As far as I can tell it does, but only one at a time. One sweeping Slash seems to only apply one deadly saber stack to one target. Not sure how it picks that target.

That would depend on whether or not they are increased by your force power. I believe that also would mean that they come up as yellow numbers, not white. And if I recall correctly, they are in fact white numbers. So while I am by no means certain of this, my initial inclination is that no, they are not force attacks and thus would not get the benefit.

Well obviously you annihilate when you can, try to keep the stacks up, and when you can't you vicious slash to spend your rage. Annihilate is not quite Massacre, it can't just straight-up replace Vicious Slash because of the CD. You need both ready on your bar to be most effective, but whenever possible annihilate and a basic attack is better than two vicious slashes. Without the extra crit on vicious slash from the rage tree, there really isn't any parsing that needs to be done. Check your tooltips. Is Annihilate + Basic attack damage higher than Vicious Slash x2 (And it should be)? Then annihilate is better. True, maybe you want the 15% VS crit talent -- but why do you, when you could get the wonderfully-delicious-for-operations 30% AoE reduction and 3% accuracy in Carnage? Annihilation has no real reason to put any points into the Rage tree. I suppose if you're PvPing you may find those Rage talents more useful, but even then, annihilate is burstier and I suspect that even with that 15% crit, the extra rage generated from Annihilate + Basic attack and the higher flat damage on the combo should make Annihilate better anyways when you can use it. That said, Annihilate is - as I mentioned - not Massacre. It's very nice, yes, but it isn't required to tie the tree together like Massacre for the Carnage tree, or Force Crush for the Rage tree. If you find the extra mobility from Obliterate that useful in PvP, there's nothing wrong with that - so long as you realize that you're probably sacrificing some damage and rage for that mobility.

No, no it does not. It isn't a question of Vicious Slash x2 vs. Annihilate. It is whether or not Vicious Slash x2 does more damage than Annihilate + Basic Attack. Which it does not. This is not WoW where an extra GCD goes unused because basic attacks happen regardless. And Annihilate + Basic Attack actually gives you back two rage from the basic attack. It is unequivocally better than two Vicious Slashes. By. Far. Even saying that Annihilate gives less fury is wrong; that extra GCD you spend on assault instead of vicious slash buys you another two rage, which buys you a vicious slash instead of a basic attack later on in your rotation. Which gives you back your missing fury. Annihilate pays for itself in every way with that GCD. Unless you really, really need Obliterate, not taking annihilate is just foolish.

I kinda want to be upset that the thread has been hijacked by theorycrafters, but at the same time people are viewing it now and knowing about the bug. So that is good.

Not intentional but very appropriate it seems. Heh.

And that means the bug shouldn't be fixed why? Even if it is true, which without DPS meters, you can't even really prove?

Those of you who have experienced this bug, write up a bug report in-game! You can even just copy-paste my original post if you are so inclined. Hell, if you haven't encountered it, do it anyways.

Isn't it? I suppose that would make Focus the only non-bugged spec for Sentinels.

It is hard to say. Certainly since Ataru Procs are always at the end of the attack animation (Basically at the end of the GCD) I could see a scenario where you start an ability (Let's say massacre) and halfway through the target walks behind a corner. Assuming Massacre finishes (Not sure if it does), the Ataru Proc may very well not go off, since it may check the LoS at the end of the attack. But that's all speculation; I haven't tested that and it may very well not be related to the bug at hand in any way.

Well, early on Retaliation is certainly worth it. Yes, it has a rage cost, but it frees a GCD for another basic attack. With the basic attack, it is essentially a 1-rage cost ability that deals Retaliation + Basic attack damage with one GCD. Is that better than Vicious Slash? It costs 1 less rage (or two less if you don't have the rage refund in annihilation, which you should) and may very well do more damage. If you're Annihilation, Annihilate may be worth more just because of procs however - and the same could be true for Massacre in the Combat Tree. Do the math for yourself given your gear level and see if it is worth it.

From the Marauder Forums: Link to the thread. For the Sentinel: Carnage = Combat spec Massacre = Blade Rush Rage Spec = Focus Spec Annihilation spec = Watchman spec Although I have not tested this bug specifically with the Jedi Sentinel, it stands to reason that the Jedi Ataru Form is bugged in the same way. I thought it would be helpful to alert the other side of this bug as well.

When Ataru Form Procs you also get the Blood Frenzy buff if the buff is not on. The complete lack of such a buff for 20 seconds of Massacre-ing an enemy is a pretty strong indicator by itself that Ataru Form is not proccing, since Blood Frenzy is a 100% chance on Ataru Proc and Ataru Proc is a 100% chance on Massacre.

It is an issue with the hitbox. Ataru Form is not affected by a larger hitbox on mobs like Karagga. Move in right under the center of the boss and you'll find your Ataru Form procs going off again. Better description here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=229775

Those of you who are Carnage specced may have noticed this, especially if you have done many operations. I first noticed it on the world boss on Belsavis, and then confirmed it later against Karagga in Karagga's Palace and on Graj in the Eternity Vault. Ataru Form is not affected by increased hitbox size. A larger enemy typically has a larger 'hitbox' at which range is calculated; for these large enemies, being in melee range is not calculated from their center but from their edges. All melee attacks work this way on these enemies (Want to see? Go fight a Wild Rancor in the Belsavis Bonus Area. Other enemies are also large enough and easy to get to but this is the one I most quickly remember). Even Ranged attacks have a larger range due to a boss's increased hitbox. Essentially, it is expected that every form of attack is affected by the hitbox size. The proc from Ataru Form, however, is not. Against a larger enemy, being in range for your melee attacks does not mean you are in range for Ataru Form. This is extremely easy to test. Stand at the outer edge of a giant enemy and use Massacre. You'll attack him as normal, deal damage, spend rage, etc. But you won't get your Ataru Form proc, even though it is supposed to be guaranteed. In fact, if you continue hitting the mob at this range, you'll find that you never get an Ataru Form proc. Ever. "Big Deal," some of you may say. "Just stand closer." While, at the moment, that is obviously the only recourse against the bug (and since Ataru Form says nothing in the tooltip about it functioning different from every other single attack in the game, I assume it is indeed a bug and not a feature), it isn't sufficient and doesn't mean the bug should not be taken seriously. Against a boss like Karagga, being in range for Ataru Form can mean being required to stand in deadly, deadly fire. And when soloing, large enemies cannot even be within range. As soon as you move closer to them, they move back a step to be at the edge of their hitbox as well. This is easily demonstrated by the Wild Rancor mobs on the Belsavis Bonus Area. It is impossible to hit these enemies with Ataru Form. And being unable to get Ataru procs gimps the Carnage spec immeasurably, a spec that is already (by some metrics) inferior damage-wise to Rage and especially Annihilation. This is an easily reproducible bug that needs to be better known. Watch out if you plan on going Carnage, and Bioware: you need to get on this.