Suggested Class Balance Changes

[Ottoattack]

This post is suggestion skill balances for PT/Vang. Hopefully a dev reads this.. I encourage other posters to criticize my suggestions and add to them. I will use PT terms.

 

Stats of PT:

 

AP: Good burst, mediocre sustained, mediocre AOE, bad resource management and weak survivability in the current meta.

Pyro: Weak burst, weak sustained, mediocre AOE and worst survivabilty of all DPS specs.

Tank: I personally have not played tank since 3.0, so I will leave this to more informed posters. Feedback consensus is that they are behind the other two tanks, but not by a large margin.

 

In addition, PT has outdated utilities.

Overall PT suggestions:

 

• Add Responsive Safe Guards similar to Mercs. I do not think this skill should heal PT or Merc. For a minimum, just adding it would put PT survivability closer to other dps.
  
• Kolto Overload increased to 40% (as it used to be).
  
• Increase the base damage of Shatter Slug by 10%. Slight AOE buff.
  
• Jet Charge is now a level 10 trainable skill.
  
• Puncture, increase damage of RS by 5%. Slight damage buff.
   
  
• Utility, Reflective Armor, in addition to what it currently does, increase the Close and Personal healing from 2.5% to 3%. At least it maybe considered for extra survivability.
  
• Bracer Propellant utility, instead of MB and FB, increase the range of all 10 meter skills to 12 meters. Range increase.
  
• Combine Pneumatic Boots and Hitman to Pneumatic Boots. I think PT is the only class the currently has these as stand alone utilities. Most classes have something in addition to movement speed increase and interrupt reduction in on utility slot.
  
• Hitman Utility, Rocket Punch and Flaming Fist root the target and prevent using high evasive skills for 2 secs.
  
• Mutilating Shards utility, in addition to what it does, increase the range of Shatter Slug to 20 meters.
  
• Accelerated Reel utility, move the 10 additional range on Grapple from Efficient Suit utility to Accelerated Reel.
  
• Liquid Cooling utility, in addition to what it does it will also remove heat from Carbonize and Electro Dart. Also move from Efficient Suit utility.
  
• Efficient Suit utility, remove the range on SC. Now increase the duration of Kolto Overload to 10 seconds and increase its healing to 50% up from 40%.
  
• Pressure Overrides utility, in addition to what it does, increases range of RS against incapacitated or dotted target to 30 meter.
  
• Shield Cannon utility, also another nerfed utility, which in its current state does not make much sense considering BW is giving DCDs like Candy. In addition to the healing, increase damage reduction by 3% for 2 seconds. Stacks with use.
  
• Fuel Additives utility, currently is useless. Remove the damage reduction. Increase damage and alacrity by 3% while EF is active, instead of what it currently does.
  
• Battering Ram utility, another useless legendary utility. Instead of all what it does, increase Jet Charge damage by 35% and roots the target for 3 seconds instead of 2 seconds.
  

Edited January 29, 2017 by Ottoattack

[Ottoattack]

AP Suggestions:

 

• Stabilized Armor, 30% AOE damage reduction moved to Pyro.
  
• Bloods Tracker, in addition to what it does, increase alacrity by 2%.
  
• Energy Burst, heat cost from 20 down to 15.
  
• Power Loaders, in addition to increasing RP and TD critical chance by 5%, increase RS critical chance by 5%.
  
• Energy Burn, in addition to what it does, increase alacrity by 1% for each charge of Energy Burst used for 30 seconds. Stacks only up to 4%.
  

 

Pyro Suggestions:

 

• Flame Suit, in addition to the dot damage reduction, also decrease AOE damage by 30%.
  
• Insulated Mats, in addition to what it does, Sonic Missile reduce damage received by 25% for 6 seconds.
  
• Superheated Flamethrower, increase the damage by 40% per stack instead of 20%.
  
• Fire Bug, to include Scorch as an additional 10% critical chance.
  
• Consuming Flames, in addition to what it does, hitting a target with Scorch already effected by Scorch, deals the remaining damage on the previously applied Scorch instantly. Does not stack with other Pyros. Yours only.
  

Edited June 2, 2017 by Ottoattack

[TheLadySeydlitz]

Some good ideas there. I also haven't PT tanked much, so I'll just throw in my 2 cents on the dps specs.

I agree with your general assesment on where AP & Pyro stand, and I also agree that the utilties need some sprucing up, the current legendaries in particular are a bit lacking. I also should point out I'm thinking in PvE terms here.

 

Damage-wise, I think AP is in a decent place. It isn't top-tier, but it isn't terrible either, and some of the changes you've suggested would lift it slightly without going over the top, which is what we want. The one suggestion I don't agree with, though, is nerfing Energy Burst's damage by 10%. It's AP's hardest hitting ability, but I find it sits behind Mag Blast, Railshot, Rocket Punch, and Retractable Blade's DoT in terms of overall damage, even after taking Energy Burn into consideration. Could do with a slight buff, if anything, seeing as how it (ideally) only comes around every 4 Railshots. I don't mind the not-so-great aoe damage, as that's Pyro's department. One AP aoe change I would like to see, though, is some more synergy between Retr. Blade and Shatter Slug, such as venting heat in much the same way Railshot does on a bleeding target, for example, and/or spreading the bleeding DoT in addition to refreshing it.

 

I feel Pyro's overall damage needs a good boost, but I haven't played it enough in 5.0 to really say where.

Though I would like to see either Searing Wave improved so it's on-par with the erstwhile Flamethrower, or being reverted back to FT entirely. DoT spreading seems to be harder with SW, too, which needs to change.

A small buff to Reflective Armour & Pyro Shield would be a nice help, just keeping in mind they are dependant on taking damage, which differs from fight to fight.

 

I'd like to see heat management improved slightly. I don't mind some classes requiring a bit more skill in juggling resources to use effectively, but neither dps spec hits hard enough, or is useful enough, to warrant the current heat costs. It's a bit too easy for things to spiral out of control, and difficult to get back on track again, especially with AP's aoe. That said, I wouldn't make huge changes either, given that we have two heat-reducing abilities and a small amount of heat venting on Close & Personal, though C&P may or may not be useful depending on the fight. Proper use of Rapid Shots helps, of course, but it's not ideal, I think. Gyroscopic Alignment Jets can also help, but is very situational.

For AP, I'd stick with your suggestion of reducing Energy Burst from 20 to 15, and I'd also like to see Mag Blast and Retr. Blade reduced from 15 to 10 or 12. I can't think of what Pyro's heat costs are off the top my head, but making similar reductions as with AP would be fine. I think this would be enough to lessen heat issues slightly, and give players a tad more leeway in their rotations, without making heat use a non-issue.

 

PT survivability needs some improvement too, especially for poor old Pyro, which is way too squishy for a heavy armour-wearing melee class. Personally, I'd like to see that new dcd removed from Mercs and given to PT's. Mercs don't need it, they've got Energy Shield, Energy Rebounders, Kolto Overload, offheals, and good healing utilties for Energy Shield, while PT's have next to nothing. Plus, the whole reflecting damage schtick is more of a PT thing anyway, so it would fit in nicely. The amount of healing it does needs to be toned way down, though.

I also think Pyro should have Energy Rebounders too, not just AP. Partially because the Pyro Shield utility screams out 'Pyro spec' to me, and yet AP gets more use out of it by virtue of having E. Rebounders. How does that make sense?

Pyro's 30% dmg red. on Kolto Overload is handy, but only in an emergency, and normally the idea of having/using dcd's is to avoid being placed in that situation to begin with. Being able to generate a small amount of passive DR might also be worthwhile, much like, for example, Lightning and Deception do.

 

Two more things I'll touch on, range and Shoulder Cannon, which I actually went over in another thread, but I'll throw it in here too. This is a slight alteration on your ideas, but I'd like to see all our 10m ranged attacks get bumped up to 20m, so we sit in the middle of the 4m/10m melee and the 30m/35m ranged, as a true medium range class. This could be implented via a utility or just as a flat PT-wide change. May or may not be all that useful in the grand scheme of things, but it'd be nice to have something different apart from 4m/10m and 30m/35m range.

Now, for Shoulder Cannon, I'd like for Pyro and Shieldtech to have their own improvements much like AP does. As we know, AP has a damage buff and 3 extra missiles. I'd give Pyro aoe damage to each missile, with range/damage similar to Flame Sweep, for example, plus a burning DoT component for some extra damage. For Shieldtech, I'd go with your idea for the Shield Cannon utility, let each missile grant a stack of DR or an increase to shield/absorb, to fit with the tank theme.

 

Holy long post, Batman

[ScottGrim]

I like alot of the suggestions that have been made ive been playing vanguard since it came out

 

the spec i play is tactics ( or the old assult. spec)

 

here are a few suggestions that i can make

 

number one is the dps tactics is known for its hard hitting burst keep it that way by no means should we be nerfing

cell blast. if anything we need to buff it a small bit anywhere from 3% to maybe 5% and get rid of the dot on it ( we are a burst class quit giving us dots)

 

tone done the amount of stacks to 3 for cell burst, and make shoulder cannon for tactics a 3 round burst that we can fire four times

 

or change up gut a bit and a utilty if we are dead set on being melee range fine but lets act like it

 

hand to hand combantant: stock strike and high inpact bolt can proc gut which does 10-25k crit ( does not bleed the target when proced) and has a chance to proc cellburst instantly as though it has full stacks

 

as for the dcd i feel as AD does not do its job wellneeds to be buffed or completely redone

 

and i agree with getting the commando dcd with the refelct as most melee toons have some type of big dcd

 

as for the AOE the slug isnt to bad but the new one ( i dont remeber its name other then the bright purple sparkly crap)

 

come on guys we are soliders/troopers play into that have us lob a greanade in the middle of them and have a count down or if it has to be channeled or a count down have use throw 3 grenades in there and they go off one after each other

 

we are troopers we wanna feel like trooper we dont need bright glowy abilities to be happy we are the grunts let us burst get bussness done get dirty and then go home, we dont need purple lighting coming from the end of my rifle

 

and last suggestion if you all are determind to keep us in melee range only for our ablities then give a shot gun type of weapon, not a rifle

 

( now i am not perfect with spelling or numbers nor am i stating this will fix everything but i thought i could give a few ideas)

we need to make the rotation feel less clunky

 

I really love this class and i wanna see it fixed in 5.2 or faster please BIOWARE or EA really read this entire forum post listen to all these players most of which have played this class for a long time take in what we are saying and please fix our class we need it ( again i talked about tactics the most becuase thats what i play the other two spec also need attention)

[Ottoattack]

Thinking about it again, I took out of Energy Burst damage decrease. It still needs to cost less energy.

[KainrycKarr]

I would add that Kolto Overload needs a flat increase to tick rate. It's too easy for even a single player to burst through it.

 

Drop Hydraulic Overrides' cooldown back to what it used to be, now that PT is almost strictly melee range.

[mmmbuddah]

Plasmatech def needs some help. Fighting mercs at the moment as a plasmatech VG is a pain , to say the least. I can do it, but god is it tedious.

[Ottoattack]

Plasmatech def needs some help. Fighting mercs at the moment as a plasmatech VG is a pain , to say the least. I can do it, but god is it tedious.

 

From what I suggested on top of shield and KO you get:

 

Responsive safe guards, same as mercs.

25% reduced damage on AOE taunt.

30% AOE damage reduction.

 

I think that should be more than sufficient.

[TheLadySeydlitz]

Having done some PT tanking in the last few days, I've got a couple of balance ideas to throw in here.

 

Defensively, I feel they could do with another dcd, much like the dps specs, or a reduction to Energy Shield's cd, so they can get some more use out of it. I'd also like to see some sort of defensive buff attached to Sonic Missile, maybe the tank could gain a reflect shield for a short duration of, say, 5 seconds. Another idea, in keeping with the strong passive defenses schtick of PT tanks, would be to increase the passive DR/shield/absorb buffs in the skill tree ever so slightly.

Add something like 2% to them, just for a small boost, nothing over the top.

 

Like the dps specs, I feel heat management is a slight issue. To improve on this, I'd like to see the tank spec get a little more use out of Close and Personal, and make a change to the Shield Vents passive. Currently it vents 1 heat on shielding/defending an attack every 1.5 seconds, which is next to useless. I'd bump up the heat vented to about 3, and reduce the 1.5 seconds to 1. Just a small improvement, nothing silly.

 

Utility-wise, two things. Firstly, I'd like to see Grapple improved by allowing it pull in 2 additional targets if they're within about 5m of the pulled target, much like how the comp tank multi-grapple works. Some might say that'd be silly or overpowered or whatever, but I think it'd give PT's a unique boost the other two tanks don't have, which wouldn't be a bad thing considering that PT's seem to be last in the 5.x tank pecking order. Getting rid of the 10m minimum range could also be handy, but that's probably best worked into Reel and Rattle.

 

Secondly, something needs to be done with Translocate, because at the moment it's really only good for trolling teammates. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Translocating unsuspecting group members, it's great fun when they aren't paying attention, but that shouldn't be it's primary purpose. I'd reduce the activation time from whatever it currently is, I can't remember, to either instant or near to it, say, half a second. I'd also reduce the cd by 15 or 20 seconds. That way, it might actually be useful for getting people out of trouble.

[BadHoneyBadger]

One thing I see on here as well as other of these forums is that people suggest changes based on their playing style, utilities they take, and spec they play. As players we have a lot of near sighted opinions when it comes to class changes because often we do not take everything into consideration. For example,

 

Will the utility change suggested that you want for your spec interfere with other specs?

How will changing X utility affect the interaction with abilities of specific bosses abilities in operations (such as reflection in Karragas Palace standing in fire)

PVP open world, PvP ranked, PvP unranked

Every Operation, Flashpoint, class mission, and possible heroic

 

Bioware has to take so much more into consideration than just "oh this is what PT players want" because in the past this has been a disaster for them as well as other MMO's.

[Ottoattack]

One thing I see on here as well as other of these forums is that people suggest changes based on their playing style, utilities they take, and spec they play. As players we have a lot of near sighted opinions when it comes to class changes because often we do not take everything into consideration. For example,

 

Will the utility change suggested that you want for your spec interfere with other specs?

How will changing X utility affect the interaction with abilities of specific bosses abilities in operations (such as reflection in Karragas Palace standing in fire)

PVP open world, PvP ranked, PvP unranked

Every Operation, Flashpoint, class mission, and possible heroic

 

Bioware has to take so much more into consideration than just "oh this is what PT players want" because in the past this has been a disaster for them as well as other MMO's.

 

So to paraphrase: "PT is broken. It is okay for it to be broken cuz BW has no time to fix. No one should dare to make any suggestions cuz they have no clue what they are talking about and BW wisdom is supreme."

 

Tell me one game mode where any PT spec excels?

Edited February 9, 2017 by Ottoattack

[crackerchocolate]

1. Replace any move that requires PT/Vanguard to be within 4m. Make them a true mid ranged dps class with all attacks being at 10m. It will have little if any effect with pvp but it can help out in group pve scenarios.

 

2. (censored)- you know why Bioware!

 

3. Survivability of a pyrotech/plasmatech is currently similar to 4.0 merc/mando. You showed them some love with a new defensive cooldown. Bioware needs to show the same love to pyrotechs and plasmatechs.

[Thaladan]

in fact it would be nice to see PT be the only 10-15m dps class.

 

replacing all 4m by 10m and 10 by 15.

 

or at least a complete 10m class.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Thaladan

[forestguard]

1. Replace any move that requires PT/Vanguard to be within 4m. Make them a true mid ranged dps class with all attacks being at 10m. It will have little if any effect with pvp but it can help out in group pve scenarios.

 

I'd be ok with that, but only if it was just for plasma and tactics, if not just plasma. As fas as Shield specialist, they need to be mostly melee. It's just the nature of being the tank.

 

3. Survivability of a pyrotech/plasmatech is currently similar to 4.0 merc/mando. You showed them some love with a new defensive cooldown. Bioware needs to show the same love to pyrotechs and plasmatechs.

 

Agreed on this one.

[Menaur]

Jet charge at Level 59 looks like an joke.

[forestguard]

Jet charge at Level 59 looks like an joke.

 

It's incredibly annoying. Shadows at least have Force Speed as a makeshift gapcloser, but Hold the Line's speed boost isn't quite enough. Harpoon is acquired earlier, which works unless you want to do a FP where tanks can't use it to gapclose because of Boss Immunity, and dps can't use it for the same reason as well as the amount of threat it generates. I'd personally prefer the two be swapped level-wise, as having Storm/Jet Charge earlier would help a good bit.

[Nevers]

I'd love to see some more range back in their tool kits.

 

Though, part of the issues with Vanguard/PT is that our Utilities are crap. I struggle to find a real meaningful upgrade to my character when it comes time to choose a utility. And none current choices really scream at me that I must have it.

 

As a start, I would like to see something like "Reflexive Shield" utility from Commando in Vanguard.

 

 

It's incredibly annoying. Shadows at least have Force Speed as a makeshift gapcloser, but Hold the Line's speed boost isn't quite enough. Harpoon is acquired earlier, which works unless you want to do a FP where tanks can't use it to gapclose because of Boss Immunity, and dps can't use it for the same reason as well as the amount of threat it generates. I'd personally prefer the two be swapped level-wise, as having Storm/Jet Charge earlier would help a good bit.

 

Threat issues aside... You can't use harpoon while out of combat. So having it as a gap closer will not work. The animation time on it also sucks. Either way, if we can't pull X because its a boss, or whatever, then Harpoon should pull us to it.

[forestguard]

Threat issues aside... You can't use harpoon while out of combat. So having it as a gap closer will not work. The animation time on it also sucks. Either way, if we can't pull X because its a boss, or whatever, then Harpoon should pull us to it.

 

Something must be different then, because I've been testing it and, outside something that it immune to movement effects, it still pulls the target to me, even when using it to start the fight. Works for me exactly like Force Pull for Shadow/Sins..

[Balameb]

It's incredibly annoying. Shadows at least have Force Speed as a makeshift gapcloser, but Hold the Line's speed boost isn't quite enough. Harpoon is acquired earlier, which works unless you want to do a FP where tanks can't use it to gapclose because of Boss Immunity, and dps can't use it for the same reason as well as the amount of threat it generates. I'd personally prefer the two be swapped level-wise, as having Storm/Jet Charge earlier would help a good bit.

 

Shadows/Sins not only have force speed, we have a "little" thing called stealth that lets us place ourselves in any position we want in 80%+ (or more) of the fights.

The only reason i missed a gap closer with my sin while leveling was because i saw the Warriors Force Charge and thought to myself: what a cool move, i want it. But with Stealth + Melee companion (Khem) mobs are almost always in your range or very close to it.

PTs/VGs really need a gap closer in early levels.

[realleaftea]

Or at least lower the requirements for the corresponding utilities. F.e.

 

Powertech

Pneumatic Boots (+15% permanent speed boost) to skillful

Overdrive (+80% speed for 6s every 45s via Hydraulic Override) to masterful

 

Makes the class more mobile. Pneumatic Boots would become available at lvl15, Overdrives at lvl 30.

 

And due to the fact that Hydraulic Override is currently a lvl 26 skill. it would be available 4 levels before a player could choose Overdrive That's enough time to get used to the base form and to decide whether an upgrade is worth a pick.

 

Furthermore, It would make PTs similar to other melee classes:

 

 

Juggernaut

Warmonger (lowered CD for Force Leap) is skillful

Unshakled Rage (purge & +50% speed for 6s every 45s via Enrage) is masterful

 

Whereas a Powertech starts with a 30m attack, a Juggernaut starts with a Force Charge. That's not exactly the same, but Powertech abilities tend to have a 10m range, not a 4m range.

 

Making Pneumatic Boots a skillful utility for Powertechs wouldn't eliminate the differences either, but it would support the kiting or mid-range capabilities of a Powertech. A masterful Overdrive would then be a counterpart to a Juggernaut's second speed boost via Unshakled Rage. Once again, the Powertech gets a higher speed boost,

 

Marauder

Relentless (a fix 30s CD for Predation) is masterful

Phantom (+15% perm.; +50% speed for 4s every 45s via Force Camouflage) is masterful

 

Marauders are quite similar to Juggernauts. They also get an early Force Charge. Unlike Juggernauts however, they don't get the Warmonger utility. Instead, they receive a +50% speed boost at lvl22 (Predation) and another one at lvl30 (Force Camouflage).

 

Therefore, to make Overdrive as a masterful utility would be more than fair. Instead of getting 2x 50% speed boosts, a Powertech would receive a single 80% boost.

 

Assassin

Speed Surge (+50% speed for 9s every 18s) is masterful

Obfuscation (+15% speed) is masterful

 

Assassins get Stealth early on and receive a speed boost at lvl16 (Force Speed). Not only would Force Speed be enough to justify Overdrive as a masterful utility, Assassins do receive another speed boost via Speed Surge.

 

And this doesn't take into account that Assassins get a powerful incapacitating effect (Whirlwind). That's why I would prefer if BioWare would swap Obfuscation with Oppressing Force. As a result, Assassins would be able to pick the 15% permanent speed boost as a skillful utility... just like the Pneumatic Boots would for Powertech. And it would counter the speed malus of Stealth.

 

Operative

Infiltration (+15% speed) is skillful

Hit & Run (+50% speed for 3s every 6s via Shiv) is masterful

 

Operatives also get Stealth early on, but they don't receive any other speed boost. Both Exfiltrate and Holotraverse become available much later (lvl51 & lvl59). So except for Stealth, they are quite similar to Powertechs. Overdrive as a masterful utility would therefore be the justified counterpart to Hit-n-Run... And IMO, it deserves to be more powerful due to it's limited duration, the potential tank role and the lack of Stealth.

 

But in order to make Overdrive a masterful utility, other utilities would have to be moved as well.

My suggestions:

 

Reflective Armor (AoE reflect via Close & Personal) to masterful

 

A reflect - especially reflecting AoE damage isn't that important, that's why I would shift it to masterful. In addition, the utility becomes available before the character gets access to the passive ability (Close & Personal).

 

Pyro Shield to heroic

 

Similar to Reflective Armor, a damage redirect isn't that important early on.

 

Torgue Booster / Mutilated Shards or Efficient Suit to legendary

 

All three are a must-have. The legendary utilities on contrast, are currently quite underwhelming.

My choice would be Efficient Suit, but it might be more useful to redistribute the effects instead.

Edited February 22, 2017 by realleaftea

[Balameb]

Looking for info in PT/VG in general i found that when 4.0 hit (or was in beta) Jet Charge got the same problem as now (lvl 61). But it was fixed fast with a patch to lvl 22:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=836431

 

Why after already correcting a mistake they decide to put it back?????

 

For the bounty week in order to grind a few more contracts I took out of the closet my PT (is the evil twin of my Merc, actually only turned full dark side evil after he got nerfed in 5.0). I said to myself, lets try the PT again (is in early 30s): Still painfull, lack of range+no jet charge even the lowest mobs are torture. It feels like playing a Sin (no charge) on Korriban as a F2P player (no sprint), with the added thing that when you are ready to fight your companion(healer) already took care of it, so you are more passanger than ever.

 

They should just switch: change Grapple to lvl 59 and Jet Charge to lvl 22. Still PT/VG would be unbalanced but at leat leveling would not be that much of o torture.

 

Anybody tried leveling tank PT/VG??? With the added aggro, is it at least a little better? Or is actually worse?

[forestguard]

Looking for info in PT/VG in general i found that when 4.0 hit (or was in beta) Jet Charge got the same problem as now (lvl 61). But it was fixed fast with a patch to lvl 22:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=836431

 

Why after already correcting a mistake they decide to put it back?????

 

For the bounty week in order to grind a few more contracts I took out of the closet my PT (is the evil twin of my Merc, actually only turned full dark side evil after he got nerfed in 5.0). I said to myself, lets try the PT again (is in early 30s): Still painfull, lack of range+no jet charge even the lowest mobs are torture. It feels like playing a Sin (no charge) on Korriban as a F2P player (no sprint), with the added thing that when you are ready to fight your companion(healer) already took care of it, so you are more passanger than ever.

 

They should just switch: change Grapple to lvl 59 and Jet Charge to lvl 22. Still PT/VG would be unbalanced but at leat leveling would not be that much of o torture.

 

Anybody tried leveling tank PT/VG??? With the added aggro, is it at least a little better? Or is actually worse?

 

I will usually level my characters in their tank spec so I can better learn the ins and outs as I level. Unfortunately, I didn't do that the entire time with my current VG (did most as Plasma in PvP and FPs because I didn't know bout how low the dps was, but still had a blast and usually did pretty well), but I did have to do some tanking in FPs and a short time in PvP and the class story. For me, I suffered through until 22, got Harpoon, and had to use that with a little more thought for engaging (ex, a mob has one ranged enemy and the rest melee, use harpoon on the ranged and the rest come to you). Other times, if my comp or someone pulled aggro, I'd just quickly cast Sonic Round, place myself on top of the aggro table, and hold from there.

[Ottoattack]

I will usually level my characters in their tank spec so I can better learn the ins and outs as I level. Unfortunately, I didn't do that the entire time with my current VG (did most as Plasma in PvP and FPs because I didn't know bout how low the dps was, but still had a blast and usually did pretty well), but I did have to do some tanking in FPs and a short time in PvP and the class story. For me, I suffered through until 22, got Harpoon, and had to use that with a little more thought for engaging (ex, a mob has one ranged enemy and the rest melee, use harpoon on the ranged and the rest come to you). Other times, if my comp or someone pulled aggro, I'd just quickly cast Sonic Round, place myself on top of the aggro table, and hold from there.

 

As someone who had PT since 1.3, Jet Charge was not there and was not needed. Even now, if you can use a 30 meter skill between 10-30 meter range and can within 10 meter in one GCD, JC is a dps loss, and early in 4.0 JC should be very low on your priority list. BW also realized this, and cuz they want to force feed us how to play, they start cliping the range of all 30 meter skills so we have no choice but to use JC. We either go back to 3.0 format and remove JC or have it available at a low level.

 

No question, AP PT (previously pyro) was strongest from 2.4 through 4.0. With 4.1 burst was neutered, then range, then sustain dps and range again in 5.0. Also, between mid 3.0 era and now survivability was nerfed twice (slightly though) even though 5.0 buffed the DCDs of all other dps classes, leaving PT without range, with mediocre damage and ****** survivability.

[forestguard]

As someone who had PT since 1.3, Jet Charge was not there and was not needed. Even now, if you can use a 30 meter skill between 10-30 meter range and can within 10 meter in one GCD, JC is a dps loss, and early in 4.0 JC should be very low on your priority list. BW also realized this, and cuz they want to force feed us how to play, they start cliping the range of all 30 meter skills so we have no choice but to use JC. We either go back to 3.0 format and remove JC or have it available at a low level.

 

No question, AP PT (previously pyro) was strongest from 2.4 through 4.0. With 4.1 burst was neutered, then range, then sustain dps and range again in 5.0. Also, between mid 3.0 era and now survivability was nerfed twice (slightly though) even though 5.0 buffed the DCDs of all other dps classes, leaving PT without range, with mediocre damage and ****** survivability.

 

I've never used Storm for dps purposes. I play tank specs. I use it to start the fight off quicker and gret in range for my high threat abilities before the dps start hammering away. I'd much prefer if we got it earlier...or at least as the lvl 10 tank spec skill and ditch transpose. If they want PT/VG to have range again, my thought was to make it specific to tactics/ap and pyro/plasma. Buff damage of both, maybe another dcd, and increase dos survivability slighty and thT of tanks a lot more.

 

AP/Tactics - buff range and damage

Pyro/Plasma - buff damage and either range or short range defenses

Shield Tech/Shield Specialist - buff defenses at least, if damage than to a lesser extent than the ofher two.

 

My issue with adding range to Shield Tech is it can become a pain to balance in such a way that will be fair.

[Ottoattack]

I've never used Storm for dps purposes. I play tank specs. I use it to start the fight off quicker and gret in range for my high threat abilities before the dps start hammering away. I'd much prefer if we got it earlier...or at least as the lvl 10 tank spec skill and ditch transpose. If they want PT/VG to have range again, my thought was to make it specific to tactics/ap and pyro/plasma. Buff damage of both, maybe another dcd, and increase dos survivability slighty and thT of tanks a lot more.

 

AP/Tactics - buff range and damage

Pyro/Plasma - buff damage and either range or short range defenses

Shield Tech/Shield Specialist - buff defenses at least, if damage than to a lesser extent than the ofher two.

 

My issue with adding range to Shield Tech is it can become a pain to balance in such a way that will be fair.

 

For tank I 100% agree. It was always a skill below level 15 in 1.0 through 3.0. Why has that changed? No one knows.

 

Why did KO change from 40% to 35%? Also, no one knows.

 

KO for pyro did not work for almost the entire 3.0 period and not even an acknowledgement from BW for month.

 

The last time I re-call BW spoke specifically about PT the called a melee class, even through PT has only one skill that is 4 meter. So you kind get the level of intelligence of the dev team. I am hoping for change, hence this thread; unless BW fires the lead dev and probably the who even is in charge of SWTOR, it is really doubtful.

Edited February 20, 2017 by Ottoattack