71 replies to this topic

[Cerek]

Soldier Class is fine overall.

I think I found a bug which is why I was having problems.

I've been a 2H Soldier from day 1 and I was having serious miss issues. So much so that I would lose against an equally level'd regular foe because I simply couldn't hit him. Some times I was ok and others I was slaughtered. It was depressing to say the least.

So I went dual-wield and started skilling up my 1H version of my 2H, in this case it's the Mace. Then I went back to my 2H Mace and now my miss problems are solved.

I believe the Soldier 2H skills are still linked to the 1H counterpart, even though they skill up differently.

I don't think it's coincidence.

[Mhantra]

Nice writeup!

[Kaleid]

Basicly agrees with most of what the OP said even though its not as noticable when soloing and pulling with Bow/Riposte...

I also have grouped a few times and noticed that the only way you have any chance at all to keep aggro on you is in protective stance (should be) and if you are using a shield and specialise in the protection "tree"...

[neoterrar]

When I played I always built my soldier around the Riposte skill. I really couldn't find any other setup that worked nearly as good(until I got cleave,power cleave).

My basic rotation(until I got cleave) was Riposte, Mangle, Focused Strikes, repeat. Rugged Yell is also a necessity.

I think you underestimate Mangle or you might have a low Attack Power. It does significant damage.


That being said I know there were many the used the protection tree and relied on things like Epicenter. I think the general consensus was the more damage the more rage generated. AoE skills could be infinitely fueled by large pulls.

Also, 2h is terrible for skillups. Grab a couple swords and dual wield for a bit. You'll cry at how fast you skillup AND how fast the mobs die.
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Summary: Riposte is great, don't nerf it. Bring other things up to par.

[Eldaran]

I need to make a Soldier to experience first hand what all the fuss is about. I'm having a blast with my Healer right now though.

[Lallante]

I find dual weild is far more dps, and worth while. Also make sure you are studying bladesmanship (for swords and daggers), the endurance self improvement study (I forget the name at moment), and likely the strength one as well (weightlifting?). I also recently learned that learning martial arts (from the library) improves the speed you learn weapon skill ups significantly.

I think that there are a lot of very subtle things going on that involve or require certain studies. Those with more patience than I will likely discover that first lol.

I did notice I was healing after every single fight. And that too points to perhaps requiring more defensive studies for my level.

[Cerek]

Refer to opening post.

[Swordmage]

I have two soldier setups I keep alternating between: polearm with repost, assault, and mangle; dual swords with focused strike, mangle, and jab. It would be an easier decision if there were enough polearm weapons to keep my soldier happy (polearm animations are cool). For the dual swords to work best, I have to keep mashing focused strike everytime it is available and needed (focused strike adds up if it really is used every couple of seconds).

Note: in late beta, my soldier got polearm skill up to max without martial disciple while farming high grey undead for wool so it is possible, just slow.

[vext]

Also, to the guy who loves the Healer, they're god like still and that's why you love it. My level 18 Healer brother tanked the 16K HP Tempest and killed it, we were a duo and at the time I was level 20. All I did was beat on it with auto-attack and he tanked it, healed himself and dps'd it to death. I'll be glad to show anyone this if they don't believe, he hasn't level'd up any more since, lol.

I believe you. I was able to solo it on my level 21 healer. Took forever but do-able.

[Lodor]

Just some comments from being lvl 33 currently and a soldier.

All weapon types skill up super slow even with rank 5 of martial. This is an issue for all classes though not just soldiers.

A good amount of the soldier shield talents still do not work. The one that adds block value does nothing at all.

Reposte is junk compared to beta. it only adds 25% chance, so past lvl 20ish it is hardly worth using anymore.

Epicenter has its own issues. Its hit rate is based on your current main handed weapons skill so if you are lagging behind itll never land on mobs even lower level than you.

2h weapons do not do enough damage to compare to DWing or sword and board while soloing. 2h weapons need at least a 50% damage increase to be worth using over the other 2 styles.

Also of note, block value on items do not do anything for you currently either so they are pointless to wear.

On a final note, if you are soloing always ise tactical stance, it is by far the best stance for soloing. Protection is best for tanking (ie the uber dawn quest mobs), and the offensive stance is garbage (only gives like 3% chance to crit now days).

[Nightvision]

A good amount of the soldier shield talents still do not work. The one that adds block value does nothing at all.

I assume you're referring to Reinforced Shields? The specification for this ability called for increasing the Block Value by 2/4/6/8/10% which is exactly what it does currently. If you don't have a shield equipped with a block value greater than 10 (and assuming you're maxed in the ability) you wouldn't see any increase in your block value. After discussing this with Minuvo we've decided to base this off of total block value, a change which I've already made and which you'll see in the next patch. So there you go, you've been buffed!

I'm always concerned when I see a post where somebody states abilities are not working, especially when prefaced by words like "a lot" or "a good amount". I've said this a number of times but I'll say it once again. I don't know of any ability (or action for that matter) that isn't working as intended at this point. If you find something that doesn't appear to be working correctly by all means bring this to my attention, preferably by making a post here in the Soldier forums. I read these forums every day and I'm more than happy to investigate and fix any issues that come up.

[Swordmage]

I assume you're referring to Reinforced Shields? The specification for this ability called for increasing the Block Value by 2/4/6/8/10% which is exactly what it does currently. If you don't have a shield equipped with a block value greater than 10 (and assuming you're maxed in the ability) you wouldn't see any increase in your block value. After discussing this with Minuvo we've decided to base this off of total block value, a change which I've already made and which you'll see in the next patch. So there you go, you've been buffed!

I'm always concerned when I see a post where somebody states abilities are not working, especially when prefaced by words like "a lot" or "a good amount". I've said this a number of times but I'll say it once again. I don't know of any ability (or action for that matter) that isn't working as intended at this point. If you find something that doesn't appear to be working correctly by all means bring this to my attention, preferably by making a post here in the Soldier forums. I read these forums every day and I'm more than happy to investigate and fix any issues that come up.

Many times the problem is that we have trouble finding evidence that things are working. For instance, many of us expect to see the effect of the abilities that add ticks to various HoT and DoT skill reflected in the tooltips for our skills on the hot button bars.

Not an ability, but I have yet to see changes in my attributes corresponding to any of the armor sets I have used.

This lack of feedback leads us to question whether we are seeing a broken UI or a broken game function.

[Lodor]

Since you read this section Nightvision how about some dev finally commenting on the dawn token gear (the heavy armor is green) and all the blank set bonuses.

[Syndic]

hehehe I don't think I've ever used the riposte skill. Judging by what I've been reading here maybe I should be. I mean I was no healer but I thought the soldier class was decent. I find 2H weapons to be very low on the DPS scale so have always dual-wielded and have never really needed to do anything more than a focused strike and mangle in a fight and have it over in moments.

I guess I'm going to have to play around a bit more than I have.

[morphene]

heh, good thing you're commenting on class balance

[bairanax]

I hit level 30 today on my Soldier, and I noticed the action "Heavy Hit" that is now available to me is a great replacement for Assault. It does significantly more damage than Assault, has same anger cost, and has a better return on anger generation due to hitting twice. I encourage everyone thinking that Soldier's are under powered to wait till you get some more actions at the higher levels before deciding on what needs to be balanced.

[Kobara]

As a soldier, I must preface this by stating that I Dual-Wield exclusively unless I feel the urge to level up my 2H weapon skills. I find that Focused Strikes, Jab, Assault, Riposte to be an awesome rotation while leveling up. I have consistently found myself able to easily handle NPCs up to 6 levels higher than myself as I leveled up (although experience gain is capped at 4 levels higher) and rarely die. I am usually using Weaponry stance and have my abilities split between Tactics and Weaponry trees almost equally. I have grouped only on a few occassions (the Dawning Group kills mostly), but in those instances, did not have any issues keeping agro with simple taunts and damage output that kept me at top of agro list entire fights. Ran into one agro issue against the lvl 40 serpent in Haggon Marsh with the healer drawing agro, but that was due to the NPC rubberbanding behind me continuously at start of fight.

DW seems to be fine, shield use seems to be rare since group content is so rare at this time. I cant envision any scenario where shield use or 2h use is viable yet in game. Add in the fact that anger is based on damage output, and anger generation is severly hindered by the slower 2h wpn speeds. When Dwing, I maintain 40 to 90 anger at all times during fights, increasing my dps significantly.

Oh, btw, currently level 47 soldier on Adrios.

Edited by Kobara, 14 December 2009 - 05:02 PM.

[Buffer]

As a soldier, I must preface this by stating that I Dual-Wield exclusively unless I feel the urge to level up my 2H weapon skills. I find that Focused Strikes, Jab, Assault, Riposte to be an awesome rotation while leveling up. I have consistently found myself able to easily handle NPCs up to 6 levels higher than myself as I leveled up (although experience gain is capped at 4 levels higher) and rarely die. I am usually using Weaponry stance and have my abilities split between Tactics and Weaponry trees almost equally. I have grouped only on a few occassions (the Dawning Group kills mostly), but in those instances, did not have any issues keeping agro with simple taunts and damage output that kept me at top of agro list entire fights. Ran into one agro issue against the lvl 40 serpent in Haggon Marsh with the healer drawing agro, but that was due to the NPC rubberbanding behind me continuously at start of fight.

DW seems to be fine, shield use seems to be rare since group content is so rare at this time. I cant envision any scenario where shield use or 2h use is viable yet in game. Add in the fact that anger is based on damage output, and anger generation is severly hindered by the slower 2h wpn speeds. When Dwing, I maintain 40 to 90 anger at all times during fights, increasing my dps significantly.

Oh, btw, currently level 47 soldier on Adrios.

I am obviously playing my character wrong I am level 30 and can manage one level 30 mob anymore i am dead and i have to heal after every fight. i cant handle mobs 5 levels above me. I have most of my ability points in tactics and my attack power is 200. My armor is the best i can make and i take damage easily
killing mobs is like chopping wood. So what am i doing wrong Healers outfight me with ease and don't die nearly as often. i played a healer in beta to level 34 and did far more damage and could heal constantly. I can't see my soldier being a tank. So what am i doing wrong?

[Swordmage]

I am obviously playing my character wrong I am level 30 and can manage one level 30 mob anymore i am dead and i have to heal after every fight. i cant handle mobs 5 levels above me. I have most of my ability points in tactics and my attack power is 200. My armor is the best i can make and i take damage easily
killing mobs is like chopping wood. So what am i doing wrong Healers outfight me with ease and don't die nearly as often. i played a healer in beta to level 34 and did far more damage and could heal constantly. I can't see my soldier being a tank. So what am i doing wrong?

There are simple things like being sure you are in the stance that generates extra anger while soloing and using the skills appropriate to the kinds of weapons you are using (reposte and assault lean to slow, hard hitting weapons; the fast attack <forget the name> and jab lean toward dual wielding).

Then there are the things you need to work on over time such as being sure your weapon skills are maxed. If you are jumping from weapon type to weapon type for the best DPS and stats, you probably are way behind on your weapons skills. This game really rewards characters that focus on a specific type of weapon, both from keeping the skills up and from studies that are weapons specific. Buying and learning the Martial Discipline study will help make the skill increases less slow.

[Buffer]

There are simple things like being sure you are in the stance that generates extra anger while soloing and using the skills appropriate to the kinds of weapons you are using (reposte and assault lean to slow, hard hitting weapons; the fast attack <forget the name> and jab lean toward dual wielding).

Then there are the things you need to work on over time such as being sure your weapon skills are maxed. If you are jumping from weapon type to weapon type for the best DPS and stats, you probably are way behind on your weapons skills. This game really rewards characters that focus on a specific type of weapon, both from keeping the skills up and from studies that are weapons specific. Buying and learning the Martial Discipline study will help make the skill increases less slow.

my sword skills are almost maxed my studies are in tune with what i am doing. I have tried different stances with little significant results.Are u happy with your soldier