My views and some suggestions on the class

[MusicRider]

Played a bit last night on my merc and mando after a very long time. Although they are at level 51+ I think that it gave me a fairly good and accurate impression for the current meta (few things change till 60). One note is that I played arsenal. Further note that my mains are sage/sorc so I can draw some comparisons between the two types of classes.

 

I think in terms of mobility arsenal is excellent. In fact in opening with all abilities available I can potentially maintain at l60 a near optimal dps rotation on the move for about 9 gcds, most likely if unload refreshes for another 2-3 gcds and possibly more as I can't recall what other instant will be coming off their cd at that point; 12gcds are a full 18s. This is even more mobility than my TK sage, where I could potentially maintain about 7-8 gcds of mobility. Furthermore, the burst, oh that burst, is still there and even more .

 

In warzones I played I can't say I had any issues of survivability, and kiting is still pretty strong with them.

 

However, IMO these are some improvements they should have:

1. Kolto overload should also provide a shield on top that absorbs x% of incoming damage; its duration and cd should be adjusted accordingly to balanced levels. Reason for this is that I found myself sometimes using the combo of KO/shield dcd, and that was really really good under focussed fire, to the point that I might was saving the shield for this occasion. In this way I think that mercs will get their anti-focus mechanism that is not the same as the one for sages.

2. Their 20s cd instant heal should be like unnatural preservation. Ie. with increased heal (all in instant or as instant+hot) and increased cd. Unfortunately, can't see any other way about this.

3. Might be mistaken or missed something but HO gives a 30% speed boost for upto 10s skilled. I think it should be increased to 50% for 8s (4+4 from utility).

4. Another thing that might help is if superchage stacks provide in some alternative way a hot healing (could be attached maybe to 2); so be used either offensively or defensively.

 

These are my views from the limited time played in the current meta. I strongly think that (1) can be tweaked in such manner that it will resolve the main issue that mercs have in solo-q arenas while not making them OP and not making them a copy of sages.

 

Hope more experienced players of the class could think about them and come up with specific implementations.

[-Healius-]

Yeah a speed boost on H/O would help but not as quick as VG/BH as that be a tad OP lol.

[Araberen]

My post from another thread:

 

My 2 cents about mercs:

 

Utilities:

Combat shield/Power Shield move to heroic tier

Shock Absorbers/Stabilized Armor move to masterful tier

 

Why? Let's look from Bodyguard perspective:

• You don't have escape (time of HO in the past, it's only 30% of speed increase [other classes have 15% passive increase in movement and/or gap closer 1 or more]). Only 6 sec long, u really don't wan't to sacrifice 20% healing increase and immunity while shielded.
  
• You don't have any dmg immunity. Marauders, snipers, pts will eat you on breakfast.
  
• You can't force speed/roll to LoS. HO countered very easily
  
• You don't have second life
  

All this force you to take Shock Absorbers + Reflexive Shield/ Energy rebounder (did some research among mando healers + twitch/razinon using same setup for dps). At this point we are out of our move'n'gun ability for healer.

if we will take Forced March/Thrill of the hunt, we lose or decreasing cd on shield, or raw dmg reduction while stunned.

 

Switching this 2 utilities and we can have all 3 at the same time. it will not impact greatly PvE (still need to sacrifice if u want pushback immunity)and will increase our survivability in PvP.

 

This is MUST, imho ofc.

 

 

Second we can dream about something like evasion. I do really want on my diversion 100% immunity to range/melee (basic for all 3 specs, remove 35%/5 charges from it). It is on 45 sec CD (1 min for agents, but without purge/75% tech dmg reduction). One can dream, right?

 

 

For dps i would like to see kolto bomb back (make it 4 for dps, 8 for medic), remove advanced probe. And redesign procs: Assualt - mag bolt on burning target finishes CD on bacta infusion, for Gunnery - each stack increase next healing ability by x%. That's how we will have 2 instant healing abilities that we can cast on the move.

[MusicRider]

Yeah a speed boost on H/O would help but not as quick as VG/BH as that be a tad OP lol.

 

Depends on the duration... but high speed with low duration is pretty much sorcs force speed with the cherry of you don't need a utility point to break roots and be immune to them.

[MusicRider]

My post from another thread:

 

I think your suggestions make sense on first glance, but I don't have long experience to evaluate them properly tbh. Only comment is that HO is not really countered easy (defintely not as easy as sorcs force speed), it just feels a bit inadequate at 30% speed boost.

 

Oh and IMO there is no need for a 2nd life (otherwise mercs become sorcs); just provide a tool that increases the time to be killed under heavy focussed fire, at the moment what worked for me with OK success is KO and shield together, but I think that it is unfair to burn both key dcds.

Edited August 28, 2015 by MusicRider

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

If you look at the datamined changes for the Merc and Commando, you will see that we are getting some useful, but not overpowering additions to our Utility Set, and we are getting a very useful new skill. I can't say much more, otherwise I'd risk getting the post removed, because Bioware is very adamant about not showing off datamined information on the forums, even though it is still just as easily found with a quick google search... Edited August 28, 2015 by Kaos_KidSWTOR

[Araberen]

I think your suggestions make sense on first glance, but I don't have long experience to evaluate them properly tbh. Only comment is that HO is not really countered easy (defintely not as easy as sorcs force speed), it just feels a bit inadequate at 30% speed boost.

 

In solo ranked it is (real solo ranked, not qsync or qdodge). It is very hard to kite outside your HO window, and it's your high priority skill, that can be countered by: force speed, roll, HO, predation, leap, ghost (50% speed increase, lol?) etc etc + passive 15% from some classes. With force speed you can't be rooted (if specced) + high speeed that gives you time to LoS. In regs mercs/mando in good spot.

 

Minor changes to heals will not help for us. Giving KO absorb will be bad to synergy with reflexive shield (absorb and absorb?), giving to KO dmg reduction will not help either.

 

2nd life indeed will show us as sorcs. But immunity to white attacks + improved offhealing (with utilities swap) will do the job. And it's not like BW will redesign some abilities for us, so my changes all around we already have (or had before) + some tweaks.

 

Kaos_KidSWTOR, not only mercs/mandos, that's the problem. Nothing will change here. So we need something to do right now, in 3.0. Not enough info about 4.0

Edited August 28, 2015 by Araberen

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Kaos_KidSWTOR, not only mercs/mandos, that's the problem. Nothing will change here. So we need something to do right now, in 3.0. Not enough info about 4.0

 

We have plenty of Information on 4.0's new class changes! Each Class is getting 3 new Utilities, a new ability (or a previously unavailable ability to that class or spec such as with Sorcs and Powertechs) and as with sorcs, healing nerfs/changes. Marauders are getting back into the high tiers of PvP again with 2 of their new utilities, and Mercs are getting a VERY nice new disengage AND a new Slow tacked onto their spam skills. Sure, it's not all lollipops and rainbows for mercs and mandos, but it's a major improvement.

[Araberen]

...

 

1) you speculating on info that will be or might be changed 100 times before live. And this is major point

2) you can say "We have plenty of Information on 4.0's" after BW's confirmation.

3) what the point of disengage if everyone have 1 more gap closer? If we have disengage now (in any form) - yes it will be HUGE improvement, but with all other classes can countered it twice (at least)? (try to compare with other). I hope you get my point

 

Conversation goes around 3.x, not potential 4.x. Simply because there is no official info on it yet.

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

1) you speculating on info that will be or might be changed 100 times before live. And this is major point

2) you can say "We have plenty of Information on 4.0's" after BW's confirmation.

3) what the point of disengage if everyone have 1 more gap closer? If we have disengage now (in any form) - yes it will be HUGE improvement, but with all other classes can countered it twice (at least)? (try to compare with other). I hope you get my point

 

Conversation goes around 3.x, not potential 4.x. Simply because there is no official info on it yet.

 

Our disengage can be talented to make us resist leaping and pulling along with 100% Immunity to Interrupts and Pushback. Your Argument is invalid against point 3.

 

Points 1 and 2 are pretty close to invalid, When has Bioware EVER changed any new additions (think 2.0 and 3.0) before they launched? Oh right NEVER.... They changed the Operative Roll AFTER it hit live because the majority of people complained, the PTS testers never got to use it in any practical situations because only about 50 people play on PTS. The same was with Innovative Ordinance Mercs, and the same with Crippling Throw's removal, and later return AFTER 3.0 Launched. So, yea... Points 1 and 2 are damn near invalid. If Bioware changes new additions before 4.0 is launched, I'll start believing in them again.

[Araberen]

...

Okay, mate. If it helps you sleep well, so be it: you are 100% right.

 

Now let us speak about actual problems

 

[JackNader]

Merc / Mandos suffer from 3 distinct problems however 2 are directly related.

 

1)Ability bloat

 

I've always felt that merc mandos have too many useless or situational abilities. 3.0 compounded this issue by bringing into the fold even more bloat while also trying to chain in all those useless abilities to give them some kind of functionality. For instance Pyro mercs have a total of 6 dots. 6 DOTS!!!!! The amount of setup time to put all those dots on a target is asinine in PvP and pointless in PvE unless you are fighting a boss. They also have 2 methods of dot spread, both of which are extremely inefficient and hard casted to boot.

 

So what would I do?

 

*Replace serrated shots with fusion missile for IO mercs as their level 41 ability. Fusion missile should be an instant cast ability to make dot spreading fluid and interesting.

 

*Remove power shots from the game and replace it with missile blast. Missile blast should be a cheap heat cost filler ability that procs everything that powershots used to proc. It doesn't have to hit hard.

 

*Flame thrower -> give it to powertechs as a PT only ability. It's a melee ability which doesn't suit the mercenary ranged play style at all.

 

*Redesign explosive dart to trigger when your player deals direct non periodic damage instead of a delayed 3 second blast. In other words make it function similar to the operative poison injection ability. This would allow it to synergize really well for burst purposes with other abilities. The blast should knock NPCs DOWN or BACK. The blast presently pushes all NPCs away from the blast radius which is counter productive.

 

*Super charge stacks should build on more core abilities.

 

* Kolto shot for DPS specs.... really? Mercs were better when this function was tied into rapid shots. It's used only to build super charge stacks by the DPS specs. Needs to go.

 

2) Mobility

 

Lack of mobility is DEATH in PvP. The two classes which have the most problems in PvP are the two least mobile. That should tell you all something. Their lack of mobility is due to the present "hard casted" reliance built into the core of all their specs. Unlike snipers, mercenaries have a means to reduce their reliance on hard casting. I just don't see the point of giving them procs when they could remove the issue altogether by removing their reliance on hard casting.

 

Why is hard casting a problem? Self rooting diminishes a ranged classes ability to kite which translates directly into lowered life expectancy. Any form of casting also opens the door to complete ability shutdown due to stuns, knock backs and interrupts.

 

In other words, you MUST give hard casting specs broad long duration immunities + good survivability cooldowns or they fail miserably. This has only occurred once since beta and that was engineering in the run up to 3.0. Post 3.0 no turret spec has been worth a damn.

 

3) Anti focus cooldowns.

 

Doesn't need elaborating on.

Edited September 3, 2015 by JackNader

[RorrschachThree]

I like hard casting.

[MuskyBoy]

I would say that a ranged class having a melee root is one of the worst designs ever. Removing this and replacing it with a ranged root would be a god send. Mandos/merc have no use for a melee root that breaks after 2 seconds if you do any damage as you will still be in range of melee, and even if you run its over in 4 secs and every class can out run you.

[RorrschachThree]

I would say that a ranged class having a melee root is one of the worst designs ever. Removing this and replacing it with a ranged root would be a god send. Mandos/merc have no use for a melee root that breaks after 2 seconds if you do any damage as you will still be in range of melee, and even if you run its over in 4 secs and every class can out run you.

 

The idea is to use it on melee target and then to get out of melee range.

 

Duh.

[MuskyBoy]

When every melee class can either leap or cover the distance in a global once the four seconds ends it is useless. Duh

[RorrschachThree]

When every melee class can either leap or cover the distance in a global once the four seconds ends it is useless. Duh

 

You clearly need to learn to play then.