Firearms Rework made while I was chugging IRL Elixir B's

[Cuilan.7091]

(Half) Jokes aside the Spear beta only reminded me how outdated Firearms is with a multitude of traits and methods that fit more akin to classic World of Warcraft than modern Guild Wars 2. 
The Following are thoughts and ideas that have kept me awake until 3 in the morning.

These suggestions follow the same ideas of what Firearms should be doing (Crits, Conditions, Might) but throws in some extra utility. 

I genuinely don't expect anything out of this but its on my mind so I might as well write it down somewhere. 

 

• Minor - (Chemical Rounds)
  • Your Blast and Leap Finishers store a Round based on the field it was gained from.
  • One of each type of (Field) Round can be stored.
  • Dealing strike Damage expunges the round, dealing a condition to the target and nearby enemies
  • Only one round per one second interval can be 'fired', and follows the same rules of Boons; First in, first out. 
    •     Dark          Torment
          Ethereal    Slow
          Fire            Burning
          Ice             Chill
          Light         Blind
          Lighting   Confusion
          Poison      Weakness
          Smoke      Cripple
          Water       Weakness

 

• Major -  [Ignition Point]
  • Your 3rd Weapon Skill causes After Burners for 2s.
    • After Burners is a mobile fire field that pulses burning
      • Duration and Burn Application vary per gamemode
        • Note, using Sword 3 or Hammer 3 would imminently grant your Fire Aura
• Major - [Buster Shot]
  • Your 3rd Weapon Skill fires a delayed explosive bolt that triggers a blast finisher at your location
    • Its also a damaging projectile similar to Surprise Shot but also applies Bleeding. 
• Major - [Blood Boil]
  • Applying Burning grants you Fury
  • Applying Bleeding grants you Might
  • Boon Duration is doubled when applying these Conditions within the range (240) threshold 

 

• Minor - (High Caliber)
  • Gain increased Critical Strike change against targets for each unique damaging condition.
    • +5% Critical Chance for Burning, Bleeding, Torment, Confusion, and Poison

 

• Major - [Fire for Effect]
  • Your Fire Fields pulse Might to you and allies while active. Gain After Burners when firing a "Fire Round" from Chemical Rounds. 
• Major - [Chemical Burns]
  • Striking a target with a Burning or Bleeding threshold creates a poison field at their location. Your Poison fields heal per pulse. 
• Major - [Going Commando]
  • Gain Increase Ferocity and Expertise for each of the following boons on you. Gain Swiftness when you gain Fury (10s ICD)  
    • Fury
    • Might
    • Swiftness

 

• Minor - (Clean Burn)
  • Firing a Chemical Round Heals you, Fire Rounds also cleanse a condition. 

 

• Major - [Juggernaut]
  • Your 3rd Engineering Kit abilities triggers Afterburners. Gaining Afterburners grants you Stability. 
  • Wielding a Flamethrower grants Afterburners each interval (10s ICD)
• Major - [Depleted Bloodstone Munitions]
  • ALL rounds gain will be Bloodstone Rounds that apply Confusion, Burning, and Torment. Round Capacity limited to 3 Bloodstone Rounds. 
  • Applying Confusion, Burning, or Torment also applies it to YOURSELF if you do not have these conditions. 
• Major - [Up Your Arsenal]
  • Chemical Rounds grant you and nearby allies a boon when fired. 
    •     Dark          Resistance 2s
          Ethereal    Alacrity 1s (Note, gaining Ethereal rounds is already extremely difficult) 
          Fire            Fury 3s
          Ice             Protection 3s
          Light         Resolution 2s
          Lighting   Quickness  1s (Might be too strong but Lighting Rounds would be mostly limited to Scrapper and limited access on Mechanist) 
          Poison      Might 4s 
          Smoke      Swiftness 5s 
          Water       Regeneration 5s 
      • This trait may be powerful but pre-stacking Boons is near impossible without a nearby target to 'expunge' the rounds on
      • This also enables Core Engineer where Firearms, Inventions, and Alchemy all become viable trait options for support, without making Support Mech / Scrapper stronger

 

 

[Mic.1897]

Would rather have the current Firearms if I am being genuine

[Fueki.4753]

I like Firearms, because it is simple.

Your changes would needlessly over-complicate everything in the trait line.

[bethekey.8314]

Kudos for being creative. It reads more like an early Elite spec concept than a base traitline.

[Tofu.1865]

Pretty unnecessary, don't fix what isn't broken.

[H K.4057]

On 7/6/2024 at 3:21 AM, Fueki.4753 said:

I like Firearms, because it is simple.

Your changes would needlessly over-complicate everything in the trait line.

I completely agree. I'm not even sure why people dislike the Firearms like so much. It's simple, has great synergy, and is now worth pick after the Elixir line changes. A very quick theorycraft of a cele spear holo wvw roamer looks something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PeQEQLLg5xuYWMUsYm0e/A-D2IY1oovMiLRCsIc/vQCCXz8amwnGA-w

You have an incredible amount of might generation, and you are healed each time you stack might. Your condi application is fine, and your direct damage attacks will actually still be significant because of the modifiers from Firearms and Holosmith lines. I played something very similar to this during the beta, and it was critting for 4-5k on PBM and Devastator while being extremely tanky. The issue I had was with spear being so clunky, and not with Firearms being bad.

[Fueki.4753]

1 hour ago, H K.4057 said:

I completely agree. I'm not even sure why people dislike the Firearms like so much. It's simple, has great synergy, and is now worth pick after the Elixir line changes. A very quick theorycraft of a cele spear holo wvw roamer looks something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PeQEQLLg5xuYWMUsYm0e/A-D2IY1oovMiLRCsIc/vQCCXz8amwnGA-w

You have an incredible amount of might generation, and you are healed each time you stack might. Your condi application is fine, and your direct damage attacks will actually still be significant because of the modifiers from Firearms and Holosmith lines. I played something very similar to this during the beta, and it was critting for 4-5k on PBM and Devastator while being extremely tanky. The issue I had was with spear being so clunky, and not with Firearms being bad.

I went with a simple Explosions/Firearms/Holosmith during the beta. As I only tested out how weapons feel, I used the default equipment, that the beta Engineer came with.

This isn't anything special and most likely far from optimal, as I have little love for paying attention to boons, but it worked fine in the beta.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PeQEQLrgBysYTMUcoW0f3A-DWRYmRBXNbQKjR8CISC44sQQCiNwAA-w

Almost full viper with two Grieving trinkets probably is the best equipment choice for this build.

I chose the Relic of the Thief, because it's not adding any additional hoops to the build.

[bambi.6214]

10 hours ago, H K.4057 said:

I completely agree. I'm not even sure why people dislike the Firearms like so much. It's simple, has great synergy, and is now worth pick after the Elixir line changes. A very quick theorycraft of a cele spear holo wvw roamer looks something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PeQEQLLg5xuYWMUsYm0e/A-D2IY1oovMiLRCsIc/vQCCXz8amwnGA-w

You have an incredible amount of might generation, and you are healed each time you stack might. Your condi application is fine, and your direct damage attacks will actually still be significant because of the modifiers from Firearms and Holosmith lines. I played something very similar to this during the beta, and it was critting for 4-5k on PBM and Devastator while being extremely tanky. The issue I had was with spear being so clunky, and not with Firearms being bad.

With cele, you can slap traits and skills at random and you'll beat an average player.

[mirage.8046]

this sounds cool, but then most of the damaging conditions you want to apply will realistically have to come from allies' combo fields. I like the creativity but I wouldn't change firearms that drastically. this hinges too much on providing combo fields and needing the right ones for this condition or that boon.