bounty hunter nightmare - advice needed

[teambff]

i'm currently at level 33 and very close to levelling up and reaching 34.

 

i've had a horrible time with the bounty hunter up to this point, i'll start by going back to the beginning.

 

(this was all back at early access when i started by the way before a bunch of information was out there)

 

being a fan of lacey chabert all the way back to when she was on party of five, upon finding out she did the voice acting of mako who i thought was interesting before i even knew lacey was voicing her... without a doubt it was my first choice to experience the story along side lacey chabert/mako. (the same reason for my second choice, sith warrior and rachel leigh cook)

 

so... i get to level 10 and the big decision is presented: which path do you choose, the red pill or the blue pill.

 

i made the wrong choice.

 

admittingly it was my fault because i didn't see the future clearly, i knew i was going to use mako all the way through and so i should've researched her role and i didn't, i had no idea she healed which if i understood that i would've picked the other advanced class choice, but because i had this idea in my mind that i would probably want to heal later (i didn't know that bounty hunter healing sucked the big one) so i went with the mercenary.

 

mako doesn't do good damage and she doesn't heal very well at all, she has this move where she shocks someone for like 5 seconds which is basically the only reason i've killed alot of the harder mobs because i just heal myself back up when she shocks them, i can't rely on her healing me, i always have to heal myself, i've kept her geared with anything that i've found... even equipped her with a purple/epic helmet.. and any upgrades with cunning i've given to her but she just doesn't heal me well because she throws like 1 heal out there and that's it for a bit.

 

the mercenary dps is pretty good, building up heat can be annoying but with the arsenal tree i don't have much trouble destroying my enemies... but it's sooooooooo boring. the tracer missile spam is unbearable, and even with heavy armor i'm still pretty weak and get destroyed pretty easily by elite enemies or a multitude of enemies.

 

the story suprised me, i've enjoyed it more than i thought i would which is a plus.

 

i've recently tried to change over to bodyguard healing but between mako and i we couldn't kill anything, there was a hard enemy and it took us 5 minutes between us to actually take him down when it would've taken like 30seconds as arsenal, in fairness he was one of the few ones that actually heals himself but still. mako doesn't do enough damage for me to be a healer.

 

obviously the big problem is that i should've chosen the other advanced class with mako, i think i would've had a better time overall.

 

now, as the situation stands i'm on quesh at level 33 going on 34 and all my quests are red and like level 37-40, with a class spec that i despise, i have a hard time doing quests because i hate fighting with the merc and so the quests become a burden.

 

the last thing i desire to do is go back through the planets i've been on to grind out quests i've missed to try and make up a few levels.

 

can anyone give me advice on what to do? how do i gain a few levels to catch up to my planet progress? and how do i make mako spam heals on me so i'm not close to dying every fight? is the basic damage tree a viable option instead of arsenal, less spam perhaps?

 

i just need to make it through 17 more levels, it's going to be tough haha.

Edited February 4, 2012 by teambff

[mhjam]

I have a 49 healer, solo all the way. And heal speced, hadnt had any problems. Than agian i use gault, and depending on the fight either heal or dmg.

 

Most times will open with area effect dmg

 

Love doing pvp as a healer

 

 

A couple times i had to leavea boss and level and than come back, but dosnt happen often.

[teambff]

I have a 49 healer, solo all the way. And heal speced, hadnt had any problems. Than agian i use gault, and depending on the fight either heal or dmg.

 

Most times will open with area effect dmg

 

Love doing pvp as a healer

 

 

A couple times i had to leavea boss and level and than come back, but dosnt happen often.

 

yeah the big problem there is i need to use mako all the way, it's the only reason i chose to go with bounty hunter.

 

if i could heal it would actually solve alot of issues, but healing with mako as my companion doesn't go so well... i've tried it and fights take sooo long, it's just not a solid option.

 

i'm sure with gault it would be alot better.

 

do you get experience in pvp? maybe i could just pvp for a few levels to fix my current planet progress -x- quest progress problem.

Edited February 4, 2012 by teambff

[SheGeek]

I use Mako for almost everything I do. I am a Merc w/ Aresonal spec level 49. I am able to control my heat fairly well. Mostly by using non-heat attacks in-between my missles, unload and such. I have found very little I couldn't take head-on. OK the two guys on Voss I had to come back at 49 and kill cuz at 47 I was dying too fast.

My rotation for lower MOBs is Death from Above and AOE attacks. If there is a hard with multiples I stun the hard guy and take the others down with Unload and non-AOE attacks...let my heat disappate on it's own and I use Tracer Missles 3x, rail shot, stun, unload, and then switch between non-heat and missle attacks until dead.

I love my build.

I love my merc.

I hope that helps.

[bahdasz]

Seems kind of wierd to me that Mako isn't healing you, seems to me that's and the electro shock thing is about all she does. When I first got Gault I used him constantly for the DPS, but tbh, with both of them getting only unmodified weapon damage I find Mako's healing 95 times more useful/desireable than Gault's damage, especially with the kind of DPS I can throw out myself. That's just with a level 32 Pyrotech, so things could still change as I level up, but it would have to be a drastic change. Do you have all of her heals selected to auto? I know it sounds silly, but they could be accidtentally toggled to manual and you didn't notice.

[Irongrin]

Lvling my merc compared to say sorc, was so damn easy, I don't even remember dying at all until Taris I think? Gault almost had me, but I was caught of guard by the dmg he did and I was even 33 at the time. I almost never had to use the re-charge ability unless I missmanaged my heat because of lazyness, it was just rushing between the packs. I also played as arsenal the whole way.

[Solemnone]

I always use Mako, and much for the same reason you do. I'm arsenal spec, and if anything I usually feel entirely too powerful, plowing through mobs like a beast. What I do differently however, is that I do all of the quest, I do my space combat dailies, and pvp daily. The downside to this is that I am hitting lv50 and I haven't even finished Voss yet(meaning I have an entire other planet to do after planet Voss).

 

BH can destroy about anything in a DPS spec, and even in the healing spec I would think, it sounds like you're just skipping a lot of quests and taking on content that you're not meant to be taking on. Pesonally I would go back and quest; this gets you gear, and coms to buy more gear. If that really isn't your thing, then do PvP. And be sure to check out the PVP vendor; he sells some nice looking lv 40 gear, already modded with great stats. And do your space missions; if you don't like questing, then these are basically essential, because they give a lot of xp almost effortlessly. Having issues with space combat? Visit the ship vendor and upgrade your ships gear to lv 3 and it's a breeze. (really easy without the upgrades, but just incase).

[AyleenaDee]

Level 33 is way too low for Quesh. You really do need to backtrack and do some non-story line quests or some space missions. You get exp, credits, and affection with Mako and it's always a help. I am level 39 and just finished Quesh, and I have over 400k credits in the bank and doing fine.

 

As an Arsenel Merc, it is a little tough but Mako really starts to shine at level 35. She gets an aoe heal at level 35 and now I can do elites with almost no problem. Even melee arent hard any more. I admit the tracer spam is a little boring, but Mako and I make a great team - we just roll over everything.

 

There's a bonus series on Nar Shadaa right at your level, and Tat/Aderaan should offer more quests than youve probably found.

[teambff]

thanks for the replies.

 

although i think something got lost in the translation as i didn't really mean for my questions to be about being able to kill things and stuff, i'm able to get passed things for the most part (i've solo'd everything) although i do have a problem in that i'm too low level for the worlds i'm on... i think that's because i tend to finish the main story and move on without finishing all the quests, also i do no pvp/can't do any heroic quests (as my server is basically dead with no groups) and do no flashpoints which is why i'm on my main storyline's level 40 quest at level 33.

 

as one person pointed out that's probably a big reason why mako's heals don't seem as effective and why i'm always having to heal myself and rest after fights, the fact that i'm usually 4 levels below everything.

 

i'm fighting gold elite mobs 3-4 levels below it.

 

i did finish quesh at level 33 by the way just now, haha the whole planet. did every quest when it was red in color. i levelled to 34 about halfway through though so it made it easier.

 

i was more trying to figure out ways i can gain more exp so i can catch up, and ways that i can deal with the boredom that i find in merc. spec...

 

the ideas of pvp/and space combat have helped me, although i haven't enjoyed pvp very much it has given me a break from the constant tracer missile spam and the same rotation over and over and space combat has been really fun.

 

guess i'm just going to have to take some breaks and switch things up, maybe even level another character and come back to bounty hunter now and again.

 

anyways, thanks for the advice so far. it's helped me with a few things.

 

Edited February 4, 2012 by teambff

[bahdasz]

I do as many quests as I can on every planet, til I clear them. I'm like 7 levels above the mobs I'm fighting in missions now and about 10 ahead of the rewards, but I got money and since I don't use it myself I'm selling a lot of armor and weapons from rewards. So money, experience and easier game play... that's win win win. Don't just rush through the "story line" so you can have a last name, it's not that special.

[KodiakAsh]

I don't really get what the problem is.

 

Arsenal spec is mostly tracer spam, but it's the same for every other class in the game. As Power Tech you mostly spam Flame Burst/Rocket Punch. Sorc you spam Force Lightning. DPS classes in the game is going to be spamming one thing or another unless all their abilities have cool downs (IE: Concealment Operative). The same goes for Merc as Tracer is your filler when Rail/Unload/Heatseekers are all on cool down. Even then the only main reason to keep using Tracer Missile as your filler beyond the procs is the fact that it's yellow damage meaning it's not subject to deflects/dodges/cover/etc.

 

Later on in Arsenal (at your level you should be around there) you'll be regularly firing off Unloads when they proc Barrage. Even then really most of the things you end up taking on are multiple groups anyways which you usually end up relying on Death From Above or Fusion Missile/Sweeping Blasters anyways. It is true that I found the BH quests to be pretty elite intensive, but just the same there's always plenty of packs to AOE.

 

Personally I found later levels (40+) much easier as a "combat medic" healer spec (25 in Bodyguard, rest into Arsenal) however even with Mako out. With Kolto Shell Mako was actually effective enough to keep me alive which without she sometimes wasn't. Since most of the things you encounter are still AOE, none of your AOE got any really less effective and you can still easily single target elites down with Power Shot as you could with Tracer Missile. I liked Mako because she was the only one who usually wouldn't die if a few things got on her since she could heal herself without me keeping tabs on her (which I had to constantly heal up Gault which I found annoying).

 

And quite frankly skipping all the quests/bonus missions/etc is usually a horrendously bad idea. Mobs who are 4+ levels than you have a HUGE chance to evade attacks and always will hit you. When I leveled up my Merc I always cleared out each planet's missions/bonus series before going on (skipped most of the Flashpoints). I had to do Hoth at 45 (almost grey) because that's just how far ahead of the system I was. I still have never done the regular quests on Voss or Corellia lol...

Edited February 5, 2012 by KodiakAsh

[StewyG]

Ya definately if you use mako all the way then go dps spec with pyro or arsenal

[mhjam]

yeah the big problem there is i need to use mako all the way, it's the only reason i chose to go with bounty hunter.

 

if i could heal it would actually solve alot of issues, but healing with mako as my companion doesn't go so well... i've tried it and fights take sooo long, it's just not a solid option.

 

i'm sure with gault it would be alot better.

 

do you get experience in pvp? maybe i could just pvp for a few levels to fix my current planet progress -x- quest progress problem.

 

Yes i used pvp for a few levels

[DeathDiciple]

Heh its nightmare cause you're using Mako imo... yeah you def want DPS if you're using healer, arsenal is great dps imo so that should be fine. But her abilities AND her AI ugh... I swear the inq healer guy does WAY WAY better on my sin than mako ever does, and he is prob worse equipped (I use him just for soloing champs).

 

Not sure what is so horribly wrong with her healing but something definitely is.

[Atswin]

I'm exact same boat as you. Well not exactly.. I'm 35th Merc and I'm barely half way thru Alderran. Unlike you I've finish all of Bonuses Series. It's helpful because some of them do expand on the story of each planets. Also the Bonus Orange Items are nice on some of the quests.

 

However, I comes to dislike the bug that sometime Mako just stand around and won't heal me. (Usuallywhen you Concussion Missile someone) Merc is a bit too fragile. and I hate Tracer Bend Over spam. I've switch to Pyro for a bit and that was much better. But Mako just can't heal you well enough sometimes.

 

I've started over. Made a new BH and went PowerTech. So far it's fun. I hate having to redo all the story again..but that's what Spacebar is for.

 

Already 19th...

 

I believe that if you don't really like the AC, you should consider starting over. and The Healing being bad on Merc.. eventually there'll be a patch that'll fix it. So consider that in your decision.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Atswin

[teddyscheffer]

I got a lvl 45 BH and i was allways a few lvls above the quests i did and i could even skip whole planets if i wanted because i pvp aswell, PvP is good XP.

 

So i would mix pve and pvp to lvl up.

 

I got a few chars and bh is easy mode compared to my other chars and mako just heals fine at my lvl (got more skills to heal)

[DervimNorth]

1) Lvl up by doing all side/bonus quests or by pvping.

 

2) Read Werdan's "Ask a Merc" thread, it might help you out a bit.

 

3) Concussion Missile-use it.

 

4) Make sure Mako is in healing stance and try switching off her offensive powers.

[dversouri]

 

4) Make sure Mako is in healing stance and try switching off her offensive powers.

 

I think this is it really. You know you can expand her ability bar? make sure shes not on passive, is in healing stance, and has her healing abilities active. Never had the issues youve described personally.

[Stooge]

I have a 50 Arsenal Merc. Using Mako is like playing in God Mode. I always take on every champion and elite I come across, and with very few exceptions, I come out on top every time.

 

Make sure Mako is geared in Cunning gear and keep it up to level. Make sure she is in healing stance or if you want her to do damage put he in her DPS stance; my Mako does decent damage.

 

Make sure you are in up to level gear, control your heat, and you should be fine.

[MadDuck]

I guess the problem is just that, you skipped side quests. I leveled up to 50 with only mako (myself being a healer), but i did all sidequests i could find. I had your situation but all the way around; basically if the planet was 33-35, i was 37.

 

You can expand Mako's bar and forbid her from doing damage and just focus on healing, but i guess that if you where doing quests 5 levels above you, it's going to get messy at some point.

 

Do space missions and PvP, or go back to a planet you skipped and do all quests, even bonus ones... besides you get some decent gear, for you and mako.

Edited February 6, 2012 by MadDuck

[Davvy]

I wish I could summon Mako when I got Skadge and had to face what's his name and his droids!

 

Seriously, Skadge was horrendous, totally useless, and died within seconds of engaging. I ended dying too, and had to go off to level up some more before coming back to that quest, with Skadge equipped with the best hand-me-downs I could scrounge up...

 

I love having Mako with me. My character is currently level 47 Mercenary, full Arsenal spec'd, with maybe 5 points in each of the other two trees. I can breeze through all class and planet quests, and I do make sure I complete all those missions (minus Heroics) before I move on to the next planet. And then I come back later to pick up the Bonus quest series as well, because they drop better gear, more credits, and more experience. I also go back and solo Heroics whenever I can. Doing all this, I find that I typically end up about 3 levels above the level specified for each new planet. And as such, Mako's healing and occasional DPS work out great.

 

Hope the above will help you decide how to play your own BH. I have a couple younger characters, one a Imp Agent and the other a Sith Counselor, but so far the Merc has been a blast to play.

[EverlongAU]

Quite different experiences. My first char was a Jedi Knight sentinel and that was quite tough to lvl, until I got my healer at ~ lvl 35. Even then I had to use every tool in my box to succeed, with one mistake usually being fatal. The amount I spent on repairs was staggering

 

Conversely on my BH I plow through everything with little downtime, and have hardly spent anything on repairs. Merc spec with Mako healing and easily take down same lvl gold elites.

 

The difference is truly night and day.

[Moosimoo]

I haven't read all posts, so I will probably supply some duplicate pointers...

 

1) Ensure you are gearing Mako. Get orange gear asap and keep it upgraded with commendation mods. Mako uses Cunning.

 

2) Don't spam tracer missile. Just do 3 to get the debuff then use Rail Shot and Unload when you can, also use Power Shot and Rocket Punch. TM should only be used to get to the max debuff, and then just to refresh it.

 

3) Ensure you are using High Velocity Gas Cylinder.

 

4) I would recommend that if you don't like Arsenal spec, which, lets face it, almost all DPS Mercs use because its easy and supposedly "imba", maybe you should try Pyro. Its actually very good DPS and a lot more fun to play. Also does very well in PvP as you are more mobile.

 

I levelled as Arsenal Merc, mostly with Mako, and found the class quite easy to play. Not saying you're a bad player (I'm not particularly good), therefore its a gear/spec/rotation issue.

 

BTW I enjoyed BH so much that once I got to 50 on my Merc I started my Powertech, who is nearly 40

 

Enjoy your Merc

Edited February 6, 2012 by Moosimoo

[BlownSi]

I haven't read all posts, so I will probably supply some duplicate pointers...

 

1) Ensure you are gearing Mako. Get orange gear asap and keep it upgraded with commendation mods. Mako uses Cunning.

 

2) Don't spam tracer missile. Just do 3 to get the debuff then use Rail Shot and Unload when you can, also use Power Shot and Rocket Punch. TM should only be used to get to the max debuff, and then just to refresh it.

 

3) Ensure you are using High Velocity Gas Cylinder.

 

4) I would recommend that if you don't like Arsenal spec, which, lets face it, almost all DPS Mercs use because its easy and supposedly "imba", maybe you should try Pyro. Its actually very good DPS and a lot more fun to play. Also does very well in PvP as you are more mobile.

 

I levelled as Arsenal Merc, mostly with Mako, and found the class quite easy to play. Not saying you're a bad player (I'm not particularly good), therefore its a gear/spec/rotation issue.

 

BTW I enjoyed BH so much that once I got to 50 on my Merc I started my Powertech, who is nearly 40

 

Enjoy your Merc

 

You beat me to it...lol.

 

OP, the biggest thing I have noticed is that you HAVE to gear up your companions for them to produce. My Merc was healing spec up till 40, when I went to Arsenal to facilitate a faster rise from 40-50. I spent some credits to make sure Mako was up to par. Her healing was fantastic and even allowed me to handle a few Heroic 2+ solo, though it was not easy.

 

At 49 I went back to a full Bodyguard build and had collected some gear for Torian and Blizz. Doing Belsavis and Ilum dailies now, I have gotten them some good weapons. Torian hits like a truck now and will take down an elite as fast as I could as Arsenal. I just keep him healed, which is very easy, and throw some dps in between. Blizz is an amazing tank and holds agro well, but just does not do as much damage.

 

Upgrade your companions and they will serve your needs very well. It is always a choice that is hard to make; that new piece of gear for you, or can you hold out and upgrade your comp. Also, there are those that think BH is a faceroll class(especially arsenal tracer missile). It is not, and just like every other class, you have to know your abilities and use them. You have a lot of stuns/knockdowns/short term cc that will lower the firepower coming at you. You have to be able to multi-target/task and use them to your advantage.

[Moosimoo]

A general note for everyone: its worth sticking with Torian as a dps companion if you can, as he is the only companion that uses your cast-off dps gear The others use medium or tank gear. Edited February 6, 2012 by Moosimoo