Guild Wars 2

I’m still surprised they didn’t use the opportunity to give Engineer a Lightning Field. It’s so fitting for the class!

Admittedly, I wouldn’t mind a Minion set if the traitline has some of the same passive coolness that the Necromancer gets, with the condition removal and the explode-on-death stuff. X) The lack of movement on turrets makes them partially reliable in regards to positioning, you always know where its effects will occur.

I suppose if the flying-drone aspect were something you could control in order to avoid having to pick them up when you’re moving, as opposed to a constant state, that’d be viable. But they’ve already got Overcharge and Detonation on them, so I’m not sure how such movement commands would work. Maybe it’d just happen based on distance, but then you can’t control where they set down… Unless the Overcharge or Detonation are replaced with “land here” when they’re in drone-mode.

But they make my enemies cry!

Well, good to know I’m not alone in that wish, at least! :P Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure ALL turret overcharges are on a bit of a delay, where they wait for their next firing round. Would make ’em all a good bit more useful at their core if they were less clunky in that regard. X)

Wouldn’t it be nice if the overcharge could take effect without the Flame Turret needing someone to shoot at? X) It doesn’t even actually fire the thing AT an enemy, it’s centered on the Flame Turret, but for whatever reason, it wants an enemy nearby so it can show off.

I know it’s really not any sort of priority, and it’s been how it is since the start of the game, but it’d just be nice. I don’t suppose a developer’s ever given a concrete “no” on the request?

Oh, man, this build has my name on it.

digitalruse.9085:

• Mine dropped by Streamlined Kits while equipping Grenade Kit behaves erratically
  Description: Streamlined Kits procced Mine randomly explodes. Sometimes instantly, sometimes never, sometimes after a short delay.
  Reproducible?: Yes. Equip Grenade Kit with Streamlined Kits and observe behaviors.

Perhaps there are other causes, but one cause of the Mine detonating appears to be contact with a Mini, similar to the Med Kit bug.

digitalruse.9085:

• Skill keys are shown incorrectly on the skill bar
  Description: The buttons assigned to skill 5 and F5 show the wrong assigned key (default) if any of the assignments has been modified.
  Reproducible?: Yes. Unbind the keys for skill #5 and class skill #5. Then bind one to any key. Both skills show the default assignment on the skill bar.
  Additional Details: The skills are working with their assigned keys as intended.

I had this issue, myself. I set F5 to B, instead. The icon stayed as F5 until I logged out and back in, and it now shows B. It may also change just from switching maps, but I’m not certain on that.

Gern.2978:

Josh Davis.6015:

Gern.2978:

I want to know how much the #1 attack hits for. That is the deciding factor of whether this is a good kit or not. If the #1 attack hits like a wet noodle, then this kit will be next to useless for a power build.

According to napkin math, mortar #1 hits about 47% harder than rifle 1.

You promised me Josh Davis, you promised me, got my hopes up, and then dashed them to pieces. I don’t think I can trust the devs anymore.

Your “wet noodle” comment doused his napkin. All bets are off when one of those fragile little things are dampened. I blame you for this! >:(

Ricky Rouse.1583:

Whats that? Supply Crate can overcharge now? The overcharge includes a water field? It can then be detonated for a blast finisher?

A 3-second Water Field that activates on a delay, and a detonation Blast Finisher that then leaves you without the effects of your Elite Skill for the next 60-120 seconds. :P

Meanwhile, Mortar can be whipped out at any time, gives fairly-rapid guaranteed Projectile finishers (once it’s fixed, of course), provides a high uptime on Poison/area-denial and Weakness if you’re in a situation that calls for it, decent uptime on Chill/area-denial and Frost Aura if you’re in a situation that calls for it, 4-6 seconds of perpetual Blind in an area as well as condition removal or Retaliation if the situation calls for it, and some acceptable healing every once in a while with a pretty. Oh, as well as 1-2 Blast Finishers when needed.

Of course, Supply Crate gives 1-2 Blast Finishers, too, depending on whether you want to keep the turrets around or not. It also provides perpetual healing, damage, Burning, and Vulnerability in an area, as well as a small burst of healing, removal of two conditions, and a smokescreen when desired. All of that with a Stun upon its initial placement, as well as a very nice bunch of medkits via its toolbelt ability, with the overall tradeoff being that it all becomes unavailable for a relatively long period of time after it’s used.

Is Mortar better than Supply Crate? Certainly not. Is Supply Crate better than Mortar? Again, certainly not. They each have their uses, and it’s up to the Engineer to determine which one better suits their needs, and to use each to their fullest potential. Just because they each share a few of their many functions with each other doesn’t mean one makes the other obsolete, even if a couple of those shared functions are better on one or the other. :P

S’long as that Projectile Finisher attribute gets set up to actually trigger in its AoE, I really won’t mind. :P Mortar has tremendous utility with its assortment of Fields and the one Finisher, and that vast selection of tricks has always been my favorite part of Engineer. The loss of damage hurts, but we have plenty of crazy stuff to make up for it.

Would’ve been such a great combo ability!

One of the few disappointments to this update. XD Ultimately, I’m super excited!

I can hear the Guardians and Mesmers now. “You don’t have it easy ENOUGH?!”

o_O Wow, I have NEVER seen a developer be that nonchalant about a change like that. Even in tiny games with less than a dozen players total.

Honestly, I could see it being a pretty unique (but viable) skill if it were to keep the Stability and self-rooting, but where you automatically Use it and stow it away when pressing the button again, with no cooldown on putting it right back down. That, alongside improving the skills themselves, of course. Would basically end up being a Combo-based Kit that locks you firmly in place while in use, for better or worse. Would be a pretty neat way to utilize Stability; detrimental if you try to abuse it due to the rooting, but very potent if you’re adept at prediction and timing in that you can potentially trigger it RIGHT when you need it and no longer than that, trading a considerable knockback, Fear, or bouncy-trampoline-tumble for a short self-immobilization.

Of course, it is indeed all theory and hope at this point. XD We have no idea what it’ll end up bein’.

Rozbuska.5263:

Hobosack goind away in like week sou your OCD can celebrate:-)

A week? o.o Is there a source for that time claim?

EDIT: Didn’t realize I’d misspelled that.

I’m a fan of Mantras, though I don’t know that they fit Engineer when literally referred to as such. The charge-and-then-instacast system easily fits with some sort of Engineer wind-up device, but having the Engineer actually chant something to get their charges isn’t very Engineery at all.

Aww! But-… Charrzooka! And the Norn transformations!

Vajra.3914:

not to mention the new elite we get with specializzation.

I’m curious as to what the toolbelt abilities will be for each of the race-specific Elite abilities. I know that few of them are worth using, but it’s always fun getting new toys. :P

Hm… I mostly let my account name do the talking for me.

Turrets are good, but still not as turrets. More as multi-purpose deployable utility devices. Their damage remains garbage and the area denial is non-existent.

Quinda.5281:

And engi is verymuch not op, if You say that You havent realy played the class
to get out of grenade rain or stand in bombs that are being dropped at you

Nice opposition-defuser. I guess I can’t possibly disagree with you, because I apparently haven’t played the class.

Untraited, absolutely not. Don’t even bother unlocking them.

With their traits… Well, I’ve yet to really use them much while traited, though I intend to focus almost exclusively on them once I do. (Can blame the new garbage trait system for having not gotten around to it yet.) Theoretically, the traits can make them into some incredibly handy support tools. Can hurl them at range, create reflection bubbles extremely often, give boons to the entire team at reasonably decent uptime, and/or can use them to create knockback. Not all at once, one of those traits will always have to be sacrificed, but it’s still a nice haul of supportive abilities.

In addition to those, they’ll always provide a nice “spike” of Blast Finishers, and the Healing Turret’s permanent Regeneration can be pretty nice, not to mention its Overcharge. Healing Turret’s the main one that’s pretty darn handy even without traiting for it.

So, in supportive roles, they can (probably/hopefully) shine. If you’re wanting them for offense, I’d say that’s a very, very bad idea unless your intent is to still use them as support tools, knocking enemies around to give you openings. Defense, well… It’s more of an active defense than a passive defense. You can’t lay them down and expect them to do anything to defend an area; a glass cannon Dagger/Dagger Elementalist could likely run through a field of turrets spread the perfect distance to all hit at the same time while maximizing the distance that Elementalist would have to run, and still only get them down to maybe 75% at best. They are weak, weak, weak. But their traits bring some very neat functionality.

What do you want to bet that their fix will be to turn it into a Shadowstep?

Greystar.5920:

Thanks for the answers!
No inputs on best-looking armor for male Charr?

That’s largely a matter of personal preference. I like the Sorrow’s Embrace stuff, myself, and I feel it looks the most tech-y out of all the dungeon armor sets, but you may prefer something else.

I remember drooling over the old form of the Juggernaut trait, which provided Stability while using Flamethrower at the cost of movement speed. I never did get to try it out.

Do the lifesteals on these two Rune sets trigger independently of each other, or does one put the other on cooldown?

Just got my first post-patch character to 80, and…

What a grind.

And it’s not over yet.

How in the blazes is this system change supposed to make it “simpler for new players”? That was their goal, right? The level chart for when you unlock each trait point is confusing, getting new traits in the first place is confusing, ASSIGNING traits is confusing… And if you try to skip the grind via buying traits from Class Trainers, you’re forced into a different grind due to the maddening Gold and Skill Point costs.

This system effectively DISALLOWS making alts, because it’s so horrifyingly expensive and time-consuming to dare to make a new character.

The ONE thing I approve of is the switch from 70 points to 14. Though, I like 70 for the fact that it’s a less “random” number than 14. Multiples of 10 are pretty.

One change that is “up in the air” for me is being able to change traits on a whim, not having to visit a Class Trainer. On one hand, this means more freedom, and more effectiveness in that you can change traits based on the situation given enough time to actually make the changes.
On the other hand, it also discourages using your own build, in my eyes, in dungeon runs and the like. Partially-elitist dungeon-goers now have the option to whine at each party member to change to certain traits regardless of build.

“You there, Ranger! Spotter or kick.”
“But I don’t have points in Marksmanship.”
“So PUT points in Marksmanship. Screw the build that makes you happy, I want a 3% faster clear time! Switch the trait NOW. It’s not like you have to leave and find a Class Trainer for it!”

I will say, though, that “thankfully”, the shoddy system behind unlocking traits in the first place means that most people will never HAVE the traits they haven’t explicitly hunted for given that it’s such a ridiculous hassle to get them.

Zorby.8236:

infantrydiv.1620:

You have 3 leap finishers on your weapon sets […]

Actually only 2, Swoop and Monarch’s Leap. Hornet’s Sting isn’t a leap finisher.

Swoop triggers its Leap Finisher twice. I would assume that’s what was meant.

Ron Cordova.9824:

That was kind of my point… it’s one of the older complaints engineers have had and zero progress or comment has been made on it.

Ah, I see.

While I won’t say it’s okay that Engineer’s downed state is so completely horrible, I must note that there are dozens upon dozens upon hundreds of basic game balance and quality of life issues, not to mention outright bugs, that ArenaNet has not seen fit to address since before the game even launched. Bringing up the fact that nothing’s been done about it is largely futile; most any negative aspect of the game, programming-wise, can be chalked up to the apparent design tactic of “plug your ears and go lalalalala”.
Every online game seems to have its developer problems… GW2’s is apathy/flippancy towards maintaining the product, rather than just pushing out more (mostly temporary) content.

Quite informative.

Forzani.2584:

Placing importance in how a class “looks” with his armor and weapons seems like a polar opposite to placing importance on how the class performs.

Actually, I can relate to this conundrum. :P I love Engineer, but the weapon skins available are all so boring, plus the weapon kit backpacks throw off any look you’re after.

Ranger, however, has Greatsword and Dagger available, both of which have skins I adore. (Whisper’s Secret Greatsword and Incinerator, as impossible as it is to get the latter.)

As for the original question, Ranger and Engineer are actually my mains. :P My current Engineer is level 70, but I’ve had two 80s in the past (deleted one to change to a Charr, and deleted that one to change to a Sylvari for a certain build that needed Sylvari racial skills, which I got to 50 before feeling guilty because my friend and I have a Charr warband going and it just felt wrong. I’ve now decided that no race exists except Charr, for the purpose of character creation.).

I don’t have a lot of experience with PvP, but I’ve dabbled. My Ranger, which I’ve built for Regeneration Tanking (even for PvE), can get along pretty well so long as I’m not fighting against too many enemies at once (which happens often in WvW). My couple forays into SPvP ended with passable results given my inexperience, and I’ve seen a lot of people speak to the viability of such bunker builds with Ranger. When you really know what you’re doing (unlike me), it looks as though the playstyle is incredibly fast-paced and exciting. However, to my knowledge, bunker is darn near the only thing you can do as a Ranger in SPvP.

I’ve used Engineer less in SPvP (where I hear that knockback and launches are king, as far as Engineers go), but far more in WvW. Grenade Kit is wonderfully effective in zerg scenarios, you can set up to have a LOT of blocks/invulnerability/evades if you want to play “distraction”, and I would imagine Fortified Turrets can cause some nice disruption in Zerg situations. In SPvP, I would have to guess that Engineer is a good deal more viable than Ranger, particularly if you don’t want to go the bunker route if using Ranger.

If you’re used to Warrior and Elementalist already, I’d say go Engineer. Warrior and Elementalist are very self-reliant, while Ranger is very not. In addition, attunement-switching with Elementalist really prepares you for Engineer’s kits. Engineer leaves a lot to be desired appearance-wise, but there are SOME options, still. I’m a big fan of Sorrow’s Embrace gear, myself, aside from the sleevelessness of the coat.

Ron Cordova.9824:

From the very oldest page of topics to the front page, this is still something about which engineers have been asking for attention (or at least developer comment saying “stop crying we want it that way”).

There’s actually a recent thread regarding this subject, no need to bump a year-old one. :P

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Suggestion-Downed-State-Revamp

I wonder if it’d be at all viable for Grenade Kit #1 to be set up like siege weapons, where it gives a slow-charging bar for as long as you hold down the attack button. Just have it throw grenades the entire time the button is held down, so that you don’t have to repeatedly click, but it still has the “skillshot” functionality.

Dee Jay.2460:

I disagree.

The game needs more downed-states like Warriors, Guardians, Rangers, Engineers, Necros and less stupid and hard to counter ones like the Thief, Elementalist or Mesmer.

When you go down you should be reliably stomped. Everything else is just dumb.

PvE-wise… Warrior’s Vengeance can be quite effective, and Guardian’s Symbol of Judgement is a nice booster for staying alive, plus both of them have heavy armor to help them keep alive. Ranger’s Lick Wounds is just plain AMAZING, not to mention that you still have your pet in the fight (and can control it), and Necromancer’s Life Leech and Fear are both quite handy for keeping yourself going until you can be rescued, or manage to kill something yourself.

Engineer can yank over one single enemy to ensure a speedy demise, and if they’re lucky enough to last until Booby Trap comes off cooldown, they can launch a couple enemies who’ll just be right back over immediately. You have no form of healing except for the guaranteed-to-be-interrupted Bandage, no form of movement, and a single-target interrupt that puts the enemy exactly where you don’t want them to be. Throw Junk could be pretty neat as a normal attack, but not something to use while you’re rapidly bleeding out.

I’m not a big fan of negatively-charged class changes, so I can’t in good conscience call for every other class to be so brutally neutered to the level of Engineer. I love the Downed state mechanics, that it gives you a fighting chance even after getting blasted… And the thing is, Engineer doesn’t get to participate in that mechanic. There IS no chance if you go down, unless you have allies willing to prioritize your survival above their damage score.

As far as PvP goes, they’re all a little more equal if only because of the fact that inadequacy is inadequacy, regardless of how much worse one class’ inadequacy is compared to another. Ranger’s Downed state is like being a GOD in PvE, but in PvP, only movement can give you a chance thanks to the stomp mechanic. As such, Engineer’s Downed state shortcomings are a good deal less prevalent there. But in PvE, you can do nothing but snivel and sob as you watch your allies use their Downed tricks to recover, your health bar melting away as you sit in a puddle of acid, the monster you pulled over gnawing on your ankle while you sprinkle nuts and bolts on them hoping that one or two have some exceptionally sharp edges. And then you explode. Violently.

What I’m curious about is… If you somehow have 6+ allies in the area-of-effect, but only 5 (or 3 if Chaith’s theory is correct) actually have conditions, will it prioritize those and still remove the conditions, or could it potentially be wasted by triggering on a healthy ally?

Absolutely. My two main characters are Engineer… And Ranger. The contrast between the two is staggering. I have to stop playing and switch over to my Ranger for the rest of the day any time I get Downed just to keep from getting depressed.

I don’t know for absolute certain, but I would bet with confidence that Bunker Down does not trigger Gadgeteer. The mine from Bunker Down isn’t the same as the Throw Mine ability, which removes boons and deals knockback. It’s more akin to the mini-mines from Throw Mine’s toolbelt ability.

Electro.4173:

So I can only assume that in the process of fixing whatever bug they mentioned (something about grenades double-exploding underwater, though I’d never noticed it personally) they managed to screw up the targeting as well. Hopefully they’ll fix that sometime in the near future.

October 2017 patch note: “Fixed grenade kit targeting while underwater.” (New bug: Grenades pass straight through target without exploding. Devs don’t take notice for another four years.)

Dredd Spirit Caller.4082:

impossible to change mortar into a kit
engy kit dont got CD and is the point for engy to have only utility kit for swap sigil
if mortart was converted a kit we OP it with lyssa runeset (elite take all boons and clean condition) if we got a 10 sec on cd on that rune, every 10 sec we got full buffed just using mortar for 1 sec and swap to another kit or weapon
thet can make a successive nerf on all kits
just leave mortar in this state (turret) and hopping for a CD reduction 120 sec to 60 sec

Rune of Lyssa’s 6-rune effect has a cooldown.

Phadde.7362:

EvilZombie.6801:

i just speaking the truth ….. i know some engineer players was able to beat thief and mes …. but it’s ONCE a blue moon

it’s not like 50 – 50 percent chance ….

Might want to check your facts on that one.

I have never used the mortar. Ever.
If it was a kit, does that still mean that you’d become stationary when using it?

I could see that working out. Mortar kit roots you as long as you have it out, maybe a bit of a cast time where it’s not QUITE as quick a switch as other kits, but still something you can switch to mid-battle to let loose the specific moves you’re after. Might need a bit more of a cooldown on the Mortar’s abilities themselves for balance, as no one else would have such a reliably-available Elite. But, ultimately, I could see it becoming an actual, viable option were it made a kit, even with those types of limitations. Massively so if it still grants Stability while operating it.

Anymras.5729:

…They actually just set them to fire at their listed fire rates, I thought. Like, in the 15th’s patch. It was one of their big overdue bugfixes, resolving an issue wherein the fire rates were off by at least 50%. Did they somehow break it again?

Would it surprise you in the slightest if they did?

Absolutely. Having access to that smoke field and the extra blast finisher would really wrap up the newfound supportive nature of the turrets very nicely.

Exactly what I wanted to hear, thank you for the response.

Fetid Consumption makes each minion transfer a condition to itself every 10 seconds.

What I’d like to know is, is the timer on the Necromancer, or on the minions? In other words, will it transfer a batch of conditions every ten seconds, or does each minion have their own timer, potentially resulting in a staggered cooldown setup where you’re passing off a condition every two seconds?

tweeve.3782:

vapor blade is actually a decent skill for a healing ele, it all depends on what you put between you and what you are attacking.
in PvE,
When I use vapor blade, I try and keep at least 1 or more players between me and my target, if I can throw in an enemy in there too I will. So I can hit 2 or more enemies and/or a player or two which at the same time does damage to the enemies, heals the friendlies.
Now while that wont keep my teammates from dying, what it does do is make it much longer before they have to pop their own heals or having me come in and throw in a large group aoe heal.

Wait, what? Do you mean you set it up this way so that you can use Cone of Cold to heal allies when you have the positioning right, or does Vapor Blade do healing? I can’t find anything anywhere about a healing component to Vapor Blade.

Amazing answers, thank you. Can’t say I’m any closer to a decision, but it’s at least food for thought. X)

Dungeons/PvE are important, as they’re all my friends do, but I also really like WvW.

So, I’m wanting to choose one of these based primarily on the appearance of their weapons and armor. I’ve got builds in mind for the Necromancer and Ranger, but I’ve only just recently taken Elementalist into consideration, so I don’t know what I’d do build-wise there. That said, the build’s not set in stone beyond the fact that I want Dagger/Dagger on Necromancer or Elementalist, or Greatsword+Sword/Dagger on Ranger.

My intention with Necromancer was a lifesteal tank, with 0/0/30/30/10. The traits and utilities could be switched about, either going all-out Minions, or an oddball Well/Flesh Wurm/Spectral something or other that I can’t remember/Well of Power/Flesh Golem setup that I think would be enjoyable.

The Ranger was going to be 0/10/0/30/30, a Regeneration Ranger that focuses on the pet dealing damage. I like this one also because I’m able to give permanent Swiftness to my poor Guardian/Mesmer friend. :P

Elementalist, as I said, I’ve just barely started considering. I like the variety of attacks offered by attunements, though I don’t know that I have the skill, patience, or internet connection sometimes to make it work.

Thankfully, being super effective offensively for dungeons/PvE isn’t a big deal. I only ever go through them with a group of close friends who really don’t care one way or another HOW we get through so long as we do in the end. In fact, being able to survive well so I can run about on revival duty would be preferable, as only one of them is really all that adept at dodging. :P

WvW-wise, I’ve seen that Regen Rangers can be pretty effective at roaming when played well. I-… DON’T play well, but I’m hoping I can get better. I’m not sure how successful Necromancer Tanks can be, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read that D/D Elementalists are amazing at it. From what I understand, what Minion Master Necromancers ARE amazing at in WvW is breaking down doors, and it looks incredibly fun to run around with an entire MM Zerg. Don’t know that I’d ever actually be able to find one, though, admittedly. XD

So, yeah, basically what I’m after is word on which of these classes can stay alive in melee easily while in dungeon scenarios, that can also perform well in WvW.

(Anyone know if it’d be alright by the forum rules for me to post this topic to the Ranger and Elementalist boards as well? I’d like insight from mains of each, but I don’t know if it’d qualify as spamming.)

I’m just wondering what the inevitable ICD will be. ArenaNet loves those stupid things.

I’m guessing ten seconds. Any other guesses?

Shaogin.2679:

Just to point out what should be obvious to everyone, it is in the Inventions traitline because it is a Turret trait. This traitline effects Turrets. This is not the only GM trait coming out, but it is the one designed for the traitline that focuses on Turrets. Have no idea why there is so much complaining.

Because this Inventions trait focusing on Turrets does nothing to improve the functionality of Turrets in the long-term, instead encouraging you to take down your Turrets so you can cast your Turrets more often for the shield. Anyone who went after Turrets for the purpose of controlling a location (as Turrets are meant to do in any game with sane developers) are out of luck unless they keep their Turrets in reserve instead of actually placing their Turrets.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool idea and could definitely be handy if you’re already in the Inventions line. And people who use Turret builds for what they are instead of what they should be may very well be able to use it, it meshes very well with the deployable-and-horrifyingly-temporary-device setup that Turrets currently follow. But it does nothing for those who want Turrets to be Turrets.

Quick, simple answer, thank you.

Thinking on it further, I have to wonder if Vitality would be superior to Toughness in this particular setup? I’m wanting to use both Greatsword and Sword/Dagger, meaning lots of evasion. Protects from physical hits, but any condition will ignore it, and as I can only remove one condition at a time via Shouts, that may eat through pretty quick. I suppose, though, that I just need to evade the condition applications themselves. Going Vitality would mean Magi gear, giving me Precision as well, for more reliable activation of Sigils… Or, perhaps just go with a mix of both. Heck, I dunno, I suck at this.