Full Auto and Mortar Volley STILL HORRIBLY BUGGED

[NeoHogger]

Just to add my 2 cents here. I play both a level 50 Vanguard and a level 50 Powertech.

 

For the Trooper Vanguard, the delay between the cast bar and the actual animation / damage is about 1.5 seconds. I read here on some page that in an earlier version of the game, these abilities had 4 'ticks' of damage, I think starting from the beginning of the cast bar and finishing the last tick after the cast bar disappeared. Probably what they did was to remove the first tick, thus leaving the first 1-1.5 seconds of the actual cast bar doing nothing.

 

However, what I have noticed is this: as long as I wait for the cast bar to complete (to be more clear: the ability is not prematurely interrupted, either by me moving or being interrupted by another player/mob), I can move or queue up another attack/action and the last tick of damage STILL does its effect on target. The funniest is Mortar Volley, since the first grenade goes towards the enemy at 1.5 seconds, the second at 3 seconds an when the cast bar actually finishes, I can stat moving and the last one or even two shots will fire while I am already running away and able to fire off another ability.

 

This is a problem in PvP however, because the projected texture on the ground that is the Mortar Volley target area makes it very easy for players to avoid that damage.

 

Regarding the Bounty Hunter Powertech, in that same post I read that Unload and Death from Above had only three damage ticks to begin with. And in gameplay I feel very little to no delay when firing off these abilities. Also I have never experienced any king of lag before firing off Unload or Death from Above (as in I press the ability button and the cast bar / animation / damage happens immediately with no delay). In PvP it is much easier to dish out area damage with Death from Above than it is with Mortar Volley. Even if the enemy players notice the projected texture and move out of the area, I can get one or two rockets to hit them.

 

Which brings me to a face to face comparison

 

1. Auto Fire vs Unload. There is, indeed, an animation delay for the Auto Fire. However, as long as I am not interrupted during the casting bar, both abilities will deal all damage ticks. At least this has been my experience so far (I've been playing the game since December 16th 2011, early access). And both abilities provide a nice help: as long as I am channeling them on a moving target (especially in PvP where players move very hectic to try and confuse me) my character automatically turns to face the target, thus negating their spastic movements So the difference here is not really gamebreaking in my opinion.

 

2. Mortar Volley vs Death from Above. In this case, as long as I am not interrupted uring the cast bar, both abilities will deal the damage. However there are two major differences that, in my opinion, make Mortar Volley clearly inferior to Death from Above.

** First: the 1.5 seconds delay before Mortar Volley starts launching grenades. This gives enemy players plenty of time to avoi the damage entirely. I even saw someone say "even mobs can avoi that LOL". I agree.

** Second: Mortar Volley grenades take a longer time to travel from your location to the target area than the time taken by rockets fired off by Death from Above. This also adds insult to injury so to speak.

 

This is what I have noticed and what my thoughts are. I am also waiting for a fix from Bioware, sice the Trooper is my main and I am somewhat disappointed. However I don't rely on those too much, as I play Vanguard Tank in PvP, so these two channeled abilities are not really my core abilities. Mostly I use Sticky Grenade and then Storm in and start punching enemies in the face with Stockstrikes, Impact Bolts, Ion Pulses etc. On the Bounty Hunter I play as a Powertech DPS in PvP, specced as Pyrotech for maximum Railshot damage (+damage and +armor penetration talents for 90% armor penetration if the target is burning). In this case I use Unload and Death from Above every single time they are available since I have 30% crit and 80% crit bonus damage (on the character sheet) and these deal quite a bit of damage. But from this point of view I feel sorry for those Trooper Vanguards that play Assault Specialist spec for PvP DPS.

 

BIOWARE, please solve this ASAP!

Thank you very much,

Hogger

[tkshinoda]

This is getting a bit old ya, i play a Merc and a Vanguard, and when i hit Death From Above on my merc it triggers dmg the very next 0.3sec after activation, while my trooper just stands there with his finger up his bum for almost 1.5sec doing.... nothing same goes for unload and full auto, unload starts the second you hit the button... full auto takes a full second before anything actually happens.

 

Both of these animations delays make the trooper skill: Mortar volley and Full auto obsolete in pvp. well almost. :3

Edited February 3, 2012 by tkshinoda

[Rabbitfoot]

Yea fix this please.

[PRSturm]

Or perhaps the idea is that people get fair-warning before getting spammed with damage. I play Vanguard, and I've just come to understand the delay as a realistic portrayal of mortar fire- an area effect weapon that is not point-target capable, just like IRL. You don't aim for people with mortars, you aim for areas. So if you're trying to use Mortar Volley anywhere that isn't an "established" fight, you're doing it wrong.

[NeoHogger]

Your point is valid, I agree. In some sort of "real life" shooter simulator that would be definitely the idea. BUT the same can be said about Death from Above.

 

The thing here though is that BOTH abilities provide the "fair warning" because both abilities make use of the projected texture on the target area. But the fact remains that the 1.5 sec delay between the cast bar / area target texture and the actual amage being dealt makes Mortar Volley almost useless compare to Death From Above. With DFA I can get AT LEAST one tick of damage on enemies. With MV I am lucky to get AT MOST one tick of damage. Of course, the fact that there are some players that don't pay attention to the projected texture and therefore stand there getting battered by mortar at least makes it somewhat useful. But that is all.

 

The problem here is that DFA and MV should be "mirrored" abilities, meaning that their cast bars and damage timing should be the same. They are not. And DFA would work IRL just the same as MV. You would target an area for bombardment. But even like that, rockets would hit the intended area much faster and in a much more precise manner than a mortar shell ever would. That is why, in any military confrontation that's ever seen the use of mortars, the first one / two shots from those weapons would almost always miss their intended target area even. Because mortars are very imprecise. And even if we would say "ok, this is a SCI FI game, so the Vanguard's weapon has a sophisticated targeting system", the problem woul still remain: mortar shells take a HUGE time to travel to the targeted area, unlike rockets launched by DFA.

 

I do get your point. But in the case of this game, I find the MV mechanic utterly broken and disappointing.

[Iteporpa]

I have a bigger problem with full auto. There are 13 talent point just in the gunnery tree, that is mention and buffing Full Auto. It is a very important ability both in pvp and pve. Now if you got damaged while casting (IR you just stand still and waiting for it to shoot out) you only do 2 tick of damage. That is 66.66% damage of the ability, and grav round do more damage for the same amount of ammo. A lot of boss have AOE, a lot of boss have adds, and if you do your role well, you will attack the adds not the boss, so you can get accidental aggro easily. In pvp you will be damaged for sure. So, why will you risk a lower dps ability? All of us will use grav round, and ingnore our 13 talent point ability. This is not good.

[Somewherehiding]

Bump... HELLO DEVS?

[Warkyd]

Bump... HELLO DEVS?

Devs are too busy making funny/cool sith quests that pardoy movies based on famous SNL skits to care about commandos.

 

Pretty sure commandos are still waiting for an escape mechanism like the other 2 healing classes have.

[the_coaltrain]

Pretty sure commandos are still waiting for an escape mechanism like the other 2 healing classes have.

 

I think they gave them one... it's called release and will give you FULL HP and move you all the way to the starting gate.

[BounceDK]

I've witnessed 2 hits instead of 3 mutliple times (no not boss fights), effectively making me lose 3-5k damage. Fix this soon please.

[Lachryphage]

Curiously, the Bounty Hunters version of this ability, named "Unload", DOES NOT behave like this. It deploys nearly instantly, and does not lose any ticks if you take any damage.

Yes it does. I have a lv34 powertech and it definitely does lose a tick. That's why it's not on my bar anymore. I'm a tank so I'm pretty much always taking damage.

 

Simple people are easily impressed by things such as shooting lightning out one's backside and near copyright infringement dragon rocket punches (I am quite tempted to simpy replace rocket punch's sound with "Shoryuken!"

I actually really hate rocket punch. I mean, come on! I'm punching a giant droid? Seriously?! That should break my hand, not damage the droid.

Edited July 14, 2013 by Lachryphage

[Gyronamics]

Digging up the dead?

[Ryllynyth]

Losing tics of damage on channeled abilities is a feature, not a bug. It's called 'pushback' and it's been a staple of MMOs for a long time now.

[BounceDK]

Losing tics of damage on channeled abilities is a feature, not a bug. It's called 'pushback' and it's been a staple of MMOs for a long time now.

 

********. When nothing is hitting me, how can I be suffering from pushbacks?