First, I know, it's a pve skill, who cares, ursan qq, yadadadada.
But C'mon, look at it [Black Powder Mine] . I'm a trapper at heart, it was one of my favorite time wasters early on in the game, watching a whole mob explode in a spray of smoke and fire. I was excited when I heard there'd be PvE trap skills, and I do kinda like weakness trap against the charr, but BPM.... it doesn't live up to it's moniker... A: Dust Trap is better, while each pulse is weaker, there will be 5 of them, and the blindness, and you only have to set it once for 5 pulses. Barbed, piercing, vipers, most will do similar damage and degen(although without the blindness, it's only real strength, but then Dust>mine still)B: Expertise doesn't affect it, making any ranger trap, set by a ranger, better. Couple ideas to make black powder a little more fun(one or more of them, not all of them combined):
#1: Let expertise affect traps in addition to attacks, touch skills/spells and ranger skills. It makes sense, rangers get all the other traps for cheap, why not these...
#2: Reduce the cost and recharge to 5 energy, 3 seconds recharge(maybe even 1 sec cast time). Let us lay an actual 'minefield' with it. keep the damage and conditions effects as is if this gets considered.
#3: It's a 'Mine', mines don't just cause blind and bleeding, they maim and would do the whole spectrum of GW conditions pretty much. As it stands, there's no trap to crack armor or Deep wound, and only 1 that dazes, yet there's a trap that exploits cracked targets. Maybe add in daze, Deep Wound and/or Cracked armor to the conditions it causes, maybe even let it KD foes. Or, Reduce the raw damage it does and let it cripple, DW, Daze, Crack, Bleed, Blind, KD and weaken. Up the cost and recharge.
#4: Take out the 'easily interrupted' clause. If we're stopping for 2 seconds and using 10 energy to throw the mine down, maybe make sure it gets through.
#5: Change it's functionality to an 'Item Spell', like the kegs Budger gives you. On a similar note, and kind of weird, but what if you carried it around, then dropped it and when enemies came to the area where it was dropped, THEN it would explode. meaning you could drop it on them, or leave it in a choke point(kind of like the slow totem in dunes of despair, but with a boom instead of a ward, or a time delayed Cruel was Whatshisname)
well I was hoping.... I think the most important change that could me made to it is the cost/expertise thing, so at least a few people agree with me on that. Thing is, why would ANY ranger waste 10 energy on BPM when they can set Dust tap for roughly the same cost or a whole stack of others for less. And any other class won't spend 10 energy and stop for 2 seconds and be interrupt bait for what BPM does... It either needs to do a little more or cost less to be effective.
