A main point I should mention.... Your Powershot might not be doing as much damage as your Tracer is because it's based on WEAPON Damage. Are your Pistols up to date/best they can be?

 

 

 

 

 

Because the person using CSC might actually be a Bodyguard/Arsenal Hybrid? Who would have thought such a thing? (It's a pretty viable PvP spec)

 

It works, quite well actually. Not too shabby in PvE either.

 

 

 

Or... counterpoint... your Tracer may not be doing as much as Powershot because your AIM isn't as up to date as your weapon damage.

 

It certainly isn't doing more because Weapon Damage is superior to Kinetic. They are basically the same thing, one is just clarifying it scales from Weapon Damage instead.

 

 

From my experiences in beta with the Commando, however, I can assure you that they scale at the same rate assuming you keep up both aspects of your gear(Weapon Damage range and AIM), but when you upgrade to a fantastic new weapon(complete with the highest level and quality barrel you can use), Powershot WILL do more damage than Tracer.

Easy enough to verify since the tooltip reflects the actual damage taking into account all of your current stats and buffs, and Powershot goes up a bit.

This COULD have changed since the last day of beta, but is not likely and using my current BH as comparison says it has not either.

 

The gap in damage isn't all that noticeable unless your other gear is lacking in appropriate level items/mods. Like if you use Commando type mods instead of whatever the high AIM stat ones are, that will have an effect, but not enough to warrant using Powershot instead.

 

 

Overall, getting Tracer will completely replace Powershot as long as you maintain your gear level properly, even when you go hybrid Bodyguard/Arsenal.

Powershot may do more damage than Tracer, but when you compare damage to heat cost, Tracer is the clear cut winner. It is far more efficient.

Powershot may do more damage than Tracer, but when you compare damage to heat cost, Tracer is the clear cut winner. It is far more efficient.

 

They have identical heat cost (16) with Muzzle Fluting.

 

Tracer Missile is designed to completely replace Power Shot for Arsenal Spec. It synergizes with the spec better and provides buffs/procs that Power Shot does not. The weapon damage vs kinetic is a moot point, because Both are mitigated by armor and they rely equally on the damage rating of your weapon, which determines the weapon damage (Power shot) and Tech Power (Tracer).

Edited December 21, 2011 by Dasthug

Once I got tracer, I found myself spamming it a lot. This is why I got bored with this class.

Once I got tracer, I found myself spamming it a lot. This is why I got bored with this class.

 

The farther you get into Arsenal, the more weapons you have. I'm level 50 and really don't spam Tracer Missile at all anymore. The Arsenal/Bodyguard hybrid that is so popular pretty much exclusively spams Tracer because it lacks some talents. However, you eventually get talents that make Tracer Missile finish the Unload cooldown and increase its damage by 25% so you use Unload when that procs. You also get a talent that stacks with Tracer Missile to 5 and increases your next Rail Shot by 6% per stack for a 30% boost. You also get Hellfire Missiles which, when a mob is fully debuffed with Tracer, does more damage than Tracer.

 

TL;DR - You get a lot more options for attacking the further you get into the tree. If you don't like spamming Tracer, don't play the hybrid spec.

I don't understand how people can play hybrid specs with how awesome heat seeker missile's animation is.

While we are on the subject...anyone have any suggestions on setting up their action bars? I'm hella confused on what abilities i should keep and which ones i should get rid of.