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.

As long as we're talking about rewriting things, let's take a look at putting some logic into some LS/DS choices

That and BAM does absolutely nothing for sharpshooters since it's just +6% (I think) alacrity.

Yeah, I don't think it's supposed to work like that. I wouldn't be surprised if Bioware caught it already and are working on making exploding probe not blow up before using another ability. And I wasn't aware that somebody else could blow it up, but why does that matter? It's still blowing up, isn't it? And yeah, cast+instant = damage in 1 GCD, I've always understood that, but sab charge is a bit different: It's supposed to do damage after you've used another ability, so it's still damage in 1 GCD, but again, it's supposed to be used before an ability, not after. I think what the sniper's got is just a case of a bugged ability (I was going to use a bugged ability in WoW (perhaps even from hunters) but I just don't have anything just yet. My brain isn't exactly working at full capacity yet, because I just woke up about 15 minutes ago ).

When you next decide to visit the forums: Why quickdraw? Sure, it's mobile, but you can just pop out of cover and then pop back in for another instant 20 energy CB at that point. Edit: NVM, I totally mixed up quickdraw and quick shot.

Why don't you just use sabo charge first? <--- doesn't really use it because he's a sharpshooter, and has no business using it unless it's to open up in PvP.

I wasn't done, and I forgot the box was in italics when I started writing, and there's no "quote within a quote" for TOR's forums yet Edit: If you don't want to use cast time abilities, you only have quick shot, vital shot, quickdraw, and sab charge to work with. QS is the least damaging damage ability that costs energy that a Sharpshooter has access to, and costs 17 energy. Vital shot costs slightly more, and also does slightly more, but QS and VS are really only to be used on the move when you have excess energy, because other options are just better. If you're looking for a completely mobile spec that uses few cast time shots, you might be looking for dirty fighting. Edit 2: Forgot about thermal detonator in edit 1, and I didn't say anything about flurry, but I guess I just assumed we all would just realize that it's there.

Typing my answers in bold.

If you don't shoot for energy economy, you don't have energy to do damage, meaning once your initial burst is over, unless you blow cool head, you're not a threat to anybody for a good long time. Also, Aimed shot is actually our targeted knockback, and is the hardest hitting ability sharpshooters have (at the benefit of being a 1.5s cast if you've crit on speedshot or charged burst in the last 10 seconds or so, and speedshot is not only our second hardest hitting ability, you're also almost guaranteed a crit in there somewhere. Trickshot does more damage than CB, quickdraw does more damage than TS, and if you're spamming CB, you have no energy and you're not doing your most efficient damage. And my point was that, while Sab charge is useful, it's still too much energy for the damage it does, and ultimately brings you too low on energy if used in a fight. As an opener, if you wait for the energy to recharge, it might be good, but that's about it. Edit: I don't think sab charge gives an armor debuff as a sharpshooter, but in any case, flourish shot also gives an armor debuff, and it doesn't cost too much energy to use (albeit it does less damage than flurry). Edit 2: If you set up in the right places, there are few places to LoS. And CB is also affected by LoS, and you can do more damage anyways by managing your energy. TL;DR: If you want to do your job as a dps, you need energy. If you waste it on an initial (somewhat weak) burst, you're not doing anything for a long time other than flurry.

It does, but offhand damage is really small, and also has a base 60% chance to hit, making it nigh impossible to make offhand attacks always hit. It's just a lot of accuracy that's needed for little gain. As always, evidence is needed before we can begin to theorize, because inevitably one would begin to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts. Yes, I just referenced Sherlock Holmes, it was an amazing movie. Deal with it (or like it, if you don't have a problem with it ). OT: Does anybody else ever mentally play that music when they are bored doing something?

I'm not trolling here. I do not flame people. I make my opinions clear. You don't like them. You don't agree with them. That's fine, but that doesn't make me a troll. Condemning: to express an unfavorable or adverse judgment on; indicate strong disapproval of; censure. I am not judging you. I am not censuring you. I am not disapproving of you in any way. I am just stating that your points are incorrect. The only person who is condemning anyone is you. L2P has its place. If you can't understand that, maybe you don't belong in the forums. If you're having trouble with cover, you need to learn how to use cover. That, in essence, is "L2P." You don't like it, and you don't have to. But it's true. Also, hasty generalization much? Even if it were true and I were trolling specifically you, I have only posted in two threads that have you in them. You have no evidence for your claim. I posted my opinions, and you didn't like them. Fine. You don't have to. But don't spread misinformation about me. Edit: In the other thread, I posted this: What part of that is flaming? I'm actually telling you useful information.