dps is great utility is **** except for insta heals every 2 min if you bother to you use a cd for it

Or they could do what the devs did for MM snipers and make TM uninteruptable

yes this is a PVE setup

ok so you only have around 10 more crit rating then me and 52 more power then me though i have around 70 more aim then you do thats assuming that we both use the exotech reflex stim other wise are stats are the same. That means my rotation needs some work cause the highest ive parsed was at 1859 (no i didnt save the parse wish i had) and that was with the NP buff of +50 to primary stats

First off very nice parse. Second what was your rotation and what are your stats? buffed and stimmed

get more POWER and what is your Aim?

Between similar geared/skilled players arsenal only beats it out by 1-2% at most on the Ops dummy. The main difference is that Arsenal has a much better and much friendlier time with Heat management. But that can be offset by Pyro having a better mobile dps performance and by pyro having an "execute" Skill if the person playing pyro knows how to play the class like a fiddle. in the end its about the player behind the class just be warned with pyro there are some encounters that will have you wishing for the easy Heat management of the Arsenal spec

To clarify I personally do not have an operative but have been in raids with them. As to the spec he was using it was Lethality. For his DPS he was getting 1100 on HM Fire/Storm and 1200+ on HM T and Z

If you play the class correctly and are willing to spend the time and creds min/maxing then the merc is great dps. If not... The merc has the potential to beat out maras on some fights if geared and played right

OP to answer your question Yes all three are viable dps classes. That being said all 3 have the highest skill requirement and gearchecks out of all the dps classes in game. I personally have a dps Jugg for an alt that is full Rakata with 2 BH pieces that is currently nipping at the heels of a full Camp/BH Madness Sorc. As for the other 2 I have raided with a dps operative and sin with both posting respectable numbers through HM EC. Its all dependent on how much time and effort you are willing to put into them.

"My tracers hit operation bosses for 1.7k non crit, and 3.4k crit WITHOUT any relics/adrenals or bloodthirst." i call bull **** with the stats you outlined there is no way in hell you can get a 3.4k crit with out relics/adrenal or Bloodthirst. That would require your surge to be at 100% Which is damned hard to do unless every one of your enhancements is 57 surge and all of your augs are surge

the Class with the easiest rotation right now is Arsenal Merc/ Gunnery Commando. 5 abilities are used at max and your primary one is one that you just spam until you see circles of light go around you then you hit/click Unload/Full Auto with 2 other abilities that are used whenever they are up. Very easy rotation and very friendly to clicking just keep in mind that missing an ability or miss clicking is always going to hurt your dps but with this class and with good bar set up it wont hurt nearly as much

Stop QQing Heat management is easier then before either play on the pts or trust the people who are or get off the game

Just FYI you did not talk to all the mercs on pts because i never got a tell. That being said I am happy overall with the changes yes there is a dps increase it is minor but very noticeable heat management is even easier then before. Some things i am not happy about is that there is still no interrupt for mercs, the arsenal rotation is pretty much the same- yes you can throw some other abilities into it now but they offer no real benefit and sometimes are a hindrance.

ya if you are testing on the training dummies its because they dont have any "defense" stat so you are going to be hitting alot more often with your off-hand shots from Unload and Power Shot then you would against a real boss. That being said Pyro is still fully capable of dpsing in HM/NiM operations. I am 10/10 Nightmare operations and 3/4 HM Denova Pyro spec.

Have you been taking a break from the merc? You arent doing anything wrong what happened is bioware "Fixed" all the bugs with HSM in patch 1.2c. Now it only gains bonus damage from your stacks of Heat Signature. Apparently there was also another bug that was affecting its damage output that was also fixed. Pre 1.2c mine hit for 3.5-4k non crit and 6-7.5k crits and that was with solo stacks on the Operation Boss training dummy. Now it hits form around 2-2.3k non crits with 4-4.5k crits on the same target dummy.

Pyro mercs show just under arsenal in dps when the targets health is above 30% when under pyro will out perform the arsenal merc due to Burnout which is all of your dots doing 30% more damage when the target is under 30% max Hp. Pyro also out performs the Arsenal spec when it comes to dpsing on the move. That being said Arsenal will out perform the Pyro spec in burst damage and limited window burn phases like Soa 3rd phase and Kephess's battle walker and Arsenal has much better heat management. All in all they are both pretty much equal in dps with Arsenal showing up pyro in some situations and pyro showing up arsenal in some situations. the main question is are you the only dps merc in your guild if so I would stay arsenal for the Heat signatures Armor debuff cause that will help the raid more then a pyro merc would. If you arent the only Merc dps then consider giving pyro a try the flexibility of Pyro's dps is very useful for raids. Note: my main is a Merc who was arsenal spec through EV/KP Nightmare and EC Storymode. He is now Pyro 12/14 HM and Nightmare KP cleared with no enrage timers hit( only merc in the KP NiM run). Gear is 10/12 Rakata, Columi Earpiece, and BH Helm.

To the OP yes Mercs are still viable in progression Ops My guild is 11/14 HM with no maras and 3 merc dps one of them pyro havent hit an enrage timer yet it just takes gear, patience, and some Skill now that BW took us of easy mode dps.

Ya took my guild awhile to figure out why all of Sorcs were dying mid way through are HM attempt turns out it was the Fearful debuff reflecting back 6k per tick from there dots on Zorn so we drop one sorc brought in another Arsenal Merc and put the last sorc with me on Toth and we were able to down them before the enrage timer. The gratifying part was that Toth went down before Zorn did and Zorn had the 2 Arsenal mercs on him.

It has happened to me quite alot try only putting Inc. Missile on the target then using rail shot it either has a chance to trigger CGC or it is a bug from Super Heated Rails with the game thinking that the Inc. Missile dot is actually the CGC dot and has rail shot "refresh" it.

Like the OP I too went to pryo after BW screwed arsenal. The chance to trigger CGC is 16% per blaster shot from ANY Ranged ability like: RS PS Unload and Rail shot. For me the chance to proc it is more around a 35-59% chance with RS, a 50-80% chance with Unload, a 10-20% chance with PS, and a 16% chance with rail shot (assuming that CGC isnt already on the target). I also agree that we should have an ability that has a 100% chance to proc it like the PTs do it would also mean a small but noticeable dps increase with the spec due to the little to no down time with the CGC dot. Also fully buffed in 12/12 rakata i was pulling just under arsenal on the operation boss target dummy around 1244 with pryo and 1288 with arsenal. that being said pyro will do way more damage when the target is under 30% and pyro has a HUGE advantage in mobility dps though it does have a bit of a problem with heat management, but if speced properly and with some skill(cant forget about luck with the PPA procs) it easily overcome. Note: from my experience you dont want to be dpsing Zorn in the new operation with this spec because if for some god awful reason you get the fearful debuff your almost certain to die due to your dots (this is especially true in HM) just my 2 cents Long Live the PVE Pyro Merc

To the OP BW didnt fix ****. The 10% nerf to tracer is actually a 20-25% nerf to its damage, also yes the Armor debuff is still working pay attention to your numbers coming from your target, and there "fix" for the bug of HSM taking into account other mercs Heat signature stacks broke the entire ability Pre 1.2 it HSM crit for 4.5k on NiM Karaga with only my stacks. Now post 1.2.0c it is criting for 4k (keep in mind that is with the 10% buff it got from 1.2 originally) dps parse from before 1.2.0c showed me doing 1388-1450 dps on the Operation Target Dummy. Today and yesterday showed me doing 1267-1327 dps on the same Target Dummy. If BW wanted to fix the Stacking problem they could of done what WoW did with stacking Hunter's Marks which is only let one be active on the target. The main reason for so many classes over-performing is an over abundance of armor debuffs. Which Dps class wont over perform when there target has no armor. 3 mercs= 60% less armor 2 juggs= 40% less armor 1 Conc. Op= 30% less armor When the majority of all damage done by all Dps classes is affected by armor, which class wouldn't over perform with that many armor debuffs on a target? In conclusion: While I doubt BioWare will pay attention to this post, It still needed to be said that instead of nerfing classes intentionally or unintentionally they would be better off fixing this over-abundance of stacking armor debuffs. Note: I have no problem with stopping HSM from benefiting from multiple stacks of Heat Signature my Problems lie with BioWare's execution of the fix. I would also like to state that I am aware that there are classes that over performing by a large margin even when there target i not affected by armor debuffs and that those classes should be toned down a bit. Yes this was a bit of a rant, No i am not shelving my Merc, and **** NO i am not going to quit a great game. Just putting my 2 cents up and stating my Opinion

same thing pre 1.2 HSM with only my stacks on HS crit for 4.5k on op bosses now post 1.2.0c crits for 4k i do less damage with it now then i did before 1.2 GG BW

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300Mc0MZMIkrRMdokfzZc.1 is the build i use when raiding

if PVE dps then spec arsenal if pvp Arsenal or pyro both work though i prefer pyro for pvp