how is merc these days?

[Mezrix]

got all the characters maxed besides merc/commando so am thinking of making a merc. I always heard "they don't do so good in pvp because lotta their abilities are casts and the heavy armor doesn't make up for it against other classes that have gap closers, and the dps is meh."

Has any of this changed in recent updates? Also do you guys pronounce merc, "merk" or 'mers'?

[Gereorth666]

It highly depends on which spec you're going though.

The Bodyguard spec is performing realy well in PvP at 55. They added a few things to the Bodyguard spec that are quite useful. For example, Jet Boost heals for a moderate amount. Fairly useful when on the move and you need a quick heal. Kolto Missile does extra healing over time on the spot it was placed (bit like the Sage/Sorc AOE-heal) for 3 seconds. Kolto Shell also has a few extra charges, which saves up on heat overall. I'm finding Merc Healing to be a lot more fun in PvP now in 2.0.

Not too sure about Arsenal or Pyrotech. But I've done a bit of Arsenal, and the damage you can pull is average. I don't feel like Pyrotech is that viable anymore for Mercenaries to choose for 55 PvP, but that's my personal opinion.
The addition of Electro Net is realy useful. It slows your enemy and does damage over time. And if they keep moving, the damage of Electro Net will increase. This will provide you get distance, in combination with Hydraulic Overrides (which makes you move faster in combat and doesn't get you slowed or rooted) you can stay at range a lot easier.
(But as I'm obviously 12 years old and new to video-games, I don't know anything, right?)

[Deleted]

I know it's not exactly the same thing, but my commando is quite the king on the higher leveling bracket of the warzones. He's only 46 though right now, so I've not done 55s with him yet. I've geared him mostly surge everything, so while he doesn't crit all the time, I've pulled off crits close to 10000. That's enough to scare most people, when people are running with 22-25K health.

I didn't play for a long time, I was valor 40 on my commando when I quit, so I had played a few warzones by then. Now though with the running ability baseline, the one attack shield from the misdirect whatever it was, and all the other changes, commando (this would kinda be merc as well) feels very nice on the warzones.

As far as questing goes, with Elara Dorne (healer) geared up, it's pretty nice; 60 sec stun one, blast the others. Some H4s are doable, most if not all H2s are.

[Forsedar]

Arsenal PvP: Its actually pretty strong now. We have a variety of abilities that make up for relying on casting.

Arsenal PvE: I have a few #1 parses on torparse as Arsenal, so we are definitely competitive in Operations.

[Aundas]

Imo its a lot stronger in RoTHC. As you said, they suffered a lot in PvP because of their long casts, people see the Tracer Missile spam and would lock you down. Its much easier now because the armor debuffs don't stack anymore, you just cast it once and the whole effect is applied.

Also, I really, really like the electro net. And the shoulder missile. Imo Bounty Hunters/Troopers got the best new abilities in the expansion. They're really cool toys and much needed to be competitive with other classes in PvP.

[Gereorth666]

And the shoulder missile.

The shoulder missile is only for Powertechs/Vanguards. Not for Mercenaries/Commandos.

[Deleted]

I'm loving my Arsenal merc in lowbie PvP, I've not got him up to lvl55 yet so can't comment on max level.
If you can find a nice little hide hole and get left alone you WILL top the damage score board, if you learn to use the terrain/objects you have decent survivabilty.

[Revik]

To put it in a word - balanced.

The changes that Bioware has made also with the inclusion of hydraulic override/hold the line and electro net I want to say they are in a good place. They can hold their own pretty well. In no way are they over powered however. You are not going to be beating legions of jedi off by any means you will just notice that you are no longer useless when one sitting on you.

There were a lot of angry people out there screaming to fix mercs and even still more screaming after the changes they purposed were announced. Now that the changes are in people have all of sudden stfu. I think that init of itself means something.

There have been a lot of missteps Bioware has done since the beginning of SWTOR but this was definitely not one of them. The changes are IMO so well received that some forgiveness is in order.