Thanks for that answer. It was really what I was looking for.

As far as I can tell, headshot is just the GS version. Past that, I'm certain that BioWare didn't want to allow us to do that much burst in 2 GCDs.

I know how to play both. I have both my scoundrel and slinger at 'round 40, and I've PvPed with them more than a fair bit. I wanted to know which spec seemed to be doing the best.

I have been taking a break from TOR. I wanted to go back through my single player games, and now that I have finished replaying my vast library, I want to come back. I was just wondering: What smuggler spec (either AC) is currently seeming to do the most DPS?

I agree that the skill is useless, and agree that, if we're to take it, it needs to not provide alacrity. I just don't think that making alacrity useful is needed or practical. Crit+surge+power+accuracy are already useful enough, and through purely anecdotal evidence, SS damage is a little OP already. Bottom line: we're good enough to not need the changes as it is.

Hot pursuit doesn't work as I previously believed, and requires you to stand still anyways, when cover + snapshot is arguably faster. Independent Anarchy increases the damage of all AoE abilities including XSFB (our highest damage ability).

No, alacrity is pretty useless, and as math proved (if it works like I think it does), 3/3 BMM doesn't even reduce the cast time of CB by .1s, and BV is useless except for speed shot (which, due to energy constraints, we need to be 3s anyways). Even then, 9% would only reduce it to about 2.75 seconds anyways.

If you have 20% expertise and are hitting somebody with 20% expertise, you will be dealing damage as if neither of you have expertise. It's to make PvP gear better for PvP than PvE gear.

No.... Damage reduction =/= reduced damage. The blanket rule: Damage reduction is less damage taken, reduced damage is less damage dealt.

That and testing is needed to discover if the GCD in TOR is decreased with alacrity. And it wouldn't help much anyways, because of the fast cast times on the few casted abilities we have and the amount of instants we have. Just some quick math to figure out how much alacrity works on our abilities (assuming alacrity works the way logic says it should): 1.5 sec base cast to 1.4 sec base cast: 1.5 - 1.5x =NCT (assuming 100% alacrity = instant casts and there are no diminishing returns, and NCT = New Cast Time (one variable), and x=alacrity) This means: 1.5-1.5x=1.4 -.1=-1.5x .1/1.5=x x=0666 repeating Therefore, .1 second off a 1.5s cast time is approximately 6.67% alacrity, which is a steep price to pay for very minimal gain and even a little bit of a dps loss (due to eating energy faster), which could end up cancelling each other out or even contribute negatively to our DPS. In addition to this, crit+surge+power+accuracy do not ever contribute negatively, and are always very clearly a dps gain. That's why most knowledgeable gunslingers (and when I say knowledgeable, I mean about the mechanics of gunslingers and of what stats do and approximately what a stat gives) recommend avoiding alacrity like the plague.

Ahh, I didn't realize that, thanks for telling me!

Your point? Why can they not also be used in the field? A consular/inquisitor can, why can't the rest of us as effectively?

Guess things fall off the front page quickly on the general forums.

I didn't know where else to post this, so here it is: For those who are unaware, there are certain armor sets that you can purchase from social armor vendors that everyone can wear. I realize that these are useless at level 50, but they are useful for leveling. However, there is one thing about them that makes them potentially less useful for anybody that is not a consular/inquisitor: All of them are "light armor" so that everybody can use them. Which makes them less useful for anybody that's not a consular. Could we please implement something that sets social armor sets to the highest armor level your character can equip? For EX: for a smuggler, medium, for a sentinel, medium, for troopers and guardians, heavy? Please and thank you, leave your thoughts here.

Just gonna troll a moment and say, "What's open world PvP?" Funny business aside, it probably depends on where you're at and how much natural cover you have.