Top 3 Questions Finalists - Continued Discussion

[odawgg]

Alright folks all done, Questions are finalized and we'll await the response from the Devs.

 

I hope I represented well, it was fun and challenging to do....I pass the torch off to cashogy_reborn whom I know will do a superb job on the next round of questions!

 

Couldn't have done it justice without all your help, thanks again and I'll see ya all on the forums, in game, and/or on the dps charts! hehe

 

Created Thread for Devs: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=680079

 

Here are the Final Top 3 Questions

 

1. PVE Question

Progression Raiding Viability

 

Question:

Can you please comment on how you feel both Merc DPS and Heals stack up against their raid spot competitors when it comes to what they bring to the table for ‘Progression Raiding’. More specifically, why would you consider taking a merc in your raid group over a Sniper (DPS) and Op/Sorc (Heals) if faced with the option?

 

Comments:

Although there is a predominant feeling that Mercs are ‘viable’ in both damage and healing roles when it comes to nightmare progression content, we also think that we are falling short in several key aspects of progression raiding.

 

DPS: Discussions within the community have revealed, that a lot of arsenal mercenaries don't bring as much to a raid as a marauder or sniper in terms of dps. Feedback from the combat team indicates, that this is because of our utility abilities and that's the tradeoff for them. In this regard, we feel that the perceived usefulness of our own class raid wide utilities (cleansing, battle-rez, off heals, armor debuff) in progession raiding is somewhat exaggerated. Although the idea of having an off-healer-type role that can still do good damage is in theory an appealing role, current end-game content doesn't cater well to it.

 

Most raid leaders feel (rightfully so), that the main job of a damage dealer should be to come up with the necessary damage to kill a boss, while bringing along some solid utilities that help the raid as a whole. However, every casted off-heal/cleanse hurts our dps severely consuming GCDs/resources. Since our sustained dps is below our sniper and marauder competitors to begin with, we fall even further behind. Suggestions: Free cleanses, off-GCD & low-cost heals.

 

A Mercenary’s armor debuff is also devalued, given the common nature of Snipers and Jugs in current raid make-ups. So if they do invite a Merc, they probably need the armor debuff which makes Pyro spec even less appealing (on top of lower survivability). To cap it off, our primary rdps competing snipers have a rooted AoE knockback, overall better AoE damage, a beautiful sniper shield for raid damage reduction, rolley polley, entrench and – not forgotten – overall better sustained single target dps.

 

Heals: Again, we predominantly feel we are viable healers in end game PVE, but it has been established we’ll never put up the healing numbers operatives and sorcs can. We appear to be designed with single-target healing in mind but we don't feel we have a significant enough advantage in that to make up for our short comings in pro-active healing, AoE heals and QoL. The AoE heals on the move are an advantage to the merc that is rarely utilized in current encounters. Suggestion: Allowing for the ability to apply Kolto Shell to multiple targets would be a good move, giving us something that both other healing classes have, a pro-active mechanic that can be applied to your choice of raid members and boost overall hps and make us more appealing.

 

We feel the level of difficulty to just compete with the best classes is quite high and this applies to DPS and healing, largely due to an unforgiving heat management system.

 

 

2. PVP Question

Utility Cooldowns

 

Question:

Are the developers aware of how the excessive length of Mercenary utility cooldowns have a negative effect on their capabilities in PvP, and how do they plan to improve this situation for Mercenary players?

 

Comments:

Mercenary utility cooldowns are all exceptionally long and seem designed around a much slower pace of combat. Most of them do not offer a benefit that accurately reflects the length of the cooldown, and in comparison to similar abilities belonging to other ACs simply do not make sense.

 

Power Surge: The only baseline cooldown that offers a way to avoid being interrupted in an AC so heavily dependent on casting, has by default a 120s cooldown and affects only 1 ability (it can be talented down to 90s and affect 2 abilities). Mercenary’s only other interrupt resistance comes from the Bodyguard (healing) tree, so for both DPS specs Power Surge is the only way to attempt to maintain DPS output while under pressure. Unfortunately for Mercenary DPS players, pressure from opponents is going to occur much more often than just once every 90s. While proper positioning and use of LoS can help to mitigate this weakness, competent melee opponents have more tools at their disposal to continue to apply pressure (and damage). If Power Surge is not available for use, the Mercenary DPS will be unable to maintain even a semblance of their damage output and will be an easy target for competent opponents.

 

Thermal Sensor Override (TSO): Also suffers from the same cooldown problem (default of 120s, can be talented to 90s) and also only affects one ability. As only 1 of two skills the class has that help to provide emergency resource management utility (and the same cooldown as an ability (Vent Heat) that refunds 50% of our resource), TSOs cooldown is much too long in terms of the benefit that it is providing.

 

Kolto Overload (KO): Has a 180s cooldown for Mercenary players. While it is a decent defensive ability (changing the upper healing limit to 35% was appreciate), the cooldown has the potential to be excessively long. If KO is used preemptively, say as enemies are approaching, and is never activated (your health remains >35%), after 60s KO will go on cooldown. This effectively makes the cooldown of KO 4 minutes before it can be used again.

 

These three abilities are just a few examples of utility skills that provide important benefits to Mercenary players in certain situations, but have cooldowns that are so long that they are rarely available when using said ability(s) would be beneficial. While these utility abilities are obviously not intended to be used in every encounter, the cooldown length is prohibitively long (players find themselves not using an ability where they normally would/should because the cooldown is so long and they want to use it at the perfect moment. This results in the ability being used far less than intended). The median cooldown of Mercenary utility skills is 105 seconds. Compare that to Sniper, who has a median utility cooldown of 60s (that’s ~40% lower than Mercenary).

 

Side Note: Tied into the idea of utility abilities is that they play a significant role in our ability to avoid being easily shut down and keep our enemies at range at least momentarily. This is a big concern in the community and the developers have stated they are working on this but a lot of time has gone by with little done.

 

 

 

3. Wildcard Question

Resource Management

 

Question:

A big concern/complaint in the merc community revolves around resource management across all specs. How do the devs feel about where the Merc A/C is at regarding heat management? Do you intend to make any changes in the (near?) future to alleviate some of the community’s frustration over heat management?

 

Comments:

Changing the 4pc eliminator set bonus in 2.0 was not well-received by the community. We guess that the intent was to make it usable by both dps specs, but many Arsenal Mercenaries still use the old Dread Guard set bonus because it is easier to manage heat and doesn't result in a dps loss. In fact, it is actually a dps gain up until full Kell Dragon where the dps difference becomes negligible. Simply put, the new set bonus still has the same problem as the old one: it clearly benefits one spec more than the other. Suggestion: Making a Cylinder-based set bonus would be a perfect solution to this issue so both arsenal and pyro benefit.

 

RNG also plays a big role in our heat management with the Barrage talent, and many players feel the chance to proc Barrage is currently too low.

 

Pyrotech: We recognize the current changes on the PTR to pyro’s Incendiary Missile heat cost will go a long way to alleviate this spec’s resource management. We would love to see a similar improvement to the other specs.

 

Bodyguard: We still lack the basic ability to heal ourselves with our default heal (Rapid Shots) -- a basic function all the healers have. Our very roundabout way of doing it with Kolto Shell + Peacekeeper, is only minimally useful in PVP, dismal in PVE, and above all else, is not as simple as what the other healers have. If you overextend and drop into low-tier regen, you're punished quite a lot if vent heat or TSO aren't available to help you get back to a manageable level or throw out a big heal while you don't have you heat to do so. You only have rapid shots (small heal) and emergency scan (long cooldown) while you slowly regenerate energy, and no way to speed up the process.

 

In comparison, Operatives can use diagnostic scan and its crits restore energy, and Sorcerers can use consumption, and they also regenerate force at the same rate no matter their force level anyway. Suggestion: Having heat dissipation added to rapid shots when used to heal an ally (could be a solution for Arsenal dps; dissipate on damage). Another suggestion we can think of is some proc that lowers the cooldown of TSO so that it can be used more often.

 

Side Note: The Commando ammo display is a huge QoL issue. It’s difficult to scan quickly for your current ammo level and where the next ability will leave your resources at. We hope something can be done, like a 1-100 scale used by Mercs.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2013 by odawgg

[akabane_k]

typo on the bodyguard part of resource management, it should be "cant rapid shots yourself", not rapid scan. Edited September 10, 2013 by akabane_k

[odawgg]

typo on the bodyguard part of resource management, it should be "cant rapid shots yourself", not rapid scan.

 

Thank you, fixed

[AMightyKnight]

Thanks odawgg, it think those questions are great.

However, while I fully agree with your arguments, I was struggling to understand what you wanted to explain in the comments for the first question. Since we are dealing with the devs and god knows what they will read into it, I think we should be as clear as possible.

 

I’m not a native speaker so there might be ‘some’ errors, but I gave it a try based on your remarks:

Question: Can you please comment on how you feel both Merc DPS and Heals stack up against their raid spot competitors when it comes to what they bring to the table for ‘Nightmare progression raiding’. More specifically, why would you consider taking a merc in your raid group over a Sniper (DPS) and Op/Sorc (Heals) if faced with the option?

 

Comments:

Although there is a predominant feeling that Mercs are ‘viable’ in both damage and healing roles when it comes to nightmare progression content, we also think that we are falling short in several key aspects of progression raiding.

To comment on DPS first; one of our rdd competitors (Sniper) seems to be a much better choice than Mercenary in pretty much every NiM boss encounter, especially when it comes down to sustained (single) target dps and raid wide utility.

Many Merc players have a hard time accepting the apparent design policy that ‘pure dps classes’ like Snipers or Marauders should dominate damage charts, while on the same time providing the raid with the very best and much sought after raid wide utilities.

 

In this regard, we feel that the perceived usefulness of our own class raid wide utilities (cleansing, battlerez, off heals, armor debuff) in progession raiding is somewhat exaggerated. This is the case mainly because many of us think the main job of a damage dealer should be to come up with the necessary damage to kill a boss. So generally speaking, it is not the job of the damage dealer to help healers do their work.

In practical terms, every casted off heal hurts our dps severely. Since our consistently achievable, sustained single target dps is subpar to begin with, there is often just no time / gcds / ammunition available to do other (utility) stuff. And frankly, the best utilities in the world don’t grant us a raid spot if we are already struggling to come up with the necessary damage as damage dealers and simply cannot afford to do much else (healing mostly).

 

Even our main advantage (armor debuff) pales when we consider the fact that Snipers can apply armor debuff with a very minor dps loss, while their total dps currently is registering well over five percent higher than top Merc dps (not to mention the fact that armor debuff generally is provided by Guaridan tanks as well anyway).

On top of that, Snipers have a rooted AoE knockback, overall better AoE damage, a beautiful sniper shield for raid damage reduction, rolley polley, entrench and – most importantly – overall much better sustained dps.

 

Hence, why should a raid choose a Merc DD over a Sniper DD? We don’t seem to have any crucial advantages on our side.

 

Next is heals [sry I don’t heal, wont comment on that]

 

I don’t PVP so I also wont comment on that but from my PvE perspective I think the utility cooldown question would interested much more Merc players than the one about healing.

The heat management question is fine IMO.

Edited September 11, 2013 by AMightyKnight

[MVaglin]

First, I love how you structured your questions. Asking the question first, then giving our version of things is great, hopefully that will keep the devs more open-minded when reading the question to save us from any knee-jerk reactions to bits in the comments they may percieve as faulty.

 

Also, I think the comments were very well written to avoid antagonizing them, so great job so far.

 

For the pvp questions, I prefer the second one, partly because I think (with limited pvp experience) that ease of being shut down is a bigger issue, and partly because I feel the healing question is already covered in the PvE question. At least to a degree.

 

I also think it'd be a good idea to restructure whatever PvP question we end up using to be more similar to the other two questions, but there's time to do that before submitting and you probably already have that planned.

 

Edit: Also, I much prefer the original wording of the PvE question that AMightyKnight's version. I feel the latter is a bit more hostile in it's tone, or at least written with the assumption that the devs are deliberately trying to misunderstand or ignore issues. While that may be the case, I think we should try and be as respectful as possible while still getting our point across, much like the snipers did (a class that got really good answers)

Edited September 10, 2013 by MVaglin

[AMightyKnight]

Edit: Also, I much prefer the original wording of the PvE question that AMightyKnight's version. I feel the latter is a bit more hostile in it's tone, or at least written with the assumption that the devs are deliberately trying to misunderstand or ignore issues. While that may be the case, I think we should try and be as respectful as possible while still getting our point across, much like the snipers did (a class that got really good answers)

Well i'm German, so...

Feel free to change the tone but i strongly think that we have to be as clear as possible. I think the snipers got good answers because the questions were very clear (and the devs just like the class) while i personally had a hard time understanding the issues of Sorcs and Vanguards based on their questions. When i read the answers of the devs i had the impression they too had little to no idea what the actual problem really was. While factual correct, odawggs comments to q1 strike me as Vanguardish in nature, i feel we should avoid that mistake.

And on top of that, yes, i actually think they are at best ignoring our issues in favor of their pet classes.

Edited September 10, 2013 by AMightyKnight

[cs_zoltan]

Because of my guild progression group composition I had to reroll to Merc healer for TFB Nim, and I must say Merc healer in PVE is not as bad as people (and even I) thought. The promised crit curve change and the 3rd question, heat management, should be enough to make us as good as the other 2 healer.

 

So I think the PVE question could focus solely on dps and in return the PVP should be healing related since that's where we are as bad as it can get.

Edited September 10, 2013 by cs_zoltan

[BigDumbViking]

Bodyguard Mercenary healers have always seemed to be designed for a different game. From the get-go they were missing basic utilities (healing cleanse, in-combat revive, interrupt) and there never was a clear strength present that justified these. Repeated nerfing to the class' survivability, output, and ammo management has only caused them to continue to fall behind the rest on average. Although the class is very well-built for single-target healing, sustained healing, and survivability, other healers can arguably do the same or better, while at the same time outperforming in group-healing and utility. The spec has always been viable in PVP and PVE by exceptionally skilled players, but the amount of effort it takes to do well is not reflected in the results (especially when compared to the other healers). This makes it difficult for us to understand what the general philosophy is for Bodyguard healers, and whether or not you (the devs) think that the AC is fulfilling its intended role properly.

 

Several talent tree options and design choices confuse players as to their usefulness. Combat Medics have a distinct group healing weakness, yet the other healers are encroaching on the role of 'single target healer' by being capable of similar, if not greater, single target healing output. Our utility cooldowns are also dreadfully long, and do not provide benefits that reflect the length of their cooldown timers (specifically Kolto Overload, Thermal Sensor Override and Power Surge). Resource management for Bodyguard healers is also the most unforgiving of the three healing ACs, basically requiring perfection in order to maintain optimal healing output. Bodyguard Mercenaries also have the least mobility of the healing ACs, and lack the utility to maintain even a semblance of their healing output while under heavy pressure from opponents. Several talent tree options make little sense in terms of healing (specifically being forced to take Peacekeeper when the majority of Merc healers will place Kolto shell on a teammate [effectively wasting 2 talent points], and Supercharged gas which provides DPS output buffs within a healing class [Power Shot and Unload heat cost reduced to 0 for the duration]). With such little utility, poor group-wide healing capabilities, and the worst mobility of the 3 healing ACs, there is absolutely no reason to ever take a Bodyguard Mercenary over a Sorcerer or Operative healer.

 

What is being done to address these issues, and improve Bodyguard healing so that it is a competitive option for PvP healing at the highest levels of PvP?

 

Great work btw. I like the fact that the tone is positive.

 

I would definitely ask the question, "What is the perceived roll of a Merc healer in PVP?" Because I think there is some misconception of what the capabilities are there. My full partisan/partial conq fully augmented Merc crits around 7800 max(~24% crit/~80%Surge), yet my lvl 26 sorc in bolstered greens can crit for over 8500. So saying we are good single target healers is really relative, if Sorcs and Ops both have the exact same, or better, cast heal capability but have far more multi target healing and utility. It's like saying a kid in tee ball is a good hitter then trying to get him onto a major league roster.

Edited September 10, 2013 by BigDumbViking
Great work... don't want to sound so negative

[KhalDrogoe]

No offense, but yech!

 

We just got off a "heal to full" fiasco, and you're wanting to get the same shotty answers?

 

I think the questions should be more along these lines, you can fill in the rest.....

 

PvE

 

Pyrotech is extremely limited in what it brings to raids, as well as falls behind his brother spec Arsenal with sustained damage, and the heat management is absolutely atrocious. What's the rationale behind nerfing the living crap out of Pyrotechs for the last year and 3 months, and just letting them be terrible.

 

PvP

 

With how you've been dealing with Pyrotechs since 1.2

 

 

BW's history with Mercenary Pyrotechs. Note, we were fine until 1.2.

 

1.2

Power Shot has been rebalanced. It now generates 16 Heat, has a 2-second activation time, and deals approximately 10% less damage (because we were all complaining about this skill being too good )

Prototype Particle Accelerator now requires Combustible Gas Cylinder to trigger. The chance to trigger this effect has been increased significantly but cannot trigger more than once every 6 seconds. (bottle neck our procs)

 

1.3

Advanced Targeting has been redesigned and now gives Unload and Rail Shot 10% of armor penetration per point. (this is when they took away our precious 3% accuracy, making Pyros forced to make up that difference with gear just so they could buff Arsenal. 3% accuracy overall > 30% armor pen on one skill for pyros)

 

1.4

Electro Dart's range has been decreased from 30 meters to 10 meters. (Hurt ALOT, all so they could tune PT's)

Sweltering Heat's snare has been reduced to 30%. (Oh yeah because we were having such an easy time kiting )

Due to changes in the Mercenary skill trees, all Mercenaries have had their skill points refunded. (basically redesigning pyro tree to be terribad)

 

2.0

Thermal Detonator has been redesigned: The Bounty Hunter now hurls a thermal detonator that adheres to the target and detonates after several seconds, exploding for kinetic damage and burning the target for elemental damage over 12 seconds. Standard and weak enemies enter a state of panic when the explosive attaches and are knocked down when it explodes. (Made it into an incendiary missile with a CD)

 

2.2

Sweltering Heat now slows properly when Combustible Gas Cylinder is refreshed on a target. (Apparently we've been missing it for years)

 

Now let's look at the list of buffs for Pyrotech.

 

1.4

Thermal Detonator no longer shares a cooldown with Explosive Dart.

 

2.0

New Passive ability, Missile Salvo, has been added. Missile Salvo allows up to 3 weaker Missile Blasts to be fired in a row before generating heat and going on cooldown for 6 seconds. (I still don't think this is working as intended)

They also brought back our 3% accuracy that they nerfed in 1.3...

 

 

ALL of these nerfs were unwarranted. There was no mass conglomeration of "Nerf Merc Pyros or I unsub" threads. I just did a forum search there were only 4 threads calling out for merc nerfs, and it was because of Arsenal mercs.

 

I actually found more threads that were stupefied that they were buffing marauders and nerfing mercs.

 

Wild Card question,

 

"Are you happy with how Pyro mercs are performing in PvE and PvP? If yes, can you explain why you would arbitrarily ignore feedback from every pyro merc ever and continue to give them cleveland steamers ever patch?

 

 

P.s. while going through the notes, Arsenal is the most buffed and least nerfed of all the trees. They changed the formulas for merc healing in 1.2 and it's just been a **** show ever since.

Edited September 10, 2013 by KhalDrogoe

[schooch]

the questions look good.

 

PVE question

 

I am not a PVE person but it sounds good reading it.

 

PVP

 

I like the healing question the most. Bodyguard needs addressed the most of all three specs, plus it does to some extent address cooldowns. I know over on the commando side, it was a general consensus for the healing question over the cooldowns question.

 

The wild card

 

This looks good for the most part, but I do have one concern. I think they will say that they fixed the rapid shots not working on your self, with the putting kolto shell on yourself and click attacking abillity (sorry cant remember the name of the ability atm,) we all know that it does not work and we have to throw away skill points because of it. so may want to reword it a little differently or something.

 

 

Looks good over all, good work!

[oaceen]

i really love how straight-forward your first question is. i worry that it will be another 'L2P' or 'H2F', but hopefully they can give us some good insights. one other thing i would like to focus on though is pyro vs arsenal in a raid environment. if i wanted to raid as pyro, but i'm trying to justify my spot in a raid group, the armor debuff from arsenal is the single most-desired thing that mercs can bring to the table (imo), so i often have to swap specs depending on my group, basically not able to play my desired spec because pyro doesn't bring anything else to the table that arsenal doesn't also provide.

is that intended? it's obviously better than having to swap to an entirely different character/AC, but the other armor debuffs are baseline skills, so players of those ACs can play whatever spec they want and still have that basic tool.

 

 

 

 

 

here was my initial edit of cashogy's pvp question from the commando thread:

 

 

Bodyguard Mercenary healers have always seemed to be designed for a different game. When the game initially launched, we lacked basic utilities (healing cleanse, in-combat revive, interrupt) and there never was a clear justification for their omission. Although the class is very well-built for single-target healing, sustained healing, and survivability, other healers can arguably do this much better, while at the same time outperforming in group-healing and utility. Bodyguard has less AOE healing and strong, single-target burst healing compared to other healers, and we believe that this is by design. However, it can be strongly argued that our single-target healing is still outclassed by the other healers, so we are falling behind in both single-target and AOE healing.

 

Several talent tree options and design choices confuse players as to their usefulness. Our utility cooldowns are dreadfully long and do not provide benefits that reflect the length of their cooldown timers (specifically Kolto Overload, Thermal Sensor Override and Power Surge). Resource management for Bodyguard healers is also the most unforgiving of the three healing ACs, where an Operative and Sorcerer have many more energy management tools when they have overextended, Bodyguards simply use Rapid Shots until heat dissipates on its own if Vent Heat is unavailable. Bodyguard Mercenaries also have the least mobility of the healing ACs, and lack the utility to maintain decent healing output while under heavy pressure from opponents with the exception of Power Shield, which is on a very long cooldown. Being forced to take Peacekeeper to gain access to Bodyguard is a notable problem as well since Kolto Shell can only be placed on one ally at a time. We are essentially penalized whenever we decide to place Kolto Shell on ally by effectively having 2 wasted talent points. Players are also confused about the design intent for Supercharged gas. It appears to be a panic skill to help get out of tough spots while acting like a rotational filler and additionally provides DPS buffs which many Bodyguards would gladly trade for more healing output.

 

The spec has always been viable in PvP by exceptionally skilled players, but the amount of effort it takes to do well in other classes is much lower by comparison. This makes it difficult for us to justify a post on a Ranked Warzone team and, as Arenas are fast approaching, we are still worried about our viability compared to the other healing ACs. Can the devs elaborate on the design philosophy for the class and how it applies to balancing with the other healing classes and comment on player concerns about lack of mobility, utility, and healing output compared to other healers, the length of cooldowns, talent trees, and the Supercharged gas skill?

 

 

i fixed a lot of the flow and cut out some redundant text, placed some emphasis where i felt it was necessary, and expanded the question portion a lot.

 

i also think we should focus on the healing question and simply expand the utility cooldown text in the above question, since the topic is included in both. and based on your afterthought, it would be very easy to point out the fact that power shield isn't even available to full pyro/arsenal and it's on a really long cooldown for bodyguard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

as for the last question, i completely disagree that pyro has ammo management issues, especially with the upcoming change to incendiary missile. i wouldn't even call it a step in the right direction, it already is not very difficult to manage.

i would, however, like a whole question devoted to the issue you mentioned for pyro, where going full pyro is not really ideal.

 

anyway, that said, i think it's important to focus on three things you mentioned in your comments:

• using the old dread guard set bonus results in a dps gain or negligible difference and easier resource managment (ie: this is surely not working as intended)
  
• bodyguards who overextend are punished more than other healing ACs because all we have is rapid shots after vent heat / TSO are unavailable (ops and sorcs have diagnostic scan and consumption, while rapid shots is just a free heal while we wait for heat to dissipate on its own)
  
• related to the above issues, we must use our resource management cooldown skills on cooldown to be as effective as other classes, so it's part of the rotation rather than as emergency/burst skills
  

[KhalDrogoe]

I like the healing question the most. Bodyguard needs addressed the most of all three specs

 

Obviously this cat has never played Pyro to be saying that Bodyguard needs the most help....

[AMightyKnight]

Obviously this cat has never played Pyro to be saying that Bodyguard needs the most help....

I think nobody denies that Pyro is a bad spec with Major issues. But the class has many problems and we have to choose three. Hence i think we should try to address the most important issues which will help the class as a hole the most. Currently there are very few pyro players (left) while the majority of us plays Arsenal. I think it would be wrong to concetrade on something which wont help most of the playerbase.

Anyways, i'm sure cashogy will address Pyro in the Commando questions.

[schooch]

Obviously this cat has never played Pyro to be saying that Bodyguard needs the most help....

 

Obviously you cant read, I said BG needs to be addressed the most of the three specs, not that it was the worst.

[BigDumbViking]

Obviously this cat has never played Pyro to be saying that Bodyguard needs the most help....

 

asking for a second DPS spec to be viable before the healing spec is viable is a bit off-putting to me. In a perfect world all three trees would work, but the fact of the matter is, if you want to DPS there is already a tree that works for that, there isn't one for healing.

 

And yes, I've tried pyro and it's broken to the point where I just don't think we can get it fixed before 2.4. (Sorry to be so depressing )

[ArchangelLBC]

Question: Do you plan to include the comments when you ask the questions or just ask the questions sans comments? Without the comments I fear we won't get useful responses because the devs rarely understand where anyone is coming from without having things explained to them.

 

I ask because the format is a tad different from what we've seen. Usually we see what amounts to the comments and then the question. Either way should be fine though.

 

I would take the Utility cooldowns question over the healing specific one since it addresses problems with all three specs as opposed to just BG/CM.

 

Also, can you add that bit about commandos not being able to see a numerical display for exactly how much ammo they have and the extra annoying wrinkle it adds for them given the already super tight ammo management? I know it's commando specific, but we don't get a crack till November. =(

[KhalDrogoe]

asking for a second DPS spec to be viable before the healing spec is viable is a bit off-putting to me. In a perfect world all three trees would work, but the fact of the matter is, if you want to DPS there is already a tree that works for that, there isn't one for healing.

 

And yes, I've tried pyro and it's broken to the point where I just don't think we can get it fixed before 2.4. (Sorry to be so depressing )

 

I think it's dumb getting pigeon holed into Arsenal because it's the only spec BW took any time to balance. Besides Arsenal is a liability in competitive Arenas so basically Arsenal will just be a PvE spec again (like in 1.1.5) with that being said, I'm asking that we GET one viable DPS spec in 2.4.

 

I don't think that any amount of buffs can make BG more appealing than healing on an Operative. Luckily I already have a geared operative so if I need to go healing I just hop on that character.

 

The only skill tree mercs have that has the possibility of being viable with adequate buffs is Pyro, and I think we need to petition BW to ramp up their attention on the most easily fixable spec.

 

The problem with BG is that when health pools were much more insignificant (1.1.5 era) where average health was around 15k, our skills were adequate enough to support that. But now that everything has essentially doubled and the only meaningful heals we can use now require casting time, that's its long past due to stick a fork in Merc healing. In Arenas everything is about how much healing/damage/protection you can do while on the move. Being a sitting duck casting spells (arsenal and BG) will be completely worthless in Arenas. The only hope for mercs to be able to make a meaningful impact in (upper echelons) arenas is with Pyro.

 

Obviously you cant read, I said BG needs to be addressed the most of the three specs, not that it was the worst.

 

Worst =/= needs most attention? You're just biased because the only thing you've ever done on merc is Heal probably. Besides Merc healing received 1 nerf in 1.2, they've since been trying to balance it and they've received buffs ever since. (Which with Pyro it's just been a constant nerf fest)

 

I would take the Utility cooldowns question over the healing specific one since it addresses problems with all three specs as opposed to just BG/CM.

 

Also, can you add that bit about commandos not being able to see a numerical display for exactly how much ammo they have and the extra annoying wrinkle it adds for them given the already super tight ammo management? I know it's commando specific, but we don't get a crack till November. =(

 

I like the point you made about utility. But Healing on Commando > healing on a merc so that's the tradeoff for not getting the numerical display.

Edited September 10, 2013 by KhalDrogoe

[oaceen]

guys, it doesn't really help anyone if we fight over this.

[KhalDrogoe]

I guess I didn't pontificate that I'm happy with the PvE/Utility/Resource Management questions. I'm just trying to get you guys to open your eyes that Pyro is the most ignored/most nerfed class in the history of SWTOR.

 

Back in ye olden days Arsenal was built for PvE (4-pc bonus) and Pyro was for PvP (4-pc bonus) on their respective sets. Why did they do away with something that was working?

[odawgg]

guys, it doesn't really help anyone if we fight over this.

 

This, I'll address some of your posts after work, Arch I forgot about the ammo display I'll add it in... Keep the ideas flowing though fellas just check the attitudes or I'll likely just skip by your comments... As I mentioned in the OP I'll consider additions to the topics listed and may even combine some of the info from one that doesn't make the final list with one that does....

 

One person asked if I'll be keeping the comments in the submitted questions, yes I will and I'm not sure it matters which order I kinda like the question first, comments after personally... What's important is that the comments get into the hands of the developers and hope it sinks in.

 

I will comment quick on Pyro... Yes it has received numerous nerfs the seem unnecessary and oceen I'm actually with you on heat management for Pyro, on the PTR it plays REALLY smooth I will probably remove it from the heat management question so the Devs can concentrate on commenting on the specs that really need it. For some of you that haven't tried Pyro in a while you may want to revisit it (go to PTR) , I actually feel pretty good about it. You lack an armor debuff which can easily be made up for with most group comps... Asking a sniper to apply shattershot really is not a significant inconvenience and then there's juggs if you have one. It suffers in short term burst (not the only spec in game that is challenged in this area) and I think that could pose some problems in PVP but PVE I see myself switching to it for a lot of encounters. They have weighted Thermal Det more front-loaded on the PTR as well to help. You're also not "as" reliant on casted abilities. Anywho don't want to preach too long about it I just encourage the skeptics to experiment more and remember dummy parses don't tell all.

 

 

I'll comment further later, thanks everyone!

Edited September 10, 2013 by odawgg

[ArchangelLBC]

I like the point you made about utility. But Healing on Commando > healing on a merc so that's the tradeoff for not getting the numerical display.

 

What is this, I don't even...bwha?

 

This, I'll address some of your posts after work, Arch I forgot about the ammo display I'll add it in... Keep the ideas flowing though fellas just check the attitudes or I'll likely just skip by your comments... As I mentioned in the OP I'll consider additions to the topics listed and may even combine some of the info from one that doesn't make the final list with one that does....

 

One person asked if I'll be keeping the comments in the submitted questions, yes I will and I'm not sure it matters which order I kinda like the question first, comments after personally... What's important is that the comments get into the hands of the developers and hope it sinks in.

 

Awesome to hear Odawgg, thanks again. And I agree that as long as the comments are there it really doesn't matter what order they come in. I just wanted to double check to make sure the comments WOULD be in the devs hands. =)

 

When do you plan to make a decision about which PVP question to ask?

[KhalDrogoe]

The sad thing is that I HAVE been playing pyro on PTS. The two characters I've been playing arenas with are Merc and Operative.

 

Healing in arenas with merc is fine. You basically pop supercharged gas once fight starts, kolto missile the group, and then rapid scan until you're dead. Healing is actually more viable in arenas than arsenal or pyro atm and that's saying a lot. Mainly because they're uninterrupted casting.

[SpaniardInfinity]

What is this, I don't even...bwha?

 

The only differences I know of are the appearance of Rapid Shots v Hammershot (minor) and that Jet Boost does not fire at the start of the animation like Concussive Charge, so sometimes it gets "interrupted".

[PerinnAybara]

The only differences I know of are the appearance of Rapid Shots v Hammershot (minor) and that Jet Boost does not fire at the start of the animation like Concussive Charge, so sometimes it gets "interrupted".

 

Don't forget mercs can actually see their resource management.

[AMightyKnight]

We do realize that Juggernaut/Guardian damage dealers and some other damage dealers that can specialize in tanking or healing feel like they are not currently desirable group members in operations, and this is a high-priority issue for us to address.

 

Unfortunately, this is not a small issue that is standing in line for a quick and simple fix – it affects far more than just Juggernaut/Guardian damage dealers. As such, changes made to address this issue will be rolling out slowly, over time, in class-specific ways.

The upcoming 2.4 changes for Powertech damage dealers are an example of this, and our much longer-term plans for this include adding new utility to the advanced classes and roles that seem to lack it. The gaps between our damage dealing specializations are already small for a game with this many specializations, but we will be working to shrink those gaps even further over time.

 

From the Juggernaut/Guardian Answers. I think they could be talking about us there as well, so what does that mean for our first question?

I'm especially worried about the 'damage gap is already small' part. We really need to drive home the point that while other classes are even worse, we are way behind Snipers and Marauders.

New utilities sound great but we really need to tell them that our current ones dont really help the raid as a whole.

Edited September 11, 2013 by AMightyKnight