Well, Depends on the role u are performing. You cant go wrong with Artifice,archeology,treasurehunting. 1) makes color crystals 2) ehancements 3) makes some of the best relics in game 4) makes Shields and Generators Or Biochem,bioanalysis,diplomacy 1) implants 2) reusable stims, adrenals, and health pacs that are not consumed on use.

The argument isnt against that interupting TM will completely shut down a merc, because yes there are many other abilities that are at your disposal. The argument I have is against the people whom believe TM needs to be nerfed because you can just replace every hotkey on ur bar with tracer missle and be overly effective which is extremely wrong unless just playing with terrible players which I pointed out. If I come across someone who knows how to utilize all of their abilities, i.e Powershot when interupted. They become very difficult to deal with. But someone that thinks they can just TM "only" to success is poorly mistaken.

But see, you are obviously a player who has a decent lvl of skill and are therefore exempt from the "Players who suck and only spam TM are OP" discussion

And I hope you realize that a merc that goes any spec will not have these abilities as they are powertech only abilities. I was just using an example of how easily a player whom does nothing but spam Tracermissle can easily be shutdown and the reasons that I believe that the powertech class is actually alot more OP than an arsenal Merc. But not only just a PT, you can do the same thing using an assassin and just replace the ability names. At least a sin doesnt have to be inside 4m to interupt. They dont have a jetcharge but they have force speed and spike. The only time ive ever seen a Arsenal merc be even remotely potent using only TM was when playing against players that are just as bad if not worse than they are. If anything I think Mercs need a change that allows them to be viable not relying on a single ability that is easily chain interrupted by a player. Because for any of the other Arsenal abilities to do any remote dmg, Multiple tracer missles have to be cast, and If you interrupt them, the Merc just becomes an easy kill with wet noodle abilities. They lack an good interrupt, escape ability, and end up being more squishy than a cloth wearing sorc. Their defensive CDs are almost laughable.

Im sure it would still have the same activation time, it would just come outt of the wrist instead of the back.

I wasnt disagreeing with you here. I know that TMs can be lower than 1.5 seconds, I was just saying that if u begin casting one and get interuptted at .3 seconds of you still have about 1 second b4 u can cast something else. Its not very noticble but its there, its only about the time it takes for ur brain to realize that you were interupted. Which would indicate that there is still a GCD, it has just been lowered to allow faster casting due to alacrity

Technically there is a GCD on TM, and you would only notice it if someone interrupted it instantly because there's still a short amount of time until you are able to powershot or use whatever your back-up ability is, but you are correct that if alacrity lowers the cast time of an ability to lower than the standard GCD then the GCD is adapted to allow the new cast time of that individual ability only.

Honestly i love the TM missle spammers. Start casting - I electro dart they start casting again Quell.....they stand there for 4 secs or auto attack, usually i get jet boosted. 3rd cast attempt - Grapple i might get rocket punch knocked back or an electrodart to give them time to get some distance. 4th cast im out of stun- Jet charge, if playing shieldtech hybrid. By this time quell is back up. And all of this time im flamebursting railshoting and rocketpunching their face in. All uninterruptable. My flameburst are around 2k crit with a semi significant dot equivalating (pyrospecd) more over all dmg than a basic non 5 heat sig TM. I think that Im the broken one. I SWEAR, the main reason people notice the TM spamming is because of the unique annoying *** noise it makes. Otherwise people wouldnt notice it. The main abilites i notice in games are TM, FL, and Voltic slash b/c of the unique noises and animations they make and thats why those abilities are picked out and called out as being "spammed" If u see a TM spammer just interupt them.. Game over they lose. They can do very little against your ability to dmg them, but you can do a whole lot against their ability to dmg you.

I'm currently rolling on the floor, crying and attempting to type this from a state of complete hilarity upside down while blood is rushing to my head.

We also have force slow

First I wanna know what class has a 60yrd range cuz I want to play that!

At least 10/15 of the post on the first page are about the need to increase deception/madness surviability. What kind of result do expect from this post? Yes sins are squishy? /end thread

But on a serious note. I belive that the best thing for the assassin class would be to give a better stealth opener. Also, I believe that we should have some short CD like marauder cloak of pain inorder to increase the surviabilty of non darkness sins. I know its far fetched, but I am still saying that the sorc bubble should be an Inquistor talent that is unable to be cast if player is in dark charge. Since alot of the abilites change when the AC is choosen I don't see why this ability couldnt just be tweaked to better balance the assasin class. Like maybe a self cast only if you are an assassin or increased CD and unusable in dark charge. This would give the decep/madness sins equivilant surviabilty to the sorceror class without making Darkness an even more OP spec.

Bang! Nailed it. Incorrect use of a comma.

Holy raptor jesus we are very viable. We have some of the best aoe threat in the game and great mitigation. Somepeople actually perfer sin tanks over any other. I myslef am partial because I am one, but I think all of the classes that can tank are viable. I just shine in certain catagories where Juggs fall short. They are better in others.

Well many sins spec as darkness for pvp. Darkness is the assassin tank tree. Normally we run this in dark charge increasing our armor by 150%, more if higher lvl (we get an extra 20% from a talent). The two CDs i think think of is 1) +50% to melee and ranged defense for X seconds. And the major one is Force shroud which speced into, removes all negative effects instantly, i.e. dots, snares. and reduces tech and force dmg done to us by 100% for seven seconds. This maybe what you are experiencing. If we have these CDs up we are virtually unkillable for the duration, not to mention all of the tanking type mitigation that goes along with it. Also Occasionally another tank assumes im deception or madness and puts a gaurd on me which reduces my dmg taken by a blanket 5% and he takes 50% of any dmg I take, this along with CDs and Tanking mitiagtion = GG, you better just pick another target.

I believe all of the specs are viable, darkness is just easier for lesser skilled players. it has the least learning curve. There is a difference between a very well skilled player playing darkness and a less skilled, but not like the difference when playing decep or madness.

Because, like marauder, it can be extremely fun in the hands of a highly skilled player.

Make the bubble a sith inquistor talent that is unable to be used in darkcharge. Sin surviabilty goes to viable.

Sins can heal?

This. I find as deception without a pocket healer, I basically exit stealth burst one-2 people down then find myself running away or force cloaking to go find healing or to seethe because im probably near death, with the very distinct animation that is Voltic slash as soon as people see it they realize im not darkness and will focus me. I love decep to death but god im squishy...

What are u putting your extra 2 points into in the darkness tree that you would give up dark embrace? 2% endurance? If you are going for dps 27/2/12 due to the amount of extreme force regen when exiting stealth.

Hi Ifrit, I believe you are on my server so if the info isnt enough just /who pwny. Deception: high mobility, good utility, high burst although very squisy but does very well when in the hands of the right player. This spec is great for shutting down healers. Alot of people dont use maul except under certain conditions. But with an extra immobilize and dark embrace you can literally make a healers life miserible. Darkness: decent dmg, high surviability ran in dark charge for heavy armor and self healing. This class shines due to harness darkness which heals us for 9% of our heath from a full channel while doing good dmg. If u go the hybrid build u will do good single target and have got good burst comming outta steakth via datk embrace and50% extra bonus crit dmg on thrash. U wont be able to drop a good healer , but you will win quite a few 2v1 and some 3v1s. 1v1 you are virtually unkillible in any quick amount of time. This build is ran in tank stance with a focus and dps gear. Madness: dot build more of a caster melee hybrid. Good aoe via death field and can put pressure on healers by throwing dots on 3 discharges out on diff people. Good overall dmg but not a single target burst killer, but very good sustained dps and causes major force pool drain of healers via constant pressure due to shear amount of dots and aoe ability. You will feel like a sorc with less range and melee ability.

Vicous slash, as anni u should be specd for rage return so the net loss is only two rage, and u can use regular saber strike as a rage builder if battering assault is on cd. Theres also deadly throw.

Didnt realize u could put her collar back on after uve taken it off