The Drawbacks Of Having a Main In GW2

[Iskander.6309]

Lets me start off with: I main Engineer. I love its playstyle. I love the utility. But I say this because I will compare the patchnotes to this. And hope to explain some feelings people with main classes have when reading the patch notes.

 

On this forum, and on Reddit, with high frequency there are posts of someone starting GW2 and asking a question along the lines of: 
"Hello, I'm new, I like this playstyle, what class would fit this?"

And in line with that thought, you will get some decent answers of people explaining playstyles and what kind of endgame the class has (love you guys, keep it up). But also, and these people are not wrong, there are quite some people who answer: Guardian. And rightfully so.

 

With the upcoming patch as an Engineer, I am of course overjoyed. It looks like we get a chance at the HFB spot. Quickness has been granted to the Scrapper.

What ANet write is: 

Quote

While the Scrapper can be played as an effective healer, it hasn’t had access to the offensive boons it needs to be truly valuable as a support role in group PvE content

I find this hilarious for this reason: If you look up synonyms for Scrapper in general, nothing will be portrayed as a healer, or defensive idea behind it.

 

Anyways, on to the actual annoyance I had for the Balance patch.

Quote

Guardian has always been a very flexible and powerful profession. While we are happy with the current build diversity available to guardians—and we are working to extend that same diversity to other professions—we’ve observed that all guardian damage builds, both condition and power, utilize the same combination of the Zeal and Radiance specializations, as they have optimal trait choices for each.

This is by far the most appaling thing I can read when you main Engineer.
Engineers have condi and power options, both in Holosmith (and yes I checked other classes, Engineer might be lucky there). But both these builds use the same traitlines. 

Where's the change for Engineer there? I couldnt find the explanation? 

 

If you compare that to the Guardian... Well HFB has 3 options for traitlines. Yes not just traits, no, 3 traitlines. And reading the patchnotes they will have more than 1 traitline for CFB as well. 

If Guardian was as balanced and as flexible as they say, couldnt they just try to get other classes on par with them and ignore the Guardian as a whole? 

 

So if you main anything, if you dont have 3 options for traitlines in your healspec, or 2 for your condi spec. Then the actual balance ANet spouts when balancing the Guardian feels like even worse balance. 

 

And in this, after all is said and done, I feel like Engineer got the long end of the stick (wut) compared to other classes, except for the only already balanced and flexible Guardian. 

 

Gw2 is however in a good spot, but new players asking for what class they should play, should read about what other people main, and what makes them so great. And that is still not the case with this balance patch, it feels like its getting worse, even though there is potential, and there are intentions to fix it.

 

Dear ArenaNet, dont buff already flexible classes. Make unused traitlines and classes playable and competetive please. 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Iskander.6309

[Cyninja.2954]

This seems a very PvE centric interpretation and vision and less a discussion about having a main but instead a complaint thread why engineers are not guardians in this game.

 

The most common recommendations as far as class choice to new players are:

guardian, warrior, ranger and necromancer. Why? because those 4 classes are the most straightforward, similar to other games and easiest classes to start on. Subsequently, mesmer, elementalist and engineer are usually less recommended.

 

Sticking to only 1 class, as  many players do, puts you at a severe disadvantage in this game no matter which game mode. Depending on patch cycle, classes are in different demand and able to differently fulfill roles. There were times when guardians had the severe short end of the stick everywhere, though this is 4 years past.

 

Any complaint starting with "I main X, thus my complaint is valid" can already be dismissed since if you "main" anything in this game, you will be of limited use from the get go to competent groups. Unless "main" means you enjoy playing that character most, but are flexible enough to play different characters and roles, in which case it is unfortunate but that's how patch cycles work in MMORPGs.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Cyninja.2954

[Iskander.6309]

1 hour ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

Any complaint starting with "I main X, thus my complaint is valid" can already be dismissed since if you "main" anything in this game, you will be of limited use from the get go to competent groups. Unless "main" means you enjoy playing that character most, but are flexible enough to play different characters and roles, in which case it is unfortunate but that's how patch cycles work in MMORPGs.

So if I admit I dabble in 6 other classes I am in the clear?

 

I have 7 classes geared for raids yet only 5 for fract cms 

 

Also I have 6 classes with open world builds. 

 

I play pvp on only 3 and wvw on only 1 (because I can my Engineer on both elite specs there actually) 

 

I just hope that ANet realises that inherently people will look for something that fits their personality first, or just want to play something that they find cool. And currently if you read about balance and balance patches theres a lot of noise coming from frustration because a whole lot of classes are not Guardians at the moment.

 

A lot of skills could use some love, and not only the much played ones. And those arent getting any balances right now. 

 

Engineer will have the potential to compete for the fractal healer spot. And I really hope it plays as such. 

[Iskander.6309]

2 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

This seems a very PvE centric interpretation and vision and less a discussion about having a main but instead a complaint thread why engineers are not guardians in this game.

 

The most common recommendations as far as class choice to new players are:

guardian, warrior, ranger and necromancer. Why? because those 4 classes are the most straightforward, similar to other games and easiest classes to start on. Subsequently, mesmer, elementalist and engineer are usually less recommended.

 

Sticking to only 1 class, as  many players do, puts you at a severe disadvantage in this game no matter which game mode. Depending on patch cycle, classes are in different demand and able to differently fulfill roles. There were times when guardians had the severe short end of the stick everywhere, though this is 4 years past.

 

Any complaint starting with "I main X, thus my complaint is valid" can already be dismissed since if you "main" anything in this game, you will be of limited use from the get go to competent groups. Unless "main" means you enjoy playing that character most, but are flexible enough to play different characters and roles, in which case it is unfortunate but that's how patch cycles work in MMORPGs.

Wait did you actually move this thread to engineer? Lol. Sad. I post from a point of view as engineer main, but it you could replace the word engineer with 7 other classes. 

[Infusion.7149]

GW2 is generally alt friendly , at least until they unleashed the build template atrocity ; equipment templates are most relevant to chronos and not engis. There is very little reason to "main" anything. "Maining" a class ends up with players that only complain about the counter class all day.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Infusion.7149