This is a sPvP-only thread, please refrain from comparing, analyzing, or generally derailing the thread by commenting about WvW or PvE.

Most of you are probably thinking two things: Who? And what?

WHO

I'm Husky, for those of you who think I'm clueless, here is my rating from last season: https://imgur.com/a/V0Rno4L

WHAT ON EARTH

I do not usually play Engi, which is why you don't see me on the Engi forum. I picked up the Bursty Boi build two days ago, and have been having a blast (pun intended). It's everything that used to make GW2 great:

• Good but reasonable survivability
• Medium cast times
• Small non-persistent AoE
• Decent telegraphing
• Minimal passives

I could go on. Personally I hope core engi doesn't get any buffs. That's not because I don't want it to enter the meta, but I want it to be treated as a template for success, and see PoF builds nerfed down to its level.

Stupid shit like Desert Shroud (aka moving AoE) makes the game bad. Defense and offense at the same time is a no-no and I don't understand how we can make Anet understand that. Multiple chained instacast skills are a bad thing. Evade evade evade is a bad thing. More than one passive proc trait is bad. Redundant boonspam without purpose is horrible. It's hard to change a game this big and complex efficiently AND effectively, which is why we see across-the-board nerfs to passive traits that catch harmless traits like this in the crossfire, rather than intelligent, numbers-based adjustments.

Magnet -> Grenade Barrage is a high-impact, long CD combo. That's how the game should be, whether from a power or condi build. This is how things used to be; let's make it happen!

@"Huskyboy.1053" said:

Most of you are probably thinking two things: Who? And what?

No. I'm wondering why, apart from character limitations, "This is a sPvP-only thread, please refrain from comparing, analyzing, or generally derailing the thread by commenting about WvW or PvE.", or something to that effect couldn't have been put somewhere in the title straight off.

I get and support the argument you're making, but I do not get why you are making it in this way, like it's a contrary / unpopular opinion:

• You've got a good rating. However, you then state that you're not experienced with engineer and you do not show any measure of performance of core engi vs elite specs.
• You state you had fun with the build. This is mostly subjective and also quite irrelevant if you want to talk about core engi's place in competitive play at the moment. Plus I'd say a lot of people enjoy(ed) playing core engi and want to play it (again) without handicapping themselves, which is why so many suggestions are made for balancing engi.
• First you suggest that core engi is doing fine, but most of your post heavily argues for bringing down elite specs to core engi's level and cutting down the power creep of elite specs. Which is basically just the other side of the same coin / the reverse approach to buffing up core professions to match elites. While it's unclear which solution is more feasible, better or even achievable, the problem they address is the same: core engi is behind its elite specs in terms of competitive performance. The conversation about how to handle elite specs' power creep while keeping core professions up to date has been going on since before HoT release afair.

The good news is that there're a lot of people in the engi forums that feel the same, so make yourself comfortable here, it might be a while before things significantly change for the better :)

@Huskyboy.1053 said:I could go on. Personally I hope core engi doesn't get any buffs.

I'm sorry, what? Core engineer definitely needs buffs. As someone who's been playing core power engineer since 2013 and I still do to this day, even in PvP, core engineer needs some heavy buffs. How can you buff core engineer without buffing the Scrapper or the Holosmith? Simple: buff/rework the kits. The kits are what define core engineer and since Holosmiths don't use kits because apparently they are too difficult to use, core engineer could use a slight buff on some kits while a rework on others.

Grenade Kit can have the auto attacks' damage buffed because the auto attack only deals power damage, yet Shrapnel Grenade deals more damage, applies long bleeding stacks and it scales with power damage a lot better than the auto attack. Using the auto attack feels like I'm throwing pebbles at people rather than actual grenades.

Bomb Kit needs to have its' damage brought back before the 4% damage nerf and make Concussion Bomb an ethereal field that stacks confusion on foes. If Fire Bomb creates a fire field, why not make Concussion Bomb make an ethereal field?

Tool Kits' auto attack definitely needs a rework. The auto attack serves no purpose other than repairing turrets and we all know how good turrets are in PvP, right? The damage it deals is alright, but the cast time is what ruins it for me. Reduce the cast time to 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 and have it apply confusion instead of cripple. Also, bring back the old Gear Shield. I don't care if people complained that Gear Shield was overpowered way back in the day. That was then, this is now and with the amount of BS that other professions get to have and those same professions having better blocks than core engineer (scrapper, guardian, warrior, mesmer), I see no reason why core engineer can't have his old block back.

Other than that, bring back Alchemical Tinctures to make elixirs viable again and buff the turrets to make them less useless than gadgets in PvP.

Engenieer need some rework man, not only on passives but in general .

I keep saying that we should have the dmg turrets applied on our shoulders or belt , this would help dmg on pvp and pve :) !

Core Engi needs kit buffs and kit support from traits, like condition removal tied in to vanilla kits

@Hoodie.1045 said:

How can you buff core engineer without buffing the Scrapper or the Holosmith? Simple: buff/rework the kits. The kits are what define core engineer and since Holosmiths don't use kits because apparently they are too difficult to use, core engineer could use a slight buff on some kits while a rework on others.

If you do that more Holos and Scappers will use kits. Its a conceptual problem we are dealing with. Elite specs are built on top of core in most cases instead of a sidegrade that offers an alternative playstyle. Engi e.g. has TB-skills as core mechanic and neither Scrapper nor Holo loses/compromises it by choosing an Elite-spec. Why would you not pick Holo every time if alone choosing the traitline gives you a second weapon that is stronger than all core weapons and kits ontop of what you have?Deadeye is an example of a better concept. They trade Steal for Mark.

@schloumou.3982 said:

@Hoodie.1045 said:

How can you buff core engineer without buffing the Scrapper or the Holosmith? Simple: buff/rework the kits. The kits are what define core engineer and since Holosmiths don't use kits because apparently they are too difficult to use, core engineer could use a slight buff on some kits while a rework on others.

No, meta Scrapper and Holo builds will never rely on Flamethrower, Bombs, Grenades. Scrapper is support focused and Holosmith is spending 65% of its gameplay in Photon Forge.

Maybe you're thinking Elixir Gun and Toolkit, these kits are largely fine as-is.

someone who doesn't main engi and making a post suggesting they dont need a buff is pretty silly.....

if you were to get that decent rating last season by just playing core engi it'll be a whole different story but we both know that's not the case. Core engi needs a few more buffs in certain areas to make them "meta" again or rival against meta fairly well. I agree the spec/class is STILL fun to play and challenging but it falls SHORT against Holo/Scrapper with ease , Dies fairly quick to Mesmer over all, Can't survive against necros at all and Warriors at the moment just straight up demolish them.

Try Playing Core engi in At's(against good teams, Monthly, and Rank and let me know how the experience really is.

@Chaith.8256 said:

No, meta Scrapper and Holo builds will never rely on Flamethrower, Bombs, Grenades. Scrapper is support focused and Holosmith is spending 65% of its gameplay in Photon Forge.

Maybe you're thinking Elixir Gun and Toolkit, these kits are largely fine as-is.

But thats the point. They can make use of it. If you offer strong condi clear via kits Scrapper will utilize it in his support-role and if you give grens a high dps cleave+burst thats good enough Holo will benefit from that. Only exeption i see is if you heavily tie a spec to an certain dmg type which is kinda cheap imo. And im not even sure there wouldnt be p/p condiburst Holos if you shift enough condidmg into kits.

@schloumou.3982 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:

No, meta Scrapper and Holo builds will never rely on Flamethrower, Bombs, Grenades. Scrapper is support focused and Holosmith is spending 65% of its gameplay in Photon Forge.

Maybe you're thinking Elixir Gun and Toolkit, these kits are largely fine as-is.

On paper, that might seem likely, but in practice it won't happen.

Why? The way the kits themselves work and interact with the elite specs. Most of the kits have a huge opportunity cost to use them (generally they need utility that is competitive with the e-specs utilities), and the only ones that do see use with elite specs (E-Gun) are already in a pretty good spot (minus some weird quirks). It's possible you may find a unique interaction with traits like the Drunk Engineer did, but generally speaking the main design of these e-specs does not synergize particularly well with kits.

For example:

• Grenades do not synergize well with scrapper or holosmith weapons/PF, except in PvE where your enemies motions are predictable. In PvP scrapper is better off reflecting range attacks with hammer/bulwark toolbelt, and holo is better off using rifle to control targets.
• Bomb kit is functionally weaker or equal to scrapper hammer, and lacks the utility to make itself worth using with holosmith.
• Tool Kit does not provide any increased utility compared to scrapper hammer or any utility that Photon Forge does not already have, but use better.
• Med Kit... I'm just going to leave that there.
• Mortar Kit is similar to grenades, except that it provides persistent fields. This can be useful to a scrapper build (Area denial function), but the damage on mortar isn't what people pick it for. As for holo, lol no.

@Huskyboy.1053 said:This is a sPvP-only thread, please refrain from comparing, analyzing, or generally derailing the thread by commenting about WvW or PvE.

Could you, whoever feels addressed, keep up this standard and write it on top of your threads, maybe with a [PVP] tag right in the title? You would save us a lot of precious lifetime. Alternatively we could tag the entire board [PvP] unofficially and just mark the non-pvp posts, would be less work. Anyway, thanks a lot for adding this!

Core Engineer, especially kits, Tools and Firearms traitlines need some serious work and buffs.

@VagrantYou are right. The Holo mechanic doesnt scale well with higher amounts of kits because of the 6/5.25s lockout. But i think what i said still aplies to Scrapper and perhaps future E-specs. The problem i see is that even if you manage to not have Holo profit from these it apears like a patchy approach to a more fundamental problem.

@"Silinsar.6298" said:I get and support the argument you're making, but I do not get why you are making it in this way, like it's a contrary / unpopular opinion:

• First you suggest that core engi is doing fine, but most of your post heavily argues for bringing down elite specs to core engi's level and cutting down the power creep of elite specs. Which is basically just the other side of the same coin / the reverse approach to buffing up core professions to match elites. While it's unclear which solution is more feasible, better or even achievable, the problem they address is the same: core engi is behind its elite specs in terms of competitive performance. The conversation about how to handle elite specs' power creep while keeping core professions up to date has been going on since before HoT release afair.

The good news is that there're a lot of people in the engi forums that feel the same, so make yourself comfortable here, it might be a while before things significantly change for the better :)

You're absolutely right that my argument relies heavily on bringing down elite specs to core engi's level; in fact that's exactly what I'm arguing. It's the "core" of my argument, if you will. I appreciate your support, some people in this thread are mad that I don't want to buff things up to meta-levels. Realistically though the only way that core engi can compete against classes with skills like Corona Burst, which when traited gives me might, stability, damage while using other skills, and barrier, is to get all-in-one skills like it. My questions to people who want buffs to engi instead of nerfs to current meta specs is, why is this preferable to removing annoying/spammy/low-skill mechanics on other specs? If the end result is that core engi becomes more viable, isn't that all that matters? Why does Engi Buffs = Win, Non-Engi Nerfs = Bad Idea?

What I said, and I'll say it again, is that skills and traits that serve both offensive and defensive purposes simultaneously are bad. To be meta-viable, core engi can either get those, or get a 40% + boost to its burst. Those are the only two ways I see to buff it into the current meta. Personally I'd rather just see nerfs like removing the torment from Desert Shroud (since it already pulses barrier and direct damage). I don't think that giving core engi multipurpose skills will do anything other than make the game spammier than it already is.

Also, the Protection spam in the current meta that comes from Firebrand, Arcane-traited Avatar Weaver, Chaos Chronomancer, and both utility and passive Spectral Armor makes damage boosts much less useful than gaining multipurpose skills/traits. Although I suppose if some boon removal on stuff besides Throw Mine were introduced then direct damage boosts would be more useful; I could certainly make use of boon removal on Grenade Kit 2, its tool belt skill, or Tool Kit. I would give more minute examples of buffs that would be good but not OP, but usually people don't engage when I do that.

@"zoopop.5630" said:someone who doesn't main engi and making a post suggesting they dont need a buff is pretty silly.....

if you were to get that decent rating last season by just playing core engi it'll be a whole different story but we both know that's not the case. Core engi needs a few more buffs in certain areas to make them "meta" again or rival against meta fairly well. I agree the spec/class is STILL fun to play and challenging but it falls SHORT against Holo/Scrapper with ease , Dies fairly quick to Mesmer over all, Can't survive against necros at all and Warriors at the moment just straight up demolish them.

Try Playing Core engi in At's(against good teams, Monthly, and Rank and let me know how the experience really is.

To even things out, you can either make core engi better or meta specs worse. I made it clear that I think core engi is very fun to play (this is a videogame, the point is fun) and that the way to make the meta more fun is to nerf down spammy/multipurpose skills and traits. If you think it would be more fun to buff core engi up to the level of Chaos Chrono, if you think that's the best way to even things out, then just say it so I understand the philosophical distinction between how you want to solve the problem and how I want to solve the problem.

@"Chaith.8256" said:Core Engi needs kit buffs and kit support from traits, like condition removal tied in to vanilla kits

Honestly I think Tool Kit is pretty good when traited. 13s cooldown on a block AND a 1200 range unblockable CC is pretty damn good. Grenade kit is decent when traited, could use longer duration on condis applied. Flamethrower is still kinda bad when traited but hey waddabout dat Stability huh?!! Basically you need to trait kits to make them useful, I'm not comfortable saying whether that's good or bad, just gonna point out that it's very common for people to choose to trait their weaponsets when playing an offensive build. For example:

• Greataxe uses Forceful Greatsword
• Radiant Hammer uses Glacial Heart
• Every staff Necro build ever uses Soul Marks

I think you are right that Engi needs more condi removal. Whether it's tied to kit use, whether we get Alchemical Tinctures back, or something else I don't know. But you are 100% right.

@Huskyboy.1053 said:

@"zoopop.5630" said:someone who doesn't main engi and making a post suggesting they dont need a buff is pretty silly.....

if you were to get that decent rating last season by just playing core engi it'll be a whole different story but we both know that's not the case. Core engi needs a few more buffs in certain areas to make them "meta" again or rival against meta fairly well. I agree the spec/class is STILL fun to play and challenging but it falls SHORT against Holo/Scrapper with ease , Dies fairly quick to Mesmer over all, Can't survive against necros at all and Warriors at the moment just straight up demolish them.

Try Playing Core engi in At's(against good teams, Monthly, and Rank and let me know how the experience really is.

Core engi needs touch up in certain areas and core weapons being tweaked around with better supportive kits to help them stay relevant.

Even P/p Condi Engi is a joke and pretty shit and that’s a “core spec”. Some of the kits don’t even get used much because some of them lack proper dps /clunky. The fact that a majority of the kits don’t even get used is an example as to why core engi in a bad state.

I can go on for days and rant why core engi isn’t what it use to be and it’s because of the changes that been made during every balance patch they usually hurt core specs like engi(example of condi engi getting nerf hard after the condi changes were made).

@Hoodie.1045 said:

@Huskyboy.1053 said:I could go on. Personally I hope core engi doesn't get any buffs.

Why does it need buffs? Why not nerf low-skill, overperforming elite specs like Scourge and Mirage? If you do enough nerfs or enough buffs, they will result in the same outcome, that being a relatively more effective core engi. Why is it more logical to buff core engi rather than nerf overperforming elite specs? My reasons why nerfing OP builds is better:

1. Helps everyone who doesn't play the OP builds regularly rather than helping only the very small subset of the population that plays core power engi
2. Helps eliminate low-skilled players from higher tiers where they don't belong
3. Saves Anet's limited development resources by focusing on a small number of well-defined OP builds rather than a large number of UP builds, some of which are so underperforming you can't even find them on public forums because nobody plays them.

@"Huskyboy.1053" said:You're absolutely right that my argument relies heavily on bringing down elite specs to core engi's level; in fact that's exactly what I'm arguing. It's the "core" of my argument, if you will. I appreciate your support, some people in this thread are mad that I don't want to buff things up to meta-levels. Realistically though the only way that core engi can compete against classes with skills like Corona Burst, which when traited gives me might, stability, damage while using other skills, and barrier, is to get all-in-one skills like it. My questions to people who want buffs to engi instead of nerfs to current meta specs is, why is this preferable to removing annoying/spammy/low-skill mechanics on other specs? If the end result is that core engi becomes more viable, isn't that all that matters? Why does Engi Buffs = Win, Non-Engi Nerfs = Bad Idea?

The problem with how you worded your post is probably that for most people (myself included), the statement "Core Engi is doing alright" simply is not true, because when you take the context (the rest of the game) into account, you have to compare it to elite specs. You should've named the thread "Core Engi's power level is alright / something to aim for" or something like that, to better convey what you actually mean.

In my opinion, the "nerf everything to a reasonable level" - stance is the one which would lead to a better quality of gameplay once again, but I don't see it happening. ANet is generally slow at balancing which was kind of fine before expansions hit and everything adhered to solid bounds in terms of power level. But boon and condition application and removal, CC and stunbreaks, defense and offense all went through the roof compared to vanilla GW2. Right now ANet balance patches are always... a bit lacking. There's the nice little surprise here and there but overall they aren't doing big enough changes frequently enough to fix things in the foreseeable future. Also, it doesn't even look like ANet wants to bring down elite specs (many of them would need reworks to be considered sidegrades instead of upgrades, simply because they give much more than they take, Holo for example). If they wanted to nerf almost everything, ANet would have to make a lot happen in a very short time frame, otherwise they'd alienate one elite spec's playerbase after the other. And they probably don't have the resources for that.So while an idealist will argue to bring the overall power level down the realist who just wants to enjoy his profession again before GW3 releases is more likely to argue for buffs.

@Huskyboy.1053 said:

@"Chaith.8256" said:Core Engi needs kit buffs and kit support from traits, like condition removal tied in to vanilla kits

• Greataxe
  uses
  Forceful Greatsword
• Radiant Hammer
  uses
  Glacial Heart
• Every staff Necro build ever uses
  Soul Marks

Specifically I think there needs to be multiple defensive traits that scales on how many kits/kit uptime of your arsenal.

A fair idea for a streamlined kits re-work:

• Remove one condition from yourself and gain 3s swiftness when swapping a kit. 10s ICD per kit.

Hypothetically running a 5 kit build is possible and could be resilient against conditions with strategic kit usage. You could piano your kits in a pinch, if caught by surprise as well.

• Juggernaut effect extended to all offensive kits, Flamethrower, Grenades, Mortar, Bombs

Combined with flat buffs to bombs, Flamethrower, I think something reasonable will emerge.

@Huskyboy.1053 said:

@Hoodie.1045 said:

@Huskyboy.1053 said:I could go on. Personally I hope core engi doesn't get any buffs.

1. Helps everyone who doesn't play the OP builds regularly rather than helping only the very small subset of the population that plays core power engi
2. Helps eliminate low-skilled players from higher tiers where they don't belong
3. Saves Anet's limited development resources by focusing on a small number of well-defined OP builds rather than a large number of UP builds, some of which are so underperforming you can't even find them on public forums because nobody plays them.

ArenaNet has done everything they could to properly balance the Scourge and the Mirage. They recently nerfed some of core thiefs' Acrobatics traits with no explanation as to why they decided to do this. Despite the nerfs it didn't change a thing. It didn't make the build obsolete and core thieves continued to use the build and it is still viable even after the pointless nerfs. Ask yourself, what else could they possibly do to balance Scourge and Mirage and how long can they keep nerfing them before they eventually make them obsolete? Here's an idea: instead of focusing on nerfing these two professions specifically, how about we instead focus on buffing the weaker aspects of the other professions? Think about it, there are so many things that professions have that could be beneficial, but is very lackluster. This is where core engineer and the kits come in.

The reason why the kits need a buff is because core engineer is lackluster when compared to the Holosmith. The Holosmith is a glass cannon specialization that deals the most amount of damage of all engineer specializations, yet it has a plentiful amount of utility skills that give it too much sustain to even be called a glass cannon. You've literally got nothing to lose when you play Holosmith with no kits. It's more logical to buff core engineer because like I said a few sentences ago, it's better to focus on improving the weaker elements that certain professions have rather than nerfing something that there's nothing you could possibly do to nerf it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Also, since core engineer benefits the most from kits, it would be better if some of the traits in certain core specializations were made to benefit kits only. Traits like Grenadier, Power Wrench, Short Fuse, Juggernaut, Backpack Regenerator, Streamlined Kits are already pointless for the Holosmith because you need to be using kits in order for them to be worthwhile traits. Iron Blooded could be an Elixir Gun trait that reduced physical damage and condition damage by 10% while using the kit and reduced cooldown. Orbital Command could be a Mortar Kit trait that increases the kits' projectile velocity.

@Hoodie.1045 said:

@"Huskyboy.1053" said:Why does it need buffs? Why not nerf low-skill, overperforming elite specs like Scourge and Mirage? If you do enough nerfs or enough buffs, they will result in the same outcome, that being a relatively more effective core engi. Why is it more logical to buff core engi rather than nerf overperforming elite specs? My reasons why nerfing OP builds is better:

1. Helps everyone who doesn't play the OP builds regularly rather than helping only the very small subset of the population that plays core power engi
2. Helps eliminate low-skilled players from higher tiers where they don't belong
3. Saves Anet's limited development resources by focusing on a small number of well-defined OP builds rather than a large number of UP builds, some of which are so underperforming you can't even find them on public forums because nobody plays them.

What do you mean by "everything they can?" They are the ones with the ability to modify the game, obviously they can just modify it further. I ask you to give a logical answer and you assert something in your first sentence that is easily disproven. It seems like you'd rather talk about core engi buffs at the expense of discussing this rationally.

Scourge Changes

1. Shade skills only occur in Shade AoE. Currently they occur in Shade AoE AND on the Scourge's current location, meaning that Scourges don't have to think carefully about when to use F1.
2. Remove torment from Desert Shroud. This is a defensive skill, I know they want it to have similar functionality to Tainted Shackles but that is just a bad apples-to-oranges transfer of functionality. If it needs to give a buff like retaliation or pulse blind or something I'm okay with it being slightly more defensive.
3. Only trigger Dhuumfire on F1 like it was originally intended.
4. Increase CD of Ritual of Life to 75s, possibly 100s.
5. Reduce Ghastly Breach radius to 240 like Plaguelands and give it the same CD; this skill just trades condis for boon corrupt, it's not less powerful so it should have the same cooldown.

That would clean up a lot of spammy Scourge stuff.

Mirage Changes

1. No stunbreak on dodge. Stahp it. BAD ANET. The problem with this is twofold: first, this means that mesmer doesn't need 2 stunbreaks, allowing room for one of its many powerful non-stunbreak utilities. Second, even with Exhaustion players can still generate Endurance via Sigil of Energy. And if you're like my good friend Cho then also Rune of Adventure.
2. No use of Ambush skills outside of combat. This is mainly because Mirages use Mirage Thrust outside of combat for better mobility; if they couldn't do this they would either be much slower or choose Rune of the Traveler/Lynx, which would significantly reduce damage by 7-10% as compared to the current usage of condi runes or Rune of the Scholar.
3. Reduce Jaunt use count to 2. On my zerk shatter mirage build, I often use my final count of Jaunt to secure the final Mind Wrack; it's honestly kind of sad how easy it is for Mirage to chain so many instacasts together and have so much mobility at the same time.
4. No stomps while under effect of Mirage Cloak, I use this dirty trick every single game for safe stomps. They should have to use stability or Distortion if they want a safe stomp.
5. And speaking of Stability, this trait makes Chaos Chrono broken. Only give it on F3 or F4, should be granted at the end of the shatter effect rather than when the shatter is used.

There is obviously a lot they could do to balance these elite specs out and make them more skillful, it is ridiculous to claim that they've done everything they can; what they did previously was implement unnecessary nerfs that didn't address the expanded functionality these two elite specs give that specs like core engi can't match.

Also, bring back the old Gear Shield. I don't care if people complained that Gear Shield was overpowered way back in the day. That was then, this is now and with the amount of BS that other professions get to have and those same professions having better blocks than core engineer (scrapper, guardian, warrior, mesmer), I see no reason why core engineer can't have his old block back.I don't agree with this . I prefer gear shield how is now, with a cd of less then 14 secs. I prefer to have 1 sec less of blocking but a lower cd as it is now

@Hoodie.1045 said:

@Huskyboy.1053 said:

@Hoodie.1045 said:

@Huskyboy.1053 said:I could go on. Personally I hope core engi doesn't get any buffs.

1. Helps everyone who doesn't play the OP builds regularly rather than helping only the very small subset of the population that plays core power engi
2. Helps eliminate low-skilled players from higher tiers where they don't belong
3. Saves Anet's limited development resources by focusing on a small number of well-defined OP builds rather than a large number of UP builds, some of which are so underperforming you can't even find them on public forums because nobody plays them.

Because this approach leads to a game that is entirely unplayable. By constantly chasing the current highest performing class(es) you end up with classes that can cc lock, two shot other players, perma blind and/or block, and spam conditions simply by standing close to other players.

All professions need to be balanced toward a central level of performance. Too far to the low end and the game becomes too slow and boring, but too far to the high end and it becomes too fast and frustrating.