Guild Wars 2

Hey thanks for the input Jayne!! Very true, I didn’t know having separate toons on different regions was possible, I’ll give that a try! And yeah, my current 3-10pm EST schedule isn’t terrible for NA atm, though a lot of guilds on NA like to START at 9pm EST so that gives me maybe an hour of solid play. Once my work schedule changes to 2nd shift (3pm-11pm) I’ll be playing from midnight into the early morning, which will be a ghost town on NA, aside from people on my same schedule or night owls lol. This dilemma has opened up the possibility of going to an EU server in the hopes of seeing some action that late at night.

I agree most NA guilds and servers are extremely hardcore which tends to suck the fun out of WvW, and T3 up, the matches are fixed, so some change and facing different guilds and servers each week would keep it exciting.

You say it’s quiet from 8pm EST on? That’s not good :o

Thanks for the info Jana! I heard 200 ping was the norm, I wonder if starting a free account there would help me get an idea of what sort of lag issues might occur before making the switch. My work shift is going to be pretty odd and I doubt I’ll be able to find a zerg or havoc guild on NA that runs when I’m on so I’ll more than likely be going EU for some fights (pending a lag test). If I can’t play there due to lag then I’d rather find an Asian guild here and just PPT lol it’d be better than waiting 3 secs for my skills to go off! Again thanks for the in depth answer

Hello fellow WvWers, I play WvW almost exclusively and I’m from the states. I currently play from the hours of 3pm-10pm EST on weekdays and any time during the weekend. I’ll be starting a new shift and will be playing 12am-6am EST once that starts up in a month or so. Both time frames are either late OCX/Prior tp NA prime or SEA prime time.

My questions:
-Would I just be better off on an English speaking EU server?
-What are the fights like on EU?
-What servers are primarily english speaking?
-As an NA resident, would my ping be outrageous, skill lag, etc?
Should I just try and find a late night NA guild?
-Is SEA time mostly PPT (as it is in NA) on EU?

Thanks for any and all responses!

Dahkeus.8243:

- Will the gryo aggro mobs? If so, I can’t see this as having any use in PvE.

Assuming they’re destroyable and targetable, I’d say they’d have an aggro radius, yes.

Something that just crossed my mind after being somewhat disturbed by the fact that this gyro didn’t sound very good, was fuel. Based on how much fuel this has, aka how long it lasts, it could still be decent and just be a shadow refuge/reveal bot “on a short cooldown” based on what the article stated. So it could last maybe 15 seconds, while pulsing and stacking up stealth, then explode, and you can walk around safely in stealth for the duration. So as we’ll find out tomorrow, this gyro could either be really good and disappear after a short time, leaving us with a solid stealth duration, or it could be really bad and stick around for 30-kitten being a marker for our location for AoE bombs and other Engis/Scrappers to reveal us (but 30-kitten of pulsing stealth would be insaaaane in any other game mode aside from pvp so I doubt this is the case). In any event, we have 24 hours left until we find out!

tobascodagama.2961:

Re Sneak Gyro being visible: so are Shadow Refuge and Veil.

Not for the entirety of your stealth duration though, and you can move from that point once the stealth is applied, walking away with a very hefty duration from SR, and a decent duration from veil. The gyro will constantly be the person who has their feet sticking out of the curtains when trying to hide… essentially rendering your stealth useless, and making counter play too easy from: AoE, and other Engis/Scrappers.

Could still be used for a stealth stomp or rez, use its toolbelt skill to totally screw over mesmers and thieves. Just because it pulses stealth doesn’t mean you have to stay in it, but unfortunately you’ll get the revealed debuff(which if you’re going for team synergy can give a thief 200 extra power from one of their traits).

Or you can just choose not to take this particular gyro. I’m looking forward to seeing how it functions in both the PoI and the next BWE, then we can have a more critical analysis!

From a WvW Standpoint
Very excited for the next BWE and some actual CDs/ICD and numbers tomorrow afternoon to get theorycrafting! Words that aren’t uttered often but: Engi is going to be a force to be reckoned with! The trait synergy is spectacular, the stability, might and swiftness, regen, oh my!

Going to be very difficult not to take the flamethrower as a WvW frontliner and have essentially permanent stability and 25x might stacks, swap to hammer, do you r thing, back to FT, unless hammer hits lIke a truck, who knows. Really shaping up to be the Engi that can fill a solid role in a WvW raid environment.

The Gyros also sound very interesting, it’s going to be so hard to choose only 3 utilities as a frontliner, I think Gyros may be better suited outside of the frontline(revealing enemy pick team members from stealth, rezzing/finishing from a distance and providing backline support) we shall see! Numbers and a more in depth view of every thing on tomorrow’s PoI will hopefully not disappoint, on paper it sounds fantastic!

Adamantium.3682:

Mord.9237:

Rage Cube.4573:

Is fine.

Fix Interaction between kits and legendary weapon effects and I will be happy. Unless 5 drone build is viable. Then I will take that and be happy.

Srs… too many people on here saying Engi is bad and needs rework/buffs.

What game mode do you play in? How hardcore? Does your guild support your decision to play Engineer? How did you convince them?

Anyone can come onto a forum and state their opinion of a class, but for said opinion to be valid in any way, we need facts to back it up. So how is your opinion of Engi being “fine” and not needing any reworks aside from aesthetics validated?

It sort of sucks you’re telling someone their opinion isn’t valid and has to be proved. Dude, it’s an opinion. Although it wasn’t my post you ripped apart, here’s what I think…

I don’t think fine means no changes needed whatsoever everything is perfect. That’s a strawman argument to try and suggest OP is saying that. It just doesn’t have to be that black and white. Engi overall is in a pretty good place I think. It performs very well in PvP and PvE. I don’t WvW too much, and I know there are concerns regarding its zerg capability but Engis still make great roamers.

He stated it as fact, thus it became more than just an opinion “Is fine.” His final statement, that we’re all just complaining about Engi needing buffs/reworks further confirms that he doesn’t think it needs anything done to it, but he went into no detail about why he thinks this. While I agree we make great roamers due to our crazy ability to stack burns and survive 1vX(depending), it performs “okay” in PvP, though many of the top teams don’t bother with it, and WvW zerg combat is 90% of WvW, so being left out of 90% of some of the most entertaining combat in GW2 hurts. While we bring the MOST utility in the game compared to any other class, none of it is unique. You’re mediocre at best in comparison to the other classes and can almost guarantee you won’t be invited to any higher end GvG’s or WvW raids due to that proven fact. Outside of pick teams in a GvG(which is still sub par because magnet pull is very RNG), you’re stuck roaming or running around with pugmanders and uplevels.

Rage Cube.4573:

Is fine.

Fix Interaction between kits and legendary weapon effects and I will be happy. Unless 5 drone build is viable. Then I will take that and be happy.

Srs… too many people on here saying Engi is bad and needs rework/buffs.

What game mode do you play in? How hardcore? Does your guild support your decision to play Engineer? How did you convince them?

Anyone can come onto a forum and state their opinion of a class, but for said opinion to be valid in any way, we need facts to back it up. So how is your opinion of Engi being “fine” and not needing any reworks aside from aesthetics validated?

Rhomulos.2089:

Nemesis.6938:

ooh ok… honestly i’d prefer protection or something more defensive…superspeed could interesting depending on the application…but usually its just incredibly situational…
besides that lightning fields arent THAT amazing…especially if you dont have a whirl finisher… and im also really unsure in what way the drones fit into this lightning theme – because it doesnt really seem coherent as a theme so far…but well see

Super speed is niche in it’s defensive use but is overall a huge advantage in a lot of scenarios, especially in PvP. Protection has never really been mainly an Engineer thing, only a color in it’s rainbow of different damage mitigation options.

It can be used both offensively and defensively, and in general is just useful all together. It’s fitting of Engineer’s theme as well as filling it’s own niche just like Chrono taking up lots of Quickness up-time.

^This

Super Speed application could be the answer to every PvP/WvW Engi’s hopes and dreams to feel…well…needed. Engis have so many tools available to them, but when those tools are asked for, they’re passed on from the Engi, because the GWEN class’s tools are shinier, and they don’t need multiple. But having something that no one else can reliably apply, that is useful for a raid/team, the entire “meta”(for lack of a better word) can change.

That’s the speculation, and that they will be AI based in their passive state and use fuel in their active state (their toolbelt skill or some other ability). At any rate, we’ll find out just how useful they’ll be on Friday!

Nemesis.6938:

but lightning combos swiftness not super speed no? will they change that?

Hard to catch but this was said:
ICH: The Scrapper is skilled at locking down enemies and when traited for it, granting super speed to allies. During raids in particular this helps greatly with shattering enemy break bars and ensuring that your team can get where it needs to be.

So it’s assumed that there will be a trait that changes the functionality of a lightning field or just an ability in general to grant allies super speed, maybe one of the gyros throws down a newww field, who knows. I’m very excited for the full reveal on Friday!

insanemaniac.2456:

insanemaniac.2456:

one problem: super speed has a stack cap of 1.

Doesn’t change the fact that it could be 10-15s of super speed rather than the measly 2-5 secs from other class’ traits/skills and/or trapper runes.

10 seconds of super speed, need the raid to retreat? Cya! Want a fast engage before another zerg can react, veil into super speed, surprise!! It may not stack in duration or effectiveness, but the base duration alone could be made extremely useful and powerful.

I like the mention of Rocket Boots, each chain of it being a leap finisher, and making it nearly impossible for us to lose our target, unless we’really CC’d before they run, add that to super speed? Mobility, tankiness, and CC, hello GvG and WvW raids!

Good thing this game isn’t called Name Wars 2… who cares about the name, all I or anyone that isn’t roleplaying with their freetime cares about is the functionality. Did people complain this much about the base names? Dear lord!

I just hope it’s a beefy elite spec and actually allows Engi to bring something to the table in a raid environment (PvE in HoT and WvW), otherwise it will be coined “Crapper.”

Imperator totius Sylvari.9164:

Some very pointless things said in this topic, the answer is no, its currently not viable in high end gvg and even mid tier. It just doesn’t bring anything superior to the table that other classes accel at already, if played really well it can do something ofc, but it is just not as effective as other classes.

I love the engi and I hope the Forge brings something to the table for GvGs

Pretty much /thread. My expectations and realizations were confirmed. I hope the “Scrapper” brings something to a WvW raid and GvG that is actually needed. I think every die hard engi wants to be needed. We have so many tools at our disposal but no one wants to use them. Anywho, the Scrapper is already shaping up to be fun, as long as the Gyros aren’t terrible or easily killed.

Sounds indeed like we’ll be tanky melee train CC bots, I’m definitely looking forward to trying this out!! One gyro is confirmed to roam around curing conditions, that’s already hype!

I guess I need to find the needle in a haystack guild that merits creativity over meta then. 98% of guilds use these “crutch” meta builds and classes, 90% of them have it listed in their recruitment posts that “you must run the guild builds” in other words “forget creativity, we have your gear selection and trait set ups that you must run.” These statistics are half made up and half sadly accurate. Maybe I’m playing the wrong game mode, but PvE is dreadfully boring :/ perhaps with the Forge/Scrapper announcement, we’ll bring some new unique utility that is preferred by guilds 98% of guilds!

Thanks everyone for the words of inspiration and build/vid posts. Having recently unlocked the Chaos Gun skin, I think it’s time to give it a shot, regardless of the meta. I rather like the P/P, D/P build, for escapability while still pumping out some damage, though having D/P at all serves as a reminder that I could have leet backstab crit and more blinds :/ why can’t P/P have SOMETHING!

I’d love to learn more about my Mesmer!!

I’ll join as a Scholar.
My IGN: Illu Shin
I Play: WvW/PvP
My home server: Darkhaven(For now)
Play Times: 4pm-9pm Monday-Thursday, All night Friday, Saturday, and all day Sunday.

Looking forward to learning different builds and honing my skills!!

remnant.2485:

NiBlack.3149:

I have not tested it, but devs stated that regen don’t activate it (but they didn’t say anything about regenerator backpack, soothing mist or guardian regen that probably DO activate it).
Still it is probably one of the worst trait available (well the whole line is kidna bad for healing purposes)

How the new content feels to me:

I have a swiss army knife. Anet says to me, “Hey, we’re going to give you some new stuff! It will be awesome!” Anet takes my swiss army knife and smashes it with a rock. Anet gives me a used spork from taco bell, a butter knife, and a rusty oversized can opener.

I have new stuff though!

Fixed it for ya! I totally agree, I have been away for awhile, but I had fond memories of my Engi, I felt extremely powerful. I returned literally june 24th to find a new trait system and a completely “meh” feeling class all around. FeelsBadMan. I’ll still continue to play it, besides thief which is also fairly underwhelming right now besides their 1 build option(but that’s another forum), Engi is the only class I can enjoy, rusty oversized can opener or not, I’ll continue Yoda flipping around on my Asuran Engi and pooping out bombs.

As for MDF, it’s insaaaane that this is a GM trait.
Engi: “You guys want me for WvW? I gots group heals”
Guardian/Warhorn Warrior: “Sure, I can spec for more damage”
(Blob fight commences, 12% of backpack regenerator heals OMG Mediguard for 14. Mediguard is downed.)
/facepalm, /gkick

Based on Matty’s idea I threw this together Condi Explosive Master I haven’t gotten to try it out yet but it looks solid, though the choice between inventions and alchemy was rough but with the possibility of only having elixir S on my bar instead of rocket boots, making for very limited HGH or condi cleanse utility, I went with inventions!

Bump, no one raids before 9pm EST?

Why isn’t this lovely sounding build in my compilation thread Matty! Mind linking it, sounds right up my alley, with some sick defensive stats from Dire I’d assume

Thanks! I didn’t look at metabattle because it was all Celestial and not updated very often, plus I’ve never seen this in depth of a guide, thanks for sharing! I’ll piece together a build when I get home. Should I shoot for 40ish% crit most likely and probably 2500+ power? How much armor is reasonable and what’s a health pool that you guys feel comfortable with?

So what I’m getting from these responses is:

- Cele is not needed, good news for me!
- Soldiers/Knights/Zerk would be the way to build it without Celestial. Which means power/crit/survivability are the most important aspects.
- Without the extra healing power from Celestial(which adds ~50 healing per attack to signet), it may be worth taking Ether Renewal.
- I read somewhere that you need 1500-1700 condition damage for any considerable increase in condI ticks, which means condi damage you get from Celestial is meh, and thus don’t need any form of condi damage or duration. (Nothing was spoken of about this in this thread but I can start to see which stats I can get rid of from the Celestial bundle).

I have a few questions still, which trait lines are the most important? Can anyone list any sort of rotations for burst/defensive rotation for when getting bursted down?

Kocoff.7582:

Bloodwine.6450:

Now with the Thief feedback thread…

Forum: "Hey Karl, there’s about 7 pages of people who all agree the Daredevil needs the following:

hahahahahaha SO much accuracy in that sentence.

I feel you completely and idk how they will fix Thief and even the DD trait line in 6 weeks. Will there be another BWE before HoT?

There better be, or Druid and Forge are screwed. I thought I read somewhere that there will be 2 more BWEs before launch, I may be delusional. But I agree, with OP completely, Rev is their baby, good luck everybody else, have fun with your half baked elite specs.

Still looking, to clarify: 4pm to 9pm EST is my weekday availability window, so anytime within that time period or even an hour or 2 past 9, as long as I can get a solid 2 hours of WvW fights in, I’m content! Thanks guys!

Yeah, I totally get it Insane, but the fact that we have to be rebellious in order to play the most fun class to us, optimal or not because “GWEN or nothing” is a load of bull. That’s I guess what I’m trying to get at, why should I have to hide in the shadows to try and sneak my Engi into a dedicated guild raid lol why can’t we be reworked or buffed in one of our many utility areas to excel at ONE thing!!

Instead it’s “What the.. was that a flamethrower? Whoa a grenade just flew past my head into that dude’s mouth, who the hell is playing Engi, get back on your Guardian Mord!!” Rofl a complete exaggeration of what my commander is like but come on arena net, why can’t I feel “optimal” at least for a few patches before we’re nerfed again.

So would I take Ether Renewal over Signet of Regen? Or is Signet a staple of D/D builds? If someone would be so kind as to post a WvW build using non-celestial gear, or outline some key stat thresholds I should aim for (i.e: 18k hp, 2300 toughness, 2200 power, 35% crit, 210% crit damage, etc), that would be awesome! I’m also not too sure what to take as far as traits, would nom-celestial gear change them I’m any way?

Hey all, I’m a wealthy, sophisticated WvW player(lol), and I’d like to try my hand at roaming as a D/D Ele. But as any sophisticated WvW player, I don’t want to wait!! The time gate for Celestial gear is kind of insane, is there any other ways to build a D/D Ele without Celestial gear? I have 1 Ascended Celestial ring that dropped in WvW and that’s it!

My questions are:
- What stats from Cele gear can you do without? Is the healing power super beneficial for signet? The condi damage for burning? What stats can be dropped so that I’m not wearing 3-4 different prefixes of gear?

- For a novice, what’s a typical “rotation” look like? What are my offensive and defensive “rotations” or attunement dances if you will?

- Is not having any Cele the dumbest idea ever? Will I still be able to compete in a roaming environment or is it completely suboptimal? Will an actual Cele Ele eat my face?

- Does a Cele Ele’s innate defenses come from the stats of the gear or the traits they choose/abilities they use?

That’s all the questions I can think of starting out, if this discussion isn’t even possible because all stats are needed to make it optimal then I suppose I’m stuck in the time gate. But I have seen some people take Zerker trinkets combined with Cele armor etc, so I’m curious if this build can be “optimal” with NO Celestial gear, and if so, what stat prefixes?

Here’s to hoping I can play D/D in WvW this afternoon after work, thanks guys!!

I agree that there’s aren’t many issues running Engi in an open WvW zerg, unless your commander is a super tryhard, but it’s still frowned upon if they know you have an 80 of any GWEN class. However, with limited space on a team for GvG, I definitely agree, who wants a mortar Engi when you can take a wells Necro or staff Ele? Who wants a flamethrower frontline Engi when you can just slot another guard to spam staff 1 or another warrior for banner? That’s the dilemma I feel Engi is in. We’re decent at everything with tons of utility, but bring nothing unique, and couldn’t outdo anyone else’s role…it’s depressing having all these tools that no one wants. It’s like lugging around a tool chest with thousands of options and the one time someone is like “I need a screwdriver” a Necro has one in their back pocket and says “Here ya go!” before you even get the opportunity. So your tears continue rusting said tools, as you hope for someone that needs them. QQ thanks Anet, now I’m making up depressing fictional anecdotes. Help Engi!

I could make 7pm-9pm, definitely! My issue was that most guilds started at 9pm, which is typically when I’m getting off during weekdays. What days do you raid, what server, and do you have a website I can put an app in on?

Still looking for the right fit!

Hey all, I’m looking for a guild that I can actually participate with. I have each class at 80 and can adhere to guild builds. I’m willing to transfer to any server T3 and below, so long as the community is great and the WvW action is thriving! I prefer to play Engi, Guardian or Necro.

[b]What I bring to the table:[b]
- Experience: I’ve played the game since launch, and have mainly stuck to WvW, I’ve raided with several high end guilds and I’m used to a fast paced environment.
- As I said before, any class available, I’ll learn the build you need me to learn and any tactics you need me to perform, I just want a guild that raids around my available times!
- Any server, T3 or below, I’ll pay for the transfer!
- A mind for theorycrafting. I love sitting on skill builders and min maxing stats, give me a stat mark to hit in 4-5 pools while adhering to the trait layout and I’ll swap gear in and out all day if I have to, it’s a puzzle for me.

What I’m looking for:
- I’d like a guild that participates in GvG or is training/honing builds to do so!
- A guild that runs early NA afternoon(before 7pm EST) or starts late EU time(~4pm EST). I work 6am-3pm EST Monday-Friday so I have from 4pm-9pm EST most nights to raid, if I want a reasonable amount of sleep. Most guilds start around 9pm so it’s been difficult to raid.
- I have a life! I’d like my guild mates to as well, I appreciate hardcore players as much as the next guy and I could probably be considered a cross between hardcore and casual myself. But I have a fiancé, a house and a dog and they all require my time outside the guild, so I’m looking for people that aren’t super uptight.
- Tight knit: I’d like to feel like a tight knit unit, that moves as one, has a good time, but leaves a trail of corpses in our wake.

If any or all of this criteria matches what you see your guild as, please contact me, I just want some solid playtime outside of the NA prime times! Thank you for taking the time to read my post!

Have any engi “mains” been invited or allowed into a decently high end GvG or WvW raid? If so what build are you running!! I’m no god at engi, but it seems to be more than just my lack of leet skeet skills keeping me out of GvG and top tier zerg busting/havoc runs. The entire class seems to get a bad wrap.

I know this has probably been harped on time and time again but I’ve only been back a few months and this seems to be the consensus in every tier of play, from T8 To T1, it’s all about stacking guards, a couple warriors, a couple pick team classes, and back line. All of which we aren’t the “best” at in comparison to the other classes. Are we forever destined to laid back WvW raids/pugs and 0 GvG play? I certainly hope the Forge makes us needed in some capacity, I’m not a fan of being unnecessary and other classes are boring…

With my early work shift, I typically get home around 3pm EST and can play until 9 or 10pm EST if I want to get any reasonable amount of sleep. This is a weird time gap between OCX and NA prime time and it’s difficult to find raids aside from pugs on weekdays or with a guild on weekends. I see what I assume is 4pm-8pm EST as a needed time spot filled(you list it as 4am to 8pm EST but then go on to talk about that particular “4 hour” time gap, so I’m assuming/hoping it’s 4pm-8pm and just a typo).

I’be been looking for ages for a guild that runs during this time period, have you found any to fill this time gap? If so, I hope they’re recruiting, I’d gladly transfer and bring my knowledge and experience with me

Thanks,
Mord

Well with D/D in a sub-par position as well, I guess it’s condi P/D or the “meta”(which in this case means the only playable option) is D/P. Is there a such thing as a kiting/evasion based Shortbow build?

I’m curious about a P/P D/P build, just so sad to believe the loss of one trait can be the bane of an entire fun concept, and 1 of our 4 weapon sets.. I’m going to at least mess around with some builds(I’m sure I’m not the first trying to make it work), but I’m only an average build creator, anyone with a build they’ve tried with some degree of success, please don’t hesitate to post it up!

To the top, for those asking for solid WvW builds!

Curious if anyone has made P/P work in WvW/SPvP since June 23rd. There were posts the day after about ricochet being gone and it being nerfed to the ground, but they’ve since fizzled out or been closed due to nasty outbursts and outrage towards the devs with no true outcome. So I’d like to humbly re-open the discussion, and without pointing fingers at who changed what, let’s see if it’s at all possible to “adapt” and make it work in some form. I still see a couple thieves rocking it and probably having a blast. If you’re one of them, I need build ideas, I’m tired of D/P and miss my gunslinger, and the game should be played for fun, despite the meta right?….right?

Condi or Power?
What other weapon set should I combine with it?
Is P/P truly nerfed beyond recognition?
Can it work without the 10% damage and be used for single target burst?
Did you think this thread was about a burning sensation when you pee, or being pee shy?(figured I’d get the joke out of the way now)

Begin the newly opened discussion!

I know he says the purpose is to stay stealthed permanently, I’m just curious about how he actually downs anyone that’s not AFK, with just traps and caltrops utility/on roll. Unless they have no condi clear at all and spam 5 skills after you’ve stolen in to eat all 5 confusion stacks, eat all your traps, and then run around with torment, I don’t see it happening effectively. I run a P/D trapper rune setup with solid stealth uptime, the same utilities and if I want to score a kill in the next year as they tick down/cure/heal, rinse and repeat, I’ve got to be actively stealthing/pistol 1’ing out of stealth for bleed stacks, and dagger 3 for torment, as my 24s traps recharge. Maybe I’m doing it wrong or attacking the wrong targets. Maybe everyone on my server is prepped for condi roamers, idk.

Why not D/P for stealth stacking/interrupt and P/D for bleed stacking, or is the point to literally never come out of stealth?

Should the sigils be separated on each weapon set? I’m seeing x2 agony on one and x2 energy on the other.

How’s the out of combat mobility, like when you’re running from camp to camp, do you just switch to 25% movement increase signet and switch it back before jumping someone?

I couldn’t find any post where this was described, just that…it’s strong and works well. What makes it work though? You can get near the numbers or close to what full Cele gets you by mixing and matching other pieces together but in the end it looks like an abomination of gear. Healing power from full Cele increases our healing output by less than 100 on our signet and water skills, so I’m not convinced that the “extra healing power” is what makes it shine.

So what is it, can someone explain the math behind it, I’ve considered just running a defensive(2.8k armor, 18k hp) condi/power(600 condi damage, 30% crit, 160% crit damage, 2.1k power) hybrid and knixing the healing power. I don’t have a full set of Celestial and I don’t feel like enduring the time gate to make it in order to test D/D. Please help analyze this for me, experienced Eles

I like all the positive feedback, I really hope it’s done right. I would like to see an active playstyle for them as well, even though they changed AI, my concern is that they’ll be useless for anything but roaming in WvW if they have a healthpool. If they’re a static summon like a ranger pet, make them elusive, or ignore anything but direct damage, they’re flying over necro wells, and guardian symbols etc, I’m scared that they’re going to be awesome and a large part of our elite spec and that they’ll get cleaved down instantly in melee range (initiating a zerg with our giant hammer in the front line). Their usefulness will only be seen in SPVP, PvE and roaming WvW at that point, just like BM rangers and minionmancers if this is the case.

The fact that we’ll be one of the last released elites and thus see 2 less beta weekends at least is concerning too, that’s a good point. So far the elite specs have been under tuned their first week and have received damage buffs already after the first BWE. I hope The Forge is pretty well polished upon its release or we’ll be experiencing bugged traits and under tuned damage for god knows how long.
Please Anet, I want to main my engi on the battlefield once more!

Conncept.7638:

The biggest change to player controlled AI just happened last patch, and it doesn’t look like any of you even gave it a chance.

I’ve played for hours these last few days on my minion necromancer and everything I attacked, they attacked, if I broke combat they broke combat, when I told them to use an ability they immediately used it on my current target. They never aggro’d anything I didn’t command them to and followed right on me. The only problem that’s really left is that they can switch targets too frequently and easily, like when you want to quickly pop a disable or something on a secondary target.

It’s been a long road but minions work fine now and I’ll welcome them if they are part of the forge.

This doesn’t change the fact that cleave damage takes them out in mere seconds while they sit on CD for x amount of time, reducing your ability to do much of anything during said CD :/

insanemaniac

you barely know anything about the spec and youre already saying the sky is falling?

I never said the sky is falling man, I’m simply speculating on the image, and given Anet’s track record, I’m fairly worried that they’ll be AI minions that can’t stand up in a zerg environment. To your other point, yes you don’t have to use the utilities they give you, but if they make these “drones” a vital part of the build, they’ll more than likely stick us with a minor or something that becomes wasted. This is all speculation, and at the same time excitement. The Forge could either bring us back to greatness, or crush all our hopes of being “meta” in a WvW environment.

2 new builds added!

A signet would be interesting, or even a utility skill, like “Call in 3 drones to attack your target for x amount of damage” or something, like you said, anything but AI…