Proposed pyro change...

[MtDoom]

Hey all I recently moved from Europe back to the states and had to reroll on a us server I ended up rolling a merc again as I love the class play style even if it's currently a bit sub par in the pvp relm.

 

I have played both merc and commando to 55 with full pvp gear set playing all three spec's alot. While arsenal is rather effective in pvp (decent if not potentially while all the stars and planets align awesome bursting dps) I find the pyro spec a bit sub par. The fact that so many classes can simply absorb/shield/deflect and the one that makes me the most livid...cover block all damage from one of the main attacks (power shot) as its a base white attack drives me up the wall.

 

Being said I propose while in cgc cylinder powershot and potentially rs be converted to tech attack to allowing the player to stack more for power/aim than having to over gear towards accuracy just to consistently hit the target. I find time after time the reason I revert back to arsenal is not so much the increased damage from hsm crits over rs (2k difference doesn't make that much of a change when i can pound out 2-3 rs in the time hsm is on cd) or even the 33% increase in unload; but more the fact that I WILL be able to hit almost everytime with tracer missile.

[KhalDrogoe]

I'm going to list a few beefs I have with BW development concerning Merc Pyro.

 

First and foremost, the negligence on BW's part when they were balancing Powertechs has just been utterly disgusting!

 

1) Merc Pyro never has been close to being OP. Except every time they roll out changes so the PT Pyro's are more balanced with the rest of the world, they just keep nerfing the living crap outta Pyro Mercs!

 

2) The abilities that they're nerfing ISN'T FIXING IT. They're just taking the Merc staples and nerfing them, when they leave skills like flameburst and other PT specific skills alone.

 

3) Merc Pyro is probably the only spec in the game that relies SO MUCH on white damage. They've also recently buffed peoples armor to said white damage making it even worse for us. Because of this if you're planning to play a merc pyro, you have to stack more accuracy than ANYONE else.

 

4) The heat management is absolutely atrocious compared to Arsenal. Arsenal gets a free 6 heat every few seconds, and the skill rotation doesn't require as much heat to begin with! Whereas Pyro mercs skills use the high heat abilities like Fusion Missile, and Incendiary Missile.

 

5) They took energy rebounder and stuck it in Arsenal! Now that was a DICK move. The survivability went to absolute garbage once they did that! NOT ONLY THAT but they stuck the double power surge skill over there too! I don't know about anyone else, but 95% of the time I'm using power surge for an instant heal. Arsenals now have 2 instant heals making them much beefier when getting focused. Also not to mention they already had Power Barrier ON TOP of this. Earning 2 stacks per tracer (tech damage) vs. if we spec that deep into Arsenal as pyro our stupid *** is casting POWER SHOT(physical). The red headed step-child of Tracer Missile, you're right that's not being fair to red-heads.

 

Which BTW Power Shot is an absolute abomination. I'm not going to stand still for 2 seconds to cast that tracer missile wannabe. I don't have my Rebounder/Power Barrier/double instant heals so I can't afford to stand still beyond casting Fusion Missile and Unload. If they think this tactic is viable in Arenas they MUST be high.

 

The new talent with Missile Blast is poorly designed and NOT worth putting the points into. I know what it SAYS on the tooltip, but I've never had reduced cost Missile Blast when I was using it, nor did it apply the lackluster CGC proc either. I'd rather put those precious skill points into something that will actually WORK. If they want to have something like that in our skill tree, make it CONSTANT reduced cost/cgc proc. This RNG for it is a terrible Idea.

 

Thermal Detonator Nerf was a poorly thought out concept as well. WHY DIDN'T THE BALANCING TEAM THINK OF THE RAMIFICATIONS this would have on Merc Pyro also? Instead they had their "Nerf Pyro PT" BLINDERS on and just willy nilly destroyed the spec for Mercs.

 

Now on PTS I just read that they're attaching some survival to Chaff Flare. This is a start, but the steps they need to take are as follows:

 

1) Unattach Merc Pyro tree from PT Pyro tree. There is no reason these two should be sharing squat anymore.

 

2) Restore TD (for mercs) to it's original state, and make it all elemental damage.

 

3) Increase CGC proc damage for Merc.

 

4) Fix heat costs without reducing damage.

 

IGN.com with their SWTOR Wiki guide shows how USEFUL and balanced Pyro was! Look at all these skills and abilities we had in game that were actually beneficial. Bear in mind this was the state of pyro a year and a half or so ago. If they were to put all these OLD skills and abilities back, we could maybe be viable again. But there has NEVER been a buff to Merc Pyro, only massive residual nerfs because they were trying to fix a broken class which was PT Pyro.

 

http://www.ign.com/wikis/star-wars-the-old-republic/Mercenary

[Delmyr]

I'm going to list a few beefs I have with BW development concerning Merc Pyro.

 

First and foremost, the negligence on BW's part when they were balancing Powertechs has just been utterly disgusting!

 

1) Merc Pyro never has been close to being OP. Except every time they roll out changes so the PT Pyro's are more balanced with the rest of the world, they just keep nerfing the living crap outta Pyro Mercs!

 

2) The abilities that they're nerfing ISN'T FIXING IT. They're just taking the Merc staples and nerfing them, when they leave skills like flameburst and other PT specific skills alone.

 

3) Merc Pyro is probably the only spec in the game that relies SO MUCH on white damage. They've also recently buffed peoples armor to said white damage making it even worse for us. Because of this if you're planning to play a merc pyro, you have to stack more accuracy than ANYONE else.

 

4) The heat management is absolutely atrocious compared to Arsenal. Arsenal gets a free 6 heat every few seconds, and the skill rotation doesn't require as much heat to begin with! Whereas Pyro mercs skills use the high heat abilities like Fusion Missile, and Incendiary Missile.

 

5) They took energy rebounder and stuck it in Arsenal! Now that was a DICK move. The survivability went to absolute garbage once they did that! NOT ONLY THAT but they stuck the double power surge skill over there too! I don't know about anyone else, but 95% of the time I'm using power surge for an instant heal. Arsenals now have 2 instant heals making them much beefier when getting focused. Also not to mention they already had Power Barrier ON TOP of this. Earning 2 stacks per tracer (tech damage) vs. if we spec that deep into Arsenal as pyro our stupid *** is casting POWER SHOT(physical). The red headed step-child of Tracer Missile, you're right that's not being fair to red-heads.

 

Which BTW Power Shot is an absolute abomination. I'm not going to stand still for 2 seconds to cast that tracer missile wannabe. I don't have my Rebounder/Power Barrier/double instant heals so I can't afford to stand still beyond casting Fusion Missile and Unload. If they think this tactic is viable in Arenas they MUST be high.

 

The new talent with Missile Blast is poorly designed and NOT worth putting the points into. I know what it SAYS on the tooltip, but I've never had reduced cost Missile Blast when I was using it, nor did it apply the lackluster CGC proc either. I'd rather put those precious skill points into something that will actually WORK. If they want to have something like that in our skill tree, make it CONSTANT reduced cost/cgc proc. This RNG for it is a terrible Idea.

 

Thermal Detonator Nerf was a poorly thought out concept as well. WHY DIDN'T THE BALANCING TEAM THINK OF THE RAMIFICATIONS this would have on Merc Pyro also? Instead they had their "Nerf Pyro PT" BLINDERS on and just willy nilly destroyed the spec for Mercs.

 

Now on PTS I just read that they're attaching some survival to Chaff Flare. This is a start, but the steps they need to take are as follows:

 

1) Unattach Merc Pyro tree from PT Pyro tree. There is no reason these two should be sharing squat anymore.

 

2) Restore TD (for mercs) to it's original state, and make it all elemental damage.

 

3) Increase CGC proc damage for Merc.

 

4) Fix heat costs without reducing damage.

 

IGN.com with their SWTOR Wiki guide shows how USEFUL and balanced Pyro was! Look at all these skills and abilities we had in game that were actually beneficial. Bear in mind this was the state of pyro a year and a half or so ago. If they were to put all these OLD skills and abilities back, we could maybe be viable again. But there has NEVER been a buff to Merc Pyro, only massive residual nerfs because they were trying to fix a broken class which was PT Pyro.

 

http://www.ign.com/wikis/star-wars-the-old-republic/Mercenary

 

Power Shot is 1.5 sec. base same as tracer missile and is only behind Tracer Missile by about 5% damage minus any reductions.

 

The Volatile Warhead skill you were referring too with Missile Blast does indeed work but the application of cgc is once every 6 sec. I find the energy reduction very useful in a "mobile" situation and the on demand "slow" can be very powerful.

[oaceen]

Being said I propose while in cgc cylinder powershot and potentially rs be converted to tech attack to allowing the player to stack more for power/aim than having to over gear towards accuracy just to consistently hit the target.

 

there are two problems with this.

 

one, in PvE encounters, boss resistance / defense are the same 10% value, so ranged and tech attacks need just as much accuracy to hit their targets. (ie: this doesn't actually change anything in PvE. i will concede that it will have somewhat of an impact in PvP, but i would say it is rather small even then)

 

two, if you convert them to tech attacks, they will have an absolutely 0% chance of triggering CGC on the target.

[KhalDrogoe]

there are two problems with this.

 

one, in PvE encounters, boss resistance / defense are the same 10% value, so ranged and tech attacks need just as much accuracy to hit their targets. (ie: this doesn't actually change anything in PvE. i will concede that it will have somewhat of an impact in PvP, but i would say it is rather small even then)

 

two, if you convert them to tech attacks, they will have an absolutely 0% chance of triggering CGC on the target.

 

So change CGC chance to proc on both ranged and tech attacks....

[oaceen]

So change CGC chance to proc on both ranged and tech attacks....

 

it's not that simple. you are now having it proc on a lot of other attacks that, before, it didn't, which causes a whole mess of other balancing issues.

 

if they allowed the chance for it to proc on every attack we have, i can guarantee that we would see the proc chance or the damage drop drastically.

 

 

and all of that added extra effort to rebalance all of that just to make a very minimal difference in pvp and absolutely zero impact in pve

[KhalDrogoe]

one, in PvE encounters, boss resistance / defense are the same 10% value, so ranged and tech attacks need just as much accuracy to hit their targets. (ie: this doesn't actually change anything in PvE. i will concede that it will have somewhat of an impact in PvP, but i would say it is rather small even then)

 

Tech attacks have like 10% accuracy edge over ranged attacks.....

[PerinnAybara]

Tech attacks have like 10% accuracy edge over ranged attacks.....

 

No they don't. That's only for rapid spots. Mouse over your ranged accuracy and you'll find something called special ranged accuracy.

 

Bioware decided to confuse us all for no damn reason.

[LordKantner]

Here are the main changes I'd like to see stated from a post back a ways:

 

1. Reduce the 6s internal cooldown of Plasma Cell or eliminate it.

 

2. Allow AoE attacks to have an individual chance to apply the cell for each target.

 

3. Give me a reason to use Assault Plastique, either by buffing the damage or making it fit into the already strange rotation.

 

Plasma Cell > Combustible Gas Cylinder

Assault Plastique > Thermal Detonator

 

 

Sweeping Blasters would be so much more useful if every tick had a chance to apply the cell.

[Delmyr]

Here are the main changes I'd like to see stated from a post back a ways:

 

 

 

Plasma Cell > Combustible Gas Cylinder

Assault Plastique > Thermal Detonator

 

 

Sweeping Blasters would be so much more useful if every tick had a chance to apply the cell.

 

It has an internal cooldown? I've switched targets and had it proc 3 times in a row using rapid shots and was able to light a four npc group with sweeping Blasters. I haven't noticed the not proccing on ticks with sweeping Blasters, but I know for a fact it does on unload.