EdwinLi.1284

So as player explore Jahai Bluffs there will be special event where Commandos will appear in the Map. You may remember Commandos as a April's Fool Profession but now they are officially real.

It is unknown if these Commandos are from the Future of Tyria or from another alternate world or reality.

They appear around the Fortress of Jahai when the right conditions are met.

So with Sun Refuge's release, I notice the addition of extra things into the game that will upgrade and add things into Sun Refuge.

Has anyone located the specific items that upgrades Sun Refuge beyond Collector achievement upgrades?

So far I found a Pact Excavation Contract in the Pact Heart Shop (cost 5 Gold) in the new Map which upgrades Sun Refuge by adding Pact Soldiers into the place.

I wonder if these upgrades may later affect the final battle against Kralkatorrik by adding more allies and options during the Kralkatorrik Campaign?

As much as I enjoy these main event discussion, let us not forget the little side events we can easily miss because we did not explore enough.

One most noticable event happens in Sun Refuge where Koss learns that there are Sunspears that follow Tahlkora.

It is a side event but easily missed if players do not stop and explore the dialogues that happen in Sun Refuge.

So how do you think this reunion may end up?

I think the most interesting thing about what Joko say is not how the Commander is endangering the world by killing the Elder Dragons but that fact he seems to know far more about the Elder Dragons being the Life force of this World and earlier before the final battle he even mentions the Elder Dragons as part of the things he saw pass by over time as he remained in this world.

A lot of the GW lore points at Joko origin being Unknown and much of what he told others are false. It is just a guess but it may be possible that Joko has survived countless Elder Dragon awakenings because of his "immortality" and the only way for him to truely be killed was always to have his Magic "eaten" from his body.

Of course what happens next after this final cutscene certainly set up the upcoming storyline such as the possibility of Aurene become no different from the other elder dragons due to constantly consuming magic. Like when a innocent lion cub that is playful to humans start out until they get a taste for blood.

SPOILERS....

PS Joko has a point about our actions. So far we yet to personally see the real consequence of it.....

Some new idea I just thought up but I honestly am curious how people will react if the next Engineer's Elite Spec is a Two-Handed Sword/Greatsword Elite Spec that use a mechanic where the Main Weapon's 5 skills are changed based on mixing two Kits into the Main Weapon.

The Mechanic acts as a "Kit Mixer" Elite Spec that specialize in Main hand Weapon but uses Two Kits to determine the Main Weapon skills.

Players will not be able to use those two kits chosen for the Main Weapon Skills since the Engineer has taken apart these kits to modify their Main Weapon but in exchange the Main Weapon itself is now only given 5 new skills (or 3/2 new skills for Main/Off-hand) based on what Two Kits the player chosen to Mix together and the Main Weapon is now consider a Kit itself so all kit base Traits is active for it such as if Player use Flamethrower Kit mix with Bomb Kit the Juggernaut trait and Shor Fuse Trait will be active because the Main Hand weapon is considered a Flamethrower/Bomb kit by Juggernaut giving the player the trait effects and Short Fuse decreasing the Main Weapon's cooldown and cause each hit's explosion AoE range to be much bigger.

It would also be interesting what kind of new Weapon Skills would Two Kits mixer mechanic create for Rifle, Pistol, and Shield.

> @"JETWING.2759" said:

> Just give better ranged damage potential with kits, including photonforge.

You make it sound like Engineer are only smart enough to make Kits useful

I honestly hope one day Engineer get a Weapon master Elite Spec that specializae in their Main Weapons while sacrificing their Kits because lore wise they took apart their Kits and use the parts to upgrade, modify, and create new means to use Main Weapons using their Engineering skills/talents to create new skills for the Rifle, Pistol, and Shield but also access to new weapons such as Staff, Focus (melee), Main Hand Shield/Dual Shield, Hammer (new skills separate from Scrapper), Dual Sword (separate skill from Holosmith), Dual Mace, Dual Sceptor (melee combat), Dual Focus, Greatsword, Shortbow, Dual Axe, and Longbow. Each Main Weapon's skills are modified to represent different Kits such as the Axe skills have alchemist chemicals and burning liquid to represent Elixir/Flamethrower kit, Shield skills and Focus Skills (main hand and new Offhand skills) represent Bomb/Tool Kit, new Rifle and Pistol skills represent a mix of Grenade/Mortar Kit

To go with this Weapon master Elite Spec, he Engineer can be the first Profession to use Dual Shields and Dual Focus due to the modifications they did to their Shield and Focus weapon using the Kit's parts. the passive effect for the Elite Spec can be that all Main Weapons now are considered Kits so all Kit Traits will work for the Main Weapon while Kits are turned into new Skills that represent what they are as Kits.

> @"Fluffball.8307" said:

> Thieves, engineers, and warriors all use magic when fighting with firearms and guns as was stated by the devs, and most (all?) Pact guns incorporate magic. Even the pact firearm models are magic in appearance for whatever that's worth. Obviously the guns that took down Zhaitan were magic.

>

> The only reason charr as a general race concept don't use magic with their firearms and guns is because they are specifically rejecting it, but all the other races and PCs use magic.

>

>

Yes but the knowledge to properly use Magic into Guns was limited until GW2 Zhaitan Arc started.

Engineer's do not use magic in their Guns but they modified their guns to handle multiple ammo types and use specialized ammo designed to perform these things we see them do. Every Gun attack from Engineer is actually a specialized ammo.

Thieves do not use magic in their guns as well as their shadow abilites when used with a a pistol equipped comes from their sword/daggers while their pistol used normal bullets and a specialized smoke bullet. Rifle use normal bullets as well.

Warriors also do not use Magic for their guns but use normal bullets and the ability to shoot a magical fire bullet for Berserker is a more recent ability learned during HoT Storyline due to the development of Elite Specs after the Zhaitan Campaign in Tyria. Elite Specs from HoT are actually recently created abilities in Tyria after Zhaitan's defeat lore wise due to demand for improving combat ability against Zhaitan and surviving the Jungle during Mordremoth Campaign.

We are currently in the turning point in Tyria's advancement with Technology and Science since the creation of the Pact in Zhaitan Arc has motivated and increased the demand for advancing thing such as Gun Technology. Before the Pact was formed Magic was still the major factor preventing advancement in things such as Gun technology and incorportating Magic into Guns but once the Pact was formed more technology allowing Magic to be incorporated into Guns became developed.

If we compare Tyria to how it is before during the Zhaitan Arc and then compare it now, we can actually see a major difference in Technology and Science inolving things such as Guns. During Zhaitan Arc a lot of Magic incorporated Guns were new technology developed for the purpose of fighting Elder Dragon Minions. Now Magic incorporated weapons (such as Magic guns) are more common thanks to Magic Guns becoming standard weapons after the success of the Zhaitan Campaign.

There are many reason why Swords, axes and etc are still used despite the development of guns but the major factor is the influence of Magic and how power it still is compared to Guns.

Magic has a great influence over the advancement of Technology in Tyria since Magic can already perform task that advancement in Science and Technology would take time to discover. For combat use, Guns are limited by their design when it comes to their power and if they are not designed to shoot something that can ignore magic protection or prevent their projectile from being reflected back at the user then Bullets do not have much use since they will not be able to penetrate a Magic shield. Not to mention the impact of the bullet is based on the gun's design as well.

However, something like a sword has its power based on the user's strength (and magical potenial) and design thus it is not bound to only its own design to determine the strength of every hit. A Gun can incorporate magic as the ammo, as shown by mesmers, so the power of the projctile can be based on the user themselves but there is currently not much knowledge how to incoporate Magic into guns currently except for the limited amount of knowledge by Mesers with their Pistols.

Then there is the issue of ammunition which is limited on Guns unless they can incorporate Magic as a ammunition. A Gun is only useful for how much ammo the user has on them and once they run out of ammo then they are left with only the gun itself only. However, with a sword the user can always have something sharp to always aim for the fatal blow.

Asura technology has advanced to incorporate magical energy as ammo into their Guns but we seen that their effectiveness if best for range combat and if enemies were to have a strong protection from projectiles or the impact of the Guns then the only options left will be to use a weapon that can cause a stronger impact than the Gun itself which in most case is a person using their own strength to create a strong melee impact with a sword or etc.

We also learn through the side events in the world that not all people have magical potential which force them to rely on talents that are not magic based, such as Warrior and Engineer., to cover their weakness for lacking magical potential. If anything the advancement of Gun technology is mostly to provide a alternative to the magic in combat for people that lack magical potential.

> @"nopoet.2960" said:

> Wait wait .. I got it. So Scrapper is Charr inspired. Holosmith is Asura inspired. We need a human inspired.

Holosmith is Zephyr inspired Elite Spec. The Elona Engineer's found a way to use Zephyr Sun crystals as the power source for their tools which resulted in the creation of the Holosmith's Holo Projector and Holo Form.

From how Elite Spec are treated currently, each generation of Elite Spec is inspired by the Region they are from and not by Playable Race.

Generation 1 is based on Core Tyria Region and Generation 2 is based on Elona Region.

> @"Slyven.8637" said:

> If we go asuran next expansion probably be a focus "large key" and maybe it is for our golem :-) Norn you'd probably get the staff and control steambeasts. If we go Charr it's about big guns and bigger guns, so the problem is, it will probably be some kind of projectile launcher. we have rifles and pistols and "short/longbow" need to be something like a crossbow and "launch grenades" hmm still out........... probably a 1h mace be our seige repair tool.

That depends if we are going to be within Core Tyria for Next Expansion or we may go into near area such as Cantha.

A lot of people speculated 2nd Expansion would be Core Tyrai area we never explored yet and the 2nd Generation of Elite Spec to be Race themed like 1st Generation Elite Spec (HoT ELite Spec). Now that we know Expansion can go farther beyond Core Tyria regions, we may see more Continent Themed Elite Spec such as how 2nd Generation Elite Spec all originates from Elona being Elonian theme Elite Spec.

If I have to guess each Generation of Elite Spec may be based on their Region than Race which is how they explained the 2nd Generation Elite spec since no 2nd Generation Elite Spec existed in Core Tyria.

1st generation Elite Spec seem to be based on Core Tyria Region such as Scrapper originated from Charr and Daredevil was created by Pact Thief trying to traverse the Jungle.

2nd Generation Elite Spec comes from Elona where each one have a origin there with NPCs to explain their Origins.

I would not be surprised if maybe 3rd Generation Elite Spec maybe Cantha by Origin if things move more South in the Storyline with the current expanded map we have now for the current Living Story Maps since we have another 2 years before a new Expansion.

I liked the original design for it being Jack of all trade but master of none and I love tech theme Class/Job/Professions. Sadly the design has issues that trying to be the Jack of all trade but master of none did not go so well now.

> @"Chaith.8256" said:

> You claim HoT and PoF has forced Engineers to focus on kits, that's not the case. Vanilla was the era of the triple kit, Engineers were launched being very dependent on juggling kits. Original game design is the problem with the ideal weapons vs kits perfect balance, not xpacs.

>

I probably should have said more into Kits but you already understand the long lasting issue with Engineer.

By Core design, the Engineer always have the feeling that their Main Weapon was hardly worth putting much investment in other than for the stat boost.

Currently, with the introduction of Elite Specs, Anet has been trying to fix this issue by moving the lack of Main Weapon use into the Elite Spec Weapons. However, it has been a up and down fix considering the constant adjustments to Engineer's Elite Specs due to complaints on part of certain PvPers not being able to handle the Elite Specs trying to introduce mechanics and new main weapons that allow Engi to focus less on Kits and more on mixing their Kit with main weapon.

Though their focus of trying to provided viable Main Weapons to focus on through Elite Specs instead of adjustng or revamping Core Weapons can be concerning.

However, this does provide some unique opportunities for a Engineer's future Elite spec where they can introduce a Elite Spec designed to use the Weapon Sawp mechanic into a Main Weapon Modification Mechanic where Engineer can have the ability to customize their Main Weapon skill setup while providing their Main Weapon with a Long Range Skill setup and a Melee Range Skill Setup with the use of Weapon Swap to switch between the Customized Long Range and Melee Range Main Weapon Skills. Though I guess this may cause issues with Main Weapon designs since it would mean a bunch of new skills will need to be introduced for Rifle, Pistol, and Shield with new skills for the Elite Spec weapon to filling multiple ways for each weapon to function in melee and long range combat then Kits also probably adjusted to accommodate the new weapon skills and player's ability to customize their Weapon Skill set up but only uniquely to this Elite Spec due to Main Weapons basically becoming kits themselves.

Engineer is about using their technology to create and customize their weapons and a Engineer Elite Spec that allows Players to customize their Main Weapon Skill set up is certainly open for a Engineer's Elite Spec.

I honestly would like to see a new Range Weapon for Engineer or at least complete revamp to Rifle and Pistol's design due to how the newer "updates" tend to negatively effect the Engineer far more than the intended targeted professions.

They have a entire skill tree dedicated to using Rifle and Pistol but people rarely use it over a pure Kit Build set up that doesn't use a Main Weapon.

By design Engineer originally could have allowed a focus on Main Weapon with utility skills used for other things not a Kit, a mix of Main Weapon and Kit to cover the lack of Weapon Swap, or Pure Kit for a variety of Weapon Choices over having access to certain utility skills. However, updates from HoT and PoF has changed things that limited the Engineer into focusing more or purely on Kits to function properly due to new mechanics and stat adjustments.

I say Engineer has always been full of issues due to how it is designed. It was made for the type of mechanics for Core GW2 gameplay before HoT and PoF was introduced but with the new Mechanics that are introduced in HoT and PoF, the Engineer falls behind in a lot of areas unless they create a Kit build that may cause people's fingers to hurt for using it.

> @Vagrant.7206 said:

> Druidineer?

>

> Sounds a bit too similar.

Honestly, my view for Staff Support Elite Spec for Engineer will always lean to Barrier Mechanic Support type Elite Spec by using electricity to create Electric barriers that can be adjusted to be more defensive or offensive through the Elite Spec's Traits.

The introduction to Barrier Mechanic fits into a future Engineer's Elite Spec thanks to technology that can create barriers and this mechanic has the greatest potential for the Engineer through giving the Engineer the ability to modify their Barrier's effects compared to Scourge which focus more on apply normal barrier and granting boons.

I am curious on the mechanics of a Daggers and/or Staff elite spec maybe.

I can see possibility of two Mechanics being a Main and Sub Mechanic.

A Main mechanic for Daggers and/or Staff could be the Unique Energy type system we expect on a Elite Spec that focus on empowering the Elite Spec's attacks, weapon skills, and/or utility skills.

A Sub-Mechanic I would greatly like to see is the introduction to Main Weapon Modification Mechanic where the Engineer Elite Spec is given 2 (or 3) new Weapon Skills per Slot thus making Engineer the First( and maybe only Profession) with the ability to modify their Main Weapon Skill set up. for each weapon.

For Example, Rifle Skill 1(aka Auto attack skill) can be given 2 new skills being a Explosive Power damage rount that explodes on impact (great for players who build their Profession around Explosive build) and a Melee Shotgun Blast skill that is Non-Projectile and cause Vulnerability Condition per hit (Great for players who always wanted a Melee Range Build for Rilfe on Engineer. Skill 2 (Net Shot) can now be chosen between this skill or the two new skills being a Explosive Spike Round (Cause Power damage on Impact then Spreads spikes in a area to cripple enemies in it) or a Electric Net (That Cuase Power Damage everytime a person Moves and attacks)

Staff or dagger function the same as well with them having 3 skills per weapon skill slot that the player must choose to use. However, they are given 3 different Weapon attack Combos (basically the 123 step Attack skills we normally see on Melee Weapons) for their Staff and/or Dagger Skill 1 with one being Medium Range Combo, one being Melee Range combo, and one being Ranged Combo.

This would be a interesting elite spec because it not only give players the choice to choose their main weapon but how they want to design their Main Weapon to Function. It would also fit into a Engineer's Main Weapon Elite Specialization because the it follows the concept that Engineers use their knowledge to modify their weapons for combat.

With recent Staff skins adding into the Spear appearance, I expect the Warrior to treat Staff as a Spear like weapon. I would not be suprised if the Staff Elite Spec may allow Warriors to throw the Staff like a spear and their Elite Spec Weapon skin is a Spear skin.

We are even seeing new Spear skins for Staff in the upcoming contents such as Sunspear Staff skin and Dark Spear Staff Skin.

I have this strong feeling that LW4 storyline may lead us to a Inquest Asura Gate that leads into Cantha.

If the Inquest been in Elona for years without anyone knowing about them until now then it is possible they have a Gate that leads into a Inquest Research base in Cantha they may have secretly set up long ago.

> @Ardid.7203 said:

> > @"Cherubino XV.2384" said:

> > Really... we need Rocket powered throwing daggers that's cool B) .

> > If you want a more quiet version for a sneaky combat style we can throw the daggers with electromagnetic acceleration or **directly throwing it through mini portals/ gates directly on the enemy body.**

> > For the various skills obviously we can attach whatever we want on the projectiles.

> > You can use the concept to throwing anything... but throwing daggers is cool on engie and I liked the throwing spears of the paragons, or the axe throw of rangers or hammer throwing of the revenants...

> > So why not.

> I know I'm saying this a lot lately, but, really, BEST IDEA EVER.

>

I have been greatly interested in the potential for Dagger to become a Range Weapon for Engineer since the theme for Engineer's weapons are modified weapons using technology. We see this in all their weapons from pistol using modified elemental bullets, Rifle modified to hand different types of ammo, Hammer modified with Electricity and Rocket Mod to meet a heavier force on a hit that normally require great strenght of a Warrior or Guardian, and Sword been modified with a Zephyr Sun Crystal modification to produce high heat energy for the sword to slice things easier.

Daggers can be modified with Electric modifications for high voltage on hits or produce high voltage range attacks or maybe modified with a modification that allows the dagger to become a long range projectile for range attacks.

It is all about how the weapon is modified to suite the combat needs for Enginner and the most common element used are fire and electricity due to these two things being key elements in create the tools Engineer use.

> @draxynnic.3719 said:

>

> If you have to carry a big wrench in order to fix your portable mortar, why not use it as your backup melee weapon?

>

> The assumption with some of these ideas is that most engineers are still going to be using a kit, possibly as their primary weapon. A construction tool might well make a lot of sense as a secondary if you're doing most of your fighting with grenades, an elixir gun, portable mortar, or even a flamethrower.

I thnk that assumption may limit the potential of Engineer's Elite Specs if they are trapped behind using Kits as their Main Weapon 80% of the time unless the Elite Spec is specifically designed to focus on Kits or a type of Kit such as how Holosmith focus on Holo Form as its Kit.

I can see Mace as a weapon for a Elite Spec that create things such as a new Kit Base Elite Spec that is designed to be Kit focused but not as a weapon to be used as a Primary Weapon but as a scondary set of weapon when players need to enter a more defensive combat state outside of the Kit Elite Spec's Offensive Kit use since I see Mace as a potential Defensive Melee Weapon to go with Shield.

Mace seem to be in high demand because people see it as a Tool for Engineer's building ability which is a good theme for Mace Elite Spec to focus on creating new tools to fight which would result in new Kits to use for Engineer exclusively for this Mace Elite Spec.

However, if Anet want to go into other weapons then that is when they have to move away from Engineer using their weapon as a Building Tool and go into how Engineer Modify the Weapon for combat such as Dagger(main/off hand) or Staff modificed with Electric charge modification so they can generate Electricity for their attacks and Longbow/Shortbow with the Arrows being designed with tech theme modification for special effects for different arrows.

Shortbow/Longbow is the last pick I would consider for Support/Utility Elite Spec because it would fit into a Survivalist/Stealth Engineer Elite Spec.

Tech traps, tech arrows, and medical knowledge using what pieces they have to craft utility and support techs could be used as a theme for the Shortbow or longbow Elite Spec. These weapon is on the bottom of the 3 weapons for Support/Utility Elite Spec because of the risk of creativity if they were to go for Tech Trapper type Elite Spec that modify their Traps to benefit allies and harm enemies using traits to specialize their traps on where they want to focus on either Supporting allies, harming enemies in the traps. or a balance of both.

> @origin.1496 said:

> Give us an elite spec that allows us 2 different weapon types please with the ability to weapon swap. As much as I want 1 weapon, whether it be MH, OH or 2H, engineers are already short on core weapons as it is.

> Give us a MH condi weapon to go with the pistol OH and a ranged 2 handed weapon. Give us staff as a throwing javelin with napalm that explodes for aoe. Idk, idc lol.

It is kind of the design choice for engineer during Core GW2 timeframe. A Profession with few weapon choices and depend on their Utility to cover that weakness.

Now, of course, this design is not that good due to the newer mechanics favoring Professions to cover a melee and range combat.

It would be interesting if they make a Elite spec that specialize in two different weapons or provide a new second set of skills for each weapons being a type of Elite Spec Op Engineer Elite Spec that specialize in infiltration (stealth tech combat) and survival (Support using High tech healing technology) using advance technology. made specifically for this Elite type of Engineer. Their traits can even be built on choosing to be Infiltraion Specialization traits for their combat or their Support/Utility for improving their Support/Healing technology.

A Elite Spec that does not depend on their natural combat strength and endurance like the Warrior nor their agility and sneakiness like the Thief but their Technology specialized for for Elite Mission only these Spec Op Engineers can handle.

I was a fan of GW1 when it came out and I started during Prophecy Era of GW1. I would spend hours on the game during my free time when I have nothing important to do.

The game was great for its time and probably is one of the Online game that started the trend for actual Storyline Scenario quests for Online Games.

The two classes I played as the most was Petless Ranger (during Prophacy Era) and Assassin (once Factions was released). These two Professions were my favorite out of all Professions and I put the most time in these two characters. However, I do not play Thief and Ranger in GW2 because they just do not fit the gameplay style I was looking for when I wanted to play as a pure Damge Dealer Stealth class as the Ranger became manditory to have pets on in GW2 Core Era and Thief's gameplay did not feel quite right for me in this game (despite my default character are often Assassin type Characters) and Thief lacked there Shadow Attacks they had back in GW1 when it was Assassin.