[how do you kill subject alpha as a empire player]

Two tanks and move out out of poison AoE.

[Obtaining 2.5k Damage Medal..]

You're a level 50 assassin and cannot get a 2.5k crit? In the slight off chance you're not just trolling for comments, just get better gear and/or mods with surge. You should be able to get a 2.5k crit on an unshielded sorc pretty easily. Use stims/adrenals if you really, really are having issues. Healers are capable of getting this medal.

[So, sniper rakata weapon.]

He probably expected something unique for an end-game item, too bad its swtor and commendation tier cloning.

 

I can't blame anyone for expecting a a truley unique end-game item. The recolored tionese/columi/rakata gear should've tipped us all off. I know I came across some of the same visual pieces as I leveled from rare drops, opening commedation boxes, etc.

[Why don't you believe us?]

I say marksman simply to give context to where I'm coming from in my post. I didn't say anything about Lethality. And also just to comment on Lethality, it really wouldn't be better in this case. As I said, warzones are all objective based, and killing is secondary. These tank and healer groups may not be able to kill very quickly, but they can still kill. This while being extremely hard to damage themselves. As a Lethality sniper you'll suffer against these healer and tank groups because of energy issues over longer fights, and a lack of ability to switch targets.

 

The guard mechanic can be extremely infuriating at times in pvp as healing is still quite powerful and interrupts don't lock out another heal from being casted. It's easier to coordinate chain interrupts in a premade group, but near impossible to coordinate with pugs.

[So, sniper rakata weapon.]

I used the moddable gun gotten after the legacy quest up until last night, when I finally received the rakata token off hm kp.

 

The rakata weapon looks almost exactly the same. It's the same rifle, with a small scope on top. QQ.

 

Were you expecting a sniper rifle constructed out of polished kryat bones? Were you expecting a sniper rifle infused with the dark side to give it an evil purple glow effect? It is what it is. The rifle is crisp and shiny. Matches well with the Rakata chest piece. It's not big and flashy, but I can live with it. At least we have more noticable differences in sniper rifle skins versus lightsabers. I can never see a difference with my friend's lightsabers unless in melee range. 10 meters out they all look like the same cylinder with maybe a different colored blade once in a while.

[Why don't you believe us?]

As a marksman sniper, I'm seeing more and more groups full of healers and tanks with guard thoroughly spread amongst the group. There are no "easy" targets in this case, no matter what their gear level is. With warzones where killing is a secondary objective in order to win, these groups of tanks and healing are making pvp increasingly frustrating.

 

Up until pretty much this week when these healing and tank groups have increased their prevalence (at least on my server), I would have totally agreed that most of the issues and complaints about snipers were from people that simply did not know how to play well. Now though, there is just no amount of knowledge or skill that can allow a (marksman) sniper to significantly contribute to overcoming these groups and complete the warzone objectives as a team.

 

 

So are you stating a lethality sniper against the same guarded healer and tank group would be more beneficial to a team over a marksman sniper?

[The real reason Lethality > MM for PVP]

after viewing some of your posts, I have come to the conclusion you are either a compulsive exaggerator/liar or you play against the worst players on the planet. you kill lethality snipers before they can cull, huh? evasion negates your MM damage, but will not stop dart/corr grenade. 70% of the time most medals... what a joke. you're a joke. please stop posting. I am a fan of MM, but you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. again, stop posting.

 

 

Assuming the lethality sniper and my sniper both are aware of each other, he's not likely to get a cull off on me (or at least it will be delayed) if I have flash grenade and diversion up. Many of the lethality snipers I see use the predictable corrosive dart, corrosive grenade set up (which they pretty much need to so no fault of their own). Then it's a matter of looking for the WB debuff on me or to see if they take cover/entrench for the obvious cull.

 

If they don't entrench, I immediately throw the flash grenade once I've been hit with corrosive grenade usually followed by a quick repositioning for an instant snipe/leg shot to prevent from taking cover again for a couple of seconds. Obviously if they start cull at that point I'm waiting to interrupt. I'm already entrenched (if the cooldown was up) so I'm not worried about them attempting to flash bang me. If they try to take cover/entrench then cull, I'll use diversion and interrupt the cull at that point.

 

They're much more difficult to kill if I didn't seem them first or if my cooldowns aren't available. The few times I have an actual slugging match against one, it's 50/50 who wins as I can typically die from his dots even after he's dead.

 

Each spec has its merits. If for what ever reason, Boiware changes DoTs preventing node captures, Lethality will have even less a place in pvp. Operatives/Scoundrals and Commandos/Mercs can already remove 2 tech dots on friendly targets which already impacts lethality specs against organized teams. My commando's cleanse is instant and spammable so long as I have ammo. My marksman sniper only feels encumbered attacking tanks alone.

 

Edit : Null, I'm not really defending the guy you quoted. Him stating he gets most medals 70% of the time seems a bit unrealistic based on my own warzone experiences where tank-capable classes can get 10-12+ medals fairly easily.

[Why don't you believe us?]

Level 50 snipers

 

Do you get the 5k Single damage metal?

 

Do you get the 300K total damage match metal?

 

Not seeing these on my sniper and with full champion gear I should earn these metals.

 

comments?

 

 

P.S. could care less about your class ...this is sniper forums.

 

Even with the surge nerf, I'm still getting 5K crits in warzones (just not every game). I also get the 300k damage on most but not all Huttball matches that aren't ended prematurely from a six cap.

 

I'm in mostly champion gear at 500 expertise and use a few Rakata pieces. I pvp as marksman sniper.

[Starting a sniper as my ranged DPS alt]

I'm almost at lvl 33, full Marksman, and am considering putting the rest of my points into engineering... Has anyone tried a mm/engi hybrid with talented followthrough + imperial methodology? It looks good on paper, but I'm not sure how it will cope in practice...

 

23/16/2 has been getting a popularity boost lately. You get followthrough (talented), cluster bombs, cheaper explosive droid, and interregation droid. I've tried this out and felt I could doo pretty good with it in both pvp and pve. I did go back to a 31/7/3 spec, as I felt more comfortable with that spec. Like you, I leveled full marksman.

[Now, I'm not the best Sniper...]

Oh. My. God. How thick can you be? Just because dailies are quests, does not make it relevant to leveling. I mean honestly, they have ZERO to do with each other. Are you doing those same quests while leveling? NO. Do you have access to all the same skills? NO. Do you have access to the same stat stacking? NO. Do you have all the talent points? NO. The list goes on and on. This is not about dailies, not about 50+ combat. I mean holy *** dude. What does it take to get it in your head that you are lacking when leveling compared to 50. Your attempt to relate the two is just getting met with utter failure when it comes to grasping the difference.

 

I'm dense? I'm providing a way to measure the effictiveness of using two different companions. You can't do the leveling quests (heroics aside) more than once. Doing a quest in less time with a dpser over a healer companion is directly comparable...regardless of dailies or levelilng.

 

You're providing no evidence, nor even circumstantial data to back your point. All you say is Lokin is the best and everyone should just take your word on it. I'm done with your trolling.

[Now, I'm not the best Sniper...]

Are you REALLY that slow? I mean honestly? You still fail to grasp the difference between dailies vs leveling? lol. wow dude. super slow. If you really think temple/tank is better/quicker leveling you simply do not understand the fastest way to level. Like I said, enjoy being slower than you otherwise would be. Have fun!

 

You're just being dense to not see the comparison between dailies (which surprise! they ARE quests) and leveling. You spout Loking is faster than anything else for leveling. I'm at least providing something to benchmark Loking vs anyone else against. The dailies provide with several different quests that can be repeated each and every day. The daily quests even follow the generic patterns all leveling quests do. I've also provided benchmarks of both Temple and Lokin being in Columi gear to prevent an argument of "gear imbalance."

 

You have done nothing to support your claim of Lokin is the best leveling companion. I encourage other people to try out dailies one day with Lokin, one day with a different companion to see who is faster in completing them. Ideally Lokin and Temple are best to compare as they're the easiest for our class to gear up first and you can get equivalent level weapons for them both doing the Light's Out daily.

[Now, I'm not the best Sniper...]

Your logic is just....sad to say the least. You clearly lack an understanding of the quickest way to level and min/maxing. You think 3 sec per pull doesn't matter through 1-50? That is extremely amusing. Total lack of understanding.

 

 

And you yet again fail to comphrend what I was saying about Lokin and Temple in Columi gear. It is directly related to leveling as both my Temple and Lokin have the exact same gear except weapon/offhand. My point was countering your "no downtime with Lokin". If I'm doing the exact same dailies with Temple faster than the exact same dailies with Lokin, who is causing downtime? It's not Temple.

 

Again...great...you think Lokin is the best and provides the least amount of downtime. Fantastic. The OP can have even less downtime by using a tank/dps companion with gear equal to Lokin. You are merely arguing just to argue at this point.

[Now, I'm not the best Sniper...]

Right so, you would recommend spending the time/cash to gear up a tank - with downtime - instead of just using greens on a healer with none? You are really just digging a hole for yourself. The fact is you have to put much more effort on a tank companion gear wise to get it even close to the efficiency level of a healer...

 

Killing stuff faster and spening three seconds to dismiss/resummon (or just getting on a speeder) is not less down time than relying on Lokin constantly healing you while you are the sole source of damage. You like Lokin. Great. I was much, much faster at killing and moving on with Kaliyo and Temple.

 

Saying you have no issues with a companion in columi gear...LOL, how is that relevant to the OP? Please move on.

 

Talk about taking things of of syntax. I was specifically stating for dailies, It's much faster for me to use Temple over Lokin to complete them all. You neglect to mention that I had told the OP to keep gear current on any companion he chooses to use. Lokin and Temple are the easiest to gear since they can use direct hand-me-downs.

 

I spent little cash gearing Kaliyo with blues as a friend often crafted them for me as he was grinding his armortech skill. I preferred giving her blue items for the increased health they have over greens. Was is absolutely necessary? Probably not. Armor is cheap on Davik's Estate GTN anyway. Credits are a joke to earn once you've reached Tatooine and beyond.

[Why You Should NEVER Play a Gunslinger/Sniper]

I play a sniper. We do have some issues, but I am sure every other person on this forum has at least 1 gripe with their class. To call us broken is a gross exaggeration. We have some of the best burst in the game.

 

If they would just fix the issues with cover id be a happy camper.

 

Same here. I'd like roots to no longer prevent us from entering cover. I'd also like to know if diversion is working correctly by knocking people out of cover even when they are entrenched. If it intended to screw entrench so be it. There's not all that many MM/SS snipers/'slingers in warzones anyway. Even fewer pick up that talent as it no is useful on operation bosses.

[End Game Sniper DPS Raid Build]

There is a lot of discussion on it here: http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Jarg-and-Sorno

All of that damage is not from the rail shot alone their is 2 abilities involved that happen very close to each other, but with 18k health you can get very close to insta-gibbed.

 

Okay. Jarg and the purple circle of death can be an issue. Moving as soon as the purple circle appears reduces damage taken. We somewhat cheese Jarg. If both of our tanks happen to be frozen, we have a guarded SA taunt Jarg while I blow ballistic shield. The SA hold outs long enough for at least one tank to be freed from the carbonite droids.

 

The 4% endurance talent isn't really needed but it's not harmful to pick up for the hybrid spec. Only waste of two talents points in my opinion would be for calculated pursuit.

[End Game Sniper DPS Raid Build]

You can not justify this claim in any way.

 

For the 100th time:

1) There is no better talent for 23/16/2. 2) That is the only spec I would recomend taking Vitality Serum with. 3) Nightmare Bounty Hunters rail shot ability does 21k damage to a ops member, I'm sorry you are not running this and haven't had to deal with it. That means globaling anyone who doesn't have near that health. I bring this up because survivability is very important, 4% endurance is a good thing.

 

Stop arguing you're just digging yourself into a hole and making yourself look misinformed.

 

Out of curiosity why do you state the BH rail shot is doing 21k damage on nightmare? I can't say that any of my raid members have ever experienced such a high hit on nightmare. Most of us average ~18k health raid buffed (dps and healers anyway).

[Sniper pvp]

Plenty of discussion (and rants) in this thread about lethality over MM for pvp. There are good posts and bad posts alike.

[Now, I'm not the best Sniper...]

I don't see how that contradicts my post a single bit. You said you had downtime, thanks for proving my point. You had downtime even with good mod-able gear. You are just reinforcing my point even further, thanks!

 

Lol...if you consider downtime being 3 seconds (which I more than likely made up for in killing time). If you do, fine. Point is, there's no single best companion. Even Lokin is going to take a few moments to get you and him up to 100% health. I have him and Temple wearing mostly Columi gear now and I actually have more down time with Lokin doing dailies than I do with Temple. Kailyo has been shelved at this point.

 

 

@OP : If you are having issues with Lokin on Quesh, get him some better gear (that applies to any companion you want to use). If you're not using a stim to improve your performance, you could consider using one that increases your presence attribute to marginally increase your companion's performance. Don't be afraid to use a medpack or two if need them while soloing. Most humanoid mobs seem to drop some anyway. You can also purchase medpacks from biochemists that heal you and your companion.

[Now, I'm not the best Sniper...]

Well I guess I have to be careful of what I say or Toat will report me for a 4th time. Seriously dude?

 

You are playing wrong if a tank companion is outperforming a healer companion and you are not a healer yourself. A healer companion provides you with a direct path for leveling to 50 and 50+ content, meaning absolutely zero downtime. No matter what you do with a tank companion, there will be downtime. This is not something you can argue against, and it works for all classes. You simply need to learn how to use a healer companion (which is not hard).

 

I kept Kailyo up till Coruscant for leveling without any downtime. I tried to keep her in orange moddable equipment and update her mods every few levels, equip blues where I must (I had help from an armortech guildie). All in all Kaliyo survived all questing or died just as the final mob died. Dismiss/resummon to bring her back at full health took only a moment of "down time."

 

I had the same success on Corellia and Ilum with Temple when I replaced Kaliyo.

[Sniper vs Anything that knocks back or stuns frequently]

I'm enjoying the Sniper, both solo and in operations, for the most part.

I really struggle vs anything with a knock back or a stun though, especially if it happens frequently (ie anything that breaks cover).

 

Case in point: Infernal Council in Eternity Vault. I am always the last one done with my Juggernaut. About 1/3 of the abilities I cast is crouch, because I'm constantly getting stood up.

I'm using entrench when I've got everything proc'ed (10ish seconds in), right after I orbital strike at my feet (jugg comes to me).

Other than that, my rotation is pretty standard from what I've read, just in this fight (and others like it) I'm having to crouch constantly, burning 1 sec each time.

 

As we're ready for hard mode, this will be a problem if I still need help.

 

Suggestions?

 

For whatever reason the high health mobs dont' knockback in hard and nightmare. They don't hit any noticeabley harder either.

[Why You Should NEVER Play a Gunslinger/Sniper]

This class is completely broken as a DPS class.

 

Do not play this class. Re-roll if you are leveling one now.

 

 

Broken Items:

Range

35m is insufficient to do DPS and keep range. If you play enough PvP you'll realize the beta nerf of range on this class was the deathblow. It is not playable at 35m. You just cannot survive at 35m as opponents close and kill you before you can even dmg them. Every class and advanced class. I burn my KB's which resolves them trying to get them off me. I cannot slug it out as my defenses are insufficient to stay and cover and survive or kill any equally equipped class. If I move from cover I am dead, which brings me to point 2.

 

Range is fine. Get more accuracy, crit/surge in your gear to do more damage. Use flash bang, debilitate, and leg shot to help keep some pressure off and of course cover pulse. If you need to reposition, flash bang and debilitate give you a small window to do so. Spec in to defensive screen and ballistic dampeners if you feel super squishy. Make use of the poor shield probe, too.

 

Cover

The mechanism roots us at a 35m range. While you can try and fall back and move forward because other players leap and have sprint its not working correctly. So if I try and run away back to range its pointless. You will not survive any class or advanced class if you break cover and try and get away. They can close on you and you cannot move away.

 

Cover is only as much a self root as you make of it. Tracer spamming mercs are just as rooted as a sniper casting snipe/abmush/SoS. The Lethality tree does offer a bit more run and gun playstyle if that's what you want. All classes are subject to force leap and other forms of hard CC like cyro grenade or whirlwind. Cover makes us immune to the force leaps and if we pop entrench, we're even immune to the hard CC. Other classes also can have their casts interrupted and suffer from push-backs which we don't while in cover.

 

DPS

We don't do anywhere near the DPS of other classes. Sage/Sorc/DPS, BH/Trooper/DPS, Sentinel/Maurader/DPS all out DPS our class based on my experience against equally geared opponents across nearly every wz through a great majority of play time in this class attempting to try every single trick I could. I will say I've heard certain AOE builds of Smuggler can do a lot of DPS but that almost always based on poor play of the opposing team and/or tremendous gear differentials between BM and entry level 50's.

 

Until there are combat parsing tools you shouldn't claim snipers aren't doing comparable damage to any one else. Warzones are especially bad to compare with when some classes/specs spam dots or AoE to pad their damage done.

 

Lack of Escapability in a ranged class

So the one class that needs to be able to break combat and flee cannot. Healers have heals to help them survive an attack and sprint to get away especially once resolve kicks in. Other DPS classes get heals (trooper/BH). Gunslingers? A dodge sprint bonus with a requirement to run a dirty kick. Goes back to cover, but I am rooted at 35m's.

 

Throw a flash bang and use LoS if you're at range and need to escape. The speed buff after a debilitate/crotch kick is meant for you to break LoS and/or reposition. Leg shot to keep someone further behind if needed.

 

Firing mechanism

So ontop of being gimped completely you have your specials easily avoided by opponents fighting by cover. This requires you to you guessed it. Move way to close. Every wz has fundamentally made it impossible to fight at 35m. Ontop of it already being pointless to try and stay at your maximum range. So you try and fire aimed shot popping alacrity buffs, stacking the skill. You get 1 off. Great. It's on an insanely long global cooldown. Meanwhile every other class just spams there high dmg specials or has a ton of them.

 

Most classes have abilities that are 1.5 seconds to 3.0 seconds. Snipers/Gunslingers are no different. LoS hurts them just as much as us. If you want to land that aimed shot, find someone that's not really paying attention to you and whacking at some glowbat user on your team or even better...target that squishy jedi/sith in a dress that thinks they're healing a friend a safe distance from everyone but you. Situational awareness is key.

 

In summary this advanced class is broken and unplayable. Only people defending its current implementation are people who you should not listen to. They either don't care or don't play it. There's been a few in my class I've seen saying this class is fine.

 

I do play a marksman sniper. The class isn't broken and unplayable. There are some issues that could be resolved but all classes have issues at one level or another. Snipers/Gunslingers have their strengths and weaknesses. You'll fair better once you figure out who you can toe-to-toe with and when it's better to simply run to an ally if the prospect of a zero-repair-cost death is too daunting. I hope you enjoy your other character more.

[Snipers unfair WZ disadvantage]

Marauders/Sentinels are in the same boat. The only class I see getting upwards of 12+ medals on average are sith assassins. Two of those are using the water heal (which everyone can use if they take the time to get it from tattooine/hoth).

[Why aint nobody playing sniper/GS?]

This made me Laugh out Loud.

 

How are you guys playing the class? If you're attempting to be within melee range while hiding behind a your cover shield you can already push the /deathblow button on yourself. I get the impression that that is how most of you who are complaining play this class. It's already bad enough that when you go into a WZ people tell you to the let the big kids handle the job.

 

Sometimes it's to your benefit to hold your ground. It always amuzes me how determined some marauders/juggernauts (for instance) are to kill me. Not only am I chipping away their health as they run at me, but I'll pause long enough to cast an orbital bombardment on my position. Those that are dumb will continue to run in to the AoE and die. Those that don't get picked of or are forced to run away and LoS me and generally die to a team mate.

[Explain why Sorc are OP and Sage are not?]

and also...

 

there are litterally 17bazillion empire inquisitors vs far fewer councelors.

 

This. More sorcs than sages seen in warzones. Empire pvpers see far more same-faction Huttball than Voidstar and Civil War. Also the reason you see more threads on mercs and tracer missile than commandos and grav round.

[How many medals do you get per WZ?]

Most common medals I get with my level 50 sniper :

 

 

2.5K Damage

5K Damage (pretty much requires me to get lucky and hit a zero expertise sorc with shield down and use of adrenal/relic)

300K Damage (only in longer huttball matches or voidstar)

10 Kills

25 Kills

Killing Blow

Assassin Medal

1K Defender (depending on the match)

3K Defender (depending on the match)

 

 

All in all, I probably average 5-6 medals in most warzones. I suppose I could get the 2.5k and 5k medals from using the frozen water heal, but haven't so far.