I've said this before, but.....BW simply doesn't believe that Merc dps are weak. In fact every metric BW uses shows Merc dps are overpowered.

 

How can this happen, you say? It's simple. Virtually no one plays Merc dps anymore. On my server I am the sole Merc dps left that anyone will take on a ranked wz team. And I can go an entire week in normal wz without seeing a Merc dps. So virtually the entire meta average productivity of Merc dps on my server comes from me. And 90% of the matches I am the high dps on my team. I am imagine that things are similar on other servers. The only people left playing Merc dps in PvP are the most skilled, most geared, most determined players. So when BW looks at their weekly meta average numbers, they see maybe 80 matches played by Merc dps on my server, and the average productivity is FAR HIGHER than that for any other subclass.

 

The problem of course is that BW's meta average metrics do not control for player skill/quality. So they will continue to nerf Merc dps until the very best Merc dps players have productivity equal to that of the average, undergeared noobs playing the FotM. This is exactly what we have seen for the last six months.

 

More fundamentally, even if player skill were controlled for, the use of dps/healing/protection metrics to measure class effectiveness is FLAWED. On my Merc dps, I am never used as a solo node guard, because Merc dps sucks against every other subclass. What is the most popular subclass to use as a solo node guard? Assassin tanks. So because they spend so much time on guard duty, their meta average metrics are lower. BW sees this and incorrectly believes they need a buff. Hence Assassins get buffed in 1.4. Doh.

 

Nor do dps/healing/protection metrics take into account class utility. The ability of stealth classes to exit combat when a defended node is being overrun, and then reappear to stop a cap 8 seconds later is of incalculable value. But it doesn't appear in BW's meta average metrics. Similarly the ability of various classes to pull enemies, jump to friendlies in Huttball, etc. all add *UTILITY* to their team and are ignored by BW's evaluation system. All those classes provide benefits that BW does not account for, while low utility classes have their effectiveness overrated by BW. And which subclass has the LOWEST utility in the game? Merc dps of course.

 

BW's ingame statistics collection system was revolutionary for MMOs. But unfortunately, the human interpretation of these statistics was flawed and lagging. That is why Merc dps sucks. My Marauder in full Recruit gear scored as high as my Merc in full WH. But BW doesn't see that and doesn't understand why that occurs.That is why Merc dps will always suck.

bump for greater justice.

To the OP:

 

/SIGNED

Yep fix pvp for mercs it is broken and as everyone has said we get focused and we are super squishy

Once a class hits rock bottom, all you can do is go up from there. 1st step they should take is revert all the nerfs, then add more buffs. The nerfs were never justified, including the accuracy 3% nerf, rocketpunch knockback, jetboost cooldown increase, and crit talent nerf by 3%, adding heat cost to kolto shell, nerfing supercharged gass, and others. All the changes need to just be un-nerfed, the class was bad back then and is just broken now. Edited November 23, 2012 by DkSharktooth

Once a class hits rock bottom, all you can do is go up from there. 1st step they should take is revert all the nerfs, then add more buffs. The nerfs were never justified, including the accuracy 3% nerf, rocketpunch knockback, jetboost cooldown increase, and crit talent nerf by 3%, adding heat cost to kolto shell, nerfing supercharged gass, and others. All the changes need to just be un-nerfed, the class was bad back then and is just broken now.

 

That would require BW to admit they were wrong. I'm sure some of them, deep down, know it - but to admit it is something else. They'll just keep riding the failtrain of their own hubris until it crashes.

That would require BW to admit they were wrong. I'm sure some of them, deep down, know it - but to admit it is something else. They'll just keep riding the failtrain of their own hubris until it crashes.

 

Well Bioware needs to reach down their shorts and take their balls out of hiding, admit they were wrong and fix the dam class.

Well Bioware needs to reach down their shorts and take their balls out of hiding, admit they were wrong and fix the dam class.

 

There is going to be institutional pressure from within BW against fixing Merc dps. If they admit that Merc dps is weak, then they admit they must jettison using their ingame stat collection system to drive class rebalancing. Because Merc dps ranks really well in their ingame stat collection system. And BW spent a lot of time to develop that system and they are very conditioned to believe that system is correct.

 

Put another way, their balls are hiding more effectively than an Assassin with Blackout up and running....

The next logical step for the merc is a nerf to Tracer Missile. We use it far too much so it must be too powerful. I figure a 5% damage reduction is on the way.

 

The Bioware statistics have killed the class and as long as those stats continue to be used, I expect additional nerfs.

The next logical step for the merc is a nerf to Tracer Missile. We use it far too much so it must be too powerful. I figure a 5% damage reduction is on the way.

 

The Bioware statistics have killed the class and as long as those stats continue to be used, I expect additional nerfs.

 

They might as well just take away our blasters and have us charge into battle wielding rubber *****s.

Un Nerf and I'll come back to play!

Amen. And just like merges, APAC, Illum and every other colossal **** up in this game, by the time Bioware addresses it, 95% of the people that actually care will have left the game. Keep up the good work, Bioware.

Mercs should do more damage because they have two pistols and they are Mercenaries - What's a Powertech anyways? Is that like a robot thing? Is it like a droid bounty hunter or something? Clearly BW doesn't know how to make believable bounty hunter names that do what they say. Mercenary is just a powerful sounding name, and with 2 blaster pistols, they are ultimate fighters...but what the heck, BW?

The fact that there are other professions in the game that are very good in terms of some overpowered abilties, such as Jedi Sent/Sith Marauder + Operative/Smug, but saying that Merc BH is underpowered is wrong. It's comepletely fine the way it is, with the new added interrupt. Perhaps adding a Jump to Ally/Enemy would be nice, but even then that's almost asking for too much in the class.

 

Overall, Merc has outstanding abilties for Spike Damage and survivablity in PvP as a Ranged DPS. You have to know how not only to put the points in the tree correctly but what stats to focus on. That, combined with practice and knowledge of the class, Mercs can kill almost any profession on the field.

You must be joking.

 

All of the existing threads of complaint and suggestion about and for the merc haven't spawned because of a perfectly functional class.

The fact that there are other professions in the game that are very good in terms of some overpowered abilties, such as Jedi Sent/Sith Marauder + Operative/Smug, but saying that Merc BH is underpowered is wrong. It's comepletely fine the way it is, with the new added interrupt. Perhaps adding a Jump to Ally/Enemy would be nice, but even then that's almost asking for too much in the class.

 

Overall, Merc has outstanding abilties for Spike Damage and survivablity in PvP as a Ranged DPS. You have to know how not only to put the points in the tree correctly but what stats to focus on. That, combined with practice and knowledge of the class, Mercs can kill almost any profession on the field.

 

Before the nerf to cryo I would perhaps at a very big stretch agreed, there is now absolutely no way to keep melee at bay. You can't cryo until closed they wont break stun until closed you then can't get concussive round off without being interrupted. Even the cryo, KB instant start concussive doesn't work against any player worth their salt.

 

Spike hmmm not so sure on that TBH, all depends on the roll gods, I like to build the votexes then pop a SG on before hitting demo and hib this can on a good day wipe 12k health it can on the other hand be deflected and almost completely mitigated down to about 3k total. A medium is the norm of around 7k so woopty doo I just used 3 abilites after a 3 shot builder for a 7k total hit something lolsmashers can do and well above and to multiple targets with 1.

The fact that there are other professions in the game that are very good in terms of some overpowered abilties, such as Jedi Sent/Sith Marauder + Operative/Smug, but saying that Merc BH is underpowered is wrong. It's comepletely fine the way it is, with the new added interrupt. Perhaps adding a Jump to Ally/Enemy would be nice, but even then that's almost asking for too much in the class.

 

Overall, Merc has outstanding abilties for Spike Damage and survivablity in PvP as a Ranged DPS. You have to know how not only to put the points in the tree correctly but what stats to focus on. That, combined with practice and knowledge of the class, Mercs can kill almost any profession on the field.

 

Before the nerf i got in the top 5 for dps everytime, now im lucky if im not at the bottom.

I remember in beta that the Merc was awesome, but then I played the released version and I thought "What did BioWare do to the Merc," So far it seems to me that almost every other class can go solo on pvp and do fine but as a Merc I'm lucky if I can do anything without support. This is completely backwards, of all of the classes in the star wars universe to need support. The BioWare is ruining the legacy of the Fetts.

Before the nerf to cryo I would perhaps at a very big stretch agreed, there is now absolutely no way to keep melee at bay. You can't cryo until closed they wont break stun until closed you then can't get concussive round off without being interrupted. Even the cryo, KB instant start concussive doesn't work against any player worth their salt.

 

Spike hmmm not so sure on that TBH, all depends on the roll gods, I like to build the votexes then pop a SG on before hitting demo and hib this can on a good day wipe 12k health it can on the other hand be deflected and almost completely mitigated down to about 3k total. A medium is the norm of around 7k so woopty doo I just used 3 abilites after a 3 shot builder for a 7k total hit something lolsmashers can do and well above and to multiple targets with 1.

 

The way to beat Melee classes as a Merc is all about timing of the abilities and the use of your own knockbacks and interrupts. I myself play as a Arsenal, so the use of your Jetboost and Root ability are key. And now that we have an interrupt as well, we have a total of 3 Instant interrupts, (a root, a knockback, and a stun) as well as a the concussive missile, really only to be used as a last resort.

 

It's not about gods at all, its about stacking the right stats. A lot of people go for a pure power setup, and in that case don't expect to get those juicy hits. If I time my abilities right, I can easily wipe 12-15k hp off a target in 3-4 abilities. You need to keep the target at bay and get your Tracer Missile stacked. If they interrupt you, stun them and cast it, and perhaps even use your insta-cast ability to get a solid two stack on them.

 

The key in my opinion to scoring high damage as everyone is saying they used to be getting is the use of AOE attacks. We have SO many AOE attacks that can put up some serious numbers to enemy players in any node based game and in huttball in the middle fighting or around the ball carrier. And in order to use those abilities, such as Explosive Dart, Fusion Missile and DFA you need to have a setup that caters to using a lot of heat. Which means trimming useless abilities in the Arsenal Tree and looking to the Pyrotech tree to fill in spots. I've trimmed abilities in the skill tree for Arsenal and now have the Alignment Jets in the Pyrotech tree allowing me to cool 8 heat whenever knocked back, stunned, or incapacitated.

 

Honestly, I love this class and I have no complaints. If you play the game right, use your AOE's, trim useless abilities from the tree, and stack the right stats such as Crit and Surge along with Power and Accuracy, you hit hard and have a lot abilities to not only keep you alive, but kill your enemy 1v1 as well as group as well.

we have a total of 3 Instant interrupts, (a root, a knockback, and a stun)

 

Roots don't interrupt. Moreover only Arsenal will typically have that root talent anyway, so it is not applicable to the Merc class generally.

 

The key in my opinion to scoring high damage as everyone is saying they used to be getting is the use of AOE attacks. We have SO many AOE attacks that can put up some serious numbers to enemy players in any node based game

 

You can not seriously be claiming that Merc dps is a strong AoE class relative to the other subclass options that are available. In a target rich, AoE friendly environment, Merc dps is at least 50% behind the top AoE oriented subclasses. Show me the Merc dps getting 1.5 million in damage like the top Smash Monkeys do. Even Sorc dps can get into the 1.2 -1.4 million range.

 

Your opinion on Merc dps seems colored by what is a principal trait of Merc dps - it IS the best dps subclass for low skill players. Super easy to keep enemies targeted. Good backup/basic attack should you blow up your resource stack. No need to use a separate ability/attack to snare opponents. These are all reasons why Merc dps does so well in matches involving low skill players vs. low skill players. These are all reasons why the meta average damage productivity numbers for Merc dps look so good - which is why BW keeps nerfing Merc dps. But once you get to the top strata of players, Merc dps is well known as the WORST subclass in the game. I suggest you take your "no complaints" toon to the best ranked wz team on your server and ask if you can join them with it. Note their comments.

Roots don't interrupt. Moreover only Arsenal will typically have that root talent anyway, so it is not applicable to the Merc class generally.

 

 

 

You can not seriously be claiming that Merc dps is a strong AoE class relative to the other subclass options that are available. In a target rich, AoE friendly environment, Merc dps is at least 50% behind the top AoE oriented subclasses. Show me the Merc dps getting 1.5 million in damage like the top Smash Monkeys do. Even Sorc dps can get into the 1.2 -1.4 million range.

 

Your opinion on Merc dps seems colored by what is a principal trait of Merc dps - it IS the best dps subclass for low skill players. Super easy to keep enemies targeted. Good backup/basic attack should you blow up your resource stack. No need to use a separate ability/attack to snare opponents. These are all reasons why Merc dps does so well in matches involving low skill players vs. low skill players. These are all reasons why the meta average damage productivity numbers for Merc dps look so good - which is why BW keeps nerfing Merc dps. But once you get to the top strata of players, Merc dps is well known as the WORST subclass in the game. I suggest you take your "no complaints" toon to the best ranked wz team on your server and ask if you can join them with it. Note their comments.

 

Agreed, Mercs will never get into a RWZ team, they are so susceptible to interrupts its not funny anymore, our 'ranged' stun got nerfed so now we have to get right up and personal with out enemies which defeats the purpose of a ranged class.

Roots don't interrupt. Moreover only Arsenal will typically have that root talent anyway, so it is not applicable to the Merc class generally.

 

 

 

You can not seriously be claiming that Merc dps is a strong AoE class relative to the other subclass options that are available. In a target rich, AoE friendly environment, Merc dps is at least 50% behind the top AoE oriented subclasses. Show me the Merc dps getting 1.5 million in damage like the top Smash Monkeys do. Even Sorc dps can get into the 1.2 -1.4 million range.

 

Your opinion on Merc dps seems colored by what is a principal trait of Merc dps - it IS the best dps subclass for low skill players. Super easy to keep enemies targeted. Good backup/basic attack should you blow up your resource stack. No need to use a separate ability/attack to snare opponents. These are all reasons why Merc dps does so well in matches involving low skill players vs. low skill players. These are all reasons why the meta average damage productivity numbers for Merc dps look so good - which is why BW keeps nerfing Merc dps. But once you get to the top strata of players, Merc dps is well known as the WORST subclass in the game. I suggest you take your "no complaints" toon to the best ranked wz team on your server and ask if you can join them with it. Note their comments.

 

We have 4 AOE attacks that can damage anyone it effects for up to 1k, more so for Fusion Missile and Death From Above. I've seen Merc's ingame be in the top 5 in Ranked and Regular warzones because they know when to drop their AOE attacks and how to converse useless heat waste. Once again, are they the best AOE based class....? No, I never said that.

 

Honestly, you can call me whatever you want, and you can whine about Merc's not putting up as much damage as OP'd classes in warzones. But saying that Arsenal Merc is only applicable in matches against low skill players, is just completely false.

 

I do not play on a strictly PvP sever, but I do ranked weekly with and against some of the best teams on the severs and I never have had any complaints nor problems about me or any other mercs.

 

Are Merc's the best class in the game? Not by a long shot. Are Merc's the best DPS class available to you? Of course not. But saying that Merc DPS is useless beyond a doubt in any competitive setting is once again, wrong.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Skapek-Skocap

I've seen Merc's ingame be in the top 5 in Ranked and Regular warzones because they know when to drop their AOE attacks and how to converse useless heat waste....But saying that Merc DPS is useless beyond a doubt in any competitive setting is once again, wrong.

 

In a typical match with 4 dps on each side, that would place the Merc dps.....right in the middle of the pack. And you think this is evidence of Merc dps being exceptional?

 

Look, in 90% of my matches I am the top damage outputter. It doesn't change the FACT that Merc dps is the worst subclass in the game. There isn't a single function that Merc dps does better than any other class, and in most functions it is the worst. The deficiencies of Merc dps can be ameliorated by a player with high skill, but you are always better off having that high skill player bring a real toon, not a toy.