Friday, March 13, 2009

Engineering Tinkers

According to MMO Champion, the latest PTR build (9684) will include some buffs to a few of my favorite engineering tinkers.

Engineering
  • Nitro Boosts now Permanently attaches overpowered nitro boosts to a pair of
    boots, increasing critical strike rating by 16 (up from 12) and allowing you to
    greatly increase run speed for 2 sec.
  • Flexweave Underlay now Permanently attaches a flexweave underlay to a cloak,
    increasing Agility by 15 (up from 10) and allowing you to turn the cloak into a
    parachute to fall slowly for 10 sec.
  • Springy Arachnoweave now Permanently attaches a springy arachnoweave to a cloak, increasing spell power by 18 (up from 11) and allowing you to turn the
    cloak into a parachute to fall slowly for 10 sec.
I'm very happy that they're adding stat buffs to the fun and situationally useful engineering tinkers we all (read: engineers) know and love, but I have a question that is nagging at me. Why are the engineering tinkers less powerful than the enchanting equivalents for that slot?

My original thought was simply "hey, the tinkers give a cooldown benefit, so it's okay that they're not as powerful stats-wise." But then I got thinking that engineers don't have a profession-based benefit otherwise.

Blacksmiths get extra sockets.
Jewelcrafters get prismatic gems.
Enchanters get ring enchants.
Scribes get more powerful shoulder enchants.
Engineers get highly situational cooldowns but they can't use enchanting enhancements.

Why do engineers have a "but" clause attached to their benefit?

I'm not seeing the problem that would arise if the Flexweave Underlay granted 22 agility and the parachute cloak mechanic. It's not like the engineer is getting much in the way of stat benefits from their profession, might as well keep his stats on par with everyone else and let him enjoy his cooldown!

8 comments:

Fettsbounty said...

I always figured they could have just allowed tinker to stack with other enchants. Though that way they would have so many more options because they can tinker with more than just 2 pieces.
So then I thought about giving engineers back the high powered goggles they used to get since the wrath ones are rather lackluster compared to BC goggles. Maybe just add a lvl requirement if they don't want 75's to be running with them.

Alex - aka Firelight said...

The severe lack of anything interesting to make/add to my gear with engineering has led to me not leveling it and i'm considering taking up Jewelcrafting instead So i can have those lovely +27 strength gems....mmmm sexeh!

Anonymous said...

My engineering has also been rotting on the vine since I made my BC goggles.

I've thought about going JC for the better (and prismatic!) gems, or BS for the extra gem slots.

Fedaykin98

Anonymous said...

Yes, I've been very disappointed with engineering this go around. I'm not one to abandon a profession in favor of something shinier, but it does bother me that engineering gives me absolutely zero stat benefit, and in some cases actually degrades my performance due to the fact that you have to choose between tinkers or enchants. Parachute cloaks are cool, but not at the cost of an enchant.

Tailors are in somewhat of a similar situation with their cloak embroiders, but at least they get a concrete advantage from their leg embroiders; we don't even get that much. The state of engineering is so bad that I feel grateful they put the gas cloud detector on the belt, so I can actually use it without giving up an enchant. Giving us tinkers with stats that don't even rival the enchants _anyone_ can get is almost insulting.

Shwitz44 said...

@Isa
Installing a belt tinker precludes you from using a belt buckle for an extra gem slot, so you don't even have that benefit :(

Ninjasuperspy said...

@Josh: Yes you can. The only problem is the belt tinkers are of very limited use. I wouldn't miss my EMP (it really only detonates explosives, as there are so few mechanicals). And the Spynoculars are only good for being able to replace the goggles.

I made a post on MMO-Champion listing what I'd require to call engineering "finished"

http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=43704.msg731736#msg731736

Basically I'm jealous of Jewelcrafting with its large amount of utility to all players and functioning daily quest progression.

Shwitz44 said...

Wait, I can put the belt tinkers on in addition to my belt buckle?

Hot damn! I'm doing that tonight! I won't have to carry my goggles around anymore!

Suicidal Zebra said...

The latest Dark Legacy addresses Engineering in their usual manner.

I'll be sticking with the profession, mainly because I can't be bothered with levelling up jewelcrafting. Hopefully we'll see something nice in the future but it looks like non-fishing Professions won't see anything particularly new apart from the odd BoP raiding downgrade recipe.