Guild Wars 2

Man the flamethrower…So cool yet so hot all at the same time…

The miss miss miss miss miss, heats me up more than the flame coming from it does.

It has limited free aim.

Some of the skills are pretty terrible as well.

this is a mobile combat game. Yet the Flame Thrower isnt a mobile combat weapon.

So clearly something is wrong with the design.

It just got a lot of love last patch, so they obviously have their eye on it. Very likely it may get some additional tweaks in the future, and hopefully the miss miss miss bug is handled soon which will help it a lot.

Necromancer Axe got huge buffs too last patch, only for them to say in the interview a couple days ago “it’s still on the weak side”. so…..maybe they feel the same way about flamethrower, we’ll just have to wait and see.

I always wondered what is the problem with people missing really. I was never missing with it since beta really. Exception to that is when aiming at static objects but that apparently has been fixed as i am having no problem with that anymore as well.

Few more tweaks to FT and it’s gonna be decent/good. Maybe even very good.

I hope so myself because I love it and would love for it to be viable in pvp.

I have tried engi a few times a couple of months ago and deleted it after missing constantly with FT. I made one a few days ago and I don’t miss anymore. It got fixed.

vinceftw.5086:

I have tried engi a few times a couple of months ago and deleted it after missing constantly with FT. I made one a few days ago and I don’t miss anymore. It got fixed.

It was never a problem:P For those who at least knew how it worked:> People watched the flame where it was going, should watch where they turn camera at with right mouse button. Still FT is best used without actuall target.

Killyox.3950:

vinceftw.5086:

I have tried engi a few times a couple of months ago and deleted it after missing constantly with FT. I made one a few days ago and I don’t miss anymore. It got fixed.

It was never a problem:P For those who at least knew how it worked:> People watched the flame where it was going, should watch where they turn camera at with right mouse button. Still FT is best used without actuall target.

How it used to be was that it shoots where you look at. Thing is,.. looking at where your camera is angled, severely hurts you. I look around for more enemies while fighting, to ensure not getting grouped on, and with a flamethrower, your fire ill just miss. Now, if you target people you can actually look around while fighting.

Did you find it fun that you couldn’t look around while firing while all other professions can?

Zinwrath.2049:

It just got a lot of love last patch, so they obviously have their eye on it.

Not so much, considering the nerf of omnomberry pies which was giving a huge dps and sustain boost for FT.

The Flamethrower used to have a lot of miss issues, especially on stationary targets like CoF turrets and AC burrows, but that shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

The only time the Flamethrower misses for me is if I’m facing the wrong direction.

vinceftw.5086:

Killyox.3950:

vinceftw.5086:

I have tried engi a few times a couple of months ago and deleted it after missing constantly with FT. I made one a few days ago and I don’t miss anymore. It got fixed.

It was never a problem:P For those who at least knew how it worked:> People watched the flame where it was going, should watch where they turn camera at with right mouse button. Still FT is best used without actuall target.

How it used to be was that it shoots where you look at. Thing is,.. looking at where your camera is angled, severely hurts you. I look around for more enemies while fighting, to ensure not getting grouped on, and with a flamethrower, your fire ill just miss. Now, if you target people you can actually look around while fighting.

Did you find it fun that you couldn’t look around while firing while all other professions can?

Once again, I never had problem so I dunno what the big deal was. You could look around using LMB instead of RMB.

Killyox.3950:

I always wondered what is the problem with people missing really. I was never missing with it since beta really. Exception to that is when aiming at static objects but that apparently has been fixed as i am having no problem with that anymore as well.

Few more tweaks to FT and it’s gonna be decent/good. Maybe even very good.

I hope so myself because I love it and would love for it to be viable in pvp.

This. Honestly, it is silly how the flamethrower does seem to miss targets the graphic is clearly hitting. That much, I will agree on is broken. However, the FT does work reliably once you figure out how to use and aim it.

Every time I see engineers locking onto targets with flamethrower, I cringe.

Honestly, for both EG #3 and FT #1, it’s best to not select a target. This way you’re free to aim the cone as you want, and hit the targets you want.

It’s possible to break the ‘lock’ by forcing your character to turn, and then aim normally, but it’s much easier to just not have a target at all. (None of the FT abilities require you have one anyway)

Killyox.3950:

vinceftw.5086:

Killyox.3950:

vinceftw.5086:

I have tried engi a few times a couple of months ago and deleted it after missing constantly with FT. I made one a few days ago and I don’t miss anymore. It got fixed.

It was never a problem:P For those who at least knew how it worked:> People watched the flame where it was going, should watch where they turn camera at with right mouse button. Still FT is best used without actuall target.

How it used to be was that it shoots where you look at. Thing is,.. looking at where your camera is angled, severely hurts you. I look around for more enemies while fighting, to ensure not getting grouped on, and with a flamethrower, your fire ill just miss. Now, if you target people you can actually look around while fighting.

Did you find it fun that you couldn’t look around while firing while all other professions can?

Once again, I never had problem so I dunno what the big deal was. You could look around using LMB instead of RMB.

That often resulted in missing as well. Not always, but often.

The biggest problem with FT pre-patch was that if you circle-strafed your 1 would miss almost 100% of the time. Post-patch that no longer happens. Not being able to circle-strafe is a huge deal in….every mode. It allows kiting without requiring large kite areas.

Any more tweaks and we’ll be looking at an OP FT. At least from my point of view, it works. When they finally fix the double hitting from the Flame Blast, I can then go back to one-shotting people without them screaming cheats.

aiming with ft has always being about knowing the difference between where your avatar is facing and where your camera is pointed.

the ft fires in the direction your avatar is facing.

the only bug was with static objects, now fixed.

last patch was a big buff to spvp and a nerf to pve and wvw.

lots of threads on the ft.

FT #1 is an AoE weapon, that works best when aimed at an area rather than an individual. If you are using it to take out a single target keep aiming at the area the target’s in, because the auto-targeting is unreliable.

I especially hate it when fighting an enemy that’s chasing me round in circles and I keep missing with the FT even though the flames are on target. The solution is heavy use of the strafe key for movement so I stay facing the enemy – the resulting movement speed is lower (half the time it’s like I’m backing not strafing) but keeps the enemy in the FT damage zone.

Dont strafe backwards then, walk backwards and face your foe.

If your foe is anywhere within the 425 range of FT #1 and in front of your avatar, it will get hit.

Slopes create a problem: if you are NOT using auto aim, you MIGHT register misses running up and down slopes because your flame jet only fires DIRECTLY ahead. When aim assist ON this does not always happen, you will aim at your FOE regardless of angle. This is counter intuitive to the usual “turn off auto aim and strafe a group” strategy.

all said, just bind tab to “nearest enemy”, turn aim assist on, and just use tab to always target the foe beside you, and learn how to lead/strafe your opponent.

the ft works fine.

In line with the slope idea, keep your camera as level as possible. If you are looking directly at your toon’s back instead of at the top his head, then your cone will cover more ground.

If you are looking down more, this will make your range significantly lower – up to only melee range or worse.

You do not have tilt control with the flame jet, it shoots out in a cone, directly out in the direction you face. the only way it “tilts” is on a slope with auto aim enabled.

Keep in mind the cone is “3d” so it is a cone vertically as well as horizontally, which is why you sometimes hit foes up and down slopes.

I have not yet tested the “follow terrain” camera option.

With the last patch i believe the FT is really close to perfection, we just need a little bit more to make it a viable kit to build around.

Analyzing the juggernaut trait, we see that the FT is supposed to be a semi-tanky condition weapon based on burning. The only things missing to give us that are:

• Make the burn on falme jet proc every 3 or 5 hits. It is a 1 sec burn, that means the max you’ll get is 3 sec burn if you get all of the ten hits(wich never happens).
• Change the Air Blast to Backdraft keeping the extend burn effect. This is necessary because the FT realies a lot on Flame Jet so it doesn’t make sense to push foes away from your attacks. It was good before in order to setup the the flame blast, but that is no longer necessary.
• Make the napalm a cirle that hits while causing the burn similar to the fire bomb.
• Make the Smoke Vent a smoke field that lasts 3 seconds even if it only blinds once
• Make the explosion on the Flame Blast a blast finisher. That will give us some utility and combos with our fields.

We get those buffs and the FT will be a viable weapon.

I disagree completely about backdraft. keeping the foes in the dead zone (not melee not ideal ranged) is how the ft functions most effectively. combined with rifle and net turret cc or shield #4 or PBR, the foe ought never get close enough tohit you nor too far away to be oor of ft#1.

your last two points I support.

You say that because Flame Jet isn’t very strong right now. If you could get more burns from it you would like to keep your enemy within range of your flames.

You ought to spend more time researching who has said what about the FT before trying to tell me what I think.

edit: if that came off rude, soz, but i definitely meant to be short. the FT is not a weak weapon, and I have never supported people’s opinion that it is. there are PAGES of discussion and debate about the FT. I suggest reading it.

edit 2: and more to the point: what part of a cone has the greatest surface area on a planar surface? the base, or the apex?

why would you keep your foe in the part of your cone that is the smallest and most likely to miss when you have a wide swath of flame 425 range from you?

+1 to nakoda’s advice about spamming <Tab> to nearest enemy when using the FT on slopes.

The FT has got a lot better – and it still needs a bit more. Right now it’s really only viable (i.e. adequate, not great) in PvE. In WvW its very limited. PvP I couldn’t, say as don’t play that yet.

Eh actually it depends on what your goals are in WvW. If you are running around trying to solo people, then yeh very limited unless you are very very good(the kind of good where you are that skilled pvp guy that can kill people regardless of what class or build you happen to be running). You can take out necros and rangers and maybe other engineers that’s about it.

On the other hand, it is very good at group support if you running in a roaming group and it is good at laying out a fair amount of aoe damage in a large group.

i’ve been rocking the ft exclusively in spvp since I hit 80 on my engie. spvp was NOT effected by the food nerf, so last patch saw nothing but buffs. a patch or two ago when they fixed the cone hit detection was also a buff.

nakoda.4213:

i’ve been rocking the ft exclusively in spvp since I hit 80 on my engie. spvp was NOT effected by the food nerf, so last patch saw nothing but buffs. a patch or two ago when they fixed the cone hit detection was also a buff.

I might try out spvp if there was no food nerf. I imagine a FT engi would be pretty nasty if they were running a kit refinement super elixir build with health leech food and sigil.

FT sPVP Build

20/30/0/20/0

incendiary powder, enhanced performance
precise sights, fireforged trigger, juggernaut
protection injection, deadly mixture.

rifle, medkit, flamethrower, rocket boots (or cc break of choice), net turret, supply crate.

6pc forge runes, battle (yes i’ve made the switch…it’s a pun, get it? ^.^) or strength sigil.

rampager (i use rampager for cond dmg) ammy.

GuilguiS.2738:

You say that because Flame Jet isn’t very strong right now. If you could get more burns from it you would like to keep your enemy within range of your flames.

1. Put 10 points in Explosives.
2. Trait for “Incendiary Powder.”
3. ???
4. Profit!

nakoda.4213:

6pc forge runes, battle (yes i’ve made the switch…it’s a pun, get it? ^.^) or strength sigil.

I’ve been slowly working on the forge runes. It doesn’t help that people, at least on my server, hate running SOE because it is unendingly annoying.

in spvp they are free.

pve/wvw are different. I would use 2x Lyssa, 2x Water, 2x Monk in pve/wvw, or 6pc Engineer.

edit: this is because gear is different in pve with stats and more trinket options etc.

nakoda.4213:

in spvp they are free.

pve/wvw are different. I would use 2x Lyssa, 2x Water, 2x Monk in pve/wvw, or 6pc Engineer.

I wanted to try the forge rune build in wvw just to see how it would go in a roaming group.

the 6pc bonus would be super handy in a smaller roaming group, actually. and toughness never hurts.

that’s actually why i take it in spvp, for the toughness to tack on wiht the rampager ammy. the buff to burn and prot duration are just icing on the cake and synergize well with protection injection (and of course every attack that burns, including the 6pc bonus).

timidobserver.7925:

nakoda.4213:

6pc forge runes, battle (yes i’ve made the switch…it’s a pun, get it? ^.^) or strength sigil.

I’ve been slowly working on the forge runes. It doesn’t help that people, at least on my server, hate running SOE because it is unendingly annoying.

For PvE I think it’s important to share the wealth.

Run Altruism + Water + Monk for 30% Boon Duration. The reason I say that over Hoelbrak + Strength is because Drop Stimulant is ferrealz the bee’s knees with 15 seconds of Fury on a 20-second cooldown (with 20 points in Alchemy). That extra 10% in Might Duration definitely is not > 20% critical hit chance.

Or just run 6/6 Altruism and give 6 seconds of Fury to everybody.

This post is of course not talking about PvP.

Phineas Poe.3018:

timidobserver.7925:

nakoda.4213:

6pc forge runes, battle (yes i’ve made the switch…it’s a pun, get it? ^.^) or strength sigil.

I’ve been slowly working on the forge runes. It doesn’t help that people, at least on my server, hate running SOE because it is unendingly annoying.

For PvE I think it’s important to share the wealth.

Run Altruism + Water + Monk for 30% Boon Duration. The reason I say that over Hoelbrak + Strength is because Drop Stimulant is ferrealz the bee’s knees with 15 seconds of Fury on a 20-second cooldown (with 20 points in Alchemy). That extra 10% in Might Duration definitely is not < 20% critical hit chance.

Or just run 6/6 Altruism and give 6 seconds of Fury to everybody.

This post is of course not talking about PvP.

Hmmm that does make more sense. Not to mention perma swiftness with drop stim.

1000 + hours as an Engineer, and only recently have I been running WvW with the FT. I’ve been dishing out some very high numbers (4k + 4k + 1.5k) using FT 2 (Flame Blast) — sometimes as much as 16k to 18k spread over two or more opponents. My build is high crit damage/high crit chance based w/Berserker gear. It’s been a great conversation starter with opponents, before switching to the rifle or tool kit. Flame Jet still leaves much to be desired, but it’s not bad for finishing downed opponents or firing thru gates. Retaliation is a bear, however.

I’d say that the FT is finally worth the slot in WvW. I’ve been picking up badges left and right over the last 2 weeks.

GuilguiS.2738:

You say that because Flame Jet isn’t very strong right now. If you could get more burns from it you would like to keep your enemy within range of your flames.

Problem is that Flame Jet and Flame Blast don’t get along too well

Killyox.3950:

GuilguiS.2738:

You say that because Flame Jet isn’t very strong right now. If you could get more burns from it you would like to keep your enemy within range of your flames.

Problem is that Flame Jet and Flame Blast don’t get along too well

they dont? how so?

Dirame.8521:

Any more tweaks and we’ll be looking at an OP FT. At least from my point of view, it works. When they finally fix the double hitting from the Flame Blast, I can then go back to one-shotting people without them screaming cheats.

I hope and pray they do not change the “Double Pop” at the end of an undetonated Flame Blast, This is the only thing keeping the Flamethrower viable for end game PvP. Finally Giving the flamethrower the ability to apply pressure is exactly what this kit needed. I just hope this was intended and it remains, it is not overpowered for it can easily be avoided and the tell it gives is simple to dodge, But that is what makes it reasonable to force opponents to stay in close range (beneficial for rifle) or long range (safer range to dodge.) if Anet does read this I just pray they do not change this.