All of these were mine. I've played loads and loads of warzones, and there's been some rather entertaining and inevitable screwups. I don't mind sharing these either, they are pretty funny in hindsight and everyone screws up at some point :-) Months ago on my Operative: My team is in the opponents' pit, carrying the ball forward. I drop down to the edge, in stealth, ready for that pass. Pass is a go! I unstealth, receive, start running towards the line, hit Evasion to give me that little bit of an edge-- wait, did I say Evasion? I meant Cloaking Screen. Hello insta-stealth. Byebye ball. /facepalm, followed by a review of my keybindings and their locations on the gamepad. On my Juggernaut, after a 4-month break. Day 1 of the return, time to kick some *** in warzones! Ancient Hypergates, I see an enemy just standing on their pylon while a teammate is capping. **** yeah Force Charge! As I hit Force Charge I notice that the enemy is in fact standing there because he is mezzed. White resolve bar, so obviously he used his stunbreak on a previous stun. Which means I just broke the mezz and allowed him to stop the cap. /facepalm, followed by a torrent of abuse from the guy capping. I don't really blame him, I would have been pissed off had our positions been reversed. On my Bounty Hunter, in lowbie Huttball just after getting my awesome Grapple skill. Their ballcarrier is alone, waiting behind the fire on one of the side-ramps, moment away from our line. I'm on the middle ramp, and somehow get the idea to pull the ballcarrier to me while dropping into the pit. I guess it's not a bad plan, as such, but it does rather rely on stepping into the pit, not standing in the middle of the ramp... I think you can see where this is going. Luckily I had a Juggernaut behind me, and he managed to Force Push their carrier into the pit. But still... /facepalm

Correct. This is what I did on my valor 80-ish sniper - I simply stopped going to the level 50 PvP. Quit, had enough, do not enjoy, don't want to take part. I tried a PUG for one warzone a couple of nights ago. No thanks, cya. I'm not going to get farmed for someone else's enjoyment. Not just me either, I had a couple of friends who used to play the game as well, keyword there being 'used'. Past tense. Sure this is all anecdotal evidence, but... Go to the lowbie PvP. It's genuinely more fun, because the chances of running into a fully organised premade is rather slim. You get the goods, the bads, strangely-geared people and so on, but on the whole the experience is much more enjoyable. The win-loss ratio in there has been much more even than it ever was on level 50, where the majority of the nights I needed four warzones to complete the stupid daily before I quit. Then again, I guess Bioware doesn't really give a ****, because I am still playing. I posted my interpretation of a possible solution on some other thread, but the fact is that without cross-server the populations simply won't support separate queues, or so we are made to believe. Here it is again, for what it's worth. 1. Solo Queue. Solo only, rewards let's say 1/3 to 1/2 of the coms and valor of the normal queue. Perfect for those who just want to play PvP on a roughly equal footing with the other team. 2. Normal Queue. The current queue system. Same rewards as at the moment, but you can/will face groups. Can be solo-queued, if you have say valor rank 50+. Open to anyone in a group. 3. Ranked Queue. Full 8-man grouped queue. Lots of coms, credits and access to unique gear (not friggen re-coloured sets of existing gear) and unique titles.

I'll try to play a game while sober once, then I'll let you know if I got better or not. I guess I would be, but that's neither here nor there. I also really dislike people who have to announce that they are drinking while playing. No one cares. Although that PvP drinking game video from a while ago was hilarious :-) but that's a bit different than some random proclaiming "I'm sooooo wasted right now!!!1'

Competition is good - see my comment about which games were the most fun. I don't want to remove the group queue at all - I simply want to limit that queue to groups, or say solo players with a certain valor rank. This game is not a job for me :-) I get home, I'm tired, I want to play, relax, have some fun. I log in and none of my guild are online. Now what? Hit solo-queue, and the ways things are at the moment it's a good chance I will end up facing a guild group that is either better organised, or better geared, or both, than the PUG group I am in. I just want to play on a semi-equal footing against others. I want to play against people with roughly the same skill-level, or at least roughly the same organisational level. I want to have the option to either group up, and play against other groups, or solo queue and play in a real solo queue. I just want to have fun :-) My other concern is that when this game goes F2P you are going to end up with hopefully a large amount of fresh 50s. Potential subscribers, which in the end will allow this game to continue. it should be a goal for all of us to keep as many of these people around as possible, simply to have the game survive. Stick a fresh 50 into a PUG against a premade and you end up with someone going 'screw it, not worth it'. Oh, a L2P troll. Isn't there some bridge you have to go lurk under? :-) Simple truth: IIf you cannot read, learn how or go troll on 4chan :-)

Thanks. I try, sometimes. I agree with this. Maybe it would be better if we also had 'lower' ranked games - 4v4, 5v5, 6v6, whatever. It comes down to separating groups from solo, and I can fully understand that a group of 4 would like to play another group of 4, rather than 4+randoms. It's all about the fun, in the end. Match equally skilled groups, nothing more. Make it so that there are options for all group sizes and skill levels, somehow (and right after that world peace and an end to world hunger :-) ) Stick in some rewards for these, even if they are as small as unique titles that you can only get from taking part here, or some gear with visual effects only... It doesn't have to be stats or money.

No fancy titles, no (well, ok, not much) QQ, no swearing. As I ran into yet another premade group in the solo warzone queue tonight, and yet again found my little PUG team getting the snot kicked out of them a thought occurred. PvP is supposed to be fun, no? I know, this is a crazy idea, but after all this is why we all pay a sub - to have fun. Playing a match against opponents who are much better geared and organised is not fun. The ranked queue is obviously not working as it should, or these people would be playing ranked games instead. So here's a suggestions that can possibly improve the situation before F2P comes, and with it (hopefully) many new players: Split the warzones into three distinct groups. Solo Queue Strictly a solo queue. You cannot enter this if you are in a group. However, these warzones pay out the least amount of commendations and credits. Hell, make it 1/3 or even less of the regular warzone rewards for all that it matters - the point is that you can just hit this queue if you don't care what kind of chaos you end up in. Group Queue Pretty much the equivalent of the current warzones. Give people the option to queue here even if solo (if they have say valor rank 50+), but at the same time anyone entering this queue will know that they can expect to find premade groups. I reckon the rewards can stay the same as they are now, with normal comms. Ranked Queue This is where the serious PvP happens - as supposedly it does at the moment. Keep it the way it is. Pays out the most, but unless you are organised... Any thoughts or opinions? One of the first issues that I can see here is that the server populations simply cannot really support this idea at the moment, but that might just be my impression. A better alternative would of course be to group people according to ranking (solo and team) but since this seems to suffer from both being too hard for Bioware, as well as server populations being too small to have it really work and cross-server being just a vague rumour... I just want to have fun playing this game. The most PvP fun I've had was when the two teams were evenly matched - either completely ****, or really organised, doesn't matter, both were still fun. Getting your arse kicked, or steamrolling over the other group... not fun. The current system doesn't really allow evenly matched teams to happen often enough though.

To the top again!

You sound angry. Can I recommend meditation, perhaps some breathing exercises? :-) If you PUG be prepared for stupid. Don't like stupid? Form a group and queue, or even better get 7 others and head for the ranked queue. I only PUG, my guild is very PvE-focused and my own schedule is too erratic to even try to get into an organised ranked group, so I've learned to accept stupid mistakes - hell, I've probably made more than my share of those :-)

Well, they should have no issues with it as it is a fansite, and should serve to make the community on our server stronger - which is good for them, as a stronger community means more dedicated players and less people buggering off to other games. Normally MMO companies even supply image resources and the like to fansites, not sure how Bioware feels about that though.

I looked at the new EWH weapons last night and came to about the same conclusion. I guess I'll keep the barrel... I reckon the design process for most of the War Hero pieces actually went like this: Step 1: Acquire a large hat, and place upside down on a table Step 2: Make hundreds of printouts of all possible stats, favouring the good ones like Accuracy Step 3: Carefully place all these printouts in the upside-down hat Step 4 (very important): Get roaring drunk. Alternatively you need access to a pet monkey of some kind. Step 5: Pull stats from the hat, stick them on the various slots to make your new armour designs! Step 6: Job's done. Sleep off massive hangover / return monkey to owner. Step 7: Move on to the important stuff, like designing moods / facial expressions for characters in a game where 90% of the players run around with full-face helmets... While the above might sound a bit grumpy I'm just a little annoyed at the fact that when we finally do get new stuff it's just recoloured versions of existing gear, and/or very badly optimised.

Give me a reason why I should stay in a completely random PUG when I am up against premades from some of the 'best' PvP guilds on the server? To get stomped into the ground? To run into a face full of CC? To see them get announced as 'unbeatable' and 'invincible' because getting a PUG to focus a healer and co-ordinate CC is like trying to herd cats..."Tough it out?" No, I am not going to get beaten into the ground for someone else's enjoyment. Sorry, I don't enjoy that, and since I pay a sub to play a game that is supposed to be fun I am not going to stick around when I'm not having fun. Simple as that. That's also pretty much the *only* reason why I'll leave a warzone - but make no mistake about it, I will leave. /end QQ

We are on a new server? God knows last night some of the warzones looked like a Nightmare Lands refugee camp... :-)

I'm curious as to why you took Calculated Pursuit instead of Experimental Explosives - the damage from Overload Shot is fairly rubbish and barely above that of your basic rifle attack, while as Engineer you are using AoE abilities all the time and without the extra 30% damage on them you are losing out quite a lot. I see that you took Cover Screen as well in the MM tree, so it appears that this build is focused on movement? If yes, how is that working out for you? An answer to the original question. Lethality is going to do more damage than engineering for the most part, and the difference between the two specs is the focus. In my opinion Engineering is the better one of the two for a rated team - node control and defence, along with a fair bit of damage. Lethality will break cc with the DoTs, and can be detrimental to the team. If you mostly PUG and looking purely for DPS numbers I would recommend a full Lethality build, if of course you are high enough level to have access to Cull, because without Cull the Lethality build is not nearly as devastating. You'll see big numbers, you'll melt through heavy armour, but your damage requires some setup - C-Grenade, C-Dart, Weakening Blast before Cull can kick in with full effect - and of course you will break CC. But just apply the DoTs to everyone with a red name and watch the DPS numbers climb. Engineering is more tactical, and Marksman requires target selection even though the burst is much higher, and the target switching is much, much faster. Not going to bother creating builds, the standard 31 in either Engineering or Lethality should get you started. My advice would be to try both in PvP for at least a week, to get a feel for them.

Engineering spec here. Viewpoint from a PvP perspective. 1. Engineering is now becoming more popular, but only for the 18s Plasma Probe defense, which is really a one-trick thing. Other than that most people are not really aware of the abilities of the spec, and some will outright dismiss it. Still a sniper, so still a relatively easy class LoS, and a nice big red target marker to help them find you. I've also only seen one 'nerf Plasma Probe!!' QQ in the PvP section, so most people either ignore us, or underestimate us. 2. Most useful of the three specs, but lacking on-demand burst with the relatively slow cooldown on Explosive Probe. Very good defender, and great fun to play, but sometimes I really want either more range, or a fade-into-stealth-while-not-moving-or-while-in-cover ability to be able to really feel like a sniper and not just a guy with a gun. I really also would not mind seeing Sniper DPS on par with Pyros and Marauders, since our only role is as DPS.

My 2c - I think you are approaching the spec from the wrong mindset. It doesn't have the quick front-loaded on-demand burst that MM offers, and neither is it as good at melting heavies as the Lethality spec. Your burst damage is heavily dependent on the cooldown of Explosive Probe, as you pointed out. It's still enough to give most people a bad time, but you are not going to be switching targets quickly unfortunately. And this is actually not that bad a thing, as in my opinion giving Engineering rapid target switching along with the incredible area denial and better defensive abilities (along with the Ballistic Dampers from MM) will make the spec overpowered. Approach the spec with two roles in mind. Firstly you are support DPS not a I-melt-anyone-single-target-killer (hey, my team is focusing that guy? Shatter + EP + SS + grenade + Takedown will spoil the day for most classes), but at the same time you are area denial and control. That node will not be capped / bomb planted while you are alive, and killing you is not easy either. Live by that motto :-) That healer will either have to move into melee range, or move out of effective healing range. You also have slows on PP, slow on IP, stun when the two meets, massive damage from Orbital Strike thanks to the talents from the tree - 4 ticks on it with the set bonus as well. Many people use PP as part of their normal rotation - I consider it to be one your most important tactical abilities. Over on the Gunslinger section someone had a very good post on how to use it effectively. The above is just my opinion :-) I've tried out all three Sniper specs at some length, but I always keep coming back to Engineering as it simply fits my personal playstyle the best.