Really think you're going to struggle if yworking on Balmorra at level 13! ...I only started there at level 17 I think. I'm just starting out really as a sniper... I'm level 19 at the mo and still working my way through Balmorra! I tried racing ahead when I was on my first character (Juggernaut) - raced ahead and had to back track because at around level 29 - 32 ish the difficulty of the game goes up quite a bit... My advice... follow your class quests of course, but I'd do all the quests you find along the way... and do your space dailies too. You'll probably find yourself very slightly over the level required of you - but it makes the journey a lot easier - especially when the game cranks up at level 30ish Cheers

Hi All, I'm a lvl 36 Powertech (after levelling a 50 Juggernaut ...and not quiote "feeling" it) Loving the powertech at the moment... pushing on to 50 so that I can MT for a couple of my guildies. Based on time available etc... I think its going to take quite a while to be pushing up into the Nightmare modes and operations etc .... so for quite a while I'll just be tanking HM's So...questions (which has probably been asked already but unfortunately I'm being blind!)... Will I be able to tank HM flashpoints without any major issues in either Iron Fist or Parakeet? At what point in my gear progression would I be able to use one of the above specs to tank with confidence? (I'm assuming I'll need pretty good gear to be able to survive in HMs? ) Is there a half-decent spec I could make a start with? (with PVP in mind) Currently I'm full ST spec and I wanted to take a break from the levelling to do a bit pf PVP Thanks T for the thread and all the information - I love theory crafting (while stuck at work!) ...and you've given me loads top mull over Best case scenario for me would be able to tank the HM's AND be anle to jump in and out of PVP without having to change spec and mess with my keybinds etc. any suggestions/advice welcome Ty all

Cheers fopr the info - much appreciated. I started another thread on this one actually to try getting to the bottom of it. I'd made some assumptions based on what I'd read (and filtering the whining and boasting etc.) ...turns out the majority of my assumptions are right thankfully.... all that remains to be seen is if I prefer the Powertech playstyle to the Jugg... I've got a 50 Jugg... and a 22 PT I plan to put some levels into the PT and see how it goes.. I understand both classes will have their limits..of course they will.... I just need to see for myself really which limits I want to live with Thanks again

Yeh I stumbled across the Parakeet thing - not sure I get it yet. The short version (that I took from my reading of it) was that it makes you slightly less tanky... but much more powerful DPS wise. I think the jist of it is that I'd need to tank in full shield spec until I get some decent gear... then think about switching to the Parakeet spec ... will have to go back and read some more i guess TY

Oh yeh.. forgot to ask (now that I'm decided on my course of action...thanks again all by the way) Can anyone advise me on a levelling spec? I'm assuming that with me wanting to be a tank at endgame...I should probably level in Shield tree - but does anyone have any advice for e good levellnig spec? TY again

Haha yep you got me - maybe thats why I'm having problems as a Jugg....damn flint sword doesn't stack up to the lightsabers! I met Steven Erikson once... Waterstones in Manchester. Really small book signing thing (lol..I sat next to him chatting before it started but didn't even realise it was him until he stood up at the front (facepalm!) ) So yeh... this is the kind of thing I was talking about. I think that you and me are in the same boat. I tend to hoard too... which I shouldn't as a Jugg. Yes I DO like the look and feel of the Jugg, BUT I've spent many years in another MMO fighting a hard fight with threat-gen - ultimately its a winnable battle of course... but I would like to enjoy tanking again to be honest. I like a challenge, but when it becomes a stress (and a guilt trip from losing aggro ...even when I'm not supposed to have it lol) ...then I think I need to re-look at what class I'm playing. Not sure what it is... but despite all the really good parts of the Juggernaut... all the really cool tools and the "heroic" feel of leaping around the place... something (for me) seems to be not quite right. Thanks to all for the feedback - much appreciated everyone. I'm going to give my Powertech a shot at the title ... will need some considerable grind time, but I'll feed back on here when I make some worthwhile progress. It may be that I find it no better of course..its a possibility..... if so then I might ask for volunteers to shoot me TY all

Hehe thats not quite what I meant. I've got a 50 Jugg already...but feeing "myeh"....What I'd really like is for someone to give me a level 50 Powertech for the day so that i could take him for a spin...have a bash at a few flashpoints..and weigh up the differences for myself ...but failing that..(and back to reality...thats not going to happen lol) I'm basically asking anyone who has levelled both Jugg and Powertech for their advice.. ideally I'd like to find out if the endgame Powertech plays to the kind of style I'm after...without levelling mine from 22 to 50 ..and finding out I've wasted hours lol This is kinda what i had in mind... and pretty much the sort of thing I'd like to test out for myself (when i finally get time that is!) Anyone got any further info? Cheers

Hi All, I've asked this question a few times... and never seem to get a conclusive answer. I'm trying to dodge the whining and QQing - thats not what I'm here for. I'd like to hear from people who have a levelled Jugg AND Powertech if possible. I have a 50 Jugg... loved the levelling...felt like a nice easy grind compared to some of my alts... BUT... hating the AOE threat issues in flashpoints.. I know I can work around them... and still tank flashpoints/operations successfully... but it annoys me... and I honestly don't want to feel annoyed while I'm tanking - I've done that for too many years lol. I have limited time to play the game unfortunately due to work etc... but I get the feeling I'll have a better time AOEing in flashpoints with the PT... and thats kinda what I'm after really - I've done MMOs with single target tanking focus too much in the past - now I'd like a better shot at some AOE damage options. Don't get me wrong..I like the Jugg, like the toolset..and I understand that their focus is essentially different to that of a PT (so I'm not just in here crying about it) but there's just something making me feel "meh" about keeping him as my main... So... my question, if anyone has the experience (because I don't!) - can anyone advise me on whether I should bother taking the time to level my lvl 22 Powertech to the top?...or will I ultimately have the same issues? Any help/advice would be appreciated. TY

Hi All, I've got to agree with the above... I'm a 50 Jugg... I've been toying with the idea of levelling up a PT tank... got me a lvl22 so far. On the Jugg side of things... yep their cooldowns are pretty awesome... and grinding to lvl50 with him has been a cruise to be honest.. found their grind-ability pretty amazing. BUT - having said that - I'm feeling "meh" about it all now that I'm up at 50 - yes the survivability is pretty cool.. clever use of cooldowns etc makes you very impressive from that point of view... but when it comes to agro in flashpoints - I've got to admit its not easy. That doesn't mean it can't be done - I've tanked a few things and managed ok... but coming from a background of other MMO's (and having had AOE threat problems there...wow-warrior etc.) - I have a pet-hate of losing agro... even when its justifiable by the game mechanics... my feeling is that I SHOULD have agro lol... even if the mobs are weak and will be nukled down in no time So....my question to you guys. has anyone got a level 50 Jugg AND a level 50 PT? would anyone mind humoring me with a comparison please? I'm not feeling my Jugg now that I'm at the top... but I don't want to level another char to 50 only to find there was no point lol.... Ideally what i think I'm looking for is a tank with some decent damage... the Jugg immortal damage is pretty poor... and the loss of AOE threat bugs me. I know that you can't necessarilly keep every single mob on you all the time (I am realistiic about that)... some may peel away - but any kind of AOE damage at the moment means I'm chasing things around like a headless chicken. My AOE taunt keeps things for 6 seconds and then they run off again lol. Any and all feedback would be appreciated TY

Can't say I agree with this statement to be honest. Not bering argumentative for the sake of it by the way... I agree with some of the frustrations with Jugg at end game (I'm a level 50 Jugg) - I haven';t done too much at end game just yet (keep letting my head get turned by other classes lol)..and thats partly due to the limitations I feel ... and my own short attention span lol. Anyway... levelling up - I ran a 100% Immortal spec and used Quinn all the time. I kept him geared in greens mainly from quest rewards... basically keeping him "just about" well geared. Never had a problem.. I've solo'd 2x elites at once at a level above me ...and I've survuived the most ridiculous circumstances where I've done a bad pull or something.. thinking I'd die, but somehow managed to survive it. I was showing a couple of mates the other day over at their place... One of my mates is a Marauder ... and he was blown away by the survivability and lack of down-time when moving from pack to pack. When using Quinn... if you're just fighting packs of same-level weak and silvers.. you can have Quinn work in his DPS stance... he'll still heal you but it speeds up the grind... when it comes to elites - switch him into his healing stance and be clever about cooldowns etc. Honestly... the Jugg immortal spec cannot be faulted for its ability to level/grind - no way. I'll agree on the DPS front... but you can't have everything eh?

LOL...rage-post?! I personally am on the fence at the mo..not exactly the most experienced tank..I'm still working on HM's..I haven't done any Ops yet. SO I'm not the expert. However..I've tanked a fair bit so far... not had any massive issues with single target - lost agro once or twice, but nothing that a quick taunt won't fix. AOE of course is a different issue...I keep reading that this game isn't designed for me to grab Agro from every single thing... but then I read that Assassins and Bounty Hunter tanks are able to do exactly that. My problem is that I don't have a huge amount of time... levelling another tank would be quite a task. So I can't really test the theory myself. I can't work out how much people are just talking cr4p on here about how good they are... or if its actually true. So..my question. Has anyone levelled a Jugg AND a Powertech or Sin up to 50 and used them both (or all three) to tank? ...I'd really like an honest appraisal. Personally I hate not being about to AOE well... bugs me (having done a lot of tanking in the past in another un-namable MMO..and suffered endless AOE issues)... I know TOR isn't identical... but if I'm going to tank - I'd like to actually tank lol... not chase things around on my screen. Cheers

Yeh TY..I read that one on my travels. TBH I'm not the most experienced Jugg tank yet... just starting out in 50s HMs - so I should probably have patience lol. Didn't have a particulartly bad experience last night in my HM BT ... went well overall...so I should probably get more experience before jumping specs I guess.. Having said that - I'm dying to spec into Unstoppable (hate leaping in only to get smacked down) ... but not sure how much of an impact it would have on my thtreat (losing out on Crushing blow) any thoughts?

I'm interested in giving the other spec a go... I've read around the pro's and cons of both specs (Immortal vs. Hybrid) - and the main thing I'm concerned about is the rage-gen. To be fair, the last time I tried this out I was level 40 - so didn't have the full hybrid spec benefits... but I felt SO rage starved. I've tanked in Immortal... and I like the feel... but I'm not 100% convinced if this is the best for me or not. Would you mind letting me nkow your rotation... how you make the mitigation work for you etc. I'm definitely interested in giving this another shot... love the idea of a stronger threat (if that is indeed the case)... but concerned about the rage-gen and the level of mitigation - do I need to be WELL geared for this to work for me? (I'm a fresh 50 really) Cheers

Great Advice - thanks. One thing I missed out was the AOE disruption and chilling scream. BlackTalon is a pain beacause of the random ad's running in from different directions...but they die so quickly - I just asked my DPS mate to nail them down while I grabbed the silvers/golds. Good advice tho - will make sure I shortcut those two abilities... haven't used them much so far...and I'm running out of shortcut buttons on my mouse and keyboard lol... think I need to re-prioritse the buttons I have tied onto my buttons! Cheers

Well i tanked last night (first time in HMs) ... only did Black Talon HM to be fair - but it went ok. We had two wipes... One was because I didn't move enough outside of the 2nd boss's AOE (my fault) ...only happened once... after I knew the radius... didn't happen again. Second wipe was an enrage on the final boss...got one-shotted lol.. I think because she jumps around a lot..and we had an all-mêlée group...it was tough to dps her.. would have been easier with a ranged thrown in the mix. Made it through in the end tho... think I need to be higher geared really. However...back to the plot - The DPS were better geared than me (one assassin was MUCH better geared than me) ...but, having said that I didn't seem to have any REAL probs with Agro... lost it once or twice on bosses, but I'd been told to expect that occasionally, and easily pulled back using taunt without any harm done... As I understand it... the Taunt is a tool for putting you in line with the top DPS's threat - so the further into the fight you use it (i.e. the higher the threat is stacked overall) - the better it is... For example, if my threat is 100, and the DPS get theirs to 130 - I lose agro. I taunt to get my threat to 130 and then carry on my rotation.... it won’t be too hard for the DPS to pull agro off me again. But if we're mid way through a fight and the threat levels are in the 1,000s or 10,000s - then its much harder (once I've equalized) for the DPS to pull it back off me again. Instead of the DPS having to top me by 30, its then 300 or 3,000 they have to beat me by.... so the longer the fight, the bigger the numbers and the easier it is to tank (and the more effective taunt becomes) Thats my understanding - correct me if you think I'm wrong Anyway... sorry for the essay! I used the spec : http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#101dMGcuMrouRZhGM.1 ..thinking about shifting so that I can spec up to "Unstoppable" in the Vengance tree (something like this? : http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#101dMGcuMrozMZhGMMM.1 ) - but not sure what the impact would be to my threat and rage gen ...and havent had time to test it yet ...any thoughts? Cheers

no probs - just added another link to the thread above (one I'd forgotten to add which I only found this morning on my break at work

There was a good thread here which is helping me out so far... seemed to be a good starting point : http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=225858 ....and another one which has proved useful : http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=261530 Have a read...hope it helps

Yeh me too... really liked the idea. HATE being knocked back or stunned when you charge in.... thats a quick way for your agro to go all over the place before you've even started your rotation. ..so... unstoppable would be awesome. I'm just a bit nervous about rage generation losing the damage bonus to backhand and sweeping strike missing out on the top tier ability If I get time tonight to re-spec and give it a go...I'll do so and feed back on here. If anyone is using this spec (or a variation) - please let us know your experiences... v curious Cheers

TY for the info - question for you. I've recently hit 50... just in the process of working on my gear (dailies etc... will be tanking this evening if all goes well) I love the idea of your build... in principal I'm liking the look, and I've considered it a few times BUT.. couple of things.... what do you think of losing our top-tier ability? (does it make much difference in threat gen?) what is your rage-gen like? Do you struggle at all with having enough rage? Hoping the feedback is good... I'd like to tweak your spec just a litle to add in more damage on backhand and sweeping strike etc.... but I'll take your advice on this one. Ultimately I want to maximise my threat potential (ideally good on AOE too... or as good as I can be) Cheers

Lol..thats exactly the kind of unhelpful comment I'd been hoping to avoid when asking my questions to be honest No offence.. but that doesn't help anything... you need to ellaborate a bit... ...is that your experience of tanking? or have you just had a couple of bad experiences trying to DPS and getting nailed by the boss when the tank loses agro? Did you manage to get around it in any way if you were the tank? ...or just re-roll? See what i mean?... don't just spam your own taunt button (lol seems like thats what you were doing with your comment...you aggro'd me ..but only for the 6 seconds it took to write this... ) I'm willing to believe you've seen/had problems... but I'm more interested in the solutions - I don't think the class is broken... I've seen broken and this isn't it I'm pretty sure (willing to be corrected but you'll have to work a little harder to convince me) Cheers

Thanks for the feedback - thats pretty much exactly the kind of thing I was after! Fact is that there are good and bad tanks... just the way it goes (I've been on both sides of that fence lol... I've been a bad tank on occasion... and had to up my game) - I've also been the victim of bad tanks ...some of which refulsed to learn their lessons!! I just wanted to sanity check some of the QQing and demands for changes to the class etc. I'll definitely be moving on to tanking within the next week or so (If work allows me the time!!) ... and I wanted to think of a backup plan for a "fix" if I encounter problems which are bigger than just my own ability and practise etc. On that front..I'm happy to just admit if/when there are issues that I need to practise and work on things more. I've done all the reading I can do (lol) - now I just need to jump in .... thankfully I'll be working with mates who are old hands at their role too (and will be using vent as always) Thanks again - much appreciated

Just read your post... I'm also after similar sort of advice to be honest..sounds like I'm a few steps behind you in my journey... but I expect I'll be working in HM's tanking within the next week or so. I posted recently : http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=258668 Basically asking similar sort of thing to yourself... whithout having people start with the whole QQing thing (in the words of Arnie... "STAP WHINING") Given what you've said, sounds like you'd be the perfect person for me to ask for some basic feedback... so I hope you don't mind the intrusion on your post! If you have a mo...give the post a read and let me know what you think. I must admit I almost sucumbed to the re-roll urge... but I've come this far - don't want to give up and end up chickening out. Cheers

Hi All, I think I'm guilty of doing too much reading on the forum to people whining about things... BUT - I don't know how real the issue is yet... looking for advise or clarification...without people using scare tactics or telling me to re-roll... I don't have enough tmie for that right now! Let me explain... I'm a Juggernaut - currently level 47, and a few of my friends are sat at 50 waiting on me to hit 50 so that we can progress through some flashpoints together etc. I reckon I'll hit 50 by this weekend if all goes to plan. However, I've been reading one too many horror stories about Jugg threat gen. Yes I get the point about the AOE, and its largely manageble with effectinve marking of targets for burn/wait/dps/ etc... my main concern is on the single target I guess. I'm pretty confident that with communication I can tank the AOE situations well enough to make them managable.. I've tanked quite a bit in the past on other games with similar lacking AOE abilities (get the hint? ) ... so I reckon I can manage that bit - even if it means my DPS chilling out a little to let me keep onto the aggro. BUT..I've heard that single target threat is also a problem?!! (look of horror) I'm running toward a 31/10/0 spec at the moment..I've tried out the Vengance spec 13/27/0 (or something...can't remember exactly now) - but I didn't like it so much to be honest. Can anyone give me a steer on this one way or another? Am I going to have major issues? and is there anything I can be doing about it? I'm Biochem 355 at the mo..planning on making myself a number of reusable buffs etc so that I can either buff up my survivability or threat gen depending on the situation. Thoughts, comments & General abuse welcome

Yep I've spotted this one too... And for some reason thought nothing about it until I read the thread lol. Anyways... I pasted the link to this thread into twitter (sent to @swtor) just in case they haven't spotted this... No idea if it'll do any good, but worth the 5 seconds effort it took to do :-)

Must say i felt bad when I read your post. Pretty harsh for you to be removed from duty if they didn't have a problem with your actual tanking before you mentioned the clicking thing. Anyway, I used to be a clicker... In another un-namable mmo ... I managed just fine to be honest, reaction speed was ok, never had any huge problems... However... I've invested in a logitech g700 and Microsoft sidewinder keyboard .... I've keybound all my abilities to mouse buttons now and set up my "oh sith" buttons to shortcut keys on the keyboard.... I've got to say... SO much better. It's a bit of a learning curve, and I wouldn't recommend trying to tank with a new set up from day one... But if you go out with a couple of mates and just suss out your rotations, try to hold agro etc... Or start with a new char and use keybinds all the way... Trust me it's worth the time Huge improvement... And will seriously help you in pvp too!