Trooper Ability Changes Update 2.0 on PTS

[ScytheEleven]

Cool man, please post what you find!

 

I rolled a merc on the PTS and just randomly put gear on him (can't get relics though). I parsed at around 1900 DPS for six minutes. Stats were as follows (stock gear, no credits to move mods around and such):

 

98.13% accuracy (288)

26.76% crit (395)

64.62% surge (216)

Power was 778

2423 Aim

Alacrity: 216

[ArchangelLBC]

Seriously? It's kinda the same attitude over on the Merc forum...that they didn't get "buffed" as much as other classes.

 

You did. Your PVE damage is going to skyrocket now. You will probably be above Vanguard's in terms of PVE DPS now since they get a nerf to their rail shot.

 

So you won't become kings of PVP, big deal. You're going to kill stuff really, really fast in PVE now though.

 

Which is cool for people who don't wanna PVP at all? I mean I'd like to one day actually, you know, PVP on my preferred class. I only get to raid like twice a week.

 

PVP changes do look nice but I don't like having to take PVP talents to advance up the tree.

[JimmyTheCannon]

Right now the secondary stat numbers on the PTS are a little screwed up. If you want to see what I mean, transfer a level 50 and compare your stats in your current gear on live vs. on PTS. My Jug's Defense dropped about 10%, as did other things.

 

Rail Shot for the Merc is 16 Heat default, currently 0 on live with talent spec and 4-piece set bonus. Now, my Merc didn't transfer and I didn't look closely enough at my Commando, so I can't tell you for certain what it is for Commandos on PTS... but it should be the same *default* (16 energy cells).

 

As far as Commandos being a "weak" healer - that's on you. My Merc can and has healed everything short of EC NiM with no problems. We can keep up with any other healing class - if you're not, you're doing something wrong. Same with DPS.

 

EDIT:

 

Oh, and the Shoulder Cannon. Works VERY well. Best way to use it is trigger it before starting the fight so that it's loaded as quickly as possible, and just fire it between instants (I've noticed some weird semi-GCD blinks if I fire it off *not* during a GCD). Now, the description says it goes on cooldown as soon as you're out of missiles - *but* you can start firing it as soon as there's a single missile loaded, and it'll keep loading as normal until it has loaded 4 missiles total. Even if you go down to 0 missiles currently loaded, it won't shut off until you've fired that 4th missile.

Edited February 22, 2013 by JimmyTheCannon

[AMightyKnight]

I’ve been playing around with the new skill tree to find a new build for Gunnery (PVE Endgame Raiding).

Bleeters already covered most of the changes but the new structure requires some tweaking.

This is what I came up with:

http://pts.swtor-spy.com/skill-tree-calculator/commando/?build=020300000000000000000000000000000223023202120012011103200230001003200000000000000000000000000000&ver=20

(5/36/5)

 

The main issue is the requirement of spending 36 points to get Demo Round. You ll have only 10 points available for the other trees. Furthermore, to get to the sixth row in the Gunnery tree (Curtain of Fire, Overclock, Decoy) you need to invest 25 points, meaning you ll have to invest 2 points in Concussive Force, Tenacious Defense or Cover Fire. From a PVE perspective these skills are pretty much useless (at least when it comes to raiding). I went with Concussive Force, but barring new boss mechanics in the new operation it really doesn’t matter.

I chose to skip Decoy in the sixth tree. Its basically a decision between Reflexive Shield and Decoy to get to Demo Round. Decoy is clearly inferior to Reflexive Shield. Skillung both is not an option since you ll end up with 8 points for the other trees which is not enough with the new alacrity.

I kinda sucks that you need 36 point in Gunnery. Still no option to max out both Weapons Calibrations and First Responder. I went with Weapons Calibrations since our new crit will be too low for a long time to make First Responders superior to Weapons Calibrations.

 

To add it up, with 2.0 the following changes for us:

 

+ 10% alacrity for 12 sec from Recharge Cells (Cell Capacitor): Nice but with Reserve Round gone not much of a buff

- 5% pushback reduction (Muzzle Fluting had 75%, the new Steadied Aim only 70%): nerf

 

+ 2 ammunition for HIB (Special Munitions was -1 pre 2.0, know its only – 6): slight nerf

- 3 ammunition for Grav Round (Special Munitions) & 19 ammunition cost for Grav Round (Grav Round), so real Grav Costs should be 16 ammunition: slight buff, new cost in the old system would be 1.92 (1 old ammunition equals 8.33 ammunition in the new system)

Note: We ll have to see how this works with the “ammunition will be regenerated in fractions”. What might look as a buff or nerf in the ammunition department might not change anything at all.

 

+ 15 sec uptime Charged Barrier (Charged Barrier): buff, but when was this ever an issue? Charged Barrier was always up in PVE.

 

Gone: 7% recharge of maximum health rom Recharge Cells (Kolto Recharge) – nerf but this hardly matters especially with the Kolto Bomb

Gained: +4 sec duration Hold the Line (Advance the Line) – very nice utility buff even in PVE

 

Gone: 30sec cooldown reduction on Reserve Powercell – annoying nerf, I really really liked my Reserve Powercell / Plasma Grenade combo. Ammunition management wont get any easier.

Gained 2x Tech Override (Overclock) – buff, but you ll just end up using your recharge cells skill with the new tech override since two instant casts will consume much of you ammunition.

Given the choice I would prefer the old Recharge Cell over Overclock. It sucks that PVE gets nerfed because of PVP balancing issues.

 

Gained: Reflexive Shield: buff, but iam neither a healer nor a tank. I want skills that increase my DPS as a damage dealer not an defensive buff or additional heal skills.

 

+ 6% Damage on everything except Full Auto (Charged Launcher): buff, finally something for our damage, thank you very much. Just giving us a blunt ~ 4% damage increase shows how far behind we were (and still are since other classes got buffed even more).

 

Anyway, in my opinion there isn’t much in the new skill tree for the Gunnery PVE Commando. Lots of utility buffs coupled with the ocational nerf and very little for your DPS. 2.0 clearly was for our PVP brethren, lets just hope that we aren’t even further behind Sentinels and Vanguards than we already are.

Edited February 22, 2013 by AMightyKnight

[Quantemoq]

weapon claibrations 2% alacrity. (used to be 4%)

critical reaction 3% alacrity (used to be 5%)

 

also high impact bolt is now basically gets +8% damage (new set bonus) but costs 10 ammo instead of beeing free

Edited February 22, 2013 by Quantemoq

[oaceen]

Along with the 7% alacrity (if you get the proc in CM tree) from talents yeah. I was hoping you could get all of First Responder AND weapon calibrations, but thems the breaks. You may be right, and I certainly hope you are. What about that free HiB? Is it costing 2 ammo now or something (out of 100)?

 

Can you detail the Assault and CM changes as well?

 

it's only 5% if you take both

 

first responder is now 3% for 6s (2 point skill) and weapon calibrations is 1% per point (2 point skill)

 

 

that said, 5% is a lot. my combat medic setup has 288 alacrity and only 3.97% activation, so 5% from skills is fairly significant considering the changes to the stat weight itself.

[AMightyKnight]

weapon claibrations 2% alacrity. (used to be 4%)

critical reaction 3% alacrity (used to be 5%) [/Quote] Forgot about the Weapons Calibration Nerf. I avoided First Responder since our crit Chance will be lower (at first at least) with all the math changes they came up with.

 

also high impact bolt is now basically gets +8% damage (new set bonus) but costs 10 ammo instead of beeing free

I was confused about this since on the PTS the old T4 Armorings still have the old set bonus. I dont think this is a bug because the tooltip gives me the correct - new -energy cost:

"Reduces the heat Rail Shot generates or the energy cell cost of High Impact Bolt by 8"

If this isnt changed and makes it into the live version, could it be possible to save the old set bonus? Would it be worth it? What happens if you use two T5 Dreadguard Armorings and two T7? What happens if you combine T1-3 item Shells with the new armorings?

I cant test this atm since BW is unable to copy my Commando main....

[nbayer]

it's only 5% if you take both

 

first responder is now 3% for 6s (2 point skill) and weapon calibrations is 1% per point (2 point skill)

 

 

that said, 5% is a lot. my combat medic setup has 288 alacrity and only 3.97% activation, so 5% from skills is fairly significant considering the changes to the stat weight itself.

 

Also keep in mind that AP cell adds 2% (i think that's right) if you are gunnery.

[oaceen]

Also keep in mind that AP cell adds 2% (i think that's right) if you are gunnery.

 

it's 3%, but yes, that's right.

 

 

i'm trying out gunnery with a similar build to the current 6/31/4 where i take one point of first responder and 1 point of weapon calibrations

 

this gives me ~7% alacrity all the time (from skills and alacrity rating) and 3% with first responder procs.

Edited February 22, 2013 by oaceen

[planet_J]

Listed in patch info...the set bonuses are no longer tied to shells it's all tied to armorings...

 

Plus...sm ops will now drop bh gear after 2.0 goes live and hm will drop hazmat.

[JimmyTheCannon]

Anyone running into resource problems in Gunnery?

[CrazyOldMystic]

Hehehehehehehe *gets a big smile on his face* I was able to rip things up before with full auto and charged bolts, after this hits anything in front of me dies. I think the people who are going to have the biggest problem with gunnery are the ones that spam grav round, demo round, and high impact bolt. As for me I always used grav round, demo round, high impact bolt, full auto, and charged bolts. Ive killed allot of imps just unloading charged botls.

[AMightyKnight]

Anyone running into resource problems in Gunnery?

For me it’s definitely tougher. I tried it with a twink of mine (bad relics, no datacrons), the biggest problem was the ammunition cost for High Impact Bolt. I found myself using hammerhsots quite a bit. Kinda annoying when you never needed to pre 2.0.

For a PVE maximum DPS rotation the new Tech Override is just bad. It basically forces you to use it with a recharge ability since two instant casts ruin your ammunition. And since Tech Override has a cooldown of just 1.30 min while your recharge abilities have 2min you ll struggle to use it every time.

 

 

 

Ive killed allot of imps just unloading charged botls.

? Charged Bolts has no advantage over Grav Round

Edited February 24, 2013 by AMightyKnight

[Quantemoq]

? Charged Bolts has no advantage over Grav Round

 

of course not.

it is less damage ,can be delfected and shielded and costs 3 more ammo (base cost of 19 and is not recuded by the gunnery feat that reduces the cost of grav round)

but it gives you insight of that "hehehehe"-guy's testing skills.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

i also seem to have more resource problems and i do not feel that my dps increased anywhere near as much as the dps of my powertech, sniper sorc and juggernout.

 

pre 2.0 it was powertech>sniper>commando>juggernout>sorc

now it is powertech>jugg=sniper>sorc>commando

 

in my opinion the problem is that an expensive hib is almost not superiour to a grav round when cof is proccable . and since every FA is aleady 3 sec, it leaves about 1.5 sec for other attacks then grav round (because grav round takes 1.5 sec casting time so you can start casting 1.5 sec before the COF-proc cooldown is offer).

 

often you needed to put your ammo management abilities into that 1.5 sec period as well as demolition round.

 

pre 2.0 you cound use hib as ammo management but that is no longer the case.

 

also the buff for alacrity didn't benefit commandos as much as other classes. since you already have 70+% of you damage comming from channeled/casted attacks anyway.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Quantemoq

[oaceen]

of course not.

it is less damage ,can be delfected and shielded and costs 3 more ammo (base cost of 19 and is not recuded by the gunnery feat that reduces the cost of grav round)

but it gives you insight of that "hehehehe"-guy's testing skills.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

for the benefit of the doubt, charged bolts is still a viable gunnery skill in PVP while grav round has been interrupted and locked out.

[CrazyOldMystic]

For the ignorant who just spam grav round like dummies. Grav round is like sending off a flare to the other team. As soon as you start using it on a regular basis, you will find yourself being torn apart. Also each time you use charged bolts, the charge up timer is speed up rapidly each time on one target. Its almost like having a machine gun. Lastly for the ignorant, there was one wz where I got a good location and killed around 7 imps just by using charged bolts. If I had used grav round in that same situation they would have lit me up like a roman candle. The fact that so many can not see past grav round is why charged bolts can be a very effective weapon. This same line of thinking is why allot imp and republic healers went smuggler and operative, it was too easy for other classes to pick out sorcs and sages as the healer. So things are not as plain as a grav round spammer may think.

[Bleeters]

Also each time you use charged bolts, the charge up timer is speed up rapidly each time on one target. Its almost like having a machine gun.

What on earth are you babbling about?

[CrazyOldMystic]

Try not to act like a troll it never solves anything

When you target a npc or player with charged bolts, the first charged bolts has a slow charge up time, second salvo on the same target speeds up the charge up time quickly, and so on and so forth. The kicker is that if you switch targets you have to restart from scratch to get your charged bolts firing quickly one after the other.

[DariusCalera]

Try not to act like a troll it never solves anything

When you target a npc or player with charged bolts, the first charged bolts has a slow charge up time, second salvo on the same target speeds up the charge up time quickly, and so on and so forth. The kicker is that if you switch targets you have to restart from scratch to get your charged bolts firing quickly one after the other.

 

Hmm..yeah..um...the cast time is not changing at all. It just seems like it's going faster because of the cast time/GCD interaction. It does the exact same thing with Grav Round.

[JimmyTheCannon]

For the ignorant who just spam grav round like dummies. Grav round is like sending off a flare to the other team. As soon as you start using it on a regular basis, you will find yourself being torn apart. Also each time you use charged bolts, the charge up timer is speed up rapidly each time on one target. Its almost like having a machine gun. Lastly for the ignorant, there was one wz where I got a good location and killed around 7 imps just by using charged bolts. If I had used grav round in that same situation they would have lit me up like a roman candle. The fact that so many can not see past grav round is why charged bolts can be a very effective weapon. This same line of thinking is why allot imp and republic healers went smuggler and operative, it was too easy for other classes to pick out sorcs and sages as the healer. So things are not as plain as a grav round spammer may think.

 

Charged bolts doesn't fire any faster than Grav Round.

 

Aside from that, what you're saying is you're relying heavily on the other team assuming you're Assault or Combat Medic simply because you're not using Grav Round on them.

 

In my experience that won't matter - most people see Commandos and Mercs as free kills anyway and will attack you as soon as they see you. Maybe you got lucky that one time, but in most situations people will attack you anyway and you're just gimping your DPS, as well as that of anybody else attacking your target who could benefit from Armor Pen.

[cultivatedmass]

For the ignorant who just spam grav round like dummies. Grav round is like sending off a flare to the other team. As soon as you start using it on a regular basis, you will find yourself being torn apart. Also each time you use charged bolts, the charge up timer is speed up rapidly each time on one target. Its almost like having a machine gun. Lastly for the ignorant, there was one wz where I got a good location and killed around 7 imps just by using charged bolts. If I had used grav round in that same situation they would have lit me up like a roman candle. The fact that so many can not see past grav round is why charged bolts can be a very effective weapon. This same line of thinking is why allot imp and republic healers went smuggler and operative, it was too easy for other classes to pick out sorcs and sages as the healer. So things are not as plain as a grav round spammer may think.

 

they can tell you're gunnery by the stance you're in.....

[JimmyTheCannon]

they can tell you're gunnery by the stance you're in.....

 

That, too.

 

A smart player can tell what spec you are just by clicking on you, for any class other than Sorc or Agents.

[ArchangelLBC]

Haven't gotten a 55 commando on the PTS yet, but after playing with my gunslinger last night (for some reason all my lowbies transferred but none of my 50s >=0) I'm very worried about the viability of gunnery post 55 even in PVE vs other ranged options. Sharpshooter gunslingers are, frankly speaking, insanely good. The changes to trickshot make that spec hit consistently very hard and essentially never run out of ammo.

 

Will either try to level a trooper to 10 in the next few days or try to transfer again after the reset on Tuesday.

[Frog_brains]

First of all remember not everything you see in the PTS is written in stone (yet), skill point allocations, and +/- skill values could still change.

 

Secondly I guess i was naive to hope for this but they're still messing up players by not having seperate skill tree's for pvp and pve. by trying to make all the skill trees viable for pvp and pve you don't make them great at either. They already give you two different sets of armour for pvp and pve why not 2 sets of skill trees as well. right now they're robbing peter to pay paul and pissing everyone off

 

i haven't been on the pts yet but i know on my assault spec commando there are complete parts of the tree that i leave blank because they are of no use to me as a non pvp'er, at the same time though it's not enough points to make it really useful in a different tree.

[ArchangelLBC]

Historically, things on the PTS don't change much.

 

I do dislike that I'm forced to take PVP skills in gunnery now even when PVEing. Granted some of the PVE skills were always kind of meh too, but still. Why can't they just give us good talents =(