Issues as a relatively new Brigand

[Tekadeo]

<p>I have been playing Everquest 2 since early DoF.  I have played all the Tanks and all the healers, illusionist, dirge and ranger.  But this is my first run with a "real" scout and while I am great DPS there are some things that bug me.</p><p>1. Positional attacks.  These are fine imo, but it would make more sense if there were no CA's that can only be used from "behind."  These should either be flanking abilities also -or- <span style="color: #ff0000;">the hotbar icon should gray out when we are not in a position to use them. </span> Nothing is more annoying than thinking I have the back and spamming my Dispatch macro 5 times before I find the exact tiny little spot.</p><p>2. Shenanigans.  Our hardest hitting attack, love the idea of it, I use it a lot to save non-fighters in group/raid.  However I would say 50% of the time I use it, the mob won't hit me.  I will have aggro, but I will just lie on the ground for a few seconds before the tank takes it back.  I feel something is wrong here :/   I mean, if you are already [Removed for Content] off the tank by pulling it off him, shouldn't you at least be rewarded for it with damage?</p><p>3. Double Throw.  Especially since so far in DoV there are no scout bandoliers, this CA really needs to be changed to be able to use it with a bow. </p><p>4. Will to Survive.  Decreases Max Health of target by 2% if epic, 5% if not.  This effect is beyond worthless, there is zero noticeable effect here.  And this is our TSO endline spell for crying out loud.  Would be amazing if, in the same spirit of the spell, it worked like Verdict.  This would be worthy indeed of the AA cost you need to use to get it.</p><p>5. Hate.  As I really have played all the tanks, I already knew Brigands were really bad at ripping aggro, but now that I play one, I live in fear of doing it myself.  We have no innate hate dump, and we are expected to a)only group with Paladins, b)waste 18 AA's in the INT tree to get 15% decreased hate gain, or c)spend 10 points in the Heroic tree to get 25% decrease.  This is BS, especially since in raid I am usually put in the MT Pally group for Amends; that 25% dehate would not be so cool there.</p><p>I'm probably overanalyzing this, and I really don't have a ton of trouble excelling at the class, but just some slight annoyances that maybe the Devs could check into at some point.</p>

[Apiar]

<p>Agree with everything you said and have been recognized as issues repeatedly by the community.  We have two hate dump options that are bleh in shadow slip and evasive maneuvers.  Best thing is to get peaceful link on you from a coercer.  Then you can actually go all out.  Ignorant bliss and evade do nothing for hate.</p><p>I have no points in the int or heroic hate lines.  Seems to be a waste.</p><p>More concerning to me is that swashies can out dps us on single targets.  Saw it again last night in raid on named mob.  Might as well play a swashie since you have hate transfer and put out more dps.</p>

[Tekadeo]

<p>Yeah I just realized there are like 5 other posts containing basically the same gripes about the Brigand class.  It's telling that everyone in the player community realizes the same issues and hopefully it gets looked into soon.  I think it will.</p><p>As far as a swashy beating us on single target, I haven't seen that on my Brigand, and I usually put Thieves' Guild on him too.  My guild's swashy is pretty decent I guess (plus has like 20 more AA), but it's kind of a casual raid guild.  Maybe the hardcore players are different /shrug.</p><p>Actually I have been pleasantly surprised by our AoE DPS in groups so far.  I typically win the Ring War parse unless there's a Necro there that isn't terrible.  And I hit 95k on that one big encounter in Ascent once.  Then again I have 4 of the 5% AE auto attack adorns and the Yellow Rune with the 30% AE attack proc on my Dominant weapon.  It's a trip to learn this class so far and I'm hoping I can continue getting better.</p>

[Fallower]

<p>Tekadeo,</p><p>Welcome to the redheaded step child of scouts,  I agree that there are some things that need to be worked out with the brigand,  but they are fun as hell to play.  I do think they have come a long way from what they were and some of the enhancements that have been done with this expac are good to see.</p><p>As you are just starting out with the brigand and I know your play style as it is very similar to mine it does take some getting used to. Let me start with hate.  There is a class specific red adorn that adds 10% to befuddle that is quite helpful.  That way when you are not in a pally group you can turn it on and when you are you turn it off.  I cycle my dehates when they are up and yes that mean I use evade about 50 times during a named fight but hey every little bit helps.  I parse it out and I am probably dehating on the mob 3 times more than any dps class and I am still sitting near the top of the hate list. </p><p>I agree with double throw and such.  I really want that extra crit and there is just nothing that I can get because of the lack of itemization for rogues.</p><p>If you want to catch up...  Crushbone.brigfall</p><p>Back to work</p>

[Surculus]

<p>Positional Attacks... Personally I love the positional attacks. Yeah it does get annoying trying to get it off sometimes but i think that is one of the things that adds that fun element to the class that Swashie seems to lack for me. I just hame a seperate Macro for Dispatch for that very reason.</p><p>Shenanigens.... Yeah I have to agree 100% there mate.</p><p>Double Throw... Double Throw is great for me personally, I love it for kiting and for pvp but 100% agree on there needing to be sout bandoliers. Come on Devs!</p><p>Will to Survive... Again, agree with you 100%. Expecially it's one of the CA's that breaks a DOM chain for me as well as most other AA based CA's.</p><p>Hate.... Honestly I don't know. I think it has a lot to do with who's tanking also or atleast for me. I pull about 70k on single target mobs and even though yes my hate meter hits 80+ the two depositionals work well for me, but to each their on situation I guess.</p><p>Yes yes yes we're the red headed step child of the scout world but i think we got a ton of cool stuff lately also. I love cornered, I love being able to double it up for good aoe spike dps. I love the change to Thieves guild, that was awesome. DOM, awesome. Sunder, amazing! Either way I know I have a ball playing my Brigand and wouldn't go Swash anytime soon. Swash may be higher dps but they're not half as much fun.</p>

[Brdiael]

<p>im a raid brigand and i will never pull aggro if you use your CA's right. get a guardian tank especially,</p><p>you need to look at how you dehate buff is working, are you critical dehating? ive checked and i constantly dehate. for anywhere of 1k-15k hate being taken away.</p><p>evasive maneuvers works great.</p>

[lazlo1]

<p>1. yea they are a pain but are part of being a brig.</p><p>2. I dont use that spell at all ever. I find it completely worthless.</p><p>3. good spell but I no longer can use it. ranged in DOV has to have high crit. bow is only choice</p><p>4. the debuf does nothing it just a damage CA. Its funny they give us another worthless one in heroic AA ~~ LOL</p><p>5. Only positional ones work. The thread deduction ones do nothing. They arnt worth using. Ignorant bliss also does nothing. I still run damage posions but they dont do much either.</p><p>I use the heroic dehate AA. you have to give up a little dps but its about the only other thing we can do.</p><p>It sucks that brigs do half the damage of an assassin and twice the agro.</p>