I'm sure that more work could go into theory crafting openers. And I will update as I feel needed. But there are always going to be matters of opinion. For example, I don't recommend doing Vanish+Hidden Strike/Acid Blade again as part of a PvE leveling rotation or opener. I think it is better to just keep Vanish on standby. Remember, when you're leveling you are not facing difficult opponents. At worse, you are facing a gold and a silver. Maximizing your damage is not your only goal - you also want to keep downtime low and minimize the chance of dying, which often occurs because something unexpected happens, not because you weren't doing enough burst damage.

This is one of those posts where it's appropriate to reply with "learn2play."

What the heck are you going to do with a $100 Alienware gift card?

First, if you're leveling, go Concealment or Medicine. Concealment kills things extremely quickly, while Medicine can help you keep you and you companion alive for a very long time. Personally I used Concealment for leveling. If you are at a low level the class can be confusing to play because you don't have all of your important melee skills yet. Be sure to use your standard rifle shot, Overload Shot, Fragmentation Grenade, Carbine Burst and other such ranged skills in addition to your melee rotation. Also remember to keep up Stim Boost to make sure you don't run out of energy. Also make sure you have Kaliyo on tank stance and she has decent gear so she can take aggro and also deal out damage. Around level 32-34 you get a healing companion called Dr. Lokin, he is excellent at keeping you alive, though not so great for killing speed. You can find some more information in my Concealment leveling guide. Re-rolling to a sniper might not be the best idea if you have trouble with Operative...maybe the rotation will be easier, but you aren't any less squishy, AFAIK.

I don't agree that the +Defense stuff is a relic. Some people prefer a more defensive approach, and as short-range DPS/HPS, we do have to worry about our squish. Most people probably will just go for crit and surge, but I think it'd be a little boring if the game was designed so there was only one way of doing things. +Shield is useless, however...I think I did see that on some Cunning gear.

Well, I think that depends on player skill, too. Obviously some people are going to be awesome and have no trouble at all even with so-so gear, but the average person might not. My belief is that it's better to keep yourself pretty well geared. Everything will be easier, and the you still won't go broke unless you get obsessive and replace your stuff every two levels. You don't even have to go out of your way to grab oranges and blues, they're readily available via commendations or you can snipe cheap ones on the auction house from time to time. I was geared entirely in oranges (except my Vibroknife, hah!) by the early 30s and I wasn't trying. I was just grabbing cheap oranges or grabbing commendation rewards. The only one I went out of the way to get was a chestpiece - I don't like the way a lot of them look, so I bought four or five different ones (cheap, as they had no mods) and played Barbie Dress Up: Agent Edition for awhile.

I like Lokin but he can be a pain. You basically have to play Lethality with him and AFAIK that's not a great tree right now. Concealment works fine with him but I personally find it frustrating because you will always have aggro, and that means you can't backstab! I suppose you could be medicine yourself and just be the invincible double-team that never kills anything.

Hi folks, I just finished up my leveling guide for Concealment operatives. There's a lot of sadness going on here with the nerfs, which is a shame, because the Operative is still a lot of fun to play and fairly easy to level. If you know what you're doing, of course. My guide covers everything I could think of - it includes a leveling build, stat information, gearing tips (as in, how to gear yourself without going broke), tidbits about each companion and some basic rotations that should help the lost be found. Enjoy, http://swtorclassguides.net/swtorclassguides/2012/02/21/the-definitive-concealment-operative-leveling-guide/

Good job. But please, could you make some future single-player RPGs like Dragon Age instead of Dragon Age 2?

1: SWTOR 2: Rift 3: Shattered Galaxy (for a time, anyway) It was a train wreck last time I checked it out.

Personally I have had the best luck with Kaliyo. I've found that any given gold elite (which let's face it - they're the only real challenge anyway) is easier with here than with any other companion. I have done dual DPS and its insane against regulars and silvers. Fights are literally over in five seconds sometimes. But against golds it is a race to see who kills who first, and if you spec pure DPS you don't always win. I haven't tried healing with ol' Lokin. I don't know if there'd be much synergy there but I'll let others who've tried ti say more.

I absolutely love my Agent. He's a role model for the Empire, quick and deadly but also merciful. I've done very little but rip faces in PvE, and now that I have all my Acid Blade/HS and other abilities, I rip a lot of faces in PvP as well. They're a fragile class, but a lot of fun to play if you don't mind being subtle. And I adore the story - it drags a bit in the late 20s (though design wise, I really enjoyed Tatooine) but kicks back in high gear after that.

Check out my guide: http://swtorclassguides.net/swtorclassguides/2011/12/30/the-complete-newbies-guide-to-the-operative/ Look at the Concealment leveling build. It's simple. Just put your points all into Concealment going for Laceration at level 20 and Acid Blade at level 40. Roll with Kaliyo. Rip faces. It's pretty easy - not bad for when you want to break things up with some PvP, either. Some people like to level as a Medic - also seems viable, but I can't speak to it.

Gamer has family members. More at 11.

This game has less bugs than some single player games I've played on the PC.