There have been several times in wz's that I get some kind of kb (can never catch what is doing it) well into my hunker down, like 5 seconds after activating it.

You are kind of missing the point. I am not suggesting that this is a higher dps or that you should switch to it. It is simply that I spent the time and resources to satisfy my own curiosity about the effect Alacrity has on abilities, and I posted what I observed in case it is of interest to anyone else.

Diminishing Returns for Alacrity I am not good at creating charts (someone else can if they want), but here is the raw data. I have Alacrity on 10 pieces of armor, and each piece has exactly 86 Alacrity. I am listing what percentage of Alacrity gain each piece adds. Piece %Total %Increase 1 ----- 1.14 ----- 1.14 2 ----- 2.24 ----- 1.10 3 ----- 3.30 ----- 1.06 4 ----- 4.32 ----- 1.02 5 ----- 5.30 ----- 0.98 6 ----- 6.24 ----- 0.94 7 ----- 7.15 ----- 0.91 8 ----- 8.02 ----- 0.87 9 ----- 8.86 ----- 0.84 10 --- 9.66 ----- 0.80

I tried to make a similar spec work. It was nice to be able to take more damage, but ultimately it only delayed my doom. I find I survive many more situations by being able to clear snares and get distance every 15 secs. I also find it valuable to have the aoe kb + root utilities.

(Sorry Sorc's, but I do not know the madness names of all abilities) I have been doing some regearing to see how I like Alacrity on my balance spec. So far I have very happy with it. I thought some people might like to know how much a relativity high Alacrity spec effects abilities. Here are some examples: T Throw - 1.83s channel FiB - 13.7s cd F Serenity - 1.37s activation 10.9s cd F Wave - 18.2s cd F Potency - 1m 22s cd Mental Alacrity - 1m 35.7s cd Rej. - 5.5s cd My Stats: These stats are with max buffs and stim. Alacrity: 9.66% Willpower: 3753 Power: 1479 Bonus Damage: 1819.9 (w/bolster - 1669.2 without) Bonus Healing: 1314.3 I have no crit or surge on my armor, so they are Crit: 19.85% Surge 51% I don't like having such low surge, but it seems to be working better than expected in reg. wz. My goal was to have the max amount of Alacrity possible without making any compromise to main stat or power. The shortened TT is both fun and effective. At 1.83s, each Throw is just a little more than a gcd. Loading up dot's and then hitting them with non-stop pebbles is a blast. Anyway, I just thought someone might be interested in what I am testing. I make no claims that this is better than other stat setups, but I at least am liking it. *Edit - I am in full Dark Reaver (174) gear

I thought there were no diminishing returns on main stats. At least that is the way I understood it from the first year. I am newly returned this summer. Has this changed?

Please explain why someone would replace cunning with aim. The loss of tech damage is obvious with aim, but as you said mm/ss uses little tech. Doesn't cunning provide the same crit and damage bonus to ranged attacks as aim does?

Dear Bioware: I am sure other players will find fault in this suggestion, but that is to be expected. I am simply offering the idea for your consideration, if you have not already done so. Consider creating an expertise modifier, unique to each discipline. This may allow you to balance pvp without making changes to pve. If a particular discipline is over performing, the modifier could adjust the effectiveness of expertise down to the level you are satisfied with. On the other side, for a discipline that is under performing, you could adjust the effectiveness of expertise up some.

Unlike many other classes who have increased crit damage for a few specific attacks, this spec has 15% increased crit damage for ALL attacks. Ignoring crit is just foolish.

After 3.3, it will be much easier to level a toon via pvp. Both exp and credit rewards from wz's, are being doubled.

Once you activate Supercharged Cell, it last for 10 secs. Nothing refreshes it. *Edit - at least not in Gunnery. Not sure about other specs.

I play a Balance Sage, mostly pvp. I never liked the 6-piece bonus, as I don't seem to use Disturbance often enough for it to make any difference. I would rather see if driven off of FiB or Force Serenity.

Please note about gearing for pvp weapons. You can use 162 Hilt (162 Armoring for generator) and 148 for mods and enhancements, and still get 2018 expertise.

I know this is a bit dated now, but I am playing a new Commando and reading this for the first time. Grav Round is a Tech attack, which has a baseline of 100% accuracy. If you are saying you keep your ranged accuracy "around 100%", that is likely way overkill and you would do better to put those points into other stats. I am not sure what the actual optimal level is, but many seem to agree that it should be at or around 94% ranged accuracy (104% tech) for pvp.

I want to thank everyone for your replies. It has given me more to think about and test. Ultimately, I think I am still going to be left with more questions than answers. Maybe what I am really trying to figure out, no one knows for sure. There have been many statements about what is good with Supercharged Cell, and that is fine. But I already know it is good. What I really want to know is if it is better. Is 10 seconds of armor pen + the building Alacrity buff (which only benefits the last few seconds of the 10 sec duration) a greater overall buff than 1% damage buff + 1% healing buff , which lasts the entire duration of combat in most situations.

Thanks. So you are saying that stacks build with each tick of Boltstorm? If so,that is interesting, but it is still hard to know if that helps you more than 1% more damage, usually over the entire duration of a fight.

I play gunnery, and I like the Alacrity buff (on paper), but I don't see it helping much in actual use. The entire Supercharged Cell only last 10 secs, and to get to 6% Alacrity, you have to execute 3 abilities to build charges. With gcd + wz lag, the 6% Alacrity is usually only benefiting 1 abilities. I am just not sure that helps more than 1% damage buff over a much longer duration. I am not trying to argumentative or difficult in any way, I am genuinely curious about comparing the options.

And why is that? I can see the advantage on boss fights in pve, but I do not see much benefit in pvp.

It would to some extent. Some AC's have "God-Like" utilities when being a ball carrier, but may not be that great for regular games. So some AC would have a large advantage in Huttball, which other AC's would see little benefit from a utility respec.

I am wondering if leaving the 1% healing/damage buff on, from Supercharge, is more beneficial.

Has anyone noticed that the highest hit, in the tooltip from the damage column, is lower than the highest floating text hit(s) you saw during the game? Sometimes by 2-3k? I have seen this problem many times.

Even though Sab/Eng has the best aoe, I don't think of is as, or at least play it as such. It is very mobile. Most if the aoe fame comes from Incendiary Grenade. I feel its damage component is relatively small and I view it more as a utility. The obvious being stopping node caps, but it is a great kiting tool. Learn to use it and keep most melee at bay. You can also use the combo with sabotage for a 2 sec ranged stun on healers. But I also feel that Sab/Eng has good burst. With your target pre-loaded with shock charge, at the best time for a burst, throw your sabotage charge, and quickly hit Sabotage, speed shot and a thermal grenade follow up.

...between a 1.5 sec channeled ability, that can be use while moving and an instant cast ability with a 1.5 sec gcd?

Maybe, but during those 5 secs, the tooltip on the ability does reflect a shorter cd time, based on the about of Alacrity from the buff. It is just after the 5 sec are over, the tooltip reverts and it is unclear if the overall cd was shortened, even if a minute about.

Thanks for the reply, but I am not sure you understood the question. I know the benefits of Alacrity, I am just not sure how an ability is affected after an Alacrity buff ends. For the sake of this discussion, let's assume I have zero Alacrity from my gear. If I use an ability that has a 30 sec. cd, and right after that get a temporary Alacrity buff that only has a duration 5 sec., will the overall cd of that ability be shorter than 30 secs?