Personally I have found my DPS to keep up with the other classes but only when I slightly out-gear them. At full BiS sadly we get wrecked by Marauders and Snipers played well. And thanks to Bioware's oversight if there is more than 1 DPS inquisitor in the raid the person playing Madness has their damage nerfed by the other's dots. And since we have no group buff like Marauders do most people don't even take the class seriously anymore. I hope Bioware gives us a buff soon otherwise whats the point? Might as well level my Marauder

Hey guys, I am curious if anyone out there has any thoughts on how Madness Assassins are doing in 2.0 for Operation DPS. Does anyone still play this class/spec combo for PVE?

If this is how they want it to work then I am officially changing this from a "bug report" post to a "change this mechanic" post. The way it works now my deathmarks are getting eaten by Lightning Sorcs that only have their Affliction up on the target for proccing other abilities. I need my deathmarks to increase my overall damage, thus increasing the raid's damage. Right now 2 Lightning sorcs in raid kills my deathmarks in about 3 seconds and my Crushing Darkness gets maybe 1 tick out of that. Bioware, please rethink the way you want this to work. Madness Assassins are already gimped compared to other dps in operations. We dont need this bad decision hurting us even more. Please change it. Thank you!

I know there are a couple threads about this already but I wanted to revisit this issue. As it stands right now, Madness spec Assassins and Sorcerers are having their Deathmark stacks eaten by other Sorcerer's and Assassin's dots. While this bug may not be too significant for overall raid dps (assuming the Deathmark stacks being used are actually increasing the damage of the incorrect player's dots) it is a fairly significant issue for the Madness Assassin/Sorcerer being affected by the bug. I would estimate about 50-60% of my damage (Madness Assassin) comes from my dots. Missing out almost entirely on my Deathmarks is a pretty big deal. Some might argue that the damage of these classes has been balanced around the way these Deathmarks interact with other players. To that I would say fixing this issue would be exactly what my Assassin needs. I have done a good amount of level 55 operations and I can say Madness Assassins are currently putting out mildly subpar numbers compared to other melee DPS. Fixing this bug would put us right where we need to be. As for the effect on Madness Sorcerers, I am not sure about that but I would imagine fixing this bug would keep them fairly in line with Bioware's desired DPS range for the class/spec. Thoughts/comments are welcomed.

I wish I could prove it to you but Im not making this up. Madness Assassins, when played well, can put out some good numbers. I am well aware that Marauders have parsed, do parse, and always will parse higher than Assassins. But that did not stop me from doing better single target damage. Im not saying my DPS was higher, but at the end of the boss fights I was usually on top. This is mostly due to the fact that I know how to play my class well. I can preload 1 dot, and DF from range, while Im running to my next target. Believe me or not, it doesnt matter. I just hope that my skill + the nerfed Madness Assassin can keep me in a raid spot after the expansion releases.

Yeah but this is a gimmick that works probably... 1/3 of the time? if that. Same with stealth rezzing the group after a wipe. Can it be called utility if it cannot be relied on?

I have to be honest here, I wasnt aware of this. I pretty much always output more single target dps than any class in my raids, including marauders and PTs. I know that including AOE (which is a lot of boss fights) they come out on top. I guess now that I think about it, yeah, Assassins have always been subpar. I played mine well enough to turn heads within my guild. I guess all those years DPSing as a feral druid in WOW paid off. My skill at the class usually earned me a spot in guild raids. Guess the times are changing...

So lets say the Assassin is 5% lower than other classes. If we are talking about a hardcore raiding guild (which is what I prefer), why would any sane raid leader take an assassin to dps? They are single target dps only. Marauders have 5% better single target dps, MUCH better AOE dps, and a group damage buff. Any guild I would want to raid with would make this assessment and then ask me to switch to another class. Therein lies the problem... I dont want to switch classes. I have played my Assassin as dps very successfully since the beta. Im not about to change now just because Bioware's class balance monkey is a moron.

To everyone saying find a new guild: This is not my guild leader's fault. In hardcore raiding guilds thats the way it goes. This is not a new thing in MMOs. As stated above, its not my guild leader's fault that Bioware screwed the class up. I just hope they are viable dps in operations or this game is pretty much dead to me.

Good to know. Thanks

Reasons to bring a Marauder to Operations: Amazing single target DPS Amazing AOE DPS Group damage buff Reasons to bring an Assassin DPS to Operations: Possibly decent single target DPS (noone knows for sure) No other utility that matters for boss fights When you are talking about a progression guild they will always take the best class for the role. There is currently no reason to take an Assassin for DPS. I guess I should have seen this coming...

Sorry if my post sounded a little whiny, I was pretty upset when I found out. I'm not joking about the situation, but I can see the humor in it I guess..... sigh. edit: I would also like to point out that I am in a hardcore raiding guild that will do whatever they have to to progress quickly in the operations. Right now 2 Marauders are being taken for melee DPS.

I used to be one of the top dps in my guild. I was taken to almost every HM and NM operation as melee dps. As a madness Assassin I could always out dps marauders on a single target. Then the PTS came out. Assassins got completely screwed up by Bioware. Now my guild's raid leader (and myself) have no idea how madness DPS is going to fair at level 55. Therefore, I have officially lost my raid spot. In order to get my raid spot back again I have to wait and see if the class is even viable anymore at 55 and then prove myself all over again to my guild. All confidence in my class has been shot. I am trying to figure out if I even want to continue playing this game. Thanks Bioware. You really screwed me over this time.

Please see this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=602249 and sign if you agree. Thanks

Please see this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=602249 and sign if you agree. Thanks

Please see this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=602249 and sign if you agree. Thanks

Please see this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=602249 and sign if you agree. Thanks

Please see this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=602249 and sign if you agree. Thanks

Please see this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=602249 and sign if you agree. Thanks

What do you expect when a game goes from high budget to almost no budget. Some intern probably made the animation over his lunch break or something.

Nothing this person said was egotistical. They are simply stating their opinion. He thinks Bioware is a bunch of monkeys sitting in and office pressing buttons. You probably think they are doing a good job handling the class issues in this game. I think they probably have a list of priorities for things to fix and that stuff like this should be on the very top of it. Its an easy fix, after all. Who can say what is going on in their heads?

It is pretty clear that Assassins/Shadows are not supposed to be as "roguey" as Operatives/Scoundrels. Having said that, our current opener from stealth is only ever used by tank spec Assassins/Shadows that have it talented to use out of stealth. Anyone that has played a Deception Assassin knows that right now in PVP we just stealth up to our target and start spamming Voltaic Slash. This seems kinda stupid for a spec built around stealth. My suggestion is to add a new opener from stealth (maybe put it high up in the Deception tree?) that is actually useful. Example ideas: -high damage attack usable only from behind -medium damage attack that applies a dot/bleed -medium damage attack that gives the target an armor debuff for X amount of time (the motivation for this one is to actually have a chance at killing tanks) Any ideas/feedback is appreciated.

I am not sure if you guys are aware of this but...Biochem is somewhat useful. It allows you to save money from buying stims, adrenals, and medpacs by crafting your own reusable version of each, making Biochem somewhat useful. This is totally contrary to Bioware's vision for crafting and therefore must be stopped. See, as it stands right now, crafting can be safely ignored in SWTOR. There is no reason to waste your hard earned credits on armortech when you can get the same gear or better from operations and hardmodes. And why would you level cybertech when you can buy all the ship upgrades you need from the suckers that already have cybertech at 400? No reason! The problem is, of course, Biochem. Its somewhat useful! What the what?! So, what do I propose? Remove all crafting from the game. Thats right! Remove them all. This will level the playing field and everyone that took Biochem will be forced to spend credits on medpacs from the vendors like everyone else. Besides, my companions are way to busy to craft for me anyways. They have lives too ya know! Sending them out on crafting missions is selfish on my part and Bioware is forcing me to do it. Im pretty sure that makes Bioware pure evil. Anyways, I digress. In conclusion, please remove crafting from the game so I can safely ignore Biochem. Thank you for your time.

Its in the patch notes... "Missions and NPCs General All Bonus Series missions and their required missions can now be abandoned." Still doesnt work in game. Anyone else having this issue? Maybe Bioware needs to actually start verifying their fixes before adding them to the patch notes? ....

Agreed. I have noticed huge differences in what the dialogue option says and what my character actually speaks. It makes gaining affection with Ashara a really pain. I never know if what Im actually going to say will be to her liking because the text and voice dont match. Please fix!