[Remove Commendation Limit so new 50's can compete]

I found the commendation system restrictive until exactly last weekend. I had leveled my second Trooper to Lv35 solely in PvE, then to Lv50 in only PvP. You can easily have 10 champion bags ready to go within a day or so of dinging 50 if:

 

- you buy one champion bag early

- you can buy 5 champion bags at Level 50 if your mercenary and warzone commendations are both maxed out at 1k when you hit 50.

- finishing both your daily and weekly (if you have the time) gives you 4 champ bags.

 

Assuming you have my luck, none of them will actually drop anything other than commendations, so you'll have enough Centurion commendations to buy at least 3 pieces and 1 champion piece. That's enough for the set 4 bonus (assuming you take a set), and that should be somewhere around 200 expertise. For just dinging 50, that is an awesome start. (It's also a great starting point for PvE content; Expertise has no significance, but the stats are usually sufficient until you get PvE gear).

 

The only trouble is finishing that daily and weekly - that depends on the quality of your faction on your server, honestly. You could also try your luck doing the Ilum Daily and Weekly for 1 and 3 champion bags, respectively; but that is also dependent on your faction and time of day (on my server, I can leave Ilum with Imps in control and return with Rep in control with no Imps in sight). Regardless, that should be enough for at least one more Centurion piece and possibly even a Champion piece.

 

With that said, I do also want to point out that they are working on this system in 1.2; so maybe fresh 50's will compete more for those 9 warzones they need to be carried through (that's not to say they can't contribute, but that gear gap is a serious burden on an ungeared player).

[Reader's Digest: 50 THINGS (your healer won't tell you)]

Buddy, do you have any idea why people don't mess with the people who prepare their food? It's because they don't want them to do unspeakable things to their food. What makes you think pissing off the person keeping you alive will end any better?

 

So help me, if you pass that huttball to me one more time while I am healing you through a fight, pal, I will bring you back to life with the miracles of science and kill you myself.

 

Just telling you now, this sandwich/quesadilla I'm eating right now is significantly more important to me than your life.

 

Last but not least, quoting my signature: They call it a support class because I carry your *ss.

[Official Q&A Thread for February 24th, 2012 Q&A Blog Post]

Although I wouldn't expect spoilers or anything, to what extent will future class storylines be dependent on previous player decisions? Will it continue to be relatively linear, or will certain decisions (such as your decision at the end of the Trooper storyline) actually have weight in the future (ie. opening/closing certain branches of the story).

 

Also, are there any additional plans for companion storylines and romances? I reached the point on my companion questline with Elara Dorne where I married her, but after two emails (which I thought were entertaining), everything abruptly ended.

["Tab" targeting. A nightmare.]

Currently, there's an option for the party UI to show everyone on your team. It's sometimes a bit glitchy in that it won't show every ops member, but it's still a significant help compared to the default UI.

 

This is such a lifesaver for a healer, both in PvE and PvP. I used to have the mousewheel bound up/down to target next/last friendly, but clicking on their name and hitting the ability is so much simpler and considerably less frustrating then rotating through your team.

 

I almost wish they did something similar as an optional bar on your screen showing the list of enemies which can be targetted in your range (30 meters I believe), omitting people without LoS or who are stealthed. Targetting that way would be refreshingly simple and less cumbersome.

[Do You Like SWTOR In It's Current State? YES/NO]

Yes. It's rough around the edges, but as long as I see Bioware making an active effort to follow through on their promise to support this game, I will like the game in its current state.

[At what point does Combat Medic start to shine in PvP]

I'd say whenever you get Field Triage, allowing you to chain your Advanced Medical Probe and Medical Probe with next to no cost. Until then, it's somewhat difficult to get into a rhythm without any support from allies. After that point, it becomes vastly more enjoyable once your expertise begins to grant around +10% healing on allies, which almost cuts the debuff of Trauma (-30% healing on allies recently in combat) in half. As your expertise rises higher, that debuff becomes less of a hinderance and really lets the full power of your healing out. Stack aim and power so your MP heals as close to 2.5k as possible, and try to get AMP as close to 1.5k as possible.

 

I wouldn't call myself a great PvP healer (currently Valor 52), but from my own experience here's some good advice for healing:

 

- Avoid being alone whenever possible. You are strongest when at least one person is making sure you aren't being harassed/attacked (guarding helps, but isn't necessary). You will notice that as you gain a reputation for healing, more people will look after you (and more enemies will hunt you).

 

- Don't be the first one into a fight and keep a low profile. Use corners and sightlines to your advantage (and remember these also limit your healing range!). If you are flushed out, just as if you are attacked when alone, weight your options. As a general rule of thumb, I only move if I am taking too much damage or am being interrupted too much to be effective. Otherwise, make use of your heavy armor and soldier yourself through it (assuming you have the healing power and rhythm down to do so). Smart allies will often assist when a healer is being attacked, so make sure you are where they can help you (and ask for help if at all possible - it's best to do so BEFORE you need it; this is just a good habit to get into).

 

- Have strong battlefield awareness (camera at maximum range) and learn to manage your team! I always prioritize those with lowest health and those being focused. I also try and keep track of who is guarding me so I can set them as my focus target, since they eat half of the damage I take when I get focused. If you don't have time to focus target them, at least know who is guarding you and pay attention to their healthbar (you do sorta owe it to them).

 

- Don't be afraid of taking damage when necessary, but know the limits of what you can endure! This takes experience and judgement, but when you know how long you can last in a battle by yourself, you can secure your team enough time to win.

[Help Improve Combat Medic]

UPDATED for 1.2 - Since there has been a great deal of debate regarding the changes to Combat Medics in Legacy Update 1.2, I wanted to bring this thread back for some discussion and debate with regards to how to improve the Combat Medic specialization. Several suggestions and points made in the original post have been edited to reflect changes in 1.2, which are highlighted green.

 

Combat Medic is one of my favorite specializations, because it is part of my favorite class (I've got three Troopers at this point). Our efficiency and durability are our highlights, and I'm sure you'd expect nothing less from the Republic's finest soldiers. But with that said, there are a few aspects of our aresenal of abilities (or lack thereof, at times) and our skill tree which make our job as frontline healers difficult.

 

The purpose of this thread is to develop suggestions to improve Combat Medic. I have started with my own suggestions (which I'll get to in a minute), but also want to open the floor for feedback, discussion, and most importantly, your suggestions. Together, we can successfully make Combat Medic a valuable asset to any team.

 

NOTE: Although most of this thread will expressly deal with Commando's Combat Medic skill tree, it would also be mirrored across to Mercenaries' Bodyguard specialization. Suggestions from both sides are encouraged.

 

Guidelines, Restrictions, and Goals

 

First, I want to lay out a few guidelines and restrictions I've used while developing my own suggestions. Some of them have been collectively "agreed" upon, others are assumptions I have made or areas I believe need improvement. (Feel free to discuss/challenge these, or add your own.)

 

• Combat Medic is intended to be SWTOR's sustained, single-target healing specialist. To balance (as currently is the case), our greatest challenge tends to be healing a large number of targets in a short period of time. Assuming this is indeed our niche, suggestions should respect both our strengths and weaknesses.
   
   
  
• Also, barring any significant restructing of Combat Medic and Commando in general, I think we can assume that our class mechanics and specializations are not subject to substantial change (ie. there won't be an update which grants Combat Medics three new AoE healing abilities).
   
   
  
• "Economic" ideas are usually best, meaning they make use of existing abilities by giving them new or additional uses, resolve several issues at once, and are relatively simple or "ready" to implement (ie. no new complex ammo system, or multiple new animations or models, etc).
   
   
  
• OBJECTIVE (Updated for 1.2): Game update 1.2 gave Commando/Mercenary an in-combat revive ability. This objective, as a result, has been fulfilled. Original text can be seen in the following spoiler.
   
   
  In the absense of an in-combat revival tool, Combat Medic absolutely needs a compelling alternative which is both useful and unique to our class.
   
   
   
  
• OBJECTIVE (New for 1.2): Give Combat Medics new ways to manage their ammo, specifically for those players invested deep into the Combat Medic tree.
   
   
  
• OBJECTIVE: Give Combat Medics additional utility by giving incentives to putting pressure on enemies and staying in the heat of battle longer.
   
   
  
• OBJECTIVE: Lastly, improve our mobility by giving us ways to heal ourselves and allies on the go in a pinch.

 

My Suggestions:

 

 

• Hammer Shot: In addition to its existing effects while Combat Support Cell is active, Hammer Shot also heals you 50% to 100% (up for debate) of your bonus healing (over 1.5 seconds, as it currently does to allies) when dealing damage to an enemy or while healing an ally.
   
  The biggest benefit is fairly straightforward: it gives Combat Medics a cheap, efficient, and simple way of healing ourselves on the move or in combat. In short, the less time we need to spend healing ourselves, the more time we can spend healing those who really need it: our comrades! I'd most likely see this as a trainable skill, potentially replacing Efficient Conversions (Tier 3 of the Combat Medic skill tree).
   
   
  
• Kolto Bomb (Updated for 1.2): Introduce smart healing, and keep the other properties as-is (healing/player cap/cooldown/cost). Original text can be found in the following spoiler.
   
   
  Same healing and same cooldown. Raise the player cap to 5 or 6 (globally, or by putting points in our skill tree; for instance, for Cell Capacitor, add in "In addition, Kolto Bomb can now target one/two additional targets.) Alternatively, remove the cap entirely.
   
   
   
  
• Kolto Residue (2 skill points): Kolto Bomb has a 50%/100% chance to apply Kolto Residue to anyone within its radius. Affected friendly targets have their healing received increased by 3% for 10 seconds (does not stack). Affected enemy targets suffer an adverse reaction, increasing their damage taken by 3% (stacks up to 2 times) for 10 seconds.
   
  This would make our Kolto Bomb both a tool for healing and ability to debuff our enemies, assisting our teammates. Initially I considered allowing the "adverse reaction" debuff to increase damage taken by 10% (non-stackable), but I suspect that due to Kolto Bomb's spammable nature, a stacking effect would be more balanced while still beneficial. This is especially true since this debuff can be applied to multiple targets. Alternatively, the debuff could be replaced with a short (2-3 second) DoT. However, this may cause complications in situations where you cannot afford to use AoE abilities, which could temporarily make our only AoE heal useless (such as if a few enemies are CC'd; you're DoT might break it when your group really can't afford it).
   
   
  
• Bacta Infusion (New for 1.2): In addition to its current effects, Bacta Infusion provides 1 ammo instantly on use.
   
  In light of the changes in 1.2 to Combat Medic ammo management, I felt something was necessary. Field Triage and Supercharged Cells are not as effective as before, and both of these were key for staying efficient as a healer. For this reason, I felt that there should be an ammo management talent or ability high in the Combat Medic tree to allievate the stress on players investing deep (30 points) into the healing tree. My idea here is honestly inspired by the Vanguard's Energy Blast (the tank tree's 31-point skill) which regenerates 1 ammo on use. Something as simple as this would reward pure healers, add worth to our 31-point skill, and provide some flexibility into our fairly unforgiving resource.
   
   
  
• Medical Technician (2 skill points): Critical heals have a 50%/100% chance to reduce the active cooldown of Tech Override by 3 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than onace every 1.5 seconds.
   
  This is trainable skill is focused on increasing our mobility and life-saving ability and is earned by being a good healer (or a lucky one I suppose). Tech Override, as it stands, is our Level 50 Commando ability which (I personally) allowed to gather dust until I realized how useful it is when you need to heal someone NOW. It has a two minute cooldown and short of lowering it entirely, I think it would be quite productive if there was a way to lower this cooldown. Not only does it allow us to get a heal (or even a Charged Bolt) off instantly, it improves our mobility by letting us heal without stopping to cast. Ideally, this skill should appear next to Potent Medicine (Tier 6 of the skill tree).
   
   
  
• Polytrauma (2 skill points) -- Updated for 1.2 : This skill still seems valuable to me, but I have taken it off the list in favor of focusing on improving Combat Medic ammo efficiency. Original text in the following spoiler.
   
   
  Increases your healing done by 2.5%/5% on friendly targets who have sustained damage from at least four unique enemies in the last 5 seconds. Intercepted damage from Guard or equivalent effect does not count toward this total.
   
  This trainable skill is one that would need special attention for balancing. It would increase our healing on any target being focused by four or more targets (within the last five seconds). The concept here is simple: allow us to heal our tank more effectively. However, the numbers here are important, and must be balanced carefully between giving us a unique advantage in scenarios where an ally is being focused, but without dimishing the completely valid and acceptable tactic of overwhelming a target with focused damage.
   
   
   
  
• Tourniquet (or Bloodletting) - 2 skill points: When stunned, immobilized, knocked down, or otherwise incapacitated, you have a 50%/100% chance to finish the cooldown on Tech Override. In addition, your next Advanced Medical Probe has a 50%/100% chance to crit automatically.
   
  This skill is all about recovery: allowing us to quickly bounce back from being incapacitated and quickly resume healing - ourselves or otherwise. Because it finishes the cooldown on Tech Override, it allows us to heal on the move if under fire; but also makes our next Advanced Medical Probe stronger, setting into motion Combat Medic's AMP/MP combination healing. This also puts emphasis on defeating the Combat Medic when he is incapacitated, otherwise we'll able to produce a very quick amount of healing. Because this ability is initiated by incapacitation, this burst healing power only exist if we survive the incapacitation.
   
   
  
• Induced Immunity (Cooldown: 1-2 minutes) -- Updated for 1.2: This ability is no longer necessary due to the introduction of an in-combat revive to Combat Medic. Original text in spoiler below.
   
   
  Converts 30 charges of Combat Support Cell to make a friendly target 100% immune to all damage received for 6 seconds. The affected target generates 50% more threat and deals 25% to 35% less damage. Cooldown of at least one minute, probably 2-3 minutes. Cannot target self. Intercepted damage from Guard or equivalent abilities is still dealt normally.
   
  Induced Immunity is my alternative to Supercharged Cells, giving us the ability to make a single ally (cannot target self) immune to damage for 6 seconds, and increasing that target's threat for the duration. Balacing this, like Polytrauma, will be somewhat difficult. Firstly, the damage reduction is in place so a high damage-dealer is hanicapped somewhat if they're to be immune to damage. Second, for PvE content, the threat generation modifier must balance the threat that is lost by dealing reduced damage. As a result, these numbers also must be finely-tuned.

   

   

  Community Suggestions:

   

  I'll start this section with a few ideas I've seen around these forums that I think are interesting ways of improving Combat Medic. Your suggestions are encouraged, as I'd like to update as a running list of ideas.

   

   

  • Kolto Charge: Like concussion charge but healing, would keep the movement healing aspect of kolto bomb viable and would act a lot like the sage aoe heal but insta cast on a cooldown. Would replace Kolto Bomb. Credit: BranRizzy, Link
     
     
    
  • Chain Healing (Kolto Bomb/Hammer Shot combo heal): How about making Kolto Bomb affect more than 3 targets and make Kolto Residue add a viable HOT over the next 8 seconds. Or how about making targets affected with Kolto Residue chain healed by Hammer Shots. That way you could throw a Kolto Bomb into a group, and immediately follow it up with Hammer Shots on one of the target, spreading a HOT to the group. Credit: bot_logic, Link.
     
     
    
  • Adding Ammo Regen from Hammershot: Hammer crits have a X% chance to restore 1 ammo; OR Hammer shot crits grant you ammo regen as if you have a full ammo bar for X seconds; OR when hammer shot crits, you gain a charge stacking up to 3 times. Each stack reduces the cost of your AMP or MP by 1 ammo. Credit: Haydawgg, Link
     
     
    
  • Change Animation for Hammershot: Either bring the animation more in line with the Bounty Hunter equivalent universally, or make it less visibly apparent to enemies (while leaving its appearance to teammates unchanged). Credit: several posters.
     
    

[Trooper Ending Horrible]

Really, I thought the first chapter was pretty well done, Chapter II seemed completely out of character from the first, and chapter III was a little better. My big problem was that Rakton is cast as basically your arch rival. But other than here or there, he never really makes your life any more difficult than if he was just another Imp in control of the military.

 

With that said, having done the dark side and light side choice on my Vanguard and Commando, I'm quite sure a "sequel" chapter is somewhere down the line. Hopefully it catches your attention like the end of the prologue, otherwise it will be pretty much forgettable.

 

The Jaxo decision in Chapter III was also the highlight for me, and I am curious to see how that develops.

[Commando Heals.]

I would be fine with Kolto Bomb if it was a smart bomb that targeted those with lowest health.

 

Platform jumping on last boss in eternity vault really made me realize how useless kolto bomb is compared to the sage AoE heal...

 

QFT.

 

Kolto Bomb is nice from my experience, but I normally chuck it in to top off a few, in advance of a fight, or to buff up tanks/seriously injured teammates to make other heals that much more potent. I can never use it as a substitute to direct healing, though.

 

As for the suggestions: From what I've experienced and what I've heard, single-target healing is our specialty. For balance, it would then make sense that AoE heals should be our bane. I don't think you'll see that change too much.

 

Because Combat Medics have so much utility in that we can deal and sustain a fairly significant amount of damage while not healing, I think that should be kept in mind. That's why I like Bot_logic's idea for chain healing.

 

An idea I had: give Kolto Residue a buff which makes the next Hammer Shot heal on that target crit automatically. If you have a high power rating and a significant surge rating, that combination could be an easy way to get in a free and cheap heal (since Kolto costs next to nothing and Hammer Shot heals are free) while on the run.

 

Another idea: give a stackable buff to those we heal with Hammer Shot similar to how we build charges on Combat Support Cell. After we build up say 10 on a target, they become supercharged and receive a HoT that last until the charge wears off. Possibly, while a target is supercharged, their abilities cost less (ie. for Troopers, their abilities now cost 1 less ammo).

 

One more idea, allow the Combat Medic to heal a % of their bonus healing while using Hammershot on a friendly or an enemy.

[How to fix PVP: Remove Expertise]

As I said in another thread, I'd definitely support making it part of its own bracket. If you want to "progress" for more expertise and challenge against others, join the Expertise "ranked" if you will. If you just want to play PvP for the sake of PvP, go Expertise-free. I can honestly say my Lv35 Vanguard in the new sub-50 bracket has redefined my opinion of PvP in this game. It's been so much more fun, I see more cooperation and teamwork, and I feel everyone has a chance to succeed and enjoy the mode they queued for. My Vanguard can kill high-end 40s, but isn't immune to those below me. That, IMHO, is how PvP should work.

 

Short of that, remove it entirely.

[If you enjoy 10-49 PvP, why 50?]

I am actually considering leveling up a second Vanguard, simply because of how much fun I've had in PvP sub-50 bracket. For the first time, there was actually something resembling teamwork and cooperation, and dare I say it, enjoyment in the (PvP) gameplay. I could stand up to enemies in their upper 40s, while not being invincible to those below me. To me, that's exactly how multiplayer combat should be, but understand in an MMO where stats are so important that may never truly be the case.

 

I really do regret levelling my Commando to 50 so fast now. I more or less leveled him to 40 without more than 10 hours in PvP, and as a result, I frankly play PvP like it. While it might say I'm Lv50, I undoubtedly play like a Lv30 (but experise is starting to have a noticeable improvement, and hopefully then it will become enjoyable again).

 

As a side note, I'd support a Expertise-free Level 50 bracket, honestly.

[Why no imperial trooper]

I think there could without a doubt be room for an Imperial Trooper of some type. From playing the Trooper questline, there is in fact a mirror spec-op force to Havoc Squad (the Shadow Fist, if I recall correctly). In fact, Commander Tavus even mentions that both forces have challenged each other on multiple occasions to stalemates. Would you need to be in that squad? No

I'd hope not, since I killed you in the questline.

But there are plenty of ways to develop a good Imp Trooper in the future if there is support. They would need a Republic mirror, though, but hey, this is just speculation.

 

Trooper plays like Bounty Hunter but BH and Smuggler sell their services to the highest bidder. Looking at their skills and abilities, Bounty Hunters and Troopers are more less identical. Except their motivations, loyalties, and their stories are entirely different.

 

And for those saying there can't be a storyline for an Imperial Trooper, there surely can be. I mean, the Trooper class isn't weapon fodder, so why would the Imperial side be limited to weapon fodder? There is potential, like possibly having this Imperial Trooper being part of an up-and-coming Sith Lord's rise to power. Or it could be your own power trip up the Imperial ladder (in the Bounty Hunter questline, you assist one Imperial officer in getting him promoted). Hell, the Empire is inspired by Nazi Germany, maybe your character is a high ranking soldier who is staging a coup against the Empire. Just some ideas.