Akam
-
Posts
103 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Blogs
Events
Articles
Downloads
Gallery
Posts posted by Akam
-
-
Keep in mind, right now, we're not dealing with NiM. We're dealing with HM. HM is supposed to be hard but not completely mechanically unforgiving. That's NiM. If NiM doesn't consist of a number of absolutely unforgiving versions of old mechanics and a slew of new mechanics that make you want to cry, then it's probably a likely candidate for calling it undertuned.
Of course, it should still be mentioned that you have to look at the difficulty of a particular piece of content when you have *entry level* gear. Talking about it being undertuned now that you've had over a month to gear up isn't running around in entry level gear. At a minimum, you should be in mostly Verpine and Arkanian with a few Underworld pieces. That's not entry gear. Entry gear is unauged (because only NiM assumes augs) BM and probably Arkanian 2 piece. If it feels undertuned it's because *you're* overtuned for that piece of content.
I can agree with most of this. I'll use my personal experience with that of my guild as an example. We went ahead cleared 8man HM way before we even touched 16man storymode. This is mostly due to attendance and gear issues. We were able to do 6/7 HM in one night with some of knowing the fights, others hearing the explanation before pull before the first time. All 6 bosses were 1 shots with semi decent gear and not a complete understanding of the fights. Styrak was defeated the next night with relative ease. I certainly agree with you that HM doesn't equal NiM. All im saying is that if memory serves me and if Bioware continues this path of boss difficulty as seen in prior NiM modes, NiM won't be very nightmarish. Granted, character progression is character progression and we as min/maxers kind of bring this upon ourselves by acquiring BiS gear before the next difficulty is even out. Bioware is also at fault for releasing NiM modes after we've had way too much time to get that gear and or are absolutely just sick of that OP/ready for something new.
Concerning 16m exclusive content, I've always preferred to run with 8m. When NP happened, even when I was running a group that could run *absolutely everything* with no problem, we weren't allowed to touch that content. When Dreadtooth was added, I liked it because it promised to be a world boss that created a compromise between 8m and 16m content, except that it was something of a lie because it was really just 24m content. Then we found that the Dreadful Entity was, once again, 16m exclusive. That's cutting out *anyone* that doesn't run 16m (or more), and, even if you wanted to do an alliance between multiple 8m groups, you'd still be screwed because the ratios for 8m, 16m, and 24m are *all* different (2:2:4 for 8m; 2:4:10 for 16m; 2:6-8:14-16 for 24m).I was basically in the same boat in 1.2 (I think that's when NP was released). I was in a different guild, 8man exclusive. We were very tight knit, able to clear everything no problem and were excited for a world boss we could consider progression. Then we found out it was 16man and had to co op with another 8man guild. What an absolutely hassle. I don't miss it one bit. Although, I'm still friends with a few raiders from that guild so I suppose something good came out of it. I guess what I'm trying to say is and what you are as well, the raid size shouldn't matter. All guilds, regardless of raid size, should be able to test thier strength against a NiM-ONLY boss.
The devs have explicitly said that 16m content should be rewarded better (which is funny because, at release, they said the exact opposite), and I don't really have a *major* problem with that because the only difference is in commendations (and, as a tank, comms are pretty much worthless). However, it's pretty unfair to have content that is *exclusive* to 16m content so that 8m groups are not only getting worse/less loot but also less content. I realize that they want to reward 16m because it's "harder" (I've always felt that the difficulty is exclusively based on handling 16 people at a time rather than anything inherently harder about the content so it's not even something that's guaranteed or particularly hard to mitigate with good leadership), but it should only be the *rewards* that they get more of; not content.Well it's not like Bioware is following the WOTLK model of 10/25 & 10/25 Heroic gear. I think the fact that 16mans are rewarded 2 tokens instead of 1 in 8mans is a fair adjustment. I wouldn't say that 16mans reward more tokens because its harder (actually, I think 8mans can often be harder than 16), it's just that there are twice the amount of people in a 16 than 8. More people, more loot! Fair?
Also yes, 8man guilds are absolutely screwed out of content simply because the like smaller teams. No one can argue that when you put it that way =)
-
This game could use an Algalon the Raid Breaker. I support this idea.
Not sure if you're referring to the timer limit or just the boss in general. Both of which, IMO would be cool
I like this idea. As far as spawning them goes, so long as you are (in some fashion) required to complete the rest of the boss's in the instance. I would also BEG, yes beg, for this boss to be something of a HUGE challenge......I am talking something like requiring the raid to be BiS and skilled....etc.That's basically what I mean by optional & non essential to progression. These kinds of bosses should require a raid to be full BiS, up to date on class & rotation and punishes the raid with with death at the slightest hint of a mistake. Im talking 200+ attempts, and just when your done bashing your head against the wall, clubbing your friend with keyboard and checking in to the nearest physch facility, you kill the boss and the whole server bows down to your awesomeness. THIS IS WHAT WE WANT BIOWARE!
The achievements for NiM S&V hint at something like thatI just read this last night. Yup, that text is the usual format for something else lies ahead. As much as I would like to get away from TFB Secret Boss theorycrafting, I feel like the Dreadful Amulet might play a small part in that. Perhaps on Styrak's throne?
I'm all for NiM exclusive stuff, unless it's exclusive to *16m* NiM (like the Dreadful Entity). Not everyone has 15 buddies to run with and not everyone *with* 15 buddies *wants* to run 16m content. And it's not like you can just fuse 2 8m raids together since you'd be 2 tanks heavy and 2 DPS shy.I'm on the fence about this. On one hand, I feel you should be able to do this as a guild regardless of the raid size. On the other hand, I love 16mans and love anything that furthers my love of 16mans. /Shrug
Part of the difficulty of bosses in MMOs is, and always has been, determining the appropriate strategy to use. Since TOR tests their ops pretty extensively on the PTS (because loading buggy bosses is friggin' *terribad*), by the time the patch is released, the strat is well known right out of the box. You can't really complain about the difficulty being too low when you're benefiting from having absolutely everything about the fight explained to you beforehand.There is some truth to it. A counter argument is when 2.0 was on the PTS, alot of people complained S&V was too hard. Knowing the strats had nothing to do with the nerf. Now, We can full clear 16man HM S&V + HM Golden Fury in one night with time to spare on just one raid night. I think the problem is two fold, Knowing the fights beforehand + maybe being a little undertuned?
-
Title says it all
Would you guys like to see Nightmare-ONLY bosses added to future operations? Assuming Bioware speeds up the time table and releases nightmare modes at the same time, or perhaps SHORTLY after new operations are released, would you like to see optional, non essential bosses to progression but offer the toughest, most brutal challenge of that tier?
Dreadful Entity was great and exciting but I want to see something that doesn't take months of theory crafting, testing and waiting to just be able to spawn. There are many ideas on how this can be accomplished and I would just like to add my personal favorite; Attunements. Here are a few ideas on how this can be done;
- In order to unlock/engage this NiM only boss, all previous bosses in the OPs must be defeated within the operation during that lockout period.
- Special items needed to summon (aka Dreadful Entity).
- Special Timer (aka speed run) Once players engage the first boss of the operation, a special timer will appear alongside the "Under 2 hours" timer alerting players to the time remaining you have to engage and or defeat the optional boss before it despawns until the next reset.
I know there are a lot of players that still feel like the hardest content in swtor is a bit lack luster, and while NiM modes haven't been released for this tier yet, I fear history will repeat itself as seen with prior NiM modes. Optional NiM -ONLY bosses will add something else to push for. If you would like to see this happen, please show your support by voting! Perhaps even add your own thoughts on the matter on how this can be accomplished. If you don't feel this is necessary, please explain why in the comments below. Regardless, I look forward to reading it.
-
Bodyguard PvP
This build is great for rated warzones and 1v1 when you know you are going to be the focus of many DPS
- Kolto Shell will proc twice every 3 seconds when used in conjunction with a quick GCD of rapid shots at an enemy
- Immunity from Interupts while Energy Shield is active
- 20% healing taken when Energy Shield is active
- Kolto Shell will proc twice every 3 seconds when used in conjunction with a quick GCD of rapid shots at an enemy
-
2300 aim, 700 bonus healing, 45% crit and 71 surge
You have WAY too much crit and not enough power/surge. I understand that this is your alt so take that with a grain of salt. The question still stands though: Is the raid taking unnessecary damage?
-
[With all 4 Buffs]
35% crit, 75-80% surge, the rest into power and very little alacrity. You want about 1.7x second cast for pve for rapid scan with critical reaction proced.
All augments should be Reflex 22.
All mods: Agile 27 / Agile 27A
All Enhancements: Adept 27
All Shells: Tionese/Columni/Rakata because their set bonus is attached to shell, not armoring. Allows you to place Reflex 27 armoring in all slots for max stats.
All Armorings: Reflex 27
Barrel: Reflex 27
I also recommend this setup. A top tier bodyguard merc will have +80% surge (even with the DR) for the following reason: THERE IS NO OTHER ENHANCEMENT THAT GIVES POWER.
My current stats (buffed) are;
AIM: 2378
Power: 1210
Crit: 35.48%
Surge: 80.21%
Alacrity: 4% (9% w/ Critical Reaction)
-
I don't particulary have time to go through combat logs
I know tanks switch on time when it comes to stacks.
My main is a DPS tho so i'm not all familiar with all the debuffs that affect tanks, what is blood vengance?
Blood Vengeance occurs when either Ke'sara or Ciphas takes damage. Blood Vengeance will occur on the following targets when they take damage
If Kel'sara takes enough damage, she will buff Ciphas with Blood Vengeance, significantly increasing the damage Ciphas does
If Ciphas takes enough damage, he will buff Heirad with Blood Vengeance, significantly increasing the damage Heirad does.
If your tanks know to switch at 5 stacks, the bosses main abilities shouldn't be too much of an issue so I have to assume your tanks or DPS are the cause of the increased damage via Blood Vengeance or you are undergeared for the fight.
Note- Saying you are campaign geared is one thing, but being itemized is entirely different.
-
It could be any number of things but to be honest, if done properly, dreadguards is an easy fight and tanks shouldn't be taking all that much damage.
Look through your combat logs for the following answers to these questions;
1) Did Kel'sara/Heirad receive Blood Vengeance
2) Did your tanks ever receive 6+ stacks of the debuff
I
-
I'll add a couple of abilities for the bodyguard spec that i feel would be most beneficial
Bodyguard
Dual Life Support- Place a life support system on a target. For 20 seconds, Rapid scan and healing scan will also heal this target for 50% of the amount. 2 minute cooldown
Bodyguard- Jumps to a friendlly target, reseting the active cooldown and allows for an automatic critical hit on emergency scan. 1 minute cooldown
EDIT: Added more skills
Bodyguard
Mandalore's Call- Call upon Mandalorian reinforcements for support for 20 seconds. The Mandalorians will support you depending on what gas cylinder you have on.
Combat Support Cylinder- Mandalorian Medtechs will use advanced kolto tech to heal your current target
Combustible gas cylinder- Mandalorian Firebugs will use prototype flamethrowers to attack your current target
High Velocity gas cylinder- Mandalorian Siegebreakers will use heavy ordinance to attack your current target
High Energy gas cylinder- Mandalorian Blademasters will use the deadliest of melee weapons to attack your current target.
Ion Gas Cylinder- Mandalorian Honor Guards will use carbonite shield tech to defend you against your current target.
Obviously I'm thinking this ability could be base line and works well with any given spec/AC
-
Infallible downs The Writhing Horror on 8man HM (9/26/12 at 9:24PM EST)
We have not done storymode yet
-
Infallible
Empire
Full Clear 8man: Explosive Conflict, Karaaga's Palace, Eternity Vault (all difficulties)
Full Clear 16man: Explosive Conflict, Karaaga's Palace, Eternity Vault (all difficulties)
Nightmare Pilgrim as well
Looking forward to Terror From beyond
-
While most of the mercenary changes are welcomed, the last one in particular I can't see being very useful in a PvP or PvE setting
•New Bodyguard/Combat Medic skill, Peacekeeper/Frontline Medic: While protected by your own Kolto Shell/Trauma Probe, firing Rapid Shots/Hammer Shot at an enemy triggers your Kolto Shell/Trauma Probe to heal you on a separate 3-second rate limitIt's true that most players will immediately focus a healer if they see one and since thats the case (and we do have kolto shell/trauma prove on ourselves), don't you think we'd be better off casting a heal on ourselves?
Assuming we're geared properly;
Any heal + koltoshell/trauma probe charge > 2 Kolto shell/trauma probe heals
Not to mention Rapid shot/hammer shot won't even make a dent in a player with a decent amount of expertise. This also brings up the fact that if it is a skill, we'd have to give up something good/required by our advanced class for something that sounds good on paper, but just isn't as good or required (kind of like powered insulators)
Now with that being said, I would suggest going back to the drawing board on that one, and perhaps consider something that mercenary community has been begging for.
Ideas include
- Bodyguard- Jumps to the target and redirects incoming damage onto yourself by a %. This ability is highly situational (would be good in both PvE and PvP), would make an excellent cooldown and fits well within the bodyguard archetype
- Rapid shots- Can be used on yourself. This should be self explanatory but we should be able to cast this on ourselves. If we're getting focused down and are receiving no guard, extra heals, it's just a matter of time before we either overheat or are defeated. We should have something to fall back on when heat just won't let us cast anything else
- Armoured Heat Suit- Increases maximum heat by 5/10.
Just a few ideas that I think warrants a look at it.
Otherwise, great changes as far as mercenaries go
- Bodyguard- Jumps to the target and redirects incoming damage onto yourself by a %. This ability is highly situational (would be good in both PvE and PvP), would make an excellent cooldown and fits well within the bodyguard archetype
-
My guild and I are extremely excited about this feature but we have a couple questions if you don't mind to help us get started.
Most of us already have AMR profiles. When placing the script on the roster page, do we have to add one for each raider (replacing Character ID with Profile ID)?
Also, I'm assuming the character ID is your username?
Thanks in advanced!
-
1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes?
I think a majority of the playerbase views Arsenal as really good DPS (when played properly) in PvE. In PvP, it's pretty much accepted that when we are ignored we are are pretty good. However, it's gotten to the point that if anyone sees a merc, they are instantly focused down. /Freekill.
2. How do you perceive your own spec? Again, mercs do competitive damage in PvE when played properly but are a liability in PvP. All in all, they are a fun class to play but are a little complex, which is what I like about it.
-
Have you actually tested whether or not Heat Seeker Missile calculates damage when it physically hits?
Have you tested the Trooper equivalent to see if Tracer Missile is slower then Grav Round?
Or are you assuming?
Because my HSM works just fine.
I just got done testing and it appears that it was indeed server lag causing these issues for me
-
Essentially do the exact same thing you did to Project to Tracer Missile. The rate at which Tracer Missile travels is too slow. Infact if we stack the max amount of heat sigs on a target before casting Heat Seeker Missile (benefits most from 5 stacks) the 3rd Tracer Missile will actually land after we cast Heat Seeker Missile meaning HSM is not benefiting from the 5 heat sigs. This seems like a design flaw, however it could also be caused from the server lag. Is anyone else noticing this or perhaps also wants to test this out?
-
Hey there,
Not sure if this has been suggested before but I think it would be nice if our weapon cylinder's glow reflected what color crystal we have. As a mercenary, I'm currently using a black-purple +41 power in my mainhand and a black-orange +41 power in the offhand. With each new update, I like to grab the latest trend in color crystal schemes but I feel like half it's appeal is wasted on me as I really only use my blasters on unload when a barrage procs and less than 10x total throughout a boss fight. Not to mention, you see a force users equipped with a black-purple crystal and it looks awesome!
Hoping the rest of the merc community will pledge their support of this, and maybe those gunslingers as well
-
HM kephess does have several gear checks; Baradium bombers, The 40/30/30 check on Warstrider, Kephess's 60% aoe phase, etc
I have yet to experience a face plant on my desk, or the overwhelming desire to throw my monitor through a window on any encounter/difficulty. I'm hoping the new nightmare modes brings that feeling back...you know those encounters where you do 200+ attempts in before you get it down rather than clear it within the first week, 2 weeks after it comes out.
-
Let's be honest here. The only reason anyone uses campaign armorings is because if you put those armorings in custom-augmented gear, the total stats are more than just rakata gear without augments. The fact that augment kits are introduced in 1.3 means that rakata armoring + blackhole mods/enhancements are your BiS...this shouldnt be the case. While the campaign weapons are still better, that still leaves a good majority of campaign gear that simply isn't on par with rakata.
I suggest increasing the stats on campaign armorings to make it more attractive to players than rakata armoring.
-
Why would we use abilities that would yield a DPS loss? You can do that now if you wanted to. Instead of using Tracer Missile, just go ahead and use Power Shot. You will experience a DPS loss but do it because you can!
...................
I said we can, doesn't mean we should
-
The fact that we can use other abilities other than tracer missile or unload (with barrage) when HSM/RS is on cooldown doesn't mean we should.
Tracer missile/Unload is still are hardest hitting abilities. If your argueing that with the new changes we can now use abilities like fusion missile, explosive dart, etc...the answer is we can. It would be DPS loss, but yea we can.
-
You use rapid shots all the time. It should be ~5% of your DPS.
If you don't mind, can you post a log? I'm not saying I never use rapid shots, I just feel like I'm using it way more than I should.
-
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1117292-Arsenal-Bounty-Hunter-Are-YOU-Doing-It-Right
I figured it would be easier just to link my guide. Copy and pasting it would just be wasted time. No I am not trying to deter people away from this site. Its just a place for them to go and look for some help.
This guide offers various different things. Make sure to read the part of the guide that best suites your current gear level and accessibility. There is a short guide at the bottom dealing with those who have steady access to campaign gear, as well as a guide for Rakata min/maxing.
Also, a lot of the comments are beneficial to learning about your class since it is a discussion based between members.
I am in a top World Guild clearing 16man HM EC every Tuesday. I currently do 1550-1600 DPS over a 6min duration on a target dummy. This guide is everything that I do. Feel free to comment on it with any questions you may have regarding certain choices within the guide.
Hey Aerro. First off, good write up. I'm having a few issues with my heat management following your guide. My spec is 6/31/4. I'm consistinently clearing 8man HM Denova and have gotten most of my campaign gear. Following a priority system my "rotation" is TM x3, Unload (if barrage procs) TSO + Heatseeker, TM x2, unload (if barrage procs) Railshot. Following that priority system, I still cannot manage to stay below 40 heat. To tell the truth, after using TSO and Vent heat, I'm constantly hovering over 50+ heat all the time. Here are my stats (raid buffed)
2252 Aim (w/ exotech reflex stim)
36.27% crit
75.63% multiplier
112.17% accuracy
525 power/ 1261 tech power
I try to use rapid shots as little as possible, but end up using it quite alot as im consantly over +50 heat. I'm starting to think that I should rapid shot after every TM but I believe that would be a major dps loss. Am I doing something wrong here? Oh and just to throw it out there, I do have the 4p.
-
I really only have two complaints about mercenary healing;
1) Emergency Scan is a great ability! I don't care what anyone says. When it crits, you feel amazing! But that's also my issue. As of Right now, I have a 40% crit rate, with 80% multiplier. When Emergency scan doesn't crit, and heals for a lousy 1-2k when full t1 tanks have +20k HP, I feel like crawling into a hole...I would suggest buffing the base heal, or perhaps add auto crit when tanks are kolto shelled/low on health, etc
2) Kolto missile needs to have smarter targeting/increase in # of players healed. I can't tell you how many times I've healed flashpoints/operations and the kolto missile landed on players with full HP instead of players with low HP, NPC's (minimechs????), etc. I mean really, kolto missile should really take these kind of things into account. Also, why in the world does it only heal 3 players? With the way heat works, we should be getting more bang for our buck. For flashpoints, it's good but in an 8/16man setting, it just doesn't cut it..not when operatives can stack HoTs, sorcs can drop revivification.
If these two abilities were buffed/fixed, I really wouldn't have any complaints about merc healing. It's really fun and I enjoy it.
[OPS] Nightmare-ONLY bosses
in Flashpoints, Operations, and Heroic Missions
Posted
My point exavtly. Half our 16 didn't even know what the bosses names were and still managed to one shot 6/7 and within a few attempts, last boss on HM S&V. Mechanics are one thing, scaling is entirely seperate.