I have seen the few threads on this subject and a couple of things strike me.

 

1: Both classes must stand still to do their heavy damage yet I keep hearing that BH does more damage then a Merc and that the cover system is broken.

 

Now in my opinion if a Sniper MUST use a GCD to enter cover unlike a BH then overall the Sniper should be doing more DPS (as the BH also has heals). Yet this does not seem to be the picture.

 

What I am seeing is the BH doesn't have to waste a GCD on getting into cover to cast its samage abilities, has heals and has fewer buttons to push in the long run, AND does more DPS output. This Devs should be changed as the Sniper should be pushing out higher DPS then a Merc. Oh and lets not forget about heavy armor vs Medium.

 

2: (this is pve only) Why is the BH the ONLY class to get a healing companion right off the bat? While most classes have to wait till much later on? This seems very unbalancing in PVE and needs to be addressed.

 

Ok rant off.

On the companions:

It wouldn't make much sense, story-wise, if everyone got their healing companion earlier.

And simply switching around companion abilities wouldn't make a lot of sense in many cases, either.

Vette being a healer wouldn't match with her personality, for example.

Please stop.

 

It is so apples to oranges.

 

Medium armor vs heavy armor is almost irrelevant.

 

You get bonuses for being in cover, so it is not a waste of a GCD.

 

Without DPS meters/combat logs/etc. You have no idea who does more damage

 

As a BH-Merc, I wish I would have gotten a DPS companion since I can heal myself. I guess I should whine about that.

Edited January 23, 2012 by TempestasSilva

Apples to oranges?? I dont think so...

 

If we want to achieve any semblance of balance we need to first make sure that classes like Merc and Sniper are even or as close as possible.

Please stop.

 

It is so apples to oranges.

 

Medium armor vs heavy armor is almost irrelevant.

 

You get bonuses for being in cover, so it is not a waste of a GCD.

 

Without DPS meters/combat logs/etc. You have no idea who does more damage

 

As a BH-Merc, I wish I would have gotten a DPS companion since I can heal myself. I guess I should whine about that.

 

 

Heavy armor is a good 15% extra mitigation endgame, which is not irrelevant.

 

The cover bonuses do not apply in PvP. The ranged defense, hard cover bonus, and even the interrupt immunity are not working properly. Due to the animation issues, even though cover has no GCD if you do not wait for its 1-2 second animation to finish it bugs out your next ability.

 

Its really easy to compare dps. You just need to pay attention to your screen, or make a video and record the numbers over a fixed period of time.

 

You do get a dps companion later on.

 

Rank 20 dynamics do not sum up the entire game. It's much different at 50 with gear.

I have seen the few threads on this subject and a couple of things strike me.

 

1: Both classes must stand still to do their heavy damage yet I keep hearing that BH does more damage then a Merc and that the cover system is broken.

 

Now in my opinion if a Sniper MUST use a GCD to enter cover unlike a BH then overall the Sniper should be doing more DPS (as the BH also has heals). Yet this does not seem to be the picture.

 

What I am seeing is the BH doesn't have to waste a GCD on getting into cover to cast its samage abilities, has heals and has fewer buttons to push in the long run, AND does more DPS output. This Devs should be changed as the Sniper should be pushing out higher DPS then a Merc. Oh and lets not forget about heavy armor vs Medium.

 

2: (this is pve only) Why is the BH the ONLY class to get a healing companion right off the bat? While most classes have to wait till much later on? This seems very unbalancing in PVE and needs to be addressed.

 

Ok rant off.

 

i have my 2 piece set pvp and pve (our 4 piece set sucks for BH arsenal) and all tier2 gear and a sniper in 50 blues can hit as hard as me, in pve that is... so when geared sniper > BH for dps...

 

in pvp if you are a a sniper i have one word for ya re-roll

i have my 2 piece set pvp and pve (our 4 piece set sucks for BH arsenal) and all tier2 gear and a sniper in 50 blues can hit as hard as me, in pve that is... so when geared sniper > BH for dps...

 

in pvp if you are a a sniper i have one word for ya re-roll

 

free rail shot is awful.

What if you are a healing IA/BH? Then you'd be wishing you had kaliyo instead. They can't make the starting companion fit every playstyle for every character. Everyone gets healy-butler-droid at like lvl 16 anyway so who cares.

What if you are a healing IA/BH? Then you'd be wishing you had kaliyo instead. They can't make the starting companion fit every playstyle for every character. Everyone gets healy-butler-droid at like lvl 16 anyway so who cares.

 

i feel like no one gets gear for the droid so they dont use him as a healer, also he doesnt SHUT UP!

I rolled bh, I now have a 50 arsenel merc, that I don't want to play. First, the arsenel pve rotation kills me, sure missiles were fun at first but after using tracer missile several thousand times it gets old not to mention looks like your taking a dump everytime you use it. (on the contrary though I love the hs missile animation). Second the story is really boring and disappointing (for me at least) go to this planet check x, y, z location find target kill them that's the whole story. The gear also looks awful (my opinion) love the end game gear but everything before is bleh.

Most everything I've heard bout IA is positive, supposed to have the best story, except that snipers suck at pvp but if your looking for pve it shouldn't concern you. I regret making a merc and wish I rolled something else.

Ps: mako is a whiney little b*tch and I wish I could put a gun to her and the droids head

Ps: mako is a whiney little b*tch and I wish I could put a gun to her and the droids head

 

quoted for truth

 

Really though, mercs might get a healer off the bat, but you can heal to begin with. I'd rather have a tank or dps...

The only real imbalance between merc vs sniper is in white attacks vs yellow attacks and the implications created by this.

 

Basically, the majority of attacks you are using as an arsenal mercenary are Tech attacks and thus bypass defense and shielding, meaning you can stack power/crit/surge while completely ignoring accuracy. As a marksman or engineering sniper, the vast majority of your attacks are white damage that is affected by defense/shielding, so you must stack accuracy or watch lightsaber classes deflect a lot of your attacks... And let me tell you, there is nothing more annoying than watching a sage with 10% life walk away and heal themselves because you hit your execute on them just before they got out of range and it was deflected.

 

So what you end up with is a min/maxed merc with 400+ power, ~40% crit, 80%+ surge... vs a sniper with 300+ accuracy but severely lacking on the power/crit/surge in comparison.

 

Even a lethality sniper should be stacking some accuracy for all the white damage attacks they'll still be using (execute is a big one).

The only real imbalance between merc vs sniper is in white attacks vs yellow attacks and the implications created by this.

 

Basically, the majority of attacks you are using as an arsenal mercenary are Tech attacks and thus bypass defense and shielding, meaning you can stack power/crit/surge while completely ignoring accuracy. As a marksman or engineering sniper, the vast majority of your attacks are white damage that is affected by defense/shielding, so you must stack accuracy or watch lightsaber classes deflect a lot of your attacks... And let me tell you, there is nothing more annoying than watching a sage with 10% life walk away and heal themselves because you hit your execute on them just before they got out of range and it was deflected.

 

So what you end up with is a min/maxed merc with 400+ power, ~40% crit, 80%+ surge... vs a sniper with 300+ accuracy but severely lacking on the power/crit/surge in comparison.

 

Even a lethality sniper should be stacking some accuracy for all the white damage attacks they'll still be using (execute is a big one).

 

This is simply not true. Internal and elemental damage bypass shielding. Tech abilities do not, unless they happen to be one of the above damage types. BH has NO internal damage type, and only pyrotech spec has any elemental damage. Defense still is a static % to avoid any attack.

 

Further, why would there be a "tech accuracy" stat if this did not matter?

 

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