My ideas for increasing the usefulness/popularity of engineers: These are some pretty extensive changes that are unlikely to happen but would make a huge difference.
1 Kits:
Overview of change: Combine kits and gadgets into one more effective solution. Gadgets just feel too situational and weak to take up a position when you almost need to have 1 kit and 2 elixirs (or 2 kits and 1 elixir)
How a kit should work:
Select “Grenade Kit” as ability 7
After using 7 “Grenade Kit” becomes “Throw Mine”
The weapon swap option appears and when used you switch between your current weapon slot and the grenade kit. This stays in effect until another kit is selected or special item is picked up.
Suggested combos:
Grenade kit: Throw Mine
Bomb kit: Slick shoes (renamed oil bomb)
Tool kit: Personal battering ram
Flamethrower: Rocketboots
Elixir gun: Utility goggles
Med kit : Something new
This would give use the utility of these gadgets while making the “No weapon swap because you can use kits” make more sense, these kits become a weapon swap without losing the utility slot as well.
Some modification to kits:
Bomb and Grenade kit need some blast finishers in there. If you are building kits right now you have no finisher options and that just feels wrong.
Bombs should have a larger base radius for explosions. Requiring to get the trait to even be able to use the kit sucks, have that trait be a “If you want more aoe” and allow us to get more damage if we are going for a single target style build without having our 1 miss if the target repositions at all.
Flamethrower needs some burning added into its base attack, attacking a target with a flamethrower and not burning it is wrong.
Elixir gun: Some damage increase to make it more beneficial. I feel like I lose utility and damage switching from p/p to elixir gun.
Med kit/tool kit: No opinions, dont use them.
2 Elixirs:
Summary: Elixirs need more reliability, the RNG level with them is just too much to make them reliable, to keep this level of RNG it feels as though they should give WAY more benefits.
Elixir H:
Needs to be a situational boon, something like:
If target health < 50%: Regen.
else If target out of combat: Swiftness.
Else: Protection.
Elixir B: Tossing this should give the target a boon based on their highest stat, guaranteeing something they want.
Elixir C: Should have direct condition conversions. Poison > Regen, Slow > Swiftness, Blind > Fury etc.
Elixir S: I’d suggest giving an effect based on the targets armor, stability for heavy, evasion for medium and stealth for light.
3 Turrets:
Turrets are just too weak to be of any use. They are stationary, destroying them gives no benefit, picking them up gives no benefit, they are slow, and their damage does not feel to scale off gear.
Picking up a turret should replace your weapon with a 1: Place turret skill allowing you to move them so long as they stay alive but stopping you from attacking while doing so.
Turrets should prioritize any target you have been attacking for x seconds, giving more control over what they are doing.
Destroying a turret should give a benefit, i’d suggest some kind of effect field where they were.
Flame: Fire
Thumper: Smoke
Healing: Water
Net: Lightning (To give it to another class other than ele)
Rocket: Dark
Rifle: Light
This gives strategy to blowing up turrets or picking them up to move them, then they need a bit of (or better) gear scaling and they are set.
4 Elites:
The elites are garbage, Mortar had pitiful range and is easily killed, Elixir X is too random, and supply drop gives you 3 turrets which aren’t considered good enough to take as regular utilities but this is the only decent option so everyone takes it.
What I would change:
Elixir X should be given a different name, dropped down to the ~6 skill point ability line, and turned into just a brute from that increases damage output. Elixir U should become the elixir X, last a bit longer, and give the opposite of the debuffs it currently gives. This would feel elite, you just unleash crazy damage for a short period.
So Elixir X: Drink elixir X gaining quickness and Vigor, Protectoin, or Stability for x seconds.
Elixir U: You begin to rampage, increasing size and base power.
Mortar: This should be replaced by something like the char cannons in their starting area. More interesting object, and make the person manning it take no damage until the turret is destroyed. The attacks are ok, but it should really out damage the grenade kit, which it currently doesn’t have a hope of doing. (Some say it should damage structures in WvW, i don’t play that side of the game so have no input there).
Supply drop: If turrets get buffed up a bit like I suggested should still be good.
(edited by ZestyPhresh.4783)