Updated Love/Hate: How to tell which profession to play

[surge]

Nice thread.. lol :P

[Drllicious]

But we lost the old thread?? Dark blue nano skills are still the bane of my fixer.


Gangstafixa

[Tattersoul]

bump

[Sallust]

Thanks for the reminder, I'd say this point is probably a good one to update it for Shadowlands. I'll get to work on that.

[Vejis]

Please update this Not only does it help, but I was lol'ing there a few times.

[forsberg2002]

Lol might wanna change the doc is helpless on his own !!!!, since we are among the best soloer in the game t7+ .

[Sallust]

I'll put this up for public review before starting a new thread for it. I'd especially like to hear more about people who play Keepers, as I haven't yet.

Oh, and I'm not too worried about changes in TL7 gameplay as probably most people playing right now will be playing a very different AO by the time they get there.

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Every profession has its ups and downs. If you choose to play ...

AN ADVENTURER:

What You're Going to Love: Shapeshifting into so many cool forms, each of which has its own cool abilities. Being able to heal yourself during combat. Attacking so fast that the other guy gets half his attacks interrupted. Being able to explore the Shadowlands with ease. Being able to fill in when the group can't find a doctor... or a tank.

What You're Going to Hate: Soooo many nice abilities, so little IP to go around to them all. Finding half your morphs impractical, and the other half are likely to irritate your eyes in missions with strange bobbing motions.

AN AGENT:

What You're Going to Love: Having much of all of nano software in the game available to you and having profession locked items not be so locked to you. But even more than that, the awesome rush of power that comes from appearing literally out of nowhere. Seeing a 10,000 damage aimed shot for the first time. Seeing the words "Critical Hit", several hits in a row for impressive amounts of damage. Being able to sneak right through a mission at max difficulty to get the reward you want and feeling like the ultimate sneak doing it.

What You're Going to Hate: The other 99% of the time, when the target sees you before you can fire aimed shot, or turns out to have more health or armor than you anticipated, so they survive that first volley. Then, if your "root" attack fails, you get torn apart like a stewed chicken. Doing too much damage and having the target live, realizing that while you can dish it out you just can't take hits back. Getting addicted to false profession, and then suddenly finding you can use any good high level programs with it or any of that other profession's more recent toys.

A BUREAUCRAT:

What You're Going to Love: The incredible independence that comes from being able to handle any size crowd of monsters or NPCs. The even more amazing rush of power that you feel when you combine long charm and short charm, and have two of your enemies following you around doing your bidding and slaughtering their former friends. Your evil cackling laugh in team missions when you cast "area calm" and every hostile creature in the mission falls asleep. Demoralizing your oppoents at a tower battle by area rooting them all to one spot.

What You're Going to Hate: Seeing that words "targeted was unaffected by" your crowd control methods on much of any new content. Realizing that after you've rooted and init debuffed everyone on the battlefield, you still have to rely on other people to kill them or the charm pet that will eventually come back and bite your head off.

A DOCTOR:

What You're Going to Love: No one in history has every been more popular, being the hero that keeps everyone alive. Being able to find a team whenever you wish. Getting your first bio-commincator and getting filthy rich off of every day monster parts which you convert into blood plasma and sell.

What You're Going to Hate: No one in history has ever been so helpless on their own, or more readily blamed by others when things go wrong. Hassled by players who ALWAYS want you to team with them or give them a buff. When healing someone puts you on that nasty mobs hatelist and they just won't stop beating on the doctor.

AN ENFORCER:

What You're Going to Love: Having more "hit points" than God and more armor than a planet. The squishing noise everything else in the game makes when you hit it. Seeing white all the way around an agent's or fixer's eyes when you "Rage" out of his "root," before you squash him like a bug. Being almost as popular as a Doctor. Being one of the most popular professions for teaming and one of the best professions for soloing.

What You're Going to Hate: Having all those taunting tools but unable to control the monsters from smashing the healer anyways. But even more than that, when Rage fails to break the "root" and you stand there crying like a baby while some agent or fixer chops you down like a tree, from well outside of your reach.

AN ENGINEER:

What You're Going to Love: Big Robots that tank for you and do loads of damage without you having to step into getting hit range. And forcefields that give you (and your 'bot) even more armor than the Enforcers have. And getting paid by a quarter of the planet to fix or upgrade their weapons or install the nanoclusters in their cyberware implants.

What You're Going to Hate: Running out of suppression gas, even for a minute, and getting wadded up like a paper napkin by player characters not much more than half your level - even Bureaucrats. Feeling the need to beg for buffs in order to feel competitive whether its soloing, teaming, or tradeskilling. Having to level up high to be desirable for most tradeskills and having to search for 101 rare tradeskill items along the way.

A FIXER:

What You're Going to Love: Submachineguns, just about the perfect compromise weapon, fast and deadly. Using run buffs and grid phreaking to get to and from missions in the time everyone else is forming teams. Blitzing missions at far above your level to get uber loot and filthy rich. Using a blazing lockpick to ninja loot your way through team missions. Being one of the most popular professions for missions because of your NCU, speed, and damage. Seeing mobs miss, miss, miss you because of your super high evades. Never having to die whether in missions or PvP because you can almost always grid evac away. And maybe, just maybe landing that grid armor and feeling oh-so-invincible on Rubi-Ka.

What You're Going to Hate: Grid armor if you don't have it and how many people seem to hate you for it if you do. Oh, and the fact that other fixers' ninja looting makes you about as popular as a leper, with halitosis, on fire. Getting so used to incredible power on Rubi-Ka then stepping into Shadowlands and finding there is no grid armor. Then also discovering your old runbuffs don't work and you need to buy new ones... and your snares too. In Shadowlands it is a whole new fixer and he doesn't have it nearly as well off as Rubi-Ka.

A KEEPER:

What You're Going to Love: Soloing. Doing as much damage as an enforcer (or more?) and being able to heal yourself too. Being able to solo things which will make that colossal enforcer feel like a 2lb wuss. Did we mention damage? or soloing?

What You're Going to Hate: Camping for days on end to get a decent Keeper sword in the Shadowlands because you've outgrown the weapon from ToTW that you've been using since level 45. The frustration that most weapons won't let you use that incredible Keeper Dimach. Wanting to rip your hair out because of another Enforcer only tag on a weapon you'd love to use.

A MARTIAL ARTIST:

What You're Going to Love: Being able to do almost anything in this game except tradeskills, heal yourself while doing it, and do it all so cheap that you can wipe your nether region with wadded up credits. Kicking butt, and looking stylish doing it.

What You're Going to Hate: Just as bad as the Enforcer, when you get rooted from 20 meters' range and "Dance of the Pink Cabbage in a November Wind" fails to break the root, you get effortlessly killed by laughing little children. Watching your nano formula bar recharge when you desperately need to get off one more team heal.

A META-PHYSICIST:

What You're Going to Love: Looking mystical because you just float there in mid air ('cause you can fly!), holding your unique and stylish summoned weapons, at any busy intersection and being the center of attention. Being constantly busy in combat with 101 different strategies and techniques available to try. Being able to heal and do damage at the same time without entering combat yourself makes you one of the best soloing professions. Being able to fill in for a doctor or a NT when the team can't find one as healer, damager dealer, fill-in mezzer.

What You're Going to Hate: "My next summon-pet nano costs how much?" Having three quarters of the planet constantly begging you for buffs or to build their implants, even when you're trying to do something else. Realizing that all these people asking for buffs from you are then going to run off ungratefully. Then running out of suppression gas, even for a minute, and getting wadded up like a paper napkin by player characters not much more than half your level - even Engineers. Realizing that most of the tool set you love doesn't progress after level 120 and so you'll be using the same old nukes and debuffs for the last 100 of your levels.

A NANO TECHNICIAN:

What You're Going to Love: Big Nukes. You take a long wind-up, right in front of most targets, while they stand there stupidly watching you, and then you blow away almost half their health in one shot. Plus lots of other cool little nano effects, like calms, and team teleports, Nano Programming buffs, and temporary invincibility. Plus if you love Mass PvP, using area nukes means you'll launch PvP titles so fast you'll forget that character names don't normally have titles like "novice" prefixed to them.

What You're Going to Hate: All the times after that Big Nuke when your follow-up attack fails or gets interrupted, leaving you plinking away helplessly at an angry enemy that still has half its health as it effortlessly chews you up and spits out your tiny little fragile bones. Having to kill a dozen super tough unique mobs that require several teams to get any of your high level abilities. The fact that in the Shadowlands an enforcer with a beam of metal can still outdamage your nuclear explosions.

A SHADE:

What You're Going to Love: Damage, Damage, and... damage, and feeling like a vicious little backstabber while doing damage. Being able to constantly fire off a range of special attacks. Seeing your enemies health and abilities go down while yours go up when you hit them. Simply evading most of the enemies attacks in return. Being a profession with a very unique style of its own and feels like a different game from playing any other profession.

What You're Going to Hate: Profession = not shade on most clothing and armor in the game. Unable to equip yourself on Rubi-Ka means you'll have to constantly return to the Shadowlands or else pay someone to get your equipment for you there. Oh, and those times when the enemy doesn't miss hitting you will nearly decapitate you and give you a heart attack. Oh the little downside to Shades having little ACs or hitpoints.

A SOLDIER:

What You're Going to Love: Big Guns. Lots of Big Guns. And flame throwers. And grenade launchers. And machine guns. And chain guns. And auto-fire shotguns. Having more armor than a mountain. Total Mirror Shields on top of that, the next best thing to total invincibility. Being almost as popular as an Enforcer.

What You're Going to Hate: Blue nano skills mean that that Total Mirror Shield takes just a teensy bit longer to get than you were hoping ... like, "forever." That, and, "My next gun costs how much?" And spending more on ammunition than a Martial Artist spends on clothes. Plus being unable to heal means that after that shields runs out you're something's lunch if a doc isn't nearby healing you.

A TRADER:

What You're Going to Love: Massive self-only Comp Lit buffs mean near-infinte NCU memory. Add to this Ransack Skills and Deprive Skills. Congratulations, your shotgun skill just went through the roof; go ahead and self-equip a QL200 shotgun at level 40. A soon as you Ransack and Deprive him, the other guy's got a bad case of Combat Disfunction. For the next two minutes, nothing he does will do better than half damage. Bwa ha ha.

What You're Going to Hate: "Near-infinite NCU memory" costs enough to give you a nosebleed. Not being able to spare ANY IP points for tradeskills until much much later in the game. People insisting you give them buffs at the most inconvenient times and being rather ungrateful for it. Being such a rare profession puts you in ceaseless demand that you never get a moment's peace. Being more desirable for giving buffs to other people at level 100 than for teams for next 120 levels.

SO HOW DO YOU DECIDE?

Go over the list above. If the "What You're Going to Hate" part makes you especially queasy, cross that profession off the list. Then go back over the ones that are left, and look for the "What You're Going to Love" that sounds the most exciting. Then try playing that!

[Tattersoul]

up ya go

[Escritores]

Soldier: ...Plus being unable to heal means that after that shields runs out you're something's lunch if a doc isn't nearby healing you. ... <---- we got perks and OMHH

[Trgeorge]

Trader...add to hate....forget about ransack/deprive in SL, don't bother with ql 200 gun at any lvl since you can hit 2-5 times before dying, and be ready to be ingot "lady of the night".

[Elbo]

If the person is still around:

Engineer section:
What You're Going to Hate: Running out of suppression gas, even for a minute, and getting wadded up like a paper napkin by player characters not much more than half your level - even Bureaucrats. Feeling the need to beg for buffs in order to feel competitive whether its soloing, teaming, or tradeskilling. Having to level up high to be desirable for most tradeskills and having to search for 101 rare tradeskill items along the way.


Changed to:
What You're Going to Hate: Feeling the need to beg for buffs in order to feel competitive whether its soloing or teaming. Having to level up high to be desirable for most tradeskills and having to search for 101 rare tradeskill items along the way.

Engineers are ok in pvp now. At least my last few tries have shown that we can undo any ones RRFE or TMS and our pets go nuts on them for damage while a strategic AC debuff will put them back into the negative for AC. Our blinds lower AR by upwards of -1250. A simple root graft will solve the rest of the 'running after them while they scream like girls' problem.

There is a middle range that makes people squishy but thats a passing thing perhaps a few weeks if you continue leveling nicely in shadowlands. (125-180). LVL 80-90 Engineers with a slayer (its doable...) do very well in pvp. 4-8 kills before they are taken down.

You might want to add to the 'love' that specials blockers upwards of 7 special attacks blocked every 30 seconds at the highest level. Got to just love that.

Overall things have changed for engineers with shadowlands.

[_______________Humnaxx]

The thing I hate MOST about the Adventurer isn't the bobbing (use nobob camera)... it's the fact that if you climb any hill steeper than 45 degrees, your head goes through the ground and your vision gets completely blocked. Gaaaaaah!!

[Sallust]

Still listening to input... keep it flowing!

[Xephydes]

Really sallust, add something about the new SL pets, the first read says the MP stops at lvl 150, the other version mentions using the same toolset from 120-220, you just can't get away from not mentioning the new SL demons + working mez pet.

[Sallust]

You don't get new mez pets after level 124ish. They're new to the MPs who never had them working before and might have been level 190ish when SL hit.. but not new to someone now leveling up. Besides, I already added the part about being a "fill-in-mezzer".

I will change it though to include SL pets. Though I have to say that 4 pets from level 120-220 isn't a lot of content for a nanocasting pet profession.

[Vizo]

Excellent thread, Sallust - keep it up

VIzo

[Blueprint]

Adventurers

Love: Flying -- fast -- with Calia's Form (Parrot). Who needs to shell out 5M for a Yalm?

Hate: Calia's Form (Parrot) now seems to be as hard to get ahold of as Nullity Sphere and Grid Armor (Unless you find an instruction disc, a ql512 Carbon-rich rock, and a lvl400 tradeskiller). YOU need to shell out 5M for a Yalm, if you can't afford twice that or more for CF(P)

Hopefully, this isn't a permanent feature of the Adventurer profession.

[Talan]

Originally posted by Blueprint
Hate: Calia's Form (Parrot) now seems to be as hard to get ahold of as Nullity Sphere and Grid Armor

Strange... I've given away four or so Parrot's to advies in my org over the last month So they aren't that rare. Fun though heh

[Jahli]

would love to see a SHADE love hate. Any shade lover out there could rattle off a whole page of LOVE points. Although not a brawler and not entirely self sufficient, most love the spectacular amount of perks/specials, ability to salvage spirits and slot them in/out at your will, and sneaking through entire levels making a joke of solo missions. Did i also mention stabbing? mmm stab stab stab! Oh yeah, also good for the nudist in everybody. As heard on the OOC channels, "i LOVE fighting naked" : ) he he

My least favourite profession was engineer.

I have to admit, i mostly hated being an engineer. I found weapon smithing diabolically fiddly; Scouring the entire planet for the last recipe part which was within the slim quality level tolerance of my recipe. On top of that, 99% of what you make will never be sold to players. Only a handful of elite weapon/rares are sought out and you'll go mad trying to find the parts. I also got very annoyed with my robot servant continually jibber jabbering, getting stuck on rocks while trying to follow me, and getting confused and running off doing god knows what. Its a fascinating trade and its very satisfying to smith things (create something as opposed to destroying things over and over), but drove me nuts and gave me premature grey hairs.

[Tharca An'Tay]

I love my shade too and you summed up a lot of the love things.

I hate it that there are only a few good items to put in your back/neck/headslot, the fact that i have a 400+ tokenboard with no use at all, that if i want to use RK maps i have to put ip in there instead of just using implants for the skill.
Not to mention the struggle for Comp Lit.

But despite all the cons my shade is my favorite char.