People think the merc arsenal toon is easy to play and yes it can be but it can also be very complexed. The rotations can be as simple and as complexed as you like, generally the more complexed and reactively you play the greater damage you can create whilst controling heat. One thing I will argue is that the merc has the ability to do good sustainable damage on raid boss mobs but can also actually sustain an AOE Dps that cannot be matched by any other class. Big downside to the merc arsenal is the lack of any form of interrupt and the main attack (tracer missle) being an interruptable and static cast. In PVP this can make soloing and 1 on 1 battles really unfair and incredible frustrating. Now tracer missle damage has been reduced considerably a good balancing move from bioware would be either to add a little more manouverability or range and an interrupt to the class. Making Heatseeker a static channeled cast or 2 seconds and making tracer missle timer dependent but non-channeling. My reasoning behind this is the importance of tracer missle as a building block for any further damage and the lack of impressiveness when youve done the work and heat seekers just sort of pop out.

Great thanks guys:D

Ok Thanks for your reply

Sorry to quote but I cant find info anywhere on this.. are these missions ANY investigation missions or just lockboxes? Are these weapons better that the purple lvl 50's and oranges we can already craft? because currently the demand for these is really low due to pvp pve weapons being so much better damage wise? I'm just trying to understand if Armstech can actually make anything better than what we can already make? I was hoping with 1.2 that at least some new level barrels would be made available to make our orange guns competative with low level PVP PVE gear? All i can see is no personal rakkata for armstech and loads of new armour stuff to fill an comparably bloated crew skill.

I have been playing BH merc arsenal since game release and I really don't want to give up on this class. I'm wondering why bioware thought the way to go with this 'balance' (still not really sure what they are balancing the Merc against as in PVP there isn't really a balance unless you carry a glowy stick). I have a lvl 50 assassin tank and a lvl 50 operative healer, neither of these classes rely on a channeled skill to proc their core skills (tac advantage and dark shroud). Both of these classes have intterupts. Both have invisibility, both have absorb shields, both can actvate their main skills whilst moving. Neither classes have such a low crit increase in the skil tree and to add insult to injury the assassin seems to be better at finding cloaked players than my Merc's stealth scan. Companions crew skill bonuses on the BH are the lowest I have seen on ANY character aswell? I have never been so demotivated in an MMO as I was yesterday listening to my clanmates telling me how awesome the marauder and snipers were in pvp now knowing that I have recieved nothing but a big slap. Who is designing and testing this class? are they really being objective?

Ok thanks for explaining fake casting, i definately have time to add several of those while being hacked apart by anyonw with a lightsaber. I was talking about several skills in my OP not the nerf and the post seems to have moved on to the patch 1.2? Stealth detection doesn't work, added stealth overrides it which makes it next to useless and it doesn't work with main bosses in flashpoints so where is it supposed to be used? Shoulderbarge is selective when it procs. Tracer is interruptible and is core to the arsenal line regardless of castint time, if you use it properly you need 3 hit's on a target to use railshot effectively and it refreshes barrage on crit. Wouldn't a cooldown timer without the chaneling and a root make more sense? No interrupt. Very dodgy crew bonuses. This is all pre 1.2 stuff...can we talk about the things I OP'd about not the patch 1.2 changes please?

(interupting trace missle ?? .. have you ever heard about fake casting ?? (usualy dont needed at this game but its working miracles... ) sorry don't follow you. opening TM to 2 seconds will make it even more interruptable. Bit dangerous for an action that underipins the majority of other arsenal actions that the developers are encouraging us to use isn't it? means we can fully debuff another character in about 6 seconds if we arent interrupted??? Ok what about the other stuff?

At lvl 50, no interrupts. A shield that says 'protects against stuns' that doesnt work. Erattic shoulderbarge proc. Stealth detection doesn't work and if it did the radius is way to small. 1 option to release from stun. shield defends from 25% of damage as compared to absorbtion from all other classes. The attack tracer missle is interruptable but this attack enables all other merc arsenal attacks. Companions crafting criticals are waaay below average in comparison to other classes. I'm just wondering why devs are taking from the bounty hunter rather than adjusting PVP with the BH is really difficult even when you know what you're doing. You're removing the merc bodyguards dps with the powershot nerf AND increasing his heat production?? After playing a full healing spec operative I find this a bit strange and really quite worrying. To anyone with a lighter, yes I have 3 lvl 50's different classes so i'm looking at this objectively. Other bounty hunter opinions is really welcome.

Just wondering if the bounty hunter is the only class with poor crafting companions? The agent and assassin at lvl 50 is so much easier to make decent gear with. I would be interested if someone could tell me wether trooper companions are equally as bad? A plus 1 crit for blizz in armstech that crits up to 1 in 100 is a bit of a kick in the you know whats.

Cup O Tea. Helping a friend to install the latest world of tanks patch.