Question About PvP

[watermelon felon]

I am a fresh 40 and had some questions about PvP.

First Question - First of all, where do I even begin to start to pvp? Is there any kind of PvP gear in the game? And if so how would a newbie obtain such a thing? I tried to play Hero Games but would just get absolutely destroyed by anyone who would simply look my way.

Second Question - which is the most versatile, ranged or melee builds and why? I see most people run ranged classes all the time and not really any melee around so I was just curious.

Third Question - what do you think the best class/spec is currently and why?

Will update if I can think of any other questions to ask. Thanks for your time!

[N1SB]

Hi, this is a complex issue, becuase PvP is inherently complex as there are as many strategies, tactics, and opinions as there are players, plus CO is not PvP-centric like other MMOs. I'll try to answer as best I can, but there are so many exceptions to the rule that it's very hard.

Are you a Free-to-Play player, btw? Are you playing an Archetype? Which one?

1st, where to start? You're in a pretty good position, you just got to level 40. There isn't PvP-specific gear (like in, say, DCUO, where you need to have a full seperate set of PvP gear to do it meaningfully), so a good place to start is to farm the UNITY missions to get Heroic Gear that's useful for PvP and PvE; it won't be time wasted. There are a few mods and devices that are particularly useful for PvP, but there are so many different ways to play, it's not worth worrying about (because those may take months to accumulate). Aside from gear, knowing your Archetype or Build back to front is just as important.

2nd, Ranged is more versatile overall. Melee has great tools for PvP, such as Crippling Challenge on Lunges to prevent your opponent from blocking and debuff him, but it has a huge limitation: you have to remain close to your opponent and fight on his terms. Ranged can kite and fly away, which forces you to counter him while he's still peppering you. Also, Ranged has an advantage for most PvE, especially endgame content. Without a seperate set of PvP gear being a limitation, it's easier for players to concentrate their resources/grinding for a dedicated toon for both PvP and PvE, so for resource planning, it's easier to focus on an outstanding Ranged PvE build for all content.

3rd, which class is best? For Free-to-Play Archetypes, there's a few IMHO:

Soldier - with Smoke Grenade with the Escape Artist advantage and a flying power (Flight, Jetpack, etc.) and , you basically make yourself invisible, move away and fly at max range, then Snipe the opponent. It's usually an all or nothing affair.

Glacier - you constantly lock down an opponent with moves that freeze him in place and interrupt him (like Ice Cage with the Sub Zero Cellblock advantage), then whittle him down.

Behemoth - you lunge with a Crippling Challenge to debuff and take away his Block and Travel Power, then go for Roomsweeper punches to hopefully knock him out of bounds in duels.

Devastator - technically a Premium Archetype, but there's a free giveaway on Alienware (there's a sign up thing, I think it's still going on) that grants this. This largely relies on knocking you upwards, then delivering a decisive Skewer to hopefully finish you. Again, a bit of an all or nothing affair.

Freeform - the best is the classless, design-your-own build of Freeforms that Subscribers get or you can buy in the Zen store (wait until it goes on 50% off sale). The reason isn't so much as Pay-to-Win as it is being unpredictable. The above classes, while competitive in PvP due to their tricks, are familiar to most PvP players. We've fought against them, we know how they work, we know how to COUNTER them. While every player is different, the Archetypes are familiar, so we know how to deal with them...we've done so before, we'll do it again. We usually know what to do before a duel starts, just by examing your character and knowing your Archetype. While there are a few cookie cutter Freeform builds, there's enough variety to keep the opponent guessing.

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It's a very tricky question. I tried to narrow answers down in a way that helps, but there are so many exceptions to the rule with PvP in general and CO in particular that there's no easy answer. You know how people say, "there's no right answer"? In CO, there are right answers...but there's just too darn many compared to most other MMOs.

[watermelon felon]

Hey thanks for getting back to me with such detail, I really appreciate it! I am a subscriber and most of my toons are freeform. My main (who just turned 40) was a Fist Archetype but I changed him to freeform. He still punches n' stuff though, I definitely see what you mean about melee having limitations. Ive been trying to experiment with ranged classes like Munitions + Shadow powers or Munitions + Force powers but I cant seem to find which would be better. Not even sure if thats a good set up to be honest, I just assumed so since I see most ranged classes seem to have some sort of tech power in there abilities. Which do you think would have the best form of dps and utility for PvP? Thanks for the info above again! Helped a lot!

[datcu.bogdan]

Originally posted by Weenie:

Hey thanks for getting back to me with such detail, I really appreciate it! I am a subscriber and most of my toons are freeform. My main (who just turned 40) was a Fist Archetype but I changed him to freeform. He still punches n' stuff though, I definitely see what you mean about melee having limitations. Ive been trying to experiment with ranged classes like Munitions + Shadow powers or Munitions + Force powers but I cant seem to find which would be better. Not even sure if thats a good set up to be honest, I just assumed so since I see most ranged classes seem to have some sort of tech power in there abilities. Which do you think would have the best form of dps and utility for PvP? Thanks for the info above again! Helped a lot!

something he forgot to mention is that on average melee has far better stats and dmg on powers and also most powers that knock back up or down has a stronger effect and scale with str much better that for example the force powers do with ego. all in all ranged is more versatile and easier to play but in a 1v1 with both players being very good a melee will own a ranged unless the ranged is build to counter melee specifically and even then its a toss.

however you need to understand that the game was never balanced for pvp AND have any type or character theme. you can make a toon thats ok to goo at pvp while keeping your theme but if you want top spot be ready to pick some powers that make no sense and are so mixed even a chaos god would scratch his head in confusion.