Well, here's my big questions, then:

• Why are we, a ranged turret class, completely incapable of controlling/dictating range in any real "pro-active" sense?
   
  
• Why are we, a caster-turret class, completely incapable of controlling our ability to cast without being completely shut off?
   
  
• Why are we, a heavy DPS-support class, completely incapable of doing a lot of our DPS without RNG-based proc'es?
  Said proc'es are all fully interruptable, too.
  

(IME, this is less of a problem in the open-world PvP --we seem to work a lot better "out there," that I've seen-- but in WZ it's a whole 'nother (Hutt-)ball-game.)

• Why are our defensive cool-downs so bloody long?
   
  
• Why so many useless talents? (Example: Energy Rebounder from the Arsenal tree. Is it me, or is that a complete joke?)
   
  
• Why do all three of our trees pretty much require eight points --ideally, 10 for damagers-- in the middle tree, yet hybrid-builds seem un-viable overall?
  
• Why, in the Name of every God that ever was/is/will be, is our only real root/mezz nerfed to 10m since 1.4 with no bloody explanation, at all.
  

I love my Mercs --and more recently, my Gunny-Mando just started Belsavis ATM. Merc is cooler, though-- but it seems like someone at BW/EA genuinely hates us, for some reason.

Those are good points, but we gotta be sure not to let the devs off too easy. They can't be too open-ended or it allows them to basically give any answer they want.

We should, metaphorically speaking, give them multiple choice or yes/no questions. Essay questions will be blown off, by answering the easiest tangent that the question contains.

I feel like we should ask things like:

-Is this result _______ intended? If not, are there current plans to address?

-The community disagrees with the balance of ______ mechanic/ability. Are you aware that this is a universally hated ability? (community feels its OP, or whatever)

-Are there any plans for this ______. If not, are you aware the community feels this is needed.

-Are the devs aware that ranked warzone teams will not include a merc healer due to balance reasons?

etc

Just getting them to give a specific answer to a minor question is better then asking an epic question and getting a rambling response that doesn't answer anything.

The way I think bioware is answering these questions are assigning one member of the dev team to answer the two sets of class questions in order to not distract all members of the dev team with said questions.

This being said I think vanguard and sorc got very unlucky and got "that guy" to answer theirs where as sniper and sent got their questions answered differently than the vanguard and sorc did.

So if I'm right lets hope bioware doesn't pull the arrogant perma-noob guy out to answer our questions.

If I'm wrong I honestly have nothing further I would ask the dev team because they

don't respect us.

A few things I'd like to see for Bodyguard/Combat Medic (PvE perspective, I'm not masochistic enough to PvP with it):

• The ability to use Rapid Shots on myself. This one annoys me to no end. Sometimes I tunnel vision on the raid frame HP bars without reading the names, and get stuck trying to shoot myself only to get spammed with error messages. It just feels so much more clunky to have a heal I can't use on myself compared to my Sorcerer or Operative healers.
  
• A QoL adjustment to our group healing options. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for here. When I'm on my Sorcerer I simply throw down Revivification and watch everyone flock to it like moths to the flame. On my Operative, if I can't get people to group up for Recuperative Nanotech I can fall back on spamming Kolto Probe and still get the job done. On my Mercenary? Try to aim Kolto Missile ever so carefully so that I hit as many people as possible, and then scream, "People, get in the green stuff. GET IN THE GREEN STUFF. Too late, it's gone." Kolto Pods was a nice addition, but it doesn't last long enough for people to reactively run into it, so you have to pretty much hope they are already stacked and stay put when you drop KM. There isn't even an AoE marker on the ground so people know where to stand. Kolto Jets is nice too, but again you have to get people grouped up to use it, and dps/tanks go nuts if you accidentally knock mobs away. (Actually, I think that's a plus; it's fun to troll melee dps by knocking their mobs away right after they leap in and then claim, "it was for the heals.")
  
• Some more magic on Supercharged Gas. I think someone already mentioned this, but why the heat cost reduction on Power Shot and Unload? Why not more healing goodness? I don't know if this would cause problems for PvP, but it just seems weird to have dps boosts on a healing talent.
  
• Peacekeeper made optional. I don't want it or need it for PvE, make it optional so I can use the points somewhere else. Enough said.

I don't really know how to best encapsulate all that into a question, but it would be great if we could get one or more of those issues addressed.

Not gonna be subbed for much longer might as well leave my last words.

Heat management in its current formula seems to be working. When we compare our numbers to other healing classes though, we can clearly see an imbalance. Bodyguard has the ability to be a great healing spec. It's by far the most fun I've ever had healing in any mmo. The fact that I have mastered this class and can be out healed by average players is disgusting. That's why I'm hoping our numbers get buffed without messing up our current state.

Potential way we can satisfy both pve and pvpers at the same time.

New SCG:

Vents 35 heat.

Makes all moves uninterruptible.

Increases Aim, Alacrity, and Critical strike rating by 15%

Reduces healing scan cool down by 50%

They could remove vent heat from the game and make our talent increase the heat we vent with SCG by 5.

Ty Ty

Well, here's my big questions, then:

 

 

• Why are we, a ranged turret class, completely incapable of controlling/dictating range in any real "pro-active" sense?
   
  
• Why are we, a caster-turret class, completely incapable of controlling our ability to cast without being completely shut off?
   
  
• Why are we, a heavy DPS-support class, completely incapable of doing a lot of our DPS without RNG-based proc'es?
  Said proc'es are all fully interruptable, too.
  

 

(IME, this is less of a problem in the open-world PvP --we seem to work a lot better "out there," that I've seen-- but in WZ it's a whole 'nother (Hutt-)ball-game.)

 

 

• Why are our defensive cool-downs so bloody long?
   
  
• Why so many useless talents? (Example: Energy Rebounder from the Arsenal tree. Is it me, or is that a complete joke?)
   
  
• Why do all three of our trees pretty much require eight points --ideally, 10 for damagers-- in the middle tree, yet hybrid-builds seem un-viable overall?
  
• Why, in the Name of every God that ever was/is/will be, is our only real root/mezz nerfed to 10m since 1.4 with no bloody explanation, at all.
  

 

I love my Mercs --and more recently, my Gunny-Mando just started Belsavis ATM. Merc is cooler, though-- but it seems like someone at BW/EA genuinely hates us, for some reason.

I like this post. +1

My questions would be....

1) What was going through their mind and why did they consistently nerf Mercs when they were trying to balance PT Pyros.

2) What was the reason to moving all the worthwhile defensive skill abilities to the middle tree, and at the top of the middle tree?

3) Can you remove the RNG from Merc Pyro. CGC Proc/Rail Shot Proc etc. I would much rather see it changed to have a CD, but it's guaranteed proc when off of CD.

Bonus question, Why does BW hate Merc Pyro so much? Give us 30m Electro Dart, 1 sec or instant mez. Nothing like typing out when you're casting ,"In 3-4 seconds when I'm immune to push-back you're gonna be Mezzed for 8 seconds, it's going to be glorious!"

Here is a link to my rant of everything wrong with Merc Pyro.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6729030#post6729030

Just want to give an update, the question submission deadline is approaching, 9/13 is that deadline. By this Friday, 9/6 I intend to start a new thread that will have the questions I'm considering for submission. That will give one more week for you guys to give your feedback before I select the 3 to be.

 

Thank you all who have participated and hopefully Musco & Co. has been reading all the suggestions on this thread (and the Mando thread) because there's a lot of great feedback that won't make it to the table due to the 3 question limit. Until Friday....

Around here it is friday now. Where are the questions, i dont see them. ... Why arent they up yet? This sucks, you promised us I dont wanna wait, i want it now. I feel entitled and i demand compensation. Ah screw this ill unsub!!!11!! :mad:

sry, couldnt resist take your time

Bodyguard needs more work then any of the dps specs, arsenal is good Pyro could use work. But back to my point for Bodyguard I think emergency scan needs to be a 9 second cool down because 21 is too long for a move then gives a OK heal (operatives spam a free heal that's stronger). And we need a talent that increases the critical healing bonus of rapid scan healing scan and emergency scan by 15/30%

I'm sorry to you dps wanters out there but there are 3 healing classes and we have been worst since launch and can't even heal in competitive pvp ESPECALLY arena

Bodyguard needs more work then any of the dps specs, arsenal is good Pyro could use work. But back to my point for Bodyguard I think emergency scan needs to be a 9 second cool down because 21 is too long for a move then gives a OK heal (operatives spam a free heal that's stronger). And we need a talent that increases the critical healing bonus of rapid scan healing scan and emergency scan by 15/30%

 

I'm sorry to you dps wanters out there but there are 3 healing classes and we have been worst since launch and can't even heal in competitive pvp ESPECALLY arena

Not since launch but since 1.2 for sure (which is like 1,5 year now). And I think if they make heat management and RNG reliance in all 3 spec we would be in a much better spot right now. I could imagine some little tweeks to the healing tree though since we are far behind the other 2 healers, like changing or replacing peacekeeper, improving SCG and give us a crit talent if you ruined crit ffs...

I agree, Arsenal is the only spec worth playing at the moment. Even then it's still a little lackluster.

Healing and Pyro are the two worst specs for any advanced class in the game right now. But at least the Healing spec can heal to full.

Been playing a merc for a long time. I also play a sorc and a Marauder. I think the arsenal merc is a pretty good place so I don't think it needs a lot of changes. But it still has a problem keeping targets at range. I would make these changes:

1) bring back 30m stun... maybe as a trade off make it 2 second stun? or make it a root or give it a channel effect. or some combination.

2) reduce the cool down of net... or give power override the added ability to refresh the cool down.

3) Return the knock back to jet punch or make it a knock down. remove the root effect as a trade off

Around here it is friday now. Where are the questions, i dont see them. ... Why arent they up yet? This sucks, you promised us I dont wanna wait, i want it now. I feel entitled and i demand compensation. Ah screw this ill unsub!!!11!! :mad:

 

sry, couldnt resist take your time

Because of you I delayed j/k had some RL stuff come up, on my way to a wedding so I'll post them tomorrow! Sorry for the delay fellas

Posted this on PTS forums yesterday incase y'all haven't seen it.

There's a few reasons why we can kinda predict a way to change bodyguard. The first is because of our rotation. Add more moves into our rotation and our heat will be affected. Not keeping up maximum heat dissipation (<30%) or getting your heat too high is just the beginning of the end when the damage bursts are constant. Basically our rotation is so tight, any damage that pushes us to use vent heat will certainly kill us should it happen again before it comes off cd.The second is because of our limit on abilities.

When in pvp, interrupts are a healers worse nightmare. I came from skullcrusher/kiljaeden in wow btw.( never going back to that game ) we only have 3 moves worthy of a gcd. ( not including es ) I can imagine against the best pvpers, we are easy to shut down solely because of this.

So taking into account these 2 points and how the obvious way to buff the second point ( add more moves ) will affect the first, we may infer that interruption immunity should be our biggest strength in pvp. Now then, IMO mercs hps isn't up to par in NiM either, and in pvp even with smash nerfs, good dps will run us out of resources. Vent heat is pretty much useless. The way heat is currently setup, we need vent heat every 30 seconds at least.

I love the burst I put out right before vent heat comes up. I'll spam rapid scan till I'm at 100% pop vent heat, SCG and lol. But this happens once every 2 minutes. And I'm not taking into account interruptions.

Idk if 35 heat is the number, but the system definitely will work in tweaking our numbers. Btw adding interruption immunity to SCG does not warrant a nerf of shield interruption immunity. It's got a ridiculously long cd and may be necessary to avoid initial bursts. If your are making a class specifically strong in one area for pvp you make it legit.

So incase you haven't read the other merc mando threads, here's my idea.

Redesigned SCG:

Vents 35 heat

Increases AiM alacrity and crit by 15% ( this part may be overkill )

Make us immune to interruption for the duration.

Reduces healing scan cd by 50% ( slight nerf to respect the massive buff, also might be overkill lol )

Obviously this would warrant the removal of vent heat, but with this new SCG, who cares right.

Mostly opinion, just a few facts. I'll be unsubbed when they answer my ACs questions btw. Should be fun to see how they respond.

Because of you I delayed j/k had some RL stuff come up, on my way to a wedding so I'll post them tomorrow! Sorry for the delay fellas

Must be some wedding

Maybe his new wife canceled the susbcription or something

Must be some wedding

Maybe his new wife canceled the susbcription or something

It was a spectacular wedding actually I didn't get home till yesterday evening, I had a basketball game and I forgot to factor in Dexter, Breaking Bad, and Ray Donovan...but all that's out of the way now, after work today at some point this evening it WILL be posted for all to see and further discuss

Alright folks, head over to http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6739158#post6739158

I'll no longer be referring to this thread for discussion, Cya over there!

Alright folks, head over to http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6739158#post6739158

 

I'll no longer be referring to this thread for discussion, Cya over there!

Odawgg the thread murderer. He kills one and makes a new one in its place, he is somewhat like a mob boss.

Missle blast heat cost reduced to 16.

Railshot refeshing ALL perioidic elemental damage on a target.

Kolto Overload triggering at 35% and lasting 10 seconds once it triggers.

Possible: Increasing Gyroscopic alignment jets to 12 heat vented instead of 8 and swapping its place in the tree with infrared sensors.

Boom, Pyro tree is fixed.

Note: Pyro is a DOT class. since we have like 5 of em. if u stack em right, the damage is there. If you don't, then thats a player issue, not a class issue.

Missle blast heat cost reduced to 16.

 

Railshot refeshing ALL perioidic elemental damage on a target.

 

Kolto Overload triggering at 35% and lasting 10 seconds once it triggers.

 

Possible: Increasing Gyroscopic alignment jets to 12 heat vented instead of 8 and swapping its place in the tree with infrared sensors.

 

Boom, Pyro tree is fixed.

 

Note: Pyro is a DOT class. since we have like 5 of em. if u stack em right, the damage is there. If you don't, then thats a player issue, not a class issue.

Really tired of going round and round with this.... It is not a DoT spec. It is a single target burst spec. A lot of baddies cried about it, and Bioware nerfed it. The fact that we have multiple DoTs does not change the way the class tree functions or the way our abilities work with each other.

In PvP, a simple cleanse wipes out your damage. And given the huge amount of Scoundrel/Operative healers (who can cleanse Tech debuffs, which is what all of ours are), against any player with even a bit of competency you are going to lose.

Not to mention Pyro just flat out lacks the kind of utility that Arsenal brings to the table.

Odawgg the thread murderer. He kills one and makes a new one in its place, he is somewhat like a mob boss.

Needed to be retitled plus I just like creating threads it's fun

Mob bosses get paid so pay up or you're next!