It just does damage...
There is a lot of control built in as well – with the toolbelt collapsing ring and the knockback from laser being the strongest (but not only ones).
Additionally, strong boon stacking with the arena and a few other skills – and probably some of the best mobility/stunbreaks we’ve seen.
I was a little disappointed I can’t make a viable support build for WvW out of Holosmith because all of the traits are all about the forge and the forge has no group utility at all. Taking Holo over anything else will really hinder any support you provide and you lose the Elite toolbelt too.
Other than that I think the damage and mechanic is fun for dps builds. I roam a lot too so Holosmith will be a fun addition.
Yeah, I think the idea was to get away from the whole support or bunker playstyle. It is just a high damage high risk spec, and it is pretty awesome. Just don’t expect to be some support player, not sure why you would from the info given anyways.
I was a little disappointed I can’t make a viable support build for WvW out of Holosmith because all of the traits are all about the forge and the forge has no group utility at all.
Hahaha saw that one coming a mile away… been shifting between my daredevil and scrapper lately and running 2-3 man with a guildies. Long story short on dd a large majority of the skirmishes we lost could have been won if I had been on scrapper simply because of stomping utility. We had the damage and we got lots of people down but damage isnt everything when you struggle to stomp them due to being outmanned, knocked back or under heavy aoe pressure etc. The gyro gives the engie a purpose in WvW.
That’s what i like, let’s keep it that way.
There is a lot of control built in as well – with the toolbelt collapsing ring and the knockback from laser being the strongest (but not only ones).
Additionally, strong boon stacking with the arena and a few other skills – and probably some of the best mobility/stunbreaks we’ve seen.
I would love to use the stunbreak but the toolbet skill is just aweful with a blind, a light aura for 4s and a CD of 40s. I rather use an elixer stunbreak instead.
Overall its a fun class for boon stacking and a “into the fray” gamestyle. But the exceed skills need tweaking on the toolbelt counterparts, all of them.
Pale Raiders united.
9 Sylvari, 9 unique Builds.
9 Sylvari, 9 unique Builds.
There is a lot of control built in as well – with the toolbelt collapsing ring and the knockback from laser being the strongest (but not only ones).
Additionally, strong boon stacking with the arena and a few other skills – and probably some of the best mobility/stunbreaks we’ve seen.
I would love to use the stunbreak but the toolbet skill is just aweful with a blind, a light aura for 4s and a CD of 40s. I rather use an elixer stunbreak instead.
Overall its a fun class for boon stacking and a “into the fray” gamestyle. But the exceed skills need tweaking on the toolbelt counterparts, all of them.
I think you hit on an important point that many are forgetting across all of the new specs. While pure holosmith builds may be what we want to test now – to get a feel for every utility, in realistic gameplay, we need to look at how it mixes with the preexisting utilities/weapons/etc. So, if the elixir stunbreak works, that is a viable addition to a holosmith build.
One of the things I look forward to is mix and match character building. A holosmith that relies on a couple of elixirs sounds fun to me (and potentially pretty strong).
The other thing to remember – numbers can always be tweaked – so, yes, provide feedback on balance, but the most important thing to critique this weekend, imo, is the feel of the spec. Is it fun to play? I think the holosmith is definitely that and look forward to playing it in game.
I agree on critiquing the ‘feel.’
Yeah. Sorry Anet, but holosmith feels super uninspired. Flashy animations and high damage numbers can’t make up for that.
I just hope that when the nerfhammer swings they consider that the spec is just close range damage and not damage+ support or damage while evading/blocking everything. I hope that they instead shift some power to the toolbelts instead (only reason i don’t forget to use them is because of static discharge).
There is real risk, especially for the might stacking variant which doesn’t control heat as well as gm1 and do not negate the effect as well as gm3.
Yeah. Sorry Anet, but holosmith feels super uninspired. Flashy animations and high damage numbers can’t make up for that.
flashy animation and high damage can make up for that, i’m officially an engi main now and moved on from warrior
well folks if you haven’t figured it out you can easely drop the holosweapon after you are done gaining 50% heat when you use the 2nd grandmastertrait. Afterwards you can not loose the heat other than by overheating so it stays 50% and all youre skills are effected by the better version of it. So in total the engineer gains good controlskills, some nice damageskills and a few good traits that also push his conditiondamage alongside the skills. The support role of him is not so strong but he gains good damage in exchange and even better controlskills which is allways good.
well folks if you haven’t figured it out you can easely drop the holosweapon after you are done gaining 50% heat when you use the 2nd grandmastertrait. Afterwards you can not loose the heat other than by overheating so it stays 50% and all youre skills are effected by the better version of it. So in total the engineer gains good controlskills, some nice damageskills and a few good traits that also push his conditiondamage alongside the skills. The support role of him is not so strong but he gains good damage in exchange and even better controlskills which is allways good.
That is why i call Holosmith a “Selfish” DPS Elite Spec.
It is a Elite Spec that focus on causing High Damage by itself but in return it lacks greatly in Party Utility and Support. Not a very popular choice of Class/Job design but RPG and MMOs do have these type of Class/Job as part of player choices to play as since these Job/class are known to be very high in DPS output to compensate for their lack of Utility and Support.
Selfish DPS class/Job often work very well in Party content because the group can cause more damage with a DPS with some Support/Buffer in the party buffing the Selfish DPS class/Job more than a party that has a full party of DPS with some Utility due to the limit on how much Buff can be stacked.
(edited by EdwinLi.1284)
well folks if you haven’t figured it out you can easely drop the holosweapon after you are done gaining 50% heat when you use the 2nd grandmastertrait. Afterwards you can not loose the heat other than by overheating so it stays 50% and all youre skills are effected by the better version of it. So in total the engineer gains good controlskills, some nice damageskills and a few good traits that also push his conditiondamage alongside the skills. The support role of him is not so strong but he gains good damage in exchange and even better controlskills which is allways good.
That is why i call Holosmith a “Selfish” DPS Elite Spec.
It is a Elite Spec that focus on causing High Damage by itself but in return it lacks greatly in Party Utility and Support. Not a very popular choice of Class/Job design but RPG and MMOs do have these type of Class/Job as part of player choices to play as since these Job/class are known to be very high in DPS output to compensate for their lack of Utility and Support.
you already have so many utilities…like what are you even talking about…i used to main war, i so wished to simply swap a utility and cover everyone from boss projectiles and carry the win since pugs cant dodge back in the 2013 fractal days
like you already have a tons of team support utility options…
all you have to do is a simple swap of utilities you still maintain the high damage upgrade holo forge skills…
Omg, please forget Photonic Blasting Module and prefer Thermal Release Valve !
Holosmith just does damage if you choose to play it like this. This is not the first time we have a burst template, and this is not the first time people run into it, invest everything in it and then complain how glass canon and boring it is like this …
With PBM, the burst have a great cost : we can’t use photon forge for 15s, which is our main switch.
With TRV this is the exact opposite, it allow to use photon forge longer + damages + sustain.
And there is a lot of really differents builds possibles with Vent Exhaust, not only condi. Once you manage to get enough energy to complete it, you can find a working build for almost any amulet !
(edited by NineLives.8725)
you already have so many utilities…like what are you even talking about…i used to main war, i so wished to simply swap a utility and cover everyone from boss projectiles and carry the win since pugs cant dodge back in the 2013 fractal days
like you already have a tons of team support utility options…all you have to do is a simple swap of utilities you still maintain the high damage upgrade holo forge skills…
I am talking about what it adds into what we have already, not the entirety of the Elite Spec build combination with Core Enigneer Trait and Skills.
Design wise the focus of Holosmith is a lot on the “Selfish DPS” design for this elite spec. Players can use Core Engineer traits and skills to apply Utility into the Holosmith but if we look at the design of Holosmith Skills and Trait tree we can see it is focused on the Holosmith itself over providing any Utility and Support to a party or other players.
However, this is intentional as this is a Elite Spec tree that focus on DPS and Self Survival over Party Utility and Support.
It fits into the Job role Trinity being Tank (Scrapper), DPS (Holosmith), and Healer/Support.
If this is what Anet is going for design wise for the release of Engineer Elite Spec we may see a more Healer/Support focus Elite Spec as the 3rd Engineer Elite Spec that may be designed with a trait tree and skills focusing a lot more on providing Barrier or Buffs or whatever Anet deem fit for a Support theme Elite Spec.
you already have so many utilities…like what are you even talking about…i used to main war, i so wished to simply swap a utility and cover everyone from boss projectiles and carry the win since pugs cant dodge back in the 2013 fractal days
like you already have a tons of team support utility options…all you have to do is a simple swap of utilities you still maintain the high damage upgrade holo forge skills…
I am talking about what it adds into what we have already, not the entirety of the Elite Spec build combination with Core Enigneer Trait and Skills.
Design wise the focus of Holosmith is a lot on the “Selfish DPS” design for this elite spec. Players can use Core Engineer traits and skills to apply Utility into the Holosmith but if we look at the design of Holosmith Skills and Trait tree we can see it is focused on the Holosmith itself over providing any Utility and Support to a party or other players.
However, this is intentional as this is a Elite Spec tree that focus on DPS and Self Survival itself over Party Utility and Support.
It fits into the Job role Trinity being Tank (Scrapper), DPS (Holosmith), and Healer/Support.
If this is what Anet is going for design wise for the release of Engineer Elite Spec we may see a more Healer/Support focus Elite Spec as the 3rd Engineer Elite Spec that may be designed with a trait tree and skills focusing a lot more on providing Barrier orBuffs or whaever Anet deem fit for a Support theme Elite Spec.
If they would just buff medkit engineer could already have an amazing healing spec. I’ve made one with scrapper that is a good support while also still dealing damage. But it’s not the best at either just balanced.
Omg, please forget Photonic Blasting Module and prefer Thermal Release Valve !
Holosmith just does damage if you choose to play it like this. This is not the first time we have a burst template, and this is not the first time people run into it, invest everything in it and then complain how glass canon and boring it is like this …
With PBM, the burst have a great cost : we can’t use photon forge for 15s, which is our main switch.
With TRV this is the exact opposite, it allow to use photon forge longer + damages + sustain.And there is a lot of really differents builds possibles with Vent Exhaust, not only condi. Once you manage to get enough energy to complete it, you can find a working build for almost any amulet !
BPM it’s good if you want keep your heat above 50% all time. Allow draw the max potential of exceed skills at price of do not reenter on photonforge mode again. This is also one of reasons of some treats needs be reworked/rearranged to works also out of photon forge mode.
ECSU is not good if only sword get heat tier. This trait could also grant extra heat tier to exceed skills and some traits.
Sword it’s weak near useless (photon forge far overcomes sword as melee damage and utility option), needs heavi buff or rework to be viable even over flamethrower. Perhaps sword #2 could use the ammo system and shots one single blade at 600, 900 or 1200 range, according of the heat level. Sword #3 could be a leap finisher and have 600 or 750 range with instant travel (like a blink).
Some photonforge skills could have better effect or sinergy with Sword and fields. Crystal Cofiguration – Storm, could have 1200 range and Corona Burst could be a blast finisher.
(edited by JETWING.2759)
The only thing I can see them reasonably nerfing is Holo Leap. I love that skill but kitten . I’ve been running a marauder Holosmith with Inventions/Alchemy/Holosmith and still landing up to 6k hits with Holo Leap, on a 2 second cool down.
As for everything else though, don’t really see the need for nerfs.
They for sure need to do something with sword 2 though. That skill is just pathetic in every way.
I hope they visually adjust the shockwave in photon forge to make it clearer. It looks like a leap not a CC.
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