Can't decide between these professions.

Need some assistance in picking a class. I have played thief and warrior and like them both equally (Only PVE..I do not wish to PVP). The playstyle of zerker warrior and staff or DD thief is right up my alley. But I have some drawbacks on each that I can't really decide. I would like to know which do you guys think would be better longterm. Some factors I don't know is the following:

1. How have these professions faired during the games history. Have they been useful and wanted every patch/expac? I am mainly looking at high end fractals and raids.
2. What is coming down the pipe for them in the future. What does it look like the devs have been pushing the professions too? More pure dps..more support, ect.

I understand the basis of the classes and what their main roles are but for example warrior seems to be mostly a banner class for high end currently. Do you see that being changed for more diversity, ect

My downsides to both classes right now:Thief - Squishy. I love the dps output and playstyle but I feel like I'm always about to die. I know I can add vitality/toughness gear but then I feel like I won't be wanted in groups because now my DPS is max. At the high end if going pure DPS...is dying often an issue? Especially being a melee build or am I overthinking it. I dodge/pay attention to mechanics but still feel like I'm one mistake or lucky shot from death.

Warrior - I feel like with the amount of weapons it can use, only condition Bow/Zerker combo is very limited. It does decent dps and lots of AE damage but it feels sluggish/slow. Also I find myself waiting on cooldowns to put up because I have used all my abilities and then I go to a very limited autoattach. (while thief autoattack is amazing). But in large packs I feel amazing. I am wondering though on a boss where its just on mob, how much does my DPS lack at that point. I see people say that warrior gets around 24k and thief gets to around 32k. Does the extra support warrior bring to the table really make the difference on the 8k? I assume so because many people seem to want warriors and thieves...not so much.

Lastly, this is just to throw a wrench in. I really like the reverent. Just as much as the other two classes here but they seem to get no love. People avoid the classes in raids from what i have seen/read. Would it be worth playing and building this profession because there might be something that reworks them into being wanted soon? I love the idea of a bow on the class but no one says good things about it besides that it is fun. Not fun building it up just to be passed over for raids/ect.

Would love to know everyones thoughts, plan to pick one to go maximize starting late tonight or tomorrow.

At the end of the day play what you want how you want to play it. Me I like my power warrior to condi warrior, is it meta no, do I care no.

@Red Haired Savage.5430 said:At the end of the day play what you want how you want to play it. Me I like my power warrior to condi warrior, is it meta no, do I care no.

I do care thou. I appreciate that you are happy and enjoy your play style but I really like end-game raiding and harder dungeons. I plan to play the meta forms of each class unless the non-meta is only 2-5% difference in dps/utility ect. I have tested all of them at 80 and enjoy them all but taking them all deep into raiding to figure them all out is pretty time consuming so I am trying to narrow it down to which I would like to try to maximize first. So looking for some feedback if possible. On the history of the classes where the vision on them for the future is (for those that think they might know or have been playing them for a long time). I do not have that type of knowledge and can't just get by reading the forums.

Guardian! I main a Guardian and they are really fun to play, they use heavy armor, can be support, can be condi damage, can be full power damage you can use Scepter Shield Sword Mace Staff and with the Dragon hunter you can also use Bows!

Or you can Play warrior for Full Offense no squishiness and some support skills like banners.

Take a look at the highest rated builds on metabattle if you haven't already. That could help you decide.

I would definitely recommend not revenant. It's hated by a lot of people, and since you wanna do end game group stuff that would be a problem.

As for the other two classes, it is true that warrior is always wanted, though it's gameplay is less involved. A good thief won't often be rejected though and you can certainly play with it. You will succeed with either, but I would personally recommend the thief as its gameplay is more interesting and requires more skill to play well.

With Reverent. Was it always not wanted or just since PoF? Trying to not base everything off one patch, ect. I want to like guardian...seems like a class I would enjoy but not a fan of the tomes/switching powers aspect. One of the main reasons I avoid engineer. The kits are out of control. While more options would be great, just to many buttons to micro manage. Trying to enjoy the game not turn it into a job:P

Well, currently ANet seems to be going in the direction of dismantling most unique party buffs on classes. I think that they no longer want to have "mandatory" professions in raids/fractals. I mean they dismantled and re-ordered Grace of the Land, Mesmers Distortion-sharing and Phalanx Strength, and they are trying to improve Might sharing options on other classes.

My point is, you can't really expect any class in meta to stay meta, or any class not meta to forever be not meta. Just play both, having a "main" is so over-rated anyway. My guardian is only my main as far as story is concerned. I spend more time nowadays on other classes.

@Vicus.5841 said:With Reverent. Was it always not wanted or just since PoF? Trying to not base everything off one patch, ect. I want to like guardian...seems like a class I would enjoy but not a fan of the tomes/switching powers aspect. One of the main reasons I avoid engineer. The kits are out of control. While more options would be great, just to many buttons to micro manage. Trying to enjoy the game not turn it into a job:P

It's been not wanted much longer than PoF. Unless you really like playing it, a lot, I wouldn't invest.

Firebrand also isn't too complex. If going condi, which is better, then you really stick to axe/torch and using tome of justice on cool down. You can learn it pretty quickly. The other tomes don't get much use, though the second is useful for some extra healing. But you could always go dragon hunter power instead, which uses fewer skills but is still very good, and has a decent ranged option. Guardian is also generally viewed as one of the best balanced and liked classes in the game, and is often wanted by others on a team, and would be a good investment.

1 warrior is wanted in nearly every pve group for it's banners/empower allies. And yes the damage boost you give to everyone else makes up for you doing only moderate dps. So it will be a lot easier to find groups as a warrior if you don't mind taking on the role of semi-support.

Thief on the other hand has almost no group utility, offering only breakbar support and the potential for supplying it's own self healing (at a small damage loss). So as a thief you get judged in groups on the basis of your dps, for which staff dps is on the low end (30k rather than 33-35k). But the rotation is very simple and the output is consistent as long as you can stay in melee range, even if you have to move with the boss or dodge for mechanics. So in casual/medium skilled groups you should be able to pull your weight just fine, but for the more meta hardcore groups or against certain bosses, you or your group leader might find your performance a bit lacking.

As for your specific questions:Warrior has been wanted and should continue to be wanted due to the unique buffs it brings. They were so wanted that when banners were only for 5 people, raid groups took two. The big class buff rebalance that gave other classes might sharing but changed banners to 10 people is the only major change we should see for warriors for some time. So looking down the pipeline that would imply that devs are happy with warrior's current place within the meta.

Daredevil also was left mostly untouched with the balance patch, with the movement skills change and weakening charge now snapping you to the target making the staff infinitely more usable. Our condi was left largely unchanged as well compared to most other Condi classes. I don't think there are any specific changes in the works for theif right now, but we may continue to see a toning down of Condi classes in general, after the dust had had time to settle from the recent changes.

The overall meta has been shifting towards more defined roles, but also more flexibility within those roles. You still want your buff bots, but druids can now stack might in addition to warrior, alacrity is no longer unique to chrono, and as more people get better at the fights the meta for dps feels less restrictive as well. Newer raid wings also seem to be including more personal responsibility and roles that you need to assign to people, which means finding classes that can succeed at those roles, and less of 1-2 people carrying most mechanics while the rest just zerg things.

After research and playing the classes, I ended up going with guardian. Nothing like the original post! But so far I'm happy. thanks for all the input, it did help.