Late last week, BioWare updated the PTS again to include the Mercenary and Powertech combat styles, as well as a surprise appearance from Juggernauts and Marauders. They’ve also done a general pass over a couple of styles in general and updated various aspects of them, as well as integrating combat-scaling ‘properly’ to planets after a failed attempt to do so last month.
How do all these things look?
~~~
General
Not much is different from a generic standpoint compared to
the usual updates. Text is continually being updated to look cleaner, we have a
new character sheet, a new inventory, y’know, same-old, same-old.
Wait, new character sheet? New inventory? When did those
happen?
I can only think that this is an unintended inclusion, but
certain characters may find themselves being able to access new versions of
these UI elements alongside the originals. Both are much darker than their current versions and feature
more rounded buttons. The new character sheet is much larger than the current
one and has a second copy of the inventory irrevocably attached to it. It can
be shrunk down to a similar height to the one we all know and love, but the
width cannot be reduced to current levels.
From this new window, we can see how various things will come together in a later phase. The Outfitter and companion windows are both still there, with the Outfitter now getting its own separate pane. Combat Styles are clearly going to be selectable in the second pane, even if we still have to use the ‘K’ panel to choose our Disciplines and associated mods, while loadouts will be available in the fifth. No ship pane yet, but I imagine that will be available somewhere.
Neither version of the new inventory seems to have access to
the materials bag or disintegration window, but I imagine these will be phased
in at a later point.
As part of this new update comes another gear-related tweak:
every time you purchase an item, it will automatically be equipped to your
character if there isn’t already an item equipped in that slot. This confused
the heck out of me when I tried to buy the new 318 gear for my level 80 Sorc
(since the 328 gear has all been deleted save for the earpiece, implants,
relics, and weapons) as I just wasn’t seeing it in the inventory…
I don’t particularly like the idea of the character sheet
unavoidably having the inventory attached, but I do quite like the idea of
grouping everything else together like this.
~
Content-Scaling
Last time, scaling was only implemented in one place:
solo-mode Flashpoints. To experience it, I dutifully sent my Sorc to solo-mode Legacy
of the Rakata and was surprised to see that every single stat was scaled.
Not just Endurance, Mastery, and Power – now Alacrity, Accuracy, Critical, and
even Presence were scaled. So, according to my character sheet, I had gone
from 110.00% Accuracy to ~103%... hmm.
I put that on the back-burner until such a time as scaling
was implemented elsewhere, since this could just have been a blip. After all,
my Primeval Fatesealer relic still worked, boosting my Alacrity from the low
hundreds to just under 2,800, so maybe it was just one of those things.
It wasn’t just one of those things.
With how content-scaling works in the current PTS phase, all
of our stats are still scaled down but this mercifully didn’t seem to have much
impact on my characters’ performance. Provided that they entered scaled content
when they were already at 110% accuracy, they didn’t miss any direct attacks
whatsoever even with an apparent 7% chance to miss. The only character of mine
who was missing with direct attacks was my level 80 Sorcerer, and that’s
because with the default 318 gear you don’t quite reach 110% accuracy. I should
have used the stim, in hindsight. Oh well.
Unlike the last time, relics do not work when you are
scaled down. The Primeval Fatesealer cries “Access Denied” when you try and use
it, while if you have the Devastating Vengeance, Focused Retribution, or
Serendipitous Assault relics equipped (not that the latter two would have any
effect anyway), you won’t even see the buffs activate on your buff bar. If this
holds true when this hits Live, there is going to be no benefit to going in
with different relics – all DPS and Healers may as well just get the FR / SA relics
and be done with it.
Veteran’s Edge appears to have been removed visually but
bolster now takes our HP up to higher values on live to seemingly account for
its absence. For example, here is a comparison between the character sheets of a 306-geared Level 75 character on the Live version of Yavin IV compared to the PTS:
Also, since Presence is also now affected by scaling this does mean that companions will no longer be overpowered in certain situations. For example, Xalek, my Sorc's Tank, is at 67,282 HP on the Live Yavin IV but if scaling remains the same as it is right now, come 7.0 he will go down to 61,722. His damage-reduction remains the same, at 34.99%, but he'll still be a tad squishier.
I’m not too sure what to make of all these changes for
scaling. It does make me somewhat concerned for how it will function with
operations, since the DV / PF relics and Proficiency stims are both useful for improving
our performance when scaled down in really difficult high-end fights. If
operations are all still scaled down and we can’t augment any of our stats
beyond bolster, then we’re all going to have to be reliant on BioWare’s
tuning things properly or everyone in the group being able to push as far as
they can with their classes. Sure, I can see some people really loving that in
the hardcore raiding side of things, but I can also see this being slightly
problematic for a lot of other groups – those who have one or two noticeable weak
links in the DPS or Healing teams, for example, even if the rest of the team is
fairly decent.
That’s not something which we can really get a feeling for
at the moment. We know that BioWare will be adjusting operations again,
so the tuning should at least be better than it was at the start of 6.0 – but if
it’s still “too high” for certain groups that can do reasonably well with
progression at the moment, that mightn’t bode well at all.
Time shall tell.
~
Powertech
Powertechs are an… interesting… case of a combat style. They’ve
broken pretty much every pattern which has been pre-established in the build-up
to their inclusion on the PTS.
All discipline abilities are presented in the same order as
acquired on Live! Nope, Oil Slick (first) and Firestorm (last) have switched
places in the Shield Tech discipline.
All abilities introduced with Onslaught are now
optional, if not removed entirely! Nope, Powertechs not only keep Power Yield
as a baseline ability, it’s now a level 10 ability and has different
benefits depending on discipline alongside its current effects (e.g. for Shield
Tech it heals them for 6% HP per stack when it ends).
The level 70 tier has a choice of three actives! Nope,
Powertechs get two actives (Electro Dart and Hydraulic Overrides) and a
passive (Shield Cannon) across all three disciplines.
There are no objectively new abilities (as in: new abilities
that a discipline can get without foregoing another option)! Half true.
Powertechs get a new version of leap – Rising Phoenix – that incorporates the Flame
Surge passive (two free uses of Flame Burst / Flame Sweep when you leap) and
immobilises enemies near the target. Half true because this isn’t strictly a unique
new ability, but just a conglomerate version of Jet Charge.
To explain how Powertechs get this new ability
out-of-the-blue, Translocate has been made optional at level 20 alongside a
passive version of the Second Contract tactical (which still gives Grapple two
charges) and Extraction Plan, an updated version of Grapple that also pulls allies.
Additionally, this does also mean that Jet Charge is no longer a baseline
ability for Powertech DPS, as once again they have to choose it at level 20.
I do find it interesting that Powertechs are just unique in
how they not only have a passive option to choose from at level 70, but that
the Shield Tech discipline sees abilities move around within the tree. No other
combat style or discipline has seen such an occurrence, and I’m honestly wondering
if perhaps they should have seen them. Several utilities are still absent, for
example, so are there really not any abilities that they’ve made optional that
they couldn’t now replace with such a passive…?
Regardless, it’s intriguing to say the least. Even if I hadn’t
gone in to this PTS phase with the intent to test Powertech DPS, I would have
commented on this.
Several people who have been reading the previous entries of
this blog will be aware of my plan to move to Scoundrel and Operative instead
of Powertech and Vanguard. I can tolerate Powertech reasonably well on Live, as
I feel that with certain items the heat-management of Pyrotech is the best it’s
ever been, but while I do find some enjoyment in it, I also find it the
clunkiest of my four playstyles.
As a result of the PTS, I have found some decent enjoyment
in my possible-replacement playstyle of Operative and am fairly certain I will
make that move. I still wanted to try out Powertech, just in case BioWare
were doing something to make it less resource-consuming as a spec without
relying on certain items. I didn’t want to write it off entirely without seeing
what they had planned!
Long-story short: all aboard the Operative train.
So this boils down to two things.
Firstly, I mentioned earlier that Pyrotech is in the best
spot it’s ever been for resource-management, and this is down to the set that
most Powertechs use and the Tactical which I combine it with. The Meteor Brawler
set is wonderful because it reduces Flaming Fist and Rocket Punch’s heat by 4,
and then after Explosive Fuel has ended it reduces the heat of all abilities by
50% for 20 seconds. Amazing stuff, and honestly these are what keep me tied to
the set which otherwise I have an absolute loathing of.
The Tactical that I use, Flame Dissipation, means that
Searing Wave sees its heat reduced by 3 every time Flame Engine reaches or
refreshes to two stacks. At the full number of stacks, 5, this means that the
ability only costs 5 heat. This is difficult to maintain on a consistent basis
due to the amount of heat one must spend in a single rotation to reach this
number, but even a 9-heat reduction of Searing Wave is incredibly useful for helping
with resources.
On the PTS, while Flame Dissipation still works, the Meteor
Brawler set is disabled. This means that our heat management in general is back
up to an incredible consumption rate, and my beloved Flame Dissipation just isn’t
practical in this situation since you can’t really afford to use more than two
Flame Bursts in a single rotation. So you consume far more heat on a consistent
basis, and Rapid Shots needs to be used very frequently.
The second issue comes from something BioWare have
done to both Mercenaries and Powertechs. They’ve combined Thermal Sensor
Override (causing the next ability you use to consume no heat) with Vent Heat. This
may not seem like that much of an issue to those of you who like to use both at
the same time, but if you like to use TSO to buy you some time before you must use
Vent Heat, you must either wait until you’re starved with energy (risking consuming
the free energy on a ‘cheap’ ability) or burn Vent Heat before you’re ready to
use it.
For me, I currently use TSO at the start. Open with Scorch,
use Flaming Fists, then TSO with Incendiary Missile and go from there. Gives me
enough ‘extra’ heat to continue with the full rotation to get the most benefit
from Flame Dissipation, then Meteor Brawler does what it does and gives me 50%
reduced heat for a good period thereafter. I save Vent Heat throughout this time
since it can be used as a rescue point later if necessary.
I can’t really hope to comment on the mods they’ve come up
with for the spec since I just haven’t been able to complete a single parse on
the PTS. I just run out of heat all the time. The mods the discipline has are
okay, and I imagine a lot of people will get a kick out of Whistling Birds
(Incendiary Missile becoming AoE and placing a detonator on targets which
explodes when hit with Searing Wave), but without satisfactory experience of
how things are… yeah, I’m not going to try to pretend that I have a good bearing
of how they will impact things.
So… yeah. I’m sure that if I worked at it I could come up
with something that will work without guzzling too much heat, but that also
seems like a lot of work for a playstyle which I only really enjoy at the
moment because I no longer need to worry about guzzling resources as
much as I used to. Pyrotech just feels like it’s going to be even clunkier than
it already is, and so I think this is the push I needed to move on when 7.0
comes.
I’ll still give it another chance and see what its sets are
like. If they do another set like Meteor Brawler that helps with resource
management to a good degree then I’m happy to throw myself into another bit of
testing one last time. If things are still going to be as ‘bleh’ as they are
now, then yeah, I’m done. I’ll give it that one last chance. The class deserves
that much.
~
Mercenary
I may not play Mercenary at the moment, but I do have some
history with it that always keeps me interested in what happens to the style
every expansion.
I really like what they’re doing to Bodyguard. Merc healing
is in the top-spot in a lot of places right now as it is, but it doesn’t look
like the mods they’re introducing to it will make it massively more powerful
than it already is. That’s the ideal spot, I think, although I do feel that the
mods beside Integrated Scanning for Healing Scan could be touched up a tad.
Arsenal… I honestly feel like they could have done more with
this discipline. It’s currently one of the lowest-performing disciplines in the
entire game, even if it is by design. The options they’ve come up with (such as
Priming Shot dealing 50% more damage to targets affected by Heat Signature, or
Heatseeker Missiles having a 10% increase to both critical chance and critical
damage) will help it out somewhat, but they’re hardly going to be stellar
improvements to an already-ailing spec.
I don’t know enough about Innovative Ordnance to really
gauge how those mods will impact it, but it looks alright. I do find it fascinating
that BioWare have resuscitated part of the original Concentrated Fire
set for IO, with one of its passives now boasting that every 10 seconds, gaining
a stack Supercharge will increase your critical chance by 10%. The same passive
also increases DoT damage by 30% under 30% HP and damage of elemental attacks
to bleeding targets by 3%, so this is a very powerful passive for this
spec even if they alter or remove the Supercharge element.
So yeah. Mercs seem like they’ll still be the ‘best’
healers, Arsenal still seems like it’ll be impotent, and IO seems like it’s
still going to be a decent contender in raids at the hands of a skilled player.
As much as things change, eh?
~
Guardian / Juggernaut
With the inclusion of Juggernaut, some updates have been
retroactively made to Guardian. For example, Guardian Leap is now baseline for
all three disciplines again. Additionally, all of the mods for Blade Barrage
across the disciplines have been turned into Debilitating Slashes. This means
that, rather than Burning Barrage now causing Blade Barrage to deal extra
damage as burn damage, this mod will now cause Blade Barrage to generate 1
focus and immobilise the target.
This last one, as heartbreaking as it is to me, does make
sense. Having three different mods for a single ability across an entire combat
style just sounded horrendous from a balance perspective. I think many players
will welcome the return of the immobilise effect, while Blade Barrage now
generating focus is also a nice benefit even if we are swimming in focus right
now.
For Vigilance, Searing Meditation has been redesigned.
Previously, every time you critically hit with a burn attack you would generate
1 focus, and activating Combat Focus would reset the cooldown of Blade Storm. Now,
this mod makes it so that you no longer generate 6 focus when activating Combat
Focus, but for 10 seconds after using the ability you will have 10% increased
critical chance for burn attacks and generate focus with each critical burn. It’s…
intriguing, but I think I’ll stick with Critical Conditions reducing the
cooldown of Combat Focus with critical burns.
Not much else to say, really. New-Vengeance feels identical
to new-Vigilance, and I’m happy with both versions of the combat style.
~
Sorcerer
The level 70 tier for Sorcerer has been redesigned: instead
of providing a choice between Extrication, Force Barrier, and Volt Rush, Sorcs
now have a choice between Phase Walk, Volt Rush, and Whirlwind. Extrication and
Force Barrier are both baseline abilities by default. Similarly, Emersion and
Force Mobility have switched places, so Force Mobility is now a level 60 passive
and Emersion is now level 80. Still a relatively brutal situation for midbie PvP,
but less so than it used to be.
So… that level 70 tier. In my last post, I commented on how
it would make PvP choices risky, but there’s a fine line between acceptable
risk and untenable risk. It would be a brave Sorc who would forego Force Barrier
for anything, even if doing so would mean they could help someone score
or escape a fire-pit in Huttball. I was surprised that we had kept access to
Phase Walk as a baseline ability, so I have to say that I think they’ve made
the right choice here.
Volt Rush also now has more potential life breathed into it
with this update, as once again it would be a very brave Sorc who would choose
to forego Force Barrier in high-end PvE content for the extra DPS or healing
potential that Volt Rush would bring. Phase Walk in PvE is only situationally
useful, and Whirlwind in PvE is very much an ability only useful for helping
with adds, doing dailies, or Flashpoints. Experimentation is thus far more
possible with these choices than it was initially, which again is a good thing.
~~~
Conclusion
Okay, so apart from the introduction of Merc and Powertech
and game-scaling now being on planets, not much has really changed on-the-whole.
I think that’s an alright thing, but it is getting a bit late in the PTS cycle
and we still haven’t seen what they have planned for endgame content. I can
completely get why, as the changes to the classes are substantial and deserve
far higher focus than they have done previously, but there’s still a lot of
stuff that’s missing.
We still have two months until Legacy of the Sith is
destined to go live at its likely earliest point, so we still have time for at
most two additional PTS phases. While I was hoping to have seen the operations
and flashpoints etc. be implemented by now, I don’t really see much
reason for concern yet. Certainly, I don’t see there being all too much reason
to suspect that a delay is likely yet.
It’s nice to see a version of all the playstyles on the PTS
at last, and I look forward to seeing what they do with them going forward. We’ve
also seen the first instance of mirroring across factions, and I am keen to see
similar updates going forward. It’s a bit disappointing, having started on the
Republic faction, that every update since then has focused on the Empire yet
again.
Oh well.
No comments:
Post a Comment