It gets better..chin up mates.

[Canuk]

I see alot of lower level or undergeared sins complaining were underpowered or gimped.

I see it in guild chat, general chat and on these boards.

I just want to let you know were very, very weapon and gear dependent.

Before i had full champ gear and a champ 2 hander i did ok but struggled with some classes with a 8/31/2 build.

As soon as i got full champ it was like a new world i destroy same gear leveled people generally and most fights completely come down to skill and rotation etc.

Its definitely not a faceroll class, you have to watch your procs and time your burst but when done right you can be a very potent damage dealer.

Add to the fact that you can exit combat and fight on your own terms i think were very well balanced.

Don't give up on the class imho its the most gear dependent class in the game because so much of what we do depends on weapon damage and cri/surge.

So have a good day and keep goin, it will get better.

Warriors in WoW had the same issue, bad when undergeared and monsters once geared.

Its the nature of the class. I like the fact that gear is so huge it makes upgrade time that much more important and not linear like sorcerers.

Have a good day and have some fun.

Edited January 22, 2012 by Canuk

[Trayes]

I have a Battlemaster weapon and some BM gear mixed with champ gear. I can tell you our class STILL has problems. Our main problem is our damage does not equal that of ranged classes. If you think we do something well, you should know a ranged does it better. Roll a BH and at level 10 choose Merc. Watch as you deal 250k damage from 30m away while wearing HEAVY armor with skills that lower the damage you take by a %.

[Sabbathius]

Roll a BH and at level 10 choose Merc. Watch as you deal 250k damage from 30m away while wearing HEAVY armor with skills that lower the damage you take by a %.

 

Or he can do this when he gets to 50:

 

 

Seriously though, of course it gets better later on as you get more and more tools. Just the other day someone on Merc forums was saying "get to 40, get full PvP set, it gets good". Well, duh? Show me a class that DOESN'T get good when you have most of your tools and fantastic gear for your level to boot?

 

The class has problems. Just like every class in the game does. In some cases it's small buffs/tweaks that are needed. In some, complete class overhaul (Sorcerers, their force pool makes them obscenely easy to play and Mercs with Tracer spam).

[yokoolio]

If anything I think they need to nerf mercs. They already severely nerfed troopers by taking away the "call reinforcements" ability...

[Mcfondles]

Or he can do this when he gets to 50:

 

 

Seriously though, of course it gets better later on as you get more and more tools. Just the other day someone on Merc forums was saying "get to 40, get full PvP set, it gets good". Well, duh? Show me a class that DOESN'T get good when you have most of your tools and fantastic gear for your level to boot?

 

The class has problems. Just like every class in the game does. In some cases it's small buffs/tweaks that are needed. In some, complete class overhaul (Sorcerers, their force pool makes them obscenely easy to play and Mercs with Tracer spam).

 

Lol.. that video was hilarious! he had one ability on his toolbar haha..

[Zederok]

I have a Battlemaster weapon and some BM gear mixed with champ gear. I can tell you our class STILL has problems. Our main problem is our damage does not equal that of ranged classes. If you think we do something well, you should know a ranged does it better. Roll a BH and at level 10 choose Merc. Watch as you deal 250k damage from 30m away while wearing HEAVY armor with skills that lower the damage you take by a %.

 

QFT.

 

I am at 500+ Expertise. The class only gets better vs freshly new level 50's. Fighting geared 50's is an excercise in frustration. Your damage is still pathetically weaker vs any other class in the game.

 

I would gladly and in a minute give up one of our utility CC effects for more Burst damage and slightly better defense.

[GregMD]

I have a Battlemaster weapon and some BM gear mixed with champ gear. I can tell you our class STILL has problems. Our main problem is our damage does not equal that of ranged classes. If you think we do something well, you should know a ranged does it better. Roll a BH and at level 10 choose Merc. Watch as you deal 250k damage from 30m away while wearing HEAVY armor with skills that lower the damage you take by a %.

you don't get grav round/tracer missle until like 21 so you wouldn't be dominating anything at lvl10, not to mention mercs/commandos have their own set of problems. I destroy just about every class on my vanguard, especially mercs.

[Darth_Paddy]

Haha - that video is funny...goes to show what many are complaining about.

 

I rolled a bounty hunter alt myself and so far I am at a much lower level than the person in this video, but from the start i have felt more powerful and find it much easier to play than my Deception Assassin....yet i wont give up on my Assassin

[Trayes]

you don't get grav round/tracer missle until like 21 so you wouldn't be dominating anything at lvl10, not to mention mercs/commandos have their own set of problems. I destroy just about every class on my vanguard, especially mercs.

 

Well you dont seem to know much about the class. Powershot is a weaker Tracer. However it lets you apply your dot from your weapon buff. This dot does around 900 damage and can crit for 600 and applies its first tick on hit.

 

You are 100% wrong. A level 10 brings more then enough to pull 200k+ damage.

 

Try this.

 

Rapid Shot > Explosive Dart > Power Shot > Rail Shot (If rapid Shot or Power shot put the dot up)

[bountywookies]

it's true, like i've said in other posts we're much better at the higher levels, because of the gears. I almost have full champ gear, and i destroy.

[Drokisannath]

I am at 500+ Expertise. The class only gets better vs freshly new level 50's. Fighting geared 50's is an excercise in frustration. Your damage is still pathetically weaker vs any other class in the game.

 

This is the truth.

 

Battlemaster here, now the brackets are in, i just don't ever attack anyone with BM gear, and avoid whenever i can attacking champion geared guys.

 

So I grinded biochem, valor, Stuff, Level on a char in order to be able to kill fresh 50....

 

 

 

Rerolled BH btw...

[Ekemeister]

What about Madness spec?

[KhealThar]

Mercs/Commandos are only strong if you leave them free to free cast on you. If you just put 1 melee class or anyone with an interrupt, they're useless.

 

As you can see in that youtube video, everyone ignores him.

 

 

It's definitely frustrating fighting mercs with light armor though, they do so much damage to my assassin, if I don't immediately get on them, I'm basically forced to cloak or die.

[Amien]

I have a Battlemaster weapon and some BM gear mixed with champ gear. I can tell you our class STILL has problems. Our main problem is our damage does not equal that of ranged classes. If you think we do something well, you should know a ranged does it better. Roll a BH and at level 10 choose Merc. Watch as you deal 250k damage from 30m away while wearing HEAVY armor with skills that lower the damage you take by a %.

 

This is mostly because they have a lot of AoE moves and while you get lots of damage and kills, you don't do as much single target. To me comparing AoE damage and Single Target is like comparing over healing to healers who want to be useful and not have to top everyone off.

[FRISKI]

Almost in full champion gear, had to respec Madness to be able to get medals and actually have an impact in WZs. I am not enjoying myself as much as I would be though if I could do as well by being Deception spec simply because I prefer to play as the dps / bursty role which is what I had in mind when I picked Assassin as my main. I really do hope they rework the damage aspect of this class to meet people's expectations more.

[Sabbathius]

Mercs/Commandos are only strong if you leave them free to free cast on you. If you just put 1 melee class or anyone with an interrupt, they're useless.

 

You need to fight some half-decent ones, not absolute noobs.

 

On my Merc, I put 11 points into healing tree. Yes, I lose Heatseeker, but it's on 15 sec CD and not really a big deal with Tracer hitting for as much as it does.

 

Guess what that 11th point does? While Static Shield is up, I am immune to interrupts. Get in my face, I will knock you back. Get in my face again, I will knock you back again. Do it again, I will stun you. And when you FINALLY get on top of me, I'll just pop Static Shield and keep freecasting at you while you're uselessly blowing your interrupts and laugh.

 

The only way to beat a half-decent Merc is not to fight one.

[Bludjinni]

Mercs/Commandos are only strong if you leave them free to free cast on you. If you just put 1 melee class or anyone with an interrupt, they're useless.

 

As you can see in that youtube video, everyone ignores him.

 

 

It's definitely frustrating fighting mercs with light armor though, they do so much damage to my assassin, if I don't immediately get on them, I'm basically forced to cloak or die.

 

This really. Let anyone freecast for a prolonged amount of time and you will get (rightfully) obliterated. This goes for BHs, Sorcerers, snipers, etc. Honestly if I pay proper attention to who my opponents are and where they are located (LoS) it's not that complicated to put up very competitive play as an assassin (and I'm not full champ geared).

 

I proved this again for myself anyway on my bounty hunter, which I rolled. I'm a maniac when people ignore me and they do so often because people just tend to have the environmental awareness of a bulldozer on speed, but the moment a melee decides to pay me a visit I'm likely toast or at least a threat very easily nullified; an issue assassins doesn't have because they can and will continue to hit like a truck (because, really, you're exaggerating, assassins can and will be extremely painful if played correctly).

 

(this does not mean merc's burst is fine, because imo it's not, but as already mentioned, mercs have other issues to deal with).

 

In short, both have their cons and prons. Mercs being vastly easier to play with the downside that you lack the buttons to put up any sort of defense when you or your friend really are targeted, assassins heavily relying on proper opening with cooldowns (hoping you can align them properly without the game refusing to pop one or another) to do some serious damage, but with more abilities to protect your healers adequately and with escape mechanisms if our glass cannon attacks didn't burn through enemy ranks fast enough, as well as bringing a whole lot more utility than a merc can ever hope to have. In short, for me, that's just way more fun than just stand in a corner and blast my tracer missile button through my keyboard. I feel useful on my assassin in warzones and like I'm contributing something; on my merc I just hope my raw output makes up for the many shortcomings I in comparison to my assassin displayed.

 

I dunno. I vastly prefer my assassin and it's a relief to log her after my merc.

 

 

But yeah, to each their own. I suppose we're all a bit biased about the classes we prefer or are disappointed about.

[Mortec]

Almost in full champion gear, had to respec Madness to be able to get medals and actually have an impact in WZs. I am not enjoying myself as much as I would be though if I could do as well by being Deception spec simply because I prefer to play as the dps / bursty role which is what I had in mind when I picked Assassin as my main. I really do hope they rework the damage aspect of this class to meet people's expectations more.

 

So close to being me.

 

Got the Deception blues at the moment. I'm seriously considering re-spec'ing to Madness.

 

And on the flip side, my baby sniper, at level 13 now, is racking up points/damage/kills/medals/what-have-you..

 

Hmpf

[Astarica]

You need to fight some half-decent ones, not absolute noobs.

 

On my Merc, I put 11 points into healing tree. Yes, I lose Heatseeker, but it's on 15 sec CD and not really a big deal with Tracer hitting for as much as it does.

 

Guess what that 11th point does? While Static Shield is up, I am immune to interrupts. Get in my face, I will knock you back. Get in my face again, I will knock you back again. Do it again, I will stun you. And when you FINALLY get on top of me, I'll just pop Static Shield and keep freecasting at you while you're uselessly blowing your interrupts and laugh.

 

The only way to beat a half-decent Merc is not to fight one.

 

The KBs isn't hard to deal with if you know what you're doing as an Assassin, but the interrupt immune shield is the showstopper. Once they use that, you cannot stop them without using a hard CC. Since both classes possess an equal number of hard CCs (technically we have Spike, but it is very dangerous to use such a short stun in PvP due to resolve) you can assume they'll just get canceled out.

 

That said, Mercs are probably the strongest nonbroken class right now and presents a serious matchup problem for any class. They basically can do everything and have a simple counter to almost everything. They're hard to kill and they do a lot of damage, and they can even heal themselves. While it's not autowin, they are certainly more likely to win in an even fight compared to virtually any other class in the game, aside from an Operative in stealth.

 

By the way trying to interrupt someone who is immune doesn't use up the interrupt (thankfully).

Edited January 23, 2012 by Astarica

[Sabbathius]

The KBs isn't hard to deal with if you know what you're doing as an Assassin, but the interrupt immune shield is the showstopper. Once they use that, you cannot stop them without using a hard CC. Since both classes possess an equal number of hard CCs (technically we have Spike, but it is very dangerous to use such a short stun in PvP due to resolve) you can assume they'll just get canceled out.

 

Well yeah, technically there's CC. But usually they blow the shield only after you blew most/all CC or their resolve bar is getting close to full. With heavy armor they have quite a bit of leeway there.

 

It's the same with snipers, actually. People just say "don't let them freecast". Umm, yeah...20 second duration Entrench, in cover. They are immune to BOTH CC and any interrupts. Cooldown? 60 seconds. So, statistically, they are immune to all CC and all interrupts 33% of the time. Good luck "not letting them freecast". Your only option is LOS, which is often not an option unless you're willing to walk away from an objective, or die, or burn them down. If you try for the burn, between Deterrence and Shield Probe and so on, plus all the CC they have (stun, blind, knockback with auto root, ranged root), they can easily tank you.

 

All too often, when I see "I have no problem with X" posts, it's usually from someone who's been 50 and killing level 20s. Or killing 50s who don't know their class very well yet. Wait until you meet someone who takes full advantage of their class - like a Sorc or Merc who actually have Purge and Cure hotkeyed, and know when to use it, and it's a whole other ball game.

[KhealThar]

You need to fight some half-decent ones, not absolute noobs.

 

On my Merc, I put 11 points into healing tree. Yes, I lose Heatseeker, but it's on 15 sec CD and not really a big deal with Tracer hitting for as much as it does.

 

Guess what that 11th point does? While Static Shield is up, I am immune to interrupts. Get in my face, I will knock you back. Get in my face again, I will knock you back again. Do it again, I will stun you. And when you FINALLY get on top of me, I'll just pop Static Shield and keep freecasting at you while you're uselessly blowing your interrupts and laugh.

 

The only way to beat a half-decent Merc is not to fight one.

 

Well if the melee is stupid enough to keep running at you without trying to break LOS, then yeah.

 

You should also fight some half decent melee Assassins have tons of CC to use to their advantage.

 

I'm not saying mercs are EASY kills, I just don't think they're overpowered. It's just annoying sometimes when he's off from a distance and I'm trying to CC the ball carrier or something and my life bar is getting destroyed

[Alpinesun]

Lol.. that video was hilarious! he had one ability on his toolbar haha..

 

Jesus!!

 

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