The reason is Bioware is stubbornly clinging to the foolish idea that each class has to be immediately visually identifiable for PvP balance. It's dumb, and wrong, and all sorts of evil, but I'm not optimistic is will change any time soon. The omenbringer robe and a pair of orange pants is workable, but it's not exactly what I was hoping for.

Your ship droid is a fairly capable healer and available at level 16 or so. You're welcome.

Tank/DPS hybrid with a healing companion is the most efficient (ie. fastest) leveling spec for Assassin and Shadow. Whether it's the most fun is a matter of personal opinion.

Althougth I'm only into my 20s on my Imperial characters from the spoilers and such I've read it seems readily apparent that Bioware is far more comfortable writing for the Sith then for the Jedi. I'm not talking about "fun" or "cool" , I'm just talking about the depth of the plot and quality of the writing. I also don't think it's an issue of bias, so much as Bioware's writers just seem more comfortable exploring Sith theme.

Also, there are times when Holiday is a hindrance, since she shares a cool down with healing abilities. Assuming you can keep them similarlly geared (I have checked to see if the weapon issue has been solved yet) then for pure healing the droid may be better.

+power. Useful as a tank and it will stay useful should you want to respec at some point.

It's unlocked for me, but I've frankly never used it anyway.

It's a bug some people get. Syo is actually saved, but the wrong cinematic plays showing his death. If you get the letter from Syo later, you've actually saved him.

I'm willing to bet that white crystals will be back.

In addition to the lower muse robe, if you get social rank 2 by running esseles a few times and there are several pants options. Alderaan, Balmorra, and (come 1.2) the formal pants are all easily obtainable.

Cyan hawkeye for my balance shadow. I'm at DR on crit so power was the way to go and the light blue blade is very Episode IV.

I haven't seen a proc relic yet. Are they a 1.2 thing or are they drops from operations?

Seer is healing Telekinetic, is ranged DPS focusing on direct damage (aka nukes) Balance, is ranged DPS focusing on periodic damage (aka DoTs) None of the sage trees offers lightsaber combat as a viable part of a character's rotation. Any of the trees is capable of leveling and participating in PvP, though there will of course be debate over which is the most efficient. There is also quite a bit of discussion over how the patch 1.2 will influence a Sage's performance. Stay tuned.

You might have better luck (and more support) lobbying to remove the double-bladed saber restriction from Shadows.

The lable "Assassin" suggests to me a mind set of "I solve problems by killing the right person(s)," which I don't think is the intention of a Shadow. Shadows may move in the...well....shadows, but their purpose is to uncover hidden threats to the order and deal with them. Sometimes that will mean applying a little violence here or there, but just as often it's about discovering hidden lore, or seeking the truth behind the public face of a situation. Shadows are not particularly more or less inclined towards violence then any other Jedi. While I agree some PLAYERS may have expected a more action oriented story from a shadow, lorewise I don't think there is any disconnect between a Sage and Shadow. And for whatever it's worth I play a level 50 Shadow. Not saying I'm typical, but that's my take.

Where'd you get the idea that Shadows are assassins? Shadows are the "internal police" of the Jedi Order; the ones who watch the watchers. Shadows may be spies, and occasionally are called upon to do "surgical strikes" but ultimately Shadows are about discovery of hidden threats. I thought the plot fit in very well, with that theme.

What you're describing is sort of what Balance Sage was until later in testing. Force Strike used to be an actual melee attack, and the balance tree was an exact duplicate for Sages and Shadows. It gave Sages some limited melee viability. Then Bioware pooped on it.

Generally I tended to enjoy the quests were I felt like an investigator or diplomat Early... Mid... Late..

I leveled from 1-45 as balance. When force strike got nerfed and I could no longer use combat technique, however, things slowed down for me. I got to 50 as deep balance, but if I had to level the whole way under the current system, I'd go for a KC/Balance hybrid.

Having talents in a class based game always creates tension. By definition a class is defined by a particular skill set, but talents are supposed to allow differences within a class for different players to choose different skills. People (players and maybe Devs alike) are just finally seeing past the facade of "talents" and realizing that the sense of choice is mostly illusory. It sucks, but it's true. Before people howl, I'm not sure a skill based game is necessarily any better. People will always min/max (aka theorycraft) an "ideal build" for a given role.

I agree....but there's nothing about that statement that precludes the ability to pick and choose talents from 2 or more trees to craft a playstyle you want, and for that playstyle to be as viable as any other. It's a decision decision to force 3 rigidly distinct playstyles on players. I'm admittedly overstating things a bit, as hybrids will probably still be viable for leveling, but endgame is totally directed.

The simple robes exist....for Jedi Knights. Bioware needs to abandon the stupid, "each class needs to be identifiable by gear" dogma and share models between light/medium/heavy armors more freely. The same rationale should be applied to pants. While we're on the subject of pants. It would be nice to wear actual pants, rather then leggings. I understand the graphical considerations that dictate the current situation, but it still looks dumb. All I want is the outfit Kenobi wore on Tatooine. You know the "Iconic" look that Bioware promised on the day they announced the game.

There is a vocal minority of players who are primarily concerned with hardcore endgame raiding that trumpet loudly that specialization=efficiency. Of course they are the same ones that ignore leveling builds, laugh at anyone who has to PUG, and whine if the best gear isn't all dropped from raiding. They are also a small portion of the gaming population and nowhere near large enough to sustain a game. My guess is Bioware thinks that rigidly defined roles for trees is a service to players who can't think for themselves. They want to make specing easy for us, whether we like it or not.

I assume you mean for PvP (or maybe solo leveling). Based on my experience a few steps into post 50 land, and from what I've synthesized from others, those two areas are the only time hybrid is viable.

There's a noticeable pattern from testing through the 1.2 notes of Bioware becoming increasingly hostile to hybrids. On a few occasions they claim it was "because players wanted it" but mostly it seems to be an inability/unwillingness on Bioware's part. There may be very good reasons to eliminated hybrids (itemization, balancing, simplifying the game for inexperienced players, etc) but I'd say yes, hybrids are being actively squashed by Bioware.