I just recently started playing SWTOR and I chose a PVP server. I just leveled my main, a Shadow Tank, to 50. Before this I paid for a 6 month sub to Rift and stopped playing at level 30. It just didn't "do it for me." Prior the last MMO I played was Ultima Online. I quit playing that game in 2002 after playing from launch.

 

I have been reading through a lot of thread on a lot of different stuff about PVP, gearing, etc. I see tons of complaints. The one's that I see the most are about balance, how gear shouldn't affect who wins and loses in PVP, and how classes are not properly balanced with each other. I would like to make a couple of comments regarding these statements and thoughts.

 

The first thing I would like address is class balance. In my opinion from years of playing RPG games starting with Dungeons and Dragons ( through D -n- D 3.5), each class has a role. The way the role's play out is that each class should do something better than anyone else or something that no one else can do. That means that when there is a 1 vs 1 fight some classes may just get owned by the class that they face. That is how it should be. I will give an example: If a spell caster is designed to do damage using AOE spells and Melee Class closes range with him/her, it is likely that the spell caster will be killed in most situations or be forced to flee. The reverse of that is that is that the spell caster does significantly more total damage than the melee class per action. An AOE effect that does say 100 points of damage to 10 mobs did 1000 points of damage. While the single target melee action may have done 200-300 points of damage but to a single target.

 

The second part that I would like to address is the gear balance issue. First of all, I do not want to play a First Person Shooter where everyone is balanced, has the same gear, abilities, etc. If perfect balance where skill alone decides the victor then perhaps MMO's are not for you, if that is what you are looking for go play Counter Strike. Now, I will say that the very nature of the Ultima Online world caused almost this exact situation in PvP.

 

Because of the fact that when you died your body was lootable and your gear did not spawn with you, no one used extremely expensive, hard to obtain, gear to PVP. Everyone used Player crafted non-magical items. The very nature of the world balanced the gear issue. No one ran around PvPing with Vanquishing weapons because everyone died in PvP. Let me ask you this: What if in SWTOR, when you died, everything you had in your characters inventory was left on the ground with an image of your dead corpse, and everyone around you could freely loot the gear you were wearing, what gear would you wear to PVP? Would that encourage players to create several Alts and choose crafting skills on each one to be able to make every type of armor/weapon/mod/etc? Also it would mean that the largest factor for who wins in PvP would be skill, seconded by play time to be able to craft your own mods so it hurt less when you lost them. I know this will never happen but the simplicity of this solution for gear balance is extremely elegant.

 

Finally, let me say this. The idea behind an MMO is a group dynamic. Massively Mulitplayer Online Game. This means many people playing together to shape a world. If everyone is exactly the same with nothing to differentiate them from the other, with no consequences to actions (ie you die and your stuff respawns with you), then we might as well not "grind" out characters. We might as well go buy a copy of Counter Strike and just play the Pre-Made level 50 characters they have. If there is no incentive to work for the gear what is the point in playing after you reach the level cap? In an MMO you are constantly trying to improve your character and you play skills. Not just your play skills. So stop advocating for class balance. There always should be Over Powered (OP) classes in every RPG in a 1vs1 situation. It is when you have group vs group that there should be balance.

There always should be Over Powered (OP) classes in every RPG in a 1vs1 situation. It is when you have group vs group that there should be balance.

 

This game has a Rock-Paper-Scissors system. No one class is unbeatable, everyone has a counter class. In a group, all of that goes out the window.

 

So I guess the Devs kinda agree with you on this?

What would you say the role for a commando/merc is then? I mean they are the worst 1v1 and have the least team utility. Devs got that one right huh?

Well said all around op. Welcome to SWTOR. People like to think they are from the movies. They want to be Luke or Han, and when someone beats them it "breaks their immersion" causing the sweet sweet tears to flow.

What would you say the role for a commando/merc is then? I mean they are the worst 1v1 and have the least team utility. Devs got that one right huh?

 

Commandos are cannon fodder duh. From the MOVIES!!

What would you say the role for a commando/merc is then? I mean they are the worst 1v1 and have the least team utility. Devs got that one right huh?

 

Pretty much this.

 

There is really nothing that a commando/merc can do that another class can't do better.

Well said all around op. Welcome to SWTOR. People like to think they are from the movies. They want to be Luke or Han, and when someone beats them it "breaks their immersion" causing the sweet sweet tears to flow.

 

Oh, you mean as a Jedi I'm not supposed to be as powerful as Grand Master Luke? Blasphemy!

Pretty much this.

 

There is really nothing that a commando/merc can do that another class can't do better.

 

Am I doing something wrong then cause my merc is my favorite healer and I do mad dps on my commando I really don't see why people have issues here.