BODYGUARD

 

I was a healing merc till the 1.2 nerforama and then I gave up on it after trying to heal and finding myself constantly overheating despite watching what I was doing, it's just too frustrating to me to try and heal when I'm completely useless after about 10 seconds of sustained healing during oh crap moments.

 

ARSENAL

 

I like it and it's my current spec but it desperately needs some mobility to help it out, I think something that would help is perhaps allowing the unload proc to let unload be used while moving so as to give us some much needed mobility, it would also help to find ways to let other abilities be used while moving so we aren't as much of a turret.

 

I have no experience with pyro so I cant comment on it.

 

EDIT: Oh one more thing

 

GIVE US AN INTERRUPT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Edited July 16, 2012 by Twickers

My main character is a Mercenary, usually Arsenal spec but not exclusively.

 

1. Everyone dislikes the fact that I can't interrupt, no one understands this really.

My healers appreciate me being able to dispel myself and having a good sense when to use my two defensive cooldowns. Something I adressed recently, so everyone can be more aware on how to mitigate damage apart from not standing in the red circles.

I am the person who's asked about what spec to chose or what stats you should have in my operation ... I just like numbers and know my way around finding information quickly on the internet. While not being the raid leader nor wanting to be my vote in things concerning gear, encounters and similar is usually strongly tanking under advisement.

Usually I rank first in damage with an exception being Toth and Zorn where I sometimes am out-dps'd by our Marauder. Our group is equally geared and all DDs are full Q61 with my main-hand being an exception, which leads to some respect with my group despite the fact that being great at DPS'ing is hardly a useful life-skill and hardly hard at all.

 

2. I don't understand why I do that great in the meters, since I trust that other classes (eg. Annahilation Marauders) have a higher potential. While not unhappy I don't think Merc is a good damage dealer but that in some way others could improve their rotation (and most importantly use of CDs) and easily pull ahead.

I can't interrupt. Don't understand it. Don't like it.

My Merc has every good looking armor piece that's available - yes I'm a fashionist and a number cruncher - and Bounty Hunters have a loot of good looking gear available (Hydra Set, RD-15A Assault, TT-16 Powertech, etc). I like the rockets, especially since the animation of Tracer Missile was changed. The Legacy jet boost is awesome and I bought it fully upgraded just to finally use the jet pack more frequently.

A character with a lot of style and it's a well rounded aesthetic experience playing it.

 

Now for the bad part ... not performance but gameplay gives me some issues:

Arsenal is extremely one sided ... spamming TMs isn't good gameplay. Easy fix is to lower RS and HSM cooldowns. This would buff the damage output as a side effect, but it might just put our potential right where the top tier specs are right now. Anyway it would effectively decrease the number of Tracer Missiles by at least a small amount.

Pyrotech is a totally different beast and while it can be on par with Arsenal it is two things: luck dependant and clunky. And both reasons come from the same - imho not very well informed - decision to give the RS proc an 6 second internal cooldown. Due to unstable heat venting you rapid shot a lot sometimes and sometimes almost not at all. Also the fact that the cylinder has a rather low chance to ignite your target is sometimes a bit of an issue - espcially since I know the other Bounty Hunter AC doesn't have this particular problem.

Everything that makes Pyrotech well rounded for Powertechs is lacking when playing the spec as a mercenary.

 

/edit:

Almost forgot ... PvP ... no movment skill ... and as with the interrupt the only class that lacks this!

Edited July 16, 2012 by Hxxr

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?

 

I'm Pyro, I almost exclusively play PVE. My raid teammates don't seem to have any problems with my ability to execute, damage wise.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

Pyro is pretty good. It's certainly the most enjoyable DPS spec I've played of any SWTOR class. It's got good mobility, good range, a nice tempo, and the Prototype Particle Accelerator gives the rotation the fun shakeup it needs to keep from becoming overly predictable. If Pyro has a weakness, it's that it's not very good at keeping the range open. The ranged snare is based on a pretty unlikely proc, and the only ways to get back out to range are Jet Boost and Electro-dart.

Mercenary, Arsenal, Raider (I don't PvP)

 

1) Perceived as Most consistent DPS in game for raids. My guild prefers there be at least 2 Arsenal Mercs in 8 man raids, because it makes downing bosses in HMs and EC easier. Only Sniper is as preferred for ranged DPS in our guild.

2)Arsenal Spec for Merc is PERFECT. Has its tradeoffs (no interrept for instance) in exchange for consistant DPS, and is incredible fun without being overpowered. Please do not change Arsenal Spec for Merc as far as PvE goes.

Edited July 16, 2012 by ZionHalcyon

For raiding they are the worst healers. The more Alacrity you stack (which is all over high end gear) the worse they get as all it does is make them run out of heat to fast.

1.) Mercenary Spec is usually welcome in any party to the point at which others get dumped in preference of it.

2.) The DPS produced by mercenaries is good but little things do let it down such as the area of afffect of death from above being pathetic especially as the cd is substantial. The second is the lack of stats geared on end game gear actually benfitting the dual hand specification of the merc with a complete lack of accuracy until Rakata. This coupled with an excess of crit on all gear instead of power prevent the merc from actually acchieving what hes capable of and producing marauder equaling dps.

As Pyrotech (shared)

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes? I think others view Pyrotech as the "in" spec at the moment for both sides of the Bounty Hunter.

2. How do you perceive your own spec? I feel the usefulness of Pyrotech outshines all other specs the Bounty Hunter has access to. Mercenary as a base AC feels weak with no interrupt or a leap (rocket pack, cmon you highlighted the rocket pack for bounty hunters in trailers) Pyro is the best choice to counteract that feeling of weakness, as it's procs while not overpowered can provide a streak of high burst at the cost of windows of overheating.

From a PvP PoV:

 

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes? [bodyguard]:

I think in general Mercenary's are considered the least powerful healers due to their lack of a top off ability (we only have 1 instant on a 21 second cooldown) but they are also considered a very tanky healer.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec? [bodyguard]:

I think we are a very offensive healing class which is a positive however our big heal still costs too much heat meaning we cannot keep up with teams who continually switch targets quickly without overheating or letting the person die which is a major flaw in bodyguard healing. We cannot keep up with either sorcs or operative healers in healing numbers because of this and the difference in tankyness does not really make up for it. I would suggest reverting the change made to supercharged gas so that we could manage our heat a bit more predictably.

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes? People see us as the weekest class, with our TM having the 1.5 cast time we dont have a lot of move ability.

2. How do you perceive your own spec? It truely is a L2P class. im a merc arsenal spec im im always up the top end end of DPS, i do think our armor value could be a little higher, coz alot of other light armor classes seem to have endless defencive moves.

Arsenal spec:

 

Our single target damage seems OK to me and apart from not having an interrupt I have not seen any real issues with pve.

 

1) Other class's see us as an easy target in pvp there's no doubt in that, Jedi will leap through enemy's and objectives just to get to us and what they know to be any easy kill, because we have such poor defense's and our main attacks reply on casting to which they can interrupt with ease.

 

2) I see my merc as a good damage dealer if unnoticed but I have come to accept that when a fight starts 1v1 the odds are not in my favor, we are differently the underdog in pvp and as such are singled out as easy targets,

There is simply nothing we can do once some one starts interrupting us apart from knock them back and maybe delaying the outcome by a few more seconds.

 

Suggestion: Off the top of my head maybe make powershot uninterrupted-able so we can still get our barrage proc up it would give us a reason to use it, also the 2% damage reduction back on power barrier.

Edited July 17, 2012 by nkitch

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes? (Pyrptech)

 

PvP: The duel wield is easy to spot. At the moment, Heavy Armor-duel wield is a give away as an "easy mark". They go down easy and are a non-threat. They are not welcome in Rated WZ because the DPS space could be better fielded with a Mara or PT Pyro.

PvE: They are not welcome in Ops Groups (HM and NM) because the DPS space could be better fielded with a Mara or PT Pyro.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec? (Pyrotech)

 

I like the look. I am depressed with the performance since launch. I only have time to focus on one class. When I play other classes, I use family and friends accounts. It is just as easy to play my class than it is to play others, it just performs at a lessor level.

 

Suggestions: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=504960

Edited July 17, 2012 by Baarabas

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?

 

I've PvP'd with both Arsenal and Pyrotech extensively since launch (I'm in full WH and valor 84), so I'll respond for both specs in the PvP environment.

 

Arsenal- easiest class to spot given the use of Tracer Missiles (TM also most obvious casting animation). Melee know how and when to close the distance, and save gap-closers for the likely knock-back of Jet boost. Both melee and ranged save their interrupts for Tracer Missile. Some ranged classes fear the skilled Arsenal Mercs, and tend to focus them first (especially snipers). Overall, All melee (and especially powertechs) see Arsenal mercs as a free meal.

 

Pyrotech- less obvious to distinguish from a powertech, and targeted less often by all classes than Arsenal. Given the similar animations with Powertech-Pyros, Merc-Pyros seem to be a tougher target for melee, especially if they are mistaken for a Powertech-Pyro. Ranged classes do not seem to fear Merc-Pyros, and tend to focus them.

 

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

Arsenal- great niche as far as abilities, animations, and rotation. This is also the most fun AC to play in the game so far for me. I love the "Hadouken!" rocket punch and the Terminator Tracer missiles the most. The stance animations for Powershot and Unload are the best in game I think. As far as viability in pvp, I'm forced to play pyrotech to compete on the team level (esp. rateds). With Arsenal I can average 375 dps in warzones, and get up to 550 dps in good games (with competent healers). I cannot out dps other classes of the same skill level and gear rating, however (particularly the "Big 3" assn/pwrtech/marauder). I feel that if I were to play another class, I could max my dps at over 600 with good teams. I cannot kite competent melee, and I often need to be near a healer to sustain my dps, especially once the other team realizes I'm actually killing them. I can 1v1 snipers, sorcs, and other mercs pretty effectively. I cannot 1v1 any melee class, and must resort to knockbacks and high-ground.

 

I actually could kite if Missile Blast didn't cost so much heat. Say if I could put a top tier skill point in reducing the heat cost of missile blast to 16 or so (or less)

 

Pyrotech- This is the more effective AC for PvP, in that I can survive for much longer due to the smaller target on my head, the increased mobility, and the simpler ability rotation. Overall this AC is really easy to play (not as easy as PT-Pyrotech though). I can kite and spam rapid shots to proc CGC whenever melee close on me. Though my knock-backs are less effective, I don't really need them as much anyways. My dps with this spec is averages higher than with Arsenal, ranging from 400-575 dps most matches. Even if my team is basically non-existent, I can still top the charts in dps with this spec. I'm interrupted less often, and cannot be shut down with interrupts. Though I'm more vulnerable to snipers and sorcs, I can LoS my way to victory. I still cannot 1v1 melee with much success (of equal skill and gear anyways).

 

There's so much more I could say, but I tried to keep it short

Edited July 17, 2012 by Sybaris

I only play PvE, as Arsenal spec (haven't got around to Bodyguard yet).

 

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes? - Adequate with proper gearing.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec? - Adequate. Was happy that my damage/dps was pretty close to the Marauders in our ops, then our Powertech came back and is able to sustain dps 20-30% higher than us all (in a lower tier of gear). I could probably play a little better with my rotation though. I do like when something goes terribly wrong and our healers die that as dps spec I can switch to healing quickly and relatively efficiently.

Having played all 3 trees in the Merc AC I will comment on all.

PVE..

Bodyguard, I haven't healed since 1.2 as heat was stressful enough in Large AOE damage situations prior to the heat managment nerfs made it "UN" fun.

 

both Arsenal and Pyro are great fun and solid performers for raiding, no complaints from me here.

 

PVP..

This is where the issues are for this AC.

Arsenal needs to build stacks to get HSM to hit hard enough to make a difference which is fine, but if a Merc is played well enough to get those stacks up then HSM should hit harder than it does.

Arsenal having the ability to talent into the second Knockback is great but with no effective way to keep enemies at Bay means nothing as we just get jumped to or harpooned back into the fray again.

 

In dire need of a better kiting mechanic, such as a slow attached to rapid shot or something.

 

Pyro in pvp is more user friendly having CGC proc from rapid shots but again it's not 100% chance, if we spec as pyro we have no option to pickup the extra Knockback or power barrier meaning we not only do less damage as pyro than we would as arsenal but are far more easily killed, quite simply pyro needs to either have option to pickup some sort of damage reduction or do more damage with thermal detonator as it hits considerably less than HSM does.

 

Pyro has the ability to stay away from enemies but is not capable of finishing off anyone in a reasonably short time frame.

Arsenal has the ability to effectively kill enemies but is not capable of keeping anyone at a distance.

Address these and it's would be balanced with any other AC in the game IMHO.

So far at Level 44, Bodyguard experience:

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?

PVP: Hard to kill when cool-downs are available, easy to kill when cool-downs are on timer; used to be over-powered.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

PVP: Horrid at low-level PVP due to long cast heals until sometime in the 20s, but much better with the instant heal, emergency scan (may be wrong name, but last talent in healing tree).

 

PVE: I usually play in a duo with a BH tank, but after recently upgrading some gear for myself and Torian (my best companion for this spec so far), playing BH solo class quests are a cake-walk because damage and survivability is outstanding. Healing as Merc took some adjustment, but is more complex than my 50 Corruption Sorc and more fun.

Bodyguard.

1. As i know. People don't want see Merc healer in their RWZ team.(I prefer PvP than PvE) For heat reason. unmobility.

 

2. I like Healer merc. Good solo target healer. but no good for group(overheat to fast).

If i stay at def point(stupid group, they don't need healer:D). i can do easly def point and /ops Ind <point> for a long time.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Dimies

From a PVP only perspective

 

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?

It is perceived as a free kill and useless class except for the healing tree.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Arsenal tree doesn't put more damage on the table than a sniper for instance (which is also ranged) without having the tools to keep the target at range, all is said this tree is not viable in PvP as a sniper is better on all aspects.

 

The pyrotech tree is better but again why bother since powertech pyrotech is better almost everywhere. The reason why this tree is broken as mercenary is because you need powershot or unload to proc rail shot which have both casting time and then remove all the mobility that this tree have in powertech advanced class. So if we compare with powertech we get less damage and less mobility, get it ?

 

The bodyguard tree is the only viable PVP tree but is also the healing tree which produce the less healing output so ultimately you feel as you would do a better job as sorcerer or operative. The 1.2 nerf was bad by conception because this class is meant for strong mono-target heal but due to the 1.2 nerf you can't burst so ultimately our mono-target healing capability is not as strong as it should be. Worst thing was to nerf supercharged gas which is the funniest aspect of the tree, this class should be about giving a significant advantage with supercharged gaz and putting effort maintaining it and managing it, well it isn't also due to the heat system.

Then finally what is the most absurd in this class is the the green rapid shot heals which tells everyone that you are heal and where you are, a good heal must be discrete which is impossible if you spam rapid shot => Fail.

 

Well after trying all the tree thoroughly i understood the lesson and rerolled.

Edited July 17, 2012 by usernameemanresu

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?

kind of low i have had a few groups brake up because of a merc, but all in all on this I have little to say

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

before 1.2 i was a Arsenal dps and love it after 1.2 i felt like i was using a tennis racket in a sword fight with a lot of help form my brother i made fifty and stopped playing the toon for months i recently respect as a healer and its ok but i have no defense and die in three hits. the boss cannon in directive 7 ohkos me. to my sight we need tanks to be more able to grab agro from reinforcement spawns and large groups. i cant say how many times I have died from three reds spawn and all target me and i die before any one can help and chaff does not seem to work at all.

I play a Pyro Merc in PvP:

 

1: It feels like opponents consider mercs a weak threat; something that might cause trouble if left alone, but can be taken out easily and quickly.

 

2: I consider merc weak. Mobility is the only reliable tool I have to stay alive and this massively reduces my ability to kill; once my instant attacks are on cooldown it is very hard to dps, players will insta interrupt any channeled abilities leaving rapid shots my only option. Only when I have a substantial gear advantage am I able to beat other classes.

Mercs are "Ok " at PVE i guess, Im BIS and get smashed DPS wise by Marauders/ Snipers/ and Power techs. The new changes to heat made it closer . But forinstance on HM 16 Kephess, Ill do 700k Dmg , Well the top people all do 1mil + . So im 1/4 to 1/3 off their damage,

 

This is tracked with Mox , and My avg DPS for the whole fight is about 1200-1600, These guys to 1900+

 

PVP -

 

We suck in every way , Ill probably quit PvPing once I hit my conqueror rank , in about 1 valor lvl

Everything, every class, every advanced class is better. We are not even invited to Rated WZ .. Mostly because PT's and Marauders do double our damage in similar gear

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?

 

We are considered bottom tier of the three healing classes at this point in the game with Sorcs being king of PvE and Operatives being king of PvP healers. You took away everything that made Bodyguard spec special; such as the benefits of using Super Charged Gas, which is now either used to vent 8 Heat and then cancel buff, not used at all to keep native 3% healing buff, or used in very rare situations to spam Healing Scan on multiple people.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

While I have adapted to the changes (nerfs) to my class which made it special, its no fun to play like it used to be. We need more tools to be competitive with other healers and bring back our bonuses to using Super Charged Gas. All three healers need more tools added to their toolset to make them fun to play again.

Arsenal

1. PvP- Seen as a free kill by the other team and as dead weight by my teammates, would never be chosen for a ranked WZ

PvE- Seen as a solid sustained dps, not the best but far from the worst.

 

2. PvP- I see myself as a useless nub who decided to go and try PvP while Arsenal speced, I am utterly useless and the only people I can kill 1v1 are other Mercs/Commandos or people who are occupied/not paying attention, my damage is fine but I am shut down so easily and have no survivability whatsoever, I think that many of the people in charge of PvP balancing overestimate the usefulness of heavy armor and the ability to off heal so we get nerfed.

PvE- I see myself as a pretty good dps, never had anyone have problems with my damage output(occasionaly get complaints about pulling aggro), having no interrupts kind of sucks and I would say we need one

 

Pyrotech

 

1. PvP- As pyro most people still see a free kill as I am still a merc, but my team seems to think that as a pyro I can at least contribute to the match a little, low chances of being in a ranked WZ.

PvE- I don't think people really expect people to roll Merc Pyro for PvE so they expect it to be mediocre.

 

2. PvP- I finally could do something to contribute, can kill squishy people pretty easily, but still died if anyone sneezed on me, still really bad at 1v1 compared to any other class, but at least better then Arsenal.

PvE- I see Pyro PvE being pretty bad, my damage was decent at best and I was way to reliant on the CGS procs that never seemed to happen, really reliant on Rail Shot, and the PTech Pyro gets a much better armor penetration buff to Rail Shot than the merc, the merc's Rail Shot needs to get the same armor penetration as the Powertech to even begin closing the gap between Merc Pyro DPS and PTech Pyro DPS

 

General Thoughts: Merc DPS needs some love for PvP, PvE is not all that bad, but PvP is unplayable as a DPS Merc (for any 1v1, if you have a pack/teammate running around with you its not so bad), the Merc needs to be less reliant on teammates to kill enemies, Mercs also could use an interrupt similar to the Sniper's. PvE is fine for the most part.

1. Bodyguard spec. people would prefer to sub a merc healer for an operative or sorc because they under heal and dont manage there heat well

 

2. Bodyguard spec. i think the boundy hunter is way underpowered compared to operatives or sorcs i have just as good if not better stats then most sorcs and operatives at high end content and i ony do half of what they do

 

 

End of the day merc healing needs to be re-addressed because people have started subbing them for better healing classes even if the merc has more experiance just for the simple fact operatives and sorcs do bigger and better heals

 

Merc healing would be a great healing class if they had simlar out put healing as the other healing classes

I'm going to eco the vast majority here... But I'm a little shocked about needing this feedback. All the information here has been hashed 10000 times on the Merc forum so I don't understand why you would not already be uniformed by the current Merc state of affairs

 

The way I see it is labeled 1 and the way I think others see it is labeled 2

 

Body guard [pvp]

 

 

 

1 Solid healing spec but best suited for single target healing. Hard to kill. But not good at keeping groups up (AOE healing). beyond healing the class can't do much else. CC and utility is lacking but the healing does make up for it.

 

2 The same... hard to kill. When paired with a tank very deadly combo. I think most people feel the Operative is the only better pvp healer

 

 

Body Guard [pve]

 

1) Solid healing spec if focused on a small set of critical priority targets like main tank,off tank, other healer and self. Operation wide healing and AOE healing is very difficult. Heat management is difficult but can be managed with a little practice.

 

2) I think a lot of people feel that the heat management is to difficult to play so they play other classes. But I think everyone feels a skilled merc can heal very well except for the times when AOE heals are needed

 

 

Arsenal [pvp]

 

1) My favorite spec I love the damage mechanics however the spec is still broken for pvp. Far too easily countered and cannot stay planeted long enough to use the Dps mechanics. Despite the vastly improved burst damage in 1.3 the Arsenal merc cannot keep range or keep still long enough to use that damage. If left alone (only happens in non-rated wz) it can be very effective as a sniper taking out targets very fast. But the actual sniper and gun slinger does a much better job.

 

2) By far the weekest pvp spec in the game and easily killed.

 

 

Pryo[pvp]

 

1) Better than arsenal at both surviving and maintaing dps. But the dps is not burst and mostly comes from the dots and rapid shots. Because the skills that trigger the extra rail shots are used while planted so the pyro merc suffers the same issue as the Arsenal. You cannot perform the main dps mechanic because you cannot stay on your feet long enough. So in this spec you can come closer to the other dps classes in overall damage but now you have a much harder time taking out targets with out perfect rhythm and timing. WIth out enough skills to keep targets at range or impose will on targets (stuns and interrupts) the pyro merc is still IMHO much harder to play than every other dps spec in the game for pvp (except arsenal merc)

 

2) 1v1 very easy to kill unless the player is very very good at kiting. But if acting as support dps it can be effective if a very skilled player is controlling it. Other classes are much easier to play and more effective in the role so are preferred by rated teams

 

 

 

I have no comment on the dps specs in PVE since I haven't played that role with any consistency

Edited July 17, 2012 by Choffware

[Arsenal Spec]

 

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?

I feel like other classes see us as an easy kill.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

I'm basically a sitting target. Spamming tracer missile is extremely boring and draws immediate attention to me. I have no mobility whatsoever and basically just get stunned over and over and over again.