stone cold.8609

> @"Chaith.8256" said:

> > @"Elmo Benchwarmer.3025" said:

> > I'm patiently waiting for the day when ArenaNet figures out that Holosmith has no tradeoffs. :#

> >

> > Until then, I'm glad the studio finally acknowledged that something is amiss. Hopefully the team keeps it up.

>

> I can see the argument for not enough trade-off, but it has 2 obvious trade offs:

>

> - Overheating is a purely negative drawback that Core doesn't have to worry about when they're going about their business. This is like the Berserker losing 300 toughness.

> - Holosmith loses the Toolbelt half of their Elite skills.

>

> ???

Also you are also locked out of using other kits for 6 sec when using it, so you trade the access to kit skills and flexibility that you have with core when you choose Holosmith.

Thank you for the early communication about the balance patch changes! I very much appreciate the transparency and hope this becomes the norm.

Also, thank you for making the Scrapper Gyros work underwater! After the most recent changes, Scrapper is actually viable in PvE. Good job!

The changes to Berserker look interesting as well. I look forward to trying a power Berserker build.

I also think it would work well, especially in PUGs where you never know what team composition you'll get. Most of the time, I've found that PUGs benefit more from over healing than having permanent 25 might stacks (as long as there is some might generation, teams generally do fine).

I'm still working on a Scrapper healing build myself and agree that Minstrels may be overkill unless you want the extra toughness to try for a healer/tank in places where toughness gives agro in T4s. I'm looking at Harriers stats with maybe some Magi mixed in for more healing power and a bit of precision. Full Magi is also a cheaper alternative. Since you'll be on Med Kit and E-gun most of the time, I don't think weapon choice is too important, but I am leaning towards Hammer for the block and evade frames.

Just up the damage on rifle and pistol, and buff the under performing kits.

Engies already have a melee power/support hammer, a melee power sword, a ranged power rifle, a ranged condi pistol, a support shield off hand, and a condi/support pistol off hand. I suppose if you wanted to add another weapon that wouldn't be redundant to what Engies already have, then I see two options: a melee condi/support main hand or 2 hand weapon or an offhand power/support weapon. Personally, I'd rather see a power/support offhand added if anything.

I don't really see the need for a weapon swap option for Engie, since that is one of the functions of the kit mechanic.

Prior to mounts in PvE, guardian mobility was a less than mesmer. Now that we have mounts, mobility for any class isn't an issue anymore. Guardians have great utility as well. Dragon hunter is the elite specialization for guardian that you get in the Heart of Thorns expansion, like Firebrand is the elite specialization you get in Path of Fire. So, yes you have access to both after they are unlocked. You change them by selecting one of them for your 3rd trait line.

OP, you already received good advice on caster type professions: Elementalist, Mesmer, Necro, and Guardian Firebrand

As for the Condition Firebrand, think of it as a mid range/melee battle mage that wears heavy armor and specializes in fire based attacks. Also, the tomes mechanic have you casting spells from books. What could be more caster than that? The Firebrand also has a support build works very well if that's your thing. The Firebrand is very effective, durable (as soon as you get the hang of using blocks, aegis, etc.), great looking graphics, currently welcome in the content you want to play, and it's not too difficult to pick up and play at a competent level. Give this site a look:

https://snowcrows.com/raids/builds/guardian/firebrand/condition/

It's really not the BS core power Warrior's role to provide 25 might anymore. Bring your banners, bring the cc from mace-mace. You'll still provide a bunch of might doing this. If you are in a group that cares about such things, there will be other members of the party that can provide the rest.

I play BS in fractals and this is what helped me. Learn which fights need banners and when to drop them. Pay attention to the banners and make sure to keep them up. Learn which fights need cc and and when they need it. Camp axe-axe unless cc is needed. Practice your positioning and axe-axe rotation so that you can get acceptable DPS. Remember, your primary purpose is banners and cc.

I'm a PvE player only. While I'd also like to have fast hands as baseline, I'm not certain it would actually change anything for the 2 builds that I most commonly use. For power core, I already take the trait and trait line. For condi berserker, the skill and burst cool downs almost line up with the non-fast hands weapon swap already. I guess there are some times when I'd like to not be stuck on a weapon set, (especially bow when I want to melee) but whether fast hands was baseline or not I'm still trying to hit as many LB bursts as possible because that's where a lot of my damage is coming from.

Even with the recent changes to banners, for high end PvE you are only really wanted because of the buffs that your banners bring. Hence, warriors are expected to equip them and use them on cool down. You can take either a core power build (axe/axe + mace/mace) for ok damage and good cc, or a condition berserker elite build (sw/torch + LB) with a bit better damage over longer fights and good cc.

I'm not certain if it is still meta, but when I was running T4s a lot power core BS warriors were desired in the group.

Thank you very much! Time for me to go back into fractals!

Speaking from a purely PvE perspective, the proposed changes are not warranted since the skills in question are not overpowered and the counter play argument makes no sense here. Whether or not they are boring is also not a valid reason to change them. They finally work now and provide some utility, something that they didn't do before.

Yes, thank you for the Scrapper updates ANet!

I'm really liking the Scrapper changes for PvE. It's not overpowered and likely won't be meta, unless your fractal team needs a huge amount of healing, but it at least it feels viable and worth taking in PvE now.

I don't frequent the PvP forum, but took a look after one of the above posters called the build cancer and found a couple of complaint threads there. I hope that it doesn't get nerfed into uselessness in PvE because of PvP complaints.

Asura and the Engineer profession.

Thanks for sharing Vagrant! I've been theory crafting a scrapper support/heal build and will work some of your ideas into it.

I'm still optimizing, but have had really good luck so far by taking the meta power rifle holo build, swapping in scrapper line, hammer, plus 3 or so gyros:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFACncoCtpitoC0ehlRk67UWlWh+LzyuEsWylAA-jhRBAB4pDAgLAAlq/Y8DAwMlgXt/o8DA-e

The third utility can be bulwark gyro, rifle turret, battering ram, or whatever you need at the moment. Feels and plays very sturdy for a full glass DPS build. It does have a better burst than I would have expected (no where as good as holo, however), but does rely on keeping targets in your fields for this. The new gyros actually work now and don't die instantly or get lost due to awful AI pathing. And best of all, I can use my Juggernaut in the build!

I used to PUG fractals T4s daily prior to the update and don't anymore as well. For me, the new instabilities are just not worth the aggravation and time to PUG. If I could find a static group I'd keep doing them, but I've not been able to find one yet. Kind of a bummer, because I was working towards Fractal God title and have put this on hold.

I'm looking forward to the changes. I have a couple of Scrapper builds in mind to try with the new gyros.

Prinzsecond, Hoodie, Vagrant - thanks again for the advice! Build is working great for me now and is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.

The balance team posted the Engie changes for next week's balance patch in the main forum. Check out the gyro changes -

Engineer

With this update, we're reworking one of the less reliable skill sets: gyros. While potent, their difficulty to use and to optimize has brought them to a spot where they're not really desirable outside of a few niche situations. As part of this rework, gyros are being reclassified as wells, and the scrapper's particular version of them is mobile and point-blank to enhance the scrapper's melee-oriented playstyle.

• The gyro class of skills has been reworked and changed to wells. Gyros are now no longer targetable and instead hover over the engineer to grant their effects.

• Flame Blast: This skill now targets the ground and will explode automatically when it hits the targeted location.

• Light Strike: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to display incorrect damage in PvP when a trait is equipped with Crystal Configuration: Storm.

• Blast Gyro Tag: This skill has been reworked and renamed Blast Gyro. The gyro now creates a fire field that follows the engineer while it pulses might to nearby allies every second during its countdown to a significant explosion.

• Medic Gyro: This skill has been reworked. The gyro now creates a water field that follows the engineer while it pulses heals to the player and nearby allies every second.

• Bulwark Gyro: This skill has been reworked. The gyro now creates a lightning field that follows the engineer while it grants them barrier every second and redirects some damage from nearby allies to the engineer.

• Purge Gyro: This skill has been reworked. The gyro now creates a light field that follows the engineer while it removes conditions from the player and nearby allies every second.

• Shredder Gyro: This skill has been reworked. The gyro now follows the engineer and performs a whirl finisher that inflicts damage on nearby enemies every second.

• Sneak Gyro: This skill has been reworked. The gyro now creates a smoke field that follows the engineer while it grants stealth to the player and nearby allies every second.

• Shocking Speed: This trait now increases the radius of effect of all gyro skills and causes them to grant superspeed to nearby allies on their final pulse.

• Expert Examination: This trait no longer alters a gyro's behavior to inflict weakness and vulnerability upon its detonation.

• Crystal Configuration: Storm: Projectiles fired by this trait no longer deal reduced damage. Updated the tool tip to now use the phrase "projectile range" instead of "range threshold."

• Crystal Configuration: Eclipse: Reduced this trait's stability duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP and WvW.

• Crystal Configuration: Zephyr: This trait now causes Holo Leap to inflict cripple for 1 second in addition to its previous effects.

Thank you for the communication! This is very much appreciated!

Also, THANK YOU for the gyro changes!!!

Thank you Hoodie and Vagrant!

I use Healing Turret. I didn't even notice that SC suggested AED - doesn't make sense to me to use it. I'm using a 3 kit build with Prime Light elite for Holosmith and 4 kit build with Mortar kit elite for core, with a rotation very similar to what was outlined by Hoodie.

After playing more, I think my trouble was not being used to the ramp up time required for getting the condi damage going with this build compared to a power build. With a power holo build, the small adds melted so quickly that kiting and blinds weren't necessary. This wasn't the case with the condi builds for me. However, paying more attention to blinds and kiting (similar to what Vagrant suggested) has really been working. I was already using the cc skills and blasting the water fields.

Really liking the build!

Thanks Prinzsecond! I thought the same thing, but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I guess it's just the nature of condi vs power damage. I've started using blinds on the kits while rotating through them, be more strategic with AOE placement, and kite a bit more - all of which are helping alot.

OP - Thanks for sharing! I've been toying making a build similar to this and will give it a go as long as next week's patch doesn't come with more Scrapper nerfs.

I'm trying to become more proficient with condi engie builds for PvE and have been practicing condition holosmith and core builds in open world. I'm running the typical Snow Crows triple kit build and liking it a lot, but am having trouble with one aspect compared to power holosmith or power scrapper. I'm fine with single/few targets and after a short ramp up can melt most champs faster than with a power build (17K+ burning ticks are amazing!). However, I sometimes get overwhelmed and struggle with champs or fights that have lots of adds, ones that I can easily handle on my engie power builds. For example, soloing the champ giant in Orr - I can't kill the grubs fast enough before they become a problem. Or in the desert, my condi build can really struggle with the Forged raiding parties, something that I can comfortably solo with power builds.

Any suggestions as to how I can deal better with this?

OP - So many things going on in your post. Your experience highlights a number of issues with this part of the game that new players face, IMO.

First, GW2 PUG CM T4 and raid groups can be very intolerant of new players. There are many mechanics and details to the encounters to know and one person failing one of them can wipe the entire group. So, the PUGs put requirements in place to help ensure a successful run. Whether or not these requirements make sense is subject for another discussion. The way it currently is, it can be difficult to step up to CMs or raid groups because it can be hard to find training groups (especially for CMs). So it is a barrier to entry into this content and can be discouraging.

Second, it is highly likely that in your successful run you didn't perform all of the mechanics correctly and were not performing to the level expected by someone who is more experienced. This is natural - there is a lot going on in this content. It takes more than 1 or 2 runs to sort all of this out, what the mechanics are, how to perform your rotations optimally in an actual raid situation. While you are sorting things out you are asking the other members of your party to cover for you to some extent and risk failing the encounter, and many PUG groups don't want to take this risk.

Third, some PUGs at this level can be unaccepting of "non-meta" builds. This does not reflect the larger community and is not a reflection of the capability of your profession. Necros if played well are great in all of this content. It seems that much of the old dungeon speed runner elitism/toxicity (4 warrior/1 mesmer/zerk/5K AP/ping gear or kick - remember these?) ended up here.

You either have to deal with things as they are and continue to PUG, try to find a good guild group to run with, or stop doing the content.