When I levelled as dps I used tank; when i levelled as heals I used dps - asha slices and dices beautifully. When I do dailies now (as DPS i use heals comp for 2man soloing and dps for single) Basically: don't neglect their gear and think through your tactics. gl.

It’s no secret that SWTOR isn’t as healthy as it should be, with 400k subscribers lost from the peak of 1.7m. EA reckons that it’s new players' unwillingness to go past the first billing cycle. This doesn’t make sense as the punters have already spent money purchasing the game. If anything a past sunk cost is an incentive to keep playing. The obvious answer is that players don’t like the game and/or aren’t motivated enough to keep playing once they reach 50. I, myself, love it; but I was always a shoe-in. A massive KOTOR fan I was an avid WoW player in vanilla and BC. Even objectively I can’t see anyone not liking the game itself, given the proven appeal of MMO’s and BW. It seems to me that the flaw is with not having enough to do once you hit 50. Again this is puzzling given the plethora of new content released since the launch. It seems to me that the sticking point is that it’s TOO accessible. As a casual on-and-off raider in WoW I liked the fact that I had gear and saw places that the complete casual didn’t. And equally I liked the fact that the hard-core raider saw places and had gear that I didn’t. It is this concept of working towards something of that kept me coming back. I submit that in in SWTOR it’s too easy for casual players to see everything and get everything. The model that had me captivated in WoW was: must get T1 to get T2 to even hope of seeing the T3 environments. Now you can bet BH tokens by, err, completing hard mode foundry and see Denova with a shoddy pug in SM mode. The experience of SWTOR levelling is easily worth the $60 but to keep players paying every month you need to challenge and reward the hardcore raiders. Casuals and Semi-casulas like myself don’t just need new content. They need aspirations.

Yes you must be doing something wrong but that’s OK. Levels 1-49 are there to teach us the game: better struggle now than in endgame. You should be tearing through it like a cannonball through tissue paper, and you shouldn’t really ever die unless you have a ‘senior moment’. Here are a few tips to get you started: Consider going heals spec and getting Asha (although corruption should be absolutely no problems). Make sure Khem's aoe is turned off and that he is in 'tanking stance'. For a tough single fight don't neglect to turn the aoe back on. You shouldn't need to rely on whirlwind, save it for a rainy day (especially if it’s instant). Don’t use it as standard. Don’t open with electrocute, again it’s something to be saved for a rainy day. I’d consider opening with Crushing Darkness because the first set of cast time is essentially free. If you’re playing lightning spec consider opening with chain lightning. Time sending khem in (ctrl+1) so that he arrives with your first spell so as to maximise distance. Keep your dot’s up. Force slow and force speed are great for kiting (making melee opponents spend time chasing you) use them. When used in combination they’ll get you out of most tight spots. Save electrocute for an emergency heal/interrupt. Leave a medpac on your taskbar. Make sure you scope out any healers / glass cannons in a group of mobs and target them first. Make judicious use of your interrupt ability. Place it right next to your main filler in the rotation (FL for me) for quick access. Don’t aoe unless you can get everybody down fast and effectively – use the principle of force concentration – if you get 5 guys to 20% there’s 5 guys pounding you. If you take ‘em 1 by one that’ll be one guy left… If it’s going in the crapper and you have to use the cooldown force channel thingy, pop it early.

Ye, I much preferred the look of what I was wearing at level 10 than the T2 im in now...

My 2 cents: I'm dps and I like the enrage mechanic. Means I can't slack off and is highly suggestive that the other dps is also doing his job.

As Rommel once remarked to a lady of negotiable virtue, tanks are overrated. Seriously tho you clear KUS with no healer? Respect.

Ye, you may well be right about the loot mate but I wouldn't spend time on normal modes if I was you. Especially if it’s a guild run. Most hard modes are hard in name only (IMO). If you and your mates run HM BT; BP (even if you fail on the last boss); and Foundry I recon you’ll be more than ready to tear Malgus a new one that same night.

Thanks for the replies. @Anstalt Ahh so that’s where the crystals are the limiting factor; at least now I get the idea. I can even sort of see the logic of trying to encourage a raider to run 4 mans. More likely to pug and foster the community I suppose. That doesn’t get around the fact that you wouldn’t want anything from the tionese vendor anyway. It would be cool if you could repair or buy consumables with your commendations. @Beron Gear and endgame content is just a bunch of pixels – it’s only meaningful if you and your friends had to work hard to get it. And by ‘hard’ I don’t mean grinding dailies for 300 hours, rather, overcoming obstacles both in game and logistically. And wiping. A lot. I’ll soon be a casual raider (2-3 times a week) and as such I want stuff that the complete casual won’t have access to. I also want there to be content/gear which is not available to me, only to a hardcore raider. Gives me something to aim for and makes the things I have achieved meaningful.

/sign not set foot in an op yet, running around in full epic gear. for shame.

So Tionese crystals are useless. More so even than Tionese gear. Why not make a raid-quality Medpac/Stims/Adrenals vendor for the crystals or at least let them be an ingredient for crafting (including biochem)? Use them to pay for repairs? (feel free to ignore rants) Rant 1: For reasons I won’t go into I haven’t been on a raid yet. It’s ridiculous that I’m running around in mainly Culomi gear. I could even get rakata level implants/ear from dailies if I were so inclined. Which is what you get if you routinely clear normal mode ops and occasionally progress through hardmode ops… It’s a lot harder to get organised with someone running the website, dkp, vent and the other 1001 things it takes to run a successful guild, regularly fielding even 8 of the right classes of competent players for ops, than type “/1 lfg hms”. The raiders should be rewarded. Rant 2: Please correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the 16 man instances the same ones as the 8 man ones (I’m actually a bit confused about 8/16 normal/hard/nightmare modes) but with, err, more mobs? So an uber hardcore raider won’t see any content or encounters than the casual raider. For me the fun is in the progression and it is its own reward. However, I believe it should be rewarded over and above that. Wouldn’t it be better to have had: no culomi gear or tokens from 4mans (maybe a T2 drop at the end of BOI, KUS and D7); full culomi in hardmode 8mans / normal 16 mans; some rakata stuff in nightmare 8mans and 16man HM; full rakata only in HM 16man. I also suggest no Normal Mode option in future 4/8/16 man instances and a 16 man only OPS. Rant 3: Is there no better way to combat hyperinflation than ludicrous repair bills and the need buy consumables? No wonder people buy gold: it’s ludicrous to pay for a game and then pay not to have to “play” parts of the game. Grinding daily quests is not fun (for me at least) and takes time I could use in RL. Which brings me back neatly to using crystals for repairs/consumables.

Thanks, I'ill change to a more agressive playstyle.

I’m using the excellent hybrid lightning spec described by Garricus with 2/2 in improved static barrier. When I pve, should I keep the static barrier up as standard? Or should I use it when it’s needed? Obviously it depends on the encounter to a certain extent but what to raid leaders expect a sorc to do as standard? My own feeling is that it should stay up as much as poss: the first duty of a raider is to stay alive, or so it seems to me… thanks

Lag spikes and companion bug (mostly) fixed. kudos dev team