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Powertech wishlist for 7.0


AdjeYo

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I'm hoping to see the Powertech combat style on PTS relatively soonish, and I wanted to give a few points that I would really liked to see changed for Powertech tanks specifically in 7.0. In PvE, they're the left behind tank (and have been for a while). Assassins are almost mandatory on a lot of fights due to their cheesing ability with Shroud, ehanced by Two Cloaks giving more Shrouds or Friend of the Force allowing them to share Shroud. Juggernauts are just solid tanks, with a good balance between passive mitigation, strong cooldowns and Mad Dash/Saber Reflect to avoid damage.

 

The first thing Powertech tanks need is for the 6 piece from Emergency Power to become baseline, this masssive damage shield finallly gives Powertechs something somewhat close to Shroud and Reflect/Dash, but it shouldn't be locked behind a Dxun hm+ set. It's the difference between viability and non viability of PT tanks on some fights.

 

Prune Translocate. I don't want it, I don't need it, I've never wanted or needed it. In PvE it's utterly useless except for annoying your teammates and in PvP its usefulness is questionable as well. Needing you to be away from the target you want to defend and then being locked behind a casting time. If you don't want to remove it entirely, make it a choice somewhere so that we can forgo it and pick another option.

 

Possibly make Carbonize a tank only skill. Bioware seems to want to remove CC from most classes, Sents losing Awe and Stasis, Guardians having to opt into Awe, Flashbang and Debilitate also being choices. Carbonize could replace Translocate as one of the tank abilities, so that tanks can still retain a little more CC, while overall CC goes down. (You're also done with stacked PT dps doing triple Carbonize).

 

Buff Kolto's healing to Merc levels, make it one of 3 ability choices if you have to. It just heals to slowly, and stops at too low health percentage right now. In PvE you're still very much left in one-shot range, in PvP you're not that far above execute range.

 

Maybe prune Stealth Scan? Powertechs have already lost a few abilities over the years (looking at you Missile Blast and Overload), so I wouldn't prune too many abilities from them. However Stealth Scan could be an ability that can in my opinion be removed. It could also come as an option with the bonus movement speed from the utility baked in.

 

Another potential prunable ability might be Deadly Onslaught. With Searing Wave/Firestorm, Shatter Slug and Flame Sweep we're not exactly hurting for AoE abilities. Deadly Onslaught was given as a replacement for Death from Above. However without the latter's 30m range (and with its incredibly wonky animation) plus its superfluousness due to other AoE abilities, I could live without it.

 

Something like Kolto (70%), Power Yield (plus EP 6-piece for tanks) and Stealth Scan/Deadly Onslaught/Translocate could be the seemingly mandatory choice between 3 abilities.

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The very first ability I can think of that I'd want to prune from the Powertech absolutely is translocate. I've never seen it being used in an actually effective manner beyond trolling. Replacing it with carbonite is a good idea considering the overall reduction in CC on non tank specs. Considering current set bonuses won't work in 7.0, Powertech absolutely should have their set bonus baseline - or gain a brand new tank skill that replaces translocate.

 

I would actually argue that if Powertech is to lose one of its AOE options, AP should lose searing wave while Shield Tech and Pyro should lose deadly onslaught. My reasoning being that AP buffs Deadly Onslaught while having no use for searing wave, meanwhile Pyro needs searing wave and Shield Tech replaces it with firestorm. That way every spec gets their own unique and powerful AOE option.

 

I fully expect stealth scan to be removed since it's realistically a PvP only skill, and Guardian's lost freezing force which is more or less their version of stealth scan.

 

I never understood why Merc's kolto was more than twice as good as Powertech's kolto. It already should have been the other way round. It's ridiculous that a dps Merc has stronger defensives than a Tank PT and this rebalancing is a golden opportunity to rectify that. Personally I cannot wait to see Merc's get gutted. They're boring to play and play against especially in PvP because of their overwhelming defensive power (in my opinion).

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Superheated Fuel baseline maybe? We know that current tacticals won't work at 76+ lvl, and that tactical is a must for Pyro in any content, it is also the most useful tactical for tanks in PvP, and AP's damage won't be affected by buffed flame attacks because they just don't use them.

 

And if PTs are going to lose their Stealth Scan, maybe they should get more passive stealth detection? At least Mercs can spam Sweeping Blasters for the same effect but PTs will have nothing.

 

Agree with ditching Translocate 100%:rak_05:

Edited by Voroschuk
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I love how everyone is talking about taking away useless abilities while dps jugg lost intercede/aoe taunt/ and its 3 "useless" abilites are endure pain/reflect/mad dash.

 

Guardians also lost Freezing Force and Force Clarity, which are more in the ballpark of Stealth Scan and Translocate. And I'd really like to see Guardian Leap added back baseline, as well as Reflect (making the choice Enure/Blitz/Awe).

 

In this post I'm suggesting making Carb a tank exclusive, definitely hurting utility for dps powertechs, making Kolto Overload and Power Yield options to choose between. Kolto being an important defensive, and Power Yield being an okay defensive which also is vital for Powertechs dps output. (and incredibly important for PT tanks to be even close to competing with Juggs and Sins through the Emergency Power 6-piece).

 

I'm also fully assuming AoE taunt is gone for all dps specs, including Powertechs. Would prefer it wasn't, so didn't explicitly mention it, but we can be pretty sure it'll be gone when Powertechs hit PTS.

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I wouldn't worry about what should be added or buffed yet, as what we have seen so far on PTS with every class has been nerfs and prunes to make you decide certain dcds and movement skills or utility that should be mandatory but forcing you to choose either that skill or a another utility/dcd/movement skill, so you can already expect powertechs to be losing a few things here and there, don't forget they are also getting rid of utility points so more than likely also means you will be losing out on whatever was good there also.
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Generally speaking I'm in agreement with OP and others about abilities. Pruning Translocate :):) It's a fun abliity, but basically useless.

 

One thing I would very much like to see is blaster rifle yielding PT. Animations and lore aside, I would much prefer the damage potential/range of the rifle over a pistol. I wish I could spout the number off the top of my head but they go something like:

Pistol: 2000 - 3500

Rifle: 2500 - 3000

 

As a result, when tanking, the DPS has a better chance of pulling aggro if my early numbers are on the low end. Then there are times when I get aggro come hell or high water. The tighter numbers mean more predictable threat generation.

 

A note regarding Vanguards, can we please get rid of Storm and use PT's Jet Charge instead? Would this break lore? Honestly, the animation for Storm breaks the immersion of the game for me. It just doesn't work when going over a gap in the ground, or up or down a cliff or level.

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I agree with OP.

 

So far, of what we were able to see, I'm definitely not thrilled by the pruning. Despite the claim it would allow for "more customization", I mainly see a net loss in our toolbelt, making the various class less viable to adapt in diverse situation. And sometime we lose some abilities that made the flavor of the class.

 

But for Powertech, (and I'm mostly speaking about the Shield tech here), I doubt Bioware could do much harm, even if they tried. Along the years, the class got gutted several time already. It got streamlined to the point our already quite easy rotation became a snoozefest. And instead we're somehow supposed to care about Translocated, which unlock at level 42 as a supposed staple of our discipline path (although barely anyone use it).

 

In addition to that the visually ever-awesome abilities such as Flamethrower or Death From Above were replaced by their ugly little cousins Firestorm and the even uglier Deadly Onslaught (although from a mobility point of view, both these change were obviously good).

 

On top of that, in term of group content, the powertech maybe became slightly less desirable than other tank, indeed, and are maybe a touch more reliant on gear.

 

So quite frankly, I would consider powertech in a rather weak spot currently. So please, by all mean, Prune translocate, if that somehow allow you to tweak our rotation slightly and make it more exciting, I'm all for it.

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But for Powertech, (and I'm mostly speaking about the Shield tech here), I doubt Bioware could do much harm, even if they tried.

 

Considering before disciplines are applied, Powertech and Vanguard have about 26 abilities, they really don't have much to lose compared to the other classes. The Guardian for example has 28 on live, and their total number before disciplines has gone down to 20 on the PTS. Every combat style so far has had 5 abilities in their ability tree. 2 opt in and 3 you choose between at level 70. In a best case scenario considering this, the Powertech might not fully lose a single ability and will simply have 5 abilities shifted into the ability tree. (Alternatively they lose stealth scan as their sole perma-removed ability)

 

Looking at what the Guardian has in their ability tree we could maybe extrapolate for Powertech since both are dps/tank roles.

 

Guardian has cyclone slash (aoe) and awe (aoe soft stun) as their opt ins. Enure (temp health), saber reflect (literal reflect) and blade blitz (movement / dcd) as the level 70 choose between. This leaves Guardian with Focused Defence and Saber Ward as their baseline defensives.

 

The Powertech might expect to have shatter slug become an opt in ability alongside carbonize. Aoe damage ability and aoe stun - same as Guardian.

 

The level 70 options are where it gets tricky considering Powertech has 3 defensives on live whereas Guardian has 5. This means that only one dcd should be shifted into the ability tree at a maximum - likely a buffed power load or kolto seeing as how Guardian and Sentinel both have saber ward and both kept it baseline on the PTS, same as how Merc and PT both have their bubble shield. The tank spec might then gain back this dcd baseline just as Guardian tank gained enure back in exchange for guardian leap becoming opt in (translocate could fit in here if the devs desperately want to keep the worst ability in the game).

 

I'd expect grapple to also become a level 70 option as the "mobility" tool with heavy quotation marks. I honestly don't know what the last ability could be, there's nothing left that wouldn't utterly break the class in some capacity aside from maybe their single target hard stun - but Guardian kept their single target stun baseline. Losing either of hydraulic override and jet charge would be devastating towards their mobility. Losing shoulder cannon would nerf AP too much etc etc.

 

 

This is why we need answers from the devs on why some classes are losing way more than others and some answers about just how different the "deep dive" will be from the current "high level" focus. The Sentinel has merely 18 abilities before disciplines on the PTS down from around 27 on live. The operative has 22 on the PTS in comparison. It's confusing why the devs seem determined to make every combat style and discipline lose 5 abilities to the ability tree as opt in or choose betweens when this is not necessary for every spec.

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Preparing my popcorn stashes to see what they are gonna prune from PT/Merc avoiding dumbing it to a 3-button-mashing. To me both Arsenal and AP specs are extremely boring and uninteresting to play. My biggest fear in terms of 7.0 was every other "complicated" spec would be pruned to their standard. Hope it'll be the opposite and both get some sort of fun proc/rotation to play around, bc if they indeed take away more abilities, I bet even my dog will be able to succeed as AP/Arsenal.
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Preparing my popcorn stashes to see what they are gonna prune from PT/Merc avoiding dumbing it to a 3-button-mashing. To me both Arsenal and AP specs are extremely boring and uninteresting to play. My biggest fear in terms of 7.0 was every other "complicated" spec would be pruned to their standard. Hope it'll be the opposite and both get some sort of fun proc/rotation to play around, bc if they indeed take away more abilities, I bet even my dog will be able to succeed as AP/Arsenal.

 

In general, non aoe rotational abilities are not being pruned (unless you are engineering sniper in which case for some reason they have to choose between either orbital strike or takedown being opt in abilities). Hopefully during the "deep dive" we actually see some new discipline passives and changes etc to make things more interesting - especially considering some abilities that have passives are being removed. Fingers crossed anyway.

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I'm hoping to see the Powertech combat style on PTS relatively soonish, and I wanted to give a few points that I would really liked to see changed for Powertech tanks specifically in 7.0. In PvE, they're the left behind tank (and have been for a while). Assassins are almost mandatory on a lot of fights due to their cheesing ability with Shroud, ehanced by Two Cloaks giving more Shrouds or Friend of the Force allowing them to share Shroud. Juggernauts are just solid tanks, with a good balance between passive mitigation, strong cooldowns and Mad Dash/Saber Reflect to avoid damage.

 

The first thing Powertech tanks need is for the 6 piece from Emergency Power to become baseline, this masssive damage shield finallly gives Powertechs something somewhat close to Shroud and Reflect/Dash, but it shouldn't be locked behind a Dxun hm+ set. It's the difference between viability and non viability of PT tanks on some fights.

 

Prune Translocate. I don't want it, I don't need it, I've never wanted or needed it. In PvE it's utterly useless except for annoying your teammates and in PvP its usefulness is questionable as well. Needing you to be away from the target you want to defend and then being locked behind a casting time. If you don't want to remove it entirely, make it a choice somewhere so that we can forgo it and pick another option.

 

Possibly make Carbonize a tank only skill. Bioware seems to want to remove CC from most classes, Sents losing Awe and Stasis, Guardians having to opt into Awe, Flashbang and Debilitate also being choices. Carbonize could replace Translocate as one of the tank abilities, so that tanks can still retain a little more CC, while overall CC goes down. (You're also done with stacked PT dps doing triple Carbonize).

 

Buff Kolto's healing to Merc levels, make it one of 3 ability choices if you have to. It just heals to slowly, and stops at too low health percentage right now. In PvE you're still very much left in one-shot range, in PvP you're not that far above execute range.

 

Maybe prune Stealth Scan? Powertechs have already lost a few abilities over the years (looking at you Missile Blast and Overload), so I wouldn't prune too many abilities from them. However Stealth Scan could be an ability that can in my opinion be removed. It could also come as an option with the bonus movement speed from the utility baked in.

 

Another potential prunable ability might be Deadly Onslaught. With Searing Wave/Firestorm, Shatter Slug and Flame Sweep we're not exactly hurting for AoE abilities. Deadly Onslaught was given as a replacement for Death from Above. However without the latter's 30m range (and with its incredibly wonky animation) plus its superfluousness due to other AoE abilities, I could live without it.

 

Something like Kolto (70%), Power Yield (plus EP 6-piece for tanks) and Stealth Scan/Deadly Onslaught/Translocate could be the seemingly mandatory choice between 3 abilities.

 

Cant Agree more, pt tank dont need shatter slug or Teleport, we can change this 2 for 2 new passive DF, like (Railshoot gives u Rail Shield that absorb X damange for the next 3s) or (Oil Slick gives you shield and for all friends inside, idk 30k shield absorb) (Kolto heals 60% plus) (Poweryield self cleanse) something like that

 

obs: only for pt tank

 

Its funny how merc dps can survive more than a pt tank (on pvp) :(

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PT's and VG's right now feel kind of shoehorned in this melee glass cannon type and it's not something that fits their archetypes IMO. Hitting hard feels good, but that is the only thing they are good at and it makes the class feel one-dimensional, I wish that to be changed somehow.
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PT's and VG's right now feel kind of shoehorned in this melee glass cannon type and it's not something that fits their archetypes IMO. Hitting hard feels good, but that is the only thing they are good at and it makes the class feel one-dimensional, I wish that to be changed somehow.

 

I've always felt like powertechs and vanguards should be these beefy brawly characters, jumping into the middle of fights and tanking large amounts of damage. Currently, mercenaries and commandos are the ones doing that...

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I've always felt like powertechs and vanguards should be these beefy brawly characters, jumping into the middle of fights and tanking large amounts of damage. Currently, mercenaries and commandos are the ones doing that...

I have that image of jet troopers flying above their target's heads and hitting em with all kinds of stuff)

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I see a lot of DCD cut so far. PT/VG is the only class i wish will be boosted in its defensives.

 

Every damn class in this game has some sort of "second chance" ability: mercs can reflect and heal almost back to full and he list cointinue; snipers and gunz can teleport away and lick wounds; sorc/sages the same; operatives and scoundrel can disappear and self heal exiting combat (ridicoulous since tree times); juggs can heal back to full and cheese dmg with dash. I know many of these abilities will be optional forcing players to choose among some of them, but they will still leave the chance to players to have a "second-life" ability.

 

Nothing of all this is comparable to PT/VG stupid Kolto overload.

 

A real death saving ability like all the other classes has is what has to be done for this class. Including an accuracy debuff ability, uselful for PVP, like Oil or Diversion, why not.

 

And yes, i'd sacrifice some DPS from AP (Plasmatech is a "normal" spec in this sense) in exchange of a good defensive.

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