Commando Archive
Thread: Commando State of the Profession (November 2003)
Since there is a desire to see the commando forum have one of our own I went ahead and compiled this using the CH format.
State of the Profession
The Commando profession is one of the most exciting and yet frustrating for many players. There is a great deal of "coolness factor" involved in the graphical explosions from the various weapons a commando can use and this tends to attract both new players and those who like the idea of having the "big guns". Sadly, however, that is all it is.
The Commando system support has been quite slow to respond and painful. Most bugs still exist and have yet to be resolved. At the momentonly one tree in the profession isplayable and the lastest nerf has rendered it suicidal.
Economic Status: Being a Commando is the most expensive of any of the combatants. The only way to get money is to do destroy missions. Engaging in missions without the help of a pet(s) and/or other players and using the flamethrower will result in death thanks to the recent flamethrower nerf. The "workaround" is to have a macro to equip the flame, do the special, and unequip it. There are noCommando missions at this time, so the Commando functions much as any other combat profession for this purpose.
Profession Interdependencies Status: Many Commandos have few skill points left to invest in Medic skills, which creates high demand for theready-made and experimented stim Bs or Cs from a more advanced Medic/Doctor. Unlike any other combatant, Commandos patronize Weaponsmiths weekly if they use consumable. Thanks to the recent nerf, many Commandos no longer visit Armorsmiths since a full suit of 61% kinetic armor still won't save them.
There are many non-combat professions that have benefits from the Commando. Medics and Entertainers get lots of experience off victims of a flamethrower attack or healing a Commando from a few hours of playing.
Commandos tend to "earn their keep" (particularly on the high end) by using the flamethrower dot which does large amounts of damage regardless of armor or resists. While a common sight in PvP, Commandos are easily neutralized by pretty much all other combatant classes and are quickly eliminated.
Gameplay Status: Currently, the primary role of the Commando is try and not die while placing the flamethrower dot on PvE enemies. Since a Commando cannot target a HAM it can take a Commando longer to kill an NPC than others.
Player skill generally comes into play for working around the recent nerf and eccentric AI behavior (warping on tops of you).
Issues In Progress
Bugs
- Har is still broken - accuracy received at novice does not work with tree. Therefore none of the speed/accuracy works. Specials at acid1 take 20 seconds and at acid4 take 20 seconds. A 5.0 speed gun shoots every 5 seconds with a +45 speed modifier
- Cannot use grenades or consumables inside dungeons/bases
- Kneeling is more accurate than prone with commando weapons
- Accuracies on all but rocket launcher make no sense
- Heavy Weapons skill tapes do not effect anything
- Armor Piercing bonus does not work on ideal targets. At-St is blast vulnerable. This is supposed to add a 195% bonus for the Rocket Launcher. If a target is armor none with 10% resists it works.
- Beam Rifle still unusable as is Republic blaster
- Odd Certification for Acid Rifle. It says cert rifle acid beam. This doesn’t follow the format of any others
- Typo in the abilities description of Flame Cone2 in the abilities and commands menu. It says to type /flameCone1
Exploits
None that I'm aware of
Gameplay
Master Commando is not more powerful than master of a tree. No speed increases.
Launcher Pistol is given at novice and that's it. To improve with it one must train Pistoleer.
Har is viewed as a joke. Only acid gun not AP1 in addition to its bugs.
Heavy Weapons have 40 charges at best. 15 charges can be used up fighting one hard npc.
Grenades only have 5 charges and have a shorter range than what a Combat Medic can throw.
Balance
Currently Commando is a one tree class which is suicide to use the special.
In PvP we are easily killed in a best case scenario.
Wishlist
- Remove the melee penalty on the flamethrower or change so specials used at 64m
- A crafted way to put out fire dot given to the medic profession
- Launcher Pistol given own line or put into a line and get better with it. Removed as user of pistol specials and given it's own specials- like lock on with 100% accuracy or a knockdown
- Launcher Pistol when given tree to get upgrade to AP1
- Master Commando receive +10 speed to all weapons and + accuracy to 100 on all weapons
- Heavy Weapons Powerups - none exist
- Titles for trees updated from current Beta Titles
- Radius on all heavy weapons/grenades upped to 16m
- Charges upped on grenades to at least 50. Charges upped on heavy weapons to 100. Consumables still take up way more time/resources in comparison to others and upped charges would fix cost per shot.
- Range on grenades upped to at least 48m
- Added effects to grenades like dizzy, stun, blind, etc
- Change grenades/heavy weaponsto be AP3
- Change HAR to be AP1 (only acid gun in game not AP1)
another great post, ivoni..and bikebum... you must have read my mind.. getting mater then dropping har line and probably field tactics too, picking up dirty fighting and the pistoleer stuff, probably.....
OberonMyx wrote:
another great post, ivoni..and bikebum... you must have read my mind.. getting mater then dropping har line and probably field tactics too, picking up dirty fighting and the pistoleer stuff, probably.....
I thought about dropping Field Tactics, but I am really enjoy playing with the grenades. The problem is, they are not very usefull in PvE unless you have a pet tanking for you. Plus I have 7 crates of different types sitting in my house ATM.
Other then that.
/cheer !!
Not only is the HAR a joke, it is but a mear cheap copy of the FT. ( As in copy of specials ) There was no creativity put forth into the HAR Tree and totaly needs to be re-done.
Great post Ivoni. I for one am going to stay at Master. Worked too hard to drop any of it right now. I am also of the opinion that we could get a stealth fix much sooner than 2 or 3 months. I want to be able to test anything that comes down as soon as it arrives. I especially like your comments on a "commando" specific mission terminal.
I like the idea of a KD with the LP. 
EcadMistflier wrote:
Great post Ivoni. I for one am going to stay at Master. Worked too hard to drop any of it right now. I am also of the opinion that we could get a stealth fix much sooner than 2 or 3 months.
The thing is, by the time anything gets done to the HAR, I will have maxed HW exp again and all that means is getting 325,000 HW exp more to be a master (for me). That would take me what? 4 hours? As far as dropping more than 1 line (HAR), I don't think I will do it, however I would be significantly less likely to drop any of my TKA. In terms of a stealth fix, I suspect any that come would be in terms of +accuracy or +speed with HAR (ie fixing the mods to actually work). That alone would not warrant me wanting to use the HAR as it would still be a weak and slow AP0 with no DOT and still carries the 2.5x melee penalty. I'd be better off getting the Novice Rifleman block for the T21, stacking mind bleeds, and higher APfor less skillpoints. Heck then I could deal with prone warping, mob warping, 2.5x melee mod, and high mind costs and still be happier than I am with the HAR. Well maybe not happier, but about on par.
As always, Ivoni, the voice of Commando. 
You apparently liked my 100% idea for LockOn?
Good stuff, but how about just getting rid of the acid rifle for a stationary E-web carbine?
Commando specials can't be 64m ... the crying that would be created would drown any other nerf requests. Keep the 18m range, but lose the multiplier.
if all Heavy weapons and such were AP3 and worked, I wouldn't mind only having 40 charges... or 5 in the case of grenades.
Good stuff though.
Awesome job, Ivoni. I really like all the info that you put together it is currently all up to date with what everyone has been saying on the boards.
here here!
Great post ivoni!
The melee damage on the FT has to go!
You cannot win anything in PVE or PVP.
dying on blue cons sucks.
Bikebum, I agree with you friend. If you feel that dropping skills is what will make you happiest you should do what you need to. I am going to concentrate on my business of resource harvesting for the next couple of months and running faction missions out of our PA's new factional base on Dantooine. I am very, very concerned about the state of our profession but relearning my skills at this point is not my preferred method of operation. I support your right to do as you wish.