My progression team has most recently had a scoundrel, a shadow, and 2 gunnery commandos versus Revan. We're all over the place based on the randomness of the encounter... if the melee get lots of dots that need cleansed, our dps is down. If not, it's up. Just like always. The scoundrel (me) and shadow have run both dots and burst, trying different things out. Both specs can and do work. My point is, scrapper/concealment is fine. Does it have limitations? Sure, every class and spec does. Did it get nerfed? Yes. Can it pull it's weight? All I know is that I do. DPS checks never get us. NEVER. It's always mechanics. And that's with a "pathetic" scrapper and 2 "nuked from orbit" gunnery commandos. I get it; it is frustrating to get nerfed. But let's be honest... if the 450 dps nerf to scrapper is what's holding you back, you have other issues, too.

Actually, leveling the dot spec is pretty terrible for energy and you don't lose the position requirements for backstab until much later. Critical dot ticks refund 2 energy later, but while leveling, you don't have enough crit to make it work. And all that was before they added energy cost to toxic blast. Kephess have mercy on the lowbie operative. Don't forget the little thermal grenade that does a little AOE and knocks down weak mobs. I think that may be the most under rated skill in the play book.

All punches and shotgun abilities didn't get nerfed, just the additional damage added on to punch and the dot from back blast. Is it noticeable? Yes. Still, despite all the complaining, scrapper is a good spec. So is ruffian. Ruffian is not uniformly superior, they each have strengths and weaknesses.

As with everything, a solid player will do fine no matter what spec you are in. If you have a strong spec preference, stick with it, try different approaches and see what works for you. For operations, either spec can work, if you are willing to make it work. In a lot of cases, I prefer ruffian for dailies. Point Blank Shot the strongest mob in a group from stealth with KO, use shrap bomb, drop bushwhack, thermal grenade... with a dps companion, things tend to be dead by this point or maybe you blaster whip a survivor, and then brutal shots if one refuses to die. I rarely ever use vital shot and try to dot spread with weaker mobs; it's too unreliable and slow to set up and take effect. Several dailies have champion mobs that aren't immune to stuns, which is a lot of fun with scrapper... the second back blast knocks them down again. So much fun. Blood boiler and vital shot are unchanged in 5.4, so whatever you are experiencing isn't that... it's probably the flying fist and fletchette nerf. Ruffian in PvP ranges from challenging to very challenging without a healer, as you just get obliterated when focused. Still, it is possible to put up very solid numbers that aren't just dot fluff. You have to be very dogged about focusing and following tank / healer combos, for instance. Shrap bomb is annoying and fun, but you can not just keep throwing it and hope for good numbers. It won't happen.

I've heard several independent reports that the nerf is about 700 dps. My parse is off about that much as well. Matches the math above, FWIW. Also, if you are using the mastery stim setup, energy management is still not problematic unless you screw up, but you do notice it.

Perhaps I missed it... (hint, hint, discussion of melee vs. ranged notwithstanding) Does anyone have any clear indication of what target DPS the developers are actually aiming for? The baseline number, not +/- 5 or 10%...

Could you post an expanded version of the Mastery stim info? I'm curious of the stats and how the number of enhancements or augments change for crit or alacrity when choosing the Mastery stim option. Thanks

I follow the Ironballs 4.0 guide... build your rotation around Point Blank Shot / Lethal Strike and tie your dot application to every 2nd one. Try to use Sanguinary Shot / Toxic Blast on CD, which will be impossible later if you open with PBS/LS+dot+dot, so if you can add a GCD between dots, it will help. Therefore, people open with PBS/LS, then shrap bomb/toxic grenade, sanguinary shot/toxic blast, then vital shot/corrosive dart. I find it easier to do this for an opener, or when parsing, but in actual fights with down time or target swapping, I often end up just using both dots back to back and trying to use sanguinary shot/toxic blast as quick as I can. Also, fight mechanics frequently end up with your standard rotation getting broken and dots needing to be refreshed either at different times or not in close conjunction with PBS/LS. You just have to make do. And yes, clipping dots will wreck your DPS. There isn't anything like the 2 wounding shot/cull rotation with gunslinger/sniper for this class, where you clip dots on purpose because other moves hit so much harder. It is a straight up DPS loss and gets worse the more you do it. The only exception might be when you know you'll be out of range of a target; refresh your dots a few GCDs early and let them keep ticking. I parse about 8750 with mostly 234 gear, with crit/alacrity split about like Bant suggests.

I feel Operative / Scoundrel is harder to play at low levels than some other classes (especially bounty hunter/commando and sniper/slinger)... Lethality / Ruffian doesn't lose the positional requirement for backstab / backblast until level 58, so get used to it. It is a major quality of life factor after that, even after the "hot and ready" mechanic is added at level 68 for Concealment / Scrapper. At lower levels, energy management is terrible for the dot spec... you simply don't have enough critical hits to sustain you. The new AOE is much appreciated on both specs, but if you can get adds grouped up, the dot spec is far more powerful. I prefer the dot spec personally, and play it far more often than burst, even for dailies and story. Still, it sort of comes down to preference. With the dots, mob groups tend to die more slowly and at more even rates. With burst, you have more limited AOE potential, but you pick off mobs one at a time with maybe a couple GCDs each. I often feel like it's a wash, as far as overall number of GCDs go; it's just a play style difference. Either way, after you get stealth and then the mez at level 20, things get a lot easier.