Guild Wars 2 MMO News, Guides, and Features at Ten Ton Hammer

At GDC 2011, the mercenary heroes from the Ten Ton Hammer event team were treated to an early look at the Thief profession in Guild Wars 2. Featured in the upcoming demo later this week at PAX East, the thief looks to be an incredibly cool hybrid between the dual wielding mayhem of a Guild Wars assassin and a badass, highly mobile ranged class.

To give you a closer look at the fluid combat style of thief, we have an exclusive video showcasing the various skills such as stealth, shadow stepping, and an interesting tactical self-heal that the thief will have at their disposal.

Stealth, stealing, shadow-stepping, and self-heals: the thief profession clearly puts the "S" in Guild Wars 2

As you can see in the above video, combat for the thief tends to be very tactical, allowing players to easily switch between quick melee strikes and some fairly powerful ranged attacks. One thing that really stands out for me is the fact that the first five skills aren’t limited by a pesky cooldown timer, but help you build Initiative, a unique profession resource that fuels more powerful attacks. Well, that plus the Oakhearts shown towards the end of the clip are far angrier and aggressive than their GW2 counterparts.

Stay tuned for more details on the thief profession this week, as well as a closer look at guardian combat and the norn starting area leading up to and continuing through the weekend when Team Hammer heads to Boston for PAX East 2011. In the meantime, be sure to join the discussions for the thief in our Guild Wars 2 profession discussion forums.