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You may as well ask for all engineers to be able to summon a robotic golem like Asura, especially since any player who happens to click on it can pilot it regardless of race. I’m sure if they wanted to Rangers could make a similar argument for something like the Hounds of Balthazar or the Norn beast transformations as well.
Sure having the racial abilities would be nice, but they’re still all for flavor. In both Charr and Asura society everyone has at least a little bit of familiarity with engineering even if it’s not their profession, just as all humans are apparently devout god-worshippers, all Sylvari knowledgeable of plants (obviously), and all Norns able to transform into some type of lycanthropic beast. So the kitties get basic mines and fire support to fit their origins, the Asura their mecha, and the Humans their flaming terror dogs.
The Sylvari are pretty obviously plants that are trying to be like humans, or at least the Pale Tree is intending to be so. But while they are emulating the dominant race of Kryta (perhaps Rhonin’s fault?), they’re still plants. I wouldn’t be surprised if each and every one of them had both a carpel and a stamen.
What I want to know is why they have belly buttons. >_>;
Never trust a man who steals VCRs, especially in this day and age.
Words to live by.
Elixir traits don’t work with Elixir X? I wonder if that’s a bug. >_>;
I do like Elixir X as my underwater elite, but you’re absolutely right about mortar. Even if you consider its damage decent its 1200 range makes it worthless due to its incredibly slow rate of fire. Granted the #5 attack is ok, but its cooldown is lengthy.
I think I would have minded her death less if it hadn’t have been so contrived.
But then rule #1 of fantasy storytelling is to make an awesome character and then kill them off. It’s largely true for all the mentors, who are all awesome.
What would happen to your favorite MMO’s if one rifle shot killed every man sized target in pve and pvp? Or one grenade took down everything in a 15 meter radius? :P
So… Like playing a thief with a ranged cloak+dagger/backstab combo, then? :-]
Just to point out the obvious, this thread is becoming absolutely full of straw men arguments. There’s a lot of rationalizing according to assumption, and frankly it’s just silly. You’re seeing the situation one way because you feel justified with that view, and your opponents choose to interpret everything in a different manner because they feel it’s substantial.
As an experiment, look at the image Yermoh linked of the Dev attack on Garr. It’s just above here on this page a few posts up. Go ahead and look, and think about what you see.
Did you notice all the red names? Of course you did. But did you also see the incredibly diverse guild tags? You see a few mainstays like GASM and PRO, but do you normally associate all the other guild tags with Wv3 groups?
Now ask yourself what kind of conclusions you can draw from this. If the only thing you can come up with is a result that verifies your earlier conclusions and can’t justify another, less condescending point of view, then you’ve failed the thought experiment.
And suddenly this is a thread about the merits of Golion (lion Voltron) versus Dairugger (vehilce Voltron), in which case I’d have to agree that a Dairugger would be more impressive if made from siege. Golion was just five robot lions, which while totally awesome aren’t really compatible with siege equipment by design. I mean arrow carts and balistas look nothing like lions even using the goggles of forum logic, even if I really try to spin the imagination to make it so. But then you remember the Raving Asura in Fractals of the Mist? See, we know he was working on his cat-bot Voltron when he bust in because only such a greatness could be responsible for destabilizing the instance. This is why we don’t actually fight him, but rather everything stabilizes when his Voltron units are destroyed. However he never finished the fifth cat-bot and you stop him before he can, thus preventing the doom that would have otherwise occurred (Old Tom is obviously the prototype and not a compatible final product!).
Now Dairugger the vehicle Voltron? That was no less than fifteen separate vehicles put together, and siege equipment could largely pass as a rustic analogue to them. Why, I dare say the sheer beauty of fifteen interlocking siege devices would be so beautuous that it would likely cause the game to eject the opposing players in a server-side attempt to preserve the ingenuity. I regret the premature termination of your project, sir, but thank you for not causing a Wv3 server-side implosion.
Berserkers is your best bet for grenade builds in both Wv3 and the majority of PvE (dungeons included), but it really depends on what you’re doing. For FotM level 10+ it’s highly recommended you get at least some toughness/vit somewhere on you as 15k life is asking to be ressed a ridiculously embarrassing number of times (agony does not mess around). Full berserkers is perfectly viable and probably preferred up until that point, but you should probably buy like some AC gloves and booties or something with those candy explore tokens, or maybe swap out your jewelry. Whatever, just so long as you don’t die like tissue paper when two or three boss abilities hit you at once, otherwise you’ll just end up a liability in something like the grawl fractal.
You don’t necessarily need 30 points in firearms for a power grenadier build but it doesn’t really hurt you. You can also consider 20 in tools for something like discharge or even 10 in alchemy for faster elixir recharge or free auto elixir S at 25% life. Whatever floats your boat.
Is this about the castle icon? Isn’t that the thing you get for completing all the dungeon explore route achievements? Like how the map completion achievement puts a star by your name?
I may be wrong on this, and I apologize if so.
To be fair “Throw Junk” deals more upfront basic damage per hit (128) than both the warrior’s and guardian’s (unless the guardian traits for more damage), and naturally more than the ranger’s and the necro’s whose abilities focus on bleed and healing respectively. Regardless of the random condition, it should always deal the base damage per application which makes it largely middle-of-the-road on the highway of terrible #1 abilities (seriously, they’re all universally meh).
Step 3: Legendary Effects on kits!
Pink plasma flames from the flamethrower? Yes, please!
Why did I suddenly think of Valve’s “Meet the Pyro”? >_>;
…are also winning the game they play?
Mesmers cannot achieve perma-swiftness without someone else giving it to them. The best they can do is 5 seconds of temporal curtain every 25 seconds with an additional 5 seconds at complete random from having signet of inspiration active.
Mesmer’s tend to be slow explorers and solo runners unfortunately, though they can gain +5% running away speed for each active illusion with a trait.
Well with runes they can
…I forgot about centaur runes. Shame on me. ~_~;
Towers and keeps should have a torch vendor from whom torches can be bought to burn the dead inside. Let that be it’s sole #1 ability.
We will give you a respectable funeral pyre, so depart from this place at once, shade, and trouble our keep no more…
I’m going to second an engineer, but you have to build for it. With enough toughness and vit gear and the proper traits you can have protection up 60% of the time, two separate cooldowns of 3 second invulnerability (one automatic when your life hits 25%), either an AoE cripple or a knockback+knockdown on a short timer, and what amounts to permanent swiftness with speedy kit trait. If you go 30 points in alchemy trait line you can even become immune to conditions when under 25% health. There is even an option to have 3 seconds of complete block with the tool kit, but the skill bar is only so big…
Otherwise I find well-played bunker elementalists to be the hardest thing to kill in the game, second only to thieves for frustrating getaways (because a roaming thief will get away if he wants to get away). Additionally even with perma-swiftness some classes will still be able to catch you if all you do is run (can’t outrun most thieves), but you can always drop a supply crate on their heads while fleeing to get them off you.
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Mesmers cannot achieve perma-swiftness without someone else giving it to them. The best they can do is 5 seconds of temporal curtain every 25 seconds with an additional 5 seconds at complete random from having signet of inspiration active.
Mesmer’s tend to be slow explorers and solo runners unfortunately, though they can gain +5% running away speed for each active illusion with a trait.
This is working as intended and not unique to your race. You cannot lob over the ramparts without being extremely close to the edge, and thus within range of retaliation, despite what the lobbing animation should indicate.
A lot of downed state complaints arise mainly from WvW situations where half the classes routinely manage to escape back into the safety of their zerg or group after being downed near the front. Ele’s mist away, Mesmers and Thieves teleport, and warriors freaking stand back up again with a self-rally. Additionally some classes have beneficial traits while downed, as thieves have a “concealed defeat” trait that drops an automatic smoke screen when they’re downed (blinding those in melee range), and necros trait a free auto-fear in a similar fashion (not all thieves/necros will do this). The engineer’s only “beneficial” trait when downed is to drop a flamethrower and elixir kit gun kit for other players to pick up and use (as well as some bandages) which is just absolutely ridiculous. I can’t think of any reason another class would want to randomly grab those kits other than humor, and their doing so certainly doesn’t help the engineer out in any signifigant way.
The grappling line #2 ability is simply horrible. Its range is only 900 so it can’t actually be used to grab squishier players actually standing at range, and judging that distance can sometimes be hard (throwing it out of range wastes it). Its only real use is stopping a flag-planter, in which case it’s probably the worst #2 ability out there as its come-over-here knockdown lasts less than a second because it inflicts no status effect (it is an interrupt, but does not actually cause the knockdown status). Warrior hammer toss causes a 2 second knockdown, Necromancer fear causes two seconds of fear. Probably only the Ranger has a comparably awful #2 with its paltry 1 second of daze, but it’s at least an AoE (centered on the target).
Engineer’s #3 downed ability is strong, but its knockdown is all too brief; its best feature is actually that it’s a blast finisher which can be fun if you’re downed in an AoE field, but then only the warrior and thief really celebrate the use of their #3. For engis generally either it takes too long to come up, or they’ll just get back up afterwards and finish you off for good the next time. It can admittedly be fun if something like a ranger stealths you while ressing and you pull off an invisible BOOM to blow someone off a cliff, but that felt more like a once-in-a-liftetime coincidence.
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Rams with shield coverings to protect it and users against falling arrows. ;-/
Also makeshift barricades. Just pile those supplies up like sandbags and make them bust their way past!
Well, we DO already have that box of nails…
Might as well be able to use them instead of just tossing them everywhere.
What bugs me is that turrets have that little gear icon when you mouse over them, like they’re just dying to be “operated”. Maybe to have a target set, hint hint?
The best part of the #2 skill is that its range is terrible, and it has a super long cooldown to boot. Your one chance to stop a flag-plant and it only works on one person AND draws them into your loving arms to boot. Pity by the time explosion is up they’ve already had enough time to plant a flag in your face two and a half times.
So even LARP employs exploiting thieves that continually vanish like in the video. And here I thought you were actually trying to bring a good fight.
This makes me excited. Please, please, please let my pistol’s “60% chance on critical to inflict bleeding” from superior sigil of earth apply to my grenades. ;-]
Engineers do not normally have a daze mechanic outside of throwing a shield, but since he was an asura he might have been using the “Technobabble” Asura racial skill which dazes for 2 seconds. This would also give him an AoE confuse on his toolbelt, assuming of course that racial skills were allowed for the PvP build. Being hit with Supply Crate also causes a 2 second stun if you’re in its AoE radius when it lands (and if he’s any good you will be), so you probably experienced this at least once.
Kit backpacks don’t always appear due to a bug, so he may have been using bomb kit for the red circles and the backpack graphic just not showing, or he could have possibly just been using the kit’s toolbelt ability “big ol’ bomb” (which he could drop while using pistols). BO’B causes excessive knockdown when it explodes. Alternatively he may have been using Throw Mine, which is also a viable possibility. There is also an early trait in explosions that causes 4-5 mines to launch automatically when an engineer hits 25% health, as well as one that drops a little mine every time an engineer dodge rolls (these both cause red circles). Mines and Bombs are the only methods I know of
Glue shot will both immobilize and cripple, immobilizing things in its area when it hits and then crippling whatever enters or remains in the area for its duration. Net turret typically comes along with supply drop, though if it’s equipped it can not only be dropped to fire a 3 second immobilize once every 10 seconds, but the toolbelt command can launch a free 3 second immobilize on demand as well (60 second cooldown).
For reduced damage, engineers have a couple of neat traits he may have been using that trigger as they take damage, or he may have built himself for toughness. Some of the fun traits include drinking an elixir B at 75% health (gives a number of free boons), gaining 3 seconds of protection every time you’re disabled (5 second cooldown, triggers on application of stun, daze, knockdown, knockback, launch, float, sink, fear), gaining 3 seconds of protection when crittically hit (20 second cooldown, less useful), or he may have gained it as a random effect from using elixir H’s toolbelt ability, as if he wasn’t using elixir gun and was still removing conditions then he probably had Elixir H equipped. There is also a trait deep in one of the lines (30 points in Alchemy I think?) that makes an engineer immune to condition damage when at critical health (less than 25%), so that’s also a possibility depending on his build.
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Anyone who completely dismisses turrets is a fool. Yes, they may not go with your preferred playstyle, but the thumper can be indispensible in solo PvE, and if you’ve ever seen a trebuchet set up on a tower outside of AoE reach you can really throw some people for a loop by taking the ranged turret trait and dropping a rocket turret in range of it. I’ve disabled and/or harassed a lot of otherwise inaccessible siege that way.
That being said if you’re AoE farming nothing is better than grenades. They even give you chills and blind to help.
I see the golems and bay discussed a bit. See, not all commanders are created equal, and the one responsible for that, while very good at small-scale hit-and-run tactics, also tends to think the “golem zerg” strategy is the best strategy even if there isn’t a single Dev mesmer on the map. If you remember the golem attack on the wrong FC bl garrison entrance the day before where they were introduced to boiling oil, that was also his lead. But to be fair both attempts were done with only 15-16 people, and the Ferg response has always been quite impressive, especially after the ridiculous amount of time it takes to build and set up multiple golems without mesmers.
If that commander reads this thread, the “babygirl” thing is annoying and has been keeping me off of whatever map you’re on. Nothing against you personally, and you’re quite good at being elusive when leading a capture squad, but your map chat kind of ruins my mood.
I’d honestly settle for the mortar not having crap damage due to the slow rate of fire and actually having a range to make it viable (1200 doesn’t cut it).
If this is for advice about leveling, then get thumper turret and put it on your bar, grab a rifle, then take the 20% rifle cooldown reduction. The pistol is all about condition application and the shield somewhat situation (great against things like dredge, kind of meh otherwise), but the rifle is all about spike damage and CONTROL, and thumper turret may not seem like much from the skill description but it is in essence an immobile hunter pet in terms of aggro control. You can solo any non-ranged mob in the game with thumper turret tank (it holds aggro for things in melee range of it very well), net immobilize, and overcharged shot. If you’re dealing with larger groups you may switch to an application of blinding grenades, and you can also use the flamethrower’s #3 or the ram knockback skill to push things away an additional time. Thumper can also be used to off-tank additional mobs while you power down something.
For escape in dungeons or PvP you may consider elixir S, though it’s not as useful out in the leveling field.
A server is just a server. Why would I have pride in it? It’s like a city. You can love it but don’t let it tie you down and leave if the need arises. There are other cities out there with their own benefits and problems, and don’t let complacency keep you from considering your other options.
In locations near the invulnerability buff, it’s possible to build seige just outside while the operator/defenders stand in the buff area. You can still destroy the siege, you just can’t hurt/move the operator and those next to him.
Yes, this is problematic and kind of dirty, but that’s the game.
I had a thief do approximately 20k to me from stealth with a steal→cloak and dagger→backstab (crit) combo. I have seen the glory of the glass cannon burst class, and I think I may roll one to try out. >_>
Most complaints for being downed come from engineers and guardians because, to be frank, they’re absolutely terrible when down. Really, they can’t do anything short of die most of the time, so they get to see all the stomp action right up close. Other classes like elementalists, thieves, and mesmers all get to port around and escape, but not the stationary classes.
That being said, stealth thief/mesmer finish isn’t the only issue that’s weird, even if it’s largely one of the most annoying. Consider that an elementalist can go mist-form in the middle of the flag-planting animation to become completely invulnerable, and that an engineer can do the same with elixir S (neither skill interrupts the animation). Even if I don’t like seeing stealth finishes, even I must acknowlege those are just as frustrating to the downed player.
I hate sweeping for mesmers in certain places. It’s annoying and unfun, especially in places like Dredgewater Bay.
On the other hand, I love it when I get to take a mesmer port past a wall in a keep raid myself. That’s fun, and feels so deliciously dirty. So you know, it’s just accepting the bad with the good.
Tool Kit is a mainstay of my Wv3 build, and sometimes appears when I’m in a dungeon depending on encounter.
Magnet is 1200 range of wonderful in PvP, and in PvE it can be used on certain pulls to grab one mob and not its entourage (think the wardens in TA).
Box of Nails is mean-spirited fun if you drop it in a good spot when PvPing, and can help with kiting melee mobs in PvE.
Prybar is a great followup to a magnet pull because who doesn’t like instantly applying confusion?
Gear Shield should make tool kit a definate bar consideration for any PvE event that requires you to simply survive, such as either the brazier or “protect Maag” events in CoF, or standing on a switch in dredge fractal. It’s 3 seconds of block, and can save your bacon. It is also just as fantastic in PvP, and combined with Elixir S can give you 6 seconds of nearly free running if you’re trying to break through a mob to a tower entrance or the like.
The auto-whack attack is meh, but you can use it on mobs that have projectile reflect shields (I prefer flamethrower for those, though).
Honestly I would happy enough with an explosion that blasted our corpse away like the rocket boots, faceplant stun and all. As it stands engineers really, really don’t want to be caught downed.
Though honestly that’s probably by design. If you want flawless or BS escape methods, you roll a thief or a mesmer respectively. If you’d rather throw all your escapes into active living abilities, then both engineer and guardian should be up your alley.
Flamethrower is a hard sell for certain situations but it’s perfectly viable for most of them. Certainly grenades will be more damaging if you can hit with them, and nothing harries quite like explosive spam in WvW or bomb spam in s/tPvP point-defense. But that being said in all of PvE and any small-scale close-range PvP flamethrower will do fine. Just make sure you take the 20 points in Alchemy to get the +15% damage to flamethrower trait in addition to Juggernaut in Firearms.
I’m not really sure how they can fix this. If you allow people to disassemble siege, then “spies” will just run around busting it down (and you know they would). Alternatively if it just despawned after a time that could really damage defense on a map that’s inactive for a few hours. Obviously the cap serves a purpose, but how best to fix it?
Honestly I don’t think Wv3 map completion should be part of the world completion just because it’s obnoxious, but I like the PvP jumping puzzles primarily because they’re PvP. They have traps! That’s interesting! And the PvP lends a sense of tension that you otherwise don’t get.
I don’t really think we need more, but what we have is a fun experiment, and it’s neat to see what people do with them.
I am offended by their promiscuity and retaliate against their exhibitionism.
Haven’t you nudists heard of public decency?! Feel the wrath of my judgemental prudishness!
Late last week attacking Kaineng was not blind hatred, it was pragmatism. Dev was trying desperately to maintain the score lead last week and you were having none of it—who cared what Ferg did in 3rd place at that time with the point deficit? Additionally you all were really laying into us, and it was FUN. Can you blame us for wanting more of it?
Something does seem missing in Kaineng this first day, though. Ferg still has its rolling zerg, but it always seems leave if it’s ever defeated and chasing it isn’t as much fun as you’d think.
I think alot of the peoples problems is that they are used to fighting with either equal or greater numbers where they see the downed state is fine, however as soon as you become outnumbered you can quickly notice how flawed the whole mechanic is.
Even in outnumbered situations where your side is being routed the downed state acts as a unique distraction to occupy the attackers while your allies flee. They can’t just ignore you, so even if you die to the inescapeable rush of a swifted zerg, you still vaingloriously bought your side a brief bit of time by stalling its vanguard.
Or at least that’s what I tell myself…
Valkyries do not fight in cloth armor
Actually given Norse history, they would wear only as far as medium armor. And the prowler leather set has an almost valkyrie-ish helm, though it eats the hair disgustingly like all the other hat/helms in game.
Making someone log out and go through the log in process again/lion’s arch/loading/etc is a more delicious victory than any bag will ever be.
That being said my only issue with the downed state is watching all these others classes move around while downed. Ele’s mist, mesmers do a little illusion kiniport, thieves have a little stealth thing… As an engineer I just plop down on the ground and invite you closer with a grapple line.
I don’t like downed state as an engineer, though it is admittedly always fun to rally unexpectedly.
The best way to use the flamethrower for a direct damage build is to rock the #2 attack’s explosion which hits extremely hard, especially when it crits. This means you need to be the proper distance, as the blast only hits at a very specific range, but with juggernaut traited you’ll be getting continuous stacks of might as the fight goes on. And if you want to rifle some, switch to flamethrower and #2, then switch back, then that’s fine (and fun), too.
Flame Jet is kind of weak and scales poorly, it’s true, but if you’re otherwise walking with a rifle and grenade aiming just isn’t viable for the encounter, then flamethrower still makes an excellent AoE burn.
You ever go to the WvWvW forums and see servers complain “oh man we lost because we were so outnumbered they had like 50 guys and we just had 30 lol”? Now remember that zergs have mesmers spawning clones in them in.
In a zerg a Mesmer is a party all its own.
A team of 5 or, god forbid, 10 can hold any small location with the proper siege. With two arrow carts and balistas you can easily fend off a group more than twice your size with about 6 people, especially if the point of breach is known (this is more difficult if there are multiple access points).
If you’re facing a sizeable zerg though, or if the enemy is both outnumbering you AND using siege of their own, then sorry, you’re just not going to be able to hold, and that’s intended. Can you imagine how frustrating it would be to attack a tower with 30 players and have only 5 defenders succeed with loot bags? It’s not fun, and quite disheartening to think of.
I can’t imagine how many loot bags must have appeared for the burning oil operator. It must have been a little brown garden on the rampart!