Yep, the luck based system is bad. Is it worth quitting over? Doubtful. That decision, however, is up to the individual. Take solace in the fact that BM gear is not much better than Champ. Some pieces are actually downgrades, until you swap out enhancements. Just beat those 1-week-to-BM-gear players with your own lesser gear, and make them come to the forums and whine.

I'm fairly sure Tech Override doesn't respect the GCD. Might be mistaken on that, but even if I am, it is instant, so it can be activated on the run. The mezz is now similarly instant. Even if TO triggers a GCD, you can use that time to close the distance, which will allow you to use KBs as interrupts. Also, most heals have a cast time greater than 1.5 seconds. If you act quickly, you can get the mezz off before the heal finishes.

I hate those matches. I'm playing huttball 1 vs 8 while the rest of my team is playing deathmatch.

Of course, these things are on a server by server basis, and are subject to massive observer bias. That being said... The state of things as I see them on Po5: Both sides have a collection of both great and terrible players. On most days, the dominance goes in shifts. Reps do well during the day. Imps tear it up from around 3-5pm EST. Reps wreck shop from 5-7. Things even out from 7-11. Reps do well late night on weekdays, Imps do well at those times on Friday and Saturday. Weekend days are a tossup. That's all for the 50 bracket. In the sub-50... Reps seem to dominate more often than not. This has changed as the game has changed. Early on, Imps were dominant at most times. The general suspicion was that more of them had leveled faster, and rode that advantage to faster gear. Hard to confirm or deny. Personally, I suspect that poorly played Reps who blame gear, OP classes, faction imbalance, or any factor other than themselves for their failures, rerolled Imp early. Meanwhile, Imps who wanted more challenge hopped over to the less populated side. That's my conspiracy theory on why Rep does so well sub-50.

As Commando, I approach them one of two ways, depending on spec: Assault: I view it as a burst race. I like to whittle them down a bit slowly, hoping to lure them into a false feeling of comfort, then stack the damage and hope to knock a huge chunk out all at once. I'll hit incendiary round, follow with Assault Plastique, follow with Charged Bolts, followed immediately with High Impact Bolt. Three of those abilities will hit at nearly the same time with proper timing. With a little luck, that combo will net close to 10k damage when it all blows up. That usually puts them into panic mode, if it doesn't kill them outright. Depending on what they do next, I'll either use Full Auto and hope it resets HIB, or use Cryo Grenade to keep him in place if he tries to run away. Conversely, I'll use a rundown similar to what was mentioned in page 1. A few weak attacks to drop his bubble, Concussion Shot to make him burn his CC break, then burst and stun. Gunnery: I find healers to be a much tougher battle as gunnery. While my overall damage is higher and more efficient, I simply don't burst as hard as Assault. Most of the times when I fight a healer, it comes down to me pitting my efficiency against his. I go into boss fight mode, using a solid damage rotation while maintaining the highest ammo regen rate possible. Usually, this will either result in me eventually outlasting his resource bar, or him getting so focused on healing himself that he lets his allies die, and my teammates are freed up to help me kill the healer.

That's probably the only thing I'd change, though I do play around with different variants from time to time.

I'm not a fan of Nightvision Scope. It may just be a playstyle thing. I rarely go off alone, and don't seem to attract too many stealthers. When I am alone, I can usually flush them out with stealth scan. Adrenaline Fueled and Reflexive Shield are both good talents. I prefer AF since it is something I have more control over. Remember, it procs on all crits, even from your DOTs. Rapid Recharge is good as well, since Assault is less ammo friendly than Gunnery.

First off, get your PVE 4 piece bonus as quickly as possible. Do dailies, run HMs, whatever it takes. Both the 2 and 4 piece contribute to ammo stability. I won't claim to be perfect, but here is how I approach boss fights: Start off with Full Auto. It does good damage, and by the time the 3 second channel is done, you will have fully recharged the ammo used to activate it. Also, if you spec properly, grav rounds will reset the CD on Full Auto, and make the next Full Auto do 25% more damage. Follow with Grav x3. If you have your PVE 2 piece, you should have a crit rate of around 50% on Grav in raids (assuming smuggler buff.) You should get a cell charger proc or two as you cast these. Use Full Auto whenever curtain of fire procs. ** IF you have your PVE 4 piece, use HIB whenever possible. It is free, and should be used whenever it is off CD. Follow the third Grav with Demo round. Grav x2, followed by HIB. If you have your 4 piece, HIB may be on CD. After this point, look at your ammo: If you've gotten good crit luck, and cell charger has kept your ammo high, continue with the Grav rotation, using FA, HIB and Demo every time they are up. If you're ammo has gotten low, use Reserve Powercell to cast Mortar. The free 3 second cast will allow you to regen a couple ticks of ammo. In situations where you cannot Mortar, use Reserve Powercell to cast Full Auto. Feel free to hit Hammer Shots a few times to go from >>> to >>>> on your charge meter. For burn phases, I like to activate relics, use everything I have (Grav, HIB, Grav, Demo, Grav, FA) and activate recharge cells afterward to get me back into the fast recharge range. Remember: A few Hammer Shots early on are more effective than spamming hammer after depleting your ammo. Always try to stay in the fastest two recharge states.

I like it, will have to try it when I get home today.

I actually had someone scold me for using East/West, insisting that I use Right/Left... It has been said dozens of times: East/West are absolute, right/left are subjective. Use the absolutes.

So, they're adding in a system that rewards time and effort, and offers a guaranteed payout rather than a random chance at payout? While also giving people incentive to stay in losing warzones rather than leaving? Fantastic, I say. They've given us exactly what we asked for. Of course, people will still complain. Here are some words for the complainers: If you're in champ gear, and complain about getting rolled by BMs, it's not the gear. It's you. That same player would kill you with equal gear. Stop blaming outside sources. Take a look in the mirror, accept that you are looking at your problem, and work to fix it. BM gear is a small upgrade at best over Champ. Many of the pieces are sidegrades. Some are actually downgrades, and have to have their enhancements swapped out to be useful. Why make things cost WZ and Merc commendations, instead of just raising the WZ commendation cap? Perhaps they are going to introduce more ways to get merc comms. Having multiple commendations allows them more flexibility. It gives them the opportunity to cater to different styles of PVP. Of course, I'm speaking of things that make sense here. No guarantee that BW will follow through.

Some get the good luck, some get the bad. I've kept precise track of my bags, and am sitting at 9/50. And 5 of those bags came from a 5/7 stretch from the mid 30's to the early 40s. On a 0/9 streak now. Take some solace in the fact that BM gear is a very slight upgrade at best, and an honest DOWNgrade at times. Most of the pieces I have not yet bought will require me to swap out an enhancement in order to make them upgrades. You aren't missing much.

In the new system? Basically impossible. In the old system, however... Completely random. Many people hit BM without full Champ sets. Personally, I never had Champ legs, but was lucky enough to get all other pieces. I did Ilum enough to finish dailies and weeklies, but most of my pre-BM Ilum time was in the era of objectives. As for now, I really don't see how anyone can go from valor 50-60 without gaining a full Champ set, unless they're rolling with the Ilum zerg.

Not sure which I hate more, the people who don't even understand the concept of a pass, or the people who love to sit at the edge of the endzone, shooting the ball carrier who is down in the pit, and providing a PERFECT force leap target, which leads to a score. Easy solution to the score = medal issue: Make an additional medal for an Assist. If the person you pass to scores within 10 seconds, you get as much credit for the score as them.

Signed. Nothing I more than being a quarter of the way through a bomb plant, and seeing a teammate run up and start planting, rather than stunning, slowing, rooting, etc. the enemy. I'll add one more: 4 people defending 1 node when we're down 2:1 in Civil War. There's no point in holding 1 when we need 2 to win. Keep 1, 2 max there to prevent the ninja, and go attack another turret. Oh, and attack that turret in force, not one by one. Also, attack the same turret that your team is focusing on.