Bounty Hunter Archive

Thread: Post-Publish 24 NPC Bounties

SamousNemo
Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:11 pm
#1


Howdy guys


Reports are still circulating regarding the new NPC changes associated with Publish 24 and how those have affected bounties. Most negative feedback seems to be stemming from allegations of NPC health regenerating faster than damage can be done


I had the pleasure of fighting 2 boss marks myself today and these are my results after 5 hours of hunting



  • Firstboss had (seemingly) normal regen rate and went down easy enough. My only complaint is that he was only hitting for about 15 damage a pop (by the way, he dropped a BH schem, slicing component, and a +17 Heavy Weapon Defense, +10 Medical Assembly CA, so loot rates still seem fine)

  • Second boss had (seemingly) normal regen rate but was hitting for about 500 per shot after 8000 E resist armor and Duelist Stance mitigation. I had to keep constant with the heals with the aid of a med droid, but didn't have to use any stims. If all boss marks hit this hard I'd see it as an improvement, IMHO

Both marks used varying specials and altered weaponry depending on range. I'd say the AI has been improved


My template is MBH/Master Rifleman/Pistoleer xxx3/Medic xx2x (with +25 in HE clothing) so by alternating Adv Critical Shot with Improved Headshoton a damage cap'd T21, my damage output is probably a bit higher than other builds. Nevertheless, I did not think that any experienced hunter would have had much trouble with these marks


However, two bosses are obviously not enough to write off these concerns. Fellow hunters are reporting varying degrees of NPC difficulty ranging from my first situation to super-high health regen with the offensive power of my second boss. I'm going to hope I have a higher boss ratio as I continue testing tomorrow. In the mean time, I ask anyone with lots of post-24 boss hunting experience to post their feedback. Keep an extra eye on distance of the NPC regarding the weapon it is holding. Please do not post pre-24 findings. The more current, the better


One last note for clarification:


Keep the atmosphere of this thread positive


In case you noticed the last thread focusing on this issue was deleted. I'm not entirely sure why yet, but I'd prefer if our community didn't give a mod a reason to delete this thread


*EDIT* Got original thread back (thanks Tiggs). Can be found http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=bounty_hunter&message.id=560015#M560015 " target=_blank>Here

Message Edited by SamousNemo on 10-22-2005 10:09 PM



-Samous Nemo; Dirty, Lowlife, Bounty Hunter Scum
Former Bounty Hunter Correspondent
Call me "Sam"
threetwosix
Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:36 pm
#2

I'm MBH/Master Pistol/0330 medic at the moment. Ihunt with a fellow BH who is MBH/Master pistol/4000 CM. We use above average armor and top of the line weapons. Pre Pub-24, we had no trouble with ANY marks. Since Pub-24, it seems, 6 out of 10 (that's a guess) marks that are cl 79+ seem to be nearly invincible. Tonight, for instance, we were duoing, I pulled a cl 81 Mark. It had 30k Health and after it had owned both of us, it still had 28.5k health left. And, yes, the other BH was able to attack a few minutes into the fight. A few missions later, we pulled a cl 80. This mark was only attackable by my friend with me healing. I couldn't see the marks health. About 30 secs into the fight, my friend tells me to run because the mark is taking no dmg at all. In turn, the mark was taking approximatly 1/8 to 1/4 of my friends health PER HIT. With both of us healing and her burst running away, she still barely made it out alive.

It just seems kind of odd when you're firing away and see the dmg numbers you are doing...547...608...907 but the health isn't dropping.

It seems that marks cl 78 and below have a better chance of fighting at the cl you(I) would expect. If that makes any sense /wink.

Just a bit of feedback.



Narcass Is'Tic - The Ghost of Smith N'Wesson
xakia
Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:04 pm
#3

Boss marks are definately not impossible to defeat. Kind of nice to be able to take a bounty missions and walk off with the thought of some real combat ahead...instead of the old ranged shot semi-afk kills pre-24.


I did notice the regen rates were increased but I simply switched around my weapons till I found one that negated that regen completely. Worked for me. It really don't take long to kill any of these elite/boss marks....5 minutes maybe?


Overall, I am really enjoying the new AI and it's brought back some interest in bounty hunting other than for loot runs.(Which seem to be improved to me imho)





(+) CS:SWG(+) Step into my awp
Bounty Hunting since July 2003
"Jedi, you've ruined your ...no no that can't be right. SOE you've ruined your own lands! You'll not ruin mine!"

10110110
Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:10 pm
#4



Samous, what were the combat levels of your boss marks?


I took on two gold chev marks today, each with different results and CL's.


1. CL82 double gold 33k on Talus (Carbineeer, Teras Kasi)


Took me three separate tries to take this one down. First on my own (15min), second with a melee droid (20min), and third with a ranged probot (20min).

First two tries were utter failures. I could not get him under 26k health. However, before the third try, I logged out for 30min to take care of some errands. I dont know if that did something or not, but when I came back on for the grand finale (one of us was going down) it took me 15-20 min and a whole lot of kiting and near death experiences to finally apply the killing stroke. He managed to knock off about 10k worth of condition on my ubese helm, chest, and leggings. PSG went from brand new to 0 cond.


The improved AI was not really the issue here. The biggest problem in this instance was the fact that the MoB was regen'ing health quicker than I could shell out damage. Well, that and every chance I had to apply some DPS he was nailing me for 500-1000 damage or armor breaking me.


2. CL 81 32kdouble gold on Lok (BH, Rifleman, no melee)


Mark was standard issue with improved AI. Good fight and fair regen rate. Tough, but not deadly enough to scare me. Battle took 5-7min.



On a side note, I also had a CL 81 silver with carbine/ pikeman skills. This one would inflict 0 damage on me every attack. He dropped some good loot too.


My template is as follows:


MBH/MP CM 4/x/x/x

Standard issue Ubese (not sliced for AB)

Damage and speed capped,65 sac feather FWG-5 w/ +59 extra acc (sac pupped)

+25 pistol speed, +22 gen ranged speed, pist +16 acc, +25 genranged acc(applicable tapes)

Message Edited by 10110110 on 10-21-2005 11:10 PM



___________
Precursor / Tempest


Falcon187420
Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:19 pm
#5

I pulled a 32k ham boss mark today (first one after patch) and the health regeneration rate was ridiculous. I liked the AI/special variations that the NPC used but they should turn down the health regen. MBH/MC/some CM


SamousNemo
Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:32 pm
#6






10110110 wrote:



Samous, what were the combat levels of your boss marks?


I took on two gold chev marks today, each with different results and CL's.


To be honest, I didn't check. Both of the results I posted above were "double-golds", but I don't have their CL. I'll keep that in mind for future testing


1. CL82 double gold 33k on Talus (Carbineeer, Teras Kasi)


Took me three separate tries to take this one down. First on my own (15min), second with a melee droid (20min), and third with a ranged probot (20min).

First two tries were utter failures. I could not get him under 26k health. However, before the third try, I logged out for 30min to take care of some errands. I dont know if that did something or not, but when I came back on for the grand finale (one of us was going down) it took me 15-20 min and a whole lot of kiting and near death experiences to finally apply the killing stroke. He managed to knock off about 10k worth of condition on my ubese helm, chest, and leggings. PSG went from brand new to 0 cond.


The improved AI was not really the issue here. The biggest problem in this instance was the fact that the MoB was regen'ing health quicker than I could shell out damage. Well, that and every chance I had to apply some DPS he was nailing me for 500-1000 damage or armor breaking me.


That seems to be my conclusion thus far. AI seems alright (though reports coming in saying they don't adjust to weapon range, i.e. rifle staying at melee) but regen rates sound like they are a problem. Again, I haven't come across any problems myself, but that's what I'm hearing


Damage of marks sounds reasonable. I haven't heard of anyone using Duelist Stance and I'm afraid too many people have forgotten why it's in our skill tree


From the reports on armor loss I've been hearing, you may want to slice your armor forImpact Deflection. With your CM heals you should be fine with staying alive, but 10k condtion loss sucks


2. CL 81 32kdouble gold on Lok (BH, Rifleman, no melee)


Mark was standard issue with improved AI. Good fight and fair regen rate. Tough, but not deadly enough to scare me. Battle took 5-7min.



On a side note, I also had a CL 81 silver with carbine/ pikeman skills. This one would inflict 0 damage on me every attack. He dropped some good loot too.


I'd like to see the low damage marks fixed. Not very challenging


My template is as follows:


MBH/MP CM 4/x/x/x

Standard issue Ubese (not sliced for AB)

Damage and speed capped,65 sac feather FWG-5 w/ +59 extra acc (sac pupped)

+25 pistol speed, +22 gen ranged speed, pist +16 acc, +25 genranged acc(applicable tapes)

Keep in mind your support professions are based more around healing a crowd control, not damage. The 15-20 minute battles might be an effect of your lower damage off-set by your survivability. Again, I haven't come across any marks that I'd say had "super-high" regen rates, so I may not know what I'm talking about







-Samous Nemo; Dirty, Lowlife, Bounty Hunter Scum
Former Bounty Hunter Correspondent
Call me "Sam"
matilan
Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:35 pm
#7


I've bounty hunted a lot since the patch. Yesterday I even had 6 elite marks in a row. The first coupleafter the patch killed me. But I got more healing eff. and then they all became no problem. What helped me the most was getting a HE +19 sash and a probot droid with med rating 110 to help with the elite marks. After I got those I have killed every mark. For the elite marks I use brandy and canapes for foods, and now I'm sure I get doc buffed before going on a mission. For the non-elite marks I don't even need food. My template is MBH/MPistol/4000 CM. I have +25 Pistol Spd / +25 Pistol Acc / +25 Gen Ranged ACC / +6 Gen Ranged Spd in tapes. I also have +3 Gen Ranged Spd / +3 Gen Ranged ACC in FS skills. My pistol is a High-Cap scatter DMG capped (948), with SAC of 74, and Acc mod of +64. The armor I use is all pre-CU that I convert when it is destroyed so the avg energy resist is about 5k.


I say keep 'em as is.


About the High-Regen rate. Yes I'd say the gold marks are significantly higher if they're HAM is above 30k. My problem originally was running out of mind when the mark was only at half HAM. That's why I got more HE and a med-droid. The probots occasional shots help to keep the regen down and since I can heal for more now my mind isn't spent so quick. Granted this fights last 20-30mins but still they're do-able.

Message Edited by matilan on 10-22-2005 01:39 AM

Frostbear
Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:00 am
#8


The regen rate seems to have been fixed. I took out a variety of mobs earlier tonight (marks, normal and boss, creatures, faction npcs, etc..) with no sign of the problems encountered earlier, so any results or further testing I doubt will show the same kind of thing ran into earlier by allot of people. Also I was not being hammered constantly with specials by the NPC's, in fact they seem to be the same as they were prior to pub 24 going live to me. I imagine that was what the hot fix was about, and probably other issues that came up.
Selko
Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:33 am
#9

It hasn't been the health regen rate that's bothered me so far it's the Action regen. It seems that the 82 CL double golds can spam me more than a real player and their action bar instantly fills back up. Not sure if that's intended but whatever, I enjoy the fights a lot more than I used to.




Selko Embries

Professional Scoundrel
Klaskepikken
Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:27 am
#10


Im MBH, MCM rifleman 4xxx


I had a GoldBoss mark with 32k ham


It hitted too often about 1k dmg! and i didnt have a chance to beat it... and as it used to do was that when u was far away, he uses a ranged weapon, but now it runs after u with melee, and hits about 1k dmg, is it anyway that u can reduce this dmg on some of the marks, a litle bit? (with melee the dmg didnt drop less than 700)

Ranged was fine when it used it a couple of times.

The regen is way to high, didnt even take 1k health of him b4 i got the first incap.

When it comes to the Jedi hunting, thats the reason so many go kill jedis instead....


Edit: I forgot tosay that i neaded a jedi to heal me so i didnt die of the mark...

Message Edited by Klaskepikken on 10-22-2005 03:28 AM



FarStar
MystiQ
Njub Rebel Jedi

Narnia-
Njub Imperial Bounty Hunter
Tele_hoe
Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:39 am
#11

I've had a few Lvl 79-82 silver marks since patch, no gold. The first one would have killed me if there hadn't been a Jedi near by healing me (I put him on my "do not kill list"). The rest have been a good fight, but I've killed them all.

MBH/MCarbs 1003 CM.



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Lord_Arioch
Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:48 am
#12

I've only done a handful of missions since this problem has arisen. I've only pulled a single double gold mark in this batch.


Overall, the difficulty level has been raised significantly. Beating these new bosses (especially the double gold) required the use of every trick in my arsenal; medic droid, foods, spices. It definately seemed doable, yet unreasonably difficult for solo content (from a relatively SWG-newb player's perspective).


The Bosses' use of special attacks is a major problem as far as I'm concerned. Bosses draw from too big a pool of skills, giving them vast strength that defies thier Combat Level. Many also seem to prefer melee, with which Armor Break is a real game-stopper. Add to this, mobility control abilities (root, snare, KD) often seem to have no effect on the fighting ability of these bosses; bosses have 100m+ range, attack while knocked down, or runwhile rooted.To me, that seemed very unbalanced. This isn't raid content, it's content intended for solo play.


Obviously to me, this is an oversight. SOE doesn't want people soloing team-based content, farming the rewards and ruining the experience for countless others. Bounty Hunter missions are solo content, but they are also etite scale mobs which creates a bit of a problem, since the changes were likely done on the elite boss templates, as opposed to individualmobs themselves. thus, any 'fix' that reduces BH mark strength would very likely have a negative effect on the loot that allows us to become involved in the wickedly unbalanced economy.


I see a possible fix that would require the least amount of balancing:


Allow teams to run BH missions. Then, balancing the Bosses becomes a non-issue. The only issue would be the huge fights that occur over loot drops, but that is solved by being selective in team formation.





JorahnL
Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:05 am
#13

My alt, "Stack-o-buttons" is a MBH / Pistoleer 4344 / CM 4xxx right now.... I have heard a few people saying boss marks are "impossible" since Pub24. I must disagree. I am not even done grinding my new template today and I took down a CL 80 gold-barred NPC. It was a long fight, and intense, but I won. I think if I can do this with my template not even finished, they can't be impossible. I personally LOVED the fact that an NPC mark was a challenge! It's no fun if you know yer gonna pwn every mark you hunt. That's my humble opinion. =)


Laterz




===========================================================

Jorahn Liteblade (GTC)
Master Pikeman / TK Master

Stack-o-buttons Liteblade (GTC)
Master BH / Master Pistoleer / CM 4xxx

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