Mercenary and Solo, Ranked PVP

[Krozis]

Good news: Since the announcement of ranked PVP rewards, queues (solo at least ) are popping everywhere.

Bad news: Solo queing is showing up the classes that simply don't belong in solo queue, and perhaps even further, arenas in general.

 

 

This post is mostly about solo queue ranked, but pertains to ranked in general.....

 

Since the rewards announcement I have been queing a fair amount with a select few of my toons and have found some new... 'revelations' for myself. But since this post regards Merc's so I'll keep it there.

 

I have hovered around 1300, hitting a high of 1400ish and have been frustrated by certain classes I see. I have achieved my rank while healing in half Obroan, half Conq, full augmentation.

 

I do not consider myself a 'great' healer, but feeling the class limitations, and knowing full well I have and can be a 'regstar' if left alone, I feel it is in my best interest (as well as my teammates' best interest) to NOT queue for Solo Ranked as DPS.

 

I started noticing a disturbing trend on my losing streaks. Burst is a beautiful thing to have on your side, and healer gank fest is what a lot of these basic matches turn into. It's a fight to simply stay alive. Now on my losing streaks the disturbing trend was a few classes that are hard pressed to perform without, let me phrase this correctly, highly skilled players, playing these 'handicapped' classes.

 

Many, well most, were Arsenal Mercs. Many of the names I started to recognize, and I would be happy to see them on the other side, or cringe when I saw them on my team.

 

I started looking them up on the leaderboards, and most of them struggled to break 1000. If that.

 

Of course this isn't a hard, fast rule, but I consider myself a better DPS merc than I am a healer Merc, yet I will not queue DPS because I feel the DPS specs are underperforming in Ranked. It seems my experience with a fistfull of Aresenal mercs has confirmed this.

 

So how many of you out there are queuing solo-ranked? What spec are you playing? If you're DPS, what spec? What kind of success are you seeing?

 

Most of all, what do you take from this experience with Ranked solo?

[Huez]

I agree, I rather queue as pyro but arsenal atm is more versatile.

Every time I get queued on my merc usually I get spammed with

"dont queue." "You're a baddie" "i'll pay you 1mil to stop queueing" "omg we lost"

that is really brings morale down, but I dont want to give up on my merc, and it is not because I suck I know my rotations on both arsenal and pyro, but everytime I queue the other team gets the grand idea to focus target the merc. and with the awesome cooldowns we have is practically useless and pvpers cut through it easy.

 

I say we need and escape I mean we do have jet packs, and operatives do inhuman rolls. I mean I am sure Bh's can use jetpacks thier to escpae breifly.

 

Either way we only have hydraulics which isnt very effective against ranged or stuns, and determination which has a 2 min cooldown once we lose those two we pop shield and kolto overload because come one I mean shield can only do so much without kolto keeping you alive at bear minimum. Other than that we are sitting ducks, in which every class has a stun, leap, roots, and pull, and our only hope is hydraulics which can only be used once or twice if team hasn't lost yet and if you are still alive...

[BarronWasteland]

I have qued with my Arsenal Merc in solo ranked. I have full purple augs, am min maxed with full Oraban gear. My results have been very good and very bad. It depends on the team I get placed with. I have been in matches with several mediocre players and I get hammered right away. Or like the other night, the other team left me alone and focused on the healer and tank. I tore them up and had all 4 kills with close to 200k damage. The next two rounds I was public enemy #1 and died in seconds as 3 of the 4 focused on me.

 

When I have been with teams that if the opponents focus on me the rest will make them pay and we win I don't mind being the focus early, but that does not happen often unfortunately. I see the need for a leap away to put distance between yourself and the bad guys and maybe make you un interruptible while hydraulic overrides are activated. I think that would put DPS mercs in a good spot.

[Macroeconomics]

I've done solo ranked on both Pyro and Arsenal, and both classes are weak. Pyro is worse, but Arsenal is not good either. It is critical for either class to NOT be in the initial engagement. The initial collision of the two teams is invariably a root/stun/mezz cluster f*ck, and as the Merc has the lowest survivability in the game in such situations, it is imperative that you avoid this. If you can manage to be 20-30m from the initial engagement, then you also have an increased chance of getting 1 or 2 casts off before you are noticed. Moreover once you are noticed (i.e. targeted), it is more likely to be by a single enemy. The Arsenal in particular is well suited to deal with a single enemy melee that begins the engagement by leaping to the Merc.

 

The problem here is that the strategy basically means you are using your teammates as an initial meat shield. This is part of why sophisticated teams will refuse to have a Merc dps. They simply can not contribute at the start of the match. And that is the best case. At worst, a stealthed enemy works his way around to the Merc dps and begins the engagement by pulling him. Disaster. Your team will be down a player almost immediately.

 

Really nothing has changed since 1.3. The Merc dps needs to forgotten about by the enemy team in order to pull his weight. Which is simply another way of saying that the Merc dps needs bad opponents.

[Krozis]

Macroeconomics, I never got along with you in college, but I find I agree with you 100% here.

 

Srsly though, that is my experience in a nutshell. PLUS since the weakness is so obvious, it is heavily exploited by even the most entry level of opponents.

 

A Merc's greatest chance of survival? Perhaps being paired with a Sorc. Oddly enough if an enemy decides to try to global a Sorc it CAN backfire. I've seen a pull and two smashers kill my Merc in a global... but a Sorc CAN bubble. I mean it's tough though, I'm not going to pretend a Sorc has it easy.

 

The heirarchy really hasn't changed with DPS. I cringe when I see I'm going to be healing Ar senal Mercs. If I get two, it's just that much worse. In speaking of the opposite, seeing two smashers load with me is a good thing. (I realize smashed is getting nerfed out of existence).

 

But now we are doing Solo Ranked, and even BW with their strong denials, and lack of action will have plenty of metrics to look at and not just the 'whining' of a community. Will they do anything with it? What can be done?

[Gyronamics]

Ideally you want a higher priority target on your team.

 

Then hang back a bit from them and as soon as the inevitable mob jumps your teammate you open up on a preselected enemy which will have already blown their burst on that first target.

 

What isnt so nice is when the enemy team splits up and you get a melee focused on crippling your casting which ofc is quite easy.

 

A single shadow who can get me alone with all their cd can kill me while barely taking a hit through interrupts, knockdown, vanish, shroud. Its unbelievably bad to "duel" melee in the actual melee that ALL ranked pvp is.

 

I've banked 1300 reward level and I'm working on next tier but its definitely not an easy win spec every loss I can really feel the disadvantages of the casting.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Gyronamics

[cashogy_reborn]

I have been queuing Solo on my Gunny Commando, and I am the enemy's primary target 9/10 warzones. The matches where I am not primary target in Round 1, I am in Round 2 b/c of how much damage I put out when not pressured.

 

Make sure you have WZ Adrenal and heal stims, Seismic grenades, and get really really good at spamming your defensive cooldowns. Typically what will happen for me is I will wait to get leapt to/engaged, use my knocback and hit Hold the Line and Tech Override, then unload burst and Electronet onto our primary target. If the group does what they are supposed to, that target will die before I do, at which point I will just continue kiting while my teammates kill the next target. But that first kill is by far the most important.

 

You are typically not going to have the best damage stats on the scoreboard, but your job is to be as hard to kill as possible. The longer you live, the better chance your team has of winning.

[PhatMcMuffins]

I have been queuing Solo on my Gunny Commando, and I am the enemy's primary target 9/10 warzones. The matches where I am not primary target in Round 1, I am in Round 2 b/c of how much damage I put out when not pressured.

 

Make sure you have WZ Adrenal and heal stims, Seismic grenades, and get really really good at spamming your defensive cooldowns. Typically what will happen for me is I will wait to get leapt to/engaged, use my knocback and hit Hold the Line and Tech Override, then unload burst and Electronet onto our primary target. If the group does what they are supposed to, that target will die before I do, at which point I will just continue kiting while my teammates kill the next target. But that first kill is by far the most important.

 

You are typically not going to have the best damage stats on the scoreboard, but your job is to be as hard to kill as possible. The longer you live, the better chance your team has of winning.

 

This sums it up. You have to last longer than your team's primary target because you are most likely the primary target for the opposition. You are the meatshield. If you can absorb around 100k damage before dying, you're in a good place... sadly haha

[cashogy_reborn]

This sums it up. You have to last longer than your team's primary target because you are most likely the primary target for the opposition. You are the meatshield. If you can absorb around 100k damage before dying, you're in a good place... sadly haha

 

Yeah, Ive actually gotten pretty good at it lol. But it hinges enormously on your teammates ability to carry their weight, which in Solo is never a guarantee.

 

Most games I end up cheering on teammates and trying to help direct focus fire while dead.

Edited February 27, 2014 by cashogy_reborn

[Krozis]

But are you guys doing Pyro or Arsenal in ranked?

 

I am far better in Arsenal spec on my Merc, but it's too easy to shut down. I know when I'm healing, and I see Arsenal on the other side, he's the target. These games aren't lost very often to be honest. When I load up and I'm healing, AND I have a merc, it is a struggle to keep either one of us alive.

 

I think for now I am burned out on ranked on my Merc. I have accepted 1500 will NOT happen on this toon. I hit 1375 solo as heals. I stayed heals, and I went down to 1281..... !!!!

 

I also find side effects of the 'system' are killing me. Like loading with 3 people and the warzone doesn't backfill (for good reason) and since there is no shutdown sequence, you now have an almost automatic loss.

 

Aside from people leaving, or disconnecting, or just not loading, I think it's weird you have to win 2 times for every loss to just tread water.

 

Solo queue is just too... random. Far too random. You get 24K lightning sorcs, and the odd guy saying 'Hey is this ranked? Sorry.....\leaves warzone). That stuff is something you have zero control over.

 

I've also been stealth globalled too often.... I really hate that tactic but all I can really do is guess with our cruddy stealth exposure and try to press my butt into a wall.... wait for the double leap/double smash, or double Shadow takedown... whatever the flavour of the match is.

 

I still think Op heals is just at such a huge advantage... you can NEVER open up on them, and they can always disappear and at least alleviate enemy targeting 100% for a period of time. We are face tanking with our wonderful armor!

 

I've played a lot of 8 man ranked when it was around but 4 man reminds me how easy it is to focus target. Trust me, grenade is on cool down! I just thought I'd ask you guys if you're able to hit 1500 with DPS and what spec you were trying......

 

As I dip below 1300 last night, I'm thinking of changing to DPS....

[stockwizzle]

yeah i hit 1500 and only played dps as a gunny commando (arsenal merc) i believe this ac makes up the highest skill cap of any ac but the skill cap is not from pumping out dps as if left alone anyone can do that it is actually figuring out how to live the longest.. the best of the best and just the guys that are the hardest lil suckers to kill

[cashogy_reborn]

I mainly have been using Gunnery (Arsenal) on my Commando. I have done a few as a healer, more than a handful as Assault (Pyrotech), and today I got quite annoyed with all the bads and started using a ridiculous 12/12/22 hybrid that was all kinds of stupid lol.

 

Gunnery has better tools for peeling and surviving longer IMO.

[summerlion]

Resurrecting a thread for a few comments and questions.

 

This past weekend, people were imploring people to queue for solo ranked on the Ebon Hawk, so I figured what the hell, right? It's pre-season, no one is going to get screwed because of me.

 

I'm not an expert PvPer, but I think I have a pretty good handle on what abilities to use when. My reflexes aren't what they might have been years ago, but that's getting old for you. I hold my own in WZs. I have full Obroan, which I know recently became obsolete, but isn't nothing either. I was Bodyguard specced.

 

The first thing I was unprepared for was the level of vitriol thrown at me for merely being there. More than once I was greeted with complaints about how they would have to "carry my ***". I really liked my own teammates spamming general chat in the arena about how bad I was; that was particularly classy.

 

However, it seemed like these people may have had a point, as I was slaughtered in every arena I played. I was always the first person on my team to die, and usually the first person overall.

 

So, my questions:

1) Are people in ranked matches always that nasty? Unranked has a certain amount of congeniality to it. It does occasionally sinks to the level of "this team sucks", but I've never seen it reach "you suck and you shouldn't even be here" levels. This might be a question for the pvp forum...

 

2) I understand that healers get focused, but what I can do to prevent getting cut down in the first 15 seconds of the engagement? I can jet boost once, get off a single (maybe 2) kolto missile, instant-cast one Healing Scan, and maybe one or two other heals that don't get interrupted if I'm lucky. This is entirely insufficient to stay alive when 2 or 3 people are pounding on me.

 

3) Am I the only Bodyguard merc with this problem? This thread discusses DPS specs, but it does give me hope that my difficulties are not entirely a function of my own incompetence.

 

4) I was told by some people that full Brutalizer is really a requirement before stepping foot in a ranked arena. Agree? Disagree?

 

TL;DR version: Is there any point in being a Bodyguard merc in ranked arenas?

[Gyronamics]

Completely impossible to take sides without being there.

 

However a fairly high level of competence is expected whatever role you choose in ranked, players may express their feelings on this from both sides of an arena match.

[summerlion]

Completely impossible to take sides without being there.

 

However a fairly high level of competence is expected whatever role you choose in ranked, players may express their feelings on this from both sides of an arena match.

 

I'm not really looking for someone to take sides, I'm mostly curious if other people have had the same experience. Failing that, tips on how to avoid being double-teamed and slaughtered pretty quickly would be nice. I also noted that in the 5 or so arenas I participated in, I didn't see a single other mercenary (matches were all Imp vs Imp, so no Commandos, either), which made me wonder if Mercenaries just avoid ranked matches.

[Arsenalman]

My first game in ranked were as a healer and after one telling me to never que ranked again I went Arsenal and never looked back, but that was first season when mercs didnt fit into arenas, now I say they have gotten better. I dont think merc`s are that bad healers in arena but its hard when you get focused and you dont recive any help from youre Group. Its hard for all healers when youre focused so its about Learning how to handle it. Btw you have 12 Seconds immunity to interupts when you use youre energy Shield so try using that when you got full resolve cause then they cant stun you or anything giving you 12 Seconds free casting.

 

For example you could start using seismic grenades on you for the 4 second stun it gives. You also get some Space by using jet boost but that Depends on what classes you meet these days. Vengeance juggernauts are immune to cc/knockback for around 4 Seconds after their charge (marauders not) so theres no use using knockback right away. If you get charged by them its easier to use hydraulic overrides and get away from the ravage and use emergency scan and kolto missile while on the move.

Also you should use the map to youre advantage by getting out of sight from ranged and try to kite the melee, and knock them downstairs in orbital station or down from bridge at the Maked mesa Arena. Moving around and kitting will make it harder for you to get out proper heals, but you should survive longer and maybe youre team have killed one of theirs.

I dont know what is mostly used specc but you could try speccing more for survival in solo ranked , like in the middle tree called custom suit, cant remember name, that gives you more endurance and increased healing taken and the peacekeeper.

 

This aint the best tips you will ever get so hopefully someone who play alot of Bodyguard in ranked can give you some better tips than I have done.

 

And just ignore those who say they gotta carry you to win cause that just ********. Ignore what they say and rather laugh at it cause I also get some ******** now and then aswell for being a merc in Solo ranked.

You will only get better by training so you cant let some idiots stop you from doing ranked.

Hopefully you can get a Group ranked going cause there you have a tank helping you out and cordination if youre using TS/vent.

 

You could also try the dps speccs instead and see if you do better with them. I have only played as arsenal so can give you a few tips from experience there.

 

I dont have full brutalizer yet either and it will take longer time by going normal wz`s to get full brutalizer than doing ranked games and since you have full oboran it shouldnt really be an issue as long you have fully augmented gear.

 

Maybe its not easy to get something out from this post but hopefully its something thats usefull here

Goodluck mate

Edited April 28, 2014 by Arsenalman

[Syricide]

While I can not support the comments that were made to you; I can say there is an expectation of gear, knowledge and ability when queuing for Ranked matches. As this is the highest tier of pvp, it should be treated as such. If you aren’t geared properly or can not consistently heal through unranked arena, you probably aren’t prepared for Ranked and you really are hampering your team.

 

Sure it’s a game and we’re here to have fun but that is what the Unranked is for.

[Kelenan]

I have full Brutilizer gear except for my off-hand currently. I have been pyro since launch but since 2.7 Pyro is too squishy to play at all and 0 versatility compared to Arsenal. Arsenal offers a bit more survivability but not much. In Ranked 4 v 4 matches, Mercs are generally the focus. We can't bubble like sorcs and are easily stun locked making us great targets.

 

Some arenas offer LOS but that is not always the case. I try to survive the 4 v 1 onslaught in every WZ but there just inst much that can be done for the class in 4 v 4 arenas. The build of the class is ineffective in this WZ area unless you are lucky enough to have a tank that will guard you.

 

The adrenals and specing the reduced cooldown on Kolto helps but again not much but it does increase survivability. The game for a Merc in 4 v 4 is live as long as you can not dps.

 

This is testing my ability as a player. I trust I will work this out to the best of my ability until the devs offer us abilities that make us competitive instead of fodder.

 

I suggest engaging last when ever possible. LOS and turtle up, and use Kolto and Kolto missile alot. When focused on try to disengage and run LOS while Kolto'ing. This breaks up the enemy team, you most likely will still die but give your team a chance to bring the opposing team players down while they chase you down for the kill.

 

I hope what I been doing helps some of you, if any of you have better suggestions please post them. I will try it.

 

I will state though for the record that my poor PVP experience is only in the 4 v 4 arenas.

Edited May 9, 2014 by Kelenan

[foxmob]

I The game for a Merc in 4 v 4 is live as long as you can not dps.

 

 

too true. I have 100 games under my belt now as pyro, and it's incredibly disheartening. it's just not fun to always be the target. the class does have great kiting abils, but short of a phasewalk, no class is going to *escape* a 3v1. this is only a problem in 4 dps matches...and 3 dps 1 heal to a lesser degree.

 

anyway...I'm trying to figure out how many points (if any) I should put into acc in 2.7. I have all the usual talented stuff (6/4/36). with zero acc on my gear, my acc is 94% and 104% respectively. I've read a lot of conflicting stuff about what is optimal.

Edited May 10, 2014 by foxmob

[PhatMcMuffins]

too true. I have 100 games under my belt now as pyro, and it's incredibly disheartening. it's just not fun to always be the target. the class does have great kiting abils, but short of a phasewalk, no class is going to *escape* a 3v1. this is only a problem in 4 dps matches...and 3 dps 1 heal to a lesser degree.

 

anyway...I'm trying to figure out how many points (if any) I should put into acc in 2.7. I have all the usual talented stuff (6/4/36). with zero acc on my gear, my acc is 94% and 104% respectively. I've read a lot of conflicting stuff about what is optimal.

 

0 accuracy is needed for pvp. You're not going to miss unless its a tank, which is how it should be. Any accuracy in your gear will only add up to a dps loss

Edited May 13, 2014 by PhatMcMuffins

[DeadDogBarking]

I love the comment about "waiting until you get full resolve" to use your shield and getting the non-interrupt. Unless I want to end the game with less than 10k in any category, I have more of a chance breaking the stuns at 75% life, htting Knockback and HO and hoping to not get stunned again while I spam my instants either heals or damage. Even with the overload it is very easy to die or be so close to death before resolve fills that 30k damage or heals is not even possible.

 

I really like arenas, but the two ACs I have the most time on are Merc(Arsenal) and Sniper. If 3 or sometimes 2 of the other teams players can focus these 2 classes it is a sad day.

 

It is seemingly easier for other players to bully specific classes out of the Que instead of learning how to help that class excel. I was teamend with 2juggs and a sin and of course I died instantly while they tried to beat up a bubbled sorc. No taunts, no Intercede(%20 damage reduction) that could have been followed by a Mez(Awe). If I can get out of the first focus, I can do good damage and the Kolto cloud is a great off heal (used accordingly). I have switched stances on my Sin and tanked in DPS spec and gear for a healer. My damage dropped, but the match was alot more fun for all involved.

 

I have had to report one person who used sexually explicit directives on what to do with male body parts. This happened after one ranked solo que then into fleet and after we got grouped for the next pop. I noticed this person was no longer listed o the leader boards. I do not like ignoring people, because they may need to call for help for the team during a future WZ. I do not like being treated in a manner that could be legally considered harassment. I am also smart enough to realize that certain classes/specs put other players at a disadvantage and they may not have the tool set or maturity to express their feelings.

 

It is frustrating for all of those involved

 

.

[Buttonz]

I think even more frustrating is that after watching the Dev's twitter tv interview they are more interested in fixing sin's madness tree then the Merc. Even after admitting that the cool downs sucked and we were not mobile then he mumbled... as if w/e we'll get to you guys after we make everyone else able to one shot you.....

[SgtJeremy]

I haven't played my Merc in forever because of how bad the class is in PvP. Maybe it's me but I don't play bad on any other class other then Merc. I check all the guides follow all the instructions but it just isn't good enough to help the team or even just not suck. If I'm lucky other players will just ignore me and I can get off some easy kills but once any other class hones in on me I may as well stick my head between my legs and kiss my a** good bye.