Time to brainstorm some questions

[Suryi]

Having someone sit on you, interrupt your AMP, and then another enemy interrupting your MP, is a really easy way to shutdown the commando down indefinitely.

 

That's a bit of an overstatement imo. Maybe in solo ranked it's an issue because if you heal there you're basically 1v4, very rarely will your team mates have any clue as to what to do, but that's solo ranked in a nutshell.

 

I think instead of interrupt immunity, maybe we could get something that actively reduces the cooldown of Tech Override? Like everytime you supercharge you cut the cd of TO by a number? Idk, I just want to see Sueprcharge do something cool, that's probably my only real gripe with Combat Medic atm.

[Telos]

from another thread, on the uselessness of a disengage ability...

 

I don't see what benefit a disengage ability would offer that couldn't be solved by shortening jet boost's cd and adding immunity to force leap/pull by affected targets. I mean, a wow hunter's disengage applies a single target root, and the last thing this game needs is any more cc abilities.

 

furthermore... you can't compare us to a wow hunter. hunters in wow are a kiting class. everything they do except volley is an instant cast, and since you claim cast times are the trade off we have to pay to do ranged dps, I fail to see how a disengage is in any way going to help us. last time I played my wow hunter, disengage was almost immediately followed by pin down or launching a freezing trap to keep your target the **** away from you... as far as I know, the only class in this game that has an ability like that is sniper.

[wondernmagic]

I think instead of interrupt immunity, maybe we could get something that actively reduces the cooldown of Tech Override?

 

What if, perhaps, taking damage reduces its active CD? Much like healing ops get for their evasion and dps mercs get for their shield?

[Gyronamics]

Well if we are doing wishes now...

 

I'll have interrupt immunity for 3s after damage from a successful cast or channel, call it Sustained Fire and it can displace that useless talent of Nightvision Scope in Assault tier 3.

 

Also replace Reflexive Battery with Adrenaline Fuelled from VG Assault. It was originally there (along with shield CD on damage taken) but 2.0 did no favours for Assault.

 

Now while we're on a roll...

 

Hyper Assault Rounds gets dumped in a bin and never seen again, instead Concussive Charge and Hail of Bolts procs Plasma Cell on all affected targets. Something for PVP and something for PVE, note this will finally cause HoB to get that 9% damage on burning targets which was goddam impossible in reasonable circumstances. Cost on HoB and CD on CC avoids spam.

 

Sweltering Heat is junk and more CC is not what the game needs. Change to a speed boost on use of HiB on a burning target of 50% for 2 seconds. Shamelessly stolen from the Smuggler speed boost on use of Blaster Whip. Hey, look, kiting potential without adding CC!

 

Assault Trooper gives the 30% crit damage to Plasma Grenade, Burnout gives the 30% extra on sub30 target to Plasma Grenade.

 

Degauss changes from 25% defence for 6 seconds to 100% for 1.5s. When you're a DPS you want a guarantee not a talent that rolls the dice on you. Longer chance based abilities are for tanks.

 

Rain of Fire causes all DoT to leave a debuff if cleansed. Lets call it Smouldering [Dictionary: burn slowly with smoke but no flame] which will last for as long as the DoT would have. It does no damage but will give the 9% damage buff to ranged damage and allow HiB to regen ammo as if it was a DoT.

 

Finally, Plasma Cell has no ICD and has a 100% proc on ranged damage. However only HiB will refresh the DoT. It will burn out after 6s if HiB is not used but will reproc on more ranged damage.

 

Ok, I'm done.

 

Summing up the wish list:

 

Assault now has protection of its rotation if it keeps casting. Still vulnerable to stuns/cc and physics which allows counterplay as the immunity is only 2GCD. Casual interrupts will not cripple it however.

 

It now has an epic level flame theme with special effects only for Assault on knockback, Hail of Bolts and on shield. Unlike Gunnery there is no reduced CD on shield or knockback. Also talents Plasma Grenade which it should and allows HoB to get some use out of its extra damage on burning targets.

 

Defensively it gets a [HALP SAVE ME] button by getting 30% less damage when Adrenaline Rush is active and can block single attacks or very concentrated bursts by becoming immune for 1GCD on use of aggro drop.

 

Again defensively a speed boost on use of HiB on a burning target will allow for shoot and scoot manoeuvres without stuffing more CC into the mix. It's not sustainable due to reliance on casting/CD to get the HiB but gives opportunities for quick movement which can be used tactically.

 

QoL change to leave non-damaging debuffs on targets if the dots are cleansed allows use of regen talents and keeps the damage buff on casts while still giving some reward to the enemy for cleansing.

 

QoL change to Plasma Cell will mean no RNG if you really REALLY want a DoT now and can't afford an ability but because it will only be refreshed by HiB it can still burn out easily if you do not stay on that target.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Gyronamics

[Suryi]

What if, perhaps, taking damage reduces its active CD? Much like healing ops get for their evasion and dps mercs get for their shield?

 

Yeah that makes more sense, good idea Should help us a bit without being over the top

 

30% less damage when Adrenaline Rush is active

 

Hah yeah, that would actually make Adrenaline Rush so much better, imo as a medic. That cd always felt half useful in that it only works if you're below 35% hp which is not a threshold you don't want to maintain when you're healing, lol. It's sometimes really good, sometimes it barely ticks twice so it's too situational compared to say reactive shield which is always useful unless you're not getting attacked, in which case popping it was a bad idea to begin with.

 

With this change I think it'd be pretty sick. Unless you meant it strictly for Assault

 

(PvP) I'd still want to see supercharge cells actually do something significant. 5% extra healing and a 5% damage shield that might not be working is a bit... ehhhh (besides the 8 ammo it gives and AMP cd). I guess I want it to be a core mechanic to the class, right now it's kind of core, as in you want to pop it often in the right situations, but it's not as big a factor as Sentinel Zen. Maybe while supercharged our MP heals an additional low health target for a % that's not ridiculous, say 30 or 20? Though maybe this would be op in PvE, I wouldn't know...

 

At any rate, my question idea for Combat Medic PvP (I realise Assault is probably in more of a need for the question then Medic, but a brainstorm is a brainstorm) would relate to Supercharge and if there are any ideas/plans for making it a bigger factor for medics in PvP or what the designers intent for this ability was/is

Edited March 22, 2014 by Suryi

[Capt_Beers]

PvE: Your guess is as good as mine Cash

 

PvP:

An escape would be really great but I think that would come at the cost of a nerf to HtL. Being able to disengage and then be immune to physics might be a tad too much given the added interrupt protection and lowered CD of Tech Override. I would prefer a passive class buff (like the thing that makes Mando's range longer for Assault Spec) that would give a ~70% speed boost for the first 2-3 seconds of Ht, so our PT cousins can't quite keep up with us. So to phrase it as a question:

 

Commandos can have a very difficult time escaping from unfavorable engagements even with HtL, especially in Assualt spec as thier is no buff to HTL in that spec. HtL is a very important tool in escaping but for some specs it's still very easy to keep up, PT's having the same ability can pretty much cancel out it's speed buff. Given this information are their plans(lol) to improve the escapablity of Commandos in the future?

 

General:

 

- QoL complaint: Can we get a new ammo bar already?

[stockwizzle]

so what are our questions looking like so far cash?

[AngelFluttershy]

Given that the developers commented on the negative effect of alacrity on procs over in the PT answers, we could probably ignore my prior suggestion of asking about it unless you want to tailor it for Commandos. I'm saying this because it sounds like BioWare would rather alter the skill trees rather than change the effect of alacrity itself. Commandos have more alacrity based talents in their skills trees than Vanguards so we could ask a broader question on how alacrity negatively effects our class in correlation to timed DPS procs, but I'm pretty positive we'll just be met with the same "we'll change the tree" response.

 

As for the prior conversation on a DPS increase for Gunnery, I've been averaging around 3500 on the PTS which is roughly 100-150DPS better than live and that's with a ton of mistakes (old rotational habits die hard). Not to mention that 3.5k is consistent and not as RNG heavy like on live. My point being is that's a pretty good DPS increase compared to live. I know it's not as much as a Sharpshooter Gunslinger but if it wasn't for their double procs from self-healing on relics, the DPS between the two specs would be a lot closer than it already is. My hesitation in asking about a DPS increase is that BioWare would respond with that Gunnery is doing fine or that there are issues with the other classes that they'll address later. I don't like the chance of burning a question like that.

 

If we were to ask about Gunnery's DPS I'd focus more on energy cost or energy regeneration (e.g. cheaper HiB/RS or CoF also reducing FA/UL cost). I think there's a possibility for a good conversation there as from my experience on the PTS energy management seems a bit tight.

 

I would also vote for a question on Commando survivability in any respect, PvP more then PvE. Cash's OP's thoughts on Assault utility and the lackluster talents in the tree is also a good idea still.

Edited March 25, 2014 by AngelFluttershy

[Gyronamics]

Gunnery isn't weak enough to fish for damage buffs.

 

I'm running it in NiM PTS because it's downright better than Assault at burst damage and AOE (Gunnery regens all the time, Assault only when single target casting, also armour pen on MV).

 

Alacrity in Assault (all of the alacrity talents) might be possible to bundle into a *stuff that sucks in Assault tree and has done forever* question.

 

A trade up for crit would be pointless in the *what we need* area and merely increase dps while ignoring the glaring QOL issues. Sure dps is nice but secondary issues can hinder so much they gimp dps potential whatever the perfect output is.

 

A diagonal trade for damage reduction or utility would be more interesting.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Gyronamics

[odawgg]

I just got 3 words and they pertain to gunnery....FREE HiB please.

 

Edit: oh and I guess for all u mandos, something to balance the OH advantages of the merc

Edited March 26, 2014 by odawgg

[AMightyKnight]

Id like to see the questions before the deadline

[cs_zoltan]

Gunnery isn't weak enough to fish for damage buffs.

 

Well what should the PVE question be then? Because I'd rather ask for a Gunnery/Arsenal buff than a Pyro nerf.

[stockwizzle]

i think instead of damage buffs all our questions should be about survivability and utility.. just saying asking for damage buffs is really kinda lame especially since those usually result in being nerfed right back

[NeNiMel]

Ammo regen from Hammershots during Supercharge cell would be a nice tool to deal with those situations. We would have to chose between burst healing under supercharge or get our ammo back so it shouldn't be OP, I hope.

 

This might be the best suggestion I have seen regarding increased control in ammo management, for healers. This wont affect much on the skill floor required for this spec (I like the challenge), but give us more tools to actively control our ammo level. The regen from this should still be very low, so it wont be too OP.

That being said I think mando and merc healers are in a good spot atm for pve content

 

They might still need a little more love in pvp. As far as i can read on the forums and from my own very limited pvp experience, mando healers still have trouble with being interrupted in pvp. I know the shield is really nice, but it just doesn't seem to be enough.

Maybe diversion/chaff flare could provide a defensive buff that could absorb 2(?) interrupt abilities (not stuns, interrupts only). That way it would be more possible to get a cast off and the enemy would still be able to counter it, they just have to burn a stun instead. Just an idea that poped into my head

[goeblu]

Ok some thoughts:

 

PVE: Why is gunnery lagging behind most dps specs? Is this intended? Are you planning on doing anything with the spec to bring it on par with most other dps specs? 2.7 is bringing nice QoL changes, but it won't be significant enough to be balanced with other rDPS specs.

 

PVP: I don't pvp much, but it would be nice if assaults dots could not be cleansed. Also rework adrenaline rush talent in assualt to be like vanguards.

 

Other: I would like to see a real offensive CD for commando. Maybe make battle focus a trooper ability. OR maybe rework tech override, to last 15 seconds grant 15% alacrity and make abilities cost 10% less. Not sure just thinking out loud.

 

That's about the best I can think of for now.

[DaftVaduhhh]

You guys should probably factor in the alacrity chat on the VG/PT answers in when discussing anything about Assault or you're just going to be doubling up.

[Gyronamics]

You guys should probably factor in the alacrity chat on the VG/PT answers in when discussing anything about Assault or you're just going to be doubling up.

 

I'd rather it got bundled in as a combo than VG get it changed to crit/damage reduction/hp/whatever and commando gets left with 2% of unavoidable alacrity in the worst spec to have it.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Gyronamics

[cashogy_reborn]

Id like to see the questions before the deadline

 

I will try to write them tomorrow. Been busy.

 

In short:

 

PvE: Gunny/Arsenal needs free HIB/RS

PvP: Assualt/Pyro needs more utility

Free-for-all: Sniper haz disengage, we can haz 2?

Edited March 27, 2014 by cashogy_reborn

[ArchangelLBC]

Honestly I'd prefer an offensive cooldown, a real offensive cooldown, over a disengage, if only because it would be useful in all aspects of the game. I'd broaden the PVE question to more than just "free HiB can haz?" but include it as a suggestion certainly.

[cashogy_reborn]

Honestly I'd prefer an offensive cooldown, a real offensive cooldown, over a disengage, if only because it would be useful in all aspects of the game. I'd broaden the PVE question to more than just "free HiB can haz?" but include it as a suggestion certainly.

 

I will definitely elaborate more.

 

Does the class really need an offensive cooldown? DPS wise it is already competitive with its output, an offensive cooldown is going to push it even farther.

 

A disengage would be a significant change in PvP.

[DaftVaduhhh]

I'd rather it got bundled in as a combo than VG get it changed to crit/damage reduction/hp/whatever and commando gets left with 2% of unavoidable alacrity in the worst spec to have it.

Here:

 

Step 1: Swap Weapon Cal/System Cal with Cell Cap/Improved Vents

Step 2: Nerf Rain of Fire by removing Full Auto/Unload from the group of abilities buffed by the talent

Step 3: Nerf Rapid Recharge/Rapid Vents by removing Recharge Cells/Vent Heat from the abilities buffed by the talent

Step 4: Profit.

 

Any questions?

Edited March 27, 2014 by DaftVaduhhh

[Gyronamics]

I will try to write them tomorrow. Been busy.

 

In short:

 

PvE: Gunny/Arsenal needs free HIB/RS

PvP: Assualt/Pyro needs more utility

Free-for-all: Sniper haz disengage, we can haz 2?

 

Sounds as good as any, I have some thoughts to sum up and note swapping of PVP and FFA Q:

 

*scribbles*

 

PVE: Gunnery QOL change with energy control by making Cell Charger (8 energy every 6s) function the same as Tactics Vanguard Cell Generator (2 energy every 1.5s) and removing cost on High Impact Bolt so it functions as regen rather than being neutral.

 

PVP: Anti-focus defensive CD/Disengage, quote this:

Gang,

 

One of the changes that has generated the most vocal feedback is the change to the Sniper and 'Slingers defensive cooldown, Evasion/Dodge. We firmly believe that these Classes are lacking in a distinct emergency survive button, something that each other Advanced Class has (either via escapes like a Vanish, or more brute force mans like an Undying Rage).

Underline that we do not have this supposedly universal survival button.

 

Free-for-all: QOL changes to Assault with categories for:

 

Subpar Defensive/Utility/QoL Talents:

2s 30% snare Sweltering Heat,

2% dodge and Stealth Scan CD boost Nightvision Scope,

Alacrity which makes the branch worse Weapons Calibrations and Rapid Recharge,

Knockback promoted as a resolve building AOE instead of a useful defensive CD boost like the super Adrenaline Rush cooldown of VG Assault or shield CD, HtL extension, Tenacity CD boost of Gunnery Reflexive Battery,

Possibly excessive RNG of Degauss being only 25% dodge/resist to avoid **** you really want to avoid.

 

Attacks and Talents: Why isn't Plasma Grenade something special for Assault (not buffed and not talented), why does Hail of Bolts have almost pointless buff on burning targets when we can't light that many (MV and HoB is buffed by Gunnery's 35% armour pen) allow proc of Plasma Cell on hit since cost is already prohibitive for spamming?. Why have RNG and ICD on Plasma Cell.

 

Combat: Interrupt vulnerability (medic shield really point expensive to get and full 120s CD on shield anyway), DoT cleansing is almost as crippling as interrupts.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Gyronamics

[AngelFluttershy]

-Gyro's Questions-

 

I like these. My only addition would be to bring up Parallactic Combat Stims as it's crap in most PvE encounters and very situational in PvP. Either have it generate energy differently (like not relying on the player to be acted upon) or turn it into a decent defensive/utility skill.

Edited March 27, 2014 by AngelFluttershy

[Gyronamics]

I like these. My only addition would be to bring up Parallactic Combat Stims as it's crap in most PvE encounters and very situational in PvP. Either have it generate energy differently (like not relying on the player to be acted upon) or turn it into a decent defensive/utility skill.

 

Might want to unquote me as I edited while you posted so two versions are now visible.

 

But I did think about PCS and I dunno, it is VERY niche just like every other defensive talent Assault has and as such it's useless most of the time unlike the generic *take less damage* talents in Gunnery. More ammo is always good ofc but when you are stunned or being thrown around you aren't in a position to be spending any either so you will regen anyway.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Gyronamics

[cashogy_reborn]

I take PCS over Electro Shield. With the crapload of CC in this game it can help you out more than a couple hundred damage reflected off of your Reactive Shield.