Windows Star Wars - The Old Republic Discussion

Only to Focus/Rage spec'd ones :|

Also feel a bit annoyed i have to drop 3% Acc in Combat to take "Swift Slash" in Focus for 15% Crit to Slash and (later) Dispatch.

Originally i wasn't so bothered about it as Slash isn't really used in my rotation unless i've got extra ammo to dump and Blade Storm is on CD (i'm Watchman spec'd), however with the extra crit on Dispatch which is 2nd on the priority list after Merciless Slash, i've now *got* to take it.

And i wouldn't say that the buffs are "much needed" for Sentinels... Rage/Focus i agree needed work, but Sentinels as a whole already have the highest DPS in the game (my Rakata geared Sent nearly hits as hard as my BH geared Commando).

 

Yeah I was being a bit sarcastic about them being buffs as I pretty much crush everything on my sent.

For PVE though I personally find watchman to be higher dps on bosses. For trash though focus is a lot better, but in either case combat is pretty much rubbish.

What server are you on?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

I'm on Shadowlands, East Coast PvE.

And i've actually heard good things about Combat, but never really tried it out, very much reliant on Precision Slash -> Blade Rush -> Blade Storm which is a fairly high damaging combo since Precision Slash grants 100% Armor Pen and Blade Storm is a guranteed crit. You build similar to Focus with high Power/Surge.

The spec doesn't seem to have changed much since Launch (although i haven't followed it tbh, where it was considered much better than Watchman, but had a harder rotation (since you can't rely on Force Leap as a Focus generator).

Focus i'm not really bothered about... i get war stomped in PvP with it but that's really all it's good for haha.

 

So it turns out my subscription was actually a 3 month plan (must've switched it at some point) so my guild and I cleared Terror From Beyond HM last night....took us about 10 hours over the past 2 days. Not a very difficult op but definitely lots of fun! I'm a little disappointed that the new gear is just a re-hash of campaign with a different coloring scheme...doesn't really make me want to grind at all.

As far as the class changes....I'm a little miffed about mine. PT Pyro has essentially been turned into a melee dps class, which is fine with me except we're not given the same tools as other melee dps classes:

-PT Pyro does NOT have a gap closer. Grapple doesn't work for raid bosses and only about 50% of the time in PvP depending on the player's resolve. It also has a 45 sec cooldown.

-No aggro dump...operatives and marauders both have "oh sh!t" buttons...we have nothing

Needless to say, this is pretty lame in my eyes. I'm getting really tired of the devs making class changes based SOLELY on PvP.

 

I ran TFB on the day it launched on my Healer alt... rather liked it, Trash wasn't too prevalent and dropped niec amounts of Credits =]. Boss fights were all fairly good, loved Kephess as it was very Mechanic heavy and dependent on both timing and positioning.

TFB itself was like "oh my god what the hell is that thing" and the second phase was cool. Didn't manage to beat it though, took us 4 hours to get to the damn thing and after a few attempts we broke up for various different things (such as other raids lol).

As for Class Changes, i agree that the Powertech/Vanguard needs a bit of love in terms of closing the distance, other than that they're still ridiculous with their DPS once they get in range. I noticed the Aggro Dump (or lack there of) issue on the TFB run, the Vanguard kept pulling aggro as he was more geared than our Tank and had to just stand there and wait for the Tank to taunt back whenever possible.

 

Yep. They keep ruining the PVE experience (all I care about) to cater to the PVP players crying about imbalances. They should keep those areas/skill trees separate.

I quit before this patch came out has they ruined Sorcerers even more. I won't go back until it is free to play. Coz I'm buggered if I'm paying for a game they keep ruining.

 

I just picked up SWTOR, but haven't actually had time to install it yet. Probably won't for a few more days. This is not filling me with confidence... although perhaps someone would be amenable to walking a newbie to MMOs through it a little?

 

Welcome to MMOs .

This is pretty much what it'll be like and you shouldn't really pay too much attention to it... basically Classes have been re-balanced (and had some skills changed) because of PvP (player vs. player) and it's had an impact on people who don't PvP (or care to).

In reality it's not so much of a big deal and it's a lot of "they changed something i liked and was used to" as opposed to the Devs actually having screwed things up.

 

Oh don't mind me. You will find there are a lot of strong and differing opinions in any MMO. The game is still fun, but due to them keep changing things for one side of the populous, which then affects the other, I won't play again until it is free (which is happening shortly).

 

Yeah, that's the only reason I got talked into it.

Sounds like the Civ 5 patches that were driving me nuts. Every time I'd just figured out how to tweak my playing style to the latest patch, they changed it again - what really annoyed me was the last patch, where I'd had a Deity-level game in progress. The patch came along, and suddenly I was hosed.

OK, cheers chaps.

 

You mentioned Sorc's being ruined even more? What exactly was this about?

I don't have a Sorc but i've seen the amount of QQ on the forums and General Chat about it... from what I saw it seems:

Stun reduced to 10m - I never got what the big deal about this was... I can understand this can be annoying whilst levelling, but at Level 50 i've only used my stun in Explosive Conflict (Operation) and at no other time.

Force Wave changed - I agree this change makes it less useful as a "get off me" button, however again at the endgame level it should never be touched unless knocking stuff off ledges, which it still performs. If the Healer is getting swarmed then it's up to the Tank to taunt them, or the DPS to kill them... every time i've seen a Healer use them it's always right as i'm AoE'ing a group which is now scattered.

 

The proposed F2P model for this game sucks. I'm currently subbed through the end of this month, but I wont be re-subbing because I can't do operations without a monthly subscription....absolute ******* bull. I've rolled 2 level 50s and have no desire to quest any further. PvP (imo) is garbage in this game so the only enjoyment I get is doing endgame PVE content with my guild. I would be HAPPY to pay a small fee to continue doing operations but unfortunately that is not an option.

 

so you want a free 2 play game which gives you access to everything? yeah thats works then.....

 

I said I'd be willing to pay a smaller fee to have access to the operations (or at least access to one operation). I raid 1-2 times per month with my guild, so this option would be fine for me. I have all my pve gear maxed out so there's nothing else I care to do. It's not worth it to me to pay $15/month for ~ 8 hours of gameplay.

 

thats how they define ` a small fee` - you want the end game content then you need to sub for it.....


but content is coming too slowly - it nearly killed wow

 

Yes, I get that. I just don't think it is a good approach....I wish there was a way I could specifically pay to raid TFB 1-2x per month because that is currently the only op that holds any value for me.

Agreed on both accounts. This brings up an interesting problem, because SWTOR kicked out quite a bit of PVE endgame content (4 raids, over a dozen 4-man instances) within its first year. I don't really think they could've done it much faster. To me this simply indicates that the typical "cookie-cutter" mmo build needs some serious re-vamping.

 

Thought that they said "all types" of players would be catered for... so you could pay for more PvP access and pay for access to Operations?

Won't know until they actually launch the F2P system though.

As for content, they've said that with F2P they'll be rolling out new content on a 6 week rota, so hopefully that will be good.

 

If they manage to actually roll out new content on a 6 week basis (which they haven't so far, despite promises to do so), then I'll consider keeping my monthly sub. As of now, operations are for subscription members only. If we get some new flashpoints and a new op in the next 3 months, I'll stay. If not, I'm gone. Only being able to run one operation per week is simply not worth $15/month to me.

F2P MODEL

 

I saw the F2P Model, but the Devs clarified that the "Pay" features would mean you could pick and choose how you wanted to play.

For example, there Flashpoints and PvP are severely limited (only a certain amount of FPs/Warzones per week), but they've said that you're able to "buy" a pack which will increase the Warzone or FP cap (or even remove it).

As such, i expect they'll probably release a pack which will let you do Operations.

 

I must have missed this. Apologies.

They nerf whatever class in PVE due to PVP players. I feel this is wrong. Balance PVP all you want, hell it should be as balanced as possible. BUT PVE should remain separate. They get rid of fun skills, and slash useful ones to the point of pointlessness. Fine maybe at lvl 50 you rarely if ever need some of them, but in levelling they ARE useful, and sometimes in FP or OP.

You must see that a stun at 10m for a ranged class is useless? They fight at range. You open with it, lay on a couple of ticks/affects before they can move..and punish them while they move in on you. Using that example, the change means all it is good for is running..and I've noticed that running rarely saves you if it gets to the point that you actually need to run. Basically a useful skill becomes useless. And when it is the only stun you have, that just rubs grit in your eye.

And taking an affect that gives you a moments breathing space when you get swarmed by knocking everything back, which you will, and making it so it only hits the things in front of you makes it worthless. So we get some healing skill, big whoop. The class is so underpowered because of previous nerfs anyway..and then they get rid of two of the most useful skills for a leveler/pver. I don't give a monkeys testicle what you use at lvl 50. The journey is getting there..if that sucks ass you wont make it.

I really don't get the change from a PVP point of view either considering the sorc is the easiest class to kill anyway.

But I've been drawn on the matter when I didn't want to be. All hail nerd rage! LOL

I will go back when it is free, for the story. I'm a SW and KotOR fan so that is what matters to me in the end.