I've done the math using a program that I wrote, and the golden rule of thumb is: 5 power:3 crit:2 surge:0 accuracy The only problem with my calculations are that I did not factor spell coefficients into it and that I used a rather high base damage. (1k). There's a thread called: "do we use +crit" or something like that in the operative sub forum where me and another guy had a very health discussion about the math involved. I couldn't find the thread though. Anyways, that's the general rule of thumb. Depending on what kind of abilities you use, it varies.

If anyone is interested in reading more about what secondary stats are the best for concealment specced Operatives, read the rest of this thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=128556&page=5 I'm the one working on a Java program that will calculate the best ratio of secondary stats for exactly your style of playing / your available gear. I'm still working on it, but its on halt this week due to IRL work. I'll resume work on Monday. Anyways, as a general rule to my current calculations a ratio of 5 power:3 critrating:2 surgerating seems to be spot. Granted, that is very general and I'm leaving out coefficients of the various abilities here.

I'm very sorry that I haven't returned back here with any news. I'm doing fairly fine with it, but this week I have a very important project in school. I'll resume work on the app on Monday.

This is how you look if you're a IA true to the nostalgia of the Empire: http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h456/capsup/Screenshot-2011-12-18_164243.jpg

Noted. Thanks for your help. I'll get working on it right away. Thanks for the help.

That makes alot of sense actually. Is there somewhere where I can see all of those coefficients? I couldn't quite figure out how they worked based on the torhead info. If you can provide me a link to those, I'll work on incorporating them into the calculations and see what kind of difference it does. I'll make it work with the UI so you can select various kind of abilities that you'd like to use and it will calculate the best stats based on those abilities' coefficients and which stats will boost the selected abilities the most. If I do that, is there anything else which I've forgot?

My math may well be wrong. Mind putting your finger down on exactly what it is I'm not doing properly and perhaps share how you calculate it? Also, you're right, those are ranged abilities aswell. I completely forgot the lethality tree. In my understand of how Power works, it just adds a flat bonus to all attacks across the board? Whether that is a ranged ability or a tech ability, the power bonus is still the same. Or did I get it wrong? Edit: I checked my previous statement ingame and according to my character screen it seems my observations are correct. Power just adds a flat damage bonus to both ranged and tech damage across the board. There is one thing that could skew the results a bit, and that is the fact that I have my base accuracy at 90% where it is in fact 100% for the special attacks which is pretty much every single of our ability other than rifle shot. I'm also not taking crit chance from secondary stats into consideration. Or the damage bonus from that either.

I only approximate damage based on each of your attacks damaging exactly one value everytime ie 1000. This is a basic program just to give us a very precise idea rather than guess work. Sure, if I actually wanted to I could make it actually calculate damage based on some rotation etc but that is simply too much work for too little gain. But its finished the calculations on 1k stat points and there seems to arise a very clear pattern here: The combo that does the most damage is: 500, 300, 200, 0 with 131418 damage done. That is 500 power, 300 crit rating, 200 surge rating and 0 accuracy. It seems accuracy is way out of the picture here and the 50% power, 30% crit rating and 20% surge rating that the other guy posted is right according to my math atleast. My approach is very simple, perhaps too simple but it definitely gives us a VERY clear picture. The following algorhitms are what I use to calculate the various ratings. In these I assume a primary stat of 1k aswell. This can easily be changed too: double Power = ( i * 0.23 ); double CritRating = 5 + 30 * ( 1 - Math.pow( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) , ( 1000 / 50 ) / 2.5 ) ) + 30 * ( 1 - Math.pow( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) , ( j / 50 ) / 0.45 ) ); double CritDamage = 50 + 50 * ( 1 - Math.pow( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.5 ), ( k / 50 ) / 0.1 ) ); double Accuracy = 90 + 30 * ( 1 - Math.pow( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ), ( l / 50 ) / 0.55 ) ); That is just stolen from Sithwarrior and translated into Java. My simulation of damage is just as simple, but in essence it should be perfectly valid: http://pastebin.com/aVbDWHsx Basically what I do is floor the percentage of crit and directly translate that into 1 percent = 1 crit. In real life, this is definitely not the case. I could easily make it use RNG instead, but that introduces randomness into the picture. Something which we definitely are not interested in at this point. So what I've done is simply if your crit percentage comes out to 34,45% you get 34 crits that adds the surge rating outcome onto the damage. Accuracy starts on 90 for some abilities and 100 for others. I've gone with 90 on everything for the simplicity on it aswell. Then it just keeps doing that with all possible combinations from 0-1k, simulates the damage with a base dmg of what ever. I chose 1k for simplicity. This implies that every single spell of yours does exactly 1k damage every time and that all abilities uses the same values. As IA we only have 4 ranged abilities: Rifle Shot, Overload Shot, Snipe and another that I forgot. So basically 95% of our damage output comes from Tech, so my method is also very simple here but it will work regardless. The only place I see where I could improve it is to make it possible to input a rotation and then simulate on that. I can easily add this but I am focusing on the UI right now so I can release it to the rest of you. If anyone notice any huge flaws in my math or anything please let me know. I'll correct it immediately and recalculate. I hope my work has been of somewhat informative meaning.

I've just started the number crunching for 1k stat points! It seems to take about 1 minute per percent, so expect it to be done in an hour at earliest... I'll post various source and explain my code so hopefully anyone of you can spot any mistakes that I might be doing. We'll see what the result is!

Indeed, it's a perfect valid tactic and a very good one at that too. Especially agaisnt those pesky sorcerers that pop escape + that movespeed thingy. I grin everytime I catch one of them just as they try to run away.

Due remember this is with only 500 stat points to use. That's about 6-7 pieces of pvp gear. As I said, I'll run it through with 1k points instead asap. By then perhaps accuracy has a bigger influence? Anyways, Accuracy is calculated just as the others with the formulas from sithwarrior.com I simulate 100 hits with a input base damage and an input primary stat. Working on secondary stat right now. So what it does is basically take every possible combination there is where the stat points equals 1k, simulates 100 hits with those points and save the damage. It keeps doing that until there is no more combinations available and spits out the saved damage + stat allocation combo. Accuracy is applied at the very last step simply by instead of having an enemy with a defense stat, it adds to the damage as a multiplier which is the next best other than simulating an opponent aswell. I'll work on getting the GUI in a somework stable state and release a runable .jar file to you as soon as possible. But until then you'll have to do with asking me to do the number crunching. Next on the list is also to include alicrity and figure out what stats will yield you the best healing.

Nope, it's easier than that. Accuracy effectively reduces the targets resistances / defense, so in essence it works just like a multiplier. Say your accuracy comes to a percent of 110%, then damage is just damage * 1.1; It's that simple.

So I spent sometime today creating a java program that can calculate this. Basically it takes some inputs, crunch every single combination there is of these and spits out the combo that awarded the most damage. So without further ado I present to you the most optimal stat distribution across your gear if the gear can give 500 stats consisting of: Power, Crit Rating, Surge Rating or Accuracy rating with a total of 1k cunning and a base damage of 1k aswell: Power: 248 Critical Rating: 150 Surge Rating: 100 Accuracy Rating: 2 Damage dealt over 100 attacks: 118372 So there you have it. That's what it looks like if you were to have nothing but 1000 cunning with a base attack of 1000 at level 50 and could precisely pick the stats you wanted. I'm in the process of finishing this small program with a fancy GUI and all, and will release it as soon as it is finished. I have to go soon, but after I get back I will make it start crunching the numbers with 1000 stat points. If anyone has any requests to any number crunching, let me know.

Both of these guys sounds like jerks who think Operatives sucks since they haven't played versus a proper Operative. I'm at about 350 expertise and I don't have big problems bursting down some of the heavy armor users. Granted, I can't completely kill them in one hidden strike cycle as I can some of the undergeared players, but they definitely don't **** me up 1v1. Worst case, they put up a fight and I end up as the winner aslong as they don't have another guy jump in to save the other. It's all about popping the shield probe + evasion on the perfect times. The same goes with distraction versus for example a sorcerer or the like. Using your sever tendon properly when the enemy resolve is at max because of your hidden strike is very important aswell. It doesn't affect Resolve, so it's practically free cc. When their resolve has fallen sufficiently from hidden strike, just pop revitalize or what ever the name of the 2s stun is. That with a acid blade + backstab does alot of damage when you still have the 50% armor penetration bonus from the first acid blade on your hidden strike. Worst case, you use the ability that removes 2x debuffs, vanish and then hidden strike once again. My hidden strikes crit between 4k and 5k and with the 50% armor penetration and acid blade DoT ontop of that you get quite a nice burst damage. That actually became a wall of text very quickly Anyways, TLDR: At about 350 expertise I have no problems tearing through the heavy armored guys. I can't burst them down immediately, but with proper usage of your various cooldowns it's no problem getting them killed.

Are the skill bonuses the same across all 3 different sets? And what are the PvP set bonuses, since those you just posted are the PvE bonus set.