Guild Wars 2

It seems in this forum that is the prevailing theory but lately, at least on my server, I have been seeing a lot more Engineers running about. Now this could be an anomaly or the natural tendency of those with other 80’s to play something new but I think Engy might be edging out other classes in current play.

At any rate, I was wondering — is there a relatively recent census of class play?

I seem to recall a race and class census near launch but haven’t seen anything since. Other than that is Engineer still the least played in your opinion? Those in large guilds likely have a better sense of this than I.

Edit: Hmm looked at a couple of census sites (not sure of the quality) but they list Engy as last at around 10% some months ago.

Well they used to be least played but then A.net released a bunch of balancing patches and buffed engies up to the power of the other classes. The appeal of playing a class that was both fun and effective boosted the number of engies.

This is, of course, all false. We’re still the least played because why would you play anything but a thief or warrior.

It still seems we are the least played (PvE for myself). I do see few engineers, but it is only because I’m looking for fellow engineers to /cheer @ to keep up the good fight, as we seem to be the last battalion of die hards

Or it could be the old “Being an engineer attracts other engineers” aka – GTA Car Glitch

I’m starting an engie, but I enjoy more challenging classes. Necro is hard to give up but I feel I need something new to try out, as its feeling like I’ve basically done it to death… lol.

Hebee.8460:

It still seems we are the least played (PvE for myself). I do see few engineers, but it is only because I’m looking for fellow engineers to /cheer @ to keep up the good fight, as we seem to be the last battalion of die hards

Or it could be the old “Being an engineer attracts other engineers” aka – GTA Car Glitch

Yeah, I think I may simply be noticing Engineers for similar reasons as I was pondering the ‘state of the Engy game’. Self fulfilling observation.

Honestly I think Necros are in a worse overall state but they fit a little more neatly into the mmo fantasy core.

Kilger.5490:

I’m starting an engie, but I enjoy more challenging classes. Necro is hard to give up but I feel I need something new to try out, as its feeling like I’ve basically done it to death… lol.

iiiiii see what you did there.

In pvp Engineer is one of the most common classes.

Engineers have a strong presence in sPvP from what I’ve seen(I sPvP with alts when I want to take a break from my engie), but in WvW they are still the least played by far. Dunno about PvE since I never do it anymore.

Copenhagen.7015:

In pvp Engineer is one of the most common classes.

Because of a single skill – grenade kit.

Pvp Engis may have a lot of players but PvE represents more of the community. So technically that would make Engineer least played if not somewhere close to it.

Conncept.7638:

Copenhagen.7015:

In pvp Engineer is one of the most common classes.

Because of a single skill – grenade kit.

This

15 char

there were almost an explosion in the population of engis in wvw but anet reacted quickly and cut confusion dmg in half and overnerfed incendairy powder and elixir s.

My pre doomsday (april patch) got his damage cut in half. Since then i tried alot of builds but with the butchered KR-trait and the rest of nerfs i lost interest in the game.
Engis is still vaible no matter if its condition or power spec or hybrid, with bombs, nades or even FT you can make this class work.

But with the recent patches you encounter just thiefs which is another reason why this game makes less fun.

Benji.9203:

Conncept.7638:

Copenhagen.7015:

In pvp Engineer is one of the most common classes.

Because of a single skill – grenade kit.

This

15 char

Not counting the obvious surge of flavor of the month tourist to the class, I would still say they are low on the play scale. On the bright side you can generally see an even spread of the professions in pvp.

Far more of us PvE . . .
. . . and there we’re poorly represented because of our lower dps rates, condition caps and boss immunity to CC. Eng’s are UP in PvE.

They still do pretty well in pve, not really underpowered at all.

Numot.3965:

They still do pretty well in pve, not really underpowered at all.

Well as far as population trends go you have to consider average skill players, average play time, average build (whatever that means) etc. and it seems that Engy is just a bit harder to make work than other classes. They can be pretty effective in PvE it seems but the learning curve is a little steeper.

Combine that with the supposed hybrid support style and steampunk ethic and it might throw a segment of the population off. (Shrug)

Whelm.9072:

Other than that is Engineer still the least played in your opinion? Those in large guilds likely have a better sense of this than I.

There’s 400+ active players in my guild, and the least played class is easily the Necromancer.

Easily.

According to GW2census.com, the Engineer is the least made class. Whether it’s least played or not, hell if I know.

I see plenty engineers online, but curiously enough, try finding a non-Asura / non-Charr Engineer. I know two Sylvari Engineers from my friendlist, but I have never seen a Human or Norn Engineer that I can even remember. I don’t think I’ve ever met one. :O

But all in all, I think Necromancers are less often played. Engineers are a class which is played a lot, but the skill cap seems rather high even for simply things (due to the amount of cooldowns to keep track of), so plenty players never play it to it’s full potential.

I’ve seen some Human Engineers, but I don’t recall any Norns.

I see more Human and Norn engineers than I see Charr, Asura and Sylvari engineers combined.

I demand a refund.

Funny, I keep seeing this Norn engineer everyday, no matter where I go.

I’d say engineer is the least played as main character, though.

Carighan.6758:

I see plenty engineers online, but curiously enough, try finding a non-Asura / non-Charr Engineer. I know two Sylvari Engineers from my friendlist, but I have never seen a Human or Norn Engineer that I can even remember. I don’t think I’ve ever met one. :O

But all in all, I think Necromancers are less often played. Engineers are a class which is played a lot, but the skill cap seems rather high even for simply things (due to the amount of cooldowns to keep track of), so plenty players never play it to it’s full potential.

I actually feel like I see less Rangers than Engineers these days as well, but such things are really hard to quantify.

And I am a Human Engineer. All of my characters are Human.

I think most people will ask around before rolling an engineer, and they are told that the Asura Racial Skills/Elites and Charr Racial Skills/Elites (and lore) are more in line with the engineering profession. I too, am a human engineer, and my elites really don’t sync up well with any of my builds, nor do my racial skills (prayers… wut), but I really don’t mind that much.

I see quite a few engineers in WvW, on our side and on the opposing sides, but not a whole lot in the PvE world… but when I do, they usually whisper me about build info. This happened a lot when I was burning through Karka land solo, just because I was using reflects to let them spit themselves to death.

lunyboy.8672:

just because I was using reflects to let them spit themselves to death.

Sorry, but it has to be done. For science.

“Stop spitting yourself! Stop spitting yourself!”

lunyboy.8672:

I too, am a human engineer, and my elites really don’t sync up well with any of my builds, nor do my racial skills (prayers… wut), but I really don’t mind that much.

Our best elite is Supply Crate regardless, and I would argue that most racial skills aren’t all that useful compared to our elixirs unless you’re running Static Discharge. Because kits occupy a utility slot it makes them all the more precious, and I don’t think a single racial skill really match the versatility of Elixir U or Elixir R.

Even if Human did have racial traits useful to the Engineer, I probably still wouldn’t use them. Stuff like Pain Transference are more useful in WvW, anyway.

Also: keep in mind that Prayer to Dwayna is actually a top-tier healing skill. I use it all the time on my Guardian. We just don’t need it because Engineer already has arguably the best healing skills out there in Med Kit and Healing Turret.

At launch I noticed a lot of Engis running around with turrets everywhere. And then, they all just disappeared. Probably because they realized that turrets were rubbish.

Now however, I’m seeing more engineers both in open world and in dungeons (I don’t PvP). I think word has gotten out that we’re quite good both in PvP & PvE. Those who are getting torched by Engis are starting to wonder what’s happening and roll one in an effort to find out. They soon discover how much fun we are. Also, Engis have a lot of versatility so they offer a lot of experimentation, which is appealing (at least to me).