Screenshot: http://elise.forumprofi.de/download/file.php?id=1 Photobucket relink for people who don't trust php links: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/pyroknoppix/Screenshot_2012-01-28_16_56_31_763129.jpg Two bugs capped in one screenshot: 1) Our operation has too many players, giving an unfair advantage (has been around since launch... 2) An imp seems to think it is okay to bugabuse to open the door. I don't even know how this bug works, but I sometimes encounter people that stand half inside the door they want to plant on, making it impossible to interrupt the cast. 1 more bug in this pvp zone is the ability to jump over the fence for republic players, which should also be adressed. (The guy will be reported of course) Can we expect a fix for the warzone bugs soon?

It was me: Link I quit as soon as I hit level 55. Either way... I know my one day was enough, I know how to play and I gave it enough time. Played roughly 10 pvp rounds and a hardmode operation run with it... and I know it's a very solid build, I just did not like it. Too boring for my taste and my normal build makes me work a bit more, which gives me more fun when playing. PS: I am 28 / 13 / 0 hybrid. And the force management in this build is better then in a 23 / 0 / 18 build. PS2: Soon to come: a Hutball match of 4 Elise / 4 VotF against 7 VotF + 1 random in a video. Was damn funny to say the least.

Hey! That was me... but uhh Gladiator? How about a Templar . Ye of course, I know YOU are trying it yourself, but many people don't. I for instance tried the build yesterday, after all the forum posts about it... but I was plainly bored by it. So I respecced back at the end of the day. I actually "made" my own build by trying, and went for a Kinetic / infiltration hybrid. I use backstab quite often, so I know why the OP made this post... but ye... once you know when to use backstab, and when not to, you can very efficient.

PS: 23/0/18 seems to be the next PvP coockiebutter build everyone is going for because some people on forums say it is the best one available. Don't join the bandwagon PS: Shadowstrike is annoying sometimes with the position bugs, but I can usually still get it off pretty fine. Letting you use it from any side would be just wrong and maybe even OP.

I wish at least battlemaster was harder to get. Champion gear is and should be pretty easy to come by, as it would be unfair for fresh 50ies to fight full PvP geared people with their PvE gear. But I don't really like running in nearly full endgame pvp set in this short amount of time. (Just missing offhand, shoes and headgear, then I am totally done with full BM set o.O, at valor rank 64)

I've played around yesterday with the kinetic / balance hybrid tree, just to see if it was any good. Even though the sustained damage is pretty decent, I am not fond of it at all... it's too boring for my taste, so I switched back to my previous build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601rIMokbskfZhGbMz.1 Harder to master, more burst without needing RNG to be on your side, more force regen, but especially much better against other shadows / assassins (relying less on your force attacks). Only con: Position bugs The video in my sig is showing this build.

HM flashpoints are level 50 only. You can talk to the quest giver and chose your difficulty for flashpoints. For operations, the partyleader can set it in the group option menu. Operations are level 50 only as well.

I hope you meant excluding?

That's really a lot of effort you put in that post. I hope the game designers take a look at it, and if they didn't have a plan of this magnitude ready to implement soon, I really hope they take a look at yours. All the pvpers need to be satisfied. They only stick around right now because there's no alternative, but if things stay the same for quite some time, alternatives will be given by other companies. And yes, I do hope this game will succeed in the long run, so gamedesigners & devs: Read and learn!

Nahhh, you're losing too much utility in my opinion. The build should do nice sustained dps though! Force might become a problem, even though you can use blackout. Nevertheless it's good to see different builds, so keep em coming, and play whatever you feel comfortable with! I'm also running a less common build, that suits me well.

I beg to differ as well: No guard-medals hogging. 50ies bracket. Very solid in 1 on 1, even though you can't really see that in this video. Perfect for group-play. There is a lot of misconceptions about shadows and assassins, but it seems more and more people really start to understand the class, finally!

I am sometimes stealing aggro from our tank, mostly because I am in kinetic combat (more threat generated in that stance), and next to that doing more damage then him. But as long as I just don't go all-out at the start of a fight, our tank generally keeps the aggro just fine. More-over, I am also the one who picks up all the adds in bossfights. In that timeframe I don't damage the boss, so the tank has plently of time to work on his threat. What is he doing wrong? Just DPSing too much probably, and maybe using his taunts wrong. The problem could also be that you tank is doing it wrong, and doesn't use his threat generating abilities properly rotated. But fact remains: If a sin/shadow wants the aggro, he will take it. So your question is more then valid.

Grats! Your questions should be covered here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=229084

Shadows are fine. They might be the most skill-dependant class in the game, but as soon as you know how to play one, the shadow / assassin is a really strong class.

@Ryouzanpaku Actually, the lower cooldown on spinning kick is a lot better then that 1 extra charge, asssuming you are a kinetic combat shadow. I have played with both sets (champion set was 4x stalker), now as Battlemaster I am running with 2x surviver, 2x stalker. I personally use 2x surviver, rest pure stalker gear (headgear is still champion force-master, though...). I do plan however to get dmg mods inside the survivor gear. That's just a matter of time.

gonna check it from time to time, thanks!

When I only had champion gear, I was using the 4x stalker bonus. But as soon as I found out about the 2x surviver set bonus, I went for that right away, for my first 2 battlemaster pieces. The lower cooldown on spinning kick is really a lot better then that 1 extra charge. @Thull: I believe it's gloves and pants, but I am not quite sure. But you do have a valid point. I did not pick them for that reason though. Maybe something to think about! What I did notice though... I still use my champion force-master headband, as I find it the best headgear currently available... The crit / surge combo is really welcome, and no battlemaster headgear gives me those stats.

Everything is possible, PvE isn't that hard, especially not at the start. But Kinetic combat does not start to shine untill you get to a higher level so it's not the easy way out. Pure infiltration will be a lot easyer at your early levels. But hey, you should play with you prefer. If you like the tanking gameplay more, you should just try that right away. You will have no problem to progress. And then once you get a healing companion, you will be able to basically kill everything just fine, including elites and bosses, all on your own.

I'm a kinetic 28 / infiltration 13 hybrid, and I am doing fine as DPS, as long as I wear the DPS gear needed. Of course it is not as much as a pure DPS spec, but I think it is just about 20 % less, at max. My build made me lazy... the only difference between DPSing and Tanking comes from my gear. The build is always the same.

^ I guess the 4 set bonus on the survivor set isn't really worth it, as you will loose a lot of offensive stats. So the 5 % you gain in damage, is already lost due to less willpower and for instance crit. On the other hand, you can of course get the surviver set, and mod it differently to have best of both worlds. But you will need quite some time for that to become reality I personaly use all Battlemaster Stalker pieces, apart from 2x survivor for the lower cooldown on spinning kick.

Here's a recording I just made some hours ago, to give an insight on Kinetic / Infiltration hybrid: Does anyone have a video of a Kinetic / Balance Hybrid? I still did not try it out, but I will most definitly, even though I am quite happy with my current build and playstyle.

I am one of the few shadows on my server that seems to go for this Hybrid: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601rIMokbskfZhGbMz.1 I like the diversity the build gives me. I can do decent spike damage when needed (far from best, but I said decent!). Also, the blackout regen buff comes in handy, to get your force pool up again after a longer fight, or when you just need to waste a lot of force to finish the job quickly. But mostly this build gives me great group play capabilities (survivability, guard, self-heals, great CC, and next to that, very good sustained damage. Another pro is, I can tank in PvE just fine. I just swap my gear from Battlemaster Stalker gear (2 pieces surviver for the lower cooldown), to PvE survivor gear.

Jumping in an already existing warzone (Republics quitting the game obviously), where a full 50 imp team was leading with 500 - 300 in the turret map the second we entered. Thanks to great teamwork with the remaining 4 republics and my premade, we won the warzone with 15 health left on our ship as we crushed the imps

I have one big question to all the Republic Crybabies about warzones: Why exactly do you think warzones are unfair? I am a republic L50 battlemaster shadow (Was already valor 48 or so when I reached level 50), and with my small guild (12 members or so), we win around 90 % of our matches. Do empire have better gear? Some of them do, some of them don't. Face it... champion pvp gear is very easy to get by. Battlemaster on the other hand is hard to get, but still, it is only a small increase in stats and damage & reduction. So a skilled champion player, will always win from a buttonbashing battlemaster (Unless it's a facerolling operative killing a squishy, I personally still eat operatives for breakfast) Of course, Ilum is totally broken balance-wise and a mass zergfest, but even there, we outsmart Empire there most of the time and finish our daily within an hour. I wonder if Empire people can even finish it at that time, because there are so few Republics going there. After we finished our daily, we also leave Ilum instantly again, as it is totally not a funny pvp experience at all with all the lag and zerging going on. But as said, we finish it all within 1 hour. And then again... Let's not even talk about one particular sentence Empire people have to face so often: Lets play HUTBALLLLLLLLL Conclusion: I am happy to play the underdog!

On our server, The Ravager, the Republic seems to do pretty decent. Of course you will meet people who don't know what to do, but you get that on both sides. You will have to fight a lot of russian premades with high gear once you're 50, but usually it is pretty doable to win. Teamplay doesn't seem to be their thing. And of course, once the brackets kick in, overgeared 50ies won't stomp your *** anymore while you are still leveling up. On a sidenote, the community on our server is pretty nice. I haven't met many kids yet. Join the minority, Republic side on the Ravager