Carbineer Archive
Thread: Your Top Ten Issues
Hey all, I’d like to ask this upon you all. If you would, could you list your top 10 issues with the Carbineer Profession in order from Greatest to Least major issue and please give a brief explanation as to why, but that’s optional. However, it would be nice if you could explain as to why your Number One issue is your number one issue. Issues can list from Mods to Specials to Spelling. I'll be covering the Carbineer Specials and ideas in a later post, however, if neccessary, please share any feelings behind a special.
I ask this because I wish to discover which are the most important out of the ones listed and discussed. Therefore, perhaps then the most important ones can be worked on immediately if it’s not to overly difficult. Also, if you can’t list 10 issues, that is fine.
1-8 SPECIALS ARE BROKEN
9 HAM COSTS
10 ELITES SUCK
<doesn't feal like using perfect gramatical structure any further. Resorting to primal screams of indignation>
Without giving you the same ten issues as we all know are broken, I'll just state whats important to me:
1) Without stating the obvious, our Speed & Accuracy mods need to be reworked. At Master Carbineer, our bonuses should add up to 100% of maximum possible just like experimentation should reach 100% at Master level crafter. Bounty Hunter Carbine users should not be faster & more accurate with a carbine after spending 14 points than we are after spending 65.
2) Some specials not working at all. (ChargeShot2, LegShot3, BurstShot2)
3) Some specials not working as intended (BurstShot2, LegShot3)
4) HAM Costs on Carbines & specials are too high
5) Crippling Shot should specifically target the Action pool, following in the footsteps of its cousins LegShot 1,2 & 3 (Accuracy line)
6) Tied in with 2 & 3, but our state effect shots need to be looked at. Carbineers need moves like BH Carbine's Fire Knockdown and Confusion Shot. Especially confusion shot. We definetely need a shot that causes Dizzy...and FullAutoSingle2 should not be a Master Carbineer's bread and butter.
7) Specific resource requirements should be removed from weapons like the Elite Carbine, in order to acually make them "elite". (See Commando for example of this)
8) Remove unnecessary animation for Charge Shot. I believe this is tied in with our inability to Charge Shot while in any other position than Standing. Also posture changes seem to not work when kneeling or prone.
9)Why must we pause in place when hit by a new enemy, then resume moving? This has killed me many times whena fraction of a second counts.
This isn't really in order, just what I could think of right now. These have all been well documented and tested by others though.
#1-9 Action costs, Action costs, Action costs (on guns too)!
#10 The Elite Carbine isn't very....elite. It's more like...Carbine of Crap. Almost every carbine is better than it.
1# Specials are broken - This is the biggest problem, I can deal with high HAM, I can deal with cruddy weapons, but when my specials just plain dont work, or dont work as they should, thats a huge hamper on gameplay.
#2 HAM - This has been known forever, our HAM costs are easily twice that of other elite professions. Makes combat more difficult.
#3 Some specials are useless(see 4, example wildshot) - Wildshot 1 & 2, Burst Shot 1& 2 compared to Crippling. We have too many random damage attacks, they all serve the same fucntion. One change is to make Crippling Shot do action damage, but lower its damage modifier maybe a little , and rise Burst Shot 1 & 2s, since they are random.
#4 Stun is useless(as far as Ive ever seen)
#5 Counterattack is useless - If this skill actually made you re-turn fire out of time(meaning you could fire even when your round wasnt up, IE counterattacking) it would be pretty usefull.
#5 Elite Carbine poor stats - Good Min/max damage, but the speed seems slow? Maybe make it faster? Lower HAM costs?
#6 Lack of anything new at Master Carbineer - No new skills, just broken/useless skill mods, and speed/accuracy. What the hell is carbine aiming for? No one uses the aim skill. Master Carbineer is nothing more than + speed and + accuracy.
#7 Worst speed mods of any elite profession. Also worst defensive mods.
#8 Pausing to fire - why? Fix it!
#9 - Almost not a carbineer specific problem, but I have read from weaponsmiths(there was a big post on their boards) that rifles/carbines are not benefittting from multiple bonuses, from having multiple parts, while pistols do. Something about power handlers and the like, they each have stats, but they dont stack in guns that require numerous subcomponents(like carbines and rifles).
#10 - More diverse guns? From my gatherings about weapons in SWG, there isnt supposed to be one "best" but rather a mryiad of different choices for different situations, however this doesnt seem to be the case. High AP guns seem to override even high resists, thus negating the need for "elemental" type weapons, which tend to have poorer stats to make up for the fact that they do special damage. For example - fighting snorbals who have AR 0 and 40% energy resists, I still do more damage with a laser carbine, than with a DXR6(even though the DXR6 does acid, and snorbals have an acid vunrability). Maybe fix EE3's radius attack? New guns? Gun at master. Just ideas.
#1 Charge Shot 2
it NEVER, NEVER... worked. even tho they said it WAS FIXED. before tweaking what already work. finish whatNEVER worked.
#2 ELITE Carbine Gun
Itsa joke. Our best gun (Laser Carbine)is usuable by noobs and Bounty Hunters... Since Speed is pretty much capped by mods right now.
#3 NEWweapons for ELITE Professions
I think they misunderstood when we said new Weapons.. I think they put new weapons for Noob Professions like Marksman and brawler.. which is stupid... completly. we need more Variety in the ELITE profession in weapons.. that belongs to us ONLY. who cares about some noob weap that everyone can use.
#4 Attachement & Item Drops
I am a Master Carbineer and a 1 Box from Master Combat Medic and I am a Wookie. The only thing I can look foward to is those Attachements I can stick on my cloths. But they dont drop anymore. That is the only way to Advance my character's skill more. Over 2 Months of search I found 1 that gave +2 to 2Handed Accuracy.I am a CARBINEER... do you know how frustrating that is? no only they dont drop, they can give you an Attachement for ANY Profession that you are not... Aren't pushing the limits here?
#5 HAM Cost for Carbine
I can live with a big ham cost on carbines. but this is a bit extreme I think. maybe just lower it a tiny bit and it'll be fine.
Thats it. i'm gonna add this to it. The problem is not The Combat System, its not the professions. So you fix the professions and change the whole combat system. but what the *BEEEP* am I going to do with a better profession or a new combat system honestly? I haven't played for 2 days... Why? Aint nothing WORTH doing anymore in the game for me. Put some loot for crying out loud(attachements). Fix the THEME PARKs... but New Animals to tame...
I dunno what to say.. its hopeless I think.. their not gonna listen anyway untill people stop playing and then it'll be too late.
anyway my 2 cents
Yriah
2. HAM Costs - Once we have an idea of what specials are supposed to do, then lets address a reasonable change to our HAM costs on specials. As it stands, our HAM costs seem to be unsually high when compared to the damage we are dealing. I believe there needs to be a proportional relationship between HAM costs and damage output. This is something that needs to instituted to ALL combat in general. This would effectively balance all professions out and eliminate the "X profession is faster or does more DOT than Y profession".
3. The Carbineers Role - Please tell us what are 'niche' in combat is supposed to be and tailor our skills and specials to that end. We are supposed to be the "area effect specialists", but in reality that does not seem to be a trait that we are either unique in or excell at. Our area effect shots work in a 'cone', which is practical to some extent in PVE when using pets, however seems very useless in PVP since sentient beings dont stand shoulder to shoulder so they can get wiped out by grenades, flame throwers and 'cone attacks'. Give us the ability to fire in a 180 degree arc, now THAT is area effect.
4. Carbineer Weapons - The best Carbine at the moment seems to the Laser Carbine due to its AR2 piercing and its higher damage output. This is a weapon that is usable by Marksmen, well before hitting higher Carbine skills. The Elite Carbine, quite frankly, is not Elite. Please, give us a wider variety of Carbines or modify the existing ones to cover a wider range of abilities and situations. Give us a tangible incentive to invest our points in the Carbine tree by giving us specialized Carbines at higher levels.
5. Carbine Speed and Accuracy - Once we address Issue #3(Carbineers Role), then scale our speed and accuracy accordingly. Once again, this should be in balance with HAM costs and Damage output.
6. Movement - As stated in other posts, Carbineers are prone to stops and stutters when initiating combat or at seemingly random moments. Is this intended or as a result of a bug? If it is intended, please explain to us why and how this is caused.
7. Skill Bonuses and Perks - There seems to be a common idea that Carbineers in general are afforded less bonuses and skills throughout our skill tree when compared to others. IF this is the case, perhaps new skills and bonuses can be added or modified which are in accordance to what our defined role is ultimately identified as being.
9. Unique Equipment and Powerups - Ok, at this point Ive exhausted my gripe list
Now Ill present some new ideas. How about clothing and armor tailored specifically for different professions? For instance, Pistoleers could have Holsters while Carbineers could have slings or bipods for their weapons, and Riflemen could have Ghillie suits. Holsters could improve speed, bipods could enhance area effects when prone and ghillie suits could improve accuracy/stealth. In the same fashion, unique powerups could be crafted for individual professions as well that give visual distinctness and functional practicality.10. Brain Fart - Out of further ideas for now.
-Alster Bariss
Corbantis
"Jack of all trades, master of none"
1) Carbineer used to have a nice 'Crowd Controller' feel that made it unique. AoE Posture Down, Single Target Posture down. These are both laughable now and rarely work even outside the 30 second timer (In my experience). I would like to see a good reason tochoose Carbineerover Rifle and Pistol again.
2) HAM costs are too high on the guns, the specials or both. During a fight I find medics flock around me because i'm easy XP :-/
3) Elite carbine is a disappointment. Concidering it is the only carbine certification you get from Carbineer it iscurrently a joke.
4) Some Specials not working as expected. Due to the removal of our 'Crowd Control' element and several Special not behaving asexpected I find my Tool Bag reduced to Action Shot1, Legshot2 and CrippleShot (rarely ChargeShot2). The others I don't waste my toolbar space on, which is sad 
5) The Inconsistant Spelling of Carbineer.
#1 Speed mods.
With the reworking of the speed cap system, each profession should just be able to hit its cap at master with an average speed, unmodified weapon.This means that if I were to take a survey of all weapons a master weaponsmith could make, and found that they ranged from 2.1 second E11s to 3.9 second lasers, take something in the middle like 3 seconds, and give the profession enough speed points by master to take it down to the cap for that weapon on a straight auto-attack shot. This retains the advantage of fast weapons, as they will remain closer to the cap on special moves, while keeping the additional delay factor of specials as a balancing point (rather than the current situation where devising a skillset that reaches 100% speed reduction is trivial). This proposal of where the speed mod should fall is highly dependant on a push to make this system universal (so thus an average rifle could get taken down to just barely 3 seconds with master rifleman, etc). If this kind of broad rule cannot be pushed for, then carbineer needs a speed mod competitive with other professions, and a master should not be surpassed in damage output effectiveness by a dabbling cross between a BH and some carbineer skills. (Note I never said BHs shouldn't be equal in speed to a carbineer, I just dislike how they stack so that people are highly encouraged to go BH, and relatively penalized with their weapon of choice for being a purist/specialist)
#2 Mods in the Counterinsurgency line.
We need more beefy defensive mods. As an assault role, we could really use a better variety of status effect defenses. Blind, dizzy, and posture change would be ideal. Also, the devs need to continue to be hounded upon to make sure that counter-attack gets whatever attention is needed to make it go off against high level enemies. I see no real justification for carbineers to get melee defense, and status effect defense seems much more sensible for wielders of spray and pray (if I may use the term loosely -- I don't mean to imply that we should be missing a lot, merely that the weapons we utilize are automatic and tend toward sweeping areas with AoE attacks) to be somewhat ignorant of actually taking damage, but rather be skilled in staying alert and capable of shooting -- hence my wish to see our defensive mods focused on a more healthy array of status effects. Besides, I think counterattack is much more in the flavor of the carbineer's defensive mode.
#3 Crafting disadvantages.
This is two things, really. Schematic placement, and actual flaws that inherently favor the crafting of pistols at a higher end of the experimentation quality scale than rifles and carbines. The schematic placement that I think is a joke is this: It takes the third box in weapon schematics to make any non-DH17 carbine available to a weaponsmith.Far earlier than this point, the smith has accumulated a very acceptable selection of pistols (including the scout and FWG5) and the Tusken rifle. Even at the third box, only the E11 is unlocked -- it takes a full gunsmith to make EE3s and lasers. As if that wasn't enough (having to get to gunsmith to make any carbine that people actually use for damage and not just low hams), we also have the least selection of weapons among the ranged users. My solution? Move the standard DH17 down to novice, move the snubnose to Firearms 1, and move the E11 and EE3 down one box as well, making the E11 Firearms 2, and the EE3 Firearms 3. Then the Laser follows at Firearms 4, and the DXR6 and Elite at master. This gives the weaponsmith a real upgrade to offer carbineers at each box, and also gives the novice a gun other than the D18 to craft.
Now, I know you've said in the past you're pretty clueless as to what goes on with crafting, and thus what's wrong and how things could be helped, so I'll give you a primer to enable you to talk it over with your favorite weaponsmith (or better yet, the WS correspondant). Here's the heart of the matter -- rifles and carbines beyond the E11 require multiple power handlers to craft, while pistols don't require more than one of a component. This causes several effects. The first is, these power handlers (which give bonuses to damage, and increased speed among other things) don't stack their bonuses properly. This is a bug that's been brought up before, and I'm pretty sure is on the correct dev's table. Even if he can't figure out how to make it work, a workaround could include the following: reevaluating the base stat range of the gun itself to allow for bonuses from just one, even though it requires more than that (essentially making the gun schematic give better stats since it's not getting stat bonuses from multiple power handlers like it currently is set up to account for); changing the multiple power handler rifles and carbines to require a new "rifle power handler" that gets a bigger stat bonus range.
The other flaw that favors pistols that this reliance on multiple power handlers creates is this: the power handlers need to be identical. This means factory made. And it's tough to do a factory run of enhanced parts, as you need the same serial. This pretty much means (as I understand it) hunting them yourself, whereas pistol manufacturers can just grab the guy selling one, and choose the best one at that. Now, assuming you do find the 3 (laser, EE3), 4 (elite), or 5 (!! DXR6) enhancements for the power handlers, remember that you only get credit for one of them, since they don't add right. Whereas the pistol stat ranges are designed around only having one to begin with, so they are at the correct level of phenominalness.
#4 Being centered around (move-wise) a completely unworkable game mechanic.
Our moves are KD/PCs and AoE attacks. With the news that legshot3 is meant to be AE, that means that, what, 6 of our 9 move lines are (at least described as) AE? The three non-ones being burst shot, crippling shot, and scatter shot? So, I think it's safe to say that as-implemented, we're set up to be the most versatile AE combatants. But nobody AEs, because there's NO taunting method available to anything, there's NOTHING that can really tank multiples of anything worth killing at master levels (with the exception of pets in some cases), and there is no longer any satisfactory means of crowd control.
Which brings us to KD/PC, another central piece of our slice of the specialmove pie. Suppression fire 1/2 built in, Actionshot (whether it's meant to or not, it currently does), and charge shot, we've got the tools to control targets. But the implementation is such that you can control them for perhaps 10% of your time in combat, which is 100% unacceptable as a strategy in combat. I've tossed around specific thoughts on ways to revamp this with you in that other thread this week, SOJ, so I won't rehash them here unless you want me to.
#5 Lack of dizzy.
Fullauto is a rather vanilla special. It does less damage than pistoleer moves despite their higher rate of fire. So why should it be a staple of our combat queue, so much so, in fact, that we got 4 versions of it? Because it dizzies a helluva lot, and has a good chance to blind. Two of the three most useful status effects out there. Except that it gets shaken off immediately.
#6 Crippleshot/Burstshot redundancy.
Why have both of them? They're both "high damage" moves, and recent tests have shown they're nearly identical in dps (assuming you're not BH speed-capped even with specials) and similar in ham use over time. Then, people wonder why cripple isn't an action targetted shot, too. If it were up to me, I'd make burst shot 2 into cripple shot, value for value. Then, I'd make crippleshot into something between burst 1 and the new burst 2, but triple it's chance to hit action. Which would give it enough difference in utility to be worth having two moves, but wouldn't make it a sure-fire upgrade to legshot.
#7 Weapon variety.
We've got the fewest ranged weapons around, and almost all of them are energy. Pistols get heat models, acid (and AP, just like our DXR6!) models, and kinetic models. Rifles get an even better assortment of damage types, with just a few fewer actual models of weapon (and graphic models). We could sure use another weapon with a different damage type. Or a vanilla high-damage energy weapon with AP1, and make the elite a cooler damage type if you like.
#8 Lack of complementary combat options.
I'd like to see, as expansions are planned, and new professions laid out, some thought put into ways to diversify combat professions within themselves by complementing them with other professions. Pistols are a good example, because pistoleers can complement their pistol use with smuggler or bounty hunter if they so choose (but I dislike the BH template of extremely high skill-point buy-in, nor do I like the idea of these complementary professions offering both moves and skill mods). I think smuggler's ideal, because it offers the ability for a character to master both smuggler and pistoleer, and also because smuggler doesn't focus entirely on combat (which is very powerful when that focus stacks with other combat professions), but offers an array of flavor adding abilities and mods. The only thing I think shouldn't necessarily be replicated about smuggler is the reliance on only one weapon type for the combat related portions (although I think it fits for smuggler -- I'm just saying future ones need not be so restricted). Things I think would really complementthe carbineer profession in particular are, for instance: Shock Trooper or Infantryman (typifying the typical stormtrooper or rebel trooper's skills, perhaps passive individual bonuses based on group size could be worked in, as they're more comfortable working as part of a larger whole, or something), Squad Support Weapon Specialist (carrying with it a number of heavy weapons that could perhaps be tripod mounted, for instance, and thus incurring set-up/dismantlement timers and immobility while using them, yet useable for carbine moves like fullautoarea).
Instead, we're stuck with the bounty hunter profession as a "complementary" profession. But I don't think it really qualifies, as one cannot master both (thank goodness, I can only shudder to imagine the power of that with the BH's current bonuses and skills), it's much too high to buy into (true complementary professions should be 75-150 skill points based on the power increase of adding them to a base combat profession), and should be fairly limited when not combined with a weapon profession, as they represent training in a style of combat or in fulfilling a specific role, rather than mastery of a particular weapon.
#9 The "are carbines automatic, or what?" confusion.
I see it all the time. People wondering why their automatic assault rifle is shooting more slowly than the guy next to him with a pistol. It seems clear to me, but perhaps it could be cleared up as such: change the damage spam text for moves like fullauto and burst shot and scatter shot to something like "you hit Xxxxx several times in succession for a total of xxx damage" or "you hit Xxxxx with a burst of fire for xxx damage," and then change the firing animations for these moves to let off several shots (like 3 for burst and scatter, maybe 5 for fullautos) in rapid-fire.
#10 Animations.
We get stuck not only with an annoying animation on our KD move, but the running animations are such that we get annoying and sometimes fatal hitches in movement as we stutter through the animations. Not to mention stupid idle poses which look like we're standing at attention rather than being naturally relaxed. A thigh holster or strap-rig might help, but at the very least, lose the two-handed idle grip.
OMFG OUR CORRESPONDENT CAME TO THE BOARD. THATS NEW.
1. HAM Costs: We cannot solo any creature/NPC nor hold our own in PvP from HAM costs. If you a Doctor and can buff yourself its all dandy but not many of us (and certainly not me) either don't WANT to get Doctor or don't have the skill points.
2. Cripple Shot: (Counterinsurgery): Cripple Shot should be a targeted shot, especially in seeing that ALL the skill mods in that tree are accuracy and it just makes sense that it would target action.
3. Weapons: MOST servers do not even have the metals for the Elite Carbine. Thats one problem. The second problem is that the DH17 (or the Laser Carbine) are THE best carbines right now. There is not much variation exept for in damage where the Laser and DH17 prevail...The E11 and EE3 are almost worthless.
4.) Special Effects: Our special effects such as Stun, and Dizzy dont work...That needs fixing.
5.) Specials In General: Specials such as Leg Shot 3, Wild Shot 2 and Charge Shot 2 are bugged and or worse than their previous attacks.
6.) Carbines or not!?: I thought we were supposed to be an Automatic Rifle sort of weapon...We need a little difference between Pistols and Rifle.
7.) Typos: Carbines or Carabineers?: Carabineers is the answer.
Short one this will be
1) HAM costs need to be reduced
2) Carbineer currently the slowest shooter - compared to pistoleer, Rifleman (should be inbetween - regarding mods)
3) Specials need fixing (legshot 3) also most our specials are not that different from eachother.
4) carbines (and rifles) at a disadvantage when it comes to maxing out the weapons in the crafting process (see weaponsmith boards).
5) The stop to shoot animation
6) Defenses:
since these are currently being worked on, in order to actually make them work. However I will mention it now before they actually work. The carbineer is hands down the ranged combat profession with the worst defense mods. Commando's, Bounty Hunters, Pistoleers and Rifleman all have better defenses, also note carbineers is the only professions of these mentioned above that has no melee defense.
Commando's, Bounty Hunters and Rifleman have approx. 3x better ranged defense than that of the master carbineer (total ranged defense is +7). Also compared to Pistoleer (dodge) and Rifleman (block) we have no evasive skills, odd since we have the lowest defense mods. Of Pistoleer/Carbineer/Rifleman, the Carbineer also comes short in terms of defense vs states, however we have better than BH/commando's.
My point is - when defenses actually work - it will seem like a nerf to the carbineer.
7) General fixes additions such as spelling, added weaponry (maybe even uber faction weaponry)
8) most likely more, but can't remember now, heh