I'm glad they incorporated an AOE slow to Flame Thrower (as well as the RB ticks proccing CG), both of which I suggested in my AP improvements thread below. But what really owns is that uninterruptible aspect - I can now take Unload off my bar, previously used to waste an opponent's interrupt, almost entirely! It seems they are fixing up all melee channels across the board with this patch. Master Strike/Ravage became uninterruptible baseline and now this. Still, 5 stack Flame Thrower is annoying to build up. Immolate helping with 1 stack, while nice, may still not be enough. Imm (8) -> RB (16) -> RP (0) -> RS (16) -> FBx4 (64) -> FT (25) = 129 Heat is already tough as it is, even if you factor in 24 Heat vent via HEGC and ~70 Heat via passive venting at 5/sec (assuming you don't go past 40 Heat at any time, which will happen during the FB spam). I still advocate dropping Prototype Flame Thrower max stacks to 3 or 4 since it's usually a DPS loss to have to wait for that 5 stack (and Immolate alone isn't going to help).

PyroTech's Flame Burst is supposed to simply apply the DoT and slow and of course proc your Rail Shot every 6 seconds if RP didn't already do so. Otherwise Pyro is supposed to be a semi-ranged spec that does utilize Rapid Shots often enough to keep Heat levels down. Unload is also good (and benefits from Rain of Fire for extra damage), especially since PyroTech is more capable of fighting at range than the other specs. Only AP is really supposed to forgo Rapid Shots almost entirely for Flame Burst (except when Heat gets really messy) because the spec's cylinder doesn't benefit from blaster attacks whatsoever and has not one but two procs that rely on Flame Burst spam. Of course, AP's attacks overall aren't as powerful as PyroTech's, so rarely needing to use Rapid Shots is a means to even out the damage discrepancy a bit.

There are enough melee and ranged attacks flying about now that more people are playing alts. Also, with ranked WZs you will see more well rounded groups with more Sentinels/Gunslingers than you currently see. The shield talents will be more important as a result.

Sorry I looked away from my computer screen for a second so I forgot to complete my thought on the topic. Yes, Superheated Rail allows for a very fun Heat venting mechanic (whereas passive venting from the other trees, while powerful, isn't very engaging) but seems to suck unless PPA also procs for the Heat-free Rail Shot. I think an easy fix would be to increase the Heat vent from Superheated Rail to compensate for the effectively lower PPA proc chance. Alternatively, we can add Thermal Detonator and Rocket Punch to the list of abilities that vent 8 Heat via Superheated Rail.

Have you played in more than one match? Have you played in a match that doesn't have 3+ healers and 2+ tanks stacked up around the objective? Assuming people are capable of dying in the WZ, AP performs decently. I hope the healing nerfs in 1.2 will make people squishier. The next step is to possibly weaken AOE taunt for PvP and potentially Guard. The combination of healing, taunt, Guard, and escape maneuvers makes it take forever to kill people as many classes/specs and AP is just one of said builds because of it's emphasis on consistent damage.

Your statement implies that dealing ultra-high damage is balanced. It is not, if I wasn't clear. I hate internal CDs out of principle, but PPA was way too good of a talent and needed a change. Also, other procs that are just as powerful as PPA are also limited by internal CDs so this change shouldn't really be a surprise. My hope is that the 6 second internal CD will allow for more variation in PyroTech damage rotations so it can still put up desired damage output (i.e. Thermal Detonator is no longer a DPS loss). It doesn't make sense for the talent Rain of Fire to affect four abilities when you only truly use two of them.

Every class in the game has an interrupt minus the Merc/Commando. This needs to be resolved ASAP.

Heat Blast's animation is a one-handed version of the Gunslinger's Quickdraw - rehashed animations are bad enough as is, but especially terrible if they are for a spec-defining 31 pointer ability. Heat Blast needs to possess a smoky flamethrower attack animation.

Basically Heat Blast becomes the Shieldtech's "Riposte" ability. An extra attack that can be used on cooldown for extra threat without disrupting your normal rotation. Heat Blast is a great ability and always has been; the only thing really holding it back is its piss poor animation (it's the one-handed version of the Gunslinger's Quickdraw; rehashed animations for the lose). If it was something more epic like Immolate that would be awesome.

They are all good as hell. PyroTech changes drastically once you get 16 points into the tree for Prototype Particle Accelerator (18 when you max out the talent). Otherwise, up to level 24 you are playing the same as you were at level 10 with some liberal use of Flame Burst and Rocket Punch. AP doesn't really become the melee juggernaut it's supposed to be until higher in the tree - almost literally until your 31 pointer because Flame Barrage sucks without it. However it is a very straightforward but rewarding playstyle that is for gauntlet attack aficionados. NPCs own't be able to dodge or shield most of your attacks since it's all Tech (with the occasional Rail Shot or Rapid Shots). Shieldtech is probably the strongest leveling spec for the first 25 levels just because IGC lets you solo a lot of content and the other specs are weaker when using cylinders that are not improved by the skill tree. The DPS is actually pretty good even at higher levels because Flame Shield's Rocket Punch refresh allows you to hit like a truck (procs IGC DoT and crits for +30% damage thanks to Flame Surge). Every skill tree in the game is very viable (some more so than others) and it's up to the player to decide which playstyle they prefer. You seem to have found a liking to AP, so stick with it, but definitely feel free to change it up if you get bored; all three specs are fun as hell and powerful and thanks to the mod system it isn't such a big deal if you wish to change your skill tree on the fly. Experiment and enjoy.

I'll just touch the key points: 1) AP as the name implies is about maximum gadget use and versatility. Basically all of your gauntlet attacks need to be maxed out (Flame Barrage should be maxed). If your build is for PvE, you can drop the 20% damage reduction when stunned and you should max out the 9% Aim talent. For PvP, you can gain some extra survivability (if its suffering) by dropping the two points in the Aim talent for Power Armor (2% mitigation) or Prototype Electro Surge (10 seconds shorter CD for Electro Dart). 2) I'd change the rotation up a bit. The tree thrives on that Flame Thrower so ED is bad because it'll scatter the mobs. Instead you want to open up with RB always - you need the DoT and the chance to proc the auto-crit RS. The Immolate -> RP combo is a very low heat combo that your rotation desperately relies on to help pace its Heat usage; you want to make sure you have about 32% Heat before you use those attacks in succession so you don't "waste" the Heat vent. If you pace your DPS as such, you should be able to get away with very few Rapid Shots and lots of Flame Burst. Check this page for an AP priority rotation: http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Powertech-Vanguard-DPS-Compendium 3) PyroTech beats AP right now mainly because of very good strings of PPA procs and the new and improved Superheated Rail which makes your Rail Shot virtually unmitigatable; often you don't even need to use your TD and sometimes even your IM, two abilities you get from this tree! Back in beta the PyroTech was about DoTs and an AOE TD, AP the more burst-oriented single target tree. Because of the change to PPA from proccing off IM ticks to activations of FB/RP, PyroTech DPS went skyrocket high AND became bursty as well. It's not that AP is bad, it's that PyroTech went from zero to hero in literally two beta builds. AP has been left relatively unchanged since July because it was always good and performing properly, but because positioning is more important for the spec and it doesn't have a crazy powerful low tier talent like PPA (which is justifiably being nerfed in 1.2 which is a good thing, PyroTech will be closer to balanced then, not nerfed and garbage), people ridicule it and flame it (pun intended) at every turn. I assure you if you spec AP you will reap the rewards of a fun playstyle that is just as viable as PyroTech. Just make sure you don't ignore your primary abilities (especially Flame Thrower), both in PvE and PvP.

The patch notes did state that the chance to proc PPA will be substantially increased (update: it's 45% Flame Burst and 60% Rocket Punch) to offset the 6 second internal CD. What they are basically saying is they want the Rail Shot to be on a 6-9 second CD, down from 15, but in a more imaginative way than a raw -9 second cooldown talent. That said, I agree with the OP: make the abilities consistently lower the CD of the ability in order to remove both the RNG and the internal CD. The problem with internal CDs is that you are urged to avoid using the abilities that proc the talent until the internal cooldown ends. This is bad if you wish to maintain an optimal damage rotation or pattern and is generally a band aid solution when something else can be better designed instead. I would change the talent a bit from what the OP proposes, however. I don't like how the PyroTech tree is bottom-heavy: past 18 points, you get very powerful (but boring) bonuses to your DPS and they don't directly change your playstyle. I'd like if Flame Burst was taken out from PPA BUT Thermal Detonator and Unload helped lower the CD of Rail Shot: Each activation of Rocket Punch, Explosive Dart, and Thermal Detonator and each second of Unload have a 33/66/100% chance to reduce the cooldown of Rail Shot by 2 seconds. I don't see PPA ever being balanced so long as you can DoT, slow, and proc a Heat-free and CD-refreshed Rail Shot with one single ability. If we throw some of the weight to these other powerful abilities that most people hardly use, not only can we keep PPA balanced and fun but also help differentiate PyroTech further from the other trees so our class can truly have three vastly different playstyles.

As I believed, the problem wasn't AP - it was PyroTech. PPA on the 1.2 patched PTS now has a 6 second internal cooldown, toning down PyroTech's damage significantly (less PPA procs means less Rail Shot damage but also more Heat management issues, further limiting DPS). AP's Retractable Blade got two buffs - Charged Gauntlets can proc off the bleed DoT and Kolto Vents is now a 30% slow upon RB application. Now you don't need to blow a stun to do a 5 stacked Flamethrower on an enemy and you get some more Rail Shot crits. I expect people to still claim PyroTech will be vastly superior and AP the "idiot spec," but it was just nice to have the patch notes confirm for me that it was just the vocal majority who felt this way and not the actuality of the game mechanics. Of course things are subject to change but it seems like these patch notes are final unless issues prop up during the next two to three weeks of testing.

Back in beta a long time ago, there was a shared tree talent that shot out a second, Heat-free, half-damage Missile Blast about 25% of the time. BHs lost this talent (JCs and SIs have it instead as Upheaval and Chain Shock respectively). We would need some talents to improve the damage of the ability and provide some extra bonuses and procs for it to be worth using past level 6.

10 seconds on a 4 second CC that is used to let you unleash a +100% damage Flamethrower is very important. Once you get used to the 50 second Electro Dart CD and you spec out of it, the 10 second difference becomes very noticeable, especially since AP lacks CC outside of Carbonize, ED, and Grapple. And it's not that AP is for pros and PyroTech is for easy mode kiddies. What I meant to say is that when people get used to something that is straightforward to grasp (such as PyroTech which is all about maximizing Rail Shot) that it can be difficult to understand how another playstyle works if it isn't as clear (AP has no similar focus on any one ability the way PyroTech does). While I'm an AP advocate, I've played every spec of the BH through multiple stages of beta and now on live; I love all the specs and have no ill will towards any of them. I will say this again because so many people keep trashing on it unfairly: AP is a VERY GOOD spec. Is it more than 90% as good as PyroTech? No. Is it worse than 80% as good as PyroTech, though? No. Do you get to hear an epic laugh on your powerful procs? No. Will it become overpowered if it receives some minor tweaks? No. But does it need a COMPLETE redesign and overhaul? Hell no. The AP spec needs just a few number tweaks (and I bet you that's all we're truly going to see in 1.2 anyway) and it will perform just fine. These tweaks may provide a slightly lower barrier to entry so the focus of the tree becomes more clear, especially to newer players.

It's really not hard to play at all. People just prefer big numbers and faceroll so they hate on it. For instance, people should really be doing a 5/34/2 build for PvP, not the 8/31/2 that is suggested. 9% Aim is nice but means nothing if you are dead due to missing mitigation or if you can't control your enemies because of 10 more seconds on Electro Dart. It's very similar to playing AP in PvE except with more liberal use of Carbonize (use it to force enemies to pop their CC breaker so then you can Electro Dart for 4 seconds....allowing for all ticks from a 5x Flamethrower channel).

I'm not sure if it's been said in this thread yet, but here goes: -Finishing Act 2 of a class's storyline unlocks that class's buff and emotes to other characters -Finishing Act 3 of a class's storyline unlocks its abilities to other classes -Hitting level 50 with a specific species unlocks its Legacy features (buffs or cross-faction play of said species) There are a few other Legacy-related changes that only benefit from playing alts, not your level 50, that more than make up for the lowered Legacy XP gain. In fact, I'd argue that many players would gain more Legacy XP/hour playing a new alt's story than they would their level 50 mains just because repeated queuing in WZs or doing flashpoint dailies/weeklies is so boringly repetitive; after two or three hours many players are completely spent (and the trolling in Fleet and WZ general chat demonstrates this well). On the other hand, I can play a newly created, undergeared and weak character from 1-15 in one 6 hour session straight, stopping only due to real life priorities and not due to boredom. The XP per kill/quest is much lower but the new character will grant me more legacy levels because I'll be spending many more hours/week playing it than I would my max level character. To reiterate, you unlock specific bonuses only by playing alts, so there will never be a situation where "Legacy XP grinding" on your level 50 beats out playing alts to maximize your Legacy unlocks. Due to the immersing story, many players will find Legacy levels skyrocket by playing a new character for longer sessions than they would doing the repetitive and short-lived end-game content on their main.

As the title says, I request the Shoulder Slam animation be used instead of the Smuggler's Blaster Whip animation for the Powertech interrupt Quell. If Mercs get an interrupt and for some odd reason it's a melee attack, I suggest it too possess the Shoulder Slam animation.

Check the GTN. On my server I found Epic quality Techblades (albeit with one tank stat) for only 20K credits. These are crafted via lots of REing of green and blue Techblades. If you know an Armstech or are one, you can do the same with Techstaves for more DPS-oriented stats.

The problem with TM spam has nothing to do with the players, as pointed out. It's an issue with the Arsenal tree as a whole. Tracer Missile spam causes a feedback loop that allows for some insane and difficult to combat burst damage during levels 10-49 (and sucks at 50 from what I've seen). Tracer Missile is a casted, no cooldown high damage attack. That's already somewhat of a problem because "no cooldown" and "high damage" should not be in the same tooltip and because the 1.5 second cast helps mitigate some of the ability's Heat cost (you can lose 5 to 10 Heat from a previous Tracer Missile while casting the next one). Where it gets messy is that Tracer Missile adds a stacking armor debuff (Heat Signatures). Heat Signatures enabling Rail Shot is a-okay but the stacking armor debuff means successive Tracer Missiles do even MORE damage. You have no reason to use many of your abilities because TM already hits harder than most and is equally strengthened by these Heat Signatures. Finally, Tracer Missile via further talents also enables Tracer Lock buffs which increase the damage of your next Rail Shot by a significant amount. Rail Shot is enabled and gains armor pen via Heat Sigs and gains extra damage from Tracer Locks, both of which are procced via Tracer Missile. You have to be stupid if you aren't spamming Tracer Missile. Long story short, to fix the problems of a) only requiring one ability to own face for a majority of the leveling game and b) the boredom caused by having only one attack to cast, they need to make some of the following changes: 1) Move Tracer Lock to Power Shot. One attack should not give you all the buffs/debuffs you need as it both makes for boring gameplay but also is dangerous in PvP as being locked out of that one attack destroys your entire rotation. By moving Tracer Locks to Power Shot, you now have two abilities to weave together to maximize Rail Shot damage, allowing for somewhat complicated juggling act. 2) Make TM a higher damage, non-spammable attack. Jango's backpack nuke was a powerful missile that took a veteran Jedi Knight off his feet, so the ability in game should reflect the power of this attack. This gives Arsenal a reason to use Power Shot more frequently. The Heat Signatures from TM would need to be tweaked so they are still somewhat easy to maintain and stack now that TM has a cooldown.

I never said AP needed both HO and Jet Charge. Nor did I say ST is not a melee class. I'd prefer if the ability was baseline so the two melee-focused specs of the AC could have the gap closer they both desperately need. However, if BioWare truly feels only one of the trees deserves Jet Charge, then they should have given it to AP; of the three trees it is the most melee-heavy. ST can still cause solid damage and threat with Rapid Shots/Unload (IGC DoT + slow) and Explosive Dart (AOE threat) and can mitigate enough damage as they run to their targets, but AP is not able to handle that incoming damage nor does it benefit from using those abilities (solo PvE stun from ED into a Shoulder Slam if you can get to melee range in time is good I guess). If only one tree (AP) is permitted to have Jet Charge, then it would require some changes in the skill tree designs. This change would require HO be redone/removed to prevent abuse (though Knights/Warriors have talents that emulate the ability on top of their charge attacks and Push resetting Charge CD) and Shieldtech should be tweaked to be more ranged-centric (it is supposed to be the "ranged tank" after all), using Unload, Flame Burst, and Flame Thrower in place of Rocket Punch. If we can get a baseline Jet Charge and some skill tree tweaks to prevent unkiteability as an AP spec, then that's even better. But as much as I love Hydraulic Overrides, I'd prefer to be able to cast my first Immolate or Rocket Punch on my enemy when I'm at 90% HP after blowing my gap closer, not at 40% HP after blowing my gap maintainer.

Can we please bring the topic back to PTs needing a charge baseline? I still have no idea why we have an Operative spouting off in a PT thread; you can discuss Op issues in the Op forum. Again, the PT has no means to close distance at all to fight at his optimal range without speccing into Shieldtech. PyroTech has some decent ranged capability because its talents improve ranged abilities, but even then you'd rather apply CGC + snare with Flame Burst and not the self-rooting Unload. Advanced Prototype is purely a melee fighter - his >10m range attacks do terribly low damage - and lacks a gap closer completely, which is doubly bad because he isn't tanky at all so he takes quite a bit of damage as he tries to close in. Playing an AP is like playing a stealth character without stealth or escape maneuvers. The problems with Grapple being a "gap closer" are that the cooldown is high, it only works on one target (AP ideally likes to unleash a stacked Flame Thrower on multiple targets; talking both PvE and PvP here), and of course it doesn't work on a target who has maxed out their Resolve. Pull mechanics in this game are also fairly bug-ridden where enemies fly too high vertically and end up landing on a higher platform or hitting the ceiling with their head and not moving anywhere. If Jet Charge cannot be made baseline for whatever reason, then it needs to be an AP ability and Shieldtech needs to be changed to be more of the ranged tank it was originally supposed to be (so that it no longer needs the Charge). Alternatively AP can be more of a ranged fighter as well, but then the three specs would become very similar in play.

What is the point of a gap closer? A gap closer lets you close distance on your enemy such that you maximize the time spent in combat in your optimal range. Whether a gap closer is slow or fast, stealth or charge, or what have you doesn't matter: if it means you can get into the range you wish to fight at without taking blows to the face during your journey to your target, then the ability is a gap closer. Stealth is very much a gap closer because it allows squishy stealthers to avoid taking damage as they pace towards their target, only exposing themselves once they achieve their optimal melee range. It is not an instant gap closer and requires much more effort and finesse to use correctly, but it still offers the functionality of getting into the range at which you wish to fight before an enemy has a chance to annihilate you. In-combat stealth is similarly a gap closer since it allows you, without getting your face smashed in, to get close to the Sage/Sorc who rooted you and ran away to get 35m range. We can argue all day long about what constitues a gap closer and what does not, but the fact of the matter is that the Vanguard and Powertech are very melee-heavy classes and lacking the gap closer baseline significantly hinders PvE and PvP play. This is especially problematic for an Advanced Prototype/Tactics spec since it is the most melee-heavy of the three trees.

The Smuggler forum has a thread for gear sets and pistols; I considered doing the same for the BH forums. Now that I see there is some demand I'll post a link to the thread I create later today.

More medals doesn't mean anything as of Tuesday night: you only need 4 medals and a win to get maximum valor/commendations from the Warzone. That said, you can really play any spec and get those 4 medals easily. Make sure you use both of your taunts on cooldown (try to save Sonic Missile, when you get it at level 30, for big groups) to get lots of Protector points. If you are Shieldtech, make sure to Guard your most-likely-to-be-focused teammate and constantly peel enemies off him/her with your CC abilities. This will get you lots of Protector and objective Defender points. If you are AP, make sure to play somewhat like a Shieldtech but with a slant towards damage dealing as your goal is to blow up evasive enemies. You will easily get the 2.5k crit medal, 75k damage, and sometimes 300k damage medals while also getting the Protector medals seen above. Don't bother capping a ball unless you have a healer or two with you (Hydraulic Overrides alone isn't enough to cap balls). If you are PyroTech, just blow everything up. DoT everything with blaster attacks/Flame Burst and peel enemies off squishier foes. You will easily obtain medals for high damage and 10/25 kills while being able to burn down enemy healers.