Or the lack of.
Hello fellow engineers and / or engineer enthusiasts!
It has been made abundantly clear that there’s a severe lack of grappling hooks (a staple in engineering weaponry) in the engineer arsenal.
Why there’s not a skill simply titled “Grappling Hook” in the standard combat format is simply insulting to the engineer class as a whole. Now you may mention the downed state form of a grappling hook, which may be considered the worst downed ability in the game. (Since it basically says “Hey you! Come over here and down me faster”)
This could be fixed by simply allowing the engineer to grapple onto allies, and pull themselves to them. A simple fix but can completely change the dynamics of being in a downed state.
“Now Gikki! What about the actual combat? How could they be implemented in a dynamic way that could possibly be useful?” Easy! And there’s multiple options in regards to having such an ability that could potentially be taken over a weapon kit.
Idea Prime: Normal and Reverse Grappling
-The on use ability would work similar to the downed state version, except it counts as a gadget ability and thus receives trait benefit similar to other gadgets.
-The Toolbelt skill would work similar to the normal version, except it would pull the engineer to the enemy. It should be able to be used while knocked down, similar to other toolbelt skills.
“Why would I possibly want that?” Many of the engineers’ abilities are more effective at close range. The two versions combined would allow for versatile options combined with one another, especially if it counted as a physical projectile. (Such as napalm, grapple, smoke vent, (dropkit) blunderbuss, overcharged shot, toolbelt grapple, Flamer, airblast, napalm, (dropkit) net, hipshot, and so on. I’m certain more experienced engineers can think of their own uses for such abilities.
Further Musings:
-I’ve pondered upon the concept of either having the normal use grapple enemies, and the toolbelt skill grapple allies. Or have it target whatever it hits first but that might make it too confusing. (Even if while targeting an ally it’d only hit an ally, or enemy only target hostiles) While playing around with who it’d target is a fun concept , I believe that being able to pull allies to you would simply lead to abuse and griefing Even if it would be useful to more coordinated teams.
In addition, it makes more sense for the grapple skill to work as a projectile, and the toolbelt skill to work as a leap, but I fear that making it too useful would downgrade the priority of other skills; even if they work in conjunction with toolkits. (Especially Bombkit, Flamer, and even the Melee Kit)
In conclusion, this is simply a random idea I thought up since grappling hooks are pretty awesome, and would prove useful as an engineering gadget. It’s possible that it’s been suggested before, but unlikely to the degree of conceptualization presented in this post. (Unless it is, then I apologize. Would rather not be biased while brainstorming, though)
I’d like to hear other engineers input on the idea. Would it help? Does it fit the engineer class? Is it over or under-powered? Actual thoughtful posts would be appreciated. Thanks for reading, if you did! (Edited to help break up paragraphs, didn’t notice it was so long)