Med Kit has been reworked!

[Josif.2015]

Hallelujah

That's the best way I can describe it. The Med Kit has finally been reworked!

The changes that have been proposed by me, @Chaith.8256, @Vagrant.7206 and other engineer players have finally been implemented. It's no longer the engineers' worst heal and it's now the supportive kit that we wanted it to be. The skills we now have are brilliant, they no longer feel clunky and have given the engineer self and team condition cleanse.

It gets better when you use the Health Insurance trait that has been reworked to work with the kit. The amount of healing you can give to allies with the trait is insane and even the F1 Bandage skills' healing is increased to keep it somewhat similar to the Healing Turrets' healing. It's an amazing buff to what was once a terrible kit.

All I can say is thank you, ArenaNet. Thank you.

[Ardid.7203]

Would we be able to compete with Druids?

[Josif.2015]

@Ardid.7203 said:Would we be able to compete with Druids?

I believe it can compete if you're using Mender's Amulet and the trait Health Insurance in the Alchemy specialization. It may not compete with Druids using anything other than Mender's Amulet, but in my opinion it's good enough because this rework has been amazing thus far.

Out of all the changes I was hoping for the engineer this balance patch, this was not what I was expecting. But I'm glad they did it. This is one the best reworks a profession has ever had and I hope they do something similar for the Tool Kit.

[bearshaman.3421]

Given the nerfs to druids, forcing them to choose between healing and might support, I think it can definitely compete. Especially given how clunky some of the druid heals are...> @Ardid.7203 said:

Would we be able to compete with Druids?

[Hoshinohi.1896]

So first of all the rework is nice for some effects but also they absolutely forgot to reimplement the use for underwater! there is no reason left to not reimplement it to the game. AED and Elixier H are both really bad healingskills for underwaterfights.

unfortunately the healingpacks change to the blast is only limited to other players and npc you can't heal yourself with it anymore. the other skills are nice on the other hand.

[Josif.2015]

@Hoshinohi.1896 said:So first of all the rework is nice for some effects but also they absolutely forgot to reimplement the use for underwater! there is no reason left to not reimplement it to the game. AED and Elixier H are both really bad healingskills for underwaterfights.

unfortunately the healingpacks change to the blast is only limited to other players and npc you can't heal yourself with it anymore. the other skills are nice on the other hand.

From a few matches in PvP, the Med Kit is doing amazing and here's the rotation I use for the most effective AoE healing:

1. Vital Burst (skill 4)
2. Cleansing Field (skill 3)
3. Infusion Bomb (skill 5)
4. Elixir Gun skill 4 Acid Bomb
5. Detonate Rifle Turret
6. Big Ol' Bomb
7. Rocket Boots

4-7 are all blast finishers, which are useful in Cleansing Fields' water field that cleanses conditions and heals you and you allies massively. I know that the Med Kit can be a bit difficult to use compared to the Healing Turret, but from the few matches I've had in PvP it can keep you and your allies alive, even without the without Mender's Amulet.

[Ario.8964]

Med kit is definitely nice now. I've been having a good deal of success with it as I've been playing with it (although I will say I didn't expect shifting from years of using healing turret to med kit to be as difficult as it has been, rip muscle memory). The only things I've been disappointed with are as follows:1) Med blaster is still pretty bad with mender's on (pvp). It's overall heal is fairly low and the reliability of it is meh but most of the time there's better stuff to do than 1 spam on med kit so that's a fairly trivial thing for me anyways. Maybe increase cone size so you have a bit more leeway in healing your opponents? The scaling change was nice though, I really feel the difference in the kit between using healing power and not, very pleased.2) The bandage blast in an arc thing imo needs to have a target so you can determine where to launch the packs instead of having it be a cone from wherever your char happens to be facing in a given time.

They aren't huge changes but it would imo certainly help out a little bit more with getting the flow of the kit just right.

[Josif.2015]

@Ario.8964 said:Med kit is definitely nice now. I've been having a good deal of success with it as I've been playing with it (although I will say I didn't expect shifting from years of using healing turret to med kit to be as difficult as it has been, rip muscle memory). The only things I've been disappointed with are as follows:1) Med blaster is still pretty bad with mender's on (pvp). It's overall heal is fairly low and the reliability of it is meh but most of the time there's better stuff to do than 1 spam on med kit so that's a fairly trivial thing for me anyways. Maybe increase cone size so you have a bit more leeway in healing your opponents? The scaling change was nice though, I really feel the difference in the kit between using healing power and not, very pleased.2) The bandage blast in an arc thing imo needs to have a target so you can determine where to launch the packs instead of having it be a cone from wherever your char happens to be facing in a given time.

They aren't huge changes but it would imo certainly help out a little bit more with getting the flow of the kit just right.

I agree with both of those points. They could've been better, but the other skills are just so amazing that I can forgive it for now. They could've also made it available underwater. I never expected for the Med Kit to be reworked in this balance patch, but I'm glad they did it.

The amount of condition cleanse you got from the kit is amazing: 2 from Healing Turret every 15 seconds, 4 from Cleansing Field every 15 seconds. The healing skill Bandage heals you more than Healing Turret even when you detonate it: 5.4k health every 14 seconds if you're using the Tools specialization. You need the Health Insurance trait to make it worth it. This rework has increased core engineers' skill cap, went from 10 and this kit alone cranked it up to 11.

One last thing, make sure to practice the healing rotation that I've provided above your comment.

[TheWolf.1602]

the old med kit could also remove 4 condi, it just had more skills involved...

[Josif.2015]

@TheWolf.1602 said:the old med kit could also remove 4 condi, it just had more skills involved...

And they were all terrible. By the time you cleansed 4 conditions, you could've used the Healing Turret and instantly cleansed 2 conditions. Not to mention the small hitbox on the bandages and the lackluster boons you get from them. This is why the kit was considered the worst healing skill for the engineer before it got reworked.

Cleansing Field lasts for 4 seconds and it can cleanse 4 conditions off yourself and your allies. It is also a water field, meaning if you use Infusion Bomb which is a blast finisher, you can create an AoE heal and if you use other blast finishers you can double that AoE heal.

[TheWolf.1602]

@Hoodie.1045 I know the old med kit was sub par, but condi cleanse wasn't the problem. the biggest issue with the boons was the short duration of resistance on #5. if you wanted to cleanse multiple conditions you could blast a light field or use Med Pack Drop. The new med kit is nice for group play, but for solo play i'm not convinced it's that much better...

[Josif.2015]

@TheWolf.1602 said:@Hoodie.1045 I know the old med kit was sub par, but condi cleanse wasn't the problem. the biggest issue with the boons was the short duration of resistance on #5. if you wanted to cleanse multiple conditions you could blast a light field or use Med Pack Drop. The new med kit is nice for group play, but for solo play i'm not convinced it's that much better...

It's quite good even in solo play actually. I've received the most healing stat at the end of a PvP match multiple times, even without using the Mender's Amulet and playing as a core power Engineer. Combine that with Med Pack Drop along with the Super Elixir from the Elixir Gun and you've got yourself a really good support build.

[TheWolf.1602]

@Hoodie.1045 my biggest issues with the new med pack is #2 is useless for solo play. coupled with the lack of permanent swiftness(outside of streamlined kids) and the lack of buffs to the toolbelt skill(especially compared to added functionality of other short CD heal skills like withdraw). I guess I'll just have to adjust to the new med kit :)

[Josif.2015]

@TheWolf.1602 said:@Hoodie.1045 my biggest issues with the new med pack is #2 is useless for solo play. coupled with the lack of permanent swiftness(outside of streamlined kids) and the lack of buffs to the toolbelt skill(especially compared to added functionality of other short CD heal skills like withdraw). I guess I'll just have to adjust to the new med kit :)

While I love the new rework on the Med Kit, I think that it can be even better:

1. Med Blaster - increase the healing and make it not having to rely on allies having boons in order to be effective.
2. Bandage Self - reduce the cast time from 1 seconds to 0.75 seconds and have it apply resistance or protection when you heal yourself for 6 seconds.
3. Bandage Blast - make it the only ground targeted skill similar to Med Pack Drop. It functions exactly the same as Med Pack Drop and it heals for the exact same amount, only this time you can pick them up for more self-sustain. It may seem a bit unbalanced when you can throw these bandages every 8 seconds, but it's a support kit. When you consider how Tempests, Druids and Firebrands can heal their allies, why not give the engineer this amount of healing capability?

For now, use the Med Kit double AoE heal rotation: 4, 3, 5, extra blast finisher.

[TheWolf.1602]

@Hoodie.1045 nice suggestions, I wonder if Anet will ever make auto attacks for kits that aren't terrible :) it's a shame I like kits so much...

[Josif.2015]

@TheWolf.1602 said:@Hoodie.1045 nice suggestions, I wonder if Anet will ever make auto attacks for kits that aren't terrible :) it's a shame I like kits so much...

Same here. Here are a few suggestions on improving some of the auto attacks that I'd like for ArenaNet to improve:

1. Rifle - increase the damage because the current damage is very mediocre.

2. Grenade Kit - the auto attack deals way less damage and it scales poorly with power damage compared to Shrapnel Grenade. Make it deal more damage than Shrapnel Grenade because it's a hybrid skill, yet it deals more damage and it scales better with power damage than the auto attack. Making the auto attack deal more damage would make it more threatening. In its' current state, I feel like I'm throwing pebbles at people rather than throwing actual grenades.

3. Tool Kit - reduce the cast time to 0.5, 0.5 0,5, similar to the Scrappers' hammer and have it apply confusion on hit instead of cripple. This is the closest thing that comes to a melee weapon that core engineer can use. The problem is the slow auto attack makes it worthless, so just reduce the cast time and replace the cripple with confusion in order to make it the defensive kit that it's meant to be and not have only 3 out of 5 skills be useful while the rest are useless.

[TheWolf.1602]

@Hoodie.1045 toolkit could be better if the cast time of the pull would be shorter, the block is nice, the rest is questionable... at least it has more utilites than grenade and bomb kit, those seem to focus on damage and even that is mediocre at best...

[Ario.8964]

@Hoodie.1045 said:

@Ario.8964 said:Med kit is definitely nice now. I've been having a good deal of success with it as I've been playing with it (although I will say I didn't expect shifting from years of using healing turret to med kit to be as difficult as it has been, rip muscle memory). The only things I've been disappointed with are as follows:1) Med blaster is still pretty bad with mender's on (pvp). It's overall heal is fairly low and the reliability of it is meh but most of the time there's better stuff to do than 1 spam on med kit so that's a fairly trivial thing for me anyways. Maybe increase cone size so you have a bit more leeway in healing your opponents? The scaling change was nice though, I really feel the difference in the kit between using healing power and not, very pleased.2) The bandage blast in an arc thing imo needs to have a target so you can determine where to launch the packs instead of having it be a cone from wherever your char happens to be facing in a given time.

They aren't huge changes but it would imo certainly help out a little bit more with getting the flow of the kit just right.

I agree with both of those points. They could've been better, but the other skills are just so amazing that I can forgive it for now. They could've also made it available underwater. I never expected for the Med Kit to be reworked in this balance patch, but I'm glad they did it.

The amount of condition cleanse you got from the kit is amazing: 2 from Healing Turret every 15 seconds, 4 from Cleansing Field every 15 seconds. The healing skill Bandage heals you more than Healing Turret even when you detonate it: 5.4k health every 14 seconds if you're using the Tools specialization. You need the Health Insurance trait to make it worth it. This rework has increased core engineers' skill cap, went from 10 and this kit alone cranked it up to 11.

One last thing, make sure to practice the healing rotation that I've provided above your comment.

Oh believe me, the first thing I did when I saw med kit get a water field was figure out all the possible heal rotations I could make out of it. It really was a quality rework, not something I thought I'd ever say about med kit XD

[Ten.2617]

Good and very needed buff. Ty Anet! Good Job!