for snipers going down marksmanship, we have the talent sniper volley. this increases our alacrity to a max of 9%

 

from what I understand of alacrity, all it really does is allow you to burn through your energy faster. it makes casting quicker and channeling faster (basically dealing the damage in shorter time)

 

but then I also heard that it doesnt affect the global cooldown. if this is the case, whats the point in this skill then? because the only abilities the sniper has that has a cast time is ambush and series of shots. from guides i've seen most people say to use ambush only when your reactive shot procs and thus bringing it down to an activation of 1.5 which is the same as the global cooldown.

 

so whats the point of taking this talent? am I missing something? and if alacrity is such a bad stat then wouldnt this talent do nothing if we had no alacrity then?

Alacricity is usefull, faster casts = more dps, but also makes it easier to get energy starved.

But when gearing you get the same dps from power and crit/surge just as easily.

 

However, talented alacricity, either from Lethalitiy tree (Deadly Directive) or marksmanship (Sniper Volley), gives you the extra dps without the downside of loosing power/crit/surge.

And it's not like we have that many dps talents to pick, sniper volleys biggest drawback is that it stacks to 3, then stops working until you get the effect again 30 seconds later, and it costs 3 talents, but as there are so few dps increasing talents, might as well pick it on the way.

 

I maxed it when levelling, hadn't noticed that it could not be kept stacked, otherwise i might have put single point somewhere else and just taken the constant 4% from lethality or put points to +aoe damage in engineering, but it's not a bad talent in itself.

It's a terrible stat, It doesn't affect non-casted spells,

 

so a 1.4 cast snipe(say you have enough alacrity) will be faster than if you cast an instant sniper using the snap shot talent(it would still be a 1.5s GCD)

 

Because of this alacrit is abismal for snipers, we are energy capped and our filler spell is an instant cast(takes no benefit from alacrity) so tl:dr its a poor poor stat compared to crit/surge/power.

 

do take the 4% from talents if you are going 31/5/5 spec or 5/5/31 spec. Because its better than the alternative(10% aoe damage)

 

Don't take the sniper volley talent, If you take 2 points into Pillbox Sniper and throw 1 more point into cover screen to make it 2/2 you gain a nice little defense boost against a few boss attacks as well as a much shorter cast on orbital strike(which according to spreadsheet only loses you 5 dps over having 3/3 Sniper Volley, and saves you from having to deal with the increased energy use while Sniper volley is active.)

 

Edited January 17, 2012 by Imspecial

and saves you from having to deal with the increased energy use while Sniper volley is active.)

 

 

the energy increase is not really that bad, throw a rifle shot somewhere there at the end and you get the lost energy back and have had more dps.

MM rotation looks like this

 

 

FT

Filler GCD

Filler GCD

Filler GCD

0.04 times the number of seconds used by "cast" abilities used as fillers

FT

 

Ideally you would use a priority for fillers, and one of the 3 HAS to be ambush or snipe in order to proc the following followthrough.

 

Takedown

Orbital strike(takes up 2 spots)

Ambush(with proc)

Series of shots(takes up 2 spots)

Snipe(ONLY if it wont throw you sub 60)

Rifle shot

 

Alacrity could possibly speed up everything there apart from rifle shot, but if it speeds up something a tiny bit, all it does it adds a little wait time before you FT again and since energy regens regardless of if you are casting or not, alacrity does nothing but add afk time into a set rotation.

 

So the roation becomes a 6 second repeating window in which you regen 6*6=36energy, and 5 of it MUST be followthrough, so you have 31 energy pre cycle to spare.

 

31 is enough for these reasonable possibilities which have a priority as follows (damage wise), note damage in brackets is using my gear.

 

-19 cycle - snipe>orbital (50) - 8170damage / 163.4 DPE

-24 cycle - snipe>ambush>snipe (55) - 6677damage / 121DPE

-9 cycle - series of shots>snipe (40) - 5911damage / 147 DPE

+1 cycle - Rifle>ambush>snipe (30) - 5691damage / 162 DPE

+16 cycle - rifle>ambush>rifle(15) - 4574damage / 304 DPE

-9 cycle - rifle>snipe>snipe (40) - 4363damage / 109 DPE

+11 cycle - Rifle>snipe>rifle (20) - 3463damage / 173 DPE

 

Note that higher damage cycles are generally negative cycles and are not sustainable, you will have to cycle Highs with lows in order to stay above 60 energy. You need to wing it as a fight progresses but a common start would be..

 

-19 Snipe>orbital>FT

+16 rifle>ambush>rifle >FT

-9 series of shots>snipe>FT

-9 rifle>snipe>snipe>FT

+11 rifle> snipe>rifle>FT

 

 

 

You would end up -10 after this or 100 energy on your bar. At that point you just have to fill each cycle going up and down from 60-110 during each cycle but being carefull never to cap at 110 or to drop sub 60, its not the easiest thing in the world but It seems to end up just working out over time because it becomes second nature to you. Things get more complicated when you have the 4pc pve bonus and its sub 30% but with the information I posted you should be able to figure out where you need to incorporate Takedown into the rotation and what the huge benefit of the 4 set bonus is(hint, it gives you more possilbe positive possible cycles which allows you to use the energy negative one more frequently thus more dps.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2012 by Imspecial

Activation Time abilities and Channel Time abilities that have Alacrity pushing them under 1.5s have the global cooldown also reduced to that. A 1.3s cast Snipe for example has a 1.3s global cooldown. Stop spreading this misinformation.

 

That said Alacrity still sucks. Mostly because the cooldown are all still a rigid in 1.5s intervals and because it doesn't have any affect on instant casts.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Ayestes

Activation Time abilities and Channel Time abilities that have Alacrity pushing them under 1.5s have the global cooldown also reduced to that. A 1.3s cast Snipe for example has a 1.3s global cooldown. Stop spreading this misinformation.

 

That said Alacrity still sucks. Mostly because the cooldown are all still a rigid in 1.5s intervals and because it doesn't have any affect on instant casts.

 

I've been under the impression that you couldn't change the GCD whatsoever... of course I never had enough alacrity to make much of a difference anyway, but that is one point that would drive me away from even trying.

 

So you are saying if you somehow got 33% alacrity, you could cast a snipe in 1s (.5 off the original cast and reduce the GCD for that shot by the same amount)?

With an Alacrity of 33%, Snipe would have an activation time of 1.13s and the global cooldown for that Snipe also be 1.13. Your instants would still have 1.5s. People are confusing how Alacrity does nothing for instants with the global cooldown and parroting misinformation.

 

It's still not an efficient stat to take, but it's not completely useless like many people seem to believe.

With an Alacrity of 33%, Snipe would have an activation time of 1.13s and the global cooldown for that Snipe also be 1.13. Your instants would still have 1.5s. People are confusing how Alacrity does nothing for instants with the global cooldown and parroting misinformation.

 

It's still not an efficient stat to take, but it's not completely useless like many people seem to believe.

 

How does it come out to 1.13? Wouldn't 33% alacrity take .5 off of a 1.5s snipe?

No, because 100% Alacrity would bring you to a 0.75s cast and not an instant cast. You are casting 100% faster then you were previously, not subtracting 100% off of the cast time. In your case, you would be casting 33% faster, not at 67% of your original cast time.

 

The formula is CastTime * (100/100+Alacrity) and not CastTime * ((100-Alacrity)/100)

Edited January 17, 2012 by Ayestes

The way I see it, increasing alacrity gives you room for more rifle shots, increasing your mean DPS.

It can if it doesn't interfere with cooldowns such as from Cull, Series of Shots, and Followthrough.

 

It doesn't matter if you make an extra .3 seconds if you have to wait .3 seconds for a cooldown to finish. If you just used rifle shots instead you'd be putting off your cooldown by 1.2 seconds which is often a DPS loss. This is why Alacrity is often worthless, not because it doesn't lower the GCD. You either ignore the extra time you made up so you can use your strongest ability on cooldown, or you shove in an extra Rifle Shots and lose DPS. If you can utilize Alacrity to gain an extra 1.5s during the 6s/9s/15s then you'd be in the clear. Then you remember Alacrity doesn't work with Instant Casts and you realize you need a whole metric ton of Alacrity to make a difference beyond using Target Acquired.

 

With enough Alacrity or in many situations Alacrity certainly could be useful, but then it's a trade off in talent points or attributes. It's not entirely useless, it's just usually useless especially in small amounts. Getting 33% Alacrity for a triple Speed Shot is one of the few uses out there that actually can be made to work.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Ayestes

The point is for every cast your going to be speeding up your rotation. At some point you will be able to squeeze in an extra rifle shot that you normally would not have time for..

The point is for every cast your going to be speeding up your rotation. At some point you will be able to squeeze in an extra rifle shot that you normally would not have time for..

 

That's why I figure, from pure theorycrafting. Given that boss fights last quite a few minutes, this makes some sense.

 

It still seems like an incremental upgrade, though...

The length of an encounter does not determine what use you get out of Alacrity. It's your cooldowns. As a Marksman for example, you have to squeeze in an extra Rifle Shots in between Followthrough cooldowns efficiently. That takes an insane amount of Alacrity.

 

If you have to wait 0.3s for your Followthrough cooldown to come back up, you've gained nothing. If you squeeze in an extra Rifle Shots, you are delaying Followthrough by 1.2s. The first scenario makes your Alacrity worthless, the second is lower sustained damage then the first. So to keep your DPS up you are waiting that 0.3s. That 0.3s is spent and does not get added up every time you run through that "rotation". It doesn't matter how long the fight is, you won't gain extra time unless you can overcome your cooldowns.

The length of an encounter does not determine what use you get out of Alacrity. It's your cooldowns. As a Marksman for example, you have to squeeze in an extra Rifle Shots in between Followthrough cooldowns efficiently. That takes an insane amount of Alacrity.

 

If you have to wait 0.3s for your Followthrough cooldown to come back up, you've gained nothing. If you squeeze in an extra Rifle Shots, you are delaying Followthrough by 1.2s. The first scenario makes your Alacrity worthless, the second is lower sustained damage then the first. So to keep your DPS up you are waiting that 0.3s. That 0.3s is spent and does not get added up every time you run through that "rotation". It doesn't matter how long the fight is, you won't gain extra time unless you can overcome your cooldowns.

 

That sounds reasonable. Which would make alacrity ignorable.

Maybe they should just make Volley directly decrease cast time...

Sniper Volley really only works well with the triple Series of Shots. Sniper Volley probably shouldn't do anything with Alacrity. Nor should Target Acquired or Deadly Directive, at least for Snipers. Given... Target Acquired can be useful, it's not anything like it's number suggest. Even used optimally I often find it's only an 11% increase in DPS over that duration. As Lethality I pretty much cringe at it's 3% increase in DPS over that duration. Those calculations don't involve being cutoff by cooldowns either, which can cause issues as I illustrated above. Edited January 17, 2012 by Ayestes

I find it odd that no one seems to take the global cooldown into account.

 

I understand how alacrity could seem to give you more room for a rilfe shot, but that really isnt the case.

 

if your shots are instant cast, it doesnt mean you can cast another ability right afterwards cuz theres a 1.5 global cooldown. alacrity doesnt effect this global cooldown so no matter what your waiting 1.5 seconds after every ability.

 

with every ability being used in the marksmanship sniper being 1.5 second cast time/instant cast this means that alacrity doesnt improve anything since your gonna have to wait that 1.5 seconds regardless cuz of global cooldown

 

the only ability that I can think of that it will effect is series of shots that is if its above 1.5 seconds duration so that it can be unloaded faster.

 

the only thing I can see alacrity can do is allow you to be more mobile by finishing your cast faster and allowing you to move while waiting for your global cooldown to be done but chances are the amount of time you get wont be enough to make any effect in game play

I find it odd that no one seems to take the global cooldown into account.

 

I understand how alacrity could seem to give you more room for a rilfe shot, but that really isnt the case.

 

if your shots are instant cast, it doesnt mean you can cast another ability right afterwards cuz theres a 1.5 global cooldown. alacrity doesnt effect this global cooldown so no matter what your waiting 1.5 seconds after every ability.

 

with every ability being used in the marksmanship sniper being 1.5 second cast time/instant cast this means that alacrity doesnt improve anything since your gonna have to wait that 1.5 seconds regardless cuz of global cooldown

 

the only ability that I can think of that it will effect is series of shots that is if its above 1.5 seconds duration so that it can be unloaded faster.

 

the only thing I can see alacrity can do is allow you to be more mobile by finishing your cast faster and allowing you to move while waiting for your global cooldown to be done but chances are the amount of time you get wont be enough to make any effect in game play

 

 

That would be true but....

 

alacrity lowers the GCD in the case of cast times below 1.5s. For instance lets say your snipe (normally a 1.5s cast) only takes 1.3 sec to cast because of alacrity. Alacrity then lowers the GCD to 1.3s because this ability has a cast time. Alacrity does not lower the GCD on instant cast abilities.

wait a min, your telling me that if an ability has a cast time alacrity will lower it's cast time and the global cooldown? so if I use snipe, and have enough alacrity to cast it at 1.3 seconds, the global cooldown on all the abilities becomes 1.3 instead of 1.5.

 

but if I use rifle shot, or takedown the global cooldown is still at 1.5 regardless?

wait a min, your telling me that if an ability has a cast time alacrity will lower it's cast time and the global cooldown? so if I use snipe, and have enough alacrity to cast it at 1.3 seconds, the global cooldown on all the abilities becomes 1.3 instead of 1.5.

 

but if I use rifle shot, or takedown the global cooldown is still at 1.5 regardless?

 

that is correct. a 1.3s snipe triggers a 1.3s GCD. An instant cast followthrough will still trigger a 1.5s GCD regardless of the amount of alacrity you have.

 

to reiterate: With cast time abilties alacrity will push the GCD below the 1.5s norm. It will not lower the GCD on instant cast abilities.

Edited January 20, 2012 by bodatious

that is correct. a 1.3s snipe triggers a 1.3s GCD. An instant cast followthrough will still trigger a 1.5s GCD regardless of the amount of alacrity you have.

 

to reiterate: With cast time abilties alacrity will push the GCD below the 1.5s norm. It will not lower the GCD on instant cast abilities.

 

It would probably be more accurate (or perhaps just less confusing) to say that cast time abilities don't trigger the GCD, which is why you can chain an instant attack immediately following a Snipe or Ambush, so lowering their cast time will let you use your next skill sooner.

It would probably be more accurate (or perhaps just less confusing) to say that cast time abilities don't trigger the GCD, which is why you can chain an instant attack immediately following a Snipe or Ambush, so lowering their cast time will let you use your next skill sooner.

 

this is actually what you want to avoid thinking cuz if you say that abilities that has cast times doesnt triggers the gcd, this means that if I cancel the cast I can immidatly can cast an instant which I doubt is true.