Prophet_Loxley Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Hi, I'm playing my first run through as a Merc. I didn't start playing until after the 1.2 patch so I don't know what they were like before. I'm currently specializing in the Bodyguard tree and when I'm grouped I don't have any difficulties healing and keeping my team alive, unless someone pulls in two groups of mobs... (I've just now reset my skill points to start over). I'm currently level 30 and just hit Alderaan. I use Mako as my companion but have tried Gault as well. My gear is nothing special, just standard gear I get from quests or commendation stands, same with my pistols. Lately I'm feeling like I'm not doing any damage to enemies, I watch other players of the same level kill mobs in almost half the time. I've read here on the boards that people think the class is gimped but I wouldn't expect to not be able to kill a leader and two grunts. I just find that my survivanility has dropped so much since hitting Alderaan (and to an extent my time on tatooine was pretty rough too). I play smart, I stun enemies when I can, hit them with a dart missile if it will stop them from attacking for a while but I still often get overwhelmed. Am I doing something wrong? Should I not go Bodyguard and change to Arsenal? Do I need to change companions? Or should I be buying gear instead of using quest rewards? Thank you in advance for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keonachak Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 You're a healer using a healer companion so your dps will not be that great. When I was heal specced I used Torian and it was ok. Try speccing arsenal and see how you like it?? Also, gear, gear, gear. Upgrade it. Orange armor, purple mods if you can or use blue if you can't afford. I just used the lvl 20 pvp armor and kept modding it. Your waist and wrist will suffer unless you spend like 150k on broker (on my server) or you can just buy some purple player made. Just my .02 on all this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPWyndon Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 The easiest to level imo BH is an arsenal merc, because you can take down grps of mobs rather easily, I would suggest doing arsenal untill 50 and then respec to bodyguard if you wish to be a healer. That would be the quickest way. But if you feel like being a healer all the way up, you definately need to change companions, Mako doesn't do much if any damage, and bodyguard spec merc isn't going to bring the house down either, my suggestion would be using Gualt because he does a lot of damage or Torian, whom does pretty good damage but its hard to find his weapon with AIM on it. MOST IMPORTANTLY make sure you upgrade you companions gear! Also, if you do decide to go bodyguard spec, you will most definately have an easier time finding grps for HEROICs or FPs. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpoeMeister Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 If you insist on using mako as a companion, switch her to DPS mode and disable all her healing abilities. She will not do as much DPS as a pure DPS companion (gault, Torian) because she has less abilities. If you don't insist, go with gault. He does crazy dps. You can give him the gear you were going to give mako (except for the weapons). It's very important that you keep your companions gear up as well, probably more important than upgrading yourself (as a healer). Don't just spec to DPS if you want to learn to heal. I found with my agent that the levelling progress helped me a lot in learning the mechanics of healing. I also had some difficulties on Alderaan, it seems the mobs there became a lot tougher (more silver patrols). Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TempestasSilva Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 (edited) First, let me explain the problem you are having. Prior to 1.2, leveling as a BG was easier because you basically have 2 types of pulls. Normal + Strong / Group of Normal. Prior to 1.2, Death from above would wipe out the entire group of normal and Power Shot spam would drop the Strong while your companion killed the normal. In 1.2, the radius for DFA was shrunk so it does not hit the whole group anymore, the cast time for power shot was increased, and the Muzzle Fluting talent was changed to reduce the cast time back to what it was instead of lowering the heat cost. So now you over heat before the strong is dead and miss several mobs in the group causing both group types to give you a problem. Wait until your mid 30's when you start going up against mobs that heal themselves. It becomes even less fun. As a healer who leveled to 30ish as a healer then went DPS until early 40s and Heals again to 50, I cannot stress the following enough: Level as DPS or stay heals and only use space missions and PvP to level. If you want to do the story quests, do them when you are at least 3 levels higher than the mobs in the quest. As bad as healing is for PVE in operations, I do not think it is broken. However, leveling as a healer might be. Good luck. Edited May 16, 2012 by TempestasSilva Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ehlin Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 I didn't go pure bodyguard until I got Torian as my companion. Prior to that I did a hybrid bodyguard/arsenal build. Essentially so I could have tracer missile and do some damage to enemies. This was pre 1.2, not sure if it'll work as well post 1.2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophet_Loxley Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 Thanks all for your help and suggestions. I'm going to do some PvP (as much as I hate it) and space missions and go back to Tats to level a bit... I do enjoy healing but maybe I'll focus on just DPS for a while, at least until I get higher levels and more companions... Thanks Again for the help. I really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltarDO Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 I leveled as pyro all the way to 50 using Mako. I had a full set of eliminator Battlemaster gear Then realized that I loved playing a healer. Obviously this is for when you hit 50, But I bought a full set of recruit year for Torian And as I replaced my eliminator gear with combat medic gear I gave the extra pieces to him. now I am decked out in battlemaster combat medic and he is decked out in battlemaster eliminator gear. This way if I choose to go dps, for pvp, I will just swap the gear and change my skill tree. Although if we get dual spec that will make it a whole lot easier. obviously you have a little ways to go :-) hang in there as long as you're having fun it doesn't matter what way you level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrooperCam Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 You keep learning along the way what skills to use and when. I leveled with Torian and yes he isn't that great but at least you can share the same gear along the way. You can help him with some ranged DPS but you main obj is to keep him alive. It will take slightly longer to complete your main story but don't forget to do the side quests on each planet so by the time you get to the next planet your a little ahead of the curve. There's a thread in here somewhere on what spec to be along the way and I would stick to it and learn to use all your abilities along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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