Let’s read it again: Power Cycle - When you use an ability with Power Surge, that ability is not put on cooldown The fact that they purposely call out the ability being used with PS in the first part, then specifically calls in out in the second part in reference to the CD, says to me that it’s the ABILITY that you use with PS and not PS itself. 3 uses of PS=3 abilities = 3 no CD. That’s how I read it.

Yes, but the "Power Cycle" tactical adds cooldown reset TO Power Surge, which means yes, Electro Net and Heatseekers would be viable, because you wouldn't have to wait for the respective 1m18s & 13s CDs. Also applies to DFA, because while it has a 3s channel time, Power Surge stays active for 14s. Again, only for AOE situations, but absolutely viable......... if the heat can be managed.

There's quite a few in the Arsenal priority system. In the regular rotation , Electro Net has a 1m18s CD, heatseekers @ 13s, and TSO @ 1m44s. AOE rotation, FM @17s as you said, and Death from Above @ 39s. TM does come into play with the "Surging Power" set bonus though, because that gives a 3rd power surge charge, if you're speced into 2 already. And remember, Power Surge ability wipes out activation times. One of the biggest lag times in the rotation is when you're having to build that 3rd stack of tracer lock to get to 5 for Rail Shot, but man.... the heat. lol I just need to get in there to test it. Arsenal is already on the bloody edge when it comes to heat management, anything that's an instacast/no CD just screams overheating. Unless you use your middle PS charge for TSO, erasing the heat from #3...... Eric, get PTS back up right meow! lol

Bingo. You nailed it. Exactly what I said in my first post on the matter, it's probably great for PVP. That's only a portion the game though. Unfortunately, it's something I don't do often, so my input really is from the PVE angle only. So yeah, I gotta stand by my worthless from the PVE angle. Which is why they really should be coming out with PVE or PVP specific tacticals. Tacticals that work in PVP but not in PVE, or tacts that work in Operations, but nowhere else. Unfortunately, area specific items like that don't seem to be in the cards.

40m is just an example, as are your encounters. Vet Queen: 2 red circles in succession is: A. not difficult to maneuver as ranged, and B. Such a small sample size Izax: Not sure where you would absolutely need this, unless you're in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Kiting Raptus: With Thrill, this is a non-issue and easy to handle with zero rocket out and only HO. Again, it's nice to have, but we're getting the short end of the stick in comparison to others. Also again, not asking to be a top DPS, but parsing close to 8% below IO is ridiculous. And I fully disagree: The mere fact that you HAVE to dump Arsenal for NiM shows that it's underpowered. Sure you should absolutely be swapping combat proficiencies on a regular basis, but discarding 25% of the games disciplines for NiM content isn't balanced, IMO.

I don't share your view on the 2 charge Rocket Out (more than 20m in raids just doesn't make sense, there's no need, especially for those that are ranged already), but totally with you on the crit package seeming extremely good! When Arsenal got nerfed in 2017, Target Tracking, the crit bonus of heatseekers, priming shot and rail shot, dropped from 30% to 15%. This was a massive hit to our overall DPS numbers, especially in regards to sustainability. If this set means we can effectively be back up to 25%............... now we're looking much better.

I'm personally only referencing Arsenal, not IO. Update 5.3 back in 2017 when they "balanced" (i.e. nerfed) Arsenal/Gunnery DPS, they took away 5% of Blazing Bolts damage, AND upped the heat cost to 20. This may not seem like a lot, but when you're hitting 40-42 APM on the spec, it's something that comes into play.

You know, once in a blue moon, i.e. every 1m43s, when thermal sensor overrides comes off CD. /sigh /sadpanda LOL

Fusion Missile launches from it, as does Rocket Out!

Hey, maybe it was just your subconscious mixing things up for you:) You found something you love to do here, and that's what it's all about!

Correct! With your regular rotation, that set means you would basically have a consistent 10% crit buff during any fight. That, coupled with the quicker stack build for supercharge gas (which, remember, you build stacks with tracer during a fight, but takes a while because you're clicking other abiities too), is promising. If the stack build can approach activation on CD (every 8 seconds), that means a constant 10% armor penetration buff and 1-3% alacrity buff.... and most importantly........ a 10 heat vent every 8 secs. That's sounds pretty tasty to me! All that said, we won't know until PTS drops. Much excite! lol

Very true, and while it would be nice, I don't expect to be on top again. IO is actually in the middle of the pack, ranking around #8 spot, out of 18. Pyro is actually ranked pretty high (3rd I believe), but Mercs are middle and dead last. I've been OPs raiding since launch, and have been leading different prog teams for years. All with an Arsenal Merc. But ever since that last nerf, NiM/MM w/ Arsenal is ............ difficult, to say the least. I look forward to seeing you in Operations, Floplag! /salute

I really hope you're right...... but on the surface, it's not promising. Priming Shot w/ alac buffs is on a 15.5s CD. Is adding a burn tick to something that you use every 15s going to make up 2k in missing sustainable dps? It's a stretch. That being said, we got a LOT to try out, and I'm very excited for that. A lot of it screams heat issues (Surging Powers additional charge on Power Surge, Power Cycles no CD on 2 casted abilities, etc.), but the sustained 10% crit + faster supercharge building looks interesting, as does a max. 15% tracer crit buff, followed by a no heat stack drop.... Many things to test!

Boy I wish we got the long end last time. Our PVE DPS in OPS got nerfed hardcore, along with making heat management an actual issue again. I don't mind the heat end of things, even though it's really a nerf, but when they rebalanced the DPS output of Mercs, specifically Arsenal, they drained too much from the sustainability in long PVE fights. Did you know Arsenal is dead last in dps parsing for PVE OPs boss fights? MM/NiM teams will rarely (if ever) even allow an Arsenal merc on their team, the sustainable dps is so low. Maybe a Tactical concentrating specifically on % damage increase in Operations only is the answer? I don't know.

From what I've heard, you're absolutely right...... but PTS is far from over, and you at least have an offensive weapon as a base for them to work off of. What are they going to adjust with 2 charges of Rocket out? Distance? CD? See what I mean?

Oh you're right, it's definitely not a bad thing to have..... but when you compare to what the other disciplines are getting, I really feel we're getting the short end of the stick here.

Bingo.

Agree to disagree. For PVE, there's never a time as an Arsenal Merc that you absolutely need to rocket out 40m. If you NEED more than 20m, you're doing something wrong. It's not bad, it's just almost everyone else actually gets an offensive boost in some way, or an ability they've never had. Sure, it can be used, but it feels like we're settling for less here.

..............really? I'm sure this is probably useful in PVP, but completely worthless in PVE/OPs. How about a new offensive ability like some of the other classes, or something to help mitigate the heat we'll be creating with all these new power surge/no CD bonuses? Considering Arsenal is in dead last place when it comes to DPS parsing over long PVE OPs boss fights, the new no CD/Power Surge abilities look tasty...... but I'm already dreading the heat nightmare it's going to create. How about something besides 1 Tracer after 5 stacks vents no heat? Can't wait to get on PTS and tear into these sets!

Whew, I was getting worried my Musco cosplay was going to go unnoticed! Thanks E-Money!

An hour early even! Time to start calling you Musco, the Magnanimous, Miraculous, Mesmerizing Magician of Magicians!!!

Devs said a lot of bug fixes are coming in 5.10.1, including the GSF bug fix. Devs said this is intended, not a bug. Bonus stacking is a bug and will be fixed by 5.10.1 (hopefully). Mod slot locks are supposed to happen. Devs also said a major gearing revamp will be happening as some point and are open to suggestions. Hope this helps!

What? Arsenal Merc is currently the lowest parsing DPS in the game, how much lower do you want us to go?

FYI, these are all being addressed in 5.10.1 (gear set piece stacking may be pushed further). Hope this helps!

This. The Ossus mission "Collected History" stopped spawning new dig sites on most instances by the end of the server week (Monday). By last thursday, only Ossus instances 3 and 9 were working as intended. Last night, no instances were working. This morning, after some of the instances depopulated and reformed, the NEW instances worked again (Ossus 6). This is occuring on Satele Shan.