3 Questions

3 Questions

in Engineer

Posted by: FoxAuror.9864

FoxAuror.9864

Hi all, I hit 80 Engi soon after release but have been away from the game for a year and a half. Now I’ve returned and am having a blast, and I have a few questions. For context, I really enjoy running Condi builds, particularly p/s with grenades, and will likely spec in that direction even if it’s less optimal than a ’zerker or assassin build. I mostly play cooperative PvE events like the Silverwastes where Condi stacking can be a problem.

1) Condi Stacking #1. I’m sure this has been answered elsewhere but I didn’t see a consensus with a quick search. Do higher damage ticks take priority over lower damage ticks, or do recently applied ticks overwrite older, higher damage ticks?

2) Condi Stacking #2. If the stack is maxed, but my damage ticks, don’t I really only deal damage equal to the difference between my tick and whoever’s tick has gotten knocked off the queue? For example, if I spec Condi and bleed for 307, and Bleed #26 would have ticked for 250, then by overwriting their tick, I’m really only applying 57 extra damage. If this is true, does that make ’zerker or Assassins stronger than Sinister?

3) Ascended Gear. I’m close to being able to craft two pieces, and am wondering about prefix. My gut says Carrion, because my computer has lag and the extra health helps, but I’m wondering if it should be Assassin, Sinister, or even (in a completely opposite direction) Dire instead. I won’t be able to afford a full ascended set, much less multiples, for some time, so I’m looking for a piece that will always be useful – I can swap out exotics much more freely.

Thank you for any input you have!

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Posted by: Arantheal.7396

Arantheal.7396

1) recently applied condis over-write older ones. definitely annoying for burning since no guard ever will run max condi-dmg^^

2) correct, for every pve-content power-dmg is far superior to condi-dmg, simply because most power-specs also apply condis which easily over-write those of players who specced for condi-dmg, rendering builds around condi-dmg pointless.

3) unless you want to run fractals, ascended armor is pointless. its overall stat-gain is roughly 5% to that of exotic gear, and performing infusions (other than standard agony-resistance) are quite expensive. My advice: go for full berserker trinkets since you will run them on almost all power-related builds, as well as ascended berserker weapons (rifle is your best option for power-builds (the stat gain is again not that noticable on weapons, but the flat dmg-multiplier really helps your direct dmg). For armor you still can decide if you rather run exotic berserker or assassin, or a mix of both.
If you ever want to dive into wvw, the opposite is the case, making condi-builds so much easier to play, therefore rabid trinkets / weapons with dire armor are usually your best friends. or go for full celestial gear directly (even the exotic version takes roughly a month to craft, tho)

Engineer is love, Engineer is life.

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Posted by: krixis.9538

krixis.9538

I would like a make a point about ascended gear.

the devs thought exotics was to easy to obtain so they added fractals + ascended gear. the ascended gear was designed to be used with fractals due to agony and ascended having a slot purely for agony resistance.

then the WvW player base cried to high heaven how it was soooooo unfair that players who put time and effort in a PvE dungeon system had shiny gear that they could not earn in WvW (cos they suck at pve, yes following a commander and build siege takes little to no skill to do, yet apperntly its considerd to be onpar with pve :S ).

this led to WvW players beliving the “only” reason they lost in a 1v1 fight was due to that dude having ascended. this was based on some silly idea that they both did equal number of hits to each other and the only reason the dude won was he did a little bit more dmg.
which ment he killed the other dude and had like 300 health left at the end of the fight (haha I know how silly, its no way he could of just out played the dude or was just better, nope it was cos he ascended obv kitten )

so they then made ascended gear available to all. and such new players feel they need to get ascended gear to be “onpar”.

basically you only really need ascended gear for max lvl fractal runs or if u really want to min max your gear and get the +5 stat +5 AR infusions to get Best In Slot gear + stats.

as stated the difference between ascended and exotic is 5% stats increase which works out to an almost un-noticeable dmg increase. you will see ppl scream its a game changer but its not. its really not. its just a gold sink nowadays.

yay for the internet and every one being allowed to express their own opinions freely and not have any 1 force their own views by quoting your post then commenting under it cos they don’t like what u said or understand it ^-^

Desolation EU
Fractal lvl 80 – 126 AR

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Posted by: Xyonon.3987

Xyonon.3987

Condition stacking was semi correct explained. There are 2 condition stackings:
Effectivity and duration:

Bleeding, Vulnerability, Confusion and Torment stack in effectivity. This means you can stack this condition 25 times. If you apply anything at 25 stacks, the oldest stack gets removed, regardless of duration and condi damage of the old or new stack. This may cause a 20 sec bleed to be overwritten by a 5 sec bleed.

Blind, Burning, Chilled, Crippled, Fear, Immobilized, Poison and Weakness stack in duration. Yet those are also limited in stacks too. After X stacks, no new stacks will be applied until the first one has run out. It’s like a queue -> I apply burning, you apply burning, your dmagae waits until mine has run out.

X stacks is individual for each of those conditions:

  • Blind stacks ? times. (I don’t know this one, but it really doesn’t matter since it gets removed after each attack, causing it to miss. You are not blinded for 10 sec and miss 10 sec. Your next attack within those 10 sec will miss, only one attack. This makes reapplying blinds (like bomb 4) much stronger than onehits (like pistol 3, grenade 3).
  • Burning stacks 9 times.
  • Chilled stacks ? times.
  • Crippled stacks ? times.
  • Fear stacks ? times.
  • Immobilized stacks ? times.
  • Poison stacks 9 times.
  • Weakness stacks 5 times.
Ziggs Ironeye – Engineer | Madame Le Blanc – Mesmer | Mentor (PvE) | EU
“Mentoring engineers / mesmers and showing you what you can do with your fantastic class!
Just pm me for my advice! Always eager to help!”

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Posted by: FoxAuror.9864

FoxAuror.9864

Thanks all. Ascended armor still appeals to me because the devs have stated they won’t release an armor tier higher than it, so even if it’s only a small increase, it’ll be that small increase for a long time. It does make sense to get the weapon first though. I’ll have to decide between Assassin’s and Celestial later, based on whether or not I want to do Fractals or PvP.

Accessories are bought using laurels rather than crafting, right? So except for the (relatively) few laurels you spend on recipes, it isn’t really drawing from the same resource pool.

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Posted by: Xyonon.3987

Xyonon.3987

PvP has it’s own stats, you only have to bring a weapon type there, the stats can be chosen independend. You only have to worry about WvW or PvE. If you like PvE more, focus on Assassin stats, trinkets still berserk.

Ziggs Ironeye – Engineer | Madame Le Blanc – Mesmer | Mentor (PvE) | EU
“Mentoring engineers / mesmers and showing you what you can do with your fantastic class!
Just pm me for my advice! Always eager to help!”