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Disappointment with Turrets


Lily.1935

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So I just got a friend of mine into the game and was showing him around. He quickly latched onto the engineer as he enjoyed the tech based classes in other games and the turret style of builds. I had mentioned to him that Turrets were not that good and he shrugged. Shortly after that we decided to do a dungeon which quickly showed him just how flawed the turrets were and his heart sunk. His interest in the class vanished and I felt so bad. I wanted him to enjoy himself but all he got was disappointment.

A viable Turret build has been something I've been wanting for a while too. I love these sort of summon/pet/totem builds and engineer's should be viable. But it just isn't. I personally have a few ideas on how this could be fixed but the consensuses on the forms usually seems to be that any sort of pet build should never be viable because of PvP. I've always hated this response since it stripped a vital play style specific groups of players enjoy and my response to that is always if its overwhelming arena net needs to just make it work regardless. My friend might still play the game but without a main class that he clicks with he is likely to just quit, which I've seen countless times.

One option I'd suggest is to scale the Turrets based on the player's stats. Another is to use the charge system with the turrets so the player doesn't have to pick them up constantly and perhaps allow them to have a couple of a single type. I'd also like to see the turrets unified with the tool belt skills with their turrets so their abilities directly influence the turrets in some way. One example I'd use would be be that thumper turret still has rumble that breaks you out of stun but also does a shockwave around all your turrets, damaging foes and or providing stability for allies. Or perhaps Rocket turret shoots a flurry of rockets based on the number of active turrets you have. These are just examples and not actually suggestions. Lastly I personally think turrets should be thrown on summon rather than set on the ground to promote a more active gameplay with them. Since that's part of what I'd like to do with them. I wouldn't mind and I doubt new players would either if turrets total duration before they disappear. Sure this removes people's AFK farming builds, but honestly that's not a major loss compared to the advantages we could be seeing.

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@"Lily.1935" said:One option I'd suggest is to scale the Turrets based on the player's stats.

They would have to scale a lot in order to make any noticeable difference. At that point, people would probably complain.

Another is to use the charge system with the turrets so the player doesn't have to pick them up constantly and perhaps allow them to have a couple of a single type.

Can't - the turret rework that was needed to allow Scrapper, Holosmith, and potentially future specs to use F-skills for class mechanics (function gyro, photon forge) means that the skill activation has to double as the destroy button. I mean, I guess they could automatically use their overcharges every X seconds or whatever, but they typically don't survive that long.

I'd also like to see the turrets unified with the tool belt skills with their turrets so their abilities directly influence the turrets in some way. One example I'd use would be be that thumper turret still has rumble that breaks you out of stun but also does a shockwave around all your turrets, damaging foes and or providing stability for allies.

This would be a fun change, and probably wouldn't be too broken.

Lastly I personally think turrets should be thrown on summon rather than set on the ground to promote a more active gameplay with them.

You used to be able to do this, and it led to some really unhealthy gameplay in PvP. People would throw turrets well off point or on ledges where melee classes couldn't reach. Of course, this was back in the "turret meta" days where the turrets were near-indestructible, so it was especially bad.

Maybe with the upcoming balance patch, the team will be able to split skills and tweak the numbers enough to make turrets a viable PvE options without bringing back a turret-dominated pvp meta.

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@coro.3176 said:

@"Lily.1935" said:One option I'd suggest is to scale the Turrets based on the player's stats.

They would have to scale
a lot
in order to make any noticeable difference. At that point, people would probably complain.

Another is to use the charge system with the turrets so the player doesn't have to pick them up constantly and perhaps allow them to have a couple of a single type.

Can't - the turret rework that was needed to allow Scrapper, Holosmith, and potentially future specs to use F-skills for class mechanics (function gyro, photon forge) means that the skill activation has to double as the destroy button. I mean, I guess they could
automatically
use their overcharges every X seconds or whatever, but they typically don't survive that long.

I'd also like to see the turrets unified with the tool belt skills with their turrets so their abilities directly influence the turrets in some way. One example I'd use would be be that thumper turret still has rumble that breaks you out of stun but also does a shockwave around all your turrets, damaging foes and or providing stability for allies.

This would be a fun change, and probably wouldn't be too broken.

Lastly I personally think turrets should be thrown on summon rather than set on the ground to promote a more active gameplay with them.

You used to be able to do this, and it led to some really unhealthy gameplay in PvP. People would throw turrets well off point or on ledges where melee classes couldn't reach. Of course, this was back in the "turret meta" days where the turrets were near-indestructible, so it was especially bad.

Maybe with the upcoming balance patch, the team will be able to split skills and tweak the numbers enough to make turrets a viable PvE options without bringing back a turret-dominated pvp meta.

I think I might not have been super clear with some of these. I do think Turrets should despawn naturally on their own after perhaps 20 seconds. Also we could have the turret's Throw distance be fairly short. 300 max Is my thought. And The idea of the charge system wasn't to replace the F-skills at all, but to remove the self desctruct function entirely and allow us to either replace them using a charge without needing to pick them up or to place another one. I Don't particularly like the explosion mechanic on them, and it is useful for Healing turret, but they could figure something out for that. And their overcharge should function automatically every so often. If I remember correctly, I believe they're supposed to.

Hopefully that clears some things up.

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@Dawdler.8521 said:Yet for some reason 90% of engineer builds use at least 1 turret and some also use thumper (pvp) or rifle/flame (pve) - all 5 out of 5 top ranked builds on metabattle.

Weird in a purity of purpose kind of way.

Healing Turret right? xDImagine if Turrets could talk lol

Healing Turret : HAHA! I have been erected! And they said Turrets will never be useful, suck on this my broth-

Gets blown up a second later

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Really deserves more love...

About those Turrets... For now:

1: All them could be used underwater.2: All them could have their range or radius increased to 1500 (except Healing Turret).3: All them could critical hit (except Healing Turret).

  • Healing Turret: It's ok, but could (see 1).

  • Rifle Turret: It's ok for now, but (see 2 and 3).

  • Rocket Turret: It's ok for now, but (see 2 and 3).

  • Trump Turret: It's not good, because cannot be used underwater and doesn't stay on world enought time if fighting a melee opponent. Could be replaced by a new Turret:--> Radar/Detection Turret: Detects enemies at 1500 radius, while applies Reveal and Weakness on them.--> The toolbelt skill could be the current. But granting more Stability (5 seconds min).

  • Net Turret: It's not good, because the projectile range is low, the damage is low, the projectile speed is low, the rate of fire is low, the target amount is low, cannot be used underwater, etc... Could be replaced by a new Turret:--> Wave/Micro Wave/Shock Wave Turret: Shoots a debilitating wave that pass enemies while damages and daze them (see 1, 2 and 3).--> The toolbelt skill could be changed. It's terrible on current context!

  • Flame Turret: It's not good, because cannot be used underwater, the damage is low, the range is low, doesn't stay on world enought time if fighting melee opponents. Could be replaced by a new Turret.--> Laser Turret: Shoots a laser beam that pass foes while damage and burn them (also see 1, 2 and 3).--> The toolbelt skill could be changed. It's terrible on current context.

  • The toolbelt skill of Rocket Turret could be changed to current underwater version.

  • The overcharged missile of Rocket Turret could burns the affected área.

Some thing like this...Those are few examples or ideas for improve the Turrets and make them and some relative skills more fun on current contexto of pve, pvp and wvw.Sorry for some mistake and bad english.

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  • 1 month later...

@Yasai.3549 said:

@Dawdler.8521 said:Yet for some reason 90% of engineer builds use at least 1 turret and some also use thumper (pvp) or rifle/flame (pve) - all 5 out of 5 top ranked builds on metabattle.

Weird in a purity of purpose kind of way.

Healing Turret right? xDImagine if Turrets could talk lol

Healing Turret : HAHA! I have been erected! And they said Turrets will never be useful, suck on this my broth-

Gets blown up a second later

I seem to have encountered an error. Attempting to like post a 2nd time unlikes post.

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The problem is turrets aren't balanced around their base capabilities, but that they can give you temporary reflect barriers, various boons and even cleanse/convert conditions (with both Healing Turret and Thumper Turret), in addition to their normal effects.

They're like the elite spec of minions, nerfed to dust because of what they're capable of in an all-in build. But its important to understand this because these properties are why turrets are still a part of every meta build despite their "uselessness", its kind of like how how people take Traps for on-demand stealth and easy Might stacking, even though alot of them are lackluster as well.

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