Okay, that's not what I've read elsewhere. If you have more up-to-date information, could you share it?

Open yourself to suggestions from others. There is so much to be learned from other people no matter how good you are.

Oh, I know, it just ends up being unintuitive because Shock beats out the procs. Generally, procs are the abilities that you want to use quickly.

Fixing Deception PVE: One of the problems with assassins is that it feels a bit too random. It is very difficult to memorize ANY part of the rotation without staring at your bars. This isn't necessarily a problem, but the randomness, I'm sure, adds a layer of difficulty to balance, along with making it harder for beginners to understand the class. My intention is that these changes would have net virtually no effect on PvP, although that's not up to me to say and I'm sure Bioware would have to get the details. I'm not really trying to make it easier, so much as more regular. So, with my proposed changes, this is what our priority system would look like: 1. Discharge 2. Maul 3. Low Slash 4. Assassinate 5. (Spike when stealthed, although personally I’d prefer if its damage was low enough to not be worth using in PVE) 6. Shock (2x Voltage) 7. Voltaic Slash Here's why this priority system would make the class feel more fluid and logical. Single-target DPS fix The class would become much more regular. Use discharge if you can, do what you can to get a duplicity maul, otherwise VS, VS --> Shock. I would propose accomplishing this by changing the Voltaic Slash trait. 2 stacks of voltage from Voltaic Slash now resets the cool-down on Shock. Voltage is consumed in the process. This means that, as a basis, the normal assassin rotation will be Voltaic Slash x 2  Shock. Lower the damage of shock accordingly and make it only worth casting with 2x VS. You don't have to look at your bar, you know based on feel that the cool-down on Shock has been reset when you use your 2x Voltaic Slash. However, the damage lost from Shock will be added to low slash and duplicity, which will become the HIT THIS EVERY TIME YOU CAN buttons. Damage numbers for all of the items in the priority listing would have to be tweaked to make that the priority to follow. So the Deception Assassin will follow a r VS, VS  Shock, but will intersperse mauls whenever possible. Another option is to change the Voltaic Slash talent and remove “voltage” as a proc. Instead, add “Induction now additionally….” And add the normal effect of voltage. This just removes one less buff from the assassin’s bar to have to be staring at by combining them into one. Would be a tiny buff since it would now proc off of other things. AoE Fix: Duplicity now applies to lacerate. However, when lacerate is used with duplicity, 50% of its damage is applied as a stacking DoT over 10 seconds.

I just don't understand how a class can be so well known for being underpowered, and yet also nobody expects a buff. Is this just how SWTOR rolls?

Hello! First off, be blunt with me. I have a 50 sage a 50 Jedi Guardian, and I'm working on a marauder. I don't want to put the time into gearing a sub-par spec/class if the devs are not going to fix it on a realistically fast timeline. Secondly, I vastly prefer Deception to madness. Any help advice is much appreciated. What is the best assassin PVE DPS? Is it so low as to make assassins undesirable? Thanks!

Thread originally put together for Jedi Knight; obviously, applies just as much to the mirror! Problem: Guardian simply has too many buttons to hit, even for an experienced MMO player, particularly compared to the other classes in this game. As a melee class, Guardian already has a higher skill cap than ranged classes. Solution: Remove or combine a few abilities. Presented in order of helpfulness… meaning I don’t expect every single one of these changes, but that SOME of them occurring would help significantly. 1) Sundering Strike replaces Strike upon selection of the Guardian advanced class. Re-balanced so that this can occur without significantly impacting DPS/ability to place sunder armor on a target. 2) Opportune Strike/Pommel Strike combined into one ability with a slightly lower cool-down. Would slightly nerf Guardian burst against an incapacitated target. More difficult changes (Requires more re-balancing of abilities/class and might not be viable at the moment; presented for brainstorming) 3) Combine Saber Throw and Dispatch into one ability. When target is below 20% health, Saber Throw no longer generates focus, but has its cooldown reduced to 6 seconds and its damage increased. No longer costs 3 focus to use, as dispatch does. Side-effect: Guardian ranged damage slightly reduced when target is below 20% health, as they would no longer have access to both saber throw AND Dispatch. A tweak to the amount of damage could fix this, but might perhaps put too much damage into a single GCD when dispatch is available. Also, slightly reduces the usefulness of talents affecting Saber throw. I admit this idea is currently very imperfect. Please provide feedback to Bioware on the issue of ability bloat, these specific ideas, and any other ideas you may have on how to fix this issue. Thanks for reading. Not sure if I should cross-post to Sith Warrior forum or if they find their way here too http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=2964340#post2964340

All good points on potential problems. Messing with saber throw/dispatch would be my last choice of how to fix it, and would probably want to wait until they need to use something to adjust Guardian DPS, for either a nerf or a buff. At that point they could adjust it and kill two birds with one stone. Edit: I somehow have never noticed that Dispatch is only 10m range. Totally kills the viability of this idea.

Problem: Guardian simply has too many buttons to hit, even for an experienced MMO player, particularly compared to the other classes in this game. As a melee class, Guardian already has a higher skill cap than ranged classes. Solution: Remove or combine a few abilities. Presented in order of helpfulness… meaning I don’t expect every single one of these changes, but that SOME of them occurring would help significantly. 1) Sundering Strike replaces Strike upon selection of the Guardian advanced class. Re-balanced so that this can occur without significantly impacting DPS/ability to place sunder armor on a target. 2) Opportune Strike/Pommel Strike combined into one ability with a slightly lower cool-down. Would slightly nerf Guardian burst against an incapacitated target. More difficult changes (Requires more re-balancing of abilities/class and might not be viable at the moment; presented for brainstorming) 3) Combine Saber Throw and Dispatch into one ability. When target is below 20% health, Saber Throw no longer generates focus, but has its cooldown reduced to 6 seconds and its damage increased. No longer costs 3 focus to use, as dispatch does. Side-effect: Guardian ranged damage slightly reduced when target is below 20% health, as they would no longer have access to both saber throw AND Dispatch. A tweak to the amount of damage could fix this, but might perhaps put too much damage into a single GCD when dispatch is available. Also, slightly reduces the usefulness of talents affecting Saber throw. I admit this idea is currently very imperfect. Please provide feedback to Bioware on the issue of ability bloat, these specific ideas, and any other ideas you may have on how to fix this issue. Thanks for reading. Not sure if I should cross-post to Sith Warrior forum or if they find their way here too

The dark side, as portrayed in all Star Wars fiction, is not intended to be a realistic or sane version of morality that anyone should follow or support unless crazy. For real.

Since I am not a n00b, I have A and D bound to strafe, rather than to turn my character. As a result, I can not use WASD in space combat. In UI, give a separate key binding for space controls so that I can use WASD in space. Alternatively, you could just make Strafe do the same thing as turn left/turn right, in regards to space missions-- this might be an easier change to make for some reason.

Sundering Strike should replace Strike. I think thats all this thread should be about. One more spot on my action bar would be really nice.

Others will try and argue otherwise, but in Star Wars lore the Sith are simply evil. That is all there is to it. In my opinion, SWTOR made a bad decision in terms of narrative when they divided the sides based on good and evil.

Short answer: yes. Long answer: our entire society is still sexist. Compare to the rest of what is going on in our culture, I would argue that The Old Republic, and most videogames for that matter, are fairly egalitarian-- in part because they write stories that can be played out be either gender, which reinforces the idea that gender is a societal construct. It also gives you with some of the best stories in western society that have ******, strong female characters that are never sexualized or objectifed-- because the same story can also be played as a male character, using the same dialogue.

Of course I'm a College student. And of course I like to make grandiose predictions and do all the other things you said. Doesn't mean I'm not very likely to be correct.