As I'm sure that everyone knows, Seers are next in line for balancing after Gunners (which I'm guessing are aproximately 75% of the way through). So I guess this is kind of a brainstorm I'm making seeing as how I'm bored and it would be nice to get the entire community thinking of how to balance this class.

Problems with Seer class
There actually seems to not be too much wrong with the mechanics of Seer (for example they don't have a borked DPS system like the old missiles). However some of the main problems I've identified are: raw power compared to Sniper, trivial perks to the class, the over reliance on chance/need to fill in gaps of the class with augmentations, and difficulty of levelling when taken early on, and lastly the lack of stealth abilities at lower levels.

Fixing these problems
Let's start off with the stats taken from wiki, and I will try to take parts and explain what exactly is not fitting, as well as give some proposed solutions.



Going from the top down, one of the first problems that can be seen is the "improved warp abilities". The reason why this is a problem is that: A. This serves no purpose in later levels, and B. This gives an unfair advantage to lower level Seers as opposed to other classes (although this bonus has shrunken considerably due to the amount of SP each skill takes changing). My proposal to fix this is rather simple, and would be useful at all levels inside and outside PvP.

Basically, in exchange for the improved warp capabilities, give Seer Class +1.5% shield regeneration per level. You may be thinking right now: "But Stabby! Seers don't need shield regeneration in PvP!!!!!111!!!!!1!!!!" However, think about this: in an active PvP situation, Seers are at their most vulnerable when exposed to enemy radar. Unfortunately, this is also the only way to get healed unless you have a nearby Engi with ACharges that have nice radar. Not only this, but it has a very good PvE application. While Seers are just training, seeing as how it is a difficult class to master, they are bound to get hit often. This is why they need to be able to recover from shots and be forced to wait around and regen shields.

Next problem: low level Seers have trouble staying under the radar of enemy AI at lower levels. So why is this? The cause of this problem is very obvious: Seers only gain stealth from a SINGLE TERTIARY SKILL. Tertiary skills, no matter what the level, cost more than both Seer Class or Recon Focus because there are three instead of two.

How to fix this: give Seer Class +2% stealth per level and make Psionic Shrouding have +2% Stealth instead of +4%. This adds up to +96% stealth, which is 4% less than current stats but meh, it doesn't matter in the scheme of things. So as a result of this, low level Seers will have to dump less SP into a single tertiary skill.

Next problem: Lack of DPH. The simplest way to fix this would be to introduce stats exactly the same as Sniper's efficiency. However, I believe there is something more fitting an unique that could be done for Seer. Give Psionic Shrouding +2% more damage per level, and also give it +5% recoil per level WHEN SEEN BY THE TARGET. So to this you might think: "Stabby, then people will just target planets and asteroids and shiz!!!!11!!!11" However, that's not a real problem. The only way that this could be used is if the Seer uses a non-ethereal weapons. Which means giving up the 40% damage anyway!

The last identified problem with Seer Class: the reliance on chance that could mean the difference between life or death. That is to say: critical hit chance. Even when ambushing someone, there is still a chance that the Seer will not do a critical hit. Shadow Ambush gives +60% critical hit chance, so if one of the tertiary skills were to be given extra crit hit chance, maxed out Seers will have reliable crits. So we does this by:giving Psionic Sight +1.25% critical hit chance per level.

So this is what I could think of after an hour and a half of thinking/typing on my phone. So as a final product: this is what Seer will look like:


So without further delay:

/discuss.

You have no idea how powerful t21 seers can be.

That's JUST T21 Seers, which means there's a problem with T21 augs/ships, not Seer itself.

Also, weren't you bragging how you PWave Sniper could kill just about anything?

^This. Is pretty good, needs tweaking though.

If recoil was changed to +5% and the unseen by target part were take away, the DPS would be 60% less.

Not only that, but this unseen by target part rewards Seers who manage to stay unseen.

Any other ideas/rebuttals?

Seer is fine as it is the only thing that needs changing is warp navigation. WE DONT NEED warp 5 when there isnt any warp 5 gates.

I guess I actually agree with you. What would you recommend for stats?

Gee' wonder what noob figured that one out.....

Look at my suggestion, it has the answer.

Ye, this looks like a broken mechanic.

Not atal! I had to combine a panther tweak+PPGT+ swifty.

I used a lincin, and it still hurts me ALOT.

So its impossible to keep that dps up, I would have to wait another 45 seconds for the panther tweak to show up. So its a different aspect of dph, more like, do very burst dps in a second or 2. So its kinda similar to dph.

If self damage was calculated to hurt me after critical hit str, I would 1 hit my shield. I guarantee it.

In ratio to a regular lion lincining, the self damage is the same, is comparison to his 100k sheild and my 20k sheild.

Any thoughts on the original post AEM? Do you think that some of it could help remedy the Seer problem?