BushidoMH Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) Hey people - I posted this in the general Trooper forum recently, but didn't receive any replies. I'm relatively new to SWTOR and have a lv. 27 Vanguard that I plan to tank with. I was reading up our abilities, and a lot of people think Energy Blast (our Shield spec 31 pt. ability) is underwhelming... so I was wondering if I could re-tool it to something more useful: Energy Blast 25 sec cooldown A powered shot that deals damage, generates 2 ammo, and applies an extremely potent threat-over-time debuff to the enemy for 25 second. Debuff can only exist on one target at a time, and is removed if the Vanguard directly attacks the enemy with single-target abilities. So the main upgrade here is the new debuff. This is useful because it allows you to auto-generate threat on a single target, buying you time to gain threat on other targets. It's like having a second tank giving you aggro on a target you're not on. I think this will really help Vanguards, much more than their current 31 pt... what do you guys think? Edited February 16, 2012 by BushidoMH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblaznee Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 The top tier skill should be equally viable for both pve and pvp, and Bioware will never implement something that is not.. If you the make your ability do the same "taunt" effect on player - which means they will do less damage for 25 seconds, and it become fairly unbalance. It should just simply give 2 or 3 ammo back instead of 1. This would mean a spike in aggro anyway, as you would be able to go a little harder on dps for a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shizophim Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 As for a skill that you only use here an then because of cooldowns and situational use, i could deal a lot more damage, or at least as the ultimate on the tanking tree have a considerable amount of added threat on it? i see balance issues with other trees if you change more common skills so Eneregy Blast is the best Skil that can be motified to improve as a Tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assaultrooper Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 How about use this as a PvE buff, while in PvP the ability retains the current effect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironcleaver Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 They need to either triple the damage - or - triple the ammo return. In it's current state it's just not worth it. We get 1 ammo back every six seconds for free just by taking hits. One ammo return on a 15s, low damage attack is pitiful for an endline ability. I tried it out then dropped it and spent the point else ware. :-/ What I feel it should do is bring us up to the next tier of ammo (there are 4 tiers). So if we are out of ammo it will return 5 or 6, if we have 5 or 6 it will return 2 or 3... ect.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shizophim Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 What I feel it should do is bring us up to the next tier of ammo (there are 4 tiers). So if we are out of ammo it will return 5 or 6, if we have 5 or 6 it will return 2 or 3... ect.. I think we have enough abilities to regain ammo fast if we make a mistake. i dont think we really need 1 additional ammo every 15 sec. but i think the skill should do either more damage for a 15s cooldown ability or increase threat or some new and actually usefull. Top Tier Abilities should feel significant / relevant maybe iconic, Energy Blast at the moment just feels "meh"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_gideon Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 The ammo return is really really good. Some sort of dot or damage buff would be nice though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setta Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Honestly, a great way to fix this ability is to lower the cd, to about 6s and slightly increase the threat on it. Problem solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zalekanzer Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Honestly, a great way to fix this ability is to lower the cd, to about 6s and slightly increase the threat on it. Problem solved.I think 6 seconds is way too low for an instant ranged attack that regens resources. 9 or 12 seconds would be ideal, in my opinion. High threat would be nice, also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myxam Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) Honestly, I'd rather like for it to replace our Hammer Shot Ability. Perhaps something like this? Energy BlastInstant Range: 10 m Fires a shot that deals 443 elemental damage and has a 25% chance to generate 1 energy cell. This would make a suitable replacement for Hammer Shot in a change in damage type and the chance to generate ammo. It only replaces Hammer Shot, making it a useful end ability that would be iconic of the class. Or maybe another change... Energy BlastInstant Range: 15sRange: 10 m Fires a shot that deals 443 elemental damage and gives you an addition 5% Shield Chance for the next 5 seconds. The Numbers are variable, but this would give us a significant buff in PvE. As for the suggestions of increased Threat, I haven't had an issue with it, granted I am 39 but if you're playing properly you can hold aggro off a level 50 Gunnery Commando (as a 39 Vanguard), as I do often against my friend when we're Roleplaying Flashpoints. The only issues I've seen from Shield Specialist is its' lack of interesting abilities, and some issues with health , but gear offsets that. Edited February 20, 2012 by Myxam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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