Marb
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Posts posted by Marb
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Power creep is a minor drawback, the biggest issue is how huge chunks of content become obsolete every time we get a level cap increase or a new raid tier.
Unless Bioware implements a sustainable alternate advancement system, along with a horizontal progression model, numbers will continue to get bigger and content will continue to become irrelevant. Vertical progression doesn't create sustainable content, it makes content consumable and irrelevant on the next tier/level cap increase. I've brought it up before, but the legacy system is a hugely underutilized feature that could be revamped into a horizontal progression model.
Considering the consumable nature of story chapters (only playable once per toon) and the vertical post level cap gear progression, the future of swtor doesn't look good unless they move away from the vertical progression model. Power creep/number bloat will be the least of this game's issues down the line, and are just some of the inevitable consequences of this type of progression model.
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Bioware is definitely aware of power creep
When makeb launched they revisited all the tertiary stats to ensure they had room for further vertical progression, and that meant that current gear became devalued dramatically as you increased in level.
I think power creep will always be kept in check, to the point where each time we have a level cap increase, it will be to acquire the stats we used to have at the previous level cap, not a linear increase on top of what we already had at the previous level cap.
Numbers will continue to get bigger though, so number bloat will be an issue if this game has a long lifespan.
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I agree, a sorc bubble would be barely broken by the time force scream goes up in most scenarios.
The way revenge stacks conflict with force scream usage on the opener is annoying though, I wonder if that's an oversight.
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The optimal opener I go for is as follows (use Retaliation on cooldown as it appears):
Saber Throw (or Force Leap) with Enrage
Smash
Crushing Blow + Retaliation
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Taunt
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Ravage
Force Scream
Backhand
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AoE taunt
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Force Push
Force Choke
Vicious Slash
Sundering Assault
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Taunt
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As you stated, pushing back Force Scream even here increases your damage taken by a miniscule amount, but it also puts the Force Scream + Smash in a good spot for future rotations. By placing Sundering Assault so late, you can do the most possible damage and threat in the opener to ensure control on the boss.
I considered an opener like this in terms if pure burst threat, but taunt boosting probably eliminates the need to reorder the ability string based on threat in such a literal way, especially if we're skipping saber throw. I feel like we may as well stick to maximizing force scream if we're using taunts, at least at this stage in the game.
When it comes to using Smash vs. Vicious Slash, Smash actually only does a little bit more damage than VS. My tooltip damage on both has Smash doing 2230-2359 (avg of 2294.5) compared to VS doing 2001-2295 (avg of 2148) so that equates to almost 150 damage or less than 10% extra damage. I would wait until you either have 2-3 stacks of Revenge or if the debuff is about to wear off. You can also use Sweeping Slash if needed to regain the debuff if it falls off (in place of a VS) or if Smash gets resisted.I think smash is only so good because it has a high threat multiplier, so in that sense it's probably quite a bit better than vicious slash in terms of threat, but not much different in actual damage. Interesting point on refreshing the accuracy debuff with sweeping slash, I never considered that. I should probably pay more attention to that debuff considering it can actually miss.
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That opener you listed (backhand>scream) is about as resource efficient as it gets. The only other thing to remember is to make sure retaliation is put on cooldown immediately before launching into a ravage, even if it delays ravage slightly. I think delaying ravage for retaliation is ok, but I doubt delaying smash for revenge stacks (for a vicious slash) is ever worth it, unless it means you wont have the rage to use the next force scream.
I tend to use backhand/choke on cooldown, staggering them by 30 seconds between each-other on encounters with no adds. Force push is another one, assuming you don't have adds, it's free and it's better than an assault (anything to fill in that post force scream deadzone). I opt to use force push>sunder after ravage, that syncs up sunder so that it's always used before all the 12 second abilities come up, ensuring I always have the rage to hit them all (I use choke a little later, forcing in that 30 second gap with backhand).
EDIT: About delaying smash, you could keep scream>backhand, but then delay a smash by a single gcd, and hit smash/scream on cooldown after that. You could put this gcd gap in during tank down time or after a swap something.
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Because of how static it is, the difference between a good jugg and a bad jugg comes down to extra uses of vicious slash, which isn't very exciting or rewarding. Lowering the duration of the crushing blow damage reduction buff slightly, lowering the rage cost of vicious slash, and causing vicious slash to incrementally lower the cooldown of force scream are some of my ideas to make it more dynamic.
The number one issue though is ranged threat generation. We should be able to comfortably manage ranged trash without a saber reflect. A jugg can do it, but its unnecessarily hard compared to how trivial it is on the sin and even the pt in comparison. After tanking on the PT for year, the severe close range restriction on abilities is one the starkest differences I noticed switching to the Jugg.
I'd like to see the following:
- High threat modifier on Saber Throw (bring the threat done up to the 8k range, making it a viable opener)
- Retaliate procs Revenge (or something like that; those stacks are really important)
- Slightly higher damage on Retaliate (easy to tune this as a balancing factor)
These are good ideas. If saber throw had a much shorter cooldown or some AoE component as well it would remove the current crutch we have on saber reflect.
- High threat modifier on Saber Throw (bring the threat done up to the 8k range, making it a viable opener)
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I'm going to revisit a related point.
Frankly, we need more spare focus to hit abilities outside of a master strike for when we have to keep on the move, and burn damage needs to be increased for the same reason (upfront damage would have to be adjusted). We are punished too much for moving off target, changing targets, or just moving at all for whatever reason. When we aren't fighting against simple things that shouldn't be issues for melee dps in the first place (uh oh, I have to move!), we then have to contend with fickle rng when we can finally plant two feet on the ground and start a proper ability string.
With what is going on with the pyro spec and it's railshot reset proc, I think that shows how a reliable proc could improve the feel of the spec tenfold. If zen strike's rate limit were to be increased as well, it would have to be considered very carefully, as the cooldowns on both overhead slash and plasma brand already provide a hard rate limit along with the current zen strike proc limit. With the staggered cooldowns attached to both of our proc abilities, we should be able to proc master strike sometimes on overhead slash and almost guaranteed on plasma brand. The "sometimes" overhead slash proc should feel like a bonus, and the plasma brand proc should be anticipated if no proc was granted by overhead slash.
I'm a little cynical about what the combat team intents to do. They will probably look at a proc/rate limit adjustment, but to be honest, that just seems like a zero sum change without any substance. Vigilance needs a lot more then a cursory glance to get it off the ground and competitive.
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All tanks have the same taunts: single target and aoe, all 30m range, all with the same cool down. "Ranged AOE taunt" is not something unique to PTs.
To the OP: I love Jet Charge too. Sadly I long ago got tired of asking that it be swapped with Grapple as the base PT skill.
PT AoE taunt has a 30m range and is target dependent, with a 15m area of effect at the impact point. It also has a travel time as it's a ranged projectile. Sins and Juggs have a 30m AoE taunt that is not target based, instead taunting everything within 30m of the sin/jugg. PT's do have a ranged AoE taunt, and it's unique to them. Single target taunts are indeed identical across all tank AC's though.
On the topic of Jet Charge, it's a quality of life change that is arguably no longer relevant with the addition of Hydraulic Overrides for all specs. For PvP, grapple and HO along with various 30m attacks are sufficient compensation for not having a baseline Jet Charge. There has been an unbalance created with the addition of the operative roll ability though (operatives can escape from combat and have ranged attacks), but I think that's a balance issue with operatives, and not a good enough reason to escalate and compensate PT's with a gap closer.
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Half the front page is necro'd threads, wth is going on.
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It could be the quality of the new VO or the method in which they were recorded.
It's quite common for voice actors to phone in lines, and with a project like swtor it would have to be a necessity for some actors.
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From the feedback they got from the Makeb expansion, I hope they decide to go with a hybrid of class story / world story with open world "sandpark" elements.
Think chapter 4 but with significant class specific alterations set up in a large free-roam region of a new planet.
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Defense/Immortal
- Talents high in the Defense/Immortal trees which increase shield chance by 5% and absorb percentage by 15% (up from 0% in both).
http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=6836218&postcount=1
In PvP tank spec is pretty strong as it is, but these additions are needed to maintain overall tank balance in PvE.
Other areas that need addressing:
- Saber throw sucks.
- Complete lack of ranged threat generation outside of saber reflect.
- Inability to maintain threat and kite.
- Weak AoE threat outside of tightly packed, perfectly positioned melee mobs.
- Lack of an effective pull (leap/forcepush/leap is 3 GCD's to perform the equivalent).
- Vulnerability to knockbacks (all of the above make this issue more significant for juggs compared to sin/pt).
- Retaliation's reliance on M/R attack types lowers dps significantly in F/T heavy encounters.
- Talents high in the Defense/Immortal trees which increase shield chance by 5% and absorb percentage by 15% (up from 0% in both).
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(I usually do HM / NiM content, and this is from my point of view.)
I suggest you take the previous advice with a grain of salt. First off:
- Saber Throw is useless for gaining aggro on Operations Bosses. It puts you 1 GCD behind, and can mean the difference between keeping aggro or loosing it.
- Don't ever start off with a taunt.
- Someone mentioned using single-taunt on CD; don't! There aren't many Operation Bosses where you can use single-taunt on CD as you need it for tank swapping (Nefra is the only boss that comes to mind where you can use it on CD).
- Don't use Saber Reflect at the start for aggro. Saber Reflect is way to useful and only works on some attacks (ranged / force / tech). Save it for when you need it, i.e. TfB Kephess NiM laser beam, TfB NiM Force Scream.
My opening rotation:
- Enrage
- Force Leap
- Smash
- Crushing Blow
- Retaliation
- Backhand
- Ravage
- (Retaliation if procced)
- Taunt (AOE-taunt for Sonic Barrier if you have mDPS in the group)
- Sundering Assualt
- Force Scream
That's similar to what I use, however I do put force scream in after backhand. That ensures you get the opportunity to fit in another retaliation just before the ravage channel. If you go backhand>ravage, retaliation will light up during the ravage channel, delaying it resulting in less threat on that opening sequence.
If you bring force scream to the front, you do throw out the threat order, but you gain more threat by maximizing retaliation:
Leap > Smash > Crushing Blow+Retaliation > Backhand > Force Scream > Retaliation+Ravage
If retaliation procs before crushing blow (which it often does) then sticking to something similar to what you have is ideal. Moving smash down the list is also something to consider if you're really just ordering ability use by threat generated: http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=6929008&postcount=45
- Saber Throw is useless for gaining aggro on Operations Bosses. It puts you 1 GCD behind, and can mean the difference between keeping aggro or loosing it.
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Don't skimp on the cpu, and set yourself up with a good amount (8gb+) of fast ram. Get a modular high quality power supply (corsair, antec are some good brands). Get a good quality case with plenty of room (full tower pref).
The motherboard/cpu, case and power supply are the things you want to be as future proof as possible. Video cards and hdd/ssd can easily be upgraded and you can always add more ram.
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The problem with the "PVE solutions are simple" approach, is that PVE is a mathematically static endeavor. No matter how much skill you have, if a class sucks, and even the best player CANNOT get past a mathematical barrier, your class will not be able to make it.
This is not true in the case of PVP. Even the worst class will have situations where some random joe or some dude just really derped and you raped.
Both are important. We need fixes on both.
Stop screwing over pve for pvp, and frankly any damage potential changes help for pvp as well. We need to feel like a dps class in pvp and not a freaking tank.
I don't understand the concern about PvE bias either. I think we can all agree that the jugg survivability model needs to be looked at. Dps adjustments tend to be PvP/PvE agnostic.
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"Will Galactic Starfighter ever be PVE?" is a bit vague.
I don't have fond memories of single player dog-fighting games. I'm having a hard time imagining how GSF would work for PvE, it would have to be completely separate game-play segments that borrow elements from the flight model of GSF.
If all people want are bots to fight against, then no, I don't think that would add any value to the game.
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Hold your tongue, peasent.
Purerage wasn't posting everyday but he came through at the finish line.
Hmm, the more I think about it, we actually need pvp-centric representation. PvP is where juggernaut action really matters and the issues are manifest. Pve solutions are simple. You tards simply want boosts to damage potential, but it is in the realm of pvp, that true jug dynamics exist.
That escalated quickly?
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I would also like to request PvE warzones while we are on the subject.
Wait, no.
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ArenCordial is the most authentic candidate, and checks all the boxes.
Alec_Fortescue is my second choice.
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ssfish, who should have been selected as Jugg rep in the first place.
The whole system of community votes was flawed to start with. "Lets get my entire guild and friend's network to vote for me, and if that doesn't work, I will pay people to vote for me." Seriously, half the reps that got elected were complete unknowns, at least when it came to participating in the forums.
The community should put forth candidates, and Eric should have final say and choose a person that meets the criteria.
Kennethdale and Luckygunslinger are also ideal candidates.
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Yep noticed the new music. It's not up to the same level of quality as the rest of the game, and would much prefer for some re-sampled and re-cut tracks taken from the film soundtracks.
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Can help you on some of this:
[*] When your reticle leaves the circle you'll see a line continue to draw outwards tracking where your mouse pointer is. It's very fine and difficult to notice, especially while in the thick of it
[*] Your selected target will be a light red diamond while all other enemies will be red triangles. The tutorial stuff will explain the targeting controls for you. They actually aren't too bad on that front and decently competent.
Thanks. Yea that line showing where the cursor is needs to be a lot brighter, in a dogfight It's too hard to see.
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- The biggest issue for me is how there is no visual feedback on where the cursor is when it leaves the aiming circle, which makes it really disorientating and hard to control the camera and stay on target.
- Another is loosing track of a target that leaves your screen due to all the red triangle clutter. I'm also not sure what the orange line is that appears, at first I though that was a coordinate indicator on where my off-screen target was, not sure what it is.
- Another minor issue is how quiet the missile lock on sound is, if firing blasters at the same time it is often hard to tell when you have locked on to your target.
- I don't think the ship stats should affect the responsiveness of the camera to mouse input, because at the moment ship stats are governing camera responsiveness as well, and aiming sensitivity can't be changed. The mouse needs to move the camera independently of the ship and use the user designated mouse sensitivity, so ship stats still affect ship turning speed, but not the sensitivity of the camera and aiming cursor.
- The biggest issue for me is how there is no visual feedback on where the cursor is when it leaves the aiming circle, which makes it really disorientating and hard to control the camera and stay on target.
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Yep it's fantastic. If anyone has traveled to Oricon from the ship instead of priority transport, it also has a cinematic of the same quality as the new fleet arrival.
Fleet, orbital station and planet departure cut-scenes need this level of quality.
New Tank spec
in Guardian / Juggernaut
Posted · Edited by Marb
This isn't anything new, it's almost the same hybrid tank spec from pre 2.0.
It comes with some severe drawbacks after they supercharged the full immortal tree in 2.0. Less dps; crushing blow is not even comparable to impale after 2.0, retaliation has longer cd and no guaranteed proc, no backhand, no sweeping fury, only 1/2 decimate. No cooldown reduction on invincible or duration extension/threat on saber reflect (we are already too reliant on these cooldowns).
Interesting how the shield specialization can be included now due to the restructuring of the trees, pre 2.0 it was too high up to attain for hybrids.