SWTOR’s very first 8.0 PTS iteration includes level 85 changes for all 3 Powertech | Vanguard disciplines. We’ll explain what they are and what we think about them.
General Changes Approach
The changes on the PTS are very, very preliminary. Each combat style is getting one of their baseline abilities replaced with a version that adds a unique additional function for each discipline at level 83, like the second ability each class gets at level 15.
None of the unfinished business with ability trees and talent choice design have been fixed (yet), it’s just that new ability and a “new” passive at level 83, though that passive is almost always just that spec’s most popular tactical item.
It seems like they’re intending to make the most popular tactical less ubiquitous, rather than just balancing the alternatives properly, and the fact that they’re doing it this way has the potential to create even more imbalance without eliminating this flavor of the month issue because they’re going off of popularity rather than actual power level or intended use case.
Many players are not even aware that tactical items exist, nor that they’re designed like ability tree choices where they tend to be optimal against a specific enemy and content type, whether it be a boss (fight), trash mob (solo content), or player (PvP).
Some players just pick the one, usually the single-target sustained option meant for boss fights and end up doing worse in other types of content and end up disengaging rather than learning.
Tactical items also cost a lot of Tech Fragments and Credits and take up unnecessary inventory space while acting as an incentive against having alts.
Really, each discipline has ~3 tactical items that should just be migrated to their own new talent choice in the tree. The ones that need rebalancing or refining can be addressed individually.
So far, it feels like they’re trying to use a single size screwdriver to fix a bunch of specific and unique problems, but sometimes that screwdriver just doesn’t fit. I don’t think the same one-size-fits-all approach will work here like it did with Ability Trees because the problems for one spec aren’t shared by another.
Powertech | Vanguard
The level 83 modified ability for Powertechs | Vanguards is Shoulder Cannon, one of the only PT | VG-exclusive baseline abilities that can be transformed to have unique effects for each discipline.
Shoulder Cannon is a convoluted attack that functions like an offensive cooldown and causes balance problems while demanding a high APM requirement that many players struggle to meet.
Shoulder Cannon would be more balanced if it were fairly locked away at level 68 alongside Electro Dart | Cryo Grenade, Hydraulic Overrides | Hold the Line, and the only passive in the whole game to be offered in lieu of a third ability at that level, Shield Cannon | Guard Cannon.
Visually, it’s also a bit weird. Mandalorians are shown using jetpack missiles, not a separate shoulder cannon attachment that comes out of nowhere, and it isn’t a thing for Star Wars soldiers anywhere.
Advanced Prototype | Tactics
The change to Shoulder Cannon for AP | Tactics brings back the egregious 2.0 capability that lets you fire all your missiles at once and integrates Flame Detonation as a discipline passive.
- Shoulder Cannon now fires all loaded missiles at once.
- The Flame Detonation tactical is now the level 83 discipline passive for Advanced Prototype | Tactics.
- This removes any semblance of a BiS solo eras content tactical while Energized Vambrace can’t even consistently beat Overwhelming Offense in boss fights and Powered Detonator contributes little while competing with Neural Trigger in PvP.
When Shoulder Cannon was first introduced as the brand-new ability for Powertechs | Vanguards back in 2.0, initially it didn’t have the separate 1.5s rate limit, so you could fire all your missiles in an instant. The rate limit was introduced because it presented balance issues, particularly in PvP.
Similarly, the Meteor Brawler set bonus from 6.0 caused a massive AoE explosion at the end of Explosive Fuel | Battle Focus and due to the balance issue presented by sudden burst like that, it didn’t make the cut for legendary implants in 7.0.
In today’s 430k HP environment, 7 Shoulder Cannon missiles equates to ~110k damage during Explosive Fuel | Battle Focus, and that’s on top of the autocrit Energy Burst | Cell Burst for ~86k with another ~60k from a Thermal Detonator | Assault Plastique where you can be immune to damage and most CC thanks to the Supercommando Package and Hydraulic Overrides | Hold the Line AND maybe Veteran Ranger Package gives 50% more damage to your Shoulder Cannon hit.
It’s also worth noting that it doesn’t make sense for the effects of the Flame Detonation and Powered Detonator tacticals to be separate.
Powered Detonator lists out a whole bunch of pointlessly complicated and wimpy effects that trigger on top of detonating Thermal Detonator | Assault Plastique with a specific ability. Flame Detonation also causes Thermal Detonator | Assault Plastique to detonate when the target is hit with a specific ability (Flame Sweep | Explosive Surge).
None of this addresses the resource management issue the spec has, either. What Shoulder Cannon really needs, especially for AP | Tactics, is for each Shoulder Cannon missile to vent Heat | recharge Energy Cells and for Vent Heat | Recharge Cells to have a 60s cooldown.
That way, you could synchronize Vent Heat | Recharge Cells with your back-to-back Energy Bursts | Cell Bursts from Power Yield | Balmorran Advanced Weaponry and not have to worry about Heat | Energy Cell issues during Explosive Fuel | Battle Focus, when you want to fire all your Shoulder Cannon missiles already.
Pyrotech | Plasmatech
The change to Shoulder Cannon for Pyro | Plasma makes it so Shoulder Cannon sets enemies on fire and irresponsibly integrates the Superheated Fuel tactical into the discipline.
- Each Shoulder Cannon missile now also sets the target on fire for 3s, dealing elemental damage over time. This damage is doubled against targets affected by your Incendiary Missile | Incendiary Round.
- The Superheated Fuel tactical is now the level 83 discipline passive for Pyrotech | Plasmatech.
- This makes the buggy Flame Dissipation tactical BiS for boss fights alongside the meager Explosive Weaponry for solo eras content and Neural Trigger for PvP.
This effect is just kind of boring while further enhancing the burst potential and sustain of the spec with the highest burst in the game.
And again, Shoulder Cannon really does not need to be even more complicated. Now it’ll be optimal to fire it specifically during every other ability while Explosive Fuel | Battle Focus is active to maximize burn uptime instead of letting players rely on their own method to double their APM.
The fact that everyone gets to use both Superheated Fuel and either Flame Dissipation or Explosive Weaponry is pretty insane, too.
Superheated Fuel offers as much of a sustained DPS boost as Flame Dissipation. Botх are already agnostic to the number of targets you’re hitting, so Pyrotech | Plasmatech just gets a flat DPS buff all the time, which none of the other specs are getting.
Shield Tech | Shield Specialist
The change to Shoulder Cannon for PT | VG tanks enables it to increase the uptime on Heat Blast | Energy Blast so you don’t have those gaps in shield absorption when you need it most. It also integrates the Thermal Screen tactical, which does almost nothing.
- Each Shoulder Cannon now also grants one charge of Heat Screen | Power Screen and reduces the active cooldown of Heat Blast | Energy Blast by 3.5s.
- The Thermal Screen tactical is now the level 83 discipline passive for Shield Tech | Shield Specialist.
The tank transformation for Shoulder Cannon is the most interesting of the bunch, in my opinion. It allows you to close the uptime gap on the mitigation provided by Heat Blast | Energy Blast on demand while simultaneously creating a ton of competition for PT | VG tank implants.
Players will have take two of the following:
- Supercommando
- Squad Leader
- Veteran Ranger
- Mandalorian Armaments
- Shock Trooper
- Second Wind
The other tanks don’t have nearly as many viable implant choices, though Assassin | Shadow tank has more options when it comes to tactical items at least.
Optimized economics aside, increasing the uptime on Heat Blast | Energy Blast as needed is nifty, but a boost to absorb is less useful if your shield doesn’t trigger. I think it would make more sense if Energy Yield | Infused Kolto Packs were tweaked to boost shield chance instead of healing and offer more synergy with Thermal Screen.
Overall, just like with the 8.0 Sorcerer | Sage changes, this format only feels justifiable for a single spec, and it’s not like this format is required to make those changes, either.
