OK ladies, Season 1 has been open for almost a day. What's your take on the state of our class as it relates to Ranked Arenas? I ask primarily from a solo/pug perspective, as the dynamic for teams would differ.

My personal experience as an Arsenal Merc on Pot5 was wretched, though not entirely unexpected. Still highly focused, wtfpwned by stealth with no way to extricate myself from the gang rape. Granted, they were pugs. However, if my teammates had done arenas before (and of course they all had), they'd know that Mercs/Sorcs are the most highly focused. So why all the whining when the Merc is dead in 3-5 GCDs from when the fighting starts. Don't they watch what is going on around them?

Anyway, enough of my whining about my experiences. What were yours?

Arena is a desperate move to get a game into MLG.... If it isn't balanced in arena now you can well bet your balls on the fact that the gap of imba will only widen as time goes on. Whats with every MMO being so desperate for MLG style arena? Its boring and over done. The worst part.... If I PvP I am forced to do it.

As for mercs... We get shut down well and hard enough but that's PvP. There are ways to lessen it which is all just about learning to position correctly. Every arena has space to set up the enemy when they come at you. Smart playing and CDs can only do so much for a class with no real escape though. The best kiter of the class cant hold back 4 people alone when they want to kill him.... Your team opens its eyes and peels for you or you will be a bug on the enemies screen.

That's been pretty much my experience. I'm told I'm a decent player (no, not the best... far from it). I guess I found it frustrating that here I was being focused, and a Sorc on our team couldn't be bothered stopping his FL long enough to pull me out of the mess. Then this idiot had the nerve to jump my $h!t after the match about low dps.

Know what I'd really like to see in the arenas (ranked and unranked)? Remove visibility of the opposition. Do we really need to see what classes are on the other side? Personally, I think it would balance things a lot more. But that's a discussion for the PVP forum.

That's been pretty much my experience. I'm told I'm a decent player (no, not the best... far from it). I guess I found it frustrating that here I was being focused, and a Sorc on our team couldn't be bothered stopping his FL long enough to pull me out of the mess. Then this idiot had the nerve to jump my $h!t after the match about low dps.

 

Know what I'd really like to see in the arenas (ranked and unranked)? Remove visibility of the opposition. Do we really need to see what classes are on the other side? Personally, I think it would balance things a lot more. But that's a discussion for the PVP forum.

I'm a merc healer and arena's happen either 2 ways. The enemy focuses me and it's a race to see which healer survives the longest (fortunately I usually win these), or they feel it's easier to focusing the squishiest dps on the team. My only issue w/ arena is that i'm often paired with 3 dps, so I'm pretty much at the mercy of their rotations and ability to down a player first, I hardly get any peels of cc's, or taunts. The tunnel vision people get in pvp is only amplified in arena's, and awareness still remains the greatest skill a pvp player can have.

As for your idea of not showing classes... I think it's a bad one. First off, it would only work for the 1st round so what's the point? Why is it balanced for 1 round to be different from the other 2? Secondly, the reason there is so much time before the match starts, is so the team can form a strategy and/or counter-strategy before the 1st match starts. Without knowing who you're against it would be impossible to do this, and arenas would be even more of a brainless deathmatch than they are now.

My personal experience as an Arsenal Merc on Pot5 was wretched, though not entirely unexpected. Still highly focused, wtfpwned by stealth with no way to extricate myself from the gang rape. Granted, they were pugs. However, if my teammates had done arenas before (and of course they all had), they'd know that Mercs/Sorcs are the most highly focused. So why all the whining when the Merc is dead in 3-5 GCDs from when the fighting starts. Don't they watch what is going on around them?

 

Anyway, enough of my whining about my experiences. What were yours?

He is right. It is terrible. Something has to be done about merc defense.

Dying almost instantly even if I pop shield, koilto overload, hydraulics and try to run. I get stunned and if I don't break it I die during the stun duration and if I do break it I get stunned again. A 25% shield is nothing.

I don't understand why we have to suffer with being interrupted when other classes with the same damage and better defenses do not. I feel we do not receive a benefit for the weakness that is casted abilities. There is no trade off.

Only two mercs in the top 50 solo q ranked. Just sayin'.

Might this stat be due to Mercs not bothering to run solo ranked? Not only am I personally tired of getting whacked inside of 15s of the first engagement (not matter where/how I position myself), my real issue is my teammate's attitudes... like I want to have that happen. Perhaps other Mercs feel the same way.

Sure, it's a ranked WZ... and I'm fully Conq geared/augmented and about half Obroan. Therefore, I'd say I'm qualified to queue for them. So what is with all the BS from one's group when they know you're going to be focused, and they do nothing to mitigate it?

How do we respectfully remind each other that it's a team effort?

Today I found other stuff to do IRL rather than run solo ranked. Jesus, what does that say about me?

Might this stat be due to Mercs not bothering to run solo ranked? Not only am I personally tired of getting whacked inside of 15s of the first engagement (not matter where/how I position myself), my real issue is my teammate's attitudes... like I want to have that happen. Perhaps other Mercs feel the same way.

 

Sure, it's a ranked WZ... and I'm fully Conq geared/augmented and about half Obroan. Therefore, I'd say I'm qualified to queue for them. So what is with all the BS from one's group when they know you're going to be focused, and they do nothing to mitigate it?

 

How do we respectfully remind each other that it's a team effort?

 

Today I found other stuff to do IRL rather than run solo ranked. Jesus, what does that say about me?

I don't think there would be more in the top even if more mercs ran solo (not many running group either btw). I guess we need to figure out what is the average rating for mercs by adding up all the ratings and dividing by the number of mercs. My guess would be about 1100.

Might this stat be due to Mercs not bothering to run solo ranked? Not only am I personally tired of getting whacked inside of 15s of the first engagement (not matter where/how I position myself), my real issue is my teammate's attitudes... like I want to have that happen. Perhaps other Mercs feel the same way.

 

Sure, it's a ranked WZ... and I'm fully Conq geared/augmented and about half Obroan. Therefore, I'd say I'm qualified to queue for them. So what is with all the BS from one's group when they know you're going to be focused, and they do nothing to mitigate it?

 

How do we respectfully remind each other that it's a team effort?

 

Today I found other stuff to do IRL rather than run solo ranked. Jesus, what does that say about me?

I agree. I get destroyed within a few seconds of the match then I get rage whispers. You can just go into general chat and hear people complaining about mercs being in their ranked matches which equates to a loss. I have PVPed since EQ1 and this is my worst experience so far. I'm not enjoying the PVP, thats for certain.

I do well on my Merc. 75% of the time I am the focus target for the entire match but its not so bad once I got used to it.

My rotation when focused by 3 people: (not an EXACT rotation, but you get the idea)

Knockback, Hydraulic Overrides, Kolto Missile, PvP Adrenal, Kolto Overload, PvP Medpack, Energy Shield, Kolto Missile, Electro Dart (opponent A), Rocket Punch (for root, on opponent B), Kolto Missile, Electro Net (opponent C), Power Surge Rapid Scan, Power Surge Concussion Missile OR Rapid Scan, Kolto Missile.....etc....until death. Most likely the other guy from the other team in a 1v3 died faster than I did.

If you know they are going for you first, play differently and use CDs differently than you normally would. For example, use Kolto Overload 5 or 10 seconds before you even start fighting instead of saving it for when you start to take damage. And maybe use PvP Adrenal right before the initial fighting even begins. (2-3 seconds before, if possible)

I find that when they don't focus me, my cooldowns are huge once the round is 2v2 or 3v3. If I manage to last deep into a round with all my cooldowns available, its a good chance for a win. But its a catch22 because I frequently am forced to use just about everything in the initial 30seconds. In arenas, I am still learning, adjusting tactics, and trying new things every day.

Might this stat be due to Mercs not bothering to run solo ranked? Not only am I personally tired of getting whacked inside of 15s of the first engagement (not matter where/how I position myself), my real issue is my teammate's attitudes... like I want to have that happen. Perhaps other Mercs feel the same way.

 

Sure, it's a ranked WZ... and I'm fully Conq geared/augmented and about half Obroan. Therefore, I'd say I'm qualified to queue for them. So what is with all the BS from one's group when they know you're going to be focused, and they do nothing to mitigate it?

 

How do we respectfully remind each other that it's a team effort?

 

Today I found other stuff to do IRL rather than run solo ranked. Jesus, what does that say about me?

We can go looking for tertiary causes all day, and no doubt we can find some interesting outlying causes for the lack of mercs atop the leaderboard. In fact, frustration is why I've recently shelved my merc, and am eagerly awaiting Galactic Starfighter for my pvp fix. But, I digress.

The root cause of all of the other correlating factors such as: lack of team support, flaming, being a prime focus target, etc. all go back to the fact that mercs are a poorly designed pvp class.

Solo Queue is a complete joke. Its heavily RNG (luck) based. IMO absolutely nothing should be taken from Solo Queue.

As far as team goes, Ive yet to get into a match with a group myself, so cant really offer my opinion there. I would hypothesize tho that with the proper group comp and good teammates, Merc could do pretty well.

I do well on my Merc. 75% of the time I am the focus target for the entire match but its not so bad once I got used to it.

 

My rotation when focused by 3 people: (not an EXACT rotation, but you get the idea)

Knockback, Hydraulic Overrides, Kolto Missile, PvP Adrenal, Kolto Overload, PvP Medpack, Energy Shield, Kolto Missile, Electro Dart (opponent A), Rocket Punch (for root, on opponent B), Kolto Missile, Electro Net (opponent C), Power Surge Rapid Scan, Power Surge Concussion Missile OR Rapid Scan, Kolto Missile.....etc....until death. Most likely the other guy from the other team in a 1v3 died faster than I did.

 

If you know they are going for you first, play differently and use CDs differently than you normally would. For example, use Kolto Overload 5 or 10 seconds before you even start fighting instead of saving it for when you start to take damage. And maybe use PvP Adrenal right before the initial fighting even begins. (2-3 seconds before, if possible)

 

I find that when they don't focus me, my cooldowns are huge once the round is 2v2 or 3v3. If I manage to last deep into a round with all my cooldowns available, its a good chance for a win. But its a catch22 because I frequently am forced to use just about everything in the initial 30seconds. In arenas, I am still learning, adjusting tactics, and trying new things every day.

I am in a similar boat as you. If I see some LOL smash monkey targeting me I hit him with the electro net right off the bat to shut him down. The next guy near me I try to stun and jet boost him off the ledge or just away from me, then I move away while starting to DPS. This does not always work and many times I die quickly but the 65% of the time I survive the initial onslaught I do well. But after that first round they see the damage I am doing and the next round I get everyone's undivided attention. It makes that initial attack much worse. All in all I do alright, but Merc could use quite a bit of help to put it on par with the other classes.