Sorcs have much more CC than mercs.

Will a madness build benefit more from the sorcerer's heals etc or the assassin's stealth etc? Obviously there will be some big differences between the two classes even with the same primary skill build. Thoughts?

Having a blast (literally) leveling with shield spec. Go for it. Use a DPS companion for speed, switch to healing companion for tough fights. (Remember to Guard your companion!) I really wanted to like the Operative class but the playstyle just didn't suit me.

Any news on HK-51?

It is expensive and time consuming to level a crafting skill, so you should only do this if you plan to vigorously sell product or you need the self-only reusables. Otherwise you should go with 3 gathering/mission skills and use the income to buy better gear.

I've seen this comment buried in a thread or 2- can someone who's tested it please confirm? If this is the case it's a complete waste of a point, I can't see how anyone would want this for PVE.

Hard to justify spending 5 points to get no functionality out of Superheated Gas and only part function from Superheated Rail. And Integrated Cardio is crap. Pyro hybrid builds are awful unless you're going to run Combustible Gas- no way to get anywhere without wasting a lot of points.

Wait til you get Jet Charge at 21 points in Shield Tech. Closing to melee range becomes fun.

If you want to play the crafter/merchant game it doesn't matter which class you do it with. Pick something you think will sell and have fun. If you're looking to just improve your equipment, take Slicing and another couple of gathering/mission skills and use the income to buy better gear with. Leveling a manufacturing skill up in order to equip that gear is a net loss for your character unless you plan to sell a fair bit to other players. If you're looking for a combat edge you can only get through crafting, train up either Biochem or Cybertech for the self-only reusable consumables.

You cant much mess it up. People report success with 31 Assault, 31 Tactics, and hybrid Tactics/Assault builds using Plasma Cell.

Nonsense. A Vanguard specced for dps is just as dpsy as a Commando. If you spec shield your dps will lag but that's reasonable and necessary. Granted a tactics build plays very differently from a commando's turret spec but overall effectiveness is equal or better.

For pvp, you really want either Biochem or Cybertech to get the BoP reusable consumables.

The consensus on the Bounty Hunter forums is that Pyro (Assault) has noticeably more DPS but that Advanced Protoype (Tactics) has a nastier bag of tricks.

Visit a class trainer and set the skills filter to "all" instead of "trainable" to see all of your future skills and their level requirements..

Pretty sure this is true of Unload. I haven't done any math but my impression is that Unload unlocks RailShot much more often than would be accounted for by a single rill.

I stick with ion cell, it's got some nice dps when talented. It's not purely defensive.

Does the Combust damage debuff count as a persistent effect for purposes of triggering railshot? Does it matter, given that we can always trigger railshot with rocket punch anyway?

16% to armor rating, or a flat 2% damage reduction? With armor being useless against elemental and internal, and subject to armor piercing effects, I'm not sure that the flat 2% might not be better. When I plug in some numbers into the armor DR formula, 16% increase in armor value only translates to about 3% DR with topend armor at level 50... less, up until then. Of course you could take both, and probably should on a PVE server, but you have some harder choices to make for a PVP build.

You want "enough" of both. Enough Aim means you're not missing so much that you lose aggro. Enough Endurance means you're not dying. If you have "enough" of both, worry about alternative stats like crit chance. Note that improving your armor values, shield chance and shield absorption will likely improve your survivability more than a straight End increase.

This is really not complicated. If you spec Assault, use Plasma Cell. If you spec Shield, use Ion Cell. If you spec Tactics, use High Energy Cell. Each tree has talents for only one stance and you absolutely do not want to mix'n'match. Use the stance (cell) which matches your spec. If you do a hybrid Tactics+Assault pvp build, which some people like, use Plasma cell and make sure to avoid training any Tactics talents which require the High Energy cell.

Definitely only for the name Vent Heat ability, not for all heat vent effects. The Trooper equivalent specifically says "When you activate Recharge Cells...", not "Whenever your cells are recharged"

I just jet charged into the pack of nasties. Is there any useful reason why I need a speed boost for the next 4 seconds?

In that case, your points in Pneumatic Boots are wasted. If you look at the relative utility of Retractable Blade (even talented) versus Heat Blast, a 31-point Shield Tech build looks a lot more attractive than your hybrid spec.

If you're planning to run with the High Energy Gas cylinder active, your shield-based talents (Shield Vents, Flame Shield) will lose most of their value.

That other guy needs to switch to DPS stance then; if my tank can rip aggro then yours isn't doing his job.