The Brainman.6217

sPVP match running dwarf and alliance stance. Was unable to use any heal or elite. Flipping alliance skills never flipped heal or elite (always stayed red side). Pressing the button triggered the shrinking symbol meaning that the input was recognized, but nothing happened. It remained for the entire match but was resolved when the match was over.

Let's be honest. The change to the pet controls was the only design change to the mechanist. Everything else was just numbers cosmetic. It is absolutely possible to make the mechanist perform well by overloading stuff like the shift signet, but it will not fix any of the existing design flaws. As a reminder: -> Core utilities still lack a compensation for the loss of toolbelt skills -> Stats inherited by the mech means that gear limits trait selection -> Limited bonuses for the engi from traits, making the engi feel like the pet

The mechanist changes did not fix any of the real problems, instead you are doubling down on the limitations! 1. Signets are even more powerfull after the buffs, while the core ones are still "nerfed" by the uncompensated removal of the toolbelt. 2. Mech will rely more than ever on taking over your stats after the base stats have been reduced. The trait selection will thus depend on your gear. No mix and match, except for the signet GM trait maybe. 3. The player still gets little to nothing out of the traits. We are effectively the pet of the mech trying to keep it alive, so that it can carry us. Time to be constructive: 1. Let F5 switch between mech and toolbelt skills at any time. 2. a) Use the adept trait to select stats and abilities. Dont take it from the player, instead give a flat amount for each. b) Use the master and grandmaster trait to give something more general and useful for the engineer as well. See the beastmaster traitline of the ranger for inspiration. 3. Let the mech utilize core traits (like explosives) by default. Elsewise you once more limit trait selection. 4. Having a long CD on the mech is now actually fine. In fact, it could even have a set duration, because the engineer is actually capable of doing stuff on their own now. Right now, the mechanist is not like an engineer E-Spec, it is more of a class on its own. The synergie with the core choices is poor.

Honestly, turrets are the only aspect of the engineers kit that requires a rework. I like your suggestion of a spirit weapon approach and hope we get it now (since yet another pet is incoming.... sad...). Everything else can be fixed with tweaks and there are many options to do that, so I wouldn't be more specific than: buff pistol, gadgets (to compete with elixirs) and some of the underutilized traitlines. I would absolutely like to see more splitting between PvE/WvW/PvP. Look at Purity of purpose for instance, in WvW you always have 5+ targets for your support, while in sPvP you don't, so why is the effect identical??? The bomb kit is fine IMO. It does good dmg on stationary targets for PvE and has niche uses in PvP (cleave/kite/aoe zoning on point). It could surely use some tweaks though, to clearify the advantages over other kits in a certain situation and make it more impactful overall. The suggested rocket kit would be way too close to the mortar btw.

After some more testing, especially of the healing specter, I have to admit that the spec is actually very well designed as a concept. Single target heal is definitely more healthy and interactive than the scourge/firebrand aoe spam. I think it will have its niche in the game. One problem that does demand attention, in my opinion, is the general thief issue of having no CDs. This, in combination with the initiative system, usually renders spamming 1 ability more efficient than using all of your weapon abilities. Rifle Deadeye is suffering from the same problem, while the D/P Daredevil has more flexibility and a certain motivation to use all of his skills. There are two possible solutions to this problem: 1. Add a CD, in the same way that Rev has a ressource and CD OR 2. Design the skills in a way that every ability is only situationally good and you have to use it with proper timing to get value. A good example is condi cleanse, which obviously only gives value, if your target is suffering from conditions. The current state of just providing barrier is bad, as it will always give value regardless of the situation. The biggest offender is condi specter, as the "Deadly Ambition" Trait gives so much value on its own, you always want to use the #3 skill exclusively. This needs fixing or it will be extremely degenerate and stomp in lower Leagues of sPVP. I would also like to add that I am not a big fan of having a shadow step on every single well. To balance this out, well CDs will have to be quite high. A 20 sec CD shadowstep is actually really powerful even without getting value out of the well and I noticed that several streamers used it just for the mobility.

The mech and sigils are clearly overtuned in sPvP, but lets ignore this and focus on the design issues. This spec will not have a lot of build variability as is, for several reasons: 1. Traits The traits are designed in a way that you rarely ever want to mix and match. Only offering 3 traits would have barely made a difference compared to the current 1-1-1/2-2-2/3-3-3 design that leaves little space for customization. 2. Golem stats Since the golem is taking a percentage of your stats, you can never run a golem that does something else than you are doing. 3. Utilities All core utilities are designed around the combined effect of the regular and toolbelt ability. All of them are nerfed to varying degree by the removal of the toolbelt. Some of the core utilities will be viable regardless, but others wont. Since signets are designed around not having a toolbelt, they have a significant edge and may be prevalent in the end. (With the current numbers they absolutely will be.)

Thief has now access to bonus damage on bleed, poison and torment. Combine that with a spammable #3 (dual wield) ability on scepter/dagger and you have everything that core condi thief ever wanted. Unfortunately, the build is and has always been quite degenerate: F1-3-3-3-3-1-1-1-3-1-1-1-F1-3-3-1-1 You get the point. 3 button thief... not great for the game.

Hey everyone, I was quite disappointed with the mechanist (for reasons I am discussing later). Seeing the teasers, I was expecting something else that I would like to present and discuss here. I believe that this design would not only be more interesting, but also more healthy for the game and more interactive from a mechanical point of view. Cybernetic Innovator Class mechanic: Cybernetic enhancer (F5) Upon activation the cybernetic enhancer flips over your toolbelt (F1-4) skills and replaces them by your cybernetic skills temporarily. F1: Cybernetic eyes -> Fire a laser beam at your target, blinding (3s) and burning (5s) them. (600 range) F2: Cybernetic arms -> Makes your next (1) attack unblockable. F3: Cybernetic Spine -> Break stun. F4: Cybernetic Legs -> Point blank dash (450 range), removes movement imparing conditions, knocks enemies in your path aside. Each ability can only be activated once per activation of the cybernetic enhancer. The enhancer can be ended early by pressign F5 again (5s CD on turn off after activation). CD of 45-60s. The "trade off" is not being able to access the toolbelt, while the enhancer is in use. Further, there could a CD on toolbelt skills after deactivation like with holoforge overheating. As you can see, this is works rather similar to Soulbeast. I think I went quite easy on the effects, so it should not be overpowered. You can easily make it stronger by adding stability to spine or increase the numbers on the other three. This could also be the traits TBH. Why is this better than mechanist and what do I dislike about it? 1. I dont like the theme (very subjective, I know). More objectively: 2. AI is bad for the game. It can obviously be strong, if the numbers are good, but even then it is toxic, because of the low effort required to play it. 3. Losing toolbelt completely is a bad idea for two reasons: a) It was originally a compensation for not having weapon swap. Mechanist right now, is core ranger without weapon swap. b) It completely breaks the balance of all core utilities!!! Engi utilities are balanced around the combined effect of toolbelt + regular ability. Taking the toolbelt away is necessarily a nerf to all abilities. The degree to which abilities are being nerfed depends on the relative value of the toolbelt skill. This means that some core utilities are barely affected, while others are unplayable (medi kit). Even if my suggestion is not considered (and I dont expect it to be considered), returning the toolbelt with an F5 switch is a must! Otherwise this spec will not function or only have extremely limited build options (see 3 b). Feel free to comment. You may like the mech more than I do and that's fine. I firmly stand behind my statements about the toolbelt though.

What a nightmare ... Pets are the one reason I never liked ranger. AI is just not a good design, as it is often clunky, not interactive and too much passive carrying potential. Having the traits affect what it does is cool, but overall I would rather play without it... I feel like they had no ideas and just went with the most popular community suggestions.

The catalyst got me really excited. A catalyst is something that speeds up reactions, so it is kind of an ampflifier that interacts with all the things you do. The profession mechanic being essentially a free well every X seconds does not really live up to the idea. It only interacts with combo finishers and ele already has a lot of access to combo fields... I honestly have to suggest a redesign here: 1. Turn the wells into utilities. 2. Replace the free wells by a fire/water/earth/air catalyst effect that either has a set duration or set number of usages. 3. Make the catalyst effect interact with wells AND weapon skills. There is a lot of design space for 3. You could, for instance, do it like Mirage and make it change the auto attack depending on the type of catalyst. Yes, this would require the design of 16 new abilities per weapon. However, this is what makes an elite spec meaningful. We need mechanics that fundamentally change the playstyle. Right now, the EOD specs mostly feel like core + 1-2 extra buttons 😞 I truly believe that the presented concepts have potential. Please invest the time necessary to make them as good as the HOT/POF ones were. I would totally be willing to wait another 6 months, if this improves the quality.

Out of the three presented elite specs, this is the only one I did not like. It seems very weird to me that guardian gets a high mobility assassin spec, which is the opposite of what guardians thematically do. I also find it potentially toxic to the game to have high mobility on a class with great support/boon access as well as good dmg and duelling abilities. In the end, this might lead to a situation that numbers need to be undertuned in order to stop this spec from stomping everyone, which would make it either useless or overpowered... Apart from this general design remark, I can support the observations that aftercasts feel long and the off-hand sword is very clunky. The traits and new virtues have quite some synergies though and enable permanent resolution upkeep, which you can lever for 25% crit chance, might and bonus damage. In PvP, I was running: Radiance 3-3-3, Virtues 2-2-3, Willbender 1-1-1 The uptime of your virtues is really high, giving you a lot of mobility. Alacrity helps with that. Sword/Focus + GS

I like the design of the shroud. It is very interesting that you do no longer get a second health bar and use it for healing instead. I also do like the pistol and condi orientation of the spec. As many others have pointed out, the elixirs are very uninspired and I would have been hoping for more. Thematically, an agressive use (throwing them like grenades) might be better. However, other suggestions in this thread, like transformations or messing with the blight machanic, are also good. Another idea to consider, as a fan of the witcher series I would like the idea of getting the debuff after the duration expires. The buff could be something unique (not a boon). Lets say, 100% crit chance for 3 seconds, but after it expires you get blight and cannot crit for 5 seconds. That would be a cool and very agressive short term boost.

Since the expansion is still months away, it does not really make sense to comment on balance. I am sure number tuning is going to happen. The design is, in my opinion, the best among the three presented elite specs by a fairly large margin. It does preserve the identity of a mesmer, while getting rid of annoying and (pvp wise) toxic mechanics. I really like that blades are kept out of combat, but cannot be further stacked. The cast time and clear animation is also very good for the game. As others have pointed out though, it should have some flexibility when casting regarding facing of the character (and target) as well as moving while casting.