It means use the ability whenever you can.

The boost is exactly what it says. A boost. It isn't suddenly changing the class quests to match your level. If a class quest on voss requires level 36, then it'll still require level 36 with the boost; all that changes is you get more exp. The boost is designed for brand new characters to be able to go from 1-55 just from class story alone. The best thing to do would probably do sidequests/PVP/whatever to get up to the recommended level of your class story and then see what happens from there. Otherwise you're stuck playing as you always have: doing all the sidequests in between class story to keep up to speed.

Hello everyone, as it says in the title the call of 12x XP was too good to resist, so I subbed up because I figured now would be a good time to experience the storylines of the classes and get some max level characters. Except I'm completely stumped on what I want my main character to actually be. Previous characters I've played and enjoyed are the Jedi Shadow, which was actually my highest level character at 41 (back when the level cap was 50), a scoundrel that I got into the mid 30s, and an imperial agent that got to the mid 20s. The main thing that ties all these characters together is they all have stealth, but I don't know if that's such a huge draw to me any more. Every time I've seen people suggest stealth classes it's because "You can stealth past mobs and get to the objectives quicker!" which I absolutely disagree with: I see stealth as a tool you use to better position yourself and to start the fight on your terms, PvE or PvP. There are multiple factors that will influence my decision. One is that because SWTOR is so story driven, I want my character to actually feel like they accomplished something rather than just sticking to their own personal bubble that makes absolutely no difference whatsoever in the grand scheme of things. Two is I want my character to be flexible enough that I can do solo PvE content, group PvE content (flashpoints, ops, whatever else) and PvP with ease; I don't want a character that is -only- good in one part of the game or another. I also don't want a character who can technically do both, but suffers in one area of the game just because they excel in the other. Third, I want to feel like I'm contributing something. I feel as if DPS is taking the easy way in that what they do doesn't directly decide the fate of the entire group. That's not to say I don't like DPS...In fact, I find if I can't kill things very fast I get bored quickly. I'm not one of those "slow and steady wins the race" types, but that also leads me into the biggest hurdle I have... In all my previous MMOs, the characters I enjoyed playing the most were healer/supporters. I played a monk in the original Guild Wars and a defender / controller in City of Heroes. They were my favorite characters to play because it felt as if I was helping and making a difference. Unfortunately, as time moved on I've found myself enjoying the healer role less and less because (in my eyes) the average skill level of players has started to sink so low that it's almost physically impossible to properly play a healer without being complained at by some guy who didn't know they can't stand in the fire. My enjoyment as a healer was directly proportional to the skill levels of the other players in groups I was in, and as that skill level became lower and lower, my enjoyment dropped. I have never really given the tank characters a try, but I imagine I would find it similar to what I experienced as a healer. So, in the end, that apparently leaves me with DPS, but then I feel a gap when I play in groups: I'll look at a persons health bar and wish there was something I could do, or I'll see an enemy run over and beat on the healer and rush over to try and save them. I find that my support oriented mindset leads me to not being "the best DPS evarz!" and therefore am a bad player who shouldn't be playing MMOs because numbers are all that matters. This is what I've been struggling with for awhile, and I'm not sure if I can ever find the answer without consulting the community of the game; to get their thoughts and opinions from the view of a max level TL;DR: I like support roles, but don't trust other people enough to do the role that I'm not playing (DPS, Healer, Tank) at the time. When I play healer, I'm easily discouraged by tanks and DPS who die regardless of what I do. When I try and tank, I'm easily discouraged because all the healers I play with would rather watch TV and get carried through a dungeon than actually play the game. When I'm DPS, I see the healer or tank lacking in their role and wish I could fill a gap.

The reason you don't see healers in PVP is because as a healer you CANNOT change the tide of the battle yourself. You RELY on everyone else to kill people, you rely on everyone else to keep you alive, you rely on everyone else to defend the points. If the rest of your team is terrible and uncoordinated (which is the case in 99% of all warzones ever) your experience as a PVP healer plummets to the point where you don't want to bother.

I'll tell you why: The PVPers complained that the consular animations for project took "too long" compared to the inquisitor's lightning. There WAS a noticeable difference, but the amount of times it would have actually MATTERED in PVP is so insanely small there wasn't a point in changing it. So the devs caved in to the crying PVPers and changed Project to what it is now. Then the Sith Inquisitors, jealous that the consular gets new shinies, starts complaining that now THEIR versions are "too long" compared to the consular. So the devs gave into the crying PVPers again and BAM. Now we have instant Force Wave/Overload, even though both animations look ridiculous and retarded. Gotta satisfy those PVPers that'll complain about a fraction of a second, because clearly PVP is what is keeping TOR alive.

kind of an annoying way to play if you make all your choices based ONLY on what your companions like, isn't it? -1 isn't going to kill you, especially when you get +15 in the very next dialog wheel choice. Take Kaliyo for example. My agent and her disagree on pretty much everything, getting -1s and occasionally -30s, -40s, but I still steadily gain influence with her? Why is that? because getting -1 then +15 is ends up being +14. And -30 +15(x3) = +15

Because I can easily take down sorcerers/sages, and don't have any reason to be upset? Because when I get to 50 and start doing hard modes and stuff, I know my guild isn't full of number crunchers who only look at numbers and forget that there is a person on the other end of that character?

What arguments? You mean "I can't one shot people with hidden strike + all my crit adrenals ever SO THE CLASS SUCKS!" Or how about the favorite, "You mean I actually have to do SOMETHING other than spam two buttons? Better reroll to BH/Trooper where I can spam one button to win!"

If you're doing your job right as an operative I don't see any reason why you'd need to blow all your cooldowns to be effective. Back in my days as a scoundrel I'd be topping the warzone charts in damage, kills, and at times even defense while managing only 1-2 deaths. Unless of course this 20% nerf to one single ability that only gets used at the start of the fight is so major that it requires us to pop EVERYTHING we own, but I don't think that's the case. I do agree people who think "YOU MUST DO 350k DAMAGE IN A WARZONE TO BE A GOOD PERSON IN LIFE" are silly, though.

You could do something like: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#4010cZGhMRdkbffzZhr.1 I suppose. I just wanted to show what the basic concealment tree was like. I'm sure people can theorycraft and argue about where those other 10 points should go to give the most benefit, but that's not my area of expertise. My area of expertise is stabbing people in warzones.

Concealment: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401ZGhMRdkbffz.1 Same as it was before the nerf. Ignore the people thinking a 20% damage reduction and a knockdown that now doesn't completely fill the enemy resolve bar mean useless class.

Notice we have the most people out of any forums doing everything they possibly can to say, "NO OPERATIVES ARE BAD DON'T LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY PLAY THE OPERATIVES!"? With this much nerdrage from the rest of the population that alone should tell you we're just fine. And it's not like the majority of people have any compelling arguments or reasons why operatives are bad, either. The only thing you get out of them are "Operatives are bad." So, until proven otherwise, everyone who goes into every thread on the agent boards ever only to say, "Operatives are bad" are forever in my eyes some sith sorcerer/bounty hunter that got destroyed by an operative, and instead of crying nerf try to trick people into not playing them. edit: Or they're just bad operatives who think the only abilities we should be using are backstab and hidden strike, while ignoring Shiv, Laceration, Overload Shot, etc.

Considering how much damage operatives do, if the enemy isn't dead after your 10th laceration, you've done something wrong. Also, I love how people forget about our energy regeneration abilities because they only care about MOAR DAMAGE. No wonder so many operatives these days think we're terrible.

Read this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=325611 Vibroknives are not our main weapon. And before you come and try to jump down my throat to stroke yourselves with "L2P NOOB", consider that by main weapon, people mean "What effects your damage"

Problem with that is Imperial agent to republic trooper would cause all sorts of whacky stuff, considering their mirror class is the smuggler and all

Smuggler: "I'll do it blindfolded, just for fun." But yeah, you can't really record unique dialog for the hundred upon hundreds of sidequests in the game for each and every class male/female combination. Thankfully the story missions are all unique in their choices.

I would enjoy having something like if you're Light V then all your powers (or your lightsaber) have a blueish/whiteish glow around them, while if you're Dark V the glow is red/blackish. Would be nice to give people who decide to go all lightside or all darkside options SOMETHING, but gameplay advantages should not be the something given.

A game about choice will turn into a game not about choice if we're given damage counters. It's a shame, isn't it? One little harmless addon, the creators of which probably only made to help the community as a whole, completely turned an entire portion of a game that was suppose to be about cooperation and working together with 10-20 other people into a competition to see who has the biggest numbers. And please don't try and tell me it helps people get better, it does not. There is no, "You could be doing X damage instead of Y, so let me help you out." There is only, "You're doing Y damage instead of X? *** U NOOB U SUX *kicked blacklisted from all guilds ever on the server put on the ignore list of everyone ever in the game*"

Because if we're given unique abilities at Light/Dark V, they either needed to be fun little social abilities that don't give you any advantage at all, or suddenly the entire game based around your choices and people who are relatively neutral alignment are given the boot and the middle finger because if you don't have the Light/Dark V abilities you're worse than a human and should go die. Give the min/max community ANY opportunity they can to screw over anyone but themselves and they WILL take it. And then some.

Of course. Why would you pass up a 30% AP, a large DoT, and the ability to not have to use any other DoT for the purpose of refunding TA?

No, they don't. You're never going to see an assassin destroy someone within two/three seconds of a fight, because they do NOT have the burst damage Operatives have. While operatives start and end a fight within the first few seconds, assassins take longer, but they'll still be able to take down a target. Not to mention as an assassin you need to choose between having more burst/damage while being a glass cannon (because you wear light armor compared to operatives medium armor) or being more tanky but with less damage. They cannot both be more durable and have more burst than an operative at the same time, especially with the changes that don't allow assassins to run around as a hybrid everything build while in their tank stance without any downsides.

The point of his build is to be an effective healer or DPS when needed. Removing collateral strike basically screws over any chance of being both a healer and a DPS and moves him into a, "Why not just go full medicine spec" zone.

You realize I can say the exact same thing about your favorite class story? Any class story, really? Saying, "oh yeah I go on tvtropes and lol I can tell if something isn't original" isn't an achievement.

And yet there are still only 3 or 4 out of the "hundreds" of specs ever used in RIFT. Why? Because you can't balance them all.

That's complete BS. If DoTs don't prevent interacting with the objectives now, then AoEs like Force Storm, Force Quake, Death from Above, etc need to not prevent interactions with the objectives, either.