I never had too much of an issue with Kaliyo holding threat. She has a single target taunt, and AOE taunt and two AOE damage abilities if you enable them all, in addition to her other single target abilities. As long as I played smart, DPS'd in between healing Kaliyo I was fine. On fights with 4 or 5 mobs I might end up tanking one, but the whole point is to get through the fight with minimal downtime and without dying. With that playstyle, and being able to choose which fights I wanted and which I didn't, for the most part, because of my ability to stealth through everything, I didn't have many problems.

Some people cry about how Kaliyo is a terrible tank, but nobody has shown any evidence that any companion tank is any different. I leveled as a healer up to 50 with Kaliyo tanking for me and she did fine as long as I kept her geared up. Each time I got a new companion I geared them up and tried them out, hoping that they would be a suitable replacement, because I didn't always like Kaliyo's personality, but every single time I quickly went back to Kaliyo. Some people say that SCORPIO is a better thank than Kaliyo, but the only real difference between them is that SCORPIO is a melee tank whereas Kaliyo is a ranged tank. As I gained levels I did go into more of a hybrid spec so that I could do more damage while retaining enough healing ability to heal Flashpoints and Warzones, but once I hit 50 I respecced fully into heals so that I could be the most effecient Operations healer I could be. However, after completing the normal flashpoints and then the hardmodes I became more and more dissatisfied with Operative healing in comparison to the other healers and have subsequently stopped playing my Operative altogether. I'm leveling up a Powertech tank and am having more fun than I ever did as an Operative.

Here's a pic of my girl in my favorite armor combination: Body type 1. http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg123/Grindbomb/Screenshot_2012-02-25_00_22_09_618985.jpg

I use ASDF, with A and F being strafe. The only turning I do is with my mouse. Additionally, all my keybinds can be reached without moving my hand, just small finger movements for the most part. I use a program called "Key Tweak" to turn my windows key into a Left Ctrl button so it's right next to the alt key and I also switch f4 with f10 so that I can use f4/alt-f4 as a keybind without fear of closing the game by accident. I also use a Naga Razer MMO mouse and use 36 Quickslot keybinds.

I didn't even know what the names of my heals were until I started discussing them on the forums and made myself memorize them. I've been hotkeying similar spells to the same locations on my keyboard for more than 10 years now, so I don't have to think about what I'm casting, I just cast it.

That's great, as long as I can stand next to you holding my rifle, or the tactical shotgun.

My biggest reason for wanting a blaster rifle is the way it's held. To me nothing looks more prepared to unleash violence than a soldier with his rifle at the ready, buttstock snug to his shoulder, eyes looking down the sights. It's how my agent looks when he's running around.

My first character was a Operative Medic, so I used Kaliyo exclusively. I was so pleased with the look I had achieved for her by the mid-thirties I was motivated to make myself a female Powertech with the same look. Body type 1. http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg123/Grindbomb/Screenshot_2012-02-25_00_22_09_618985.jpg

Why does it matter? I couldn't care less what weapon you use. I just want to be able to use the weapon I want to use. I've never understood why MMOs try to restrict what type of weapons a class/race combo can use, except as a forced incentive to roll one class over another. In real life I'm not a Trooper, or a Bounty Hunter, or an Imperial Agent. However, I have a nice collection of knives, swords, pistols and rifles, and can effectively employ any of them in a fight. In the Army I was instructed and qualified in the use of many weapons and explosives. As SWTOR is a fantasy type game, I would expect my character to be some type of super tough hero type... why should my Powertech be limited to a pistol? Someone said it would look stupid trying to tank with a rifle... but it doesn't look stupid trying to tank with a tiny pistol? Also, on my Agent, my companion Kaliyo uses a Blaster Rifle AND a shield generator. So why can't my Powertech? It makes no sense.

Bioware definitely has a lot of work to do on Operative healers, and their relative silence on the issue leads me to believe they aren't taking it very seriously. However, I have to question the skills of some of the people I see complaining about that class. For all its shortcomings I've never been excluded from a HM, OP or HM Op because I'm an Operative. Anytime I've received any feedback on my heals at all it's been complimentary in nature.

Even though I'd prefer to be able to micro-manage my companion, I haven't really had to do so with Kaliyo. With a "charge/leap" ability, AOE taunt, single target taunt and two AOE damage abilities she's never had a problem holding aggro off of me. I've kept her geared as I've progressed, now she's in Tionese/Columi gear and is still my favorite companion. I tried SCORPIO when I got her because everyone kept saying how much better of a tank she was than Kaliyo, but I didn't see it. Artistically, and as a companion, I prefer Kaliyo, so I promptly switched back to her.

Possible Spoilers.. oh no! To whoever said that SCORPIO is a better tank, I say you're wrong. The only functional difference between SCORPIO and Kaliyo is one is a ranged tank and the other is a melee tank. There's nothing about either of their abilities that make one superior to the other. That said, when I lost Kaliyo, not wanting to have to gear up another tank, I just used Ensign Temple for a day, got Kaliyo back and then went about my business... And yes, I am healie spec. I didn't have any problems leveling.

If you're talking about the warzones, your focus should be on winning the match. Whether it's moving the ball or protecting the ball carrier, or defending/taking a node... Kills and damage are only means to those ends. Their only other purpose is to satisfy the ego of a little stat-whore. That said... you will receive medals for achieving a killing blow, killing an enemy in a 1v1 fight, doing 75k/150k total damage and up, killing 10 enemies(not on your own, necessarily, but as a group) and so on...

I've been experimenting with Kolto Infusion a bit this week, it's not as bad as I once thought it might be, but I'm still not sold on it. Yes, it does cost 5 less energy than Kolto Injection and save you .5 seconds of cast time, however, it is precisely these aspects of it prevent any meaningful, "energy management" rotation. What you save in energy cost you lose with a reduced cast time.

Don't listen to this guy... don't listen to anyone who isn't max level talking about how great Operative, or about the keys to successful healing. Operative has significant difficulty healing endgame. There will be times when you will feel really good about your heals, and then there will be times where you wonder if the other healer in the Op is just picking up your slack. It's when the fights become toughest that you will really see the cracks in Op healing. Yeah, if you're good enough and you've got a good enough group you should be able to pull through, but not before seeing how stretched then you are when compared to your co-healer. This is especially obvious in parts where the whole raid is taking damage, like the descent on Soa. You'll be frantically trying to keep everyone as healed as possible while keeping your energy, "managed." On a positive note, it is one of the things I like about Op healing. Even though it's due to our comparative weakness as a class, I do tend to enjoy the frantic pace when I'm trying desperately to keep the group up. It's definitely more challenging, and perhaps even more rewarding, despite the fact that I'm the only one in the raid who realizes it.