Mercenary Changes Brainstorming

[easeyway]

If you're going to keep the interrupt mechanism the same, add mobility to the spec. No, we don't need interrupt protection. If you want that, play a sniper.

 

But you can't have a turret class without it, so take the class away from being a gimped turret class, with a fail game play mechanism. 2.0 added a ridiculous burst, that's just tipping the scale to the wrong direction. The spec is still useless because of interrupt mechanisms in the game (F.e, juggernaut tank can interrupt with leap->push->leap->stun->choke->interrupt->mezz. That's right, a total of 7 interrupts, and they're not that long CD either). Add another DPS melee, and all you have left is one decent burst with instant Tracer + IM. Burst that shouldn't really be there in the first place. It's just hiding the real problem of the spec.

 

Making some casted abilities usable while moving would be a great idea, that would really make the class unique. It would not be overpowered at all, since all interrupt mechanisms that are still in place. Right now, you have a million interrupts flying around, while common LoS will interrupt you (warriors don't have to leap you to interrupt you, they can just leap away, which is even better. They do DPS, while you don't have a gap closer and lose DPS in fights that doesn't involve a lot of people)

 

Either that, or you really need to adjust the interrupt mechanisms in the game. Stuns/Mezz already interrupt. Maybe remove interrupt ability from PvP, but at least leap interrupting has to go.

 

Sniper not only has interrupt immunity. He also has leap immunity, so he cannot be gap closed easily. Having another turret class that can be gap closed (= dealing massive amounts of dmg) while shutting the said turret class's DPS down too is just ridiculous.

[Hell_Kaiser_Fett]

Ok, I'm going to explain this 1 more time.

 

I'm not saying a redesign of our regen system is necessary. What I'm saying is necessary, is for us to be buffed in such a way that directly affects our weakness to being locked down (having nothing to heal with except rapid shots.) At the current state bodyguard is in, I'm not confident that we can have our shutdown fixed, without messing up our heat system. Why? Because there's no room in our rotation to add more moves. How do you stop someone from being shutdown in PVP? Give them more moves or make them impossible to interrupt. Should we be given more moves to help with shutdown, we are going to need a resource buff. Should they add interrupt immunity to SCG, we aren't going to need a resource buff, but we still may get shutdown. Even if they allow us to put Kolto Shell on multiple targets, we may need a resource buff.

 

All I ask is that if stuff gets added into our rotation, we get our regen buffed so that it will remain at max regen until we exceed 60% heat. It's not an overhaul, just a buff to our system to make any coming changes (in regards to our shutdown) actually work.

 

I would hate to see us get an unload heal and a multiple target kolto shell buff, but in the end remain inferior because we don't have the resources to support said buffs.

 

That's all, thank you.

 

That wasn't directed towards you, but towards the people saying they should change our system to that of the Sorc/Sage's. In other words the system is fine, but some of the mechanics are not. My thing is I don't want them to give us another classes resource system.

[Nevet]

As someone who has played Bodyguard since Beta, I can say its been an emotional rollercoaster as far as healing goes

 

I love the healing style, even though playing it causes me emotional pain when I literally heal my heart and soul out in PVE and PVP and not only have difficulty managing my heat but keeping everyone as a group healed up, despite what naysayers will tell you Bodyguards comparatively have to put a notably larger amount of effort into the same amount of healing as the other classes, seemingly with less effort and definitely with less resource management.

 

I just want to highlight the changes to existing talents that I feel would set Bodyguards apart from the other healers and their unique abilities, where we lack in mobility and raw healing power we make up for in versatility and utility.

 

 

 

• Proactive Medicine - Healing scan has a 50%/100% chance to affect the target with Proactive Medicine, which heals the target for X over 9 seconds and otherwise does not stack, while this does come coupled with an armor increase in a related talent the heal is relatively weak and the only HoT that bodyguard has, with the exclusion of the kolto pods which is more of a ground targeted heal than a true HoT.
   
  I propose that this be amended to be a Cleanse Over Time mechanic with a rate of 1 debuff every 3 seconds. As it would not only create a unique ability for bounty hunters but it would counteract one of the more abused forms of damage in PVP currently, that being DoTs, this would not only create a useful PVP talent but when coupled with the 0 cooldown on Healing Scan during supercharged gas, make a very useful counter for groupwide debuffs and DoTs, both in PVP and PVE
   
   
  
• Warden - Currently Increases healing crit bonuses by 5%/10%/15%
   
  I propose an addition to the skill that whenever you hit a target with Rapid shots and the shells deflect to the lowest friendly target within 10m and do 20%/40%/60% of tech bonus healing, further bolstered by Kolto Shell in that if a target currently affected by KS is hit by Rapid Shots, they bounce to the (1/2/3) nearest targets and do 30%/60%/90% of tech bonus healing to affected secondary targets
   
   
  
• Powered Insulators - Currently is 2%/4% damage reduction
   
  First order of business is to swap places with Kolto Vents in the skill tree and have a secondary feature added onto them, that being a mechanic that is currently employed in several classes and should not be hard to implement
   
  When you take damage you have a 50%/100% chance to lower the active cooldown on Emergency Scan by .5/1 second with a 1.5 internal.
   
  Of course it doesnt have to be Emergency scan or even a cooldown at all, it could be 50%/100% chance to generate 1/2 charge(s) of supercharged gas or even a reactionary heat venting mechanic similar to pyro spec
  

 

 

Just my thoughts

Edited November 4, 2013 by Nevet
OCD

[Phrase]

Could Bodyguard get a talent high up in the tree that grants a permanent 50 75 or 100 heat?

 

I seriously want another healing move too, would love to see unload heal baseline for bodyguards in general. (would increase our overall healing and have a heat friendly move along with having something to use if heat scan and rapid heat scan get interrupted which will still happen a lot even with SCG immunity.

 

 

o and it would be nice if the Bodyguard talent gave like a passive 15% run speed.

 

So anything productive, or just the sarcasm? I know from previous posts you've shared problems with the class. What would you do to fix them?

[Ottoattack]

Philosophically, I'd like the Merc class to be (and play) differently than other classes. To a certain extent we already are, but to a certain extent we aren't. Currently we play closest to the Sorc classes. From the standpoint of the dps Merc/Sorc subclasses, the Merc does less damage, has less off healing output, has less utility, but has more survivability than the Sorc. The healing Merc compares to the healing Sorc in a similar manner - less productive output, but more survivability.

 

I agree with you on the healer part. As dps, I assume your comparing to lighting sorc. Arsenal is vastly superior to lightning in every aspect possible, except off heal. Superior damage, burst or sustained. Much better mobility. Vastly superior DCDs. Even PvE wise, arsenal merc is one of the top dpsing specs. Madness, plays way different, but again arsenal is better, due to superior burst and DCDs.

[Zoom_VI]

I agree with you on the healer part. As dps, I assume your comparing to lighting sorc. Arsenal is vastly superior to lightning in every aspect possible, except off heal. Superior damage, burst or sustained. Much better mobility. Vastly superior DCDs. Even PvE wise, arsenal merc is one of the top dpsing specs. Madness, plays way different, but again arsenal is better, due to superior burst and DCDs.

 

just FYI, merc pyro is better PvE dps than arsenal on everything except a training dummy, and this is without the bug

[Ottoattack]

just FYI, merc pyro is better PvE dps than arsenal on everything except a training dummy, and this is without the bug

 

Your the only player that mentioned that pyro parses ahead of arsenal. I do not end game PvE to corroborate. Arsenal is defiantly the way to go in PvP.

 

Never the less, arsenal needs a bit of improvement. I think that making lock down reduces RS cost to zero at 5 stacks and make the heat venting 2 heat every 1.5 secs from 8 every 6 secs, well help with heat management issues. Reducing power surge CD from 120 sec to 90 sec (60 sec when talented), will slightly improve mobility.

[Zoom_VI]

Your the only player that mentioned that pyro parses ahead of arsenal. I do not end game PvE to corroborate. Arsenal is defiantly the way to go in PvP.

 

Never the less, arsenal needs a bit of improvement. I think that making lock down reduces RS cost to zero at 5 stacks and make the heat venting 2 heat every 1.5 secs from 8 every 6 secs, well help with heat management issues. Reducing power surge CD from 120 sec to 90 sec (60 sec when talented), will slightly improve mobility.

 

Pyro is still just carring its bad PvE rep from 1.7, that and dummy parses that most people use as a measuring stick don't count for the Burnout talent or for a armor debuff, Arsenal has a armor debuff and lacks a 30% skill

 

Mercenary/Commando Specs

 

I think, much to everyone's surprise, Assault/Pyro spec seems to be doing extremely well these days. It has long been a highly repudiated spec, and rightfully so pre-2.0. However, post-2.0, the numbers look very much in Assault's favor. Specifically, Assault does 3.34% better than Gunnery/Arsenal on a single-target sustained boss. Given Gunnery's low-setup cost and solid burst, this seems like a very well balanced combination. With that said, Assault is still 5.46% behind the best Gunslinger parse in nearly equivalent gear, which seems like too wide of a spread.

 

Thus, while I think that Gunnery and Assault are well balanced against each other, the class as a whole could use a buff to bring it more in line with the current king of the ranged, Gunslingers.

 

Verdict: Buff commandos/mercenaries across the board, but only by a small amount. Unless hybrid gunslinger is performing over targets, in which case commandos are just fine.

 

It makes sense honestly that the low setup high burst spec (Arsenal) does slightly less sustained dps than the low burst high setup spec.

 

Source

 

Also I feel that simply changing the reasource talent to be like AP would be just right for Arsenal as it eliminates heat venting being wasted do to the 6 second mark falling at a low heat phase rather than after a high heat phase

[MVaglin]

Currently the top pyro dummy parses are beating the top arsenal parses (and in fact most other specs in the game), so for PvE pyro is very strong right now (though it gets messier if there's a lot of target switching).

[OldManRelic]

Another thought --

 

Rather than a self-punt ability, in order to save development time, I suggest simply giving the Mercenary the intercept ability, but remove the protective benefits from the ability for the Merc/commando. Basically, it allows you to jet pack to a friendly target, out of harm's way (one hopes) without dealing with potential issues with self-punt/terrain interaction.

[mindriot]

The only thing I want, is a disengage!!! When I first started beta testing ToR, I just knew Mercs would have a disengage. It makes since lore wise, it would be cool looking, and it would be extremely useful in pvp. Pve wise, I'm fine with Merc. I like being a niche tank healer, and good heat management just takes time to perfect, but disengage is just a no-brainer. That and maybe some additional tools added on for anti stealth. But plese give us a disengage.

[gaboost]

I've never raided on my merc so what will follow is gonna be for pvp.

 

Mercs dps is fine, just like sorcs dps. What makes it crap is their extreme vulnerability versus melee classes.

 

When i'm fighting ranged classes, no problem: Dps, Dot, LoS, heal up. Pretty simple.

 

When against melee classes: Interrupted, interrupted, try to run away with hydraulic override and ''spam'' instant abilites, nope gets stunned. LoS and heal up? Nope can't do that, heals too long and melee class out dps'ing your heals...

 

And also, we won't do 18k dmg in 3 gcd like a masher can, so there's no hope to win a dps race there.

 

No rooting abilites, snares are useless versus leapers...

 

Electro net : I'd even nerf it if it meant i could use it more often.

 

So yeah, i don't really know how, but if we could defend ourselves better against melees then this class would be more than viable.

 

Maybe it's just this game who is just really terribly unbalanced, too many interrupts, melees have only instant abilities, ranged and melee attacks having a chance to miss but not tech or force attacks... so sorcs really don't even have to bother with accuraccy in pvp... how unfair is that.

[Dajman]

An easy way to make a pre existing spell make all the difference for healing. Kolto Shell!

 

Idea 1: Allow it to be put on more than 1 target. In pvp it would allow us to do more healing on the move and would help us with our mobility. I do still think it needs to be limited but 1 target just feels like such a big perk investment for it.

 

Idea 2: For pvp and pve each heat management is a real brain teaser. Heat management should be important but right now it is cumbersome. I think that making each heal that procs reduce your heat by a bit would be awesome. keep the spell cost and you can keep the amount of targets to just 1 but allow each heal from kolto shell to refund 5 heat or so. (number could be anything really) I think even a small number could make such a difference in our healing in both pvp and pve as well. Given it is on a 2 second internal CD even if you only made it refund 2 heat that could generate over a long fight just enough to get those few key spells into the rotation.

[Taankjr]

When against melee classes: Interrupted, interrupted, try to run away with hydraulic override and ''spam'' instant abilites, nope gets stunned. LoS and heal up? Nope can't do that, heals too long and melee class out dps'ing your heals...

 

This x100.

 

Everytime my Pyromerc is being focused in arenas (~90% target #1), I'm popping out everything I have.

KB, then kolto missile, power surge + rapid scan, grenade... and hope that i will last long enough to put e-net on someone... such a pain to be a merc

 

EDIT: the aforementioned is mostly about double stealth teams. Smashtards are manageable.

 

Hell, add some sort of a project screen which will make the 2 exact copies of you and drop the target of your enemies, and they will repeat your actions (without any damage or heal), so that noone could know where is the real one. Let's say this will last for 4 seconds and the illusions will take the same damage as you do and then just vanish.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Taankjr

[TezMoney]

An easy way to make a pre existing spell make all the difference for healing. Kolto Shell!

 

Idea 1: Allow it to be put on more than 1 target. In pvp it would allow us to do more healing on the move and would help us with our mobility. I do still think it needs to be limited but 1 target just feels like such a big perk investment for it.

 

Idea 2: For pvp and pve each heat management is a real brain teaser. Heat management should be important but right now it is cumbersome. I think that making each heal that procs reduce your heat by a bit would be awesome. keep the spell cost and you can keep the amount of targets to just 1 but allow each heal from kolto shell to refund 5 heat or so. (number could be anything really) I think even a small number could make such a difference in our healing in both pvp and pve as well. Given it is on a 2 second internal CD even if you only made it refund 2 heat that could generate over a long fight just enough to get those few key spells into the rotation.

 

I'm with you on Kolto Shell on multiple targets, most merc seem to agree. I think adding some perks to it would add a nice boost to hps plus keep our class unique. I actually suggested a proactive medicine proc ever 4 procs or something like that.

 

As far as heat management I don't really think we need that much. There should still be a danger of overheating as that is the challenge of the class. However it would be nice if we could loosen the reigns a bit. I think dropping heat by 1 or 2 with each rapid shot would be huge. Throw out 3 of those while you still have 2 arrow and you'll be back three arrow range. Also lowering the cd on Vent Heat or maybe allow Thermal Override to affect 2 abilities instead of just 1 would be effective with still keeping the challenge.

[Hell_Kaiser_Fett]

Hell, add some sort of a project screen which will make the 2 exact copies of you and drop the target of your enemies, and they will repeat your actions (without any damage or heal), so that noone could know where is the real one. Let's say this will last for 4 seconds and the illusions will take the same damage as you do and then just vanish.

 

I like this idea, but if its only going to be for 4 seconds, maybe it should do a little bit of damage, that way you can fake the enemy out through the entire duration of the ability. Maybe only 50% of what you do, 25% if 50 is too much.

[nosmos]

I recently dusted off my merc out of boredom and started decking her out in 78's for healing. Well, the one thing that really annoys me while healing in an OP environment - is the free heal, rapid shots. Why? On my operative I can click a person in my raid frames, toss some free heals - aoe etc - but all the while I have to constantly CLICK my mouse button to 'shoot the rapid shots'.

 

Whereas, the operative + sorc's (innervate etc)...you simply hold your button. I don't know why, but I find it to be a great annoyance spamming my button to rapid shots - the 'flow' doesnt seem nice. Between that and the other healing abilities - and my sorc + operative.

 

Also, supercharged gas should increase the crit chance or give the emergency scan an auto crit. And kolto shell needs to be redesigned so it can be used on more targets (as everyone wants). Merc heals can go a full global cool down or more healing without ANY CRITICAL heals, and this is because every heal is a cast SINGLE HEAL. My operative? My Sorc? Heals are channeled (and increased critical talents) so the chances of a heal over time criting is much greater then our single casted one.

[cs_zoltan]

Not everyone wants Kolto Shell to be used on more target.

Kolto Shell is the most powerfull single target heal in the game, by far. If they would allow us to use it on more than 1 target they would probably nerf it. Now this might be shockingly new to hear, but Mercs are single target healers, so don't turn the best single target heal in the game into an ok multitarget heal. That wouldn't make Mercs better, it would make them worse. Right now we are only good at tank healing so leave Kolto Shell as it is now, a single target heal.

[nosmos]

Not everyone wants Kolto Shell to be used on more target.

Kolto Shell is the most powerfull single target heal in the game, by far. If they would allow us to use it on more than 1 target they would probably nerf it. Now this might be shockingly new to hear, but Mercs are single target healers, so don't turn the best single target heal in the game into an ok multitarget heal. That wouldn't make Mercs better, it would make them worse. Right now we are only good at tank healing so leave Kolto Shell as it is now, a single target heal.

 

Single target yes, which works quite well in 16 man raids. In 8 man, it leave a whole lot of healing left to the operative or sorc healer. I think if super charged gas added X amount of crit chance, it would be fine. i don't really find the heat mechanics difficult

[Dajman]

Not everyone wants Kolto Shell to be used on more target.

Kolto Shell is the most powerfull single target heal in the game, by far. If they would allow us to use it on more than 1 target they would probably nerf it. Now this might be shockingly new to hear, but Mercs are single target healers, so don't turn the best single target heal in the game into an ok multitarget heal. That wouldn't make Mercs better, it would make them worse. Right now we are only good at tank healing so leave Kolto Shell as it is now, a single target heal.

 

I agree with how strong it is right now.... But I still think something should be done with it. We spend a stupid amount of perk points on that one spell and it just doesn't feel like a spell that you devote 6 points into. Frankly kolto shell and emergency scan, in my opinion, are very costly in terms of perks for what they do. Emergency scan has a very high CD and even though it is instant and free in the end its our top of the tree heal and it just doesn't shine like something that your character has been training for. Its like going to sniper school and then being handed a musket to fight with... Kolto shell is very costly as far as perks go for a single target heal.

 

You are right that if it could be put on tons of people it would no doubt be targeted by the nerf bat really fast but there must be something that can happen to it to make it worth so much investment. The answer to this thread cant be that we are fine where we are because we are afraid of getting nerfed to the point that we got hit back before 2.0. Yeah we don't ever want to be put so far at the bottom of the pack again... but we cant be scared to suggest things that would make life easier because it happened once.

[cashogy_reborn]

The thing if Merc is going to be considered the "single target" healer, it needs to be significantly better at it than Sorc and Op heals. Which it is not.

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

My expertise is in the Bodyguard spec only.

 

To start, I would first like to point out the major flaws with the merc bodyguard build. These flaws are not always noticed, but are present none the less.

 

These Problems stem from the overall class build. We have kolto missile, rapid scan, healing scan, emergency scan, rapid shots, kolto missile, and jet boost. Of these moves, only rapid shots, rapid scan, and kolto shell do not have cds. Couple that premise with the fact that kolto shell is a buff not a direct heal and rapid shots doesn't do enough healing(even though it cost zero heat) we only have 1 move that is useful and doesn't have a cd. JUST 1!

 

Problem 1: In pvp, the above problem becomes very obvious because rapid scan is a casted ability, so it gets interrupted and we are shut down; and then we die.

 

Problem 2: In pve, spamming rapid scan because everything else is on cd and rapid shots aint going to cut it is never an option (insane heat cost) unless you are guaranteed regen time afterward.

 

In my opinion, the entire spec should be scraped, and yall should start from scratch. Yall could try and tweak us to make us better, but none of the ideas I have heard will address this specs specifically legitimate problems.

I love the bodyguard spec but I also love a spec that's puts together correctly, and in my humblest opinion, this spec is not put together well at all.

 

There's this thing called Healing Scan > Rapid Scan spam in Supercharge. this healing spec is about the Supercharge, you use Rapid Scan and Rapid Shots to build CSC Stacks, the let loose with your better healing in Supercharge. Merc Healers have to stack alacrity to be atleast semi-viable. Also, learn to use Thermal Sensor Override and Power Surge. If your getting shut out. Use Power Surge, we arent insta-cast healers like Operatives. Mercs have their place with really good Single Target burst healing. We arent Sustained healers like Operatives, and we arent AOE healers like Sorcs, we are purely Single Target Burst Healers.

[Krusched]

Just one small idea that could help merc dps with no requirement for a buff or big change. Make rail shot not respect the global cooldown, this would be incredible for pyro burst damage when proccing railshot.

[ekimmak]

They mentioned making the set bonuses change depending on what stance you're in, but thought it would be too much of a tooltip wall of text to try. Well, why not make it so that it displays the set bonus for just the current cell you have equipped, and indicate at the beginning that "This set bonus changes based on current cell/stance"? Having custom built set bonuses would be a pretty handy change, wouldn't it?

[Rambeezy]

There's this thing called Healing Scan > Rapid Scan spam in Supercharge. this healing spec is about the Supercharge, you use Rapid Scan and Rapid Shots to build CSC Stacks, the let loose with your better healing in Supercharge. Merc Healers have to stack alacrity to be atleast semi-viable. Also, learn to use Thermal Sensor Override and Power Surge. If your getting shut out. Use Power Surge, we arent insta-cast healers like Operatives. Mercs have their place with really good Single Target burst healing. We arent Sustained healers like Operatives, and we arent AOE healers like Sorcs, we are purely Single Target Burst Healers.

 

Wrong, we are a jack of all trades healer. We aren't the best at single target nor are we the best at aoe healing. We are good at both aoe and single target but not great at either. Obviously you haven't played a merc healer in 55 arenas enough if you think good players cant shut us down. All of our weaknesses stem from the ideas I have put forth. You can deny the facts all you want but in the end you are an inferior class in competitive arenas.

 

Thank you

Edited November 11, 2013 by Rambeezy