Guild Wars 2

After using turrets I’ve not been impressed at all with what they can do and their effect. Does anyone have ideas for any improvements or even some new turret ideas.
So I’m asking you engineers for some creative ideas for turrets.
Be creative!

Here’s an improvement idea: Fix the plethora of bugs. Not actually sarcasm, but they’ve acknowledged the list of bugs afflicting Turrets and thus should actually fix them at some point.

Other than that, I’ve seen a lot of ideas on these boards for turret improvements; various suggestions for mobility, methods by which they could be controlled more precisely (or at all, really), a lot of “Make them attack the Engineer’s target,” and even a bit of “Let them be picked up and used as temporary Kits.” There was also one about having Turrets grant boons in an area around them, or creating Combo Fields that would exist as long as they did. And, of course, there’s always the “Put race-specific skins in.”

Personally, as far as actual ideas for improving turrets goes…I think they could stand to be able to scale off the player’s stats. All the player’s stats.

New turret ideas…I don’t know, really. Anything I can think of to suggest would be stepping on the toes of another Turret, except for the idea of a ‘Boon Dispenser’ turret, that just sits there and pumps out boons.

Would be interesting if they turned into physical obstructions players can’t run through or shoot through(unless the projectile pierces)

That could also be neat, though I hear there’s some kind of uproar about Rangers and their spirits doing that.

Yea :P engineers should be able to be that annoying too.

I really like the boon dispenser turret idea

Turrets pick up nearest target by default but if in range the turrets will pick up the engineers target.

The turrets are a major aspect of the class and there basically not used by anyone except people like me who really want to use them and have them be useful even though there not really. Even with all the traits they die in 2 seconds, there damage is negligible and there just dumb. There an annoyance or a hindrance in dungeons.

They should have a pet UI like a controller, where you can set them to aggressive, def, passive etc, attack my target etc.

They should be able to be picked up and relocated with a much faster cooldown than if they are destroyed to make them viable. They can only be used like once per fight or every other fight, its stupid.

We need more types of turrets, and they should each apply a certain field.

I’ve always dreamed of this:

Approaching a turret and picking it up would cause you to literally Pick It Up (like an environmental weapon) and allow you to carry it around changing your current weapon skills into two different skills, skill #1 would be the turrets normal attack in which would allow you to use the currently picked up turrets basic attack as your basic attack and the #2 skill would be the turrets Overcharge skill.

When the Engineer Picks Up a turret it replacing the turret’s overcharge on your utility into Drop Turret. You can also detonate turrets you are carrying with your usual tool belt ability thus giving the existing trait Accelerant packed Turrets an even more fun application.

I’m just going to repost Kimbald’s ideas about compressing some of the Turret traits such that the 50 point investment into turrets becomes somewhat less – and makes running multiple Turrets more viable.

Kimbald.2697:

If they do want to change the traits, and I am wrong, than here are my minor suggestions. Mostly aimed at changing the traits with as little effort as possible:

1. either make Accelerant-packed turrets or Deployable turrets a baseline ability for all turrets.
This frees up the need to go into 3 different trait lines just for turrets.

2. Combine Metal Plating and Autotool Installation into one trait. They both serve the same purpose and aren’t strong enough seperate to warrant a trait.

3. Replace Autotool Installation with Riffled turret Barrels as Master trait. This trait isn’t strong enough to be a Grandmaster trait. Flamethrower-Elixir gun get 15% damage from a Master trait too, and turrets already are just a portion of the full engineer damage, so their 15% is even less.

4. Either create a pure awesome sauce Grandmaster trait for turrets… or take the easy way and not force engineers to spend more than 40 points on their turrets itself. Leaving 30 points free for personal preference and buffing either engineers own damage, or the engineers survivability.

My suggestions do not change a lot in terms of what the dev’s want turrets to do.
But they do however, change the distribution of turret traits. Either 20 points in Explosives ot Tools (pick one devs) and 20 points in Inventions would give you all current turret traits.
The remaining 30 points would make sure that turret engineers actually have some choices to spend on Tool kit trait for example, some defences in Alchemy, some crit and conditions and sitting duck in Firearms, or even a support specc with healing bombs…

small final suggestion: to replace the grandmaster trait they could create a new grandmaster trait for gadgets!
This could give each gadget some permanent bonus effect, a bit like what Kit refinement was for kits. But permanent effects, more or less like signets.
Seeing how this would be a Grandmaster trait they could easily make this strong enough to be worth it.

Two flies with one hand… Turrets would get more realistic trait allocation, and gadgets would get a much needed trait of their own.

Definitely agree with compressing the traitlines. Ugh, so many kittening trait points.

Erebos.6741:

Daffern.4213:

Remove the need for a target when casting smoke screen.

To clarify, turret overcharges such as Smoke Screen don’t require a target for skill activation, rather the effect activation requires a target due to the way overcharges work.

Overcharges enhance/replace the turret’s regular bolts, meaning the effect won’t activate until the time the turret fires.

(This explains why Cleansing Burst differs in that it works without an enemy target, because Healing Turret targets you and your allies.)

This lack of effect activation control makes overcharge skills unreliable (including Cleansing Burst), so don’t be so quick to detonate/pick up!

A simple yet effective solution is to allow overcharge skills to reset turret rate of fire upon skill activation.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Flame-turret-Smoke-screen/first

I want some trait what make holding field between 2 turrets like that in SE

Make them immune to conditions to start.
This fits in with the rest of the game where inanimate objects cannot be hit with conditions. It would give them a touch more survivability too.

Combining the 30% less damage and regen would also be awesome. Much like what they did with sitting duck.

Overcharge should reset the attack timer. Sure this would mean that you could double tap your turrets but if you can get two shots with your turret currently, you are having a good day.

If these three changes were implemented the turrets would get a slight boost to survivability, believability and playability.

I have thought about a new Grandmaster Trait that could possibly help Engineers save their turrets from AOE. It also has the potential for synergy with Deployable Turrets. This is a repost from my older thread regarding Turrets.

Remote Redeployment

The Engineer may select a turret to be recalled from range. Recalling a turret reset’s the turret’s placement cooldown, such that it may be placed again. Recalling a Turret reset’s its attack cooldown, so that it will immediately fire again when placed. Once per 60 seconds per recalled turret, the Overcharge cooldown is reset.

I found that it was far too much of a bother to save a turret being attacked. Often a mob would be able to down a turret before I could kill the mob itself, since the toolkit’s repair rate is simply insufficient.

• This trait would allow engineers to save turrets under threat from AOE
• There is inherent synergy (!!) with the trait Deployable Turrets. Need to move your turret, but don’t want to reset your cooldown? Pick it up from far away and throw it where it’s needed
• Resetting overcharge cooldowns is where we begin cooking with gas. This will open up the possibility of engineers assaulting points in sPVP, not just defending them. Pack up your turrets remotely and throw them onto a defended point, overcharged, for maximum lulz.

As far as traits go, it would be:

1. Build defining
2. Open up new playstyles of the turret engineer
3. Finally give engineers a reason to invest 30 points into inventions

Turrets focus fire your targets, not closest target.

My Turret Redesign:

Turrets get charges. Cannot be targetted. Shorter cooldowns. Have a 5 min time limit. Can only have 1 of any type out at a time. Still has overcharge ability. Balance is up to Anet.

This way you can pre-set them for point defense. They can’t be aoe’d down in 1 shot. They’re effective in zergs/dungeons. They aren’t OP in small fights due to charges. Maybe 2-3 charges per turret. Trait for more charges & ground targetting. Overcharge destroys turret.

So, drop Rifle turret, it does its thing, overcharge for rifle burst before it consumes its charges and it dies. This gives the player on-demand access to the burst skill, which is strong, but at the cost of losing the turret for the duration of its CD.

i can’t play engineer cause of how trashy the turrets look, id roll asura engie as soon as this happens. i wouldnt even care if its a gem shop skin. and can we ever get ability skins from the cash shop?? would it just be too much work?

People want to use turrets, otherwise we wouldnt be seeing constant posts about improving or changing them.
Sadly I feel the turrets are in the worst state that have ever been right now.
Just about every thing that can be broken with them is broken with them. Luckly deployable turrets trait is working, It too a LONG time for them to get around and fix this almost mandatory trait.

I really wish they would take a break from Living story and focus on fixing and balancing things. Everyone keeps saying its different people working on these things, if thats the case wtf has the bug fix team and the class balance team been working on?

I would like an Elite Turret:

Laser Turret
Constructs a Laser Turret at the Engineer’s location, which channels a searing laser beam onto the Engineer’s target. The beam will refract if blocked or avoided in any way, hitting nearby targets instead.
Other Engineer Turrets will always try to hit the Laser Turret’s target if it is in their range at the moment they fire.

Target Marker – Skill while turret is active
Manually aim a target laser at your current target. For 15 seconds, all turrets will aim at that target, independent of who you target.

XelNigma.6315:

I really wish they would take a break from Living story and focus on fixing and balancing things.

I can live without the balancing, as being a MMO you get imbalance due to FOTM, metagame and underdog plays, anyhow. But the fixing I agree with, I feel that as my Mesmer I play at 50% of my potential simply because half my skills or traits are unusable. :s

This is my Turret sugestion list I made a whileback,
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Turret-Engineer-Ideas-Discussion/first#post2320144

Edit : Lasersighting was just an idea I made before I actualy took a look at the turrets AI and made a sugestion about how to improve their AI.

Dirame.8521:

Turrets focus fire your targets, not closest target.

If you do that turrets won’t be able to defend points or even support you whenever they are out of range or not in line of sight.

Priority (edit) :
1) Ignore Critter if
Turret Target =/= Turret Critter or Closest Critter
2) Ignore Placable if
Turret Target = Closest Critter
3) Turret Target =/= Engineer Critter if
Critter = out of range and not in line of sight
source : player %t
if condition 3 is true
Ignore condition 4
4) Turret Target = Engineer Critter if
Critter = in range and in line of sight
source : player %t
5) Turret Target = Closest Critter if
Critter = in range and in line of sight
source : Self (the turret)

Make the AI script look like this (approximatively) and you fix every issues related with turrets not shooting structures or shooting at wall of brick because the current one only shoots at the closest target.

I doubt the AI is that easy to handle, but the code mostly makes sense to me. Personally, I kinda like that my turrets don’t always attack what I’m attacking – it makes handling groups of creatures easier, as my turrets will wear down other enemies as I take down a particular target.
An argument could, of course, be made for the focus-fire mashing of monsters being just as useful, particularly if you’re trying not to aggro other things, and I wouldn’t be heartbroken if they modified it so that Turrets did focus-fire.

However, one bit of the code is…I honestly have no idea how it’s supposed to work – Priority 4, see, reads (translating all signs into plainspeak for those lacking a passing familiarity with coding and changing Turret Critter to Turret Target for consistency):
“Closest Critter is not Closest Critter if Critter is not Turret Target or Closest Critter.”
What’s this do?

This is a radical idea, but here it goes. drop the turrets, give us golems. This golems can have different attacks or behaviors or what ever. they can follow you like ranger pets.
they can have battery that runs out and have to recharge during the cooldown of the skill. so we can have a rifle golem that mainly shoots or whatever, and a melee golem similar to thumper turret and with this you can add some other mechanics. I don’t know.

The main problem is the AI (which is a main problem for all pets actually) and the AoE specially for turrets since they dont move like ranger pets or necros pets so making them golems might help to save them from aoe.

I don’t know, I’m just brainstorming here.

Anymras.5729:

However, one bit of the code is…I honestly have no idea how it’s supposed to work – Priority 4, see, reads (translating all signs into plainspeak for those lacking a passing familiarity with coding and changing Turret Critter to Turret Target for consistency):
“Closest Critter is not Closest Critter if Critter is not Turret Target or Closest Critter.”
What’s this do?

I was kind in a rush when I made my post, but the idea was more like this
“If Closest Critter and Engineer Critter are false -> Ignore Critter”

The point about this was to make sure your turrets wouldn’t shoot at anything obstructed while it had nothing else on its priority list. But i’m going to edit that part of the post because now that I read this, it makes no sense. XD

But it still miss something, like an option to only shoot placable (like Gates, Crates, Structures, …) when the Engineer is currently shooting it and while it is in line of sight and in range of the Turret.