Is Carnage Mara Biggest winner in 2.0

[Keldaur]

And what about sniper/'slingers stealth new detection? Haven't tested it, but 30 levels per 30 sec sounds like awesome.

 

Gap closers and coming from behind in a firefight should deal with it. I always hated hard-counters on any game, soft-counters use to lead to more dynamic fights. For example, MM sniper vs Smasher is not fun neither challenging. Carnage vs MM is way more dynamic.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Keldaur

[MusicRider]

sage/sorc got a huge dmg boost in 2.0 people that are performing well on them now are going to make people cry op when pvp actually gets tested. There is a few new interesting hybrid options and lots of other cool nice stuff. Carnage mara probably got harder to play with this patch when it comes to resource management no longer can they just spam br/masscare under zen/beserk as much without thinking about resources before hand. The nerf to bubble pop (ie not being on the whole team) will make life a bit easier for the spec though.

 

I've been experiementing on a sage (sorc cant be copied ) with a heavy into lightning/telekinetics dps hybrid build with wrath and disturbances/lightning strikes hit for like 5k when using the proc while chain lightning hits for a bit more and death field hits for around 4k when they all crit and you can have all of these in one build.... I can't give exact pvp figures but they are going to hit a lot harder in this patch and there's a lot more room for experimenting with hybrids..so i'm really not sure what sage/sorcs are complaining about the buff to telekinetics/lightning are really big and while a pure build may not be a great pvp build the options for hybrids now with the extra skill points are freaking awesome..

 

The build you are referring to is the 30/16 build and it is an extension of the 24/16 I've been playing for ages. The buffs to damage are nice, really nice I might say. Although they seem promising, in order to put them in perspective it has to be compared to the damage of other classes.

 

What players of this class are complaining is some changes in the survivability department. Phase walk would be perfect for sages, tough so moving on. Force barrier is really nice but at 3mins cd it will be very infrequently used. Instant force lift is gone which for some builds it was nice. Knockback is useful but is the worst of the other two knockbasks, only to bring it nearly to par if you go tier6 TK. Unless being a healer and having egress, force speed is the easiest to counter, even with egress it is still a matter of being stunned.

 

TDLR: Damage seems promising although it has to be compared to the rest of the classes before any conclusions are made. The complains about the sage class are regarding cc and survivability tools.

[MusicRider]

BW is atleast consistent in its' cluelessness. Nering the sorc KB to a cone and decreasing the range on electrocute wasnt enough, the instant WW had to go too. So much for sorc being a CC class, basically every AC in the game is better than them at that (too) now. I honestly don't know what they're doing over at the BW HQ? Are they taking drugs at work? I'm not even kidding, people have been kicked for less, much much less.

 

They should direct the EA shareholders to this forum for a taste of why the situation is what it is. That's what happens when a core developer does the exact opposite to what the players want, you lose 75 % of the population (in every major patch).

 

I wouldn't rush ahead and complain too much about the instant force lift loss. It seems that hybrids will be the most powerful specs for sages in 2.0, and these are built around two philosophies: a) tk bias to get the goodies up in tier 6 (e.g 30/16) in which case there are no skill points left to take instant force lift. b) balance bias (e.g. 17/24+1) with the aim of playing with dots in which case the dots do not allow mezzes.

 

The cone knockback is hardly irritating, a more important issue with it is the knockback range, which should bigger like in the other two classes. Also electrocute being at 10m, was a nerf but not such a big deal. It might be now with no 30m instant stun/mezz, but let's see.

 

IMO the new ability should be useful. Every class gets new abilities that are actually useful. If sages get an ability that can be used every three minutes it will suck.

[Aetideus]

I wouldn't rush ahead and complain too much about the instant force lift loss. It seems that hybrids will be the most powerful specs for sages in 2.0, and these are built around two philosophies: a) tk bias to get the goodies up in tier 6 (e.g 30/16) in which case there are no skill points left to take instant force lift. b) balance bias (e.g. 17/24+1) with the aim of playing with dots in which case the dots do not allow mezzes.

 

The cone knockback is hardly irritating, a more important issue with it is the knockback range, which should bigger like in the other two classes. Also electrocute being at 10m, was a nerf but not such a big deal. It might be now with no 30m instant stun/mezz, but let's see.

 

IMO the new ability should be useful. Every class gets new abilities that are actually useful. If sages get an ability that can be used every three minutes it will suck.

 

In the context of most other classes buff? Maybe in PVE. In PVP I would risk that the Sorcs output will be the same (or worse).

[WaldoA]

If I remember right, Lethality Sniper is going to be able to use Takedown on any health like every 8 seconds.

 

I believe the proc triggers after each use of cull, though I may be wrong.

[MusicRider]

In the context of most other classes buff? Maybe in PVE. In PVP I would risk that the Sorcs output will be the same (or worse).

 

The damage output is definitely not the same as it currently is. There are many buffs in the tk tree. It only remains to be seen how it compares to other classes in action.

[islander]

Carnage Mara the biggest winner? With the huge nerf to auto crit force scream? >.>

 

For serious?

 

I'd ask for vids but PVP on the PTS is nearly pointless atm.

 

This is all gross speculation until the PTS actually becomes playable without exploits.

[MusicRider]

I don't know about combat, but I like the changes I see in watchman . And focus is still focus at least for sentinels, even more enhanced as it is more difficult to cleanse exhaustion.

[Pahomi]

LOL this is a thread about combat / carnage spec and in 4 pages there are only 3-4 replies about the spec, the rest is purely off-topic about other classes / specs.

 

I for one do not think that combat / carnage is a winner at all. They got some nice stuff like the reset of precision slash and free dispatch but they lost big with the 30% blade storm auto crit (down from 100%) and the elimination of the focus reduction of blade rush. So two of their main abilities took a hit, reducing burst and making the class more complicated to play and more focus heavy. The new twin saber throw ability should not count as that is a lvl 51 ability and all sentinel specs got it.

 

The class will be even better in huttball now since they have a new way to build centering but in combat situations the class feels weaker, lacking its once great burst due to focus management.

 

So big winner? No way. It got some great stuff whilst losing some vital stuff. It's too early to tell how much of a good or bad trade of it is going to be but I would certainly not call them one of the big winners after 2.0

Edited February 27, 2013 by Pahomi

[MusicRider]

That's because with the changes are harder to predict how combat will turn out in the overall picture. The reset to gore with more focus thirsty might mean that while in gore a carnage mara is twice the deadly weapon it was before, but when not in gore state he might have to build up or be conservative in focus spent which reduces its dps during this period. Time and field testing will tell. Edited February 27, 2013 by MusicRider