Vagrant.7206

Title.

Nailed it bro

Core engineer, Scrapper, and now the Mechanist have all had to put up with bad AI (Turrets, gyros pre-rework, and now mech). They keep trying this over and over, and it keeps failing spectacularly. The only engineer spec that didn't have to deal with AI to begin with was Holosmith. Now that scrapper has also joined the field, it's seeing some usefulness.

Observed some odd texture glitches in New Kaineng. See images.

Having played condi engi for years (can't now, gives me finger cramps at this point), I can tell you that it's one of the hardiest builds in PvE. I have lasted longer on it than any other build, because it's FANTASTIC at kiting mobs and self-healing. It's a selfish build at its essence, and kiting mobs makes it ridiculously tanky. Glue shot, glue bomb, smoke bomb, ice mortar, flashbang mortar, and frost grenades mean enemies basically can never reach you or hit you if you have enough space to move. It's just extremely user-unfriendly as pointed out by Infusion. I agree with @ThrakathNar.4537 when the problem is the core trait lines. Most of the core traits are extremely weak or too situational. The elite spec trait lines are generally well-designed and cohesive, whereas the core trait lines have a bunch of random stuff thrown at the wall that doesn't make much sense. In vanilla GW2, when you could select any traits you wanted out of the list (provided you met minimum requirements), core engineer was significantly more powerful as you could pick traits that made a cohesive whole (notice that certain tiers of the core trait lines are more powerful?). But when they did the update to traits before HoT, we got railroaded into specific trait setups that they never revisited. There are also plenty of core skills that need revisiting, but the traits make a HUGE impact.

F6 is a bit of a stretch. Both literally and figuratively.

Ok, so I believe those numbers now. That seems accurate. Problem is... it's literally the core condi 4-kit piano engineer has had since vanilla, but with a mech now! Call me crazy but... I don't want to go through that again. I've had enough finger cramps already.

I would need to see a video of this or some kind of proof. 40k-47k DPS on a golem is incredibly high. And I literally just tested an unbuffed golem. It does not do 8k DPS. Tops is 5k.

Sure, but maybe you're looking at this from a different perspective from me. I generally don't do open world content (mostly because I find it boring and easy). I spend most of my time playing between fractals and PvP. Is the mech tougher and stronger than a typical pet? Sure. In the open world, the mechanist makes it easy mode. This is a good thing for people who have disabilities and struggle with some of the more fluid play in GW2. But I just did a DPS test on the mech alone against a golem. It never went over 5k DPS by itself while I was unbuffed (power and condi, tested both). This thing is not a powerhouse. It's just very durable and does ok damage. When I added myself into the fray (still unbuffed), I got 7k DPS for condi, and 6k dps for power. Those are very low numbers compared to what a holo can do unbuffed (last I tested ages ago was 12-13k unbuffed DPS). (I also got 20k DPS fully buffed condi. On holo power fully buffed, I usually get between 30-35k DPS. The numbers are just generally pretty low) TL;DR - Mech is great for open world. Everything else is a resounding meh.

Perhaps, but you're comparing apples to oranges in this case. Core ranger and mechanist are in no way similar. Mechanist lacks both weapon swap and pet swap, and all of the other stuff I previously mentioned. Plus it's an e-spec.

The ranger and pet are meant to be equal partners (obviously changes depending on build, but I mean conceptually). The mech and engi are not meant to be equal partners. A mechanist by themselves (without the mech) is substantially weaker than a core engineer: One traitline is entirely devoted to the mech instead of the 3 core traitlines. The mechanist traitline only enhances the mech, not the engineer. All the utility skills have half of their utility without the toolbelt skill. This means that even kits are weaker on mechanist than on core engineer because their toolbelt skills are absent. Signets are a piece of passive gameplay that primarily enhances the mech. Engineer weapons are generally weak and ineffectual compared to most other class's weapons (by design, to encourage kit use). In other words, the engineer is acting more like the mech's minion than the other way around. So the mech kitten well better be more powerful than a ranger's pet - a mechanist has little else going for them.

I spent some time with the Mechanist earlier this week and I've had some time to think about my feelings on it. The Good - This e-spec meets the engineer fantasy that I think turrets were supposed to have, but fell short. - The e-spec is simple to operate, which I think is good especially for players who might have disabilities The Bad - An AI-based spec. AI in this game is notoriously bad (rangers/necros/scrappers/turrets can attest). It suffers from difficulty with control, and feels unresponsive. This also means that mechanist basically won't exist in PvP, and only in limited forms in WvW. There needs to be more control functions for the golem to allow more versatile play - options such as lock target, return to me, switch between ranged/melee, and placement of the mech. - The mechanist itself doesn't offer anything particularly unique, other some buffs that engineer didn't have access to before. - The mech will likely get nerfed (see turrets) because of its more passive playstyle. Signets make this passive playstyle even worse. - Many traits and utility skills simply are worthless because of a lack of synergy with the mech and no toolbelt skills. - When the mech is down/dead, you are basically a really bad core engineer who is missing a traitline and the toolbelt. It doesn't feel very good. The Ugly - The mech itself. Without customization options, it completely misses the mark on aesthetics. - You can "rename" the mech, but the renaming doesn't persist. - It's just boring to play. You are the mech's minion, not the other way around. It just follows you while you support it. - Lack of a toolbelt basically means that core engineer has almost no interaction with the mechanist. This is like its own class rather than an espec. - I just don't see much of a place for this in high-end PvE, PvP, or WvW. It seems mostly like an open world spec. - The mace is just completely forgettable and underwhelming. I had to come back and edit this post after I remembered it was added as part of the e-spec. It also really highlights the problems that core engineer has with weapons.

The AI allies in GW1 weren't particularly good either. They often required micromanagement to perform as expected. They didn't move intelligently nor attack intelligently. The only exceptions were the AI interrupters - they could react with inhuman speed, and were part of the reason you barely saw any mesmer mains in GW1. AI is notoriously difficult to balance and design in games, especially MMOs. I'm replaying STALKER right now, where the enemy AI is significantly smarter than most game AI these days. The AI can flank you, grenade you while you're in cover, etc. But it can also pull crazy crap like shooting you through multiple bushes.

The Mechanist huh? Seriously though, not surprised given the leaks. There are a number of different concerns I have, but honestly it will come down to execution if I like it. The only thing that might annoy me outside of execution is if you're stuck with one skin for the kitten thing, like the kit skins. I don't like the way it looks.

Get out of here STALKER!