Guild Wars 2

Something that has been overlooked in this discussion. You should always carry a rifle regardless of if you use it in combat. Jump Shot is OP for tackling jumping puzzles. XD

I believe there is a:

Intricate Gossamer Insignia
Orichalcum Imbued Inscription
6 for each armor class (18 total)
Charged Quartz Jewel
Ring
Amulet

Search the TP for the words celestial or quartz. That should bring up all the recipes.

Want more techy and Asuran like weapons, personally. I am being selfish though.

Is the 5% really that noticeable? My EG does like 300 or so and I just can’t see 15 more damage doing a whole lot. Even with BK1 I am doing 800 or so and that is only another 40. Am I missing something? blush

I dipped into Tools already and speedy kits is pretty cool.

I am not a huge fan of grenades personally. I know it and FT are the Engi win button, but it is not my style, per se. I am also trying to keep my crit at about 50%, so moving too much out of firearms starts to make a dent in that effort.

Thanks for all the feedback! I really do appreciate it.

[EDIT] Also, I wish reserve mines wasn’t so useless.

My only real problem with rifles is the loss of other utility. I REALLY wanted to use it in my condition build for the control since I was getting plenty of better condition applies with traits and EG (OS + BoB is rage inducing in PvP), but found I missed this too much:

1.) Two sigils easily adds enough utility or just raw performance that I would have a hard time giving it up.

2.) Shield gives you another blast finisher which is super handy for chaining with something like super potion, napalm, or HT for stacking ret, might, or healing respectively (not to mention Toss U or R, or a mesmer pal for CA).

3.) P #3, while not great 1v1 per se, is a no casting time blind and confusion. Super handy.

That said, I have seen devastating SD builds with the rifle, but it feels like that might be it’s singular purpose.

I am eager to see what the “all classes, all weapons” brings to the table for us.

From one Engi to another, I look for particles or weapons to know what the opposing Engi is doing. Rarely do I get to see their backside. If the backpack is truly to identify what an Engi is doing, that feels like a weak tea argument. Can you really see the daggers a Ele or Thief are using? The only weapon I can actually tell what someone is using are 2-handers like the sword and hammer or a shield (and then I can assume or guess what the other 1-hander is).

If the concern was truly for people to know at a glance what weapon someone is using, they would be better off making it so all weapons apply an icon in the boon/condi section to identify it.

It really does need either be made into a kit you run around with or just deleted and replaced with an elite kit.

Agreed.

As an Asuran Engineer I would love it if my kit packs fell more in-line with how other Asuran items look. Get a full set of cultural armor? Look nice and techno-y. Pull out elixir gun? A leather rucksack with patches and weird bottles. Not at all elegant or high tech.

(A nice consolation prize for all Engis would be to be able to prefer the back item over the kit sack.)

All the above in some sense, but PvE, WvW, and PvP (haven’t even started sPvP) in that order.

My gut said the last 10 in exp for longer condi and bigger booms, and then maybe 10 in inv just for the toughness and healing.

I made a hella TLDR post about the build I wanted to run, but now I am torn. To keep it short, I like stacking conditions and detonating blasts for that reason I use: P/S, EG, BK, and Elixir U (which I am not super attached to).

Currently, I am speced 10 Exp (Incend Powder), 20 Fire (Inf. Prec. & Rifled Barrels), 0 Inv, 20 Alc (Invigorating Speed, Prot Inj), 0 Tools.

I am generally hopping between EG and P/S and using bombs to create fields and for AoE. Elixir U is mostly for the projectile walls, but if I feel safe, I’ll chug it for the damage burst and to keep vuln up.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
-Qwerkk

As an Asuran Engineer, I cannot even begin to express how jealous I am of my light and heavy wearing counterparts. Their armors truly reflect the technological marvels that exist in our fine city and culture. The armor looks powered, tech heavy, and in the case of the heavy set somewhat golem-esque.

Now turn your attention to the medium armor, it is dull, boring, and mundane.

My request/suggestion is simple: Please consider adding some changes to the T3 medium Asuran armor to bring it more in line with other cultural Asuran armor. Gems and seams should glow and radiate with the grandness of the Eternal Alchemy.

Thank you for you consideration in this matter.
-Qwerkk
Asuran Engineer

EG is a great support kit, as Zindrix said. It is also great in condition heavy builds. Things won’t die quickly, but you can easily outlast mobs by circle strafing and kiting.

Also, as Zin indicated, FT has some good synergy with EG if you take Deadly Mixture (20 Alc) and Fireforged Trigger (20 Marksman). Also, if you are that deep in Marks, you can also grab Juggernaut for those times you need to be a little beefier.

Hello.

I noticed recently after performing an item transmute that if the intended “skin” is from a crafted item that the new item inherits the prefix from the crafted item rather than the stat line (vs. gem store or racial item prefixes which work correctly). Example:

I crafted a piece of the new celestial gear (emblazoned helm) and wanted to apply the noble mask “skin” to it (it had the carrion prefix). I purchased the transmute stone from the GS and used that to successfully create an exotic item that had the skin and rune from the mask and the stats from the emblazoned helm. However, I then noticed that the prefix still read as carrion.

While I know this sort of bug is mostly cosmetic as transmuted items can’t be listed on the TP, it was more than a little confusing to my guildies and friends when I linked it. Also… as someone who is going to spend the time to make a full celestial set, but not buy new runes it would be nice, from a personal pride thing, that it was correct.

Transmute logic should be, IMHO, when transmuting an item it will inherit the prefix from the stat line selection unless the skin selected carries a special prefix (Aetherblade, Krytan, Radiant, etc…) in which case that one will take precedent.

Thanks!

Thirded on picking up EG.

If you want a knockback you can also consider going P/S for the Shield #4 move. It is also a blast finisher which is handy. Between that, Frost grenades, Elixir F (EG #3), and EG #4 it is easy enough to have a rotation to play keep away.

I also don’t know if you will find the piercing ammo trait as useful as it sounds. It can be tricky to train mobs (and in PvP) into single file for it to be most effective.

This has probably come up before, but it would be great if there was a bar we could drag commonly used items to so we could get to them quickly. I am thinking food, minis, broomsticks, and other cosmetic items. Not a big deal, per se to open the inventory and hunt for it, but I’d thought I’d throw it out there.

Was finally able to get this into a builder.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqqb3zSeF1LJS4DSIYG1HgJSR+hZfKwWA-jEDBIMAYNg0CgEBAJfFRjtEMiVNJtKKYqaER16bYmbC1GeKaSBAxCA-w

Gear is a little pie in the sky, I know, but I am already using the skills and traits pretty well in PvE. This has mostly become a condi/combo trigger build, but it works pretty well. I can stay very mobile when I need to and BK 4 + EG4 is great for get aways. Even did some WvW and that same combo is great for surprise engagements/getting behind folks. A zerg will overwhelm you, but 1v1 roaming (against a Warrior and a FT Engi) I was able to outlast them while my conditions dug deep. That said, when I went to join a group a couple of quick trait flips (and swapping Elixir U for R) and I was suddenly more durable and providing better support.

Anyway, just wanted to give an update.

For grenades and bombs you definitely want power, crit chance, and crit damage. That said, you can mix and match the exotic karma armor to get the most out of your stats. The Dwayna rune set is all about healing, so I don’t know if I would go that route.

You get a little less power on the front end, but the Balthasar rune set stacks it up quick and has decent set bonuses (depending on your spec, you should be laying fire down pretty often with bombs and ’nades). If you are just going to overwrite the runes (which is really one of the big advantages of getting these sets) then I would just get the crafted exotic gear that Gates Assassin suggested.

I am not a ’nade/bomb engi myself, but from what I have read you want to go 30 Explosives (Incendiary Powder, Short Fuse, Grenadier) and at least 10 into Tools for speedy kits. After that? The last 30 points are really about your play style, TBH. 5 point dips into Alchemy and Firearms will give you a nice boon stack and decent “on crit” effect. 10 into Firearms have give you a chance for vulnerability on crit which is nice for AoE to help soften things up. You might have to mess around a bit to be happy with the last 30.

I also use BK a lot for burst setups. The kit has a fire and smoke field that you can use, off of our many blast skills. So, drop fire, swap to eg, acid bomb away (4 stacks of might), pop with 1, 3, drop super elixir, switch to P/S, do magnetic shield and push away to keep HoTing ( and get retaliation), etc…

Or, smoke bomb to mag shield to push away and stealth to give you some breathing room.

Greetings.

Well, this was inevitable that I would eventually join the level 80 ranks and be looking to settle down on a build to use. With that in mind, I also would like to put it out there for the consideration and polish opportunity you fine folks have offered to other wayward engineers.

I have been doing searches on the forums and reading to avoid asking too many of the same questions others have asked. So, hopefully, I will provide the appropriate detail as well as considerations.

Goals

• In other MMOs I have played “role changers” or “JoAT” classes. That said, I immediately recognize that Engineers make up for face rolling damage with condition stacking attrition.
• Primarily PvE
• Remain versatile to support a groups needs
• Maybe dipping my toe into WvW at somepoint, so if it is viable there too great
• I love the Elixir Gun
• Go deep enough into trees that trait & skill switches between areas (PvE, Dungeons, WvW, etc…) can be done without switching gear. And, swap out some quick skills for when condition stacking caps are easily reached (group events).

Build (General Use)

• 10 Explosives – Incendiary Powder
• 20 Firearms – Precise Sights & Rifled Barrels (Not attached to RB)
• 20 Inventions – Energized Armor & Reinforced Shield OR Power Shoes
• 20 Alchemy – Blood Injection & ???? (Hard choices)
• 00 Tools

Skills
Pistol & Shield
Healing Turret
Elixir Gun
[Skill 2]
[Skill 3]
Supply Drop

Gear
Rampager Pistol with Sigil of Accuracy
Giver Shield with Sigil of Corruption
All Celestial Armor (+ 140 to all stats, + 19 Crit, + 18 Magic Find)
2 x Mad King Runes (+ 25 Power, + 10% Condition Duration)
2 x Lyssa Runes (+ 25 Precision, + 10% Condition Duration)
2 x Divinity (+ 20 All Stats, + 4% Crit)
5 x Ascended Celestial Accessories (+ 216 to all stats, + 29% Crit Damage, + 24% Magic Find)

Totals
(Assuming I did it right since none of the builders support celestial armor)

• + 604 Power
• + 754 Percision
• + 672 Condition Damage
  – Bleeding Damage/stack: 83/s
  – Burning Damage: 531/s
  – Poison Damage: 165/s
• + 576 Toughness
• + 640 Vitality
• + 576 Healing Power
• + 50% Critical Damage
• + 40% Condition Duration
• + 38% Magic Find
• 45% Critical Chance
• 21642 Health
• 2615 Armor

Remaining Questions

1. Skills. I am really stumped on the skills to bring and use, generally speaking. Elixir R seems like an obvious choice. Flamethrower should still be respectable, but with Incendiary Powder I am already laying down a burn pretty regularly. I know I said the purpose of the build was to stay flexible and change things around, but it seems like there should be two skills that stand out with good synergy.
2. Traits. I think I know the first thing you all are going to maybe say, “You need 30 inventions and Elixir Infused Bombs, then Bomb Kit is an easy second skill choice.” I won’t disagree with that, out right. My concern is that I will potentially be loosing some flexibility going that deep and the kit won’t be on all the time which feels like a waste even with BoB. That said, the second Alchemy trait, for me, is a toss up between Protection Injection, Self Regulating Defenses, & Deadly Mixture. I’d like to think with toughness and vitality where they are I should be less squishy enough to not need PI. SRD was very kind to me during the Aetherblade dungeon, so I like it (I know it is not perfect.)

I know this was probably longer than most have seen from a build eval thread, but I wanted to be thorogh and not waste folks time having to keep asking questions. That said, let me know if I missed something, or am totally crazy, or… yes…

Much thanks in advance.
-Qwerkk

I posted this in the turret thread and realized it was probably better suited here:

I only hit 80 last week and am just scraping the surface on end game content, but some/many parties either flat out do not want Engis and ask if I have an alt, or tell me how I have to spec. Very reminiscent of my time playing a Warden in DAoC (Bubble Chant), an RDM in FFXI (Refresh), or a Druid in WoW (Innervate), or a Ritualist in GW1, or a Chanter in Aion or a Science Vessel in SWO, etc…

No MMO maker that I can think of gets the hybrid/support classes correct right out the gate. Eventually they get the polish and respect they deserve, but it is frustrating for someone who is drawn to these types of classes to relive the deja vu over and over again. There is just something about their dynamic that irritates/breaks the “holy trinity”. That said, I had hopes with ArenaNet eschewing that paradigm that things would be radically different. The engineer is certainly not a hopeless/lost cause like some of the above are/were, but it can still be frustrating.

Again, in the end, this thread and efforts by the devs in the last couple of months (from what I have read) has been about breaking the idea that you have to be a grenadier, or juggernaut, or HGH to be an effective engineer. So there is progress, I think some of the long time players just want assurances/information that the momentum continues in that direction and can break the already existing molds/stereotypes that seem to haunt the class.

AlietteFaye.7316:

I think 25% is a pretty good CD reduction. However, the usefulness on detonating Healing Turret overshadows the point of picking up a turret. The others are okay for picking up, but you’re usually too busy to do so.

Like I was saying, on the 20s ones, a whole 5 seconds isn’t going to make or break anything. As I was leveling I tried various turrets (Even tried a rifle + 3 turret build) and my experience was kinda sad. The turrets are either so fragile anyway that you just want to drop and pop before they are broken and then the 25% doesn’t even matter, or the CD on them slows down your progress way more than the engi skipping along like the TF2 Pyro murdering all who come before him.

I only hit 80 last week and am just scraping the surface on end game content, but many parties either flat out do not want Engis and ask if I have an alt, or tell me how I have to spec. Very reminiscent of my time playing a Warden in DAoC (Bubble Chant), an RDM in FFXI (Refresh), or a Druid in WoW (Innervate), or a Ritualist in GW1, or a Chanter in Aion or a Science Vessel in SWO, etc…

No MMO maker that I can think of gets the hybrid/support classes correct right out the gate. Eventually they get the polish and respect they deserve, but it is frustrating for someone who is drawn to these types of classes to relive the deja vu over and over again. There is just something about their dynamic that irritates/breaks the “holy trinity”. That said, I had hopes with ArenaNet eschewing that paradigm that things would be radically different. The engineer is certainly not a hopeless/lost cause like some of the above are/were, but it can still be frustrating.

Again, in the end, this thread and efforts by the devs in the last couple of months (from what I have read) has been about breaking the idea that you have to be a grenadier, or juggernaut, or HGH to be an effective engineer. So there is progress, I think some of the long time players just want assurances that the momentum continues in that direction and can break the already existing molds/stereotypes that seem to haunt the class.

Obscure One.4357:

digitalruse.9085:

Make turret recovery like Axton in BL2, maybe? If you detonate your turret or lose it, you suffer the full cool down. If you recover it, it gives you a buff that reduces the cool down time on that specific turret.

That’s already how it works..

Huh… must not be significant enough to notice.

(25%. Blech. On the 20s cooldowns that is a whole 5 seconds… weee… On the minute ones you can probably feel that difference, but I pretty much never recover my healing turret and just det for the water blast.)

Make turret recovery like Axton in BL2, maybe? If you detonate your turret or lose it, you suffer the full cool down. If you recover it, it gives you a buff that reduces the cool down time on that specific turret.

JobCreator.1956:

So what’s the best build for when you’re roaming in WvWvW, round a corner, and come face to face with a 50-man zerg?

Relevant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6U7rOUSvYM8#t=5s

Apologies. Lunyboy is correct.

Static bonus sigils
Static bonuses stack with themselves when used on dual-wielded weapons, except for Superior Sigil of Force (only +5% bonus to damage) and Superior Sigil of Accuracy (only +5% bonus to crit chance).

Kain Francois.4328:

Does Flamethrower have a purpose outside tagging mobs?

I thought it was for spy checks…

I am relatively new to the Engineer, but this thread is articulate and well reasoned. I also look forward to seeing dev commentary.

Don’t forget that at 20 arms you also get +10% when they are below 50% health. Additionally, there are sigils that add +5% flat each. Also, Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup, should likely be your consumable of choice. IMHO, might will give you more consistent damage and make your crit spikes that much more spikier, so I wouldn’t trade that away, per se.

I am a condi-engi and run at about 45% crit (10/20/20/20/0) before food and boons and I gotta say that it is hard to go above 40-50% unless you are going to commit.

To give you an idea of a “ceiling”, with full rampager exotic and ascended, sigils of accuracy, runes of eagle (I do that or Lyssa over Ranger), consumables, and max firearms you can hit 94% (104% at <50% health).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqalIqyanuShF1bIAoHAAAAA-jQxAIsASECY+rIasFuioxqgJiqFCY0CA-e

I guess, in my mind, I was thinking less “one build to rule them all” (which many prefer), but instead dipping in just far enough that you could switch skills and traits between fights or events.

My current build (which I haven’t settled in on) is very Condi focused. P/S, EG swapping makes up the bulk of what I do. That is, until group events cause the condi stacks max out so quick. That said, I am deep enough into certain trait lines that a couple of quick flips and suddenly I can do decent FT or Rifle damage. My gear, OTOH, is still very condi heavy so it limits that switch a bit.

So, my thought was to build out with all celelstial gear and trinkets. Then, I put I uses runes and sigils to pickup what I need to help focus a bit (in my case a + crit on my pistol and corruption on my shield, might on my rifle, 2 mad king, 2 lyssa, & 2 divinity). If I am doing the math right (cause gw2skills doesn’t have celestial armor yet), that puts me at ~+350 to all attribs, ~40% crit, +50% crit damage, +30% condition dur. With that in mind, I can move around traits and weapons (I am just shooting from the hip on these builds):

10 Explosives – 20 Firearms – 0 Inventions – 20 Alchemy – 20 Tools

Always Have
Evasive Powder Keg, Sharpshooter, Target the Weak, Hidden Flask, Transmute, Adrenaline Pump, Inertial Converter

Condition Focus
P/S – Healing Turret – Elixir Gun – Tool Kit – Elixir R
Incendiary Powder, Precise Sights, Rifled Bar, Self-Regulating Defenses, BIood Infusion, Speedy Kits, ????

Power Build
Rifle – Healing Kit – Flamethrower – Rifle Turret – Elixir B
Incendiary Powder, Sitting Duck, Juggernaut, Protection Injection, Potent Elixirs, Static Discharge, Speedy Kits

Support/Healing
Rifle – Healing Turret – Elixir B – Elixir U/Elixir Gun – Elixir R
Acidic Elixirs, Infused Precision, Go for The Eyes, Fast-Acting Elixirs, Potent Elixirs, Always Prepared, Scope

Granted, I am not going to claim to be an Engi pro, so this could be total garbage. XD

It is just swirling around in my head and is interesting to see when you start to write it out.

Setting aside the costs and time… the new celestial armor got me thinking.

Just with that prefix and a divinity rune on all pieces it is +200 to all stats, . Combine that with ascended gear that also adds to all stats and you are now at +416 to all stats, ~43% chance to crit, +60% crit damage, and +38% magic find.

Is this gimping, or in the long run make engis an ridiculous jack of all trades like class?

I mean… if you don’t go too deep into any tree you can swap utilities for a quick change relevant to the your/the group’s need pre- and mid-dungeon.

Admittingly, maybe my lack of experience in much of the end game content and WvWvW is showing here, but it is tempting as someone who generally is drawn to JoAT like classes to consider.

If only there was a super pistol skin… =(

From what I have seen, Engineer is a class of finesse and control and less about facerolling. I, personally, chose to embrace it by going whole hog into a condition build. Things don’t die quickly, but I can keep my distance and sanity while my conditions erode away somebody.

If you want to maximize your normal damage potential, I recommend using a rifle, the flamethrower, bombs, and stack power stat gear. You should be close to getting Juggernaut in the marksman line soon (master trait). That will let you stack up 5 might and give you 200 toughness with the FT out. BoB will help with keeping pressure off (and doing decent damage). Fire rounds will be good to use with the rifle. Grenades really do require 30 points in explosives to shine. Grenadier is just that good.

Granted, I am still newish at this myself, but that was my experience trying to level up. Once I hit 80, I switched gears for a cond heavy build.

Any suggestions with the spec then? Like, where would I pull away from to make up a 20 point gap and still be effective with the EG? Or… what about replacing GK?

Also, yeah, I did some more reading on gear. Looks like an option would be to get 2 Mad King and 2 Lyssa runes to get 20% duration on conditions. Then a rabid or other defensive options.

Thanks.

Egads! I leave you guys along for 7 days…

That said, I made it to 80 on the good graces of FT/Jugg for the most part. This has made me not like it as much anymore as I find myself stuck using it more often than something else and just spamming 1 & 2 over and over. I also took up cooking and the food buffs are quite handy.

That said, I have settled on two utility skills I like (EG, GK) ankitten ow trying to focus in my build and last skill a bit, if possible. It is 10/20/0/20/20 with a focus on stacking conditions on crit. This seems to allow for the most versatility in kit switching as they all benefit from setting things on fire, causing bleeding, and vulnerability. It also helps keep the pistol/shield (that stun has saved my little Asuran butt) rotation as I don’t feel I have to go to EG or GK unless I want something specific like CC.

Traits:
Incendiary Powder
Fireforged Trigger
Precise Sights
Self Regulating Defenses (Live saver. Holey moley)
Deadly Mixture
Kit Refinement (EG glue trail is a nice setup for then throwing acid)
Leg Mods (Not hooked on this one, per se)

Skills:
Healing Turret (The burst healing is nice)
Elixir Gun (I love this thing)
Grenade Kit
[Not sure] – Either I am going to rotate things in as I need them, or I’d really appreciate some advice here. Elixir R has popped in here on more than a few occasions as spamming evade has been handy and dropping bombs as I do it is giggle worthy.

I should add that I am not entirely sold on having the last 10 points in Tools. But, getting a bump to crit damage (since I am stacking precision to trigger it for conditions) and faster tool belt (it is our defining feature after all) seemed like a good idea. Being able to keep the regen up from HT and having the stun break from EG be quicker has been nice.

This brings me to gear… what sort of methodologies do you all have for it? Obviously, I am going to need precision, condition damage, & condition duration. To that end either the Grenth Temple armor (which I think looks pretty ugly, but I know I can change with the 80 tokens I have) or the Whispers armor seems like a good choice.

Anywho… thanks for the info from everyone. It has been immensly helpful. It is nice to see a helpful and thriving community despite some of the issues our class may (or may not) face.

-Qwerkk

First, thank you all for your detailed responses. I have a few follow-up questions:

1.) Survivability in PvE
Yeah, I haven’t felt comfortable enough with the class to give PvP of any form a whirl yet. That said, my gear is all level 40 or better. I am trying not to waste money/resources on gear as I level if possible. Unless that is a huge mistake, but that is just habit from other MMOs. I do try to stay mobile (circle strafing, dodging, and kiting) unfortunately, and this is just experience, I tend to end up with more things lumping on or falling off an edge. Especially with the AoE of FT or GK. Or, I find myself playing finger twister as I try to move and swap kits and attack simultaneously. XD

I also went with cooking as a skill recently (an under appreciated skill in most MMOs) and some of the food buffs have been helpful.

2.) Kit Swapping
Interesting and obviously, just from three responses there is a bit of a playstyle thing at play here. I’ll say this, I love EG and TK. So much going on there. I’ve also tried to consider my weapon as my “damage kit” recently and add it into a rotation… of sorts… if you will.

3.) Turrets
I’ll give healing turret another chance. In PvE the Healing Kit was super useful. Mostly for the toolkit skill since the regen on EG and HT don’t stack. Otherwise, it looks best to use turrets for specific PvP purposes until maybe some balance stuff down the line.

4.) Weapons
It looks like my intuition to work the weapon in to a rotation as I mentioned in #2 is pretty close to the mark. Yeah, as much as I like the look of some of the high level rifles (Super Hyperbeam Alpha, Azure Railgun, Spectral Wave Modulator) I think the pistol and shield is a nice mix of offense and defense (#4 has saved my hide plenty of times). I wish we had (even out of combat) some type of weapon swap, but that is likely what kits are for, design wise.

5.) Elixers
Yes, not potions… jebus…

Do the trait triggered elixirs benefit from elixir traits as well? So far, I have found those to be enough of a boon without having to use a slot for one. If I did have to pick one, I was certainly leaning toward R or B.

6.) Builds/Traits
I am glad to hear that at some point you can/will settle into a build. As I mentioned, I lean toward hybrid builds, so my gut is to spread out. That, and none of the GM skills feel like “OMG I MUST HAVE THIS” even for specific skill types. With that in mind it looks like a 20 FA, 20 Alchemy, and 20 Tools is going to be my speed. Not sure where the last 10 points would be most effective.

7.) Stat Effects on Skills
I must have totally misread/misunderstood the effect stats had on our skills. I was left with the impression that they do not have the same or any impact on our skills compared to other classes. Thanks for the clarification.

Thanks again
Qwerkk

Hello All.

I have been a long time GW player (since beta) and have finally been able to really play GW2 since I bought it at release. In GW I played as a Ranger until Factions came out and quickly took to the Ritualist. I was worried as the classes trickled out for GW2 that I would not find one that fit my play style (tend to prefer hybrid chars [Druid in WoW, etc…]), and then I was immediately taken by the lore and style of the Engineer class.

I sit at level 45 and am feeling a bit lost and frustrated. Part of this might still be me getting used ANet being the first company to break the “Holy Trinity” (thank god).

All that said (and my gratitude if you made it this far) I have some questions:

1.) I am finding myself (still focused on PvE) being quickly defeated doing solo stuff unless it is just one-on-one with a mob. Maybe my next questions will reveal what I am doing wrong, but I see Guardians and Eles just faceroll through stuff and I am struggling.

2.) Is the purpose of kits to keep them rotating constantly? For instance, should I be using EG, doing 3, 1, 1, 1, and then immediate going to TK and doing 3, 1, 1, then to FT and doing 5, 2, 1? Is using three kits even a good idea?

3.) Turrets: I’ve skimmed the forums a bit and sorta already have the answer to this question… I think… but man… are they made of glass. Even with some of the low level traits I just can’t seem to keep them up for very long solo. In a group with a “tank” they seem to stick around longer.

4.) Equipped weapon: How often does anyone actually use theirs? As someone who has been mostly focus on kits, it seems like I almost never see these skills or quickly switch away from them. That said, pistol + shield seems to offer the most diversity and some nice defensive options (pushback & stun) compared to the rifle.

5.) Potions: Compared to kits, these really feel like a waste. Maybe I am doing it wrong,? Or maybe I am underestimating/undervaluing them.

6.) Skills & Traits: How often are you swapping them out between fights? Are there some skills or traits that are universal “must haves” regardless of build emphasis?

7.) Stats: Skimming the forums gives some insight into this question, but it seems like stats on our armor and weapons matter little. Please correct me if I am assuming/digesting information wrong, but it is seems best to focus on Condition DMG/Duration, Toughness, and Vitality. Yes? No?

My thanks in advance for anyone patient and willing to hold my hand. I really want to like the class cause it seems like a good fit, but the pieces are not quite falling into place as nicely and neatly as I’d like. Looking toward level 80, I have no idea what build or gear I should be focusing on. =/

-Qwerkk
Asuran Engineer

P.S. – FWIW, here is me goofing around with a build:.

Don’t know why… but Zaiilen sticks out more than Krittero for being more “Asuran”. Both work well though.

My Asuran Engi is named Qwerkk.