Probably the odd ball out here, but I generally play Focus in Soresu form. I run with the 4 set bonus for Columi (everything else battlemaster/champ giving me about 8% exp), so I generally have no problems with focus management as I can do Saber Throw at any range. (rank 60 so if nothing else I've at least had some practice) The reasons I do this is the massive survivability gain in Soresu form, and then if I'm not being targeted or if I'm about to burst Force Sweep I'll switch to Shii-Cho. Also, if I'm not carrying the ball and we're healer heavy i'll stay in Shii-Cho. If you pick your targets carefully (light armor) it doesn't matter what form you are in, as you'll still be hitting like a frieght train. My personal take is if you want to do single target damage, spec Vigilance (or better yet spec Sentinel as they have better defenses and more dps), if you want AoE damage spec Focus. The way the battegrounds are set up, with chokepoints and a relatively small play area, I find no problem consitantly hitting 3-4 people with each Force Sweep and feel I am more helpful to the group in Focus Spec.

I generally have no connection/lag problems, and the game runs very smoothly. However the few times I have experienced bad lag (FPS or Ping), it makes the game nearly unplayable (either lower than 30FPS or above 200ms). I will say that I think the large amount of people with performance issues are on the end-user side, people whose computers ran WoW fine but can't handle SWToR etc. etc,. Of my whole guild only 2 members ever complain about lag issues, and they're both in Japan (still have around 170ms usually).

I think he meant using Overhand slash (with points in Force Rush) first, then zealous leap or force leap, which triggers the free critted blade storm. Also the 60% is added onto your already 25-30% crit from stats, so it is an 85%-90% chance for a crit.

What was that crit for 7000 in there? Or did I imagine that... wasn't aware that Vigilance could get that high of a burst hit.

I find Focus better in PvE as well, but perhaps it's just because i'm used to the rotation...

Why am I quoted in that? I fail to see what it has to do with what I said =)

Ripping it up might be extreme, but it was good =) After trying both vigilance and focus specs I find it hard to play vigilance, the damage output is just not big enough to actually bring people down by yourself. The burns really need to be brought in line, at level 50 hitting someone with a 50-80 dps DoT is just silly.

Re-doing the space combat, needs to be off rails, group/guild content and space-PvP. That'd be the next thing I'd want to see.

nuh uh, they killed them dead!! <cries> ... anyone who thinks a company would go out of thier way to completely disable 1 of 8 (2 of 16) choices and risk losing that many subscriptions is crazy. Yes, my class is getting tweaked as well (focus guardian) to be brought in line with the other classes... should I rage quit before I even try it as well?? Edit: Really they suck at balance?? This is one of the most balanced MMO's I've ever played, but I guess thats just my opinion.

My only 50 is my Focus Guardian, I love the playstyle in PvE and PvP. It's the first 'warrior' DPS class I've played in awhile that has great damage, survivability and a lot of utility in PvP at least (Throw, lift, stun, aoe slow, guard, AoE dmg reduction). Overall a very fun class to play.

I agree it is a contridiction. I for one would rather see the game go the opposite direction and get rid of enrage timers, rather than adding in damage meters. Bioware has stated that they want all characters and skill paths to be useful in end-game raiding, but even now that is not the case. As soon as you add damage meters it becomes a theorycrafing orgy to find the best possible spec and then everyone who wants to raid is expected to use that build. I would like to see boss fights incorporate more of the utility features that are so abundant in many of the classes. I would like to be able to run with 3 healers, or 3 tanks and still finish a raid... perhaps just add other incentives (more loot or titles) to those who want to run the perfect set up. As it stands almost every boss fight (besides the 2 puzzle bosses) is a straight up DPS race, with a small number of mechanics thrown in.

fuzz what are you talking about; rarely detects? Are you saying it isn't hitting what you think it should be? It has a quite small radius, but i've never had a single instance where it hasn't hit something I think it should've. The only possibly case is while chasing in PvP, and that is more that it hits behind the target (since it doesn't leap to them)... so you just have to make sure your target is stopped, or let them run out a bit and force leap them, then pop sweep. Also it only hits after the animation lands, theres a bit of delay.. so if you get knocked back before you land it doesn't fire, but that makes sense imo.

In PvP i've been running soresu form with 31 pt focus anyway... so it doesn't really make a difference to me there. I'm interested to see how it all works out..

Wow, what type of people are you fighting to let you get that much damage, thats insane. Seriously are they all just forming perfect little piles for you to AoE bomb them everytime? Normally I'm happy if I hit 3-4 in one AoE. Recently I have been doing crits of up to 6100~ on a single target, so thats fun. Can't wait to start getting BM gear... 3 more pesky ranks. Most I've ever seen on our server was 500K, and that was a sage. As a Focus guardian I generally am 1st or 2nd highest damage but those numbers are just crazy.

are you saying I can't cut through an army of droids??

I agree with the OP, but having played Kotor 1+2, Mass Effect 1+2, I did not expect to have anything other than whats in game. They have a proven system that has done exceedingly well for them in Single Player games. My guess is over time we will start to see more sandbox style features, however I would doubt very much to see an entirely explorable planet.

What was WoW's system, in rift you could create as many macro's for any and every purpose, multi-lined to your hearts content. I had 20ish abilities down to about 4 macros in Rift.

Addons and to some extent macros hurt those who don't want to use them in a variety of ways, wether you listen to them or not is up to you. For starters the easiest is in PvP, take someone with properly set macros against someone without them. Give them equal gear and equal abilities. The person with macros will win 9/10 times because even the best set up hotbar and fastest clicker can't compete with someone spamming 2 buttons with no regard to what they do. External addons are in fact another program running on your system, and not everyone has a brand new $5000 computer. They will be more lagged, thus slower to react than they were, it might be minor on your system (1-2 fps) but it could be very noticable on someone elses. I notice a difference (very small) in my FPS with just mumble running. On top of that both macros/addons make content much easier, forcing the game designers to either up the diffuculty of current and future encounters or let the hardcore addon users just stomp raids and clear them in a half hour. Either way the people that use the addons are at a distinct advantage above how the game was designed.

I don't know why macros and addons are always in the same topic, they shouldn't be. I have mixed feelings about macros, on one hand I want to be enjoying the game aestheticly, watching the animations and what not. On the other hand I feel more part of the game when I have to control every action my character makes. If I have macros I can probably make them down to 3 buttons with a few situational buttons on the side and watch the actual fight rather than watching quickbars. I also then can pretty much coast through every fight and the game overall is just that much easier (which it is quite easy as it is). Either way I don't know if there is a solution that would make everyone happy, limiting macro amnts/size just seems silly. In Rift I went a little macro happy and was continuosly trying out new specs, new macros and hitting practice dummies more than actual mobs.. I was one of my guilds class (warrior) leads and continuosly posting new specs, how to use them and what not. It was fun at first, but Trion changed things wayyyy to much and it almost always came down to just figuring out which was the highest DPS with no regards to what you actually wanted to play. (The seperate roles were quite awesome, however if you wanted to stay Raid-worthy you had to mold to the new highest DPS).

Sounds like an interesting way to go about it, and the three factions does go a long way to balance things. I think just adding the armaments back into all the areas (spread PvP out allowing the underdog to win with tactics) and adding more to the actual WZ (land size as well as usable walkers, speeders etc. would go a long way in itself). I know what I wanted when I heard about Ilum as an open PvP area, and that was the Battle of Hoth from the Movies. I can guess that is what the majority of players want as well, so make it!

As someone else said, they did try this in Rift.. it was set up so you could 'see' a smaller version of the raids without the real bosses and with no gear worth noting. So after you did it once it was pointless, just as it would be in SWTOR. The main difference is in SWTOR you can finish a raid in about an hour and you don't need to be a hardcore member to raid with the diff. settings. I don't like games changing raids to accomodate the solo MMO crowd, it just doesn't make sense. There are many other things they could add for 'solo' or off-time content.. such as Pod races, Pazaak and a more interesting space fighting system (PVP space combat/quest lines that involve a mix of space fighting and normal content). If I could play an updated X-wing vs. Tie Fighter while waiting for my friends to log on (or with them after they do) i'd be happy. As it is I still do the space missions daily on my alts and enjoy them. Edited: came across sounding angier then I meant.

That sounds similair to pummel strike, and cyclone slash for guardians.. Pummel strike is only on CC'd attacks and is worthless to keybind. Cyclone slash looks good on paper, but it has no dmg modifiers and is only used if force sweep isn't up to knock people off setting bombs on doors in Voidstar.. not used in PvE at all.

I don't really see the problem here. Too many buttons? There are 2 center bars and a right and left bar. Permanent buffs, quick travel and the like on left, forms and adrenals/relics on the right. That leaves me with plenty of open area on the bottom. Try working out which abilities are priorities and using a set rotation (with a few situational abilities like interrupt and slow for mouseclicking) I generally only use hotkeys 1-6 and I have R T and V for situational/long cooldown skills (force leap, saber throw and combat focus). I have a standard mouse/keyboard and do just fine.

Not sure where someone got the 7-8k Force sweep from with a guardian.. I saw the pic but the best I've gotten too is 5250 with champ gear. Most of the time it hits around 3500-4500.. which is still huge.

Those who are complaining about nothing to do at 50 I have a few questions: Are you in a guild, that activly groups/raids? If you're complaining about sitting around doing nothing and are just hoping to find a PuG thats your own fault. Use the guild search features and join a raiding guild. We do 1-2 Raids a week and 1-2 Flashpoint nights a week. We also try to do 1 world boss night event every week or two. Have you actually finished even half of the quests, or did you run through the class specific quests to hit 50? Personally I've been 50 for about a month now and still have over half the quests to do, and I thought I did a lot while leveling. You can check the overview in the codex and it will tell you 70/120 or whatever for each planet. Have you actually tried WZ's? They are quite fun and it takes a lonnnng time to get to rank 60. I try to do 3 wins a day for the daily quests and I am at rank 32. There is a lot more to do then the majority of complainers say on the forums..