Hello folks! For those of you who play GoH, they are implementing a guild system in with a patch this Sunday, with access to daily guild activities and raids! I've got a couple friends from various SWTOR guilds already interested in joining, so for those of you who would like to tag along are more than welcome! There is a max of 50 people per guild, so it will be on a first come, first serve basis. Of course, I plan on hopping right into raids and the guild activities to see what all the hubba is about. If you are in smashing some rancors, you can leave a post here with your ally code, or you can PM me your ally code, and when patch goes live, I'll create the guild and start sending out invitations. Of course, if you have friends that would like to join as well, feel free to leave me their ally codes as well! For those who don't know what GoH is, it's a phone game that allows you to collect characters from multiple Star Wars universes, (based on the movies, tv shows, and even other games), and toss them into battle against others. You gear and level them up, and try your luck in the PvP and PvE aspects of the game. Completely free to play, however, many people do spend money on it to buy packs to unlock other characters later on. Feel free to leave ideas for guild names as well, as for I don't really have any idea what to name the guild (yet)! - Camel

I'm just curious about this, as my group is hitting pretty close to enrage on core. I'm currently hitting between 4-4.4k DPS on core (on our best pull, 4.4k ~~ 850k damage on core). I want to make sure I'm actually pulling my weight lol

Ohh man. I remember the days of GSF drama. Them *****es and their flashfires. Good times. Good times. If only I still played, me and my T1 Strike Fighter would still be tearing it up I might fly a match or two for the memories. Where are people located these days?

The good days when Bioware had a raid development team. Now it's just a raid developer.

I approve.

Bb <3

The really simple explanation - It's Home.

I second this notion.

I'm back.

Glad someone spent some time to write up a guide. Twas well written, but I really only skimmed through parts of it. What I read was good though. It might be beneficial to point out that the Field Tech and Professional Set bonuses stack with one another, so it'll be easier for people to gear.

That moment when you don't realize you are derping about the sage/sorc threads instead of the shadow/assassin threads... was wondering what the hell lightning strike was. Now I see what's going on here...

This is actually less about using the cover bar specifically, but moreso about using cover in general. As one of the main traits of cover, you are immune to pushback. Pushback is the delaying of a casted ability due to damage taken. For example, if you play a sorc or merc (sage or commando), typically you'll find from time to time that abilities are being delayed when you are being hurt. That is pushback. So while entering cover takes a split second to do, it is a key tool for the Sniper. While you might suffer a very minimal Actions per Minute drop initially, this could increase more if cover is not used due to pushback. Eventually, with enough skill with the class/spec, you will be able to determine when you should enter or drop cover as the situation changes. What most people do, to keep APM high, is to time entering/leaving cover when an instant cast ability is used. (Such as Takedown/Quickdraw). I'm typing this at 1am, and this is probably not my best work at all. I'm really tired and don't feel like getting into it. I'm sure someone will get more into detail with it, since people here are cool like that. Hopefully this will be a start.

If you play the game enough, you'll figure out eventually which specs you prefer to run on each boss. Typically a good rule of thumb is if the boss is mostly stationary (or if tanks can work well with an Engi/Sabo Sniper/Slinger), and if adds are frequent, then it's probably a good fight for this spec. There are I think 46 Operation Bosses (not including World Bosses or the other single instanced ones), so creating a list that long would take a little bit of time. I probably wouldn't be able to do it because I don't really know how well each spec is performing against the others (I know Engi is #1, but idk where Marksman and Virulence stand against each other), but someone who plays sniper a little bit more frequently might be interested in making one.

For stats the best I'll redirect you to this link: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=847112 Whether or not they are truely the most optimal, I'm not sure, but it would be a good place to start.

<3 Bora

So I do not think I'll actually be able to get around to updating this guide like I thought I would. I've got too much stuff going on in real life that's preventing me from logging on enough to even gear any character into the SM stuff. I might be something I get into eventually, perhaps over winter break, but for now, don't expect any updates from me. Sorry to those who were anticipating an update to the guide sooner.

So you said vote. Yes for passive: I tally 1 (OP) No for passive: The rest of the SWTOR community. Troll fire extinguished.

^ This. As far as a standard rotation goes, this guy pretty much nailed it on the head. As soon as I can get Accuracy on my sniper I'll be able to do some testing. Too much RL. Not enough SWTOR.

Out of the three specs, yes, Engineering has the most abilities to use. If you take a look through the guide, I believe I've mentioned every useful PvE ability that should be used either for direct damage or as a utility (say Pulse Detonator/Cover Pulse for Nightmare Styrak). If you want to talk PvP, I'd recommend looking at Zoidrinali's videos (The Angry Sniper on Youtube). As for updates on the spec itself, I still actually need to get gear on my Sniper/Gunslinger (most likely sniper) in order to do testing, so I won't have results for a little bit. I'm going to work on grinding out the SM stuff over the next couple weeks so I can relay this information to all the fellow cool kids. (Not having accuracy sucks, especially since you can miss explosive probes )

The guide will basically be the same. I'll just need to edit a couple of things.

With 4.0 being less than a week away, I'll do my best to update my guide accordingly, that is, if people have found it helpful at all. The only change I see in the rotation is prioritizing Fly-By/OS much more since our AoE-Critical Chance is increasing by 15%. I'd also highly suggest running with the opener that uses IG/PP before the first Speed Shot/Series of Shots. If someone feels the urge to redo my possibly outdated guide, I'm all for it, however, with this being the only change to the spec, a whole new guide shouldn't be necessary. I'm quite busy during the week, so I may not be able to test the changes and update the guide as fast as I was able to in the past. Just throwing all of this out there for you folks to think about.

This is exactly what I do lol

Oh. My. God. I would literally do nothing but saboteur for the rest of my life.

Basically this. The instant casts are sooooo handy on Revan as well, especially when the beam has nothing better to do than target you.

With this in mind, remember that the only things possible to trade out crit for now would be Alacrity and Accuracy (for DPS/Heals of course), since it is becoming a secondary stat, since it is replacing where surge is normally located. Depending on how accuracy rating will be affected in 4.0, the total amount of crit/alacrity enhancements we have will reduced as a result, so optimizing in 4.0 will be finding a balance between Crit and Alacrity. All in all, it is too early to tell how this change will affect this spec, however, I doubt Bioware will intentionally try to make a class unplayable. Whether it happens or not will remain to be seen.