What I am trying to figure out is if its better to channel full duration then use wrath or use wrath as it procs to maximize dmg done. Force lightning is a 3 second channel (not accounting for any alacrity bonuses to keep it simple.) Force lightning hits 4 times over 3 seconds or every .75 seconds it hits and you have a chance to proc wrath. So if at .75 seconds of the channel (or the first tick) you proc wrath, are you maximizing dmg by interrupting to cast chain lightning which is our hardest hitting spell for single target or aoe. So for a base say you do 1k per tick and 3k on a chain lightning (keeping numbers simple for math). If you interrupt at the first tick/proc to use the instant you do 4k dmg (1k + 3k) vrs channeling for 3 seconds (or 4 ticks) for 4k dmg then your instant 3k chain lightning for a total of 7k dmg in 3.5 seconds (3 sec for channel plus say a .5 sec global cool down /animation delay). But if you interrupt at the proc .75 sec + .5 global/animation delay you are at 1.25 sec. You start your next channel and proc again within the first 1.5 sec of the channel (within 2 ticks) and add in another .5 global/animation delay you would do 1k + 3k + 1k +1k +3k in 3.25 seconds or 9k dmg vrs channeling once for 3 seconds plus .5 for global/animation or 3.5 seconds to do 7k dmg (1k + 1k +1k +1k +3k). You can probably add another .5 delay between one channel and the next but even then still shows interrupting on proc is more dmg done in less time than a full channel then proc use. This shows interrupting and utilizing the wrath proc as available is a 2k increase in dmg using these base line numbers and procs within 3.5 sec which would be equal to a full channel plus global/animation to use the proc after the channel. Over the course of a longer fight the dmg difference between full channel and interrupted channel would possibly be fairly significant.

With my build I don't have force issues unless I spam Lightning Storm or have to drop back and do emergency heals. Even if I die in the middle of an operation fight and get rezzed...2 maybe 3 force lightning channels and I have enough force to start throwing instants again and finish the fight 3/4 to almost full force. Don't even have the talent to increase my force pool (have 500 force power not the 600 you get if you increase your pool). I play more as a direct dmg sorc using my dots as bonus dmg vrs some that rely on dots primarily. As Darth Sidious said...unlimited power hehehe.

For Sorcs...your saber is a stat stick plain and simple. I don't even have any saber attacks left on my tool bars.

Force lightning....do you channel the full duration even after getting a wrath proc or do you interrupt your channel to use your instant chain lightning / crushing darkness and then "fish" for another wrath proc to throw another instant? I tend to channel to proc a wrath then throw my instant attack off then back to channeling to proc another wrath. The question I have is this a dps lost or a dps gain? Seems more bursty dmg wise to channel till you proc then fire off a hard hitting spell than to spend the time letting the channel complete. If force lightning is doing say 1k per tick and its what 4 ticks per channel? So your doing on average 1k per tick, proc a wrath and interrupt to throw chain lighting off for 2k-4k+. Then back on channel till proc and crushing for 2k + dot, then back to channel (chain lightning should be off cool down) till wrath and throw chain lightning again etc. Vrs sitting there for the 2.6 sec or so channeling till throwing an instant. Examples: Channel...1k...1k..proc..1k...1k...nuke (3k) Channel...1k..proc..1k...1k...1k...nuke (2k) vrs Channel...1k...1k..proc..nuke (3k) Channel...1k..proc..nuke (2k) Channel...etc So say your looking at the first one over the course of 6-8 seconds and the second one over the course of 3-4 seconds. First one is more dmg (13k) than the second one (8k) but if you based on time duration the second one would start a third channel and could proc once again within the first couple of ticks to throw off another high dmg nuke within the 6-8 sec duration of the first example and end up pulling slightly ahead. Over a longer fight this marginal difference could account to quite a bit more dmg if you interrupt to throw your harder hitting casted spells instantly. Wild card factor however is the wrath procs. Sometimes they come fast and often...other times you have to fish for one for a channel or two. Just kind of curious...have seen some sorcs channel full duration all the time and some of us that interrupt to take advantage of the wrath proc as soon as its available. Had a few debates if its an increase or decrease in dps to use either method. So any theory crafters have idea's on which way maximizes dmg over the other?

A failure for you and maybe some others, but a win for a larger portion of the games population. As I said before...I played old school MMO's that abused their player base with endless grinds, severe death penalties, frustrating crafting, and endgame content that would take at times 200+ people 6-10 hours to complete a single boss if you were lucky and no one messed up. Been there, done that, promised myself never again.

Time's change. More and more Western MMO developers are creating games that are more casual friendly understanding people have work, family, school, etc and not everyone can spend 12+ hours a day playing their games. So they are easier paced. If you want to find a grind game that punishes you for every point of exp you gain and makes gear incredibly expensive and luck based (procs) then maybe you should check out some Korean MMO's. Not talking about Westernized versions of Korean MMO's but straight up pure Korean MMO's. They maybe more what you are looking for in terms of even reaching max level let alone endgame. Old school Korean MMO's you could spend weeks...even months to gain a single level. Crafting was a grind of gathering materials, getting a 1 time use recipe that had a 60% chance to fail and burn all your mats, then either having a crafter that can make it or finding and paying a crafter to make it hoping that it is successful or you get to start the whole process all over again. Sure its fun spending 6-8 hours in a group specifically formed to farm exp to gain 4% or less knowing that a single death is going to cost you 4% of your exp. Adds excitement. Makes you vested in your character. Clawing, scratching, biting, crying your way to your next level. After 6 months of play your lucky if you have even reached lvl 40 yet in a game with 80+ levels. I hear you. I used to like the challenge and the abuse. Not any more. In Lineage II it took me 4 months to go from lvl 84 to lvl 85 and I was spending more time playing than working and sleeping combined. Now I have a life, a job, friends, wife, children and can not afford to spend 80 hours a week playing a game that is 1000% grind based. So if you tire of "easy" games...go abuse yourself for a few months playing a non westernized Korean MMO. Then decide if you like the abuse or would rather have enjoyment and fun without investing more time in game than out of game.

What OS you running? If its not a server OS then you are yet another person that drank the kool-aid. 32bit OS can manage up to 4G total (3G actually), 64 bit can manage up to 8G. Only a server OS can manage more than 8G. Putting 16G of memory into a desktop OS is a waste of memory and money.

I hear ya. As I said earlier I had a GF280 card originally. Worked fine in numerous other games with no heat issues. SWTOR stressed it even back in beta when I first started to have some issues. 3 months later the card was dead. Replaced with an EVGA 550ti card. Not even two weeks after putting that card in I started to get thermal shutdowns on the card. Fan speed at 100% and GPU temps was 98-100degrees C. Thermal shut down temp on that card is 105degrees C. Returned it yesterday and got a PNY 560ti card. Idle temps just on desktop or surfing the web is around 40degrees C. Playing in a couple other games (TF, HL, Portal etc) temp is around 52 degrees C on the high end. Launch SWTOR and my temp climbs up to 70degrees C. With new card with fan speed around 40% GPU runs around 70-74degrees C. As soon as I close out of SWTOR I drop back down to 41degree C range. Now I do run dual monitors, play at 1920 resolution in fullscreen windowed mode, max graphics on everything so yea the card has to work pretty hard. If I go to full screen temp does lower slightly (65-68degree C range) which isn't as high but still higher than other games I have on my system. Also one nit pick...SWTOR is still a DirectX 9 project not 11 (or even 10).

Key bindings mean jack really without knowing their lay out. I use a merc stealth keyboard that has the game pad area to the left. So you look at one of my screenshots and see my second row and go *** but for my keyboard layout the keys are easy to reach and sequence together well.

Game does seem a bit hard on video though. I have the Q9550 as well not OC. I had a GF280 card originally that worked for Age of Conan, Aion, Rift but even back in Beta for SWTOR I started to have some video issues. Lock ups, screen pixels etc. Started having problems booting up so for about two months I left my system running over night instead of shutting down and just restarted each day so I didn't have issues. I wasn't sure if it was video or my OS got corrupted or what. Two weeks ago the 280 card finally bit it. Replaced with a EVGA Ti 550 2G DDR5. Last night I started to have thermal shut downs. Precision tool was showing my GPU at 98 degrees C and over 100 degrees C. Thermal shut down for the card is 105 degrees C. Fan running at 100% could not keep it running. I have plenty of cooling in my case (two fans from front, one out rear, one out side, and a massive one at the top to vent heat). My CPU really doesn't heat up but my card was. Going to go and swap the 550 out for the 560 today after work and hopefully things wont be so bad. I run two monitors at 1920 resolution and max graphics. Will be keeping an eye on my GPU temps when I swap out the card but yea....seems this game does really crank up the heat.

Are you guys seriously debating this point? Real player trumps NPC and you try to justify by saying NPC can't roll so it is a real life player... OMG I can see why some people can get upset. This whole debate is a /facepalm event for sure. And I guess it also shows who are inconsiderate loot whores. As I said...pull this on me in my group and I will give you a nice fast exit from the instance. I run people through instances to help them gear up but pull this and your out. Justify it to yourself all you want I will have no problem right clicking your group window and selecting remove from group. Bye bye...good luck. Oh and I always explain looting when I am with pugs. Guildies I don't need to...they try to pull this type of trash they get kicked from guild. But with pugs I always say need if you need, greed otherwise including if you need for a companion. Plain and simple, right up front before even doing the first pull. You agree welcome aboard...you don't leave group.

Why is this even a debate. Common sense (yea sadly few seem to actually have it) would say if you can equip an item and its an upgrade for you then need. If its to vendor, disassemble, or give to a companion then greed. Sure you can claim that your companion is a part of you, but real life player trumps NPC every day. When you make a group/operation be sure to state the rules. Need for an upgrade for your class only. Greed for vendor, disassemble, companion. If someone breaks it then kick them from the group, blacklist them, and never run with them again. If in an operation full of Pug's...MASTER LOOT. You can run a group have an item drop and when you see everyone selecting greed then you can ask if you can need for your companion but if others are also interested for their companion greed like everyone else. Plan and simple...if you are in a group with me and need something that you can not equip or have the skill for and then say its for your companion your out of the group right then. Loot drops, people are greeding, you ASK if you can need for a companion unless others in group have issues with it I most likely will say go for it because you asked before taking. If others say they want for their companion then will say just roll greed and good luck. How hard to understand is that? Seriously we are all going to get burned at some point...once it happens kick the offender from the group, blacklist them and move on. People that constantly do it and get kicked/listed will soon find themselves unable to group for anything.

I am kind of with the OP on this one. I have full Columi gear (actually a mix now of Columi and Rakahta) for my PvE set. I have much more health, more bonus dmg, more crit and surge etc. I put on my champion set and loose bonus dmg, loose crit/surge, and loose health but have the expertise stat. People tell me that the expertise stat will make up the difference that I loose between the PvE gear and the PvP gear but I am not really sold. Ok so I do 10% more dmg, do 10% more healing, and take 10% less dmg. But I loose about 100 bonus dmg, 10% crit, and close to 2k health wearing PvP gear. So does it equal out? I am not sure. I have used full PvP gear and did ok. Used full PvE gear and actually did more dmg and honestly could not really tell if I died faster without expertise. What I have been doing lately though is a bit of mix and match. PvP implants, bracers, earpiece, and 2 or 3 pieces of champ gear and the rest my rakahta/columi stuff. Still loose health but not as much as going pure PvP gear vrs PvE gear. Still loose bonus dmg but just under half as much as when I was in full PvP. Actually gain more crit. So right now seems like a mix and match of PvP and PvE is giving me my best performance. My dmg is higher (still not as high as in pure PvE gear), my health level is acceptable (before I lost too much in PvP gear vrs PvE). Just not sure. Still collecting commendations and getting PvP gear to have but have gotten a few pieces now that I don't use because my stats drop too much from PvE to PvP.

I love when that happens. People get so much blood lust or take things personally and decide to focus target someone. I have ran 3/4 of a team all around their pit back towards my teams pit while the rest of my team ran and scored two hutt balls When they finally did catch up to me and dog piled the match ended right before they killed me LOL....had a zerg standing around me as the score card popped

Don't forget they can buff their own main stat (ie stim pack) and have an instant heal as well (med pack)...

Wow maybe what people say about you is true from this part of your response. 1.) The Sith Inquistor story is the same for Sorcs and Assassins. I never said I didn't like the story on my assassin. I didn't like the style of play. I understand that assassins can be rough till around 30 where they start to come into their own. I liked the SI story that is why I went back and tried a Sorc because I liked the SI story up to lvl 20ish. Played sorc to cap so I knew how easy it would be and quick to lvl up to cap at release. No class is hard to play the first 10 levels when you get your companion around lvl 6. Only one that was "tricky" was my trooper because you don't get your first companion till you finish the class quest. I knew Koriban so well when I finished my class quest on sorc I was almost lvl 11 and already a sorc 2.) Enjoyed much much more than a beta weekend. Actually enjoyed about 4 months of closed beta (went in around mid July). I leveled a BH, IA, Trooper, Smuggler, and Sorc during the beta run to mid 40's if not 50. Nice try though.

Aye and for gods sake do not throw the hutt ball to someone that is being gang attacked already! Have that happen so many times its fustrating. Will have 3 or more people beating on me when the ball carrier runs by has one person attack them so they turn and throw me the ball Like I am going to be able to do anything other than die and turn over the ball! Sorry. Oh and as the man said...DO NOT STAND AT THE EDGE OF THE PIT!! Either jump down into it to fight or stand back so you don't anchor for the other team to pull them selves to you or out of the pit.

This... I have a BH and a IA as well as my sorc. Love the BH and love my sniper. Played both mostly in closed beta. Had made an assassin and got up to the early 20's but just didn't care for it. Story was cool but didn't like the style. The assassin was the first character I made when I got into closed beta. After playing the BH and IA I was sold on playing a non-force character at launch. After the last beta came out I decided to try out a sorc. Not because of PvP but because I saw them soloing elites fairly easly. Sorcs level pretty easy...I mean you got a tank and you are either healing or dpsing. Even a dps spec sorc could heal/bubble Khem enough to take on a couple elites and know you were going to move on to the next set. I actually enjoyed the sorc for PvE so when game launched I made the sorc first. Easy to level, take slicing and only slicing to make money to support my BH and IA. Never even PvP with my sorc till I was 50. I enjoy the sorc because I can play it pretty aggressively and do halfway decent with it in many situations. Classes I fear the most are BH/Troopers. Either not worth my time to try and kill, or they take me down regardless of all my tools like I was lvl 20 in a lvl 50 zone. Ops'/snipers/gunslinger etc all depend on how the fight starts. They get the jump on me most likely I am going to try and CC them and move on. If I get the jump I will blow all cooldowns and try to take them out using every cooldown and trick I can. Sometimes I win, sometimes I loose. Knights/Mauraders I usually start fighting them to find out if they are any good or not. A bad Mara is easy to kill. A good one will send me back to respawn even if I do try and run. Jugs/Guardians are not worth my time to kill and are annoying. Assassin/shadows usually I will fight them and it can go either way although their escape is annoying Sorcs/Sages I engage on sight. I guess I am cocky and figure I am better than they are and want to prove it. Hasn't prevented me from running into a few that hurt me faster than I hurt them but even then it comes down to using the right skills at the right time you can turn almost any fight around if you attack and counter correctly. Healing versions though...pftt not enough time to mess with them unless they are being ganged up on. I can't interupt them enough or burst fast enough to take a healing spec sorc/sage out solo. Anyway long rant on why I replied. I agree with this guy. Sorcs have always been popular and are easy as pie to level up. Great as a money maker to support your other characters and pretty fun to play as well.

Me personally I tend to stick around for a few beatings before I start to consider leaving. If I join a game without guild premades or obvious premades (BM groups) I stick around win or loose. I am farming commendations to turn into mercenary ones +200 for a commendation bag...I mean champion/battlemaster bag. But when I run into the same premade match after match after match and even though I often out dmg their side and top my side in dmg and kills loosing constantly to the same coordinated premade gets old and I have a daily/weekly I want to finish. So if I get into a game that has certain known premades in it...I leave. I know where they are so I requeue and hope I get into a different roataion in the random matches so at least there is a chance to win and not just waste time. Sure I still farm war front commendations but when I get home from work I only have a few hours to play, I don't want to waste my entire game time fishing for WF victories. Today for example it took me close to 20 matches to get 3 wins. Got 2 champion bags from WF commendations before I got my daily bag, and it took me over 4 hours to finish it. Again for Hutt Ball disable group queuing. No more premades in Hutt Ball. Sure still a chance for groups to end up together but atleast it will be random and not common. Get rid of Hutt Ball premades and the leaving problem will reduce noticeably. I could care less at this point if there are premades for void star or the alderran one since I get into one of those about every 5th or 6th hutt ball. Ideally they would just have one bracket for premade groups and 1 for solo queue but right now as single server WF queues that would eliminate 2 out of 3 WF's unless you do group up. If they go cross server for WF brackets could work for all WF's then.

Not really...I throw affliction and death field off. then FL to proc wrath and throw either a CL or a CD off. Then back to FL, wrath proc and throw which ever CL/CD I didn't throw last proc. Then start FL again and proc a wrath while both CL and CD are still on cool down and if on the move that leaves a LS an option and a bonus if it refreshes my CL so I can throw both on the move along with affliction and Deathfield again before I have to stop moving to use FL again. Situational yes but can be handy. And it has gotten me a killing blow combination more than a few times chasing the ball carrier or chasing in defense of my ball carrier when stopping to channel will let the target run out of range.

mehhh not always. It has its uses when CL is on cool down and you got a wrath proc against a target low on health, and if specced you can potentially proc another CL off it which does happen a decent amount of the time to fish for it. Would never stright cast lightning strike but if I have a free wrath proc I find it worth throwing for a little extra dmg and potentially a reset and instant cast of my CL again. Figure 2k+ hit from a wrath proc lightning strike instant procing CL reset followed by a 3-4k+ CL strike can tickle an enemy fairly well in a few seconds:P

Too bad Chain Lightning has a cool down and can't be spammed. Only way is force lightning to proc wrath, wrath to cast CL instant, then Foce Lightning again to proc wrath. If CL still on cooldown cast lightning strike and if you go outside the typical hybrid build and actually have the ability to 30% proc cooldown reset and instant cast CL you can cast it again before your on cool down. CL has like a 15 sec cooldown natural and a 3 second cast time or so unless you get a proc that has a 30% rate. And the ability to reset the cooldown can not occur more than 1 time every 10 seconds and procs off lightning strike which is not often used unless everything else is on cooldown for a punch of dmg. So end of post...you can not spam cast CL like you are thinking.

Intresting...my BH is a split spec and does very well. My Sniper has points in all 3 trees and does very well. But that is just the way I play. I HATE HATE HATE pure specs. Takes all the skill out of the class when everyone has the same abilies because you have to go pure. A lot of people that I know and see in PvP of EVERY CLASS use a split spec of some type. In fact true pure builds are rare and generally PvE played only. You never see a pure spec in PvP...limits you way too much.

No I did read your novel and same quest stands. What makes your build more legitimate than mine? You clearly want changes made to the two dps trees so that some abilites can not be obtained with a balanced viable build, or completely gut a MAJOR ability to compensate for so many "toys". You percive the hybrid build....which one by the way there are several...as being disguestingly over powered. For every screen shot you can post of a sorc "dominating" a WZ I can post one of an Agent or Merc, even maruders dominating kills and dmg. Gear makes a big differance. I wear my "PvE" gear and I can rock 300k + dmg but also have double digets in deaths. I wear my "PvP" gear and I can still rock 200k in dmg but reduce my deaths dramatically. Same story different game...gear changes things. In PvE gear all that hybrid surviveablity I have means jack when I am chain CC'd to a full resolve bar and dead before I can break out or release from any number of other peoples CC effects on me. In PvP gear its still the same story only SOMETIMES I surive long enough to do a knock back and sprint my weak less than 300 health left avatar in a last ditch effort to get away and still be gunned down. Here's some insight for you. Those matches where I deal a ton of dmg and awarded medals are matches where people don't engage me or try to run from me. I mean gee I am standing here in a dangerous place (next to acid or fire) spamming force lighting that you can trace right back to me and yet you will chase after that other player low in health being spammed healed from someone else then cry when a sorc kills you. Happens all the time. Someone with bloodlust chasing a near death enemy determined to kill them while 2-5 others dmg them un-contested. Want to shut a mean nasty sorc down? Mark them in a match and tell people to focus target them. I have had that happened to me many times and no matter where I am as soon as I attack someone 3 or 4 enemies jump on top of me and kill me faster than I can hit an instant ability. Really shuts me down and I end up with less than 100k dmg and close to 20+ deaths and maybe 3 medals. Left unmolested most of the time...yea 300k+ dmg, less than 10 deaths, 8 to 10 medals, 100+ commendations, couple thousand valor. My same disguestingly OP hybrid build can be shut down or left alone to wreck havoc. All depends how other people choose to enable or deny me during a battle.

No your asking for the nerf of a spec that works. Why does a pure build have to be more than a hybrid? Just because someone spreads their points out and gets a collection of abilites that senergize well you want to nerf it. Hybrid is not the only spec for Sorcs/Sages. You have healing builds, you have your "pure" lightining build, you have about 3 or 4 different hybrid builds viable in a number of situations. There really isn't a "you must build this way or you're doing it wrong" build. Just about any build can be viable when well executed and practiced. Or are you the only one that is gifted enough to actually call what you do "skill"? Are you a pure build...every single point in one tree? Or are you a hybrid even if you have 31 points in one tree and the remainder in one or both other trees? No you are asking for a nerf to several (I know of at least 4 different "hybrid" builds that can work decently) options for one class probably because they touched you in your no no spot at some point. What is the problem with hybrid builds? Why must you use "pure" builds when you can spread points over 2 or 3 skill trees to mix and match abilites. You go to the 31 point skill if its any good (and many are not worth 31 points). What makes your spec legitimate any more than my spec?