An idea for Different but "equalish" trader classes

[barachius]

Right now all three trader classes have the same core ability for shield recharging, which is a huge reason for traders to go along in groups. I am sure that we can come up with a way for the three classes to be the same but different.

Now when you comment be sure to poke holes in it where needed. The best ideas need to be attacked and only if its STILL a good idea after being attacked and revised should something come out of it. I'm sure some of it wont be implementable and some of it just wont work. But im not a programmer nor am i familiar with how this game's coding works.

SO here is my idea, each trader class will have 2 abilities involved in shield recharging.
TT will have shield charging buff and recharge shields as they currently do. Adding a good chunk to shield cap and working exactly the way they currently do.

JS will have a recharge shield that is about half the power end game of the TT shield recharge. They will also have psi shield which will have about half the power of end game TT Shield recharge. Combining both of these together roughly gives the JS equal but different shield recharging abilities of a TT.

as for the Progen privateer my idea isn't as concrete but here it is.
Give the Progen privateer a shield recharge that is far better at filling nearby grouped ships and not as good at recharging single target compared to the TT shield recharge.
AND give the PP an ability that transfers a big (40%+) of their own shield amount to target.
SOOOO in total the progen privateer if doing their transfer ability followed by a group recharge they can keep the entire group up about as good as a TT and the new JS.


And because i didnt change the TT at all, IT still is exactly like it was on live which is a goal of the emulator.

[rhobix]

If I would redesign different shield recharge skills for the different trader classes I would go like this:
TT - unchanged
PP - recharge over time - would be perhaps a bit more powerful than the TT ability, but would make the PP more equal to the other trader classes firepower-wise, since it would require targeting the character your charging, cutting down on firing time.
JS - instant recharge with cooldown. Goes good with cloak... Decloak, recharge, target enemy, fire, recloak, wait for recharge to cool down, repeat...

[ryleyra]

There's a thread about the Seeker going on over in the Player Advocate forum, but as I point out there, for any skill you add to the Seeker you'll have to take one away. Except for the Explorer, Sentinel and Privateer all class have 17 skills. (The Explorer and Sentinel have a 18th level 135 power they were given in live, and the Privateer only has 16 skills at the moment - probably that slot is being saved for a new power)

The Seeker has the name number of build skills as the Trader, and three Jenquai "racial" skills, which take away from the number of support skills the Seeker has compared to the Trader. So one of those could be exchanged for a new skill. To be precise, the Seeker used to lack Build Reactor but had Psi Shield. I don't believe Build Reactor should be taken away again just to add Psi Shield. But there are arguments for dropping another skill instead. See that thread in the Player Advocate forum.

My suggestion would actually to add a new shield more similar to Environment Shield. Since the devs felt that stacking Psi Shield with Recharge Shields was too powerful, don't make this a shield protection skill. Instead, create a totally new skill unique to the Seeker which provides EMP protection, blocking reactor drain debuffs, and provides a percentage resistance to Hull damage. This will serve as a sort of Hull Patch without being Hull Patch, and in fact make Hull Patch more useful since a TT or TS will have more time to use it.

If this turns out to be too difficult to implement (it's possible that preventing reactor drain would prevent SKILLS from draining the reactor, which could be excessive although now that I think about it, a 15% reduction in all skill costs to the team would be a good reason to bring a JS along) then the skill could simply add Deflects, (or whatever it is called) like a device. There are no player skills that do that, except Psi Shield with provides Psi Deflect. That would reduce the damage incoming on shields, but in a different way than Psi Shield.

The Privateer I think that extra skill is still in the works. Honestly, though, the Privateer doesn't really need to be more resiliant. The skill will probably end up being offensive, or some sort of control power. (The Privateer can Menace, but has no skill to hold aggro, as a Warrior does)