Guild Wars 2

Im leveling a warrior cos i like the class. Im doing prettykittengood on my engineer, my main problem is i feel like im funneled into one or two specs, i have done hours of theory crafting for support only to look at it and think ‘This does not beat the AoE chill, poison and massive vuln from grenades’

I do love grenades, but feels tedious since it seems to be all i rely on. Im trying a bomb/elixir gun healing build now, circling super elixir and kit refinement for constant healing feild (double dipping if needed) and giving regen to melee peeps from bomb explosions. It feels pretty boring however which is akittenshame, and some say they don’t notice the healing (though it is HoT based and not burst healing, so meh)

I do not know if the floor opens up in the arena, but my Fiancé was on her thief and used that teleport spell while downed and she was teleported into it. So thats how i know about the water section

I have faced that on some surfaces but not always destructable ones, more like, any surface which can be moved. In the Charr arena there is an opening in the floor that has water under it (intended for naval practice) and my grenades sink through the door into that water bit by the looks of it, meaning in that part of the story im effectively useless.

Nope, pure power. That weapon is mainly power driven now since they gave incendiary powder a 4 second CD. It used to be amazing for crit conditions.

Level 4o required gear. It is like them but it has 3 straps, which looks extra awkward on my Charr because the other strap goes across the other side of your lower face.

How is fumigate bugged? It seems to work pretty dandy with me.

I think some traits that buff elixir gun are in order anyway, its a primarily bleed based weapon in terms of damage, so +15% damage(which does not effect conditions) is quite silly.

I actually thing, through comboing fumigate and super elixir we are A-OK for condition removal (dunno how projectile condition removal works quite yet though, is it targets near the combo bullet, or the person who fired the combo bullet?). I personally feel we are too pigeon-holed into being condition removal because our buffing is down right awful and our niche in damage seems to be ‘the max range guy who can take out those mortar turrets from a distance’ which i admit, as a grenade spec guy, makes me feel pretty fancy when i finally get my time to shine.

Rocket Boots = Endurance Regen nod

Like your blasting off with them while just leaning sideways to lazily roll.

There is a trait line dedicated to turrets, they should be reliable. Then again, the same can be said for elixirs -_-

I think Turrets are pretty snazzy as they are, but the major CD has actually led to the failure of events where i am needed at multiple objectives because i can not move between 3 objectives and still fight with full force. This is one of the few specs i have seen that will actually fail events because their build prevents them from fighting.

ScottBroChill.3254:

If “All classes should be able to damage as well as everyone if they spec right” was true, whats the point of having different classes. Sure playstyles are different, but to be EXACTLY as powerful you would need to have EXACTLY the same playstyle. Some styles are better at dealing the damage and making it hit, even though numbers can be similar. This has nothing to do with engineers being op or up, it has to do with logic. I’m not saying anyone is stupid or anything, but perfect balance is only possible if there is one class. That is why certain classes have specific strengths and weaknesses, so there is a reason to play one over the other. But again, I’m not saying the engineer isn’t underpowered, but to me he is alright and has great versatility.

The key component was ‘spec right’. Im not asking for the exact same conditions and buffs and styles of support as another class, im asking to be as effective as them in the roles i want to be effective in. According to the Anet philosophy i should not be funneled into a support niche because of my class, and people should stop acting like Guardian = SUPPORT ONLY is acceptable.

Damage can be done in different styles, but when a ranger hits me for 2K per arrow at the same range as me i have to question the size of the damage gap.

Im fine with most of the engineer (elixirs still frustrate me) but we just need number tweaks, turret CD’s to be more efficient, some kind of burst damage (preferably a weapon that does not AoE so that we have a license for high damage)

As far as my own playtime has shown, we are far from the best at anything, except for max range AoE damage. We are out damaged, out supported and out controlled as far as PvE is concerned (Pushes and pulls are not effective, i really wish we had a daze, but im not sure if the shield throw skill dazes or stuns anymore.) Our damage problem lies in our over abundance of AoE, all of our weapons hit more then one target, and so all of our weapon damage has to be lowered. Our buff support (direct support, not chills and stuff) suffers from horribly unreliable elixirs with a terrible radius and our control relies mostly on pushing and pulling, though we do still have cripples, blinds and hard CC are not effective against bosses and AFAIK we lack a daze.

A larger elixir radius with a less unreliable effect roster (Make most elixirs function like Elixir U thrown, they all deflect projectiles, but different combo fields and effects to adapt too, which is more in line with what Anet wanted from elixirs then ‘Oh i got swiftness, better luck next 20 seconds!’) would help our buff support immensely, and some way to control in dungeons would be ideal too (For trash i had this crazy idea to spec 20 into explosives and get APT to knock enemies back with detonations, set them up in intervals and keep the enemy held back one explosion at a time, though that is an entire utility set and trait dedicated to replicating Guardian skill #5 on staff).

Basicly the title, i realize the reason our damage is so low comparative to other hard hitting classes is that all our primary damage options AoE all the time. Pistols, bombs and grenades explode at varying distances, rifle pierces, flamethrower does a cone. The high amount of AoE means that they can not hit TOO hard otherwise it would be broken as we sauntered through waves of enemies hitting like we had explosives that fired warriors out of them.

I suggest a kit/weapon which has minimal control and minimal support, a straight up damage weapon that can only hurt one target at a time, but in trade its damage is able to match that of the longbow ranger.

The #1 skill could be your standard long range skill, increasing in damage as distance increased, the 2nd could be some kind of vuln applicatior to increase our overall direct damage, the third could fire one very hard hitting shot that knocks the engineer back(to keep in the theme of their crazy and explosive equipment while also replicating the effect of a volley of shots) the 4th skill could inflict a short daze on target, and the 5th could be an escape.

Alternatively, i heard a suggestion on the engineer forums that would have our primary weapons use two modes, swapped using weapon swap, and these modes would swap between different combat styles. The rifle would swap between close range cone attacks and narrow long range heavy hits, while the pistols would switch between wacky conditions and more standard gunslinging (don’t want to be boring or copy the thief, so maybe trick shots, evasive shots, just something that actually fires a bullet rather then chain lightning.).

Obviously i know these are pretty high up requests, asking for new utility kits or weapons, or even mechanic changes such as the weapon swap, but i feel this would help to solve a currently obvious damage issue the Engineer faces which should be viable. I am of course not asking for this weapon to be the bee’s knees when untraited, but a viable single target heavy hitter for heavy damage focused engineers.

Another suggestion i just thought of, perhaps a grandmaster trait in firearms could effect rifles, and increase its overall damage when further away with hipshot, though perhaps at the cost of pierce. I can imagine this being attractive for rifle users who want to get the most out of their damage while waiting for Blunderbuss to come off CD

I switch around, i usually use one, the grenade kit, but in group situations i’ll whap on an elixir gun for condition removal. My healing may not be through the roof but its only a slightly longer CD for fumigate then an elixir specced support hero.

That ‘Hidden Pistols’ skill is one mean combo finisher

ScottBroChill.3254:

uhh dude, if you were to out damage a warrior, the warrior would whine like a child too. I hate when people complain about not being able to out dps damage oriented classes like the warrior, thief, and ranger. Of course you aren’t going to out damage them, unless they just aren’t attacking so stop trying to. The engineer has versatility, control, and great party support.

All classes should be able to damage as well as everyone if they spec right, same for support and control. I mean, the Warrior ability to buff and heal is immense compared to our unreliable and tiny radius elixirs. My brother was trying out a new spec in AC that went into defense and tactics (his gear was still glass cannon basicly though) and his banners could heal, according to the tool tip, 5.5K over 4 seconds of regen. that was 2K more health then i had.

I think the engineer really needs ally support buffs (not enemy control buffs, we’re pretty cool on the debuff side, but buffing allies is pathetic comparitively) and we need a proper single target weapon. THAT is the reason our damage is low. Everything we have can hit more then one target, and that is the reason they have our damage so low. Pistols explode, rifles pierce, grenades explode, Flamethrower is a cone, bombs explode. All damage options we have hit more targets, and for that reason our damage potential has immensely suffered. We need a dedicated, single target damage weapon in order to get the high numbers we want. A new kit would be A-OK for this, but the other idea could be linked to weapon swap giving us different weapon modes that was talked about in another thread, one weapon mode (current ones) would be more AoE specialized while new ones would be single target focus fire, pistols firing rapidly for on crit effects and rifle firing slow but hard with vuln applications.

Elixir R is not condition removal, it is stun removal on self only. Not really the point of that build.

I carry an elixir gun in my specs to deal with conditions because of fumigate and light fields, i use grenades otherwise. Only thing worth speccing into for elixir gun is reduced CD, and thats in firearms which comes with crit chance and condition damage which is yummy for my glass cannon.

SixSins.7610:

Lyuben.2613:

CptCosmic.3156:

Haralin.1473:

And what if i have 56 Vitality on both weapon and i switch? Right 1000 HP Lost and when i have 56 Toughness on the weapons? right i get more Burst.

I have 2 PvP Weapons with defensive stats and this is really a reason why i not use any kit besides the medkit but i always weaker when i use my medkit.

it is your decision what stats you have on your weapons. the same will happen with any other class that switches weapons when one of your weapon sets have defensive stats. this is a common knowledge to not have defensive stats in your weapons.

That’s silly.

Its very good sense and good logic, to focus on one of the types of stats on all your gear. It does not make sense to just have random stats on your gear, and PvP shows this.

You have a single amulet which gives you all your stats. So, lets say you use the soldiers amulet. Toughness, Vitality and Power. That is a good set of stats to have as an engineer due to the damage and survivability elements.

However, in PvP, you get your stats through one simple way: the amulet. An amulet gives the same amount of stats as a full set of armour, much like you would have in PvE.

So… if it is balanced that kits can gain stats from amulets, then it must be balanced that kits can gain stats from weapons…

They are weighted to your level independent of your Power stat, to my knowledge this is fair and easy way to set them. Also, Defensive stats on weapons is silly on any character except maybe elementalist simply because of Weapon Swapping and is no different for the Engineer and his/her kits. If I’m a Guardian with +56 Vitality on my Greatsword, and +56 Power on my Hammer then making the switch from Greatsword to Hammer means I lose hp. Period. Unless you can secure the same stats on both weapons for your entire gaming experience it is not worth it and doing that will out you a LOT of money as you go. It’s just a product of the way the game works. I feel most kits, all except grenade, could use a small buff. But I don’t feel that this is the problem.

So if my warrior was to use mace/sheild and greatsword, i should not have defensive stats on my defensive weapon? Because that makes sense right? Its the slow hitting, no conditions control weapon, GOTTA HAVE ME SOME POWAH!

Because my warrior can not use his squishier weapon to engage in combat and then when he was been weakened, switch to his tougher set to mitigate damage from mobs?

If what you were saying was true there would be no defense stats on weapons.

Engineer as it is is like having a power based weapon no matter what. No ability to choose mace AND hammer for defensive abilities on both, and not even the ability to spec for critting on both weapons, despite the fact weapons like flamethrower obviously rely on crit due to the fact it does 10 weak hits a burst.

I can pull it off fairly reliably, i guess the toolbelt skill is actually what the turret does itself, but the turret does a stronger version (lasts longer) like how the other toolbelt skills are a standard shot, a rocket, a net, a ground thump, etc. So when the turret initiates its regen, it is actually using ‘healing mist’ and so a water field is created. This means your indicator for detonating the turret is right when the regen is applied to your character (it is not straight away, i can put my turret down and pick it up faster then the turret can fire).

Oh, and furthermore on the elixir gun, the weakness spam is great for fights where the enemy is hitting really hard, i usually back out of my insane damage and start spamming weakness while putting up healing areas and dishing out regen, crippling the enemy and poisoning, but again, this is just a slight, one utility tweak on my standard, insane damage and “offensive support” grenade spec.

I “Want” To be support, but i usually get funneled into Grenadier every time. Im making bomb heal specs and elixir gun constant condition removal elixir throwing specs and turret control specs (putting turrets in intervals so i can detonate them and knock enemies back, great for crowd control in a corridor) but all of it feels ineffective when stacked against the hardest damage i can do AoE (My grenade spec goes into firearms too) with the best range (Great for distant targets mid fight like Sylvari mortar plants) with loads of conditions and 25 stacks of vuln.

Elixir specs support felt like it pales in comparison to 25 stacks of vuln, it does other things sure, but i feel they are too unreliable, when specced might and condition removal are the only 100% things, and ~6 stacks of might in a tiny area (which forces team mates to group up) does not beat +25% damage on target. Grenades also bring chill and poison which can be blasted in to cause weakness, and AoE blinds which on non boss mobs is like a group Aegis.

The bomb feels like a poor mans grenade, maybe because my gear is glass cannon stuff so grenades benefit from the condition damage more, but the healing was not something i could recommend for a serious dungeon (Though i was able to keep myself alive against a around 7 mobs in Orr who came 2/3 at a time, the compassion helped for my self heal too)

Turret spec was fun, i liked using my wrench to heal turrets, but the overall CD hurt a lot, and while i have not tried in dungeons, i can imagine a single AoE taking them all down, which would render my damage basicly useless for a minute until i got my rocket turret back.

In the end, i went 30/20/0/20/0, use pistol and shield (I switch a lot, personal preference here), took grenades AND elixir gun, and Elixir R for throwable rez. The main theme of elixir gun is the condition removal which is very important in some instances, but you do not need to spec for this, the only speccing i did was reduced CD, and now i can use it when needed, while using the immense grenades otherwise. Im not pure damage and i know that, i give vuln, i chill, i poison which can also give weakness, a condition cleanse and can put down light fields to allow others to cleanse too, i have two on demand regen applicators (healing turret and healing mist F abilities) and supply crate for AoE stuns and support. I know i am VERY useful to my group. But for the most part, it just “feels” like im doing straight up damage. Im just sat at max range (well, 1200 so grenade barrage still works) rotating through grenades for the most part. Despite my glass cannon spec and gear (well, 200 vitality from alchemy is not glass but i digress) i usually end up as the last alive in heavy kite based fights due to constant vigor and amazing range (though circle kiting and grenade throwing can be a pain)

Rant over: Grenade spec is the best spec i can imagine for engineer at the moment, it damages and support immensely, i want other things to work as good as this, i want to dedicate to support, but i just can’t beat the passive support grenades bring, and the best part of our reliable support can just be slotted as your 2nd utility and your ready for combat.

Oh yeah, that too. Only had a new look at those traits today. Never really used the cripple much. Thats a lot out of one trait though, would be nice for some daze (I really want daze) and extra damage to creep into our class in some way though.

BCDragon.5614:

no thanks…Engys aren’t supposed to be a melee class

Tool Kit, Blunderbuss, Blowtorch and bomb kit beg to differ.

And Warrior was never meant to be a ranged class.

Ranger was never meant to be a melee class.

see where thats going?

Every class should have the option of going hard up on either ranged or melee. Its a bigger choice for engineers and it won’t mean the decline of all things ranged, just a viable option for close combat.

I forsee this coming as expansion content anyway, going to make us stew in a pot of ranged combat then unleash melee onto us, and laugh as Engineers struggle to get accustomed to it.

I found it fun occasionally, hits reasonably hard, can heal turrets if you like them. Got an AoE cripple, a heavy confusion hit, a block and a pull. Its a decent all-rounder but not something you will be using throughout the entirety of the fight.

Primary fault of the kit is there are no traits to buff its effectiveness besides turret healing. If we had some + damage or extra effects like daze on pry bar that would be cool.

Scrambled.6850:

Kits don’t need to scale with weapon damage or stats, since they are balanced on a per level basis and with the stats of your gear. Most of you guys are used to games with a vertical gearing system, meaning kits like this would have to scale with weapons or get left behind very quickly. Anet has the luxury of balancing on a horizontal gearing system where everyone will be on an equal playing field. Sure, that means grenades will do the same damage regardless if you have a masterwork rifle or an exotic one. That kind of sucks, but really it isn’t that hard to obtain an exotic, and I’m sure it’s much easier to balance that way.
That said, it would be nice to have sigils affect kits just to add extra flavor.

While it is not AS needed in vertical systems, that is only if you are damage focused. If i spec my gear for longevity so i can survive and support with my elixir gun or what evs, i lose my survivability by using a kit. Because the only scaled stats are damage based. It would be OP to give all kits a boost to all stats to cover all possible weapons they could have, so it needs to either take our weapon stats into account, or leave us as damage gremlins.

Thats because Charr tech doesn’t break at the slightest vibration.

The CD is too crippling, i was just in Orr, trying them, loving them, thinking of crazy ideas to use them in dungeons. But then an event came up and i had to destroy 3 targets. To destroy these i had to fend off respawning adds while attacking the objective before the 3 bars ran out. This WOULD have been a simple task for my grenade build, but there was too much time needed before i could be effective in different places, i did too little damage by myself, and while i could survive, i was not effective enough to succeed in the event, because of CD’s on my turrets.

I enjoy them, and in trash killing, dig in and hold out situations they work wonders, but when you have multiple objectives they become a massive liability.

I have found some sylvari style weapons, must just be a weird bug. I got mine in CM story.

Autumn.5093:

Graywolf.6513:

Yeah feels like im disrespecting my homies when im flamin’ and dey hatin’ on mah ratin’ cos am late-in’ representin’ the Warband!

yeh

+1 for this reason as to why we should be able to represent our guilds on our kits.

That and, it seems like our only other viable option is shield, i have not seen the models for rifle and pistol, but i can not imagine the logo being that noticed on those.

[quote=61210;Echelon.5384:]

Elixir U thrown does only have 3 possible variations, would be nice if it told us what they were. And all of them block projectiles in some way if i am not mistaken.

Its actually one of the elixirs i like the random chance on: It has one dedicated effect which will always happen, you will always get quickness, you will always get projectile deflection. But for self you get a random debuff to outset the benefit, and for thrown you get a random extra effect like smoke field, ethereal feild (can run through to gain stealth too) or light field for reflecting attacks.

I wish Elixir H and B followed the same pattern. Like if B always gave might + another buff(without traits) or if H gave 3 different healing fields, like healing rain, well of blood or super elixir.

Surprise shot!

Leaves your enemy wondering why you shot it from your belt and not your gun.

That thing should have a daze nod

Yeah feels like im disrespecting my homies when im flamin’ and dey hatin’ on mah ratin’ cos am late-in’ representin’ the Warband!

yeh

Would not mind, i feel this idea fits elixirs more though, or gadgets. But that is only in terms of what makes aesthetic sense, not what is needed for gameplay.

Tigger.8035:

Healing turret is the worst of the 3 class heals available to engineers.

Range too small, Survivability too low. Elixir H’s bonuses and cool down are better for solo play where as Med kit is better for team play, especially because you can throw it, med kits are low cool down, and the burst heal benefits from the tools passive that resets all tool belt skills when you fall below 25 percent HP

Healing turret is the best brah. You put it down, get the heal, get the regen ticks, and pick it up, on a 15 second CD without any need to trait for it to be any good. Elixir H suffers from RNG which is a p.i.t.a when you want protection but get swiftness, and the actual kit of the med kit has QoL issues with F1 becoming heal, you can’t press Q again to drop the kit, the packs you drop are hard to notice unless you scream at someone which direction to run based on their current position.

Healing turret is boss, and you can detonate it in its own spray for water field blast, or put it in a fire field for might, etc. It can support quite well based on field access, which you have more control over then Elixir H’s “66% chance to frustrate the user” effect.

Turrets need efficiency boost and shorter CD, though healing turret is fine. It gives all its regen at once, which is amazing when you wanna put it down, get the regen, then instantly pick it up for a 15 second CD.

I want to like turrets, but i just… i just can’t bring myself to do it.

Yeh sure.

Im all for buffs.

To be honest, no stats needed for weapons are a godsend, i got sent some pistols from my Fiancé which for my spec were sub par, but i could just smile and use them in combat because when i actually want to fight, im using a kit! But when she sees me im wielding pistols from my beloved.

Instant relationship saver!

I would like to see our direct support (boons and stuff) improved, even if it is just some kind of alteration on the RNG dependent elixirs.

However, people who miss with Flamethrower are lol worthy, i figured out how to hit with it on my first day, you have to keep then enemy in the centre of your camera because it is not a targeted skill, it is a conal AoE, which also means if an enemy goes invisible, you can use it and shake your screen side to side to catch them and still burn them. The issue is not Flamethrower only.

I would like more viable builds, Elixirs RNG mechanics frustrate me and drove me away from being the support i wanted to be(Had to settle for condition and vuln stacker) and the turrets need improved ability to be taken from fight to fight, CD starting on drop perhaps being a great boon to our turreteering ability.

I may be looking at it too narrow minded, but with the way abilities work, i find myself being funneled into damage specs when i want to be support. The puny 6 stacks of might i can gain from cycling throw elixirs into a tiny area pales in comparison to vuln on every grenade on the enemy. Our support with elixir gun seems healing and condition cleanse based, which means aside from compassion, there is no need to spec for this, just take it along, and our compassion come from the inventions tree, which i really struggle to find a useful trait in.

Would just like more reliable support options for buffing or defending, i was drawn by the idea of support, but it feels like all i am ever doing is damage, even if the damage brings some nifty treats with it, its still plays like damage spec.

It would only seem OP because they give you a damage buff to compensate for the lack of stats when using the kit. In the best case scenario we would lose this buff and then our stats would be ours to choose. Damage wise we seem A-OK but we lose precision, toughness, vitality, healing power, crit damage, sigil effects. Everything but damage.

If i want to run a support build getting the most out of my Super Elixir, that compassion is needed but lost whenever i use my support kit, the 200 toughness from Juggernaut is great, but is actually like +50 toughness because we lost our weapon stats, when i go into med kit to heal up my 2K health i lost in between fights, i lose the 120 vitality my weapon had, and so can never heal myself to full health without going through a length procedure of putting the med kits down, switching weapon, then awkwardly walking over them before anyone else does.

In PvP the only issue is sigils, because stats are not weapon bound.

He means the new kit that is like targeted grenades will be weaker then the ground target grenade kit, due to the ease of hitting the enemy

I always felt:

Elixir R – Elixir Restore. Restores endurance and allies!
Elixir H – Heal.
Elixir S – Elixir Shrink.
Elixir U – Elixir Utility
Elixir C – Elixir Conditions.
Elixir B – Elixir Boons.
Elixir X – eXtreme! I like using this because its funny fighting an oakheart, and getting so annoyed i stop shooting it, and start punching it to death.

But if Elixir X is crap, does that mean the warrior and elementalist elites are crap also?

Huh, i thought i was going crazy before. Yeah it was working in PvP but not any other time. That is weird.

Fix this one Anet! Should be easy enough!

Wolfey.3407:

I may get crucified for posting this… but I for one have felt that each race should have a very slight advantage to a certain race. It just seemed odd to me that the most technologically advanced race in G.W.2. is on the same level as all other races when it came to the Engineer class.
Before people freak out over the wording “slight advantage”, I mean something like:
1-3% base damage increase with a 0.5-1% casting speed
Enough to give a slight edge but not something that would be a complete game break.
Norn should not be on the same intellectual level as a Asura when it comes to Engineer, just as a Asura should not be a great of a warrior as a Norn.

Ah, but as the Engineer is a Charr profession, then Charr would have the biggest bonuses!

I don’t mind what racial diversity there is, though i prefer to keep everything equal in PvP and Dungeons. Don’t want all Guardians forced to go Charr because of a + burn duration and all necro’s go Norn because of generally increased health making blood magic less taxing.

I would love to see a hammer, it would be a great change to playstyle choice for engineers because we only have two other primary weapons. This would also allow manouvers like placing turrets down then charging ahead, allowing them to give you distant firing support while drawing enemy eyes away from your turret placements.

I also love the idea of the Tool Kit, smacking someone into the dirt with a wrench, but it is not a viable melee weapon, we can not wade into battle, slugging it out like the thief or the ranger, and while i like guns, sometimes i just want to have a bit of “meatyness” on my hits and go for the kill.

Hammer skills could follow an electrical theme or fire theme in my opinion, or they could use sonic technology like the Dredge use. They would specialize in AoE direct damage, but with control effects like daze and knockback. Dependent on the theme, they could also place a static field or fire field for use with combo’s, as we currently lack a combo field with any primary weapon.