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Cybermeister

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Everything posted by Cybermeister

  1. I've had this problem occur several times on Belsavis - sometimes with the clipping distance set almost at my feet so it feels like you're about to fall off the edge of the world Usually just quitting and restarting the game corrects it.
  2. Completely agree - as a long time tank and (ex) hybrid guardian I never realised how much I was going to miss my Unremitting... actually that's a lie - I knew exactly how much I was going to miss it, from the second it became obvious that the hybrid tank was no longer a viable build and that BW were giving us nothing to replace it. Right now when I'm tanking I feel something like a ping-pong ball (and coincidentally also about as resilient to physical attack as a ping pong ball). PvE is bad. PvP is downright stupid to the point of wondering why I bother. Actually I stopped bothering until the bolster issues are fixed, but that's another story - our vulnerability to CC is making it impossible to do the job effectively. It's just way too easy to shut us down. Huttball used to be my forte - now it's a bad joke. Personally I think stuns should be broken into different groups (like damage types) - 'mental' (e.g. mind maze / awe) effects and 'physical' effects (e.g. hilt strike / root / pull) and different 'primary / secondary' abilities used as a 'defense roll' against them. i.e. make your roll against a sorc root, then you break free. Classes with high willpower / cunning would have better resistance mental effects. Classes with high strength / aim / endurance should resist physical effects bettter.
  3. You can definitely reflect the TfB's Scream damage, although you still get the debuff that makes you 'invisible' - still that's easily dealt with.
  4. I enjoy PvP with my guardian a lot more than with my poor DPS-spec commando It really does come down to how well the team plays together though (and ofc whether the enemy team are a full FotM OP pre-made from one of the 'good' PvP guilds, in which case it's just not fun whatever class you're playing if your team isn't similarly geared / skilled). I play the soon-to-be extinct hybrid spec and I'm pretty good offense in Huttball (usually score 4+ of the 6 TDs unless the other team recognise me and shut me down hard), and great in node-protection in all the other games. Hypergates is probably the one where I'm least useful as that's all about dps and sneak-capping at the moment, but I can make it harder for the enemy team to dominate the bunker so long as there's a decent healer to protect.
  5. For PvE content there is very little doubt that the 'full'* defense spec works better, or at least with more margin for over-aggroing dps. I've tried both extensively and the bane of guardians which is aggro management is much reduced in defense. That alone makes it a no-brainer for boss fights - although the hybrid spec is perhaps slightly more useful in trash clearance. Maybe. For PvP the advantage of the hybrid spec is primarily the 4 seconds of CC immunity bestowed by Unremitting. This is obviously great for Huttball, but also in many situations where you leap to someone the knee-jerk reaction of the target is to hit their stun / knockback, which you can then laugh off. Added to that, you have the reduced CD on Awe from Commanding Awe, which also gives a temporary boost to the 4% all damage types DR up to 19% while focused defense is up - i.e. another defensive CD on a shorter timer. Obviously it's PvP-only as the de-aggro effect of FD is not something you generally want to use in PvE). The reduced CD and increased damage on bladestorm is also nice and OH Slash is a reasonable damage attack, especially if you're tanking in DPS gear. * Full defense = either 31 point or a 27 point (you don't absolutely need guardian slash, although that's going to change in 2.0, when the hybrid tank spec is going the way of the dinosaurs from what I see).
  6. Wait until you string together your first force-leap -> guardian leap -> force push -> force leap from mid to end zone... then you'll feel like a Huttball god. Pity they're pretty much taking away the option for a defense spec JKG to use Unremitting in 2.0 from what I hear (can't play PTS myself due to PC issues)
  7. There's nothing wrong with pre-mades, per se. A pre-made could just be 3 or 4 friends playing together, and there should be nothing to stop that from happening. My point is not every pre-made' is a nightmare group from hell to play against (or with). And if people have the foresight to create a 'balanced' team (I'll come on to that in a second) then good for them... it makes the warzones more fun when you have a mix of classes. Pre-mades usually have the advantage of voice comms (something I'd love to see added to the game for any ops group) but sometimes that can be disadvantage if they don't communicate properly with the other half of their ops group. When it ceases to be fun is when you have an opposing team consisting of 2 pre-made kill-squads, all with full min-max aug'd EWH gear, stacking uber-dps FotM classes with people who really know how to play their toons, coming up against a group with people in recruit gear (or worse, the ones who don't even realise that recruit gear is better than their Tionese set for PvP) who are still trying to learn their class abilities in pvp. Because most pre-mades seem to stack dps uber alles the rate at which these groups destroy an 'unbalanced' (as opposed to imbalanced!) team is frightening. It only takes a small imbalance ...just one or two people who can't play their chosen class to it's full potential (whether that's down to gear, skill or a combination of factors) will turn what could have been a fun warzone into a rout. It doesn't matter how well you're geared, or how well you play individually, the already large disparity in dps increases as each person is 'eliminated' (albeit temporarily) from the fight. And then of course the QQ starts, and most of the time it's game over. I've seen it from both sides of the coin as I play both as a member of a pre-made team where my tank regularly has 250K+ protection and the healer and dps I group with are racking up 500K+ respective stats), and often beat similarly geared teams whereas playing individually and meeting those same people / teams it turns into a massacre. It's not even a question of 'L2P' for the losers in those cases - people simply don't live long enough to learn anything about their class when you're getting slaughtered in 2 GCDs. It's demoralising to the extent that it's counterproductive - people simply stop playing because it's just not fun, and the pool of potential players decreases so your chance of encountering another pre-made uberteam is increased.
  8. We're not supposed to be self-healers, however we do get Enure... which sort of works as a temporary band-aid. Sure it has a tendency to leave you on 1hp when it wears off.... but in PvP and coupled with a WZ medpack it makes a semi-decent heal (enure boosts your hp by a decent chunk, and the WZ medpack then heals a percentage of your total health pool at the time you use it, so triggering the medpack when you have just popped enure gives a nice ~8K emergency heal*. Focused defence also provides a small heal over time (whilst you have focus points), but it dumps aggro too which is not much good in PvE if you're a tank. You will also (eventually) get a reasonably decent healer companion for PvE, although it's just as efficient to use a dps companion to kill the mobs fast so you don't take the damage in the first place. *results are gear dependent - obviously - your heal will vary depending on your endurance.
  9. Judging from previous PTS experiences, the purpose of the test server is to present a preview of more or less what they release a few weeks later, without paying any attention to what people say about class balance issues, especially with respect to PvP
  10. Unremitting is NOT trivial in PvP... never mind the 4 seconds of damage reduction, its the immunity to CC that really counts. In Huttball it is absolutely going to ruin the ability of guardian tanks to move the ball. That is the one WZ where we really get a chance to shine (and bring something different to the table). With the addition of electro-net for commando / mercs, anytime a guardian gets the ball you won't be able to leap anywhere at all.
  11. Yup I use them too, on cooldown more or less. Pommel Strike is great in combination with force stasis (with the point in it to make it unchannelled) - although I do wish the CD was less, and Opportune Strike is almost always the first ability I use on trash after a Leap into combat. With points in Freezing Force (for PvP) it becomes even more useful for extended trash mob killing. Guardian tank dps is woeful enough without taking away abilities to do extra damage however small.
  12. Instead of making more and more armor sets available on the Cartel Market, why can't you make schematics available instead... either to buy as 'box sets' or alternatively / additionally as rare drops in the random packs. The current mechanism is really killing my crafting sideline in synthweaving as a lot of people just buy from the Cartel now instead of the GTN. Making the schematics for some sets available may reinvigorate the market and give people a reason to take something other than cybertech or biotech as crafting skills again.
  13. Jugg / Guardian tank-spec is hard work, but rewarding when you get a good (balanced) team with a healer who recognises you're trying to keep them alive. It's especially hard at the moment due to all the smash-monkey trains. In most PUG groups tanking is futile and the overall survivability of the team is improved by re-speccing focus DPS (i.e. if you can't beat them, join them). The only exception to this is in Huttball, which is the one WZ where guardians excel.
  14. A fair number of the smash spec juggs / guardians are simply ex-tanks, frustrated at not being able to live long enough to make a meaningful contribution to the WZ in tank spec, mostly because the other team is loaded with smash-specs....
  15. Tanking in PvP at the moment is painful and usually brief because the game is 'balanced' for DPS uber alles. Most of the damage done in PvP simply bypasses the shields / defense and armor. The good pvp teams who know how to prioritise, lock-down and focus-kill a target mean that you won't really survive any longer than anyone else (or at least, in most scenarios you'll be stuck behind the pit-room door just as long as anyone else). If you're in a PUG, find a healer, guard him and stick to him like glue. Do your best to keep him alive for a couple of seconds longer. If there's no healer in the PUG you're probably better re-speccing to a damage build and joining the DPS fest. You won't notice any marked drop in survivability and maybe you'll take a couple of the other team down with you.
  16. I don't know, and don't really care what items they put on the Cartel - I refuse to throw even more money than the monthly sub at the game - but if there is ever another 'Pay to Win' pack (like the spaceship upgrades) then they won't even be getting that any more.
  17. Not only that, but they can't balance the 8 classes they have now for PvP - adding 2 more will only make it even more impossible.
  18. You're missing the point - Huttball isn't all about bloodshed. Okay, in a lot of matches it is, but a lot of good teams focus on winning the match, which means getting the ball over the line. There are many ways to accomplish this that don't involve killing the enemy team - just running rings around them. I've wanted this for ages. Even suggested it directly. I also included the idea that spectators should pay (credits) to watch the match (like a football game), with the winning team taking 25% of the pot as prize money (Giradda obviously keeps 75% for expenses - those fire pits need a lot of fuel). Of course that would only work properly if you could select which match you were going to watch...
  19. Countering one smasher isn't that hard... countering the second, third and fourth smashes coming in one after another inside 15 seconds because half the opposing team are specced for lolsmash is a bit more tricky. The problem for most people is that defensive countermeasures are on much longer cooldowns than offensive moves. There is quite a simple solution to the 'stacked smash' group, which is to apply a stacking buff to anyone hit by an AoE smash that adds (for example) 10% resistance to that effect for a short period (e.g. 10 seconds) for a max of 5 stacks. If a second smash hits then it goes up to 20% and resets the timer. Actually I think something like that should be applied to all AoE effects - e.g. stacked force storms and orbital strikes too (but each one should have it's own stack type). Apologies for offering a possibly constructive solution to the issue - I know that's not what this forum is about
  20. You forgot to mention the Cartel Market. All those shiny looking outfits on the CM are much nicer than the drab looking robes I can craft as a synthweaver. I am selling significantly fewer items these days - despite reducing prices to almost break-even point*. I have had a few augmented, purple items on the market for literally months. These days it's pretty much only the orange shells that sell at all, and by the time you've bought the component stacks to craft them your margins are lower than wages in a Tionese sweatshop *big thanks to all the idiots selling items, especially augmented ones, for less than the cost of the raw components
  21. As a DPS, spec focus, lolsmash, rinse, repeat. Earn the kudos of the easily impressed by big damage numbers in PUG teams and respect...sorry, I meant envy of your lowly tank brothers That's all I have to say about that... As a tank, you pretty much give up the ability to kill anyone 1v1 (barring massive gear / skill imbalance) - the huge skew towards DPS makes it almost impossible. What you are there to do is make life difficult for the other team, and protect your own. Guard your healers. Goes without saying really... but try to make sure your healer knows you're guarding them so they keep you alive... a good tank / healer combo can hold up a good while against many opponents... of course, a lolsmash uberdps squad will do for you pretty quickly, but that's the same for anyone really :/ Also set up Focus Target hotkey (mine is middle mouse button) and focus target your healer to watch their health - Guardian Leap to them if it takes a hit, then taunt their nearest attacker, spam freezing force and give your healer a chance to get away. Use your interrupts. A lot. When you aren't actively protecting your own healers, get up in the faces of the other team's healers and kick in the face through their long channel heals (learn to identify the 'big' heals and save interrupts for those. Taunt on CD - find a target that's attacking someone other than you... as a tank you should always have the Target of Target bar visible. Use it. I try to save my AE taunt for when my healer is getting focused, but tbh that's most of the time, so it doesn't really count as saving it Awe - use mezz judiciously (it counts against resolve and is broken by damage - nothing is more annoying than mezzing half the enemy team, then having a slinger put down an orbital strike right on top of it). Especially in Huttball, the good players are just waiting for someone to fill their resolve bar to make them (literally) almost unstoppable. On the other hand, using force stasis just as they cross the fire pit is a nice revenge for all the times you get pulled onto the fire... assuming some other idiot didn't fill their resolve bar ofc. Similarly with Force stasis - don't use it unless you really really need it. However, if you're solo-guarding a door / turret and you get jumped by stealthers then the AE mezz is a great way to buy yourself an extra few seconds to call for help .... just don't do any damage and let them stew for 6 seconds. Then use freezing force and push them away. Don't try to go toe to toe (1v1) with a well-geared DPS - you will lose - make yourself hard to hit (kite them, hide behind terrain... you're there to defend the node until reinforcements arrive. Don't try to kill them - you only have to stop them capping! If you called for assistance and nobody shows up for 20--30 seconds and you die to the OP dps it's not your fault (assuming you used your available defensive CDs) - so don't take any cr@p from noobs who assume that leaving a guardian alone on a node makes it invulnerable. TBH leaving anyone alone on a node against a halfway decent team is a disaster waiting to happen unless your team respond pretty quick. Don't get distracted by the guy trying to pull you away from the node - nothing makes you look more stupid* than turning around to see a stealther just completing a cap because you were target-locked on the guy suckering you away. *well, nothing except the WH outfit itself... seriously, a clown costume is more intimidating...
  22. I also run a hybrid build (18 / 23) & find little problem holding aggro these days, except on the pull if DPS go full burn straight away. Fortunately most of my guild are smart enough not to do that (...any more). The way taunt works, and the forced tank swap mechanisms on many of the bosses, means that once you have 1 or 2 swaps under your belt the aggro list stops being an issue and the main concern is just doing your job as a damage sponge. I'm aiming for 30 / 50 / 50 too ... currently I have more than 30% defense with stims, (pushed to 33% with riposte up) , and slightly lower shield (47 / 49 shield chance / absorb) due to swapping out a WH relic of Shouded Crusader for an Elite WH Relic of Imperiling Serenity along with the existing WH Imperiling Serenity (I still think the PvP relics are BiS for tanks... ). Hopefully this will rebalance when and if I win some more campaign gear from EC. At the moment I have approximately 25,800hp buffed and stimmed, with a mix of BH and Campaign mods and a balance of shield, absorb, defense and endurance augs. I'm also about to splash out on the Hazmat implants for a few more hp and better shield chance... which will probably force a further re-balance of the augment slots.
  23. At the moment the game is so painfully skewed in favour of DPS, that the best thing to do is 'tank stance' in DPS gear, with endurance (or overkill) augments. I have full war hero war leader gear ( with elite WH main, offhand and headgear) and it makes bugger-all difference to survivability in PvP, mostly because you get lolsmashed and generally obliterated in about 2 GCDs, as opposed to everyone else dying in 1 GCD... then everyone spends the same amount of time locked behind the pit room door... I digress... I also have 5 or 6 pieces of WH vindicator gear and my overall survivability 'tanking' in that gear is not that much lower, with the added satisfaction of possibly taking out the occasional undergeared Imp. The only places I use the full defense stance now are if I get stuck with solo-guarding a turret in CW or door in VS, or of course, in Huttball where I get the chance to shine... occasionally... assuming the enemy team isn't smart enough to lock me down... unfortunately most of them are wise to just how good guardians are at HB and focus target me anytime I get near the ball
  24. Cybermeister

    PVP FotM

    I know exactly what disillusioned means - I am a full-augmented war hero defense specced valor rank 87 guardian... I know how to play the game and sure, give me a good healer and I'll keep them standing for a while (although it depends a lot on just who is attacking them, and whether they manage to throw me the occasional heal). Trouble is much of the time there are no healers in the group at all... or they're so badly equipped and / or clueless that you might as well respec to DPS, as you can protect via taunt just as well in either spec and your personal survivability actually goes up, because you have a decent chance at removing some enemy DPS from the field. Being some sort of masochist I still persevere with tanking... but the discrepancy between the DPS and defensive roles has grown wider - especially since some people have gotten to the point of figuring out (and affording) the 'best' combinations of modded gear. Even the DPS guys in my own guild think the pendulum has swung a bit too far in their favour for a while now
  25. Cybermeister

    PVP FotM

    Mostly because real tanking is thankless, soul-destroying and frankly suicidal role, especially if your PUG has no healers. Doesn't really matter if you do have a healer though because they'll be marked and - guarded or not. - be dead in seconds if the other team have half a clue how to play. If people are wondering where all the lolsmash spec guardians are suddenly appearing from, I'd look no further than a bunch of really disillusioned ex-tanks
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