1.2 Sniper Buff ?

[Zynyzter]

Anyone know what our "buff" is from 1.2?

 

I keep hearing about it but no details..

 

Is it just a rumor?

[NotRonin]

We're more likely to get nerfed in 1.2 rather than buffed. Learn your place in the universe : the empire is ruled by Siths, Imperial Agents are merely light-saber fodder.

[Radared]

I don't think the changes are going to be as drastic as most people are expecting them to be. This is what I am anticipating:

 

our pvp escape/safety ability will probably be better. By this, i mean evasion and shield probe.

I believe that engineering will likely be the tree with the most adjustments, its meh in its current state.

Lethality energy regen may be looked at.

 

Other than that, I think Snipers are in a pretty good. They have their shortcomings, but nothing ridiculous. I think the changes will be positive for the most part. I don't see anything drastically being nerfed from us though. If it was, i'd be surprised.

[Findulidas]

This is what I am anticipating:

 

And where do you get this from?

[shadowAI]

They never stated anything specific about snipers. They only mentioned buffs to mara and nerfs to BH (probably bug fixes) and that all classes will receive nerfs/buffs. All the people claiming that snipers are getting buffed are just hoping for the best.

[TheRagingPwner]

They said that the skill trees for most classes are going to be re-worked to the point that they are going to refund all of the skill points for free for people to respec. I think there are def going to be some changes coming to the class balance of this game. We basically all just played a 3 month beta and the game is finally going to be balanced (Hopefully)

[Dasamukha]

I think we are all speculating.

 

If I were to speculate here's what I think:

 

1. Buff to some defensive cooldown. Shield probe is probably the best candidate. But I am hoping for a short term vanish on a long cooldown. Kinda like a wow invisibility talent.

 

2. Buff to ambush damage in the Marks tree, with a corresponding nerf to Follow thru. The basic notion would be to up the damage of Marks pvpers without increasing the damage overall in any dramatic way.

 

3. Buff to energy regen in the lethality tree. More like 2 to 3 energy per poison effect.

 

4. Massive engineering buffs. Explosive probe and its cluster bombs getting some real love. Total rework of the 31 point talent. Like a target based aoe damage ability instead of a stationary aoe ability.

[Findulidas]

I think speculating is a waste of time. Especially since speculation always tends to be against what people think classes deserve and that will always be biased towards buffs on thier own class which leads to disappointment. If they are going to overhaul the trees, which I doubt, then there wont be buffs only.

[Radared]

I see what you're saying, but I am talking based on my gameplay observation. Overall, I think Snipers are pretty balanced especially in PvP outside of the fact that Engineering tree is horrible, Lethality runs out of Energy and regens poorly, and Shield Probe/Evasion are terrible.

 

I am just speculating because that is what we do. We look forward to and anticipate. It isn't going to stop me from playing because I do very well especially in PvP on my Sniper.

 

I don't see what could really get nerfed as far as Snipers go. I mean, I could possibly see Followthrough being adjusted, but other than that, it won't be anything major. I think Snipers are in a very good place.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Radared

[Wehs]

I think we're good where we are right now, nerf would just hurt, and a buff would lead to a nerf shortly after. Just keep us where we are.

[Tibbel]

The following suggestions are intended to address some of the biggest issues for snipers, both in PvE and PvP.

 

Many threads on these forums highlight the concerns that we snipers have, several of which are addressed here, but this post seeks primarily to provide constructive feedback and suggestions to further harmonize some of the existing sniper mechanics without substantially altering interclass damage balance.

 

 

General

1. The ability “Take Cover in Place” is not usable while rooted. Rooting a sniper, especially of Engineering or Marksmanship spec, disallows a large majority of offensive and defensive options, so a root is almost as arresting against a sniper as is a stun, without building resolve.
   Proposed Change:
   • Take Cover in Place is now usable while rooted and snared. (Rolling into cover is still disallowed while rooted, but allowed while snared.)

 

[*]The energy regeneration skills in each tree are in the fourth tier. This leads to hybrid builds competing perhaps too favorably with “pure” builds -- not just for utility, but even for sustained PvE damage.

Proposed Changes:

• Sniper’s Nest and Sector Ranger move from T4 MM to T5 MM; Pillbox Sniper moved from T5 MM to T4 MM.
  
• Lethal Purpose moved from T4 Leth to T5 Leth; Counterstrike moved from T5 Leth to T4 Leth.
  
• Imperial Methodology (tier 4 of the Engineering skill tree) redesigned to no longer return energy:
  Increases the number of cluster bombs by 1. Additionally, when each cluster bomb detonates, the remaining cooldown of Explosive Probe is reduced by 4 seconds.

 

Marksmanship

1. Approximately 90% of this spec’s attacks are ranged attacks (avoidable and shieldable) and deal kinetic or energy damage (mitigatable by armor). The following change reduces the chance that a sniper’s hardest-hitting single attack will be dodged/parried/deflected and slightly increases the damage Snipe can do against heavily-armored targets.
   Proposed Changes:
   • Precision Ambush (tier 2 skill in the Marksmanship skill tree) slightly redesigned:
     Grants [10%/20%] armor penetration to Ambush and Snipe, and an additional [10%/20%] accuracy to Ambush.

 

[*]Sniper Volley (tier 4 skill in the Marksmanship skill tree) is not very useful for several reasons:

• It cannot be refreshed once it reaches its maximum of 3 stacks.
  
• Its stacks are only incremented by Snipe, one of the weakest sniper abilities.
  
• Its duration is so short that it requires suboptimal prioritizing of Snipe to avoid letting it fall off prematurely.
  
• This small increase to alacrity gives limited benefit due to the rigid 6-second cooldown of Followthrough.

What this means in practice is that Sniper Volley is completely ignored. The following change makes it a more interesting and attractive skill. (The duration and cooldown reduction numbers listed below allow for Ambush and Series of Shots’ cooldowns to be reduced to approximately 12s to align with two cycles of Followthrough: 17.5s reduced to 11.5s for Ambush, and 15s reduced to 12s for Series of Shots.)

Proposed Changes:

• Sniper Volley redesigned:
  Using Ambush now grants 3 charges of the Sniper Volley effect for 12 seconds. While Sniper Volley is active, each Snipe or Followthrough has a [33%/67%/100%] chance to consume one charge of Sniper Volley and reduce the remaining cooldown of Ambush by 2 seconds and of Series of Shots by 1 second.

 

[*]Rapid Fire is only useful for long periods in which a sniper can remain stationary for back-to-back-to-back Series of Shots, and so is particularly weak in high-movement environments like PvP. Additionally, Rapid Fire introduces a complicated sequence of button pressing due to its synergizing with Target Acquired, but not being optimally used simultaneously with Target Acquired. The following change increases Rapid Fire’s value and reduces the complexity in executing the cooldown’s optimal sequence.

Proposed Change:

• Rapid Fire redesigned:
  (Passive) Reduces the cooldown of Target Acquired by 30 seconds, and when you use Target Acquired, you gain 2 charges of the Rapid Fire effect for 10 seconds. Each Series of Shots used while Rapid Fire is active consumes one charge of Rapid Fire, triggers no cooldown, deals 10% increased damage, and slows the target’s movement speed by 30% for its duration.

 

Engineering

1. Plasma Probe (tier 7 of the Engineering skill tree) has a major drawback in that targets must remain within its area of effect for it to deal its damage. The following change allows it to apply a DoT to affected targets, increasing its usefulness in high-movement situations.
   Proposed Change:
   • Plasma Probe slightly redesigned:
     Deploys a portable drone in the target area. Any enemy target that is within 5 meters of the drone when it is deployed, or that comes within 5 meters while the drone is active, is shot with a jet of plasma that applies a DoT, dealing internal damage over 18s, stacking up to 3 times. A plasma jet cannot be shot more than once every few seconds. The drone lasts until 3 plasma jets have been shot, or a maximum of 18s. 18-second cooldown.

 

[*]Calculated Pursuit (tier 2 of the Engineering skill tree) is very rarely useful. If a sniper is out of cover, it doesn’t take much to pop into cover to fire off a Snipe (or other ability). The rare situation in which it is useful (can stand still, but stuck out of cover) is not worth dedicating skill points toward. The following changes make the skill more attractive while maintaining its intention of increasing mobility, and additionally moves that skill higher in the tree so that it is less accessible to other specs.

Proposed Changes:

• Stroke of Genius moved from T4 Eng to T2 Eng.
  
• Calculated Pursuit moved from T2 Eng to T4 Eng, renamed, and redesigned:
  Reduces the channel time of Series of Shots by [0.5/1.0] sec.

 

[*]Vital Regulators (tier 2 of the Engineering skill tree) is a sniper’s only heal, and it is attached to an ability that is typically not used defensively. The following change attaches it to a skill which is on a shorter cooldown and more often used defensively.

Proposed Change:

• Vital Regulators attached to Shield Probe instead of Adrenaline Probe:
  Shield Probe now also heals you for [3%/6%] of your maximum health over 3 seconds.

 

[*]Energy management is the primary challenge in doing good damage as a sniper. Because of the harsh energy regeneration penalties for leaving the 60-100% energy bracket, burst damage or any other interruption to a steady rotation is very punishing. The following change makes it possible for a sniper to spec so that it’s slightly easier to manage energy regeneration.

Proposed Change:

• Energy Tanks (tier 1 of the Engineering skill tree) now increases maximum energy by [10/20].

 

Lethality

1. Lethality’s DoTs can be easily dispelled, incurring a much higher opportunity cost to the sniper than to the target or to the dispeller. Additionally, since Weakening Blast is commonly skipped by Lethality snipers, it could be made to be more attractive by increasing its damage, adding in a DoT dispel deterrence, and adjusting it so it fits more smoothly between Cull cooldowns. (The ability parameters given are a suggestion which maintains the weapon vs non-weapon damage ratio of the ability.)
   Proposed Change:
   • Weakening Blast’s (tier 7 in the Lethality skill tree) initial damage buffed by approximately 33%, number of charges and cooldown increased by approximately 16%, and also adds a new passive benefit:
     Deals weapon damage [Coefficient = 1.15, AmountModifierPercent = -0.23, StandardHealthPercentMin = 0.115, StandardHealthPercentMax = 0.115] and increases the damage caused by the agent’s next 12 poison effects by 30%. Lasts 15 seconds. 18 second cooldown.
     Additionally, (passive) when Corrosive Dart or Corrosive Grenade is cleansed, the dispeller instantly takes 3 ticks of the DoT as internal damage.

 

[*]The duration of Corrosive Grenade does not fit smoothly with the cooldowns of other abilities used by Lethality snipers. The following change alleviates that.

Proposed Change:

• Corrosive Grenade now lasts 18s, down from 21s. Damage done per tick increased by approximately 14% to keep total damage the same: [Coefficient = 0.366, StandardHealthPercentMin = 0.0366, StandardHealthPercentMax = 0.0366, NumTicks = 7].

 

[*]Energy regen for Lethality is highly dependent on poison tick crit chance. This means lower-geared Lethality snipers are at a severe disadvantage with energy regeneration and Lethality snipers of all gear levels have drastically lower energy regeneration when their DoTs are dispelled. This also causes Lethality snipers to scale disproportionately well with critical rating and with the critical chance gain from cunning as compared to the other sniper specs. The following change makes the energy regeneration less dependent on crits, while maintaining the nature of that mechanic. (The numbers listed below keep energy regeneration the same for snipers who have an approximately 42% DoT crit rate, while boosting the regen for those with lower crit rates and lowering it for higher crit rates.)

Proposed Change:

• Lethal Purpose (tier 4 of the Lethality skill tree) slightly redesigned:
  Grants a 30%/60% chance each time your poison effects deal damage to regain 1 energy. If the tick is a crit, you regain an additional 1 energy.

 

[*]Deadly Directive (tier 1 of the Lethality skill tree) is of very low value because of snipers’ reliance on energy and cooldowns (so reducing the activation/channeling times of abilities does not increase the frequency with which they can be used). The following change instead allows the 30-meter range of tech abilities to match the 35-meter range of ranged abilities.

Proposed Change:

• 
  Deadly Directive redesigned:
  Increases the maximum range of your tech abilities, except Shiv and Debilitate, by [2.5/5] meters.

 

[*]Razor Edge (tier 1 of the Lethality skill tree) increases Shiv’s damage. Shiv is not useful for snipers (ranged attacks are stronger, even in melee range), so this skill is of no value. The following is an example of a change that benefits an ability that all snipers (since this skill is in the first tier) and especially Lethality snipers use.

Proposed Change:

• 
  Razor Edge renamed and redesigned:
  Reduces the energy cost of Corrosive Dart by [2/4].

Interface

The following information should be more easily trackable using the user interface, either by default or though options that allow tracking of a customizable list of buffs and debuffs on self and target:

1. Effects on target:
   • Shatter Shot applied by self
     
   • Corrosive Dart applied by self
     
   • Corrosive Grenade applied by self
     (Other debuffs are less important to track because their durations do not exceed their cooldowns; however, the ability to track other specific debuffs would be seen as a good option.)

 

 

[*]Effects on self:

• Reactive Shot
  
• Sniper Volley
  
• Target Acquired
  
• Rapid Fire
  
• Followthrough
  
• Ballistic Dampers
  
• Cover Screen
  
• Snap Shot
  
• Shield Probe
  
• Energy Overrides
  
• Entrench
  
• Any effect which prevents cover
  
• Any stun, root, mesmerize, or similar CC effect

Edited March 10, 2012 by Tibbel

[Twenynge]

[*]Imperial Methodology (tier 4 of the Engineering skill tree) redesigned to no longer return energy:

Increases the number of cluster bombs by 1. Additionally, when each cluster bomb detonates, the remaining cooldown of Explosive Probe is reduced by 4 seconds.

[/b]

 

Engineering

1. Plasma Probe (tier 7 of the Engineering skill tree) has a major drawback in that targets must remain within its area of effect for it to deal its damage. The following change allows it to apply a DoT to affected targets, increasing its usefulness in high-movement situations.
   Proposed Change:
   • Plasma Probe slightly redesigned:
     Deploys a portable drone in the target area. Any enemy target that is within 5 meters of the drone when it is deployed, or that comes within 5 meters while the drone is active, is shot with a jet of plasma that applies a DoT, dealing internal damage over 18s, stacking up to 3 times. A plasma jet cannot be shot more than once every few seconds. The drone lasts until 3 plasma jets have been shot, or a maximum of 18s. 18-second cooldown.

 

 

 

I'm glad you're not in charge over at Bioware, because you just singlehandedly destroyed the engineering tree with the above two changes. Imperial methodology is one of only two useful energy management talents in the tree, the other being EMP discharge. The expected energy return per minute of the other two talents (efficient engineering and energy overrides) is atrocious, not to mention that taking both of these talents together actually reduces the expected energy return per talent point when compared to choosing one or the other.

 

The only draw of plasma probe is that it is NOT a DoT but an area effect. This means (I believe) that it still prevents node captures in voidstar and alderaan. If it worked like you proposed, there would be officially no reason to take it over corrosive grenade.

 

And since when are hybrid Sniper specs popular? I never realized that was a problem, and even if it is, it is more likely because the top of the talent trees are relatively worthless, not because there is too much synergy with hybrid specs. We aren't anything like Sages/Sorcs...

 

In short, fix the cover while rooted "bug", and that is all.

 

P.S. Stay off my Engineering tree lawn! *shakes fist*

Edited March 10, 2012 by Twenynge

[Tibbel]

Imperial methodology is one of only two useful energy management talents in the tree, the other being EMP discharge. The expected energy return per minute of the other two talents (efficient engineering and energy overrides) is atrocious, not to mention that taking both of these talents together actually reduces the expected energy return per talent point when compared to choosing one or the other.

 

It's true that those two skills reduce each other's value.

 

Engineering, however, has the highest "extra" energy regeneration of all the trees.

EMP Discharge is worth 25 energy per minute.

Efficient Engineering is worth 28 energy per minute.

Imperial Methodology is worth 30 energy per minute.

Energy Overrides is worth 12 energy per minute.

This is a total of 95 "extra" energy per minute for Engineering.

These changes would reduce it to 65 per minute.

 

Lethal Purpose's energy regen on DoT crits is worth about 80 energy per minute (with a 50% DoT crit rate).

The Adrenaline Probe cooldown reduction of Lethal Purpose is worth about 8 energy per minute.

This is a total of 88 "extra" energy per minute for Lethality.

These changes would reduce it to approximately 72 per minute (with a 50% DoT crit rate).

 

Marksmanship gets only Sniper's Nest, which is worth 60 "extra" energy per minute.

These changes would not alter that.

 

 

The only draw of plasma probe is that it is NOT a DoT but an area effect. This means (I believe) that it still prevents node captures in voidstar and alderaan. If it worked like you proposed, there would be officially no reason to take it over corrosive grenade.

 

What Engineering would gain from these changes is an approximately 180% increase to Plasma Probe's damage against one stationary target, and a 500% increase to its damage against one to three moving targets. The damage done against a stationary group of 3 or more targets would remain the same.

 

The damage would be approximately the same as Corrosive Grenade against a group of 3 or more enemies, but much higher against fewer than three. It would also cost an average of approximately 6 energy less than Corrosive Grenade.

 

These changes would also reduce Explosive Probe's effective cooldown to 18 seconds.

 

It's true that an Engineering sniper would no longer be able to defend a capture point without thinking about it for 18 seconds. Frag Grenade is still on a 3-second cooldown.

 

 

And since when are hybrid Sniper specs popular?

2/16/23 and 23/16/2 are probably the two most prolific sniper PvP specs.

 

 

I never realized that was a problem.

It's a design problem if the stated goal is to make pure specs superior to hybrid specs and it fails to turn out that way. I'm not personally for or against that philosophy, but these changes would move reality closer to that goal.

 

 

It is more likely because the top of the talent trees are relatively worthless, not because there is too much synergy with hybrid specs. We aren't anything like Sages/Sorcs...

Agreed, but just because we're not in the worst situation doesn't mean we're perfectly fine.

 

The top-tier skills are part of the problem, but simply buffing those to be more appealing than a second energy regeneration skill would result in a net buff to each tree. That's not what these changes are intended to promote (although, to be honest, they probably would result in a small overall gain for each tree).

Edited March 10, 2012 by Tibbel

[muffinslol]

i never did the math on it but it makes sense now why 2/16/23 is sooo awesome cause you are regening what like 110 energy per minute from talents? plus the 5 per second if you keep energy above 60 lol

[Twenynge]

 

The theoretical savings from Efficient Engineering are the most difficult to achieve due to the fact that you must use three skills on cooldown to achieve the savings you stated. Furthermore, you have to spend energy like crazy to achieve this savings. I'll put it this way:

 

EMP discharge is 20 bucks for free, Efficient Engineering is a 20 dollar savings for spending 80 bucks. Unless you have at least 80 bucks in your wallet, the 20 dollar savings just can't be realized in the latter case. The investment required to achieve the energy savings is often too great given the limited energy budget, which is what makes efficient engineering so bad.

 

A couple more points that affect the energy sustainability of each specification:

 

The numbers you posted are theoretical maximums. The ratio of actual energy savings to theoretical energy savings will be different for each of the trees. The engineering tree must use 5 skills on cooldown to acheive the numbers you posted. The other specs have different requirements, so only looking at theoretical maximums is misleading.

 

The other side of the equation, energy requirements for each specification's preferred rotation, is just as important to overall energy sustainability. These are also different for each spec. Trying to match each specification's theoretical maximum energy savings is a mistake, as it is only one piece of the puzzle.

 

Anecdotally, I've heard lethality snipers have the worst problems with energy. I also question whether hybrid specifications are the most popular, but I'm not sure either of us can support our claims because that data just isn't available like it is in other games.

 

P.S. Reread your writeup on plasma probe in your first post. You limited it to three charges total, which means the damage increases stated in your second post are incorrect. I'll still take an ground targeted AoE over a DoT, regardless of damage.

 

P.P.S. I like the work you've done on sithwarrior.com

Edited March 10, 2012 by Twenynge

[Tibbel]

The theoretical savings from Efficient Engineering are the most difficult to achieve due to the fact that you must use three skills on cooldown to achieve the savings you stated. Furthermore, you have to spend energy like crazy to achieve this savings. I'll put it this way:

 

Ask a man with 60 dollars in his wallet if he'd rather have another 20 bucks for free, or get 100 dollars worth of goods for only 80 dollars and see what he says. EMP discharge is 20 bucks for free, Efficient Engineering is a 20 dollar savings for spending 80 bucks. The investment required to achieve the savings is often too great given the limited energy budget, which is what makes efficient engineering so bad.

 

A couple more points that affect the energy sustainability of each specification:

 

The numbers you posted are theoretical maximums. The ratio of actual energy savings to theoretical energy savings will be different for each of the trees. The engineering tree must use 5 skills on cooldown to acheive the numbers you posted. The other specs have different requirements, so only looking at theoretical maximums is misleading.

 

I completely agree that the calculations are based on perfect play.

 

However, when looking at concerns like this, what other options do we have that remove the skill factor?

 

The other side of the equation, energy requirements for each specification's preferred rotation, is just as important to overall energy sustainability. These are also different for each spec.

 

Anecdotally, I've heard lethality snipers have the worst problems with energy.

 

Agreed that energy costs differ between specs' abilites.

 

Marksmanship has the lowest average energy costs (using FT in 1/4 of its GCDs), which is why its lower energy regeneration is fairly balanced.

 

Lethality's "core" abilites are the most expensive, which is partly why it should have the highest energy regeneration. However, currently Engineering gets that distinction.

 

Some of the changes I've proposed would help make Engineering powerful without relying on such perfect energy expenditure, and as a result, I also proposed lowering its energy regeneration capabilities.

 

I also question whether hybrid specifications are the most popular, but I'm not sure either of us can support our claims because that data just isn't available like it is in other games.

 

I'm not sure the hybrid specs are the most popular (I don't have data for that), but I can say with certainty they are more popular than they are in "other games", even before the "other games" made it impossible to have a hybrid spec due to balancing difficulty.

 

P.S. Reread your writeup on plasma probe in your first post. You limited it to three charges total, which means the damage increases stated in your second post are incorrect.

 

The damage of each tick of Plasma Probe would remain the same.

 

I assumed a "moving target" would take one tick of the current implementation of PP. The proposed implementation would shoot them with a DoT instead, causing them to take 6 ticks. 6 is 500% larger than 1.

 

The current implementation of PP would damage a stationary target for 6 ticks over 18 seconds. The change I proposed would instead stack up to 3 times on that single stationary target. That's a 200% increase, only it wouldn't stack up immediately, so it's not quite 200%. My approximation was 180%, but the precise number would depend on how stacking DoTs are implemented.

 

P.P.S. I like the work you've done on sithwarrior.com

Thanks.

 

(Btw, I pushed out a spreadsheet update tonight -- check it out at the link below!)

Edited March 10, 2012 by Tibbel

[stainedarmada]

Personally i just want to see the cover system fixed. error messages when trying to cover in certain areas are really annoying, you cant go into cover when snared, my latency is between 1-40 at any given time and there is a huge delay between hitting the button and the actual effect.

[xdvesper]

if anything i would expect sniper nerfs, and i play a sniper BM main... but that's just me being pessimistic.

[Destronicus]

My guess is it will be related to PvP in some way since that seems to be the sole reason BW cares about when it comes to class fixes.

[Findulidas]

but that's just me being pessimistic.

 

Yeah I think so as well. There arent many who claim that snipers are op so nerfs are probably not coming.

 

The main issue with snipers if ofc the cover issues, like when rooted or snared you cant go into cover which is just bs since that means we cant use many of our base abilities. I would suspect that they are working on this though, perhaps fixes on that will come in 1.2. Though its hard to understand why they would not release a fix to that earlier considering its either a bug or atleast a mechanic that makes no sense in any way and is liked by none.

[Hxxr]

Tibbel, you really thought that through and your posts on sithwarrior are impressive, though I'm not fond of spreadsheets and the amount of misinformation they thus far produced.

 

But I like hybrid specs. And they are not an issue.

The fact that Engeneering and Lethality lack strong higher tier talents is the problem and can be easily fixed by removing or altering questionable talents. (e.g. passive cooldown reduction for 'Explosive Probe' for Engeneering)

Even in Marksmanship 'Imperial Assassin' could be a 3 point talent and another talent could be introduced in the same tier - something like Ambush leaving a small bleed effect for example.

 

Your visions for 'Sniper Volley' are very nice, although I wouldn't mind something more simple as a flat damage increase for three Snipe after using Ambush.

 

What I don't agree with is that one class should gain dispell protection and all the others don't - also because I don't think it's needed as DoTs would be too powerful otherwise.

 

The user interface changes are something that would effect all classes and especially in 16 man it is something that's bothering all players that play DoT heavy classes or specs. I seriously hope BW will give us DoT timers soon ... I already know two people who quit just because of the hazard current debuff tracking is in 16 man raids.

 

With almost all of your suggestions being reasonable, I'm not sure the effort you put into such specific ideas is worth it compared to simply analysing the problem with a class and hinting it to the developers. Who no doubt will have their own ideas how classes should be nerfed or buffed.

 

There arent many who claim that snipers are op so nerfs are probably not coming.

 

Classes are not nerfed or buffed because of people whining. It happens when there is need of balanceing classes or specs.

[Tibbel]

Tibbel, you really thought that through and your posts on sithwarrior are impressive, though I'm not fond of spreadsheets and the amount of misinformation they thus far produced.

 

Thanks, but I'm curious as to what misinformation you're seeing from the spreadsheet.

 

 

But I like hybrid specs.

 

Me too. I'm using one right now.

 

 

And they are not an issue.

 

They're an issue when they go directly against the stated design goal of having pure specs be superior.

 

 

The fact that Engeneering and Lethality lack strong higher tier talents is the problem and can be easily fixed by removing or altering questionable talents. (e.g. passive cooldown reduction for 'Explosive Probe' for Engeneering)

Even in Marksmanship 'Imperial Assassin' could be a 3 point talent and another talent could be introduced in the same tier - something like Ambush leaving a small bleed effect for example.

 

It's hard to justify giving snipers a net damage buff. If the upper-tier skills are made stronger (as they should be), then something else has to be made weaker.

 

 

What I don't agree with is that one class should gain dispell protection and all the others don't - also because I don't think it's needed as DoTs would be too powerful otherwise.

 

The reason Lethality needs some protection from dispels is because their spec-defining ability depends on the presence of their DoTs to do any kind of damage.

 

The change I proposed would allow for strategic dispelling of DoTs rather than having the right answer always just be "dispel it." If a healer is prepared to deal with immediate damage, they can dispel the DoTs to lower the overall healing required in the long run. If they're more prepared to deal with long-term damage, then they can save themselves from some burst by choosing not to dispel it. Cull is easy enough to avoid anyway without it also requiring the opposing healer to be bad at whack-a-DoT.

 

 

The user interface changes are something that would effect all classes and especially in 16 man it is something that's bothering all players that play DoT heavy classes or specs. I seriously hope BW will give us DoT timers soon...

 

Fortunately, this was something that was brought up multiple times at the guild summit. It seems like they're aware of the problem with relying on DoT durations while not having a reliable way to tell what they are.

 

 

With almost all of your suggestions being reasonable, I'm not sure the effort you put into such specific ideas is worth it compared to simply analysing the problem with a class and hinting it to the developers. Who no doubt will have their own ideas how classes should be nerfed or buffed.

 

I too assume they have some ideas by this point.

 

The changes I suggested are really not intended to be "this is the way to fix snipers," but more of a "here are some issues, here is why they are issues, and here are some of the many ways they could be addressed elegantly."

Edited March 10, 2012 by Tibbel