i'm really liking the sound of dual pistols. Tanking sounds like it would be nice, but the dual pistols just sounds way to cool.

 

however, I don't want to fail at PVP because I went with merc.

 

are mercs useful in both pve, and pvp? what about powertechs? are they useful in both pve and pvp? lmk, please. thank you!!!

 

E: I'm not looking to heal anyone, except maybe myself. And in those situations where its me and 1 other person against multiple enemies (I love those situations)

Edited December 30, 2011 by -___-

I have one at 50 and as a merc you barelly use your guns.

They are cool and do a lot of damage with their rockets but the down side is that you have to be careful how to play,shoot smart, don't stay still (yeah when shooting rockets thus choose your moments well) don't stay close to malee.

I personally don't like it, because you have to somehow find a spot to deal dmn, and most of the times you get stunned, if that happends you insta get a lots of malee on you which takes you down really fast.

I'm thinking on going on healing. I heard it's more fun.

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/562/screenshot2011122900532.jpg

 

picture tells the truth

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/562/screenshot2011122900532.jpg

 

picture tells the truth

 

Well placed.

 

 

OP, in PVE, Merc is incredible at controlling the battlefield with it's huge range of stuns, and AOE+Dot related Skills.

 

In PVP, well... i got third in my first pvp match, i was lvl 17, and i was the lowest lvl in that match.

I do great with my Merc. If you do it right you can take players down so fast that you can take on more than one at a time. Healing abilities also help with survivability.

mercs are fine until melee realizes how easy they can kill mercs....ohh wait, that is already happening.

 

 

Powertech will be more useful in PvP. Grappling hook to pull people towards you (ball carrier about to score in huttball) or a charge to catch them. The utility of powertech is far far above what an arsenal merc can do.

 

Too all the people bragging about being top place in damage at low levels...DUHHH..your are bolstered. Anyone not being focused can get high numbers in warzones.

 

But arsenal mercs have low survivability, little mobility and if focused by melee, go down in a matter of seconds.

 

This is not the case with power tech.

 

I have had a lvl 50 arsenal merc for 5 days now...I am already working on my power tech bounty hunter instead.

 

Mercs are a one trick pony and because of the massive amounts of QQ from the community, will probably get damage nerfed without mobilty or defensive buffs.

thank you everyone. i will be going powertech based off of what was said here. I appreciate it

thank you everyone. i will be going powertech based off of what was said here. I appreciate it

 

The people here should´ve told you that they have been playing arsenal. This is not the only spec for a Merc.

 

When I was playing Arsenal I hated the lack of mobility and the bullseye I painted on my forehead when I was using the missiles in PVP. No matter how well you deploy your CCs your mobility is very limited.

 

Playing as pyro now I usually top the damage in warzones (when I´m not on guard duty). And I´m using my guns for a change. Pyrotech makes heavy use of gun based abilities plus a nice kicker that ticks and goes boom. Not to forget the DoTs but they are more of a baseline damage and do not make up for the majority of your actions in a fight.

 

In PvE I am able to steal aggro from very good tanks due to a well working rotation that makes me stay below 50 heat all the time and dishes out a lot of damage.

 

So if you want to play the bounty hunter as ranged damage monster: Merc is your advanced class. But I have to admit that powertechs seem to have it a bit easier to manage their heat with a pyrotech spec since their railshot reseters are instant non rooting abilities with less heat generation. And still: I don´t want to trade.

All three trees have <50 heat damage rotations. For bodyguards it's Powershot spam. I can rap off 6 of them to about fifty heat, pop my SCG+Alacrity relic, shoot nine more, and be 0 heat by the end. The ~1.1 second cast time is fantastic, but requires you to sit still. Most of the time, however, you'll spend your CD's on healing, curing and gathering stacks for SCG. The burst isn't fantastic, but you can play like an arsenal every once in awhile.

 

It's the same deal for Arsenal. The rockets are very low cost, and you can use instants after 3 to let the GCD diminish heat for you in the interim. Abilities with channel times are also very nice for this purpose, so Death From Above and the tree buffed Unload are useful for heat management. You also have talents for HP regen linked to vent heat, so it makes sense to go crazy every once in awhile. Disables and interrupts are your biggest enemy, especially if they catch you before you can get some damage into the offending party.

 

I've found that Arsenal has some nice "mobility", since they can rotate their talent specced rocket punch and jet boost for the knockbacks, with dart and Insta+concussion as their OS buttons. Pyros rely more on instants than Body/Ars, so they can be on the move more often. For the most part as a merc you'll find yourself outmaneuvered. If you aren't with a group or friends, consider yourself wasted by any competent DPS--specifically well talented Mara/Sents and Operatives/Slingers.

 

If you have good support and teamwork, people will come to the boards and claim you're overpowered. This is mainly because you're more the constant DPS/AoE class. NOT the burst assassin that racks in killing blows. Expect to see large numbers, but with much less KB's than the burst damage/assassins. You're more or less there to keep pressure against healers, and make opportunities for your assassins to score kills.

thank you everyone. i will be going powertech based off of what was said here. I appreciate it

 

Thats what they all say......and i see very few power techs

 

At the end of the day the biggest advantage for merc is they are just plain stuipidely easy to play, and that is a big advantage, do a couple tracer missile and heatseeker missile and you can already do 7k damage with just 3 attacks

 

sure a PRO pyrotech can go on a rampage, but how many of you are pro, almost none of you, and i can guarantee 99% of you will be more successfull playing the low skill ceiling class over the high skill ceiling class

 

dont overestimate the simplicity of the spec, a easy spec can make a even the lowliest baddy a threat

our valor 65 crew roll with 2 mercs 1 heal 1 dps 1 juggernaut and a sorc and we have yet to loose a game, also 4/5 nightmare EV.

 

merc/sorc/sniper is the way to go if you want to dps and got friends to play with they annihilate all the current dmg classes atm.

 

and once you get 2/5 raid set pieces (15% more crit to tracer missile) you will really feel overpowered since you can spam them for a very very long time

Edited December 30, 2011 by swtorjesper