Do you even think before you post?

Reality has too many variables. Can't balance DPS with so many variables.

Thanks Keith. This one post has made me feel a lot better. It means a lot to me.

Have you kept yours? You can answer me now or I can keep asking until the end of time.

I love playing the same fun content over and over. I can play fun content for years and years. Fun content never gets boring.

Eric, it goes without saying, but you can address the drop rates for 248 gear when and if Bioware decides it should be addressed.

A two way conversation will never work, because you'll never agree with Bioware.

Here we have Bioware having to repeat themselves because people didn't bother to listen to them the first time.

What? Either they are balancing around Parsley or they aren't. Make up your mind.

Get a better guild.

No, YOU aren't listening to Bioware. They aren't going to touch defense until they've controlled for DPS output. Bioware can't properly gauge how effective Merc defenses are until after they've taken their DPS out of the equation. Sorc/Sage DPS in operations is fine. If you're not getting invited to Ops as a Sorc/Sage DPS, find a better guild. Mercs are not getting a 20-30% nerf to DPS. Stop making up numbers.

Maybe the feedback is just wrong.

Classes are popular because they are overpowered. The people who aren't affected negatively by CXP are the people who play the one class they enjoy most, regardless of how powerful/weak they are.

I only have one "Crazy" idea, but I promised not to ask for it.

Well this thread has served it's purpose. No need to keep it alive.

I'm not interested in optimal stats or diminishing returns. I'm interested in being able to make the choice to stack alacrity to 15-30%, to lower my cast times by 15-30%. Apparently in full end game gear alacrity only stacks to 16-17% (sample size: 2), just barely enough, but I'd have to give up a lot of crit rating to get there, and have full end game gear. 16-17% alacrity is not worth giving up so much crit rating. Or maybe it is, I haven't tried it in awhile... Admittedly I'm only hypothesizing about end game gear because I only have Tier 1 gear currently. I got some alacrity numbers from other players who do have full 248 gear. Edit: don't have to hypothesize anymore, found Dipstik's formulas for Alacrity. Mind you, they're formulas for 4.0, don't know if anything major was changed in 5.0. As I said earlier in the thread, I'm giving feedback on a problem I see in game. Bioware is free to consider my feedback or not. I'm not going to hunt down their families if they don't do exactly what I demand they do ASAP.

Just a few things. Personally I don't want casters to have more damage on the move, I want them to cast faster so they can get back to moving faster. I realize this is hyperbole on your part, but a 3 second cast dropped to a 1 second cast would require 66% alacrity, which is ridiculous to ask for. I'd ask for 15% at least and 30% at most, which would also take a lot of crit away from my stats. A 3 second cast (2.5 seconds assuming the spec lowers it by .5 seconds) dropped to a 2.5 second cast (2.1sec)(15% alacrity) or 2.1 second cast (1.75sec)(30% alacrity) is reasonable enough for me in a high mobility situation, especially if I lose all my crit to get there. But yes you do have point with class mechanics. If a spec would give an inherent boost to alacrity or some mechanic to increase cast speed to a sufficient level (high enough for high mobility kiting), that would be an alternative to increasing cast speed via alacrity. If ranged classes aren't challenged enough in PvE because they have too much mobility, maybe their mobility should be nerfed by making them stop to cast more.

Might I suggest that, if the GCD reduction is too important to remove, then to increase Alacrity's effect on cast times, but to keep the GCD reduction how it is currently.

Thank you for your irrelevant and worthless feedback.

I fully understand your reasoning as it applies to total output. I'm talking more along the lines of practical function in high mobility situations. Lower cast times help casters kite while keeping up output in high mobility fights. But to reach those practical levels of alacrity requires more rating than can be achieved with the stat in it's current state. Most notably because the GCD reduction would make those levels far too strong for instant abilities.

My issue with the stat being weak is with the fact that it takes far too much Alacrity rating to reach the next percent. And, in conjunction with Ramalina's post, sacrifices too much Crit rating to get to that next Alacrity percent. Alacrity rating has to be numerically weak because of the GCD reduction. If the GCD was reduced by the sort of percentages that would be useful for casting in high mobility fights, then instant abilities would be far too strong. I'd happily stack Alacrity rating over Crit if I could get some decent percentages out of it, but 15-30% Alacrity would make the GCD reduction way too strong for instant cast abilities. Instants get far too much use out of alacrity compared to casted abilities. Casters only get the benefit of the GCD reduction if they are free-casting. In high mobility fights they still have to move in between casts, negating the extra time gained from a lower GCD. Compare that to instant cast abilities. Instants aren't limited by movement, so they can be spammed at will, efficiently maximizing each lowered GCD.

I've been here since launch. Alacrity has always been bad because numerically it's a weak stat. Instead of increasing the percentage gained per point of Alacrity, Bioware made it so it it's lowers the GCD, which is pointless for casting yet very effective for instant abilities, because instant abilities are only limited by the GCD.

You're not supposed to survive being 2v1'd.

Fair enough. I personally don't have any problems with any of the changes in 5.3. I also used to main a Merc before I deleted him after 5.0 hit. Now I main a Lightning Sorc. I don't have any problems with the nerf to Sorc heals because I believe a DPS class shouldn't be wasting GCDs on heals when they should be DPSing. I also believe that a range DPS class shouldn't have to rely on self heals or DCD's to survive. They should be relying on their DPS to kill the target before they die, and their range advantage to kite. It's my opinion that caster classes cannot kite in this game due to a variety of factors. I want to make this perfectly clear for anyone reading. The definition of kiting is the ability to maintain a safe distance from melee while maintaining DPS. Kiting does not mean running away until the melee stops chasing you so you can free-cast. Free-casting is not an inherent advantage, its just means noone is attacking you. If noone is attacking you, you aren't kiting. The ideal case for a caster vs melee situation is if the caster can get enough distance from the melee to be able to stop and cast one ability before the melee class catches up and hits the caster with one ability. The caster then again gets enough distance to cast a single ability before the melee catches up and hits the caster again. This is what kiting is to casters. It goes without saying that this is a simplified example. If the caster cannot make enough of a gap to cast one ability before the melee is back on them, they can't kite. If the caster is attempting to get out of melee range but cant, they will be taking free, unanswered hits from the melee class without doing any damage back. In cases like this, the caster is better off tanking the melee and spamming damage, since they wont be getting any damage avoidance from attempting to kite, and they wont be doing any meaningful damage while attempting to kite.

Hey I'm just giving feedback on a problem I see in the game. Bioware likes feedback. Bioware is free to consider my feedback or not. My job as a player is simply to give feedback, that's it.