TLDR: Commandos Vs. Vanguard..

Troopers with knives is stupid... Are Vanguards viable ranged dps with blasters?

Commandos with Bazookas is stupid... Are Commandos viable with Blaster Rifles instead of Assault Cannons?

Trooper story Vs. Bounty Hunter story.. I'm looking for a classic Clone Trooper type story, am I going to be disappointed skip troopers and go play a Bounty Hunter, or was it a pretty good story line?

Hey Yo's.. lol.

I'm coming to you guys because I don't know much about the trooper class, and just want some insight from the people who play them.

I've always played the force classes (Sith Assassin, Jedi Sage, Sith Juggernaut) and I want to try out my first non-force user, and I thought first of the trooper. (Considering the Bounty hunter Merc aswell)

Basically when I think of the Republic trooper, I think of the army, or squad that consists of a few guys, but mainly a soldier with a blaster, a few gernades, and balls of steel. (You have to be brave to go up against Jedi and Sith)

On to my questions. Giving my thought on the large *** bazooka that I don't really like.. My thoughts go straight to the Vanguard, yet my issue is that, looking at all the vanguards on the battlefield, and checking out the talents, I see a lot of melee combat.. I can't really see this awesome, super armored combat oriented, assault rifle proficient battle tank running in with a skinning knife.... It's kind of lame to think of a commando using a knife instead of his rifle. (Commando used as a general term, and not the AC.. -_-)

I already have two tanking classes (Assassin, and Juggernaut) so I don't really care to tank on this next character, so I'm thinking about the dps specs (possibly healing if I go the commando route) So my questions are, are the vanguards viable as actual ranged dps, and what kind of abilities do they get to help them with this? And are Commandos viable without a bazooka, and can they use assault rifles like a normal trooper would? (I'm looking for more of the traditional Clone trooper feel)

What did you guys think of the story for the trooper overall? I really loved the battlefield games for the PS2, and I'm really hoping it will be similar to that, but I feel I'm likely going to be disappointed.

I need some convincing from people who love their troopers, or else I might have to make a Bounty Hunter.. I hear their story is pretty ******, and the Merc spec seems like it will be pretty fun.

Where to begin. Well for starters yes Commandos can use rifles, but at the cost of gimping their dps. Vanguard dps builds are the same as Powertech builds, in that their dps is performed at melee or close to melee range. The best vanguard/powertech dps builds don't use knives though, instead they rely on High Impact Bolt and Rail Shot along with Flame Burst or Stock Strike/Rocket Punch. This is still fairly close range though.

Now Commandos and Mercs are both decent enough dps for pve, but the'yre markedly inferior to the latter AC's in regards to pvp. On the matter of story, I've brought Trooper and Bounty Hunter past Chapter 1 of their class story. In my opinion, the Trooper wins hands down. The story is much more consistent and of higher quality. The biggest flaws of the Bounty Hunter story lie with Mako's irrational writing, and the inability to play a believable light side character.

On a side note, if you roll a Bounty Hunter be prepared to look like absolute crap until level 34. That's when you finally start getting armor reminiscent of the character the class is based on. Roll a Trooper, and you'll look like you're right out of the Clone Wars at just level 15/16.

For a better idea of what to expect, here's a very vague story synopsis...

Trooper Act 1 - Track down and capture/kill traitors to the Republic. Similar to the Bounty Hunter Act 1, this is a very personal endeavor.

Trooper Act 2 - Replenish Havoc Squad's ranks in preparation for taking down an experimental Imperial superweapon which threatens to turn the tide of war in the Empire's favor.

Trooper Act 3 - Stop an Imperial General as he wages all out war on a number Republic/Neutral worlds.

Bounty Hunter Act 1 - Win the Great Hunt, and take revenge.

Bounty Hunter Act 2 - Hunt down bounties on the elite Black List. (For the most part this feels like filler)

Bounty Hunter Act 3 - Surprise, there's another revenge plotline.

Vanguards/Powertechs are melee dps or tanks.

Commando/Merc is ranger dps/heals.

As stated above, you can use a rifle on your commando but it gimps the dps. (Personally I think that this is silly and that weapons should be just as adaptable as armor, just from an immersion/RP/custimoization point of view.)

However I would say that the Bounty Hunter story is better.

The trooper story wasn't that bad, but nothin new to me and what I expected coming out of the military,

vanguards are pretty much what you expect.. a soldier rushing into battle shooting people in the face throwing grenades and hitting them with the butt of the rifle..

it's close range but not exactly melee most abilities have a 10m range

What are these bazookas you speak of? Go watch the Arnold classics (Predator and Terminator 2 come to mind) and tell me if Commandos are shooting bazookas.

But if you're not a fan of the Arnold/Rambo approach, Vanguard is pretty fun for DPS. You do have a lot of 10m abilities, but you do have some ranged attacks as well. Still, think run and gun more for their style than a find cover and fire style. The storyline is also decently fun and soldierly, and you don't have to sound all "sir, yes sir!" to go light side with the choices I've made through the mid-20s (I'm on Nar Shadaa) .

You've heard some polarized answers so far, so I'll be neutral on this.

-Vanguards are pretty much melee. I tried to go range on it, but melee is obviously dominant. I don't think you will mind as much as you think, though.

-For commandos, assault cannon is the main weapon for the GUNNERY tree. If you choose the Assault specialist tree, you can get away using a rifle, you'd only be missing out on some weaker abilities that have activation times. However, if you use the healing tree, you'll never need to touch an assault cannon in your life.

-the storyline is pretty good, but you are a trooper! There will be some corny jokes and Cornier "for the republic!" Lines.

And from my point of view, I'd personally go with vanguard and a mercenary. What server are you on? I may be able to get you a moddable clone trooper-y helmet.

-For commandos, assault cannon is the main weapon for the GUNNERY tree. If you choose the Assault specialist tree, you can get away using a rifle, you'd only be missing out on some weaker abilities that have activation times.

Charged Bolts is a fairly necessary part of Assault. Without it you would only get the HIB proc on Full Auto, which has a 15 sec cooldown. Being able to proc HIB more often is kind of a staple of Assault.

Plus, after your Full Auto and HIB, you'd have nothing to fill the void except Hammer Shot. Which would be boring, I think.

Well, I really appreciate all the advice, and I'm definitely going to level up a trooper. I'm still going to need to think about what AC to go though.

If we're talking strictly tank Vs healer for the trooper Vs the other tanks and healers in the game, do they stand up against the others? Can Vanguards tank just as well as my juggernaut, or assassin? Likewise, will a Commando be able to heal just as efficiently as my Sage?

I know I said I'm not likely going to tank, or heal on this char, but you never know.. I like to switch it up from time to time, and I'm the guy running around the BG's, throwing out offheals, and guards just because I can help out a guy that might die otherwise. (Especially off healing.. I'll always heal when needed, even if I'm dps spec)

What server are you on? I may be able to get you a moddable clone trooper-y helmet.

I'm on "Prophecy of the five", and that would be awesome if you could make that happen. >_<