Guild Wars 2

I’ve been using a Power Hammer Scrapper build for open world since I finished unlocking Scrapper. Healing Turret, Flamethrower, Bulwark Gyro, Slick Shoes, Stealth Gyro. That gives you a stun, a knockdown, aoe blind, 2 blocks, water fields, damage reduction, a reflect, cc break, and stealth is OP as an escape.

Inventions > 3 3 2
Firearms > 3 3 1 (kinda FT campy)
Scrapper > 2 3 3

Unlocking Stealth Gyro is probably the biggest advantage to Scrapper for mapping. IIRC I was using a Static Discharge build before that.

You just have to pay attention to what enemies there are and what they do. Like with those problem ranged snipers, I would drop Hammer 5 on them and then leap, and slick shoes everyone else or FT knockback and blind while I burn him down.

But I don’t really play other characters much so idk/idc how it compares to other classes.

They might not be full kits, they might just be a one-off utility skill like Turrets or Gyros with a toolbelt thing.

If you can get comfortable with the controls then I would say boost an Engineer, but if you can’t get used to a kit heavy build and swapping kits every few seconds then I would stay away. It does take a while to get used to and doing PvP will help your PvE gameplay, but it can be a lot of fun if you stick with it.

Personally I found all the kit swapping to be significantly smoother when I got my G600 mouse (I have my utility slots bound there). Otherwise make use of QE, R, ZXC etc.

The only problem with the Engineer is that it makes every other class in the game boring to play.

I ran Medic Gyro for a while, the long water field and the 3 leap finishers on hammer 3 is pretty awesome… but now I find having the condition removal from the Healing Turret to be more beneficial for doing the DS meta event. Plus the water field the toolbelt AND the turret still let you get some leaps in it’s just a lot clunkier.

I also do use Juggernaut and Mass Momentum and just sit in Flamethrower most of the time, swap to hammer for some burst with 5>3>2. I also do this because I am lazy and don’t want to play grenades for event farming.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Engineer_-_Condition_Grenadier

Scroll down to the “Optimal DPS Rotation” bit.

I’ve played my share of MMOs in the last ~10 years and HoT is some of the most fun I’ve ever had in an MMO. Verdant Brink especially, I have 100% exploration and I still find little jump puzzles and hidden stuff when I’m there.

It’s a chore to level if your short term goals are locked behind Mastery. Like me for instance, I’m trying to get my Scrapper ascended collection hammer (I don’t have an ascended weapon) which requires higher levels in HoT Mastery lines.

But I understand that it is meant to be account wide, and the reality is I am doing this for ALL my characters at the same time. Most of the progress I have made on my Scrapper collection is also progress for my Revenant and Mesmer and Ranger etc.

The best way I found was to do the DS meta from the start and use the group finder to get into an organized map. You’re still looking at ~4 hours per level that way but you’re also getting a ton of loot and you can switch up which lanes you do, and I go do other stuff for fun like finishing my map exploration or PvPing on my Reaper because that’s stupid fun.

I don’t mind it, I just don’t understand why it even exists? It serves no purpose to the Revenant, nobody is trying to look at the ground to see what facets they have up. So the only thing is as a tell in PvP… but no other class has to deal with that.

Oh though I will note that if you get a G600 or Naga 2014 and bind your utilities/kits there it becomes a LOT smoother to play an Engineer. It was like night and day in playability for me once I got used to it (do some PvP, it helps learn your right quick).

Kit builds (and constantly swapping between them) are what you need to use for higher level play, in PvP or Fractal meta. There isn’t any getting around it, they’re a high skill high reward class. They’re more complicated to play to do on-par DPS with any other class. Scrapper didn’t change anything in that regard.

But for open world HoT you can use lazier builds for sure, like camping Flamethrower with gyros.

Just chiming in to say I have the issue as well on my Scrapper. 100% VB and AB and no rewards or collection progress.

Had 100% before HoT, however I did NOT have the Silverwastes maps fully explored.

Not really, but GW2 doesn’t do anything to hide the grind like WoW or other MMOs do. The gear treadmill in WoW is a “grind”, but it doesn’t feel as daunting or as unrewarding as the horizontal/cosmetic grind(or realistically, it’s all just a gold grind) does in GW2.

You feel like you accomplish something in the short term with WoW so it’s easier to keep doing the grindy stuff like the Legendary ring quest. It’s harder to motivate yourself to work on a Legendary or even Ascended gear in GW2 because there’s no progress feedback within the game.

It was probably one of the best features of WAR in PvP, and I’ve always missed it in every mmo I played since. Couldn’t really care less about NPC or collision in PvE though, that just creates problems.

Try using SweetFX, not only is SMAA awesome but there are some configs that alter the lighting. I know not quite what you’re talking about, but it does help.

Heimlich.3065:

Adahilia.3678:

nikkistar.1409:

Heimlich.3065:

Maybe it “happens” to every server that SBI faces, but it’s not something that I witnessed on YB in any other week of Season 1.

I’ll concur with this statement. As much as I wvw, last week was the first time I have ever seen an opposing server have trolls that transfer over to grief. That’s not to say, there hasn’t been in the past, but they may have been less obvious in their endeavors. Maybe this time, they were more blatant about it and didn’t care. Who knows? I just know, this is the first time I have ever encountered it myself.

In the 6 months I’ve been playing(only been on SBI), I have only heard of this happening 4 times and that has been with the SOR match, week 1, 6, 7 of league. What I would like to see instead of blaming an entire server for the actions of one or two people is for Anet to implement an easier and more effective way to shut these people down. It misrepresents those who try to play it clean, no matter what server you’re on.

I definitely agree with you on your final points. It should be possible to /report a player specifically for wvw-griefing (in its many flavors), it should be harder to do in the first place, and ANet should penalize players for doing it (including penalties on their primary accounts).

A week-long lockout on WvW participation following a server transfer would inhibit some griefing and level-locking siege use and blueprint-deployment would force the griefers to change tactics (i.e. require character level 30 before you can use siege and 40 to drop blueprints).

Perhaps WvW rank requirements to deploy siege too. All the griefers that Ive seen the last week or so were accounts with less than 500 achievement points, so they werent transfers they were dummy accounts(I am sure there are also transfer griefers).

The one we have in this matchup, Star Playa(not to be confused with Star Player), is actually clever in that he wastes siege on things in places that a noob would do so you cant prove it with screens really.

Maybe some live moderators who can see without being seen, and are not actually playing the game, would be nice during tournaments.

Lot of respect to YB for stomping SBI this week. I stated previously Im a new transfer to SBI from TC so Ive been able to look at things as mostly an outsider, but I have been in WvW regularly this week.

I got talked in to transfering to SBI by some friends(not that I regret it, it was stupid of me to pick TC when all my RL friends were on another server) stating SBI was up and coming in WvW and doing really well. This week showed me that SBI had been relying on karma-train player numbers, and when put under pressure the server broke.

The core WvWers were there but the community seems fragmented due to, I believe, quite a few transfer guilds and startup guilds trying to prove themselves individually. There was not much working together between maps, I saw a lot of “Too many Yaks/EB here, going to another map” by people(including commanders) and the strategy seemed to be to take things where there were no YB or EB.

I think this was good for SBIs WvW community in the long run, and I look forward to more cohesive strategy in future matchups.

-Note that I have never been into WvW much before, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Azure.8670:

cant check my traits at the moment but im using a bomb/rifle/SD build. I never liked nades, theyre prob good but I dunno. I love FT but never use it in PVE. I get downed a lot and feel like im not contributing I dunno what it is. def need build help

I liked FT/EG for PvE, I also hate grenades.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqyaX3y3F17IxYGde0gZU37KSR+bMA-jACBYLChEEgkIAJfFRjtIsIasqFYqSER1eDFRrGA-e

I dont remember who or where I got the original build to give credit(its here on the forums somewhere), but thats essentially what I like to use. Might stacking/group support and Power/Crit damage build.

Celestial is not required really but I like it. Swap Rocket boots situationally, can change Invigorating Speed and Leg Mods for other traits, can move 5 points from Firearms and Tools to other places if desired.

GabGar.4962:

I wonder when SBI will start to admit that they lost because they dont have enough people loyal to the server, to despite the overwhelming odds most of their people just want easy victories and roll over groups with big blob zergs.

Take away the first place, put a heavy and organized fight and SBI is crying in the forums…

There have been a lot of SBI putting a lot of hours and effort into this week and I dont want to take away from what theyre doing, but you are right. A lot of it was because of the 2v1, and Yaks resorting to outright cheating. It’s difficult to get your casual/pug population motivated when that stuff happens. I’ll admit, if I had got into the ESO beta that’s where I would be.

Granted, I’m a transfer from TC last week so I don’t have any particular loyalty to SBI or any guilds yet.

However, I’ll just leave this here… note the times. 2v1 is bad enough, but then you also do this kind of thing: http://imgur.com/a/XIDnC

I have been enjoying my roamy healing bomb build, and I find things to do in a large zerg though I do feel somewhat ineffective in that situation. But I generally stick to 5-10man groups and feel that this is where I make a difference.

If I wanted to be a zergling Id play something else in WvW, or be a portal bot on my Mesmer. I dont, so I dont.

I think Charr, especially with their racials and cultural technology. Make the smallest Charr you can so the running doesnt look like youre floating around, and see how it feels.

I cant get in to Asura personally. Even if they made some sort of Technomage class that fit them, I would likely make a Human one. Thats just me though.

What build? And does it just feel bleh, or you find it ineffective?

Alternatively…

Colors are all wrong because I havnt used the skin yet, but you get the idea. Dredge is a bit too “heavy” for anything but a Charr imo. Not a human either, but close enough :P

I am unable to Join a party member(friend) for Tequatl. The “Join In” option does not appear and I am stuck in overflow, regardless of if I have guested to their server.

This has also been happening with the last few content updates, like that clockwork invasion on any maps I tried, and has resulted in me just not bothering with the Living Story(or the game in general) lately.

Is this a feature ANet has disabled, or is the game bugged?

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

The different being that Mesmers can summon clones and Phantasms in seconds and most have like 16 second cool down. This would be impossible on Engi Turrets due to all the long cool downs. Its an interesting idea, one that wont work if the cool downs stay the same. Damage would be an issue as well, currently i dont think they are anywhere near strong enough.

Depends, they could be stronger effects to make up for the longer cooldown. Blast Thumper for AoE knockdown, blast Flame for AoE blind, etc. Or have them create combo fields on blast/death, or give them a sort of static discharge when killed, stuff like that.

I spend most of my time in meleeish range as FT/EG support, but it doesn’t have that melee “feel” to it that Toolkit does. Rocket Boots help a TON, and I run with Pistol/Shield.

ANet has said they could/would add new weapons to classes(not a confirmation), so there’s some hope for a hammer or mace :P

It’s definitely an issue that was created with the last patch, and ANet needs to fix it. It’s very obviously an exploit, and I hope everyone participating gets a suspension at the very least.

Does anyone find the bird sounds annoying?

So not all of them are quick and easy to do. Its a good thing you only need like 6 for the meta and are in no way forced to do achievements you dont want to do.

If the devs who made S/S had some kind of massive ego complex then there wouldnt be just one, tiny, unnecessary achievement – the whole meta would be disgustingly grindy(which it is not).

locoman.1974:

Hmmm… according to the dev, the rapier might be coming in next patch, and now we have the information for the next patch up, it says

“Watchwork tech is the latest and greatest innovation in Tyria. Watchwork parts can be used in new crafting recipes or as currency in the Crown Pavilion to buy items like new rune and sigil recipes, Watchknight Tonics, or the new Sovereign Weapon Set. You might even find the recipe to assemble a Watchwork Portal Device, allowing you to create a personal portal!”

… might it be that the rapier is part of this set?…

That would be kinda cool of them not to make it part of their stupid RNG game like the Aetherized weapons are, but I wont get my hopes up. Id be willing to buy a rapier for my Mesmer in the gem store for sure, but not if its not a sure thing because I dont gamble or support online gambling.

Xavi.6591:

Is there a link to the rapier skin?

[&AgGzqQAA] pop this into chat ingame

That would make Logan sooo much more interesting, but shes kinda stuck being alive because of story.

Maybe attempted assassination where shes near death and Logan goes nuts? Because he would.

Brave Sir Robin.3410:

Even though this is a PVP related question, I’m posting here because it’s directed GW2’s biggest population base (hence this forum) and their interest (or not) in PVP (not including WvW). Currently the PVP population seem pretty small and alot of people in that community are wondering how to get more people in and interesting. Wondering how many of you:

1. Have tried PVP? If not, why?
2. Tried it and liked it or not?
3. Are active PVP players?
4. Done both WvW and PVP: which do you prefer and why?

I have. It was ok. I play a lot of CoD and stuff like Last of Us multiplayer already though and those games do PvP much more interestingly… and I have them if I feel like doing PvP. There is just no point to GW2 PvP and none of my friends do it either so I have no reason to do it myself even for fun.

I do like WvW though, even if I do it infrequently. Its as pointless as PvP but its long-term, dynamic, and the PvE bonuses make me feel like Im contributing to my server.

My issue with sPvP is that they went too esport and segregated it from the rest of the game too much. If there were PvE rewards or PvE experience for doing it then I would probably at least play casually. Or like you know, having GUILD WARS back like GW1.

If you see people doing event chains you should join in. You dont need to group up and the story for them can be entertaining and events are better exp then just doing hearts.

But jeez yeh you can level just by running around picking flowers, though that would get pretty boring :p

Theyre going for around 50-70g per skin on the TP last I checked.

No rapier. Way to take out all the enthusiasm I had for this update ANet.

Im gona go play SMT4.

Vayne.8563:

Tarnished Coast has a huge PvE presence (which one would expect being the unofficial US RP server).

Giving another nod for TC. I always get overflow in LA during peak hours, relatively active Orr events(was a boon for leveling my Mesmer the last few levels), always running into people in every zone on my alts.

Though really you can basically take any of the servers high up on the WvW charts and get a pretty decent gauge for population health.

They need to drop the prices on GW1. I know quite a few people who would pick up GW1 if they could get all 4 games for ~$20, or like $10 per, but itll never happen at the current prices. Im sure there are a lot of GW2 players who would do the same… maybe a discount if you own GW2?

Of course its probably more to do with NCSoft than ANet.

Edit: This is really more in general. I dont see Valve touching the prices with sales any time soon, but Id gladly eat my own words.

Staff works really well for circle kiting, because you can mostly just auto attack and get fury and teleport back with it. Its what I used until I was comfortable with going Sword/GS. The issue is if there are mobs around you dont want to pull because of attack bounce, but almost every time Im circle kiting with the Staff the bounce works great on multiple mobs.

Blink and Decoy work well for me in places I cant maneuver well in, I just go back and forth through whatever mob Im fighting.

Theres also no shame in running! If you overpull you do have the afore mentioned escape skills, I also use a focus offhand and Temporal Curtain helps a lot with getting away(you can double tap it to yank mobs to the ground for a second too).

Greatsword 1 looks epic on my Mesmer with the Zenith skin, shes holding together the thing WITH HER MIND as she holds it up and twirls it WITH HER MIND and then shoots freaking lazers out of it WITH HER MIND.

But on all my other characters its just ridiculous, especially my Engineer. I mean the weapons themselves look cool but they just dont mesh well with most classes and animations so I generally wont be using them.

Rocking a Mesmer alt right now(not into PvP), and its different but has a similar kiting playstyle to my Engi.

I occasionally use Mortar on the ice walls for Claw of Jormag so that I can feel special, but otherwise the only elite worth using is Supply Drop :/

Youre just going to have to wait for it to go live and check it out, because until then you dont have any tangible feedback since you havnt done it yet. Try not to discourage yourself before you even get to it, but definitely start up another discussion if you find it needs tweaking. I dont think its going to be that bad for small groups, but if it is ANet will probably make some changes.

I dont care if theyre light as a feather, I agree with OP – it looks bad.

Cantha is one of the most memorable gaming environments for me, even among other Asia themed settings. Please if you guys revisit the city, DONT take away the mazelike corridors! Or at least not completely, because its what made the city feel “real” and added to the exploration.

Maybe a trait thats like “Strong Arm: Grenades now travel faster but can no longer ground target and have a smaller blast radius” or something. I wouldnt use it though, because the strength of grenades is the ground targeting.

Basically a rifle will give you a lot more control, but I did just fine with pistols.

My Engineer has a small temporal rift on his utility belt. On the other side of that rift is a factory of Dredge workers who are hard at work making new turrets to replace the ones that Im constantly blowing up having technical difficulties with.

showatt.9413:

To the OP:

It’s not pointless if they actually plan on expanding it.
Crafting/acquiring furniture are some excellent way to kill time if you get bored of all the killing. Also a place to display trophies and the added immersion are also nice perks that comes with housing.

However, if all they’re doing is adding a house where you cannot change or can only change according to a template, then it is pointless.

Hawks.5736:

If its for vanity reasons, displaying trophies and story choices etc, then theres no problem with it. People will just /afk there instead of the middle of LA at most.

If they put in crafting hubs and bank/TP then it WILL cause problems.

How? please elaborate.

About the problems? Most people(not all) only go to cities because of the bank, TP, and crafting. Putting that stuff into instanced housing would take people out of Lions Arch, which is bad for an MMOs social hub and community health.

Especially now that theyre going to add a group finder tool, when finding groups is another major reason people congregate to LA.

Thats all assuming they add instanced houses like the Home Instance, and its pretty anecdotal on my part.

Edit: Im not saying player housing is bad, just that putting the social hub necessities into that player housing would be bad for the games health.

Healer-y “Support”? Ele, Engi, Guards.

Other classes have been covered well, though Engineers can(in terms of support): aoe regen, aoe heal, water fields, fire fields, epic condition removal, CCs.

If its for vanity reasons, displaying trophies and story choices etc, then theres no problem with it. People will just /afk there instead of the middle of LA at most.

If they put in crafting hubs and bank/TP then it WILL cause problems.