All your evidence shows is that a tank/sage combo is brutal, but unfortunately with the dwindling server populations, finding a competent tank is a difficult *prospect. Why, however, should our class require another class in order to be competitive or entertaining? You rage say L2P, that but that's not the problem for me. I understand how to kite and I understand how to play my class, but in the current state, without a tank around at all times, the play style--the reason I enjoyed or played my class--has subsided to the point where I've found other classes have a better feel i.e. their play style feels more fluid. *I'm now playing a Shield Tech and Medic in PvP. Medics feel sneaky. Shield Techs feel tanky. Sages feel clunky. The infuriating part of James' statement is he only addresses the numbers, and while he is accurate that Sages can and do put up decent numbers, he ignores what other MMO developers have known for quite a while: that the perceived loss of control over one's character diminishes the enjoyment of the player. This comes in two forms: first, in order to play more of a turret healer, you need to have a tank around to assist you with survivability; or second, even if you counter everything perfectly sans a tank and while mobile, you have no truly effective last resort option for the unexpected e.g. force cloak or combat shield.

You can also focus on other things people want: alt gear. I have made an easy millions investing just a few hours reverse engineering lower level crafted gear. Those level 9 purple boots you're scoffing at might not bring in 200k per pair, but they sell rather quickly for 10k. Unlike the higher level gear, the margins for the lower level gear are upwards of 95% (depending on whether or not people are gouging the prices on level 1-5 crafting mats), and depending on your market, the lower level gear might not have the same undercutting competition as the level 50 gear.

If you as a player wants to ensure a high number of people will be in queue for PvP, then do not roll your toon on a PvE server. The admin is right, he should reroll. Cross server PvP is an absolutely horrible idea that will kill what little sense of community this game has considering this game currently lacks realm forums. People in PvP ops now are actually tolerable and even trainable to be better players. With cross faction PvP, you get people who can't be held accountable for their play and, with anonymity, become complete @uckwads. At least with same server PvP, horrible players can be crafted over time into better players through the constant shaming and guidance of the vets. This kind of reputation can only be built upon a community of players who play each other on a daily basis. If BioWare was so concerned with cross-realm play, why not just make all servers share the instances of a planet. I could just shuttle to Republic Fleet (345) to meet up with my friends to run a flashpoint. Why? Because I play MMO's for the community and not the carrot on a stick grind that rakes in the cash for you, EA. I, and many others, don't want our community ruined because YOU don't know how to roll a PvP toon on a PvP server.

Omg....

In terms of PvP on The Maw, I never have a queue for a match. The teams are a little more slated towards Sith, but with their queue times, they tend to group up a little more than Republic. The population of the server is great for Republic. There really aren't any queues to connect to the server and the economy is sufficient enough. I haven't really seen too many guilds yet, but that more because not a lot of the players of level 50 yet. I think the server will work well into the future. There's even a community site for the server that I am trying to get up and running HERE.

If you want to try and build up a good pvp team, use the The Forums: The Maw

Any players on The Maw should check out the new forums for the server. This should be a starting point for any guild recruitment, server events, and cross faction chatter. The Maw - Unofficial Forums

The Maw - US PvP West Coast themaw.maomoa.net

The Maw - US West Coast - PvP http://themaw.maomoa.net/forum/index.php

You can game on the mac. I bootcamp Windows 7 to run ToR, but to be honest, unless you really need the MAC (photoshop runs just as well on PC, but xcode doesn't) then get a gaming PC.

Buy the pvp gear from 1-49. I couldn't spend it fast enough with the amount that I PvP'd.

I really enjoyed WoW before all the transfers. We had a community of PvP'ers, of raiders, and of friends. Before BC, we organized same and cross faction BG's with prizes for the winners, realm PvP events, and help find out who's who. I really felt like there could be the same type of community here considering that PvP was not cross realm and people wouldn't just come and go with no consequences.

First, love the analogy, but from a business model, you need to keep the casual's at least placated. I would like to see the RNG affected by a rating/seniority system where you would have to maintain a certain level of participation to change the odds of the RNG. In your analogy, some people will get a car their first day of work, but most won't. The amount and quality of time you invest at the construction site increases your overall compensation. Currently, you increase your chance of getting gear by investing lots of time. Earn enough commendations for 3/6/9 bags in a day, you decrease the number of days you need to RNG a full set or purchase the gear with commendations. In the construction scenario, my bad luck now requires me to work 17.5 hours a day to compensate for my duffel bags always containing just money. Say you have a base chance of %5 (arbitrary) and each win, MVP percentage, non-Warzone kills (world PvP), etc increase your chances to receive the best gear or extra commendations by .01% (arbitrary, again). You would still have the random chance coupled with the skill/effort and time investment. The %1 could be assured the best tier gear and the number of people with the top gear could be limited increasing the value of the gear. In your construction scenario, the people doing the most work would get better compensation and would get paid twice a day instead of once a day. After a week, someone who only works part time might get a new car, but you and your buddies who both invest extra time and effort now have all the latest cars, a mistress, healthcare, and yard tools based upon some method of evaluation. On the next project (tier of gear), you and your buddies who put forth the effort get rewarded first. All the slackers and casual part-timers get all the old gear and mistresses but still retain a small chance to get the best. The more you play (or the quality of your play), the more and better chances you have to receive the top gear. Those who don't have the time to invest for the best gear still have a chance. I find this to be more a balance between pure RNG (lottery for the plebs/casuals), the ultimate grind-fest (imagine HWL/GM from WoW), and the silver-platter method.

Why not get rid of stuns or knock-back on players with the ball, too? If the player's speed is nerfed for carrying the ball due to weight or some other restriction, then shouldn't an ability that knocks a player back work the same way? In regard to someone using such a skill, there are plenty of counters and counter-counters. Just the other day, I went sprinting to glory and got stunned over a flame jet, so I Force of Will'ed only to be Force Lifted/Choked immediately by the same person. Brilliant! (and frustrating). I wouldn't like it if all the pvp were some homogeneous mess where perks of my class are excluded in certain matches. The same logic applies to the Civil War: How are we supposed to take a turret if people can just heal each other while we are trying to kill them? I don't get to heal!