WvW mortars cannons right now are useless

[Rumba.3174]

I’ve stopped 20-25 players taking sm thanks to mortar, and the lack of them understanding the use of shield generators and bubbles.

If one guy can stop 20-25 players in their tracks then u surely can’t claim they are useless.

[babazhook.6805]

There a lot of times I come upon a very small group trying to defend a structure against a Zerg and no one manning the Mortars. These things can hit places most are not even aware of due to the arcing fire. IE as example in Bay you can use a Mortar from afar to arc over that wall to where Cata's are setup to take down south wall. This can kill siege quick. Mix with incendiary and you can push groups of people out of that pocket or at least give an outmanned crew wanting to push a tactical advantage .

 

Mortar fire can take out Trebs setup in NE Camp, in SWC etc depending on where they placed. They ARE very slow to turn and I wish that just a wee bit faster and the larger Zergs will just make a point of taking them out with AOE first as they move along a wall.

[TinkTinkPOOF.9201]

Cannons are pretty good, only if the group attacking is TOTALLY brain dead, you are so close to the edge they don't have to melt the canon, it's the same as one person running into that zerg if you choose to man a cannon, 20+ players bombing one person is going to be insta down when that person being on seige has no access to skills. It is also not to hard to chain pulls and get someone off, along with fears and other knockbacks/stuns. I used to get a Mesmer to pull and position myself right with DH pull and can get people fully out of the tower/keep. Time it right and you CAN get people over that little lip, and not being able to dodge or use stab etc etc on the cannon, the person is helpless. Cannons have enough life, it's that they are all but unusable past the first shot due to how exposed the player is, same with oil. As for cannons hitting roamers....What are you doing? As someone who roams 99% of the time, how are you even getting hit? Outside of fighting someone door hugging in NPCs, and if you get hit and killed by that well....Such is life. Cannons are not very fast and are very easy to dodge. I would take a cannon health hit if it meant some sort of boon to the player, such as linked life, like a golem, being able to use from farther back etc. Or place them somewhere that is not so easy to aoe, I think this is the worst choice however as moving them will either result in them not covering enough area or being able to cover to large of an area.

 

Mortars however move far to slow for what they are. The arc also means it is very easy to position stuff to make them totally useless, another problem is line of sight for #5 skill, because while it can hit things very close or right on the wall etc next to the mortar, it can be impossible at times to target that area, a larger or farther back FOV would help a good deal on them. Also, #5 should go up and back down, as it stands now, it's blocked by so much of the structure if you aim close as its arc is almost non-existent and just about pours out of the mortar clipping walls and other things.

 

As for the people complaining about people using siege and defending a tower/keep and not outside fighting....Why are you trying to take it? Go fight people, it sounds like you want to be able to take a structure that people have put time and effort into getting upgraded and sieged, yes, they have the advantage, as they should with all the work. Siege is easy enough to counter if your group/zerg doesn't just bang it's head on a wall/door trying to get in. There used to be a thing called tactics, I remember having to plan out attempts to take a keep for hours, getting roamers to build golems, hide them somewhere near the keep, then time someone going to kill siege with a bali (but leaving at less than 5% so it can't be rebuilt) while the rest of the zerg went to get the golems that had chained Mesmer ports, numbered bubble rotation, specific builds and gear to wear as a golem operator to max its health, etc etc. but now if you cant just show up with 40+ people and toss down some siege and cap it in a few minutes, something must be done!

[ArchonWing.9480]

They seem worthless because they are the first things to get taken down by an attacking force.

 

But of course, why are they taking them down first? Because they can end a siege on their own. It's sorta like oil where you only notice how effective it is that time you don't clear it.

 

Also mortars can be turned around and sometimes fired into the keep to defend it....