Kentontudor
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Posts posted by Kentontudor
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The balance right now is the worst I've ever seen it
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Imagine how us Mercs feel... We haven't been relevant in competitive PvP since... well since... ever
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Let me tell you a story. We use to have a very valuable attack when this game first launched. It was called tracer missile I believe and it is not the one you use today. Back then it was one of the strongest attacks in the game and super easy to use. It was on the level of a Jedi Master Strike only fast without the cool down. It was so powerful everyone complained about it even though there were very few bounty hunters. After so long they finally nerfed it into what you see today. Since that day the bounty hunter has never been the same.
The point of the story is they don't care about this class because it is one of the least played classes even though it has an awesome story line. I would love someone to build a good PvP version of the BH but I don't think it will ever happen.
The thing is that Tracer Missile was never over-powered. It was just a really really really dumb mechanic and all you had to do was spam that one ability. It was easily interrupted and countered... people just complained because of how BH's that didn't know how to play the class would just sit their and spam the ability. Once again, it wasn't overpowered... That's just how the class was played and it was boring.
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pre 1.2 it only took 4 or 5 tracer missles and people were dead.
also bodygaurds were unkillable even without guard from a tank.
Healers were pretty unkillable, but Tracer Missile spammers were still middle of the pack compared to Marauder/Sentinel, PT/Vanguard, Juggernaut/Guardian... It was, and still is, easily interrupted.
Arsenal Mercs have never, and probably never will be, overpowered.
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What that troll did not tell you is the last time he checked was pre 1.2.
Were we supposed to be OP pre 1.2? Because I don't remember it.
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Last I checked and played Mercs are very much viable in 4v4...I don't see what your argument is
I laughed
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Was an Arsenal Merc from day 1 and one of the first Battlemasters on my server...
I will always post under this handle and will be a "Merc for life" at heart, but the best thing to do (if you love PvP) is to just move on.
It hasn't changed from launch, and it isn't changing anytime soon. I love this game and always find myself coming back to play, but just move on from the PvP Arsenal Merc... It'll probably never be viable.
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It really is way more enjoyable during double xp weekends... The community is generally really great. Tons of people online.
Just sit back and enjoy your class story while drinking a cold beer... and do some side missions when you want to. Just overall a great experience this weekend.
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Bioware has been trolling PVP Arsenal Mercs from Day 1.
Come to think of it, it's not very funny.
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I waited patiently a few months after launch... then stopped playing... then came back... things were still the same... quit again... then came back... things were still the same... then quit again... etc etc etc
Years later...
You get the point.
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wildstar will die after 6 months......
No offense... but technically didn't SWTOR "die" in less than 6 months?
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At launch, my main was an Arsenal Mercenary and all I did was PvP... And I was pretty useless... Then I switched to a Sorc healer... now I'm useless again.
2 stationary glass cannons... What did I do to deserve this.
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Infernixx: true that, the sky already fell at least twice according to those people and SWTOR is still going strong, so ignore them...
OP: welcome, everyone else prior has covered anything i could say so, ya know... ignore the doomsday people, and everything else is good...
Still going strong is a bit of a stretch...
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Welcome sir.
The game is considerably better today than what it was at launch. The story mode for an MMO is 2nd to none right now so enjoy it!
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Ops rec gear level: 148 for TFB/S&V story. 156 for DF story. 160 for DP story.
Comms:
-Basic comms can be turned in for 162 gear or for Vials of Stabilized Isotope-5 (end game crafting mat). Ideally save them for the isotopes, but if you feel the need to turn some in for 162 gear to be ready for an op that's fine too. Get these from running dailies.
-Elite comms can be turned in for 168 gear. Get these from flashpoints, various weeklies, and ops.
-Ultimate comms can be turned in for 180 gear. Get these from 16 man story mode ops (or hard mode ops) and from weekly operations missions.
Gearing up:
1. Run the Oricon storyline quests (starts by talking to someone on fleet). Gives 5 pieces of 156 gear. Also unlocks the speeder to dread fortress / dread palace operations (else you'd have to run through all the mobs on Oricon each time you do these).
2. Run warzones for relics: Obroan relic of focused retribution and Obroan relic of serendipitous assault. Should take around 10 warzones to grind the two. These are much better than any PVE ones you'll easily get. [Eventually you can replace them with the higher tier PVP ones or, even better, with Dread Forged ones (high level PVE ones).]
3. Get a decent mainhand somehow. Options:
-Grind warzones for an Obroan mainhand (rating 158). Less than 10 more warzones.
-Buy a crafted "Advanced Reflex Barrel 28" on the GTN (pretty cheap), rating 156. You can buy a mod, enhancement, and color crystal too, though they're less important.
-[spend millions of credits on a crafted Advanced Reflex Barrel 34, current best mainhand barrel, rating 180]
4. Get a decent offhand somehow. Options:
-Same options as for the mainhand
-Or buy one with comms if you have enough (140 comms). A better offhand is always the highest value use of pve comms. Eventually you'll use your first 140 ultimate comms to buy a 180 offhand, unless you decided to splurge and buy two 180 barrels with credits.
5. Get decent ears & implants somehow. There are various crafted purple ones that are level 53 or 54 that are pretty cheap and fairly good until you have extra comms to buy better ones with.
6. If your belt/bracers are embarrassing, you can buy 156 armorings & mods (level 53 purple, name ends with 28) pretty cheaply. (And if you feel like it, you can optimize your stats a little by buying enhancements like this to replace any unideal ones you have. Or just wait until your gear is better to worry about that.)
7. Choose a set of gear you like for its looks and start grinding (with your crew skill, or with credits) augmentation kits to augment it with. Not sure how long you've been gone, but now you add augmentation slots to gear with augmentation kits (at an item mod table). It's cheaper to keep one set of gear augmented and transfer the mods from new gear you get to it than to keep augmenting new gear.
Note: For purple armorings/barrels you can only transfer them to a different shell that goes in the same slot (e.g. a headpiece armoring can only be swapped to a different headpiece). Color crystals, mods, enhancements, augments have no such restriction and can be swapped to any piece you like.
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At this point you should be more than fine to run:
Hard Mode Eternity Vault, for the Classic Ops weekly (you can run this in any gear at level 55, actually)
Tactical flashpoints at level 55 and Hard Mode flashpoints at level 55. These have weeklies for comms, and give comms and the hard modes drop 162 gear.
Read up on the flashpoints (and ops, when you get to them) on e.g. dulfy.net if you want. Or tell people you're new. Most of the flashpoints are pretty simple for dps: just the standard wait for the tank to pull, kill adds weak to strong, run out of fire, pew pew sorts of affairs.
Story mode Terror From Beyond and Scum and Villainy. Try to get 16-man (since then it gives ultimate comms). Remember to pick up both the one-time story quest on fleet (talk to some guys) and the weekly quests. If possibly, look for a group doing a full run, since the one-time quest, which requires a full run, gives two Mass Manipulation Generators (expensive end game crafting mat). These drop 162 gear and tokens for set bonus 162 gear (getting a set bonus, which is tied only to the armoring modification, is very good).
Story mode Dread Fortress. Again, try for 16-man. The one-time quest doesn't have great rewards, but it's fun to do the whole op of course.
For TFB, S&V, DF: tell the ops leader (in a whisper if you prefer) that it's your first time. Most won't care, but some people will be jerks. If you prefer a more friendly environment, you can look for a guild that runs story mode ops with new players (ask on fleet or look on your server's guild recruitment page).
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Further gearing & stuff:
After you have just a bit more gear, join a story mode dread palace group (same comments as for dread fortress).
Try to get a set bonus from drops from operations
Turn in comms for better gear. Start with the offhand.
Start optimizing your stats. As an arsenal merc, you prefer power over crit (though crit is not useless), you don't really want alacrity, and you want enough accuracy to get over 100 ranged / 110 tech, and then after that you want surge. Also, prefer items that have higher dps stats (main stat, power/crit, accuracy, surge) over ones that have higher endurance.
Get datacrons.
Now with your Mass Manips and Isotope-5, and probably some Exotic Element Equalizers too (another mat, drops from flashpoints and ops), you can get 180 gear crafted. Each item takes 2 Mass Manips, 8 Isotope, 8 EEE. Get a 180 barrel first (put it in your mainhand).
Join a guild and start running hard modes
Wow, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer... I'm currently working on Oricon, then I'll be referring back to your post and just check them off as I go... I'm sure as I'm gearing up, this process will become more clear to me through trial and error.
Once again, I really appreciate the in-depth answer.
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Thanks guys... I'll work towards getting the 156 gear first
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Before reading please take note that I don't know much about PvE in this game... All I did when I hit 50 after launch was PvP
I grinded out Battlemaster within the first month or 2 of release... Yada yada yada 2 years later I just started playing again and just leveled my Bounty Hunter to 55 and decided I want to experience the PvE side of the game. I started doing dailies to gather Basic Commendations...
Is this what I need to be doing to gear up for end game content?
Eventually I'd like to raid weekly, but I don't want to jump into things under-geared.
Any information would be helpful...
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Before reading please take note that I don't know much about PvE in this game... Especially the flashpoint / ops aspect of it. All I did when I hit 50 a month after the game was launched was PvP
I grinded out battlemaster within the first couple months of release... Yada yada yada 2 years later I just started playing again and just leveled my Bounty Hunter to 55 and decided I want to experience the PvE side of the game. I started doing dailies to gather Basic Commendations...
Is this what I need to be doing to gear up for end game content?
Eventually I'd like to raid weekly, but I don't want to jump into things under-geared.
Any information would be helpful...
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Garth Vader
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It's a new type of flash point that bolsters players (grouping anyone 15-54 into one group) and doesn't require tanks or healers so the first 4 in the queue get in. "Tactical Flash Point". Check it out via Group Finder.
Ty sir
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It has been a while since I"ve played so forgive my noobness... but what's Kuat?
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Bump for more feedback
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I have done this on many characters when I was feeling burned-out on the generic planet missions, and it's very fast, and very effective — if you plan smartly.
You just have to really like healing/tanking, be willing to see the same FP nine billion times, and have a very high tolerance level for, uh, "interesting" group members, because you'll get a lot of them and spending time arguing or votekicking just slows your XP down.
You must always, always do the Bonus Missions if available, this is crucial in BP / Foundry since you'll be seeing those FPs forever from about 35-45 and the Bonus is a massive chunk of XP that justifies the time investment to go through these huge FPs.
You also get a huge chunk of XP for completing the FP, so don't drop group even if you're annoyed. Also, this is why it can be viable to skip tedious mob groups like the patrol droids in Cademimu — the XP you get from killing a few mobs pales compared to the XP you get from finish the Bonus + FP and then queuing again.
Do your Daily and Weekly FP mission without fail, these are also huge chunks of XP.
Buy the Legacy perk for Improved Class Mission and Improved Flashpoint XP — every little bit adds up since you're skipping generic filler missions on planets.
Field Respec is a huge help since you'll get a surprising amount of pops as DPS even while queued Tank/Heals, and being in proper DPS spec speeds up the run.
Full DPS gear recommended — your Tank spec + Stance is enough defenses for leveling FPs, and the extra DPS stats from "DPS" mods helps speed up runs vs. excessive survival stats, especially when you get tagged for DPS by the queue.
For Tank leveling: +41 Endurance crystal until about Mandalorian Raiders, by that level you're deep enough in your Tank tree and have enough gear to not need the raw Health boost, so switch to +41 Power. But for example in Hammer Station, the +41 End crystal helps a lot since healers tend to be new and some of the pulls are brutal (eg, Hammer 2-droid pull).
Keep your Healer companion geared (if Tanking) or your Melee DPS or a Tank companion (if Healing) so that people dropping group doesn't slow you down even slightly.
Pop Major XP Boosts like butterflies at a rave.
Remember: your mission is to tear the FP apart as fast as possible and get into the next one. Do whatever is necessary. If you're Healing and have a slow tank, just pull more mobs and bring them to the Tank via LOS — it makes it easy for Tank to hold aggro and seriously speeds up the run.
If Tanking, establish aggro then go grab more stuff (don't do this in very early levels, but once you get to the point where people's level / gear is outranking mobs significantly, this is very helpful). No need to sit around while DPS kills stuff — once aggro is on you, grab more and let DPS finish it off as you establish the next pull.
Chain pull and chug chug chug to blow through FPs. Be sympathetic to people who are new or overwhelmed, try not to ruin anyone's experience, but also try to remember that Speed = Your Friend, because you can think of your XP bar as an "FP Bar" — eg, "I need 15 FPs to hit the next level".
Then every 4-5 levels you can chill out and go catch up on 1-2 planets worth of Class Missions (while they're still green/yellow and giving XP) to relax your nerves and enjoy the story.
Thank you for the awesome response, sir.
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Hey guys, it's my first time back since a couple months after launch and I see that there's group-finder now in the game which I think is a great thing. I want to level a healer and was wanting to know if it's possible to level solely through class story and flashpoints... Are flashpoint groups easy to come by? Or am I better off leveling as a dps spec, and respec'ing at cap?
Help a Sniper Scrub
in PvP
Posted
Spit my coffee out, lol