This video makes Vigi Guards look weak.

The dots add up if you can keep them applied constantly, but I only have 1 point in Blade Storm's dot due to point restrictions.

Mentor is a really interesting fight, but they need to make the importance of downing the cores slightly more obvious. In Hard Mode, if you don't take out the cores as soon as humanly possible, you're going to be putting your healer under a TON of stress.

The real problem with using other forms like Soresu is that you're using a much weaker form than you should be. By using Soresu specced into Vigilance, you're missing out on all the talents that make Soresu a strong defensive form. Honestly, you can preach about Guard all you want, but when I really want to Guard someone, I can switch to Soresu on the fly. I'm also of the opinion that Momentum is incredibly overrated. It's largely a convenience talent because, really, you won't need focus too often after a Leap. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#5000MZIhrkruddMRZhM.1 I just altered my spec slightly for more overall damage and I only had to sacrifice 50% chance in Blade Storm's DoT.

Bulwark comes to mind. I can't imagine a healer being able to handle the load 2 melee DPS rather than 1 melee/1 ranged because of Bulwark's AOE. Combine that with a super tight enrage timer and this fight can be a coin flip if you bring a melee DPS. There are also plenty of bosses that can wipe a group by almost instagibbing their melee (Spinning guy on False Emp even if it's easy to get out of).

My only real issues with Vigi is that we can become Focus starved really easily with efficient rotations in PVE where the tank is taking all the damage. I refuse to waste a GCD on Strike. Its damage is incredibly low and I have more important skills off CD at the time. I feel like our PVP build could be a little too reliant on setting up our Blade Storm/Dispatch crits with expensive skills (PB/OH Slash), but this could be alleviated by making our minor DoTs (on Blade Storm/OH Slash) stronger. I use them both just so I can keep stealthers from escaping. Their damage is really low. Also, our tree needs to drop the Master Strike talent. I would never use it, not even in PVP. MS has very low priority and usually only sees use when I'm low on Focus or I'm waiting on a bunch of CDs. Something that would increase critical hit damage (sort of like a Surge talent) would make a lot more sense. edit - I forgot to add that the CD on Sundering Strike is way too long. I'm not saying it should be spammable every GCD, but I should be able to use it at least every other ability. This is part of my other issue, but we have too much downtime in PVE with the way Shien form works.

Could be bugged. First time I tried him, he wiped us by one shotting DPS/healer with Saber Throw. Second time, it wasn't doing much damage at all.

I've tanked the first boss in Esseles on my Guardian specced into the DPS tree. Just face him away from the team so his aoes don't hit them and only focus on him. AOE taunt the mobs when you can handle them, but your DPS should be able to take care of them for the most part. The only actual hard fight is Ironfist where you can't miss an interrupt.

Maelstrom is probably the easiest. False Emperor has a couple hard mobs, but the bosses are pretty easy (optional can cause problems if you don't know how his final phase works).

I rarely see Force Rush boosted abilities not crit, so I'm assuming it's just a 60% bonus.

Vigi isn't bursty, so it doesn't seem as powerful, but I rarely lose a 1v1 (if ever). With my survivability (heavy armor), I last much longer than other classes in 1v1 and my sustained DPS with DoTs/consistent Blade Storm crits wins out over their early burst.

I have no problems as a melee DPS Guardian and I've even tanked Esseles without speccing into it.

Don't skip the Force Sweep damage/CD talent and don't skip the Force Leap immobilize talent.

Honestly, the only mode where throwing Guard out is viable (if you aren't Defense specced) is Huttball. Other than that, I never even dip into Soresu form (I'm a Vigi Guard).

I hit some tough spots with undergeared companions in my class quest, but PVP has been awesome since around 30 (Vigilance Guard). I don't do huge DPS yet, but I'm getting more and more hard to kill as I get more of my Champion gear and Dispatch is almost always a kill at 20% even if I don't set up the Force Rush crit. Honestly, people complaining about this class in PVP post-30 are playing it wrong.