So you want to nerf Concealment Operatives again?

First suggestion will make no changes since as someone pointed out - Probes last longer than that. Second suggestion would be a very significant nerf. I could live with nerfing TA refund (for example refund it once every 10 seconds) but adding an energy cost to a heal that is supposed to be our energy dump would pretty much kill the spec. It would force us to cast but we don't have any mechanic like a Merc (immunity to interrupts) or sorc (Force speed/knockback/bubble stun) that would allow as casting without being interrupted all the time. Third suggestion would make Operative healers even more powerful than now. I think that cover nerf we received in patch 2.5 was a step in the right direction. Thanks to that you can always pull/leap to an Operative. But I'm afraid you don't see the bigger picture. It's not about nerfing Operatives - it should be about boosting other healer specs - or I should say - casting specs. The game is designed around so many interrupts/cc's that it is impossible to cast anything once you're pitched against a good team. You'll instantly get shut down unless there's more of you (casters). When it comes to casting only Snipers seem to be in a very good place. Other than that it's just a meele insta-killing fest.

I don't want do disappoint you but based on devs idea of balancing it'll probably turn out to be something like this: "Based on our metrics Operatives abuse Cloaking Screen ability in order to survive until the end of the round by staying stealthed. In some cases this can lead to winning a round, therefore we're preventing them from using Cloaking Screen in Ranked Warzone Arenas environment. In exchange, we're reducing the energy cost of using Overload Shot by 1 and increasing the amount of damage absorbed by Shield Probe by 5%."

And Sins will still be superior. Take their burst for instance. Not to mention cooldowns - Force Shroud (imune to everything, yay!) and Deflection. And Overcharge Saber (I'd trade Stim Boost for that anytime). And better Stealth level and detection than Conc Operatives (unless you pop Sneak you'll never open up on Assassin before he opens on you). And a finisher that hits for more than our HS. And a viable utility (2 taunts) unlike our piece of crap Infiltration that can be used only at the beginning of the fight, yay!

+1 to that. And I would go even further with the statement. It's not JUST the case with Sorcs and Mercs being underpowered, it's about the number of stuns/snares/interrupts in this game. It's too easy to shutdown a ranged casting class just by coordinating interrupts and stuns (if you do it correctly your opponent won't be able to cast a single thing without relying on cooldowns). That's the only reason why Operatives shine because they can effectively heal a target without resorting to casting. Take that away and Operatives will become a liability (since their defense without instant casts is by far the worst of all healer classes) and the only competitive PvP tree will be gone. Why do you think the top DPS classes are PT's, Maras, Juggs, Sins (meele)? It's because every abilities that matter in their cases are instant (aside from Ravage and Flamethrower, I doun't count Choke since it's also a CC) and ridiculously powerful and they can easily close the distance to their target. Yes, you can kite them... for a while. And then you're gonna get destroyed. That's the part of the reason why Concealment Operatives suck - since they can't close the target (well they can, but it costs 1/4 of their energy pool) and their DPS is ****. It's totally possible to shutdown an Operative Healer, it's just not as easy as with other healers. Does this mean we should nerf Operatives and let meele DPS totally own the competition?

Meanwhile in the PvP forums: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=697740 Bioware, you have to do something fast.

Considering the current state of the class balance - I'm happy that it got delayed. (Not that they're gonna do any changes in the meantime...)

It totally depends what do you want to do. In terms of PvP: - Concealment was designed initially as a PvP burst spec (how laughable at this point) and after countless nerfs (spec was regularly nerfed since January 2012) it hit rock bottom (maybe Madness Assassins are worse, hard to say). It's "initial burst" is weaker than most classes sustained damage and sustained damage is beyond weak. It's very difficult to play this class well, especially in Arenas. Aside from weak damage, the class has very weak defensive cooldowns and everyone knows that, so uou will probably be the first targeted person in every warzone once you come out of stealth. That's basically the reason for our frustration since developers don't seem to give a damn about this spec and a class that's filling a similar role (Deception Assassins ) are very strong ATM in terms of out-of-stealth burst and guess what? They're getting buffed again in 2.5 - Lethality was initially a bad spec and funny thing is that it's better than Concealment in terms of raw damage. Big minus of this spec is the lack of initial burst (well, you have it but only after around 3 GCDS - many classes will reduce your hp by half at that point) but after you dot your target (works especially well against force users) the sustained damage is very good. I'd say Lethality is better since you can open from distance and dot your target while slowing it. Of course, the biggest advantage for this spec (Cover bonus) will be gone as of 2.5, unfortunately. Faces the same problems as Concealment - lack of defensive cooldowns. If you're not focused you can easily top the DPS board. It terms of PvE: - Lethality is one of the strongest specs in the game in terms of damage output. It's pretty fun to play and many people reach top10 in DPS parses on TORParse. It's the one spec that allows you to do both tremendous single target damage and AOE damage (Orbital + Corrosive Grenade + Fragmentation Grenade + Carabine Burst FTW). - Concealment isn't in a such a good place because it relies heavily on the opener (Hidden Strike) which can be only used while stealthed. In some fights it does its job (especially ones where you have to switch your target very often).

Your rotation alone shows bluntly that you don't know how to play this spec either. If you start with HS, you always follow up with a Shiv (in order to build UP TA's) and THEN dots combined with WB. WB is for increased damage from Cull and not the other way around so you want to make sure you have at least 2 TA's (pref. with Fatality and Stim Boost) up to maximize the output. Then you can unleash hell (which means 4-5 consecutive culls combined with Explosive Probe/restealthing). And cover has its uses many, ESPECIALLY in Lethality. You never open from stealth when faced against a Leaper. You start with Cover and then: CG -> CD -> EP -> Autoattacks/Snipes This will put you in an advantage because CG slows your opponent and you can keep dpsing him from range and use either Auto-Attacks or Snipes. When he finally catches up to you, THEN you start with the normal rotation. I agree that this change will hurt Lethality Operatives the most - one thing that gave us an edge against leapers will disappear.

Snipers wield powerful Sniper Rifles. Mercs wield powerful dual Blasters. We have a kitchen knife. I think that's the part of the reason.

Don't whine people! I can already sense another nerf coming Understand - Juggers, Marauders and Assassins are always gonna be above us. They are force wielders, whereas we are not. You can't argue with that now, can you?

Yep, now they're just spitting on our graves Remember the good old times? - 6-second Backstab CD - 50% Armor Penetration on Acid Blade - no CD on Hidden Strike - 3-second Knockback - Very nice crit chance - Better set bonuses TBH it wouldn't hurt if we got some of these things back... (excluding no CD on Hidden Strike, that was OP, no arguing about that)

More like 10 PM But yeah, some answers would be great!

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Corso Riggs!