Jump to content

Suggested Mercenary/Commando Changes for 1.6


cashogy

Recommended Posts

Did you ever think why Power Surge, which is on a 120s CD? It is for a reason, you know.

 

and really? what reason is that? b/c it really offers nothing to the class in its current iteration. 120s is MUCH too long of a cooldown to be a reliable, effective ability.

 

mercs *NEED* situational interrupt resistance. what i proposed with Run and Gun does exactly that; and it would ONLY be available in the situation it was intended to be used for (against melee ranged combatants).

 

people can continue drinking the coolaid and asking for an "escape mechanism", but what does that really solve? it lets you run away from the fight faster, great. it does nothing to help Merc maintain effectiveness in combat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 136
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

This not only allows you to have an instant Snipe every 6 seconds but you get a pretty much permanent 20% ranged defense bonus. Not too shabby I'd say. So as you can see Snipers ARE very much mobile in MM spec. I move to a new position every 6 seconds.

 

It is sort of funny. A lot of the toys that Mercs are asking for are already available to Snipers, the ranged class that actually is functional.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is sort of funny. A lot of the toys that Mercs are asking for are already available to Snipers, the ranged class that actually is functional.

 

but im a psychotic lunatic that lacks the vision to understand how my suggestions affect balance! everything i suggest would be ridiculously overpowered! it doesnt matter that other ranged DPS classes already have the things i suggest!

 

 

 

:rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want to compare Snipers to Commandos, let me put a few things out there:

 

1. Snap Shot makes Snipe instant every 6 seconds. Laze Target gives 100% crit chance on Snipe.

2. Snipe and Series of Shots can proc Reactive Shot that reduces the cast time of Ambush by 1 second.

3. Followthrough is already instant. In fact it is the fastest skill in the game to the point that it always allows you to hit enemies that you've killed with Snipe or Ambush. You can sometimes hit dead enemies killed by others but no other skill allows you hit an enemy that you yourself have killed (e.g. You can't Impale enemies killed with Voltaic Slash)

4. Cover Screen gives you a 20% ranged defense for 6 seconds that you can refresh (incidentally) every 6 seconds.

 

So as a full MM Sniper what I do is:

 

1. Laze Target and Snap Shot for auto-crit, insta-Snipe

2. 1,5 sec Ambush with Reactive Shield procced by Laze Target

3. Get up, use Followthrough on the move and displace to a position with no LoS issues.

4. Take cover again, 6 seconds have elapsed, insta-Snipe again

5. Rinse and repeat (if Snipe doesn't proc Reactive Shot again, then use Series of Shots instead of Ambush)

 

This not only allows you to have an instant Snipe every 6 seconds but you get a pretty much permanent 20% ranged defense bonus. Not too shabby I'd say. So as you can see Snipers ARE very much mobile in MM spec. I move to a new position every 6 seconds.

 

good argumentation against lethality user claiming they are more mobile. There is one catch though: ambush is important and it's 1.5 sec, with laze target you get only one crit snipe, after that 1 min you are depending on your crit chance. No crit snipe, no reactive shot, 2.5 sec ambush. So it's not that guaranteed. And you still need to cast 1,5 sec.

 

Now another real difference: the mercs use tech attacks for tracer and the rest. They have less troubles than us when having to deal with deflection, saberstrike and any sort of ranged defense. So it's not that they don't have advamtages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry but Run'n'Gun is overpowered. You get too much mobility and burst for a ranged DPS class.

.

 

Sorry, but until your class is interruptable you have no right to an opinion on the matter. At all. You do realize the proposed ability would require being in melee range of someone right? They're in my face doing frontloaded uninterruptable damage, and I have no way to avoid it. I should be able to put some of my own right back in their damn face.

 

Jesus Christ, you are asking for a hydraulic overrides on a ranged class? You serious? I can get the shield with the 2 different set bonuses to 15 seconds, haha, i got damage reduction and immunity to every root and knockback for 15 seconds.

 

I've been asking for Hold the Line on Commando for awhile, only with interrupt/leap immunity instead of immunity to roots/slows. Would serve as an escape and a way to get out damage under fire at the same time (so you'd have to decide how to use it). I like run and gun better.

 

Holy Raptor Jesus. You are asking for an universal cleanse??? How about some weaknesses? Sorc healers being vulnerable to tech debuffs while ops and mercs being vulnerable to force debuffs. And you suddenly want to be able to eliminate any debuffs in game with just one spamable cleanse?

 

I believe he's said that all healers should be able to spec into a full cleanse. In this very thread. Multiple times. I don't see how giving healers full cleanses would be game breaking. There's enough effects going out that if they spend all their time cleansing they're going to be dead healers pretty soon.

 

 

After terrible suggestions like these, i don't know who has no clue about mercs balance, you or bioware. Dude, you are heavily biased in favor of your merc. You are basically asking it to be OP instead of balanced. It's the same as if I, a sniper would be asking to get stealth scan and passive stealth detection

 

Pretty sure I've seen you ask for stealth scan on Sniper. A lot. I personally, as a stealther, wouldn't mind it. It's not going to save you from me.

 

 

Pretty sure you just want us to be snipers. If we wanted to be snipers we'd have rolled snipers. We're trying to make changes that differentiate us from snipers.

 

Did you ever think why Power Surge, which is on a 120s CD? It is for a reason, you know.

 

Meanwhile snipers can get off an instant sniper every 6 seconds just by popping in and out of cover. Are you trolling dude? Power surge is, bar none, the worst top tier offensive cooldown in the game. It's not even worth talking about. Maybe if it granted it's buff for more than one cast, but as it stands? Pathetic. I'd trade it for the Crit Chance increase Vanguards get in a second.

 

I swear Commando was balanced with a completely different game in mind.

 

It is sort of funny. A lot of the toys that Mercs are asking for are already available to Snipers, the ranged class that actually is functional.

 

HA! I've been noticing that for awhile. You can say that again Macro (btw someone note the date and time I agreed with Macro. We've had some, shall we say "spirited" discussions in the past).

 

No crit snipe, no reactive shot, 2.5 sec ambush. So it's not that guaranteed. And you still need to cast 1,5 sec.

 

Cept Series of Shot crits can also lower the activation time. Between the two you have an 80% chance of lowering the activation time if you have any kind of decent crit chance.

 

Also your AoE mez is still 30m while our stun is now 10 (makes zero sense for a ranged class), and while tech damage can get around deflection, we're SoL when it comes to resilience which if specced into properly has a better uptime than deflection anyway.

Edited by ArchangelLBC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

good argumentation against lethality user claiming they are more mobile. There is one catch though: ambush is important and it's 1.5 sec, with laze target you get only one crit snipe, after that 1 min you are depending on your crit chance. No crit snipe, no reactive shot, 2.5 sec ambush. So it's not that guaranteed. And you still need to cast 1,5 sec.

 

Now another real difference: the mercs use tech attacks for tracer and the rest. They have less troubles than us when having to deal with deflection, saberstrike and any sort of ranged defense. So it's not that they don't have advamtages.

 

That's why I use Series of Shots instead of Ambush if Snipe doesn't proc Reactive shot. In total i have dead on 40% crit chance (34% + agent buff + max comp affection crit boost), so between 4 or 5 SoS ticks, 1 hit will proc Reactive Shot. So while I might not be able to do a 1,5sec Ambush every 6 seconds, I definitely can do one every 12 because 1 tick of SoS always procs Reactive Shot.

 

The problem is that Arsenal Mercs are too reliant on Tracer missile and are too susceptible to interrupts. They really need to have some for of interrupt protection because all of the attacks you'll see them using most of the time (Tracer Missile, Unload, Power Shot, Death from Above, Sweeping Blasters, Pulse Cannon (sorry idk the name of the Imp mirror skill) are either channeled or have a cast time.

 

If you consider the amount of attacks that melee classes can use to stop you from getting off a skill: Force Kick, Force Push, Awe, Force Stasis, Shoot First, Distraction, Low Slash, Spinning Kick, Force Pull, Harpoon, Flash Grenade, Dirty Kick, Cryo Grenade, Seismic Grenade (and the list goes on forever) or skills they can use to avoid getting hit (Force Camo, Force Cloak, Disappearing Act etc.), you'll see that an Arsenal merc is not just disadvantaged against melee but it is literally shut down to the point, where it cannot do anything.

 

All other ranged classes have some form of interrupt protection (like Snipe or Ambush) or have instant damaging abilities (like Force in the Balance or Sever Force) and even the much accursed Lightning Sorcs have Polarity Shift to protect against interrupts! Hell even Ravage is uninterruptible for Maras and Juggs.

 

So why you can't give Mercs some form of interrupt protection is beyond me. Especially that we had to *********** beg BW for months to get a combat rez! And even more months to get an interrupt! Mercs was literally the only DPS AC that couldn't interrupt anything! It was the only healer AC that couldn't rez anyone.

 

I don't get it. Why does BW have it out so much for this poor AC? It's like they're intentionally trying to make this class fail.

Edited by CommanderKeeva
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I don't get it. Why does BW have it out so much for this poor AC? It's like they're intentionally trying to make this class fail.

I dont get it either, they really need to open their eyes and not just go after pve balance. On Tomb Of Freedon Nadd we have tons of people doing pvp, a huge amount. The only people dumb enough to even try pvp at 50 as mercs are so pitifully few and pretty much none of them manage to do it with any success.

 

Great skill does NOT make this a viable class. I can just see it infront of me; the devs gather for a round of internal testing. Doing some pvp in the latest warzone, its been roughly a month since any of them had time to try it out due to the cartel market and F2P so they are all pretty rusty.

 

In this testing ground, do you think someone playing a 3 button tracer spammer will do above average against a bunch of melee who dont have much situational awareness? Cause i do, i really think they sit their and go "Oh look at mister XXX going all crazy mando on the rest of us, clearly peoples whining is not justified..the class is just too hard to master."

 

If any yellow poster claims im wrong then i want to know WHY ON GODS GREEN EARTH HAVE YOU LEFT THIS CLASS TO THE VULTURES FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS?! Its beyond useless!

 

RageRageQQRage i am a very very bitter player at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In this testing ground, do you think someone playing a 3 button tracer spammer will do above average against a bunch of melee who dont have much situational awareness? Cause i do, i really think they sit their and go "Oh look at mister XXX going all crazy mando on the rest of us, clearly peoples whining is not justified..the class is just too hard to master."

 

Your point is a major factor in why Merc dps is considered OP by the devs. Not so much the issue of what happens when devs play devs in their free time. But just generally, a low skill Merc dps will own a low skill Melee dps. The low skill melee dps can't keep his target in front of him and in range. He might lose 50% or more of his GCDs simply to target acquisition. The low skill Merc dps has a significantly easier time here. And thus he will post better numbers in warzones. But once you get to skilled players, that melee inefficiency is dramatically reduced. Instead you get a lot of lost GCDs to the Merc dps through interrupts and lost dps through better defensive abilities available to the melee.

 

Basically, the Merc dps subclass benefits from a very easy learning curve and is thus penalized by the devs with an artificially low ceiling on performance. It's bad design.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your point is a major factor in why Merc dps is considered OP by the devs. Not so much the issue of what happens when devs play devs in their free time. But just generally, a low skill Merc dps will own a low skill Melee dps. The low skill melee dps can't keep his target in front of him and in range. He might lose 50% or more of his GCDs simply to target acquisition. The low skill Merc dps has a significantly easier time here. And thus he will post better numbers in warzones. But once you get to skilled players, that melee inefficiency is dramatically reduced. Instead you get a lot of lost GCDs to the Merc dps through interrupts and lost dps through better defensive abilities available to the melee.

 

Basically, the Merc dps subclass benefits from a very easy learning curve and is thus penalized by the devs with an artificially low ceiling on performance. It's bad design.

 

exactly. which is why balance changes should never be made in terms of the lowest common denominator. bioware has made this mistake multiple times now

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your point is a major factor in why Merc dps is considered OP by the devs. Not so much the issue of what happens when devs play devs in their free time. But just generally, a low skill Merc dps will own a low skill Melee dps. The low skill melee dps can't keep his target in front of him and in range. He might lose 50% or more of his GCDs simply to target acquisition. The low skill Merc dps has a significantly easier time here. And thus he will post better numbers in warzones. But once you get to skilled players, that melee inefficiency is dramatically reduced. Instead you get a lot of lost GCDs to the Merc dps through interrupts and lost dps through better defensive abilities available to the melee.

 

Basically, the Merc dps subclass benefits from a very easy learning curve and is thus penalized by the devs with an artificially low ceiling on performance. It's bad design.

 

This I agree with 100%. As soon as melee learn to deal with us it's game over. High skill on merc/commando doesn't matter much because skill needs tools and merc/commando doesn't have any. Meanwhile other classes HAVE tools, and so their learning curve is steeper, but once they master all those tools? Like I said, game over.

 

Level 50 commando is balanced to take down level 11 melee. Totally ridiculous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your suggestions are all pretty good.

 

I think missile blast should proc rail shot instead of power shot, and cost only 16 heat.

 

This!!! I think that's the balance we need. I don't undrestand why get bounty hunter this rocket... There are no synergies with that ... ( I know in arsenal tree -> more dmg from rocket... but I don't see any diference ) . Reduced heat cost from 25 -> 16 (or 20 it doesn't matter but 25 is too much ) and give it chance to gain heat signature in arsenal tree or chance on refresh railshot in Pyro tree. Look it has weak dmg in comparison with tracer. I think could help to this class a lot , from it's turret and "Here I am come kill me" reputation ... I hope some devs will read this topic.

Edited by koffinushko
Link to comment
Share on other sites

my suggestion for Missile Blast/Explosive Round was to give it a on-demand slow. the high heat cost means it cant be spammed effectively, and the low damage makes it a good candidate for a secondary effect.

 

obviously i think the slow should only be for Merc/Mando. PT/VG already have enough utility.

 

making Missile Blast/Explosive Round the proc/debuff applier for either spec would be changing the basic mechanics too far imo. part of the trade-off of a ranged class is having to stop and cast. my Run and Gun idea is the solution for when we *need* to move and shoot, but when we arent being directly attacked by melee opponents, stopping and casting usually is not a big deal. balancing the weaknesses and strengths is key; right now Merc/Mando has no strengths and all weaknesses for the most part.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my suggestion for Missile Blast/Explosive Round was to give it a on-demand slow. the high heat cost means it cant be spammed effectively, and the low damage makes it a good candidate for a secondary effect.

 

obviously i think the slow should only be for Merc/Mando. PT/VG already have enough utility.

 

making Missile Blast/Explosive Round the proc/debuff applier for either spec would be changing the basic mechanics too far imo. part of the trade-off of a ranged class is having to stop and cast. my Run and Gun idea is the solution for when we *need* to move and shoot, but when we arent being directly attacked by melee opponents, stopping and casting usually is not a big deal. balancing the weaknesses and strengths is key; right now Merc/Mando has no strengths and all weaknesses for the most part.

 

let me ask you this.

 

why add a mechanic to a high heat ability that makes kiting more effective, rather than just remove the cast time on PS? (i would not use or like this at all...heat management while attempting to burst is bad enough, imo. god forbid you have to use IR then MB. you'll be rapid shotting your way to a revive point)

 

both make kiting more effective, essentually. and making PS instant hurts NOTHING. same dps in PvP and PvE. or, make it elemental damage and reduce it's damage. say on par with, VG/PT!!

 

that's just Merc/PT.

 

Arsenal needs a bit more. i'm stuck on mirroring it to more of a sniper type root/cast HIGH DPS. uniterruptable, cannot jump to while HEC is active, increased melee defense while HEC is active...(just ideas on Arsenal...i don't partake in Arse play. :p )

 

and both should get some sort of movement immunity for 2+v1 scenarios. (i like the idea of putting it on shield)

 

very minor changes, maximum results. just seems right to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

let me ask you this.

 

why add a mechanic to a high heat ability that makes kiting more effective, rather than just remove the cast time on PS? (i would not use or like this at all...heat management while attempting to burst is bad enough, imo. god forbid you have to use IR then MB. you'll be rapid shotting your way to a revive point)

 

both make kiting more effective, essentually. and making PS instant hurts NOTHING. same dps in PvP and PvE. or, make it elemental damage and reduce it's damage. say on par with, VG/PT!!

 

that's just Merc/PT.

 

Arsenal needs a bit more. i'm stuck on mirroring it to more of a sniper type root/cast HIGH DPS. uniterruptable, cannot jump to while HEC is active, increased melee defense while HEC is active...(just ideas on Arsenal...i don't partake in Arse play. :p )

 

and both should get some sort of movement immunity for 2+v1 scenarios. (i like the idea of putting it on shield)

 

very minor changes, maximum results. just seems right to me.

 

first, use Rapid Shots/Hammer shot to proc the burn effect. Incendiary Round/Missile is a massive waste of heat for no reason. overall heat management is fine. as a pyrotech i can play an entire pvp match with non-stop combat and never run into trouble with heat management.

 

removing the cast time on Power Shot doesnt give Merc a *much* needed on demand slow effect (both as overall group utility and an escapability skill). all it does is make Pyrotech a god at kiting (arsenal would be pretty good at it too tbh), and TBH i would prefer changes that will not immediately bring the tears of the entire community to bear against us. and reducing its damage is not an option IMO. Merc damage is 100% fine where it is. it needs to fiddling with.

 

Missile Blast is ideal for a slow effect. high heat + low damage = not worth spamming. meaning you will not see Mercs spamming Missile Blast all over the place and perma-slowing everyone. it will be a situation-based ability, which is how it should be imo.

 

again, if i wanted to play a sniper i would have rolled one. i know a lot of Mercs that feel the same way. it is possible to come up with other mechanics that allow ranged classes to function in this game. youre literally asking for everything a Merc does to be changed it the sniper equivalent. if you want that playstyle, there is already a class that has it.

 

 

movement immunity? man, have you even read the whole OP? my suggestions:

 

- Arsenal: Jet Boost (when talented) would give 4s 30% speed boost for getting out of dodge quick

- Pyrotech: Energy Shield (when talented) would give immunity to root/slow effects for its duration

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ive updated the OP with a couple of minor changes.

 

- Run and Gun internal cooldown changed from 15 to 20s

- Arsenal: Rocket Punch should have its knockback effect returned, but w/out the root. in conjunction with Run and Gun, the root would likely be OP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

first, use Rapid Shots/Hammer shot to proc the burn effect. Incendiary Round/Missile is a massive waste of heat for no reason. overall heat management is fine. as a pyrotech i can play an entire pvp match with non-stop combat and never run into trouble with heat management.

 

removing the cast time on Power Shot doesnt give Merc a *much* needed on demand slow effect (both as overall group utility and an escapability skill). all it does is make Pyrotech a god at kiting (arsenal would be pretty good at it too tbh), and TBH i would prefer changes that will not immediately bring the tears of the entire community to bear against us. and reducing its damage is not an option IMO. Merc damage is 100% fine where it is. it needs to fiddling with.

 

Missile Blast is ideal for a slow effect. high heat + low damage = not worth spamming. meaning you will not see Mercs spamming Missile Blast all over the place and perma-slowing everyone. it will be a situation-based ability, which is how it should be imo.

 

again, if i wanted to play a sniper i would have rolled one. i know a lot of Mercs that feel the same way. it is possible to come up with other mechanics that allow ranged classes to function in this game. youre literally asking for everything a Merc does to be changed it the sniper equivalent. if you want that playstyle, there is already a class that has it.

 

 

movement immunity? man, have you even read the whole OP? my suggestions:

 

- Arsenal: Jet Boost (when talented) would give 4s 30% speed boost for getting out of dodge quick

- Pyrotech: Energy Shield (when talented) would give immunity to root/slow effects for its duration

 

i've read your posts and kinda figured i'd get this reaction.

 

i was merely trying to debate, not tell you how to play or get defensive.

 

i've been a Merc since it was Firebug. i know a little bit, too. was just adding some simple ideas. but, i understand how people get when you disagree with their ideas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

change Cure Mind, a tier 5 box to the following: Cure now removes negative mental AND FORCE effects and heals the target for X

 

I do not approve of this. no other healing class can purge force debuffs except for sorc healers which is how it should be. Sorcs cant cure tech abilities and operatives/commandos cant cure force abilities. If they were to make to change to ALL healing classes then i would approve but it wouldnt make sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Merc damage is 100% fine where it is. it needs to (sic) fiddling with.

 

I hear this a lot - that Merc damage output is fine. But it simply is NOT true. When piloted by a top player, damage output for Jugg & Mara is about 50% higher than for Merc (1. 2million vs. 800k). Sorc damage output is about 25% higher than Merc, with 1 million being a notable mark. Operative damage output is roughly similar to that of Merc, but with higher survivability and much higher utility. This is the nut of the problem - at the higher player skill levels, Merc dps has the lowest damage output, the lowest survivability AND the lowest utility. It is hands down the WORST subclass in the game. Meanwhile BW thinks that Merc dps is OP because it dominates PvP amongst low skill players. BW simply has been unable to understand that there is a dynamic between player skill and class balance that they have not addressed. It has been this way for 12 months.

 

I do not approve of this. no other healing class can purge force debuffs except for sorc healers which is how it should be. Sorcs cant cure tech abilities and operatives/commandos cant cure force abilities. If they were to make to change to ALL healing classes then i would approve but it wouldnt make sense.

 

Why is it that any buff given to Mercs must be given to all classes? isn't the whole point of Mara, PT, Operative and Sorc that they can do something that NO ONE else can? Merc will always be the red headed stepchild until it does something no other class can. Uh, and I don't count that Merc gets laughed at more than any other class as meeting that requirement.

 

BW has the opportunity to move outside the box in 1.7. For example they could make Merc the anti-stealth class. Give Merc a new ability that makes Stealth Scanner invisible to enemy players and snares them should they enter the Stealth Scanner's radius while cloaked. Give Merc an actual role for a team that others can not fill.

 

But no. We all at this point, realize I think, that what will happen in 1.7 is a minor buff to Merc, combined with more nerfs to Merc. BW still thinks Mercs are OP. Until that changes, the problem will never be resolved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear this a lot - that Merc damage output is fine. But it simply is NOT true. When piloted by a top player, damage output for Jugg & Mara is about 50% higher than for Merc (1. 2million vs. 800k). Sorc damage output is about 25% higher than Merc, with 1 million being a notable mark. Operative damage output is roughly similar to that of Merc, but with higher survivability and much higher utility. This is the nut of the problem - at the higher player skill levels, Merc dps has the lowest damage output, the lowest survivability AND the lowest utility. It is hands down the WORST subclass in the game. Meanwhile BW thinks that Merc dps is OP because it dominates PvP amongst low skill players. BW simply has been unable to understand that there is a dynamic between player skill and class balance that they have not addressed. It has been this way for 12 months.

 

Jugg & Mara DPS is overpowered........

and i think it is worth pointing out, that in order to even approach 800k, let alone surpass it on any class, is far more dependent on what the opposing teams composition is.

and yes, balance needs to be based on the highest level of play.

 

Why is it that any buff given to Mercs must be given to all classes? isn't the whole point of Mara, PT, Operative and Sorc that they can do something that NO ONE else can? Merc will always be the red headed stepchild until it does something no other class can. Uh, and I don't count that Merc gets laughed at more than any other class as meeting that requirement.

 

well i do think that all healers should be able to cure all debuffs when spec'd into it. it would be cool for Merc to be unique in that way, but for well balanced PvP, all healers should have something so basic as being able to actually cure debuffs.

Edited by cashogy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i've read your posts and kinda figured i'd get this reaction.

 

i was merely trying to debate, not tell you how to play or get defensive.

 

i've been a Merc since it was Firebug. i know a little bit, too. was just adding some simple ideas. but, i understand how people get when you disagree with their ideas.

 

the suggestions you make *would not* help. the instant Power Shot debate has already run its course. click the link in the OP for the original thread if you care to read it all.

 

Merc =/= sniper. if you want Sniper's ranged mechanics, they already have a class for that. there is no point doing a complete makeover of Merc to make it into a Sniper with dual pistols. it would be more effective to allow Merc to re-choose their class and become a sniper straight out.

 

i welcome you to disagree with my ideas. such disagreements have greatly changed these suggestions from what they originally were (and improved them imo). but you need to actually defend your argument.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, the instant power shot/tracer missile debate did not run its course. Instead, it was abandoned and replaced with inferior ideas. The notion of "fixing" the merc quickly devolved into an endless spiraling debate of extended compromises that continually reduce any possible benefit to the merc. In the end, if anything was to be implemented, the merc would end up with a .5% damage increase to heatseeker missiles, a 10% damage reduction to tracer missile, and a self-inflicted slow whenever power shot is used. This is the inevitable result of compromise. And it also becomes a stalling tactic. Whenever, if ever, this debate is resolved, SWTOR will be in version 4.8 (if the game lasts that long). And by that point there will be roughly three remaining mercs in game. And they will have endured further nerfs and will have the combined effectiveness of a womp rat in PVP.

 

The simple truth of the matter is that the merc needs something drastic and perhaps even a bit over-powered in order to become viable in PVP. Anything less than that is a waste of time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the suggestions you make *would not* help. the instant Power Shot debate has already run its course. click the link in the OP for the original thread if you care to read it all.

 

Merc =/= sniper. if you want Sniper's ranged mechanics, they already have a class for that. there is no point doing a complete makeover of Merc to make it into a Sniper with dual pistols. it would be more effective to allow Merc to re-choose their class and become a sniper straight out.

 

i welcome you to disagree with my ideas. such disagreements have greatly changed these suggestions from what they originally were (and improved them imo). but you need to actually defend your argument.

 

copied from another post:

 

it's silly...the EXACT same spec, EXACT same abilities. difference is the casting vs. range. (and to be quite honest, the damage. PS vs FB/IP. FB/IP procs CDC, so on a crit you can easily achieve 3k+ hit, mostly unmitigated)

 

i don't know how else to say this:

 

why the exact same spec is better (PT/VG) from one spec to another (Merc/Comm) in PvP (and PvE!) is: uniterruptable, BURST damage.

 

ask yourself this:

 

when a SW/JK monkey jumps to a Merc, he's dead. when the same SW/JK jumps to a PT/VG he's not.

 

WHY?

 

because the PT/VG can actually kite AND do damage with his uniterruptable, instant, spammable, CGC procing, elemental damage, 100% snaring, 1.5-3.5k damaging attack.

 

what does the Merc do? ---> kb/interrupt/stun and spam rapid shot. weak ol' weapons damage...awesome.

 

it's not the utility. (taunts vs. heals, grapple vs. mezz) throw it out the window. those are preference choices, imo. i play both, and i prefer the Mercs cleanse, KB, mezz, and heals.

 

but, the PT/VG has DPS...

 

uninterruptable, elemental, instant, good damage, CGC proc'ing, 100% snaring, BURST damage.

 

casting and kiting, oxymoron. and without jump immunity, uninterruptable, instant, burst damage, Mercs will always be dominated in PvP, with the current classes.

 

that is just my point of view, for the way i play Merc (pyro/Firebug :p ).

 

*EDIT* oh...and RS/HIB armor pen, and FB/IP is Tech based.

 

it's not that i don't disagree with some, or even all, of the ideas.

 

i just feel there is a better chance using already in-game abilities, AC choices, and skills instead of more need for programming, testing, excuses, false hope, etc.

 

i'm really just amazed, since i've recently put the actaul time on my VG, how the classes are so similar, yet completely different.

 

i use almost the exact same rotation, yet my VG can stay moving AND his DPS is 200 pts higher versus my Merc in an IDEAL casting situation...

 

/fed up

Edited by T-Assassin
Link to comment
Share on other sites


×
×
  • Create New...