UntimelyM.7860

Don't forget the removal of the option to reduce CD on so many skills (in WvW) - Elixir S, Slick Shoes, All Toolkit Skills (S/W/T, Box of Nails, Prybar, Gear Shield, Magnet) to name but a few. I did a longer post regarding this on the official preview thread. Disappointing to see that it has been set in stone now.

As an Engineer main I can only comment on changes related to Engineer in WvW. CD Reduction Traits If you are going to remove CD reduction from traits, please apply the baseline reduction to CDs to all related skills, otherwise you are directly nerfing the unchanged ones. In particular I am referring to: Elixir S Toss Elixir S Toss Elixir R Emergency Elixir (Trait) Elixir Shell (Mortar) Healing Mist (Elixir Gun Toolbelt) Super Elixir (Elixir Gun) Acid Bomb (Elixir Gun) Toolkit skills in WvW (S/W/T, Box of Nails, Prybar, Gear Shield, Magnet) Slick Shoes in WvW Personal Battering Ram in WvW Many of these skills have marginal use in WvW, only ever taken when the relevant CD reduction trait is also picked. You are planning on giving them effectively longer CDs than they currently have, which will ensure they are never picked going forwards. - Prozap

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. I also prefer playing power to both cele or condi, I like to make things happen quickly rather than chip away for 5 minutes! If you are asking how do I deal with heavy condi, then the changes to the tools traitline make this pretty easy now. With cleansing sigil, medkit and Tools you really have a lot of cleanse options and you just need to space them out suitably. For using condi builds, I occasionally use a Flamethrower, Rocketboots, Elixir Gun, Pistol/Shield Core engi which is pretty fun and mobile.. but I don't think it has anywhere near the capability of fighting outnumbered that power grenades currently has.

I strongly agree with any changes that reward/support frequently swapping kits - This is the core identity of the Engineer. A 20 second CD trait that doesn't have separate CDs for individual kits is just too unpredictable and is frankly useless. Edit: I'd like to see some changes to kit skills so that Grenades are not the only viable damage kit. For example: Bomb Kit - Add trait to reduce fuse time and/or increase bomb aoe (I'd put this instead of Glass Cannon). Flamethrower - Increase strike damage on #2 Flame Blast (pre-patch). - Add 1sec Smoke Field to #5 Smoke Vent. Change Juggernaut trait so that it doesn't promote camping the kit (e.g. boon proc on kit equip, rather than after 3 seconds - same ICD). Really good thread, thank you for doing this. - Prozap

Bumping to say that I've updated the first post to include the video of duels vs Catalyst and Soulbeast.

I think if they reverted the change made to the Flamethrower's Flame Blast skill, when they reduced the strike damage, it would go a long way to providing an alternative to grenades for a power build (and I don't mean camping FT and pressing 1111). For reference: February 22, 2017 Reduced the base damage of this skill by 66%. FT has, in the last few years, earned a reputation for being a low skill kit, however this wasn't always the case. It has some great utility and some really clutch skills (projectile reflect and instant aoe blind). It just needs a bit of instant strike damage back again to make it a viable choice for players that actually kit swap. I recall Flame Blast hitting for 5-6k+ before the change.. I could see myself using FT with Toolkit (Prybar) and feeling like I had enough damage to not need grenades. - Prozap

Thank you! Tools has long been my favourite trait line, so the condition cleanse buffs that it received last year were great! Alchemy with elixirs will definitely give you more boons and sustain in most cases, however conditions become a serious issue.. outside of cleansing sigil you don't have much cleanse. Tools is a well balanced trait line that offers solid offensive options as well as some defense. I personally swap between takedown round and lock-on depending on whether i need the reveal or not. I used to run alchemy+tools with static discharge, but i feel that SD doesn't work as well as it did. Rocket boots are amazing, i had a neat build that paired them with slick shoes and mortar kit (zephyr runes) on core engineer.. mobility was great and it was a lot of fun! Wouldn't be much use in a 1v1 against a good player though.

The protection on heal is the reason, yeah. I have no other source of protection on the build otherwise. No point in taking kinetic battery as the toolbelt CDs are all pretty long, and you can waste the superspeed thanks to the 10 second cap from medkit F1. Adrenal implant is decent, but imo the protection from Gadgeteer is better, plus it's when you need it.

It's been several years since I put out any WvW roaming video content, however I recently upgraded my PC and am able to record and process reliably again. If anyone is interested in watching an old has-been throw some nades, feel free to watch. I recorded a few more duels against decent opponents last night and will be making more videos in the next week or so. And the few duels vs Catalyst and Soulbeast I mentioned: Build used in videos - Marauder Hammer and Armour, Runes of the Chronomancer, Cleansing/Celerity Sigils. Explosives 1, 2, 3 Tools 2, 3, 3 Scrapper 1, 3, 2 Feedback always welcomed. - Prozap [DI]

I seriously hope that they don't move forward with the plan to reduce effectiveness of kits. If anything, buffing these skills that give the engi its unique identity would be more welcome. I know they are the main reason why many people play engineer, myself included. - Prozap

I play engineer because of the kits. In WvW, 2-3 kits is perfect for being able to deal with a large number of situations. This is what I use on almost every single engi build that I run. I dislike playing an engineer without at least 1 kit, even on Mech. Having Mace + Signets become the optimal choice would make me sad. - Prozap