No, they're not. How about you look at all of them before stating something like that

 

Just looking at the #1 parses I found 5 that weren't scatter bombs. I'm sure there's a lot more than that in each top 10.

Challenge accepted

Fortress 8 HM, the first Sniper/Slinger "legit" parse:

Nefra - 7th

Draxus - 24th

Grob'Thok - 14th

Corruptor - 4th

Brontes - 11th (granted first place legit parse with proper duration)

No, they're not. How about you look at all of them before stating something like that

 

Just looking at the #1 parses I found 5 that weren't scatter bombs. I'm sure there's a lot more than that in each top 10.

Look more closely

Nefra - #1 Final Slinger - Scatter bomb spec

Draxus - #1 Zavaronbuffa - Scatter bomb spec (granted dots did more damage than scatter bombs)

Grob'Thok - #1 Therealpewpew - Scatter bomb spec etc etc

Every single one of those top parses are gay scatter bomb specs.

non scatter bomb

Draxus - he did 7 scatter bombs, if you want to count that as scatter bomb spec then I guess I'd agree although they only did 162 dps.

Brontes - first

Bestia - first

Tyrans - first sniper #2 overall

Raptus - first sniper and #3 overall

Dread Masters - 2nd sniper #2 overall

etc etc

No point in arguing since the first thing you said was completely wrong.

Also, how are they gay? Do they have intercourse with other specs of the same gender?

As mentioned, the 62% dmg reduction was just based on the coefficients, not on the whole formula. I plucked the values into the formulas to get the exact change to damage. If I did anything wrong, feel free to correct me.

Assuming 78 mainhand/offhand with 1200 bonus damage, each of the three ticks of Orbital will deal the following damage (ignoring any crits or specs into Orbital):

Current values:

Min damage: (1+0)*503.0 + .3*(1+0)*503.0 + 1.77*1200 + 0.177*2685 = 3253

Max damage: (1+0)*935.0 + .3*(1+0)*935.0 + 1.77*1200 + 0.177*2685 = 3814

Post 2.6:

Min damage: (1+0)*503.0 + .3*(1+0)*503.0 + .673333*1200 + .0673333*2685 = 1642

Max damage: (1+0)*935.0 + .3*(1+0)*935.0 + .673333*1200 + .0673333*2685 = 2204

Difference:

((1642+2204)/2) / ((3253+3814)/2) = 54.4%

Therefore, after the nerf the orbitals will tick for 54% of the current damage (= a 46% dmg reduction), so nearly half of the damage it is doing now. It is not as extreme as a 62% reduction.

non scatter bomb

 

Draxus - he did 7 scatter bombs, if you want to count that as scatter bomb spec then I guess I'd agree although they only did 162 dps.

 

Brontes - first

 

Bestia - first

 

Tyrans - first sniper #2 overall

 

Raptus - first sniper and #3 overall

 

Dread Masters - 2nd sniper #2 overall

 

etc etc

 

No point in arguing since the first thing you said was completely wrong.

 

Also, how are they gay? Do they have intercourse with other specs of the same gender?

I was thinking more of the old term of gay, the state of being happy. But, that definition works too.

As mentioned, the 62% dmg reduction was just based on the coefficients. I plucked the values into the formulas to get the exact change to damage. If I did anything wrong, feel free to correct me.

 

Assuming 78 mainhand/offhand with 1200 bonus damage, each of the three ticks of Orbital will deal the following damage (ignoring any crits or specs into Orbital):

 

Current values:

Min damage: (1+0)*503.0 + .3*(1+0)*503.0 + 1.77*1200 + 0.177*2685 = 3253

Max damage: (1+0)*935.0 + .3*(1+0)*935.0 + 1.77*1200 + 0.177*2685 = 3814

 

Post 2.6:

Min damage: (1+0)*503.0 + .3*(1+0)*503.0 + .673333*1200 + .0673333*2685 = 1642

Max damage: (1+0)*935.0 + .3*(1+0)*935.0 + .673333*1200 + .0673333*2685 = 2204

 

Difference:

((1642+2204)/2) / ((3253+3814)/2) = 54.4%

 

Therefore, after the nerf the orbitals will tick for 54% of the current damage (= a 46% dmg reduction), so nearly half of the damage it is doing now. It is not as extreme as 62%.

I almost did the exact same thing as you... then I noticed that OS is a tech attack and has no variation. As such, you have to ignore the effect of the weapons on it.

With the 1200 bonus damage you gave as a base value, OS will do 2599 damage per tick right now, and 989 Damage/tick afterwards. Thats a huge drop.

However its still gonna do respectable damage in certain situations. Assuming 4 ticks, OS will do 3956 damage before crits or buffs. With marksmanship tree, thats a 1.5 second activation time, with a 30 second cooldown for 3956 damage pre-crits

Now lets pretend its a 20% crit rate with 74% surge (I have no idea what a 78's optimised snipers stats will look like) - OS will now, on average, be 4542 damage every 30 seconds, with almost a 0 energy loss on it (huge energy reduction)

Now lets look at engineering with it:

No buffs, OS would do 3956 damage. Because of the buff in engineering, its 15% stronger upfront, and its crits do 30% more (from base damage). Granted its a 2.5 second activation time now instead of 1.5 seconds...

But its gonna do 4549 damage pre crits, or 5496 on average (same 20% crit rate/74% surge as before), though with a 2.5 second channel time and almost a 0 energy loss. It is used less often though (45 second cooldown)

Is it now neutered from the rotations? No. Is it still obscenely powerful? No. Its gonna work, just its not gonna be 4x stronger than any other AoE move anymore (doing the same damage each tick as most AoE moves do over their entire duration)

I almost did the exact same thing as you... then I noticed that OS is a tech attack and has no variation. As such, you have to ignore the effect of the weapons on it.

 

With the 1200 bonus damage you gave as a base value, OS will do 2599 damage per tick right now, and 989 Damage/tick afterwards. Thats a huge drop.

 

However its still gonna do respectable damage in certain situations. Assuming 4 ticks, OS will do 3956 damage before crits or buffs. With marksmanship tree, thats a 1.5 second activation time, with a 30 second cooldown for 3956 damage pre-crits

Now lets pretend its a 20% crit rate with 74% surge (I have no idea what a 78's optimised snipers stats will look like) - OS will now, on average, be 4542 damage every 30 seconds, with almost a 0 energy loss on it (huge energy reduction)

 

Now lets look at engineering with it:

No buffs, OS would do 3956 damage. Because of the buff in engineering, its 15% stronger upfront, and its crits do 30% more (from base damage). Granted its a 2.5 second activation time now instead of 1.5 seconds...

 

But its gonna do 4549 damage pre crits, or 5496 on average (same 20% crit rate/74% surge as before), though with a 2.5 second channel time and almost a 0 energy loss. It is used less often though (45 second cooldown)

 

Is it now neutered from the rotations? No. Is it still obscenely powerful? No. Its gonna work, just its not gonna be 4x stronger than any other AoE move anymore (doing the same damage each tick as most AoE moves do over their entire duration)

Ah, I thought setting AmountModifierPercent to zero would be enough, my bad. Leaving out the damage from mainhand/offhand, it really is a 62% reduction.

Current dmg: 1.77*1200 + 0.177*2685 = 2599

Post 2.6 dmg: .673333*1200 + .0673333*2685 = 988

Difference: 988 / 2599 = 38.0%

Ah, I thought setting AmountModifierPercent to zero would be enough, my bad. Leaving out the damage from mainhand/offhand, it really is a 62% reduction.

 

Current dmg: 1.77*1200 + 0.177*2685 = 2599

Post 2.6 dmg: .673333*1200 + .0673333*2685 = 988

 

Difference: 988 / 2599 = 38.0%

Actually, im gonna go on askmrrobot to see what the numbers will look like in optimized. Does 120 crit sound like a good value to use?

Ok using this guy:

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/543e4200-8d22-4abe-8e2b-00b1aa9323a6

We get:

Tech Bonus: 1718.8

Tech Crit: 26.15%

Tech Surge: 72.96% (+30 for Engineering)

The damage from this gets:

1337 damage/tick

4 ticks is 5348 damage total

So when we look at marksmanship, its:

1GCD, 6368 damage, 30 second cooldown. Total DPS contribution? 212dps. So its basically an AoE DoT that the enemy has to stay inside.

If we are looking at DPS per cast time, thats 4245dps per second it uses.

Verdict? Keep it. Its good.

Now for engineering:

Changes: +15% damage, +30% crit damage, +1 second cast time, +15 second cooldown

Total Damage? 6148

Including Crits? 7803

Total DPS contribution? 173dps

DPS per cast time? 3121, which is less than the DPS you want to be hitting.

So in engineering and in the hybrid, its probably not worth it without multiple targets. So basically, all this math proved, if you want to keep using OS, you have to spec marksmanship, because thats the spec that uses it best.

One more thing I decided to add here: If you want to be arrogant and add the 4-piece PvP set bonus, its about 100 less tech bonus (so 1270 damage/tick) in exchange for an extra tick on OS, bringing the damages to 7561/9245 - at these values its definately worth using in the single target rotation, but then when you look at the loss to other abilities... well its up to you whether or not you take it. Still, averaging 9.25k damage on an AoE move might be worth it, I mean it was worth it for the now-killed hybrid vanguard...

Actually, im gonna go on askmrrobot to see what the numbers will look like in optimized. Does 120 crit sound like a good value to use?

I based the 1200 bonus dmg on Frecklés AMR profile, who is second highest in the Slinger/Sniper DPS leaderboards. He has 1179 bonus damage to be exact, and 131 points put into crit rating. So 120 sounds like a good value.

I based the 1200 bonus dmg on Frecklés AMR profile, who is second highest in the Slinger/Sniper DPS leaderboards. He has 1179 bonus damage to be exact, and 131 points put into crit rating. So 120 sounds like a good value.

Ah well that explains it. While OS may be a tech attack, you were looking at the Ranged bonus damage. The Tech bonus damage is what we need to look at.

Ah well that explains it. While OS may be a tech attack, you were looking at the Ranged bonus damage. The Tech bonus damage is what we need to look at.

Oh, sorry for that. Like I wrote, I never did any kind of stat calculations before, so thank you for correcting me. It's nice to learn something new, thank you!

4 ticks

Remember that they're also moving the 2pc pvp bonus to 4pc, no more 4 ticks on OS unless you want to run with 4 pvp armorings and losing out on the 2pc pve set bonus.

Remember that they're also moving the 2pc pvp bonus to 4pc, no more 4 ticks on OS unless you want to run with 4 pvp armorings and losing out on the 2pc pve set bonus.

Ok... Damn I could have sworn it was 4 ticks prior to the set bonus. Well, reduce all the damage by 25% then. And when you do that... Yeah its not worth it unless you love using the PvP armor.

you sure it doesn't tick on impact? Cause I know it ticks at 3/6/9 seconds (and 12 if using PvP bonus)

you sure it doesn't tick on impact? Cause I know it ticks at 3/6/9 seconds (and 12 if using PvP bonus)

Yep, first hit is 3 sec after cast is finished.

Snipers are a pure DPS class and should, in theory, be able to output the highest DPS alongside marauders. If the 62% reduced damage does come into effect than snipers will parse (on average) lower than mercenaries, operatives, sorcerers and marauders. A pure DPS class should not be in 5th position.

The developers have said since the beginning that there is no 'hybrid tax' and that pure DPS classes should not have more dps than the others.

First, I'm sorry. Since when is asking the dev team to not go overboard on their nerfs make me a spoiled child?

I'd attribute it more to the "die in a fire" comment, myself.

They will never buff agents and smuggler without also nerfing them.

Has ever any other class ability been reduced in damage by 62%!?

"Ooh, we can't nerf smash... no, no!" But they can kick all smugglers and agents between their legs.

Orbitals Strike is now an emote.

PTS is up:

2.5 http://i.imgur.com/MiBrRyz.jpg

2.6 http://i.imgur.com/cSFRH4M.jpg

38% aka. 62% reduced damage.

Damage reduced from 10.282 to 3.912

lol 4K damage over 9 seconds. Who will ever use that! Its arguably the worst AOE in game. I think even sticky grenade hits harder. This is actually very funny.

When is the release date for Wildstar? The SWTOR dev is definitely smoking something very harmful for human brain.

How is Mind Crush bugged?

I assume he is referring to the initial damage being about half of what it should be, at least according to the tooltip.

They will never buff agents and smuggler without also nerfing them.

 

Has ever any other class ability been reduced in damage by 62%!?

 

"Ooh, we can't nerf smash... no, no!" But they can kick all smugglers and agents between their legs.

 

Orbitals Strike is now an emote.

Yes, because precasting something that does that much damage for 10 energy should not be used