Earth skills do tend to be clunky, but they’re extremely powerful if you’re willing to accommodate them. Lightning Flash, Arcane Shield, and Armor of Earth don’t break channels and will protect you from attacks/CC while charging Churning Earth, or you can start charging from out of range and teleport in when it’s about to explode.
Staff tends to rely more on kiting than brute force, I don’t like it quite as much for AoE killing. In that case I at least start off with the Eruption/Lava Font combo, Eruption does a ton of damage and free might stacks are always nice. I suggest bringing Arcane Wave for the extra blast combo, you’ll have fields everywhere.
Scepter I couldn’t help much with, as I rarely use it. Fire’s its only really good AoE. There’s a couple “while channeling” traits that might go well with Arc Lightning and Phoenix to give a ton of endurance regen, and the 2nd earth skill adds a chunk of free armor.
I didn’t see anything about earth attunement or Shocking Aura. D/D needs to make use of its CC and Churning Earth is ridiculously powerful against enemies that never dodge it. Initiate on the ranged mob if there is one so they all gather up, turn on Shocking Aura → Updraft/Earthquake → Churning Earth → whatever you want.
Bring defensive utilities especially if the mobs have any CC that could mess up Churning Earth.
Unsteady ground: needs to work like Temporal Curtain, where passing through it applies a good duration cripple instead of requiring the enemy to stand in it forever to do anything.
Shatterstone: go back to the good old days of 1/4 or 1/2 second cast, anet pls
Frost aura: I like this idea. That or make it inflict chill no matter what range the enemy is attacking from.
Ride the lightning: agreed
Fire shield: See Frost Aura.
Glyph of renewal (and other res signets): reduce cast time by 1 sec maybe, definitely not all the way down to 1 sec.
Blast combos work by setting off some kind of explosion inside the combo field and spreading a bonus to everyone near the blast. For example, you could stand in your own napalm wall, pull out your pistol/shield, and double-tap ‘4’ to blast might to everyone around you. Then you could back up and shoot through it yourself to get a chance at burning. If you have a rifle, you could Jump Shot through the wall of fire to get a fire aura effect.
Each skill will list some kind of “Combo Finisher: XXXX” if it can be used to combo with a field. There’s a couple unlisted ones though, especially the “detonate turret” buttons. A couple turrets can actually combo with themselves if you detonate them at the right time.
I’m not fond of them in general, but I have to admit that 2-3 stunbreakers/preventers in one slot is actually really nice. That’s the only one that really feels like it takes full advantage of the system. Dazing and cleansing aren’t terrible either, but I really hate the ones that do nothing but plain damage/healing. I’m not going to use those until that actual heal counts as a healing spell so I can pull some shenanigans with on-heal effects.
EDIT: I guess I’m saying I don’t have a problem with the system itself so much as the effects not really being worth the trouble.
The real issue at least to me is when talking about class balance is Mesmers and Engineers. Their gadgets deal damage while they sustain and break off stuns “a.k.a I kittened up button” 3 times in a row. Like why can’t the damage output be mainly from the Engineer or Mesmer itself? Oh yeah, to satisfy low skill cap players. That’s the answer.
I’m curious where you’re finding these engineers, because I’d like to ask them how they managed to slot five utility skills on their bar.
You need a bit of everything in a game. Following your suggestions would kill the class for many who prefer and chose it for a less twitchy gameplay.
This guy gets it. I totally understand liking a class’s flavor and utility but having issues with its gameplay, I can’t stand playing a warrior even though I like the class’s style and a lot of individual skills. I find that I play different characters based more on my mood than on the class itself.
I love my engie and ele, but I also love having a guardian to fall back and ease the twitchiness those classes cause. They’re the only class where I can really just slow down and calmly NOPE at anything an enemy tries to do to me and my allies.
Actually, the only class that hasn’t hooked me at all yet is the ranger. Even warriors I like going on a hammer rampage every once in a while.
I’ll sometimes carry them to cover for my/an ally’s weakness at melee/range. They’re kinda like kits and attunements, you can sit and use the same one all day, but you have so many other options cooling down that you’re better off firing the skill or two you need at the moment and switching to something else again. Their cooldowns are low enough for that and you get two per cast.
Also next time you’re on tower/keep defense, toss that greatsword to a nearby guardian.
My first character was an elementalist, I am now leveling up a mesmer as my second.
It is a cakewalk compared to what I went through with my elementalist.
I’m finding the exact opposite to be true. What sort of builds/loadouts were you using? I can’t get my mesmer to do anywhere near as much damage as my ele, and it splatters twice as fast despite all the tricks and blocks it has.
Let me give you a very simple example. You get to 40 on a Mesmer. You get clone-on-dodge trait, which most here feel is a game-changer. And it is pretty nice. But it is still a clone. It can be 1-shot, it does little/no damage, etc. What do you get on the same level as Engineer? You drop a bomb on dodge.
Please don’t, those bombs are really bad. A scrap of damage is nothing compared to something that can eat an attack for you, or turn into damage, conditions, or a moment of invulnerability.
PvP gear always has maxed out stats, but I can’t remember if the default gear is set up for condition damage or not. Go to the armor/weaponsmith and stack all the condition damage you can if that’s what you’re after.
I miss the beta days when Shatterstone basically was the ice scepter autoattack. I think it was only 2 stacks of vulnerability and less damage than it does now, but there was no cast time so you could crank them out twice as fast and still cast other spells in between.
TBH it was the only part of the scepter I ever really enjoyed using.
I haven’t actually responded to the topic itself hurrrr. 4/10 for getting me to respond twice.
The only thing I’m not really fond of is the ranged autoattack, oddly enough. I’m all for unique and bizarre uses for a weapon but when I pick up a hammer I’m really hoping to dive in there and whomp people in the face. Still, I could get used to this loadout, I’d have the 3rd skill to sate my face-mashing hunger. It’s got all the “cool” points a good hammer kit should as well, smashing people in the face really hard and smashing the ground to make cool stuff happen around you. But with fire
All the skills sound useful and interesting, though 5 doesn’t really seem like a “5” skill. I think I’d swap skills 5 and 2 and change up their power appropriately, maybe allowing the spider mines to actually lay in wait as mines. That sounds more like a 5 to me, and I feel like it would bring the kit together as a nice point-defense weapon. Then you can work the AoE in with the basic attack on a more regular basis as well, working in more bleeding so the kit isn’t quite so skewed towards Power builds.
What the heck are you talking about? All of the above are in game.
A “rocket-powered hammer.” on the other hand, does not exist. If the original post was referring to a list of skills for the hammer if they allowed engineers to use hammers, then you should say so. Not fly off the handle simply because your not saying what you mean, then get angry at the rest of us if we do not decifer your meaning accordingly.
I haven’t seen a single one of those weapons. I’ve seen engineers use pistols and shields, rangers throw axes, and mesmers pew pew greatswords, I’m pretty sure OP sees engineers using hammers.
I do not understand why people lack basic comprehension skills, but unless you lost your mind, rocket hammers nor anything you mentioned do not exist in game.
Funny, I haven’t seen any flame pistols, electromagnet shields, throwing axes, or laser swords either, but people still use those from time to time.
They didn’t make the animation for charrs because it would be wasting time on an unpopular race. It’s the same reason almost every armor clips with the tail and appears stretched on them.
They had no way of knowing popularity when they were setting up animations.
Charr and asura probably get their own animations because they can’t use the generic ones made for the human-shaped races. Their skeletons are just too different.
I tried an asura, but they just don’t look right as an engineer, to me. Kinda goofy. They make better spellcasters, charr make better “heavy”-looking professions like warrior and engineer.
Yes, usually happens immediately after an airblast or dodge-roll. It’s common, but since it’s predictable I can generally avoid the problem. Still annoying though.
Yes, usually when mouse-aiming or strafing around a target.
It changes the turret’s next “shot” into the new effect. It can take anywhere from 0 to 8 seconds after you press the button to actually cleanse. If you hit the heal key twice in a row to place→cleanse, it should go off immediately.
Is it possible you’re just getting confused by the next occurrence of the “spinning top” regen buff animation? The cleanse should always be instant, the long interval animation is the regen buff.
The cleanse animation is a very short burst of steam from the turret, I think.
The cleansing animation is the whirling jets of blue spraying out from the turret. Much bigger than the usual fine mist of regen.
If I wasn’t about to leave for dinner, I’d give better feedback. I just saw “steam cannon” and wanted to say that I played Torchlight 2 recently, and hauling around an actual, big kitten cannon as a heavy ranged weapon is awesome and more games should do that.
This sounds like a little much for a utility skill, but it’s a real nice twist on the mortar. I’d be really happy to have something like this as an elite.
IMO anyone should be able to repair siege weapons, but only out of combat/siege and by spending supply. Costs the same supply as building it in the first place, but you save the coin cost and inconvenience of buying a new one.
Thanks to anets sb nerf- wth where they thinking? this has ruined the game for me now- I don’t want to be forced to play warrior/thief or mesmer but it seems those are the only ones with superb damage
Damage isn’t the end-all in this or any other game. Besides, we can’t all be as faceroll as GS warriors or DD thieves, that’d make the game boring
I look forward to the day that every boss gets a door on their room and a waypoint right outside that. Graveyard zerging is stupid and running for five minutes after dying is stupid. Fix em both in one go and also force people to L2P in the process.
My sentiments exactly. Horrible ending to the story. Absolutely terrible.
This is how you finish a story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDpayS4UNVE (WoW Lich King ending)
I agree that the Zhaitan fight is disappointing but to put that crappy wow Boss fight as an example of a good one is even worse !
The Zhaitan story is great, people are just complaining about the fight itself !
I was hoping to pound him to the ground myself with my own power, not using a cannon and pew pew peck him to death, you can’t even see damage numbers at all feels kind of not epic and he’s to small for an elder dragon.
I’ve said it before, we’re -never- going to get to fight an elder dragon under our own power. Zhaitan’s just too kitten big to care about us, and they only get bigger from here on out. And it’s not just the fight that people are complaining about, it’s the whole presentation surrounding him. Zhaitan doesn’t show up at all until the last 20 minutes of the game, there’s no buildup of tension or sense of awe, no looming sense of “oh sweet crunchy christ we’re actually going to fight that immense monstrosity we saw back there. How can we even do anything to him, he nuked a whole mountainside with a wingbeat and gave no craps about all our strongest artillery.” Or something like that.
Wouldn’t a Zhaitan minipet still be about the size of a bus?
That’s really cool to hear about the reward fix, I haven’t even gotten to that point yet because I’m still in ADD SEE EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE mode but that’s really something to look forward to
Seeing that SE armor was the first and only thing that’s made me regret my decision to roll a charr. It looks so good on everyone else but so outrageously terrible on a charr.
Oh well, my search for the perfect duster/hat combo continues.
I think what annoys some, at least it annoys me, is the way Rifle skills are meant to be used. Optimum is to jump shot to mob, blunderbuss, OC shot, net shot, hip shot until cooldowns are up. It’s just annoying combat IMO, I enjoy my warrior more who can work at a distance and has the one distancer (rifle butt) if he needs it. I don’t want to worry about jumping in or out of a bad situation, adds, mobs around me, off a cliff, etc.
I don’t use rifle much anymore, if at all. I started out hating grenades, but as I played I realized how incredibly powerful and much better of a weapon they are than the rifle, even the CC is pretty nice, Chill is quite an awesome debuff especially when it’s an aoe debuff. Still, I wouldn’t mind the option to use rifle once in a while for fun, but I feel like it’s such a large step down from grenades I don’t even bother.
That’s fine. Play your rifle warrior and grenadier if you like that. I don’t like those at all because I find them boring as hell and I’m not willing to trade that for whatever increased effectiveness they might have, but I’m not going to ask for them warped to fit my style. I’ll just play hammer warrior once in a great while. Nothing needs changing here.
It always makes me sad when fun is tied to effectiveness, ease of use, big numbers.
It doesn’t stun because they’re invulnerable while using it. They keep hurting you because you only block one attack out of eight or however many. Just back up a couple feet.
I have no idea but I could swear it too. The only thing I can think of that makes any real sense is that CC pisses off mobs far more than damage does, and that’s by far my biggest strength.
You have to have taken damage, and there’s no buff icon for it, just the numbers popping up as your health refills. I don’t think you need to be in combat because it should keep working til your health is full.
“elixar b does apply all of the boons listed, he is referring to tool belt skill that reads that is should apply all of them as well but only applies one of them randomly”
I think that’s a tooltip error, not a functionality bug. Mass buffs like that would be insane on a 20 second cooldown.
On that note, the trait Potent Elixirs has some truly bizarre interactions with Toss Elixirs H and B. I’ve gotten the correct boon, quarter-length vigor, double-length swiftness, double might stacks, and every combination of double boon you can get from each elixir. I think it’s adding a SECOND boon at 20% of the listed duration, instead of extending the first boon by 20%, although that doesn’t explain the vigor or swiftness bugs.
It heals you for about 5-6K as soon as you drop the turret, and starts its regen field about a half-second later. If you get the heal combo you’re also going to get the regen, because it comes from the same water field you used in the combo.
It’s got scaling problems (the turret’s regen and overcharge heal don’t scale with our healing) but it’s still my favorite healing skill we have because it’s so versatile.
-If you pick it up again it only has a 15 second cooldown, so you can have our shortest-cooldown heal plus perma-regen for yourself (the regen stacks twice per “shot,” so you actually get 16 seconds of regen each time it ticks).
-If you detonate it, you get an extra 1K+ healing for everyone around it, on top of that regeneration.
-Mash the heal key twice and it’ll fire its overcharge as soon as it’s placed. Mass cleanse once a minute.
-Just leave it there for perma-regen on anyone in the area. Unfortunately this is the weakest use for it, because of the scaling bug.
Sigils on kits would be completely OP to be honest, we could use some form but it would have to be very carefully balanced.
We have potentially 4 kits to swap to, and our weapon. All of this with virtually no delay as well unlike the regular weapon swap. This alone makes up for a lack of sigils in my opinion.
Good point, though I could have sworn most sigils have an internal cooldown anyway to prevent that sort of thing. We still need weapon stats though.
It’s not a melee skill. Unlike a melee auto-attack bombs don’t trigger/explode immediately and can and often do miss their target. When this happens the auto-attack is turned off.
Not to mention that builds that use bombs to heal their teammates also don’t benefit from this change.
You arguing otherwise tells me you have either not played this profession much or at least not played it using the Bomb Kit.
The bomb kit autoattack works exactly the same as it always has and strictly speaking works perfectly. I assume the attack range is considered to be 120/180, identical to the blast radius, so it it autoattacks precisely when any other attack when that range would.
Now, keep in mind that I’m not saying it’s perfect, because it’s not the ideal way it might work. Ideally we’re just crapping bombs whenever anything is within, say, 600 range, where there’s a chance they might just walk into them. Not ideal is not the same thing as broken. The simplest fix for this would be to increase the attack’s “range” without changing where the bomb drops, that way the target is technically in autoattack range even if the bombs aren’t actually going to hit.
And of course you don’t get the benefit when healing with bombs, you can’t autoattack without an enemy target in range. I’ve also never seen the autoattack “turn off.” I’ve played several whole zones with nothing but bombs, and have seen that happen exactly never.
Throwing three grenades was never the bug, it was the extra cooldown reduction it got for no reason. That cooldown reset thing sounds like a new bug though.
