This is an example of the misinformation that I'm speaking about. Merc dps are bottom tier in both pressure and hard swap set-ups. They are far too easy to shut down and their dps output is pathetic in a team composition environment. After the surge nerf & DCD nerfs Mercs were no longer a threat, except in solo ranked and that's not the format to balance around. No one plays sniper + merc comps unless they are farming for mats. But you and the 3 sniper + merc healer guy should definitely form a team.

I've run hardswaps since 8v8 ranked.. In 4s, matches are typically won around the 2-2.5 minute mark, if the game goes to acid (which is rare) we didn't execute the strategy correctly. The exception being when teams with otherwise respectable players have run double tank/healer or 4 stealth comps into us as an act of capitulation and failed trolling, which has happened numerous times this season. Not that we've lost to it, it just draws things out. You didn't deserve a reply to that but considering how much I hate real teams running "acid stratz" I felt compelled to.

It shouldn't be a surprise that those who still play group ranked competitively have a vested interest in balancing classes within the context of a competitive team composition. There's a wealth of misinformation and bad ideas on this forum formed from myopic experiences, detached entirely from the context of players using their classes at the top level. There's an off chance that someone who matters might read this thread, so debates are had and ideas shared. It's easy to sit back and not have thoughtful opinions around team balance when you play the game to sap cap randoms in civil war and stream meme 1v1 tournaments. You have no stake in competitive balance, because it doesn't affect you. I think they call that #influencing?

Very true! My change is more about the damage mitigation. I don't have a big problem with the 5 second pseudo-cc protection in isolation, i think it's more when you combine it with fury maras that it becomes pronounced.

I'm definitely open to lowering the %, but I think the key that I baked into that is it can only occur once per second, at a 50% chance. Rather than unlimited mitigation at a 75% chance for 6 seconds. I also put it at 50% because I've never seen bioware have a utility do 40 or 33% chance. And 25% seems low. Both my suggestion and removing it entirely are nerfs, mine is just a little less on the scale I guess.

The way that sniper was made from the ground up made it overly reliant on cover and entrench. At this point, you'd have to gut the class and rework all the core abilities. While I agree with you I wish sniper wasn't so reliant on one mechanic, I'm not sure Bioware would take the step to do that. No other class is reliant on one core mechanic the way that sniper is to cover . I would love to see it made a secondary mechanic like stealth is to sins, but again, that's a big leap.

The opposing team would cluster around an LOS object, drawing your team into stack within 5-10 meters of each other, group stun/mez and take out each sniper one by one while chaining hard stuns on the healer. You would be forced to engage because you will lose acid. You would also lose in approx 1-1.5 minutes since you are inexplicably running without a tank. Listen, this thread is a waste of time. I'm going to leave my suggested balance changes here on the off change someone important reads this drivel and does something about it. My proposals are intended to bring better balance to group ranked and allow for more diversity of classes to be played. Buffs 1.) Deception- a.) 30% DR while stunned baked into an existing utility b) Utility that lowers the CD of both hard stun and whirlwind similar to sniper's correlating utility c.) Slightly increase burst damage either through RNG reduction of the rotation or something more blunt like buffing discharge 2.) Hatred: a.) A dot spread that allows hatred to stay 10 meters away from the epicenter as was intended of the class (old death field). Whirling blow is awful as a dot spread since it forces an incredibly squishy class to go into the epicenter to spread dots b.) Or: a defensive buff 3.) AP/IO PT a.) Increase health restored or rate at which health is restored by kolto overload 4.) Mara a.) Consolidate Strangulation (15 sec reduction on Choke) and Brooding (15 sec reduction on Fear) -Similar to deception change and existing sniper utility, consolidate the hard stun and mezzes into 1 utility. b.) Rework Hidden Savagery into a meaningful dps boost, in line with sniper's executioner for pvp c.) Phantom now increases movement speed in Force Cloak by 30% (up from 15%) but at half the duration (see nerf below) 5.) Rework Bottom-Tier Specs - Rage Jug, Concealment/Lethality Operative, IO Merc/PT, Madness & Lightning Sorc, Virulence Sniper I don't know enough about the Bottom Tier specs to recommend specific changes, but Virulence is strong in PVE already so would have to get creative there- the main problem is it's a poor man's engineering for pvp - worse slows, worse pressure, easier to control. Nerfs 1.) Mara a.) RA now gives 50% chance to resist tech/force attacks and heals the user for 2% of their max health each time an ability is resisted, both the resist and heal cannot occur more than once per second. Ability lasts 5 seconds (down from 6) and is on a 1 minute CD (up from 45 seconds, cannot be lowered via utility) Notes: Currently the major problem with RA is that there is no limit to how many abilities you can resist within that 6 second window. 75% DR might as well be 100%, and the damage mitigated can well exceed 50k. Lower the rate at which it can resist and add an offsetting small self-heal. Increase the CD to 1 minute and remove 15 second reduction from its utility. b.) Small 300-400 dps nerf to Fury Mara, applied via raging burst or removing Force Flagellation (force energy bonus to Slash) Note: Reallocate some of the single target sustained/burst into AOE damage. Bring Fury in line under annihlation and above carnage in sustained damage. c.) Reduce Force cloak duration to 2 seconds (down from 4) d.) For Annihlation: Hemorrhaging Slash reduces the cooldown of Smash by 9 seconds and Smash deals normal damange (down from 30% bonus) Note: Annihlation will be the undisputed king of melee pressure specs in group ranked unless a tweak to their pressure output is made. This is a good way to do it without affecting PvE. In current state of the game, Annihlation & Fury Mara's are my target for adjustment. While I believe certain aspects should be nerfed, I have also detailed areas above where they should be buffed to compensate.

Classes with a direct counter to stun & double stun: Sorc: Barrier & Phasewalk Merc: Reflective shield PT: Kolto (stronger in 4.0 era when it healed more) Jug: Endure Pain, reflect if popped before stunned (most DCDs like evasion, sin refelct and saber ward are useless when stunned since defense chance goes to 0, this ability still works and works well) Mara: RA (if used before stunned), cloak of pain I'm not going to continue this exchange, you've used enough of my time. I would say we've gone off-topic, but as has been mentioned this thread is a regurgitation of bad ideas so you're right at home here.

No other class hard counters its own class like sniper does, it's an interesting mechanic and very illustrative of just how weak the class is out of cover. And I don't want 4s stealth every 20 seconds, I think you missed the point of the post but that's okay.

I'd be fine with these changes as long as Ruthless Aggressor now had a 66% chance to backfire and blind you for 3 minutes while inflicting a continuous DoT based on your MH primary damage due to you accidentally slicing yourself since you can't see anything. The >only< reason sniper is strong in group ranked is uptime, not raw dps. Marksman sniper in particular has some of the lowest dps in the game, but it shines in pvp because of two reasons: 1.) You can target switch to the unguarded target instantly, with no delay (read: efficiency) 2.) Entrench allows to avoid most stuns for large periods at a time, maximizing uptime and covering sniper's defensive weaknesses out of cover Out of cover, sniper is about even with powertechs/sins in terms of survivability. They have no passive mitigation (cloak of pain, for example) no escape while stunned, no stealth out, and no defensive cooldowns that can be popped while stunned. That is why when another 4s team runs a sniper into us, they are already on the back foot. We have consistently taken out the opposing team's sniper with diversion + 2 hard stuns + mez on the tank/heals in a total of 4-5 seconds counltess times this season. If entrench lasted 10 seconds, you wouldn't take a sniper in group ranked. Believe it or not, the utility change to the ballistic shield's 3% heal + DR was indeed a significant nerf to snipers. I don't even take it anymore. That utility was grossly OP, playing sniper to 3.5k rating in solos last season was trivial because I was pretty much unkillable. I didn't complain at all when Bioware nerfed that utility, it was needed. Let me be clear: I'm not saying snipers need a defensive buff, but no other class is tied to a singular ability in the way that sniper is to entrench. Tampering with it would have consequences far greater than adjusting RA/force cloak combined The nerf to mercs defensives was less severe since people still take them, but mercs are so awful in 4s that I don't really want to see any nerfs to them. The fact that you believe mercs need further nerfs is indicative of the level at which you experience the game. The value trees for Pressure and Hardswap DPS are as follows, for people's future reference: Hard Swap Carnage Mara & Marksman Sniper > Deception Sin >>> AP PT >>>>>>>> (non-competitive) Rage, Arsenal, Concealment, Lightning Pressure: Annihlation Mara & Smash Mara >> Engineering Sniper > AP PT > Vengeance Jug > Hatred Sin >>>>>> (non competitive) Lethality, IO, Maddness, Virulence

Any comment on leaderboards? You have the most people participating in group ranked for years and the infrastructure isn't supporting it.

A case study in disassociation and this forum's collective pvp knowledge personified. I don't mean to be aggressive, but your self-assured arrogance born from an entirely myopic view lacking the context of top-end competitive pvp is par for the course around here. You can disagree that fury needs to be nerfed, totally valid. But the reasons you provide, together with the not-so-subtle personal digs, are absurd. I'll take you up on that marksman lesson sometime, and I appreciate you, as leader and sole member of the Original PvP Old Guard™ taking the time to explain the role and weaknesses of the spec to me.

The counter to sniper is another sniper, always has been. Pacify is used by all 3 specs, not just fury. Carnage is still BiS for top hardswap group ranked teams, and annihilation can be quite strong in a pressure setup, so I would still be getting pacified either way. Fury is not a counter class to marksman. I said I was fine with pacify and to some extent ruthless aggressor even though it is usually directed at me since sniper's diversion also reduces accuracy on tech attacks (albiet not by 75% but it is AOE) so not sure why you got hung up on that. Force cloak duration needs to be 2 seconds (buffed to 6 if you take the utility for solo ranked) and fury damage needs a flat 300 dps- 500 dps parse nerf with some its single target burst/sustained reallocated to aoe damage via cyclone slash or smash. This will happen because of its position in pve primarily, because it is not fulfilling its AOE damage role. Currently, it is a single target spec AOE weaker than carnage , high single target burst and sustained that is higher than that of annihilation. Whether or not you like it, it will be nerfed. They did a similar nerf to engineering for the same reasons and engineering is the closest corollary spec to fury. Carnage received an 800 dps nerf and is still strongest for hardswaps, so it's not like fury would be removed from the game. I would hope that annihilation & carnage would both receive a small buff at the same time.

The leaderboards haven’t been updated in over a month at this point. I base my views on playing with/against the best teams in group ranked this season and seeing a Mara in every comp, and why they’re in every comp based on damage and utility. Rating in group ranked is precarious- there’s plenty of players that have around 1.8-2k this season because they farmed mat teams throughout the season and continually dodge the top teams or hop to alts when they play the top teams.

Dead on, although to be fair Doc, I’m usually the one getting pacified in a 4s match. So not like I’m doing much during the window anyway. But if snipers get an aoe diversion, I’m fine with maras getting pacify even though it really messes with marks.

As Doc mentioned, this thread is indicative of the problems with this pvp forum: 99% of the board is people ****posting their views developed from playing regs or at the 1300 rr level in ranked. I could show you plenty of screenshots where I double the damage of the enemy team combined while playing OBJs in marksman or fury spec. I don’t because the skill level in regs is so pathetically low that no one cares, least of all me. Maras are a top 2 ranked spec with snipers in both solo and group ranked. The former due to strong Dcds that make them the hardest non-tank class to focus in 4s due to low CD on camo, ruthless aggressor, undying rage, cloak of pain, and blood ward. Fury spec with its extra leap, 6 seconds of cc immunity every 30 seconds, and (too) high sustained/burst makes it an apex spec against virtually every comp unless you are one of the (literally) <10 people in the game across all classes that can play swaps at the highest level in which case carnage is still BiS. Fury’s damage is overperforming in both pve and pvp, so a nerf is on the horizon to its damage (or reallocating it to aoe damage). Ruthless aggressor doesn’t bother me as much as it does others on the board though I recognize it is strong. Lowering the duration of force cloak (you can’t increase the CD unless you give maras a different threat dump in pve) would help focus maras in 4s. Just hope with the inevitable nerf to fury that they don’t take annihlation and (for a second time) carnage down with them.

The game doesn't have a large enough pool of players for ELO to function properly in group ranked. You don't need to completely remove it, just accelerate the rate at which your ELO thresholds expand or increase the magnitude of the threshold change. I used to play an RTS that had an ELO system that, while you were q'd, would show you how quickly your ELO threshold would expand and this is where I learned how ELO matchmaking actually works. If you're not familiar with this, here's an example: Say you are 1500 rating. To start, the game will try to match you against players that are +/- a certain number, let's say 30. So for the first ELO threshold, you are matched against players that are 1470 or 1530. After some time of no pop, the threshold expands to +/- 60, so you could be matched against players that are 1440 or 1560, and so on. There are 2 levers you can pull here to affect queue times: 1.) The speed at which the threshold broadens 2.) The magnitude of the threshold change (I used 30 in my example, but it could be +/- 50, 100, 200... etc). This is the same system that Swtor uses. A 2k player can be matched against a 1k player, it just takes a long time for those ELO thresholds to expand or for the magnitude of the change to make a difference. Only Bioware knows what these two variables are, but if they increased them, players would get faster games while still making an effort to match similarly rated players. This would aid both solos (in past seasons I was skipped 2-3 times before I got a game) and group ranked (the 20 minute queue time the OP alluded to). Removing matchmaking entirely would make it far too easy to win trade "qing in 3, 2, 1..."

No, you pop barrier shortly before acid hits to make sure that you have 100% health or as close to it when acid starts affecting the players in the game. That way, you have the highest health pool and are more likely to survive the longest. Enduring bastion will protect you against player damage, so you will only be taking acid damage from your 100% hp pool compared to the dps and tanks who are taking player damage + acid damage. Enduring bastion used to make you immune to acid for 4 seconds, but they removed that a couple seasons ago.

My two preferred comps for hardswaps are: Guardian Tank Sage Healer Infiltration Shadow Sharpshooter Gunslinger or Shadow Tank Sage Healer Combat Sentinel Sharpshooter Gunslinger The 2nd is marginally stronger, but people write off infiltration a little easily. It brings: 1.) Taunts 2.) Double the control for the opposing healer with lift/low slash - Having a lift + flashbang combo ensures you will have at least 1 uncleansable cc on the opposing tank regardless of the opposing team's healer, and without losing a cc on the healer as well. Sentinels are not good at ccing the opposing healer unless the team is stacked 3.) Full Uptime on a swap thanks to a 30s shadow stride gap closer, and pretty good burst. 4,) 5% damage boost on their hard stun Its drawbacks are it is less tanky than a sentinel, can't pacify the opposing team's sniper, somewhat less burst, no transcendence, and no 1.5 second net via lance. I've been running primarily with an infiltration shadow this season as my dps partner and it's still quite strong, you just have to be a top player and excel within the hardswap strategy.

It definitely wasn't 2500. I have it on two characters and I know I didn't cross the 2400 threshold on one of them where you got the final piece of ranked armor. IIRC it was in the 1700-1800 range, but this was 5 years ago so I could be wrong- but 1500 feels low. Deadly contender you got for showing up.

It's not a perfect situation but I haven't seen the group ranked queue pop this much since season 1. I'll take the games, and a monetary incentive to queue up. It beats /whispering for two hours for a game or two.

From a PvE standpoint, I don't think I ever enjoyed playing a spec more than I did carnage up to 5.6. Now, there's really no incentive not to play fury, except perhaps to avoid falling asleep.

Solo ranked should absolutely be cross-faction. In addition to what has been mentioned, ELO would function better due to having more similarly ranked players in the pool leading to (relative to Swtor's population) more balanced games.

If anything I think it's more egregious they made exact replicas of s-1 armor and called it dark versus light gear, available to the masses.

Thanks for Satele Shan, official RP server <3 <3 <3. This is a love post, haters make your own lol.