Ok I can finally put my money where my mouth is....
For a bit of a change my guild team decided to help the Omni defence in PM last night. While the whole experience was somewhat amusing, there are some things I would like to point out from a 'casual gamer' and 'non-PvP player/class' point of views (some of these things will already have come up). In case you're interested my character was Technoman I'm level 60 Nanomage Engineer and my PvP experience extends to a single arena duel prior to this
Level ranges
For a level 75 base there were actually only a handful of players we could actually attack. Most of the attending clanners we're well over the level of the zone and our PvP range. Either these guys were very bored or they were hoping some high level Omnis would show up once their presence was reported (which didnt happen while I was there)
Healing
What the high level players did do was (you guessed it) heal the lower players. Since we didnt appear to have any high level healers there was no way we were going to get anywhere.
Engineers
You still have a loooonnggggg way to go before I will probably consider getting into PvP with my Engineer again - there just isnt any point. Didnt know where my bot was half the time (pathing over elevation changes), have little or no defence against...well anything and have no offensive punch either (new AMD made no difference to bots damage at this level). Since I cant yet cast the sloughing fields or the bot snares I cant comment on those, but what I will say is that the Clanners were not really running in fear from me so the snare/root wouldnt have been any use, and since I wasnt getting killed by specials Sloughing wouldnt have made a difference either.
The nearest thing I got to a kill was one Clanner (Darkhero IIRC) who ignored me and the bot for too long while killing a Fixer guildmate - he then terminated rather than die. This was very frustrating given the situation (i.e. was so close to a kill and would have been the only one) so perhaps a 'disgrace period' needs to be put on the terminate command in a PvP zone?
I'd also like to extend my sarcastic thanks to the clanners (especially Finger19 IIRC) who provided me with seconds of amusement with their witty comments at my deaths. I know its a game, and i know its war and all that, but come on guys killing an Engineer cant be the highlight of your PvP career (or is it!). My ignore list welcomes you with open arms :-). I dont mind a good gloat, but keep it to vicinity chat.
Misc
Actually I didnt notice any lag, dont know if this was because of the changes in the last patch (which has transformed Newland - nice work) or the numer of people (although there seemed to be a few) but having said that I didnt witness any towers being attacked (only them helping the clanners to kill me) so that may be why.
Conclusion
If the booster is trying to bring PvP to the masses, IMO it has failed at this point (certainly as far as Engineers are concerned). Now that I know how (un)effective I am in PvP I wont bother to get my org to build a tower as we would rely 100% of other orgs aid to defend it
As I've said numerous times, the Engineer needs something to keep him alive while the bot does the work. I've given plenty of suggestions in the past but a brief summary is this
Something like Nulity that lets the bot take all/% of the damage inflicted on the Engineer. Lets put those HP's to work since no one attacks the bot anyway since its easier to take the Engineer out (actually think at least one guy was shocked yesterday when the bot kept going after I died because the bot wont go to the reclaim with the Eng if the save point is in the same zone - still only got to survive for 60 secs before it deactivates)
The blind is useless in PvP (and also effects non-guild allies in a 5% zone), you must have your reflects running and bracers etc in PvP it seems, please consider making the blind stick even if the blinded person is damaged (or give us something else)
Some type of debuff would be nice, after last night I was getting really tired of Traders - a 'gremlin nano' aura perhaps which puts the reqs on equipment up so the enemy goes OE. Not strictly a debuff but the effect is the same.
Either make all of Rubi-Ka flat or sort out pathing over elevation changes. I have time to guide the bot to a target in PvM but time is something I dont have in PvP
While the high level Engineers report good things about the AMS buffs, I really cant say I've noticed any difference at the lower levels. Since the bot actually hitting doesnt seem to be a problem at lower levels how about having the lower level AMS buffs add more damage and less attack rating?
I have an high AC due to my Symp aura and AC buff coupled with my standard armour. Why doesnt this seem to make any difference (this is rhetorical - I know why, the question is should this not be changed?)
Different damage types for the bot - Ok without getting into the whole 'Bot and ranged weapons' debate, different damage types would be nice. Everyone knows they do Melee, so everyone knows what to expect. Radiation, Poison and Chemical damage would ****e things up a bit
Oh and ranged weapons on the bot as well please :-)
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Typos and more stuff