Help a returning Engi out! (pretty please)

Hello fellas!

I used to play Engineer back at launch of vanilla and had a great time being a WvW roamer with my Direset and bombs. (Inspired like many by the OG Teldoo)Now there is alot that have been changing with both hots and pof being released, alot of threads about how we are underdogs (i know that is probably just a vocal minority)

But to keep things short and not waste your time ill get straight to some questions id love to hear your opinion about:

1. Kits, are they as strong and functional like they used to be? Any major changes that i could have missed out on? Its kinda hard to read through 2 years of patchnotes... (i know they have their flaws being clunky, but you used to have an answer to every situation with 2-5 Kits)
2. Ive got an Ascended Berserker, Viper(used to be dire) and Marauder setup, will that still cover most areas ? (PvE, Dungeons/raids, WvW)
3. I See alot of comments about Scrappers being bad as bruisers and forced into being healbots in WvW, is that just a preference or what was the big "change" that forced them into healbots?
4. What sites and youtubers could i learn a thing or two from? Teldoo aint around, makes me sad.. And i find Metabattle lacking...
5. What happened to Condibuilds :( ? P/S Dire/rabidbombertroll worthless now? Are we that outclassed as a Condispec?
6. With all the new specializations out there, are there any specific ones i should be careful with if i run into in WvW? Condicleanse have always been hard.. but more than that?

Id love to hear your opinion and your experience about my questions!

Peace!

@"Noha.3749" said:

1. Kits, are they as strong and functional like they used to be? Any major changes that i could have missed out on? Its kinda hard to read through 2 years of patchnotes... (i know they have their flaws being clunky, but you used to have an answer to every situation with 2-5 Kits)

If hypothetically the Holosmith didn't exist, then the kits would be strong. Sadly, ArenaNet made the Photon Forge which is a kit on it's own far too good. Since it's inception they've been nerfing it, but they do the bare minimum with the kits. In the recent 28th of August balance patch, they increased the projectile velocity of Glob Shot and made both Smoke Bomb and Glue Bomb benefit from the Explosives traits, something they should've done long ago. Kits aren't bad, they just need to be improved a lot if they are to compete with the Holosmith which doesn't need kits to be viable in fights.

2. Ive got an Ascended Berserker, Viper(used to be dire) and Marauder setup, will that still cover most areas ? (PvE, Dungeons/raids, WvW)

If you're playing core engineer, full Viper gear is the way to go for fractals and raids. You can use berserker stats for every profession when it comes to open world and dungeons, but core engineer benefits from conditions in fractals and raids. Check snowcrows.com to see which engineer builds are viable for fractals and raids.

3. I See alot of comments about Scrappers being bad as bruisers and forced into being healbots in WvW, is that just a preference or what was the big "change" that forced them into healbots?

Like core engineer, Scrapper isn't in that good of a spot, but ever since the Med Kit got a rework which was the best change they've given to the engineer, Scrapper has indeed become a healbot in WvW. The healing you give to allies isn't as good from support professions like Firebrand as they can do more than just healing, but on the positive side is that the engineer uses kits, not tomes. This means that you don't have to wait for your strongest healing skills to become active again, you can just camp the kit as long as you want and just heal people.

4. What sites and youtubers could i learn a thing or two from? Teldoo aint around, makes me sad.. And i find Metabattle lacking...

For playing core engineer in PvP, you can check out my own build on Metabattle. It's the most complicated build for core engineer, but nowhere else can you find guides on the little tips, tricks and secrets that you can do with core engineer and the kits.

5. What happened to Condibuilds :( ? P/S Dire/rabidbombertroll worthless now? Are we that outclassed as a Condispec?

In WvW, condition engineer is meh. In PvP, it's descent, but I would never go full condition engineer. I say it's descent because even as someone who plays hybrid engineer, those few players who were playing condition engineer weren't that good.

6. With all the new specializations out there, are there any specific ones i should be careful with if i run into in WvW? Condicleanse have always been hard.. but more than that?

Condition cleanse is even worse for engineer if you could believe that. ArenaNet removed Alchemical Tinctures at the beginning of 2018 which was a minor trait in Alchemy that allowed you to remove conditions with elixirs. Now they replaced it with a terrible heal that is given to you if you apply boons on yourself. Not from allies, only yourself.

As for professions on which you should be careful, it's condition Scourge, even though more players are playing Reaper, condition Mirage which are still a nightmare to deal with so just avoid them at all costs, Deadeye can be a pain in open areas, warriors aren't worth fighting because of their massive sustain, Firebrands and Weavers.

Id love to hear your opinion and your experience about my questions!

Peace!

I'm just happy to help out any returning engineer players.

Current wvw roaming classless you need to watch out aren't condi, it's mostly power, burst, one-two shot. Mesmer, Thief, Warrior. And Yolosmith :)Guess it didn't change from the times you remember

thanks alot fellas for taking your time :+1: Really appreciate it!Ill look up your build and see how it works out for me :)

tl;dr condi engie got brushed aside by vastly superior PoF condi specs and power engie is almost exclusivly yolosmith roflstomp builds.

Scrapper healbot is only for people that like getting no loot while carrying the zerg.

For wvw roaming holo is great and very strong. Scrapper is still a bruiser it is just the damage is much higher now. I roam on power scrapper in t1 and have no issues. Scourges have no mobility and they die fast, elixir c is usually more than enough to counter them as you will often get resistance. If you just want to PPT, mobility core condi build works just fine (rocket boots and grenades)

@"Hoodie.1045" said:

3. I See alot of comments about Scrappers being bad as bruisers and forced into being healbots in WvW, is that just a preference or what was the big "change" that forced them into healbots?

Supposedly full support scrapper out-cleanses and out-heals (or is very close to) Firebrand. They just don't provide enough support boons (stab, might, aegis, etc).

EDIT: Oh, and I've had limited success running a core gadget build against Firebrands (chiefly through Throw Mine for boonstrip). You can try that...

Anyway, if you can, I would get the expansions, if only to help you understand the new specializations (and maybe bite the bullet and run holosmith :p). In a WvW roaming and zerg context, I've only seen maybe 10 core engineers and they absolutely melted before Holosmith and even a more offense-orientated scrapper. Going to have to work 100 times as hard in the current WvW environment on core.

Luckily wvw isn’t a pvp mode, you can rock just killing npc’s. Be you and kick ass. Honestly, fav commander currently runs scrapper. He destroys, play how you want if have catmander and let all keep alive. They will practically pay for opportunity.