True. However, since I'm neither a tank, nor needing gearing, I have no better way to help them out with their gearing that I am not doing already. Plus, I like math, and want to make sure my math is correct.

Recently my guild, mostly casual, has been working on getting some information as to what is the best tanking distribution and some spreadsheets so tanks can figure out how to improve their gear. I've been looking over Ino Style's Spreadsheet and KeyboardNinja's Post, and while they're stats are close, there are some major differences in some stats they suggest. Since then, I tried to make my own spreadsheet using Ino's spreadsheet as a base, since most of his math is easier to see. However, when I finished it, my values were different from both of theirs. If possible, can you check my basic understanding of damage and mitigation and the formula I use, both below. Melee Kinetic Damage is affected by Melee Defense Chance, Shield/Absorb Chance, and Kinetic Resist (Armor) Force Kinetic Damage is affected by Force Defense Chance, Shield/Absorb Chance, and Kinetic Resist (Armor) Force Internal Damage is affected by Force Defense Chance and Internal Resist. And my formula to find the Average Damage Reduction: Boss M/K Damage % * (1 - Melee Defense %) * (1 - Shield% * Absorb%) * (1 - Kinetic Resist %) + Boss F/K Damage % * (1 - Force Defense %) * (1 - Shield% * Absorb%) * (1 - Kinetic Resist %) + Boss F/I Damage % * (1 - Force Defense %) * (1 - Internal Resist %) Is this correct?

I used to only use berserk with Ravage and Gore, but I do not believe this is the best way to do it. Currently, these are the questions I'm working on and do not have a definitive answer for: Should I pop it whenever I get 30 stacks, or should I wait? I think waiting is best, but I don't know how long is too long. Should I use it during rage building (The 10s after you use a Slaughter Gore) or wait till Gore is about to come off CD? If it comes up during the first Gore Window, should I use it? What about the Second? Currently, I starting to use anywhere from 5 to 3 seconds before Gore comes of CD to right before Slaughter procs. (Mainly for the 15s of 4% buff) What is your opinion on this? And do you have data/theory that backs up your own opinion?

If you already have Execute up, the only benefit you get from Massacre is the boost to ataru procs. Also, Ataru form procs at that point are only useful for damage. (I haven't done the math myself, but there are some good spreadsheets up around the forums with the damage info) From everything I've heard, Rupture does more damage than Massacre and it's guaranteed ataru proc. So, if you already have Execute and have time between Gore Windows, then Rupture is the best choice. It is not useful during Gore Windows because Rupture doesn't benefit from armor penetration, which would increase Massacre's and Ataru's damage by 40-50%.

I did math for most of Carnage's abilities to see how they all compare with given gear. LINK You can use it yourself to see how everything links up together. All the values I'm using are AVERAGES with 72s (It's my current gear) This is what I believe is true. I haven't done the math, but I have heard many people agree with that. To get into the hard maths, I'll use the sheet I linked above. In a Gore Window, Force Scream with Execute does 7.5k, Massacre does 3.8k, and Force Scream does 4.1k. Force Scream with Execute during Gore does about 3.5k more damage than Massacre. Using it outside the window does about 2.2k more damage (Since armor mitigation is about 35%). You'd lose about 1.3k damage if you use it outside a window because you can use Force Scream in every Gore Window using a version of TradeLA's rotation. Also, Force Scream is still useful without a proc. It does more damage than Massacre (not including the buff, but using TradeLA's rotation it does more). You are correct. You can do some more complicated things like burning rage early on if you notice BA is going to come off CD before Gore. In my own rotation I stick to around 8-10 rage before Gore, you can go lower if you can use BA between Gores or if Execute has proced. I've been parsing similarly. For me, I need to work on streamlining my rotation down since I've been getting too many Slaughters before Gore comes off CD. I haven't parsed recently and haven't done it with an adrenal, but the math agrees with you. Only suggestions I can make, is looking at the parses on the DPS Leaderboards and see if you can learn anything from them. (One thing I've noticed is some beef up their parses with a second BloodThirst and cut it off right after the second Gore)

I do not think this should be removed because, with effort, this problem can be overcome as you said yourself. In addition, any increase in rage production would increase Carnage's dps, which would require re-balancing of all abilities, which may affect other specs and the time for this could be better spent on other issues. Because of these reasons, I believe the issue with Carnage's rage production is minimal and should not take the place of other more important questions.

Double post, I apologize. I hit Quote instead of Edit.

I believe that assault being slightly boring, is actually a benefit to Carnage. Almost all of my Assault usage happens outside of Gore windows, which is normally when I plan for the next window and relax slightly. If this period of time becomes more interesting/complex, then the entire rotation of Carnage would be complex instead of only the burst windows. I do not believe this should happen, since it would make all low skill or new carnage maras have difficulty in learning Carnage, and it would be stressful for all current Carnage maras to keep up with the complex rotation for 8 minute long fights. Every other class can wait about 5 GCDs and they'll have a large amount of resources to use. If a warrior stands still for a few GCDs, nothing happens to his resources. I believe that this is a very important distinction between the classes. Warriors will have to constantly attack to gain resources, and its resource generation cannot be easily compared to other clases. Why is this bad? Carnage stays competitive for the top dps spot on the DPS Leaderboards. (They're in the flashpoint forums) And Carnage does this while using the low damage Assault. Carnage is a burst orientated class, that's the whole point of Gore. Everything is focused on preparing for these burst phases and the executing them. Yes, there is about 5 GCDs where nothing of importance is done, but this is not a down side. LIke I said above, a few seconds where you can look around, check on the battlefield, and relax a bit without having to worry about anything is a good things. Especially since the burst is 10s of near constant attention. I believe they are very close in actual fights and the dummy parses, and I do not think that either should be the best pve spec, which a higher sustained dps would cause.

I'm a carnage marauder since I started the game, and have done my best to become a good dps pre- and post-2.0. I haven't tried any other spec, I am full pve while dabbling in pvp, and I am currently the best dps in my guild. (A rather casual guild, but we have full cleared both TFB HM and S+V HM) Execute in my opinion, is a very easy thing to handle. A large amount of the time, I proc Execute multiple times between burst phases and normally proc Execute at least once during a burst phase. I do not believe it needs to be more controlled, since it can only be used with Force Scream, nor do I believe it needs to be easier to proc, since I almost have too many procs of Execute. Slaughter, on the other hand, is a more unfriendly sort, since many times it can cause problems by procing too early or too late. I do despise these problems, but they happen rarely and while aggravating, I do not think they happen enough to require a change. I like this idea, but I think it needs to be taken a step further. I think making Gore function similar to Berserk would be worthwhile, where Gore would give you 3 stacks that would increase armor penetration by 100% for 10s or so and each attack would remove 1 stack. You would have to counter the fact that ravage would only take one stack, but you would also be unable to force a 4th action by using Berserk, which may counter that benefit. I think this would be worthwhile since it would allow Carnage to be harder to counter in pvp, and it would make Gore easier to use in pve when bosses have knockbacks. However, this would make Berserk less useful without the set bonus. I actually do not have any problems with rage management. I have heard many complaints about rage management, but I easily maintain my rage on a combat dummy and getting 2900+ dps. This issue I believe just requires more work on each individual's rotation rather than a change to the mechanics of Carnage.

As a Carnage/Combat Marauder/Sentinel, the only things I can think to change is extending the CD of Slaughter to 21s and increasing the proc % of slaughter. Or making it so that Slaughter cannot proc when Gore is on CD, and maybe while the Gore buff is active, but this might be counter-productive.

I am a Carnage Marauder and always have been. I only have two things that I don't like about marauders and since this is my opinion, it is biased. 1) I think that Rage is far too effective in the lower skill warzones. I am a pve player in a pve guild, and I am only saying what I heard and think. I have heard many complaints from my guildies about rage, I have seen the damage that it does, and I have heard that it is easy to play. Personally, I do not think that such a low skill spec should be able to do that much damage. I'm not asking for a nerf because I know that in higher tier pvp it may be a different case, but at least a modification to the class to add some depth to it. 2) I think that Fury should still build while Bloodthirst, Berserk, or Predation is active. This is actually from the sentinel forums talking about PvE Rage/Focus losing dps because of other marauders using Bloodthirst. I personally would like to see this change because it would help out when more than one marauder is in the group. However, I do see that it would increase the dps of at least Carnage enough to cause concerns, but it could be balanced out.

If you are following his rotation of FS at the start of the first Gore window and the end of the second Gore window, then for both Force Screams, there is no better ability to use, even if Execute is not up. In some rare cases, you will have VT up and that is better if Execute isn't up.

I've found that Force Scream actually does more damage than Massacre, with 75s about 300 points on average with 3 points in malice. Although you have to consider massacre's buff, which may do more in some cases. But I just use a mostly set rotation and don't really worry whether Execute is up, unless I haven't used Vicious Throw.

No crit. Only Power, but with Strength Augments Accuracy to 100% melee and 110% force. Alacrity, however much you want. I don't know if this benefits you enough to stack any, but it's mainly for personal preference as far as I've seen. Put the remaining in Surge The only important stat is accuracy. Focus on getting your accuracy up first and the rest will fall into place after that.

I made a mistake and used the incorrect values in that response, I updated the previous post and I'll try to clarify my reasoning below. I believe you are talking about where I said the difference between the two will be 2k. If It's something else, I'll update this. All values are based on 75s with 3 points in malice. While yes there is a difference between crit + non crit FS of about 4k, the main difference that I was trying to highlight the difference between the Execute buff being up and not. If it is not up, then it's still possible to crit, and the average damage was approx 5k. Which is still a strong hit, and about 300 points of damage above massacre All of these values are default damage, no mitigation applied and no bonuses besides the basics. So they don't correspond 100% with parser values. I may try to work out exactly how much mitigation is applied with and without armor and work it into the spreadsheet, but for now these are only the basic damage values (mostly based on the tooltips).