The whole culling/rendering thing.
How about shadowy looking, racial-based, placeholder models. In WvW they can be red hued shadow people , since they are hostile, and when they get up-close and personal they can render.
…and instead of the long names like “tarnish coast defender” how about color coded initials and a healthbar like " TC————————- " or " _______TC_______ "
A shadowy looking dude in the distance with a green ‘TC" over his head…. I’d support that.
And if thieves coming out of stealth rendered as shadows first, and then after say… 5 seconds… as people… I’d be cool with that.
People with better PCs could render more people, and at a faster pace, slow PC people can get used to fighting shadow people in WvW, or at major primetime event lagfests.
My comp is slower.. and I would totally prefer shadow people to no people.
The only way to play the engineer is to exploit it.
Playing the engineer “as intended” is simply not viable.