stone cold.8609

Just to add support to the no group - definitely no. I've played other games that had this feature, and all it did from my perspective as a non PvP player was increase the toxicity level and gave the trolls more ways to troll in PvE. There are places already in game for you to duel. It's your choice whether to use them or not.

Thanks again Yasi! I'll gear up and try it.

Thanks Yasi! How about something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR7ensADFBjtCBGCBkCjl4BzqEkvSB7v0aaPtKA0AqXA-jxRBQBA4JAQk9HMjSwro8DP6Gm4FBgSq/AA-e

> @"Zhaid Zhem.6508" said:

> For a lot of fractals and bosses !

> Chaos, mama, Ensolyss, Ice Elemental, Snowblind, why not the ettin, captain Dulfy or even the Archdiviner.... Some people will say it's babysitting or "skillful counterproductive" but in a way this is what we're looking for in Pug, Aegis + stab cancel half the mechanicals we can ecounter, and so time saving.

> Obviously you lack portal, the focus pull, that help a lot in fractals, but add a Mirage or a DPS chrono, problem soved.

Agree with Zhaid for PUGs. So I've been looking at the builds that Yasi posted and have a question. If I am trying to maximize aegis and stability up time while still having some DPS to carry if needed, which one would I use? The quickbrand build, but with Mantra of Liberation?

I'm starting to see more support FBs in T4 fractals as well. The constant stability the FB brings is so very useful. Only issue I've seen when playing with one is learning to stay in the cone shaped area of their boons.

Thank you Wolfb! Anyone else?

I'd like to try a support Scrapper in Fractals. Has anyone run one successfully and could share the build or tips? Thanks!

EDIT: I know this isn't going to be one of the meta builds. I typically run T4s as a pDPS Holo with the meta. I'm trying to find out what's the best build possible for Scrapper in Fractals because I'd like to stay with Engie, but change things up a bit when I'm in a more relaxed group.

Sorry for your experience. Toxic people exist in game unfortunately. Dungeons used to be one of the places where you saw this kind of behavior. I still routinely run dungeons and I haven't seen this in a while (4W + 1M, 5K AP zerk or kick, anyone remember this from 2012-13?). It is so hard to get a party to run any of the paths now a days, people generally are much more accepting of any warm body to get the run going. Where I see more toxicity is in T4 fractals, esp CMs, and raids. DPS meters aren't going to change this behavior since some other more arbitrary metric will then be used.

A raid geared character kicked from AC path 2 for low DPS doesn't make sense to me. I'm fairly certain that any DPS you were doing would be much more than the combined output of 2 (or even 3) fresh low level characters that I carry through the paths on a regular basis. Two fully geared level 80s DPS builds that know the fight are more than enough to carry a full team.

I've crafted HOPE. Really like it and glad that I did it. Know that for Engie, pistol skills 4 and 5 are not changed which makes using it in the off hand only a little less desirable. You still get the footfalls (if you don't have another legendary in the main hand) and the great looking skin.

By far the hardest part of the entire collection for me was getting a successful Vinetooth Prime kill for the HOPE 4 collection. This event isn't often done and when it is, if you don't have people that know what to do (bring lots of ccs) it will fail. It took me 3 attempts to finally get it.

Also for HOPE 4, you need to run Dragon Stand 3 times, a different lane each time. I tried to double up and get 2 done at the same time but didn't receive credit for some reason. Lastly, trying to get a group to do the Champion Mushroom King at the end of Dragon Stand was challenging since most people are only interested in farming treasure mushrooms and pods.

The rest of the collection items were straightforward and didn't cause me any issues.

Good Luck!

I feel for you OP, I really do. I think I'm working on my 4th GOB right now. I've tried all the WvW I need to to know that it is not for me. And yes, I was playing in the early days when you had to map the WvW maps to get world completion (3 times) and GOE and getting that was way worse since I was on a bottom tier WvW server that basically lost control of 80% of the map within the first hour after reset. And no, it doesn't take that long compared to everything else needed for a legendary. Likewise, I'm not in favor of making WvW and PvP players to do map completion over and over for a legendary either.

I just wish that the current system would allow alternative means of getting GOB and GOE for people that already have done it once and know they don't like certain particular game modes. There really isn't anything "legendary" about the current system other than the time and currency sink.

> @"gateless gate.8406" said:

> Been pugging T4 fractals for a long time now, which means I got a support Chrono about ~10% of the time, and the only problems I've had are people **not knowing boss mechanics.**

I've been pugging T4s as well and agree completely with this. The few times that I've had a really good support Chrono post patch, they told me that they were struggling and weren't as effective as before the patch. But from my perspective, the runs went way smoother with them even with the nerf than without them because they knew how to play the class and mechanics.

I've been playing this game for 6 years. This is nothing new. Anet nerfs. Anet buffs. A new meta will form. Fractals will go on.

From my perspective, holosmith isn't overpowered. It's actually powered appropriately compared to top specs from other professions. The real issue is that both core and scrapper are underpowered. I'd suggest buffing both core and scrapper to match holosmith's performance, instead of calling for nerfs to the Engineer's strongest spec.

Thank you all for the input - very helpful! I think we just had an inexperienced group. I spent the entire time trying to stack loosely, but other members of the group were trying to stack tightly and the healer wasn't very specific on what they wanted other than they kept asking for everyone to stack so that they would have an easier time healing us. All I can say is that in this group, the healer could not out heal the agony damage I was receiving. I am fairly new to higher level fractals and this interaction really confused me, so I appreciate the advice! I now know to help the group by explaining loose vs tight stack and clarifying what the healer wants.

I was in a T3 fractal PUG group with the social awkwardness instability today. We had a dedicated healer who kept asking the group to stack so that they could more easily heal us, despite it being pointed out that one of our instabilities was social awkwardness and we really shouldn't be stacking. The healer said they could heal through it, but this was the first time I'd heard anyone tell me this before. I wanted to ask the experienced fractal runners - Is this a legitimate strategy? It didn't work out too well for this group, but I honestly don't know if it was the group, the stacking, or a combination of both.

Sephiroth - Thank you very much! This is the best comparison of Juggernaut effects to normal effects on Engineer hammer that I've seen. The effect actually is much better than what I saw in an older video and the descriptions I've found. I see the effect on attacks 1 and 3 most prominently, but also short flashes on attack 5 as well.

rng - Thank you as well for the information.

I've been researching the Juggernaut and saw some older website postings about it's splash effect not working with Engineer Scrapper hammer attacks 2 - 5. Skills 2 - 5 animations are the normal ones and unchanged when using Juggernaut. Is this still the case, or has it been fixed?

Thank you!

I'm working on HOPE and finished vol 1 with crafting Research pistol. I'm supposed to salvage it for the next volume. Does it matter which type of salvage kit i use? Is there a special kit I should use?

Some of mine -

- Seeing the fireworks show at the 2013 Dragon Bash festival.

- Finishing Arah path 4 for Dungeon Master title.

- Finally getting map completion on a bottom place server back when you had to map WvW to get it.

- The first time I heard the Asura story at character creation. Reciprocity!

- The first time I saw Rata Sum and Metrica.

Ever since they fixed the mantras, I run the Snowcrows Raid meta condi Firebrand build in PvE and find it to be very effective all over the game including PoF. I'll switch around some of the utilities to fit the situation. You can add a couple of Carrion stat accessories to get your health pool up a bit until you get the feel for the build or just want a little health cushion in PvE.

Welcome! I really like engineer and find it very rewarding to play, but it is unlike any other profession in the game. I am primarily a PvE player, so my comments are directed to this game mode.

There are a some things to keep in mind when playing engineer:

-You don't have a conventional weapons swap. Instead, kit swapping functions as your weapon swap.

-To be most effective, you have to use kits and learn when to swap them. Keep in mind that the entire Holosmith elite photon forge is essentially just another kit to swap in to.

-This is not the profession you want to be using your weapon auto attacks for damage, since there are typically better options using kits. Here is what a common/basic skill rotation looks like for power rifle attack:

Rifle skill 5 + 3 as a gap closer and initial burst. Then swap to bomb kit for skill 2 and auto attack until cool down on rifle 5 is up. Then repeat.

I'd suggest going to the mists and try this out on the golems to see how you like it since this will give you a feel for the flavor of engineer. From there, you can add more kits (photon forge for damage, grenade kit is commonly used for ranged, and elixir gun for more utility) if you want more complexity.

-The Holosmith elite is very strong and is pretty much the best option currently for doing the most DPS in PvE. It also plays differently than core or Scrapper by locking you out of kits for a short time and introducing a self harming mechanic with heat. It was designed to give Engineer a viable DPS melee spec and it is does this very well. While providing the most DPS, it also simplifies the complexity/kit swapping of the class a bit. Some people like this, and others do not. Regardless, it has brought many new players into the profession and is currently part of the PvE meta game.

Mounts and the new elite specs. Well worth it IMO.

I've got this bug now too. Have key in inventory, at 4/10 on my 3 time through the achievement and none of the chests are reset. Any word from ANet about this? Anyone find a way to resolve the issue?

> @"Horan.7013" said:

> > @"HyperLooser.2698" said:

> > If you have skill, then spellbreakers are immortal, stuff may take longer to kill than other classes, but as spellbreaker i can casually survive what other classes cannot all thx to Full Counter. As long your damage is higher than a enemies possible health regen, you'll solo it.

> >

> > Mirage dodge is pretty much a 0 cd full counter to be honest, i stopped playing my mirage, cuz way too strong in everything related non-raid pve/WvW.

> >

> > Meanwhile warrior survivability keeps getting nerfed in pve lul

>

> I agree that mirage is OP. Been playing Mirage before I made a warrior. I didn’t like the Mirage play style but yes it is OP as hell. The whole mirage cloak and ambush mechanic is bound to be broken. Not sure what Anet was thinking. How can you balance a character with such mechanics lol.

> Btw, why warrior survivability keeps getting nerfed in PVE???

Typically PvE gets nerfed because of issues in either WvW or PvP. It's been that way since the beginning of GW2 and is one of the things that frustrates me the most about the game's balancing philosophy.

Back to your original question, in my experience warrior can definitely solo champions and spell breaker is the elite that can do it easiest (because of full counter and magebane tether+might makes right). The keys are to land your bursts and full counters, use your CCs, and manage your weapon swaps.

Golems, please.