I have the Veteran Elder Blade's robe, the orange one not the purple prototype, and have been using it since about level 44 and just upgrading the mods. Now that I'm level 50 is it viable to still use that robe and throw the higher end mods from BM, WH, PvE sets, etc in it or would I be taking too much of a hit on the armor rating and such?

Agree with the above. I've played both Combat and Watchman since the patch and, while focus seems to be pulling the high damage number, all three still have their benefits. With Combat I found myself relying even more on good teamwork and help from healers. The stuns and interrupts make it pretty tough now but if you can get through that and make your hits you can still do a lot. I do prefer watchman a lot more though. I wouldn't call myself that good but I'm still not finding rage marauders much of a problem. Yes a good one who knows what they're doing can tear me apart but I chalk that up more to skill than the specs. Reading through this can give you some decent information: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=472646 There are other threads explaining the 3 specs that give good info as well. Bottom line, you'll play the best in the spec you feel most comfortable with so try out all three and see what you like.

Well, now after the update I'm getting even lower numbers with combat. I know I'm not THAT great in pvp but with this new system I get 1, maybe 2, attacks in then I'm stunned until I die. Guess it's time to try focus.

I like the look of the Elder Blade's robe but what are the other pieces you have there?

Thanks for the info guys. I've been playing combat for the past few days and have noticed a few of these points. I still can't seem to hit the numbers I used to as a watchman though. I think in the past week my best match was around 1.4k damage. Although I am still trying to get used to the rotation and trying to remember what keys I bound to what skill. I've found that if I catch someone who doesn't use an interrupt I can wail on them pretty good but if they break my rotation I'm screwed. It seemed like watchman was a lot easier to adjust to this and stand alone without solid teammates. Although now that 1.4 is out I'm wondering if I should give focus a try as well.

Yup... was in near the end of the beta.

Hey Kaliren, didn't know you were on this server. Good to see a familiar face.

One of my guildies and I got moved over from Dark Reaper but the rest of our guys have long ago left the game.

I took a break from the game for a few months and even before that was playing my alts for a while. Now I'm trying to get back into my sentinel (lvl 43) and wondering what is the preferred spec for PvP these days. Back when I was playing more PvP in the spring/summer watchmen seemed to be the way to go and that's what I had, but now I see a lot of posts about Combat. Have things evened out more in the latest patches and it's more down to play style and personal preference or what's the state of it all? Or is focus now the PvP spec?