Why so few Powertechs?

[Mamae]

My guild had a shortage of tanks, so after two years of following the IA forums and not really much else, I decided to roll a BH Powertech.

 

So much to learn, I'm only lvl 12, now lvling up with an operative friend has been fun.

 

Thankfully I have internet access at work, so I can do as much reading and learning as possible during the day and spend night time grouping with my mate.

 

Being from New Zealand, I had a friend from the USA post me a copy of the game, makes me wonder how many people here will hold out for it to officially arrive.

 

Will be be making the build that seems to be referred to by many as the Carolina Parakeet( from what I read it will do fine for PVE/PVP ).

[Domoto]

I have had quite the journey to land on powertech, game released and my guild went Republic. I rolled a smuggler and went scoundrel. Got to around 20, didn't really like it, so I re-rolled as a gunslinger. I got him to 30. To let other members catch up I made a trooper vanguard just to mess around, and I really really liked it. The guild decided to re-roll to Empire side (most wanted that in the first place, but guild leader is a goody-goody player XD but I finally broke him down). When we switched over, I decided to make an agent operative, since I loved everything about the agent. I got him to around 20 like the scoundrel, and though I liked it more the guild had no tanks, and I wanted a change from healing in MMO's. I finally rolled my BH powertech and from the first time I rocket punched someone I was hooked. Most of my abilities are still satisfying even now that I have done them a 100+ times. On a side note, having one pistol for close quarters fighting feels a lot better than using a rifle for the same.

[Calexus]

I usually turn up to fights naked with less than 5000 HP - They say 'I thought you said you was a fully specced PT tankl!?' and I say in a cool voice, as I start putting on the gear with my stats stacking to 18500 "I AM"

 

<- Sith Sorc face meatshield

<- Merc healer face

<- Imperial Agent

 

They get a warm feeling inside when I do this.

Edited January 18, 2012 by Calexus

[Rykke]

I usually turn up to fights naked with less than 5000 HP - They say 'I thought you said you was a fully specced PT tankl!?' and I say in a cool voice, as I start putting on the gear with my stats stacking to 18500 "I AM"

 

<- Sith Sorc face meatshield

<- Merc healer face

<- Imperial Agent

 

They get a warm feeling inside when I do this.

 

I like the way you do.

[Sykper]

Cause PTs are too amazing.

 

Great players play PTs, we think alike.

[Rooopet]

I'm happy hardly anyone plays PT. It keeps the pvp forum clear of the "nerf pyros" that'll be coming down the line sooner or later. Its one of the only classes that I've seen break 600k in a warzone.

[DredlyLB]

Tracer Missle and Dual Wield blasters...

 

 

pretty sure that is why

 

 

I'm not pouting at all. I prefer people to go "how the hell did you do that" I have had a few guilds try to recruit me just because I was a PT (It certainly wasn't because of my skill, I suck at PvP)

[Sasheria]

I partner with my wife as Powertech shield tech and it is awesome! I have no issue soaking up damage and controlling the crowd. I have join random Flashpoints and Warzone and doing very well with it.

 

It is an awesome class if you know what you are doing.

[sanctified]

No one knows how cool we are. My guilds pretty surprised at my full ST tanking ability. A low damage but very high survivability build. Good for warzone objectives like hutball carrier and distraction. I often have 3-5 of the other team beating on me while my teammates take the objective.

 

I've been leveling an immortal Juggernaut and a shieldtech PT, and I feel like my PT hits like a damn truck. I've been pvp-ing for giggles and spent a lot of time yesterday grinding from 40-41 through PVP alone. And you know what? Not gonna lie and say I'm topping the charts, but with shielding and dps I've taken third and and second quite a few times. The aoe damage combined with the survivability is too nice. Getting 100k damage is no big for a real dps class, but for a tank? Daaaaamn.

Edited January 19, 2012 by sanctified

[Invalidkommando]

I've been on the fence so much since I started. I was supersure I wanted to play a BH when I first noticed this game. So I rolled a Merc, and had fun with it, but then I got grouped with so many poor tanks that I couldn't take it anymore. I started regretting rolling Merc, but couldn't stand the thought of doing the exact same questline over again, so I rolled a Sith Jugg, when my Merc was level35. Then I got bored of the old lightsaber flashy pewpew boringness, and the fact that saberwielding classes so vastly outweigh the others that I decided to stop drop and roll a PT. The jugg turned level 39.

 

Now I'm a level 16 PT, and I've decided to powerlevel through to Alderaan because I've seen all that once. I love it so far. So much gadgetlove and flames and funtimes all the time, as well as starting with a perfect companion. I just love it. I finally found my class.

 

 

I enjoy being part of the proud and few!

[VonFinklestein]

I love destroying mercs in Huttball. They picked the wrong class.

[VvDingovV]

I've been on the fence so much since I started. I was supersure I wanted to play a BH when I first noticed this game. So I rolled a Merc, and had fun with it, but then I got grouped with so many poor tanks that I couldn't take it anymore. I started regretting rolling Merc, but couldn't stand the thought of doing the exact same questline over again, so I rolled a Sith Jugg, when my Merc was level35. Then I got bored of the old lightsaber flashy pewpew boringness, and the fact that saberwielding classes so vastly outweigh the others that I decided to stop drop and roll a PT. The jugg turned level 39.

 

Now I'm a level 16 PT, and I've decided to powerlevel through to Alderaan because I've seen all that once. I love it so far. So much gadgetlove and flames and funtimes all the time, as well as starting with a perfect companion. I just love it. I finally found my class.

 

 

I enjoy being part of the proud and few!

 

The proud, the few, the Damage Tampons.

[Kyuubil]

People just want to dual wield pistols, and they figure that juggs are the be all end all for PVE tanks so there's no reason to roll powertech.

 

This is actually a false statement for a variety fo reasons.

 

This is as common a misconception as guardians/juggernauts not being good dps (they're insane dps.)

 

Mathmatically speaking PT is better in almost every single way.

 

Resistance: Guardians get the standard 60% heavy armor and 6% flat damage reduction from soresu form.

 

ends them at ~37-40% armor when well geared, iirc.

 

PT gets 60% + 16% + 5% from ion cannister + 2% from ion shield + 2% from prototype armor.

 

3% more flat, but with the armor, most PT's sit at 47% with good gear.

 

and finally, -4% from combust, easily appliable in aoe via flame sweep for another -4% damage

 

(and for comparison shadows, in light armor, get 150% +20% from a talent armor, which actually puts them at about 80% of a guardians armor, and 2% from one talent, not in their tanking tree -- they focus more on defense and shielding than armor; they do however get 9% interna/elemental from one of their stances, (and 10% from their buff, but that's neutral, since most raids will have a sage/sorc, seeing as they're by far the most common class)

 

PT is clear winner here.

 

in terms of shield chance -- PT's get their tanks tstance bonus, 10% from empowered tech, 2% from shield vents, and 4% absorbtion from.. a talent whose name I can't remember.

 

Guardians get.. the bonus from soresu

 

Shadows get 15% from kinetic ward. (5% from their rakata set bonus too, if they have it)

 

Shadows are the clear winner, if they maintain a 12 second buff with 8 charges (1 charge/shield) -- PT's are at 3% less, passively, no charges (which in many cases makes their overall mitigation better if a shadow manages to let kinetic ward drop accidentally

 

Defense:

 

Shadows have 4% from a low level talent, 2% from a talent no one takes (but added fro consideration), -5% to hit from force breach, and 5% more base (inquisitors/consular have 10% base defenses)

 

so 10 + 5 + 4 +2 = 21% defense chance.

 

Guardians have 5% base, 6% from guardian stance (a talent); and 6% for 6 seconds every time they use riposte (on a 6 second cooldown, so we'll just call it "always up")

 

PT's have 16% for 20 seconds via oil slick -- hedge math puts that at ~5% defense, so 10% total.

 

Shadows are kings, guardians in the middle, PT's at the bottom.

 

|

 

Outside things that could add: guardians/juggs have an ability that causes one of their big attacks (blade storm/force scream) to put a bubble on them, but it's currently worthless, bubble is about 800 or so damage, but comes -before- armor, so it pops with less than one hit, and they're on like a 12 second cooldown.

 

That said their resource (focus/rage) builds up over time, so they don't suffer from fatigue in long battles, they're actually weaker at the start of a fight.

 

Shadows are reliant on force, which regenerates at a constant 6/second with a base pool of 100; and maintaining several 15 second buffs/debuffs and procs, so they're on a much higher skill curve.

 

PT's have to manage heat (.. you can trade 10% shield chance to go carolina parakeet and fix that),but also have some of the hands down highest spike damage in our tank spec (the natural OOMPH of our attacks aside, rocket punch is pretty much a garunteed crit for huge damage)

 

=== Most Important Part ===

 

Ranged Tanking; a lot of people say PT's aren't a ranged tank, and well, they aren't.. completely.

 

we have two attacks that requires short range -- Rocket punch, and Flamethrower. For fights where the bosses have an "aoe phase" (that is, makes being in melee a bad idea) -- you have several long ranged moves, rail shot, unload, explosive dart, or hell just shooting them -- you can keep building threat from 30m away.

 

Guardians can't, they have one long ranged attack (saber throw), so when one of those phases come, they have to guardian leap out ot an ally, and.. saber throw.. wait 6 seconds.. saber throw.. leads to them fighting to hold agro.

 

Shadows are in the middle here, they have several 10m moves, and can make one of their big hitters 30m with force potency -- which works, I guess.

 

In a raid, the ability to avoid boss mechanics and still tank trumps any small amount of mitigation they may beat us by

 

So end is:

 

Resistance: PT's are kings (save internal, where shadows/assassins peak ahead)

Shielding: Shadows with bffs up, PT's passively.

Defense: Shadows; with PT's at the bottom of the heap.

 

 

So, typically speaking, overall, a PT is the easiest tank to heal, just takes the lowest damage per hit naturally, while a shadow has the highest "average" mitigation, but it's dependant on the RNG liking their dodges so it's very spikey.

 

Guardian is in the middle, some dodges, some armor, a weak shield.. but suffer from the fact that half of the talents in their tanking tree are.. pretty worthless, just reduced cost on things, not actual mitigation bonuses.

 

That said all tanks can tank, just.. the misconception that PT's are bottom of the barrel is so hilariously wrong it's not funny.

 

Also to OP: it's just mercs being flashier, and better dps (all classes are NOT equal in dps, there is no "hybrid tax" perse, but some trees have more utility, less dps -- compare a AP PT to a arsenal merc, merc has more aoe, does truckloads more damage but.. that's it, whereas the AP PT does less damage, but has a lot more of a toolbox to play with. and more versatility.) -- I, to this day, with my PT at 39, constantly think of rerolling, simply ffor the aoe pewpew.. that and well healers on my server are mediocre, did FAthers of Taris yesterday, died 14 times (not my fault. operative kept breaking stealth before he'd CC, so i'd have to energy shield -> DFA -> Charge -> Flame sweep, and i'd get all the agro, but both of our "Healers" were dps specced, and kept trying to dps, so.. i'd drop before I got a single heal -- and i'm a maxed cybertech, so every piece of my armor save boots and belt are orange with all blue up to level mods in them =/)

[Jazzlok]

I'll tell you the main reason why I've been trying to stay away from Powertechs (and failing miserably). I think long-term.

 

I know that, at some point, I'm going to make a force-user. I'm a Star Wars fan, so whilst I'm not a 'ooh Jedi, shiny!' player I know that at some point I'll want to smack people over the head with a lightsaber. Main problem is... that's all melee, really. I wanted to make a Sith Jugg and a Sith Assassin, and I already had an Operative which I thought was my main. My Republic main was even a Commando, which I enjoyed a lot.

 

Powertechs are just... SO COOL THOUGH! I can't stay away. I've even abandoned my Operative to be a Sniper and plan on rolling a Sith Sorc at some point (something I thought I'd never do) just so I can stick with my Powertech.

 

Basically, the way I see it, the Mercenary is like Jango Fett. Pretty damn cool, elegant, twin blasters, some missiles, enjoyable.

 

The Powertech is like Boba Fett. Just... awesome. If you've read any of the extra Bounty Hunter books, Boba Fett is exactly like the Powertech. I especially like the main function of his Mandalorian armour - not just 360 degree vision, but a built-in video recorder. This is because many of his clients, like Jabba the Hutt, like it when he brings back footage of his kills, so he has a tendency to walk up to his victims then jam a flamethrower in their face before uploading it to youtube.

 

Real men only need one pistol. Mercs are over-compensating. Don't even get me started on Commandos.

[maschovy]

I love my PT.

 

I played a Jugg to 16th. That was enough. I was just bored to tears with him and when I couldn't get aggro off of my wife's equally leveled sorc companion I had had enough. I started researching other classes and found the PT. Didn't realize, at first, that this game had more than 1 tank class. I rolled one the following day. Wow. While I never really cared for my Jugg, even at the single digit levels, I loved my BH from the very beginning. It was love at first Missile Blast and every time I get a new toy I fall in love all over again. Just got Flame Sweep and I'm suddenly finding myself at max heat in nearly every fight. Gotta figure out how ... to ... stop ... hitting .. that .. button....

 

PTs just have sooo many toys. For the first time ever, I've had to figure out how to configure the extra buttons on my mouse and set them to the alt and ctrl keys so that I could fill up 3 rows of skills and be able to use them all. Oh, and my wife's sorc? She's still playing it. I've caught up to her. I've been tanking for her for a couple weeks now and I can safely say that the only time her pet pulls aggro is during his taunt. As soon as it wears off the mob switches right back to me.

 

Finally, I don't understand why people think it looks stupid tanking with a blaster pistol. I love unloading right into someone's face. Really pay attention the next time you do it and you'll actually wince and go wow, that's really got to hurt!

 

Oh, and earlier someone mentioned ranged tanking. A lot of people have said the PT can't do it. BS. Are we more effective at melee range? Sure. Can we also range tank? Yep. Got lots of toys to happily blast you, and keep aggro no prob, from 30 m away. No more running around after mobs for me! I can safely tank 3 to 4 stationary mobs all several meters from myself and each other. Show me the Jugg that can do that! And in a couple levels I get jet charge. From what I've read, after that, my addiction will be complete.

 

A thread I read a few days ago summed it up perfectly:

 

"How can Juggs be the better tank when their charge doesn't even leave a flame trail??"

[swampthing]

\Good for warzone objectives like hutball carrier and distraction. I often have 3-5 of the other team beating on me while my teammates take the objective.

 

 

 

That's what i do. i'm convinced people are stupid or just bad. I can easily get people to beat on me while the ball goes right past them and they'll stay on me until i'm dead meanwhile we've scored and allready have the ball again. The funny part is when you kill one of them they'll then ignore the ball completely and run straight across the field just to get to you to try and kill you. the vast majority of people are really really bad at objective based PVP, i could care less if i lose a fight if i win the game as that's where the points are.

[Durcbjorn]

our guild has 15-20 people on at any given time, so it's a fairly large guild

 

I believe I'm one of only two powertechs... and I'm 40, he's 16 or something.

 

I think we're both shield spec.

 

Decent number of mercs. Lots of sorcs, assassins, juggernauts, marauders. Pretty low numbers on the sniper/operatives too. Like maybe 1 or 2 of each.

 

So I'd say the rarest are

 

powertech

operative

sniper

 

At least in our guild.

 

I personally love that powertech is so rare. It makes me so unique. And everyone loves a tank, and they are often surprised at how good a tank I am (and I don't feel like I'm the bomb or anything).

 

Also, sometimes groups will do 1 healer, two tanks, 1 dps and we do great. Maybe in hardmodes that's not enough dps, but for pre-50 flashpoints it makes it super easy on the healer. If its me and a juggernaut, we got a good combo of abilities too.

 

I love being so resilient though, having strong short range moves, but still being able to do range damage if needed (missles/railshot/unload). Also taunts/guard are great in pve and pvp.

[Xizidor]

our guild has 15-20 people on at any given time, so it's a fairly large guild

 

I believe I'm one of only two powertechs... and I'm 40, he's 16 or something.

 

I think we're both shield spec.

 

Decent number of mercs. Lots of sorcs, assassins, juggernauts, marauders. Pretty low numbers on the sniper/operatives too. Like maybe 1 or 2 of each.

 

So I'd say the rarest are

 

powertech

operative

sniper

 

At least in our guild.

 

I personally love that powertech is so rare. It makes me so unique. And everyone loves a tank, and they are often surprised at how good a tank I am (and I don't feel like I'm the bomb or anything).

 

Also, sometimes groups will do 1 healer, two tanks, 1 dps and we do great. Maybe in hardmodes that's not enough dps, but for pre-50 flashpoints it makes it super easy on the healer. If its me and a juggernaut, we got a good combo of abilities too.

 

I love being so resilient though, having strong short range moves, but still being able to do range damage if needed (missles/railshot/unload). Also taunts/guard are great in pve and pvp.

 

You right on the numbers. I posted my servers balance in this thread:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=1873883#post1873883

[Militum]

Powertech is awesome.

 

I have longed for a ranged tank in every MMO I have played over the past 10 years. If you are a true Tank-Head Powertech is a must play - mileage will vary.

[VaelMacoss]

Have a decently geared level 50 juggernaut tank, and decided to roll a PT once I got sick of having next to no reliable AoE threat.

 

I have no plans to go back whatsoever.

[Kabaal]

 

Resistance: Guardians get the standard 60% heavy armor and 6% flat damage reduction from soresu form.

 

ends them at ~37-40% armor when well geared, iirc.

 

PT gets 60% + 16% + 5% from ion cannister + 2% from ion shield + 2% from prototype armor.

 

3% more flat, but with the armor, most PT's sit at 47% with good gear.

 

 

This is wrong, Jugg/Guardian gets just the same armour % as you do. My Juggernaut sits at a fraction of a % off 47% too. You do have us beat with shields though.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Kabaal

[Kyuubil]

This is wrong, Jugg/Guardian gets just the same armour % as you do. My Juggernaut sits at a fraction of a % off 47% too. You do have us beat with shields though.

 

Except the part where they don't.

 

Both wear heavy armor. Exact same base.

 

We get a talent hat increases it by 16% more so by definition we have 16% more armor -rating-

 

now % damage decrease talents actually show up on your stat sheet as straight bonuses to mitigation, so you guys have +6%, with all the talents we have +9%.

 

So regardless, we have 3% more mitigation and 16% more armor. we do have more mitigation than you. Straight number don't lie.

 

I should however mention that those ~37% etc I gave were ballparks, so a good PT is probably closer to 52%? then.

 

anyhow, by design, juggs are the middle ground, asassins are low mitgation high defense/shield, PT's are high mitigation high shield, no defense.

[Jaysun]

I love destroying mercs in Huttball. They picked the wrong class.

 

THAT :cool:

[Kabaal]

 

So regardless, we have 3% more mitigation and 16% more armor. we do have more mitigation than you. Straight number don't lie.

 

 

You gave a number for juggernaut which was wrong and i took your word for your number for powertech, that hardly makes me a liar but rather you wrong with your first post.

[Kyuubil]

You gave a number for juggernaut which was wrong and i took your word for your number for powertech, that hardly makes me a liar but rather you wrong with your first post.

 

I gave a ballpark number, .. then gave exact numbers as to whyI gave those two ballpark numbers.

 

You ignored the exact numbers then called me wrong based on ballpark numbers, the ~ was in front of those numbers because they were inexact.

 

It's fine, and all, was just pointing out that.. the actual numbers were in the same post, but you called me out like they weren't.