Guild Wars 2

The flamethrower is weak even with the condi change which basically took it out of use for anything but open world. This suggestion has more to do with making it a viable weapon and more accurate to what it should be. Unblockable should be added to auto attack. Now before you go nuts consider that flamethrower or juggernauts in particular aren’t a viable build. So maybe in addition to taking Juggernaut they get unblockable added to the auto attack? Unblockable would actually represent what a flamethrower is. You’re not going to stand in front of a rolling flame as it will consume you even with a shield this would not be a viable defense. Second this would only allow engineers a way to fight without constant kit swapping, which for an engineer gets old really fast. Not as bad as my Ele but not too far off either. Turrets don’t last even with buffs from Inventions. One White Mantle Knight swing attack will destroy a turret at full health without the Inventions trait for reduced damage taken. Mobs come from miles away to attack turrets when they wouldn’t agro to your engineer at that range? I will add for engineers attacks, pretty much everything that is unblockable is exclusively close range or on huge cooldowns. My other classes seem to have far more easy access to reliable ranged attacks that won’t come back to bite me with how common reflect is.

Um, you’re just not using it correctly or making proper builds around it’s strengths if that’s your conclusion. My experience is completely different. I love my FT build, it performs well in any situation, exceptionally so in some, is adaptable on the fly and as with the eng theme, provides lots of access to other secondary skills and effects.

I won’t complain when Anet makes it better but … I will argue against any claim this weapon needs a buff because it’s weak or isn’t useful because those statements are not true. You just aren’t realizing the situations that this weapon is highly (some might say overly) effective. That includes the idea that the AA should be unblockable. Justification on such an idea because of an appeal to realism has low mileage, in a fantasy MMO. Simply put, realism doesn’t appear to be a class or weapon skill design goal.

Obtena.7952:

Um, you’re just not using it correctly or making proper builds around it’s strengths if that’s your conclusion. My experience is completely different. I love my FT build, it performs well in any situation, exceptionally so in some, is adaptable on the fly and as with the eng theme, provides lots of access to other secondary skills and effects.

I won’t complain when Anet makes it better but … I will argue against any claim this weapon needs a buff because it’s weak or isn’t useful because those statements are not true. You just aren’t realizing the situations that this weapon is highly (some might say overly) effective. That includes the idea that the AA should be unblockable. Justification on such an idea because of an appeal to realism has low mileage, in a fantasy MMO. Simply put, realism doesn’t appear to be a class or weapon skill design goal.

Given that WvW is the only build I seem to find that the flamethrower isn’t a complete waste of a skill slot, how is it sufficient to take up both a master trait and skill slot to make a subpar kit? Also should note it’s not considered the best for engineers in WvW either.

Well, let’s just put it this way … just because WvW is the only place you think FT isn’t a waste doesn’t make that true. I mean, if you don’t like FT outside of WvW, don’t use it, but don’t claim it’s not useful or it’s weak outside of WvW. There are multiple threads here that talk about how to use FT. I suggest you do some more research before making unsupported claims of uselessness and weak, especially outside of WvW.

Sidenote: FT has only gotten better in WvW since blasting light fields stopped procing retal. It’s not the best? If you’re going to talk about what is best, why would you even care to make a thread about buffing FT? Seems to me that if you just want to appeal to what is the best, you sunk your own thread right out of the gate. FT certainly isn’t the best for every situation but there is no reason to buff it for the reasons you give.

It’s funny that after 4 years people still haven’t figured the flamethrower out. I will drop a hint and say there is a very specific combination of things that makes the FT the most amazing thing on the planet.

There was one guy who got soooo close, so close to figuring it out. He got the concept down but applied it to the wrong thing.

I will say the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in gw2 was having 3 downed people in the cone of my ft burning to death from losing a 3v1 then having a thief come up, watch his entire team burn, say nope x4 and go into stealth never to return.

FT engi is like an elite club. When you figure it out, you just know -then you never share the secret with anyone. I might make some exceptions though.

Pm me in game, plyxi the cutest little green Asura – that is, if you are ready to ascend to nirvana.

Just remember in FT club we don’t talk about FT club

We’ve all seen those pictures of a knight blocking a dragon’s fiery breath with their shield, haven’t we?

Being more serious, though, a shield block probably shouldn’t be able to stop all of the damage from a flamethrower. On the other hand, there are things in the game defined as ‘blocking’ where it’s quite reasonable, looking at the graphics, that they can block a flamethrower – the mesmer shield 4 skill and the elementalist Arcane Shield come to mind. Meanwhile, there are a lot of projectile-hate skills that theoretically should be able to stop the stream of flame from a flamethrower, but don’t because it’s not technically a projectile.

There are swings and roundabouts. From what I see, flamethrower does seem to get used a lot in high-end play, albeit rarely for the autoattack. I am curious about lordhelmos’ build, though…

FT is great because, first and foremost, is fun. The auto is no great thing, but is not bad either, since you can use it to keep pressure and attack though objects… You shouldn’t take kits (or play Engie, really) to keep pressing 1111111 all the time (Bomb kit is just a sad mistake). All the other skills are situational, strategic, position dependant and therefore, interesting to use.

Only thing I don’t like is how they removed the burst potential from FT 2. IMO FT shouldn’t be power or condi, but a good hybrid, whit good burst in 2, good condi on napalm, and a bit of both in AA.

FT is great in a vacuum. DPS is still gutter tho.

lordhelmos.7623:

It’s funny that after 4 years people still haven’t figured the flamethrower out. I will drop a hint and say there is a very specific combination of things that makes the FT the most amazing thing on the planet.

There was one guy who got soooo close, so close to figuring it out. He got the concept down but applied it to the wrong thing.

I will say the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in gw2 was having 3 downed people in the cone of my ft burning to death from losing a 3v1 then having a thief come up, watch his entire team burn, say nope x4 and go into stealth never to return.

FT engi is like an elite club. When you figure it out, you just know -then you never share the secret with anyone. I might make some exceptions though.

Pm me in game, plyxi the cutest little green Asura – that is, if you are ready to ascend to nirvana.

Just remember in FT club we don’t talk about FT club

this is acutally really true, I just found out some of my friends didn’t even know that you can time the 3 on ft to reflect projectiles

FT was THE BLAST to play as power/scrapper build. Now they made it useless a few months ago, forcing it to be a condition weapon, which is completely bolloks when you look at the traits (and the lines they are in) that were meant to push the FT. Wielding the FT requires to be in close range, meaning you need more defence at the same time.
Stretching from a pure powder/defence build to a power / condi / defence build is not possible given the sPvP amulets.

Silly anet is silly, and we get reminded of that each “balance patch” their trainee comes up with more ideas that were not 100% thought through.

I only wish flamethrower was enough for our condi dps.