Brawler Archive
Thread: Beta Master TKA's evaluation of the current state of the Unarmed Brawler
I was a master TKA+ Master Brawler in beta. Currently I am a novice TKA on Bloodfin (Slithak). I can't keep silent about the brawler issues anymore. I post this in hopes that a dev will read and will take at least some of it to heart. Here are the major issues with brawlers, especially unarmed brawlers,at the moment:
#1 DEATH
Brawlers die, alot. A good portion on our time is spent incap. In the past 6 hours, I have died no less than 22+ times. Mobs have an uncanny tendency to target the brawlers before any other class. This is a good thing, except that it leads to an incap + death 60% of the time. Brawlers needs a serious Toughness or Melee Defence stat boost.
#2 BESERK
In Beta, Beserk failed 65% of the time, until the last week, were the devs finally fixed it. It seems in live, Beserk has returned to its pre-fixed state. Beserk fails. Alot. I fail Beserk more often than I succeed (about 60% of the time). This needs to be taken a look at, as currently Beserk is the bread and butter of all melees. Because we fail Beserk so much, we drain our green bar which ineveitably leads to an incap + death along the way--no doubt one of the reasons melee proffs die so much.
#3 DAMAGE
Brawler damage is digustingly bad. The only way for brawlers to increase their damage output enough to get decent xp(yes, now that xp is based on the damage YOU do), we have to spam Beserk over and over. And remember, Beserk causes melee classes to take much more damage, thus die more.
During the entire beta phases, people were crying thst brawlers (not TKAs mind you), did not do enough damage. Then, the devs nerfed brawler damage to nerf the TKAs. The nerf did not really effect the TKAs, since with the nerf came and increase from +10 damage to +15 damage in every box of the TKA power line--in fact, some could argue TKAs were more powerful at Master level because of the speed increases. BUT, while the TKAs who specced in the power line(to get the speed bonuses which compensate for the damage nerf) were not hurt, the Unarmed Brawlers were. Essentially, the brawlers needed a damage boost and got a damage nerf. Now the brawlers got another nerf: Beserk damage was nerfed yesterday morning.
Yesterday, before the Beserk nerf, I did about 250 a hit on mobs(I was master unarmed)m with beserk on. After the nerf, I do around 160 a fit, with Beserk on.Thats a a 100 point loss per hit. The effectsof this can be felt especially when you solo now. The extra 100 per hit added up after 5 or so hits. Soloing with the brawler is much harder now.
If Beserk is nerferfed, fine. I think was wrong on the devs part, because the reduced damage cuts the amount of XP a brawler gets now. What I suggest is that the devs bump Beserk Damage up a bit, maybe to 200a hit at master uanrmed level, OR increase the damage of the other Unarmed specials(like unarmed hit 1), so unarmed brawlers have other, viable attacks to rely on.
Melee classes have to run close to a mob in order to get any xp. Ranged can switch targets on whim and hide safely behind the brawlers, with little fear of mob aggro, unless the brawlers are all incap. If we have to go close and risk death, please at least make us tougher so we can survive more. Brawler death rates are appaling.
There is light at the end of the road: Master TKA and TKA Expert (masting ther power line of the tka). Master TKAS rock, and the damage + speed they have is incredible. But untill you get high in the TKA line, these brawler issues I have mentioned wil be felt in full.
PS, I aplogize for the attrocious spelling, but its late and im too tired to run it through a spell checker.
The road to TKA master SHOULD be difficult. The reward at the end should be worth it. To tell you the truth it is not. It looks like it is far too easy to become a TKA expert or master. Plus the TKA master is not all that great compared to other elites.
It should take you 3 months to master. Looks like you (and others) will be a TKA master in a month. That is a bad thing. After you max out TKA then what? This game was suppose to last you a year. It won't even last you 6 months. It's not your fault. It's the dev's mistake.
There are many things wrong with TKA.
LS1
I agree with you 100% I was a noviceTeras Kasiin beta and they whooped but. Now after release they have been nerfed so bad that I am loosing interest in SWG altogether I'm very disappointed to say the least. The best race for an unarmed brawler is definately the Trandoshian but still unarmed is not anything it used to be plus undesirable to play anymore I'm very upset at the huge nerf to this class. I'm closing on master level of unarmed to see that it really sucks now and I don't wabnt to start on another profession but given the current state of the brawler profession I may have no choice.
I will only say this that some of these other new MMORPG's that will be releasing soon might win my heart instead of SWG. I selected only a 3 month subscription to SWG in case they pulled this kind of crap like nerfing berserk1 yesterday. It will be those kind of doings by the devs that drive not only me but many others away, nuff said. Again very good post and I couldn't agree more with you.
What I was trying to say is becoming a TK master should be like a right of passage. It is not. The whole skill tree needs work.
You should feel like you accomplished something great when you reach TK master. You will not. You should be a powerful foe as a TK master. You won't be.
The devs need to fix this profession.
Why won't you feel like you accomplished anything upon reaching TKA master? I don't get it. Do you want it to be more difficult than the other professions?
And you'll certainly by a powerful foe with TKA master under your belt, but recognize that it's less than half your character. How about TKA master, plus Master Pistoleer, plus perhaps a little smuggler dirty fighting thorwn in?
I don't understand how the aggro works in this game. It can't be by damage because last night in a group of three people - one pistol and another carbine - I just normal attacked. I was doing 85 per hit and was hitting slower and less damage than the pistol and carbine. Yet I always seemed to get aggro instantly. I tried attacking much later on in the fight and I still got the aggro from the mob right away.
Why do brawlers hit for less damage and retain the aggro all the time? I know that brawlers should relish being the tank, but when I die a lot and can't take mobs down using Berserk like I used to, I am wondering how I should play this character I have now.
Mr Heavy
If you knew what a Teras Kasi could do in the SW EU you would understand what Iam talking about.
Some TKA masters could beat a Jedi. Some Jedi were also TKAs. The TKA system we have in game isn't even close to that.
And if it does become that good as a TKA master than yes it should be harder to become one. But the reward would be worth it then. Becoming a TKA master should be a way of life for your character. Not just a simple level tread mill system like it is now.
LS1
The reason TKA isn't gradifing when you get to the end is because it is a way to difficult road for what you get in the end compared to the others.
And Berserk did not need to be "fixed" now it is broken were it was just fine before. Holo has said that in a fight a marksman would eventually kill a brawler with kiting, but if the brawler got in close it would be over... that isn't even close to being true now. they could stand there all day and i wouldn't come close to winning like i did in BETA and before the "Fix"
This whole Melee thing, although it has the potential to be fun, needs work Holo and crew and it needs it bad.
Lifesabers1 wrote:
The road to TKA master SHOULD be difficult. The reward at the end should be worth it. To tell you the truth it is not. It looks like it is far too easy to become a TKA expert or master. Plus the TKA master is not all that great compared to other elites.
It should take you 3 months to master. Looks like you (and others) will be a TKA master in a month. That is a bad thing. After you max out TKA then what? This game was suppose to last you a year. It won't even last you 6 months. It's not your fault. It's the dev's mistake.
There are many things wrong with TKA.
LS1
Yes...I can see how it's far too easy when at expert unarmed my styles hit for 100 damage and with intermediate pistol safelyfrom range my styles hit for between 200-300...yes I can see exactly what you mean...what an idiotic thing to say...right now ranged weapons hit for twice the damage at lower tiers and they're able to kill targets without taking any damage at all whatsoever...
If Brawlers have to take damage from mobs they should have much better defense and their damage should be much higher than ranged weapons users. Or at LEAST our styles should match the current output at the correct levels as ranged weapon users.
If you don't believe me I can provide logs showing that I'm hitting for sometimes up to 325 damage using a DL44 pistol with only intermediate pistol skill on a mob that cons RED to that skill then switching over to melee and the mob cons BLUE and I'm only doing maximum of 125 damage with styles and not using Berserk. All this at the same exact speed.
It's broken..it needs to be fixed
Lifesabers1 wrote:
The road to TKA master SHOULD be difficult. The reward at the end should be worth it. To tell you the truth it is not. It looks like it is far too easy to become a TKA expert or master. Plus the TKA master is not all that great compared to other elites.
It should take you 3 months to master. Looks like you (and others) will be a TKA master in a month. That is a bad thing. After you max out TKA then what? This game was suppose to last you a year. It won't even last you 6 months. It's not your fault. It's the dev's mistake.
There are many things wrong with TKA.
LS1
Yes...I can see how it's far too easy when at expert unarmed my styles hit for 100 damage and with intermediate pistol safelyfrom range my styles hit for between 200-300...yes I can see exactly what you mean...what an idiotic thing to say...right now ranged weapons hit for twice the damage at lower tiers and they're able to kill targets without taking any damage at all whatsoever...
If Brawlers have to take damage from mobs they should have much better defense and their damage should be much higher than ranged weapons users. Or at LEAST our styles should match the current output at the correct levels as ranged weapon users.
If you don't believe me I can provide logs showing that I'm hitting for sometimes up to 325 damage using a DL44 pistol with only intermediate pistol skill on a mob that cons RED to that skill then switching over to melee and the mob cons BLUE and I'm only doing maximum of 125 damage with styles and not using Berserk. All this at the same exact speed.
It's broken..it needs to be fixed
If they feel that TKA or other melee classesare too powerful then they need to change the damage on those classes. What they've done is lower the effective damage on the entire melee class across the board including unarmed brawler which needed a boost in the first place
I also believe that something needs to be changed in the brawler XP or damage. I have lesser carbine skill with a cdef carbine and still can do better with it than brawler. With the brawler needing to get so close it sort of forces the brawler to do more solo to get any xp. example in a group of 5 when I can get 45 xp and others get 200-300, and I take all the damage, and im only one rung above groupmates. Its just not very balanced with other combat skills.
I do also believe that if a player puts the time into it they should progress faster. It was only faster to everyone else but the time was still spent. I hear alot of people complaining that people get there fast, well thats fine, there just able to play more. The lesser people actually need the people that get there faster if you think about it. The complaint is just the opposite with artesians, people wish there was someone to buy better stuff from.
Ok just had to throw that little tidbit in there.