I doubt the announcement will be Chapter X. They pretty much said one a month anyway and everyone is expecting that. To announce that as the “big” news would be a massive disappointment to everyone and undermine their credibility as MMO designers. Oh wait.

Taris. Taris. Taris, taris, taris. Taris.

#jokeoftheweek

Finally someone with a proper answer. I disagree with you, but you make good points. Hopefully we can talk about this and if I'm wrong, then fine I am wrong. Now, you're totally right that there are ways to counter the AP hybrid. Of course there are. There is partly a L2P issue here, but you can say that about anything (like Smash). Every class has its hard counters, and every class has its weakness which you can exploit if only you know how. I know heat management is a problem and it's not easy to excel at this spec. But I don't think that's a valid reason to keep the PFT stacking. The fact that the AP hybrid makes almost every setup so much better than any other proper tank spec, and that it requires such particular counters is evidence of its being over-powered. Surely you can agree to that? Nobody goes into any arena with a particular strat for countering Jugg tank, PT tank, or Sin tank's damage - but you're saying one *is* required for this hybrid? Doesn't that sound odd to you? Don't you think it's unintended for a dps hybrid in place of a tank to be doing the traditional role of a tank in arenas? Don't you think it's a bit off that the true tank spec has been marginalised and hardly played? How do you reconcile all this with the claim that the hybrid is fine, working as intended, and PFT stacking shouldn't be cylinder-bound? And it's not like PT full tank is bad! So why aren't more people playing that? I think we all know why.

So you agree that AFT stacking should be bound to the middle tree cylinder? So you agree that AFT stacking should be bound to the middle tree cylinder? Why does no one answer this? I wonder

Smash is fine. It's a *dps* class doing what it should (btw I am *not* a smasher and don't want to play the spec. The problem is other classes need tweaks to help them (e.g. Sorc)) If you're saying that Maras are OP then I'd agree with you.) The point, which I don't think you can deny, is that your success in a particular aspect of the game should be proportionate to your skill investment in that aspect. If you spec tank, you should be a good tank. If you spec dps you should be a good dps. If you go hybrid you should be decent at both. This is obvious from how all classes' skill trees are designed. The problem is that, especially in arenas, AP hybrid is too good at doing a tank's job and too good at dealing damage. I've not met anyone who really disagrees with this (except one or two on these forums). Stop kidding yourself - you're not fooling anyone. You're not going to lose anything if this gets fixed. If you want to tank you can, and be more sturdy - and if you want to dps you can - AP is an amazing tree. I don't mean to be argumentative, and honestly I can't see what the issue is. And I'm not whining or asking for a nerf either. I actually don't care as much about this as I make out. I just can't stand this hypocritical nonsense. Answer my question: do you agree that AFT stacking should be bound to the middle tree cylinder?

Same old strawman red herring retort. The difference is, smashers aren't also providing a guard, taunts, pull, 90% slow, and tons of group utility at the same time... Anyway, can I take it you agree that the PFT stacking should be bound to the middle tree cylinder then? Or to put it another way, can we remove the Rage tree binds to Shii-choo? Or Deception tree binds to Surging charge?

Said it a hundred times and will say it again: bind the AFT stacking to the middle tree cyclinder and problem solved. Every other class, and especially those which can tank, have their key tree abilities bound to stances. PT should be the same. No one can give a good reason why the stacks shouldn't be bound to the cylinder because they know their OP broken pet spec won't be worth it. Instead they would have to choose to be a tank or a dps - not both at the same time. The fan boys can deny it all they want, but there is a reason almost every top arena team uses AP hybrid, and why lowbie is full of them. I'll give you a clue: it's not because of the class storyline.

About 2-3 seconds walking distance from the node but outside zap-range; just far enough that the stealther cannot zap you and initiate a cap in the same GCD/second; the theory being that the time it takes you to get back to the node after mez should be a bit less than it takes them to get from zap-range to the node and initiate a cap. Your mez should expire with just enough time to still interrupt assuming you're not slowed, but it's cutting it close due to Roll, Force Speed and LOS. You will always get stealth-capped if you are solo and stand too close. And if you're solo you will get stealth capped eventually anyway. If not on your first break then definitely on your second. There's nothing you can do. Against a stealther who knows what they are doing, as a Jugg you simply need another person there. My advice would be as a Jugg tank: make yourself so useful to the team that leaving you to guard is as ludicrous as leaving the main healer there. Don't volunteer to guard and make sure you're not the last one standing at the node. Every other class is better at it than Juggs (except maybe Mara). Your job is with the team protecting. If another stealth class doesn't want to go (it's part of their role, like it or not), that's not your fault. The only exception of course is if you are ONLY person there in which case you can just do your best and call the instant you smell a stealther.

I think this build has an identity crisis. I don't know what it is intended to be good at - which is a problem with all Jugg hybrids (except one). It seems that the point in going Immortal is to get Unchannelled Force Choke (UFC). Ok, so whilst the enemy is choked what will you be hitting them with? Ravage? (Once every 45 seconds...) If you want Choke+Ravage combo you don't need Rage tree for that. If you want to Smash then you don't need Choke since Smash is instant and AoE. Plus your smash won't have stacks from Rage unless you're in Shii Choo form, and if you're in Shii Choo form then most of the points in Immortal are useless, just to get the Immortal bubble and UFC. With only 6-7 more points in Rage you could max the tree and probably do twice the damage. Getting the armour debuff on Smash is mildly interesting, since I don't know if the debuff is applied *before* the damage effect. I don't know if anyone else could answer that. But what extra damage could the debuff really add (assuming no one else debuffs the targets' armour) that a full Rage spec twice as often couldn't do?? Immortal is irrelevant too. If you're trying to damage your job is to do damage. An extra c/d every 3 minutes for the sacrifice of Force Crush gimps your damage. You could just as well die when Immortal is on c/d (and probably will). Your job is to kill people, not worry about staying alive; (unless you're a marauder, which is far better at Rage when we are), that's your healers job. What this build *could* do is guard and switch to shii-choo for Enrage + Smash, but that seems a bit gimmicky to me. And if you wanted to guard, you don't need to pick up UFC, just go high enough for Immortal. But if you do that you can't reach Force Crush. There is just no benefit to UFC unless you're peeling or Ravaging, compared to the far greater benefits of full Rage smash. If you want to play this for kicks then knock yourself out, but you will be incredibly underwhelmed in PvP.....and so will your team-mates. tl;dr: this build won't work.

....anyway, getting back on topic: Removing respec from WZ queue was absolutely the right thing to do, in ranked and regular. Respeccing encourages recklessness when attacking, and turtling when defending. It penalises balanced long-term specs and encourages quick wins. It makes bad tactical decisions too forgiveable, and at any level it promotes more stalemates. Getting rid of field respeccing encourages all players on both teams to enter every warzone with a balanced approach to any game and any situation in that game. You have to decide what role you want to play and spec accordingly for all eventualities. You should succeed or fail based on that decision. I actually enjoyed field respec and used it when it was there, but I can still see it needed removing. There is absolutely no reason to ask for it unless you want to gain a tactical advantage in a particular situation in a particular warzone. Anyone who claims it's for testing or fun is talking rubbish; you can already test and have fun without it - just not in the *same* warzone, so boom goes that argument.

Tooltip ftw

If you're going to discuss this, please attack what I actually said, not what you think I said or who you think I am. I despise bullies and people who harass people. The problem with your argument is the problem with most junk on these forums: it's simply bad argumentative form. People attack strawmen all the time, and beg the question. You need to logically connect premades in warzones with "bullying and harassment". This is a pretty strong and unsavoury claim - so good luck trying to prove it. I won't bother discussing this any further since it's a ridiculous and totally arbitrary claim. Beating someone is not bullying them. This "supposed to have fun" line interests me. This implies that you think having fun is the mort important thing. Which means that winning isn't the most important thing. Therefore, if a pug team loses 20 times against a premade but still has fun, there is no problem right? Fortunately, this never happens anyway. There simply aren't that many world class premades running warzones, and almost none of them do it for the sole intent of stomping pugs. If somebody finds themselves in warzones where they are consistently being totally outplayed and decimated, that person needs to take a serious look at his teammates, and in the mirror. Yes, against a pre-made there is more chance of this happening than in a random 8v8 pug, but that's only because the other pugs are papering over the cracks in each other's gameplay; and then the big bad premade comes along to show up how bad they are. That isn't bullying, that isn't harassment, that isn't the premade's fault. And that person on the receiving is quite welcome to adapt, or quit the game. (And if you think that this game will lose a noticeable amount of PvP subs simply because of this, then we simply have a difference of opinion.) Edited to add: this game *will* lose PvP subs...but not because of this. Edited again to add: the people I do feel sorry for are the decent solo-queuers who keep ending up with scrubs against a good premade. This person probably tries their heart out but keeps losing. This is a shame, and I've been on the receiving end many times (more often in lowbie). But just because something unfortunate happens occasionally doesn't mean the entire system needs changing. By definition, bad luck doesn't last forever and it works both ways. Penalising groups of people is not the answer.

We all had to go through the process of gearing up. We still do on alts. I have absolutely no problem with ungeared players in my warzone, within reason, because everyone has to start somewhere. They have just as much right to play as I do. But, tautologically, I have as much right to be there as they do - with whomever I want. I am not calling for ignorant undergeared lazy and clueless scrubs to be banned from warzones, so I don't see why anyone should object to decent players who bother to max their toons and play objectives being in any warzone. No one expects to walk into end-game PvE content and succeed at the hardest raids in bad PvE gear. This is taken for granted. Why on earth would anyone expect any different in end-game PvP? No one ever claimed this was an equal opportunities game. Nothing in real life is either. The best minds will always win, so will the best players. Gear plays a big part too, but it isn't everything. I groan when I see people in my 8-man team with low HP but I still play the game. What I *do* have a problem with is those who clearly haven't bothered to educate themselves about the content they are entering, and are wearing old PvP sets with obsolete expertise. Or whose gear is so bad the only excuse is laziness or lack of understanding. These people deserve no sympathy. In PvE the content would simply be *closed* to them. But in PvP they can still enter the WZ at least and get comms and gear, even for losing (!). If this person gets stomped by better players in better gear, then I'm sorry but cry me a frakking river... ...But to actual claim that PREMADES (read: people who enjoy playing together and play to win) are RUINING regular warzones is such a dishonest and disgraceful statement. It's SCRUBS (*not* PUGS) who ruin warzones, but I accept that it's a free system and everyone pays their money and has a right to play. Some people much better than me will beat me and I will beat people who don't put in the effort. In such a system these things can happen.

Yes, but a pug *does* have the ability to gear up*, to learn the warzone, to not back-pedal, to study his class, to keybind his abilities, to try and re-try and test combinations, to type words into Ops chat, to watch and learn how better players play and then improve. A pug does *not* have a right to walk into a warzone, wearing awful gear, with a limited understanding of his class, with no awareness of his surroundings, not understanding how the objectives work, not working with the team, not communicating --- against an experienced fully geared more-skilled player or group of players who may or may not choose to group together (and use voice coms) and *then* complain that he is getting stomped. If 90% of pugs were really good solo players who just kept on getting unlucky with random groups vs premades then I'd feel a bit unlucky for them (and myself, since I solo, although we have just as much chance of being on a good team), and then only if 90% of premades were good (but they aren't. Most premades are friends who play together and aren't that great). But 90% of puggers are pretty poor players who just need to improve. IMHO, these people are more likely to learn from defeat than being carried by others and thinking that they are not as bad as they think they are. Or they can choose to give in. Yes, a really good pre-made should probably beat average pugs in the majority of cases, but if you are getting absolutely hopelessly smashed, that isn't the premade - that is you and/or your team being terrible. In those cases you need to look in the mirror. (E.g. being three-capped in NC or CW.)

This. /5char

Err, l2read. Typical strawman rubbish. Twist someone else's words and attack your distortion to give your position more credence. I said that AP can *protect* as well as any tank. That doesn't imply that it mitigates as well as other tanks, like the Jugg, but in arenas this is far less of an issue. What I actually said was: What it gives to the team is an extra DPS member *and* a guard. So much for "BW doesn't like hybrids." I like how you ignored the "3-4 times the damage" part of my post. As for your earlier comment, just LOL. Are you suggesting that AP hybrid isn't seen more often than not in arenas? Are you saying it isn't utilised significantly more often than any other tank? Fail. I notice you didn't answer my question though. BW should bind the Prototype Flamethrower stacks to the dps cylinder (just like how almost every other stance-based tree in the games works) and problem solved yes? Oh what's that - AP hybrid *needs* the PFT stacks in tank cyclinder to be viable? Uh-huh...

Ok, so if AP hybrid tank is perfectly fine and it's purely a coincidence that almost all the best PvP arena teams choose this over the other tanks, and it can protect as well as a Juggernaut despite being able to do 3-4 times the damage, and it's purely a coincidence that all of a sudden the AP hybrid is being played by every man and his dog, then surely we can all agree that PFT stacking should be bound to the dps cyclinder, yeah?

It's not a L2P issue. I was in Huttball yesterday carrying the ball in the pit. I was on FULL resolve. I was knocked back twice and stunned. There is definitely something wrong with it at the moment, and it seems to be a problem with KBs more than anything else.

A group of friends who want to play together, even if they aren't very good must therefore do ranked. A group of guildies who aren't amazing have to do ranked. A group of people who despise TDM but want to play together have to do ranked. What happens when these "premades" come across a half-decent premade and get pwned time and again. What happens? They complain that better premades are ruining their PvP. What's the answer then? Stop "really good" premades queuing against "casual" premades? At least in regs there are 4 other players who may or may not help or hinder. At least in regs there is the possibiltiy of the unexpected or unpredictable, where class balance isn't as important. Maybe, just maybe, some pre-mades don't like team-death-match; they didn't ask for it; they didn't want it. Maybe they prefer objective-based PvP. Maybe they are thinking 'we aren't that good, just the average PUG is terribad. Why should we be penalised? Why should we have to literally *carry* 4 other people who can't perform the most basic tasks?' Instead of raising the player up the mountain, the OP just wants to raze the mountain. Ranked is not intended for pre-mades. Ranked is intended for those who want to play ranked. No more, no less. Stop trying to smuggle your own false premises into the argument.

Wow, you must be on the toughest server in the world where premades consistently stomp pugs who don't have a chance! Can we just leave the hyperbole aside for 5 seconds and be realistic for once: yes, a really well organised premade of top class players will invariably stomp 8 rubbish pugs. No one denies that. What I deny is there are many of these imba trololopremades running around doing regs for hours just for the sh*ts and giggles of stomping pugs. (I can name off the top of my head 6 guilds who run premades every evening - and most of the time I *dont* want them on my team because they are more a hindrance than a help. And when I am playing against them I don't worry at all.) "you should always face opponents who are playing by the same rules as you." Same old premises being smuggled into every argument. Notice how you equate being a premade with breaking the rules and then ask us to agree that breaking the rules is wrong? Well, yeah. But your argument begs the question because premades ARE playing by the same rules! The rules are: you can queue solo or you can group with other people (you know, this being an MMO and all...).

It would be good if Valor ranks gave something as well as Titles. Purely social rewards of course, like exclusive mounts, lightsabres, gear etc. The "grind" to 100 is probably the most time-consuming thing you can do in game and shows a real dedication to your class and PvP . It would be nice if it gave extra benefits. But it's only a "would be nice"; it shouldn't be used for ranking or anything other than social rewards. (inb4: i know all of this has been suggested/said before).

Personally I'd do all levelling in Vengeance, but Rage is nice after 45 for wiping out groups of mobs. Levelling in Immortal is like attempting foreplay in a straight-jacket. You will eventually get the desired result but the frustration might kill your mood.

/thread Everyone can potentially group with others so the base conditions are the same for everyone. Some people choose to group with others, some choose not to. Some people can group with good players, and some people simply can't. So what? Is it unfair that some people in life are more popular, funny, better looking, more intelligent, than others? Well guess what - being popular and intelligent is a massive advantange when making PvP friends and grouping with people too. Shoud these people be penalised simply because others can't get a group, or choose not to? You cannot, *cannot* complete endgame PvE content by yourself. You are *forced* to group up with people to do it. If you aren't good enough to raid at a high level, or you cannot find a good guild, or if you cannot get a good guild to accept you, that's tough luck! That's life. Should Bioware stop "premade" raids because it's unfair on those who can't get into one? Should Bioware force guilds to accept poor players into their raid, just so everyone has a "fair" chance? In PvP things are actually far more forgiving. You *can* PvP whenever you want, wherever you want. There are no hard gear restrictions, no lockouts and everyone *can* complete the content solo or a group. You might not *win* all the time but the starting conditions are as fair for everyone as they can be, and you get rewards *even if you lose* (!) - they just aren't as many as rewards for winning. Compare that to PvE where you might wipe for 4 hours and end up with *nothing*. Lol seriously, who are the carebears here? You have a brain and a pair of hands, the playing field is level. The rest is up to you. /0.02

Hey this happens to me too! I take my eyes off the door for 8 seconds and all of a sudden it's capped! / but seriously - I haven't seen a stealth cap in a verrrrry long time. Nothing but video evidence will suffice to prove this.