Guild Wars 2

ColinJohanson.2394:

It’s something we’re absolutely aware of and want to address in the future, one of my main characters is an engineer so I feel ya on this one. My poor quaggan backpack is visible like 2% of the time I play as I kit swap, never mind my weapon skins.

We’re currently focusing our engineering (programmers, not guys with net guns) resources that could work on solutions to issues like kits/skins on major systems that address issues higher priority and wider reaching like lag in large battles, LFG, custom arenas, spectator mode and so on but this issue is absolutely on our radar.

As always, please post your ideas of what you’d like to see solution wise, we love to see the fun ideas y’all come up with too!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Problems-with-Engineers-and-Legendaries/page/3#post1824137

In other words, that’s our dev response – and a two months old one, at that – but… Yeah. Looks like we’ll have to keep this thread alive and on the front page. Until we get the patch.

I have been in this situation for quite some time now ever since I got my Legendary …

Shield vs. 1-Hand Kits

Come to think of it, I do find it odd that I end up putting my shield away while having these kits enabled. Since I only need one hand to throw grenades, how hard would it be to show my shield on my off-hand while I have my grenade kit running? Sure I won’t be able to use my shield’s 4 and 5 abilities, but at least I can still see it some how. I worked pretty hard to get it so I should feel like bad mofo to show it off while blowing stuff up with bombs and grenades. The same could be said for Bomb Kit, MediKit, and Tool Kit— especially Tool Kit! I mean, Tool Kit 4 should display my shield instead of a big freaking gear.

As far as hiding those kits in this situation, that could be an option, but aesthetically-speaking, those specific backpack kits could dynamically be reskinned to the visual theme from either the pistol or shield.

Issue with 2-Hand Kits

For the Flamethrower and Elixir Gun, the option to simply hide the backpack is a “simple” solution. I can see why it doesn’t seem to work aesthetically as those two weapons have to draw from an “ammo source” of some kind to have it make sense. Plus, they are also two-handed weapons so the possibility of showing a shield with them would be difficult.

Aesthetically, I think both the weapon and backpack components of the Flame Thrower and Elixir Guns could be dynamically reskinned to match the theme of whatever legendaries that are equipped. The gun could take cues from the main hand while the backpack could adopt visual themes from the shield. If engineer is using a rifle, then both the gun and the pack could adopt visual cues from the rifle. This, however, doesn’t quite solve the issue with back pieces getting in the way just yet. Instead, it might make sense to have the back piece attach itself to the back of the pack— though at that point, we might end up looking like hunchbacks … or maybe a “Yo Dawg!” situation with any backpack-looking back pieces attached to the back of our hobosacks. … or …

The Double Haul Pack!

We could end up with a situation where we have “double haul packs” where we have a “chest pack” and a “back pack” (example ). The “back pack” would be the fluff stuff like the Quaggan and Charr backpacks, the seasonal back pieces, the guild banner, and the Fractal back piece, while the kits would take the form of a chest pack. If there is no back piece equipped, then a generic “hobosack” could be displayed or no pack at all.

Shield vs. Backpiece

This situation could also apply to Guardians, Warriors, and future shield-wearing professions, but while we’re on the topic of fashion, it could apply to this topic at hand. In a case like this, I’d say that the shield should always be unsheathed (but deactivated in the case of The Flameseeker Prophecies) and attached to the off-hand. The shield’s shader effects could then be activated when entering combat. That way, we can still display our fancy backpieces should we choose to do so while lugging around our favorite shields.

Overall, if GW2 is going to be a game known for putting weird and strange non-cape stuff on our backs, the engineer profession should at least be allowed to show those off everywhere they go.

Bumping for great justice!

So, any interesting news about this matter? Or are we destined to look like fashionable homeless people?

We need to be able to customize our hobosacks, or just outright choose not to display them!

+1

While im quite contended with the promise of trait changes this next tuesday (while silently fearing the possibility of it being a buggy mess), i would still like to say tearful goodbyes to the Hobo-sacks as soon as humanly possible.

Got my engi to 80 for the first time. Spent nearly 40g and countless tokens to upgrade and make him look good. But there’s still one irritation…

+1 for hobo sack redesign..

and I have a feeling that we have to wait for years for this one…

I like the backpacks. Thats what makes people recognize us as Engineers Without clicking on us :<

Somehow this topic peaked my interest in homeless backpacks and their “fashion” I was about to prove how homeless backpacks looks so much MORE kitten than our version of hobosacks until… I stumbled on something Jaw dropping.

Michael Malloy, http://www.yelp.com/topic/los-angeles-the-most-kitten-homeless-person-ever The MOST kitten hobo in existence. Even have his very own Wiki page !!~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Malloy ..

Never would I thought gw2 could lead me to such an interesting read >.>

• Just click on the wiki link since the other one doesn’t work for some reason *

NickDollahZ.5348:

The idea that hobosacks are needed to help the enemy know what kit you are in is the weakest argument Ive seen on these forums.

Hobosack visibility is greatly reduced with any sort of range especially when the engineer is looking toward you. This is quite apparent on Asura and Norn.

The Bomb kit and toolkit have the same sack.

You are more likely to recognize the kit they are in by the weapon they are carrying more then the sack on their backside. Even more likely by the distinct skill animations.

Easy fix. Make the backpacks BIGGER.

danbuter.2314:

NickDollahZ.5348:

The idea that hobosacks are needed to help the enemy know what kit you are in is the weakest argument Ive seen on these forums.

Hobosack visibility is greatly reduced with any sort of range especially when the engineer is looking toward you. This is quite apparent on Asura and Norn.

The Bomb kit and toolkit have the same sack.

You are more likely to recognize the kit they are in by the weapon they are carrying more then the sack on their backside. Even more likely by the distinct skill animations.

Easy fix. Make the backpacks BIGGER.

I made a suggestion to just add a boon icon based on what kit the engineer was currently in, sort of like the attunement icons that Ele’s have. This would solve that problem and no longer require a visual aid, if that is really the reason they don’t allow a toggle to show/hide the kits.

Meh, i’m in a melancholic mood this weekend and so i will claim that ANet is all about design over mechanics. They have somehow decided that engineers need their pack from a design/style standpoint, and that’s it.

I can see a boon icon working. Although ele’s still have the glowing auras around their wrists that also indicate their attunement (barely noticable when you’re in the heat of a battle though).

To be fair i sooner recognise elementalists’ attunement swap from the voice-over they shout (“Geological forces at my command!” and “My power is like a tidal wave” kinda shouts) rather than from either the icon and certainly not from the elemental bracelet thingy.

And come to think of it, engineers have absolutely no such voice-over indications with their kits. Not bringing a single turret in my playthrough i never even heared my engineer say anything regarding to her profession. (Turrets do have “Dispenser up” or “The pinnacle of engineering”)

As much I’d like to see this option… hobo sacks define our class. Without a hobo sack, you’d think we were any Tom, kitten or Harry.

lakdav.3694:

“The pinnacle of engineering”

Turned into so much scrap seconds later by a neanderthal wielding the oldest weapon known to man…

digiowl.9620:

Turned into so much scrap seconds later by a neanderthal wielding the oldest weapon known to man…

A piercing stare? :P

lakdav.3694:

To be fair i sooner recognise elementalists’ attunement swap from the voice-over they shout (“Geological forces at my command!” and “My power is like a tidal wave” kinda shouts) rather than from either the icon and certainly not from the elemental bracelet thingy.

And come to think of it, engineers have absolutely no such voice-over indications with their kits. Not bringing a single turret in my playthrough i never even heared my engineer say anything regarding to her profession. (Turrets do have “Dispenser up” or “The pinnacle of engineering”)

Think about it.. if they voiced engineers then a kit based engineer they would NEVER shut up.

Coltz.5617:

lakdav.3694:

To be fair i sooner recognise elementalists’ attunement swap from the voice-over they shout (“Geological forces at my command!” and “My power is like a tidal wave” kinda shouts) rather than from either the icon and certainly not from the elemental bracelet thingy.

And come to think of it, engineers have absolutely no such voice-over indications with their kits. Not bringing a single turret in my playthrough i never even heared my engineer say anything regarding to her profession. (Turrets do have “Dispenser up” or “The pinnacle of engineering”)

Think about it.. if they voiced engineers then a kit based engineer they would NEVER shut up.

Its also annoying to have my “genius” asuran point to the turret a victorian era rusty pile of wood and refined metallic scrap as the “Pinnacle of engineering” then that would make anyone playing a asuran character as just slightly more stupid than the other asurans.

Coltz.5617:

Its also annoying to have my “genius” asuran point to the turret a victorian era rusty pile of wood and refined metallic scrap as the “Pinnacle of engineering” then that would make anyone playing a asuran character as just slightly more stupid than the other asurans.

Eh.. Asuran tech is based in magic. So that Victorian era engineering is pretty far advanced.

Nominated to top 1 topic.

But in real : no offense, but ANET GIVES A kitten.
Sory thats my opinion….there are threads like this since like beta, and they simply dont give a kitten to do smt abaut problems that DESTROY the game for some players.

Destroy? YES they do, the game is abaut cosmetics, as the op well says. And its a BIG part of the game. It actually forced me to reroll 3 times, and i finally decided to stop the game, the only reson i am here is because i wanted to check on the game, but still cant decide what class to stick with…

So yes, thats my opinion. There are millions of threads with issues like this, and they cant even put a simple toggle option in like a year ago….ofc there is TIME TO MAKE kittenTY HOLIDAYS, but not to implement something like content.

Poor engineers. We’ve had hobosacks since since beta, with vague promises to do “something” about it here and there to keep us happy. We’ve had nerfs. We’ve got a page on the GW2 homescreen talking about trait and stat changes and the word “Engineer” is nowhere on it.

We are the redheaded step children of the game. The hobosacks suit us well.

Honestly, I wish they would just come out with hobo armor to suit it. If I’m gonna be an unloved, abused hobo I might as well look the part…

Tolmos.8395:

Honestly, I wish they would just come out with hobo armor to suit it. If I’m gonna be an unloved, abused hobo I might as well look the part…

Pirate coat and the rest just needs to be broken. Hobos dont have money for repairs. They spend all they have on junk (some are renown junkies) and hallucinogetic orrian truffle “for alchemical uses of course”.

Back on track, i have to wonder: Was there a single complaint ever that people wanted to hide their gloves? That option was not in at release, it came shortly after the Molten Alliance…. and i could only scratch my head in confusion.

Perfectly agree….ppl say, things liek this are on the last of the list for Anet….then i ask : what is on top priority then?
Since i didnt even felt a single change or fix, after like a half year login? (maybe even more) Fix on events…? eventas that wont matter since ppl dont really populate 20-70lv maps at all. And other “fun” like that?

I have an idea. I think someone may have suggested something similar recently, but I can’t recall.
They could keep the packs, but replace them with small horizontal packs on the back of the waist, instead of the huge things we have now. Backpacks and weapons could be visible with them as well, since they wouldn’t be on the back.
Here’s an example of what I mean;
http://www.maxpedition.com/store/pc/catalog/0402k_7_detail.jpg

Personally, I really like the backpacks… Honestly one of my favourite things about my engineer, I wish I could use the starter one in sPvP…

I’d be pretty devastated if they got rid of the current backpacks completely. If anything changes, it should either be a show/hide toggle and/or alternate pack styles to choose from.

Like Han solo-s belt…cool idea.

Fannypack might be overdoing it a little / risking a few severe clipping things, but having something hanging from the character’s side, like the right hip, seems fairly simple.

A stick-grenade on ’nade kit,
a small vial in either orange or pink for Flamethrower and Elixir gun,
and a brown medkit satchel for the medkit,

for starters could all work. Especially since most armors wouldn’t really clip with them too much, as those are the places our pistols and one-hand weapons are usually stored when sheathed anyway.

While we’re on the topic of hobosacks… having shields remain on our backs at all times would be nice too. I would LOVE to have that dragon shield on my engie’s back as I run around shooting with my kit guns. It makes a GREAT cosmetic back item.

Tolmos.8395:

While we’re on the topic of hobosacks…

Welcome to the Engineer forum. The topic is always ‘hobosacks’ ;P

Weirwynn.2390:

Welcome to the Engineer forum. The topic is always ‘hobosacks’ ;P

Which makes me wonder why people let the main Hobosack thread on the forums die so willingly. Pretty sure stubbornness is the way to go here, and keeping this on the frontpage.

Sold Out.7625:

Weirwynn.2390:

Welcome to the Engineer forum. The topic is always ‘hobosacks’ ;P

Which makes me wonder why people let the main Hobosack thread on the forums die so willingly. Pretty sure stubbornness is the way to go here, and keeping this on the frontpage.

Well personally, I don’t think there’s really much to say on the matter. All of the good solutions involve an inordinate number of single-use resources. I fully expect the eventual solution to be a single tickbox

Weirwynn.2390:

Sold Out.7625:

Weirwynn.2390:

Welcome to the Engineer forum. The topic is always ‘hobosacks’ ;P

Which makes me wonder why people let the main Hobosack thread on the forums die so willingly. Pretty sure stubbornness is the way to go here, and keeping this on the frontpage.

Well personally, I don’t think there’s really much to say on the matter. All of the good solutions involve an inordinate number of single-use resources. I fully expect the eventual solution to be a single tickbox

Yeeeup. And we need to some way advertise the fact that we really want one~.

Option to hide would be nice.

I really think a tickbox and a boon icon would be the best solution.

This topic just made laugh so bad I almost choked. I choose the engineer mainly because the great looking backpacks that come with kits. Now i just want to make new engineer with the name containing Hobo and really messy beard

Get rid o the hobo sacks or redesign them!

4 pages and not even a response from Anet. There are so many good and simple solutions in this thread.

I can’t even play my engineer because I hate the hobosack so much.

There was an official response a few months back in a different thread. Colin basically said, we can fix hobo sacks or continue to make great content and fix bugs. Since Engis are the least played class, the simple logical concept of the needs of the many will, ultimately, win the day.

This has never been more apparent to me (and as someone who only recently started playing a few weeks ago and is already jaded) than in recent weeks where Necros got revamped and they now have a VERY active thread in the PvP section where devs are super engaged and trying to “fix” the class before the tournaments this weekend. But, in the meta, Necros are huge, so of course they are getting attention.

Lots of other “versatile” and “hybrid” classes in MMOs have suffered like Engis have and then, after long last, were given the attention they needed and deserved. So, somewhere in the back of my mind, I am hopeful that the devs are doing the same for us and when they grace us with it we will rejoice and people will flock to the class. (See: Druids in WoW 1.8, Chanters in Aion, etc…)

If that day comes, I will be the first in line to thank them and concede. In the mean time…

I don’t get why they even have backpacks for kits when we already get on at character creation.

Just get rid of the kits backpack and let people choose wether or not to wear an actual backpack

DargorV.8571:

I don’t get why they even have backpacks for kits when we already get on at character creation.

Just get rid of the kits backpack and let people choose wether or not to wear an actual backpack

Because, apparently, without the backpacks there are people out there who would look at your character throwing grenades around and say “Is that a flamethrower kit?! Without the backpack on I can’t be sure!”

I’d live with them.
If they followed character size.
If they didn’t clip with everything.
If they didn’t ruin my pink armor set.
If I could use my plush charr with them.
For the starters I would agree for a slider “hobosack size %” from 100 to 75.
And maybe some coloring options.

Can we please just have the option to turn off the stupid sacks or get rid of them entirely? They serve no purpose and look ugly.

My wish is for each race to have their own style of Engy backpack & I wish merchants would sell more Universal Multi-Tool packs/skins. I have several sets of armor but only one Universal Multi-Tool pack/skin. I would like the abilty to make all my back armor pieces to look like my Universal Multi-Tool pack.

I want to be able to toggle kits packs so badly. I’m in love with the new rucksack and it’s all I want to see

The Engineer backpacks are such an eye sore.. Errgghh! I want to be able to see my beautiful desert rose

I can’t believe they haven’t done this yet.

I like my engineer backpacks. Maybe I’m a hobo at heart.

Regarding the gun kits, you could easily get rid of the backpacks there since the weapon itself is being held.

- Flamethrower – add two barrels of fuel attached to the waistline where one would normally carry one-handed weapons.
- Elixir Gun – gun can be standalone
- Tool Kit – character holds wrench in hand
- Bomb Kit – character holds a bomb belt with visible bombs in left hand. Can flap about when moving, but ideally should have more heavy gravity affecting it to hang downwards. Add additional bomb belt to waist.
- Grenade Kit – can be same as above, but loop the belt and make it float a bit more. Add additional grenade belt to waist.
- Med Kit – carry first aid box in left hand by a handle.

IceBlink.4317:

Regarding the gun kits, you could easily get rid of the backpacks there since the weapon itself is being held.

- Flamethrower – add two barrels of fuel attached to the waistline where one would normally carry one-handed weapons.

- Elixir Gun – gun can be standalone
- Tool Kit – character holds wrench in hand
- Bomb Kit – character holds a bomb belt with visible bombs in left hand. Can flap about when moving, but ideally should have more heavy gravity affecting it to hang downwards. Add additional bomb belt to waist.
- Grenade Kit – can be same as above, but loop the belt and make it float a bit more. Add additional grenade belt to waist.
- Med Kit – carry first aid box in left hand by a handle.

That is actually a remarkably succinct idea… Just add an object that you carry in one of your hands, just like the Toolkit, instead of a pack. Remove the pack from the kits that already have a hand-held object attached.
If people want a hobo kit, just get it as a regular back piece. There are at least a couple, and they could turn the kit packs into regular back piece items as well.
Then you could solve the Legendary issue by making it sheathed while the kit is active.

Also, I could have sworn this used to be larger than a mere 4 pages.