Guild Wars 2

Never been a huge fan of grenades.
But I can’t deny they are the longest reach, hardest hitting damage we have.
Not to mention it’s aoe so it’s darn easy to use versus people in groups, hiding on walls, etc.

The only other thing we have, that is simular in design is… the god awfull mortar.
Mortar is stationary and very easy to destroy, not to mention terribly slow.
It’s a joke, let’s face it.
Oh, and the trait… maybe it could work?

Mortars are a bit usefull when you can put them in a protected spot, but their short range makes that near impossible.

Grenades beat mortars in utility, by a large margin.
A normal kit beating an elite skill… great design.

Soooo, what else do we have?

Pistol can be traited to pierce, AND be traited to get longer range!
Together these 2 traits end up on… a wopping 1050 range.
Are you kidding me?
Let piercing shots add range too, just like grenadier trait does.

Rifle goes further , hits harder and pierces untraited.

Elixir gun, traited for both range and damage in two seperate trait lines, hits on 1200 like the rifle.
And it hits a LOT less hard. Even fully traited it hits so incredibly weak it’s a disgrace.
Yes, it’s a utility kit, a supportive kit… but with 20% reduction on the cd’s, and a seperate trait for 15% more DAMAGE, it should at least be dangerous to a player.
It’s not, the weakness hurts a few profs and mostly it annoys bosses.

So what do I want?

Simple: something else than grenades as a viable 1500 option.

We’re versatile?
Yes we are, but none of the other versatile options are even remotely as good as grenades for long range.

Not asking because they nerfed grenades, but simply because we deserve our other options to work as well as grenades at least.
Both in range as in damage we need better options.

The max range for most classes is 1200 rather than 1500, so I don’t really see why Engineers must have another option at 1500.

Other than grenades there isn’t any realistic option for 1200 range either though and that is a problem. Elixier Gun is not a viable choice to do damage even in a support build and rifle has a lot of its damage potential restricted to mid and melee range.

Grenades are our biggest damage, even nerfed, they are our best aoe and they have our longest reach…
The other options need buffs to compete with this.

For starters mortar needs a rework, because that is our other option, and being an elite it should actually be better at at least something… but it isn’t. Grenades beat it in any way except maybe the knockback.

And you’re right about having not even something better for 1200 range. Rifle is good, but indeed only the basic damage actually uses that range.

You know what should have 1200 or even 1500 range?
Flamethrower #2!!!
Put it on a lower cooldown and make it long range on explosion.
Do the same range for FT #4 and you have yourself a superbe kit.
Usefull for all ranges, usefull for sieges, loads of fun versus zergs…
But not spammable so not OP.
And not all long range, so not king like grenades are.

Just an example of what I mean with ‘other options’.

FT’s #2 is already a low cooldown. Lowering it further and making it a more ranged attack would just lead either to it becoming an auto-attack ability itself (ranged pew pew pew), or another key-mashing spam like grenade #1 was. FT, like the rifle, is intended to get you up close to things (hence flame jet’s poop range and the +200 toughness from juggernaut).

If anything FT #2 should have the explosion size increased, because that’s where the money is. As it stands it’s so tiny and slow that trying to hit a mob with the blast often ends with either it falling short (out of range) or it passing through (minor damage) and the explosion hitting nothing. This is especially true if you’re hitting with flame jet and trying to back out to blast on cooldown (which is ideal for a direct damage FT build… assuming you can hit with it!).

Alternatively make the shot explode on impact instead of at a set distance. I mean no one sane is using the skill for the pathetic ball damage as it passes through things.

blurps.2340:

The max range for most classes is 1200 rather than 1500, so I don’t really see why Engineers must have another option at 1500.

Other than grenades there isn’t any realistic option for 1200 range either though and that is a problem. Elixier Gun is not a viable choice to do damage even in a support build and rifle has a lot of its damage potential restricted to mid and melee range.

Sniper kit would be awesome to have though this wont happen ^^

but as he says Anet cant really see also why engineers must have other option at 1.5k

I would settle for FT#2 to explode on impact, but it’s not happening it seems.

Flamethrower has issues, it’s not as good as it could be.
It has great potential but it simply doesn’t do the trick ourtside of some pve mobs grouped together.

In pvp the mechanic of FT#1 hurts as well, not to mention the missing on zero distance is annoying as hell.
The burn misses so often because it’s applied on last hit.

The fire field is nice to shoot through, even though FT#1 isn’t a finisher so you need to swap anyhow…
But all in all both #4 and #5 have range issues: they need to have a wider radius. Simple as that.

So if the flamethrower needs reworking anyhow, which I believe it does, we might as well consider longer range for it

I can live with grenades being the only option with 1500 range IF they fix mortar and they make the 1200 options a lot better.

Traited pistols being 1050 is an insult.
And even at 1200 the elixir gun hits not hard at all, traited or not.
Rifle hits hard, too bad only #1 actually damages and the by the time the net reaches 1200 your target has is either gone or in your face…

And what aoe do we have at 1200? Piercing? Great, if they line up… pistol aoe doesn’t even reach that far.

Do these:
rework mortar, and improve the 1200 options and I won’t speak of grenades being the only 1500 range anymore.

I still ask me how can someone throw a grenade further than a rifle shot xD

Shivenis.3761:

I still ask me how can someone throw a grenade further than a rifle shot xD

lol well it irl dosnt make sense but its a game with magic

maybe they are magical grenades :P

BUT DAMN give us Sniper kit

Shivenis.3761:

I still ask me how can someone throw a grenade further than a rifle shot xD

I can throw THREE grenades simultanously further than a Mortar can shoot!
And I’m a tiny Asura, go figure

For the record: I really like my engineer and not even remotely thinking of giving it up.
But I can’t understand why they don’t fix our other kits first, before ‘fixing’ our grenades and elixir gun heal…

The grenade nerf can be overcome eventually, so it’s not that.
it’s the lack of attention for the flamethrower mechanics, elixir gun damage, tool kit attack speed, pistol short range, only supply crate as elite… that kind of stuff should take priority over the rest.

Under water combat? I use bombs or grenades, first thing I do is swap out the annoying speargun… buffed or not.
How that could have taken priority over the rest is beyond me, and they do that for all professions: fixing underwater combat most avoid anyhow…

Shivenis.3761:

I still ask me how can someone throw a grenade further than a rifle shot xD

It’s because GW2 guns fire pixie dust which dissipate over long distance in the air. Don’t believe me? When was the last time you ever saw anyone reload a rifle in the game? And that doesn’t even cover some of the magical abilities, as let me tell you if someone shot me with a bouncing blob of electricity from a pistol, I’d sure as kitten be confused about it, too!

We don’t really need any weapon to be useful at 1500 range. One of the only things I agree with the devs on is that an acceptable tradeoff for versatility can be maximum range. We aren’t a long range sniper; instead, we are offered more versatility within the medium and close ranges. That’s fine by me.

The only reason grenades are fine with that much range is because you can only reasonably expect to hit stationary targets from that distance. This makes them useful against walls and stationary weapons, but nearly useless against a mobile opponent (at max range.) We are medium range skirmishers, and that’s ok.

-Travail.