I actually have no problem with people asking genuine questions in threads like this (and Alarcrity is a good one), especially early in the game, but eloquently worded insults/attacks are still insults/attacks. Please consider rewording things in the future. That said, I'll try to address a few things: - SS Snipe. The energy discrepancy comes from when the energy cost is applied. All of our abilities apply the energy costs at the END of the cast with the exception of channeled abilities (SoS, Cull). This means that it is beneficial from an energy management standpoint to actual need to regen energy during this time (don't energy cap). Normal snipe will regen 1.5 seconds worth of energy during it's cast time. If you are above 60 and have snipers nest, that's 9 energy. If you start Snipe at full energy, you regen nothing. Instant cast abilties benefit from the GCD in terms of regen. The energy cost is used immediately, and the GCD then acts for regen time. This is why it is beneficial to open with SS Snipe. If you Laze first it will crit, which not only allows Followthrough, but activates RS Ambush for MM Snipers. So yes, you are exactly right that SS Snipe uses the same energy as normal snipe in the same 1.5 GCD, but the energy regen between the 2 is potentially different depending on your current energy level. - Alacrity. As far as I know from other threads, it affects the GCD in very odd ways. Reports are that it does NOT change the GCD for instant cast abilities. However, it WILL get below the GCD if Alacrity brings the cast time of an ability below 1.5 seconds. I'll pick on Snipe since it is the most obvious one. SS Snipe with Alacrity will STILL have a GCD of 1.5. Normal Snipe will cast faster than 1.5 seconds with Alacrity and will thus let you use another ability sooner. Bug? Feature? WAI? Beats me, everything is still very early to determine this. I don't play a Sorc and I have no idea what abilities you used to test against Static Barrier (instants or cast times), but if you have some definitive tests that contradict this, please share. Because of this, anything with a cast time/channel will use energy at a faster rate. The trick in it's value is simple. You need to save 1.5 seconds worth of time from Alacrity and fill in with 1 Rifle Shot to equal the same energy neutral rotation. So you have to determine 2 things: 1. How often will I save 1.5 seconds in my rotation with X amount of Alacrity. 2. How much does my DPS improve overall by adding an extra Rifle Shot (hint: not very much). If you don't end up saving 1.5 seconds, then you are just waiting on energy regen and doing nothing OR spamming abilities faster and running yourself dry. In essence, your overall DPS is exactly the same unless you have a build/rotation that can keep up. For short periods of burst, sure. But for sustained periods of fighting most people have to fill with Rifle Shot anyway. Finally, the OP links to several websites in the last post for more information. The 2 I like the most are Sniper's of the Old Republic and SithWarrior. A LOT of information in this thread can be found there.

I don't have the numbers in front of me right now, but I'm pretty sure it's close between the 3. However, you are looking at it wrong. Dart and grenade will take each tick every 3 seconds. Since WB boosts the next 10 poison ticks, 2 every 3 seconds, you would be waiting for 15 seconds for WB to run it's course. As a lethality sniper, you never want to be waiting on Cull like that unless it is for energy reasons. You definitely want to stick with CG->CD->WB->Cull when you can and fill in with other abilities as energy permits.

Why not just tie expertise to valor and be done with it? - Create warzone brackets based on valor rank (1-10, 11-20, etc.) If expertise ties to valor, then you would be matched up with like people. Open world PvP may be lopsided, but it always is anyway. - Removing expertise from gear means you don't need to itemize PvP/PvE separately. - Getting gear in PvE won't offset the need to do actual PvP to advance (might make it easier, but then again it probably should). The main issue is that 1-49, expertise doesn't exist other than a consumable. At 50, you need to do dailies/weeklies to start building it up (slowly if the RNG hates you). Just make the PvP stat a reflection of the PvP rank, you get valor sub 50 and bolster already makes up the gear difference in the other stats (maybe too well, but that can just be tweaked).

As always, you rock.

On points 2 and 3, I have personally had natural cover block power shot from a champion mob I solo while still on Corellia. His grenades are not affected though.

There are a few reasons I don't open with SoS. 1 - I want to get Followthrough on it's cooldown rotation ASAP. Snap Shot Snipe->Followthrough does that. This is still energy efficient since Snap Shot uses the rest of the GCD after firing for energy regen and Followthrough is already energy neutral with its upgrade. 2 - SoS has the same cooldown as Ambush, 15 seconds. I like to line these up for.... 3 - SoS crits activate Reactive Ambush. If any of the 4 shots crit during SoS, it triggers. 4 - SoS->Reactive Ambush is just the right amount of time to use Followthrough again after cooldown. So my opening is almost always: Laze(if up)->SS Snipe->Followthrough->SoS->Reactive Ambush->Followthrough. After that I get into the engineering abilities (with my 23/16/2 spec I posted earlier). Snipe->E. Probe->I. Probe->Followthrough generally lines up well after my opener. Toss in OS and by that time SoS and Ambush are coming off cooldown. Note that I make no claims to this being the "correct" opening sequence, but it works very well for me.

I saw the same thread and I take SS for the energy regen reason. You don't want to be energy capped and starting a fight with a cast time is effectively the same thing. Laze->SS Snipe->Followthrough is an excellent way to start a fight (avoids non-energy regen, begins the cooldown of one of the best attacks for MM, and an almost certain Reactive Ambush proc).

Easelman, If you are looking for numbers, check out the spreadsheet in the sithwarrior.com sniper thread. It focuses on MM currently, but I have no doubt it will be expanded at some point. It is closer to what you will see in game and you can even plug in your own numbers and play with hypothetical rotations. Not perfect, but better than torhead numbers.

That's 0/18/23 Eng/Leth I think, or close to it. I like it, it was one of the first hybrid builds I considered, but Fentanyl pointed out that it is murder on energy. If we ever get dual-spec I want to use a Lethality heavy build for my main PvP spec. I'm torn on Weakening Blast as it goes REALLY well with the rest of the tree (Dart, Grenade, Blast, then Cull for BIG damage). At least hybrid builds do work, and I think more fun to come up with.

Everyone has their own playstyle, but Marks deserves a it more credit than this. In addition to what you mentioned: - 20% armor ignore on ambush is nothing to sneeze at. - 1.5 vs 2.5 ambush is huge. - Sniper Nest is one of the best energy regen talents. More consistent energy means you can sit in the 60+ range easier which means more DPS moves. I will say I'm not a fan of sniper volley, specifically the mechanic of it (my rotation doesn't keep it rolling consistently enough). I also think the returns on the last 6 points (IA and RF) are better spent elsewhere. Here is what I am running right now: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400rcrbdRoRZrI0bRoZb.1 - Gets Marks best ability, Followthrough, with its upgrade. - 1.5 second ambush on Snipe and SoS crits (and SoS is far more important than snipe for this). - Defense in BD and CS. - Excellent energy regen from Sniper's Nest. - Diversion is a great 9 second survival tool. - 2 second cast time on Orbital Strike. I trade IA and RF for the some REALLY nice talents in Eng - 15% increased damage Explosive Probe that costs 1 energy after the cluster bombs go off. This is hands down our best DPE abiltity. - Interrogation Probe (hits hard and is energy damage). This gives me more than enough abilities for my rotation and plenty of cooldowns to manage.

Unless they decide to change that later on. Wouldn't want to be the guy that drops Biochem after making the Rakata stuff and then seeing a patch note changing the reqs to Biochem. And besides, it's not like the Rakata stuff will be the best Biochem reusables forever. First expansion and the next tier will be better. Gonna level Biochem twice? Personally, they should do just that. Drop the Biochem req on the non-Rakata reusables. This lets everyone in on the fun, but Biochems (and only those that keep the skill), keep access to the best.

Well as funny as the video is....it does need to be fixed.

My 2 cents (from both a casual PvE and PvP player) 1) Expertise is a good idea overall. 2) I'm not a fan of having 2 sets of gear, one for each. As another poster mentioned have Expertise tied to Valor Ranks. Take it a step further and instead of giving 50's their own tier, break tiers up by valor rank (1-10, 11-20, etc.). You keep Bolster for pre-50's and it ensures everyone is going up against similar "expertise" ranked players. This way, PvE and PvP gear can be itemized the same with the PvP stat still being tied to strictly doing PvP. In addition, it will help solve the problem of "fresh" PvPers always fighting decked-out expertise PvPers.

Yes...they can, they just can do it strictly running slicing mission alts. Slicing can still make money just fine by opening slicing objects out in the world. I realize people with 5 slicing alts are still sore, but you guys really need to get over it.

Translation: Please don't leave, I only enjoy PvP when me and my guys can roll over lowbies (but I'll throw in a statement that makes it look like I really care). I'm in the bail crowd if things look that bad, but then again I actually play the game for fun and getting blown out in a premade isn't fun. The flip side is true as well for me, I much prefer a close game of anything instead of a blowout on either side.

I still wouldn't use CD for internal damage over snipe. Followthrough NEEDS to be activated and used all the time, it's just that good, and Reactive Ambush is one of the top abilities on our priority list. The opportunity cost is just not worth it. I was also being sarcastic about speccing lethality as we have enough abilities we can use on the move anyway: Followthrough, Overload Shot, Takedown (<30% health), even Rifle Shot. Adding in CD is fine if you are moving too, but as I said before, if it comes down to simply choosing between Snipe and CD, I'm using Snipe.

Probe is debatable (I still like to use it at 41 at the end of my first snipe->followthrough->reactive ambush opener), but CD is useless for DPS if you spec Marks, no speculation needed. All you need to do is come up with an 15 second rotation that starts with CD, look at the damage, and then replace CD with snipe. Same GCD cost, same energy cost, but more damage right then and there than what CD does over it's whole duration. And of course the benefits of snipe (reactive ambush procs, followthrough, sniper volley stacks, etc.) There's only two things I can think of in PvE where you "might" want to keep CD on your bars: Damage type and movement. Considering how snipe interacts with the Marks tree, I wouldn't put damage type over it and if you are concerned about lots of movement, spec the Lethality tree instead. As mentioned though, useful in PvP for stealthers.

Right around 24 is when elites started getting tougher for me too. As one poster mentioned, CC and cooldowns are key. Another one that helped a LOT was our interrupt. Elites channeled/cast abilities hurt and stopping those will help immensely. It only has a 12 second cooldown, so I usually alternate it with flashbang, debilitate and cover pulse.