I’m not going to go on and on about what’s overpowered, what isn’t, or anything like that. This thread is not about that, and I would prefer it remain that way.
This thread will be about the following: Giving the Engineer Heavy Armor (and how to transition relatively smoothly) and giving the Engineer more non-Kit weapon choice. Remember: Not every Engineer uses, or wants to use, Kits.
This post will pertain to Medium-Heavy Armor Transition. If you think this idea should be reviewed by the staff, click that little +1 to put it on their radar – apparently that’s how this works, as silly as it is.
1: Move the Engineer to Heavy Armor from Medium. Why:
- If this were to be done, it would allow the Dervish to be added as a Medium-armor class without disrupting the grid.
- There would be a class with high Condition capabilities in each tier of armor.
- Several traits would make more sense, such as the ones that give you bonuses for not dodging or moving.
- The Engineer would become the complete antithesis of the Elementalist – instead of squishy, high-damage wizard with more weapon skills than anyone else, a highly durable, but low-damage, tech-based (to the complete exclusion of magic excluding alchemy) class with more Utility skills available at any one time than anyone else.
How to do it inoffensively: Change all armor soulbound to the character to Heavy Armor, but retain the appearance of the Medium Armor only on the set currently worn by the character. Give a skinbox (via mail) that converts Medium-appearance armor into its appearance’s Heavy Tier/Rarity equivalent appearance (T5 Rare-T5 Rare, T5 Rare stats transmuted with T1 Common skin – T5 Rare stats with T1 Common skin) when used (with no less than two confirmation menus, both of which will make clear that the change is permanent and wholesale).
Offer a complimentary swapping of skill ranks from Leatherworker to Armorsmith. Maybe give a Jug of Karma or some other relatively inconsequential currency, in addition.
Announce it far in advance, bugtest it (I will volunteer as tester, if necessary), and make sure it’s working before implementation. This is so people can get a new set of armor ready for the change, if they so desire, and otherwise prepare themselves.
Only have the retained appearance be visible to others in PvE; this is a balance/deception concern. In PvP, the retained appearance should only be visible to the player, if possible.