This has been possible for quite some time now, so does BW just not care if players do this? http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/8897/screenshot2013040622470.jpg Fortunately the sage didn't pull up a slinger...

I admit I don't know all the ins and outs of every class, but what ability allows players to do this? Seems to be an effective way of monitoring and responding to nodes in civil war. Maybe just a bug, but odd that a fairly prominent pvp guild that wins a lot of WZs was a "victim" of it. Kind of reminds me of jumping the wall to get to mid in the early civil war days. http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/3300/screenshot2013031900050.jpg

Against someone with 1226 expertise here is the damage of my Prototype Flame Thrower. Unlike Flame Burst, which does a range of damage, the damage on PFT is static and only varies if Power and Aim are modified. With all stats being equal except those listed below, here were my results: With two +41 Power Crystals 935 Power 1314 Expertise 19.52% PVP Damage Reduction 13.44% PVP Bonus Healing 1278 damage per tick With two +41 Expertise Crystals 853 Power 1396 Expertise 20.19% PVP Damage Reduction 14.04% PVP Bonus Healing 1266 damage per tick So the damage is 0.99% better if I use the power crystals, but I sacrifice 0.67% damage reduction and 0.6% bonus healing. To me the difference seems like a wash. I would like to test it at lower expertise levels, but I don't have the PVE gear to do it.

Why not test this with prototype flame thrower? The ticks do not vary unless you increase or decrease your damage stats. For example my AP PT always hits standard PVE mobs for 2610 on each crit tick with my current gear, all buffs, and exotech stim. If I swap the stim for a prototype version it drops to the 2500 range (can't remember the exact #). Maybe I'm missing something, but in PVP this should also work when comparing damage due to stat changes. I will test it out later in a duel.

Playing as a full lightning sorc, stun bubble is essential considering our best abilities have activation times. However, I really think it should be higher up the lightning tree so hybrid healers can't access it without major sacrifices to healing talents.

I tend to play the consensus "worst" class specs in pvp (full lightning, advanced prototype, etc), thus my agent is lethality ops. As others said you will never top damage charts, but you can have a lot of fun annoying people who don't know how to cleanse your dots. If you are only concerned about ranked pvp, then you will definitely want to run heal ops because you will be virtually unkillable while still being able to keep half your team alive.

I've played pyrotech PT, advanced prototype PT, madness sorc, lightning sorc, and lethality ops. Lethality ops is by far the most difficult to use in pvp.

My prototype flame thrower hits for 2.2-2.6k per tick (6.6-7.8k w/ full channel) which sounds decent, but it can be easily avoided so it is actually pretty pathetic compared to smash/sweep. Chain lightening can hit pretty hard, over 4k each on 5 people if it crits with a full lightening build. When I was madness I could hit 3 people w/ deathfield for over 5k each on crits. So of the classes I am most familiar with, there is really no ability close to smash/sweep's potential.

I really can't believe someone is saying assassins/shadows are outclassed by sorcerers/sages. They are really only outclassed in healing ability....

Yea, I laughed when I saw that. 3.5k is the norm. If someone has no expertise, it is possible to hit 4.5k. Funny, it's essentially half of a smash/sweep. Wow, sure is great for top tier ability.

In regular WZs I find it quite fun, but only if the opposing team is not focused on you the whole time. Nobody plays the spec, which is an advantage because opponents who are unfamiliar with it often fail to interrupt the most damaging attacks.

Haha. My sorc has 1370 expertise, my BH 1308. My BH would likely get hit harder, but he has 30% aoe DMG reduction which is virtual requirement with all the ridiculous smashing going on.

Yea, that 4k shield is nice. Smash/sweep only does 2-3k damage on my sorcerer w/ fresh shield, very comparable to the damage my Advanced Prototype BH takes without a shield.....oh wait I guess it isn't that great...

Figures. As requested, I posted a screenshot of a sweeper's ridiculously high "Biggest Hit" (regardless of gear), and that's not good enough. So now we need a video. Next you'll want to see it in real life. Just face the facts: BIOWARE NEEDS TO TONE IT DOWN.

Fortunately for you naysayers I took a screenshot of the scoreboard because I knew the smashers/sweepers wouldn't believe me. I guess I lied, the sweep was 9542. Hopefully this works because I seldom post images online. http://imageshack.us/a/img42/7075/screenshot2012111623443.jpg Edit: Yay, it appears to have worked on my end. Enjoy!