Long, Venting Rant INC! (TL;DR Warning) So, Pyro has always been my spec, except for a stint as BG the first month or so I was a 50, but other than that I've been a pyro. First, a note on 1.2 and Mercs as a whole. BG is getting nerfed to hell, arsenal is somehow getting a buff, though is still insanely boring to play and Pyro is getting an indirect nerf because our powertech cousins were a bit too strong. Great, so now we're left with a turret tree. As for Pyro itself....I feel like we are down there with snipers in terms of overall usefulness in pvp. We bring little utility, and though we do decent damage, it's nothing to write home about compared to snipers, marauders, rage juggs, operatives, and PT pyros. Yet, we're getting nerfed for some odd reason...not that the nerfs are game breaking, but Merc Pyro didn't need any changes...a buff if anything. I realize that this isn't a 1v1 game, but it gets frustrating when going to illum, or being stuck away from your team in pvp (knocked in the pit, respawing, etc), and not being able to kill anything solo. Ok, I'm exagerating, we can kill sorcs, snipers, arsenal mercs, and dps 'sins without so much as a second thought providing we have some cover to LoS behind. However, I feel like I just can't stand up to anything else solo. I'm not new to MMO's or ranged classes, I've played GW, EVE, WH and WoW for several years as a hunter, I know how to kite. Yet, kiting seems impossible in this game given the amounts of stuns, slows, gap closers and defensive CD's available to other classes. So, what do mercs have? We have one crappy bubble, which is really only useful for BG, the rest of the time it just ends up delaying the inevitable, as high dg classes can still take out 20% or more of my hp with their big attacks with bubble up. We have a knockback, which isn't all that great unless you are arsenal or on a bridge. The standard 4 second stun, and an 8 second Mezz that, well, really is only good if you are interrupting with it. Ok, cool, but there are more counters available to other classes. Let me break down a couple fights for you. Marauder- They usually run into combat and start swinging. I'll electro dart and start running, setting up with IM, TD, RS and my relic. Usually they will be out of ED by then, and leap to interrupt the Unload I'm about to cast, though I'll usually proc a free rail, and then Punch, followed by a knockback. By this time I'd have done about 50% of their hp, while they have done about the same to me, despite only having been in combat for a couple of seconds and me having 687 expertice. Once knocked back they will usually saber throw slow and or force choke (which I usually Escape from) me waiting for leap to come off cd, or simply slow me so I can't get any range. I'll spam some auto attacks but it's likely not going to matter if I am also slowed. I'll pop my defensive, but he's still on my hitting like a truck. Well, now he's below 40%, so I insta FM him and refresh IM to keep my dot dg up. Well, then they pop their defensives, which turn my dg to 0, and finish killing me before electro dart or my knockback is off cd. Every time I see a Merc Pyro vid, I just stake my head and say, wow...that marauder is really bad, they didn't do x y or z that would have happened in one of my fights. Operative He opens, I eat the first knockdown, and Escape the Debilitate, knock back, do my standard rotation. Now....somehow, though I'm kiting, I still get about 35% of my hp taken down by explosive probe/charged shot....how the hell is a melee class doing that much ranged dg, through heavy armor and my expertice?...absolutely baffling. Anehoo. Electro dart, unload/powershot. They usually pop the ED, and blind grenade me to interrupt, then vanish...popping back out with another acid blade and killing me even with my bubble up (because I had to burn Escape to prevent myself from getting 100-0'd in the first opener). Yeah...and I will get 100-0'd if Escape is on cd from the beginning. Just a couple of examples...frustrating the hell out of me bc I don't know what else I should be doing...I'm in 9/14 pieces of BM with 687 expertice and I still go down like a wet rag to 70% of the classes. Before anyone brings the whole "Hurr Durr LoS" argument to the table, any good marauder / op / melee whatever shouldn't be engaging you if you're near some good cover...maybe my server just has some damn good people on it. TL;DR Merc Pyro's are feeling sub par, and the AC as a whole is going to be pretty sad after 1.2. I'm not one to give up, but I don't have time to reroll, and I feel pretty helpless in most competitive / 1v1 scenarios.

So i finally decided on my pyro spec for PvP, but now I want to optimize my mod slots. I know pyro needs lots of crit and surge with a bit of crit. Currently I'm a bit overbalanced on crit, but the only mods I can find are the rank 25 enhancements with power surge on the gtn, but they are rare since they are so popular. Are there any chamion / BM sets that have a lot of those kinds of mods I could rip from other classes, or should I just keep checking the gtn and spamming general for people that can craft them? Second, how useless is accuracy? They seem to have thrown it on every piece of BM gear, but general consensus is that its not that valuable in PvP. Should I avoid it entirely, or is there some base amount you want to have? Thanks all.

So i finally decided on my pyro spec for PvP, but now I want to optimize my mod slots. I know pyro needs lots of crit and surge with a bit of crit. Currently I'm a bit overbalanced on crit, but the only mods I can find are the rank 25 enhancements with power surge on the gtn, but they are rare since they are so popular. Are there any chamion / BM sets that have a lot of those kinds of mods I could rip from other classes, or should I just keep checking the gtn and spamming general for people that can craft them? Second, how useless is accuracy? They seem to have thrown it on every piece of BM gear, but general consensus is that its not that valuable in PvP. Should I avoid it entirely, or is there some base amount you want to have? Thanks all.

This has happened more than once. While being specd bodyguard, usually on civil war where you have little cover. Playing against a premade and having them recognize you as a healer, mark you, and focus you down every time you step off the speeder platform before you can get a single heal off. On top of that the puggers in your group have no clue, don't help you, and then whine when they don't get any heals. One of the most frustrating things I've dealt with in a game, especially because you can't fight back or do anything but try to run away while being permastunned and rooted by 4 people. I have never quit a warzone voluntarily, but when this kind of stuff happens it takes effort to keep my hands from typing /quit.

Eh, it is unjustified and stupid that we get nerfed indirectly by changes to PT. I mean, just look at the abilies that proc ppa for pt and for us...two instants vs two cast/channel...seems odd to me that we get lumped in. I'm not mad about the change, just kind of scratching my head. Realistically though, as has been said, we dont use power shot all that much unless all other abilities are on cd. Imo its just going to come down to casting power shot if you have time, or keep moving and spam a couple rs. Realistically two rs with a proc of cgc is likely to do about the same as a power shot but doesn't cost anything except .5 seconds worth or gcd but we can be mobile while doing it.

Yeah, ill still play my merc, I'm going back to pyro though. Healing in pugs can be frustrating enough, especially when people on your server know who you are and focus you down as soon as you leave the spawn. After the changes id probably be tearing my hair out trying to play. Pyro was what made me love mercs anyways, so ill be content.

I'm not quite as bad. Just hit BM a couple weeks ago, opened about 20 bags, 1 token, still demoralizing though haha.

Hahahaha...you realize the people that play 24/7 are NOT the majority right? You are a vocal minority, and you get noticed on your servers b/c you have premades and usually the best gear before everyone else...apparently it's all about getting attention. When you leave the casuals will have more fun b/c they wont have to deal with the elitist hardcores lording an undeserved gear gap over everyone else.

I was under the impression that you could get normal war hero gear by doing any wz's, but ranked got you the better looking set with the same stats. I don't know if there will be solo and group rated brackets separately, but if not, then some people might not want to do rated so they don't trash their rank.

So did u read the patchnotes where mercs, sorcs and ther pub equivalents are getting a pretty heavy handed nerf? I'm guessing the nerf was designed to balance healers with the increase of the expertice bonus. Sure we may hit harder with our heals, but now well be heat locked / OOF much more quickly.

@Kaji Yeah, we mercs didn't fare much better. Our overall healing isn't going down as much, but we will be overheated constantly, still with little real AoE healing capability. I'm waiting to see how the expertice increase helps balance it out. Guess well have to wait for the test servers to report back.

It's people like you that get classes nerfed for mo reason. The uniterruptable ability is tied to our bubble which is on a cd, and it doesn't make us immune to cc. Bh are also single target healers, which extends to healing themselves, and cant group heal or heal on the move. Put a good mara on merc/comm healer and they have to go defensive, thus no healing to their group, ball carrier, etc.....its really not that hard.

Rofl...mercs might get a huge nerf to healing, sorcs get a nerf to healing, and ops get a little bit of a buff....juggs do get a buff....so...how exactly does all of this equate to overpowered when maras also get a buff?

Merc hopping forums to see what all the commandos are saying. *Looks* Yep, just making sure were all on the same page with this craziness. I would say keep posting, we have several multipage threads about it, and not a single person saying "Oh yeah, these are totally fine.". Rofl, we even have ops coming in and offering condolences. I'm hoping that if the communities are vocal enough, we might not see all of these go into effect and ruin the spec.

Ugh, just started getting BM gear, yeah i know Im slow with progression, but I've really got the hang of healing and enjoy it a lot....now this. I still overheat when trying to heal vs a premade and people still die due to lack of AoE healing. Now we overheat more often, and our overall group healing ability is reduced? I'm speaking for PvP as that's all i do, but really? We already had a hard time keeping up with sorcs on the charts due to their aoes, and now we will never come close. Bleh, I hope they remove some of this crap.