As a healing sorc I use it A LOT when I solo quests/dailies. Since I don't have any points to improve the damage of my abilities, it is one of the hardest hitting abilities that I have. It is only limited in its usefulness though since it only works on strong and lower mobs. It's great in taking out a mob quickly or helping to down a strong mob, but since it is only useful in that respect I have it far off to the side as a clickable. Usefulness = low, Fun factor = awesome (I still love the animation for this ability works)

If you pull up his character sheet you'll notice that he doesn't seem to benefit from shield rating or absorption. For shield rating, he never has more than the default (25%?). Also when you look at his absorption stat, you can see his rating but the benefit is always listed as 0%. He does still seem to benefit from defense however. It may just be that the numbers are not displaying properly, but it seems from what most people say, that this actually does affect his ability to maximize the benefit of tanking stats.

Bumping for some love.

Just a quick question. Since Xalek is still bugged (I still love using him) I was tossing around the idea of putting him in mostly DPS gear. I hit 50 a while back but have moved on to alts so I haven't had a lot of time to get max level gear for both me AND Xalek. I know that it will make put him in the "super" squishy category, but has anyone tried gearing him as dps? Is this viable for him? Has anyone tried gearing Khem for dps for that matter?

Known bug (at least by the community). Hopefully will get fixed soon.

Only crafting my friend...would be nice though.

I made a few changes for ya

I am not trying to troll but this arguments continues to boggle my mind...if crafted gear was better than PvP gear you would have PvPers crying that they have to craft to get gear for pvp. Likewise with raiding...what is the point in raiding if I can get all better gear through crafting. It is a vicious circle. Could the crafting professions and gear have a better (or at least SOME) roll in endgame? I think so. Should it be better than PvP gear...mmm...I don't know about that.

This is why I love my Sorcerer :-P

Agreed, this is a good review. He leaves the door open to the fact that the game is lacking a lot of features that will likely be added over time but still accomplishes what it set out to do.

Signed as well. Especially since turning companions light or dark was such fun part of KOTOR 2 I was shocked that nothing I did would change her alignment. Now she is a permanent part of my ship...at least until they fix this (fingers crossed).

Being able to send crew on missions, craft and post on the GTN would be amazing as an app. Maybe a little too amazing...

I agree people do buy my crafted items because 1) they are unique and 2) they are superior to vendor goods. Not all mods can be bought through vendors (especially some of the more specialized ones in the 30+ range). Additionally, by Re'ing blue mods to make purples, I can offer something that is better than what the vendors offer. I craft things for myself for the same reasons, because I can currently make things that are better than what vendors have. For example: Hilts, Mods and I think Armors. Up until the late 20's or 30's (I didn't keep track on my exact level). Many of the vendors offer Force Wielder mods which place more stats on Endurance over Willpower where the Resolve mod is much better suited to the stats that I want. Because of that I am either going to make or search the GTN for the mods that have the stats that I want. Buying goods may be cheaper in the short term but in the long term if I am MAKING money from crafting then why would I buy mods? Plus, as I mentioned, I find it fun to play with the crafting mechanics and GTN. Can you get comparable items from vendors? Absolutely. As I understand it, at level 50 the vendor items are even better. But for right now, I can make items that are a) superior to vendor goods, b) more tailored to my spec, c) selling for profit on the GTN.

Good post. I also love the crafting in this game but I love it BECAUSE of the GTN. Yes the economy is a bit of a beast right now for many different reasons but at the same time, I have been making a profit, and that is why I continue to craft. For that reason I will respectfully disagree with this statement that you made. In other MMO's that I have played one of the most fun aspects of it for me has been the economy. My main is level 34 and I would likely be 50 already if I hadn't spent countless hours working with crew skills and the GTN. I find it funny that so many people are bashing crew skills as being non-profitable but I think those are also some of the people that are not taking time to develop it properly. Have I sunk a ton of credits into my profession? Oh heck yes! But at the same time I have done so in a way that I can see some returns. I'm not taking EVERY SCHEMATIC from the trainer, rather I am taking the ones that I know I will use and the ones that I know will sell. Likewise, I use the GTN to find posts of mats that people are trying to offload rather than sell for a steep mark-up. I also have my own price guide for what I think purple mats are worth and I base my crafted items on those numbers with some added mark-up for profit. I don't feel like I am asking for unreasonable prices on a lot of the items that I am posting (and since they are selling I think the people buying them find my prices reasonable as well) By using tricks I have picked up from doing this in other games I have seen very nice profits (no I don't have a spreadsheet for you but I have kept track of expenses on all the post it notes stuck to the side of my monitor ). This type of playstyle isn't for everyone and it requires a lot of patience but I am having just as much fun with the crafting aspect using the GTN as you seem to be avoiding it all together. I will give this to you though...I think you'll be 50 before I am. I think a lot of the forum QQ is because of crafting "uselessness" at max level and is also coming from a lot of people who would rather see instant returns rather than playing the market a bit.

TL;DR - Treasure Hunting CAN be more profitable than slicing but it is much more of a gamble. Treasure hunting lock boxes are different than Slicing lock boxes. Sometimes those missions yield a credit box but more often the box will contain a piece of BoE gear. I haven't tracked my gains with these missions but profitability varies greatly depending on what you get in the boxes. Sometimes i get a BoE blue which I can sell on the GTN for a large profit (assuming it sells). Other times I get an item AND some credits which turns out to be a profit. Finally, I will sometimes get a box with only a green item or some credits which will likely be a loss. The Treasure Hunting stones do have a high demand on the GTN but also a large supply. Until you get into some of the higher missions, you will be wading through a lot of blue quality gems in an effort to get the highly sought after purples.

Like many other people have pointed out, you are comparing this MMO (at launch) to WoW which has been out for several YEARS, expecting it to have just as many features if not more. The awesome thing about MMO's is that they are constantly changing and a lot of the issues you have presented are things that Bioware will likely add in the future. I also find it hilarious that you have issues with the storytelling aspect of missions...I assume that since WATCHING mission briefing is so much of a chore for you that READING the quest text in WoW was completely out of the question...

I have been noticing this as well I was wondering if there was a stealth buff or not. I have also been getting better yields lately. I thought it was just luck. I dunno.

Good advice here. If I remember correctly, that boss has a lot of "fire on the ground". If people are standing in bad stuff then that will also suck your mana. I'm not saying you should let them die, but if it is a choice between you and them or you and the tank, let them go. Also with your fast heal...the only real time to use it is after a resurgence as that will cut the force cost in half. on its own, it is VERY inefficient. You will also want to avoid the desire to keep everyone at full health...healing in this game is designed around keeping people alive rather than keeping them at max health. If you see someone taking damage then make sure you keep them alive, but if you try to keep everyone topped off you will run out of force very quickly.

I'd also recommend the Dark Delirium set that drops in the Mandalorian Raiders Flashpoint. It goes VERY well with the class mask that you get. I upgraded my Saber Marshal's set to this one because of how amazing it looks.

Not sure if anyone has encountered this but I recently ran a flashpoint where the winner of a light/dark side conversation went the opposite direction I wanted to and now I have the "Stalwart" title instead of "Merciless". I got the correct dark side points for my decision but is there any way to get the "correct" title that goes with my decision? Has anyone else encountered this?