Telling us if you're Gunnery or Assault is the best place to start, but what Khevar listed would also help a ton.

The community has been discussing and forming changes around the future of Engineering over in the PVE questions thread.

Okay, in that case most guilds would not be happy with that as by you not joining the guild you have zero commitment to them. For all they know you could be showing up just to get gear and then ditch once you're all set. A system The Last Centurions used to have pre-2.7 is that we'd let players run with characters who were in other guilds as long as they had an alt in our guild. However, this created issues as a handful of those players would get gear for that character, important drops like implants, and then once they were set on gear stop running with us in order to run with their guild and teach them the strategies we taught them. This was not only effectively losing a member we invested time and gear with, but also set back gearing our committed guild members, not to mention our players who would go on to be core progression members. This is why we don't allow people to run with us like that any more. If you find a casual guild with skilled players that don't care if you come or go you may find a place, but you'll be very hard pressed to find a guaranteed Ops spot in a guild you're not officially a member of for many reasons, some like the ones I listed above. EDIT: To be more explicit, what you're purposing is not fair to the guild you would be doing progression with as you wouldn't be a member. The fair thing to both guilds would be to transfer your GM from your Combat Sentinel to an alt of yours and move that Sentinel into the progression guild. Having your Sentinel in another guild shouldn't take away from your ability from leading your guild. If does you can always switch back your Sentinel back. I did something similar once with my Sage back when NiM TFB and S&V was progression content. I moved my main to Chatos Paladins (RIP) to run NiM S&V, transferred GM to my Gunslinger and ran NiM TFB with my Gunslinger with MLP (RIP). Before you ask, Chatos and MLP didn't go inactive from me doing this. That can be attributed to members' interest level in the game and end-game content.

It shouldn't be much of a problem for you to throw a character in to another guild just for the sake of doing Ops and still run your guild. Now if guilds will accept this practice will depend on the guild as some don't mind members joining multiple guilds and others dislike or outlaw this. Depending on what's progression in your case finding a progression guild for Ops may be difficult for you. If you're looking for Hardmode Dread Fortress or Dread Palace I know there are guilds fielding more members for that content. However, if you're looking for Nightmare progression you're going to be hard pressed as melee DPS (particularly Sentinels) are very abundant and most guilds are looking for strong ranged DPS to fill their roster at this moment. Keep in mind that Nightmare progression guilds will expect you to have cleared both hardmodes, be in mostly/fully optimized Dread Forged gear, and as a DPS to submit dummy parses and possibly an AMR profile. Also food for thought, as a guild leader removing a character (especially your main) from the guild will send messages to the entire guild (plural as everyone will interpret this in their own way). Do your best to be transparent in the process and explain what you're doing with the character and why to prevent members getting the wrong impression. From the sound of it, you have a very good reason and I'm sure your guildmates will understand once you explain this to them. Most of all don't forget that this is a game so you should be getting as much enjoyment out of it as you can at your leisure.

Still could use more for the HMs!

It was intended to be "a fun bit of extra damage" but people have worked playstyles and rotations around using it on cooldown as it's a huge DPS boost. Unless you're good at the roll-in-place exploit don't bother with using it often. If you're running Operations I would learn a different spec, like Sharpshooter or Dirty Fighting.

Sweet work on your parses, Odawgg! I've mostly been running my Gunslinger in the new NiM content but I got to fill for a group's DPS on my Gunnery Commando and I was very happy to see how well the fight worked for Gunnery. I'm looking forward to your updates on the Arsenal portion of your guide.

The best way to learn is to look at the top parses to learn what they're doing, like Clamied's +3.7k DPS parse. However, I'll also respond to your questions briefly as well. 1. Yes, you want to keep Corrosive Dart on CD as best you can. In the MM rotation there are a few gaps left due to the short cast on OS and the 1.5 cast on Ambush, so you'll want to fill those gaps with other abilities like Corrosive Dart. This is the spec you should be using most of the time, 36/4/6 (you can also take 1 point from Cover Screen to use for Distraction instead of Snap Shot). If you need an explanation as to why the SWTORboard guide explanis it briefly (note the skill tree listed there is out of date). 2. Yes, you want to keep using Orbital Strike in a single-target rotation because it is only a 1.5s cast and you have extra GCDs you need to fill with abilities. Not to mention it costs little energy and is on a 30sec cooldown. 3. You should use your Adrenal and Target Acquired in conjunction with your first Explosive Probe. Use Sniper Volley as soon as it comes off cooldown as the alacrity boost increases DPS by a lot. Only delay it if you know there is a burst phase coming up so you can use back to back Series of Shots. 4. Don't worry about using Shatter Shot unless your group is missing Arsenal Mercs and Juggernauts (tanks or DPS). If you're on armor debuff duty just squeeze it in as it falls of CD (so every 45 sec). If you don't want to delay your rotation at all I guess you could remove Orbital Strike from the rotation or something, I usually don't have to worry about throwing it on so I'm not sure where it is optimal to use. 5. Explosive Probe should be used rotationally. 6. I only take Explosive Engineering for fights that benefit from the AOE damage boost, like Draxus in Dread Fortress. Otherwise, Corrosive Microbes > Explosive Engineering.

My parse is the Gunnery one above and I'd be happy to explain the 2.7 rotation a bit. First I'd like to state that I developed the following brief notes pre-2.7 from a parse Pizza did on the PTS, so I just really put his parse into writing. The quoted explanation was taken from my guild's forum where I was helping other guild members learn and practice the new 2.7 Gunnery. I rewrote it a bit for here to so it reads better. My parse is a reflection of what is expected to be the average 2.7 Gunnery parse in DF gear as it delays CoF/Barrage proc a few times (big DPS loss) and Demo Round/HSM a few times (minor DPS loss). For those of you familiar with Dirty Fighting/Lethality Gunslingers/Snipers, delaying CoF/Barrage would be like delaying Wounding Shots/Cull (that being a major DPS loss). Pizza's parse is a great example of what reducing mistakes in the rotation can do for Gunnery/Arsenal's sustained DPS. Pizza's gear was a little bit better than mine in his parse, but not by a whole lot so his parse exhibits a higher skill level and familiarity with the current rotation. If you have further questions or specific help I'll do what I can when I have the time to respond, but you'll need to send me/post a parse so I can see what you're doing.

My hero!

Smack'my - Commando - Gunnery - 6/36/4 - 4'44.495s Log Link: http://www.torparse.com/a/655713/time/1398365355/1398365640/0/Overview AMR Profile: http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/0060daae-1309-4513-8764-e88c6e94d55f I delayed a few Curtain of Fire procs which hurts DPS a lot and I know it's no Assault/Pyro numbers, but I haven't seen many 2.7 Gunnery/Arsenal parses (aside from Pizza's) floating around so I'd like to present a proof of concept that the spec isn't horrible in sustained, just below average. I'd wager if you don't delay CoF/Barrage procs and get a decent amount of Dread Master gear, 3600DPS on the dummy won't be too hard to get with a few lucky crits. EDIT: Also this would be a good representation of the average DPS for full DF Gunnery/Arsenal (albeit my parse had a few pieces of DM but I made enough mistakes to balance that out ).

Republic - Goopy Can Craft: Advanced Skill Barrel 34 While it's a different character with the schematic, I'm just going to use the same character name for easy recognition.

Dummy parse - 1 million health using armor debuff Use also - attack adrenal (reusable or blue), blue stimulant/stim DPS for Nightmare should be 3400-3500 minimum DPS for Hardmode should be ~3200 (not sure on Hardmode)

*Slowly brings out a list in anticipation*

Do only guilds who are in the #1 spot of planet conquering get the bonus, or do the second and third runners up also receive a lesser bonus? Also, do these bonuses affect other in-game qualities or are they just more of what guild bonuses already consist of (e.g. XP and Reputation bonus)?

Republic - Goopy Can Craft: Dread Forged Field Tech's MK-V Package You can also contact any of the characters in my signature or my Imperial character Mister'kidd. However, I don't check my Imp toon that often so responses there will be delayed.

1 - Makes Engineering/Saboteur rotation even worse. 2 - Holy burst-potential Batman! 3 - Seems like something that would be Saboteur exclusive. To be honest I think a good change for Sharpshooter would be a talent that makes Sweeping Gunfire/Suppresive Fire not awful. Energy reduction and channel time reduction would be a good place to start.

Revised based on feedback gathered from the last few days. Questions are labelled in accordance to spec and number for organization and easy referral. Marksmanship/Sharpshooter Questions: (MM1) The current iteration of the Marksmanship/Sharpshooter specialization lacks unique and effective offensive area of effect (AOE) abilities for groups of less than five targets. What can the combat team do to improve Marksmanship/Sharpshooter offensive AOE capabilities in a way that's unique to it in comparison to the other specializations? (MM2) There are noticeable gaps in the Marksmanship/Sharpshooter rotation where the player is left having to fill empty space with unintended rotational abilities, like Explosive Probe/Sabotage Charge. This rotational gap appears to be caused by the 1.5 second cast on Aimed Shot effectively making the cooldown of Aimed Shot 13.5 seconds instead of 12 seconds. Is filling this gap with unintended rotational abilities by design and what is the design choice behind that? Lethality/Dirty Fighting Questions: (LETH1) Weakening/Hemorrhaging Blast stacks of one Sniper/Gunslinger can be consumed by any Sniper's/Gunslinger's damage-over-time abilities and Cull/Wounding Shots. This reduces the applier's damage output as Weakening/Hemorrhaging Blast stacks are being consumed by abilities less effective then the caster's Cull/Wounding Shots. It's important to note that the Sith Inquisitor's/Jedi Consular's Deathmark/Force Suppression also faces the same issue. How would the combat team fix the issue of other Snipers'/Gunslingers' DOTs and Culls/Wounding Shots consuming the caster's stacks of Weakening/Hemorrhaging Blast? (LETH2) Lethal Takedown's/Dirty Shot's high, but not 100%, proc rate leads players to question what the purpose of having that slim chance to miss is. What were the design decisions behind making Lethal Takedown/Dirty Shot not a 100% chance proc and would the combat team consider making the ability a 100% chance proc to improve quality of life? Engineering/Saboteur Questions: (ENG1) In the previous round of questions for Snipers, the combat team stated they're dissatisfaction of the Engineering/Saboteur specialization noting that long cooldowns on core abilities, single target limit on Interrogation Probe/Shock Charge, and the energy management mechanics all contributed to a clunky rotation and playstyle. What has the combat team drawn up since the previous set of answers for resolving these issues present in the Engineering/Saboteur specialization? Change Log: Cut the length of most questions significantly MM3 is now MM2 Cut original MM2 as MM3 seems to ask the same thing but in a more effective way

By the rules we are obligated to ask one question from the PvE community, one from the PVP, and one that can apply to all areas or just one. If set bonuses are the biggest PvP concern you can submit it as a PvP question so it won't be competing with PvE ones.

*Engineering without roll.

HM runs can happen any time of the week and usually would form up around 8-9pm PST depending on the day (our sign-ups outlines all days and times). More healers for HM raids would be very welcome. In other news, TLC is now 4/5 NiM DF on our third day of raiding. We're making good time! We are still looking for more players to fill HM runs so come on and apply!

The Last Centurions - Republic Nightmare Dread Fortress Grob'thok @ 4/15 - 10:07pm PST (server) - Screenshot Corruptor Zero @ 4/15 - 11:05pm PST (server) - Screenshot Day three of the Nightmare Ops has been a great success.

Hey Paowee and everyone! Below you'll find some questions that I've written based on what Paowee summed up a few posts ago with all those quotations and summary. I hope these drafts help the process and I'm looking forward to feedback on them! Also feel free to continuing adding questions and ideas to thread, I'm just trying to help keep the ball rolling. Questions are labeled in accordance to spec and number for organization and easy referral. Marksmanship/Sharpshooter Questions: (MM1) The current iteration of the Marksmanship/Sharpshooter specialization is severely lacking in Area of Effect (AOE) capabilities due to the underwhelming performance of Orbital Strike/XS Freighter Flyby on small to moderate quantities of enemies, the high energy cost of Fragmentation Grenade/Thermal Grenade, and the high energy cost, long channel, small area of effect and underwhelming damage output of Suppressive Fire/Sweeping Gunfire on groups of enemies smaller or greater then three targets. What can the combat team do to improve Marksmanship/Sharpshooter AOE capabilities in a way that's unique to it in comparison to the other specializations? (MM2) Marksmanship/Sharpshooter sustained DPS is currently unreliable due to the gaps in the rotation left by the change to Orbital Strike/XS Freighter Flyby and the critical hit dependency of the specialization. An idea for making sustained DPS more reliable without altering burst damage would be to reduce the cooldown of Sniper Volley/Burst Volley to 30 seconds to align with the cooldown of Explosive Probe/Sabotage Charge so that Explosive Probe/Sabotage Charge can be used as soon as it comes off of cooldown without taking a large energy penalty. Would the combat team find the noted Sniper Volley/Burst Volley change viable, and if not what could be done to make Marksmanship/Sharpshooter DPS more reliable in terms of sustained DPS? (NOTE: This is not a request for an increase in DPS but rather a request to be more consistent in the sustained damage numbers Marksmanship/Sharpshooter produces) Lethality/Dirty Fighting Questions: (LETH1) Weakening Blast/Hemorrhaging Blast currently works by applying 10 debuff stacks to the target which then are consumed by Corrosive Greande/Shrap Bomb, Corrosive Dart/Vital Shot, and Cull/Wounding Shots ticks. For Lethality/Dirty Fighting it's most advantageous if the majority of Weakening/Hemorrhaging Blast stacks are consumed by the powerful internal damage ticks of Cull/Wounding Shots. However, the stacks cannot only be consumed by the player's own DOTs, but the DOTs and Culls/Wounding Shots of other players. This makes having more then one Sniper/Gunslinger in the group utilizing DOTs a disadvantage as the DOTs can eat away stacks quickly before Culls/Wounding Shots can take advantage of Weakening/Hemorrhaging Blast stacks. A solution would be for the ability to apply a buff to the player making their next ten internal damage ticks to a target deal extra damage, or their next Cull/Wounding Shots to deal the 30% increased damage on the internal ticks. It's also important to note that the Sith Inquisitor's/Jedi Consular's Deathmark/Force Suppression also has the same issue of other Inquisitor/Consular DOTs consuming those debuff stacks of Deathmark/Force Suppression as well. How would the combat team fix the issue of other players' DOTs and Culls/Wounding Shots consuming the player's stacks of Weakening/Hemorrhaging Blast? (LETH2) The current proc chance of Lethal Takedown/Dirty Shot is currently very high but not 100%. While on the occasion that the ability does not proc, the missing Takedown/Quickdraw can hurt sustained DPS. This is a questionable and seemingly unnecessary punishment for Lethality/Dirty Fighting. What were the design decisions behind making Lethal Takedown/Dirty Shot not a 100% chance proc and would the combat team consider making the ability a 100% chance proc to improve quality of life? Engineering/Saboteur Questions: (ENG1) In the previous round of questions for Snipers, you stated the following about Engineering/Saboteur: Snipers received that response nearly a year ago and there has been little to no change for the Engineering/Saboteur specialization as it continues to face the exact same problems it had a year ago in addition to a severe sustained, burst and AOE DPS loss at the change of Orbital Strike/XS Freighter Flyby. What has the combat team drawn up since then for fixing these issues present in the Engineering/Saboteur specialization? Questions I left out and why: Questions about rolling abilities were left out as they were answered in the last round with the "OTHER" question. In short, BioWare doesn't intend for these abilities to be used rotationally and see them as "a fun bit of extra damage." Asking questions in relation to these abilities are worthless as we have an answer for most of them and they're low on the priority list for Snipers/Gunslingers right now. Any questions about increasing raw damage are a no-go as Snipers/Gunslingers are generally in a great place Offensive cooldowns, like Laze Target, are low priority and would be more for a QoL change at this point in the game Not sure where to fit in a set bonus question and I see it as low priority EDIT: Questions suggested by my friend who cringed at the above questions but doesn't like to post. I wrote these in conjunction with him. (MM3) Currently there are noticeable gaps in the Marksmanship/Sharpshooter rotation where the player is left having to fill empty space with unintended rotational abilities, like Explosive Probe/Sabotage Charge. This rotational gap is caused by the 1.5 second cast on Aimed Shot effectively making the cooldown of Aimed Shot 13.5 seconds instead of 12 seconds. Is filling this gap with unintended rotational abilities by design and what is the design choice behind that? He had another but I don't have the time to write it up at the moment.

You forget that Engineering still exists.

Jad covered it. For future reference, I'd recommend looking at the DPS Leaderboard threads that stay updated in the Flashpoints and Operations board. You can see all the top-performing specs of each class on static encounter.