Oh wait.... looks like they were forgotten anyways....

Did you wash them before you hung them out to dry?

In all seriousness though, how hard is it to recode Kolto Shell for multipul targets? I mean really, not like we haven't been asking for that for a year or anything... Mercs need something pro-active. Sorcs got bubbIe, ops got probes...

confused about this as well and hoping that these aren't the only changes.

other than the few changes in 2.4, we haven't seen really any big balance changes since 2.0, and if 2.5 is the 'balance' patch, the changes listed so far seem a little light to me.

confused about this as well and hoping that these aren't the only changes.

 

other than the few changes in 2.4, we haven't seen really any big balance changes since 2.0, and if 2.5 is the 'balance' patch, the changes listed so far seem a little light to me.

It is not a balance worthy list, its more of an... adjustment.

I've come to a very simple conclusion, Give mercs multi-target Kolto Shell, and change Peacekeeper/Bodyguard so it procs while healing a friendly target... Its not that hard to change, its not that OP. It suppIiments self healing while still being able to maintain a decent resource pool and minimul healing on a friendly target in high intensity PvP such as ranked arena's. No need to increase anything else or add another escape mecho because all of the above rely on no cast-time. I can say right now with full confidence, Kolto Shell(All Targets) + Kolto Missle + PIus rapid shots on an ally proccing Bodyguard/PeaceKeeper would be just on par with other healing classes escape/heal mechanics, if not still a bit weaker but given a passing grade by the community.

*BIOWARE* just try it, 2 weeks on live and if its as overpower as you might believe take it out there are/were many games that patch skill nerfs weekly and if something was truly unbalancing they would hot fix it over night

~Harbingers

((I reposted this post of mine from the merc forums.))

I also like how they kept mentioning how other classes were over-performing in the Merc reply, like this:

It is fairly clear now that Mercenaries/Commandos are not the dominating force on the field of battle that we originally feared they might be. With that said, some classes have utilities that are just too strong and/or cooldown durations that are quite possibly too short – the Marauder/Sentinel is a good example of a class like this. So while some classes may pine to be given cooldowns that will make them as strong as Sentinels/Marauders, we would rather reduce the effectiveness of Marauder/Sentinel cooldowns to make them more like the other classes when it comes to survivability.

...yet...the changes I see are:

Sith Marauder

 

General

 

The stacking buff provided by Juyo Form now lasts 24 seconds (up from 15) and can be applied once every second (down from every 1.5 seconds).

 

Annihilation

 

The stacking Annihilator buff provided by Annihilate now lasts 24 seconds (up from 15).

...where's the reduction in effectiveness exactly?

Does this mean that we will see new content with 2.5 as well?

Does it have a plan or name yet?

Hey everyone,

 

I wanted to try to address a few of the issues that you brought up in regards to the blog and the 2.5 changes.

 

Mercenary Changes // Other Class Changes

 

The changes that are listed in the 2.5 blog are currently all of our planned Class changes for that Game Update. I realize that not all classes or specs received changes. Know that Class changes are something that we will be doing with more frequency moving forward and you should look for more blogs/information such as this when we do.

 

I realize there is always frustration if your class does not receive changes (especially buffs) but this is something we will always be working on!

 

The Balance Patch!

 

I just want to make sure I set an expectation that we will never really have something that is "a balance patch." That is to say, the player expectation of a balance patch is one where almost every class and every spec receives changes. You simply wont see that volume of changes outside of something like an expansion. You will certainly see Class changes coming in some Game Updates. However they will not be on the scale I think a balance patch might imply.

 

Also, don't forget that we will be bringing back the Class Reps shortly after 2.5 goes live. You will certainly notice some of the great suggestions we got out of the Class Rep initiative made it to be changes in 2.5 (especially some of the quality of life stuff!). I know the classes who did not receive changes will be eager to get their feedback to us and so I will be sure to get them in the front of the order (such as Merc/Commando).

 

Thanks everyone,

 

-eric

Thank you for the quick reply. Hopefully we see some tweaks to Merc/Commando soon

Does this mean that we will see new content with 2.5 as well?

 

Does it have a plan or name yet?

Why would you think there wouldn't be any content. Where are people getting this from? Just because they release a blog detailing class changes it doesn't mean thats all there is to the patch

Hey everyone,

 

The changes that are listed in the 2.5 blog are currently all of our planned Class changes for that Game Update.

So when can we expect to see 2.6? This is beyond disappointing. 2.5 just widens the already large gap that even you guys acknowledged.

You simply wont see that volume of changes outside of something like an expansion.

You mean something like this? BIOWARE UNVEILS GALACTIC STARFIGHTER, THE NEXT DIGITAL EXPANSION FOR Star Wars™: THE OLD REPUBLIC™

Also, don't forget that we will be bringing back the Class Reps shortly after 2.5 goes live. You will certainly notice some of the great suggestions we got out of the Class Rep initiative made it to be changes in 2.5 (especially some of the quality of life stuff!). I know the classes who did not receive changes will be eager to get their feedback to us and so I will be sure to get them in the front of the order (such as Merc/Commando).

What more is there to really say other than "why didn't you guys implement any of the changes we talked about and you guys acknowledged"?

 

The changes that are listed in the 2.5 blog are currently all of our planned Class changes for that Game Update. I realize that not all classes or specs received changes. Know that Class changes are something that we will be doing with more frequency moving forward and you should look for more blogs/information such as this when we do.

 

I realize there is always frustration if your class does not receive changes (especially buffs) but this is something we will always be

 

The Balance Patch!

 

I just want to make sure I set an expectation that we will never really have something that is "a balance patch." That is to say, the player expectation of a balance patch is one where almost every class and every spec receives changes. You simply wont see that volume of changes outside of something like an expansion. You will certainly see Class changes coming in some Game Updates. However they will not be on the scale I think a balance patch might imply.

Thanks everyone,

 

-eric

This is 100% the correct approach to balancing the game.

Keep the blog posts coming. Keep the balance patches small. Increase the frequency of small, iterative balance patches.

Well done.

You mean something like this? BIOWARE UNVEILS GALACTIC STARFIGHTER, THE NEXT DIGITAL EXPANSION FOR Star Wars™: THE OLD REPUBLIC™

2.5 isn't the expansion.

This is 100% the correct approach to balancing the game.

 

Keep the blog posts coming. Keep the balance patches small. Increase the frequency of small, iterative balance patches.

 

Well done n

I will say, if they can live up to having more frequent balance changes then I think it will be a big step in the right direction. Their current cadence for balance changes has been far too low, at around once every 6 months.

I will say, if they can live up to having more frequent balance changes then I think it will be a big step in the right direction. Their current cadence for balance changes has been far too low, at around once every 6 months.

Exactly.

Monthly small balance tweaks are immensely better than large sweeping changes once a year.

2.5 isn't the expansion.

If it isn't a part of 2.5 then it will be right on its heels, because it launches on December 3rd.

Ok this is just my opinion but here goes.

Next time you guys put out a class change blog at least acknowledge the fact that class A, D and E arent being changed YET. You guys miss opportunities to foster any sort of goodwill in this community all the time. Instead it just feel like certain classes are being ignored.

I am not saying people need to be coddled but how hard would it be to say Merc changes are in the works but we wont have them ready by 2.5. Coming soon though.

Just my 2 cr

If it isn't a part of 2.5 then it will be right on its heels, because it launches on December 3rd.

Right, for subscribers, January 14th for everyone else.

Chances are you can expect more balance tweaking again in the next patch since they said they're trying to start doing it more often. However, since GS content is not raising level caps or adding new skills for our actual characters I wouldn't expect anything major done to them for that specifically.