Right now, the Engineer is lacking a lot of flair. You have this concept of a character utilizing a variety of tools to fight, wielding weapons in unconventional ways that set them apart from other professions, but the end result is being pigeonholed into 1 gimmicky weapon that you need to supplement with kits (or Photon Forge) in order to function effectively. It's small wonder that Hammer used to be completely overloaded on release and that Photon Forge essentially gives Engineer a weapon swap, they have to compensate for how broken Engineer is at its core. The idea of the Weapon Modification is to rectify Engineer at its core so that it can function even without added gimmicks.

Simply put, Weapon Modification would give each Engineer weapons 2 distinct modes that they can swap between like an Elementalist attunement, but with 1 catch: both weapon modes share cooldowns; using an ability in one mode would put the ability in the same slot on the other mode on the exact same cooldown, regardless of each ability's own cooldown. The overall goal of the weapon mod is to give the baseline Engineer the same versatility of kits without actually giving the output of 4 more cooldown abilities. For example: you'll probably always pair Rifle with the Bomb kit to make up for Rifle's poor auto damage, or pair Sword/Hammer with Grenade kit because having a ranged option is too important. With weapon modification, Rifle would have a shotgun mode for strong dps up close, and a rifle mode for ranged attacks with the inverse for the melee weapons. This helps flesh out the Engineer fantasy with giving each weapon multiple forms while also not stepping on the Elementalist gimmick too hard.

Here's an example of what I'd like to see:

WEAPON MODIFICATION

Swap between two weapon modes with a one second cast time. Abilities in both modes share cooldowns. (A firearms or tools trait can eliminate/remove cast times.)For two weapons, both weapon modes can be configured individually outside of combat, but once in combat, they both change modes when using Weapon Modification.

Rifle

Swap purpose: Short range/Long range power damage

Shotgun Mode– Short Range Power/Burst

1) BlunderbussDeal more damage and bleed duration close up.2) Net Shot3) Flak cannonFire a spray of projectiles that inflict blind and bleed on foes hit4) ScattershotFire a burst that stuns targets.5) Jump Shot:Also breaks Movement impairing effects.

Range Thresholds: 0-300, 301-600.Only Net Shot and Flak Cannon fire projectiles.

Railgun Mode – Long Range Power/DPS

1) Rail SnipeTake time to aim, and then fire a piercing bullet.2) Lock-onInstantly lock-on to an enemy, revealing them, applying vulnerability and generating lock-on stacks over 5 seconds.->EMP ShellReactivate to fire a shot at your lock on target that deals additional damage and strips 1 boon for each lock-on stack.3) Disintegration cannonCharge up, then channel a powerful beam that incinerates everything in its path. (tracks a target during channel.)4) Overcharged ShotFire a powerful shot and use the momentum to evade backwards. Can be used in mid air. (evade works similar to Raptor Jump)5) Recoil JumpFire a shot at the ground to propel yourself into the air and evade attacks. Can be used in mid air. Breaks movement impairing effects. (Height gain is limited similar to the Skimmer’s jump.)

1500 range on abilities 1-3

Pistol

Main Hand swap purpose: Damaging Conditions/Debilitating Conditions

Tech Ammo - Damaging Conditions

1) Fragmentation Shot2) Burst fireAfter a delay, fire a volley of shots that pierce and bleed enemies hit.3) Static ShotFire a shot that bounces between targets, causing Torment and blinding targets.

Alchemical Ammo– Debilitating Conditions

1) Acid shotInflict Vulnerability and Torment2) Poison Dart Volley3) Fogging AgentSpray an area with a chemical that causes Weakness enemies and causes confusion. Non-projectile cone.

Off hand swap purpose: Close range damage/ Mid range control

Tech Ammo – Close range damage

1) Blowtorch2) Volt TagFire a tag at an enemy and emit an electrical sphere that destroys projectiles for 3 seconds. Tagged enemies inside the field are continually damaged and dazed.(Yes this is a Gunvolt reference)

Alchemical Ammo - Control

1) Liquid Nitrogen BulletFire an exploding Ice bullet that dazes and Chills enemies.2) Glue BubbleFire a slow moving, unblockable glob in a direction that explodes and immobilizes enemies on impact. Can be instantly detonated manually.

Shield

Purpose: Defensive Control / Offensive Control

Electro Gear – Defensive Control

1) Magnetic shield2) Static Shield

Rocket Shield – Offensive Control

1) Shield LauncherFire your shield at your target, eliminating incoming projectiles and launching them.2) Rocket SmiteUse Rockets attached to your shield and launch yourself at your target, stunning them. Blocks attacks while charging

Sword

Swap purpose: Melee/Mid range power DPS

Blazing Saber - Melee Power DPS

1) Sun Edge->Sun Ripper->Gleam Saber2) Solar ProminenceIgnite your sword along the ground and unleash a wave of fire in front of you, burning enemies.3) Radiant ArcEvade and Leap towards your enemy, damaging them and granting you quickness.

Glinting Saber - Short range Power DPS

1) Refraction CutterFire a projectile from your sword that causes bleeding.2) GlintInstantly dash forward a set distance, blinding and crippling enemies hit.3) Shining WaveWhirl and fire a wave a light forward, blocking attacks while whirling.450 Range on projectiles.

Hammer

Swap purpose- Defensive Melee/ Support Ranged

Ionic Hammer - Defensive Melee

1) Positive Strike->Negative Bash->Equalizing Blow2) Electro-whirl3) Rocket Charge4) Shock Shield5) Thunderclap

Lightning Rod- Support Ranged

1) Lightning StrikeAttract a bolt of Lightning into your hammer which fires out in a cone, dealing damage and granting you Might.->Discharge-Slam your hammer down and discharge Lightning in a cone, granting Might to allies around you. At higher Might thresholds, grant more stacks of Might to allies.2) Static LinkCreate a static link that deals damage to a target and grants you Might and a barrier while they are within range.3) ThundercrashCause lightning to strike in a line, knocking down all enemies in the way.4) Polaric ShieldInstantly emit a barrier that grants allies Aegis and protection.5) Lightning BarrierCreate a threshold that grants barrier to allies every second and stuns enemies that cross the threshold.400 Range on attacks.

A lot of the restructuring goes on to Rifle to help fix the first incarnation of "Mid range" combat. In terms of work, there are currently five Land Engineer weapons, so five sets of weapon skills. The work that would be made to help fix this one profession would be the same amount of work that went into just Weaver Sword, not to mention that future weapons would still have half the abilities of any equivalent Elementalist weapon.

I really like this idea. Makes the engineer feel... well, like an engineer. Makes our main weapons not seem so bad, allowing the balance team more wiggle room to change kit balance.

And it solves that ultimate engineer problem: Our legendary weapons not showing on kits. This has annoyed me to no end.

Would be awesome. Also wont ever happen. Too much work for Anet to ever consider it.

@Vagrant.7206 said:And it solves that ultimate engineer problem: Our legendary weapons not showing on kits. This has annoyed me to no end.

At least grenades act like Predator projectiles. It’s something ?

@Topic:SolidIdeaSolid

Not going to happen anyway...

We do have an example for them willing to add things onto the Engineer: Elite toolbelt skills. Given that they're doing overhauls of certain professions like how they changed Mesmer phantasms and how they're not above reworking weapons like Rev sword, they could get around to this sometime in the far future.

Also, as a comparison to Elementalists in terms of ability work, this would be a minimum of 25 added weapon skills across all currently existing Engineer weapons, Rifle, Pistol, Shield, Hammer, Sword, and Harpoon gun. Weaver Sword introduced by itself 18 different weapon skills + added 24 weapon skills across all of their previous weapons as a single elite spec so this isn't completely outside of what they're capable of.

@Atmaweapon.7345 said:We do have an example for them willing to add things onto the Engineer: Elite toolbelt skills. Given that they're doing overhauls of certain professions like how they changed Mesmer phantasms and how they're not above reworking weapons like Rev sword, they could get around to this sometime in the far future.

Also, as a comparison to Elementalists in terms of ability work, this would be a minimum of 25 added weapon skills across all currently existing Engineer weapons, Rifle, Pistol, Shield, Hammer, Sword, and Harpoon gun. Weaver Sword introduced by itself 18 different weapon skills + added 24 weapon skills across all of their previous weapons as a single elite spec so this isn't completely outside of what they're capable of.

Bear in mind this would make up for the 3 weapons they gave us at launch. :wink:

I like this idea a lot and it would make engi feel more... well like a proffesion people would like to playI love engineer but i do think it could do with a rework, i dont really like using kits so being able to do something like this would be coolalso what about the harpoon gun?

This is such a neat idea. The weapon swap can function for both weapons at the same time if able to use a/n mainhand/offhand. I think this would be good for the engi, kudos to this idea.

Beautiful Idea. I don't think it could solve the actual problems Engie has, but it sure would add more fun and flavor to the profession.

This is an awesome idea. I really like that it feeds into the Engineer as a profession both flavor and utility wise.

If I could add this to the engi, I would. Minor thing, would the modified weapon skills have different sound effects compared to the original skill sets?

@ArmageddonAsh.6430 said:Would be awesome. Also wont ever happen. Too much work for Anet to ever consider it.

Well mesmer rework wasnt that easy to pull off and they did it, so an engi improvement is not that far of a stretch.

@InsaneQR.7412 said:Well mesmer rework wasnt that easy to pull off and they did it, so an engi improvement is not that far of a stretch.

This would be a MUCH bigger change though, changes to every weapon skill, adding WHOLE new set of skills for all weapons as well as balancing and traits. The Mesmer Phantasm change wasnt anything near as big as this would be.

@ArmageddonAsh.6430 said:

@InsaneQR.7412 said:Well mesmer rework wasnt that easy to pull off and they did it, so an engi improvement is not that far of a stretch.

Well this would be 12 new skills.It would be more skills i assume or more conplete things from scrath, put i think mesmer rework had more trait interactions than these new skills would have with core engi.Whatever they do, they have shown to be capabble to make big changes and i still have my hopes up that they start doing this with every profession that needs it.

@ArmageddonAsh.6430 said:

@InsaneQR.7412 said:Well mesmer rework wasnt that easy to pull off and they did it, so an engi improvement is not that far of a stretch.

Engineer is also the other class besides rev that needs a serious update. Our core is just abysmal, and building elite specs off a poor foundation is causing continuous problem.

@Vagrant.7206 said:

@ArmageddonAsh.6430 said:

@"InsaneQR.7412" said:Well mesmer rework wasnt that easy to pull off and they did it, so an engi improvement is not that far of a stretch.

You forgot ranger. Core ranger has decent builds n stuff but uts cire mechanic is just bad. Bad AI, inconsistent precision calculations on pets, some pet F2s are just plain out bad and the moddels are outdated and tgere is no room for customization whatsoever.If we assume "Core" without any expac, you dont even need a second hand to count up all viable pets.Revs have just not enough skills or diversity and engis are stuck with kits because they have no other way to weaponswap.

These three need really a mechanic update to bring them up to date.

@Vagrant.7206 said:Engineer is also the other class besides rev that needs a serious update. Our core is just abysmal, and building elite specs off a poor foundation is causing continuous problem.

Rev is the result of balancing the base class around the elite Spec. herald was INSANELY strong when it came out. That of course got nerfed for the next set of P2Win specs, except that Renegade is actually WORSE than base Revenant if you are using the Weapon and/or legend. Revenant without a doubt needs a FULL redesign through its core, Herald and Renegade. Through all weapons, legends, skills traits. Its just BAD it does have a FEW strong builds but they rely on Herald and/or Shiro :/

I'd say Core Ele, Core Ranger, Core Engineer and All of Revenant are in need of serious work :/

Just give better ranged damage potential with kits, including photonforge.

@JETWING.2759 said:Just give better ranged damage potential with kits, including photonforge.

You make it sound like Engineer are only smart enough to make Kits useful

@EdwinLi.1284 said:

@JETWING.2759 said:Just give better ranged damage potential with kits, including photonforge.

I'd think kit swap (no cooldown) is better than weapon swap (10s cooldown).Think that the Scrapper will need wait 10s to get access to his hammer again, and when something get close, he will need swap to some kit until the weapon swap get ready.May be that they not even consider big changes like purposed by op.

IMO, Engi with weapon swap COULD be a feature for the next elite spec, but to introduce it as a core engi capability, no way. It will not solve any of the problems this class has.

Who said anything about a cooldown? I proposed a 1 second cast time (subject to change) on weapon modification with no cooldown attached because I already stated that both weapon modes share cooldowns. Thus there would be no need for the weapon swap functionality itself to have a cooldown.

Also, weapon modification on an elite spec again fails to rectify any problems Engineer has at its core, that being its reliance on kits to overcome low output gimmick based weapons. This suggestion is ultimately purity of purpose taken to Engineer's base kit, splitting each weapon into two modes where those gimmicks don't have to clash with functionality. Each weapon mode has a distinct niche while the each weapon type itself retains its versatility through the weapon mod system.

@Obtena.7952 said:IMO, Engi with weapon swap COULD be a feature for the next elite spec, but to introduce it as a core engi capability, no way. It will not solve any of the problems this class has.

An actual weapon swap wouldnt, due to how limited the access to weapons is. However, this sort of thing would as it changes how the weapons work, without the need for adding new weapons. Could even be used to turn melee weapons into ranged weapons without again the need for new added weapons.

We could imagine lots of new things, but they don't fix engi problems. LImited weapon access (like it or not) IS a feature of the engi class. A core concept. Change that and engi isn't the same and everything that it's built on. People might think that's a great thing, but the concept of the class has to be preserved; it's the reason people choose and stick with the class. I would say that the class concept is an important factor for Anet; many of the changes we see are affected by it.

Hence, I could imagine a weapon swap (or transformation?) fits into an espec since especs do change the flavour, but not added to the core engi toolset.