Yeah I don't spec into the SS reset - I grab distraction instead to help with 1 v 1's. I did use SS yesterday to see how effective it was and it surprisingly did a lot of damage. Two in a row is overkill though because I'm never stationary that long. While I agree that you make up some of the damage and gain utility / energy regen for prolonged fights, I prefer ramming as much damage as I can into CS, TS, and QD for more burst - having to deal with 2 more GCDs before I can move or burst down a healer doesn't fit with my playstyle.

It says it increases the WS damage, so I assume it affects all of the procs that WS causes. Training dummies and logs will help prove out exactly what it does. I'm hesitant to try hybrid specs mostly because I feel like the synergies aren't really there past the 2nd tier. Energy use actually isn't that big of an issue for me. I'm used to rolling in premades that work together to dominate, and any time we come across another competitive premade, I have to try to burst down someone before I inevitably get focused down.

For DF I think the changes make our damage more consistent from engagement to engagement due to the free hemo and cheaper wounding shots. However, BW toned down the "burst" damage that you can get from a full rotation. The changes to SS might make Burst Volley worth it.

Copy and paste error. Meant to post it originally - just updated that post. One thing I'm changing from my normal playstyle is opening up with vital and shrap bomb instead of hemo. This could help a tad bit with the energy recovery in the first 3 GCDs before I start my wounding shots. The primary reason though is because I think I'm potentially missing out on some of hemo shot's effects at the end of wounding shots since I've let vital/shrap tick into the 10 stacks from hemo already. After playing SS for two days I think aside from the mobility/anti-LOS that DF gives you, the biggest different to SS is how other players react to you. Seeing big numbers pop up tends to draw attention quickly. With DF, everything kind of creeps up until it's too late.

I find that "here" and "there" are always right since it's always relative to me

I've swapped to SS - going to give it a whirl for a week and will post a vid once my reflexes are caught up with the new mappings.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=367592 I like my 2/8/31 build the most in terms of pure consistent killing power in PvP. Almost half of my kills are from killing blows - DF lets you finish what you start. A lot of that has to do with the mobility that DF gives you. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bZbIZGbbkrMGdhR.1 I'm playing a 31/3/7 build right now. Very different play-style, will post a video soon once I get used to it. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bsrrbRoRgzZ0cZGb.1

If you can, I would move 2 points into Steady Shots in the SS tree.

Merc's cure is on a 5 second CD as well, and cost 16 energy. At the minimum, for an active cleansing op/merc healer opponent, you can try to force them to overload their energy/forget to heal friendlies.

You know you can't use headshot in pvp right?

Here's some of the fun you can have in 50 wz's once you're geared up (which should coincide nicely for you with 1.2): http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=367592 In terms of PvE dps, slingers are way up there, both in terms of high sustained DPS and how much more flexibility range gives you in boss encounters. Making absolute comparisons between one class and another is sort of a moot point. You should play both and figure out what you like more. Sentinels will be more involved in terms of the sheer volume of abilities you need to utilize/pay attention to and the constant movement to stay in melee range - if you can manage everything well, then yes, a good Sent will generally out-dps a GS. If you can't, then GS might be more like your cup of tea. GS's are still pretty involved if you plan on staying alive long enough to actually put out dps, but again, it really boils down to how well you play the class.

No no no! I won't listen to reason or have any patience! Game is dead before I even read all of the patch notes. -sarcasm

This is the impression I get reading some of these threads. I guess I'll go back to reading books since it's obvious I won't be able to enjoy this game after 1.2.

Agree completely. In a 1 v 1 against an operative healer, I should be next to useless. It's "neuter" btw. But unlike 80% of the people out here, I don't play wz's to duel and I'm not trying to assert that GS's, or DF spec, is OP and can "zomg roflstomp everyone in every situation". No class/spec should or can do that. You say cleanse negates DF, but I say LoS (which everyone can do) negates SS/MM. Opinion and playstyle preferences decide which is actually better at the individual level. If I only fought Mars/Sents, I'd go SS. Just trying to illuminate the minds of people who haven't tried DF and think it's just sprinkling tasty Dipping Dots all over the place. In a group fight, I'm going to be the opportunistic ***** that hits while a healer is busy looking at his own teammates trying to keep them alive. Or if I'm on a different target, it's not always apparent to a healer looking at his raid screen who has been dotted up by me. My openers of hemo, shrap, and vital don't show up as significant chunks of a health bar - easy to overlook until it's too late. Sabo charge -> wounding shots -> quickdraw happens pretty quickly after that. Also, sorc healers can't cleanse tech damage, so they're toast.

Healer aggro should be self-explanatory. Apologies for the short clips and low quality - using the free Fraps and my gfx card can't handle full-size cap w/o skipping. I honestly think DF is the best spec for PvP (edit: for my playstyle preferences). Yeah, a SS can melt the Sorc (guarded, not moving, bubbled) just as quickly if not quicker, but I don't see that translating over to merc healers as easily. Plus the internal damage makes taking out tanks feasible. Yes, that merc made a huge mistake, not curing himself. So far, I haven't come across many that do. Thoughts? Edit: I've been playing SS for the first time since hitting 50. Have to say, being geared up in full BM/rakata and anywhere from 550 - 700 expertise depending on what I feel like scratching makes a huge difference. I critted a cent geared sentinel yesterday in Huttball for 5.7K weapon damage. It was cent gear, but still, I felt like a champ being able to dish it out like that. In the first video using adrenal bomb I think you can argue that the healer died in ~4 seconds. At least that is how long it takes for his HP to drop to start moving and drop to 0. Because he had guard and bubble, my openers never show up, and even Sabo charge gets eaten up by it. But, once wounding shots starts, it's too late for the healer to react. He tried to cast a self heal that I had distract ready for, but a teammate came in and interrupted for me. That's the main thing I miss about DF right now. It takes 3 GCDs to set up properly, but it's easy for your target to not notice and once you get rolling it's like rolling down on them in a freight train - as long as my target isn't an Op or Merc healer that can cleanse the dots.

OP is a gunslinger. So no your hybrid armor doesn't apply to him or me. You point out exactly what I was saying, PvP enforcer bonus sucks. I never said anything about mixing, just neglected to point out specifically that I was talking about PvP gear - the point I made was that even scrappers opt out of the PvP bonuses for enforcer. Good to know your server is super cool though.

Ditto.

you're kidding right. look at the set bonuses. enforcer is for scoundrels, and even then the best scrappers i know prefer to use field tech since the enforcer set bonuses suck. what are you going to do with the extra smuggle time as a gunslinger?

War Hero, just like battle master, doesn't mean much. It just means they spent more time in warzones and out on Ilum than the average player. Is that correlated to skill? Yes to a degree, but the worst sentinel I've ever seen is also a War Hero on my server. As for gear, yeah they'll have more BM pieces than you, since grind = gear in this game. Grind is somewhat related to skill, but there were many ways around that (Ilum). Bottom line - don't use titles to justify not being able to compete against someone. As for your PvE vs PvP gear, first of all, no you don't need >600 expertise. In order to get that high, you are throwing away more than you gain in terms of the primary stat vs expertise tradeoff (expertise is non-linear and has DR). Secondly, in some ways, it's easier to get PvP gear in this game. Your Rakata gear required coordinating solid chunks of time on a weekly basis with 8 other geared players. That's harder to do than the easy-mode PvP rewards. You can be full Champ by doing your dailies and weeklies in less than 2 weeks. BM is not significantly better than Champ. You actually have a leg up on the PvPer's because optimal gear mix is not to be full BM (stop between 550 and 600) and swap to T3 PvE gear after that. edit: 1.2 changes things a bit. I'll probably be rolling with ~700 expertise if this is true: http://sithwarrior.com/forums/attachment.php?aid=253

I'm at 41% crit w/o consular buff so for larger fights I throw out shrap bomb and vital shots on 3-4 targets first as an opener while I assess the situation. Having dots ticking away on 2-3 people really speeds up your energy recovery while you do your rotation on another target if you spec 2 points into Fighting Spirit. edit: 1.2 test server patch notes seem to take care of this a little by making weakening/hemo free.

Not sure of the names for Imps, but here's my GS rotation (for maximum impact against full health). Different situations will call for different things, so use this with care. Hemo blast -> Shrap bomb -> vital shot -> armor debuff -> sabo charge -> wounding shots -> speed shot -> quickdraw (sub in charged shot for speedshot if the auto-crit is up). Hemo gives my next 10 bleeds 30% more damage. I spec into the slow for shrap bomb so this helps keep them in range if they are trying to kite or break LOS. Vital is the 2nd dot. Armor debuff is to help with sabo charge (kinetic energy), speedshot/quickdraw. I have to drop into cover for sabo, and cover makes my wounding shots uninterruptable - since wounding shots is the primary damage mechanism, I find this helps consistently keep up my damage. It also gives me the chance to hunker down for the 2nd half of my rotation, which has the only 2 casts in my arsenal (wounding and speedshots). The first half of this rotation is all instant cast so you can be on the move and stay engaged on the target. Don't expect this to magically make you incredible in WZ's though. Knowing when to intersperse your base attack to manage your energy vs. drop everything for quick burst kills is going to be the key to your continued effectiveness in a match. Knowing when to drop in your defensive CDs and interrupts while managing your rotation is going to ensure that you survive engagements long enough to kill **** and get heals/backup from your team. If your CDs are up, you should expect to be able to burst down a light armor healer while 2-3 of his friends are pounding on you.

This is mine: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bZbIZGbbkrrhdhR.1 Your spec looks like you'd have a lot fewer energy issues and more consistent dps. For me I go full DF spec to get the hemorrhaging blast. I find that it really helps in bursting people down, especially if timed so that some of the stacks are still hitting when the target is below 30% so that Cold Blooded kicks in. More energy issues if not managed well, but the option to kill someone rather than just drive them from the fight is a pretty nice thing to have

Gunslinger - PVP Field Tech set bonus: 2 piece is 3 more secs on the XS flyby (4 ticks instead of 3, 12 seconds instead of 9) 4 piece is 40 meter quickdraw finishing nuke I love both of these. For some reason a huge number of players I've come across in WZ's seem to think that the fire on the ground is for warmth. With the 2 piece bonus, XS flyby is one of the best objective AOEs (denying and clearing) and on Ilum a well placed one can shift the entire battle by overloading the healers. With power adrenal this thing does 3.3K in yellow damage per tick to everyone warming their hands. For SS/MM specs, the CD on this sucker can be talented down to 45 seconds (only half a min between burning sensations?). I'm DF spec though so I only get to throw this out every minute. 40 meter instant nuke for <30% HP targets is ridiculous. On light armor I've critted for >4K total damage (main proc + offhand + bonus damage). Healers force speeding away in LOS are in a for nasty surprise. My PVE bonuses are pretty lame. 67 GS, 552 expertise BM + Rakata for PVP set.

I've been Dirty Fighting since hitting level 50. Never looked back, even for raiding. And yeah, pacing for energy use takes a bit to get used to - you have to pick your fights a bit more. But if I want to burn down a tank, I can burn down a tank (80% of my dmg is internal) whereas a Sharpshooter can pew pew pew all day and have everything mitigated. Not sure what you mean by "waiting" a second between casts. You should be spamming the **** out of your base attack - I crit up to 1.5K in white damage sometimes so it's significant damage over the course of a fight (usually about 3 interspersed in my rotation). The other side of that coin is that if I really need to take someone down and don't need to worry about energy, I can instant cast everything in the space of 3 GCDs for my main internal damage rotation. Like you point out, most people shrug off a sniper/gs that isn't using cover as someone that isn't doing a lot of damage. Then all hell breaks loose when the Hemo blast, shrap/vital dots are applied, sabo charge hits, and wounding shots starts to burn them down to 20% health. Quickdraw critting for close to 4K (+offhand and bonus damage) on light armor against champ geared opponents is also a hilarious surprise for healers who think they'll be around long enough for their cast bar to reach full. For survivability, I think it's appropriate for SS to have all the cover based defense points. They need it since to be effective they're essentially a sitting duck/turret with a glowing flag. Lots of saber aggro in that situation. The mobility for both kitting and chasing alone that you get from Dirty Fighting/Lethality is worth more than all of that.

Don't worry about getting a full BM set if you have at least 3 Rakata pieces. Pick and choose the Rakata pieces with the best tradeoff in terms of primary stat vs the BM expertise. You should be around 552 expertise and have 3 slots for Rakata - end result is better than full BM because of DR on expertise. I have 6 spare BM tokens plus 4 that I used to check out mods/enhancements for different spec gear sets on my 67 GS because it's worse for me to swap my Rakata weaps and boots for the BM equivalents.