Recently, I have been running ground PvPs with my main character, which is an Engineer. In my encounters with other classes, I tend to fair about 1 kill per 30 to 50 deaths. My gear is typically Ultra Rare 14 or Epic 14. On various occasions, my traits are either towards a kill build or a tank build. I have used various Very Rare 13 kits with mods ranging from [Armor], [CrtH], [Kperf], [Shield], [Weapon], and [Will]. In addition, I have used Fabrication, Mechanic, Intel, Command, and Temporal modules to either boost damage, increase heal, increase resistance, or improve tactics. With all these modifications and setups, my Engineer still under performs against Science and Tactical characters.
Borticus, and other involved Developers, why are Engineers being treated this way? Why is it that a Science with Cold Fusion Flash, Exothermic Induction, and Anti-Time Entanglement is able to kill in 1 hit or a Tactical with Security Officers, Battle Strategies, and Graviton Spike is able to kill in a matter of a few seconds?
Yes, Engineers have abilities to deploy fabrications, mines, bombs, regenerators, and other devices. However, 1 or 2 seconds needed to deploy such devices is an eternity compared to the speed at which both Science and Tactical can deploy their abilities—especially Science. In those 1 or 2 seconds, the Engineer can easily be killed before the Engineer is finished deploying, which makes these devices useless. Even when they are deployed, the damage dealt is insignificant against the resists that both Science and Tactical have.
To make matters worse, Science and Tactical continue to get buffs and debuffs while Engineers get Shield Heals. At this point in the game, ground shields are virtually worthless. Shields on the ground are not like the shields used on a starship. In space, shields can provide a lot of defense, but on the ground, all it takes is 1 or 2 shots before they are gone. On top of that, there is a significant amount of shield penetration that the focus becomes keeping a character's Hit Points up. In space, Engineers can survive with high resistance and HP recovery; Science can keep their ships safe with their super strong shields—that keep shield penetration to a minimal. However, that is not the case on the ground as I mentioned.
If shields continue to be the focus for Engineers on the ground, make shields for Engineers as good as they are for Science in space—reducing penetration not only to Kinetic damage, but to Physical, Cold, Electrical, Fire, and Psionic. It should take 4-6 hits before shields should drop.
While on the topic of ground shields, I have noticed that all ground shields do not fully regenerate within their allotted time. Some stay stagnate at certain marks until a shield heal is implemented or until the shield is full depleted. My suspicion is that ground shields are glitched and partially broken when it comes to this aspect of their design.
Personally, I would like to see Engineers receive ground debuff removals and a few more means to recover HP other than through fabrication devices. At the moment, Phasic Shroud and Chronoplasty seem to be the only other HP recovery options for Engineers. Of course, one could use the 2-pieced Adapted M.A.C.O. / Honor Guard set for Adrenal Boost, but that requires the Engineer to restrict her/himself to a minimum of 2 pieces that are not as viable as they once were in ground PvP. Today, there are other gear options that would be much more beneficial than the battle-tested Adapted M.A.C.O / Honor Guard set.
And what about Hypos? Large Hypos are pretty much the only viable option for the Engineer. Using multiple consumable devices gives no advantage to the player since cool downs on those devices tend to be linked. The food boosters, prototype devices, and other consumable boosters are a limited means to help the Engineer since their timers tend to be a few minutes and are removed upon death, not to mention that they tend to take large amounts of resources to acquire. Even then, there are other devices like Shards of Possibilities or Temporal Flux Generator that would be much more useful.
Now, some may argue that ground PvP—or PvP in general—is dead. To some extent, that may be the case. That does not mean that the issue that Engineers have is non-existent. When it comes to Elite PvEs, Engineers begin to see the issues experienced by ground PvPers. I am not asking or begging for Engineers to be overpowered or to be at the top of the damage chain. What I am requesting is that Engineers be as balanced as Science and Tactical, meaning if you are going to make us shield dependent, make our shields work for us—give us the type of shields that Science have for space.
I chose Engineering because I wanted my character to be a “miracle worker” like Scotty, to be able to keep things together both in space and on the ground. Over the years, I have had to adapt to the changes. Luckily—in space—I was able to benefit from some of the power creep, but still, my character remains on the lower end of the DPS spectrum. I can live with that so long as I can work through the challenges of each PvE. However, ground—for the Engineer—needs adjustment so that even if we are on the lower end of any of the spectrums, we still have a fighting chance to win and not be so easily defeated with 1 hit from any of the other classes—especially if we are using Ultra Rare and/or Epic 14 kits, gear, and weapons.
