Why should gear ever be the objective of PvP? Isn't the objective just to go and have fun killing other players? All of my toons have PvPed extensively since lvl 20, going into WZs each time they pop. Never mind that I can't make use of the extra valor until I hit the next level. Never mind that I already have the max 1000 / 1000 WZ and mercenary commendations. I still enter PvP because fighting other players is fun. Granted, this is at the 1-49 bracket, where you don't get stomped just because you don't have enough expertise in your gear, but if they really are going to implement something that will bridge that gap caused by gear, shouldn't that make PvP at 50 more enjoyable?

This : and this : It boggles the mind how people would read the dev post and immediately think, OMG PVP GEAR NERF! The gap can be lowered in ANY number of ways that won't diminish current gear's ability. Is this chicken little syndrome or something?

How exactly do you define being better? Seems like you define being better as having the ability to kill players with impunity just because of what you wear. That's NOT being better. Being better is having the better set of reactions, a better knowledge of which skills to use within a given scenario, etc. The driving goal of PVP should always be to kill players, not to get gear so you can kill players. Gear should be a help, not an I Win button.

Hahaha. That's exactly how I feel,and the reason why my lvl 47 shadow is just sitting in Republic Fleet while I'm working on my alts. Skill based PvP seems to be a whole lot better than the gear-oriented PvP you get once you hit your 50s.

If you don't care about opinions contrary to yours, then why post this at all? *scratch head* The only people who would really agree with you have probably also cancelled their subscriptions as well, and .. well, why would they be hanging around the forums of a game they've left?

Progression is a concept that really shouldn't be in PvP. In PVE, it's fine, but in PVP? PvP should be a player's skill against another player's skill, not how long the other person has grinded. It's for this reason that I'll probably be alt-hopping until Bioware fix the expertise problem. 1-49 PvP is fun, because there it's possible for a lvl 15 player to kill a lvl 30 one, all because that player has better skills. THAT is how PvP should be.

Yeah, had sorta fun watching this video. Gotta love that the ONLY thing in his hotbar was tracer missile. Heck, I had to laugh when he even had to go to his skills menu, navigate that and click activate his recovery ability, sprint, etc. Oh, and that part where he was interrupted but still just kept pressing the tracer missile hotkey? Classic.

Amen to that! Warzones really are much more fun now. Having overgeared players out of the competition makes for a more balanced game. Matches are no longer decided by which side has the most number of geared 50s, and it's a lot more gratifying for lower levelled players because they have the opportunity to make a more meaningful impact, instead of just being fodder. On a side note... Shouldn't Bioware realize that there's something wrong with the PvP system if people are saying that they'd rather stay in the 1-49 bracket forever? Gear SHOULDN'T make that much of a difference. PvP should be fun because you're killing other players, not because you want to get a shiny piece of gear you can use to roflstomp. Leave the gear progression to PvE where it makes more sense and just let people concentrate on killing each other relatively evenly in PvP.

This. IMO, all semblance of TS's credibility went out the roof when the reason for leaving the game is that you can't stack buffs anymore and 3-4 shot people. 6-8k crits was not an intended game feature, it was something abused by players (obviously OP included) by buff stacking. From what I remember, one of their earlier objectives was to ensure that there was an appropriately lengthy Time To Kill factor to make PvP enjoyable for everyone. But then, I guess some people just want their instant satisfaction and just faceroll.

If you are looking for the best chance for survival, then that will be the Kinetic Combat tree hands down. The benefits of going Combat Technique alone provides a noticeable improvement, not to mention the other survivability talents. I don't think that it will suffer that much in the way of DPS also. Particle Acceleration gives you guaranteed crits on project, pair that up with upheaval (from balance tree) and that gives you nice burst. The increased Force regeneration also helps a lot to keep you firing your abilities one after the other too.

Hahaha. You won't find an argument against Mind Crush from me. I'm a lvl 45 Shadow fully balance specced, and personally I can't get enough of those Force Strike procs. Anyway, the build looks interesting; the idea of not losing Force In Balance even as Infil spec appeals to me. I might try it out sometime.

Hmm ... interesting A couple of questions: - Aren't you force starved more often than you'd like with that build? You don't have either of the force generation talents in both trees. - Are you running in Shadow Technique or Force Technique? If Force Technique, why take the points for Shadow Technique? If Shadow Technique, why take talents to increase the Force Technique only version of Force Breach? - Don't you feel that you lose quite a bit of burst over getting an AoE skill? I always thought that the draw of the Infiltration tree was the burst it could do, a major component of which are Project (with Clairvoyant Strike procs), and Shadow Technique Force Breach (with Force Potency thrown in). The talents that increase those 2 skills' damage are not included in your build.

Stuns work on people on force speed. So do roots. I've had it done enough times on me to know.

This is just ... sad. Personally I hope you're just pointing out something based on your observation of other people, and not your own viewpoint. For me, I enjoy seeing familiar names in WZs (well, not so much if they're on the opposing team in Huttball). It gives an extra dimension to the gameplay. I'm very much looking forward to the coming lvl 50 brackets as well. While it would mean that there would be quite a number of players I won't be pugging with until I get the last 5 levels to 50, it would also mean that fights would be a lot more competitive and not just a matter of which side has more geared 50s.

The thing with the Shadow is, having Consular as a base class, you are not going to be strictly a melee DPS. Consulars have always been marketed as more force-reliant than their Jedi Knight counterparts, and that's not going to be different whether you choose Shadow or Sage as your AC. Most of our damaging skills are in the melee range, yes, but a lot of them are Force based. If you're looking for more melee moves from the Shadow I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. The only time you wont be spamming Double Strike as a melee move will be if you've run out of force (and use the basic melee strike), or you are high up in the Infiltration tree and be spamming Clairvoyant Strike instead. If you can live with the mix of melee and Force, yes, Shadows are very viable as a DPS class (from my experience at least). Having a blast playing mine.

Hmmm ... at level 50 this sounds reasonable, since as you progress through the end game it becomes less and less likely that you are still using gear obtained from the other professions. But how about below lvl 50? As a sub 50 myself, I take the effort to make sure that I refresh my gear every 4 levels with purples I create from artifice. Purple hilt on the lightsaber, purple crit / surge enhancements on every piece of moddable gear I own, even purple focus based on the critical prefix of blues. It would be unfair I think for me to go with all that artifice goodness against someone of a similar level who can't use the items from his crafting profession. The only way this would work would be if Bioware also controls the gear used by people when they PvP.

It took me a while to get purple schematics for my offhand, and even longer to get the SPECIFIC purple schematic that I wanted. You just have to keep at it. It's quite the daunting prospect when you're going though lvl 4 / lvl 5 blue gemstones like crazy and burning through your credits just as fast. That's what separates the more dedicated crafter ( or crazier ) from the more casual I guess.

For burst DPS, you'd want to go infiltration. The balance tree is more for continuous sustained damage and utility. Slight correction : Shadow has only 2 DPS trees, the other tree is for tanking.

As a tank spec, there's nothing that you can use on a regular basis that would allow you to benefit from Focused Insight. You're far better off spending those points elsewhere. The reason for this is that non 31 balance specced shadows have access to only two DoT abilities : Force Breach while in Force Technique, and Mind Crush. As a tank, the first is not even remotely an option. Mind Crush has a 2 second cast time with pushback; it's not something you'd want to cast while being hit on by mobs and you have better options available to you as a starter.

+1 Personally I don't mind the branching possibilities for REing equippable items. Just don't let our RE proc go to waste on something that we've already learned. It just adds to frustration.

Healers can be tough to burn through especially if they're really geared and higher level than you, but a solo lvl 18 sorc shouldn't really be a problem. One of the things I've learned from PvE that I carried over to PvE is how to keep an eye out for the target's inductions and use my interrupts accordingly. I cycle between mind snap, force stun, and the insta force lift (balance specced). Trust me, without their big cast heals and with steady pressure on your part, it's possible.

Kudos to the poster above me who had the balls to stick with it even after 250+ tries to get their particular purple prefix. Personally speaking, I almost gave up myself when I had passed the 3 dozen mark hunting for the prefix I wanted. Regarding another poster's concern regarding time / effort / cost spent : IMO, the time / effort I spent was definitely worth it in the increased performance I got in WZs. Especially since at this point in the game you would very likely run into a lot of people higher levelled than you, running with purple gear gives you a better fighting chance, so I found. And no, I do not want to rush things and power level to 50 to just do my gear farming there. Even with all the mission items I burnt through to get the prefix I wanted (and all the accompanying costs that entailed), I think I've more than broke even selling crafted items of that schematic in the GTN. Of course, there's no way that people will buy your stuff if you price it such that you'd get returns after only selling 2 or 3 items. Price it right, and the item's quality will speak for itself. It also helps that I don't churn things out factory style, nor do I expect everything to sell within 2 days. Just keep those expectations in mind, and you'd be OK.

For me it's always been a case to case basis kind of thing. If I'm going up against a single target, or if I need to do more damage quicker I run in force technique, make use of the increase to DoT damage via talents. However, if I know that I'm going to run into a group of enemies, I make sure that I'm in combat technique first. The extra survivability is worth it IMO.

Not really. If you've read the thread you'll find someone saying that even at 50 you're pickings for people who already have a lot of PvP gear. And guess what, with the current system you have to suck it up and go against that kind of imbalance again and again until you finally farm your own gear. I hope that BW brings in some changes aside from the bracketing. Otherwise, it's only the 10-49 experience that will change.

I hate it when I see leavers in an otherwise winnable WZ. However, if we are getting steam rolled by geared lvl 50s, I can't fault people for leaving, especially if they're in their 30s below. Let's see what happens first when the 50s only bracket becomes implemented. I foresee that there would be a lot less leaving in WZs. If it's still prevalent beyond that though, some measures may need to be taken.