Greetings! My primary character is a Mercenary (heals) in Verpine/Underworld-level gear and higher. My secondary character is a Jedi Guardian (damage) in Black Market/Arkanian-level gear and higher. Ideally, I would like to join an Imperial guild, but I'm certainly not opposed to a Republic guild. I'm not a hardcore player. I play for fun, to experience content at a relaxed pace, and to enjoy the story. Due to this, I don't participate in any Ranked Warzones or Nightmare Operations. I'm content with leveling characters, Flashpoints, Story Mode Operations, achievement earning, world boss hunting, exploration, and even some world PvP and Regular Warzones (my main focus is PvE content). I would like to join up with an active group of like-minded players. If you're interested, feel free to send me a private message or in-game mail to Eilix (Imperial) or Aurrey (Republic). Thanks!

Personally, I don't want to see the EU wiped out. I am aware of George Lucas' thoughts on the EU, but when he gave others the creative freedom to expand on his creation, they proved to be the superior story tellers that has kept me interested after all these years. I don't see how people can call the EU garbage when the most laughable writing and most inconsistencies spawned from his newer creations: the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars series. If you look at the EU, the authors involved actually did a decent job trying to maintain a single continuity before Georgie pulled the rug out from under them. I am a huge Star Wars fan and while I'm expecting some of the EU work to be axed, I'm hoping that Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo will preserve, in my opinion, a sizable chunk of the better pieces of the Star Wars timeline.

Greetings. I sent you a private message about this.

I wasn't trying to be overly critical. The Star Wars "feeling" is subjective and I, personally, think game still feels plenty Star Wars-y to me when I look at the bigger picture.

You misunderstand my post. I don't have any issue with them placing the "Rudolph" tauntaun into the game. I was using the examples of the new planets, unfamiliar outfits, and discontinued class stories to make a point about what you think these said "purists" would be upset about. Instead, they choose the insignificant mount to be upset over. Perhaps I should have worded my post differently so that it didn't come off like I was offended by the developers expanding on Star Wars lore. I am a huge fan of both the movies and EU alike, and I always look forward to opportunities to build it up.

I'm coming to this thread late, but I felt the need to insert my two credits. I don't see how a tauntaun mount is going to destroy Star Wars lore. I actually laugh at this accusation. If you think that's going against lore, then perhaps you should ask yourself why new planets that previously did not exist in Star Wars lore are being developed. Ask yourself why the gear is looking less and less like iconic Star Wars outfits. Ask yourself why they have dropped class stories to immerse yourself in your own Star Wars adventure. Truth is, the game as a whole is starting to move away from being Star Wars and more towards being a general sci-fi game. I'm not saying the game doesn't still have that special Star Wars feel to it, but with its current path, I believe it will start to lose it more and more. A collection of pixels that only serves the purpose of accelerating your character should be the least of the concerns of lore junkies (myself included).

Thank you! I thought long and hard on how our healing tree can be brought to the performance level of other classes without making us overpowered, redesigning our playstyle, or losing our uniqueness. As the one who took over writing this forum's healing guide from when I stopped mine, I eagerly look forward to your suggestions. I like what you mentioned about our heals actively lowering the cooldowns of Vent Heat and Thermal Sensor Override. It's an intriguing concept!

Absolutely agree. Our resource system is fine. We just need a few tweaks to abilities and talents.

Thank you! I completely agree. I know that all of the suggestions won't be worked in, but I rattled off a list in the hopes that we would see some of them.

BASELINE (ALL MERCENARY SPECS) • Power Surge and Thermal Sensor Override: reduced cooldowns to 60 seconds • Rocket Punch: upon selecting the Mercenary advanced class, this ability is replaced by Rocket Pack. Rocket Pack launches the Mercenary backwards 20m, grants immunity to leaps/pulls for 3 seconds after landing, and has a 1 minute cooldown. • Fusion Missile: reduced heat cost to 25 heat • Rapid Shots: critical hits/heals now vent 1 heat These changes would allow us to see our cooldowns used with more frequency, which is something I've been seeing requested a great deal. The removal of Rocket Punch would give us a far more useful tool; I explain in the Arsenal section what would happen to the Afterburners talent. The Fusion Missile and Rapid Shots changes would allow us easier heat management. BODYGUARD • Kolto Shell: increased the amount of allies that can be affected by Kolto Shell to 4 • Rapid Scan: reduced heat cost to 20 heat; increased healing by 5% • Rapid Shots: the Mercenary can now use Rapid Shots on themselves, but it will not build charges for Supercharged Gas unless used on allies • Emergency Scan: reduced cooldown to 12 seconds; increased healing by 25%; now builds 6 charges of Supercharged Gas • Warden [talent]: increased to 10/20/30% • Peacekeeper [talent]: REDESIGNED - Supercharged Gas now grants interrupt and pushback immunity for its duration • Power Shield [talent]: REDESIGNED - reduces the cooldown of Energy Shield by 30 seconds Bodyguards are in need of some love, and I think these changes would leave us warm and fuzzy inside. Kolto Shell being allowed to affect more than one target is probably the most requested change I've seen. The Rapid Shots change would possibly be the next most requested. The changes to Rapid Scan would make our only spamable heal more attractive, and the changes to Emergency Scan leave it feeling more like a showcase talent. The increase to the Warden talent brings us more in-line with Sorcerer and Operative healing output. I think everyone agrees the Peacekeeper talent is crap -- that change would make it far more appealing, and thus the reason for the Power Shield change. ARSENAL • High Velocity Gas Cylinder: removed 3% Alacrity bonus and replaced with a 20% interrupt resistance for Tracer Missile • Tracer Lock [talent]: in addition to its current effects, Rail Shot now has a 20% heat reduction for each stack of Tracer Lock • Afterburners [talent]: REDESIGNED - Jet Boost knockback distance increased by 2/4m and applies a 1/2 second root • MOVED FROM PYROTECH TREE - Volatile Warhead [talent]: REDESIGNED - Missile Blast is now only able to be used on a target with 30% or less health. In addition, Missile Blast's heat cost is reduced to 16 heat, damage is increased by 50%, and its cooldown increased to 6 seconds. The High Velocity cylinder change is controversial, but I think it's a fair way to increase PvP performance without being overpowered and/or affecting PvE play. The Afterburner talent would need to be modified with the removal of Rocket Punch, but in turn, it will buff Jet Boost. The Tracer Lock change gives us our free (or at least, discounted) Rail Shots back. Moving the Volatile Warhead talent into the Arsenal tree finally gives Missile Blast a use: the "execute" we've been looking for. PYROTECH • Thermal Detonator: if Incendiary Missile is active on the target, the initial portion of Thermal Detonator's damage will now always be a critical hit. In addition, the damage-over-time component now cannot be removed by cleanses or cures. • NEW TALENT - Beskar'gam: Unload is now immune to interrupts and pushbacks. In addition, each successful hit during Unload's channel will apply the Beskar'gam effect, decreasing all incoming damage by 2%, up to a maximum of 6%. Lasts 12 seconds. Thermal Detonator now gives us a little of what we've been wanting in the Pyro tree: greater burst and protection for our sustained damage in PvP. The new Beskar'gam talent furthers our durability, which will hopefully help the squishy-ness of the spec. I admit, this spec is the one that I'm least familiar with, so I will refrain from suggesting too many uneducated changes. * * *I will post the Commando equivalent in their forums later, unless someone less lazy than I would like to do so. I'm not familiar with their ability/talent names.

Here is a guide I wrote for 2.0 Merc Healing: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=641258 Feel free to use anything you would like in your own guide, as my subscription will end soon and I won't be updating it any further. Do us proud!

I unsubscribed today after playing since the first day of Early Access. I have been subscribed since the beginning. I am Legacy Level 50 and have played through ALL of the class stories, planets, flashpoints, operations, and warzones. After leveling up eight characters and waiting for new things to do on my main, I realize that I can do better with my $15 per month. This is the reason I gave for why I was unsubscribing: "New content and features outside of the Cartel Market are lacking and are not implemented with enough frequency to justify a monthly subscription. I appreciate when said content is brought into the game, but the span of time between these updates pales in comparison to how much time and effort goes into fleshing out the Cartel Market. I choose not to pay money any longer to encourage such priorities. Here are a few suggestions that would cause me to re-subscribe: 1. Flashpoints, Operations, and Warzones added with more frequency. Additional Huttball maps would be a plus. 2. More leveling planets, so that players don't have to play through the same planets in the same order over and over again. I understand that class stories may complicate this, but it bores some players to the point they won't even bother playing new characters. 3. Engaging open-world PvP objectives. Nine times out of ten, the only time I see any type of interaction with the opposite faction is in Warzones. 4. Bug fixes, new game features, (guild calendar, dual spec, macros, etc.) and class balancing prioritized over rehashed Cartel packs. 5. More innovative space combat. I understand that this is only a small portion of the game, but it is a large portion of Star Wars, and it has the potential to be much more than the on-rails shooter that it is. Things like multiplayer, (both co-op and versus), free-roaming flight, and ship customizations would be welcome."

I'm glad to be of assistance!

Welcome back, to the both of you! If you are wanting to know more about Mercenary healing, I have written a guide on the basics and you can find it here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=641258 I can assure you that we have received some positive changes and are competitive with Operatives and Sorcerers, although common opinion would seem to dictate that we are the underdogs. It will be up to us to show them otherwise.

This is exactly what I would recommend. We get 6% Crit just through talents, which is a huge amount of free Crit. This opens you up to more Power/Alacrity on your gear. Crits are appealing, but I think we get more mileage out of the consistent healing Power benefits instead of the RNG that comes from Crit. Let me know how it goes!

I wanted to compliment you on this. It's a very creative approach on a broken spec that makes it more bearable to play. It's a shame, really. I used to think Pyro was fun. Hopefully they'll get it to a more competitive state in the (distant) future.

You have written a very informative guide. Thank you for sharing! I haven't gone too much into advanced techniques because of the sheer amount of different situations found in PvE content. Sometimes a strategy that works for one encounter will not work as well in the next. Group composition is another factor. My own style will be tweaked around depending on the make-up of my group. I have outlined the basics in this guide and encourage players to grow into their own styles depending on their individual situations. I wouldn't want readers to suffer information overload, but to learn from practice and experience. This thread should be a place where we can come together to discuss specifics and share our suggestions. I'm trying to keep the guide itself as streamlined as possible. I hope we can solve the drought of information regarding Mercenary/Commando healing.

You are able to reach those numbers without much trouble once you start gearing at the Black Market level, considering the majority of our gear comes pre-loaded with Crit modifications. It's personal preference, really -- some people like a larger Crit percentage. The drawback is that we are going to need a decent amount of it to hit that 30% mark, and that means sacrificing Power, which has been stated by many Mercenaries to increase their performance more than Crit. The Upgraded Arsenal talent will give you a flat 3% Crit while in Combat Support Cylinder if you spec into it fully. I, myself, have 29% Crit and 73% Surge. Both sit higher than I would like, and I'm in the process of replacing them in lieu of Power and Alacrity. I run 16-player Hard Modes and would rather have the increased bonus healing/quicker activations/greater heat dissipation. Of course, there's nothing wrong with playing around with different Crit levels and seeing what you like best.

It's been a long time since I've leveled my Mercenary, but I can give a few suggestions. Your current level sits right around where a lot of people begin Chapter 3 and go to Belsavis. The difficulty of enemies definitely increases from Chapter 2 and you will need to be more careful. Don't be afraid to use medpacs and your defensive cooldowns. They exist to keep you alive. Use your interrupt religiously. Use your Concussion Missile ability as often as needed. Locking down a tough enemy in order to dispatch weaker ones first is a very handy tool. When I spec for damage, I use Mako as my companion. If you are trying to solo Group missions, speccing heals and using a tank companion (I prefer Blizz) will be easier. If you have space to work with, kiting tougher enemies is a safer tactic. Between Jet Boost, Electro Dart, Electro Net (trained at level 51), and Hydraulic Overrides, we can keep them at bay. For opponents using ranged weapons, line-of-sighting them when they try to attack and taking shots at them in between can render them almost helpless. Remember that certain abilities will stun or knock down weaker enemies. Death From Above, Explosive Dart, Fusion Missile, and Unload can remove them quickly and before they can even have a chance to attack you. Against tougher enemies, it may be worth using your Heroic Moment and attacking with legacy abilities. They cost no heat and do very nice damage. Hope this helps!

What Phrase said above is correct. I should point out that currently, the only way to get Arkanian and Underworld set pieces are through Operations. In the future, they may allow us to purchase them with commendations (like they did with Campaign armoring pre-2.0), but no guarantees. I'm glad you enjoyed the guide!

"Raaaaaauuuuuughr! Urgh urgh waaaaaaaaagh!" (You the man, man!)

Thank you for reminding me. I will update the guide to include this. I would recommend the 4 piece PvE bonus. Two pieces will increase your Supercharged Gas to 13 seconds, which means two additional Healing Scans or one additional Kolto Missile while under its effect. With four pieces, you reduce the cooldowns of Healing Scan and Emergency Scan.

Thank you! I wouldn't say you are wrong just as I wouldn't say I am right. I think for the time being, we're on our own to discover through trial and error what the best stat weights are. I'm hoping this thread can become a place for discussion on these very topics and help us all to improve. I appreciate the feedback.

Updated the guide to add Table of Contents, Consumables, and Defensive Cooldowns. Thank you all for the replies thus far!

Thank you very much, Cobblars and odawgg! As far as Alacrity goes, there isn't much information I have come across that gives us a definitive number on when it becomes too much of a good thing. Personally, I sit at about 6% with the System Calibrations talent. This is increased by 3% with the Critical Reaction talent when it procs. I haven't had any issues yet, but I will certainly update the guide once I notice it hitting diminishing returns or causing other complications. If it gets to the point of not wanting any more Alacrity, I would imagine we would want to forgo the aforementioned talents first, as the only other stats we would have on Enhancements is Surge or Critical Rating. Not to say that either of those stats are bad, but we already know they suffer from diminishing returns of their own. If anyone could provide their own experience/insight, it would be appreciated!