Set Off Chain Reactions with the Engineer Short Bow Proficiency

[Jaruselka.5943]

Meanwhile pistols sit in a corner eating paste...

[Daevhalla.7823]

4 hours ago, Stx.4857 said:

One thing I don’t understand is, why does this have to be a pure support weapon when in many of the previous previews for new weapons they are “hybrid” support+power dps or support+damage?  Why is engineer the only class that needs to trade ‘attack power’ whatever that means for support?

I'm honestly guessing it won't be pure support. Just looking at it I think it's safe to assume it'll carry at least a decent amount of conditions and CC. Especially if we somehow compare it to the necro staff that has somewhat of a similar kit (full marks on skills 2 to 5).

Even looking at the revealed sand skill, it also applies cripple, so it's safe to assume others will apply at least one if not more.

I think this weapon could pair fairly well with the engi especially since they have access to a large amount of other kits/engi stuff.

[Jerus.4350]

Well, it looks weird, and that’s what I was hoping for.  I’m excited to see how it actually plays, if the various detonate options are interesting it could be a lot of fun.

[Zzik.5873]

3 hours ago, Bomboed.5697 said:

For me it does not feel like a scrapped espec weapon. However, it strongly feels like a Kit.
I mean, a lot of Kits are designed in the same way: all skills work in somewhat the same way and use the same basic animation. This weapon is designed in exact same way as Grenade, Bomb and Mortar kits are designed.
And it feels wrong. Very wrong. Engineer does not have a weapon swap and because of that our weapons should be somewhat flexible and include different skills.

I beg Anet rework this into a Kit and give Engineer a proper shortbow designed as a weapon, not a kit.

This^ , could be a grenade kit rework, I would not mine. Give me the rev shortbow with a engi skin on top, at this point...

[ChronoPinoyX.7923]

Yeah I think I'll stick to Rifle

At least that one isn't a kit that's just converted into a weapon

[Donari.5237]

I don't main Engineer so I'll defer to the many more expert opinions in this thread.  My main issue with this implementation of shortbow is from another angle, though:  accessibility.  Anyone that can't reliably place multiple ground targets will simply be unable to use this weapon as presented.  Is this a huge issue?  No, I'm very much in the minority here with my failing hands and my mouse move that slides my cursor all over the screen.  On Necro Scourge I have to use the trait that makes one big sand demon instead of three smaller ones, so I can auto snap aoe to target to get it placed while running and dodging.  I'll be very surprised if there's anything similar here -- are these new weapons going to get any trait support? -- so if I play shortbow engie all my arrows are going to land in a clump in one spot.

Again, not a huge issue, I do thief/mesmer/necro way more than engie.  I'm not complaining, simply noting a possible play issue for some players.

[SeTect.5918]

5 hours ago, Daevhalla.7823 said:

I'm honestly guessing it won't be pure support. Just looking at it I think it's safe to assume it'll carry at least a decent amount of conditions and CC. Especially if we somehow compare it to the necro staff that has somewhat of a similar kit (full marks on skills 2 to 5).

Well at least the purple elexir,  Essence or whatever seems to deal burning because the Detonation of thst purple pot seemed like a burning field.

But the 2 skills they wrote about seem so be support only and have no damaging conditions. 

And i dont believe 1 condi skill is enough unless they make it so it does like 8 burn stacks.

I still wonder what they will do to mace now (hopefully a proper condi melee).

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Unblockable huh? 

Wvw weapon confirmed. 

[Sobx.1758]

1 hour ago, SeTect.5918 said:

Well at least the purple elexir,  Essence or whatever seems to deal burning because the Detonation of thst purple pot seemed like a burning field.

But the 2 skills they wrote about seem so be support only and have no damaging conditions. 

And i dont believe 1 condi skill is enough unless they make it so it does like 8 burn stacks.

I still wonder what they will do to mace now (hopefully a proper condi melee).

The same way the fields they described influence subsequent explosions, there can probably be an arrow that burns +adds some condies from subsequent detonations. So as far as I understand, it can be a single condi arrow to apply more condis from other arrows.

[Wulfhearth.7962]

I guess it's safe to assume they would have mentioned it on the blogpost if there were more than 4 arrows and engis could choose which one to slot outside of combat like ranger (non-UT) hammer? Maybe it could still happen after the betas and feedback, if necessary?

I feel like that could give the rather straightforward weapon more depth and flexibility, letting you adapt it for different builds or gamemodes. Would feel quite on theme for engineer as well. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Wulfhearth.7962

[Trejgon.9367]

11 hours ago, EdwinLi.1284 said:

I mean people can finally live out their dreams to be the Space Marine of GW2 with Pistol on Guardian.

Now back to purging the Heretics! For the Emperor!

and now you made me hopefull for guardian pistols to be hand flamers, crap.

[VocalThought.9835]

I wish the Short Bow was more like thief rifle and less like Necro Staff.  They could have creatively made the 5th skill augment skills 2-4, made the 4th skill this canister shot ability/ detonator, and skills 2 & 3 could have been totally different skills. Maybe the 2 could be like thief's cluster bomb but with the different canisters effects. Maybe 3 could be new skill altogether. 

I think all of us were expecting more creativity, especially since this is the Engineer.

[arazoth.7290]

13 hours ago, Daevhalla.7823 said:

My thoughts exactly.

 

3 hours ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

and now you made me hopefull for guardian pistols to be hand flamers, crap.

What about also firing blue fire balls, concentrated fire beam

[Teletric.3821]

I've always hoped for a Rambo-inspired elite spec for Engineer with traps and explosive-tipped arrows, and this kind of does it for me.

The emphasis on support does worry me a little but I'm not going to "nock" it until I try it.

[mov.1246]

Well usually i try not be a doomer by judging to early... but.... seriously, who asked for another support weapon? We already have mace and it is filling the job of a support weapon perfectly together with shield. Enginner is still lacking alternative condition weapons, we only have double pistols for literally every condition based build. I am still hoping shortbow will deal condition damage along being a supportive weapon. But it looks more like shortbow was designed with wvw heal scrapper in mind, ranged support and skills 2-5 arent projectiles.

I guess we have to wait for testing how are numbers and how it plays. Please change my dissatpointed mind.

[Bomboed.5697]

Looks like Gurdian new pistols are another case when other profession pistols look way better than Engineer pistols - the iconic weapon for Engineer.

Gurdians asked for new condi ranged weapon and they get it. Engineers asked for a new ranged weapon, condi or power, and we get another support weapon nobody asked for.

Anet hates us. Literally. Officially. It is not even fun anymore.

Edited November 17, 2023 by Bomboed.5697

[Verdict is Vengence.6912]

Sorry engi players. Maybe they'll give you guys something special next time. Maybe it'll be a engi greatsword that you could surf on. You never know.

[Batalix.2873]

Lol this is amazing. The only weapon I actually am mostly okay with and everyone is so angry.

Let me spell it out for people who have not been listening for the past two years: Mechanist is a plague on Engi. It is the only job in the game with a legitimate "two bodies for one" problem, where the pet does far too much on top of the player having no real tradeoffs to their solo functionality.

Until the Mech is retooled to replace weaponskills with commands, it will always be stupidly overpowered compared to the rest of the game. And it is why you will never see another DPS ranged weapon on Engi until Mechanist is fixed.

Pick one or the other, ranged weapon or a Mech without damage weaponskills. You cannot have both.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Batalix.2873

[Bomboed.5697]

We need to be more vocal about it and demand a change. This trash is unacceptable.

[nomir.4597]

At the 16s-17s mark, it appears Mesmer/chaos magic leaves behind a Ethereal field. I am excited to have reliable access to this field.

The red one would be the Revenant/mist magic. I would guess this will provide some group Fury which is a boon PvE Scrapper doesn't have a good source of.

I am curious to try out the shortbow on a supportive Scrapper.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

Could be fun. 

If it uses explosive bolts as ammunition. 

[Alcatraznc.3869]

If SB is mainly a support weapon it will 100% make Mace sit among the worst weapon for Engineer. Well we'll have to see honestly but unless Anet somehow manages to fk up 4 skill and add no finishers SB already looks better than Mace as a support.

 

The concept looks interesting and if done right maybe it will make me try support engineer....Well that is if I even find the energy to keep up with the constant questionnable changes you make on this class. But assuming SB is going to be good, then you'll have to do something about Mace. That weapon has no identity and is comically bad at everything by trying to fill every role. 

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

On the first preview it doesn't look too bad. It looks like a useful kit and may play a role in heal/support builds. I'm curious about the auto-attack and how the different arrows can be tweaked. It looks like we can run them with either explosions or elixirs.

The Engineer in the video uses the arrows spread out. But I fear most will use them stacked as the meta requires it. That means even more effects concentrated ... one day we have to play with sunglasses.

Also curious about the damage-type of the weapon. Not making any guesses or wishes anymore, because of the backlash in the mace-discussion. Whatever it will be, I'll find a way to get it working for me :).

I've seen a lot of interesting weapons so far, which I'm looking forward to testing. The shortbow is definitely on the list.

[Batalix.2873]

22 hours ago, nomir.4597 said:

At the 16s-17s mark, it appears Mesmer/chaos magic leaves behind a Ethereal field. I am excited to have reliable access to this field.

The red one would be the Revenant/mist magic. I would guess this will provide some group Fury which is a boon PvE Scrapper doesn't have a good source of.

I am curious to try out the shortbow on a supportive Scrapper.

I would agree with this assessment, I was having trouble pinpointing the red but the Mesmer effect is a nice clue to the theming of the skills. However, I do not see an ethereal field, it looks like it might be something else.

Liquid Wrath feels like it might be Guardian magic, the blue one. Which...I'm tired of Guardian being the angry burninating class when that is really more Warrior's thing. Guardian should be more about protection, aegis, and healing imo.

One thing I will be curious about is if these skills will be professon-specific, or espec-specific. Because Animated Sand is probably closest to representing Scourge, not Necro as a whole. The biggest counterpoint I can think of is that the other three skills BS Liquid Wrath's name seem quite generic. I almost wish they had gone with something more specific like a Chronomancer or Druid themed skill. Oh well.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Batalix.2873

[aymnad.9023]

It can be interesting or at least versatile but right now I am just not sure what this playstyle will add or if it feels fun to play.

Edited November 20, 2023 by aymnad.9023