Guild Wars 2

As many know, function gyro is a little disappointing as the iconic elite specialization effect. Many of the other elite specs focused on changing up their profession’s unique F1 mechanic (a term I’m using that refers to the default keybind). That didn’t quite happen this way for the Scrapper, but the function gyro does have some neat support capabilities. Unfortunately, it is difficult to monitor or use when in action camera.

Any community tricks for getting this bad boy to work with a mostly action camera player? Have there been any updates or comments from ANet pointing to future changes?

Uhm.. Function gyro allows for some fairly amazing plays… it’s a very nice elite spec effect.

Plus I love getting questions like “Why do you have a helicopter on your shoulder?” :P

Bezerker.2379:

Uhm.. Function gyro allows for some fairly amazing plays… it’s a very nice elite spec effect.

Plus I love getting questions like “Why do you have a helicopter on your shoulder?” :P

Can you elaborate on fairly amazing plays? Do you mean PvP? I can’t seem to use it in combat since there are too many targets near the thing I want to help res, so selecting the exact target is often impossible with action camera. I can tell you right now that it can’t be used to stomp anything in pve, so half of its function is gone there, and it doesn’t do anything while soloing. Am I missing something central to its strengths?

As for your second point, I don’t think I’ve ever even noticed it in combat since it’s so tiny. I honestly wish it wasn’t there since when I do notice it, it just sticks out since it never matches my tansmute set :P

Speaking for one of the 2 modes where it can actually do its job in theory:

Not nice, but niche. Its a hit or miss mechanic with an excessive amount of miss to a few hits. Does it feel great when the stars align and it actually turns the battle around in your favor? Yes. Did i once manage to survive a suicide mission in wvw by last second throwing out a function gyro on the necro that i downed in a group of enemies thus rallying myself? Yes. But for every such moments there are hundreds of activations where either the gyro did not matter (the battle is already over, or its a 1vs1, or its an ele, thief or suchwise), did not work or the odds for it to be able to do any of its 2 jobs are made impossible by its frailty and its single stability stack (when traited with a grandmaster mind you). A lot of the time when it actually works i cant help but notice that the enemy didnt even seem to know what it does (players continuing to bandage self when they haven’t used their interrupt etc.).

I use it mostly as a daze bomb, some minor damage and an interrupt for "free"* on a enemy, if i can target it in time.

And some extra healing is also nice (due to grandmaster trait and a master trait).

*Its not, this takes the place of whatever mechanic we would have gotten otherwise.

Lemondish.3268:

Bezerker.2379:

Uhm.. Function gyro allows for some fairly amazing plays… it’s a very nice elite spec effect.

Plus I love getting questions like “Why do you have a helicopter on your shoulder?” :P

Can you elaborate on fairly amazing plays? Do you mean PvP? I can’t seem to use it in combat since there are too many targets near the thing I want to help res, so selecting the exact target is often impossible with action camera. I can tell you right now that it can’t be used to stomp anything in pve, so half of its function is gone there, and it doesn’t do anything while soloing. Am I missing something central to its strengths?

Yeah, the one thing you failed to mention which is neither PvE or PvP – its WvW.

It is a excellent tool for ranged stomps. It can easily turn a fight in your favor, especially when outmanned and impossible to go in for melee stomp because you need to keep everyone busy.

Function gyro alone turn the scrapper into one of the best roaming fighters on the battlefield (big difference from roaming runners which is pretty much every other class and build).

I haven’t seen any updates, or, for the matter, any answer to the many questions made when the mechanic first appeared. Irenio just dissapeared from the map.

It is still a totally limited concept, a mere gimmick, 95% useless in PvE, barely noticeable most of the time in every mode, easthetically unimpressive, that doesn’t change at all the way the Engie is played (hammer does this, not the “game changing elite spec mechanic” they promoted).

It shines once in a blue moon under the right circumstances, but isn’t comparable in any way with the elite spec mechanics other professions received.

Scrapper makes the engineer the best profession to farm map nodes. With the sneak gyro you can get in and out with ease.

Well, functional gyro is a game changer in SPvP. Unfortunately most scrapper don’t know how to revive allies with it.

I think even with action camera, you can stomp a foe as long as you are in the right radius by pressing your action keybind (‘F’ by default). I don’t think you even need to have the foe in your FoV, let alone having to target him.

For rezzing, things get a little more complicated. In pvp, even without action camera and since I don’t have a “select next ally” keybind, I often click on the health bar of the team mate I want to rez in the team UI, which selects him/her. I then press the action key to start the gyro rez. That should also work with the action camera.

Best stomp tool in WvW. Almost useless in PvE.
The best part is when the enemy doesn’t notice it and forgets to teleport away to prevent stomp.

Sorel.4870:

I think even with action camera, you can stomp a foe as long as you are in the right radius by pressing your action keybind (‘F’ by default). I don’t think you even need to have the foe in your FoV, let alone having to target him.

Wrong. You have to target the enemy you want to stomp with function gyro. And guess what? Auto target doesn’t work here. So even if you have auto targeting next enemy on, you can’t stomp him then. You have to target the enemy manually. Tried it many times.

To topic: I were always sad that scrapper got the most niche and unimpressive elite spec mechanic. Irenio tried to calm the crowd by saying there is the possibility to add features to it, since the community was mostly not happy with it. But I doubt they will ever do something about it.

So just accept that we got the lamest elite spec mechanic of all and hope we get something better next round….

Kodama.6453:

Wrong. You have to target the enemy you want to stomp with function gyro. And guess what? Auto target doesn’t work here. So even if you have auto targeting next enemy on, you can’t stomp him then. You have to target the enemy manually. Tried it many times.

Ok, thank you. I don’t really play the game these days, but when I come back I’ll definitely do some tests. It could also be that, since I don’t use action camera, I’m used to selecting my downed foes, and that I’m in fact targeting them.

If you’re correct, it’s clear that autotarget wouldn’t work for function gyro, since you need to see the “press F” message to even get access to the skill. But there is little reason to use auto targeting anyway, so I guess I never thought about it.

Kodama.6453:

So just accept that we got the lamest elite spec mechanic of all and hope we get something better next round….

I suppose you don’t play that much pvp/wvw, and I can see how function gyro can be useless in pve.

However, it would be really easy to please our pve friends. One thing, naturally, would be to make new raids/dungeons/fractals where enemies have a downstate (with high healthpool to promote stomping instead of just cleaving), and having the other NPCs rez them. Another idea, already proposed, would be to have the gyro gather resource nodes.

Another idea I find really cool, would be to replace the third downstate skill (the explosion) by a “use your function gyro”, either to rez yourself of stomp a foe in a downstate fight. It would see little play in pvp (most downed players don’t survive long enough to see their third skill), but it would be useful in open world pve (yes, some players die there). I remember a 1v2 I had in pvp, where I went down just after gyro stomping the first opponent, and my gyro which was still out rezzed me, allowing me to win. I think that “saved by technology” is fitting the theme of the engineer, and it would make the mechanic more unique (it would be the only elite mechanic that affects the downstate).

I have no experience with action camera. But apart from that, functional gyro is not minor. It is game changing, at least in sPvP. Furthermore, it is a free ticket to legendary. But nvm. seems like I am alone with that oppinion.

Forestnator.6298:

I have no experience with action camera. But apart from that, functional gyro is not minor. It is game changing, at least in sPvP. Furthermore, it is a free ticket to legendary. But nvm. seems like I am alone with that oppinion.

I think we all agree that it can be a game changer in PvP. But that’s the thing, it is a game changer in PvP only.
WvW: I don’t think it has a huge impact in a zerg fight if you have that function gyro since it will die instantly in the aoe that is thrown around.
PvE: No enemies you could stomp it with and people are just barely in downstate. And even if, we already have Toss Elixir R to revive people in PvE if we really need it.

People in here are right, I speak from a PvE point of view. And I always was a bit dissappointed about the function gyro. Other elite spec mechanic are changing the playstyle of the profession in ALL game modes.

Reaper got a melee shroud for huge melee dps, berzerker got spammable burst skills for great dps increase, ranger change their stance to a healing avatar, elementalist has to spend some time in an attunement to get a supportive long channel. Daredevil can spam dodges all day long, so they don’t have to hide all the time anymore.
That are playstyle changing mechanics.

And you have to admit… in PvE, function gyro isn’t changing the way you are playing at all. Hammer had an impact on playstyle, like other elite spec weapons too. But the elite spec mechanic is barely noticable in PvE. And it has absolutely no sense if you are playing solo in PvE.

I would love to see more active play from the function gyro such as , If target is not downed press f toThrow Function gyro stunning target for 2 second before exploding activating all gyro related traits on say a 20 -30 second cooldown .Gives us more control of our mechanic letting us decide do I need this stun or save it for a stomp or a res .

Also, we have to consider that “game changer” =/= “different playstyle”.

Scrapper would be played almost identical, with or without the F-Gyro, even in sPvP: The F-Gyro DO change outcomes, when used in the right moment, but the basic playstyle doesn’t change at all.

Could use a bit of polish but very useful in wvw. Very much so in small group fights.

In PVE, for the longest time (since scrapper BWE), I said it would do nothing for hours. In PVP WVW, Function Gyro is nice.

And I was right and wrong. In say Dragon Stand, Function Gyro feels somewhat useful. But back to “I’m alone running around” PVE. Since the beginning I thought Function Gyro would REPLACE the “F” interact and add the ability to interact at range.

Why can’t I use a Function Gyro to chop a tree? Open a chest? Flip a switch? Commune with an HP? Lacking this kind of functionality means that the “helicopter over your shoulder” does nothing for hours at a time.

After the initial Function Gyro backlash on release, devs said they would revisit the Function Gyro at a later date. But why does everyone always poopoo this? It can only be because they only want to see themselves post. If we don’t fight for more functions for Function Gyro we won’t get them. Plain and simple.

Tekoneiric.6817:

Scrapper makes the engineer the best profession to farm map nodes. With the sneak gyro you can get in and out with ease.

I was not referring to gyros in general, just the function gyro. If you are unaware of what this is, that’s okay. In fact, it helps highlight how invisible it seems to be.

Sorel.4870:

I think even with action camera, you can stomp a foe as long as you are in the right radius by pressing your action keybind (‘F’ by default). I don’t think you even need to have the foe in your FoV, let alone having to target him.

For rezzing, things get a little more complicated. In pvp, even without action camera and since I don’t have a “select next ally” keybind, I often click on the health bar of the team mate I want to rez in the team UI, which selects him/her. I then press the action key to start the gyro rez. That should also work with the action camera.

Problem with these examples is that neither can be done without disabling action camera becuase you cannot click on UI elements while using it. Sadly, tab targetting doesn’t work for this. You need to select and lock the target with the right click to be able to stomp them. If there is anything in the area, it’s impossible to do.

Forestnator.6298:

I have no experience with action camera. But apart from that, functional gyro is not minor. It is game changing, at least in sPvP. Furthermore, it is a free ticket to legendary. But nvm. seems like I am alone with that oppinion.

Not alone, it seems. It’s just that you haven’t used action camera, which means you are completely unaware of how it goes from being ‘game changing’ to completely, 100% unusable. I don’t think that’s okay. I also don’t think it’s okay that it is useless in PvE. It does nothing to change how the Engineer plays, which I think means it isn’t living up to the purpose of elite specs.

I think this user explains it best:

Ardid.7203:

Also, we have to consider that “game changer” =/= “different playstyle”.

Scrapper would be played almost identical, with or without the F-Gyro, even in sPvP: The F-Gyro DO change outcomes, when used in the right moment, but the basic playstyle doesn’t change at all.

And on top of that I want to add that it’s clear from contributors in this very thread that there’s nothing a player with action camera can do to utilize this tool. Therefore, it goes from being useful in particular game types to being useless in all game types, all the time, everywhere.

Am I the only one that sees that as a major problem?

I want to add this quote from here:

At this point we’re not going to be able to change the elite specialization mechanic very much. There are still going to be changes to it with the possibility for expansion of functionality post-launch.

I don’t see anything past this, but I wonder if this is still being looked at. Perhaps for the next major quarterly update?

We don’t have the slightest of the hints about changes, bug fixing or even good intentions about the whole class, even less about our elite spec mechanic.

IMO, they simply tossed the problem to the “we’ll think again about it in a couple of years” bottomless pit. Communication and care about Engies seems to have completely vanished forever one month after HoT was released.

Lemondish.3268:

Sorel.4870:

For rezzing, things get a little more complicated. In pvp, even without action camera and since I don’t have a “select next ally” keybind, I often click on the health bar of the team mate I want to rez in the team UI, which selects him/her. I then press the action key to start the gyro rez. That should also work with the action camera.

Problem with these examples is that neither can be done without disabling action camera becuase you cannot click on UI elements while using it. Sadly, tab targetting doesn’t work for this. You need to select and lock the target with the right click to be able to stomp them. If there is anything in the area, it’s impossible to do.

Oh, now I understand your problem. I didn’t think of that problem specifically, but it’s clear that one of the thing I dislike about action camera is the fact that it locks you out of the UI.

A band-aid fix would be to add keybinds to: “select #X player in your team/party”. That way you could do gyro rezzes more easily. If Anet is really serious about action camera, they should also consider a fix to this whole “lock out of the UI” think, like a keybind for temporarily disabling action camera.

What would be better in my opinion, would be to allow stomp/rezzes with the function gyro without targeting, similar to what now exists for stomp/rezzes “by hand”. The targeting fixes the priority target in case more than one player is downed, but for a huge number of cases this would be useful, even for players who aren’t using the action camera.

Thank you for sharing these issue. Even though it’s not considered competitive, there’s no reason action camera engineers should be at such a disadvantage.

Sorel.4870:

Lemondish.3268:

Sorel.4870:

For rezzing, things get a little more complicated. In pvp, even without action camera and since I don’t have a “select next ally” keybind, I often click on the health bar of the team mate I want to rez in the team UI, which selects him/her. I then press the action key to start the gyro rez. That should also work with the action camera.

Problem with these examples is that neither can be done without disabling action camera becuase you cannot click on UI elements while using it. Sadly, tab targetting doesn’t work for this. You need to select and lock the target with the right click to be able to stomp them. If there is anything in the area, it’s impossible to do.

Oh, now I understand your problem. I didn’t think of that problem specifically, but it’s clear that one of the thing I dislike about action camera is the fact that it locks you out of the UI.

A band-aid fix would be to add keybinds to: “select #X player in your team/party”. That way you could do gyro rezzes more easily. If Anet is really serious about action camera, they should also consider a fix to this whole “lock out of the UI” think, like a keybind for temporarily disabling action camera.

What would be better in my opinion, would be to allow stomp/rezzes with the function gyro without targeting, similar to what now exists for stomp/rezzes “by hand”. The targeting fixes the priority target in case more than one player is downed, but for a huge number of cases this would be useful, even for players who aren’t using the action camera.

Thank you for sharing these issue. Even though it’s not considered competitive, there’s no reason action camera engineers should be at such a disadvantage.

You know, now that you point it out, this may be the reason why it hasn’t been addressed before. I very much enjoy the action camera, but I suppose being locked out of the UI for certain classes has a direct impact on their efficacy. There are of course ways to keybind the toggle so that you can swap it on and off when needed, but that is less than ideal.

There are still other issues with the mechanic, most notably how useless it is for PvE players and how it does nothing to adjust or redefine the way the class plays (the hammer and utility gyros do that, not the function gyro). I’m glad to learn that it has a place in at least one major part of the game, even if it’s utterly worthless in others.

Function gyro res is awful in PvP/WvW. My target is usually dead by the time the function gyro heals anything. I would like this to be faster so that it has real use.

Another issue I have with function gyro, especially on the rezzes, is that sometimes it will actually miss the target and hover uselessly.

And in PvP (Wvw?) if it gets caught in once CC it just stops. Doesn’t start rezzing again or anything. Just hovers until it blows up.