Which is totally why he should be spouting one-liners while blasting things with a boomstick. When I discussed this with my friends, they came up with the idea of the Scoundrel holding the scattergun and blaster both straight out in front of him, quipping a randomized one-liner every so often (so he's not giving a monologue if you are firing three shots back-to-back), and firing off a double-burst of gunfire. The name of the ability they came up with was "Double Barrel". There was also a suggestion to move the one-liner to Blaster Whip, where the Scoundrel would hit the target then make a comment. They called that suggestion "Smack Talk".

Those are some poor reasons, especially in the opinion of a guy who just wants mor boomstick. I'm with you on Dirty Kick though. The animation is top-notch.

Perhaps this has been asked before, but why exactly is my Scoundrel smacking things with his blaster and punching things with his fists? Not only does it make very little sense given that I have a gun and that vibroblades exist, but I also have a freaking shotgun in my back pocket. I sincerely don't understand why Sucker Punch isn't actually me taking my shotgun out, pointing it directly at the head of whatever has irritated me, speaking a corny one-liner, and pulling the trigger. This is compounded by the fact that the scattergun produces one of the most satisfying sounds of any attack in the game. I can ALMOST tolerate Pistol Whip (stabbing the target with a vibroblade would be better, even if the Operative does the same thing), but punching a Rancor when I could be shooting it with a shotgun makes me sad. Please... less punching and more boomstick!

I like a lot of the changes. The APM on Combat was a little high and I'm glad to see it come down. The change to Cauterize is good as well -- it always did feel a little odd to mix that in with the other specs and Combat certainly has enough buttons to hit already. There are a few things that concern me though... The change to Crippling Throw / Leg Slash -- specifically, the REMOVAL of Crippling Throw with the addition of its debuff to Leg Slash -- is the wrong way to handle the streamlining of those two abilities. Crippling Throw is a fantastic ability with a great animation that fills a very necessary gap in the PvP toolkit of Sentinels. It is a class with exceedingly few gap closers in a game with an overage of CC and knockback effects. Streamlining Crippling Throw into a melee-range ability, instead of vice versa, is going to make life even harder on a class that is already somewhat frustrating to PvP with. Along those lines, I was sincerely hoping that Sentinels would receive a new defensive/mobility ability. The specs don't really need any more damage abilities, but getting into and -- more importantly -- OUT of fights is actually quite difficult for the class. Oh, and giving an ability to Marauders that replaces Force Scream is really bad form. I say that as someone who doesn't even play on the Imperial side.

Thanks for giving mean example of where stability counterplay is important: the healer needs to recognize that a member of his team has been loaded up with DPS cooldown-backed DOTs and activate a stability cooldown to ensure he can heal through the damage without stuns or interruptions. That's counterplay; your situation isn't, and it's not fun -- as you recognized.

I like the changes. Now you can guarantee uptime during critical moments instead of watching helplessly as you are stunlocked to death. The counterplay is in prompting your opponent to use their stability cooldowns at the wrong time.

A defensively-geared Kinetic Shadow in Huttball is an absolute nightmare. Either run the ball from the middle or stay near the enemy goal line and allow your team to throw it to you from the pit. Score repeatedly thanks to Force Speed and Resilience (makes you immune to almost all CC). Win the game. Be the hero. Sleep with the opposing team's cheerleaders.

This. +1

I am a long-time Kinetic Shadow (since closed beta) that has only recently begun to mess around with Balance. Here's my take on it: -Balance has great DoT and internal damage, making it better at handling tank classes than the other two specs. -Modest self-healing allows you to ignore incidental AoE damage, but if you come under focus fire it doesn't mean anything at all. -The spec lacks burst almost entirely unless you get lucky back-to-back crits on Force in Balance and Sever Force followed quickly by a Spinning Strike. The build puts out excellent pressure when handled properly, however. -The ability to engage from 30 meters away with a few abilities adds some utility in standoff situations (mostly for interrupts captures and bomb placements). -The spec is very difficult to kite effectively and itself kites very well thanks to Sever Force. Here is my favored spec: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601McMZoZcrfRrMkrfz.1 I tend to open from stealth with a hard-cast Mind Crush if I think I can get it off or if I land a Mind Maze. The priority is: Shadow Strike (ONLY on procs) Mind Crush (on procs or if you can get away with a hard-cast) Force in Balance Force Breach Sever Force (unless you need it to kite or counter-kite) Project (ONLY if Twin Disciplines isn't running or if you are being kited) Double Strike This build does not use Project for anything but the melee damage buff or if you are being kited; don't use Project on-cooldown or you won't have enough Force to be effective. An argument can be made for taking the 9% increased Technique damage over Upheaval. The one point in Infiltration Tactics procs more often than you may think, and allows you some added burst damage when trying to take out a healer. The only attacks you have that cannot proc it is Force Breach and Sever Force; Double Strike has two chances to proc and Saber Strike has three (one chance for each hit). This build seems to function best with a decent amount of crit and surge. Mental Scarring grants significantly increased returns on investment into critical strike rating, and your self-healing is dependent on critical hits from DoTs. I opted for crit/surge mods and enhancement with Willpower/Endurance augments. I am particularly fond of targeting Marauders with this build, since they are so vulnerable to kiting. Sever Force combined with Force Slow can dramatically reduce their effectiveness. The instant-cast Force Lift with the attached 2-second stun is great utility as well.

I honestly believe that the abilities in question, Battle Readiness and Overcharge Saber, may be the weakest 2-minute cooldown in the game. Here is the description from Battle Readiness: To put that into perspective, the Techniques are rate-limited random procs that deal low damage. In the case of Combat Technique the main purpose is to provide another (low) source of healing to the Kinetic tank spec, but reducing the rate limit to 3 seconds is nothing to write home about. Force Technique and Shadow Technique are direct damage effects but are not significant contributors to the Shadow's overall damage; they are intended to act like the "offhand Saber" that Sentinels wield. Impact Control is a two-point talent in tier 4 of the Kinetic Combat tree that grants a 5%/10% self-heal to the Shadow when Battle Readiness is activated, turning the two-minute cooldown into something marginally useful in an emergency (around a 2.2k heal for well-geared and buffed Shadow tanks). Situational Awareness is a two-point talent in tier 5 of the Infiltration tree that reduces the ability's cooldown by 15/30 seconds. Balance has no talents that affect this ability. Bear in mind that this is level 50 ability for Shadows and Assassins. Compare this to other level 50 abilities: Vanguard: +25% critical strike chance for all ranged and tech abilities for 15 seconds (probably the best of the bunch). Guardian: Leap to a friendly target on a 20s cooldown. Sentinel: Instantly build 30 stacks of Centering, allowing the immediate use of a signature ability. Gunslinger: 20% alacrity for 10 second. The list goes on. These are abilities that make people sit up and take notice or provide utility and flexibility. Battle Readiness does neither and can't even be compared in power to using a relic or adrenal. It isn't that their current effects are "bad", it's that the ability need something a bit more to go with it. Here are some ideas: Combat Technique (tank stance): Increase movement speed by a modest amount for the duration, grant a few seconds of 100% reduced damage, or increase all healing received by a modest amount for the duration. Force Technique (DoT DPS stance): Finishes the cooldowns on all DoT abilities, removes the cast time and cooldown from Mind Crush for the duration, or causes your next Saber Strike (basic attack) to apply a powerful DoT. Shadow Technique: Increases Surge by a modest amount for the duration, eliminates the Force cost of all Force attacks for the duration, or guarantees a critical strike on your next Shadow Strike. I'm not looking for crazy or overpowered here -- certainly nothing like +25% increased critical strike chance like what Vanguards have -- but hitting the button should alter gameplay in some manner beyond an uncontrolled and largely unnoticeable random proc.

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Alright, tired cliches aside, one of my close friends met with several developers at PAX East and discussed his feelings that Balance was a "Sage spec" and somewhat inferior to Infiltration for PvP and dramatically inferior to Infiltration for PvE. Basically the conversation was "we know about the problem, and we would like to work on the spec, but Kinetic and Infiltration are more important for 1.2." They went on to imply that it's on the radar for the next major patch, but they gave no details. Here's to hoping. I feel that it is a compelling and unique "melee caster" spec that deserves attention.

Hey Shin. Love your videos as always. As usual I have a few questions for you: On the 0/13/28 build do you miss not having access to Sever Force? I have been a (very) long time Kinetic player who has been fooling around with Balance, and I have to say that the ability to engage from 30m away and the utility the spec has when dealing with any melee and medium-range classes is a big benefit of the spec. It's hard to get a "feel" for a spec from just a video, so I'd like your take on it. Also on the 0/13/28 spec, is there are reason you decided to take Force Suppression, Sharpened Mind, and Mental Scarring? I don't see where that spec is using much in the way of DoT effects (Shadow Technique over Force Technique, no Mind Crush proc, no Sever Force), so that seems like a lot of points wasted just to get the 30% critical damage boost on Force in Balance, which is itself a 15-second cooldown. I took a page out of your playbook for my Kinetic spec and pulled a point out of Upheaval to take a single point in Infiltration Tactics... Quite an improvement. The ability to break out a "big hit" like that at the end of a TK Throw has caught several healers off-guard. Unconfirmed rumor is that they have a buff planned for Shadow Balance in 1.3 since it hardly sees any use in PvP or PvE. It's nice to see some out-of-the-box thinking on the spec to make it viable in the meantime.

Alterac Valley's second iteration -- the one where they moved the respawn points for the Graveyards away from the capture flags, added much stronger archers to the towers, and moved Korrick the Bloodrage to Snowfall Graveyard was the absolute best objective-based PvP I have ever played in any game, MMO or otherwise. The games would last for multiple days at a time and nobody cared. The fights were epic and opposing players would become rivals. My Rogue squad had a rivalry going with a squad from an Alliance guild that made securing the All-seeing Eye of vital importance so that we could have an edge in stopping their operations and conducting our own. I remember the epic Lok vs. Ivus battles on the Field of Strife when both were summoned at the same time. Those were just amazing to see. I remember coordinating a release of both the Reavers (mine supplies) and Wolf Riders at the same time so that we could make the final push. My god those were just great times. But the "I want it NOW!" crowd convinced Blizzard to just turn it into an other place to grind. What a tragedy.

As has been mentioned multiple times, Expertise favors healers more than anything else. In reality, Expertise should only affect damage intake and output in a zero-sum manner, i.e. if two players both have 1000 Expertise they would be hitting each other as if they both had 0 Expertise. This serves to separate PvP gear from PvE gear without skewing class mechanics. In PvP against and with top-tier players it is nearly impossible to kill someone if there are two healers on each team. They have bit into the Trauma debuff too much (13%, nearly halving it) and the skill level of these players allows them to anticipate bursts well enough to keep themselves alive for incredible lengths of time. I had a Civil War that ended in a draw yesterday. Did you know that could happen? We actually won because of kills, but both ships were destroyed at the same time. Anyone want to guess how that occurred and why it happened?

This may be the worst suggestion I have seen on these forums. It stinks of "grind games faster!" mentality. As long as the chance to come back and win exists I want to be afforded that opportunity. The real, hardcore, never-say-die PvPers don't give up until the match is over. Voidstar ends when the second team advances past the progress of the first team because at that point they have won -- this is an objective fact. None of the other Warzones are in this situation and thus should never end early. I have had a Civil War where my team was down players 6-8 (as so often happens as a Republic player) and we got those last two players when the score was about 150-400. We three-capped and held it to the very end to win. All we needed was even teams to stomp them. It was epic and no change that makes such a comeback impossible is necessary.

Uh... Which tank class would this be? And what kind of gear was the target wearing? Tank DPS in tank gear is pitiful. However, due to the way the tank trees work their DPS in DPS gear is actually pretty darn good. If you want to see fewer tanks dismantling isolated healers in less than 10 seconds you will support this change.

I've already talked about how Guard needs to be adjusted in another thread. It is holding back both tanks and healers from feeling complete, largely because of how insanely strong it is. The fact remains that tanks should be very difficult to kill, and they are... for certain classes. There needs to be more equality, and there needs to be a reason to tank tank gear into PvP.

Tank stats do not work well in PvP -- this is a recognized and generally accepted fact of SWTOR. It is very unusual to find a tank who is actually kitted out in PvP tank gear since you can retain 85% of your PvP "tanking" effectiveness in DPS gear with a Shield Generator -- and the Shield Generator is there mostly to allow for tank-talent procs. I recognize that allowing Defense to affect some abilities would impact several classes in far too negative a manner. Casters who suffer a 30% or more "resist" rate when attacking a tank may as well resign themselves to never actually being able to kill a tank in all but the most unusual PvP situations since they may get too many of their defensive abilities resisted to be able to open up to casting distance. But Shielding is a different story. You need two stats to make it worthwhile: both shield chance and shield absorb. It still allows whatever ability it blocks to take effect since it's not considered a "miss". It makes sense as a PvP tank stat, and it would provide better protection from the OHKO's that occur occasionally in PvE. Allow it to affect all incoming damage: melee/ranged, Tech/Force, DoT damage, and Guard damage. Strip out the "Defense" stat from PvP gear and replace it with Shield Chance and Absorb. This will have several highly positive effects: There will be a greater difference between PvP tank gear and PvP DPS gear. The tank gear will actually significantly improve a tank's survivability across the board, as opposed to only functioning well against a small subset of classes. Tank talents will actually proc when fighting all classes, as opposed to only being effective against a small subset of classes. Tanks will still be a viable target for everyone but will no longer be fodder to anything that predominantly uses Tech/Force attacks. The ability to shield Guard damage will result in a marked difference in effectiveness between a tank in tank gear and a tank in DPS gear when guarding an ally. This may not be the perfect solution to the problem, but is seems like a great compromise.

I NEVER use it as part of the main rotation. After you have come out of stealth and played your hand, the 40 Force it costs is better spent on utility. However, in the opening volley of a fight you can use it to put out a lot of initial pressure. This is especially true if you are coming out of stealth with a DPS Shadow or Scoundrel. You don't have enough of a Focus pool to use Project, Slow Time, Force Breach, and then fish for a Project reset with Double Strike, but you do have enough Focus to use Mind Crush > Slow Time > Project > Force Breach. You won't have any Focus left over for utility if you do that though, so be mindful of that if you need to lock someone down. In full tank gear that opening salvo will output around 6k damage on a non-tank, non-guarded target. If you are wearing partial DPS gear you can see that push to 10k with some lucky crits and the use of Adrenals and Relics. If you are a Kinetic in full DPS gear with a Focus offhand you may end up killing a squishy target outright after a Spinning Strike. I do try to avoid using Double Strike too much when I'm tanking, since you really want to use Slow Time and Project on-cooldown, but all the Shadow utility is spendy. A lot of times I would rather find a target for one of my utility abilities than chasing after someone with Double Strike.

Healing was overnerfed... that's a good one. In a game where it takes 20 seconds to kill someone, but a healer can patch them up from nearly-dead to full health in 6 seconds... you would buff healing more? The way it is right now it is nearly impossible to kill someone who is receiving healing unless you stop the healer somehow -- trying to outDPS their heals takes 3 or more players.

Buy recruit gear. Get a full set. Do daily quests or sell things on the GTN until you have enough money to get an entire set. Then take a spec that allows you to act in a support capacity. Tanking, healing, ranged DPS -- whatever you do don't run into the middle of a fray because you will be targeted and die. If you play a Sentinel then hang on the outskirts and wait for someone to attack your backline, then go after them. The Recruit gear actually has a lot of expertise -- much more than the old Champion set. It lags in Endurance, which is why I say to not charge into the middle of a fight, but you can at least contribute. Making this even easier for you is the fact that Battlemaster gear is REALLY easy to get now. You get a ton of comms per Warzone and most pieces can be had for under 1k of them -- about 8 matches. Some of the big pieces take a while to get, but you can get all but 4 pieces at a low price. So jump in and participate! The grind is still there, but it's not as bad as it used to be.

You cannot force people to participate. Defending should be rewarded. If you remove defender point people will just exploit something else. The real problem with PvP is reward systems. Dispense with gear, put everyone on a level playing field, and let skill decide matches. True hardcore PvPers don't need "rewards" to PvP.; the thrill of victory is its own reward. If you give them non-combat rewards (pets, mounts, titles, gear that looks different, etc.) they will be happy. True hardcore PvPers participate because they enjoy it.

Oh my. I mean... really? I beta tested WoW. I beta tested WoW when the Forsaken were considered "Undead" and could speak common. WoW was unplayable for WEEKS at a time for its first four months. It was so bad that early adopters were given 3 months plus several odd days worth of free time. It launched with one raid: Molten Core. There were gaps in the leveling for both factions if you didn't run instances. You either had to do the instances or you had to grind. No battlegrounds. No PvP reward system. No open-world PvP objectives -- they didn't even ATTEMPT it and fail; they just didn't have it at all. Classes were single-role in endgame. Rolled a Druid? Hope you like healing. My favorite: their knowledge of PvP was so lacking that CC effects lasted their FULL DURATION against players. Did a Rogue just Sap you? Hope you don't mind staring at your screen for 45 seconds because there is LITERALLY no way out of it. SWTOR is a traditional MMO that focused very heavily on story. If story is not important to you then you are playing the wrong MMO. But there is no dispute that it launched with a HUGE amount of content -- easily 300 hours worth between leveling, space combat, PvP, raids, and powerleveling through alts for their stories. If you have sat down and exhausted 300 hours worth of content to the point of boredom already then you need to take a break.

Have you SEEN a good DPS Guardian or Sage? Properly fitted out they are frightening, especially since it's nearly impossible to kite a Guardian, and they can pin you in place for the Sages to destroy you. Throw in a Scoundrel or two for healing near the mid and you have yourself a 3-minute game.

The animations for the Operative are tons better. Also, the Imperial Agent storyline is considered to be one of the best if not THE best in the game. It's really good from start to finish, and the Agent gets some GREAT companion characters. I hate to say it given how underpopulated the Republic is on most servers, but if you want to play this archetype your best bet is an Agent. The really sad part is that I'm a Republic player.