Except your game may be sunk by one player that you keep getting grouped with. So you may indeed lose to a low rated team even though you're a good player. And many people just don't want to deal with "the bads" so they just leave the server.

Yeah, but League of Legends is the most played game in the world. Even with everyone shifting to one server, you'll never get ELO to work like it does there.

Yeah, but do you think people are going to want to play 100-200 games on SL to get back to the rating they had on their old server? This isn't about how it works in a perfect vacuum. This is about the effort. I'm just notating what some people who transfered back from SL noticed. They weren't happy with the skill level (and attitudes) of the people they were playing with, so they came back (or went to Harb - but I suspect the same thing will just happen there). I get what they were trying to do - with matching you correctly as fast as possible, but the fact of the matter is the randomness of solo just doesn't sync with that philosophy. Some dude rushes in first game, gets himself killed, rest of the team suffers, congratulations on your new terrible rating drop. =/

I use Jet Boost to knock tanks away from their healer all the time, usually following up with a Power Surge + Concussion Missile. I take the utility that increases the pushback range of Jet Boost and puts a slow on the end of it (almost all PvP mercs take this). 15 meters is a lot shorter than you think, and the tank is almost never sitting directly on the healer to avoid AoE/Cleaving. Keep an eye on the guard range debuff and drop heavy damage at that moment.

That's how ELO is supposed to work, yes. However - The SWTOR solo system is heavily weighted on your first 10 matches. And because of the randomness of solo, you may end up with poor match-ups in your first games, get dropped to a low rating, and then have to try to "dig" your way out of it. And you may not be able to, because a lot of the time, you lose solo despite you playing to the best of your capability. Sometimes it's your team mates. Sometimes it's just classes vs. classes. Sometimes you get screwed by the matchmaker and it gives one team a healer or your team 4 DPS. There's a lot of factors working against ELO in this game. EDIT: Adding an example. Let's say you come from a server and were a pretty high ranking player. You go to the newly populated Shadowlands - which is now filled with players all over the skill spectrum. You get cruddy match-ups and end up at a terrible rating. That player is most likely going to just transfer back than dig their way out.

I think it's unfortunate how many people fail to understand that guard has a radius that it works in. I constantly remind people that you can use your pushbacks and roots to force a separate between tanks and healers. Don't try to brute force through a guard.

When it backfires as people realize that they were going to lose games and rating, and then stop queuing at all? Yeah. I wouldn't call it a "success." EDIT: Also, imagine if all the people frantically switching servers to avoid "the bads" spent half that energy into helping those players get better. Everyone just wants to call those players "terrible" and be done with it.

I encourage damage dealers to sort by "Killing Blows" over "Damage." You could do all the damage in the world, but not kill anyone. A skillful damage dealer is giving their team the advantage by forcing pivotal members of the opposing team to wait in spawn.

Well, you can play a healer with bubble and escapes. Or you could be dead in the first few seconds of the match. That's the difference of Sorc healer vs. Commando healer in ranked.

I mean - you guys did assume that creating a megaserver of PvPers meant you were going to get the people that weren't good as well as were, right? Hence why I stayed on the Bastion. We don't have the most pops, but at least I know the people I play with.

Powertech overperforming is more a happy bi-product that accompanies the fact that playing Mercenary in arenas is awful. I like Bounty Hunters in general, so I play one or the other. I like Mercenary more, though. It was my original class when the game came out.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know how much that minor shield Energy Rebounder absorbs? A pet peeve of mine that this game does a bunch is use very vague terms for shielding abilities. "Absorbs a low amount of damage." What's a low amount of damage in a game where people get 15k criticals?

AP Powertech burst is definitely bonkers. It's my character of choice for arenas. However, 8v8 - playing melee can be a chore sometimes. It can be nice to sit in the back and blow people up.

I take the same Skillfuls. I quite like the vent heat on CC. I might try testing Power Barrier once Rapid Scan becomes our main heal as it builds that. For Masterfuls, I take 20%+ healing ES instead of no interruption. I've tried both extensively and my reasoning is that I tend to not freecast when I'm being heavily focused and just try breaking out. I use my Power Surge on Healing Scan more often than Concussion Missile due to the nature that the target I'm fighting is generally DoT'd. And the 20%+ extra health from heals can help in really bad situations. For Heroics, cast Unload while moving and -30% less damage while stunned. I'll give Rebounder a whirl.

Good to hear it. I'll give Rebounder a shot. What other utilities are you currently running? Love your videos, by the way. It's rare to see SWTOR videos with that kind of in-depth commentary.

The mobility while retaining damage output is the primary reason why I play IO/Assault, and that video does a pretty good job showing how to use it to its strengths. Curious, Helos - I notice you run with Energy Rebounder over Stabilized Armor. Do you find it better? And what are your thoughts about the changes coming in 3.3? (Rapid Scan instead of Healing, instant cast after Mag in IO/Assault, ect.)

Yeah let's made it even harder to get pops =(

In the context of fairness, Guardians can't do that damage from 30 meters. That said, I agree - the model that a class should die without contest because it does high damage in a game full of high damage dealers is pretty illogical.

For the record, the stat difference between Dark Reaver and Exhumed is actually pretty small. As K'rea noted, you'll get way more bang for your buck by augmenting all your gear and optimizing your stats.

PvP all the time on this character (Serfiri). How would you like your evidence? I have no issues in 8v8. (Server is in my sig. If you have a character there, I'll gladly group up to show my stuff)

Roll a ranged class and ask that same question when you've got a operative or powertech exploding your face.

5 sins on the other team lol In seriousness, mercenaries/commandos are quite strong in 8v8. Especially when supported by heals and a tank. I prefer playing my merc over my PT in 8v8. Their damage capability is excellent. However, when focused, in settings like solo and 4v4, their damage output becomes weak and the holes in their survivability become very exploitable.

1) PvPers play this game, too. 2) It's pretty derp to say "you can't suggest that!" in a thread asking for ideas for new set bonuses. If they wanted only DPS increases, they would specifically say it.

I'm still not entirely sure if we're allowed to create an IO specific set (as I don't play Arsenal), but I'd personally would want something like (and this is purely for PvP): 2-Piece: Mag Shot and Thermal Detonator critical hits vent 15 heat. 4-Piece: Serrated Shot applies Incendiary Missile on player targets. 6-Piece: Activating Unload or Full Auto will grant Eliminator's Critical Bonus making your next Mag Shot or Mag Bolt critically hit. This effect can only occur once a minute.

I don't think the devs are stupid. They clearly have this data and way more (they can actually see rankings beyond top 100 and discipline breakdown). And they clearly know that Mercenaries have survivability issues, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten the Chaff Flare buffs and incoming Rapid Scan changes. The problem, of course, is that they probably suspected that those changes would have done more than they have. They tend to work in baby steps - slowly and overtime. Tweaking with a chisel rather than hammering with a mallet. That makes a lot of sense from a game designer point of view. It's just rather difficult for us who play the class to wait so long for us to actually be in an enjoyable state. Best we can do is to keep shouting "hey, it's still not enough!"