Commano / Merc changes

[Berika]

A simple solution to improve Gunnery and AS Commandos viability for PVP is to make Charged Bolts instant cast like the Vanguard's Ion Pulse. (it shouldn't effect PVE much)

 

A more complex solution which achieves the same goal:

Remove/Swap one of the seldom used, some have debated as useless, talents from the Commando AS tree.

 

2-pt Weapons Calibrations: Increases Alacrity

2-pt Parabolic Combat Stims: Returns 1 ammo when stunned

2-pt Degauss: Removes movement impairing effects on use of Reactive Shield

2-pt Adrenaline Fueled: Crits reduce the active CD of Adrenaline Rush and Reserve Power Cell.

 

Replace one of them with a 2-point talent which changes Charged Bolts into an instant cast to keep it on-par with Ion Pulse play style. Preferably it would proc Plasma Cell 100% of the time like Ion Pulse. Even if it doesn't, the instant cast "decent" damage would be a positive improvement in play style (skipping the the elemental vs weapon damage discussion.)

 

By making this "Burst Shot" into an instant cast, the cast reduction can be removed from Muzzle Fluting in the Gunnery tree which can stay the same for Grav Round.

 

Burst Shot being in Tier-1 might be of some use for a Combat Medic. I've yet to see one admit they activate Super-Charge Cell to access the Charged Bolts cost reduction. However, as a lower Tier talent it could possibly result in strengthening Gunnery spec. too much (PVE). If that were to happen (Bio-Ware can do the math) the talent should be high enough in the skill tree for it to deter Gunnery from hybridizing it.

 

Just a couple more ideas to toss out there in the hopes the Devs will pick something up and run with it.....in a positive direction.

 

cc: Suggestion, PVP forums

[Gyronamics]

2-pt Weapons Calibrations: Increases Alacrity (yes its meh but casters always want a faster cast)

2-pt Parabolic Combat Stims: Returns 1 ammo when stunned (or rooted or knocked down, some classes can dam near refill an empty ammo bar by spamming you)

2-pt Degauss: Removes movement impairing effects on use of Reactive Shield (utter crap because someone can immediately re-snare you)

2-pt Adrenaline Fueled: Crits reduce the active CD of Adrenaline Rush and Reserve Power Cell. (touch this and die, its an important ammo control which reduces RPC to 30-40s in a fight since assault has no constant boost like gunnery)

 

Why is Sweltering Heat not in there? 2 points for a weak snare that commandos cant even proc when they want.

[Berika]

2-pt Weapons Calibrations: Increases Alacrity (yes its meh but casters always want a faster cast)

As I said, very few if any add this into a build

 

2-pt Parabolic Combat Stims: Returns 1 ammo when stunned (or rooted or knocked down, some classes can dam near refill an empty ammo bar by spamming you)

You're dead long before then

 

2-pt Degauss: Removes movement impairing effects on use of Reactive Shield (utter crap because someone can immediately re-snare you)

Agreed, it's worthless. That's why it on the suggestion list

 

2-pt Adrenaline Fueled: Crits reduce the active CD of Adrenaline Rush and Reserve Power Cell. (touch this and die, its an important ammo control which reduces RPC to 30-40s in a fight since assault has no constant boost like gunnery)

You're the first I've seen speak it's praises but you have a point

 

Why is Sweltering Heat not in there? 2 points for a weak snare that commandos cant even proc when they want.

The whole point of changing Charged Bolts into a spammable attack like Ion Pulse is for the better damage during movement as well as the constant snare from Sweltering Heat like a Vanguard.

 

 

Any change that is made will not make all players happy. PVP'ers will QQ constantly. By offering positive suggestions and keeping the subject at the forefront of the discussions will eventually bring change.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Berika
spelling

[ArchangelLBC]

2-pt Weapons Calibrations: Increases Alacrity (yes its meh but casters always want a faster cast)

As I said, very few if any add this into a build

I use this in every single build. In PVE you should always have at least one point here, and in a PVE Gunnery I think it has some merit too

 

2-pt Parabolic Combat Stims: Returns 1 ammo when stunned (or rooted or knocked down, some classes can dam near refill an empty ammo bar by spamming you)

You're dead long before then

Actually given the lack of other Ammo regen options really in Assault spec, I feel this is a must take ability. Stuns abound in PVP, and you should use that to your advantage.

 

2-pt Degauss: Removes movement impairing effects on use of Reactive Shield (utter crap because someone can immediately re-snare you)

Agreed, it's worthless. That's why it on the suggestion list

Agreed, Worthless talent for us. Maybe better for VGs? I dunno. Either way, I never take this.

 

2-pt Adrenaline Fueled: Crits reduce the active CD of Adrenaline Rush and Reserve Power Cell. (touch this and die, its an important ammo control which reduces RPC to 30-40s in a fight since assault has no constant boost like gunnery)

You're the first I've seen speak it's praises but you have a point

Thank God for high tech crit chance and burns. I like the one that lowers Reactive Shield when damage taken. That's me though. I'd rather have both of these, instead of points in Sweltering Heat or Stealth Detection Talent, but thems the breaks =/

 

Why is Sweltering Heat not in there? 2 points for a weak snare that commandos cant even proc when they want.

The whole point of changing Charged Bolts into a spammable attack like Ion Pulse is for the better damage during movement as well as the constant snare from Sweltering Heat like a Vanguard.

If charged bolts was appropriately changed then yes I can see it, but even then 30% snare isn't exactly making me all tingly in my nether regions

 

Any change that is made will not make all players happy. PVP'ers will QQ constantly. By offering positive suggestions and keeping the subject at the forefront of the discussions will eventually bring change.

 

It's a nice thought, but the longer we go with no change the harder it is to stay positive. I have to think Makeb will be make or break for a lot of us. In PVP I long abandoned commando. I'll be happy to come back if they ever bother to fix it.

[straseed]

My .02:

 

Let commandos use cover. Think about this...if you can find one RL commando who doesn't understand the importance of cover, I'll eat my CPU. This is an incredibly obvious change in my opinion, and would alleviate a lot of the problems associated with gunnery spec PVP. The playstyle of the tree forces one to sit still do do any real DPS, so allow the class that would most naturally use cover in reality use it in game!

[HybridCode]

My main is a Commando and I like these suggestions for the most part. I am definitely down for charged bolts being instant, just tone down its damage. I rolled a Vanguard to really understand the class and it's ability to proc HIB is so much higher because everything is instant. Not to mention Ion pulse causing an instant dot. No matter how good you r as a Commando you just cannot compete. Just take a look at my short clip of how many times I can proc HIB and how fast I can cause dmg as a Vanguard.

 

[oaceen]

i think instanct-cast charged bolts would be a little broken, especially with a 100% trigger chance on plasma cell

 

even if it wouldn't be enough to make assault commandos broken, the skill itself would be.

 

 

 

that said, here are my thoughts on assault commandos

 

Weapon Calibrations: i would not really shed a tear if i saw this skill go. as a combat medic, i trait it sometimes and would just put 2 points into Heavy Trooper instead. especially with the gear increasing as it has, the extra 4% of alacrity isn't really all that necessary

as a gunnery commando, i would just go 7/31/3 and just rely on first responder for an alacrity boost

as an assault specialist, i take it because there is nothing better

the corresponding skill for vanguards is 8% dmg to stockstrike, one of staple attacks in each tree's rotation

 

Soldier's Endurance: like weapon calibrations, as an assault specialist, i take this because there's nothing better. i never take is as a gunnery or combat medic

it's like heavy trooper, but without the infinitely more useful stat of incoming healing bonus.

the skill isn't useless by any means, but there are many better options that would fit commandos better imo

 

parrallactic combat stims: useless. any appreciable ammo return from being stunlocked would find a commando dead at the end of it before any use could be made of it.

i don't consider this useful for any trooper except perhaps a fully-specced tactics vanguard with shock absorbers traited. even then, it's probably a bit of a stretch

 

sweltering heat: this skill used to be useless, and now it's found a way to be even less useful. for commandos, it wouldn't be so bad if we had a 100% auto-proc for plasma cell like vanguards do so that, ammo permitting, they can keep 100% uptime on the snare.

commandos have an absolute maximum uptime of 33%, but the chances of that actually being the case are astronomically improbable

 

degauss: scoundrels get this for free on a skill that's on a much shorter CD. it should be an intrinsic part of reactive shield

scoundrels are melee healer/dps, so on the one hand, vanguards being a melee class would seem to

 

nightvision scope: scoundrels also get a 2% bonus to force and tech resistance while we only get melee and ranged defense

 

rapid recharge: i really like that this could be a bonus for commandos, given that we have cell capacitor and vanguards don't.

that said, it's very difficult to capitalize on it due to our reliance on skills in gunnery

 

reflexive shield: i don't think that this skill is so powerful that it deserves to be a tier 5, especially since the biggest buff to reactive shield is in the combat medic tree with combat shield. i think that both of these traits should be available earlier in their respective trees so that any spec can utilize it for the temporary immunity to interrupts

 

assault trooper: a hopeful wish i have is that this skill would also applied a crit multiplier bonus to sticky grenade

 

 

 

things i would like to see:

 

viability of hybrid specs: the simplest solution, during early development, could have been that grav round simply upgraded charged bolts (rather than be a separate skill)

charged bolts can still do a lot of things in gunnery, but grav round does nothing in assault (aside from the armor penetration debuff that it does for everything)

 

increased importance of assault plastique: have a damage buff on burning targets, have a chance to burn targets or trigger plasma cell, or activate some proc. currently it's just an attack (granted it's a good one), but it does nothing for the flow of the rotation for assault

 

less of a reliance on gunnery to fill out necessary talents for assault: assault's extra 10 points seem to all be tied up in gunnery-

havoc rounds and ironsights are staple traits for any commando build

special munitions, which provides very useful buffs for each build, is available with a 6 points investment in gunnery

muzzle fluting is a requirement for assault

steadied aim isn't necessarily a requirement, but it's very necessary for any fight that includes AOE damage and/or adds that might attack the commando (which is pretty much most of the fights in the game)

 

it's very difficult to justify alternatives like cell capacitor or field training in combat medic, advanced tech or heavy trooper in gunnery, or other misc skills in assault

 

 

 

charged ignition: a 3 point talent that gives charged bolts has a 33% chance per point to trigger plasma cell if active. this is a no brainer. it's absolutely ridiculous that commandos don't have an equivalent skill. target lock is more of a boost to gunnery than it is for commandos anyway

 

explosives weapons upgrade: any or all of the following: +x% sticky grenade damage, AOE damage added to assault plastique

 

advanced incendiary weapons acquisition: any or all of the following: reduced ammo cost to explosive round, incendiary round, and/or plasma grenade (or some proc that reduces the ammo cost), increased duration to incendiary round, +x% damage to explosive round

 

assault override: any or all of the following: pushback reduction for hail of bolts, charged bolts, and fully auto (make it so that it does not stack with steadied aim and/or gate it by requiring assault-only skills such as charged ignition so that it wouldn't be feasible to take both talents)

reduced ammo cost for hail of bolts, increased chance for hail of bolts to proc plasma cell

Edited January 10, 2013 by oaceen

[cashogy]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=562010

 

not sure how many of you have seen this, but might be work looking at.