Development Cycle Archive

As a defence stacker it is vital for me to have defences from different proffesions. I do not take part in much combat be it pvp or pve but have stacked my defences across professions just in case I do need to fight. However I would like to know which weapon i need to equip to make use of my ranged and melee defence.

As I am a Master Doctor with the obligatory Master Medic I have used a majority of my skill points on a support role which offers no combat defences. In order to mitigate this I have used the rest of my skill points in order to give me some (I am no where near any cap) meleee and ranged defences.

After reading these posts it got me thinking that maybe i do not have the correct weapon equiped to make use of the defences my proffession provides.

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Badbrew wrote:
Why should you not get hit 40-50 % of the time against a savage quenker? I do. Isnt 100% a bit much? As long as the range changes are up to par I have no prob with it.

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Why should I not get 40-50% against quenkers?

Because I am not a noob leveling with half a profession tree that's why!

Quenkers are not tough critters. After many days of boring hunting to level off them I have since moved on to hunt on tougher planets like Danth. It is there where I would like to find a challenge. For those players who want pure fighters (which mine is) there needs to bea point where the mobs you killed when you were a noob are simply too easy anymore. There were many things in the game that would kick my ass before the patch. I don't need mid level, semi-starting mobs kicking my ass too.

The devs keep adding uber mobs in the gameevery patch (can you say tuskans with 290k HAM?) so I don't need to be nerfed down to what I hunted when I first started my character (with buffs I started hunting quenkers when I only had brawling and one handed 2). This patch has a bug in it and it needs to be fixed. Please be aware than in a group situation I am considered the tank. Tanks need to tank. How long do you think a melee d nerfed ranged weapon user would last against something that can beat down a stacked TKM in a few hits? Melee d has to count for something when it applies to melee fighters. That is their game.

Those of you who haven't noticed a difference either: a) never had defenses to begin with, or b) always fight buffed, wearing heavy resist armor.

I'm a defense stacker. I'm not ashamed in the least to say that. To me, it was a viable, rewarding alternative to wearing armor and getting buffed. Certainly I evaded a majority of attacks (conservatively,65-75% ofattacks against me would miss), but those that landed wouldgenerally result in a fastincap (and usually a trip to the cloning facility). I was NEVER nigh invulnerable. Yes I could "dodge bullets" but one successful hit would often take me down. Personally, it was a trade-off I was happy to live with.

The only thing this defense "balance" will accomplish is to put more credits in the pockets of armorsmiths, chefs & docs. High resist armor and massive buffs are going to become even more the de-facto standard in combat than they are now. Rather than defense, smart players will invest their skill points in the highest damage-dealing, offensive skill trees available. (Watch as we see accuracy/speed stacking become the next FOTM.) The shift will become: get the best armor, the biggest weapon, and the greatest buffs money can buy. Those with the credits to keep up with these never-ending money sinks will excel at PvP & PvE. Those without will never be competitive. I pity newbies who fail to get twinked by a generous guild... I can imagine their frustration.

The only variety you'll see at a starport will be in the color choice people have made in composite armor (even wookiees will get a crack at this once their armor is introduced). The long buff lines and endless /tells master docs endure now will double, easily.

By no means would I suggest that the past system was flawless; a player with defense stacking AND armor/buffs was a virtual tank. Rather than a universal defense cap however, I would have much preferred one that only applied to players wearing armor. That would have been fair and much more reasonable. It would then have been a player's choice: either spend credits on buffs & armor or skill points on defense. Make the two equal, but mutually exclusive.

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Ithyalgia wrote:
well since no dev is going to post anything here

i got this info from live dev chat :

Caps :

Block : 125
Counterattack : 125
Dodge : 125
Melee Defence : 125
Ranged Defence : 125

everything else is untouched

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I am supposed to be a "heavy combat class" designed specifically to hunt people
down and kill them messily. I have spent 235skp on combat skills. To date, my defences look like this:

Dodge: +10
Melee defence: +32
Ranged defence +24

These are my total defences. Can you guess the profession? Oh yes, Master Bounty hunter 0003 pistoleer.
I always have to be buffed and heavily armoured to survive anything other than mountain worrts.
PvP? Hah! Dont get me started..

I dont feel sorry for the people that have lost their defence stacking, or even their defences all together.
Maybe now you will feel the pain of the BH

Though i still cant seem to hit a rifleman at all with either pistol, LLC or carbine. Perhaps its because my
total attack modifiers are as follows?

Pistol accuracy: +125 (thank you, pistoleer)
LLC accuracy: +70 (heh.. with +125 dodge, can you see it happening?
Carbine accuracy: +120 (yeah, im dropping pistoleer for carbineer, as soon as i can find a good carbine)

See? all my attack modifiers are brought low by a single master pistoleer..
Yes.. much heartache insues..

So yes, i feel happy laughter in my heart as i see incapped TKM dotting the plains of dantooine.
I laugh loudly when i see a Master Rifleman with a train of bocatts trying to flee, shouting "help, help".
I rub my tummy happily when i see the fencer for once needing buffs and armour in his profession.

But seriously, i do hope the combat revamp will bring us _all_ back on par with each other.
Carbineer changes are very good, me likey. Now all we need to do is wait a month for publish 8,
and maybe then perhaps things will _not be back to normal_, but better.

Happy Hunting,

Yle Ladlo

Master Scout
Master Marksman
Master Rifleman - Retired
Master Combat Medic - Retired
Master Creature Handler - Retired
Master Medic - Retired
Master Bounty Hunter - Still in shock from Investigation

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astounded wrote:

I am supposed to be a "heavy combat class" designed specifically to hunt people
down and kill them messily. I have spent 235skp on combat skills. To date, my defences look like this:

Dodge: +10
Melee defence: +32
Ranged defence +24

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astounded wrote:

I am supposed to be a "heavy combat class" designed specifically to hunt people
down and kill them messily. I have spent 235skp on combat skills.

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No, technically you've spent 158 skill points on combat skills. You blew 77 on Master Scout. You're one true intended PvP foe is a Jedi, who by all accounts has even more pathetic (gimped)defense mods than you (not to mention you get to strike first, get paid well to grief and risk no skill loss at death - poor you).

I on the other hand have spent 235 skill points on pure combat skills. 15 on Novice Medic just so I can apply a stimpak. I am supposed to be several "heavy combat classes" rolled into one.

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astounded also wrote:

I dont feel sorry for the people that have lost their defence stacking, or even their defences all together.
Maybe now you will feel the pain of the BH

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And who held a gun up to your head to pursue BH? Let me guess, you mastered it and gave up your other professions because Bounty Hunter is painful, right? Not getting much sympathy from me either pal.

I still think this melee/ranged defense problem is a bug. I feel that I am back in a novice profession now with the way I am getting hit, yetI am master of one elite profession and "trying" to move up in another. I am sure that I will be flamed because i am a tka, I am 50/50 in PvP, so pls learn your professions strengths and weakness's before you rant about that.

I dont stack my primaries with commando, I think I hit around 100 for both, I am low in my secondaries. I wonder if the devs even have clue on how to fix the professions, so as to "work around" it, they screw with combat revamp.....fix before you revamp and quit listening to the whiners.....fix before you add, simple. I have been playing since last may and this is the 1st time I have disagreed with anything....Hunting is no longer exciting. Thanx for listening.......and fear the kreetle