Guild Wars 2

After logging into the game Tuesday and getting a feel for the new traits, I was really excited to try the Bomb Kit again. Its 240 radius with Forceful Explosives made it, on paper, synergize really well with a lot of the new Firearms traits. It seemed like we finally had an option other than Grenade Kit. And maybe we still do. But that has remained to be seen. Anyway…

Unfortunately, I realized shortly afterward that you removed Forceful Explosives from the game. I noticed, though, when I equipped the Bomb Kit the tool tips displayed 240 radius anyway, leading me to assume that you made a baseline change to adjust for FE’s removal. The kit’s visual effects even supported this, as you could drop mortar shells (which have 240 radius) and notice Fire Bomb and Smoke Bomb have similar radii.

But people began to notice that, while they were posted to have a 240 radius in the tooltip, and while the effects definitely gave that appearance, we were actually only getting 180 radius.

The Grenade Kit is bugged, and I’ve been playing PvP, PvE, and WvW with it for about two years now and am honestly bored of the spec. So even if it wasn’t broken beyond belief, I still wouldn’t use it. I tried using the Flamethrower/Elixir Gun combo but found it lacking compared to the survivability one gets with Elixir S and Tool Kit, and I just don’t think the Flamethrower or Elixir Gun are good enough to use without the other. Time is a flat circle and I feel like I’m just spinning wheels trying to make them work still even three years later; I don’t really know how else I or the rest of the community can give you any more feedback than we have to make these viable in high-end PvP.

Out of desperation for choices I even tried using a Rifle/Tool Kit build with Elixir S and Elixir C/U/B to see what potential the rifle had as an actual mainstay weapon. I was unimpressed with this as well, and was led at many times to wanting to break my keyboard in half with the way my matches have lately gone. I’ve probably won 40% of my matches since this patch. I find Celestial underpowered and Marauder too squishy. So I find myself stuck with trying conditions, and before I go crawling back to the Grenade Kit, I wanted to give the Bomb Kit another try.

Unfortunately, it turns out that they’re now just displaying 180 radius on the tool tip. Is this really intended? Or is this a tooltip hotfix to prevent confusion until you put it back to 240 again? The 240 radius is incredibly important, and without it, makes the Bomb Kit a lot less appealing. Obviously it still synergizes well with Firearms traits, but I’m at a loss understanding why a kit that isn’t meta in any game mode was gutted so horribly of what is—what most would consider—a necessary trait.

Can you just clarify for us what’s the plan here? Are bombs going to be 180 radius or 240? And if they’re staying at 180, can you explain why the nerf is warranted? As someone that has mained this class since launch, who has provided pages of feedback, who has written guide after guide trying to make unorthodox builds work despite the crushing presence of the Grenade Kit, it feels like even after one year between balance patches you still haven’t gotten engineer in a comfortable place and only further push us toward the Grenade Kit.

Please show me the light at the end of the tunnel.

I think anet told us bombs would be 240 baseline, if thats not the case (usually dont play bombs) then you should add that to the Entineer Bug Thread in tbe Bugs Forum, maybe anet will answer you

If 240 is not baseline I dont see a reason why they shouldnt add it to the adept bomb trait in explosives

I told grouch about this in a match 2 days after the core specs update, so the devs know about this. It should be getting fixed. The only question is, fixed in what way?

I was really looking forward to other damage kits than grenade kit becoming good, but it looks like it just hasn’t happened. FT lost a lot of its potential with the loss of its -cd and +damage traits, and bombs seems limited to condi with how weak cele is for us atm with all the burst damage going around. Mortar kit is good on power, but you can’t use it for main damage unless you’re up against zergs in wvw or something due to the slow projectile speed. It really does feel like we’re forced into going nades right now-- even more so than before.

On the bright side, Static Discharge is stronger now, and pretty fun to play too.

It’s weird too, because the Flamethrower if properly rebalanced could be a real terror in melee range. With Fury you have 94% crit chance wearing a Marauder amulet after High Caliber and Hernatic Focus are factored in. Marauder+Pack FT? Yes please!

They need to ditch the might stack band-aid they applied a year or two back and just up its baseline damage. Bombs being condition-focused is fine, since it’s really what makes the most sense. But landing a Concussion Bomb with 180 radius to work with means a lucky Glue Shot/Bomb and some stars aligning the right way against certain classes.

Known bug, like 40+ others. Don’t worry, wait and see

I’d like to see both bombs and FT become viable hybrid damage options, actually. Engineer seems to be a versatile hybrid class at heart, and we should have more than one weapon kit option that respects that.

Xyonon.3987:

Known bug, like 40+ others. Don’t worry, wait and see

Then why change the tooltips? That’s what I want to know.

I personally haven’t noticed that the tooltip ever was 240 after the patch june 23. I’ve only seen it to be 180, but I’m pretty sure hitting mobs with 240 range and not 180. Maybe they doublemessed around and b4 it was 240 range in tooltip and 180 where the damage happens and now vice versa.

Edit: I’m not sure anymore if it’s really 240. They look 240 but they feel 180 now that I’m testing it. Same goes for mine toolbelt. The normal mine has 240 too and hits much further than the bomb does. I assume it’s bugged since they promised bombs and mines to be 240 radius baseline and it honestly wouldn’t make any sense if they weren’t. But in the end, all we can do is wait for next tuesday where hopefully a few engi fixes will come. We are the most bugged class right now and it’s kittening annoying …

Phineas Poe.3018:

Xyonon.3987:

Known bug, like 40+ others. Don’t worry, wait and see

Then why change the tooltips? That’s what I want to know.

Turret tooltips used to claim they were scaling with Power. They never actually did scale with Power, and at no point was this acknowledged by Anet. I don’t even remember if they ever corrected the tooltips; for all I can recall, they might still be saying they scale, and might still be lying about it.

Point being, I don’t think Anet really knows what they’re doing with tooltips. Or even really care. They probably just have the interns do the tooltip inputs or something.

I have posted this in another thread, but bombs absolutely do not hit outside a 180 range.

I tested this by using AEDs tool belt skill. It is 180. So I used it as mac range. Took a half step back, and bombs could not reach the target.

I tested it with friends on another server in WvW. I tested it with friends on another team, and the dummies in PvP. I also tested it with dummies and stationary neutral mobs in PvE.

Yeah and this is kind of the central problem of bombs to begin with, they encourage poor positioning in team fights. They have great area denial and node pressure in smaller fights, but in a team fight barreling onto the point with them can get you killed pretty quickly from cleave alone, so grenades have always seemed like a more versatile option, because they aren’t limited by positioning due to their range.

Still I’d like to see the bugs fixed too.

nearlight.3064:

Yeah and this is kind of the central problem of bombs to begin with, they encourage poor positioning in team fights. They have great area denial and node pressure in smaller fights, but in a team fight barreling onto the point with them can get you killed pretty quickly from cleave alone, so grenades have always seemed like a more versatile option, because they aren’t limited by positioning due to their range.

Still I’d like to see the bugs fixed too.

Bombs have always been about high risk, high reward. The condition pressure from bombs right now is really intense, and even D/D elementalists have trouble keeping it off, especially if you combine them with Poison Gas Shell and pistol skills.

If the Bomb Kit actually was buffed to have 240 range, it would cover nearly an entire point if dropped at the middle save Legacy’s midpoint, so it’s not as vulnerable as you’d think. You get in, you drop some bombs, you CC with Glue Shot/Bomb or Box of Nails, and you get out.

I will admit, bombs have always been stronger in WvW roaming though.