Now that I think about it, I think the most useful set bonus for the 4-piece that would benefit both Arsenal and IO would be in AOE radius/cone size increase by 25% to 30%. Mercs have some nice AOE abilities, but the actual effected area is a lot smaller than sorcs and snipers. Add in a cool down reduction of 10 seconds to power surge and 30 second reduction to TPO and this would be a killer 6 piece bonus. It would also make arsenal Merc a whole lot better as an AOE spec.

survival changes shouldn't be dictated through set bonus. Its only gonna cause grieve to mercs and commandos that don't end up having it in warzones. Focus on what was asked (which seems to be a DPS boost of 5%)

 

AOE cone increases dont have much use DPS wise except specific parts of specific fights to increase DPS where as the current bonuses are applicable everywhere, anytime.

 

like others have said, while I use power surge in my dps rotation all the time the 5 second cd reduction is a bit underwhelming.

 

Idea: Remove the heroic discipline that reduces the CD of power surge and make it something defensive based.

Make the 4 piece reduce the power surge / tech override CD by 15, 20 or even 25 seconds to compensate.

 

put the concussion missile CD reduction in the IO discipline path somewhere (and arsenal if its really that wanted by arsenal players)

 

since the discipline change would also affect healer mercs give them a power surge CD reduction as part of one of their discipline paths (warden maybe?)

Edited July 15, 2015 by Faardor

Half the raid/flashpoint fights (boss and trash) and just about probably over half of all daily missions require use of AOE. I would think having increases to AOE would be a great thing.

 

As I have said before, Power surge is pretty much useless as the 4 piece for both specs. 5 second CD on a rarely used ability and a utility talent that is 3 times more beneficial makes it even more useless in the set bonus. At least decreasing TPO (or even vent heat) would benefit IO.

 

It's a slippery slope added something beneficial to both specs when one needs a slight DPS gain (arsenal) and the other needs some love on heat management. That's why I went with the AOE suggestion. Arsenal and IO are currently ok for AOE, not on par with sorc or snipers though. The increased radius and cool down reductions would both come into play more than they do now.

Let's face it, the 4pc bonus is useless for Arsenal and not so great for IO. I'd change it to reducing the heat cost of Tracer Missile by 2 and Power Shot by 2. This brings it into a similar bonus pattern as the PT.

If someone before 3.0 said that he wants an auto crit HSM I would've laughed him out of the thread and told him to get real.

 

Revised:

 

In 2.x you couldn't cleanse hardstuns. In 2.x tanks didn't have two stun breaks. In 2.x Concealment's roll didn't defend everything. In 2.x Sniper's diversion was single target and limited to Marksman. In 2.x Assassins didn't have two ways to proc shroud. In 2.x Rage(now Fury) didn't have rotational stun immunity. In 2.x Gunslinger's Dodge didn't grant any amount of F/T DR. In 2.x Assassins didn't have Dark Stability. In 2.x Sonic Rebounder didn't exist.

 

I can go on and on. The fact of the matter the amounts of defensives in the meta have been increasing. Everyone having a Autocrit may have been too much in 2.x. But in 3.0 the amount of ways to counter burst has risen to the point where what would have been considered absurd now barely qualifies one as viable.

 

If bioware does in 4.0 what they did in 2.0 and 3.0, defensive measures will only increase and with it burst requirements will only go up.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Zoom_VI

Until you realize that a Commando who doesn't crit on demo round is doing less burst than some dotspecs. *snip*

 

I think the issue there is that other classes need toning down on their burst damage, not that we don't do enough. Especially when you consider some classes lack of defensive abilities in comparison to some classes.

 

I'll point out tying in defensive abilities that the developers are seemingly reluctant to give the class will actually allow us to do more dps by the fact we'll live slightly longer. I know it's not ideal, and the ideal situation is that they actually give the class what it requires to be competitive in PvP.

 

Also, completely agreed with others that the 4-pc set bonus for Mercs / Mandos is beyond useless, it needs to be changed for something useful. Ideally the 6-pc set bonus needs changing as well. The 2-pc I don't take issue with, as it's a flat out DPS increase, whichever way you want to look at it.

 

I don't think losing the Crit bonus on the 6-pc would actually be a loss, I mean really, we can suggest better than this for the class right? A Crit bonus on some specs (i.e. Arsenal) is terrible, if you want crits, use crit mods.

I agree that the 6 piece set bonuses for just about all classes are kind of disappointing. Considering this is supposed to be the end goal of progression tier gearing, it just seems like there should be more of a wow factor to it. Even if you had to downgrade the 2 and 4 piece bonuses slightly to make the 6 piece be more dynamic and powerful would be welcome in my opinion. Would really make it more exciting getting that last piece.

I think the issue there is that other classes need toning down on their burst damage, not that we don't do enough. Especially when you consider some classes lack of defensive abilities in comparison to some classes.

 

 

Yes and no.

 

I believe that burst damage has gotten out of hand. "Globalling" (killing a target in a single global cooldown) is no longer a exaggeration or myth, but rather a cold hard reality, and not just a reality, but a requirement for viability.

 

Used to be bursting someone down was considered killing them in 10 seconds or so, but at the same time it took 10 seconds or so to recover a player from near death.

Nowadays though? You watch HP bars in a match, and you will see people go from 90% to 30% in a single GCD, and then be back at 85% in the next GCD, and then two GCDs later they are dead. In high end PvP, players live or die in timespans of a single GCD.

 

But the thing is unless bioware does a complete reversal of the meta in 4.0, the burst requirements for viability will only go up, since 4.0 will likely bring even more defensives.

Burst classes in terms of TTK are stronger now than ever before, yet now they struggle for viability more than they ever have in the past. Why? Because there is so many ways to negate burst now it's not even funny.

 

For burst to come down, then steps must be taken to remove much of the high-potency defensives from the meta so that higher burst TTK becomes doable. However since I doubt Bioware will do this (The 2.5 UDR nerf has been the only defensive nerf this side of 1.2) I really think the autocrits should stay since the last thing the meta needs is to make burst comps even more marginalized. One of the reasons dotspecs (aka pressure or sustained specs) have become so dominant in arenas is because simply trying to do more overall DPS than the opposing teams HPS is vastly easier to pull off than trying to run a hardswitch in a meta full of immunities and godmode DcDs.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Zoom_VI

I agree that the 6 piece set bonuses for just about all classes are kind of disappointing. Considering this is supposed to be the end goal of progression tier gearing, it just seems like there should be more of a wow factor to it. Even if you had to downgrade the 2 and 4 piece bonuses slightly to make the 6 piece be more dynamic and powerful would be welcome in my opinion. Would really make it more exciting getting that last piece.

 

I fail to see how a autocrit isn't "wow" or "exciting"

I fail to see how a autocrit isn't "wow" or "exciting"

 

I believe you mean autocrit once a minute

 

And no, it's not very Wow or Exciting working through the gear grind just to get a once a minute damage buff for only one attack.

I am indifferent as to how the "up to 5%" dps boost is enabled but I have no great enthusiasm for proc effects which clutter up the bar and have invisible internal cooldowns you can rely on only if you've been sitting on your butt for over 1 min beforehand.

 

It's unnecessary to have two dps buffs, they are small and are still split into two to pad out the existence of the triple set bonus.

 

So why not get behind survivability bonuses and just leave one of the three for the actual dps bonus.

 

If the sets are to be identical between PVP and PVE there is good logic in granting a survivability bonus which is primarily effective in PVP while the dps bonus is of more importance in PVE.

 

Hydraulic Overrides has the major flaw of being a mobility ability that requires you to keep moving for 6-10s to get the most out of the mobility aspect. Should be a ranged kiting tool right? Not when it doesn't allow casting.

 

Enable casting and channelling on Hydraulic Overrides with the set bonus and see how DPS Merc improves in PVP when it can run off while using its heals or continuing damage instead of being very ineffective while trying to get away for 6-10 seconds.

 

File it under improved sustainability of damage.

I am indifferent as to how the "up to 5%" dps boost is enabled but I have no great enthusiasm for proc effects which clutter up the bar and have invisible internal cooldowns you can rely on only if you've been sitting on your butt for over 1 min beforehand.

 

Which is why the mechanic of the setbonus should be altered so that the user can see the ICD. Adding more RNG into a class that is wholly crit dependant is not the way to go.

Or you give a flat bonus like the old sets had.

 

Such as the old 8% increased bonus on Railshot, 15% increased crit chance on Power Shot etc...

Or you give a flat bonus like the old sets had.

 

Such as the old 8% increased bonus on Railshot, 15% increased crit chance on Power Shot etc...

 

Still doesn't effect the "if your demo and HiB don't crit, your burst wouldn't kill a already half dead target" in PvP.

You mean the burst damage when you know your healing relies on you not using Railshot when you have stacks of Tracer Lock as Arsenal?

 

You can't just use the stacks on Railshot then Power Surge an instant Rapid Scan when the patch comes out. You'll only get half the healing value compared to doing that with Healing Scan right now.

 

I had a few pages to say about that on the PTS forum because without stacks Rapid Scan is bad for the cost and with stacks its got a long prep time of 3 Tracer Missile casts and huge associated cost.

 

Anyone thinking all that increased mess for horribly inefficient healing and compromised damage was good is very wrong.

 

Seriously, you're sitting in a fight ANYWHERE as a DPS Merc and your one off healing value relies on you having cast Tracer Missile 3 times and not used Railshot.

 

Oh you just took huge damage and need as much healing as possible? Well you shouldn't have ever used that Railshot should you DPS Merc.

 

An equally rubbish damage crippling mechanic was installed for Innovative Ordinance which allows you to compromise your rotation timers so you can mash random buttons until they reset again.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Gyronamics

Maybe multiple set bonuses are needed per each advanced class. One for Arsenal, one for IO. Then break down the bonus like:

 

2 Piece = Defensive bonus

4 Piece = Utility Bonus

6 Piece = DPS Bonus

 

This could work for both PvP and PvE.

Maybe multiple set bonuses are needed per each advanced class. One for Arsenal, one for IO. Then break down the bonus like:

 

2 Piece = Defensive bonus

4 Piece = Utility Bonus

6 Piece = DPS Bonus

 

This could work for both PvP and PvE.

 

That's actually a very good suggestion to make in terms of set bonus per ac or specs, and we've seen it previously for Agents / Smugglers where they've had completely different set bonuses depending on the spec used.

 

It really would be beneficial splitting off the Merc DPS set bonuses, due to the very nature of one class being a dot spec while the other is anything but a dot spec. IO and Arsenal set bonuses should be completely different, perhaps still sharing something similar for the 2-pc as it does now, but branching off different ways after that.

 

You could give IO some love then on heat management within the set bonus, and give Arsenal some love in terms of making it the more PvP viable of the specs (in my opinion I'll add, not saying IO isn't PvP viable, it's just not great )

Edited July 16, 2015 by Transcendent

I'm still not entirely sure if we're allowed to create an IO specific set (as I don't play Arsenal), but I'd personally would want something like (and this is purely for PvP):

2-Piece: Mag Shot and Thermal Detonator critical hits vent 15 heat.

4-Piece: Serrated Shot applies Incendiary Missile on player targets.

6-Piece: Activating Unload or Full Auto will grant Eliminator's Critical Bonus making your next Mag Shot or Mag Bolt critically hit. This effect can only occur once a minute.

Edited July 16, 2015 by TheJollyRogers

Yes and no.

 

I believe that burst damage has gotten out of hand. "Globalling" (killing a target in a single global cooldown) is no longer a exaggeration or myth, but rather a cold hard reality, and not just a reality, but a requirement for viability.

 

Used to be bursting someone down was considered killing them in 10 seconds or so, but at the same time it took 10 seconds or so to recover a player from near death.

Nowadays though? You watch HP bars in a match, and you will see people go from 90% to 30% in a single GCD, and then be back at 85% in the next GCD, and then two GCDs later they are dead. In high end PvP, players live or die in timespans of a single GCD.

 

But the thing is unless bioware does a complete reversal of the meta in 4.0, the burst requirements for viability will only go up, since 4.0 will likely bring even more defensives.

Burst classes in terms of TTK are stronger now than ever before, yet now they struggle for viability more than they ever have in the past. Why? Because there is so many ways to negate burst now it's not even funny.

 

For burst to come down, then steps must be taken to remove much of the high-potency defensives from the meta so that higher burst TTK becomes doable. However since I doubt Bioware will do this (The 2.5 UDR nerf has been the only defensive nerf this side of 1.2) I really think the autocrits should stay since the last thing the meta needs is to make burst comps even more marginalized. One of the reasons dotspecs (aka pressure or sustained specs) have become so dominant in arenas is because simply trying to do more overall DPS than the opposing teams HPS is vastly easier to pull off than trying to run a hardswitch in a meta full of immunities and godmode DcDs.

 

just wanna say it's not dotspecs its literally hatred and madness I don't see leth operatives virulence snipers, pyro pts, io mercs, anni maras or veng jugs being dominant in arena maybe veng jugg for solo. Also agree with how TTK has been messed also think another think to note that adds into that broken TTK are the proc relics.

sad to see this thread hijacked by pvp aimed theories and ideas. None of the set bonuses currently out there (aside from the ones for tanks) grant any utility or defensives, lets stick to dps increases.

sad to see this thread hijacked by pvp aimed theories and ideas. None of the set bonuses currently out there (aside from the ones for tanks) grant any utility or defensives, lets stick to dps increases.

 

1) PvPers play this game, too.

 

2) It's pretty derp to say "you can't suggest that!" in a thread asking for ideas for new set bonuses. If they wanted only DPS increases, they would specifically say it.

sad to see this thread hijacked by pvp aimed theories and ideas. None of the set bonuses currently out there (aside from the ones for tanks) grant any utility or defensives, lets stick to dps increases.

 

I do not PvP on my Merc. I use him primarily for raiding and high end PvE. I would love to see a more expansive set bonus that included utilities and defenses rather than just straight up DPS bonuses. There is no reason the DPS increase has to take all 3 bonus slots. you can easily roll a 5% increase in one of the bonuses and have the others open for other useful bonuses.

sad to see this thread hijacked by pvp aimed theories and ideas. None of the set bonuses currently out there (aside from the ones for tanks) grant any utility or defensives, lets stick to dps increases.

 

So ALL Merc / Mando players shouldn't ask for seperate set bonuses for PvP as well as PvE? You do realise that the same class plays different in each environment don't you? You do realise it would work better having a set bonus geared towards PvE content, and a set bonus geared towards PvP content don't you?

 

Instead of turning it into a "waaaah, I don't like PvP" thread, how about you actually suggest something constructive instead?

IIRC the set bonuses are identical to prevent cheesing of content either way with PVP and PVE set bonuses.

 

Current 3.0 set bonuses for Merc DPS allow you to get a large damage boost when opening up on a boss.

 

At any point after that in the fight or in PVP in general the long cooldown of the procs are nothing to rely on because they are not on demand. They are nailed to things which are core to doing damage.

 

Oh look it's procced, quick, I must find someone to use this autocrit on....

 

Oh look, I gained 2% damage for the next 30s... yet this is so trivial it's not going to influence my combat decisions.

 

As for the -5s on Power Surge... Irrelevant in PVE and no big deal in PVP either. 5 seconds off 60 seconds is nothing.

 

Unless you're planning on doing something meaningful with Merc survivability in PVP then I'd like to take the opportunity to wedge in some survivability into the set bonus and bring back the lowered cooldowns you dropped from Merc PVP sets when you made the 3.0 ones.

 

-5s on Hydraulic Overrides cooldown specific to Merc to prevent cross dressing by Powertechs.

-5s on Jet Boost

 

And then with the 6PC you can put whatever overcomplicated DPS boost you want but frankly a flat boost to Blazing Bolts or Mag Shot would be much more attractive than juggling or ignoring more procs popping on the buff bar.

 

 

Actually scratch the cooldowns, how about fixing something using the set bonus which has annoyed me for a longass time.

 

You cloned Hydraulic Overrides from the Powertech and glued them onto the Merc.

 

Except Powertech is a melee class festooned with instant attacks. Merc has to sit still to cast or it does nothing but eat damage, do very little damage and even less healing.

 

As a result when someone decides this is a good day to put some grief on the Merc causing them to want to get away it's a self-shutdown for the Merc for as long as they try to use the duration of Hydraulic Overrides to make distance.

 

How did that ever make sense to anyone. Snipers have a 18m teleport plus immunities, Sorcs have a high speed dash which takes about 2s. Both of which allow distance making without shutting down the player using them.

 

Mercs have a moderate jog for 6-10s which stops them casting... despite them being a caster?

 

This is what it should have been all along:

 

Hydraulic Overrides allows casts and channels on the move for its duration.

 

Then DPS Merc doesn't have to be totally useless when breaking away from a fight as they can keep dealing damage or healing as they move.

 

Burn a set bonus on that. It should be baseline or at the very least a mid level utility but when all you're asked for is opinions on set bonuses...

 

^That.^ Especially the H/O.

 

We've already got the alpha-strike of the Gods, we don't need more, especially given the "community-meta" of "Nerf everything, OP TO STR0NK!!!"

 

Give us a consistent, dependable way to dictate range and keep it, if you're not going to give us the escape we've needed since day-1.

 

Maybe, as others have said up-thread, a fully defensive-orientated set bonus, at least for PvP:

 

2/6: Hydraulic Overrides' duration is increased by [XX] seconds and its cooldown is reduced by [YY] seconds. (Change the tree-talent to grant the same speed increase that PTechs get.)

 

4/6: Jet-boost's cooldown is reduced by [ZZ] seconds, and it now roots all affected targets for [3-5] seconds.

 

6/6: Critical ticks of Unload/BlazeBolts build stacks of [name]. At [X] stacks of [name] the cooldown of Energy Shield is re-set, and your next Energy Shield's damage-reduction is increased by [YY]%. Rate limit...hmmmm....once per minute, let's say.

 

E:

 

And one for PvE:

 

These people seem either very determined to, or simply incapable of staying away from, continuing to genericise everything, so here's one for the 2-piece that generic right out of the box, yet actually does something genuinely useful:

 

2/6: The group/raid-wide lockout of [bloodthirst/Supercharged Celerity/Tactical Superiority/Unlimited Power] is reduced by 30 seconds, and the effect's duration is increased by 5 seconds. The player applying this effect must be equipped with this set-bonus for the party/raid to benefit from same, but it is applicable by any party/raid member so equipped.

 

4/6: Activating Chaff-Flare now temporarily stealths the Mercenary for its duration, in addition to its existing effects.

 

6/6: OK, OK keep the HSM/MagShots autocrit if you must, but I said it before, and I'll say it again:

 

We don't need a damage-boost, especially to our already (arguably) game-leading alpha-strike!

 

I am very sure that this is only going to get us shat on with nerfs in the near future!

 

So....6/6 for PvE:

 

Hell, just give us back the free RailShot (for Arsenal) and make Fusion Missile free for I/O. Rate limit, once per 30 seconds.

Edited July 18, 2015 by midianlord

The only thing I want changed is the 4pc.

 

Old 4-pc: Power Surge/Tech Override CD reduction by 5s.

 

That's pretty useless, I like it on paper, and it can be helpful in the opening of a rotation for a little extra APM, but it's not a DPS increase at all.

 

New Concept 4-pc: Increase the Duration of Supercharge Cells/Supercharged Gas by 5s.

 

This would be the exact same as the Healer Merc/Mando SB, and would be a great DPS increase.