Guild Wars 2

Ever since the latest update I have had the game freeze and crash for me. The error I get in Windows 7 is that the game hangs.

I tried updating my nvidia drivers for my 560 Ti but those made things worse (with a completely new, clean installation too). Then I restored back to a previous date and I’m getting a similar problem.

Yes, it’s viable. Been running it in ranked at high mmr for months now after everyone gave up on it and it wins most every 1v1. I run carrion.

This has been around for over a year I’m pretty sure. Just no one cared about SD beforehand to find bugs about it.

It’s from static discharge. I posted about it awhile back and told devs about it, but I doubt it’ll be fixed. It happens because the proc from static discharge is treated as an extra cast instead of something passive like air sigil, breaking skill queue.

Other bugs are:

• Overcharged shot always puts you in combat.
• “Lock On” only takes someone out of stealth if you currently have a single-target ability in the air. Otherwise they receive the revealed debuff and remain in stealth.

Glad I could help. Keep on graping face, you special butterfly you.

Haha, sorry that you took honest criticism and asking for a real rebuttal as insulting your fragile ego. If you want to bring ranking into it, I’ve been higher ranked with a much higher win % than you in both team and solo queue. Don’t let the door hit your tucked tail on the way out.

While you’re spamming autos from the ledge, I’ll be using all of my abilities with a more rounded build. Don’t bring delusions of high ranked pvp with SD into this conversation. You also seem to have ignored my entire post and refuted not a single bit of it.

PlennyD.1429

I guess my whole reason for sharing wasn’t necessarily positive feedback, or even to say ‘look at me!’ but instead just to show other engi’s that you can get creative with builds and still have it pan out… if you don’t suck. But yeah, the round was garbage from the start but i nearly turned it around cause i have heart. I’m a tough cookie and people are just gonna be jelly sometimes. and also to show people that just cause i don’t use stale builds, doesn’t mean i’m a troll goofing off with mortar

These posts are rife with hypocrisy lol. Let’s be honest here:

• No one posts a video to a public forum with the intention of receiving negative/neutral feedback.
• No one starts a new thread, with one’s own name in the title, and makes it seem like a staunch retort to an inflammatory insult you received here without the intent of garnering attention.
• Engineers did not need their eyes opened to the ability to make kittenty, yet special butterfly builds, which when played kittenty against equally kittenty opponents can still ultimately give you a loss.
• As a good player, it is wrong to assume you’re fine as long as you are performing at the level of your opponents/team. I have done well with power pistols in ranked matches and you don’t see me posting videos to the forums. Why? I knowingly kitten myself and my team, and if I succeeded with the build it certainly was due more to inexperienced opponents than me being some engineer god or my build being some creative innovation.
• The last bits really help you sell the “I’m not a troll”, troll post. It’s funny to watch you try to save face as soon as you receive the slightest bit of honest criticism.

Nevermind, I am just super jelly.

I have a lot of experience with engineer in general and SD builds. I disagree with much of what you have said Sins. Let’s start with a couple facts:

• Unless you run celestial, builds that try to do everything are worse than builds that specialize.
• Static discharge is a specialized build for combos and fast, unexpected burst.

Rifled barrels, when it loses the element of surprise (long overcharged shot), is a bad trait. How long do you estimate the fight is going to take place in that small 200 range window after the first few seconds? The answer is not long, and if you think you can auto someone down off a point you’re wrong. I can imagine you backpedaling or running away to make use of this trait as your opponent closes the gap or just LoS’s. Fighting at max range puts skills like surprise shot, throw wrench, and rifle turret out of range. It is a good idea to learn how to position yourself and kite without the 200 range safety blanket.

As I mentioned before, any experienced player would recognize you have the longer range overcharged shot after the first one (or then you’re not making use of the trait), and account for it. Elixir gun is bad in static discharge.

I put accelerant packed turrets and bunker down in the same group of traits that seem good, but are bad when considered in the context of static discharge. Perhaps the biggest burst combo you can do in these builds involves pulling someone onto your placed turrets with magnet and detonating them in combination with other toolbelts and prybar. Accelerant pushes them out of a good few thousand damage (detonate and its static discharge only hits if opponent is directly on top), and could make you miss prybar if detonate is done out of order amongst the button spam. While nice, it is not needed to survive.

Bunker down I tested but it simply isn’t reliable. The longer the fight goes on, the more likely you are to lose as a glass engineer. Gathering your low radius mines in a specific area isn’t going to happen with a 10 second lifespan and 2 sec cd between spawns. Expecting good players to be pulled into your obvious clump is even less likely. It requires a big trait trade to obtain, and does so for inconsistent damage and lower burst.

Hi Anet,

Is there an option to turn off rewards for PvP? We went from an abysmal system to an annoying one, where I am literally spammed with boxes within bags within boxes. Can you not decide on sufficient ways to provide rewards? Competent game companies would realize this is too much and create a singular reward equivalent to all of this, obtainable with a single click.

At this point I have to assume sheer lack of common sense. You know something is wrong when a player would rather turn off all rewards for PvP, than have to go through the process of obtaining them. I delete the final reward boxes that require more than 2 clicks to go through out of principle (most decent PvPer’s also have all these skins anyway).

Thanks

I have a high MMR. I often played pvp against the players I see going to WTS. I took a break for about a month or two for real life reasons, and now I am disgusted at what I see when I come back. The level I see the average player at is appalling. Multi-capping points, unable to push an advantage 3 or even 4v1 etc. They call me a turret engi for playing a single healing turret. Maybe it’s my fault for playing the “casual” mode.

For the past few months, the leaderboards and ranking system have been dependent on how many games you played. Not player skill. If I would join a ranked match, I would go up against the full teams I see playing in the WTS (after 10 min+ wait times), teamed with randoms. How is that fair?

You’ve implemented a change to the leaderboards/ranking system for how many times now. Very impressive. It has been how long for you to slowly copy a working ladder system like League of Legends? Did you not promise a PvP MMO when you released this game?

I get frustrated when I play with teams who can’t capitalize on me winning 1v1, 2, 3’s repeatedly. I get frustrated with teams who don’t know the basic mechanics of a map like Spirit Watch or Legacy.

It’s a simple question now. Where am I supposed to play? I go ranked, and I get killed vs structured teams like the Abjured. I go casual and I get frustrated by bad teammates and worse opponents. Form a team? Unlikely. I’ve played this game for over 2 years and you’ve yet to form a real PvP atmosphere. The players I see going into the WTS are the good players who have stuck around for years for whatever reason, or the mediocre players who have become top tier due to lack of competition.

Please, tell me.

Not sure if this has been said, or when this started happening, but the Elixir Gun toolbelt stunbreak “Healing Mist” cannot be used in the air anymore. This is not in line with every other stunbreak, and it is still obviously denoted as an instant cast.

Holl.3109

Nope, this is totally different! Celestial, thief nerf, elixir buffs, it got a LOT better and has no real ‘hardcounters’, unlike before.

Totally different, except for those silly traits, abilities, runes, and sigil(s). Elixir B -> Corrupt Boon. I could also argue that celestial is worse for HGH than rabid or carrion, but would rather not because it’s not worth my time.

Holl.3109

I’m not too familiar with all the engi stuff a year ago

I know the search on these forums is broken, but doesn’t anyone ever check google anymore? I mean if you’re going to go through the trouble of trying to create a new build, make a video and mini-guide post…don’t you first look to see if it has already been used extensively in the past before purporting it as an innovation?

Seems like you’re having fun with it though, which I suppose is what matters. What I’m touching on here is a completely different issue.

ArrDee.2573

HGH fell off because of SD teef and power creep RIP ): But the new Celestial Amulet and the buffs to Elixir B/S makes HGH a better build than it was over a year ago where you had to choose between Rabid or Berserker, or to a lesser extent Carrion, and also deal with the super bad RNG buffs of elixirs! Still not an optimal build though!

Pros: Damage!
Cons: If someone looks at you, u ded!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

No offense vee, but I’ve been around as long or longer than you at higher ranks in pvp and I know what metas have passed lol. Don’t need a refresher! That’s part of the reason I said what I said to the original post. I also said what I said because OP refers to it being used in “higher tier” pvp, despite its use and then disuse in pvp over a year ago.

Isn’t this just HGH being played in a meta 2x beyond it? If you want to see better videos of “your” build just look up ostricheggs vods almost a year ago.

Reinventing the wheel.

Lupanic.6502

he is the only one who played FT in sPvP. In my point of view this weapon sucks in sPvP

Haha

The original post was hastily written and while I would rewrite it, the overall message would remain the same.

I do not claim to be an expert in defeating scripted enemies.

But

If the only reason it is now meta is due to a single blast finisher (among many), then I stand by my point. A build that was so close to becoming the dominant meta should not have been dismissed so casually before.

Please excuse my low opinion of PvE though, I should expect more from an area where builds are only evaluated for dps potential and auto-attacking in bomb kit is a valid strategy.

Chaith.8256

Yeah I think Woodstock’s claims mostly refer to PvP, as I don’t have any knowledge about his PvE adventures.

Bingo. I do not claim to be an expert in defeating scripted enemies.

PvP practice NPCs have ruled over the Heart of the Mists for too long. Their ability to instantly block-dodge in an immobilize is beyond compare. The engineer NPC has the elementalist downed state 3 ability as the kicker. This cannot continue. I demand equal fights for everyone!

Dirame.8521

Then again, the reason I started playing FT/EG primarily is because of the increase in Warriors and it’s potency against S/D thieves. I found it easier to deal with both those classes with this spec than any other. But now that changes to the Warrior and S/D have happened, my choice may be outdated now so I might have to re-evaluate my stance.

Build is not outdated. If anything, it is stronger than it was before.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpWrlYxdLseRCbBNqxAqJIyN2xPfgAkUA-TZBBwAAOQAu2fAzFAwzDAIcZAA

Funny thing is, the now-banned “tips and tricks” video where I first posted the build was put out exactly a year ago today.

And the cycle is complete.

Chaith.8256

Ya. There’s a reason that I use 3 traits for Mortar there. Most Engies don’t even know that you can throw a Mortar up on a ledge for allies who can just annihilate everything in a 600 radius.

I’ve had tons of success using this strategy and I’ve been doing this for 2 years so of course it’s viable.

I don’t know man. Have you played it in any tournaments? And who really knows what “viable” is anyway?

Most engineers prefer to drop mortar at their feet because of the 100% success rate. No rolly-polly invisible walls for it to get stuck on when throwing it. And kudos to you if you can outplay the raw damage and utility offered by Acidic Elixirs.

Chaith.8256

bethekey.8314:

Here is the current iteration

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUl0piXX7SyF1LJxIFkuzgekX/2XRFq8nC0H;TkAg0Cno4ywlgLLXOukcNoA

EHHHHH?!

Pretty good, right?

The Gates Assassin.9827

Also, if you truly are a “top engi”, get into a tournament team and prove it. Team Queue is almost meaningless nowadays. Could be random people. Could be lag spikes. Could be AFKers. Could be people testing something new. Could even be people not even trying. Happens all the time. Tournaments is when everyone is REALLY trying to win. That’s when you know where you stand.

I watched your mini guide. The build’s wonky, but you play it well. Refer to the quote from above. The build listed seems to be old, but assuming the skills are the same, I kinda side with Chaith here. That build could be replaced by a better build. You can probably get kills with it, sure, but that doesn’t make it viable.

Gates, the viability of the build is not in question. That is the point of the post. It is about making the naysayers eat crow and giving credit where it is due. As for those videos, yes they are old and from a time when I still wanted to compete in this game. I did play tournaments with the build and it worked very well, even as full berzerker. Here is the current iteration, but honestly it is just about the utilities/amulet/sigils you choose when so many traits are required.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUl0piXX7SyF1LJxIFkuzgekX/2XRFq8nC0H;TkAg0Cno4ywlgLLXOukcNoA

Chaith, I am sorry this discussion got to the point it did. My bringing you into it was in poor taste.

Nevets Crimsonwing.5271

I just thought I’d pop in and say that the reason FT is now meta is because they recently buffed it. Pretty sure your same 3 kit build is now DnT meta because it now has highest pve dps. This was not the case previously.

If the only reason it is now meta is due to a single blast finisher (among many), then I stand by my point. A build that was so close to becoming the dominant meta should not have been dismissed so casually before.

Chaith.8256

There are times when you get stealth pulled. There are times when you can’t stunbreak and of course not random dodge an instant Doom into Dark Path & condi spam. There are times when Mirror Blade + shatter from stealth happens, and a thief simultaneously hops on you from 1500 distance away, etc.

Of course. When these things successfully land it is devastating, but that is not unique to a certain build or class. There are also other ways of dealing with them than the obvious invuln skill. For example, do I see any engineer play around stealth pulls by using jump shot for either distance or the pull-canceling effect? No.

Chaith.8256

Also the lack of a stealth pull, or pull for that matter, makes it lose a considerable amount of initiating ability.

This is one of the things I hate most. There is no doubt that stealth pulling with the Elixir S toolbelt is strong, because there is such little counterplay available to counter the short setup required and the duration of stealth. It made me sad to watch certain engineers suddenly increase in “ability” and competitive relevance just because they learned how to stealth pull, pry bar, and swap kits in sequence. I understand wanting to take advantage of a broken mechanic to perform better, but I don’t believe this belongs in the PvP of any actually competitive game.

Chaith.8256

Your favorite berserker builds always brought Incendiary Powder, Backpack Regenerator, and Elixir Gun sustain. Can you see how having a ton more condition damage and healing power has made that build undeniably better?

I have never run Backpack Regenerator. Having shorter cooldowns on FT/EG skills and knowing how to properly blast fields results in more relevant burst healing and utility over time.

Chaith.8256

3 Kit Rifle builds just weren’t as good as other builds, pre-cele stats.

Matter of opinion and play style.

Chaith.8256

I’m just happy your underdog build finally got some love. But please stop downplaying all the buffs, and continuing the smug attitude about how it’s so funny that everyone’s been dumb not to recognize your now somewhat viable, but heavily buffed builds that you ran in the past when they were in fact, quite sub-par.

Thanks. Flamethrower did need a buff and I am glad it received a few. Have I been able to beat more players now because of them? No. In fact, the nerf to air blast reduced my ability to reflect and chain-cc someone to death. I do apologize if I come off as smug, but after hearing “your build is not viable” so many times after consistently winning (with every form of the build) and being ranked as one of the top engineers with it, I am starting to question other people’s concept of viable. Especially when I see those same people fail to make full and creative use of all of the skills available to them.

Despite the grammatical errors, I feel like Mr. Rozbuska.5263 summed it up pretty well with his first post.

Buckle up, it’ll be a long one.

Chaith.8256

Since you literally called me out by name, (thanks buddy) I figured I’d drop my 2c.

Haha, sorry. You must realize, however, that you do open yourself up to criticism when you’re often cited as one of the best.

Chaith.8256

I have to ask, what combos are you watching “top” engies for? In the serious PvP build, the only field that the majority of Engineers run is Water, and the only blast I have is Detonate Healing Turret. Haha. I work the blast finishers all the time, dunno what you mean. F1 Water field + Jump Shot is done pretty much on the regular as well.

Detonate Healing Turret was the only blast I saw other engineers doing consistently, because, well, it is pretty much done for you. Utilizing the approximately equal cds of your Healing Turret toolbelt and Jump Shot to always get the extra healing was almost never done, but thankfully it is catching on now. If memory serves me correctly, every “serious” PvP build has included Grenade Kit, which also has poison fields. Against thieves in particular, weakness is devastating and I NEVER see someone using their healing turret for a weakness blast in an opportune moment. I have some additional pointers if you’re looking for them.

Chaith.8256

I do like the build a lot, I’ve played enough of Cele NADE/EG/FT. It’s super strong when you learn to blast Napalm 3 times every 30s using 2 Flame Blasts and Acid Bomb. I also like Cele Nade/EG/Bombs. And Cele HgH Rifle. And Berserker air/fire sigil static discharge.

Running Berserker Amulet with EG/FT/Nades is just as unforgiving as it’s always been. It may have lost the ability to jewel swap, but if you’re saying that it’s always been viable, I strongly disagree.
The raw stat budget has been increased by a lot via Cele amulet, making more substantial and efficient builds than if you would have traded 200 stats comprised of Power and Precision for 200 stats comprised of Condition Damage and Healing with an old jewel swap.
Suddenly all the options that point towards hybrid damage composition (most Engi damage traits & abilities) gained the viability granting stats in PvP. E-Gun, FT, Nades, these three kits are so made for Cele stats.

I do not even play Cele with the build normally. Utilizing combos correctly with pseudo-toughness skills like Protection Injection make the higher damage of Carrion + Intelligence better. You are correct in saying those kits are made for hybrid damage. To make a point though, I played the build successfully for months as either pure condi or pure power too. Cele being buffed did not suddenly make this build viable. I also understand that you have tried a variety of builds, just not in ranked games where you were trying to win. There’s a difference between liking a build and actually having success with it.

Chaith.8256

I don’t prefer builds that skip both Elixir S and Tool Kit. That’s because a big complaint of mine is that they often succumb to a single immobilize & focus fire. The lack of a block, invuln, and stealth greatly improve the quality of life for 2+ enemies that are interested in sticking to you, and spiking you.

Running with no Elixir S or Toolkit is a good way to underestimate your opponents ability to perform plays that you can’t just pre-emptively counter with great positioning and situational awareness.

I know you don’t. I also won’t try to contend with your experience in tournaments, but you always have to qualify your statements with (2+ people) for why you need to depend on such outs in every build. You are constantly called out in “Engis R OP” posts for using the “but it dies to focus fire argument” because that is literally the case for every build against knowledgeable opponents. Overall, the play style of you and your team is a big factor in this and that makes it pointless to argue.

Hey Anet,

Since it seems like you can’t handle solving the root problems on your own, let’s just solve the surface ones! Here’s an obvious exploiter using an easy to get map hack for your game. Hope you can ban him if that’s not too difficult.

http://youtu.be/IfXLl21mCEg

Video evidence even! You’re welcome.

EDIT: Before Youtube beats Anet in watching this video and bans it for unauthorized music, the person’s character name is “Chrono Crusader Lux”.

Of course it’s viable. I have run it for the past year and a half.

I find it laughable that the meta build in pve is now what I have been using for over a year, without others catching on. It’s even viable in pvp! I’ve achieved top 20 ranks in both team and solo pvp with a ft/eg/nades build and it’s not even hard. Just learn to utilize blast finishers every time you use one. Even the “top” engis like backpack or chaith fail to capitalize on this when I watch them.

It’s ironic that every single 3 kit rifle build was taboo before the recent buffs to celestial stats, when the same stats were achievable with jewels before that. It’s also a good build for jumping out of maps! But, that video of mine has been removed. It is still possible to jump out of every pvp map, however, I won’t upload another video like that.

Chaith.8256

A reasonable shave would be to reduce the conditions, but that messes with the Rabid builds directly, hitting them even harder, in fact. Shrugs. A shave to the power damage of grenades in PvP would be smarter.

Explain this? It’s not like every engineer meta has been primarily strong condition damage combined with either power (hgh) or defense (rabid with backpack regen/shield/toolkit). 100 nades was an unintended game mechanic gimmick.

The fact is that grenades and bombs are our damage kits. Excluding static discharge, power builds rely on grenades just as much as condition builds do.

Real pros camera aim all of their skills.

Anyone who says there is a set pattern for what you should do in a certain case is wrong. Learn the skills and rotate through them properly depending on the situation.

I don’t have much experience with the Accelerant trait, but I did post something awhile back about Static Discharge being treated as a completely separate, additional skill press. This throws off any sort of skill queue chain you might have going.

I definitely have had rifle skills fail to go off when everything seemed to be in order. However, to test it a little bit, I ran perpendicular to golems and was able to get overcharged shots off when they were at my 9 or 3 (within melee range). So, not to discredit the thread, but it might be a latency issue?

Darksuffer, you are the chosen one.

masskillerxploit.2165

The funny thing is … All the engineers in here that are defending engi all have the same excuse to why engi is not OP. IF ANYTHING GETS FOCUSED BY 2 OR MORE PLAYERS IT’S GONNA DIE. Why don’t you guys get this (chaith…) The only thing that truly stops a focus fire is invuln….wait…. (elixir s) but but but wat if the engi is caught out of position THEY GOT NO TELEPORTS TO RESET THEIR POSITION QQ… um stealth just does the same amount reset as teleports. Also the meta of engi involves nades which can be thrown at 1500 range! If your out of position in the first place it’s cause if player skill issue.

Never go full kitten, kids.

OE, just because you don’t use rifle doesn’t mean it should be used as the scapegoat to quell the claims of “Engi OP”. I find it odd that you even say that, after seeing you fail to find success on power builds time and time again on stream. Also, well said Chaith.

I am actually starting to enjoy this thread.

To address the original question, it is because I made it look just so darn cool.

/dropkit /thread

You bring the Dry, we’ll bring the Top. I miss you, Capricorn.

ITT: Engineers who require elite to win 1v1s.

Seems like a player-side issue. Have you tried resetting your router?

It is really quite simple. Anet’s recipe for the perfect Solo Q team is:

• One disgruntled veteran player, who brings up rotations and leaderboard ranking no less than twice per match
• The “I’m just here for my daily and achievement points”, Eternity-wielding PvE’er
• A “How are you losing an X v Y” dead far-point pusher
• The mute, starter armor, Rabbit who will somehow be boosted to the top of the leaderboards
• The infallible You, a shining example of everything good and skillful in the game

Let’s try the Socratic method:

• Is crate a better solo or team utility?
• Is crate on long enough of a cooldown to warrant its selective use?
• Are there situations where crate is used inappropriately or unnecessarily?
• Is crate so strong of an elite that it can amend mistakes of a poor player?
• Assuming all other things equal between two players engaged in a 1v1, does requiring crate to win say something about player ability?
• Do poor players sometimes misconstrue a win as coming from personal ability instead of using a strong skill?

I really tried to find some value in this, given your title, but I just can’t. You aren’t doing anything special here aside from using a build with good sustain and outlasting the thieves until they make a mistake. In other words, you’re not doing much of anything good; it’s the thieves doing something bad. Usually it’s them not dodging a magnet as the most evasive class in the game.

I understand recording perfect fights is both difficult and unrealistic. However, I see countless times you dodge for no reason, block for no reason, overcharged shot out of range, and waste cds like jump shot for a stealth that the thief can easily outlast. Running a mile away (resetting cds) isn’t actually valid strategy for anything competitive (maybe it is in WvW then?). At some points, fights simply devolved into staring contests. Magnet can be cancelled to bait dodges, and standing perfectly still certainly isn’t a good way of masking it. And using crate 1v1 vs a thief?

You might say some of the above issues I bring up are due to trying to predict when the thief will burst you from stealth. Even then, you should never blow both of your dodges and burn through your only block. Good thieves will capitalize on that.

All in all, video much more appropriately titled “Fun fights with P/D thieves I happened to win”.

It will truly be a dark day in Guild Wars 2 when the Weeist of Vees finishes a sentence with a period.

Chaith.8256

It seems your main point is that you are superior in your ability to create good Engineer builds.

My ability, yes. I am not saying the builds I use are superior in general. For this static discharge build, however, it is. There is always some degree of personal preference and play style that makes some builds work better for certain people.

Don’t you think it’s kind of silly to make that point when ‘good builds’ and full power Engineer are contradictory? All strictly power builds are alternatives to the better, more viable ones.

Unless you denote what is “good” purely by performance in the current meta, how could you say those two are contradictory? If that is your way of thinking, then are you really going to tell me all incarnations of power engineer, team comps and strategies have been so thoroughly tested by the abundant amount of dedicated teams so as to completely write power engineer off? All it takes is one good team or player to shake the notion that something is bad.

I think we both know I am capable of taking what others think is sub-par and making it work at a high level. However, in its current state, I do agree that static discharge falls short of viable if you plan on playing it against the best players. It remains a perfectly good and fun build otherwise.