Sniper is the worst ranged DPS?

[Gaidax]

Please do NOT drag biochem into this, that and crew skills is a issue in its own and not tied to class viability. its somethign every class got if they level up biochem.

 

It's not like a class is not viable without Biochem...

 

Biochem is the crew skill to go for if you want to PvP or heck even PvE properly for that matter.

 

Even if they nerfbat it, it will still be godly with reusable stuff.

[Invious]

I could link tens of screenshots of me topping warzones as a sniper, does that mean that Snipers are fine, No. It means I was against 8 players who where either A) not as skilled, B) lower level or C) My team supported me beter and I was able to survive longer.

 

So, what your saying is that when you play with skilled players and get some support you do good? But when you try to solo a team of skilled players you do bad? I don't see the problem.

 

As a level 50 MM sniper I have very few issues with pvp, and those are centered around the cover issues. As far as class balance, its fine. As far as SKILL balance, there are huge deficits.

 

Your statement states that the other players you defeated were either lesser skilled, lower level or didn't have a healer. So in order for someone to beat you they have to be more skilled, a higher level/more geared or have support is the reverse of what your saying. Not class balance?

 

Snipers are fine imo and really, thats all these qq threads are, just opinions. Linking a SS of a sniper being at the top of the charts and saying we suck even tho were at the top of the charts isn't how to win the battle of the bads.

[Imspecial]

So, what your saying is that when you play with skilled players and get some support you do good? But when you try to solo a team of skilled players you do bad? I don't see the problem.

 

As a level 50 MM sniper I have very few issues with pvp, and those are centered around the cover issues. As far as class balance, its fine. As far as SKILL balance, there are huge deficits.

 

Your statement states that the other players you defeated were either lesser skilled, lower level or didn't have a healer. So in order for someone to beat you they have to be more skilled, a higher level/more geared or have support is the reverse of what your saying. Not class balance?

 

Snipers are fine imo and really, thats all these qq threads are, just opinions. Linking a SS of a sniper being at the top of the charts and saying we suck even tho were at the top of the charts isn't how to win the battle of the bads.

 

Regarding the red part, I did not say anything along those lines. You are twisting a quote of mine out of context. I said that anytime I top the warzone I simply outplayed the rest of the other team, if both myteam and the other team where playing on the same level I would not be "bad" i simply would not be top, and assuming skill is not in the equation It would be better for the team if I was replaced with another class that brought better utility and equal damage to the table.

[Gaidax]

So basically you are saying that being balanced or useful means being at the top of the list? This is getting better and better.

 

Want a recepy for a permanent top spot in damage done? Spec Eng/Lethality hybrid and you will top damage by far. Useful damage? Not really, but if numbers are doing it for you then why not? It's exactly how many Sorcs have their "über" damage.

Edited January 15, 2012 by Gaidax

[Invious]

Well I don't know what to tell you. Damage wise I've never not been in the top 3. Kills wise as well. Huttball I don't try to carry the ball, its a deathwish for snipers, however I do try to cut off my ball carrier and keep people off of him.

 

Voidstar I'll pick a side to defend and unless my team leaves me completely alone no one gets through. Then again I can't think of any class that can do much better.

 

The third WZ I've been in all of twice. Seems like 95% of my que's are Huttball. But still, pick a turret and defend. I find the middle turret gives some good high ground and is decently active.

 

PVE I often get complaints that stuff dies to fast. Doesn't sound like a bad dps issue to me. If the tank doesn't have "guard" on me I'll generally pull aggro, pop countermeasures and 15-20sec later start having aggro issues again. Again, not a "worst ranged DPS" issue.

[Invious]

So basically you are saying that being balanced means being at the top of the list? This is getting better and better.

 

Thats how I read most of the qq threads. Some have valid issues, most just have bad players.

[Mrshush]

You are mistaken about that. Trooper/BH and Inquisitor/Consular interrupts are ranged as well. Not sure about Jedi Knight or Sith Warrior though.

 

commandos and mercs do not have an interupt at all. the tanks have melee interupt

Edited January 15, 2012 by Mrshush

[_Nyth]

I play both a Sniper and a Merc. But my sniper feels way more rigid then the merc.

 

Just to quote the OP on what some address as merc/commando strengths:

The commando is hitting me for 3k~ grav rounds which are on a 1.5 sec cast time, but he also has a ranged stun (compared to our ranged 'blind' that breaks on damage), he has an absorb shield, heavy armour and heals that recover 25%~ of his HP which he can spam.

 

The grav rounds / tracer missile are indeed the main attack. However a Merc/Commando specced this way is really a ranged turret. It's his main attack and it makes him even more immobile than a sniper is.

He has a ranged stun that is on a much longer cooldown than our melee stun or our ranged flashbang. An absorb shield that is on a MUCH longer cooldown than our own defensive abilities. Heavy Armor that really is downplayed, because cover gives MUCH more damage reduction, especially if you know how to play ballistic dampeners well. And heals that take a really long time to cast or have a cooldown.

 

It's mostly "grass is greener" but I've played both the merc (as bodyguard healer and arsenal dps) and my Sniper for quite a bit; and the sniper feels to have much better defenses. Cover alone is a huge contributor to that with the fact it provides ranged damage reduction FAR superior than heavy armor gives over medium armor; and it also prevents melee from jumping at you (which if you played a merc know is a huge deal).

 

I think a sniper isn't in such a bad position as people assume. It could definitely use some tweaks, but so do other ACs.

[Invious]

The grav rounds / tracer missile are indeed the main attack. However a Merc/Commando specced this way is really a ranged turret. It's his main attack and it makes him even more immobile than a sniper is.

He has a ranged stun that is on a much longer cooldown than our melee stun or our ranged flashbang. An absorb shield that is on a MUCH longer cooldown than our own defensive abilities. Heavy Armor that really is downplayed, because cover gives MUCH more damage reduction, especially if you know how to play ballistic dampeners well. And heals that take a really long time to cast or have a cooldown.

 

It's mostly "grass is greener" but I've played both the merc (as bodyguard healer and arsenal dps) and my Sniper for quite a bit; and the sniper feels to have much better defenses. Cover alone is a huge contributor to that with the fact it provides ranged damage reduction FAR superior than heavy armor gives over medium armor; and it also prevents melee from jumping at you (which if you played a merc know is a huge deal).

 

I think a sniper isn't in such a bad position as people assume. It could definitely use some tweaks, but so do other ACs.

 

Whats this? A reasonable post? Back you! You don't belong in these forums!

 

But really though, I do enjoy playing my merc as much as the sniper, if not a little more, but I often miss my cover. Merc's not 50 yet, but leveling is much easier than the sniper do to starting with a healing companion mainly. Damage wise, aoe the merc has more going, single, it still doesn't feel like it can keep up with the sniper, but its not too far behind.

[Jiav]

I play both a Sniper and a Merc. But my sniper feels way more rigid then the merc.

 

Just to quote the OP on what some address as merc/commando strengths:

 

 

The grav rounds / tracer missile are indeed the main attack. However a Merc/Commando specced this way is really a ranged turret. It's his main attack and it makes him even more immobile than a sniper is.

He has a ranged stun that is on a much longer cooldown than our melee stun or our ranged flashbang. An absorb shield that is on a MUCH longer cooldown than our own defensive abilities. Heavy Armor that really is downplayed, because cover gives MUCH more damage reduction, especially if you know how to play ballistic dampeners well. And heals that take a really long time to cast or have a cooldown.

 

It's mostly "grass is greener" but I've played both the merc (as bodyguard healer and arsenal dps) and my Sniper for quite a bit; and the sniper feels to have much better defenses. Cover alone is a huge contributor to that with the fact it provides ranged damage reduction FAR superior than heavy armor gives over medium armor; and it also prevents melee from jumping at you (which if you played a merc know is a huge deal).

 

I think a sniper isn't in such a bad position as people assume. It could definitely use some tweaks, but so do other ACs.

 

#1. Wrong, all stuns have 1 min cd, but can BE skilled to be less. Basic stuns all share the same cooldown.

 

#2. You are in no way less mobile than a sniper. Thats just not right. Sniper has to cast for each useful ability. Heartseeker/Railshot are both instant and heartseeker crits harder than ambush if geared equally.

#3. Cover doesn't increases range defense by default, only if skilled, otherwise it provides a dodge bonus, NATURAL cover is different.

[DracheJager]

#1. Wrong, all stuns have 1 min cd, but can BE skilled to be less. Basic stuns all share the same cooldown.

 

#2. You are in no way less mobile than a sniper. Thats just not right. Sniper has to cast for each useful ability. Heartseeker/Railshot are both instant and heartseeker crits harder than ambush if geared equally.

#3. Cover doesn't increases range defense by default, only if skilled, otherwise it provides a dodge bonus, NATURAL cover is different.

 

I would comment that Ballistic Dampers is specifically what he was talking about as a comparison, or at least from my understanding of his post. As to ranged defense, I agree, it's truly only effective (in terms of PvP) against other Snipers/Gunslingers or the occasional Merc/Comm who toss basic fire in our direction.

 

 

As to the mobility, having played both, and from playing alongside two Mercs in our guild, I would say Merc is far more mobile than a Sniper, but trade off being vulnerable to Jedi/Sith closers, however a veteran Merc will always position himself on the far edge of a walkway/ledge/object where the JK/SW falls off as they reach you (a location snipers usually can't position because of "Unknown Effect" issues with Cover).

[Noctournys]

I play both a Sniper and a Merc. But my sniper feels way more rigid then the merc.

 

Just to quote the OP on what some address as merc/commando strengths:

 

 

The grav rounds / tracer missile are indeed the main attack. However a Merc/Commando specced this way is really a ranged turret. It's his main attack and it makes him even more immobile than a sniper is.

He has a ranged stun that is on a much longer cooldown than our melee stun or our ranged flashbang. An absorb shield that is on a MUCH longer cooldown than our own defensive abilities. Heavy Armor that really is downplayed, because cover gives MUCH more damage reduction, especially if you know how to play ballistic dampeners well. And heals that take a really long time to cast or have a cooldown.

 

It's mostly "grass is greener" but I've played both the merc (as bodyguard healer and arsenal dps) and my Sniper for quite a bit; and the sniper feels to have much better defenses. Cover alone is a huge contributor to that with the fact it provides ranged damage reduction FAR superior than heavy armor gives over medium armor; and it also prevents melee from jumping at you (which if you played a merc know is a huge deal).

 

I think a sniper isn't in such a bad position as people assume. It could definitely use some tweaks, but so do other ACs.

 

My primary issue here is how much you downplay heavy armor.

 

*Most* classes you are fighting are ignoring armor, rendering the armor type irrelevant against those classes, meaning, against these classes, SNiper and Merc/Commando are relatively equal.

 

Against the classes that DO have their attacks mitigated by Armor.. heavy Armor is stupidly good. I regularly CRIT on heavy armor targets with Ambush (and already debuffed by Shattering Shot) for less than 1/2 of what the tooltip says the NON CRIT HIT should be.

 

Grav Round, though, ignores armor. In any Sniper v Commando/Merc fight, the Merc is going to turn the Sniper into hamburger. T. Missile/Grav Round are on a lot shorter cast than abilties the sniper has that actually do similar damage, hit harder, and ignore our defenses.

 

Anything we try to fire back is mitigated into the ground by armor and defenses, and didn't hit as hard to begin with.

 

It is a lot easier as a Merc/Troop to Step into LoS, pop off a quick Grav Round/Missile, step behind your stripper pole (to LoS return fire) step back out, get off another round or two before the enemy finishes their long cast, step back, etc.

 

A sniper just cannot do that.

[Mitso]

Alot of people are forgetting one of the worse things about Sniper damage.

 

Maybe even worse then hitting heavy armor classes for 700 crits with ambush . . .

 

ALL Lightsaber classes have a 10% chance to DEFLECT ALL OUR ATTACKS. That means that nice Ambush you were casting . .. YUP DEFLECTED for 0 DAMAGE.

 

Do Snipers even get a 10% chance to reflect force attacks in Cover? NOPE!

[_Nyth]

#1. Wrong, all stuns have 1 min cd, but can BE skilled to be less. Basic stuns all share the same cooldown.

 

#2. You are in no way less mobile than a sniper. Thats just not right. Sniper has to cast for each useful ability. Heartseeker/Railshot are both instant and heartseeker crits harder than ambush if geared equally.

#3. Cover doesn't increases range defense by default, only if skilled, otherwise it provides a dodge bonus, NATURAL cover is different.

 

#1: I could have sworn my Debilitate has a 45 sec CD which can be reduced to 30 seconds.

 

#2: It largely depends on spec. But the 2 abilities you mentioned there are both on cooldowns. It's like using Followthrough as an argument that Sniper isn't reliable on cast times either. 70-80% of a Arsenal Mercenary's damage comes from Tracer Missile which is a 1.5 sec cast.

Both Arsenal mercenary and Marksman sniper are highly dependent on cast time abilities. In fact if you interrupt Tracer Missile it will hurt the merc a lot more than anything you can interrupt on a sniper.

 

Again it depends on spec, but this can go into the extremes for both Sniper and Mercenary. A pyrotech mercenary can stay on the move quite a lot; but a Lethality Sniper can be nearly as mobile. On the other hand Marksman and Arsenal are turret specs; to do enough damage to make yourself worthwile you have to stand your ground and pewpew. And quite frankly I feel more comfortable with that as Sniper than as Merc.

 

Also mobility isn't just movement. I use mobility in the broadest sense of the word. Mobility for me consists of 2 things:

 

1. The ability to move around and do damage. And the sniper often has to stand still. However I find that with regards to marksman talents (as that is seen as the most immobile spec of snipers), it actually pays off to be on the move a lot.

I very often move; drop down into cover, instant snipe followed by a followthrough and ambush (if RS is up) or Series of shots. I can pick up cover and move along anytime I want.

Mercenary seems a lot more mobile. But the thing is that mercenary to do its maximum potential damage (you know those higher than ambush crit HSMs you talk about), the merc has to get up a full stack of heat signatures. That requires 3 Tracer Missiles; and if you want Rail Shot to do good damage too that requires another 2 tracer missiles.

That means 4.5 to 7.5 seconds purely casting tracer missile to get those big instants off with full potential. Not doing that is almost wasting your time and heat.

 

2. Second part of mobility for me is the ability to prevent people from doing damage to you. As a sniper and merc you want to stay at range. To do this you need tools.

A sniper has substantially more tools than a Mercenary to achieve this purpose.

I could make a X vs Y list here, but there are enough floating around; and you could pay a visit to torhead if you want. The point is, a sniper has a lot more of them.

 

#3:

I quote from the tooltip:

While in cover, ranged defense is increased by 20% and you are immune to interrupts and ability activation pushback.

 

It says ranged defense to me, and not dodge.

[RoeKG]

Alot of people are forgetting one of the worse things about Sniper damage.

 

Maybe even worse then hitting heavy armor classes for 700 crits with ambush . . .

 

ALL Lightsaber classes have a 10% chance to DEFLECT ALL OUR ATTACKS. That means that nice Ambush you were casting . .. YUP DEFLECTED for 0 DAMAGE.

 

Do Snipers even get a 10% chance to reflect force attacks in Cover? NOPE!

 

Have you or anyone else complaining about this thought that perhaps you've been taunted, or are attacking a guarded target, or you're attacking a tank popping cooldowns? If Ambush is critting for 700, I guarantee it's not doing that the whole warzone, just against a few targets. At level 10 my Ambush was critting for over 2K so don't post this and act like it's a regular occurrence.

 

As soon as I see the Ambush target on my character I get behind LOS or run from the last sniper I saw. It'd be so simple to pop a bunch of cooldowns once you see that because you know some burst is coming your way.

 

I'm not positive on this but I'm pretty sure accuracy helps with the deflecting.

 

I highly recommend anyone complaining so hard about this class to re-roll. Because that way you'll either 1.) find a class you do like or 2.) see that Snipers are better than you think.

[RoeKG]

#1. Wrong, all stuns have 1 min cd, but can BE skilled to be less. Basic stuns all share the same cooldown.

 

#2. You are in no way less mobile than a sniper. Thats just not right. Sniper has to cast for each useful ability. Heartseeker/Railshot are both instant and heartseeker crits harder than ambush if geared equally.

#3. Cover doesn't increases range defense by default, only if skilled, otherwise it provides a dodge bonus, NATURAL cover is different.

 

Debilitate is on a 45 second cooldown, not 1 minute.

 

Railshot only crits hard if it's set up properly, after 5 tracer missiles which need to be casted which is what he meant. 5 full casts is pretty immobile. Also, as a MM you have instant followthrough, explosive probe and takedown and 1 snipe right after entering cover.

[_Nyth]

My primary issue here is how much you downplay heavy armor.

 

*Most* classes you are fighting are ignoring armor, rendering the armor type irrelevant against those classes, meaning, against these classes, SNiper and Merc/Commando are relatively equal.

 

Against the classes that DO have their attacks mitigated by Armor.. heavy Armor is stupidly good. I regularly CRIT on heavy armor targets with Ambush (and already debuffed by Shattering Shot) for less than 1/2 of what the tooltip says the NON CRIT HIT should be.

 

Grav Round, though, ignores armor. In any Sniper v Commando/Merc fight, the Merc is going to turn the Sniper into hamburger. T. Missile/Grav Round are on a lot shorter cast than abilties the sniper has that actually do similar damage, hit harder, and ignore our defenses.

 

Anything we try to fire back is mitigated into the ground by armor and defenses, and didn't hit as hard to begin with.

 

It is a lot easier as a Merc/Troop to Step into LoS, pop off a quick Grav Round/Missile, step behind your stripper pole (to LoS return fire) step back out, get off another round or two before the enemy finishes their long cast, step back, etc.

 

A sniper just cannot do that.

 

I'm not saying heavy armor is bad. If I get attacked by a melee out of cover I die WAY faster than my bounty hunter does with his heavy armor.

 

I do however feel that with cover and ballistic dampeners, if you are talking MM (although I've been seeing quite some lethality pvpers suggest to maybe pick that up too). That that more than evens the playing field. 30% damage reduction which, if you play your class to your max, can be up every 6 seconds. Is much more damage reduction than you would ever get from the upgrade from medium to heavy armor.

 

Your ambush example is pretty random too though. Ive been unloading as a sniper too on a heavy armored target doing nearly zero damage, but that was a powertech in tank spec. There is heavy armor, and there is heavy armor. A merc is not the immovable object a powertech is.

 

Also not quite sure where you get all this misinformation from but.

 

a) Tracer Missile does NOT ignore armor. This is a big misconception you got there. What it does is stack a "sunder armor" buff that with 5 stacks (= 3 missiles talented) gives 20% armor reduction on the target

And they got a cylinder that gives 35% armor reduction. So only after firing for a while will he do damage as if you had 55% less armor.

That is far from simply ignoring armor.

 

b) Tracer missiles are not just shorter cast than most things a sniper has. It's a 1.5 second cast which is the same as snipe and ambush (ofc with RS but you shouldnt use it without in a normal circumstance).

We still have a lot of instant abilities like Explosive Probe / Followthrough / Frag Grenade.

In fact the only ability with a longer cast is Series of Shots.

And frankly that is quite comparable to Unload which btw is also a 3 second channel and is FYI just as much part of the Arsenal Mercenaries rotation as Series of Shots is.

So don't come spouting this nonsense.

 

c) As a sniper i can abuse LoS nearly as good. Snap Shot Snipe > Followthrough can be done in 1.5 seconds (= tracer missile) and does way more damage than tracer missile. If I proc RS I can pop out again, cover (no GCD) > Ambush > Explosive Probe spam. That's again way more damage in 1.5 seconds than your tracer missile shooting buddy.

If in such a situation you play your sniper as a "I sit here and don't move until my target dies" you simply don't know how to get the maximum out of the sniper.

A sniper can adjust to the situation and pull of nearly the same. Not as good as a merc, granted. But saying that is impossible is simply bull.

[DestyOwn]

^^

 

When snap shots actually works. for me it works about 20% of the time. I always have to re-enter cover and snipe again.

 

With the current BUGS in mechanics BH is way superior as well as the sorc.

 

and the fact that an Hybrid class like (BH and SORC) can outdps a pure dps class like sniper is stupid.

[Noctournys]

I'm not saying heavy armor is bad. If I get attacked by a melee out of cover I die WAY faster than my bounty hunter does with his heavy armor.

 

I do however feel that with cover and ballistic dampeners, if you are talking MM (although I've been seeing quite some lethality pvpers suggest to maybe pick that up too). That that more than evens the playing field. 30% damage reduction which, if you play your class to your max, can be up every 6 seconds. Is much more damage reduction than you would ever get from the upgrade from medium to heavy armor.

 

Your ambush example is pretty random too though. Ive been unloading as a sniper too on a heavy armored target doing nearly zero damage, but that was a powertech in tank spec. There is heavy armor, and there is heavy armor. A merc is not the immovable object a powertech is.

 

Also not quite sure where you get all this misinformation from but.

 

a) Tracer Missile does NOT ignore armor. This is a big misconception you got there. What it does is stack a "sunder armor" buff that with 5 stacks (= 3 missiles talented) gives 20% armor reduction on the target

And they got a cylinder that gives 35% armor reduction. So only after firing for a while will he do damage as if you had 55% less armor.

That is far from simply ignoring armor.

b) Tracer missiles are not just shorter cast than most things a sniper has. It's a 1.5 second cast which is the same as snipe and ambush (ofc with RS but you shouldnt use it without in a normal circumstance).

We still have a lot of instant abilities like Explosive Probe / Followthrough / Frag Grenade.

In fact the only ability with a longer cast is Series of Shots.

And frankly that is quite comparable to Unload which btw is also a 3 second channel and is FYI just as much part of the Arsenal Mercenaries rotation as Series of Shots is.

So don't come spouting this nonsense.

 

c) As a sniper i can abuse LoS nearly as good. Snap Shot Snipe > Followthrough can be done in 1.5 seconds (= tracer missile) and does way more damage than tracer missile. If I proc RS I can pop out again, cover (no GCD) > Ambush > Explosive Probe spam. That's again way more damage in 1.5 seconds than your tracer missile shooting buddy.

If in such a situation you play your sniper as a "I sit here and don't move until my target dies" you simply don't know how to get the maximum out of the sniper.

A sniper can adjust to the situation and pull of nearly the same. Not as good as a merc, granted. But saying that is impossible is simply bull.

 

Tracer missile does Kinetic Damage and is a tech ability, not a weapon-based ability. It ignores most defenses and a large chunk of armor mitigation. My bad though, i thought it dealt elemental damage (meaning it would have avoided all defenses, period) - since im always on fire when it hits.

 

My bad assumption, there, but Kinetic/Tech damage is mitigated at a lower rate (mouse over your armor) - whereas a sniper's shots - all but Lethality builds - are all weapon-based and mitigated by every defense in the game.

[Trolleone]

Tracer missile does Kinetic Damage and is a tech ability, not a weapon-based ability. It ignores most defenses and a large chunk of armor mitigation. My bad though, i thought it dealt elemental damage (meaning it would have avoided all defenses, period) - since im always on fire when it hits.

 

My bad assumption, there, but Kinetic/Tech damage is mitigated at a lower rate (mouse over your armor) - whereas a sniper's shots - all but Lethality builds - are all weapon-based and mitigated by every defense in the game.

 

 

corrosive dart/grenade = tech/internal (poison)

 

explosive probe = tech/kinetic

 

int droid = tech/energy

 

orbital strike = tech/elemental

 

shiv/grenades = tech/kinetic

[Noctournys]

corrosive dart/grenade = tech/internal (poison)

 

explosive probe = tech/kinetic

 

int droid = tech/energy

 

orbital strike = tech/elemental

 

shiv/grenades = tech/kinetic

 

i hear that 31/31/31 spec is fearsome.

 

Shiv and Grenades aren't worth the energy as a sniper, unless you're engineer. Engineers are *awful* in PvP because of being energy pigs. Yeah, they do largely unmitigated damage....

 

to one guy.

 

every 60 seconds.

 

No sniper has all of these, and almost none of them have the only good one of the bunch (Interrogation Probe).

 

OTOH, you can just spam any number of high damage, low resource, armor-bypassing attacks as a merc or commando...

 

and heal yourself.

[Kadodm]

"Which leads me to the question... why play a Sniper?

 

I could just reroll to one of these other classes, and be doing the SAME dps.. but I also have heals too!

 

I've thought this for a while now, but I always thought "it just sucks 'cos you're low level"... but now I'm almost at 50, and guess what... it still sucks pretty damn hard!"

 

Dude, I completely agree with you, I've reached 47, and I still suck in pvp...the sniper is sooo team dependant.

 

I've tried both lethality and engineer talents specs...and hey! they suck even more than marksmanship.

I guess snipers should at least have a fast escape - ie a sprint that works during combat, because quite frankly if any melee class starts hammering me down within melee range I just give up:(

 

Man i really wished I picked operative cos snipers just a completely awful class lol, not to mention about cover bug not working.

[SandTrout]

I'll lay down a fact:

 

If you assume that the damage output between DPS builds is balanced (May or may not be, there haven't been any solid numbers put out yet), Marksman Sniper is the worst ranged DPS class due to the lack of utility and all defensive abilities performing not as well as the ranged DPS builds of Sorc/Sages and Mercs/Comandos.

 

Sorc/Sage utility and CC in particular is far superior to Snipers, even if speced fully for DPS. I compared the abilities and listed it point by point over in the PvP forum. I think I pissed off a sorc because he realized that his class actually was OP relative to the sniper and is going to get balance adjusted.

 

Note that the differences are not as obvious as pure damage output or mitigation of incoming damage (though they do have a perpetual bubble which is apparently balanced because snipers have shield probe...). Rather, it is their comparable abilities such as CC are superior by design.

[Trolleone]

i hear that 31/31/31 spec is fearsome.

 

Shiv and Grenades aren't worth the energy as a sniper, unless you're engineer. Engineers are *awful* in PvP because of being energy pigs. Yeah, they do largely unmitigated damage....

 

to one guy.

 

every 60 seconds.

 

No sniper has all of these, and almost none of them have the only good one of the bunch (Interrogation Probe).

 

OTOH, you can just spam any number of high damage, low resource, armor-bypassing attacks as a merc or commando...

 

and heal yourself.

 

my current pvp spec uses int probe and the bonuses to explosive from engineer. 22/16/3

 

oh i was just listing some of them off the top of my head since i was too lazy to go to torhead and wasn't signed in.

 

there's also plasma prob and the electrified railgun deep in engineering (both elemental) and cull (how could i forget cull?!) in lethality which is internal.

 

fyi: kinetic attacks are absorbed by armor, even tech ones... just tested it ingame with a merc friend. my armor mitigates his tracer missle damage just fine (well at only 20% because it's medium armor)

 

you're also all over the place with your claims, do you even play this class?

 

lethality is the spec that does the most unmitigated damage (dart, poison grenade, cull) and is not a single target spec, but almost pure AOE. if fact, for single target damage, lethality is the most inefficient of the 3 trees, as their energy regen is coming from poison crits, which is only useful if you spread the dots around (though it does get a cooldown reduction on adrenaline probe). sure you have a high chance to crit on a poison tick, but it doesn't compare to sniper's nest in MM (60/sec in cover) or cluster bombs in engineering (15 energy every 30 sec)

 

i spec lethality if i'm in it for the numbers. lots of unmitigated dots to spread around means lots of damage. the aoe dot slow is also a nice thing to drop in huttball. some snipers just want to get the 300k dmg medal. cull on a target with both poisons hits harder than SOS and can burst down most players fairly fast.

 

i'm currently MM/eng because i like bursting players down in 6 seconds, but that's just how i like to play a sniper.

 

your massive damage from engineering to 1 guy every 60 seconds? are you going off EMP for that one? i really can't follow your logic on that one. are you talking about another class entirely?

[hollowicious]

im 0/10/31, i top damage in 9/10 of my warzones and rarely get under 300k. (as marksman i consistently did 100k less damage)

 

you have around 5 panic buttons

burst that cuts through tanks faster than a large heal

 

all you have to do, is stand somewhere that wont make 10 people target you at once.