It's pointless. The damage is dismal. It MIGHT be useful if it stacked or something. As it stands I only use it to keep stealthers from vanishing on me and even then I'm probably going to get rid of it because it's TWO freaking points for such pitiful damage. Really, really disappointed at the lack of synergy present in the Vigilance tree. It's like someone just slapped it together at the last second.

I'm seriously starting to believe that the people posting screens of their Guard damage on the forum work for BW. They fanatically defend the class when there are glaring issues with the class as a whole. The very foundations of the class are poorly built and designed. Someone said they did 390k as Vig? Was that all stimmed up or not? How hard was it for you to actually pull off that much damage? Have you been able to pull even 250k on AVERAGE as Vig? Being able to pull big numbers ONCE is just a statistical fluke. If you were able to pull off those numbers on a consistent basis then I would just say, 'I need to l2p Vig'. As for my Op comparison - 1. Stealth is on a laughable cd. 2. Ops can set their stage way better than we can because they have stealth and more hard disables. 3. When a stimmed up Op jumps someone that person dies. Period. 4. In order to pull off their damage an Op only has to have ONE condition in place - stealth (barring stims). We have a fairly significant ramp-up time to be able to do our maximum damage. NO other class out there has the kind of ramp-up time we do. A commando runs to a fight, targets someone, starts spamming gravity shot. Ooooh...sooo hard..oh wait, demo shot! Full auto...dis so hard!

You really don't see the problem you're pointing out here, do you? Blade Storm is good IF: you have it talented for a free attack, the animation doesn't bug out, you're well geared, it crits. That's a LOT of 'ifs'. Even on my lowbie gunslinger I can just roll into cover and hit a non-50 with aimed shot and crit for about 4k and regular hit for about 2k. That's with a BASE attack that gunslingers get that shares a cd similar in length to blade storm. A commando can just get Grav Round and push that button all game and crit for 2.8k EASILY. Plus have a talented single target knock-back, plus a 20s cd AOE knockback, plus a flat damage reduction shield, plus heals. Guardians are good only IF: you go focus, you spend all of your time managing Sweep (which means you need singularity and if Force Slow and Stasis are on cd guess what? We can't build it.), you are actually in range, you pop crap loads of stims. That's a lot of 'ifs'. Even if we have all of our CDs up we don't become amazingly powerful, we just barely push ourselves in line with the rest of the classes out there. So for having to spend a lot more effort managing more CDs plus melee range we are returned with being just -barely- in line with everyone else. Oh - And as far as our burst being AOE: So? We can burst 4-5k every 9 seconds. That's an obscene amount of time and we can ONLY do that if we have stasis or our slow up. An op/scoundrel can burst someone down and all they need to do is be in stealth. Their attacks are on much lower cds. If they're in stealth they're basically assured a kill. If we have all of our cds up we might get a kill, but really only if we fight someone who isn't geared. If we face someone else in heavy pvp gear we generally won't do anything to them. 4k crits drop to about 2.5k (even though reduction supposedly caps off at 10%) and since we don't have any REAL, RELIABLE damage we usually don't stand a chance. The key word being - RELIABLE damage. I don't want my PvP fights to be based entirely on whether or not -I- have the absolute perfect conditions.

Here's the problem with Guards - It's not that they're UP. It's that they're poorly designed. Our, arguably, best skill tree is the SHARED tree. Which means our other two AC SPECIFIC trees have relatively little value. On top of this, our BEST tree is ENTIRELY dependent on ONE skill. We're not trying to combo anything, we're really just trying to dance around long enough to get 4 stacks of singularity. Then we can try our uber burst...which isn't even that uber. An operative/scoundrel can burst down a target from 100-0 with four attacks - to draw a comparison off another stim-doping burst class. The fact that we have our two specific skill trees just completely over shadowed by our shared tree indicates a weakness in the way the class is designed. Couple this with the fact that a VERY small percentage of JK players can actually handle the class well and you have all the proof you need. I have been able to pull off close to 300k damage as a focus Guard, BUT I very rarely see any other Focus Guards doing even remotely close to the same amount of damage. Another massive problem with Focus is that JKs are supposed to be masters of fighting with a lightsaber.....but Focus makes us basically gimped casters. TL:DR It's poor design to design a class that isn't viable across all three of their particular talent/skill tree. It's also poor design when the -majority- of players can't make a class perform at at least 90% of its maximum.

Neither Opportune nor Pommel Strike work on players or targets above 'strong'. They are almost entirely useless because of this. I would rather have these skills removed and the rest of our damage upped because right now it appears that they are included with our overall damage calculations. Additionally, I'm not sure if Bioware is even aware of the fact that we have two attacks we can't even use in PvP. So far I haven't run into ANYTHING like this on the other classes. It's utterly ridiculous.

Hmm...Well, I'm in pretty much full champ gear now on my Guard(armor and one arti, other stuff is cent) so that means I have at least some worth in this discussion. What I've noticed so far: Our highest damage tree by far is Focus. The rotation is actually fairly simple, but it's also VERY subject to being interrupted. Basically you spend a lot of time building up your multiplier for Force Sweep, which is on a 9s cd. In between this you might mix in Master Strike, which for me deals 3300-3800 damage...not too bad really. HOWEVER. With how man knock-backs and how UNBELIEVABLY easy it is to kite a JK, even a JK who is focus and has Zealous leap, you can EASILY miss your Force Sweep if you aren't EXTREMELY careful. You have to basically sit there and wait...and wait...and time it PERFECTLY. The only trade off is that if you are very quick you can actually deal a lot of damage. Vigilance is, by and large, a better PvP spec because of all the built-in damage reduction and the 4s of immunity after a Leap. The only problem is that you have mediocre survivability and slightly more mobility due to your immunity, but you also have far less damage. So little damage, in fact, that it almost feels like a tank spec....except it's not. Because of its far lesser damage there is almost no point in taking Vig for PvP, even with all of the talents that are geared SPECIFICALLY for it. @George Attaching a cd reset for Leap onto Push wouldn't solve any of our issues. Leap is already on a low enough cd that it doesn't really matter. Besides that we need Push to remain as our tactical option for area control or denial....or just shoving people off of the bridges on Voidstar. We do NOT need another button to push. We have too many as it is. Here's what we NEED: -Force Push reduced to a 30s cd. Most other knockbacks that are -AOE- have a 20s cd, why does our SINGLE TARGET knock-back have a 1min cd? Base cd of 30s, talented down to 20. Will allow it to fall in line with current knock-backs on other classes. -Force Stasis needs to be instant cast, not a channeled ability. It's on a 1min cd....1min cd abilities aren't a mediocre damage channel that affects ONE person. This would also free up another skill point for the tank tree that would be WAY better spent on a better-designed skill. Lower cd to 45s or keep it at 1m and lower the level at which we get it to 12 or 14. -Saber Throw needs a 15s or 20 s cd. This ability is PRIMARILY to grab a little aggro, build a little focus at range and/or stop someone from planting/capping a turret. That's it. Why does this have a 30s cd? It has a dead-zone unless you have gear that removes it...which is just plain bad design. Low damage, ranged focus builder needs a lower cd. -Overpower and Pommel Strike....what is the point of these abilities? They do decent damage, but they do NOT work on anything above strong mobs. Why? Overpower seems like it was supposed to be our way to do some serious damage to players that have been slowed. I say this about Overpower because JKs have ONE slow that consumes a considerable amount of focus...I know I never use it. Remove these abilities as they currently don't serve any real purpose. We can't use them against raid bosses and we can't use them against players...completely pointless abilities once you hit 50. -Vigilance DPS has a few skill points that add burning effects to Overhead Slash and Blade Storm. Both of these passives require two points, but return VERY little damage in return. Why? The only real purpose of the passive for Overhead slash is to prevent stealth classes from vanishing, but Plasma Brand accomplishes this just as well and does far more damage. Why am I spending two skill points for a passive that adds ~300 damage over six seconds? Remove these passives or make them more useful so Vigilance will actually be a viable dps spec. It currently is not.

Too much work for too little return. Too few people would play the class to make it worthwhile.

8-ish/10 That's being a little generous. I have basically had to reroll from my 50 guard because of the problems with attack delay. Seems to affect melee characters more than ranged. They need to fix it....soon. Other than that...I like the flashpoints...I love the crafting system....I love the companions...and the pvp is fun enough. More map types and the option to choose what maps you want to queue for would be nice additions.

That's not sandbox, that's....that's just level scaling.

Short answer: Because they're stupid. Long answer: Because they're stupid and they don't think anything through. You can solo to max level in most mmos, but nobody seems to think about that. If you wanted to you can group up with someone else for the majority of the game. You get rewarded for grouping by getting social points. Social points unlock items and stuff you can buy. The game actually promotes grouping in this way.

There are plenty of reasons to play Republic. The JK story is epic as hell (and has more bits on all of the tie-in novels) Everyone isn't a bunch of emo-cyborg-nazis who walk around talking about how powerful they are, but how ****** everything is while they cut themselves. Assault cannons and trooper armor which looks AMAZING. Just because YOU can't see a reason to roll Republic doesn't mean there isn't one. I'm not really sure what you would expect BW to do. You can make a dark-sided Republic character if you want.

Imperials get huttball because they outnumber Republic by insane amounts. Huttball is a neutral warzone, which means you can face either an Imp team or a Republic team. If one side has way more players than the other side queuing for warzones then they're going to get folded into huttball because they can be matched against each other. The only way to fix this would be to make all warzones neutral and then let people choose which warzones they want to queue for. Look at the bright side - without huttball you'd probably have like 30-45 minute queues to get into a warzone.

Someone clearly hasn't tried to take out a sorc spam. Or any healer spam, really. All they need is two tanks guarding the healers and basically you can't do anything unless you have some heavy aoe....which Republic doesn't because I NEVER see anyone use one. Mercs = Commando in this regard. BW made them the same. Their skill trees are identical.

I realize I'm bumping this by saying so, buuuut - this topic has been beaten to death and beyond, this thread needs to just be locked, forgotten and a sticky needs to be created that this (among other) topics will be locked immediately. There is a video ON THIS VERY SITE that displays space combat when it was first announced AND you have a producer stating that they know it's limited, but they want to do more with it based on user feedback. Giving feedback is fine, but you'll need to provide a description of WHAT you want them to do with it. Random, spurious complaints about commonly known errors do nothing to advance the current system. Now...if you said....'What about a space combat system akin to what we saw in Freelancer? It used keyboard and mouse controls and created a simulated space environment that the user could freely move about in. ' That would be OK...you're critiquing the system and suggesting a change that could actually happen. Random complaints, as I said, do nothing but make a grab for attention. We're aware the space combat is limited. Most of us are also aware that Bioware never intended space combat to be anything more than it is for release. There have been no claims that it would be anything other than what it is.

The whole shenanigans thing is kind of my point: They've already started and it's only going to get worse ANYWAY. At this point the extra anger from a schedule would be like throwing a match on a bonfire. I really don't see the point in them not releasing the information. Well, actually, I do see -a- point, but rather the point is now so far gone as to be meaningless.

Oh and just a point of clarification: It's not that Bioware -can't- be more specific, it's that they don't want to. Whenever a company says they -can't- do something, what they really mean is that they're either too lazy or too scared to do it. Desire and ability are two completely different things.

There's a lot wrong with this. The most obvious is that you don't advertise some kind of early access reward for pre-ordering, then give people the finger when you don't actually invite them to that early access. That's not what this thread is about anyway. We understand that they have SAID they can't be more specific. However, at this point, they're in that annoying zone in between 'no info at all' and 'full disclosure'. We KNOW they're doing 4 waves a day. We know that they -intend- to get everyone in over the next six days. Those of us who would actually like to enjoy that extra perk of 'early access' simply want to have some idea of what day we should try to set aside. Is it tomorrow? The next day? Maybe Saturday? Let me see if I can relate this to everyone a bit better: Ever see that episode of Family Guy where Stewie gives Brian one free shot? Brian accepts the offer, but doesn't tell Stewie -when- that shot will come. So Brian tortures Stew relentlessly by dropping hints or feinting a hit. Finally Stew just breaks down and basically loses his mind. We are Stewie. Brian is Bioware. We know that our 'shot' is going to come...some time...in the near future. But when? Is it...NOW! Uh...another wave just got invited....maybe, NOW! Nope....not another wave yet......now??!! Nope, not yet...maybe tomorrow. Maddening stuff, hmm?

Thank you! Someone else who gets it. What they're doing doesn't really make any sense. 'We don't care that you don't like our staggered release. We -do- care about telling you stuff' /jackiechan'***'.jpg Unrelated: Whoa whoa whoa....these forums censor colloquial acronyms? Seriously Bioware? Seriously? w t f? I'm not saying the word.

Here's the problem with that philosophy - it's naive and counter to what they've already done. They have ALREADY said they're going to be doing four waves of invites a day. So if something goes wrong and they only do three one day, people are going to RAGE. People will probably rage harder since they have zero idea of what dates are getting invited. The same people that would read 'tentative' as 'promise' would rage anyway. I would even go so far as to say that by even telling us it began today those same people are going to look at every day as a 'promise'. And every day they don't get in they're going to rage harder. What I'm asking for isn't to calm down those people. Mostly because those people will rage about anything anyway. I'm asking for this for the rest of us - the MAJORITY of people.

People are already going to rage harder every single day they don't get in anyway. It's timid and naive to believe that by withholding information you'll somehow stem the tide of rage.

I get that they've said that they won't give a schedule out, but why? People are already raging HARD. The rage is only going to get worse as time goes on. Why? Because people are just as insane as Bioware thinks they are....actually, scratch that - they're crazier. Every day people are going to think, 'This is my day! :)" Then if they don't get invited they're just going to come here and rage anyway. Do you guys even understand what 'tentative' means? It means it -MIGHT- happen that day. MIGHT. MAAAYYYBBEE. Possibly. Perhaps. An unknown probability that it will. It may or may not. Anyone who doesn't understand that are the same people who are just going to rage endlessly anyway. You're better off posting the freaking thing for the rest of us who are sane enough to realize - 'Oh, cool. So I'll just chill until blarghday.' Then if blarghday rolls around and we don't get invited we'll know it's because something went wrong. It happens though. Just means we'll be at the front of the line for the next day.

This is NOT a QQ thread about the staggered release. So don't do it. Don't. I see your fingers going there...don't do it. Ok? Ok! So what this thread is is a simple request for something that Bioware likely ALREADY has, but for whatever reason will not give us - a tentative schedule of wave invites. Now I'm not asking for an hour by hour break down, but rather a simple day to day /idea/ of which dates will be invited. They have to have already composed something like this; wherein they decided to do dates X to Y on a certain day. All this thread is asking for is a simple, tentative 'schedule of events'. That's it. What may or may not happen on any particular day. All you have to do, Bioware, is simply make sure you call it tentative and slap the old 'subject to change ' on it and you'll be fine. Staggering your release was fine. I get that. Staggering your release and not even giving us -some- idea of which day we should be checking our emails with great justice, is not. Post a reply if you agree or disagree. Don't QQ about the staggered release. Don't do it. Not what this thread is for.

The only really compelling point of threads like this is the fact that they can't even give us an -idea- of what dates -might- be invited on which days. I mean, they have to have done the math so they could do the invites like this in the first place. They couldn't simply say, "Tuesday - July 21st - August 1st. Wednesday - August 2nd through August 20th...etc, etc. All they would have to say is "this is a tentative schedule for invites and is subject to change" That's it. They wouldn't be making any promises, just giving people a BETTER idea of when they should check their emails. Right now every time I see my phone flash a notice I get a little excited because I have NO idea what day they'll be doing invites for my pre-order window. All I'm asking for is that they put up a tentative schedule. That's it. Give me some idea of which day I should be checking my email every half hour. They HAVE to have one set up for their offices so they can actually create the waves each day - they just needed to give us that same tentative info.