Commando Archive

Master Synn and Fellow Commandos,

I see some real danger in Holo's last post, where he said something about making flamethrowers inaccurate at long ranges. Considering my experience with the devs mentality, here is what I think we are going to get:

(1) Flamethrower range mod. will no longer be acurve (+11, -55, +0) but will become a straight line (+11, -55, -300). We will be FORCED to stay at close range, which will be really bad considering the current 2.5x penalty. This double nerf (2.5x + no range) will kill us.

(2) If we ask for thelauncher pistol to be a heavy weapon rather than a pistol, will get crappy specials that arenothing compared to the ones we get with a little pistoleer. With a little bit of pistoleer work, we can currently use health shot 2 (bleed), double tap, and stopping shot with our launcher pistol. I LOVE these specials, and they only cost 18 skill points. If we raise too much of a fuss about this issue, the devs will simply take away our ability to use pistol specials with the launcher pistol and give some specials that have no bleed effect, and can't do over 1000 damage with the LP (like stopping shot can). I am SURE of this because anything different would raise further "imbalance" cries from pistoleers. We are asking for a change that can only be a nerf (because devs. will give us NOTHING in return). Any change to this would make the launcher pistol worthless.

(3) The 2.5x penalty will never be totally eliminated for us. They stealth nerfed us, the community is 100% behind nerfing us (no matter the fact that it returns all commandos to gimp status), they can't fixour 2.5x penaltywithout riflemen screaming bloody murder, this is not going anywhere.

(4) Acid Rifle will remain overlapping with flamethrower, and will still suck in accuracy and power compared to the FT...thereby giving it no use.

I think, in the combat section ofthe report to the devs, we should push for a FEW, very targeted things.

(1) Flamethrower is a close range weapon. Change long range accuracy mods to +11, -55, -300, IF AND ONLY IF the 2.5x penalty for flamethrower is removed. Otherwise, we SHOULD be able to hit from range because it is a "ranged" weapon. Leave all other aspects of flamethrower alone (except maybe a little more accuracy at master). Everyone if totally happy with how flamethrowers work, and we have a BIG weakness with the 15 second delay. No more nerfing is needed.

(2) Heavy Acid Rifle is a medium range RIFLE. Leave the 2.5x penalty on the acid rifle (compromise). Change the mods on the acid rifle to 0m -100, 35m +11, 65m -300. Make the range of acid rifle specials 16m to 36m, and leave these specials WITHOUT a damage over time effect. Also make the acid rifle AP1. This gives us a medium range weapon to use (counteracts proposed nerf of flamethrower a little), that is not overpowered (no DOT effect), has damage on par with FT (because of AP1), and which has significant weaknesses up close (2.5x penalty). Fix the accuracy mods so we can actually use the weapon.

(3) Launcher Pistol...LEAVE IT ALONE. We have nothing to gain by asking devs to change this. They will nerf the hell out of this and give us nothing in return. HOWEVER, if this weapon is subject to the 2.5x penalty, we should ask for this to be takin off. If anything, we should ask ONLY for some limited pistol accuracy mods to be added in. The devs SHOULD NOT under ANY circumstances screw with the pistol characterization...we will lose our bleed and all good specials.

(4) Grenades and Rocket Launchers/Cannons - Everything Master Synn said makes total sense. No changes.

The net result of the above is that we are asking devs to do 3 things: (1) reduce flamethrower range and take off 2.5x penalty; (2) change acid rifle stats a little to give us a medium range weapon and limit specials to medium range; and (3) fix grenades and rocket launchers.

I think if we push hard on these issues, we will come out with a useful class, rather than a class that gets over-nerfed with a couple of random "carrots" that do nothing for us. From Holo's tone...we are going to be eating carrots.

Synn, I agree with Ivoni that you are doing a good job. The only suggestion that I have has to do with the the FT Dot and the perception of it by theother SWG classes. The DoT is what they fear. More precisely they fear the fact that it is like phosphor and can not be easily extinguished or moderated. Perhaps if we were to propose that therebe a stim or medpack or some way players in PvP could moderate the damage of the DoT the other classes would be less inclined to cry nerf and the commando could actually become the close contact damage wielder it was initially meant to be. I am sure that this has been offered as a suggestion before but it seems to me that fear of the DoT is what is driving the nerf war against the commando class. I do not believe any of the other classes will be satisfied with any changes to the commando as long as the DoT remains un stoppable. It is like the eyeshot. Which WILL eventually result in the nerfing beyond all recognition of the BH class IMHO.

Ecad,

I agree, but that is a DANGEROUS proposition. Currently, we EARN our dot effect with our 15 second delay after missing, oh, I mean shooting.

Do you know how many eyeshots (total damage) a BH can spam in 15 seconds? How many stopping shots a pistoleer can spam in 15 seconds? How muchdamage a CH can do in 15 seconds? Well over the 2k to 3k in damage we do with a singleflamethrower shot. If the dot is easily counteracted we NEED a lesser delay on specials. Otherwise, we are sitting ducks for nothing.

Daker,

I could not agree with you more. However, i do not mean to suggest that the damage we can inflict with our specials be reduced either in effect or range. I am simply suggesting that a tool be put into play which would allow the victim of our rage in PvP to moderate the damage caused by the DoT. This would be comparable to First Aid for the Bleed Shots.Then when the nerf bat is being swung we could point to the fact that the other PvP players have this tool to help themselves. Perhaps it would be something that caused the all powerful BH or CH or pistoleer to pause, disengage, treat the wound, reingage. Perhaps this would give us a reprieve from this constant nerfing and we could actually have some idea of what we are suppose to be.

Daker,

I agree with your idea as well. I have some medic skills that I find indispensible especially after this latest nerf. I feel that every elite class should have something powerful that it can do to defeat the enemy and defend itself in combat. I do not believe emasculating another class to meet that goal is either fair or necessary. Make the elite classes extremely dangerous and fun to play but give everyone the tools necessary to counter the assault. Don't make counter intuitive changes to a class. Give the SWG characters their burn kits and give the Commandos back their ability to stand and fight without the 2.5x melee nerf. 'nuff said.

All I want is the weapons fixes, and the 2.5 gone I can deal with everything else. I also think the dmg/delay is fine. like I said just the broken weapons and the melee penalty

Ecad,

I TOTALLY agree with that...well put.

One addition, any "burn kit" that is implemented into the game should be limited to medics. Currently, ONLY medics can heal bleeding...we should not be nerfed suchthat any player can cure "en fuego." All commandos need to make sure to include this point in any "burn kit" proposal to help the nerf bat aim itself.