[Very important weakness that BW will never adress]

Its definitely changed how I play 1 v 1's versus other tank assassins who are actually 'good'.

 

Its never made a difference in node defense as I just don't let it come down to project to save the day.

 

Anyhow in dueling assassins who are actually good at their class, it causes a problem when accelerated project procs and I use my relic, force potency, and adrenal. It gives them an extra second or so window to put up their immunity.

 

A second that I don't have when they use theirs, since shock is instant.

 

Thus I have to fake them out, or I don't get my burst, whereas they do unless I have the reflexes of Charlie Sheen.

[Good looking Augmented Gear suggestions?]

Well I found a robe that can be crafted which looks good. Problem is that there are no AUGMENTED versions of it on the auction house on my server.

 

Its hooded and a sort of black/grey color which looks good on Shadows in my opinion: http://www.torhead.com/item/hgLsEXW/consulars-vestments Matches with these pants: http://www.torhead.com/item/bDXLDRu/consulars-lower-robe

 

However, I've yet to see an augmented version of it on the auction house on Port Nowhere. A single guy seems to make a ton of them to sell, but can't locate him either to ask.

 

Can anyone confirm that an augmented version is available before I set my guys on endless crafting missions to find the recipe?

[What is the best build to kill Tank assassins?]

Not exactly. If they blow their immunity then all dirty fighting DoTs will be gone and that's where most resist messages come from. That's the trick, getting them to blow it early so you can reapply them.

 

Its 100% resist during that, and can't be overcome. However keep in mind that white attacks still hit them. As does leg shot(Always fun to leg shot an immune assassin in the fire in Huttball)

[Good looking Augmented Gear suggestions?]

Alright folks. I'm having a little trouble on my server finding augmented armor that actually looks decent. Most of custom looks that Synthweavers can make just don't match up to the best looking options out there for us.

 

I have settled on the Jedi Initiate's robe for now for my War Hero mods to sit in, but I'm really looking for an option with a hood that looks similar.

 

Ideally it would look like the Ancient Battlemind Robe, but I can't find a shot of it on the web offhand.

 

Anyone out there got some ideas for piecing together a decent looking set?

[A response to Combat Designers at the Guild Summit: On Fixing Tank gear in PvP.]

This is an outright terrible suggestion. Why would anyone advocate reducing the options available to tank specs? It sounds like a thinly-veiled nerfhearding post to me.

 

If you want tanks to wear tank gear in PvP you don't do that by forcing it upon them by making DPS gear worthless; you fix the problem by making the tank stats worthwhile across the board. Defensive stats should work against almost all forms of incoming damage, even if it operates in a different manner (i.e. Defense Chance gives a chance to completely avoid melee/ranged attacks and grants a flat damage reduction against Force/Tech attacks).

 

Limiting the options for tank specs not only doesn't make sense for PvP, it doesn't make sense for PvE either. Tanks still need to level, they still need to do daily quests, and they still need to run Flashpoints as DPS in groups that aren't perfect. The ability to throw on a set of DPS gear and contribute increased damage -- even if not on the level of a pure DPS -- needs to be there.

 

You're taking my post out of context. What I'm asking for are dual rulesets for PvE and PvP. If a tank wants to gimp themselves in PvE wearing DPS gear instead of respeccing waiting for dual specs, knock themselves out. Tank gear is useful is enough already there. I'm asking that when fighting players alone, that +power has no effect in the respective tank stances. Given that, do you still think my changes are terrible suggestions?

[A response to Combat Designers at the Guild Summit: On Fixing Tank gear in PvP.]

No. And I'm sorry that you feel that way.

 

The spec is specifically built for tanking, and tanking utility. Darkness and Kinetic Combat both. And its exceptionally good at it.

 

It was never meant to supplant Deception or Infiltration as the PvP spec of choice for damage, nor Madness/Balance. That's the point. You're meant to play those specs if you want to do damage in PvP.

 

The damage in kinetic combat and darkness is not overly bursty except when you pop all cooldowns, but its too good in DPS gear as a sustained DPS with our survivability tools.

 

I don't want those tools nerfed, I want the people who want to DPS, to actually play DPS specs.

 

Do you know how many tanking assassins or shadows there were in PvP on average prior to the dark charge in Deception/Combat Trance in Infiltration nerf? Not very many. But now everyone is playing Kinetic Combat or Darkness as the Flavor of the Month spec.

 

And guess what? Most people are terrible at it, but their survivability puts them far above what other classes can do in their lifespan.

 

No, I'm not going to stay silent and say that I should be able to do amazing DPS and have some of the best survivability in the game. I care about the game, and I care about actual balance.

 

I want tank gear to be useful and balanced in PvP, and I want tank specs to be just that, actual tanks that are worthwhile in PvP.

 

I want the DPS specs to all be worth playing, and don't want any of them to feel like a third wheel when rated come around, Operatives/Scoundrels, Combat Sentinels/Carnage Marauders, Gunslingers/Snipers, and Shadow/Assassin Infiltration/Deception/Balance/Madness all need help. Some specs are addressed in the next patch, but most aren't.

 

And if we let this continue then the problem will only get worse. Tanks should not be something you should stack in rated for their DAMAGE, they should be utilized for their utility, guard/taunt and objective oriented capabilities.

 

So again I implore the developers, look into making tanking stats actually useful in PvP since most classes utilize yellow tech/force damage. Look into making DPS gear less powerful while in tanking stances. If you care about this game, its balance, and having longevity, then it needs to be done, and soon.

[A response to Combat Designers at the Guild Summit: On Fixing Tank gear in PvP.]

Allow me to respond to your feedback. The comment on gap closer relates more to if they choose to keep DPS sins/shadows at the same level of damage resistance as an option and involves making the 20 second force speed movement breaker, 5 second resilience and force pull as base skills to add utility. Obviously this is not ideal, but I'm offering an alternative. To respond to the comment on this solely belonging to shadows as having an easy time against the aforementioned classes. Not so. All tanks with defensive stats take infinitely longer to bring down by a Gunslinger which I play as my primary alternate. Their problem may relate to inherently lower DPS which prolongs their fight against them and the lack of ability to always close the gap. But most of the good players of these classes do not consider white damage DPSers a threat. This holds consistent due to their base armor, mitigation, defense, shield and absorption.

[Trooper or Smuggler story arc?]

Which is?

 

I don't hate the main villain enough.

 

 

Skavik is your rival in the beginning chapters but he's primarily comic relief, after I got my ship back I had no real reason to hate him. He was just an annoyance. The voidwolf didn't have any build up other than a scene on Quesh which was also primarily comic relief. I wanted to see him hit me where it hurts in true KOTOR fashion to make me really want to kill him. I didn't get that.

 

Stories which do a good job of establishing the main villain are as follows: Sith Warrior - Dear Lord, how I hated Darth Baras. Amazing villain. Agent - While Code Name Hunter wasn't as established as I like due to various secret agent tropes, Ardun Kothe, whether you loved him or hated him was such an amazing character for chapter 2 that it made up for any slowness in chapter 3, especially when he showed up in the game's epilogue if you let him live. Consular - While he didn't do anything to make me 'hate' him per se. Master Syo Bakarn had been there from the start. Learning he was the villain was a real emotional gut punch, and they did a great job in making him seem like a tragic figure. Jedi Knight - Darth Angral and the Emperor were both decent, with Angral probably topping the Emperor due to his actions.

 

Now for the stories that did it terribly: Inquisitor - Why does Darth Thanaton hate me again? A few minutes of elaboration might have fixed this up nicely, but he just didn't deliver. Bounty Hunter - Okay, great build up, but it didn't deliver on the Jedi Battlemaster who set you up. We learn absolutely nothing about him or his motivations. Trooper - While the story did a good job in Chapter 1 establishing the characters of each Havoc squad traitor, it didn't really deliver enough on Tavus. After Chapter 1 the story slowed down, and Rakton certainly didn't fit the bill either.

 

I want villains that I can loathe and despise, like Darth Malak from KOTOR1. And some stories didn't have that.

 

[A response to Combat Designers at the Guild Summit: On Fixing Tank gear in PvP.]

I won't claim to know the motivations of the developers here. All I know is that in order for PvP and PvE to remain healthy, then they need to be treated as two seperate animals, with two seperate rulesets.

 

This will alleviate player concerns by making nerfs to PvE not affect PvP, and vice versa. It makes class balance so much easier since you're not making considerations for both.

 

Damage values, healing values, and effects of abilities, and talents should be entirely seperate on players in PvP combat(Or if that's too hard, in PvP open world zones/warzones), and on PvE creatures.

 

It will also allow them to create a wider variety of gear. For example, you could have a lightsaber with an amazing PvE effect, but no effect on players, or a lesser/different effect on players. Or passive armor bonuses which function only in each setting.

 

Dual talent functionalities. Dual ability functionalities. Different rulesets for stats like the above for tanks in PvP. Yes it will be a lot of work to implement, but make it happen and you'll promote a healthy environment for class balance in the years to come.

[Trooper or Smuggler story arc?]

Trooper has an excellent story for most of chapter 1 which is kind of muted for the rest of it(Though it does have some good choices along the way in chapter 2 and 3)

 

It definitely lets you see more of the down and dirty side of Republic politics and military.

 

For the smuggler. What can I say? The story has hilarious, whoever wrote it had some serious jokes. My only problem with it is the same problem I have with most other stories.

[3/27 Still no fix for Consular Project damage delay with lastest PTS patch...]

When fighting an equally skilled Tank Assassin, I'm a bit tired of them having an advantage. Now you may think its not a big deal, but due to the animation difference they're able to track when I'm popping all my cooldowns for Particle Acceleration and get their immunity shield up in time. Due to the animation difference they have about a 2.5-3.0 second window, which is all the time in the world.

 

For me, I have a 1 second window when my opponent does the same using Shock.

 

It needs to be fixed.

[A response to Combat Designers at the Guild Summit: On Fixing Tank gear in PvP.]

At the guild summit. The combat designers stated unequivocally that they believe that tanks on rated teams will not continue to wear DPS gear and will switch to tanking gear, since it makes them vulnerable to the highest damage classes in this game. This is quite simply, not true.

 

As a tank shadow since day 1, I will say that my least feared class are these so called high damage classes reliant mostly on a great deal of 'white' damage ex. Sharpshooter/Saboteur Gunslinger, Marksman/Engineering Sniper, and Combat Sentinel/Carnage Marauder.

 

Simply put, I have enough base defense against their class that the drop in shield/defense/absorb is worth it in PvP. And I'm certain that most other tank classes will agree with me. The primary stat in PvP is our damage resistance, and since armor is the same across the board in our DPS gear set with our tank gear set, many of us do not wear our tank gear, and will continue to do so in rated. The only thing we lose is around 3k HP, give or take, for a major increase in damage potential.

 

So what do we do to fix it?

 

We take away the benefit to wearing DPS gear in our respective tank stances, while buffing the benefit of shield/defense/absorb. But how?

 

In combat trance/dark charge, soresu form, and Ion cell/Gas cylinder, we modify the coefficient to +power to make its benefit minimal.

 

Now I know all of you people out there are crying foul, so hear me out for a moment. In order to buff shield/defense/absorb, we make it so it has benefit against yellow damage classes but at half value.

 

For example, a tank shadow with 30% defense, 40% shield percent, and 40% shield absorb would have a 15% chance to deflect yellow damage attacks, a 20% chance to shield against yellow damage attacks, and when an attack is shielded, 20% damage absorption. This would apply to white damage classes too, allowing a passive buff to 'white' damage classes by halving our current defense against their most effective abilities. If you feel this would make defense too powerful in PvP, then modify it so its slightly less than a half, down to perhaps even one third of its PvE percentage, so that shield and absorb will remain useful stats.

 

In return, I feel that Deception/Infiltration/Balance/Madness shadows/assassins should gain enough benefit to put their armor on par with DPS heavy armor classes, or if not that, then some of the gap closers, and defensive cooldowns 'upgrades' that their tanking counterparts get. Similar benefits need to be given to Scoundrels/Operatives as well, in their DPS specs.

 

Just please, fix this. I want to feel like an actual tank. My DPS in tanking gear was already at the point where I felt like it was more than adequate for this game. The current situation is absurd, and people who want to be DPS in PvP ought to be speccing DPS.

[So our counter class is Marauder?]

Eh. I play a Shadow tank as my main(And have since day 1) and a gunslinger as my alt main(In Battlemaster/Champion gear).

 

I had the same problems coming up with a counter to them as a Sabslinger. Then I figured it out.

 

While its reliant on team play, just stack armor debuffs on them.

 

Sometimes I play with a team of 2-3 gunslinger. If we stack flourish shot on one tank assassin, then its pretty much GG. If I'm in vent in other classes I just ask them to fire off a couple of armor debuffs on them.

 

The only thing that gets annoying is trying to trick them to use their resilience early, though that's not hard as most players of the class are terrible FOTM former deception assassins who only changed once using dark charge with deception was nerfed and use it at the first sign of trouble rather than when they really need it. Once I'm sure its gone, then sabotage charge with contingencies usually chews them up really good. I feel for you dirty fighting slingers though. But the nice part is that during resilience we're one of the only classes that can still do significant damage to them, since it does nothing against white damage from charged burst/aimed shot/trick shot, etc.

 

1v1 though, if they have all cooldowns up and ready to go, best thing to do is to kite them. Yeah they can break leg shot on a 20 second cooldown, but still putting distance between them is the best thing you can do. Getting back behind your lines and letting your teammates help in dealing with them. Or if you're up on the rails in Huttball, just knock them off and use it as a breather to put some hurt on them, most players don't know anything abuot positioning their class.

[IA: Operative / Smuggler: Scoundel (dsp) - Will 1.2 ressurect this dead class?]

On the topic of Sniper/slinger. It was confirmed by the Devs that they, along with the marauder, are the top DPS in the game.

 

Dev posts are rarely grounded in reality.

 

Now let's suppoose its a PvE boss, in which there are no mechanics that require movement for many of our specs. .....Maybe. But I'm still not seeing it. Up there? Sure. Best? No. Let's say its dirty fighting with all the mobility too? Still up there, but no.

 

The usual litmus test that's brought up is the Infernal Council on Nightmare. Now again, this is all personal observations, but I've never seen a Gunslinger finish an Infernal Marauder first. In fact they usually are near last of the DPS if they're all in equivalent gear. The reason why they might shine though are the encounters which don't require much movement and are melee unfriendly. On those? Sure, they might just beat out the odd Mercenary/Commando, but I rather doubt that.

 

In PvP there are rare occasions in which I've seen a gunslinger break 400k damage on games where they have 0 deaths(lol). But I've yet to see the 500, 600, 700k DPS that Sorcerors/Sages, Powertechs/Vanguards....et al. Can put out under similar circumstances.

 

Most would cite survivability in the latter, and indeed, survivability is our primary problem, but I qualified it by saying it was the rare 0 death, 100% uptime on DPS warzone, which does happen on occasion.

 

I'm not saying that the warzone boards are the best litmus test, given how DPS actually works, but its still a good qualifier. I'd like to challenge any of you to bring me a screenshot of a Gunslinger exceeding 500k, then ask that same Gunslinger how often it occurs.

 

Again, this is all pure observation without any objective data outside of combat logs, but I really doubt every Gunslinger I've interacted with, including myself, is just that bad. I don't see us as being 5% higher in DPS than every other DPS class, but I do see us within the top 3-4 DPS consistently.

[Jedi Shadow, Sith Assassin needs a big nerf soon.]

I'm fine with Upheavel being moved to a higher tier, so long as the threat from the Kinetic talent is upgraded to compensate.

 

A change for PvP should not nerf our PvE threat.

[Jedi Shadow, Sith Assassin needs a big nerf soon.]

That's the whole point of my other post further up in the thread. My idea being allow tank stats to function against all attacks in PvP but at half strength. This a buff to snipers/gunslingers and those who use white damage, slight nerf to those who use tech/force attacks.

[Jedi Shadow, Sith Assassin needs a big nerf soon.]

Let me be clear ... the issue on the table is only shadow/assassin tank spec.

 

I play a Vanguard pyro spec right now. Speaking from personal experience. I'm only rank 55 valor and running 490 expertise as pyro. I have tried shield spec in pvp and it very helpful for my team but my raw personal numbers are low. I have personally fought and dueled a shadow on our server that is slightly above average at pvp and also has about half BM gear. That character is capable and has killed me before I could put hadly any dmg on her because she can remove and then ignore my tech based attacks 100% while throwing project for back to back large crits in 2 seconds while on the move. That being said:

 

A shadow/assassin that goes tank with DPS gear is OP. I know some will not agree but here are the specific reasons I think so, and I mostly only know the titles for abilities for shadow.

 

1. Resilience lasting 5 seconds (talented) gets to remove current dmg and prevent a lot of incoming. (force and tech only which is obviously crappy for me as I am pryo).

 

2. Possibility of back to back burst projects. You can pick up 2 sets of talents allowing for a possiblity of 2 full projects and 2 half dmg with crits guaranteed on some.

 

3. Force speed is a little too OP IMO... CD is fine but the 150% is a bit much. I think 75 or so .. maybe 100 would be more acceptable and it should not clear current slows (which it feels like it does, maybe only ignoring them for the 2 seconds).

 

4. Blackout taking you out of combat I think is a bit much but hardly a deal breaker.

 

5. Their class buff increasing their stats while decreasing DMG types taken as well as being talented to ignore another 9% of those same dmg types through talents.

 

The overall problem with this class is the what a tank specced dps geared shadow can do. I know some of it is CD reliable, but no other class can come as close to these actions and lucky procs as theirs (I do like getting my free rail shot procs back to back though on my pryo VG).

 

The tank specced shadow/assassin needs to surfer more dmg loss for being a tank and having survivability.

 

 

 

 

For those that mention you wear light armor vs heavy: Combat technique for shadow does 150% increased armor, my ION cell increase armor by 60% making armor no longer an issue..

 

Dear God, you have almost no facts straight.

 

I'll respond to each of your points.

 

1. Yes, its there to make up for the 12 second damage reduction Guardians/Powertechs/Juggs/Vanguards get to all through their DR cooldowns, none of which we have. You also get 25% force/tech DR on your saber ward, which we don't get. The resilience is there to give us some 'specialty' functionality.

 

2. Agreed, but that's more a problem with the abuse of wearing DPS gear in a tank spec, see above posts.

 

3. So wait what? Its okay for Juggs to have a gap closer that gives them 4 second total immunity, its okay for both Vanguards/Powertechs to have a VERTICAL gap closer that lets you easy mode cap in Huttball, but its not okay for us to have a force speed which barely allows us to cross that same 30m and is still on a longer cooldown?

 

4. ??? Blackout is our stealth enhancer, it doesn't take us out of combat. If you mean Force Cloak then yes, but we can't be healed or heal during that time unless we're infiltration specced.

 

5. That only assumes 1v1 and your team doesn't buff. Everyone is going to have at least one Consular or Inquisitor on their team, guaranteed. And even if you don't come 1.2 then you can get access to it on any character via the legacy system. So try again. That still only puts us at 19% elemental/internal DR, which isn't anymore than any other tank out there even when they have the same buff.

 

6. Your final comment on armor. Our base armor is around mid 2000's. We actually get a 170% buff due to our stasis talent. Sounds like a lot right? Wrong. It puts us at about 6900ish in full Rakata/Battlemaster. What's that equate to DR wise? 41% ~ What do Vanguards/Powertechs/Juggs/Guardians have? About 50-51% damage reduction and around 8000 armor if I recall correctly. We have 10% less damage reduction, which is why we have some of these other advantages to make up for it, because in a long fight we're still going to take more damage than the other tanks.

 

I agree we need a nerf, but let the nerf be making Kinetic Combat/Darkness being forced to wear tank gear to be effective. Not just nerfing the utility that makes our tanking class unique.

 

 

I agree we need to have a damage nerf, but let the nerf be that we're forced to wear tank gear to make Kinetic Combat effective, not to just nerf us across the board. Before you

[Polygamy in the Sith Empire?]

Quinn in a letter implies its monogamy but that Sith partners are notorious adulterers.

[BH/Trooper nerf in 1.2]

He was on topic.

 

There's never been an MMO where a class hasn't been nerfed in some way at some point, its just some receive greater nerfs than others.

 

Good players adjust and still play well. Bad ones migrate to other classes after inevitable rage.

 

Whether the change is positive or negative, all classes in an MMO will experience it. The 'OMG we'll all quit if you nerf XYZ class ability' is not a persuasive argument to developers.

[BH/Trooper nerf in 1.2]

I would definitely love to see your evidence on Sniper/Gunslinger damage being higher than Mercenary/Commando in PvP. But it doesn't exist. In PvE its all speculation without logs but I still believe that Mercenary/Commando probably slightly edges it out.

 

On my 50 Gunslinger alt we struggle to put out over 300k damage in a warzone in a class that has little survivability. And on the lucky matches where I don't die, its still a challenge. On a Commando I regularly see them exceed and indeed go far beyond that with far less effort.

 

Commandos rely more on special damage for single target DPS, most Slinger specs rely on white normal damage for their single target burst. The spec that doesn't relies on easily cleansable DoTs. I'll grant that you all have the same problem with Assault/Pyro, but come on, we all know that most people aren't speccing that as Mercs/Commandos. What does this amount too? You all have less difficulty taking out the beefier players.

 

I'm not calling for a nerf, I'd rather upgrade both Commando/Mercenary and Gunslinger/Sniper, but remove the crutch of no cooldown Grav Round/Tracer Missile that the unskilled players use. In return, upgrade something else to use as 'filler' between it that synergizes with the Gunnery/Arsenal talents. Like charged rounds, or power shot.

[Jedi Shadow, Sith Assassin needs a big nerf soon.]

IF a good /pro sin was in these posts he should say hey bahugboto 100%chance mitigation to force is op when it is at 45 sec cooldown and it should be at 3 min cd so i cant spam it.What bahugboto TRYIN TO SAY THIS WHOLE DAMN THREAD IS THAT SINS HAVE WAY TOO MUCH I WIN BUTTONS BUT ALL U SELFISH LOW BRAIN DAMAGED PLAYERS cant even even figure it out even with 20 post QQ.

 

 

 

BTW sniper here BY far THE worst class in this game current state.

 

Sorry but you're wrong. That's the whole reason as to why our mitigation is 10% lower than Vanguards or Juggernauts, because we can make up for it with limited self-healing, and some immunity to force/tech.

 

I wouldn't mind them doing away with the 2 second extension we get, but you can't just take away everything that makes the class unique, and balanced against the other tanks. A good Vanguard/Powertech is in a better place than a Tank Assassin or Shadow is by far tanking and damage wise. The only reason as to why some people do obscene damage is due to a design flaw for PvP that makes it more desirable to wear DPS gear over tank gear. This should not be.

 

Again, buff Juggernauts/Guardians. Make it so all three tank specs are required to wear decent tank gear for their tanking specs to work correctly. Make it so tank stats are worth a damn and function at half strength to cripple Snipers/Gunslingers less, but do mitigate some damage from classes who rely on 'special' damage, like Commandos/Mercenaries, and Sorcerors/Sages.

[BH/Trooper nerf in 1.2]

Yeah **** it: normalize everything.

 

In all seriousness though...are you stupid? The only thing that would change is that BH would use power shot more (and power shot hits for MORE than tracer) which would just make you ***** more.

 

How about this: instead of asking for daddy to take away your friend's toy because you perceive that it's better, you ask him to get you a better toy so you can lord it around your friend (because lets be honest it's not because of your shortcomings that you're losing - BH are obv overpowered).

 

I don't cry at all. I find Commandos and Mercenaries one of the easiest classes to take out if they're Gunnery/Arsenal personally, but that's because I'm a melee who knows to get up in their face and interrupt. My alt is also a Gunslinger, and in a 1 v 1 fight I find that they're just as easy with my 30m interrupt.

 

9/10 just stand there for four seconds twiddling their thumbs, unsure what to do. The good ones use their other abilities which Gunnery synergizes with.

 

I'm doing this for the sake of my friends who are called 'skillless', if they just use it as a normal part of their rotation. Even if its only hit three times out of every twelve skills, they're still called talentless hacks.

 

The bad Commandos and Mercenaries will quit playing it as a one button faceroll class. The good ones will adjust and do just as much damage as before. Granted, I would also add a talent which makes charged bolts worth a damn to use for when everything is on cooldown.

 

Normalize? Heavens no. I'm just weeding out the ones who are playing it as a flavor of the month class, like Madness Sorcerers, or Darkness Assassins/KC Shadows in DPS gear. Those who are skilled playing these specs should be rewarded, the others? We shouldn't let them make the rest of us look bad by not fixing the design oversights which allow this dim perception of us.

[BH/Trooper nerf in 1.2]

You have other options for when full Auto/Sticky Grenade/Plasma Grenade are on cooldown, they're just not as synergized with your talents.

[BH/Trooper nerf in 1.2]

If I were them I'd put Grav Round/Tracer Missile on a similar cooldown to other sunder mechanics of 3-4.5 seconds.

 

That'd reward the good players of the class who know how to use all of the tools the class has available, and punish the flavor of the month players.

[Jedi Shadow, Sith Assassin needs a big nerf soon.]

Kinetic ward spammable every 12 sec with 8 wards unlikely to be struck off in normal pvp situations. one of the highest force mitigation of any class. 3 additional proc defensive abilities including a permanent heal ability.

 

Not only that, their spamming of telekinetic throws/Lightnings have the ability to heal themselves, and slowing down their foes, adding to insane survivability along with massive dps and with Harnessed shadow up, it cannot be interrupted(another overpowered feature to a completely overpowered ability). They can stealth when needed, and can sprint when needed and kite when needed adding to survivability and an element of surprise. Jedi Shadows seems to be totally imbalanced, especially in PVP and I invite anyone of you who denies this to offer up a good counter to my arguments. Anyone who agrees please chime in as well. Jedi Shadow has too many useful utilities for PVP including with PULL, they have just about everything to counter everything on top of being the best pure tank in the game and second best self healer after healer classes, at least where PVP is concerned. Something seems to be horribly off with this picture.

 

A Jedi Shadow being able to out-tank, outrun, out stealth, out dps, out kite and able to out CCs and out self heals, on an above average level in the game. There's just seem to be no buffs that could bring any classes on par with a Shadow specced for PVP without breaking the game mechanics so the only option out it seems is to nerf Shadows -

 

A class that will be able to consistently get 300K+ dmg, and 100K+ healing in warzone matches along with being able to sprint stealth, pull, and tank like a madman, and score 55-0 in kills ratio very often, something is very very wrong with the balance here- guys - discuss with civility, any blatant fanboyism post or trolling, or off topic post will be reported.

 

For more reference of how overpowered a Shadow/Assassin could be in PVP, please visit this thread:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=336999

 

I'll try to address each point as a tank shadow who used to play mostly in tank gear but now uses mostly DPS gear in tank specs.

 

1. Kinetic Ward is a great tool but its only useful against white attacks. Thus snipers in Marksman/Gunslingers in sharpshooter. Several Guardian/Marauder attacks, etc. I have few issues with a tank spec being able to survive a little bit better against physical attacks. We have 10% less damage reduction overall to compensate, but a little better defense. Solution is to buff the classes that use mainly white attacks and to allow tank stats to work at half-strength against tech/force attacks.

 

2. I agree but the solution is to make it so that a tank spec actually wants to wear tank gear, and make it worth sacrificing DPS. As it stands, tank gear offers nothing for us in PvP other than greater protection vs white attacks. It should be that tank spec shouldn't function properly unless you're in tank gear, but sadly that's not the case. The CC thing I'm alright with, I like a control spec, I just don't feel we should get great survivability and damage too. Survivability and being a CC control spec is enough. In tank gear I would have to be up an entire long game in voidstar to do decent damage(And usually don't break 300k), and I'm fine with that.

 

3. For self healing, the uninterruptible lightning/TK Throw for 12% self healing is very good, yes, its meant to make up for our lesser DR than a Vanguard or Juggernaut. But, people see uninterruptible and panic thinking OMG OP. All you need to do to counter it is a regular CC. I've fought a lot of 1 v 1's versus bad tank shadows and tank assassins who don't realize their own weaknesses and don't seem to know you can/should do this. Interrupt enough with stuns, knockdowns, knockbacks, pulls, and you'll win.

 

4. I'm going to tell you all the secret to killing tank shadows/assassins. The secret we don't want any of you to know. My alt is a sharpshooter gunslinger who hit 50 a few weeks back, and I had the same problems that all of you do killing one, and then I realized something. They go down like a squishy Sorceror/Sage if your team has the wherewithal to stack armor debuffs. Flourish shot/grav round, and sunder armor. Put it on them early. Not as great a solution as balancing all the classes, but its something that can tide you all over.

 

In the end, I propose the following changes:

 

1. Make tank gear a requirement for Kinetic Combat/Darkness to work properly.

 

2. Buff Juggernauts/Guardians rage/focus generation in tank spec(Not sure if Vanguards/Powertechs need too many buffs, tbh they're in a better place than we are in many cases.)

 

3. Buff classes/specs that use primarily white attacks. Have tank stats have half effect against force/tech attacks(For example, 27% defense now gives 13.5 tech/force deflection. 40% shield chance gives 20% shield chance. 40% shield absorption gives 20% shield absorption). Give those classes with white attacks higher base accuracy that doesn't require them to use as much in gear, and higher armor penetration on more of their attacks.

 

4. Buff Deception/Infiltration survivability slightly(Up to just below Marauders/Sentinels, Below due to being able to stealth) so that it isn't tempting to be a tank spec if you want to deal damage. Do the same with Operatives/Scoundrels/Gunslingers/Snipers while you're at it. They're all far too squishy, which makes tank shadows/assassins seem too 'flavor of the month'.

 

5. Last but not least, since many complaints come from Huttball, make it so this list of abilities do not work or cannot be used by the ball carrier: Force Charge/Leap/Storm/Zealous Leap. Intercede/Guardian Leap, Force Speed, Rescue. If you're stealthed, then after unstealthing you should have a 5-10 second debuff that prevents you from holding the ball. That should promote teamwork in passing rather than 'one man wonders' being able to run the ball to the endzone with limited aid.