Is giving PT's the best of both worlds in terms of ranged/melee just bad game design?

[wadecounty]

So I wasn't sure where to post this, as this is kind of a negative PT thread, and I know people who post on the PT forums won't want to see it. But it is PT specific. I dunno, maybe it will spark some discussion?

 

Anyways, my question, is giving PT most of the benefits of ranged DPS (just losing a bit of range on some attacks and having 1 or 2 real melee attacks) without any of the drawbacks of being ranged (cast time/channels) poor game design?

 

To me, this is why PT's have always been considered a little broken in this game no matter where they were balanced in terms of numbers, and why they've always been very easy to play. Its just simple when you can play like a melee DPS, but your attacks are all at LEAST 10 to 15 meters, except for a token rocket punch or retractable blade (talking about AP, but that or Pyro as it used to be has always been the spec considered a bit broken).

 

As a PT, would you agree that the class is a bit too easy to play when it comes to the melee/ranged balance? And if so, should it be fixed in some way?

 

If so, how? Do you nerf the damage to the point that it pays for being so easy to play with a much lower skill ceiling? Do you actually completely alter the design of the class so they are either required to have more melee uptime or finally have some sort of casts/channels that limit them?

 

Or do you think things are perfectly fine, have always been perfectly fine, and I'm crazy?

 

Please let me know, either way, but this is the one class to me that's always stuck out as not quite fitting in with the ranged/melee design philosophy, and has seemed to always get away with the best of both worlds.

[Dethla-Hadyn]

I think you're asking the wrong questions, no offense. Instead of subscribing to a restricted "this class shouldn't be allowed to have a blend of attacks, and must either play like a sniper, or warrior", we could instead ask..." why don't all classes have options to apply good damage from any range".

 

A common example could be equated to a sorceror's ability to let's say "imbue their sabre strike" with a lingering dot, that could complement their ranged attacks. This would allow an even greater dynamic for that classes' gameplay.

 

Additionally, why couldn't Sith Warriors use force lightning...as a rage jug, there are many scenarios where their vulnerability could also provide a long ranged attack(not as strong as the sorceror's Lightning, also put on a cooldown). The devs instead provide options to breaking roots, but what if a Sith warrior could use lightning if he was rooted....lol...anyways... Perhaps the developers could break through the generic class restrictions to offer more dynamic options from any range, each class obviously specialising in either format, but.. I won't hold my breath, but I would go wild if my jug had access to force lightning...like, I can't even describe....

 

This is all pleasant fiction, and I'm positive after playing this game since launch, that the developers truly don't care what we think. I for one really enjoy my powertech, not as much as my juggernaut, but that's irrelevant. I truly hope they leave AP powertechs alone, for in arenas, they could not handle any more nerfs to either their damage, or especially their survivability.

 

I used to think Kolto Overload was a superior self heal, but the high damage capacity within execute range, renders this ability borderline useless. At least with the juggernaut self heal, there are high chances to crit, therefore granting superior temporary survivability.

 

I know it has been popular since 3.0 for the masses to hop on board the "nerf AP train", but these complaints are from uneducated and /or inexperienced game players, who situationally received a series of butt hurt crits from an AP in pvp. The truth of the matter is that AP's might deserve a slight redistrubution of damage potential (via explosive fuel?), but are not overpowered, and people should really be focusing on something else to complain about.

[JianRin]

I've been playing a Tactics Vanguard for awhile and I have to say I've found no real OPness to the class compared to other classes/specs. It's more that it's well balanced. I've found Vengeance Juggernaut, and Marksmanship Sniper to also be well balanced. though they're called OP, I see other classes/specs as more... underperforming, in need of being buffed. If they'd buff the underperforming specs and scale back companions I think the game would be in a better spot.

[Gyronamics]

I've been playing a Tactics Vanguard for awhile and I have to say I've found no real OPness to the class compared to other classes/specs. It's more that it's well balanced. I've found Vengeance Juggernaut, and Marksmanship Sniper to also be well balanced. though they're called OP, I see other classes/specs as more... underperforming, in need of being buffed. If they'd buff the underperforming specs and scale back companions I think the game would be in a better spot.

 

Funnily enough it would appear that the developers are not going to rehash every other class in the game.

 

They have written up nerfs to the few overperforming ones.

[TACeMossie]

So I wasn't sure where to post this, as this is kind of a negative PT thread, and I know people who post on the PT forums won't want to see it. But it is PT specific. I dunno, maybe it will spark some discussion?

 

Anyways, my question, is giving PT most of the benefits of ranged DPS (just losing a bit of range on some attacks and having 1 or 2 real melee attacks) without any of the drawbacks of being ranged (cast time/channels) poor game design?

 

To me, this is why PT's have always been considered a little broken in this game no matter where they were balanced in terms of numbers, and why they've always been very easy to play. Its just simple when you can play like a melee DPS, but your attacks are all at LEAST 10 to 15 meters, except for a token rocket punch or retractable blade (talking about AP, but that or Pyro as it used to be has always been the spec considered a bit broken).

 

As a PT, would you agree that the class is a bit too easy to play when it comes to the melee/ranged balance? And if so, should it be fixed in some way?

 

If so, how? Do you nerf the damage to the point that it pays for being so easy to play with a much lower skill ceiling? Do you actually completely alter the design of the class so they are either required to have more melee uptime or finally have some sort of casts/channels that limit them?

 

Or do you think things are perfectly fine, have always been perfectly fine, and I'm crazy?

 

Please let me know, either way, but this is the one class to me that's always stuck out as not quite fitting in with the ranged/melee design philosophy, and has seemed to always get away with the best of both worlds.

 

Having the mix of melee/range is the entire flavour behind the Powertech/Vanguard. Removing it would be like removing the lightning from sorcerors, the double bladed lightsaber from assassins, the missiles from Mercenaries, or the second lightsaber from a marauder.

 

That said, the class is too powerful to be balanced as a full melee (though it doesn't quite have the 30-35m range of actual ranged classes, so should be slightly better than them).

 

In terms of effectiveness, it should be:

 

Sustained Melee > Pyro/combat > burst melee/sustained range > AP/Engineering > Burst ranged.