Fencer Archive

Thanks much Haschel. I will put your advice to use. The only thing I would disagree on is if our HAM costs have changed. Even using spinattack against things I can easily kill, it seems to take quite a bit more HAM then it used to. Seems to anyway..but again I can't prove it..and your idea about longer fights may be part of it, but I used to spam specials for a lot longer than I can now..no matter what mobs Im fighting.

I didn't used to wear armor during fights. However, since the patch I wear it during almost every challenging fight (switching out to my clothes between fights for faster regen). My armor keeps my alive long enough for my low-damage hits to kill the mob on many occasions.

I have been thinking I need to switch some stats around now (since patch) and your advice will help there.

Well, here's one of my strategies against mobs that I can't KD with Lunge/Dizzy. I've got a low HAM Vibro I use for special spam and a higher damage, much faster curved sword that I use for the meat of combat usually. What I do is run up to the target and hit it with BlindHit1, followed by HealthHit1 (Our bleed), followed by Intimidate (until it sticks), then finally Beserk (until it activates). Because of the high HAM cost of Beserk and Intimidate, I *may* have to heal myself after I run through those to avoid killing myself. After Beserk activates, I immediately switch to my Curved Sword and click my macro which switches me from all my clothes to all my armor. After Beserk wears off, I switch back to clothes, heal myself, re-equip my vibro, reapply blind and intimidate, then check the mob's health. If it has low health and my mind is high, I'll switch back to my curved and kill it with a few quick specials. If it has low health and my mind is low, I'll stay with the vibro and try to take it out quickly. If it has high health and my mind is high, I beserk again and repeat the process. If it has high health and my mind is low, I send my pets in, Lunge on it, then disengage to regen my mind while my 3 senior SpecForce troopers distract it. =X

See my thread...

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=fencer&message.id=2407

I got no support either. No one else thought this apparently. I guess we are doing something wrong.

By the way, see my signature... this thread will now die.

Another example fighting a Kaadu on Naboo. Using /examine, kaadu male is 5.0% for kinetics, etc. Challenge level 14.

Cho Mai - 466
Cho Mai - 361
Cho Sun - 390
Cho Sun - 321

Again, this is with a curved sword, 47-134, not that great, but still. I was consistently hitting 1000ish with Cho Sun before the patch.

Well, friend, I don't know what to tell you. Most people have been saying that the damage increase to the lower end specials only amounted to something like 30 damage and I tend to agree with them. The Hit1 and BH1 for me do 150-250, possibly even less. Hit2 and BH2 do around 250-800 and 200-500 respectively...I tested it out pretty recently, only advantage I can see with the lower end stuff is that it's noticeably faster and it costs less on the HAM's.

Maybe I am missing something. I've never been a stickler for game mechanics/number crunching. I'm more of an immersion game player. I play to see the sights, socialize and have fun with the challenges presented. I don't like easy fights..but I also don't like not being able to solo missions that are supposedly based on my skill level.

Since SWG first went live I've played a character with Master Fencer as his main goal. He has many other supporting abilities and skills that fit his background story. I've very much enjoyed playing a swordsman (fencer) up until the last patch. I see many of you posting that you have noticed no change in our damage and in fact many of you seem to see us doing more damage since the big patch.

Like I said...maybe I'm missing something, because I consistantly do less damage withmy most often used specials. On the average I am hitting for about 200-300 less damage when using BodyHit2 (my standard attack, since I am also a pistoleer I like to concentrate on one HAM bar) and OneHandHit2 is pretty much useless (again 200-300 less damage).

And my HAM costs have become crippling. If I attempt to use SpinAttack1, I had better hope I kill everything in about 2 turns or I am gonna kill myself with the HAM cost. And since SpinAttack1 seems to be doing very crappy damage, the only time I can effectively use it now is on low-to-no experience mobs. My HAM cost also seems to be greatly increased when using BodyHit2. I use a very low HAM cost VibroDagger as my weapon of choice and Iloved the fact that I could use a fair amount of specials without killing myself. But alas, that is ended. How can any of you even use a Ryyk or Curved Sword? I have a Curved andincap myself in almost every fight with it.

I am a considerably less skilled pistoleer and find it so much easier to kill the same mobs with a pistol than a sword, partly due to the low HAM costs of the pistol and the nearly equal damage and better speed.

So now I cringe at every mission, am embaressed consistantly, have alot of down time and spend a lot of time scratching my head wondering what I'm doing wrong....

It's seems (to me at least) SOE took an already hard skill tree to play and advance in and made it harder...for some unspecified reason. This, along with what they did to my Creature Handler skill (what a mess and how confusing), has made my playing enjoyment drop to an all time low level.

So..anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong to be getting such low damage and high HAM costs? (I've used the same blade before and after the patch so I know it's not that). Any help would be greatly appreciated...

If you're wearing armor, strip it all off. If you're spamming specials with armor on, there's a better to not chance that you're going to kill yourself. Many people, including me, have noticed that our base damage with a special has decreased something like 200-300 damage, that's true. However, now that they put the 50%+ KD damage in, it *sort* of balances out...provided you're fighting a mob you can KD. When I use my vibro, I spam specials like no tomorrow. When I use my Curved Sword, even at 32/57/40, it *will* kill me if I spam specials. Instead, I rely on the better damage and speed to slip a couple specials in here and there or go Beserk and get the slight damage boost.

My HAM's for my weapons haven't changed, though, so I'm not sure what happened to you...maybe it seems like that because the fights last longer because of your lesser damage?

And as for Spin Attack, don't use on anything that woulod give you at least a little bit of trouble in a 1v1 fight. If there's 2-3, see if you can't focus fire on one and kill it fast. SpinAttack1 is best used on just clearing out weaker stuff so that you don't waste unnecessary time targeting them all for a kill. I slip SpinAttack1 if I'm fighting something and something stupid like a kreetle aggros me.