I know its been said before, but I just wanted to say it again because I don't think Bioware pays attention. Mercs are the worst class for PVP. Especially DPS Mercs. There is nothing that can be said that will change my mind with the present lack of utility abilities in the Merc builds, or until the PVP in the game becomes more PVP and less stun wars. I wish I could redo my advance class, I'd switch to PT in a heart beat.

You would be basing this off of experience, because there are no DPS meters atm. I have played both extensively, and I believe they are both viable within certain encounters. Prolonged encounters the pyrotech wins in DPS, short window encounters (boss encounters that require windows of DPS) then Arsenal wins.

If you ply Pyrotech in PVE you will run into a problem like I have. The set bonuses for PVE on the eliminator set do pretty much nothing for you. The 2 piece set bonus helps, (+15% crit chance to powershot) but the 4 piece set bonus (reduces heat cost of rail shot by 8) is almost useless being half the time you use railshot it is free anyway. Before you say that Pyrotech shouldn't be used in PVE, I disagree. It is a great build for PVE as well, especially on boss encounters that are prolonged fights. At this point it would almost be better for me to try and get the 4 piece bonus on the power-tech gear for the +8% damage to rail shot, but then the 2 piece set bonus is useless to me. All I am asking, is for Bioware to consider that not everyone plays Arsenal in PVE but the set bonuses all but make you have to in order to really get the bonus out of your gear. Please consider more advanced set bonuses which depend on play style.

You are OP, get over it.

Incendiary Missile costs 25 heat every use, and does approximately 2k to 2.2K total damage over 18 seconds (but can be cleansed just about every 5 seconds (or faster if you have CD's) even though this ability is paramount to the rest of a Pyrotech's abilities). Death From above costs 25 heat and does anywhere between 4.5k and 5k in a about 4 seconds (but has a 1 min CD). 1) Incendiary Missile's 25 heat for such a flimsy amount of damage is way too high a cost for its low output (especially when it can be cleansed so quickly and must be reapplied in order to be effective, essentially making a Pyrotech reach Max heat so quickly that they have to just stand there and Rapid Fire). 2) 18 seconds is just way to long. It is a very occasion that any pvp battle lasts for 18 seconds. 3) If you are going to keep it cleansable and on an 18 second dot rotation then the heat needs to be lowered DRASTICALLY. 4) If you don't want to reduce the dot rotation of 18 seconds, then it needs to not be cleansable. It hardly does any damage anyway.

Mercs are by far the easiest class to kill in a WZ, if you disagree you obviously are doing it wrong. They lack more utility PVP abilities than any other class but still have same damage potential as every other ranged class. The Sorc is by far the best ranged DPS in terms of being able to contribute to an overall WZ objective and DPS. Second is Snipers/Ops, and bringing up the rear is Mercs. Sadly, the lack of utility abilities for Merc DPS also effects their PVE value as well. Anyone who thinks Mercs are fine are either getting face rolled by teams who are doing well which allows the DPS to stand back and do damage with no resistence. Or you are on a team with Merc who is doing the face rolling. In any 1 vs. 1 situation with similar gear the Merc will always lose if the opposing player knows what they are doing.

you have to be kidding about Bounty Hunters having so many CC's and stuns? At least Mercs anyway. We have one CC which is activated and ALWAYS interupted, and one 4 second stun. That is it. Many other classes have instant cc's and other stuns or interrupts. FYI, take a loot at lowbie pvp and see which class is the up and coming in population, geuss which class all the sudden has an influx? Warriors pal, marauders especially. Wonder why?

Not working at all for me either. NEVER procs, making this build useless in PVP. I opened up two tickets so far with no response. I just don't want a solution I want some form of compensation and not "free game time". This broken mechanic has effected my play-style and ability to play game content as intended, meaning less in game reward or enjoyment. Free time doesn't make up all that.

What Protech are you talking about? Rail shot NEVER crits for 5K and I mean NEVER and I am in full BM gear. It hits for 3500 if I am lucky.

Maybe it's just me, but I think it would be helpful in PVP if I was able to know the difference between my Incendiary Missile/ Fusion Missile fire debuff and the Combustible Gas Cylinder Proc. Perhaps just change the color of the Combustible Gas Cylinder proc to be a blue fire? But I would even suggest having the Combustible Gas Cylinder start to diminish in size as it wears off. These would be a visual indicator which helps Pyrotechs not have to sort through 3 rows of stacks to find their debuff on a target.

I play a Mercenary BH in both end game PVE and PVP. All I want to offer here is my experience/observation in hopes that the development team will consider my reasoning. My claim: Mercenaries (Heals or DPS) are the least viable class in the entire game. And by viable, I simply mean adaptable, able to be used in most encounters or situations. Here is my reasoning. Mercenaries lack numerous abilities that would make them more viable. First I'll state these abilities we are lacking and then why it puts us at a disadvantage in comparison to every other class. We don't have: 1) Vanish (All Warrior/Knight classes, Assassins/Shadow, Operatives/Scoundrels) 2) Any movement speed increasing abilities (Inquisitors/Consular, Warriors) 3) A dedicated Instant CC (Every class but BH/Trooper) 4) Any kind of Pull (Sorcerers/Sage, Power-techs/Vanguards) 5) Any kind of leap (Warrior/Knight classes, Vanguard/Power-tech) 6) A dedicated interrupt (Every class but BH/Trooper I believe). 7) An immunity to stun that some classes possess. There is nothing that distinguishes the Mercenary class from other classes. Not that we should all be distinguishable, but the above list should shed light on a pretty unbalanced problem in my opinion. Understandably, Mercs can't be given all of these or even a majority of these. However consider the extreme disadvantage we are at for the following reasons: 1) New PVE content requires a group make up where players can interrupt bosses. In Lost Island this becomes crucial. How is a group composed of a Healing Merc, 2 Merc DPS, and a tank not at an extreme disadvantage in the FP Lost Island? For that matter, BH's become extremely less useful in Operations. When part of your party members are down, and only a couple people left, if those people happen to be a Mercenary and the boss requires an interrupt to succeed...it is wipe time. The Merc class has the least amount to offer to an operation group in terms of mechanics alone. The disadvantage this places on Mercs in PVP should be obvious. Other ranged classes have interrupts, why don't Mercs? 2). Presently, all the objectives of PvP are most beneficial to classes that have mobility. Huttball is the classical example. Because Huttball is so objective oriented, the game has evolved to a WZ of cc and mobility more than anything else. In fact, Huttball has become more of a sport where certain classes just naturally surpass all others in their viability for that specific game. This means the slowest classes in the game (Mercs, Gunslingers, Snipers) are at a disadvantage, however out of those the Merc is at the greatest disadvantage. The other two possess an instant CC which is extremely helpful in a WZ built on mobility. 3) All other WZ objectives are easier to accomplish when you can increase your movement speed to get there. It is near impossible to get the Data Core at the end of Voidstar as a Merc (or Agent/Smuggler) because people can easily sprint past you and get the medal for accomplishing that objective. 4) The benefit of the ability to vanish or to stealth when defending or attacking an objective should be obvious (Especially defending). 4) All of our activation/channel abilities can be interrupted. If we are going to be the only class to not have an interrupt we should at least have something that makes us uninterruptable for a short time, however I would much rather have the interrupt than just be immune for the sake of PVE viability too. Consider this: Those of us who hate being interrupted countless times in PVP, we try Pyrotech. We are still interrupted a lot (Unload, CC, Fusion Missile, Powershot) but not as much as Arsenal. However, our Combustible Gas Cylinder is much less likely proc in this build in comparison to a Powertech Pyrotech, and our fire can be cleansed or cured by most classes every 12 seconds and it costs them hardly any energy/force/heat etc. So if I apply Incendiary Missile (costs 25 heat) and it is cleansed right away (which reduces the damage of all my other weapon abilities) that means I have to reapply it which puts me at near 50% heat already! How many classes have to deal with that at the beginning of their rotation? In conclusion. Mercenary is the least viable class in this game at this time. Most people know it. My question to you is what are you going to do about it? I shouldn't have to re-roll another class to avoid all these observations. I am not looking for major overhaul of the Mercenary skill trees. But I believe something needs to be done.

Let's clarify some things, Mercs don't have the following: 1) No kind of Sprint = to force sprint 2) No leap 3) No pull 4) No instant cc 5) No vanish 6) No interrupt (only ranged class that doesn't and knock-back doesn't count folks) What we do have: 1) Range 2) Damage If you want to nerf the one thing we do, add some skill/strategy based talents or the class is useless. Mercs DID get nerfed in damage. The reason it seems worse now is that expertise effects the damage output much more than damage reduction and healing done. If Tracer Missile and Powershot are nerfed by 10% and Heatseeker gets a 10% buff, the question then is which abilities happen MORE OFTEN. The answer is obvious: Tracer Missile and Powershots, which means overall about a 20% damage reduction. Plus all Merc DPS lost 3% crit chance as well, and Arsenal lost 5% damage reduction in Power Barrier. Mercs are one of the EASIEST classes to kill if you know how because of the lack of pvp abilities

This is more of a question than an observation. I have opened 20 chests since hitting Battlemaster and have only gotten 3 tokens. The rest has just been champion comm's which I should apparently be using as target practice based on thier worth to me now... However, 3 people in my guild have the opposite tendency when opening a BM chest. One person is 5 for 5 in getting a token, another is 4 for 7, and someone else averages 50%. So my question is...What the F***? Anyone else experiencing this? Does anyone know how this is being addressed because atm it just seems like an unfair advantage to certain people? And yes, I have tried all the tips and tricks of "open your chest here" or "at this time", and etc. No difference.