Engi spear presentation speculation

[Lionwait.4815]

If I was a betting man, I would bet it will be a power ranged weapon with explosives or a condi melee weapon with some new effect added to it. Who knows maybe dispelling bubbles.

[Liewec.2896]

i just don't see a gap that really needs filling by spear.

and thats not just an engi problem, pretty much every class has every role filled.

imho it'd have been better to get a new profession instead of putting in all of the work to give 9 professions an unnecessary bloat weapon.

if i had to guess for engi though it will be a 1200 range condi weapon (about the only thing left for engi.)

Edited June 8 by Liewec.2896

[Bomboed.5697]

I hope it will be pure tech weapon, without any magical elements. I hate the fact that literally everything after Scrapper was semi-magical.
But most likely it will be another flashy "magitech" stuff, because Anet hates Engineer and cant fulfill it's core fantasy.

[Luthan.5236]

Since we already have enough close combat weapons (with EoD the mace and I don't count the recent short bow since that is boring support) I hope it is going to be long-ranged. And with focus on damage. I could imagine a rocket-like version of throwing a spear with different attack types and maybe projectile finisher and explosions.

With us probably again not getting in-combat weapon swap it needs to be worth equipping. It it is only mediocre at best ... I might just stay with another weapon again trying to fill up with 1 kit if needed. (I usually stay with 1 kit for the other combat-range. In PvP. In PvE it does not matter that much to me and I can use full close combat or using ranged weapon in melee distance. Tool-kit with the magnet is still fun combined with rifle - at least for my play style ha ha.)

Edit: And - even if this gets harder to map to the keyboard since it would need a lot more keys - I'd like for it to have it's own toolbelt skills. Even when mechanist is used (where the mech skills replaces the utility toolbelt skills). Then it would have a unique mechanic. (Since they seemed like they wanted to make spear unique.) The other "normal" weapons do not have toolbelt skills.

Edited June 10 by Luthan.5236

[Kodama.6453]

8 hours ago, Bomboed.5697 said:

I hope it will be pure tech weapon, without any magical elements. I hate the fact that literally everything after Scrapper was semi-magical.
But most likely it will be another flashy "magitech" stuff, because Anet hates Engineer and cant fulfill it's core fantasy.

Boi, do I agree with this.

I always gravitate towards the fantasy of heroes using the right tools for the right moment and dexterity. Always try to avoid magic as far as possible. Engineer was my go o class, because I loved the steampunk theme and that they were fulfilling that fantasy for me.

But now all we get is magic thrown around everywhere. Just let us have some cool tech and chemistry without the whole magic mambo jambo...

[draxynnic.3719]

13 hours ago, Bomboed.5697 said:

I hope it will be pure tech weapon, without any magical elements. I hate the fact that literally everything after Scrapper was semi-magical.
But most likely it will be another flashy "magitech" stuff, because Anet hates Engineer and cant fulfill it's core fantasy.

Well, magitech is part of the setting. It was, if anything, a bit weird that core engineer didn't have any when asura NPCs made it pretty clear that magitech engineers certainly did exist.

But yeah, after holo, mechanist, and shortbow, it probably is time for something closer to the charr style than the asura style.

[Sindust.7059]

I hope it's a ranged power weapon, because as opposed to rifle it will be a new weapon that they can't nerf into irrelevance since that's the selling point of the expansion. I want to have a viable ranged power build on engi, I hate having to play with hammer on every power build.

[Tofu.1865]

On 6/6/2024 at 3:41 PM, bambi.6214 said:

I can almost assure you that engi spear will be the most half-âssed weapon of all 🙂

Just like the Engi Shortbow? :v

But im hoping they do better this time, It should be a Condi weapon because Engineers are stucked with Pistols only for Condi.

[bambi.6214]

9 hours ago, Tofu.1865 said:

Just like the Engi Shortbow? :v

But im hoping they do better this time, It should be a Condi weapon because Engineers are stucked with Pistols only for Condi.

Alternative to sword would also come in handy, aka main-hand power weapon available to core engi.

(No, I do not consider sword available to other engi specs due to heat synergies)

[Kodama.6453]

2 hours ago, bambi.6214 said:

Alternative to sword would also come in handy, aka main-hand power weapon available to core engi.

(No, I do not consider sword available to other engi specs due to heat synergies)

One of the reasons why I was opposing making all elite spec weapons usable for all specs. Engineer was losing out by basically having one less weapon choice because sword does not function without the holosmith mechanic anyway...

[Perceptor.7189]

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the engineer's announcement was something like: 'We are not going to give the engineer a spear, but instead, we are going to make crystal configuration: storm visually resemble a spear when attack to compensate.'

[draxynnic.3719]

Alright, everyone, mark off "they just gave engineer another melee weapon!" on your bingo cards...

Edited June 13 by draxynnic.3719

[Flaming.4250]

Quote

The engineer’s spear combat style is melee oriented with hybrid damage, encouraging you to pick a target and run directly into battle while utilizing a variety of control and damage skills.

[StraightPath.3972]

Asides from Thieves suing you for the theft (ironic) of their deadeye mark ,
as a forum keyboard Warrior I'm officially calling W.H.O. on your kitten, cause your spear looks SICK!
Now why couldn't we get kitten like that?

Edited June 13 by StraightPath.3972

[Ale.3280]

Engi spear seems very cool after the presentation! ...Hype, Hype, Hype ---> Engi decade main!

Let's try in on beta, good job Anet!

[Malus.2184]

The engineer spear animations ook absolutely brutal. I hope their damage lives up to it.

[Luthan.5236]

More melee ... seems boring. I mean: Hammer, sword, mace (bow doesn't count since it is support) ... and I doubt we'll get in-combat weapon swap.
This has do deliver on high and easy to maintain dps (=being a lot better than the other weapons and not requiring you to master "keyboard acrobatics") if they want people to use it.

The mechanics though ... seem like they need careful planning and a lot of player skill and training. Well ... I guess I will stay with hammer and if fighting bosses (1-champ encounters) the rifle to be safe while staying ranged. 😄 The mace should I ever try to play more of a support and the sword if I am in holo (currently staying with the mecha).

But we'll see. Maybe it is better than the bow and they'll take feedback at the beta into account - to make it viable for open world content for fast killing of trash mobs. (The description seemed like they intended it for quickly killing the target you focused - then focusing on another one. Not for a boss where you are all the time focusing on the boss.)

[draxynnic.3719]

I suspect what they're thinking here is to create a general-purpose melee DPS option, since hammer is somewhat defensive in nature, sword is generally regarded as holo-specific, and mace is support-ish. But seriously. Engineer hasn't had a new ranged option that isn't deploying support fields since release. I'm getting bored of rifle and sick of grenades.

And at the risk of getting egg on my face when elespear is revealed (although I'd take that) why is it that all the good electricity-themed weapons are always melee?

[mirage.8046]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

I suspect what they're thinking here is to create a general-purpose melee DPS option, since hammer is somewhat defensive in nature, sword is generally regarded as holo-specific, and mace is support-ish. But seriously. Engineer hasn't had a new ranged option that isn't deploying support fields since release. I'm getting bored of rifle and sick of grenades.

And at the risk of getting egg on my face when elespear is revealed (although I'd take that) why is it that all the good electricity-themed weapons are always melee?

Spear is the air attunement weapon of engineer's weapons. /s I was really hoping for something like explosions or burns or dangerous AOEs. Electricity has already been done to death too! 

As for range? Pick your poison: melee, mid-range, or long-range. 

[Bomboed.5697]

Ahaha, another melee weapon.
Good job anet! The second expansion in a row that I will not buy.

It is funny that Engineer has no weapon swap, but a spear with both melee and range attacks is added to Ranger, not Engineer. I mean, if you create a new mechanic that allows a weapon to transform depending on range, doesn't it make sense to add it to a class that would benefit the most from 1in2 weapon?
I just can't understand Aner's logic behind their design decisions. They don't make any sense for me.

[EdwinLi.1284]

4 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

I suspect what they're thinking here is to create a general-purpose melee DPS option, since hammer is somewhat defensive in nature, sword is generally regarded as holo-specific, and mace is support-ish. But seriously. Engineer hasn't had a new ranged option that isn't deploying support fields since release. I'm getting bored of rifle and sick of grenades.

And at the risk of getting egg on my face when elespear is revealed (although I'd take that) why is it that all the good electricity-themed weapons are always melee?

I do not know why but energy charged melee weapons always seem to be a iconic "Engineer"/Tech theme melee weapon in most games. 

 

[karsa.8513]

They should have consulted with the players when designing these weapons. I'm sure the results could have been quite different. Like many said, engies just wanted a good dmg and fun(simple) ranged weapon. But I guess these days these things are not possible anymore because reasons. 😤 

[EdwinLi.1284]

10 minutes ago, karsa.8513 said:

They should have consulted with the players when designing these weapons. I'm sure the results could have been quite different. Like many said, engies just wanted a good dmg and fun(simple) ranged weapon. But I guess these days these things are not possible anymore because reasons. 😤 

At this point, I won't be surprised they make Staff  a melee weapon for Engineer. At this point, I think Anet just want to make us use melee as main weapon and have kits be our range weapon we switch to.

 

I still feel Engineer has great potential to make melee weapons like Dagger and Greatsword into range weapons but if Anet will attempt this or not is something we cannot say.

Edited June 14 by EdwinLi.1284

[draxynnic.3719]

10 hours ago, mirage.8046 said:

Spear is the air attunement weapon of engineer's weapons. /s I was really hoping for something like explosions or burns or dangerous AOEs. Electricity has already been done to death too! 

As for range? Pick your poison: melee, mid-range, or long-range. 

I disagree on the 'done to death' bit, on the basis that there are a lot of ways to add a bit of it, but not a way to really specialise in it. Elementalist is always flipping between at least two attunements, while for engineer, it's very easy to have a bit of electricity in there, but hard to really focus on it. Hammer holosmith is probably the closest at the moment, and spear probably will be soon enough when it's introduced, but that's obviously mixing with the hologram theme of holosmith, and possibly more importantly... it's still basically a melee build skinned over with a few electricity-based graphics. There are obviously ways to do scrapper and mechanist with electricity as well, but similar issues apply.

The electricity/lightning theme, in fantasy and sometimes in science fiction, is more normally associated with throwing lightning bolts and electricity arcs at range - but the playstyle associated with that seems to be something that ArenaNet has been actively avoiding. Elementalist? Staff and pistol air are notoriously bad, and sceptre air has proven to be one of the most boring interpretations of the concept I've ever seen (running weaver for dual skills, especially Plasma Beam, does help but only so much) feeling more like a continuous laser with an electricity skin rather than a lightning-themed playstyle. Engineer's electricity-themed ranged options are basically pistol's Static Shot, Static Discharge, the shield throw (which is another case of having an electricity skin rather than really feeling like part of an electricity playstyle) and Orbital Strike. The closest is, ironically, mesmer - the purple lightning might be something other than lightning according to the fluff but it comes close in look and feel - although that's obviously mixed with mesmer stuff.

And part of my disappointment here is that having a second electricity-themed melee weapon just adds to the paradox of electricity simultaneously having been done to death while still not having been done right, and by making the "done to death" side of that paradox even stronger it makes the other side less likely to be resolved. I wasn't expecting spear to be a ranged lightning weapon - I was hoping for spear to be something similar to what you're thinking - but "melee electricity" is the thing I absolutely least wanted to see because it makes the chance of getting a proper lightning playstyle further down the line less likely. It's probably going to be more electricity-themed than hammer is (from what I've heard, hammer was originally more explosives-oriented, shifting it to electricity was something that happened relatively late in development) but it's still just another melee weapon.

6 hours ago, EdwinLi.1284 said:

I do not know why but energy charged melee weapons always seem to be a iconic "Engineer"/Tech theme melee weapon in most games. 

 

I think it's because it's one of the most obvious answers to the question of "how would and engineer/tech character enhance a melee weapon". Taking a melee weapon that is already a conductor and putting some sort of power field on it to discharge electricity into a target as they get struck is one of the oldest ideas in the proverbial book.

[Ale.3280]

Waiting to test it on beta, i think that Anet can improve the Engi spear autoattack as the ranger one, with lightning bolt/beam if it is ranged and what we have seen when in melee distance.

This because we can't swap and a lot of players likes to play WITHOUT kits --> as full signets Mech or full gyros scrapper, or full elixirs holo.

Improving the autoattack with both melee and ranged option could be a smart move to have a smooth gameplay.