Long Post Ahead
Veterans biggest problem is that their tree is too damn big and too restrictive. This class was called out by the devs as the flexible class around patch 13 and it’s absolutely wrong.
The most flexible class in the game is Zealot. Zealot’s talent tree has no restrictions on what you can pick (unlike Psyker and Ogryn) and does not suffer from bloat or pigeonhole you into one side (like Veteran). This leaves Zealot with the ability to pick whatever they want and build for it. No other class has as much freedom as Zealot to pick and choose their path.
This is what the Veteran rework should have focused on.
I never cared about keystones missing and the nerfs to confirmed kill i think are ok considering how easy it is to buy and to activate in high level missions. I care about being able to make builds without feeling like i’m never able to get what i want or unable to pick perk that are just fun.
For Veteran this is every build. I want to take silly perks like twinned blast, but i can’t grab those without gutting my abilities, my keystones, or even making the basic perks i want for a build unobtainable. Veterans can barely even complete one tree.
Veteran’s talent tree is also filled with perks that are neat but that i’ll never pick because i want to have a functional class. Perks like Covering fire, Leave no one behind, and Competitive urge. These perks are really cool, they seem fun to use, and make the class more interesting. I want them to stay, but i also can’t choose them without making my build so much worse. they’re not first pick perks like demolition stockpile, precision strikes, or confirmed kill. They also don’t work my way down the tree because the perks next to them are just better.
Competitive urge has to compete with Bring it down, Covering fire competes with Grenade tinkerer, and Leave no one behind competes with Grenadier. Grenade tinkerer, Grenadier, and Bring it down will always be better which is fine. They don’t need to compete for a slot in a build, Veteran just needs more budget to pick them in addition. For build flavor.
Veterans talent tree is still not flexible enough. Veterans final leg of the talent tree has zero crossover which seriously hampers player choice and can make getting a keystone on the oppsite side of the tree virtually impossible without massive sacrifices of higher nodes or ability modifiers.
Veteran would be much better if each operative node on that lowest tree had a diagonal downwards connection to either another operative node or a perk. The player would be able to swing through the branches and pick out a few perks as well as let them have greater access to each keystone, which would save points to spend on those keystones special nodes.
Being able to go from Stamina regen boost(on the far right), to Inspiring prescence, to Tougness boost, and then to For the Emperor would be huge. Or Inspiring prescence directly to Always prepared so i can grab Tactical Awareness AND the 25% extra ammo without needing to spend at least 7 points. Almost 1/3rd of the total budget just because i want more dakka.
For an even greater example, being able to swing from Stamina regen delay on the far right, to Inspiring prescence, to Always prepared. Then grabbing Onslaught just under Stamina regen delay, so i can give my Columnus Mk5 the bonus ammo and brittleness on repeated hit for just 3 points if i start from Stamina regen delay(on the far right). On the live build it would cost 1 point to go to Onslaught then 6 to go to Always prepared for a total of 7 points. just adding a branch downwards would be invaluable for Veterans to get where they want to go.
Vetrans abilities and keystones have a ton of nodes surrounding them and i think those need to be addressed as well.
Abilities:
Executioners stance has 4 nodes and borderline requires 1. Relentless. Executioners strance without refresh is useless. I do not need 5 seconds of Enahnced target priority showing me where all the enemies are, or counterfire highlighting shooters for 5 seconds, or 5 seconds of bonus damage against ogryns and monsters. Compared to Veterans shout or infiltrate a 5 second buff is not worth it. Relentless is a mandatory pick for any Executioners stance build and should be part of Executioners stance by default. The ability is not worth it without Relentless. Every other node that buffs the ability relies on Relentless to be useful.
Infiltrate is in a similar boat. The ability by itself has much more utility than base Executioners stance because of the ablity to revive safely, but is otherwise not that good. Surprise attack, the 30% dmg buff for 5 seconds, should be baseline. Zealot has their dmg buffs built into their stealth, so its confusing Veteran gets nothing for going ghost.
Voice of command is Veterans best baseline ability and it has two nodes which provide something new, but not required for it to be strong. Veterans other two abilities should similarly be useful by themselves.
Keystones:
Weapons specialist is the worst offender of them all. 5 nodes and the nodes themselves are weak. On the lest side we have Always Prepared and Fleeting fire. Always Prepared shares a name with a 25% ammo perk on the other side of the tree which is a bit silly. Anyway the actual issue is that it is weak. At 10 stacks you get 33% ammo back when switching to your gun. Sounds cool, but lets put a opin in it. Fleeting fire grants 20% reload speed on switching to your gun. Always Prepared is a necessary prerequisite to Fleeting Fire. Veteran also has Tactical reload (20% reload if gun has ammo in it) as well as Volley adept (30% reload on elite and special kill). With all three perks Veteran has 70% reload speed. With just Volley adept a player is able to back off from the frontline and reload a bolter blazingly fast. 33% ammo back is not helpful when i can just get 100% ammo back in a second or two. The fact that its required just for the reload speed is a silly decision.
On the right side we have Invigorated which gives 20% stamina back when switching to melee. This one is quite good since this side of the tree is about sprinting around like a maniac. Confitioning grants 3 seconds of 25% reduced stamina cost. Also decent, but why aren’t they just a single perk? A 3 second buff to stamina just isn’t worth spending one of Veterans precious skill points on. It isn’t even that strong and could be tacked onto Invigorated easily.
The last perk is On your toes which grants 20% toughness when switching weapons. It’s nice thats all there is to say. regain toughness by using the playstyle you built for, it’s a good perk for the right side. However, it requires me to choose Invigorate or Always prepared. which really makes it a 2 cost perk. Which is silly since it has nothing to do with either side.
Focus target is a great keystone. It provides a new flavor to Veteran gameplay and is more useful than many would assume based on its stacking nature. It requires you to pick actual priority targets rather than spam clicking everything which makes sense with the middle tree being a squad leader archtype. The nodes surrounding it can be picked independantly and provide good additions to the ability.
Redirect fire gives a damage buff to allies in coherency based on the stacks the target had, but the real kicker is that it refreshed the buff with however many stacks it had, so you can ping willy nilly and give allies a constant damage buff. Very cool stuff!
Focused fire increases total stacks from 5 to 8 (which also buffs redirect fire from 7.5% total dmg to 12% total dmg)
Target down provides toughness and stamina replenishment based on the number of stacks on a tagged target to you and allies in coherency.
This is Veterans best general use keystone if the others don’t strike your fancy and my favorite of the bunch.
Marksmans focus is for shooting guys in the head. It has 4 nodes which can be taken independantly and each provides a unique buff. The ability has 1 major problem, especially for me a controller player. I strafe left and right to help my aim which means i always lose stacks before headshotting enemies which is a big deal for one of the keystones’ modifiers. This is killing the keystone for me and likely many more players.
Tunnel vision gives 2.5% toughness replenishment for each stack of focus. Good for aiding the playstyle of standing still. Standing still is inherently dangerous in this game so its helpful.
Camoflage gives 0.75 stacks of Focus per second when standing still or walking when crouched. This node is what saves the whole keystone for me. I can just place shots and if i lose a stack to strafing i can wait a second. Very good perk.
Long range assassin increases stacks from 10 to 15. 50% stronger keystone for 1 skill point is obviously really good.
Chink in their armor gives 10% rending at 10 stacks or more of Focus. This is the ability i meant earlier. 10 stacks is the max for focus without Long range assassin, so losing a stack before attacking is a big deal. 10% rending is decent. A normal lasgun like the 12 can actually damage carapace enemies with it.
