I feel the op is pointing out a very real situation in the high end meta game. I feel that at this point the game has evolved where people are comfortable with their rotations in different situations. On top of that high end pvpers are often using very refined specs designed to boost burst dmg. Its important to remember that at the high end players are often choosing biochem, by using a combination of adrenal+expertise+relic any class can chain multiple crits while under this effect and destroy a weary opponent.
The only reason you notice it more often against an Assault vanguard is the fact a player can combine the above buffs available to all with the 2 min AC cooldown Battle Focus which is a 25% crit chance boost for 12 seconds people who are used to being focused during the matches will notice the effect of someone chain criting against you
The second factor which contributes to people unfairly calling for nerfs to the entire class for no other reason then the burst timings of the rotation which has a front end delay the first 3 GCD's a vanguard uses (incendiary round, assault plastique, hammer shot which provides some ammo regen plus a chance to proc plasma/slow. This is also when my target really keys into the fact hes under attack.
At this point if an Assault vanguard was attacking you would notice 2 dots proc, a big hit from hib, the explosion from the grenade he threw earlier. you try to run but you noticed him too late the vanguard has entered the 10m sweet zone in all the case studies the next 3 GCD's are as followed, Ion pulse, hib, stockstrike keep in mind these can be done in almost any order. which also ends the opening burst dmg rotations which is in question. Its also important to argue that this potent attack is rarely enought to finish off my target just like any other AC this initial burst is not sustainable. moving forward the internal 6 sec CD timer starts to work for hib which means i will be able to AT BEST fire a hib in 6 seconds or more with zero chance of firing 2 hib almost back to back like in the opener. the second reason the initial burst is unsustainable is the 15 second cooldown + 3-4 sec delay of Assault Plastique which is a huge part of the initial 4 GCD burst. the combination of the long cooldown+delay of AP and the 6 sec internal proc cooldown for hib represent a huge drop in burst dmg potential since you wont be able to pair up another AP+HiB burst (only one, not two like the opener} for approx 11-15 seconds of combat time. this huge pause will allow an opponent to counter attack/heal/vanish.
in Conclusion I feel strongly that the two factors of high end players combining adrenal+relic+battle focus in a way which is unique to the AC and probably allows for more LOL moments on a 2 min CD then most others. The second factor which is also important relating to perspective and sample sizes. If you consider all the vanguard burst that happens within 4 GCD's its hard to find an equal that being said. when compared with a true 7 GCD sample the damage falls much more in line with the other advanced classes.
For us Assault Vanguards out there we can only hope that Bioware is smart enought not to nerf the class based on tiny sample sizes of high end players none of this will fix the underlying situation which is any high end pvper is able to stack relic+adrenals and chain big hits when paired with the OCD's of their AC.
Really as a community we should be questioning bioware and asking them when they do in house testing and data collecting for balancing at the high end are they accounting for very high percentage of biochems that exist? do these in house tests also include data from the same high percentage player base that are biochem that are also using the +power relic instead of any other option? Finally in the end its important to take a step back and look at the big picture before nerfing an individual AC.
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On a side the second biggest concern ive seen people raising with Assault Vanguards is the total damage done per warzone many players feel that this can be out of line at times, However I would argue that if we consider only single target dps the Vanguard falls very much in line with others. The key here is understanding that these numbers are bolsters mostly by the Vanguards well placed burst aoe attacks (sticky+mortar volley+ pulse cannon) however the overall effectiveness will depend on the players skill and timing regardless this potent aoe combo alone could add significantly over the course of an entire game. Now you might be thinking " so what? lots of classes have aoe" and you might think the Vanguards trick set ends here. However it doesnt the overall dmg numbers are skewed by two strong dots which can be spammed on passers by tab targeted ammo dump cooldowned onto multiple foes at once or in those situations where death is assured spamming and refreshing dots before dying. I firmly believe that whenever a Assault Vanguards is skewed out of line with others you can be assured that these are the tactics some use to bolster their overall dmg, Vanguards just simply are not using only single target dps to achieve the numbers shown in screen shots
I guess when a player gets hit by an cooldown augmented crit infused rotation, blows up. Then after the match sees the Bolstered damage the Vanguard did using his other tools It becomes understandable why someone would think a Vanguard must be doing the miracle burst none stop to everyone.
