I was absolutely torn as well. Looking at a pure PvP perspective, as much as I love my Mara, I'd have to say Jugg in PvP; Vengeance specifically. Enraged Defense is an amazing CD already, but you can get an extra 15% DR in Veng with ED popped, Bringing you up to a tanks Damage Reduction. Not to mention taunts, intercede, the fact that Veng doesn't suffer much if you throw on Soresu form for an Arena. I just feel Juggs can benefit your team more in PvP. That being said, I still love my Mara. Plowing through a healer as Carnage is just a great feeling.

Carnage is, on average, 3550/3700.*** Anni with changes is pulling around the same. 3750ish on a good crit parse.*** Is this on par with specs like Concealment Op or Eng Snipers (Which are supposed to be getting hit with a nerfbat soon)? No, but things will be improved and other classes will be nerfed to balance everything. Imo, the only spec not viable for NiM PvE is Rage (Maybe for Draxus, C-0 and Bestia; and that's a big maybe) . I've run Carnage in about 75% of NiM content at gear level and experienced no issues whatsoever. *** - In my experience/my average parses. Could be more for the overall average

There is a visual and sound cue for both procs. They're a bit hard to see with everything else going on, though. Between Berserk/Zen, the Weaponmaster buff, and Fury/Centering, it's a lot to look out for (Execute being prime in this. Slaughter is pretty easy to spot.). I recommend keeping an eye on your buff bar at all times. Buffs are a million times easier to spot than the animations.

Been playing Mara since right before 2.0 dropped (A week or 2. Mained a Deception Sin before that) and over time, I'd like to think I picked up the specs fairly well; Carnage being my favorite byfar and hating Dotsmash with a passion (Glad to see it being nerfed in 2.8 ). I'm averaging around 3650 to 3700 on the dummy with debuffs/1mil hp. (See link for my most recent parse. Best without debuffs was around 3568) I've looked around and see some Carnage/Combat parses breaking 3800 and almost into 3900. With what I know, I'd say that's due to lucky crits, but I figured I'd check here and see what everyone's opinion was. Is there any room in my parse where I could improve? Or do I just need the stars to align to get the crits I need for a 3800ish parse? One thing that's always been a mystery to me is a good time to throw on Rupture. I know it should be after you get Execute, but should I stack it before I start up my Gore windows, or does it not really matter? Parse - http://www.torparse.com/a/673506/time/1400143481/1400143752/0/Overview

I understand Sents not using it. I mean, come on. Who wants to be depressed...........? BioWare, that's your cue to change the debuff name

Mastered? It's painfully easy to play anyway. Besides that, everyone else has already covered it. Hybrids are not meant to exist (As much as I like Sniper hybrid)

Xenoph - Marauder - Rage Spec 2/8/36 - TTK 4'45.206s http://www.torparse.com/a/655670/time/1398360692/1398360977/0/Overview AMR - http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/37da2c19-3472-43e2-879a-8e01f2e66eac

I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but personally I like Combat the way it is now. If something doesn't proc right, you have to adapt to keep your dps up. I don't feel OA should go to a stack based thing, but I wouldn't mind a much higher proc chance (50 to 60% up from 15 to 30%). I just don't like the whole "Making everything a stack based buff" idea. It makes things too simple imo.

GENERAL Make Enraged Slash a 2 point skill. Make Short Fuse 1 point. Move Stagger to the Rage tree and replace it with Force Vigor. Or get rid of Stagger altogether. Add a skill to tier 1 of a skill tree - Wrath of a Sith - Boosts your Strength by 3/6/9% CARNAGE I like the idea for Massacre building stacks, but I could see that interfering with Slaughter. Unless one is Massacre builds stacks for Execute and Ataru form hits build stacks for Slaughter. I feel no real issues with Carnage, though. Also, lower the skill tier for Brooding (Channel Hatred builds Fury. Can't remember the name of it.) since every spec could benefit pretty nicely from it. ANNIHILATION For Annihilation, give berserk a couple more stacks. Remove the chance for Vicious Slash to proc Ruptures CD and make Annihilate/Vicious throw proc it 100% of the time. Also, have Deadly Saber require Juyo form (Will pretty much end DoTsmash) RAGE As for Rage? I don't really see any need to mess with it. I don't feel the need to change the Force Scream skill to all specs. Annihilation doesn't use Force Scream in its rotation, Carnage (If proposed changes are made) would be free from Execute, if not it's not a huge cost, and Rage would have it free from Obliterate/Charge.

Yeah. It was more of a joke. No alacrity is ever needed. Even from comm gear. If you start using alacrity, you'll screw up your proc timers.

Surge to 75, 100% accuracy. Then start stacking Alacrity In all seriousness, though. I feel it's better to just take the heavy DR hit and keep stacking Surge. I mean, I see no real point to stack ONLY 75ish Surge just to pick up one or two extra accuracy enhancements.

I'd suggest playing Carnage or Anni and not being an autoplay Mara (Sorry, I just hate DoTSmash =( ) Carnage has some nice defenses and the extra speed on Pred is a nice pick-me-up for people who have a problem with C-Zero's anti-grav field. Annihilation heals can come in handy for stuff like DoT dmg (Nefra in particular) it might just give that little bit of punch the healer needs to get a cast off.

Level 45 to 47 imo. 47 is my preferred because I'll have a 66% chance to refund rage with Massacre. 48 is when it really starts getting good ragewise.

So I've wondered this for a while. For Veng, since the Ravage proc is guaranteed, would it be more beneficial to stack the Mara 2 piece with the Jugg DPS 2 piece? I would figure 5% on Ravage would be better than 8% on Scream. I mean, mathematically the 5% on Ravage would be better, right?

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l366/2tilmidnite/Screenshot_2014-03-28_20_25_25_333302.jpg 55 Combat Medic. Went for a bit of a black ops/Shadowtrooper look.

Play whichever spec you find more fun. Case closed. I've run both and have never had an issue in any content......except PvP. PvP is the bane of Assault if a healer is smart enough to cleanse in my experiences.

This, It's hard to judge Commando healing pre-30 imo. At 30 you have Supercharged Cells, Trauma Probe, a HoT on Kolto Bomb, immunity to interrupts on your shield, and if I recall the tree setup, you also can cut Medical Probes cost in half by using Advanced Medical Probe. Out of all the healing classes, Commando/Merc is byfar the most fun to me. It's frustrating at the start due to energy management, but stick with it. It only gets better with time.

/signed SWG in my opinion had one of the best Vet rewards systems in an MMO.. It was nothing game breaking, but just special mounts, pets, unique house decorations only obtainable through the Vet reward system, holograms of known characters (BioWare! Aren't you getting ready to release a player housing Xpac? *hinthint*)

This lol. Not to mention running with Kun members, being in the guild, all that. Nahh. You're referencing a Sith. Stop kidding yourself Nice vids, though. Solid gameplay.

Always Aim as a Merc. The only classes (in theory) that should specifically stack more Endurance are tank specced Juggernauts, Powertechs, and Assassins.

Hm. I'll have to play around with that. The extra chance to proc some rage could be helpful in some burn phases (Or when Carnage decides to beat the crap out of everyone's threat )

I highly recommend KBNs Combat Sentinel guide (Link at bottom of post) It's one of the best starting points for Carnage/Combat. Off the top of my head though? - No FS without Execute proc'd - FS only with Gore up - Save Ravage for use with Gore - Throw in Rupture during filler. - Berserk off CD - 7/36/3 PvE Spec - 5/41/0 PvP Spec - Don't get discouraged by crappy RNG That last one is a big one. Carnage is one of the hardest (imo) specs in the game due to its high reliance on RNG. If nothing is proccing, you just have to adapt to it. Above all, just have fun with it. It's a really fun spec once you get the rhythm of it. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=659058&highlight=combat+sentinel+guide

Honestly, best ya can do is gear out in oriconian until you get the chance to run with your mara. It all comes down to personal preference in the end. Dotsmash is fun, but I much prefer carnage. Besides, I honestly think dotsmash will see a patch soon. Like Deadly Saber requiring Juyo form.

BiS for Carnage is (iirc, not in game atm on my Mara) 3 78 Accuracy Enhancements 1 78 Crit/Surge Enhancement (Personal Preference, but most old Carnage Maras on Claimeds leaderboard were running it) Rest Power/Surge DF Serendip/Focused Retribution Relic As for augs, I prefer power, but strength work well too.

Hm. Will have to keep my eye out. I'm assuming the SM flashpoints?