My gripe about the Mechanist

[Xionor.8963]

1st dps:  The dps difference between condi/alac and power/alac is way too big. Apparently to snowcrows the difference is around 8k damage so there is not point in ever using a power/alac ofver a condi/alac.

2nd Signets: The passive effects of Force and Shift Signets are way too strong and the active effect of the Force Signet is just useless as you can just use shield 4 if you need a push ability. The Active of the Overclock Signet is fine but an overclock mode would've been better as this would allow you to still use the Mace 3 and F1-3 abilities during the effect. The Overclock mode could give the mech superspeed and quickness and maybe give you quickness each time he hits an enemy or give him an aoe aura or something like that.

3rd Traits: I don't like that you have very limited trait options depending on your build this is of course always the case with traits but other classes don't gain new active abilities depending on their traits which is why I think only the F2 abilities should define the role of the mech and the other lines should be more free to chose as other classes only need 1 trait for alac upkeep. So for example make the middle F2 trait so good that you don't need to take the middle F3 trait to keep alac up with a dps/alac build.

4th positioning: It's annoying in +10 group fights to keep alac up atleast compared to the other alac classes. When your alac skills are ready you also have to look where you pet is and position yourself and the group around it. As a Renegade that wouldn't be the problem. This gets especially annoying once there are multiple enemies, deadly aoe fields, a high mobility boss, ect. in place as the alac abilities spread around your mech. That you have to keep hitting with mace 1 also makes him worse compared to the other alac classes for the same reasons. I personally didn't have big problems with that but it is still something I noticed in some fights (New Strike Missions or Sunqua Peak fractal). The Overclock Signet also requires good positioning to get the maximum out of it which isn't fun for me.

*5th utility options: There are really no choices for his utilities as the Signets are too strong and as a condi you obviously take multiple kits instead and as power you take the grenades. I would've liked it if some traits would affect turrets. This is because it's just annoying that every new engineer spec has atleast 1 kit in his build and I would like to have some other options.

*This is more critique to the outdated core engineers skills than critique to the mechanist.

 

[Crackmonster.2790]

I wouldn't be surprised if all of these needs were catered to, while ranger remains ignored forever.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Crackmonster.2790

[Infusion.7149]

Just FYI: condi alac is ~ 28k, power alac is ~26K. Not sure where you get 8K from ; keep in mind condi alac has 4 kits and power alac doesn't have good CC.

Shift signet is strong, but force signet is pretty mediocre. The traits are meant to lock alacrity players out from DPS on the mech to differentiate DPS and support builds. Their target is 75% of full DPS build for a DPS boon support build (~30K out of 40K), see the latest pcgamer article. In addition, your point about PVE positioning is moot since shift signet in PVE has a 25s cooldown and there is a "return to me" button.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Infusion.7149