For a tankasin you can just sub Spike for Low Slash.

I was going to say this.

Why would you be adding Absorb before Shield though when Absorption doesn't take place unless Shielding does? It'd be similar to stacking Surge w/o any Crit.

The survivability buff comes in the form of Sorcs, Concealment Ops, and Mercs all getting nerfed. This is why someone posted "Do you really want them to look closer at your class?", the classes that got looked at got nerfed. I guess nothing changed for us because no one is crying about Assassins in PvP.

Not to nitpick, but it might be a good idea to start getting the tier numbers straight. What's coming out in 1.2 is not tier 4, it is tier 2. It goes like this: Tionese = Tier 1.1 Columi = Tier 1.2 Rakata = Tier 1.3 Patch 1.2 will have Tier 2.x gear. The fact that in the 1.2 preview video it mentions "Extractable Tier 2 Armoring Mods" makes me wonder if we will be able to take the armorings out of current Rakata gear.

What exactly do you have as proof that Ops DPS is the worst in endgame?

I don't PvP religiously so I'll skip (1). As for (2), while we do get 2 extra GCDs, are we getting enough extra energy where we can have one Overload Shot and one Rifle Shot w/o a net energy loss? I take it +5 energy cost on Backstab at 12s cd versus Laceration at -5 energy cost should yield us some extra energy with Lacerate being used more. If we do end up with a DPS loss, and all signs of talent changes point to yes barring the "under the hood" changes, perhaps they can increase the Collateral Strike proc rate to re-adjust our DPS.

I see what you mean. Even in single target boss encounters would one want to still use Discharge for the debuff it applies?

As far as my own experiences on the solo bosses in EV, can't really comment on that because I get put on different bosses depending on my spec. I can say that against the Juggernaut boss I'm usually the first few if not the very first person to finish the boss while in 23/1/17 spec.

If Madness Assassin isn't beating you easily on the same HP bosses in EV, they're not keeping their rotation tight enough. A Deception Assassin losing to you doesn't say anything about your dps being high b/c in that fight he cannot use Maul which is a huge contributor to Deception DPS. I've used 24/0/17 and 7/3/31 specs against the Freeing the Fallen boss and Madness comes out way ahead of hybrid Darkness. I don't know how you can possibly get 87% surge when last I read it was hard capped at 80%. While the other two specs do rely on Accuracy a bit more, it does come into their advantage when mobs are below 30% health and Assassinate becomes the top ability for all 3 specs to use. PS. I really hope you typed this post on a phone.

Not true abotu only having Thrash and Shock for threat generation. In the 24/0/17 spec (or variations of it) you also get threat gen from Dark Charge effects and its Discharge. Plus you always have 2 taunts and Force Pull as well. Personally I kind of see the decision to choose between 24/0/17 and 31/0/10 as a preference thing. I tried 31/0/10 for a couple of days and just didn't enjoy playing it, it felt too caster for me and if I wanted to make a caster I would have rolled a Sorc.

Take 3 points out of Deception (2 from Dark Embrace and 1 from Duplicity), put them in Electrify and Lightning Recovery. Dark Embrace just doesn't get used enough without Darkswell, and you really want to save your Cloak for times you pull aggro when you're not supposed to. If you want to keep Deception's points as is that's fine, but you must find a point somewhere to get Electrify, that's 15% Shock damage you're losing there.

http://dulfy.net/2012/01/07/guide-advanced-magenta-crystal/

When the Mara can tank Sorno and offtank on Fabricator, not to mention taunt Soa if our MT is Mind Trapped or killed, I can go back to full Madness.

Depends a bit on if you plan to go dark side or light side. Khem > Qyzen by many many miles. I do like the healing companion on Consulars more than the one for Inquisitors.

This is what I wanted to post about difference between the two. I was able to put Ashara in dual lightsabers from spending my Tionese tokens, but can't do the same for Andronikus due to lack of Blaster Pistols with Cunning to buy. While this is onl t1 and you can buy t1 barrels for Andronikus, if you land Sith Warr mainhand/offhand tokens as companion loot in your raid, you can get Ashara t1.2 lightsabers while Andro can't use t1.2 grade weapons.

Word on the street is BHs are getting a nerf in 1.2. Not having huge crits doesn't make a class broken. Assassin dps comes in a bunch of smaller hits/crits than few large ones. On my Op I do see big crits when I'm using Hidden Strike, Backstab, Shiv, Lacerate, but I'm also finding myself using the default attack a lot and much sooner than on my Assassin. I also find survivability to be higher with the Assassin (better escapes) than with the Op. Bottom line is, to ppl complaining about Assassin dps, is that big crits don't mean better dps overall. As far as Mercs go there's just no way their current mechanic is intended and I do believe the nerf will come.

Or you can always keep using tank companion and not bother switching to a tank spec. If you do stick with Ashara though, be sure to get her geared and fill in those empty item slots she comes with.

Take some time to read the sticky on the first page to get an idea what each ability does and what your priorities should be. Here's the link: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=778

There are also some other discussions on Darkness DPS. Some have suggested to go 31/0/10 and just switch gear and saber charge depending on the particular fight. Going to Lightning Charge doesn't affect Wither and Harnessed Darkness, but does affect Energize. However, the 3% extra crit chance and removal of the 5% melee dmg penalty, as well as less aggro generated, should offset not having Energize. In my opinion and experience, finding a point to put in Duplicity helps a lot when serving the DPS role in tanking spec.

I use something similar to that spec, 23/1/17, and have no problems with holding aggro in Hard Mode flashpoints. I have had trouble when going as DPS and pulling aggro off our tanks (at times even with Guard on due to gear difference between me and the tank) though. In those cases I'd equip a shield instead of focus and pop Dark Ward so I'm not stressing the healers too much when I do pull aggro. As for offtank dps, yeah my spec does noticeably less dps than a full Madness build, but it is sufficient and beats having a second full tank which would gimp raid dps even more. Another solution is to sub an extra tank in just for fights requiring offtanks. I don't know if Juggs and PTs can do as much DPS as we do in their tanking specs, but we definitely do decent enough damage to still be contributing on dps fights by simply switching between DPS and tanking gear.

If you really did do a lot of grouping, Social II should be within a few BT or HM BT runs to achieve. I'm certainly not going to complain about not being able to wear Formal Pants when I can wear Imperial Dancer set. PS. Ridiculous is spelled with an I.

Yeah Poisonous Strat and Old Enemies do still require group, fully Rakata can do Poisonous Strat but it still takes long and isnt guarantee win.

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On the "over and over for 5K" part, no they won't. You don't get the 50% crit damage off Energize w/o using Recklessness, and you certainly will not have the Force to cast Shock over and over not to mention needing to Thrash to get the guaranteed crits. If that part about Crackling Blasts requiring Surging Blasts is true, they need to have that in the tooltip.