PvP and Why It Sucks (As a level 50 Marauder)

Yeah, its a funny thing.

The Marauder class doesn't need "buffs" in the classic sense, it needs to be reworked. It has that feeling of being the last class that was worked on, and thus had the fewest hours of development. The numbers are there, the substance/polish is not.

I don't think he's suggesting that we want the Marauder to turn into some sort of übermensch, just being able to compete in a PvP world where stuns literally are more powerful than outright DPS.

So outside of the single target, 10m range, 20% healing debuff what advantage does a Marauder have over a DPS Jugg in PvP? Sure, there is that vanish, but then the Jugg (even DPS spec'd) is a lot tankier by default and other classes have stealth breakers (I uncover people that vanish about 80% of the time). And the PvP gear doesn't give much of a HP boost, which hurts the scaling on Annihilation's spotty %hp heals.

Yeah, its a funny thing.

The Marauder class doesn't need "buffs" in the classic sense, it needs to be reworked. It has that feeling of being the last class that was worked on, and thus had the fewest hours of development. The numbers are there, the substance/polish is not.

I can totally see this, that or no devs taking the time to play a Marauder/Sentinel. The issues are so glaring in PvP (Not so much in PvE) that it's astounding that there's no tweaking going on.

Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment and talk about the game in general. It is a fantastic game, based on rich lore and beautiful back story with almost unlimited potential. This could literally be a game that brings people who have never been interested in MMOs into them based on the license alone. However, there are many, many, many issues that will possibly affect that, and I'm going to touch on some of them a bit. Please try to read the whole thing so that an honest discussion can take place.

1. Playing on a PvP Server
My main is a 50 Sith Marauder on the Death Wind Corridor server. I have always loved open world PvP and have partaken in it gleefully since the days of the Second Age of Ultima Online (before the concept of having a world where PvP couldn't happen existed) and really enjoy the risk and reward aspect.

Yes, I said risk and reward. So I'm trudging along for a while on Tatooine when I finally come across my first Republic player in the open world. I quickly get a jump on him and after fighting him for a few moments, I get that exciting deathblow... annndd... nothing. Nothing happened. There was no XP bonus, no form of token, not even a 'valor' increase.

With this idea of added risk, there needs to be a reward. Without it, I've found that other players will avoid PvP even on a PvP server and typically try to go around the others, even if they have a level advantage. This needs to change and a simple way to fix that would be to add rewards. Simply add something like... Mercenary Commendations for open world PvP.

2. The Commendation System
Speaking of Commendations... the current system for getting them is absolutely terrible. Currently, the only two ways to get Mercenary Commendations is to 1) Trade 30 Warzone Commendations for 10 Mercenary Commendations (3:1! That's insane!) OR get lucky and find a chest in the Outlaw's Group PvP zone on Tatooine.. which was recently stealth nerfed into oblivion.

What needs to be done? Make commendations more available and frankly, worth getting. Doing obscene numbers of warzones isn't fun, engaging, or even challenging. It's getting to the point where I can see someone paying someone else to play a warzone for them, seeing as how you still get a decent number even on a loss.

3. Warzone Balance
Part 1: The Spaceship (Assault)
Oh boy. Let's talk about this colossal failure. So if you've never played it (which I imagine many of you haven't after being forced to play Huttball until your eyes bleed), basically the two teams get a turn of assaulting a level by planting a bomb (3 or 5 second click, I can't remember as I've only played it very few times) on a door. The typical 'shield door with random timer' as in Huttball is present for every time you die, causing this one to be even more infuriating than Huttball.

The major issues with this are the Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor classes (and believe me, I'll talk more about certain parts of them later.) They can literally run past everyone stealthed and run right up to the door, making the only viable strategy on defense NOT to block the oncoming attack, but to babysit a door. To make matters worse, if one bomb goes off they proceed to the next stage, making this heavily stacked for the offense. Even worse, is that these same classes I mentioned before have that lovely 'speed burst' skill and can literally get to the next door bomb location before you can get out of the spawn if you are unlucky. To be honest, the only ways I can think of fixing this awful game is to make it so that the door releases more often for the defenders and to possibly make the bomb time longer than 3 or 5 seconds?

Part 2: Huttball
Yeah. You know this one because it's probably the only one you ever get to play. It's boring, it's not exactly in the spirit of PvP, and honestly if you play the game objectively (scoring the ball for example) you'll end up with less commendations/xp/rewards than someone who just ran around and murdered people.

The Arena:
Lets talk about the Arena from a Marauders point of view. I come down from the spawn, and there's a large ledge where the score zone is that can only be reached by ramps. Ok, that means that anyone can't just walk up and score. At least, that's the intention. Every class to my knowledge (Except the Jedi Sentinel) get some form of push or knockback. Even the other specialization of the Sith Warrior gets 'Force Push' which lets them push people off of these ramps. Me? Not a single one.

The ramps are frustrating alone as it is when you take into account just knockbacks and pushes even from a purely defensive standpoint when you have NONE of the abilities both your team-mates and opponents have. To make matters worse, there are flame traps. Guess what gets used on flame traps all the time? stuns. I'll talk more about stuns later, but in terms of PvP in general these are ridiculous...

What can I say to make this arena any better? Maybe add an ability in Huttball that lets players get somewhere near their defense zone? Better yet, add more approaches to being able to score. As it is, Huttball is simply infuriating to play as someone who cannot defend the score zone or a ball carrier on a ramp because they get knocked down and have to wait 15 seconds for 'force charge' to cooldown.

4. Stealth in Combat
Know what one of the most frustrating things in PvP is? Know that moment right when you're about to get a kill on someone who may have even ambushed you from stealth only to have them stealth up and totally disappear? That's garbage. I don't think that anyone should be able to have permanent stealth when they are listed as 'in combat'. If you cannot use your heal self ability while in combat, why have a permanent stealth with 100% invisibility in PvP? To make this make more sense, I think that in PvP the outline should always be in effect if they are listed as in combat. Otherwise, we will continue to see ridiculous numbers of these stealth classes (especially Inquisitors and Consulars) if the warzones continue to cater to them.

5. Stuns in Combat (From a Marauder's Perspective)
Speaking of other nonsense, let's talk about stuns. They are incredibly useful in PvE and still useful in PvP. What's not OK (at least from a Marauder standpoint) is how these are used in PvP. Many classes get multiple stuns that will keep a played stunned even if they are taking direct damage. This is BS, total BS.

Guess what I can do? I can choke you for 3 seconds, which is a channel, meaning I can't do anything else. If I spend a ton of points I can make my 3 second ravage ability immobilize you during the duration (also a channel.) Hmm. Notice a pattern? I can't stun, cc, or otherwise immobilize you like other (still melee based) classes can. Granted, I do get an AoE stun for 6 seconds.. that wears off if the target takes damage. How is this balance?

I get an ability take gets rid of any movement, hold, or stun effect that can be used once every two minutes. In terms of Huttball, that's about.. maybe.. 4 times a match? I have to pick which exact stun I break free from and hope that I don't get chain-stunned by another stun from a class that has multiple ones right away. This needs to stop. There needs to be a stun/hold immunity in PvP.

6. Marauders in General
I know, I know, this is where I talk about my class getting the short end of the stick, and everyone else is OP. But I've noticed some things both with playing with other classes, and playing those classes myself. I seem to be able to do amazing dps, until I compare myself with a Sith Assassin, who is also a melee dps. I figure, no problem. I'm probably more durable than they are because I have heavier armor. Honestly, this isn't the case. A Sith Assassin is more likely to be an offtank than a Marauder. Why is this? I come from the same archtype class as the Juggernaut. Shouldn't I be more of an off-tank than them?

I strongly believe that the Marauder needs some sort of boost for both PvP and PvE. Leveling from 40-50 was an utter nightmare after the mobs started hitting noticeably harder (Around Hoth?) and made the game almost unplayable even though both my companion and I were geared quite well for my level and forced me to rely on medpacks.

What can be done? Either boost the Sith Marauders survivability or dps. I think the survivability makes more sense seeing as how we come from the 'Sith Warrior' archtype.

Conclusion
Well, I honestly hope you read in earnest what I wrote up to this point instead of just skimming it. I want to say that I didn't take the time to write all this out because I'm 'doomsaying' or saying 'how this game sucks', but quite the opposite. I love this game and I want it to succeed. I want to be playing this game 6 or more years from now and enjoying it as much as I have been up until this point. I know it's just the start and things will eventually get better, but I hope my ideas have some sort of push to get the gears rolling on that change. Thanks for reading.

I can totally see this, that or no devs taking the time to play a Marauder/Sentinel. The issues are so glaring in PvP (Not so much in PvE) that it's astounding that there's no tweaking going on.

That's what I tried to bring up about the current Huttball arena. It's made for ranged ambushes and sniping. If you get knocked off the catwalks, it will take approx. 20-40 seconds to get back to where you were depending on flame traps and such. That's insane!