Exactly. And when it does proc (45% of the time) it does only 38.4% of the damage that our "normal" 130% shock does. I'm not saying chain shock is a bad choice for a 31 deception. What I would say is that it is not nearly as good a choice as it is for a darkness spec, which 15% bonus applies to the bonus proc and also has a gauranteed crit mechanic which means that exploitive strikes is more reliably up. The synergy between chain shock, exploitative strikes, electrify, and energize is insane. The 10 point options for deception are more balanced (chain shock vs. lightning recovery essentially) but not as strong.

I have seen the high valor assassin in my guild start a marauder alt because that was more the playstyle he wanted as melee DPS. He was of the opinion that Darkness is the only "strong" spec in the class and he did not particularly enjoy that playstyle. He was disappointed in deception. I would note that he is the best PvPer I've encountered and is getting even more ridiculous results out of other classes- marauder and merc. edit: probably what you really want is an operative.

Actually the 17.3% is assuming you always hit shock with 2 procs from voltaic slash. 22.5% would be the unmodified increase. Normal shock = 100% +2 VS +30% The extra shock from chain shock procs 45% of the time for 50% damage or 22.5% of base. 22.5 / 130 = 17.3% increase over a non-chain shocked shock.

This is just a playstyle choice issue: 7/31/3 for more mobility vs. 2/31/8 for more punch I chose option A - I feel like I can be in the right place more often- using Force Speed more liberally. Also the cooldown on force shroud means I can use it both in combo with force cloak and again in mid fight and know it will still be ready to use in combo with the next force cloak. Force cloak + force shroud + force speed is such a great get out of jail free card and 7/31/3 makes use of this combination most often. That, for me, is better than a 17.3% increase in shock. The 9% armor penetration also helps make up this gap. (not losing a charge of recklessness to the ghetto shock is a small consideration.) Shock is reduced by armor so the armor penetration of charge mastery increases damage with everything but discharge.

Strength Strength will contribute as much as willpower to all non-force attacks (or rather they appear to offer the same contribution as willpower based upon me eye-balling my character sheet). So this is especially good for a deception assassin since we rely so heavily on Voltaic strike, maul, and assassinate. I've done presence as well.

Battle Enhancement 22 - purple i think "assault" will work well too, but Battle were what was available to me. I bought 4 of these at 20-35k from the Auction House to swap into my Centurion ngear. They help tremendously. You'll still have more accuracy than you want. They cost about the same to pull an enhancement of that level out of the slot, so its really a good bargain. (your server may differ)

8.3/10 on the troll scale.

Even in deception spec, you should always get 2-3 medals for damage prevented, which is only 5+,10+ K damage. Honestly one good AE taunt can get you 5k.

It would still require stealth. That alone would prevent the situation you are describing. What you would do as a solo assassin is approach a backline- CC one and open on the other, buying you 8 seconds before it becomes a 2v1.

This has not been my experience. For mind trap to work I have to be stealthed and my target has to be out of combat. It doesn't matter what the rest of my team is doing. (PvP situation) I think what you are describing is that in a PvE environment (especially with companions) the rest of your team (or your companion) can pull you out of stealth and into combat.... One ability I would like to see is simply a long-cast stealth. For example- if you had a 4 second "Hide" ability. This would allow you to restealth even in combat but would be easily stopped or interrupted in any "real" combat situation. Any damage interrupts the cast. Uses: Getting back into stealth in an Illum group. Running around a corner and out of sight in a WZ. Basically if you aren't being targetted and damaged, deception should be able to restealth without having to blow a big cooldown.

or along those lines.... Darkness currently gets to spec to use spike out of stealth. Deception could spec to allow mind trap on in-combat opponents (still requires stealth). Would make us a little more effective against enemy back-lines.

Agree with this. The timers on these abilities don't really make sense. I dont know about removing them completely but they certainly could be longer - which would reward a hit and run playstyle that deception is supposed to be. The shorter timers on this force us to remain in combat and play more like a marauder- something we, defensively, are really not equipped to do.

Isn't that elegant... Who gives a ****. That's the kind of stuff that appears in an early design doc and gets tossed when you start testing.

Move disjunction to the 3rd tier of deception, replacing surging charge. (why do we need to spend a point for our charge???) Entropic field belongs in darkness (it has tank written all over it) Add a single point ability to the 5th tier which removes the once per 10 seconds restriction on duplicity. Resourcefulness is just a total garbage ability because lacerate is a total garbage ability (and inappropriate for the deception tree). Or instead make resourcefulness make Lacerate actually worth using. So that using lacerate in a PvP setting has some value (other than as an AE cap-interrupter). Lets face it- if a deception assassin is in the middle of a crowd its AE should hit HARD because he's not going to survive there long anyway. A PBAE should hit harder than a ranged AE. Static charges should ramp up quicker- maybe 10% per proc and cap at 3. Its bad design to have both static charges (rewards you for waiting) and recirculation (lowers CD) on the same ability. Stacks up to 5? What fight lasts this long? If it does, you've already lost. edit: I think Brat's idea is pretty solid to transform maul into an opener.

Thanks for the tip. But when open world PvP is one of the things you sign up for- being reduced to spamming a buff to get credit for the kills of others is really unacceptable.

Agree. Make it skip-able.

OR rotate your maintenance times so it affects everyone equally. There is nothing written in stone that says this maintenance has to occur at the exact same time every time. I understand that these periods are necessary and that Bioware wants to minimize their effects on the gaming population... Yet somehow every other MMO I have ever played has managed not place their downtimes so consistently in my prime times. Thx to all the people whom this issue doesn't affect who feel like it is their duty to tell me to suck it up!

I agree with the OP. I can play this game Monday thru Thursday from approximately 10:30PM to 2am. So between scheduled maintenance and the occasional hotfix that means that one and sometimes 2 of my 4 nights each week are cut short by at least half. The downtime consistently cheats west coasters. So it would be nice if they simply rotated their down times slightly to spread out the impact. Is this down time going to remain the same when Oceanic servers launch? This is not a small issue for the, admittedly, small group it affects.

West coast players cheated again with the downtime. Rotate your maintenance Bioware. This is not a small issue to those affected.

It does seem like disjunction should be in the deception tree - or at least in the 2nd level of darkness so its accessible. VS is just too important to pass up and try to make a "hybrid" deception build.

Your post really rings true. (I run the same spec as well.) I turned 50 a week ago. I went from levels 46-49 when I could modify my armors to all crit/surge and really being an assassin-dropping opponents within 2 rotations to being an ineffective bug at 50. I'm slowly switching over to cent with a tad of champion. 0-13 on bags which I know is pretty standard now. And it pains me to give up the the crit/surge on my gear for accuracy. I feel like I'm running in place since the gains I make in expertise seem somewhat offset by the loss of crit/surge to accuracy. So I realize that I am in for a very long gear-grinding haul.... Combine this with the illum experience and how hostile it is to a deception assassin and I can very few reasons that my continuing experience in SWTOR could in any way be described as fun. (My buddy, a sorc, another new 50 joined the illum zerg and he completed his daily almost instantly - his healing allows him to tag almost every kill wheras as an assassin I could only tag enemies within 10m.)

Very Nice. Thx.

but along those lines, do pick up strength datacrons....

The problem with that build isn't torment. Its with the other 10 points. Either go 7 into darkness for Lightning Recovery or 8 points into deception for obfuscation. That's a play-style choice- but both provide a certain degree of movement which is far more valuable in PvP than PvE. I'd vote darkness for lightning recovery. 1 point in Duplicity. 2 points in Insulation.

Its been the trend for some time sadly.... I blame the hunter forums from vanilla WoW.