Well. After they get recognition. World is a big place, and there are lots of bored kids with computers, who also happen to have a decent intelligence. Aside from my little joke there, knowledge on hackers and actually being one is two different things. I'm a programmer, and my knowledge on hacking is good, but actual action is not my forté. But really, no one's gonna hack SWTOR servers themselves. You should get nervous if they actually make it into EA customer databases, like they did to PSN. That's when things get interesting.

They are NOT hackers. They are a numerous bunch of kiddies with an oversimplified auto-DDoS tool. Hackers don't attack innocent gaming servers. They hack into banking accounts and government mainframes, places that contain sensitive and valuable info. ................Not that I would know anything about it.

I got one answer to that. Derelict Lightsaber Actually, more than one. The podracer. Exact same of Anakin's. Dancer outfit from Sec. Key vendor. Exact Leia replica. Your move.

Soooo..... Let's start. Slinger. 3 specs, all viable. 2 of them overpowered. Sentinel. 3 specs all viable, 2 of them ridiciously overpowered. ( Focus Sentinel tramps all over Focus Guardian, in pve and pvp, so yes, that counts.) Sage. 3 specs all viable. Awesomely balanced. ( Get it, balanced ) Commando. 3 specs, 3 viable, and calling Gunnery useless would be a mistake at any rate. Very nicely balanced. Vanguard. 3 specs, 2 viable, with the Assault being simply ridicilouslly overpowered. Scoundrel. 3 specs, 3 viable ( oh yes, the mid tree does put in niice numbers, check torparse) Shadow. 3 specs, 2 viable. Guardian, 3 specs, 1.5 viable. ( Focus is totally useless in PvE, and Vigilance only is viable if you have a %110 skilled player behind it, hence the 0.5 viable comment.) Tell me, how is this fair.....

Nuff said. Must have. And maybe Cade Skywalker's outfit as well. Would rock.

I think you all know this, but this was the HUGEST debacle back on beta and after launch. All we ever got on this was that it was a "very daunting and hard task since it's not coded into engine and it's extremely hard to implement." It's also very low on their prio list. So my estimation on hood toggle is still hovering about, at earliest, 4-5 years.

You DO realize, Vigilance players have ALWAYS asked for a smashmonkey nerf. Also, most buffs asked in our threads was tied to Shien talents and form itself, in form of burn increases or RNG fixes. No one ever asks for anything that is remotely usable by other specs or even Sentinels, we learnt that lesson well with 2.0. Also, know that we will NEVER stop. NEVER shut up. NEVER give up. We are Guardians, the most celebrated and famous Archetype of SW lore, and asking us to stop is the equivalent of asking a timeframe from Bioware. At best, you'll get a "Soon TM", and at worst, amused condosendence.

I modded Skyrim a bit and as a side note, have extensive C++ and Python programming experience, with a side flavor of having a Computational Physics degree. Jiggle physics, hair physics, really, ANY real physics are too damn processor heavy tasks. TressFX ( Tomb Raider's new hair engine) for instance, creates 17 times the load on the computer's GPU and CPU, in regards to any setting without TressFX active. I've seen a few Jiggle mods for skyrim, and they absolutely destroy and FPS you might have had. Unless its limited to your own char. And even then it creates a problem. Hero Engine is old and in no way handle those things. In case your post was a troll I want to say, nice troll topic And at any rate, some technical info can never hurt.

Oh dear God, I lolled so hard, first at OP, then at all the comments And as someone stated, all those things above, is a damn good combo for boostin' sales. Also, him being a ...a.... I dunno, a "something" ( cannot find a good word to describe him) doesn't make a butthurt muslim as someone stated. It makes him a dude with -1.2M manpoints, but not necessarily a muslim. I'd watch the religious racism there buddy. Note: I'm a simple physicist who believes in the absolute power of dark matter. God doesn't bother me, neither do I bother him. We have a good understanding, he and I.

Then they can do what they promised and NERF slingers into ground so hard that their grandmothers taste dirt. Same goes for all smash monkeys, lolrocket spammers, and all those specs that should have been balanced a long time ago.

I got one VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION. Where. IS. THE. DAMNED. VIGILANCE. BUFF. Mr. Musco, look, I know you have company policies and such tying down your capacity to comment, and this is actually the work of class designers.... But dude, "significant" boost to Ops scoundrels? I mean, can you go into the class lead designers office and ask if they want us to actively DELETE all Vigilance Guardians? Coz believe me, if I go Combat Sentinel, I'll make so many current sentinel leaders cry out in pain that the said lead designer ( whose name I couldn't find within LinkedIn) will next shatter the Sentinels. After that, I'll target Slingers. And I won't stop until there is a single spec within game that is unbroken. I will do it. And I won't be the only one. We Vigilance players, as you may have seen over this last year, are a tough, unyielding and absolutely unforgiving bunch. Sincerely, A disgruntled Guardian DPSer.

Get a grip. Trolling is an art. And you are a disgrace to all trolls.

I'm this close to stop trying to get best results on this god-forsaken spec. It doesn't crit when I get good procs, it doesn't proc when I get good crits, or it both doesn't crit and doesn't proc... Aside from that, I abhor going below %100 acc, but gosh darn itemization leaves you at 100.43% if you go 5x94. If you go (4x94) + (2x32) = It becomes %100.07 but then you lose a whopping -64 STR. Mainhand damage decreases a lot and bbasically f.... you up. Or the 99.67 build with 4x94 + 1x32....... As I said, I hate going below 100%..... But then you get surge into HEAVY DMR zone, which does get you to 74.89% surge, bbut with a heavy DMR. Too much variables. Not to mention the question of putting in EXACTLY how much crit... The 124 ( 2x62) I have leaves with a total of 22.71% crit chance. One single +62 crit doesn't do anything notable, and anything above 2 pieces of crit is blatantly losing power. But stll its returns are.... underwhelming. All this on top of a gosh darned %30 proc chance on two skills with 12s-9s cooldowns. I'm getting tired. I'd get world top 10 on sniper/slingers with this much calculation and parsing we are putting in... Anyway.... Since I yet to get my hands on a DF Focused Retri, I assume it's a direct boost in passive power bonus over Obroan? That, and does 124 crit justify having it? Also, 100.43 -- 100.07( seems worst option STR wise) -- or 99.67% accuracy? I'm open to ideas. EDIT: I'm guessing playing on a stable 100-120 ms connection is not helping my results either. Also what's that I hear about clipping MS channel?? Are you guys doing something I somehow totally missed?

Or as someone so eloquently put in before in Guardian forums, they can remove every AC besides operative, assassin and vanguard from PvP. Dont let them do pvp at all. Coz really, asking pvp buff for vigilance is simply impossible at this point, with how the game is nowadays. It's faceroll operative / assassin matches all day long. Sages and sorcs gave up a long time ago, and all focus players went to sentinels ( and even now theyare getting curbstomped by shadows.) Beofre asking for pvp buff for vigilance, ask for an all around pvp fix. As of today, it's horrifying. If anything, ask for a direct damage increase for PvE. PvP side of things are dead now.

That run out to get leap is an old trick, true. And one that you never have to use with new bosses, with how frequent they are moving. And with all the switches / phase changes occuring, you sometimes even don't get Force Leap enough so you make force push wait to reset it. Point is, wasting the focus on Slash or GCD on Strike is a huge DPS loss and unnecessary in real fights.

There is a simulation program that runs on an algorithm, that I believe that they use.... Which doesn't work AT ALL for RNG specs. Because frankly, the algorithm works out as if the Zen Strike procs exactly after each internal proc timer of 13 seconds, and burns working all the time, and MS cast exactly ever 13 seconds. IF that were to happen, we would have 3.5-3.6k dps, all well, but we all know that never happens. Frankly, that was the reason why they thought Infilt. shadows were fine for the longest time. Anyone with a cursory programming background knows that the algorithm they use sucks. As for your thinking of "it's not extensive rework" or " make it lean towards balance but make one spec overpowered".... Well. This is a game company that runs on a projected profit-loss margin. Neither the devs nor the producers can afford to be so gallant with their asset, i.e. the game itself. In the long run, losing a few like you is an acceptable move as long as they sidestep the bad rep they'd get from doing what you suggest and face a Ragestorm. Acceptable losses. Welcome to the Game Industry. Where weak die and profits matter above all.

You? The point? Totally missed it dude. Programming is easy. Balance is harder. But most importantly, every spec out there will RIGHTFULLY cry out since vigilance is getting such an extensive rework and fundamental change while other classes are getting simple white dmg. increases or uncleansable dots. They said that changes will come out small and over time, and an extensive "balance patch" was not going to happen unless it was a level cap increase with new skills. Corporate accountability prohibits them from changing anyone so extensively. Theshadow tank changes they rolled out was pushing on that barrier, and that was just a rework of a single mechanic. What you guys are saying is... simply won't happen. And as long as majority of GRD forum users are pushing for unrealistic demands, our "lovely" devs will never see beyond the fluff , thus never modifying the RNG or increasing DoTs. Accept it already. Unless 3.0 comes out (May 2014, according to rumors), you won't get those changes. So settle for increases that will tide us over in upcoming Dread NiM modes. Or go to certain pvp sorc and merc forums and see how they want Vigi / Veng. to be nerfed such that we get a 2min Master Strike cooldown with no root& no unshakeable and no Zen strike. Because we failed to make our pleas heard correctly, we got stuck with a stupid root, which now is becoming the cause of us getting nerfed even further. Wake up.

On the contrary, I never slash on bosses, and NEVER ever do strikes on a real boss fight. Because usually timing your MS and then taking a few steps back while throwing saber with a dispatch / saber throw will give you room for, waitforit, Force Leap. Plus, phase changes, Raidwide AOEs generating focus, Force Push resetted extra leaps, guardian leaps to friends... You can keep up all the burns, never miss an MS ( if you are careful and tactical) and still DPS while sentinels are trying to run after the boss coz they used it in their rotation In a real fight, slash and strike is simplynon-existent. Well, you do spam strike if boss is in an "immune" phase, llike with Calph and Raptus during crystal taking. Enter the DPS phase with full focus. But you know what I mean. A real fight is where we shine a bit more, dummy execute phase is just stupid, but a real fight's execute, with all the extra focus and sometimes requiring movement (hence inhibiting MS usage to after-movement) execute becomes a bit more usable. At the end of the day, it's the skill and knowledge of the fight that counts. Knowing when to do what, and what happens at phases. As always, "it's not the ride, it's the rider." Must put that on my signature.

Riivan is right. Too complicated and too over the top changes are being proposed. They'll never do that kinda rework on a .x numbered patch. That can only happen with a full exp. pack. So aim for simple and basic increase. Fixed cooldown on MS or MUCH more consistent RNG. OR HIGHLY increased DoT damage. Everything else is simply too much work to do for them in a patch.

Ever since this debate, I switched out 69 power for 69 crit, and it does return some better numbers. And sometimes it returns worse numbers, not very stable with just one enhancement and 21.07% crit rating.

Oh they do know there are Guardian DPSers out there. 12% of all SWTOR players are Guardians, and half of it DPS. They do know. They just don't wanna make us in line, so everyone doesn't go all "Guardian fever this week" mode. You know, like they did with slinger. Everyone and their mother have a slinger. Even grandmothers.

Just my two sents about MS channel: I'd be happy with the 2.3 secs COmbat senties get.

I should start by clarifying. When I said raptus and grob is a joke, I meant that. Meaning they are jokes you laugh at and then decimate. They are easier than easy. And I will bet good money that they will be certifiable pain in the backside when NiM comes. Coz that's usually how it goes. We don't need a cleanse. Giving everyone a cleanse is a cheap cop out that MMOs stopped doing with Everquest. This limits the "need for variety" that I was speaking about earlier. If you give everyone a cleanse, you are taking a valuable tool away from TK sages and Commando DPSers. That's their job, to emergency offheal, bubble, kolto bomb, and yes, cleanse. A big NOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooo for cleanse from me. As for PUG rejection, you don't PUG with your mainchar except for commendation 16man SMs. Everyone knows that. Coz a PUG usually doesn't guard me, and voila! An instant aggro maniac Vigilance on the premises gentlemen! Or a TK sage or an assault commando that's simply uncontrollable. YOu don't PUG. YOu find a good raiding endgame guild for HMs and NiMs. That's the correct way. Now here is the really dirty little secret: Have you ever seen a 4 slinger NiMclearing guild run? Ever? The answer correlates to why World First killers on US have Vengeance Juggs in them. Coz at the end of the day, 4 ppl pulling 3.5k+ doesn't mean a single penny when ***** hits the fan. That's when they cry for Sage to rez/bubble/offheal, to guardian to taunt an add or boss itself, to scoundrel to stealth rez. Every sane raider and their mothers should know that you NEVER take an all RDPS grp. Ever. And when you go in with the ideal 2 MDPS - 2RDPS setup ( 8man), you don't want both melee to be sents, coz you can't even Inspiration-chain anymore! That second one is free folks. That's where you are gonna be fighting for. That spot is why you train endlessly so you can overtake sentinels and make the raid leader simply go "take him and guard him, and we'll make through this." Now for the other thing. The 3.476 Kishekzun pulled ( I'm gonna wait till I get dread forged implants and earpieces till I parse endlessly) is what we Vigis call a "lucky parse." Meaning you get an average 15-sec- Zen Strike proc average. Zen Strike procs averagely around 20 seconds overall, and some really unlucky parses make it go to 25-sec-average. No other class has this issue. That's why we have been crying for MS cooldown for vigilance to simply become 15ish, OR fix the RNG so we get that 15-second-average-procrating at ALL times. BTW: It's not that a lot of classes need a buff, it's just that we need a buff, and Slingers need a HUUUUUGEEE Nerf. Maniacs are now at 4.4k. And counting.

First off: Defiance is not a DPS gain in my books. Not for me anyway, since I ne-eeeee-veeeer fall to using Strike. The ability to use the fillers perfectly aftter countless hours of mind numbing training has done that. And defiance, in that regard, mostly fills my focus bar if there are mechanics that activate it ( hence disabling fillers since I'd overfocus) and spenders are on cooldown. It's an uncontrollable buff when it comes into play, and it mostly doesn't come into play. DPS is 0 if you are dead. This is common sense. Commanding Awe is not a simple survivability talent. It's what makes or breaks an "oh**** offfftaaaaaank tauuuunt!" moment. NiMs are unforgiving, we know that. They don't allow one(1) mistake most of the times. And guess what, Murphy was a very clever guy, bbecause usually, things go wrong at exactly the wrong time. If that happens to a healer, you want a TK sage with no power management. If that happens to a tank, you want a Vigi with all def. cooldowns open. HMs are kiddie c.r.a.p. as we know, and NiMs are where men are seperated from boys. An ideal, perfect NiM run is like a naughty fairytale with Emma Watson in leading role, it NEVER happens unless in your dreams. At a point where a tank screws up, or a healer getting an unfortunate mechanic ( healer getting doom three times in a row at Dread Guards anyone?) and you want a GRD with ****** cooldowns, and that commanding awe in its awesomeness. It's as simple as that for me. Spec is designed to have SOME tools that other MDPS don't have, and discarding them for pure DPS is counter-productive in the long run. This ,for me, is an indisputable fact. Here's another gem for you. If a fight is gonna turn out to be "turret mode", you take what? Defiance won't be activated, GTR STR is useless, and unremitting ( which I use %90 of timmes because with good timing, you have at least 3-4 GCDs when other MDPSers are CCed) is all but unnecessary. See, at fights like that, there's usually a raidwide AOE online ( example: Operator IX) and that Commanding is what's gonna save you. Respeccing according to fights is a good thing. But there's not a single fight yet that made me respec for Defiance instead of Commanding Awe. Commanding Awe is not for speculation when respeccing, the choice is ALWAYS between GTR STR, Defiance and Unremitting. Edit note: The algorithm used for estimating a DPS with crit holds true %99.99 of real raids. You rarely get a crit average on a fight more than %1-2 beyond your stat crit percentage. In that manner, gimping yourself for an overall -%0.4-0.5 DPS is not advisable. I also said power will rule UNLESS crit gets its juice back. UNLESS means if that happens, we will run calculations again.

Are you actively trying to gimp existing DPS guards? Crit has no place in it, and since you made this guide ( It reads off more as a self praise ritual btw), I ran the calculations again according to the stat formulas here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=615111 +142 crit, -172 power, +17 STR = -0.5% overall damage +101 crit, -131 power, +17 STR = -0.4% overall damage +62 crit, -62 power = -0.1% overall damage +41 crit, -41 power = -0.98% overall damage +39 crit, -69 power, +17 STR= -0.2% overall damage Note: Crit bonuses from Mainstat included in calculations. Summary: UNLESS crit changes significantly in its gains, it cannot, in a million years, compare to power. ALSO: While some guardians do contemplate COmmanding Awe, you cannot not take it. Simply not. Because you simply don't miss out on %4 dmg decrease over EVERYTHING. EVERY. gosh darnED. THING. Reducted by %4. No sonny, you don't ever not take commanding awe. Plus, for those with a cursory common sense, that focused defense becomes incredibly powerful in phase changes with huge AOEs. You will exit phases with %50-60 hp while sents and shadows (if not using Resilience) will exit with %20-30 hp. Commanding Awe. is. Awesome. Edit note: I started out 2.0 itemization with 4p Vindicator bonus. It didn't work. As soon as I switched to 2p vindi / 2p weaponmaster bonus, the damage jumped. And I don't mean it lightly pranced. It made an NBA athlete jump. Yes, it's that powerful. Hell that's why we want that bonus moved to 4p vindicator and rob sentinels of that damage bonus.