I can tell you from experience and so can a lot of other sents that tested combat in 2.0 thoroughly that aside from the alacrity granted in ur zen, its a waste to stack it otherwise unless they have some how magically adjusted it for Knights and Warriors, since test went down. The GCD cool down doesn't yield real world results.

I think Bioware should pick up 1313. The engine looked like it borrowed a lot from Mass Effect anyway. They have the capability to tell a fantastic story, in a mature setting. I also think if they hired some of the developers and picked up the license it would be well received by the fan base as a whole, and probably mend a lot of fences with players that gave up on SWTOR out of the earlier lack of community response.

In response to this, its already canon as the Dark Saber was introduced in the Clone Wars series and it pointed back to the Old Republic. "This lightsaber was stolen from your Jedi Temple by my ancestors during the fall of the Old Republic. Since then many Jedi have died upon its blade. Prepare yourself to join them!" ―Pre Vizsla to Obi-Wan Kenobi http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darksaber_(lightsaber) I for one would like to have the Dark Saber not just crystal be a rare drop on an Operation. It takes the shape roughly of an edged saber/katana and the sound it makes is amazing.

While looking for an answer I did see a thread on it, in the Marauder Discussion, but i have been wondering for a long time and was looking hopefully for an answer from devs, put it here for both sents and maras to chime in. While I totally understand, that during your own Inspiration/Bloodthirst you should not gain Centering/Fury, is it a dev intended effect for it not to be built during someone else's? I am under the impression that it was just an oversight that you don't gain due to the effect being present and not coded to differentiate between who it belongs to. I only ask because during certain fights being in rhythm is pretty crucial and while not necessary it can be a serious inconvenience if you are counting on it to be there for a transcendence for example and because of someones crappy timing you get hosed, if Valorous Call isn't up. I am sure a lot of sents/mauraders feel the same way. I can't recall off the top of my head if any other class suffers from something like this. I am not asking for a "buff" here just clarification if this is working as intended.

For PVE some points are wasted ie. Displacement. and Zealous leap. Fleet-footed if you were going damage. For PVP it could use some tweeks. Unfortunately Sentinel doesn't lend itself well to hybrids, I see you are going for an Ataru Slash build but you are hurting yourself not taking Valor, IE tied with focused slash for the most important non ataru tree skill. This is needed to capitalize on your Zen ability. To back to earlier points in an Ataru heavy tree Zealous leap hurts more than it helps. It doesn't do enough damage to capitalize on a 3 focus cost(it doesnt take a reduction from focused slash). Its primary function, is charging sweep (when specc'ed in) and being a gap closer for cover users (PVP). Ataru is too focus intensive to waste those 3 focus. In Shi-Cho the focus flows and so using that 3 when u pop Zen is trivial. (ur increased run speed in ataru and reduced cost of blade storm is intended to make up for it). Ataru heavy insight isn't too useful. Take Master focus pre 2.0 (its on the armor set in 2.0 instead of tree) Master focus + Precision slash go hand in hand. Swelling winds without the rest of the tree is marginal unless you pop precision slash/zen combo and go into a Cyclone slash Spam. My tweaks would be. Tweaks While yes you Sacrifice Zealous Leap and Saber Strength. You gain Valor Critical for building your Zen quickly. The other thing you gain is a 2 point cost reduction on Blade Storm (Insta crit while Combat Trance is Active). Just my Two cents.

/signed

It depends on your tree, but a safe all around bet is Pre lvl 50 Strength > Endurance > Power > Critical > Surge > Accuracy > Willpower (datacrons only) Post lvl 50 Strength > Power > Accuracy > Surge > Critical > Endurance > Willpower (datacrons only) Strength increases Damage and Crit. Surge and Accuracy are interchangeable as a stat line on items. (Acc is more important post 50, less so as you level) Power and Crit are interchangeable on stat line items. Crit matters more for Watchman tree and Combat Pre 2.0 (the upcoming expansion). Focus spec needs little crit and should be entirely focused around power. Final stat targets in current system should be somewhere around, 1900 to 2100 strength, 1800 ish endurance, 1000 to 1300 power, 100%+ accuracy > Critical 30% (buffed with smuggler) 72+% surge This is Fully itemized with augments.

i would consider it more like 10% of a difference +, its one of the few advanced classes where the top skill is actually extremely valuable. If you are worried about 3 buttons i wouldn't worry. Sents are one of the more complex classes to play on the whole. You might really like 2.0 combat tree. there are a lot of different possible combinations since its not a true rotation class, its more of a priority system.

More so in 2.0 but is anyone noticing attack delay because of the Dispatch animation. With the sabers out for Dual Saber Throw I don't notice it and everything goes smoothly but with Dispatch returns it feels like there is like a quarter to half second attack delay. I could be totally crazy but just wanted to see if anyone was noticing the same thing. I feel like it can also happen with Slash, and are marauders seeing this with any of their skills as well. This used to happen with Force Project for Assassins but BW fixed that one.

While I like a ton of the boss fights, Soa and Kephess have a special place in my heart for current content. Scum and Villany bosses are a lot of fun. As some people have stated Jarg and Sorno are fun because of the comedy, which i think is a big part of star wars, this has blended nicely in S & V you have fights that feel serious and others that make me generally laugh, Titan 6 for one. The name of of the skills in S&V are great, Titan 6 as an example: lots of missles. and then basically every attack on an Arms Dealer. Dash is a great fun concept and I think it plants the roots for other fun fights, i like the long distance moving terrain fight of that. Perfect for Rise of the Hutt Cartel would be a fight combining Dash and Gharj and TFB platforms. Have it be on moving barges and have you move from barge to barge and have the former barges crash and burn from like the monster leap or something or some Mandalorians blowing them up. Devs I would be happy to explain all the mechanics for that fight in my head, I've been working on it for a while haha.

And just to add to the above, Zealous Leap in Focus isnt effected by cover. Costs focus and is shorter range but still tends to catch them off guard, In 2.0 Zealous will also leap out of roots.

Soloing FOCUS + doc = destroy the world. Most efficient for dailies and such, when geared you can sweep bomb regular mobs to instant death and drop a strong usually close to 30ish % then its just a dispatch usually. Undergeared, sweep bomb and then sweeping slash. Spec is never focus starved so its easy to move from group to group. Leap >Stasis> Zealous Slash, Bomb, then get up Zen Pop ready for next group Zealous leap > Zen > Bomb. WATCHMAN + Scourge or Doc extra heals helps with soloing certain mobs if your under-geared early on before you get doc and sometimes if its a particular pain in the *** example Kovic at the top of Hypermatter tower for CTS. COMBAT is a bit squishy before you get Doc ( i leveled this way to 50) if you go that route and don't have Doc a geared Scourge is very helpful/ Flash Points Honestly Personal Preference based on which style you like (See Raids Below) Raids COMBAT (i prefer combat, more fun and nearly instant burst helps push harder on phased fights, extra speed for mobility and on transcendence) WATCHMAN (strong long-term dps but long ramp up, aoe healing to raid can be helpful from time to time but not reliable numbers often are inflated if your parsing, but a good watchman can try and time their raid heal) FOCUS is totally viable on a raid too, little to no ramp up time and helps with AOE phases. Long term DPS is slightly lower for single target compared to the other two.

Put Mask of Nihilus on anything and bingo bango insta-sith. That being said cartel market is your best bet. You cant really wear the Imp side stuff even though you can see it in the GTN. There are some good options in it. You can also find a lot of that stuff on the GTN now under the adaptive armor filter. Goes well with the dire warmaster set

yeah its any number of light armor masks should be easy to find one in the AH as and orange or purple.

For leveling IMO focus is superior, http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#501bMZZGMRrzfM.2 that is the spec i would take at that level then put ur next point into focused slash to finish it under the watchman tree at 36. It should help you melt groups of mobs very quickly. you can still use force stasis to generate singularity before 2.0. Give it a shot. While people complain about smash being overpowered in pvp, its wonderful for clearing trash in PVE.

I think we all loved the way zen was before, but I may have a simple solution to address that. While combat is my primary tree, I respec a lot based on the situation. There are just sometimes when the other specs are more efficient. That being said, not having Ataru form just as a learned form is terribly annoying. Its just another button to move around when I am respecing. How about we kill 2 birds with 1 stone in 2.0. Ataru form > Make it a learned form from trainer like Juyo Form and Shii-cho form. Then where Ataru form was: Ataru Efficiency (or Proficiency) > During Zen Focus costs are reduced by 1. or Ataru form strikes have the chance to gain 1 Focus much like the DoTs in Watchman. I think this would would help balance out some of the Focus/Rage issues.

I think it was the Padme thing, I personally think this was the right direction for the show. Anakin showed more of his darkside and while i detested Ahsoka, she has grown on me as the series has progressed and now I actually like her. This is the most plausible way to have her avoid order 66 and it can set her up to be an exile ala' obi wan that can potentiall have a big impact on episode 7. I am most definitely looking forward to season 6. If they bring back the plot following shortly after jedi, she has potential to be lukes new teacher.

I spent most of the day yesterday parsing and found our dps on the new dummy to be pretty sad long term. Which scares me from being a pure DPS advanced class that we get annihilated by certain classes, for example DPS Vanguards, who can also Tank.

while testing classes solo is good i think a better comparison would be to take to equally matched players and put them on the dummy at the same time, one of each of the two classes. This way you cut out the advantage of the group buffs which are clearly part of the rotation on the guardian and sent. This eliminates weather or not you are getting an added benefit in a solo parse from either Inspiration or the Armor debuff. This provides a more realistic real dps parse. This works because both classes are of similar type and range. This isnt so much the case when you pair a ranged in a melee, because in a boss fights you often handle mechanics differently. I would like to see those numbers. Typically watchman parse on dummies higher because the dots bypass armor, (a nice thing in combat now with the cooldown completions on precision slash). Armor debuffs tend to favor combat and focus spec sents.

I use cyan-blue interchangeable with the white crystals. Destroyer Helm on and off as well. I was 220 rep short of Champion, once that happens I will be getting the white Gree chest plate with a nice mix of other items. I used to use a full destroyer suit. I use the black/blue gree outfit for pvp. http://files1.guildlaunch.net/guild/library/gallery/241577/cro4455Pop.jpg New for now full Gree until i can fully spend the time to customize every piece. http://files1.guildlaunch.net/guild/library/gallery/241577/cro26070Pop.jpg My Alt I'm very proud of but shes a gunslinger and doesn't belong here.

It is one of the most far from pointless skills in this game, it saves you in those oh, sh** moments and its incredible for pvp paired with ur force camo. It is universally useful in pvp as well as pvp. If you happen to have a messy run in pve for any reason or another, because someone is asleep at the wheel, it can be useful for enrages and for example eating a Tantrum smash in TFB. When you are overgeared you are far less likely to need it but there are times when you can save a raid wipe with it. It can be invaluable for progression. If your healers are skilled enough and you call it out in vent/ts/mumble just as you use it then you can survive easily in most cases and are one of the few classes that can do so short of a 100% invulnerability, It is all about timing and coordination. As of 2.0 if you spec into it for the Focus tree for sents and mauraders the HP penalty is also reduced making it even more useful. Also if it was pointless it wouldn't be the biggest source of QQ for us aside from smash.

Alacrity is turning out to be a mess for us right now, like you mentioned above, force management is much tighter. While it helps every other class i think its hurting us right now. My guess is the idea would be to throw other attacks in the mix with blade rush ie. Dispatch, Dual saber throw, both free. However, Alacrity doesn't properly contribute to focus generation and currently doesn't work on master strike (absurd bug imo). I have in a different post mentioned with regards to focus that reducing the cast of Force Stasis in many ways hurts us as well. Its the only lockdown ability we have that can be damaged through and you are potentially nerfing it in a group situation. One way to solve it would be to make zen universal across all three and combine the alacrity with the force generation of the focus spec.

Dual saber throw is left out and hits harder than bladestorm, its also a free attack i feel like you will have to incorporate that.

While i have been very unhappy about this whole scenario, what scares me long term is that lately there has been a lack of ingenuity on the part of the dev team. Everything has become a "throw money at it scenario" whether it be credits or RL cash. The money pit situation is stupid and doesn't reward loyalty for people that do invest time in the game. The problem: Endless loop of throwing increased cash at repairs which effects, the economy and content. You are discouraging people from playing the content you spent millions of dollars developing. Currently most cost effective way to level to 50 is pvp. (fine for some people) Solutions: 1. Faction reduced repairs. Once you gain faction in an area you pay less to repair there. (helps all players). 2. Location. Higher (current) repair costs in field, vs the fleet/major market place (ie. bulk resources available = reduced costs.) 3. Guild leveling perks much like legacy, other games have them its helpful. One can be Repairs paid through guild funds cost a % less. (this way you still have to front cash) 4. Guild Repair Bot. A system that allows you to invest materials (a very substantial amount) into building a deployable guild repair bot that has reduced costs with a long cooldown so it becomes usable on raids and only deployable by higher ranks. This is NOT owned by any player but belongs to the guild tab so someone can't steal it and run away and switch guilds. What these solutions have in common is that their is a PAYOFF for effort. There is a somewhat of a ceiling of achievement but in doing this you provide incentive. it encourages content use and doesn't punish progression. If something like these were in place then i would have a much easier time stomaching the higher costs. There should be a premium for better gear, but there should also be a reward for attaining the highest level of achievement. Also EA/Bioware you want to pull money out of the economy use simple game mechanics that have proven true across multiple platforms and build a damn casino on Nar Shadaa.

While i have been very unhappy about this whole scenario, what scares me long term is that lately there has been a lack of ingenuity on the part of the dev team. Everything has become a "throw money at it scenario" whether it be credits or RL cash. The money pit situation is stupid and doesn't reward loyalty for people that do invest time in the game. The problem: Endless loop of throwing increased cash at repairs which effects, the economy and content. You are discouraging people from playing the content you spent millions of dollars developing. Currently most cost effective way to level to 50 is pvp. (fine for some people) Solutions: 1. Faction reduced repairs. Once you gain faction in an area you pay less to repair there. (helps all players). 2. Location. Higher (current) repair costs in field, vs the fleet/major market place (ie. bulk resources available = reduced costs.) 3. Guild leveling perks much like legacy, other games have them its helpful. One can be Repairs paid through guild funds cost a % less. (this way you still have to front cash) 4. Guild Repair Bot. A system that allows you to invest materials (a very substantial amount) into building a deployable guild repair bot that has reduced costs with a long cooldown so it becomes usable on raids and only deployable by higher ranks. This is NOT owned by any player but belongs to the guild tab so someone can't steal it and run away and switch guilds. What these solutions have in common is that their is a PAYOFF for effort. There is a somewhat of a ceiling of achievement but in doing this you provide incentive. it encourages content use and doesn't punish progression. If something like these were in place then i would have a much easier time stomaching the higher costs. There should be a premium for better gear, but there should also be a reward for attaining the highest level of achievement. Also EA/Bioware you want to pull money out of the economy use simple game mechanics that have proven true and build a damn casino on Nar Shadaa.