Class Feedback

[KavikaDestroyer]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes? I only PvP.

Everyone assumes I am the tank that I have been forced to be due to the lack of survivability / burst of deception and general distaste for the madness spec (DoTs don't go over well in group pvp; can't do that spec as well as Sorcs). So I use the 23/1/17 spec to bring loads of utility to the group. My group appreciates this as well as having a guard and stealth. I am a preferred node defender due to above average dueling capabilities.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

I dislike that only one spec is really valuable. Madness is better done by our sorc counterparts and deception just isn't feasible when utilized as a killer when compared to other classes. I play as a darkness utility spec and enjoy that role. My largest complaint is not being able to effectively use my stealth / control abilities to kill / neutralize equally geared healers. I apply good pressure and steady damage but in this game burst is king. Coordinated CC's with burst damage is the name of the game and darkness assassins don't have a place in this. Force shroud and Undying rage are similar abilities but in practice a marauder can do much more useful burst in that small time frame than an assassin can. Simply put, assassins DON'T assassinate. We control, guard, and provide steady damage and that's okay, just not great in the current CC -> Kill metagame.

 

I can duel with the best of them but in a group fight my value gets lost due to uninspired killing abilities and jack of all trades utility. A team of 2 pure healers, 2 pure tanks, and 4 pure burst dps has no room for an assassin and it would be difficult to justify bringing one in favor of a Jug/power tank or a mara/pyro burst. Notice that the powertech AC has two viable roles across two specs. We have 1 suboptimal role in only 1 spec. If a way could be found to increase the usefulness of steady damage then I believe assassin tanks would be extremely viable.

Edited July 18, 2012 by KavikaDestroyer

[Erenax]

Deception

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Sub-par DPS, utility, and survivability.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Deception Assassins need work when it comes to Force management. Force Regeneration generally feels slow or Force cost of attacks feels slightly too high.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Erenax
Spec added

[cycao]

Hi everyone,

 

 

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

I have played darkness since early access and while I thought damage would be toned down in 1.3 going the exact opposite has brought this class back down to others and think it was a good change. I have dabbled in madness and deception and deception is just useless compared to the other specs, hybrids work better. Deception has 0 utility and when I want with my darkness spec I will do more damage then my valor 100 full augment deception friend.

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

I think darkness is where it should be, I feel as of now its the worst tank in the game compared to PT/VG and Jugg/Guardian but our utility and damage help balance that out.

 

 

 

I kept it short like they asked with my responses but this one will not be short. In short for competitive team play deception is just useless. Way to squishy, no utility, possibly the worst dps (yes I can do more with a tank spec) out of the three trees. I know one who has un-subbed after reading your response in the Q&A and I do not blame him at all. Our rated team will not bring him in ranked warzones and why should they when madness offers higher damage, self healing, and better utility. Hybrids are a better option then deception and that is not a good thing.

 

Darkness, the spec that I have spent 99% of my play time since early access got toned down enough threw self heals and armor is back in line PvP wise. I do not do PvE with this class in a while (cleared HM KP and EV pre 1.3) but have not attempted anything in a few months and I think as of now are the last option for PvP and PvE tanks. I feel our damage and utility help void the gap against the other tanks defenses as we rely on shielding and well as most know that's fairly useless in PvP.

 

Madness I have not really played a full 31 point madness build but I have done the 23/1/17 and the 0/13/28 builds and the damage is good with good utility.

 

In other words, from my experience deception is one of the most useless if not the most useless spec in this game in terms of competitive play. You need to do something, anything to make the other two specs more appealing. How you do that is tricky, nerfing darkness again will cripple the class and buffing the damage in deception is not the way to go but I think something in terms of utility and defense a change could be made there.

[Neoforcer]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

That we are the weakest tanks since the 1.3 tank in both pve and pvp as a tank class. The other spec are even weaker. ,ost player go oh your a sin back of the bus with you.

 

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

darkness is my spec how do i think it performs. well i can tank hello kitty online with my sin that about it. Being passed up in a guild for other tanks because you take more damage then others. Want to thank bioware for making my class a worthless off tank in pve.

[theeliteninja]

Darkness PVP Tank Gear

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

People still like to use us as a tank in PVP mainly because are utility, but don't realize how drastic the our nerf was. Most people try to think of it as a "Rogue" from WoW, but that is an Operative.

 

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

I feel that my spec is underpowered. The nerf should either 1.) Be cut in half of what was taken a way, 2.) Only get nerf the armor bonus, 3.) Only nerf the self heals. I generally love my class, because I did play a Paladin and Druid in WoW, and it is a perfect mix of both classes. Find a way to nerf the darkness sins who use dps gear, or change the set bonus so its pointless to go darkness. ie 4 piece stalker bonus (Increases damage from Voltaic Slash or Creeping Terror by 5%.) I also think the 4 piece bonus for ALL Tanks should be changed. I find my self sometimes alone guarding a base, I cannot guard someone so I cannot get an extra 5% damage. I do not use 4 piece survivor becasue of that reason, instead I use 2 piece pvp and 2 piece pve.

[Tau_Kunn]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

+Deception+

 

Useless in both PvE and PvP utility. Burst DPS capability is only acceptable with top-tier gear/mods, the non-burst DPS period is unacceptable and a detriment to the group in PvE. Spec is truly a PvP build but only top 5% of the class will have success with it once gear is acquired.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

Truly a great PvP spec in 1v1 scenarios or surprise. But the fall off of DPS after opening is so great, there’s virtually no time to recover or finish the job if the opponent pops a CD. Opening damage has to be extremely high to mitigate this issue, hence why the AC is only good with Top-tier gear/mods

[syllepsis]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

Don't know.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

I have an assassin tank, and I have played a shadow tank. They're both exactly the same. I really like this class, and I enjoy playing it a lot, especially with some of the tweaks with 1.3 (I know the self-heal was nerfed, but so what). I don't have enough experience with group content with this character to comment on group tanking, but for solo play, a ton of fun and performs as advertised. On other characters I frequently run with shadow/assassin tanks, and they usually perform well.

[luciphear]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

can only ansver for the pvp bit since its all i do, im more or less forced to

play in darkness or darkness hybrid to keep somewhat survivability, if i go nor

deception or madness im way to squishy, though i have to give up lots of dps

since im not top tier geared, i feel way behind both juggernauts and powertechs that are

tank/dps classes just as my assassin.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

more or less forced to play an build just to last longer than 3-5sec in a WZ.

and im percieive the assassins choises today are way behind other classes.

 

p.s if the stealth ability is suppose to compensate for the lack of surv and dps,

well. it dont d.s

 

//cheers

Edited July 18, 2012 by luciphear

[GarfieldJL]

Assassin Tank (have not hit end game stats, cause I really just can't stand playing a villain, so my observations will be based on what I've seen thus far)

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

From a limited standpoint of listening to Republic Players yelling about Imperial classes being OPed, it is only Sorceror and Assassin that they are usually complaining about. Since the Assassin and Shadow class are almost mirror images of each other, I will say as a DPS Guardian if I have the choice between a Shadow Tank or a Guardian Tank, as the party tank, I would insist on the Shadow. Between aggie issues (tank can't hold aggie) and tank needing to be bailed out, and the fact tank shadows/assassins do way more dps damage than a Tank Guardian/Juggernaut; I would say those that say that this class is the worst tank in the game are underestimating what they are capable of.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

After playing a DPS Guardian to level 50, I will say this class is ridiculously easy. I haven't focused on leveling this char up any further because I'm just not into playing villains and the stories for Sith start to creep me out after a while. Quite frankly I haven't had to pay attention to gear nearly to the extent I've had to for a Guardian. I can just throw things on without paying much attention. Not only can I tank fairly well (despite haphazard gear), I can also dish out damage as though I'm a DPS. They don't have heavy armor, so what? This class has a cc, stealth, and a self-heal for tanking, they also outdps and have more hp than Guardians/Juggernaut tanks.

Edited July 18, 2012 by GarfieldJL

[Jonespiano]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

Since 1.3, Darkness Assassin is seen as primarily a PvP tank, because so many of its talents lend well to warzone play and they are not seen as being as survivable in the hardest PvE fights.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

I see it as an excellent class for solo PvE grinding and PvP team play. I use my Assassin mainly to solo heroics and gear up my other alts, because my guild has several excellent PvE tanks (including an Assassin with nearly 30k hp). I don't think any other class is so well-equipped for heroic content, due to the ability to stealth past trash and survive alone against bosses with a companion healer.

 

When I do run flashpoints as a tank, I rarely have any issues and the superior utility makes it the only tank I would want to play.

[Monterone]

DECEPTION:

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

I think that like the other inquisitor, we are viewed as potentially but not immediately dangerous. We can put out some pressure but not very often. We will often be one of the first targets once identified as deception due to our low survivability.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Very fun and honestly I think this is the way assassin should be played! With that said it feels underwhelming -- the burst dps output is fine but the sustainable dps could use a hand. This may be remedied by increasing force regeneration is some way. I also think we need a boost in survivability, either via self heals or through a boost to mitigation.

[darthcuddles]

DARKNESS legacy level 43, played assassin since day 1.

 

1. we are perceived as squishy PVE tanks that were overnerfed.

 

2. see #1, the perception is correct. It's been said a million times since 1.3...you over did it. The nerfs were obviously based on pvp, (despite recent disclaimers, because we all know no one in pve complains about their tank "overperforming"), and now no sensible raiding guild wants a tankassin as a main tank for end game. You need to readjust either the armor or the self heals. And not enough defensive CDs. It's just not fun in it's present state. It's frustrating.

[Cupelixx]

Darkness:

1) You wear light armor and have no business even attempting to tank. You are squishy and should reroll if you want to tank.

2) I am valuable in PvP and relegated to being nothing more than an offtank in PvE. I can hold aggro like nobody's business but survivability/minimizing strain on healers is very suspect.

 

Deception:

1) You wear light armor and have no business DPSing in melee. Your DPS is possibly the worst of every advanced class in the game and you bring down the team in both PvE and PvP.

2) This spec is either too hard to excel with in both PvP and PvE, or really is severely underpowered. There doesn't seem to be a clear vision of what this spec is supposed to do or how it's supposed to play.

 

Madness:

1) Your DPS is okay but I'm not going out of my way to take you anywhere.

2) DPS is okay, but not very competitive. Spec is boring to play.

[Eujen]

I'm a PVE tank

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

Others treat me as a main swtor tank class, with a lot of aoe, good aggro, a LOT if oh-**** buttons and the one to cooperate with in hard situations.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

I really think that i'm THE spec to play — love stealth, CC, abilities to kick and pull targets (effectively bringing mobs to the places i want them to be at), lot of aoe and safe-abilities, and absolutely love not to think about managing resources. Still, i dislike to watch at those small buffs, but it's not the spec problem, it's UI.

[Redmyst]

5-3-33 Madness spec Assassin. 1123 Expertise, 603 power, half war-hero gear

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

If we are running darkness, then people assume we are using dps gear. If we are anything else, people suspect we are worthless because we die fast. Cant do high enough burst damage to kill any other class solo..

 

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

My spec is ok at the moment, I mean I enjoy it but it is hard work to kill people solo. I have hit 500k in warzones but average about 300k normally. its all about picking your battles with this build or any build outside of darkness.

[Okamakiri]

Darkness

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

In PVP, can do too much dmg when wearing DPS gear.

In PVE, squishiest tank. Hard to heal due to unpredictable damage spikes.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

Versitile class with many tools, but somewhat boring to play due to force starvation and being forced to keep Wither and Shock on cooldown in order to maximize uptime on Harnessed Darkness. When taking into account defense and absorption, we measure up well against other tanks on average. However, we have by far the lowest passive mitigation, which makes us most susceptible to spiky damage due to "bad luck" and hence dieing.

[Shadodragon]

Deception: 2/31/8

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

I play a Deception specced Assassin (most of the time). The general perception I have of other's opinions to my spec is that it's a PvP spec only. Not something worth the time in PvE where Darkness is more survivable and Madness out DPSes it.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

I like Deception. It's fun to play. But it does output lower damage than Madness, which seems counter intuitive. Technically I have a better burst, but that doesn't last long. In Ops and Flash Points (like Lost Island) I sometimes have to respec to either Madness or Darkness to be effective. Melee is SEVERELY punished, and doesn't get the DPS to make up for it over what Madness does. At the same time, I don't enjoy playing the Madness spec. So... guess I'm stuck.

Edited July 19, 2012 by Shadodragon
Clarification

[Gidoru]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Assassins of the two DPS specs, Deception and Madness are generally perceived as being weak by other classes. Namely in that they have low survivability compared with some other high DPS classes.

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

I percieve my own class as one that could use some minor improvements, but overall is in a good place.

[Parthis]

DARKNESS

 

1. Overpowered PvP damage with PvP players running around in DPS PvP gear using a tanking build (which the last round of nerfs did nothing to solve). In PvE it's seen as an off-tank. This isn't just the perception of random people; this is the belief of my guild (a very long term PvE raiding guild from many MMOs) after extensive raiding in TOR.

 

2. I feel like the class is gimped. The defensive cooldowns are either weak, useless or entirely overpowered depending on the situation. Our mitigation was already poor in PvE and has been nerfed further (there's a reason you added 20% armor at the end of the Beta; every Assassin tank felt squishy). I don't play it any more. It's too heavily based on a rotation, the survival is too chaotic and random, and it feels as though the changes being made by BW are consistently way off the mark; solving problems that don't exist and making real problems worse.

 

I haven't had the motivation to log into TOR for weeks; all I play is tanks in MMOs.

[Xethis]

I play all three specs in pvp and pve, I believe I am qualified to give accurate feedback on all three.

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Darkness- In pvp this is a very hard spec to deal with. Its hard to kill for other dps classes and its hard to kill players around them. In pve they are great main tanks for Flashpoint hard modes and story mode Operations, however the other tanks will easily out perform them in hard mode operations.

Deception- In pvp their burst is easily tolerated through cc or defensive cool downs, they will also be focus fired as soon as their spinning lightsaber is noticed. They are by far the easiest kill on the battlefield. In pve they might get a chance to do some Flashpoints, but will always be last on the list for any Operation.

Madness- In pvp they can do pretty good damage but just a bit harder to kill than the Deception Assassin. In pve they wont under perform.

 

 

1. How do you perceive your own spec?

Darkness- Full Darkness or Darkness/hybrids are nothing short of amazing for pvp. Great survivability with tons of utility. Good armor and decent heals, couple stuns, couple taunts, force pull and force speed, and a guard. Even with all that they still put out good dps to focus down a healer or put pressure on a dps. Their abilities are fun and easy to use. For pve, I guess there is nothing wrong with always being an offtank, every Operation needs one.

Deception- In pvp and pve I am very disappointed. The list is long, I pretty much agree with every negative comment that has been posted in this thread. I actually plan on making my own thread with some ideas for tweaks.

Madness- In pvp I find the heals pretty nice for some survivability, and the dots go along ways for increasing our damage on the scoreboard. But I do find this spec far more challenging to play than the other two. Trying to manage dots with this UI isn't easy, always trying to stay in melee range to Thrash, to get a Raze proc to hit Crushing Darkness while spamming shock when its not on cool down and trying to accurately land Death Field while on the move is pretty difficult. I know there are lots of players that find all this very easy to do, I am not one of good ones I guess.

[TheRedNalroni]

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Over powered. Largely due to PVP having force shroud and self healing in pvp. But thats mainly from bad players who do'nt know how to counter those abilities.

 

PVE wise ive been told by healers that they hate to heal me and would much prefer a Juggernaut tank. Luckily for me, Im an officer in the guild (despite guild master being main healer) Ive got the gear and the raid attendance to secure my operation spot. (besides the three other juggernaut tanks we have now recruited into the guild by the guildmaster due to their inability to raid 7 days a week and miss 60% of raids covering each other for days the other cant attend). We no longer have any other Assassin or Powertech tanks in the guild.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

I play Darkness pretty much exclusively as a PVE tank.

I Do end game operations and im in full Campaign augmented with 28% defence, 64% Shield chance and 60% Absorb (with Dark Ward).

In most Operations I have no problems (exception of Jarg and Sorno in Karaggas's palace nightmare of wehich I tank Jarg) however there seems to be a huge disparity between survivability between myself and other advanced class tanks in Hard mode Explosive conflict.

And it isnt the way that it's been made out to be.

 

Regardless of the boss fight, which target im tanking, with swopping over and in particular, trash. I die 3 times as often as the other tanks due to 'cool downs' or spike damage. Why this is I have no idea. I time my cool downs, use them wisely and have 100% uptime of dark ward in boss fights. The healers just cant keep me up.

 

I see Assassin Tanks as with some very useful damage mitigating abilities, Force shroud being the main one of any use that helps the healers cope with dots, avoiding them having to 'cleanse' them and from time to time protect me from force /tech attacks. However most High spike damages seem to be unaffected by it and leave me dead on the ground du to the extra physical damage i take in compariosn to other tanks

[Parthis]

For pve, I guess there is nothing wrong with always being an offtank, every Operation needs one.

 

I just want to comment on this briefly; it's clear from your response that you're a PvP player, but it's not OK for a single class to be the off-anything.

 

Off-tanking is a role, not a class. Assassins have been built with a tanking tree; it should NOT be worse at it than other tanks, and the sooner Bioware realise that an avoidance-focused, self healing based light armor tank is impossible to balance (nightmare in PvP, under powered and spiky in PvE) the better.

[Stepkick]

First I play all three spec of Assassin's for a change of pace. I have been playing since early game access and foudn very little to no changes to the skill trees, except for nerfs which are right to apply but in the wrong nature. I would like to talk about how others see all three specs that I play and how I myself see my specs.

 

Darkness (31/0/10) and (23/0/17):

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Extremely overpowered before patch 1.3. Today it is still a very powerful class. Great 1-on-1 potential. Good survivability.

Result BioWare nerfed self-heals and armor targeted at reducing survivability.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Before patch 1.3, (31/0/10) had better survivability than (23/0/17) but the latter had the OP damage. The nerfs only made it that (23/0/17) is the superior spec and Assassin tanks suffered as the nerfs where targeted to the survivability and not the insane damage output. Unfair for a Assassin tank (31/0/10) to be unable to beat a DPS Marauder Annihilation on self-healing.

 

Deception (2/31/8):

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Does a decent burst. Super squishy. See the extremely obvious to notice with [Voltaic Slash] or [Clairvoyant Strike] and therefore easy to focus down and kill in a couple of globals, kinda like an encouragement to sit on.

Result BioWare thinks its cool that the class is a lonewolf and leaves it be. No Assassins play this spec in rated warzones because it is team work that is required nobody is in need of the lonewolf.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

My first spec and my true love. I really like this spec a lot only because before I joined a guild I had to rely on myself and be the lonewolf. But the lonewolf lacks some serious toe-to-toe, and requires a lot of thinking before engaging in combat. Certain classes you just simply know you cannot kill without using game mechanics like knockback into fire, pit, off bridge. Lacks some serious defensive capabilities. Had to break my heart and ditch it in order to be accepted into a core rated warzone group. Burst is good only when critted and crit is not 100% guaranteed like a Rage Juggernauts smash. Without crit the damage is laughable, and so once again the Darkness (23/017) is a better burst class since there is no tradeoff for survivability. Lack of regen makes it so that after some abilities there is a lul in the rotation. Some mechanic needs to include force refunds or temporary force over time gains.

 

Madness (7/2/32)):

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Very rarely seen in the warzones. Poses no major threat although it is harder to kill than a Deception Assassin. High Damage numbers but no pressure due to lack of burst.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Played this spec the least and rightly so. It lacks any sort of punch to deliver a killing blow to the enemy with burst. DoTs have a long cooldown and range and therefore, it is not possible to multi-DoT. Ability to multi-DoT would add so much raid wide pressure potential and this class could actually become very viable in WZs. Decent survivability considering light armor class and DPS specced. No ability to protect DoTs from being cleansed to often without a penalty. Also means that re-application is harder with long cooldowns.

 

Thank you for reading hopefully you will understand that Assassin's are far from perfect and the last two skill trees require a lot more attention. People choose Darkness because they are forced too, as the other specs do not offer as much utility and burst.

 

Need some good looking gear. Like helms under hoods, or turn hoods down option. Choice between pants and skirts would be nice option but including more pants to choose from. Belt within or on top of robe would also be nice.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Stepkick

[AwkwardGinger]

Darkness PvE

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

The nerfs were slightly excessive, but it didn't make us as useless as others believe. However, we are still the last choice when it comes to tanking.

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

I think its a viable spec, but its not as a viable spec to be tanking endgame content as a main tank unless both you and your healer are geared to the teeth. It takes more to heal an assassin, because our self-heals are crap and our damage reduction is on average almost 10% lower than a Juggernaut's, which is everyone's go-to tank.

 

Deception PvE

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

Useless. Completely useless. There is no reason to take a deception assassin.

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Completely useless in a PvE environment. The burst doesn't come close to matching a marauder's burst in lower (Tionese/Columi Marauder > Rakata/Black Hole Deception Assassin) gear, and the sustained dps is downright laughable. They are very squishy and spend too much time trying to regenerate force.

 

Madness PvE

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

A madness assassin is viewed with slightly less disdain than a deception assassin. They are tough to heal and don't have a significant amount of utility/survivability, or dps.

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

Our dps is OK but is still significantly less than it should be. For a DoT class, our DoT's tick for far less than again, a marauder in less gear. A marauder has 1 less dot, but the dps that a marauder (or lethality sniper, or madness sorc) can put out from their dots alone trumps ours significantly, as do their utility.

 

Overall:

Assassins are quite possibly the least desirable class out there for a PvE setting. The continuance of nerfs to PvP which destroy classes for PvE will ruin this game.

[murshawursha]

Starting with Deception:

 

1. How do you think your Assassin spec is perceived by other classes?

 

PvE:

Subpar DPS with zero utility and zero survivability. Fine for lower-tier raids like EV and KP, but for high-end stuff like Hard Mode EC, other classes can do more DPS AND bring more utility than I can. Almost every class out-DPSes Deception assassins, and bring more to the table from a teamwork perspective. Marauders get Bloodthirst. Snipers and Juggernaughts get armor penetration. Sorcs and Mercs can off-heal, plus put less strain on the healers by virtue of being ranged DPS.

 

Yes, my assassin gets stealth, but if I'm being completely honest, it's utterly useless in a group situation in endgame PvE for anything other than sapping, and most other classes get a 60-second CC that can be applied in combat, so that sin sap is still not a good reason to take one.

 

I've been a Deception Assassin since early access. I leveled to 50 in Deception and I've played it since then. Yesterday, I was pulled into a separate vent channel by some of my guild's officers and asked to embrace a tanking role so they could bring in a sorcerer to fill my DPS slot. I hate tanking, but my options at this point are basically tank, or quit raiding. This does not appear to be a situation that is unique to me, and that, quite frankly, is ********.

 

PvP:

Don't even bother. I get laughed at and told to switch to Darkness when I ask to join a rated group. Generally viewed as an easy kill with **** DPS.

 

2. How do you perceive your own spec?

 

PvE:

I'm in full Black Hole gear. Personally, I feel that my DPS is just barely enough to pull my own weight, but not anywhere near high enough to be able to compensate for my complete lack of utility or survivability. Damage is passable in fights favoring burst phases, and not so great in fights that favor sustained. Regardless, I feel like just about every other class can easily surpass my DPS, and be more useful to the group in other ways. In short, while I think I do a barely acceptable job in terms of raw DPS, there is literally zero reason or incentive to take me over any other DPS class in the game. I have to put myself in position to take more damage and I have fewer ways to mitigate it, which puts unnecessary pressure on our healers, and I don't do enough damage to justify it.

 

PvP:

Generally the same as PvE. I find that I generally lose 1v1 to other DPS classes, simply because my burst isn't enough to overcome my piss-poor survivability. Against healers, if I have all of my CCs and interrupts up, and I use them correctly, I can generally win assuming no other opponent intervenes. However, if another healer heals my target, or an enemy DPS attacks me, I don't have the burst to get the kill before I crumple.

 

Stealth is a little more useful in PvP, but combat lasts too long and force cloak has too long of a cooldown to truly play "hit-and-run" effectively.