Class Feedback

[johnslashrob]

Tank spec.

I think people see me as one of the stronger tanks to play alongside, but I don't do a lot of DPS.

I tend to agree that I don't do much DPS. Even after the changes, it's sometimes hard to keep agro. The high energy shot doesn't seem to get any attention from mobs. If the cooldown for my taunts was a little shorter, I could see the class being perfect.

[Darkpowder]

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

 

I believe some people view the Assault spec vanguard is overpowered in PVP, and therefore ineffective in PVE. The class is easily focussed, and requires other characters to be effective long term throughout a match in warzones making it well balanced at present.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

I perceive that that shield spec as with all dedicated tanking specs has been determined by the designers to only be effective in PVE. The lack of tanks in PVP is detrimental to the game overall, making for more solo attitudes and less cooperation in warzones. Making Tank heavy hybrids into Tactics tree more viable again will encourage players to make meaningful roleplay choices and make tank equipment more viable than it is at present.

[iNeXxS]

Assault Specialist

 

1. Unstoppable killing machine murdering geared people in 3 GCD's, etc.

 

2. Killing machine when left untouched, but hard-countered by tanks (Juggs and Sins), Marauders, and Snipers. Squishy under focus fire. PvE wise its very squishy when in melee range in boss fights. For example, I'll have to occasionally DPS Hard Mode Toth & Zorn from 25m if we're running with an under geared healer while a Sentinel can stay and take the hits.

 

Shield Spec

 

1. Guard bot that can stay glued to the healer because of 30m ranged attacks. Ineffective PvE tank

 

2. Very effective PvE tank in terms of mitigation and threat generation but PvP tanking is very boring.

[Lan_West]

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

Assault is OP for top tier PvE, great all around PvP. Tactics is interesting and has a unique playstyle

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Assault is pretty amazing for vanguards compared to the commando equivalent. The 100% proc from Ion Pulse is amazing and I find my vanguard to be incredibly fun and powerful. Having a short interrupt is crazy useful, and harpoon being available as DPS spec as well is great. Love the burst dps and sustained on assault. Tactics looks cool but is the equivalent of commando assault, completely useless as of now (aside from some low tier tree choices to fill the rest of your points).

[OysterCatcherr]

Assault Spec Vanguard - PvP primarily

 

1) I know vanguard is consiered OP, and is definitely one of the primary damage dealers in ranked warzones. Very good burst and good utility with force pull.

 

2) I love how much damage I can do as a vanguard, but the one problem i Have with the class is it is really boring to play as! It is way too simple, nothing really to look out for, and even the utility (force pull) doesnt require much thought. Keep the damage the same, but make the class a bit more complex to play imo.

[Carter_Mathis]

Assault Spec:

1. They are an overpowered spec with an insane amount of burst, damage that can't be mitigated, and an annoying grapple. It doesn't take much skill to play an Assault spec and do well.

 

2. I'd have to agree with almost everyone who says Assault vangaurd are OP (and Pyro Powertech are even worse do to their better rescource management and Bioware's hesitance to make abilities cost fractions ). The Assault rotation is very easy to learn, only requires one proc, does a dirty amount of damage, and has a very low skill requirement. Everyone and their mother in my guild are rolling assault vangaurd alts and everyone seems to agree that this class is brokenly strong.

[XP-ert]

Shield Spec.

 

1. My guild will not run an OP unless we have at least one Vanguard to tank. The DPS don't have to worry about pulling aggro much if ever, and our healers like the less spiky damage intake.

 

2. I feel like a "Sexy Shoeless God of War." Absolutely love how it plays in PvE, making it hard for me to want to play my alts.

[Tempos]

PvP Tactics

1. Less damage then Assault and less survivability then Shield, so not as useful.

 

2. I enjoy the spec, but some parts aren't quite as fun. First off are animations, Fire pulse and Gut's animations do not match their description at all, they could certainly use more work. Secondly, the talent battering ram really should also reduce the cooldown on Stockstrike when it procs, would make our rotation a little bit fun and help our single target dps a bit.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Tempos

[Raczo_liga]

VANGUARD - TANK SPEC

 

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

ANSWER: I think Vanguard is probably the best overall tank currently on Republic side. I am the most sought after tank in my guild (no offense guys =P). I have never PvP'd, so I could care less about PvP viability of the class.

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

ANSWER: I feel that the tank spec of Vanguard is excellent. The abilities are effective, easy to learn/use if you have a little common sense, and I have little to no trouble tanking any boss encounter in the game. I am tired of the PvP-caused nerfs to spec, which negatively effects PvE content (the majority of the game).

Edited July 18, 2012 by Raczo_liga

[AmericanSpy]

Vanguard: Shield Spec:

 

1. PVE: As a full tank, i believe that other classes view the vanguard tanks as top tier for tanking. Their AOE abilities really help in large battles and their close combat style always has them in the fight close up to the enemy where they can be the most valuable.

 

PVP: Shield spec in PVP is a character who is easy to solo, but slow to kill. With a limited amount of stun abilites, and practically no DPS its not much more then a small grind to steal a point or get that solo kill. 1 on 1 a tank has very few ways to do any kind of damage that cannot be easily repaired with a life-gain ability or a stim heal. In masses a Tank can be disruptive, but a quick focus from a group and all advantages of a tank are removed. Their limited AOE abilites are short ranged and easily dodged. Most abilities are more of a nuisance then a real threat.

 

1. Summary: Hard to kill in PVP/PVE not much else.

 

2. PVE: As i have not recently done much PVE with my shield spec most of my experiences of tanking in the past was positive. I felt well equipped to crowd control very well. I feel that "Reactive Shield" and "Adrenaline Rush" are both under powered. RS should be closer to 35-50% dmg Redux lasting 15 Sec. AR should also be buffed increasing life gain by 5-10% or nearly reducing the activation time to 5sec rather than 10sec. These are usually more spared for last ditch efforts but most of the time seem to do too little too late. As for killing ability, I have never been able to kill much of anything. I found myself constantly giving the companion Aric major gear upgrades just so i could do dailys and story quests. This has always and still is a major issue. To help alleviate Dmg woes the following abilities should be affected:

 

Blitz:

Change: Incapacitated AND Periodic Dmg

Reason: I never use this. EVER. It is essentially a Impact Bolt meant for close range, but loses its effect with its limited usablitiy. Either Fix it or replace it with something else. Non usbale in PVP(Fix that)

 

Pulse Cannon:

Change:Wide spray range. It should be closer to180-220 deg. Activation time: reduced by 2-3 seconds.

Reason: It takes too long to cast the ability making it not worth the dmg it does when u look at the duration of the ability. Also i find it difficult to position on mobs that stand apart often wasting an expensive AOE ability on 1 dude.

 

Explosive Surge:

Change: Dmg is too low: an increase to 700-850 would make it a much more viable ability. Range is too low: and increase to 10M

Reason: This is a great ability but i find myself even in mobs doing only 1200-1600 total dmg. This is practically useless when its spread over 3-5 targets. Another drawback to this ability is the range. at only 5 meters targets have to be literally ontop of you to hit them. I have sat in mobs before missing half the targets who were well within a reasonable range.

 

Full Auto:

Change: Increase Dmg range to 1000-1250.

Reason: This is an expensive and long casting ability which does nearly no damage under shield spc. On shield spec it should be called "Covering Fire" and should AOE or be controllable similar to pulse cannon(without losing its current range) This would also make it more feasible for crowd control situations with mobs.

 

PVP: In PVP my tank is HARD TO KILL. I can hold spots vs 2 or 3 opponents for 15-30+ secs(enough time for reinforcements to arrive). That is the purpose of a tank. My ability to Guard makes me a key asset in team fights protecting any and all taking damage. My only draw back is the ability to Solo, and the ability to do respectable damage. I find in most fights, even opponents I "out gear" that i have trouble doing enough damage to kill anyone. Shield Spec Dmg has been unfairly reduced over the patches making them less and less viable in PVP. I enjoy guarding but its PVP i wanna kill something sometimes! The ability adjustments i posted previously i feel will fair well in a PVP environment as well with creating an OP environment. A shield specs AOE nature only increases the difficulty to play in PVP as timing and coordination is key more so then button mashing.

 

2. Summary: Tanking abilities are spot on. Only some minor tweeks in Dmg output are necessary for a well balanced vs opponents(PVE/PVP) character.

 

Vanguard: Assault Spec: aka OP Spec.

 

1. OP OP OP OP OP OP OP.

 

Ok, let me clarify. 800k dmg in 1 match? and u dont think somethings wrong with that? Its cool, I'll just go F**k right off.

 

2. Ditto to 1, everyones right. Not squishy enough and burst Dmg is way too powerful.

[Epism]

PVP Assault -

What do I love about it? Makes everyone go QQ and cry on the forums with highly exaggerated tales of a death god walking on the field killing 10+ people in 3 gcd's or less without dieing once.

 

On a serious note I feel if we keep our almost perma slow on enemies, HiB should be about 10 yards. If we cant perma slow then maybe 11-20 yards on HiB might make more sense since we can use grapple to drag people to us and maybe get 1-2 HiB shots off with reset procs.

 

On survival I feel we are fine where we are, since we are able to put out a lot of burst/damage.

 

Just hit 40 so going to try out tactics and see how it goes.

 

As it stands I do enjoy Tactics a lot more, just the sheer mobility with Hold the Line is amazing. No we are not capable of the burst that assault does, but we are able to stay in the face of enemies easier and put out more consistent damage. Not to mention a 5 stack pulse cannon... loads of fun on cap maps...

Edited July 22, 2012 by Epism
Update

[MithraKurn]

1.

For PvE I think that others believe vanguard is one of the best tanks.

For PvP I think it is seen as the worst tank. Low dps and not as much survivability as the others.

 

For PvE dps: Not really wanted but ok.

For PvP: Assault spec maybe best dps in game

 

2.

For PvE: Great tank. Really enjoy it.

For PvP: I use to be shield spec and then it got crushed in 1.3. I went from 150k damage and 100k protection. To 85 to 100k damage and 100k prot. Eventually I just gave up and switched to tactics since you get +20% stun dam prot and hold the line is great for huttball. I'm still a tank and my dam went to around 160k-180k and 120k prot with healer. It may look better on the scorecard but the shield spec throws off lots of debuffs that my new toon just doesn't have. I'm very disappointed since I spent all this time trying to get war hero supercommando armor and now that I have it, it seems like vanguard is only really a dps class. I currently have 5 50 lvl toons. A vanguard tank, healer sage, healer scoundrel, dps sent, tank assassin. I also have a lvl 38 sith warrior tank. After 1.3 my vanguard tank went from my favorite pvp class to my least favorite. I'm slowly turning him into a dps and have bought two war hero pieces. In the future it would be nice if I could just trade in gear if an advanced class is getting a major overhaul like the free respecs.

[Cameirus]

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

nasty in pvp (which is good!), pretty meh dps in pve, decent tanks

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

really fun in pvp, lots of utility lots of control and bursty procs, a nice reactive spec and very fun.

 

In pve, could do with some better survival talents, tanking is ok, but range could be better if we are a "ranged" tank.

[Elear]

Mostly tank spec, a little adventure with Assault and Tactics while leveling.

 

Can't really say anything about other players perception, don't pay too much attention to this on this char.

 

Shield spec:

It's kind of nice in PvP, where you can easly spread love(debuffs) around and do AoE to be considered a threat, pull and leap are usefull, but AoE taunt seems harder to use when compared to other tank's taunts, as you can't just stand in the middle of fight and taunt everyone(but it can be a plus in PvE, extra taunt without risk of pulling other boss). I feel my single target damage is quite low, I blamed it on a gear but even after getting better gear it didn't go up too much. Seems to lack mitigation not based on shields. Tanking in PvE is mildly boring, with almost no skills to boost survivability. Explanation: while there are buffs/debuffs we can apply, they are all either applied automaticaly on our basic threat rotation, or on CD much longer than duration making you keep them for when they are needed. Capstone skill isn't that great - sure, it takes some thinking to find best possible moment to use it and optimize ammo regen, and being off GCD gives it some extra burst, but overall it's only good, noting great.

Overall, he does his job well enogh for me, don't know how he compares to other tank specs.

 

Tactics:

It was quite nice spec, compared to others rotation got more complex with 2 entirely new skills on GCD and taking ammo. Only real isue with this spec - capstone skill is even more underwhelming than in Shield Spec. It's just basic resource spender, with better damage and lower cost wit CD. Can't replace Ion Pulse, doesn't deal much more damage, still reduces amount of resource.

 

Assault:

It does have very good burst and resource management is easy, and my main issue with it was - too easy. You get what, 5 or 6 skills in basic rotation? Could say this is issue with Vanguard as whole, lack of situational skills, all utility dumped on one or another skill he uses anyway, but it's most apparent in Assault.

[syllepsis]

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

 

Don't know and don't care.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

My trooper is shield-spec'd and it is a simple, brutal, efficient, fun tank. Although resource management is important, it's not quite as inane as the guardian tanks. There are tools to do the job. And for the most part the tools are fun to use.

[Winguardian]

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

An asset on a ranked team, they fill the slot of "raw bursty dps" and provide utlity in the form of harpoon. Alot of people rage at this class because they are very good at what they do (high burst and sustained dmg), and they are (relatively) easy to play decent.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Assault specced vanguard is a bursty class, and is very good in raw damage output in PVP (I only do PVP atm). However I do think the "Vanguards are OP" statement is wrong. Our whole utility comes from our burst, if you take it away, our AC would be broken. I honestly think vanguards are balanced compared to other dps in that they provide less utility, but more raw power. If you're gonna tweak assault, tweak tactics too cause it still needs some love to make it viable in PVP. Sure the aoe slow on 5 stacks is nice, but good pvpers can counter it easily (by stunning you during cast) as the seperate ticks themselves do not hit for that much, and you're stationary during the entire cast.

 

A thing to note though is that Hight Impact Bolt is weapon damage, so it can miss (on non crit) so it is not exactly super reliable, unless you sacrifice power for accuracy. It also requires the target to be somehow diabled (dot etc) and even though we can apply this dot very well, it can be countered by healers that cleanse, or jedi shadows with their immunity to tech dmg buff.

 

I would suggest, if you do nerf our burst, to make vanguards more skill based, give us more utlity, let us use more skills that are situational, and maybe take away some of our burst. The suggestion to give explosive round a place in our rotation would be nice, since now it's a resource hog and hits very low (so I never use it).

Edited July 18, 2012 by Winguardian

[bumpy_anderson]

Let me say that I switched to assault after the nerf/adjustments made to stockstrike. I enjoyed the shield/hybrid (Ironfist) much more.

 

1. Other players usually see assault VGs as being overpowered due to the high burst dps. However, the main burst is the combination of timing your plastique with HIB. In my opinion, the only players that think we are over powered don't really know how to deal with us so they scream nerf. They do this with most every class.

 

2. I think the assault spec is what it should be. It is on par with other dps classes and it is squishy.

[AndMayer]

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

 

Spec: Shield

 

PVE

FlashPoints \ Operations (EV, Karraga) -Very often hear thanks. How do I perceive a tank - very good.

Operation (Denova) - Experienced players from my guild have repeatedly warned me that given the type of attack of the bosses in this operation - Vanguard Tank is the worst option of the tanks. In comparison to other tanks he had the lowest survival rate (at the same level of armor).

 

PVP

WZ. Totaly class is not bad, and very often occupies the top ranks after the fight. But killing enemy 1 vs. 1 turns out very rarely.

RWZ Laugh. Given the current situation with the balance I was there just once.

 

2.How do you perceive your own spec?

PVE Very good. But they talk too much about the issues for Vanguard Tank on Denova. I think they speak not without reason. Preparing for the problems...

PVP Not Bad, and not good . But increasing the number of injuries inflicted by 10-15%, in my opinion, will clearly improve the class.

Edited July 19, 2012 by AndMayer

[Draloch]

I play a Vanguard Tank.

 

1. My healers perceive my class as being generally easy to heal. Because vanguards utilize shield rating over defense, it has allowed me to stack to over 60% shield chance and over 60% shield absorb, which makes incomming damage very reliable. My 30 yard range abilities also have allowed us to explore some alternate strategies against ranged bosses in raids and that has been a benefit to our guild.

 

2. I see the Vanguard as being the best of the tanks, primarily because of the utility of the class. The one class improvement I'd like to see is a total rework of Vanguard tanking abilities to be designed around tanking at a 30 yard range full time.

[ChickenWangs]

1. Others perceive my class as OP. They see burst damage and assume it is OP. They see DOTs and say that is OP too.

2. I perceive my class as burst damage, with terrible Defensive CDs and bad resource management.

 

The two and only things that help an assault specialist are being stunned and getting a HIB proc. For the kind of burst damage I put out, I think the bad resource management is needed, so that I cannot burst everything down that I see. Defensive CDs for DPS are pretty paltry. Another good way to make sure the class is not OP is to make it squishy. Even in heavy armor, you might be a bit more durable, but not as durable as a jug or marauder with good CDs.

 

The tactics spec is a bit underwhelming in PvP. I use Ion cell in that spec for the survivability, however I feel things like gut should do more internal damage or maybe even elemental because the class uses a lot of buffs for elemental. The resource management for the spec is great, and Pulse generator is a very useful raid dps.

 

Shield spec is right where it needs to be. With the new HIB Aoe and explosive surge buff, the spec is now great.

[Twor]

PvP, Assault spec.

 

1.

Others think it is OP.

 

2.

The strength of the spec is the burst damage, the weakness the defense. In ranked it gets focussed pretty quickly so its a fair trade. Though I'd like a bit more varity in the "burst rotation".

Edited July 19, 2012 by Twor

[samathir]

1- People see me as the best tank of all 3 or a good dps class.

 

2- My tank spec holds aggro just fine, i like the changes made in 1.3 for aoe situations. I only feel silly when using storm because the animation is horrible.

[Retro_Chrome]

Assault Spec

 

1. there are 3 kinds of people:

people who have never played a DPS vanguard "omg they are so op its not fair nerf nerf nerf"

people who leveled up a vanguard yesterday to 15 " its crazy! these guys are so OP its ridiculous!"

people who have leveld one up past 40 or maybe even 50 "huh damn these vanguards are really squishy but still really easy to play, still kind of OP

 

 

2. I personally believe that Assault spec Vanguard is the Only viable spec for Rated Warzones, because of its burst potential. the only utility it brings is Harpoon and taunts and that is ok! the burst it brings is enough to over come the lack of utility, that other classes have. Survivability is pretty bad compared to other DPS classes with the exception of Commandos, those guys really need help. i have suggested in other threads that they reduce or extend all vanguard abilities to 10 meters, with the exception of hammershot, taunts, and storm. this includes making stock strike, gut, and blitz 10 meters. this way we can be truly a mid range tank/dps but lose the ability to really hurt someone from 30 meters. with this change i would add one cool down on a 60-120 second cool down that would give us a 60% DR for 12 seconds. it would give us the ability to stack with reactive shield for marauder type defense but not as good and would blow both defenses, or give us 2 good cooldowns to spread out over a fight and we could stand a chance against gunslingers or sorcs.

 

Sheild Spec

 

1. should you be assault spec? we have guardians and shadows who are better damage out put and better cooldowns.

 

2. worst tank in pvp as far as survival cooldowns vs DPS out put. personally if vanguard tanks explosive surge had damage equivalent to force sweep this would completely solve the problem. on a side note Tank Gear is broken. please allow shield chance to apply (at least to a lesser degree) to all types of attacks. i would suggest a 50% ratio if my shield chance against current attacks is 40% then against other attacks it would be 20%. this would still allow elemental and force /tech abilities to hurt harder but still give tank stats a place in pvp, this should apply to defense as well. and perhaps increase damage reduction from armor to DR to all attacks. so with 48% DR to kinetic and energy it would give 12%

 

Tactics

 

1 Shouldnt you be Assault spec?

 

2 Tactics is fun to play with the exception of gut. this spec has great utility but not enough to outweigh the burst potential of assault. this is the only spec that revolves around pulse canon or a channeled ability in general. and brings alot to the table however i really think that pulse generator should give more of an increase to pulse cannon. so it can compensate for its lack of burst. and as a personal change i would make the fire pulse animation better, increase gut to 10 meters and improve its animation, and increase Hold The Line to include all CC and duration to 12 seconds. this would put it in competition with assault for viability.

[DannyMuzz]

Shield Specialist

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

AoE based tank, ranged, slow moving, useless in PVP unless dps geared.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Would like to see the smart AoE from High Impact Bolt removed. Energy Blast could use more damage. Would like an interupt that did not respect global cooldown.

[Ionor]

Currently full Assault (7/3/31) mostly doing PvP

 

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

Perceived as currently being overpowered in terms of short term burst damage.

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Pros: Great pure DPS, especially single target.

Cons: No "big" utility abilities (no stealth, no speed, no "oh-****" CDs like one-with-the-force).

 

Probably sitting right in the middle - not OP, not UP. Personally I would trade some of the damage for some survival ability (but then I could roll a Shadow :-) ).