This change was clearly made to make Combat more attractive, since most Sents are specced into Watchman.

I finally threw in the towel 2 weeks ago, my guild is gone, my fairly balanced RPPVP server is slowly dying, I was screwed over in 1.2 with re-modding the armor on my Sage... 1. My Guild is Gone; I belong toa very old MMORPG PVP guild, they left because PVP was grindy, boring and badly designed, and there was no reason or effective way to have open world PVP 2. Design Flaws: PVP (see above) Balance (should have delayed release to ensure better class balance) Bugs & Exploits (Illum nuff said) 3) No Community 4) Not enough sandbox, I felt like I was on a hamster wheel from day 1 5) Biowares failure to execute on time or within reason, communication with the playerbase is guarded and not open.

Thanks for considering my proposal David! RE: What were you playing in 1994? (and after) MUD's Then Meridian 59 UO (I was the GM of Baja Server for a bit) Everquest DAOC SWG (3rd Jedi unlock on Ahazi) WOW WAR RIFT This (I left out maple story because it makes me look weaksauce) I make Ville's now

background: I have played this game since release, while I am not entirely happy with many of the decisions to date, I do not have an axe to grind, and this isn't my first MMO rodeo. I have been playing MMO's since 1994 and have always been a dedicated crafter. I also get that sometimes changes are made that retrospectively impact players who assumed development planning was static and linear. That being said I am one of the BM's that got screwed because I pulled my PVP armor mods out and put them into a gear set I liked (Pilot Suit) at a cost of in excess of 1m+ credits (min/maxing between different sets) only to find that post 1.2 I need to spend in excess of 800k to reinsert my mods for little or no marginal benefit. As a consequence I have logged into my Sage exactly 3 times since 1.2 only to log out depressed thinking about the credit sink. Not a big deal I have an alt I leveled and am happily enjoying in PVP and crafting with, we have 8 slots after all. Thats we can level another toon, that there is a time and credit sink involved in reaching a certain power level differential, and that sometimes we need to deal with adjustments during the development cycle as players is NOT the barrier to entry or the issue. The issues from a dedicated crafter players perspective are thus: 1) We were given mis-information that all orange gear would be craft-able- And we stuck by you. 2) We were not able to RE crafted items for 1+ month until you could patch and fix this code - And we stuck by you 3) We've been told repeatedly that crafting end game would be viable - And we have stuck by you 4) Lets be frank: Server populations are down, this impacts the player based economy, you recall the need for demand in a supply and demand economy I'm sure from econ 101. We were promised new schematics we got PVP gear schematics (that took care of #1 above I guess....) - Given low pops, no demand, and no new schematics, we still stuck by you 5) We were told that set bonuses would transfer, and they do "only for post 1.2 gear" which resulted in quite a few people with modded gear being screwed - And we stuck by you I frankly don't care what your metrics are telling you. I'm sure there are players with 2m+ credits, there always are in every game. My point is that given the above issues another credit sink of 50k when it already costs 105k to re-mod a crit augmented piece of gear (555k total) plus the costs associated with 5-6 augments (I can craft my own fortunately) for another 500k (@ approx 100k per augment) puts the barrier to entry at the BM tier around 1m+ credits plus the time sink. Correct me if I am wrong but you would like to add another 250k cost on to this via augment slot tables? So you'd like level 50 players to fork over 1.3m credits for top tier BM gear (plus whatever costs associated with upgrading to WH gear), assuming they can make their own, which most can't. I'm not a casual, but by now most of my server is, and my guild is long gone (preferring to wait for GW2 rather than log in to SWTOR) so how is this fair to them? How is a high cost barrier to entry fair to crafters in that it does nothing but stifle demand? Why should we stick by you again? (because honestly it's starting to feel like a one way relationship here). Please go back to the whiteboard run this 50k credit metric against population metrics (I'd throw out the outliers) vs. average credits. It's just to high, 36k is hard enough, 50k....sigh just wrong given the current circumstances. Please rethink this

And sometimes I'm right in front of you depends on the situation. sometimes its RUN FOREST RUN! sometimes its, make fast for that healing node, sometimes when I know I'm going to die....find the lowest HP person around and stick them with my glow bat....

^^^^^ BINGO! If 4 people cant kill a sentinel it's not a class issue, it's quite simply a skill issue. In my experience the differentiation in gear in this game has diminishing returns then plateaus at a point, at which point class mechanics, play style and skill become the differentiators. Example 1: On release I played a sage (balance), I PVP a lot, so my sage was VR 72 by 1.2, which means a full BM, and 400 biochem, on balance I could pull 450k per wz, playing the objectives, but my kill ratio was not very high (not as high as it would have been if I was hybrid spec) while my deaths were very low; Why? The primary source of my damage was AOE DOTS, left alone I could unleash massive damage AOE then survive being focused pretty well. Against undergeared players (note that I did not say ungeared) it was a slaughter. I could stand toe to toe with any melee soak up their damage and burn them down. Against equally geared players, depending on class it was a 60/40 chance, 60% of the time I would kill 1-2-3 players and survive because I was very good at my class Fast Forward to Post 1.2: The same applies, except now the gearing is much quicker, I am more squishy, but all things being equal I can wreak Armageddon on people who don't know how to play thier class, because quite frankly by now I have played against every class and every level of gear/skill. So I can say quite confidently that even with the changes the differentiator is skill to end game PVP. Example 2: Around Feb. I rolled a Sentinel and leveled him to 50 about 2 weeks prior to patch 1.2. Why? The complexity of this class is much higher than my sage, scoundrel (40) or even gunslinger (50), it is just plainly hard to master, there are a ton of skills and you need to know when and how to use them, sure a bad player can do ok, even decently with good gear, but a skilled player can decimate people, plain and simple, this class needs a good player to excel. In my experience at patch 1.2 I was valor rank 48, with a few champ and cent pieces, I was getting squashed in PVP, there is a learning cure there in tactics, skill and avoiding death when you are undergeared, a fresh 50 sentinel going against mostly players in full champ/BM gear? It was hard but fun, because I had seen the pay off in being patient and learning my class and obtaining gear. At patch 1.2 I immediately bought recruit gear, things got slightly easier. Fast forward to today: I am valor rank 60, in fully augmented BM gear/Sabers. And guess what? I destroy 1-2 players at a time even against full BM geared players. Why? I took the time to master a complex class, I've pvp'd alot see above..... So my point is OP: Don't promote an environment of Nerf Class X, that's how you end up with a game full of dancing pandas and pokemon pvp, you should look forward to playing against this sentinal that is eating your lunch, because PVP, like chess, is about playing a better player to improve your skill over time with the tools you have......

I disagree, and I am not a huge fan of this game now since my entire guild quit but I will say PVP ques were popping last night even faster <2-3 min, on Ajunta Pall (a particularly balanced server generally) last night, there were a lot of new 50's seemingly out of no where, and the people playing were genuinely trying to win. Hell I might even log into my level 50 Sage again.... That said, the best idea I've seen completely displaces this mechanic of win/loss rewards, and that is: Make comm rewards based strictly on medals won. I think doing this scaled for an ROI metric around objective based play would go farther than the simple Win/Loss + Medal Farming mechanic in place...

Wrong, the number one rule of game design 101 is: Don't trust the player base to do the right thing and design accordingly. Blaming the player base for half assed design flaws and violating the most basic rule of game design is what a company with no clue about economic/community goodwill/relations or community building. This is readily apparent with the utter lack of apology for the fail that was ilum and not correcting the exploitation via a rollback when they subsequently patched the game with even worse code, and the eventual bandaid for this? 1.2 I dont think there is any need to explain the failures of 1.2 they are readily apparent every time I log into the game to see 0 other guildies on (because they have chosen to actually NOT play this game while waiting for the release of another game, read that again: MY GUILD WOULD LITERALLY RATHER NOT GAME THAN LOG INTO SWTOR I've been a member of this guild since 1993, it's one of the oldest MMORPG PVP guilds, it takes a lot for them to not want to game.) and 57 people on fleet in prime time on the second most populated PVP server. The subscription loss is bad. There is no amount of justification you can provide to refute this. Even if I didn't have an MBA with extensive exposure to profit and loss statements and preparation of quarterly financials as well as previous experience working for a game company I could see that. This is about player perception as well as shareholder perception, either they turn it around or they will have staff cuts down to a skeleton crew. EA has done it before and they will do it again. The only way to correct for shareholder perception is to improve retention of the subscription base. Happy players don't leave. To keep and foster happy players you need to develop community mechanics amenable to retention. Since I know BW is monitoring this thread closely because it has to due with player perception of a declining subscription base I recommend you read this article from someone who knows about community building in a star wars IP that failed due to poor community relations after the designers moved on and a halfwit named Smedley stuck his foot in it. Or this Article as the original source of building a successful web community, especially for games you may want to buy the book and pass it out to all the staff Bioware. And the issue here is not about the numerical loss of players, it's the TIMELINE vis a vie the loss of retention. Frankly it's happening to rapidly given the amount of funding this game was provided with. Those numbers re subscribers who are both active and inactive (stopped playing after paying) and include those people who paid 3 and 6 month subscriptions. The drop you see is standard release retention (30 day's is up) and a drop in monthly recurring retention as well as 3 month pre-paid's. It's not a matter of numbers of loses, we know those people arent playing, it's a matter of: What % of those subscriptions are subscribed but not playing/inactive because that will be the population level at the end of June. And from where I sit, looking at the numbers during prime time on Ajunta Pall, with no guildies logged in, and given my experience, BioWare has about 2 months to start bringing their A game, and rebuild some community trust before my so called "populated server" starts to look like the others.

Background: I see a lot of useless nonconstructive threads on the forum as do you, while it is entertaining, I began wondering; Maybe we can get a unofficial poll of expertise level, AND PVP issues x class played since 1.2 so maybe we can get a quantitative and qualitative result of PVP issue. Premise: My premise is simple, I believe the TTK issue is based on a threshold level of expertise as well as balance. I believe this threshold level is approximately around 1050 experitse. Please keep the issue piece brief (2 sentences). You can list up to two level 50's, I will throw out the third if you list it. Please use the format below. If you kids play nice and stay on topic I'll crunch the numbers on an ongoing basis and post them. I'll start: READY SET GO! Class: Sage Valor Rank: 67 Expertise: 1100 Faction: Republic Server: Ajunta Pall Average queue wait time: 3-8 minutes Issue: besides losing 850k customizing an armor set and progress in gear since 1.2 when 1.2 went live I stayed Balance Spec. My biggest issue is delayed cast timers and cooldowns not syncing, as such I don't really play my sage much anymore. Class: Sentinel Valor Rank: 58 Expertise: 1120 Faction: Republic Server: Ajunta Pall Average queue wait time: 3-8 minutes Issue: Again ability delay (animation) on force sweep. DPS overall is excellent, some specials could be toned down by 5%, this is especially apparent as I gain increasing levels of expertise, however this class remains highly vulnerable to ranged DPS.

Not only will it not allow search for items that dont have any search results, it wont allow search period You have code QA testers right?

The problem is open arena does not work in the current generation of MMO's as designed. I will provide you with a historical comparison: MERIT PVP (the arena is the world) UO Pre-Trammel: Gear was either dropped or crafted, higher end crafted gear was better than dropped gear. Stats were a function of developing skills (take up lumberjacking = increase strength, fight Orcs = improve weapon skills (until you got good enough to fight harder stuff)) so the progression was progressive and linear based on time investment. As was the PVP (which had no rewards (unless you killed a Dread Lord (evil pvp player) took his head and turned it in for a reward) meaning there was a learning curve and self regulating behavior (don't go out into the wilds alone, unprepared and/or weak). No expertise, no resilience, no trophy gear for showing up, just gear and skill (all skills available to everyone) development premised on time investment. PVP on these terms is balanced and fair (insofar as survival of the fittest is fair). Insofar as arenas, these were areas of the map that people fought over because they were resource rich, for pride, and community stature. This made PVP spontaneous, open world in a word PVP was "meaningful". Trophy PVP (arena by design) WOW (SWTOR's Model): Gear is granted and there is a "special" PVP stat granted via gear. You get this by showing up, with skill you can increase the gain, however everyone gets a trophy, and on a long enough timeline everyone will get the same level of gear. Skills are Class specific and therefore locked down and limited, this produces less variance, less variance produces a path of least resistance to minimize investment for maximum return (min/maxer's, FOTM). The "special" PVP stat is meant to mitigate the differences in not only skill in combat but class skill limitations. To put it simply it caters to lowest common denominator PVP. All gain, minimized pain. (if you lose a favorite sword to a Dread Lord out in the wilds does it matter to you more than losing Huttball for the 2,549th time? And what are the ramifications? Scenario A opens up a whole world of possibilities (ransom? form a posse? etc.) So the problem stated quite simply is an attempt by the current generation of games to create an organic PVP experience by design in a hamster wheel world of linear quests. (you may have seen this on the forums: "**** PVP happened on a PVP server L2P" for good reason, some hamsters don't care for the wheel, others wouldn't trade it for the world). And this quite frankly cant be done unless the game is more of a sandbox and less of a WOW.

PVP is being ruined by players. All the time! Please BW just give me some pretty armor (shoulders with flames pls!) so I can log in and hang out at the Horde AH and show off my uber leetness....oh wait this is Star Wars...well lets make it easymode too! 1) I'm on Ajunta Pall, there are hardly any que wait times for PVP WZ's, NERF the WZ timer so I can finish my dailies then go into a WZ whenever I want. Or better yet finish my raid! 2) I dont like purple lightening or little rocks, Yoda didn't throw rocks and only Sith Lords should throw the purple stuff, NERF those, they try to kill me 3) I don't like people who sneak up and stun me then shoot at me or stab me, Han didnt have stealth, why should you!!???!!! NERF those guy's too, they try to kill me 4) Only Darth Maul should have a double bladed lightsaber, and see 4 above, NERF those guys, they try to kill me. Troopers and Bounty Hunters, none of them had massive guns they clearly IRL wouldn't be able to carry, NERF those guys, they try to kill me. 5) There weren't any "magical my little pony shields of defense" for people with guns in Star Wars (and besides their animations are cooler than mine and sound better I admit I'm Jelly), NERF those guys in Hats! There were no Sombrero's in Star Wars!, They try to kill me 6) Obi Wan was an Old, but if he didn't have a magical force catapult and couldn't hold two glowy plasma sticks (he could barely stumble over to scare off sand people and save luke!) neither should you, NERF DUAL GLOW BAT GUYS! (I want two flaming axes anyway!), they try to kill me. Me and my friends we only like Vanilla PVP, and we all play Twielik's because they are cartoony enough and look as close to Jar Jar Binks as possible! (If you want to join "Care Bear Raiders" you can find us Rp'ing on Tyhon, send me a shout yo')

Dear Bioware, I'm just not that into you after our date yesterday, I feel like you don't listen when we are together talking. I waited around for a few months hoping the promised changes would make things better. But I should have known better, this isn't my first rodeo I've been dating people like you since 1994. And really it's only been a few months so it's not that big of a deal, it's just that I would like to pursue other opportunities that look like they might turn into long term commitments. My specific complaints about our relationship are as follows: (please note the "WE" denotes experienced MMO players) We asked for: Dynamic world PVP Logical gear progression New PVP Content Goal based (faction oriented) PVP with a purpose that effects our environment dynamically (c.f. DAOC) Viability for end game crafters who are not Biochem Increased Item Customization to take advantage of the excellent mod system A few minor tweaks and fixes to character talents and builds PVP Armor skins that don't look like a cross between mortal combat and some horridly drawn animae on acid. (preferably with some relavence and reverence for the iconic Star Wars IP) You Gave us: Illum Racetracks, a subsequent patch of bugs and exploitable mechanics Increased comms on a RNG system that was broken, when simply changing to a comms system would suffice, which you did three months later at the expense of our time and effort in order to prolong an unfulfilling hamster wheel. A new warzone with the same mechanics as the warzone we have already been playing, for three months Goal Based (faction oriented PVP).....*crickets* Augments for crit crafted orange gear, most of which is the ugly new PVP gear, few if any new schematics for some crafts and not others, a nerf to slicing credits, no ability to learn schematics from custom gear (flagrantly false) and an inability to RE custome gear we do make with a resale value to vendors of 1 %^$# credit? The ability to remod BM/Champ mods over to custom gear, at a cost of 24-37k per mod....srsly? A Sledgehammer to class balance, mitigation and stat progression I don't really have any words for the new armor...I mean none that are kind anyway I'm going to have my friend come over and pick up my albums and I've changed my number......and hey listen I dont need that dough, keep it and your 30 days.

You have one veteran MMO players support, I'm posting this thread on our guilds forums.....

I started playing MMO's with M59 (the first MMO), I then played UO and eventually became the GM of the Baja server (pre-trammel) for a brief period (I dont work in gaming anymore so I speak only as a experienced player now). I then played EQ, DAOC, SWG, WOW. Background and Principles.... I suppose you could say I am a hardcore player, PVP'er (my guild is one of the oldest PVP centric MMO guilds) min/maxer, etc. I generally dont go into a game lightly, because I tend to stay for long periods, but I wont game alone, I love my guild and enjoy playing with them. It either has to have a) mechanics I enjoy (sandbox and crafing) b) good PVP c) Interesting RVR d) and Amazing IP that the company respects and executes on well e) well developed community to keep me hooked, it does not have to have ALL of these but a good mix is mostly required. "I dont make MMO's anymore because I got tired of fighting over the same Pie" Raph Koster (paraphrased) LOYALTY This word, and this alone determines the longevity of an MMO. I have seen it as a player, I have seen it as a guild leader, I have seen it while providing customer service to players and I have seen it as the GM of a server, back in a game that still had customer service (in the game regularly...) How and why you are loyal to something as a paying customer is often premised as much on your emotional investment as your economic and time investment. I have stuck with games that have been entirely destroyed by a parent company for profit potential (SONY, EA I'm lookin' at you), to chase a bigger slice of the same MMO playerbase PIE (WOW grew the PIE substantially but also lowered the barrier to entry for end game as well as changed the dynamics and expectations of the player base (there are good and bad things about this). AND Now my rant...... (for the devs) "You should dance with the person that brought ya" ELDER GAME I saw a video of a BW dev talking about "the elder game" the elder game? really that's your concern? You don't even have an adolescent game here. You have a game where people hit cap in 3 weeks after launch, exploited mechanics, horribly messed up a patch allowing for more exploitation, failed to implement viable end game crafting, PVP class balance (and/or treated PVP as an afterthought), imbalanced servers, and a copied WZ mechanic with no community to speak of. People will only dig your cut scenes and story lines so long. Don't worry, no I get it, time and budget and resource constraints; somethings going to come up short. No game ships perfect. But a good game, a game with stickiness concentrates on the basics first before throwing more oatmeal at a wall hoping something sticks then calling it content. Right now you are three months out, you got a pretty good slice of the Pie on release, and you made bubba Blizzard bleed. But you need to dance with the players you have. Please work on 1.2 until it is right, do not release it early, do not release it buggy and listen to your player base. (an impartial survey as launch screen comes to mind?). I lOVE STAR WARS. I HAVE A RARE SW POSTER IN THE LIVING ROOM MY WIFE HATES So trust me when I say I'm willing to put up with a lot for Star Wars. But please work on a-e above. I know you need to meet your quarterly target metrics, but it starts with sustaining the player base you have, and that starts with developing loyalty with your players. Where, how and why we are invested is entirely up to you BioWare.

Times they are a changing..... In order to help you hybrids (something I used to play) make the adjustment in the patch I thought I would offer some advice (since you will most likely switch to Balance now). First you must decide if you are going to play to 1) win or 2) play to medal farm. If #2 is your answer reroll now, you wont get the same returns as a Balance sage you used to get as a hybrid, I know I've played all specs at 50 post V60. (thought getting 7 per match is pretty much garunteed) If #1 then read on: As a balance sage you must accept a role change, frankly you are now a support class. Yes you still get too do a lot of pew pew, but you also need to relearn where your heal buttons are, as well as how to force armor your team mates. A well played balance sage will change the outcome of any WZ, you wont hit 500k damage per game but you will continue to score a lot in huttball, capture the datacron and guard and capture turrents just as well if not better, probably better since you will be focused on objectives. In a sentence the Balance spec: Balance provides a higher survivability, lower burst DPS, DOT heavy highly mobile skill spec, less reliant on crit based cooldown triggers with higher force management issues in long duration battles. It's important to fully understand the ramifications of the sentence above: You will have fewer get out of jail free cards You will have lower burst You must learn to stay mobile You must learn how to burn people down You must learn how and when to use your CC You must learn to manage your Force Pool in sustained battles You must learn how to use target-able AOE on the move The upsides: You can sustain long duration battles against melee DPS and ranged DPS, the same rules apply, you get focused you die no matter what spec. Gear: You may change how you gear, I run about 400-450 expertise, depending on the situation and objectives. I wear very little PVP armor and instread get my expertise from the non-armor accessories. The armor I do wear has Endurance > Willpower > Crit > Surge stacked in it. I hope these tips are helpful, if you have questions post them in this thread and I'll answer them as best I can

At least YODA thinks so..... Well it's lunch time, and I've read the 1.2 patch notes, looked at a couple of threads here and there where to begin..... Let take the low hanging fruit: PVP Gear: ISSUE: Current Barriers to Entry for fresh 50's to compete in PVP are too high. Objective: Lower barriers by changing the system to reward participation vs volume (quality vs. quantity) Strength: More participation in PVP Weakness: participation does not correlate to quality, nor does volume for that matter. (You should understand by now that objective based (preferably world) PVP is optimal vs. a WOW WZ hamster wheel for long term subscription revenue streams) c.f. DAOC vs WOW for deets. Opportunity: Increased subscription base due to attractive PVP mechanics. (at this juncture I would recommend reading this by someone who already went down this road with another Lucas IP, or recall that a bird in hand is always better than......) Threat(s): 1) You lose current subscribers whose progression has been nullified 2) PVP mechanic is not attractive enough 3) People find the PVP boring 4) Adjusting the mix if Time vs. Risk vs. Reward is not timely enough. WZ Credit Reduction ISSUE: PVE Content is underutilized/Credits from WZ are to high Objective: Increase PVE content credit generation, increase economic sinks, to increase subscription longevity. Strengths: More players will play and be reliant on PVE Weakness: Opens your game up to increased botting (already rampant) and gold farming (so far not seeing much but they'll come if you make it profitable for them to do so) Opportunities: I dont see any as a player honestly.... Threats: PVP'ers who dont want to PVE wont..... PVP Gear Appearance: ISSUE: A bunch of guys that work in Austin at a game company in an Art department got drunk, played mech-warrior, mortal kombat and watched mad max movies all weekend and then decided to design some PVP armor Objective: Continue to offend the player base with bad taste Strengths: I can take all the mods out Weakness: NONE OF THESE ARE ICONIC or anywhere near aligned to the IP sesly go watch RTOJ....oh yeah They still have jobs. Opportunity: There is always opportunity for improvement, I hope someone from Lucas calls you and says that. Threats: People will pvp neky rather than wear that horrid looking stuff (brought to you by the same person who decided Sage BM's needed to look like hobo technicolor clowns). Sorry thats all I have time for today....

^^^ Shes actually right, it almost does not matter if you are tele, balance or hybrid spec, you play against others players and a class, if you know their class AND your class you will beat them, but you get to that point from playing against a lot of them

^^^^^ I really hope the Devs take this into consideration as a skill. For you others I shall enlighten you; 1) based on spec Telekinetic Throw will have no cool down most of the time, ergo it can be spammed ad infintum 2) What you are seeing are pebbles, picked up by a pure funnel of force directed at a target, kind of like a wind storm or tornado. 3) It is more stylish to throw pebbles than purple darth eval baddie lightening, some people like Mad Men because it has class and is more stylish, some people enjoy Say Yes To The Dress with Kim Kardasian because it is louder and more obnoxious.....no accounting for taste.... What follows only applies to Balance Sages, Most of the newer sages are Hybrid spec, feel free to faceroll them ASAP..... 4) While it may appear that 1 button is being pushed, this is only to make you feel complacent, see as a V65 BM geared full Balance Sage, I'll clue you in; if you want to know whats really going on look at the Dots now ticking on you as you come into and stay in range, I'm not standing there in my Pilot outfit stupidly spamming tele throw because I dont know what to do while you are beating on my and trying to wear down my 20k HP and burn through my bubble, no this isnt my first rodeo and you arent the first or last melee, ranged or whatever class that will learn a bit to late that you should have ran out of range of my pebbles rather than stand there beating on me as I pile on more Dot's which actually HEAL ME as they burn you down...... I'm not afraid of you hitting me, or my bubble, and being at 50% health isnt something I worry about, no I only worry when there are 3+ opponents coming at me as am holding the door in voidstar solo, only because I can forcelift only 1 of you while I melt the other two, and sometimes its hard to remember which ignorant lemming might have his CC on cool down. So there you have it, my pebbles may only tic for 1k damage per tic (and restore my Force pool to boot) but that is just the Icing on my DoT Cake as it were.....so feel free to make fun of my pebbles, you can even change the animation to me throwing my little ponies at you, I dont really care, as long as it keeps you in range to apply those DoTs....which are instant, and cant be interrupted......

Crit if you are full Balance Power if you are Hybrid Crit if you are full TK Power if you are Seer I am full balance I switch between my BM saber and now my +41 end saber depending on the situation environment and opponents.

But I'm full balance BM geared and Theran is geared in full Champ gear, so I pretty much demolish PVE content. I have Nadia in a fully modded out Dancer outfit with a red saber when I need added DPS which is rarely, she destroys *** in style. As to leveling: Qyzen worked well leveling as a hybrid to 50. After 50 if you are DPS Theran is indispensible, I solo farm Named champion mobs regularly. Also Theran is handy to have around if you are on a PVP server and get jumped by 2+ people (he comes with a nifty holo dancer

Hello all, As many of you know from this board I am one of the few die hard Full Balance spec Sages. I didnt get a chance to test this much before work this AM but in 3 WZ's I found myself doing about 10-25% more damage, with Tele Throw hitting particularly harder but my DOTs seemed to be ticking a bit heavier as well. I think perhaps somethings been adjusted damage wise on the back-end for Balance. Like I said I didn't have a lot of time to test this AM so this is all empirical observation. I have a feeling the basis for DOT throughput damage was changed somehow so possibly whatever stat or defense type was mitigating DOTs has been changed, perhaps this was a compromise for documented DOT changes in this patch? OTOH maybe I had three WZ's of bads this AM lol Just a few notes about my Sage set up and gear before someone comments about it being an +expertise difference: My expertise: 10.66 approx (I dont run a full BM set anymore, I like my Pilot Outfit I have WP stacked, crits around 29%, then surge.

I'm a full balance BM sage. I usually hold the door in voidstar solo because I dont need valor or medals so it helps the team. Ican usually rely on my DOTs if Im going down to keep a burn on opponents until help arrives (if I need it) or I respawn. The changes wont allow me to solo hold a point in voidstar or Alderaan anymore. So yeah my utility is nerffed for winning WZ. BioWare clearly wants lemming PVP behavior and generic WOW PVP, so be it, I now wont be holding any doors solo, I've switched back to hybrid last night so I can just spam the pew pew and medal farm, because I dont care about winning now, just kills and medals to get the three lame pieces I still need for BM, which I'll get as soon as patch hits anyway, meaning even less of a reason to log into my main........ Unless the PVP patch brings something better than more generic PVP and sets the playerbase up for unending and regular nerfbats (Arenas) I dont think my guild will be lasting through the summer

Hi All, I recently rolled an ALT, A sentinel, I am coming to this class after being a DPS Sage (Full Balance, not hybrid) since release. I've read the 2 stickies to inform myself about the class and my Sent is now lvl 18. I'll probably level almost exclusively via PVP. Few Questions for the community: 1) Focus is still the best spec for PVP builds? 2) Anyone have a link for any hybrid builds? Or are hybrid builds even viable for this class? 3) being kited, it sucks, what are my options? at level 18, and at what level can I expect to have counters? I understand via many guildies that basically 20-45 in PVP is going to be rough, I'm good with that as I have patience for end game. If you are wondering why I'm running a sentinel it's basically for 3 reasons: 1. I'm sure by now you have seen the laughable End game Sage technicolor hobo armor 2. I get destroyed by any competent 2 saber wielding class most the time (And I am a very skilled Balance Sage) so I thought it would be fun 3. Force Leap nuff said 4. 2 red sabers are better than 1 5. Like my Gunslinger, this class take a good amount of skill to master, always up for a good challenge, and I am a bit tired of all the FOTM kids I see rolling Sage. I guess thats 5

I totally agree, you Sir are my HERO!!!!! HERO I SAY! Actually I may use this in my sig. its. Just. That. Funny