Rashin

oh WOW. That is really nice. Never knew that existed. That could really come in handy with game glitches and whatnot.

Congrats

Bordering the same comments as @Elric and @Cair adding only that things generally pick up too with the summer break with kids for most games especially when content releases. Even though most of the people that I game with are approximately my age or older (mid 30's), it still reflects the major player base of most games with the younger generations and the overall free time spent. That being said if you are looking for an honest assessment of a particular game such as SWTOR. I can add that since the merger things have died down quite a bit. The "newness" wore off. The recent changes to conquest also left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths. As for our chapter, its still business as usual. Recruit, Hold events, and try to keep the peace. Personally I play two MMORPGs currently. SWTOR and FFXIV. I am in CotP for both. Both also suffer from content binging players. After the binge and there is no more content, it begs people to ask, "what next?" Although the amount of things to do in the game is different for both SWTOR and FFXIV. There is drastically more to do in FFXIV. that means that players can keep consuming and keeping active for longer before the next release. SWTOR on the other hand has intermixed their content with changes to how the game is consumed. You either like it or hate it which makes people either stay for specific reasons or find something else to occupy their time. How you determine to play a game largely has a factor in how long you stick around. Some people sip on the content and it takes them ages to get through it all. Others down it in a single gulp. Also if you factor in how many of the games functions you play, PvE, PvP, Raiding, Dungeon Crawling, etc. Back to your original question in the subject line. State of all games. In my opinion, gaming as usual. Never a dull moment unless you are idle. People come and go. Games change hands all the time. Experiences are what you make it to be with whom you make them. Enjoy them until you can't anymore, then find something new that you can enjoy. Rinse and repeat. Of course all of this is my opinion based on my experiences. It may be different for others.

Ok. So am back in for some leveling and learning. Am working on WHM (Training Wheels Heals) and SMN/SCH (Raid Utility Heals/DPS). I insta'd all of them after trying the first 30 lvls to see how they operate. Liking them all so far. On my non-SWTOR nights, I am doing the roulettes and trying to get at least a line of Wonderous Tales in. In trying to learn to heal properly I found some things that I need to improve upon (MP Management and Overheal Reduction). Assize and Lucid Dreaming are my new best friends. Zero already figured my problems the hard way the other night. Sorry. Still got a ways to go before I tackle Hard dungeons. So I googled like a newb and found some stuff out and looking to get some group action going for heals to burn this in. If you see me in-game, give me a shout-out and I will try to make you live through a dungeon.

Congrats @Erudius . You awesome man.

Nice. I like the changes that are coming along. Confirmations on companion returns, final Ops boss, 6.0 expansion finally acknowledged that it is on the way. All good things. Hopefully, the conquest portion will just be a minor tweak with the inclusion of daily rewards and can be added to the current conquest calculators and some re-balanced numbers (last part being speculation) Considering how people are still trying to prog HM for the first 4 bosses, I don't think it will change people's perspective too much. The title and achievement from MM will only really help the 1% that have got that far in HM. From a SM perspective, people will just keep chugging along as normal (Praying for implant drop). If implants drop will be grinding that bad boy repeatedly.

Short answer: The numbers that you have should work for you until you are ready to start min-maxing your gear at 248. Long Answer: You are on the right track. The magic alacrity number is 1860. Alacrity has a rounded effect in the game and there are 3 levels. These levels are for lowering the cast times (HoT ticks, etc). When you are at 1860 the standard GCD is 1.2 seconds (or 1.3 I can't remember). between 1400-1800 it is like 1.4 - 1.5 seconds for the cast times. For an average item rating of 240ish you should be at the second tier. It isn't until the 248 item rating that you will be able to not give any needed crit up for alacrity. Since you are still playing with your gear. I would recommend keeping an extra Crit and Alacrity augment. Play around with 1 or two augments until you are comfortable on your numbers. Do it over time with various encounters. That way you truly get a feel for it. Once you get the timing, start focusing on getting the remaining pieces to 248. Rinse and repeat with the augments focusing on your alacrity to 1860, then crit.

Wow. Just wow. You all are really working your tails off. Looks amazing.

The drop down box is the calculated percentages based on the raw numbers. The stats that Z posted are the raw numbers that you should strive for in the upper section of the character sheet. Don't worry about the percentages for now. Just try to get the raw points in and you will see how the base values increase when they are in their proper place. Example: 110% accuracy= 759 raw points etc.

For Reference the 5.0 guide from Dufy listed HERE . I am going to be putting these two neck and neck to see which ones works better. Wondering if it is truely better getting this hoopla memorized or if a straight rotation will prove to be roughly similar. If it is within 500 DPS, I wouldn't even bother with the hot mess below. Opener: Freighter Fly-by (Precast) -> Dirty Blast (Precast) -> All 3 DoTs -> Adrenal -> Wounding Shots 2x Dirty Blast (1 from re-crouch) -> Quickdraw -> Illegal Mods ->Wounding Shots Speed Shot -> Quick Draw -> Hemorrhaging Blast -> Wounding Shots Vital Shot -> Shrap Bomb -> Dirty Blast -> Quickdraw -> Wounding Shots Speed Shot -> Quick Draw -> Hemorrhaging Blast -> Wounding Shots 2x Dirty Blast (1 from re-crouch) -> Quick Draw -> Adrenaline Probe -> Wounding Shots General Rotation: Quick Draw -> Vital Shot -> Shrap Bomb -> Hemorrhaging Blast -> Wounding Shots 2x Dirty Blast (1 from re-crouch) -> Quick Draw -> Wounding Shots Speed Shot -> Quick Draw -> Hemorrhaging Blast -> Wounding Shots Vital Shot -> Shrap Bomb -> Dirty Blast -> Quick Draw -> Wounding Shots Speed Shot -> Quick Draw -> Hemorrhaging Blast -> Wounding Shots 2x Dirty Blast (1 from re-crouch) -> Quick Draw -> Wounding Shots Not sure if the 2x Dirty Blast is supposed to be 3x with 1 used during re-crouch. Will edit based on testing cooldowns for the same line of wounding shots.

PvE Sharpshooter Gunslinger Guide Basic Theory: Apply main DoT, Uses Hard Hitting (casted) abilities, Use casted abilities, repeat. Opener: XS Freighter Fly-by -> Smuggler's Luck -> Aimed Shot -> Charged Bust -> Vital Shot -> Trickshot -> Illegal Mods -> Penetrating Rounds -> Burst Volley -> Penetrating Rounds -> Trickshot -> Aimed Shot -> Charged Blast -> Trickshot -> General Rotation General Rotation: Vital Shot -> Aimed Shot -> Charged Blast -> Trick Shot -> Charged Blast -> Penetrating rounds -> Trick Shot. Since this spec is priority based there are a couple of nuances to the rotation. - Do not delay Penetrating Rounds to another ability unless it is mid cast. It needs to be used on cooldown. Burst volley needs to be used after Penetrating Blast to reset it and re-use immediately. - Trickshot is to be used before and after any casted ability (Aimed Shot and Penetrating Rounds) or when it is Procc'ed. Trick shot doesn't need to be Procc'd in order to use it. It just needs to be either active or off cooldown. Essentially it is used every 2-3 GCDs. -Charged Blast is priority over Aimed shot since the activation time is less. This is unless you are either buffing Aimed Shot with Smuggler's Luck or doesn't delay Penetrating Rounds. - Smuggler's Luck is used to buff Aimed Shot, Illegal Mods is used to buff the combination of Penetrating Rounds/Burst Volley/Penetrating Rounds combo. - Use Cool Head when under 50% Augmented Gearing Stats: -Accuracy: 110% (or as near to that number as possible) Use Proficient Stims to minimize the amount of accuracy augments needed.-Critical: 40%-Alacrity: Filler for remaining slots once accuracy and critical stats maximized.-Relics: Serendipitous Assault / Focused Retribution-Ear: Adept (Critical)-Implants (Both): Adept (Critical) Parsing dummy: 2.5 Mil HP Dummy with armor reduction module, 10 parses to average.Augmented 230 gear: Average 6,500 DPSParsing Note: I was unable to get to 6K DPS with un-augmented gear. Being that the class is riddled with casted and channeled abilities, Alacrity needed to be increased. I averaged 5.5K DPS with un-augmented gear. **Note: This is a guide based on what I have experimented with. It is subject to change and others might have differences in what works best for them***

I have a feeling that if MS bought out Valve, Steam would eventually end up crashing an burning. They say they want to combine PC and Console gaming but the money that MS makes on exclusive rights, conflicts with that strategy. It's the same with the other major consoles as well. They don't really have a stake in the PC market unless some part of it is stuck in "Proprietary Land". That is why most PC games run their own DRM, store, etc. The only way that I would see MS/Valve happening and come through as they say they would is if they put just as much focus on PC gaming as they do with consoles prior to the acquisition. You know, test the waters before telling the world you gonna take the high dive. EA on the other hand I could care less. From what I have seen over the years, they seem like they follow the same business strategies (buy popular companies, strip them dry, move on). Certainly an interesting topic though. Kind of makes you think about what opinions you hold. All of it could happen, or none of it.

I split up the HM Operations post from this. Raid training for SM Operations is going to be on Just Tuesdays. I updated the original post in this thread to match. If people are looking for Open HM Ops, please look HERE.

As per the updated schedule, I am planning into turning this into something more. CotP needs to get more raiders interested in getting out of SM and into HM operations. I am changing the days and times around in the hopes that we can get more turnout and participation. Sundays - Open HM Operations - 6:00-8:30 PM EST - For all that want to join in I am going to start running a HM Operation with full fight explanations. I will start announcing and forming 15 minutes prior to the event. Tuesdays - SM Operations / Class Assistance: 10:00-11:30 PM EST - I am going to keep things flexible. If there isn't anyone that needs assistance with their class, will turn it into a SM run that can be decided ad-hoc. With Open HM Operations, we will be following the general operations gearing requirements listed HERE. For Easy Hard Modes (EV, KP, TFB, S&V, and TC): An average gear rating of 230 with 14 Advanced 45 Augments. For Difficult Hard Modes (EC, DF, DP, Xeno, and Eyeless): An average gear rating of 240-242 with 14 Advanced 45 Augments For Intense Hard Modes (Rav, ToS, and CM): An average gear rating of 244-248 with 14 Advanced 45 Augments HM Operations will require mumble (to listen) and StarParse. Additionally, you will need to come prepared with necessary Stims, Adrenals, and Medpacs, and repair bill credits. With both the Sunday and Tuesday runs, I will be posting in advance which operation the run will be on.

Because both of the holidays fell on a Monday, the next session is going to be on January 8th and 9th, 2018 History: Eternity Vault 12/18 Karagga's Palace 12/19 Next on the agenda: Scum and Villainy This will most likely go on for both Monday and Tuesday runs since explanations of the fights and number of bosses will take time.