My Assesment on the state of Bounty Hunter Mercenary PvP. Please only reply with constructive comments. If I missed anything, feel free to post a comment below. I made this video on the fly, unscripted.

Click Here For The Video

TL;DR - Mercs Need A Utility Buff. For a short summary, read the video description.

I saw my first merc yesterday - last one was about 6 weeks or more. He was invited to our group for HM LI. When the group leader learned he didn't have an interupt he got booted. Later, I saw him a warzone getting destroyed by pubs and the team was blaming him for bringing a merc to a PvP game.

Just look at your forums...less and less posts. It's time to move on.

Everything you say is heretical. Gabe's metrics never lie...Mercs are perfect, beyond a bit of slight resource tweaking. Besides. Who am I going to believe? Some random Valor 91 merc, or the genius responsible for Warhammer's incredible PvP balance?

I damn near choked on some water, laughing my *** off at this one. Thanks! LOL

And yes...still trying to figure out what our place will be when Ranked drops...outside of healing.

I damn near choked on some water, laughing my *** off at this one. Thanks! LOL

 

And yes...still trying to figure out what our place will be when Ranked drops...outside of healing.

Buffing the raid group before the next que pop.

i didn't watch(listen) to the whole video...it is late, and Metalocalypse is on...

i understand all the complaints. most of them have some form of validity.

playing a VG/AS <50 (i know, after 50 BS, hear me out), i have a really good feel for why PT/VG is "better" than Merc.

burst DPS. i would rather kill my opponent, rather than stun, mezz, tickle him.

give Merc/PT instant cast Power shot that 100% procs CGC and i'll be 100% happy. but, that's just my playstyle...

can't really speak on Arsenal...i did a couple days of testing...but, that makes me no expert...i've been a Merc/PT since it was Merc/FB. i know the spec pretty well, as well as MZL 1st BM, VR67 Assassin, VR55 Sniper, VR60 Merc.

i do hope they do something about arsenal in PvP...it's just not fun.

good video

but, these clowns always keep falling back to their "metrics", the class is fine as long as their "metrics" (numbers?) are fine

i really wish they'd play more of their own game, and at a high level

mercenary dps is fine, they need to understand this part is fine, but the utility/survivability is atrocious

that they want us to rely on a heal (at either 2 or 2.5 seconds, easily interruptable) during a melee in pvp (with low TTK) to compensate for utility/survivability cds, that's just silly

and pure LOL at sniper cover mechanic

knowing what i know now, i'd quickly roll a sniper/powertech/sorc over mercenary

unfortuantely, at this point, with bioware and their 'metric' bs, i've given up and try not to think about our shortcomings, i just log in and do the daily/weekly, call it a week for my merc

good video

 

but, these clowns always keep falling back to their "metrics", the class is fine as long as their "metrics" (numbers?) are fine

 

i really wish they'd play more of their own game, and at a high level

 

mercenary dps is fine, they need to understand this part is fine, but the utility/survivability is atrocious

 

that they want us to rely on a heal (at either 2 or 2.5 seconds, easily interruptable) during a melee in pvp (with low TTK) to compensate for utility/survivability cds, that's just silly

 

and pure LOL at sniper cover mechanic

 

knowing what i know now, i'd quickly roll a sniper/powertech/sorc over mercenary

 

unfortuantely, at this point, with bioware and their 'metric' bs, i've given up and try not to think about our shortcomings, i just log in and do the daily/weekly, call it a week for my merc

I wouldn't call anyone on the dev team a clown, that's not cool. I do realize that the amount of time we as players spend playing one class, they spend on all the classes. Yes, they might have game testers of different skill levels, but it is obvious that the testers are either really novice at PvP or none of them target the Arsenal Mercs for interrupts.

1 good sorc dps can totally troll, lockout, and kill any good Arsenal Merc with all cooldowns up. Any good dps sorc who knows what they are doing will be at or near full health after a 1v1 with a merc, or even in a group warzone, if they target each other, the merc won't cast anything, and will die from all dots, interrupts, LOS, stun, instant cast cc interrupt, 1.4 second full force lightnings.

I firmly believe that the damage part of the Mercs are fine, no problems there, if left alone, this advanced class will certainly tear you a new one. It's the fact that you can completely lock-out this class so easily and they can't do much of anything to stop it against players who know what they are doing. No interrupt protection, and not enough utility on par to keep up with other classes.

I wouldn't call anyone on the dev team a clown, that's not cool. I do realize that the amount of time we as players spend playing one class, they spend on all the classes. Yes, they might have game testers of different skill levels, but it is obvious that the testers are either really novice at PvP or none of them target the Arsenal Mercs for interrupts.

 

1 good sorc dps can totally troll, lockout, and kill any good Arsenal Merc with all cooldowns up. Any good dps sorc who knows what they are doing will be at or near full health after a 1v1 with a merc, or even in a group warzone, if they target each other, the merc won't cast anything, and will die from all dots, interrupts, LOS, stun, instant cast cc interrupt, 1.4 second full force lightnings.

 

I firmly believe that the damage part of the Mercs are fine, no problems there, if left alone, this advanced class will certainly tear you a new one. It's the fact that you can completely lock-out this class so easily and they can't do much of anything to stop it against players who know what they are doing. No interrupt protection, and not enough utility on par to keep up with other classes.

i'm not necessarily calling the devs clowns, just whoever designs the goals for class balance a clown, it's ridiculous dude, as you pointed out in your vid, and the fact that they keep running circles around it with their "by design" nonsense, makes it all that even more bothersome, i don't understand why we can't get better survivability since we've already sacrificed dps numbers, especially since survivability does not affect the PVE crowd

but anyway, fact of the matter is, anyone in their right mind (or who has deeply played a mercenary) understands that you will fare better on another dps class in pvp, with equal or less effort

take 5 equal players, let them play each dps class, and you will see class balance, or the lack thereof

also, i understand that if left alone, we're just going to be burning through people, especially prior to the arsenal nerf....unfortunately they bridged that gap by making it so we're easily killed, interrupted and laughed at

i have a 50 marauder and a 50 tanksin, (becasue i felt like i owed it to myself to play some OP classes, and let me tell you, tanksin is crazy OP right now) but yeah, my eyes LIGHT UP and i feel bad for when i run across a mercenary...that says a lot about those 3 classes.

Good stuff. I'm glad to see you finally acknowledging some of the many inadequacies of the Merc versus other classes.

Prior to this thread, your typical post was:

"Mercs are fine, l2p, here's a screenshot of 500,000 damage."

I agree with a lot of your points, you are very correct, and as expected, you seem to know all classes very well. The lack of utility for the Merc class just kills me.

Edit, to add something constructive, the idea of a an interrupt and even a minor heal debuff would be huge for Pyro. That still wouldn't do much for Arsenal being the laughing stock of the melee community, aka, free kills.

Good stuff. I'm glad to see you finally acknowledging some of the many inadequacies of the Merc versus other classes.

 

Prior to this thread, your typical post was:

 

"Mercs are fine, l2p, here's a screenshot of 500,000 damage."

 

I agree with a lot of your points, you are very correct, and as expected, you seem to know all classes very well. The lack of utility for the Merc class just kills me.

 

Edit, to add something constructive, the idea of a an interrupt and even a minor heal debuff would be huge for Pyro. That still wouldn't do much for Arsenal being the laughing stock of the melee community, aka, free kills.

They are fine if left alone or not focused all the time. The problem is when people know that if they lock you out, then nobody on their team will die, they just sit on you with interrupts.

I did originally support this class after nerfs in 1.2 to utility, with the little we had already. It just has come to the point that if you are not near a ledge or some place where your knockback is good enough to do something, it's a disadvantage. If you heal, you're out of heat and can't dps, if you dps ur out of heat and can't heal, obviously depends on vent heat and thermal override.

They are fine if left alone or not focused all the time. The problem is when people know that if they lock you out, then nobody on their team will die, they just sit on you with interrupts.

 

I did originally support this class after nerfs in 1.2 to utility, with the little we had already. It just has come to the point that if you are not near a ledge or some place where your knockback is good enough to do something, it's a disadvantage. If you heal, you're out of heat and can't dps, if you dps ur out of heat and can't heal, obviously depends on vent heat and thermal override.

That and any melee with half a brain will lock you down and have you for lunch. A couple more utility items would be great for us since relying on only our knockback and stun is rather limited to say the least.

Pretty much. The problem doesn't necessarily lie with our damage (although in pve we were fairly lower than other classes) it's the fact that we can get shut down by any class that knows how to use their interrupt.

Bioware, please understand that increasing our damage is only fixing the disparity between Merc and other dps in PvE. PvP is not going to be much better, if at all, with these changes. Mercs need something that allows them to survive, ie: a reliable good snare would likely help us out at least 10x as much as giving us 30% ArP to Unload/RS.

Pretty much. The problem doesn't necessarily lie with our damage (although in pve we were fairly lower than other classes) it's the fact that we can get shut down by any class that knows how to use their interrupt.

 

Bioware, please understand that increasing our damage is only fixing the disparity between Merc and other dps in PvE. PvP is not going to be much better, if at all, with these changes. Mercs need something that allows them to survive, ie: a reliable good snare would likely help us out at least 10x as much as giving us 30% ArP to Unload/RS.

Yup even 1 snare for 2-5 seconds would be great. Possibly after jetboost or rocket punch knockback

Yup even 1 snare for 2-5 seconds would be great. Possibly after jetboost or rocket punch knockback

I think they could pretty much fix it by changing the slow on Pinning Fire to a root, and swapping the positions in the Bodyguard tree of Supercharged Gas and Power Shield.

That would get Mercs interrupt protection and a reliable root which is really what they need most. Maybe a few more quality of life improvements as well, such as changing Power Barrier to ramp up in three TM instead of five.

but anyway, fact of the matter is, anyone in their right mind (or who has deeply played a mercenary) understands that you will fare better on another dps class in pvp, with equal or less effort

 

take 5 equal players, let them play each dps class, and you will see class balance, or the lack thereof.

that right there says it all....and is spot on.

it's not that Merc is "broken", it just not a "easy button" as Assy, Warrior, sniper, sorc, Op, VG, (all classes i have 50's)

i have to work my *** off to compete 1v1 against equally skilled/geared players...and vs some of those classes, you CANNOT win (if the opponent plays properly), you have to run...

but, this is not a 1v1 game...

Good stuff. I'm glad to see you finally acknowledging some of the many inadequacies of the Merc versus other classes.

 

Prior to this thread, your typical post was:

 

"Mercs are fine, l2p, here's a screenshot of 500,000 damage."

 

I agree with a lot of your points, you are very correct, and as expected, you seem to know all classes very well. The lack of utility for the Merc class just kills me.

 

Edit, to add something constructive, the idea of a an interrupt and even a minor heal debuff would be huge for Pyro. That still wouldn't do much for Arsenal being the laughing stock of the melee community, aka, free kills.

i STILL believe Merc is a L2P issue for most...but, see above.

some classes are just easier to be successful, and Merc (not arsenal...that spec is TERRIBLE in PvP) is NOT an easy class to be successful.

takes much more work, cleanses, kb's, los's, kiting, timely stuns, etc. to really stand out.

while other classes seem to be a little more straight forward in terms of DPS and pvp abilities...

PvE, if you got a complaint, you're probably doing something wrong...both specs are pretty good.

It's L2P as in l2p a better class. It's ironic when people were calling this a faceroll class when attacking bad players and now it requires a lot of work to be mediocre. I guess it's fine for us marauder/powertechs/assassins to break 700K or higher.

You know I do love my class and all you mercs should roll one.

what if:

-Unload roots target in place for duration(CAN be interrupted)

-Unload knocks targets within 4m back (like ambush)

I can only think its the combination of Heavy Armour and Healing skills. Somewhere they must have one of their "Metrics " that assigns values to things like heals/armour/interrupts/buffs/Def CDs etc and our heals+range+HA must score really highly therefore stopping us getting escapes/snares/roots/decent CDs/interrupts.

In reality:-

Range is pretty good, although worse than most games where melee cant basically teleport next to you. Imagine if in medieval battles the your infantry could jump over the heads of their infantry and get right at their archers....

Heavy Amour is what 7% better than medium? Factor in all the elemental/internal abilities and all the ArP skills classes get and it really isnt that great.

Healing. The cleanse is nice, the healing spells are pretty uselss and I almost never use them. Cast time too long, no pushback/interrupt protection, ammo-intensive and the actual HP healed is about as much as 1 instant ability from any half-decent DPS.

I really can't think of anything else. I look at what a sniper gets for his medium armour and lack of heals, or what a Sorc gets for his light armour and am just left shaking my head.

Everything you say is heretical. Gabe's metrics never lie...Mercs are perfect, beyond a bit of slight resource tweaking. Besides. Who am I going to believe? Some random Valor 91 merc, or the genius responsible for Warhammer's incredible PvP balance?

Awsome!!!

what if:

 

-Unload roots target in place for duration(CAN be interrupted)

-Unload knocks targets within 4m back (like ambush)

 

Still dealing with the fact that you're standing in one place inorder to do it. Good thought though.