Guild Wars 2

The trait is basically a version of Feedback

It gives engi more utility in dungeons/fractals/zergs. Unfortunately, the focus is the reflect bubble, not the turrets. This will not help turret survivability much, so turret builds will be in the same place. We’ll be able to reflect for days with this trait, but only if tied to turrets (sadface).

Ranger pets are no brainer easy in open world. In dungeons though, they need to be micromanaged to ensure they don’t die.

Warrior vs Guardian party buffing: Warriors will buff offensively with might and fury and the like. Guardians will buff defensively with aegis and regen and reflects and the like.

Both are pretty boring to play imo; nothing like Engineer. Although, while gameplay is pretty boring with warrior, having access to so many weapons makes build variety fairly large.

OP said “Also, it seems kind of strange to me that half of the classes in the game are considered bad when it comes to dungeons. For a game that is so focused on character and world investment that seems like kind of a big flaw.”

It’s not that there are bad professions in dungeons, they’re all quite viable. It’s just that there are a couple that are preferred for speed runs since they bring optimal damage with the best party buffing. A guardian/warrior/Mesmer group brings offensive boons, defensive boons, and utility respectively. But every profession can do these things, just not as optimally in zerk dungeons speed run situations.

Ele can might stack like a mofo, group heal wonderfully, and unleash some hard hitting aoe. Engi can too. But mob mentality, ignorance, and greed often dictate what’s acceptable in any given situation. Play what’s most fun.

Deroy.2457:

It was a chore in the beta, it was a chore when it was released and it still is a bloody chore. Why is it a chore? For starters, only three zones in the entire game have enough variation and contrast to provide the player with a feeling of wanderlust. Namely Straits of Devastation, Malchor’s Leap and Cursed Shore.

The three zones in Orr focus entirely around dynamic events whilst every other zone almost exclusively focuses on hearts. Yes, there are dynamic events in the lower class zones, but they are nowhere near the quality or the quantity of Orr.

I can wander around Orr and I’ll be guaranteed within a couple of minutes to run into something interesting to do. But whenever I wander throughout Kessex Hills, Snowden Drifts or the like I can wander for over half an hour and the only things I’ll encounter are the dreadful hearts.

First off, Orr is probably the worst when it comes to variation & contrast. It’s Risen everywhere, non-stop, dead island. As opposed to something like Queensdale which is vibrant, has a variety of enemy types, terrain, and DEs. And hearts are there to guide you, give some nice XP, and give you more reason to explore a zone fully.

Secondly, the only reason Orr has more constant DEs is because there are more players there. If more as many people were playing in Kessex Hills as Orr, you better believe there’d be non-stop DEs.

And third, leveling isn’t a chore. It’s probably the easiest leveling I’ve done in any MMORPG. It’s linear, which is crazy nice, not having to spend hours and hours getting that last 79-80. Not to mention that leveling is essentially the same thing as playing any other zone after 80. That’s the whole point of auto-scaling. The way this game was designed, if leveling is a chore, then I don’t think this is the game for you.

Oh, and you do know you can level by doing dungeons (crazy XP), WvW, and crafting right?

I have to agree with ellesee…no more AI controlled “pets.” I’d rather an elite gadget or kit.

The money & time investment to acquire ascended gear is substantial enough to disallow automatically getting dups. You’re asking for free gear. Skins sure, that’s just cosmetic. But you want free ascended gear for alts. That’s a pretty heavy request.

This is the part of the update I’m not enjoying. Pushing traits back to 30 is a mistake. It’s a giant step backwards for any mid-level player and demoralizing.

And imagine my dismay when my level 76 Mesmer suddenly can’t use the GM trait she’s been using for a week. Gated until 80. Another step backward.

For a player with a single main toon, this update is fine. Gives the player 5 new challenges and then boom new traits. But for someone like me with tons of alts at 80 and below, it’s a lot of work just to get the <80’s back to where they were Monday, and repetitive to unlock the new GMs on my 80’s.

This update discourages power leveling alts. I have a couple of alts that don’t have any map completion in Orr because it’s always been dead. And others with very little map completion throughout Tyria. Now to level an alt you have to either run the challenges all over the map or pay ridiculous prices for traits. I was hoping the prices would be lower so you didn’t feel obligated to run the challenges. Now it’s a must or you’ll be broke. Actually, due to the SP cost on top of the gold, a new player HAS TO run the challenges because he’ll never have the extra SP laying around to buy them. Either that or run with no utilities.

Probably zero. I have 8 characters, 4 of them 80s, and only 1 of them fully geared out with multiple sets of exotics, and exactly no ascended/legendary weapons. I have almost all crafts to 400, artificing at about 425.

Unless they make it much cheaper to acquire ascended armor than it is for the weapons, I don’t see myself having any. The grind for a single ascended weapon’s mats (plus what was needed to get to 500) was a bit much for a game with supposedly very little vertical progression. And I can’t see crafting 6 armor pieces being a walk in the park.

If all you’re after is the skin, only 1 will be necessary. But if it’s like the Spinal Blades and you’re hoping to craft an ascended piece for all of your toons, then I’d suggest making a few. I have a feeling that’s the way this is headed (I hope).

I think the general concensus of the Spinal Blades was that they were very well liked and the method for advancing the back item was cool, but since the whole evolution dropped at once it felt grindy. This new chapter by chapter scavenger hunt feels like an improved way to step-by-step build an ascended back item.

Exotics aren’t hard to obtain:

As you level your character, even your first character, you can run dungeons and earn tokens which can be used to acquire level 80 exotic gear as soon as you hit 80.

Also, you can WvW at any level, although it’s harder at lower levels. But you can earn WvW badges that can be used to purchase level 80 exotic armor as soon as you hit 80.

Ascended gear though…..different story.

Before you can craft Ascended gear, you must first level the crafting professions needed for the gear. And you must be level 80 to even acquire the materials needed to get your crafting to 500. For a every class this means leveling not only the appropriate armor crafting but also any and all of the various weapon crafts. This equates to quite a lot of gold and materials just to get these various crafts to 500.

Finally, you’re ready to craft Ascended. Which requires a ridiculous amount of materials. Crafting some of the materials is time-gated. Many materials are account bound, meaning even if you are in-game rich you’ve gotta grind out gathering a lot of stuff.

The mats required are counter-productive to the whole “play as you like” motto of GW2. To acquire Emp Frags I have to do jumping puzzles (which I hate ankitten o good at) or dungeons. I have 2 of my level 80 alts parked at 2 different JP chests (which I got ported to btw) to open them daily. So that’s 2 of my characters I can’t even play properly just to farm one type of material. I do this so that I don’t have to run endless dungeons just for the chests. Dragonite requires me to kill world bosses, whether I want to or not. Bloodstone is plentiful if you’re running champ trains. For Dark Matter I have to acquire Exotic gear…and then salvage it.

Does this even sound remotely accessible to anyone playing as they want? So many hoops to jump through, so many mats needed, so much gold required. And at the end of the day, after all that, you’ve only got 1 set of Ascended armor. Who’s gonna experiment with new builds if it requires gear changes after all the work put into acquiring Ascended armor? Every profession forum has a thread discussing which 1 stat set to craft for Ascended because very very very few people will have multiple sets. It’s just too much work. Ascended gear is restricting build variety and forcing the grind.

Personally, I do not intend to get it any time soon. I’ll play as I like and if one day I amass enough materials, sure I’ll make some.

+1 love it

I love the Dynamic Events in GW2 and think they’re highly under-utilized, both by players and devs alike. Game expansion should come in the form of more and new DEs to make the world feel like it’s evolving due to our actions. As such, our actions should also be rewarding, so I like the idea that investing time & effort into a particular zone being just that.

Never felt powerful on my Ranger. Felt like a sly hunter, but never especially powerful.

Feel super strong with my Engineer. There’s something empowering about a tiny Asura burning down enemies with a flamethrower. Or ’sploding them with a Big ’ol Bomb and then dragging their body back to me only to be pummeled with a giant wrench. heheheh…good times.

Necro…nah, didn’t feel strong or even like an aspect of death. Just felt like I spread disease and ran around in a panic trying not to get swatted until my conditions eventually broke em down. Like that guy in a movie who’s being chased and just throws whatever’s around at his attacker while panicking.

Guardian felt pretty strong & sturdy. Could take a beating and still be standing at the end.

Thematically, I certainly feel more powerful compared to GW1. I can roam the world alone and handle creatures, veterans, and even sometimes champions without the aid of annoying henchmen. I shouldn’t have to hire mercenaries to protect me…I am the Hero of Shaemoor!

Each new tier of gear in WoW was a monumental increase in stats. It was necessary. And to attain it you had to run raids. Endlessly. And they took forever to get together if you weren’t part of an organized raid guild.

GW2 has released exactly 1 new tier of gear since launch over a year ago: Ascended. They released trinkets first, then weapons, then armor separately, but all still just 1 new tier. I have no problems with the trinket acquisition. However, Ascended weapons and armor requiring expensive and time consuming crafting is ridiculous.

People are upset at the single new tier since it’s contrary to the original GW2 manifesto. But it’s still nothing like WoW.

Slowburn.5319:

So you don’t like the ’it’s optional, dont do it’ statement eh?

The problem lies in that you ‘do’ want to do it… you just want it to be easier and or more catered to ‘you’. Cry babies cry.

Read it again. Never said I didn’t like the argument. I said it’s an invalid argument. ’It’s optional" refers to every aspect of GW2. Never said I wanted it to be easier. Said that World Completion (a PvE achievement) should logically be limited to PvE play. Pull up the world map, and you see the world. Except apparently the WvW maps (which don’t appear on the world map) are a part of the world, required for 100% completion. But they’re not there. And, unlike the non-WvW maps, to complete them you have to rely on the efforts of others (PvP), not yourself.

It’s not an “I want it, make it easy for me” argument. It’s a “this doesn’t make any kitten sense” argument.

Vol.5241:

Dulfy is in my guild on Yaks Bend and she’s pretty much on the spot in terms of gathering information on new items/events/patches.

I bet you she’s waiting patiently for the patch right now, pen and notepad on hand!

I’m on Yak’s Bend. What guild?!

…watch she’s probably in my guild and I never even knew it.

I love the feeling of not being alone in the world any longer. It’s finally a massively multiplayer game again.

Nerelith.7360:

PS Sometimes What is best for a game, and what will make a player experience more fun…is counter-intuitive. The Mind says " this will make things harder for me therefore it’s bad." when in fact it will make things more challenging.

Sometimes More challenging makes something more fun, and makes achievements more meaningful, and therefore More memorable. It’s Like reading a drama…. or More appropriate…a HERO legend. That is who we are supposed to be In RPG’s a hero.

Anything that makes our achievements meaningful is good. Anything that ads challenge does this. Anything that makes any part of the game a cake walk, doesn’t.

PPS I hear a LOT of players talk about how they do Not like " grinding". I remember playing MMO’s before WoW was released. And back then there was a totally different meaning to the term “grind”. Let’s just say that what many new players call grinding… back then was called…. playing.

It seems many players that play MMO’s want it handed to them on a platter and do not really like playing.

Firstly, stop comparing GW2 to other MMOs of the past. They have no relevance here since we are not playing them. It’s just as useful as comparing GW2 to Pokemon, since we’re not playing that game either.

Secondly, the changes to the traits didn’t create a challenging and more fun playing environment. What they did is limit your build options and gate ALL of your traits behind various tasks. Now, instead of experimenting with traits (which is fun) starting at 11, we have to wait till 30. So fun is pushed back 20 levels.

And challenging? Anet even said they reduced the difficulty of everything in 1-79 zones to make up for the lack of traits. So there is no added challenge, just less variety.

And the argument that you can just buy the traits if you want is invalid in my opinion because their prices are ridiculous. Each and every trait requires 2-20 skill points and 10s-3g. That’s just nuts. Way more than trait manuals ever cost. The SP costs is counter-intuitive, since you need those as you’re leveling to unlock, ya know…SKILLS. Sure, vets have tons of extra SP and tomes sitting around. But altoholics and ahem, new players simply do not.

I’m thinking warrior would be your best bet. Tankier with lots of damage mitigation.

What do people think about necro? As an attrition class it’s got a lot of range, minions for body blocks, and only a single F-key.

PvE shouldn’t be much a problem once you get the mechanics down. PvP is very movement heavy so it will be harder. Best of luck and props for not letting it stand in your way.

Yea I saw this too and thought that it’s a terrible way to unlock minis. By forcing you to buy the same thing twice and then destroy one (actually 3) for a single mini. If maybe you only had to throw 1 in I could get behind it. But honestly, you shouldn’t have to destroy anything you paid real money for.

What I want =/= what I expect.

I want:

more skills
more weapon options
more armors available thru playing and not gem store/500 crafting/fractal 50
less gear grind
bugs fixed, especially the ones that’ve been around since launch
more personal storyline
more dragons
new zones (ie – Cantha, Elona, Fire Islands, Charr homeland)

I expect:

more temporary content every 2 weeks
more weapon skins from RNG tickets
more armor from gem store
more bugs without fixes

I’m pretty happy to read a lot of this. Some improvements to things that have been asked about repeatedly in the forums shows that while the devs might not comment on every post, they’re certainly reading them.

Happy to see PvE/PvP skill splitting. Players and monsters are so vastly different that I think it’s necessary. I’m hoping to see some impressive changes to turrets/summons/minions to make them more viable in PvE but not OP in PvP. Glad to see PvE is getting some love.

And QoL improvements are always a plus. Only thing I didn’t see on here is an option to choose what appears on the right hand side of the UI. Sometimes mine is clogged by things I don’t care to track.

So the answer would seem to be to either move those traits to other lines or make their functionality baseline for certain abilities, rather than just swapping around a few adept <- → master traits.

I make a point of playing in areas that require exploration for dungeon WPs with my alts if I plan on using them in those dungeons. I don’t think it’s unfair to have to re-explore. After all, it’s a different character.

Love how you attached a pic of FT doing bad damage in a lvl 65 zone with you down-leveled.

Your names are sexually suggestive and therefor not appropriate for younger players to read. C’mon….you really want to tell me that ‘Filthytaco’ is about some Mexican food you dropped on the ground? If it wasn’t a player whose kid also plays that reported you, it was probably an Anet moderator. You think they’re not watching?

So…Deckard Caine?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Evon Gnashblade has proven to everyone that he’s the true hero of LA,

How exactly has he done this?

It’s fun. I like fun.

The idea is that you have to make conscious desicions about how you want to spec, what tools to bring, which to leave at home. This constitutes a build in GW2 and allows for variety rather than “every hunter is the same.” You have to pick & choose which skills you bring for maximum effect, and which sacrifices you can make and then tailor you playstyle accordingly. It’s different at first, but soon makes sense as you experiment with various builds and unlock more traits/skills.

Also, traits a more important than you think. Learning how they synergize is fun and eye-opening. The next patch at the month’s end will supposedly be making a lot of improvements to the existing trait trees.

It took me a while and some forum reading for tips but I finally beat Canach with my Engi. No stability. Just lotsa heals and put my back to a wall for the knockbacks and didn’t wander, just used 2 mines. It was annoying having to constantly check the chat box. A really dumb mechanic. Should have been an audible cue (siren?) or a more obvious visual cue for Canach. In the end I let out a huge sigh of relief, vowing never to return for the Lightfoot chiev. Just don’t care.

Generally (though not always) zones access others that are the next step in leveling. Getting to SSC from Caledon or even Sparkfly would be pointless really. What lvl 14 is going to want to get there? And what 80 is going to run to SSC from the Grove thru Caledon? I understand Calcifire’s want to be able to see it from afar (Morgan’s Spiral). It shouldn’t exist as an other-dimensional-island.

It was added after launch and isn’t complete yet. As such, and given this new SSC-centered storyline, there might be some great things coming. Perhaps an expansion to the zone or a new one.

Well, I’m generally pretty happy about the changes to Engineer. Although, there is considerable “discussion” regarding the change to Kit Refinement. I’m thinking some tweeking will follow.

Rangers are once again irate (and rightfully so). Agony resistance to pets is good, but none of the other big changes they were hoping for occured. None.

The Quickness change is pretty huge. I’m hoping it means not every group will feel that bringing a Mesmer is a must and lend way to group diversity. On the other hand, it seriously hampers Rangers.

I don’t WvW but the changes seem to be a good thing.

2 more dungeons. That’s exciting.

Lotsa bug fixes. More than usual so that’s a good sign.

All in all I’m pleased and excited to play tonight. (Just not my Ranger…ever again)

The new Experience Scroll (rewarded for 5k AP chest) is a neat little item. Makes rolling alts a little less painless. But I think it suffers from a major flaw. That is…

You can’t really know if you’ll like a profession until you’ve played it. In fact, it usually takes 20 levels of unlocking weapon & utility skills, spending a few trait points, and generally messing around before you know if you want to reroll or continue.

The scroll gives any new toon a free 1-20 jump. I suggest that the scroll now give a free 19 levels to any character below level 40. This lets a level 1 still use it as it currently functions, but also someone who’s played 10 or even 30 levels before he/she decides the profession is fun. And without reduced effect. And the <40 restriction keeps players from skipping levels 60-80, where you have access to all traits and some great later zones and dungeons.

To add to what Leablo said: At the end of Scarlet’s Playhouse Anise and Jennah apologize to Logan for all the misdirection. The Speech was simply a ruse to flush out Scarlet.

If she hadn’t been interupted it would have been funny to watch Jennah flounder…“Thanks for gathering here to celebrate me for 10 yrs!! Yea…..thanks! um…..that’s all I wrote cuz I was expecting to get cut off but uh….yea….Logan has funny toes!!!” <exit stage left>

I got Triple Play last night on an overflow. Seems people are starting to understand how the events are to be done. Really, it’s a crapshoot as to the type of people in your overflow. Do you have selfish bag farmers or those who understand that the greater rewards come from succeeding in the events?

Yes, yes, yes. Play Engi. High skill ceiling. Very dynamic. Lotsa button pressing. Good in every game facet. Extremely fun (Flamethrower!).

Can we tie this in to gadgets somehow instead to make them more appealing? Maybe something like: goggles leak oil upon use, creating an oil covered area for burn boost or bits of PBR fall off it, leaving a slag covered area for cripple/bleed boost?

My experience:

Open world easiness- necro>Mesmer>elementalist
Dungeon desirability- elementalist>Mesmer>necro

Lol, yea. They’re all completely fun and viable in open world PvE. I personally enjoy the Mesmer because I’m not hampered by the long cooldowns as with Ele and it’s more dynamic than necro. Plus, it’s got lots of build options.

The Ranger profession offers 2 things: perma-pet and flexibility.

No other profession has a permanent pet and ours have a lot of functionality (CC, off-tank, kiting, burst, distraction, champion pulling, etc)

Flexibility: no, we can’t tank as well as guardians or dps as well as warriors or burst as well as thieves or escape as well as eles….but we can do all of those things. We have the flexibility to play however we want. Played smart, we can effectively melee and range, use our pet for big damage bursts, support allies w/ spirits & pets & horn, aoe and single target dps. We have a variety of combo fields and finishers.

So, want one profession that may not top dps charts or be the best insane bunker or crush everything 1v1, but can do all of those things quite well? Ranger.

Aidenwolf.5964:

Taku.6352:

4.2k hours played since headstart, +1k gold down the forge, 0 precursor drops yet 4 legendaries and 1 precursor waiting to be crafted all thanks to the wonders of the TP.

If you want a legendary then just buy the kitten thing from the TP.

Nothing legendary about that.

Nothing Legendary about an RNG drop either. It’s either purchased or randomly rewarded for doing nothing special. We need a precursor challenge/hunt to justify the name “Legendary.”

It’s annoying to have and carefully put together build, utilizing various traits & weapons & skills, only to have all of that become useless as soon as my head goes underwater. As an Engineer that frequently uses FT builds, it’s quite a hinderance to lose my primary weapon when underwater. And having to switch to something else means that it will be weaker than it would be on land if traited for.

At the least, we need a separate underwater trait system. And the loss of certain utility skills needs to be looked into. I understand that a flamethrower wouldn’t operate underwater. It then needs to be changed to another type of kit that works in the same way that benefits from the same traits. For instance, FT becomes a hot acid gun or a volcanic rock launcher.

Being able to have completely unique 1-0 skills underwater is cool, but needs to be reworked so-as not to be so limiting for certain builds that it’s weak or, as indicated by the thread title, suicidal.

Well I’m glad I’m not the only one then. I feel the exact same way. The story is pretty cool so far, and I’m anxious to continue it. But LA’s decorations didn’t hold any magic for me; they were exactly the same. Less even. I feel as though there could be way more spider webs and decorations. The cauldron is cool…again. I think Wintersday and then Dragonbash kicked the redesign of LA up notches that require them not to simply reactivate 2012’s look.

I’m really happy though that the achievements this time aren’t stupid things like “carve 250 punkins” or “open 250 doors.” They’re more story-driven achievements, and I can dig that.

Btw, love your ideas OP. Especially bone armor, a haunted house, & scarier LA.

The new WvW map has plenty of achievements. They just aren’t LS achievements.

The purpose of this installment was to recap, investigate, draw theories/conclusions, and set up the last couple of chapters for the big finale. And they’ve done just that.

locoman.1974:

The transaction of the legendary would not sink gold out of the economy, since it still remains in the system but it just changed hands. However, people using gold to purchase gems will sink gold out, since there’s a tax of about 30% for the gems exchange (if you buy gems with gold, then sell the gems right away, you’ll end up with about 30% less gold).

Technically false, since there is a listing fee and a % of the cost taken by the Trading Post after the sale. I think it’s a total of 10% so a 2700g item would actually sink 270g from the game.

The Explosives and Firearms GM traits should be swapped.

Quickness would work much better with FT & rifle than bombs and you’ll never run grenades without Grenadier.

And a the Mines would be really nice synergy with a bomb build, but otherwise doesn’t do me much good in Firearms.

While I like the lack of Trinity and the ability for all professions to tackle all aspects of combat (damage, heals, control, support, rez), I agree that this creates a rather non-team-oriented style of play. Everyone takes care of themselves. They self-heal, self-buff, self-combo…there’s a serious lack of cooperation.

In dungeons, all you need to know are the mechanics. But I don’t see “dropping heal spring. blast blast blast” very often, or players calling their cc and making sure there are synergistic builds at work. An engi can say, “hey I’ll thow Elixir U for reflect on the 1st barrage. Who’s taking barrage #2? Stack up on me.” but alas, it just doesn’t happen because everyone just brings their own reflect and handles themselves.

I think this was done to sooth the whiners who crafted, say, 2 Incinerators, only to have that effort trivialized when the wardrobe system came out.

I hope it lies in ruins for a bit, giving us new objectives for clean-up and rebuild. Then it is “rebuilt” but differently. It’s no longer a pirate/captain’s haven. It’s a Tyrian monument to cooperation and triumph. It should become a unified city with real buildings and not propped up ships. The results of working together (as seen from The Pact’s accomplishments in Orr) along with a new danger on the horizon, should be all the necessary motivation for joining forces to create a unified stronghold.

That’s what I’d like to see.

If the date of completion isn’t a big deal, then try this: Each day complete 1 zone. Just 1. Then continue playing as you normally would (dungeons, PvP, Orr farming, whatever). Next day, pick another zone, 100% it, then move on. Rinse repeat reward without the monotonous burnout.

The other piece of advice I have was mentioned before but defintitely bears repeating. Check in on WvW maps often. Some parts of the map may be under enemy control for a week or 2. Be patient, cap what you can, come back later when your server controls it. And waypoints are free there so it should be fairly quick. Run naked there if you just want to cap & avoid fighting. If you get caught by the zerg better to save on repair bills.

Redscope.6215:

How would this be OP? One word: Initiative.

Everyone is forced to use weapons that match their build in both sets because the 2-5 skills have cooldowns that would simply put you at a disadvantage to wait for. Classes swap weapons to gain the ability to keep using ‘power’ skills. Thieves have the advantage of taking one or two weapons in a set as complete utiilty since, assuming they have the initiative, any weapon skill can be used at any time. And assuming they have enough initiative, any thief weapon skill can be used more than once (with the exception of stealth skills for the obvious reason…but still not cooldown related).

IMO, the thief should have been the only class who could not swap weapons because of how initiative works. He should have had a skill in place of ‘swap’ that allowed him to regain some initiative on a longer cooldown.

Note bolded text above. This is exactly why fast weapon swapping works better for thief than any other class. None of our weapon skills have cooldowns, but are instead limited by our initiative pool. Which means that whether we have 5 weapons skills or 10 (or 50 or 100) we still can only use them as often as we have the initiative to pay for them. Blow all your initiative on 1 weapon set, swap, and you’ve got nothing for the other set. Have to plan accordingly.

stof.9341:

Seras.5702:

Clumsy.6257:

… why would anyone want to spend 45 mins in a dungeon vs the 10 mins it should actually take, speed run or not, ex: your driving your car to work everyday, should take 15 mins to get to work, why would you intentionally waste time and gas by taking a much longer route

Poor analogy. You’re assuming that taking longer in a dungeon is inherently un-fun. You’re too goal oriented; something the OP and others have pointed out is the problem. Instead, you should be enjoying the ride.

A better analogy would be:
Would you rather take the direct 15min route home, or try that snazzy, windy back-road that will take longer but could be fun and definitely something new? Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination. Especially, when we’re all headed to the same place. Make it fun.

A more pertinent analogy would be to compare the direct 15min route home to the same route only with you getting a two minutes break every minute to stretch your legs.

I chose my analogy because I think about how I’d hate to be forced to run my engi as full-zerker grenades-only and that running another build, like FT/EG support is something different, fun, enjoyable even if I can’t kill stuff as fast. I’m still very useful to a group, but it’s a completely different play style. It’s not just about taking longer, but having a different experience. I don’t want to spam aoe circles for 15 mins if I can be more dynamic.