The Engineer: Excess Baggage

August 1st, 2011 BigCat72

Hello and welcome everyone, BigCat72 here with a new article for you today! I will be going over the recent release of the Guild Wars 2 engineer class and some of the conversation surrounding him. There is much to talk about so please pull up a chair, grab something to drink and lets rocket jump into this! The Engineer is a brand new class that was released not too long ago and shows off just how much has really changed in the past 250 years of the Guild Wars universe. From bows, arrows, swords and shields to guns, mines, flamethrowers and grenades! Guild Wars 2 – Engineer Skills

The engineer for most will seem like he does not fit into the genre, but if you look at the history of civilization and how war brings about innovations its not hard to see how the engineer would fit. I have seen many arguments stating that this class should not be apart of the game and that it must be some kind of cruel joke to leave it in as a part of Guild Wars 2. But I believe that implementing the engineer is probably the best direction that this game can go in. With the recent surge in popularity of games like Team Fortress 2 and the many others out there like it, this should be an automatic draw to a fan base of a genre not specific to the Guild Wars or MMORPGs.

From the Beginning, Guild Wars 2 has promised something different. Something that hasn’t been done and breaks away from the normality of the mundane MMO. This is just another natural progression of the game into being something unique, something that not just the normal RPG’ers will like. In fact the “purists” should really take a look into this class and realize that the Engineer is a new window into the game that will bring more people in for a better interactive experience with their fellow gamers.

The engineer looks so fun to play! Flamethrowers, turrets, mines, guns, bombs, grenades, and did I mention FLAMETHROWERS! In the skill preview, which I linked above, Arenanet shows you a glimpse of the utility that the engineer brings to the party. Keep in mind, in all of the skill preview videos it showed short clips of fights that took only a few seconds to kill mobs. Most of the comments that I have seen on forums and message boards is that the engineer appears to be overpowered. If you are concerned with the amount of crowd control available to the engineer, also realize that every class has crowd control abilities as well as different armor and health differentials. Meaning that Arenanet would not put something completely overpowered into the game to intentionally break what they have been working on for 5 years.

Guild Wars 2 is all about change, avoiding attacks, keeping aware of your surroundings, keep an eye out for movements and telltale signs of incoming attacks that you can avoid, and so on. If you don’t play smart in this game, it won’t matter how good your class is because you won’t live long enough to use it. This is not a game where you will be standing around firing off one single combo over and over again. Your play style will be different from everyone else. You may have a favorite rotation that you prefer but that profession has so many ways of being played that the one you prefer isn’t the end all be all. Balance is the name of the game in Guild Wars 2, where it was difficult in Guild Wars (original); you have to be the better player to win, not the better class.

The engineer will remain controversial until Guild Wars 2 is on everyone’s computer and they get a chance to play though the game. I don’t wish to dismiss the conversation, merely add to it with my own thoughts and excitement! I am happy that the community is so passionate about the way this game is turning out and the awesome thoughtfulness that is being put into every piece of the game. I imagine there will be even more debate, even more controversy until we get a chance to play the game for ourselves and see that were really just talking about magic and not the kind that lets you throw fireballs, but the kind that brings people to together to enjoy something as friends.

Thank you so very much for your time and as always, take it easy

To the readers: Since its reveal, how do you feel about the engineer? Has your opinion changed much on it’s place in the world of GW2? Do you still think they are out of place or overpowered? How do you think their play style will fit in to the party scenario, whether in PvE or PvP?

About the guest Author: BigCat72 is an avid fan of Guild Wars 2 and eagerly awaits its release. He writes at his own blog, DragonSpawn Gaming, and can also be found on twitter!

Further reading:

Posted in Engineer, Guild Wars 2, Profession Talk Tags: ,
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  • Nunya

     Is it so hard for people to understand that these are choreographed video clips where enemies die for dramatic effect, and is [I]in no way[/I] a representation of the actual combat in the game? Did they even bother to go watch actual demo videos? If anything, demo players are usually getting their asses kicked.

    Educate yourselves before making ignorant, unfounded criticisms.

    • Anonymous

      It’s an unfortunate side-effect of the hype machine. People are going to take everything at face-value and I that in turn sets them up for a big let-down eventually. 

      I fear people are expecting too much of GW2 and the backlash would be worse than if all this hype simply didn’t exist. 

      • Odeezee

        i disagree, people are just not exercising logic is all. the fact that they are skill videos where the level of the mobs cannot be seen, how can one assume that they are fighting equal level mobs? the point of the video is to highlight the skills and every game with skill videos does this to save on time and for dramatic effect.

        it’s not a side effect of the hype machine, but more of ignorance /shrug

  • Anonymous

    I wasn’t a fan of the mechanics, personally. Getting a chance to play the engineer was great, though. I do think a LOT of people will have fun with it. The profession is definitely geared towards a certain demographic of players who are into the TF2 type stuff, but it’s still accessible to MMO players, too.

    It wasn’t for me, but I like a different style of play.

    It also didn’t feel awkward in the setting, either. So I agree; once players get used to it, they’ll feel a lot better about it being in GW2

    • http://twitter.com/BigCat72 BigCat72

      Im excited to see them take a different approach to the MMO Genre. Stepping outside the norm seems to be what arena net is trademarking. I cant wait to try the Engineer myself because it looks like fun and new. Of course it wont be my main but it will be a fun secondary or PvP machine.

  • ArcherAvatar

    I really appreaciated the author’s attempt to be diplomatic in adressing the “controversy” around this class… but I’m not going to do that.

    Anyone having an “issue” with the engineer class is having a failure of imagination in addition to being seriously myopic.  The “tech” of this class has been on display long before this class was revealed – in previous classes like the warrior and thief, and it was also seen way, way back in the manifesto video as well.

    If your arguement is that ArenaNet are only just now putting something into the game like this, then you simply haven’t been paying attention, or you’re self-delusional and only seeing what you want to see.

    As for the “High Fantasy” purists who object simply on the basis of wanting only “magic” to be in the game… a) where were your loud objections at the very beginning when the warrior was revealed? and… b) trust me, it’s gonna look like magic when I pull a turret out of my @$$.

    Any arguement in favor of “sameness” is usually going to fail where I’m concerned anyway but, the arguements against the engineer class fail in a big way.  I dont’ want the same old combat mechanics as previous MMOs… I don’t want the same old graphics… I don’t want the same old antagonistic systems as the previous MMOs either.  GW2 is bringing innovation to so many different areas of the genre, and I appreaciate all of them.

    So, if you’re having issues with the class you need to eat a reese’s peanut butter cup, open your closed mind, realize that “steampunk” and “high fantasy” can work together in ways that bring you something that is actually “new” to experience.

  • http://flame-throwing.com Cuth

    I appreciate the write up on the engineer, my favorite profession. With an article like this I think people are going to focus on the “controversy” part because it’s actually something to talk about. That can be a really good way to get more readers and, in this case, more people into Guild Wars 2! So thanks.

    As rabid followers of GW2, we like to get mad about misconceptions from the official skill videos. And while the skill videos are pretty awesome, maybe we should get less mad about the misconceptions and more angry that the official demos aren’t very accurate. At the very least I’d like to see two videos for each profession, one of the “concept” skill play and one of actual game play.

    I wrote up some more of my thoughts at http://flame-throwing.com

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for the link. I’m really excited to see an engineer-centric blog out there!

  • Anonymous

    In about… hmmm… 2 weeks or so… I’ll be playing my Sylvari Engineer at Gamescon and I’m going to LOVE it. So there.

  • Guest

    I’m not sure where this class fits in. I understand this is fantasy so logic does not necessarily have to go into it, but I’m more of a theory person. I’m just failing to see where this class mechanics make sense with the other classes, who are still using 250 year old technology to fight this new class with current technology. It’s like saying a country would be fine with still using black powder rifles, while automatic rifles are available. It’s just not quite making sense. I think this is the only thing so far thats been out of character for the lore, and class balance.

    • ArcherAvatar

      But no question on how the technology of the thief class fit in? (pistols and blinding powders…) or how the technology of the warrior fit in? (rifles with “charged shots” …)

      The “tech” you’re questioning has been seen in class reveals going back to the very first class, and has been seen in videos since the “Manifesto” video was released.

      You know, there are some folks who just find the Necromancer class unpleasant, and not for them… but, they don’t seem to feel the need to question that class’ s very existence in the game and advocate for it’s removal thus making it not available for players who do find it interesting and entertaining…

      Maybe it’s “out of character for the lore” as YOU understand the lore but, maybe you have a very narrow and incomplete understanding of the lore, or simply have been only seeing what you want to see up to this point and are only just now realizing that this “tech” HAS BEEN ON DISPLAY FOR MORE THAN A YEAR.

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