Bounty Hunter Archive

Why are bounty hunters and commandos telling pistoleers on their own site what to talk about? Go home.

Don't join a faction then. Problem solved.

I agree that commandos are -finally- fixed. One of my guildmates said yesterday he was actually able to take down an ATST, which, IMO, is where commandos should positively shine (did take him two incaps tho, but grouped, I think we coulda taken it without a problem). What I was saying previously is that commandos should not be able to 100% hit small, fast moving targets. Their balliwick should be the large, heavily armored stuff. Having dueled a couple of commandos for fun waiting for shuttles, I think they're pretty balanced right now. As long as I keep up the bob & weave plinking, I usually take em down. If I move in too close, I usually take em down, but end up with severe wounds from being on fire =). If he actually lucks out and gets ahold of me with something nasty, I'm toast. But, there should be risk in any duel between two smart people of equalish rank.

My only question on this is whether or not commando weapons have a blast radius? I thought they did, in which case it seems I should have been taking more damage from near misses.

You might find this post illuminating. Really lays out the needs of us pistol users...

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=13735

In all this discussion one post really hit me.

The guy said along the lines "I won my duel because I hid behind walls, so I guess I just need to be a wuss and hide to win"

Uh did I miss something?

When was the last time you saw a guy walk into the middle of a battlefield pull out his gun and scream 'I AM UBER!" Probably that was right before you saw said pistol weilder as a corpse.

Unless we're in a High Noon showdown 1 on 1, we shouldn't be extremely useful out in the open. We should have to hide behind rocks, take our shots, get up run away and do it again. The Commando in this thread who lost to a pistoleer showed you exactly where we have the power. His 'uber' flame thrower if it misses takes 15 seconds to cool down. For me with my weapon that almost 10 shots I can take while he tries to get the thing to cool down.

Play your strengths instead of worrying about your weaknesses.

There is only 1 way our class is broke and that is because we have no specials really worth having. They're all vanilla and generic...Notice I didn't say weak or useless, just not very exciting or fear inspiring.

As a TKA turned pistoleer turned carbineer turned pistoleer/commando I have some experience with a lot of different issues and feel like weighing in Since this is a message board where opinion is about all there is... here is my opinion:

Most weapons have trade-offs involved with using them, independent of what specials and modifiers are available to the professions that wield them. And most combat professions are full of specials that are broken or useless or both. I won't go over that here - generally it's well-known which specials for which professions are broken or worthless.

The problem that makes Pistoleer different, and will put them at a disadvantage compared to other weapons users in the long term (even when the specials are fixed), is that the pistol's inherent tradeoff - lower raw hitting power in exchange for speed, close range accuracy, low HAMand defense - isn't asviable under the current mechanics. Player defenses are still far too weak, speed is a wash for high level fighters (everyone is very fast), and close range accuracy is only notably better than some (though not all)rifles. Atop that,buffs and stims can essentially negate HAM costs for all but mind-draining moves, and thatdespite not having amelee damage multiplier a pistol-user still can't tank anything dangerous.

Solutions to this are hard to come up with, because of the related problems of balance and variety. The solutions shouldn't be something to make all weapons alike, but the trade-offs in each weapon should be well-balanced. Nerfing specific professions won't do it, the problem is with the game'smechanics in general.

Personally I think combining a nerf of the +speed bonus with an improvement of defenses(especially the generic "melee defense" and "ranged defense") would be a good start for making all weapons more varied in play style. Accuracy bonuses would become more meaningful as an offset to the defense bonuses, as would the range modifiers on weapons. And with improved defenses, pistol users might get a true tanking/survivability advantage over people who wield other weapons.

So that's my thought on the situation - it's the speed and defense mechanics, moreso than the specials.

bonuses for smugglers? WHERE , WHERE,WHERE?

I think BHs and Commando's are coming to these boards, vGeist, because people like you goto their boards.

I sometimes wonder if I am playing the same game as other people are. I am both a BH and a pistoleer.

Here are the facts as I know them:

1. Eye shot and the BH mind bleed are useless in PVE. The only useful PVE pistol skill BH gets is torso shot.

2. With stopping shot using my sliced DX2 I routinely hit for over 1k damage in PVE. It also tears up opponents in PVP - though they do hit the stims. It is my main combat skill. I also use both health bleeds routinely (Notice I wrote DX2... not scatter pistol. Why? From my experience the DX2 is the better pistol contary to what others have stated).

3. Eye shot is very useful in PVP. I use it in duels and when attacking Imps to great effect. Ifit were not for stims, stopping shot would be thesupperiorPVP skill. However, because so many players are at least novice medics, eye shot is more useful inone onone PVP. I have found that in group PVP battles, depending on my teamates,stopping shot maybe the prefered attack.

4. I hope the combination of BH and Pistoleerwill make my character the 'best' pistol weilder possible. If I was just a BH or just a pistoleer, I would not be as good. When I started out my goal was to make the best gunfighter I could. The mix of BH and Pistoleer seemed the natural way.

Is that not obvious to other people who want to be great with a pistol? Its not like people who do any research into the professions at all couldn't see for themselves that you get alot of bonuses to pistol use by doing both. Foolish adherance to 'what you think should be' as apposed to what is does nothing but cause you grief.

While you can still be both BH pistol 4 and master pistoleer at the same time, no one has much room to complain about the pistol.Pistoleers, if you don't like how you fair in PVP pick up BH.BHs if you don't like how you fairinPVE (with your pistol)pick up pistoleer. Why is that so difficult? It just takes time, dedication and a willingness to break through the boundaries of 'the way you think it should be'.

'Nerf the Jedi!'

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Notice I wrote DX2... not scatter pistol. Why? From my experience the DX2 is the better pistol contary to what others have stated
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lol, good one



To deal with something else, I still think bonuses of different classes SHOULD NOT stack. I mean if you get pistol speed +10 at tier 1 from BH, you shouldn't be able to gain another +6 from Pistoleer. Only the best one should count.

Why should it not stack? What reason?

'Nerf the Jedi!'

Because as it stands, Pistoleer is ONLY a bonus for Smugglers and BH.

In my vision, Pistoleer shouldn't be a lesser pistol user but I'm surely special...

I guess I'm confused. How is a pistoleer 'a lesser pistol user'? It seems the basis for this argument lies in two things: 1. the assumption that pistoleer is meant to be a combat profession in and of itself without the help/addition of any other profession, and 2. the ability to PVP as bases souly on the skills provided within the pistoleer profession.

Doesn't master pistoleer leave you with 158 skill points? Considered getting master marksmen in order to better your skills with a pistol.Think about combat medic, doctor, creature handler, smuggler or bounty hunter as ways to make yourself more viable in PvP. All of these tend to work well with pistol. Unless I'm mistaken you can take any one of them in addition to master pistoleer (you can't be master BH also, but you can get the pistol line).

Itseems like some people are saying essencialy this, "I am a pistoleer and I expect to be as/more effective than any other combat profession, especially in PvP - regardless of how many skill points my opponents spend on (a) combat proffession(s), their or my ability as a competitor in PvP, and my unwillingness to dedicate any time or resources to improving my combat skills beyond master pistoleer."

I know that this can't be what we as pistoleers want to communicate to the devs and other players, but in many cases this is exactly what it sounds like.