Creature Handler Archive

This is true for PvE, and that is one of the reasons Creature Handler is such a great PvE profession, but where it lacks is PvP, due to the fact that people's damage against pets doesn't suffer the 75% damage reduction.

Also keep in mind that pet attacks are all AP 0, Kinetic. So the 300-500 damage before armor and resists that you cite can be reduced to near insignificance by higher end enemies (particularly given that Kinetic is the most commonly resisted damage type).

Your observations are somewhat skewed. While indeed it may seem true that we get an extra 400-500 damage our pets are ineffective in PvP. The stealth nerf on creature lairs also has damaged certain ways a CH role in PvE. No longer can one have their pet attack the lair while spamming AOE. AOE or the pets hitting the lair spawns many more additional MOBs than there would be otherwise. The first wave can turn into some 15 MOBs. What used to be the entire set of waves can now come out readily and kill the CH.

Also CH has no bonus modifiers except in PvE versus creatures and that is a whopping +10. There is no real defense stacking for us. Any PvPer worth a spit knows to take out the CH and ignore the pets. If the CH is down it is a matter of seconds before the Pets fall. TK+ anything is more uber than CH+anything.

Hope that helps clear up what you thought you perceived.

Here is a very simple test anyone can do to see how "powerful" CH pets are. Go get yourself a wrix, a CL 10 non-CH animal. Finding a CH to pick one up for you as they're wandering Corellia shouldn't be too hard, expesially if you let them know you'll take it as a baby. Once it's grown, set it against a wild wrix. Watch how quickly it dies. Now think about how quickly you could have killed that same wrix yourself.

Even if you scale it up to something like a rancor, think about how quickly they fall. It might do 400-500 damage, but calculate in the resists anything worth fighting has, plus the damage that they do themselves, and you'll see how useless the animals are.

~~The Secondhand Lion

Maybe I read it differently, but what I see the question as is "Wouldn't CH be a good combo with an elite combat profession,especially a master?"

I think the answer is yes, in that context, as it relates to PVE. Pets are good tanks and do give you the ability to take out better targets. (I could never take out an enraged rancor with just carbine and armor, but with the pet tanking it's not that hard)

PvP, where the human knows to ignore the pet takes out the tanking aspect.

Tycalibur,

I prefaced, ended, and even made amends in the title ofmy question with the assurance that I was not trying to offend anyone who had differing opinions and thoughts on the Creature Handler class than myself.

For you to rant about my question in the way that you did, shows a true hatred for your fellow players and community. I read your point of view and the malice in which you gave it to me, and let me say, that no matter if what you said is true or not, I do not value your opinions and beliefs in any way. Please realize that I will not read or validate any other post you make in any other way.

You sir or madam, embody the worst kind of player in the internet gaming world: one who would uses hatred to try and dismiss a valid question.

I hope your SWG career is a short one for the sake of your self and the community at large.

To the rest of the posters -

Thank you for your kind answers

I seem to get the feeling that the Creature Handler does very well in PvE and quite dismally in PvP. I am very interested in the PvE portion of the game. This seems to make Creature Handler a good compliment to whatever elite combat profession I choose.

The only question then is of resists that PvE mobs have. Perhaps for the high end mobs, I should rely more on special abilites than the kinetic damage of my pets. Perhaps a pet with strong poison or strong disease would do well in the high end PvE arena?

Thanks for all of your thoughts

Ninja,

Your 'kill with kindness' attitude doesn't change the fact that many on this board are very dismayed right now at the current situation of our profession. I did not attack you. I simply stated facts. And yes, I am a bit agitated. So are a lot of MCHs that participate in these forums. My statement at the end about you reading a few more posts in the CH forum were a suggestion of what you could do to learn more, as the CH forum as a whole reflects the attitudes of MCHs game-wide.

I do not 'hate' my SWG community. However, I believe in realism. I have been playing this game since October. Many long standing CH's are quitting the profession and moving over to TKM or MHS because it now is the dominant tanking support class.We have been nerfed, pushed aside, and ignored, and we pay for our service with SOE just like everyone else. I campaign (along with many others) in support of our profession because I DO care about what happens to our class.

I don't even pull my pets out in PvP anymore. They simply get in the way. They do not provide any help at all in person-to-person combat situations.

Ninja,

Check this out dude. Ty stated everything that is wrong with the profession. I think he did it very well. Your title does little to sway the fact you came in here with invalid facts. Despite your assumptions Ty is a very good CH and told it like it straight. You came in here stating some facts but are very skewed in your perspective. Many other CH's (including myself) have played this class for a long time and do not like to be told two of our pets can do 1000 damage total. Once you factor in PvP armors even PvE resists we can do very little with our pets. In fact if you take a wild non-BE pet and fight it against the same wild type one on one, you will lose 90% of the time without the second class. Just last night a rifleman was strafing a Giant Krayt for 3000 per hit while my 500 damage Graul was averaging 150. CH as a profession does suck. You could very potentially have a CL 10 pet with the same HAM, armor and resists as my graul.

The point is you came in here and stated matter of fact that we are uber. You do need to read these pages more if your perception leads you to believe we are. Because on the surface we look pretty hot as a profession. The truth lies beneath the surface. If you feel that you were given tone by any CH it stems from the fact that you spout the same arguments that wound up getting us nerfed. These are dangerous statements you make. It is only a matter of time that you exchange your POV with someone and convince them the same. Then we suffer through another nerf.

Uberness? Like Ty stated you can find more uberness using less skill points in TK, Rifle, Pistols, Fencer.
The point is if you do not mean to offend try asking more questions that stating supposed facts. We have a much more heightened perception of CH than any non-CH. With this we are better able to tell you a proper direction rather than hear how it should work from someone who never played the class.

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NinjaPizzaBoy wrote:

Please hear me first. I am not trying to flame anyone's thoughts or opinions of the Creature Handler class. I just wanted to aska question ofall of you.

If I have an elite combat profession (TKA, carbineer, etc) and am a Master Creature Handler at the same time, won't I always out damage any other master, elite combat profession?

Let's just say my rifle is dealing out the damage, and I'm a master riflemen. Now, if I am a Master Creature Handler, I would have a rancor or gurreck attacking the whole time too. That's 300-500 damage before armor and resists every 2 seconds.

Wouldn't that always outdamage just a master riflemen?

If this is true, it seems that the absolute best combat characters in terms of damage per second would be a master,elite combat profession coupled with a master creature handler.

Please, correct my thoughts in any way.

Remember, I'm not trying to flame or ridicule anyone. I just want to see if this is true.

Thanks

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In spite of the bitter way it was received, your premise is, in fact, correct. If you assume that all things are equal (same weapons, same CA/AAs, same HAMetc) if you have a Master Rifleman vs a Master Rifleman/Master CH, the CH combo should win every time. The problem lies with how the other player spent his free skill points. Currently, if he spent them on TKA, he'd most likely wipe the floor with you. Not because of his increased damage output (he has to either have his rifle equipped or not) but because of the increased defenses he gets from the TKA tree.

This is probably the most unbalancing aspect in SWG today and is the cause of the "template chasing" you see going on all around you. The solution to this is quite simple, and I'm hoping that they include it in the fabled and much delayed "combat balance". Any bonuses you gain from a particular tree should only apply when you have a weapon from that tree equipped (or no weapon equipped in the case of TKA). This would bring balance back to combat (especially PvP) and would stop the "tree dabbling" that is the cause of the lack of interest in "support classes" like CH.

Thenif they could just fix that pesky pet poofing bug, I'd be a happy man.