Guild Wars 2

I have played this game since launch. I’ve sat in duel servers for days on end. I’ve played tPvP I’ve ran Ascalonian Catacombs until my eyes bled. I’ve roamed in WvW and transferred servers countless amounts of times. I’ve played in GvGs. I’ve done PvE Raids. I’ve played every class. All these years my favorite class has been engineer. I loved the fact that before Heart of Thorns, engineer was a jack of all trades class. It could do a bit of everything. However, since HoT, engineer has been the jack of doing of everything awfully. Ever since the June 23rd trait patch, engineer has been left in the dust and turned into a gimmick reliant class. At first the gimmicks were enough to keep the class kicking, but over time it just got left behind further and further.

Engineer Utility Grave: Reason of death? Being useless gimmick skills.
Slick Shoes
Every turret (except for rifle, but that is reliant on static discharge. Another gimmick)
Utility Goggles
AED
Med Kit
Throw Mine
Battering Ram
Elixir R
Nade Kit (Reliant on explosives trait line, which is an awful trait line) (good in pve)
Bomb Kit (Low condition output, and the main use of this kit is the auto in pve and big ol bomb for bar break) (good in pve)
Flamethrower (good in pve)
Shredder Gyro
Heal Gyro
Supply Crate
Mortar Kit

The few good utilities on engineer are unable to be replaced in any situation. Do not get me wrong, some of these gimmicks can be used, but it is just so extremely situational. And even then only a few of these utilities listed make that situation. (Eg. Utility goggles just for the reveal on downstate in GvGs.) Also, the fact that one of engineer’s only viable heal skill is able to be destroyed by a single skill is actually ridiculous. One warrior whirlwind, one rev sword 2, etc etc is enough to destroy heal turret mid cast. Even the good utilities such as e gun have broken and useless skills such as elixir gun 2. It could be decent if it actually hit at a distance.

What had made engineer viable before was its ability to kite using cc’s. The releasing of HoT introduced an immense amount of projectile hate, stability, and insanely low cool down stun breaks, rendering overcharge completely useless. Without reliable overcharges the only form of kite you have is jump shot, which is now a more “spike” oriented skill (have fun jump shotting into classes that out damage you and out preform you in every aspect), turret explosions which are reliant on turrets which are bad and the explosives trait line, and elixir gun 4.

Useless Engineer Traits: (Bad traits / Traits that will never be taken cause the other options are in all situations better)
No Scope
Juggernaut
Short Fuse
Thermobaric Detonation
Siege Rounds
Health Insurance
Inversion Enzyme
Throw Stimulant
Iron Blooded (Relies on boons which are gained from elixirs, but if you have elixirs you are gonna be taking HGH. You don’t have many boons besides passive elixir B, turret trait (that’s a sick joke). And if you are getting boons from other players there is a high chance you don’t need a few percent of damage reduction)
Excessive Energy (skills that give percentage damage increase when at full endurance are ridiculous)
Passive Utility Goggles
Gadgeteer
Experimental Turrets
Soothing Detonation
Advanced Turrets
Medical Dispersion Field
Shocking Speed
Expert Examination (The lack of stuns and dazes that engineer has outside of hammer 5, hammer 3, and a few other gimmick skills makes this trait unsuitable for any situation)

In order for rifle to be semi-decent, engineer needs to have a source of unblockable (utility goggles makes sense to have unblockable. It would be an appropriate buff), an evade frame on jumpshot and blind on rifle 3. Engineer’s lack of defensive cool downs outside of tool kit 4 (nerfed) and Elixir S is what makes Engineer so reliant on Scrapper.

Scrapper excels in stealthing and reviving down teammates, and pressuring nodes in tpvp. And sadly that’s it.

All this brings me to Holosmith. Unless rifle is buffed or changed, holosmith is forced to use either sword pistol or sword shield. Shield on engineer being extremely outdated and subpar to other classes defensive weapons due to its high cool downs, and pistol being locked into a hybrid or condition holosmith setup. For as long as I played this game I have been optimistic about engineer rifle, but every patch since the june 23rd trait patch has not failed to disappoint me.

Please Anet pay attention to aspects of the game’s classes that are outdated, untouched, and nerfed to the ground. I understand that you want people to buy your expansion so you make the specializations stronger, but not touching skills and leaving them outdated is absolutely ridiculous. Years of being disappointing yet I still play this game due to its amazing combat. Please live up to the game’s potential and make more traits, more skills and more weapons viable.

(I wrote this in a torrent of frustration, forgive me for the poor organization of my thoughts. If anybody wants to see my gvg footage or duel me or something idk to validate my experience to have these opinions, let me know.)

good post

You had me at “I have played this game”

Fade.8473:

good post

<3

Engineer is pretty much in need of a rework at this point. It’d be a miracle if ANet gives us much of a notice past minor adjustments or “purity of purpose”.

I miss the old days of roaming in WvWvW with static discharge rifle engineer. I still have fond memories of it after 4 years.

Zepi.3170:

I miss the old days of roaming in WvWvW with static discharge rifle engineer. I still have fond memories of it after 4 years.

Yep. Those were some good times where more builds were viable.

bravo, communicated very well despite your declaration of being enraged while writing it. i wish everything you said was taken into consideration but does anet ever take these things into consideration? i sure hope they do.

man it would be silly if anet didnt update old traits because they were afraid no one would buy new content. i would never say no to well crafted new content and fighting styles. if anything having more success in builds makes me want to try new ones even more.

Tomahawk.7361:

bravo, communicated very well despite your declaration of being enraged while writing it. i wish everything you said was taken into consideration but does anet ever take these things into consideration? i sure hope they do.

man it would be silly if anet didnt update old traits because they were afraid no one would buy new content. i would never say no to well crafted new content and fighting styles. if anything having more success in builds makes me want to try new ones even more.

I really hope they listen and pay attention to the outdated aspects of the game. Sure, outdated traits and utilities, whatever. But having a whole weapon be useless on a class with no weapon swaps, a limited amount of weapon options, and kits that are near useless, is ridiculous. And having traits like the daze on gyros being blown up being removed but having the trait that synergies with the daze be untouched is ridiculous.

engineer is fine. Engineer is a solo class. They are not design to support anybody, but instead use their "jack of all trades " to selfishly win duels and roams.

Holosmith is another “scrapper” don’t expect to be invited to wvw zergs or raids. Just do spvp and roaming as holosmith and that’s all you can really do.

Anet seems to focus engineer on being two things – 1. a pvp duelist 2. a casual single player easy to learn easy to play class.

I do admit, i used to try and make engineer viable in wvw as part of a team or part of a group. I wasted hundreds of gold (with gem converting) to make armors to try builds to be a support or a gimmick healer, boon spammer, resser, but all those concepts failed miserably.

Engineer is a lonely single player spec. You basically play it to play by your self in group content and you play with the intent of “not ever being supportive to your allies”.

Healing turret and gyros and stealth do help others somewhat i agree. But it’s mostly 5 man parties or fractals. In zergs and raids, why would you take an engineer when you can take a a guardian or an elementalist or a mesmer ?

also warriors do better cleave then a scrapper does, has immunity stances, and great stability and also has good frontal force presence ?

Nercromancer is a key artillery in wvw for corruption and condition spamming in this meta.

For raids engineers can be top dps as condition, but they have a very high skill cap ceiling and UNLESS the engineer both knows how to play his rotation and knows the fight mechanics, he is a wasted slot.

Fractals are good where engineers can really shine, if your party is open minded. They can bring stealth, gyro rez, aoe burst healing with healing turret, and strong cleave damage.

At the end of the day, engineer seems to be heading in the direction of “noob friendly” class.

They are a great starting character, but a horrible main for social group content. They also do some efficient solo pvp but can be outclassed by thiefs and necromancers (who are highly overtuned) as well if you’re under geared or counter built (like being a class cannon and getting ambushed by a roamer)

engineer does need help but….first it needs a new direction. If engineer is too become a more stronger class, it needs to change it’s role from “solo” to something more. Ranger is also facing this same issue but ranger is stronger in some builds as a roamer than engineer.

if you 1v1 most classes…. they usually don’t have stability or resistance or aegis or more than 1 healing per 15 seconds.

People who claim they get countered by these things are probably playing in groups where boon access is more frequent in parties and defensive boons really screw up engineer’s ability to do anything (defense boons like stability aegis and resistance)

also if engineer gets pressured from more then 2 people with conditions or damage, they almost instantly die. (where other classes can survive for a little while)

engineer is just not team friendly it seems. I mean they can ’TRY" to be team friendly, but their skills are not good enough to be empowering or game changing. Instead, they use their skills to support themselves in pvp.

any ways i started a guardian and guardian has great boons for team play. mesmer is another class i play. Good for portals and alacrity.

Don’t feel bad, engineer is still alright a little bit. FIRST lets see what the next patch does to our traits and skills, and go from there. Scrapper is supposed to be viable in HOT as a damage tank spec for pve. Hopefully they remake all the engineer traits, it would bring fresh theory crafting and change of builds and pace.

BASICALLY (in world of warcraft ) every expansion they redesign the entire talent system and class skills. A huge revamp. At the beginning of heart of thorns they redesigned the traits and skills for all the professions.

New expansion means, a new major balance patch and i hope they scramble our traits up so we get new fresh traits and new fresh theory meta crafting.

Thanks for reading this massive post, i hope everyone gets something out of it. Peace.

I wrote a gigantic response and it all got deleted. I’m gonna just rewrite this though. I do not believe you have the experience to back up your claims in rifle engineer 1v1 matchups. Scrapper also does bring a lot to group play in WvW with it’s unmatched ability to stealth friendly downs and to reveal enemy downs.

One huge solution to the engineer issue is buffing toolkit to have a comparable auto attack chain to other classes melee auto attacks. This way engineer has a response to other people getting in their face besides kiting (Something that is not as nearly useful as it was for rifle engineers compared to pre HoT).

Have to completely agree with this post.

We need the “Balance Team” to take time off from buffing warriors and nerfing thiefs to spend some real time with the engineer trait lines to make them complete.

This class has been neglected since beta in a serious way. It was even obvious in how much time they took to display the holosmith on the latest launch video. Seriously it was like 10 seconds of time compared to the rest of the time the other classes new specs were talked about. How disappointing.

If the “Balance Team” takes some serious time on the engineer in the next stream and upcoming trait/balance patch I’ll have hope about their skills again but until then they have severely disappointed the Engineer community with their lack of concern for the class.

tigirius.9014:

Have to completely agree with this post.

We need the “Balance Team” to take time off from buffing warriors and nerfing thiefs to spend some real time with the engineer trait lines to make them complete.

This class has been neglected since beta in a serious way. It was even obvious in how much time they took to display the holosmith on the latest launch video. Seriously it was like 10 seconds of time compared to the rest of the time the other classes new specs were talked about. How disappointing.

If the “Balance Team” takes some serious time on the engineer in the next stream and upcoming trait/balance patch I’ll have hope about their skills again but until then they have severely disappointed the Engineer community with their lack of concern for the class.

You’ll also notice in the trailer video, holosmith was the only class where a weakness of some sort was mentioned (the overheating). It’s like they go out of their way to make us different in a bad way.

MrCameron.4863:

If anybody wants to see my gvg footage or duel me or something idk to validate my experience to have these opinions, let me know.

Can you duel me to validate?
Completely agree though.

And for the love of SD engi, move SD out of the same tier as power wrench for any other trait but adrenal implant!

Twigifire.8379:

MrCameron.4863:

If anybody wants to see my gvg footage or duel me or something idk to validate my experience to have these opinions, let me know.

Can you duel me to validate?
Completely agree though.

And for the love of SD engi, move SD out of the same tier as power wrench for any other trait but adrenal implant!

Yes please

Vagrant.7206:

tigirius.9014:

Have to completely agree with this post.

We need the “Balance Team” to take time off from buffing warriors and nerfing thiefs to spend some real time with the engineer trait lines to make them complete.

This class has been neglected since beta in a serious way. It was even obvious in how much time they took to display the holosmith on the latest launch video. Seriously it was like 10 seconds of time compared to the rest of the time the other classes new specs were talked about. How disappointing.

If the “Balance Team” takes some serious time on the engineer in the next stream and upcoming trait/balance patch I’ll have hope about their skills again but until then they have severely disappointed the Engineer community with their lack of concern for the class.

You’ll also notice in the trailer video, holosmith was the only class where a weakness of some sort was mentioned (the overheating). It’s like they go out of their way to make us different in a bad way.

I’m just scared that the payoff for overheating will not be worth it and holosmith will be in the same boat as rifle engi…high risk, high mechanical skill, no reward.

People tend to use this ‘jack of all trades’ term to describe Engineer as being average at everything but it wasn’t, it was good at solo play and dueling. Somewhere people seem to have lost the true spirit of the Engineer, believing that it was solely used to tank content but instead through a bit of player ingenuity with traits, the right gear and a little practice tanking was just ONE of the MANY things that Engineer did well pre-HoT.

It is sad that it was arguably at one point the best example of a class that could be used to select a singular role and stick to it. Now as opposed to what it was Pre-HoT it is REDUCED to a singular role that YOU have to stick to (different flavors of tanking).

LilBiM.3581:

People tend to use this ‘jack of all trades’ term to describe Engineer as being average at everything but it wasn’t, it was good at solo play and dueling. Somewhere people seem to have lost the true spirit of the Engineer, believing that it was solely used to tank content but instead through a bit of player ingenuity with traits, the right gear and a little practice tanking was just ONE of the MANY things that Engineer did well pre-HoT.

It is sad that it was arguably at one point the best example of a class that could be used to select a singular role and stick to it. Now as opposed to what it was Pre-HoT it is REDUCED to a singular role that YOU have to stick to (different flavors of tanking).

This is the most random post I’ve ever seen. From this I do not know your position on the balance of engineer. As far as tank engineer goes, I do not believe that was ever a thing besides turret engineer which was quickly nerfed.

I think with the Holosmith coming that will make Engineer have 2 melee power options between the elite specs so rifle should be changed to an actual ranged weapon and not a melee range weapon.

MrCameron.4863:

LilBiM.3581:

People tend to use this ‘jack of all trades’ term to describe Engineer as being average at everything but it wasn’t, it was good at solo play and dueling. Somewhere people seem to have lost the true spirit of the Engineer, believing that it was solely used to tank content but instead through a bit of player ingenuity with traits, the right gear and a little practice tanking was just ONE of the MANY things that Engineer did well pre-HoT.

It is sad that it was arguably at one point the best example of a class that could be used to select a singular role and stick to it. Now as opposed to what it was Pre-HoT it is REDUCED to a singular role that YOU have to stick to (different flavors of tanking).

This is the most random post I’ve ever seen. From this I do not know your position on the balance of engineer. As far as tank engineer goes, I do not believe that was ever a thing besides turret engineer which was quickly nerfed.

hmm ive tanked gorseval once, back when wing 1 was newish and slick shoes wasnt nerfed
wasnt great

I’ve played a rifle turreteer since launch. Reading around I’m apparently an idiot for sticking with it forever, but, it’s what I like. /shrug

MrCameron.4863:

In order for rifle to be semi-decent, engineer needs to have a source of unblockable (utility goggles makes sense to have unblockable. It would be an appropriate buff), an evade frame on jumpshot and blind on rifle 3.

I’ve been pushing for Jump shot to be an evade frame, and maybe replace the bleed stacks based on range with boon strip or some sort of boon strip. The boon strip sounds overkill, but outside of the tool belt from Throw Mine, engineers have no boon strip what so ever. Even the mines from Bunker Down and the new Minesweeper don’t boon rip like the tool bet from Throw Mine. Aside from the rifle suggestions, I agree with everyone else you mentioned. Lot’s of unused traits due to the other options being better.

PvE: Huh? Condi Engi is quite sort after in a Raid as to compare with..Revenant? xD
PvP: Yeah, only one viable build at the moment at high tier matches.
WvW: Yeah, sadly not the required meta in Blob fight xD same goes with Rangers.

For now I’m enjoying the burst superman boot @ 2400 distance within 3 secs xD

I’m still very skeptical on the Holosmith though… was hoping to have rifle at off-hand a.k.a Rambo Build xD

This class and it’s concept have so much potential.
To bad there’s so much cool stuff that can’t be used viably for advanced gameplay.

yLoon.5289:

PvE: Huh? Condi Engi is quite sort after in a Raid as to compare with..Revenant? xD
PvP: Yeah, only one viable build at the moment at high tier matches.
WvW: Yeah, sadly not the required meta in Blob fight xD same goes with Rangers.

For now I’m enjoying the burst superman boot @ 2400 distance within 3 secs xD

I’m still very skeptical on the Holosmith though… was hoping to have rifle at off-hand a.k.a Rambo Build xD

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/b7G-sOC3-sQ/maxresdefault.jpg

Gotchu’ covered, fam.

Arhaaks xD nice guns you got there xD

Anyway, we are getting lightsabers in PoF, can’t complain much then xD

https://imgur.com/r/Guildwars2/KWV1I

@MrCameron
I agree wit most of your post in that engie is in need of a lot of love from a balance team with a clearer vision for the class.

Engie is one of the more complex classes. The ability to be able to drop in and out of kits on a 1s swap to cherry pick the skill you need is both what made engie so unique and versitile but its also a very powerful mechanic. The original engie concept seemed to be really built around kits with many of the utilities created to be intentionally niche to cover gaps your base kits/weapon choice didn’t cover. Engie also has access to nearly every field and finisher in the game and while not ever field/finisher combo is relevant this adds another layer of complexity in mechanics and by extension in finding a balance.

HoT’s power creep was absolutely gross and for engie its been nerf after nerf after nerf without the dev’s either taking the time or having the time to fully address the bandage fixes/nerfs. A classic example here is Impact Savant remaining untouched despite the nerfs to gyros. Another example is the nerf to slick shoe’s multiple knockdown application being implemented without a corresponding consolation adjustment to the CD, AoE, number of puddles, how long the puddles last, addition of other effects etc etc also implemented at the same time. It’s been a development style of triage rather than vision for the engineer for years now, and its got to the point where there are just too many bandages and patches trying to hold the class together.

Looking at Holosmith it seems a bit strange in design choice. It’s like a necro’s shroud without the benefit of being able to use shroud/life force in place of your hitpoints? And also does what looks like pretty sizable damage to the engie for staying in shroud (aka proton forge) too long? It locks you out of kits for 6s on activating proton forge? So locks you out of blocks, mobility, CC, cleanse, biggest damage options for 6s?
On first glance it once again seems like we’re once again gonna have to load up on defensives everywhere to not get farmed in pvp…

As long as players can auto attack for ~30k DPS in raids, I’m sure Anet feels its mission accomplished…

@Anthony
Probably the winner for best troll post in the thread. Being able to plink from range with a pet (ranger) or having being passively useful (warrior banners) or being able to buff yourself by doing literally nothing (warrior signets) are much more new player friendly. Most common two professions after launch? Warrior and Ranger. Least common? Engineer and Mesmer.

Sorry, pretty unorganized post.

TLDR:
• @OP: good post. Engie really really needs some dev attention to fix the mess they’ve made after years of applying band aids
• @ Anthony: pretty likely you don’t play engie; most certainly not in a setting or gamemode where build choices and mechanics are important
• @ Anet: plz help engie. Plz consider pvp and wvw in your design and balance choices.