Hey guys, sorry I haven't been able to update the guide in a day or two. I've been trying to level my Sniper so that I can inject a lot more personal experience into the guide, rather than basing most of it on research. Finally got to 37 today, and I must say Lokin has changed the entire experience. I can now solo Heroic 2's that are 2 to 3 levels above me! But anyway, I'm going to try to at least finish the companion chapter tomorrow, and try to figure out where to go from there. Remember, any suggestions you have about how I could improve on the guide would be a huge help. And as always, thanks for reading! -Woody

Also, if anyone has any opinions that differ from/contradict anything I have posted, please post them. I think it is important to have intelligent opposing points presented in this thread. It makes it easier for readers to draw their own conclusions and results in less people taking my posted opinions as facts. Just please remember to post logical arguments to back up your ideas, and all should be well. Thanks in advance! -Woody

Sure thing, just post the link and some explanations for your choices and I'd love to take a look. The Marksman build I have posted is just kind of a vanilla setup, with no regard for pve or pvp leanings. Engineer is my current focus, so any new info or feedback I can get on Marksman builds would be a great help. Thanks!

That is a very valid concern. I got hit by the Slicing nerf pretty hard, and am now wishing I had taken Underworld Trading. I should probably edit my post to say something like "In it's current state, Biochem is the skill to take". I do have to say that currently there is absolutely no reason to take any other skill over Biochem, but that also means there there are probably either some nerfs, buffs, or both in the works.

Hmm, I wasn't aware of that. If that's the case, I'll definitely edit my post, but I was under the impression that once created, they were yours to do with as you please. I know most have level requirements, but I didn't think any usable in the game was based on crew skill.

Some of the Biochem stuff you should be able to sell, if I remember correctly. I know I've seen some lower-level reusables being sold in the AH. It's just the most sought-after items that are BoP. Even still, don't expect to make a ton of money with Biochem. Just know that the payoff will be ten-fold when you gain access to those insanely powerful stims, adrenals, medpacks, and implants. Those items are, quite literally, priceless. That said, you can still make some good money selling off your excess Biochem ingredients in the AH. Since Biochem is such a popular choice, its crafting materials are always hot sellers. And odds are your Bioanalysis skill is going to outlevel your Biochem skill by quite a bit, meaning you should have access to high-level ingredients long before you need them. I've been saving mine, but if you ever get in a pinch you can easily sell them on the AH for a tidy profit.

I hate to say it, but yeah, you are probably better off dropping Cybertech and any related gathering skills in order to pick up Biochem and Bioanalysis at least until you've crafted all of the resuables you'll need. I had to do the same thing (with the same skill, no less!). It sucks, but it would appear that to remain competitive at higher levels, most characters are going to be forced to go that route.

I'll agree that it is an efficient ability when used against multiple opponents. However, in order to make it more efficient than Snipe in single-target dps, you basically have to spec your entire build around that one goal. Even then, the damage-per-energy efficiency gains over Sniper are marginal at best. Just because I don't think Frag Grenade isn't an efficient single-target dps ability does not mean I think it is a bad ability in general. I love Frag Grenade and use it all the time as my primary AoE, but every ability has a time and a place. Trying to shoehorn extra utility into an ability is only going to end up stunting your build's effectiveness in the long run. I see from your signature that you are a fan of swimming against the current and trying to find ways around the designed game mechanics. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I think it might limit your enjoyment of SWTOR. For better or for worse, this game is not Star Wars Galaxies. Bioware has been quite thorough with their game design, and trying to bend it to suit your needs is going to be difficult, if not impossible.

I think that's a great idea, and I'll try to get something like that added as soon as possible. Currently, with the game being so new, it's difficult to get hard numbers on a lot of abilities, but I supposes I could start with percentages and add in the hard numbers as they become available.

Also, if anyone has an idea for a chapter they would like to see in the guide, please post your opinions. I am trying to cram as much information in as I possibly can, so if you think of anything new, or think any of the current information is lacking or could be made clearer, please post your opinions, comments, ideas, and criticisms and I will take each and every one into consideration. Thanks!

@Easelman You most certainly can call me Mr. Love... Anyway, that does sound like a very interesting build in theory, though I'd like to hear how it pans out in actual combat situations. Assuming that it works exactly as you've described under optimal conditions, it would seem to be unbeatable. However, once you figure in every class's ability to break free from movement-impairing affects, and most melee class's abilities to instantly pounce upon their targets, things will start to get tricky. As I've said, though, I'm currently lacking both experience and information on the Lethality build in general. And though my research tells me that hybrid builds are not as effective as pure builds, I have no personal experience with hybrids to back up such statements. Your build definitely makes me want to take another look at viable hybrid builds. Thanks again for your informative posts! P.S. You sound like a Batman villain...

@Easelman: That really does look like an interesting build. I look forward to hearing how it pans out. From my research I've been unable to find any information validating hybrid builds, so please let us know if it works out. I will say that yours is the most focused hybrid I've seen, so far. I think the focus on guerrilla tactics is an awesome idea, and I hope it turns out to be a viable build. The only real issue I personally have with mobility builds is they fact that they try to get around the cover mechanic, which is basically the backbone of the class. It would be like a Sith Sorcerer trying to focus on lightsaber combat over using his Force powers. I just don't understand why anyone looking for mobility would be drawn to the Sniper class in the first place. There are plenty of other great dps classes out there that are naturally mobile, so trying to force mobility into a class that wasn't designed for it just seems kind of odd to me.

Hey guys, thanks a lot for the constructive feedback! I'm glad some of you are finding my guide useful. As far as the alacrity and instant-snipe issues go, I have a feeling it will be a matter of debate among Snipers for a long time to come. If you're using instant-snipes and cooldown-reduction skills and it's working for you, then by all means don't change a thing. What I have posted is simply based on research that I've done as well as personal experience, but there will always be exceptions. I definitely don't think taking such skills is necessarily going to hurt your character build, I just think there are other skills more worthy of point investment. Again, though, thank you for the intelligent feedback. I probably need to take another look at such skills.

Ah, ok, thanks for the info! I'll doublecheck it and get those sections updated asap.

Cool, thanks for the heads-up. I looked at that thread earlier and thought it suffered from a lot of the same problems as other similar thread. While there is some good information there, some of it is incorrect or incomplete. I might need to cite them as a source, though, because I can't remember if I was able to learn anything new from their site. Either way, thanks for the info!

filler 2

filler 1

Woo, well that's all for now! Don't worry, I've barely scratched the surface. I plan to cover such topics as Crowd Control, Leveling Guides, Combat Tactics, and top it all off with a q&a. Hope you found it useful so far, and I look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, here are my sources: http://swtorsniper.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-07:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-07:00&max-results=22 http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Old_Republic_Wiki http://blackrabbit2999.blogspot.com/2011/12/swtor-imperial-agent-beginners-guide.html http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread...per-Compendium torhead.com (I believe that's all of them. If I remember one I left out, I'll be sure to post it. I should mention that I've learned a lot of general information from the helpful and informative people in the forums, and if I could list everyone who's taught me something, I would. I guess the next best thing is just a big ol' "thank you!!!")

Post 8: Companions Ok, so this post is going to contain some legitimate spoilers. You have been warned! This section is not finished. Please check back soon for the complete list of companion information, as well as general companion tips and tricks. Thanks for reading!

Post 8: Crew Skills

Post 7: Keybindings

Post 6: Skill Trees

Post 5: Rotations

Post 4: Energy Management

Post 3: The Cover System