I want to start off by saying that I have been playing rogue dps classes in MMOs for over a decade, so I am not coming from an inexperienced place. Pre-1.2 scrapper scoundrels were definitely a very useful and viable class for both PVP and PVE. The nerf was not necessarily unwarranted, however subsequent updates have continued to raise dps for other classes and not the scoundrel. Dirty fighting has been almost the only spec that can create a large and consistent amount of dps. The expac is once more addressing areas outside of DPS for the scrapper, and parsing dps on a dummy is incredibly misleading compared to the requirements of gameplay during pve or pvp. In SWTOR when it comes to dps the scoundrel is just not up to par. The gameplay is as exciting and versatile as any rogue class in an MMO, but unfortunately the dps is rather lacking. BW wanted to push the dps burst of the scrapper spec down because it frustrated so many other players, but if you have played since pre-launch you would know that the mindset of BW on this matter is not going to change. It took me a full year to finally just respec into heals. I initially planned to run Sawbones for just a week, because I wanted to actually get into ranked wzs with actual good teammates. I have not had a desire to go back to dps with my main because Sawbones is such a better thought out spec, and it is not getting the blind eye that the dps specs are getting. I sincerely recommend that all of you reevaluate your stance on dps scoundrels. THe double xp weekends are providing all of us to level up more potent dps classes that are the attention of BW. If you want to be a top dps player then you should look into a different class and just use scoundrels as healers. THAT BEING SAID. If you just want to play a class that you enjoy and pug around then scoundrels are a very fun and engaging class to play. Just dont expect to constantly be the top dps player, and dont ever expect to be used in ranked wzs by any serious teams.

It sounds like you are seriously mismanaging your energy. Try to follow this basic rotation: slow-release medpack UW healing Emergency medpac Every other rotation drop kolto cloud, and occasionaly sub diagnostic scan for sr medpac. This should keep your energy above 60-65 at all times with pugnacity. If your target drops below 30% spam emergency medpac until you have a chance to get back in your rotation. I find it usefull to try and constantly be in this rotation even if there is nobody to heal. You want to get yourself in such a habit that you can mainly just stare at your raid panel. Also, I recommend trying to also use LOS (line of sight) as much as possible both offensively and defensively. Evading enemy focus is key.

Apparently people are saying scroundrels get leap immunity in cover, sorry for the misinfo. However, this may be glitchy because I know I have been leaped to while in cover. At least it appeared that way. I did the same thing with sab charge when I started playing. You will be able to learn how to make the transition smooth though. You can practice in both pve and pvp which will help a lot. I strongly recommend moving to sawbones at level 50.

Leap immunity in cover is just for snipers/gunslingers. If you are rolling dps scrapper you still need to have cover bound. You can go into cover and then throw sab charge without losing anytime on your ability cooldown. This is very important to figure out how to do efficiently in a wz.

Since you are able to max the scrapper tree out yet, then I recommend using your shoot first with backblast following in your rotation. Moving backblast further down the rotation is only needed once you have flechette round which does not stack. Do not ignore your sabotage charge, it can produce much higher dps. Once you hit 50 I recommend looking into Sawbones, it will benefit you a lot more in endgame and moving into the expansion. That rotation is super simple: time released med pac, uw healing, emergency medpac.... Change out the hot for a diagnostic scan when your energy is dropping, and keep kolto cloud on cool.

I believe that for leveling it may be easiest to run scrapper spec or sawbones. When i leveled last year it was rather expedient to roll scrapper, however that was pre 1.2 nerfs. Running sawbones can help expedite lower levels until you gain Gus after finishing storylines on Hoth. After that it is pretty easy to have him heal while you dps. However, many of the prime abilities of the scrapp spec are hard to execute on quest line bosses, due to the need to be behind a foe. In all honesty though, scoundrels really only get far in endgame modes as sawbones healers. Dps has been nerfed a few times already for scrapper, and dirty fighting is decent but at that point you may as well just role a gunslinger. I have been a hardcore DPS rogue class for over a decade in multiple MMOs, and the scoundrel is fun but it just doesn't match up to other DPS roles in SWTOR. In the endgame you will be hardpress to find a ranked warzone or end game raid group as DPS. However, sawbones is a well balanced and versatile healing option. If you want to DPS in the endgame then I recommend rolling a gunslinger or sentinel. It took me almost 6 months to swallow that pill post 1.2, but it has been great since i rerolled. Now, I am going to have a sent and gunslinger to endgame DPS instead which suits me just fine.

So since you just started your sawbones and you think you should make a post on how to heal? Losing KC is the dumbest move you can make. It is the heart of healing for scoundrels. Also at no point should you be going under 60% energy unless there is a moment that requires spamming uw, but those moments are usually pretty far apart and should be complemented with cool head. As any spec of scoundrel you are useless if you dont know how to manage energy. IF you parse more than 500 HPS with your build I will be astounded. Also KC is extremely effective at pulling teammates up from low health. Do some math. Sawbones is also not a kiting class. If you want to kite with a scoundrel then use the Scrapper tree. Scrapper is very good at controlling enemy players. Sawbones is relatively useless as a kite model.

I should also add that you should be using a program like MOX to parse your logs. MOX will track your total heals done, not just what part of a health bar was filled for your teammate like the pvp sheet displays. If you have a large discrepancy between the swtor sheet and your mox then you will know that you are over healing. Of course sometimes there is not that much available to heal if you are playing bads, but I would say that 90% of wz rounds you can get close to 1mill heals if you just mind your rotations and stick with your team.

700k healing in a WZ is not bad. Reaching an HPS higher that 1k is pretty feasible, unlike the poster stated above. The key is to make sure you are in a constant state of healing. This can be more difficult if you get focused, but as a scoundrel healer you should be able to get around these issues without dropping much lower in HPS. Basically you want to just use 3 abilites on rotation, slow-release medpac, uw heal, emergency medpac. Every two rotations your kolto pack should be used. And if you energy drops below 65 then use diagnostic scan.... Basically I usually go two rotations, drop my kolto and then use diagnostic scan. If you maintain a rotation like this you will heal for very high HPS. As for the above poster... getting 1300 hps is not that difficult while still moving and dealing with opposing players. If I get to spam heals unnoticed then i am parsing 2.5k-3k HPS... so yeah ****

Tom Bombadil is definitely an anomaly in LOTR. However, most Tolkien fanatics and researchers have found that the character of Tom Bombadil is probably the closest thing to a manefestation of Tolkien's "God" of the world he created. If you look at it that way, it is rather nice Tom's role was not as a deus ex machina, and played a rather aloof and side role. Yoda plays a similar role, but is directly involved in the Star Wars story arc. However, the veil of mystery around him makes his character essential. I did hear once that many people believe him to not be a separate race but just an incredibly ancient and shrunken human being.

I began playing in March of 2012, at that point most of the entry worlds were already barren as many players had already powered to the level 50 cap to find a general lack of endgame polish. This was a result akin to many MMOs that launch before they are ready. In fact for all of you WoW fans, WoW was delayed an additional 2 years after they realized they need to make a litany of changes. However, the first year of WoW was rather tumultuous with a rather undeveloped end game experience. Blizzard took the time to bolster and make that portion of the game more robust. SWTOR came at a time that many gamers already expected this type of consideration, so as more updates and attempted fixes rolled out in spring and summer of 2012, the subs became rather disillusioned. The improvements made this fall with F2P and continued rigor in updates has brought new life to the game. Entry level planets are full of new players, as well as other players who see value in creating additional toons. I expect that the expansion will finally bring a more stable SWTOR to the MMO forefront. BW appears to have learned from many of their mistakes, and the new level 55 endgame will hopefully amount to what the endgame experience should have been at launch. But, we will have to wait and see. Either way it is incredibly nice to have a more consistent player base now. There were times before server merges that I was 1 of 5 people on the fleet, and q times for PVP were an hour sometimes with no hope of PVE groups. Now with a more consistent player base, content is more readily available to get involved in which should keep most players happy. Only time will tell, but I think SWTOR is here to stay for a while. Especially since there does not seem to be any MMOs coming in the near future that could "kill" WoW or SWTOR. The MMOs gaming industry is becoming more and more niche, and it will still be quite a while until we see a revolutionary MMO type IMO. However, you never know.

Whoa I wrote back on a post that spoke to a nerf to scoundrels/ops due to previous posts. Just because I did not write another few paragraphs in a agreement on nerfing smashing and bubbling does not make the post impertinent. This thread is in general about the state of PVP and class issues. I focused on one in order to avoid writing a book. The OP is spot on and is obviously well versed in MMOs so I don't have much to add to what he has already stated. To appease you: There has been little attention to PVP class balance since 1.2. The turnover at Bioware has created a divide between current and previous game design. Evening out the gear gap by providing affordable WH gear and a rather minuscule upgrade with EWH has actually made the class imbalances even more apparent. While many thought this would level the playing field to be based around skill, it is now based around which FOTM class to choose next. I would not be surprised to see nerfs and buffs before Makeb(wishful thinking), but I have little hope that it will nullify this constant FOTM class rotation. We are also all ignoring the fact that it is our community that makes these issues even worse. It is unfortunate that there is such a huge player base that will reroll simply to play whatever class or spec is overpowered. Pre 1.2 I was dropping into rounds with 4 or more DPS scrappers, post 1.2 it was pyrotech mania, and now it is smash or bubble. In all honesty I have pretty much given up on PVP in SWTOR and for the first time in an MMO actually enjoying more PVE. The constant imbalance issues are really just too much to deal with, and making SWTOR fall further and further down my priority list of gaming. PVP has always been my main focus and it is rather sad to lose interest in a game due to the rather inane player base and lack of developer attention.

You are right on with your analysis of the pre-1.2 scoundrel/op situation. Most of the players playing that class from launch already knew what it would take to min/max their stats to create a ridiculous burst. Of course this created a great deal of issues as the majority of the player base did not have the hp or gearing experience to deal with a rogue class. The shame of it all is that as gear and hp has drastically increased there has not been a single buff back to the scrapper spec in terms of DPS. While the controlling abilities and speed buff were nice, they truly pale in comparison to almost all of the other class buffs that were thrown out there. Now, I rarely roll around in a DPS spec because it is simply beyond anyone players skill to be truly effective in a WZ compared to other DPS classes. This however is not all that new of a situation in MMOs. Usually a rogue class will get nerfed once the skilled players get their gear fine tuned. We always know how to turn a raw DPS class into something ridiculous even though we sacrifice a great deal of survivability. However, the scrapper nerfs in SWTOR have by far been the the most drastic I have ever seen done to a rogue class. Thankfully I can just respec to an OP healing spec in order to maintain some semblance of sanity.

Thank you for being the first person in this thread to not be an imbecile and ask for more burst. The burst is fine it is the sustained and aoe that needs to be addressed. For those of you who werent here from launch Scrapper got nerfed into this sorry state because there was too much burst potential which led to way to much QQing. I would much rather have a consistent DPS spec rather than go from FOTM to nerfed into the dust again.

False, only good players can burst totally undergeared people, but it is not as easy as some believe. You are the first person in this thread to say that Scrapp/Lethality is not broken.