Guild Wars 2

A year and a half ago, I made this post about Engineer weapons, specifically Grenade Kit:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Dec-10th-Balance-Preview-Updated-Nov-6th/3142684

Ghostpilot.6237:

Grenade Kit’s balance is a complicated issue and perhaps the greatest one Engineers have at the moment. I understand that concessions are made because of the lack of auto-attack and skill involved in its use. However, it is the be-all-end-all weapon for Engineers.

Most Direct Damage: Grenades.
Most Condition Damage: Grenades.
Most Range: Grenades. <-(This is longer true as of June 23rd 2015)
Greatest Area of Effect: Grenades (5 targets per grenade).
Best Underwater Weapon: Grenades.
Best Application of Conditions: Grenades.
Best Application of On-Hit / On-Crit Effects: Grenades.
Greatest Efficiency per Skill Points spent: Grenades. <- (Also, no longer true as of 6/23/15.)

On top of this, Grenades is unrestricted by the user’s line of sight.

No other Engineer weapon option even comes close to the versatility that Grenade Kit provides. This has everything to do with the Grenadier trait, which provides not only 1500 range, but a +50% efficiency bonus on all of its attacks (toolbelt aside).

I do not wish for this to be construed as a rally cry to nerf Grenade Kit, but there was a drastic, hasty balance change to Kits in October 2012 when weapon stats become applied to them that left other kits by the wayside (Flamethrower was the hardest hit).

Grenade Kit was the least effected by this (only receiving a damage decrease to #1) and it has only been improved ever since. The change to Modified Ammo only widens that gap. Even the change to Scope provides the greatest benefit to Grenades as it is the only weapon to have greater than 600 range on all of its attacks (Rifle only has it on #1, Pistol #1-3, Elixir Gun #1 & 2).

While the easiest solution would be to bring Grenade Kit down (which is not my intention), this doesn’t change the fact that other kits and weapons need to be brought up. Flamethrower, Elixir Gun, Tool Kit and Speargun are the ones most in need. With a lesser extent to Rifle and Pistols.

With the latest change has compounded this imbalance between Grenade Kit and every other weapon / kit (even the new Mortar Kit).

Grenade Kit was the only kit / weapon that received any its trait benefits baseline (the extra grenade, which is +50% efficiency) and has the greatest degree of trait synergy in addition to the above.

Every other kit and weapon has lost most, if not all, of the benefits that had previously come from traits (i.e. none were made baseline aside from Grenades). So now Engineers are in a situation where every other weapon is the old baseline competing with a traited Grenade Kit. The previous grenade range was negligible as it was the +50% efficiency that made Grenadier.

As a day one Engineer, it’s disheartening to see an issue that was prevalent then become even moreso now.

Bomb radius is 240 baseline but display as 180

Which is pretty strong too!

Are you saying Grenade Kit is far superior to everything else now, or that Grenades, even if you trait for them, are worse than all other kits??

Are you talking in terms of condi, or power builds? I ask since I play a condi-engie and just dropped grenades from my repertoire.. I could not come up with a good condi grenade build that has synergies in all three trait lines.

Flamethrower got nerfed the hardest. no cooldown reductions (fireforged trigger), napalm and incendiary ammo are now completly useless in powerbuilds.
The reduced cooldowns of the nockback and backward leap made flamethrower somewhat useable because the ft mostly requires you to face your target to do actual damage (unlike bombs and nades).

Mainwhile nades got even stronger in close combat where it already excelled. Then there was an acceptable damage dealing kit called mortar kit that with its mortar shot could compete with nades autoattack but not with nades superior burst damage (shrapnel, freeze, barrage) allowing some room to put more utility orientated skills in the utility slots. well that story lasted about 2 days.

And what happened to the new med kit hype? well thanks to the clumsy ground targeting of the condi cleansing skills its even more impractical than it was before and I’m hopeing that the not scaling of the bandage self cooldown with mechanized deployment is just a bug.