The PR spiel says " .... unrestricted access to all the game features via ongoing subscription ... Subscribers will receive ongoing monthly grants of Cartel Coins*,... used to purchase ... gear and ... features." So subscribers don't exactly, technically get unrestricted access to all game features? Access to appearance gear and convenience features are actually restricted by the amount of Cartel Coins granted each month? Be nice to get a straight answer here - are you anticipating any of your current subscriber base will be paying more money each month? If so, what proportion and how would you characterise them?

Thanks for catching the errors, Gyronamics! I did rush a bit to make my deadline and I know there are some inaccuracies here. I will review the spreadsheet and correct the errors. Re protecting burst - it seems everyone is agreed. This is our best asset in PvP and at the moment is way too easy to shut down. Let's hope the sticky feedback posted by the developers today helps address some of this. And yea Arch... I love even a quarter of the tools a Tactics Vanguard has let alone half - just one 3 sec root on a 15sec cd would give us a fighting chance against some classes.

1. How do you think your Mercenary spec is perceived by other classes? In PVP: Arsenal: huge threat when left alone so a priority target for a free and easy kill - get your /laugh ready. Pyrotech: not a joke but not a threat either In PvE: Arsenal & Pyrotech: an acceptable ranged class to take to an Op 2. How do you perceive your own spec? In PvP: Arsenal: I don't play it anymore - when is dual spec coming? The respec costs prevent me from pvping toward the end of the week. Pyrotech: I do middling damage, stay with the pack at all times, try and avoid 1v1 with anyone and wish ranked was an option for me without gimping the team. In PvE: Arsenal: decent damage / fair mobility / can aoe or burst for short internals during a fight and sustain dps if I'm careful with my heat Pyrotech: decent damage / great mobility / but can't aoe or burst and sustain dps due to heat issues

I think you are being a tad bit harsh here. Flash Bang stuns 5 targets for 8 secs at 10m range on a 60 sec CD but damage breaks it. Debilitate stuns 1 target for 4 secs at 4m range and does 312-344 base damage. These are the metrics I'm using: number of targets, duration of stun, range, length of cool down, breaks on damage. I did not invent them out of nothing - they are in the tool tip. I get that you are questioning the bonuses and penalties I've applied based on these facts, but I think most people would agree a shorter cool down is better, a longer range is better, more targets is better, breaks on damage is worse, much worse. I'm sorry if you feel they are not usable in any way but I do, sincerely, want to thank you for your feedback. If I find myself with a spare year to assess the relevant value of a stun to one particular class over another I may well give it a go. Cheers!

This is a really interesting idea. Can you elaborate a bit more on it? I did calculate a baseline for each attribute which is published in the PDF, however the positive and negative modifiers I applied do always result in a positive number. Are you talking about just shifting the scale from 0-100 to -50 to +50 or something else?

Just want to point out that the model shows Mercs rank 10 and PT Pyro's are last at 16 on the utility list. Much of my article debates whether utility really is king in PvP.

Thanks, Rassuro, for speaking to the methodology! I really wanted to find a way to PROVE one ability was better than another with something other than a story of what happens when.... You forgot to mention that I did freely and plainly claim that this one category was subjective. I agree with you here and I struggled with this myself. It's unfortunate that you've used the one stated "exception to the rule" - abilities in the Special Category - as your example, but I can deal: First, the idea was compare like abilitiies with like: only one class has Stealth Scan. Combat Rez is exactly the same for all three classes therefore it scores the same for Mercs, Operatives and Sorcs. That's not subjective. Second, when I started weight the utility of a whole category against another category I fell down a slippery slope regardless of whether it's in PvE or PvP. You're right Stealth Scan is much better than Combat Rez in PvP and maybe they do need to be situational for those exceptions but every other category started with a 5pt baseline. A Stun is not better than a Slow in every situation or for every class against every other class etc.. Stuns, Slows, Knockbacks, CC, Releases, Heals, Mitigation etc... all start with equal weight - 5 points. This illustrates my methodology perfectly: an Agent's shield ability = 5 points, a stun ability = 5 points. When you compare the metrics of the agent's shield (how much dmg it can mitigate averaged to a 1 minute period) the shield scores 9, a sorc shield scores 15.5 and a Mara's Undying Rage scores 12.5. Same for stuns. That stun is 3.5 but Flashbang and Intimidating Roar both score 6.5 because modelling metrics they are better. As I said, I don't see a way of mathematically ranking a shield against a stun without getting subjective, arbitrary and heavily situational. An assassins may scoff at your stun, break free and keep on pummeling but vanish and find a new target as soon as a shield goes up. There are literally thousands of these examples - the slippery slope. Would really love someone to suggest a numerical way to get around this. Yes!! Thanks for picking that up. It happens because a -1 point penalty is applied to an ability if you have to talent to get it or make it better. In some cases the "improvement" like reducing the cooldown doesn't outweigh the penalty. I tried to get rid of as many of these as possible as just model the untalented version of the ability. This one slipped through - so sorry about that! (Worth noting that situations like this are great for analysing the maths - is this a waste of a talent point or a problem with the modifiers?) I really don't mean to be rude, but this claim is far more subjective than my model. I'm not disputing it, but I'm not going to agree with it either. I play a sniper, I don't play an Operative and I can't in good conscience say that Escape is far more useful to one than the other in every situation, in PvP or PvE. and I can't find an argument based on metrics to support the claim. Help me take the 'stories' and the "I was in a WZ once... " out of the argument and come up with a consistent and objective measure of an ability's worth. Attack my modifiers, point out inconsistencies and arithmetic errors - or develop a whole new premise! Making it PvP only is a great start!

I recently wrote an article for Toroz.com.au that mathematically compares Commando utility against 14 other tank and dps builds and ranks them. Would love to mount a case for change based on metrics & numbers and looking for input and ideas on what could realistically be done to effectively balance our class. Would also welcome any theory-crafters out there with suggestions and feedback on the maths - inaccuracies, improvements etc... http://toroz.com.au/2012/07/the-third-edge-mercenarycommando-interrupts-utility/#comments

I recently wrote an article for Toroz.com.au that mathematically compares Merc utility against 14 other tank and dps builds and ranks them. Would love to mount a case for change based on metrics & numbers and looking for input and ideas on what could realistically be done to effectively balance our class. Would also welcome any theory-crafters out there with suggestions and feedback on the maths - inaccuracies, improvements etc... http://toroz.com.au/2012/07/the-third-edge-mercenarycommando-interrupts-utility/#comments

Here Here! It's actually 3 nights this week if you count regular maintenance / the patch on Tuesday. 5-9pm AEST is bad enough but 7-11pm basically means the whole night is scratched and our raid schedule kablooey

http://www.swtor.com/info/media/trailers/choose-your-side-jedi-knight-vs.-bounty-hunter Interesting to watch this video post changes in 1.2. I'm eagerly awaitiing Episode II ... mushroom-vs.-bounty-hunter

/signed. Report many times over many months. Is it that difficult to fix? Or have new bugs from new content taken priority?

APeckenpaugh, this is my question too. The line adjoining Riddle & Barrage, indicates to me that we should be receiving a 25% increase on Unload with Riddle, albeit this is ambigious. The line may just indicate a pre-requisite talent. Could you please clarify the maths on this?

I too went through my combat logs today (as I'm currently specced pyro). I checked two logs: - the first questing during the Rakghoul event on various mobs - the second during a HM DC raid covering several attempts where I was only dpsing Toth It's clear that Barrage isn't working as simply as the tool tip states. Whether it's working as intended is, of course, debatable. I'll ignore the first log as there's too many different variables across the various targets to glean much useful data, however a few hours spent solidly on Toth shows the average unload without Barrage totals 4112 damage and with barrage 4322. It's not a 25% difference by a long shot. However it's worth noting that Unload with Barrage is calculated from much much larger sample size (as you expect in a raid log). A few interesting things I noted: - off-hand shots hit for so little (70-150) that the 25% increase is indistinguishable within the normal range of hits - Barrage often ends in the middle of unload - Unload when Barrage hasn't activated often results in "Event Failed" - When analysing individual shots of Unload an increase does *seem* to apply to normal shots, however it's difficult to tell within the range and it's not likely to be a 25% increase. This is much more noticable when comparing critical shots. I will follow acnojs testing regime tomorrow when I spec back to Arsenal and post results.

Target dummy testing of barrage shows the proc might not be working as intended. Check this thread by acnoj in the Mercenary Section. http://www.swtor.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=24