kuey
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Posts posted by kuey
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Currently running DF on my Scoundrel (that's the same as Leth for you guys in case you didn't know) and all I can really say is, whilst it's a great spec for bosses and such, the problem with the spec is trash mobs. You don't really have any extra tools to kill trash mobs.
For obvious reasons DoTs are useless against trash (they should be dead before the DoT can start to show any real damage), and Cull is only useful against a target with DoTs on em. So basically, as a dps against trash mobs, you have the dps of a healer.
So the question for people organizing groups is, do you want a mediocre melee dps (you will still get out dps'd by PTs/Maras/Juggs) who contributes very little to anything outside of a boss fight, or would you rather just pull one of those other classes?
Don't get me wrong, it's still possible to complete an op with a leth/conc OP, however, given the choice, Leth ops are probably one of the last options I'd take in an op, closely followed by concealment ops.
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Thought I should let you know that against a DF/Leth spec, you can't restealth. You can cleanse their DoT, but if you do so their secondary DoT kicks in and will knock you out of stealth. The only class that can fully escape DF/Leth DoTs are Shadows/Assassins as their skill provides several seconds of immunity which doesn't allow the secondary effect to kick in.
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There are two reasons why we're not going to see the buffs that we all want (well, actually three):
1- They can't buff our survivability because of Medicine Ops and Snipers. Our two defensive abilities (Dodge and Shield Probe) are shared by Medicine Ops and Snipers. Buff them and all of a sudden you've got a god mode Healing Op that is 10x worse than what we have already, thus forcing them to nerf something else (Surgical Probe, when used on yourself, probably needs an internal cool down anyway but I digress). And if you buff those two abilities for Snipers, all of a sudden the one glaring weakness of being rooted to do DPS is not such a weakness.
2- Stealth has been and always will be the WORST ability ever included in an MMO. People despise being attacked by something that they can't see or predict. All of this is despite the fact that you've got to take 3 talent points just to make stealth not seen from 10m and that there is a bug with Bolster in the sub-50 bracket enhancing your normal ability to see through stealth. The point of this problem is that because it is impossible to adequately balance stealth and so many people hate being attacked by stealthers, you end up getting a damage nerf on abilities that come out of stealth which resulted in the nerfs we saw in the 1.1 and 1.2 patches. So, while our damage is weak in both PvP and PvE, buffing the stealth based damage ability, even though it requires stealth which we have to blow a cool down on in combat to achieve, isn't going to happen cause that'll just cause an outrage with the community.
To expand a lil more on #1 and #2, if you fully optimize your gear for PvP, you're going to be reducing your health to boost your DPS. You make this decision because an extra 1-2k hps, which the level of damage most classes put out, is nothing when you can add another 300 damage on some of your attacks. So, our crappy defense and community opposed damage is putting us in a bind.
#3- The only other abilities that you can boost are shared by Snipers. How many actually use Shiv? Very few and only in select few situations. But we all use Rifle Shot (a basic attack that won't be buffed as no other class has had their basic attack buffed), Corrosive Dart (a primary for Lethality Snipers and they def don't need a buff), Frag Grenade (a staple of the Engi/Leth Snipers), Explosive Probe (and energy hog used by all snipers), Overload Shot (LOL - had to include it), and Orbital Strike.
This really only leaves Shiv, Backstab, and maybe Acid Blade. They won't touch Backstab because they just boosted it in the last patch. Shiv is probably a good spot but then they'd have to question why they nerfed the Razor Edge talent. And if you boost Acid Blade, then we're back to a situation where the community is in an uproar over more armor pen.
Basically, we're in a tough situation. To quote the movie Rounders, "I've often seen these people, these squares at the table, short stack and long odds against them. All their outs gone. One last card in the deck that can help them. I used to wonder how they could let themselves get into such bad shape, and how the hell they thought they could turn it around."
And you couldn't just tie in buffs to survivability and such to high tier skills in a particular tree like Concealment to prevent buffs being applied to Snipers and Medicine operatives because?
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Edit. Just realised how wrong I was lol.
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Anyone notice the irony that they set out to increase our group gameplay yet only managed to increase our lonewolf gameplay? Seems to be the BW M.O., set out to do one thing and do the complete opposite instead. Good job fellas, for a moment I was worried you might become competent, thanks for proving me wrong.
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If gearing is no problem, then Akaavi. Akaavi DoT spec'd did just as much damage as Risha sniper spec'd for me. Also Akaavi's ability to wear heavy armour made life much easier for me, especially against bosses.
If you can't always keep up to date gear wise, then Risha. She can use your old gear so she tends to gear up a lot easier.
Something else to be aware of though is that Akaavi is more AoE and DoT reliant and hence makes it harder to manage CCing, whereas Risha can focus fire single targets a lot more easily. For that reason I'd say Risha is a better pick if you're struggling a bit, or if you like soloing heroics.
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I see a gap-closer, and more opportunities to re-enter stealth. I'm one happy camper!
I just hope they fix the issues that cause you to stay in combat.
Glad someone is happy. I'm glad we got something but considering BW's reasoning behind the changes and how they completely failed to achieve anything of the sort, I'm more along the lines of disappointed. Especially since I know BW is prob not going to touch the class again rather than admit they don't have a clue what they're doing and revisit the changes they made.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, BW brought these changes about in order to increase our viability in group gameplay as opposed to the lone wolf gameplay dps scoundrels currently enjoy. All these current changes do is to further increase our lone wolf gameplay whilst having very little group gameplay impact. Nothing in these changes makes us any more tempting as a pick in PvE and PvP groups. Whilst I believe we contribute towards groups, I still believe what we provide is comparatively far inferior to what other classes can provide, esp since our stealth counterparts just received a dps buff (their burst is still not as good as ours, but their sustained is far superior) as well as a significant survivability boost (they're now well and truly above us in that regard).
As for the actual changes...
More re-stealth? Great, apart from the fact that in major group gameplay restealth is a very conditional move that requires you to be free of DoTs and avoid AoE skills (gonna be fun now with the 15m ranged force wave, whilst that change sucks for their class, it also sucks for us who try to run around in stealth).
50% faster movement OOS is great, but what would have truly given it value as a gap closer would be giving it the same effect as sprint on a shadow, not speed wise, but in terms of breaking snares and being immune to them for the duration. As it is we still have no way to counter the multitude of snares that exist in this game. 50% movement bonus is great, cept that in most group gameplay situations you're almost constantly being under at least 1 snare effect.
As a lonewolf class, we definitely excel, as for group gameplay, we still lacking.
Also for those saying our damage is fine... Personally I play a Scoundrel healer who occasionally switches over to dps when I get tired of my masochism. As it is now, operative DPS specs are hardly a concern for me, the only other dps classes I shrug off more are DPS assassins and Sorcs. Comparative damage output wise the rest are seriously out of their league. People only ever bring us along to PvP for healing or support roles. In PvE, we're there just for healing, we can dps ok and ops aren't impossible with us but having a dps Scoundrel in a HM/NM op is basically asking your other dps to step it up a notch to make up for what you're losing had you picked another melee dps class (which is essentially a good 100+ dps).
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It's a 50% speed for 6sec and you'll only be in stealth for 1.5sec (the GCD). Running from a point to another one, especially in Novare Coast or in Hutball, where you want to cover the distance faster it's major and plus in RWZ Hutball, Scoundres/Operatives would go first to cap the ball and pass it to their tank. That's still big, imo
Speed bonuses do no stack if I recall correctly. Against transendence + sprint, you got no hope of reaching the ball first, and on top of that, as one of the weakest classes in the game against burst damage, if you get caught with the ball in the middle, it's almost the equivalent of handing them the ball.
You were right about the node travelling uses of the skill however doing so requires you to be switching in between stealth and OOS to get there making you visible to enemies and eliminating one of the main advantages of the class. Also if you happen to get caught out in the middle of your makeshift sprint routine it's essentially game over, a Scoundrel without stealth is the worst dps class in the game by a long margin.
As a poster said above, this simultaneous speed boost only really applies to OOC situations, furthermore, unlike sprint, it doesn't remove snare effects making it of very limited use in combat situations. It's a pathetic excuse for a buff when you compare it to what our assassin/shadow counterparts got with 25% DR OOS and a snareless sprint.
As for the reason I'm only really focusing on the PvP aspects, in case it wasn't glaringly obvious, 50% is far inferior to my 110% speeder. The only place where it would actually be useful, is areas where you can't ride your speeder, though those areas aren't usually that large to begin with so... yay for saving a few seconds?
Sorry for being so pessimistic, but whilst it'S a fun change, it's also virtually a pointless one.
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The irony behind these buffs is that none of them really target the issues with the class which they were trying to deal with, they just make us better soloers. Main issues before were OOS damage, lack of a decent and low CD gap closer and their poor survivability. As for restealth,... they can do it only once every 1 n half min, which is completely negated if they take any damage whether it's from a DoT (only an issue against DF specs) or AoE. When compared to force leap, force sprint or even grapple (though the resolve factor for grapple lowers it's viability as a gap closer considerably). it's pretty evident it's a significantly worse gap closer, or rather, it only shines in solo situations.
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i'm not sure if this is a bug or an exploit though. Recently, I've run across a couple of sins that stay invisible while in combat with me. At first, I though it was my video card/lag/whatever, but it appears to be only 2 specific sins that do this against me. Its kinda of a funny bug, when they are fighting only their lightsaber is visible. When they exit combat (eg. i die) and sheath their auto-sheathe lightsaber, they cannot be seen at all. I reckon its a bug that they are just taking advantage of.
I only mention it, as these two individuals can also cap a node (void, civil and/or coast) without ever becoming visible as well.
The perma invis associated with Maras/Sents is a bug I believe.
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I held all 3 nodes by myself! I'm better!
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You can't use Smuggle/Infiltrate while already in Stealth. Both players would've had to de-stealth, and then one use the ability to re-stealth them both. Neither player can be in combat, and I'm almost certain that the action of planting on the door would cause the planter to un-stealth again or he wouldn't be able to do it at all.
Considering that the stealth cap is a recurring problem on our server, I'm more inclined to call foul on this one.
I personally haven't tried it so it's just what I've been told, the idea was boht pop out and you hit Smuggle next to the planter after he's already started meaning rather than starting a new action he's continuing it. But as I haven't tested it (I'm a heals on my smuggler so I generally don't pop smuggle unless raiding a node) so it may not work that way. Anyone actually tried it before?
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Not sure if it's the same story as before, but I do know that a Scoundrel using their "Smuggle" ability would be able to render someone planting a bomb invisible. Essentially 2 stealth run up to the door, 1 pops out to plant bomb whilst other hits Smuggle rendering them invisible whilst planting. This was awhile ago so it may have been fixed, just throwing it out there as a possible explanation. Also may have missed the devs saying anything about it but no one ever said it was an exploit, that I recall anyway.
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Positive
The only main thing people need to learn is that madness won't be the main spec to rely on anymore in terms of dps you will see the hybrids at the top. I mean people on my server are already adopting 2/21/18. Being uninteruptable will only increase output.
If that truly is the case, then BW has completely missed the mark considering that they had previously made statements along the lines that they wanted to phase out the hybrid builds in favour of focusing on a single tree.
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Idea is ok, though the problem I see with it is that a lot of higher ranked players are going to be stuck playing the same people. BW already said they weren't keen on the cross-server queue idea awhile back (not sure if they've since changed their stance), and I can't see this idea working without a cross-server queue to bolster queue ranks.
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Depends a lot on who you're fighting. If you're talking overall viability then I'd say Hybrid Assassin/Shadow then Mara/Sent and then Op/Scoundrel for 1v1 viability only.
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no I mean I got it.
lol my apologies then I misunderstood what you meant then.
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mez'd em back.
I think he's talking about how you can take occasionally take damage whilst still being mezzed (as in you're still mezzed after taking damage). Can be fun to have a few people hack you to pieces whilst you're spinning.
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Personally, I'd like Hold the Line. Interrupt immunity is along the right lines but 12 seconds every 2 minutes? Not gonna help a lot. 8 seconds of Interrupt/Leap immunity every 30 seconds would help a lot though.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but hold the line doesn't protect from interrupts does it? I mean bosses have immunity to controlling effects, however you can still use interrupts on them.
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Guess it will all depend on what new tier equipment will come out with the new level cap. If the new gear doesn't create a significant gap between 55 and 50 then a 50-55 pvp queue should be ok.
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You don't, you do get more comms.
Actually occasionally you can get more medals losing than winning in Void Star. Every now and then I'll get around 80 medals for for winning a VS (and yes, I did have medals), whilst on the other hand I've also gotten up to 90 for losing. Though I've only experienced this in VS, and from what I've heard from others I think it's more of a VS related bug rather than problem relating to all WZs.
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I say just reduce the cost of augmenting gear
That way, people will be more willing to augment recruit and bm gear which will significantly close the gear gap. Fully augmented BM gear is nearly as good as WH
This sounds way better than reducing the cost of WH. As it stands on my server, you're spending over 1.5m to get augment slots on each of your items. Throw in then the cost of buying the augments, the cost can get ridiculous.
Of course you can just augment the stuff yourself, but then you're falling into the old trap of forcing people into certain crafts, which means you're recreating the whole situation with biochem all over again (well it's not as bad as that, but I don't think they had planned to force everyone to pick certain crafts).
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What's even better is when you have a guardian on your team. You just camp there stealthed and he jumps up to you and you don't even have to break stealth.
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Respect the player not the class. Not our fault that servers are full of incompetent fotm rerollers.
PvP Leveling Viable?
in PvP
Posted
To answer the OPs question. Levelling via PvP ALONE is not really viable. By that I don't mean you CAN'T hit 50 just pvping, but with queue times mixed with joining near completed matches and so forth, it will take considerably longer to hit 50, possibly to the extent of weeks, which you could otherwise could of dedicated to gearing yourself up in the 50 bracket. Oh and PvP levelling is only really viable during peak times, limiting when you can play. Questing on the other hand affords a. faster experience (several times faster) b. more money (at the minimum for a pvper you need a fair bit to augment your gear, and PvP doesn't really provide anywhere near enough to afford augmenting yourself up) and c. the ability to play whenever you want.
My advice would be to mix PvPing with questing. Doing class quest and the main world quests with a few extra thrown in here and there whilst your waiting for your queue to pop should generally be enough. If you've an avid PvPer then I would also recommend making sure you have the max 3.5k ranked warzone comms before you hit 50 as well as 2k wz comms.