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Mercenary Feedback Thread


JackieKo

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

 

Please answer the following questions:

 

  • Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? 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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Haven't checked Powertech yet but currently I cannot read the descriptions for any of the level 15 or 30 passives for Bodyguard, Arsenal or Innovative Ordnance. All I can see are placeholder signs with no descriptions.

Stealth scan at level 20 is also missing its title.

 

Testing out healing scan, I can see that the left most passive provides a debuff with a placeholder icon, the centre one creates a puddle and the last one I have no idea. This suggests that the effects are present, but the details are not - meaning that we're stumbling through the dark rather than properly testing the modifiers.

 

As such, if you have the details for these passives and they are indeed broken for everyone, it would be useful if the passive descriptions could be listed out in this thread. (the other option being taking the PTS down for some hotfixes)

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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.

Edited by inagalaxyfaraway
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I haven't tried out the combat styles yet due to the missing descriptions. I know the descriptions were uploaded to the thread, but since I do not know which ones apply to which choice, haven't tried them yet.

 

Things I've noticed:

 

Merc appears to be a lot more squishy.

Pants on the starter outfit are...weird. Pink, and then occasionally blue with writing. Probably a glitch (Low priority, PTS server)

There is not a tactical gear vendor for merc like there is for operative/guardian/inquisitor. I know gear set bonuses are not working, but having the right tactical would be key to knowing how the combat style fares. Not sure if this lack was planned or not.

 

Side question: WIll the tacticals be the same with the update or will we have new tacticals to go with the new armor sets?

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This is feedback for Mercenary Innovative Ordinance spec from a pure PVE perspective.

 

For me the mercenary was a very versatile class that had good dps and good survivability.

The reduction of dcds of course means less survivabilty, but I feel the current setup is too much.

For the lvl 70 choice, I think that the choice should be between the stuns/knockbacks (concussion missile/electro dart/jet boost), since 'Jet boost' no longer grants supercharge, the abilitiy has become very situational.

Hydraulic override should be a standard ability. The knockdown immunity comes often to play in flashpoints and operation especially, since merc io has one cast and one ability with activation time.

Responsive safeguard being a choice I don't mind, but energy shield should have 'energy rebounder' passive integrated with the 'pyro shield' utility as a choice on lvl 50.

 

A few other ideas/wishes:

The 'thrill of the hunt passive' on lvl 60 should include 'serrated shot', allowing for a more mobility based build.

Explosive dart could be removed, since 'fusion missile' with 'power surge' does the same.

If the tacticals are removed, then the 'energized charges' tactical and the 'continuous fire' tactical should be integrated as a passives choice allowing for a more single target or AOE orientated build.

 

Otherwise I have noticed that Kolto shots and rapid fire sometimes give 2 charges of supercharge and sometimes just one. I am not sure if that is a glitch or if it is intended, but I wasn't able to find a tooltip that explains when and how you get how many stacks of supercharge.

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IO Merc

 

Level 15 - no info on passive augments for supercharged gas,

 

Level 20 - why is explosive dart optional for IO? This is a part of the IO ability cycle? If you want to take an opportunity to prune, then why not have thermal detonator replace explosive dart on IO?

- I'd prefer to see stealth scan be a standard ability, get the master utility added to it standard, and also work on NPC mobs so it isn't' just a PVP ability

 

Level 30 - no info on passive augments for Thermal Detonator

 

Level 35 - Chaff flare is optional? Why is our threat drop optional?

 

Level 40 - Another opportunity for you to prune, have serrated shot replace power shot on IO and combine all their effects

 

Level 50 - a little underwhelming in the choices here

 

Level 60 - I would rather you make Thrill of the Hunt a baseline passive on all merc specs.

 

Level 70 - HO is optional? What? Again you take a core iconic ability and make it optional? And single target stun is optional here as well as you have done with other classes.

 

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

The combat rotation is fine, but the overall experience frankly sucks. When I play merc, I want to run and gun (or rocket). Instead of having dynamic choices on how my combat abilities work and how my defensive abilities work, I now have to sacrifice mobility so that I can have access to defensives and utility abilities. I get that Merc is one of the most "bloated" of all the classes, but this honestly feels like there was zero effort put into the changes. You have so much opportunity to combine similar abilities.

 

As I mentioned in the level notes, you can have thermal detonator replace explosive dart at level 30 giving it the utility of spreading dots on top of its existing effects. You can have serrated shot replace power shot at level 40 and take its effects as well as using surging shots.

 

On defense, you have a great opportunity to put energy shield on the ability tree and have it be augmentable. Put it as the level 10 ability instead and then at level 15 you can have us choose power barrier, power shield, or energy rebounder. That is a meaningful choice that makes sense.

 

Please go back and rethink this class change setup you have done here. Just like on Jedi Knights round one there are just too many changes here that don't make any sense.

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Arsenal Merc

 

Level 15 - no info on PTS passive augments for tracer missile, will update my review when they are actually in the game

 

Level 20 - I'd prefer to see stealth scan be a standard ability, get the master utility added to it standard, and also work on NPC mobs so it isn't' just a PVP ability

 

Level 30 - no info on PTS passive augments for heatseeker, will update my review when they are actually in the game

 

Level 35 - Chaff flare is optional? Why is our threat drop optional?

 

Level 40 - Another opportunity for you to prune, have serrated shot replace power shot on IO and combine all their effects

 

Level 50 - a little underwhelming in the choices here

 

Level 60 - I would rather you make Thrill of the Hunt a baseline passive on all merc specs.

 

Level 70 - HO is optional? What? Again you take a core iconic ability and make it optional? And single target stun is optional here as well as you have done with other classes.

 

Overall response here is the same as with IO.

 

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

The combat rotation is fine, but the overall experience frankly sucks. When I play merc, I want to run and gun (or rocket). Instead of having dynamic choices on how my combat abilities work and how my defensive abilities work, I now have to sacrifice mobility so that I can have access to defensives and utility abilities. I get that Merc is one of the most "bloated" of all the classes, but this honestly feels like there was zero effort put into the changes. You have so much opportunity to combine similar abilities.

 

On defense, you have a great opportunity to put energy shield on the ability tree and have it be augmentable. Put it as the level 10 ability instead and then at level 15 you can have us choose power barrier, power shield, or energy rebounder. That is a meaningful choice that makes sense.

 

Please go back and rethink this class change setup you have done here. Just like on Jedi Knights round one there are just too many changes here that don't make any sense.

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I was planning to do a detailed breakdown, but as some items are broken with no description, I can't even accurately do that. And really, its just going to be a rehash of what I said about the other classes.

 

I have a list of abilities that now force me to select between abilities that I now get almost all of on my characters. Instead of having defensives and offensives I now have to choose and the options are poor either way. Items that I currently get at low levels now appear at ridiculously high levels. And, as I noted on other classes, adding 5 levels and just rearranging the abilities instead of giving new ones makes no sense.

 

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

 

It feels like a pale comparison. However, the changes and limitations remove much of my enjoyment in playing the game. You have the basics there, but after level 10 it fails to live up to what I currently have on my characters. Plainly put, this is a poor design change and in no way enhances or improves my enjoyment of the game. It accomplishes the opposite. I also note with interest that you have changed your questioning down to just the rotation. Concentrating on "the rotation" tells me that you are concentrating on a specific group of players and not all players to justify your decisions.

 

I never like to write this, and a normally have a "Meh, whatever" attitude when other people do write this, but I am actually considering pulling my sub money if this goes live. Seeing as I spend that plus another $40 to $200 per month on this game to amuse myself, that will be a good chunk I can put into another game. Changing the game this much and in this way will drive people away and I doubt your new adventure options will pull enough people back or newly in to make up the difference in the long run. After the initial boost from non-sub players to gain access and see the new adventure, I would be interested to see the numbers 3 and six months on. You had a great thing with adding the Galactic Seasons, and I was excited with the idea of opening combat styles to other classes. But this basically ruins that excitement. My advice personally would be to drop the 5 extra levels and the pruning/redesign, just open up the combat styles to other classes as you described and revisit this pruning/redesign idea later.

Edited by Irishdoh
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Arsenal still feels like it self.

The way you have designed the trees with first a main ability and a mod for it is a nice way to customize things a bit i feel, and i am ok with having to make some of the higher lvl choices.

However i do feel that every class should have certain abilitys and one of them is a hard stun, this should not have to be a choice.

I have also seen some classes have their big raid utility as a option in the trees which i feel is very odd

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I'm starting from the beginning, and seeing any issues.

 

Things on TC, that left unchecked will usually go onto live...

**Conquest message when completing a part of a conquest, give an extra :u at the end

**Can you change all the fonts, to sorta be the same? Seems all the fly test, and onscreen messages have different font styles, and its weird. Example the onscreen Kill X 1/16 is a different font that everything else. Looks tacky. Make all on Screen fonts similar.

**Given leveling is crazy fast, leaving Hutta at level 16, there was no quest or way to choose when to get a Discipline. I accidentally did it on clicking Combat Proficiences, then on the left were some choices. This is not intuitive.

**Also, at level 16 there is no quest or intuitive way for someone to know to visit Crew Member skills to learn from them.

**Crew Skill gains are out of whack as well. Bioanalyis I did one node, gained 37 levels, on DK.

**Leveling XP just seems way too fast, did you increase it more? It already goes to fast, but on DK doing just story line (main and planetary) and the Heroics, I'm now almost level 25, outplaying everything. This doesn't feel heroic, it feeling mind-numbingly boring.

 

 

As for Mercenary (up to level 13 so far) Ability to kill things etc seems appropriate.

**You get Powershot early, but then for some reason you lose it at level 10 (or 11). It simply disappears after that, from the abilities list and quickbars.

**It might be intentional, but the Hunters Boon is no longer able to be an ability to activate, but a passive. Pros and Cons, but Con mean you can no longer share it with other people by targeting them, including companion. THEN for some reason my companion (Darth Hexid) has Mark of Power.

**Also Hunters Boon doesnt even show in the Player Character buff bar, but does show on Companion.

**Given leveling is crazy fast, leaving Hutta at level 16, there was no quest or way to choose when to get a Discipline. I accidentally did it on clicking Combat Proficiences, then on the left were some choices. This is not intuitive.

**Also, at level 16 there is no quest or intuitive way for someone to know to visit Crew Member skills to learn from them.

**Powershot came back after the Combat Proficiencies was chose, thats weird.

**By level 18, I have Missile blast, Fusion missile, Unload, Powershot, Rail shot (but really cant use since I cant stun), Death from Above, and Sweeping blasters. Thats too many abilities, to the point we really arent learning to use them.

**I still dont use Sweeping blasters, I'm not sure I actually hit anything, so I take it off my toolbar. I'm pretty sure it hits things, its the animation for me that turns me off from using it. Always has, its a spray, and it doesn't make sense to me.

**At Level 20, randomly Explosive Dart shows up on my toolbar

Edited by Taurax
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Does the current combat rotation make this experience fell like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not?

 

When I think of the term "mercenary" I think of a hunter with a lot of toys at his disposal, making good use of them to bombard their enemies and become a force to be reckoned with. There are many instances where I need to Unload everything whilst dodging bad stuff like in operations and flashpoints and it disconnects me from my character when they don't have the ability to Unload while moving at all times, so Thrill of the Hunt needs to be a passive so that I can assure myself my hunter is a professional.

 

As someone who mains an AS Commando/IO Merc, combining Thermal Sensor Override and Vent Heat is a very good idea with the caveat of having to time that combined ability correctly. I am a little bit upset over this, as I pop TSO before I use Power Surge+Fusion Missile Combo and Vent Heat immediately after Jet Boost.

 

Without the extra 2 stacks of Supercharge and knowing the fact that Concentrated Fire will become obsolete, my current rotation feels very nerfed, with satisfaction of virtually keeping Supercharged Gas up all the time disappearing.

 

In this specific case I despise this trade-off mentality of giving something and taking something back in return. This gives me the false notion of getting nothing as finding out what I'm gonna lose is going to garner more attention than what I'm going to get ever could. Heck I was in for combat styles to learn all of the abilities for all the different advanced classes, and knowing that these classes were nerf substantially makes me feel left out for what could've been.

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I am a Arsenal Merc main and i play NIm Raids:

 

The Skillung is ok, BUT to decied between Kolto Overload and Thrill of the hunt will kill this class for me...

 

also not having the raidbuff as an standard skill ist not good in my opinion to be polite..

 

and making the reflect an option is also not really a smart idea in my eyes.

 

If this comes in this Stage life, this class is dead for me......

Edited by Aneddu
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The invisible/no-tooltip Arsenal passives:

 

HeatSeeker:

 

The right-most Heatseeker passive appears to do what the Thermonuclear Fusion Tactical does now, except that you don't need Fusion Missile to spread the Heat-Signature, and apparently you only need one active Tracer Lock/Heat Sig. on any target in a mob-pack. I'm not sure what the AE range is, but the rate-limit (if that's what it is) seems rather long.

 

The centre Heatseeker passive appears to put some kind of de-buff on the target, but no info/tooltip, and no overtly visible effect/-s so your guess is as good as mine as to what the Hell this actually does.

 

I've no idea what the left-side one does, it doesn't appear to be in this build yet.

 

This is all coupled to the left-side level 15 Passive for Tracer missile which also appears to give TM a nice damage buff and an PTAE centered on one target.

 

Tracer Missile:

 

As stated left-side app[ears to give a multi-target capability, although I haven't been able to use it on more than three mobs yet (along with the M/T Heatseeker), so i dunno if that's the limit an/or what its AE range is.

Also it looks like you have to couple the AE Tracer and AE Heatseeker together t get the AE abilities, which raises the question of how/if the other so-far-unknown buffs synergise.

 

Centre buff for Tracer: No idea what this does, or if it's in the build yet.

 

Right-side buff: Who knows? The Shadow knows, I guess :/

 

Yeah, OK, I get that it's a test-server, but if you want us to test stuff then we should have at least some idea of what the f we're testing.

 

Which brings me to...The skill choices. That Matter, apparently.

 

/Sigh...By this point, I don't know what possessed me to expect better of BioWare, but still, this is laughable:

 

Hydraulic Overrides vs. the reflect shield vs E-Dart?

 

Are you *********** kidding me, by what rationale is HO not full class-native?

 

You know, the way it's always been, that was never a problem, and was decently differentiated between Merc and PTech, with the latter getting some extra perks that they arguably need?

 

Also, what kind of "choice" is being forced to sacrifice E-Dart if we want either tankiness or mobility?

 

That's our only fast-cast hardstun and we're a long-range class, sacrificing these means that whilst we can take a short breather with the Missile Blast root and/or the punt and/or Rocket-out, we are expected to lose our ability to keep range, which is arguably more important, especially in PvP (assuming this farm-team ever truly fixes Resolve but honestly, I haven't given two ***** about this game's cut-rate generic PvP since the infamous "No-Thread" of 2013, so what do I know...).

 

Energy Rebounder needed to be made class-native to both Advanced Classes a long, long time ago.

 

This again, really needs to not be an illusory and needlessly punitve "choice".

 

the logic behind the granulatiobn of "Choices (That Matter)" again escapes me:

 

Energy Rebounder vs. Improved Vents vs. Jet Escape:

 

Again, this tariff of choices doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason along with forcing needlessly punitive "choices" on us --it's just thrown at the wall and we can sift through the crap to decide what sticks.

 

Couple like perks to like abilities, at least? IE, choice of crowd-controller moves with perks related thereto depending from them? (Different skill-tree format would probably be needed --I get that it's WIP, but it still just reeks of typical MMO and/or BioWare laziness.)

 

You know actual granualtion between actual meaningful choices, which lead to a specifically focussed build on either raw DPS, or tankiness, or mobility, or CC ability, or a bit of mixing at the cost of optimaisation?

 

I could go on, but you get the gist.

 

Conclusion:

 

At its core, it does still feel like Arsenal should on a basic level (Although I kinda wish we finally had something other than Tracer Missile, or that maybe it worked differently --It's a bit....Well, boring after 10 years of spamming the same ability for the same buffs, de-buffs, and procs that still work the same way) but some of the feeling like a Merc in general has been compromised --The strengths of this AC were always in their versatility as well as more build-specific advantages.

 

These choice-layouts just doesn't make any logical sense to me, and I do hope there's a lot more work ahead fixing that, with the reminder that Holidays 2021 isn't too far away.

 

I do like, however that I can (seemingly) retool Arsenal as an explicit AE specialist --It's a walking missile battery, it should be able to rain alpha-strike horror down from the skies on multiple targets.

 

Oh, and:

 

Where is my sixth quickbar? Button-bloat is a problem in this game and has been for a long time now, we need to access All the Butans.

 

Fake-edit edit:

 

I'm back, *****es. In the immortal words of Kreig the Psycho: MORE MEAT FOR ME!!!!

Edited by midianlord
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With PTS now live, you can help test the Combat Style for the Mercenary.

 

Please answer the following questions:

 

  • Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not?
  • If you have feedback on the different discipline, please note your feedback accordingly so we can track it.

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

 

Thank you!

 

For PvE IO, PTS presents the veneer of the current live version of IO merc but I am still very disappointed in some of the changes that have been made. I really, really feel the lack of thermal sensor override. That's a critical part of controlling my heat build-up, same as vent heat. But now I have to sacrifice Energy Rebounder (reduced CD on Energy Shield when attacked, chance to generate small absorb shield when attacked) in order to get the utility for better vent heat and thermal sensor override is nowhere to be found. This sucks. My rotation mostly works the same, but now I have less heat to play with.

 

As for the decisions I have to make now, I like the level 15 and level 30 choices. These kinds of decisions are interesting because they don't add bloat to the game or take away crucial skills.

 

Level 15: Eruptive Flames sounds like it'd be very useful once I get into actual content; Incendiary Ignition sounds like it'd probably be BiS for most ops; Volatile Cinders sounds useless though given that Volatile Warhead doesn't actually result in a noticeable DPS increase over using Power Shot instead.

 

Level 20: I don't know why anyone would choose Explosive Dart or Stealth Scan in PvE over Power Barrier. Frankly I think you'd be better off just removing Explosive Dart from the game and reworking this decision.

 

Level 30: This is an interesting choice. 2 single-target DPS changes vs. an AoE damage buff. My guess is people will crunch the numbers and figure out which of the 2 single-target DPS increases is better, and then the choice depends on whether you need the AoE damage or the single-target damage.

 

Level 35: This is a crappy tier. I like the buffs to the threat drop, but I strongly dislike the idea of making the threat drop optional. If you want to simplify classes and keep a mostly level playing field across classes, core abilities that all classes share (single-target hard stuns, interrupts, stun breakers, threat dumps) should be guaranteed abilities not optional abilities. I very rarely use Super Charged Celerity because it's so underwhelming--I'd much rather have an extra supercharged gas for more energy and DPS. You'd be better off either removing Merc/Mando raid buff from the game entirely, or just making it a guaranteed ability and removing any attached heat/supercharge cost. Then it might actually be worthwhile. 2 charges for Power Surge being optional now is... eh. As IO I don't care, but as Bodyguard I am disappointed to have to choose between raid buff, threat dump, or burstier heals.

 

As for the rest, having to choose between Hydraulics or Reflect Shield hits REALLY hard. Having to choose between 60% Kolto Overload or the ability to Unload/Boltstorm/Progressive Scan hits REALLY hard. You have taken so many must-have utilities that we used to always be able to pick and forced us to give up half of them. You've stripped away way too much of Merc's DCDs. I may find myself in a situation where the only two DCDs I have are vanilla energy shield and vanilla kolto overload. That's it. Not even chaff flare if I need the raid buff or extra power surge instead. I mean what the actual ****?

 

Overall I'm seriously disappointed in the level 35+ decisions we have to make now, plus the lack of thermal sensor override. Powertech is okay, but Merc got a really raw deal from what I can tell. If this is doesn't change then I may just end up retiring my Mercs because this neutered version of the class looks like it will significantly underperform in all manner of actual content. This seems to be a general trend across all the classes currently in the PTS--the only decent choices seem to be the ones that modify how existing abilities work, like Kolto Shell, Incendiary Missile, Healing Scan, Dark Ward, Power Yield, Enrage, etc. The ****** parts come in the level 35+ decisions where you have decided to LIMIT our choices and prevent us from taking DCDs or utilities that we used to always be able to pick. I don't know why the devs keep clamoring on about how they're trying to improve player choice, you are limiting player choice in these latter tiers and it really, really sucks. Furthermore, we're going to have to constantly reset our utilities/skill tree decisions every other encounter to compensate for this. This will NOT improve the player experience. Nobody wants to be changing their utilities all of the damned time because they have to make sure they bring the small subset of utilities/DCDs that will actually be helpful to them in each encounter. It will be a pain in the ***, especially considering that stuff will be moving around on our hotbars as we drop certain abilities in favor of others, unless we have a template saved for every possible combination of utilities. That does not sound enjoyable or user-friendly to me AT ALL.

 

If you really want to reduce ability bloat, take out all of the abilities you added in 6.0. No one uses Severing Slash or Volt Rush. Slightly buff the damage of Juggs/Maras and take out Furious Power. Scale all endgame content to level 80 and then simply never increase the level or gear caps again. This gets rid of the need for clicky alacrity relics, so there's one less thing people need to worry about. Gear would actually finally matter too if everything was scaled up to the level cap instead of capped at 70/75. Nobody likes having to grind up levels and new gear and set bonsuses just so they can get back to doing the things they were already able to do pre-update. Increasing the level and gear caps and breaking the existing set bonuses is the least imaginative way to keep people playing your game. Instead of wasting development time on adding levels and updating stat formulas to accommodate new gear, spend that time on developing content instead your players will thank you for it. Finally, turn class buffs into permanent passive buffs. This, combined with removing the need for a level cap system by bringing everything up to the current level cap and then not *********** with it anymore, will take 5 buffs out of players' buff icon trays, increase players' ability to customize their gear, and reduce the number of things they have to click at the right moment.

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I’ll start with a short note so that we’re all on the same page here: I’m speaking from endgame pve, dps perspective and that’s it. I do understand pvp concerns but I lack ranked experience to make any insightful judgements. Apologies in advance if I come across as being ironic or salty, as that it not my intention.

 

So there we have it. Mercenary. The less loved one of the bounty hunter siblings (I’ll explain the thought later). I’ve been an avid Merc main ever since I first started playing the game at 2.0 launch, but boy, has this love been bittersweet the past few years.

Nostalgia aside, let’s hop in to the 7.0 iteration of Merc’s combat styles as presently given by the pts.

 

First, shared mod choices:

 

- The choice between Explosive Dart, Power Barrier and Stealth Scan.

PVE wise, it’s not even a choice. ED has been, sadly, a pretty meaningless ability for the class in general since forever ( since fusion missile spreads both dots really, which is a long while). Stealth Scan is a nice utility. Except it has two (2) uses in pve and that’s to de-stealth adds in the tunnel before Nahut, and mines in various places in the same ops. So yeah. 99% uptime 5% dr wins that quite easily. Suggestion: How about giving some incentive towards the other two options? Maybe change ED a little bit so that it becomes a competitive, on-cd filler ability to be fired once every 14 seconds? Right now it serves no purpose, as merc has access to 3 more aoe abilities, all of which deal significantly more damage, and the knockback only works on story adds and planetary mobs. Whistling birds anyone? Stop giving pt all the cool stuff! I swear. Stealth Scan gets Battlefield Protocols by default now, but trust me when I say noone in their right mind is going to use a on-gcd, no-damage ability just to boost their 1 next skill by 20%. Even if you hit 4 stealthed targets with it by some miracle (where? how? in a very, very specific scenario?) for a 100% boost. This never happens.

- At lvl 35 we get a set of utility choices. Flares, raidbuff or double instacast. Sooo… we no longer get an aggro drop by default? Why? Is this a sweet little joke about merc damage? “You don’t need it anyway lul” thing? I just legitimately don’t understand the reasons for it. Raidbuff? Welp. I think I won’t be lying if I say that under normal circumstances no merc dps player pops their raidbuff. A healer can and will do it if you have one ( and let’s face it, you probably do). You have to sacrifice a solid self-dmg boost of supercharged for an alacrity buff for the group. It’s always been a very situational thing, but I can’t say I like it. Feels like no one will play that raidbuff now. Healers will pick double surge, dpses will choose between surges and flares. Suggestion: How about separating chaff flare from it’s defensive bonuses? Let the choice be to apply the defensive 35% and decoy stacks to flares that you do get baseline. Aggro drop is an important ability in pve both for healers and for dpses. Merc raidbuff has always been a bit of a thorn in my side. It functions much like Marauder raidbuff in the sense that you have to give up a -really- significant damage boost for yourself in favour of small group buff. Sorcs and Opers get to do it for almost free. They just have to give up a little bit of their class resource with no personal drawback, as neither will suffer a damage loss over what, 50 force 100? Or 1 tactical advantage stack (so 1 lacerate? 1 corrosive assault in return for a lot of crit?) If the raidbuff used up, say, 25 heat instead of 10 scg stacks I’d be fine with it. That’s 1 less unload/BB for me but a nice little 10% alacrity for the group.

- Level 50 choices. I think this is the one set of choices I am completely fine with. Extra heat reduction vs. quicker shield cd under tick-damage scenarios vs cc breaker/mobility cooldown reductions. This is fine with me. Situational, each serves a purpose in particular fights. I suspect pvpers will have a bit of a hard time choosing between the two latter options but I leave the judgement of that to appropriate pvp masters.

- Next set is a bit of a hard one, but also one I can somewhat understand. Mercs have been beasts in pvp defensives-wise for a loooong time now, even I can see that. In pve scenarios, honestly, there isn’t a time where you will not want the Thrill of the Hunt ™ since you already have to stop moving for every tracer missile/power shot cast, not to mention all the aoes. Which makes me a little bit sad I won’t be able to take the 60% kolto, but mainly because it helps healers in critical situations. Otherwise it’s more of a “ah, bummer” situation and I move on to the next set.

- Which is… yeah. I completely understand making reflect a choice, since it’s such a powerful cooldown. But pitting it against hydros and stun is a choice that has me pray for the sanity of players. Because boy, picking between that cooldown, the only hardstun we have or mobility (and essentially cast interrupt) protection is going to be understandably maddening. For pve? It’s a situational pick once more, with my preference leaning greatly towards hydraulics as the “default” choice.

- Last set has me curious because if you compare it to the level 70 one, this is really a no-brainer. Pve-wise that is. Extra knockback + missile blast root as well as the heat vent on stun don’t find many uses in pve. There are several notorious instances where it’s semi-useful to have these, but both choices pale in comparison to the sweet 40% heal on energy shield. Even if your amazing healers won’t let you drop low enough, it’s still a nice thing to have.

 

 

 

Arsenal

 

...is still Arsenal. Yay?

Ever since the unfortunate, but well deserved ‘incident’ of 5.3, Arsenal’s been at the very bottom of the pve food chain.Without overanalysing things, Arsenal’s in the weird “between” spot for specs. What does that mean? That means there’s always a different class that does The Thing better. Damage? plenty of better classes at that (even if you only consider it’s ranged cousins). Armor debuff? You can get an ap pt for the same price with 200% more damage! Raid buff? leave that to healers, not like it’s that useful to begin with. Burst? Just get a lightning sorc.

You get the picture.

In 7.0 I was very much hoping Arsenal will be back from the proverbial limbo, ready to blast things with renewed, mando-inspired glory. Alas, as I first read through the implemented changes my initial thought was: “...okay? so what’s new?”

So let’s see about the mod/utility choices, shall we?

-The first three choices modifying our beloved tracer missile are okay-ish? You basically choose between increased AOE (Arsenal’s never been a monster at aoe so I wasn’t very moved by that particular change),flat boost to ST burst and an interesting increase to ST sustained. So, uh. Suggestion: None really. None of the choices particularly stand out unless we can find some synergy for them with the release of new set bonuses/tacticals.

- Next is a set of Heatseeker modifiers. Now these choices are actually pretty okay. Well, they aren’t flashy or cool, but they are understandable. Crit boost? Fine by me. Boosting TM? Okay. I guess someone’s trying to push out a Rabid Tracer Missile Spammer ™ build out there, for some reason beyond my comprehension. And the last is current live version tactical being made an utility. Also fine, considering the tactical itself wasn’t much, but at least it looked fun. Suggestion: Again, set and tactical synergy bonuses will make all the difference with these choices. In a perfect world, the first choice shouldn't be there. It should’ve been a spec passive a long time ago. Heatseekers have been getting worse and worse with time as new scalings and sets were added. To the point I’ve had Tracer missiles crit for more damage than a base heatseeker does. You know, the supposed awesome, multi-rocket, nuke ability. I know, a critted HS is good. Still by FAR less than a crit, procced Immolate or Energy Burst but decent. It’s just a shame it’s such a make-or-break thing for mercs. You either crit a lot for feels-good damage or get unlucky and tickle your enemies.

 

After the long -winded analysis of the tools at our disposal, we may proceed to make a not-very-accurate assumption on rotation changes and general feel of the spec in 7.0 in the state that pts currently presents us with.

The rotation… doesn’t seem to change? I mean, current live rotation is dependent on the primed ignition tactical. Your job as arsenal is to apply the dot and then tick it as much as possible within it’s window, while keeping the general priorities in mind. If the tactical stays, none of the mod choices affect the rotation. They are either flat damage increases or completely unrelated things. The only thing that could change the rotation would be some absolutely insane set bonuses. Likewise, Arsenal damage overall seems to be in the same, sad spot as it was until now. Yes, there are some tiny buffs, but other classes get buffs as well, bigger or smaller. Which in general means that Arsenal continues to be in it’s lone spot somewhere around the bottom of the dps charts. General suggestion: If arsenal is getting it’s defensives solidly and understandably nerfed, how about we get some damage in return? We’ve got to have something. Something that’ll make the spec worth playing! I’m not talking massive buffs, but maybe removing the “you either crit a lot, or you shoot a confetti gun” would help? A slight increase in baseline damage would certainly be welcome. Just enough to keep it in line with all of Arsenal’s ranged friends.

 

Does Arsenal feel like playing a mercenary? Personally, I feel like it could use a bit more pizzazz. Something more than spamming tracer missile with an occasional triple tracer missile or a lazer beam in between the confetti gun channels. I’ve always imagined Arsenal to be just that - an Arsenal of tools and fancy tech and flashy, show-off skills to rival the natural flair of force-users. Right now it just kind of feels bland. You pew pew some and then shoot a rocket and pew pew more.

 

 

 

IO

 

Is still the beautiful gem of a spec it used to be, only with… a lot less bite now, unfortunately. Across its history IO used to be the spec that was hard to play well but offered great payoffs.

It remains so, even if it’s a fair bit easier to manage the spec these days. Introduction of Concentrated Fire set along with Energized Charges tactical made it both strong and fun in the long run.

And while we’re here - this is a major point for the spec. It’s output will, I believe, heavily rely on whether we are allowed to keep the tactical and the set bonus to some extent. The extra charges generation should ABSOLUTELY be rolled into the spec passives, especially since additional stacks on jet boost are no longer a thing ( that’s a good change, don't get me wrong. Knockback in rotation is never a cool idea). Without the stacks and tactical, the edge the spec gained so recently is gone. It’s just the flat out rotation rolling, centered around having your vent heat come off cooldown. Made a little bit more repetitive, now that TSO and Vent is the same ability.

 

-First set of choices is a very interesting one. Incendiary missile was always a bit bland of a dot, shared with our extremely powerful pyro brethren, so I was really looking forward to it being made a bit more unique. And there it is. A choice between AOE, ST sustain and ST burst. Each of these can be viable in its own way. Although I have to say, incendiary having 50% chance to tick combustible dot seems a bit underwhelming if you compare it to a chance of proccing volatile warhead. And then if you compare it to the choices an already powerful pyro pt can make for it, it just falls short. By a lot. Suggestion: Maybe make it so that the extra tick of incendiary generates an scg stack once every, say, 12 seconds (that’s like 1 stack per rotation cycle)? Or have that combustible cylinder deal 30% more damage while under the effect of that particular mod?

-Second set of choices is very much okay. It doesn’t create a giant dps gap between each mod, and all it does is let you pick between burst, sustain and AOE variants of Thermal Detonator. Again, while perfectly viable it’s also just that. A non-special, not very interesting choice, that’ll boil down to someone running math on it, eventually, resulting in a one BiS pick. Suggestions: None for now! Again, we wait for set and tactical updates to see if any of these works better than the other.

 

Overall there really isn’t much that changed in relation to IO’s current live iteration. The end results will heavily depend on set bonuses yet to be introduced, as well as whether the Energized Charges tactical remains (I really hope it does!).

Does it feel good? Yes. IO remains in the middle of damage classes pack and it is a very likeable spec. It has you think about what you’re doing a little and in return it offers you great single target damage along with solid AOE. It does feel like a merc, with lots of fancy skills and decent mobility. What’s missing is something that’d freshen it up. Because right now it has the same gameplay as it did about five years ago. Suggestion: If Io merc loses Concentrated Fire set with the introduction of level 80, would it be possible to roll in the set's supercharged stacks generation into the spec as baseline? It’s been a gamechanger and probably the most valued change in IO ever since last ability update years ago.

 

 

Last, overall merc rant

 

I started this “essay” with a comment on how merc is the less loved of the bounty hunter siblings. It does really look like it. I’m not even going to try and compare damage between the two classes. Powertechs are absolute dps monsters, have been for past 2 major patches, and they continue to get buffed. On top of that, they get all the fancy, fun skills. The mando-inspired whistling birds, mandalorian iron, good old flamethrower making a pyro-exclusive comeback and even the spec-specific rework of power yield. Powerlode being rolled into AP passives, firefall… the list goes on. Meanwhile Mercs continue to feel a little bit… unwanted.

Remember last ability update? The one that introduced new skills to every spec? We got furious power, power yield, sniper-phasewalk, oper skill reset + buff, heck even the infamous volt rush and slow-slash that weren’t very useful, were still at least new. Felt like someone forgot about mercs and just added that extra rocket out stack last minute, so as to give them something. Anything. It continues to feel like that now, with 7.0 as well. Mercs are still same old. No new stuff, no big reworks. A well justified defensives pruning for the class is about the only thing that makes a difference now.

If you do a quick comparison, say, Pyro pt to IO merc (so, advanced spec “mirrors” in theory), you can see what I’m ranting about quite easily.

Their [PT] incendiary gets mods too. But it also gets a new ability (mandalorian warhead) that replaces the old one! Want an additional dot on your rail shot? sure! How about fire on your grappling hook, Doomslayer style? There you go! OH! and here, have the coveted old flamethrower too, replacing your useless shatter slug, why not?

Meanwhile on merc all you get is to pick your buffs. 50% chance here or 20% there? very cool. Explosive dart is useless you say? okay, just don’t pick it then I guess.

I play both bh classes and every time I think of the differences it just hurts. Not even damage-wise. That part of powertech domination everyone that plays this game’s endgame, be it pve or pvp, knows by heart.

It just hurts to see how much creative love pt specs get and how little of it can mercs count on.

The main question was, does playing the reworked merc feel like playing a mercenary?

Yes.

Is it a good thing though?

 

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From perspective of PVE player (mostly flashpoints, uprisings, SM and occasional HM ops, and difficult solo content):

 

As someone who loves Mercenary (especially healing discipline), I wasn't happy with these changes. To me, Mercenary is about good survivability, individual utility and mobility, even if their damage and energy management could be better. Seeing their advantages downgraded (we now either have to choose between mobility and survivability or have less of both in general) without giving much attention to their weaknesses, I'm simply disappointed.

 

More on this:

 

With the idea of having less abilities, I was surprised to see Missile Blast and Electro Dart. Those abilities only have situational use for IO, and even that is arguable. Would I rather use Missile Blast, that does more damage and costs 10 less heat under 30% health or Power Shot that generates a stack of Supercharge? I'm more for second option. And Fusion Missile does exactly what Electro Dart does, if not better (with only downside of having cast time, which can be solved with Power Surge). So every discipline can live comfortably without these two, so why not take them away? Or at least merge them with something else.

 

I understand that you're trying to balance defensive CDs for all classes, and since I am yet to try PvP, I don't mind it, as long as we still can have enough DCDs for PVE content. But having limited choices on mobility really threw me off. I like to take Thrill of the Hunt and Power Overrides (especially on Bodyguard) because it gives a lot more mobility. Now, if I take these two options, I lose threat drop (and I don't understand why is threat drop an option, especially for healers) and a good upgrade for Kolto Overload (but I can live with that if taking Responsive Safeguards, but then I'll lose Hydraulic Overrides, which is very useful in combat).

 

Now, my biggest complaint is having less tools for energy management. IO is known for being one of the most difficult disciplines (if not the most difficult) in terms of energy management, and Bodyguard spec has more energy management issues than other healing specs (in my opinion). Now, with TSO being merged with Vent Heat and not having some utilities that helped with that, I'm not sure how are these two specs going to manage. Arsenal seems to be fine, plus having an option that reduces the cost of Tracer Missile (the most frequently used filler). But IO with its constant use of TSO is going to lose in damage, having to use Rapid Shots instead of Power Shot to save heat generation. I suggest keeping TSO a separate ability, but if you absolutely have to merge it with something else (don't understand that), it's probably better with Power Surge than Vent Heat. In rotations I use, TSO is only used with Unload, Blazing Bolts or Progressive Scan, and none of these abilities have cast time, so they won't affected by Power Surge (if PS and TSO are merged). But if using Power Shot, Tracer Missile or, say, Rapid Scan shortly after this (which is often the case), they will be instantly activated. Seems better to me than waste Vent Heat until absolutely necessary.

 

And second thing on heat management: why not give an option that Heat Damping utility provides (cleanse, Jet Boost and some other abilities don't generate heat)? It is very useful for Bodyguard and could also be used for IO, if Jet Boost generates 2 stacks of Supercharge. Maybe have this replace Electro Dart.

 

Lastly, while other classes seem to gain a good upgrade in either DPS or healing (can't say anything on tanks), Mercenary lacks that, though Arsenal seems to be fine. When I saw upgrades for Dark Infusion and Innervate on Sorcerer and Kolto Infusion on Operative, I was excited to see what upgrades Bodyguard would receive. And when I read about them, I was disappointed. The AOE option for both Healing Scan and Kolto Shell weren't that good (compared to Sorcerer and Operative), the rest option for Healing Scan didn't seem to be very useful, but I can say with little upgrades, the other 2 choices for Kolto Shells could be good.

 

For IO, the choices seemed to be ok until I saw what was offered to Pyrotech about Incendiary Missile. Seriously, if IO options for Incendiary Missile are replaced with Mandalorian Warhead, Primed Rail Shot (just with Mag Shot), modified the third option and TSO is a separate ability, IO will be in a much better position (IMO).

 

Overall, did it feel like Mercenary? Not really, with less mobility, survivability and not having better new options for damage, healing and energy management.

 

Then again, I'm not a NiM raider or PvP player.

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Dear SWTOR team,

 

I was able to play around with all 3 Mercenary specs.

 

Before I jump into some details, I would like to emphasize that lack of tooltips was very hard for me to figure what the given choice does/whether it is actually functional. I am ok with seeing WIPs but please include at least something to let us know what you are planning to have for the given option. I was able to figure out some options, but not all.

 

Overall, all three specs felt similar to the live versions. Rotations did not change, there are of course some choices to be made regarding utilities, but I was not that concerned with those choices.

 

Bodyguard

 

I was disappointed with the Bodyguard Mercenary test. While the base remained the same, I was not able to test any of the choices that were given in the ability tree. I was able to figure out that you can upgrade your Healing Scan somehow. You can gain some kind of buff, although I have no clue what it does. You can put some kind of green circle around the target of your Healing Scan, although it doesn't heal anyone nor does it put any buff on the targets. So I have no idea what it does.

 

I really hope that for the next iteration you are going to include tooltips, so I can give you a more constructive feedback.

 

Arsenal

 

Looks like some choices are connected to Tracer Missile. The one that I was able to figure out, is to make your Tracer Missile an AoE. If you combine it with the current Apex Predator set, I think it works pretty well and, anyway, it feels the lack of AoEs in a good way I think.

 

Some choices were related to Heatseeker Missiles. One choice that I was able to figure out: It seems that you can make your Heatseeker Missiles to put some kind of debuff on your enemy, however, I was not able to figure out what it actually does.

 

Innovative Ordnance

 

The only choices that I was able to figure out: you can make Thermal Detonator to be an AoE - great addition to the AoE potential of Innovative Ordnance, or you can make Thermal Detonator leave a lingering DoT.

 

While all three specs felt similar as they are currently on live. I would really like you guys to fix the tooltip issue for the next PTS iteration. I do not like to give you a lacking feedback, I want to give you something that you can use.

 

ViShAsh

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After some live/pts comparisons the biggest two pieces of input are (especially from a PvP focused perspective):

 

Thrill of the Hunt should be a default. Already at a disadvantage in changes comparing the other disciplines. Having only one stun break mixed with removing mobility... At least then allow a main attack to be fired on the move. Its never made a lot of sense in the first place that this was a utility to be dead honest. Mercs aren't snipers or sorcs, let them run n gun!

 

That its an option let alone a major one is crazy, definitely feels like the balance of power is tilting towards stealthers. When you consider how often stuns can be utilized removing so much mobility is going to significantly decrease the enjoyable factor to pvp. I don't mind operatives/sins getting their due but severely worried about the balancing state of PvP with 7.0. Not to mention how much more powerful Immortal Juggs will be (who can already out DPS most classes in PvP) given that their Crushing does AoE damage to which ranged will not have DR against anymore supposedly.

 

Secondly:

Overall there is nothing that feels like an improvement like some of the other classes are getting. (Minus Sorc, low key just feels like you guys hate that class) While Melee classes are getting severely buffed due to other classes lack of stun/aoe reduction, I see no counter balance. Are ranged going to do more damage? Have a faster attack speed? Just whats the trade off for basically making Stealthers and Melee 30% more powerful. Cause I don't mind the change if theres a balance point.

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I like how this was meant to be a DCD pruning but mercs can still select every DCD (plus trauma regulators and energy rebounder) as well as electro net. Seems more like a utility pruning because no one will be able to select hardstun or hydraulic overrides or missile blast root. What should be done is something more along the lines of pitting DCDs versus one another, for example:

Energy Shield at comes at level whatever.

Next level choice: Trauma Regulators vs Energy Rebounder vs 20% bonus healing and interrupt immunity in shield.

 

Missile blast comes at level xxx.

Next level choice: Missile blast root vs Electro Net vs Hydraulic overrides.

 

Kolto Overload comes at level xxx.

Next level choice: Super Kolto (70%) vs Responsive Safeguards vs Stabilized Armor (Stun DR)

 

These are the kinds of choices every other class has to make, while mercs are keeping everything vs Juggs with no ED, snipers with no heals, sorcs with reduced DR, maras with reduced mobility, etc etc etc., all of whom the mercs can still net for free. Let mercs keep some of their mobility (or even increase it, I'd love to see the hydraulics speed utility from PT as a choice) and stop them from facetanking so much.

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These are the kinds of choices every other class has to make, while mercs are keeping everything vs Juggs with no ED, snipers with no heals, sorcs with reduced DR, maras with reduced mobility, etc etc etc., all of whom the mercs can still net for free. Let mercs keep some of their mobility (or even increase it, I'd love to see the hydraulics speed utility from PT as a choice) and stop them from facetanking so much.

 

This is my issue with the Mercenary on PTS at the moment and why I've struggled to even start writing feedback without it becoming a rant about how much of a failure the Mercenary is on the PTS right now.

 

Every other combat style has lost what players consider to be essential abilities, mobility, stuns, dcds etc. Mercenaries actually became MORE survivable on the PTS. Not only can they choose every single one of their current dcds and dcd buffs on the PTS on every single discipline, but chaff flare now has BOTH IO and Arsenal buffs. (For the unaware this means every discipline can get a 35% defence chance increase AND absorb 2 force or tech attacks completely ever 45 seconds). Sure Mercs lose hydraulic overrides - but who cares, they still have 2 jet boost charges despite Powertech losing their basic charge AND hydrualic overrides. (Seriously, why does a ranged class have more base mobility than a melee class??) Sure Mercenaries lost their hard cc, but they still keep their knockback and their insta cast soft stun baseline.

 

The current state of the Mercenary is honestly in my opinion a complete failure when compared to every other combat style and also the general philosophy behind these changes. The ABC choices for the Mercenary are terrible because they are all the same. Mercenary on live is the single most bloated class and instead of removing bloat, their abilities and utilities just got shoved into the ABC tree instead of removing the unnecessary items like missile blast, stealth scan, explosive dart (to name a few). This results in multiple levels where you choose between multiple abilities as opposed to the one that other combat styles have at level 70. Thus where some other combat styles gain new and interesting choices, Mercenaries simply have all the choices they currently have on live. Do I want explosive dart or stealth scan? No...thus I only have one choice here. Do I want to keep some things I can't remember or ridiculous amounts of self healing?

 

The specific ability morphs for the disciplines are ok overall. Arsenal's aoe morphs feel too weak because they only deal 50-25% damage on long cooldown abilities. IO could have replaced the need for missile blast by a simple incendiary missile proc where the initial hit does more damage once per 15 seconds when used on a 30% hp target. Bodyguard morphs are generally ok, aoe healing feels weaker than operative and sorcerer and I would have liked to see a morph that lets you refresh kolto shells.

 

I really don't have many positive things to say about Mercenary. I find them really boring on live because they have quite literally everything. This was a perfect opportunity to remove bloat and streamline the class and honestly, this has not achieved the developer philosophy to remove unnecessary abilities, mobility and dcd creep. Mercenaries feel too similar to live in a patch where practically every other combat style has been gutted in any combination of mobility, stuns and dcds and overall ability numbers.

 

Once again, how do Mercenaries STILL have this much bloat when Sentinels and Marauders have barely twenty total abilities?

 

Sorry for the more ranty writing style in this one, it really left a bad taste in my mouth and it doesn't feel like there's much point doing what I did for the other combat styles and listing out all the abilities and my thoughts when this is basically just the same Mercenary from live. I didn't think Powertechs had anything left to lose and they still received some of the most crippling changes so far. No jet charge baseline is madness (wait no that's a Sorc spec...).

 

Mercenaries had the most room for pruning and have gotten away with murder.

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This is my issue with the Mercenary on PTS at the moment and why I've struggled to even start writing feedback without it becoming a rant about how much of a failure the Mercenary is on the PTS right now.

 

Every other combat style has lost what players consider to be essential abilities, mobility, stuns, dcds etc. Mercenaries actually became MORE survivable on the PTS. Not only can they choose every single one of their current dcds and dcd buffs on the PTS on every single discipline, but chaff flare now has BOTH IO and Arsenal buffs. (For the unaware this means every discipline can get a 35% defence chance increase AND absorb 2 force or tech attacks completely ever 45 seconds). Sure Mercs lose hydraulic overrides - but who cares, they still have 2 jet boost charges despite Powertech losing their basic charge AND hydrualic overrides. (Seriously, why does a ranged class have more base mobility than a melee class??) Sure Mercenaries lost their hard cc, but they still keep their knockback and their insta cast soft stun baseline.

 

You sound surprised. I told you, so long as the devs play mercs, ops, and snipers those classes will never see any meaningful change. Force users aren't allowed to deflect blaster bolts but it's cool mercs still can. Still have energy shield, kolto overload, electro net, responsive safeguards, cc, and double rocket out. Oh, and Operatives are still rollin' n' trollin'.

 

Meanwhile every PvP utility and ability Juggernauts & Marauders use was placed into competition with one another in the new ability tree.

 

Lol, I called it from the start.

Edited by Dyne-
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You sound surprised. I told you, so long as the devs play mercs, ops, and snipers those classes will never see any meaningful change. Force users aren't allowed to deflect blaster bolts but it's cool mercs still can. Still have energy shield, kolto overload, electro net, responsive safeguards, cc, and double rocket out. Oh, and Operatives are still rollin' n' trollin'.

 

Meanwhile every PvP utility and ability Juggernauts & Marauders use was placed into competition with one another in the new ability tree.

 

Lol, I called it from the start.

 

I don't like the idea that the devs allow personal biases to influence their design decisions because it's unprofessional and results in a poorer experience, but it really is sadly feeling that this is the case. We're rapidly running out of time before 7.0 launches and there haven't been many major changes based on the large amount of feedback.

Guardians got saber throw and guardian leap back which is awesome and I'm glad that happened - but then immediately after, Powertechs lost every single mobility tool to ABC. It just doesn't make any sense and if this is the direction Mercs and Powertechs are being taken for 7.0, I'm simply not going to play them. Mercs will still be the bloated favourite child and Powertechs will be gutted beyond reason. (I do like some of the survivability upgrades and nuances Powertechs got, but it's not enough)

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