"Experienced Marksman: Range/Fast Snipe" Enhancement removes the Sniper Rifle's out of combat bonus damage

[tidge]

The advantage of using the Fast Snipe enhancement is this: Fast Snipes turn the first 22% of "ToHit Bonus" into a damage boost for the attack... so Faster Snipes with more damage, *if* the character has significant +ToHit.

 

There are all sorts of ways to sit at/near this point: Kismet's +6%, Tactics, Targeting Drones, fast-recharging Aim/BuildUp, etc.

 

If your Sniper can maintain a high +ToHit, the piece is exceptionally useful, at least in my experience.

[macskull]

I think it's also worth pointing out why the enhancement exists in the first place - the initial "fast snipe" implementation tied fast snipes to having at least 22% extra tohit. If you had less than that, you always got the not-generally-useful slow version. This implementation worked but favored some ATs and powersets over others, so the change was made to have snipe behavior based on your combat status, and the fast snipe sliding damage scale was added so that some amount of extra tohit would still be meaningful for those who'd chased that 22% number under the old implementation.

 

Anyways, while that change was overwhelmingly seen as positive, it broke some PvP attack chains (specifically Beam Rifle, where the standard 8v8 attack chain was Penetrating Ray -> Lancer Shot). When Experienced Marksman was added to the game, PvPers were asked which behavior they'd like the proc to force, and they agreed they'd rather have it force fast snipes for the reason I just stated. It isn't particularly relevant for most PvE builds since if you're using your snipe power as part of an attack chain you're already going to be engaged in combat.

[Wavicle]

I was not aware of the pvp angle, thanks.