Planned Class Changes for 7.3

News Date: April 20, 2023 Patch: 7.3 News Source

Bioware has posted the proposed planned changes to classes in Update 7.3! You can leave feedback on the thread and after it goes live on the PTS.

Update with part 2 answers below.

Hey everyone following up on Jackie’s announcement post, here is the list of 7.3 balance changes. These changes will also be available on the PTS when it opens. And as always we look forward to hearing your feedback on these changes.

Powertech/Vanguard:

  • Adjusted timing of some ability grants to smooth out the leveling experience.
  • Stealth Scan has been redesigned and renamed “Terminator Droid”. In addition to revealing stealthed enemies it also slows them and decreases their accuracy
  • Neural Trigger tactical now roots the target instead of stuns.

Advanced Prototype/Tactics:

  • Prototype Rail / High Friction Bolts now restore 6 heat / energy when their effect is triggered (up from 5).
  • Energized Blade Tactical has been redesigned and renamed Energized Vambrace It does the following:
    • Gaining an Energy Lode stack increases the damage on Retractable Blade’s / Gut’s bleed, and increases the damage of Railshot / High Impact Round, Magnetic Blast / Tactical Surge, and Energy Burst’s / Cell Burst by 5% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 4 times.

Mercenary/Commando

  • Adjusted timing of some ability grants to smooth out the leveling experience.
  • Stealth Scan has been redesigned and renamed “Hunter Killer Droid”. In addition to revealing stealthed enemies, it also reduces the casters damage taken while stunned.
  • The Random Charge Legendary has been redesigned and renamed to Overcharged Cells. It now does the following:
    • Priming Shot / Vortex Bolt, Thermal Detonator / Assault Plastique, and Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe generate 3 Supercharges. This effect has a rate limit of 15 seconds.

Arsenal/Gunnery:

  • Supercharged Gas / Supercharged Cells has been renamed to High Velocity Supercharged Gas / High Velocity Supercharged Cells
  • Duration of High Velocity Supercharged Gas / High Velocity Supercharged Cells has been increased by 4 seconds.

Bodyguard/Combat Medic:

  • Supercharged Gas has been renamed to Supercharged Kolto Gas.

Sniper/Gunslinger:

  • Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement is now granted at level 43 for all Snipers / Gunslingers, and the knockback effect has been removed.
  • Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement has been replaced by Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure as the level 64 choice on the ability tree for all snipers.
  • Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure heals for 2% total health while in cover.

Marksmanship/Sharpshooter:

  • Targeted Ambush / Hotshot now trigger from killing an enemy within three seconds of damaging them with Ambush / Aimed Shot.

Virulence/Dirty Fighting:

  • Corrosive Refund / Scrounging has been redesigned. It now causes Corrosive Grenade / Shrap Bomb to refund 2 energy each time it ticks.

Operative/Scoundrel:
Medicine/Sawbones:

  • Medicine Operative’s / Sawbones Scoundrel’s version of Tactical Overdrive / Hot Streak now grants interrupt immunity while it is active.

Lethality/Ruffian:

  • Corrosive Return / Brutal Return no longer extends the duration of Stim Boost / Pugnacity by 5 seconds.
  • The Viral Elements tactical no longer causes Lethal Strike / Point Blank Shot to hit the primary target twice.

Concealment/Scrapper:

  • The Best Defense mod’s lifesteal effect has been improved.

Assassin/Shadow:
Hatred/Serenity:

  • Reduced the damage bonus given from Inevitable Demise / Aching Mind from 30% to 25%.

Deception/Infiltration:

  • Increased the damage bonus given by Executioner / Judgement while an opponent is below 30% max health from 3% to 5%.

Sorcerer/Sage
Madness/Balance:

  • Dark Echo’s / Resonating Pulse’s chance to reapply Death Brand’s / Shifted Balance’s slow has been reduced to 30%.
  • Vitiates Malice / Warden’s Vigor – Life Steal on Force Lightning / Telekinetic Throw has been reduced to 15% down from 20%.

Lightning/Telekinetics:

  • Increased the Stormwatch tactical’s duration to 15 seconds up from 10 seconds.
  • Increased the damage of Halted Offensive / Power of the Force by 7%.

Marauder/Sentinel:
Annihilation:

  • The focus / rage generation of the Bloodlust / Burning focus passive has been modified. It now reads: “Your direct damage attacks that hit a bleeding / burning target build 1 rage / focus. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds.” The rest of the passive’s effect remains the same.

Looking forward to reading your feedback and checking out the changes when PTS is open. I’ll make any follow up posts here in this thread as needed.

Shabir

Part 2

Hey everyone, after looking through the feedback I wanted to update everyone on the following changes and clarify some details on a couple of the changes. I will also update the original post as well with the new changes.

So first up we have some additional changes we want to roll out to the coming PTS when it opens at a later time:

Mercenary/Commando:

  • Hunter Killer Droid/Advanced Recon Droid – Fires off probes that scan the area for stealth opponents for 15 seconds and grants Droid Overwatch which increases your damage reduction while stunned by 30%.  Revealed targets are immobilized and all enemies within the field are slowed by 30%.
  • Stealth Scan has its cooldown increased to 20 seconds up from 15.
    • This is the full tooltip for the Stealth Scan change for Mercenary/Commandos, hopefully this clears up any confusion anyone has on the effects of the ability.

Arsenal/Gunnery:

  • Increase the damage for Blazing Bolts/Boltstorm by 2.3%.

Sniper/Gunslinger:

  • Vital Regulators will have its healing increased to 3% of your maximum HP every 2 seconds while in cover.
  • The knockback effect that used to be Reestablished Range will be placed on Ruthless Efficiency.
    • Our intent for the change to the knockback was primarily done so that players in PVE would not accidentally move mobs out of the group’s range or into dangerous spots that could potentially kill the group.
    • We shifted this effect to the utility Ruthless Efficiency, so that players can opt into the previous playstyle with the knockback, the heal while in cover, or Damage Reduction.

Powertech/Vanguard:

  • Terminator Droid/Suppression Droid – Fires off a Terminator Droid to scan the area for 15 seconds, revealing stealthed opponents and immobilizing them for 3 seconds. In addition, all enemies inside the field of the Terminator Droid have their accuracy reduced by 20% and are slowed by 30%.
  • Stealth Scan has its cooldown increased to 20 seconds up from 15.
    • This is the full tooltip for the Stealth Scan change for Powertechs/Vanguards, hopefully this clears up any confusion anyone has on the effects of the ability.

Sorcerer/Sage:

  • Lighting/Telekinetics:
    • Lightning Flash/Telekinetic Gust’s damage is increased by 5%.

Madness/Balance:

  • Death Brand/Shifted Balance’s Slow Effect should no longer reapply to players that have been defeated and respawn.

Following those changes, I wanted to clarify some changes for the Mercenary/Commandos new legendary item Overcharged Cells. The first thing I wanted to cover was that the Thermal Detonator applies the 3 charges of Supercharge when it deals direct damage. Also the rate limit will adjust to the abilities cooldown for Priming Shot and Thermal Detonator.

The next question I wanted to address in relation to the Mercenary/Commando is their new version of Stealth Scan “Hunter Killer Droid.” The damage reduction while stunned is designed to have a lengthy uptime for the following reasons:

  • The other options it is competing with are all also strong.
  • We wanted this mod to be a anti-stealth choice for players and provide some additional benefits beyond revealing a stealth player and a slow that does not apply any hindrance to the target.
  • The immobilization effect only occurs if the Mercenary/Commando reveals the target.

This change is also targeted at making Stealth Scan less of a niche option and have more application in more scenarios in PVP.

Similarly the Powertech/Vanguards effects are also being applied with the same goal of making Stealth Scan less niche and provide more benefits in a wider variety of scenarios. Powertech/Vanguards lean more toward a support buff with the reduced accuracy because of their class identity as a tank. In addition, “Terminator Droid” is competing with fairly strong defensive and offensive choices across the skill trees for the Powertech/Vanguard. The accuracy reduction will not apply to Operation Bosses.

We appreciate all the feedback everyone has taken the time to give and look forward to seeing the various changes being tested on pts.