Meh, lesser spotted Assault Commando nerfs

[Gyronamics]

What a drag, I've probably never seen another Assault Commando on my server and yet it's still in line for damage weakening.

 

In a nutshell:

 

3% critical rate removed (affects all commandos really)

Mortar Volley now hits a circle 10m across instead of a circle 16m across (for all troopers)

10% less damage on Charged Bolts (that's our burst damage spammable skill weakened)

Ionic Accelerator now limits the chance of a free HiB to a CHANCE every 6 seconds instead of 60% on FA and 30% on CB with no restrictions other than getting lucky (or unlucky) with the rolls.

 

Also some gibberish about Ionic Accelerator needing Plasma Cell to work which is irrelevant for a Commando who has no use for another cell, Vanguards using other Cells while in Assault caused that.

 

The Ionic Accelerator business is because of Vanguards and the loss of 10% on CB is because of Gunnery (otherwise with just a GR nerf they'd use CB after GR)

 

 

The good news is, Assault Commandos probably aren't going to be nerfed on purpose, just happen to share skills with Gunnery and a tree with Vanguards which means their nerfs land on us too.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Gyronamics

[RAAAAAAAAAAGE]

I too am an Assault spec commando (though haven't been for long). And I really dont see the point of the nerf. On the offchance we manage to get:

 

HiB > FA > Hib > CB > HiB.

 

as far as I can see this is the highest burst damage we can do. (not including Plasma grenade or Plastique into rotation). This is the only way i can see us matching Gunnery DPS. The incindiery round DoT ticks (on average) for less than a single Demo round. Especially if you have 2 or 3 Gunnery DPS in an ops group. But they get a demo round buff.

 

So the way i see it, they can get 2 Demo rounds off in the time it takes our main DoT to tick over. We get a nerf to CB and a nerf to our powerful-yet-rare combination.

 

Unless I am missing something it doesn't seem like a fair trade off. Especially with Curtain of fire buff too, as gunnery i can get 3.5 - 4k damage from one FA but assault I am lucky if 2/3 of the "ticks" from FA to hit the 1k mark.

[Brandoe]

Been playing Assault since day one. Now a BM. The nerf while slight and probably as you said not on purpose does hurt and already lower dps tree. Although my DPS in a match is usually around 350-400 (not sure if that's good) usually end up with just over 300K damage in a good match and between 250k and 290K on average. So you do eventually start doing some really decent damage.

 

I usually, to keep mobile start with Cyno Grenade => Reserve Powercell => Plasma Grenade => Plastique => Incedndary Round => HIB => Explosive Round. (the cryno plasma opener I only use in certain situations, mostly I start with Plastique) Then if I can afford to give up the mobility I'll throw in a Full Auto or a Burst mostly Full Auto nowadays since it casts faster and the first hit if it Crits will hit for over 1K.

 

The nerf to the MV won't make too much of a difference to my playstyle since the only time I really use it is you just smack a mob of imps in front of the door in VS. And since I don't use Burst or Full Auto too much I don't worry about the cooldown cancel on HIB for me it might as well be random. In PvE it will be a pain in the butt though.

 

Granted after 1.2 everyone and their mothers will have BM gear with dmg reduction out the ying yang so that is what will really drop our DPS output. So pretty much I'll grab the war hero stuff rip the mods out and put it in my BM gear, cause I'm not a fan of the new armours look.

[Gyronamics]

The most irritating part is the 6s cooldown on Ionic Accelerator.

 

Word is the chances for Charged Bolts is rising from 30 to 45% and Full Auto is rising from 60 to 75% to compensate.

 

 

So...

 

In some way increasing the FA chance from 60 to 75% and the CB chance from 30 to 45% is meant to compensate for removing the chance from 4 CB casts (4 x 30% now) (4 x 45% after) after every IA proc.

 

For 6 seconds after you proc a free HiB your Full Auto (which is probably on CD now anyway) and your Charged Bolts will be worth less than they were before it proc'd.

 

That's 1 ammo and the ammo regen of 1 GCD lost in sustained CB fire in the 6 seconds after every Ionic Accelerator proc with these changes.

 

Charged Bolts will be worth less by 10% of damage all the time of course.

 

 

 

Somewhere to someone, weakening the damage output of the Assault Commandos sustained burst and increasing its cost slightly is called a good days work. It would be nice to know the logic behind it since it's rarely been Assault Commandos that get the forum filled with distressed subscribers complaing about Grav Rounds ripping them up.

 

It looks like a buff to the proc rate but as I've shown it's a nerf if sustained fire is being carried out because all chances are cancelled for 6 seconds and we lose one proc, one ammo and one GCD of ammo regen for every proc that happens (compared to current systems).

 

Unlike Gunnery which got a similar nerf to weaken spamming, we don't get anything to compensate for this at all. They now have an increased proc rate on their buffed Full Auto and 10% more damage on their Demo Round.

 

That actually amounts to a buff in damage if you use the procs and good ammo control since FA pretty much regens the ammo it uses over its 3 second cast time and 10% free damage on Demo Round is frankly weird since unbuffed that puts it very close to the damage of Assault Plastique which can't be buffed to 25% more damage using grav rounds.

 

 

What it boils down to is a straight up weakening of current skills, worse ammo control and NOTHING is being presented as an alternative to still having to use Charged Bolts for sustained damage.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Gyronamics