He is a healer apologist. The thing is, scoundrel heals is 100% fine. Merc is slightly underpowered (kolto shell needs a ~20% buff, kolto missile a ~10% buff). Merc in patch 2.10 was exactly the type of healing power that merc should have. They should have to use kolto shell, aim kolto missile for multiple targets, while having to watch their heat. Roaming mend needs to bounce once per 1.5 seconds (even with resurgence), and dark infusion and innervate need to cost ~10 more force power each. This would force sorcs to actually use consumption. Right now, a sorc can heal strong DPS for around 2 minutes before even needing to use consumption. Consumption should be mandatory to use every 10 seconds.

There are reasons to jump as a healer.

I'm not talking about defense rating. I'm talking about defensive stats. Sorry about the confusion. I'm saying use full shield absorb (since shield works better than defense rating in PVP), with high endurance mods and enhancements. It works, despite what some people on the forums will say. However, since 4.0 launched, running DPS gear on jugg tank is better than defensive gear, because of how much crushing blow and ravage hit for. A tank's job in PVP is to bullet sponge for a healer or melee DPS (occasionally ranged, but melee typically take the most damage). A tank is supposed to "hold aggro and tank" the other team's DPS, so endurance is far more useful for guard than defensive stats.

He's not clueless about tank gear, although I disagree that everyone in SWTOR PVP is meant to die. If a tank healer combo is more skilled than 2 DPS, they should be able to hold out indefinitely. If 2 DPS are more skilled than a tank healer combo, then the tank healer combo should be beat. Tanks in PVP with full defense, high endurance gear, can last for literally 2-3 minutes with a healer against 2-3 DPS, even if the DPS are skilled. I've played as a healer with 2 of the best tanks that played SWTOR. 2-3 players literally wouldn't kill myself and my guild's tanks. The thing that causes tanks to use DPS gear in PVP is because Bioware decided to buff jugg tank's DPS instead of its threat generation. This caused jugg to turn from a "best to guard, worst for DPS" tank, to a 100% viable DPS tank for ranked and regular WZs.

That's not why tanks are running DPS gear. The reason that I play jugg tank with DPS gear is because I'll routinely do over 2500 DPS, while doing around 1 million protection. Jugg tank with DPS gear does so much DPS, that gearing for defense isn't the best option. If jugg and assassin tank didn't hit for 15k (jugg tank crushing blow, assassin tank deprevating bolts), then high endurance, high shield chance would be the way to go for PVP. It is not uncommon for a tank to do over half of a DPS's damage in team ranked.

It didn't cost Bioware much if anything to keep ranked 8s going, but they discontinued those.

Please post patch notes and make the PTS commentable on. Right now I can't post there. Thanks for bringing back the PTS. It was very frustrating for you guys to keep pushing out content after content, without testing it on the PTS. Players have historically done a really great job of finding and reporting bugs (2.0, 2.4, 2.8, 3.3, etc). 4.0 and 3.0 may have been smoother launches if you guys had done open betas.

http://i.imgur.com/IZczsZy.jpg I do over 3k DPS very often (almost every WZ where the other team has at least 1 healer). Note, that screenshot is of arsenal merc. That wasn't a "fluff tab dot" round. Alexsamma is overexaggerating how many players do over 2k DPS consistently, but 2k+ is very easily achievable for some players.

Double merc, or merc and AP PT. The AP PT would bring taunts and carbonize, to help out with keeping the merc DPS alive. A merc DPS isn't going to die fast if he has the 30% damage taken reduction while stunned, and there is a jugg tank and PT DPS taunting.

2 accuracy enhancements for sentinel, sniper, juggernaut (vengeance), assassin, and mercenary. This gets to 105%, and bypasses the 5% defense chance that non-inquisitors have.

There are very, very few people left who do over 3k DPS. There may be 4 or so on TEH that play SWTOR more than once a week.

Jugg tank has had similar defensives that it has now (except enrage defense rework and mad dash (note, mad dash is frustrating due to the fact that in order for it to be usable while rooted, a tier 3 utility has to be used on it). Jugg tank is 100% fine, and has been for most of SWTOR history, if not all of it. The only real issue in regular WZs and team ranked is how roaming mend can hit a target twice for 10k each bounce. Sorc healer has more single target healing than commando, and commando's claim to fame is single target healing. On a side note, DPS immortal is very tanky for a DPS, but it is squishier than a real tank, and is still weak to elemental/internal specs (i.e., madness, lethality).

You're using carbonize wrong then. Carbonize in regs and solo ranked should be used when the other team's 2-3 rage juggs jump, or if 2-3 melee are attacking a healer. It's best used defensively in regs and solo ranked. Other than a team of vengeance juggs (which I don't see very often), carbonize is excellent for negating opening burst on a PT, as a PT is normally a first target other than maras.

The way to deal with AP PT would be to make carbonize give a bastion type buff to where carbonize can only be used on a target once per minute. That would get rid of double carbonize comps in team ranked. In regular WZs and solo ranked (which solo ranked is horrible, but still exists), AP PT 100% needs carbonize for defensive use. The thing is, is that stacking PTs is like stacking madness sorcs and healing sorcs. The more of them that get stacked, the more effective they are.

Marksman sniper was broke in PVE, and was broke in team ranked PVP, and close to being broke in regular WZs. Two snipers could global a player (25k ambush, 7k followthrough, 11k takedown). That being said, Bioware went overboard on marksman sniper. Bioware should've nerfed ambush's damage by 15%, and left the rest of the spec alone, but they didn't. They pulled a typical Bioware "nerf a spec until it's unplayable". For PVE, there was literally not any reason to not run 4 marksman snipers, since it was a top parser, and target switches only second to AP PT, while being ranged. On topic, AP PT's burst isn't anywhere near as scary as the forums paint it to be. AP PT is broke because of 2 stuns, jump, pull, taunts,and hydraulics. If Bioware hadn't given AP PT jump as a baseline ability, then AP PT would be fine. Currently, AP PT is unkiteable. I do not care how much a sorc DPS tries to kite, it is impossible to kite a skilled AP PT, due to how many gap closers AP PT has. I can handle AP's damage. The issue is the fact that AP is unkiteable. The only weaknesses AP PT really has is a very well played mara (top 1% of maras), and a lethality sniper (can't be jumped to or pulled). Mara can win out against AP because of better defensive CDs, while sniper is the only class that can somewhat keep an AP PT at range.

Generally, if you're playing pre-65, use a mix of crit and alacrity green gear mods in legacy gear. Bolster will typically work. 190s tend to be the best bolster gear for non-PVP gear.

Sorc DPS is still top DPS for regs, and PT might be slightly better than mara because of all of the stuns, jumps, pulls, taunts, etc. AP PT still has the most utility in one spec since 23/1/16 shadow. Arsenal merc can match sentinel's DPS output in regs. Lethality sniper can match sentinel's DPS in regs and outpace sentinel in team ranked. Top PVP classes are still sorc and PT due to sorc's dotspread, healing spec, and overall mobility. AP PT due to utility and still some burst. Tank PT due to elemental damage AOE cleave, and utility. Best team ranked comp is still triple PT and a sorc healer. Years. Later. I ran triple PT literally within weeks of 3.0 coming out, and realized that it was the best comp (haven't played team ranked much since then, but the meta has held for over a year). Sentinel with a healer is very strong, but without a healer, sentinels rely heavily on being careful and not overextending. Sentinel takes the most damage taken other than guardians (unless the other team has a premade focusing a healer all game long, in which case, a tank guardian may actually take top damage anyways). Sentinel HAS to be strong to survive the sheer amount of damage that sentinel takes. I played through the pathetic state that sentinels were in all the way from patch 2.5-2.8 and patch 3.0 to 4.0. I'll reiterate: solo ranked means nothing. It is a game mode that is broke the moment a DPS jugg decided to swap to tank stance and use a guard. Or the second a guild decides to queue sync. Or the second that a troll decides to show up with no cloths and /dance in the arena.

Lethality sniper is 100% viable for regs and team ranked. Don't play solo ranked unless you're either a sorc, PT, DPS operative, or assassin (unless you've played ranked before).

I recommend a GTX 960 and a 250 GB solid state drive, since you said that the budget for your computer upgrade is $400. Be sure to buy SATA III for the SSD.

Objective points usually don't mean much, except for huttball carriers (or someone who node guards all game). A sorc using rescue on a tank, or off shielding the tank, or offhealing the tank in huttball doesn't count for objectives. I play WZs to win, and at the same time, I try to do more damage than my entire team combined. I rarely node guard, but often set phasewalk at a turret so that I can reinforce faster. If I'm healing, I try to make sure that very few people die. I tend to interrupt caps more reliably than anyone on my team, tab targeting then using a quick force slow, telekinetic throw, force wave or something else. Some people will list HPS goals, but unless there is a lot of DPS floating around, 7k HPS in regs is a once in several hundred games event. This isn't because "lol you can't do 7k HPS". I've had 5.5k ish games before, where if the other team had had more DPS, they would've been 8k games (not exaggerating). TEH doesn't have the DPS other than myself, my brother, and a very few other players to cause a healer to do 7k+ HPS. In order to heal damage, there has to be damage.

The main reason that I see regs as different from solo ranked, is that if a team completely neglects to guard a node, or if I'm dying over and over again while the juggs and PTs on my team aren't taunting (seriously, it's off the global cooldown), I leave the WZ. I have better things to do than sit in a WZ where my team forces me to guard a turret while I'm playing my healers (it's going to sound prideful, but my 4k+ consistent HPS is way more valuable than the assassin's 1k DPS on the team). I do not see any way to make merc heals on par with sorc heals for solo queue ranked (which solo queue ranked is horrible, so not sure why it's still used as a spec viability benchmark (not pointing at Foxmob, pointing at overall complaints about mercs in solo ranked)), unless roaming mend is limited to 1 target per use (instead of double bouncing for 20k heals on 1 target). Sorc's sheer amount of mobility while healing for more single target HPS than merc, and for PVP, almost on par AOE HPS as operative, is why it's the only healer. If merc's are buffed to sorc healing spec's level, then SWTOR PVP would be over. I played through the unkillable merc healers of 1.0 (along with several other 10/10 maras and PTs). Mercs were literally nearly unkillable even for 10/10 players. Some of the suggested buffs for merc healers in this thread would cause mercs to be stronger than they were at patch 1.0. The thing, is that even though popular opinion is to say that "armor doesn't matter", in an era where there is much less dotcleave, armor does matter. Merc healer sits at around 35% passive damage taken reduction, which is nearly 14% higher than sorcs, and if specced correctly (face tank, not run around), then merc healer can get energy shield on a ~40 second CD. This makes mercenary able to withstand the most damage of any healing spec. The issue, is that merc when attacked can't keep up with much of any damage, because it's passive and instant heals are super weak. Merc is far more vulnerable to interrupts than sorc and operative. On a side note, the merc healers who don't take energy rebounder and the 30% less damage taken while stunned deserve to get globalled in PVP. Merc healer is a stand and heal healer, not a "run around the map loling at the person attacking you" healer. I know how to play merc healer. I enjoyed playing merc healing during patch 2.10 to 4.0. When 4.0 rolled around, the HPS that merc healing spec can pump out at maximum healing isn't worth playing. Sorc can easily pump out 1-2k HPS more than merc, when both specs are played to top 1% effectiveness.

Merc healer was team ranked viable (barely) in patch 2.10. Ever since patch 3.0, it hasn't been. A huge turning point was that kolto shell was nerfed. Kolto shell should be hitting for around 2k per tick uncritted. Kolto missile should hit for around 5k uncritted. Merc became even more reliant on casting in patch 3.0, and then in patch 4.0, due to the strength of kolto missile and kolto shell not keeping pace with health. Players having 71k health means that kolto shell should heal for around 3-4% of their health uncritted per tick. This helps out a tremendous amount with players staying alive (passive healing is enormous). Kolto shell is massively underwhelming right now. Most players want merc to have a "lol you can't kill me" defensive CD. Merc's defensives are easily the strongest of the healers. Merc's issue is how much merc's HPS plummets the second that 2 AP PTs decide to sit on the healer. Interrupt med scan, stun progressive scan, interrupt next med scan, stun advanced med scan spam from supercharge. That's an entire 11 seconds of near 0 healing other than kolto shell, which is super weak. I healed a significant amount with my merc in the 2.10 and 3.0 era, with 3k+ HPS consistently in the 3.0 era. There is 0 reason to play a merc healer right now. It's got sub par single target HPS compared to sorc, and sub par AOE healing compared to sorc and operative. Arsenal spec is 100% viable for regular WZs and team ranked. It's mediocre in solo ranked, but solo ranked is horrible. Solo ranked is "who has more concealment operatives and assassins", since stealth is dominant in solo ranked. For regular WZs and team ranked, after the AP PT and marksman sniper nerfs, arsenal spec actually has the highest hitting attack in the game (heatseeker at 23k). Arsenal spec benefits massively from a tank being on a team, in a similar manner as marauders benefit from a healer on a team. That is not a weakness, it's how SWTOR was designed. SWTOR was originally meant to be a team game.

That kind of attitude is what I like for the opponent team to have. They leave mid to my team, and my team wins. I set phase walk at mid, and rotate between my team's side turret and mid. Ranked 8s players play to win. Every strategy was built around the premise of winning, not stat padding. I can tell when I have former ranked 8s players on my team.

Novare Coast has a time limit of 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, if no bunker has been damaged, the server decides the game based on kills. A few ranked 8s games went 30 minutes (was very rare). Hypergates will go to around a x23 multiplier.

You apparently never played ranked 8s. Mid is almost never to be abandoned, unless it has already been lost. I've only won 1-2 games out of ~250 ranked 8s games when losing the middle turret on Alderaan. The east turret for rep side (or west for imperial side) is a significantly longer distance to walk to reinforce. It's not a "watch me farm stats" attitude. The only players who have any business on the off turrets on Alderaan are shadows and scoundrels, and after the massive infiltration spec nerf, the only class that has any business on off turrets on Alderaan are scoundrels, due to the ridiculous amount of time that they can kite 1-2 people on a turret (literally, a scoundrel can kite 2 DPS for 1-2 minutes, rotating CDs, stealth, and heals).