Mechanist isn't the best DPS this patch.

[Kuma.1503]

But it is the easiest. 

 

Mechanist in its current state is a perfect example of Balance perception inertia. 

 

Mech is NOT the best DPS in the game this patch. 34k is bordering on hybrid/support DPS. If you're looking to maximize performance, Virtuoso is THE best DPS in the game. Mech is balanced at its current tuning. It has a very low benchmark to compensate for its reliability and ease of use. 

The only change it might need the removal of auto cast to lower its afk benchmark, and as another suggested, moving damage from rifle auto onto the rifle skills is a potential avenue to take if that is not enough. Once mech is harder to play, the only advantage it will have over Virtuoso is the AI companion. 

Virt, by comparison will:

• Deal more damage (3-4k higher)
• Be tankier (Distortion and Block built in. Can also run Blade renewal)
• Have better utility (Portal, focus pull, mass invis, moa, AoE Stability, built-in boonrip)
• Have the capacity to function at 1200 range as both condi AND power (Condi mech melee due to kits and blowtorch)

If anything should be priority #1 for nerfs right now it's Virt. It's time to move on. 

 

For those looking for a replacement option on engineer, power Scrapper is a good alternative. The rotation is still easy (not afk easy, but still simple), uptime is reliable thanks to grenade kit and mortar kit (you can toss both at any angle so no worries about line of sight). You can provide superspeed passively in an AoE (VERY underrated). Utility choices are flexible, you get free barriers, and you also get free stability periodically. 

I'd reccomend giving it a try. It is also viable with rifle at a minor DPS loss. This can come in handy when you need the immobilize, or when the range and piercing are valued for that fight.  

Edited October 11, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[Noah Salazar.5430]

yo don't look only on dps

team play is about synergys

4-6k dps up/down not change much until you aim for word record

sometimes bigger dps not mean it's safer, cuz you bring glass cannons that don't have team utylity like range ress, aoe stab, or other specialities

 

Like you mentioned Scrapper is 34-36k dps, but it brings aoe superspeed and can slot 3 aoe stab and have range ress on top of it + aoe stealth, making your raid/fractal runs faster significally

 

what dps mechanist was bringing as dps was all selfish

 

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Noah Salazar.5430

[Alcatraznc.3869]

People were crying about Mechanist but honestly the big winner was and still is Scrapper.

 

Having a good DPS/quickness support/heal quickness is nice. It tells a lot when Scrapper DPS is on par roughly with Holosmith.

[anbujackson.9564]

Distortion on virtuoso was a mistske. Especially condi is just way too strong.

I mean anyone who thought that it is fine, just because pre nerf mechanist slightly overshadowed it, is just as delusional as the people who said that mech shouldnt get any nerfs.

Edited October 12, 2022 by anbujackson.9564

[Cyninja.2954]

20 hours ago, Kuma.1503 said:

But it is the easiest. 

Which remains an issue if "easy" in this case translates into stronger aka better performance than any other spec.

20 hours ago, Kuma.1503 said:

Mechanist in its current state is a perfect example of Balance perception inertia. 

 

Mech is NOT the best DPS in the game this patch. 34k is bordering on hybrid/support DPS. If you're looking to maximize performance, Virtuoso is THE best DPS in the game. Mech is balanced at its current tuning. It has a very low benchmark to compensate for its reliability and ease of use. 

Mechanist wasn't even the best dps before this nerf, if one looks only at golem numbers. Yet in actual fights across multiple fights it was. Virtuoso was a tad behind (even ahead in some fights, but in all cases more complex compared to mech).

The question if mech is balanced at its current tuning is not a matter of how unbalanced Virtuoso is, but rather how balanced all the other specs in the game are versus mech. Just as Virtuoso being unbalanced has nothing to do with mech being stronger or weaker.

20 hours ago, Kuma.1503 said:

The only change it might need the removal of auto cast to lower its afk benchmark, and as another suggested, moving damage from rifle auto onto the rifle skills is a potential avenue to take if that is not enough. Once mech is harder to play, the only advantage it will have over Virtuoso is the AI companion. 

Auto cast directly affects the ease of play which translates into higher performance at certain skill levels or certain boss pressure.

What you are essentially saying here is: auto cast should be removed in order to balance mech against other professions in terms of ease of play. Now if we assume that auto cast is here to stay and maybe even get expanded upon, what you are implying un-intentionally is that mech needs to get balanced further around auto cast being present.

20 hours ago, Kuma.1503 said:

Virt, by comparison will:

• Deal more damage (3-4k higher)
• Be tankier (Distortion and Block built in. Can also run Blade renewal)
• Have better utility (Portal, focus pull, mass invis, moa, AoE Stability, built-in boonrip)
• Have the capacity to function at 1200 range as both condi AND power (Condi mech melee due to kits and blowtorch)

If anything should be priority #1 for nerfs right now it's Virt. It's time to move on. 

Again Virtuoso being to strong has nothing to do with mech. In an ideal world the developers can work on balancing at least 2 builds/classes simultaneously.

20 hours ago, Kuma.1503 said:

For those looking for a replacement option on engineer, power Scrapper is a good alternative. The rotation is still easy (not afk easy, but still simple), uptime is reliable thanks to grenade kit and mortar kit (you can toss both at any angle so no worries about line of sight). You can provide superspeed passively in an AoE (VERY underrated). Utility choices are flexible, you get free barriers, and you also get free stability periodically. 

I'd reccomend giving it a try. It is also viable with rifle at a minor DPS loss. This can come in handy when you need the immobilize, or when the range and piercing are valued for that fight.  

While scrapper is a fun alternative, here is the issue:

Why swap from power mech to scrapper when the former brings a similar performance at still a far easier rotation while also being a lot more failure proof? There is absolutely no gain here besides the enjoyment of the class and in fact when factoring for gear and learning its a net negative from a performance standpoint.

Which is the main issue still, mech remains strong enough to not encourage any swapping to other builds unless they are  superior AND the player is willing to sacrifice ease of use for output.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Cyninja.2954

[soul.9651]

Welllllp seems like virtuoso is the next whining topic for forums when it comes asking for nerfs:d (as expected), after this it will be the same for scourge aswell xd.

Anet finally need to separate ranged and melee dps once and for all..

[anbujackson.9564]

15 minutes ago, soul.9651 said:

Welllllp seems like virtuoso is the next whining topic for forums when it comes asking for nerfs:d (as expected), after this it will be the same for scourge aswell xd.

Anet finally need to separate ranged and melee dps once and for all..

To be fair, they encourage this if they give virtuoso a 5 second distortion for no reason, next to its other "conveniences".

[soul.9651]

19 minutes ago, anbujackson.9564 said:

To be fair, they encourage this if they give virtuoso a 5 second distortion for no reason, next to its other "conveniences".

Was it intended thoooooo???

[Zyreva.1078]

21 hours ago, Kuma.1503 said:

Mech is balanced at its current tuning.

Do you also think it would be balanced if scourge could provide aoe alac and it's power dmg was buffed so it can compete in that department too? And what about power dps firebrand? Should definitely be a thing too then, no?

The problem with mech isn't only it's dps or ease of use alone It's that a single spec can not only fullfill every single role (power dps, condi dps, boon support, healer), it is also excellent in all of them and outperforms many specs that can only perform a single role.

The term "specialisation" is quite a joke in regards to mechanist. How do you balance such a "master of all"?

Edited October 12, 2022 by UmbraNoctis.1907

[Kuma.1503]

2 hours ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

Do you also think it would be balanced if scourge could provide aoe alac and it's power dmg was buffed so it can compete in that department too? And what about power dps firebrand? Should definitely be a thing too then, no?

The problem with mech isn't only it's dps or ease of use alone It's that a single spec can not only fullfill every single role (power dps, condi dps, boon support, healer), it is also excellent in all of them and outperforms many specs that can only perform a single role.

The term "specialisation" is quite a joke in regards to mechanist. How do you balance such a "master of all"?

Ideally, you remove power traitline from mechanist entirely and turn it into a condi spec since Engineer already has two very solid power specs, but since this is unlikely to happen... 

You fix this issue by addressing the flaws in the other supports that compete with mech. There is nothing inherently wrong with a spec being able to do more than one specific thing. So long as it isn't the best at all of them AND cant do all of those things at once. 

Lets look at the other mechanist builds. 

Mech as a condi dps is a well designed spec. It has a rotation with a sliding scale of difficulty that rewards better DPS the more challenge the player is willing to take on.

There are better options like condi Scourge and condi virtuoso that will reward better dps for less effort. Both are ranged with simpler rotations, and both provide better utility as well. Beyond that, Juggling kits isn't everyone's forte, but it rewards you for the time and effort you put in. 

Condi mech is an option. It is not the best or most reliable option the same way condi firebrand was for the longest time in fractals. 

 

Alac mech is a well designed support. After the nerfs it got, it's in a good place. However, there are fundamental flaws with the other supports that go beyond simple numbers that need to be dealt with before they can compete with it or firebrand. 

I've made more detailed posts on this in the past, but in short, HOW other specs give their boons needs to be looked into. Mech and firebrand are able to use their utility skills reactively. This is GOOD design because it promote skillful use of your resources. 

Other supports are forced to burn situational utility skills at suboptimal times in order to maintain quickness or alac. It promotes mindless spammy gameplay and it prevents these builds from being able to compete with those that don't have this flaw. 

The solution is to fix these design flaws. Not saddle what well designed supports we do have with the same flaws to "balance" things out. 

3 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

Why swap from power mech to scrapper when the former brings a similar performance at still a far easier rotation while also being a lot more failure proof?

• Scrapper provides AoE Superspeed to its subgroup. This is very underrated because it lets you move at full out of combat movement speed while in combat. (This is now instant this patch!)
• Scrapper has built in barrier generation for higher scholar uptime and a higher benchmark. 
• Scrapper has built in rez-power with function gyro. Can pick up multiple people at once. 
• Scrapper's DPS uptime is STILL reliable. And they can make it more reliable by also running rifle. .  
• Scrapper isn't difficult to play. It's not guaranteed that you deal high dps, but it's VERY achievable in real encounters.

 

Overall, it's a relatively easy rotation to get a handle on, and not only does it generally provide better DPS than Mech in the hands of a decent player, it provides bonus utility on top. Do not underestimate the impact superspeed has on the smoothness of a run. Or the clutch factor of being able to rez teammate at range. I've had would-be failed runs on amalgamate that I managed to save by AED'ing through his clap and function gyroing my entire subgroup back into upstate. 

If you genuinely think that it's not reasonable to achieve good DPS on Scrapper and there's no reason to play it over Mech. First of all, welcome to the engineer forums. We have other elite specs that we'd be more than happy to tell you about. 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[Cyninja.2954]

25 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

Scrapper provides AoE Superspeed to its subgroup. This is very underrated because it lets you move at full out of combat movement speed while in combat. (This is now instant this patch!)

• Scrapper has built in barrier generation for higher scholar uptime and a higher benchmark. 
• Scrapper has built in rez-power with function gyro. Can pick up multiple people at once. 
• Scrapper's DPS uptime is STILL reliable. And they can make it more reliable by also running rifle. .  
• Scrapper isn't difficult to play. It's not guaranteed that you deal high dps, but it's VERY achievable in real encounters.

 

Overall, it's a relatively easy rotation to get a handle on, and not only does it generally provide better DPS than Mech in the hands of a decent player, it provides bonus utility on top. Do not underestimate the impact superspeed has on the smoothness of a run. Or the clutch factor of being able to rez teammate at range. I've had would-be failed runs on amalgamate that I managed to save by AED'ing through his clap and function gyroing my entire subgroup back into upstate. 

If you genuinely think that it's not reasonable to achieve good DPS on Scrapper and there's no reason to play it over Mech.

All of which mean nothing for a majority of the players which gravitated to power mech. Yes, good players and above will play other builds, they did during the dominance of pmech too.

You are selling something to the wrong crowd here. The others, they won't benefit from the strengths of scrapper as much as you make it out as they would.

25 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

First of all, welcome to the engineer forums. We have other elite specs that we'd be more than happy to tell you about. 

Not sure if you are trying to be snappy here. I have enough time on engi even since before mechanist became a thing both on holo and scrapper. I am simply calling out the issues at hand without putting everything off as: all the other specs simply need to be made easier and/or stronger or calling out a more overpowered spec to somehow provide substance to my arguments.

Yes, alac mech is in a good state. It has insane amount of utility at very easy access, continues to have a very easy rotation and can upkeep alac twice over if need be.

Just to be clear, the amount and decision IF mech gets re-balanced has hardly to do with arguments at this point. It will be up to how much play time the elite sees across the player base and where the developers see it as healthy. A spec which is over-represented in the eyes of the developers will get adjusted. You'd be better off making arguments about why it might be healthy for any spec to hold over 25% representation at this point.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Cyninja.2954

[Kuma.1503]

15 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

Just to be clear, the amount and decision IF mech gets re-balanced has hardly to do with arguments at this point. It will be up to how much play time the elite sees across the player base and where the developers see it as healthy. A spec which is over-represented in the eyes of the developers will get adjusted. You'd be better off making arguments about why it might be healthy for any spec to hold over 25% representation at this point.

it was 20% according to Grouch. This was pre power mech nerf. Wingman showed biased statistics. 

As for the high representation. Anet shot themselves in the foot when they gave mechanist 3 sepereate traitlines for 3 seperate roles. Most specs only compete for one or two slots. Mech can reasonably compete for any slot except quickness. This inflates its numbers. 

I personally think Mech SHOULD be a condi spec. We have power Scrapper and Power Holosmith already, Engineer was lacking a proper support and proper condi spec prior to Mech's release. Making mech a condi/support spec in a simiar niche as Specter or Scourge would have filled that void. 

I'd still like to see that happen. With 3 more traits to work with, they could make the trait selection for the spec much less linear. This also addresses its representation since it's no longer competing for the power dps slot. 

Fixing other supports as I mentioned would also encourage people to take other classes over it in the alac slot. This would also help to bring its representation down. 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[Jerus.4350]

2 hours ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

Do you also think it would be balanced if scourge could provide aoe alac and it's power dmg was buffed so it can compete in that department too? And what about power dps firebrand? Should definitely be a thing too then, no?

The problem with mech isn't only it's dps or ease of use alone It's that a single spec can not only fullfill every single role (power dps, condi dps, boon support, healer), it is also excellent in all of them and outperforms many specs that can only perform a single role.

The term "specialisation" is quite a joke in regards to mechanist. How do you balance such a "master of all"?

Yes, I don't see a problem with Scourge being able to do a boon or power damage, as long as it has proper tradeoffs (~15-25% damage lost to do Alacrity for the group).  I'd also be concerned about Power Scourge in WvW where you might need to split traits if you say added a 20% damage modifier to Scourge making Wells pump even harder.   But, those are the only concerns I can think of as to making that change.

 

Why shouldn't specs be versatile?  And, especially on a profession that was sold as the versatile option from the start?

 

I agree that dominating a role is a problem, but it's a problem whether or not the spec is versatile from the start.  pMech got hit plenty I think and it's fine as is, but healMech I see as a problem still, just fixing it without killing it will require a good bit of reworking, more than just adjusting some numbers.

[Cyninja.2954]

5 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

it was 20% according to Grouch. This was pre power mech nerf. 

I was giving an example, notice that the actual % does not matter. If it's above what they feel comfortable, they will act.

5 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

As for the high representation. Anet shot themselves in the foot when they gave mechanist 3 sepereate traitlines for 3 seperate roles. Most specs only compete for one or two slots. Mech can reasonably compete for any slot except quickness. This inflates its numbers. 

I personally think Mech SHOULD be a condi spec. We have power Scrapper and Power Holosmith already, Engineer was lacking a proper support and proper condi spec prior to Mech's release. Making mech a condi/support spec in a simiar niche as Specter or Scourge would have filled that void. 

I'd still like to see that happen. With 3 more traits to work with, they could make the trait selection for the spec much less linear. This also addresses its representation since it's no longer competing for the power dps slot. 

Oh I agree, my only position on this is: I am in favor of variety of classes. I have no beef with any single class (notice that I also disagree with Virt being this strong). In an ideal balance world, mech finds and gets its place and sees play because I am sure quite a few players enjoy the play-style of the class.

5 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

Fixing other supports as I mentioned would also encourage people to take other classes over it in the alac slot. This would also help to bring its representation down. 

True, and that too would help in bringing more balance in regards to class diversity in part without having to nerf/change mech. The only issue there becomes one of power creep. Which luckily does not automatically have to be the case with mechanic reworks.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Cyninja.2954

[lorddarkflare.9186]

9 hours ago, Kuma.1503 said:

it was 20% according to Grouch. This was pre power mech nerf. Wingman showed biased statistics. 

As for the high representation. Anet shot themselves in the foot when they gave mechanist 3 sepereate traitlines for 3 seperate roles. Most specs only compete for one or two slots. Mech can reasonably compete for any slot except quickness. This inflates its numbers. 

I personally think Mech SHOULD be a condi spec. We have power Scrapper and Power Holosmith already, Engineer was lacking a proper support and proper condi spec prior to Mech's release. Making mech a condi/support spec in a simiar niche as Specter or Scourge would have filled that void. 

I'd still like to see that happen. With 3 more traits to work with, they could make the trait selection for the spec much less linear. This also addresses its representation since it's no longer competing for the power dps slot. 

Fixing other supports as I mentioned would also encourage people to take other classes over it in the alac slot. This would also help to bring its representation down. 

 

I am all for pmech dying if it means we get at least a single non-piano condi spec. I think that is what we all expected when we first saw the class.

This has become all the more viable since now we have at least 2 really respectable low-kit power builds.

Edited October 13, 2022 by lorddarkflare.9186

[draxynnic.3719]

23 hours ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

Do you also think it would be balanced if scourge could provide aoe alac and it's power dmg was buffed so it can compete in that department too? And what about power dps firebrand? Should definitely be a thing too then, no?

The problem with mech isn't only it's dps or ease of use alone It's that a single spec can not only fullfill every single role (power dps, condi dps, boon support, healer), it is also excellent in all of them and outperforms many specs that can only perform a single role.

The term "specialisation" is quite a joke in regards to mechanist. How do you balance such a "master of all"?

Can't do all that in one build, though. I'd rather balancing be done based on builds rather than one build being punished just because the character might be able to switch roles with a template swap.

 

Regarding the 'lower tier players will just gravitate to mechanist anyway despite other builds being technically better'...my immediate response is 'So?'. If power mechanist is a gareway build by which less skilled players can do okay while learning mechanics, I don't think that's a major profession. Consider it a gateway build. But when such a player sees someone else achieving similar numbers while also pulling clutch plays that save the pull, maybe some of them will be interested in expanding their repertoire.

The problem was that it was at a state where it was often BiS even for the elite players.

Whether it's still there now is probably too early to say. 

[Zyreva.1078]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Can't do all that in one build, though. I'd rather balancing be done based on builds rather than one build being punished just because the character might be able to switch roles with a template swap.

So you think it's totally fine if a spec is grossly overrepresented in pretty much every PvE content while others are almost nonexistent? And why even have specialised specialisations then, if there's one that can do everything? Heck why even call it "specialisation" at this point?

[Atmaweapon.7345]

If you got rid of the power traits, then what do you even propose to replace them with? Every single mech trait modifies the mech itself so the traitlines naturally lend themselves towards gearing towards a certain set of stats. There's always going to be one best condi setup, one best healing setup, etc... Would you separate the boon and healing scaling for some arbitrary reason? Would you make a dedicated tanking traitline for the mech when any healing build can already accomplish that? Condi mech can already differentiate between a Pistol-Kit spam Condi build and a Mace-Signet Condi build so what additional option could you possibly add that could create more playstyles?

 

What's even the meaningful difference between power dps and condition dps? Specific Raid bosses? No thank you, I don't want traitlines to be designed around a miniscule part of the game. Complaining about Mech having power and condi options ultimately boils down to elitists not liking Rifle Mech over anything else. Or perhaps they hate Mechanists over-representation in general and just latch onto any "reasonable" argument aimed at reducing the number of Mech players.

[Hammer.5364]

I understand suggesting a nerf for a DPS/Support Hybrid if it's doing more dps than a pure DPS, but suggesting to nerf a class JUST because it's doing the most DPS is silly and small-minded, (reading a lot of mentions about Virtuoso).

 

The highest benchmark for Condi Virt is 38k, which is definitely not the top dps, and it's certainly not proving Quickness or Alacrity. For reference: https://lucky-noobs.com/benchmarks

 

If you ask me (which no one probably will) I'd say bringing Weaver (which is definitely a pure DPS) up to a 40k benchmark is more important.

 

I honestly think this is one of the best patches for game balance I've seen in 10 years of playing the game (yes I've been stalking since before expansions) and considering the fact that there are now 27 possible elite specs to choose from, I'd say we ought to congratulate ANET for this achievement.

 

(Please don't mess up Mirage and Virtuoso because of mean people! o_o)

[Alcatraznc.3869]

3 hours ago, Hammer.5364 said:

I understand suggesting a nerf for a DPS/Support Hybrid if it's doing more dps than a pure DPS, but suggesting to nerf a class JUST because it's doing the most DPS is silly and small-minded, (reading a lot of mentions about Virtuoso).

 

The highest benchmark for Condi Virt is 38k, which is definitely not the top dps, and it's certainly not proving Quickness or Alacrity. For reference: https://lucky-noobs.com/benchmarks

People are complaining that Virtuoso and Mechanist are ranged DPS so they can do mechanics while keeping their DPS.

 

3 hours ago, Hammer.5364 said:

If you ask me (which no one probably will) I'd say bringing Weaver (which is definitely a pure DPS) up to a 40k benchmark is more important.

To be fair a lot of pure DPS would also need to be put higher. Earlier I said Scrapper has roughly the same DPS as Holosmith which is pretty good for Scrapper however it means Holosmith really lags behind considering it brings nothing but DPS.

3 hours ago, Hammer.5364 said:

I honestly think this is one of the best patches for game balance I've seen in 10 years of playing the game (yes I've been stalking since before expansions) and considering the fact that there are now 27 possible elite specs to choose from, I'd say we ought to congratulate ANET for this achievement.

 

(Please don't mess up Mirage and Virtuoso because of mean people! o_o)

 

Yeah no, a lot of their decision are still very questionable (see Scrapper well nerf). 

[draxynnic.3719]

7 hours ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

So you think it's totally fine if a spec is grossly overrepresented in pretty much every PvE content while others are almost nonexistent? And why even have specialised specialisations then, if there's one that can do everything? Heck why even call it "specialisation" at this point?

Hahah. Did you even read my post after what you quoted? Dude, I had one of the mechanist defenders calling me a 'salty troll' just because I was nicknaming it 'metanist' before the patch.

However, I don't think the term 'elite specialisation' means that something should only be able to do one thing. Maybe the name is misleading, but it's really supposed to be more of a subclass than locking you into a role. If you have a subclass that can fill multiple roles, you'd naturally expect it to have higher representation than one that can only do one thing.

Now, the state it was in was clearly ridiculous - because it wasn't just versatile, it was pretty much BiS for at least two roles. Power mech was the best power DPS in practice for less experienced players and was still BiS in many cases even for top players. Heal alacrity mech both overshadowed other alacrity providers and, through its dominance, pushed heal quickness builds out of the meta. That's pretty OP.

However, I've seen too many cases of something being overnerfed because people refused to admit it was no longer OP until it was so bad you were handicapping yourself and your group by taking it. I don't think it's good for the game for that cycle to keep playing out. It's a bit early now to say whether it's in a balanced state, but I have stopped seeing and hearing about 7-mechanist squads.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Its still usually the top 4-5 DPS slots next to Virtuoso in nearly every squad I join, and that usually includes me playing it typically in the second slot even though I don't even take Jade Mortar.

 

Its power build still needs some reduction and its condi builds still needs some buffs.

 

Please, stop going by benchmarks. I'm telling you this as an experienced player, benchmarks have little to nothing to do with the game. They don't affect what players bring to encounters, how they play the class or what the real-world results are of doing so. Theorycrafting is a science, but actually playing is an art.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[zeyeti.8347]

Maybe virtuoso is now the best on the golem raid , but in almost every endgame encounter i ve done so far since patch came out , it's always been a mech pew pew number one , so i dont think mech is off new nerfs , still pretty kitten dumb to play and strong , also mech number one choice for alt account , you can play your main and still get beaten in dps by your own afk alt account pew pew ...

And playing virtuoso , ... imagine pressing buttons and read what your skills do , you knew your healing skill recharge your skill 5 focus .... Not like mech healing skill who just heals when you do nothing ... passiv cannot be more powerfull than active.

Edited October 14, 2022 by zeyeti.8347

[Atmaweapon.7345]

The J-drive condi build benches 4k above Power Mech despite also being ranged, nearly the same rotation, having the potential of confusion damage, and full access to shift signet without dps loss when needed. I also highly doubt that switching from nade autos to Pistol autos will lose you 4k dps so its floor isn't much different. You don't see them because power dps is more convenient for every other facet of the game than instanced bosses.

 

Also, hot-take, but Guild Wars 2 combat in terms of skill flow sucks. Having to deal with animation canceling, not having any space to pause inbetween attacks, not being able to see the cooldowns of weapon-sets you aren't using, having the pace of your rotation wildly fluctuate between group content where you have quickness/alac and when you're solo. Of course people are going to skip over things like that and just opt for Machinist, the fun is in reacting to enemy mechanics.

 

 

[Kuma.1503]

47 minutes ago, Atmaweapon.7345 said:

The J-drive condi build benches 4k above Power Mech despite also being ranged

It's a melee build. J-Drive runs Mace/Pistol. Mace is obviously melee, and Blowtorch does significantly more damage the closer you are to the target. 

Even if you're talking about Jade Dynamo. That build still relies on blow torch and bomb kit. On top of being a high intensity piano build. 

47 minutes ago, Atmaweapon.7345 said:

I also highly doubt that switching from nade autos to Pistol autos will lose you 4k dps so its floor isn't much different.

Engi pistol auto is a significant dps loss over nade spam. 

It does pitiful damage. It is not an explosion therefore does not proc Shrapnel. It has a LONG aftercast. 

Just run mace. 

47 minutes ago, Atmaweapon.7345 said:

You don't see them because power dps is more convenient for every other facet of the game than instanced bosses.

This part has some truth to it. A bigger factor is that Power (rifle) mech is fully ranged so it's easier to play and deals with mechanics better.  

Edited October 14, 2022 by Kuma.1503