Class Feedback

[Laforet]

Assault Vanguard

 

 

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

 

As an iminent danger. Out of control burst and taunts sometimes makes assault vanguards priority targets along with healers.

 

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?[

 

When im on my Vanguard i feel overpowered. I have excellent burst, good sustained and every tool i need to stay alive and get the job done (damage reduction CD, superior kiting). With degauss and slows on demand i can kite any melee class in this game. Im pretty much an unstopabble force of destruction until a marauder, a tankasin or a good sniper who outplays / outgears me shows up.

[Atracin]

The opinion of a PVP Assault Specialist:

 

1. Assault Spec Vanguards are OP, and we should nerfed. I hear nothing else on the other 2 trees.

2. We kind of are OP, but not to the extent of the PVP threads say. If Assault damage is to be decreased, then damage in the other 2 trees should be increased. Other wise, I am happy where we are.

[HKtheindomitable]

Statement: I play as the Vanguard Plasma Cell spec (I forget the name).

 

1.) Answer: I've seen many perceive it as OP or broken.

 

2.) Answer: I don't see it as broken or OP. And I'm not being biased. The Assault Plastique with the High Impact Bold does do quite a bit of damage right off the bat. But it's not broke like everyone thinks. I've gone up against others on my own side and was defeated fast (though that was in part because of the group doing their own individual thing). The survivability when not being healed isn't as good as it should be I think. I may not have 100% Battlemaster (missing the boots, implants. and earpiece) but I can still hold my own. However the fact that Assassins, Sorcerers, and Shadows can defeat me fairly well isn't all that fun, and then Agents (specifically Operatives) are just messed up. Taking a bunch of damage from Snipers is understandable because that's their AC.

 

Opinion: But Agents being able to defeat me with just stun+stab isn't right. And it's happened with those who don't have BM gear. I'm not going to say what should be changed with them and such, but I will say that something to get them off my back would be great. Something to finish the cooldown of Tenacity would help in that situation. Empire has plenty of stuns as to Troopers so there isn't much room to complain about breaking stun. There's also dealing with the Sorcerer Agent and Mercenary (I think it's Merc) being able to rapid heal to full health when having almost no health and 2 people attacking them. But I'll holler about that more with my Sage.

 

Request: I would like to know why when going from Battlemaster to War Hero gear there are changes in stats. The stats should increase in numbers not change what the armor has.

 

Hypothetical: I don't remember anything specific but this gives an idea of what I'm talking about. Eg. Going from BM Combat Tech chest to WH Combat Tech there is a removal of Critical and instead you get Surge. (Battlemaster has critical, War Hero does not)

 

Query: Why?

 

Statement: Other than that there's not much to say. I enjoy being Trooper. I don't enjoy being defeated so quickly.

[Ronable]

How do I perceive my class?

* Incredibly deadly pvp damage. 8/8/25 spec.

* The most massive single target burst damage in the game.

* A little squishy because a lack of cooldowns. But doesn't matter in team pvp because my damage is insane.

 

How do others perceive my class?

* Very overpowered burst damage capabilities (and quite rightfully so).

* Highly sought for RWZ's.

* High damage capabilities.

[dipstik]

1. I think other think of this as the primier tanking class, and I prefer healing power techs way more than any other class because they are not very prone to taking spike damage. the fact that the have a pull amnd a chage gives great uptilituy for handeling various mob topologies and comositions.

 

2. I think this is a very well rounded tanking class, as the cooldown roation is sensible, and the resource managment is not as much of a chore as other classes (I am used to sorc healing). I have yet to do much end game content on my vangaurd tank since my lvl 50 vangaurd tank is on the PTS.

[kjmarst]

Shield Specialist

 

I would answer both questions the same so only one answer

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?/2. How do you perceive your own spec?

For PvE: all tanks are equal, we have different specialties. Vanguards are better ranged tanks which are useful for the guy tanking Jarg in the Jarg/Sorno encounter. Guardians are better straight up tank and spankers because they have better cooldowns. Shadows are great on armor debuffers like the Fabricator droid since they wear light armor and rely more on pure mitigation.

For PvP: we are third tier hutball carriers below guardians and shadows. Our harpoon makes up for it on defense though since we can pull carriers into the fire. On Alderaan/Novare we are excellent guards but best kept on the node that is heavily fought for since our damage is mostly AoE rather than single target and let other tanking classes guard the other node against ninja cappers since they have better single target. On Voidstar we have the clear advantage over the other tanking classes. Our AoE makes us better at helping the goal of taking out the whole defending team at the same time and our ranged makes us better defenders since we can hang out on the sidelines and use the pillars for LoS for much better survivability while shooting taunts, mortars etc. and having a nice clear view of the door to hammershot any capper off it.

 

The only issue with tanking in PvP is that gearing is hell compared to DPS or heals. Since everyone relies on yellow damage and crits shield/absorb is useless so we have to rip out any shield/absorb mods and replace them with either DPSing mods or Defense mods. For me personally my all my armor for battlemaster gear has pieces from three different pieces of armor. For example my gauntlets has the armoring from supercommando gauntlets of course, then the standard mod has shield/absorb which is useless so I switched in the supercommando chest piece mod, same with the enhancement so I'm using the enhancement from the combat tech leggings. Once I get to War Hero that's going to be even worse. This makes gearing up a decent tank take three times as long as for a DPS or a healer. This could be greatly alleviated by either fixing shield/absorb so its more usefull, fixing itemization on tank gear to eliminate shield/absorb or by making the purchasing of singular armoring/mod/enhancements possible for a third the comms of a full item.

[mfourcustom]

I think people feel vanguard dps is OP which i don't feel it is but at the same time vanguards should have more leaps.. shadows and knights have leaps and sprints where as vanguards can only leap in tank spec also vanguard tanks need more of a tool box for babysitting healers.

[Partygurl]

Vanguard

 

1. Below average tank. DPS too low.

 

2. Great tank. DPS too low.

 

Please learn your class and read the forums.

[CarverX]

1) Best tank in game, 2nd best pvp class in game.

 

2) 2nd favorite, great balance of def and dmg and loads of fun to play and blast away.

[Icebergy]

1. Vanguard is perceived by others as the easiest class to play as well as the highest performing class.

2. I agree with point one, vanguard is the easiest class to play and performs the highest.

[foxmob]

Tactics

 

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

Useless. For eccentrics and very casual players only.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

ill-conceived and mismatched abilities. High burst takes too long to build up. Hold The Line belongs on Commando or Tank and doesn't work against bosses anyway (thus nullifying the one burst abil/channel that it's advantageous for). The harpoon is nice for PvP. More utility than ranged troopers.

 

Shield

 

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

Weakest of the PvE and PvP tanks. Particularly gimped in PvP.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Best ranged tank for PvE. Plays as well or better than other classes with proper player skill and stats balance. Worst PvP tank. Useless dps in PvP. Less utility than any other tank in PvP.

[Darthnachox]

Vanguard Tank, PVE.

 

1. People who've played with me or another well-geared Vanguard appreciate the fact that the Vanguard's health drops very steadily, as opposed to the spikier damage profile of the other two tanks. People who haven't often assume Vanguard tanks are just bad, because their dodge% is much lower, and they don't have any self-heal/bubble effects that other tanks do.

 

2. I think Vanguards are pretty great. I am a little frustrated with the layout of the skill tree though...there are many talents that feel like they do nothing for me, particularly after the 1.3 update (two free Explosive Surges per Storm? Meh). I would like it if there were more opportunities to fiddle with my ratio of offense to defense in my skill tree, right now it feels like the choices are very obvious. Soldier's Endurance is pretty awful, even if I am weighting almost entirely towards defense I still hate putting points into it. I understand it's pretty hard to get the balance on that correct though, particular for PVP vs PVE.

 

It feels like High Impact Bolt/Ion Cell was nerfed overall...while the "smart" splash damage is nice, it's still very not-smart in many situations (hits neutral scanner droids in Lost Island, and shield generators in Firebrand+Stormcaller fight of Explosive Conflict)

 

I wish the combat logs were a bit more verbose, particularly about incoming hits. I'd like to know how much damage was avoided from shielded attacks, or even what the unmitigated damage of the attacks was. I'd also like to know whether incoming attacks are melee/ranged/force/tech, in addition to energy/kinetic/internal/elemental.

lol is all i can say most of the things you stated are actually awesome for tanking.......

[WLpride]

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

Generally low dps in wz isn't as 'impressive' as those who spam full amounts of dps.

Generally low protection in wz because as hybrid tank, I rarely use guard, or at least only for specific targets

Many other 'tank' abilities which don't register as protection in wz

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Hybrid PvP tank that can also do regular level PvE if necessary - shield/tactics with major in tactics - High Energy Cell mostly, except when extra shield is needed.

Super awesome in PvP - funnest Class IMO. 200+ dmg 100k prot on a good day

Lack luster in anti-stun department, in Shield spec

Utility utility utility, including optional Guard

When I switch from High Energy Cell to Ion Cell can do some medium tanking - heals will make or break me still, but at least I won't be a major healer hassle.

 

I admit I might be a bit over-enthusiastic about the Vangaurd but there is many good points mentioned.

[theworldends]

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

Shield - a cool tank that can cruise through flashpoints and holds good aggro on bosses and packs of mobs alike.

Assault - Flavor of the Month, overpowered

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Shield - cool tank spec I can cruise through flashpoints with and not worry too much about aggro.

Assault - omg amazing. way more powerful than my commando. so fun to play, great mechanics and solid execution. I just love fire so lighting people up with lightning and fireballs is awesome! My only complaint is the hidden icd on Ionic Accelerator. I liked it more when I could spam ion pulse for a chance at high impacts

 

Also the whole melee/ranged hybrid thing is really neat. I wasn't sure I'd ever like it but the ranged classes in this game aren't as interesting and it helps a ton having range as a tank.

[SajPl]

1. Pyro/Assault is op everything else is fine.

 

2. Tanking tree needs huge improvements. Vanguard tanks are the only tank AC withour a reliable self heal on a short cd (Shadow harnessed shadows- healing every 20 seconds, guardian leap healing every time they use it). A way to solve this would be To either reduce to CD of adrenaline rush to 30 seconds or making stockstrike lower it's cooldown by 6 seconds every time it's used.

Tanking needs definietly more tools, both other tank ACs have an AOE slow and a single target slow, we lack both, and the 2 sec slow from stockstrike is a joke.

Finally we need better defensive cooldowns for the tank AC Guardians have 3 or 4 (hp boost, self healing when taking damage, saber ward and another shield from the tank tree) same with shadows so either : move reflexive shield talent to tier 1 of the assault tree or add a new defensive cooldown.

 

Assault specialist damage is too high, too many bonuses to crit damage from Assault trooper talent - either change it to 7.5 and 15% bonus crit damage or make it only affect Assault plastique and High impact bolt. Prevent Vanguards from getting the 15% crit bonus chance from Eliminators set intended for commando's.

 

Tactics pulse cannon damage is ok but ue to cast time it very rarely lands so either make it a rage juggernaut spec so explosive surge hits for 6k or give hold the line immunity to every for of cc so when we pop hold the line and pulse cannon we will allways land it uninterrupted. Tactics needs a talent similar to reflexive shild or get that talent. Gut damage should be better.

 

The vanguard as a whole needs at least a single target slow as I have mentioned.

Edited July 17, 2012 by SajPl

[archiev]

I play tanking vanguard and we've been farming EC hm with guild for month or so. Have about 60% shield chance with 70% absorb + 10% defense.

 

1. Threat generation is way too low and DPS output is low, no complaints about survivability so far

 

2. Threat generation is too low, I have to keep taunt and mass taunt constantly on cd to be able to keep aggro on single target. multiple mob tanking pretty much impossibility if dps are not focusing their attacks. Survivability is a joke, reactive shield only grants 25% reduction where as JK and Shadow get 50%, Adrenaline rush heals only 10% eventhough tooltip says it should heal 15% and even that wouldn't be enough, i think 20-25% should be closer. Smoke grenade is good and seems to be helping more than other defensive cd's. DPS output is really bad in tanking specc. Using MOX parser, I've only gotten around 600dps, where as pure dps classes do 1700dps, that easily shows why threat management is too hard even with recent threat buffs. Further, vanguard tanks don't have any abilites that are classified as high threat abilities like JK tanks have at least.

[JediCahlwyn]

How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

 

My Vanguard is Shield spec. I think that most people feel that they are the weakest of the three tanks for PvE. We seem more squishy than Guardians and in my experience this is true. The survivability of my Guardian is higher than that of my Vanguard.

 

How do you perceive your own spec?

 

I feel that the Vanguard is pretty solid but it needs to be more of a ranged class. As a "ranged tank" I am in melee the entire time. It feels very lame to have a blaster rifle and need to be right up on the mobs. Instead of 4m it should be 10m or 12m if not 20-30m.

 

Having Harpoon is great and coupled with Storm for charging enemies gives me a lot of versatility on the battlefield. But I would rather have a knockback and ranged tanking abilities.

[Ivaneus]

1. I play a 8/31/2 Tactics focused Vanguard with no points in any specific cell so I can run in Ion cell. I think that other classes find this spec to be a fairly hard hitting tank. It's up in my opponent's grill and surprisingly durable despite the amount of damage and harassment it is capable of, but I don't think people see it as a true tank since there is so much Damage focus in the spec.

 

2. I find my spec to be highly satisfactory. I have bonuses everywhere I want them, and don't have to give up the added durability of running in Ion Cell. This makes it a good Jack of all Trades spec that allows me to tank, DPS, or do PvP as long as I play correctly and use my skills intelligently.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Ivaneus

[Yamirashi]

Tactics (NORS) Spec (PVP only)

 

1. Not worth using, Assault Specialist is king of PVP!

 

2. Fun utility spec, more enjoyable than Assault Specialist. Can get lots of damage done with boosted AoE and easy ammo management but not enough burst to kill someone in PVP effectively. Can bring pressure but not kills.

[Crixa]

I'm going to answer this for both tank spec and for dps spec since I spend about an equal time with each.

 

---------------------------Tank Spec---------------------------

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

I tend to get asked to roll a tank spec more often simply b/c tanks seem to be in such short supply. While spec'd this way I know my raid leader perceives me as more valuable to the raid group than if I'm rolling my dps spec.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Unfortunately I find playing this spec to be beyond dull. And next to worthless in PVP. I find myself maintaining a mind-numbingly simple rotation primarily between 3-4 abilities since most of mine have very long cooldowns and ammo is such a tight balance (definitely tighter than any other class I play). I would love to see greater variety in ability micromanagement and not be so focused on ammo.

 

---------------------------DPS Spec---------------------------

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

PVPers know how lethal this spec can be, but in PVE I find that this spec is underappreciated. I often have to prove the amount of dps that I am capable of doing to my raid leader before I am allowed to run this spec in an op. And even after a demonstration, he is still skeptical. I know I am capable of putting up numbers comparable with any dps class out there, but there is still the perception out there among PVErs that we are substandard as dps.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

This is one of the most fun specs I've played in any MMO. Optimum performance requires that I make use of a large number of abilities while still keeping a sharp eye on my ammo regeneration. Additionally, I have to maintain a shorter distance my target than on my gunslinger, so that adds a completely different set of challenges that shift throughout any fight. As a result, combat always feels dynamic and rarely repetitive, which makes this class/spec a real gem.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Crixa

[PakaOno]

I'm 25/8/8 Assault spec'd. It's not the most popular build, but that's OK because people would be crying more about Vans/PTs if it was

 

1. From the forums and chat, players do tend to complain about Vans/PTs but the same also goes for Marauders/Sents/Sins/Shadows. Whomever is #1 in DPS will always be the target.

 

2. I tend to look at Vans/PTs as glass cannons. Or we can use the rock/paper/scissors analogy. I do well against certain classes, and not so well against others. Overall I feel that it balances out for the most part, altho I do feel that some certain ACs need a boost. I think that all DPS classes should be within 5-10% of each other.

Edited July 17, 2012 by PakaOno

[aethertongue]

Tactics (31) / Shield (7) / Assault (3) build using Plasma Cell instead of High Energy Cell (a.k.a. 'Tibetan Candle' with a number of personal tweaks). I only PvP, so I can't speak to PvE. I have almost full War Hero DPS gear, modded with +Power and +Aim augments.

 

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

 

I think enemies perceive me as an annoyance due to how much I get focus fired, but then that's mostly due to my playstyle (frenetic and in the thick of things, usually harassing healers and ball carriers). I contribute good DPS to my team, but only because I run Plasma Cell for the added DoT damage on Ion Pulse via Ionized Ignition; I do much less DPS when running High Energy Cell.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

More fun than Assault which, while powerful, is incredibly boring to me and doesn't fit my playstyle. I enjoy the utility of Tactics and find I can contribute to my team in interesting ways (e.g. Hold The Line allows me to be a ball carrier in Huttball, or to quickly cover ground to reinforce friendlies w/ its temp. speed boost). Obviously, Assault is meant to be top DPS, but the trade-offs where Tactics is concerned don't seem to be even -- it would be nice to see the DPS of Tactics improved a bit (most of the attacks simply do not hit hard enough running High Energy Cell to make up for running Plasma Cell and using its DoT) and/or more utility added to the tree (e.g. Pulse Generator only slows targets at 5 stacks, why not make this more incremental with each stack slowing the target a bit more than the last until you reach the current 70% slow at 5 stacks? Pulse Cannon is also incredibly easy to interrupt [i'm almost always knocked back (if Hold the Line is on cooldown) or immediately Stunned when I go to use it] because it telegraphs your intentions due to the very slow animation -- it needs to activate more quickly to be of better use).

[MatticusFinch]

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

1. For PvP: the Assault Specialist is perceived as OP, Tactics is generally not seen but considered useless otherwise, and Shield Specialist is mostly considered viable yet not as useful as guardian's or shadows.

For PvE: the Shield Specialist tree is the most valuable, Assault seems to be ok, but Tactics is, again, marginalized.

2. For PvP: I love assault because of the burst it can put out, which makes being any other kind of spec with a vanguard pretty much useless. Before 1.3, I preferred using Shield Specialist with DPS gear, but since single target damage was seriously hurt by 1.3, it stopped being useful. Assault or nothing in PvP nowadays.

For PvE: hard to say, I always have to be the tank, and I miss the single target damage. The two free explosive surges aren't very useful either because their crit chance and crit damage were both nerfed too, so we generally do a LOT less damage than pre-1.3.

 

The general theme is that Tactics has no utility anywhere, which is my impression.

[ComeAndSee]

1. How do you think your Vanguard spec is perceived by other classes?

 

I believe our class is viewed favorable in PvE, but mixed in PvP. The Assault spec's damage output and near permanent slow is over the top. The Shield Spec was nerfed recently and it's damage output is noticeably lower. Overall we have 3 viable builds for PvP.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

I play as Shield mainly in PvP and I enjoyed it. You can play as either DPS, pure support, or a hybrid depending on the situation. Mobility with Storm is our big advantage and well timed CC's can keep your teams healers alive. I don't believe our damage is over the top in Shield spec, but I still want to know why Stockstrike was nerfed.

Edited July 17, 2012 by ComeAndSee

[Ultraviolence]

1. How other's feel about my Assault spec Vanguard:

 

They say it's overpowered. They say we're easy mode, which means a lot coming from tracer/full auto spamming mercs (sarcasm). I notice some people talk about Vanguards when they usually mean Commando (I've been called a tracer spammer lol)

 

2. How I feel about it:

 

We're not overpowered, we're just not broken. I think assault is where it should be, even with it's dreadful lack of mobility and squishy-ness. Remember that we have to get close to maximize dps, and interrupt. The people who usually say it's easy mode are the ones that say Sentinel is hard lol. I have one of those too.

 

 

1. How people feel about my Tactics spec Vanguard: Well just take a look at your data, how many tactics spec VGs you see on high ranked teams?

 

2. How I feel about it: Mobility is pretty good, and you can 1v1 pretty good. But because of the DPS loss, you're not wanted on the team. Tell someone you're tactics spec and you'll get "the look."

 

 

1 and 2. How people feel about my Shield spec Vanguard: Well I don't do much PVE and this spec is not so good for PVP. Shadows can do what you do and still crank out the damage. I'll leave it at that.

 

 

Vanguard is a good working class. There are other classes that need fixing before Vanguard.