Worried about Gunslinger for PvE

[lcemaster]

I am worried that no one will want to have me as a PvE player because I can only DPS and even so I have to stand still. And my DPS can be out done by other classes. Should I be worried or am I just paranoid.

[Bartes]

you are a bit paranoid. First of all 95% of FPs and OPs I did required close to 0 movement on bosses so you max out your DPS and energy regen (if u are specced for it - Foxhole). Actually some hard cover spots provide you with like 100% defense against some ranged mobs - especially droids.

 

Damage is really good in PvE situations and if you watch your rotation you will prevent taking aggro a lot leaving your healers for healing those who really need it. Also your buff really helps your team, especially in HMs where every bit of extra damage/crit is needed.

 

Only problem for GS may be that we don't really have any long lasting CC against humanoids but it is a minor problem.

[Scudmungus]

I am worried that no one will want to have me as a PvE player because I can only DPS and even so I have to stand still. And my DPS can be out done by other classes. Should I be worried or am I just paranoid.

 

Try not to build your opinion on the class by the minority of people who bother to post on the forums.

 

Or rather, build your opinion but remember that forum posters are a tiny fraction of the player base, and those that post something positive are a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction.

 

This goes for all aspects of the game - the hype, the rants, the moans.

 

::

 

You will kick *** if you put the time in to learn-to-play-better.

 

Even from a cynical perspective, all you have to do is commit to playing longer than the other guy can tolerate. While they're posting and moaning, you'll be rocking in-game.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Scudmungus

[silvershadez]

I wouldn't be so worried tbh ....

 

In my oppinion this class has the best DPS avaiable. And cover doesn't make you as static as some people try to make it here. It's all about the player.

 

I get picked preferred in PvE over most other DPS classes on my server.

Edited March 11, 2012 by silvershadez

[flem]

Commando is at least as immobile (if not more), has no proper interrupt, and is boring as hell to play. This is what you want?

 

Also, GS does more DPS.

Edited March 11, 2012 by flem

[Synavix]

They "myth" that gunslingers are outclassed as a DPS class is very, very wrong. The class can be difficult to play compared to others, so it's very noticeable when a player is bad, but if you learn your class we are probably one of the strongest Ops DPS classes. We are also very good in HM FPs, but if you're with an undergeared group it is true that we bring less long-term CC. However, this is often made up for by the fact that we have knockbacks, ranged interrupts, an extra group/tank defensive cooldown, and *very* good AoE.

 

Any group who doesn't want to take a gunslinger to Ops is not worth your time to begin with. We gear out very fast due to the fact that there is often very few gunslingers or scoundrels to compete against, and our damage ramps up quickly. We are not extremely mobile, but fortunately we are not useless in movement based fights either. Fortunately, our least mobile tree is also very strong in burst and does not require a set rotation, making it easy to maintain a high level of DPS when you have to reposition a lot. There are no fights where you have to be on the move constantly. Our group defensive cooldown is very underrated by people who are not familiar with it. It can be a group/raid saver on fights like Annihilator (staying it to beat enrage timer if your group does not have the DPS to LoS), Soa (pop for your group/tank when healers are being thrown/mind trapped), Crusher (extra tank CD), NMM Jarg/Sorno (lots of raid damage)...in truth there really isn't a fight where it's *not* useful and great utility.

 

My personal Ops group runs two gunslingers and cleared server firsts on HM Soa and every NMM boss, and we actively recruit any unguilded gunslingers that show any sort of potential for our other groups. They are simply an amazing class even with the current bugs and glitches, and will likely only get stronger.

[crimsonhaze]

I am worried that no one will want to have me as a PvE player because I can only DPS and even so I have to stand still. And my DPS can be out done by other classes. Should I be worried or am I just paranoid.

 

I can't say much about the DPS since we don't have a combat log. I've never had trouble keeping up dps with the other classes (infernal council 1v1 is an example of where you can compare) if that's the question.

 

The real question is whether we have enough moves to necessitate us over the other ranged dps classes like sage or commando. Let's go over a few.

 

CCs: They have in battle organics CC while we have in battle robot CC. Right now, I'd have to say in-battle organic CC's are much better. Bonecrusher is the prime example where you need to CC the adds. But that can easily change depending on future operations. Even with bonecrusher, our ops group CC's one and the offtank just tanks the other while dps'ing boss. The off tank can easily tank both of them.

 

Armor debuff: Our flourish shot is really awesome imo. It's a 1 shot 20% armor debuff for 45 seconds. Guardians and commando's need to stack it in order to get the same effect, and theirs don't last as long. Not sure if sages get one.

 

Scrambling Field: This thing is a lifesaver. The best ever use for this move is popping it at the end of the Annihilator boss fight (he does aoe barrage near this death), which can make the last few seconds of the fight much easier, possible saving the raid's life.

 

Heals: They have them. We don't. Granted, your raid should never be in a situation where 2 healers isn't enough, but getting out of tricky situations or taking pressure off your healers never hurt.

 

There's other issues to think about I'm sure, but I can almost promise you that your success at end game has more to do with how you play your dps class and your attitude more than what your dps class is capable of. Show other's how well you play your class and you'll be getting invites regularly.

 

Anyway, if you do find yourself in a situation where you're not getting invites, join a guild, and use its members to form your own ops group. That's what I did, but I did it to fit my time schedule, not because I wasn't getting invites.

[Blue-moon]

I've played a few other classes to the thirties trying to find the right fit, but Gunslinger is the one which feels right and is the first one where Im closing in on 50. I'm on a PvP server so can't really comment on ops/HMs but I use a mobility hybrid based around AoE damage for warzones - it's an absolute blast (if you like playing glass cannons, which I do).

[Synavix]

The real question is whether we have enough moves to necessitate us over the other ranged dps classes like sage or commando. Let's go over a few.

 

CCs: They have in battle organics CC while we have in battle robot CC. Right now, I'd have to say in-battle organic CC's are much better. Bonecrusher is the prime example where you need to CC the adds. But that can easily change depending on future operations. Even with bonecrusher, our ops group CC's one and the offtank just tanks the other while dps'ing boss. The off tank can easily tank both of them.

 

I don't mean to contradict your post, as all your points are extremely valid and well put, but as far as CCs go, Pylons (however easy it may be) may be a better example of where their CC may be better (if you are slow and get double adds). Or just trash in general (KP murder droid trash can be brutal with none). On Bonecrusher, adds can be knocked off into the acid pools to be put out of the fight. This usually requires either a specced knockback for further distance or a guardians force push (otherwise they will generally evade back into the arena), but it does not require CC if coordinated right. I just thought I would throw that out there for other people to help pick up on the trick. It's very helpful if you're hitting enrage timers on HM or your healers are having trouble on NMM.

[Xing]

Gunslinger is fine in all Ops and Hard Modes.

[ZDProletariat]

You are unjustifiably worried. Gunslinger DPS is superior to that of the Commandos. Our mobility is as good/bad as theirs, and we have some nifty tricks like Scrambling Field that saves the raid when used right.

[crimsonhaze]

I don't mean to contradict your post, as all your points are extremely valid and well put, but as far as CCs go, Pylons (however easy it may be) may be a better example of where their CC may be better (if you are slow and get double adds). Or just trash in general (KP murder droid trash can be brutal with none). On Bonecrusher, adds can be knocked off into the acid pools to be put out of the fight. This usually requires either a specced knockback for further distance or a guardians force push (otherwise they will generally evade back into the arena), but it does not require CC if coordinated right. I just thought I would throw that out there for other people to help pick up on the trick. It's very helpful if you're hitting enrage timers on HM or your healers are having trouble on NMM.

 

That's a nice trick, not sure if our sage is spec'd into it.

 

Another trick: In the murder-droid pull, specifically the one before fabricator boss, if you fudge up the CC's and suddenly have 3 humans alive and kicking, you can throw them off the edges, and they won't be able to completely climb back up. They'll stand around glitching in the bottom, sometimes getting suck under the floor, but mostly getting suck at the ramp. This can give you some crucial time to kill 2 remaining humans and then the droid then going back to the humans, and finally the murder droids.

[Nexdine]

I have to say that when first kicking off my Gunslinger, he felt weak and I felt I had a hard time doing damage.... but then I realized it was just a matter of learning to play the character and using the tools efficiently. Now, I'm having a blast in the mid-thirties and I don't feel a bit worried about not bringing the value to the FP's - I'm clearly doing at least as well as anyone else in there.

 

I've also gotten away from the wrongheaded "always use cover in place" I started with - hard cover is always desirable and can seriously help you, you only take damage from many targets when you pop up to shoot at them. It took a little adjusting to jockeying for a good position for cover but once you get it down it becomes automatic.

 

So go with your Gunslinger and have fun with it. The chance to point two Tral-Tech Sonic Blasters downrange and laying down a field of fire alone is worth it.

[flem]

That's a nice trick, not sure if our sage is spec'd into it.

Just a warning: if you push one of his snacks off the platform, Bonethrasher resets. This can be really annoying. Only try pushing the cats.

 

Obviously we're just as good at freezing single murder droids as anyone else.

Edited March 12, 2012 by flem

[LenrocNewDawn]

Only problem my slinger has in PvE is pulling aggro from the tank. If the tank is not competent enough I have to slow down my damage output or get fried.

[prochuvi]

sorry but gunslinger is the best dps at this moment and have mroe and better cc of every class,u havent mezz for non droid but u have 30 sec cooldown stun where everybody have one minut,aoe instant mezz,instant root,2 knowbacks.

and ehals?you have one shield,inmune to white damage skill,20 sec or so inmune to all cc,inmune to charges and interrupts.

Edited March 12, 2012 by prochuvi

[genesiser]

When they removed the GCD from taking cover all the worries about movement fights went away. Ya, you have to hit an extra button before you do some skills, but now that you can do a skill right as you go into cover you have way more mobility than merc or commando.

[Junostorm]

You will notice at L50 as your gear slowly improves your damage won't, but at some point, near a complete set of high level gear it will go from BLAH to OMG did I just hit that mob for that much!?!

 

Gunslingers are very gear dependant. When I was in blue gear I hit like a wet noodle against a block wall. Now with high end PvP and/or PvE purple gear that wet noodle is a wrecking ball.

 

If your a new L50 in blues don't give up hope, you will turn into one ****** damage dealer.

[parmie]

Having joined a guild with more advanced players who are running ops the main lesson was using hotkeys if you don't already, this includes a keyboard configuration that doesn't make it a pain to break cover when something is aoe targeting you.

 

Being stationary has it's advantages when hotkeying, one key to switch to a new target and deal more dps, melee DPS can have gaps when moving to a new enemy. For this reason we're given a specific role in Eternity Vault to take out the mind traps.

[Tamanous]

Scaling of damage is supposed to be answered with accuracy itemization especially in 1.2. This should allow dps to increase beyond non-mitigating classes according to Bioware.

 

As for mobility I would think when multi-spec comes out you will be able to switch builds on the fly before boss fights and allow a build more suited per fight.