How to fix Tracer/Grav spam?

[MajinUltima]

Let's be honest with ourselves and each other for a moment. Tracer/Grav spam is currently the biggest blight upon the pvp landscape.

 

- It's ridiculously powerful for spamming 1 button (relative to every other spec having to use no less than 4-5 just to do the same damage and make their own skill trees maybe function). Dealing a good 2-2.5k per shot, non-crit, with a relative low cost, stacking multiple buffs/debuffs... that's almost as much as a full 3sec duration of other abilities like Ravage/Master Strike.

 

- Interrupts are useless because the more you spam, the less effective the interrupt is. This may seem counterintuitive but consider: If all I do is spam Tracer then, when I am locked out of it, I can use any of Rail Shot, Unload, or Heatseekers because they're NOT on cooldown, because all I'm doing is pressing Tracer. Everything else I can use will reliably be OFF cooldown should I actually be interrupted. Thus, playing the class wrong is actually rewarded.

 

- To be completely fair and honest, Power Shot does almost as much damage for the same time and cost... but does not stack mutliple buffs and debuffs, it will generally only trigger Combustion Cylinder. A Pyrotech can pull quite a lot with 1 button as well, but is more heavily encouraged to use a greater variety of skills.

 

Is the damage too much? Possibly, but overall dps numbers can be tuned in a variety of ways. What we need is a gameplay fix that discourges just spamming 1 button and being effectively immune to interrupts, while also being a Heavy Armor spec that stacks a 10% damage reduction giving you as much or more passive survivability as tank classes. No class should be able to 1 button 1v1, whether that class spams Tracer Missile, Force Lightning, Snipe, or Viscious Slash.

 

I'd say the best fix:

Migrate some of Tracer Missile/Power Shot's damage into other abilities, chiefly Unload, Heatseekers, and Thermal Detonator. This will leave the damage somewhat vulnerable to interrupts, and encourage players to invest 31 points into skill trees.

[DervimNorth]

Here's a pro-tip for you, buddy, not broken-don't fix.

[MajinUltima]

Here's a pro-tip for you, buddy, not broken-don't fix.

Pretty much no one ever thinks their overpowered classes is broken, and will whine about being nerfed. Operatives/Scoundrels wrote huge essays on why they were totally fine as-is. Childish denial doesn't change the facts though.

 

Even if the damage output is acceptable, the fact that a player can 1 button and afk while eating a burito to have the same output as legit top-tier specs is not acceptable. Any marginally skileld Merc/Commando will win 1v1 because they have equal or better damage output with much higher survivability, and they'll only have to press 1 button (maybe 2) to do so.

 

If any other class in the game sits around spamming 1 button, they'd have to gimp their damage, buffs, and/or debuffs considerably to do so.

 

Perhaps a fix will be as simple as nerfing Tracer Missile/Power Shot by ~25%, buffing Unload by ~15%, and increasing the proc chance for Barrage. Who knows? But at least there'd be more than 1 button involved.

[Rendour]

That would completely destroy the hybrid bodyguard/arsenal spec. I am all for making the class less spammable, there is currently no other ability I can use that will give me decent damage and not completely overheat me.

 

The biggest problem I see is the gear gap. I dont have much champion gear, only 1 armor piece along with the accessories. (ear, implants, relic) I think my expertise rating is just below 300, but I'm not at home to check it. I completely destroy anyone who does not have around the same level of gear that I do. I'm sure they get destroyed by other classes too, but tracer hits incredibly hard on undergeared players and they dont stand much chance unless they decide to run pretty early on. The problem with trying to adjust that is I do not hit very hard at all on players who have more gear than I do. If I stack buffs and pop my relic I can make a dent, but there is zero sustainable damage to high expertise players, which I am not against really.

 

If tracer's damage was lowered or firing rate was decreased I wouldn't even bother taking on anyone who was battlemaster rank or higher, I wouldn't be able to do anything damage wise. If we are supposed to be using some of the other abilities more, then they need to have shorter cooldowns and generate less heat, because the way it is now, tracer is my only viable attack that will leave me some room to heal and not be at max heat.

 

Moving damage into the top tier of arsenal and pyrotech will make my dps irrelevant as a hybrid and make me a pure healer while the other classes hybrid builds can still heal and dps.

[Verakith]

Dealing a good 2-2.5k per shot, non-crit

 

I'd like to see the Merc that hits for you for non-crit for 2k, let alone 2.5k with Tracer Missile. The only way you'll be seeing numbers even close to that is if the Merc is in Rakata/Battlemaster level gear and possibly popping Adrenals/Relics while the opponent is a fresh 50 in light armor. Its probably closer to 1700-2100 depending on target.

 

Thus, playing the class wrong is actually rewarded.

 

Thats a matter of your opinion. I save those CD's because if I do get interrupted, I need something to fall back on that's not my amazing Rapid Shots ability.

 

 

Migrate some of Tracer Missile/Power Shot's damage into other abilities, chiefly Unload, Heatseekers, and Thermal Detonator. This will leave the damage somewhat vulnerable to interrupts, and encourage players to invest 31 points into skill trees.

 

So you don't like 3.3-3.8k Crit Tracer Missiles, but you're content with buffing an ability that regularly crits for 5-6k?

 

 

My stats for PvP (self-buffed)

18775 HP

1884 Aim

33.5% Crit

84.3% Crit Multiplier

450 Power

[Korodoch]

If they would want to "fix" TM/grav spam they would be forced to redesign those trees from the ground up.

 

Yes i agree those 2 skills are a tad cheesy and something should probably be done about them, if nothing else then for the sake of making the specs not being so bleeding boring to play with.

 

I'd very much like to play pyro both in pve and in pvp, but arsenal is so cheesy i don't see a reason to.

[akobie]

I am so tired of seeing these posts… Please try to understand the build.

 

Instead of blindly calling for “nerfs” or claiming people are bad players for using Tracer Missile, take at look at why people are using Tracer Missile in the first place.

 

Look at the talents in Arsenal, and you will see that this is the way the Arsenal build is designed. Arsenal build Mercenaries are playing the class the way it is intended to be played.

 

Most people only see the animation for the Tracer Missiles and fail to see where the real damage comes from, the instant cast attacks BUFFED by Tracer Missile.

 

From what I have seen, 100% of the complaints of Tracer Missile are from PVP not PVE. Most people claim that they see people sit and cast tracer missile all day long (which I have yet to see)

 

In PVP I normally cast only 2-3 Tracer Missiles to get the buffs/debuffs up, then I hit Unload, Heat Seeking Missiles (HSM), and Rail Shot (RS). If I have to switch Targets, my rotation starts again.

 

That is my normal rotation. If no one interrupts it this rotation I do well; on the other hand, if I get interrupted then I have issues and have to scramble.

 

That is the simplest solution for fighting an Arsenal Merc, interrupt the tracer cast, and you will disrupt his whole rotation. Problem solved, there is no need to try to destroy a whole build.

 

Please, look at the talents and see for yourself:

 

Power Barrier

Power Shot and Tracer Missile have a [50 / 100]% chance to generate a Power Barrier that reduces damage taken by 2% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.

 

Tracer Lock

Tracer Missile grants Target Lock, increasing the damage dealt by the next Rail Shot by 6%. Stacks up to 5 times.

 

Barrage

Power Shot and Tracer Missile have a [10 / 20 / 30]% chance to finish the cool down on Unload and increase the damage dealt by the next Unload by 25%. This effect cannot occur more than once every 6 seconds.

 

Tracer Missile

Activation: 1.5 secs

Heat: 25

Range: 30 m

Launches a missile at the target that deals X kinetic damage and applies a heat signature, reducing the armor rating by 4% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times. Heat signatures leave the target vulnerable to Rail Shot.

 

Heatseeker Missiles

Instant

Heat: 16

Cooldown: 15s

Range: 30 m

Fires several missiles that deal X kinetic damage. This damage is increased by 5% per heat signature on the target.

Rail Shot

Instant

Heat: 16

Cooldown: 15s

Range: 30 m

Fires a very powerful shot at the target that deals X - X weapon damage. Only usable against incapacitated targets and targets suffering from periodic damage.

 

Unload

Instant

Heat: 16

Cooldown: 15s

Range: 30 m

Unloads your blaster into the target, dealing X - X weapon damage every second. Weak and standard enemies caught in the blaster fire are stunned for the duration. Fires both blasters if dual wielding.

[DrekorSilverfang]

It's not like sorcs don't spam FL or anything.

 

The arsenal spec is based around very heavy used of tracer. It's damage is in line with other DPS classes, and in some cases worse. Tracer isn't where people get blown up on. People often forget about the armor pen, massive rail and heatseeker hits... just focus on the fact "OH GOD MISSILES ARE HITTING ME, NERF TRACER!"

[DervimNorth]

It's funny how people ignore the fact that our both dps trees completely rely on spamming either one or another power to proc/make effective/usable our heavy hitting powers.

 

 

I, also, find it amusing that many people ignore the fact that should Arsenal get some kind of nerf people would switch for pyro and than they'd be spamming powershots/unloads to proc railshot for the same damage, only with less annoying animation

[ztryder]

http://http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=269806

 

Six page discussion on the subject already.

 

Tracer Missile is dominating the pvp forums right now, and unfortunately it's most nerf posts.

 

Anyone who has never played Arsenal just doesn't get it.

[MajinUltima]

Look at the talents in Arsenal, and you will see that this is the way the Arsenal build is designed. Arsenal build Mercenaries are playing the class the way it is intended to be played.

The problem is that there is the "intended" part, and then the "what REALLY happens" part.

 

Intended: Once Armor Pen is stacked, Tracer Missile is your main FILLER between managing cooldowns on Unload, Rail Shot, and Heatseekers.

 

What Really Happens: Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile, Tracer Missile.

 

In other words, the damage on Tracer is so high that you aren't substantially losing dps by doing your rotation wrong. Thus, people do it wrong, because doing it wrong is the easiest way to faceroll pvp.

That is the simplest solution for fighting an Arsenal Merc, interrupt the tracer cast, and you will disrupt his whole rotation.

As pointed out, being interrupted just means you use another ability for a second or two. The ONLY benefit of interrupting is interrupting late enough in the castbar that you made them waste ~1 second of dps time on you... and then praying client/server lag doesn't screw you and have the Tracer go off anyway. That's all the interrupt is worth, ~1.5sec of dps time, tops. It's not entirely worthless to interrupt, it's just not worth very much.

It's not like sorcs don't spam FL or anything.

FL is their filler spell, everything else being thrown at you is likely instant cast (Wrath-proc Chain Lightning and Crushing Darkness, Death Field, and Affliction). Sorcs will use all their abilities regularly without an interrupt forcing them to do so. The reason you see FL a lot is because it is filler and because it's the only cast-time attack Madness/Hybrid uses, but it is not the 1-button bulk of a player's damage the way Tracer/Grav is. I've got a much larger more detailed thread on the Wrath + Chain Lightning issue and how the Hybrid spec needs to be nerfed, while Lightning needs to be turned into not-the-worst-spec-in-the-entire-game.

It's funny how people ignore the fact that our both dps trees completely rely on spamming either one or another power to proc/make effective/usable our heavy hitting powers.

Power Shot doesn't stack an armor debuff and give you a 10% damage barrier. My third bullet point thing pointed out how Power Shot is basically the same exact thing.

Tracer Missile is dominating the pvp forums right now, and unfortunately it's most nerf posts.

Anyone who has never played Arsenal just doesn't get it.

After being so fed up with it, I was motivated to make my own and check it out... and it's easily the most overpowered PVP spec I've used in this game. Wrath+CL Sorc is second, but a distant enough second.

[Rendour]

A Sorc saying that Arsenal Merc is the most OP spec in the game.....

 

First I think 24/17 hybrid Merc is much stronger end game than full Arsenal but probably more tracer spammy when DPSing.

 

Second, the utility that Sorcs have give them a distinct advantage at doing anything other than sitting and spamming. (though they do that pretty well too) They have actual mobility and escapes that leave Mercs in the dust, and we have...heavy armor.

[MajinUltima]

A Sorc saying that Arsenal Merc is the most OP spec in the game.....

 

First I think 24/17 hybrid Merc is much stronger end game than full Arsenal but probably more tracer spammy when DPSing.

 

Second, the utility that Sorcs have give them a distinct advantage at doing anything other than sitting and spamming. (though they do that pretty well too) They have actual mobility and escapes that leave Mercs in the dust, and we have...heavy armor.

I'm also a Merc, and a Jugg, Sniper, Assassin, and Marauder. Also, I did say I'd rank Sorc as second and in need of adjustment, but I guess you wanted to gloss over that part in order to make a snarky remark.

 

My point isn't which spec is best per se, my point is that the damage is too heavily loaded into the filler spell (and the damage MAY be too high overall), so much that the filler becomes pretty much the entire rotation. Even if you drew a comparison to Force Lightning, Sorcs are regularly weaving in 4 other abilities on a frequent basis... it's really quite rare to go more than 2 FLs in a row without having to cast something else.

[Rendour]

There are Sorcs that spam lightning just like there are Mercs that spam tracer. Good Sorcs use more than lightning, good Mercs use more than tracer. You want to paint with broad strokes for one class but t shield the other from the same criticism. It's not like tracer puts a slow on you preventing you from moving out of range before you die or anything like some other abilities.

 

You specifically said that arsenal merc is the single most overpowered PvP spec you've seen in the game, those were your words. I am telling you that the hybrid Bodyguard/Arsenal spec is better in PvP from my experience. That is just for the Mercenary AC. Now if you want to talk about the entire game, Sorc hybrid build is much better just in terms of mobility/escape-ability. Being able to run the Huttball, pull the ball carrier and sprint between objectives in the other Warzones gives Sorcs a utility that a Merc will never have in terms of PvP viability.

 

Tracer missle itself is the entire arsenal spec, all other abilities are on lengthy cooldowns or require a proc. Would you prefer if every Merc spammed rapid shots instead and did no damage? Would that make you feel better? There is no viable alterative to tracer missle as it stands right now, that is a design issue, not a player skill issue.

 

I also love the stereotype that Mercs can't do anything once Tracer is interrupted. I wish every player used their interrupts on my tracer so I could heal in peace.

[Snagulus]

I also love the stereotype that Mercs can't do anything once Tracer is interrupted. I wish every player used their interrupts on my tracer so I could heal in peace.

 

I also love being able to Unload freely, if my health is looking reasonable.

[Cegenaus]

I'd like to see the Merc that hits for you for non-crit for 2k, let alone 2.5k with Tracer Missile. The only way you'll be seeing numbers even close to that is if the Merc is in Rakata/Battlemaster level gear and possibly popping Adrenals/Relics while the opponent is a fresh 50 in light armor. Its probably closer to 1700-2100 depending on target.

 

this.

[Rhinzual]

http://http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=269806

 

Six page discussion on the subject already.

 

Tracer Missile is dominating the pvp forums right now, and unfortunately it's most nerf posts.

 

Anyone who has never played Arsenal just doesn't get it.

 

I actually used to be one of the types who thought Grav-Round/TM spam was all that was needed, until I rolled a Merc and a Commando (not in that order) and actually looked at their talents. After seeing those things, I realized that Grav-Round/Fart-Missile is used mainly to set up procs and help bypass damage reduction.

[MajinUltima]

There are Sorcs that spam lightning just like there are Mercs that spam tracer.

They only LOOK like they do, or they're doing it for the Slow effect on the victim to prevent said victim from mauling their face. If that's all they're doing when they're dpsing without regard for the slow, then they're bad and their damage will show it. If a Merc 1-buttons, their damage is still top-tier.

 

If a Sorc tries to 1-button against any class played competently (assuming equal gear), they will lose (unless a terrain or line of sight issue prevents retaliation). You're trying to draw a parallel but you're too ignorant of the matchups I guess.

 

The only caveat I will add is that a Sorc could be spamming FL then dropping Chain Lightning every 6-7 seconds, which I have an entire thread dedicated to how that is not balanced nor working as intended, and needs to be fixed while Lightning spec gets a massive overhaul just to function.

You specifically said that arsenal merc is the single most overpowered PvP spec you've seen in the game, those were your words. I am telling you that the hybrid Bodyguard/Arsenal spec is better in PvP from my experience.

Which is only overpowered because of Tracer Missile spam, because too much of Arsenal's damage is loaded into that 1 skill, and the damage output of the class may simply be too high overall. I can spam Power Shot + Combustion Cylinder in the same way and do high tier damage 1-buttoning as Pyrotech (top tier if I land my Rail Shots).

 

Looking at the damage of other classes' similar abilities like Snipe, Thrash, and Vicious Slash... only a Vicious Slash from a Marauder/Sentinel even compares, and they need to be in melee range for it. Not to mention those abilities typically have less synergy with other abilities and don't debuff the victim. In the case of Tracer Missile, those abilities also don't have a passive 35% armor penetration, and refund half their cost on crits... oh and don't buff the user (already in heavy armor) with a 10% damage shield.

[DarthDoubleMarth]

As someone who's gone against several arsenal mercs, I can honestly say I actually prefer fighting them. I mainly play my vanguard and I can often charge during the first missle cast, riot strike the second, cryo grenade the third, and then riot strike the fourth.

 

The only problem with tracer missle is letting the merc keep on casting tracer missle. Any dps left alone to do it's thing will destroy someone quick. Tracer missle just gets so much attention cause it's animation and sound effects are VERY noticable.

[MajinUltima]

As someone who's gone against several arsenal mercs, I can honestly say I actually prefer fighting them. I mainly play my vanguard and I can often charge during the first missle cast, riot strike the second, cryo grenade the third, and then riot strike the fourth.

And? I can go on my Jugg and interrupt the 1st, Choke the 2nd, interrupt the 3rd, stun the 4th, interurpt the 5th, Force Push the 6th, Force Charge the 7th, interrupt the 8th... but just because I can hypothetically alternate CCs and Interrupts against a dumb Merc when I'm on a class with the shortest cd interrupt and most CCs, that doesn't mean anything for the issue at hand in the greater scheme of things?

The only problem with tracer missle is letting the merc keep on casting tracer missle. Any dps left alone to do it's thing will destroy someone quick. Tracer missle just gets so much attention cause it's animation and sound effects are VERY noticable.

As pointed out muiltiple times, the class just also does way more damage with its filler than any other, as well as having almost tank level of survivability. Just because you can hypothetically lock down a Merc (and incidentally doing the same thing you can lock down almost ANY class 1v1, so your entire argument is moot) with 1 or 2 specific specs of 24+ base specs, that doesn't magically mean the issue doesn't exist.

 

I can sit around 1v1 in Immortal spec Jugg and expect to generally come out on top if I'm in melee range. That neither means Juggs are imbalanced nor that anyone I can do that to is balanced. Just sayin.

Edited February 6, 2012 by MajinUltima

[Dooves]

And? I can go on my Jugg and interrupt the 1st, Choke the 2nd, interrupt the 3rd, stun the 4th, interurpt the 5th, Force Push the 6th, Force Charge the 7th, interrupt the 8th... but just because I can hypothetically alternate CCs and Interrupts against a dumb Merc when I'm on a class with the shortest cd interrupt and most CCs, that doesn't mean anything for the issue at hand in the greater scheme of things?

 

As pointed out muiltiple times, the class just also does way more damage with its filler than any other, as well as having almost tank level of survivability. Just because you can hypothetically lock down a Merc (and incidentally doing the same thing you can lock down almost ANY class 1v1, so your entire argument is moot) with 1 or 2 specific specs of 24+ base specs, that doesn't magically mean the issue doesn't exist.

 

I can sit around 1v1 in Immortal spec Jugg and expect to generally come out on top if I'm in melee range. That neither means Juggs are imbalanced nor that anyone I can do that to is balanced. Just sayin.

 

OMG this guy. I bet you was at the forefront of the "Nurf Operative/Scoundrels" forum. Your arguments are whack at best. You’re complaining about a class that can be easily interrupted on its main rotation ability, which in turn buffs the rest of its abilities, making them pretty much out of the fight. The fact that you’re not locking them down means you deserve to get hit like a truck. Rather than moan about other classes and call for nurfs, which lets face it your doing. How about you learn to play your class/classes properly. I don’t claim to be amazing on all classes but if i find that something is smashing me and i target said mercenary and all I see is them spamming TM, I don’t think I’ll go moan on forum, id perhaps research that class and see its weakness and capitalise on this to my advantage. The thing you’re probably forgetting is that there probably getting ignored and able to effectively carry out their rotation and players are going to drop, your argument is completely flawed when a merc is pressed and controlled properly. If i left a sorcerer, or sniper, vanguard to their own devices, the outcome is exactly the same.

 

Hmmm I wander which class is going to own you next week so I can read your nurf whine in their class forum.

[DarthKaras]

Yey lets nerf the coolest class in the Empire in to the ground.

Why stop with Tracer! Unload is unreasonable lets nerf that too!

Only thing wrong with tracer is the animation. Does it do a lot of DMG - O yes, does it make Merc unbalanced in any way - hell no!

 

Arsenal Mercs die like flies the moment a Melee DPS attacks us.

I dont have anything other than a truckload of DMG going for me, so if that gets nerfed we all go healers!

 

Even with the talents if you spam Tracer you will overheat so if you see a merc doing that he will be dead shortly!

I also look like im doing only tracer since unload looks like a rapid shot and with the occasional lag glitch im casting unload while still in the tracer animation and you could hear me cast rail shot but not see me! Only visual difference is heatseker and i tend to do that if he is almost out of range and i dont have time to channel anything or right next to me where it goes boom as soon as fired. i cast fusion when enemies are grouped with the no cast time skill so you dont see me doing that as well (its actually faster to cast than rail shot) and the occasional DfO just for fun.

 

so yeah i guess i do tracer only as well - if you look at me from the side!

[verfolne]

i dont have anything other than a truckload of dmg going for me, so if that gets nerfed we all roll the next fotm!

 

ftfy.

[Rendour]

Once again your argument just comes down to "All mercenaries are bad players that just spam tracer missile and do too much damage and are too powerful." I can make the same argument for sorcerers, and it will be just as ignorant and incorrect, but you dont see the correlation.

[AndrosX]

You can't migrate damage to skills that are on a cooldown, it would gimp the dps output of the class too much (taking into account shields/bubbles/tank abilities like immortal etc).

 

If they were to change Tracer, then they would have to change the whole Arsenal spec: we are meant to use tracer as our bread and butter attack because 1)it applies buffs/debuffs 2)it makes our barrage proc 3)it vents 8 heat if you crit 4)It is the only real attack (not counting basic attack and missile blast for obvious reasons) without a cooldown. That, and Power shot, which Arsenal mercs are not really meant to use.

 

So they would have to change or remove cooldowns on other skills, make sure old dps vs new dps is ok and balanced etc.. in short, a lot of work to accomplish nothing: all it would do is force us to click more buttons to do the same amount of damage.

And you know what would happen? More people would probably just go Pyro and save the headaches.

As it is now, most people who went Pyro will swear they're doing better in arena than they did as Arsenal Mercs, so it's pretty obvious to me that Arsenal isn't overpowered as far as DPS output goes.

 

The Operative nerf is a different matter, they were changed because they could stunlock kill everything.

They can still stunlock/kill people now, but it's a little less frequent.

Yet they can still kill most opponents faster than any other profession.

So you see, even Operative where not really nerfed, they didn't lose their super burst.

 

If you, as an Arsenal, think we're overpowered, you should switch to Pyro (and keep at it till you get a grip of how it works) and you'll see they can do pretty much the same things in Arena, the difference being Arsenal are less mobile and do more burst dmg (and can be countered by interrupts and los), Pyro do less burst but higher damage over time, are more mobile and less affected by LOS.

 

Arsenal is not overpowered nor broken.

 

Arsenal can be easily countered by smart people AND by people who are aware of what's happening during a fight: if you let us cast 3 tracer missiles (damage and debuffs) or 3 tracer/heastseeker etc before you react, chances are you will die unless you manage to go stealth or use a speed ability to get away.

When I get a tracer missile/grav round on me, I immediately drop whatever I'm doing (unless I'm one hit away from killing a ball handler, for example) and depending on my cooldowns I either engage my bh/commando opponent right away and see if I can kill him, or run for LOS/out of range.

As a result, I normally never die to other Mercs as long as it's not a team focusing on me or they have a sorcerer who can permasnare me.

 

And smart melee classes will make your life miserable by using their interrupts and their mobility to kill you.

 

Then again like I said, if they change their minds and decide they don't want Arsenal to depend so much one Tracer Missile (one button), I'm fine with it BUT only as long as they take the time to change the whole class and make sure it still is a valid spec afterwards.

If they simply nerf it I will respec to Pyro and see how long it takes for people to start crying about Pyro dots, TD or whatever they might perceive as being OP.

Then if they also nerf that I still have my Powertech and if that isn't enough to keep me entertained, I will simply quit.

 

This game has MUCH bigger issues right now than a skill which is perceived as annoying and OP by those who can't be bothered to realize how Arsenal works or to compare Merc to other classes (Sorcerer, for example), some server are ridiculously empty, the population is mostly imperial on most servers, open world PvP is non-existant except on Ilum and even there, it can take quite some time to complete the daily quest on my server (vulkar highway) due to lack of republic players, there's no social interaction whatsoever within faction and (due to game design) with the opposite faction..

 

I don't think anyone around here honestly thinks the state of the Merc profession could be a priority or that changing Merc could save this game: I hope the devs (and the producers) are smart enough to understand what needs to be done NOW (including server merges) before it's too late.

Mmorpgs don't get a second chance.