Ok besides that I have never seen that one happen and probably never will except for an odd case, the naming doesn't change a thing to the people who actually do that. Some people just need to learn by running with their face into a wall. And some need to run with their face into a wall their entire life over and over again. I assume that the idea behind the naming is to have 2 parts: [Difficulty tier] [type of content]. Combination decides how difficult something actually is. People will learn that one way or another.

I'm gonna jump in here and solve the inconstency problem. Or actually, they solved it. Think from a new player's perspective, and not someone who played the game before the name change. Flashpoints had story, tactical and hard mode. Operations had story, hard and nightmare mode (well some of them at least). Both use 3 difficulty tiers and name each tier but the first different. Even worse, they used the same name for different tiers! Wouldn't be suprised if people were looking for tactical operations and nightmare flashpoints (well to be fair, we were looking for the latter for years). Now it is just story, veteran and master mode. No confusion about the order of difficulty tiers for new people. And now the most important part: IT IS JUST A NAME, stop complaining about something so minor which you (= everyone who complained about this) only thought about for a few seconds and Bioware actually really thought about. And before you ask, yes they did obviously.... Every change to the game, even as little as name changes, require a design process. /rant

You're very welcome And if you still have questions, then just ask

Yes, there is an option like that which allows you to sort the debuffs. That way your debuffs won't be just highlighted, but also at the same spot. Here is how you do it: 1. Open interface editor 2. Click the Target Frame 3. On the bottom is now this long scrollable thing, scroll down. 4. Check if 'Highlight Debuff' is checked. If not, then check it. 5. Scroll a bit further down until you see the checkbox 'Personal Debuffs' and check it. 6. Pick the sorting option you like best from the 'Debuff Sort Type' dropdown menu And tadaa, it should work now

How? I mean... The hell how?! there is this big thing hurting you. Your teammates are clearly attacking it. How can a dps do nothing in that situation.... I am less concerned with the other dps. Yea they hit the boss with a wet noodle, but at least they try ._. Edit: with you I refer to the player in the video. Not the poster of this story or the person who uploaded the video

Haha no worries we all make mistakes every now and then

Did that guy really use a hashtag while whispering to you? XD oh wow, probably the most hilarious thing I have seen in a mmo for a while now. What's next, sorting chat to hashtags? XD Then let it escalate a bit and you get hashtag wars

I used covered escape before the revan expension, so it should be usable for you now. Level 51 if I am not mistaken.

In that case the idea is (sorry for saying this) even worse. That would be an incredible buff. Think about the damage an auto crit Aimed shot can already do. Aimed shot + 2x Penetrating rounds in PvP is already incredible damage. Now think of what will happen when you add an automatic, off the gcd, free ability proc after each of those abilities. The spec would become OP.

Disclaimer: Below is all PvE point of view. We never needed a buff and still do not need a buff. Sharpshooter/Marksmanship has, as far as I know, always been viable for any content. I found a total of 27 abilities which can be used by Sharpshooter, I was looking on my sniper so translations may be off. One could argue that you could put the following on a clickable spot instead of a keybind: Defensives (4-6 depending if you count Hightail it and the 61 ability) Offensives (2-3 depending if you count Burst Volley) And Surrender That means that you need a minimum of 17 keybinds, maximum of 27. Lucky enough you had 27 available. So that is the keybind problem taken care of. Also I am currently using 30 keybinds comfortably with another 6 easy to reach keys (though has abilities I barrely use or none at all) and my mouse has only 2 extra buttons. Those 2 extra buttons don't cost much and I use those ALOT outside of gaming. So now to the last part, why Trickshot should NOT be a passive. Many people replace Trickshot with Quickdraw when the target is below 30% health. If you keep using Trickshot when available while also using Quickdraw, then you will delay Aimed shot, Quickdraw and Penetrating Rounds. Basically you delay ALOT of damage and that is bad.

Everyone has their own preference ofcourse. But to give you an idea from my standpoint: I always have a mental note of whether I am in cover or not. If I am not, then I stop moving, hit F and then hit my next ability which would require me standing still. So I personally do not need a visual indicator telling me that I am in cover. Now about the extra bar, why would I need that? I have 2 bars for my core abilities, offensive cooldowns and defensive cooldowns. Heck I even have my crouch ability in my quickbar (but that is a different story). Then I have another quickbar rectangle next to my core bars which I can use. 2 are for medpack and adrenal leaving me another 10 spots. That is gives me this. Note: Only do PvE. So I should probably get rid of that 'Throw Huttball' ability. Now this shows me on Engineering which is the only Sniper spec that actually uses all 24 spots on the core bars. This is also the only spec I play which has a core ability on a side bar (Orbital Strike).

I don't use the cover bar. Majority of abilities I use in cover anyway and without cover bar I can see the cooldowns (when playing Engineering for example for Orbital Strike).

Pff it all depends. Both work towards mastering the force in their own way. I personally think I liked the consular a bit better. Though it starts off a bit slow (if I remember things correctly). Inquisitor was nice and all and kept about the same pace for me. Act 3 did good with gradually getting better for me. You said you've done inquisitor already so think about the following: How long has it been since you finished that? How many stories have you seen since you finished inquisitor? Did you like the story enough to do it again? The first 2 basically make sure the story does not feel repetitive. The last one is important since you have to sith through the story until the end. I have heard a lot of people saying bad things about consular, but I have heard people praising it as well (and I liked it).

I wasn't actually listening to what other people call viable and non-viable. I am also not saying that some specs are not viable. I often enough use Marksmanship when it benefits the fight, though I just prefer Virulence (and Engineering for that matter). Not because of the damage, but because of the spec. Same thing with Lethality and Hatred btw, I just prefer those 2. I am comparing with my own results. Ok admitted my Sniper is a bit better geared. But I think Lethality and Hatred, for example, should be closer to what I am hitting with Virulence and vice versa. That would be about a 200 dps drop for Virulence and increase for Lethality and Hatred. (using dummy results) Again, not saying a spec is not viable. I just personally think that Virulence (and IO for that matter) is hitting more than it should do. And some melee less than they should do. Bit more off topic. Oh and Bioware buff Madness already because this is getting well... Madness But seriously curious to how Madness will perform compared to other specs after the stat changes in 4.0

Isn't balmorra for like levels 17-22 or something like that? Check the system output, it will message the experience you get (because you should always receive experience). If you only get 6 then you are outleveld. And if you want to gain levels, then you should finish your class story on Balmorra and move on to the next planet for your story. If you just want to enjoy all the quests, then you have to live with getting 6xp for everything. And for the people who ask, I happen to know people who did every single quest they could find while leveling (outside of x12 exp). They were outleveld all the time but enjoyed every story they could find.

To the OP, yea I am certain that DF and Virulence will be viable. I have tried 130-ish crit on parses and some content. DPS was about the same if not better actually, though I admit it was tougher to pull off. This is also considering the fact that Virulence and DF are, in my opinion, over performing compared to other dps classes. Ugh I am getting sick from reading this 'we need a cheaper QD/TD' thing over and over again. No we don't, not even for QoL. Our energy management is really easy, even when we're reliant on crits. People just need to get used to stop using Takedown after every Cull. And people need to stop going back to the old 4-pc over and over again. I will agree wit this however. Our choice changes to Crit vs Alacrity and we kind of need both. Lower crit rate means lower QoL. Like I said I tried 130-ish crit and it was not easy. Results were good though. Not saying that this dicipline should become easy. I think the current 6-pc + 350-ish crit is about right difficulty wise (also keeping in mind newer players, for veterans it should be easy really). I think most Virulence Snipers will either run a lot less alacrity or Cunning/Mastery augments will not be used in favor of Crit and Alacrity.

I am fine with having new players in the group. I mean we were all new at some point. Just be willing to listen and do what you've been told. Ask questions if you do not understand, want to know what you did wrong or if you want tips to improve. I can have a ton of patience but if I tell people to do A and they do Z over and over again, then I tend to give up.

Engineering is highly undervalued. Mostly because it is a bit more difficult to pull off effectivly and the tanks have to help you a bit by limiting boss movement. Both are good diciplines and I often swap between the 2 to keep both styles appealing to me.

To sum it up: DoT specs have build up time and are at a sever disadvantage when having to deal with frequent target swaps. Burst specs have close to 0 buildup time but have to recover after a burst, so are at a sever disadvantage (or should be) without burst phases or frequent target swaps. So yes, it's by design, to make sure each dicipline has fights its shines and fights it does not shine at all. Oh and the sage/sorc example is just bad game balancing and should've been solved months ago.

And for the reason why we can pick between 2 sets of gear. Each class can pick between 2, we just happen to be one of 2 classes with only dps diciplines. So both our sets are for dps and therefore give the same bonus And like mentioned before, take the piece which you benefit most from stat wise. It does not matter if you are half Field Tech and half Professional. Those sets can and will combine together with their setbonusses.

Ditch some accuracy. You only need 756 and the more you have, the more points you waste. I'd say 770 is about the max you should be aiming for. Anything above 756 accuracy does not contribute anything to dps anymore. Second. lower surge, drasticly. 350 is really the maximum you should go for. Many stats, including Surge and Crit, benefit less per point the more points you have. So for example going from 300 to 301 surge would give you 0.01% (not realy number) but going from 400 to 401 surge would give you 0.001% (again not real number). So the more you get, the less damage gain you get and you are far above any benefit you gain from it. Crit is fine. Last thing is a rotation. Don't use Orbital Strike in your rotation, ever. Only as pre-cast before the fight has started. Laze Target on cooldown. Does not have to be combine with Sniper Volley, especially since Sniper Volley should happen more often. Your rotation will probably look something like this: Sniper x2 > Follow Through > Ambush > Follow Through > Pen Blasts > Follow Through > filler > repeat The filler can move around in the rotation, It just has to hapen somewhere. Filler is either Corrosive Dart or Rifle Shot (to stay above 60% energy).

To the OP's Dash n roode parse. Yea looks fine to me. Never look at top parses for any game or class. Those are the top and not the average Your numbers are good.

Beats my cpu and I do fine. The trick I am using is making sure Lurker always has dots on him and minimize movement by predicting where your position in the cross will be for example.

Ok first of congratz with the increased dps. Now to the matter of your rotation. Again you delay Cull waaaay too often. 1 time is already bad but you managed 4 times. The delayed Culls are the following ones: 15:25:47.357 (by 2 GCD) 15:26:24.688 (by 1 GCD) 15:27:11.683 (by 1 GCD) 15:27:41.388 (by 1 GCD) 3 of these were because of re-applying DoTs. Now again I have no idea with what kind of rotation you are working currently since the re-application times are just weird for both the 2- and 3-Cull rotations. The time between re-applying is usually 18 and 27 for the 2- and 3 Cull rotation. (not accounting for alacrity). Your minimum is 16.63 seconds and your maximum time is 25.976 seconds. Your average is 20.753 seconds. Now how can you improve? 1. Pick a rotation and stick to it. So either Yolo's 3-Cull, Tac's 3-Cull or the regular 2-Cull. 2. Start thinking ahead at least 1 block. 3/4 of the delays are because you realise too late that your DoTs are about to run out, or at least that is what it looks like to me. This means that you are not aware enough of when to refresh them. So work on knowing when to refresh your DoTs. If you don't know when to do that, then you are bound to make mistakes like the ones you made here and the previous parses you have shown here. In the beginning of the thread you've shown that you use Yolo's 3 Cull, so maybe it helps checking his video about it here:

Sorry for any delayed respons or checkup, wasn't at home and stuff like that WIll check parses tomorrow. It does not delay CD and CG if that is what you mean since you can start a new ability the moment Lethal Shot's cast is finished. I do, however, think that the added damage doesn't add enough so I don't precast Lethal Shot myself.