yes. deft mod 27X will increase your damage more than the others, and power is more important than crit since 2.0. if you do increase your crit chance, then 20% is the highest you'll want, everything else goes into power/surge.

yes, power is greater than crit now. however, imho, it really doesn't hurt to have a little crit. at lv 55, the highest crit chance you can safely shoot for is 20%. any higher than that and you lose some serious stomping power. it doesn't take much to hit 20%. all it took for me was an earpiece and 1 potent mod, plus the smuggler buff and a ton of strength. all my other mods are invested in power. so whether you want to add a little crit is up to you, but definitely invest heavily into power.

the white armor you see when creating a jedi knight is not available. however, there are two sets of armor that are nearly identical: jedi battlelord's and guardian's exalted. the best place to look for the jedi battlelord's set is on the GTN. the guardian's exalted set can be found on coruscant from the legacy vendor.

while i'm not a fan of armor and would prefer traditional jedi robes (hope these come out some day), the look of a white, hood-down version of the jedi battlelord's set is more appealing to me than the valiant jedi set. i support this 110%. surely this would be very easy to implement, as it's already there in character creation.

when my vigilance guardian went from lv 50-55, my crit chance had shot down from 30% down to ~21%. i was curious if i could push it up to 25%, so i replaced a power mod with a crit mod. i can't remember the exact % i gained, but i can tell you it wasn't worth it, as my crit was still in the 21% range. just to reach 23% would require a major sacrafice of power. so yea, not happening. currently, my crit chance sits at 20% (~100 crit + smuggler buff + str). once my accuracy was in an acceptable range, 95% base, i invested everything else into surge, which is 72.92%.

it's funny, green is supposedly the most relaxing color for the human eye. in swtor, it's the complete opposite with green lightsaber blades.

i actually don't care much for insight or swift slash. while a boost to crit chance in some areas is always welcome, it's not as reliable as a static dmg boost like master focus and swelling winds. i like increasing the dmg of my attacks as much as possible so long as my chosen spec allows it. this is the build i'm currently using.

force sweep, force stasis, force push, blade storm, and plasma brand. i find swelling winds to be a better investment than improved sundering strike. force sweep may be a filler, but for us vigilance guardians, it's a focus-free filler! so why not take advantage of that and increase it's stomping power a bit.

soresu and shien are only one piece of a puzzle. you won't see the full picture until you're lv 40+, main/secondary stats are stacked appropriately, and you're specced high into one of the trees.

actually, gather strength only applies to melee abilities that cost focus.

nothing states that dark side users are capable of using synth-crystals any better than jedi. luke skywalker used a green synth-crystal in his lightsaber and it worked beautifully. during his new jedi order, the students had to rely almost exclusively on synth-crystals because nearly all the crystal sites were either looted or destroyed by the emperor.

while some focusing crystals can produce a more powerful and efficient blade, it doesn't put the lightsaber in a league of its own. for example, sith often used synth-crystals, which produced blades powerful enough to break through standard lightsaber blades used by jedi. however, this was extremely rare, and using such a crystal made the blade less manueverable and unstable. in the end though, the lightsaber will still behave the same as any normal lightsaber: cuts through most materials, can block other lightsaber blades, and deflects blaster bolts. so really, there is no such thing as 'the strongest lightsaber'.

even with bloom turned off and the removal of the inner yellow glow (which should be GREEN), the glow is still the wrong shade of green. since there are players who actually love the way it looks, it would probably be best to simply make a new green color crystal, probably call it emerald. the blade should look something like this: http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/b/ba/SWLegacy40.jpg notice how the blade (like blue, red, and purple) is very distinct and the glow is gentle to the eyes, and doesn't burn my retina from overdose of yellow.

with these - http://www.partsofsw.com/Ep_1/images/covertec.jpg

i see, thanks guys!

i said crit multiplier. i probably should have said surge, sorry about that, lol.

what's the optimum crit multiplier in 2.0?

how am i confusing ppl? the op asked what % he should shoot for as a vigilance guardian. i replied with what i've found to be an acceptable crit chance, that is all.

guess i wasn't specific enough. we're talking crit chance with the smuggler buff. 30% buffed is a bit on the low side while 35% buffed is a bit much. you would get better results with 33%~ buffed and invest in a few more power mods. if you're built up properly, then your strength should be contributing a fair amount to your crit chance. this results in needing less crit rating to achieve the desired %. also, your crit rating will be quite safe from diminishing returns.

i feel 35% is a bit much, while 30% is a bit low. currently, i'm at 32.22%, and i really haven't noticed a difference in crit occurance when compared to 35%. i recommend around 33%. with that, you'll be able to invest in more power, make you strong like bull.

wow, i'm just now noticing the glow. that is pretty darn subtle, and force rush made it even tougher to discern. perhaps you should jot down some ideas on how you feel the notification should be so it's crystal clear whether zen strike proc'd or not without having to look down at your quickbar. maybe take this into the suggestion forum?

guardians let out a kind of shout, like HAA!. i've never had a problem picking up on this notification whenever zen strike proc'd.

saber ward actually reduces damage taken from force/tech attacks by 25%. shield/absorb being useless against force/tech attacks? true. however, melee/ranged crit attacks can still be shielded. Stevebudz, the abuse you've been taking is perfectly normal. the players that were killing you in 4 hits were likely of higher level. even with saber ward and warding call reducing the dmg, what amount makes it through is still a lot for someone of your level. so until you're in the mid 30's-40's, expect to get pushed around a lot. don't get discouraged tho, it gets easier.

i feel the same way. creating an animation for it is totally unnecessary and just complicates the sith out of an otherwise simple feature. if the volume of hooded gear is a problem, then make it so only moddable ones can switch between the up/down hoods.

using might armoring 27's in your bracer/belt can be beneficial. for a while, i used two 25's. recently, i upgraded them to 27's and added a third to my power generator while swapping out two +64 str/+12 pow mods for +51 str/+39 pow ones for a greater boost. i'm very pleased with the results. even tho my expertise dropped to 1164 (originally 1214), my pvp stats remain in the 22%/18%/12% range. i find this to be a solid area. had i gotten the EWH armorings, my expertise would be 1314, raising my pvp dmg to 24.25%. however, my primary/bonus dmg would go down rather sharply, my crit rate drops to 29% (unacceptable), and i'd lose 400+ hp. it's good to want to get your expertise as high as possible, but there's a point where all it's doing is holding you back (imo that is).