First time getting on PTS in a while, isn't there supposed to be some sort of terminal for travel to Odessen that I can use after creating a character so I can get lvl 75 and get started testing?

You're taking it to the extreme there. I'm not suggesting the ability be removed, but it needs a CD added to it most definitely. All of those other abilities have cooldowns, so there's a shot in the face to your argument.

The sniper/gunslinger roll grants you that dodge for the duration you're rolling. That's all of what, a second? Oh no, that's some serious "invincibility" right there. I'm still amused by the fact you're still countering with this energy cost being the main drawback to this ability. Ever used your adrenaline probe/cool head? Use it smart and it basically negates it. Plus, two rolls at full energy, your energy is regenned in about 2 seconds, if that. Your argument of energy cost is quite flimsy, though I would say that's putting it mildly. Once again, for the snare/root/cc etc argument. Any half-brained op/scoundrel (or PvPer for that matter) is going to smartly utilize their CC break and then, if they're in trouble, use something to help them get the hell out of dodge. Also, the argument is moslty based around the ridiculous amount of ground this ability helps you cover in a short amount of time. Two ops/scoundrels on one team in huttball can essentially win the game single-handedly. I know I'm fighting an uphill battle here, anyone who fancies this ability is going to viciously attack any arguments about "nerfing" it no matter how sensible it is, or how flimsy an argument they have as to why it should be left alone. All I can say is watch one good operative/scoundrel who knows how to effectively utilize this roll, and you SHOULD be able to see how out of whack this manuever is.

Holding off 4 people isn't that hard too do as a healer op/scoundrel. The emergency medpack instantly re-granting upper hand when you use it under 30% makes it spammable if you're hovering around that health with the enemy team beating on you. I'm not saying you can do anything back to them because you're going to be spamming your heal, but staving off 4 people is relatively easy if you know what you're doing. The energy cost for this ability isn't that much of an issue. As has been pointed out, you have plenty of energy management tools to help counter the fairly small amount of energy this sucks away from you. As for "Oh well use a root/snare/stun etc" It's feasible if your team is focusing the person. However, any DPS op/scoundrel knows they're a hit and run class and tends to pick up on one person while the majoridy of the team is focused on somebody else. Chain stunning isn't hard, and you can usually take a person out within the window of the chain stuns. A healer is usually guarded and the tank is sucking up a good majoridy of the damage while the healer keeps them both up. Plus, the second they realize they're in trouble, CC break and roll away and they're home free. The roll has more speed potential than anything else in the game. I started DPSing a sorc, he hit force run, I paced my roll a little and was right on top of him when force speed wore off and put him in the dirt. Don't kid yourselves, this ability is highly over-powered in terms of PvP gameplay. Arguing it takes too much energy or one of these other silly arguments is, well, silly. As I said, any good operative/scoundrel will die once or twice, but a great one who understands just how to utilize this roll and skills is literally going to be unkillable. QQ about this alleged QQ if you want, but a cool down would bring this more into balance.

I realize this probably belongs more in a general gameplay discussion, but I feel this tends to affect PvP more than other gameplay aspects. In my opinion, the scoundrel/operative combat rolls need to have a cool down placed on them. Currently, in PvP, it's a bit ridiculous having these guys literally rolling all over the map in and out of range, from one objective to the next in ridiculously short times, the list goes on. How is it even fair to give them this sort of tool, when they already have some ridiculously high survivability in PvP? A healer op/scoundrel is nearly unkillable less the entire enemy team focuses on them. Solo I've held off 4 people with my scoundrel just spamming my emergency medpack, hovering around 30% and I just stay up. "Well, not everybody plays the healer spec." While that's definitely true, it certainly doesn't seem to detract from the survivability and general annoyance these classes can cause, more so now with their spammable roll. Kiting them is essentially impossible, because even if you slow them, they're still capable of cleansing it and literally rolling up to you to DPS you. If you manage to get them focused, they can still cloak out and go recover somewhere before coming back in. I think there should be at least a 5 second cool down on this ability to prevent it's "abuse". Hell, if a gunslinger/sniper has a 20 second CD on theirs, I see no reason a small cool down shouldn't be placed on Operatives/Scoundrels. A good scoundrel/operative might die once or twice, a great one will be unkillable. As I stated before, before the QQers take hold of this topic, I play a scoundrel healer and can agree that this ability is a bit much with no CD.

Up until recently, I've not been big into PvP. However, the guild pressuring me into giving it more of a chance has resulted in me becoming a bit more fond of it. My problem, however, seems to be survivability. It seems I can't do much to delay people coming up and stomping my face into the ground in what I would perceive a too easy fashion. I played against another sniper recently, and he went the PvP match with just 2 deaths as compared to my 8. I've done nearly everything I can think of to help me stay alive longer, but to little avail. Positioning, different builds, it just doesn't seem to stop me from getting burned down. Part of it does seem to be I'm getting focused, for whatever reason. Anyway, I'm looking for pointers from more seasoned PvP snipers (or gunslingers) on how to increase my survivability. Thanks in advance for the help!

Out of all the testing I've done marksmanship seems to give me the best results in PvE. Maybe I just don't have a good rotation down for the other specs out there, but even running a parser my DPS comes out higher running a pure marksman spec over engineer or lethality. Like I said, with the other two specs, perhaps I just don't have a good rotation set for them.

The usefulness does seem to be limited, but that's cause it's only a frontal approach deterrant. If they circle behind you, you'll never see it coming. These stealth classes do seem to be a necessary evil though, because that's about the only thing capable of killing my gunslinger in PvP.

I'm hoping that the Barber Shop (How about Image Design Studio?) won't be limited strictly to the cartel market. That would be quite a greedy move, and would probably gain you a new batch of people getting fed up with the way the game is going, or I should say, not going. The Cartel Market itself is an abomination...systems like this rearing their ugly heads in a good few MMOs these days. Now, thankfully, no game-breaking equipment has been made exclusive to this (yet). And I pray it never does. It seems a lot of time and effort gets dumped into this money-pit of "playground toys" rather than content development. What are we at a new pack every 2 weeks now I think? Don't even get me started on the latest pack, with its own reputation system you have to buy the reputation for. I don't think being able to change your species on an already rolled character is a good idea. Then there'd be no point in the species unlocks either through 50 or the Cartel Market, unless you tie needing them to the barber shop. I must say aside from the barber shop situation, there really wasn't much informative to us in this State of the Game. How about actually telling us what the future plans are, beyond the launch of RoTHC? Or that you're working on addressing long outstanding issues, some of which have existed since beta (and reported since then to). You're not giving us a reason to have much faith in you guys. I love this game, as I'm a big fan of Star Wars, but there needs to be more public interface and transparency in what your goals and projects are, as well as paying attention to the community feedback.

While I can certainly see the reasoning for the fix, what I don't understand is the people whining about the practice to begin with. Really, how is this harming your game play? The majoridy are pissed because they didn't think of it. Another portion are pissed because they think it's cheating. Hell, it makes levelling pretty easy for those who don't want to go running all over planets for 2-3 hours on end repeating quests they've probably done 2-3 times before on other toons. The repitition does get pretty dull. Kinda reminds me of the SMC cave from the early days of SWG...though the GMs there would go upside your head for XP grinding. All in all, fixing the problem is a lot more effective than having to take action against a good portion of your playerbase. In the end, not fixing it is more harmful, because you're just asking for the " trouble" associated with it.

The fact that we have it to where we can log in with out forum handles now is quite ridiculous. I don't know about you, but I don't want ANY part of my login information on public display. Whoever made this decision, please have them fired....out of a cannon into the sun.

I really don't see the point in this nerf, because it affects more than just PvPers. But as with most games, PvPers who can't think of ways to work around these problems end up crying about it til something gets changed and ruins it for everybody. As was mentioned before, the odds of the people whining about this stuff still being in this game in a few months are slim to none. That's how they work, they max level a game, whine about things they don't like til they get "broken" for the rest of us, and then they're off to wreck the next game. For the cybertech grenades: For Juggernauts, these things are quit handy for gaining aggro when area pulling mobs. Simply put, Juggs lack decent AoE threat generators that a class like assassin (a supposed off tank) has quite a few built into some of their abilities. These grenades help offset that lack of threat generation, because they do generate a good amount of damage and threat. If anything, lower the cool down on these if you're going to nerf the damage. Or, give Juggs some area threat generation boosts in their abilities like smash. For biochem medpacks/stims: The medpacks are not overpowered in the amount they heal. In PvP there's so much stacking of offense consumables (like relic abilities) that even that amount the person has healed won't be staying there for long. The ideal use for these items is in the PvE endgame, where mobs hit pretty hard, and if for whatever reason the healer is unable to get to you, you have a backup heal handy that can cover you for quite a reasonable amount. Mostly the tank classes in the game make use of this because it's quite handy to have that extra heal, for the reason previously stated. And a 90 second cooldown is quite fair tbh. Honestly the best way to handle this, is to start linking healing items/stims in GLOBAL cooldowns if you don't want people abusing them. Changes like this affect more than just the PvP crowds, who are usually the ones whining about this sort of stuff. Nerfing items/abilities is not an appropriate subsitute to having them actually learn how to appropriately counter-act this stuff via a foreign and these days seldom-used process known as THINKING!!! This sort of nerf actually hurts PvE more than it'll ever make a difference in PvP. And as is the nature of the hardcore, inflated egotistical self-proclaimed gods of PvP, once this occurs, something else that has minimal impact as to how PvP unfolds will be cried to be nerfed to the point of near uselessness. Bioware/EA and Lucasarts, whichever and whoever is handling the ongoing development of this game, please consider all sides of how changes like this will affect the game in it's entirety, not just one standpoint. Especially when, as previously stated, the people crying about it are likely to not be here in the months following. You want this MMO to be different? Don't make huge changes like this til a few more months into the game, when those game-hopping cry-babies will (hopefully) be gone.