what class do u play? It may bias your opinion on class balance ...

One less scrub who I might get stuck with. woot!

needed. I don't want to have to raid to be able to pvp.

no +10char.

if he is having trouble with his heat he is doing something wrong. While I would not be surprised for bh to be the lowest dps class, I am surprised he is THAT low. He should be >230K IMO. PS. We arsenal bh's have 2 broken class things that when fixed should boost his dps, but not double it (barrage +25% unload dmg and armor penetration).

1. Our armor debuff (penetration) isn't working right now. 2. Unload proc barrage (+25% unload dmg) isn't working correctly right now either. 3. The knockback just got nerfed to be even slower. 4. Sorc and Sniper have a bigger and better AOE ability. 5. Sorc can sprint away from melee attackers and Sniper has cover to reduce melee jumpers. BH has /bendoverandtakeit. 6. Arsenal (and even pyro to a degree) is the easiest class to counter/shutdown however only has average dps. Either it needs to be more difficult to stop their dps or their dps needs an increase. One or the other. Overall I completely agree with you. Merc, and especially arsenal, is pretty worthless in pvp. It is clear Bioware has never done an MMO before and is running around like chicken with their heads cut off trying to figure out how to fix their game.

We are the easiest class to counter/stop and have average dps. Not worth it. Play a powertech is you want BH.

Agreed. IMO we need more burst dps to make up for our recent nerf to barrier/knockback. However, I would be happy if we were at least on par with our classes for dps. Currently we have almost no shot at winning a 1v1 (assuming the other player is equally as skilled and geared) vs any other class (all melee **** us, and sniper/sorc out dps us). While I am content not winning 1v1's often, we need to at least be useful to the group overall. Because we are the EASIEST class to shutdown/counter, we need to have the highest dps in order to make up for when we are actually free to do our job (dps).

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100.1

HSM is supposed to be our finisher ... And yes, sorc and sniper have BH beat in everything except "heavy" armor. They have a better 8m radius aoe nuke. They both have either an aoe kb root or stun They both get an interrupt. Sorc gets better dots, and sniper has better burst. Or only 2 strong attacks (unload/HSM) are dependent on getting TM off. And on top of that, HSM is now worthless.

Personally I think they should just jack up HSM damage. This would allow us to have great spike dps, but only if we get 5 stacks on some1 which is easily countered. As it is now, we just don't' hurt enough and can easily be stopped. Lose Lose.

did you even look at other threads on page 1? half are already about this ... and yes, pre 1.2 it was higher than now, and between 1.2 and 1.2C it was highest

The HPS also doesn't take into account the small damage mitigation a merc healer adds to the tank with the +10% armor from healing scan (lasts 9 seconds, with a 12s cooldown?).

Bioware has nerfed our Merc Asrenal into the ground, where it is no longer functional in pvp. First they nerfed our Tracer Missle to encourage a more active rotation from all players. I think this change is not only goog, but a welcome change for our class. However, they also nerfed our survivability by nerfing our barrier shield and our precious knockback. As the ONLY class without an interrupt, we have to use our knockback effectively, and putting it on a longer timer makes this even more difficult considering it already doesn't affect players with full resolve. Post 1.2 we at least had a huge hitting HSM missile to make up for the nerfs. While the HSM missile was hitting too hard without having the proper 5 stack heat sigs, it was hitting for the appropriate amount of damage in pvp. Merc arsenal is the EASIEST class to counter by interrupting our tracer missile as our 2 major dps attacks are dependent on TM (unload and HSM). By interrupting our TM, a pvp'er can effectively neutralize our TM, unload and HSM dps. If they keep TM inhibited our dps is about as good as a tank (tank speced). If a pvp'er allows you to build up 5 stacks of heat sigs they need to pay the price! Not just laugh off another 2.5k HSM. Please bring back pre 1.2C HSM damage so we at least have some strong spike dps to make up for our HEAVILY TM dependent class which now has decreased survivability and lacks an interrupt.

I didn't read this thread entirely, but was it even brought up that merc bh also have 2 great knock backs? While its not as obviously great in huttball as force sprint/jumping, it is incredibly useful. I use it to intercept passes and stop scoring runs all the time. And you guys crying about not being able to get more than 300k post 1.2 is because you can't tracer spam anymore. L2P.

Don't forget, people who worked hard to get BM gear now have their pre 1.2 gear being worthless since the armor mods don't have set bonus AND the pvp/BM is practically being given away now for next to NO work.

Yes I know it is neutral, but it is not made clear it is a separate neutral market. IMO it made it sound like I got access to both sides markets, when in fact its a completely different market.

wrong. it is a separate market from what I can tell so far. Lots of items on the fleet GTN but none on the neutral one.

ya well either way, its not made clear that it is a separate market which is totally bull.

NOPE. My fleet market has GTN stuff but the "neutral" market is empty.

So I just bought this, and right now there is nothing on the market? Either, this is a completely separate vendor which is useless because u have to spend 5 million credits to buy it, or its not working as intended. Others have this experience?

Yes I agree. They are just trying to force us to use Unload more. Good players already use it a fair amount; however, bad players are just spamming TM and doing fine. This will "make" them use unload more.

I partially disagree. I think in pvp it will be close to what you indicate. On the other hand, in pve it will come down to hitting Unload and HSM as often as possible which will disrupt a "rotation" after the first round of it.

Ya i agree, unload is already amazing and completely underrated. However, this is just "forcing" idiots to play better vs the good players already work unload into their rotation. I didn't add it in my "rotation" calculations because the dmg wasn't changing. It sucks that by making us use Unload more it will prolong the time until we can maximize railshot. It would be nice if railshot buff also stacked as quick as the HSM buff.

AHHHH. Ok so we can still spec TM back down to 1.5. That makes it not NEARLY as bad. I will try and redo some numbers below to get an idea of the actual impact. And ya, I realize Unload will be a much bigger part of my rotation after 1.2, but that also makes railshot less useful because it will take longer to get 5 TM buffs stacked up. Current Pre 1.2 estimates Tracer missile = 1850 dmg @ "1.5" Heat Seaker = 1900 dmg Post 1.2 estimates TM = 1665 @ 1.5 seconds (1859 x .9) HSM = 2090 (1900 x 1.1) "Burst" Rotation pre 1.2 TM x 3 = 5550 (1850 x 3) in 4.5 seconds HSM = 1900 dmg in .5 seconds Total = 7450 dmg in ~ 5 seconds. DPS = 1490 dps "Burst" Rotation post 1.2 TM x 3 = 4995 (1665 x 3) in 4.5 seconds HSM = 2090 in .5 seconds Total = 7085 dmg in ~ 5 seconds DPS = 1,417 dps pre vs post difference = 5% [(1490-1417)/1490] "Full" Rotation pre 1.2 TM x 3 = 5550 in 4.5 s HSM = 1900 dmg in .5 s *unload* TM x 2 = 3700 in 3 s *rail shot* ~Total dmg = 11,100 dmg in "8" s ~Total dps = 1387 "Full" Rotation post 1.2 TM x 3 = 4995 (1665 x 3) in 6 seconds HSM = 2090 in .5 seconds *unload* TM x 2 = 3330 in 4 s *rail shot* ~Total = 10,385 in 8 s ~Total dps = 1298 Total Difference = 6.4% [(1387-1298)/1387] Unload still wins @ ~1500 dps (with barrage and with no misses) and minimal heat costs.