Ultimately you must enjoy the class for you feel it is worth while. But to give you another perspective, this is my 7th (out of 8) advanced class to level up and I feel it is the most powerful and effective pvp class of all of them. And yes, I have already leveled and pvp'ed with both a sentinel and an assault vanguard. My only regret is that I did not figure this out earlier.

I am afraid this topic is getting derailed a little (partly my fault). I think the real question is: Is faster combat run speed plus reduced cooldowns on interupts/cc breakers more valuable to a KC Shadow than the extra dps of Upheaval (there are other benefits of your points in Bal., but most KC'ers spec into it for Upheaval I think)? Does anyone know how much dps Upheaval adds?

I have been wondering this myself. I recently did some tests to dispel the rumor that the run speed buff was only for stealth. I would love be able to confirm if it helps with Huttball, but I see no practical way to test this.

This is an identical skill to "Sneaky" in the Scoundrel->Scrapper tree, which I have used since pre-retail closed beta. It has always only been beneficial to combat run speed, not to stealth. I believe it is working as intended. It was slightly more useful to stealth back then, because sprint did not automatically reactivate after leaving combat. So there were times in stealth you were getting the speed buff, until you manually reactivated sprint.

Remember that it does not stack with sprint. Also 99% of the time, when you are in stealth you also have sprint active. So most of the time you get no run speed benefit from Misdirection while you are in stealth. It was designed to be a combat run speed buff.

I play full Kinetic Combat spec using dps gear. Maybe on paper full dps specs look better, but I cannot imagine needing more dps. I "melt faces" left and right.

This build has a major conflict in that Circling Shadows requires Shadow Technique and Force Focus requires Force Technique and Partial Acceleration requires Combat Technique. It just does not work.

Searching the forums for info about Misdirection made it clear there is a lot of misunderstanding about it, and thus misinformation. I can confirm that the 15% run speed part of the skill is NOT related to being in stealth. It works anytime except when sprint is active. I ran the tests on PTS many times on a set path, timing with a stopwatch. With Misdirection talented it always reduced the time to run the course by 15% (except when sprint was turned on). It does not matter being in combat or out-of-combat, it works the same. The confusion comes from the fact that when out-of-combat, we always have sprint active, so it seems to not do anything because it does not stack with sprint. But you do indeed run 15% faster while fighting in combat.

Just curious, as there seems to still be population on the Origin Server's. If you have decided not to transfer, what is your reasoning?

Actually, if you are going to PvP, you don't want to use any of your current gear. Go buy a complete set of Recruit gear from the PvP vendor. It will cost you around 300k, but you will do much better starting out in PvP than with any Orange quest gear.

Slow Time only reduces damage and snares. CT->Force Breach reduces accuracy.

One thing I don't think I have saw anyone mention is an actual damage boost to KC DPS specs. "Battle Readiness now increases the damage and healing dealt by all Techniques by 100% for 15 seconds." While we are loosing a lot of boosted healing (100% down from 300%), the damage boost does not currently work with Combat Technique. After 1.3, KC DPS can use Battle Readiness for a DPS adrenal replacement. (just like the other specs have been doing all along)

Yes it is 1 point for Burst Volley, but the 31 pt. skill for all classes have always been 1 point.

Well, I don't know about doing this at lvl 29, but I completed it at 31 with one try and no deaths. I think the quest level being 32 and the boss being 34 is fine as it is. This fight is not that hard as long as you interrupt his casting. This is the only place he does any real damage. His melee damage is not that great. If you are using Theran (which you should for boss fights), make sure you let Holiday cc him while you let your force regen.

I just killed Vivicar at lvl 31. Not a single death. Just have to interrupt and he is easy. Actually Holiday did most of the interrupting. I think I only used mine once.

I know the shadow KC tree has a skill to increase it, but can this concept be found on any items?

... Particle Acceleration with the Deep Impact skill? Do they stack and give you 100% additional crit damage?

Is there no preference for starting with the lower or higher cost items?

I have finally decided to finish leveling my Consular for pvp. What is the best way to spend your resources once you hit 50? Obviously I will be filling in all slots that need be with recruit, but it is best to start with a couple of the more expensive pieces, such as the chest slot or weapon (this is for a Balance Sage btw), or get all the cheaper pieces first? For resources I will have the full boat on day one of 50: 3500 rated wz com. 2000 regular wz com. 1000 mer com. which will be converted to 1000 regular wz Thanks.

Sorry, did not mean to offend you. The point is you can. You set the precedent of the technically possible, but impractical. This may change in 1.3, but as of now the average GS has an augment in the offhand, I don't think the average Sniper does, and if you read the Sniper forums, you will find complaints about this. You seem a little touchy about it. Even if there were no other solution, do you really think an 11 cunning difference (and assuming no value to endurance) makes a class "screwed"?

I don't think this is true, but using this same logic you can have an Armstech create a skill barrel for you.

Sorry, did not mean to misdirect your thread. It's funny, I am totally committed to using Incendiary Grenade in pvp, and I felt the same way you did. Once I started using it, I realized that I never saw it being used. I found this to be somewhat of an advantage because it seems like other people have not experienced it and don't know how to react to it. As you have already indicated, it is fun to cast in on yourself after applying sab. charge to some melee beating on you. If you have the defensive cooldowns I described before, you can just set there in cover and kill almost any melee standing in your fire.

I think you really have to try all 3 and answer that yourself. They all work, but are a different playstyle. If you do this, I suggest playing at least 10 wz games (more if you can) in each spec, to really get a feel for it.

Also don't forget that, currently, only Gunslinger can use an augment in the second slot. I am sure that at some point there will be augment slots in all offhand items, but for now GS has the advantage.

I am not dissing SS in any way. I prefer it in pve. The math certainly favors it. But I evaluate effectiveness of builds more from a "last man standing" philosophy and from my experience and "style", I kill more and die less in pvp with full Saboteur. But most of all I have more fun doing it. I do miss using Aimed shot and am putting some effort into incorporating it more with Sab. I am testing moving 2 pts. from No Holds Barred to Sharp Aim and have a keyboard macro that activates both my second relic, which is Alacrity + Illegal Mods + Aimed Shot. This gives me a 1.73 activation time.