I plan to submit this idea to the Suggestion forum if it's well received by the Mercenary community. This idea is simple, yet I feel it would vastly improve our PvP experience without being overpowered or affecting our PvE capabilities in the least.

 

The idea I propose is that any time a stack of Tracer Lock or Power Barrier is applied, a 20% resistance to interrupt Tracer Missile is also applied. This would last only while stacks of these exist on ourselves, and we would lose that resistance when the stacks expire. At first I thought this could also apply to Heat Signatures, but as that is a debuff placed on an enemy, rather than a buff placed on ourselves, I then thought that could make the concept a little more difficult to manage.

 

As for how this resistance could be acquired, I thought that the Light 'Em Up talent in the Arsenal tree would be the prime spot for it to be placed.

 

Of course, this is open to suggestions. I know it may have drawbacks that I have overlooked, but I feel it is a small, yet balanced, change that could go a long way. Your feedback would be appreciated!

Edited August 25, 2012 by twiggie

I agree with your interrupt resistance, but not to tracer missiles / grav round.

 

I think Unload/Fullauto should be uninterruptable baseline in addition to giving the class a root. Why Unload and not Tracer Missile? Because tracer is spammable. Uninterruptable, spammable damage is bad design imo. Unload makes more sense because it has a cooldown and doesn't do bad damage. It would give us something to cast until our kiting tools are back up.

 

ATM mercs, regardless of spec, are pretty far behind in the kiting/anti-kiting arms race. Snipers and DPS sorcerers both have roots/slows, but we're the only ranged AC without a reliable root.

IMO stop playing tracer missile in pvp.

IMO stop playing tracer missile in pvp.

 

Pyro isn't any better. Have anything else constructive to add to the thread?

Edited August 26, 2012 by Xenotoxic

I agree with your interrupt resistance, but not to tracer missiles / grav round.

 

I think Unload/Fullauto should be uninterruptable baseline in addition to giving the class a root. Why Unload and not Tracer Missile? Because tracer is spammable. Uninterruptable, spammable damage is bad design imo. Unload makes more sense because it has a cooldown and doesn't do bad damage. It would give us something to cast until our kiting tools are back up.

 

ATM mercs, regardless of spec, are pretty far behind in the kiting/anti-kiting arms race. Snipers and DPS sorcerers both have roots/slows, but we're the only ranged AC without a reliable root.

 

Only ac without a reliable snare too.

I agree with your interrupt resistance, but not to tracer missiles / grav round.

 

.... Uninterruptable, spammable damage is bad design imo. .....

 

see sniper cover mechanic and immunity to interrupt

Edited August 26, 2012 by rotatorkuf

see sniper cover mechanic and immunity to interrupt

 

true, but snipers cant heal and are not really meant to be very mobile. if they were meant to be mobile, they wouldn't be tied to cover.

true, but snipers cant heal and are not really meant to be very mobile. if they were meant to be mobile, they wouldn't be tied to cover.

 

no, no no no

 

you're not going to give me that "they can't heal" crap

 

neither can mercs when they're dpsing....healing on a merc in dps spec completely leaves you open to unanswered damage...i love when i'm on my mara or sin and mercs think they can heal instead of dps me....they become free kills, moreso than before

 

the only possible situation where you can heal in PVP is if NO ONE is paying attention to you, or you manage to somehow escape a fight

 

so no, don't give me that "mercs can heal" crap...it's an unfounded cop out

 

but, end of rant, and sort of back on topic...

 

i agree without the cover mechanic, snipers would be piñatas....but they should instead get a castable immunity, not a passive immunity

 

more back on topic....

 

mercs definitely need some kind of cover mechanic for arsenal spec

 

IMO, the easiest possible solution for bioware is to move down powershield to either a level 1 or level 2 skill in bodyguard , or switch positions with Critical Reaction (immunity to interrupt during energy shield) so that nothing much is changed, but 31 point arsenal mercs can now spec into an immunity to interrupts

 

and lord knows why, or if they ever will loosen up on their idiotic arrogance.....but mercs NEED a true interrupt

Edited August 26, 2012 by rotatorkuf

I'm not a fan of snipers being immune to interrupts and charges. It should be one or the other, not both. But enough about them, back to mercs.

 

Mercs don't need an interrupt. Right now their biggest problem is handling melee. Unreliable slows and the lack of a root are the major causes of their weakness to melee.

 

Your shield idea isn't bad, but it still leaves them wide open to face tank melee.

I'm not a fan of snipers being immune to interrupts and charges. It should be one or the other, not both. But enough about them, back to mercs.

 

Mercs don't need an interrupt. Right now their biggest problem is handling melee. Unreliable slows and the lack of a root are the major causes of their weakness to melee.

 

Your shield idea isn't bad, but it still leaves them wide open to face tank melee.

 

yeah that's another thing with snipers, inability to leap to them, punt you, kill you, gg

 

and yeah, that's true, still leaves that, but if bioware was, as i keep saying, not as arrogant as they are, they could easily fix this by switching the snare on jet boost to a root, a la sorc/sniper aoe punt....or, root while channeling unload

 

or, they could add a new ability, something called channel scrambler or something : "For 4 seconds, you scramble your positioning and enemies cannot leap/force charge to you"....or, to keep with the theme of diverse ACs, "enemies targetting you will leap to an ally or enemy close to them, if no enemy/ally is near them, they will be confused for 2 sec, will end on damage"...and put this on a 1 min cd

 

will we ever get them to do something like this though? i'm not betting a cent on it

Edited August 26, 2012 by rotatorkuf

Additionally, I have 1 less keybind on my merc than I do all of my other characters. So maybe a new on-use ability really is in order.

I know that a Tracer Missile that can't be interrupted sounds overpowered, but I was looking at the Sniper/Gunslinger (I have a level 50 Gunslinger, so I'm going to use their ability names) and couldn't help but compare the two.

 

Sniper/Gunslinger:

1. Has an interrupt. We have none.
   
2. Immune to interrupts while in cover. We have no protection against this.
   
3. Immune to activation knockback while in cover. We have no protection against this.
   
4. Cannot be charged or pulled while in cover. We have no protection against this.
   
5. Has a 20 second crowd control immunity (Hunker Down) while in cover. We have no protection against this.
   
6. Has an AoE blind (Flash Grenade). We have a ranged stun with Electro Dart. I suppose that makes us even.
   
7. Has an AoE knockback with a root (Pulse Detonator) and an attack with a knockback (if Ambush/Aimed Shot is talented). We are comparable in this area with Jet Boost and Rocket Punch (talented), so no complaints here.
   
8. Has a root with a snare (Leg Shot). We have none, unless you talent Unload and stand still to channel it.
   
9. Has an ability (Defense Screen) and a talent (Ballistic Dampeners) to absorb some incoming damage and an ability (Dodge) to give 100% dodge for three seconds. Also has an ability (Scrambling Field) to reduce damage by 20% for themselves and nearby allies for 15 seconds. We can only compare with Energy Shield.
   

 

I look at the list above and can't help but think how useful a GS/S is to their team compared to an Arsenal Merc. As you can see, they have loads of tools to use that we do not. I realize that the majority of the points I highlighted require the GS/S to be in cover, which means they are going to be stationary to reach their full potential. But guess what other class does? Mercs! Sure, we can heal, but as another poster mentioned, an Arsenal Merc trying to heal through their damage just makes them a free(er) kill. I'm trying not to only pick on the GS/S and I'm not asking for homogenization. I'm just asking that the gap between high utility classes and low utility classes would not be so punishing.

 

If Tracer Missile had a stacking interrupt resistance like I proposed, I don't feel that it would be too much. For one, TM would only be completely immune after reaching five stacks. Secondly, we would still be vulnerable to other hazards -- stuns, knockbacks, pulls, crowd control -- as well as gaining no more benefits that we don't already have. If this can't be done, then at least give us an ability with a cooldown that gives us such resistances, or give us a root and/or snare that we can use.

Edited August 28, 2012 by twiggie