I am a PvE'er. It is annoying enough when things are tweaked for PvP'ers, with no thought to PvE'ers, but ultimately the changes do make sense (most of the time). However, I fail to see how removing the two melee range abilities (for those targets that have gotten a little too close) of Flamethrower & Rocket Punch, helps the "Survivability" of PvE'ers or PvP'ers.

 

It is, in my eyes, a truly terrible decision. What do the rest of you think?

 

ps - The Bounty Hunter icon is (now) for an ability that no longer exists.

Why were you using melee abilities? Outside of RP, even in melee range it's ALSWAYS better to shoot *********** with your rotational skills. There never was any benefit to using rocket punch.

 

There could be some argument over FT, due to it being AOE and elemental. But even it was suboptimal.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Frenesi

In PvP rocket punch was useful mainly for its root (with utility). That root (again with utility)has now moved to Missile Blast - actually an improvement to survivability given its 30m range and no cooldown (though the root has an 8 sec internal cooldown).

 

The only real downside is that rocket punch looked cool - I'll miss finishing off meleers with a rocket punch to the jaw.

Why were you using melee abilities? Outside of RP, even in melee range it's ALSWAYS better to shoot *********** with your rotational skills. There never was any benefit to using rocket punch.

 

There could be some argument over FT, due to it being AOE and elemental. But even it was suboptimal.

 

Instant hit. No inturruption/pushback. FUN AS HELL! The only time I use rotations is *If* I have to, on a FP/Story Boss - Nothing else survives long enough.

 

** WARNING: INCOMING RANT **

 

Rotations: I want to play my character my way, not have it pre-defined for me. Unfortunately, more & more MMO's seem to think that the best way to give you "more options" & "greater diversity" is to give you even less choices & a more set ability usage.

 

Instead of caving in to all the sheep, that want things mindlessly easy: Give greater choice. Make them think & learn.

 

** END RANT **

Thank you for your post! I thought I was the only one that felt this way.

 

** WARNING: INCOMING RANT **

 

Rotations: I want to play my character my way, not have it pre-defined for me. Unfortunately, more & more MMO's seem to think that the best way to give you "more options" & "greater diversity" is to give you even less choices & a more set ability usage.

 

Instead of caving in to all the sheep, that want things mindlessly easy: Give greater choice. Make them think & learn.

 

** END RANT **

 

amen, the dev always think that they want us to play like they want us to. If you take away the abilities that a class has that i like i stop playing that class

Instant hit. No inturruption/pushback.

 

Missile blast is instant too and is usable at any range. It's a lot more useful as a root than rocket punch

Edited December 2, 2016 by Tsetso

Totally agree with you. In my opinion, this has made playing the BH merc totally unattractive to play in either PVP or PVE. Why take a skill away just because someone considers it sub-optimal. If players are using the skill & enjoying it game play it makes no sense at all to arbitrarily remove it. This was a stupid decision

Rotations: I want to play my character my way, not have it pre-defined for me.

 

And then you enter pvp or flashpoints with your OWN rotations, fail miserably to do any dps at all, die a lot, make every other team member annoyed, waste everyone's time and get kicked from group.

 

Seriously, I am so glad they are removing all these utterly useless skills that do not do anything. And even more glad that they now force to choose an AC. No more high level base class trolls.

 

I don't understand how is it not fun to actually learn, understand your class rotation. Use it, and be efficient. That's the greatest feeling when you play it well.

Ugh, I liked rocket punching as my finishing move because it was stylish and satisfying. Y'all can talk about efficiency and rotations but 90% of this game is a faceroll anyway and it was fun to have. At least my PT still has it. Still somewhat disappointed though.

Instant hit. No inturruption/pushback. FUN AS HELL! The only time I use rotations is *If* I have to, on a FP/Story Boss - Nothing else survives long enough.

 

** WARNING: INCOMING RANT **

 

Rotations: I want to play my character my way, not have it pre-defined for me. Unfortunately, more & more MMO's seem to think that the best way to give you "more options" & "greater diversity" is to give you even less choices & a more set ability usage.

 

Instead of caving in to all the sheep, that want things mindlessly easy: Give greater choice. Make them think & learn.

 

** END RANT **

 

I always liked games that gave you a lot of skills/abilities but were only able to use a set number of them in a build. Made me look forward to new expansions for more than the 4-5 hrs of content you get. And the number of different builds you could come up with AND still be viable were countless.

Instant hit. No inturruption/pushback. FUN AS HELL! The only time I use rotations is *If* I have to, on a FP/Story Boss - Nothing else survives long enough.

 

** WARNING: INCOMING RANT **

 

Rotations: I want to play my character my way, not have it pre-defined for me. Unfortunately, more & more MMO's seem to think that the best way to give you "more options" & "greater diversity" is to give you even less choices & a more set ability usage.

 

Instead of caving in to all the sheep, that want things mindlessly easy: Give greater choice. Make them think & learn.

 

** END RANT **

 

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but the point of the change is to make it easier for a newer player who does want to be effective to know what to use. Mercs should not have had Rocket Punch or Flamethrower on their hot bars. These skills (except the RP root) are subpar for a ranged combatant.

 

But so long as they exist for Mercs, they signal to players that they should be used somehow. Many players find it confusing to be given a power but not be expected to use it. This is why the devs have removed 'fun' powers in the past, and almost certainly why they made this change.

Ugh, I liked rocket punching as my finishing move because it was stylish and satisfying. Y'all can talk about efficiency and rotations but 90% of this game is a faceroll anyway and it was fun to have. At least my PT still has it. Still somewhat disappointed though.

 

Same, and it was just handy. Oh! You aren't quite dead yet? *THWACK* Dead now! Moving on!

 

It certainly sped up dealing with the one enemy that was in my face. I use the missile now, but it took some getting used to and some rework of my skill bars to account for lack of rocket punch.

 

Sadly, no more days of fun racing my Agent friend to punch/shank things to death.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Syrgei

** WARNING: INCOMING RANT **

 

Rotations: I want to play my character my way, not have it pre-defined for me. Unfortunately, more & more MMO's seem to think that the best way to give you "more options" & "greater diversity" is to give you even less choices & a more set ability usage.

 

Instead of caving in to all the sheep, that want things mindlessly easy: Give greater choice. Make them think & learn.

 

** END RANT **

So why do you play a class-based RPG in the first place. It would be the same stating "I want to play a Wizard with a sword + shield"... the most likely answer would be: "Then don't play a Wizard". And if you don't want to be limited to the toolset of a single class... don't play a class-based game.

 

BioWare redesigned their class & role concept, eliminating the base classes that 'forced' them to give certain skills to both adv. classes.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Lillythiel

I've played swtor since beta. Yes it's weird not to have flame thrower or rocket punch anymore. One thing I always loved about merc is the many ways to kill. But the idea to make merc/powertech unique from one another is a good thing.

 

You'll get used to it.