Exactly.......

That's what separates good Operatives and bad (or not so good) Operatives; energy management. Just because you have the resource doesn't mean you should use it right away, especially due to how our regeneration works. The trick is knowing when to burn it for burst damage and when to save it for sustained damage. Most guides out there go over this issue and recommend that for the best DPS, energy needs to stay above 70 most of the time to ensure that you regenerate it fast enough to allow for you to use it more often.

Actually there are two that I can think of off the top of my head. Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. FFXI did it since day 1, and it actually works very well. The issue being complete gear set switching and an overall lack of storage space. It wouldn't work well in this game though. Although I honestly don't really see a reason gameplay, balance or lore wise why people can't switch between their advanced classes by visiting a trainer (not in the field).

I hit 50 on my Bodyguard Merc just before 1.2 came out, got some of the daily comm modifications and took a break due to the amount of time I had to wait for groups. I love healing, but not standing around in the fleet for 30-45 minutes getting nothing done, when I only have 2-3 hours of available play time every other day. Just before coming back, I decided to look at these forums to find out how badly the changes affected our healing....needless to say I was not optimistic. However, over the last week I've sporadically been courageous enough to offer my healing services to guildies who just needed a healer to fill that last spot for HM Boarding Party, Foundry, Black Talon and Kaon.... After being so beaten down with the majority of this forums doomsday attitude about Commando and Mercenary healing all I have to say is stop...stop whining. You're making it seem WAAAAAY worse than it actually is. While I can't speak to how much better or more enjoyable the other healers are (I don't like Sage/ Sorc healing style TBH) but I enjoyed the hell out of my groups. No one died, we were all fairly fresh 50's with the odd Tionese piece that dropped from HM's and daily comm modifications, so we didn't over gear the content by any stretch, and they were some of the fastest runs I've ever done. TL;DR- If you enjoy Merc/ Commando healing, stick with it and don't listen to this doomsday crap, we're viable healers. Notice the word VIABLE...I did not say we were equal to the other healers (I can't speak to this point, so this is neither saying we are worse or better than anything else), I said we can heal well enough to get the job done, and that's the only thing that matters

I try to, the problem is that 95% of the quests you get on every planet are the same for everyone on that faction. It's super repetitive. I enjoy the cutscenes, but regardless of how much I enjoy them, watching the full 2-3 minute dialogue for every quest I've done 3 times already is not my idea of fun, it's also not how'd I'd like to spend the little time I get to play. To help alleviate this I switch between factions regularly.

Well Geared Healer with Tank Companions or Tanks with Healing companions are able to do a lot more content alot easier than most DPS, due to the general lack of survivability/ longevity of DPS classes.

The point that stikes me most about your posts is that you constantly refer back to the source material, and how jedi never throw stuff, or very rarely, therefore making the moves in SWToR blasphemous in some way. My problem is that your SUCH a jedi/ star wars fanboy that you can't stand for something that wasn't in the movies to be shown in the game. Why does the source material have to think for you? Why can't something that WASN'T in the source material be in the game? The force can be used to do what is done in this game (except conjure stones from thin air, I'll give you that) so why is it blasphemous that this is how Bioware decided to differentiate between the factions? a Jedi CAN throw environmental objects and they can cause pebble storms (in areas where that many pebbles exist....or perhaps THAT'S what is being stored in that huge backside when your wearing robes) so why is it so bad? I'm enjoying the game as is, I'll admit that some of the animations could be better, but it's not breaking my enjoyment factor nor my immersion. I can't wrap my brain around why this could break the game for someone. I can't empathise with you, I just can't understand why you are unable to think outside the box a little bit.... I apologize for sounding rude, but your hate for this just seems irrational and illogical to me. The dislike for the animations is understandable, but to be so vehemently opposed to the theme of the animations based on what is or isn't in the source material just seems narrow minded.

Any arguments made against your point will be falling on deaf ears I think. I'll just keep playing and enjoying my sage while you continue on your crusade against lore breaking pebble conjuring jedi.....

Sorceror lightning is cool for a while, but honestly, as a Sorceror DPS, having every major attack I perform be based on lightning is really redundant and gets annoying after a while. Sages throw stuff using the force, and while mildly-fast-floating-pebbles-being-conjured-from nowhere isn't nearly as cool as lightning, it's much less annoying. Honestly? I like sage better than sorceror because not all of my attacks are the same. And really dude, you're going to argue about where they pulled these "signature" moves from? Why does it matter? it's a game based on a space fantasy where magic (the force) can be used to do just about anything. Bioware decided that Sages used the force to pull stuff from their surroundings (or conjure it) and throw it at the enemy and that Sorcerors would conjure lightning using the force....thats it. They needed to differentiate between the classes in some way, and thats how they did it. If you really don't like it, come up with a better alternative, or don't play the class.

Grouping function to help get groups together for Flashpoints.....aka a LFD tool. More character slots Multiple companion options so you can replace one you hate with one you like, or hate less (kind of like Morinth from Mass Effect 2) Dual Spec The ability to test out your AC before being permanently locked to it (or the ability to switch it, once) Quicker travel options from planet to planet.

Republic equivalent to Boarding party is Taral V Empire: Boarding Party -> Foundry Republic: Taral V -> Maelstrom Prison In any case, simply burning through low level flashpoints and selling the gear you get while using any gathering crew skills on the mobs is fast. You could also try putting yourself out there as a mercenary, willing to run people through Flaspoints for a fee....not sure if it would work in this game, but I know people do it in every other MMO where having a high level person/ highly skilled group makes content trivial.

Just wanted to point out that this is mathematically impossible over the course of a long fight. I will concede that during certain phases (portion of the fight) that it could be possible for the person who puts out the lowest numbers normally could outdamage the highest, given how their class works and proper use of cooldowns. That being said, if you look at an entire fight, the person with the highest average DPS will be the one who does the most total damage. Their DPS might look like a sine wave when you plot it out, but if their average DPS is higher, they will have done the most damage. Also to the person who is ranting about "there is no burst in an ops fight!" obviously never fought a boss with phases where you only had a 15-20 second DPS window. To determine what is burst vs sustained you need to ask this....if you only had 20 seconds to damage something (and ONLY 20 seconds, not 20+ however long your Dots lasted) which class/ spec would put out the highest numbers? I agree that over the course of a long fight that burst vs sustained makes no difference, but in specific windows, it does...and some bosses only have DPS windows (like the last boss in Athiss).

Heat dissipates at a constant rate, independent of how fast you cast your heals or use other skills (except for SCG and Vent Heat). Using Rapid Shots does not dissipate heat. Therefore, you having the ability to use more healing abilties in less time, means that your heat won't have a chance to dissipate and you will become heat capped that much faster. This means that having the ability to cast more heals in less time is an absolutely stupid abiltiy for a PvE healer who needs longevity. This may be completely opposite for PvP. Alacrity as it stands now is nowhere near as useful for healers as Power, Crit and Surge considering there is no stat to increase the size or regeneration rate of our resource pool.

To fix the problem, if you really want to play this class as your main, delet the character and make a carbon copy (looks wise anyway) but change the name. Problem solved

I'm concerned about BH healing, and the threads I have been reading all have people who are testing say that the nerf to skills is a bit rough to overcome because it changes the playstyle. Playstyle is changing because now instead of partly relying on alacrity, we now more heavily rely on Crit and Surge (which I already do, honestly, alacrity seemed stupid given how our resource worked). Because of this the speed at which we heal will decrease but our heals will be bigger, therefore keeping our HPS roughly similar. Yes the nerf will suck, but only until you learn to adapt. If this broke (I mean really broke it, not just doomsayer "the sky is falling" BS) it wouldn't make it to live. Yes I know some weird stuff makes it in, but I've never seen anything hit live that turned a class completely useless....nerfed yes, but not useless.