Doctor Archive

I'm pretty happy with my Doc/Pistoleer combo although if I had to do all over again I'd consider TKA. I know what you're saying about dropping skills that you miss. When I lost my engineering skills - no biggie.

But...I'm already down to novice scout only, and I've recently had to take my artsian down to 0-0-0-3. Eventually, I'm planning to only have 15 skill points free. I'll train in artisan when I want to set my harvs, and I'll train in scout when I need meat. Surveying will be a pain, but oh well. It's the price I'm going to pay for being a decent pistoleer.

My doc was my first serious character... While still not master, she's hit master surgeon with just a bit of med craft to go. I originally had designs to make her a Doc/CH/carbineer combo, but I soon found out how quickly you can run out of points, andCH seems to be one of those things you want to master, or not bother with at all. Thus, I ended up dropping scout down to just having traps 3 and explore 1, and I'm a novice carbineer with leg shot 3(which hasnt impressed me much). I currently have a sliced elite carbine thats something like 118-180ish, speed 3.4. Basically, here's my current skill point allotments:

Doctor 3-4-1-2

Carbineer 0-0-1-0

Medic(duh, master)

Marskman 0-0-4-4 (carbine and ranged support all the way up)

Scout 1-3-1-0 (i've been chewing away at scout points as my doc skills have raised)

Artisan 4-0-0-4

I dropped my brawler and entertainerpoints a while back.

Now...Melee interests me a bit. I've got a smuggler on another server, and the unarmed thing is fun. I was also looking at the melee defense bonuses, specials,and meditation (*drool*) of a TKA. Being able to meditate back mind loss is an attractive trait of the class, particularly since it's not something you can heal. (makes me thing of Clarity on EQ. )

I am one of those docs who sits in the med center and heals, but I like to go out and mix it up on the outer worlds now and then too, with a partner or 2. I'm also REALLY close to the enemy, as I'm a doc, not a CM. I'm up front healing melees or pets, and I catch aggro now and then, especially where more than 1 thing is angry at the party.

Would you say it's worth it to drop carbineer altogether to take up some TK? I've heard it's possible to master both TK and Doc, but I'm debating if the sacrifices are worth it. I *really* like not having to crawl slowly up hills (novice scout/explore 1, plus the traps are nice for lowering ranged or melee defense on the critters), and I craft meds, so keeping survey 4 is essential to locating resources, and I like having the flexibility of Engineer 4(crafting a personal harv or weapon powerup on the fly of any type that I need is handy).

First, would you say TK is worth dropping my ranged weapon abilities(carbineer and marksman)?

And how much would i need to give up in order to master it? Is it worth giving up scout and artisan as well?

I am a TK Master and an now working on medic going up to oneday becoming a Master Doc. The combo is a PvEr dream. TKA at master, chaining our best specials can hit for 1000-3000 damage every second. While under normal curcumstances this would incap us fast, with a Good self heal and some good master doctor buffes and a little mulon gold to boot and you have a Character that can hit specials without any worry of HAM costs.

TOTAL damage over time... a TKA out damages Commandos! Combine this with a Doc secondary class and there will be very few mobs in this game you cannot solo, planets you cannot completely explore.

The mediate skill is wonderful...if my HAM was completely black to ALL 9 pool...i can mediate ANYWHERE and heal them within 5 mins. Yes some great advanages.

The downside: PVP

Melee is difficult to PvP with unless you truly MASTER your profession..not just the xp grind. Dont Pvp in open areas. Take the fight inside and dont listen to "come out and fight like a man u puzzy" /tells. Make ur apponent fight under your terms. Dont chase Kiters, run from them. ABOVE everything know the dianamics of the other classes.

For example: Commandos can 1 hit incap. Understand their range limitations and the recharge times on their weapons and attack in a percise manner and TKAs are the Commandos worst nightmare.

BHs: Ok reality check here..the BH is a completely Pvp oriented Profession do not expect to beat them using only TKA skills...use ur buffs, spice and every tactic you have and u have a chance.

PLAY SMART AND KNOW YOUR PROFESSION is the motto of melee.

Anyway back to the point...TKM/Master Doc is a powerful combo that really works well together IF AND ONLY IF you understand their abilities, their shortcomings and the fundimentals of the professions.

I've made some tough choices as a doc /tka combo, let me show you:

master medic

master doc

scout 1/0/0/0

artisan 0/0/3/0

TKA 0/4/4/1

brawler 4/0/0/0

That's me right now.

As you can see i gave up ranged surveying so i could place a vendor. You could give up both scout and artisan to make master TKA, but that would mean you would need someone to find places to drop your harvestors and to harvest your meat. It's easier to keep these skills though so that way you wont get gouged as much on those items. You dont need the meditation line in tka cause your a healer already, with middle of the line wound c's you could clear'em up faster. If you plan on sticking to the starter planets and mostly in med centers then dropping both is no problem. But if your an active in hunting groups you are the last line between them and the cloning center, keep at least explore 1. People will go out of there way to keep you alive.

I think i have the best of both worlds, there is very little that im afraid of out in the wild. but PvP I should just pass out the FP. Like anything it takes tatics to come out on top.

And if this sounds like im rambalin just know that it's almost 4am here and im at work, and i never make much sense anyways.

I have a master tk well into doc but can't bring myself to drop master brawler to finish doc yet. It was too painful to earn =)

However, with both master tk (29+63) and master doc (77+63) you have 18 pts left. My plan if I went this route was to have novice scout when playing, and drop novice scout everytime I needed to move harvesters around. At only 100 creds per change and a visit to a town, it seemed avery nice deal.

Still, you're going to be moving slow as hell, but at least you can place your own harvesters when you need to and get some small boost to terrain negotiation (+20 for exploration I) until you drop it for artisan and have to re-earn the exp.

I am currently:

master medic

doc 4443

tka 0101

scout 2110

brawler 4000

marksman 0004

Heading for:

master med

master doc

master tka

scout 1000 (terrain neg, camp, skin)

brawler 4000

I still have a long way to go, but I can buff my action and health by 1200 on a good day, other stats (non blue ones) 600 or so, heal for 2300, hit for 1250 (once )and already have little trouble with peko-pekos, faambas, tortons, bolle bols etc. My early results are very encouraging. I frankly have little experience in PvP since I had a more Combat Medic/Pistol focus, and I expect it to be a good challenge. As someone else said: add muon gold and you are a killing machine ( for a 10 minutes or so, until you become a barfing machine). I bought a crate of +100 willpower food, and that helps keeping the heals flowing also. I'm not that worried about surveying. I don't want to be a pharmacutical magnate, just make good stuff for my friends and me, and sell a lil on the side here and then later.

i have the same problem with choosing a path.

there are a few options for Master Doctor and they are :

combat medic(most likely with carbine) which makes you a great healler but you are vurnerable with less defensive skills . and anyways in pvp you'll probobly be the primary target which isn't a fun thing.

pistol/carabiner - where with pistol you run to people and with carbine people run to you unless you use a short range one, you can solo with both with a non ch/pet but why solo as doctor.

Doctor/CH - gives you powerful pets to do work for you , let you group with practicly anyone , solo etc, good boost to harvesting but note MCH can't takeany other profession so you'll be limited to cdfs if you go that direction and you can't survay your own. I think CH as non direct combat class can be vulnerable in pvp.

brawler lines- a common problem is the group is interested in the doctor staying alive and keeping alive not fighting so close to the enemy. one of the main advantages in brawler line is defensive bonuses against special attacks and general defensive bonuses like melee and range defense which are higher thanmarksman profesions.

TKA - most defensive ,fastest ,most attacks concentrate on single target., do only kenetic damage highest ap as far as i know is 1. knockdown mind/action attacks , no bleed

Fencer - alittle less defensive than tka , practicly as fast, ap max 1 get stun attack with batton. health attacks and bleeds

Swordman- one of the least defensive , get both slow/fast weapon , very offensive aspecially vs multiple targets, most weapons armor pierce 2 (medium), get high blast damage weapon, mind attacks/bleed

Pikeman -as defensive and offensive as swordman , slow weapons with high damage, electricity attack weapon, area knockdown, action hit/bleeds, most weapons ap 2 not sure if there are ap 3 weapons.

most people either pick swordman or tka , tka would be a better choise because of defensive bonuses and better in pvp but people that want to do heavy damage to multiple targets take swordmen.

there are also pacifist options like master dancer/musician or master of 1 elite craft.

I'm currently trying to consider those options myself. the choises are hard but after i join a PA it would be easier to choose.

Yup - I'm out of points and have to make decisions...

Almost to Master Doc (4/4/4/3) and then I took melee skills.

Brawler 0/0/0/4, Pikeman 0/0/1/1

Marksman 4/0/0/4, Scout 3/0/0/0

So now I'm stuck. I love the melee - getting in there and beating the snot out of stuff is a lot of fun. The animations on the pikeman are neat as well and I want to see more of them. But from a standpoint of positioning (Doc tends to be back with the group, not out in front - let the Combat Medics to their jobs, we do ours) Rifleman makes more sense. Sit back, don't get hit, plink away at an enemy and drop heals on your buddies. That is, until the enemy comes in close. Now there's a pile of gunners and I'm the one melee guy. I jump up and whup out the Lance - ta-da!

At this point, I could keep the character the way it is and have the benefits of some rifle and some pikeman ability. But then I become a Jack-of-Trades, Master of None.

Decisions... decisions...