3sec increase is smash only. Force crush baseline cooldown was reduced.

i don't see the aoe as such a big deal. Sweeping assault damage was buffed. Aoe control really isn't as big a deal in this game as others. The changes to defensive stat ratings are really to our benefit, so far, as the increased defense rating cost improves the value of our percentage defense increase talents.

I didn't notice anything in-game that offered this information.

Decimate is only two points for 20% smash damage increase, so its a reduction of 10% smash damage right there.

Overall, single target threat is increased, AOE threat, nerf to smash, buff to sweeping. Biggest change that doesn't really show in patch notes are the changes to Diminishing Returns. I picked up 6% absorb and lost 4% defense going from Live to PTR. Also lost 2% to hit.

Flip it to nightmare for a night or two of attempts. The balls in phase 2 WILL kill The person if done wrong, instead of just usually stressing healers (which usually snowballs into a wipe). This is the best way for everyone to learn the individual responsibility needed in the fight. After a night or two, flip it back to HM and the fight will feel easy all of a sudden!

Jugg tank, 2sorc heals, 2 merc, marauder, assasin, sniper. Shield is good if pillars bug out btw phases because pillars are killed in wrong order and end up with aoe blasts. Our kill night three major bugs were present: 1. Ball double tick - popping a ball would result in an aoe tick after its explosion. Meaning most would take approx 15k damage per ball. Work around - healers on top of game, smart use of defensive cooldowns by all 2. Soa would always toss The top name from The ball targets precsding The toss. Sniper died usually, used The brez. 3. Bubble no pop P3. When we got The "perfect" 4 bubbles he died. If people are dying to balls, it just means your group needs more attempts. Eventually you will get to The point where you are clearing to p3 consistently and just waiting for The right RNG with bubble bugs.

I've had force push crit for close to 1500 on Ops bosses, which makes it a decent low rage/cooldown dependent option. I find i will fit one in early in a fight instead of a vicious strike, when i am high in rage but have a spare gcd before SA or any other option is up.

Not a new bug. Workaround is to kill pillars in order, top one first, etc until all stacks are off then kill no more pillars. At The end of a night that saw NM wipes at 2%, 4%, and 0% due to his bubble not popping when it should have, one person in our group observed that there may be a terrain bug with The shield popping. Whenever The pillar would setup over The rocky area (as opposed to The middle) The pillar would drop on him without breaking his shield. Will do some testing tonight to see if The pillar is landing on a different plane in The game (The rocks) than where Soa is standing (The flat ground).

Good post, thanks!

Yes, for at least the next three months. I am having a lot of fun, despite several very frustrating bugs.

Weren't mods transferred from artifice to cybertech, fairly late in the development cycle? So, Artifice has Enhancement, Hilt, and Color Crystal? If so, may just be a display error on your trainer.

I've used a slicing mission that I either looted or acquired through slicing (was going through so many missions and looting boxes, really wasn't paying too close of attention). Found purple treasure hunting missions as well, fwiw.

Kill order is important. You want to take down the lesser mobs first. Generally a force leap > Sundering Assault > Force Scream will nearly burn down the first lesser mob, you can then switch to the second weak enemy, smash with rage (will kill the first), and start burning it down. Keep Vette's gear up to date as she hits pretty hard, and you can let her tank one mob for you.

In any spec, you are going to want Enraged Sunder. Improved Sundering assault won't really be that important for leveling. Because much of a Juggs mitigation is in the Soresu form, Vengeance tanking is perfectly viable till later levels - 35 or so - and will offer the benefit of greater dps in both tanking and questing. I plan on going something like this till 30 or so, and then assess how I want to respec: Jugg Leveling