Read and weep boys and girls:

 

Hey folks,

 

Powertech

• In addition to its other effects, the Hitman utility now reduces the damage taken from area of effect attacks by 30% for the Pyrotech and Advanced Prototype disciplines, and reduces the damage taken while stunned by 30% for the Shield Tech discipline
  

Advanced Prototype

• Stabilized Armor has been replaced by Prototype Armor, which increases damage reduction by 2% for 15 seconds each time you are dealt critical damage, stacking up to 3 times.
  

DevNotes: We felt that Pyrotech Powertechs lacked the same defensive effectiveness as Advanced Prototype Powertechs, so we moved the protection against area of effect attacks from the Advanced Prototype discipline to a utility available for both disciplines. To fill the void, we gave Advanced Prototype the Prototype Armor passive, a new ability that replaces Stabilized Armor. Finally, we gave Shield Techs that take the Hitman utility some protection against damage while stunned.

 

Vanguard

• In addition to its other effects, the Frontline Defense utility now reduces the damage taken from area of effect attacks by 30% for the Plasmatech and Tactics disciplines, and reduces damage taken while stunned by 30% for the Shield Specialist discipline
  

Tactics

• Shock Absorbers has been replaced by Tactical Armor, which increases damage reduction by 2% for 15 seconds each time you are dealt critical damage, stacking up to 3 times.
  

DevNotes: We felt that Plasmatech Vanguards lacked the same defensive effectiveness as Tactics Vanguards, so we moved the protection against area of effect attacks from the Tactics discipline to a utility available for both disciplines. To fill the void, we gave Tactics the Tactical Armor passive, a new ability that replaces Shock Absorbers. Finally, we gave Shield Specialists that take the Frontline Defense utility some protection against damage while stunned.

 

Sigh.... Where do I start? Let's talk about this 2% stackable DR utility. Assuming you get crit 3x every 15 seconds to keep you at a maximum of 6% damage reduction, this amounts to a total damage reduction of 7,800 before you've run out of hp to use this lousy buff (math: 130k max hp x 1.06 buff = 137.8k). In other words, this means the enemy probably needs one more attack to kill you than normal - that is the sum total of this "buff".

 

The AoE utility hardly bears mentioning as AoE is not what is going to kill you in PvP.

 

The 30% damage reduction on stun is a welcome addition to the tank spec, but is actually a nerf to the AP/Tactics disciplines as they are losing this utility (being replaced with the crappier version of Stabilized Armor/Shock Absorbers, see above).

 

All in all, slight buff to tank and DoT disciplines that won't make a lick of difference in PvP - you'll still be hard-stunned and nuked down in ranked. Tactics/AP is receiving an overall nerf due to the loss of 30% DR on stun in favor of the worthless ability to get 6% DR while being consistently critted.

 

You'll still be able to have fun in regs occasionally if you have pocket heals or the enemy team is garbage, but stay out of ranked unless you like being 100-0'd in 10 seconds. Tank skank may be our only option at this point - which is a loadout I oppose on philosophical grounds as being antithetical to good PvP design.

 

I have to say, I'm very disappointed in BW. It was obvious that PT/VG needed a strong DR ability (80%, not 6%) that it could pop to mitigate the focus we receive. What we got was a nerf for one of the disciplines that was already garbage-tier in PvP.

haha this game is so garbage it's hilarious.

For 1 years PTs been garbage and mercs had 3 lifes as a range class.

How come a range class has better defensive then melee?

 

Now they nerfed them even more?

Whats BW problem? PTs been broken for 1 year. You need another year to fix this?

 

Why not just delete this class, cuz its broken.

Ya, I was so disappointed with the changes. AP got nerfed and Pyro will still be a garbage spec for PVP. This class is in no way competitive with mercs and snipers. Edited November 1, 2017 by Fellow-Canadian

Absolute garbage. The devs do not play their own game, and that can basically be blamed for every garbage class balance change they make. They look at metrics, come up with some hypothetical garbage that is worthless in practicality and call it a day.

 

Can't even blame EA. This dev team is a complete joke.

For 1 years PTs been garbage and mercs had 3 lifes as a range class.

How come a range class has better defensive then melee?

 

Now they nerfed them even more?

Whats BW problem? PTs been broken for 1 year. You need another year to fix this?

 

Why not just delete this class, cuz its broken.

 

PTs have been good for a long time, started with the hybrid specs at start, continued with Pyro than the awesome AP, so I guess they had their glorry days.....