Since most of the other classes have something like this so I figured I'd start one here. If you have a smuggler spec or want to discuss one post it here. This is my basic Gunslinger spec:

Caravel's Sharpshooter Spec

It's a pretty basic PvE spec. Diversion, Percussive Shot, and Trip Shot are pretty pointless in FPs/Ops (Diversion *used* to be usable on bosses but not anymore.), whereas Cover Screen/Ballistic Dampers become incredibly useful for avoiding boss mechanics. There isn't really much use in going hybrid as sharpshooter (unless you REALLY feel like working bleeds into an already pretty full rotation), so just grab the basic upgrades with the leftover points.

The basic rotation should be something like:

Apply Flourish Shot and Vital Shot when you can (particularly whenever out of cover)

Charged Bursts (With Smuggler's Luck whenever it's up) -> Trick Shot (whenever it's off CD) -> Speed Shot (same as Trick Shot) -> Aimed Shot (Wait for Quick Aim to proc before using, which should be often before it ever comes off cd) -> Charged Bursts x 2 (to maximize Burst Volley when you can directly after every other Aimed Shot, once you have a full stack of Burst Volley it's best to follow up with Speed Shot) and repeat.

Quick Shots can be worked in following Charged Bursts IF you have the energy for it, but Trick Shot / anything else off CD takes priority. When out of cover just hit your auto attacks to conserve energy and re-apply debuffs/dots, and save energy until you can get back into a proper rotation.

It's a priority to keep your regen rate around the 3-4 arrow range as anything less will keep you from being able to properly pull off rotations (Essentially you'll burn WAY faster than you can regen) Save Cool Head for when you absolutely have to burst (Rapid Fire Speed Shots will eat up alot of energy)

If you need to burst the best way to get the most out of your CD's is to use them all at once. Illegal mods will let you get as many casts out of any on use Relics as you can (If you have a +Crit +Surge Relic it works best), while Rapid Fire lets you get as many Speed Shots as you can in to abuse Illegal Mods with. Be warned though you will cause a lot of threat with this, so either wait until the tank has been gathering threat for a while or simply use Surrender before bursting to minimize threat.

Something like this? Or do you pick +10 energy rather than alacrity?

linky

EDIT: big failure on my part for not noticing you put up a link yourself lol

It really comes down to how efficient your casts already are. I personally choose energy over alacrity because charged bursts and procced aimed shots are really super efficient (With burst volley and illegal mods going they can come down to a 1 second cast, which is about as fast as you can reasonably make them.) and a 4% alacrity boost isn't exactly going to make speed shot much faster. Meanwhile a 10 point energy boost can be a big difference as far as regen rates are concerned.

I haven't taken the 4% Alacrity just for the fact that the Gunslinger has so many procs to reduce cast time that the 4% difference isn't going to be a lot especially in PvE. PvP I can see it being more useful because it is more difficult to keep your rotation procs steady due to PvP dynamics. +10 Energy is far better than that little amount of Alacrity though. The small amount it boosts the 60% threshold by is very useful.

The more I look at Saboteur spec the more it screams PvP at me. It just has all the right tools to be a ridiculously effective PvP spec.

This is one I might tinker around with in the future:

Sabo PvP Spec

It basically covers all the bases, has a ton of extra survivability, coupled with useful utility tactics (An instant cast gtae that can linger is just ridiculous for locking down a defensive objective.) as well as damage. The bonus spec points can probably be fiddled with further, but you'll want to avoid putting points in aimed shot as sabo because you won't get that nice CD reduction from sharpshooter.

This build is what I have been using for leveling since I have been going between PvP and questing: Leveling Build

Looking at my build I'm not quite happy with it for end-game. I think my final build for end content is going to be along these lines: End-game Raiding Build

All I do is drop the Percussive Shot so I can invest extra points in Independent Anarchy. I keep Diversion because it costs no energy, instantly casts, and I have noticed significant DPS drops on ranged enemies once applied. It will be a nice tool during Hardmode Flashpoints. I don't get Spacer or Lay Low because neither of those abilities help with DPS a whole lot. Typically you will open with Freighter Flyby and Hunker Down is only necessary if you have caught agro or find yourself getting knocked around a lot, which shouldn't happen in most Ops and Flashpoints if your tank can keep up threat and make sure to tank away from you.

The issue with diversion is how they fixed it in earlier patches to be completely unusable on bosses (people were essentially gaming the system by using accuracy debuffs to soften enrage timers), which is why once I got to endgame I just dropped it, in sharp shooter spec the extra second off Flyby really does help, and even then there's better places to put that extra point.

PvE Dirty Fighting Spec

My current spec that I've been trying out in ops lately. It is actually pretty comparable to sharpshooter, I'd say dps-wise they stay about even across most fights (some fights give the other an advantage, but not noticable enough to really pick one over the other). They do however require completely different rotations. The one key thing about Dirty Fighting is that you don't necessarily need cover to pull it off (in fact you can pull your entire rotation just standing straight up), which is either a good or bad thing depending on how you want to play. There is also less emphasis on cast spamming and more usage of auto attack into the rotation, which helps keep you a bit more mobile than sharpshooter. The basic rotations go essentially like:

Apply all dots and flourish (this is a given for almost all the specs)

Hemorrhaging Blast (Always off CD, it's energy friendly and helps deal big damage with dots/wounding shots) -> Wounding Shots (This ability is tricky to master. It is essentially where all your dps gets top-loaded apart from dots. It has a fast cd but also costs a ton of energy to pull off. My general rule is keep auto attacks up until around 80-90 energy, then burst with this, pull back, then burst again. Don't immediately start firing this thing off every cooldown as you will burn out of energy fast. It also helps to sync your wounding shots with Hemo's cd as the dps boost hemo provides also will affect the bonus damage from wounding shots in a big way)

Quick Shots and Speed Shots for energy dumps (Really for bursting, but there will be times when you will have a ton of energy to spare thanks to dot crits and a faster cool head cd)

Again, this spec emphasizes working auto attacks into the rotation a lot more than sharpshooter, simply because the abilities for this spec aren't designed to be spammable. So if the rotation looks a bit less complicated, it's only because energy management plays a much bigger role in this spec than maximizing cooldowns.

So, I have been reading up on Gunslinger because I feel like I am still doing something wrong or could be getting a bit more damage. I was looking at my build and came up with this for better end-game PvE.

Gooey's New Sharpshooter Build

Note, the point to Diversion was a throw away in my opinion, but it is still a nice ability to have in Flashpoints and open-world battles. I decided against Burst Volley because Alacrity isn't that important in PvE unless you are a healer, and even then it isn't a priority. Burst Volley also barely helps in most situations, and even with three stacks only reduces Speed Shot by 0.3 seconds. That may sound good but it takes an Aimed Shot and two Charged Bursts to achieve that, and even then you can still only use it on one Speed Shot before it runs out.

I then began reading the Sharpshooter guide on SWTOR, and not to my surprise his recommended build was the same as mine.

Gunslinger Sharpshooter Guide

Reading on in the guide it confirmed my suspicions on how to build Gooey. Nobody is sure whether or not a Crit/Surge build is better than a Power build, but after rotating through both while leveling I feel that a Crit/Surge is superior. Gunslingers' main weakness is heavily armored enemies, as any Gunslinger can easily tell in PvP when fighting a tank, so hitting harder with critical hits seems to help outweigh some of the low armor penetration. Granted, enough Accuracy will help cure you of that, but since we don't know when diminishing returns start on Acc stats it is a little risky to start piling on Accuracy.

Updated build for 1.2: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700rcrbbRsRGRZbcZh.1