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Carbineer Top Issues
With the Combat Balance coming, I post these as a current reference point for Carbineers...not necessarily where Carbineer is going in the future.
1. Carbine Speed
Currently Carbineer has +60 at Master and as a result, Carbineer is the slowest of the ranged elite professions. This makes it difficult to contribute to a group in PvE because other classes are firing faster thus doing more damage. It also makes engaging in PvP largely futile. The low speed of the class forces players to either accept it, spend millions on speed enhancing attachments or spend all of their remaining points to add Bounty Hunter for more speed, all of this just to compete with what other professions get at Master alone.
Solution: A little speed goes a long way. Bringing the class up to +75 speed at Master would help infinitely.
2. Defenses
Carbineers lag behind other elite professions in Defenses. Even melee professions typically have more Ranged Defense than Carbineer. The Carbineer profession has many Cone Effect Specials which draw significant attention to the player. Without sufficient Defenses, these skills are more suicidal than practical. The Carbineer profession does not have sufficient offensive power to warrant the lack of Defenses currently in the game. In addition, Counterattack is not working properly in that it is; #1 not working frequently enough and #2 not “counterattacking” (it appears to be working merely as a dodge).
Solution: Fix Counterattack so that it “counterattacks” and activates as often as it should.
Solution: Increase Ranged Defense.
Solution: Increase resistance to States including Stun and Blind.
3. Carbine Selection and Effectiveness
Carbineers only have access to carbines that do Energy, Acid and Heat. These are incredibly common resists in both PvE and PvP. Many high-end targets (for example, certain NightSisters) cannot even be damaged by Carbineers meaning they are unable to participate in certain high-end content. Other ranged classes including Pistoleer and Rifleman have access to many more types of damage including Stun. In addition to being unable to even damage certain mobs, many other mobs are merely tickled by our damage. In these cases, the reason is heavy armor and high percent resists. We are a medium-speed weapon profession, yet have only 1 medium armor penetration carbine. This makes it impossible for Carbineers to contribute in a meaningful way in high-end content. The combination of little choice in damage-types and lack of armor penetration makes Carbineer unable to participate and enjoy high-end PvE content and “dungeons”. It is highly unfair that this profession is unable to participate in the end game content.
Solution: Increase selection of Carbine Damage types beyond the most common resists so that Carbineers can be effective in both PvE and PvP. Suggestions include an Electricity Carbine, Cold Carbine and/or Stun Carbine. NOTE: Kinetic and Blast are NOT options here as those are specific distinction damage types for TKA and Commando respectively.
Solution: Increase the AP rating on the DXR6 and/or Elite Carbine to AP 2 and/or add new carbines to the game that have AP medium armor ratings.
4. HAM Costs
The HAM costs for the various Carbineer Specials are so high that a Carbineer's skills cannot be effectively used in combat without Doctor Buffs, extensive food use or heavy investment into Medic skills.
Solution: Lower the HAM costs to balance the Carbineer Specials with other classes.
5. Carbineers have lost distinction
When the game went gold, Carbineers were seen as a Crowd Control Profession because of their KnockDowns, Posture Changes, Cone Effect/Multi-Targe Specials and State-Applying Specials. Changes to these states have made them much less useful and as such Carbineers have lost their distinction as a Crowd Control Class. Aside from the fundamental difference between the weapons themselves, there is little difference between Carbineer and other ranged classes. Right now the only minor thing that separates Carbineers from other classes is the numerous states that Carbineer Specials can apply to targets. However, these states (Stun and Blind in particular) are so minor in their effects, many players do not even know what they really do or if they are even working. For example, when something is Intimidated (which is available at novice brawler – 15 skill points) it is easy to tell the damage dealt by that target is being reduced. When a Master Carbineer (92 skill points), Stuns and Blinds a target, the effects are minimal and nothing compared to Intimidate. Further, it is impossible to apply States to targets in high-end PvE. There isn’t just a low chance, there is zero chance (repeated use of State-Applying Specials never applies a State). Flip side to this, Jedi walk right up and Stun, Blind and Dizzy high-end targets with easy.
Lastly, other classes such as Pistoleer and Rifleman want states added to their Specials which would further erode the uniqueness of Carbineer.
Solution: Posture Changes are far less potent and useful than KnockDowns as they merely deny movement compared with KnockDowns that deny movement and attacking ability and increase damage taken by 50%. They merely serve as way to “crowd control” large groups of targets. However, both Posture Changes and KnockDowns have the same 30 second immunity. Please consider reducing the time on Posture Changes to 15 seconds so that Carbineers can act as Crowd Controllers again.
Solution: Stun and Blind applied from Carbineer (elite profession) are less potent than Intimidate (Novice Brawler). Please increase the effectiveness of Stun and Blind. It is a great disadvantage to be Intimidated and Carbineers feel being Stunned or Blinded should result in a similar penalty.
Solution: Carbineers need to be able to apply States to high-end mobs. This does not need to be a 100% chance but give us reasonable a chance to apply States.
6. No Special or Skill gained at Master
Carbineers gain no new Special in the Master Box. Many players are very upset by this. A minority feel we have enough Specials already and do not really need a NEW Special but should adjust the granting of Specials in the Skill Tree (i.e. move a good skill into the Master Box). Many suggestions have been made regarding what should be in the Master Box. I am providing four suggestions. Three are Specials and one is a new Activated Buff (similar to PowerBoost or Center of Being). The Activated Buff idea is popular because it adds something at Master while not adding another Special (addressing the concerns of both sides). In addition, the Activated Buff would provide an element of uniqueness to the class.
Suggested Bonus Options for Master:
•Assault Tactics: a small boost to Carbine Speed (+10), a small boost to Counterattack (+15) and a small boost to Running Speed (higher than normal, lower than BurstRun). This skill would be an Activated Buff similar to Center of Being or PowerBoost. It would have a short duration (~ 3 minutes) followed by a slightly longer cooldown (~5 minutes).
•GrazingFire: Cone Effect/Multi-Target Special that has a good chance of Intimidate.
•FullAutoSingle3 (possible new name? Disintegrating Blast): Higher damage version of FullAutoSingle2 with a higher chance of Stun/Dizzy/Blind.
•CripplingShot2 (possible new name? Eviscerating Volley): Higher damage version of CripplingShot.
7. PvP Issues
Without the ability to target Mind, Carbineers must attack either Action or Health. The issue here is that after the 75% PvP Reduction, Range Mitigation and Composite Armor, the damage applied to the target is so minimal that targets with Doctor Buffs (99.9% of targets are buffed) will just regenerate the lost Health or Action as fast as it is applied. In the event some damage does accumulate, the target can just use a Stim B (Novice Medic, 15 skill points) to heal the damage. In essence, the combination of Armor, Doctor Buffs and Stims means that a target can regenerate and/or heal damage faster than it can be applied by a Carbineer. We have a situation where the entire offense capability of Carbineer can be negated by 15 skill points (novice medic), Armor and Doctor Buffs (which can be applied by another player). The reasons for this include inability to hit the Mind pool, low Speed and Carbine Damage selection (armors in the game are very effective at stopping Energy, Heat and Acid).
Solution: Increase Carbine Damage.
Solution: Increase the AP1 on the DXR6 Carbine to AP2 (the DXR6 Carbine is the best choice of carbines for PvP yet lags far behind the AP3 T21).
Solution: Increase Speed so that Carbineers can apply damage faster to overcome healing and regeneration.
Solution: Provide a carbine with a damage type that is not easily absorbed by current armors.
Solution: Many of the above.
Alternate Solution: Adjust bleeds so that a bleeding target no longer regenerates in the pool that is bleeding. This would have the side benefit of helping other classes that have similar issues in PvP such as Pistoleers.
8. Fix LegShot3
LegShot3 is exactly the same as LegShot2, a Marksman Special with respect to Damage Modifier and Delay Modifier. Every other Special, while at times somewhat redundant, has an increased benefit at increased levels. A Carbineer needs a reason to strive for this higher level Special.
Solution: Increase damage on LegShot3 and convert it to a Cone Effect/Multi-Target Special.
9. Chargeshot1&2 have a charge animation
When using ChargeShot1 or 2, the players goes through a charging animation and moves 5m closer to the target. The Special can only be used Standing and will not work Prone or Kneeling. Many players find this greatly annoying. Others are indifferent. Truth be told, it is frustrating the Special cannot be used from Prone or Kneeling and it is very difficult to keep in the Carbine Ideal Range when the Specials continue to move you closer to the target. The fundamental question that is asked is, is the effect of the Special worth the fact it can only be used Standing and that it moves you 5m closer?
Solution: Many players would like to see this animations standing-only restriction removed. However, since some players like it, is there a middle ground? Can the Special be changed to move less? Perhaps 2m? Could it be modified to use from a Kneeling position?
Message Edited by TAfirehawk on 10-07-2004 08:14 PM
Iebas Feania
Former Correspondent of the Former Profession, CARBINEER
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