The person you were responding to may have been a bit reactionary. However, consider the dev's track record. 11 straight months of nerfs. The supposed "buffs" are cloaked in bugs that reduce Merc dps effectiveness so that in net, we still get nerfed. A dev request in July for player input about their subclass, with tons of responses by Merc about their problems. Result? Next patch has a further nerf to Merc Pyro. The Merc player base is justifiably suspicious about dev intentions regarding the subclass. Every strong pvp player in the game will admit that Merc is the worst subclass in the game for pvp. And the devs continue to nerf the subclass. The devs simply lack any credibility on the matter.

Worst class? It depends on the player's skill. For low skill players, the Merc/Commando dps may be the BEST class. It's easy to keep targets in your field of fire. if you overheat, even your basic attacks are decent. Correspondingly, for low skill players, Mara and Jugg rage may actually be the WORST class. Your typical low skill player can't even keep enemy targets in his field of fire, much less that AND in range. So low skill players on those toons often spend a lot of their time doing nothing but chasing something they can't hit. For higher skill players, there is no question. Merc/Commando is the worst subclass in the game. But because BW does not adjust class balance based on best practices, but instead based on ingame meta average statistics, Merc/Commando will continue to get nerfed. Mara and Jugg rage will continue to be immune to nerfs because they are insulated by legions of poorly geared, low skill players playing those FotM and thus lowering the meta average productivity numbers for those subclasses. Assassins as well are nerf proof since so many of them are selected for solo guarding nodes. Thus their ingame productivity numbers are biased downwards and BW concludes they are underpowered. Expect further buffs to Assassins in 1.6.

The devs reference to "escapability" shows how little they understand how pvp is played at the top levels. Right now in a match with top players, Merc Pyro damage output trails PT Pyro, Marauder and Jugg Rage by about 30%. That is on top of having less utility to the group. AND having less survivability. Merc Arsenal is frankly as bad, with the minor exception of selected situations where you need to focus fire on heavily defended targets. For the people that will now inevitably chime in with the "I have no problem doing as much damage as others on my Merc", just can it. I've done 800k damage on my Merc Pyro, and yes almost always score highest in wzs. But I've done better on my Mara in full Recruit gear, and that was before the Smash Monkey era. For those that think Merc dps is competitive, go ask the best ranked team on your server if they would bring along your Merc dps into a rwz. LOL. Despite these undeniable facts, the devs continue to believe that Merc dps is too high. Why? Because their ingame meta average stats tell them so. But those meta averages are biased because the only people left playing Merc dps are the best geared, most experienced, most stubborn players who won't abandon their class. On my server I can go a full week without seeing another Merc pyro in wz. So 99% of the Merc Pyro meta averages on my server come from my results. And thus Merc Pyro meta averages on my server are much higher than for any other class. BW sees that and resolves to nerf Merc dps. And they will continue to do so until the very best Merc dps players have productivity nerfed down to be equal to the average, undergeared players in a FotM class. BW needs to abandon the reliance on their ingame meta average stats to guide play balance. They need to balance based on best practices for each subclass. Until that happens, nothing is going to improve.

Don't hold your breath. It was in July that the community team surveyed each subclass asking for feedback. The result was the outright nerf to Merc Pyro and giving Arsenal a heal to do instead of doing damage that we saw in 1.4. They will not buff Merc dps. Devs still believe Merc dps is OP. That "survivability" talk the devs recently made will be a red herring. They'll offer up some talent that allows you a minor root or sprint at the cost of being hors de combat for 15 sec. That fits right with the dev's consistent objective which is to reduce Merc dps damage output.

I think the most notable of the many quotes I've heard (this was in lev 50 pvp): Me (after observing that a Powertech on my team was not using an ammo cylinder): "XXX, you need to use an ammo cylinder" Me (after no response): "XXX, pick an ammo cylinder, the match is almost ready to start" XXX: "What's an ammo cylinder?"

They should just give up and delete the Merc subclass. Allow every Merc character to respec into a different class. BW consolidated servers to allow players on low pop servers to finally have access to endgame pvp. That was a good decision. For the same reason they should allow Merc toons to respec to a different class. 'Cuz no one is going to take a Merc dps on a ranked pvp team.

Assassins are the best subclass for high skill players. This will be even more true once they introduce the new warzone (in 1.6?). The new warzone places a premium on avoiding deaths, which automatically elevates stealth classes. Get a ranked team with 8 stealth players and then appear to make two kills (two 4v1s), disappear and rinse and repeat. When the "black hole" effect comes, simply fight it out with your 8v6 advantage. Automatic win. But Assassins are difficult for low skill players to pilot. The good news is that this lowers the meta average productivity of the subclass. BW's reliance on ingame meta average productivity to direct class rebalancing also greatly benefits Assassin tanks in another way. Since Assassin tanks are the favored solo node guards, they tend to have their productivity numbers biased downwards. This adds to the perception of the devs that Assassins are underpowered. Thus Assassins will continue to be buffed going forward.

Exactly. Oh, and then they also nerfed Merc Pyro's snare. 'Cuz they were really too hard for melee to kill. LOL.

I actually use Flamethrower in PvP matches. Go figure.... PowerShot.....now THAT is a worthless ability. Haven't used that in a PvP match in over a week.

There are dozens of ways the class can be improved. But fundamentally the problem isn't about which talent/skill/ability to modify. It's about the devs needing to come to the realization that they can't use their meta average dps/healing/protection metrics as a basis for making class balance changes. Until that happens, Merc dps is always going to be low man on the totem pole.

My Merc dps is almost always the highest damage score in my matches. But that doesn't change the fact that Merc dps is the worst subclass in the game. My Mara in full original Recruit gear has scored higher than my Merc dps in full WH gear. It's not even close. And yes, when I play on my Marauder, I do target Merc dps first. They die fast and they can't hurt you. Which probably explains why there are so few of them left. Shame. The free kills were fun.

Merc dps is the worst subclass in the game for PvP. Remember that rule and everything else falls into place. Merc dps is actually viable for PvE though. But if you want to do any PvP at lev 50+, just re-roll.

Merc dps is the weakest subclass in the game when it comes to PvP. Never take a Merc dps into a PvP match if you can take a Powertech dps instead. Follow that golden rule and you'll be fine.

Bah, you talk as if that is the only DoT ability with a tail longer than its CD. I suggest you play some other ACs and discover that your situation is not unique. Deal with it.

I think the conventional wisdom is that (if equally geared), Gault does the most damage. However most people will level up with Mako. The time savings from not having to rest up after fights is immense.

Stealth Scanner should be invisible to the other team. Right now there is no risk to using stealth dps tactics. No risk and yet huge return. That is a broken game dynamic. That is why all the ranked teams are moving to use more and more stealth classes. Once the new wz arrives, with it's premium placed on avoiding deaths, there will be no reason to use any non-stealth classes. There must be a balance of risk and return to the use of stealth dps tactics. The way to do that is to make the Stealth Scanner's activity and radius unseen to the enemy team. Enemy players who enter an opposing team's Stealth Scanner should be hit with a 50% snare for 4 seconds. Now there is an actual risk to using stealth dps tactics. And maybe even a reason to have a Merc on your team.

I'm sorry but that is the stupidest quote I've heard about Merc dps. No one is complaining about not being able to escape multiple melee enemies. No class can do that. Oh wait, Assassins and Operatives can. And you guys (BW) saw fit to buff them. Doh. The implication that BH should hide around corners is also inane. If you want, BH can have awesomely good survivability. Simply never move beyond one step from the spawn loft. But the reality is that Merc dps is so low, that the only way you can get overall effectiveness to match that of other classes, is that you MUST be shooting all the time. If you spend half your time running away, your effectiveness plummets far more than any other subclass. Stealth classes can spend half their time not shooting and get more done than a Merc dps that is constantly shooting. And the need to be constantly shooting demands a clear field of fire to multiple enemy targets so that if one cloaks, breaks LOS or pops a big defensive ability you can switch to other targets and remain active. Cutting off 50+% of your field of fire to shelter behind corners just doesn't work. Unless you consider having a lower death count in exchange of loss of effectiveness to your team a good trade-off. Bottom line is that no one wants Merc dps on their ranked team. Any so-called "improvement" to the Merc dps subclass by giving them "escapability" doesn't change that. Right now Merc dps adds nothing to a ranked team. They are inferior in every aspect of the game to some other subclass. Having Merc dps die slightly less frequently while forcing them to run away and stop dpsing doesn't change that. If BW wants people to have a reason to take Merc dps on ranked teams, then Merc dps needs to be the best at doing something. Anything. Right now the Merc dps is inferior at everything.

I've said this before, but.....BW simply doesn't believe that Merc dps are weak. In fact every metric BW uses shows Merc dps are overpowered. How can this happen, you say? It's simple. Virtually no one plays Merc dps anymore. On my server I am the sole Merc dps left that anyone will take on a ranked wz team. And I can go an entire week in normal wz without seeing a Merc dps. So virtually the entire meta average productivity of Merc dps on my server comes from me. And 90% of the matches I am the high dps on my team. I am imagine that things are similar on other servers. The only people left playing Merc dps in PvP are the most skilled, most geared, most determined players. So when BW looks at their weekly meta average numbers, they see maybe 80 matches played by Merc dps on my server, and the average productivity is FAR HIGHER than that for any other subclass. The problem of course is that BW's meta average metrics do not control for player skill/quality. So they will continue to nerf Merc dps until the very best Merc dps players have productivity equal to that of the average, undergeared noobs playing the FotM. This is exactly what we have seen for the last six months. More fundamentally, even if player skill were controlled for, the use of dps/healing/protection metrics to measure class effectiveness is FLAWED. On my Merc dps, I am never used as a solo node guard, because Merc dps sucks against every other subclass. What is the most popular subclass to use as a solo node guard? Assassin tanks. So because they spend so much time on guard duty, their meta average metrics are lower. BW sees this and incorrectly believes they need a buff. Hence Assassins get buffed in 1.4. Doh. Nor do dps/healing/protection metrics take into account class utility. The ability of stealth classes to exit combat when a defended node is being overrun, and then reappear to stop a cap 8 seconds later is of incalculable value. But it doesn't appear in BW's meta average metrics. Similarly the ability of various classes to pull enemies, jump to friendlies in Huttball, etc. all add *UTILITY* to their team and are ignored by BW's evaluation system. All those classes provide benefits that BW does not account for, while low utility classes have their effectiveness overrated by BW. And which subclass has the LOWEST utility in the game? Merc dps of course. BW's ingame statistics collection system was revolutionary for MMOs. But unfortunately, the human interpretation of these statistics was flawed and lagging. That is why Merc dps sucks. My Marauder in full Recruit gear scored as high as my Merc in full WH. But BW doesn't see that and doesn't understand why that occurs.That is why Merc dps will always suck.

The only ability that you will not be able to use at point blank range is Death From Above. Correction: The only ability you will not be able to ATTEMPT to use at point blank range is Death From Above. However attempts to use Unload, PowerShot, healing, etc. at short range are foolish. You will simply be stunned or interrupted and then killed. Your sole method of survival as a Merc dps is to not be noticed. Once the enemy sees you, they will gravitate to attacking you since you are the weakest subclass in the game and an easy kill for any other subclass. Thus, long windup motion animations draw attention to yourself and are to be avoided like the plague.

No. You are ignoring the damage from CGC, which is almost 2x your 800 damage differential AND is elemental just like FB. So net, FB is going to more damage than PS, even if the target has zero armor. Once you factor in the target's armor, FB doing 50-100% more damage than PS is common. Bottom line, there is never any reason to bring a Merc dps into a ranked wz over a similarly skilled player with a different subclass. NEVER. EVER. Merc dps is the worst subclass in the game. As long as your remember that, you won't run into any trouble when selecting a ranked wz team composition.

I assume you are talking about a PT using one of the dps trees. In that case, there is zero reason to beef up shield chance or absorption. You are not going to be using the right cylinder so it's just a waste. The same can not be said about defense chance however. I've used a PT Pyro with full WH augmented gear, but equipped him with WH defense relics rather than power relics. It is a viable choice. But not one many will make. The problem is that your trade-off ratio is about 3.5/2.8, or about a 3.5% increase in defense chance vs. a loss of attack damage of about 2.8%. Approximately. Which is sort of ok. But as a ranged attacker, you should be able to finesse your environment so that you are attacking more often than you are defending. This makes the trade-off less attractive. The more interesting scenario might be in the post-1.4 world, were the ability to use ranged attacks is lessened for the PT Pyro.

Sorry, but I have to LOL at all the sub-50 claiming their experiences are representative of how the AC plays... A LOT changes at 50. And if you are serious about this game, most of your time will be spent at lev 50. Not sub-50....

The reduction of the stun range to 10m has a significant impact for Merc dps. Merc dps, which already was the lowest utility subclass in the game, loses some of their utility. For instance, when a team sends two players to their nearby (left) node at the start of the game in Alderaan, it is common for one player to cap the node and another to run interception. The Merc dps can no longer do the latter role adequately. And since he has no sprint, he is suboptimal for the former role.

No. How many times do I have to say it. The sole reliance on the dps metric to evaluate class (im)balance is completely flawed. Such a philosophy ignores the utility benefits various classes bring to their team. The ability of an assassin tank to exit combat as his teammates defending a node are getting wiped out and then return to stop the node cap just as the enemy's cap bar is full, extends the defense of that node by 15 seconds and many, many times allows respawning defenders to resume the defense. That skill alone is worth more than a 5% dps bump. Similarly the leap abilities in Huttball and the Marauders Predation ability at the start of any wz are completely and incorrectly ignored when one makes the 5% dps metric the altar at which you base class balance. Moreover, and more fundamentally the 5% dps (or damage+protection+healing) metric is flawed because it fails to take into account player skill. Players new to their class typically perform worse than average. Their inclusion in Bioware's meta average statistics skews FotM classes lower and results in BW managing class (im)balance by repeatedly buffing FotM classes. Instead the correct methodology which would be to base class balance on best practices for each class.

ElectroDart did get its range reduced to 10 meters. And although some people might think that is irrelevant, in fact you need ElectroDart to finish off enemy operative/smuggie healers - which are the most common type of healer.