PvE DPS (Lethality) 1. General: A Sniper?!? Lethawhat?!? Guildmates: Long time to setup, vulnerable to target switches. High mobility. High DPS. Little utility. 2. Annoying. Explosive Conflict involves a lot of target switching, which Lethality is very poor at. Make Corrosive Grenade reset if a target affected by it dies, or give a Skill that makes Corrosive Dart apply the DoT of Corrosive Grenade (even a weaker version that does not proc say Adhesive Corrosives etc) to help out in all situations where splash AoE is not an option. Nothing but love for Cull. PvP DPS (Lethality) 1. Depends. When revealed as a Lethality sniper, I seem to go up in priority to be killed and people tend to avoid me if not going for the kill. Before that, I'm mostly ignored (don't use ambush, so don't have people LoS me until Cull starts rolling). 2. The cooldown on Corrosive Grenade, once again. The time to setup a cull is more understandable, but Dart, Grenade, Weakening Blast and finally Cull is a lot of work - in particular if someone else gets going on them and they are dead during Cull - means idling around for Grenade to pop back up to continue the assault. Same suggestions as for PvE would go here. Lethality is probably the best "ranged DPS" realisation I've seen in a MMO. It feels like playing a melee with 30 meters range, and even though some mechanics are clunky, it's a boatload of fun.

PvE DPS (Vengeance) 1. In general: Poor DPS, 2nd-class Marauder. Guildmates: Squishy - requires a lot more healing than a Marauder with their self-heals and arguably better defensive CD's. Solid DPS (in particular when AoE is relevant, but that's once in a blue moon.) 2. Fun, but I do dislike the RNG dependancy. When Ravage chain-procs, it gets exciting, but when it does not, it's sort of dull. That's the only thing keeping it from being a solid rotation-spec, which could be spiced up by adding other procs. I loathe the set bonuses. The 4-set bonus is decent - but with the high mobility demands and long CD, not all that useful - but could easily be implemented as a Skill. The 2-set bonus is a joke. PvP DPS (Vengeance) 1. Melee without Marauder/Powertech burst, nor any fancy defensive cooldowns to outlive the threat priority being closest to a majority of the enemies gives you. Dangerous enough to be killed, and easy enough to do so in a short manner. 2. The dependancy of Sunder slows down damage and fluidity. I feel more like a CC disarmer when charging into the enemy, as my immunty will soak up a number of CC. Not enough burst, nor enough survability to last long in melee range. It's still entertaining, however. That said, it's still an entertaining class.

Last time I compared actual upgrade drops (we're having way to many rots or companion seeds now for it to be valid now) it was disturbingly even. That said, our two regular Agents (me and another) had the most items / person, but, well, having a theoretical 25% drop-rate and a 12.5% presence (on 16 man) would theoretically net us more drops per person. So, having a singular Agent/Smuggler at raids (which does not seem uncommon) would generally - surprise, surprise - mean they'll get geared faster than any class having 2-3 people present. Add some random skewness and it might seem worse than it is. Our last run (8-man), I think about 50% of all drops were Sith Warrior, including two main-hands. Thankfully, we actually had one in need of gear. But we've had 4 Bounty Hunter pants drop from Pylons, and 3 SW items from a lot of bosses. Beyond our first Karagga the Unyielding 8 man kill, we've never actually had double-agent drops. Random loot always seems weird and with the huge amount of operations going, someone is bound to find the strange deviations. All that said, there might be something fishy about it (like claiming that Voidstar ties are resolved by random, when everyone on my server seems to agree that a tie = 100% Republic win).

Try Lethality.

Survivability comes with mobility, to my experience. That and the ability to burst like mad for the 1v1 where running away isn't an option (or you want the medal). Large DoT's may do a lot of over-all damage, but if the other team has a healer or two, that's not actually doing anything useful. Position, position, position. Situation awareness, friendly awareness. All of those are critical; you could probably do great success with the most immobile spec if you could manage those. The best way to handle stealth attackers is to train them into friendlies. No one likes them, so they'll mostly switch targets and help killing them. A good Operative will most likely kill you if they have the drop, regardless of spec, but having another friendly help heal/control/kill and the table is turned - and they'll give up chasing you after a while. So keep track on where you friends are. Watch how good sorcerer's react to fire; they'll shield and run away, dropping their current fight. We lack the same tools, but we have others (cover for charge immunity I'd wager is a huge uproar among those who depend on it). Don't be afraid to loose some damage to survive and to make parties loose interest in you. If your burst is fine, you can fake a retreat and kill them as they chase you down outside of their own support range. Position yourself so that you're not in the way for the push. In Huttball, kill sorcerer's (or others) run ahead of the carrier - the carrier will sustain enough fire from your team-mates, but passes and pulls can be directly bad; they'll also be busy trying to score that they're unlikely to retaliate or defend themselves. In Voidstar, use any LoS breakers you can (if you're playing MM, suit yourself). Annoy them enough to separate them and then burst them down when out of support range from their team-mates. I don't like Alderaan, but mostly finding suitable positions and preventing capping is the key here. Generally, it's the game I die the most in. Fake Orbital strikes; to force enemy range DPS to move.

How many smuggler drops did you get in normal? I'll take a wild guess at 0. Loot in normal ops seems to be randomly allocated to a person before being made into a finished product; which means you're just plain unlucky. So, if you're a single trooper, it should be 12.5% over an infinite stretch of time. Half that over a decently long stretch is unlikely, but hardly impossible. Checking from my loot logs, in Hard Mode Ops, it's a very even drop-rate (which is cool for us rare Agents, not so cool for all those Sorcerer's!)

Should make non-weapons off-hands fully mod-able, it'll always create a disparity between different ACs (Gunslingers can mod offhand vs Sniper, likewise Mercenary can vs. Commando). ~

vs. Immobility. Spec Lethality. PvP and PvE uses some different specs (even though they are certainly useable in each-others environment), but Cull is the root of everything that is good. Don't like tons of small hits and no real big? That's a choice, but snipers has access to probably the most mobile ranged DPS setup I've ever seen. vs. Damage. Slot your gear for crit rating (about 500) and Surge (about 400), even if that means replacing higher leveled enhancements with lower ones. You gain by doing it. Battle Enhancement 22 pretty much beats the crap that you get in Rakata gear. I consistently pull agro on our tanks in Operations, and I kill the high HP mobs in EV4 first. Lack of damage isn't an issue I'm facing. vs. Tanks in PvP Spec Lethality. Melt them. Don't like mobility, dots and loads of small numbers? That's a choice made. Wanting to eat the cake while keeping it and all that. Marksman is superior in leveling, but after that, trying out new things certainly don't hurt. All that said, Marksman could most certainly use a revision, but for now there is actually a fix to all the problems listed...

Yea, I'll just extract that 24/25 barrel and put it into a crafted item. Oh, snap, wait! Sure, it's equal to a tier1 weapon, but raw damage upgrade from T2+ weapons will beat it at any point. No other profession ceases functionality after obtaining a T2 piece.

So, if it's all to even out; Where's the BoP Rakata Ear piece for Cybertech? Where's the BoP Rakata Implants for Biochem? Where's something useful at all for Armstech? Artifice has otherwise unobtainable Relics, with Augument slot. Nice passives on that. Synthweaving/Armormech has otherwise obtainable bracers/belt with Augument slot. Nice passives on that as well. If your original intention was to design them equal, that Biochem, for instance, was only to produce reusable as a fund-cutter, why is there no passive stuff? All things equal, +56 (2x28) to any stat of choice is a decent passive. For comparison, while Adrenal's may offer a larger burst, 565 Power (for instance) over 15 seconds, it has a reuse of 3 minutes, making it roughly 47.1 Power over time if used whenever off CD - even worse than the passives offered by Augument slots. That said - Adrenals aren't even exclusive to Biochemists, making the edge over non-biochemists Adrenal users about 12 (people say it's 25% more effective than the trade-able one). That said, Auguments have much more variables than Stims, and be slotted after need - making them even more potent. Add the increased potency of Rakata relics (which don't even require Artifice 400, making it "the new Biochem" as of last patch when it got passive Endurance). Now, Biochem is still rich-mans problems; Do your metrics and figure why Cybertech and Armstech are virtually non-existent at 50. It's because they offers nothing. Reusable grenades with like 5 minutes reuse that got nerfed across the board because of PvP whinery? Yea... Even the mount is usable after switching crew skill if you've clicked it already. Armstech can produce augumentable weapons, which can match T1 weapons, but off-hands are still absolutely horrible. (Why aren't non-weapon Off-Hands moddable by the way? Since Rakata non-weapon offhand are horribly stated, offers very little upgrade in tech/force damage, they are simply not upgrade most of the time. Making them slotable would go a long way; or is this a specific bonus for dual wield? If so, give classes that have a mirror that can dual wield the option to do so too; or you'll simply see more of those imbalance posts of which advantage the other side has!) But I don't understand why you're so busy nerfing instead of actually comparing and buffing where needed. Even though getting to 400 in a crew skill is dead easy, there should be some reward in keeping it... Currently, and seemingly after the patch as well, you still want to go: Armormech/Synthweaving 400 -> Get Mastercrafted belt/bracer -> Artifice 400 -> Get 2 Mastercrafted Relics -> Biochemistry. Add 400 requirements to all "Rakata" level items and make sure every profession has at least one; Armtech could get a Rakata offhand (since Gharj gives them out for free anyway). Augument passives are by far the best buff, at least after Biochem stim nerf.

I'd recommend 2/16/23 for PvE. Weakening Blast is very lackluster compared to Interrogation Probe and Imperial Methodology in PvE. Lethality is decently poor for soloing, your dots aren't working all that fast, and it costs like 70 energy to setup a proper cull - which will kill a normal mob in the first tick, making it a large waste. While a corrosive grenade will kill (or is very likely too, in particular with some subtle aid of a well-placed Rifle Shot!) three bunched up normal mobs, it'll take it some time. Strong mobs are decently effective, but it's first at elite level you're getting mileage out of it. That said, with Doctor Lokin you can pretty much rifle shot your way through any solo content regardless. ;p Likewise, trash clearing in dungeons is a bit tedious, as Lethality is very ineffective at picking off normal mobs. It does really shine on anything with a bunch of hit points, however. No large numbers, just tons and tons of small. And high mobility. Like playing melee with 30 meters range. All that said, if you haven't remodeled your gear to focus on crit/surge you will run into energy problems. At the very least you should sport 40% crit chance.

Lethality is like playing a melee with 30-35 meters range, your only channel that needs to be done in PvP has 35 meters range, everything else is instant; while cover can be used and is occasionally quite good to do so, you're not dependent on it - it's just a nice option. Sure, a bit more squishy than a turret-spec, and way easier to overextend for a kill if not watching it or keeping discipline. People can and - if they are good - will still LOS or interrupt Cull though, so it's a bit vulnerable. You still have knockbacks, stuns and roots to control pesky melees, and CC-immunity Cover, failing all else. Since lethality mostly ignores armor, it'll tear through everyone, but getting the 5k medal is a pita (I need power-up and a convenient light armor critical ambush pretty much), but the 2.5k is pretty much guaranteed by just using Takedown. Currently, at least on my server, not being top 3 on damage means fighting a pre-made (and if it's huttball, I'll still be up there, if not on top, due to other team just focusing winning fast) or being constantly harassed by pesky stealth classes. As crit/surge seems to have much bigger impact than power, sloting your gear for it should amp you up towards 50%+ crit chance on DoT's, making energy concerns redundant for PvP engagements, I only ever have issues if I get stuck in a drawn out conflict, and even then Adrenal Probe generally gets me back up. Since it's mobile, you can LoS pesky Hunters/Commandos/Sorcerers/Sages yourself and just pop out for your dots and bursts - you're far more mobile than them. That said, I'm ironically having real issues fighting good marksmen, but that may boil down to me not really being all that able PvPer and just using an easy-mode spec, and the marksmen I've fought are actually good players! But, whining about a turret spec, with no mobility and long - if hard hitting - channels, is poor/hard to play in PvP? Should give itself away!

Oh, nice! Thanks!

1. Loot. While chest loots may be needed for some bosses, you may want to not tie them to the first incarnation of a mob, so if it's reset, it's death no longer unlocks the chest. Either have chest unlock on Flashpoint flags or reset the chest so it's in phase with the currently spawned boss. 2. Bosses - Revan. Copy & Paste Force Lightning from the bonus boss in The False Emperor. It's nasty enough to warrant an interrupt without killing the target if you don't interrupt at the tells before he actually start channeling, even though Revan is just that much more simpler than that bonus mob. Also check that he only has one lightning skill, as he seems to sometimes recast it instantly after being interrupted (in particular if you've wiped, he TPW's in split seconds 2nd round and beyond). - Malgus. Some AC's have two knockbacks, others have none. Some work differently out of no reason at all. With a DPS sorcerer, I could (as Juggernaut) knockback after he had done his aoe thing and it was all fine and dandy. When the same Sorcerer went as healer, I had to knockback first, otherwise his knockback wouldn't take. Allow stuns to setup a knockback, pull-to, or really any form of CC to avoid random frustration as most of these knockbacks are on heavy timers (except the AC's which it's already easy mode for, of course!) 3. Melee Hate I understand it's easy to design things that are nasty for melee but has no bearing for ranged DPS, but I don't understand why. ;p - Does every bloody trash mob in certain Flashpoints have to have knockbacks? Ranged DPS can without fear of retaliation drop aoe's or single target, but melee are just all over the place, making clearing tedious (compare Foundry clearing to False Emperor for instance, the first with 2 melee DPS is a cake-walk, the second latter is PITA). Knock-backs done properly - and occasionally - can be funny, but if you're gonna do it right, at least make it 35m range so everyone can share the joy! Having to stand on-top of the tank to not loose DPS time constantly is a tad boring - The second boss in Battle of Ilum (forget his name) has a HUGE damage shield against - you guessed it - melee attacks. Why? Or is there a 0 to many there, intending it to be manageable 700 rather than 7000? He's totally killable with 2 melee DPS - don't get me wrong here - but is so much easier with a ranged DPS. - The False Emperor HK-47. Why does he knock-back on charges, even if you're CC immune? Doesn't even have a buff that states he does. The fight doesn't even give any advantages to high mobility - it only really serves as a frustration for melee. If it's involving the ground nukes, they deal insufficient damage to really need to move out of - about the same as charging him does, without the knockback. 4. Itemization The 5 main slots are decently fine. Energized vs Tionesed randomness is a bit sad though, as you get pretty much the same armor just doing dailies, but at least the Tionese has a setbonus! - Bracer and Belt are really, really poor compared to orange slotted gear with armoring/mod from dailies. Sure, some more primary stat and endurance, but secondary stats are incredibly behind. Even Columni bracer is helplessly flailing behind orange kit. - Implant/Earring are also miles away from crafted level 49 stuff brought up to purple level. Even the Rakata ones from 120 daily commendations are merely side grades, offering more survival for less oomph (Enrage due to lack of Oomph kills me more than than lack of health, to be honest!). It's great that crafted stuff is competitive, but perhaps itemization should revisit these. Getting highest ranked gear should be an upgrade to stuff we've been able to make since level 40, right? - Also, could you just give the Taris orange set looks or something to the raid gear? Warrior armor looks like they have beer bottle implants, the bounty hunter like a moveable shower and let's not start on the Sorcerer. Spending 50 levels looking Star Warsly to end up with that mess of an armor that looks sprung straight from WoW makes for sad kittens. :/ Or at least have two sets, one that looks like Star Wars, and one that looks like silly-generic-end-game-armor-of-any-mmo-of-late? All that said, thanks for Flashpoints which puts priority on DPS rather than having the tank/healer carry everyone through. Some fights are at first frustrating to get those extra inches of damage out, but all the more sense of accomplishment when you do. I much prefer the high-tempo fights that's mostly offered in the Flashpoints to the boring norm.

He'll advance warn who's gonna get stabbed by stunning that person, who should be at full health. While not 100%, here's how we set him up to attack our target of choice: Tank guards the weakest (armor/HP wise) DPS - assuming both are doing roughly equal numbers of course. The other, hopefully more robust, DPS will take the first assassination, so keep his health topped off around HK 40%. Sorcerer shielding helps, but is not needed if it's heavy armor taking the hit. If you get unlucky, he'll snipe instantly after, which may kill the target. The second seems to be infallible on the tank, which is just bonus DPS for the rest. If you slack on DPS and get a third, it's normally the original DPS again, use a defensive CD and it's no problem even if he's enraged (if he's enraged, he'll normally flip out and kill two people, sweet bugs!) At times he interrupts after dealing his first hit, just put pressure on him after first strike and it normally works. Oh, and don't forget to bring the shields down on the turrets during the fight (don't need to kill them as they do no real damage) so you don't have to wipe once HK is dead.