I agree with you, Ash, but I think the immediate shock is prevalent right now. I, for one, don't care. I have a min/maxed Jugg Tank and two WH alts. It's an expansion, there's going to be a new climb. It's the nature of the beast. Anyone who remembers when BC went live for WoW remembers that tier gear was obsolete within the first instances or in some cases, quest greens. The stat inflation was ridiculous and a lot of people were furious because their gear was worthless. But they got over it in a week. So what? We all know that WH/EWH was going to become obsolete. Whether immediately or in two levels, I'm not sure what the difference is. A bad player running around naked is still going to be a bad player. Show them why you're better. The min/max at 55 will still give you a competitive edge when you get there. Personally, I'm going to enjoy the content to 55, PVP'ing along the way. I'll get serious about 55 PVP when I get there. Just my two creds, not trying to fire anyone up...

Ignore them. Anyone who would bite the hand feeding them is a tard. I've seen written somewhere: "Damage is math, Tanking is Strategy, and Healing is an Art". That about sums it up. The learning curve that you have in recruit gear as you gear up to WH is vital to you, and will teach you to be a better and more efficient healer once you have the gear. Those who are complaining will probably never have the talent to heal competently and can't possibly appreciate what healers do. I have a healer and a tank that I PVP with. I know the value of protecting a healer and being protected as a healer. Also, as a healer, you have more control than you think. If someone is mocking you, STOP healing them. Next time they scream, tell them "L2 support your healers and you'll get heals". Then type /ignore. Keep fighting the good fight and ignore the scrubs. You'll be better in the long run.

VS defense is easy. It's all about interrupting an eight second cast and responding to calls. Chasing kills is what loses VS for a defensive team.

I usually rage the ragers. Yeah, not calling caps is annoying, and I'll make a comment, sometimes snarky, sometimes a polite "Come on guys, let's call those incs in advance". Same thing when Captain Squishy in his brand new MK-2 Recruit gear decides he's going to carry a huttball from one end of the map to the other, refusing to pass to my own 28k Jugg or any of the other capable ball carriers. I'm typically a laid back guy, until that guy starts... OMG FAIL GRP *** YOU ALL SUCK UNSUB QQQQQQQQQQQ See, the problem with these clowns is that they're usually about second-to-last in any category, especially objectives, at the end of the match, because they spent so much time crying throughout the match. When I get these guys, I do what I call a QQ taunt, which is bending them out of shape by starting out with a "**** Scrub!" Whether they're actually a scrub or not (most likely they are), this focuses all of their rage on me. I then proceed to troll them for the duration of the match, collect the MVP votes from the players who were tired of hearing him and got a little chuckle out of the fact that he couldn't figure out he was being trolled for 10 minutes, troll him for a few minutes after the match until I finally put him on ignore. Everyone wins except him. In summary: bad pugs are part of an MMO, I guess in the same way that emo ragers are. You have a good idea of what you can expect from a pug. Doesn't mean I can't still have some fun.

Personally, I think that CC's should have diminishing returns progressively building to max resolve, where a player is immune... Edited for clarity*

/signed

^This combo is amazing when you have 28k hp...

There, I fixed it, sweet heart...

/signed

I think that what he's implying is that health is a fairly good indicator of gear in a WZ. You can expect if your team is loaded with 14k players, that they're in recruit gear, and your chances of winning are slim. You can also assume that ~18-20k is your base WH players and your chances are better. Just my humble opinion

Huttball is by far my favorite wz. Of course, I play a Jugg Tank as my main, but on any of my alts, I love it just the same. My only complaint with it is that there aren't about 3 more Huttball maps to play on...

As a new player, with lack of experience or gear, make your focus communication. Make communication with the rest of the team priority. Call incs, ask questions. Make yourself as useful as possible despite your inexperience. All the guys here have given really solid tips too!

Does anyone know if this skin comes in heavy armor? http://www.torhead.com/item/5WJrI2Y/rakata-weaponmasters-headgear#screenshots

^ Headshot! Why should I work to win a wz, when 5 or 6 people give up and collect defender points after the initial assault? I play to win, and as long as the team is at least trying, I'll stay and fight with them, regardless of how bad they may do. When I realize that I'm in a lazyzone with a bunch of scrubs that didn't insta win, so they're sitting around collecting defender points while they "Words With Friends" waiting for the match to end, I'm not wasting my time.

I'm the same. I have a 27k Jugg Tank, and I'll gladly sit and hold a node if that's what's required. I don't trust a lot of puggers to call out incs, and typically the first thing I do is type out a quick "2 snow" or something before making a move. If the team is dragging along, I'll try to lead and offer some advice, since you lure more flies with honey. That being said, if I get a group that just gives up and turtles for defensive points after losing the initial assault in CW or NC, I'm dropping group. I'm not going to waste my time on a group that collectively fails like that.

This. It's about interrupting an 8 second channel until help gets there, (unless they're pew pewing and can't be bothered). I'm a fan of "2 dedicated node guarders per node with 4 floaters" idea, or 2/6 in the case of VS, because it's not uncommon that a team will over-rotate and lose the abandoned node.

I appreciate the info gents. My shadow is a toon that I hadn't really put much stock in, but now that I'm playing it more and enjoying it, a few more experienced opinions are appreciated. Thanks, I'll look into some changes.

Anyone care to take a look at my gear build and advise me on ways to make it better? I'm more concerned with my "Wish List", as that's what I'm working towards. I know my current gear is garbage and not augmented, but I'm working toward making it better and optimizing. Any constructive help would be greatly appreciated. http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/833f58a3-467d-48a3-b787-04e6020405d4

Because as a tank, I feel my job is more to support the dps dealing the damage than doing the damage myself. Therefore, mitigation, protecting healers, protecting nodes, cc's and interrupts. The sunders indirectly support the dps more than what an extra 6% str would do for my damage output.

That's a good point. I tended to view the white damage as negligible, mainly because I was struggling keeping my accuracy at 100%, but mitigation is mitigation. Same here. My Exp is currently 1180. I replaced 2 EWH Armorings and my EWH Hilt with Guardian 27's and my PVP mitigation dropped just over .5%. That was 150 Exp dropped off and I gained 75 End.

Talon, Do you have an Ask Mr. Robot link to your build? I'm pretty sure we have close to the same gear setup/philosophy, but I'd like compare a few things.

This^ I'm still using my BM earpiece, and the EWH Implants were a sidegrade at best. My only reason for changing to them was because of a little def boost at the cost of only 1 End. The only major difference I have to Talon's explanation is that I min/max with the leggings and not the gloves. The itemization on the leggings is perfect: End>Str>Exp>Acc>Def. My preference is to go def over shield. My build is 27/12/2. Hope this helps you!

I love my Jugg Tank. You simply feel like an unstoppable force of rage going into a warzone!

My Stats (Fully Buffed with Exotech Fortitude): Exp - 1180 End - 2384 (26345hp) Str - 1255 Def - 32.57% I use Advanced Fortitude 22 Augments in all my gear, although I'm not fully maxed out yet on my customizations. http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/023f8d01-cc32-4e11-b10e-164d4aa3c3d9

What frustrates me is the emo rages after the initial capping of nodes is done. When two or three of a team rage and sit on a node in CW or NC after initial caps, it's not worth finishing the match. You're already outnumbered.