We got Force Fracture for that, and even the buffs they applied to it in 7.2, it's a bit underwhelming, about 1 to 3k dps loss compared to traditional. It is pretty bursty, but not enough to do justice as you still have to wait for Overload Saber and Force Melt to be applied.

Thanks for that clarification, I know who you are, I have seen you and competed on top parses before. Had top spot as well for a good minute back then too. As I said, Slash is now Cowbell. I do agree with you on everything else however, the whole spec feels dull and has been something I stated on the PTS forums. I don't intend to discourage or undermine, I trust any and every good player to do their thing, and if I see people parsing higher than I am, it just encourages me to do the same, as I hope to do the same to others.

Treat your slash like CowBell. Just don't use it twice in a row or so while under zen. From what I understand, The opener is: Force leap + Overload saber right after Zealous Strike + Inspiration + Valorous Call (depending situation) Merciless Slash Zen + Force Melt Cauterize Twin Saber Throw Slash Slash What I learned from the changes, as well as talking to other players, I can verify the changes basically means Slash = Cowbell (I hope you understand the reference). This tidbit is from one player that currently is posting the highest parse at this time for our spec. 1. Use Anni/Merciless Slash of CD no mater what, plan you rage so you will be able to use Anni/Merciless Slash as soon as it will be ready. This is ability is more important now, since Devious Wounds/Smoldering Burns got serious buff. 2. Never ever use non rage/focus spenders outside berserk/zen window 3. You want 12 rage/focus when bers/zen is over for consistency, in order to achieve it you have to do stupid things some times like in example Assault/Zealous strike(if both Ravage and DST on CD) when you have 12 rage/focus during last moment of bers/zen. If you are RNG god you can skip this, it's absolutely possible to generate 30 fury/centering with 10 rage/focus at your disposal when bers/zen is over, but your dispatcher should go gigachad mode, and yet you will probably will not be able to do Anni/Merciless Slash of CD in that case. 4. Don't use combination of two abilities in a row that proc Spiteful Saber(VS/Slash, DST/TST, VT/Dispatch) inside Berserks/Zen window, since you will drastically reduce chance that your fully stacked DS/Overload Saber will eat 2 bers/zen stacks. 5. Do not hesitate to use Rupture/Cauterize if bad RNG got you, this is the only ability that cost 2 rage/focus while generate 4 fury/centering and apply DS/OS stack. Otherwise you will be forced to delay your FR/Force Melt by 1 gcd which is worse alternative. 6. There is probability that it worth to use DST/TST before Pulverize/Mind Seer proc(only inside bers/zen window ofc), since you will be able to use it in two blocks in a row some times, but i can't confirm this. After a hefty amount of testing and verifying some changes, I managed to get to 31K. I am aiming to get back to where I was before the latest patch. I also noticed, whenever you pop Zen right before Force melt (assuming you take the Melting Center and Burning center combo), you would want to use Twin Saber Throw before Slash, never use Slash twice or Merciless and Slash in a row while you're in Zen. If you want the highest DPS with Watchman, you have to be a bit more precise now than before. Thus not entirely feeling smoother, and more Cowbell. Edit: Be sure to use Dispatcher's package with berserker's call, don't touch Fearless Victor.

The thing is, I have been playing since early beta, I believe I have enough awareness as well as able to adapt since I regularly run NiM content for years as well as recently run R4HM on a weekly basis. I have also done a bit of PVP over the years too. I never intend to throw any games as I want to enjoy it, whether win or lose, I play with what the goal is, never just try to get the most DPS/EHPS/Tankyspanky stuff.

I didn't think of the PVP side of it honestly, I thought you meant things like OPs or dailies and what have you. Thank you for clearing this up. In all honesty though, ranked PVP was insanely toxic and that is something I never would want to get into again. Literally did one match and it ended up with people giving me death threats through the game as well as some of them even finding my personal info and threatening me. All from one match, the reason? It was my first time being in ranked PVP, I needed the mat from the weekly (this was 6.0 era) and the team I was on intentionally threw the match because I had a little bit of accuracy.

What do you mean by this? Could you elaborate?

It looks like they are pushing 7.2 on December 13th, I got an uneasy feeling they haven't changed anything since they announced it on PTS. Adding: Development team, what are the DPS targets you mentioned before? I recall asking this awhile back.

Last I recall, I think the dev team is done with NiM content, but I can't say much since I can't verify this, just need to hear (or read) it from the horse's mouth. As for the nerfing of OPs, I don't quite think nerfing the HP would do too much or 10 more IR, in fact, doing 10 more IR would be a bit OP. The step up between SM and HM for R4A is intense, like camping, while I agree that the pun wasn't needed, I think something else needs to be adjusted on HM so it's more doable. Nerfing a lot of classes that desperately need help, or to be untouched, while having over performing classes remain untouched isn't the answer.

It's pretty viable in some fights, but other classes (to which I fail to recall) are required since they can be squishy. I have been able to keep up as Watchman with those specs just fine. It heavily depends on who you're running with and what they are capable of.

That is disappointing. Like my Vanguard.... Major Disappointment. Anyways. We shall see how they go about it within the coming months.

Seeing this thread become barren makes me wonder if there are any people on the PTS still. I might jump back on and toy with some stuff there. Doubt there needs to be any more testing for it however.

The nerf bat is being abused it seems like.

It seems like this is what they want. I am considering of unsubbing not just because of the nerfs, but the way they are running the whole game to the ground. The Ranked PVP ordeal I can understand and honestly, I support. I did it once and my god the amount of death threats I was given on forums AND on game was unreal. All because it was my first time doing it, and I was running with Accuracy at the time. The win trading was real bad too. The PTS from what I learned basically is: "Here you guys go, this is what the changes are going to be, we will let players find what is broken, nerfed, and the flavor of the patch is, we won't fix it, we won't listen, so enjoy! PS: We will tell you this information, mislead about it, then that information is completely false." I am not here to bash on BW or the community. I am speculating and reporting what I am seeing. If you watched the livestream, and I hate to throw names under buses, however it has to be done, Jackie seemed real estactic to do the livestream (speculated by a few players I talk to), while the others were not wanting to be there, exhausted, burned out, just simply did not want to be there. I am not sure what everyone's position is, or what happens in the background of the development of this game, I do hope they all are able to get past their struggles, at the same time, to cure their cranial rectitus disease.

For R4, it's arguably at top 5 as of now, it's struggling hard however. The spec is fine for now until 7.2. I have been taking a lot of notes, testing, and reporting back a lot about it. Annihilation/Watchman is royally boned come 7.2

I have already tested it on live, as well as PTS. This set up is not ideal in the slightest for multi-target, but instead just focus target. With the upcoming changes, the nerfs will make this ability even more useless since it did worse on the PTS. I will report back after tonight's run. I don't have any hope that it will do great, but I don't mind taking the time to test it.

I agree, a basic tactical is straight up booty, however, when I was testing it with Force Fracture, it worked. It shouldn't, but it did. I also tested this a bit in IPCPT, there were some hiccups in the run last night, so I will be testing further to see how useful this combo really is. Even though it's 2K DPS difference between traditional and this, I believe this may work. Will report soon.

I have people telling me to swap to juggy to obtain said better DPS and viability, or become buff bot since some groups don't want me to play as Watchman in R4 HM because some believe it makes the fight that much harder. As I said, I fail to find any reason to disagree with you at all here.

I should have clarified this is what I believe what it should be, my apologies for the miscommunication here. My thought process is difficult due to my mental disability, I even have a hard time understanding it at times.

Here is what I feel, and I hope this makes sense for everyone and I will do my best to make it coincide to your statement. 1. Any DoT spec should be more or less heavily focused onto bosses and SHOULD do +2 - 5% above target DPS. If the boss is down most of the time, this spec should shine over Burst or AOE specs. 2. Direct (burst) DPS specs should prioritize on heavy and fast hits, in bursts. If the fight has quick mechanics and/or the boss/mobs phase in and out quickly, this spec should shine over DoT or AOE specs. 3. AOE DPS is sort of self explanitory. Their DPS shouldn't be high end for prolonged fights or quick mechanics, instead, when it comes to mob heavy fights, their DPS should shine over DoT or Burst. This hasn't been like so in awhile if I recall.

I have just did my first few pulls with Force Fracture with this set up but on PTS, I can easily say, with the changes for 7.2 PTS, Force Fracture just became useless, even after buffing it. I have only managed 28K DPS, without any debuffs on the dummy. The rotation is completely skewed now because of the changes here. I didn't stop there, I also decided to go back to the traditional way, and since the PTS has been updated, I can't even break 27K DPS on a debuffed dummy. After trying with multiple combinations to boot. As of this post, they have implemented the nerfs to Melting Center and it is completely useless, even with Burning Center, Burning Center isn't proccing the centering as it claims too. I have to use Force Clarity to bring my DPS up, and the most I parsed was 25.9K DPS. With Force Fracture + Overwhelming Offense I did 28K Flat. I am very confused as to why this spec is becoming burst over DoT. These changes, the nerfs and deceiving information the developers have provide, and their confirmation of the nerf without knowledge how a DoT spec should be played shows they have no future for this class at all. Chris, Jackie, anybody really, What is going on? Why are you changing up the spec so much that it skews everything? You claim the Watchman/Annihilation spec isn't meant to be bursty and DoT specific, yet you place Force Fracture as a burst ability instead of a replacement for Slash, you change the class completely to where any of the abilities chosen don't work well with any combination provided. You nerf this class to the ground, just as bad as any Ranged DPS, but Juggernaut/Guardian DPS as well as Shadow/Assassin remains untouched, exploiting their DPS through the ceiling, forcing players to abandon their favorite classes just to clear content, especially with R4 Anomaly. I can clearly say this with confidence, the BioWare development team has no clear sign and has lied to their players/subscribers. I call a vote of no confidence in the development team of BioWare. They have shown signs that coincide with EA's thirst for power and wealth instead of quality for their fanbase, and has tarnished the name of Star Wars. Call me toxic about this, I am aware of this, my biggest fear and concern was if this game will get past the ignorance and arrogance of the team, because I honestly enjoyed this game, to every last detail. I often enjoyed helping others through their quests and endeavors, I know 7.2 isn't the last patch of this game as no one knows the end to this game, but I feel it may come sooner than we anticipate if they keep this kind of work up. I will condemn them though for the amount of work that has been done to the recent planets, and attempt to story write, however, I feel these are becoming rushed and lackluster. I am unsure of what is going on behind the scenes, I do believe if the developers are requesting for help, hence the PTS, they should take in criticism and suggestions, instead of ignoring them and claiming they are listening to their players. So I have to ask this once again, Chris, Jackie, anyone in BioWare, what is going on? Some of us are scared, concerned, angry, and worried.

I hope they do share that information with the current patch. They have always talked about that but haven't shared since then.

It shouldn't, I agree with you, but the numbers didn't lie, I just got done with our run tonight, it was real rough and the burst isn't enough with this set up, the DPS was there, but at the same time, we had some alternative changes, I will retest this tomorrow night and see if I can get better numbers as I am not fully set on a rotation on IPCPT yet. I also still need to test this on the PTS.

Currently testing FF on Live server, as of this writing, I am 2K DPS below than my typical Cauterize+ Spiteful Saber parse. Force Fracture works best with Overwhelming Offense tactical. Further testing is requited still, from the data I have been collecting, the DPS between Force Melt with Melting Center and Force Fracture is decent. give or take 12% difference. The graph I have been seeing shows the burst points than compared to the steady line. I am going to be testing this on IPCPT in R4 HM tonight just to see what is wrong with it as well as what can be improved. This response is not to defend what ChrisDurel stated, I am collecting data at this point. I have been following your posts and so far I haven't disagreed.

After testing Force Fracture alone with a few other things, here is what I can say about it: It is bursty. Wasted space for lols. After testing between Cauterize + Spiteful Saber as well as with Force Fracture + Overwhelming Offense, there is only a 2K DPS difference, looking at graphs while testing Force Fracture and reviewing a typical pull, it is apparent what needs to be taken into place: Live server: 23: Melting Center for obvious reasons 27: Debilitating Slashes for focus regen (if possible, or go Trans depending fights) 39: Force Fracture for the test 43: Could have made more DPS burst with Force Clarity but the centering regen (or lack of) was brutal, opted for Burning Center to work with it Rest doesn't matter. The rotation rarely visits Slash as compared to Cauterize + Spiteful Saber. The opening is almost similar, however, instead of applying Force Fracture once (like you would with cauterize), you start spamming Force Fracture about four times, then use TST or Blade Barrage, then rebuild centering until 30, which with the choices above, should be quick, by then, get your stacks and DoTs on and use Merciless Slash, then spam Force Fracture again. Further testing is obviously required, this is something I wanted to report for the time being, I will test this again on the PTS soon.

Are you fine with the changes coming 7.2? I am going to simply state, I am aware my input and my concerns will be heard/read, but I am also aware that won't change anything. I am sure they have reasons, however, those reasons can be either good or bad, which this case, it's pretty poor. For some reason I keep reading this as you supporting their choice, but that is not what I am assuming. Some of the changes are a bit extreme and they have yet to provide any data on their changes as of this post here. What I do hope is they would consider and further communicate with us and test with us on the PTS to find the perfect median for everyone to be happy.