Solo'ing not viable IA:Sniper

[Arcturuskaelar]

Yeah, I am not sure what you guys are doing, I've used Kaliyo since day one and never had an issue with any quest and I am the person who is out killing everyone else in areas.

[Terrahero]

The one thing that got me killed a few times with quest-bosses is bugs. Line of Sight bugs and the fact you seem to start in MELEE range with an elite and his adds. Toss in an interface bug and i was counting the dust on the floor.

 

Other then that it wasnt very difficult if i got to open a fight myself. Just a matter of kill or be killed. Sniper has pretty heavy damage.

[Willowthorn]

I've played a scoundrel and a sage, and honestly, it is SOOOO much easier to do quests on those classes. Never any downtime, never any dying. On my sniper, which is still my favorite character...love the playstyle, love the class quests....she has a very hard time finishing elite 2+ quests, even when she outlevels them by a few levels. Kali is fun, and does good DPS for a tanky character, but she is way squishy with no way to heal her. Our DPS is good, but we don't WTFNUKE strong or elites fast enough...And there are so many 4+ pulls that can go wrong fast.

 

If there is a droid in the pack that can be cc'd though, that will make a big difference.

 

It does feel to me though that we could use a little buff at mid levels to our PVE game only, which seems like a companion buff would accomplish quite easily.

[Fumanchu_Fow]

bull fakking shiz

 

all I can say about that, there is no way in HELL kaliyo could possibly tank 2 elites (LET ALONE SILVERS) in average gear of your level. pics or it most definitely did NOT happen

 

Maybe you can't but they give you these tools like flashbangs, diversion, incapacitate, a 20% damage reduction bubble, knock backs and more. If you actually learned to use these things then yeah you can take on 2 gold level mobs just fine. I prefer vector at this point because having a healer makes it easier but it can and has been done with Kali. Just not by bads like yourself.

 

Oh and at 50 and with my gear 2 level 50 elites wouldn't even be a challenge to do with Kali tanking. Orbital strike critting for around 3k per mob and able to be cast BEFORE you actually start a fight makes it too easy.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Fumanchu_Fow

[Inslidious]

Maybe you can't but they give you these tools like flashbangs, diversion, incapacitate, a 20% damage reduction bubble, knock backs and more. If you actually learned to use these things then yeah you can take on 2 gold level mobs just fine. I prefer vector at this point because having a healer makes it easier but it can and has been done with Kali. Just not by bads like yourself.

 

Oh and at 50 and with my gear 2 level 50 elites wouldn't even be a challenge to do with Kali tanking. Orbital strike critting for around 3k per mob and able to be cast BEFORE you actually start a fight makes it too easy.

 

 

This is what some people are talking about, prime example. I'm talking about the people that say playing IA is easy and they know because they are sooooo good at it and have no problems (2 gold level mobs just fine MY ARSE!). And then they say something totally stupid like they use vector to heal which just goes to show they really DON'T play the class.

 

I'm 36 IA and it's (how do I put this nicely...) "very challenging" to play. I feel the pain of the OP for sure, and the only advice I can give is to keep at it, get help when needed, and most importantly, try to have fun!

[Poe_]

Honest question: do you click your abilities? A class like sniper is very time-crucial, and clicking abilities really makes quick target acquisition to damage rotation too time consuming.

 

Yes, and you can not only keybind to smoothly line up your actions, but you can expand the ability queue and 'queue up' easily. I have my on .75 and may even move it to 1.

 

if you're a keysmasher, you won't fare well with this. Takes patience and calculation.

[Reeny]

Yea, playing a Shadow tank now and it is so much easier to solo mobs and i can solo same level heroic +2.

 

No way i can do that on my sniper.

 

As Shadow tank, i can even solo Champions but it would be impossible as a Sniper.

[xarennerax]

Level 50 sniper here full epics at 50 (mainly battlemasters) It was very hard leveling up not being able to solo any gold my level (alot of trouble out of golds 4 levels below me) Lucly at 50 i was packed through some hard modes and pvp grind got me decent gear and its pretty sad that my dps is as sad as it is.

 

I've been gaming since eq release and could mention all the games ive played over the past 13 years but i wont bother. I know how to play my classes to the max of there ability and i will confirm the sniper class is broken badly. Unable to do daily's at 50 solo in epic gear running at max effectivness and with multiple strats is unacceptable.

 

Ive never rerolled a toon so early n a game but after playing the sniper up and playing with a couple specs ive decided too. I love this game and enjoy the challenge but at the same time its so frustrating to not be able to do simple quests that EVERY class should be able to complete in greens let alone epics.

 

With any luck this will not fall on deaf ears along with the other posts and the sniper will get fixed but till then im retireing my sniper to a scavaging toon.

[Grimmwold]

 

 

The hardest thing I've played so far is the class story ending on Korriban for the Sith inquisitor, where I as a level 8 had to kill 3 level 10 mob groups again and again. I had a lot more trouble with that then I ever had with my IA.

 

Two words: Vessex Ulgo. You will weep when you try that fight as an IA(due to getting companions late and Kaliyo being generally useless.)

[IasonEvan]

I went Marksman tree from 10-50. At 50 I used my first respec to go all Engineer tree with the rest in Marksman and I have to say that Engineer feels like a more complete package. Don't get me wrong though, Marksman works, but there are so many set and forget skills for Engineer because mobs don't kite from AoE whatsoever. Hit one group with Plasma Probe, another with Orbital Strike, and take out the melee.

 

Marksman takes on a much more hands on approach imo. We will see how this is addressed later on.

Edited January 15, 2012 by IasonEvan

[Hellaskan]

I found that there was a period of time around the mid level 30's (i think) where soloing was much more difficult then, to anything prior, and still harder than anything in my 40's.. i'd say maybe.. 34-37ish perhaps? Right in there, before I got another companion ---i won't set who/why for fear of spoilers-- i was struggling.. after I got that person.. the game went a LOT easier.

[Rahl_Windsong]

The thing to remember is to take out almost everything on the way in, especially when you entered into your story area because in there you get no respawns unless you leave before you complete it. That way you can aways run from a fight and not worry at all about adds.

 

Most of the time with that strategy you can leave any golds you see on the way in, because they are usually placed out of the way of any decent escape route anyway.

 

There really is almost no fight that you can't run away from, especially if you sever tendon, flash it, or debilitate on the mob you are fighting just before you bolt down the hall.

 

As a matter of fact in cases where you are auto entered into a story and when the story ends it places you directly in front of the boss surrounded by his or her henchmen, your best bet is to start to run away and use your cloak to enter stealth and if you do it quick enough it is not likely Kaliyo will have any DoT on her yet so you will get away. Then come back, dart the boss and kill his henchmen then wake the boss up and kill him/her.

Edited January 15, 2012 by Rahl_Windsong

[Reeny]

As a comparison, my lvl 35 Jedi Shadow was able to take down a 75k Champion of the same level.

 

I would be lucky if my lvl 35 Sniper was even able to do the same against a 18k Gold elite.

 

My first class is a Sniper and now I'm playing a Jedi Shadow.

 

Jedi Shadow can solo way much better than my Sniper ever could.

[JediJabroni]

Two words: Vessex Ulgo. You will weep when you try that fight as an IA(due to getting companions late and Kaliyo being generally useless.)

 

I find the difference between threads funny. In one thread, people are talking about soloing +3 elites as if that is the intended game design. Then in 2-3 other threads, people are talking about serious shortcomings of the sniper.

 

Just figures that the one class that appealed to me most from a character/story perspective turns out to be one of the most challenging to solo with. It's good to know it's not just me.

 

Vessex Ulgo was almost the end of my character. Literally I wasn't sure if I wanted to play the game anymore after death #6 against him.

[Velr]

The problem is not the Sniper having problems with H2+ quests and other group stuff.

 

The problem is other classes being easily able to do them.

[JediJabroni]

The problem is not the Sniper having problems with H2+ quests and other group stuff.

 

The problem is other classes being easily able to do them.

 

All things being relative... if it's more difficult for very good players to solo with a sniper, then it will end up being impossible for a guy like me.

[Velr]

Nah... You don't "get" me.

 

It should be absoluetly impossible to do quests that are menat for 2+ people alone, no matter the class/specc.

 

It isn't... But worse, with some classes many H2+ aren't even that hard while others even struggle with "elites" you meet in normal Quests.

Strange...

[dafoxx]

Okay, I've just waded thru the 10 pages of this thread reading mostly epeen p*nis wagging and very little "this is how I did it" to try and glean some rotations out of the braggarts.

 

I'm currently leveling up my second IA as Eng Sniper (first one is Healing Op which I love dearly) because I fell in love with the story line & its intrigue etc and am finding it far more difficult as the sniper instead of the Healer. Kali has issues staying alive which drives me crazy and she's not badly geared. Level 27 almost 28 atm.

 

Anybody have some constructive rotations they'd like to offer up instead of wagging what little male appendage you "might" have or claiming "you're not doing it right"?

 

[Thorzek]

Okay, I've just waded thru the 10 pages of this thread reading mostly epeen p*nis wagging and very little "this is how I did it" to try and glean some rotations out of the braggarts.

 

I'm currently leveling up my second IA as Eng Sniper (first one is Healing Op which I love dearly) because I fell in love with the story line & its intrigue etc and am finding it far more difficult as the sniper instead of the Healer. Kali has issues staying alive which drives me crazy and she's not badly geared. Level 27 almost 28 atm.

 

Anybody have some constructive rotations they'd like to offer up instead of wagging what little male appendage you "might" have or claiming "you're not doing it right"?

 

I'm experiencing the same thing as MM spec. It's not "hard" but it can be slow going, and there is far less margin for error. It's not a class you can two-button your way up the scale like merc or sorc, that's for sure. I think the DPS output we have vs. other classes is very lacking, Kaliyo is a horrible, horrible tank, and not having a healer until much later made the 25-32 range very painful for me.

 

The one thing I will say is use all your tricks all the time - frag grenade and explosive probe to stun normals, slice droids, leg shot to pin a melee mob and buy Kaliyo a few seconds taking less damage, debilitate and flash bangs for momentary CC, cover pulse to knock back and pin melees, scatter shot early on all strong/elites. It's a busy, busy rotation but when you're pushing it all it goes a bit smoother. Make sure your weapon is up to date also - big difference.

 

I've heard from multiple sources that once you get your next pet (Lokin, on Taris, level 32 or so) it gets much smoother - I just completed the quest to get him but haven't had any chance to try it out yet but I'm looking forward to it.

[Sylriana]

Nah... You don't "get" me.

 

It should be absoluetly impossible to do quests that are menat for 2+ people alone, no matter the class/specc.

 

It isn't... But worse, with some classes many H2+ aren't even that hard while others even struggle with "elites" you meet in normal Quests.

Strange...

 

There's nothing really strange about it. Classes with high sustainability are good at soloing things.

 

The issue is, if you make the content significantly hard for these high sustainability classes, it means doing two man quests with two people becomes much more comp restrictive ( and it's hard enough to find a group as it is! )

 

There are lots of little cogs that all need to be balanced to make the characters work in different aspects of the game.. and "ability to solo PvE content" is generally at the absolute lowest rung of concern.

 

Yeah, it's frustrating as heck that my Operative can solo Yellow H2s and H4s while my Sniper and Sentinel fumble with Green H2s.. but you can't really balance the classes around it. And balancing the quests around it would make it inordinately hard for sub-optimal group comps while still leaving the content favorable for other comps ( that's just the nature of the game )

 

That's not to say they can't make improvements so it's not so obnoxious to beat content without overleveling it... just that it's very low priority.

[Druru]

This is just my 00.2 creds.

 

The trick do sniper is not building a glass cannon. Try to gear in top notch Roll a BH alt that faceroll everything in green while sawing up for your IA. This includes sifting through GTN and pawing armor and weapons.

 

Expect to finish most fights about 30-40% health. Using timed stuns and bursting down high priority targets.

 

If you panic or become to emo or make one mistake it will cost you!

 

Get a class quest which drops you into the lap of the class boss? Exit the green and start the fight on your terms.

 

 

Also when everything else fails when up against packs of strongs/elites. Kill one target asap. Flashbang! Drop aggro.

 

Rinse repeat.Even Works in some heroics/instances where you can just exit the green glow.

 

 

But yeah some elites/class bosses/etc spam dots and debuffs that will eat you up so primary those. And som heroics 2 are grosly overtuned, Greys hitting like bricks with 8 k health. YEAH I'm looking at you Taris Blackout quest...

 

Also bioware AI have 4-10 melee range (!), that makes lifes as a kiting squishy very hard.

[Thatius]

Hello, currently I'm a level 32 sniper. However I'm finding that (compared to the BH) soloing is a lot harder, sometimes impossible.

 

This is your problem.

BH gets Heavy Armor and a healing companion right out of the gate... it's a much, much more forgiving class. If that's your benchmark, you have nowhere to go but down.. and Snipers take more planning than other classes, that's what makes them interesting imo. I'm sure levelling a Merc would have been faster, but also much more boring.

 

It's a learn to play issue, but I'm not saying that to be mean... We have a lot of abilities that help out in different situations, and it can take a while to piece together the right combination of these skills for maximum effect. It's something you simply have to learn.

 

I wish you luck!

[MrDeas]

Next I'd like to discuss a questing irk I have with the sniper. Upon arriving in Taris with a guildmate (playing a BH Merc) We both had class quests. He finished his in about 20 minutes, a short quest close to the point of arrival. Thus allowing him to take side quests quickly.

 

However with the Sniper, I've been strung along a series of quests taking me over ALMOST THE WHOLE PLANET. I've been on this quest for over 2 HOURS. I STILL CANNOT TAKE ANY SIDE QUESTS. This marathon, having me travel from bottom to top & back again, fight through mobs for 20 minutes just to get into an instance is single-handedly the most rage inducing quest I've encountered so far. My friend is mowing through the side quests of the planet while I'm stuck on this wild goose chase, which comes with very imbalanced rewards.

 

Your assessment is completely inaccurate in general as well specifically this ^^ point.

 

I haven't played BH but I do have a JK, Smuggler and SW. All of those about the lvl you are and that is the way the planets work. Possibly that isn't the way for BH's but for everyone else, it is.

 

Moreover, you talk about a "wild goose chase" but you do realise that side quests are designed to work in conjunction with your class quest so that you do them at the same time?

 

One last note, if you don't like a really long quest don't do the class quest on Belsavis. I suspect for any class because that isn't necessary long is you miss all the side quests but it sure is a hell of a long travel time.

[MrDeas]

Okay, I've just waded thru the 10 pages of this thread reading mostly epeen p*nis wagging and very little "this is how I did it" to try and glean some rotations out of the braggarts.

 

I'm currently leveling up my second IA as Eng Sniper (first one is Healing Op which I love dearly) because I fell in love with the story line & its intrigue etc and am finding it far more difficult as the sniper instead of the Healer. Kali has issues staying alive which drives me crazy and she's not badly geared. Level 27 almost 28 atm.

 

Anybody have some constructive rotations they'd like to offer up instead of wagging what little male appendage you "might" have or claiming "you're not doing it right"?

 

 

Don't know if this will help but I am Cyber so I keep both Kaliyo and myself geared with artifact mods/armouring all the time. That seems to help me at least because I don't encounter these problems and I'm in no way a pro

[Akash]

I just didn't have any trouble leveling my sniper to 50 at all.

 

I would suggest getting all gear that can be modded as soon as possible, and use quest rewards and commendations to keep the best mods in your gear that you can.

 

I focused on the class stat of cunning. I also kept my companions well geared, by getting them gear that could be modded and using either my hand-me-downs or leftover commendations to gear them out, depending on their stat needs.

 

Flashpoints are a good way to get some fast commendations if you need a few. The bonus quests are also a good resource.

 

Hot key your reactives, or conditionals. They are heavy hitters. Take down the weak mobs in a pack before you tackle the big boy, use your shields, smoke grenades and accuracy reducers. Open with a frag grenade targeted on a weak mob.

 

If you are going against a gold-star elite mob, you can use your heroic ability.