Considering the control scheme had to be compatible with mmo control inputs (I'd guess less than 10% of the player base owns a joystick), I find the system the devs devised incredibly elegant and intuitive. I don't understand the complaints of "clunky" at all. It's the opposite of clunky. The ships (especially scouts) feel responsive and I get a sense of both speed and inertia. Skimming a scout over the surface of an asteroid or satellite while dodging blaster fire is the most StarWars-like experience I've had with this game in 2 years of being subbed. Yeah turn fights tend to be meh and I think the satellite capture mechanics need some work but overall it's a great product.

As a former very-involved swtor pvper who's now on the fence about whether to continue with the game: if Season One had these improvements it would certainly pique my interest.

Lacerate is still a pretty meh skill considering it soaks up 7 ability points. Lowering the CD on backstab by 1 second per lacerate would be nice. A stacking buff that increases backstab crit chance on each use of lacerate would be a way to generate some on-demand burst in a longer fight. Adding a trauma debuff to acid blade is a great idea that will make operatives more desirable without causing people to scream for nerfs. Perhaps most importantly, it's an easy buff to pvp that will have absolutely no effect on pve balance. AoE damage reduction seems like a loooong overdue no-brainer. Yeah pretty much everything Scold said.

Yeah bolster makes expertise nearly irrelevant. Make sure you aren't mixing pve mods into pvp gear or vice versa and your expertise should almost always be capped unless your pve gear level is 65+

Really? What patch was that?

I assume you're not in ion cell?

One mod gives 99 combined power/mainstat. The other gives 108. Pretty clear choice.

Collection of obnoxious ITK mez-caps: At 1:01:20 http://www.twitch.tv/melynmeron/b/428303589 At 2:10:30 http://www.twitch.tv/melynmeron/b/440004269 At 2:00 http://www.twitch.tv/melynmeron/c/2555216 From 0:30 to 1:20 http://www.twitch.tv/syberduh/c/2603962 At 2:11:10 http://www.twitch.tv/melynmeron/b/438996533 There were a ton more but twitch seems to have eaten most of my clips.

If the other team is running 2 dps + healer + full tank, then there's very little incentive to run a full tank on your team. There isn't enough incoming damage to make the survivability difference between a full tank and a prototank important. Meanwhile prototank is doing 3x the damage of a full tank (and also way more than any other tank hybrid right now) Often players don't run with a shield since it's a big dps drop and damage you take from guarding the healer (likely most of your incoming damage) isn't mitigated at all by shield.

On PTS teams were running full AP powertechs in ion cell. Most of them ran full dps gear except for a shield generator. A few of them used a tankier blend of gear. iirc the full dps-geared ones were scarier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njBPUXTUDXw

Let the mez-cap sound on the west turret One. Last. Time. #Youhavemyaxe #NoIamyourfather #FREEEEEEDOMMMMMMMMM #EightvEightisAight #Pussytactics #Classiclolsplit #Leftgoleftrightgorightexceptforthetoptwowhowentleftlasttimeyougorightonthenextroundeverybodygotthat?

Yeah does the operative set of questions need to reiterate the set bonus and dps survivability questions from scoundrels? Like, "no really bioware these issues are gimping the class." Maybe with some caps and colors for EMPHASIS? FFS Bioware. DPS ops are just comically bad in arenas. The two most prevalent dps specs are smash mara and AP powertech. Trying to play a melee dps without an AOE damage reduction buff in that environment is RIDICULOUS I can't slip and shade my way through an enormous elemental AOE damage cone that includes a 90% slow. I love that AP is finally getting some love but the state of dps ops is just pathetic. Several matches in a row against wakalord on his op here starting around 1:43: http://www.twitch.tv/melynmeron/b/457613272 (vs. the same group except Waka on his 'sin at 39 mins and at 1:11 for comparison) They're just screwing around with comp but you get the idea. In the first match we pretty much ignore wakasopperative and he does good damage. In the other matches we just train him mercilessly and there isn't much he can do. We aren't even running AP PTs that melt ops even harder than smash.

AP is really strong in arenas on the PTS right now. Be ready for the accusations that you rerolled fotm.

Yeah AP PTs are the current fotm on the PTS. AP flamethrower is NASTY. All that AOE elemental damage every 15 secs is murder on those small-scale maps. Probably better than smash in terms of raw output though PTs still have less survivability than maras. There are also few teams running full tanks at the moment. You see a lot of fake-tank AP PTs running ion cell and a few DPS juggs in soresu. But it's true that op healers are currently the only way to go. I've literally faced zero non-op healers in my last 30 matches. As I've said before, a good sorc can keep up for a while, but he or she will inevitably run out of energy well before the five-minute mark whereas a good op healer rarely will.