Kits really shine out as being broken.
Arenanet promised us, and acknowledged that the auto attack bug would be fixed, well since BWE1. I remember reporting it then, and that it was acknowledged then. I also recall that supposedly, sigils and kits were being looked into.
Well what has happened?
Nothing. Kits are still in the same broken state of BWE1, but they’ve just buffed their numbers. Well the numbers weren’t the issues.
Equipping a kit means you lose the stats of the weapon, Anet have been very smart not to include stats on weapons in PvP, otherwise this would mean that kits are extremely unviable in sPvP, but in PvE and in WvW its extremely noticeable and it makes no sense whatsoever.
And then the issue with sigils. And its not really only an issue of sigils working when kits are equipped, because its an issue that affects the pistol/rifle as well. Currently, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you kick and scream, you will not be able to use ‘no swap’ sigils. Because we never swap. Why? Because kits are coded in as ‘pick up’ and ‘put down’, much like a rock you find on the ground during an event. Why is this the case? It was recently changed so that swapping attunement for the elementalist counts as weapon swapping, and it has an internal cooldown, so its not possible to simply swap and swap and swap till you abuse it.
So, what is the problem with pistols and the rifle having access to a very important and large part of the sigils? The problem is sadly, either incompetence, or intended. I very well doubt its intended, as there would be no negative to allowing it, as engineers will only be able to trigger the ‘on swap’ sigils, as often as anyone else, and not more so, so it would not be unbalanced.
And finally, the issue of sigils themselves. This issue perplexes me most, why don’t sigils simply extend over to kits?
If you have time, go to the mists, put on lots of crit gear and get the sigil of air on your rifle or pistol so that on crit, you have a chance to summon electricity. Do this, and put the grenade kit in one of your slots. Now, here is where the silliness occurs.
If you toss the skill “grenade barrage”, with the rifle equipped, you can proc the sigil effect, and will likely do so due to 6 potential crits from the barrage". But if you use grenade barrage with the grenade kit equipped, it will never proc it.
Why is there such a basic and arbitrary distinction Arenanet? It makes no sense that grenade barrage works with sigils under 1 pretense, but not another. You have to make it either, or. It just makes no logical sense to do things like that. There is no balance reason why grenade should not trigger sigils, with a kit equipped, as you can so very easily just not use a kit. So why is the distinction there?
In conclusion, I really ought to say that I do understand why Arenanet are having these problems. They foolishly believed that making kits, into bundles, would work in theory. Well it might have worked while designing the game, but as elements have been added to the game, bundles have become seriously out of line with regular weapons. So, the only way I can see them fixing the problems with kits is to:
Fix all bundles.
Make kits weapons.
Make kits something unique that is not bundle, or weapon.
Either way, it won’t be easy. But please, at least fix these basic issues. I haven’t mentioned balance at all. I’m sure we’d all love to complain about how useless the smoke vent skill is in the flamethrower, or how the flamethrower has constant issues with missing.
Please, deliver on your promises, and fix the issues.