I just cancelled my sub, citing this as the final straw. Every 4 - 5 kills, I have to die to reset this valor cap. That's not workable. Open-world PvP here could hardly have been handled more poorly than it has, but this is the absolute worst part of a generally hamhanded design. Luck to you all.

Congrats on your first day in the 50 bracket.

OP makes a good point, buried in there -- Huttball is part of the issue: - Huttball is where most PvP happens on imbalanced servers (which includes all PvP servers) - Huttball *strongly* emphasizes z-axis mobility and using the environment to kill - As the only class with no leap, force sprint, pull, knockback or charge, Operatives are unique in their complete lack of z-axis mobility or ways to force folks into traps - Our primary 'oh no!' button, combat stealth, causes us to drop the ball I think we are competitive in healing ability, anytime an AoE heal is not required. It's the lack of utility skills that kills us in PvP. I don't envy sorcs the raw numbers they put out. I usually match or beat those (in 90% of all matches, I am top heals *and* in the top 5 for damage done, 28/0/13 spec in full champ gear). I do envy their mobility, cc and general control of the battle. Stealth is great in theory, but it's far more use to a DPS class than a healer. We don't need a gap closer, there is no 'hidden strike' heal, and use of the combat stealth actually debuffs our healing.

In the 50 pvp bracket on my server, the rare classes are snipers, operatives and powertechs.

I understand your points, but disagree with them: - 8 man premades mean the pug on the other side has gone from little chance to zero. The only way 8 man premades can work is if they are in a separate queue, - Choosing your conflict sounds great, but it will inevitably lead to only one warzone being played. People will pick whichever has the fastest time/ valor ratio, even if playing that same one over and over bores them to tears and, eventually, quitting Sometimes, we players need to be protected from ourselves. These are two such examples.

Earlier tonight, I told a BM Sniper I think he's the most dangerous RDPS in the 50 bracket on my server. He destroys 'pubs, if you keep him alive (I play a healer). Everyone notices Concealment Ops more, of course, due to the 'throw you to the ground, then stab you in the face' attack style. But a good sniper does gigantic piles of damage. Both AC's reward a player who thinks tactically and does a bit of planning before charging in. If you ever decide PvE sounds fun, RDPS are always in higher demand (it's an mmo raiding cliche).

This. If you ding 50 on Friday, you can be quite competitive by the end of the weekend.

This is compensation for PvE, where melee damage dealers are preferred for Hard Mode Flashpoints and Operat... Oper... LOL I can't finish saying that without laughing

Hey, it only took them two years or so to address Bright Wizards. HAVE YE NO PATIENCE!? Yeah. That design team's pedigree worries me.

The storyline supports several broad paths: - By the book utilitarian. Willing to go to any lengths to accomplish the mission, but not violent or cruel unless that is the best tool for a job that needs doing. Your primary loyalty is to Intelligence. Eventually, you may begin to question the Sith a bit, possibly to the point of disobedience. - Patriot with a golden heart. You grew up in the Empire, so your first instinct is always to support them. At your core, however, you're a light-sider sort. Events will eventually cause you to question your preconceptions of both factions. This can lead in all kinds of crazy directions. - Bad Lieutenant. There's something deeply wrong with you. The uniform, and the power it conveys, allows you to do things that would otherwise get you executed on public TV. You're a sadist. Worse, you're a sadist with a blaster, a starship and a license to do damn near anything to anyone who isn't a sith. You and Kaliyo are psychotic Bonnie and Clyde. - James Bond in Space. Sure, you'll finish the missions. Mostly, though, you're interested in awesome gadgets the coolest spaceship available and shagging everything that moves. Eventually, some hard moral choices will be forced on you. But in the meantime.. well, hey, how *you* doin'? Those are the obvious character archetypes, and all are supported by plot choices and companion types (though some more than others). They lead to different endings, as well. At some point, try the Bad Lieutenant option. It gets surprisingly dark, and it brings out the 'best' in Kaliyo. But don't expect to like her. You're not meant to. She's a strong personality with some twists you won't freaking believe, until they happen. Just when you think she's sunk as low as she possibly can, she'll surprise you. And that keeps happening.

That's true enough. I suppose I am reflecting how my server works. The Empire clearly outnumbers the Republic on VZ, which we see on Ilum. Warzones, on the other hand, are quite even. When I'm looking for my daily wins, they're more likely to come in Huttball, against other Imps, than in Civil War or Voidstar. If you're stuck on a server with no good PvP guilds on your faction.. well, yeah. You're stuffed. Probably best to hope for server transfers, or reroll to one where your preferred faction is more organized. Two faction PvP games walk a really fine line.

Diagnostic Scan is awesome in PvP... ... for juking an interrupt, so you can then cast a KI I'd never try to use it for healing or regen.

This is a common problem with the fight. It's a bit shocking BW has not addressed it. I know some people have had success switching companions. Alternately, ask someone for help. If you're on Ven Zallow, feel free to give me a shout. Let me add that the fight is worth completing. If you're enjoying the storyline, the next chapter or two add some really interesting plot twists

Worst case-scenario, zero expertise vs full battlemaster is just under 13% damage given/ taken gap. That's significant. But 'broken' is a bit strong. You're unlikely to one-v-one that BM on your first day, but most battles are scrums. Moreover, the most common warzone (Huttball) is won by mobility and teamwork more than killing and healing. You have a very broad definition of 'broken,' or you'd perhaps rather play an FPS with no gear progression. You're hardly alone in that. FPS's are quite popular. But most people come to an MMO expecting gear progression beyond cool-looking hats. I know people tolerate gear grinds poorly now, relative to the EQ1 bad old days. But you can get a decent PvP kit together in a week, week and a half of steady play. Full BM is far off from that, of course, but full Centurion players compete quite well.

Pre-mades are limited to four players. Keep queuing, even solo, and you'll eventually be grouped *with* that team that's stomping you. The first week or two at 50 is going to stink, though. The good news is that the gear gap closes more rapidly and predictably than it did in the past. You still have to get in there and get it done, though. The only short-cut is to form your own pre-made. Even with bad gear, four people who know how to play can win a whole lot of Huttball, assuming you include some sorcs to move the ball quickly.

I am going to do a longer post on this at some point, but here are some initial tips for Op Healers in PvP: - 28 points in Medicine, tops. 28/0/13 and 28/13/0 both provide about 95% of the functional healing as a full-med spec, and both add significant amounts of survivability and damage. - Keep HoT's rolling on several targets, even just single-stacks. Every TA is a chance at a Surgical Probe. Note, KP and SP are the two spells you can cast on the move, and you need to keep moving. A stationary healer will attract attention. - Positioning is key. Use Line of Sight to make yourself visible to fewer aggressors while you heal - Cleanse! In particular, cleanse the Huttball carrier. We can't remove everything, but we can remove a pile of nasty DoT's and debuffs. - Expertise is the king of stats for Operative healers in PvP. A heal/ DPS hybrid is the only build that takes full advantage of the stat, which boosts healing, damage and mitigation. Unless it's Rakata vs Centurion, wear your PvP kit in a warzone. - Do some damage. Don't be a healing prima-donna, too good to dirty your hands. Often, your best contribution is not doctoring, but murdering. Toss an explosive probe on that ball-carrier, then get in there and backstab (or stand back and snipe). In Civil War/ Voidstar, Corrosive Dart anyone who even looks like they might try to cap something. If you pick your spots well, playing as a hybrid results in more wins. Also, more medals. Lots more medals. - PvP Relics and Adrenals are a big deal. Learn to use them frequently. Don't save them forever 'just in case.' - Orbital Strike is great. You'll be surprised by how many people ignore the big red circle on the ground as they try to cap or continue beating fruitlessly against that shield-tech tank you already have double HoT'd. Orbital Strike + Crit/Surge Relic + Power Adrenal = instant medal(s) for you. Also, visceral glee. - Pre-kite. Don't wait for the melee to close before you start to run. Start running now. If they're too close, snare them. Get your bubble up. Make sure you remembered to keep your HoT's up. Run around and continue to HoT others and toss out SP's. Don't be a statue - we're not mercs, heavily armored and with a "can't be interrupted" bubble. You *will* be shut down and put down if you're caught by anyone with skill. Your defensive cooldowns stink, so try not to get caught. - Take Kolto Infusion off your hotbar and forget it exists. In 95% of all situations where you could use it, Surgical Probe is a better choice. KInf is for non-medicine Ops who get stuck healing (in theory, KInf has a role in raiding, too, but most people who take pains to explain why are more interested in theorycraft or showing off than in helping others get better) - I mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: Explosive Probe is still good at 50. It's burst damage at 30m, and it's instant cast. It's how you finish someone running away with a sliver of health (cover-eprobe-grenade will do nicely). - If you're not being chased, Kolto Injection + Surgical Probe, repeat. That is our highest healing throughput rotation, and you can sustain it forever, along with a few stacks of HoT's. If the other team is dumb enough to let you stand there and freecast, you can make one of your team-mates an unkillable monster, from 30m away. - We have a stun and a mezz. If a nasty melee gets on you (marauders/ sentinels become our worst nightmares), and you have not dotted them, use the 4-second stun (Debilitate) *first*. They will break that. Then, hit them with the 9-second mez (Flashbang) and run away gleefully. That would be a perfect time for a TA proc from your probes. - When you get slammed to the floor by a fellow Operative (or Smuggler) - and you will - first step is to travel back in time and refresh your double-stacked probes on yourself. Next, do not break their first stun. Break the second one - it's longer. Then stun them. If they break that, mez them. Mix in other cooldowns as needed, particularly if your stun or mezz is down. Once you've healed a bit, hit them with a Dart, so they can't stealth for a bit. Everything else would apply to any class. Best to group with a team on vent, be prepared to be destroyed for your first week or two in the 50 bracket, and don't take losses personally. Persist. We're not the best class for healing in PvP. Sorcs and Mercs both have significant advantages. But balance is fleeting, and even now, a good Op healer-hybrid can make a tremendous difference in a WZ.

Not nice to post spoilers in the title of your post.

If we win in Huttball, I generally MVP the player who was pulling ball carriers up to the catwalk, or bubbling himself up to force-sprint through fire toward the endzone. In other words, the sorc that won the game for us (and in most wins, the one or two sorcs who know how to play are the core reason why). If the above does not apply, top heals gets the vote. Once, I MVP'd a tank who tossed a guard on me, but that's only happened that one time

I believe it's like this at every tier. The blue one is better than the purple, but it's single-use, expensive and time-consuming to make. Other than gearing up for a server first in a serious raid guild, I can't imagine many people bother with the blues.

That is an excellent reference.

Good news! With the exception of Ilum, most of your issues are fixed or will be in 1.2. 1) Warzone wins always count now. 2) I've seen a player get stuck in a WZ once through 56 valor levels. What you are seeing is client/ server syncing issues. They're not standing there doing the jitterbug because they're stuck. It's just that your client is not sure where the heck they are. 3) The medal system is being significantly changed 1.2, with a bunch of objective-based medals. 4) Ilum is poorly conceived and executed. Other than the sky graphics (which are very nice), they got almost nothing right with open-world PvP. As far off as it is, I would not count on it ever being worthwhile. That's a shame, as this was the best part of WarHammer. 5) Added to this, your raid frames are often screwed up by queuing with a group. This is probably something they can fix eventually, though. 6) Penalties for WZ leavers are imminent. I would add Class Balance to my list, and I'd place it at the top. We do not yet know if they're at all serious about it, or whether they will make it better or worse over time. The number of WH vets on the dev team is not a positive sign in this regard.

Comparisons, limited to PvP considerations: - Lethality is slightly better at healing others, while Concealment is moderately better at healing yourself (Lethality vs Survival Training). - Concealment build has permanent 15% in-combat speed boost; Lethality has a four-second 30% sprint attached to a reduced cooldown Debilitate. - Lethality build has noticeably better energy regeneration, while Concealment has noticeably better health regen (Combat Stims vs Revitalizers). - Lethality build does a LOT more damage overall, but it's DoT damage, so it's far less bursty and not as good at one-on-ones as the Concealment build. - Lethality build does most of its damage at range. Can help you stay out of trouble. - You've boosted Backstab to be much better. I've boosted Corrosive Dart (see above) - Lethality has a 21-second AoE DoT on a short cooldown. Good luck capping a node if I'm within 30 meters That covers the essentials. I have tried both builds (extensively), and they're both far better than any 31-pt Medicine build in PvP. The thing I miss most from yours is the speed increase from Infiltrator. That's a big deal. But the increased energy regen and the cap-prevention from the Lethality build give it the edge for me.

Expertise benefits healers more than any other role, even more so if, like the OP, they're a hybrid spec also designed to do damage. I also play an Op healer/ hybrid (28/0/13). No other builds take full advantage of expertise, as it buffs healing, damage and mitigation. Unless you value the 2-piece PvE bonus (+15% backstab crit) highly, wear your best PvP gear in PvP. The only reason it's a closer call for the OP is that he's mixing tiers (Rakata vs Champ).

'Burst' over how long? If you restrict it to a 5 or 7 second window, Ops may well win. With probes rolling, KInj/SP spam or even KInj/Kinf spam is a pretty big pile of healing, and I would suspect that we can at the very least keep up with sorcs/ mercs. If you pile up alacrity, and narrow the time of the window (who can heal the most in 1.8 seconds..), you can probably 'win' this contest. The issue is what happens to us (or a merc) after that burst. Our resource regeneration takes a hit. The sorc's does not. Apply it to PvP, and we're potentially the least bursty class, as we're the easiest to lock out with a single interrupt. Also, we're the only healer whose primary defensive cooldown prevents us from healing afterwards.

There are over a million people playing. Several hundred thousand are in guilds. Did you really expect everyone to get an invite? This is a videogame, mate. They're not holding a second constitutional convention. The fact that they're spending money to get a broad-based view from their customers, and doing it face-to-face, is a very positive sign. Let's see what results.