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Powertech Feedback Thread


JackieKo

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  • Dev Post

With PTS now live, you can help test the Combat Style for the Powertech.

 

Please answer the following questions:

 

  • Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Powertech? Why or why not?
  • If you have feedback on the different discipline, please note your feedback accordingly so we can track it.
  • As you’re beginning from level 1, do you feel you have enough abilities that keep gameplay interesting?
  • Are you able to defeat enemies at a reasonable rate?
  • Do all your abilities feel like they’re working together?

 

Feel free to answer in as much detail as possible to help us understand your thought process and line of thinking.

 

Thank you!

 

EDIT: Added additional feedback questions.

Edited by JackieKo
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Let me start off by saying, I am not an expert in Powertech, but I do use Pyro for NiM raiding even though it's not my main. The info below is based on only Pyrotech.

 

Important changes I noticed so far:

  • Close and Personal doesn't do damage anymore by default. Need the utility from utility tree.
  • Power Yield renamed to Thermal Yield. Can stack up to 5 times.
  • We have to choose between Hydraulic Override and our single target stun Electro Dart
  • We have to choose between being a glass cannon by choosing the Close and Personal Utility and not choosing the utility that reduces aoe damage by 30% or be tankier and do less damage.

 

My initial thoughts:

Overall, I think it sill feels like Pyro PT. There are some interesting passives in the lower level, where you can be a little more aoe oriented or more single target. However some of the choices are painful. I feel like Jet Charge should be a built in ability, rather then it being a choice. It is our main gap closer. Currently, both our gap closers, Jet Charge and Hydraulic Override, are choices. It also hurts to choose between Hydraulic Override and our single target stun. In PvE, this may not be a big deal but in PvP this choice seems bad.

 

Ability Tree choices

 

Level 15:

  • Primed Ignition: Flaming Fist causes your next Immolate to deal 10% more damage
  • Open Flame: Flaming Fist does cleave damage to 4 enemies in 10m radius
  • Uknown

 

Level 20:

  • Jet Charge (Note: you lose Jet Charge if you don't take this).
  • 2 charges for Grapple (Note: You still have 1 charge of grapple if you don't take this).
  • Unknown

 

Level 30:

  • Mandalorian Warhead: Fires a missile that explodes on contact, igniting the target for XX elemental damage and an additional X damage over 15 seconds. Replaces Incendiary Missile.
  • Primed Rail shot: When you deal damage with Incendiary Missile, your next Rail Shot applies Burning Shot. Dealing elemental damage over 12 seconds. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.
  • Unknown

 

Level 35:

  • Boiling Point: When activating Kolto Overload you gain Boiling Point. This allows your Thermal Yield to gain an additional stack and return damage to attackers or your next Sonic Missile will heal allies and grant 10% damage reduction. (Not sure if this is a reflect?)
  • Chilled Retribution: Activating Energy Shield gives 25% movement speed. Taking damage reduces cooldown of Carbonize.
  • Unknown

 

Level 50:

  • Pyro Shield: Energy Shield ignites in blaze dealing elemental damage back to attackers.
  • Gyroscopic Alignment Jets: Vent heat when stunned, immobilized, knocked down.
  • Iron Will: Reduces cooldown of Determination by 30 seconds and Hydraulic Override by 10 seconds.

 

Level 60:

  • Reflective Armor: When Close and Personal is triggered, it will do XX damage to the attacker within 10 meters.
  • Hitman: Interrupt cooldown reduction by 2 seconds and AOE damage reduction by 30%.
  • Suppressive tools: Magnetic Blast, Flame Burst, Flame Sweep slows enemies by 25% for 3 seconds.

 

Level 70:

  • Shield Cannon: Should cannon heals for 3%.
  • Hydraulic Override: Yes, it's a choice.
  • Electro Dart: Yup, our stun is also optional now.

 

Level 80:

  • Enhanced Paralytics: Increases stun duration of Electro darts by 1 second and carbonize by 0.5 seconds.
  • Sonic Rebounder: Sonic Rebounder.
  • Efficient Suit: Allows Kolto Overload to be activated while stunned and causes Kolto Overload to purge stun effects when activated. Basically one of our utilities currently.

Edited by Akushii
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*Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Powertech? Why or why not?

Yes, AP PT feels pretty much the same.

 

Things of note. The following icons have no descriptions:

Lvl 10 Yellow icon (poweryield)

Lvl 15 Middle icon

Lvl 35 First and second icons

 

More to follow as I test....

When choosing the passive to make Retractable Blade an AOE you'll often get additional Retractable Blade animations.

Jet Charge's Battering Ram's animation fails to animate depending on the distance to target.

 

Thoughts:

Although the rotation is pretty much the same, on a whole AP PT is now less than it once was. Placing essential abilities like Jet Charge, Hydraulic Overrides, and Electrodart as choices actually weakens us. We still have low DCD. We have no cure and have to rely on shield and kolto overload. PT's are in the thick of the action and need more not less.

 

Even out some abilities to make them fire out our blaster. EVERYTHING comes out our left bracer. Very lopsided. Either add Shatterslug and Energy Burst to our blaster or get rid of the blaster entirely and give us a Polearm.

 

The channeled Flamethrower is an iconic ability for BH. It's in in our Recharge and Reload animation. IT SHOULD BE BASELINE FOR ALL POWERTECHS. I would gladly give up that stupid Optimus Prime refrigerator Deadly Onslaught off my back for it.

I like the options given at lower levels for more AOE.

I feel the Flame Detonation tactical should be baked into Thermal Detonator.

Heal from Shoulder Cannon or Hydraulic Overrides? Hydraulic Overrides should be a base skill.

Edited by TonyTricicolo
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That channeled flamethrower looks very cool and getting heals on PY is nice but can we have the ability descriptions in a skill tree? I have no idea what am I supposed to choose xD

 

Please, for the love of all thats holy, give this iconic skill back to all specs...

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As always I will provide my reasoning behind the choices for my builds and how they overall feel.

 

Starting with shield tech

 

 

Level 15. Heavy Flamer - Its nice having that iconic ability again though I'm not sure I'll be using it as I do not like standing still too long.The other two passives are good for a small damage boost, I'll go with target rich environment though as its nearly 30% damage boost on all of my tech and elemental attacks.

 

Level 20 Extraction Plan is what I'm going to go with, being able to pull allies with grapple makes translocate useless to me. and the extra charges for grapple are not something I ever felt I needed.

 

Level 30 contracted defense is what I'm gonna go for, it seems very sustainable I can just spam flame attacks to keep up my shield chance. Heat release can be useful in fights with lots of adds where you'll get use of the extra shield rating per enemy hit. Payday makes heat blast single-target only, which I am not a fan of however the lowered cooldown of neural dart is nice. I don't think it makes up for the single-target only heat blast though

 

Level 35 as a PvEr I don't see any use in the stealth scan or the guard passive lowering the cooldown on sonic missile, since I won't get use of either I'll go with mandalorian iron as the shortening of the cooldown of energy yield will be useful. Plus a little defense boost never hurts.

 

Level 50 Iron Will, cooldown reducers are really needed for the speed boost and CC breakers. I always take this in the life game and I don't see this changing in 7.0

 

Level 60, once again the other two passives don't seem that interesting to me as a PvEr. I don't think the root effects to our flame attacks that suppressive tools give are or the reflective armor passive are worth the reduced cooldown for our interrupt plus the 30% damage reduction if stunned as shield tech, as pyrotech the damage reduction for AOEs is nice I suppose.

 

Level 70. Shield cannon giving you health whenever its rockets deal damage is a good perk, I'll miss it that being said the other two choices are awful. As PT we're already not the most mobile class so making us choose between our speed boost and a hard stun is not nice, I think one of them at least should remain baseline. I suppose we at least still have carbonite if we need to hard stun something so I guess I'd go with hydraulic overrides.

Level 80 I'll go with sonic rebounder. I like protecting my group mates from damage.

 

 

Overall it doesn't feel too different from how PT plays in live, my rotation is pretty much the same with the added option of turning firestorm into the original flamethrower if I ever want to. Only complaint is the choice between electro dart and hydraulic overrides. But I quite enjoy the new passives.

 

As for Pyrotech here is my textwall

 

Level 15- All passives seem pretty good, its mostly what you want to prioiritize. I'll go with primed ignition for extra damage on immolate. Though open flaming making it so it can hit other targets besides the primary will be useful in AOE fights, Heat stroke is interesting, a total of 40% extra damage for your gas cylinder... I'd have to parse it to determiner whether or not its useful overall.

Level 20 - Jet charge should remain baseline, again powertechs are not the most mobile class we need a way to get to our target quickly so we can start doing damage. The extra charges that second contract gives aren't useful to me, and while heat chain makes grapple interesting by slowing the targets its not a worthy tradeoff for jet charge.

Level 30 is really interesting, I'm assuming damage numbers are bugged for mandalorian warhead, as both it and incendiary missile says they deal the initial amount of damage then 0 damage for 15 seconds. I'm guessing this will be a way to deal more of that DOT damage on the initial hit, primed rail shot is what I'll go with for more general fights as the extra DOT will be nice. For AOE fights definitely will go for whistling birds, the extra aoe damage on incendiary missile will help melt adds even quicker.

Level 35 both boiling point and chilled redistribution are good defensive passives, the former is what I'm gonna go with because extra stack of power yield will give even more armor rating and damage buff, not sure how useful the heal on the sonic missile could be but I suppose the 10% damage reduction can be helpful to my groups. The latter grants an immunity to incapacitating effects and extra speed when we pop energy shield, which can help to mitigate hydraulic override's loss if you choose not to go for that in level 70 though very little, still think our speed boost should be baseline.

My answers for the rest of the levels are the same as shield tech's.

 

Overall not too different from live, I like the extra synergy between abilities.

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So, although I haven't dug deep into the new PT tree, from what I am seeing for feedback so far is same stuff, different day.

 

Getting tired of BW publicly claiming they "listen to the community"; then when they put stuff up on PTS and ask for our feedback, they completely ignore us!

 

We, the community, have been beachin that the upper level choices are asking us to cut an arm off and still play as if nothing has changed.

 

Yea the core rotational abilities are there, it is in the utility abilities (stuns, CCs, CDs, etc) that we have to choose between that are the killers and make the new trees not feel like the classes we are used to. It's like playing level 808 content with level 60 abilities on our action bars.

 

With the release of the current classes, being so buggy, it is painfully obvious that the devs are being rushed to get this content out. At this rate, a release of 7.0 in December or early January is not looking good. It will either be garbage and full of bugs or incomplete.

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Before I get into my current review/opinion of Pyrotech, I just wanted to echo the previous posters and ask you guys to please bring back Flamethrower for all specs, it's an iconic ability for PTs and shouldn't have been removed IMO. And if you ask me, I would gladly sacrifice Searing Wave and the mobility it gives the class to get my favorite ability back.

 

Now as for my experience playing around with Pyrotech. It pretty much has the same playstyle from the live version of the game and the only real thing that's new are the utilities, most of which are passive and don't really have an impact on the rotation. The two exceptions here are Open Flame, which turns Flaming Fist into a cleave capped at 5 targets, and Mandalorian Warhead, which turns Incendiary Missile into a single target nuke with a 15 second CD. Normally, I would talk about some of the other utility options but quite a few of them don't have descriptions.

 

Open Flame is nice because it gives us more options for our AoE rotation but Mandalorian Warhead honestly feels quite awkward to use, the added burst damage is nice but it slaps a hefty cooldown onto one of the spec's main dots. This makes having to deal with priority adds in certain encounters a pain to deal with. My suggestion is to consider reducing the cooldown to make it less punishing in that regard.

 

Also, regarding the level 20 utility row, Jet Charge is the clear winner and is way more useful than a second grapple charge. Especially for a melee dps spec like Pyrotech because we need to be able to get from Point A to point B if a priority add spawns during an encounter and especially in PvP where gap closers are worth their weight in gold. I would honestly considering keeping Jet Charge as a baseline ability because it easily beats out the other options on that row imo. And in its place I would add Pneumatic Boots from the current utility tree on live.

Edited by validatio
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Been playing PT since launch.

 

This is arguably the worst it's ever felt. Our only escape mechanic, Hydraulic Overrides, is actually a CHOICE in the talent tree and competes with our hard stun. What?? Jet Charge is an option?? What??

 

It seems the team ran out of time and you literally threw the decent existing utilities into this tree and mixed them with some of our base abilities.

 

Jet Charge should never be a choice.

Hydraulic Overrides should never be a choice.

 

These are core abilities. We have the worst DCDs in the game, the worst survivability, terrible (read: no) mobility, and now you're taking away our only means of escape?

 

We need Jet Charge, Hydraulic Overrides, and Electro Dart baseline.

 

Reduce the damage of all abilities by 10%.

 

Provide a passive: "Beskar Plating: You gain an additional 35% armor rating from all sources, and reduces tech and force damage by 7.5%."

 

Replace Jet Charge talent with "Jetpack Power Boost: Jet Charge cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds, and casting Jet Charge causes your next Rail Shot to be usable on any target and deal 10% additional damage."

 

Replace Hydraulic Overrides option with "Resilient Overdrive: The first 2 seconds of Hydraulic Overrides provides 99% damage reduction."

 

Replace Electro Dart talent with "Quick Reload: Electro Dart's cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds, and it's duration is reduced by 1.5 seconds."

 

And for God's sakes, just bring back Flamethrower for all PT specs. It's iconic. It's cool. We all want it back. Allow Flame Burst/Magnetic Blast to build up to 10 stacks to unleash a big burst flamethrower channel..

 

This spec was the only one in the game that needed more survivability, and instead the current changes are going to make it worse.

 

PLEASE take the advice of the player base, especially the 10 year players. We are your best source of feedback.

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited by Wilsu_Addar
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Shieldtech

 

level 15 - channeled flamethrower returns? Nice, but there is no info on what these augments to Firestorm do, would be nice to know. Hopefully it makes it a conal aoe with some kind of slow/root

 

level 20 - missing ability info, is this supposed to be an augment for harpoon? How about having harpoon listed on the tree underneath and then three morphs to give second contract, allow harpoon to also work on party members, or be a shorter range aoe pull (like Forex has in tank mode)

 

Level 30 - passive descriptions missing on Heat Blast

 

Level 35 - Stealth Scan should not be an optional ability. I would rather see it standard and also get upgraded to slow stealthers, as well as working on NPCs so it isn't just a PVP ability

- Reactive missile is good, abilities that can cooldown taunts are always good to see

 

Level 50 - underwhelming choices. Very confusing that you still have Iron Will when you are planning to make HO optional kind of messy.

 

Level 60 - another set of underwhelming choices

 

Level 70 - HO and Dart are optional? No.

 

Level 80 - Underwhelming

 

Overall I am thoroughly unimpressed. It looks to me like you got as far as level 30 and then stopped working on the changes. There is so little here that makes me feel like I am making dynamic choices that affect how I am playing.

 

How about pulling in one of the merc shield abilities to give energy shield some more guts, as we have been begging for.

 

How about looking at rocket punch to give it some morphs, perhaps to apply a slow for pvp, or integrate hitman into it so that every time you punch you reduce the cd on quell.

 

Why do I not have an ability to set oil slick on fire with flame sweep?

 

As with merc, this looks like a rushed attempt to get the changes on PTS and very little effort was put into giving us dynamic choices that allow us to augment our gameplay. Choosing between what should be baseline abilities and repeats of the same utilities we've had for years is not dynamic.

Edited by Baletraeger
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Level 15 seems like an interesting choice. I like the idea of having to option to go back to channeled Flamethrower. The other two options seem really nice for some extra damage. One specialising in AoE situations, the other being superior in single target situations.

 

Level 20 is kind of mediocre for PvE imo. Translocate is pretty much worthless. Getting an extra grapple can be nice, but is very niche and grappling teammates can be useful, but probably mostly for trolling purposes. Would be nice to get a good PvE oriented option here, and moving Translocate to level 70 replacing Hydraulics (which should be baseline!!!)

 

Level 30 I really like the idea of a single target Heat Blast, but it might lose out to the more AoE oriënted Contracted Defense. Since Flame Burst and Sweep will generate stacks as well, you'll be able to keep a 5% shield chance on indefinitely, rather than the 3% from Payday. Probably increase Payday's shield chance increase to 5% as well so it can keep up and properly compete.

 

Level 35 Mandalorian Iron seems pretty much mandatory. 3% extra DR is nice, and so is a lower CD on Energy Yield. Stealth Scan is useless in PvE and so is the other talent, as Guard only redirects damage in PvP. Don't mind though, because Mandalorian Iron is great.

 

Level 50 Iron Will is a bit of a strange option considering Hydraulics is optional now. If you're hell bent on keeping Hydraulics optional (I'll get to this at level 70!) maybe incorporate the CD reduction there.

 

Level 60 is fine, some old utilities, none of which are mandatory, but all of which have their uses.

 

Level 70 is horrible. You can't make us choose between Hydraulics and our hard stun. Also where is the 75% movespeed on Hydraulics?! Please just make Hydraulics baseline for Powertechs, and possibly include the 45% extra movespeed from utility right now, or make that an option somewhere. Put Deadly Onslaught as an option here for all I care, just give us Hydraulics.

 

Level 80 is fine. Rebounders are probably standard for PvE, but the increased stun duration could be nice for PvP and a couple of fights in PvE (using the utility version on first few Dxun fights to great succes). Efficient Suit could be nice to act as an additional Stun Breaker, but I never really use it on live and probably will continue to not use it.

 

Energy Yield is intersting, but not what we need. We need the 6-piece from the Emergency Power set to be baseline for PT tanks. That allows us to somewhat compete with Shroud and Saber Reflect. Getting a cleanse somewhere would be great too.

 

tl;dr: Give us Emergency Power 6-piece baseline. Make Hydraulics baseline, allow us to get the speed increase utility (to 75% as on live). Add a more intersting PvE oriented option at level 20, moving Translocate to level 70 to fill the gap of the now baseline Hydraulics. All the rest seems pretty good for Powetech.

Edited by AdjeYo
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It's not on the PTS

 

I'm fully aware of that, that's why I called it "missing text" and Bioware made a list of "missing descriptions". Still this is how the options function as you pick them. All that seems to be missing is the description, they do function as described in the forum post I linked.

Edited by AdjeYo
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AP

 

level 15 - Power burst is very meh, a total 20% increase in damage? Maybe add an autocrit to it at full stacks as well.

 

level 20 - Another example of forcing us to choose between core abilities instead of giving us dynamic choices. I get having second contract and reel rattle to augment harpoon, but then I loose my primary class gap closer?

 

Level 30 - I like to see augments to retractable blade, but these are all so similar that it doesn't feel like the choice matters. Maybe have one of the choices based on something other than the refresh?

 

Level 35 - Stealth Scan should not be an optional ability. I would rather see it standard and also get upgraded to slow stealthers, as well as working on NPCs so it isn't just a PVP ability

 

Level 50 - underwhelming choices. Very confusing that you still have Iron Will when you are planning to make HO optional kind of messy.

 

Level 60 - another set of underwhelming choices

 

Level 70 - HO and Dart are optional? No.

 

Level 80 - Underwhelming

 

Overall not a whole lot of excitement here for AP. I like that with some of the augments that it feels like you could break up the usual rotation and still deliver some devastating burst, but this trend of focusing on making punishing choices with regards to defensives and utility skills instead of creating dynamic choices on combat abilities continues. Especially considering AP PT might be the most glass cannon in the game.

 

Hopefully you are planning to spend some more time on these ability trees to give some love to energy shield, take another look at gap closing abilities, and give some more interesting choices to blade.

 

As is I probably wouldn't continue to play an AP for PT DPS if this is the plan.

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tl;dr: Give us Emergency Power 6-piece baseline. Make Hydraulics baseline, allow us to get the speed increase utility (to 75% as on live). Add a more intersting PvE oriented option at level 20, moving Translocate to level 70 to fill the gap of the now baseline Hydraulics. All the rest seems pretty good for Powetech.

 

Shield PTs have super Hydraulic already, the speed increase is baseline passive for tanks. They kinda baked the right price set into the spec so i think having EP bubble as well is not in their agenda. But it would be nice to have pseudo shroud to cheese mechanics with but that is on par with self cleance - encounters like apex Nim are just not feasible with a tank that can't self cleance... But this is why most Nim prog tanks play two or three tank specs and it's an alright solution as well.

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Shield PTs have super Hydraulic already, the speed increase is baseline passive for tanks. They kinda baked the right price set into the spec so i think having EP bubble as well is not in their agenda. But it would be nice to have pseudo shroud to cheese mechanics with but that is on par with self cleance - encounters like apex Nim are just not feasible with a tank that can't self cleance... But this is why most Nim prog tanks play two or three tank specs and it's an alright solution as well.

 

Interesting, didn't see if it on any of the passives, but it definitely is there you're right. Still I think having either EP bubble or a cleanse is kind of a must for PT tanks to have any hope of seriously competing with Sins and Juggs.

 

Also it's not Right Price that they baked into the spec, but more or less the opposite effect. Right Price reduces the CD on Fuel if you get hit during Power Yield. The new passive reduces the cooldown on Energy Yield if you take damage during Fuel.

Edited by AdjeYo
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Alright, had a few duels against a merc (mostly Arsenal) with my pt scank tank and a few on AP (lost all the times lol)

I usually play tank spec and I'm obviously not the best PT PvP player but I've got some solid experience IMO (12500 player kills on my PT main char, I mostly play unranked)

 

First off, I'd like to notice that there is still no counterplay to being mezzed a few times in a row:

even with utility, breaker cd is at least 35s longer than Concussion Missile (or any other mezz), which means the second time you get mezzed you just gonna watch your opponents heal themselves without being able to do anything about it, there were duels where I got mezzed 3 times in a row.

 

Second, the Firestorm/Heavy Flamer damage feels underwhelming, and the channeled variation needs both utility and damage to compensate for the fact that it is a standing still channel, otherwise, the choice doesn't feel balanced, there is no tradeoff for the mobility loss and risks of escapes and interrupts during the channel except that channel looks cool and instant cast looks meh.

 

In general, the survivability of a tank spec feels good, but it gets countered with mezz+selfheal combo, so it's still not as good as DwH classes, the damage feels underwhelming.

 

Speaking of AP, well, it still feels like a glass cannon: I could survive the Electro Net and get him almost to 0 but then he popped a few CD's and I'm dead xD (I don't play DPS specs frequently tho so I may be missing something)

 

Didn't try Pyro in duels cuz I felt like it's gonna be the same experience as AP)

Edited by Voroschuk
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It seems the team ran out of time and you literally threw the decent existing utilities into this tree and mixed them with some of our base abilities.

 

This couldn't be more true, as a tank vanguard/power tech player I'll never understand why this update has juggernauts and assassins with base abilities mixed in with their talents and 3 options that actually are new and augment the ability. While power tech tanks get base ability with our current enhancements as options. For the love of everything can we just get the SHIELD TECH spec to have as much SHIELD chance as the freakin assassin class??? We already have to time our heat blast for the increased absorption and constantly use rocket punch / rail shot for a measly 3% shield chance while assassins press 1 button for theirs and then have a cheese for nearly every fight in the game afterwards.

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PLEASE take the advice of the player base, especially the 10 year players. We are your best source of feedback.

Big disagree here

 

Old players could be one of the worst people to listen exactly because they are old players and thus far too attached to the old design, no matter how problematic or unhealthy the design could be, as someone coming from WoW i can attest that often one of the worst people to take feedback from are old players who are so entitled and just want things to not change much.

 

It is why most of the time, any big serious change or restructuring causing a huge negative reaction by the community like we see in 7.0, same thing with WoW, older players cant handle change very well because now they have to re-learn everything and in a sense start from scratch and that takes them out of their comfort zone or simply they lose that feeling of attachment they had to the previous design.

 

Instead of being excited to see how things change and relearning a new game, they seem to be fearful of such an experience and want things to barely change even though the devs have a very logical reason for the design changes, they need to fix a blatant problem that existed due to additions to previous design choices, they might want a clean slate, they might want to redesign something in order to make it easier to handle, those are all very logical and understandable reasons for wanting to change things.

 

Meanwhile many old players mostly dont want big changes because it takes them out of their comfort zone, that is an emotional reason and not something that is as serious and the systematic changes the devs try to make in the design of the game.

 

And keep in mind, you want the game to remain new player friendly, games that try to focus too much on old invested players dont do that well with new players, WoW being a good example since quite literally everything relevant is gated behind organized group content and you cant just que for it and get good rewards so they are forcing the old outdated idea of "if you want good stuff, you should be force to socialize, join groups and guilds else you dont get good rewards".

 

Thankfully Swtor is far more new player friendly in that regard since they dont gate the best reward behind exclusive high end group content but WoW gives the industry a good example of what happens when you try to focus a bit more on your old players via exclusives and loyalty rewards and give some scraps to new and casual players.

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Big disagree here

snip

 

Big disagree with your post ralphie. While I can see the point you're trying to make, it's disingenuous to disregard the thousands of comments the player base has made as the emotional ramblings of over the hill gamers.

 

If the devs wanted to redesign the game from the ground up to present a fresh version of the game I doubt the backlash would be nearly as bad (Like Final Fantasty 14).

 

However, that's not what they're doing. They're removing critical functionality to make their own lives easier at the expense of the player base. The part that gets me is that they have the audacity to try and sell it as "a way to enable more player choice and maintain the unique identity of the class".

 

It's literally subtraction.

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Big disagree here

 

Old players could be...

 

I respect your opinion but I disagree entirely for a few reasons.

 

1. Long time players are your target customers. They're already paying and feeding into the cartel market. They're loyal. That customer base must be protected. Business wise, these customers are worth 2-3 new customers. It makes sense at a money level. Keeping them happy is a top priority for the business to continue to succeed.

 

2. The long term players have seen all the iterations of the class. Your players are your best source of feedback because they play the game infinitely longer than the Devs play it. They have encountered all the scenarios both good and bad and can speak to it.

 

3. The long term players know that change is inevitable. That doesn't mean it is good change. The long term players and MMO veterans know what FUN change looks like. As it stands now, there is nothing positive nor fun to come of Powertech changes. It truly feels like the devs were crunched for time and just took away core abilities and regurgitated existing utilities/tactical.

 

I've played the PT class for 10 years. I played WoW for over 15 years. No one cares when you change Shatter Slug. We didn't like losing Unload but we accepted it. Losing flamethrower really hurt. We dealt with it when they entirely redid our specs and swapped them between each other. All those things were ok. We understand.

 

Taking away core functional abilities and DECREASING the class' survivability is mind-numbingly bad. This is the most squishy class in the game. You don't remove its mobility and CC...literally the only things it has to try to live.

 

We wanted to see interesting twists on existing abilities. For example, you could have an entire row dedicated to Hydraulic Overrides. One talent gives us the 4 second increase, one gives us the 45% speed boost, and one gives us 99% reduced damage taken for 2-3 seconds. We wouldn't LIKE it but we would accept it as meaningful choice. As it stands, removing it from the class kit does not offer meaningful choice.

 

The purpose of these talent trees was supposed to be about customization. Instead, we will get LESS diversity as everyone will be forced to talent into abilities they should never have lost.

 

A new expansion should instill hope and excitement, and all the feedback I see is people shaking their heads and being annoyed/upset.

 

The feedback should be a wake up call to Bioware. This was their chance to do something really cool. Instead, it's a huge let down.

 

I'm not sure we should have expected anything different though. The game right now is as balanced as its ever been, save for operatives. But just wait until 7.0....because the reduced mobility/CC across the board is going to make a tank/healer combo an unkillable GOD in PvP.

 

I hope they can make adjustments before it's too late. But we should expect it to go live exactly as it is now, and that's truly a sad thing.

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Can we stop this old vs new player feedback thing here?

 

Let's go back to more important things, such as why can't pt tanks be as good as the other 2 in raiding, and more importantly for me, who the hell thought that this is super fun and cool idea to let some classes stun you and let you watch em self heal in PvP, or that some classes should be the punching bags in 1v1 and super OP with guard/pocket heals and that it's not gonna break the balance in any way :rak_02:

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This couldn't be more true, as a tank vanguard/power tech player I'll never understand why this update has juggernauts and assassins with base abilities mixed in with their talents and 3 options that actually are new and augment the ability. While power tech tanks get base ability with our current enhancements as options. For the love of everything can we just get the SHIELD TECH spec to have as much SHIELD chance as the freakin assassin class??? We already have to time our heat blast for the increased absorption and constantly use rocket punch / rail shot for a measly 3% shield chance while assassins press 1 button for theirs and then have a cheese for nearly every fight in the game afterwards.

 

Eh, I think that PTS version of PT tank has still the best passive mitigation, even better than live version with Mandalorian Iron and Contracted Defense passives. The problem this discipline has always had is the lack of DoT and internal/elemental damage mitigation, as well as the lack of tools to mitigate short period heavy burst damage. Increasing the shield chance can't solve this problem, heals on Power Yield is a step in the right direction tho, and I don't think that referring to the name of the spec or class makes any sense here, like wth PowerTech is supposed to mean? (Mandalorian Combat Style sounds much better;))

 

My suggestions for Shield Tech survivability would be:

1. Energy Yield cleanses all negative effects after reaching 5 stacks.

2. Give us Sonic Rebounders on self as a baseline Sonic Missile buff, so we could have a reflect when we need it.

3. Reduce the CD on Determination (breaker) to the same CD as every mezz to avoid the annoying mezz+selfheal cheese of Opers, Mercs and Sorcs (I think this should be a must for every non-DwH class)

 

Suggestions for Heavy Flamer choice to make it feel something more than a RP gimmick pick:

1. The damage should be a bit higher than Firestorm: stretching out the same damage to 3s channel is a DPS loss.

2. Every 15 sec Heavy Flamer stuns the targets for 2 sec if they are affected by your taunts.

3. Shatter Slug slows the targets by 70% for 3 sec

The second and third utilities can get some nice combos and choices for offensive/defensive use of your taunts and slows and they guarantee that at least some of the channel damage will be applied.

Edited by Voroschuk
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