Smuggler Archive

i have found slicing a bit of problem. Nothing over 11% on armour but a bit more random on weapons ranging from -1%( not joke attack speed. i actually made it worse!!) to 25%

Got a nice renegade pistol and it does some dmg. But it lags with the specials especailly the BH ones. Low Blow seems to work more than the BH KD.

MSmuggler/ Pistols 43xx/BH3x44

---

CapnKate wrote:
My Template is M Smuggler/TKM/4004 Pistol. I fight unbuffed, unarmored(naturally), with Either a Renegade or the Razor knucks, depending. Overall, it's fantastic-- Unlike Live, where you pretty much take the triple-template so you're viable and the Smuggler element is almost an afterthought, here It feels more Like Smuggler is my primary and the others are just enhancing abilities that are already there(though TKM feels a little more "necessary", as I dislike armor on principle and it's the only way to fight unarmored, really).

I've done well, however, fighting all manner of opponents, including other smugglers.

I only have two issues with Smuggler, as it stands... though the first one will become MUCH more important if the community gets some relief from being rooted.

1. BROKEN SPECIALS. This is the big one. Honestly, our role as Masters of Crowd Control currently hinges on two specials, one of which is STILL broken but usable, the other one seems to be working fine. Specifically, Concussion shot(which is supposed to mezz, and wear of at more damage, but is just a root, currently), and restraining shot, which appears to be a working snare just as advertised. Otherwise, most of our specials seem to be broken. Here's my experience with them, in no particular order:

CONCUSSION SHOT: As stated, it's supposed to Root and mezz, and release these effects if the target is damaged. It currently simply roots, and doesn't release until the timer's up, making it basically a more potent Stopping Shot. This is pretty awesome for PvE, but PvP is showing it too powerful. If the community gets some sort of Root recovery, I'd like to see this fixed to work as described, otherwise, it'll become pretty pointless to use outside of PvE. If it's not fixed, please update the description, at least. I could live with it as it stands, even with a root recovery ability. Bottom line: Broken, but useful and useable.

RESTRAINING SHOT: Working fine, as far as I can tell, does exactly what it says as being a snare, and useful for kiting dangerous things. One of my first choices when considering CC options. Often used when the root wears off, since one can rarely chain-root.

PANIC SHOT: Broken, and not worth the time it takes to press the button. Currently gives a -15(I think) Speed penalty, when it's supposed to prevent ability use for a period of time. Of questionable use in PvE, absolutely useless in PvP. A master level player has enough speed that they don't even notice a 15 penalty, and neither will you. PvE mobs at least hit a little slower, but it's not really all that noticable on them, either. Please fix this one. It should be a HUGE portion of our CC strategy, and it isn't.

OVERWHELMING SHOT: I honestly can't tell if this one's working or not, and I question its usefulness in any case. I've never had trouble laying a state on player or mob uing TK skills, so I just can't see why I'd need to reduce a target's resistance to them. Might be working or not, regardless, I'm not seeing much use for this one-- thought it may be useful in groups against high-end content. I haven't spent enough time with such to find out. Perhaps if it made Recovery have a 50% chance of failure for a period of time, it would be more useful.

RECKLESS SHOT: Another one that just isn't worth the time to click, usually. The damage is too low to really make it worth taking the steep defense penalty. the exception is when the target is rooted and not-ranged, as they can't hit you. Wherein it becomes a mildly acceptable damage shot. But this is a little lame, and I think it would benefit from a damage boost to make it more of a viable tradeoff.

LAST DITCH: Now we're talking. This one's PERFECT. Does what it says, and it's easily my favorite special to have. Never use it unless I'm in a real tight spot, and it saves my bacon in more than a few of those. Love, pure and simple-- this is what Last Ditch always needed to be. By far my favorite special, from a "working as intended" viewpoint, and so definitive to the smuggler mythos(from a "most dangerous when cornered" perspective). I can't tell you how much everyone I talk to loves it.

LOW BLOW: It just never seems to actually score a KD, despite it stating that it's almost guaranteed to put somthing down if it hits. I'm not as familiar with it in PvP(since I'd rather swap to TK for the Dizzy/KD), but in PvE, KDs seem borked. Mobs, if they KD at all, are only down for a split-second before they're up and hitting you again. This isn't just LB, but any KD, so I'm not sure what's up. But as a result, i really don't use this much, whereas in Live, I wouldn't think of leading with anything BUT a KD if I have one, because it gives me a few seconds of room beofre I'm getting hit again. And with Panic Shot working as above, the classic LB/PS combination is *completely* pointless, and that was always quite a lot of the special's power and charm.

FEIGN DEATH: A lot's been said about this one, which comes down to "BROKEN", so I haven't even bothered to use it, since nothing's popped up in the patch notes about it and I have no reason to believe it's worth even attempting. With the new regen rates, we can't exactly use it to solo high-end content(Bleed-and-feign is gone, RIP) so why not just put it back to what it started out with and leave it at that? Regardless, let's have a working FD.

Most of this has been said before, but as long as we're pulling out a Smuggler focus, it's worth going over what i thnk about them, since they're central to my thoughts on Smuggler as a whole. Currently, we depend on Concussion shot for our combat role(CC). ONE special. A broken one. This needs addressing. In PvP/general combat, we can rely on TWO specials that come from our profession, one of which is, as the name suggests, a last-ditch, desperate manuvuer. If I have to use it, the fight's basically over anyway and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it's enough to save my posterior. Please fix us soon. We're coping, but we're gonna need the love soon.

2. SLICING: It just plain needs to be reworked to fit the new system. It needed to be reworked before anyway, so.. nuff said there.

Those are my smuggler concerns. As long as I'm working in a focus thread that I assume Wes will get to the Devs, I'll add one thing:

The level system. I've changed my mind about it, it has SERIOUS endgame problems. Level differences mean that the only viable approach for any of the high-end mobs I've fought(especially krayts!) is to never enter their attack range(because you can't survive their attacks, no matter what your template is or what your wearing/buffed by/etc.), which means that CC becomes uber. I'm sure that the goal of CU is NOT to require that *every* group at a high level rely on two specific specials-- Concussion Shot and Stopping Shot, so the apparent situation where damage mods mean that the only way to deal with high-level mobs is those rooting specials is a big, big problem. i suspect if the damage mods just Dissappear at level 80 or so, or group level calculations are modified, this would be a non-issue, but we don't ahve that. We have a situation where all combat roles save ranged CC and ranged damage are useless above a certain level. Something needs to be done, unless I and everyone I've talked to about high-end content are totally missing soemthing.

Anyway, there's my (mostly) Smuggler-focused feedback from my time on Test.

---

------------------

Smuggler: We Diggs the Tiggs

Kaytlin Mainwaring, Starsider - Smuggler/CM/Commando/Rebel Pilot
Kaitlin Mainwaring, Kettemoor - Master Smuggler/Master Shipwright/Rebel Ace
--Former SpaceBeta1 Master Tester

I agree completely. Slicing is BS, face it. I don't care if we can choose wat we're slicing, wat's the point if we're only getting 2% speed and 7% damage slices anyway? I slice armor as well, and even the change in that is hard to notice. The only way you can tell if some of my armor has been sliced or not is by looking at it and seeing that lil message that says, "The weapon has been altered by a smuggler..." blah blah. With the next patch they <font color=red> BETTER</> do something about our slicing percentage cuz that's crap.

---

Ryu_Snipe_01 wrote:

Well, I started smuggler pre-cu, and was pretty happy with how I was advancing. I focused more on slicing for making my money and my weapons. But I could hold my own because of my pistoleer skills i had saved up(1-2-1-0). But post-cu seems impossible for me to advance in anything. I came in at lvl. 24 and dropped to lvl. 21 after i got rid of pistoleer(sux for me cuz the skill re-assigning didn't work when i first tried it, so i dropped it in return for nothing.).

But the shooting things for slicing xp threw me outta wack. With my new "Combat level" I found myself getting incapped. by a squall. But I've been able to set up an attack plan, and the xp in one-handed weapons is really helping me out.

The low blow does absolutely nothing! I suck as it is, and they completely killed this move. Now i find myself actually getting close enough to pistol whip the guy into the floor. That works better then an elite profession ability. Now i'm getting used to the system and figuered out a strategy... Concussion... run... ranged attacks... run... concussion... ranged attacks... pistol whip, switch to sword, poke em to death. The end.

I'm going to try a commando combo, to see how that would work with smuggler, but if i don't like it, i'll stick with fencer.

O, slicing's a joke... b4 i was getting up to 10% speed and 15%-20% damage... on slicing II. Now i'm slicing things for 0% speed increases! I sliced a dl-44 xt for a damage increase of 10%, and almost threw a party.

That's ridiculous! I hope they fix slicing.. and make it to where u get xp for slicing, when u slice, makes more sense that way.

Lastly, who else was dissapointed with the removal of the health shot, feign death combo? I was able to take out pre-cu plains hunters and fambaas doin that.

Anyways... as a new smuggler, this post-cu messed me up even more then i was already. I'll stick with space and crafting for the time being, at least until they fix some of this junk.

---