Mortar Suggestion

Give engineer the ability to manually detonate mortar shells mid air like thief's shortbow grenade

@Rezzet.3614 said:Give engineer the ability to manually detonate mortar shells mid air like thief's shortbow grenade

interesting suggestion but personally it would be too much extra clicking for me

the arc the projectile takes is too big. the biggest problem mortar has is its too slow.

The arc is nice. ^^Otherwise you wouldn't be able to shoot on top of walls on WvW.... or over the gate of towsers.... or over guardian's wall of reflections.

But maybe a velocity increase would be nice. ^^

pls change into a rocket launcher

@Dediggefedde.4961 said:But maybe a velocity increase would be nice. ^^

Every engineer player's been asking this for a long time.

When the mortar elite was in the pipeline, most of my friends were hoping for or expecting a shoulder held rocket launcher...

Instead we got a tier 1 bronze rifle skin with the same animation on every skill.

It has always been below expectaion :(

@Peutrifectus.4830 said:[skin & animation]It has always been below expectations :(Well, the initial orbital command looked nice. ^^

Aside from the velocity, I'm satisfied with the mortar.2-5 are tactical fields, that all see its uses in WvW and sometimes even PvP.F5 is pretty slow, though, so I usually aim it for blasts or to hit into the enemy zerg.

What I miss design-wise, would be hard-CC.That is a mortar, which is basically a hand-held cannon and there is no impact on enemies?Every mortar in WvW has knockback on its auto and 5. Canons have knockback. Even the rifle has knockback.Maybe a stun or knockback on F5... or maybe replace the poison field...

I recall expecting it to be a deployable mortar that anyone could control

@Peutrifectus.4830 said:I recall expecting it to be a deployable mortar that anyone could control

That's what it used to be. Then it was total crap, and they changed it to the current version.

My memory is mashed :/

Would it be better to have a rocket launcher similar to charzooka, that had faster velocity and more damage, but also had a CD? I like the fact that we have an elite that we can just keep out all the time which lets us drop fields out and hit top of walls.

I like the idea of splitting mortar shells and deal more hits, but grenades already do that.Grenades and Mortar tend to overlap a tad too much, so why not merging them?We could turn the Mortan Kit and the Grenade kit into a single Grenade LauncherTo give it a 'firing rhythm', all of its skills could have a shared 4 ammo.You fire 4 shots, it gets a short reload delay with an animation like the 1-hand-pump male norn play when you stop firing the mortar. All 4 ammo recharges after this animation, but it would also recharge all ammo when stowing the kit and bringing it back out.Grenades could bounce off walls and detonate after 3 seconds if they don't hit an enemy target.While a grenade is mid-flight, using the skill again could detonate it early. The split detonation would deal more hits for less damage, but dealing the same conditions, trading direct damage for condition stack.The merge could go something like this:

• Grenade, Shrapnel Grenade and Mortar shot -> Grenade, split:Shrapnel Grenade (split version causes bleeding)
• Flash Grenade and Flash Shell -> Flash Grenade, split:Flashbang
• Freeze Grenade and Endothermic Shell. -> Freeze Grenade, split:Endothermic Detonation.
• Poison Grenade and Poison Gas Shell -> Poison Grenade, split:Gas Release.
• And Elixir Shell -> Elixir Grenade, split:Elixir Rain.Then, change the Grenadier into a trait that makes the grenades from the grenade launcher fly faster and leave a single pulsing AoE after they hit or get detonated early, to make it work like the mortar again. Or traits could toggle the grenade launcher behavior between leaving AoEs and fragmented detonations.

Now, what to put in the elite slot in place of the Mortar kit? A mix of a Gravity Gun and a Portal Gun, of course!

1. Skill 1 would be a 'grab' that deals very little damage to enemies but causes immobilize to target enemy and self for 1s if used when they are standing still. Using skill 1 on a turret would grab it, allowing the engineer to carry it around to a different location. The turret would be functional while carried, but the engineer would be knocked back and have their skills disabled for 2s if the turret breaks while carrying it.
2. Skill 2 would be a push. It deals little damage but extra extra damage if it interrupts a skill. It reflects projectiles if used at the right time like Air Blast. It can also push one's own turrets.
3. Skill 3 would be a pull. It deals little damage but extra extra damage if it interrupts a skill. It can 'catch' one projectile if used at the right timing. Using Skill 2 right after catching a projectile with skill 3 sends the projectile back (similar to the old Mimic which was originally Absorb). It can also pull one's own turrets.
   4. 5. Skills 4 and 5 share 5 ammo and can place entry and exit portals at will with no ammo cost, but placed portals only last 10s, and every time anyone crosses either portal the portal skills lose 1 ammo. Ammo is recovered at a rate of 1 every 60 seconds, but if Ammo reaches 0, both skills are disabled for 90s.

So crazy that it may just work.

@Peutrifectus.4830 said:I recall expecting it to be a deployable mortar that anyone could control

This one another main reason I chose the class. I loved the idea of just making someone I or anyone could use. Was sad when it was changed into bootleg grenade kit, and then that got nerfed afterwards cause mortar was supposed to be the main long range option -.- One depressing change after another.

Personally, I think the mortar speed is not that bad, but the range could use maybe an additional 300 units from 1500 up to 1800 range? That way, we could have four or five grenades up in the air at a time, which is actually pretty realistic.

I wish it would do added damage to gates and catapults/arrow carts/golems etc.

I think like the above poster it should be an extemely long range weapon with faster speed. 2000 units.

Yes, a modern infantry mortar has a range of 4500 (M29) to 5650 metres (M252). The longest confirmed sniper kill was 3540 metres. So is that is the benchmark for ingame deadeyes, (likely lower, since more shots are taken at ranges closer to 1000-2000m, and that's still most impressive), the appropriate range for the mortar should be 2396, or a round 2400 units. That is high range.I'd even agree to having to deploy a stationary mortar for that kind of range with the ability to do indirect fire.

IMO it would be really fun if the Mortar Skills were designed to work at different angles and distances.

1- Could be a fast firing, straight flying, usable from 0 to 600 range, aa style damage rocket attack.2- Would be a bit slower, slightly angled, usable from 300 to 900 range, a bit more damaging and piercing single shell attack, maybe with added condi.3- Would be a paused and deliberate, 45°, usable from 600 to 1200 range, area attack with multiple shells, serious damage and with a short duration field.4- Would be a definitely slow, very angled, usable 900 to 1500 range, major area attack with a big damage missile, added condi and medium duration field.5- Would be an elite "call the orbital laser" attack, super slow, usable from 1200 to 1800 range, that you need to aim like some environmental canons and trebuchets in the game, with an almost vertical launch angle, but with a truly huge area, huge damage, multiple condis and a very long duration field.

1,2 and 3 could be used in personal combat, while 3,4 and 5 would be used mainly for big battles with lots of players and over hills, walls and fortifications.