Patch notes are out...ouch.

[Entropicus]

Smuggler

 

 

General

 

Dirty Kick can now be used while moving.

 

Players can now "Crouch" (but not roll into cover) while immobilized.

 

Smugglers can no longer be pushed out of cover via the "cover integrity" mechanic, which has been removed from the game.

 

 

Gunslinger

 

Due to changes to the Gunslinger skill trees, Gunslingers have had their skill points refunded.

 

Flourish Shot now additionally inflicts trauma, reducing all healing the target receives by 20% for 9 seconds.

 

Saboteur

 

Hot Pursuit has been redesigned. It is now located in Tier 4 of the skill tree and makes Quick Shot cost no energy for 6 seconds after leaving cover.

 

Incendiary Grenade has been improved. It now deals more of its damage in the first few seconds and snares affected targets. If the initial hit strikes a target affected by your Shock Charge, that target is stunned for 2 seconds.

 

Pandemonium is now located in Tier 2 of the skill tree.

 

Sabotage's range has been increased to 60 meters.

 

 

Sharpshooter

 

Burst Volley has been redesigned. It now triggers from dealing damage with blasters and increases Alacrity and Energy regeneration for 10 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.

 

Deadeye is now a 3-point skill that provides the same overall effect.

 

Holed Up is a new 2-point skill located in Tier 6 of the skill tree that reduces damage taken from area attacks by 60% while Hunker Down is active. This change allows the Sharpshooter to remain in cover more often in situations that force other classes to rapidly change locations.

 

Snap Shot's tooltip now correctly mentions that its effect cannot occur more than once every 6 seconds. Functionality has not changed.

 

 

Dirty Fighting (Gunslinger)

 

Bombastic now correctly requires Shrap Bomb.

 

Hemorrhaging Blast no longer has an Energy cost.

 

Hold Your Ground's cooldown reduction for Pulse Detonator has been reduced to 2.5 seconds per point.

 

Holdout Defense now increases Blaster Whip damage by 4% per point.

 

No Holds Barred now increases critical chance by 1% per point.

 

Reopen Wounds now increases the critical chance of Wounding Shots and Speed Shot by 4% per point.

 

Wounding Shots now costs 25 Energy (down from 30). The weapon damage component of this ability has been reduced by approximately 15%, but bleeding damage remains unchanged.

 

 

Scoundrel

 

Due to changes to the Scoundrel skill trees, Scoundrels have had their skill points refunded.

 

Back Blast now has a 12-second cooldown and deals approximately 5% more damage.

 

Diagnostic Scan's tooltip now displays the full amount healed over its duration.

 

Shoot First now has a 7.5-second cooldown.

 

Tranquilizer now gives an appropriate error message if used on Droids.

 

Upper Hand no longer triggers a "grunt" sound effect when it occurs.

 

Sawbones

 

Emergent Emergencies now additionally increases the maximum stack limit of Upper Hand by 1.

 

Healing Hand now also increases the duration of Upper Hand by 2 seconds per point.

 

Homegrown Pharmacology now additionally reduces the Energy cost of Kolto Cloud by 2 per point.

 

Kolto Cloud has been rebalanced. It now has a 15-second cooldown, heals over 6 seconds, and heals for approximately 10% more than before.

 

Patient Studies now additionally increases the speed at which Diagnostic Scan channels by 15% per point.

 

 

Scrapper

 

Brawler's Grit is now a 2-point skill.

 

Flanking is a new 1-point skill located in Tier 3 of the skill tree. It reduces the Energy cost of Back Blast by 5.

 

K.O. no longer experiences a delay in its knockdown effect.

 

Sawed Off now increases the damage dealt by Back Blast. It is now located in Tier 5 of the skill tree and requires Flanking.

 

Sucker Punch now costs 10 Energy (down from 15) and deals approximately 10% less damage.

 

Turn the Tables has been redesigned and is now a 2-point skill. It no longer increases damage dealt to bleeding targets, but increases the Energy gained by Pugnacity and the damage dealt by Sucker Punch and Flying Fists.

 

Underdog no longer increases Energy gained by Pugnacity. This effect is now part of Turn the Tables.

 

 

Dirty Fighting (Scoundrel)

 

Hemorrhaging Blast no longer has an Energy cost.

 

Holdout Defense now increases Blaster Whip damage by 4% per point.

 

No Holds Barred now increases critical chance by 1% per point.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Entropicus

[LordXalas]

ah yeeeaaah. they buffed up us gunslinger with our cove!

I for one is happy.

[Yvin]

Hey everyone,

 

This thread has been re-opened so Smugglers have a general place to discuss changes for 1.2. Sorry for the confusion! Please remember to keep replies on-topic, constructive and respectful of one another!

[Mrtomie]

Flourish Shot reducing 20% healing for PvP, I like. Everything else is meh. Burst Volley still useless imo. For 3 points, you get a little buff once every 30 seconds......I don't know how most of you play your SS Gunslinger, but I rarely spend any of my time casting besides Aim Shot when it procs. And if it's still at the 3% speed in increase that's a 1.2 second Aim Shot instead of 1.5 seconds. Not worth 3 points, but I shall wait and see how much energy regen it increases before I decide whether to spend points on it or not.

[LordXalas]

Flourish Shot reducing 20% healing for PvP, I like. Everything else is meh. Burst Volley still useless imo. For 3 points, you get a little buff once every 30 seconds......I don't know how most of you play your SS Gunslinger, but I rarely spend any of my time casting besides Aim Shot when it procs. And if it's still at the 3% speed in increase that's a 1.2 second Aim Shot instead of 1.5 seconds. Not worth 3 points, but I shall wait and see how much energy regen it increases before I decide whether to spend points on it or not.

 

you dont like the 60% aoe damage reduction while we have hunker down? Sounds amazing to me and now once we're in cover we can't get knock out of it with the new cover. I'm loving it

[Bivaccus]

Flourish Shot reducing 20% healing for PvP, I like. Everything else is meh. Burst Volley still useless imo. For 3 points, you get a little buff once every 30 seconds......I don't know how most of you play your SS Gunslinger, but I rarely spend any of my time casting besides Aim Shot when it procs. And if it's still at the 3% speed in increase that's a 1.2 second Aim Shot instead of 1.5 seconds. Not worth 3 points, but I shall wait and see how much energy regen it increases before I decide whether to spend points on it or not.

 

You really didn't read the changes well did you?

 

You get also a +50% energy regen for 10 seconds. That is really worth it. Also the alacrity goes up by 10% and not 3%. Which still would not make your aimed shot a 1.2 second cast. But are you only casting aimed shots or what? *cough speedshot, charged burst, XS, cough*

 

you dont like the 60% aoe damage reduction while we have hunker down? Sounds amazing to me and now once we're in cover we can't get knock out of it with the new cover. I'm loving it

 

yeah good changes . And with ballistic dampers you actually only get hit for (1-0,30)(1-0,60)=28% Pop defensive screen and it will be even less.

 

for every build critrate gos down for 3% though .

Edited March 17, 2012 by Bivaccus

[Vigistic]

Man, really? they nerfed Scoundrels before because they did a lot of damage, but seriously? Nerfing scrapper a second time by increasing cool downs and making sucker punch deal 10% less damage? This spec is suppose to be a rogue type class, and with added longer cool downs they can no longer be rogue class. The only way i see this as a re balance, is to make scoundrels that don't like watching their energy usage more friendly on energy usage. Now, it seems like that scoundrels are going to be longer rogues, but mostly healers, which lacks the fun of surprise attacks, making them healers already makes them very vulnerable, because the scoundrel doesn't have the ability of decent defensive screens or dodge, over sages that can outrun scoundrels and also throw down bubbles that basically prevents any strong attacker for a good moment for them to escape.

 

Now for off topic stuff, Sentinels and marauders are already very strong, and yet they are getting more defensive abilities and what not to make them live even longer.

 

From what I see these changes are based off population and since they are seeing smugglers as better players or so it seems, and there are many sentinels and marauders that aren't putting out much and since their population is far greater, they are going to buff up the sentinels even more.

[LordXalas]

Just say im glad i rerolled slinger

[Scudmungus]

O-o

 

Was holding my own before..

 

..really had to work for it but still..

 

..now?

 

Wow....

Edited March 18, 2012 by Scudmungus

[TarristerWelm]

I do not like my scrapper anymore. What do they want me to do in pve, auto-attack nonstop?

 

Edit: I just read them again. We have way more energy regen with some of our skills costing us less, some costing more through talent nerfs; So, my question is this, what do I spend all this extra energy on in the scrapper tree?

Edited March 18, 2012 by TarristerWelm

[RAVIAH]

sadly i fell in love with my scoundrel in the beginning and though it was frustrating after the previous nerfs i still found a way to enjoy my scoundrel, but this last wave of nerfs was the last straw for me. if the changes go live as they are currently which tbh i don't expect to really change. it has been pointed out before the problems with proposed changes and even solutions that would work better if implemented and yet bw never changes what they put on the ptr. i tend to be reasonable and not the type that the world is falling, but i have been unimpressed by the the changes the designers have implemented not to mention customer support that I have contact with. i'd almost be tempted to just quit the game, but i have several friends who play the game who i have fun with. so i guess really the only option i have is to a reroll a gunslinger and hope that one day dpsing with my scoundrel will become viable again.

[LordXalas]

Did i tell you guys im so glad i deleted my scoundrel at lvl 16 and rerolled gunslinger? Well im glad i rerolled gunslinger :D:D

[Bartes]

As almost pure SS/GS I am loving this patch, needs a bit of testing and prolly will respec few times but it looks really good. Tho I have a feeling I will miss 1 or 2 skill points to make my perfect setup.

[Haralin]

So now i know what to do. Thanks BW for help me out to decide not to refresh my sub.

[Threskov]

They removed damage from my wounding shot, Im not happy.

[Mrtomie]

You really didn't read the changes well did you?

 

You get also a +50% energy regen for 10 seconds. That is really worth it. Also the alacrity goes up by 10% and not 3%. Which still would not make your aimed shot a 1.2 second cast. But are you only casting aimed shots or what? *cough speedshot, charged burst, XS, cough*

 

 

 

yeah good changes . And with ballistic dampers you actually only get hit for (1-0,30)(1-0,60)=28% Pop defensive screen and it will be even less.

 

for every build critrate gos down for 3% though .

 

Nah, I didn't much into it. Just saw what OP posted. If that is true that yes, it might be a good investment.

 

And to answer your other question, I never cast Charge Burst. I find it easier and a little faster to get out of cover and back into it for another instant shot. For XS, I usually use Illegal Mods. And for Speed Shot, I've never really thought about Alacrity on it, especially since I don't have much to begin with. With the new patch, I'll probably test it out for myself to see if it's worth it or not.

[SabreNova]

Well, looks like its time for me to quit my Scoundrel. Its hard enough as is now, but with 1.2 looks like I'll be playing my Sent. after all. Maybe one day I can return when (and if) Scoundrel's get buffed back up again.

[Mrtomie]

you dont like the 60% aoe damage reduction while we have hunker down? Sounds amazing to me and now once we're in cover we can't get knock out of it with the new cover. I'm loving it

 

I'm glad cover is fixed.

 

I welcome the 60% AoE reduction when hunkered down. But when you think of it, Gunslingers are not really affected by AoE that much because we're usually at a distance or not the focus. Ilum is pretty much deserted these days and the big battles with tons of AoE are now gone, or atleast in my server it is. For WZ, in Voidstar, AoE are mainly done at the doors. Not sure about most of you, but I'm usually not by the doors unless I'm disabling or planting. In Huttball, everyone's constantly moving. The Civil War is the only one that might benefit this upgrade the most. With most AoE's, to avoid them you simply move out of it of them, which removes Hunker Down.

 

Definitely good for PvE boss fights that AoE, but only if your stationary in it. Most boss fights you're constantly moving, the only boss I can see this being used on frequently is EV's first boss where he AoE missles.

 

I welcome the changes, any buff is better than no buff or a nerf. Sorry if I sound like a Debbie downer lol, I'm just nitpicking.

[Revic]

Man, really? they nerfed Scoundrels before because they did a lot of damage, but seriously? Nerfing scrapper a second time by increasing cool downs and making sucker punch deal 10% less damage? This spec is suppose to be a rogue type class, and with added longer cool downs they can no longer be rogue class. The only way i see this as a re balance, is to make scoundrels that don't like watching their energy usage more friendly on energy usage. Now, it seems like that scoundrels are going to be longer rogues, but mostly healers, which lacks the fun of surprise attacks, making them healers already makes them very vulnerable, because the scoundrel doesn't have the ability of decent defensive screens or dodge, over sages that can outrun scoundrels and also throw down bubbles that basically prevents any strong attacker for a good moment for them to escape.

 

Now for off topic stuff, Sentinels and marauders are already very strong, and yet they are getting more defensive abilities and what not to make them live even longer.

 

From what I see these changes are based off population and since they are seeing smugglers as better players or so it seems, and there are many sentinels and marauders that aren't putting out much and since their population is far greater, they are going to buff up the sentinels even more.

 

Scrapper is actually NOT getting nerfed. The nerfed that damage of Sucker Punch to further discourage hybrid specs. I noticed this trend reading the other spec changes. You also seemed to have omitted that turn the tables buffs your beloved sucker punch and flying fists (only buffed). More over sawed off increases the damage to back blast. So actually you got buffed in this department.

 

The only nerfs I see is the 1% reduction to blaster whip and 1% to crit.

[RAVIAH]

sucker punch started off with a 10% nerf but even with the turn the tables talent talent further up in the tree sucker punch only increases the dmg by 4%. that means it is still a nerf of 6%. this is without taking into account that we completely lost the talent that increases our dmg by 3% against targets with a bleed on em. the blaster whip decrease is 2% if you spend both points and same with decrease of 2% crit. with the back blast change and the talent that is an increase on the total dmg by 9% (6% if you factor in the loss of the 3% dmg against bleeding targets). question is with the fact that the cd on back blast got increased by 4.5 secs how much dmg do we actually gain with the changes to back blast. sucker punch definitely goes down same with blaster whip. so as best as i can tell: sucker punch does 9% less dmg, blaster whip does 5% less dmg, and back blast does 6% more dmg with a 4.5 sec longer cd. sounds like a massive nerf to me. honestly i'm hoping i'm completely wrong and its not as bad as it seems. even with all the previous nerfs i tried to play the spec cause i've always found the spec fun to play, but if i am right and the changes go to live like they are right now. i won't have the option to play this spec because i'll be gimping my guild's operation group. so as a result i'll either have to go dirty fighting build or reroll. neither option really appeals to me. Edited March 19, 2012 by RAVIAH

[Quilland]

sucker punch started off with a 10% nerf but even with the turn the tables talent talent further up in the tree sucker punch only increases the dmg by 4%. that means it is still a nerf of 6%. this is without taking into account that we completely lost the talent that increases our dmg by 3% against targets with a bleed on em. the blaster whip decrease is 2% if you spend both points and same with decrease of 2% crit. with the back blast change and the talent that is an increase on the total dmg by 9% (6% if you factor in the loss of the 3% dmg against bleeding targets). question is with the fact that the cd on back blast got increased by 4.5 secs how much dmg do we actually gain with the changes to back blast. sucker punch definitely goes down same with blaster whip. so as best as i can tell: sucker punch does 9% less dmg, blaster whip does 5% less dmg, and back blast does 6% more dmg with a 4.5 sec longer cd. sounds like a massive nerf to me. honestly i'm hoping i'm completely wrong and its not as bad as it seems. even with all the previous nerfs i tried to play the spec cause i've always found the spec fun to play, but if i am right and the changes go to live like they are right now. i won't have the option to play this spec because i'll be gimping my guild's operation group. so as a result i'll either have to go dirty fighting build or reroll. neither option really appeals to me.

 

As I read it, backblast does 5% more damage but has a 25% longer cooldown so a -20% DPS loss over the course of a fight.

 

The nerf to the DOT crits means that dirty-fighting, which was only okay DPS for PVE, becomes useless.

 

I can't speak to scrapper, I've never been that spec but my only lvl 50 was dirty fighting DPS spec from about 35 to 50. My DPS wasn't great but it was acceptable. The only justification I can imagine for it is that dirty-fighting was over-powered in PVP. I don't PVP so I don't know for certain but talking with PVPers, scoundrels in general are not overpowered.

 

Bioware, please do not make the mistake of Blizzard and break classes for PVE to 'fix' them for PVP.

[MaglorArcanist]

Dirty fight OP in pvp? sorry guy but in pvp dirty fight is less than viable now, without a ranged UH generation, is still useless and with a healer who clean in the enemy team, is less more viable.

So no isn't a pvp nerf.

[RAVIAH]

as far as i know the only nerf to dot crits is the loss of the 2% tech crit from dirty fighting tree. with the diminishing returns rate and how high crit already was (at least it was for me) i don't see the viability of dirty fighting really dropping that much versus how it was before. from what i can tell the rotation for dirty fighting gets a bit smoother with the longer cd of backblast (though still a bit of a dps loss) you lose a little dmg from pistol whip and the spec becomes a bit more energy efficient with hemorrhaging blast no longer having an energy cost. so thats 10 less energy your spending every 15 secs. so it would seem to be the spec is basically as viable as it is currently and for operations it does fine. not that it makes me want to play the spec any more than i do now but i might not have much of a choice the way things are looking.

[Entropicus]

Is there a new talent tree calculator out yet? I really wanna see how much I'll have to change my spec.

[RAVIAH]

don't believe so. i just ended up leveling a scoundrel on the ptr at least to level 10 so i could see the exact talents in the trees.