Qonor Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 (edited) I didn't know if it was more appropriate to post this here, the merc forums, or the dps role forums. I'm having a lot of fun with my pyro merc, who is level 38 atm. What would I enjoy more (or what's significantly different) about a sniper versus the PvE DPS side (aside from healing) of a merc? Thanks! Edited June 1, 2012 by Qonor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuixupu Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Snipers need to be crouched down or in cover to use a lot of their key abilities. Also you're managing energy rather than heat, meaning you start with 100 energy and you need to make sure it doesn't get too low or it will take forever to build back up. Snipers do have a real interrupt...something I feel is missing from Mercs. My merc's a healer so I don't have much experience with real dps so I don't know too much beyond that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qonor Posted June 1, 2012 Author Share Posted June 1, 2012 (edited) Snipers need to be crouched down or in cover to use a lot of their key abilities. Also you're managing energy rather than heat, meaning you start with 100 energy and you need to make sure it doesn't get too low or it will take forever to build back up. Snipers do have a real interrupt...something I feel is missing from Mercs. My merc's a healer so I don't have much experience with real dps so I don't know too much beyond that. How similar is the energy mechanic to that of my assassin? And I forgot about the cover mechanic. I've heard some say that it takes time getting used to but defends against lots of stuff too. Edited June 1, 2012 by Qonor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuixupu Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Assassins energy regens at a flat rate. Agent energy does not. The lower the energy gets, the slower it regens. So you want to make sure you keep it above 60 as much as possible. I'm fine with the cover mechanic. The first thing you want to do is open your abilities and find Crouch instead. The difference between that and Cover is if there is a cover spot on the terrain, cover will roll you over to it. Sometimes you don't want that for various reasons, so crouch will always plop you down right where you stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mancer Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 (edited) With the exception of being a ranged class Sniper and Merc are night and day to me. I have a 50 valor rank 73 Merc and I wish I had started with my sniper. My sniper has (IMO) far greater survivability than my merc. Although with my merc I can maneaver wherever I want. DPS wise I feel my sniper has greater DPS than my Merc on level. Now speaking DPS, my merc was pre 1.2 and I just recently rolled my sniper. Both are great, I just favor the sniper. Edited June 1, 2012 by Mancer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KalSpiro Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 I didn't know if it was more appropriate to post this here, the merc forums, or the dps role forums. I'm having a lot of fun with my pyro merc, who is level 38 atm. What would I enjoy more (or what's significantly different) about a sniper versus the PvE DPS side (aside from healing) of a merc? Thanks! I'm honestly not sure how to answer this... What isn't different. Snipers and Mercs play nothing alike, and I do have one of both so I know this. My merc is around the level of yours, my Sniper is 50. My Sniper is MM, so that changes my viewpoint on how they work, but basically Mercs are AoE and Snipers are single target. Snipers destroy one target at a time, and mercs kill groups. I don't really enjoy my Merc, but hes also bodyguard, not dps. I love my Sniper. He was my first character, my first and currently only 50. When I go into cover it takes a great deal to kill me. Also, in PvP Mercs are just another kill to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fallerup Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 (edited) the cover mechanic can be an annoyance, if you aren't careful. I was doing Denova 2 days ago. We were clearing trash to the mine field boss. At one point, I pressed F (default for rolling into cover) and my sniper rolled up the wall (almost 180 degrees angle) to hide behind some sacks there and got targeted by the cannons, because you aren't suppose to be up there and I got instant killed. and yes, they 1shot you. It might be a bug that you get a cover indecator up there. So, when using cover, be careful. Personally, I love the sniper class, it has everything that I want. high burst, ok sustained dps, superb survival skills, long term CC on droids (only marauders have that otherwise) and 2 short term stuns, 1 can stun multy targets (flash bang) but breaks on damage the other does not. I have a 50 merc as well. I find it VERY boring. basically a 3-4 button spam: tracer missle X 3, heatseeker missle and rail shot <--- those are your main prio... power shot and all that is used too, but you gotta ask someone thats more use to it to give you a rotation. mobs were usually dead after my railshot finished, sometimes before, so I wouldn't know. edit: thats Arsenal merc btw. no Idea about piro. Edited June 2, 2012 by Fallerup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astoncam Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 The line-of-sight problem, lack of mobility and the "unknow effect" (when you try to take cover in some places in Huttball for example) are my main problem playing with Gunslinger/Sniper. Something with this advanced class is really broken. And the overpopulation of Marauders and Sentinels hitting like a truck and using the "I win" button during 25 secs not help at all when you need to take cover to do damage, knockback or use defensive habilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erei Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 (edited) Having both a 50 merc 50 sniper and mirrors for both, I'd say the sniper is more about skills, while merc is more about spaming 1skill then several instants. DPS wise, the sniper is higher than a merc, for the same gear/skill. But the sniper lack of defensive tool. The merc can use healing, while a sniper can't. They have higher armor (even if it's really few and doesn't work on everything), and a +5% resistance with tracer missile. I really feel slightly more squishy with my sniper, but I really feel I do more DPS and I use more skills. Also, the sniper have 3 different DPS tree, while the merc only have 2. And each tree have a really different feeling. Also, according to many, IA story (probably the best)>BH story. Anyway, I must say I used to have a commando as a main, and since the 1.2 I am now playing my sniper instead. My commando only purpose is to make money crafting and selling crit craft pistol for empire side. Far more tools and variety when playing a sniper IMO. Edited June 2, 2012 by erei Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagaboy Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 I was a v-rank... 78 assault commando (pyro merc mirror) post 1.2. So, I have a pretty good idea of how this going to go for you. First off Cover is an adjustment. The thing with cover revolves primarily around 1)the hotkey you designate for it and 2) hotkeys for skills related to cover. That will be your biggest hurdle up front. My advice, find a hotkey that you instinctively go to. You want no hesitation getting into and out of cover. You'd rather be in it than out of it. The second big adjustment will be your new type of survivability. You actually have more of it as a sniper (vaires with spec) but it is not as apparent as it was on your heavy armor merc. As a merc you essentially accept that EVERY encounter is a dps race. You accept that you're going to take a truck load of damage and hope that when you shield gives out and the LoS dance is done you're the victor. As a Commando/merc there was always this lack of control I felt. Even with cryo grenade, concuss round, etc my damage was always a roll of the dice. I always went into a fight hoping I'd win not really knowing. As a sniper you'll come to know your chances of winning an encounter within the first 5-10 seconds of it starting. I mean to say that a Sniper requires more thought, but because of this you're constantly thinking (I know what I typed is a paradox). Depending on your spec: Front load burst via MM, throttled to back end burst via Leth, or put it anywhere you want it burst via Eng - you'll plan differently. For example if you're Leth you play more like your pyro merc. That is to say that you're going to apply all your dots and blow every damage cooldown you have as quickly as possible because your survival is forfeit otherwise. As an MM you'll be intensely focused on terrain and distance constantly panning the camera and calculating the next move should your opponent do X,Y, or Z. As Eng there is a psychological element to wear and how you choose to place your probe / Orbital. It's all about Control which just is not the case for merc/commando. As a sniper I really hope you're a hotkey gamer. I'm not saying a clicker can't do considerably well (unmolested) but the beauty of this class is that it rewards twitch/split second reaction times. A merc could get by clicking away because none of your abilities really have to be coordinated. As a pryo once the target is burning you are good to go. There are too many time sensitive attack chains in Eng and MM spec to be clicking (my opinion). You might be able to get away with it in Leth but only because cooldowns are a bit more forgiving. The last big change which also speaks to control will be a true interrupt. This doesn't just help in killing a healer when and how you want to (it definitely does). But for me, this opened up the world of 2 v 1. You're on an opponent get him to 75% health or lower and now you see a healer running to help. It would take too long to explain but because you're rdps and have an absolute mechanic to stop the first heal it makes stopping the 2nd and / or third heal considerably easier allowing you to finish your primary kill and A) Run for it, B) Kill the healer too. Yeah...I'm gonna stop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommot Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Thanks for all of the helpful responses. I've been wondering the same thing as OP. This thread convinced me to give Sniper a chance (I have a 25 Merc currently, which is fun but not great IMO). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qonor Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Thanks for all of the helpful responses. I've been wondering the same thing as OP. This thread convinced me to give Sniper a chance (I have a 25 Merc currently, which is fun but not great IMO). Yeah, this has been helpful for me also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonsong Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 For me the difference is, that when I play my Sniper I feel like I can kill stuff. Then I play my Merc I feel I have to wait for my target to die of old age (especially in pvp). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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