Jump to content

Mercenary Feedback Thread


JackieKo

Recommended Posts

Lets see..juggs have more dps than mercs atm,have too many gap fillers and immunity to push and stuns,have more stuns and slows than mercs,plus their dcds have way more mitigation dmg than merc's dcds. But the problem is the healing effect of mercs dcds,right? Well,they only work on direct dmg,while jugg's enrage defense works on any kind of dmg,and with grit teeth u can use it very often. So...I feel like u just want ur fav class to be better and the others to be easy targets. Thats not gonna happen,bro.

As it is now on live server, its very balanced tho. I'd say only concealment ops and skank juggs are overtuned. But if u look on pts,then ye,juggs got nerfed harder and I think they should get at least mad dash back. That dosent mean mercs didnt get nerf. It just happens that juggs got more screwed than any other class. So go and try to convice devs to make some chages on juggs, instead of trying to nerf mercs more than they got nerfed already.🙂

 

Juggs do not have more DPS. An Immortal Jugg in PvP comes close but otherwise beyond a cut to pieces AoE spam'd area with a mob.... They do significantly less damage at end game atm.

 

PTs, Deception, Merc, and Viru are currently top tier. (And Maras if you know how to use em) Once people understood the breakpoint models were off. Before Venge was in the mix but I've not seen them pulling above 13k dps in capped content like the aforementioned.

Edited by TheVoyant
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 95
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

As a since launch merc healer i've seen many iterations of builds come about

 

one of the things i love about the current system is i can choose to spend my points lower down the skills tree if i choose to, for example i could have three tier 1 skills, 4 tier 2 skills and 2 tier 3 skills. The new system seems to make us choose to have specific either or items on tiers, rather than giving us the ability to select how we want out builds to play.

 

The majority of players will want the max tier 3, i do feel its nice to have the option to select say two of a level if i chose to rather than my top abilitiy options. It also allows us to fill other roles needed in groups potentially.

 

I'd love to see the option to have points to spend again and having requirements to get to tiers like in the current system, the layout of the new system im fine with, but i'd rather have more choice for abilities if i want to spend my spec points there.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lets see..juggs have more dps than mercs atm,have too many gap fillers and immunity to push and stuns,have more stuns and slows than mercs,plus their dcds have way more mitigation dmg than merc's dcds. But the problem is the healing effect of mercs dcds,right? Well,they only work on direct dmg,while jugg's enrage defense works on any kind of dmg,and with grit teeth u can use it very often. So...I feel like u just want ur fav class to be better and the others to be easy targets. Thats not gonna happen,bro.

As it is now on live server, its very balanced tho. I'd say only concealment ops and skank juggs are overtuned. But if u look on pts,then ye,juggs got nerfed harder and I think they should get at least mad dash back. That dosent mean mercs didnt get nerf. It just happens that juggs got more screwed than any other class. So go and try to convice devs to make some chages on juggs, instead of trying to nerf mercs more than they got nerfed already.🙂

 

This is unequivocally false. A fully geared Merc on average can hit 25k+ dps. Top tier Jugg players might be able to hit 25k, most don't. Immortal Jugg actually parses pretty low. 12-15k on average. They just have a massive Rage Jugg inspired burst window (which makes no mf sense) and they rarely die in regs. It gives the impression that they're a high DPS class. They aren't. Mercs are ranged. Also, no DPS Juggernaut that wants to kill other people is running Grit Teeth in regs. Ranked, sure (they still wont live long enough to get a second ED off), but our DPS drops 2-3k minimum using Grit Teeth over Hemo slash or Cauterized Coronary.

 

We don't have more immunities than Merc, especially not Rage Spec. Our DCDs do not mitigate more damage than Merc. Pretty well balanced on paper, but at every opportunity the advantage is given to the non force using classes. Pretty much why Mercs can face tank better than Juggs and you have an answer for every gap closer we have.

 

Personally I think melee should mitigate damage better than ranged and ranged should have more control. Bioware just has something against melee ever having any advantages period, unless you're an Operative player.

 

Just here to keep it honest.

 

Mercenary DCDs:

Energy Shield: 57.5% DR / 40% DR and the cooldown can be reduced with energy rebounders.

Responsive Safeguards: Complete nullification of all incoming damage types aside from AOE / DoTs. Heals you on damage received. The code is a simple boolean true / false flag. They didn't even have the decency to utilize a percentage value lol.

Kolto Overload: can heal up to 60% of your health.

 

Mercenary CC:

Jet boost / 360 knockback. You basically have an AOE force push.

Electro Dart: 4 sec hard stun.

Concussion Missile: Mez

Electro Net: lol.

Not going to get into built in slows / roots.

 

Mercenary Escapes:

Rocket out x 2

Hydraulic Overrides: Movement speed increase + immunity to push pull. (Longer than force leap immunity btw).

 

DPS Juggernaut

Enraged Defense: Self explanatory. Potential to heal for another health bar. You can be bursted down through it.

Saber Ward: 50% melee / range defense increase, 25% absorb.

Saber Reflect: negates incoming force, tech, and range damage only. 3 seconds unless you spec it to 5.

Endure Pain: Worst DCD in the game. 30% fake health which is removed after a certain amount of time.

 

DPS Juggernaut CC:

Force Choke: 4 sec hard stun.

Force Push: self explanatory.

Intimidating Roar: Mez.

Chilling Scream: soft slow.

Not getting into possible roots.

 

Juggernaut Movement:

Force Leap

Mad Dash

Edited by Dyne-
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is unequivocally false. A fully geared Merc on average can hit 25k+ dps. Top tier Jugg players might be able to hit 25k, most don't. Immortal Jugg actually parses pretty low. 12-15k on average. They just have a massive Rage Jugg inspired burst window (which makes no mf sense) and they rarely die in regs. It gives the impression that they're a high DPS class. They aren't. Mercs are ranged. Also, no DPS Juggernaut that wants to kill other people is running Grit Teeth in regs. Ranked, sure (they still wont live long enough to get a second ED off), but our DPS drops 2-3k minimum using Grit Teeth over Hemo slash or Cauterized Coronary.

 

We don't have more immunities than Merc, especially not Rage Spec. Our DCDs do not mitigate more damage than Merc. Pretty well balanced on paper, but at every opportunity the advantage is given to the non force using classes. Pretty much why Mercs can face tank better than Juggs and you have an answer for every gap closer we have.

 

Personally I think melee should mitigate damage better than ranged and ranged should have more control. Bioware just has something against melee ever having any advantages period, unless you're an Operative player.

 

Just here to keep it honest.

 

Mercenary DCDs:

Energy Shield: 57.5% DR / 40% DR and the cooldown can be reduced with energy rebounders.

Responsive Safeguards: Complete nullification of all incoming damage types aside from AOE / DoTs. Heals you on damage received. The code is a simple boolean true / false flag. They didn't even have the decency to utilize a percentage value lol.

Kolto Overload: can heal up to 60% of your health.

 

Mercenary CC:

Jet boost / 360 knockback. You basically have an AOE force push.

Electro Dart: 4 sec hard stun.

Concussion Missile: Mez

Electro Net: lol.

Not going to get into built in slows / roots.

 

Mercenary Escapes:

Rocket out x 2

Hydraulic Overrides: Movement speed increase + immunity to push pull. (Longer than force leap immunity btw).

 

DPS Juggernaut

Enraged Defense: Self explanatory. Potential to heal for another health bar. You can be bursted down through it.

Saber Ward: 50% melee / range defense increase, 25% absorb.

Saber Reflect: negates incoming force, tech, and range damage only. 3 seconds unless you spec it to 5.

Endure Pain: Worst DCD in the game. 30% fake health which is removed after a certain amount of time.

 

DPS Juggernaut CC:

Force Choke: 4 sec hard stun.

Force Push: self explanatory.

Intimidating Roar: Mez.

Chilling Scream: soft slow.

Not getting into possible roots.

 

Juggernaut Movement:

Force Leap

Mad Dash

 

even this comparison won't make mercs change mind in believing they are not overtuned und got nerfed way harder than anyone else....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

even this comparison won't make mercs change mind in believing they are not overtuned und got nerfed way harder than anyone else....

 

when I play regs with my Mara and get frustrated after a couple of games I switch to my Merc because of this... its nice to be unkillable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently only seen PTs pull more consistent DPS vs. a perfectly spec'd Apex build in PvE. Viru comes close, but with zeal and inherit alacrity 3% allowing 1.3 gcds at 514 stat gives too much free stats to move into crit.

 

514 Alacrity will not give you 1.3 GCD. You need 664 to give you 1.4 GCD.

 

I have 2 Mercs, one with CF (1.4 GCD) and the other with Apex (1.3 GCD). Honestly, I don't see more than 4-500 difference in parsing between the 2. And, I've never seen a 25k parse on a Merc. Who does that? Is that with the new 300 Augs?

 

I'm not good with my Jug and I can outparse my Merc with my Jug. I know, sounds like I'm not good with my Merc either, but I am. I run Arsenal with 265 Augs, my high dummy parse is 21.5k with my Apex 1.3. Even the parses I've seen posted aren't 25k, about 23k was the highest, and most were in the low to mid 22k range. (to be fair I haven't looked since the new Augs).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Streamlining is a great idea when you have many abilities. To streamline, you do three things:

1. Combine current skills.

2. Make some existing active skills into passive skills.

3. Allow players to have some options on which skills to have active and which to have passive.

What you have done is nerfing. Taking away skills through forced choices is not streamlining; it is only annoying. You will drive away people from the current player base. For example, my two favorite classes are Merc and Sorc. I will not play either anymore, but will try to adjust to other classes (all of which I have at max level). New players should not be affected.

I strongly suggest that you keep the current skill-tree system until you can revamp your attempt in a positive direction.

My comments come after watching many videos of people on the PTS. The PTS is still downloading for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

PVE perspective

IO

Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not?

Since thermal sensor override was merged with vent heat mercenary need jet boost give 2 stacks of supercharge (passive or mod), it was very heat positive (getting stacks faster and lowering heat after poping supercharged gas) and even made like part of rotation which is currently missing. Now without it and tso you its became so easy to overheat fast since "good" vent heat with additional 15 is now part of choice.

Incendiary Ignition and Volatile Cinders mods for single target potential - both feels quite underwhelming. First one dont do significant damage buff to overall picture and last one is not even part of partical io rotations. Very questionable to pick them instead of aoe mod.

Do all your abilities feel like they’re working together?

Sticky Dart choice is pointless since it doesnt even spread dots - literally 0 reasons to pick it. U can replace it with 2 stacks on jet boost.

Removing passive 30% AOE defence is also might be quite painful with mechanics of heavy aoe damage. Mercenary dont have any compensation or situational AOE dr abilities like jugg or other class. It will just melt under damage if aoe mechanics happen consistently and u cant reduce damage other than Energy Shield. More than half of nim fights hard require it. So far there is nothing. Put it as choice on same line with reflect ability(since u cant use reflect aoe damage and its gonna be good choice - reflect or 30% aoe dr and wont make anyone unhappy.

 

 

Arsenal

Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not?

Not having Apex Predator Set bonus as Legendary making heat managment harder with merging thermal sensor override and vent heat. It looks like it lacking some attention.

Thermonuclear Fusion mod lacking some damage. You are not often can spread fusion to many targets in most fights and having this mode with only (1/4 damage) for 1 or 2 fights per game when u can spread it to EIGHT targets looks pointless. Usually its like 2 or 3 targets if u LUCKY and u dealing 1/4 of heatseeker missile damage to them. Tiny. Make it hit less targets but do more damage (even 1/2 is fine)

Edited by bogbogbog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

PVE perspective

IO

Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not?

Since thermal sensor override was merged with vent heat mercenary need jet boost give 2 stacks of supercharge (passive or mod), it was very heat positive (getting stacks faster and lowering heat after poping supercharged gas) and even made like part of rotation which is currently missing. Now without it and tso you its became so easy to overheat fast since "good" vent heat with additional 15 is now part of choice.

Incendiary Ignition and Volatile Cinders mods for single target potential - both feels quite underwhelming. First one dont do significant damage buff to overall picture and last one is not even part of partical io rotations. Very questionable to pick them instead of aoe mod.

Do all your abilities feel like they’re working together?

Sticky Dart choice is pointless since it doesnt even spread dots - literally 0 reasons to pick it. U can replace it with 2 stacks on jet boost.

Removing passive 30% AOE defence is also might be quite painful with mechanics of heavy aoe damage. Mercenary dont have any compensation or situational AOE dr abilities like jugg or other class. It will just melt under damage if aoe mechanics happen consistently and u cant reduce damage other than Energy Shield. More than half of nim fights hard require it. So far there is nothing. Put it as choice on same line with reflect ability(since u cant use reflect aoe damage and its gonna be good choice - reflect or 30% aoe dr and wont make anyone unhappy.

 

 

Arsenal

Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not?

Not having Apex Predator Set bonus as Legendary making heat managment harder with merging thermal sensor override and vent heat. It looks like it lacking some attention.

Thermonuclear Fusion mod lacking some damage. You are not often can spread fusion to many targets in most fights and having this mode with only (1/4 damage) for 1 or 2 fights per game when u can spread it to EIGHT targets looks pointless. Usually its like 2 or 3 targets if u LUCKY and u dealing 1/4 of heatseeker missile damage to them. Tiny. Make it hit less targets but do more damage (even 1/2 is fine)

 

Let's be honest here...they are screwing with pve mercs,making the class even less viable than it is right now, which says a lot. And thats one of the reasons I dislike pve. They basicaly always forcing u to choose 3 classes (PT,sorc and sniper) for dps. If u like any other classes, then u going to struggle to do the harder pve content and keep up with the dmg.

7.0 patch will be a mess. I feel like swtor going to lose a good part of its players base if they keep that stupid "pruning" that looks more like a nerf. A pruning would be more like merging fusion missile with the dart, since both do almost the same thing for IO spec,for example.

 

When it comes to pvp,good luck trying to survive when ppl start focusing u,since mercs going to lose mobility and 2 dcds that helped a lot when they get focused,which happens frequently in ranked. In regs it's kinda easier cos ppl tend to not know how mercs dcds work and just keep brainlessly hitting it.In a game where melees have so many gap fillers and most of em have no dificult to get close to a range often,movement is imperative to ranged. Or at least our stuns,but they making us lose that too. Sorcs have a lot of mobility and snipers have immunity to jumps,tele,and stuns most of the time,to make up for their lack of mobility. What mercs have? Dcds that only works against direct dmg,and the worst dmg output of all the 3 ranged classes. So we need our movement to stay the same.

 

Suggestion to devs :

If u taking away our hydraulic, at least make our rocket out purge any imparing movement. And fix the glitch where u get back to the same spot sometimes after using it.Am I the only one getting it often lately?It sux when u fighting against a heavy hitter melee. Also make us able to use unload while moving.

Mercs are the only ranged without phase, and although our dcds are good,they are pretty easy to counter,and will be even more next patch. Losing movement and rocket boost as a rotation skill gonna make mercs easy targets for most classes especially stealthers. Also losing stealth scan makes the fight against them even harder.

 

I really hope the u devs rethink about all the stupid changes u doing to not just mercs, but most of other classes too. For the sake of both pve and pvp. I see very few positive feedback,and I really can't believe u going to make all the changes go live with so many ppl disliking em. Its like a death wish.

 

Imo,the only things devs need to nerf in pvp are :

Stuns

Merc's net (making it trigger immunity bar like stuns do,avoiding multiple nets in a row)

Immortal juggs dps ( a tank shouldnt do so much dmg while being a tank)

Concealment operatives as a whole( a spec cant have everything like concealment does,but instead of nerfing its dmg or survivability,u nerfing the stealth of the whole class, making it harder for medicine and lethality)

 

What they should boost:

Rage juggs and madness sorcs (the former is unviable for both pvp and pve which makes it a dead spec.The later is underwhelming in pvp,only farming numbers)

 

So my feedback to all the changes u doing is : stop with this madness unless u want to lose more players than u already lost.

Edited by DougTheNoob
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Created trooper using a Mercenary combat style, Character has just hit level 16

At the moment using a fresh new legacy on PTS.

 

So far leveling feels ok (am using the boost received from quests)

 

Do see an issue with Rail shot (which you receive at level 15) not being able to be trigger. As the only other abilities you have are: Rapid shots, Missile Blast, Kolto shot. As Rail shot requires the target to be either incapacitated or suffering from periodic damage none of these other alibies are able to do this except missile blast on standard or week targets knocks them to the ground. Which even for this is not triggering.

 

If you could either or adjust it so that knocking the target to the ground counts as an incapacitated or add a passive periodic damage to either Missile blast and or Power shot. Another option could be to remove the trigger. As at the moment the ability is unfortunately useless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not?

 

Depends on what exactly you want us to understand as "Mercenary"? If you mean how the current 3 disciplines feel, then there is a straight-forward answer, but if you are asking from a thematic experience, then this is going to take a while.

 

My assumption is that you do mean thematic-wise, in which case the answer has always been no, but now even more glaringly so than before. A Mercenary in the thematic sense, given what we know about Star Wars, is someone who is the definition of "prepared for everything and so good at it they don't do it for free". Neither the feel of being prepared for any situation is there nor that you are good enough to warrant people's confidence. Mercenaries suffer arguably the most on a thematic perspective from the Ability pruning and the choice-restrictions, because now they no longer feel like they are ready for anything, but that they are so broke they are forced to choose what NOT to be prepared for. And if that isn't the MO of a horrible merc who's not worth a single credit, I don't know what is. Currently, Mercenaries just feel like Gunslingers but with a little more flashyness. Just a little.

.

 

  • If you have feedback on the different discipline, please note your feedback accordingly so we can track it.

 

Bodyguard Mercenary is probably the only one who doesn't need reparatory compensation of some sort.

 

Innovative Ordnance right now is suffering extremely. Vent Heat and Thermal Sensor Override being fused hurts because you have a lot less control over your heat now, which in turn makes overheating a lot easier. One way of getting around that was being able to hard spam Supercharged Gas, but that too has been considerably lowered with the removal of Jet Rebounder. As it stands right now, Innovative Ordnance has such a ressource management issue that I see it become the least played discipline very, very quickly. There are 2 ways I would fix the heat issues. 1) Critical Damage over Time effects reduce your heat by 1 while Supercharged Gas is active. 2) just reduce the flat costs for Serrated Shot and Incendiary Missile by 5 each.

 

Arsenal mainly suffers in its peak damage because Apex Predator's bonus is not available as a Legendary, but it has offered an alternative, if one can call it that, by making Tracer Missile a lot more spammable with a choice for 0.2s reduced cast time and -2 heat cost. The difference is still there, and still noticeable, but I doubt that it will warrant any additions to compensate on the damage loss. Arsenal feels the same as it did before, but it is no longer as bursty with parsing as it is in its current live version.

.

 

  • As you’re beginning from level 1, do you feel you have enough abilities that keep gameplay interesting?

 

Leveling, at least for me, hasn't changed enough to warrant any detailed notifications on changes, so my answer is yes, I feel there are enough Abilities for an interesting leveling.

.

 

  • Are you able to defeat enemies at a reasonable rate?

 

Only if I play Arsenal. As Innovative Ordnance, depending on what mechanics your enemy has, you overheat so fast and so frequently you can't even take down a single Elite NPC without the use of every defensive cooldown and a healer ally/companion. Bodyguard mercs are heals so the answer is obviously no for that one.

.

 

  • Do all your abilities feel like they’re working together?

 

Since I mainly play Arsenal, yes. The synergy between all Abilities that are relevant is present. I will say that the biggest positive change is that they do so even more than before, mainly due to how Heatseeker missiles (If that choice was made) inflicts a debuff that makes Tracer Missiles deal 5% more damage, making Tracer an even better filler Ability for when all your rotational Abilities are on cooldown.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Having done some extensive testing with mercenary healer, i'm genuinely concerned about some of the limitations its going to find in play

 

There are some key items that need to be reviewed

two of the skills that are commonly used in the builds today are not available for selection choices

 

these are:

Jet rebounder from masterful (cd when hit and small aoe heal, plus heat management properties)

Stabilized Armor from Heroic (30% dmg reduction while stunned and 30% reduction from all aoe's) Which in particular is going to hurt any pvp prospect for mercenary healer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if this is the feedback you're looking for but 2 thoughts on Arsenal changes:

1) The extra cleave options are really fun for lower level content and I love using those choices

2) The class still is clunky with how low the DPS is without using a very specific rotation around primed ignition tactical.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Note: I have not completed every activity. My intent was to complete everything required for the holo log, but with the bugs, sparse grouping opportunities, and activities not checking off (veteran and mm flashpoint weeklies) I think I'm done. I am not going to load up a bunch of screenshots to prove I did something when basic ingame features should be working.

 

Summary.

Disappointed. I agree with the comments that the stories and season 2 should be released, but the rest of the changes should be shelved. Bioware really needs to get everyone together and determine what kind of game they have (or want) and stick to that. At this point with what I saw, the game is all over the map.

 

Leveling - I'm not sure what type of player they are hoping to appeal to. Everything was easy and it just seemed monotonous to spend so much time walking or traveling to a far off location for a very brief and easy encounter.

 

Gearing and abilities - way more complicated than it needs to be. Still, after 10 years, nothing to help players to know what abilities do or what type of gear they need. Having so few abilities through so many initial levels was very dull and unengaging. If just spamming one ability for 23 or so levels is the new idea of engaging or fun then we lost our way somewhere.

 

Max level gearing is rediculously confusing and grindy. I have been around for 10 years so knew where to look and remember some of this same stuff years ago. I feel bad for new players having to figure this out. I really did not like the entire idea that you cannot see anything until you have something to upgrade. Being able to see all possible gear options was always nice for planning purposes and to know what options I had.

 

Interfaces - Some I liked and some I could get used to. Most of it seems unnecessary and didn't seem anymore "modern" than the current version.

 

Flashpoints. The veteran athiss was way too easy. It seemed easier than a solo heroic. Very unrewarding - got zero gear. Who is going to want to do an activity with no reward? MM athiss seemed equivalent to the live server.

 

Path to higher gear. The game basically drops the path for gearing for you and its not a pretty picture. It is also not play your way with the rotating missions and the only possible way to achieve gear goals is to follow the rigid path. Unless the game is a full time job then you have to hit conquest for commendations. You have to do heroics for aqua things. You have to do mm flashpoints for isotopes.

 

New reputation - This new way is way to random and unengaging. I can get as much rep randomly as by doing something specifically to get more rep. Having to go to nar shadda to turn in those things is also unnecessary grind. Why even work on the rep? Very detached from anything to the point of not even caring about it.

 

I am just left disappointed. What kind of game is this now after 7.0? Dull single ability leveling sure does not make the experience engaging. Even if you do stick around to max level what then and why? Grind out gear increases doing things I don't want to do? Conquest is no longer optional in 7.0 unless you want a full time job of using other activities to get the commendations. It pains me to say this as I have been here for 10 years (subbed the entire time) and still think the game has many years of potential - The team has lost their way. Except for the interface and combat style changes, new flashpoint, and new story/daily area the rest should be shelved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
EDIT 10/11: Editing with additional thoughts now that I've had a bit more time to process the changes and we have info on the missing passives.

 

Here are my thoughts on Merc dps changes as a long-time merc main:

 

What is a merc?

 

To me, when I think of the merc class, I think of a fairly tanky class with reliable ranged damage that doesn't necessarily bring a whole lot of group utility to the table, but brings a lot of individual utility and is able to keep themselves alive when the going gets tough.

Thinking outside of swtor and more generally to the star wars universe, a merc is a bounty hunter with all the right tools - able to compete with stronger, force-using opponents like jedi and sith through a combination of sheer willpower and preparation. Whatever gets thrown in their face, mercs have a trick up their sleeve to throw it right back.

 

Unfortunately, merc as it exists in swtor doesn't quite live up to that - its damage (particularly arsenal) is far too weak and its abilities are not very unique or flashy - they mostly just boil down to a different way of shooting someone. These changes do not seem to go very far in pushing merc towards the right direction. Mainly, these changes are a nerf to merc defensive cooldowns, which, although in-line with the general philosophy of 7.0, hurts merc's only real strong suit without bringing any additional utility to the table. Without more adjustment, I see mercs continuing to be left behind in the 7.0 era.

 

General Stuff

 

Thermal Sensor Override and Vent heat have been merged. I am not sure how to feel about this yet. Given that TSO on live should always be used with blazing bolts/unload for maximum heat-venting, it seems like this will restrict when to use vent heat as well. It could be a good change once I've adjusted, but for now I am a bit concerned it takes away options for heat management and adds more reliance on a single "oh sh*t" button.

 

I'm still not at all sold on the idea of making threat drops a choice. Tanks will hate this. Despite subpar sustained damage, nothing pulls threat like a good arsenal merc. I would prefer if the threat drop were a given ability and the defensive bonus attached to it was separated to be the choice instead.

 

Explosive dart and missile blast are still here. Why, exactly? When I heard 7.0 was adopting a streamlining philosophy, these were the first two abilities I thought of that could easily be removed and it would have little to no impact on how merc plays. Yes, I know explosive dart can dot spread for IO, but so can fusion missile. And yes, I know IO has the missile blast proc and the root utility exists, but generally it seems like even sub-30% it is better for IO mercs to gain supercharge stacks unless the boss is going to die immediately. And the root, while maybe useful in pvp, has a big tradeoff with other passives and could easily be folded into other merc abilities. Without major rebalancing, these abilities only function is to confuse new players who don't understand they shouldn't be part of the rotation.

 

Finally, choosing between reflect, hard stun, and hydraulics is gonna be a tough one. I would really rather rocket out become the choice here. Hydraulics, although only a minimal speed boost, is significantly easier to use and provides great raid utility from its ability to negate knockbacks.

 

Arsenal:

 

The spec looks and feels mostly the same from what I've seen. I'd say that's a good thing, but I was honestly hoping arsenal would get something a little flashier. As an arsenal main since launch, I love the class but even I can't deny people are right when they say it's incredibly straightforward (another way to say boring). It also had to suffer the 6.0 era as the lowest parsing dps class. In the era where the Mandalorian TV show helped reinvigorate star wars and created a new generation of bounty hunter fans, it's criminal that arsenal is this boring and underpowered. We have a couple types of missiles, and a couple ways to shoot people. What about those whistling birds from the show? Anything to give the feel of a professional hunter equipped with all the tools to take on epic enemies (isn't that what "arsenal" means?).

 

Along those lines, I really hope the primed ignition tactical will make a return, or (even better), the priming shot DoT will be added as a passive. This was a great addition and added a good deal of strategy in terms of getting the most DoT ticks to an otherwise incredibly simple rotation. Arsenal on live is entirely built around maximizing your damage from this DoT - please, please make it a built-in part of the spec, or replace it with something just as interesting. This pts arsenal rotation just feels blah.

 

IO

 

IO also looks and feels mostly similar to live. Seems like jet boost no longer gains 2 supercharge stacks (or the passive for that is not there yet?). I am cool with this change if intended - it was pretty weird that there ever was a class with a rotational knockback. Honestly, thermal detonator should just replace explosive dart as well (if that ability has to still exist - which it shouldn't unless it's damage value is significantly increased from live). Not much else to comment on here.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Arsenal got propably the worst treatment in 6.0, apart maybe from operatives. We were not likely taken to NIM raids, except certain fights like apex predator. Still we couldn't hold our own when it came to other classes. Can this point be addressed more?

 

I do not know, and probably no one at this stage will know how the balance will look like with new talent trees, legendaries and gear. But if we get another xpac when we are pushed out to the lowest dps, then it will be very disappointing.

 

Another fact is the abilities choice. We can't possibly choose between what is currently offered as we need all them skills to be even considered in the raid rooster. Remove missile blast! No merc has it on their skill bar past level 10!

This is not the biggest issue though as we will make do with what is offered.

 

The only big concern is the damage output. I cannot believe people who write here that devs play Arsenal mercs. It is impossible that they do, because you can see it on the bottom of star parse, every time!!! If you really loved the class, cared about it, you wouldn't just look at how many abilities to save compared to other classes. You would look at what the damage you can put out in a fight.

 

Aren't there any devs playing this spec and wanting for it to be better again? Do you see how poorly you influence the group? Don't you hear the moaning when you have said you're going on your arsenal merc? Look at what you have done to this class and what is once was. We were top dogs when DF/DP hit. I could have easily go toe to toe with marauders and snipers. Now i cant and it brings frustration and need to play other clases. Give us the damage we deserve !

 

This guy though:

 

Dude- your damage is good enough, you got the strongest dcds in the game, you got perma slows build in your rota, you got e-net, you got double rocket out, you got a 30 m range- you don't need hydros, if you do, maybe its time to get good...you have more tools to survive than anyone else, barely loosing any in the upcoming patch while other classes got nerfed to oblivion and you are still complaining?! lmao big time! mercs needed to feel the nerf hammer harder than any other class in the game except conc ops. get real and l2p

 

Damage is good enough? For what ? MM flashpoint? TC/EV farm? Do you even play this game at any level harder than story mode? Mercs have nothing on damage compared to other classes, not looking far powertech.

 

Peace

Edited by Gibonski
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Arsenal got propably the worst treatment in 6.0, apart maybe from operatives. We were not likely taken to NIM raids, except certain fights like apex predator. Still we couldn't hold our own when it came to other classes. Can this point be addressed more?

 

I do not know, and probably no one at this stage will know how the balance will look like with new talent trees, legendaries and gear. But if we get another xpac when we are pushed out to the lowest dps, then it will be very disappointing.

 

Another fact is the abilities choice. We can't possibly choose between what is currently offered as we need all them skills to be even considered in the raid rooster. Remove missile blast! No merc has it on their skill bar past level 10!

This is not the biggest issue though as we will make do with what is offered.

 

The only big concern is the damage output. I cannot believe people who write here that devs play Arsenal mercs. It is impossible that they do, because you can see it on the bottom of star parse, every time!!! If you really loved the class, cared about it, you wouldn't just look at how many abilities to save compared to other classes. You would look at what the damage you can put out in a fight.

 

Aren't there any devs playing this spec and wanting for it to be better again? Do you see how poorly you influence the group? Don't you hear the moaning when you have said you're going on your arsenal merc? Look at what you have done to this class and what is once was. We were top dogs when DF/DP hit. I could have easily go toe to toe with marauders and snipers. Now i cant and it brings frustration and need to play other clases. Give us the damage we deserve !

 

This guy though:

 

 

 

Damage is good enough? For what ? MM flashpoint? TC/EV farm? Do you even play this game at any level harder than story mode? Mercs have nothing on damage compared to other classes, not looking far powertech.

 

Peace

 

This guy gets it. At this point I wonder how many nightmare raiding arsenal mercs are even left. The only time I ever play arsenal in a nightmare raid is if they need the arm break. 6.0 clipped arsenal mercs wings and 7.0 seems to be following that. If they want to prune mercs abilities then why not start with the heals for the dps specs? We get 2 heals and med shot. Include those as choices. I was honestly shocked that rocket out wasn't involved in the choices as it was one of the defensive skills added later in the game. Give us our hydros baseline and put rocket out as the choice instead.

 

Arsenal mercs need some love in the dps department before we all disappear and become PTs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the risk of getting flamed, there are plenty of things Merc lost in bodyguard.

 

they have no aoe damage reduction, no additional reduction while stunned (essential skill for pvp) no enhanced supercharge pushback immunity and defense chance from there, no heal when doing jet boost

 

all of these are skills im actively using on my merc bodyguard today and will have to drop

 

now what i do agree on is the chaff flare addition, that is not required and probably isnt well balanced to add another semi dcd there. However i dont agree that merc has lost nothing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stuff that's improved baseline and is nice:

 

 

  • Chaff Flare now combines IO and Arsenal specific versions for 35% dodge and 2 single target tech/force attacks absorbed for all 3 specs including Bodyguard which used to have nothing.
     
  • Recharge and Reload now builds supercharge stacks by default (was a perk before)
     
  • Stealth Scan is in the bin.

 

Stuff that's cringe:

 

 

  • Vent Heat now combines and applies the effect of Thermal Sensor Override first then after you use that it does the usual Vent Heat.
     
  • Stealth Scan still exists as a perk.

 

Need to put down my tea to constructively rant about Stealth Scan.

 

It's one thing to say a free ability that's baseline has a value greater than zero, it's another to spend a perk point on getting it because that would require deciding Stealth Scan has value greater than Sticky Dart or 6% damage reduction.

 

10 years and the one ability that exists to be anti-stealth still requires landing an aoe reveal on an invisible player as if that's a quality mechanic and not an absurd scenario of blindfolded whackamole.

 

A player in stealth is not doing anything. Sure they can escape or go sightseeing but there's no negative interaction to punish from just being in stealth.

 

A quality anti-stealth mechanic would be a passive or active that reacts or is usable to counter someone at the point they are interacting from stealth because that's a guaranteed opportunity to get value from the ability.

 

Typically an interaction with stealth starts with being controlled, sometimes that's ALL that happens. This is an incredibly reliable interaction that a perk is worth taking to counter.

 

Fantasy Example That Counters Stealth By Countering Controls:

Active ability, usable while controlled. (1) drops the existing Stealth Scan on your characters location, (2) removes existing CC and (3) grants control immunity as long as you stand in the Stealth Scan animation which will be a visible signal for other players.

 

Give it a appropriate cooldown and a debuff or buff for enemy players to notice its status. Perhaps.

 

Outside PVP it would be a personal control resistance puddle. Viable on its own and probably acceptable considering what else already resists and breaks controls in the game.

 

Anyway it would provide meaningful choice on the grounds that it will give zero value when nothing is using controls (most classes lost controls) but high value against the extreme use of controls by stealth.

 

It's crazy that in 2022 you're trying to ship an unchanged Stealth Scan by packaging the widely ignored Live "Heroic" perk of 20% damage buff to the next instant tech ability.

 

Do you want it to be a proper anti-stealth ability with a reliable and useful effect or a cheesy addition to damage rotations like the years of rotational knockback because it granted supercharge stacks.

 

Because paying 1 GCD to get 20% more on even a HSM is not a damage increase. Sure it teases the idea that woah, reveal 4 stealth with blindfolded whackamole and get 100% damage increase! Yes and playing the lottery has the chance to make you a millionaire but guarantees that it makes its operators millions.

 

326 gear + purple augs = HSM doing an average of 42k x 1.2 for SS buff and we get about 50k.

Stealth Scan uses a GCD and by default we can do a Rapid Shot instead which is average 10k per use.

Stealth Scan for +8k or Rapid Shot for 10k and get a Supercharge stack?

Even degenerate damage rotations have to hard pass. At best you take it to pad 1 hit for the start of your dummy parsing because every point counts to be on the leaderboard.

 

It REALLY needs a change and with the implication of the name Stealth Scan it should be taken for the purpose of being anti-stealth not some glued on special effect.

 

 

What would Gyronamics do if asked to think of ways to simplify Mercenary to fit the 7.0 agenda?

 

Mercenary is overloaded with AOE options, while simultaneously not being exceptional at AOE.

 

1) Merge Death from Above and Sweeping Blasters. When Death from Above goes on CD it is replaced by Sweeping Blasters. Functionally identical 10m wide, ranged, 2GCD channelled aoe. People almost always use the stronger, cheaper DFA then if they have to, start using Sweeping Blasters. Make it one button with the roleplay idea that you're down to using your base weapons for some kind of covering fire while recharging the bigger AOE.

 

2) Erase Sweeping Blasters from being a trigger in Barrage for Arsenal (resets Blazing Bolts) and Innovative Particle Accelerator for Innovative Ordinance (resets Mag Shot). Doing AOE should not be a hazard to tripping the invisible internal cooldown of Barrage and Innovative Particle Accelerator that mercenary damage specs are forced to work around by tracking GCD use in their head since it was last activated.

 

3) Delete Sticky Dart and grant the instant cast to Fusion Missile. Did I just invent that? No, that's what the Legacy Plasma Grenade (Republic mirror) has, an instant cast. Sticky Dart is an aoe with a knockback on trash mobs. It's cool "like a real grenade" until you realise it annoys your group and then you because it reduces further aoe due to its aoe knockback. Fusion Missile also briefly incapacitates trash mobs but they stay in place and is all round better.

 

 

The rest of the 7.0 changes for mercenary...

 

...I don't care one way or another about. Everyone is getting screwed about and most of the complaints are driven by terror that someone else will have a better gearset than they will and then they'll get humiliated in PVP and called bad. Might even have a banner planted on their corpse :eek:

 

Way it looks so far mercenary will retain the option to take a lot of damage, even more damage with Chaff Flare change. However losing Thrill of the Hunt and Hydraulics to do that means combat involving movement or slows or roots or physics may be far more punishing than it is worth to go full defensive. Will depend on the scenario.

 

Pretty sure tanky ******* will continue to be the overwhelming impression people will have of the class in PVP and low level PVE.

 

No other outstanding features.

Edited by Gyronamics
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few things that could use some work on for the class abilities and the ability tree.

 

Firstly, with Thrill of the Hunt, being in a tier with other option is very questionable. Having something like the Allows Unload, Blazing Bolts and Progressive Scan to be activated while moving should really be in a standalone level tier. Since this ability is essential for all specs and in all circumstances PVP, PVE from levelling to end game content.

 

Secondly, with the Disabling Shot ability at level 31, having a core ability like this at level makes 31 is a bit too high. If /when you encounter something like Strong, Elite and Champion NPCs (who don't have the immune to interrupts buff) for content like story bosses, heroics, flashpoints and even warzones. This should be a core ability from level 1. If this is not feasible then looking at something like level 10 when you really can start doing content like heroics would be more appropriate.

 

Thirdly, issues while levelling. During the first 20 levels was basically using the same ability (Missile Blast) over and over while (apart from the occasional Rapid Shots). While the other abilities were either a bit pointless and or underwhelming. Other levelling issue is the ability drops, (Especially around level 23), spacing these out more (except for the core starting out abilities) rather than getting them delivered in one level period would make the game feel more fluid

 

Fourthly no Combat revives for DPS (with heals as an off spec). Although was only doing solo content on the PTS. Removing this ability from DPS specs I can see being a huge issue on the live servers, especially in groups with no healers like Veteran Flashpoints. Even in groups with healers doing challenging content like Master Mode Operations, Uprisings, and Flashpoints. As what happens if the healer has gone down no one can revive them in a critical situation which can make or break the fight. Most likely it will end up in a wipe. If you do not wish to return this ability then maybe having the ability to change spec mid fight could be an answer, but would be even more complicated to implement and could have other negative implications.

 

Lastly with the abilities tab, I know this is a WIP (Work in Progress) as a suggestion separating out the passives from the active abilities would be really helpful. One way of doing this is for example is having an Active and Passives tab pop up when once you have selected Mercenary in the dropdown.

Edited by Stariessaber
Link to comment
Share on other sites


×
×
  • Create New...