Heroic Star Fortess nerf?

[Warlocc]

So, I'd been reading the forums, all sorts of complaining that H2+ Star Fortress was too hard now, etc.

 

Because of that, I hadn't tried it. Didn't want to waste my time on something that was "too hard" when I could just do solo mode instead.

 

But today I tried it anyway. It wasn't bad at all, just myself with a healer companion. Barely had to use any of my defensive cooldowns at all. Was it nerfed recently? Or am I missing something?

[Skaara]

No, it was never hard. People just aren't any good at the game because their companion does 75-80% of the work while leveling so they don't even use half of their abilities. Even when companions were nerfed it wasn't anywhere near impossible to solo. It's a learn to play issue.

[Ghisallo]

A few things...

 

First the H2+ SF isn't hard. I know of no existing player who has not completed it at this point. It is certainly more of a challenge than the rest of the expac though and this can create a challenge for new players.

 

Here is the thing. Originally the devs intended for leveling and the story to be "easy", the Heroic Missions to be medium, the SF to be challenging. The idea being the Heroic Missions kinda force you to learn your class, get gear etc. Thing was they launched the expac with OP companions that made easy>silly easy, medium>easy and challenging>medium. They nerfed companions, some people freaked, then the buffed companions to stop the freaking out. As such now there is nothing that essentially forces the new players to learn how to play the class. Thing is they also said that they were not going to be needing the H2+ SF.

 

BTW I am not the one saying class knowledge is needed to some degree for the SF, the Lead designer did.

 

That said if you get some decent gear, go to a sight like Dulfy and follow one of the guides and get your Alliance faction up so you can unlock the special abilities in the H2+ SF it is actually easy. I cleared it during the companion nerfed phased with a 186/192 geared Gunnery Commando.

[Aardevark]

That said if you get some decent gear, go to a sight like Dulfy and follow one of the guides and get your Alliance faction up so you can unlock the special abilities in the H2+ SF it is actually easy. I cleared it during the companion nerfed phased with a 186/192 geared Gunnery Commando.

 

And what special abillities are those and what rank of allience do you need ?

[Ghisallo]

And what special abillities are those and what rank of allience do you need ?

 

There is an terminal for each faction in the out of the way places in the SF that Theron "slices" with codes from each faction leader. To slice them you need a faction of 10. However, at least for me they just make things a lot easier. The example I gave above was done just using the initial stat boost that you can get if you click on the first terminal when you enter, that requires no specific faction level.

 

However the abilities are...

 

The Admiral gives you an auto turret that does a lot of damage.

The Hutt gives you a Gizmo that is a big heal followed by a HoT.

The Smuggler gives you an EMP grenade that does damage and has another effect I forget atm.

The Voss gives you a runspeed buff that also has a pulsing AoE centered on yourself.

[Aardevark]

There is an terminal for each faction in the out of the way places in the SF that Theron "slices" with codes from each faction leader. To slice them you need a faction of 10. However, at least for me they just make things a lot easier. The example I gave above was done just using the initial stat boost that you can get if you click on the first terminal when you enter, that requires no specific faction level.

 

However the abilities are...

 

The Admiral gives you an auto turret that does a lot of damage.

The Hutt gives you a Gizmo that is a big heal followed by a HoT.

The Smuggler gives you an EMP grenade that does damage and has another effect I forget atm.

The Voss gives you a runspeed buff that also has a pulsing AoE centered on yourself.

 

Thank you i didn't know about those.

[Ghisallo]

Thank you i didn't know about those.

 

Yeah, I stumbled on them by accident myself. One day I decided to go to a room that wasn't on the path to the finish the SF. I couldn't use it and did some digging and found out it was the alliance faction.

[Keta]

How difficult you wind the SF heroics solo (not solo mode) is dependent upon a lot of variables. These include whether your character is a tank, damage, stealth, healing class and whether it's healing spec'd within those classes. it also depends upon your own abilities or knowledge of the class, lag in the game, and willingness to grind it out.

 

I've only solo'd the heroics on my Jedi shadow who is currently in the serenity tree. The companion I run the heroics with is at 31 and the alliances are all at 15. I do not find the SF Heroics easy solo (again not in solo mode, that IS easy) but they're not impossible and perhaps not even hard. They're tedious and long. There are only two battles that are annoying and once you get the tactics down it makes a big difference the next time.

 

or just get the mission and spam general for a group. Those are easier.

Edited January 9, 2016 by Keta

[Rantank]

With my companions at 40+, my alliance at 10+ and high presence, it was ridiculously easy on both my sin and my merc. But they both have high dps and a solid CC. It wasn't so easy on my healing op. The Voss boss was nasty; at least I think it was that one. He heals and you can't interrupt them all so it takes a certain level of dps. DPS and healing companions won't survive if they get aggro and tanking comps won't put out enough dps. I went through three cycles of turrets against him to put him down. My op wouldn't have been able to do this one without the alliance buffs. But on my merc I was able to kill the bosses, including him, in about the same time it took for them to kill the turret tanking them.

 

How easy it is, is class and role dependent, plus those buffs from the alliance make a huge difference.

Edited January 8, 2016 by Rantank

[The-Kaitou-Kid]

There is an terminal for each faction in the out of the way places in the SF that Theron "slices" with codes from each faction leader. To slice them you need a faction of 10. However, at least for me they just make things a lot easier. The example I gave above was done just using the initial stat boost that you can get if you click on the first terminal when you enter, that requires no specific faction level.

 

However the abilities are...

 

The Admiral gives you an auto turret that does a lot of damage.

The Hutt gives you a Gizmo that is a big heal followed by a HoT.

The Smuggler gives you an EMP grenade that does damage and has another effect I forget atm.

The Voss gives you a runspeed buff that also has a pulsing AoE centered on yourself.

 

The EMP grenade stuns weaker enemies and reduces the damage of stronger enemies. Also, the Turret from Aygo generates a large amount of threat as well so that helps if you're getting focused.

[Rantank]

I would also add one of the most difficult things is trying to loot the crystals in the third room of the ring. Particularly if everything is shooting you rather than your comp. Have to swing the camera to overhead, position yourself just right and click while holding your mouth the right way... all the time the room is filling up with sky troopers who seem to be programmed to stand right on top of what you want to loot, and you're standing in fire rings. Mind you, that would be a lot easier if BW just fixed the looting so it didn't sink into floors or require the sacrifice of live goats to make it work .....

[DarthSpuds]

Yeah, I'd been avoiding them because I'd seen so many comments about them being too hard.

 

When I finally did try I did them all in a an afternoon / evening on my Assassin Tank.

 

And then... ...I tried on my lightning sorc, and through most of it it was just the same, no major issues.

 

But that final Exarch fight is a toughie on a squishy, especially as about mid-way through it became impossible to grab aggro back from my heal companion, so she died with the exarch at about 30% health left. Woah, now, that was some serious bubble-heal, run around and only do damage now and then. Still got the Exarch downed, just took a LOT longer on my Sorc than on my Assassin.

 

All The Best

[Hei_Atzfel]

No, it was never hard. People just aren't any good at the game because their companion does 75-80% of the work while leveling so they don't even use half of their abilities. Even when companions were nerfed it wasn't anywhere near impossible to solo. It's a learn to play issue.

 

This. It was always this. People were complaining that they couldn't solo it in raid gear with 4.0 launch companions FFS.

[Dashtardly]

With my companions at 40+, my alliance at 10+ and high presence, it was ridiculously easy on both my sin and my merc. But they both have high dps and a solid CC. It wasn't so easy on my healing op. The Voss boss was nasty; at least I think it was that one. He heals and you can't interrupt them all so it takes a certain level of dps. DPS and healing companions won't survive if they get aggro and tanking comps won't put out enough dps. I went through three cycles of turrets against him to put him down. My op wouldn't have been able to do this one without the alliance buffs. But on my merc I was able to kill the bosses, including him, in about the same time it took for them to kill the turret tanking them.

 

How easy it is, is class and role dependent, plus those buffs from the alliance make a huge difference.

 

I was able to solo (Alderann) without Alliance buffs on my Jedi Guardian with Kira healing (and only died once when I was blown off the platform by the 1st robot boss). I found it very challenging and I needed to every ability (Heroic Moment etc.). However, when I tried it on my healing sorceress I with a healing companion I just couldn't get it done solo on the consoles before the final boss fight and ended up getting a guildie come in and help - was WAY easier then.

 

So yes, depends on the class, the number of people (have done it with 3 one time and was easy) and whether or not you have the Alliance buffs.

[Ghisallo]

The EMP grenade stuns weaker enemies and reduces the damage of stronger enemies. Also, the Turret from Aygo generates a large amount of threat as well so that helps if you're getting focused.

 

Thanks for the look out on the grenade. I also forgot the aggro thing. On my Guardian in Vigilance stance I have had to taunt a couple times. Lana keeps me up fine and didn't want the Exarch at the end killing the current before its duration was up.

[Ghisallo]

I was able to solo (Alderann) without Alliance buffs on my Jedi Guardian with Kira healing (and only died once when I was blown off the platform by the 1st robot boss). I found it very challenging and I needed to every ability (Heroic Moment etc.). However, when I tried it on my healing sorceress I with a healing companion I just couldn't get it done solo on the consoles before the final boss fight and ended up getting a guildie come in and help - was WAY easier then.

 

So yes, depends on the class, the number of people (have done it with 3 one time and was easy) and whether or not you have the Alliance buffs.

 

I don't necessarily know if it is class as much as class + companion combo. I could see a major issue with healer + healer simply because hiring stuff down would take forever. Example, you would think on my Operative in dps I would have issues. Not the best AoE etc. Really it was only difficult when I tried doing it the same way I did it on my Commando or Guardian. It was on my operative I realized I could actually use my companion healer to face tank one Captain, while I focus fired the other one, then you can actually push the Exarch into the next room before killing the Captains. Killing them is A LOT easier without having that Exarch dropping fire on you.