That's fine. As I've played more and more of the Spec, its strengths have come more apparent to me. It definitely isn't that far from the top even in Single. I think what is holding the spec back the most is actually the range, which alongside the lower APM gameplay makes this Spec less appealing than Lightning. And arguably the GCD disconnects with channeled abilities as well. Based on feedback I've heard other Sorcerer players in my guild, as well as my own observations. Slow Mercy is fantastic, I am not sure what you're smoking and I want none of it. Glad you mentioned Static Barrier, it would indeed be a great addition to this Spec's survivability! These ideas were not entirely meant for the Onslaught patch cycle, more so towards 7.X but I suppose I could have been more clear about that. Shock indeed is very underwhelming and seems more like an Assassin ability this time around (Electrify, Ball Lightning, Eradicate) with only really Lightning caring about it. My idea for Shock upgrade on Madness came from Summoner's Tri-Disaster in XIV, which is a fantastic ability and could make the Spec more fun to play in the opener IMO. Perhaps adding Force Storm interactivity for Madness would be too much. Something to think about for sure.

Reading these responses again and playing some Hatred again after a while has made me return to thinking about ways to buff the spec. I don't think that removing DoT spread is the way to go, I think that the nigh endless spread from spin is very satisfying and a fun mechanic, definitely a selling point of the spec for me. And I understand that having that strong option for AoE will hamper the Single Target balancing prospects of the spec and I think it's alright. However as things currently stand, I believe a buff is in order. I recently noticed that none of the Specs on Assassin really interact with Overload Saber significantly. Deception and Darkness do care about Recklessness somewhat but not OS. I'm fine with Hatred not having much interaction with Recklessness if it can instead do stuff with Overload Saber. My idea would be, that it would have a higher uptime on the buff, where either having a DoT crit would extend its duration or one of the DoTs, preferably Discharge have its cooldown shortened for every crit tick. It's been interesting to see parses with the buffed Quick Escalation tactical, even though I personally don't run it still, the Developers are on the right track there for an alternative Single Target buff on Hatred. I don't like ability spam for single target situations, so I would perhaps buff the DMG increase in Leeching Strike even further for this tactical but lock it behind RNG so that the player is incentivized to fish for it again by using other attacks. Stealth interactivity and animation smoothness still remain as glaring flaws for this Spec. I'd prefer the DoT reapplication to be tied to weapon attacks instead of long, clunky casts and some kind of incentive to go Stealth pre fight or even mid fight. Vengeance and Annihilation remain the superior, well executed DoT melee models for this game in my opinion.

Been recently brainstorming some ideas for Madness/Balance. I don't think there is an urgent need for these as they might be too strong in the current patch cycle. So I would like to see any one of these in a future update past Onslaught cycle. All of my proposed changes to Madness have been sorted three different categories; area of effect, single target and utility. With the Utility section being one that I would like to see happen sooner than later. My goals with these is to make Madness/Balance a more enticing choice for players while strenghtening its Spec fantasy and smoothing out its rotation and playability. In its current form, there are interactions with abilities that Lightning has but Madness doesn't (Force Storm and Shock especially) and I would like to see that change. Volt Rush I am not that big on, but I did throw in some ideas for it as well. If Devs insist on Madness being the choice for AoE on Sorcerers, I aimed to hypothesize some buffs to make that become even more of a reality. Right now my issue with Madness being viewed as AoE spec comes from Death Field's small area of effect and infrequency due to cooldown, as well as Force Storm being a bit weak. Lifesteal in this game also feels like a weaker mechanic in comparison to the Damage Reduction. Giving more of that to Madness sounds like a fine idea, but I wanted to venture further into what Lifesteal could do for this Spec. Lifesteal's biggest issue right now being that it does nothing beyong full HP, while DR if timed correctly can help dampen incoming damage at any given moment. AOE: -Targets with Deathmarks remaining on them get targeted by Force Leech within a limited search radius around the primary target of FL -Channeling Force Storm now also builds Wrath stacks up to 4 -Affliction has a chance to spread to a nearby target not affected by Sleep Dart/Whirlwind etc -Dark Echo does 5 to 10% more damage Single: -Upgrade to Shock (called Blightning) which inflicts the target with Affliction and Creeping Terror and has a high damage nuke component and with a fairly long 70-90 second cooldown -Force Leech or Lightning Strike receives a small percentage damage increase on targets that are presently suffering from any of your DoTs and are below 30% HP -Volt Rush has increased base damage and replenishes Deathmarks on a target -Volt Rush has a chance to reset the duration of a DoT effect Utility: -When receiving Lifesteal at 100% HP, it contributes to your next Bubble cast as increased absorb value -Deionized debuff slightly shortened for this Spec, to entice players with the Lifesteal "overshields" buff -Empty Body utility point affects stolen life as well -Using Seethe builds up Wrath stacks I would also like to have more flashy buff effects for Madness to telegraph when they are 4 stacks of Wrath or other buffs present. Lightning has a handful of them which makes it a treat to look at. Lightning Strike, Affliction and Creeping Terror could also use an animation facelift to make them pop some more. As extra, I will commend the Devs on the execution of these two fantastic tacticals: -Slow Mercy, makes the AoE situations on this Spec so much fun. I pretty much always have a Tank companion out and use their Mass Pull to clump a big pack of mobs for a juicy Death Field and then blast them away with Demolish. Such a beautiful sight to behold! -Tempest of Rho, especially on weaker enemies this shows. The yellow text flying and the health bar ticking down fast is a very satisfying experience. Gives just the right amount of juice to Madness single that it needed! Constructive feedback is preferred over "X is fine now" type comments. Thank you for reading!

KA-BUMP! I doubt that too many people read this section of the forums. But I would like to bump this thread because I made some changes to my original proposals here. Feeling pretty passionate about the state of Hatred right now, there are some design disconnects that could be smoothed over. The gameplay loop of Deception feels nicer, even though that is largely subjective. The main attraction for me with Hatred is the Bloodletting proc, it paired with Reaper's Rush gives an amazing and powerful feeling where I am cleaving huge chunks away from the enemy's health pool. Spreading DoTs with the Spin also feels fantastic, doubly so when Two-Time Trouble procs. Procs, procs, procs galore. Very addicting, however the rest is pretty meh and I try to smooth those over in the post I just edited, hopefully you're interested in reading it!

Been playing a lot of Madness Sorc for the past week or so. Currently in the phase of min-maxing my set with the right mods, enhancements and amplifiers. With that out of the way; I wouldn't mind seeing the base damage penalty of Lightning Barrage being lifted but I think the tactical Tempest of Rho already addresses this. It basically gives a chance for Creeping Terror to tick again while Force Lightning is being channeled. I can easily notice it in lower tier content and it's honestly so satisfying to look at enemy healthbar just depleting super fast. I think both Lightning and Madness could use slight buffs to their damage on different areas. For Madness I have these proposals: -Small Affliction damage buff and a chance for it to spread to a nearby enemy that is not soft-CC'd. Additional plaguemaster flavor for Sorc! -Ability upgrade to Lightning Strike, could see this for lvl 80. Perhaps make it so that it deals increased damage based on the amount of DoTs in the target. It's about time we got some new ability upgrades BW! -Execute phase damage bonus to Force Leech in the form of a new debuff that Force Leech causes on enemies under 30% health, this debuff increases the severity of Damage-over-Time effects or FL gets an increased damage value. I was thinking of a hungering or a "hollowing out" type flavor for this. -Stolen life as "overshields" on top of health when at max HP. Madness lacks the durability of Lightning, this could address that imbalance. Basically a passive that decreases the cooldown of Force Barrier so it has higher uptime and the absorption value it has is increased by the stolen life. Nothing is ever enough for a Sith! And for general quality of life: I would so like that there'd be alternative ways to stack Wrath. Especially on channeling Force Storm and/or using Seethe out of combat (Marauders can spec into something like this with a Utility) perhaps. Up the values of the lifesteal on the abilities slightly, or make it so that Empty Body has an effect on them as well. Also updated particle effects to the two smaller DoTs, Lightning Strike and Shock. Lightning also gets bunch of cool character effects when buffs are present, Madness deserves that too. Thank you for attending my TedTalk! Edit: Fleshed out my thoughts more on the ability section.

Yes, this is happening to me. Just resubscribed today, it was there in Preferred mode as well and after going back to subscriber status. I tried deleting bitraider several times, putting it on automatic in services.msc and restarting my PC. Now I am trying re-installing and swapping to a non-streaming launcher, hopefully that will work.

For clarification, I used to play Watchman for a couple months in late 2016 but I fell in love with Combat later so it got kind of sidelined. However I've not even touched Combat in this expansion. I do recall this being a core part of the gameplay back then and technically it still is without Spiteful Saber. However I do not feel like it is that integral for my enjoyment. The animation for Marauder's on Rupture is downright clunky and would be a definite dealbreaker for me with the Spec if the Watchman alternative wasn't smoother feeling. Now this I can get behind more so. I instinctively tried to time my Zen in early 6.0 to align with the old timing from the past and I do think it'd be nicer if it was still like that. But this one also doesn't hurt my enjoyment because the gameplay loop is so smooth and enjoyable. It creates an illusion of choice with its RNG dishing out which big filler to use or if there even is a big filler. Generally other DoT classes like Serenity and Balance feel clunky when reapplying their DoTs because they are "cast" and do not really have any impactful animation to front them, which most of Watchman's abilities have. I enjoy Vigilance because it never breaks its saber swinging and the DoTs just occur on the side. Force Melt and Force Exhaustion & Focused Burst for Watchman and Concentration respectively break this flow a little but their other abilities make up for it just fine. Watchman is like a river flowing (like how Combat used to feel in the past) through the enemy as it slowly erodes all in its path and that makes it beautiful. Whereas Concentration has this jagged, rough around the edges feel that has its own appeal as well. Hope I made at least a lick of sense.

I dunno, maybe it's that you have played the spec for much longer than I have but I am really enjoying Watchman in Onslaught. It might be my favorite Melee to play right now with Infiltration coming in hot right behind it. There's a really nice flow to Watchman where everything except Force Melt is applied through the melee attacks and it all looks so smooth and there isn't really a break in the animations. Whenever I strike with Merciless Slash I feel like I am cleaving a huge chunk of flesh off the enemy and it usually provides a really big number to boost that feeling. Having Twin Saber Throw as part of the rotation is also amazing as it's definitely the selling point of a Sentinel in my opinion. Now all of these aspects existed in the Spec before 6.0 so I will mention what I started to enjoy even more with the 6.0 stuff: Spiteful Saber, this Tactical is really well designed and feels almost too strong. I usually compare it to Serenity's Two Time Trouble and it really makes me appreciate it even more. It resulting in spamming "Slash" doesn't really hurt my enjoyment that much, though I admit whenever I engage in that phase in the rotation I feel like I should be doing something more powerful right now. But it passes away soon enough when I have so much centering thanks to it to pop Zen and use my other abilities and the fun can continue. I don't mind refreshing Cauterize that much, but it feels much nicer to have it streamlined via Spiteful Saber. Though I cannot stand the animation it has on Marauder as it's way too floaty and awkward. Malmourral Mask also has a really cool animation, I enjoy using it tremendously as it augments my favorite Watchman ability and makes it feel even stronger. I really wish one of these would be built into the Discipline Path so I could have both up in every encounter. Another nice QoL thing I got to mention from 6.0 : Hidden Power - I love this thing! Be it Flashpoints or Operations, it gives me something to do when readying up for a Boss encounter. Usually I am the first at the Boss anyways in Flashpoints so I have time to pop it on without issues and Operations usually have the ready check which allows for a window of opportunity. Just such a lovely treat and I am feeling the love Devs have given to Sentinels in this expansion. Now regarding Overload Saber - I agree! It is a great example of a successful implementation of a DoT for a melee character. In other settings I could totally see it as a charge based enchantment or an envenomed weapon type ability that could bring lots of cool interactions to the table and it's awesome that BW is in a sense "pioneering" this style of ability execution, as I do not recall that many abilities from other games being done that way. Overall, I am satisfied playing Watchman in 6.X so far. I sometimes switch things up by playing Shadow/Assassin but Watchman is pretty much my tried and true Main for this expansion and I am yet to regret it.

I started playing around 4.0 so I did not experience what it was like for an Assassin or Shadow to have Phase Walk, but I would imagine that it was a great cooldown to have. I could see myself using it way more than on Sage/Sorc. But it might be too good to have back now alongside Phantom Stride. Losing Force Lightning does feel like an overall blow for the class fantasy which I can sympathize with but I kind of wave it away similarly to the Warrior using Force Choke in the Academy before its anywhere near your hotbar - a mechanical overview by the devs in exchange for story flavor. I would imagine that the Inquisitor Assassin could use the ablity if they so desired but their preferred method of combat is Melee. I actually have not had that many bad Phantom Strides in my time, but it definitely requires a closer look from the devs to iron out all the varying wrinkles in its code if that is feasible. Don't recall Assassins and Shadows having Crushing DANKness or Mind Crush in 4.0 and it being included seems strange. Regarding Cleaving Cut and Severing Slash - if there will be more interactivity with it in the future, like the DoT spreading buff we got in 6.1.1 then I won't mind it sticking. But it does feel much worse to use then the 'ole spinnie spin. It needs to justify its existence because a cone is a much more worse shape than a circle and it could do that by sending some kind of wave forward that gives it range. Might be a bit too anime for this setting though and it's kind of stepping on Jedi Knight's toes a bit. In general I do feel that Inquisitors and Consulars got very little love in 6.0 when it comes to the new abilities but there is some potential in both, it remains to be seen if BW will decide to capitalize upon that potential or not.

These are my Proposed changes for mainly the two DPS Shadow / Assassin specializations from a PVE perspective. I think in general Deception/Infiltration is pretty much fine, it could use a slight increase in its AoE potential by having a higher crit chance for Severing Slash or an increased chance of a Charge proc for Lacerate. So essentially in AoE situations, it would fuel your single target bursty pay off faster. Hatred/Serenity has more issues that bother me, though this isn't to say that I don't enjoy the spec tremendously, believe me I do. Lifesteal (offensive action restores some amount of health) in this game does not really feel impactful in my opinion. However, it could be impactful if you get more creative with it. Some proposed changes on the survivability front to Hatred: 1. My idea for changing Imbibe-passive. Currently it boosts the lifesteal of Leech Strike and allows Discharge and Creeping Terror to also lifesteal, but I think this secondary aspect of the passive is close to insignificant. So I would suggest that the Leech Strike part is buffed to 250% or even higher to make it feel more impactful and the DoT part of the passive now instead triggers a stacking Damage Reduction buff up to 20% to help with the survivability issues of the spec. 2. Alternatively I would suggest that Nefarious Methods would be reworked so that whenever you trigger your saber's charge you get a stacking damage reduction buff and it would have a constant uptime and might even have a higher number than what it currently has (30% when using Mass MC for 6sec) and the DoT resistance would stay on naturally. 3. Lifestealing while at full health slowly builds up "overshields" or additional HP on top of the existing health pool. Or it gives that as additional damage absorption during Deflection. (Would also be fun if it healed the target the Sin is guarding...) Single target damage of Hatred: Simply an ability upgrade to Spike - now does not require to be used from stealth and refreshes the duration of Discharge or Creeping Terror. This would address one of the animation flow issues I have with the spec, I don't feel particularly powerful when extending my arms to do what is essentially sorcery. Other melee DoT specs have the ability to seamlessly apply their DoTs with their weaponskills, Hatred needs that IMO. The overall Force cost of the abilities could be lowered as well, but I am not that adamant about it. Something that also bothers me about Hatred is its lack of interaction with Stealth. Deception for instance has built-in interactivity with Force Cloak because it decreases the cooldown of Recklessness. It essentially makes that Spec feel more like a stealther. Some kind beneficiality of Stealthing/interaction with going to Stealth would be great for Hatred as it is part of the Assassin family. My idea for it would be that when you exit combat, your on-going Damage over Time effects would deal their remaining damage in that instance and then end. However I could see it as a potential source of lagging when the server has to take it to an account. In regards to a more general Stealth interactivity I am proposing a very simple change: The Stealth Force Generation passive from Deception/Infiltration should be baseline for all 3 specializations, it's just such a nice quality of life thing and it could help Hatred out so much and give a small boost to Darkness DPS in the opener as well. What replacing it in the Dec/Infi tree would be? I'll be happy to brainstorm that any time. Regarding Phasing Phantasm change, I would revert it and allow it to be damage reduction across the board, more than 25% but not more than 60% which it was originally. Around 45-50% would be a good place to put it. Cleaving Cut/Severing Slash needs more flat damage OR utility. For Hatred it would deal additional damage based on the targets having DoTs. Deception would have small armor ignore component or perhaps another type of Sunder. For Darkness it could increase DR per target hit slightly. Overall the animation looks cool but it needs to have interactivity with the specs. Sure it can have that with some Tacticals but most of them are very underwhelming - with the main exception being May Cause Injury for the burst spec. Even that feels like jumping through an unnecessary hoop. It spreading the DoT effects was a step in the right direction. More of that BioWare pls! Did some heavy editing on the 8th of August, gist of my message is the same but my thoughts are now more developed.

Very glad that it finally happened in 6.0 and I hope they keep giving us conversations with Scourge in 6.X patches. Both regarding the Emperor and the relationship itself. I especially desire some fanservice for Dark Side Knights and Scourge pushing them towards the passion and Way of the Sith. (And also discussion with the Wrath about the Emperor)

It would be cool, but I would only accept it as a story twist for the very final story patch of the game. The Warrior/Inquisitor leading the Empire to a glorious victory and then receiving both popular support and allies in the council to overthrow Acina/Vowrawn. Although, I do like both quite a bit... I hope we can romance them in the future. I think being part of the Emperor's Hand will definitely give a chance to be with them more privately. I do think that Wrath and Kallig are the most deserving of the throne but from a gameplay perspective it would seem like too high of a post for frontline work, that the game is more aimed at. I will not get too excited and expect my Inquisitors and Warriors to remain as stalwart confidants for the Good Empress and potential suitors.

I do sometimes run it for the romances. But yes, those chapters do feel outdated like from a bygone era. I recall Asylum still having a Data Crystal vendor despite that currency not existing for ages now!

First off, in my opinion the game is doing alright and that isn't in my definition dead. However, it is in my meager understanding the prevailing impression among the more casual Star Wars fans and online gamers that SWTOR is dead or on life support as a cash cow. This impression is very hard to dispel as EA barely markets The Old Republic anymore. The cinematic trailers for Zakuul saga were a good attempt but it had a very non-Star Warsy feel and the content failed to enrapture many players, although it did enrapture me as I was one of the few new players during that era who stayed. Not marketing a great game I know all to see well from another game I love dearly, Dota 2. Valve barely puts any effort in adversiting it outside of occasional Steam News popups and The International yearly gigantic tournament. So the impression among many people I know, who aren't that knowledgeable of it seems to be that it's a dead game akin to SWTOR. Now, I would cautiously advocate for EA to bump up the budget for the game and maybe try adversiting it a bit more with another cinematic. I think the game's current graphics start to look a bit dated, so they might not appeal to an audience as much but sure, better than nothing I guess if we're not running with an epic cinematic again. I want nothing more than for this game to flourish and see the dawning of its 10th Anniversary, with many twists and turns in the perennial coils of war between Jedi and Sith, it is the vision for the Galaxy I always will prefer over Lucas and Disney interpretations.

Just finished playing the Revanite storyline on DK for the millionth time and it got me curious about Tari Darkspanner (the Master at the time) and I began to read her page on Wookieepedia. It contains certain lore I've not been able to find anywhere else, and I wonder if it's actually fan-fiction. Specifically her receiving visions from Revan to leave Dromund Kaas before the Dark Council agents could get to her. This is the page in question All I know is that she is an easter egg "mini-boss" on Yavin as "Lord Darkspanner" and between then and chatting with her in that tent in DK my mind draws a blank. Also this thread can serve as a general discussion on the Revanites, it's something I kinda enjoy from the older Old Republic era even if they are not relevant anymore. Also the link to the Developer blog article in there is really cool, wish they'd continue posting small lore tidbits in-character like that, would work really well with Onslaught.