BW or SW

[Aebel]

So Ive been lucky enough to have a bunch of time off for the big xp event and im leveling up a bunch of toons to skip t1 (i hate t1), basically one for each role per faction and I'm trying to decide on an rdps for Order. Before people explode on the comments over Order having too much ranged already, this is a toon I dont plan to play as my main I just like having options for when im bored especially because it seems that classes generally fit very niche roles endgame. I'm stuck between a BW or a SW, I know they fill very different roles in endgame but could I get some input from people who know what they're talking about on the pros and cons of these classes to help make my decision?

[dansari]

Basically, if you want to play large scale, play BW. If you want to play small scale, play SW. SW is more versatile and more mobile; BW is worlds better at bombing.

[Reesh]

SW all the way. Better for solo, better for group play, better for random solo queuing into scenarios. As Dansari said, bw is better, but not by much, in terms of bomb.

And, most importantly, you're facing dodge on defense, not disrupt.

[anarchypark]

since you got solid answers i wanna add some note.
both can be played accordingly.
that's player skill IMO.

one class is little bit better at something
but situation constantly changes.
you may not have opportunity to use advantage. ex) running
or waiting and waiting for opportunity while missing other chances.
tiny details are tiny.

teammate fills what you're missing.
also you fill theirs.

you should ask what you wanna do.
that's really matter.

wanna melt foes, boil them, exploding ?
or put arrows at neck, eye, heart or even back?

lastly
look for the build trees, not just class names.

[Arbich]

BW has very high burst potential, while stile retain somewhat mobility. And the required skills for burst rotation have fairly low cooldowns. The disadvantages are that the burst rotation can be easily countered by a plethora of ways, you lack consistent damage outside of your rotation due to no AA, you a squishy as hell and you only have a bad heal-debuff which limits the group compositions you can play with.

SW could only achieve BW burst potential at the cost of losing a lot of mobility (I would say, is a uncommon specc). On the plus side they are the best kiters on order side (contested maybe by dps am), could also play melee (or only switch stand for more defense) and have the best heal debuff on order side, which means you can team up with any other order dps (some compositions are still better than other, though).

SW is far better when playing solo, a little better when playing in group and worse when playing large scale WB play.

[Tirien27]

I had the exact same question 3 days ago, so i level Sw up to 18, but damn it took too long to kill pve mobs, fun to play sure, but i don´t have a lifetime to level up. Live servers i had a BW so i knew this class is fun...

I dont like the idea of having to switch stance and what not, i like to keep things simple so i did a bw.
I say try them out to level 18-20, you know then.