Lightning is good now because interrupts are bugged on Lightning Sorcs. It may take BW a month to discover this, but it's a matter of time. And no Madness Sorc should ever lose to a Merc 1v1. The favored pvp classes of 2.10, Assassin dps, Op heal, Veng Jugg remain favored classes. The biggest pvp change in 3.0 is the renewed interest in PT/Vanguard. The biggest losers in 3.0? The Mara/Sents are complaining a lot, but IMO it has to be Merc/Commando heals. Technically, you can argue they didn't get worse, but when the other two healing classes have their output bumped by 40-50% and you don't, on a relative basis that's a hefty nerf.

Summary: Middle Commando/Merc tree is now worse than the right tree. The right tree actually has some attractive features now, although it still lags behind its most comparable competitor, Sorc Madness. Background: The key thing to remember in 3.0 is that there has been massive stat inflation. The toons that had 30k HP in 2.10 pvp now have 40k in 3.0 given similarly advanced gear. That means that your dps also needs to be about 33% higher to keep up. Healer output has risen by more than that. At least for Sorc & Operative. So while you may perceive certain classes as being able to do 20% more damage in a wz, in fact such a standard means that class is actually WORSE off than before from a competitive standpoint. Arsenal/Gunnery: In 2.10 the big advantage this class had was a ton of defensive abilities that were useful in 1v1 combat. The big disadvantage of the class was the lack of meaningful defensive abilities in group furball situations. Nominally the situation hasn't changed much, but on a relative basis you are worse off. Every class has more snares, more roots, more speed options. Except you. That means that even when you are attacked in your most favorable situation (1v1), you fare worse than in 2.10. On the output side of things, the addition of Priming Shot is a big plus. But you also got a big nerf to Fusion Missile. In fact Fusion Missile as it presently stands is probably as worthless to you as Power Shot. It's a huge hit to a class with weak AoE capabilities in an era when relevant AoE capabilities are a must. The other area where you got a big nerf was in your off healing. In 2.10 a wz match where the Arsenal scored 600k in damage and 150k in healing was fairly common. In 3.0 that just isn't going to happen. You might score 650k in damage and 50k in healing. Why BW saw fit to do this when Sorc dps can off heal 300k in a match is a mystery. But there it is. Overall, you have below average AoE damage ability, below average single target dps output, the weakest off healing of any healing capable dps class and at best average defensive capabilities. It's a weak portfolio by any measure. Innovative Ord/Assault: This was easily the worst pvp class in the game in 2.10. Well it isn't anymore. By moving all of Arsenal's defensive benefits into the Utility tree, they become accessible to you. And since that was the big advantage Arsenal had over "Pyro", it is now pretty much negated in 3.0. In fact you even have a second shield via Chaff Flare/Diversion that can cover you 13% of the time (6 out of 45). Since your normal shield generally only covers you around 20% of the time (depending on Energy Rebounder/Reflexive), this is a huge boost. On the output side, you can spread 2 of your DoTs via AoE. Just like Madness Sorc. This is what can drive some decent damage numbers for Merc "Pyro". One million damage wzs are pretty easily attainable. You'll still do crap for healing though. The problem here is that while the damage is respectable, it lags behind Madness Sorc in every way. For example the Madness Sorc can AoE spread 2 DoTs every 9 seconds at a cost of 9% of his resource stack. The Merc can spread AoE 2 DoTs every 14 seconds at a cost of 30% of his resource stack. And it takes him 2 GCDs to do it. And the Sorc is healing himself with his AoE DoT spreader. In practice this means the Merc "Pyro" is much more resource constrained, perhaps the most resource constrained class in the game. But overall this is now a subclass with significantly higher damage output than Arsenal, modestly better defensive ability than Arsenal and certainly more mobility than Arsenal. Worse resource management though. Merc/Commando healing: Unfortunately this is a bit of a black hole right now. Initially a lot of people thought this might be the bright spot for Merc/Commando due to the ability to access Energy Rebounder/Reflexive Shield, and the supposed nerf of Operative healing. But in fact Operative healing output has increased by about 40%, Sorc healing output has increased by more than that (although it started far behind Operatives) and Merc healing has increased by 10%? 20%? It's something along those lines, although it is hard to tell as the majority of the already thin Merc/Commander healer ranks have deserted the platform to go dps or move to another healing class. What is clear is that Merc/Commando is by far and away the least preferred/least seen healer class in warzones.

BW has always had a difficult time understanding how to properly balance AoE abilities. In 3.0 there are a number of extremely powerful AoE dps abilities that can be utilized every 9-12 seconds. Your class needs to have access to one of these in order to be competitive in wz. Either that or be the best single target dps class in the game. As Merc is neither, it is not competitive as a dps platform. Another issue that doesn't get addressed much is how badly they nerfed Merc dps off healing. In 2.10 the Merc could easily get 150k of healing in a match where it scored 600k of dps. That is not happening now. You would be lucky to get half that figure in 3.0.

Sorc is not OP. Bioware has the statistics to prove this.

A good madness sorc can exceed 2000 dps in a wz. With an additional 30% or so hps on top of that.

LOL. How's your "promising" now? Madness Sorc damage per second in a wz is now over 2,000. With an additional 30-40% of hps on top of that. Where is your Merc? Uh, yeah about half of that. You are the same guy that in the Sorc forum said his Sorc can't kill anyone 1v1 unless he was a noob. Figures. Right now the only other dps that can get close to Madness Sorc wz output is Madness Assassin. Another class you probably know nothing about.

We are talking 1v1. That is pvp, dude. Parse is completely irrelevant to pvp. And the whole point about Madness Sorc animations being fairly covert is that it helps you in a mass combat situation. When you are casting on someone who is NOT targeting you. But hey, I fully encourage you to continue playing your Sage/Sorc which by your own admission can't kill anyone but a noob. It's guys like you that make Sorc invulnerable to nerfs.

Madness Sorc should beat any ranged class 1v1. Any of them. Madness Sorc will have problems vs. all the melee classes except PT AP in isolated 1v1. But that is to be expected. The whole advantage of the madness sorc is that he is likely to get off multiple GCDs to open vs. any melee in a pitched battle involving multiple players. More more so than any other ranged class because of the much more discreet animations for his opening abilities combined with the fact they can all be cast while moving. In an isolated 1v1 vs. a melee this will not occur, so that is the worst case scenario for the Madness Sorc. But benovide's view is why Madness Sorc will not get nerfed. Once the class gets OP, it becomes FotM and tons of low skill players surge into the class. Which lowers the meta average effectiveness which BW bases class balancing on. Basically the OP's original title is both true AND false. Amongst equally high skilled players, it is commonly recognized the Madness Sorc is the best ranged dps class. There isn't any question about it. But when viewed from a meta average perspective, which is how BW views matters, Madness Sorc is simply just another dps class. It isn't outperforming snipers or juggs or even operative dps. So BW isn't in denial - it fundamentally rejects the notion that classes should be balanced based on best practices for each class.

I've said this before - for Merc in arenas, you must let your teammates start the fight first. Then jump in by switching to the focus target and use both HO and Power Surge to get off TM-FM-HSM-RS while moving. Hopefully the commotion of the initial meeting engagement allows you to go unnoticed for a few GCDs after that. The problem is that even if it works, you basically are not involved in the fight for the first few GCDs. You are being carried by your teammates. At best. At worst, the other team has a stealth advantage and they open on you first which means your team will lose. No one wants a Merc on their arena team. Do your teammates a favor and don't bring one. If you like to play ranged, then use a Madness Sorc. Already the top of the pile for ranged dps, and getting buffed further in 3.0.

Can't imagine it will looks that different for Arsenal or Pyro in 3.0 vs. 2.10. Throw in Priming Shot first for the debuff if you are Arsenal. Otherwise its going to look pretty much the same for pve. For pvp, well no one is going to use Arsenal or Pyro for pvp, so it doesn't matter.

It's not the least played class. Operative/Scoundrel *DPS* is a very rarely played class. But still more common than Merc Pyro. Or PT Advanced Prototype. And no BW, has not made the connection between unpopular (to the player base) classes and the concept that the player base may be on to something about the classes' effectiveness or lack thereof. Indeed, quite the opposite.

Philosophically the devs don't believe they need to personally play ranked matches in order to balance the (sub)classes. Since the start of this game, they believe that their in game statistics collection allows them to accurately judge which classes are outperforming (underperforming) other classes. This is why at various times the devs have boasted that they a) knew if too many Concealment Ops were locking down their targets, that b) all the classes were within 5% of each other in output, that c) that the classes are balanced because they look at the win/loss ratio of each class in ranked. All statements that seem ludicrous but are seemingly backed up by BW's collected statistics. The problem with BW's reliance on meta statistics is that these are heavily influenced by player migration to (and from) subclasses. The overpowered subclasses always have a greater inflow of new players. And these new players have less gear, less skill and lower output. Which reduces the meta average performance of the class. This masks the OP nature of the subclass from BW's meta statistics collection efforts. I have previously suggested (multiple times) that these analytical weaknesses could be compensated for by using statistics focused on a static group of top players. For instance, measure which classes are overrepresented on teams that win ranked pvp matches. And someone at BW must have been listening because shortly after I made that suggestion, they trotted out the "we measure each classes win/loss ratio in ranked". But that is not the same thing and is clearly an inferior metric. For example even if Merc Pyro has the same ranked win/loss ratio as Sorc Madness, I can guarantee you that Merc Pyro has a far lower representation in winning ranked teams. And if you don't understand why that occurs, then (like BW) you need to review basic statistical theory. But as far as 3.0 goes, I'm certain we will hear the familiar refrain from BW - "we'll see how the classes play out in 3.0", i.e. we're going to wait to make play balance adjustments until we can collect meta statistics on the subclasses. I think we all know how that is going to work out.

Sorc heals is not OP in PvP. Madness Sorc is the best ranged dps subclass in the game for PvP. Your mobility means you kill any ranged dps opponent easily in a 1v1. You are squishier than snipers against melee opponents, but you make up for that with a massive advantage in combined dps/heal output. But even though this is widely known amongst the player base, there is ZERO chance Madness Sorc gets nerfed in 3.0. Indeed, just by looking at the utility tree, Madness Sorc gets further buffed in 3.0. BW always does this. It buffs the most powerful classes and nerfs the weakest. Over and over, until it is obvious even to them that something is amiss. The reason for this is that BW does not do class balance based on best practices. It does class balance based on meta average statistics. And the most popular subclasses are more popular because tons of noobs are migrating to that subclass. These players have low gear, low experience and they lower the meta averages for output, win/loss ratio, etc. In contrast, the only people playing unpopular subclasses are those who are still reasonably successful with the subclass, i.e. the best players in that subclass. So their meta averages look good. Increasing the likelihood they get further nerfed. This is why Madness Sorc is the subclass of choice for 2015. It is already getting buffed in 3.0. Once the 3.0 meta average stats are available, BW will buff the subclass again for 3.1. We are set for the year, folks.

Madness is mobile. Lightning is not. Madness does more damage. Madness has more self heals. Madness is flat out better. So no, Lightning is not fine for PvP. It's better than Merc Pyro, but as I said before - attaining equivalence with a horrible pvp sybclass is not the goal. You mean the part where you demonstrated you don't understand what TTK is? Sure. I just repeated it above. I'll say it again. You don't understand what TTK is. I used your own claim that the Merc's ranged advantage depends only on time. That clearly ignores a slower TTK's conversion of that time advantage into what really matters - a smaller health advantage.

Lightning is a bad choice for pvp. Having equivalence with a horrible pvp platform is not the aim. Instead I compare the best pvp Merc dps subclass to the best pvp Sorc dps subclass. And the Sorc comes out on top. BY A LOT. Better damage output, better off healing output, better team utility and better escapability. If you don't understand that Merc dps is in a worse position, then you are simply not understanding. That is how it TTK works. That 15 second head start in 2.10 might have translated into a 40% health advantage. In 3.0 it will translate into a 20% health advantage. That is a straight up nerf to your ranged advantage. By claiming your advantage remains while disregarding the size of that advantage, you are making a clear conceptual mistake.

Why would you ever use your auto/double saber strike? All of your 30m abilities can be used at point blank range. They are stronger, better, proc more things and you can do many of them while kiting your opponent. I would rather give up saber strikes entirely for a 1% increase in damage done by Force Lightning than have any dev spend a fraction of a minute thinking he should spend this classes limited buff budget on a ridiculous red herring.

Sorc is still a dubious ranged class, but already the best ranged class in the game in 2.10 and the most favored by the changes in 3.0. I'll provide another example of how much better Sorc Madness is than Merc dps. For Sorc, Force Lightning plays a similar role to Unload for the Merc. Both are 3 sec channeled abilities that leave the caster vulnerable as he stands still. But there is a key difference. For the Sorc, Force Lightning has no cooldown. That means he can hide behind a pillar, pop out for a quick 1 sec tick on Force Lightning and then pop back into cover. Rinse and repeat twice more and your insta-cast Crushing Darkness is ready. This "hack" to Force Lightning basically makes Sorc Madness the fully mobile ranged dps class people have been dreaming of. Unless you want to, you never need to stop moving or come out to open LoS (except for tiny 1 sec increments). Notice that even if the Merc dps gives up Energy Rebounder to get Thrill of the Hunt, the Merc still can't replicate with Unload what the Sorc can do with Force Lightning. The Merc still needs to expose himself for a 3 sec channel. The Sorc doesn't and can utilize LoS breaking tactics full time. This gives the Sorc an immense advantage vs. ranged enemies and a meaningful advantage vs. melee attackers seeking to leap to him.

The loss of Ironsights is mirrored by the loss of primary stat buffs on all the dps subclasses. Presumably this is part of BW's effort (misguided IMO) to lower overall dps output. So while it is a nerf, at least other subclasses are losing a similar perk. The loss of Stabilizers is an outright nerf to Arsenal. And I'd be concerned about a 15% drop in damage to Unload/Blazing Bolts. Unload is your major damage source for Arsenal in 2.10. My guess is that 15% dps nerf is counterbalanced by the upgrade from Unload to Blazing Bolts. But then, do not be distracted by the BW man behind the curtain telling you that your Unload is being buffed. Nay, it is just Unload being nerfed for Pyro and Bodyguard while it remains the same for Arsenal.

No. There is a limited amount of time that a ranged dps can keep a melee dps at beyond 10m range. Thus the longer the TTK, the greater the percentage of the fight will occur at close quarters. That is bad, not good. It's quite simple - if TTK was short, our initial 30m attack would give us a significant head start in a fight vs. a melee. Since TTK will be longer our ranged advantage has less value. After taking Afterburners, Power Barrier and Jet Escape, none of the remaining Tier 1 utilities is better than the remaining Tier 2 abilities. So why would you use a Tier 2 choice to take a Tier 1 utility? Having the flexibility to make a bad choice does increase the efficient frontier (of character construction). It is true that every subclass faces choices that involve trade-offs. But the Merc Arsenal class starts in a hole because it can not retain even its existing utilities in 2.9 (or 2.10). A lot of the posts here compare the Merc dps' predicament to that of PT/Vanguard, but I feel that a more apt comparison is to Sorc dps. In particular let's examine the Sorc Madness/Sage Balance spec since this is widely considered to be the top ranged dps class (for pvp) in 2.10. And what do we find? Sorc Madness can take Oppressing Force, Empty Body and Sap Strength for Tier 1, which basically replicates all the stuff he gets in 2.10. Except that Empty Body is now buffed to 10% from 8% in 2.10. For Tier 2, the Madness Sorc can take Emersion, which again replicates something he already had in 2.10. But then he gets another Tier 2 utility. And this time he can actually pick something like Electric Bindings that will help him escape, unlike the Merc's extra Tier 2 ability which doesn't help him escape and just lets him live a tad longer while in a dying situation. Indeed, the combination of Electric Bindings' 5 second root and Emersion means the Sorc Madness can escape any melee on demand. This is a real buff. And it gets better! For Tier 3, the Madness Sorc can take Haunted Dreams which replicates something he already had in 2.10. Except again, its buffed as Whirlwind cast time drops from 1 second to insta-cast. Now the Sorc has two "Get Out of Jail Cards"! For his second Tier 3 ability, the default choice is Shapeless Spirit which replicates something he has in 2.10. But a smart Sorc will take instead Corrupted Barrier which is a huge improvement. Up to a 60% health heal every 50 seconds?! Are you 'effing kidding me? HUGE BUFF. To a class that already is more mobile AND far, far superior to the Merc dps in damage output. But Merc has heavy armor, right? LOL.

It all depends on whether Priming Shot is cast or instant, how much heat it generates and how much damage it does. Default case would be that its a 10-15 heat ability that is a 1.5 sec cast and does less damage than TM. In that case Priming Shot serves the same function that Diagnostic Scan does to healing Operatives in pvp. Namely, if you are trying to get off TM (or heal as an Operative) and are under direct attack from an enemy player it gives you a way to bait the enemy into using up his interrupt. Useful, but not a key ability. Keep in mind that you are still going to lose a GCD, as a skilled enemy player will interrupt you at the end of your cast. Keep in mind that after that interrupt, if you try to then cast Tracer Missile, he can still stun you to effect a double "interrupt". The only way Priming Shot becomes a key ability is if it is insta-cast. If you look at the Dulfy mini-animation, it seems like it might be insta-cast. We'll see....

For Bodyguards, the logical heroic utilities to choose are Energy Rebounder and Kolto Jets. I think Bodyguards will be more effective in 3.0 than they were in 2.9. Which is good since they were an afterthought for pvp healing. For Arsenal, it simply doesn't look as good.

ARSENAL Looking at the proposed changes, it's not a pretty picture. The main problem is that the Utility System (you get three Tier 1, two Tier 2 and two Tier 3 utilities) will not allow you to replicate even the current set of Arsenal abilities in 2.9. Yes, some new utilities become available to you. But then you need to give up even more of your current utility set in order to get those. On the Tier 1 side, my Arsenal Merc presently has Improved Vents, Afterburners, Power Barrier and Jet Escape. Improved Vents is only at the one skill pt level, but as the main benefit of Improved Vents is the alacrity boost, it suffices. That will be lost in 3.0 as the other three utilities are pretty much mandatory in order to give you any sense of durability in a 1v1 encounter. Also lost is System Calibrations. No choice at all about that, it is simply taken away from you. On the Tier 2 side, things aren't much better. You will want to take Torque Boosters, but then you lose Stabilizers (can't be replaced). Instead you get another 2 utility available to add to your repertoire. Unfortunately none of them are terribly attractive. Pyro Shield sounds good on paper, until you realize that with the buff to Cloak of Pain & Blood Ward, Pyro Shield actually is a NEGATIVE and will make you a dead fish to any Mara/Sent 1v1, whereas a good Arsenal can deal with those toons adequately (1v1) in 2.9. Power Shield or Protective Field are probably the way to go. The problem here, is that both of those are useful only if you sit there and take punishment when under pressure, when the correct tactic is to extract yourself. Dubious. In fact since Merc dps loses Rapid Scan, you can't even sit there and heal yourself for the duration of the shield effect. With the Tier 3 abilities, the most talked about one is Thrill of the Hunt, which allows you to use Unload while moving. However in order to gain that, you will need to lose either Energy Rebounder or Power Overrides, both of which are really keys attributes of the Arsenal platform. In summary, you can't even replicate the current Arsenal utilities with new system. That is a nerf by any other name. Add in that you will be getting your off healing abilities nerfed (you lose Rapid Scan), and it just doesn't look attractive. You are still better off than Merc Pyro, as that subclass remains a deathtrap versus any capable melee toon. But if you want to be a ranged dps, Sorc is clearly the way to go. As just one example, Sorc gets as a Tier 1 utility the same basic functionality that Merc must use a Tier 3 ability to get (Force Suffusion vs. Kolto Jets). BODYGUARD Things actually look better for Bodyguard in 3.0, at least as far as the utilities/skill tree trade-offs go. From Tier 1 you can take Improved Vents, Custom Enviro and Afterburners which is a nice set. Sure you lose System Calibrations, but Afterburners in exchange for that is well worth it particularly since so many enemy melee react to the Afterburner root by stunning you. And Bodyguard pvp is all about building up your resolve prior to popping your shield. Tier 2 is where you can really make hay. By selecting Protective Field and Power Shield, you really force the enemy to stun you only when your shield is up. Otherwise you become well neigh invincible. And to make this even better.... Tier 3 gives you Energy Rebounder!!! Holy Grail, thy be mine! This is single handedly the biggest buff to Bodyguard in 3.0. With your second Tier 3 utility you can either retain Kolto Jets or intriguingly take Stabilized Armor. The former is obviously better for pve, but for pvp purposes you'll want to take the latter. Think about it - your opponents really can't stun you when your shield is down, and when its up, you will have a 55% DR from the shield and the stabilized armor. On top of your normal heavy armor. Heal tank, baby! INNOVATIVE ORDINANCE (aka Pyro) The red headed stepchild stays unloved. In the current state of SWtoR pvp, this is clearly the worst subclass in the game. BW has tried to add some buffs to the subclass, but these are offset by buffs to main hunters of Pyros, enemy melee, that specifically exploit the Pyro's main attribute - a long, weak DoT trail. The Blood Ward utility in particular, which every Mara/Sent in 3.0 will take, is basically a trump card over Merc Pyro. And they already had a trump card over Merc Pyro with Cloak of Pain. You will have to be a masochist to play Merc Pyro in 3.0 pvp in anything other than a casual match.

Arsenal rocket punch is useful, but against a good melee you can't use it in such a simplified fashion. Against a good melee, he can simply snare you and then do a 10m ability so that he loses basically nothing to your root. Indeed he gained on you since you were silent those 4 seconds. Rather the time to use rocket punch is at the end of a hard stun. Think of it as a way to extend the duration of the stun w/o generating any more resolve for your opponent. And you should certainly attack during the 4 seconds after you use rocket punch. Rapid shots followed by Explosive Dart is the preferred combo to use after rocket punch. This allows you maximum movement flexibility while continuing to do damage AND still retaining the full 4 second root. Actually it is 18 seconds. But you are correct that Merc Pyro basically loses the ability to mezz its opponent. This gets right to the crux of why Merc Pyro fails. It's abilities really have poor synergy with each other. Mezz skills on a DoT platform?! RS-short chop Unload-RS is the best burst dps combo for Mercs, even better than TM-HSM. Yet Merc Pyro places that burst combo on a platform with no finishing/assassination moves. And no, having increased DoT damage when the target is below 30% is not a finishing move. Merc Pyro is just a mish-mash of abilities that don't work well with each other. The only thing they do OK at is peekaboo hit and run attacks from behind a pillar. And Sorc does that far better. If a ranked group loses to a group with a Merc/Commando dps in it, then they are simply bad. No team should ever lose to a team with a Merc/Commando dps in it. Unless they have a Merc too. Which is simply a stupid thing to do.

Hack claims are like UFOs. 99% of the time there is a rational explanation for them. The other 1% of the time....well.... The thing is it is a known fact that speed hacking does occur. Space combat macro leveling does occur. Huttball macro grabbing does occur. And it's been a long time since BW strung up a dead body that it caught and banned for cheating. I'm not an overly blood thirsty guy, but figuratively speaking, seeing a dead body strung up by BW once in awhile wouldn't be a bad thing. Deterrence and pacifying the natives and all that....

Queue depth is already marginal on many servers. Further fragmentation of the queue would be the death knell of pvp.