Can confirm the Onderon achievements have been fixed and seem to be working properly now; no gimicky workarounds needed. If you're not getting the achievements you're likely missing one of the objectives.

This is overstating it a bit imo, the pops aren't back to back, but you rarely have to wait more than 15-20 minutes during afternoon and evening times. The last character I leveled the past couple of weeks was around valor 60 when hitting level 80, and got most of the 70->80 experience through pvp. It's not exactly a lot of amateurs who "just want to have fun" though, but fairly competitive -- a lot of players are in the 75+ range with maxed gear and augments. Which I guess makes sense, pvp isn't fun when you lose.

I'd say sniper -- a merc has a much harder time keeping the jugg off him, whereas given ideal conditions, like someone posted above a sniper can keep a jugg at a distance and/or slowed for a very long time. That's only 1v1 and with enough room though. If anyone else joins in the sniper's a sitting duck.

Well, I've tried out a madness sorc for a few days now, and yeah.. so far in warzones it's a tremendous difference, you can 1v1 pretty much anyone (assassins have been the trickiest, not all sure there) even without being particularly used to the ins and outs of the spec, and if you don't get bothered by a second enemy (or face a sin) you often don't even have to use dcds, just like my experience that prompted this thread to begin with. You can also thrive in the relative disorder of warzones, e.g. spread your dots around, and relatively easy get away from less focused pressure situations and often survive and recoup even when someone tries to follow you to get the kill. In arenas the difference is smaller compared to a merc. You can't stand up to the direct focus of multiple players as well, and lose a lot of effectiveness in those situations -- so it's not all that uncommon that you get chosen as the first target. This is also the only real weakness I've spotted so far. 1v1, there really isn't any obvious one.

I don't know, it seems to put the onus on the people getting farmed to give up collectively, and doesn't seem better than the individual being allowed (with relatively small repercussions) to leave. I'd consider at least the following three alternatives to be better: 1. Prevent the forming of premades altogether, i.e. you can only solo queue. This would seem like the most direct way of addressing the problem, even if pvp matchups will still be uneven. 2. Premades not prevented but if you do queue with 2+ people you can only get matched vs other configurations with 2+ people queued, and you will have to wait in the queue until that happens. This allows for premades to exist but might lead to the waiting time becoming longer both for them and solo players. 3. Allow players to preview participants and queue status of the warzone/arena before accepting to join, including an indicator showing if some players queued together. That way, if you don't want to play vs a premade you can simply opt out; no penalty needed since you never joined to begin with.

I think the current penalties are ok. Relatively lenient and keep you from instantly requeuing but get worse if you repeat the behaviour, though also not so rough that you feel forced into staying put to get farmed.

Yeah, I realize I may have asked a question that doesn't really have any kind of specific, concise answer. Since posting I've come to that very conclusion, going to do some pvp as a madness sorc and see what kind of problems I run into. Also I can see not losing to them 100% of the time, certainly if there's a big skill difference -- but just like what prompted me to post in the first place, that feeling that someone just facerolled you without having to resort to any of the tactics normally associated with pvp in general or the class in particular is a bit hard to digest. So the question remains, assuming the madness sorc knows what he's doing and doesn't make any obvious mistakes, is there a way through that or does the answer end up being more along the lines of just not engaging 1v1? I don't know about this one. I hear you on the skill level, but in my own experience, that part is often balanced by lowbie/sub-80 pvp not being one-sided ordeals just as frequently. At level 80 premades are common and in many cases you can accurately predict how a match is going to end within 30 seconds after starting. And in a one-sided match, whether you're on the winning or losing side, there aren't a lot of opportunities for developing your skills.

Thanks for the detailed reply -- to start off, yeah, I could probably have used this better, didn't really watch and wait for any particular cast. I've used the power surge + concussion missile as a neat trick now and then, but not in this fight. I can't really see what I'd gain from stunning the sorc, especially if I'm already dotted up. Also he might as well just use his stun breaker, it's not like I can follow it up with a hard stun. The interrupt is a good point though, like flare I could probably have used it better. Again I'm not sure I see the strategy here, as in what will running away get me? Against several other classes I can understand it, but here my health will keep going down if I'm dotted, he'll heal from them, my damage will go to zero without los and he has access to more self heals than I do. Even if he just waits and lets me stand behind a wall, odds are that when I go back out I'll likely be at more of a disadvantage than when I went in. Almost but not quite the same as you. I usually run the hunter killer droid instead of power barrier, and jet escape instead of energy rebounder. I guess it makes me a little less geared for pure 1v1, but they come in handy in warzones. Yeah, pretty much the same, usually use my regen when I can and then pop kolto shot to keep it at 10 stacks until needed. Haha, yeah, no I realize they work in different ways and use them one after another like I said. Very much like explained in that video, though I sometimes combine energy shield with the warzone adrenal to stack DR. I'm not sure how well responsive safeguards works vs dots though. Hmm, yeah at least with IO it might make it more reasonable to play for time. I'll try it out at some point. Yeah, in many situations it's a great ability, I guess that added to my frustration here: like with so many other of the things I could do it felt like there was just no real effect/didn't change the outcome in any way. Edit: going further with this, the general feeling was that it seemed like such an uneven encounter that even if I'd played it perfectly, the outcome would still have been the same. Maybe the sorc would have been forced to heal actively or use some los, but still not be in any real danger of losing. It's a bit like the feeling of fighting an operative -- if they know what they're doing, there's not really anything you can do to beat them 1v1 -- even if you make the optimal choice in every situation, the best you can hope for is to play for time. The difference is that at least an op or a sin have to be able to take their sweet time to kill you, dip out of combat, open again from stealth and so on, something you don't always get the time and space to do -- they can't just run up and facetank you without worrying about their own healthbar.

I'm pvping as a merc to learn the class better and have so far been able to hold my own in most situations, be it group or 1v1 I could at least feel I was contributing and when I lost to someone at least I gave them a good run for their money. When I faced a madness sorc alone though, it was like running into a brick wall. I play arsenal, we were both around level 78, I'm fully geared out in 306 gear and tactical. I went through all my dcds one after the other (could probably have used flare better, but can't see it making a big difference), and the sorc just stood there. Didn't have to pop bubble or actively heal, didn't phase walk, didn't even try to los. Literally just stood there and face tanked all my damage, and when I went down he was still around 40% health. I'm relatively new at merc so is there anything I'm missing here? Any way through their dps+self heal I'm not seeing? Does IO fare better than arsenal? It seems like if you try to run and recover, you'll still take damage from the dots while the sorc heals up.. and it's not like you can outrun them. Even electro net doesn't do much against an opponent who doesn't have to move or pop any escape.

They can when facing a single melee opponent, e.g. they handle juggs and marauders well, and PTs better than some classes. Put 2+ opponents on them though, or even one ranged, and their ability to keep themselves alive drops very quickly. Under any kind of serious focus they really struggle to do more than slightly delay their demise. On top of that, since they need to be stationary for such a big part of their damage output they're very vulnerable to being los:ed.

Maybe the most simple, but probably more logical like OP implies to change how premades work, e.g. if you queue as a group you'll only be matched against other groups and if you solo queue you'll only be matched against other solos. Most "skilled premade" players aren't all that hard to overcome when you place them with randoms. Don't really have to do much more.

What. There's pretty much no way a sniper can handle an op 1v1 given similar skill. There's no way for the sniper to keep the op in combat, or counteract self heal as long as there's something to los behind. Keep in mind the dps and survivability of a sniper both drop drastically if they're forced to leave cover and run around. They also have a fair bit less mobility than an op any way you look at it, and nowadays no self heal save for the passive regen while in cover, so it's easy for both ops and sins to chip them down.

No mention of deception assassins and operatives? They're both pretty much impossible for any other class to handle 1v1 given similar skill levels, and even with the game being as old as it is there's no effective counter for stealth and/or the ability to dip in and out of combat at will, which leads to a lot of consequences in what those classes are capable of doing. If any classes are in need of a rebalancing for PvP, those are the ones.

I don't know, conquest has been nearly essential for amassing encryptions if you run solo guilds and still want to expand your flagships. That has always been the main draw for me, at least. Every other reward has either been pretty easy to get through other means or never really needed in significant quantities. With this change, unlocking a full flagship (nevermind one for each faction) for people who are just now starting up solo guilds will seemingly be a fair bit more challenging.

It wouldn't really make any sense lorewise. If it were a serious battleground it would mean the Empire had managed to launch and sustain a continued assault on the Republic capital world and as such were close to finishing the war. If it were a testing/training facility kind of like OPG it would mean the Republic had decided to invite various sith lords and dark council members to come practice on Coruscant, which would seem stranger still.

A poncho. A bit like the base tempest warden one, but without the backpack and imperial pauldron. A good role model would be the classical gunslinger one worn by the man with no name in the Dollar trilogy. Ideally this would come in two versions for the chestpiece; one worn regularly and one with the front flap thrown back over one shoulder to expose the sidearm. The rest of the set other than the chestpiece is of less importance, similarly themed with cowboy boots (preferably with spurs) and thin/half-finger, discrete gloves would be good.

Honest, but also not surprising. Mercs obviously tend towards feeling net is fine, and operatives (aside from being the singlemost overpowered pvp class for a very long time) have a decent chance compared to certain other classes to survive a net. Heck, against an operative it can almost be considered a fair counter.

Well, first off an arsenal merc has very respectable burst and dps. Perhaps not as good as some specs, but not bad. On the other hand, they're also more capable than many other classes in getting their burst/damage off. Unlike a lightning sorc where you can shut down their biggest damage ability by staying on them, an arsenal merc leads with only instant casts. Secondly, I 'pretend not to see it' because it's a much smaller problem: it's not like you see a lot of players coming on here to complain that a PT or lightning sorc killed someone 5% faster than they did; the complaints follow very similar patterns of people either getting locked down a lot or feeling that certain classes or specs are extremely hard to pin down or kill in spite of getting focused. Concealment ops obviously top this list, but mercs justifiably have a place on it, and that is what I meant by pretending to see in my case: even though this point is very well known, some people react with almost surprise or outrage that it keeps getting brought up.

It kind of depends. In much of PVE the challenge level isn't greater than that you can play whichever way you enjoy the most. Still, my considerations: Skillful tier: ballistic dampers (especially) and imperial efficiency are good choices, great for almost all situations. Snap shot is the weakest of the three and doesn't really provide a dps increase since with instant snipe you still have to wait for the global cooldown. I'd consider taking vital regulators (significant amount of self healing is useful in a lot of situations) or calculated pursuit (provides a fair bit of mobility without a great dps loss) instead. Masterful tier: hold your ground is a good choice, the other two are pretty mediocre. I'd recommend seek cover and reestablish range instead for snare breakers and increased mobility. Heroic tier: siege bunker is great, almost a must-have for pve above story mode. Defensive safeguards is also a strong choice, with deployed shields being a decent alternative to it depending on if you expect opponents to be close to you. As a third option to these two, tactical retreat is a good choice too, providing a decent self heal and more use from what is already a solid defensive cooldown. Executioner on the other hand is next to useless in comparison, minimal dps increase that can be hard to fit into your rotation. I'd recommend switching it out for pillbox sniper considering the strength of entrench, synergy with siege bunker, seek cover and the established foothold set bonus. So in short: siege bunker, pillbox sniper and one of defensive safeguards, deployed shields and tactical retreat.

Agree that this would be useful. It's not even about gearing or leveling up again as both of those processes are currently very quick; even raising crew influence isn't too much of a hassle. It's things like grinding valor, getting certain titles and mounts back and rediscovering all codex entries that are the real time/effort sinks. What I do after a hiatus when this feeling hits, as others have pointed out, is usually to start a new character and imagine it as my main character reminiscing and reliving their adventures. That way I can play the new character without obsessing about having to unlock everything on them (since they're essentially just a memory). Then when they've completed or reached far enough through their story, I just store or delete them, and switch back to my main. It's not exactly the same, but works fairly well.

Kind of a simplified response. When you have some DCDs that defend against damage but also leave you immovable or unable to attack; and some that defend against damage while letting you move freely, unload damage on others with impunity and other advantages to boot, then people will obviously complain about the second kind. Pretending not to see this is unlikely to help.

As you have noticed, there's a certain disconnect between the overall picture and the perspective of each planetary questline. In general, if you play as a Republic class, each planet is threatened by the Empire and/or its allies, the Republic is mostly useless at stopping them, and everyone depends on you to solve every problem. If you're an Empire class it's the exact opposite, and then you go through the planets sorting everything out. This can often be seen/felt when you explore planets, e.g. Alderaan having two separate Organa castles: one full of guard mobs to serve as a base for Republic players, and one full of regular mobs that Empire players can invade. Three planets stand out a bit from this: - Taris, where the Republic arrives first and tries to save it, and the Empire arrives later in act 2 and wrecks it. - Balmorra, where it's the opposite. Empire arrives and takes over, Republic arrives later in act 2 and liberates. - Corellia, where the outcome is established canon. For all the other planets, the outcome is more unclear, with each player getting to feel they won the day for their faction, if that's what they wanted to do. Trying to unify two such perspectives isn't really practical.

If you run a guild, build a flagship or contribute to conquests there's also a lot of crafting involved: war assets, invasion forces, dark projects, etc. You just don't craft a whole lot of equippable gear any longer.

It's actually quite a well-rounded class now. Not completely out of whack like operatives, but also not with glaring holes in it like (dps) sorcerers. The sniper has tools for pretty much every situation and is pretty good at soloing tough encounters in spite of not being able to heal or tank.

I hear the people who love it tend to play JK or SW, while those who play/main the non-force sensitive classes often aren't as happy with how their characters are portrayed.