lol at all these lemmings that didn't even read the OP, and state that sins/shadows deserve these nerfs. they aren't even nerfing darkness/kinetic, which is what all you baddies claim is OP (hmmm, OP meaning original post and overpowered, i hope i'm not confusing people:P) oh noes, you're taking away maul/shadow strike from tank specs. no biggie, most of the time it doesn't even proc (its only 10% with 1 point in the talent) so i'll get by without it.

lol so would i. but this has been a known issue since beta, and they still haven't bothered to even think of fixing it. as regards to hybrids, i don't use them. i'll go 31 darkness or 31 deception, as i feel i do better with those specs. i know everyone is in love with 23/1/17, but it is by far squishier than a full 31 darkness build. and it doesn't do more damage either. that being said, it bothers me that BW is taking away some of the limited customization we're afforded. i say limited, because there's some talents no one in their right mind would take (i'm looking at you, resourcefulness!). games like rift not only encouraged hybridization, but many a times they were the best specs to play. they also let players have 5 different builds they could swap to if not in combat (where's our dual spec BW?)

a 20% armor reduction to darkness sins....after we already got an armor reduction. took away any practical use of maul from both darkness and madness. nerfed madness force regen. gutted the burst of deception's shock and discharge. other than that, we get a teleport that will make us better node guards than we currently are....

the reduc energy cost of FT, along with its cd reset enables MM sins to pretty much never run out of energy. just going against a training dummy, i would: shatter shot, insta snipe, FT, SoS, FT, ambush, FT, snipe, get up, cover, insta snipe, FT, SoS, FT, shatter shot, explosive probe, ambush, FT (those last 4 moves enabled me to get 18k damage in about 2 seconds). after doing all of this, i'll be sitting at about 85-90% energy, depending if i use a regular rifle shot in there somewhere. i'm expecting a nerf, just because the amount of damage i can do while using such little energy seems wrong lol.

i am afraid they are going to nerf us before 2.0 goes live. mainly , as a MM sniper, i can keep a full rotation, using FT after every other move (or 2 with snipe), and my energy doesn't ever run the risk of running out. with the use of our OFFENSIVE cooldowns, its very easy to never run out of energy, regardless if we're left alone or if someone decides we're a threat to be reckoned with.

i am an avid deception assassin, much as cycao is an avid madness sin. and i do not like these changes. i have gotten all arkanian gear minus the relics ( i have WH) and from my dummy tests, i'm not doing the burst i am doing currently on live. sure, i can discharge more often. but the mauls aren't coming as fast as they should. even using low slash and vanish/spike to proc a duplicity, the regular duplicity procs seem few and far between. and lets also mention that my crit rating is well below 30% (in all arkanian gear) so my crits are also less frequent. duplicity mauls aren't much when they non-crit for 2k. same with regular hit shocks for under 2k and discharges for 2200. also, surge is way below normal standards. i know i know, i don't have optimal gear. i'm using basically black hole pve gear unoptimized without augments. i still don't see it being better. i could have all partisan gear with all augs and still the burst will seem lower than it is now (i'm talking pvp here) it seems like they made deception dps more sustained instead of burst. if i want sustained dps, i'll roll madness, as dots will keep my dps rolling while i do other abilities. if i want bust, i should be able to spec deception. sure, when the crits do come, they are huge (8k mauls, 6k discharges). but they don't come often. and the shocks crits are about what they are now on live, with lvl 55 gear and lvl 55 stats.

the frequency that deception sins/infiltrations shadows can pull off discharge/force breach will make them reliable tank busters. discharge/breach does internal damage, and hits like a truck. now if only they didn't nerf everything else to the ground with that spec.

after testing some stuff out on the PTS, there's some odd and/or interesting changes. now, maul can proc induction, lowering the cost of shock by 25% stacking twice. also, chain shock has been moved into the bottom of the deception tree. so no need to go into the 2nd tree of madness. although getting the lowered cost shock/vs/thrash might be worth it now. and, you need 35 points in a tree to get the top talent. also, its rather easy to get 3 stacks of surging charge, so you can use discharge quite often at full power. but shock hits for a lot less. even with another tier of assassin training granted along the way to 55, the shocks aren't hitting all that hard. i will say, i couldn't get my main to copy over to the PTS, so i had to use an old character copy, which has only WH gear and no augments. i also picked up as many of the new pve gear they give you for free when you use the level booster. still, i was seeing similar numbers as i get on live with my EWH gear. maybe having all augmented gear will be a big enough boost. but from the numbers ppl are claiming to see in wz's, i'm not too sure how well deception will pan out.

i dislike the changes to voltaic strike, as well. but if they FINALLY fix assassin's training to actually increase the damage shock does by 25% (it doesn't work now, and hasn't worked since launch), it might not be so bad. the changes to discharge with surging charge active, i have mixed feelings about. if we can get 3 stacks of static charges up relatively quick, then great. if it also increases discharge damage at the same value that 5 stacks does now, fantastic. nerfing either the rate at which stacks occur or the damage a full stack does will be disheartening, though.

soull and havik halcyon from ahazi checking in. was guild leader of living legends on that game as well. we were the proud owners of the best city on ahazi, Mos Koneck. anyone on ahazi knew it was the best city around. if you say otherwise, that's jealousy tugging at you.

my deception sin and MM sniper will utterly destroy a sorc/sage healer solo. with or without a tank. my deception sin or MM sniper will chase that damn BG merc/combat medic commando all around the wz before i give up. of course, i built them to destroy healers, but the merc/commandos still give them troubles.

i agree with this. i also gear up my alts the old fashion way, but i don't care if people are stacking their alts with legacy gear. there was even a dev post about this. basically, they said since it was so expensive to do, they felt it was ok. and really, some noob with full WH gear that knows nothing about his class won't beat my half WH half BM geared alts. i actually love facing them as they're so easy to beat. and if i 'm on my main? its no contest.

if only they didn't separate pvp and pve gear. then maybe i could go into one of the new operations with my war hero gear, instead of being laughed at that i only have columni. who's running HM/NiM EV/KP these days? none that i can see. ya sure, you can conceivably grind pvp gear all day long to get the best gear and not need to raid, or make raiding easier. thing is, if you're doing that, you're not raiding. so you're not really going to be tilting the world firsts in your favor. get rid of expertise. make wh/campaign gear stats equal. and for heaven's sakes, make tanking stats worthwhile in pvp. they already got rid of the crapshoot that was the pvp bags that could work in someone's favor, (my first 3 champion bags had the MH, OH and chest. i was full BM by valor 63) that you actually have to grind a bit to get gear. it might be slower getting all your BiS gear through raiding, but maybe, just maybe it'd give raiders something to log on for than just raid night.

i can figure out the % of their hp by the size of their health bar. so i know when to use assassinate. no thanks to this change. i'd rather see the numerical value, so i know instantly what type of spec they are (or how horrible their gear is).

i used to love doing 10-49 pvp on all my imp alts...i'd win most of the time. if i'd lose, it'd be to another imp group, and they had a healer and we didn't. or a full premade vs. 8 pugs. now that i rolled a repub toon, 10-49 pvp is horrible. i understand now. pre 50 pubs are terribad at pvp. sure, they get better at lvl 50....if they're in a full premade vs a full pug at 5am. i cannot believe how horrible my teammates play. i try to make suggestions, then get called a baddie, cuz,you know, i'll lead the game in damage, kills, protection (as a dps vanguard) and objective points. on the imp side, if i make a suggestion, they *gasp* try it out, and when it works, we win. imagine that. i will say, i do enjoy 50 pvp more. having full use of my abilities, and knowing i killed another 50 in full WH gear with all their abilities, they have no excuse for dying to me.

i use a 0/33/8 spec for pvp http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200ZfGbRkfrRbkZf0c.2. i'm a lot harder to kill pre 1.4, but i'm not unstoppable. give me a dedicated healer though......omg my highest maul crit so far is 6847. on a sage that probably had all pve gear. my shocks were constatnly critting him for 5800. never got off a 5 static charge discharge crit on him though. probably get over 7k with one of those. loving the changes so far. the reduced time on force speed and force cloak are nice. and the resetting of blackout every time i leave stealth is uber. and 12.5 energy for mauls plus the added damage? icing on the cake.

this build is great for node guarding, huttball running, and placing guard on FF targets (like healers). if you want to play a spec totally built for defense, this is the spec to roll. you will lack the utility of hybrids, or even 31 point darkness builds. 31 darkness gives wither, which has an aoe snare (small, but its there) and a damage reduc. the 23/1/17 builds have a bit more utility with deathfield (great for stopping caps) and insta whirlwind (great for taking on 2v1's). all that being said, i'm enjoying the buff to deception, and rocking a 0/33/8 build, demolishing healers, taking out snipers/slingers, solo capping nodes, and destroying huttball carriers. i do miss force pull, and the breaking of roots with force speed. but the damage....oh the damage. its hard to give up.

pvp or pve?

i wanted a buff to the application of the static charge procs when there was mention of a deception buff. as discharge with 5 stacks of static charge is our hardest hitting move, i thought it would be beneficial to let us accumulate those stacks faster. maybe then i'd put points into reciriculation. as it is now, there's no point. i can't get 5 stacks in the 15 seconds it takes for discharge to come off of cd.

the types of builds you could make in that game were insane. at one point, i had a bounty hunter pistol 4 (for eye shot), smuggler pistol 4 (for panic shot, and low blow) and novice commando (for the launcher pistol certification, aka lag cannon). my friend made me an extremely nice krayt dragon tissue launcher pistol, and i would venture out, killing everyone i saw. this was before they brought in entertainer buffs and vasarian brandy, so the only buff to the mind pool you could have was muon gold spice. using panic shot so they can't use any moves, low blow to keep them from running, and eye shot to deplete that mind pool made everyone run when i came into a town. i also had a master rifleman/teras kasi master/novice medic that would lay waste to groups of players. eventually, i looted a legendary t-21 rifle off of a nightsister elder with a mind fire dot, willpower disease, and focus poison. hit strafe shot to aoe a crowd, and watch their mind pool just vanish.

voltaic strike. coolest looking move in the game.

coming from a non PT main, or alt, i'll say, this is a huge nerf. lower the range of IM and TD, fine. but also lower the snare %? not so fine. too many classes have a root or snare for higher % than a PT. they will be kited all day long. snipers will take them out before they get into the 10m range (and my alt is a sniper). either remove the range nerf on IM and TD (who spec's TD anyways?) or remove the nerf to the snare. both are not needed. bioware likes to go overboard with nerfs. well, except for maras/sents. they get a whole 1 second reduced on UR/GBtF, omg the class is ruined! not only are pyro PT's super squishy, but after the initial burst from 30m (IM/RS) they are easily countered. and now with the buff to sorcs, healing is just going to be more powerful again (play a PT and try to kill a good merc/op healer) add to that, electro dart is reduced to 10m, and the class will be easily kited.

don't forget that assassins have a 50% snare. and if they're deception spec'd (which a lot will be after 1.4) then the snare lasts longer than the cd. TD range being reduced to 10m, i don't get. not all PT's that pvp put 31 points into pyro. many just go 25-28 points in. and IM being put in a 10m range, i really see no reason to that. just make rapid shots and explosive dart 10m as well and just call PT's a melee class. my main is a sin, and my 2nd toon is a sniper, and i still don't agree with these changes. nerf the DoT damage if you were going to do anything. that can crit for some stupid damage, which is the real reason you see PT's on top of damage after WZ's. and whoever said increase the heat cost on IM. no one spams IM. it already is too heat intensive to spam.

so these changes are really nice for pve, i guess. for pvp, what are we supposed to use in between shocks? if we don't NEED to use VS, then what move? use crushing darkness? hope for maul procs? pray that we have 5 stacks of static charge to use discharge? as it is now, its VS x2 then shock. VS x2 then some other move (maul, discharge, saber strike, low strike) then shock. then another VS x2 and some other move again (one of the moves submitted prior that is off cd). now that we don't need to use VS twice at all times before using shock, what to use? i'm going to try and figure this out when its put on the PTR, but for now, i can't see just using saber strike. it'll still be beneficial to use VS x2 since it'll do more damage. and regardless of the buffs to our survivability, we're still going to be squishiest class out there. so when other classes see the yoyo, they're going to target us so we don't get our burst off on their healers.

i like this idea better than a DoT. you want DoT's, spec madness. you want burst, spec deception. powertechs can proc combustible gas cylinder every time they use flame burst. have surging charge proc whenever we use voltaic strike. heck, even make it proc off of maul, shock or discharge (or all of them) if you want to limit it. making surging charge proc more will increase our dps in 2 ways. 1, it does direct damage every time it procs, and 2, static charge will stack up quicker, having discharge hit harder. also, have saber conduit's internal cooldown lowered. make it 6 seconds max. maybe make the set bonus for the pve gear award more than 1 energy when using saber strike. maybe 5 energy would be more sufficient. giving us a DoT would ruin the use of low slash for deception. it'd be good for an interrupt that adds resolve, not too useful. you don't need a DoT to do good dps. my severely undergeared powertech has his combustible gas cylinder proc for over 1k, and that's a DoT. surging charge hits no where near as hard, and its only direct damage increase its damage, and it should suffice. CGC also adds a 2 second snare. give surging charge something like that as well. that would also add to our dps in pvp, as we'd be less likely to be kited.