Planned Class Changes for 7.3

[Rion_Starkiller]

3 hours ago, Shabir_Dhillon said:

Concealment/Scrapper:
 

Yayyy no conc/scrapper nerfs

[steveerkcanjerk]

1 hour ago, BelisariusD said:

Can the intention behind the change to the Random Charge tactical be explained? I'm very concerned about the effect this will have on the Innovative Ordinance spec.

If i have to guess it is to make the parse far more consistent. I also think the fear for it is really over blown. If you get 3 supercharges from thermal det just because you are at 8 its not big deal if 1 is extra you will still get to SCG faster. And if you pair this with the volatile warhead skill mod that 3+2 supercharges in 2 gcds. Honestly the uptime on SCG might be kinda nuts. 

[Drokisannath]

I understand the need for PvE Advandced prototype to have a viable tactical, I don't see how this won't result in a dire PvP state for Swtor as AP is already the most dominant spec in PvP. A 20% increase on everything will lead to degenerate burst(it's already the case) and is going to further the Star Wars : The old Powertech that has been the case for a long time now. Powertech are arguably already the best pve dps as pyro (safest at least), the best pvp class and the best tank class, there are more pressing issues regarding balance than make it's 3rd spec also in the top bracket.

The return of health while cover on sniper is welcome and necessary, that kind of was the feedback from 7.0 PTS that is actionned about a year later but better late than never.

Annihilation change is very good, having an inconsistent rotation that is dependent on RNG is not fun. Annihilation's identity of a hybrid dps healer is still very weird but I'm guessing such a rework would require resources and development that is not reasonable for now.

The arsenal buff is probably not enough still but we'll take it.

Lethality nerfs are warranted and not overboard.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Drokisannath

[eabevella]

3 hours ago, TrixxieTriss said:

Knockback effect should NOT be removed. It is a vital part of the spec’s play style & survivability. 

Honest asking: is this a pvp thing?

I never pick that option when doing something like the heroics because I don't want the knock back effect.

Also, yay for self heal.

Edited April 21, 2023 by eabevella

[TrixxieTriss]

12 minutes ago, eabevella said:

Honest asking: is this a pvp thing?

I never pick that option when doing something like the heroics because I don't want the knock back effect.

Also, yay for self heal.

Not just a PvP thing. I use it a lot in HM/MM PvE too. But definitely needed in PvP.

[ecstazypop]

6 hours ago, Asanos said:

 

Thats what the operative heal need xD We need buffs on major abilitys like the main hot or surgical probe or some deffs. No one ever uses tactical overdrive lets be honest

Bro, not gonna brag, but Oper heal really need a buff on the kolto probe... LIKE HARD! It's so underpowered compared to other heals. In pvp I mean.

[DeannaVoyager]

7 hours ago, csilvajonas said:

No changes to jugg tank? You have any statistic on how many people have been using the class/spec since 7.0? It's a serious question, cause it seems to me that the nerfs hit them the most and i almost never see them being used on master mode raids anymore. I personaly changed to powertech main after 7.0 because the choices we have on jugg/guardian are really mediocre in my opinion, but it could be just me.

It's not just you. Having to choose from reflect, blitz and aoe root as a jugg tank, while sins and pt's still have theirs is beyond stupid. Juggs also need some speed boost to make it on par with the other two tanks. 

[eabevella]

1 hour ago, TrixxieTriss said:

Not just a PvP thing. I use it a lot in HM/MM PvE too. But definitely needed in PvP.

I just don't like knock back, it messes with crowd control more often than it's helpful for me. I also hate it when people knock my targets out of my beautifully set AOE circles just because they have a knock back ability so I avoid doing so myself lol

Tbh it's strange to combine mobility buff and knock back in one bonus skill. They should separate the two for people to pick which one they want, but they kind of wrote themselves in a corner with the forced pick 1 from 3 skill tree.

[Gibonski]

Why do you deny boosting Arsenal mercs base damage up 5%. Is it that difficult to do? 

I need a serious explanation because at this point, increasing supercharged gas 4 secs won't be enough to change things. Let Arsenal be viable again. 

There are people that remember when they used to compete with marauder and sniper in df/dp. 

They need buff alongside those changes. It needs to happen. 

Please any dev answer.

[Araberen]

9 hours ago, Shabir_Dhillon said:

Sniper/Gunslinger: 

• Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement is now granted at level 43 for all Snipers / Gunslingers, and the knockback effect has been removed.
• Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement has been replaced by Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure as the level 64 choice on the ability tree for all snipers.
• Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure heals for 2% total health while in cover.

Marksmanship/Sharpshooter:

• Targeted Ambush / Hotshot now trigger from killing an enemy within three seconds of damaging them with Ambush / Aimed Shot.

Virulence/Dirty Fighting:

• Corrosive Refund / Scrounging has been redesigned. It now causes Corrosive Grenade / Shrap Bomb to refund 2 energy each time it ticks.

Like really?
1. Class that can be destroyed in seconds gets incredibly small heal, while sitting? *slowclap* As someone said above: in pve it's overkill for snipers, in pvp - lackluster (you won't feel it, because you want sit there waiting to be annihilated. Roll-heal would be ALOT better.
     1.1 2% every... every 3 sec as it was? You need to clarify, because if it's true it's even more pathetic.

2. Like with Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement you can't tell how bad it would be....like, getting purge + speed by default - good idea, but removing knockback - meh. Right now survivability of snipers really bad and you remove 1 ability to gain some distance. I don't know how i feel about it.


It would be a lot better to get roll-heal for 15-20% as option and combine Reestablish Range + Over-Prepared (for example), or combine Vital Regulators + Over-Prepared (and give RR for all snipers). THAT'S how you get "make some choices" and you will get viable options. What you did would not be even close to what we need atm compare to other classes.

I hope you will consider options to bring back sensible heal with roll or, at least, SENSIBLE heal.

 

[SentinalMasterWW]

11 hours ago, Shabir_Dhillon said:

 

Mercenary/Commando

• Adjusted timing of some ability grants to smooth out the leveling experience.
• Stealth Scan has been redesigned and renamed “Hunter Killer Droid”. In addition to revealing stealthed enemies, it also reduces the casters damage taken while stunned.
• The Random Charge Legendary has been redesigned and renamed to Overcharged Cells. It now does the following:
  • Priming Shot / Vortex Bolt, Thermal Detonator / Assault Plastique, and Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe generate 3 Supercharges. This effect has a rate limit of 15 seconds.

Arsenal/Gunnery: 

• Supercharged Gas / Supercharged Cells has been renamed to High Velocity Supercharged Gas / High Velocity Supercharged Cells
• Duration of High Velocity Supercharged Gas / High Velocity Supercharged Cells has been increased by 4 seconds.

Bodyguard/Combat Medic: 

• Supercharged Gas has been renamed to Supercharged Kolto Gas. 

I see you guys trying to make Stealth scan more appealing, but Gunnery/Arsenal and Innovative Ordinance/Assault Specialist specs need more DMG Buffs they are still some of the lowest parsing specs besides marksman/Sharpshooter. IO/Assault Specialist needs some from of Passive Energy Regen from its DOTS. The Spec constantly runs into energy issues, it also just does not have great DMG for being a spec that requires a very specific playstyle to not botch your heat. 

11 hours ago, Shabir_Dhillon said:

Sniper/Gunslinger: 

• Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement is now granted at level 43 for all Snipers / Gunslingers, and the knockback effect has been removed.
• Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement has been replaced by Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure as the level 64 choice on the ability tree for all snipers.
• Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure heals for 2% total health while in cover.

Marksmanship/Sharpshooter:

• Targeted Ambush / Hotshot now trigger from killing an enemy within three seconds of damaging them with Ambush / Aimed Shot.

Virulence/Dirty Fighting:

• Corrosive Refund / Scrounging has been redesigned. It now causes Corrosive Grenade / Shrap Bomb to refund 2 energy each time it ticks.

I appreicate the Return of Healing for snipers, but the Knockback on Reestablish Range is NEED TO STAY. Sniper cannot face tank most classes and the knockback especially for a spec like Marksman which uses penetrating rounds the knockback is key. It really isnt overpowered as Hydraulic overrides or abilites like it bypass the knockback, 

Marksman/Sharpshooter and Virulence/Dirty Fighting still again need some DMG Buffs especially Marksman/Sharpshooter. It does really sad DMG Right now, both for PVP and PVE. It is the lowest parsing spec in the game. 

This spec also needs Roll heal back, Heal in cover just is not enough to compensate for the Turbo DMG most classes can put out. Snipers/Slingers cannot 1v1 Sorcs especially Madness because they don't have the recovery and DMG needed to fight them.

I'd also like to add for the Removal of Ionic Discharge from the game, its broken and ruins the flow of PVP. Players are scoring 150K crit hits with it, No class especially in PVP should be able to do this. 

11 hours ago, Shabir_Dhillon said:

Sorcerer/Sage
Madness/Balance:

• Dark Echo's / Resonating Pulse’s chance to reapply Death Brand's / Shifted Balance’s slow has been reduced to 30%. 
• Vitiates Malice / Warden’s Vigor - Life Steal on Force Lightning / Telekinetic Throw has been reduced to 15% down from 20%. 

I mean I'll take any nerf, but the Heal from Force Leach and the DMG done under Polarity shift needs to get reduced. I'm also not sure if this fixed the reapply after defeat bug. Madness needs a nerf in its self healing and DMG. 

Overall it is a bit better, but there is still more that needs to be done to fix these specs especially for PVP.

Edited April 21, 2023 by SentinalMasterWW
Edited stuff

[LanceDefender]

Just give back all removed healing passives to sniper... survivalbity of that class is around few seconds at best, unless enemies does not focus sniper. Healing cover, healing roll, healing balistic shield.

[anchor_leg]

CAN WE PLEASE FIX JUGG TANK SPEED SO IT'S NOT SO DANG SLOW. It's so annoying and not fun to play

[Lakemine]

1 hour ago, SentinalMasterWW said:

I see you guys trying to make Stealth scan more appealing, but Gunnery/Arsenal and Innovative Ordinance/Assault Specialist specs need more DMG Buffs they are still some of the lowest parsing specs besides marksman/Sharpshooter. IO/Assault Specialist needs some from of Passive Energy Regen from its DOTS. The Spec constantly runs into energy issues, it also just does not have great DMG for being a spec that requires a very specific playstyle to not botch your heat. 

I appreicate the Return of Healing for snipers, but the Knockback on Reestablish Range is NEED TO STAY. Sniper cannot face tank most classes and the knockback especially for a spec like Marksman which uses penetrating rounds the knockback is key. It really isnt overpowered as Hydraulic overrides or abilites like it bypass the knockback, 

Marksman/Sharpshooter and Virulence/Dirty Fighting still again need some DMG Buffs especially Marksman/Sharpshooter. It does really sad DMG Right now, both for PVP and PVE. It is the lowest parsing spec in the game. 

This spec also needs Roll heal back, Heal in cover just is not enough to compensate for the Turbo DMG most classes can put out. Snipers/Slingers cannot 1v1 Sorcs especially Madness because they don't have the recovery and DMG needed to fight them.

I'd also like to add for the Removal of Ionic Discharge from the game, its broken and ruins the flow of PVP. Players are scoring 150K crit hits with it, No class especially in PVP should be able to do this. 

I mean I'll take any nerf, but the Heal from Force Leach and the DMG done under Polarity shift needs to get reduced. I'm also not sure if this fixed the reapply after defeat bug. Madness needs a nerf in its self healing and DMG. 

Overall it is a bit better, but there is still more that needs to be done to fix these specs especially for PVP.

Agreed with all of this.

[Lakemine]

HOLY! Gunnery buff!?!? 😲

I mean, it is small and won't help it much but hey, at least its not ignored lol. But yeah, they need a % damage buff to bump it up a few thousand damage, then its fine. And yeah Marksman needs a little bit more damage buff and the survivability in pvp is bantha poodoo.

[Lakemine]

3 hours ago, Gibonski said:

Why do you deny boosting Arsenal mercs base damage up 5%. Is it that difficult to do? 

I need a serious explanation because at this point, increasing supercharged gas 4 secs won't be enough to change things. Let Arsenal be viable again. 

There are people that remember when they used to compete with marauder and sniper in df/dp. 

They need buff alongside those changes. It needs to happen. 

Please any dev answer.

Agreed, I wish we could get a dev explaining it to us but sadly I doubt they ever will. Plus I think they already "have" explained it to us. Years ago they said "Burst ranged should have the lowest damage across range burst/DoTs and melee burst/DoTs." (Iirc, they said burst ranged should be lowest damage, then ranged DoTs, then melee DoTs, then melee burst should have the highest damage. Which......i'm not sure how that's actually been ported to the live game.) So I doubt they will ever explain it to us.  But hey, they can surprise us lol XD 

[SteveTheCynic]

13 hours ago, mrgoo said:

Can you clarify this? Is the revealed person going to take reduced damage or are you saying that if the Merc who deploys the Hunter Killer will take less damage if also stunned? The person who deploys an anti stealth is not always gettign stunned so this benifit would not impact the one that used the skill very open it sounds like.

I thought the "casters [sic] damaged taken" part was pretty clear that it refers to the Commando who uses Stealth Scan, not the person revealed by it.

[AwesomeTacoCat]

27 minutes ago, Lakemine said:

Agreed, I wish we could get a dev explaining it to us but sadly I doubt they ever will. Plus I think they already "have" explained it to us. Years ago they said "Burst ranged should have the lowest damage across range burst/DoTs and melee burst/DoTs." (Iirc, they said burst ranged should be lowest damage, then ranged DoTs, then melee DoTs, then melee burst should have the highest damage. Which......i'm not sure how that's actually been ported to the live game.) So I doubt they will ever explain it to us.  But hey, they can surprise us lol XD 

Ya that’s just idiotic. Back in the day when that philosophy was implemented melee also had casted abilities. Now that all melee abilities are instant, the fact that ranged has to cast actually should be enough so that they should just aim for balance across all specs. The burst/dot spec stuff is also not really relevant because many dot specs have insane burst windows too. They really should have abandoned this philosophy many, many years ago…

[Exocor]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb anchor_leg:

CAN WE PLEASE FIX JUGG TANK SPEED SO IT'S NOT SO DANG SLOW. It's so annoying and not fun to play

But you can jump around like a monkey! At least, if there are targets and allies to jump to.

 

Speaking of that, here is a thought: Change Intercede, so that you don't jump to an ally, but instead to an area you're targeting with an aoe - and everyone within 5 meters of that aoe receives the damage taken reduced buff from intercede.

 

[hillerbees]

A lot of moving abilities in time lines and name changes....these do nothing for end game play.

The sniper / gunslinger should not lose knockbacks - survivability is v low for your average player in pvp and they are still no.1 focus should any brave it out.

Merc unstealthing a player might not get stunned and even if stunned may not even have damage inflicted so the incentive to use the stealth scan is just not there.

Finally Supercharged Gas now being called High Velocity Supercharged Gas is a bit of a mouthful - if going there why not call is Super Dupper High Velocity Supercharged Gas and be done with it?! - Gas would do fine for me!

[meddani]

15 hours ago, ElricGrey said:

Agree with all, and yes, Energized Blade was taken out and the primary reason AP became bad. Do they realize that it has been out of the game? I couldn't tell you, but it is written as if it does exist.

so i do remember it correctly lol. probably gonna get re-introduced

[Nee-Elder]

16 hours ago, Shabir_Dhillon said:

 And as always we look forward to hearing your feedback on these changes.

Sniper/Gunslinger: 

• Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement is now granted at level 43 for all Snipers / Gunslingers, and the knockback effect has been removed.

 

Sorry  @Shabir_Dhillon , but as others have already said  that ^ is a very bad & unnecessary change.

Please reconsider it.

Also, on a side note: Any chance someday before the game ends soon u guys might stop messing with ground Combat and start remembering  GSF still  exists ?   ( *coughs*  joystick support , PVE missions , open-space mining, etc. etc. )

[meddani]

can you give deception atleast a better second legendary ? the melee dmg bonus from the death knell set for example, doesn't even have to be 10% buff per stack, 5 would be enough

[UinixLP]

Besides the Ling and AP changes, wich are good (but prob not enough to change the standing of the class) these patchnotes are a joke.

 

Where are the Pyro PT or Annihilation nerfs?
The classes that are overperforming are left untouched, but the classes that could COMPETE with the OP specs (in their nieche scenarios) are getting hard nerfed?
Hatred getting nerfed (again!) before pyro/anni is laughable.

Lethalities aoe tactical getting outright deleted for pve (cause its now a big ST loss to use it) before Cut To Pieces (the most stupid thing to ever exist) is baffeling to me.

Do you want people to only play pyro/anni or veng? Isnt the idea of balancing to bring stuff closer together instead of splitting it further apart.

 

on another note:
Deception nerfs are far too little (like 1% dps increase?)
MM not getting buffed after beeing bottom of the barrel for whole expansion is also questionable.
Arsenal buffs are also not nearly enough.
Sniper getting a defensive buff for pve (cause it does nothing in pvp) while sorc and merc are still running around with a fraction of their dcd's
no conc buffs?

[Faltun]

Neural trigger is good change, others are too small to have a real effect PvP wise. 

Why there is no significant nerf to madness and lethality survivability? Like generally less heal, or less dmg reduction on sorc 15% constanlty up dmg reduction bonus which gives it more dmg reduction than any heavy armor dps has in the game? Or sorc 20 sec cd aoe root that roots for 5 sec if no dircert dmg is taken?



I mean its nice you try to adjust something in every 8 months.... but i guess its not frequent enough nor big enough to make any difference pvp wise..


EDIT: i forgot jugger skank, something should be done with its dmg as a tank, not so rare in wzs with premades, skank jugg being top dmg with 4mil protection next to it. jugg skank is broken for long long years, none of the tank is getting close to half of it pvp wise, yet nothing has been done to that sick dmg despite its tank and almost impossible to kill with a proper healer..... actually it should be decided at last if its a dps or a tank, being superduper good in both for years is really not okay.....

Edited April 21, 2023 by Faltun