You are probably right. Was just hoping you might get some entertainment reading the thread I linked. I belly-laughed my way through it. Thanks for all your insight, theory crafting, and support of operatives pre-1.2. To the OP, sorry to derail your thread.

RuQu you have completely missed the greatest threat to all things in SWTOR. This threat is devastating SWTOR, and yet the devs have yet to do enough to stop the problem. Roving bands of stun-locking Operatives are unstealthing and stun-locking players, procing an unsub debuf all throughout SWTOR. The player base in dwindling and servers had to be merged because of these roving bands. I know that you always like to see evidence. You MUST read through this thread in the forums addressing this problem in detail: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=459212 Bioware, please nerf dps operatives a fourth time to end this scourge of stun-locking operatives.

SWG was the first MMO I played after years in EQ1. Not having done much PvP in EQ, I was blown away by the world PvP of SWG pre-EC. I had such a great time participating in the, seemingly, never-ending battles between Anchorhead and Mos Isles (?). SWG had, hands down, the best crafting system and player driven economy I ever played. Crafted gear was best in slot, each piece was unique, and the decay system drove the economy. Overall I think SWTOR is more polished. However, SWG was a good game in its day.

You must be joking... Bioware needs to nerf Operative DPS even further in order to save the game from the dire threat of roaming bands of stunlocking operatives who are unsubbing the population of ToR. Anyone not aware of this threat MUST read this thread explaining the problem in detail. THERE IS NO GREATER THREAT TO ToR than this issue: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=459212 Please Bioware, nerf operative DPS again before it is too late...

I would argue that it can be useful when you need a lot of burst raid healing. Since it is instant cast, it can be cast on the run and only uses the global cooldown, allowing you to heal using single target heals after casting it as long as your emergency energy regen (forgot what it is called) is off of cooldown. I am about to remod 2 pieces of BM shells with my Rakata mods in order to get both two set bonuses to maximize the effectiveness of RN.

Thanks

I am an Operative and want to know if the set bonuses stack. I would like to use the Rakata set bonus and use Battlemaster gear on 2 pieces and put the mods from my Rakata gear into the BM shell. Unless the set bonuses don't stack, that should give me the AoE buff to output and reduced cost from each set bonus.

I have a mid lvl Arsenal Merc alt. I was looking for an updated rotation/priority that is somewhat heat neutral for when I hit 50 and start ops as DPS. My current readings show TM TM Rail Gun Unload TM TM TM Heatseeker Then TM as heat allows with Railgun and unload when off cooldown.

While I agree that healers should always add DPS when and if they are able to - resources permitting. A healer should not be DPS'ing if the DPS are healing in ops. Healers can heal way more effectively and efficiently than DPS. DPS can deal damage way more effectively and efficiently than healers. Having everyone do everything is stupid and not maximizing. A tank takes less damage from a mob than a DPS trying to tank will, making the healer have to work harder. Again, if your DPS is tanking you are not maximizing resources. If the healer did not have to heal the tanking DPS, he/she could be helping DPS more. A DPS should help with medpacs or even heal if a healer goes down or is out of energy. However, if the healer is out of energy because she/he is DPS'ing ----> failure to maximize. This is not about SWG being a different kind of game. It really isnt from the trinity point of view. If i can do X better and more efficiently than you and you can do Y better and more efficiently than me, then for best results I will concentrate on X and you concentrate on Y. That being said, last night my operative had to spent about 1/2 my time and energy DPS'ing Karaga in order to down him because our DPS didn't have the chops (enrage timer). However, we could do this because we had good healers, not because we had DPS healing. DPS healing (besides medpac/instant casts) unless healer is out of resources or dead --> fail.

Scound/Operative healers are viable in ops and PvP (as much as healers can be in current PvP since 1.2). However, Sage/Sorc can put out more HPS over any sustained fight that requires any amount of AoE healing. The reports from various healing/damage meters bear this out. (See other threads). If you enjoy playing a scoun/op, then play one. You can complete all content as one, especially since the tweaks in 1.2. However, an equally geared and skilled sage/sorc will almost always put out more healing in a 8 man and way more in a 16 man due to the scaling of their AoE. Those at Bioware argue the sage/sorc AoE doesn't scale with more players, which it obviously does. They would argue water is dry and up is down if it fit with their misconceptions.

I agree completely. Again, the point I am making is that WoW had massive retooling and rebalancing throughout its span. This game has only been out a few months. Things SHOULD be balanced. 1.2 is an effort to balance things between classes and between players and the environment. My initial point is that healing in this game is too easy for sorc for sure, and to some degree for BH. It is out of wack. The three healing classes and healing in general are not balanced. It appears the Dev's are trying to balance both of these issues. (However they are probably going overboard in nerfing BH.) There are 2 options: 1) increasing raid damage (which might be worse for spike damage if health pools are relatively static). or 2) decreasing healing of the most OP classes Let's see how this shakes out.

The "best" is the most effective and mana efficient. Bubble had the best HPCT, MPH ratio (after the return when the bubble was used up) etc. It was the best spell. While I could and did use other spells, you are missing my point and saying I was a hack. The point is that at that time the bubble was out of balance. It was the most efficient and powerful spell in our arsenal at the time. That is why they nerfed the hell out of it. Good players use the most efficient and powerful spells/rotations in order to have resources in case of "oh ....". No one is a "bad player" for using their best abilities. Stop telling people to LTP that you don't know. Obviously I had some ability and knowledge in clearing ICC HM without a 30% buff as a dps, a healer, and a tank. The initial point was that for most of it's existance, WoW had many instances of imbalance or times when 3 buttons were about all that were used by many players min/maxing. Hopefully TOR can balance things better than WoW did. However, I think many are forgetting the endless balancing of nerfs and buffs to all classes. They forget the constant flux of people playing the most OP class or spec of the time. ie: tankadins were useless through most of vanilla, then totally OP in WOTLK. ie: the rogue population flux.

I agree that adding complexity and not removing complexity would make the game more fun for the skilled player. However, I think you are ignoring the continuous problems WoW had as far as lack of effective options in order to maximize thoughtput. IE: Shadowbolt spam sac/pet for warlocks for about a year of BC IE: Disc Priest Bubble spam through most of ICC. Both of these were OP for quite a while, and although priests and warlocks had other options, they were rarely used. As a disc priest in most of ICC I used penance on cooldown and mostly used bubbles with a few flash heals. I personally ***** the meters and cleared content with both strategies. While SWTOR has marginally fewer healing options, the fact is, for the most part, throughout most of WoW the skilled player still used the most efficient abilities available. It was not until late in WoW that complex rotations utilizing most abilities were used by most players.

While I have many problems with the Dev's in this game (ie: ignoring the need to combine servers, nerf of Operative DPS, uselessness of crafting, etc), I do feel that PvE is too easy at endgame and either: 1) Raid damage should be increased or 2) Healers need to be nerfed In the healer forums there is a thread on the viability of solo healing HM Ops. This in itself is an example of a game out of balance. I am a lvl 50 Operative healer, and feel that the game is pretty well balanced around my classes healing abilities (which is generally accepted as UP pre 1.2), excepting the lack of AOE heals. While the nerfs to BH do seem a bit extreme, there needs to be a re-balancing to make the game more of a challenge. A group full of baddies should NOT be able to be saved by an OP healer. Too often in PUG groups I see DPS claiming they can tank and doing it. Since on these forums there are many comparisons to WoW, I think few would argue that TOR endgame raiding is anywhere near as difficult as WoW raiding. This applies to healers more than other classes. I am a long-time MMO player since EQ1. Let the flames begin....