Proposed 1.3 (or future patch) Mercenary Class Changes...

[rotatorkuf]

*Disclaimer: most of these changes are revolved around PVP, while considering their potential affect to PVE, most changes should not negatively affect PVE and you are welcome to point them out if they do. The intention is to create a more involving class to play, instead of tracer tracer tracer tracer tracer hsm/rs/unload rinse repeat. That being said, this is not a thread to improve our DPS in general, but rather our utility, rotations, survivability and overall enjoyment. I enjoy playing my mercenary, but not enough to continue playing it at this pace of misplaced nerfs and supposed balances. It is evident that the population of mercenaries has dropped significantly, most that are still playing is just because they are in too deep, are skilled enough to ignore the arguable flaws, haven't played another Advanced Class in end game, or just generally don't really care about getting balanced, I don't blame them, we are all entitled to our own standards for entertainment. Majority matters, and opinions are currently heavily leaning toward the idea that there are some glaring drawbacks to playing a Mercenary.

 

After reading a lot of posts and having played the mercenary deep enough, I think we should to try to help Bioware out with some changes for the Mercenary AC, or at the very least provide a portal for us to communicate our opinions on this class.

 

I'm trying to remain as reasonable, while being subjective since I play this class a lot, as possible, considering that we're a ranged class (allowing us to tee off from a distance, or heal from a distance, is an advantage in and of itself)

 

Seeing and playing other classes also allows for better perspective.

 

Anyway, here are my proposed changes, also, if you guys want to propose your own REASONABLE changes, please go ahead and hopefully we can keep this thread alive and as a constructive post for Bioware devs. *tried to highlight the more important changes*

 

General:

 

Energy Shield

Instant

Cooldown: 90s *down from 120s to bring in line with other class defenses*

Reduces all damage taken by 25% for 12 seconds.

[New Ability]

Instant

Cooldown: 12s

Interrupts the target's current action and prevents that ability from being used for 4 seconds. (no flight time)

*at the risk of sounding like QQ, to this moment I don't understand why mercenaries are the ONLY class without an interrupt, there is nothing that they have to warrant this, especially since our ad hoc interrupts are based on the resolve bar*

 

Electro Dart

Instant

Heat: 8

Cooldown: 60s

Range: 30 m

Fires an electro dart that stuns the target for 4 seconds immediately. *flight time removed, to bring in line with other ranged stuns, not really a priority*

 

Death from Above

Instant

Heat: 25

Cooldown: 60s

Range: 30 m

Rains death from above, firing a volley of missiles at the target area, dealing 11840 - 16519 kinetic damage over the duration. Standard and weak targets are rooted in shock by the blasts.

*it's idiotic, to be honest, to have an ability with a 5m aoe range that when used, the ability itself knocks targets out of this range*

 

Bodyguard:

 

Empowered Scans

Increases the healing done by Rapid Scan and Healing Scan by [3 / 6]% and Kolto Missile by [10 /20]%. In addition, Rapid Scan builds [2 / 5] (down from [3 / 6]) charges of Combat Support Cylinder.

*moves the kolto missile buff from arsenal tree to bodyguard tree, lord knows why it's even in the arsenal tree in the first place, also, a nerf to increase time for building 30 charges*

 

Supercharged Gas -

Instant

Cooldown: 20s *nerf, up from 1.5s to prevent from keeping this buff up permanently, requiring you to make the best of this 10 second buff*

Converts 30 charges of Combat Support Cylinder to supercharge your blasters, venting 16 heat (up from 8) and increasing all healing dealt by 5% for 10 seconds *no longer adds 5% damage buff*. While active, the following abilities gain Supercharge effects:

Power Shot: Heat cost reduced by 17.

Unload: Heat cost reduced by 8.

Rapid Scan: Heat cost reduced by 4. *to help with heat management*

Healing Scan: Cooldown reduced by 100%.

Kolto Missile: Places a shield on all targets, reducing damage taken by 8% *up from 5%* for 10 *down from 15* seconds. Number of targets affected increased to 8. *without a smart targeting mechanic, heals are currently being wasted with this ability on targets with full health, as a workaround, just heal more targets*

 

Power Shield -

Energy Shield now removes activation time on Rapid Scan but adds a 3s cooldown and increases tech and force resistance by 50% for 6 seconds. *to bring in line with other class defenses, rapid scan becomes insta cast to allow some more mobility*

Kolto Residue -

Kolto Missile has a [50 / 100]% chance to leave Kolto Residue on affected targets, increasing all healing received by 5% *up from 3% because this is almost pointless at 3%, especially for 2 talent points* for 10 *nerfed down from 15* seconds. In addition, Kolto Missile cooldown is reduced by [1 / 2]s. *to allow for better overall group and aoe healing*

 

Protective Field -

Increases healing received by [5 / 10]% while Energy Shield is active. *nerfed down from 10 / 20% to prevent god mode energy shield*

 

Powered Insulators -

Reduces all damage taken by [3 / 5]% while Combat Support Cylinder is active. *buff from 2 /4 %, however, not a priority*

 

Kolto Shell -

Instant

Heat: 16 *I feel heat cost is fine, compared to other classes relative shields cost*

Range: 30 m

Deploys a kolto shell around the target that has 10 charges and lasts 30 seconds. When damaged, the kolto shell loses 1 charge and heals the target for 0 *increase heal value per charge?*. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 seconds *down from 3 seconds*. Kolto shell cannot be stacked and target cannot receive Kolto Shell again for 20 seconds. *a lot more improved shield that we can place on our allies and ourselves, instead of just a single target, nerfs stacking and times it can be used*

 

Warden -

Increases the critical healing bonus of all heals by [2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 10]%. (down from 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15) *again, nerf to prevent ez mode healing*

*Notes - I think with these changes, merc healer survivability goes up a bit and utility is increased, while maintaining the concept of managing your heat well to be efficient and still being very kill-able with interrupts/cc.

 

Arsenal:

 

Due to the following changes, Tracer Missile damage has been reduced by 15%, while Heatseeker Missiles, Unload and Rail Shot damage has been increased by 8%. *trying to promote less reliance on tracer missile by displacing damage into other abilities*

 

Mandalorian Iron Warheads -

Increases the damage dealt by all missiles and Power Shot by [3 / 6]% and Rail Shot and Power Shot now ignore armor by [10 / 20]%. *New buff from this talent for rail shot, allows for better mixing with other trees*

 

Stabilizers -

Reduces cost of Tracer Missile by [3 / 6] heat, and reduces the activation time of Concussion Missile by [1 / 2]s. *because concussion missile is almost useless as a 2s cast that breaks on damage, and the following changes to power shot and tracer missile*

 

Muzzle fluting -

Activation times reduced on Tracer Missile by [0.5 / 1]s and Power Shot by [1 / 2]s. Power Shot is now on a [1.5 / 3]s cooldown. *1s Tracer Missile and insta cast Power Shot (although these may be interchangeable), to help with adding some mobility to Arsenal but also prevents spamming of a single ability with a 3s cooldown on Power Shot*

 

Afterburners -

Rocket Punch has a [50 / 100]% chance to knock the target back several meters. In addition, Jet Boost's knockback effect now roots the target and makes you immune to leaps/pulls for [1 / 2]s. *survivability, better jet boost usage, if we want to allow kiting, this is a good step forward imo*

 

Tracer Lock -

Tracer Missile and Power Shot grant Target Lock, increasing the damage dealt the next Rail Shot by 7%. Stacks up to 5 times. *makes power shot a more useful rotation ability*

 

Riddle

Increases the damage dealt by Unload by 35% and Power Shot by 5%. Unload and Power Shot now also grant 1 heat signature each. *makes power shot and unload more useful rotation abilities*

 

Pinning Fire -

Unload is now a [5 / 4]s channeled ability without being required to remain stationary. Unload has a [50 / 100]% chance per hit to slow the target's movement by 35% *down from 50* for 2 seconds. more useful Unload

 

Heatseeker Missiles & Barrage fixed to correctly consider heat signature / damage buff (if indeed it's bugged, I think the jury is still out until BW actually confirms this).

New arsenal rotation might look something like, tracer missile, power shot, unload, tracer, heatseeker, rail shot

With these changes, it will truly require a more active rotation of abilities instead of STILL relying on tracer missile as of 1.2 patches.

Trying to maintain good to great PVE numbers while making this a truly viable PVP spec, opinions and/or calculations are very welcome.

 

Pyrotech:

 

Superheated Gas -

Increases the chance to trigger by [5 / 10 / 15]% and damage dealt by Combustible Gas Cylinder by [10 / 20 / 30]%. *to bring in line with powertech ability to proc CGC 100% on spammable flame burst, but considering the fact that we can spam rapid shots for 0 heat cost*

 

Degauss

Energy Shield has a [50 / 100]% chance to remove all movement-impairing effects when activated and makes you immune to root/snare effects for [2 / 4]s. *makes this talent actually speccable since roots/snares have no diminishing returns or resolve bar effect*

 

Superheated Rail

Rail Shot ignores [20 / 40]% (up from [15 / 30]% of the target's armor. In addition, if Rail Shot hits a burning target, it has a [50 / 100]% chance to vent 8 heat and refresh the duration of your Combustible Gas Cylinder's burn effect if present. *improved rail shot damage*

 

Firebug

Increases the critical bonus damage of Combustible Gas Cylinder, Rail Shot, Incendiary Missile and Thermal Detonator by [12 / 24]%. (down from [15 / 30]%) *nerf to overall damage*

 

Thermal Detonator

Instant

Heat: 16

Cooldown: 15s

Range: 30 m

Hurls a thermal detonator that adheres to the target and detonates after several seconds. Standard and weak enemies enter a state of panic while the explosive is active. The explosion deals 949 kinetic damage when it detonates. Standard and weak targets are knocked back from the blast, while players are rooted in shock for 1 second. Shares a 15-second cooldown with Explosive Dart. *to help with kiting*

 

*update* changed tracer missile to 1s cast and power shot to insta cast, inc dmg on power shot/railshot/hsm, dec dmg on tracer missile (since its spammable), channeled and moveable unload talent, changed 75% speed debuff to 35%

Edited May 2, 2012 by rotatorkuf
added more notes on changes

[Nuadul]

I see some decent changes here but entirely too many based on pvp alone. Alot of the reasons you states for some of your changes was for pvp benefit. They will never change class mechanics to have a sole pvp benefit, this is not a pvp game, but a pve centered one with some pvp built in. Alot of people forget that. Also, some of the other changes were to "keep us in line with other classes" and that is coming dangerously close to the homogenization that killed wow. Classes are different. Some having advantages that others don't while the opposite is true for disadvantages. Bring the right tool for the job.

 

Now having an interrupt is something that I don't think would impact pve too much but will have utility for pvp. I don't disagree there.

 

I would like to see Kolto Missle effect 8 targets but I don't think that will work with crits hitting up to 2500 on each person.

 

I would love to see the DFA root effect.

 

I don't see why flight time for electro dart needs to be removed since we are actually...firing a dart?

 

You suggest that Kolto Shell have a 30 sec duration but want a 20 sec debuff that it can't be applied again? You mean the 20 sec debuff starts when the last charge has been taken off or when the 30 seconds are up? Not sure what you mean here.

 

Not a bad start, just be careful about the pvp bias here.

[rotatorkuf]

I see some decent changes here but entirely too many based on pvp alone. Alot of the reasons you states for some of your changes was for pvp benefit. They will never change class mechanics to have a sole pvp benefit, this is not a pvp game, but a pve centered one with some pvp built in. Alot of people forget that. Also, some of the other changes were to "keep us in line with other classes" and that is coming dangerously close to the homogenization that killed wow. Classes are different. Some having advantages that others don't while the opposite is true for disadvantages. Bring the right tool for the job.

 

Now having an interrupt is something that I don't think would impact pve too much but will have utility for pvp. I don't disagree there.

 

I would like to see Kolto Missle effect 8 targets but I don't think that will work with crits hitting up to 2500 on each person.

 

I would love to see the DFA root effect.

 

I don't see why flight time for electro dart needs to be removed since we are actually...firing a dart?

 

You suggest that Kolto Shell have a 30 sec duration but want a 20 sec debuff that it can't be applied again? You mean the 20 sec debuff starts when the last charge has been taken off or when the 30 seconds are up? Not sure what you mean here.

 

Not a bad start, just be careful about the pvp bias here.

 

Yes, most of these changes are related to PVP, BUT, they apply just as well to PVE, unless you can list some that will negatively affect PVE?

 

Kolto Missile is on a cooldown, 6s by default, meaning you would crit 8 players for 2500 as you say, but only every 6s by default. Even with this, you will still not be up to par with other class (especially sorc) aoe heals, which, supporting your statement is good thing since we get a decent buff without making the mechanic entirely equivalent to sorc aoe heals. Also, the 8 targets would only be allowed under supercharged gas buff.

 

Flight time for electro dart is a problem since operative/sorc/sin can stun you from 10+ meters instantly, this wouldn't be a priority change for me, but I think it would be 'nice' to have.

 

Kolto Shell, the 20 sec debuff begins from the moment you cast it on a target. To be more specific, ideally, for 20 seconds you will have the 10 charges, then you can cast it again on the same target.

 

More on my "pvp bias", I am more than open to variations on my changes that, like i said before, might negatively affect PVE, I don't see why changes can't be made with pvp in mind when they don't negatively affect PVE.

 

As for the "bringing in line", I honestly still believe even the proposed changes, it will play VERY differently than other classes, I believe you're generalizing the "bring in line" changes instead of noticing the underlying play style differences.

 

Thanks for your opinions, hopefully we can have more non-troll, non-flaming, constructive criticism.

Edited May 1, 2012 by rotatorkuf

[Twickers]

interesting changes, I'm a little too tired to really go in-depth commenting (woo 3 hour gym workout) but I do see some clever changes, nothing TOO overpowered and even some tiny nerfs here and there, if they let supercharged gas vent 16 heat again, I would consider trying bodyguard healing again, as it stands it's just way too stressful to me with the craptastic state of it atm.

[Nuadul]

I would definitely get behind changes to either revert back to the old SCG or make it a little more enticing to use. Pre 1.2 it was definitely more of an "oh crap" CD that would allow you to put out greater heals if needed. Right now I almost use it on CD to have a small heat venting capability. Problem with that ability is so many other talents/abilities are synergistic with SCG it's hard to change one without effecting the other. For example when they changed the heat reduction Healing Scan gave Rapid Scan it made what you did during SCG change due to fear of overheating. I definitely like the dmg reduction shield that Kolto Missile gives under SCG but I do think there is a strategy to using it if it only hits 4 targets. Being able to use it twice during SCG gives you the option to use one on the tank and maybe shield some of the other raid members with the second one, or to refresh another on that tank. I don't know if I want to see that kind of decision making removed by making the shield hit 8 people. Either make the %dmg reduction a bit higher or the %increased healing done higher, both were gimped but having one back wouldn't make it OP imo.

[rotatorkuf]

I would definitely get behind changes to either revert back to the old SCG or make it a little more enticing to use. Pre 1.2 it was definitely more of an "oh crap" CD that would allow you to put out greater heals if needed. Right now I almost use it on CD to have a small heat venting capability. Problem with that ability is so many other talents/abilities are synergistic with SCG it's hard to change one without effecting the other. For example when they changed the heat reduction Healing Scan gave Rapid Scan it made what you did during SCG change due to fear of overheating. I definitely like the dmg reduction shield that Kolto Missile gives under SCG but I do think there is a strategy to using it if it only hits 4 targets. Being able to use it twice during SCG gives you the option to use one on the tank and maybe shield some of the other raid members with the second one, or to refresh another on that tank. I don't know if I want to see that kind of decision making removed by making the shield hit 8 people. Either make the %dmg reduction a bit higher or the %increased healing done higher, both were gimped but having one back wouldn't make it OP imo.

 

in regards to shield tossing with kolto missile:

 

i can see what you're saying, it makes the game more challenging/involving, but when it comes to keeping a group up that's facing a lot of aoe damange, you are going to be hard-pressed to outperform a sorc aoe healing or operative being able to pop the orb hots on people instantly.....you can't deny that it is currently gimp for kolto missile to only affect 4 targets max WITHOUT a smart targetting/healing mechanic, it just heals randomly causing heals to be wasted on people with full health, which is pretty much jurassic programming imo

 

if you've played healer at operative levels, you should understand this is lacking in comparison to other healing classes, especially when (again, at the risk of QQ) sorc aoe heal affects ANYONE in the area

 

perhaps if they increased the the amount of targets affected as i proposed, but remove the shield and apply it to another ability

Edited May 1, 2012 by rotatorkuf

[CerberusSeven]

Energy shield seems fine imo, reducing the CD would be nice but not necessary. Making electro dart apply IMMEDIATELY, though, that we do need. And HELL YES to the interrupt. For DFA, that's actually worse than it is right now, since they can continue casting. Just have it knock them down. Now, onto the talents...

 

BODYGUARD:

Empowered Scans-no, we need those stacks of CSC as often as possible, leave this one alone.

Supercharged Gas-personally, I like the idea of it buffing damage too. raising the CD to ~20 seconds and making it vent 16 heat is really all that's needed.

Power Shield-interesting, I like it. then again, I like the current talent too. maybe make the current talents effect standard and add either the insta-heal or +50% resist would work.

Kolto Residue-except for the CD reduction (which isn't needed) this looks good; maybe swap out the CD bit for extra targets instead?

Protective Field-looks like a good tradeoff

Powered Insulators-nice, but not necessary

Kolto Shell: makes sense, minor buff to a now considerably more resource intensive ability

Warden: seems ok to me

 

ARSENAL:

Mandalorian Iron Warheads: honestly, I think this talent is fine as is. we have things to boost the effectiveness of RS already, so leave this one alone.

Stabilizers: no, Concussion Missile is fine as is, leave this one alone.

Muzzle Fluting: this seems a little too powerful. heavy nukes from a ranged class should require SOME downside. higher CD maybe?

Afterburners: very interesting, I like it. the mechanics are already there with agents/smugglers as well, I think.

Tracer Lock: you probably mean OR in between those two abilities and this doesn't seem needed/interesting

Riddle: why power shot? no one in the arsenal tree is gonna use it. add it to the end of a successfully channeled Unload and yes, this would work to reduce TM spam some as intended.

Pinning Fire: already works fine as is, not needed.

 

PYROTECH:

Superheated Gas: chance to proc increase is too high when you consider that rapid shots actually has 3 chances to proc overall. +5% per tier would work.

Degauss: yes! this are good, implement this devs!

Superheated Rail: this is already a powerful talent and, while I wouldn't mind some more 'oomph', in combination with the tier1 change talent to grant AP on RS, that's a bit too much. I'd say leave this one alone, but that's just me.

Firebug: nah, leave it as is, it's fine there.

Thermal Detonator: this seems very underpowered for it's place in the talent tree, maybe if you made it ~3 seconds?

[rotatorkuf]

Energy shield seems fine imo, reducing the CD would be nice but not necessary. Making electro dart apply IMMEDIATELY, though, that we do need. And HELL YES to the interrupt. For DFA, that's actually worse than it is right now, since they can continue casting. Just have it knock them down. Now, onto the talents...

 

BODYGUARD:

Empowered Scans-no, we need those stacks of CSC as often as possible, leave this one alone.

Supercharged Gas-personally, I like the idea of it buffing damage too. raising the CD to ~20 seconds and making it vent 16 heat is really all that's needed.

Power Shield-interesting, I like it. then again, I like the current talent too. maybe make the current talents effect standard and add either the insta-heal or +50% resist would work.

Kolto Residue-except for the CD reduction (which isn't needed) this looks good; maybe swap out the CD bit for extra targets instead?

Protective Field-looks like a good tradeoff

Powered Insulators-nice, but not necessary

Kolto Shell: makes sense, minor buff to a now considerably more resource intensive ability

Warden: seems ok to me

 

ARSENAL:

Mandalorian Iron Warheads: honestly, I think this talent is fine as is. we have things to boost the effectiveness of RS already, so leave this one alone.

Stabilizers: no, Concussion Missile is fine as is, leave this one alone.

Muzzle Fluting: this seems a little too powerful. heavy nukes from a ranged class should require SOME downside. higher CD maybe?

Afterburners: very interesting, I like it. the mechanics are already there with agents/smugglers as well, I think.

Tracer Lock: you probably mean OR in between those two abilities and this doesn't seem needed/interesting

Riddle: why power shot? no one in the arsenal tree is gonna use it. add it to the end of a successfully channeled Unload and yes, this would work to reduce TM spam some as intended.

Pinning Fire: already works fine as is, not needed.

 

PYROTECH:

Superheated Gas: chance to proc increase is too high when you consider that rapid shots actually has 3 chances to proc overall. +5% per tier would work.

Degauss: yes! this are good, implement this devs!

Superheated Rail: this is already a powerful talent and, while I wouldn't mind some more 'oomph', in combination with the tier1 change talent to grant AP on RS, that's a bit too much. I'd say leave this one alone, but that's just me.

Firebug: nah, leave it as is, it's fine there.

Thermal Detonator: this seems very underpowered for it's place in the talent tree, maybe if you made it ~3 seconds?

 

good feedback, i read through most of it, i'll change some things here and there as more people provide more feedback

 

on thermal detonator, i say 1s is good enough, 2s max, because of all the other mobility and snares we're getting

 

railshot in full pyro tree would grant us 70% armor ignore (still lower in comparison to powertech 90% armor ignore), i was aiming to buff rail shot but keep it controlled in respect to powertech as a trade off for our other abilities

 

CGC might be too high, honestly, it procs very often for me, but i just thought it would be a welcome change...it's a low priority change i guess

 

honestly, tracer missile doesn't hit hard enough right now to be consider a nuke, it's right in line with other harder hitting abilities from other classes, and 3s cooldown is long enough i think, 4s might be near the tipping point

 

i'm trying to make power shot more viable for arsenal spec with increase armor pen and heat sig, to truly require a more active rotation

Edited May 1, 2012 by rotatorkuf

[Diddley]

1. Fix whatever the hell is wrong with arsenal

2. Make power shot instant

[Nuadul]

1. Fix whatever the hell is wrong with arsenal

2. Make power shot instant

 

Because this contributes to the OP? Form a thought please. Like maybe make a proc that initiates an instant Power Shot? Something a bit more thought out would do...

[CerberusSeven]

good feedback, i read through most of it, i'll change some things here and there as more people provide more feedback

 

on thermal detonator, i say 1s is good enough, 2s max, because of all the other mobility and snares we're getting

 

railshot in full pyro tree would grant us 70% armor ignore (still lower in comparison to powertech 90% armor ignore), i was aiming to buff rail shot but keep it controlled in respect to powertech as a trade off for our other abilities

 

CGC might be too high, honestly, it procs very often for me, but i just thought it would be a welcome change...it's a low priority change i guess

 

honestly, tracer missile doesn't hit hard enough right now to be consider a nuke, it's right in line with other harder hitting abilities from other classes, and 3s cooldown is long enough i think, 4s might be near the tipping point

 

i'm trying to make power shot more viable for arsenal spec with increase armor pen and heat sig, to truly require a more active rotation

-Good point about thermal detonator, though 1 second still feels very low. 2 sec is in line with all our other slows.

-I'm still going to have to disagree on RS, a cheap (often free) high-powered, 70% AP instant ability at range is a bit much for us. Yes, Powertechs get 90%, but then this is one of the only ranged abilities they'll be using on a consistent basic whereas pretty much EVERYTHING Mercs get is ranged 30m. Something up to +20% AP with revised Madalorian Iron Warheads probably couldn't hurt now though, that I think about it.

-Keep in mind that anyone playing Arsenal is going to have High-Velocity Gas Cylinder active, so they'll have at minimum 35% AP going at all times. Stacking extra to PS as well might be making it a bit much. A second look at the changes you're proposing bring PS into an Arsenal Mercs rotation nicely, but we need to be careful we don't make PS a MORE attractive option than TM.

Good job, overall. Keep at this thread, so maybe the devs will read this.

[uzairzaidi]

Mercs are completely fine. Please Bioware do not touch them.. I like them just the way they are!!

[rotatorkuf]

-Good point about thermal detonator, though 1 second still feels very low. 2 sec is in line with all our other slows.

-I'm still going to have to disagree on RS, a cheap (often free) high-powered, 70% AP instant ability at range is a bit much for us. Yes, Powertechs get 90%, but then this is one of the only ranged abilities they'll be using on a consistent basic whereas pretty much EVERYTHING Mercs get is ranged 30m. Something up to +20% AP with revised Madalorian Iron Warheads probably couldn't hurt now though, that I think about it.

-Keep in mind that anyone playing Arsenal is going to have High-Velocity Gas Cylinder active, so they'll have at minimum 35% AP going at all times. Stacking extra to PS as well might be making it a bit much. A second look at the changes you're proposing bring PS into an Arsenal Mercs rotation nicely, but we need to be careful we don't make PS a MORE attractive option than TM.

Good job, overall. Keep at this thread, so maybe the devs will read this.

 

i reduced the armor pen on rail shot

[Slipt]

Just a quick note for the OP to consider...

 

Suggesting nerfs to Supercharged Gas is probably not a good idea. You seem to be under the misapprehension that you can build charges of Combat Support Cylinder during the supercharged gas buff. This isn't possible, and therefore making it more difficult to build back up to 30 charges would be severely disastrous in PvE.

 

It is impossible to maintain a constant supercharged gas buff. It is hard enough already to build back up to 30 charges, and your point about a 20 second cooldown is irrelevent because it takes longer than that to get 30 charges anway, unless you're only spamming rapid scan at a cost of 25 each.

[vertigo_]

Merc heals are fine in PVP and PVE. Arsenal should not be in PVP at all, so I stopped reading when I saw your changes to arsenal for pvp reasons.

[darthtrunkmonkey]

merc is fine as soon as they own up to the fact that arsenal is screwed