Theory Crafting the Engineer for PvP

My friend and guildie, DoubleUnder, also has an Engineer that he loves to run sPvP with. He went a different than I did, which is the beauty of a versatile class. He wrote up his build on our guild forums, which I have reposted below, with his permission:

So when I started GW2, the last class I wanted to play was the Engineer. This was simply because of the learning curve to understand how to use all the elixirs, turrets and kits worked seemed like a lot, and it seemed like a difficult task to mesh all the utilities together for a good build.

What I found using the Bursty Roamer Spec was that I had good CC and a some burst, but in no way would I be able to hold a point, or go head to head with a 100 Blades Warrior. Most of all......those damn thieves.....always spamming the Heartseeker or Backstab. The Bursty Roamer had no place in a fight against a thief.

So I set out to Theory Craft a build that could not only deal damage, but could go head to head with the DPS classes.

While Theory Crafting this build, I wanted it to be simple, yet potent. So I focused on Elixirs as my utilities. Not only do they provide great buffs, but they can make you immune to damage and remove conditions.

The ability to convert thief conditions and necro conditions into your own buffs is huge. Just let your opponent stack them on you (while burning their own cooldowns) and now you have the advantage, your opponent basically making you stronger.

I put 20 points into Alchemy for the +20% Boon duration and the 20% increased cooldown to elixirs. This is especially important to getting your heal off as fast as possible.

I took 20 points into Inventions for the added toughness, and the 20% increase cooldown to the shield abilities. (The Shield will be your best friend against thieves and warriors).

I put 30 points into Precision to get the Pistol ability increase cooldown, pistol range increase and piercing shots with pistol (allows you to hit your target and whatever is behind it).

(We need another screenshot here, DU.)

For my runes I took 2 Runes of the Monk and 2 Runes of the Water for +50 Healing and another 30% Boon duration.

My Might buff now lasts twice as long as the Elixir B cooldown, allowing me to have permanent might and stacking it in duration. This also extends my other 4 buffs a great length.

For the last two runes I took Rune of Dwayna for the +20% health regen duration.

And don't forget, throwing your AOE toolbelt elixirs helps to maintain buffs and heals when your main utilities are on cooldown. They also give buffs to your allies during a group fight.

I took the Soldiers Amulet for the added power and toughness. Because this build is all about staying alive, so toughness is important. And toughness is my highest stat on my character, allowing me to survive a long time (buffs help a lot also).

This is not a high crit or DPS build. But you will live a long time once you grasp the rotation and understand how to be defensive. I can outlast a toughness spec warrior (if I play it smart) and no longer do thieves ruin me in 5 seconds. The full build is here. It took me hours to theory craft this build, and comments and criticism is appreciated and welcome!

My GW2 Engineer Build: PyroChem

A call for Engineer builds by @Gazimoff on Twitter prompted this post about my Engineer, Heide Uhrmacher. I neither claim full credit for it, nor have I researched its effectiveness vs. other builds. It's a build I have fun with, though, nothing more. I started with mostly turrets, but found them inconvenient, and since I am F-key happy (phat lewtz!), I would often pick them them up in the middle of a fight, with the long cooldowns that involves.  I'd mostly been using Grenades until I read Syp's ode to Pyrotanks. Much of this build is borrowed from him. Coupled with that is the suggestion I got from some now-lost corner of the Innerchoobs that Elixir Gun might be a good choice of weapon kit.

My Action Bar

As you can see from my action bar, I've equipped dual pistols, though I typically use Flamethrower, with Elixir Gun for ranged attack and 5) Super Elixir AoE heal, and grenades. Using Engineer kits negates the stats on weapons, so what you equip in those slots becomes less important. My Skill slots are:

• 6) Prayer to Dwayna
• 7) Grenade Kit
• 8) Flamethrower
• 9) Elixir Gun
• 0) Hounds of Balthasar (Human Racial Elite, mostly just trying it out right now)

These skills give me the following toolbelt skills (Just like Batman!):

• F1) Blessing of Dwayna (minor ground-targeted AoE heal)
• F2) Grenade Barrage (extra ground-targeted AoE damage)
• F3) Incendiary Ammo (only useful with my elixir gun or pistols)
• F4) Healing Mist (character-centered AoE heal)

My current Traits

I've maxed out my Firearms and Alchemy trait lines, giving me an extra 300 Precision, Condition Damage, and Vitality, with an extra 30% Boon Duration. Besides the Defaults, my chosen traits are:

• Firearms IV: Rifled Barrels, for the increased Pistols and Elixir Gun range.
• Firearms VIII: Fireforged Trigger, 20% faster recharge on both Flamethrower and Elixir Gun.
• Firearms XI: Juggernaut, +200 Toughness with Flamethrower equipped, plus stacking Might.
• Alchemy VI: Protection Injection, damage mitigation if I'm disabled.
• Alchemy VII: Deadly Mixture, 15% extra damage with both Flamethrower and Elixir Gun.
• Alchemy IX: Backpack Regenerator, perpetual HoT with all kits (stacks with other "regeneration" boons).

Not Quite Done

I'm still just 75 so I have a few more points to allocate. My plan at 80 is to get Inventions IV: Stabilized Armor, which will mitigate 5% damage when my endurance (the ability to dodge) is full. I'll also have 100 extra Vitality and Healing Power, and I already have the default Low Health Response system that grants a HoT if I am hit while below 25% health.

So that's my Skills and Trait build. I haven't covered underwater combat (USE GRENADES), or Gear/Runes, because I haven't looked really closely at that, other than staying at or close to level. I hope this was helpful to people. :)

Points and Counterpoints on The Secret World

So the big Celebration Weekend is over. A lot of people who hadn't had a chance to sample The Secret World got their chance, and while not everyone was satisfied, I'm sure Funcom picked quite a few new acolytes. Kadomi gushes enthusiastically about the game, the themes appealed to her: Lovecraftian horror, LGBT-friendly (I would say neutral, or matter-of-fact). She concludes with this:

I have to say, this was the first MMO since WoW that totally made me forget the time. When my SO told me it was time to do groceries after I sat down to play it at noon, and it was miraculously 6 pm, I was boggling.

Psynister and Fynralyl were, shall we say, less enthusiastic. They bring up valid points, but much of their concern is over stylistic choices made by the Ragnar Tornquist and his team rather than (what I perceive as) flaws in the game itself. Since that is a matter of taste, there is not too much I could say that would change their minds. And that is perfectly OK. The Secret World is not a game for everyone, just the setting—our own modern world, with supernatural horrors—is a turn-off for many, and that is before you even get into the mechanics of the game.

Dark and Profane

Fyn, in particular was not fond of the dark "hyper-realistic" art style of the game. I put that in quotes because while I think that was the goal, we all have a long way to go before fully interactive video games can have the realism of Hollywood CGI. I've mentioned it before, but the uncanny valley that many of the characters live in just adds to the creepiness of the game for me. That said, I myself am looking forward to spending time in the far more pleasant climes of Guild Wars 2.

The lack of PC interaction in the cutscenes was also mentioned, something particularly noticeable to someone coming directly from SWTOR's conversation wheels. In TSW, the NPCs actually make mention of the PC's reticence. I  personally feel this frees me up for RP. My Templar is German; my Iluminata, Texan; and my Dragon, Japanese. The addition of whatever voices the devs decided to use would force me to alter my conception of these characters. Perhaps not as big a deal in SWTOR, though eventually the spoken dialogue of my characters there becomes grating sometimes, when they don't say exactly what I thought they should say. So it's a stylistic choice some people will like and others won't.

The prominent profanity laced through the game is a major turn-off for many. Both Psyn and Fyn found it not only gratuitous, but Fyn said, "It also reminded me of a kid trying too hard to be 'cool'." This is an honest critique; unfortunately, the use of profanity is more widespread than some would like in the Real World, too. Sad to say, I work in a environment where that sort of language is common. I am guilty of using it myself, because it is pervasive. Sctrz doesn't like it at all, she skipped through the junkman's cutscenes completely.

Creation and Progression

Fyn also didn't like the limitation of three character slots per account. Actually, she referred to this issue as her deal breaker. [EDIT] Extra slots are available from you account page on the TSW website. Details below, thanks to Eric[/EDIT] Fyn realized that there was a slot for each faction, and with every character capable of learning every skill and ability eventually, that may be all that's necessary for most people. But she likes to play alts in order to relax at different levels of the game, so for her three slots simply isn't enough. I am playing three alts and therefore repeating a fair amount of content, as well as progressing more slowly through it than Belghast, MMO Gamer Chick, and others. I don't need to play more, because of the classless thing; and you can see from my character pages, Dear Reader, that I am normally an unrepentant altoholic.

Both Fyn and Psyn had issues with the no-levels aspect of the game. Psyn really hit the nail on the head with his section title "Leveling Without Levels." Let's put a stop to the lie that there isn't character stat progression in TSW. As Psyn correctly pointed out, if there were no levels in the game, a newbie straight out of the tutorial should be able to walk into Transylvania (the last zone of zones) and have a decent chance of survival. This is not the case. What TSW doesn't have is discreet levels and a specific signal (The GLOW) that says, "You are now better/stronger/faster than a second ago."

Character progression in terms of stats is done through the purchase of Skills. Since you can spend Skill points however you choose, there is plenty of room to screw it up. Fyn mentioned that she didn't like having to devote skill points to talisman skills in order to wear higher quality talismans. She wanted to spend them all on weapons. What she may not have realized is that the Talisman Skills are also where you improve your characters' basic hit points, as well as their resistance to physical and magical damage. Also, each weapon has two skill paths, but it only necessary to fill in one path to wield higher quality weapons. On my toons, I have taken to filling all the talismans and the two weapons I wield in a balanced way: the Major Talisman Skill first as it boosts HP, then the weapons, and finally the other talismans. But there's nothing that says you have to do this.

In a related vein, Psyn and Fyn both disliked the inability to easily see the relative strength of their opponents; however as was pointed out in a comment on Psyn's review, the mobs do have an indicator of their strength, it's just not a number. I personally look at the mob's HP and make a judgement call on whether I think I can whittle it down before I am dead myself. I do get in over my head.

Neither Here Nor There

The questing system of The Secret World is designed to slow you down to "savor" each quest as you're doing it, limiting your current list to one phase of the overarching story, one main/investigation/sabotage quest, one "dungeon" quest, and three side quests. Attempting to pick up any further quests will result in pausing the current quest of that type (or one of the three). You can't run around and pick up all the quests. Part of the reason for this is that many of the quests, even the side ones, involve a bit of thought, and maybe some research on the internet.

TSW has a built in web browser to assist in these quests. Neither Fyn nor Psyn mentioned the need for outside research in their reviews, but it's something I've noticed others saying. This is a love-or-hate aspect of the game. TSW is almost an Alternate Reality Game, and as such, the devs have peppered the internet with sites and pages that help with the quests, or at the very least, they have researched commonly used sites like Wikipedia to help build their mysteries. And this is beyond the thorough research they did on the environment itself.

I also can't speak to the complaint that the quests send you all over the map, since I neither saw the paths that Psyn and Fyn took, nor can I gauge their tolerance levels for wandering. I personally don't think there's too much, the quests I pick up seem to flow fairly well together, and I make note of where things are so I can return when my current task is done. This is ultimately another matter of taste.

The story of what is going on in The Secret World starts with the videos you encounter at the very beginning of the character creation process. Psynister decided to skip the videos since he was going to role one of each faction anyway. This is the first time I'll actually say he made a mistake. Those videos, and the quest cutscenes, and the conversations with main NPCs, are integral to understanding what is going on here. Psyn goes further in saying, "I don’t think they did a very good job of actually telling you what the story is." I feel the information is there, but you have to seek it out.

There are two ways of telling a mystery story. One is to let the audience know who the perpetrator of the crime is right off the bat, and then let them follow the investigators as they unravel the mystery. The other is to leave the audience in the dark, as well, allowing them to figure out the mystery. The Secret World is of the second type. You don't start out with a ton of information other than what's given to you through the dialogue. As you progress through the quests, you find out more about not only the main mystery, but the secret world in general. I actually found this very similar to playing vanilla WoW so many years ago, not there is a ton of mystery in WoW, but there is a rich world to discover.

A Swing and a Miss

Psynister would also like more the capabilities of the different weapon types spelled out. Now, when you first open both Skills and Abilities a video automatically starts playing which explains the basics. These abilities are accessible at any time from the help button in their respective interfaces. The only thing I can say to beyond that is The Secret World refuses to hold your hand. Prepare to be challenged. The specifications of every ability in the game is available from the Ability Wheel interface, including suggested decks that mention their purpose or role in a group: Tank, DPS, or Healer. The Skill paths for each weapon are also based on the potential role of that weapon. For example, Blood has both a healing path and a DPS path. But you have to look at the interface to see it. I can't remember  everything it says, but I am curious, since Psyn skipped the faction videos, did he also skip the Skill and Ability tutorials?

I can understand the eagerness to just get the game going already, and I think Guild Wars 2 is a great example of getting you involved in gameplay right away, progression details can come later. TSW doesn't, other than the quick subway disaster tutorial. And even then, I can see how it may give a mistaken impression of the shotgun abilities. However, I am a strong fan of so-called exploratory learning. I am far more adept with Windows and MS Office than the vast majority of my coworkers, simply because I either have played around with the programs so much, or am willing to go to the help file to find a solution to an issue. I found TSW to be the same way. I can explore both the world environment and the UI to my heart's content. For those of you still reading and interested in playing I highly recommend this Deck Builder.

TL;DR: Different Strokes

Only so many character slots, only so many quests at a time, only so many active and passive abilities in any given fight. Using limitations, TSW forces you to focus and plan. Take the time to really look around and listen to the NPCs. Explore your Abilities to figure what goes best with what based on your own playstyle. Explore the world both for XP and to find Lore objects. I've "wasted" several hours on my characters just exploring the safe Faction capitals looking for Lore. I loved it.

Neither Psyn nor Fyn are dummies. On the contrary, they are both intelligent, thoughtful people, with whom I am glad to share an online friendship, which I hope continues after this post. :) Their posts are insightful impressions of TSW for people coming to the game "blind." I'm sorry I wasn't available to answer questions they had during gameplay; recommending healing weapons, for instance. Ultimately, it would not have made much difference. Stylistically, the game is not their cuppa tea. This game serves a niche, much like EVE. It's not for everyone, but I am glad people have had a chance to play and decide for themselves whether the game is for them. Hey guys, I'll see you in GW2!

Be All You Can Be: Protips for The Secret World

In my main post yesterday, I described some things that make The Secret World different from other MMOs. My fellow bloggers continue to elaborate their views on the subject, as well. It's not all sunshine and roses for TSW, but it seems people are enjoying themselves. (Seriously, follow those links. I'll wait here.)

I don't want to sound superior here, and I am certainly no expert on TSW. But I wanted to clear up some confusion I have heard people discussing about various aspects of the game. I guess I "get" the playstyle of TSW more than some people I've spoken with. Others have no problem with the game, but may benefit. I promised a guide, it's more of a set of protips, I suppose. There will certainly be more thorough guides out there.

NOTE: When referring to weapons, I include magic abilities, because they require a "focus" which occupies a weapon slot in your gear.

The Ability Wheel:

I had a friend concerned about the number of choices available on the ability wheel. He was concerned that too much choice would lead to vaporlock as to what abilities he should use in practice. This was based partly on the notion that all the abilities would be conceivably available if you have enough Ability Points (AP) to spend. This is not the case, as you should have gathered if you've tried spending AP at all. The various Abilities build on each other. For example, Dancing Blade, a 3AP ability, will require you to have purchased (with AP) one 2AP ability and three 1AP abilities. Furthermore, the abilities seem to alternate between active abilities and passive abilities. You learn an active ability and the next ability to learn will likely be some sort of passive improvement on its predecessor. The passive abilities also affect the damage/healing/survivability of abilities in other schools of combat. That is, magic passives are likely to affect gun/melee actives as well as spells.

Decks:

Borrowing from card games like Magic: The Gathering and computer games like the original Guild Wars, The Secret World only allows you to have up to seven active abilities and seven passive abilities in play at any given time. As you're learning new abilities, those slots fill up. So once you have more than seven abilities of either type, you have to start making decisions.

To help you, the developers in Oslo have come up with some ability combos they think are effective to fill a role in the Unholy Trinity. One of the tabs on the Ability Wheel interface is Decks, on the far left of the screen. I'll go with the devs' advice, since completing a deck will give me extra buffs, and apparently a cool outfit to boot. Having pointed that out, the decks will take quite a bit of time to complete, since every deck has at least one 50AP ability. This translates into several hundred AP. (The Ninja deck that I am working for Poppyshock, pictured, is 856 AP.) So in the early game, the decks are more a goal to work for rather than an instant win scenario.

Character Skills:

Skills are all passive as far as I can tell. Each skill level costs a corresponding amount of Skill Points (SP) beyond what you have already spent on previous levels (i.e., Skill Level 3 costs 3 AP, and a cumulative 6 AP). Each weapon has two Skills, a personal DPS buff and a support buff (survivability, healing, DPS of another player). But don't forget the Talisman Skills at the bottom. To equip a higher quality item, you must have a skill level to match the item. My understanding is that you only need to build up one of the two weapon skills (DPS or support) to qualify for a given quality level (QL).

My advice is one of balance, with the Talisman Skills built up first, just so you don't forget them. Spend one point each in the Talisman Skills, then one point in each Skill for the Weapon(s) that you are currently using. Then build the second tier of skills.

NOTE: AP and SP cannot be refunded. Stop asking. The choices you make, make you. If you want to change to a different school of combat, start spending points in that school. I've put points in the wrong school myself. You can slowly but surely built up your new abilities and skills, integrating them into your combat rotation as they become powerful enough to fit the area you're in. You only have to repeat missions if you want to. Your choices matter in the short run, but given enough time you'll be able to master all 525 abilities.

"Dual Wielding" Weapons:

Yes, yes, YES! you can carry two weapons and use them! Do it! Do it NAO! There are no two-handed weapons in the traditional sense, only in the animation of your avatar. The assault rifle, for example, only occupies one slot on your gear, as do the pistols (which you appear to dual wield). So you could conceivably have a slot each of a rifle and pistols, or pistols and a sword, or a sword and a chaos focus, etc. As Syp pointed out, having two weapons means you can have two "finishing" moves where you can do big damage or healing. I've decided the best strategy is to settle on two weapons before I train during the tutorial, based on the deck I chose, then pick my secondary weapon in the training chamber, and get my primary weapon from the first QL1 green weapon mission reward. This will require spending at least 1 SP in the primary weapon right off the bat.

A couple of points to consider regarding weapons abilities:

• Some abilities build power, others spend it.
• Abilities that build power do it for both weapons.
• Guns build "combo points" power on the target.
• Melee power starts full, then drops.
• Magic power starts empty, then builds.

So other than pulling mobs to you, if you have an ability that spends all your melee power, use it as soon as possible. Then lay enough power-building abilities to pop off a major magic or gun ability. Then pop the melee "finisher" again. If you don't have a melee weapon, I would prioritize building the combo points, then spending the gun finishers before the magic, since the magic finishers can be used on new targets, where the gun finishers cannot. These are general guidelines and I could be totally mistaken.

Missions:

You can only have one Main Mission (the red, green, or yellow ones) at a time. If you accept a new main mission when already on one, the first will pause at the current tier of the mission (i.e., 3/5). You'll have to return to the original mission giver (e.g., Sheriff Bannerman) to pick it back up, but you'll be at the same tier.

Research may be required on your mission, there is a built-in internet browser for a reason. You can search Google. Also, there are sites (set up by Funcom) representing many of the organizations found in the game that may be of information value. While there are plenty of kill-ten-rats type quests, this is not a mindless hack-and-slash. You will need your thinking cap. It's one reason I really like this game.

Yokai and Sarcan have an incredibly thorough set of guides that I am only beginning to scratch the surface of. If you are interested in indepth theory-crafting, I recommend you check in with them. If anyone has any more protips to share or wants to clear up confusions they've heard, feel free to leave a comment or question.