Guild Wars 2

I was thinking of making a engineer today but unsure how good they are. Are they broken for example or are they good?

There are many viable builds out there for the Engineer. There may be a lot more gunk in our profession then in most others, but we have many viable builds. Viable may not be fully competitive though, keep that in mind. We do fine in solo PvE, dungeon PvE, WvW, hotjoin sPvP, free tPvP, and paid tPvP right now though. We aren’t anywhere near the flavor of the month or anything, but we aren’t completely missing from any of those scenes.

Above all though, play something you like. Patches will change the game all the time, but the playstyle will mostly stay the same. Do what you like.

I’d wait, instead try one of the classes that has had a decent amount of dev time. Engineer was built last and wasn’t finished basically. You may get a kick out of being such a rare class, but the flipside is it’s rare for a reason.

@AimForThatFace

Go for it man.

We have many fun build. We aren’t the most polished class, but this is the funniest class I played in this game.

Give it a shot!

Those of us that are still playing engineer, even with all the issues aren’t still doing it because we’re stubborn (though that may be a contributing factor for some), it’s because it’s the most fun class in the game. If you PvP an added bonus is that there aren’t a surplus of engis like most other classes, so unless someone is pretty experienced, not a lot of people know how to counter you. And even if they do, you have the tools to switch it up and keep ‘em guessing. Why not just roll one and see for yourself, but beware, it’s addicting

My advice to anyone asking about any class:

Try it! Try all the different weapons. Try different tactics, gear, etc.

If you love it, great!

If you hate it, drop it for now, and maybe come back to it later when your perspective on the game has changed, the class might have been updated, new guides might have been written, etc.

AimForThatFace.7814:

I was thinking of making a engineer today but unsure how good they are. Are they broken for example or are they good?

Engineer is a really fun class, for me that’s of number one importance. In many mmos i have played classes that may be deemed strong but i haven’t enjoyed their play-style and as a result my ability to use them effectively has suffered.
I really believe that if you enjoy something you will only get better and better at it and in relation to engineer , it can be as good as you make it.
Try it and give it some time , i don’t think it is as straight forward to learn like some other professions, but once you get to the point where everything feels smooth and fluid you likely wont turn back !

I find engi to be a rewarding class to play, but mostly because it feels ‘nintendo hard’, partly by design and partly because of the “lack of dev-time”.

…also turrets…

What it lacks in polish, and balance, it makes up for in playstyle options.
In PvE, you can change up your bar so often and so easily, that no two fights will feel the same. I’ve played every profession, but keep coming back to my engi, as I still haven’t come close to feeling that I’ve seen and done everything an engineer can do.

AimForThatFace.7814:

I was thinking of making a engineer today but unsure how good they are. Are they broken for example or are they good?

If the question you are asking is will this class give me easy access massive single target burst then the answer is no go roll a warrior which is a far easier and very dull class to play.

Engineer brings support cc and moderate single target damage and good aoe damage at range. You make it easier for others to win the fight. That is my description and opinion of the class after 80 levels and giving up on it 4 times then coming back because nothing is quite as fun or challenging to play as a engi to high standards. You need to learn to use your combo’s and work on your timing to get the most out of the class something I have yet to achieve.
If you choose to continue go with grenades and rifle put your first ten points into tools to get speedy kits so you can have perma swiftness.

I LOVE the engineer class. Having said that, I played a bit of elementalist recently and was amazed. Ele is a very polished class. Playing an Ele is like driving a slick silver porshe. All controls are smooth, modern, and efficient. It’s clear a great deal of thought and testing went into the Elementalist. You understand the philosophy behind ele instantly.

Playing an Engineer (to stick with the car metaphor) is like driving a beat up, oil spluttering, rust-bucket jalopy that coughs gears and hisses steam. It’s like driving a car you used to get laid in from the 80’s that guzzles gas and looks like dirt but is still somehow awesome because it has heart and a big thunderbird stencil across the hood. Playing an Eng you have no idea what the dev design philosophy was. Or rather, you think you know…. then you realize that approch doesn’t work, so you try something else and you’re like… aHAH!!! I get it now! Then you realize you were wrong again. Engineer’s are a messy, grimy, dirty, wacky class. But that’s the fun of them. Reaching into our bag of tricks and pulling out odd stuff. Foes have no idea what to expect because there’s so kitten few of us. It’s a kitten fun class too. Best aesthetic in the game imo. But if you roll an eng, be prepared to get frustrated at times and toss your wrench across the room (hitting mobs in the process).

And if you know what you’re doing, you can put the fear of god into folks in PVP and WvW. I always back off when I see a fellow eng. The good ones are super hard to predict. In closing, I’d say it’s a super fun, rewarding class. But you really gotta like driving a rust bucket.

AimForThatFace.7814:

I was thinking of making a engineer today but unsure how good they are. Are they broken for example or are they good?

Not any more broken then any other profession. They are good.

I love your way of describing em, Entropy. XD

Thanks red! Much appreciated.

I thought Engineer was good, till I got two pistols and shot them. Then I rolled a warrior.

I’d say engineer is the most fun class, regardless of it’s many flaws. If you can pull off a well-set build, and know how to play it, then yea your good to go. But to say its just as broken as every other class, is too optimistic. Simply staying their on the same level as other classes is absolutely blind. Some people cannot admit that there are things wrong with it. But do not let that steer you away, all it means is they need to smooth some edges of the class.

Ooops. I meant love, not live. Funny that I didn’t notice that.

I didn’t try an engineer for ages. I never liked them in other games. Set one up a sa joke character with a joke name. He was the most villanous, devious little Asura I could create. Absolutely loved it. so much so that I made a second engineer for less jokey days. He’s now my main. I’ve got three primary toons; engie, ranger, thief. Mainly playing open world PvE. Each of these classes has problems.
In PvE early levels the thief is pretty useless, the engineer can be pain in story missions where you get ganked 5 to one in waves without rest time, epsecially with Ally NPCs being mostly useless. T
The Ranger is incredibly boring. The pet is it’s biggest problem, buggy, lack of controls, bad pathing, weak against AoE.

Honestly though, The engineer has clearly the most problems and yet it is by far, the most fun. The skills are just a lot more fun than the rangers, with many more options, styles and often brilliant animations. They’re more survivable than thiefs with more choices of builds to get you trough levelling. You can make builds which are prety scary to face and builds which are just a joy. Playing Engineer is an excuse to let out your inner child, play with toys that’ll make you think of the goonies and Bugs Bunny. Prybar faces, burn your foes to a crisp and explode everything in sight. Engi really is a blast.

Saying that, I’ve hit bit of a wall levels 40-50 where I don’t have enough trait points to get both the traits I need and the traits I want. For example, I need to put points into inventions for survivability from it’s stats, but the inventions traits are pretty terrible. Most of the traits I want are in Tools, which has stats that are more convenience than survivial. It hasn’t been an issue up to 40 where I suddenly started getting trounced. Should clear up at 50 when I have enough points for what I need though.
And you do really need to look up the extensive list of bugs to avoid bad traits.

Get the flamethrower and you’ll never ever feel any class can compete with your level of awesome again

Engineer while kinda fun to play lacks in almost every department, if you enjoy playing the weak under dog go for it if not steer clear..

It needs a lot of work and fixes…to be a viable class..

Be wary of Dungeons people actively exclude and kick engineers just heads up..

Engineer is a good class, period, it just lack the ridiculously overpowered tricks and features some other classes tend to get.

Concerning the dungeons, it is rather in a weird position, half the people out there value our swiss-knife like versatility (damage, solid, ranged rez, numerous helpful tricks), others will fall in the ‘lol my warior does more dmg’ category, the Engineer isn’t really rejected.

Dante.1508:

Engineer while kinda fun to play lacks in almost every department, if you enjoy playing the weak under dog go for it if not steer clear..

It needs a lot of work and fixes…to be a viable class..

Be wary of Dungeons people actively exclude and kick engineers just heads up..

True. Sometimes I need to do some fast talking with my Engie when joining random dungeon groups, “Don’tBootMeAltAlt!BeenThroughHereAMillionTimesNoNoob!!”, or some such thing. But they’re happy when I whip out my elixir gun and healing turret and lay down a permanent light field with Kit Refinement for endless condition removal and retaliation. We don’t have YouTube-worthy DPS, but engineers do some things better than any other class.

Dante.1508:

Engineer while kinda fun to play lacks in almost every department, if you enjoy playing the weak under dog go for it if not steer clear..

It needs a lot of work and fixes…to be a viable class..

Be wary of Dungeons people actively exclude and kick engineers just heads up..

I do not understand these blanket statements that are limited in truth or fact, or just flat out wrong.

We do not lack in control.

We do not lack in ranged AoE damage with grenades

We do not lack in close range AoE with bombs.

We do not lack in combo fields in the least.

We do not lack in blast finishers.

We do not lack in mobility with 100% swiftness.

We do not lack in blocks.

We do not lack in invulnerability.

We are in the top 75% of so many things and claim the profession is lacking. The thing is, you guys like to claim they have issues, yet you never specify. How is it lacking exactly?

Oh ya 100% swiftness – did you forget you absolutely have to have 10 in tools? Seems versatile, yeah. And you claim we’re top 75%, yet the only classes down with us is Necro and ranger. There is a clear consensus that engineers are down near the bottom, all the opinions you see here from people playing the engineer themselves. Just because we don’t lack something, doesn’t mean what we have is effective. A real engineer player knows engineers can be good, are fun, but are not without their many flaws. Wake up

Edit: Theres a whole thread for your ’’specificity’’ needs. The engineer thread about gameplay and all of the warranting issues.

The engineer has quite the diverse range of play styles, as many as the warrior I would say in fact. Although if you are looking to steam roll, this is not your class.

I’m an average player.
I have a lvl 80 Engineer and a lvl 80 warrior.
My warrior is playing easy as hell fliging towards an enemie throwing him around the screen.
My engineer is hard to play, killing anyone is worth a fulltime job, stupid grenades don’t work in pvp (80% of the time they miss "-.-)…

But hell, engineer is fun to play! We are the exentric weirdoes that throw around with bottles and bombs, sometimes suck, but still have loads of fun!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Warning-Do-not-roll-an-engineer/first

Read the link in my signature for a comprehensive discussion on the subject.

You think people just dont like the idea of playing a turret placing, flamethrower wielding, shotgun slinging, gadets using, chemically pumped up maniac.

Or, maybe its just not a good profession.

I’m thinking its that second part. The playerbase is simply very honest in that respect, by just looking at what they play. They steer away from professions that are not good and flock to professions that are.

Now we can get into the nitty gritty of all manor of broken mechanics, design issues and whatnot. But we have threads for those already. So ill sum it up. Its the least played profession and for good reason.

1. Engineers are a lot of fun to play!

2. Playing an Engineer is hard work – fun, but hard work.

3. Other classes generally kill things faster than Engineers do.

It all depends on what you want from the game:

• If you want to play the most fun class in GW2, play the Engineer.
• If you want a quick route to power in GW2, play another class.
• If you want every combat to be an exciting combination of wits, skill and reflexes, play the Engineer.
• If you want straightforward gameplay, play another class.
• If you like having an answer for every situation and will put the work in to achieve that, play the Engineer.

Zenguy.6421:

1. Engineers are a lot of fun to play!

2. Playing an Engineer is hard work – fun, but hard work.

3. Other classes generally kill things faster than Engineers do.

It all depends on what you want from the game:

• If you want to play the most fun class in GW2, play the Engineer.
• If you want a quick route to power in GW2, play another class.
• If you want every combat to be an exciting combination of wits, skill and reflexes, play the Engineer.
• If you want straightforward gameplay, play another class.
• If you like having an answer for every situation and will put the work in to achieve that, play the Engineer.

Engineers can’t hit the arrow carts in the back of walls in WvW
:C no answers there except with a laughable poke with supply crate.

LieutenantGoogle.7326:

Zenguy.6421:

1. Engineers are a lot of fun to play!

2. Playing an Engineer is hard work – fun, but hard work.

3. Other classes generally kill things faster than Engineers do.

It all depends on what you want from the game:

• If you want to play the most fun class in GW2, play the Engineer.
• If you want a quick route to power in GW2, play another class.
• If you want every combat to be an exciting combination of wits, skill and reflexes, play the Engineer.
• If you want straightforward gameplay, play another class.
• If you like having an answer for every situation and will put the work in to achieve that, play the Engineer.

Engineers can’t hit the arrow carts in the back of walls in WvW
:C no answers there except with a laughable poke with supply crate.

Can’t you still hit them with mortar/grenades?

Not if they are positioned at the back ledge, no.
Only 250+ radius skills can hit ACs back there.

Freeze grenade although does have a 240 radius effect which in theory is suppose to be able to hit AC’s is actually a lot smaller than that if you consider the individual nade radius. No grenades would be able to fly over the ledge.

Its the same story for Mortar 5.

This is based on my experience, not through experiment mind you. So I could be wrong as I don’t use nade engineer too much in WvW

LieutenantGoogle.7326:

Not if they are positioned at the back ledge, no.
Only 250+ radius skills can hit ACs back there.

Aaaaaaah, ok, you can hit em with concussion barrage, and I think the ice or tack one from mortar.

LieutenantGoogle.7326:

Engineers can’t hit the arrow carts in the back of walls in WvW
:C no answers there except with a laughable poke with supply crate.

Correction:

If you like having an answer for every situation (except well placed siege weapons in WvW) and will put the work in to achieve that, play the Engineer.

I myself have no real experience with engineer being a warrior, I tried it for a short time when the game came out, like I did with most classes and ended up clicking with a warrior. but its always been in the back of my mind scratching away, “make an engineer” “go past lvl 20”. “Really EXPLORE the class”

There is just something about playing with a character who is out of the norm, its like playing with someone who completely abandoned the fantasy genra and intends to prove technology and alchemy are the future of the world and not wands and swords. Engineer feels like the rebel class, and refuses to follow the road laid out in front of it.

As Entropy said (far better than I could, and using an engineering metaphor too)

Entropy.4732:

Playing an Engineer (to stick with the car metaphor) is like driving a beat up, oil spluttering, rust-bucket jalopy that coughs gears and hisses steam … it’s a super fun, rewarding class. But you really gotta like driving a rust bucket.

Engineer is broken in so many ways, but working your way around those is somehow part of the fun of the profession, and it is fun, more fun than I have with any other of my characters. If you are just looking to dominate, then don’t bother … really, unless you’re prepared to put a lot of time into learning some fairly specific builds you are never going to dominate.

All that being said, the way in which I play my other professions has been vastly improved by playing an Engineer so I’d recommend it even if only as a training aid.

<i>“make an engineer” “go past lvl 20”. “Really EXPLORE the class”</i>

As frustrated as I’ve sometimes been with my Engineer… yes.

My engineer is just level 28 and I’ve already tried so many different things, it feels like different characters almost. I’m now on a dual pistols condition build, but it’s very fluid. Bombs and/or grenades when I want to take out roadblocks or siege engines. Static Discharge, Healing Turret, Thumper Turret, and elixirs or bombs for DEs and general hunting. Health kit and Speedy Kits for travel. Flamethrower when I want to play with that. Tool Kit… maybe not as much now that I’m off rifle, but who knows, I might change out all my gear before the end of the day because I’ve done that several times already.