Guild Wars 2

Okay so I had a look at Holosmith, and though I really like it thematically and mechanically. I do think there are room for some changes/tweaks.

First of weapon skill:

• The auto attack seems to do nice dmg and are not too slow considering the 3rd skill recharges the other skills by 3 sec(pretty neat).

• Refraction cutter: The damgage seems ok given that the Photon forge does alot of dmg. But i’m confused as to why the initial strike only has a 130 range. The projectiles seem rather useless, doing very weak dmg and som bleeds. Plus even with a target they will attack in front of you. Making it very hard to hit. And since the overheat just gives more useless projectiles. This skill if vastly underpowered and kinda dull. No nice effects or animation either.

• Radiant Arc: Getting a leap is very nice. and the dmg plus the quickness and cripple is really good. BUT why og why must it be SO slow! it takes forever to cast. and when you land there is a 1 sec. where you can’t move. This is UNNACEPTABLE. I’ve tried all the new elite speccs, leaps and they are all fast and smooth with little to no aftecast, where you can’t move. Fix immediately! Plus why is it only 450 range seems kinda unfair. should be 600.

Conclusion:
I love that we are getting the sword. But as stated above other than the auto attack. The skills seem lackluster, slow and a bit boring. I dunno if it’s to balance with the strong skills from Forge mode. But the new weapon from an elite specc. Should always feel, smooth, fun, and rewarding to play with. Atm sword is kinda missing that a bit. Especially after trying sword on ele. Getting leap, teleport, and 2 evades. The engi sowrd pales in comparison.

Photon Forge mode skills:

• Auto attack: very simple but very effective, no complaints. It can also be modified to do 600 range. Very cool mechanic.

• Holo Leap: Much better leap smooth and fast. Damage might be a tad too high. But since it doesn’t do much else, than give a slight swiftness boost to allies. It shouldn’t change much.

• Corona Burst: Loving this skill, nice aoe cleave and can give 2 stacks of stab when traited and nice might as well. No complaints.

• Photon blitz: decent range skill although would have liked it to be usefull without a target. The shots seem to hit the ground, when the camera is angled to high. Heat generation seems a bit too hight as well. 2% per shot. that’s 16% heat should ba lowered to 1% per shot. Would also like to see this do more than just dmg. maybe some boons or cripple, blind, daze? might be too much. But a bit more oomph to it would be nice.

• Holographic Shockwave: Really liking this skill. Very nice aoe Launch. And dmg is fair. However I would like not to stand still while doing this. And the heat generated also seems a bit much. maybe 15-20% heat.

Conclusion:
Over all loving the Photon forge mode skills. just some minor tweaks here and there. And I like the mechanic with overheating, maybe the dmg taken from overheating is a bit much. But other than that. It seems like a standalone skillset, that really is usefull for dishing out great dmg. where ALL of the skills seems usefull and not just a couple. like most kits. It also feel rewarding that it’s tied into the traits making you able to some what change the first 3 skills. Really cool.

Utility skills:

• Coolant blast: I like this healing skill, and the added effect from heat makes is really good imo. Will it rival the turret, probably not. But is seems viable. The F skill Cauterize: seems like a nice condi removal up to 4 condis, I would have liked to see maybe 1-2 condis removed from allies as well. But giving this is a dps specc. Might be to much. But nice skills overall.

• Laser disk: This skill looks really nice, and it does seems to pack a punch. Think I had a 20k dmg with extra duration from heat. And the F skill: Blade burst seemed okay as well hitting everything within 600 range. For decent dmg. It doesn’t do much else, but I expected a dmg only utility. So fine with that.

• Photon wall: Not sure how I fel about this. the duration seem too low. And the projectile seem kinda useless. Even with added heat. It just lacks flavor kinda boring. The F skill: Particle accelerator is also kinda meh, but has a low cd so could work with Static Discharge? but it just does dmg. and some cripple and swiftness. And like alot of eni skills. If you don’t have a target it will shoot straight to the ground. Dissapointd with that.

• Hard line arena: This skills looks really cool. And the boons are nice but why in the #### is it not shared with allies. This could finally be a skill where engies could provide some nice boons. But nooo only to ourselves. Really dissapointed here. PLease give us some boonshare. Everything else is really cool and the added radius and duration from heat feels rewarding. The F skill Prismatic singularity: However is freaking awesome, really nice aoe pull and looks cool too. and the cd is fair as well. Loving this.

• Spectrum shield: I was really hoping for this to give engi some more reliable stab. But alas. The stun break is nice though and dmg reduction also really nice. I suggest changing it. Giving it 10% dmg reduction. down from 50% but give a solid 3-5 stacks of stab for 6 sec. Giving it more functionality as a defensive skill. The F skill: Flash spark is kind of a kick in the face. an aoe blind on a 40 sec cd? Like really? I know it gives 4 sec of light aura above 50 heat. But that to me seems very weak and useless. compared to the Prismatic singularity. This is vastly boring and questions the work put into to some of these skills. Completely change this skill to something more in flavor with the engi. We only have like 5 aoe blinds already.

• Prime Light Beam: This skills however shooting a long laserbeam. Now that is awesome! and it feels really impactfull and dangerous as well. nice animation! The dmg is nice and the cc is strong. Really liking this! And the F skill: We’ll this is where I get confused because there isn’t any. it is now our Photon forge mode. Not sure I like this because the elites F skill should be there imo as i compliments the otherwise strong elite. Maybe they have worked out something new I dunno but so far I’m confused about this change.

Conclusion:
it’s a 50/50 for me just like with the Gyros some of them seemed really cool and their F skill really cool. And others just pale in comparison, And seem weird and uninteresting.

• Traits:
  Liking the traits so far. They seem interesting and rewarding to me. And since the other skills get changes via the heat mechaninc I like that it only affects the Photon forge mode.

• Photon Forge mode:
  I really like this idea and concept, it feels like it belongs to some science aspect of the engineer. Mechanically I like too. It feels awesome to get into that almost burst mode and unleash all those cool skills. The only thing is I think the dmg from overheating is a bit much.

• Heat Mechanic: Again I like this alot as well. Since the traits don’t affect any skills outside forge mode. We have heat to alter/boost our skills. And more risk gives more boost. BUT what I don’t understand is, why isn’t at least our other weapons. Rifle, Pistol, Shield Affected by this as well. This would give more incentive to use those weapons as well. Again looking at Weavers mechanic, transitioning to their other weapons. Why don’t we get that too? it does seems a bit undfair and may be an oversight. But I hope for this to be adressed.

• The missing F skill: On a last note. I would like to ask the question. Why is our elite F skill gone? I get that The Forge mode needs an activation key. But since they gave us the F5 skill with the Elites can’t remember when. They just take it away with this specc? again seems short sighted. And I hope that the devs will adress this too. With a reason as to why?