PvP and Why It Sucks (As a level 50 Marauder)

[Biboonz]

the only issue i have in pvp at the moment , and that is playing a lvl 50 marauder as well , is CC.

So much cc , you get cc'd you break cc , they will just cc you again etc..

I understand some classes need cc but as a melee i get cc'd the most, we should have more means of getting out of cc or our cc break should be on a lower CD and/or grant a few seconds of cc imunity when we use it.

[Temeluchus]

I don't know how people have so may problems with agame before they even know how to play it. Most if not all the isues are l2p. Also because someon is better then u and can kill u dosent mean its broken. You have an issue with every class and the issue with yours is that its not good enuff then u want core abilities nerfed for other classes to make ur life easier. I appreciate the post and I'm sure there is some validity to it but I can promise you that u have not tried your hardest to counter these issues. To all the players on the opposite side of ur argument there is nothing wrong with the game othr then the competition is weak. Common I've fought multple players using your class that are tearing up the battlegrounds. The games fo everyone and this game has a steep learning curve especially without being able to just spam buttons and it seperates the good from bad and I love that more then anything. Just looks like the other players puled ahead of u sooner then later.

 

Posts like this contribute little or nothing to the discussion, you obviously skimmed the OP, thought to yourself" I'm doing fine in PvP therefore everyone else has to be doing so as well" and posted about it. Some of the issues brought up about Maras in warzones are L2play things and can be fixed with time and practice or simply gaining levels until Maras are viable in PvP,but others can only be remedied by BioWare.

 

I can't speak for the OP, but I routinely finish in the top 3 in kills,damage and medals in my warzones without a healer and even better with one, our damage or how we play was never an issue.

 

One of the issues is every other class as well as the specs has some sort of humanoid CC, ability to stunlock, root, useful snare or knockback that gives that class a tactical advantage that we don't have. Our stuns are either channeled,break upon damage or last for 6 seconds and we have no knockback. Our slows are either spec specific or reliant on RNG. We have no knockbacks to speak of or a way to counter the knockbacks of other classes other than positioning ourselves as quickly as possible and praying we don't end up off the ledge,in fire or poison.

 

BioWare addressing the issue or giving us some kind of counter or ability like a knockback,stunlock,humaoid cc or root would level the playing field.

 

Right now as a Mara in warzones, we are relegated to carefully choosing our targets,avoiding open areas, quickly positioning ourselves for the inevitable knockback/root, spamming our 6 sec. 99% dmg reduction ability when stunlocked, watching some keyboard turning monkey run in circles using his abilities while a majority of ours either cannot be used or will not go off unless the target is in front of us. We still do pretty well given our limitations but I'd like to see some class parity and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

 

BTW, L2useparagraphs.

[Ceraz]

Posts like this contribute little or nothing to the discussion, you obviously skimmed the OP, thought to yourself" I'm doing fine in PvP therefore everyone else has to be doing so as well" and posted about it. Some of the issues brought up about Maras in warzones are L2play things and can be fixed with time and practice or simply gaining levels until Maras are viable in PvP,but others can only be remedied by BioWare.

 

I can't speak for the OP, but I routinely finish in the top 3 in kills,damage and medals in my warzones without a healer and even better with one, our damage or how we play was never an issue.

 

One of the issues is every other class as well as the specs has some sort of humanoid CC, ability to stunlock, root, useful snare or knockback that gives that class a tactical advantage that we don't have. Our stuns are either channeled,break upon damage or last for 6 seconds and we have no knockback. Our slows are either spec specific or reliant on RNG. We have no knockbacks to speak of or a way to counter the knockbacks of other classes other than positioning ourselves as quickly as possible and praying we don't end up off the ledge,in fire or poison.

 

BioWare addressing the issue or giving us some kind of counter or ability like a knockback,stunlock,humaoid cc or root would level the playing field.

 

Right now as a Mara in warzones, we are relegated to carefully choosing our targets,avoiding open areas, quickly positioning ourselves for the inevitable knockback/root, spamming our 6 sec. 99% dmg reduction ability when stunlocked, watching some keyboard turning monkey run in circles using his abilities while a majority of ours either cannot be used or will not go off unless the target is in front of us. We still do pretty well given our limitations but I'd like to see some class parity and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

 

BTW, L2useparagraphs.

 

What you said was basically the entirety of my post. I am typically top 3 on the Warzone leaderboards regardless due to skill and knowing who/when to fight. However, that does not make up for the sheer lack of nonsense that is constant CC's and the lack of any ability to counter them, or do them myself. This is exactly what I want, to be able to avoid being stunlocked and be able to actually play some PvP.

 

In terms of a game like Huttball, I am great at picking off single targets near the center of the level. Any time there is combat near the catwalks, I tend to avoid it because I simply cannot compete there. If I use 'force charge' to gain position on someone, I can almost be guaranteed that I will be immediately knocked off the catwalk, or into a fire trap and stunlocked. It's simply not fun and there's not really anything I can do to prevent it with the exception of avoiding those critical areas of a match all together.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Ceraz

[LordKyrone]

Hello there, just quickly jumping in with my own little bits of feedback on this post, I like some of the issue brought up and there are some valid points:

 

1. Playing on a PvP Server

My main is a 50 Sith Marauder on the Death Wind Corridor server. I have always loved open world PvP and have partaken in it gleefully since the days of the Second Age of Ultima Online (before the concept of having a world where PvP couldn't happen existed) and really enjoy the risk and reward aspect.

 

Yes, I said risk and reward. So I'm trudging along for a while on Tatooine when I finally come across my first Republic player in the open world. I quickly get a jump on him and after fighting him for a few moments, I get that exciting deathblow... annndd... nothing. Nothing happened. There was no XP bonus, no form of token, not even a 'valor' increase.

 

With this idea of added risk, there needs to be a reward. Without it, I've found that other players will avoid PvP even on a PvP server and typically try to go around the others, even if they have a level advantage. This needs to change and a simple way to fix that would be to add rewards. Simply add something like... Mercenary Commendations for open world PvP.

 

This is one of my favourite points, at the moment I pvp purely for malicious intent, I changed servers to a pvp server from a pve server I played in beta and pre-launch just because I wanted to annoy and murder other players in open world where we are not all on even stats, infact I found a group of players who like to do this, so a reward for doing what we love would be fantastic.

 

2. The Commendation System

Speaking of Commendations... the current system for getting them is absolutely terrible. Currently, the only two ways to get Mercenary Commendations is to 1) Trade 30 Warzone Commendations for 10 Mercenary Commendations (3:1! That's insane!) OR get lucky and find a chest in the Outlaw's Group PvP zone on Tatooine.. which was recently stealth nerfed into oblivion.

 

What needs to be done? Make commendations more available and frankly, worth getting. Doing obscene numbers of warzones isn't fun, engaging, or even challenging. It's getting to the point where I can see someone paying someone else to play a warzone for them, seeing as how you still get a decent number even on a loss.

 

This as itself I think is a good point, however it is not exactly like you are punished for playing a lot of warzones, if you play theme as much as I do in the end the 3:1 ratio does not matter too much.

 

3. Warzone Balance

Part 1: The Spaceship (Assault)

Oh boy. Let's talk about this colossal failure. So if you've never played it (which I imagine many of you haven't after being forced to play Huttball until your eyes bleed), basically the two teams get a turn of assaulting a level by planting a bomb (3 or 5 second click, I can't remember as I've only played it very few times) on a door. The typical 'shield door with random timer' as in Huttball is present for every time you die, causing this one to be even more infuriating than Huttball.

 

The major issues with this are the Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor classes (and believe me, I'll talk more about certain parts of them later.) They can literally run past everyone stealthed and run right up to the door, making the only viable strategy on defense NOT to block the oncoming attack, but to babysit a door. To make matters worse, if one bomb goes off they proceed to the next stage, making this heavily stacked for the offense. Even worse, is that these same classes I mentioned before have that lovely 'speed burst' skill and can literally get to the next door bomb location before you can get out of the spawn if you are unlucky. To be honest, the only ways I can think of fixing this awful game is to make it so that the door releases more often for the defenders and to possibly make the bomb time longer than 3 or 5 seconds?

 

What is wrong with this? it is a perfectly good strategy, infact when I’m commanding I send all our stealthed forces one way, then make everyone else charge the other door as a diversion, in the end it is a perfectly legitimate tactic; plus if you are annihilation Marauder like you should be, an 80% speed boost for longer than the force wielding class more than makes up for it, even if you have to wait till higher levels to use it effectively.

 

Now I have seen games where I’ve watched classes run in, plant the bomb, then have their entire team camp the door before I was even able to get out of spawn on the defensive side, yes it is annoying, but it doesn’t happen all the time; as it is it is pretty balanced. Personally I would rather see more warzones.

 

Part 2: Huttball

Yeah. You know this one because it's probably the only one you ever get to play. It's boring, it's not exactly in the spirit of PvP, and honestly if you play the game objectively (scoring the ball for example) you'll end up with less commendations/xp/rewards than someone who just ran around and murdered people.

 

Here is a massive tip, stay near the ball handler killing all in his way, you get objective points and dps points, if required you can always take the ball from a pass and get in the final push for points, yes some people will get a lot of commendations by avoiding the ball and just killing/healing, but they do not get good rewards by causing their team to lose like this.

 

Your charge is amazing for not even using ramps in warzones, I’ve gone from the bit below the ramps to the score zone so many times, followed by stacking 30 points of fury with an ability and 80% speed boost with spending them I can score very easily.

 

You mention it more in your next post but defending as a Marauder is easy, if you have annihilation you can charge at short range stunning them for 2 seconds, if you were smart enough to take some of the other low level abilities in rage you can stun them for 3 seconds, followed by another 3 second stun from choke, then a 50% speed decrease from a 2 cost rage hit, now if by this time you and your team have not killed the player with the ball, they deserve to score. As you can lower the cool down of force charge I’ve set up chains where I charge, choke, slow, charge again, essentially stopping all movement, normally by now I have all my ranged allies hitting them and they just cannot score.

 

The Arena:

Lets talk about the Arena from a Marauders point of view. I come down from the spawn, and there's a large ledge where the score zone is that can only be reached by ramps. Ok, that means that anyone can't just walk up and score. At least, that's the intention. Every class to my knowledge (Except the Jedi Sentinel) get some form of push or knockback. Even the other specialization of the Sith Warrior gets 'Force Push' which lets them push people off of these ramps. Me? Not a single one.

 

The ramps are frustrating alone as it is when you take into account just knockbacks and pushes even from a purely defensive standpoint when you have NONE of the abilities both your team-mates and opponents have. To make matters worse, there are flame traps. Guess what gets used on flame traps all the time? stuns. I'll talk more about stuns later, but in terms of PvP in general these are ridiculous...

 

What can I say to make this arena any better? Maybe add an ability in Huttball that lets players get somewhere near their defense zone? Better yet, add more approaches to being able to score. As it is, Huttball is simply infuriating to play as someone who cannot defend the score zone or a ball carrier on a ramp because they get knocked down and have to wait 15 seconds for 'force charge' to cooldown.

 

Now there is one big point I agree with, Marauders/Sentinels do not get any stuns or knockdowns, which is very unbalanced in my mind, maybe if we had more than one stun break it might be a little more balanced.

 

However, this is normally not a problem if you’re not fighting more than one opponent, if you move correctly you’re not going to get knocked off the ramp, normally I stun break their stuns, healing 10% health meaning their stun pretty much did not bother me, I have most of the annihilation talents, with a few from rage, so I can charge short range stunning them for 3 seconds after healing, giving me enough time for a quick 6 rage boost attack, followed by a choke, then I put my bleeds on.

 

1 vs 1 I have not lost to any class in pvp yet; I think the biggest problem people are finding is that the dual wielding saber classes are a threat so everyone prioritises killing them first, meaning as a dual saber wielder you feel a little bit squishy, but you’re not, your just getting singled out.

 

Now you can stealth in combat, so easy escapes, during this time you can use an 80% speed boost to run for a health pick up or back to your allies, you can -90% of their accuracy, you can heal through your bleed attacks and your two shield abilities which allows you to take minimal damage; literally if there was a stun or a knockback ability everyone else would be complaining Marauders/Sentinels are over powered, however because we don’t have them we feel underpowered because we can’t take large groups.

 

Want to know a secret, we are not meant to be able to take large groups! you should change your tactics and remember that you are the highest single target dps, try to work a little bit more like an assassin and you will be fine.

 

4. Stealth in Combat

Know what one of the most frustrating things in PvP is? Know that moment right when you're about to get a kill on someone who may have even ambushed you from stealth only to have them stealth up and totally disappear? That's garbage. I don't think that anyone should be able to have permanent stealth when they are listed as 'in combat'. If you cannot use your heal self ability while in combat, why have a permanent stealth with 100% invisibility in PvP? To make this make more sense, I think that in PvP the outline should always be in effect if they are listed as in combat. Otherwise, we will continue to see ridiculous numbers of these stealth classes (especially Inquisitors and Consulars) if the warzones continue to cater to them.

 

You do realise if you face them, you can detect them, charge them, then unleashed all your abilities to quickly kill them right.......right? RIGHT?!

 

5. Stuns in Combat (From a Marauder's Perspective)

Speaking of other nonsense, let's talk about stuns. They are incredibly useful in PvE and still useful in PvP. What's not OK (at least from a Marauder standpoint) is how these are used in PvP. Many classes get multiple stuns that will keep a played stunned even if they are taking direct damage. This is BS, total BS.

 

Guess what I can do? I can choke you for 3 seconds, which is a channel, meaning I can't do anything else. If I spend a ton of points I can make my 3 second ravage ability immobilize you during the duration (also a channel.) Hmm. Notice a pattern? I can't stun, cc, or otherwise immobilize you like other (still melee based) classes can. Granted, I do get an AoE stun for 6 seconds.. that wears off if the target takes damage. How is this balance?

 

I get an ability take gets rid of any movement, hold, or stun effect that can be used once every two minutes. In terms of Huttball, that's about.. maybe.. 4 times a match? I have to pick which exact stun I break free from and hope that I don't get chain-stunned by another stun from a class that has multiple ones right away. This needs to stop. There needs to be a stun/hold immunity in PvP.

 

I refer back to my long comment a few points above, with all the abilities we posses it is not much of a problem, but I would really like either a stun or a knockback, but it is not too essential; normally in warzones the only time I die is getting stun locked, oh well silly me for rushing three opponents......

 

6. Marauders in General

I know, I know, this is where I talk about my class getting the short end of the stick, and everyone else is OP. But I've noticed some things both with playing with other classes, and playing those classes myself. I seem to be able to do amazing dps, until I compare myself with a Sith Assassin, who is also a melee dps. I figure, no problem. I'm probably more durable than they are because I have heavier armor. Honestly, this isn't the case. A Sith Assassin is more likely to be an offtank than a Marauder. Why is this? I come from the same archtype class as the Juggernaut. Shouldn't I be more of an off-tank than them?

 

I strongly believe that the Marauder needs some sort of boost for both PvP and PvE. Leveling from 40-50 was an utter nightmare after the mobs started hitting noticeably harder (Around Hoth?) and made the game almost unplayable even though both my companion and I were geared quite well for my level and forced me to rely on medpacks.

 

What can be done? Either boost the Sith Marauders survivability or dps. I think the survivability makes more sense seeing as how we come from the 'Sith Warrior' archtype.

 

I find with my healing critical, bleed effects and healing companion I’ve been able to solo most of the game, the fact I’ve made all my own gear which is normally better than the story/heroic gear I’ve had no problems..... maybe a respec is in order for you?

 

Conclusion

Well, I honestly hope you read in earnest what I wrote up to this point instead of just skimming it. I want to say that I didn't take the time to write all this out because I'm 'doomsaying' or saying 'how this game sucks', but quite the opposite. I love this game and I want it to succeed. I want to be playing this game 6 or more years from now and enjoying it as much as I have been up until this point. I know it's just the start and things will eventually get better, but I hope my ideas have some sort of push to get the gears rolling on that change. Thanks for reading.

 

Personally I also love this game and how it plays, a lot of people are up in arms because Marauders/Sentinels are not as easy to play as the other classes, however if you play them right and smarter you are a lot more deadly than you might think,

 

Here is some advice for playing the class:

 

Hotkey your interrupts, you have two, Charge and Disruption, stop any stances with this and make sure to save disruption for the quick heal abilities, you stop them for being able to use it for four seconds, I can stack a lot of bleeds in this time then choke and very easily kill any healer.

Annihilation for me is the best route to take (personal preferance), skipping some of the silly talents and picking up some of the lower range talents making you far more effective in pvp.

Against assassins use your crippling abilities, slow them down, take away their accuracy and they are little to no threat.

Learn when your in too deep, stealth, use your fury ability to run, come back later when you will have the advantage.

If you do catch someone unaware, learn how you want to attack, personally I will charge them from behind, turn my bleed attacks on, build my rage, hit them with some power hits, and then choke. If you can get your berserk on you can out heal a lot of their dps whilst killing them; you quickly become the most annoying person to fight on the battle field if you play smart.

 

If there is anything you think I’ve missed in this point it out and I’ll try to illuminate it further; hope this helps because I could of been playing instead of typing this

[Tiji]

If you think Marauder's need buffs and or help when it comes to pvp you either have no clue how to play the class or are trying to pvp in greens against other 50s with pvp gear.

 

I main as a 50 Marauder, and am at the point now that I can 2v1 most classes with no issue as long as I have at least 1 or maybe 2 cooldowns up. There isn't a single class in the game right now that can 1v1 me.

 

The fact that they gave warriors a stealth, enough self healing to come close to some healers on the charts at the end of warzones, and more defensive cooldowns then some tanks is amazing.

 

If I have just one healer supporting me I pretty much end out a warzone with 300k damage and 50 to 60 kills without an issue. So either you really don't understand the class or aren't doing something right, because the way the class is now, it's amazing. My only single issue with it could me some addition of a break in CC other then our 2 minute CD. I know you can spec into one into the Carnage tree, but if you're not full Annihilation then you're terrible and shouldn't be playing the class.

[DarkestDaemon]

the only issue i have in pvp at the moment , and that is playing a lvl 50 marauder as well , is CC.

So much cc , you get cc'd you break cc , they will just cc you again etc..

I understand some classes need cc but as a melee i get cc'd the most, we should have more means of getting out of cc or our cc break should be on a lower CD and/or grant a few seconds of cc imunity when we use it.

 

I think this is a good idea for any sort of Marauder buff.

 

I've only done a bit of pvp on my marauder since I hit 50, and been mostly getting Huttball, but I found myself being almost impossible to kill even if I was running solo through enemies. Being Annihilation spec probably helps with this, however.

 

But yes, the biggest complaint I have isn't my survivability or damage. It's the overabundance of CC.

 

So, if not give Marauders more CC, maybe give us more abilities that break CC or talents similar to the one that removes CC from us when we Force Cloak.

 

Just some baseline things, nothing that would be considered game breaking. I've just noticed how ineffectual I -can- be. Say I begin dueling a Sorcerer/Sage. I got knocked away, no big deal I Force Charge in... then another Sorcerer/Sage appears and knocks me right back. Saving your Force Charge for the first knockback isn't a simple fix.

 

I do know that Carnage and Rage are both better specs for pvp, but Annihilation just has a nicer flow to me. I also don't think Carnage or Rage gives me an immunity to knockbacks.

[golfwang]

You didn't read in detail what I proposed, and obviously just came in to start trolling. Let me spell it out for you instead. What I'm proposing is that when they are considered 'in-combat' (the red gun icon) that they can still be stealthed, but are detectable and visible within a certain range (sort of like detecting someone who's stealthed and you see a red outline around them).

 

This to me makes perfect sense. After all, why should someone completely vanish mid combat? If I'm in the middle of a saber strike and someone completely vanishes, I'd imagine I could still sense where they are.

 

You clearly don't get why your ideas are horrible. The mechanic you just proposed is either insanely easy for stealth classes to abuse or incredibly unfair to them. You basically want to give stealth classes infinite in-combat vanishes instead of the one of a 2-3min cd, but ****** so players can see them the moment they stealth.

 

You do realize that if this change goes through ops and sins are pretty much boned, correct? Why don't we take away force leap from jedi knights? Like, people totally can't jump that far irl.

 

But fine, lets break a class since this guy doesn't like how stealth works.

 

You're trying to apply logic to game that has lightsabers in it. Balance should trump all. Period.

Edited December 31, 2011 by golfwang

[Ceraz]

the only issue i have in pvp at the moment , and that is playing a lvl 50 marauder as well , is CC.

So much cc , you get cc'd you break cc , they will just cc you again etc..

I understand some classes need cc but as a melee i get cc'd the most, we should have more means of getting out of cc or our cc break should be on a lower CD and/or grant a few seconds of cc imunity when we use it.

 

Agree completely. That more lower the stun break cooldown from 2 minutes to something more viable.

[PArdr]

I am completely astonished that there are no diminishing returns that lead to CC immunity. Makes the game impossible at times for melee classes.

 

I also think it is stupid that Marauder/Sentinel has no tank ability and Assassins do. So many issues with this class imo

[golfwang]

I am completely astonished that there are no diminishing returns that lead to CC immunity. Makes the game impossible at times for melee classes.

 

I also think it is stupid that Marauder/Sentinel has no tank ability and Assassins do. So many issues with this class imo

 

Brah, if you wanted a tank/dps tree then you should have gone guardian/knight. How did you not know that marauder/sent was one of the pure dps advanced classes?

[Ceraz]

I am completely astonished that there are no diminishing returns that lead to CC immunity. Makes the game impossible at times for melee classes.

 

I also think it is stupid that Marauder/Sentinel has no tank ability and Assassins do. So many issues with this class imo

 

I agree with you completely. CCs are going to be what will kill the desire to PvP in a Warzone.

[Ceraz]

Brah, if you wanted a tank/dps tree then you should have gone guardian/knight. How did you not know that marauder/sent was one of the pure dps advanced classes?

 

Ok, tell me how this makes sense then. Assassins are a viable offtank.. yet they come from an Inquisitor archetype. Meanwhile, A Marauder is squishy as hell and comes from a Sith Warrior archetype. Does that make sense to you?

[Tiji]

Ok, tell me how this makes sense then. Assassins are a viable offtank.. yet they come from an Inquisitor archetype. Meanwhile, A Marauder is squishy as hell and comes from a Sith Warrior archetype. Does that make sense to you?

 

LoL squishy, you're obviously playing a different game or different class and are in the wrong forum post

[lsarii]

Most of the OP's post is L2P issues - but yes, both of the JK/SW ACs are underpowered.

 

The marauder is designed to not have CC obviously. They have a lot of solid debuffs and really high damage though. I think the main problem is that comparably, assassins are better than them at what they do. But both Sage/Inquisitor ACs are OP, so they just need to be nerfed.

[SnEaKyMan]

Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment and talk about the game in general. It is a fantastic game, based on rich lore and beautiful back story with almost unlimited potential. This could literally be a game that brings people who have never been interested in MMOs into them based on the license alone. However, there are many, many, many issues that will possibly affect that, and I'm going to touch on some of them a bit. Please try to read the whole thing so that an honest discussion can take place.

 

1. Playing on a PvP Server

My main is a 50 Sith Marauder on the Death Wind Corridor server. I have always loved open world PvP and have partaken in it gleefully since the days of the Second Age of Ultima Online (before the concept of having a world where PvP couldn't happen existed) and really enjoy the risk and reward aspect.

 

Yes, I said risk and reward. So I'm trudging along for a while on Tatooine when I finally come across my first Republic player in the open world. I quickly get a jump on him and after fighting him for a few moments, I get that exciting deathblow... annndd... nothing. Nothing happened. There was no XP bonus, no form of token, not even a 'valor' increase.

 

With this idea of added risk, there needs to be a reward. Without it, I've found that other players will avoid PvP even on a PvP server and typically try to go around the others, even if they have a level advantage. This needs to change and a simple way to fix that would be to add rewards. Simply add something like... Mercenary Commendations for open world PvP.

 

2. The Commendation System

Speaking of Commendations... the current system for getting them is absolutely terrible. Currently, the only two ways to get Mercenary Commendations is to 1) Trade 30 Warzone Commendations for 10 Mercenary Commendations (3:1! That's insane!) OR get lucky and find a chest in the Outlaw's Group PvP zone on Tatooine.. which was recently stealth nerfed into oblivion.

 

What needs to be done? Make commendations more available and frankly, worth getting. Doing obscene numbers of warzones isn't fun, engaging, or even challenging. It's getting to the point where I can see someone paying someone else to play a warzone for them, seeing as how you still get a decent number even on a loss.

 

3. Warzone Balance

Part 1: The Spaceship (Assault)

Oh boy. Let's talk about this colossal failure. So if you've never played it (which I imagine many of you haven't after being forced to play Huttball until your eyes bleed), basically the two teams get a turn of assaulting a level by planting a bomb (3 or 5 second click, I can't remember as I've only played it very few times) on a door. The typical 'shield door with random timer' as in Huttball is present for every time you die, causing this one to be even more infuriating than Huttball.

 

The major issues with this are the Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor classes (and believe me, I'll talk more about certain parts of them later.) They can literally run past everyone stealthed and run right up to the door, making the only viable strategy on defense NOT to block the oncoming attack, but to babysit a door. To make matters worse, if one bomb goes off they proceed to the next stage, making this heavily stacked for the offense. Even worse, is that these same classes I mentioned before have that lovely 'speed burst' skill and can literally get to the next door bomb location before you can get out of the spawn if you are unlucky. To be honest, the only ways I can think of fixing this awful game is to make it so that the door releases more often for the defenders and to possibly make the bomb time longer than 3 or 5 seconds?

 

Part 2: Huttball

Yeah. You know this one because it's probably the only one you ever get to play. It's boring, it's not exactly in the spirit of PvP, and honestly if you play the game objectively (scoring the ball for example) you'll end up with less commendations/xp/rewards than someone who just ran around and murdered people.

 

The Arena:

Lets talk about the Arena from a Marauders point of view. I come down from the spawn, and there's a large ledge where the score zone is that can only be reached by ramps. Ok, that means that anyone can't just walk up and score. At least, that's the intention. Every class to my knowledge (Except the Jedi Sentinel) get some form of push or knockback. Even the other specialization of the Sith Warrior gets 'Force Push' which lets them push people off of these ramps. Me? Not a single one.

 

The ramps are frustrating alone as it is when you take into account just knockbacks and pushes even from a purely defensive standpoint when you have NONE of the abilities both your team-mates and opponents have. To make matters worse, there are flame traps. Guess what gets used on flame traps all the time? stuns. I'll talk more about stuns later, but in terms of PvP in general these are ridiculous...

 

What can I say to make this arena any better? Maybe add an ability in Huttball that lets players get somewhere near their defense zone? Better yet, add more approaches to being able to score. As it is, Huttball is simply infuriating to play as someone who cannot defend the score zone or a ball carrier on a ramp because they get knocked down and have to wait 15 seconds for 'force charge' to cooldown.

 

4. Stealth in Combat

Know what one of the most frustrating things in PvP is? Know that moment right when you're about to get a kill on someone who may have even ambushed you from stealth only to have them stealth up and totally disappear? That's garbage. I don't think that anyone should be able to have permanent stealth when they are listed as 'in combat'. If you cannot use your heal self ability while in combat, why have a permanent stealth with 100% invisibility in PvP? To make this make more sense, I think that in PvP the outline should always be in effect if they are listed as in combat. Otherwise, we will continue to see ridiculous numbers of these stealth classes (especially Inquisitors and Consulars) if the warzones continue to cater to them.

 

5. Stuns in Combat (From a Marauder's Perspective)

Speaking of other nonsense, let's talk about stuns. They are incredibly useful in PvE and still useful in PvP. What's not OK (at least from a Marauder standpoint) is how these are used in PvP. Many classes get multiple stuns that will keep a played stunned even if they are taking direct damage. This is BS, total BS.

 

Guess what I can do? I can choke you for 3 seconds, which is a channel, meaning I can't do anything else. If I spend a ton of points I can make my 3 second ravage ability immobilize you during the duration (also a channel.) Hmm. Notice a pattern? I can't stun, cc, or otherwise immobilize you like other (still melee based) classes can. Granted, I do get an AoE stun for 6 seconds.. that wears off if the target takes damage. How is this balance?

 

I get an ability take gets rid of any movement, hold, or stun effect that can be used once every two minutes. In terms of Huttball, that's about.. maybe.. 4 times a match? I have to pick which exact stun I break free from and hope that I don't get chain-stunned by another stun from a class that has multiple ones right away. This needs to stop. There needs to be a stun/hold immunity in PvP.

 

6. Marauders in General

I know, I know, this is where I talk about my class getting the short end of the stick, and everyone else is OP. But I've noticed some things both with playing with other classes, and playing those classes myself. I seem to be able to do amazing dps, until I compare myself with a Sith Assassin, who is also a melee dps. I figure, no problem. I'm probably more durable than they are because I have heavier armor. Honestly, this isn't the case. A Sith Assassin is more likely to be an offtank than a Marauder. Why is this? I come from the same archtype class as the Juggernaut. Shouldn't I be more of an off-tank than them?

 

I strongly believe that the Marauder needs some sort of boost for both PvP and PvE. Leveling from 40-50 was an utter nightmare after the mobs started hitting noticeably harder (Around Hoth?) and made the game almost unplayable even though both my companion and I were geared quite well for my level and forced me to rely on medpacks.

 

What can be done? Either boost the Sith Marauders survivability or dps. I think the survivability makes more sense seeing as how we come from the 'Sith Warrior' archtype.

 

Conclusion

Well, I honestly hope you read in earnest what I wrote up to this point instead of just skimming it. I want to say that I didn't take the time to write all this out because I'm 'doomsaying' or saying 'how this game sucks', but quite the opposite. I love this game and I want it to succeed. I want to be playing this game 6 or more years from now and enjoying it as much as I have been up until this point. I know it's just the start and things will eventually get better, but I hope my ideas have some sort of push to get the gears rolling on that change. Thanks for reading.

 

Brilliant post. I agree with everything you have said.

[SgtRock]

Sentinel here and...

 

/singed

 

Also - a quick kudos on articulating your point while refraining from sounding whiny. You did a good job of explaining the deficiencies of our class/ mirror without resorting to crying about the other classes abilities.

 

Well done!

[Ceraz]

LoL squishy, you're obviously playing a different game or different class and are in the wrong forum post

 

Obviously I'm exaggerating a little bit, but why can someone in light armor tank better than I can and out dps me?

[Ceraz]

Sentinel here and...

 

/singed

 

Also - a quick kudos on articulating your point while refraining from sounding whiny. You did a good job of explaining the deficiencies of our class/ mirror without resorting to crying about the other classes abilities.

 

Well done!

 

Appreciate it. What are your thoughts as a Sentinel? I know that not all classes are exact mirrors, and I don't know if we have the same exact abilities/timers/etc.

[Tycoon]

If u have not played marauder to atleast lvl 30, your not allowed to comment on the matter.

 

I too am a lvl 50 marauder. Maruader needs a buff badly. Though Assassins may not be OP, they are to a marauder. Yes we get cloak of pain, but that can easly be countered by not hitting a marauder for 3 secs. If a marauder pops both saber ward and cloak of pain, an assassin can just pop back into stealth and wait 12 secs. After those 12 secs, the marauder is completely defenseless. They dont have any defenseive abilities after cloak of pain and saber ward. Obfuscate only works if the marauder's target is infront of him. Obfuscate does not work if the marauder is stunned or his target is behind him.

 

Marauder is gimp. There is no other way to describe it. A 5 SEC immunity for 50% of the marauder's current health, doesnt mean **** if the rest of the marauder's defensive abilities are easly counter by just going back to stealth.

 

I cant wait till bioware begins class balance. I predict a marauder buff for the first class balance, then an Assassin nerf. When that happends, im going to enjoy reading all the ************ Assassins on the forum more then actually play the game.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Tycoon

[indelible]

I read through your thread.

 

I don't really agree with any of the points you make. I don't think you actually understand how to make or balance the game.

 

That is not a criticism and just an observation.

[hargrave]

not to insult anyone but i notice in warzones obfuscate and crippling slash and disruption are your best friends. I find spamming those 3 more then anything else seems to get me more kills.

 

What bugs me more then cc is the ravage animation loop bug. Its been there since beta and ive reported that bug at least 12 times i know of in beta and its still here = /

 

as for cc ive learned in beta to carry morale pots/medpacs and not blow my stun immunity skill instantly and review my situation while im stunned. Because what youll notice is people who stun on purpose to get you to blow your stun imune skill then there buddy re stuns you knowing youve blown your stun imune skill.

[Mootyaya]

Murdering republic scum is a reward on its own.

[Ceraz]

I read through your thread.

 

I don't really agree with any of the points you make. I don't think you actually understand how to make or balance the game.

 

That is not a criticism and just an observation.

 

I'd love to hear your opinion on how to balance Marauders in the present state.

[ShenLong]

For the record, I agree on a portion of it except for two bulletins.

 

For one, Voidstar (The ship.) Your request is already granted because from planting to exploding, the bomb's timer is exactly 20 seconds. It also takes 6-8 seconds to plant bombs or hit bridge controls each.

 

Two, door does require a timer. Otherwise the closer lemmings (Defense) will win no matter what because they spawn, and just sprint out the door to tap the people planting leading to an unsurmountable tide of cannonballs.

Edited December 31, 2011 by ShenLong

[kckkryptonite]

I agree with 1 and 2, the rest seem like QQ.