Yes. I use it so I can Cover -> Snap Shot -> Move -> Followthrough which means you are only stopped for about half a second. The advantage is mobility, or damage at the beginning of the global cooldown rather then the end.

It's been tested, weaker versions of your CD and CG are overwritten when you cast the more powerful ones. You will only ever get Cull to interact with 2 DoT debuffs.

To be fair, I used to be a proponent of how terrible Rapid Fire is. It does look underwhelming when you look at it and when used without Target Acquired it's terrible. However after using it and running the math on it via Tibbel's spreadsheet, I realized a Rapid Fire combo is more damage then you could get if you could theoretically Cull twice in a row. Even the more cooldown limited Hybrid Lethality combo doesn't achieve the same results. Rapid Fire Combo TA -> SoS -> RF -> SoS -> SoS -> RS Ambush -> FT ~9.5 seconds with ~2450 DPS Theoretical Double Cull CD -> WB -> CG -> TA -> Cull -> *Cull ~9.0 seconds with ~2293 DPS Lethality Cull Combo CD -> WB -> CG -> TA -> Cull -> SoS ~9.0 seconds with ~2115 DPS Hybrid Cull Combo CD -> CG -> EP -> TA -> Cull -> SoS ~9.0 seconds with ~2283 DPS Engineering SoS Combo IP -> EP -> TA -> SoS -> Ambush -> Snipe -> Snipe ~9.8 seconds with ~2371 DPS Rapid Fire is a lot better then most people seem to think. The only trouble is getting off 3 successive SoS in the 6-7 seconds of staying completely still. It's easier with Entrench of course, but any opponent you knows what you are doing better be LoS'ing or popping a Defensive cooldown or else they are dead by the end of it. Not to mention, come patch 1.2 Marksman has Sniper's Volley and Lethality loses a little damage from Cull's energy damage component. Note: I did a little mucking around with the rotations to see what would be their best combination. I'm sure there could be even more improvements, but I didn't want to spend all day working on rotations I don't plan on using.

If you've checked Tibbel's math over at mmo-mechanics.com dealing with the new Sniper's Volley, you'd know that only 1 point in Sniper Volley is really low. (Unless you plan on dumping something else.) The new talent for 60% reduction in aoe damage is pretty awesome, but I personally tried it for a few hours and never once even felt it was useful. The difference between 1 pt and 3 pt Sniper Volley to me was night and day for reliability. Getting a Sniper Volley to proc early on in a Rapid Fire combo gave me incredible damage. Ah, i'm aiming at getting Slip Away since I enjoy the 30s cooldown and speed boost on Debilitate more then the extra points in Engineering. Really it's a personal choice there, I love those 5 points in Engineering, but I often get to use Debilitate on cooldown when it's on a 30s timer. It makes solo'ing Maruaders, Assassins, and Operatives a lot easier if I end up being forced to do so and can let me escape many sticky situations I wouldn't have been able to before. Alacrity does reduce the global cooldown on an activation time ability if it brings it's activation time under 1.5s. It's most helpful for SoS and it's okay for RS Ambush and Snipe, but again it doesn't really have any effect on sustained damage. The most optimal time it's used is in a Rapid Fire combo where it has nearly full effect. Since it's your highest period of DPS over such a long duration, it's not a bad investment.

I personally didn't like the Hybrid Lethality/Engineering build before 1.2, but I did acknowledge it's strength in retaining energy. With Weakening Blast not costing any energy and a dispel protection talent up there you'd be absolutely crazy to play without a full Lethality build. At least in PvP. A simple CD -> WB -> CG -> Cull combo does not put you into the lower energy bracket when combined with Energy Tanks. In fact, with a 50% DoT crit rate you will end this combo with ~93/110 Energy. You just did your burst combo that normally places you at ~72/110 energy. I think people are severely underestimating what can be done here with a full Lethality combo costing 15 less energy since it keeps you out of the lower energy bracket the entire time.

Shield Probe grants us around 1500 - 2000 HP in an absorb bubble. It effects all abilities that hit us in the same way. While it technically blocks every single damage spell out there, overflow damage is still inflicted upon us. Effectively, using Shield Probe is giving yourself a very small heal that can go above your maximum hp.

You are right that a lot of things in SWTOR need to be fine tuned. However if you played at WoW's launch then you'd have remembered there were a heck of a lot more issues there then here - there wasn't even a PvP system to begin with at launch. As a Rogue vanish hardly ever worked and as a Mage I had to be careful where to blink because I'd often fall through the ground. Game Development isn't nearly as easy as you seem to think either. Especially in the case of an MMO. I'm sure they were aware of it, but they have mountains of issues to address and I highly doubt that a convenience feature was on a higher priority then making it so someone with a certain video card could even play the game. MMO's always start rough. SWTOR is the least rough I've ever seen at lunch, but it still has it's issues. Over time convenience is added and it gains all of it's features.

Probably not that much. I just enjoy having 4% Alacrity more then 10% extra Shiv damage. Alacrity has an effect on lowering the burst period (thus raising the burst DPS) of Series of Shots, Snipe, and Ambush which makes it useful in PvP even if it's extremely poor for sustained DPS. Really it improves the burst combo of TA -> SoS -> RF -> SoS -> SoS -> Ambush -> FT by ~4% since the entire combo up til the end is activation times. Marksman won't change that much. Personally I'll gain the 2 talent points out of Imperial Assassin, remove the 1 point from Imperial Demarcation, and place 3 talent points into Sniper's Volley for patch 1.2 I effectively just gain the new Sniper's Volley. Although, the new 31 pt Lethality build is looking absolutely wonderful, but then again this is a Marksman PvP thread.

Indeed, anyone that understands Lethality knows if you interrupt the Cull then you basically shut down their entire talent spec for 9 seconds. A good one will still use Series of Shots and Ambush in it's place, but it's still a severe damper on their damage output.

The easiest way to tell is by looking at their tooltip and by noticing what color of damage they deal. If a tooltip mentions weapon damage and the damage type is white, it's a Ranged attack. If a tooltip mentions a specific type of damage and the damage type is yelllow, it's a Tech attack. Marksman Snipers have a lot of Ranged attacks, and Lethality Snipers have a lot of Tech. In the end, you will always use both.

You should always at least try to use Cover before a Cull. The immunities it provides are invaluable. Not like you are moving around while using Cull anyway.

It's a matter of opinion which is better, since each one would be better in differing situations. Hybrid Marksman Full Marksman My Own Variation

Cunning is better. Check out Tibbel's spreadsheet on Sithwarrior.com and get your own personalized stat weights.

Most of that post was intended to help the OP. Not intended to be an entire post in response to your own. Sorry for the confusion. Indeed, excellent point. Was not my rotation, and no I don't think it would work as was advertised. It'd take a lot more then that, but it won't merely scratch em' and do only 20% health in damage. Telling someone you have no chance isn't going to help him unless you intend on trying to convince them to re-roll - which isn't the type of help he asked for. It's not hopeless against a Darkness Assassin. Not as bad as you all seem to think. You don't have to beat them 1v1 to be victorious. Preventing the entire situation in the first place with proper positioning is the best solution. Anyway, I think the OP has enough to help him with this - so I'm going to quit arguing with all of you about it in here.

Deflection is a translucent purple shield for the Sith Assassin, and it's a pearl white translucent shield for the Jedi Shadow. Both are rather difficult to see, although the Shadow one is a pain. I most often detect it by being deflected and then checking their buffs quick.

Your question is extremely tedious to answer. 31 pt Marksman, 31 pt Engineering, 31 pt Lethality, Marksman/Eng Hybrid, and Lethality/Eng Hybrid are all viable in the eyes of the Sniper community. The rotations are rather intuitive if you've played them via Solo PvE, although sites like Sithwarrior.com can help you out if you want even more information. Tibbel's spreadsheet in particular on that site can allow you to work on your rotations yourself. Personally I prefer 31 pt Lethality, Lethality/Engi Hybrid, and 31 pt Marksman for PvP, as I think they both have advantages and disadvantages in different situations. Currently I run a 31/3/7 Marksman build for PvP and enjoy it a lot. For rotations, here is an excerpt from a previous PvP thread I wrote in. Really though, a lot of it is intuitive and subjective to the situation.

He was describing an exaggerated experience involving a DPS Darkness Assassin and a Tank Darkness Assassin. Most are DPS modded, as you mentioned and are only moderately tanky. You will deal more then 20% of the health on a Tank Darkness Assassin assuming they aren't getting healed within 5 globals. If they are getting healed, you are hitting the wrong target anyway. One that is modded for DPS will not kill you that quickly either, unless you aren't reacting. Debilitate and Cover Pulse do wonders for stopping their Force Lightning - which is the vast majority of their damage in this spec. Use Evasion to disrupt the Assassinate as you drop below 30% and you have mitigated an enormous amount of damage. The point is he wasn't helping anyone, not even himself with that comment. You too seem rather emotional and unwilling to even look at the situation objectively. The vast majority of the time I have absolutely no trouble kiting a Darkness Assassin back into my team when I'm caught out alone. Heck the vast majority of the time I'm not alone to begin with. It's a matter of positioning. Sure if we were alone on an objective with the Darkness Assassin we can have a whole lot of trouble trying to take them head on, but that shouldn't be the case. Even in a 1v1 Situation with everyone's cooldowns up, we can still win. The only cooldown of theirs that matters to me as a Marksman is the Deflection cooldown, which lasts 12s. Debilitate and force the stun break into a Flash Bang -> Kite backwards and you have earned yourself 12s. Entrench and pop Relic, Adrenal, and Target Acquired with a Rapid Fire combo leaving Cover Pulse as a Force Lightning Interrupt and in my experience I often win the fight. Then again, I doubt they played perfectly. I'm sure we are at a disadvantage against them since by design it makes sense, but that doesn't mean it's hopeless. If the forums were right then as soon as I saw a Darkness Assassin pop from stealth I'd be dead along with my 3 allies standing next to me. A ridiculous exaggeration. There is a difference between being constructive and just complaining. The advantage a Darkness Assassin has isn't nearly as bad as these forums seem to think. Then again, that's just my own opinion. This game is much more about experience and whatever skill an MMO can have then about classes and gear. In that way, it's very much a mental game. If you approach the battle thinking you've already lost, then you probably already have lost. If you think you can win, you probably will. The best thing I've ever done is stream to a private stream and watch myself play. I never lose because that class is imbalanced... I lose because I screwed up. Try it, and you will see many places where you can improve. Don't blame the game, blame yourself and improve. Sure PvP can be emotional, but if it wasn't it wouldn't be so satisfying every time you emerge victorious.

I really don't see how this helps him figure out how to beat one, since the only thing I can infer from that post is you PvP without any gear on. I understand you are extremely frustrated and emotional about this issue, but I don't think complaining in such a matter is going to help you or anyone. Yes, the match isn't in our favor against a well-played Darkness Assassin. So don't 1v1 them if you can help it. I'm pretty sure Sorcs feel the same way against a properly played Marksman Sniper. Don't play fair and don't feel the need to uphold some mysterious MMO Honor code. Kite that bastard back to your allies and let them take care of it. Knock em' back and CC em' make him regret ever trying to deal with you. Sniper's are one of the most annoying classes for a melee class to try and take head on. As a Marksman the only CD I'm worried about is Deflection. If that's up, i'm just going to get as far away from him as I can. Better yet, I shouldn't even be in a position that allows him to fight me alone. I always deal with them last. Sure they can deal a truckload of damage via their AoE presence and a Recklessness Force Lightning infused with talents - but you interrupt that with CC (not an interrupt) and they lost the vast majority of their single target damage. To be completely honest, I don't even think this matchup is that disadvantaged in favor of the Assassin. It's hardly ever the classes that determine who wins. This is of course, my own opinion and not the one shared by the forums.

You are right, I stand corrected. I think I mixed it up with a later Lightning talent. It is a nerf to explosive probe, I'm not denying that. It's really not that harmful though, in my own opinion. I played with it on the PTS. It sucks getting used to it for the first hour or so, but after that I honestly had no issues with it. I use explosive probe on CC'd targets for burst, setting up a burst scare combo, and on targets that have above a 10% defense chance for whatever reason. I don't think the nerf made any difference in the time that I played for those situations - as an aside all I did was PvP even with the terrible queues. It would be a bigger deal if I had more points in Engineering and gave it +15% Damage and/or Cluster Bombs, in which case I'd have to use it in a more natural rotation. So I acknowledge that I won't feel it as much as others potentially will. I still don't think it's a big deal. The biggest thing this patch that I see coming is the ability to take cover while rooted, which to me is one of Marksman's biggest weaknesses being completely eliminated. Does the Sniper have other issues? Of course, my signature has me explaining them. I don't think the Explosive Probe Animation Nerf is something we should be all up in arms about though. Again though, it's just my own opinion. I'm not a Dev (for BioWare anyway) and I'm merely a Sniper among many others.

I'd really advise using Tibbel's spreadsheet as it will give you extremely precise answers. We can spout rating numbers and priorities all day, but in the end your character's attributes determine what you need more then anything.

Let's not get all sensational about this. On the opposite side of the fence, let's not attack people and claim they are bad either.

This is pretty much true, although I think 500k is a little bit low to make that generalization. There is often a point in Voidstar where the better you do, the less damage done you will achieve. Essentially, the more healers you kill the lower your damage done will be. Doesn't take away they are fun numbers to get every now and again though. I've had 820k on my Hybrid Sorc, and 680k on my Marksman Sniper. They were pretty silly games though.

Stun, AoE Mez, Knockback, and Direct Interrupt. Possibly a second knockback if spec'd. Unfortunately, I don't know the names of these skills as a Gunslinger. As a Sniper, it's Debilitate, Flash Bang, Cover Pulse, Distraction, and possibly Ambush.

To be fair, you were assuming things that you felt I was assuming. I don't really want to continue this path of the conversation after saying that though as it's just silly. I'll point out, that Tibbel with his spreadsheet understands quite a bit about how Alacrity improves damage as a Sniper and Gunslinger. Alacrity is useful - no one is denying that - but other attributes work much better in it's place when compare it via the value BioWare has assigned to each attribute. Personally I welcome the Sniper's Volley / Burst Volley change, and hope they can continue to bring about that sort of change.

Sharpshooter and Dirty Fighting are both viable in PvP. Whichever is stronger depends on the circumstances such as the map, your allies, your enemies, and the current situation. It's impossible to argue which one is better then the other because it is very situational and very subjective. (Sabotuer is also viable, just not apart of this discussion.) In terms of PvE, the two specs are too close to declare a clear victor. The same goes for PvP. A lot of it depends on the Sniper themselves along with what their intentions and allies are in a warzone. I'm better at switching targets as a Marksman (Sharpshooter) spec and when I was Lethality (Dirty Fighting) I is better at dealing more damage while mobile. That doesn't necessarily mean that these specs were bad at what the other spec was good at either, but obviously those strengths play out better depending on the situation. The point I'm trying to make is you need to quit making such general statements that supposedly apply to all players of this class because if you don't then you are terrible. That's terrible logic. It's okay to discuss the advantages of a spec over another certainly, but blatantly calling Dirty Fighting the PvP spec and Sharpshooter the PvE spec isn't going to accomplish anything. Personally after some testing on the PTS I'll be running a 31/3/7 spec similar to what I have now for PvP and I'll take 3/3 of Sniper Volley (Burst Volley). The new Lethality (Dirty Fighting) changes are wonderful in terms of conserving energy, but I felt with the change that allows us to take cover in roots that one of the major weaknesses in a Marksman (Sharpshooter) spec has been alleviated. As to my choices, I enjoy our 31 point talent due to the combination with the 20% alacrity boost cooldown. It gives us our highest source of DPS over ~8s that we can attain and absolutely melts Sages and Sorcs. The new Sniper Volley (Burst Volley) is great for even having less worries about energy regeneration in the spec. I chose to get the cooldown reduction on our stun over the extra damage because of it's ability to persuade melee opponents never to attack me again.