http://i.imgur.com/53gc1xe.jpg

That's a screengrab of LadyInsanity's stream from either Friday or Saturday.

It shows that for roughly 350 crit rating, which gives the displayed 25% crit chance at level 60, it only gives 57% crit damage. Right now on one of my level 60 characters, I have:

357 crit rating = 26% crit chance (in mixed 192/198 gear)

351 surge rating = 68% crit damage (same gear)

So, what we can infer from that screenshot, then, is that crit damage has been nerfed massively.

57% (KOTFE) / 68% (Live) = ~0.83, or a 17% nerf.

What makes matters worse is that crit now also must compete with both alacrity and accuracy, so we'll have almost no crit chance or damage on every class. Crit no longer shows up on mods, and it takes 7/10 tertiary stat slots to accuracy cap (or six, if you have completely full highest possible quality gear).

I don't see why Bioware doesn't just give us a flat x2 modifier for crit damage (also known as the critical hit damage increase baseline since critical hits were invented) and remove completely the ability to increase CHD, and then buff boss hp slightly to compensate. It would be so much simpler, since they seem to be so adamant about continuing to force DPS to gear almost entirely towards hit rating.

http://i.imgur.com/53gc1xe.jpg

 

That's a screengrab of LadyInsanity's stream from either Friday or Saturday.

 

It shows that for roughly 350 crit rating, which gives the displayed 25% crit chance at level 60, it only gives 57% crit damage. Right now on one of my level 60 characters, I have:

 

357 crit rating = 26% crit chance (in mixed 192/198 gear)

351 surge rating = 68% crit damage (same gear)

 

So, what we can infer from that screenshot, then, is that crit damage has been nerfed massively.

 

57% (KOTFE) / 68% (Live) = ~0.83, or a 17% nerf.

 

What makes matters worse is that crit now also must compete with both alacrity and accuracy, so we'll have almost no crit chance or damage on every class. Crit no longer shows up on mods, and it takes 7/10 tertiary stat slots to accuracy cap (or six, if you have completely full highest possible quality gear).

 

I don't see why Bioware doesn't just give us a flat x2 modifier for crit damage (also known as the critical hit damage increase baseline since critical hits were invented) and remove completely the ability to increase CHD, and then buff boss hp slightly to compensate. It would be so much simpler, since they seem to be so adamant about continuing to force DPS to gear almost entirely towards hit rating.

Ugh. This is worrisome. Unless the crit returns go up when you hit 65, we're gonna all have way less surge than we currently do, albeit with more crit chance. For example my sniper in full 174 has ~600 surge rating, which currently equates to 74.61% multiplier. From that screenshot, in 4.0 you only get 6% crit damage multiplier from 420 surge. So it wouldn't be hard to imagine that going to 600 may only give you 2-3% more. The tradeoff is I'd gain a ton of crit chance and probably be hitting 30%. So they want us to crit less hard but crit more frequently or what? I'd honesty prefer it the way it is now, burst classes need big Crits to pressure healers. Otherwise why run burst? I guess most classes getting 80% surge and there only being power as a secondary DPS stat in full PVP gear in 4.0 might have been a bit too much but honestly I'd probably rather stick the rest of my tertiary stats into alacrity at this point, I think.

So, what we can infer from that screenshot, then, is that crit damage has been nerfed massively.

 

57% (KOTFE) / 68% (Live) = ~0.83, or a 17% nerf.

Assuming base crit damage is still 50% we get +7% in KoTFE and +18% in live, so it's actually a 61% nerf to the value of the stat that competes with accuracy and alacrity.

Assuming base crit damage is still 50% we get +7% in KoTFE and +18% in live, so it's actually a 61% nerf to the value of the stat that competes with accuracy and alacrity.

Although they are all tertiary stats, technically alacrity and surge don't compete with Accuracy, especially in PvE where it is always best for all classes to get to 100/110%. Unless they even out the surge returns at level 65, I don't see how crit will be able to compete against alacrity, especially if they don't change the alacrity returns, except for specs that rely on crit for energy management or procs.

Although they are all tertiary stats, technically alacrity and surge don't compete with Accuracy, especially in PvE where it is always best for all classes to get to 100/110%. Unless they even out the surge returns at level 65, I don't see how crit will be able to compete against alacrity, especially if they don't change the alacrity returns, except for specs that rely on crit for energy management or procs.

If stat formulae work the same at 65 as they do at 60, those specs will just be nonviable. In the 4.0 changes for classes, there are no modifications which address what right now looks like a much lower surge/crit chance.

http://i.imgur.com/53gc1xe.jpg

 

That's a screengrab of LadyInsanity's stream from either Friday or Saturday.

 

It shows that for roughly 350 crit rating, which gives the displayed 25% crit chance at level 60, it only gives 57% crit damage. Right now on one of my level 60 characters, I have:

 

357 crit rating = 26% crit chance (in mixed 192/198 gear)

351 surge rating = 68% crit damage (same gear)

 

So, what we can infer from that screenshot, then, is that crit damage has been nerfed massively.

But Crit rating has been buffed massively. For the same ~350 you get about the same crit chance *plus* some crit damage on top of that. Augments may well be all tertiary stat for some classes, because crit rating is now better than it was and should compete favorably with power for many/most specs. So you'll have a higher tertiary stat budget (not to mention stat levels are increasing) and may well have comparable crit damage after all.

But Crit rating has been buffed massively. For the same ~350 you get about the same crit chance *plus* some crit damage on top of that. Augments may well be all tertiary stat for some classes, because crit rating is now better than it was and should compete favorably with power for many/most specs. So you'll have a higher tertiary stat budget (not to mention stat levels are increasing) and may well have comparable crit damage after all.

No you don't: http://www.swtor.com/blog/combat-changes-fallen-empire

Due to this change we have tweaked the values that this rating converts into. Generally an equal rating prior to Fallen Empire will result in less critical hit change and damage from before, but this is simplified by only having one rating.

And even if I hadn't linked that, I provided mathematical proof that statement was incorrect before you even quoted me; I used a screenshot taken from a KOTFE stream for my numbers.

Crit's raw value per point has gone up relative to itself since it now will provide crit damage, but its value relative to the other stats has dropped because it now requires more rating for the same percentage of both crit and surge. Just because it provides more than it did doesn't mean it will be better. It might be superior for one or more healer specs since they don't need hit, but for DPS it will be all but useless for almost every spec.

When there are ten pieces that can have tertiary stats of which seven must be devoted to hit rating on DPS, I doubt the last three will provide enough crit to make it a better option than alacrity for almost every spec (perhaps Infiltration Shadow will still value crit more since they have neither cast times nor DOTs, but that is most likely the sole exception). As it is now, pre-KOTFE, almost every DPS spec values alacrity higher already. With the large nerf to the rating-into-percentage conversion formula, unless there are massive and sweeping changes to most specs, that is unlikely to change.

Instead of Surge, they should of just removed Accuracy.

I've been advocating that for literally years, ever since Blizzard gave 100% hit chance for free to tanks. Blizzard eventually removed hit rating for DPS because it wasn't a fun stat to have to deal with (although I can take no credit for that).

But Bioware? Doing something sensible? You're out of your tree

They also made it so you need ~16% less accuracy, but you had to be paying close attention to the streams to realise this.

Anyway, using the optimal stat thread, and then comparing it to a 4.0 build, we come up with the following. I will be assuming level 60 for the 4.0 build though, so take note of that:

I WILL BE USING TACTICS AS A BASELINE

4950 DPS | 4201 (6xAug) Aim | 1722 Power | 442 Critical | 302 (1xAug) Surge | 568 (4xAug) Alacrity | 756 (3xAug) Accuracy

Now, with the drop in accuracy requirements, we know that recommended accuracy is now 632 accuracy @ level 60 (4 enhance + 3 augment = 636), or 684 @ 65

Mastery will be a baseline 4171, and power will be a non-negotiable 2164 rating

Due to the excessive power, I reckon that tertiary augments will be the best bet. So have an excell spreadsheet

http://1drv.ms/1PcXWiu

For those who can't be bothered opening it, optimal gear for level 60 is:

4845.325 DPS | 4171 Mastery | 2164 Power | 782 (1xAug) Critical | 520 (10xAug) Alacrity | 636 (3xAug) Accuracy

Doesn't accuracy give more complexity to dps classes to play around with? As a healer I have fun finding the right balance between surge, and alacrity, and whether to choose power augments or mainstat augments. Is it not the same?

Not really. Every DPS has to have exactly 758 accuracy rating (at 60, this number will probably be higher at 65 due to stat inflation). It's an arbitrary value and "unfun," because anything less and you're doing subpar DPS, any more and you're literally wasting stat points.

The only comparison for a healer would be if their abilities restored only 50% of the tooltip value of HP if they had less than 513 alacrity (arbitrary value I just made up), but having more than 513 alacrity doesn't make the heals stronger. You would spend almost all your time gearing up worrying about having exactly that much alacrity and no more, other stats be damned. But then when you actually get all your gear from Story Mode, you can ignore the stat forever and just replace each piece with its higher-numbered Hard Mode counterpart.

Accuracy rating unfairly punishes new DPS gearing their character up, and then is a pointless, boring waste of a number to an already-geared DPS.

There's a reason D&D removed THACO, and there's a reason World of Warcraft removed hit rating.

They also made it so you need ~16% less accuracy, but you had to be paying close attention to the streams to realise this.

 

*snip*

There's also the combat change to accuracy coming in 4.0 (as outlined in the combat mechanics changes article):

• 
  Base weapon accuracy has been increased from 90% to 100%. All non-basic attacks already had 100% Accuracy, so this change brings basic attacks up to par.
  

So essentially all autoattacks will never miss, but all special abilities still need the 110% cap. Which is a pointless and half-baked change because no spec uses the basic attack except as a rare filler ability, and several specs never use it at all.

I'm curious how you know that the hit cap is 684 at level 65 (I thought datamining was "illegal"), or how you're obtaining 2164 power (the rest makes sense).

There's also the combat change to accuracy coming in 4.0 (as outlined in the combat mechanics changes article):

 

 

So essentially all autoattacks will never miss, but all special abilities still need the 110% cap. Which is a pointless and half-baked change because no spec uses the basic attack except as a rare filler ability, and several specs never use it at all.

 

I'm curious how you know that the hit cap is 684 at level 65 (I thought datamining was "illegal"), or how you're obtaining 2164 power (the rest makes sense).

Well for one, Auto-attacks will still miss. Everything else already started at 100%, so with 10% extra accuracy you'd have 100% base accuracy and 110% accuracy on everything else. The boss would typically come with a 10% defense/resist chance, which subtracts 10% from your accuracy, so your AAs would miss 10% of the time when you got 9% accuracy from gear/1% from companion bonus. This won't happen anymore in 4.0.

As for where I got the accuracy formulae? This thread on reddit, which used data entirely from the live streams they did a couple of days ago. There were a few assumptions behind it, but the information is sound.

I simply altered the equation to divide the accuracy rating by 65 instead of the 60 that was used for 632 accuracy = 100% @ level 60

Oh and 2164 power is literally me just adding up the power/crit contributions of my gear on live (which is optimized maxed-out gear) and removing the power augs. Mastery was figured out by me adding up my Aim/Strength/Cunning/Willpower.

http://i.imgur.com/53gc1xe.jpg

 

That's a screengrab of LadyInsanity's stream from either Friday or Saturday.

While not a question about crit, it is a question of stats I assume all of that gear on the screenshot was "starter gear" on a newly created level 60 why is there defence and absorb present on a operative? I also noticed something similar from the dev's stream as musco's merc also had similar defence and absorb stats on his level 60 character.

Where have these values come from? they can't possible be from the gear can they?

While not a question about crit, it is a question of stats I assume all of that gear on the screenshot was "starter gear" on a newly created level 60 why is there defence and absorb present on a operative? I also noticed something similar from the dev's stream as musco's merc also had similar defence and absorb stats on his level 60 character.

 

Where have these values come from? they can't possible be from the gear can they?

If I had to guess I'd say bolster, but it doesn't look like there's a buff on the bar saying that bolster is active. Wouldn't be surprised if there was bolster during story missions since it's all solo instances.

If I had to guess I'd say bolster, but it doesn't look like there's a buff on the bar saying that bolster is active. Wouldn't be surprised if there was bolster during story missions since it's all solo instances.

OK if those came from a bolster why is there 0 shield (not that an operative has a shield anyway but that would mean they would not need absorb either?)

While not a question about crit, it is a question of stats I assume all of that gear on the screenshot was "starter gear" on a newly created level 60 why is there defence and absorb present on a operative? I also noticed something similar from the dev's stream as musco's merc also had similar defence and absorb stats on his level 60 character.

 

Where have these values come from? they can't possible be from the gear can they?

It's likely they retooled it so that mastery provides - rather than a little bit of pure damage reduction like the former mainstats - some defensive stats. Bioware (I hope) is smart enough to not put defensive stats on DPS gear, especially the gear given to a boosted 60. Especially when they put so much effort into telling us how the stat changes will somehow make gearing foolproof.