23 replies to this topic

[CommanderPC]

I'm helping my friend who got the game a week ago and he started a necromancer. I'm unsure of which of the two classes to level alongside him. I like both classes but I'm unsure. :/ I mostly do PvE to be honest, but later on I'll do sPvP and maybe WvW.

[Qethsegol]

Would help if we knew what you enjoyed. And you're only going to get biased answers from the Engineer forum.

[CommanderPC]

Like I said, PvE. Maybe one is more adept at PvE. I like versatility mostly. Survivability and good DPS.

[Qethsegol]

I understand that you said PvE, but do you enjoy ranged, melee, or magic? To have versatility, survivability, and dps I'd go with Engy.

[CommanderPC]

I already have a melee character which is my guardian so it'd be redundant to have another. I guess ranged would be good. I'll stick to the engy.

[ssringo]

I've been interested in leveling an Engineer and tried once. Didn't like the feel of it early on (made it to late teens) and stopped. Also wanted a Mesmer and rolled one that I also quit. Eventually went back to it after hearing it gets much much better after 40 and it did. I hit 40 last night

Basically, as a non Engineer (and not fully Mesmer) browsing the Engineer forums, neither seemed all that great or fun early on. Mesmer got better at 40 with access to better traits. Can't speak for Engineers though.

Maybe I just need(ed) some better direction on leveling one? I wasn't too fond of running several kits and they felt too weak. Should mention my last encounter with the Engineer class was in November.

[Qethsegol]

I've always seen myself as a Mesmer player, but then I looked at Engineer. And I'm loving it. We have turrets (I love fire-and-forget things with a passion, even if they aren't "good"), we have all kinds of boons, we're arguably the best condition class, we have kits for every kind of situation (short-range, long-range, tank, support, you name it), and we have one of the easiest ways to get swiftness (a huge plus for me). My Engy is only 35, and I can't wait to get to higher levels to reach the "fun" traits. Yes, leveling was really slow early on. You need a couple of skill points to unlock some kits and elixirs because we don't have weapon swapping. And I thought of switching to Mesmer more than once, but I'm glad I didn't.

[dawdler]

I have both an 80 engineer and 80 mesmer. Long story short - I love my mesmer and hate my engineer. Despite the fact that I hate magic and love technology in MMOs!

The engineer, for all its versatility and fun abilities just doesnt feel up to spec against the other classes. I cant get the engineer to do good PvP, I cant get it to do good in PvE and I cant get it to do good in WvW especially not since I cant really get the two last to mix properly without having to respec every damn time. So I had to put the poor kitten to rest. Maybe I'll revive him some day. Or just forget about the engineer and mesmer and start a theif like everyone else.

As a sidenote, I played engineer through the entire beta period, every weekend except when just trying the other class. My first char in retail was the engineer. I loved it back then but I guess I got spoiled when I tried the other classes.

Edited by dawdler, 24 December 2012 - 02:24 PM.

[Achrisos]

CommanderPC, on 23 December 2012 - 10:31 PM, said:

I'm helping my friend who got the game a week ago and he started a necromancer. I'm unsure of which of the two classes to level alongside him. I like both classes but I'm unsure. :/ I mostly do PvE to be honest, but later on I'll do sPvP and maybe WvW.

I have multiple lvl 80s but Engi is my main. I use several builds and have full exotic gear for each build. I can say that while it is a lot of fun and a great class if your goal is to play a class that will compliment your friends necro then you must consider that the necro is a heavy condition class and if you go engi you should not go into pistols and condition damage as having 2 condition damage dealers is redundant.

Edited by Achrisos, 24 December 2012 - 02:37 PM.

[Bloodtau]

If you want to do actual damage, Choose the Mesmer. If you want to actually do anything in the game, don't choose the Engineer.

[Swoopeh]

CommanderPC, on 24 December 2012 - 01:08 AM, said:

I already have a melee character which is my guardian so it'd be redundant to have another. I guess ranged would be good. I'll stick to the engy.

Mesmer isn't really a melee character though, yes you can use swords but they have more ranged options. To offset the Engi bias here a little I can say that Mesmers are a lot of fun, if a little squishy at the start. Damage with GS is quite high and staff is a good defensive weapon to swap to. The micromanagement of illusions and shattering is quite cool and you have loads of ways to shake aggro. Coupled with the melee/ranged option, high burst and some of the best utilities in the game (time warp, portals, feedback) and you get a very strong class with a lot of different playstyles and strong group support.

But in the end pick whichever class you feel most comfortable with. If you like both then pick one and level the other afterwards .

[coglin]

Bloodtau, on 24 December 2012 - 02:54 PM, said:

If you want to do actual damage, Choose the Mesmer. If you want to actually do anything in the game, don't choose the Engineer.

I chose the engineer, and I can do anything, and fairly well actually. It was kind of cute and funny at first but your trolling is getting a little, well stupid. We get it. Your butt hurt about the engineer. Let it go brother. Rant about what changes need to be made, then at least your being positive in your complaints have value, otherwise all your doing is crying like a lost child.

[Culture Shock]

coglin, on 24 December 2012 - 05:50 PM, said:

I chose the engineer, and I can do anything, and fairly well actually. It was kind of cute and funny at first but your trolling is getting a little, well stupid. We get it. Your butt hurt about the engineer. Let it go brother. Rant about what changes need to be made, then at least your being positive in your complaints have value, otherwise all your doing is crying like a lost child.

I would love to add to your post since the types of posts you're talking about are the bane of most forums.  I think the Engi and Mesmer can easily put a bad taste in someones mouth if they don't understand 2 things right up front.

1.  These classes are not designed around DIRECT damage and attacks.  (being that both of them are able to use the highest lvl of the "confusion" condition)  In fact in GW1 almost all Mesmer skills were based on taking the attack of the foe and turning it into damage against them.

2.  These are not your basic "pew pew" classes, and will take more time and patience to understand how to "control" your enemies "while" doing damage to them and "making" them pay.  This is something you must do with all classes, but you will have to work harder and give a little more time to these two classes to reach the top of their potential.  

This is probably the reason for people having a bad experience up front.  I actually have guild members who tried Mesmers after launch and hated them, only to come back to them after playing other classes and feeling like they are the most exciting and fun class.

Edited by Culture Shock, 24 December 2012 - 06:14 PM.

[TGIFrisbie]

Both are well suited for WvW and sPvP, which OP mentions as his end game for the character.

I would play the one you find the most interesting.

I will say I hit a wall of boredom not long after 40 on Engi while I am still levelling my Mesmer now (lvl 74, last profession to get to 80) I find it a bit more interesting to level.  This is all absolutely personal opinion based on how I do my levelling and game play.

If these are your only two choices, either one should suit you at 80.

[Khlaw]

Like a previous poster, I also have one of each at 80.  They're both fun and have unconventional play styles.  I'd suggest playing both for a while to see which you enjoy more, which is the only real way to answer the question - but be warned: both classes are "late bloomers" and don't really play strongly until their 30's.

I will say that engineer gives you a whole lot more variety than mesmer does, if that is important to you.  It also provides a lot of utility, which may be important if you are duo'ing with another player.

CommanderPC, on 24 December 2012 - 01:08 AM, said:

I already have a melee character which is my guardian so it'd be redundant to have another. I guess ranged would be good. I'll stick to the engy.

GS/Staff Mesmer is much more of a ranged class (1200) than anything an engineer (900 untraited) offers.

[Kogaratsu]

Obviously, the following is a very subjective view.

I have a lvl 80 Engi (my only 80, actually, so I play it a lot in dunegons and stuff) and a Mesmer purely for PvP. I do PvP on the Engi as well, I tend to switch around a lot to keep things from getting stale.

First off, Engineer has a few builds that are very good, namely:

• Rifle/Grenade Berserker: a full-on damage build that has great AoE damage through Grenades and great single-target damage through Rifle, as well as access to handy conditions from Grenades (such as Poison and Chill). Negative side: Grenades are spammy, so expect some buttonmashing.
  
• Bomb Kit Tank: a build with high survivability, it uses Shield for CC and Bomb Kit for AoE damage as well as Blindness. The "tankiness" comes more CC and Blind than gear. Designed to control Capture Points in PvP, great build there. Again, bombs are spammy so a lot of button pushing involved.
  
• Flamethrower/Elixir Gun Support Hybrid: my current build for dungeons and general PvE. Nice damage through almost continuous Burning as well as great support due to Weakness application and a Healing field from Elixir Gun. Feels contributing in almost every situation, I'd recommend this build greatly. Also offers a bit more variety in playstyle.

Mesmer builds are very depended on chosen weapon. Most used ones are:

• Staff-Sword/Pistol
  
• Greatsword - Any
  
• Scepter/Torch Confusion

All of these are pretty viable, with Sword/pistol being the base build that seems to be the best in every situation. The other builds are generally used to shake things up. I really like Mesmer for PvP, offers a lot of flexibility.

Bottom line: create one of both and test it out in the Mists. If Grenades, Bomb Kit or Flamethrower don't appeal to you, don't pick Engi, cause Turrets and Gadgets are inferior to those three kits (they're not bad or unfun, but hardly as efficient as those three kits).

[Nemhy]

Bloodtau, on 24 December 2012 - 02:54 PM, said:

If you want to do actual damage, Choose the Mesmer. If you want to actually do anything in the game, don't choose the Engineer.

If you wanna do anything other than glass cannon I would roll Engie.

Culture Shock, on 24 December 2012 - 06:14 PM, said:

I would love to add to your post since the types of posts you're talking about are the bane of most forums.  I think the Engi and Mesmer can easily put a bad taste in someones mouth if they don't understand 2 things right up front.

1.  These classes are not designed around DIRECT damage and attacks.  (being that both of them are able to use the highest lvl of the "confusion" condition)  In fact in GW1 almost all Mesmer skills were based on taking the attack of the foe and turning it into damage against them.

2.  These are not your basic "pew pew" classes, and will take more time and patience to understand how to "control" your enemies "while" doing damage to them and "making" them pay.  This is something you must do with all classes, but you will have to work harder and give a little more time to these two classes to reach the top of their potential.  

This is probably the reason for people having a bad experience up front.  I actually have guild members who tried Mesmers after launch and hated them, only to come back to them after playing other classes and feeling like they are the most exciting and fun class.

My Mesmer build is pretty much Pew Pew.  Just throw in Roll+shatter after some pews.   It's pretty damn well effective too

[CommanderPC]

I'll probably play my engineer later on but now my dilemma is between elementalist and mesmer. :/ You'd think having 8 badass classes would be great but it's confusing since you don't know what to play ;_;

[Bloodtau]

coglin, on 24 December 2012 - 05:50 PM, said:

I chose the engineer, and I can do anything, and fairly well actually. It was kind of cute and funny at first but your trolling is getting a little, well stupid. We get it. Your butt hurt about the engineer. Let it go brother. Rant about what changes need to be made, then at least your being positive in your complaints have value, otherwise all your doing is crying like a lost child.

I'm sure you can. That is why you feel the need to try and defend the class so much because you know what I put rings true and you are trying to persuade yourself that they aren't as sucky as you think they are...
psychology.

[coglin]

Not particularly. I agree the class is generally underpowered, but most of what you post is over exaggerated bull crap. If you made reasonable post perhaps anyone can discuss with you, but as of now your just posting alot of over exaggerated crying

[Cl1p]

CommanderPC, on 25 December 2012 - 07:22 PM, said:

I'll probably play my engineer later on but now my dilemma is between elementalist and mesmer. :/ You'd think having 8 badass classes would be great but it's confusing since you don't know what to play ;_;

I've played d/d elementalist, shatter mesmer & engineer myself and I still have the most fun with engineer... Nothing beats having 2 kits ready to swap out at any moment.

[CommanderPC]

I actually rolled an ele today and I'm happy with it so far at Lv.7.

[Straegen]

In PvE, play what you want. In WvW unless adjustments are made, engineers are fodder and mesmers are annoying (often in a good way). Engineers just need some WvW love because right now they are soft targets with little fear of one taking a player down. Solo in WvW I have yet to see one played well and I don't think it is the players fault. Mesmers on the other hand have skills that are WvW gold including haste, pulling, portals, mirrors, etc. They may not be the terrors they once were but they are still powerful and annoying.

[Jestir1]

My Engineer is built around crit, rifle, and flamethrower and i do fine in WvW. I have no problem dropping another player. The trick is just to hit a person as hard and as fast as possible, just like any other class. Equip your rifle, pop your quickness potion, and mow down your enenmy. There are times i feel like im cutting through there health bar like butter.

Theives tend to hate flamethrower. So i love that in WvW.
Flamethrower is also awesome for keep takes. Its very indimidating running into a mob of players with flamethrower spewing. Also the push back from it is nice.
Constant condition removal is very nice in WvW, and if i get in to deep, i turn into a little mini me and have a get away
Ive honestly gotten more kills with my Engineer then any other class in WvW so far.
I'm also a big fan of the mortar. Sure if you want to can write an essay about how it could be improved. But ive had a great deal of success with it.
The real truth is, if you love your class you will find a way to succeed with it. Someone might love naked necros who use shovels as weapons. And if they truly love it, they will find a way to succeed at it. You can do well as an engineer in WvW tho, so don't believe the hype.