to view kneeling as very situational, because you're right it's klunky, but if you use it when you need it to clear a CC or know you can get off a Death's Judgement or Spotter's Shot (depending on power or condi build) without getting run over there's still plenty of damage from rifle standing, plus that's where rifle's mobility is at. Don't underestimate Double Tap. Once I stopped trying to camp kneel, Deadeye got a ton more fun.

If you are treating the Deadeye elite spec as a sort of addon to the core profession and use it as though it was core, you will most likely find that it's garbage. And this is because the spec does not provide much to core besides a long range option, might botting and the ability to use steal traits after each kill.

Deadeye is supposed to be slow and heavily calculated instead of high-octane burst-them-down-pronto, and as such you should play it slowly and calculatedly. Things like waiting until enemies are already engaged with teammates before you attack them from range, spending a few extra seconds going around corners and finding a high place to perch from, and abusing the buffs that the elite spec can abuse will make you a more effective Deadeye.

As for Engi, I rarely ever play it because I hate the mechanics and how it handles. IMHO I think engi is worse than Rifle Deadeye in at least PvE in general and WvW unless you want to pull people off walls.

My standard disclaimer - PvE comments only.

Engineer plays very differently than Thief in PvE and overall is a bit more complex to run. Power Holosmith is the current top DPS build. With this build you try to spend as much time in Photon Forge as possible for its great burst and damage. Compared to condi Daredevil Thief, you bring a lot of stability, crowd control, explosions (yes, you regularly blow things up!) and AOE damage, plus about 5K more life when using full Berserkers so you'll feel much more sturdy. Your equipped weapon is actually only small part of your overall DPS, since Forge skills and kits replace your weapon skills. For example when out of forge, I only use Rifle for the Jump Shot/Blunderbuss combo burst (unless I absolutely have to range), then swap to Bomb Kit for melee damage. I never use the weapon auto attack - I actually have it turned off because it can delay triggering of other skills. It took a while to get the hang of Holosmith, but when I did I really liked it.

OP, like you I didn't care for the Deadeye in PvE either - probably because I've played some version of evasion Thief for 5 years (S/D, S/P, Staff, condi DD, etc). So from my perspective, Holosmith is a much better fit for me in PvE than Deadeye and worth trying out.

On the other hand, if you'd prefer to keep your fingertips intact and not feel like you're playing Bheetoven's 8th on piano every time you log on, the thief rotation is quite straightforward and not particularly input-intensive since so much of it relies on autoattack.