Uhh no, Sweep Bombs are doable 3-4 times a minute with Force Exhaustion. I don't know why people say Vigilance is boring, the rotation is longer than Force Sweep and you're not tied to using Stasis or Exhaustion to set up your combo. It's a freer playstyle, especially in the, ahem, guardian role. Tried all the specs at 50 and found Vigilance to be the most fulfilling.

The difference between Jedi and Sith are their perspectives: the Jedi look outward and serve those needs; the Sith look inward and serve their own needs. While it's possible to be a Sith with an enlightened self-interest, the fact is that the further you go down the Sith path the more selfish you become. Good, in our shared moral compass, is selflessness. Hence, becoming more selfish means becoming more evil. Regardless of whether or not the Sith has an enlightened self-interest in promoting "good" for all in the galaxy. There's "good" and there's "good intentions" after all.

The top Tiers of Defense need to be buffed and that tree should have some sprinkled threat generating boosts. Blade Barrier needs to state how much its bubble absorbs, and should scale. Vigilance's DoTs need to scale with something. Zen Strike needs to be reworked. If it were up to me, I'd love for a way to "burn" those Sunders on a target. Like sacrificing it all to double the armour reduction for X seconds. For Focus... Zealous Leap should at least be increased to 15m. And add in a second ability to all the skills that boost Force Sweep. Just to keep them from being too reliant on just one skill.

Those DoTs Vigilance throws out isn't useless. It may be low damage, but it is of some use in Warzones. Hit the guys trying to get the Objective in Voidstar or Alderaan. Unless they get Cured, they'll be unable to secure that door or console for a bit. I've tried both specs at 50. Vigilance is far more survivable than Focus, and Focus' burst can be crippling. Focus is a one-trick pony, but it's a helluva pony. Vigilance is flexible and can provide sustained single-target damage. Burst is king in PvP, but pressure is the queen. As Vigilance you can keep up decent damage even in Soresu Form, which I find myself in most of the time. But my focus, as it were, is on "tanking" and overwatch so I don't care much about my damage (with only 622 Expertise).

What's with all the stairs? That's extremely useful in a combat situation, two and a half flights of it.

Shadows do get Force Wave, an AoE pushback. Vanguards don't have Knockbacks, but they do have pulls. Both of which are on much shorter cooldowns. So I support him in that. In a CC heavy game though, I don't think wanting more CC is a good thing. Frankly, the other abilities should have a longer cooldown. Vigilance is great at 50, once you start getting gear with Expertise. I stay in Soresu now and can still inflict enough damage to pressure folks (though Battlemasters sniffle at me). It's definitely harder as a Jedi Knight. Hell, your reward for fighting hard in PvP is the ugliest armour set in the game.

Well, I didn't rigorously test the two specs. On my 50 Guardian, with DPS gear, I was able to quickly kill 4-strong normal mobs on Corellia just by doing the Sweep Bomb. It got tougher against Strong opponents though and Elites tested me. I was using Kira at the time as well, to DPS them down fast. Fought a few Warzone matches as well. Good burst, but died really quickly. Then I switched to Vigilance. I can't 1 or 2 shot the 4-strong normal groups but they go down fast enough. And I'm left with quite a bit of health left, enough so that I don't use Introspection to tangle with the next one. Focus will need really good gear to match the efficiency of Vigilance, as far as I can tell on about a day's worth of playing that spec both in PvE and PvP.

Decided to take your advice and give Vigilance another shot. With Focus I could get 8 or so medals per Warzone, thanks to the inflated crits and AoE damage. But if I got focused I died fast. Vigilance seems to have a less... gimmicky damage dealing system and has pretty good survivability too. Getting used to the kills and so on, but so far it's been enjoyable. I believe I got 6-7 medals in my first Vigilance match and I had completely messed up a few times. (It was Alderaan so a few medals were defensive points). Vigilance does seem the way to go. Those DoTs are hilariously low, but it kept a pair of Sith from capping the mid turret for a bit. Worth it, I think. I have the Champion Implant from 4 bags now, not bad but I wouldn't mind something a bit more... substantial.

Have you considered this, bamsmacked? http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500ZIMMRMukzZGr0ddbM.1 It'll suck not having Commanding Awe, but I picked up Singularity. Gives you the option to burst really high if you ever find yourself casting Force Stasis (on a 50s cd no less). Free Force Sweeps every 12s, which auto-crit after using one of your two Leaps, seems very nifty. Also, it seems Defiance is redundant considering Unremitting will prevent most of the snares and such right after Force Leaping. If Unremitting applied to Zealous Leap as well, it'd be too awesome. Extra burst or extra focus...

I've re-specced thrice in as many days to test out my new Guardian's capabilities. I levelled as Defense spec and thoroughly enjoyed PvP. But it was seriously lacking at 50. The lack of Expertise was startling, and I didn't prepare myself well in getting Warzone commendations. Anyway, I'm currently Focus spec and Sweep-bombing people. Quite impressive even though I lack the gear, I've multi-killed with one Force Sweep which is a nice break from... well, dying without killing anything. Vigilance with Shien seems like a survivable build with sustainable DPS. You basically have 9-second abilities with free Sweeps. I tried it out myself but didn't have much luck with it. I have no Centurion gear yet. What spec would you guys recommend so that I can be useful in PvP while I earn my stuff?

I'm having the opposite experience on my 30 Assault Vanguard. Sure, the stunners are still there but I can deal enough damage to make them worry or try to run away. Thank the Force for Harpoon when they do try. I start with Incendiary Round followed by HiB as I close, firing off Hammer Shots as I do. Then I go for Ion Pulse and hope HiB resets. Then Stockstrike, which usually refreshes HiB. Refresh and repeat. Trying to load up on DoTs and maybe a Sticky while you're closing in is my only recourse against good stunners. It wears them down while I stand there like an idiot getting shanked. I don't think Assault has the tools to handle those guys. Maybe shield spec?