Many people dont think agents need love, but Ill tell you one thing, the only fair fight they have in pvp is agent/agent, a few others are just luck, and most others are impossible to kill.
Now that is out of the way, I want to tell you all, I dont Pvp alot, and neither do most of my friends. These changes were intended purely with pvm in mind so please no rants about how they will affect pvp (and if for some reason they do affect pvp, it would be for the better, agent sucks now as it is, all their success relys on chance).
Aimed Shot- Well Aimed Shot has gone in a different direction then it was first intended for (an aimed shot), it has become more of a sneak attack. I think that AS should be changed so that, if the player, or npc can sense your presence, that it should still do an aimed shot but in a different fasion. It would charge up an attack "similar to nanos" for aprox 2-8 seconds" depending on your ranged init skill, during that time if you are hit by anything it has a chance against your AS skill "the higher the skill the less the chance" that you will get interrupted. If the shot succeeds, then it will do aprox 5-10k damage, depending again on your AS skill and your ATK rating, although if the NPC dosent sense you, it will do an aimed shot similar to the way they are used now, instant blasts used to start a fight etc, this damage since it is stealth damage should do aprox 8-10k damage every time. *the damage figures used, were of a standerd agent level 150, with a QL 200 Yatamuchy X-3 rifle*
Cloaking Devices- I think that the level req to the cloaking devices is just fine, unlike other agents, however, I think they should add a new item.. an Agent only cloaking device which you would get from using a screwdriver on a normal cloaking device (elec engineering check). This new cloaking device should have req using QL 200 as an example, lvl 165 req and Concealment 1150.
What this new cloaker would do, is for one there is no damage over time, also the major part of this cloaker is, it will conceal you from all NPC's equal to the QL of the cloaker without sneaking! Agent was ment for stealth missions, and this is just a good way to make agents more viable for a spy/assassin type class, get in get what you need to done, and then get back out, without being seen. Right now is about the time people will start complaining about these cloakers, but here is what the difference is, you can not attack while cloaked, you cannot cast nanos while cloaked, you cannot pickup or drop items while cloaked, you cannot access chests or other items such as bank terminal, mission objective booth, actual mission objective such as using the item on the thing in the mission to complete it. Also this cloaker will not hide you from special NPC's such as boss mobs and certain named NPC's. This cloaker will only work on NPC's equal to its level, with 200 being the highest, it will work on level 200 NPC's in missions and cities (guards etc.). This will also hide you from player charactors, but can not be used in a fight, so no sneaky agents running around cloaking mid fight, that will not work, you have to be out of combat to activate the cloak. Also in the upcoming Notum Wars expansion they could add special towers that are used to detect hidden agents using this method to hide, thus protecting themselves from it, all together a great roleplay and gameplay.
Defensive- I think that agent's group concealment buffs are completely useless right now, a good way to improve them which would really make common sense too, is add a pure defensive boost to their effect, not evades, defensive. just like the fixer GA, although not as potent. They should add to the defensive stat in this order... Shadow Filter = +80, Blanket of Shadows= +150, Cloak of Night= +270, Meld with Background = +350. This would improve the nano line to somewhat compare to what the other classes have gotten in their "Love" patchs. Also there should be a defensive add on the Ruse of Taran series as follows, Ruse of Taran - Phase 1 = +310, Ruse of Taran - Phase 2 = +510, Ruse of Taran - Phase 3 = +710. This way the agent would be able to survive against the harsh conditions that are presented to them every minute, if you have played an agent post 120 you know what I mean.
Offensive- Agents lack buffs that add to their offensive skills, all they have is UA, TTS, Assassin's Grin, and the Executioner line... They also have recently gotten short duration long reuse timer crit buffs that help a little bit, but there are some changes that would really help us out. Firstly the short term crit buffs, mainly the Sureshot/Trueshot line, I think that these should be instacast nanos with a small reduction on their nano cost making them more viable, especially when in FP. Next, the Executioner line; when I first heard of this line I thought it was going to be a great buff for agents, a short term self buff that improves our offensive capabilities by alot... however I was wrong, this nano line puts the word Executioner to shame, I think that the executioner line should add to crit chance and ranged init, however, no other crit buffs or ranged init buffs will stack with the executioner line. They should be converted to a level requirement, in the order of Training = 50, Guidance = 75, Steps = 100, Path = 125, and Form = 165; as well as up the NCU cost of these nanos by 20 each. This way they wont be overpowering agents at all, just evening things out for everyone. I had some sample ideas on how much these would add, basically...
Training of the Executioner (21 NCU) = +1 rifle skill, +16 damage, +3% critical chance, +40 ranged init.
Guidance of the Executioner (28 NCU) = +2 rifle skill, +23 damage, +5% critical chance, +60 ranged init.
Steps of the Executioner (36 NCU) = +3 rifle skill, +2 aimed shot, +27 damage, +8% critical chance, +90 ranged init.
Path of the Executioner (39 NCU) = +5 rifle skill, +4 aimed shot, +30 damage, +11% critical chance, +110 Ranged init.
Form of the Executioner (48 NCU) = +7 rifle skill, +10 aimed shot, +8 concealment, +38 damage, +14% critical chance, +130 ranged init.
