There are 2 types of cover defenses. One is a passive bonus to any cover use that gunslingers and snipers only get. This is graphically displayed as a energy screen in front of you when you don't use a green guy spot to get a graphical representation of this defense. This defense works all the time and is not direction and provides a static around 20% ranged defense. Other is what is called natural cover. This defense is represented by green shield icons above a targets head. These icons will only show up if a solid world object or landmass will block line of sight to a target and is calculated for each target. This defense provides 100% ranged defense when not exposing yourself from the cover you are hiding behind and is available to all agent/smuggler classes. This cover also does not require green guy spots to get and simply using crouch behind a object can give you the same thing. These 2 defense stack for gunslinger/snipers giving them 20% ranged defense when exposed and 100% ranged defense when not exposed. It is always superior if you are going to be taking damage from ranged attacks to be behind natural cover unless that natural cover would put you in more danger from like a AE or knockback off ledge etc.

WHAT????? AC as i described is exactly like majority of games and are classes. Wizard and Necro are not specs in most games they are classes. This means that a Commando or Vanguard are different classes. This is the typical archtype stucture most classes are made from in all games just some don't force you to level as the archtype before you pick your final class.

Take a Wizard and Necromancer in other games both are mages, both use same resource called mana, both wear light armor, both use int as main stat, both have different spec in either of thier advanced class of mage, each share basic skill and buffs that all mages have just with slight adjustments modified when they choose to be a Wizard or Necromancer. Yet both are classes Take the 2 troopers, both use same armor, both use same resource, both use same main stat, both have different specs of their advanced class of trooper, each share basic skills and buffs that all troopers would have with slight adjustments modified to fit thier advanced class. When you choose to be a commando you don't stop being a trooper just like a Wizard doesn't stop being a Mage. The only difference is instead of choosing wizard or necro at lvl 1 you choose at lvl 10 and your a mage from 1-10 which is nothing more then a level shift of when you select your class. People like bringing up the different specs of WoW classes, do each of those different specs have 3 talent trees each so that each WoW class has 3 advanced classes each with their own set of 3 talent trees as you guys like to compare this to them.? I would like to know as i never was interested in WoW so i don't know if this never was or is the case.

First boss in Hammer station drops a whitish pants.

When you are in cover (crouch) the act of casting a heal does not take you out of cover you are still in cover. It just pops you up so that you don't get the 100% cover damage immunity if you even had it in the first place but you still get the charge protection.

You can heal in cover as a operative and are immune to charges or anything that doesn't work on people in cover. You just don't get the 20% range defense and immunity to interupts that snipers get that the shield skill provides.

It's something like Healing periodic effect by 5/10% and surgical prove by 3/6. Healing Periodic Effects are HoT's which is kolto probe and Recup Nanotech.

It's a HoT like Kolto probe and that is what Medical Therapy is suppose to buff.

The 100% crit would make Surgical Probe a far more reliable to help try and save someone. I know how great that 30% refresh can be but it is very sporadic on if it will actually save anyone when it doesn't heal for much without a crit. AT least with the crit you know you will get a decent heal out of it every time, combined with it splash healing from other changes and the increased incoming TA generation from RN to help offset the lost of 30% spammability. Also with the changes of Infusion costing less and not eating TA with it's fast cast time you should hopefully not need to spam surgical probe to keep someone alive or get them out of a hole, you need something more reliable to give you time for a better heal. A 1.2kish heal won't save anyone in the long run if you couldn't keep them above 30% in the first place. The duration change on Diag scan was in combination with the skill change. This made it so for non heal spec operatives Diag Scan only lasted 3 seconds, for a heal spec they could increase the Heal over time of Diag Scan to 6 seconds the same as the new cooldown on it thus giving them 6 seconds of 2 energy crit returns. All together the changes would make Diag Scan a 6 second heal over time with a 6 second cooldown that on a crit would return 2 energy. Compared to a 3 second channeled heal over time for same energy currently. All the changes I did was in relation to each other to create a better synergy in the tree and increase the usefulness of some of the harder or less used skills. Infusion should be our main heal with a 4 piece set but currently because of energy cost and the consumtion of TA proc it is almost never used. Diag Scan being a channeled doesnt' help you get energy back if you can never fire and forget it because your to busy healing all the time for heals that matter. Surgical probe gets change to help in the AE healing department while being unique and granting a guaranteed bigger heal when they are low. KP loses the need to double stack but loses some efficency of refreshing the stack.

Just one Idea to change Operative Medic Tree and some Heal skills i came up with quickly. For skills Diag. Scan - Turn into a Instant cast probe 3 second HoT on a 6 second Cooldown, possibly off GCD Recup. Nano. - Increase Duration to match KP, possibly increase heal amount to Equal Kolto Probe. ( Effectively makes this a AE version of KP for more Cost, keep same 4 person limit) Kolto Probe - Increase cost to 20 energy, Remove Stacking increase effect to as if double stacked. Kolto Infusion - Remove consume effect of TA, make it only require TA to use. Surgical Probe - Add a 33% splash ae heal of main heal to 3 targets within 8m of target.( Effectively a Heal on main target with 33% of that heal also hitting 3 other targets that is not main target) For Talents Sedatives - Make useable out of stealth and in combat, triggers a 60 second cooldown if used out of stealth or in combat. Medical Engineering - Add effect to Recuperative Nanotech at half the proc chance Surgical Precision - Remove 30% refresh, Instead 100% crit on target below 30% Medical Therapy - Reduce the cost of Kolto Infusion by 2.5 per point Med Shield - Change from while active to when used for 15 seconds(the duration of shield so that when it wears off effect is still useful) Patient Studies - Increase duration of Diag Scan by 1.5 second per point along with the energy return still(making its duration same as cooldown for a medic)

I use the collectors vendor armor which is pretty nice. If you can find a nice black chest like i have on my assassin with a hood down and match it with the black pilot pants from the fleet vendor is another non robe look. Can even use the social armor from cantina in DK or other social gears from other planets like sand people gear on Tat.

A little modification to your cover in place. You can get the full benefit's of natural cover using it but only if you meet the object between you and target requirement which is the green shield icons you see above a target. The requirements for that natural cover defense is the same for all types of cover. No green shield icon even with natural cover means no natural cover protection from that target.

Remove the TA requirement to use Add around a 6-9 second cooldown Make it consume all TA stacks which per stack adds a effects. Like adds a absorb buff to target strengh based on TA consumed like 5% or 10% per stack, add more heal to it like 25%-50% per stack, and/or reduces energy cost by 50% per TA, etc. Swap sedatives talent with chem resistant inlays talent, and replace inlays talent with the consume TA effects or add it to that talent and pushes it out of 31 point lethality/concealment specs.

Use Crouch skill which can be found in skills ui window much like the Take Cover skill you get. or Use Hotkey Shift + F Use Hotkey Shift + Middle mouse or mouse 3 I think. Both are the default hotkeys for taking cover in place and are remappable to any key if you choose to change them.

There is no mid range as all melee classes need 4m attacks to fuel thier 10m stuff to the fullest which all have 10m attacks. If you was mid range you wouldn't need to go to 4m to do shiv's for TA procs in lethality every 6 seconds to utilize it to the fullest. Wow i must of missed the memo on my medic spec opertive. I only use cover when i want to be lazy. I'm in melee range all the time as a medic and only time i wouldn't be is dependant on how good the group is, nasty AE effects and weather i need to do alot of spam healing to keep people alive. Otherwise i would rather use stun, 15 energy shiv for ta, or 10 energy backstabs for same damage as snipe all instant that allow me to still use my interupt because i'm in 10m or less range then use a 1.5 second cast pushback vunerable 20 energy cost snipe that doesn't give ta. But then again i'm not trying to play operative as a ranged dps healer if i was wanting that i would of choosen sorc or merc which are better suited to that task. Cover is only core to you, not operative there is a difference. Just like some don't understand that targeting a target and using the idiots guide to cover skill called take cover with a green shadow guy present anywhere will make you roll to where it is and yes it can be off screen it doesn't read your mind. If you didn't want to roll you take cover in place instead problem solved. Cover is alot better and more fluid then it was when i got in beta. You can cover good distances now compared to then, and you get it at lvl 1 instead of later, and one button with some awareness suits most people's needs for it now. So if Cover is so core to operative where are all the talents for snipe, probe, and headshot? I don't see any. I guess by your thinking the melee skills a sorc's gets are core for them and they must be in melee because you know they got it as a inquisitor. Oh powertech can use their BH missle blast from 30m instead of thier 10m range PT flame burst so they can just stay at range. A merc should be in melee because they got rocket punch. Not all skills will be used by all specs and not all classes will use all base archtype skills though they have the option too. oh and come up with a better line then you don't know jack about operatives because it degrades your post and makes it look trollish.

100% cover effect works with any cover even crouch and is not realiant on what type of cover you are in just that you have a object between you and your target. Natural cover spots put you next to boxes, logs, railing, etc. If you use portable cover or crouch next to a box, logs, railings, etc you will also get the 100% protection. This protection is indicated by a green sheild icon above a target you have this bonus against. Green cover shield icons only have 3 requirements. 1. Be in any cover 2. Line of sight broken by a world object or landmass when in inactive cover state. This is checked per target. 3. Target within 35m of you. Generically Portable cover, crouch, and natural cover are all the same thing. Crouch is Cover. Portable Cover is a passive defense bonus added to Cover. Natural Cover spots are a spot you can roll to that then puts you in Cover after the roll.

Gas grenade does not make lethality ranged. Cull, Weaking both are 10m that is melee range, shiv, hidden strike, flashbang, diabilitate are all melee and part of lethality. You don't spam dart and gas grenade in lethality. Lethality should not be using cover they are a mobile user. Dot's while closing, melee to provide your burst. Healing doesn't do damage at range it is heals which all heals are 30m. Shiv, sleep dart, hidden strike are all useful for healers and all are 10m or less. Snipe is the least efficient use of energy for a healer compared to shiv, backstab, hidden strike, corrosive dart, sleep dart. You should be meleeing as a medic as you will save energy, be using a instant over a cast time, have all your CC avialable for use, get TA procs from shiv, be able to use Carbine for AE off those abundant TA procs you get as a healer, and can use your interupt to save high damage attacks when the rest of your group that has them won't use them. At times you will stay away while doing heavy healing but when damaging you will want to be in melee to where at times you can just keep hot going and use shiv and hot procs of TA to fuel surgical. Cover is not a core for operatives. So please tell me these abundant uses of cover that dwarf all the benifiets a operative gets for melee range since you seem to believe i don't know jack about operatives.

You are entitled to use what ever play style you like, but that doesn't change the fact op's are melee and stealth based not just for concealment spec with the option to do ranged stuff which is more of thier gap closer in effect and alot less energy efficient. You get no bonuses to cover skills through trees and the passive operative abililty. Even lethality tree is melee as cull, shiv, hidden strike, diablitate, flashbang are all melee range 4-10m. Heal tree is only true ranged tree but that is all for healing which will be taking up most of your focus.

That is not even talking about the same thing i was talking about. That is the line of sight bug, how did you come up with that when i'm talking about the roll to and cover bar delay effect under server stress.

It already does. Natural cover = the same as portable cover or crouch. You don't get green cover shields icons from natural cover spots. You get them from a line of sight calculation based on if you are in any cover and a object between you and target. It just so happens that natural cover spot put you next to a object that will break the line of sight. So if you use portable cover the same way natural cover uses walls, boxes, etc you will get the same bonuses and not limited to the natural cover spots.

Operatives are stealth and melee with the option of some range and cover but the main focus is stealth and melee via talents and operative only skills. You seem to have the miss conception that only concealment will ever use stealth. If you wanted to play a cover class then sniper is the class you want, it is not the focus of operative, though they can do it that is why it is situational.

If the mechanic was broken then i've never had the broken mechanic for 40 levels of beta, 40 levels of live, and 10 smuggler levels in beta of testing cover and using it. The lag is in reference to serverside problem when it is busy not your side. Take cover has to do calculation on where to roll to which seems to get hung up serverside. Using take cover in place or drop shield or crouch removes this calculation because you are no longer trying to roll somewhere first. It's user error because you are blaming the mechanic for something you are not doing and have the ability to do. Three of your problems could be fixed by just using take cover in place hotkey, or crouch and one is a serverside problem when high traffic. In all my time of playing in beta and live I have never rolled into a place I didn't want to or had problem getting cover down. Nothing is wrong with it, tons of people use it just fine. It is a new mechanic you have to learn how to use which apparently alot of people do not have the capacity to do. Once learned it is a very powerful tool and far from a crippled or broken state alot of people that barely touch it or learn it tote.

1. Use shift+F by default, this does take cover in place also called skill crouch. Should you not have a green shadow guy present then "F" or take cover will put you in crouch where you stand also. 2. There are currently line of sight check problems with cover and primarly happens green shadow guy cover spots. 3. This is most likely lag related. The issue is minimized with use of take cover in place hotkey or crouch ability. 4. See 1. 5. You will roll to the green shadow guy anytime you use take cover if one is up. If this guy is off your screen to the right near some other targets then yes it will send you there. To avoid this use take cover in place hotkey or crouch. Crouch will drop cover at your feet, Portable cover is a passive upgrade to crouch. They are the same skill just portable cover skill adds 20% ranged defense to crouch passively. Majority of your problem is user error. Proper use of cover and understanding how to utilized both take cover and take cover in place will give you a very powerful tool to work with. Those natural cover spots come in handy when you know how to use cover properly. If you are a operative you are a melee stealth class not a cover class. Yes you have cover but it is situationally optional, you are suppose to be in melee.

Wrong, don't know how many times this has to be said those green roll to spots do not give you the immunity. They are just roll to spot to drop cover which equals the same defense portable gives. The green shield icons give you the immunity which can be gotten by any cover be it crouch, portable or natural. You got cover. This ability is called crouch. Portable cover when skilled adds a 20% range defense to crouch and uses a energy screen graphic if not using a green roll to spot. Green roll to spots are crouch with a roll to animation. Cover Immunity is green shield icons above a targets head. Three requirements are needed to give these icon's. One is be in cover, two be within 35m of the enemy, three have a world object/landmass that will blocking line of sight shots to around half your body when in the ducked state of cover. Natural cover or green spot just put you near world objects to help meet the requirements for green shield icon's faster. This gives the illusion it is better when they are the same thing.

Yes it does both give 20% range defense for sniper.