Why are Mercs the only Class in the game without an interrupt

[Retzilla]

I'm really confused as to why every single class in the game except mercenary has an interrupt, I'm also confused as to why no one seems to notice.

 

inb4 my 4second stun on a minute CD is an interrupt, it not.

inb4 my 1.5 second cast of a 10 second CC on a 45-60 second cooldown is an interrupt, its not.

[Onager]

Gross oversight by the devs. It's been mentioned by Zoeller that a lot of encounters out in the world and in class quests/planet quests etc are more or less gated by Interrupt usage. Once a Commando/Merc runs out of stuns and knockbacks, they have to rely on LoS until one of their other forms of CC comes back up off of cooldown.

 

IMO this is unintended, and they should have a real interrupt. As a republic player, you simply can't do Hard Mode Ironfist with two commando DPS. It's just not possible.

[Retzilla]

questing isn't really relevant. I recall only getting slightly upset at 2-3 pulls out of my entire grind to 50 from mobs that cast big fat heals that I could literally do nothing about. from a raiding standpoint and a pvp standpoint being the only class in the game without an interrupt is extremely silly

[KhromeHawk]

I've interrupted with Electrodart, jet blast and Arsenal knock-back uppercut just fine. "technically" I suppose its not a "classic interrupt" mechanic but like a good bounty hunter.. it gets the job done. Gear up and do your job right.. and they'll never have a chance to hit you.

 

Bounty Hunters dont cry.

Edited March 15, 2012 by KhromeHawk

[Retzilla]

I've interrupted with Electrodart, jet blast and Arsenal knock-back uppercut just fine. "technically" I suppose its not a "classic interrupt" mechanic but like a good bounty hunter.. it gets the job done. Gear up and do your job right.. and they'll never have a chance to hit you.

 

Bounty Hunters dont cry.

 

really? did you really just tell me to gear up and do my job right? I'm glad you hit your buttons and specced into a knockback from rocket punch to have another button, but 30-60 second CDs that dont work when a target has resolve don't and I'd like to see you do any of those abilities to interrupt a boss in a nightmare mode raid. to say its just fine is asinine. I dont appreciate that you in better words just tried to tell me to learn to play when for 1, top 400k damage in every BG i que into, and do 1700 dps in a nightmare raid setting. They'll never have a chance to hit me between all the hard casts a merc is vulnerable to and the fact every classes have abilities or passive effects that make it easier for them to play line of site. guess what happens when i do a knockback, oh they just to cast the spell again after they land. oh, guess what happens when they come out of the stun, they get to cast their spell. oh they LoSed the pole and are casting something I'll just follow him and interr... oh wait I dont have an interrupt, everything is on CD from another encounter, oh look it doesn't matter even if everything was up, he has a full resolve bar. OK i'll just tracer missle/powershot (I'm guessing you play arsenal in pvp and think you're all that) oh look he interrupted me, and now i cant cast that ability for 4 seconds, oh look a stun, oh look a knockback, ok tracer missile is back up better cast it, interrupt.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Retzilla

[DragonSentry]

Yeah.... It's certainly odd that every other class has an interrupt, but mercs don't.

If it isn't an oversight, then it sure FEELS like one.

 

Not having an interrupt is kinda brutal for PvE, esp since many bosses have channels that need to be interrupted (Malgus, I'm lookin' at you!).

 

 

It seems as if guilds and solo'ers have been getting on just fine w/o a merc interrupt, but I see no reason why they don't have one.

[mjohnsonfhk]

I've interrupted with Electrodart, jet blast and Arsenal knock-back uppercut just fine. "technically" I suppose its not a "classic interrupt" mechanic but like a good bounty hunter.. it gets the job done. Gear up and do your job right.. and they'll never have a chance to hit you.

 

Bounty Hunters dont cry.

 

not really. melee classes all seem to have abilities to get right back on you. That and the fact arsenal mercs have to stand still to do anything, knockbacks just dont create enough seperation.

[ForceWelder]

A day or so into early release I was teamed up with a guildy doing warzones and we were in a situation where he got stunlocked and we needed to interrupt a healer who was almost single handedly keeping most of his team alive through the match.

 

So my guildie calls out to me over vent to interrupt the healer.

 

I respond back that I have no interrupt and all my other CC was on cooldown.

 

My guildie litterally didn't believe me. He was in full beta and honestly thought every class had an interrupt ability.

 

So after the match, I go through every single ability and every single option in my skill tree to prove to him I didn't have one.

 

His response was basically how can you hope to kill a full spec healer 1 vs 1 if you don't have an interrupt?

 

To this day I still don't have that answer. Because as a full spec Merc healer myself, you aren't going to kill me unless you use interrupts or can crit for ungodly damage.

 

I can't even begin to count the number of times I have survived being stunlocked - get full resolve and still not be able to do more than rapid shot a player simply because one or two players hit me with a couple of interrupts on short cooldowns and put all of my heals on cooldown.

[Retzilla]

A day or so into early release I was teamed up with a guildy doing warzones and we were in a situation where he got stunlocked and we needed to interrupt a healer who was almost single handedly keeping most of his team alive through the match.

 

So my guildie calls out to me over vent to interrupt the healer.

 

I respond back that I have no interrupt and all my other CC was on cooldown.

 

My guildie litterally didn't believe me. He was in full beta and honestly thought every class had an interrupt ability.

 

So after the match, I go through every single ability and every single option in my skill tree to prove to him I didn't have one.

 

His response was basically how can you hope to kill a full spec healer 1 vs 1 if you don't have an interrupt?

 

To this day I still don't have that answer. Because as a full spec Merc healer myself, you aren't going to kill me unless you use interrupts or can crit for ungodly damage.

 

I can't even begin to count the number of times I have survived being stunlocked - get full resolve and still not be able to do more than rapid shot a player simply because one or two players hit me with a couple of interrupts on short cooldowns and put all of my heals on cooldown.

 

my guildies didn't believe me either, i laughed at my raid leader when he told me to interrupt a boss in a flashpoint for about 10 minutes while i explained to him i didn't have one. lone and behold he checked torhead and proved me right.

 

for now I'm really expecting a Ret paladin V2 where I dont get an interrupt for 4 years. and 2 expansions.

[ForceWelder]

really? did you really just tell me to gear up and do my job right? I'm glad you hit your buttons and specced into a knockback from rocket punch to have another button, but 30-60 second CDs that dont work when a target has resolve don't and I'd like to see you do any of those abilities to interrupt a boss in a nightmare mode raid. to say its just fine is asinine. I dont appreciate that you in better words just tried to tell me to learn to play when for 1, top 400k damage in every BG i que into, and do 1700 dps in a nightmare raid setting. They'll never have a chance to hit me between all the hard casts a merc is vulnerable to and the fact every classes have abilities or passive effects that make it easier for them to play line of site. guess what happens when i do a knockback, oh they just to cast the spell again after they land. oh, guess what happens when they come out of the stun, they get to cast their spell. oh they LoSed the pole and are casting something I'll just follow him and interr... oh wait I dont have an interrupt, everything is on CD from another encounter, oh look it doesn't matter even if everything was up, he has a full resolve bar. OK i'll just tracer missle/powershot (I'm guessing you play arsenal in pvp and think you're all that) oh look he interrupted me, and now i cant cast that ability for 4 seconds, oh look a stun, oh look a knockback, ok tracer missile is back up better cast it, interrupt.

 

What he said. ^^

 

Having abilities that work like an interrupt is not the same as having an interrupt. An interrupt is on a very short cooldown (6 - 8 seconds) and will disable a number of linked abilites in one shot.

 

On the other hand abilites that "act" like an interrupt simply put the current ability on cooldown and affects nothing else. They also have long cooldowns which make them one shot deals in most 1 vs 1 pvp matches.

[ZeusThunder]

I've interrupted with Electrodart, jet blast and Arsenal knock-back uppercut just fine. "technically" I suppose its not a "classic interrupt" mechanic but like a good bounty hunter.. it gets the job done. Gear up and do your job right.. and they'll never have a chance to hit you.

 

Bounty Hunters dont cry.

 

Since you're calling stuns and knockbacks interrupts just pretend the thread title is "Why are Mercs the only Class in the game with only 2 or 3 interrupts"

[Retzilla]

Since you're calling stuns and knockbacks interrupts just pretend the thread title is "Why are Mercs the only Class in the game with only 2 or 3 interrupts"

 

lets pretend its not butter

[Kinediks]

*snip*

 

I can't even begin to count the number of times I have survived being stunlocked - get full resolve and still not be able to do more than rapid shot a player simply because one or two players hit me with a couple of interrupts on short cooldowns and put all of my heals on cooldown.

 

Lately i've been getting shut down a lot as a healer in pvp. If I can juke an interrupt, which almost never happens, I usually just get cc'd right after. After that I have to juke again or hope an instant heal is up. Emergency Scan or Kolto Missile which neither heal for very much. It might be better if we had a way to escape or if rapid shots worked on ourselves. But healing against competent players is down right s h i t. Some can sprint, some can vanish..us?? oh we got high armor bro, we don't need no escape.

[oredith]

I've interrupted with Electrodart, jet blast and Arsenal knock-back uppercut just fine. "technically" I suppose its not a "classic interrupt" mechanic but like a good bounty hunter.. it gets the job done. Gear up and do your job right.. and they'll never have a chance to hit you.

 

Bounty Hunters dont cry.

 

maybe you want to try your argument again as a merc bodyguard?

[Retzilla]

Lately i've been getting shut down a lot as a healer in pvp. If I can juke an interrupt, which almost never happens, I usually just get cc'd right after. After that I have to juke again or hope an instant heal is up. Emergency Scan or Kolto Missile which neither heal for very much. It might be better if we had a way to escape or if rapid shots worked on ourselves. But healing against competent players is down right s h i t. Some can sprint, some can vanish..us?? oh we got high armor bro, we don't need no escape.

 

doing anything as a merc of any spec is hell against anyone that has an iota of how to play this game. being the 1 class out of 8 at a distinct disadvantage is nonsense, I find myself still hitting my interrupt bind from wow and i curse the very key each time, and not having that button gets me. i dont want to get into the whole vanish/spring vs high armor as far as defensives cooldowns go but.... ya just give me an interrupt

Edited March 15, 2012 by Retzilla

[KorinHyvek]

Lately i've been getting shut down a lot as a healer in pvp. If I can juke an interrupt, which almost never happens, I usually just get cc'd right after. After that I have to juke again or hope an instant heal is up. Emergency Scan or Kolto Missile which neither heal for very much. It might be better if we had a way to escape or if rapid shots worked on ourselves. But healing against competent players is down right s h i t. Some can sprint, some can vanish..us?? oh we got high armor bro, we don't need no escape.

 

Vanish is on a 3 minute cooldown and requires another ability to make sure you get every DOT off you, and can still be broken if they're quick with an AoE. And heavy armor does in fact make a difference (Although Force Bubble means the Sorceror might as well have heavy armor anyway).

 

 

Operative isn't in a much better situation than Merc as far as healing goes. Don't know which I would honestly say is better, but I've heard less complaining about Merc healing being underpowered than Operative healing. Could just be selective memory, though.

[Guioki]

4 second ranged stun.

[KorinHyvek]

4 second ranged stun is not an interupt

 

Fixed for you.

 

As far as the OP's question goes, my best guess is Bioware's original design philosophy was that no class should be able to do everything (Sniper's are low mobility and have no organic CC, Operatives have no in combat Organic CC, Vanguards and Juggernaughts lack a CC all together, etc.) Someone just forgot to tell the Sorceror's designer.

[Ifrit]

we would be grossly overpowered with an interrupt.

[theunwarshed]

Vanish is on a 3 minute cooldown and requires another ability to make sure you get every DOT off you, and can still be broken if they're quick with an AoE. And heavy armor does in fact make a difference (Although Force Bubble means the Sorceror might as well have heavy armor anyway).

 

sorc/sage feated bubble is light years ahead of the limited value of heavy armor. you might as well be wearing a paper sack against force/tech attacks and internal/elemental damage. btw, that's 100% of a sorc/sage repertoire and about 50% of a IA/SM/TR/BH's. the feated bubble provides (i've heard it said ~40-45%) mitigation against ALL damage and it's almost spammable when feated into (like ~17 secs downtime).

[Retzilla]

we would be grossly overpowered with an interrupt.

 

lolwut? have you ever tried to kill a healer that was even half way decent? they sit there and freecast, and if they're feeling frisky after their cast they'll go about interrupting me, laugh at my face, steal my dog, piss in my cheerios, and proceed to cast again. let me get my 1 interrupt/stun a minute, and eventually I'll kill him. Oh look its a caster dps. look at all the things they can sit there and free cast, oh look he doesnt want to dps me anymore he wants to cast a heal so I wont kill him, well my stuns on CD in an attempt to stop a cast that does a fat amount of damage that he just ended up trinketing and re-casting because stuns are definitely interrupts. oh look, he finished his heal and now hes going with another free cast I cant do anything about because I don't have an interrupt. I dont want a fat damage buff, or a buff to mobility, I just want an ability that should be global across all classes, but only given to SEVEN out of the EIGHT.

[Retzilla]

sorc/sage feated bubble is light years ahead of the limited value of heavy armor. you might as well be wearing a paper sack against force/tech attacks and internal/elemental damage. btw, that's 100% of a sorc/sage repertoire and about 50% of a IA/SM/TR/BH's. the feated bubble provides (i've heard it said ~40-45%) mitigation against ALL damage and it's almost spammable when feated into (like ~17 secs downtime).

 

when I'm in a big enough rage I'll make a thread about the lack of defensive cooldowns and mobility mercs have compared to other classes as well as the fact good sorcs/sage will do 600k damage a BG vs my measly 400k. but for now I want to keep this focused on the fact that mercs don't have an ability that should come standard issue like the pvp trinket. I.E interrupt.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Retzilla

[Typheran]

I've interrupted with Electrodart, jet blast and Arsenal knock-back uppercut just fine. "technically" I suppose its not a "classic interrupt" mechanic but like a good bounty hunter.. it gets the job done. Gear up and do your job right.. and they'll never have a chance to hit you.

 

Bounty Hunters dont cry.

 

those are not interrupts. They don't lock the ability.

 

And we are bounty hunters in name only in this game. A BH is SWG could actually fight 1v1. In SWTOR.. they are one of the weakest classes 1v1 (at least in the top tiers).

[Ciry]

they are one of the weakest classes 1v1 (at least in the top tiers).

 

Your opinion, not fact and PLEASE LET THE INTERRUPT THREADS DIE!!!

[Hyfy]

What he said. ^^

 

Having abilities that work like an interrupt is not the same as having an interrupt. An interrupt is on a very short cooldown (6 - 8 seconds) and will disable a number of linked abilites in one shot.

 

On the other hand abilites that "act" like an interrupt simply put the current ability on cooldown and affects nothing else. They also have long cooldowns which make them one shot deals in most 1 vs 1 pvp matches.

 

I don't recall the guy saying it was the same, in fact I distinctly recall him basically saying that "yeah they aren't the same but I'm going to make do with what Ive got". And the twit you quoted went all preaching on the soapbox condescending and ignorant.

 

Life ain't fair, maybe the Devs honestly screwed the pooch and maybe they didn't but its part of what currently comes with playing a Merc. You can either stay on here whinging about it or go play and use what you (this is a general you , and not you specifically) do have to suck it up and drive on. Operatives don't have a gap closer of any sort and everyone else does. Most of the good ones said screw it I'm just gonna go play and find something to make it work to the best of my advantage, so there really is no need to come on here and act like your (again generic you not you specifically) class is the only one that has disparities that make your life difficult.