I would say that a DPS Jugg can take more than a Merc and survive longer and that your perception is off because the Merc can avoid AOE placement that the Jugg must stand in and can employ escape abilities, heal up and go back in with much less downtime. I am only going by my experience though and will differ my opinion to any valid evidence provided to the contrary.

I give joy to the world by playing my merc. When I do get killed in a Reg, all those Juggs that have be chasing me round for the last 5 minutes feel better about the life choices. Oh yeah, that and the premade group of Sents that join WZ's and hunt me down time and time again. I make their lives better too. I wonder if they sit on their Mics saying, "Lets kill that guy for playing a Merc." Sometimes they ignore me though and just go and get the ball and score. I wonder if I have done something wrong on those days. I think that BW should nerf premades and force everyone to PUG.

What evidence are you basing the "population problem" on (it might just be these forums but I am interested either way) Them darn snipers too eh, they should get a nerf, they gots them shields and stuffs. You know, to hek and all fire with it, I can jump on a bandwagon with the best of them, lets just all play Marauders and peacefully protest on fleet until our voice is heard.

Consistently being top DPS in an 8v8 Reg WZ doesn’t make you OP, if you are concentrating too much on how much damage you are putting out instead of objectives you should really be playing a Mara. Now if the Merc could run to a node and cap it whilst ignoring a barrage of damage for several players directly targeting him. Or run into a 3 v 1 and win every time (I can 2 v 1 in the right situation against the right type of player on a couple of classes) then that would be OP. Also being the most played class doesn’t make that class OP, that’s just silly and in my limited experience Sorcs are still the most played class. I got pulled up by someone on my previous post about taking excessive healing away from an Arsenal Merc. I think that this should be a small tweak and that DPS Sorcs and Op’s (and their rep counterparts) are fine with their level of healing as they lack some of the other benefits that a Merc has. *sigh* haters gonna hate right 

lol, Bioware doesn't tell me what I am allowed to play.

I don’t know how damage is recorded really, if you don’t take it through an absorb or negate of some kind does it still register as damage in the scoreboard at the end of the WZ? To address the point, A Jugg/Guard probably has the same amount of DCD’s and a Mara/Sent must be pretty close although they don’t negate damage in the same way (obvious differences between a Merc and a Mara/Jugg I know). I think that the issue is not in the DCD’s alone. Most people (I am assuming) are in 230’s without a full set bonus right now and so go high crit and as more and more people start to gear up that may become the meta, it may change. Right now with that sort of set up a Merc gets a 20 second CD on a 15 – 20k (crit) insta heal and a 2k heal on a GCD with enough escape mechanics to almost always be able to get away to use them. On top of that a lot of players are guarding and so are probably taunting more too all that DR adds up. Not strictly a DPS class but something to lead me onto the next point, I have played a Tank Jugg with DPS gear and a Shield off hand in Regs and I feel more sturdy than I do on a Merc and can do solid (burst) damage in the right situations. The thing about Arsenal Mercs (being specific) is that no other class has the same combination of abilities, Powerful DCD’s, Strong Healing, Range, High Mobility, High Burst DPS, Little Channelling. Look at any of the other classes and you can take 1 or 2 or more of those things off the list. In the past I have advocated Mercs and felt that the people complaining are doing so because they have lost their “easy kills” more likely the aggressive nerf merc campaigners are in that category. Having played it a bit in regs and having had a sit down and thing about it the problem is fixed by removing healing from Arsenal Mercs. I do see alot of Mercs in Regs at the moment though (going back to the topic)

Mercs are certainly tough to kill and DCD’s are arguably over tuned. That said one the best ways to spot a reroll to FOTM, those that jumped on the band wagon is to see a Merc that has taken 450,000 damage in a WZ. Any good merc, one that has played through 4.X and even longer has learnt how to kite and would not take anywhere near that much damage.

Salty forum is salty

Having removed expertise I don't think that they can do this anymore.

I like the new system, it has brought me back to SWTOR from ESO which had gone very stale for me. Opening the crates is like a little Xmas present, sometimes I am disappointed but if I am I get to smash it up, which I am not allowed to do in real life, there I am forced to grin and say thank you. In both cases I am always looking forward to the next box. If I do regs or ranked or ops or fps (read group play) I can get 3 levels in a night, if I do h2’s the bar barely moves but H2’s are good for credits and vanity armour so I just grind out what I want that day which is quite a nice balance. PvP also appears to have some measure of balance and perhaps the most that we can/should expect. I don’t think mercs are that tough to kill, it just better timing than it did before. It seems to me that they have been brought up to the level of other classes. The story was a good length, just enough running for me to appreciate when I got to where I was going and it was well told. Once was enough but I enjoyed it. All in all I can see the attempt to cater for the entire player base, people are “forced” into all aspects and levels of group play that they wouldn’t normally do increasing the pop rate for those that actually want to do it. The only issue I have, which has been mentioned before, is the fact that I am forced at the moment into play one toon. In the future I will be able to afford crafted entry level gear on the GTN but right now that option is not possible. The only suggestion I have to overcome that is to allow me to decide on if I want tank, dps or healer gear to spawn from the boxes that I am opening. That way I could use my main toon to gear up in other roles available to that class without having to swap disciplines. At the same time some of those duplicate items could spill over into my other characters.

Sorry for this but I cant seem to find it although I know it was discussed. Can you please remind me on the Alacrity sweet spot for arsenal in pve so that it does not interfere with the rotation. I have 535 or something like that?

Its a trap

I have no doubt that you are well researched before posting dude. My point is that I just dont get it, are BW testing their changes before they release them or are they asking us to do it for them. I dont remember getting paid to do anything for Bioware. The only reason I can think of them changing FoTM (for those that indulge in that kind of thing) every 3 patches is that is exactly how long it takes to fully gear 224. I would say you have 2 Months of Merc being top of the charts before they decide it’s time for someone else. Perhaps it’s the only way that they can keep the majority from clearing NiM, it’s a delaying tactic. The Bioware board meeting minutes go thus… “We got no raids what can we do boss” “Make a cool story” “We did that, it was cleared in 3 hours by Tommy no hands, everyone else did it in 2, whats next boss” “Change the raids that we already have” “We did that,we upped the damage on a couple the people have already cleared all the HM Ops, even the PUGS are doing it boss” “We are losing subscribers boss” “Promise something quick” “What boss, what?” “Give them some ****** gifts” “We already promised them some boss, were in trouble here” “Right I got it, keep Fekking with the classes, keep em quessing, that’s worth a couple of months of raging at us before anyone else quits” “Genius, that’s why you’re the boss boss” “Good, now stop bothering me while I am playing WoW” Get geared, get bent, change your class, and remember choices matter.

I wonder with all the feedback they get they will make another chapter and release it early. That should do it.

That, my friend, is wishful thinking, you have more chance of the dataminers being 100% correct and that they just didn't miss the Merc nerf than you have of Bioware not smashing the bat over your tin can heads Unless Bioware just missed them through incompetence....hmmmm...

220 comms power is 73ish, 216 token gear is 112ish and 220 token gear is around 121. Something like that either way Comms mods are to be replaced asap. 220 comms enhancements however are fine as they share the same stats. Try to follow the optimum stats page as closely as possible, I hear alot of people say that alacrity is not good for a sorc, maybe they are right but I get my best numbers when I am around 850 alacrity and 1300 crit. As for raiding, save or better time your recklessness for adds, and example would be SnV which is a pretty dps orientated op with the first 2 bosses giving a nice group of adds for you at timed intervals. Avoid blushes when the DPS tables are questioned by having your chain lightning procced and recklessness on with a PS/LS follow up so that you can get a good hit on the adds as they come in before the snipers can dot them dead. 4.5k dps can be lifted to 5.4k if you cheat the adds mechanics. Nowhere to hide on Styrax though, in my experience just apologise just before the first pull and kill/wipe.

As are snipers and mara's and mercs and PT's and pretty much anything dependant on the situation at the time. The point I am making is that PvP is not as scripted as PvE, PvP can have good days and bad days and performance is never constant. All in all PvP at the moment appears to be reasonably balanced, others will argue, but in any given WZ any class can be on top. I am playing devils advocate really, and I don't like that because I am appearing to defend the low lives that gimped my favourite class. PvPers whine more than PvEers in general and so Biowares nerf most likely came of the back of the Sorc/Sage's dominance (too strong maybe) in PvP in 3.0. And that's why they are probably not addressing the issue that has been constructively raised many times in this forum.

Although I am firmly with you on changes, what needs to be taken into account is that the issues with a Sorc/Sage seem to fall into the bracket of PvE only. I have no problems in PvP and so any changes to improve PvE performance will impact in PvP significantly. Not to defend Bioware but the fix may not be as simple as it appears to us.

On a 1.5 mil dummy without an armour reduction... If you are in full 224 gear I think you are looking at an average parse of 6.3k which with RNG will lift you to 6.5K. I am in mostly 224 gear with some 220 (224 mainhand) and I am just tipping 5.9k on average with my best parse at 6.1K I am raiding NiM at the moment and have spent alot of time and effort and credits (as my maths skills are weak( trying to find the sweat spot for me on my gear. A PT in my guild dinged 65 on Sunday, he did 3 SM pugs, got some drops, spend some tokens, he is on 5.5k on the same dummy this morning.

Even when I stack 1400 - 1500 crit I only see a TB on a 1.5mil dummy around 12.5 - 13k. if I am on Ad and relics are up maybe 14k. I am in 220/224 gear.

FerkWork is correct.

I think we have come full circle. The truth for me after all the dummy smashing testing on rotations and gear swap outs is that even at my best I am going to be 500 dps off people that are cruising. My group has cleared HM so a Sorc in a group does not mean that it wont happen. But as has been said above my fun comes from feeling part of the team, I really don't, I have a good raid leader that has stuck by me and understands where Sorcs are at the moment but when I evaluate my own performance it comes up short. If I raid PT or Mara (less so sniper because i just don't play it enough) my DPS is right in with the rest of the guys again. Sorc is my preferred class and post 3.0 I was having a ball, shame on me for having so much fun.

What is you alacrity?

I consider myself and average player and so my opinion is based on the fact that I will be in the same category as the masses. From what I can tell, at best optimum numbers don't take into account the variables of mechanics and at worst they are just wrong. In a raid I see equally geared Mara's, PT's, Snipers and even the odd Jugg or Merc pulling 5.6k on most HM boss fights without too much difficulty. To get to 5k I cant really put too much of a foot wrong in my rotation. If I do then I can end up 4.5k or worse. Completely unviable is an extreme, some people will be more successful than others as is always the way.. But, right now, I don't think many people will feel comfortable when they check over starparse after a NiM raid. After a wipe night when its deemed DPS is the problem, the Sorc is the first out. That's just the way of things, the rub is that the Sorc player may not have put a foot wrong within the boundaries of his class. AoE is really the same, anything a Sorc can do a Jugg or Sniper or Mara can do better with less effort because our talent comes, outside of a proc on CL, from channelling so whilst we AoE we can do nothing else. On Boss fights with a couple of adds you will get an extra 300 - 400 DPS even if you follow a normal rotation because Cl will smash out some good numbers for you. If mechanics require you to swap targets, your back into muddy water. CL > FL > CL etc will get you over 10k dps on some trash mob pulls but who cares about trash. I read a while back, if you can PvP well on a Merc then you will pretty much be unstoppable on anything else. Same is true now of a Sorc in PvE, if you can play it well, chances are you will be awesome on something else. To close this tale of woes, the only glimmer of hope I can put out there is 4.0 is just about a month old now? and so anything is possible and in 6 months time somebody brighter than me may crack it and write a guide that fixes everything. Remember in 3.0 you couldn't find a mara for love nor money I think that will be what happens to the Sorc, atleast in PvE.

I have found that if I run on 450 (around 4.5%) Alacrity and 1400 Crit rating (70%) then in a raid I get closer to the rest of the DPS team in my 8M HM runs. Although the DPS in the team I run in are an engi sniper, carnage mara and AP PT. I can trick some stats with AOE from CL but only if the Engi Sniper makes a mistake, if he is on point then his fire and forget is much better than my channelled AOE. We generally roll over the majority of content and are mostly geared 116/220/224 token gear but, right now, from my point of view, I think that they just keep me around to massage their Epeens. When we go NiM and the rolling stops, I am not so sure that I will be included in the raid set up (I would kick me). The current back up DPS is another engi sniper. If you ask me, one Sorc is fine for HM content if you have a strong group that can back you up. And, you can support if you don’t have a healer Sorc in the group but as most Sorcs have gone to healer now it will be unlikely. Not a good time for a DPS Sorc in end game PVE. PvP is no problem any spec is worth having, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sorc is still king in PvP.