Come on in. We just love to see new targets....errr, pve players join us.

Here's the really funny part about all of this. I had early access and leveled my sniper on the first day. One week later , I'm full Partisan with my Conquer main hand and relics. The War Hero gear was passed down to my companions and I haven't given it second thought. I just don't understand why ppl are complaining so much. Even if you're a casual player, you'll be in WH gear for TWO WEEKS and after that, you'll forget all about it. ok, I'm done trying to rationalize this post, because it hurts my brain. Please continue with your WINNING /popcorn

this post is all about WINNING. /popcorn and soda please continue

I've played all three specs extensively now and here's my take. 1) Lethality - I enjoyed this spec pre 2.0. In 2.0, the spec will definitely come out on top in overall DPS. However, the current state of healing makes most of its damage fluff (aside from Cull). If you were to run 2 lethality snipers it might be a bit more viable, but I don't see taking just one on a rated team. 2) Engineering - hands down was my favorite spec. I was a bit worried about losing the 30% damage reduction on shield probe, but the reset on the probe is sweet. Overall, damage is still where it was before relatively speaking imo. However, if you haven't tried the Eng roll, you're definitely missing out. Pin someone against a wall or other object (knockback, leg shot, etc...) and then roll, reset, roll again and watch them cry like a little baby. The roll drops 5 bombs @ 2k each (non-crit) and with crit, I killed a Jugg in 3 GCD (2 rolls and SoS). This puppy is headed for a nerf lol 3) Marksman - pre 2.0 my favorite pass time was looking for MM snipers and killing them (in Eng spec). That's chagned in 2.0. Ambush is nice, but SoS with sniper volley is a freaking beast. EP - 3,500 SoS - 6,200 FT - 3,200 Sos - 6,200 FT - 3,200 Aside from the Eng roll, none of the other specs hit this hard IMO. I've easily hit over 700k in this spec As for being FOTM, Smashers are still up there and Sorc/Sage DPS are in the spotlight too, but we are still rocking the damage charts. And our utility makes us even that more important too. Would you rather have a Merc DPS or Sniper DPS on your team?

was that you? Don't worry, because I was rolled by 5 reps a few mins later.

i need more popcorn /popcorn

PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T A TROLL!!! This is the most fun I've had on the forums in quite some time. /popcorn

This post has Pistol written all over it

This is coming from a long time Sin tank.....Deception is freaking fun to play again. After 1 1/2 years, they finally got Maul right. I know everyone will say that Maul was hitting hard prior to 2.0, but now it still hits hard and you KNOW when you'll have it. Just imagine if Smash monkeys had to wait for a proc to use Smash or if PT's couldn't use Railshot without some proc. Only time will tell if these guys are viable in RWZ, but I'll definitely be playing Deception in Regs for time being. I'm not trying to come off as an ***, but why would you take the time to cast crushing darkness here? If you hit them with low slash, I'd take the time to position myself for the Maul strike. Let me know if i'm missing something, because I haven't played Deception or Madness in a long, long time.

Surgeon General Warning

that has to be one of the dumbest things I've seen written on these forums (unless it's a troll at which point it's one of the worst trolls i've ever seen). Going into cover prevents being pulled, leapt to or interrupted (i.e. cull). If you're not using one of the huge advantages of being a sniper, you might as well just roll a Merc or Sorc dps.

I heard that Raspberry Sprinkles is a good PVE guild. You should message Demal when you get a chance (he's one of the top pve'ers on the server).

why on earth would you not take 3 points in Lethality in the Lethality tree?? 3% to your crit chance!! That's 3% of crit rating that you don't need in your gear; so, you can stack more power!!! p.s. Eng sniper for the win!!!!!!

I almost feel like I'd give up a point somewhere to get Low Slash, which would more than make up for losing Spike. Any thoughts?

I've read your entire thread regarding "every team running scripts" and this will be the first and last response I make on the subject, because I'm honestly beginning to think you're trolling us. Do cheats happen in this game? Certainly. We've all seen Gingers warping around the map and so many ppl taking advantage of exploits on the map (i'm looking at you stealth cappers on voidstar ). Do I believe that some people might use scripts to give themselves a slight advantage in certain situations? Sure, anything is possible. HOWEVER, this assumption that since you know ONE person, who, and lets be honest, you haven't provided any specific evidence other than saying you know a guy, was cheating on The Fatman, therefore, the majority of people who play on successful rated teams must also be cheating is an exaggerated extrapolation of the facts. I'm certain you'll reply and say, "I never said the majority of people were cheating", but you are implying that they're cheating. Let me use an analogy to explain the argument you're presenting. If one person on the Ravens or 49'ers were caught doping steroids or using some illegal enhancement then all players on successful football teams could be using illegal enhancements. Therefore, the playing field isn't even; so, we should stop playing football. Bottomline, cheats do happen, but I haven't seen any evidence that it's as prevalent as you're suggesting. p.s. also, before anyone replies to say "Maybe you're cheating", please Google Ad hominem.

I'm really beginning to think this is a troll, but i'll keep playing along. I've put forth several arguments as to why bubble stuns should go away and you haven't responded to any of them. Feel free to re-read them, but I'll sum them all up for you here: 1) Current state of bubble stuns was a mistake. There's ZERO chance they intended or even foresaw bubble stuns in their current state. 2) The change in 2.0 is to correct that mistake and return the ability back to how it was meant to be used.....as a soft stun for a DPS Sorc/Sage that allows them to get away when a melee is attacking. 3) No amount of QQing on your part will change the above two facts Look forward to your response

My schwartz is bigger than yours

Here's where the argument falls apart. The bubble (in Live) is in the DPS tree and isn't meant for a Healer, unless they go a crazy hybrid spec; so, making the argument that it's for healers is just plain twisting the facts. Before the change that created the bubble fiasco we currently have, players could bubble everyone. It's just that those bubbles weren't HARD STUNS. Someone at BW mistakenly thought adding another HARD STUN, which barely filled your resolve, was a good idea and they NEVER thought about the unintended consequences. The changes in 2.0 are just fixing a mess that shouldn't have been here in the first place. Goodbye bubble stuns.....you won't be missed.

Once again, nobody wants to take away the ability for the caster to use the bubble on himself (or herself). It's just the caster's ability to bubble the entire Op's group with a HARD STUN that barely fills up the resolve bar.

THIS is where the sorc/sage argument falls really, really short. If the bubble still works on the caster (just not the rest of the freaking team), how is that taking away your defensive capability????????????? Let me help....it's not. You still have your bubble that stuns ppl. You just can't cast that stupid HARD STUN on the entire ops group anymore. p.s. I look forward to your first post after 2.0 is released. I'm sure it'll be you QQ and threatening to cancel your sub if bubble stuns aren't returned to their pre-2.0 state. It'll be a glorious post too!!!

Anyone that can't read a post and understand what's said is out-to-lunch. I never said Sin Tanks weren't buffed. I even specifically mentioned the 25% damage reduction as a huge win and I said the verdict was still out on the AOE heal (I still think it's more for PVE though given how fluid a wz landscape is, but it has potential). Sin Tanks have always used dps gear; so, there's nothing new here. As for the shield, ALL TANKS ARE GETTING THIS BUFF; so, this wasn't a "buff sin tank and nerf sin dps" move. Aside from phase walk and sin shelter (which is still up for debate on how useful it is in pvp), everything you said is already true in Live. You can vanish out now, meze them and heal up. Nothing new here. Once again, this is true in Live right now. A Darkness Sin with all his CDs should never loose a 1v1 or at worst, hold them off long enough for help to arrive. Oh yeah, I like how you're overlooking the 20% armor reduction too. That's some buff.....

Anyone that thinks Conspirator's Cloak is a buff to pvp is out to lunch. From my perspective, it was put in for the PVE crowd, because any decent pvp Sin Tank can get into position to use Maul already. As it stands now, Maul for Darkness Sins is a glorified Thrash that might occasionally crit for a big hit ( I saw 4k hits, but not very often). I'd take the Jugg's Sonic Wall over this stupid ability any day of the week. The phase walk healing circle is still up for debate, but I feel it's once again more for PVE. Honestly, the only buff I really see in the Darkness tree is from Hollow. That 25% damage reduction will be nice to have.

I play lethality and Eng in live. I tried both on the PTS and Lethality is my hands down favorite so far. The ability to get ballistic dampeners and the 30% damage reduction on shield probe makes survivability so much better now. No CD on corrosive grenade is sweet and let's not forget the mother of all buffs for lethality.....(drum roll please) Lethal Takedown: Cull has 45% chance (when talented) to proc lethal takedown, which finishes the cooldown of Takedown and allows it to be used on any target. From my experience so far, it procs just about every time I cull, which means it's a Followthrough for lethality snipers (I believe the 45% chance is on every tick). I suspect this might be nerfed a bit in the future though, because it's just too good to be true.

the best feedback ever given on this forum....

I typically run DPS gear, but I decided to run Survivor gear along with the phase walk circle. As most pvp Sin Tanks, I have a set of WH tank gear that I put on along with some Partisan gear (2 implants, earpiece, shield gen and helmet). I had 32,670 health and I was literally a "tank", because I wouldn't die. A healer and I held a door on Voidstar against 4 attackers for an eternity. I had over 350k damage and close to 300k protection that voidstart too. I'm not so sure that going DPS gear is the way to go anymore. i'd love to hear other peoples' experience so far with actual tank gear.