Arsenal Mercs have zero survivability

[fettvette]

i'm a lvl 38 arsenal merc that just started pvping yesterday. so far its been a blast although it took me about half a day to change my play style to adjust to it. ever since i got my style down and learned my role its been a breeze. im consistently in the top 3 in kills, damage, objectives, and medals all while dying no more then 3 to 4 times in a match. civil war is wear i really shine. myself, a lvl50 jugg, and a lvl50 bg merc defended the middle turret time and time again while the rep's would zerg it with 4 to 6 at a time. yeah it sucks that force user can close the gap but if you use your jet/electro dart right you can take one out before they can get you to half health. i do wish we had more mobility but our survivabilty isnt that bad, learn to use your cooldowns/med packs and you will be just fine.

 

void star you can just pick ppl off as they come if you stay at max range and move around a bit.

 

hutt ball our utility is what makes us good there. i'm not that great at hutt ball but ive seen merc's tear it up if they play hutt ball like your supposed to. hutt ball is all about movement and positioning. there are plenty of places to bee at max range so you can pick ppl of and jet/electro dart make for a nasty combo when around the flame jets or acid pools. i laugh out loud every time i jet blast then electro dart them over the flames or in the acid.

 

learn your role and and use your surroundings and you'll do just fine. we are a to pvp as what artillery is to the military. with the right positioning we are very effective and deal tons of damage. they zero in on us, then we pack up and move to a differnt positioning.

 

that being said, bio could retool a our tree a lil, but asking them to completely change our abilities is stupid. they dont need to nerf or buff anyone. when they start nerfing and buffing classes then we will be seeing the exact same thing we did in wow every couple of months. the bads will be raging about it until bio hits a different class with the nerf bat, then those bads will rage, ect, ect, ect......it will turn into a 7 year vicious cycle of nerfs and broken specs

Edited January 21, 2012 by Paralassa
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[fettvette]

sorry for the grammatical errors in me previous post

[Typheran]

i'm a lvl 38 arsenal merc that just started pvping yesterday. so far its been a blast although it took me about half a day to change my play style to adjust to it. ever since i got my style down and learned my role its been a breeze. im consistently in the top 3 in kills, damage, objectives, and medals all while dying no more then 3 to 4 times in a match. civil war is wear i really shine. myself, a lvl50 jugg, and a lvl50 bg merc defended the middle turret time and time again while the rep's would zerg it with 4 to 6 at a time. yeah it sucks that force user can close the gap but if you use your jet/electro dart right you can take one out before they can get you to half health. i do wish we had more mobility but our survivabilty isnt that bad, learn to use your cooldowns/med packs and you will be just fine.

 

void star you can just pick ppl off as they come if you stay at max range and move around a bit.

 

hutt ball our utility is what makes us good there. i'm not that great at hutt ball but ive seen merc's tear it up if they play hutt ball like your supposed to. hutt ball is all about movement and positioning. there are plenty of places to bee at max range so you can pick ppl of and jet/electro dart make for a nasty combo when around the flame jets or acid pools. i laugh out loud every time i jet blast then electro dart them over the flames or in the acid.

 

learn your role and and use your surroundings and you'll do just fine. we are a to pvp as what artillery is to the military. with the right positioning we are very effective and deal tons of damage. they zero in on us, then we pack up and move to a differnt positioning.

 

that being said, bio could retool a our tree a lil, but asking them to completely change our abilities is stupid. they dont need to nerf or buff anyone. when they start nerfing and buffing classes then we will be seeing the exact same thing we did in wow every couple of months. the bads will be raging about it until bio hits a different class with the nerf bat, then those bads will rage, ect, ect, ect......it will turn into a 7 year vicious cycle of nerfs and broken specs

 

I have a 50 Merc with a full set of champ gear.. I know my role. Wait til you get to 50 and see what you can do against similarly geared people.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Paralassa
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[Wargamed]

The previous couple of posters make good points. Knowing your role in situations, as well as your strengths and weaknesses do a great deal in making PvP more fun. I play a 34 Mercenary. I've done occasional PvP since level 14. It's become easier with practice. I go in know what I should do. Most of the time I follow my plan. Other times I get bored and go into a furrball for fun. Other times I get stupid and something terminal happens to me. These various threads are very educational. I get to see mistakes others make and ideas for strategems that work for some. The Rocket Punch + Electo Dart by an acid pit or the fire spots never occurred to me until reading it here. I'm old and apparently senile. That's my excuse for not seeing this combo for myself.

My fellow Mercenaries, please keep up the helpful flow of information.

 

Happy hunting!

[EStarfall]

I know my role. .

 

Obviously not.

[Typheran]

Obviously not.

 

I guess your answer is that my role is for my team to carry me.

 

I don't accept that. Besides your obvious trolling you've proven nothing.

[Sayc]

In a word...YES!

 

 

You were supposed to bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!

[MandalorianX]

ATM i am playing on my powertech, made him really fat and called him Volstagg (get it?) its a much better class to pvp with than the merc, maybe i'll come back to my merc when he isnt so gimped in the mean time, if you truly are really good with an arsenal spec please submit some warzones on youtube of yourself playing, specifically showing us how you can handle being harassed because that would honestly make me reconsider my opinion.

 

I will have to do that, Ive had a few good matches and need to fraps them and show off some of the tactics. sometimes its hard to get good game play cause the team we fight will get rolled or we will. being on a rp server doesnt really make the pvp super great eather.

[Ryuzomi]

Title says it all for those TLDR sloped forehead types.

 

 

 

first off I love my Merc. I really like arsenal spec... but I hate my survivability. I have a 50 merc with almost a full set of champ gear. If left alone I will top the damage and sometimes the kill chart. But, if one melee person decides to stalk me that round I fall to the 5 to 6 range in both categories.

 

Arsenal Mercs have zero survivability.

 

Jetblast you say? well glad you thought of it... it's fairly situational and almost useless. It seems to work ok in huttball, where you can toss people off the ramps, but in void star of civil war? Useless. Sure it will keep you alive for a second longer, but you still die.

 

Concussion blast? Useless you use Surge first you will be half dead before you cast it. Even if you land it your only option is to run, as they will either break out of it and continue to molest you. The cool down on it makes it unrealistic to be relied on.

 

electro dart is pretty my in the same boat as con blast, minus the cast time.

 

Our shield, while minimally helpful isn't helpful enough to save you consistently. (unlike the Sorc shield that make you immune to knock back)

 

So.. in short, barring a few situational abilities we are pretty much defenseless.

 

My solution would be for BH to have a blink like ability. Much like mages in WOW. Finally using this jetpack on my back would be cool. I don't mind being immoble to DSP, but I should have the ability to defend myself.

Oh, no. You require additional buffing to your damage as well as survivability. I think the 2-4k 1.5 second tracer missile spam is very weak and doesn't help your survivability at all. -_- I would rather fight a sorc than an merc any day.. You're already getting a root and the entire class is being ignored by BW. Don't complain.

[Gadrak]

Oh, no. You require additional buffing to your damage as well as survivability. I think the 2-4k 1.5 second tracer missile spam is very weak and doesn't help your survivability at all. -_- I would rather fight a sorc than an merc any day.. You're already getting a root and the entire class is being ignored by BW. Don't complain.

 

id rather anything rather than a sorcerer these days

 

if you compare both classes sorcerers alredy have anything that we alredy have plus a sprint a shield and a slow

 

are we getting a root?,official link please

[NessusFett]

id rather anything rather than a sorcerer these days

 

if you compare both classes sorcerers alredy have anything that we alredy have plus a sprint a shield and a slow

 

are we getting a root?,official link please

 

sorc/sage is the official OP atm.

But its still just the first month. I would rather them take their time to figure out what would be best for balance rather that just throw out nerfs like they had a bad batch.

[snuff]

man talk about crying on a full stomach.

 

I have a merc and he is pyro because I want the mobility and dps. I do just fine with him. I used to be arsenal and I noticed the defence was not as good even though my DPS was way higher, I chose a little lower dps with higher survivability..

 

YOU HAVE A CHOICE..

 

I also have a 50 jug, that does crap dps and his survivability is no where NEAR good enough for someone who hits with a wet noodle... So i went vengence where I had a happy medium.

 

I guess I'm trying to say, in a nice way... L2P

[MandalorianX]

got crited 7k by a smug today, enough said.

 

I'm a merc and he compleatly bypassed armor, was in Ilum pvp area with pvp armor on and got smacked down hard by a smug, I had other people with me and he went right for me, before I could even get a heal my 14k health was gone. First shot got me for 50% of my health. ...... HOW IS THIS BALANCED PVP!?

 

Yes im lvl 50, I have the hellfire pvp armor (not the best but still good) 5% exp.

Only thing I can thing of was the 10 stack of what looked like high velocity gas celnders on my de-buff area which just bypassed my armor but still the most ive ever hit somebody for with my heatseeker missles was 3.5k.

 

Im really trying to make this class/ spec work but im getting frustrated. only thing I can think of is getting tanking gear. but would hate to give up surge and crit

Edited January 20, 2012 by MandalorianX

[Oxudes]

It had to be pvp gear - a fully champion geared (or maybe even better) player gets obscene amounts of exp bonus and will rip non-pvp geared people apart. I haven't seen a 7k crit yet myself, but 5k-ish isn't rare from them.

 

On the other hand, I've been 3 shot by a an opposing merc's fusion +2x tracer when I was a fresh lvl 50 in huttball, so I think giving arsenal more survivability wouldn't really work that well. Atm it works quite well - Very nice DPS and little surv Arsenal vs nice surv and nice dps of pyro (mobility helps more than you'd think).

[vonSchnoid]

It's interesting to see that the history repeats itself over and over again. The discussion here is exactly the same as it has been in WoW for the last couple of years: every other class is so much better than the one (insert class of choice here) i'm currently playing. So now i want you (Bioware) to buff my class so i can take on every other class on my own!! This road only leads to one thing: homogenization of the classes.

 

This is very boring since there will be no difference between the classes anymore and its more of a choice how you want your toon to look like. That will ultimately kill the game.

 

So BH Mercenary using the Arsenal tree has low survivability against others you say? But our class is a gunplattform and thus being somewhat immobile we need close support! In a war you don't leave your haubitz gun emplacement undefended, instead you have good close support around to defend it. Otherwise the enemy can just steamroll your big guns and you lucked out...

 

PvP in SWTOR isn't centered around 1vs1 PvP but instead focuses on team tactics. My few cents would be that if you find a good teammate to protect you from any harm you will have excellent survivability. And its not about having someone carry you through the battle, its more of a team effort. Everyone contributes to the overall goal of winning....

[iCanUseTheForce]

I'm just trying to understand the OP here....he wants to top the damage chart, while at the same time have no problems staying alive, easily kite a melee target, have 5 perfect anti-melee skills, and not have his rotation interrupted. So he wants easy/God mode? I'm pretty sure the point of someone attacking you is to shift your focus and drop your dps.

[ZaOniTenshu]

All I hear is "WAH WAH I WANNA BE OP AND NERF US ALL WAH WAH!" -Merc. Baby

 

We do amazing DPS and have excellent armor. No we dont have any real interrupts but TFB play the game at range and you will max DPS easier than any other class (Arsenal Merc. compete with Agents, normally depends on level of both in war zone).

 

I never EVER have a problem surviving as a Arsenal Merc. Worst comes to worst just reroll.

[Yazule]

I'm just trying to understand the OP here....he wants to top the damage chart, while at the same time have no problems staying alive, easily kite a melee target, have 5 perfect anti-melee skills, and not have his rotation interrupted. So he wants easy/God mode? I'm pretty sure the point of someone attacking you is to shift your focus and drop your dps.

 

 

exactly!

 

I have played UO, EQ2, SWG, WOW, AO, SB, COH, DF, EVE, and AOC ...

 

it is ALWAYS the same, people in the middle feel like they are under powered because of the OP class and whine for buffs

 

What the reality is the nerf bat is a pendulum swinging from side to side. under powered classes will get love, over powered classes will get nerfed, and whining will not end... EVER

 

Right now OPs/GS are ruling the day with the Sorc/mirror in second, and poor snipers are getting the hose. When the nerf bat comes it will balance a lot more bringing the top down and the bottom up.

 

I think we are the pivot point, the center of the swing, and I love my class. End of the day if stunlock/super crits went away my class would feel godly. If insane damage sheilds and mobility were slightly put under control I would feel godly

 

I think we are made right, risk and rewards, pick mobility or pick dps, perfectly fine. It is just the imbalance of a couple other classes making the grass look greener onthe other side.

 

I hate getting into a game and getting nerfed and then re-rolling, which is what most OPs/GS will do when they get nerfed. I think it is always best in an MMO to be second best, to avoid the nerf bat which is the most uber weapon in game.

Edited January 20, 2012 by Yazule

[Sixball]

exactly!

 

I think it is always best in an MMO to be second best, to avoid the nerf bat which is the most uber weapon in game.

 

LOL IRL.. Too true...

[MandalorianX]

everyone keeps talking about nerfing stuff or giving insane buffs to weaker classes, But you dont have to do any of that if you just balance the damn classes. the balance is alright right now BUT when you give: armour penetration AND high crit and surge to a class thats just asking for trouble.

 

If Im a class that depends on armor then its not to fair to take away my only real defence, shoot the damn sorc shield is one of the most effective things in the game and I only get a sheild that helps against 25% of dam? not really complaining about it but look at the facts the sorc shield helps against more dam, has a way shorter cool down and can be placed on others. Mine? doesnt last long, has a long cool down, and cant be used on others.

 

Im not asking for the same thing but damn give me a shorter cool down or something that can even compair.

 

Yes I know that they are two diff classes and they shouldnt be the same, And that was just an example theres more things like that out there and all im asking for is a little more balance.

 

I dont care what anyone says EVERY class if played well and geared equally should be able to do well against one another 1v1. Thats just how I feel, ive come from playing FPS's for a long time and am so used to skill being the real factor in a fight but when I just get 3 shotted by a smug or CCed to death by a consular skill goes out the window.

[Yazule]

 

I dont care what anyone says EVERY class if played well and geared equally should be able to do well against one another 1v1. Thats just how I feel, ive come from playing FPS's for a long time and am so used to skill being the real factor in a fight but when I just get 3 shotted by a smug or CCed to death by a consular skill goes out the window.

 

you need to redefine skill i guess,

 

skill in fps = reflexes

 

skill in mmo = 80% planning (build, gear etc) + 20% execution (reflexes and strategies)

 

I have played MANY MMO's and MANY FPS's (tribes, tribes II, sof, sofII, the entire COD series, and most of the battlefield series)

 

FPS balance is in the players because you all get the same gear/hp/buffs available to you.

 

MMO's are not like that. A hammer works great on a nail, but it sucks on a screw, sure if you pound hard enough the screw goes in, but more often than not it either ruins the wood and falls out or bends.

 

MMO classes are tools, healers and tanks and dps, rocks papers and scisors...

 

There are 8 classes on both sides, and even if you assume all mirrors are 100% the same, each of those 8 builds has 3 tree's... that is 24 distinct playstyles not even thinking about hybreds... it is insane to think you can make 24 different fighters that are balanced. They have tried for decades and the only balanced pvp I have ever seen in an mmo was ultima online, because there were no classes, ou picked the skills you want to use.

 

in that game if your build was less good than anther just use their tactics,

 

trying to balance all classes turns into buffing this makes that gimp, so buff that and someone else gets the shaft, so start a cycle of nerfing this and that makign other things OP so we can nerf that too, or we could buff stuff around it... it is chaos and impossible to achieve.

 

pick a class you like to play and go with it, when you no longer like that class roll a class you do like and keep the old one on the back burner fir when you get fond memories of it and want to play it again...

[Gadrak]

it's not like we need an HUGE survivability burst

 

 

jetpack leap would avoid us to make us a free kill for melee classes(and make the spec more interesting,as it is right now it's only tracer spamming)

[Elboc]

This is a valid post and has been around since beta. If someone thats not bad is on you, you are not getting away. I would love to see us get something similar to sorcs with there two second speed run.

[Gadrak]

This is a valid post and has been around since beta. If someone thats not bad is on you, you are not getting away. I would love to see us get something similar to sorcs with there two second speed run.

 

i would love to see us get something that the sorcerer doesnt alredy have tbf

[Zandog]

MMO classes are tools, healers and tanks and dps, rocks papers and scisors...

 

There are 8 classes on both sides, and even if you assume all mirrors are 100% the same, each of those 8 builds has 3 tree's... that is 24 distinct playstyles not even thinking about hybreds... it is insane to think you can make 24 different fighters that are balanced. They have tried for decades and the only balanced pvp I have ever seen in an mmo was ultima online, because there were no classes, ou picked the skills you want to use.

 

Can I have you in my guild? What an obvious genius.