Guild Wars 2

Any advice on what I should be doing differently? That is, should I put more into Inventions or Alchemy? Does it improve when you get armor appropriate to your level? I’m currently running with whatever I’ve looted from my enemies and appears to have better stats, but I still feel like maybe I’m taking too much damage, even when I try to dodge away.

I think maybe the worst part is that so many of the enemies run up and try to smash my face in. How do you guys handle the facesmashers? I tried rifle for a time, and I may have to again, as last time my rifle was way underlevel for my character and the areas I was in.

Which reminds me: I’m level 79 so I feel like I should be getting out of the squishy feeling at least a little by now, but I’m not sure how much of it is my build or my gear factoring into it. I’ve never really been one for carefully analyzing gear in games, so I’m guessing I’m still getting a bit of gearshock from the jump in its importance from playing GW1, except again, I have no idea how big of a deal it really is. When it comes to gear, I’m clueless, I just go with bigger numbers in defense and toughness when I come across it.

Thanks for any help, and sorry if this is the thousandth time this has come up.

Without knowing your build, it’s hard to say.

As far as WvW goes gear up in P/T/V.

Armor and equipment appropriate to your level definitely helps. Take up Leatherworking, if you haven’t already, and make yourself some good gear, or buy it off the trading post.

Keep in mind that classes in this game have a lot of active defense, engineers moreso than most. Yes, we can get significant toughness/vitality and take a hit, but where we really get our survival from is defensive abilities.
We can have permanent vigor for maximum dodging potential.
We have the hands-down best block skill in game with the toolkit.
The offhand shield grants a reflect and a block (in addition to the CC tied to those skills).
We easily have the most hard CC ingame.
We have multiple AoE blinds, two of which are re-applying fields rather than a single blind.
We have the ability to maintain permanent weakness or cripple on enemies.
We have multiple immobilizes.
We have some of the most mobility tools ingame.
We have several powerful heals.
We have plenty of condition removal.
We have good access to protection and regeneration.
We have access to the three best defensive combo fields (Water for heals, light for condi removal, smoke for blind/stealth).

Armor and equipment your level helps, as does taking points in Inventions and Alchemy, but the active defensive portions built into every build are the biggest factor.

The primary (and best) method for mitigating damage is to dodge it. It’s better than soaking it up with a large health pool or reducing it with high armor or being fancy trying to proc protection. Dodge = 0 damage taken. So…

Take Speedy Kits (VI) in Tools and Invigorating Speed (I) in Alchemy. You now have on-demand swiftness and vigor. Quickly swap into & out of a kit every 5 seconds or so. Takes practice and you’ll definitely not do it every 5 sec, but it’s an awesome combo.

Having said that, in PvP/WvW get some PVT or Celestial gear to boost your vit/tough. Not knowing your build makes it difficult to nail down specifics. I tend to keep a few celestial trinkets equipped at all times for added survivability and then just rotate my armor as needed.

Unfortunately gear plays a larger role in your overall build than the trait lines themselves. If toughness is what you’re after tryout an FT build like 20/20/0/20/10 until you get a better sense of direction with your build/playstyle. Traits should sit on Incendiary Powder, Enhance Performance, Fireforged Trigger, Juggernaut, Self-Regulating Defenses, Deadly Admixture, and Speedy Kits. Use a full set of “Rabid” prefix gear, and get as close to a full set of exotics as you can afford until you can buy it all. Runes and Sigils also play a large role, and I recommend Superior Runes of The Undead and Superior Sigil of Force for Flamethrower Engi’s on a budget. If you’re using dual Pistols or Pistol and Shield use the Force Sigil in one and Superior Sigil of Hydromancy in the other, again that’s if gold is a limitation. Make sure the weapons are also of the “Rabid” prefix variety.

Also be sure to use some consumables such as Saffron Bread and Quality Maintenance Oil, and though I encourage using the top tier versions, just go with whatever you feel you can afford. Once you get a handle on the overall build you’ll likely begin making changes to it to tailor it to your playstyle.

Hope that helps!

Tyaen.5148:

Without knowing your build, it’s hard to say.

As far as WvW goes gear up in P/T/V.

If I had a specific build, I’d definitely have mentioned it, but I’m still trying to figure out what playstyle I prefer for my engineer. Also, recall how I said I was clueless about gear? PTV means next to nothing to me (I wasn’t playing as all these new shorthands emerged).

I’m just guessing, but: either Power or Precision and Toughness and Vitality?

(Sorry if that comes off as abrasive, it’s not meant to. It’s just one of those things where if cluelessness is mentioned, the last thing I’d hope for are shorthands. Fortunately I do know some of the others mentioned in other posts like cc since that’s more universal.)

Sylentir.8913:

Keep in mind that classes in this game have a lot of active defense, engineers moreso than most. Yes, we can get significant toughness/vitality and take a hit, but where we really get our survival from is defensive abilities.
We can have permanent vigor for maximum dodging potential.

waitwhat. what. That’s what vigor does? I have no idea how, having used Elixir H for this long, that I never read the tooltip about vigor, but somehow I managed to. This explains so much about why I always feel like I’m running out of dodges at the worst times ever (besides sometimes using them too much). I could’ve been making it restore tons of times faster all this time. =|

(actually now I do, it’s in the toss area, which I rarely do for myself, but still, combined with the other stuff mentioned here, explains so much)

Seras.5702:

The primary (and best) method for mitigating damage is to dodge it. It’s better than soaking it up with a large health pool or reducing it with high armor or being fancy trying to proc protection. Dodge = 0 damage taken. So…

Take Speedy Kits (VI) in Tools and Invigorating Speed (I) in Alchemy. You now have on-demand swiftness and vigor. Quickly swap into & out of a kit every 5 seconds or so. Takes practice and you’ll definitely not do it every 5 sec, but it’s an awesome combo.

See above, but this and the above just blew my mind.

Obscure One.4357:

Unfortunately gear plays a larger role in your overall build than the trait lines themselves. If toughness is what you’re after tryout an FT build like 20/20/0/20/10 until you get a better sense of direction with your build/playstyle. Traits should sit on Incendiary Powder, Enhance Performance, Fireforged Trigger, Juggernaut, Self-Regulating Defenses, Deadly Admixture, and Speedy Kits. Use a full set of “Rabid” prefix gear, and get as close to a full set of exotics as you can afford until you can buy it all. Runes and Sigils also play a large role, and I recommend Superior Runes of The Undead and Superior Sigil of Force for Flamethrower Engi’s on a budget. If you’re using dual Pistols or Pistol and Shield use the Force Sigil in one and Superior Sigil of Hydromancy in the other, again that’s if gold is a limitation. Make sure the weapons are also of the “Rabid” prefix variety.

Also be sure to use some consumables such as Saffron Bread and Quality Maintenance Oil, and though I encourage using the top tier versions, just go with whatever you feel you can afford. Once you get a handle on the overall build you’ll likely begin making changes to it to tailor it to your playstyle.

Hope that helps!

That definitely gives me a better sense of what’s what with the new nomenclature and the difference in function between runes and sigils. I remembered reading about the latter prior to release but once we hit off there was such a mishmash of it all with it growing rapidly obsolete that I chose to ignore it until I got closer to a stable position around the level cap. Seems to have worked out for the most part.

Thanks for all the replies so far. =)

Gmr Leon.1846:

PTV means next to nothing to me (I wasn’t playing as all these new shorthands emerged).

I’m just guessing, but: either Power or Precision and Toughness and Vitality?

Power Toughness Vitality

Tyaen.5148:

Gmr Leon.1846:

PTV means next to nothing to me (I wasn’t playing as all these new shorthands emerged).

I’m just guessing, but: either Power or Precision and Toughness and Vitality?

Power Toughness Vitality

Thank you for the clarification. =)

The prefix would be Soldier’s or in WvW it’s called Invader’s.

You really don’t need to go PTV. Better to focus on a style you like. PTV is very broad but you really don’t do anything productive. PTV is decent on other professions, but not engineer.

You do want toughness though. You also want the off-hand shield. And you want toolkit. If you want to go rifle, forgo defense all together and just be a crit-nub. You will get some kills and output some nice damage with static discharge.

P/P in its current state is very weak no matter how tanky you try to make it through boons (you will encounter plenty of boon strippers in wvw).

You can small roam with full rabid gear P/S and have 3100 armor and ~1550 condition damage. The build is 10/10/20/30/0. The precision is their so you can crit proc your burn and your bleed. You take 30 in alchemy so you can get condition removal on elixir consume and toss, lower elixir cooldown, and proc elixir s at 25 percent hp. Take elixir h, toolkit, elixir r, elixir s, supply drop. 10 in explosives is burn on crit. 10 in firearms is to lower your pistol cooldowns or increase its range (choice is yours), 20 in inventions stealth on root and the shield trait that lowers its cooldown and gives you an extra 90 toughness.

Rabid gear is precision/toughness/condi. At 3100 armor you will laugh at people who go full zerkers. Start with full runes of the undead, then when you get some gold get six runes of perplexity. You will apply great pressure through conditions and be incredibly difficult to kill.

Sigils are your choice really. Some like nullification, some like earth, some like the might proc (i personally don’t like the might proc though). For your other sigil just throw in a sigil of corruption. Your tough to down so you can keep the stacks up.

There are also some really nice support builds out their that utilize clerics or apothecary sets. Those sets give you healing power, toughness, and either condition damage or power. I don’t know too much about those builds though but they provide great support through healing with elixir infused bombs.

Just don’t under any circumstance go P/T/V. You will be very unhappy and just feel like a giant meat-bag . A healing signet warrior could literally afk at your feet as you struggle to put a dent in him if you gear p/t/v.

Decklan.7540:

You really don’t need to go PTV. Better to focus on a style you like. PTV is very broad but you really don’t do anything productive. PTV is decent on other professions, but not engineer.

Not true.

Decklan.7540:

Just don’t under any circumstance go P/T/V. You will be very unhappy and just feel like a giant meat-bag . A healing signet warrior could literally afk at your feet as you struggle to put a dent in him if you gear p/t/v.

Not true.

I run full Invaders and have no problems damaging any class. On the other hand if you are running with a large group and you rally a bunch of downed enemy because you’re in Berserker gear… chances are you’re hurting more than you’re helping.

One more:

Decklan.7540:

P/P in its current state is very weak no matter how tanky you try to make it through boons (you will encounter plenty of boon strippers in wvw).

Not true.

If you really think full p/v/t isn’t overkill then I don’t know what to say.

And at what point did I say I run full zerker?

I run full rabid with 3100 plus armor with blocks, projectile reflect, and two get out of jail free cards (elixir s slotted and free trait proc).

I am giving him defensive suggestions that are NOT P/T/V. You should read and note that my suggestions all involve garnering toughness.

And I seriously doubt you are damaging “any” class with full p/v/t gear. What exactly are you doing to damage these classes? And please don’t say you can kill uplevels or people in zerkers gear.

You have no crit, crit dmg, or condition damage. How do you apply any pressure? Are you the groups dedicated stomper then? Grats on choosing that as your role with the profession with the least access to stability. You have zero healing power so you provide no support through healing what-so-ever.

You do not have to believe me and you can continue to live in that world, but please do not try to convince freshly minted engineers that p/t/v gear is the way to go.

There are ways to gear to survive while you know, still actually providing something meaningful to the group.

You know what, screw it. GMR Lion go for it. Gear up full P/T/V, take out that shiny rifle or pistol and just go to town! Gasp in amazement as you provide zero condition damage and physical attacks SOARING into the high tens, no hundreds of damage!

Also, unlike you, instead of troll posting with the words “not true” over and over I actually provide points as to why p/v/t is bad. Yes you can survive, but that’s all you can do. This isn’t the hunger games.

And yes, compared to Pistol/Shield, Pistol/Pistol is very weak. You are trading out a blast finisher, two CC moves, a block, and a projectile reflect for an aoe burn and a short duration aoe snare/root.

For survival with eng… I generally use more active defenses Vs. passive toughness. Gearshield/elixir S are great. Mobility and positioning will also help you. You can also opt for large damage reductions while CC-ed trait wise or clearing conditions with elixirs (if you’re HGH).

I wouldn’t expect to facetank everything on my eng though (lol).

I like PP just as much as I like PS. Blowtorch hits like a truck condition damage wise and has a decently sized area of effect. The glue shot has saved my life by helping me get away 1vX on countless occasions when the shield wouldn’t have. I don’t see shield as better or worse than PP, they each can shine in different situations with different builds.

I just don’t like, nor have I ever really liked burn in group play. I wish it stacked in intensity. Too much to give up for a condition that I see get applied all the time by the group I roll with. YMMV.

Decklan.7540:

I just don’t like, nor have I ever really liked burn in group play. I wish it stacked in intensity. Too much to give up for a condition that I see get applied all the time by the group I roll with. YMMV.

Small group play I find it great even if it’s just adding duration since it’s such a high damage condition. The composition of your group definitely could make it far less viable if the targets already have 100% burn uptime though (nod nod). I tend to use PP when duo/solo roaming and PS when in a 5 man+ for the utility.

Pistol OH and shield OH both have their uses and I wouldn’t call one superior to the other for all situations. It really depends on what you want and what you’re doing with whom.

Large groups (like events etc.) conditions in general are kinda meh just because of the caps. I remember seeing a dev post about them not liking how the conditions were handled for these sorts of things… but nothing seems to have come of it.

Well, I’ve played the engineer since release and only have one alt, a warrior who is level 26. I’ve played most if not all the builds out there, and there is just no convincing me that offhand pistol is better than shield in its current state. Give it more oomph and I might change my mind.

Regardless, this thread is about an engineer seeking to gain more survivability. Can we at least agree that P/T/V is a lazy way out and there are better ways to gear up that give you both survivability and group presence?

Rabid sounds pretty much like what I’ve constantly been hoping to drop whenever I do get armor drops. For the most part I’ve been running dual pistols because I like having a quick close-quarters go-to (blowtorch), since my utility skills have mostly been a mix of grenade kit (for AoE in many vs. one scenarios, which happen often in PvE), elixir gun (additional heal and condition removal after elixir h is used, also good vulnerability dealer and get out card), and elixir b (mostly for swiftness to get me around faster).

Also, sorry if I’m being dense, but what’s proc supposed to be short for? I get what you’re saying by the context, just not really what that’s even derived from.

Anywho, my basic build form has mainly been reliant on critical chance and damage, with a side of conditions (mostly a tossup between Inventions and Alchemy since I wasn’t sure which I preferred), regardless of if I swap to rifle or not, so it sounds like rabid would be the natural transition for me.

I didn’t want to mention that earlier because, as stated, I’m still experimenting and finding what I like, so I didn’t want responses that were reinforcing my existing playstyle. It’s funny to see that in a way though, it might work better to continue following it, just getting better equipment and readjusting my traits a bit.

Proc’s supposed to be short for programmed random occurrence, and is often used in the sense of crits which are random. Having something proc means the random occurrence happened.

That being said it was technically used incorrectly above since the effect isn’t random but happens due to another thing happening, but it’s a common misuse. Procs on X means it happens when the conditions of X are met.

Don’t go rabid rifle. It doesn’t work.
Rabid will work very well with pistol.
If you really like pistol offhand, then go for it, but I still feel you give up a lot of utility.

Proc stands for “SPEC_PROC.” It’s just an abbreviation for a term used in really old text based MUDS from the early 90’s. Basically it means an ability activates when certain parameters are processed. In guild wars 2 that usually means on critical strike. So, if you have an ability that applies a bleed 60 percent of the time whenever you crit, I would say, you are procing a bleed.

Sigil of Earth is an example of a sigil that ‘procs.’ Whenever you critically strike you have a 60 percent chance to apply a bleed stack on your target. We also have a 5 point minor trait in the firearms tree that ‘procs’ a bleed when you crit, and a 10 point trait in the explosives tree that ‘procs’ a burn when you crit.

This is why rabid is beneficial to an engineer, as you want to have some reliability in applying those abilities, and the best way to do that is to have a high crit chance. You also want those conditions doing damage, so of course you will need the “condition damage” stat on your gear as well. In addition you probably want some toughness to boot so you can survive longer. Rabid does all of this as it gives you precision, toughness and condition damage.

You can also mix and match some power into your build if you are going p/p as you want your blowtorch to do some respectable physical damage. I am not the best at telling you how to gear like that, but fortunately an engineer named maskganda created a good build for p/p that you can shoot for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cmgYIXdnik <——Mask’s P/P build

If you want my build it is full Rabid (everything including weapons and accessories are all rabid)
Pistol/Shield
6 runes of perplexity.
I take 10 in explosives and get Incendiary Powder
I take 10 in firearms and switch back and forth between 10 in hair trigger or 10 in rifled barrels.
I take 20 in inventions and take cloaking device and reinforced shield
I take 30 in alchemy and take fast acting elixirs, self regulating defense, and cleaning formula 409.
My utilities are elixir H, tool kit, elixir B, elixir S, and supply drop.
I use sigil of earth and sigil of corruption on my weapons.

I drink and toss my elixirs to remove conditions mostly (I don’t waste elixir B for the buff as I’m not really stacking boon duration anyway and would rather have it to cleanse a condition) and elixir S I save as a get out of jail free card.

With that build you will have 3100 armor, two blocks, projectile reflect, stealth, and two elixir s chances (one with the utility skill and one with the trait). You will also do very respectable condition damage and be a nice asset to your group. You can also use your shield 4 skill as a blast finisher to help the group stack their aoe buffs before a big battle.

But please, you really have to trust me here, there are much smarter and better ways to gear for defense than P/T/V. P/T/V really gives you nothing and in my opinion, just makes you dead weight.

You will also find that I am very opinionated, and that irritates a lot of people, including “mr.not-true” poster above, but I am only trying to help other engineers make more informed decisions and not be scrap metal out there.

Even.4687:

Proc’s supposed to be short for programmed random occurrence, and is often used in the sense of crits which are random.

Incorrect. There is irrefutable evidence that Proc comes from the phrase “SPEC_PROC.” When an item in a MUD would have a special effect attached to it, the MUD’s programming would use “SPEC_PROC”, short for “special procedure.”

I wouldn’t say rabid rifle wouldn’t work…It just wouldn’t be incredibly effective dependent on what utility skills you might be using and if you’re relying heavily on its use over your utility skills’ use. It looks to me like, if I’m really digging my crits, and the damage of the rifle, my best bet might be to have a knight’s set for the toughness, precision, and power bonuses it would provide.

Although, preferably, a set with +condition duration in place of power might be better, if for nothing other than extending the duration of net shot’s immobilize. Then again, it looks like that might be where a sigil may come into play if you’re really wanting it (looking up the recipes though, that looks much too annoying to go for).

all this build/gear advice misses the point…

you feel weak because of scaling. since you have access to exotics (level 60+), when you get downscaled.. you are downscaled so that an 80 in full exotics has a marginally easier time than someone who would not be downscaled and is in best available gear. if youre wearing level 70 greens and are 79, youll have a somewhat tough time anywhere (lower level gear + not best available).

its great so many people are willing to give gear advice tho. and it seems legit enough to me. but i think a sigil of bloodlust would do a lot more for you.

First off you can build rabid with rifle just remember what you are using the rifle for. Second take a screen of your stats and build. Its too important to understanding where your survivability is coming from. For example in the first picture is my HGH build. Second is 3 kits. The three kits build is actually better at surviving many one on ones in terms of ease (though the build is usually more complex) but the HGH is better for surviving the zerg in WvW. A lot of this has to do with what build you run and how you run it. Technically speaking a perfectly timed 3 kits for me is about as tanky as I can get (though neither build is all that tanky).

Ohh snap my advice (forgot it).

Figure out what build you want to run. Learn it and gear it. Once you have done that it is up to you. Knowing how your build works vs other builds will generally be the key to survival.

Also, while not related to the squishyness question, engineers can make effective use of any armor type / stat combination, so long as their build is developed to make use of those stats. Some stats will typically trump others (X/precision/toughness combos are usually more valuable than x/power/vitality) but any can really work. Every stat has reasons why an engineer might want it.

Regarding the equipment stuff:
How/where am I to get some of it? (The wiki’s kind of a mess on this, since it looks like there are a variety of ways, but they all look obnoxiously tedious, glued to a certain skin, or leave me wondering.)
And if it’s a specific triple attribute set as some have been suggesting here, does that mean I’m stuck going with a certain skin (I will if I have to, since I’m not farming gold for gems or paying real money for a skinswap of all things) or will I have to just hope to get a crest?

On that note:
How on Tyria do you get crests? I scoured the wiki through the pages on it, and I didn’t find anything indicating where/how.

As far as I can tell, at least for the rabid set, it looks like karma merchants somewhere in Orr is where I’m supposed to get it, and then at that it’s an odd mixture of different skins. However, even considering the others, it looks much the same.

This equipment system is an absolute pain. =|

crests are rare drops from 70-80 stuff. i usually get them from jormag chests or jump puzzles in high level areas. i suppose youll need those for jewelry. id just buy them off the trading post. but for armor, its usually a good idea to pick a rune set… a lot of runes offer nifty bonuses incomparable to stats.

you can also get a few sets (including rabid) from wvw armor vendors. skins dont matter. buy a piece for its stats, buy another piece for the skin, and transmute. dont worry about looks until you have the stats you want.

Acquiring Armor:

In Lion’s Arch there are a string of dungeon vendors that trade armor & weapons for dungeon tokens. Check em out and figure out which you’ll want. Then run that dungeon for tokens. This is the most economical way imo, because you’ll earn gold and drops from the dungeons, and not pay any gold for the armor.

You can hunt down the various karma vendors in Orr (at each temple once unlocked). Use the wiki to see what they each carry, as none of them has a full set of any stat set. This way is also cheap because it’s gold-free, but the selection is limited.

If you WvW you can use the badges earned there at the vendors near the asura gates in the Borderlands.

You can also pick up the Leatherworking and Huntsman crafts and make your own stuff. I’ll warn you though, that leveling these 2 up to 400 wil be costly. You’ll have a lot of mats in your bank if you’ve been gathering and not selling them, but you’ll absolutely need more than what you’ve got. Especially if you level both. It’ll cost you 10g+ per craft. Someone else would know better a more precise estimate.

Obviously, there’s the Trading Post to fall back on if you have the gold.

As for looks, you have quite a few options with the various dungeon vendors. But you can also use the lvl 80 transmutation crystals to change the appearance of any item.

Decklan.7540:

Also, unlike you, instead of troll posting with the words “not true” over and over I actually provide points as to why p/v/t is bad. Yes you can survive, but that’s all you can do. This isn’t the hunger games.

And yes, compared to Pistol/Shield, Pistol/Pistol is very weak. You are trading out a blast finisher, two CC moves, a block, and a projectile reflect for an aoe burn and a short duration aoe snare/root.

Standard HgH P/P build with Tool Kit. I’m not trolling, I said not true for one simple reason, it’s not true. If you don’t have the skill to play it that’s on you. I have no problems killing any class open field 1v1. I also have the survivability for 1v3 (not that this is the only build that does). I’m also not saying you have to run P/V/T, it’s a suggestion. What I am saying is your analysis of P/V/T is completely false. Maybe you don’t run on a Tier 1 server that requires being able to survive large zerg fights that are extremely drawn out. Maybe you only run solo and you don’t care if you rally large group of enemy downed. I don’t know you or your playstyle. What I do know is you don’t have a clue about how to play in P/V/T gear since you seem to believe that you can’t kill anything in it. Either you’ve never tried, or you have tried and failed.

I’ve run in Clerics, I’ve run in Rabid, I’ve run in most types, and had success in all of them.

I choose to run in P/V/T because I never want to hear “Who rallied that?” in TS.

Sorry my post offended you so much, but it’s not my job to do your research for you.

It all comes down to what you want to do. For example if I’m in a condition mood I’ll use my set of rabid armour + accessories and use two carrion pistols. If however I’m in more of a direct damage mood I’ll use my set of rampager’s armour (precision/power/condition damage) + a mix of emerald and ruby accessories and use either two berserker pistols (gasp) or a berserker rifle.

These days I mostly run a FT/EG build (10,20,0,30,10. Take all the key flamethrower traits + speedy kits) so the rampager gear compliments it nicely with it’s high crit rate + a small boost to the bleeding/burning the crits will generate.

However if I’m running in WvW then I’ll usually run the FT/EG build in PVT armour but with the berserker pistols and the same mix of emerald and ruby accessories. Yes I loose some damage but I gain a lot more survivability in Zerg on Zerg fights. The only time I don’t is when I’m running in small group stuff or when I’m paying enough attention to get out of harms way majority of the time.

All classes can feel kinda squishy. GW2 requires a very proactive style of play, not to mention that for many classes, your ability to survive depends heavily on taking certain utilities, weapon sets, and traits.

The primary defensive mechanisms of an Engineer, broadly speaking, are thus:
-Grenades = Grenades are the highest ranged DPS in the game, bar none. This means that, no matter the format, Engineers can stay in the back chucking grenades and having a rather heavy impact on the battle.
-Vigor and Swiftness = Engineers often trait for perma-Vigor and Swiftness through Alchemy I and Tools VI. Though one wouldn’t really think it, Engineers are one in the upper tiers for mobility, with the ability to move quickly and dodge a lot.
-Condition Builds = Engineers can build a strong Condition build. The distinct advantage of a Condition build is the ability to add in an inherent defensive stat on top of offensive stats. While a Direct Damage character must have Power, Precision, and Critical Damage in order to deal effective damage, a Condition build only really, akittens core, needs Condition Damage. For Engineers, they also want Precision for on-crit procs like the Firearms Adept Minor trait. Thus, Rabid gear is a great fit for Engineers.
-High inherent stats = Engineers have Medium HP and Medium Armor. Having played many other classes, that inherent bonus to stats is noticeable. Engineers aren’t really tanky, but they aren’t squishy either.

From there, Engineers also can have some decent outs. Elixir S in particular is a stunbreak and invulnerability all packaged into one.

The biggest issue with Engineer, by far, is its severe lack of access to utility slots. Almost every good Engineer dedicates at least one utility slot to a kit. Unlike other classes, Engineers effectively play with less utility slots that other classes often reserve for defensive purposes like stunbreaks or condition cleanses. Add to the fact that Engineers have some of the worst access to Stability in the game and you’ve got a class that’s highly vulnerable to hard CC.

Another issue is that Engineers don’t really have much in the way of easy cleave damage, unlike other classes. Thus, when roaming around in open world, when a bunch of mobs ball up and start attacking you, you can’t just pull out a Melee cleave weapon like a Sword and start slashing through multiple stuff at once. You’ve got:
-Pistol’s Auto, which honestly doesn’t do that much damage
-Rifle Auto, which while piercing, does not cleave in a cone
-Flamethrower Auto, which has surprisingly subpar damage
-Toolkit Auto, which actually isn’t awful in a full Berserker set, but other classes can do it better
-Bomb Kit, which deals pretty good damage but requires that you like the playstyle of Bombs
-Grenade Kit, which deals excellent damage but requires that you like the playstyle of Grenades

Ultimately, the Engineer can be sort of a hassle I find. It’s very much a class that requires you experiment with everything before really being able to use it well (which, to be fair, is very flavorful to the Engineer itself!). If you want the most straightforward answer in terms of sheer DPS, the answer is Grenades, but many people find them to be frustrating because you constantly need to click and aim every single attack. My suggestion would be to comb these forums for advice on good builds, and find something that you enjoy.

insanemaniac.2456:

crests are rare drops from 70-80 stuff. i usually get them from jormag chests or jump puzzles in high level areas. i suppose youll need those for jewelry. id just buy them off the trading post. but for armor, its usually a good idea to pick a rune set… a lot of runes offer nifty bonuses incomparable to stats.

you can also get a few sets (including rabid) from wvw armor vendors. skins dont matter. buy a piece for its stats, buy another piece for the skin, and transmute. dont worry about looks until you have the stats you want.

>_> That’s what I was worried about. I’m not fond of gambling with drop tables in hopes of getting what I’m after. The only solution then seems working with the trading post, which is kind of annoying only because I would like to get it on my own, but again, gambling with drop tables is just wasting time.

As to the skin part. See my post. I’m not willing to fund an aspect of the game that I feel may have negatively influenced the way equipment is distributed.

Seras.5702:

Acquiring Armor:

In Lion’s Arch there are a string of dungeon vendors that trade armor & weapons for dungeon tokens. Check em out and figure out which you’ll want. Then run that dungeon for tokens. This is the most economical way imo, because you’ll earn gold and drops from the dungeons, and not pay any gold for the armor.

You can hunt down the various karma vendors in Orr (at each temple once unlocked). Use the wiki to see what they each carry, as none of them has a full set of any stat set. This way is also cheap because it’s gold-free, but the selection is limited.

If you WvW you can use the badges earned there at the vendors near the asura gates in the Borderlands.

You can also pick up the Leatherworking and Huntsman crafts and make your own stuff. I’ll warn you though, that leveling these 2 up to 400 wil be costly. You’ll have a lot of mats in your bank if you’ve been gathering and not selling them, but you’ll absolutely need more than what you’ve got. Especially if you level both. It’ll cost you 10g+ per craft. Someone else would know better a more precise estimate.

Obviously, there’s the Trading Post to fall back on if you have the gold.

As for looks, you have quite a few options with the various dungeon vendors. But you can also use the lvl 80 transmutation crystals to change the appearance of any item.

=/ So no matter what, it’s kind of annoyingly inconvenient, but at least the dungeon possibility might be tolerable. I kind of came to that conclusion myself as I looked over the wiki, but I put it aside because I either didn’t like the skin or I was really hoping I might be overlooking the possibility of them being available with almost all stat sets.

After all this, I’m just more inclined to believe I simply need to sort out my traits and play better. This equipment stuff is simply obnoxious, which is why I typically try to avoid it in games like this.

Also, again, transmutation stones are invalid on personal principle. I think it may have negatively influenced the design of the equipment system making it as bothersome as it is.

Gmr Leon.1846:

=/ So no matter what, it’s kind of annoyingly inconvenient, but at least the dungeon possibility might be tolerable. I kind of came to that conclusion myself as I looked over the wiki, but I put it aside because I either didn’t like the skin or I was really hoping I might be overlooking the possibility of them being available with almost all stat sets.

After all this, I’m just more inclined to believe I simply need to sort out my traits and play better. This equipment stuff is simply obnoxious, which is why I typically try to avoid it in games like this.

Also, again, transmutation stones are invalid on personal principle. I think it may have negatively influenced the design of the equipment system making it as bothersome as it is.

I don’t see gear acquisition as annoyingly inconvenient. They can’t just hand out top tier gear to you without you earning it. The nice thing about dungeons is that you can run them pre-80. You can run Ascalonian Catacombs or Caudecus Manor before you’re lvl 40. Run them here and there as you level and by the time you hit 80 you’d have enough tokens for a full gear-set.

If you want the easy way, you can buy whatever you want from the TP. That’s convenient. But I always feel that earning something offers a greater sense of fulfillment.

And I don’t understand you druthers with respect to transmutation stones. Acquiring gear from many different methods is handy. Being able to make them look the way you want is even more convenient. I feel like your stance on gear acquisition and on x-mute stones are in opposition. Many people prefer the look of a lvl 20 looking armor piece; x-mute stones let them have that look with exotic stats. Nothing wrong with that. It keeps the entire population from looking identical.

I prefer Power over Conditions in WvW. Conditions are great in smaller skirmishes but they don’t stick around long against a zerg with even a few good players. Power seems to do well in both scenarios though. If you feel squishy, maybe mix half Knights n half Soldiers, and this may help show you where to find um. Karma gets you Soldiers pretty easily. Try Rifle/Grenades/HGH 30/0/0/30/10 or Rifle/FT/HGH 0/30/0/30/10. I am liking FT lately, good in zergs and coupled with Rifle gives some control to smaller fights with pushbacks, blinds and immobilize. I’ve started running a Rifle/SD build now which I like a bit more but its squishy as kitten.

GL
Blood~

Gmr Leon.1846:

insanemaniac.2456:

crests are rare drops from 70-80 stuff. i usually get them from jormag chests or jump puzzles in high level areas. i suppose youll need those for jewelry. id just buy them off the trading post. but for armor, its usually a good idea to pick a rune set… a lot of runes offer nifty bonuses incomparable to stats.

you can also get a few sets (including rabid) from wvw armor vendors. skins dont matter. buy a piece for its stats, buy another piece for the skin, and transmute. dont worry about looks until you have the stats you want.

>> That’s what I was worried about. I’m not fond of gambling with drop tables in hopes of getting what I’m after. The only solution then seems working with the trading post, which is kind of annoying only because I _would like to get it on my own, but again, gambling with drop tables is just wasting time.

As to the skin part. See my post. I’m not willing to fund an aspect of the game that I feel may have negatively influenced the way equipment is distributed.

Seras.5702:

Acquiring Armor:

In Lion’s Arch there are a string of dungeon vendors that trade armor & weapons for dungeon tokens. Check em out and figure out which you’ll want. Then run that dungeon for tokens. This is the most economical way imo, because you’ll earn gold and drops from the dungeons, and not pay any gold for the armor.

You can hunt down the various karma vendors in Orr (at each temple once unlocked). Use the wiki to see what they each carry, as none of them has a full set of any stat set. This way is also cheap because it’s gold-free, but the selection is limited.

If you WvW you can use the badges earned there at the vendors near the asura gates in the Borderlands.

You can also pick up the Leatherworking and Huntsman crafts and make your own stuff. I’ll warn you though, that leveling these 2 up to 400 wil be costly. You’ll have a lot of mats in your bank if you’ve been gathering and not selling them, but you’ll absolutely need more than what you’ve got. Especially if you level both. It’ll cost you 10g+ per craft. Someone else would know better a more precise estimate.

Obviously, there’s the Trading Post to fall back on if you have the gold.

As for looks, you have quite a few options with the various dungeon vendors. But you can also use the lvl 80 transmutation crystals to change the appearance of any item.

=/ So no matter what, it’s kind of annoyingly inconvenient, but at least the dungeon possibility might be tolerable. I kind of came to that conclusion myself as I looked over the wiki, but I put it aside because I either didn’t like the skin or I was really hoping I might be overlooking the possibility of them being available with almost all stat sets.

After all this, I’m just more inclined to believe I simply need to sort out my traits and play better. This equipment stuff is simply obnoxious, which is why I typically try to avoid it in games like this.

Also, again, transmutation stones are invalid on personal principle. I think it may have negatively influenced the design of the equipment system making it as bothersome as it is.

youre going to refuse to buy gems? ok. but you can convert gold into gems once you have some to spare. you get tons of lvl 1-79 transmutes for free just by playing (completing city maps comes to mind), you can use those on lvl79 exotics if you dont feel like wasting gold for fine transmutes.

dont even worry about transmuting stuff till after you have the stats you want though.

i dont understand your personal principles. or how you think anet screwed up the equipment system design. i think you just havent actually used the system enough to know the ins and outs. i actually like it a lot, aside from feeling like fine transmutes are arbitrarily expensive and prohibitive. but then, anet wants cosmetics to be an end game goal.

Seras.5702:

Gmr Leon.1846:

~snip~

I don’t see gear acquisition as annoyingly inconvenient. They can’t just hand out top tier gear to you without you earning it. The nice thing about dungeons is that you can run them pre-80. You can run Ascalonian Catacombs or Caudecus Manor before you’re lvl 40. Run them here and there as you level and by the time you hit 80 you’d have enough tokens for a full gear-set.

If you want the easy way, you can buy whatever you want from the TP. That’s convenient. But I always feel that earning something offers a greater sense of fulfillment.

And I don’t understand you druthers with respect to transmutation stones. Acquiring gear from many different methods is handy. Being able to make them look the way you want is even more convenient. I feel like your stance on gear acquisition and on x-mute stones are in opposition. Many people prefer the look of a lvl 20 looking armor piece; x-mute stones let them have that look with exotic stats. Nothing wrong with that. It keeps the entire population from looking identical.

Sorry for the longwinded post. Here’s the TL;DR of it: I am okay with multiple methods of acquisition. What I dislike is the absence of a central armory type area (or just areas, even, I guess) where I can speak to the NPCs (either after hitting 80 or completing personal story), and get any armor skin with any stat set I would like through whichever currency. [E.g. see cultural armorsmiths and dungeon vendors, these are almost perfect.]

My resistance to transmutation stones is that I feel the divided stat set distribution across armors was a design decision negatively influenced by the inclusion of microtransactions.

Tyaen.5148:

Standard HgH P/P build with Tool Kit. I’m not trolling…

You run P/V/T dual pistols. Wow. Ok, I now know why we aren’t afraid of SoR zerg blobs that much if those are the types of builds you guys run.

You’re using one of the best condition spreading and worst power scaling weapon sets in the game with no condition damage and all power.

Yes I play on T1.

Looked into the armor a bit more out of trying to figure out if I had any skin/look preference. I think I’ve mostly sorted out my concerns and issues (aside from the limitation of stats to certain skins/pieces of armor sets), and I’m only wondering now:

Does all of the temple armor look the same? Like, say I get pieces from Mortal Armor of Grenth and Armageddon Armor of Balthazar, do they share the same skin, and will fit the same outfit? It appears that this is the case from the wiki, but it calls it Armageddon Armor, which leaves me uncertain.

Thanks again for all the input guys.

Yes though each temple sells different pieces with different names and runes, they all share the same skin. Some have the same stats even, just named separately for each temple.

Excellent, that makes it much easier to get what I was after than I had initially thought might end up being the case. Thanks!