Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,
I came back to gw2 to see the new patch and all the changes it brought to us.
I was quite happy with most stuff, suprised by others (like 116% critchance warrior) and really kinda disapointed with the engineer..

Engineer is my guilty pleasure of the game, I love to try new stuff with him and troll people in pvp or just try to make funny build work.
I was sad to see healbombs go away.. but what really caught me on the wrong foot was the change to the new High Caliber..

10% critchance on everything WITHIN 240 range.. from 10% critchance on everything at least 600(I believe it was) range away

Now I will admit I am sad because this ruined my super fun to play "Inspector gadget 100% crit engineer" which was running mostly on rifle, which not much engineers do.
But I will also give you reasons why I think this is bad and makes no sense to release this trait like that..
I know it should be like "here take a Shotgunt to the face"-play style and thats why it is in the Firearms Traitline and I know rifle has a good way to get in this range BUT really you DONT want to be in this range most of the time.. and I guess it WOULD make sense if it was a high risk high reward kinda thing IF Engineer only had the Rifle... BUT he does not..

So whats happening here is not the anticipated new rifle play style, no.
the people who go for this trait are not rifle users at all.. the people that go for this trait are BOMBKIT-, TOOLKIT-, FLAMETHROWER-(if thats becoming a thing now) and in the future the HAMMER builds........

think about it.. a hammer build going for gun traits... that is just so silly to me

so I guess the only solution here is to revert it to its old form at make it 10% critchange at enemys 600 range away from you.
or change it to 10% crit chance 10% more damage but 10% less attack speed and call it sniper or something like that..

changing it to only affect rifles now would be a bad think.. because that would make both sides sad..

I really hope I am not alone with this oppinion...

thoughts?

/smoky

That trait synergizes amazingly well with Bomb Kit, Flamethrower, Rifle, and Tool Kit. Sorry, but I disagree. It makes Flame Jet nearly always crit with Fury, making it actually not awful anymore in PvP/WvW.

What you want is something that benefits only the Grenade Kit, and you really don’t want to go up Firearms with a Grenade Kit build.

The range threshold should be increased, same with No Scope. At the very least they should work up to a range of 400, though 500-600 would be ideal. At least then they’d benefit pretty much all builds, not just ones focusing primarily on bombs/FT/TK. What would be nice is if they gave bigger bonuses the closer you are to the enemy(High Caliber could be +15% crit chance at 0-200, +10% at 201-400, +5% at 401-600, No Scope could be 8s/6s/4s of fury at the same ranges), but that’s just wishful thinking.

ANort.1425:

The range threshold should be increased, same with No Scope. At the very least they should work up to a range of 400, though 500-600 would be ideal. At least then they’d benefit pretty much all builds, not just ones focusing primarily on bombs/FT/TK.

Don’t you think the Grenade Kit gets enough trait options?

Firearms is a conditions/rifle/FT tree. I think the trait should be left alone.

i think its just nice in WvW or dungeon FT simply just RUN towards and facemelt anyone …. 240 is good enough

Phineas Poe.3018:

That trait synergizes amazingly well with Bomb Kit, Flamethrower, Rifle, and Tool Kit. Sorry, but I disagree. It makes Flame Jet nearly always crit with Fury, making it actually not awful anymore in PvP/WvW.

What you want is something that benefits only the Grenade Kit, and you really don’t want to go up Firearms with a Grenade Kit build.

nah. its more the opposite. grenades a e melee weapons. arguably so is rifle… And 99% of engineers other weapons.

Scope was underpowered. but, it empowered the opposite of normal play. playing at long range.
Which.. actually is a great idea. Scope should have been buffed.

10% crit and 75% crit DAMAGE at 1200+ range.
Suddenly now you are rewarded for not spamming grenades in melee range. you have risk/reward for using them at max range, and hoping the spread and slow proj doesnt make you miss.
Same with rifle. you get this big damage buff, but loose out on blunderbuss/leapshot dps, and overcharged shot CC.

No scope and high calibur are stupid traits which give lots of crit to melee builds which don’t even need it.

Casia.4281:

No scope and high calibur are stupid traits which give lots of crit to melee builds which don’t even need it.

Are you kidding? Bomb Kit and Flamethrower need every buff they can get, and you want to take options away from them in favor of another trait that favors the Grenade Kit. Need I remind you that No Scope and High Caliber are literally the only damage modifiers that the Flamethrower has.

I usually find agreement with what you have to say, but I couldn’t disagree more with your analysis here. No Scope and High Caliber actually make the Flamethrower a viable damage option again in PvP and WvW, and arguably general PvE where vuln stacks aren’t a concern.

if you want to buff bomb and ft. buff bomb and ft. not traits like this which will only benefit spamming grenades in melee MORE, then even bomb or FT.

nades have a 900 range now… if you add a long range trait that exceeds nade range. such as 1000. it would then only benefit rifle, eg and mortar.

This trait benefits rifles the most. I don’t know why people are complaining about it…10% extra crit on my jump shot + blunderbuss is great in my opinion And every kit benefits from this trait pretty much because engi is a hybrid of ranged and melee with all our hard hitting stuff being short range.

Casia.4281:

if you want to buff bomb and ft. buff bomb and ft. not traits like this which will only benefit spamming grenades in melee MORE, then even bomb or FT.

There is no way anyone will want to run Firearms and Explosives together outside of PvE. And even if they do, there’s no way in hell they’d survive jumping into melee range with grenades. Choosing Firearms leaves you stuck choosing between Tools and Alchemy, both of which have traits that Grenade Kit builds currently hinge on to be viable … that is, unless you think the Grenade Kit benefits better taking Firearms over Explosives (which I don’t think it does).

I think the idear they were going for was running a melee stlye engineer with very tanky stats and could get decent crit chance threw these traits the problem is enginners can in no way tank in melee range in the current state of the game and now with the new bunker down replacing elixir infused bombs we cannot support team mates at all because if we are in melee range and not getting healed we are dead meat, i do think in the mean time we just have to wait and see how anets balance attempts play out as alot of time its not a classes problem but rather other classes and alot needs to be looked into befor we can start really getting into core balance.

ANort.1425:

The range threshold should be increased, same with No Scope. At the very least they should work up to a range of 400, though 500-600 would be ideal. At least then they’d benefit pretty much all builds, not just ones focusing primarily on bombs/FT/TK. What would be nice is if they gave bigger bonuses the closer you are to the enemy(High Caliber could be +15% crit chance at 0-200, +10% at 201-400, +5% at 401-600, No Scope could be 8s/6s/4s of fury at the same ranges), but that’s just wishful thinking.

High Caliber > Scope
+200 range to rifle and elixir gun
+2% crit if range is less than 300
+4% crit if range is between 300-600
+6% crit if range is between 600-900
+8% crit if range is more than 900

No scope > Instinctive Firing
Remains as critical hits within range will have a chance to grant fury

will be nice if we have some form of damage modifier the further we are from the target similar to what spatial surge does for mesmers

this would allow engineers to weigh the pros and cons of either going into melee range or staying at range and open up more choices for us

Phineas Poe.3018:

That trait synergizes amazingly well with Bomb Kit, Flamethrower, Rifle, and Tool Kit.

…

What you want is something that benefits only the Grenade Kit, and you really don’t want to go up Firearms with a Grenade Kit build.

What I want is firearms to be a tree that rewards playing with a rifle and NOT using kits. thats the whole idea behind the tree.. and you are right, it DOES synergizes with all the melee kits.. but it isnt suppose to.. it was changed so rifle has to get close.. but people just use it in other builds which doesnt even use the rifle making this trait as it is a stupid idea because you are not buffing what you wanna buff..

Mongster.4580:

ANort.1425:

The range threshold should be increased, same with No Scope. At the very least they should work up to a range of 400, though 500-600 would be ideal. At least then they’d benefit pretty much all builds, not just ones focusing primarily on bombs/FT/TK. What would be nice is if they gave bigger bonuses the closer you are to the enemy(High Caliber could be +15% crit chance at 0-200, +10% at 201-400, +5% at 401-600, No Scope could be 8s/6s/4s of fury at the same ranges), but that’s just wishful thinking.

High Caliber > Scope
+200 range to rifle and elixir gun
+2% crit if range is less than 300
+4% crit if range is between 300-600
+6% crit if range is between 600-900
+8% crit if range is more than 900

No scope > Instinctive Firing
Remains as critical hits within range will have a chance to grant fury

will be nice if we have some form of damage modifier the further we are from the target similar to what spatial surge does for mesmers

this would allow engineers to weigh the pros and cons of either going into melee range or staying at range and open up more choices for us

THIS pls

Smokin Dice.9103:

Phineas Poe.3018:

That trait synergizes amazingly well with Bomb Kit, Flamethrower, Rifle, and Tool Kit.

…

What you want is something that benefits only the Grenade Kit, and you really don’t want to go up Firearms with a Grenade Kit build.

What I want is firearms to be a tree that rewards playing with a rifle and NOT using kits. thats the whole idea behind the tree.. and you are right, it DOES synergizes with all the melee kits.. but it isnt suppose to.. it was changed so rifle has to get close.. but people just use it in other builds which doesnt even use the rifle making this trait as it is a stupid idea because you are not buffing what you wanna buff..

From the Dev’s comments when they showcasted the new traits, their reason for changing that trait was because “it wasn’t doing much for the class”, because we have to go close for our biggest bursts anyways.

So no, no one ever intended us to stay away from people, but to give us support if we decide to do so. The issue is, almost all builds jump between close and mid-range constantly, almost never going beyond the 600 range threshold of the old version. So a-net cattered to our playstile and gave us a viable trait to give us support where we actually need it.

Allowing this trait to work for all kits/weapons is not something they forgot to limit, but something they were intending directly.

So yes, despite the weird name when it comes to bombs / similar stuff, this trait is working exactly as – from the devs – intended.

Yes, it’s sad that you lost a viable build-option that catered towards your taste, but please understand that the majority of the engi-playerbase likes this trait in the way it turned out. No need to “fix” it.

Actually , I found that grenade kit synergizes well with firearms traits. Using zerker build which is focused on nades and healing kits, my critical chance is almost 90%-100% which is op in my opinion.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V_;4cPku0267Q-x0;9;4ijm;0047258037;4LZ0;0Z0-PedaPedaNoGg-A;1N_-VOVTWYXcYi3o_6Z-870HVDucYDu;9;9;9;9;9;4VW79T
I use elixir and mortar kits for their healing skills , pistols for their 3/4/5 skills. Using grenade kit most of the time makes me hit like a truck

Arantheal.7396:

From the Dev’s comments when they showcasted the new traits, their reason for changing that trait was because “it wasn’t doing much for the class”, because we have to go close for our biggest bursts anyways.

So no, no one ever intended us to stay away from people, but to give us support if we decide to do so. The issue is, almost all builds jump between close and mid-range constantly, almost never going beyond the 600 range threshold of the old version. So a-net cattered to our playstile and gave us a viable trait to give us support where we actually need it.

Allowing this trait to work for all kits/weapons is not something they forgot to limit, but something they were intending directly.

So yes, despite the weird name when it comes to bombs / similar stuff, this trait is working exactly as – from the devs – intended.

Yes, it’s sad that you lost a viable build-option that catered towards your taste, but please understand that the majority of the engi-playerbase likes this trait in the way it turned out. No need to “fix” it.

It IS weird though..
then why not give us both options? I liked that the old trait gave us new and other ways to play the engineer.
and as many suggested there could be a counter “sniper” like trait, giving rifle +200 range and a 10% critchance at atleast 1000 range away, benifiting ONLY rifle and mortar.. which would make actual sense and rewarding players for not going close range for the high burst potential

From gw2 wiki:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Engineer
Firearms increases effectiveness of rifles, pistols and elixir gun, and ranged combat in general
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Firearms
Firearms is a core specialization for the engineer that focuses on use of pistols, rifles, and the flamethrower.

The specialization had shifted from a ‘ranged combat in general’ to forcing us to go closer to the front lines.