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Patch 2.7 According To Me

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Hello there!  Yesterday, bioware posted some projected changes in 2.7, and I’m going to mention the ones that are interesting to me.  Because, ya know, my opinion is important.

With a few exceptions, these are PvP nerfs that have less effect on PvE play.  Sage and Sorcerer DPS gets some serious quality of life changes that prevent squinting at buff bars all the time.

On to the changes!

Sage/Sorc

The RNG is essentially being taken out of both DPS specs.  Instead, there will be stacking buffs that happen predictably when you cast specific abilities, and you’ll be able to plan your rotation around casting X twice and then casting Y with 2 stacks of X.

This makes me rejoice – and also put my sith sorc on the shelf until 2.7 rolls around.  No point in suffering with watching for stupid procs when I can just level something else while I wait.

Scoundrel/Operative

In an effort to balance out pvp, they’re taking out spammable roll-forward and creating a cooldown, but making the roll energy-free.  You will get 2 rolls in a row before it goes on cd.  In my mind, this is a PvE buff.  It allows you to get out of the bad without worrying about dipping too low in energy and screwing over your regen for future healing.  It’s on par with force speed and that roll that those cheater gunslingers/snipers get.

Defense screen/Shield probe is buffed (slightly) for all, including those cheater gunslingers/snipers.  You can use it more often, but its duration is decreased. Absorption is also increased.

However, there is a nerf.  You know how you can use your insta-heal on a target below 30% and get your upper hand/tactical advantage refunded?  SPAM SPAM SPAM until they’re above 30% right?  Well that’s OVER. 6 second lockout after the first.  You can keep spamming your insta heal but you won’t get your UH/TA stacks refunded.

Sentinel/Marauder (and Guardian/Juggernaut)

This is almost a completely PvP change.  You now need a target for your aoe stompy.  There are some nerfs to secondary (non primary targets) in PvP, but the PvE damage is still the same.  The only annoying thing is finding a target that won’t be dead (usually in trash packs they have an unfortunate habit of croaking at inconvenient times).  So it’s a PvE annoyance, but not a nerf per se.

And I don’t care about the rest because it doesn’t affect me.  You PvPers might want to take a closer look, however.

Comments

Patch 2.7 According To Me — 14 Comments

  1. Woe…. they’re taking the RNG procs out of madness??? That means my assassin will perform better in madness???!!! I love these changes! Don’t understand the changes to the juggernaut threat dump, but that’s me.

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    • I didn’t see anything in the changes about assassins. The sorc madness changes affect the Wrath buff that is procced by force lightning. The sin doesn’t really have an equivalent.

      If they are taking the RNG out of sorc, maybe they will take it out of sin, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

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      • There is a somewhat equivalent for sin, it’s Raze. Like Wrath, it affects Crushing Darkness, making it instants, but since it can’t affect Lightning Srike (no such thing for sins), it also reset the CD on Crushing Darkness. The main difference thought is the trigger, it’s not on Force Lightning but on melee attacks while the main dot is active. For Madness that means Trash and Saber Strike.

        So they could make the same change for sins, that each melee attack gives you a stacking buff and that when you get 2 of ’em you trigger Raze’s current effect. But it isn’t included in what has been mentioned so far.

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        • The assassin version seems pretty similar to the mechanic for annihilation marauders, and nobody seems inclined to change that. So probably it stays.

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  2. My sorc’s abilities shoot through the roof with this patch. The Polarity Shift / Force Barrier buffs massively improve pvp abilities, and the removal of RNG -really- helps the rotation. I can’t wait for this patch to hit.

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  3. Yeah that change to uh/ta is going to be a killer both to op’s mobility (they’ll need to do more hard casts) and to their ability to salvage bad situations. I suppose that’s good because it means that players have to be good enough to not get into those situations, but I’m not that good and there have been multiple bosses I have prevented a wipe on because of that spamable emergency med pack. Time to get more alacrity on gear while attempting to get better. Still pretty sucky when you don’t trust the other healer.

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  4. Oh noes! Smuggler/Ops will have to stand and channel sometimes.

    Like the other two healer classes.

    QQing about this will not get much sympathy from Commando/Merc or Sage/Sorc healers, that’s for sure.

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    • Well that’s a friendly reply full of thought provoking insight and detail. Each healer has it’s strengths. Ops was being able to touch up people or provide last minute support. Our healing is built around ta/uh to prevent going oom. This will impact that in some situations. Sorcs have bubble and area heal (and other stuff I’m sure, but I never really took to healing on my sorc like my guildies did). From what I’ve read, merc/mandos are doing pretty well after 2.6 (again, i don’t play one, but I’ve read good things from folks). At any rate, we’ll have to see what comes down the pipe when it actually launches.

      FYI, the main reason I don’t like this change is because I don’t run with pros, and so last ditch healing is sometimes essential when other healers have some skill/knowledge issues or dps stand in bad(again skill/knowledge). I could fix that by going elsewhere, but that’s not really how I roll. All I can do is ask our existing healers to point out ways to improve as a sorc or merc healer and hope they stick, while counseling dps on fight mechanics. Again, I love my folks, but in other guilds, some of them would be sitting.

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      • And not only will the squishy DPS die, but then they will need an out-of-combat stealth rez… I have yet to perfect that skill because you can’t have any hots rolling on ANYONE when you disappear.

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        • Oh, maybe I’m dumb but I didn’t realize that was what was doing it. Every time I was not able to do it, there was a bit of aoe that would (I think) hit me. It could have been a uh/ta grant though. At any rate, what grinds my gears is when someone who has mained a conceal op since launch says “what?!” when I tell him to stealth rez someone. Really, as long as they don’t remove that, I’ll probably still roll healing op/scoundrel when it comes to healing and/or end game. Just too many times where that stealth rez is vital (kind of like sub 30% free healing). There are certainly going to be a lot more dead dps in 2.7.

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  5. Well, operative healing has been neutered now. When you dont have the raw HPS to keep someone (usually a smishy dps) up, it REALLY helps to be able to fish for emergency probe crits.

    The whole reason we HAVE the mobility while healing sorcs dont (with mercs in bettween) is because we dont have their level of throughput. sorcs lay ginourmous heals and have fabulous aoe, while mercs are still strong in their own right and have the badass reactive healing of kolto shell. its a delicate balance that has been disrupted, and im quite sure progression runs will boot operatives now. just like extra marauders.

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