Following last week's reveal of Guild Wars 2's Engineer profession, the team has decided to answer some of the frequently asked questions that have been posed by eager fans. The FAQ covers a variety of topics, including the Engineer's skills and its place in a fantasy setting.

You can read the full Engineer Q&A after the jump!

Engineer FAQ

Q: With Healing Turrets, Med Kits, and defensive skills like Absorb, does the engineer fit the dedicated healer/buff/support role in Guild Wars 2?

A: The engineer is no more a dedicated healer than an elementalist, necromancer, or guardian. The engineer’s healing turret and healing kit are both equipped in the character’s healing skill slot. You then need to consider how powerful each of those abilities are; the Healing Turret, for example, is very similar in power to the ranger skill Healing Spring. Absorbing a projectile is a slightly different version of skills that deflect projectiles, which we’ve seen from other professions. When built properly the engineer is a great support character, but no more so than most of the other professions.

Q: Given the engineer’s focus on technology, the profession doesn’t seem to fit within a traditional fantasy setting. Do you feel that the engineer’s mines and grenades and turrets seem out of place in a world of dragons, magic, and swordplay?

A: Since 250 years have passed since the original Guild Wars, technology has advanced a great deal, and we wanted the engineer to personify this progress. And frankly, we didn’t want to feel constrained by typical conventions as to what is or is not acceptable in a fantasy story. Still, the technological revolution represented by the engineer is relatively new and is not widely embraced by all cultures, so you’ll still see plenty of medieval weaponry. The new prominence of technology and hardware in Tyria is an important theme in Guild Wars 2, and the engineer allows us to explore that idea.

Q: It’s difficult for me to visualize a nature-oriented sylvari as a tech-heavy engineer. How does the engineer fit with concept of each of the playable races?

A: The first engineers came from the ranks of the charr Iron Legion, who were innovative weaponsmiths. Soon other races began to take notice of how effective this new technology was, engineers from all background began to appear all over Tyria. Players in general are exceptional and unusual figures, heroes who stand out among their people. Just as there are asura warriors and norn necromancers, it’s not unheard of for an inquisitive, mechanically-inclined sylvari to become an engineer.

Q: Is the engineer a replacement or a stand-in for the ritualist profession from Guild Wars? Are the play styles of the Ritualist and the engineer similar?

A: We’ve never considered the engineer a replacement or stand-in for the ritualist. While the engineer can adopt a play style that is superficially similar to the ritualist, the engineer is a much more versatile profession.

Q: What the difference between the charr racial skill that uses mines and the engineer mines?

A: The main difference is that a charr player can throw out one mine with their racial skill, while the engineer can throw out five mines.

Q: Are all of the kits and turrets utility skills? Since utility skills generally have a longer recharge rate, I’m concerned that the engineer will have less skill customization and be stuck with their main weapon set most of the time.

A: Yes, kits and turrets are utility skills. There is no hard and fast rule as to what the recharge time should be for any of our skills. We give the skill a recharge time that we feel balances use of each skill individually. Some utility skills will have very low recharges. The kits themselves have no recharge time and you can swap between them at will. All of the kits also add a skill to the tool belt, so you aren’t really sacrificing a skill. Turrets are basically the equivalent of guardian weapon summons and necromancer minions.

Q: Do turrets combo with other players such as the ranged weapon through fire wall?

A: Absolutely! Cross-profession combos are one of the areas where the engineer really shines. Engineers turrets are great for combos, since they pump out a steady flow of projectiles from a stationary position. It’s a lot easier to lay a fire wall down in front of a turret on the battlefield than a moving ally.

Q: Are mines and turrets always visible, including in PvP?

A: Yes, mines and turrets are always visible.

Q: Will enemies attempt to avoid mines and turrets?

A: Mobs will not attempt to avoid mines and turrets specifically, although there are some mobs that prefer to stay at range and may be harder to coerce into range of turrets and into minefields.

Q: What triggers the mines and the turrets?

A: The player triggers the mines by using a detonate skill. The turrets acquire targets automatically based on proximity.

Q: Is there a cooldown on activating kits?

A:  Currently there aren’t any restrictions on when and how often an engineer can switch between kits, because many of the engineer’s kits tend to have a very narrow, specific effect.

Q: Can you use the Jump Shot skill to get access to high grounds in the environment?

A: You can only access high ground with Jump Shot that you could jump to normally.

Q: We noticed the skritt chatting in the engineer skill videos. Do mobs really chat while in combat, or was this just added for the video?

A: Yes, a lot of the mobs have scenes and chatter lines. Those skritt lines come straight from the game.