3 questions to help PT's

[FeralPug]

I understand why many of the shield guys want to keep flame engine.

 

My issue is that AP's central ability is flame thrower, and in PVP situations it is all but unusable due to several issues. I can only compare it to smash, as I see the abilities as having similar purposes: they are designed to put up AOE pressure damage on clumps of targets.

 

Flame thrower falls far short of having the same impact as smash does in a given WZ match. Why?

 

1. It's an AOE cone as opposed to a 360 degree circle.

 

2. It's channeled as opposed to instant.

 

3. Critical hits are not guaranteed like they are with smash. On a geared mara, smash hits for ~8k+ (often topping 9, and even hitting 10 occasionally). Flame thrower on a geared PT (full min/maxed conq) is 2.8k-3k a tick for 4 ticks if you crit. On my well geared PT, with all pertinent datacrons, my chance to crit with flame thower is in the mid 20's%. This is one crit for every four ticks (without explosive fuel activated).

 

Now, the last thing I'd want is to make AP another smash spec. It's good to have diversity in the way classes perform in the WZ's. That said, if you're going to build a spec around a channeled AOE cone, you have to make flame thrower more workable. Flame engine is a perfect match for AP, and I like the idea of building channel speed as you build stacks of PFT.

 

Now, I agree that snagging an ability from another spec is cheap. I wouldn't suggest it if AP didn't center around Flame Thrower. But if Shieldtechs like Flame Engine simply for generating AOE threat in PVE encounters, there are tons of other ways to do this. Having more synergy with Flame Sweep in the Shield build would make perfect sense to me. Build in a wider radius. Build in higher threat levels. A Flame Sweep buff would be more synergistic with Shield than Flame Engine, which in turn is more synergistic with the AP tree.

 

While they're at it, prototype cylinders needs a tweak for HEGC.

 

Anyway, let's keep the discussion going.

[ScytheEleven]

Well, not only does Flame Engine help with threat (not just AoE threat), it also is part of how PT Tanks keep their heat low.

 

So not only is it a big threat generator for tanks, but it also helps manage heat. With the way the Shield Tree is structured right now, moving Flame Engine out would require the Dev's to do more coding/mess with more talents in order to replace what was lost.

 

I think that, realistically, we should look at buffing Flamethrower as it stands right now in AP.

 

At three stacks of Prototype Flamethrower, make the player immune to CC's and knockbacks during the channel (so a 3 second CC Immunity). With the snare attached to Flamethrower, and CC Immunity, it makes it so that an AP player can not fear about using PFT whenever it's available.

 

Another suggestion would be to increase the critical strike chance of flamethrower by xxx% at 3 stacks. You could tie this to Prototype Cylinders to make that talent not feel like a waste of space.

[iamthehoyden]

I played pve assault/pyro for a long time; right now I'm working with a hybrid dps spec. I'm not an expert by any means and there may be more useful questions out there, but I'd really like to know why they reduced our burst and what they plan to do to make assault/pyro spec more viable. Edited July 25, 2013 by iamthehoyden

[af_raptura]

One thing that I would like to add to what ScytheEleven said about Shield Tech heat management is that the Shield Vents talent in the tree could be buffed so that dodging an attack also dissipated some heat.

 

They could also buff heat screen and hydraulic shield to perform as they do now, but also have their effects achievable through a dodged attack so as to have more synergy with Oil Slick.

 

I'm no pve tank, but I can't see how those respective changes would make them overpowered.

Edited July 25, 2013 by af_raptura

[Surbatu]

Yes, not questions, but (easily implemented) suggestions

 

1. Reduce Shoulder Cannon cooldown to 1 min and load time.

2. Swap Flame Engine and Combust.

3. Add debuff effect to Incendiary Missile: while it active any dots on target become uncleanseable.

[dijskykiller]

1. Reduce Shoulder Cannon cooldown to 1 min and load time.

This change will affect all PT trees, but will have the most impact on AP>ST>Pyro. It's a situational talent for ST and lacks kick in pyro tree.

2. Swap Flame Engine and Combust.

This recommendation is completely biased on AP tree. I would rather see a switch between Flame Engine for Stabilized Armor or Energy Rebounder.

Edited July 26, 2013 by dijskykiller

[Brunner_Venda]

Why not just change or buff PFT instead of stealing flame engine? Add in the shorter channel and take away the 90% slow. Fixed.

 

Shield shouldn't try to compete with AP, AP is a DPS spec. The two have completely different roles, and there's no real basis of comparison.

 

Shield needs a few more defensive goodies to compete with jugg and guardian tanks. Shield techs are solidly and unquestionably in the number two slot.

[Blitz-wing]

LOL

This is a thread for ideas & suggestion of QUESTIONS to ASK the "COMBAT TEAM". Not a place to spit the dummy about how the "COMBAT TEAM" royally screwed the PT Adv Class.

Let's get back to working on QUESTIONS to ask the "COMBAT TEAM". Drop the great ideas we each have for fixing the spec's but work out questions to ask to get a better understanding of how they are going to fix the PT.

 

1. Defense Cooldowns: all PT spec's lack the CD's of the other AC spec's! How is this balanced currently & what is in the future for PT's in respect to defensive CD's?

 

2. Burst: Both of the DPS spec's have terrible Burst Dmg! Why is this? How is the lack of burst balanced to compare PT's to the other classes? (Utility? Survivability? Sustained Dmg?)

 

3. DPS Melee or Not?: Without a gap closer is (Compared to the other melee classes) & mixed melee range attacks (4-10 meters) the class is nerfed compared to the other dmg classes. What is the reasoning behind this decision?