Since the CU launched we haveallgone back to being the FNG's (fekking new guy), commando in particular.
The proffession has changed drastically. We are no longer the high damage proffession. Forget what SOE charts say of commando being 'very high damage' ..its not.
What commando really is, is 'very high versatility'.
Versatility is the word you mustkeep in your heads when you respec and while you play.
Of all proffessions, Commando is the only one who'se weapons have the effects built-in. This means we do not have topay action costs to infict blind/KD/dot/snare/attack debuff... nor do we have to pay action for aoe attacks as all our weapons are AOE.
With that in mind, the commando player must think how to best use his new weapons for the benefit ofhis group in PvEandto his benefit in PvP.
Commando has to takeother proffessions'sskills to complement his own. However, most Commandos i've seen still cling to the idea ofbeing the high damage blowsh!tup proffession andend up takingrifleman and BH skills thinking they willbebadass monkeys that way. They are wrong. Dead wrong. Literally..deadbecause they werewrong.
In PvE a rifleman+bh commando is almost useless. Other proffessions still outdamage him by a wide margin. Worse yet, these templates will always end up getting the commando the bulk of the aggro because all commando weapons are now AOE... soany rifleman or BHhigh damage specialwill end up hitting every singlemob in a cone out to 40m in front of the commando.
In PvP those templates get spanked repeatedly. Commando area effect weapons do very little compared to other master proffessions. Yes, even though we have fire dots and stuff, you will likely end up incapacitated long before your opponent is...all because you will get hit for nearly twice the damage you dish out (tried and tested, just duel anyone with previous accord to not use KD attack so you can have hard numbers). Some of you may come here and say 'but tacwraith I kick arse with commando+bh+rifleman! you're lying' . No grasshopper you're not kicking arse with commando.. go duel those people again with a laser rifle or laser carbine or whatever other gun of your fancy as long as its not a commando weapon and you will defeat faster. Much faster.
The CU Commando:
Best template for CU Commando that i've seen so far is Commando 4412, Master Smuggler, Pistoleer 4030,Rifleman 4000.
This template is the ultimate utility + damage combination for Commando. It can also be argued its the best complement and utility for Smuggler.
You see, both Commando and Smuggler go hand in hand. Mostly the same pre-reqs and both have a need for what the otherone has: Commando needs crowd control abilities and smuggler needs AOE abilities for its crowd control abilities. Rifleman provides the damage specials along with much neededGeneral Accuracy mods, Pistoleer provides excellent auto-attack special(quickdraw) and a much improved melee KD (which is much more useful than the marksman one believe me) and it provides intimidate.
How is this better than rifleman+bh commando? In PvE for example, lastnight I was with a group huntingcreaturesthat were higher than our level and who had a nasty tendency to swarm. Not to mention the add-on aggro you get out there indantooine with all its insane spawns.
My group was pulling the critters and they would come in groups of 5 or 6.Normally the group wouldve been wiped out quick... but I, the commando using smugglerspecial with an ACID RIFLE (not flamerbecauseDOTS break crowd control specials) called Concussion Shot , would run up to the 5 or 6 aggroing mobs as they ran forward to the group and would ROOT and BLIND all of them.. and smuggler root lasts 38 seconds. We picked one critter, shot it, it ran to group, group easily killed the lone creature, repeat... if any critters broke the root I would simply re-apply it.
When we got aggro out of nowhere (like 8 quenkers rushing in as we fought the mission target) I would go in and INTIMIDATE with the acid rifle then ROOT them. My whole group could then ignore the quenkers for 30 seconds, as their ranged spit attacks barely did damage because BLIND from acid rifle made them miss a lot AND intimidate made any hits do very low damage.
If the group needed to run away because we were getting rushed by 20+ critters, teh commando shines by using a rocket launcher along with concussion shot. area KD+root. You cant beat THAT. (Or you just area KD with smuggler low blow!)
When I needed to do damage to a SINGLE target, I would simply equip a non-commando weapon and use the rifleman head shot and sniper shot or the pistoleer body shot attacks..they do excellent damage.
In PvP the commando/smuggler/pistoleer/rifleman can REALLY abuse smuggler crowd control abilities.
Think about this: YouKD with smuggler low blow,ROOTfor 38 seconds and then use smuggler special that lowers resistance to effects then triple DOT a target (flamer, thermal grenade, heavy lightning cannon) and run out of target's weapon range while he cooks.. if target ever brbeaks the root you can SNARE him and THEN root him again.
'Foolish boy. Don't you know anything about Fantasia? It's the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefor, it has no boundaries.'
'But why is Fantasia dying then?'
'Because people have begun to loose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the nothing grows stronger. It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.'
'But why?'
'Because people who have no hopes are easy to control. And whoever has control has the power'
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