Poll: Bring back engineer back pack kits (e. g. as skins)

Quote from engineer profession sub forum:

@"Lonami.2987" said:The day was June 23, 2015. The last big patch before the release of Heart of Thorns, it gave us a huge core professions overhaul, in preparation for the first generation of elite specializations.

It also upgraded the visuals for engineer kits, removing the classic kit packs.

We were told these would return as back item skins some day. However, three and a half years later, we're still waiting. It's obvious they forgot about them at some point, not unlike the revenant weapons. What better time to remember them than Christmas?

Bomb Pack

• Used with the Grenade Kit.

Elixir Pack

• Used with the Elixir Gun.

Flame Pack

• Used with the Flamethrower.

Health Pack

• Used with the Med Kit.

Mine Pack

• Used with the scrapped Mine Kit.
• Survived as a skin through the Universal Multitool Pack, available through a biography option in the character creation menu.

Unknown name

• Used with the Bomb Kit and the Tool Kit.

Note that the Elite Mortar Kit never had a backpack of its own, because it wasn't a kit before.

So, how do we bring them back? The easiest solution is to reintroduce them as back item skins, by adding them through a karma merchant. Just make sure they're easily available, since making them too expensive or hard to acquire would invalidate the point of letting people easily use them again.

Alternatively, we could get a new mechanic customization option, not unlike rangers and their pet customization menu, that would let engineers use different skins for their kits. For example, Sabetha's Boomstick and Crucible as a flamethrower kit skin, or Horrik's Cannon as a mortar skin. In this new menu, engineer players would be able to turn the kit backpack visuals on and off too.

That's it for me! Have a happy Christmas, and let's hope we get to see these packs back some day!

Same thread at reddit.

I wanted to ask the forum, would you like them to be reintroduced to the game as back item skins? I personally would like to acquire them through playing the game (for instance playing an engineer similar to multi tool backitem at the beginning of the story).

Nope. I'm glad that they changed it. People who have ad infinitum or another of the legendary backpacks would agree. But I would be a fan of changing kits appearance with legendary weapons.

@"archmagus.7249" said:Nope. I'm glad that they changed it. People who have ad infinitum or another of the legendary backpacks would agree. But I would be a fan of changing kits appearance with legendary weapons.

What I would like is to reintroduce the engineer back pack kits as skins only. So the current kits would stay the same but one can decide if their back item should look like the med kit pack for instance (first poll option). This is already the case with the https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Universal_Multitool_Pack

Used to be mine pack it is available as a skin for your back items in your wardrobe.

@Holy Hallidor.3067 said:As I learned from a fellow forum member, the engineer backpack kits were removed from the game after back items for all classes were introduced.Backpacks for all classes were available since the beginning. They were just a lot more rare. Backpacks were mostly rare dungeon drops so a large part of the playerbase didn't use them.

@Tzarakiel.7490 said:

@Holy Hallidor.3067 said:As I learned from a fellow forum member, the engineer backpack kits were removed from the game after back items for all classes were introduced.Backpacks for all classes were available since the beginning. They were just a lot more rare. Backpacks were mostly rare dungeon drops so a large part of the playerbase didn't use them.

I see thank you for the clarification and this interesting insight @Tzarakiel.7490

Refreshing this topic!

These are nice skins. It would be sad to let them stay unavailable.

Maybe one of you devs can slip these back in as skins... you know, when the NCsoft overlords are looking the other way

I like the idea of making them into backpacks. I was happy with the change to kits because it meant my engineer got to choose a back item, but I also like the idea of being able to choose these ones. Even better if they can be used on all professions (which would be the case if they were backpack skins) as one thing I sometimes feel is lacking in this game is back items which actually look like backpacks and aren't gigantic. These were big, but not as over-sized as some of the backpacks we have now.

@Super Hayes.6890 said:Maybe one of you devs can slip these back in as skins... you know, when the NCsoft overlords are looking the other way

I highly doubt NCSoft get involved in that level of detail. Admittedly I've never worked in the games industry, but even when I worked in a place with 35 employees total and only 3 people in the 'chain of command' between me and the board members my reports on my department's activity only included summaries of how we did against our targets, and their involvement was only to approve the budget and priorities for the next quarter, they wouldn't know or care about that level of detail. The equivalent for Anet would be NCSoft approving a target for profit (maybe split between gem store, sales of the game and other sources), number of releases, maybe the number of new gem store items, and the estimated spending. But I can't imagine they care exactly which skins are available to players.

I wouldn't use them at all, and I love my engi, but I have no objections in them being reintroduced.

@Danikat.8537 said:I like the idea of making them into backpacks. I was happy with the change to kits because it meant my engineer got to choose a back item, but I also like the idea of being able to choose these ones. Even better if they can be used on all professions (which would be the case if they were backpack skins) as one thing I sometimes feel is lacking in this game is back items which actually look like backpacks and aren't gigantic. These were big, but not as over-sized as some of the backpacks we have now.

@Super Hayes.6890 said:Maybe one of you devs can slip these back in as skins... you know, when the NCsoft overlords are looking the other way

If that is the case, give us these skin please!

I honestly don't mind either way. Since we have Holosmith now, I want something that matches holo on top of those skins.

I'd love to have these skins! I wanted to have a nice backpack for my Engi that fits him but the universal multitool pack doesnt quite look well on him. The closest I could get is one of the scribe backpacks (lv125 I think) but that's pretty hard to get to for me. So having all of these skins available in some way so I can pick and choose would be fantastic!

@Aru.4156 said:I'd love to have these skins! I wanted to have a nice backpack for my Engi that fits him but the universal multitool pack doesnt quite look well on him. The closest I could get is one of the scribe backpacks (lv125 I think) but that's pretty hard to get to for me. So having all of these skins available in some way so I can pick and choose would be fantastic!

I have not looked at pricing, but the scribe backpacks are in the trading post and sometimes they drop with a black lion key.

Id love the health pack for my guardian. it already uses the visionary's helm and fanatics pauldrons which have the same symbol on them.

i miss the old mortar. lol

@XYLO.7031 said:I honestly don't mind either way. Since we have Holosmith now, I want something that matches holo on top of those skins.

I'm using the inquest mechanism backpack with Holo outfit and scarlet's rainbow.

@Khailyn.6248 said:Id love the health pack for my guardian. it already uses the visionary's helm and fanatics pauldrons which have the same symbol on them.

That's exactly the same reason why I personally would like to have those engineer backpacks back.

@Julischka Bean.7491 said:

@Aru.4156 said:I'd love to have these skins! I wanted to have a nice backpack for my Engi that fits him but the universal multitool pack doesnt quite look well on him. The closest I could get is one of the scribe backpacks (lv125 I think) but that's pretty hard to get to for me. So having all of these skins available in some way so I can pick and choose would be fantastic!

Thanks for the comment. However, after checking the TP, I can't find the Practical Scribe Backpack anywhere... Guess I'll have to slowly level up a scribe for now :/

We are not many yet, but we still want those backpacks :)

I know this is old but man i miss my flamethrower/elixir gun backpack its just annoying that these were not made into backpack skins.

Adding them as backpack skins (even without dyable parts) would be quite nice and add to the diversity I'd say

I'd love to see those make a return as skins.

Do it. There is lack on backpack skins anyway