Depends on how well geared your companion is. Short answer: 2+, generally yes, 4+, only if you can stealth through most content. No one is soloing 4 elites. A good measuring stick at 50 is "Darkness in Illum" I think it's called. It's doable if you have a well-geared companion. The caster boss is kind of tough.

So, your wall of MMORPG resume wall of text,aside - your commentary still makes absolutely no sense. You seem to have little to no knowledge of the class, its role and how it performs in PvP. Note: I can assure you that your mediocre "pedigree" is immaterial to this discussion. Just because you are old with tons of gaming experience doesn't mean you know anything about this game. I am old and have played many of the games you list, probably at a higher level in a competitive sense, but I don't feel the need to discuss that as it relates to why my opinion matters about THIS game. Like I said, my issue is with your oddball commentary. Let's break it down: Sent....tank... Are you serious? Worst at the role? They have no role. I'd rather heal a commando. You are wrong, it is impossible for a Sentinel to tank real end-game content properly. They aren't even in the disucssion. So when people complain about sustained DPS balance issues, your response is to describe how the class performs in single player PVE against single player trash mobs. I think you are missing the point. Sustained DPS refers to how well the class is performing in PvP, Hardmode flashpoints and Operations, as sustained DPS is basically a non-issue otherwise since pretty much every class burns through single player content. So, you just seem to be disconnected to the realities of the game. Are people REALLY clamoring for the best AoE DPS? I think pretty much everyone is ok with where it is at. Are you confused with people not being happy with the Scoundrel AoE Heal? 1. Scoundrel healers tank all the time. It is one reason why they are even viable in pvp. My scoundrel healer can be the toughest target to take down on my team and I am almost always at 0 or 1 death in Warzones. Which leads me to: 2. You can take out the enemy's healer AND do considerable damage to a DPS before they are "aware" of it? What level of PvP are we discussing? Since the nerf, you are definitely not taking out a healer before anyone is "aware" of it. MAYBE a fresh 50 with 0 expertise would die quickly, but any decently geared and non-afk healer will take some effort to kill. As a healer myself, I laugh at enemy Operatives. They simply cannot kill me alone and the only threat they pose is to stunlock me enough to where someone else can help them take me down. This is one of those comments that makes me wonder if you have even PvP'd at 50. It just doesn't reflect reality. 3. You comment about being able to take down Healers in seconds ("before anyone notices"), yet also claim that when you are not healing you are stealthed. So, which is it? Are you DPS or Heals? As a Heal/DPS hybrid I usually spend most of my time healing, but I also DPS quite a bit. Yet, in mostly Battlemaster with a relic activated, stim active and adrenal popped I can take a Champion-level geared healer to 50% in a few seconds. Of course, as a healer, I don't have KO so there is no way for me to finish them off before they use their CC-breaker on my Dirty kick, at which point they can escape, bubble, use defensives, etc. So you claim to be a healer, yet you also claim to be able to kill people in seconds, nearly kill another person before they even NOTICE you. So one of two things is happening here. Either you are a DPS Operative and are doing your team a disservice by healing, or you are exaggerating your level of DPS as a Heal Specced Operative. If you are a healing specced Operative, you aren't doing the kind of burst damage you describe. And if you claim to be able to, I ask that you provide proof your amazing, game-mechanics-defying damage. I have my own suspicions, but I will refrain from posting them. You sir, have failed at deflection.

The mission system is no different from WoW's quest system in point of fact. You have quest hubs, quest NPCs, "kill this, click that" types of quests. Fundamentally it is exactly the same. You could make the argument that repeatable quests make it different, but that is tenuous at best. It is the same. WoW's content accessibility to single players is not any different than TOR's, for the most part. Just like in WoW you cannot complete operations or flashpoints without competent groups. Sure, WoW didn't have the story-driven single player, linear progression like ToR, but it was no less accessible to single players as a whole. As a matter of fact, Wow currently has much more single-player content in the game than ToR and it isn't even close. Both games require you to enlist the aid of others to complete end-game objectives. And no, your story quest is not the "end-game." Heck, ToR even requires groups for crafting objectives just like WoW.

I ask because you have a strange perspective, as if you have never PVP'd at end-game. So either you aren't 50 and your post is understandable or you are just not competent. So, which is it? I am not trying to knock you per se. It is just that you have a very strange take on things that doesn't seem to line up with what most people understand about the class. ETA:Yes, I am.

I heard this rumor that some classes get interrupts. Could be just a rumor though.

Are you 50?

Taking it in context, you are wrong. For a short time I can absolutely survive against 3-4 people. Anyone that has played with me will verify this to be the case. I almost always have time to vanish or flash grenade, even if I get stunned without escape up. I am not saying I can tank them for long, but for a few seconds? Yep. A Sage cannot. Just because this isn't true for you doesn't mean it isn't true for me. Care to call me a liar again?

Had someone send me a message asking for a critique of their build and they mentioned Homegrown Pharmacology was broken. My understanding was that it was only the Operatives' version of the talent that wasn't working. Has anyone done any testing on this? If not, is someone willing to do so? My respecs have gotten very expensive. =)

Or it could be, and I know this sounds crazy, that some of us are mature enough and secure enough in our own epistemology and morality that we can MAKE-BELIEVE. Strange, right? The fact that the OP chooses attempts to generalize personality types in this way shows he has some living to do. /Pub by the way

It doesn't neglect it. I don't think it is a huge factor. Because I play preemptively, I avoid situations where an interrupt gets somebody killed. Having running HoTs on multiple people usually means I have UHs proccing every few seconds, so I can either EMP or in rare situations where someone is actually on the verge of death, cast Kolto Pack. If I am stuck without an UH and I am interrupted, chance are that someone is in melee range. I can blaster whip, pick up the UH and get off an EMP pretty quickly. It isn't ideal, but I don't think that there should be an ideal situation. Sages are better equipped to deal with interrupts, but against 3-4 GOOD DPS, Sages will insta-die. There aren't many teams coordinated enough to do this, but once rated comes out, there will be. That is the tradeoff. Sages MUST be guarded against good teams.

Sorcerer in full Battlemaster. It isn't mine, but I have played it a lot. My scoundrel keeps single targets up more easily. It isn't even close. Like I said above though, in terms of pure healing Sages/Sorcs are absolutely unparalleled. In Voidstar I was able to eclipse 700K healing in at least half the games I played, once hitting 890K.

Ok. I have played both characters extensively, though my sage experience was actually on a Sorcerer. I think people mistake total healing output for healing effectiveness. It isn't. There is no way a Scoundrel can keep up with a Sage all things being equal in gear, skill, etc in terms of pure overall healing (Of course I am almost always top heals, even when compared to well equipped Sages). That isn't the entire story, however. Against good teams, Sages can be very easily neutralized. When it comes to rated games, I think Sages will actually be the worst healers. Good teams are already assisting each other on healers, marking them at the start of the fight. Last night, when I was in a bad PUG I was marked and killed over and over. Most of the time, probably bordering on 70% of the time, I have 0 deaths in Warzone battles, which demonstrates the effectiveness of this strategy. In that kind of situation there is no way a Sage holds up better than a Scoundrel will. Once their bubble is popped, even if you account for force speed, they do not survive. My character doesn't die unless their entire team focuses on killing me. They key here is how well a character is played. Bad Sawbones are bad bad bad. Bad Sages are still pretty effective. If you are a Scoundrel and do the following you will outperform any Sage, despite the healing numbers: -Be Preemptive, watch the battle: If you can get your HoTs off as you see someone being targeted, but before they start taking real damage, they will not go down. I have never had someone go down to any less than four attackers provided I get enough of a head start in healing. If you see two people on a person with their defensive up, start casting your UWM to coincide with the defensives ending. -Pre-Kite tanks and LoS often: Save Disappearing Act for when you really need it. Often if you can pop some HoTs on those that need it, CC someone and then run behind LoS they will give up on you. -Instead of always kiting and running, if one melee is targeting you, stun them and try to kill them. We have uninterruptable DPS that can be considerably high if you are specced properly. If you are in a premade, call for help. I am specced as a hybrid and can kill all but Juggernauts and tank Assassins in relatively short order. As a healing specced Sorc, I could do very good DPS when left alone, but definitely not when being meleed. A Scoundrel should be able to handle just about any class, especially with help. -Keep running HoTs on people all the time to generate Upper Hand: I don't have energy issues and can pretty consistently keep HoTs on everyone in my vicinity. It isn't perfect, but I can usually keep it going without anyone's HoT dropping. If I see someone being targeted I will begin with an EMP, cast a UWM and finish with an EMP. That is potentially over 10K healing in 5 seconds, depending on how the HoTs tick. A Sage can't do that. I am probably atypical, but I my stats are usually very good: Voidstar: 120K dmg/500K healing averages, 275K personal best damage (as sawbones), 780K personal best healing Civil War/Alderaan: 80K dmg/350K healing averages, 160K personal best damage (as sawbones), 630K personal best healing Huttball: 100K dmg/430K healing averages, 205K personal best damage (as sawbones), 705K personal best healing I'm not saying that Scoundrels don't need love. I am just saying that they will have a role in rated, ESPECIALLY if they allow us to queue 8 with rated games. And it looks like they are going to be getting buffed in a future patch, so I definitely think it is worthwhile to stick with it. I'm not sure anyone will want Sages in rated games once Scoundrels and Commandos get buffed. Against organized groups, Sages will get destroyed. It is already happening.

While I don't have the same reasoning as the OP, I certainly see value in quitting a lost cause. That is almost always when I am forced into a game where the team is already well behind by the time I zone in. If I start a game, I always finish it, but I won't waste my time on someone else's failure.

^^This

Luke from the novels turned into the greatest Jedi to have ever lived, surpassing any known Sith Lord. This isn't even debatable. He had all of Anakin's potential, pre-lava. Lucas has stated that Anakin had the potential to surpass Sidius. Luke, unlike his father, actually realized his potential and singlehandedly rebuilt the Jedi order. Luke became so powerful in the novels that they had to nerf him to some degree just to keep the plot interesting. The answer is Luke.

I pwn noobs. Pretty simple.

The one thing that Sages cannot do as well as Scoundrels is keep a single target alive in the face of unrelenting DPS. Having played the Sage mirror quite a bit, I can say that a lot of what you have to do to keep a Tank alive keeps you from being able to do other things. As a Scoundrel, if you keep double-HoT on the tank, you are free to toss around additional HoTs and some EMPs. I actually like the Sage/Scoundrel synergy over Sage/Sage. If I could insta-reroll, however, would I reroll to Sage. Yep.

I have played both Sorcerer and Scoundrel at 50 in Operations. Pure healing is definitely easier on a Sorcerer, but a Scoundrel is more fun.

There are always tweaks and balancing, but every game has its pass/fail moment. A failure to fix the technical problems that this game is plagued with will result in a game that won't deliver on anything, including the content you wish to be added. That is my point. Certainly, the romance options will involve different designers behind the scenes, but to do this RIGHT, they will have to bring in voice actors and model designers. That costs money. I am a Star Wars fanatic. I want to see this game succeed. Frankly I was not happy with a lot of the story-driven content in this game, especially the romance options, even those for heterosexual characters. I want to see more of it for both sexual preferences and more story-driven content. The problem is that if they don't fix the issues with the engine, the game will die a slow death.

If this is as off-topic as you say it is, do you deny that there have been people expressing their dissatisfaction that this isn't in the game already, or being delivered in the immediate future?

This is a convincing argument. If I were a homosexual and wanting same-sex romance options, I would want it done right rather than half-a**ed. If they were to throw it in there now, I am sure it would cause more problems than it solves.

Engrage is bad/lazy game design. Period. If they want to do a gear check, there are ways to do it without it being cheesey.

**Explaination**

Powertechs can pump out INSANE damage. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Well-geared powertechs have extreme, mobile DPS with good survivability. As a matter of fact, most elite level PvP groups acknowledge that they can be borderline overpowered if played well. I know our group, which depending on group composition, is a top 3 guild on our server fears good powertech DPS. You have no clue what you are talking about.

And I think if you are going to go with a Sawbones hybrid, you have to go 25 points. SRMP and EMP are your lifeblood. Psyche Meds is a lifesaver. I don't understand any hybrid spec that doesn't include everything in the tier 5 line. That is our absolute bread and butter.