Sniper 2.0 PTS!

[BetaKiller]

I dunno....alacrity during Cull phase would be rather nice, and in full lethality I rarely run into energy problems.

 

I'm not worried about energy, is just that reapplying DoTs sooner you will lose DPS. On Live you have time for 2 Culls before they go to the Weak Version so it depends on how much alacrity to get so you can get a 3rd Cull in.

 

Btw I did a small test and I don't think the AoE internal damage will count to Cull, but I still have to check with ACT

 

My biggest concern right now is this hit to stat rebalance. If BiS 63 is losing 8% crit as ppl are saying there may be a problem. Especially if it also hits Accuracy, having to use yet ANOTHER enhacement to keep Accuracy at the right level will hurt.

[BetaKiller]

A while ago I was playing with alacrity as MM and I got my ambush time down to some freakishly low amount but it ended up hurting my DPS as I became energy starved a lot quicker.

 

EDIT:Meant to say ambush, not snipe.

 

Yea but now alacrity helps regen Maybe your crazy idea might work now hehe

[paowee]

The original post has been updated! Let me know if any corrections are needed. Edited February 21, 2013 by paowee

[Synavix]

I don't think Alacrity will be beneficial enough to change gearing for Engineering or Lethality, since it still won't decrease the baseline GCD on instant abilities like CD, CG, IP, EP. It wouldn't really be a *bad* stat, but since both those specs are fairly limited in their DPS output by the uptime of DoTs and cooldowns of things like Cull or EP, I think we'll still want to max out our other stats. MM sort of has the same issue with FT, but spends so much more time casting in order to increase the amount of times you can cast it (FT) I think that in the longrun it may be worth it, but this may depend on how much stat inflation we get from one tier to the next and how much energy regen we get from alacrity. Edited February 21, 2013 by Synavix

[BetaKiller]

I don't think Alacrity will be beneficial enough to change gearing for Engineering or Lethality, since it still won't decrease the baseline GCD on instant abilities like CD, CG, IP, EP. It wouldn't really be a *bad* stat, but since both those specs are fairly limited in their DPS output by the uptime of DoTs and cooldowns of things like Cull or EP, I think we'll still want to max out our other stats. MM sort of has the same issue with FT, but spends so much more time casting in order to increase the amount of times you can cast it (FT) I think that in the longrun it may be worth it, but this may depend on how much stat inflation we get from one tier to the next and how much energy regen we get from alacrity.

 

Alacrity will reduce GCD in the case of instant abilites as per Patch Notes

[Lightning_]

So do you already know about the secondary stat formula changes? Crit is crap now. Look here http://i.imgur.com/agRMYfO.jpg 2655 cunning, 395 crit rating, and just 27% crit!

DF/Lethality is screwed?

[NoTomorrow]

A while ago I was playing with alacrity as MM and I got my ambush time down to some freakishly low amount but it ended up hurting my DPS as I became energy starved a lot quicker.

 

EDIT:Meant to say ambush, not snipe.

 

Before 1.3, with alacrity from target acquired, my personal ambush activation time relcord was 0,7 seconds, i could cast 3 SoS in a row at 1,5s each. It was crazy, and you only needed an alacrity relic.

[NoTomorrow]

So do you already know about the secondary stat formula changes? Crit is crap now. Look here http://i.imgur.com/agRMYfO.jpg 2655 cunning, 395 crit rating, and just 27% crit!

DF/Lethality is screwed?

 

how much total crit chance have you lost compared to 1.7?

[Lightning_]

how much total crit chance have you lost compared to 1.7?

That's not me on the screenshot, I'm at work so can't try it (damn work).

But seriously, with about 1850 cunning and ~430 crit rating I have 40% crit chance now on live.

[Synavix]

Alacrity will reduce GCD in the case of instant abilites as per Patch Notes

 

Hm, perhaps. Not how I'm reading it though....I think the wording is a bit weird. The way I'm reading it is that the GCD is only reduced if an ability with a cast time is reduced below 1.5 seconds, such as a 1.2 second Ambush (and then the GCD becomes 1.2 for that cast). The reason they mentioned instant cast abilities is for something like an instant cast snipe, which would (most likely) reduce the GCD to whatever the intended cast time of snipe would have been, had it not been instant. Since alacrity cannot increase the "activation time" of an ability with no cast time, the GCD remains 1.5 seconds for any default instant ability.

 

I could be wrong, so if anyone has actually tested this and can confirm/deny it'd be appreciated.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Synavix

[NoTomorrow]

Hm, perhaps. Not how I'm reading it though....I think the wording is a bit weird. The way I'm reading it is that the GCD is only reduced if an ability with a cast time is reduced below 1.5 seconds, such as a 1.2 second Ambush (and then the GCD becomes 1.2 for that cast). The reason they mentioned instant cast abilities is for something like an instant cast snipe, which would (most likely) reduce the GCD to whatever the intended cast time of snipe would have been, had it not been instant. Since alacrity cannot increase the "activation time" of an ability with no cast time, the GCD remains 1.5 seconds for any default instant ability.

 

I could be wrong, so if anyone has actually tested this and can confirm/deny it'd be appreciated.

 

Synavix, alacrity will reduce the GCD as well. Here is the proof:

Carnage Tree, the berserk used to reduce the GCD before, remember? Now it is just changed to 30% alacrity? Why because it basically does the same for the marauder: it makes him use his instant abilities faster with lower GCD.

 

The thing about reducing activation time below that of GCD, and thus reducing the GCD itself, was always the truth even now. If you activate a sniper in 1,4sec, you will be able to immediately use another ability, not way 0,1s for GCD.

[NoTomorrow]

That's not me on the screenshot, I'm at work so can't try it (damn work).

But seriously, with about 1850 cunning and ~430 crit rating I have 40% crit chance now on live.

 

same for me. If this will bring me down to 27% that's a huge nerf.

[kvandertulip]

Alacrity is going to be very important vs. Juggs and Guardians to get Ambush off quickly. I am very worried about Saber defect. Ambush very clearly broadcasts to the target that they are going to be hit with Ambush. They now have the ability to send that damage right back at us. I am wondering if we can Dodge (now with cleanse our own Ambush?

[dinwitt]

I am still more worried about Alacrity. This change is huuuge. We will probably have to squeeze yet another stat i have no idea where in our gear. What will be the optimum values of stats distributions? No idea. This amount of study here will be incredible.

 

Unless they change how they generate items, you have a choice between accuracy, alacrity, and surge. So the PvE optimal will probably be accuracy till you have enough, alacrity to some break point (i.e. enough to get a third Cull without refreshing dots), and the rest surge.

[NoTomorrow]

Alacrity is going to be very important vs. Juggs and Guardians to get Ambush off quickly. I am very worried about Saber defect. Ambush very clearly broadcasts to the target that they are going to be hit with Ambush. They now have the ability to send that damage right back at us. I am wondering if we can Dodge (now with cleanse our own Ambush?

 

Man, i am still happy that this is a jug exclusive. If this was given to maras, we would all be in big trouble. Basically, you are denied of using ambush until he wastes his saber reflect. You must use anything but ambush on juggernauts, or at least pop-up preemtively an evasion.

[paowee]

I dunno....alacrity during Cull phase would be rather nice, and in full lethality I rarely run into energy problems.

 

I'd love to see some tweaks in engineering. B'oard will shiver, but I don't run hybrid, just not my style, so I'm either all engineering or all lethality. If there's a mechanism to boost single target damage via IP and SoS, that'd make me pretty giddy as Engineering is my favorite spec, especially on defense.

 

Don't get me wrong.. I love Full Lethality.. and Marksmanship. I only shy away from Marks because I do not do great single target DPS with it. Around 1800 only xD I respec to Full Lethality for Operator and TFB last boss

 

Also we're still waiting on those Engineering talent trees!

Edited February 21, 2013 by paowee

[NoTomorrow]

One interesting thing: the is one set bonus for healers which increases the shield probe damage absorbtion. Combine this with the talents from either Engineering or lethality, and you will have some nasty shield probes!

 

Maybe you will be able to combine engineering and lethality talents together for some crazy powerful shield probes.

 

 

ballistic dampers is a tier 1 skill!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!! I told you!!! I always wanted this one. Now lethality can have it as well in any build!!!!!

Edited February 21, 2013 by NoTomorrow

[paowee]

On the new Alacrity:

 

I can confirm that Alacrity does, indeed, reduce the GCD of Creeping Terror and other dots. By a pretty significant amount, too. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that it's simultaneously feeding me more Force, I might actually be worried.

The answer is that if your alac is 30%, then each of your GCD's takes 1.05 to tick instead of 1.5 seconds. It does not affect cooldowns.

 

If I cast an instant ability in 1.7 I would then wait 1.5 seconds for the GCD to refresh so I could channel my second ability, for example. In 2.0, you will wait 1.05 seconds.

 

Alacrity now also increases resource regeneration for all classes by the same amount that it increases ability activation speed

 

Too much Alacrity for MM Snipers might result in button mashing Snipes, Ambushes, FTs..

 

This could lead to faster DoT applications and earlier Culls for Lethality Snipers. With a set timer on our DoTs though perhaps more fillers can be used in between those 2 Culls (?). As it is, on live, I find I do not have enough time/GCDs to keep EP on cooldown as Full Lethality. I find that more often than not, it is either Ambush or EP, and rarely both if i want to keep Cull on cooldown as much as I can. And with the addition of Takedown procs, it might be too hard to use all the filler abilities again without delaying your Cull.

 

The lowered GCD could be valuable for bosses with immunity/burn phases e.g. Operator, Tentacles inside Phase 2 of TFB last boss, Kephess 4 stacks debuff. I can recall a lot of instances where I am trying to squeeze in an extra Ambush or EP or LS only to find Operator's yellow shields turn up

 

 

CG - CD - WB - Cull - (Takedown) - SoS - Ambush / LS / EP - Cull - (Takedown). If TD does not proc use EP instead What Alacrity rating will you be aiming for?

 

 

Edited February 21, 2013 by paowee

[NoTomorrow]

have you seen? no more proc system for reactive shot, it's a flat out 1,5s for ambush.

[paowee]

have you seen? no more proc system for reactive shot, it's a flat out 1,5s for ambush.

 

Do you have new updates on MM trees? PTS still not finished dling.

 

Anyway talk to you guys later again tonight!

Edited February 21, 2013 by paowee

[NoTomorrow]

Do you have new updates on MM trees? PTS still not finished dling

 

the guy from the other thread has a nice review over the sniper skill trees. The changes to MM are massive compared to other 2 specs. There is TONS of STUFF in MM. Please, if you have time, update your main post with that new information. There is some crazy stuff out there. You will be mind-blown.

 

a few details:

1. ballistic dampers and cover screen switched places. You can get BD with full lethality while having access to cunning 9% and +10 energy

2. rapid fire is 1 pt only! with 1 point you reduce the ambush and SoS CD by 3s.

3. you can basically proc FT after everything, and that everything will reset the FT proc, you will never ever have to wait for 6s FT CD, because Ambush, full SoS cast (which will be 2,1s in MM now without any alacrity stuff), 2 snipes, they will all reset the CD on FT, and proc it.

3. Reactive shot is a flat ambush 1s faster activation. No more proc system.

4. FT makes your next 2 snipes cheaper (so you can 2 snipe and reset FT), bye bye filler attacks like corrosive dart.

5. YOU GET +10% ARMOR PENETRATION ON EVERYTHING, it's attached to the talent that improves the crit to snipes.

Edited February 21, 2013 by NoTomorrow

[paowee]

Here is a link to a thread in the pts forum re: Alacrity in 2.0 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5888432#post5888432

[DarkSaberMaster]

I tried out Lethality on PTS. I mainly used my training dummy on my ship to try out rotations. One thing I noticed with Lethality is that I had no energy issues whatsoever. Before, if I would keep reapplying the dots (yes I know. terrible player lol), I would run out of energy real fast. Well. I never got below about 35-40% energy. I was spamming all my abilities to try to exhaust my energy and couldn't do it. Also. The 45% chance of Cull allowing Takedown without being at 30% health, is pure win. Every time I used Cull, Takedown was always available.

 

To me, from what I have seen, the changes to Lethality are nice. Now it may be different in the field in PvE or PvP. But so far, just for what I was trying to test out, Lethality got a nice boost. I'll try to provide more feedback when I get off work and try it out in PvP and PvE.

[paowee]

I tried out Lethality on PTS. I mainly used my training dummy on my ship to try out rotations. One thing I noticed with Lethality is that I had no energy issues whatsoever. Before, if I would keep reapplying the dots (yes I know. terrible player lol), I would run out of energy real fast. Well. I never got below about 35-40% energy. I was spamming all my abilities to try to exhaust my energy and couldn't do it. Also. The 45% chance of Cull allowing Takedown without being at 30% health, is pure win. Every time I used Cull, Takedown was always available.

 

To me, from what I have seen, the changes to Lethality are nice. Now it may be different in the field in PvE or PvP. But so far, just for what I was trying to test out, Lethality got a nice boost. I'll try to provide more feedback when I get off work and try it out in PvP and PvE.

 

Nice. Just curious, did you have any Alacrity?

[DarkSaberMaster]

The only alacrity I had was from the talent in the first tier of the Lethality tree. That's about it. I can't check my character sheet until I get off work. I'll post my stats when I get home.