Where's Werit?

It has been a little bit since I gave an update on Tirew the engineer. Currently I am Battle Rank 38 and Renown Rank 39. One nice surprise is that once you reach BR 36, your RR is not capped. It feels good not to be limited by my BR as I always fill up renown first.

I did get the Basic influence reward from the T4 Elf zone, a nice belt which was usable at rank 38. It will probably last until I go get the Sentinel belt. Need to try and get that 2 piece bonus at least. 344 Corporeal Resistance would be nice to have. I am at or close to all the Basic RvR Influence rewards, so I really have been spreading out my fighting.

One thing I have been meaning to start is my epic weapon quests (Faith is Madness for example). They give nice rewards and from what I hear, very nice XP. I still have my Librams of Insight, so it may be a good time to break it out too.

Reaching the ranks of 40 does have a couple of things I am looking forward to. One is Focused Fire, this should add some very helpful damage. I don't like standing still, but using this at the right time (i.e. with Unshakable Focus) could be pretty powerful.

I am also looking forward to a fourth tactic slot. I currently use: Throwing Arm, Extra Power and Steady Aim. If Concussive Mine is ever fixed, that will be going in my fourth slot. As I am always using Land Mines, I think those would be very effective. If it is not fixed, it may be a toss up between Well-Oiled Machine, Ancestral Heritage and Stopping Power.

All in all, I have been having a good time. It is well worth the money and the future is looking goo... err orange.

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Engineer Idea: Robodwarf

While I was eating lunch today I was thinking of the Engineer Tinkerer mastery line. It is no secret that it is not very interesting. The magnet is nice and all, but doesn't make it worth going down that path. The healing keg is nice too, but pretty weak.

The Tinkerer is supposed to be up front with the melee, fighting it out. So there should be an ability that supports this function. Then the Squig Herder popped into my head. They have Squig Armor that gives them some melee abilities.

I think a Squig Armor type ability would be a neat addition to the Tinkerer mastery line. It could let the Engineer become a serious melee threat for a time. Just think of the power loader in Aliens (the picture). It should fit the lore fine, as we Dwarves have our own gyrocopters.

What do you think, some powered armor for our Tinkerer Engineers?

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Point Blank'in

As always, I am having a lot of fun with Werit, my Engineer. He is now Battle Rank 20/ Renown Rank 19 and spending a lot of time in scenarios. I just recently purchased my mount, so no more walking around like a sucker.

Point Blank is still loads of fun. Yesterday, I was in Mourkain Temple involved in a pretty even match. Engineers are great in this scenario, as Destruction likes to bunch together. Bunching together means a lot of grenade fun :)

The match is winding down and Destruction has the artifact. They had taken it back to the area in front of their spawn point to defend. We were having a tough time getting close do to all the ranged attackers. Both teams were close to 500 with Destruction having a slight lead. Something had to be done. We needed the artifact, but our melee could not get close to the carrier.

As any good Dwarf would do, I charged in. With Point Blank at the ready, I ran right up to the artifact carrier and punted him out to my teammates. They quickly dispatched him, took the artifact and victory was ours.

Good times.

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Life of an Engineer

Coming into the Warhammer Online Beta, the Engineer class was the one I was most interested in. I even debated saving it for launch, but I could not resist. I took the Engineer up to Rank 11. Anything more and I felt I would be seeing too much. Please keep in mind that it is very difficult to make judgments on the entire class at this low rank. Anything I say only applies to Rank 11 and below.

The early life of an engineer is not an easy or glamorous one. It is important to know what you are getting into with this class choice. We are not the highest DPS, nor do we heal or have the ability to tank. Engineers are a hybrid DPS and utility class with a defensive mindset. Luckily, that appeals to me. The fact we probably can't solo anyone does not really bother me. We are team players.

Most of my playtime consisted of Public Quests, Scenario's and Open World RvR in the Dwarf T1 zone. In the Public Quests, I did not have much trouble being in the upper half of the contribution lists. I was rarely in the top few spots, but luckily the Vegas system still lets me win loot.

The primary attack you will use as an Engineer is your Gun Blast. It does some good damage, but has a 2s cast time. We also eventually get Incendiary Rounds, which help our with our DPS. Once the enemy gets close you have some melee attacks, like Spanner Swipe and Friction Burn. However, it is usually a good idea to not let them get too close.

When an enemy gets too close, or we just want to trap a squad of Orcs we can toss out some Barbed Wire. I like the animation for this one, nothing too fancy. It works well and I am sure is annoying to those melee fighters.

One of the hallmarks of the Engineer class is the turret. there are three kinds of turrets: Gun, Bombardment and Flame. There are different times to use each one. For example, the Gun turret has a longer range, so it may be better for open field engagements. Their DPS improves as you rank up and also depending on which mastery you decide to put points into. Sadly, their DPS is a bit disappointing and they don't really strike fear into the enemy. It is rumored that they are getting a buff before release.

We get 2 types of grenades (by Rank 11): Flashbang and Acid. I am not sure how useful Flashbang is due to the cast time and the fact it is not AoE. I tend to toss these at those nasty little goblin healers. The Acid grenade is pretty nice to use on those Chosen and Black Orcs that are so popular.

The most fun I have had with my Engineer is using the Point Blank morale skill. in the Gates of Ekrund scenario, Destruction casters and Squig Herders like to get on the side of the walls. So when I see them up there and have the right angle, I fire off Point Blank and they go sailing off the wall down to the ground. The fall may not kill them, but putting a healer out of the battle for 20 seconds can make a huge difference. Is it just me who finds knockback just plain fun?

After playing to Rank 11, I am still sold on Engineer being my main's class.

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