Kenjiro.5074

wish one of the grandmasters let us play without the mech. Like giving us payoff for sending the mech up and keeping it there: currently, it actually shoots down some energy beams when you do that, but they're super weak and you still have no access to toolbelts...

I kinda understand where you're coming from with a few of these. However you can cancel the acidic bomb jump by stowing the kit. The jump is pretty nice sometimes so I wouldn't like seeing it go. Having acid bomb on mortar would be cool for those using it on a damage build (I'm guessing it would still shoot like a mortar shell?) but mortar is good enough as it is. The bomb is nice on elixir gun for power based builds that run it on pvp or OW. My scrapper uses it in OW in place of throw mine as a way to have a stunbreak and cleanse while not losing a blast or too much damage. So it would be kind of a pointless change. Losing poison would suck in pvp Leave my goo alone Why replace the healing on elixir gun and mortar? I'm guessing you want to keep kits focused on one singular role? That's a bit boring imo, what else would a support run on the elite? I guess I'd agree with changing the elixir gun 2 into anything else, but taking pistol 2 into it? Ehh...

Hmm that's a good point, CC skills are more common than stunbreaks. I disagree with that. Making a few completely unusable skills into new options isn't really homogenizing, what I suggested doesn't give engineers access to anything that they didn't have before. Maybe before, I'd agree that being weak to conditions was one of engineer's weaknesses, but that ship has sailed long ago. And sacrificing an utility to counter conditions is a big price to pay as an engineer. That's cool, can you link it? Would love to see your take on this topic!

I feel like a 10s cooldown stunbreak would be bad for the game. Landing a CC skill should be rewarded, and if someone can have their stunbreak back faster than you can have your CC skill back, then CC skills become useless. Though I was assuming the trait would only trigger if we're stunned, kinda like our old lesser utility goggles trait. If it triggers like speedy kits then I'd have no problem with it!

not anymore we don't mine field no longer strips throw mine strips 1 boon on a 24 second cooldown

Yeah I feel the same. 10s cd stunbreak from a trait seems a bit overtuned but yeah let us dream haha

I've been messing around with a celestial mace/pistol scrapper in fractals. Been able to heal, give out quickness, and still do pretty decent damage in t4s I'd imagine there's a decent mace/shield condi or cele holo build to be made for pvp/wvw roaming also.

I wish whoever is spamming "confused" reaction on all of my comments would tell me what's making you so confused :p

This made me think. Maybe make it so it breaks stuns with gadgeteer equipped, and then make the burning baseline!

It would help in that case as well, as you would be able to cast it while feared or crowd controlled in any other way. Sacrificing an entire utility slot on engineer of all classes, to counter conditions, and then not being able to counter conditions when it matters most, is a fatal flaw of the skill, and it's why I suggested making it instant cast as well as boosting its power with a couple anti-condi boons. Condition counters need to be fast. half a second of cast time is usually a considerable amount damage taken. Tossing elixir C also being slow and having its projectile travel time adds up. If you're moving, you need to toss the elixir in front of you, which makes it arc for an additional half a second. So in cases where you have few condis ticking and want to use the throw version, you end up taking a full second of condition damage. In cases where you have a ton of condi, and need to chug the elixir C itself, the half a second cast time is enough to take a ton of damage. And condi builds usually pack a bunch of CC. Not being able to cleanse while CC'd is rough.

Good idea to balance it around bomb kit numbers. Imo it should have slightly lower total damage in pve due to being easier to use. In pvp however, it's been anets approach to not load CC and damage in the same skill. That's why I'd like it to have a stunbreak, so it can still have a use. If anet could break this design choice and actually let it do damage and CC in pvp, then yeah it wouldn't need a stunbreak!

Most spvp builds run tools, and it's the third traitline that every core engineer picks. In pve, Gadgeteer doubling up your throw mine, plus static discharge procs, are very strong. 10% extra damage when not at full endurance makes it very competitive. In pvp, the cleanses on toolbelt skills, as well as their cooldown reduction, and either gadgeteer (the mobility with rocket boots is awesome) or adrenal implant (especially combined with explosives) are all very strong. Problem is pve min maxing doesn't allow much variance in builds. If explosives gives you 1% more damage compared to tools, people will just pick explosives. Tools is not that out of date.

There's a reason for that, I explained it in the post. TLDR: in competitive modes, we only have 1 slot for a utility skill that is not a stunbreak. It was part of the solution for 2 out of the 4 skills I mentioned, so I'm glad I haven't lost you ^^. What else would you suggest to bring these utilities I mentioned up to par? Specifically Elixir R and PBR as you seem to have an issue with giving them stunbreaks.

Sometimes people bring up underutilized skills, and as an engineer main I tend to focus on the ones from engineer. Turrets are an obvious one that desperately need a rework, but that's already old news and I want to focus on other utilities that see little to no use in ALL game modes. While that rework doesn't happen, I'd suggest at least making flame turret a "condi version" of rifle turret: a non-kit damage boost, mostly through its toolbelt. Have it be 20% less damage than flamethrower or smth. Background for new players/people who don't play much engineer: For engineer, our utilities are incredibly precious. More than any other class, because of our kits mechanic. We only have one weapon, and most of the time in order to have buttons to press (other than auto attacking), we need to equip at least one kit. So this puts a lot more strain on our utilities, we basically have two slots left. These slots have different uses in different game modes. In PvE: In general, when playing dps specs, we need damage. For condition builds, this usually means another kit, as we don't have many strong condi damage utilities (except Mecha). For power builds, each elite has a strong option: Holo has the disk, Scrapper has shredder, Mechanist has the signets. This leaves one other utility slot open. But ofc we usually just go for even more damage, so throw mine/rifle turret for power, or another kit is usually what we get. In PvP modes we have more options as damage isn't the end all be all. However we still only have one "flex" utility slot: We still really want at least one kit, and we also need a stunbreak. So in the end, this puts a requirement for engineer utilities to either be: A kit, extra damage, or a stunbreak. What are the most used elixirs in PvP? S and U. Both are stunbreaks, and both are instant casts. Elixir B can see use in some cases but it's also pretty lacklustre. My suggestions: Elixir C: As for most elixirs, their cast time is way too long. Tossing it is way too janky. It used to be one of engi's only ways to get more cleanses, but now with tools minor, it's not as needed, and also competes with scrapper purge gyro and holo's cauterize. Solution: Make it instant cast. Have it provide resistance and resolution. Toss versions of all elixirs should have faster projectile velocity. Elixir R: It's not damage, it's not a stunbreak. If you need endurance to dodge, you usually can't afford 1/4 a second to drink the elixir and then dodge. Solution: Make it instant cast and a stunbreak, and increase endurance regeneration by 100% for 5 seconds. In pve, make the throw version instantly rez downed allies. This would make it useful for supports in pve, and in pvp it would be a situationally decent pick if using alchemy and explosives, with allies, as the rez field can be useful. Personal Battering Ram Problem: Not a stunbreak, low damage. Compare it to warrior's stomp: it has the same CC, but half the radius, and doesn't have a leap component. Stomp is a stunbreak and it provides stability. Solution: Make it a stunbreak. Make it the condi version of throw mine: an option for a non kit condi damage source, tied to the toolbelt. It could add burning and confusion. In pvp, make it a single stack. Elixir B isn't as useless as the aforementioned skills but if they are brought up to par, then B will be useless in turn (Elixir C would take its place considering current usage, and R would take its place if running with allies in small scale scenarios/spvp). It's currently only used in pvp situations where you take alchemy traitline, and already have elixir U. There is no situation where you'd pick B over U. Like the other elixirs, it should get a faster animation, and a faster velocity on thrown version. To make it compete with U, maybe add protection. Would love to hear your thoughts on what I consider "useless skills". Are my solutions overkill, or not enough? Are there useless skills I'm missing? (other than turrets)

If they do that, hammer will become mandatory. Rifle can only proc once, sword shield twice, on like twice the cooldown... Mace is going to be nice but with your suggestion, hammer would be twice as good. Rocket charge is already 2 finishers every 12 seconds. They aren't going to give us another 2 proc finishers every 12 seconds (6s cd whirl) for free, and if they do say goodbye to any possibility of having qscrapper with any weapon other than hammer. Might as well ask for 100k dps and 50k base health while you're at it.