Title

It seems more thematic to carry a lighter weapon and be a demolitions expert, than lugging around a heavy minigun and throwing explosives

Just a suggestion, I want to be able to use blaster rifles in 30m range because I have lugging around heavy cannons. Vanguard has to fight at 10m range, but I don't really have any other options

Title

 

It seems more thematic to carry a lighter weapon and be a demolitions expert, than lugging around a heavy minigun and throwing explosives

 

Just a suggestion, I want to be able to use blaster rifles in 30m range because I have lugging around heavy cannons. Vanguard has to fight at 10m range, but I don't really have any other options

You can. But you'll lose out on some damage and be unable to cast Charged Bolts or... whatever the Commando spammable AOE is, I forget.

I'd imagine losing Charged Bolts would be a serious hit to Assault.

Charged bolts is fecking terrible and I never use it as an assault spec commando.

CB should be replaced.

Title

 

It seems more thematic to carry a lighter weapon and be a demolitions expert, than lugging around a heavy minigun and throwing explosives

 

Just a suggestion, I want to be able to use blaster rifles in 30m range because I have lugging around heavy cannons. Vanguard has to fight at 10m range, but I don't really have any other options

I came across one doing just that in a warzone. He did half my damage by the end. He helped the team loads.

Charged bolts is fecking terrible and I never use it as an assault spec commando.

 

CB should be replaced.

It still has its uses if HiB/Full Auto are on cooldown and you're not actively being attacked.

I'm an assault commando and I can manage to do as much damage as an assalt commando with a cannon.

The thing is... overall, you lose around 10% of your DPS and you CANNOT use charged bolts and hail of bolts, these two are totally dependable of the cannons.

No big deal for me since I almost don't use them even with a cannon.

But, even using a blaster rifle, I managed to be in top 5 in the dps and kills chart at the end of pre-50 warzones.

But you must be aware that using a rifle you have to play more of a support killing class than a "head-on" full assault class, because you don't have almost none defenses against a sentinel/marauder per example.

I guess you got the idea.

This is an example of how you can be in a pre-50 warzone:

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x324/Haggardbr/swtor2013-02-2523-41-33-59.png

My toon's name is Constantíne, the one marked in bright green.

I haven't tried 50's warzones yet, but I plan to do so soon.

I am not talking about

"you should use them"

I mean, that Bioware should make the assault commando tree be the burst tree using assault rifles. It's thematic and allows for more gameplay options

I am not talking about

 

"you should use them"

 

I mean, that Bioware should make the assault commando tree be the burst tree using assault rifles. It's thematic and allows for more gameplay options

Many people go Commando (heh) specifically because of the big cannon.

I'm an assault commando and I can manage to do as much damage as an assalt commando with a cannon.

i'm sorry, but i'm calling BS on this.

I mean, that Bioware should make the assault commando tree be the burst tree using assault rifles. It's thematic and allows for more gameplay options

It is, but to play it with a rifle you have to make a slight correction of your choices: Play a vanguard

If you want to use a rifle, try gunnery. Its much better since grav round is not restricted to a cannon. You lose about 3% total dps and 10% max burst. Not rated viable obviously but I have been doing it since launch and recently made a video of how I play it. It got buried in the pvp forum but I figure i'll leave it here as testament to the fact that you can still kick major *** with a rifle. (Again, this is all pug warzones at lvl 50, not ranked, not saying i'de even bring a commando to ranked, thats another can of worms altogether.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2wGMXXwxE&feature=youtu.be

i'm sorry, but i'm calling BS on this.

Ok then, what can I do?

You will only believe in what YOU want to believe.

If you want to use a rifle, try gunnery. Its much better since grav round is not restricted to a cannon. You lose about 3% total dps and 10% max burst. Not rated viable obviously but I have been doing it since launch and recently made a video of how I play it. It got buried in the pvp forum but I figure i'll leave it here as testament to the fact that you can still kick major *** with a rifle. (Again, this is all pug warzones at lvl 50, not ranked, not saying i'de even bring a commando to ranked, thats another can of worms altogether.)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2wGMXXwxE&feature=youtu.be

I saw your post there and nice gameplay.

The problem with us "commando rifle users" is that the whinners and the haters just can't accept that we can just as good with a rifle like if we were using a cannon.

They don't understand that the lack of hail of bolts and charged bolts isn't that big deal.

Ok then, what can I do?

 

You will only believe in what YOU want to believe.

i don't want anyone to read this and think that it's true just because you said it, so i'm here to provide a rational response.

The problem with us "commando rifle users" is that the whinners and the haters just can't accept that we can just as good with a rifle like if we were using a cannon.

the fact is, every warzone you were in, you would have done more damage with an assault cannon. that is a fact. it's not an opinion or a guess or wish or whatever. every single weapon attack would have done more damage.

whether or not that's inconsequential damage could be up for debate, but that's not what you're saying. you are saying that you're doing 'just as much' when you yourself could have done even more damage if you didn't make a choice for simple cosmetics.

They don't understand that the lack of hail of bolts and charged bolts isn't that big deal.

charged bolts is important. it's absolutely very important. you don't always get a chance to use it, but you should always be finding a place to position yourself so you can use it. if you think that running around using hammershot and HIB whenever it's up is viable gameplay, i don't know what to say; i just hope no one reads this and agrees with you.

and hail of bolts is one of the very few forms of utility we have, being able to stop a cap from 30m. intentionally removing it from your bar because 'you don't like the look of cannons' is one of the most asinine things you can suggest to anyone.

the fact is, it's not about me. you're the one who's just going to believe what you want to believe.

i'm not trying to change your mind; you can play however you want to play. i don't even want to change that.

that's your decisions, and that's cool, but you can't bury your face in the sand and say things and just make them true. it may work for you. it may be 'viable' and may work just fine in sub50 pvp.

but telling everyone 'i'm just as good as assault cannon users' is just you trying to validate your decision and not indicative of the truth.

wishihadaname can get away with it somewhat because he can still use all of his skills. although i would say that charged bolts is still very important for gunnery so that you can still cast if grav round gets interrupted, but he can at least use the core of his rotation.

assault is hampered severely by using a rifle. if you don't think charged bolts is useful, you honestly should have rolled a vanguard.

all of that said, i don't think the OP was even suggesting that people just start using rifles instead of assault cannons. he wants BW to make changes to the tree so that rifles become the preferred weapon for assault commandos.

Frankly, one of the reason I specced into Assault was that I could actually fire with my cannon, and not do some odd vortex, because I imagine my cannon to be a SW version of a Minigun, not a kind of bazooka (even if it doesn't fires ballistic missiles, it has the same feeling when looking at Gravity Vortex)

So, if you give me the right to use rifles, mechanics aside, I would still use my cannon.

 

the fact is, every warzone you were in, you would have done more damage with an assault cannon. that is a fact. it's not an opinion or a guess or wish or whatever. every single weapon attack would have done more damage.

whether or not that's inconsequential damage could be up for debate, but that's not what you're saying. you are saying that you're doing 'just as much' when you yourself could have done even more damage if you didn't make a choice for simple cosmetics.

 

*True, but the question of whether its consequential or not is a big one. In my experiance its absolutely not consequential. I lose alot more dps from being easier to spot for bad's playing smashers than I do by losing some weapon damage. No way to definitively prove it, but I assure you I get targeted ALOT more often while using a cannon simply because every 10 year only playing the 3 button "I win" rotation has a trained response to jump at the guy with the big gun. Try it yourself, you'll see i'm right. This obviously doesn't apply to skilled players, but when a bad is on you, you are focused on kiting/defending and aren't shooting the enemy healer who is your main mark.

 

charged bolts is important. it's absolutely very important. you don't always get a chance to use it, but you should always be finding a place to position yourself so you can use it. if you think that running around using hammershot and HIB whenever it's up is viable gameplay, i don't know what to say; i just hope no one reads this and agrees with you.

 

and hail of bolts is one of the very few forms of utility we have, being able to stop a cap from 30m. intentionally removing it from your bar because 'you don't like the look of cannons' is one of the most asinine things you can suggest to anyone.

 

*Hail of bolts doesn't do anything that can't be done with mortar salvo or explosive round or sticky nade. Personally, I don't use it even when using a cannon because it gives away my position very very quickly and requires me to channel for about half a second before the first hit, not a luxury I have when i'm kiting a smasher.

I will agree that its a big self nerf to assault though because its a very good way to multi dot. In gunnery it serves no function though.

 

*snip*

 

wishihadaname can get away with it somewhat because he can still use all of his skills. although i would say that charged bolts is still very important for gunnery so that you can still cast if grav round gets interrupted, but he can at least use the core of his rotation.

 

*Never facetank. Ever. If i'm standing still in melee range its because i'm fighting a sniper or sorc. If i'm fighting a melee I'll be 10m+ away before I try to cast anything. There are simply too many ways to get interrupted in order for baiting with charged bolts to be effective.

 

assault is hampered severely by using a rifle. if you don't think charged bolts is useful, you honestly should have rolled a vanguard.

 

*Sadly I have to agree with the above: Assault needs charged bolts, more importantly it needs the 3-4 extra hits on hammer shot to more reliably proc your plasma cell while moving. On top of both of those your main hit is HiB with takes a 15% max damage nerf by using a rifle. Gunnery can use a rifle, assault really can't.

 

What I really hope gets implemented eventually is a new class of weapons called an assault rifle: basically just cannons that use rifle animations and geometries. Shouldn't be hard to do mechanically, but it would be a hassle and probably not worth it since most commandos prefer their cannons.

My thoughts included.

The reasons Hail of Bolts is extremely useful for interrupting a cap is that, one, it's pretty much instant, and two, you don't have to actually target the enemy who's capping to do it, and it still hits an area so if multiple people are attempting a cap you'll interrupt all of them.

That's a lot more handy than throwing an Explosive Round or Sticky Grenade out.