I spot assassins and ops all the time if I'm guarding. It's fun to let noobs think they're up to something, but I've popped hunker down and given the rest of the team a heads-up. It's way different to guard a node these days than it was several years ago.

Pure mitigation builds are useless in PvP these days. You won't do your team any service unfortunately. You'll hit like a wet noodle, and your protection won't be any better. You might survive longer, but you'll be impudent. If you want to deal damage and protect, avoid mitigation mods and enhancements. Keep your shield. You'll be bolstered well enough.

Um, yeah. If by "not exactly good," you mean he's a freaking nuisance when on the opposing team, I get it. He gets marked immediately, and I beg the team to focus him. Usually does no good though.

Running solo makes it bad. Try to group up with competent players you meet in wz to make it less painful. Gave Harby pub side a try on Friday night with non-guild premade that formed after one match together, and we didn't lose a match all night. My sent started and finished weekly plus a few more just for funsies. Tried again sat night with under-gearded guildies, and we were around 50-50. Don't be shy about asking folks to group--others want a chance to win as much as you do.

It's actually laughable to base a nerf on a dummy parse. Surely, that's not what happened here. LOL. Yeah ok, it's definitely what happened. One thing you will not see a lot of when mining parse data, is actual boss fights with concealment/scrapper being top dog or even close. There may be two bosses with a con-op in the top 30, and there are a lot of people trying to play con-ops. The longer a fight, the worse the dps because of energy issues. All they've done is appease the cry-babies who lose 1v1s in PvP. Frankly, 1v1 is ALL THE SPEC HAS GOING FOR IT!! Read that last statement again DEV team. You've made a crap NiM spec even worse, while nerfing the only thing it's good at besides guarding a node in regs. LOL. The numbers in PvP don't lie. It's ok for maras, juggs, mercs and snipers to stack the dps leaderboards in regs, but that one rare con-op on top is just entirely too much. Ops are even tunneled like mad in ranked which makes showcasing that awesome dummy burst a rarity. Too funny, but you've got a crowd of non-scoundrel/operatives cheering and re-upping their subscriptions in celebration. Kudos.

There is no way they'll nerf concealment to the ground. Look at leaderboards on actual boss fights. Concealment is almost non-existent. If they nerf too much, they'll make the class completely obsolete. Their average on the dummy is real good at 1.5 mil, but the longer the parse, the worse off they are. Con-Ops certainly don't produce top dps in WZ on a regular basis, and on Harby, I'm only seeing 2 to 3 per reg wz and 0-2 in ranked mixed between factions. They can lock you down and cut you 1v1, but raw numbers..no way. They have to exit combat too often, and that's the niche of the spec. Kick butt 1v1, great pressure on a target, but awful in a crowd, especially with so many enets, slows and stuns flying around. Roll one to see for yourself. It ain't easy. They'll still be able to lock you down and beat you up even after the nerf. Don't think they're taking away stun locks. Post back here after the updateto let us know how it goes. If con-ops go away, you'll be getting beat up by fury maras. They'll be buffed like crazy. They'll be the new bane of your existence in PvP.

I hear you, but top parsing dps spots in boss fights for this patch are mostly combat/carnage. Go have a look at the stats and top parsers for each boss fight. If they're looking at dummy parsing only, it's going to be a mess with a lot of class specs, not just carnage/combat. Either way, it's looking like Fury will be the new flavor for those who don't like keeping up with dots. Carnage is the most challenging and exciting to play, and it only rewards well-tuned players with really high parses, so it'll be a shame to see it relegated to the #3 spot. It's the way it goes, I guess.

I always run with a superior CXP boosts. It's 100% more CXP from all sources except disintegration. It's why you'll get so many crates for operations and flashpoints. As for augments, if money is an issue, consider crafting or at least gathering mats to sell on the GTN. You need money. Fury Mara/concentration Sent are easy to play. Almost too easy if you're used to playing a scoundrel. Don't let anyone talk you out of it if you want to try it. Pay attention to the skill tree...learn which abilities buffs which abilities. Pay attention to the skill that makes you immune to stuns and slows, and use it. Pick utilities that increase your survivability. Scoundrel in PvE?? I love beating the crap our of things with my scoundrel, and you will too. Just go sucker punch some mobs already. Alacrity is not a main priority in in DPS classes, but you should have some. Casters and dot classes for sure. I use alac of my scrapper and con-op because I like the way it feels, and I get a good dps boost when I run with it. For PvP, stay away from accuracy with your scoundrel. I run zero accuracy, and never miss. For mercs, interrupt their casts for blazing bolts and/or tracer missile when you can. Defense screen also works against blazing bolts. Use dodge reflect for heat seeker, or save your roll for it if you're running scrapper. Don't hit them with shields up..stun and heal yourself. Learn their typical rotation so you'll know what to expect when. Then you'll know how to save your defenses. Well for Juggs, you need to pick your battles and know when it's time to get away. If you make a Jugg blow their DCD, it's then on a 1.5 min to 2 min cooldown. Best to stun, roll around or disappear, LOS , and heal yourself up for 15 seconds until it wears off. Once it's on cooldown, you'll have a better time with them. Skank immortal jugs can really suck, you need to lock them when they're vulnerable and be ready with dodge reflect and rolls for the retaliation. Again, read about their abilities, but get used to watching their buffs. Of all classes in the current meta, I hate them the most in 1v1, but you have to fight them with patience. You won't go in a blow them away like you can a sage with no barrier. LOL It can be near impossible to solo heals if you're out-geared by the healer, don't interrupt or stun during casts, don't know when to use your abilities for maximum damage, if you have a hard time staying on them, or if they have a tank guarding them near by. Wimbeldon ,on this forum , runs a sorc who is the slipperiest heals I've ever faced. He's made me feel so foolish in a voidstar a few months back that I seriously considered uninstalling. LOL. I went to bed so mad that night. He was an oddity who was in the zone---meaning he is outstanding and was very focused. My point is, the exceptional ones will use every trick in the book to survive, and sometimes all you can do is pressure so that all they're doing is self-healing. Talk some teammates into helping, and the task becomes a lot easier. Good luck and have fun out there!

I agree with the post above. #1) You need PvP experience. You'll learn when to use cool downs and escapes, and the more you play, the more you'll understand other class abilities and tactics. If you anticipate what they'll do, you can learn to stay alive and counter. #2) If you can tolerate PvE, also queue for flashpoints, and join ops groups for sm ops. Shhh...this is a PvP forum. I know. However, you'll gear 10 times faster between the massive amount of crates you receive and the operation boss drops. I started at 0 CXP two weeks ago on a mara who hadn't been touched since before 5.0, and the toon is already 300 command. Quite literally two weekends with a bit of PvE content, and PvP on the toon to get dailes with guildies almost nightly. Just this past sunday, I started the day at 250, and after about 4 hours with superior CXP boost, I was already getting lvl 4 crates. That's right, 4 hours, and more than 50 levels. I have all set bonus armoring no less than 240, while never using un-assembled components. The toon has more than 600 OC. I'm in an old pvp guild, and they want to puke when I mention doing PvE content to gear quickly. LOL. I'm a traitor. If you can tolerate it, do it.

I've tried stacking both mastery or power over one another on a variety of spec/classes. Makes little difference for me. Basically, if I want more crit %, I add mastery when I'm high in the crit dr curve. As for the alacrity debate, I like the way a little to a moderate amount of alacrity FEELS on all my dps toons, and my overall numbers improve significantly when I use it.(PvP and PvE) It doesn't matter if it's theoretically a waste, even though that's probably true. It makes a huge difference to me because without it, my GCDs feel too slow. Timings are better with it in my opinion, but hey, I play pepped up on amphetamines. I mean, like I'm pepped up.....

Well, if a master FP requires 242, we can assume, hopefully, they'll drop 246 and/or 248 gear. Right now, master FP drops garbage.

I'd be flabbergasted if they made a change of that scale in the next couple years. That's a lot of coding! Not a bad idea to me, but more of the masses want new operation bosses, new interesting events and other new content. Not to mention, we want change now in PvP, so we can't wait. We have little patience and grace. If they're like every other company I've worked with, resources are very limited. They have to delicately balance all of the wishes with their earnings goals -- They have to code a lot of cool cartel items. Cartel Market has obviously been helping to pay the bills, but it won't help with retention in the end. New interesting content will, though.

That's when I'm on, and later on weekends. Yes, I'd mostly agree with that time. Really, 7p - 10p CDT seems to provide the most action.

I'd think this should get better at 5.3. Maybe not though - Everyone is rolling a skank tank these days. Any who, since 5.0, we've seen many more matches end without a cap because of insane healing and dcd's.

Bruh..Can't believe you just told the world about this...a Secret only a handful knew.