hurray for hybrid! i hope they dont nerf it by making induction surging charge only... i use a similar spec but i don't take any healing talents - if you are soloing or doing trash the instant whirlwind lets you in an extra maul proc http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200ZhGMMzZcrcRrMkrc.1 i personally don't use force lightning much, unless its a melee mob that you want to delay with reckless/lightning or a knockback/aoe avoid situation. my personal rotation: maul open from stealth while you have the force regen death field - reapply when its up shock - for unearthed relic, after the open mix in 2xthrash for induction and keep relic up discharge assassinate when its up under 30% * this is the most important maul when its up raze when its up blackout when force is low when soloing, shock/run to side to maul, whirlwind/run to side to maul, whenever you get the proc. bonus for timing it as a interrupt as well.

keep in mind the theorycraft situation is a perfect - standing still type rotation dps difference, in average pve/leveling play your mileage might differ for example if you are using talos, you are facing the mobs, the only time you can use maul is in stealth opener or when you have them stunned. so for deception (or even hybrid madness/deception) its actually quite difficult to get a maul proc off perfectly. i personally went back to full madness at lvl 40 after getting talos and 40-50 is a breeze. lightning charge for normal mobs and dark charge for bosses. at 50 i went to the hybrid spec out of any healing talents in madness and no creeping terror (i found it to be kind of meh) and got the 2xthrash for reduced shock talent in deception. similar to this spec: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200ZhGMMzZcMfRrMkrc.1 but i took oppressing force instead of parasitism. full madness is probably easier to play solo but this has some potential for flash points as well. advantages of madness: * increased range on kiting boss fights (there are many of those) * death field (so much better than lacerate) * don't have to maul if you specced out of it * loose low slash, gain multi instant whirlwind (if you spec into it) annoying bits of madness: * deathfield can break your mind trap on closely packed mobs * reduced stealth (if you are not hybrid) * deathfield is annoying to put down * creeping terror is meh

he's a pretty terrible villain... i think i really hate the way he look, as if he would be more natural wearing a cardigan sweater. i liked zash better.

This is great advice. After I learned to mind trap/interrupt/kite the fights became way easier. Deception is good but so is madness I am not sure what the gripe is against it, as it gives you tools to use when out of melee range which is a lot of boss fights/elites. The only draw back with madness is using death field with mind trap when the mobs are positioned too tightly as the graphic does not correspond with actual size of aoe. I do not think this game's pve leveling is easy at all. You need to use every ability you have to win and use the terrain. In WoW pve leveling you only pulled one mob at a time, never needed to interrupt anything, can stand in bad and still be ok and never in fear of falling off something and getting stuck. My first mmo is FFXI, you did not even need to move in that game, just stand in one place and spam rotation. In SWTOR you need to pay attention while leveling and not just faceroll through it which may have upset some expectations. (it definitely is stressful and annoying if you just want to blow through a zone.) At the end of the day I definitely have gripes with this class, but I think you will find that there are gripes with every class. leveling tips: - interrupt everything. use every interrupt. - kite dudes away from talos. if he gets hit he will heal himself before he heals you. - use dark charge on boss fights. - pillar hump

my god i hate those jedi so much. /rage

well i won't say it is weaker but it definitely has many things working against it. - you need stealth to use CC and for force regen. many boss fights do not allow you the luxury of stealth as they detect you right away or if your computer is slow you might not even get a chance to click the button. if you spam maul instead of watching your proc carefully you may run out of force quickly. - no ranged abilities. this is fairly annoying when mobs/bosses spam aoes on the ground (even more annoying you can't be certain what the actual range of this aoe is), or knock backs, or kiting fights. you can basically do nothing if you are running around. the only way you can get a proc is with melee so... yeah. - lame gap closer eh. meh. - positional requirement for maul. if you are face tanking you can make maul happen after your stuns but lets face it, this is a lot of running around. you are pretty much stuck with the squishy tank companion. - mobs that can see through stealth from miles away. this is ********. personally i went back to madness after i got talos.

There is definitely a stretch from 30-40 that felt really annoying. I ended up gearing up khem val quite a bit but it seemed to make no big difference, he was very squishy even with dark charge / guard on, mind trapping and using channel the force. * boss tips - be ready to hit your stealth button when the dialogue ends if you are specced into that force regen talent. - use electrocute early, then channel the force, electrocute should be up again, use it wisely to interrupt big damaging attacks. - use jolt every time its up and the boss is casting. if jolt is not up use low slash, electrocute, insta whirlwind, the knock back etc. - med pack, stims, relics, the defensive thingy ability, use those. - when the boss is stunned run to the side to maul (if khem is dead, or no khem) - when the boss starts aoeing or knocks you back, use reckless+force lightning/shock for some extra damage while out of melee range no matter what spec. - instant, multiple whirlwinds in madness are really useful when its a boss fight against a mob of annoying things. i specced back into madness so i won't have to maul at 40 after getting Talos and its been very nice from that point on... (just finished belsavis)