Imperial Agent - Snipers OP in PVP?

[gizmo]

I don't know if I'm mistaken since I didn't play other classes and my thoughts are based only on my char and the damage I take from other classes in PVP. Basically, I hit other players for about 20-25% of their HP per shot with 1.5s cooldown. Also, I've ambushed for about 8k (with the pvp 15% buff) and that seems pretty much OP for me. If I gear up, I may be able to 2-3 shot people.

What's your opinion?

[vexx]

Actually I find both Operatives and Snipers a bit OP in PvP, getting closer to them it's a pain and until you do, they hammer you down pretty fast. Also, you can't leap, graple..anything

[Ioan]

I think snipers are OP vs low people,ambush isn't a pvp skill,the 2.5 sec cast time is too long and is very easy to intrerupt.It may be used just with the talent skill that gives you 1 sec casting time reduce when you crit with Snipe.At the moment i'm level 32,i wait to get Series of Shots to see how usefull is that skill in pvp.

Oh and an Operative killed me once so fast that i didnt got out of his stuns.

[Eide]

Actually I find both Operatives and Snipers a bit OP in PvP, getting closer to them it's a pain and until you do, they hammer you down pretty fast. Also, you can't leap, graple..anything

Stun works fine, but it's about getting through the inital barrage. After that they're pretty much cake. Snipers are static. Their little cover shield is they Kingdom. Once you realise that and are able to spot it you'll generally be fine.

Operatives are nasty, especially the healers. From what I've seen they can heal through single DPS pretty easily. Key in SWTOR right now is just switching targets in those situations. With the UI in its current state there is no way any healer can switch healing targets as fast as you can switch DPS targets so you can just grab the healer's attention at A, then switch to B or C and nuke that down to return to A at a later stage. (Got an Operative Healing Alt, it's bloody annoying when they do that).

If I had to call any single spec as being extremely good right now it would be the Sith Assassin. Somehow those will take me apart so easily and so fast it's insane. Sorcerers tend to do really well to with all their little interrupts, stuns, snares and whatnot.

[Ioan]

From what I've seen they can heal through single DPS pretty easily. Key in SWTOR right now is just switching targets in those situations. With the UI in its current state there is no way any healer can switch healing targets as fast as you can switch DPS targets so you can just grab the healer's attention at A, then switch to B or C and nuke that down to return to A at a later stage. (Got an Operative Healing Alt, it's bloody annoying when they do that).

Did you try to heal with the some frames on?I think switching targets as a dps is harder than a healer,esp with the low performance in warzones,i barely can intrerupt a healer.

[Eide]

I do all my group stuff with the operations frame. It's hard to see who's taking damage. I need to physically select that player and then punch a button. The thing is that this takes time, a lot of time in healing terms. People can be down to 50% before I even start casting my first heal.

A ranged DPSer can just punch TAB, who cares what you target, just target something and start nuking. Once you think the healer is on to it, run in, push back or something similar and finish up with instants. Generally what happens is: The healer heals him/herself up, then needs to spot who's taking damage, physically select target (cycle through with shift+tab or physically click), start casting. See where this is going?

I have stopped trying to interrupt specific abilities, in fact, I don't use my stuns or interrupt much at all. The only ability I do use a lot is my push back because that's also a snare. 2 Major reasons stopping PvP coming into its own are performance issues in Warzones and the horrible state of the UI with regards to healers though.

[Geckomayhem]

If Bioware wants to improve every aspect of gameplay, they will allow improvements to the UI, albeit through macros or basic addons. Healers currently have a tricky job, even with the limited raidframes that are available. I've heard it helps to see debuffs a bit more clearly, though, if you do have raidframes enabled.

Mouseover macros were always my bread and butter as a healer in WoW. It frustrated me no end in Karazhan when guild healers failed to cleanse on the Maiden fight. I brought my priest along once just to show our fulltime healers that yes, it was possible to cleanse people within 1 sec of them receiving a debuff.

Sorry about the WoW reference, but it's still what I'm most familiar with. Healers have it pretty hard right now in-game, so I'm hoping that BW does introduce better systems and more flexibility pretty soon.

As for Snipers in PvP, I'm not sure that you can chalk anything up to being "OP". PvP is and always has been a team effort. If you charge a Sniper head on, you deserve to take a shot to the head. :o

[Delia]

I think snipers are OP vs low people,ambush isn't a pvp skill,the 2.5 sec cast time is too long and is very easy to intrerupt.It may be used just with the talent skill that gives you 1 sec casting time reduce when you crit with Snipe.At the moment i'm level 32,i wait to get Series of Shots to see how usefull is that skill in pvp.

Oh and an Operative killed me once so fast that i didnt got out of his stuns.

Marks spec gets 1.5 second ambush with Reactive shot (at level 50 with over 40% crit, you pretty much always have a reactive shot proc, and if you don't you can force one with Laze Target)

Series of Shots is situational, non-crits it hits 4 times for ~600-800 without cooldowns over 3 seconds. If you pop relics, adrenals and "target aquired" it'll usually crit for around 2k hitting 4 times in 2 seconds (if you have a stack of sniper volley, otherwise its 2.3 seconds) for a total of 8k in 2 seconds, then since you crit you can follow up with a 1.5 second ambush for another ~5-6k, and Followthrough for ~4-5k, making a total of ~17-19k damage in 5 seconds.

Alternatively you can use Rapid Fire while all your cooldowns are active, allowing you to use Series of Shots 3 times within the duration of Sniper Volley making for a total of around 24k damage in 6 seconds (if you're lucky with crits, which happen ~50% of the time with SoS, more realistically we're looking at about 18-19k).

The example numbers above are in mostly Columi gear set, with 180 expertise vs medium armor targets.

Snipers cannot be interrupted in cover, only way to be interrupted is if they knock you out of cover (damn inquisitors!), stun you (which they really shouldn't entrench is your friend), use diversion on you (always use diversion on other snipers/gunslingers!), or line of sight you.

A sniper's greatest weakness is line of sight, they have to sit and turret to do damage, and all their hard hitting abilities as marksman have a cast time (excluding followthrough, but you must land a snipe first to use it). If a sniper is killing you, fall back, get out of their LoS, heal up, and come back for more. Don't try to out-turret a sniper, they are a turret class, its what they do.

I know sorcs are a big culprit of running and hiding to heal themselves and then coming back at me, sometimes I'll give chase, and then they'll just electrocute me out of cover (while I cant use Entrench), and kill me off (as I lose ballistic dampers, and can't use any defensives while stunned).

That said, I love leg shotting melee classes when they're low life, and cast a full 2.5 second Ambush, so they have to watch their end coming!

[Ioan]

It looks simple on paper,but lets see some fights with some skilled/geared players.Record some fights with fraps,and we see whats all about,would love to see a pro sniper.I love to ambush people too,just the sound and the smoke trail makes us awsome!

[Ak1989]

i have a level 15 sniper and a 23 operative the very first match on my sniper i got 47 kills and 230k dmg and the first on my operative i got 23 kills and 105k damage. clearly to me the sniper is the winner not only because of every move having ridiculous range but if you start with explosive probe you can pretty much 3-4 shot anyone anytime