Engineer, the Love/Hate Relationship

 Hello. I am an Engie. Yes, I admit it. I run not one, but TWO alts that are level 80, and both are Engies. I also am a Beta Baby. And I STILL don't know how to play my class.

Engineer is one of the two classes with the highest cap. The other is Elementalist. Sorry, all you other classes just don't cut it. You start easy and get hard. We start confused, go through bored, trip on our flamethrower, land on grenades, and end up complicated and amazed. We have so much at our fingertips that, if you learn the class and what you can do, you can do anything.

Engies are the game's great secret. They are such a great secret that everyone knows about them. But no one knows them. We are the chameleons of the game. We can tank, we can dps, we can heal, we can cc, we do combos on our combos, and we can do things no other class you have played, in any game, has ever managed to do.

Yes, Engineer in GW2 is a unique class. We have more options for play than anyone. When I am asked what build to use, I always ask "How are you planning to play?" Because your build depends on what you want to do. Hopefully the series of posts I am going to do here will help people learn a bit about this overwhelming, under-recognized, underutilized, underplayed, well known hidden secret.

I shall be wordy, I warn you now. But I hope I shall be fun. And interesting. And insightful. And enlightening. And my Asura Engie just got slapped by my Norn Engie for this. So... on to the first installment of this saga:


The Engie: Basics

The Engie, as a class is not an easy class to play. Leveling solo SUCKS, unless you have played enough to know the class at least a bit. And if you have never played an Engie, you don't know the class until you have leveled to at least level 40. So prepare for slow going or get a buddy. Both work.

Engineers are one of the classes that don't have a 'swap weapon' choice after you get so high. We also have very few actual weapons. Pistol, shield, rifle. Underwater is harpoon gun. That is it. No fancy stuff for us. At least not in the equipable weapon category.

We wear medium armor. So we are fairly squishy. Luckily we don't tend to melee too much. We like to do too much to our opponents to want to be close.

If you like doing crowd-control, piling conditions on like snowflakes in a blizzard, and generally causing confusion and mayhem, this is a good class for you. IF you can learn, remember, and adapt. Because the Engie is nothing, if not adaptable.

Engies have something else. Engies have kits. Kits are wonderful things. We have kits to blow things up, kits to poison, kits to burn, kits to heal, and more kits to blow things up. And we use them all. THOSE are where we shine. Yes, we have weapons, but most Engies rarely use them. In fact, if you ask an Engie what their favorite weapon is, they will either tell you "FLAMETHROWER", "'NADES", or "BOMBS", as a rule. None of which are actual weapons, but kits.

An Engineer's trait lines are explosives, firearms, inventions, alchemy, and tools. Our armor choices run from Celestial, to clerics, Valkyrie, knights, rabid, zerker.... well, you get the picture. There are as many gear choices as there are playing styles. And our playing styles are endless.

I will tell you this now, if you start an Engie, you will be frustrated and bored for the first 10 levels or so, then you get the flamethrower. The fun with that for leveling lasts about... 2 levels. Then you will be frustrated and bored. You will stay that way until it clicks in your head, and you start learning about your kits, and combos. And joining with others to do things. Then, suddenly, you aren't dying, you aren't frustrated at turrets that are destroyed as fast as you put them out, and you are fitting in. Healing, fighting, confusing, blowing things up, burning them, and generally making it look like an Asuran slumber party in a pyrotechnic lab. Fun times.

If you want instant gratification for a class, that you get as soon as you play, roll a warrior. If you want a challenge, and are willing to invest time studying it, an Engie may be for you. Or maybe not. We will see.

The Weapons (including kits)

An Engie has, as I have said, few weapons that they use. So sorry, you Legendary collectors, pick another class. We have pistols, we have pistols (main and off hand) we have shields, and we have a rifle. Underwater it is a harpoon gun. Not a lot of choice here.

Or is there? Most people would assume pistols for close work, shield for defense, and rifle for range. If that is what you think, you have a lot to learn about Engies.

We are Engineers. We modify things. Shoot bullets with a rifle? Really? Since when? My rifle shoots a normal rifle shot (1) from the hip. It is SLOW, by the way. But I don't use my rifle for that, usually. I use it to net my opponent (2) so he cannot get away. I use it like a shotgun, scattershot (3) across several foes, doing more damage the closer I am. I also have an overcharged shot (4), which sends both me and my foe flying in opposite directions. It cures immobilized, crippled, and chilled on me. And gets me away from my opponent for a few seconds. Then I have my Jump Shot (5). It is a Combo Finisher (more about combos later), sends me flying in to a set spot, does damage when I land, and inflicts vulnerability on my foe. Pfft. Who needs bullets?

And when it comes to pistols, which are mid- to close-range for us, we don't bother with normal bullets there, either. I have an explosive shot (1) that causes bleed, and explodes on contact. It is a combo finisher (projectile). I have a poison volley (2) which does 5 darts covered in poison. The accuracy is not as good, but if you are close, they hit, and damage multiplies for every hit in a barrage. Then we have static shot (3) which is a sort of aoe, bouncing from foe to foe (up to 4 bounces) and damaging, confusing, and blinding them. And that is ranged to 900 units. Fun in a crowd. If we use it in the off-hand position, we have a blowtorch (4) which does a single burst of flame, causing burning. Then we have the glue shot (5) which causes cripple and immobilizes your foe. Again, who needs bullets?

Our last choice on land is a shield, equipped in the off-hand position. It does two things. First we have magnetized it (4), to reflect projectiles and push back foes. And second, it has been electrified. Static shield (5) will stun any nearby attacker that hits it, block hits, and then you can throw it, doing damage and stunning those it hits. THAT is a combo finisher (projectile) as well.

Underwater, we have the standard harpoon gun... sort of. Our harpoon gun does not fire a single harpoon. Or more than one, for that matter. We fire torpedoes (1) which home in on our foe, and is a projectile finisher. We send out mines (2) which we can then detonate, inflicting vulnerability. We have a tricky little number we call a retreating grapple (3), which will send us backward, while firing a grapple to yank our opponents towards us. It causes bleeding, and is a combo finisher (projectile). We have a timed charge (4) which damages and burns foes when it detonates. It, too, is a combo finisher (projectile). Lastly, we have a net wall (5) which immobilizes foes, is a combo finisher (projectile), and can be deployed at different distances from us. Kinda cool, hmm?

But, as I said earlier, most Engies don't do too much with their weapons. Hard to believe? Hang on to your backpacks, because our kits are where we make you go "OMG! WTF?". Our friends duck and hide, our foes just wander around lost and confused as we teach them what mayhem and havoc really mean. WHEN we can play this well, which I have already said, I cannot. From me, expect nothing. But a guide, a lot of words, and a few snickers here and there.


Starting with Heals

When you start playing, you have your weapon skills and a heal skill. For Engies, your heal skill starts with Elixir H. This heals you, and gives you either protection (5s), regeneration (10s), or swiftness (10s). It is a good solo heal, and is 'free', meaning it does not take any skill points to get.

All utility skills past this cost skill points. You get them by leveling, by doing skill point challenges, or by using a skill point scroll, which drops in world.

The second heal skill is the med kit. It costs 1 skill point, and is great if you are the type to plan ahead. It is also good in groups, because it has a buff.

The med kit, when equipped, gives you new weapon skills. Your old ones (from your rifle, pistol, or shield) are gone. You now have skills 1, 2, and 3 to drop bandages, which provide a heal when you run through them, 4, which drops an antidote to cure conditions, and 5, to drop a stimulant, which grants fury (10s) and swiftness (10s). Each of these are up for about a minute, so plan ahead and have them laying about for your fight.

The third heal skill costs 3 skill points, and it is often the staple for engies. The healing turret. Dropping it is a water combo field, and an aoe heal that heals when you drop it, then grants a regen that lasts until the turret is destroyed or 5 minutes, whichever comes first (sadly it is often destroyed). You can also 'overcharge' it, and it will remove 2 conditions from anyone in it's healing aoe as well as offering a second healing burst. You can overcharge it as fast as the cooldown lets you (15s).

Very few healers run with the first heal skill you get. They usually do turrets, with med kit for groups or plan ahead fights.

Before going any farther, I need to explain your tool belt. NOT the kit, but the F1 - F4 extras each utility brings you. Then when I say TB (tool belt) usage, you know where it is. Each utility gives you an additional way to use each thing without equipping it.

The ones for healing are:

For elixir H, toss elixir H, granting either regen, protection, or vigor to any allies in the splash zone.

For the med kit it is bandage your wounds and heal yourself.

And for the healing turret it is to release a mist of healing from yourself, granting regen to any allies near you. It is a combo field of water.

For the other utilities, I will cover them as I speak of them.


The Utilities: An Engineer's bread and butter

Now on to the fun stuff. The Utility skills. We rarely run anything else, once we have leveled. THIS MAY CHANGE, if/when they update us to do more stuffs (like we need more to do with).

The utility skill slots open up at levels 5, 10, 20, and 30. The skills to go in them are 5 tiers, each costing increasing amounts of skill points. To make this post not be TOO long, I will make this one about the first tier. The tiers cost as follows:

1 1 Skill point
2 3 Skill point
3 6 Skill point

Elite skills

1 10 Skill point
2 30 Skill point

Now, with the first skill opening at level 5, you will be able to equip from the first skill tier. Those 8 skills cost 1 SP (skill point) each. At this point, you do not have any traitline points to make a difference, so your choice will be based solely on your playstyle and what the utilities do.

Rifle Turret: This does exactly what it says. It lets you drop a rifle turret that shoots your foes. The pros for this are, it does additional damage, it stays in one spot so you can shoot from more than one direction, and it draws aggro like crazy. The cons for it are, it can be destroyed pretty fast, especially at higher levels, it stays in one spot, and it draws aggro like crazy. I know, I know, you are confused. I told you playing an Engie would do that. The TB skill is firing a surprise shot from your belt. Pretty useless IMO.

To explain: The rifle turret does additional damage, while letting you equip some other kit to attack with, or use your regular weapon. BUT it takes a utility slot that, when it is your only utility slot, could be better utilized. The turret is an aggro grabber. If you have aggro but have not started actually fighting something, the turret can, and usually does, pull the attacker to it instead of you. You may think this is good, but the turret does not last long. Which means the attacker will then turn to you, and you have no other help but your own weapons and skill. It is also stationary, which means you can move about away from it, and possibly do better damage from another angle. Or, conversely, if your target is too far away from it, it is useless. You can, of course, pick it up, wait for the cooldown, and put it down again. Overcharging it (like you can every turret) will result in 50% greater firing speed and add bleeding.

Your second choice will be another turret. Flame turret. This, too draws aggro and stays in one spot. Same pros, same cons for that. It simply inflicts burning and does damage. Overcharged it gives you a smoke screen for just over 2 seconds of blindness on your foe. Overcharged is a combo field of smoke. The TB choice is throwing a ball of napalm to burn in an aoe.

Third choice for you will be an elixir. Elixir B, to be exact. This will grant you fury (10s), might (30s), retaliation (10s), and swiftness (10s). All at once. The TB for it is to toss it, and grant allies ONE of the boons you get all four of. Their boon is random.

Next, is another Elixir. Elixir U. This grants you quickness and a random utility skill from another profession. It also breaks stun, you take 25% more damage, and your endurance regen is cut in half. The TB for this is to toss it, creating a random spell at the target location. No guarantee what it will be. Often it is stealth or speed.

The grenade kit is the next, and best choice in the eyes of many Engies. This kit uses ground targeting or fast-cast targeting, meaning the grenades do not automatically go towards your target, but land where your mouse cursor is. For many, this is not an issue, for some, it makes it very difficult to use, unless you are someplace you can stand still and just toss things. The TB for this is a grenade barrage, throwing 8 grenades at once. The skills you get when you equip this kit are:

Throw a grenade that explodes (1). Throw a grenade that explodes in a hail of shrapnel, causing bleeding (2). Throw a grenade that explodes in a blinding flash (causing blindness)(3). Throw a grenade that chills foes, causing a slower movement speed and a slower skill recharge rate (4). And throw a grenade that explodes in a poisonous cloud (5) (combo field, poison). Pretty self-explanatory, things go bang, boom, and owie.

Next choice for this utility spot is the throw a mine skill. Can we say underwhelming, here? It throws ONE mine, which damages, knocks back, and removes a boon. With an 18 second cooldown, pretty useless. The TB skill is dropping 5 mines around yourself. This has slightly more than 18 seconds for a cooldown.

Last are the utility goggles. Putting them on will break you out of stun, give you fury, and make you immune to blindness for 10 seconds. The TB skill is to inflict vulnerability on a foe. Again, a pretty underwhelming utility skill. Nothing it does cannot be done better with other skills.

You do get one more choice for a skill at this tier, but it is racial, and has nothing to do with the class. So I will not cover it here.

So, there is your first utility slot, and the choices at 1 skill point each. I will cover the 3 skill point choices next.

Utility skills tier 2

This tier of skills costs 3 skill points each. They can be, as all of the normal skills can, put in any normal utility slot (you get 3). As with the lower tier, you get one racial skill that I will not go into here. I am just covering the engineer skills. This is the tier that most Engies grab most of their utility skill choices from most often.

The first choice is the net turret. Same issue as the other turrets. What this one does is fire a net to immobilize your foe. If you overcharge it, it will stun as well. Overcharging it speeds the firing by 50% The TB skill for this is firing a net from your belt to immobilize.

Second comes thumper turret. I have to confess to having only used this once, in my entire time of leveling 2 Engies to 80. That should say something. This turret (same issues) will apply cripple to your foes. For a whopping 4 seconds. Does a bit of damage as well. Overcharging it adds the ability to launch them through the air and is a combo blast finisher.

Third is another elixir. Elixir S. This one is a fun one, as it shrinks you, lets you recover from stun, and evade attacks for 3 seconds. The TB skill is tossing it, either making allies grow, giving them stability, or granting them stealth. I find that I never see my allies grow, so cannot say if it is working right at this time.

Next is the bomb kit. Again, kits replace your weapon skills. This kit gives you the following abilities: set a timed charge that damages nearby foes (1), Fire bomb, causing damage and burning (2) (combo field: fire), Concussion bomb, causing damage and confusion (3), smoke bomb, causing blindness (4)(combo field: smoke), and glue bomb, causing immobilize and cripple (5). The TB skill for this is the Big Ol' Bomb with a blast that damages and launches foes (blast finisher).

The flamethrower is a staple of many leveling Engies. When you equip this kit you make things burn. You have your standard flame jet which inflicts damage and burning in a cone pattern in front of you (1). You have your flame blast which fires a napalm ball through anything straight in front of you, then you press the skill again to make it explode at whatever distance you want (2). You have an air blast, causing burning and knockback to both foes AND projectiles. You have a wall of napalm, a rectangular wall you drop where you want, that stays up for 10 seconds burning any foe that crosses it (3)(combo field: fire), and you have a smoke vent, causing blindness for over 6 seconds. Lots of fun to be had there.

Rocket boots let you fly forward, damaging anything near your path, curing immobilized, crippled and chilled on you at the same time.

You also have the personal battering ram. Another utility I never use. It launches your foes, doing slight damage. Whoopty-doo.

As you can see, when you start unlocking these skills, things get more complicated, and a lot more fun. Stick around, there is more to be had.

Tier 3 Utility Skills

On to tier 3. These skills cost 6 skill points each. This tier contains the one kit that has melee skills in it.

The first skill here is your last turret skill. Again, same pros and cons for turrets as the rest. The Rocket Turret. This fires a rocket which inflicts burning on your enemies. Overcharging it makes the rockets explode, causing more burst damage and a knockdown effect. The TB skill is firing a rocket from your belt that causes damage.

The second skill is another elixir. Elixir C. This will convert all conditions you have on you to random boons. The TB skill throws it to do the same for one condition on your allies.

The third skill is the uber-amazing elixir R. Why is it uber-amazing you may ask? I'm glad you did! For you, it does very little. It refills your endurance. Period. But the TB skill will make you loved by your teammates, squadmates, and general allies. Because this handy-dandy little bottle of fun will, when you throw it on a downed player (not dead, just downed), will revive them. It will also cure conditions on allies that are not down, but that is not as good as the revive. Just imagine, you cannot reach your teammate with that nasty pool of poison on them, or without drawing aggro. Toss the bottle and go away. They will get up without you being there. The ultimate stealth revive (combo field: light).

Next utility skill is the elixir gun. This replaces your weapon skills with the following: A tranquilizer dart, which bleeds and weakens foes (1)(combo finisher: projectile). It also fires a bouncing glob of elixir F which cripples foes and grants swiftness to you and your allies. Bounces 4 times (2). Fumigate sprays a cone of elixir fumes, inflicting poison and vulnerability on your foes (3). Acid bomb lets you leap backwards, leaving a puddle of acid to damge nearby foes (4)(combo finisher: blast). Last is the super elixir, you toss this to heal allies on impact and do pulse heals for 10 seconds (5)(combo field: light). The TB skill for this isa healing mist.

The next utility skill is the tool kit. Not to be confused with the tool belt. The tool kit replaces your weapon skills with the following: A wrench. To smack, whack, and thwack your foes. It also repairs turrets. THIS is a melee weapon (1). Next, you get a box of nails, which can be scattered to cause bleeding and crippling on your foes (2). You have a pry bar, to smack them into confusion. Again, a melee weapon (3). This gives you a gear shield to block attacks (4). And this gives you a magnet, to pull a targeted foe to you (5). The range on this is 1200, so it is NICE for pulling from a mob. The TB skill is to throw a wrench which returns to you like a boomerang. It damages foes each way, and repairs turrets (combo finisher: projectile).

The last skill in this tier is slick shoes. This sprays oil behind you, knocking down and blinding your foes. The TB skill for this is super speed, doubling your running speed.

This wraps up the normal utility skills for this class. They can go in the 3 normal slots in a mix-and-match way. Next up? Elite skills!


The Elite Skills

In this post I will cover the last two tiers of utility skills, the Elites. There are 2 at 10 skill points each, and 1 at 30. The others in these tiers are racial, not class. Again, I do not cover those, just the class ones. You get one slot for elite skills.

Your first 10 point elite skill is the supply kit. This is the most commonly used elite of the 3 you get. It is ground target (to your mouse cursor), and drops supplies. these consist of bandages and turrets. It is random as to which turrets you get. Most just like the bandages (combo finisher: Blast). There is no TB skill for elites.

The other skill is the mysterious elixir X. This skill will turn you into a whirling tornado or a rampaging brute. As a tornado, you can electrify yourself, causing lightning, pick up dust and blind your foes, or pick up rocks and damage them. Those three things replace all your weapon skills. The rampaging brute lets you smash, bash, and uppercut your foe, inflicting cripple, vulnerability, and daze on them (1), lets you do a pushback with a kick (2), charge your foe, damaging them (3)(combo finisher: leap), throw boulders, stunning them and damaging them (4)(combo finisher: projectile), and do a seismic leap, doing damage and knocking down nearby foes (5)(combo finisher: blast). This has no TB skill.

The 30 point skill in this area is to build a mortar, usable by anyone. This, when you step into it, gives you the following: Launch a mortar shot, doing damage (1). Launch a caltrops mortar, causing bleeding and cripple (2). Launch Elixir, healing allies (3), Launch ice mortar, chilling foes (4) (combo field: Ice). And launching a concussion barrage, causing knockback (5). This stays up for 2 minutes, and has a cooldown of the same length, so can be up constantly, almost. Range is 1400.

This is just the basics.  Explore, examine, and try everything.  Engies are the Swiss-army knives of GW2.

Unsustainable population density

I have a couple of arguments against sustainability of the global population. My links are to environmentalist sites because this sort of thing is usually discussed on environmentalist sites. I generally try to avoid environmentalist sites in a debate. The material found on these sites are pretty solid though, especially the last one.

Please note that the problem has increased since a couple of my sources were written. For instance, my last source was written when the population was at 5.5 billion. It is now stated at, I think, 7 billion.

Sustainability is best defined as: "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

The Water Supply

http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=959

That is short enough to just put a link.

Climate Change

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/science/earth/05harvest.html?pagewanted=all

Basically, due to climatic change many scientists believe that we are soon going to have to genetically modify crops to survive.

Carbon Footprint

A few links supporting the following:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/demystifying-sustainability.html
http://co2now.org/


The magic number for this planet's carbon footprint, which is the biggest threat to our planet's survivability, is figured at 350 ppm, according to most scientists. This is the point where the oceans, trees, and other life forms (plant, mostly) can absorb the CO2 fast enough to keep the life forms balanced. Currently it sits at about 390.02 ppm. So this, the biggest factor in our planet's sustainability is past it's survivability point.

You mention living in places like the areas of Russia that are unpopulated or underpopulated. You are not taking into account this carbon footprint. The more land populated by humanity, the less plant life there is (proven throughout history, look at the rain forests and how they are being destroyed for farms, providing much less plant life). Mankind is no longer able to live in an untamed wilderness. We are no longer hunter/gatherers. We have to beat this planet into submission to survive. In doing so, we are using the natural resources at an alarming rate (non-sustainable), increasing our carbon footprint by putting more CO2 into the air (breathing and other emissions by animal life) while destroying the factories that balance that (plant life).

As I am stating current worldwide data, I am not saying any type of lifestyle, American or otherwise. I am saying the lifestyle we, as a planet, currently use. Factor in how many are starving, you can see how we have exceeded our sustainability.

Several points, not including the above

I am copying and pasting directly from the website itself:
http://www.dieoff.org/page112.htm

**"One measure of the impact of the global population is the fraction of the terrestrial net primary productivity (the basic energy supply of all terrestrial animals ) directly consumed, co-opted, or eliminated by human activity. This figure has reached approximately 40% (Vitousek et al. 1986). Projected increases in population alone could double this level of exploitation, causing the demise of many ecosystems on whose services human beings depend."

**"Ecologists define carrying capacity as the maximal population size of a given species that an area can support without reducing its ability to support the same species in the future. Specifically, it is "a measure of the amount of renewable resources in the environment in units of the number of organisms these resources can support" (Roughgarden 1979, p. 305)

For human beings, the matter is complicated by two factors: substantial individual differences in types and quantities of resources consumed and rapid cultural (including technological) evolution of the types and quantities of resources supplying each unit of consumption. Thus, carrying capacity varies markedly with culture and level of economic development.

Given current technologies, levels of consumption, and socioeconomic organization, has ingenuity made today's population sustainable? The answer to this question is clearly no, by a simple standard. The current population of 5.5 billion is being maintained only through the exhaustion and dispersion of a one-time inheritance of natural capital (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1990), including topsoil, groundwater, and biodiversity. The rapid depletion of these essential resources, coupled with a worldwide degradation of land (Jacobs 1991, Myers 1984, Postel 1989) and atmospheric quality (Jones and Wigley 1989, Schneider 1990), indicate that the human enterprise has not only exceeded its current social carrying capacity, but it is actually reducing future potential biophysical carrying capacities by depleting essential nautral capital stocks. [1]

Where resources in high demand and in short supply are overharvested, a positive feedback cycle is established, thereby sequentially depleting the stocks and lowering the MSUs. For example, overharvesting of fuelwood, the primary source of energy for more than half of the world's population, has created severe local and regional shortages. To supply domestic energy, these shortages are countered by overharvesting increasingly distant supplies and by burning animal dung and crop residues, important inputs to the maintenance of soil productivity (WRI 1992b).