The spec I am using is this: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffMzhRozZMIModkM.1 Its a pvp spec though so some adjustment can be made to make it better for soloing heroic missions. As for surpriced comeback it's nice to have in longer combats, but if you aren't going for Fight or flight and Stopping power (both of them aren't really needed for that purpose) you probably dont need the point in Surpriced comeback either. But for a hybrid with scrapper as offspec you should atleast get Sawed Off, Suckerpunch and Flying fists. So atleast 14 points must be spent there and the result for at heroic soloing spec will be something like this: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffMzhRRzZMIModZ0M.1

Nice video, fun to watch Are you using a full healing build or a hybrid one? Personally I prefer a hybrid spec since it offers more damage. And having Back Blast with 0 energy cost is a great way to weave in some damage during situations where heavy healing is needed. When I run into energy problems I usually just pop Cool Head. The CD is short compared to the duration of the fights so its a shame to not use it. Also why dont you use Shoot First? Its great to burst down the weak mobs. It requires some micro management though since you have to manually get Corso Harpooning the right mob. Another trick I tend to use is to prehot. It both smooth out the initial healing required and it gets you a few stacks of UH to begin with. Pugnacity can also be cast in stealth so pop it right before you start the fight to maximize the initial uptime (The UH proc from prehotting allows that)

I would rather play as hybrid. Sorcs/Sages easily outperform us as pure healers and our aoe healing sucks compared to theirs. I have made a list of common specs here: http://thecontactmmo.blogspot.com/2012/02/common-scoundrel-pvp-specs.html The 30% crit heal is nice, but for pvp its not that good as it sounds. First of all it's risky to rely on crit heals to survive and sometimes the big crits just comes at the wrong moments causing overheal. With a hybrid spec you can heal for almost 85% of a pure spec, but you gain so much more.

So I did a bunch of warzones today on my Operative alt and it is pretty obvius: Scoundrels / Operatives brings NOTHING to a huttball game All other classes got charges, pulls, knockbacks and sprints. And what do we have? Our healer spec is often outperformed by sages/sorcs, our burst spec got nerfed and our dot spec is pretty weak. We need more tools!

I posted this at my blog a few days ago. As long as BW fails to understand how a high burst stealth class works in this game they will fail to balance such class. I am playing scoundrel myself, but I am worried that my class will either be totally OP or nerfed to oblivion. The nerf to Scoundrels (Operatives) caused a lot of discussions at the official forums. Not only was it a heavy blow against an already underplayed class, but it was the first real PVP nerf since launch. The truth is people really have it hard dealing with frontloaded burst classes in PVP situations when they are the target. It is not fun getting knocked out relative fast while feeling completely out of control. What people fails to notice is the fact that these bursts classes often gets killed just as fast if things goes wrong for them. So we get to a situation where the outcome of the fight is decided before it begins. And each time a scoundrel/operative/rogue/thief/whatever successfully executes one of these stealth attack, there’s a high chance of spawning another forum warrior. Which results in a nerf and often the burst class gets left behind the rest. The game designers have to make an important choice. Either accept that such class doesn’t belong to the game or step up and tell the community that that’s the terms for that class. If they choose the former option they have to give their stealthy class some other tools so they are still viable without the burst and if they choose the latter it requires some delicate balancing and create a pvp environment that allows such a strong 1v1 class. The problem is, however, that most game designers get stuck between those 2 options and it’s easy to see the results. The 2nd option is rarely the solution for an MMO game. It’s only in EVE online where I have seen it viable. However in SWTOR, and WOW and RIFT for that matter, we have to face it that a stealthclass with frontloaded burst doesn’t belong to these games, which means that the Scoundrel/Operative class and especially the Scrapper(Concealment) tree have to find a new role. This doesn’t mean that our class shouldn’t be able to pop out of stealth and take out a vulnerable target. It just means that we should do it in a slightly longer fight rather than a few seconds of burst. The first step is to make the class less reliant on the opener. It is not our role anymore so it shouldn’t be such a powerful toolI made a post at the official forum about a week ago. (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=224672) suggesting that our opener should be split into different abilities so we had one for burst dmg, one for CC and one for sustained DPS. Pretty much like the wow approach, and for that reason I’m starting to dislike my own suggestion. Remember that the rogues in wow are still very dependent on getting the opener. Instead we should keep Shoot First(Hidden Strike) as the only opener, but give the class a passive ability that makes any attacks from stealth proc UH( TA) and give it a 2nd effect as well. It could be a reduced cost, increased effect or something like that. This changes 2 things. First of all there are suddenly several options and which for example allows Dirty Fighting (Lethality) specs use one of their dots as opener and still get the UH(TA) proc to get their dps going. It also makes stealth more useful in FP where you otherwise have to waste time sneaking behind the mobs while the rest of the melee classes just rush in. And second it does also allow low lvl scoundrels (operatives) to get their rotations going since they don’t have Shoot First (Hidden Strike) for the initial extra UH (TA) proc. Shoot First (Hidden Strike) will still be a good burst ability and it should still be the preferred way to start the fight as Scrapper (Concealment) The 20% nerf seems fair since it shouldn’t be the sole thing deciding the outcome of the fight, but still give the Scoundrel (Operative) an edge when allowed to get the opener. So now we have stripped the trademark from the class and it’s time to recreate one. That means we should get a small boost to sustained dps (atleast for Scrapper(Concealment)) and extra utility, both offensive and defensive. There are several ways to buff the sustained dps so that’s not what I am going to cover. However for the utility our cooldowns should be powerful and we should be granted some neat tricks to gain control in the fight. We aren’t gonna win in a pure dps race. To gain this extra utility many of our abilities should get an overhaul. Got a few suggestions and might add some more later. Flying Fists (Collateral Strike) This isn’t one of my own suggestions though I can’t remember the user’s name. However I find his suggestion very good. Lacerate: The Collateral Strike triggered ability stuns weak/standard enemies, but doesn't stun strong enemies (or players). Have it do a 0-second stun (i.e., an interrupt) against any enemy too strong to be stunned for the normal duration, even if the CS damage needs to be reduced slightly to compensate. Since you'll only have these on 50% of your Lacerates, and you won't be delaying Lacerates just to interrupt the right things, it won't be the sort of thing you can depend on to shut down a caster, but it'll make our intended victims a bit more vulnerable to our opening burst. So it basically makes Scrapper (Concealment) a pain in the *** for casters and healers. Instead of killing them within a few seconds we just make life harder for them. Dodge (Evasion) Currently this ability is very weak in a pvp environment. Most abilities simply ignore it making it useless and the short duration isn’t making it any better. The first step is to increase the duration. 5 seconds seems to be more reasonable. It should also protect against more abilities rather than the basic attack + a handful of often weak abilities. The improved version, which Scoundrels (Operatives) get should also grant immunity for slows and snares giving us something to compensate for the lack of gabclosers. Knockbacks are a huge counter to Scoundrels (Operatives) so the CD on dodge (Evasion) should probably also be reset each time we are knocked back. It makes other classes think twice before they knock us back. [New Ability] Nullifier The name is just a suggestion. The concept is simple. Casting this ability gives the caster a short buff, 3-4 seconds, which absorbs the next force or tech ability (maybe limit it to direct ability). So basically it covers a hole in our defense. It should have a relative short CD and a low cost. Is the big bad Sith sorcerer about to cast a deadly lightning ability? No worries just pop Nullifier and laugh at his face. A nice little ability that buys us some time and improves our defense Dispel protection for DF (Lethality) One of the biggest issues this spec struggles with is how easily a competent healer can counter their dots. Some sort of protection against dispel could be useful or even better have some consequences if they get dispelled. My suggestion is to make Vital Shot (Corrosive Dart) instantly tick for 70% of the remaining damage if it’s dispelled. The number should probably be adjusted. This should only be achieved by DF (Lethality) specs so a relative high placement in the tree is needed. Well that’s a few suggestions I got. Any other suggestions are welcome but the developers should be creative as well. What this means for PVE players We have to remember one thing. This game has a big PVE part as well and we can’t ignore that when making changes. However these changes will make the class, especially the Scrapper (Concealment) specs, more viable in PVE. It will be a helping hand to our former burst class which rarely got a role in raiding. None of these changes will make the class OP in PVE either. What this means for healer Scoundrels (Operatives) These changes will give the class a higher survivability which is needed in pvp. Especially low lvl Sawbones (Medicine) find themselves as vulnerable as wet paper bags. Final thoughts By sacrificing some of the high burst we will gain extra dps and utility for the longer fights making us less reliant on the burst. It will make the game more enjoyable for everyone and it will prevent us from being viewed as the OP noskill class. It’s hard to argument against the videos with people getting killed in few seconds by a scoundrel (operative) and they would rarely accept it if they were told that that’s how the terms are. Let’s face it: The one trick pony doesn’t belong to this game. TL;DR One trick Ponies doesn't belong to the game. Ppl cry when they get killed in a few seconds, but its hard to balance without either making it OP or useless. The class should move in a new direction with less burst but slightly more sustained DPS and extra utility and control.

Bad people are bad whether they play hybrid or not. If that's the excuse for removing hybrid specs, BioWare could just remove the talent trees as well so you has to pick a role and then the game gives you the abilities needed.

1) Healing is perfectly viable but you have to work harder than Sages to get the same results. I like the playstyle of a healer smuggler even though the poor UI makes some parts pretty annoying. I don't have much experiance as a PVE healer but for PVP there are many interesting hybrid specs. Check them out at my blog. 2) The storyline is the best IMO. Full of twists and its just awesome. You get alot of enemies you are gonna hate and all your companions have their own role and they fit well in the story. 3) I am currently leveling my 2nd scoundrel (actually IA Operative). First one as healer hybrid and 2nd as scrapper. Both specs are fun to play and they are quite strong if you play them right. If you are going to lvl as DPS I would recommend you to spend your first 2 points in Exploratory Surgery (in healer tree). It gives you a decent healing capablility and enables you to stack Upper Hand before the fight begins. I haven't played as commando so can't compare the 2 classes. But as scoundrel you are relative weak at low lvl but things gets better at the higher lvl. If you are lvling as healer and want to pvp you will get pwned untill you reach lvl 20 and get your hot and first at lvl 31 you get the tools needed to perforn well in pvp.

I have completed act 1 for both of them and the smuggler line is just way better compared to the IA one. The smuggler line is filled with humour and twists that makes it interesting all the way through.

That's sad news. I'm currently playing as Socundrel heal/dps hybrid and if BioWare are going to get rid of hybrid specs I am most likely finding another game to play. One of the things i really like about SWTOR right now is the fact that specs are very open so there aren't really any Cookiecutter yet.

The high burst stealth class doesn't belong to this game. People can't accept the fact that there are classes that are supposed to kill someone so fast and they wouldn't notice the weakness of the class. Which makes our class appear as something totally OP. Balancing such a burst class is very hard because either they obliterate everything or they are pretty much useless. What our class need is to take an other role. Rather can killing people within a few seconds we should be able to take them out by using CC and have lots of utility to control a fight. So we can still be able to take out a vital enemy but by making their job hard rather than just pwning them. This means our burst should be nerfed but we should have much more utility. I have written a post about it at my blog: http://thecontactmmo.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-fix-scoundrels-ops-one-trick.html

The smuggler story is the best imo I have made a list of common Scoundrel PVP specs: http://thecontactmmo.blogspot.com/2012/02/common-scoundrel-pvp-specs.html Edit: didn't see that you were looking for gunslinger specs, so I am not sure how useful my list will be then.

In my opinion we should have more CC and more utility to compensate for the burst. It should give us tools to control a fight and therefore take out an enemy without killing him within few seconds. I have written a post about it at my Blog The problem with our current role (or rather prenerf role) was the fact that a heavy burst class doesn't belong to this type of game.

I have written a post about it at my Blog We do need a new role since the majority of the players wouldn't accept the terms of a Heavy Burst class.

You know that with the current mechanics mitigation stats sucks in pvp making tanks easy to kill than they should when they dont have their CDs up. More info: http://taugrim.com/2012/01/19/understanding-swtors-avoidance-and-mitigation-mechanics-for-tanks-in-pvp/

Indeed its a huge problem. And like you I belong to the 2nd group. The problem is we are the minority. And if Scapper actually is supposed to be a hard counter against casters it would make our class apear incredible OP since we now counter the huge Sorc / Sage majority. As I wrote in my blog, the Devs should either get rid of the heavy burst class, thus following the 1st group, or let the burst class stay and balance around the fact that counters are the way to go. Right now they are stuck between the 2 without knowing what they are doing which makes everything a mess. The new role I suggest is a more CC and utility orientated style that gives us some great tools against casters without making us apear totally OP. So its some sort of compromise that favours the 1st group but still can please us in the 2nd. Ohh. It doesn't really matter whether you post here or there. I am new to blogging but would like a good start so im trying to get some attention for it.

I totally agree and yeserday I wrote a post about it at my Blog It's a new blog about PVP and Scoundrel/Operatives. Do me a great favor and support my blog.

35 pageviews but still no comments Gonna add a TL;DR then. One trick Ponies doesn't belong to the game. Ppl cry when they get killed in a few seconds, but its hard to balance without either making it OP or useless. The class should move in a new direction with less burst but slightly more sustained DPS and extra utility and control. Discuss

35 pageviews but still no comments Gonna add a TL;DR then. One trick Ponies doesn't belong to the game. Ppl cry when they get killed in a few seconds, but its hard to balance without either making it OP or useless. The class should move in a new direction with less burst but slightly more sustained DPS and extra utility and control. Discuss

The standard version is already being used by many with great succes. I haven't tested it myself but I would love to. However the stealth version seems to be too unfocused and what will you spend you UH for when you niether have Sucker Punch nor Wounding Shots?

Hello Everyone I have been working on a new SWTOR blog which mainly focus on PVP and the classes I play (Which is currently Scoundrel). My first post is about how to fix scoundrels and why our currently role in pvp doesn't belong to the game. Link: http://thecontactmmo.blogspot.com/ Please check it out and do me a great favour by sharing it. Mr Contact, over and out

Hello Everyone I have been working on a new SWTOR blog which mainly focus on PVP and the classes I play (Which is currently Scoundrel). My first post is about how to fix scoundrels and why our currently role in pvp doesn't belong to the game. Link: http://thecontactmmo.blogspot.com/ Please check it out and do me a great favour by sharing it. Mr Contact, over and out

You can focus on class quests and then do WZ, FP and Space missions to gain the remaining XP.

I posted this at the Operative forum as well and got some nice anwers. A few good suggestions was made aswell:

+1 internet for you

Well theres alot of viable hybrid specs, but I think theres a few people out there who are using one like yours as well. Its definitely worth giving a try.