Teras Kasi Archive

Holocron really doesn't know the game at all or have any real interest in all the issues in the game. They are interested in making money and pleasing the majority of the playerbase. We are not the majority and most likely will never be. Don't get your hopes up on SoE actually fixing the TKAs or making other professions worse.

To have the creative developer of SWG say "Don't bring a knife to a gunfight" is a slap in the face at best.

This is going to be primarily form a standpoint of ranged (particularly pistoleer) verses melee…because, that’s what this is all about.

Why do people want to go to Pistoleer? Easy…people screaming that it’s the most powerful profession. Meaning you’re going to have all the people who want to pump out damage best and fastest are going to try to achieve that. Which, for any pistoleer (and before you say ‘Of course pistoleer wouldn’t agree, they don’t want to be nerfed!) I’ll tell you that’s a load of bull.

As a former pistoleer, currently working my way up the Brawler line (well, okay, I’m still a pistoleer, but only because I occasionally like Safari…and Safari is meant to be done with guns while wearing stupid looking tan clothing)…I do more damage with most of my melee weapons than I do with my pistol. And I have one of the top of the line Scouts possible to get on my home server (DPS of well over 70). Of course the scouts aren’t the BEST pistols, but if you compare DPS without the consideration of AP, then it ranks right up there.

As a Pistoleer, if I’m spamming the hell out of my Body Shot 2, I can do a good 350 to 450 damage every 2-4 seconds. Not bad. To bad with my Vibrosword, and three boxes of One Hand Sword, hitting one of my level 1 specials (‘scuse me, 2 boxes, I haven’t trained in the third) I can match that. To bad with my Two-Hand Sword, two trained boxes, and a third ready to be trained, and a level 1 attack (the mind shot, I don’t remember the actual name of it), I do 700-800 damage every 2-4 seconds.

Now, this isn’t a scream to nerf Melee. Hell, I think you guys (and me, remember, I’m working towards TKA…I’m almost working on mastering Brawler while I’m at it), this is just a comparison. The only one that DOESN’T match my pistol is unarmed.

The problem with Pistoleers is simple: Some things are wrong.

Should we run slower while firing? Yes. It should be like running up a hill. The penalty should be reduced as you get better with it the higher in the skill you go.

Should our knockdown be any cheaper than yours? Hell no. I can understand WHY we have a melee knockdown (Buffaloing was a big thing in the Old West), but Melee should be the masters of it. We shouldn’t have an area affect knockdown either, which we did. It’s nice…but it’s not right.

Now, should we shoot faster with accuracy than any other ranged? Yes. It doesn’t take the concentration to aim a pistol at the short distances they’re truly accurate at as it does a rifle or carbine at a farther distance (I’ve used both, but neither in their specialist line…so, perhaps they’ll disagree. I won’t speak for them).

Should we hit as hard as other ranged classes? No, and we don’t. Our DPS is good, but when you get a good rifle wielded by a decent player with decent rifle speed, and an AP on his weapon, he’ll own any pistoleer I’ve met in raw damage output. Again, I can only speak MY experiences.

Should we have the advantage in PVP, at least against melee? Now I don’t do PVP, it’s not my thing. If I wanted PVP, I’d go play Planetside again. But if ANY melee class gets caught at a range, any melee class should get whipped by the gun wielder. I’ve seen people say ‘well, not everyone falls when they get shot!’…true…then again when you’re talking a pistoleer, he’s not shooting you in the chest. He’s going to be aiming for your knees.

If, in a fight, I blow out your kneecap and you keep running at me? I’ll kick my own ass for you. You deserve to win.

That being said, I’m not stupid enough to let someone I know can crack my skull with a punch. I’m going to run. I’m going to shoot over my shoulder, run backwards, do whatever I have to, because I want to win. It’s tactics. I’m sure there are plenty that a melee combatant can use against a pistoleer. Be sneaky. Hit me when I’m not looking. If I’m focused on the guy in front of me, shooting your partner with my nice, shiny pistol, then I deserved for you to break my skull for not seeing you.

This being said (that’s like one of my favorite sayings, it seems), I DO believe Melee lacks something in PVP. Then again, maybe it’s supposed to. When I want to hit hardest, I fight melee. When I don’t want to be in danger, I fight ranged. I trade damage for power.

So…you ask how can the developers wonder WHY there’s a mass exodus towards pistoleer? Well…in part, it’s because so many people seem to think they’re perfect. They have their class flaws same as any, and everyone else. They most likely ALWAYS will. They scream nerf BH (not sure what BH want’s nerfed), Melee screams nerf pistoleers (generalized, but that’s the point)…

It’s part of the reason I’m LEAVING pistoleer. I want to see what’s so bad about TKA. It’s still fun for me. I just try harder.

No one’s going to have the perfect class. No one should. Do the pistoleers need work? Yeah…does every other class? Definitely. Will it happen over night? No.

Is screaming ‘nerf’ constantly helpful? Not really…it’s partly what got TKA where it is now. Does Pistoleer need it? Yes. Will they get it? Yes.

But every class would be a hell of a lot better off discussing what they see as improving their classes than screaming to bring everything else down.