A special challenge mode wouldn't really help with that, I agree. And most implementations of "challenge ranks" that I am familiar boil down to statistical increases and health bloat. What we really need is for a second tier of flashpoints to exist similiar to how it did in vanilla swtor and for certain specific flashpoints (LOST ISLAND I'm looking at you and your Rakghoul Medics!) to be un-nerfed. I also think we need NiM EV/KP to come back so that theres a better bridge between HM and NiM Operations to draw more players into the harder content.

This is the Heroic 2 on Makeb right? From what I remember (its been around 4 to 6 years since I soloed it) you have to hit all the consoles within a short time frame. To accomplish this you need to position yourself between two consoles on one side, hit one then the other, then use a movement ability to shift to the other side and use the other two consoles. Abilities that I know work: Operative/Sniper Roll, Mad Dash, Merc Rocket Jump, Force Speed. Things that I think work: Hydraulic Overrides, Predation, Phase Walk. You can also just find a second person on the fleet or on makeb itself to run the heroic 2. It is a heroic, they give okayish rewards.

Ooooh, and the best way to improve rewards vs time would be to add more deco drops. Because DECOS. Seriously though. Replayability is a concern. And at this point we've been running some of the same FPs for half a decade or more. The flashpoints could use a secondary system of a harder difficulty mode or a couple unique mobs tossed into the fp with some variable buff combinations to make the fights a little more engaging. And if they buffed the difficulty a tad they could put something really nasty into Hammer as a giant middle finger to everyone who can only run Hammer. A lad can dream, right?

To be fair, its actually good etiquette to leave the koltos for the 'tank' to hit themselves. Triggering a kolto is a massive initial heal on the person who triggered it with a powerful hot left on all members of the group. It also helps cement aggro on the tank which is nice for the squishier classes. And yeah, the Jindo Krey isn't hard, he's just bugged to all hell. If they ever fix that fight in a manner which keeps it fixed, False Emperor will be one of the easiest flashpoints again.

I'm a returning player who's been on and off again since shadow of revan. I've been playing since early 1.0 and used to spend a great deal of time raiding. I remember EV, KP, EC and TFB very well, SnV, DF, DP pretty well, Rav & ToS alright, and I've little to no experience with Gods or Dxun. My current schedule would permit me to raid consistently after 7pm pacific on weeknights, for around 2 hours at a time. I play dps, specifically Operative. I can raise my mercenary to level 75 if I need to. My preferred specs are Lethality and IO. I am currently i306 with set bonus (tactician) and mostly good amplifiers on my operative. I've also got a Dreadful Amulet, Helmet & Orb. Please reply to this thread or send me a pm if you have an imperial raid group short a dps with raid times which align with my schedule.

Eh, Ops and PTs have a ranged basic attack, right? And Maras and Juggs can just saber throw. I think that low slash is 30m range now for Assasins... maybe. In reality though, if you're a melee you should already have learned to dodge. And if you're a ranged you already have so many tools for ghosting through a GCD which is all the time you need to avoid the probes. We're not referring to competent players here when we talk about HS/RR graduates.

And hell, if you want to ignore the droid adds on the first boss, just stay on top of the metal crate, like we used to all those years ago.

Oh man, if I could get full rewards for just queuing for Nathema, Copero, LI, Rishi and D7... hoooboy I'd be one happy operative. As it stands, I'll just keep queuing for the ones I want and ditch the rewards. My inventory is full enough anyways.

Goddamn but I want Orbital Strike back. That skill is awesome. AND its the class skill for agents for Heroic Moment. Give us it back please. Don't even need to take anything away to give it back. Just change its damage type to K/E with values around Toxic Haze and a minute cooldown. It'll be worth less than Toxic Haze/Noxious Knives spam, though you might work it in if the number of targets calls for it. And it'd be goddam amazing to get it back. Give this back to us please.

Its not a bug. Its a feature. All operations save Dxun have been scaled to a minimum level of 70. Players are no longer bolstered to level 70. Players under level 70 can no longer run operations. It sucks. I wish they'd go back and institute the balancing they had on the PTS with EV/DP/EC/TFB at level 50, SnV/TC/DF/DP at 55, Rav/Tos/CM at 60. Gods at... whatever it was at. And Dxun at 75. Being able to run ops while leveling is a good thing. It expands the range of players able to run the content. Leave HMs for endgame if you want to, but with the scaling implemented they'd be fine honestly. And, if they took it one step further and allowed preferred to enter ops they had the level to play... it'd be a massive breath of fresh air for the stagnant raiding community.

To answer your question. Very common. Especially in tactical mode Hammer Station. Daily rewards are a thing. I'd like to not be required to go assemble 3 other people who all also want to run a random flashpoint in order to not get hammer or red reaper. Now admittedly, I haven't gotten very many Hammer/RR pops of late, but I've also begun playing mm fps a hell of a lot less overall since onslaught launch. This is primarily because I've been running Hammer for... how long has this game been out now? Since Hammer came out on the PTS. I do not find farming the same FP over and over and over again to be 'engaging gameplay' and I haven't run any tactical fps for months as I both don't enjoy tacticals and also don't enjoy Hammer runs. Honestly, give those two the uprising treatment. Only loot that drops is from the final boss. Hell, nerf loot drops across the board for flashpoints and halve the drops from the first two bosses for all MM fps to make it a little more interesting. SM raids still exist as a lootapoolooza if you want them. Better yet, give increased credit drops from MMfps (except hammer/rr) scaling with the 'difficulty' of the flashpoint. Nice juicy rewards in Copero, Nathema, LI, & Umbara to incentivize play to those fps.

Character. Does Nightmare Power work on Hateful Entity? That could lower the price a bit.-

Honestly, since the datacrons are legacy wide I can't see this as a high-priority fix. You can ride the balloon to the datacron. Someone can push you up to the datacron. A sorc can pull you to the datacron. You can leap to someone on the datacron... There are a number of ways to get up to the datacrons which don't include the balloon. And its a once-in-a-legacy trip.

If this is the Macrobinoculars quest, its NOT a flashpoint. Its a Heroic 4. Designed for 4 players. Its not designed to be soloed. Get a group. You'll need one for the next H4 regardless.

If you can figure out who the GM is you ought to be able to report them for harassment. Its a ****** thing for them to have done but the best thing you can most likely do is ignore it and move on. Most folks who do dumb things like that are looking for attention.

3206 (1.3s GCD) is good for Lethality. I am unsure if it benefits other classes. Generally speaking, with a 6kish total stat pool you'll spend 1.5k on Accuracy. 1.2k on Alacrity for T1 or 3.2k Alacrity for T2 leaving either 3.3k or 1.3k for Crit. I believe that its better to shoot for 1.4s GCD for Arsenal. 1.3s GCD for Lightning. 1.5s GCD for Carnage (possibly 1.4s GCD). And the rest aiming for 1.4s GCD. I know that with no % bonuses to Alacrity. Hitting 1.4s GCD allows the relic of the Primeval Fatesealer (alacrity clicky) to bump you to 3206 (1.3s GCD) every other minute making that relic actually useful in PvE level synced content.

Nothing much has changed for DPS Operatives in quite a while. It's been gone over before but here is a brief overview. For Concealment: You want to work in as many Lacerations as you can. To do this you need as many Tactical Advantages as you can have. Use Shiv as soon as it comes off cooldown. Work Backstab and Volatile Substance in as they come off cooldown. If you have the Acid Lash tactical you won't need to apply Corrosive Dart to ensure you have poisons running on the target, if you do not yet have that tactical you may want to work in a Corrosive Dart once in a while to blow Volatile Substance up and keep your collateral strikes refunding TAs once every 2 shivs. Use the root knife skill if you're running low on energy, it has no energy cost. Always try to keep yourself above 60 energy to maintain maximum energy regeneration. You can drop below 60 energy every time Adrenaline Probe comes up. At least 1 Shiv (Veiled Strike) and 1 Laceration should be performed for every "rotational block" (4 GCDs between Shivs) to ensure you don't overcap TAs. Volatile Substance takes priority over a Laceration if a poison dot is not on the target. Backstab takes priority over Laceration always. Marked Target Backstab takes priority over Laceration if you are not at 2 TAs (3 TAs with the Tactician Set Bonus) For Lethality: Lethality is a delayed burst spec. In order to do significant damage you need to have dots on the target before using Corrosive Assault and Toxic Blast should be on the target as often as possible. To maximize your damage you want to fit as many dot ticks into a Toxic Blast window as is possible. Corrosive Assault forces your dots to tick independent of their normal ticks so you want as many Corrosive Assaults in a Toxic Blast window as possible. Lethal Strike can also be used while in a Toxic Blast window as it'll apply internal damage which will give you a tick from Toxic Blast. Toxic Haze will also tick Toxic Blast. Ideally when re-applying your Corrosive Grenade and Corrosive Dart you'll put at least one GCD between them, i.e. Corrosive Grenade > Filler > Corrosive Dart. It helps keep some cooldowns from misaligning too badly. Lastly: Lethal Strike is good to use before dumping a bunch of Corrosive Assaults into a target, Lethal Strike will provide increased crit chance and damage for your dots and Corrosive Assault will provide ticks from both Corrosive Grenade and Corrosive Dart (if present). However, it is more important to fit as many dot ticks under a Toxic Blast window than it is to fit as many Corrosive Assaults under a Lethal Strike window. Oh, and re: companions. I always run with tank companions or DPS companions unless I'm running H4s. You may get more mileage out of Healer companions. I do not. Hope that helps a little.

There are decoration rewards from flashpoints. Boarding Party & Maelstrom Prison have computer consoles. Nathema & Copero have a whole slew of unique-to-that-flashpoint decorations, Manaan has a couple... etc. Do I think there could be more unique and interesting decorations? Yes, yes I do. It'd be great if they could add a "flashpoint decoration prefab" which drops from FPs which you could then go to a "flashpoint decoration droid" on the fleet to purchase decos, but hey, at least there are decos now even if they are random drops from bosses.

First things first. Meridian can be run solo, you likely have a phase issue and resetting your phases and resetting the meridian quest can often fix that issue. For groups, you have 2 ways of entering a flashpoint. You can either run in (walk into the phase entrance) or zone in via group finder. To 'run' in you need the quest and to be at the phase location. Phase location for Meridian is on the fleet, on the White Nova (imperial) or Telos (pub) in the "Meridian Complex Staging Deck" (take the elevator). To 'zone' in you need a quick travel prompt which is given to you when you queue for the flashpoint via group finder. Group finder is accessed either via the activities menu (default shortcut is ctrl-G) or via the tab on the minimap with three people on it. "Veteran" mode (normal mode) has no role specific requirements. It will take the first 4 people who want to run the activity in question and throw them together. This can end up being a wonderful experience, a normal slog, or the worst activity you experience that day. There really isn't any in-between. "Master" mode (hardmode) requires a normal trinity composition (tank, 2 dps, healer) and generally speaking things hit a bit harder and mechanics aren't quite so ignorable as they are on normal. However, because it requires a trinity comp, HM Flashpoints are in general easier than vet fps. If you just want to run the flashpoint and then never talk to the community again, go to the telos/white nova. abandon the meridian quest from your log. Pick the story mode meridian quest from the terminal outside the phase entrance and walk in. If you actually want to play group content then spend a bit of time exploring the group finder. Or shout for a group on the fleet and share the quest then walk-in together.

Lets outline where we're currently at: Uprisings, PvP & the Dxun operation are all not level synced. Flashpoints, all ops other than Dxun are level synced. Alacrity is still tiered for instant cast abilities. (T1 = 1.4s GCD, 1213 rating. T2 = 1.3s GCD, 3206 rating.) Level sync caps your Mastery, Power & Endurance to specific values. % bonuses bypass these caps but any flat rating increases will not. With the boundaries laid out: There are 5 dps-advised relics in-game. Focused Retribution (mastery proc), Serendipitous Assault (power proc), Boundless Ages (power clicky), Devastating Vengeance (crit proc), and Primeval Fatesealer (alacrity clicky). Of these, mastery & power proc are considered the best DPS gain and so are most useful for uncapped content. For capped content: power & mastery are worthless (3 relics gone) and alacrity has no purpose for instant cast classes running T2 alacrity (lethality). So: Lethality has one viable relic choice for capped content: crit proc. The alacrity relic has no purpose for lethality once we've broken the T2 alacrity rating barrier, the power & mastery relics will not affect our dps at all in capped content. And so we get to the suggestion: Lets add 3 more relics to the mix. Lets add a counterpart to the ephemeral mending relic, a counterpart to the power and alacrity clicky relics, and (if at all possible) lets add a level scaling version of the matrix cube relic (and give classes a reason to go hunting for the matrix shards. That was a fun little minigame back-in-the-day.) My request: give us back the old 4 relics which did straight damage to an enemy target. Cerulean Nova, Dark Radiance, Elemental Transcendence & Kinetic Tempest. Give us a new critical clicky relic, 30s duration, 2314 stat at the Mk-19 level as per the alacrity clicky. And give us a scaling, or scaled, version of the matrix cube please. The 4 split damage relics give us some more variety for building and working with amplifiers (i.e. tech wizardry) Dark Radiance (Internal Proc): tech class WITHOUT armor penetration Elemental Transcendence (Elemental Proc): force class WITHOUT armor penetration The Kinetic Tempest (Kinetic Proc): tech class WITH armor penetration The Cerulean Nova (Energy Proc): force class WITH armor penetration but anything which would not be rendered useless by level caps (i.e. similar to ephemeral mending) would be welcome.

Operative already is a melee healer. The "niche" you're trying to fill is already filled.

But OH, how good our AoE is going to feel once we have all 6 set pieces. Also, it'll show up on Kai Zykken from time to time, so you can find individual pieces there as well as from Ops.

Whenever a thread like this pops up I always wonder what sort of actual gameplay niche is trying to be filled, what niche is missing. Or how you'd differentiate new classes to make them worth adding? Just giving a new weapon to a new class is not actual differentiation nor a good reason to add a whole host of problems by adding a new class. Inasmuch as what we've got: Heals over Time is filled by Operative, as is melee. Sorcs are the pure casters, Mercs are the reactive healers. Juggernauts are the rigid, cooldown based tanks, Powertechs are the passively tanky tanks, Assassins are the mobile, flexible tanks. Annihilation is the self-heal melee spec. Combat is burst damage, Fury is the inflexible rotation. Vengeance is the short duration bleeds. Lethality is the 10m delayed burst skirmisher, Concealment is the classic positional rogue, Virulence is caster Lethality, Marksman is caster crit burst, Engineering is caster cleave. Lightning is alacrity burst, Madness is caster self-heals and dot, Hatred is melee self-heals and dots, Deception is classic positional rogue. Pyrotech is skirmisher dots, AP is skirmisher burst, IO is rigid dot damage, arsenal is flexible burst damage. Basically every type of class 'quirk' is represented above by the different specs. You've got self-healing melee & ranged, dot, delayed burst, alacrity burst, critical burst, 4m, 10m, & 35m. The only things that are left out that have already been tried were rejected for balance reasons: evasion tanks & ranged tanks. Neither of which could work. So what niche exactly do you want a new class to fill? Where is there room? How would this benefit our gameplay?

Is periodic intensity really that strong on concealment? I'd hypothesized it as being around a 4% damage increase with 10 2.2% periodics. While tech wizardry would have been a flat 10%

So, looking at some basic breakdowns of our damage on parsely it looks like our damage is split between multiple sources but the big pair come in at Tech Wizardry & Periodic Intensity. Tech-wise it looks like around 60% of our damage comes from tech-based attacks (lethal strike, shiv, CG... etc) while a near equal % of our damage comes from periodic damage (CG, CD, TB) prodvided Toxic Blast counts as periodic damage. If thats the case, then Periodic Damage would be better than Tech Wizardry seeing as the highest % increase for Periodic Intensity is 2.2% while its only 1% for Tech Wizardry. Does that track for anyone else? Stack Periodic Intensity for Lethality sounds right? Or does TB not benefit from Periodic Intensity which... eh, probably means 2.2% across the board is still better than tech wizardry, but it'll feel worse.