Guild Wars 2

Hello, I just wana ask arena net to buff flamethrower, first of all increase flamethrower range. this is one of the coolest looking weapons for me, and it is wery sad that it’s so nerfed here. Flamethrower has smaller range even than it’s animation, sad to see people drowned in fire and taking 0 damage, not to mention overall flamethrower damage is too low. it would be really fair to have at least 700 range (on 1st skill). Today owning some one with flamethrower in pvp sounds like a joke, i can barely kill a level higher mob, a small buff would be really fair. And on 1st skill why target recieve pathetic 1 sec burn just on the last phase lol ? I understand that not all weapons are suppose to be used in pvp but this is too much, even buffed flamethrower will not have a chance to make more dps than heartseeker spam or 100 blades. So please arena net think about this and sorry for my grammar mistakes.

i forgot to mention that flamethrower is bugged, target sometimes wont recieve damage, unless you are right in front of him, i mean totally you cant even turn just a bit.

The problem with flamethrower isn’t what you think. It just doesn’t recieve any benefit from your weapon. if they had the weapon affect kits then the flamethrower would be fine….. once the bugs are fixed.

I believe it’s totally lame that FLAMETHROWER (read FLAMETHROWER) doesn’t lay a MAJOR BURN CONDITION THROUGHOUT.
Lame being the correct word here.
Why even use it ? Yes it looks cool. But the implementation is a bad joke.
In anyone’s logic, fire burns stuff. A LOT. Somehow our sorry excuse for a flamethrower doesn’t.

Some notes:
Its attacks will follow mouselook.

So if you are panning with the mouselook while shooting, you may cause it to “miss”.

This is actually helpful as it lets you play the attack over a large zerg and hit them all.

Its also 10 attacks over 2 seconds, which something that cant be beat for forcing crit hit generations.

The flamethrower is GREAT for proccing the “on critical hit” effects. There is a burn, a bleed, and a vulnerability that can be traited into.

There are also several kinds of consumeable that have interesting on-crit procs. Various ones that add might, chill or lifesteal all lead to hilarity.

If your using a FT on a zerg…. well, GL with that, it doesn’t have the range to be anti-zerg, furthermore, I’m willing to bet that it has like an 8 target cap (can hit up to 8 targets)

Now, the FT’s damage, imo is fine, at least it’s base dmg is. I would like to see it’s range and cone “radius” increased though.

What I think the FT really needs though, is for FT5 to be dropped, and redone, again. The tiny, super short smoke field thing is soo terrible. I’d like to see something that does dmg, maybe not a lot, but something.

And Dracu is correct about it being great for on-crit effects.

Flamethrower is really only good if you’re firearms/elixir specced and need to kill lots of trash in an instance. In wvw and pve, the only consistently effective damage ability is the autoattack, which is noticeably subpar compared to grenades, bombs and guns and lacks the range to be useful 99% of the time for wvw. For spvp, the airblast is the only useful ability. I wouldn’t call it the worst kit, because the tool kit still exists, but it’s definitely trying.

As DaveK said, it makes 0 sense that it doesn’t add a burn effect.

Are we slow roasting our enemies with the flamethrower?

Nick.3926:

As DaveK said, it makes 0 sense that it doesn’t add a burn effect.

Are we slow roasting our enemies with the flamethrower?

It does add burning, a very nice single tick. And since a mob can only ever have 1 stack of burning on it and only the guy with the most condition damage gets credit for it.

My ideas for a fix:

1- Add burn at the first tick, in addition to the final tick.
2- Allow to detonate in mid air, and maybe add burn/blind. Raise to 10s cooldown to balance.
3- Keep the same
4- Change to pulse so that 2s per second, not 1s. Standing in it is not that bad honestly, all things considered. Should be worse. Duration is good though.
5- Raise cooldown to 30s, make a 3s persistent blind smoke field and stun breaker- note, breaker. So, instead of just allowing you to use it in stun, it removes the stun.

Flamethrower should be stacking burn condition. It’s already a punishment that one needs to be a virtual acrobat to aim it properly and with, IMHO, 3 other lame abilities, air blast being somewhat useful in close quarters. Keep the lame range, but for kitten’s sake, make the flamethrower burn stuff properly.
There is 0 reason to play that kit once you’ve leveled up enough from low 20s. I can do better damage with other kits, sigils don’t apply so why the kitten would I be wasting time with flamethrower that doesn’t burn things ?

Stacking burn conditions would make it OP unless the stack was due to a (perhaps) 2 or 3 second (Maybe 2 1/2 since the ticks are half second) burn given on the last tick.

Well you guys sort out the details but give me a flamethrower that does something for the profession beside looking nice.

Honestly I only use the flamethrower really for the #2 ‘mortar’ style shot, as it hits extremely hard. I’ll alternate between that and rifle, using the pushbacks from both to keep things at ideal range for it.

It would be nice if it did more than that, but I think it’s actually a decent weapon in conjunction with others.

I can never understand why people ignore Flamethrower 5, the aoe blind, as a bad ability. First of all, it gives you a free stomp in PvP because you can equip it during a stomp and use it right before the interrupt. Furthermore, combine the aoe blind with a smoke bomb and you can stack blind on a lot of targets.

Also, Flamethrower 4 is great for combo fields in both PvE and PvP.

What is the point of stacking blind? It just makes them miss the next attack?

And I was unaware that blind made you miss a stomp, can anyone else confirm this?

And the issue with 4 is, that its only good as a combo field. It has no other application really.

Lyuben.2613:

What is the point of stacking blind? It just makes them miss the next attack?

And I was unaware that blind made you miss a stomp, can anyone else confirm this?

And the issue with 4 is, that its only good as a combo field. It has no other application really.

Blind stacks in duration. And while it’s true that it only works for the next attack, there’s no guarantee somebody will attack in the next 4 seconds, so an increased duration does help. Also, in large group fights, you can have a group of attackers miss their next two attacks. Making a warrior miss a Bull’s Charge, or a hammer guardian miss their knockdown is extremely helpful.

Also, combo fields are extremely useful. You’re really hurting yourself if you’re not using them. Flamethrower 4 is not only a fire combo field (one of the best for damage), it’s a long-lasting one that an entire team can utilize.

How is flamethrower more than a combo field though? 1s burn on stepping on it is puny, and saying “its a long lasting one” hardly makes it more than just a combo field.

And the blinds engineer has, are already big enough in duration so, to say that “duration helps” is a bit of a silly thing to say, since the likes of smoke bomb and smoke vent are in melee range, where getting hit is pretty dang easy.

Stacking blind duration is stupid.

If your blind was 1s long I can see it making sense, but what the engineer has is much more than manageable, and if you are burning through several blind cooldowns just to make a single blind longer, then I’m sorry, but that is just bad.

I wouldn’t call it stupid, but then again you have a great habit of attacking any poster or any idea you disagree with.

What is odd is how you contradict that yourself. You say Stacking blinds is stupid, then you go on to say
" in melee range, where getting hit is pretty dang easy."
If they are blind, they will not hit you, regardless of range. I just don’t understand how using a debuff that prevents you from getting hit at all, is, well, stupid.

I said stacking blinds in melee range is stupid, again, you need to learn to read.

In melee range, the chance you are going to be hit is very high, and the damage is high. What the poster was talking about was stacking ‘duration’ with the likes of smoke bomb and a smoke vent. If you are stacking both, in melee range ,then it is stupid. You only need one of them since: you are in melee range, and thus: likely to be hit quickly and hard. So wasting two cooldowns, achieving what can be done with one is: stupid.

The problem I have with #5 is the range on it. It literally only works if stuff is meleeing you directly. Extremely short range, and I typically like to fight further back than that. Melee shouldn’t be getting to me in general with rifle/flamethrower.

Bizarre that people think the Flamethrower is weak, at low level PvE I find it does a lot of damage and in sPvP it wreaks havoc on my enemies. I can’t imagine how deadly it will be when Flame Blast is fixed to actually hit my target!

All the flaming and attacking isn’t a very mature way of discussing a topic… just saying. Anyways, stacking blind duration isn’t a stupid thing to do because not all the skills people use are attacks. What if they use a utility skill on themselves like a heal? What if you’re kiting and they can’t get a swing off on the normal duration? There are so many variables that saying “stacking blinds is stupid” is such a narrow-minded way of looking at PvP situations.

Plus, I’m mentioning stacking blinds w/ aoe in group fights, where people are constantly attacking. By the time you get the first blind off, chances are someone in a large cluster fight already swung. As someone who plays a point defender in tournaments, I can guarantee you from personal experience that extended durations are always useful.

At higher level the dmg is not up to par.
And it is NOT good aoe dmg either, it only deal dmg to 3 targets, while warrior axe spin deal dmg to either 5 or all targets. But flamethrower limited to 3 targets…

Spitwyld.1963:

… at low level PvE I find it does a lot of damage….

I agree. Low level being the crucial point here.

Spitwyld.1963:

… and in sPvP it wreaks havoc on my enemies.

I like this kind of humour. :-)

The thing that makes smoke bomb so useful is that it re-applies blinds….

Back to the topic of flamethrower… it is an extremely useful kit. Forget the damage it does and just consider that a bonus. The fact that it hits several times in a short span is great for triggering crit procs and applying conditions. I’ve recently been playing a “burn” build with probably the best success of any build I’ve tried with engineer ( and I’ve played around with ALOT of builds). Incindiary ammo with flamethrower basic attack followed by a rocket boot kick gives you about 10 stacks of burn… Which if uncleased is 8k damage when spec’d for condition damage (plus the other damage from whatever other attacks you toss in).

I use the forge sigils for burn duration and the protection buff at 50% health which makes you pretty tough with 3k armor and protection which is almost always up when you need it to reduce damage taken by 1/3.

Bomb kit is a nice compliment and the fire bomb will help stack burns to a ridiculous degree to anyone silly enough to stand in it (as well as all the other useful things bomb kit provides). Really a fun build and the damage you can put out is pretty absurd. I feel like the flamethrower definitely has its place in the engineer repitore, it’s just that people don’t necessarily utilize it in the proper way.

- Smapty

Edit: this is a pvp perspective… Pve I probably wouldn’t use it

It’s true! The flamethrower is great in PvP! 1 v 1 not so much but I generally stick with my group and the primary attack hits multiple targets.

I see I’m not the only one that finds it odd that an enemy can be torched with this thing and only receive a single burn tick at the very end.

Seriously. Why is this thing not piling on burn damage? It’s a device that punishes poor life decisions by dispensing flesh-melting agony to anything in front of you!

I see I’m not the only one that finds it odd that an enemy can be torched with this thing and only receive a single burn tick at the very end.

Seriously. Why is this thing not piling on burn damage? It’s a device that punishes poor life decisions by dispensing flesh-melting agony to anything in front of you!

Nethelli.4023:

I see I’m not the only one that finds it odd that an enemy can be torched with this thing and only receive a single burn tick at the very end.

Seriously. Why is this thing not piling on burn damage? It’s a device that punishes poor life decisions by dispensing flesh-melting agony to anything in front of you!

because burn stacks with duration and a mob only has a single slot for burning? How hard is it to understand that the burn is a bonus, after you rip some fools face off.

If BURN is a BONUS on a FLAMETHROWER, the logic has successfully died.

If you want burn all the time, then get the explosive trait that adds 33% chance to burn on critical.

One thing I find pathetic is that it only hits 3 targets, come on it’s a shower of flame! How does it NOT hit everything in it’s way?

balance mostly. good lord if i was hosing down 10-15 mobs for 4k each i might just wipe out all of Orr.

DaveK.1023:

If BURN is a BONUS on a FLAMETHROWER, the logic has successfully died.

pretty much, people have a silly hard on for the conditions that stack with duration, with all the full carrion set necro’s and mesmers, invalidating all your effort.

I have never understood why the flamethrower doesn’t apply burn with every attack (other than blowout and smokescreen). It does not make a lot of sense. Fire burns, right?

Additionally, I still lament the loss of backdraft in favor of smokescreen. That ability was amazing. I envy the Flame Legion mooks that still have the ability.

Kapoun.1702:

Flamethrower has smaller range even than it’s animation, sad to see people drowned in fire and taking 0 damage

This is a huge problem on my Charr, but I’ve also seen Asuran engineers hitting stuff with it even though the animation was stopping several feet short. It’s a problem with particle effects scaling to your character’s size, stuff like this need to be normalized so that doesn’t happen.

Oh god I miss Backdraft, and the napalm wall that actually hurt if you ran through it instead of only when you stand in it.

If I’d change any one thing about the flamethrower kit the winner would have to be making the napalm wall do direct damage like the ele’s flamewall. It’s pretty useless as it is right now. Runner up would of course being to fix flame blast to detonate on hard surfaces and not be randomly obstructed.

I dunno bout you guys, but in this area, i was being greatsword warrior (I was new and its way better then sword, i want axes or hammer, not the greatsword, so dont hate on me please) and I saw that this one flamethrower engie was utterly DOMINATING everything. He killed this one boss and it seemed like he did it all, and barely lost any hp. It was beautiful, all that flame.

EpicFace.8096:

I dunno bout you guys, but in this area, i was being greatsword warrior (I was new and its way better then sword, i want axes or hammer, not the greatsword, so dont hate on me please) and I saw that this one flamethrower engie was utterly DOMINATING everything. He killed this one boss and it seemed like he did it all, and barely lost any hp. It was beautiful, all that flame.

No, you just didn’t notice the Thief in the background doing all the damage.