Please learn to quote posts properly. You fail to understand, which is norm for the "it is fine" crowd so okay. The point is, was, and will be that numerically making our basic combo mechanic _worth less_ than single skill use spamming is breaking a game design. They should have lowered the numerical values so the MECHANIC stays valid, but values are lower, NOT break the mechanic. But, as I said, failing to understand this is normal. Again, failure to understand changing the heat mechanics was exactly the wrong thing to do. Nerf the values, not the gameplay to "stupid mode". So, you never went to J&S nightmare with dual mercs post patch with rakata gear? You forget we overgear hardmode Denova already? Gee, wonder why you don't seem to grasp the issues... You, keep, failing, to, understand. Of course you probably were not part of the active discussion community during the time around 1.2? _Nerfing the values would have been okay_, changing the heat mechanics and making bounty hunter and CM whack-a-mole stupid healer with severely gimped skill rewards was NOT okay. I still have some time from the free month left so am actually trying to get this point out to these uninformed threads, but whatever ...

If by fine you mean: Designs of class mechanics broken by illthought heat changes (HS+RS combo during gas) All skill / choices destroyed (only penalties from switching KS targets, doing burst / cool cycles nerfed out of gameplay) Arguably too weak at intended gear levels for healing output in operations (NM Jarg & Sorno, HC Two Tanks Stormcaller side, and no being mostly fully Black Hole geared now does not count as "completing content") Then sure, they are fine. Boring, whack-a-mole gameplay with near zero skill rewards with weakest output, with broken gameplay mechanics but I guess that is fine.

That makes zero sense. The less there is variability, the less there is need for skill rather than just mechanistic whack-a-mole gameplay. Pre 1.2 mercs benefited from skill to maximize their buffs, burst and thus overall healing. Post 1.2 it is whack-a-mole, it is even arguable that using the gas for full length can be detrimental, which should not even be an arguable topic TBH, but it actually is. Currently merc healing boils down to: refresh during gas KS if it is off, spam HS on different targets during gas, use KM if 3+ persons can be hit for healing (arguably 2.5 persons, meaning a risky "may hit 3rd person" is a valid target), HS on cooldown, RS if you have the buff up and lack gas charges, and finally RS without buff only if all above are not valid, and you are <30 heat. There is zero divergence from that. It is humanized botting plain and simple, and totally devoid of skill, since frankly the output is poor enough to pretty much always have someone to heal anyways ...

Well people can do stuff unoptimized, but power shots is so much higher dps than unload still that not getting muzzle fluting is just plain fail, IMO. For me overall power shots are up there with burning tech tied for 1st place of overall dmg. Actually right now it is #1, lowering my #1 dps skill by 25% results in a whopping 5% drop of overall dmg crudely calculated. Take some minor heat management, and it can be little less than 5%, but for bursting it is more than 5% (and damn isn't there ton of burst moments in Denova). So, no, going without MF is not IMHO a good option at all.

Reread the opening of the original post, and you'll notice this is PvE operations thread. For PvE, going without Muzzle Fluting is just plain fail.

In Denova, that +3% will be of more use than snares, even if they could be applied (which they often can't be on mobs that matter). In fact, doubt the snare will help you at any op fight that matters, hence the 3% endurance in there ...

Yes and if you read the post I mentioned it was just a freebie point needed to lvl up the tree. Pluck it in 1% melee/ranged defense or there ...

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#3000cZMckZfIzbzGhrs.1 Apart from the one point in pyro tree (snare or 1% extra defense, I just plucked it down in snare this time), the off-trees really are obvious. Didn't read full comments as they seemed very off, but some things: GCD is reduced by alacrity too, so all haste things speed up even 1.5 sec skills, so yes it helps powershots. Unload ticks faster, so it is helped. No you will not get hit in ops so much that you want the pushback resistance instead of the +crits. Also there is no _crit_ cap that results in not wanting +crit talents, there is the DR curve on _critical rating_ spesifically, which means you want a balance of power, critical rating, surge rating and maybe at the very high end even a little alacrity (could maybe spreadsheet that if it is true but if you get to the point that it is even a question, you are so highly geared it doesn't matter that much anymore). Pretty much fully geared pyro dps merc with all current content cleared (in 8mans) here, hugging behind the marauder on single targets depending on fights and top area dmg guy pretty much. Also the spec is IMHO more fun (as much fun as dps can be as dps tends to be so easy) than arsenal, as well as with good skills it can do more than arsenal.

People saying pre 1.2 there was no heat management only show how poorly they performed then. Nightmare pushing DPS while healing = heat management Bursting for gas use to maximize overall healing / dps = heat management pro Solo healing hard modes = heat management ultra Solo healing hard mode Jarg & Sorno = heat management INFERNO People saying post 1.2 there is heat management just show they have troubles with whack-a-mole gameplay Heat over 30? Rapid Shots Heat over 40? Dude! You forgot Rapid Shots! Heat over 60? Vent heat dude, and more rapid shots next time! Heat over 60 again? Busted! Heat under 30? Here's a clearcut list of heal order of priority (shown elsewhere plenty of times), pick the top one, oh and RAPID SHOTS after don't even worry bout anything else right after...

You see lots of posts about it being a "l2p" or "harder heat management" issue. It is not. It is now actually arguably massively easier to do proper heat management, since no matter what you do there is usually only one single right choice, thus there are no choices really, and it becomes a routinistic whack-a-mole approach. Like, say, dps cycles ... What did happen though is: BG/Trooper healing was made Stupid-Mode BG/Trooper healing was made contra-design (the comboing of the heals is actually worse than just HS spam) and thus IMHO can safely be said it is broken in the sense of being illogically designed BG/Trooper healing was made SUPER DUPER BORING, which is the killer Oh and it's worse overall than either of the other two in sustained output, so ...

Well you (try to) stack surge, enough said. Calculate your crit modifier (crit%*surge%+1), those huge surge numbers you aim for are ridiculously weak, as well as surge being the stat that is most prone to loss-to-overhealing. The stats you mention on the another thread were the ones I quickly calculated to examine your grasp of mathematics, and needless to say based on my previous comments, your aims were "newbieish", as in lacking methodological and mathematical examination obviously and based more on "oooh supabignumbahs!!!" Join date is a direct relationship to familiarity with the game, and any post December joindate means no-beta or no-release (okay some areas released later I guess?), lacking some insight how the game has evolved etc, that can bring useful viewpoints on things. In short, your preference of high surge is mathematically BAD. It's called math. Unlike dps the healing is a combination of death-by-burst and death-by-attrition, with chaotic components, which are ultimately not very well simulated. Hence the base easily calculated values of heals should be (especially as they easily can be) examined, and thought through with logical thought for ingame usability. In a 15 second time period of where a massive spike of damage has occurred, that HPS for reviv is INSANE. Just, plain, insane. _It beats KM even if it heals just 2 people_, and that can be the sorc using force-regain and _1 other_. If we examine it to the bare bones, we get 17.2k HPS output, if we halve that for 4 persons we get 8.6k HPS, heck we can even say that the sorc didn't actually need the heal but used it for force regen and there was actually only 2 other people in range, we get 4.3k HPS. _No mercenary heal reaches that high, period._ Unlike you who seem to fixate on 1 or 2 things, as you seem to assume I do (and thus I assume YOU do, since assumptions from personal styles into other people is a very common way of assuming things), I examine the different characteristics of all skills I come in contact with my playing. I'm a spreadsheeting geek optimizing gaming, heck I even make spreadsheets and optimize playstyles for those Armorgames or Kongregate mini flash games often, that's my "playstyle" often. See above response. I am probably one of the most thoroughly skill & stat & usability examining people posting about bodyguards, usually I just tend to write about the results though not the examinations of different mathematical aspects. Meanwhile, burst healing is usually the issue in healing, as it is reliant on both maximum output (HPS) as well as healing skill (fingers, dexterity, reactions, tactics). Death-by-attrition is more the "whack-a-mole" game, unfortunately that is what healing has mostly been reduced to atm, since resources do not give any real burst healing options anymore (due to constant constriction of resources to be the throttling factor at all times almost). Also, pre 1.2 I have healed it all, so talking about "pro tips" from a guy who suggest to stack surge to high heavens is funky. Sorry to burst your bubble, but just because your raid carries you, and you are starting to overgear Denova, doesn't mean you rock. Did you solo heal HM EV/KP pre 1.2? That was the ultimate challenge in pre-1.2 game, especially Jarg & Sorno HM 8 man solo healing, that was atleast twice as hard as any NM fight with 2 healers. Also as I said bout the joindate / beta part and your post count, you give away exactly what I mean by this comment here. Mercs, before 1.2, were all about being able to burst to high heavens with nutsy HPS. That is GONE. Also if you played the zero alacrity style pre 1.2 already, you were in the (sadly IMHO misinformed playstyle) lucky part that were geared "wrong" for the design and thus geared "right" for the insane heat changes Bioware implemented in 1.2 that changed not only how we healed, but mostly destroyed a total playstyle of the BH high alacrity healer ... I guess that is a concession that your raid is overgearing the content?

Considering your posts on the other thread about secondary stats being strangely ... newbiesh, your join date, I would like a nice video proof before I'll buy that. Then again, I've said with perfect other raid member execution that it may just be possible, but that is why the point is 2x BH so crosshealing is crap too during the non-divided times ... Yes because "heal over time" is the absolute number... oh wait, it is not. Heal per cast time is a VERY strong number, and reviv blows KM by how much exactly? Gigazillion? Yaddayadda. Welcome to last month. It's all very simple, KM with 3+ hits is BH best heal after KS, whoppee doo. Meanwhile a reviv on 2 people will beat the heal/casttime by zillion, and since damage usually happens in bursts (think Z&T raid annoyances, Tanks soakers / during shield phase inside the shield, minesweeper boss itself is just great for the two tanks to be sitting in the aoe, etc.), being able to throw a nutty heal/casttime to tick away and then spotheal with singles results just in way more better overall hps, and yes usable hps. Then again, just show us that vid of 2x BH rakata geared doing Tanks 8man HM. The longer we go, the further we get from Rakata geared btw, and we don't give a rats behind about overgearing content. PS. Couldn't care less, BH healing was made SUPER STUPID and BORING, even if it had the same sustained HPS as op/sorc it would still be freaking sucky as a healer point of view.

Nobody will bat an eye at double sorcs. Nobody will bat an eye at sorc + ops. Many people won't think 2x ops is bad. Many people suspect and suggest that 2x BH is nigh undoable. Prove those people wrong and show us a Rakata geared Denova hard mode 8 man clear with 2 BH healers.

Yes unfortunately Bioware has counteracted their class gear design by their class ability design failure. Thus the old "switch enhancements to ones without alacrity" is more valid now. Before the overall healing loss was slight, now it is crucial since BH/TR are basically sometimes UNDER the required sustained healing output curve ...

And agents. That leaves ... leaves ... wut? Yea I have lots of playdays on account due to the free month, but just helping the guild atm, not even logging on otherwise for crafting skills even. Meanwhile in Tera, I'm lvl46 warrior and looking into the real instance experience starting in a few levels. The previous few lvling instances were pretty good. the combat system is awesomely active. And mistakes are brutal (bosses may oneshot if you mess up bad).