OK, so I read all the complaints and figure...it can't be all that bad. The DFA ability has such a long CD, that most are used to other forms of fighting and doing damage anyway. So I goto Hoth to try it out.

A group of normal Mobs, place reticle in between 2 to make sure I hit them, I fly into the air, explosions, and I didn't even touch one of them. They walk around like umm....wow, there are explosions right next to me...huh...oh well....

So I place the reticle DIRECTLY on one. I actually hit him....and in doing so did ---- dmg to him vs before where I would have brought him down to 1/4 health if not more on a crit. Each shot now doing 300 damage post patch vs 1k damage pre-patch.

So in short an AOE, 8 meter ability now brought to the point of no longer being AOE doing as best I can tell, roughly 70% less damage.

This is a BH's primary opening spell when engaging multiple targets, and it is; as of now, not even worth putting on the hotkey bar.

Due to the long CD on the ability, I submit there was absolutely nothing wrong with it in the beginning. It was used as an opener and would only knockdown the lowest of trash mobs. Understand (directed at Bioware Dev's) YOU HAVE MADE THIS ABILITY A WASTE OF CODE. Exactly WTH were you thinking??

Again I submit, in trying to do whatever the **** you we're trying to do, you screwed it up. Do us and yourselves a huge favor and just put the ability back to exactly where it was....not overpowered, or underpowered. Should you feel you HAVE to do something to it, take the knockback away, not the radius or damage, nerfing either of those aspects eliminates exactly what the ability is supposed to do, high damage in a large radius....the definition of an AoE attack. As of right now it is totally worthless.

So far the BH is the only class I enjoy, and not because I like TM spam, actually just because it was boring doing that I have found much more effective rotations(FM followed by exploding Dart, rail shot, and unload), but noone that plays a BH can not say that this was way overdone. MAYBE the knockback was a bit too much, but it only works on the lowest of trash anyway, so who really cares. The radius and damage were just fine. Now, useless.

End Result: My BH just became a cybertech factory, and I am moving on to the other classes that were already overpowered you decided to BUFF??? A shame since I nowhere near enjoy playing them as much as my BH. I sincerely hope you fix this and fast. I have played every other class, but the BH has the lore behind it, a great storyline, great companions, the list goes on. Please don't ruin it trying to fix something that is not broken.

Last but not least, there are great innovations in this game update, but there are many screw ups...this being one of the worst. Please do not ruin ANOTHER succesful Star Wars MMO. You claim that player feedback is what will drive this game. Well here it is, plain and simple. You screwed this one up bad. Please fix it.

Thank you for taking the time to read what I took the time to write and thank you in advance for fixing this problem.

I also agree, why repair something that isn't broken... DFA and MV are AoEs used as openers and crowd control when leveling, keep it that way! Don't let high lvl PvP whiners destroy the leveling experience for the rest of us... Now it feels totaly pointless for me to keep leveling my BH and Trooper, cause it where a very important skill for me that the other classes really didn't have...

Other then that it was a really good patch (apart from this problem and the broken casual PvP).

(p.s I don't see any difference in damage, just the area of effect. Also I'm also having the problem with my targets getting knocked out of the AoE thus rendering the skill even more useless...)

You reduced the radius of Death form Above which was fine but now you ninja nerfed the damage by 30-40%. PLEASE EXPLAIN YOURSELF.

They made merc a JOKE class, you have two choices! reroll a OP class like marauder, sorc, or the most op of them ALL ASSASSIN!

If you dont wanna do that is one option left QUIT! its what i did! no more this stupid game!!!!!!!!!!!

I though bioware was better then this, even after many post by blizzard said nerf arena etc was mistake they still can do something like this is beyond me!!!!

Srsly! nerf don't only suck for pvpers but those who only do PVE too!

And whats worse is there is no arena in swtor, no 2vs2 etc! its 8vs8 cant be balanced really... LOL is all i have to say!

And keep in mind MERC'S are not mobile AT ALL! so this big dmg nerf and on jet boost and so on = we useless!!!!

before i could do around 500k dps one WZ while the op classes even higher! now im lucky if i do 250k, and forget about me killing anyone in 1vs1 now, i struggled like crazy to do it before the patch, now it cant be done as we did not get ANY boost in mobility with the INSANE nerfing they did on us!!!! Before patch i can understand interrupt etc could be looked on as "op" but now lol............

Damage from Death From Above should not be any different in this patch. All that was adjusted was the radius of the effect. Damage is applied faster now (every .5 second instead of every second) but the overall damage is the same.

Not to put too fine a point on it but, lowering the radius lowers the overall damage output, does it not? That is to say... if before you were hitting 4 or 5 bad guys at once and doing x amount of damage, but now because of the smaller radius you are only hitting 3 of them for the same amount of x damage, then overall it's less damage, because you're not doing damage at all to 1 or 2 that you used to be able to hit. Right?

By that rational, it's a pretty sharp nerf.

It's not nerfed, the frequency of the damage has been increased with each hit decreased.

Wrong. When I tried it out in pvp this morning, it was doing about about 3 ticks at 600 pts of damage per tick. Before it would do between 1k-2k per tick.

This is in full BM gear. This is also with the overall damage increase due to the added expertise on BM gear.

In the same game where DFA was hitting for almost nothing, I was having HS missile hit for over 5k all over the place.

The radius reduction makes the attack pointless, as you are not able to even cover the full area around a cap point anymore.

Not to put too fine a point on it but, lowering the radius lowers the overall damage output, does it not? That is to say... if before you were hitting 4 or 5 bad guys at once and doing x amount of damage, but now because of the smaller radius you are only hitting 3 of them for the same amount of x damage, then overall it's less damage, because you're not doing damage at all to 1 or 2 that you used to be able to hit. Right?

 

By that rational, it's a pretty sharp nerf.

Yeah, and in PvP you can now exit the radius of DfA more easily.

area covered by a circle is 2*pi * r^2 so we have:

r=5 ; area = 157 sq units

r=8; area = 402 sq units

(units are meters?)

so the new AoE is 40% of the area of the old.

I haven't played 1.2 yet. No doubt it will be interesting PvPing with my BH merc.

Yeah, and in PvP you can now exit the radius of DfA more easily.

 

area covered by a circle is 2*pi * r^2 so we have:

 

r=5 ; area = 157 sq units

r=8; area = 402 sq units

 

(units are meters?)

 

so the new AoE is 40% of the area of the old.

 

I haven't played 1.2 yet. No doubt it will be interesting PvPing with my BH merc.

Playing merc now in 1.2 will only make you frustrated and angry! i quit myself... Enough is enough.

Damage from Death From Above should not be any different in this patch. All that was adjusted was the radius of the effect. Damage is applied faster now (every .5 second instead of every second) but the overall damage is the same.

If you believe this should be the case, then I suggest you look into the numbers. DFA has very clearly been reduced in the damage it deals. Forgetting the radius nerf, people stood in it, now dont really have to move as the damage isnt really a big threat to them. however, if they do decide to move out, its a very very short walk to do so.

This was a great ability with a reasonable cooldown that could be used to put a lot of pressure on healers trying their best to keep people up, or themselves when clustered around a perceived safe zone (pillars in Voidstar for eg).

Now, it seems like that it only manages hits of 400-600 per tick, and NOT at an increased tick rate as someone suggested before.

Look at this ability, and get it fixed.

Hello everyone,

We would also like to share the following information from Austin Peckenpaugh regarding Death From Above:

DFA's total damage was not changed in patch 1.2, but it ticks more frequently and deals less damage per tick. The overall damage and DPS dealt by DFA has not changed.

 

The only balance adjustments made to DFA are the ones you see in the patch notes (starts faster and has a smaller radius).

We hope this helps clear up any confusion!

MMMmm just had 3 other Bh's in full BM gear do a warzone and only do around 60k damage.

 

But you guys keep saying what your saying.

Don't let it bother you. Half the times these loudmouths don't even play the class they're talking about.

Death from above wasn't all that to begin with.

Hello everyone,

 

We would also like to share the following information from Austin Peckenpaugh regarding Death From Above:

We hope this helps clear up any confusion!

But what many players would like to know is why? Why the changes? What's the logic behind them?

It would be nice of Bioware to explain the reasoning behind the changes to the Bounty Hunter.

I think that's not asking a lot.

Don't let it bother you. Half the times these loudmouths don't even play the class they're talking about.

 

Death from above wasn't all that to begin with.

lol your only enjoying this....! what he sais is true...

is no confusion about death from above... It used to crit 2k 4k etc, now it CRITS 500 dmg! L O L !

Hello everyone,

 

We would also like to share the following information from Austin Peckenpaugh regarding Death From Above:

We hope this helps clear up any confusion!

As someone who was fighting the same mobs Wednesday night as I am tonight, I can tell you this is simply not true. Mobs are taking less damage from it, whether they're weaks, normals, or strongs. This needs to be looked at. I suspect the "nerfs" may not have been intended...or certain levels of DFA are disproportionate with higher levels.

Did you read the dev response?

My issue is not with the damage, its with the range. This used to be an attack I start a fight with due to DFA's restriction of having to be activated from at least 5 meters away and my shieldtech otherwise wants to be in melee range. However the range nerf means it will miss way more mobs of a trashgroup than before due to how far apart the mobs usually stand. The first time I tried to use this like I did before, I hit a grand total of 1 mob.

Did the devs actually consider what the purpose of this attack is? It seems they made this useless for its intended purpose. Was this just a brainless "To bring this attack in line with other" BH attacks change?? Did you actually think this through?

It NEEDS to have wider radius than all other attacks because its the only attack that needs a minimum range from its target area. This means its intended as an opener. Due to the nerf it sucks at it. First collecting the mobs doesnt work well either, try running away from those melee mobs to get that minimum range yourself.

The only purpose of this attack for me has been taken away. Id rather have you nerf the damage than make the attack not work at all in its intended purpose.

Did you read the dev response?

 

My issue is not with the damage, its with the range. This used to be an attack I start a fight with due to DFA's restriction of having to be activated from at least 5 meters away and my shieldtech otherwise wants to be in melee range. However the range nerf means it will miss way more mobs of a trashgroup than before due to how far apart the mobs usually stand. The first time I tried to use this like I did before, I hit a grand total of 1 mob.

 

Did the devs actually consider what the purpose of this attack is? It seems they made this useless for its intended purpose. Was this just a brainless "To bring this attack in line with other" BH attacks change?? Did you actually think this through?

 

It NEEDS to have wider radius than all other attacks because its the only attack that needs a minimum range from its target area. This means its intended as an opener. Due to the nerf it sucks at it. First collecting the mobs doesnt work well either, try running away from those melee mobs to get that minimum range yourself.

 

The only purpose of this attack for me has been taken away. Id rather have you nerf the damage than make the attack not work at all in its intended purpose.

Agreed that the range is the issue! In PvP I pretty much just use this ability as an interrupt (on turrets, etc) since few people are stupid enough to stand it (I don't consider the damage too relevant).

However, if the overall damage needs to be reduced, I think they should do it just be reducing the damage per tick, instead of reducing the number of mobs affected (and also having those mobs get knocked out of range).

As a powertech tank, this ability is the best I have when it comes to pulling groups (at least it used to be). Our "AoE" taunt dart usually only reaches two mobs (sometimes three) since it has to be centered on one target, and we don't have many other ranged options (remember when this class was advertised as a ranged tank?). DFA is also great for picking up adds. I feel like most of its utility has now been stolen away, and I'm not sure that was intended (lets be honest, there aren't a ton of powertech tanks out there, so some details are probably overlooked).

Perhaps the developers wanted tanking to be harder (since juggernauts generally have a harder time with multiple mobs than us) but if that's the case, I would appreciate some honesty. What annoys me the most is that the only reason we were given is that DFA was being brought "in line with other BH abilities." That doesn't even make any sense. The whole point of a long cooldown ability is that it offers up something unique, and if everything needed to be the same we'd all just have Rapid Shot.

I really do hope that the developers reconsider how they've altered this ability. I don't think I've ever complained about a nerf in my last ten years of mmo playing, but I just don't understand why this one in particular was handled so poorly.

Damage from Death From Above should not be any different in this patch. All that was adjusted was the radius of the effect. Damage is applied faster now (every .5 second instead of every second) but the overall damage is the same.

Hello Cameron Winston,

I like how it started out "should not be any different in this patch." Cause that actually implied that you where going to investigate this issue. BUT the end of youre message "but the overall damage is the same". Sadly gives the opposite idea, that you are not going to investigate this issue. AND THAT IS SO WRONG!

DFA - pre patch for me would crit 2.4k - 2.5k and hit 1.5 - 1.6k - now I see crits of 1.2k and I see hits of 500-600.

Flame-thrower damage also got "nerfed" or "bugged" without any mention in the patch notes, you properbly dont belive this either but its the same issue here.

And in regards to this ticking every 0.5 sec. instead of 1.0 sec. I still only see 3 numbers pr. player it hits, so if you where correct it would be 6 now would it not? Perhaps this is where the "bug" is to be found.

Offcourse you need to test this yourself, I suggest you call the right department and enquire about this.

Sincerly

Wosh

Male Zabrak

Powertech

Married to

Wosha

Male Pureblood

Sith Warrior

ps. Before all you flameing trolls gets onboard with youre favorite bioware employee, handing out lectures on how to play etc. Goto the calypso board see if you can find my name there.

DFA hits a maximum of 6 times now, not 3. So there is no damage nerf. However, the chances of a someone standing long enough in that tiny radius to get all 6 ticks is highly unlikely.

The radius of DFA is a joke now. I literally watch people stand 1m outside of the reticle and laugh at me while I'm in mid air. At least I'm stylin' up there, they can't see me blushing.

We would also like to share the following information from Austin Peckenpaugh regarding Death From Above:

Quote:

DFA's total damage was not changed in patch 1.2, but it ticks more frequently and deals less damage per tick. The overall damage and DPS dealt by DFA has not changed.

 

The only balance adjustments made to DFA are the ones you see in the patch notes (starts faster and has a smaller radius).

We hope this helps clear up any confusion!

But what I don't think the devs really understand is that DFA's damage was significantly reduced (perhaps unintentionally) by the following two things happening:

1. The radius is reduced by 3 meters.

2. But at the same time, knockback is the same.

I tested DFA on a standard group of 4 Eshka trash mobs on one of the Belsavis dailies. A day ago, that attack would have dropped that group down to almost nothing. Now, 2 or 3 of them will get knocked back so far out of the damage radius that they barely get hit. 500-600 per tick (compared to 1k-1.5k per tick), if I'm lucky. And some of them won't even get hit after they're knocked back. Subjectively speaking, DFA is effectively doing half the damage it used to. That's a pretty big nerf, if you ask me.

There was really no reason to fix this skill. It wasn't broken. It didn't even make BHs overpowered. DFA has very situational use and it's rarely used in PvP anyway (I only use it as an interrupt in PvP). Plus, its 1-min. CD makes using it more than once per battle a pretty rare occurrence. Yet, it seems that BioWare keeps listening to the crybabies that apparently have never heard of interrupting channeled abilities -- or simply running away from that big red symbol on the floor.

If anything, keep the reduced radius, but adjust the knockback to compensate. But honestly, I think DFA should go back to how it was. This skill is almost completely worthless now.

OK, so I read all the complaints and figure...it can't be all that bad. The DFA ability has such a long CD, that most are used to other forms of fighting and doing damage anyway. So I goto Hoth to try it out.

 

A group of normal Mobs, place reticle in between 2 to make sure I hit them, I fly into the air, explosions, and I didn't even touch one of them. They walk around like umm....wow, there are explosions right next to me...huh...oh well....

 

So I place the reticle DIRECTLY on one. I actually hit him....and in doing so did ---- dmg to him vs before where I would have brought him down to 1/4 health if not more on a crit. Each shot now doing 300 damage post patch vs 1k damage pre-patch.

 

So in short an AOE, 8 meter ability now brought to the point of no longer being AOE doing as best I can tell, roughly 70% less damage.

 

This is a BH's primary opening spell when engaging multiple targets, and it is; as of now, not even worth putting on the hotkey bar.

 

Due to the long CD on the ability, I submit there was absolutely nothing wrong with it in the beginning. It was used as an opener and would only knockdown the lowest of trash mobs. Understand (directed at Bioware Dev's) YOU HAVE MADE THIS ABILITY A WASTE OF CODE. Exactly WTH were you thinking??

 

Again I submit, in trying to do whatever the **** you we're trying to do, you screwed it up. Do us and yourselves a huge favor and just put the ability back to exactly where it was....not overpowered, or underpowered. Should you feel you HAVE to do something to it, take the knockback away, not the radius or damage, nerfing either of those aspects eliminates exactly what the ability is supposed to do, high damage in a large radius....the definition of an AoE attack. As of right now it is totally worthless.

 

So far the BH is the only class I enjoy, and not because I like TM spam, actually just because it was boring doing that I have found much more effective rotations(FM followed by exploding Dart, rail shot, and unload), but noone that plays a BH can not say that this was way overdone. MAYBE the knockback was a bit too much, but it only works on the lowest of trash anyway, so who really cares. The radius and damage were just fine. Now, useless.

 

End Result: My BH just became a cybertech factory, and I am moving on to the other classes that were already overpowered you decided to BUFF??? A shame since I nowhere near enjoy playing them as much as my BH. I sincerely hope you fix this and fast. I have played every other class, but the BH has the lore behind it, a great storyline, great companions, the list goes on. Please don't ruin it trying to fix something that is not broken.

 

Last but not least, there are great innovations in this game update, but there are many screw ups...this being one of the worst. Please do not ruin ANOTHER succesful Star Wars MMO. You claim that player feedback is what will drive this game. Well here it is, plain and simple. You screwed this one up bad. Please fix it.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read what I took the time to write and thank you in advance for fixing this problem.

Nailed it !!!

BW revert changes to DFA on next weeks patch plz, YOU MADE A BOOBOO....

I played for 3 hours last night, i think i used DFA in the first 10 mins trying to see if i could make it work and then just abandonned it...

I rly dont understand why this was fixed... well i do, cuz of pvp stuff... but again, this is another good example of a nerf they apply for pvp that endsup screwing up the sill completly in pve... and now WHAT???? we just dont use it anymore....

OTher ten that, the patch did bring some nice fluff, i like the GUI modification option

PLEASE FIX DFA

But what I don't think the devs really understand is that DFA's damage was significantly reduced (perhaps unintentionally) by the following two things happening:

 

1. The radius is reduced by 3 meters.

 

2. But at the same time, knockback is the same.

yup, thats 2 modifications that i think they didnt rly understand the consequences too each other. those 2 together, and i do understand that these are the big changes to DFA, were not a good marriage for sure.

You hit less mobs on initial hit bcause of lowered radius, then you trow knock bck in there so the knockback mobs dont get hit with the following 2 volleys.... so its like a single target skill now.. its not AOE at alll

So DEVS, look into this..... please!!!!

Return it to what it was, its useless now in PVE.

Hello Cameron Winston,

 

I like how it started out "should not be any different in this patch." Cause that actually implied that you where going to investigate this issue. BUT the end of youre message "but the overall damage is the same". Sadly gives the opposite idea, that you are not going to investigate this issue. AND THAT IS SO WRONG!

 

DFA - pre patch for me would crit 2.4k - 2.5k and hit 1.5 - 1.6k - now I see crits of 1.2k and I see hits of 500-600.

 

 

Flame-thrower damage also got "nerfed" or "bugged" without any mention in the patch notes, you properbly dont belive this either but its the same issue here.

 

And in regards to this ticking every 0.5 sec. instead of 1.0 sec. I still only see 3 numbers pr. player it hits, so if you where correct it would be 6 now would it not? Perhaps this is where the "bug" is to be found.

 

Offcourse you need to test this yourself, I suggest you call the right department and enquire about this.

 

 

Sincerly

 

Wosh

Male Zabrak

Powertech

 

Married to

 

Wosha

Male Pureblood

Sith Warrior

 

 

ps. Before all you flameing trolls gets onboard with youre favorite bioware employee, handing out lectures on how to play etc. Goto the calypso board see if you can find my name there.

I think its the case... it should tick 6 times if the dmg would be equal... but it ticks only 3