a lot of us already have re-rolled tho. ive got a powertech and will soon have a sniper as well, so that i can actually participate in RWZs

My VG isn't as fun but my sniper is quickly gaining on my commando in the entertainment area.

My VG isn't as fun but my sniper is quickly gaining on my commando in the entertainment area.

sniper is a blast to play. ive been leveling in engineering, and it is very dynamic. it is taking me a bit to get the muscle memory down, but sniper a whole other world compared to merc.

Definitely.

On sniper I feel like I'm reaching out like the hand of an angry god to smite melee.

It is wonderful.

Definitely.

 

On sniper I feel like I'm reaching out like the hand of an angry god to smite melee.

 

It is wonderful.

it really is lol

my favorite is when a mara gets in my face, i pop evasion -> shield probe -> interrogation probe -> EMP blast -> shield probe. all the while the mara is standing their swinging away not doing any damage while i pewpew him right in the face. glorious

I'm asking you guys to kindly STOP PLAYING COMMANDOS IN PVP, until the class is not a useless piece of crap.

Well with 400k people in the game, even a deeply unpopular class like Merc/Commando dps will still get ~2% of the people playing it. Which is still (for the sake of argument), maybe 8,000 people. So it will still get played. It will still show up in wz. But only the fanatically committed to the class will be left on the pvp side. These will be the very best Merc/Commandos who can still hold their own, making up for class impotence with player skill. Which of course, from a meta average statistics standpoint will simply confirm to BW that the Merc/Commando class is fully viable and in fact requires further "rebalancing".

So in an ironic twist, the fewer people playing Merc/Commando, the more likely BW is to continue nerfing it. The only door out is to have a ton of people start playing Merc/Commando, do horribly at it and thus bring down the Merc/Commando meta averages. Which sadly isn't going to happen since all the new 50's know not to use the class in pvp.

So I am ambivalent about your proposal to have people stop playing Merc/Commando. If they do, the class is even more doomed than it is already. But at least people will have a better game experience. It is a Stygian morass that Merc/Commando is stuck in. I do not think there is an escape. This should have been obvious months ago, but like ever optimistic children, we toiled forwards under the promise of better changes ahead. I think we all know better now.

Well with 400k people in the game, even a deeply unpopular class like Merc/Commando dps will still get ~2% of the people playing it. Which is still (for the sake of argument), maybe 8,000 people. So it will still get played. It will still show up in wz. But only the fanatically committed to the class will be left on the pvp side. These will be the very best Merc/Commandos who can still hold their own, making up for class impotence with player skill. Which of course, from a meta average statistics standpoint will simply confirm to BW that the Merc/Commando class is fully viable and in fact requires further "rebalancing".

 

So in an ironic twist, the fewer people playing Merc/Commando, the more likely BW is to continue nerfing it. The only door out is to have a ton of people start playing Merc/Commando, do horribly at it and thus bring down the Merc/Commando meta averages. Which sadly isn't going to happen since all the new 50's know not to use the class in pvp.

 

So I am ambivalent about your proposal to have people stop playing Merc/Commando. If they do, the class is even more doomed than it is already. But at least people will have a better game experience. It is a Stygian morass that Merc/Commando is stuck in. I do not think there is an escape. This should have been obvious months ago, but like ever optimistic children, we toiled forwards under the promise of better changes ahead. I think we all know better now.

Excellent use of the word Stygian.

Also, much as I'm still ambivalent about meta averages being their sole guiding light when it comes to balance, I agree completely with the general sentiment you're expressing.

Lets be honest though, the only people who we NEED to get to play Merc/Commando are the devs. If that happened I have a feeling they'd be fixed in a week.

according to the state of the game post, there are 2mil new accounts. so 400k players might be underestimating it a tad....

and the meta average theory is gaining more traction imo. it is the only possible explanation for the decisions the devs have made over the life of the game.

Keep in mind those 2mm new accounts will include accounts that never get used. Overall, in game population does feel more robust than it did in the darkest days of Spring 2012. But again, a lot of the accounts are F2P and are sub-50. Even amongst those that are lev 50, they are restricted in how often they can partake in warzones. It may very well be that 5 F2P accounts with lev 50 toons are required to generate as much lev 50 warzone activity as a single subscribing account with lev 50 toons.

this is true. would be interesting to see the stats on how many F2P players are buying PvP passes, or have converted to paying subs. i doubt bioware will give us that info tho. judging by the state of the game, it doesnt look like theyre interested in telling us anything of real substance

according to the state of the game post, there are 2mil new accounts. so 400k players might be underestimating it a tad....

 

and the meta average theory is gaining more traction imo. it is the only possible explanation for the decisions the devs have made over the life of the game.

Really? I've always thought "The Devs play Warriors and Snipers" as plenty simple enough explanation. Meta averages could be a justifying fig leave after the fact to try to cover their otherwise blatant Favoritism.

I think they had someone playing PT too, but they must have quit/been fired.

Also not quite the darkest days of spring 2012. Afterall there's 244 people on fleet most nights.

Really? I've always thought "The Devs play Warriors and Snipers" as plenty simple enough explanation. Meta averages could be a justifying fig leave after the fact to try to cover their otherwise blatant Favoritism.

 

I think they had someone playing PT too, but they must have quit/been fired.

 

 

Also not quite the darkest days of spring 2012. Afterall there's 244 people on fleet most nights.

yeah a dev recently said they were playing a powertech, forget who tho.

we still have yet to hear about a dev playing a merc tho. altho, theyre supposedly play-testing changes to merc/mando for the next PTS build. it might make it hard to test merc/mando changes if nobody is playing merc/mando lol

By "playtesting" what they mean is that they want to make enough of a change to say they listened to us (because technically correct is the best kind of correct) while still ensuring that commandos are free kills.

It would be a shame if everybody else's kills got lowered because Commandos weren't free kills anymore.

So is TD on both PT and Merc gettting nerfed or is it just the PT side?

Both. Same with CGC.

Just another one of biowares stupid ideas. Shared tress was so stupid. If you nerf one you screw the other class over. I mean really bioware that made sense to you when you thought it up.

Crackroxx

Just another one of biowares stupid ideas. Shared tress was so stupid. If you nerf one you screw the other class over. I mean really bioware that made sense to you when you thought it up.

 

Crackroxx

shared trees is a terrible idea lol. the pyro tree is dumb for merc should be a blaster tree or something else.

shared trees is a terrible idea lol. the pyro tree is dumb for merc should be a blaster tree or something else.

pyrotech was fine for merc. just not as good as Powertech b/c of some pretty obvious mechanic differences that were never addressed

pyrotech was fine for merc. just not as good as Powertech b/c of some pretty obvious mechanic differences that were never addressed

powertech is the one with fire skills why does merc have a pyro tree O.o.

powertech is the one with fire skills why does merc have a pyro tree O.o.

It's not even the fire skills, per se, that make the PT so much better with pyro (although they don't hurt ofc.). Rather, it's the fact that their Rail reset comes from instant cast skills with little or no cooldown. If mercs could fish for Rail procs every 6-9 seconds with Unload/ Powershot as instant cast abilities (while keeping their damage), I'd wager we'd be on par with, if not way more powerful than PTs with the pyro tree.