Guild Wars 2

I left the game months ago after it became clear that Anet wasn’t really trying to fix any of the Eng’s issues or change anything to make them viable.

Well now a friend wants to start playing GW2 with me but based on the forums it’s still clear that Anet doesn’t care about this prof so rather than fight with the frustration I was hoping someone who’s played a number of different professions can suggest one that is similar to the Eng in terms of having a variety of interesting weapons and abilities but that is viable in PvP? Thanks in advance!

Define interesting. It’s a broad term.

Well, I enjoy my thief, mesmer and guardian alts the most. Thief and mesmer are great in pvp and have a lot of different ways to do same things. But not exactly broad specialists. Guardian has a lot of options from full dps, to full tank, to full heal. Dunno ‘bout guardian’s pvp much though.

Warriors are too straightforward ( though I’m leveling one anyways) and have some problems in pvp (or so I heard). Elementalists too squishy to my liking, but surely versatile due to attunements swapping.

Necro was kinda dull. And I don’t like conditions, so it may differ for you.

Never tried ranger.

My other 80s are thief and necro, and those two are rather pigeon-holed in what they can do.

You had me hooked on this topic until you said “is viable in PvP”. I find the engineer to be very versitile in terms of what it can do. But I cannot see a way for it to be able to do anything well, thus viability is in question.

I guess it’s kinda hard to define. I don’t want a “one trick pony” like the thief that just stealths in and backstabs over and over. I’m looking for a profession that allows you to be effective in PvP through a variety approaches and tactics. Hope that makes sense.

OxBaker.8413:

I guess it’s kinda hard to define. I don’t want a “one trick pony” like the thief that just stealths in and backstabs over and over. I’m looking for a profession that allows you to be effective in PvP through a variety approaches and tactics. Hope that makes sense.

If you’re struggling making Engineer work in PvP, then you probably don’t want a class that has a variety of skills and tactics, because they require time and effort to learn and become skilled in.

One trick ponies are easy to play, Engineers are not, so you’ve basically just said “I want something complex to play that isn’t too complex to play”.

The closest professions to Engineer in terms of utility are the Guardian and Elementalist, with Necromancer being a distance second.

Elementalist is too soft (even if built to counter that weakness). After playing an Engineer, you’ll love the Elementalist’s fluid skills and synergy, but will notice it takes big damage. Ele is just pure fun after Eng.

Guardian is spot on. Everything you can do on your Engineer, you can do on your Guardian better. Except range. But really, you won’t care. You’ll be too busy counting your blessings on how awesome the Guardian is. Engineer is so disappointing that we learn how to work around all its problems. This prepares us for the Guardian’s lack of range. It’s cake to us.

Necromancer is not at first sight a utility class, but it has all the skills needed to work with. I’m not talking out of experience, but my roommate is always pulling tricks out and keeping me alive. Tanking, repeated condition removal, and small heals…. just seems it is all there and ready when needed.

Mesmer is in the same basket, but the cooldowns and soft defense take it out of the running in my opinion. They have a different utility to give to a group (basically movement), shining in WvW, but not the utility of soaking up damage, or aoe, or healing, or etc etc etc.

aydenunited.5729:

OxBaker.8413:

I guess it’s kinda hard to define. I don’t want a “one trick pony” like the thief that just stealths in and backstabs over and over. I’m looking for a profession that allows you to be effective in PvP through a variety approaches and tactics. Hope that makes sense.

If you’re struggling making Engineer work in PvP, then you probably don’t want a class that has a variety of skills and tactics, because they require time and effort to learn and become skilled in.

One trick ponies are easy to play, Engineers are not, so you’ve basically just said “I want something complex to play that isn’t too complex to play”.

No, I’m willing to put the time and effort into learning the profession provided that there is benefit in doing so. Spending a lot of time and effort getting really getting good at the Engineer currently just gets you to a point where you can almost be as effective as some of the “roll face across keyboard” professions.

If I sink a lot of time and practice in a profession I would like to be able to excel in PvP as a result. Not just barely hold my own.

Hsinimod.5784:

The closest professions to Engineer in terms of utility are the Guardian and Elementalist, with Necromancer being a distance second.

Guardian is spot on. Everything you can do on your Engineer, you can do on your Guardian better. Except range. But really, you won’t care. You’ll be too busy counting your blessings on how awesome the Guardian is. Engineer is so disappointing that we learn how to work around all its problems. This prepares us for the Guardian’s lack of range. It’s cake to us.

Thanks for the advice! I think I’ll roll Guardian and see what they are like.

As mentioned, Elementalists are also a solid option.
Bunker Elementalists are quite decent, and you can also focus on full dps and be very efficient too.
The Attunement swapping is the closest thing to kits that I can think about (they are 4 and you can use them all during combat, even though they have a cooldown, different from the kits), and since Elementalist is also ranged (or more focused on close-quarters if you want, with D/D), I think it’d be the closest thing to the Engineer.

aydenunited.5729:

If you’re struggling making Engineer work in PvP, then you probably don’t want a class that has a variety of skills and tactics, because they require time and effort to learn and become skilled in.

One trick ponies are easy to play, Engineers are not, so you’ve basically just said “I want something complex to play that isn’t too complex to play”.

Umm…

I’m pretty sure that’s not what he said at all. Guardians are great but much simpler than engineers; eles are closest to engineers in terms of number of skills; necros also have a high skill floor but can be effective in paid teams as counter-bunkers.

Elementalists are even more versatile than the Engineer, and are capable of some nasty things if used properly. While they are undeniably squishy, what they can do is affected heavily by the player’s skill, speed, and their loadout – with a Scepter/Focus Elementalist, I can get twelve stacks of Might in eight seconds or less, Conjure an axe and be a short-lived horror. I’m pretty sure I’m not even good at the class.

Elementalist hands down. Go bunker with dual daggers. It seems ok at first, then once you see just how much havok you can cause, you can use the exact same set up, lose defense and rely on healing and pure dps. While I still prefer bunker Ele, high dps with healing is a monster if used correctly. Honorable mention to mesmer as well, although personally I like Thief

I find myself enjoying being an explosives engineer simply because all my attacks share the same basic behavior. That means i do not have to how differently the basic behavior of 1-5 is, just what differences they bring to the table between them.

By this i means that all bombs and all grenades in generic terms behave the same. All bombs drop at my feet and do AOE. All grenades are ground targeted and do AOE. So all i have to worry about is what one of them are basic DD, another is DOT bleed or DOT burn and so on.

Contrast that to say the flamethrower where each attack is different. 1 is a cone channeled attack, 2 is a weird AOE, 3 is a launch/push, 4 is a ground target line/wall, and 5 is a PBAOE blind. Each behave very differently and i need to keep that in mind in the middle of combat.

End result is that i find explosives to have a much lower mental workload than the rest of the game.

I prefer the FT or the EG because, to me, they seem to mesh more with the pistol than any other kits would.

EG and Pistol both have bleeds and poisons, which is very good for switching in between and stacking similar type damage. EG has #2 and #4 allow for distance control, with #2 being able to affect multiple friends/foes (as long as it hits a foe first). With melee you can use EG #2 to give yourself speed and slow the opponent down, while you either escape with #4 (and lay more damage down) or use P/S #4 to push them away. Not to mention the assistance qualities of EG #3 and #5.

FT with pistol provides two blinds (even though FT is EXTREMELY close for comfort). The knockback from #3 is helpful to get you out of semi-tight jams #4 helps out a little bit with burning. . .Aw, hell., FT really needs help. Please fix it!

So I’m stuck with EG and pistol. Not bad. I like the range you can maintain with EG.

My Engineer is in mothballs parked at the rich ori node and will remain there until Anet gets off their duff and fixes or totally remakes the Engineer to something worth having other than a sad ripoff of the Asherons call 2 class.

My new main is a guardian with a warrior in the works, by far better in both play and survival verse all classes and both suport much better than the broken engineer.

Of note: If this were Waterworld Engineers would rule, nothing beats an Engineer underwater, sadly, the game isnt based on this mechanic.

Guardian is a blast and supports and has versatility the Engineer cant match, that being the ability to swap main weapon sets and configure multiple weapon types, the warrior is the same way. these are full power main sets, not laughable underpowered kits, grenades included.

The engineer kits are simply jokes and pale in comparison to Every single other class in the game.

Graill.8596:

Of note: If this were Waterworld Engineers would rule, nothing beats an Engineer underwater, sadly, the game isnt based on this mechanic.

Ranger is an absolute beast under water after one of the recent patches, I could probably beat my Engineer with my Ranger.

As for the OP, Elementalist. Doesn’t suffer from a hybrid tax either.

I started GW2 playing an Engineer, running through nearly every combination of kits/elixirs and traits. The learning curve for the Engineer, is MUCH higher, as you have to work around the bugs, as well as some of the random effects of the ‘Toss Elixir’ toolbelt skill(e.g. Elixir H tossed should have ALL of those boons tacked on, not just one). Thus, when I started leveling a Guardian and Thief, I was AMAZED at how easy they were to play. The Warrior does not attract me in the slightest. Too straightforward (all I see Warriors do is what someone called the ‘WTFBBQROFLCOPTER Warrior move’. It’s pretty accurate.

As an Engineer I love my tank build (rifle/tool kit/Elixir B/Elixir S/Med Kit/Supply Crate OR Mortar. With the Rifle I have solid control skills(Net shot one opponent, Overcharge Shot to another for knockback, Jump Shot into that guy you knockbacked for a ton of ‘Stompin’ Damage’…by the time you do that, Net shot is recharged to get that other guy AGAIN).

My advice? Give it a shot. Try everything in sPvP. Eventually you will find a comfortable build that suits your playstyle. And…you will get a couple of double takes by that Thief/Warrior who thought you were easy prey

Hsinimod.5784:

Necromancer is not at first sight a utility class, but it has all the skills needed to work with. I’m not talking out of experience, but my roommate is always pulling tricks out and keeping me alive. Tanking, repeated condition removal, and small heals…. just seems it is all there and ready when needed.

The Necromancer is, imo, the class most like the engineer, in terms of being Robin to everyone else’s Batman.

A player who fully understands the class mechanics can do it all pretty well, but it’s still only going to be 80% of say, a thief’s damage, or a guardian’s support healing and boons.

Dagger/Dagger ele hands down is probably your best bet. Its the best healing and condition removal in the game. With the spec I run (0 10 10 20 30) every time you swap to water you aoe heal 2k, place 2 regens on everyone that heal for 400 together every tick, and aoe cleanse a condition. That can be done every 8 seconds. While attuned to water the last skill aoe heals for 2k and aoe cleanses conditions. If you dodge roll, every 10 seconds you can aoe heal for 2k and aoe cleanse a condition. The number 2 skill only has a 10 second cd, does damage in a cone and heals everyone in the cone for 1000+ (including yourself). On top of all that if you use the signet you heal for 260+ every time you use a skill, even if you don’t hit anything. That is all with only 650 healing power.

You also get the best mobility in the game. You get good cc, including knockdowns, cripple, immobilization, chill, and stun. You get good condition damage and direct damage. You can apply vulnerability with your auto attack and weakness every 10 seconds. You get 2 fire combo fields and 3 blast finishers. You also get 1 leap finisher.

With all of that if you cant kill your target you can escape any situation with 2 pushes of a button. First you swap to air and then you press ride the lightning, while facing the direction you want to escape in. You just put swiftness on yourself and moved 1200 units in about a second. You can repeat that every 15 seconds while maintaining permanent swiftness. You can even get swiftness in water attunement while healing yourself to full.

Edit: I also didn’t mention your utility skills which include a blink, invulnerability, and stability/protection or condition removal. All of which are stun breaks. The cantrip applies regeneration and the condition removal one does an aoe burn.