I spend a great deal of time with it, and I agree with him. You don't drop everyone in 5 seconds regardless of gear difference, unless they are already almost dead. I don't agree with people discussing how weak pyro is in this thread but you are exaggerating in the other direction, neither is helpful.

I don't leverage my aoe that much at all, if I did my numbers would be insane, but I prefer to focus fire down dangerous targets. Your underestimating how quickly a pyrotech can unload damage once they start attacking, and how hard CGI and IM tick for especially once the target reaches the 30% threshold. I'll agree fully on the utility though and the annoying unpredictable nature of grapple. We also have horrible escape mechanics (ie none).

Er I out damage assains regularly.

Don't forget about your bonuses from the set. You will loose out on the jet charge bonus and need to be guarding someone with your Ion Cylinder active to get the 4 pc bonus while wearing tank gear.

Each tree should have it's own "unique" jet pack ability. Whether it be a straight charge, a "leap" type ability (basically instead of targeting someone you would choose where you want to jump to) or something.

I can't argue with the complete lack of surviability of a pure pyro when being focused down. It's really the specs biggest flaw, you have no mobility and the defensive cool downs you get really aren't going to save you if you get focused. Assuming a fight with myself and someone equally geared and knows what they are doing, I can generally hold my own against just about any class 1 on 1, but that's it, if a second person shows up (and they aren't completely brain dead) then I'm dead, there's no escaping, best case scenario I burn down the first attacker before I die. Compare this to a good marauder/sentinel who can pull off the kill and then escape, come back and re-engage and kill the second attacker. Marauder I run with does it all the time. I don't fear marauders and sentinels I actually look forward to fighting them cause decent ones are fun to fight and I'm certainly not a free kill, but I'm envious of their ability to engage and disengage from a fight. As an added note, what's this comment about Pyro powertech doing less damage than other bounty hunters? I've never seen this.

I wonder if there is some place else we should be posting this. I mean if the vanguard set works it should be a simple easy fix right? Is is possible the devs just don't know yet?

Merc Pyro has a higher chance of proccing rail shot, but the two abilities that proc the ability are channeled. As mentioned power tech has more bonuses for rail shot. Also a merc pyro doesn't get tracer missile, they use power shot and unload like power techs use flame burst and rocket punch. The biggest issue with a merc is can you keep in the background long enough to spam cast your abilities. If yes then you will do good damage, if not your going to get shut down. If you can get paired up with someone to help keep people off of you then your going to do well. By contrast a Powertech can't really be interrupted, however they do tend to want to be in the thick of things and can be easily focused down once the other team realizes just how freaking hard we can hit. So you tend to want to engage stragglers or pull someone out of the group to focus them down. Pyrotechs do not have any real escape abilities and are shield only does so much. Course if you get a healer and a tank protecting you well the bodies start stacking up.

I won't argue that TD is necessary, some people take it some don't. I like it for the added value of fighting at range and for better initial burst. That being said the difference is quite noticeable between explosive dart and TD. TD hits much harder.

The biggest issue that Bounty Hunters are going to have with this build is that the 2pc still breaks carbonize, which for me is a deal breaker, if the bonus simply didn't apply I could live with it, but actually breaking carbonize is a no go. So either I have to try and gather up the tank pieces and re-mod, or use the eliminator set, which is much less effective for this build.

It's kind of annoying I wanted to start collecting the other set to try out some other specs, but currently it's not worth it.

Yep and if you where actually active (ie people tried to report you as afk when you where not) the system wouldn't kick you. It wasn't perfect but it did work.

Yeah that's what I did, as my gear got better I went ahead and picked up the Aim talent. It's hard to say how much of a difference it's making, but I think it's worth it, especially as you get better gear (more Aim).

As was said earlier it's not that Biochem needs a nerf, its that the other crafting professions needs some kind of buff. For example allow armstech to make some kind of personalized modification to their weapon that you can't have unless you are an armstech. As it stands now the other professions just offer nothing once you get to 50 and start trying to earn other gear. Cybertech is an interesting alternative with the grenades but not good enough.

What I don't understand is why they don't allow some type of starter PVP set immediately available for purchase on reaching 50. I know a lot of people would perfer no real PVP gear, but I don't see Bioware doing that, however it boggles my mind that a fresh 50 has to enter a battleground with little to no pvp gear at all.

DaoC and WoW had different types of PVP. WoW's PVP became almost completely centered around arenas, yeah you had BGs and the occasional world pvp but those are almost a side note. Some like arena play some don't, regardless of your whether you like or not though it did require skill to play arena well, especially at the higher brackets. However I'm not a fan of arena being the pvp focus for MMOs personally. The problem becomes that when your PVP becomes centered around small arena play like WoW is in order for every class to be truly viable they all need to perform pretty much exactly the same, the least little shift ends up giving to much power to certain classes and comps. In good RvR type pvp things become more chaotic, classes don't have be so much the same because you can do different things and still effectively help your side accomplish their objectives. You have have giant parties/raids going up against each other, smaller parties of no more than 4 people running around etc. The issue of course is that if any side has a significant size advantage they would win regardless, which is why uneven number of factions is necessary for good world or RvR pvp. Assuming there is faction balance RvR becomes more about tactics and coordination. DAoC had it's flaws, the CC thing did get a bit crazy there, but it was probably one of the best RvR pvp games out there and it's a shame no one has tried to yet make an updated version of their PVP model.

I like the bounty hunter ship. That being said I do hope they plan to make some nice additions to the space game, including being able to select from different ships, better combat, team combat, pvp combat etc. It really is an area where they separate themselves from most MMOs currently out there, and would be a fun addition if done right. Right now it's just a tacked on mini game, it's fun enough but it could be more.

The only one I hated was the Tatoonie one. I was afraid half the time to look away from my screen for fear I'd miss the drop off point.

So fun when players run away at low health, I don't even bother chasing them most of the time, especially if they have my dots and I manage to tag them with a TD.

Taugrim has a guide that's technically from Rift: http://taugrim.com/2011/04/07/guide-to-strafing-movement-and-keybindings/ However it's still worth reading, especially if you aren't used to keybinding and strafing as there are some very good tips in there.

We are strong in 1 vs 1, but I don't think we are the top (that goes to marauders/sentinels that are played well). However the pvp in this game isn't (and shouldn't be) balanced around 1 vs 1, that kind of pvp balance just leads to issues. All classes should be able to contribute (and they do) to meaningful pvp for some that means being strong in 1 vs 1, for others it means different things.

If I was able to do things my way this would have been a 3 faction game, the third faction would have been some kind of neutral mercenary type faction/cartel and that's where the smugglers and Bounty Hunter classes would have gone.

Er that vid doesn't prove anything. In order to prove what you are saying (and dismiss the counter argument) you would have to show it from an empire's point of view capping the turret your republic team did first, and preferably within the same time frame. Otherwise what you say MIGHT be true, however the counter argument that's being offered Might be true as well. Conclusion? Need more vids showing both points of view, otherwise no one's proven anything.

So the carbonize bug still exists then? I was thinking of trying to pick up the combat tech set and try out Taugrim's Iron Fist spec to compare to the Parakeet build, but if the 2 piece is still bugged not worth it.

If I was running a pre-made I wouldn't choose a powertech to be the ball carrier regardless. I mean sure you can try and build a "spec" for it if you want, but even then there are other classes that are going to be much better at it.