I have not yet received the code, my last received email was the one in january.

So the nerf came and while we can all discuss numbers I prefer to discuss how the player feel when playing. So, first let's start with UI: Who the hell thought to have all prizes into jackpot was good? Jackpot you should feel rewarded, getting a green rep item or scrap out of a jackpot is simply lazy work. This change was so half thought that no attention was given to the UI at all and this is just sad. To improve this let green items drop outside the Jackpot area, with maybe 1 of the blue items (better the rep item) so the player can feel he may be getting stuff and not just wasting time every "chip" drop. Second drop rates: Drop rates feel fine, you do get something out of it until you reach max rep, then the entire thing falls apart. A suggested chage for this would be to increase the drop rates of green items and the blue rep item. Why this change? Well green rep item is actually worth LESS than a chip drop while green scrap can be valued lower or higher than a chip with the blue rep being the lowest chance of a good non-jackpot drop given it is only worth a little over a chip. These 2 changes will give a better gambling feel to the machine, it would not devalue the jackpot by giving stupid itens that are worth less than a chip and would improve the rewards a little bit. However between both the only one that should NOT have even happened is the first, UI feel on the machine felt like was not important to the team and not even a second thought was given to it. There are also 2 other points that could be discussed 1. Why not give subscribers an increase in cartel market certificates drop chance only? It would be a nice addition to subscribers, and maybe another increase for those that bought the Collecto's Edition. 2. The communication on the forum was terrible, nothing on it informed players that rep items drop chance would be changed and while the drop rate on all 3 of them had been increased the massage was not clear about the change leading to frustration given how a bad reward green reputation items are.

The problem I have with this line of thought is, what value would we give to the utility we bring? Is it more valuable then a sorcerer, mercenary, because without OS we could drop below them. And unless our utility is valuable enough we lose space being the only ranged full-dps. I am not taalking to just MM, but all specs here, from what I've seen MM, Hybrid and Engineering will be the ones hit the most, Given OS DPS contribution is around 10% on higher level play, while Lethality is going at 5-6%. Now if OS is NOT removed from rotation just changed and damage nerfed, it is still going to be used. Since we do have ways to recover energy I see no way to stop using it unless OS is channeled at which point the EDPS would impact more the decision to use it. Otherwise it will still be used, maybe not used every cooldown but attach its use to other skills cooldown like AP, SV and TA. especially if they increase its cost. This will keep OS being used as single-target but lowering its impact on single-target damage and minimizing the impact on spec output. Gah! I just wished they gave us some more information >.< This is only bound to bring flame to the forum O.O

I see one problem with balancing MM single target skills: PvP. You would make a burst spec even more bursty. Now given that they won't remove OS from rotation completely and they spread the damage into all single-target skills, this might work out, the increase in burst may not be enough to break PvP balance. But removing OS completely and balancing the skills around that fact will improve MM sustained DPS, given that the increase is going to be spread into a few skills, and possibly shift the balance around a bit in PvP. For lethality though they said that the problem with Hybrid is both OS AND Explosive Probe, I wonder what they have in mind for EP.

So much DPS lost without OS, the numbers you are getting only show that Snipers need the OS to be on par with Marauders as a full DPS class... Only cutting OS from our rotation doesn't seem to be the way they'll go, from their previous answers I'll bet they'll buff Snipe which may compensate somewhat for this drastic drop. So unless OS doesn't keeps its current mechanic of fire-and-forget and unless the cost is so prohibitive we will still use it for single-target damage.

Not even going to go much through this (here is about OS) my only post about this in here. I am not saying Scatter Bombs dont need a nerf, but the way they worded is that they intended the skill to be a fluff that nobody would actually think of using it much (like Lethality CE). The fun of Scatter bombs in the rotation was the need to move, aim, predict where you would land. Completely different then the current system of: chose target, press skill, skill activates, damage is dealt. With the occasional AoE skill needing aiming. I am ok with a nerf (in damage, cooldown, activation, EMP recharge) what I am NOT ok with is changing the skill mechanic, behaviour. Making like each enemy can only be hit with one bomb is a possible and stupid decision for a skill that's so much fun to use. If you create a damaging skill that's not supposed to be rotational why develop it? One thing I am specially afraid is they changing Scatter Bombs to something towards utility, with no more damage. But lets keep here about OS and its impact on us If you want to discuss this create a new thread and I'll join.

Thought of that too but that will kill the use of a skill that correspond to around 5-7% (lower player) and 10-12% (top player) of a Sniper damage without adjusting any other skill or adding value to the class. So the scaling can't be as rough which means OS will most likely still be used for single-target, can't see a decent scaling that would make this work. Gosh >.< I wish they could give us a little more information, right now it's like walking blind.

That's what I was afraid of when I read their answer..... Oh well.... My honest guess is that OS is an issue they are not going to solve as easily as they say. The issue with the skill is the fire-and-forget nature of it because it essentially behaves as a dot, if any spec can fit it into rotation or can allow a few seconds in order to cast it people will use it for single-target. I'm curious to see what they'll come up with, they have the players metrics. One thing I do think they'll do is change the damage from elemental to energy. New parses will help but if we check the highest parses right now we can see how much % OS constitutes for that DPS (between 10 - 12 % last time I checked), given the current numbers that change may bring us down below every other class but Assassin/Shadow (going for 0% OS single-target). So unless they buff somewhere else to accommodate no use of OS we can expect that the change they apply will not destroy OS into oblivion, but most likely will only discourage us to use OS on cooldown and keep its nerfed version for alpha strike moments, for MM/Lethality, while keeping it in the Engineering rotation they have planned. Just hope my second fear wont happen of they destroying one of the only fun mechanics they ever made (Scatter Bombs) just because they planned it to be just a fluff skill instead of actual useful -.-

I think I wasn't clear enough sorry it is just my mental process thinking of all possibilities I can >.< I understood your math completely and as I said it is really well done but increasing 50% on damage may not correspond to a 50% increase on cooldown in a 1:1 relationship. Remember the 2.0 PTS where Amubush could be specced into 1.5s? You just gave it back to Snipers every 90s, and an auto-crit of it, but those points where changed into the Zeroing Shots. Part of it was the impact on the infamous TTK, Ambush - FT is a terrifying opener, one that even my idea without the auto-crit may reacquire even a higher cooldown. Besides you have to take into account rotation changes, how long would the dot be down in my question? 1s? so if a skill between that could give 3s of dot damage in 2s (taking in account the 1s dot down and 1s until the dot ticks again after reapplying, given that Snipe will reapply all 3 dots) may be worth changing the rotation in the long run. I'm just theorizing here given the information given. Snipe however I still believe is a bad skill, it lacks anything that makes the players willing to keep using it, design-wise, and changing Laze Target but keeping Snipe will do nothing to help, apart from forcing a choice to players that they do not want. Yes increasing numbers is nice but it will not solve the current issue with Laze Target only hide it beneath a nice intent change. And locking the change into the spec tree with a skill that may or may not be useful to the spec (Lethality barely use it unless in combination with Laze Target so why keep both linked if you going to change according to the skill tree?). A skill that shows this really well is Covered Escape, for Engineering it is THE skill, MM is just a fluff but does give a decent utility to the spec (speed) and so is Lethality (slow). A proper way would have CE be more meaningful on all specs since you are going to place its change so high in the tree but given the utility the skill gives, and the extra utility added (not damage) both specs have gained a proper skill that takes into account their mechanics. Back to your feedback, which by the way thank you ^^ Yea I did think that 50% on EP might be a little off. My thinking here was to go for utility and keeping the focus of Laze Target, while you go for the numbers and keeping the damage balanced but increasing the burst potential I intend to get the burst in other way that are not damage-oriented and those changes carry value just like adding 10%, 20%, etc damage into a skill, just like increasing the cooldown carry a negative damage value. I think burst in a time-oriented way instead of damage-oriented or instant damage burst, so take Ambush, while it does the same damage the damage is dished out sooner maybe giving time to add another skill into the mix. Take Soa third phase for instance with his 10 seconds of vulnerability (hopefully I'm right with the 10s been a while since I killed him ) there are a few things we can do as MM: Snipe - Snipe - FT - Ambush - FT - SoS -> 7GCD = 10.5s, SoS wont fully hit SoS - FT - Ambush(2.5s) - FT - Snipe > 6GCD + 1s = 10s Snipe - FT - SoS - FT - Ambush(2.0s) > 6GCD + 0.5s = 9.5s With LT giving 2 Zeroing Shots: Ambush(1.5s) - FT - SoS - FT - EP/Snipe > 6GCD = 9s Snipe - Snipe - FT - Ambush(0.5s) - FT - SoS > 6GCD + 0.5s = 9.5s Of course these are probably not accurate, nor the best rotations for him but they show that there can have a gain that needs to be quantified. Same thing for EP, I agree that 50% may be too much but Clusters bombs should not be all accounted into burst only some of them, by having 4 on the target they'll fully do their damage after 2s, with 8, only after 4s and that's only if the target is being hit every 0.5s by blaster fire, which on a 1v1 situation will happen in worst case scenario every 1.5s so those 8 cluster bombs deal full damage after 12s. However those bombs do give an extra 40 energy (in 12s, worst case scenario) which can be used in advance for additional skills instead of Rifle Shot so there is also a potential gain in damage. Takedown is the only damage-oriented change into LT, given that as much as utility and QoL is good, damage may eventually be needed in an instant and Takedown seemed to me the tool for that. So my idea tries to do is adding utility to LT in a way that such utility keep the focus of Laze Target, but in a way that allows the Sniper the flexibility of choosing when and how to properly utilize his skills. This change given the amount of utility that it may give might need a cooldown between 2 and 3 minutes with my opinion being 3 minutes. One thing I believe could be a better change is instead of giving a second EP it will directly give those extra 4 cluster bombs (or maybe 2) for any spec (with Engineering being the only that gains 5 energy from them). Damn this wall of text >.< hopefully I made myself understandable >.< I really liked your idea apart from the Snipe (Hate Snipe with all my strength lol)

Oh ok, well then this change is up to discussion. A way to fix this is to make the Laze Target give 2 stacks of Zeroing Shots when consumed by Ambush. Note that the consume action will happen at skill activation which shouldn't be an issue being EP/TD instant casts and Ambush will cause a Zeroing Shots buff. Or we can keep it this way but I believe the change will be too good for MM, and the cooldown would have to go for 3min or higher. Updating my post with the Zeroing Shots change

Got to say that I only saw that after I pressed to submit Yea you right it will give a 0.5 Ambush cast for burst but not for sustained since it will cause a 1s of GCD where you just can't act so for sustained the best bet would still be EP and TD I believe.

Posting my suggestion for LT/SL here: Laze Target/Smuggler's Luck Suggestion Cooldown Duration: 2-3 minutes Buff Up-Time: 10 seconds Ability Description: Laze Target places a Laze buff into self, next Ambush, Explosive Probe or Takedown consumes it. If Ambush consumes the buff, 2 stacks of Zeroing Shots are given to self. If Explosive Probe consumes it, a second Explosive Probe that deals 50% of the damage will be placed on the target. If Takedown consumes it, Takedown critical chance will increase to 100%. Reasoning and Explanation for the Change: The critical hit mechanic although rewarding is very simple and sometimes deceiving. As of now Laze Target increases Snipe crit chance to 100% which sounds good and looks good but in the end rewards little for smart plays. Snipe is a weak hitting skill and lacks additional gameplay value to feel anything but a filler and Laze Target as a skill is hurt by this. The change proposed here is aimed at rewarding the player for choosing the right moment to use Laze Target. It will fill its purpose for both PvP and PvE and any spec will benefit. Burst will be possible as an opener with the 1.5s Ambush, the 150% Explosive Probe damage in 3 GCD or the auto-crit Takedown for finishing (or additional burst for Lethality). While improving the PvE sustained damage on skills that are important in each spec rotation. On a 5min battle MM would have a faster startup followed up by an EP or Takedown depending on boss health, Eng/Hybrid would have a gain in damage and energy regeneration since the second Probe would behave as a Probe applying Cluster Bombs while Lethality would have an increase in Takedown damage twice or thrice in the fight. On the technical side this seems doable since a buff consumed by a skill exists (FT), to change the behavior would be a conditional case in the program (possibly the most challenging part though) and a weaker version of Explosive Probe buff could be applied just like the weaker versions of Corrosive Dart/Grenade. Some points that do need discussion are the % damage of the second Explosive Probe, probably it needs to tone down to 30% given the extra regeneration another point is the 100% crit on Takedown, personally I would prefer an extra % on armor penetration like 30-50% it will act as a critical hit but not prone to surge stacking builds.

Ohhh didn't see that one Posting this there AND fixing the EP I saw that error.. can't have a skill doing 200% max should be 180% (better 150%)

Been gone for a while sorry I want Laze to change but not this change, I think this is way too simple and idea and not very feasible on the tech side without a skill point on the skill trees even though it would be a good change to try tone down the amount of hybrids. Personally I would prefer much more something in the line of: Laze Target places a Laze buff into self, next Ambush, EP or Takedown consumes it. If Ambush consumes the buff its cast time is decreased by 1s. If EP consumes it, it will place 2 Explosive Probes on the target. If Takedown consumes it, it will increase Takedown crit chance to 100%. (3-4 min cooldown) I dont like crit mechanics and this change will allow any spec to use the cooldown for different moments while keeping most of the dmg gained from crit mechanics. MM will be the one hurt the most by this since LT would be most useful to start but with such a long cooldown it is supposed to be more of a offensive support and burst dealer than actual dps increase. Eng/Hybrid will have a blast since double EP means more energy gain and single target dmg and Lethality will be able to use the Takedown change in the beginning of the fight. It will give all specs a chance to burst on a very long cooldown either in a way suited for them OR in a way their skills cooldown allow. Plus this way they will not be bound to skill trees which also garantees that there will be no additional skill in those trees to identify which Laze Target change will happen. But by being the discussion over tomorrow well I just hope they see my idea here My vote goes to change Laze Target but not the one proposed at the moment.