My first CU group hunt experience and thoughts..

[Ekade]

Last night was my first group outing and I have to say it was fun. Yes, even killing nothing but ugly gurks over and over was fun. Why was it fun? Because I was learning.


Out initial group consisted of:
- Ekade Sword, Brawler
- Weyune Pistoleer
- Isleh Smuggler and some Commando
- Jabe Uber Melee.. saw him holding a pike
-- Later we were joined by.. --
- Duox BH and CM
- Duox's Ladyfriend, newbie pistoleer


Some observations:

- I like heavy sword! With fencer my role would be to throw a weak bleed and run away. With Sword I actually do damage. I think for a gimp template, Sword gives me the ability to contribute to the groups efforts more so than fencer.

I was very pleased with my damage output. After using armor-break on the gurks, some of my specials would do 900-1100 dmg with a scythe. I don't know how that measures up against the uber folk, but compared to the level 80's in my group it was a very respectable showing.

I noticed that my some of my attacks did a lot of damage, but had a very slow "cast time". Through trial and error I arrived at the conclusion that my 2nd or 3rd most damaging attack had better DPS because it was significantly quicker than the 1st.


- The rooting ability of pistoleer and other ranged profs is KILLER. I would HATE to be a melee in PvP. I would never move. Crowd control truly is! It was so effective that I'd almost call having someone with rooting ability in your group a must have.

When you see how pistoleer works, I see no reason to ever be a Fencer. The Pistoleer can do everything a fencer can.. but AT RANGE. I suspect a Pistoleer can plink away at a rooted enemy for a lot more damage a Fancer's weak bleed can inflict.


- Once the medic in the group focuses on keeping people alive, the group becomes VERY VERY tough. I learned this concept in WoW and it appears it will work here too. I bet high level monsters will require a party with a skilled medic to overcome.


- Still trying to perfect the are of pulling. Duox helped us understand that the rooters should wait a little to allow the charging baddy to distance himself a little more from the others. This way the melee can safely engage without aggroing the rest of the lair.


- Teamwork and balance are essential. This is a very good thing. This is what made WoW such a compelling game for me. I am very pleased to see it here. SWG is not perfect yet (buggy monsters and looking at the piss poor animation of the gurks for a couple of hours was gawd-awful).. but they are headed in the right direction and I am happy about that.

[Jabe Adaks]

It was a blast as always. People who are not mid-range combatanst are viable!

(buggy monsters and looking at the piss poor animation of the gurks for a couple of hors was gawd-awful)

I must have already logged before the gurk and "hor" action.

Jabe

[Ekade]

It was a blast as always. People who are not mid-range combatanst are viable!

(buggy monsters and looking at the piss poor animation of the gurks for a couple of hors was gawd-awful)

I must have already logged before the gurk and "hor" action.

Jabe

Yeah yeah.. typo corrected.

[Ekade]

(( Delete me ))

[Seret Sajet]

You too.... couple of cads you are.

I had my first big group experience the night before I handed down a Scythe to Ekade. I've corrupted her you see, she is now one of my people.

First, I completely dropped my template. After a weekend of trying the skills I realized my combo of Melee/Melee/Melee was not very useful anymore. I'm ok with that, there was no hard feelings.

So I kept my beloved 2H Swords and picked up Marksmen once again. This time I was finally going to grab the profession of Rifleman that I've always wanted, way before the CU. Thanks to the Respec I didn't have to bother with the hideous grind. Damn that grind I say, Damn it!

I have to say I haven't had a hunt that fun since I first started playing the game. Seeing people actually choose and execute their roles was a blast. I spent the entire time getting used to the new rifle abilities and loving it. I have to say Kneecap shot is my favorite because after hunting gurks for a very long time and watching that rapid run they do to bash your brains in it becomes very soothing to watch them attempt to get to you at a very slow crawl instead. In other words Kneecap Shot PWNS, if you'll pardon my language.

Overall I learned a few things that night...
- No more shooting around mountians, line of sight MEANS something now
- Cover really means TAKE COVER not lay out in the open. Go figure.
- The Berserker Rifle is now Kinetic. Don't know if thats good or bad.
- Ekade looks good with a Scythe
- Dooo is intimidating and that fact in and of itself is intimidating
- Squad Leaders Rejoice! You have been saved!
- Hey, I actually hold one handle bar while carrying my gun on my speeder. Nice.
- Most importanly.... I love the CU. Sue me.

[Hashum]

I have to say I loved Pistoleer before the CU but I always used my BH specials with it, and pretty much never touched the Pistol specials because frankly they stunk. That's is completely different now!! I love stopping shot, it's the best root I've seen thus far, I tested this out in a group with Novall and Jabe earlier this week and it was just slick.

I tried Rifleman out for the short while I was on last night and I was really suprised because I just couldn't get into it. I really even wanted to like Rifles, it used to be one of my favorite weapons. I was using a T21 not sure how great those are as I'm not familiar with the Rifle options. I didn't see much effect from the knee cap shot, and I could rarely get sniper shot to work (however when it did it was amazing). It just didn't seem to work for me the way I enjoyed pistols. I may give it another shot tonight as I wasn't in a group last night, and I didn't stay on too long.

Also Carbineer is a ranged profession everyone should look at that's interested in ranged combat. I tried it the first day and only had 1 or 2 branches and it was still great. Charge shot seemed to have a much better KD rate then my other KD specials and the DPS is quite good as well, I'd really like to get my hands on some of the new carbines to see how they would work, I only had a Laser Carbine at the time.

[Ekade]

With Swordsman, there are some specials that I am still confused about.

Power Attack.. what is the point of this? Is it just another damaging attack? Am I suppsed to use this in conjunction with something else?

[Dariis]

well i think power attack has a wind up, but is a high damage attack yes

armor break everything!! no questions
imporved critical is nice (i have it too)
berserk is sweet for you swords peeps

not sure if swordflurry is anygood...and is head hit a high damage attack?

what I do is alternate critcal and impale for high damage attacks, if head hit is strong maybe alternate headhit/critical...and toss in a powerattack once in awhile.

Good to hear you enjoy swords ekade

[Jabe Adaks]

With Swordsman, there are some specials that I am still confused about.

Power Attack.. what is the point of this? Is it just another damaging attack? Am I suppsed to use this in conjunction with something else?

Power attack is one of the few specials that has a couple second power up time. It does major damage. I am currently using it with a polearm for 1500+ damage. This is one of those moves that you do once after you accomplish a knockdown, intimidate or something else. It is also useful at other opportune moments as long as you're spamming faster moves before and after it.

Jabe

[Dariis]

It is also useful at other opportune moments as long as you're spamming faster moves before and after it.

SHH no more spamming jabe :P