47 Gunslinger finding it difficult in PvP

[Blackyce]

First, I'm a huge PvP fan and at level 47 I am also valor rank 47. I've done probably 15 levels pvping and mainly just do my class quests to catch up.

 

Let me also say that the Gunslinger is actually very good DPS in PvE. What I'm finding though is that there are some huge issues in PvP.

 

1) There are so many times when my abilities won't fire. I'm not talking LoS issues either, these are times when I'm in cover and being attacked by a melee. I will stun them and try to use a number of shots like Speed shot and you get nothing. The ability doesn't go on cool down even though the animation goes off and it looks like you're firing at them. This is particularly annoying as this happens to my charged and channeled shots.

 

2) Cover mechanic. This might be ok if our abilities worked like they should but as it stands, you get stuck in one place fighting only to see half your shots not going off and then being focus fired because you're locked down in a spot. On the other hand you have a class like the Sorc who does incredible DPS on the move and gets heals. It's really annoying being stuck in one spot trying to dps someone only to see half your shots not go off. I have found that in order to really survive you pretty much need a pocket healer.

 

3) Energy Regen. You know, I thought it was really dumb when I played DAoC that they reduced mana regen if you went below 50% but it gets even better with our class. Mana regen is horrid. Why would you make a mechanic that punishes you for dpsing on a dps class?

 

I'll get my Gunslinger to 50 but right now it's very frustrating in PvP. Once I hit 50 I'll decide if I want to reroll a Sage as they appear to be much more in line with my liking of ranged dps.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Blackyce

[Jaime-Hunter]

Try Dirty Fighting; it's mobile.

 

Cover is being worked on. In the mean time, do not use environmental cover. Shift + F or Shift + Middle Mouse is the default keybinding for the cover tech as opposed to rolling into natural cover. Personally, I just swapped it out with F and I'll use natural cover when they fix it.

 

If you burn through all your energy, you have slow regeneration. Keep it above 40%/2 bars for moderate and better generation. It's about pacing yourself. It's not punishment, it's forcing you to time your stuff and keep it challenging. Once you realize this little pacing trick you'll have a better time. If you're not thrilled about energy management, this class probably isn't for you.

 

Only drop all of your energy when you know you can instantly get it back with Cool Head, a.k.a. burn phase.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Jaime-Hunter

[Blackyce]

Actually for most of my Gunslingers career he was a Hybrid between Dirty Fighting and Sabotage. The problem here is the DPS is inferior to the sharpshooter tree but it does give you mobility at the cost of energy. Throwing bombs and using Quick Shot suck you're enery dry. Edited January 2, 2012 by Blackyce

[StealthNerf]

I don't think hybrids are any good. If you're having to use constant skills every 1.5 seconds to maintain DPS, then you'll run out of energy. Full sab or dirty fighting builds get to use more DoTs and channelled abilities to help maintain energy while DPSing. Edited January 2, 2012 by StealthNerf

[_Flin_]

A little candy from the Public Test Server Patch Notes for Patch 1.0.2:

 

"Fixed a bug that caused some abilities with activation times to be interrupted when used from cover."

 

Problem solved.

[Jaime-Hunter]

Actually for most of my Gunslingers career he was a Hybrid between Dirty Fighting and Sabotage. The problem here is the DPS is inferior to the sharpshooter tree but it does give you mobility at the cost of energy. Throwing bombs and using Quick Shot suck you're enery dry.

 

Shouldn't be experimenting with hybrids. That's going to gimp you if you don't know what you're doing.

 

DPS is inferior, but a stationary, dead Gunslinger is doing exactly zero DPS compared to his mobile counterpart. You pile on DoTS and keep range as DF via kicks, grenades, roots. When you root is when you want to unload Wounding Shot.

[setanis]

My experience in pvp has been very good so far. You can't stay still unless you're in a good spot for it or can pop off a few charged bolts then move. Use a lot of thermals, blaster volley and charged blasts. Stay mobile, take big shots when you can and if people get close use your knock back. Leg shoot melee and don't get too far away as the sith can force jump to you negating the kiting. Keep firing while moving and use your kick/erm other interrupt I can't remember the name of at the moment, and the flash.

 

Sure if you get zotted by two or more people you're toast but for the most part a mobile gunslinger utilizing what cc he has does very well in everything save Hutt Ball. Hutt Ball *shudders*

[Doxik]

As a 50 GS myself, i have no issues what so ever fighting anybody.

 

My biggest advice would be to pick up Biochem.

That reusable stim at 400 skill is a must for us, also 150 cunning + 60 power buff that persists through death is a nice dps boost.

 

Second, stop pvping and rush to 50. Start buying those Champion bags, doing your weekly/daily pvp quests you get at 50. Champion gear is way better then the rags you have on you right now. Atm i got 15k HP on my GS.

 

Im specced full Sharpshooter

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bsrddRoRgzZbc0MZh.1

 

To deal with sorcs, just open up with your crit ready charged burst, trickshot, aimed shot, few speedshots, but make sure you save your leg shot and use it when a sorc is at 50%.

Leg shot, interrupt her heals with Distraction, few crits and takedown = dead sorc.

Always pop hunker down and Scrambling Field.

[Thiweo]

Dox,

 

I'm only a 19 GS, but your build is similar to what I'm slowly going towards.

 

My only question is the "Hot Pursuit" I thought if I got this instead of "No Holds Bared" in DF tree. I would have one more high damage shot when I am forced out of cover. This seems critical to me because I dont get a chance to get into cover for very long. That means I dont get time to go through a full rotation of shots before I have to pull and get to another spot. With the "Hot Pursuit" clicking when I pull my cover then I have a high damage shot on my target before I get to my next spot. Plus I thought the addition 6% chance wasnt worth the points spent.

 

What do you think?

[Doxik]

Imo waste of points. When you go into cover at 50, you instantly pop hunker down which prevents any knockbacks or stuns done to you for 15sec. Thats plenty of time to do some dmg.

Also when they knock you out of cover, you can just instantly go into portable cover and start dpsing.

But you can try putting points in hot pursuit, see if you like it.

Can always respec back if you don't.

[Magrah]

Yeah if the 1.02 cover fix is effective it should dramatically change how our class plays in both pve and pvp. I'm waiting for it until I pass judgment.

[Brainless_Smurf]

Please note I am lvl 15, this is my 1st and only char, and have only just now learned some of the mechanics (ex. energy regen rate.)

 

Dps issues? I do not have this problem it seems. Typically I get 20+kills with a high score of 52 kills in one ops. seems like its all about where you place yourself. I use natural cover a lot but just as often don't.

 

At this point going 1 on 1 with a lvl 50 is always a loss for me but that's expected. When in bad situations cc what you can and run for one of the green boxes on the field and lure the enemy to your team. Get them to fight each other then take advantage and fire for all your worth.

 

Hutt ball causes minor issues but just as many opportunities. Sure you want to be more mobile now but popping cover takes maybe 1 second, pop your skills then keep moving. What I find most important in environmental awareness. watch traps and cubby holes. Pop cc's when they are near the fire traps and use knock backs (if you have them.)

 

Of course I may just be lucky half the time since no one take a low lvl seriously.

 

 

Also if you really feel slow with the cover try rerolling again as gunslinger and pvp at lvl 10, you'll feel really fast once you get sprint.

[Blackyce]

Well I am now 49 and I changed my spec to single target Sharpshooter and although it is decent burst damage it is the most buggy piece of *#@& I have ever played.

 

Not only is the class insanely buggy but the cover mechanic is a complete pile of sh*t!

 

Here's a few reasons why:

 

1) You cannot ever use roll into cover in PvP because right now it will stick you behind object that interfere with your LoS. So you have to just use drop into cover.

 

2) I understand mechanics being based around cover but IMO they implemented many of them incorrectly. Hunker Down and Pulse Detonator should be usable when NOT in cover and put you into cover when using them. Why? I don't know how many times I've started a pvp fight in a Warzone with someone where I have to first gain cover to use either of these abilities and by the time I get into cover, they either CC me or punt me away or Force Choke me or whatever. It is incredibly frustrating. I don't know how many times I have been punted off the bridge in Voidstar because having to go into cover and then use an ability takes more time than other classes who just have to use one ability.

 

3) You become an immobile turret with just ok DPS. Operative and Scoundrel DPS is greater than ours and they get to invis. Hell I was hit by a sniper 32 sniper tonight in Hutt Ball, that one shot took over half my life. Even using Aimed Shot, I cannot do that.

 

4) Line of site is a complete mess. Because you are stuck as an immobile turret most of the time, it's almost impossible to kill anyone paying attention as they will get out of your LoS. Even if they aren't paying attention, most people are usually running around and in the WZ's they constantly run behind objects, especially in Hutt Ball. The cover mechanic becomes complete *** then. You always have to be aware not to waste Hunker Down because you might have to get up and move ASAP.

 

All in all, the class for me is a complete disaster in PvP. As for high end PvE, although we are high dps, I wonder how well the cover mechanic is going to work vs. bosses. If I'm not forced to move, ok no prob. If I am though, another reason why the Gunslinger will suck!

 

I love playing ranged DPS but I can honestly tell you that after playing 49 levels I would have much rather rolled a Sage.

 

If I stick with my Gunslinger, I will most definitely not be going Sharpshooter anymore.

Edited January 4, 2012 by Blackyce

[shadowAI]

3) You become an immobile turret with just ok DPS. Operative and Scoundrel DPS is greater than ours and they get to invis. Hell I was hit by a sniper 32 sniper tonight in Hutt Ball, that one shot took over half my life. Even using Aimed Shot, I cannot do that.

 

.

 

Aimed shot and ambush do similar damage. However it depends on many things (buffs, gear, debuffs).

 

I doubt the sniper actually did 7k dmg in 1 snipe. He most likely used ambush-grenade (much faster for sniper than gunslinger) or ambush-followthrough and due to lag you saw it as one thing hitting you.

[Vampirspiegelei]

Main problem with Gunslinger ist, that you have to WAIT for your Cover to go up, or till you finished rolling into cover.

Depending on Lag and FPS your normally global cooldown free ability to set up camp takes up to two seconds (not kidding here) this puts you into a horrible situation, since everone is long gone before you can get off an aimed shot or even a charged burst (you may get half of a channeled Speed Shot into someone's back)

 

So it's mostly performance related - theoretically it works just fine.

[Bartes]

Personally I didn't notice any problems with cover and firing abilities. If target stays in range I have no problems with taking cover and then fireing aim shot, sabotage charge!, enabling notsmugglers luck, firing charged burst (while cover buff is still active) and then firing trickshot.

 

Not that it is always possible in pvp, just pointing out that delay in firing abilities is not that bad in some cases.

 

My only real problem in PvP is me being sub 50 with close to 0 expertise stat vs fully PvP geared lvl 50s. That stat alone makes killing anyone very hard if not impossible. I could OFC buy some pvp weapons and tear Mods with expertise from it and put it in my gear but that would give me like what? 24-34 expertise? Not worth tbh.

[wenchery]

Roll an Imperial Agent, play the same class, with better benefits!

[LoganOleary]

I feel the OPs pain, I'm a PvPer at heart and thou I enjoy the PvP in many ways, I also can say it's very frustrating. Cover and channeled abilities really make GS very hard to play effectivley. In PvE they are fine, you can sit still behind cover reasonably well, and only move when nesessary. However in PvP when you simply cannot sit still unless half the opposing team is afk, it sucks. Try getting an Aimed Shot off, maybe you'll succeed 20% of the time. Maybe it's just my cluster but there are enough melee running around (usually with a Sage buddy in tow) to ruin a GS day.

The class obviously needs major help by Devs, atm I think it is the worst class for Republic PvP wise. Scoundrel on the other hand I only ever hear rave reviews about by those i know playing them, maybe we chose the wrong Advanced Class for pvp? I'll still play him, hopefully continue to improve...might also be that the pugs I run with never seem to stick together for some reason, I get caught solo far to often.

Edited January 6, 2012 by LoganOleary

[Bullo]

To the person thinking of taking Hot Pursuit I will let you know I tried it, and do not like it. Yes, I can charged burst whenever I pull out of cover, but in order to shoot, you must be stationary. You can not fire charged burst on the run. Might as well just drop into cover again, take your instant charged burst and then move around some more.

[Moolah]

Unbind your hardcover and use portable cover only, it gets rid of the problem with cancelled channeled spells.

 

 

While leveling I felt I was good at level 20, but my performance dropped at your level. Level 50's start to outlive your burst that is vital for our survival. It gets better at level 50 and you absolutely dominate with decent gear.

 

 

Dont give up hope mate, you are nearly there!

[Infanta]

Unbind your hardcover and use portable cover only, it gets rid of the problem with cancelled channeled spells.

 

 

While leveling I felt I was good at level 20, but my performance dropped at your level. Level 50's start to outlive your burst that is vital for our survival. It gets better at level 50 and you absolutely dominate with decent gear.

 

 

Dont give up hope mate, you are nearly there!

 

What he said x10.

 

I have not used cover since i was level 15, change shift+f to f in binds (reverse them in case you want to use em) that way you can cover on the spot, all the time.

 

Try out dirty fighting imo I will as soon as we get dual specs