I know plenty of healers that got along fine before dual spec ever came along. That said, again, you won't be going slow with healing. Just make sure you get additional gear that has presence on it, in addition to willpower, as you will need both. Presence for your companion, willpower for your healing abilities. If you can find the gear, I strongly recommend leveling as a healer, if that is something you wish to do. Having leveled using a lightning build, I can testify as to how limited, and in some cases, weak, it actually is. In leveling that is. In grouping, when you can just blast, or if you are pvp-spec lightning, it is potent as hell.

Astralfire's guide is also very good, and much, much more comprehensive than mine is. That said, I personally believe my skill tree builds might be a little better. Unless you are going a true hybrid build, you should never not get the final skill in a tree. Unless that final skill is really really bad, then the skill tree as a whole fails.

I don't believe the OP was implying that TOR couldn't stand on its own, the reference is there so that people can make an informed decision about their playstyles they will be choosing, so they can pick something that they like to do, amongst other reasons.

Hybrid builds weren't designed to be viable. If you are talking about sub-specs after reaching your 31 point skill in a tree, there are plenty of options for each out there. For example, as a sentinel, it is always advantageous to put 3 points into dual-wield mastery.

This is very good work you have done here, Astralfire. I thought that I would be the only one to write anything informative or useful, really, about this. Thanks for the good job. I hope this is a guide that you plan to keep updated.

Doesn't matter, mirrored classes, and if the links don't work, well, then that was a complete waste of an hour. Maybe I should go re-check up on my other post.... Edit: The links work over in the sith sorcerer forums, I will just make a link to the thread in the op here, after I delete most of it.

Great, that is how. Presence, the healing stat, also increases the power of your companions. Pick a bruiser companion, like Khem Val, or Ashara, or Xalek and you will be good. Khem Val is the first companion you get, so you can do stuff with that early on.

Hey everyone, all of these posts that keep saying, "first," are getting annoying, and they all violate the terms of use, so, I figured I would post something constructive. Links to builds that will be useful for us sorcerers. The pvp builds will work in pve, but not as well as the pve builds, and vice versa. The hybrid builds are somewhat untested, and I am unsure as to there level of viability. Use those at your own risk. However, they are meant to be used for what they say in the description. I will flag any and all posts that violate the TOS in this thread. Also, while these are sith sorcerer builds, everything is interchangeable with the moves and skill trees, so these will absolutely function as intended on a sage. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=303 There, just follow the link to the OP. Re-posting the links here screwed things up for some reason.

Having played the beta, I can say that survivability is important. Personally, I might actually respect several times as I find myself headed to the imperial fleet, depending on which companion I have access to. I do know that for a while, I will probably be going some kind of fubar hybrid/solo build, for survivability. If I was going to go a dedicated build, I would either go corruption or madness.

You're welcome, and I hope they are useful, hehe, only a handful of them have actually been truly put through their paces.

Aye, it does. I have been trying to post since 4 am pst, but my account was "non-active," for some reason. Made me rather irate. But we are all here now and all is well.

Hey everyone, all of these posts that keep saying, "first," are getting annoying, and they all violate the terms of use, so, I figured I would post something constructive. Links to builds that will be useful for us sorcerers. Lightning builds. PVE Sith Sorcerer Single-Target Lightning build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hZfsrzdoMutzZcM0M.1 PVE Sith Sorcerer AoE Lightning build http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hMbZfsrodoMutzZ0M.1 PVP Sith Sorcerer Lightning build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZdcbrdRbutzZfMc.1 Madness builds. PVE Sith Sorcerer Single-Target Madness build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hZbcMZcMfRsbkrfz.1 PVE Sith Sorcerer AoE Madness build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hMbZbzZcMfRsbkrfz.1 PVP Sith Sorcerer Madness build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hMrZZfrfRorkMfz.1 Corruption builds. PVE Sith Sorcerer Universal Corruption build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201GGrRbd0dGzZf00MZ0M.1 PVP Sith Sorcerer Corruption build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hGrRrdrkhzZf00MZ0M.1 Weird Hybrid builds. PVE Sith Sorcerer Solo AoE/Self-Healing/Damage/Survivability build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hMbZfcrMzorhZsMbR.1 PVP Sith Sorcerer Half and Half Ultimate Shields build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hRror0MZscbr0MbZcr.1 PVE/PVP Sith Sorcerer Shield/Armor/Healing Tank build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201uMrRbbZbc0MZfMfkob.1 PVE/PVP Sith Sorcerer Resurgence/Chain Lightning/Death Field/ Force Lightning Spam build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hRrRZfcM0dzZcRrRo.1 PVE/PVP Sith Sorcerer Caught in the CC Storm build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hZbsrbdRb0zZcrzRsM.1 PVE/PVP Sith Sorcerer Undying build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201GhMRrdMzZf0rr0MbZ0z.1 Note that credit for this particular build goes to TexA, a poster who provided this build in this very thread, thank you TexA, for that. I will also link a modified version below, which has one point in Will of the Sith, for the higher scaling on willpower. The extra point is removed from the Force Bending talent, which I have personally deemed as non-essential in light of the nature and goals of this particular build. PVE/PVP Sith Sorcerer Undying build. (Jorander's variant) http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201GhMkrdMzZf0rr0MbZ0M.1 The pvp builds will work in pve, but not as well as the pve builds, and vice versa. The hybrid builds are somewhat untested, and I am unsure as to there level of viability. Use those at your own risk. However, they are meant to be used for what they say in the description. I will flag any and all posts that violate the TOS in this thread. Also, if we could get this stickied, that would be awesome. I know that this would be a rather convenient resource for people.

omg, I can post now?