It's a shame we don't have a Guts mechanic like Scoundrels have an Upper Hand mechanic, or sentinels have a centering mechanic.

As I have said before. And will say again. IT'S NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH DPS ANY GIVEN DPS CLASS DOES. That doesn't matter with the 5% DPS variance goal. It's about what abilities we do or do not bring to the table.

The point doesn't stand. Bioware has stated their goal is go have all DPS classes do the same amount of DPS, within a 5% variation for error. Our "high sustained damage" cannot be the unique tool we bring to the table--because--as nerfs and buffs have already demonstrated--that will continue always be in flux. Thank you ArchangelLBC, you just proved one of my points. Out of four DPS slots in an 8 man operations group. Commandos are automatically disqualified from one. Every other class can fill that DPS roll because they have an interrupt. If recent videos have proven anything, it's that you can clear operations with 4 melee classes. But that doesn't matter, because at this point you're just theory carting how good or bad Inspiration is. You're missing the point. Good or Bad, Inspiration is something the Sentinel can bring something unique to a group to assist them. Commandos cannot. The gunslinger should be saved for those specific phases on those fights yes. But aside form that it should (it can be, and is) used on Cool Down to limit damage to those near it. It is an insntant ability that you can use ever 180 seconds that lasts for 15 seconds, costs no energy, and IIRC doesn't even trigger your global cool down. There's no reason *NOT* to always use it. (except in the scenarios above where you'd save it.) But again, you miss the point. It's not how good the shield is or isn't. It's that its unique and they have it. AND an interrupt. Rescue is useful in EVERY boss fight where there is "bad" to avoid on the ground, or where a unfortunate circumstance or fight mechanics puts a player out of position. That includes EV bosses 1,2, and KP 1-5, and EC 1,2,4. It's called Rescue for a reason. And on top of that it can reduce aggro. (Admittedly, not really an issue after recent tank changes.) Again, as I already said, no operations leader is going to say "Our healers aren't that good, we better get a DPS who can off heal." They're simply going to get a better healer. You mean one of five classes? Because Sentinels, Soundrels, and Gunslingers can all slice droids. My gunslinger slice droid doesn't even have a 60 second cool down...the commando ability does. Let's break these abilities down. 1. Pulse Cannon: Usable by all troopers not commandos. (Requires that you be in melee--which goes directly against you everything you've said about us being ranged DPS.) 2. Mortar Volley = Usable by all troopers, not just commandos. Smuggler Equivalent is Freighter Fly by. Fly by is on a shorter cool down, and is a casted ability, not channeled. What does this mean? That you can use flyby and stack other DPS abilities on top of it (like Sweeping Gunfire.) and your energy regen is better during the casting time because it's not a channel. 3. Sticky Grenade = Useable by all troopers, not just commandos. Smuggler Equivalent is Thermal Grenade. Note the smuggler equivalent is an instant. Some fights make the sticky delay useful, I'll admit, when you have a narrow DPS window (stacking damage for SOA, or KP's Puzzle fight.) 4. Hail of Bolts = Usable by only Commandos. Smuggler equivalent is Sweeping Gunfire 5. Plasma Grenade = A terrible commando only DPS ability that is only made useful when combined with Tech Override to remove it's atrocious casting time. (And possibly RP to turn its cost to 0.) So, you were planning on using that TO for Concussive Round, you can't use it for this. Believe me I would *LOVE* for plasma grenade to actually be useful on its own without needing to consume 1 or 2 other CDs to be worth it. What does this mean? A raid leader can take take a vanguard in our place and lose only 1 AoE, and gain their close range AoEs instead. (And they'll be in range if using Pulse Cannon anyway. Or a gunslinger and stack on equivalent or better AoE. And gain an extra interupt. Which is exactly my point. Commandos cannot interrupt, so we are disqualified as a class from DPS slots because of this...and we bring nothing unique to the group that could help make up for it. As demonstrated above, everything else we bring is not only shared by other classes, but their abilities are better designed for it.

Name for me one PvE end game fight where stealth detection has even the smallest role. Even non endgame boss fights like Battle for Ilum..your stealth detection doesn't reveal the boss when he vanishes. At best you can argue False Emperor's HK. Your missing the point: I'm not arguing all these classes unique abilities. I'm arguing that *all* off them can interrupt abilities, and some of them have unique in combat skills on top of that which benefit the raid while not compromising their DPS role. We have neither. Again, not an in combat skill. And Just like stealth detection, it's meant to be more of a PvP skill. At best you can use it it avoid trash. (NOTE: In explosive conflict, and op with STEALTHED mobs. You cannot even use Stealth Detection on them until after combat starts, because they don't spawn until the fight starts.) Pulling someone to safety out of the bad? This ability actually has use in boss fights--allowing another player a crucial few moments of extra DPS, or saving them from a mistake. They have a channeled AOE on a minute cool down, and a channeled AoE that has no cool down. Gunslingers have a short cast AoE that allows them to stack their own non-CD AoE attacked on top of it. Every player that knows how to play their class has a high up-time with sustained DPS. Our armor grants about 5% more damage mitigation than an equally geared medium armor class. (30% vs 25% mitiation.) You sure about that? Because to date there's only one boss fight were CC comes into play. That's HM Denova's Minefield. And do you know what you CC? Droids. Gunslingers out class us again for this encounter. Slice Droids is far more effective in that fight, and their flash bang will stun an entire group in place for 8 seconds--our Cryo Grenade will only do 1 person for 4. I'll admit the self cleanse is useful in theory. The only problem is that it's doesn't cleanse most effects, and the ones it DOES clean in a boss fight (Torn an Zoth) you should be avoiding by staying at ranged in the first place. Let me be clear here, I'm not talking about how much damage we do. I'm talking about what unique skills we bring to help the Operations group beat an enrage timer and down a boss. Which is nothing. And at the same time we cannot even do the one thing every other DPS can do: interupt.

We are not an ideal DPS choice. Why? Every other DPS class can do one thing we cannot, and most can bring unique tools to group, while we bring none. A. We cannot interrupt attacks on important boss fights like the Mine Field in HM EC. (Or LI HM, or Jarg and Sorno, ) B. We do not offer anything unique to the group. Such as: -- a unique boost like Sentinels (Inspiration) --a group bubble defense (Gunslingers) --pulling the player from danger. (Sages) C. We no longer give a unique armor debuff (due to recent changes). And before anyone says the words "Off Heals." Let me beat you to it: The "off heals" heal in the nature of 1k to 3k, at the cost of ammo 2 to 3 ammo, and 1.5-3 seconds of our time and an expensive cleanse that won't even remove most debuffs. The cost alone makes them prohibitive because the extra drain of energy will severely limit your regeneration rate--and thus limit your DPS. Furthermore "off heals" detract from your actual job: beating the enrage timer, and every boss has one. No operations leader is going to say: "I'm not confident in my tank's gear, or healer's capacity...I better get an off healer!" They will simply get a different healer or tank. And even if "Off heals" were a valid argument (And I don't believe they are for a boss fight.) let me point out that Scoundrel DPS can off heal at instant speed, and Sentinels (Zen) outclass us completely when in comes healing output while not sacrificing the time they devote to DPS.

From a PvE Perspective as Gunnery Others view us as not an ideal DPS. Why? A. We cannot interrupt skills on important boss fights like the Mine Field in HM EC. (Or LI HM) B. We cannot give the group a unique boost like Sentinels (Inspiration). C. We no longer give a unique armor debuff (due to recent changes). D. We do not offer anything unique to the group. 2. How do you perceive your own spec? Less enjoyable than it was initially. Why? A. We now have only 1 proc...so that means literally only 1 thing that switches up our rotation. B. Now that our debuff is no longer unique we haven't unique to *US* to offer the group in end game scenarios--and we do less damage than classes that ALSO offer group wide buffs (Sentinels.) C. The focus on making Full Auto a bigger part of our rotation only roots us in place that much more but fights are more and more mobile. D. All we an offer is "off heals" in the nature of 1k to 2k, at the cost of ammo, and 3 seconds of our time and an expensive cleanse that won't even remove most debuffs. Furthermore both of these acts detract from our actual job: beating the enrage timer, and every boss has one.

It's a balancing act between using your Hammer Shot vs Your Special Abilities. Remember that you don't want to drop your energy below 60% if you can avoid it. The more energy you have, the faster it regenerates. Yes, mixing in hammer shots means that mobs take longer to kill...but your choice is between slower recovery time or slower mob death. Choose whatever works better for you.

http://www.torhead.com/item/gM76A6v/hammer-revolving-autocannon That's about as skinny as you'll get. The skin from your first assault cannon is also the smallest you'll see.

To clarify, that chart shows the Diminishing Return Rate for the Critical % you get from Aim. (Which is on a seperate DR value than raw crit score itself.) The direct damage increase you get from Aim, just like power, is not effected by DR.

It really depends on the gear of your group. But if you're group is new to any given op, you are gimping yourself by not having two ranged. It doesn't matter for EV. It does for KP boss number 4 though. I'm not saying you can't do it with 4 melee DPS....but they better be guilds with some amazing skills. (Not DPS skills, but coordination and communication.) For EC, particularly HM, only makes it more challenging. Any more than 2 melee and you have to creatively juggle due to debuffs.

We got our first stab at HM EC Tanks last week. On our best attempt, we got them down to 5% and 8% before we wiped to enrage. So I think at this point it's just a matter of tweaking our DPS a bit to beat the enrage timer. We have: 1. Shadow Tank 2. Guardian Tank 3. Scoundrel Healer 4. Commando Healer 5. Commando DPS 6. Gunslinger DPS 7. Vanguard DPS 8. Scoundrel DPS On Firebrand: 1. Guardian tank 2. Commando Healer (In position to heal both Shadow and Guardian tank.) 3. Gunslinger DPS 4. Vanguard DPS On Storm Caller 1. Shadow Tank 2. Commando DPS 3. Scoundrel DPS On the Ground: 4. Scoundrel Healer. (Artfully dodging the lightning and cleansing the yellow beam off himself.) For the first 85% the Gunslinger DPSes on Storm Caller with the Scoundrel and Commando. We do this just to make sure we don't hit a second Double Destruction (or Double Debuff of Doom as I like to call it.) before the first artillery phase. After that our DPS is split like normal. When Double Destruction hits, our Vanguard DPS taunts Firebrand, and receives the debuff. Or Guardian Tank then taunts back. While at the same time our Shadow Tank kites around to the right and stands behind our Commando/Scoundrel DPS so they absorb the buff. When the we reach an Artillery Phase the Shadow Tank (aka, Stormcaller tank) runs around outside the bubbles--normally near the commando healer on Firebrand's side. We do this because the scoundrel healer gets pretty heavily taxed during the normal phase, and the Commando Healers superior one target healers give him a breather to recharge. This week we'll have a few gear tweaks, and some bug fixes (Yay, deadly aim!), and maybe even replacement players, so I think we'll down him. What do you think of our strategy?

1. There is no DR for main stats at 2100. 2. You can get a far amount of accuracy back from Black Hole Implants.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I like how it looks. The only thing I don't like is the robe/cape clipping, but that's an issue with 90% of the mounts.

Interupt a lot of instants, do you?

Not quite free. A 40,000 credit cost for the perk, but that's a drop in the bucket.

I have it, it goes 110% speed. : )

Please tell me this is working as intended? It's nice flying around that fast while that low, plus having the resistance to being knocked off the speeder.

wh? /5car

Assault Specialists Commando in PvE still has you rooted in place a lot too. You're still using Full Auto, and Charged Rounds frequently to maximize your DPS. The rotation is a little more varied than Gunnery, but that's about it. I haven't tried Assault Specialist since the talent tree changes though, so I can't speak to the quality of its damage. 60% Armor Penetration for Full Auto and HiB was too sexy to pass up.

I strongly agree. I noticed a substantial difference last night when I switched out a Rakata Implant for a Black hole one to gain back some Accuracy. I hope to switch the other over in a couple days as well, and we'll see the end result after I'm back at 100% for Ranged attacks.

Sure. It'll just be expensive to move them over. I suppose if you got a trenchburner or something of EV HM, but you still don't have a columi rifle it would be way to get that barrrel.

I'm not sure if you're a healer, or DPS. But this is from the perspective of DPS... I wouldn't worry too much about specific stats for HM Ops--because what you want to be wearing is just primarily Columi for HM Ops. After you get your Rakata in HM Ops you can start fine tuning your stats through switching out mods, but you want to get your Columi gear ASASP because we actually have some pretty nice set bonuses. HM FPs are on the same level as Story Mode Ops, gear wise. And the first Op, EV is very easy. (The second one isn't much more difficult, either on SM.) Baseline gear for getting into these would be the tionese/mods from daily quest tokens. You start to get pretty severe diminishing returns on Surge as you get close to 75%, Your priority should be (in my opinion) Aim, Accuracy to Cap, Crit, Surge. Aim increasases damage only slightly less than power, but it also boosts your crit, and every little bit you get there helps. (Plus the crit you get from aim doesn't count towards your crit rating's DR.

I seriously doubt that. I having nothing against having Enrage Timers in the game, or having them on every boss. That being said, I do think that EC Hard Mode enrage timers and perhaps Lost Island HM enrage timers on the first boss are too finely tuned. When your talents aren't working correctly (Deadly Cannon, anyone?) it means the metrics used to calculate the DPS required for the fight will be off. Then if you also factor in overall combat changes like the armor debuff no longer stacking... It forces you to bring specific classes/not to many of a specific class. In short, you stop bringing the player and start bringing the character. So my view is: Enrage Timers, Yes. Enrage Timers without some breathing space for the inevitable bugs/nerfs that change our DPS: No. Nothing sucks more than failing to down a boss due to an enrage that you were able to down the week before, but since your class was nerfed to balance PvP, your PvE got !@#$ed with.

I think its important to remember that LFG isn't cross server. So if you run with someone and its a positive experience, you should be sure to friend them. Then, invite them to future runs before you queue up next time to put the odds of another positive experiences in your favor. The LFG tool isn't just there because you don't have an active friend's list. It's also there to help you build a friend's list. : )

I was looking over my combat log from a couple nights ago, and I'm getting some avoids on my Full Auto and HiB attacks since the talent tree changes. ( For reference http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/combatlog/7d41eabc-db65-4bed-a51b-cb28316b0551/player/1#d=0,b=1 ) With the patch, I lost enough accuracy to put my basic attacks at 99.67% accuracy. My Special attacks accuracy though is 109.67%. My Grav Rounds, as noted in the log, never missed. Not even in boss fights, so it's not effecting all my attacks. I had always assumed HiB and Full Auto would be tech attacks, but I guess they're considered range, and not tech? Edit: Disregard, I found data showing they're not tech attacks. Time to add just a little bit more accuracy.