Generally from SPVP point of view, these are my concerns. Feel free to share your thoughts please.
AI and bounding
AI of pets and minions in the game still needs lots of development and mechanist gets an unchangeable single pet. ( Yeah you can modify some skills via traits and you need to sacrifice a trait for the skill. Bounded 9 traits and skills.)
Lost skills:
Entire toolbelt skills (24 skills)
It contains healing skill of a healing kit, stun breakers, many projectiles and elixirs etc.
Chance of carrying a different elite other than signet.
Killed mech means you are useless now and it happens quite a lot in team fights.
Skills that are only useful when they have tollbelt skills.
Lost traits:
If mech dies you lose entire mechanist trait line (12 traits). I find that ridicilous.
Optimized Activation (Tools minor 1, unavoidable trait)
Static Discharge (Tools adept 1)
Mechanized Deployment (Tools minor 2 , unavoidable trait)
Kinetic Battery (Tools grandmaster 1)
Soothing detonation ( Inventions master 2)
Lost build crafting possibilities, diversity of specialization dynamics and fun of playing a " jack of all trades " class.
Mechanist is doing fine right now because of the exaggerated numbers, skills and traits functions. Aside from that, it does not bring aything to table and you are not flexible. All of my concerns might seems like related to toolbelts. But cutting more than half of skills, one and half of traitlines and many possibilities of combinations shows that desinging team was amazed with big robot idea more than it is functionality.
So, what do you think ? This is my first time in 10 years in the game questioning the existence idea of a specialization.