Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been looking through the update notes, livestream etc. in the last days. Partly really interesting stuff I’m eager to test and some nice ideas.

The only thing that really bugs me so far (personally, from a SD point of view) is how ANet is planning to change the Tools traitline.

1.) 3 traits that scream for use in a SD build are in adept while everything in Master is situational / clunky imo:

• Streamlined Kits: will probably suffer the same problems as the “new” Kit Refinement (out of combat trigger, global ICD). No perma speed so for that you’d have to run other options anyway (med kit / runes / mecha legs).
• Lock on: potentially very strong vs. stealthers but useless vs anything else. Too situational for a default pick
• Takedown Round: just seems like a worse version of Aim-assisted Rocket / SD to me. Nice to have extra dmg which might not hit much vs. mobile enemies while not featuring any essential utility. With an Overcharged Shot opening or sometimes midfight (unless you remember the CD perfectly) you might even launch enemies out of the radius yourself.

these seem inferior to all Adept traits:

• SD: well, kind of needed for a SD build. Reliable and frequent extra damage.
• Reactive Lenses: auto Stunbreak on 40sec CD? Hell yeah. Would be incredible for burst setups with Overcharged Shot (Goggles instead of self KB)
• Power Wrench: More dmg for a strong spike skill. Less CD for that, one of the strongest defensive skills (Gear Shield) and engi’s infamous pull. This is part of the SD backbone. Why would one put it in the same tier? sigh

2.) Inertial Converter loss without any actual compensation. Mechanized deployment just makes up for the lack of Ingenuity. Kinetic Charge might make up for the loss but takes the Grandmaster slot in return. Reactive Lenses could replace the recharging stunbreak but takes the Adept slot.

3.) Optimized Activation is just a nerfed Adrenaline Pump. Well, it goes along with the general endurance generation nerf so I’m not really complaining about that. Just mentioning it.

They added some interesting and strong options but due to the new restrictions and Inertial Converter loss Tools looks quite shaved to me overall.
And no, Engi won’t be weak because of these changes. We get a lot of ridiculous (strong) stuff elsewhere. It just feels like Tools isn’t meant to be for SD anymore. Offensive naders will get the Reactive Lenses+OS opener with little thought. Tankier frontliners (future hammer engis and/or bombers with Short Fuse) will be able to make better use of Takedown Round.

Proposal: switch SD to Master. Or just swap any single Master with any single Adept.
Also, I’d like Inertial Converter to stay, but with the option to trait Kinetic Charge and another TB skill added I can see it probably being too strong.

tl;dr:
All adepts make more sense for a SD build than any master in tools. New trait system’s restrictions = meh. No more inertial converter ;(
Please rethink adept/master trait distribution.

I think the contrary on this. I don’t think the point is to build specific powerful combinations that the majority will use, but rather create a set of balanced options. You choose the one best fitting for you from each set of choices. S/D will be great for a more offensive bursty build. Power Wrench has the offensive bonus as well as a defensive, nice little middle ground option IFF you’re using Toolkit. And the Lenses a quality defensive option.

Likewise get to master, which first, let me mention the perma swiftness is back as per a dev comment in another thread. But, you have the Kit refinement utility + speed, Stealth counterplay, or just some extra free potential damage. Options. I think the Streamlined Kits will be a strong favorite most of the time, but Stealth counterplay is certainly going to be used, and if you use Medkit which has a lot of swiftness (basically full uptime minus the re-application delay) you may just want that free damage.

I think it’s pretty solid, especially if their goal is what I think it was in trying to force us to make choices rather than stack the best options. I mean, yeah the adepts are great, and I wouldn’t mind having all 3, but that’s not what this more strict trait selection is about. And the extra free damage on a bursty S/D build certainly won’t go to waste, well unless they can avoid it.

I honestly love the new changes the tools line feels more unique and more like a trait line you take to improve your gimmicks,gadgets, and toolbelt.
Some fixes though!
Gadgeteer: Allow the charges to build 1 charge per hit taken no cd with a max stack of 25 charges or allow us to build a charge per hit we do. Most people that use gadgets will use them in a combo one right after another only having one overcharged every kittens will reduce the amount of combinations that can be pulled off with highest results.

Take down round: Allow this to be a blast finisher or allow it to benefit from the short fuse trait so we have a choice to trait for extra spike or having our spike from takedown round hit more often on people that dont pay attention.

The new speedy kits: Keep the swiftness boost every 10 sec the kit refinement section should only proc while in combat.

Note that streamlined kits was confirmed to being boosted to 20 seconds of swiftness on a 20 second ICD, so perma swiftness is back. It will make it tough to choose between that an lock on.

I’ve typically never used power wrench in my SD builds (usually do SD, speedy, and adrenal implant), so I feel I’ll fare fine without it. In fact, I’m thinking of doing a kitless SD build, probably going fully into gadgets instead (A.E.D. and all).

I’m not sure switching SD to master would really help out my build at all, especially if it has to compete with streamlined kits and lock on. Those two are already going to be tough to pick from to start with. Though it would be nice to have reactive lenses in an SD build.