Guild Wars 2

Am I the only one tired of the skill developer’s constant attempts to make Throw Mine a useful, balanced skill? Originally, Throw Mine was actually a Mine Kit, where you threw out five mines and the toolbelt skill was to remote detonate them all at once. While its newer incarnation, Throw Mine, is undeniably more useful, it just doesn’t feel right. Nor does it find widespread use despite multiple buffs to the skill and the toolbelt skill. I feel that half the reason it never sees use is actually because of the toolkit skill. The toolkit skill attempted to recapture the original Mine Kit’s ability to toss out five mines at once. At first it was five blast finishers at once, just like the kit was. Now it’s not. Oh, but they buffed it to give us the ability to…remove five boons at once? While this can be situationally useful, and while I do enjoy the skill, I’m going to say that I would still prefer a buffed up Mine Kit instead.

I’m going to come right out and say why I think that way. Because it’d be cooler.

Okay, well that and it would make more sense. What do you think of when you say “mine?” Personally, I think of landmines, or traps, that you don’t want to step on. Not something you THROW at your enemy point blank. The engineer is a pretty crazy guy, though, so we can’t be sure exactly what he’s thinking.

In any case, I’d just like to know – how many people think like me, in that they’d prefer to actually be able to lay out a minefield in preparation for the enemy? Mines would get the DESPERATELY needed buff of staying on the ground for longer than 60 seconds, and preferably just as long as Ranger and Thief traps. Different mines would have different effects. I’m imagining it as a trap version cross between Grenade and Bomb kit, perhaps giving chill, poison, and bleeding. Each mine would do something different. The mines would probably lose their AoE circle and become hidden to the enemy. That’s another problem with the current skill – attempting to actually use the mines like a minefield just means the enemy is going to roll over them and take no damage. Making them more like traps would benefit the skill a lot. Actually, just making it so that they can’t be triggered by the enemy and only by the engineer’s hand would make them a great fakeout tool.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this skill and what they want it to be? I know it’s a longshot to ask for a new kit when the current ones are so far from being balanced, but I’d like to hear ideas.

The way mine works, I feel you are better of with the bomb kit and Big Ole Bomb.
I admit throwing the mine is very very usefull and fun, but as you say: people can avoid it too easily.

To be honest: if BoB would become a thrown bomb, or mine, we could make that the tool belt skill of bomb kit and be done with it…
Bomb kit could use at least one skill that is different in mechanic: something else than drop a bomb at your feet for once…

I get a lot of use out of Throw Mine / Mine Field. The primary skill makes a great trap for chokepoints or a ranged AoE knockback. The tool belt skill provides a lot of PbAoe burst (when geared for power or especially power/precision). I primarily use it in spvp or wvw…I will admit that I get much less use out of it in pve, as we generally don’t like to get close enough to enemies to use the tool belt skill.

My primary complaint with the mine skill (and this applies to the bomb kit as well) is that we are forced to take the ‘forceful explosives’ trait, otherwise they are really hard to use well. I think there are few mandatory traits, but this is probably one of them.