Hi,

 

I find flamethrower to be somewhat useless in PvP & PvE because as you are moving the cone, it has to remain on a target player for far too long to actually apply it's damage. I only use it in PvE when mobs are completely stationary.

 

Solution: Make the flamethrower damage into smaller damage ticks that happen in quicker succession, to counter act the slow damage application.

 

Instead of 3 ticks for 550, how about 6 for 275, or 8 for 206.

 

I think that would also give players the feeling they are actually burning something by seeing all those damage numbers. Probably one of the least used skills in PvP, maybe even among advanced proto powertechs?

Edited January 24, 2012 by Caribroo

Thoughts?

Simple fix. Make it movable. Make it channeled but a spell we can move with. Fits with the class and means we can utilise it in pvp.

 

I don't know why they'd give a highly mobile class an ability which roots us and means we have to stun anyone first to get any use out of it in pvp.

Hi,

 

I find flamethrower to be somewhat useless in PvP & PvE because as you are moving the cone, it has to remain on a target player for far too long to actually apply it's damage. I only use it in PvE when mobs are completely stationary.

 

Solution: Make the flamethrower damage into smaller damage ticks that happen in quicker succession, to counter act the slow damage application.

 

Instead of 3 ticks for 550, how about 6 for 275, or 8 for 206.

 

I think that would also give players the feeling they are actually burning something by seeing all those damage numbers. Probably one of the least used skills in PvP, maybe even among advanced proto powertechs?

 

I'd prefer if Flamethrower was halved in every aspect:

-Reduce CD by 50%

-Reduce Heat by 50%

-Reduce channel time by 50%

-Reduce damage per tick by 50% (but double the # of ticks)

-Reduce damage bonus and # of max stacks of Prototype Flamethrower (Adv. Prototype) so overall DPS is left alone.

 

In essence, you get to use Flamethrower twice as often and get to cast it 2 times faster for the same overall DPS over time.

 

It's so powerful an ability and Powertechs rely on it so much that it completely sucks when it gets interrupted or you get knocked back while channeling it. A talent like in beta that reduces Flamer channel speed on proc would be bad because only one spec would be able to use it (it would obviously be higher in the tree, too). Hopefully the above changes would be enough to let us use the ability with a bit more impunity.

Agree i never use FT in pvp and i laugh when i see a PT or Vanguard doing it unless to protect the door lol.

Simple fix. Make it movable. Make it channeled but a spell we can move with. Fits with the class and means we can utilise it in pvp. .

 

Since it is elemental damage in a cone with no cap on how many players it can damage if it were able to be used while doing other things... such as moving or dps... it should have it's numbers lowered in that case. Instead of 2500 damage over 3 seconds, maybe 1600, or perhaps use other classes DoT's as a measure of where to put it in damage.

 

The particle animation is extremely good and satisfying, I feel it is a shame it is on such a lackluster skill!

Edited January 25, 2012 by Caribroo

Flamethrower is a joke, I stay away from it's use. In general, I feel that we bounty hunters already rely on too many abilities that cause us to channel for far too long. Like, I love Death from Above, but the casting time is so ridiculously slow I find it frustrating to use in PvP...you've got to channel it, you've got to have the right distance, you can't move while casting, enemy players can dodge it with ease if they havent already done so inadvertently, AND it's easily interruptible. Concussion missle would be great set up for it, but it's also way too slow to cast, which leaves electro dart, but players break out of that easily enough.

 

Anyway, even some of the heals require us to stand still, too much rooting!!

Edited January 25, 2012 by Valoredramack

Lol, i delete this skill from panels 3 weeks ago

Flamethrowers is meh :/ Make it wider AOE, visual effect is underwhelming - make it wider also.

Making it movable would be nice also, so you can make use of AOE.. atm mobs must be perfectly aligned to make any use of it.

OK, so I use flamethrower frequently in PvE and sporadically in PvP. Some background - I'm a lev 50 with expertise at 585. I'm not going to comment too much about flamethrower use in PvE. It's simple - use it when you can line up two mobs at once.

 

In PvP, it's generally not a good ability to use. Too easy to evade and too easy to interrupt. So why do I use it? In practice, there are certain enemy classes that like to remain static (not moving). These are generally the highest level enemy healers. Their healing throughput is much higher when they can focus on target selection and resource consumption. Even inflicting ranged damage to their toon doesn't change that much because to a skilled healer, his toon is just another targeting option. However if I can make the enemy healer move, usually his healing throughput drops dramatically. Thus I want to get close to him, preferably behind him and use Jet Boost in my rotation since it has a higher damage/heat ratio than the average of my ranged attack abilities. Once you start doing that, you'll find that certain enemy healers still won't move. Some will, but some won't. Get to know your opponents. When you face one that you think won't move (or if you have Electro Dart available) experiment with using Flamethrower.

I usually pop flamethrower when i stun them with the electro dart. Does'nt always work if they havent used their CC breaker yet

They should also increase the visual (width) of the flame to actually represent the cone of damage, or just put a highlighted area on the ground in the shape of the damage cone.. kind of like GTAEs.

Like all channeled skills for melee classes....

 

All thats need to be done is allow movement while its channeled.

 

Channeled skills on melee classes = bad design imo.

They should have it actually just set the targets on fire for X seconds and do it's damage that way.

Being able to spin while channeling it is nice against melee opponents who think moving around you will help. But it does need to be a mobile channelled skill. I'm all for its functionality remaining the same; it is cool shooting a continuous jet of flame from your wrist.

I would love a more obvious graphic as to its area of effect. The Trooper Pulse Cannon is so much better in this regard. You have to guess with Flamethrower.

What irks me is I'll gather mobs for flamethrower and half the time they will reposition to the sides of me and avoid it completely. So annoying. I'm talking 3 mobs here. Once in a blue moon it will actually hit one on the side but usually no.

You don't need to aim it just twist right and left a few times. I think it works very well as a melee defensive tool. Edited January 25, 2012 by Goobmeister

As a Mercenary I'm very satisfied with the skill. It's nice to be able to use it every once in a while and Kaon really made it worth it, since it's a lot more effective than our staple AoE and runing forward a few steps while using an instant ability isn't that big of a deal.

 

If you'd be able to move around with it the damage would probably be too high, but I could see a talent for Power Techs that makes it uninterruptable in the feature.

Simple fix. Make it movable. Make it channeled but a spell we can move with. Fits with the class and means we can utilise it in pvp.

 

I don't know why they'd give a highly mobile class an ability which roots us and means we have to stun anyone first to get any use out of it in pvp.

 

Agreed. It's an ok skill, but is pretty lame when it comes to PVP.... It's like will you please stay still so i can use my skill on you? ...what's that....but wait, i've invested points into my skill tree to utilize this skill. ...and, I'm susposed to be an in your face harrasing class, but need you to stay still for that, mmmmk?

 

The same with shoulder slam, i'm ok with the requirement to use it, but it should be usable in Pvp. and a little bit of a damage boost to this skill also to make it worth the effort.

Edited January 26, 2012 by DragoC

Flamethrower works how it should.. people that dont even use it suck at playing a BH.

Flamethrower works how it should.. people that dont even use it suck at playing a BH.

 

Ok, try using it in a warzone. See how many people who aren't just terrible themselves sit in front of you while you channel.

 

Sure it's fine in PVE, but just can't function as is in PVP.

As mercenary the flamethrower is almost useless in PvP and warzones,i use it only when i do PvE which allows me to give a considerable damage to the mobs.

but they should give us a way to spin when we use this command.

I use it all the time in PvP actually. I just pick the proper time to do so. For example when a Mara is force choking so poor soul.

I wish they changed it at least for powertechs. Using channeled abilities as a tank is a no-no (not only for PvP as OP stated but in PVE too as you are being hit/stunned/knocked back frequently).

 

It would be nice to have some shield tech talents to change our channeled abilities (FT/Unload/Death from above) to better suit our tanking role.