Guild Wars 2

NapTooN.6283:

Xyonon.3987:

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

This weekend you’ll be able to test out a lot of the theorycrafting (some of which had my eyes widening – in a good way) that you’ve been doing and offer even more awesome feedback.

Things you’ve brought up, like the Scrapper’s lack of a stunbreak on either their utilities or traits is getting acted on, as well as a few more changes to core Engineer and bugfixes.

please-let-gyro-cooldown-start-immediately, please-let-gyro-cooldown-start-immediately, please-let-gyro-cooldown-start-immediately, please-let-gyro-cooldown-start-immediately!!! >_<’’

That would totally not happen.

• Due to popular demand, we changed the Gyros so that their CD starts as soon as they are summoned. Congratulations Scrappers, you now have Perma Stealth with a well over 30s Duration on a 30s Cooldown.

Or, ya know, balance the cooldowns accordingly with making that cooldown start when the Gyros are first summoned. Like every suggestion that has asked for this has said.

Coolster.2536:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASnUUB1ahlYBupC0ehl7iie1j9bHcBjwA47/GwCE-ThSBABlqmyOqWYkyvKegAdcBAQRHBCm/kQJ4W7PAwBCAA-e

This is the Scrapper Build I’ve been thinking about and I wanted to know what people would think about it. I think it might be strong, but that can only be seen through use. Also what gyro do you think would serve better: bulwark for mitigation + projectile reflection, Blast for knockback + AoE Superspeed, or Shredder for Whirl + Lightning Field?

OP I like your stat mix a lot. I’m looking at this from a potential raid perspective because I think Berserker’s is still going to be the fastest for open world. For fun I compared this mix to full Berserker’s without using Mass Momentum (otherwise same build). +/- is when using your stat mix.

Power: -150
Crit Chance: -25%
Crit Damage: -35%
Health: +3400
Armor: +900

I think the crit chance is not really a big deal. If you run High Caliber and you have Fury you’re realistically looking at 65% vs 90%. Yeah higher is better, but when you’re not going full DPS and you have over 50% crit chance while still being tanky that’s pretty good.

EDIT: And I just realized I compared your exotic gear to ascended Berserker’s. This makes your mix look even more favorable.

The traits I’m not super fond of, I don’t like Juggernaut or using FT as anything but utility to be honest. I would build away from that personally. If this is a raid build there’s really no way we can know right now what good traits would be, but I’m inclined to drop explosives for Alchemy. I also don’t see a place for Gyros, but that horse has been beat to death for now and I won’t get into it again until the weekend.

I like the suggestion that was going around a little while back where skills 2-5 are “injections” to your Med Blaster. Each one enhances the Blaster heal and maybe adds a condition to enemies hit or something, and a better effect to allies. Each effect has a duration of 5-8 seconds or so and a cooldown of 15-30 depending on strength. Skills may also have an on activation/expiration effect. Also get rid of the “extra heals for boons” thing.

Here’s some quick ideas that try to keep the theme of what the thrown skills already do…

Throw Bandages becomes an injection to your Med Blaster that cures conditions on an interval. Say it lasts 6s and cures 1 condition every 2s. On expiration it applies a short resistance boon, 3s or so.

Throw Stimulant injects your Med Blaster with Fury. You apply Fury every 3s for 9s, maybe 4s duration so you are incentivized to keep using it to keep Fury up. On activation allies next 2 attacks will be critical hits or something.

Throw Accelerant now injects your Blaster with the ability to apply Swiftness and Aegis. This pulses every 4s for 8s, let’s say the Aegis only lasts 3s or so while the Swfitness can be 5s or 6s. We don’t want to become reliable Aegis bots and we don’t need that, but this would be a nice reactive skill when you know a big attack is coming. On activation of this injection all movement impairing conditions are cleared in an area around you.

Throw Antidote doesn’t deal with conditions anymore, we have that already with the Throw Stimulant change. This skill is now used to provide burst healing, it will increase your heal far more than the other injections (I’m thinking like twice as much) for maybe 6s. On activation grant 5s of Protection. This is the long cooldown skill that you can really use to make Med Kit keep people alive. Could add something more interesting like the Engi absorbs 20% of all allies damage and this skill now heals the Engi as well instead of the larger heal.

Obviously this could be either crazy OP or still useless based on the healing numbers. I’d make the base Med Blaster something like 300 HPS base. Each skill buffs it up to about 450 HPS except for the #5 which puts it at 6-700 HPS.

Well this was way more than I ever wanted to write about the Med Kit… But This makes the Med Kit worth staying in if your group needs some serious help, it’s not overpowered and stepping on “main healer” roles of Ventari/Druid, and retains the utility inherent to kits.

steinnovels.9675:

How about changing the 2 -5 skills to be like a mini version of the supply drop elite’s toolbelt skill. Where you have a larger ground target, and throw out more than 1 item.
This would make those support skills actually mean something for group support.

IMO any direction that continues to include ground targeted consumables is the wrong direction.

insanemaniac.2456:

Adamantium.3682:

Gaile plays Ranger so she’s telling the Ranger forum that she’s making sure people are paying attention to them. No one is doing that for us, I get how that could be frustrating.

unfortunately those of us that have confidence that this subforum is being read do not have red accounts

I’m confident they’re reading it as well, but I can see how one of the Anet employees who isn’t a developer posting that they’re making sure that Rangers are getting attention could be frustrating for some people. I don’t think it is but it’s pretty easy for me to see how someone could make that connection.

SlyDevil.3952:

I played condi engi in a 50 trio and functioned as the control/projectile defenses for it, we didn’t get volcanic but that is the only fractal that would have stretched my versatility to its limit.

Power engi loses lots of damage when you swap out utilities, flame blast is a 1.75-2.5 coeff every 6secs, acid bomb is a 5.1 every 15. That’s like giving up blunderbuss and jump shot.

Condi damage also drops off when you aren’t using offensive skills, you can pop all your burns then run around and watch them tick, but you miss out on dozens of bleeds if you aren’t using other skills. You just won’t notice the damage drop until a while later when your old condis run out but you didn’t add the same amount of new ones.

A few things…

Flame Blast is nice, but FT can pretty safely be replaced for power builds with minimal loss to overall DPS.

I didn’t mean to imply condi damage can last forever when you’re not attacking, but it’s a fact that when you’re not actively attacking your condi damage will go much much further than power damage. If each build is at 15k and immediately stops attacking, the power build will immediately be practically 0 (maybe 1k for existing condis?) but the condi build will remain 15k for a second or two, then it will ramp down to maybe 10k for a few seconds, 8k, 5k, 2k, 0. This is a huge advantage that the condi build has in my opinion, you can stop to revive, kite, etc for a few seconds and not really lose much damage.

The V.8759:

Note that the fire field from bombs lasts only 3s. If you want to stack might:
Pre fire:placebig HT ol bomb
Swap bomb kit to FT : napalm on BOB
Detonate HT + fire blast
Orbital
Shield 4
Thumper toolbelt
Acid bomb
Another flame blast

These are 21 stacks. If you run HGH it is 23 and cast EG toolbelt and 5 for 25.

Now you have to sit out of combat a few seconds while your group runs into the fight so you can fix your utilities.

12-15 should be sufficient I think. You’re not the only one with blast finishers or group might stacking ability. At the very least when the fire field pops everyone should use their blast finishers to help. Guards should be using Empower before fights if your group cares that much.

The posts you’re seeing in the Ranger forum are not from a developer. They do sort of sound like a preferential treatment sort of thing though which I can see how it would irk some people. Gaile plays Ranger so she’s telling the Ranger forum that she’s making sure people are paying attention to them. No one is doing that for us, I get how that could be frustrating.

Both Rangers and Engineers have had one “I see your feedback” sort of post from a developer since their reveals. I don’t expect much of anything before the BWE for either of us.

I’ve played both at fotm 50 pretty extensively, here is my opinion:

Power Engi
Pros: Greater utility flexibility. This is the #1 thing I miss when I’m using the condi build. You are more durable because you can use Tool Kit and not miss much damage, you can swap in Elixir R if your pug needs revives, etc. Your damage is not as dependent on your utilities. Better damage against structures.

Cons: Lower damage overall, big dropoffs when you have to stop DPS for any reason (kiting, dodging, interacting with encounter specific items, etc). Dependent on multiple boons and other professions for max DPS. Weak against high toughness.

Condi Engi
Pros: Highest DPS in the game. No dropoff against high toughness. Damage remains high while you kite, dodge, run around, revive, etc. Also lots of blinds and utility from the skills you have to bring.

Cons: No utility flexibility. If you change out a utility your DPS will suffer fairly significantly. Dependent on consumables rather than boons which can get expensive over time. Weaker against structures, though Sinister still has lots of power so it’s not that bad.

Both builds perform best when enemies are stationary, this is true of pretty much every max DPS meta build. To me this doesn’t need to be considered when comparing Power Engi to Condi Engi.

Also there isn’t really such a thing as “an encounter immune to conditions” unless you’re talking specifically structures, of which there are 1 or 2? (Ice Elemental and Charr fractal doors?) Maybe Mai Trin? In that case you’re not doing damage of any kind and it’s a different kind of fight anyways.

Phineas Poe.3018:

Ardid.7203:

I believe most of us are worried because a Scrapper that choose to not use Hammer or Gyros still get good traits, but end stuck with a totally irrelevant spec mechanic.
Improving the utility Gyros is way less important than making a better “signature mechanic”, at least to me.

I don’t understand why someone would use the Scrapper trait line if they don’t intend to actually use the hammer or gyros. That’s like taking Explosives and not using grenades or bombs.

That might be his point. There’s no inherent benefit to taking Scrapper because the unique mechanic is bland and rarely useful.

Every other elite spec grants you something useful even if you don’t take the weapon or utilities. An extra dodge, different virtues, new shroud, new boons, etc.

I respect that you’re looking for something quick and easy Nightmare, but cherry picking when it comes to DPS comparisons never ends well. You have to include bleeds and vuln for both bombs and grenades which is just the beginning of where it starts to get messy.

Obtena, Engi dps is on the scale of 15-20k. This is why the FT doesn’t hold up. The auto attack might look decent when compared to other autos, but when you start building up a skill rotation (like you actually use in a fight) it just doesn’t compare.

I wish it did, this has nothing to do with me disliking the FT or anything like that. It is a flamethrower for goodness sake. It’s awesome. It just doesn’t translate to being awesome in game.

Okay so there’s some conflicting information about how MDF actually works. If someone who has tested and confirmed what works and what doesn’t could update the Wiki that would be great.

One thread is telling me it doesn’t work with blasts or Cleansing Burst, another thread is telling me it works on all heals.

Good work Nightmare.

Do we have a graph for actual DPS rotations? That is where I think FT really falls behind unfortunately.

Obtena.7952:

Well, I won’t argue if you don’t like it but plain useless? That’s just sensational. It’s not useless to trade a some damage for all the buffs you can get from it … and those buffs are arguably not useless either; they enhance your damage AND reduce damage you take significantly when traited properly. The damage issue is smoke and mirrors IMO … *do we have numbers showing how ‘relatively low’ it is compared to whatever? It’s not top but it’s far from bottom either. *

He may have been sensational but he’s not really wrong (except about the fire field, that’s by far the best part of FT). It doesn’t matter that FT gives you a ton of Might because even with that Might it’s objectively worse than other options.

As to the part I have bolded, yes we do and yes it is at the bottom. FT doesn’t even come close to the other weapon kits unfortunately and an 11% buff to the auto attack does nothing to change that.

Ricky Rouse.1583:

Adamantium.3682:

That’s good to know that it’s working, does that mean if you use heals when you’re at full health it will work or will not work?

MDF does not work if you are at full health. If I heal myself at 100% health, the total healing done is 0 and 20% of 0 is still 0.

It depends on your point of view. You certainly applied healing it just had no effect. It’s a mark against the trait that it only counts healing you actually receive so in order to help your teammates you also have to be in trouble.

If it does work on any healing you give yourself though I can see how it would be a useful trait either way so it’s good that they upgraded it.

I will be using the Gyros in every combination I can come up with and see if there’s any situation where they do anything better than current popular (not necessarily meta) builds.

I have already given my initial thoughts about Gyros, and there has been a lot of feedback, but if feedback is more valuable after BWE3 I’m going to be 100000% sure they are useless before I give my feedback saying so.

I have a few trait concerns that I want to put into action before I decide one way or another about them.

I’m also worried about Superspeed stacking, but that’s not really a BWE3 feedback that’s general game mechanics. If they don’t fix it Scrapper takes a huge hit.

I’m not worried about hammer at all, I will likely be using it all weekend.

I thought that Final Salvo turned the daze on Gyro destruction to a stun. It doesn’t show up in the tooltips though but I believe it was in the preview article. If that is true then I think it’s just fine for a GM trait as it is. It already provides a rare field that allows a lot of CC, and pulsing AOE Superspeed. That’s pretty good.

Honestly Scrapper is rare (not just in the elite specs, but across the whole game) to have what I consider are 3 solid choices for GM.

To me the trait isn’t the problem, the Gyros are.

Scrapper has a few issues, some minor some major, but range is none of them.

That’s good to know that it’s working, does that mean if you use heals when you’re at full health it will work or will not work?

I disagree, it would just add another mandatory trait. If Gyros need such a drastic cooldown reduction (which they absolutely do, and cooldowns should start when they’re cast anyways) then the bulk of that improvement should be baseline. Give the trait an additional -15-20% or so like similar traits.

Putting so much on a trait just to fix Gyros just leads to another problem IMO. Gyros should be functional on their own.

To my understanding MDF only works with your heal skill, not any healing you apply. That pretty much kicks it back to the curb if true.

Reactive Lenses still not working on all disables, only stuns and dazes.

Obtena.7952:

Adamantium.3682:

Still not even up to what you could it traited to previously…

It wasn’t great then, it certainly isn’t great now that it’s still doing less damage.

I don’t understand why the FLAMETHROWER is among the worst damage. It’s a flamethrower. It throws flames.

I can tell you why … because it’s a crit proc machine that stacks might (from itself AND other sources) to ridiculous levels, makes you semi-immune to blinds and CC and traited properly, gives you silly amounts of boons sitting you at around 30-40% damage reduction. I actually can’t believe they gave FT MORE damage based on what I’ve been able to do with it.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQNArdSlsApWo97wVI8DRhkpQkQQ7DAU9h4BTBG5RA-zwCBYfERjEBgUBBK1UgN7MZJqQdAFRjVNLQqkYKXJV7COAACATciTciTcilC4ilRA-e

Right now, my biggest problems are:

1. Trying to decide how to balance my offensive stats because I have it all
3. People in vicinity giving me buffs I don’t need because it exceeds my limits for crit and might stacks.

Those are problems that EVERYONE wants to have. People complaining about FT … just aren’t doing it right.

Alright well I have to admit you got me because I didn’t click on the link until now. It’s not even a burn build though so I’m not sure if this was an intentional troll or accidental, haha.

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Are.1326:

Projectile finishers have to hit their target directly to apply their effect (AoE effect from landing does not count).
Water and Light projectiles apply their effect to allies in 150 radius around their target.

I’m pretty sure I get regen on ranger longbow 1 through a water field even with no target selected, much less hit. I’ll test it out again to be sure.

Edit: It does. Hitting, even targeting an enemy is completely unnecessary to get regeneration from a projectile finisher. It’s definitely a bug.

I believe that would be a bug, as it definitely is supposed to work as Are described.

Which water field were you using? Many apply regeneration by themselves, are you sure that’s not what you’re seeing?

I don’t even know what the bug is but this is hilarious!

Obtena.7952:

Adamantium.3682:

Still not even up to what you could it traited to previously…

It wasn’t great then, it certainly isn’t great now that it’s still doing less damage.

I don’t understand why the FLAMETHROWER is among the worst damage. It’s a flamethrower. It throws flames.

I can tell you why … because it’s a crit proc machine that stacks might (from itself AND other sources) to ridiculous levels, makes you semi-immune to blinds and CC and traited properly, gives you silly amounts of boons sitting you at around 30-40% damage reduction. I actually can’t believe they gave FT MORE damage based on what I’ve been able to do with it.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQNArdSlsApWo97wVI8DRhkpQkQQ7DAU9h4BTBG5RA-zwCBYfERjEBgUBBK1UgN7MZJqQdAFRjVNLQqkYKXJV7COAACATciTciTcilC4ilRA-e

Right now, my biggest problems are:

1. Trying to decide how to balance my offensive stats because I have it all
3. People in vicinity giving me buffs I don’t need because it exceeds my limits for crit and might stacks.

Those are problems that EVERYONE wants to have. People complaining about FT … just aren’t doing it right.

You’re right, it gives you a lot of cool stuff. And yet it still puts out low damage despite all that it has going for it. 25 might stacks, perma fury, these are all awesome things. The problem is they still don’t make FT that good. It’s a utility kit at best. A good utility kit, but utility nonetheless. Camping FT is just not good (and frankly never really has been) despite Anet’s efforts to give us traits like Juggernaut that practically tell you to camp it.

Still not even up to what you could it traited to previously…

It wasn’t great then, it certainly isn’t great now that it’s still doing less damage.

I don’t understand why the FLAMETHROWER is among the worst damage. It’s a flamethrower. It throws flames.

Not even close. The issue is far deeper than the tiny heal. It just feels bad to use, it needs a complete rework.

Niguen covered it except for the Elixir C correction. I actually am not even sure the 5 second duration on the tooltip applies to the converted boons either because you will get boons longer than that. Maybe that’s before boon duration? I honestly think the 5 seconds might actually mean nothing.

I want to add Fumigate is very very powerful, but again I agree with Nieguen that Inversion Enzyme is a terrible trait. Especially since it is in Alchemy line it has a lot to compete with. It should do something else as well to make it worth using. Maybe make Fumigate apply to ourselves as well or something.

I’ve been playing since launch but I must have missed the part of this game where Coated Bullets was overpowered and everyone used it. Is it a serious point of argument to say Coated Bullets is too strong to come back?

It was nice for tagging in zergs and for making the pistol not feel useless in groups but it was still nowhere near what grenades can do. It was a nice upgrade for those who like to use pistol, it helped the weakest 2 pistol skills actually do something. It really should make a comeback, MH pistol still needs love.

shion.2084:

MrForz.1953:

Well. let’s be honest, your Rifle is already a mix of Melee and Range despite being the weapon with the second highest range in our armory. The hammer puts the accent on the melee part.

The problem is you can’t switch between them.

I think the point was that the one of the other weapon choices we have also works best in close range, though it has some skills to use at further range.

Similar also to pistols. PDV is best the closer you get, and obviously you want to be in melee when you use Blowtorch.

Hammer is more on the melee end of the spectrum than either of those, but it’s not as if this is uncharted territory for an Engi weapon. You always use Engi weapons in mid to close range.

Plus, of course, kits.

Nieguen.6235:

-> Getting super speed in lightning fields but super speed does not stack (LOL)

The lack of people that seemed to be concerned about this… well… concerns me. There have been a few threads created to discuss it but they’ve fallen past the first page almost immediately.

If Superspeed continues to “stack” like it does now (meaning replace current duration) that’s a huge blow to what the Scrapper can bring.

Stealth Gyro is by far the least of the gyro problems. Even drawing aggro it still has its uses, but to not draw aggro would be a big QOL change for PVE where you’re just going to use it to skip past stuff anyways.

Please do this Irenio.

Chaith.8256:

RunicAura.9860:

Necromancer gets reaper form and new skills to go with it
Warrior gets beserker and new burst to go with it
Mesemer alacrity and a new shatter that is cool
Elementalist cool new overloads for their elements
Guardian New virtues a chain, leap and shield effects
Revenant gets to increase outgoing and incoming boons by 50% himself and others around him
Thief gets new dodge bar and effects
Rangers get to change into a celestial being for some time

What do the engineers get the scrapper?
Pointed at by the others and laughed at

Indeed, going from Engineer to Scrapper will have extremely little learning curve, basically none, if you don’t take hammer.

Function Gyro needs to be pillar for the identity of the Scrapper, what really sets apart a Scrapper from an Engineer. This is the class mechanic we get from the first minor trait, a parallel to Reaper’s Shroud, Celestial Avatar, Overload Attunement, Continuum Split, Dragonhunter Virtues, Legendary Dragon Stance, Primal Bursts.

Other than the Engineer, only the Thief’s third dodge bar doesn’t really alter the playstyle significantly.

Currently, the Scrapper defining minor trait reads this: “You gain access to the Function Gyro, which can finish a foe or revive an ally at range.”

What I would suggest is:

Function Gyro: Gain access to up to 3 non-combative Function Gyros which encircle you. Periodically construct a function Gyro every 60 seconds. Command a Function Gyro to join the fray to finish foes or revive allies. (20s CD).

Reworking Impact Savant, the last Minor, as well:

Impact Savant: Deal 4% more damage, and reduce the duration of incoming stuns by 10% for each encircling Function Gyro.

What this accomplishes is creates a system of Gyro management that Scrappers in all game modes would be able to manipulate to their benefit. PvE Scrappers would enjoy great uptime of a 4-12% damage modifier. Non PvE Scrappers would get help from a Function Gyro every 20 seconds if they managed production well, and didn’t deplete resources.

Best of all, it’d be a constantly present theme that adds a bit more substance to the Scrapper’s core class mechanic, keeping it closer to the same feel players had when watching the Scrapper in the HoT trailer.

This is a really great idea and one I would love to see expanded on. Irenio if you’re making notes underline this one!

What I like most about this is that it’s not a major rework and if Anet wanted to go this way it could be implemented for HoT launch I think. This would be a great change especially if it includes replacing/merging of the major minor trait.

Condi does seem better because of the tough enemies so far in VB.

With that said we don’t really know how the hammer will perform or how the meta will shake out.

I’m thinking for raids something like mixing 2 of Valk/Cavalier/Zerk/Knights depending on Vit/Toughness needs. Maybe even Carrion/Rabid/Dire for condi tank.

I don’t know if there has been a distinction between boons and profession specific buffs (Spotter, banners, Assassin’s Presence, etc) but I can definitely see how boons affecting 10 targets would be difficult to balance. Stuff like protection, aegis, resistance, that could seriously break some things.

However the profession specific buffs I think should be 10 targets for the reasons listed countless times already. If my raid wants Spotter and Assassin’s Presence to beat the rage timer I don’t want to use 4 spots for that I would rather use 2. Let some other professions play.

I am not in sky is falling mode or anything, and I am fully prepared to be wrong this is just my initial concern.

lorddarkflare.9186:

Adamantium.3682:

I definitely agree Gyro cooldown needs to start when they’re first created. Adjust cooldowns from there if necessary.

Also they need something to protect them from getting blown up immediately. The more I think about this the less I believe it is as simple as just health buff or damage negation as both of those options do not scale well with increasing numbers of enemies. It’s either well balanced in group AOE fights with lots of damage flying around and overpowered in solo, or well balanced for solo and useless in group. This may just be a product of how the game works, if so this explains why it’s so hard for them to get turrets right. But if that is true why did they try again with Gyros?

Maybe each Gyro gets a “Gyro Armor” buff. This buff pulses on them every second, -X% incoming direct and condition damage for each enemy they can “hit” with it in 1200 range. Let’s say you 1v1 in PvP, the Gyro is only detecting 1 enemy with each pulse of their Gyro Armor so it is balanced. Then you move to middle point to join a team fight. Now there are 3 enemies, so it’s a little sturdier and you can still get use out of it.

To be honest I don’t think that’s a perfect solution either, but the more I think about this the more I’m just really confused why the decision was made to go with more AI and seemingly learn nothing from past mistakes. Frustrating.

I am willing to bet that the current devs are not the sames ones who had to deal with turrets.

To me that doesn’t matter at all, they work on the same game they have to know how unpopular turrets are.

I definitely agree Gyro cooldown needs to start when they’re first created. Adjust cooldowns from there if necessary.

Also they need something to protect them from getting blown up immediately. The more I think about this the less I believe it is as simple as just health buff or damage negation as both of those options do not scale well with increasing numbers of enemies. It’s either well balanced in group AOE fights with lots of damage flying around and overpowered in solo, or well balanced for solo and useless in group. This may just be a product of how the game works, if so this explains why it’s so hard for them to get turrets right. But if that is true why did they try again with Gyros?

Maybe each Gyro gets a “Gyro Armor” buff. This buff pulses on them every second, -X% incoming direct and condition damage for each enemy they can “hit” with it in 1200 range. Let’s say you 1v1 in PvP, the Gyro is only detecting 1 enemy with each pulse of their Gyro Armor so it is balanced. Then you move to middle point to join a team fight. Now there are 3 enemies, so it’s a little sturdier and you can still get use out of it.

To be honest I don’t think that’s a perfect solution either, but the more I think about this the more I’m just really confused why the decision was made to go with more AI and seemingly learn nothing from past mistakes. Frustrating.

I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, changes look great. I hope there are more though I share the doubt that pistol got any more love since they did mention something on it already.

Also would have been nice to see something about turrets, would be a good acknowledgement that Engi AI needs work and Gyros can’t just follow in the footsteps of turrets.

Jski.6180:

Well what i really want eng to get one day if not from the gyro pets is a “bot” type pet who has its own ai system that you changes as needed. With attachment that chase what skills it can use and buff. So i want a puppet master in GW2 like from ff11.
http://ffxiclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Puppetmaster
Its was one of the most unique class i have ever seen in an rpg / mmorpg mind you it was one of the most useless lol.
I think scraper kind of is like this but much less ai uniqueness for the gyros.

I have a very real fear this is why they give the Engi more AI.

“That one guy said it was cool in another game!”

lorddarkflare.9186:

My new suggestions:

Adept Minor: Stays the Same. I like function gyro. Could definitely use a recharge decrease though. Either make it 20 seconds or have Final Salvo decrease ALL gyro recharges by 20 – 33%.

Master Minor: New Trait -Increased(super?) coordination – Super speed also grants 10% attack speed. Decisive renown should be merged with one of the Adept traits.

Minor GrandMaster: Keep the same plus Dazing or Stunning a foe summons a random Gyro. 25 seconds recharge.

I really like the Master. The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that Superspeed needs to give something to all game modes. The benefits are obvious for WvW and PvP, but this whole elite spec already sort of caters to those game modes I think at least a PvE player should be able to trait into the Superspeed options and get some tangible benefit.

Off topic but where is this “once every 3 years” coming from? This is the first time in 3 years, that is very different from once every 3 years. I was under the impression their specialization update allowed them to release new specializations (like elite specializations) more frequently to add more customizability to existing professions.

Of course they won’t add new ones with biweekly updates, but I very much doubt it will be 3 years before we see more elite specs or new weapons to use.

Gyros suck (back on topic).

MDF doesn’t need Druid’s help to be terrible.

lorddarkflare.9186:

Adamantium.3682:

Ricky Rouse.1583:

Thief only got a third dodge to be fair. Granted, a third dodge is universally good, but it isn’t very exciting.

It’s telling that this is the go-to example for “Scrapper isn’t the only one with a lackluster new mechanic”.

Daredevil didn’t just give a third dodge, though it looks like that at first glance. Being a Daredevil also forces you to choose one of three GM traits that fundamentally changes how your dodge works. Honestly I think it’s one of the cooler mechanic changes and has the potential to certainly be the most powerful outside Chrono because dodging is something you already do, it doesn’t make you give anything up. It’s purely better than the alternative of not having the extra dodge + damage/removal.

For some perspective, many on the thief forum want the new dodges to be F-SKills and the grandmasters to be completely different traits.

I remember seeing this when Daredevil was first revealed. Made me chuckle pretty good. Many on the Thief forum don’t understand what balance is. (This is not exclusive to the Thief forum)

To me this doesn’t take away from the fact that the Daredevil extra dodge + effects of their choice is probably going to be just behind Chrono for most impactful new mechanics once the dust settles.

Basaltface.2786:

busy with druid

Too soon, bro.

Basaltface.2786:

-turrets now start out with torment to drive the point home that condi damage
on machines is a good thing to do because that is exactly what players feel when they try to use them, we look to expand this feature to gyros aswell

Fixed that for you.

I’m not going to go as far to say Irenio has chosen a favorite profession and doesn’t care about Scrapper, that’s a bit too tin foil hat for me.

Where I will agree is that Druid looks like a solid finished Elite Specialization. Scrapper looks like a decent regular Specialization. That is a bummer. Gyros need major help. Because it seems like Irenio doesn’t share the concerns we have over gyros I’m worried BWE3 will come and go and we’ll see:

“Engineer Changes after BWE3:
Gyro health increased by 5%.”

Now that there’s another profession that can give group Superspeed, this issue becomes even more important. It will kill an entire trait path if Druid can cancel out Scrapper Superspeed (if that path hasn’t already killed itself without stacking Superspeed).

I want to emphasize that I am excited to try Scrapper. Hammer is one of my favorite weapon types, and it’s awesome that the Engineer’s version seems to be the best one yet.

I’m only disappointed that Irenio’s effort seems to have been put much more into Druid, based on both specialization reveals as well as his recent comments.

I will remain optimistic for now because he created what looks like a really great elite spec for Ranger, I will choose to believe he can make Scrapper good outside the hammer as well.