Yet another ability slot stolen from Powertechs.

[OptimusPrinceps]

So, with the latest patch, three abilities were taken away from Powertechs and only two were given back. Missile Blast is replaced with Shatter Slug, Death From Above is replaced by Deadly Onslaught, Flamethrower is replaced by Searing Wave and nothing replaces Explosive Dart. Since Searing Wave/Flamethrower was already replaced at higher level by Firestorm, this is not a 1:1 ability replacement. And that's ON TOP OF, Unload having been taken away not long ago and not replaced with anything.

 

***, BioWare? Where's the balance?

[Memo-]

Shatter Slug replaces Explosive Dart. Missile Blast is gone forever, thank heavens.

[OptimusPrinceps]

Gone forever from Powetechs. Mercenaries still have it.

 

Okay, so Shatter Slug replaces Explosive Dart. We're still left with one non-replaced ability.

[HuNtOziO]

And missile blast sucks awfully bad, the new animations look better. I see no problem here

[OptimusPrinceps]

You don't see the problem with an ability being removed and not replaced with anything else? For a second time? Edited November 30, 2016 by OptimusPrinceps

[ekimmak]

Exactly. It may have only been for solo'ing against normal enemies, but the knockback on missile blast let you follow up with Rail Shot. Handy for a final blow, or a starting blow when you have the heat to burn.

 

Unload was part of a three-way stun. Dart one, cryo another, unload the third. That's not there.

 

I really wish they'd stop taking out skills for no reason.

[Frenesi]

If you were using Missile Blast, then you are part of the reason it got removed. You probably don't even realize what a favor Bioware did to you.

[ekimmak]

If you were using Missile Blast, then you are part of the reason it got removed. You probably don't even realize what a favor Bioware did to you.

 

It had more use back when it was a 30 range skill.

 

And removing skills is NEVER a good thing. Better I have something that's never going to be used, than losing something I might have used.

[Frenesi]

It had more use back when it was a 30 range skill.

 

And removing skills is NEVER a good thing. Better I have something that's never going to be used, than losing something I might have used.

 

It never had any use. I remember starting my very first BH, and wondering what exactly was eating so much of my heat. Once i figured it out - I never ever used the damn thing. It shouldn't even be on your bars unless you are IO.

[ekimmak]

Don't be unfriendly.

 

It's useful back in the low levels, where the small hp bars mean that the damage difference is useful.

 

It's useful when you don't care about heat or ammo, you just want this person knocked down ASAP. And that's actually a thing, thanks to the KOTET giving you a bunch of normal and weak enemies that have long duration casts.

 

I don't spam it, I use it intelligently. And anyone who says "Using it intelligently means not using it at all"? Go cut off your pinky finger. Your logic applies just as much there as it does here.

[Glower]

Deadly Onslaught is awesome. Artillery Blitz (pubs version) is terribad.

Just IMO.

[CobaltCannon]

Here are two points that a lot of people and Bioware are missing, And oblivious to:

 

1) Bioware keeps taking from the game and not proportionately giving back to it and it's customers in product development. They consistently nerf powers into uselessness, then remove them and try to justify it by saying that nobody uses the power so let's take it out. Well, nobody uses the power ANYMORE, because Bioware screwed it up to placate the PvP players. Then they contradict their reason for taking that power out, by making all powertech and vanguard powers that same range as the powers they took out. So the reasoning as to why players were not using the power anymore is now going to be the model for all of that class' powers?

 

What is this, "The Producers?" If any of you are not familiar with that title, look it up. It's about producers of a Broadway play that desperately want to get out of their contract. In order to do this, they intentionally make the play so bad hoping to make it flop. It backfires on them and the play is a hit, however I don't see Bioware's completely idiotic decisions as funny nor money making. This WILL fail. Remember the Star Wars Prequels? That's exactly what this expansion is.

 

2) This is even more important of a point as this is what playing games is about. Not everyone wants to play the exact same way.

Not every player wants to only use rotations. I do my best to avoid them. I avoid them to have some style and fun in how I play. I avoid them to enjoy the flash and fun that each individual character ability can bring to the play experience. If I want to do repetitive tasks, then I will get a job working on an assembly line and make money doing it. I will not pay some jerks for that experience. OR, I can go to a Dave'n Busters or Chuckey Cheese and play Whack-a Mole for hours like a moron. I will get the same affect out of that as I am now getting from this game.

 

 

Personal Point: I left World of Warcraft and came to this game years ago, because this game had something that no other MMORPG had, which were Ranged Tanks. Every tank power had that nice 30 meter range. The idea of tanking with a blaster at that range was such a cool idea. My first imperial side character was a powertech and I loved it. I played him all the time. I had a lot of fun until, idiot Bioware nerfed the range of railshot and missile blast to 10 meters. What idiot is going to design a hypersonic projectile weapon to reach out to only 10 meters then stop, or an explosive rocket that reaches out 10 meters and blows up in your own face? I have not been able to play my powertech or vanguard since that nerf without feeling sick. Now I feel like a victim of bait and switch. Now all abilities of the powertech and vanguard only reach out 10 meters. This is not a ranged tank anymore. We have the Knights and Juggernauts for this! We do not need more melee range tanks. This makes the game boring and monotonous. I suspect these nerfs are to pacify PvP whiners, and to heck with them. This game's core and the core of any MMORPG if it IS an MMORPG is PvE. PvP is just something extra to do to keep players from becoming bored from playing the same PvE content. However if you nerf character classes hard to pacify these players then you damage your core player base.

 

And why is all this late game content single player?!!! There is nothing MMO about Knights Of The Failed Expansion, or Knights Of The Exploding Toilet. Why are the core planets being blown off and not developed further? Where is the MMO content?

 

Before some shmoe says it, Yes I am probably going to cancel my subscription to this game now. This is not what I came to this game to play. A Sith (sorcerer) or Jedi (sage) with only one lightsaber power?!! Did these Bioware people even watch the Star Wars movies? Palpatine and Yoda were masters of the lightsaber too and used them!

[CobaltCannon]

Please let me clarify my second point in my previous post:

 

If you take abilities away from classes that add variety for play styles, then the player becomes a drone just going through the repetitive tasks, instead of enjoying a personal play experience for fun.

[Frenesi]

Please let me clarify my second point in my previous post:

 

If you take abilities away from classes that add variety for play styles, then the player becomes a drone just going through the repetitive tasks, instead of enjoying a personal play experience for fun.

 

I'm sorry, but we are all playing WoW-clone MMO. In PVE, that automatically makes us "drones just going through the repetitive tasks". You argument could have been better places in 2.0 era, when there WERE different playstyles outside of pre-determined disciplines. However, you are 3 cycles late by now. Saying that utterly useless skill that barely does any damage and eats ******** of energy somehow forms "variety of playstiles" is simply stupid.

 

As for "Bioware destroying skills", the only time it really reached that magnitude was with Orbital Strike. Pretty much every other skill I can remember that got removed was either useless to begin with (Unload for vanguards), or got replaced by something just as good/ better (Sabotage charge for Scoundrels).

Edited December 1, 2016 by Frenesi

[Marcus_Cade]

We can also no longer Jet Charge in, until lvl59.. Yeah, you read that right: 59!

 

PT Tanking was crazy enough, when we couldn't leap in until 30, but 59!?! Bounty Hunters as a whole have been completely ruined for me, & I have loved them since Beta.

[Frenesi]

We can also no longer Jet Charge in, until lvl59.. Yeah, you read that right: 59!

 

PT Tanking was crazy enough, when we couldn't leap in until 30, but 59!?! Bounty Hunters as a whole have been completely ruined for me, & I have loved them since Beta.

 

Now that's something actually worth complaining about.

[Balameb]

One read this:

http://www.swtor.com/holonet/classes/bounty-hunter/powertech

then you see what the actual reality of the PT is, and there is something really wrong.

 

I can't belive that having one pistol with 30m range in the MAIN HAND, there is absolutely NO skill (other than the base one) that actually uses it (at least for the AP). Only other 30 skill, is a granade at lvl 42!!!!

 

IF Deadly Onslaught were a 30m while still being able to move while casting then less cool than DfA but still very usefull.

Explosive dart replacement is also 10m. Is incredible that all missils have 10m range. So missils that have propulsion have 10m range but Grandes that are thrown by hand reach 30m!!! Hand beats propulsion, very realistic.

 

Being a ranged class and needing to get very close to EVERY ranged enemy to make damge is not what i had in mind when i choose BH.

I stopped using my PT and created a new Merc. The Merc actually has TWO 30 m AoE skills just in the first few lvls.

 

IF BW didn't want to give playes abiliies not meant for that AC then, why do DPS still gets serveral TANK and Healing abilities when not using that specialization??????? That is worst that Mercs and PT sharing BH skills.

[OptimusPrinceps]

Now that's something actually worth complaining about.

Your opinions reek of someone who desperately wants everyone to think they know what they're talking about.

 

The issue is not that they took Missile Blast away from Powertechs. The issue is that they took away yet another ability without replacing it with something else. Meanwhile, said ability was made exclusive to another AC, whose ability count remains the same. This not only puts Powertechs on uneven footing with other classes, but also other divisions within the same class. Add that to the changes to Powertech attack ranges and we're really not looking too well at the moment.

 

I had thought that level cap increases would bring with them a higher skill count, but it seems that the higher the cap goes, the fewer attacks we end up with. Something seems backwards there.

Edited December 3, 2016 by OptimusPrinceps

[Equeliber]

 

Being a ranged class and needing to get very close to EVERY ranged enemy to make damge is not what i had in mind when i choose BH.

 

Powertech is a melee class.

[Equeliber]

This not only puts Powertechs on uneven footing with other classes, but also other divisions within the same class. Add that to the changes to Powertech attack ranges and we're really not looking too well at the moment.

 

You make it sound like Missile blast was a very important skill and now powertechs have lower efficiency because of it's loss. It is wrong, by the way.

 

And repeating: Powertech is positioned as a melee class. Why should you have some big ranged moves when most melees are limited to Saber throws/have nothing?

[Frenesi]

Your opinions reek of someone who desperately wants everyone to think they know what they're talking about.

 

The issue is not that they took Missile Blast away from Powertechs. The issue is that they took away yet another ability without replacing it with something else. Meanwhile, said ability was made exclusive to another AC, whose ability count remains the same. This not only puts Powertechs on uneven footing with other classes, but also other divisions within the same class. Add that to the changes to Powertech attack ranges and we're really not looking too well at the moment.

 

I had thought that level cap increases would bring with them a higher skill count, but it seems that the higher the cap goes, the fewer attacks we end up with. Something seems backwards there.

 

No, the issue is exactly that they took Missile Blast away from Powertechs - spec that had 0 use for it. Not some other ability. Missile Blast. Who cares? You? Why? What drastic changes in your life removal of that skill caused? Or is it about principle? About noble cause to stop evil Bioware from removing skills nobody in their sane mind needs?

 

Your opinion reeks of somebody complaining just for the sake of it.

 

There's ****load of problems with this expansion. Grindwalls. Bugs that disbalance mirror classes. Skill over-nerfs. Removal of QoL, like with Jet Charge. Removal of Missile Blast is not one of those problems, no matter how hard you try to convince everybody. Find some other crusade to participate in.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Frenesi

[OptimusPrinceps]

You make it sound like Missile blast was a very important skill and now powertechs have lower efficiency because of it's loss. It is wrong, by the way.

 

And repeating: Powertech is positioned as a melee class. Why should you have some big ranged moves when most melees are limited to Saber throws/have nothing?

Between the two of us, you're the one making this about Missile Blast. The issue is that Powertechs have one less ability SLOT to use, because Bioware took one away and didn't replace it with anything. This is the second time they've done so, the first time being when they moved Unload to Mercenary exclusivity and didn't replace THAT with anything.

 

No, the issue is exactly that they took Missile Blast away from Powertechs - spec that had 0 use for it. Not some other ability. Missile Blast. Who cares? You? Why? What drastic changes in your life removal of that skill caused? Or is it about principle? About noble cause to stop evil Bioware from removing skills nobody in their sane mind needs?.

Look, I don't have time to explain reading comprehension to you. You're not getting the point, that's fine - don't post in the thread. Circular arguments don't get anyone anywhere. Go start your own thread about the issues you're trying to derail this one with. I don't care if you think this one belongs on your list, or not.

[TalonVII]

A few classes got abilities taken away with nothing returned. Hell on my Shadow for my attack bar I lost 3 skills with nothing to replace them and they were good to use when everything else was on cool down.

 

Missile blast, it was nice when stuff was on cooldown and I had plenty of heat to burn. But I almost never used it. Though truth be told, I would of liked a long range gun shot.

 

I mean the complaint about PT/Vanguards not being 30m tanks anymore, is still a very valid complaint. I would like to see more abilities that use my main weapon in the PT.

[Ginkotea]

The issue is that Powertechs have one less ability SLOT to use, because Bioware took one away and didn't replace it with anything.

 

But how on earth is that an issue? It's not as if more skills are automatically better. Why would they owe us a new skill because they took away a skill they never should have granted in the first place?

[OptimusPrinceps]

But how on earth is that an issue? It's not as if more skills are automatically better. Why would they owe us a new skill because they took away a skill they never should have granted in the first place?

Your logic is flawed and tainted by opinion. This has absolutely nothing to do with more being better, just less being worse. There is no "more" in this scenario. In the last two level cap increases, five levels per increase, they've subtracted two skills, substituted a few and added none, while simultaneously spreading existing skills thinner and thinner over the increased level count (ie: Jet Charge now being a level 59 skill). In this scenario, the quality of the ability/abilities they took from us is irrelevant - It could easily have been replaced with something that might mesh better with the Powertech arsenal.

 

Whether you like it, or not, this is yet another issue that needs to be addressed among the growing list of other quality of life issues Bioware seems to be adding to on a regular basis.