Merc/commando "fix" Suggestion: Op/Smug Overload/Quick Shot

[Diddley]

Hello Reps, I have started a thread on the Merc side and am posting my suggestion here for you to consider also. Please let me know what you think

 

First of all, I use "fix" tentatively because some people...

a) think Merc/Commandos are fine.

b) will disagree on this suggestion

c) believe the class is so inherently broken that a complete rework of each tree is needed (there is some weight to this argument )

 

Sweeping that aside, my main observation from playing a merc is the complete lack of mobility and how interruptable we are when confronted with a melee class. This is because we have no instant cast, cooldown mid-range/melee ability that is without cooldown. In short we completely crumble when a melee class is in our grill. I am of course aware that assault/pyrotech is a more mobile spec, but the still requires a cast/channel to proc rail shot/high impact bolt; we certainly don't get the same synergy as our PT/VG bros!

 

My suggestion to help fix mercs and commandos is a mid range (8-10 metres), moderate damage instant cast blaster shot similar to or replicating Operative's Overload Shot, or Smuggler's Quick Shot. These are filler skills used by Ops and Smugs to keep dps up when everything is on cooldown (at least that's how I use it with my operative).

 

http://www.torhead.com/ability/9pHRoRz/overload-shot

http://www.torhead.com/ability/4WwZBO8/quick-shot

 

I believe a skill like this would go a long way to fix the class as our fragility in close quarters due to cast times is our biggest failing. Giving more of a punch and rotation would make it much more enjoyable to play.

 

I believe this would not be OP as it would deal less damage than our core abilities, would have a reasonable 16 heat/2 ammo cost, and not be usable from over 8-10 metres, so would break our identity as ranged dps; just a little something to give us some edge when hassled or interrupted in melee.

 

All feedback and ideas are welcome but I would like to keep this thread in scope of my proposal, and not a blanket discussion for other suggestions (there are plenty of other threadfor that!). I will be bumping this thread for more exposure and to continue discussion. Please let me know your thoughts!

 

Mirror thread is here... http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=437991

Edited April 29, 2012 by Diddley

[Hudgaar]

We do have something similar already but it costs three ammo ( not sure on heat or mirror name.) Mortar shot or something. it does something like 1k dmg? The ammo cost is a tad high though(3 ammo), and it would be nice to see it synergize in our skill trees like at all. ( it doesn't)

[Pavixx]

We do have something similar already but it costs three ammo ( not sure on heat or mirror name.) Mortar shot or something. it does something like 1k dmg? The ammo cost is a tad high though(3 ammo), and it would be nice to see it synergize in our skill trees like at all. ( it doesn't)

http://www.torhead.com/ability/cj0sTEg/explosive-round

1. An equivalent w/o minion knockdown and lower ammo cost

OR

2. some synergy is any talent tree

I wouldn't complain but I still doubt I would use it very much.

[Diddley]

We do have something similar already but it costs three ammo ( not sure on heat or mirror name.) Mortar shot or something. it does something like 1k dmg? The ammo cost is a tad high though(3 ammo), and it would be nice to see it synergize in our skill trees like at all. ( it doesn't)

 

We have missile blast which I believe is the imp mirror. It is however 25 heat which is not economical, quite a long time to impact and poor damage (unusable basically). It is also used by PT/VGs so buffing it in anyway would perhaps be too big a benefit for a class that is in much better shape already! Making it buffable within the merc skill trees would prohibit player choices also.

 

I also considered that weapon damage (so subject to armour/defense) might stop it from being too OP also.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Diddley

[Rethban]

posted in the other thread, but concerning missile blast/explosive round, the reason they make it the way it is was for leveling and pve really, as easy stun to follow up with railshot or w.e. I'm not too big on adding more and more abilities, my goddam action bar's are already maxed to their limit, but what I said in the mirror thread, what about tweaking railshot/HI Bolt? Main point for it are over there

[Diddley]

posted in the other thread, but concerning missile blast/explosive round, the reason they make it the way it is was for leveling and pve really, as easy stun to follow up with railshot or w.e. I'm not too big on adding more and more abilities, my goddam action bar's are already maxed to their limit, but what I said in the mirror thread, what about tweaking railshot/HI Bolt? Main point for it are over there

 

I believe changing railshot is kind of dangerous for mercs as it is very high damage and the pyro spec is heavily based around it. As it is a shared ability it could also muck things up for our PT/VG bros.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Diddley

[Rethban]

Moving my post here:

 

I'll stick to your quickshot idea for now. Usually I find I only use quickshot as a desperate last measure for a kill when my rapidshots won't cut it. Maybe if it was tweaked but then that would be the equivalent of giving bounty hunters the flame burst or ion pulse/shock w.e ability from powertech/vanguard. I think it discourages our ranged strength since if it was too strong to counter melee it would encourage closer ranged play, or too weak/nothing special then not used at all.

 

Arsenal has railshot, an ability that I think can be tweaked to encourage a burst->run->burst playstyle that most ranged casters are used to doing to fight melee. Railshot for arsenal is encouraged to be used after 5 whole casts, yet they already have heatseeker which is encouraged after 3 casts but doing more dmg, and is the ideal rewarding nuke for being able to get those casts off. Both abilities technically serve the same purpose so why have 2? Maybe tweak the railshot to like..... i dunno have its cd reduced each time you get tracer lock and making the max stacks like 2 and increasing the bonus dmg ratio but lowering the base dmg to encourage using in coincidence with tracer. Wishful thinking and could easily unbalance the pve rotation, but tracer is doing less anyways and unload is even "claimed" to have some issues so maybe a "tweak" wouldn't be a bad thing to think about.

[Rethban]

I believe changing railshot is kind of dangerous for mercs as it is very high damage and the pyro spec is heavily based around it. As it is a shared ability it could also muck things up for our PT/VG bros.

 

Leaning towards changing the talent within arsenal rather than the ability itself.

 

Yeah but arsenal/commando has that one talent called Tracer Lock/Charged Shots or w.e. Pyro's don't have access to that talent and maybe that talent is where the tweak for arsenal hit and run synergy could be. Dunno if you read my earlier post since I had to move it over threads but I went into a bit more detail there about possibly lowering the base dmg but letting the stacks of tracer lock reduce the cd's and give the dmg boost. But again that would only hurt pyro if the base was lowered. Also is it a terrible thing to have the ability considered strong? Heatseeker still hit's harder yet railshot is the ability that is the reward from casting more times. Not to mention pyro's mobile strength comes from rail shots involvement so if its sitting in arsenal not really doing much maybe thats where the change should be.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Rethban

[Kushtaka]

I think having an ability like Snipers/Slingers have (Cover) that makes them immune to interrupt and being leapt on is something I'd like to see on my Commando. We have to be stationary a lot of the time anyways and our main attacks are cast. Eh, it's too much to ask for though and probably would be too much in the way of buffing the class. IMO, the Commando/Merc needs a full overhaul to be worth playing. I'd be down with them (Bioware) removing the class from the game entirely TBH and giving me an equivalent Gunslinger.

[Rethban]

I think having an ability like Snipers/Slingers have (Cover) that makes them immune to interrupt and being leapt on is something I'd like to see on my Commando. We have to be stationary a lot of the time anyways and our main attacks are cast. Eh, it's too much to ask for though and probably would be too much in the way of buffing the class. IMO, the Commando/Merc needs a full overhaul to be worth playing. I'd be down with them (Bioware) removing the class from the game entirely TBH and giving me an equivalent Gunslinger.

 

Yeah but that's just giving us more of the same if they do something like that. If you wanna play like a gunslinger then play a gunslinger, the heavy armor makes no real difference and you'll love the utility that's magically available. I think they take this opportunity to stray from what other classes do, do something unique since commando/merc is pretty much a blank slate right now. We have dmg, and plenty of room to make it unique. While we should still maintain the stationary gameplay intended, our moves aren't constrained by being forced into cover and any changes should take advantage of that.

[Diddley]

Bumping

 

I think by giving us a decent instant blaster move or making power shot/charged bolts instant cast would go a long way to fixing the class.

 

Instant PS/CB would work great with supercharged gas/cells for healers, keep arsenal/gunnery dpsing when hassled, and would make pyro/assault WORK, almost to match our PT/VG bros. A 1.5 second cooldown or lower base damage could stop it being OP.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Diddley

[theworldends]

I think the perfect fix would be in the curtain of fire skill, to not just increase damage of full auto but also let us channel it while moving. Since full auto can be specd to slow the target, this would allow us to run away while slowing down the opponent

[Diddley]

As Ive stated before in a similar thread, there are no moves In game that allow channelling while moving so it would be a massive game changer. Also with a skill like unload and full auto It would be massively op with the high damage and snare Edited May 1, 2012 by Diddley

[Arzoo]

As Ive stated before in a similar thread, there are no moves In game that allow channelling while moving so it would be a massive game changer. Also with a skill like unload and full auto It would be massively op with the high damage and snare

 

How in the world is a 3 second snare OP? The only worse snare I can think of is the one Tactics Vanguards get.

[Pavixx]

Because it would be a snare with a huge damage output on a single gcd/cd.

[Diddley]

Yes, channelling unload or full auto while running, with it's snare and massive damage when spec'd would be op is what I was saying. And mobile channels do not exist in this game. Also bear in mind it is a shared skill so buffing coms and mercs would buff Pts and vgs. Making people spec into it would be prohibitive to certain players. Making power shot/charged bolts instant would be working with our own com/merc abilities and would help all specs. Edited May 1, 2012 by Diddley

[Hudgaar]

Yes, channelling unload or full auto while running, with it's snare and massive damage when spec'd would be op is what I was saying. And mobile channels do not exist in this game. Also bear in mind it is a shared skill so buffing coms and mercs would buff Pts and vgs. Making people spec into it would be prohibitive to certain players. Making power shot/charged bolts instant would be working with our own com/merc abilities and would help all specs.

 

Not if the buff happened in the form of a change to a commando/merc talent tree. ( arsenal and gunnery respectively.)

 

 

Not saying I agree with a runnning full auto, but it may be a step in the right direction. Prehaps some sort of buff application, something to do with sticky bomb or even the 3 ammo mortar shot. I think a change to mortar shot, a bit of synergy with it in our gunnery/arsenal tree combined with some sort of buff that is added that is linked to mortar round that adds a running full auto into the mix would be nice.

 

The high cost of ammo however is a bit prohibitive.

[Diddley]

Not if the buff happened in the form of a change to a commando/merc talent tree. ( arsenal and gunnery respectively.)

 

 

Not saying I agree with a runnning full auto, but it may be a step in the right direction. Prehaps some sort of buff application, something to do with sticky bomb or even the 3 ammo mortar shot. I think a change to mortar shot, a bit of synergy with it in our gunnery/arsenal tree combined with some sort of buff that is added that is linked to mortar round that adds a running full auto into the mix would be nice.

 

The high cost of ammo however is a bit prohibitive.

 

Maybe but the the class as a whole has mobility and interrupt problems so there should be fix for all specs, not just arsenal/gunnery. Again, I really don't think BW would entertain the idea of a channeled skill that is mobile either so it's a pretty unrealistic request.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Diddley

[Hudgaar]

Maybe but the the class as a whole has mobility and interrupt problems so there should be fix for all specs, not just arsenal/gunnery. Again, I really don't think BW would entertain the idea of a channeled skill that is mobile either so it's a pretty unrealistic request.

 

True enough, Assault needs something more bursty, gunnery needs something more mobile, Combat medic... I dunno they do alright from what I've seen as long as they have the support. Gunnery and Assault support or no you'e going down quicker than a drunk teen on prom night.