The decrease in orbital strike is absurd. Tested using various parsing, and critical hits now range from 1366 to 2350, with avg of ~1600, I am a lvl 55 with half lvl 180 gear and Eng/Lethal hybrid spec. Orbital strike (for me) is down almost 75% from damage done before 2.6. It is now a worthless attack. Bio/EA needs to reset the damage spec to the pre-2.6 update. I would rather have a 1 min CD with damage and increased energy cost, then a 45 sec CD with a worthless attack. This kind of modification may in fact cause me to discontinue my subscription and I have been here since day 1 of the release of SWTOR. In my opinion, SWTOR has just killed the game.

Good thing they nerfed it in my opinion, add phases like on CZ and Draxus were easy mode with this, it was a one button click from 3 people then back on boss, that's not challenging nor fun. We should be using grenades and conal AoE more.

At last i can say **** YOU BW what the hell are u doing you buff classes like assasin or operative and u nerf a sniper. Are u *********** kidding me. This class is the most useless class in arena. You have no def cds, you can't stun on the right skill tree, in the left tree all people ran out of sight and the middle tree is just crap. This class is trash. I played the Sniper since release and this class wasn't in the whole time never overpowered. Now u can't play this class in arena and i want to add ByeBye Swtor cu Elder Scrolls. Abo is closed and my last words are:" Pls delete the Sniper and Gunslinger Class or say that it is only in pve usefull" RIP Orbi - RIP Sniper - RIP Swtor

At last i can say **** YOU BW what the hell are u doing you buff classes like assasin or operative and u nerf a sniper. Are u *********** kidding me. This class is the most useless class in arena. You have no def cds, you can't stun on the right skill tree, in the left tree all people ran out of sight and the middle tree is just crap. This class is trash. I played the Sniper since release and this class wasn't in the whole time never overpowered. Now u can't play this class in arena and i want to add ByeBye Swtor cu Elder Scrolls. Abo is closed and my last words are:" Pls delete the Sniper and Gunslinger Class or say that it is only in pve usefull" RIP Orbi - RIP Sniper - RIP Swtor

You are entitled to your opinion and I try to respect that when I write this. However I believe you are dead wrong, the class is not trash just because of a nerf to one skill.

 

To say you have no def cds is strange to say the least. We have a lot of skills that can be used defensively (granted engineering has the most but even so...).

Taken from the top 3 answers sticky in the Sniper forum... check it out..

 

That said, we are not completely satisfied with Lethality at the moment. We specifically don’t like that using Orbital Strike and Explosive Probe rotationally as a Lethality Sniper increases your single target damage, but that’s more of a problem with Orbital Strike and Explosive Probe than Lethality. Weakening Blast could probably use an energy cost and, as a result, get a damage boost. Series of Shots and Snipe could probably use some boons to make them stronger abilities in the Lethality rotation – as it stands, they are in the rotation, but not strong enough to keep players from using Explosive Probe and Orbital Strike.

 

While all of this is less than ideal, making changes to Explosive Probe and Orbital Strike could have negative effects on the other Sniper specializations, so it isn’t likely that you will see changes for this anytime soon. But we will certainly be addressing these issues at some point in the future.

 

Does the last paragraph not piss you off that they knew what they was doing... OS was suppose to effect Lethality? lol Bio Fail...

You are entitled to your opinion and I try to respect that when I write this. However I believe you are dead wrong, the class is not trash just because of a nerf to one skill.

 

To say you have no def cds is strange to say the least. We have a lot of skills that can be used defensively (granted engineering has the most but even so...).

 

I belive we play a different class in arena. Now teach me what are u doing if the enemys focus you? what are u doing if a smasher attacks u? what are u doing if a assasin attacks u? whats ur plan to kill a op.

 

The answers

smasher hits u so hard if u are not on mm and if u are not in hunkerdown. rest of time he punsihs u so hard

 

assasin stun backstep stun backstep backstep -> on each tree and if u use stun breaker he stun u again

 

op u can't kill him mm he ran away and white dmg is crap - on lethality u can stun someone and he cleans himself - mid tree not enough burst

 

mid tree is useless except double role @ position

left tree only white dmg and los

right tree u can't stun anybody no aoe reduce = dead

 

def cds = crap cause shield probe absorb perhaps one attack

shield all 2 minutes hey a arena takes only 4 minutes

and last def cd avoid useless becaus it's useless against force attacks like smash

 

now tell me that sniper isn't crap @ arena pls look at the leaderbord only 20 pages of sniper but 60 of marauder ..............

How big was this crutch in PvE because it sounded like it was massive? One ability cant make that much of a difference if you're decent at this game.

How big was this crutch in PvE because it sounded like it was massive? One ability cant make that much of a difference if you're decent at this game.

 

If you take Heat Seeker Missile away from an arsenal Merc, AOE healing circle away from a healer Sorc, Smash away from a rage Juggy... etc etc Its not a big difference at all

Edited February 5, 2014 by Xasser

If you take Heat Seeker Missile away from an arsenal Merc, AOE healing circle away from a healer Sorc, Smash away from a rage Juggy... etc etc Its not a big difference at all

 

Oh was OS a top talented ability in a skill tree used in a rotation a few times every minute?

Edited February 5, 2014 by cycao

Oh was OS a top talented ability in a skill tree used in a rotation a few times every minute?

 

Is it a lvl 49 Signature ability? it was.... Does not have to be Heatseeker or AOE healing circle.. could be Overload or Dark Infusion.. still would be stupid.

Is it a lvl 49 Signature ability? it was.... Does not have to be Heatseeker or AOE healing circle.. could be Overload or Dark Infusion.. still would be stupid.

 

So you're comparing this crutch ability which boosts lolparses to abilities which are used in core rotations for other classes and then throw in a heal and a situational ability in overload and dark infusion...GG bad.

So you're comparing this crutch ability which boosts lolparses to abilities which are used in core rotations for other classes and then throw in a heal and a situational ability in overload and dark infusion...GG bad.

 

Im saying how stupid it is to Nerf OS from a spec such as MM what im guessing you do not play... as you would know how OS ties into the spec just like Overload does...

I'm going to start using Overload on CD now that I know my sorc can talent a root to the effect. This will take me to my next level. Hopefully they add something to my assassin so I can use overload as much as possible. Maybe add talent points which reduces it's cooldown or something like marksman which will make me want to use it all the time.

Gah.. been a long day.. By Overload i ment Unload >.<

Gah.. been a long day.. By Overload i ment Unload >.<

 

Well I must have missed the talent that snipers get that finishes the cooldown on OS and increases it's damage in the process.

Well I must have missed the talent that snipers get that finishes the cooldown on OS and increases it's damage in the process.

 

Well there are the talents that decrease its cooldown and cast time in MM and its damage and crit multiplier in Engineering.

 

Beyond that, just think of it like this Cycao. Remember when in 2.0 Madness Sins basically lost the ability to Maul due to moving the talent which made it usable up out of reach? Their damage was "fine" if a bit boring in PVE, and their burst was absolutely neutered, but the issue most players took with it was that an iconic, fun, ability that was shared by all Assassins had been basically completely taken away from a spec that was, without it, very boring and incredibly bad in PVP.

 

This change adds a lot of insult to injury. There was no reason to kill the damage, and certainly not by this extent. A more reasonable damage change was certainly possible while a myriad of other solutions was available to take it out of ST rotations while leaving it as a good (if not quite as good as it had been) AoE ability.

 

So we've lost a good chunk of AoE utility, the ability aesthetically has just been gutted, and for no good reason.

 

BTW what's your dog in this fight anyway? You're mainly a PVPer, and a Sin at that. What do you care if we're upset that BW has added insult to injury?

 

EDIT:

How big was this crutch in PvE because it sounded like it was massive? One ability cant make that much of a difference if you're decent at this game.

 

Honestly it wasn't that big of a crutch at all in ST fights, which according to the devs was the issue. It was nice to have, but it's not like current content was unkillable without it. It WAS a great AoE ability and that capability is gone. It wouldn't have taken much effort at all to bring it down to Death From Above damage levels. A nerf, but a reasonable one. Snipers would still have good AoE just like every other ranged class. Now their AoE is pretty pathetic if I'm honest.

Edited February 5, 2014 by ArchangelLBC

Well, yesterday and today I was doing ops with my guild. DF+DP and TFB + S&V all hard modes, and its about 200-300 dps of difference. Thank you all for playing, I wish you to enjoy the game, I certanly will not enjoy the game anymore, cya

 

 

 

" RIP Orbi - RIP Sniper - RIP Swtor

I just have the hope to see a solution to that. Actually OS has become an useless ability :´(

It is now a worthless attack. Bio/EA needs to reset the damage spec to the pre-2.6 update. I would rather have a 1 min CD with damage and increased energy cost, then a 45 sec CD with a worthless attack. This kind of modification may in fact cause me to discontinue my subscription and I have been here since day 1 of the release of SWTOR. In my opinion, SWTOR has just killed the game.

Oh man... didn't realize it until now but sniper was orbital strike...

Feels like they removed the very reason i enjoyed playing marksman sniper since the early access days.

Kinda lost the heart to even log in on it now, if not the game all together. Sure i have alts that i could play but it just ain't the same. I could spec engineer and abuse that bug or something to still get decent aoe but if i wanted to play anything else than marksman i would not be playing a sniper.

 

I don't understand how this travesty of a change makes it past the testing and nobody responsible for it goes ''wait a minute we are destroying the signature move of the agent/smuggler class here.''

if BW dont fix this bulls**t of a neaf by new nim content, 8th April i think(correct me if im wrong)

 

then they might as well just stop the game, by then ESO and wildstar will/just about be released.

 

i wonder how many people will unsub because of this.

 

+1 for all this comments

 

Tell me whatever you want but 60% is A HUGE NERF, and that killed sniper as a dps (unlucky sniper isnt able to play as tank or heal ). I loved this game, but really it's not funny to get my A** kicked without response.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Posejdon

Good thing they nerfed it in my opinion, add phases like on CZ and Draxus were easy mode with this, it was a one button click from 3 people then back on boss, that's not challenging nor fun. We should be using grenades and conal AoE more.

 

 

Mobs under a shield dont get dmg

Honestly, this isn't even a broadsword approach where a scalpel or knife is needed; it's a wrecking ball instead when much less would do. I don't understand completely destroying such an iconic ability. Even people who haven't leveled snipers will come into the game, use it, and wonder what the point is when it does nothing but tickle even weak mobs. Worse still, I don't understand why the devs would make a move that was more than decried when it came up in PTS, had people begging against its implementation and was guaranteed to make a number of people ready to walk.

 

Why do that to your customer base when there is a reasonable middle ground? Why not leave the damage the same but change the cooldown to 90 seconds? Why not drop the damage slightly or reduced the area of affect that it had? Any number of things could have been tried but no effort was made to cater to the players in any way. This was a decision made wholly because devs--and I'm sure there aren't that many looking at this specific feature--decided that too much damage was being done with it in Ops, so they neutered the class.

 

Just senseless.

geif back OS`s right to exist ! or at least give me the choice to que not for Arenas in reg`s. even *********** flame sweep, wither does more dmg.

 

or give us engineer snipers something like mines wich we can place on the ground. no insta "blow up" ofc. GADGETS i want Gadgets....

 

ERIC!

 

 

We are not completely satisfied with how Engineering currently plays in general. When compared to Lethality or Marksmanship, Engineering feels rather clunky. The strength of Engineering in PvE is definitely AoE damage, while the weaknesses are mostly quality of life issues like energy management, Interrogation Probe’s single target limit, Plasma Probe’s cooldown, and lack of a well-flowing rotation – thanks to the extremely long cooldowns on Explosive Probe and Orbital Strike, along with the unfriendly requirement of using EMP Discharge with Adrenaline Probe to maximize sustained damage. [/Quote]

Edited February 11, 2014 by rlionherz

Hmmm, how come people are concerned over the orbital Strike nerf? especially those in MArksmen spec, i mean its a single target dps spec, why use a AoE ability with it? i never really bothered with it when facing a single target, it just seemed silly to me, but then i am not into that min-max crap some players are into.

Hmmm, how come people are concerned over the orbital Strike nerf? especially those in MArksmen spec, i mean its a single target dps spec, why use a AoE ability with it? i never really bothered with it when facing a single target, it just seemed silly to me, but then i am not into that min-max crap some players are into.

 

I can't speak for PVE, but I do speak for PVP. And every spec got ****ed into oblivion with Orbital Strike there. The damage reduction was absolutely unnecessary for it in PVP

Hmmm, how come people are concerned over the orbital Strike nerf? especially those in MArksmen spec, i mean its a single target dps spec, why use a AoE ability with it? i never really bothered with it when facing a single target, it just seemed silly to me, but then i am not into that min-max crap some players are into.

 

From the dulfy class guide for the MM tree: "Orbital Strike, even with the reduced damage, should be used on your rotation if you have 1 GCD open, replacing a single Snipe for higher damage. "

 

It used to be akin to a hard hitting dot, now it is slightly better than 1 snipe. It was invaluable for clearing out groups of adds, but now our ae ability is used as a gcd filler for, yes that's right, a single target.

 

Moreover, for the "single target spec" they make you dump multiple skill points to increase the use of that specific ability. Min/max or not, we are "supposed to be" using it.