Guild Wars 2

So it was brought up in the PvP forum but I feel like this is a more appropriate place for the suggestion and any subsequent discussion.

As we’re all aware, since the 4/15 patch Automated response was changed from 100% condition duration reduction at 25% health to 50% condition duration reduction at 33% health. Now I wasn’t much of a fan of the trait prior to the change and I’m even less of a fan of it in its new state. It neither addresses any of the Engi’s major concerns regarding conditions or provides consistency in the Engineer’s design. It’s been said many times, Engineers are" intentionally weak against conditions" and that needs to remain true to a degree. As well know though, Engineers are actually extremely weak to condition overload and even more so to Terror Necros.

So with that in mind, my suggestion is this:

• Automated Response: Consumer an Elixir C at 25% Health (45sec CD)

This would give Engineers some much needed aid to condition overload and Terror Necro fear chains while also retaining the designed weakness of the class as well as keeping with the theme of the trait line. Because it triggers at the same HP % threshold that the bulk of an Engineers defensive traits trigger (25%) it creates consistency in the class functionality allowing opponents to anticipate for counter-play regardless of the passivity of the trait proc.

love it. hate it. that’s my 2c

This for a grantmaster trait? Too weak. Change it to F1-F4 removes 1 condition.

The cost IMO is relevant to the need. Considering it’s partially papering over a designed weakness of the class, I’d say the cost is appropriate to the effect and the ICD.

And we already have single condition removal. Adding more doesn’t help with any of the issues I stated. Toolbelt Skills belong to the Tools tree anyways. It wouldn’t fit with the the theme of the trait line.

Not saying I’m for or against this change, but also consider:

-all of our other alchemy traits that involve elixir use also benefit from elixir traits, so this one probably would too: reduced cd from fast-acting elixirs (from 45 to 36 sec), condition removal with 409, and might with hgh, for example. So in an elixir-based build, this might not be too bad.

-this ability is very passive; perhaps even moreso than the current implementation of automated response. You can’t always control when you get down to 25% hp, making it somewhat random. However, once you’re there, you can control how you respond (e.g. in the current implementation). Do we really want more passive/triggered abilities?

Imo just leave it as it is, stop touching it. Engies (well, more specifically me) need a reason to invest in hp stat.

Imo this should be changed from a 50% condition duration decrease to a 50% condition damage decrease, similar to Bark Skin for the Ranger.
Shortening the duration of a condition will only benefit you, if it runs out before you die, which at 33% hp is not very likely and it does not affect conditions applied above 33% hp.
Halving the damage will always benefit the engineer and would also help with conditions already ticking. While this is a much better damage mitigation, the cc conditions (chill, cripple, immobilize, fear) would be unaffected – a good balance imo.

Penguin.5197:

Imo just leave it as it is, stop touching it. Engies (well, more specifically me) need a reason to invest in hp stat.

^^^ This.
Some builds rely on this to make up for our terrible condition removal. Have a look at some other traits of other professions, which are A LOT stronger at doing what they do than automated response is.

Twigifire.8379:

…
Some builds rely on this to make up for our terrible condition removal. Have a look at some other traits of other professions, which are A LOT stronger at doing what they do than automated response is.

If you get spiked with conditions above 33% hp, this trait will not help you in any way. Even if you remove all conditions (e.g. Elixir C) once below 33%, any reapplied condition will still tick for full damage.

This trait has gone from op vs. conditions to borderline useless.

Mork vom Ork.2598:

This trait has gone from op vs. conditions to borderline useless.

Exactly.

This trait needs to be touched. It’s been outpaced by the rune/sigil changes from 4/15 and does nothing to address any of Engi’s condition defense issues.