Yeah an ETA would be nice.

I parsed my DPS on a operations target dummy for 6.5 minutes this morning and found no issues. Heat generation was normal, average and max damages were normal, crit rates were normal, the number of ticks per attack is right, and I did not experience any additional lag. I parsed 1854 DPS which is 97.1% of what Simulation Craft says I can do....most likely because I'm not as perfect as the simulation. If any of you are certain you're having issues you should collect and post some hard evidence, screen shots and logs over 5 minutes, so we can see what's going on.

Here's the Alacrity plot I promised. Sorry it's harder to read than I realized, stupid JPG compression. http://files.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/192146/modules/forum/attachments/alacrity+plot_1348792887.JPG Basically it shows the Alacrity peak where Alacrity makes up for the lag delays, then a dip as the Alacrity puts your casts slightly out of sync with the Heat Seeker and Rail Shot cooldowns, and then the rise after that as more Alacrity continues to improve DPS. Edit: Here's a less blurry version. http://files.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/192146/modules/forum/attachments/Alacrity+Plot+2_1348794314.jpg

The Stim is part of the ability rotation, so it's always present.

Raekor it's called Simulation Craft. http://code.google.com/p/simulationcraft-swtor/ I figured out what's going on with the Alacrity. Alacrity improves DPS up until you overcome lag, then there's a small dip where your casts no longer line up to fill the 15 second gap between Rail Shots and Heat Seekers. So past that point more Alacrity gives you less DPS for a bit and then still more Alacrity gives you a boost again. I'll run a plot overnight (it's freaking slow) so you can see the curve. Of course the amount of lag you have is dependent on the player, so it's impossible to pin down the exact sweet spot for Alacrity.

Yeah you have to go to legacy and tick on the companion buffs, and you need to go to datacrons and tick those on. I don't have a BiS profile for 1.4 because Ask Mr Robot hasn't updated. Obviously you can see the stats for the mods and implants are correct, but I don't know if that Ear Piece is real or just excess junk from 1.3 data mining. I suppose though that if the overall stats are correct that's the main thing. I know it's being pedantic but.... Taking one extra crit mod (+44 crit, -44 power) gives you 1.4 more DPS. I checked 88 more crit, that's very slightly worse. Also, it's funny but one point of critical reaction and one point of systems calibrations used to give more DPS than 2 points of critical reaction...and now it doesn't. Not sure what's going on there.

Tracer Missile is a tech attack that bypasses defense and shield chance, and has a small crit boost from your Cunning (1.2% if you're buffed and have the datacrons). Against bosses their damage is about the same, in PvP Tracer is far better against tanks and probably a bit worse against everyone else.

Awww nuts, and my current Ear has all the wrong stats for the 1.4 set, it's got crit/surge when it needs power/accuracy. So getting Best-in-Slot will mean getting a lot of extra weapons for the mods, and boots for the enhancements.

Yeah it's something like 6% of your DPS, the difference between doing 1500 DPS and 1410 DPS.

Hey Aerro, interested to see what you come up with. Have to see the stats form any ear pieces yet? That's the only thing missing from my BiS list.

Sub 30% Juggernauts and Marauders - Can use Vicious Throw Operatives and Snipers - Lethality spec does more poison damage Snipers - Can use Takedown Sorcerers - Nothing Assassins - Can use Assassinate Powertechs and Mercenaries - Pyro spec does more Elemental DoT damage Not that I'd complain about more damage, but I think all the list proves is that it's Sorcerers that are missing out.

Damn Aerro, how are you getting the inside scoop and where do I sign up?

Jaspless, the value of Aim does diminish but only very very gradually, and it's more complex than just stacking Aim to a point and then stopping. To break it down, Aim is always going to be worth more than Power but only a little more. So you should always get 18 Aim Augments over 18 Power Augments, but there are gearing options that will decrease your Aim that are better than the max Aim ones because they increase your power by more than the amount of Aim lost. As Jholiday said, the trick (at the moment at least) is to not look so much at how much Aim or Power you have but to reduce the amount of Endurance you have, as that will give you the most combined DPS stats. At the same time you want to have the right amount of crit, surge and accuracy. If it's easier, have a look at this profile and copy it's stats as closely as possible. http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/6a8c2038-a7be-4c90-9830-1b6ba7c7f1b5

Yes that's clearly a mistake. I dropped accuracy for surge and the DPS went up, then I dropped accuracy for surge again and DPS went up a little more (which is surprising considering how badly surge scales at that level). Then I checked crit and found that I needed more for my newly improved surge, so that's up as well. Fixed the profile. Surge 399 Alacrity 0 Accuracy 171 Crit 369

Hi all, great discussion you have here. I don't play Sniper so I'm not going to weigh into the Leth vs. Marks debate or the Sim vs. Reality debate. I just find Simulation Craft to be a great way to rapid prototype gear and specs before trying them out in game. In fact I'm the guy that cleaned up SimCrafts Lethality spec, not because I know what I'm doing but through brute force: I took what was there and some basic logic, and applied a few hundred variations. So if anyone is interested in what the Sim has to say, here's my effort for Marks. Any feedback would be appreciated because I got none at mmo-mechanics! DPS: 1990 Profile: http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/69c49536-f6dd-457e-a0f0-a06f34742f93 actions=stim,type=exotech_skill actions+=/coordination actions+=/snapshot_stats actions+=/take_cover,if=buff.take_cover.down actions+=/use_relics actions+=/power_potion actions+=/adrenaline_probe,if=energy<46 actions+=/target_acquired actions+=/laze_target actions+=/sniper_volley,if=cooldown.series_of_shots.remains&buff.adrenaline_probe.down actions+=/shatter_shot,if=buff.shatter_shot.remains<1.5&(energy>=75|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12) actions+=/followthrough,if=buff.followthrough.up&(energy>=71|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12) actions+=/series_of_shots,if=energy>=85|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12 actions+=/ambush,if=buff.reactive_shot.up&energy>=74|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12 actions+=/orbital_strike,if=(energy>=85|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12)&energy<=98 actions+=/takedown,if=energy>=85|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12 actions+=/snipe,if=(energy>=85|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12)&cooldown.followthrough.remains<=4.5&!buff.followthrough.remains actions+=/corrosive_dart,if=!dot.corrosive_dart.ticking&(energy>=85|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12) actions+=/explosive_probe,if=energy>=85|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12 actions+=/snipe,if=energy>=85|cooldown.adrenaline_probe.remains<12 actions+=/rifle_shot

Actually your variables also include crit rates, the min-max range on every attack and human error. 5 minutes is not enough to accurately measure your DPS, try 15 minutes of Rapid Shot spam at 1pm and again at 8pm, and see how that varies. Rapid Shot's hits so many times it eliminates a lot of the randomness, and would be a lot better test of server lag.

Read this: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=510936

That's interesting when you edit out all the sarcasm. How geared are you Gyro?

Both specs want up to 289 Accuracy rating. With Black Hole/Campaign level gear you'll have 285. Don't go over that! It's value drops very sharply at 290.

I got the same result when looking at what's likely to be on the next tier of gear, increasing Surge and Accuracy equally is optimal even though you go over the Accuracy soft cap. Swapping either stat for Alacrity was a small loss to sustained DPS. In their tier above that we'll probably have to drop both a Surge and an Accuracy enhancement for two Alacrity enhancements, but that's pretty far off.

Have a look at this first: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=510936 Then come back and ask more questions!

Ha! You mean my suggestions or the part where I say your guide is good? Yeah feel free to put anything in your guide that seems helpful.

There's a surprising amount of hate in here for what is primarily a good accurate guide that has probably helped thousands of Mercs improve their DPS. Even on the points where I disagree with Aerro, the difference in DPS from changes I'd suggest are small. Mercs who follow this guide will do well. So good work Aerro, here's my feedback: You don't need to watch your Heat Signature stacks or Tracer Lock stacks even your Barrage procs, you get just as much DPS ignoring them and firing attacks on cooldown (with the exception that Heat Signatures improve Raid DPS if it's the only armor debuff going up, and is worth doing first under that condition). Simulation Craft even says that ignoring the stacks and proc improve DPS slightly. Most importantly, simpler priorities are easier to use and therefore produce more DPS for all but the most skilled players. I like to prioritize both Rail Shot and Heatseeker Missile before Unload because you're not really using Unload on cooldown, you're using it on Barrage's internal cooldown. So it doesn't really matter when you cast Unload so long as it's finished within 6 seconds of Barrage procing....and since you can cast a HSM + RS + Unload in less than 6 seconds, it makes sense to fire HSM and RS first...if they're ready. I like to recommend this priority to people unless they're clearly very skilled, as it's very effective and simple to understand: Over 23 heat: Rail Shot > Fusion Missile with Thermal Sensor Override > Rapid Shots. 23 heat or less: Heetseeker Missiles > Unload > Tracer Missile That does about 98% of the DPS of the best priority I can math out, and couldn't get much simpler.

I like DkSharktooth's idea form the class feedback thread.

I'm a purely raid-focused Arsenal Merc: http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/0ddc5869-7f0a-459f-a20b-01d64f70fdb7 1. Overpopulated. Decent in a raid group. People aren't saying "hooray! a merc for our raid" they're saying "a merc is fine so long as we have enough interrupts". 2. Overall I feel pretty effective since Target Tracking was fixed, but I have three complaints. First and primarily I hate the way I can't queue an attack after Unload without it casting immediately and cutting off the end of Unload. I should be able to queue up an attack without it interrupting Unloads channel. If I want to interrupt Unload I'll move. Second, for a raiding Merc who doesn't need knockback or stun breaking moves, I'm stuck with the Integrated Systems skill which is pretty underwhelming for Arsenal. Third, I don't like the way my survivability has been incrementally nerfed since release (halving Power Barrier and reducing Custom Enviro Suit). I want to second this as the BEST IDEA EVER.