I'm with everyone on this, I PVP on my merc everyday and it blows. Something needs to be done to it.

 

BUT

 

There is no point in class balancing before an expansion release.

There is no point in class balancing before an expansion release.

 

you could make it so that classes are balanced at the release of the expansion.

Ok, now I know why I am getting focused immediately and I can do nothing at all against it.

 

I reactivated my merc after a one year pause but it was worthless. Sad that my invested time was completely wasted. I'll gonna make him a synthweaving avatar and that's it.

you could make it so that classes are balanced at the release of the expansion.

 

That's most likely what's going to happen but I wouldn't get your hopes up given BW's track record for fixing things like this.

I'm with everyone on this, I PVP on my merc everyday and it blows. Something needs to be done to it.

 

BUT

 

There is no point in class balancing before an expansion release.

 

There is when things like Smash Spec Jugg/Mara obviously need a nerf and new abilities/armor will not change that fact.

you could make it so that classes are balanced at the release of the expansion.

 

Hahaha! Next thing you know world peace will be upon us!

 

Doh....

It's just not as easy as "change x to y and merc will be fine" .

 

It's all BW can do now, since Georg Zoeller took all of the secret combat maths with him to the Phillipines.

I'm assuming, hopefully, in the next update we'll get some sort of boost, because we sure as hell need one. Whether we get a boost or PT, Marauder/Sent, and maybe even Op get toned down a little bit that will help.

 

But I really do hope that things get better.

We don't have long to wait for now. 1.7 should hit PTS in 1-2 weeks.

 

The key metric in my mind is whether BW has the cajones to make Merc dps the best at ....something. Anything. Every other class has some aspect of the game they are the best at. Sorc dps has the highest damage output for ranged dps. Snipers have the best survivability for ranged dps. Jugg/Mara have the ability to select from the top dps in the game or become the super utility man for their team. Merc dps has NOTHING that they are the best at. And every time it is suggested that they get "buff X" the refrain is that, "Well no one else can do that, so Merc's shouldn't be able to either". That's bull. EVERY other class has something they can do that no one else can. Except Mercs.

 

So that's the gauntlet being thrown down, BW. Are you going to simply add a small buff that decreases the amount by which Merc dps is the worst class in the game. Or are you actually going to attempt to give teams a reason to have a Merc dps on their team?

We don't have long to wait for now. 1.7 should hit PTS in 1-2 weeks.

 

The key metric in my mind is whether BW has the cajones to make Merc dps the best at ....something. Anything. Every other class has some aspect of the game they are the best at. Sorc dps has the highest damage output for ranged dps. Snipers have the best survivability for ranged dps. Jugg/Mara have the ability to select from the top dps in the game or become the super utility man for their team. Merc dps has NOTHING that they are the best at. And every time it is suggested that they get "buff X" the refrain is that, "Well no one else can do that, so Merc's shouldn't be able to either". That's bull. EVERY other class has something they can do that no one else can. Except Mercs.

 

So that's the gauntlet being thrown down, BW. Are you going to simply add a small buff that decreases the amount by which Merc dps is the worst class in the game. Or are you actually going to attempt to give teams a reason to have a Merc dps on their team?

 

And who said class balances were happening in 1.7?

Gave up playing my commando until better days. THe last drop was at novare coast when 4 of our rangers came to the South spot and 5 monkeys IMMEDIATELY left their previous targets (even healers) switching on me after a couple of my gravrounds (tracer missles). That was so obvious... i'm just a dummy who is supposed to be killed in seconds. An irritating fly which is usually killed on the way somewhere else. Pretty often melees mock at us writing shi* in /say. That's just humilating. I miss my mando pre 50 in first days after release.

Gave up playing my commando until better days. THe last drop was at novare coast when 4 of our rangers came to the South spot and 5 monkeys IMMEDIATELY left their previous targets (even healers) switching on me after a couple of my gravrounds (tracer missles). That was so obvious... i'm just a dummy who is supposed to be killed in seconds. An irritating fly which is usually killed on the way somewhere else. Pretty often melees mock at us writing shi* in /say. That's just humilating. I miss my mando pre 50 in first days after release.

 

you mean before people realized they had interrupts? this class has had the same issues since launch. the community in this game just seems to be very slow at learning how to play their class

you mean before people realized they had interrupts? this class has had the same issues since launch. the community in this game just seems to be very slow at learning how to play their class

 

truth.

 

i haven't seen any REAL sweeping changes since launch, minus the Op nerf. (maybe i don't pay that much attention and to be honest, haven't PvP'd regularly in quite some time)

 

i dominated PvP on MZL from launch to 1.2, because i knew *** i was doing. (i did play quite a bit in beta, to be fair)

 

i had guildies that whined and cried in Ventrilo, marauder sucks, my warrior gets destroyed in PvP, tracer spammers are OP, etc. etc.

 

yet, i played a Deception spec Assassin, and did just fine.

 

then people figured out tank'sin, interrupts!!, team play, and what potential the classes actually have, and here we are today. OWPvP a joke, RWZ a joke, class balance, a joke.

 

and, like i have forseen (Palps), once people figured out how to play marauders and juggs, they would become the dominant class in PvP.

 

and like i said back then, i WILL NOT switch to fotm SW/JK just to be competative in PvP. (only class i have yet to have a 50, SW/JK)

 

it's maddening, being in SWTOR since early beta, and seeing the progression, or lack thereof, of balanced, competative PvP.

Edited January 4, 2013 by T-Assassin

The hugest change was in 1.2 when they buffed expertise. That's changed everything. The day of patch release i crited about 7k with Demo and that was bug for sure. They nerfed us to shi* next day and the grav round stacks stoped counting AT ALL. We remained in the state for quite a long period of time while marauders and ssins hit us like hell. The duels became REALLY short and if earlier we could survive 2 interrupts and spam charged bolts instead of interrupted gravs, now we could only watch how melees tear us apart in seconds. I never had problems with marauders even really good ones. They killed me but i killed them too! But now i die insanely fast even with reactive shield on. If we take expertise buff away, i'm sure we could survive longer and deal pretty well with melees but alas, now we have to face the fact we are in the a** and it's our home now until BW change it.

And who said class balances were happening in 1.7?

 

BW has specifically stated that Merc buffs/changes were not in 1.6 because they wanted to make changes across multiple classes in 1.7.

The hugest change was in 1.2 when they buffed expertise. That's changed everything. The day of patch release i crited about 7k with Demo and that was bug for sure. They nerfed us to shi* next day and the grav round stacks stoped counting AT ALL. We remained in the state for quite a long period of time while marauders and ssins hit us like hell. The duels became REALLY short and if earlier we could survive 2 interrupts and spam charged bolts instead of interrupted gravs, now we could only watch how melees tear us apart in seconds. I never had problems with marauders even really good ones. They killed me but i killed them too! But now i die insanely fast even with reactive shield on. If we take expertise buff away, i'm sure we could survive longer and deal pretty well with melees but alas, now we have to face the fact we are in the a** and it's our home now until BW change it.

 

they didnt buff expertise. the only change was that they made the penalty greater for not using it. offensive/defensive expertise bonus still cancel each other out at equal levels.

 

HSM/DR was bugged. it was not counting the Tracer armor break stacks properly at the launch of 1.2. iirc, they were counting double? but it was broken, and wasnt supposed to be doing that much damage.

Once you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.

 

no you just go through more rock.

 

I honestly don't think it can get any worse.

 

Dont tempt Bioware. They might just go with a 25% damage reduction across the board combined with 25% more damage taken

Edited January 5, 2013 by Dabrixmgp

Whatever. After 1.2 i feel dummy being top geared. Who cares what exactly been changed... I want my class back on pvp arena. Now we are sheer pew pew paper boys bringing only average damage and frags for our foes.

BW has specifically stated that Merc buffs/changes were not in 1.6 because they wanted to make changes across multiple classes in 1.7.

 

Source?

Source?

 

There was a dev response to the rather stunned Merc audience after 1.6 was late in the PTS process and nothing appeared for Mercs after the devs infamous "Merc have trouble evading multiple melee" post.

There was a dev response to the rather stunned Merc audience after 1.6 was late in the PTS process and nothing appeared for Mercs after the devs infamous "Merc have trouble evading multiple melee" post.

 

yeah, i read that, too. that was the day i switched all my mods to my VG.

 

i vividly remember reading that and finally getting it through my stupid, thick head that BW has no idea what the top issues are for Mercs, based on that statement, in my opinion. unless, they plan to do something along the lines of actually making Merc more mobile/uninterruptable/instant cast.

 

i've fought on here since about April/May, dealt with the gross imbalance in PvP, and finally just got fed up and decided to play a class that is useful in both PvP and PvE.

 

VG/PT is awesome...Merc sucks. it's maddening.

Source?

 

I also would like to see this source. I'm a returning player who is on the fence about playing my Commando. My current internal battle is "Do I play the class that might get buffed(commando) or do I play the class that will probably catch a nerf(shadow)." Probably going with commando. Oh and fyi I love slamming my crank in car doors, so commando pvp must be for me!

Edited January 7, 2013 by Swampchicken

I also would like to see this source. I'm a returning player who is on the fence about playing my Commando. My current internal battle is "Do I play the class that might get buffed(commando) or do I play the class that will probably catch a nerf(shadow)." Probably going with commando. Oh and fyi I love slamming my crank in car doors, so commando pvp must be for me!

 

look through the dev tracker for a few minutes. its not like there are a lot of posts to clog it up

Ok, now I know why I am getting focused immediately and I can do nothing at all against it.

 

I reactivated my merc after a one year pause but it was worthless. Sad that my invested time was completely wasted. I'll gonna make him a synthweaving avatar and that's it.

 

This^ I took like 2 months to get my mercenary to 50 and I am now completely trashing it. It's healing is ok but worthless compared to and op and dps is so bad that I dont even bother. Squishy class as well. I am extremely dissapointed in the fact his class hasnt been addressed yet PvP and being so spam-casty in PvE as well. sad. Any reading this about to make or continue a merc.....Forget it. If you are using your time that you are paying $15 monthly for it's not worth the money. Even for story. Just go do a Powertech for the same story. I dont want to be to harsh but there really isn't much out there right now for the Merc/commandos. Leveling is borin as well btw...Boring old tracer missle and even grav round looks cooler lol. We need instant casts, Escapeability, mobility. LESS SPAMMING TRACER/GRAV!

Edited January 7, 2013 by TrumpetNut

...before the Devs DO something?

 

I've been posting on and off with this subject for months. The history is out there:

 

-They nerfed us several times without knowing what was 'wrong'.

-They figured out what was 'wrong' and now my damage is nerfed but they didn't undo all the other nerfs!

 

In the meantime:

- BW buffed other classes, hurting us indirectly

- BW changed the expertise formula lowering Time to Death to the point they had to remove PVP adrenals. This ALSO hurt us immensely being a 'casting class'.

 

As a result:

- infinite wisdom gave us the crappiest buff tied to a power that's already handicapped: Tracer Missile/heal.

-Incidentally, the rocket punch 'buff' became perhaps the most controversial "BUFF" (IE: nerf) in the game's short history.

- The class is still largely useless in PVP.

 

Where are we now?

- Several weeks have passed and Dev's have hinted at 'an escape mechanism issue'. This is like saying the Titanic has a leak issue.

- Nerfs are STILL in place that were erroneously placed on us during the misunderstanding of the math behind Heatseeker missile (which by the way is a massive DUD ability now).

- We fight to be the 'equal' of our Powertech brethren, but the reality is we don't do the burst, we don't have even their paltry level of utility. Their version of Pyrotech is still miles ahead of ours. This is not debatable.

 

Competitively speaking:

- I won't name names, but I have guildies that if they see one Arsenal Merc (noted by cylinder equipped) they leave the Warzone before it starts. Some guildies leave even if the Merc is Pyro. Some guildies leave no matter what spec the Merc is if his health is </= 15K.

 

- I am not allowed to play my Merc in rateds.

 

- I personally feel that the real negativity and the 'perceived' negativity towards merc class makes it too difficult for me to play mine without hostility from teammates. (it's just not worth the hassle - from strangers or guildies)

 

- We have a 50+ page thread begging for changes by the merc community. Non-merc players often chime in with agreement to these threads. We often see 2-3 of these threads going every week.

 

So then WHY.....

 

.... aren't you doing anything BW? Do we REALLY have to wait until 1.7+? And that isn't even a guarantee of anything significant. (IE. our last 'buff' was a total disaster.)

 

Unfortunately I hesitantly admit a LOT of VERY bad PVPers play Mercenary. They are comfortable with the premise of standing on a ledge hitting Tracer 2-3x and Heatseeker once. It's not a difficult mechanic. Admittedly the class does attract a lot of mediocrity. However for a good player to shine this class presents a ridiculous challenge given the current state of the above mentioned conditions.

 

So then HOW long are you going to let this go on? I am a full subscriber and you've neutered my favorite character. For the time being I reluctantly play my Powertech who has ALL my Warhero gear. However, my Mercenary has ALL my shells! I have never enjoyed the inherent playstyle of my PT compared to my Merc.

 

As a subscriber in this situation, you can see how I would be reaching a level of frustration that is getting > than my enjoyment out of this game.

 

I apologize for the wordiness, but I wanted to be specific. This isn't about asking for an 'I win' button. This class is why I play(ed) the game. You have had an exorbitant amount of time to react to this situation and we're still waiting.... How much longer do you think it's reasonable for me (us) to wait Bioware?

 

Honestly your guildies sound very mean. But anyways I hadn't touched my merc for like a month and last night i tried it. I have half BATTLEMASTER still and half War Hero. IT WAS CRAZY any old class did 2-4 hit to kill me..... I can't escape I cant do dmg while running(Which I am doing 70% of the time)