#0 - Jan. 15, 2007, 6:56 a.m.
The rest of the post will be a compilation of past comments from the beta forums and live forums.
Please post your thoughts/comments/suggestions; try to keep it civil. Thank you.
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" Engineering is severely lacking. Both in the usefulness of its craftables (not to mention class-oriented) and the amount of craftable items. I'm seeing patterns and plans and recipes for some very useful new items for other professions, that range all along the skill spectrum. Engineers get half a page of new stuff from our trainers, which can have 10-15 skill point gaps, and most of it is just making parts for either things. Then theres the abundance of new buyable patterns/plans/recipes/designs from numerous factions and turnins, while engineering once again gets nothing. Add on top of that almost every crafted armor peice is cloth/leather, couldn't there at least be an option to change it to plate? As a paladin I keep finding engineering lacking more and more. Guns, Ammo, Scopes? nope. Jumper cables? nope. Cloth/leather armor? not really.
We need new stuff, a lot of it, and some decent reputation reward schematics. Desperately. Without the usefulness of Gnomish Teleporting to gadgetzan anymore, I''m really finding it hard to think of a reason to keep it except for highly overcostly bombs."
~Etherell
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" Well, in my oppinion, since Blacksmithing can create BoP epics for armor and melee weapon slots, and since Engineering, which used to be the trinket profession, is being replaced in that respect by jewelcrafting, and because Engineering is traditionally the gun profession, we should have BoP epic ranged weapons.
I think that a gun with good DPS and good melee and ranged stats (Crit, Hit, AP, agi, some combination) that would be attractive for Rogues, Hunters, and Warriors would be appropriate.
But that of course would leave 6 whole classes out! So of course, they should also add something like an Adamantite Pulse Channeling Rod with nice caster stats. And of course, Felsteel Machined Libram with an effect that would help any spec of paladin in some way, as well as Living Khorium Idol and Intricate Whirring Totem for our druid and shaman friends.
All BoP of course.
This would make Engineering as attractive as endgame Blacksmithing (which, BTW, should have more BoE epic recipes introduced) and possibly worth the grind for skill. "
~Danneskjold
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"Engineering is so repulsive I haven't even bothered to pick it up.
I am finding more and more the only thing I use engineering for is to teleport to Gadget for Ahn'Qiraj... and now for Cavern of Times.
And that's about it. They nerfed the mind control helm and the rocket helm. Where are the gnomish toys? I dont know... I think Alchemy, Enchanting and Jewelcrafting are far better. I am also deeply annoyed that Jewelcraft took many things that I believe Engineers should of had.
Maybe engineers might be useful again if they added siege weapons... (remember how in Alterac Valley only engineers can do the quest to control the Mechs thingies? I wouldn't mind more things like that).
Enchanters get enchanter-only buffs and trinkets, what do engineers get? I suppose engineers might be moderately more useful if we got upgrades to old stuff... like reflectors, I wouldn't mind level 70 versions of those."
~Starfi
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"Some cons i've found so far :
-Can't use bombs/grenades in Arena(s).
-Zapthrottle Mote Extractor should give primal instead of motes, because A) they are hard to find and B) they are not worth much when you can easily farm them off mobs. Maybe make the clouds in other zones not just the swamp area.
-Not many new items. Mostly just a few bombs/grenades and guns. I ask for a little more variety, I don't think this would be difficult to achive.
-Some items have a VERY long casting time. For instance the Goblin Rocket launcher.. It takes five seconds to cast and does 960 to 1440 damage and stuns them for 3 sec. I think this is a great idea, but its casting time takes forever and a day in my opinion. Has anyone created this item? Is it usable in Arena(s)? Are any Engineering items usable in Arena(s)?
Pros:
-Some cool new PvE items (Mana Potion Injector : Use: Restores 1800 to 3000 mana. ) I'd really like to see one that restores HP also. (1800 to 3000).
-Zapthrottle Mote Extractor, intersting idea, we may finally have a farming ability, however it usefulness is lacking. Why have this item when the motes are easily farmed? Maybe have these give us Primal instead of motes? And we can reduce the primal into motes if needed/wanted.
Please feel free to add some pros and or cons if you see some points left uncovered... Looking at my list I think the Cons out weight the Pros at this current moment in time. I'd really like to see a boost in Engineering. Thanks again for all the comments, we have some really creative ideas on here. "
~Stabbypanda
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"I'm at 352 right now, with no other way to level than Felsteel Stabilizers, Khorium Power Cores, or Hardeneed Adamantite tubes. Needless to say, these are extremely expensive. I used up about 200 Adamantite, and likely about 400 fel iron bars to get to where I am, and I see no real benefit at all.
The bombs barely do more damage than Thorium Grenades, and stun for the same amount of time as an Iron Grenade.
The gadgets are almost non existant.
Zapthrottle Mote Extractor, I thought that would be cool, but it took 40 motes of life to make, and I was only ever able to find one cloud to extract from, giving me 4 motes of life.
Engineering is pretty terrible right now, and if it's not alot better in about a month, I'm going to drop it and go herb / alch on live, before the game is released."
~Kelgan
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" I'm another Engineer who is very disappointed by what is on offer in BC. Unless I see substantial improvement I'll probably drop it for Mining/Jewelcrafting (like everybody else!) or Herbalism/Alchemy which I see as far more useful professions.
Blizzard, what happened to Engineering?
History as I see it:
1. Engineering was designed to be a profession with powerful items and trinkets which gave limited abilities to classes that lacked them. These powerful items were balanced by long cooldowns, chance of failing or worse, they could backfire causing the user harm.
Engineering gave limited ranged attacks for Paladins, Mind control for non-priests, Resurrection for non-healers and the like.
This was the reason many people keen on PvP chose this profession. It gave them limited abilities that their class would not normally possess.
2. Engineering had fun toys. Exploding sheep anybody? Gnomish shrink ray. These new bots that battle each other. The odd trinket and the like.
3. Engineering had explosives. Limited AoE & stun effects for those without it.
4. Engineering has scopes, guns & shells. Engineering was the only profession able to make enhancements for ranged weapons.
5. Engineering had two streams, Gnomish and Goblin. I assume these were designed to create a sub-market and as many engineering items require skill in Engineering to use and so could not be sold to the general population.
Problems:
1 With the Burning Crusade there are few new reasons to want Engineering.
2 There is no reason to gain faction to access Engineering schematics, unlike most other professions.
3 There is no market between Gnomish and Goblin engineers.
3 Fun toys get boring after a while.
4 Explosives are too weak, or too expensive to be viable.
6 Guns made by engineers are often only useable by Hunters and then are easily replaced by other items.
7 There is no reason to keep engineering once the game matures and you are kitted out.
Possible Solutions:
1 Add many compelling new items! (This is a big ask I know) Some items which are to be produced regularly like explosives or shells, but which are more useful than either of those. Add some items which are not going to be made often but could be used situationally over a longer period of time. Carefully re-balance other items. For example XL Jumper Cables have been nerfed too much and are now little more than a toy to save your rezzers mana after a wipe. Add a new transporter to someplace in the Outlands. Give Engineers more tricks which are for Engineers-only. Other players have had some great ideas in this forum!
2 Add some compelling new items to faction vendors - even if one is only a vanity pet! Just add something!
3 Design a few items which encourage regular trade between Goblin and Gnomish engineers. (I've only ever made XL Jumper Cables for Gnomish engineers)
4 No real solution. Every profession gets old after a while. Get over it players! :P (Well perhaps some toys could be seasonal I guess?)
5 Review the materials required for explosives. Perhaps design a PvE encounter in which explosives are really helpful? (Like some people use Flash Bombs on Arlokk)
6 Add
