Carbineer Archive

Just curious.

newb carbineer here.. whats the problem with the ham cost?

I was this way too when I first started using the DH17 Snubself. . .err Subnose.

Get a laser carbine. . very good with very reasonable HAM costs.

Well, the laser carbine is definitely better, but it's still not "good." The other night I bought a laser rifle (filling up my rifle tree to master marksman), and darn thing has HAM costs that are half of my laser carbine! Sure it's slower, but the damage is more and the AR is higher.

I found great EE3s at a place called Blammo's. Location: Outside Coronet on Corellia/Bloodfin. Reasonably low HAM high damage. I've been able to solo double-yellow Netwoek Leader camps since.

The "update" that contains this fixrolled out to the Test Center today.

Q stated that it would be on that server for at least a week...maybe 2, for testing.

So, if all goes well it could be on the Live servers as early as this time next week. But I'm going to plan on 2 weeks since anything that plugs in rarely works as planned.

its not a HAM cost fix. its a fix to stocks and thats all theyve mentioned fixing. if you got a laser carbine or e11, dont think for 1 second your HAM costs will change at all.

Well to be honest the Carbineer profession will die out if they do not improve the HAM costs. As I have been running up the Marksman skill trees, I notice that both pistol and rifle have nowhere near the costs as carbine skills do. Quite frankly, without a fix to the costs, it makes no sense for me to take on harder enemies with a Carbine. This is for 2 reasons: 1. If I use my Carbine exclusively with special attacks, I take a risk of killing myself by reducing my stats almost as much as the enemy. 2. Using my Carbine I have more downtime between fights, when I am hunting.

I will make the argument that without a HAM cost fix Carbines will become obsolete,sincethe weapon breakdown is as follows:

Carbine- Mediocre short range, Good mid range, Mediocre Long range.

Pistol- Good short range, Mediocre mid range, Poor long range.

Rifle- Poor short range, Mediocre mid range, Good long range.

Now obviously these are simplified, but I could learn Rifle and Pistol (ignoring Carbines) and fight more efficiently and effectively. Using both trees I would be Good short range, Mediocre mid range and Good long range. Considering the majority of creature combat is melee, this is more effective against creatures. As for ranged combat it is a little more complex, but it all depends on your enemies weapon. And having 2 weapons allows you to pick the best weapon to counter your enemies choice.

The scarcity of good Carbines on the market, at least on Starsider, Naritus and Tarquinnas (sorry for butchered spelling), compared to pistols and rifles, also shows that Economy wise, the crafters realize that there is more money to be made in Pistol and Rifle making.

Although it is 2 skill trees instead of 1, the reduction of downtime and risk evens out this imbalance and also gives special attacks that affect separate stat pools. I personally am still planning on being a Master Carbineer, understanding that the stat cost should be changed accordingly, but I am also training rifle and pistol, in case this does not happen. If it doesn't change, I will just choose one of the other 2 paths to follow. and max out the second one up to expert in the marksman tree. Being a Creature Handler/Carbineer allows me to do this, obviously other hybrids of professions offer less "left over" skill points so it may end up being a more difficult decision for some.

Think you guys have it bad? Try picking up a 2H Sword. Our HAM costs are unbelievable.

2H Curved Sword has a speed of 2.7 and aHAM cost of 35/69/41!

Heavy Axe has about a 4.0 time and a HAM of HAM 74/33/10 (along with low damage).

I've looked at Carbines and their HAM cost is nowhere near this bad (although I've never looked at the DH17). I hope they fix you guys, but they really need to fix swordsmen too!

I would have to agree with Nag, if the HAM costs are going to remain that high for a specific weapon class than there should be a Damage output/speed bonus etc. increase to make it worthwhile or something to level the playing field. Or these costs should be reduced. Otherwise these professions will die out quickly.

Hmm with my laser carbine I haven't been affected by HAM costs like with the DH17. Of course I am a Twi'lek who have natural action pool bonuses attached to their race and Carbine specials drain from the action pool more than any other.

I am definately seriously considering dropping carbines if they don't lower the HAM costs soon. It costs me over 100 action to fire a simple legshot2 and I have the lowest HAM costing laser carbine I can find. 5 Shots from this and I am half dead. Its rediculous.

Pistols on the other hand are great as I can fire them all day.

Carbines are great for 1 thing...raising medical skills. With a carbineer around doing massive Action damage to himself and taking health damage from a mob, I can get excellent medical XP.

yeah I think im just going to complete that branch of the marksman tree then DUMP it!