This is absolutely untrue. Flame Sweep = Explosive Burst = elemental. Death From Above = Mortar Volley = kinetic. Rail Shot = High Impact Bolt = weapon damage. Flamethrower = Pulse Cannon = elemental. Flame Burst = Ion Pulse = elemental. Rocket Punch = Stockstrike = kinetic. Heat Blast = Energy Blast = elemental. Learn your abilities first, mate .

When will people stop dumping their personal tastes and/or inadequacies on the classes they play? Vanguards are perfectly capable in PvP. Barring extremely minor issues, like occassional stunlock kills by Agents or the generally lackluster performance versus Sorcerers, we are friggin' bosses on the battlefield. Tactics demolishes casters, Tactics/Assault and pure Assault do great damage, while anything that plays with Ion Cell is a horror to deal with. Get a half decent healer to go along with and a large number of typical pugs are yours. Read up on stuff, too. Also, if you get beaten up so regularly and apparently the Empire "always has the top spots", then maybe your server has a pvp population problem and you should solve it by joining/creating a pvp oriented guild. TLDR version: Geez, grow up. Use that brain for something other than whining. Learn to play. Organize.

I'm a Trooper, so at least my final armor looks totally boss: aggressive as hell, for Vanguards has sweet orange-slate-blackish coloration. Just could lose the ginormous ridiculous heatsink. [This next part not very cultured, but some of the art in SWTOR is just... shockingly bad, and I must vent! And I don't mean it with malice, some of the designs are just indefensible. I don't understand how they got through even basic quality approval.] The Sentinel monstrosity is simply insane. The person who designed it and the person who supervised the design must be so detached from reality that their condition probably qualifies for medical care. If it has not been recognized by the medical community yet, it should. It's like Bioware hired the graphical design equivalent of Uwe Boll and feed him/her nothing but Cool-aid for two years straight, then gave that person a pencil and a piece of paper and said "Sketch, now". Some of the others are almost as hilarious, though: you have the Magical Snail Stalk Lazer Eyeballs bounty hunter helmets, then you have the Giant Electro Bird sorcerer... the latter is so horrible I just plonk off my chair right on the floor every time I see one. And there's about a million of them in PvP at the moment . Oh, and have any of you seen the Ninja Ninja raid set for, I think, Agents? Ahahahaha. [but this is all very surprising...] Because the same team apparently also produced hundreds of fantastic looking pieces. So what gives? And who greenlighted the idea to put iconic looks in lower tiers while consigning level 50's to these various largely unsuccessful experiments? Argh! [PROTIP] Failed experiments: they are good. Build character, give learning opportunities, all that jazz. You also generally don't show them to anybody besides the person who encouraged you to undertake them. And maybe some friends, while inebriated. You most certainly don't sell them to people.

I really like that there are quite a few abilities. No problem there. Sure, things are not going to work smoothly for quite a while yet - I'm not a very gifted player - but I much appreciate the challenge. Bring more, Bioware! People hoping for no more new abilites? You crazy! I longed for new ones and wondered if I will have to somehow weave them in, or will they sadly go to the no-no land (like Full Auto and Blitz for my Vanguard). I'm also happy to have my medpack, my adrenal and two relics on the skillbar. So, if you aren't planning on any new skills, Bioware, gimme moar usable items! Take cue from M1-4X, people: UNBRIDLED ENTHUSIASM!

Assault does very good damage. Only issue is ammo regen which people tend to screw up by going hogwild on every proc that pops up, but that's a skill thing, not a class thing really. Tactics is rather fun too, if a little weird and not for everybody. You can also run a very exciting 23/18 or thereabouts Shield/Assault - uses tanking cell, hits respectably, can storm. Nothing on the burst front, really, but it's durable and with just a touch of healing will continue going to town on people long after everybody else is spent. Also: medals. You will get millions of freaking medals. Billions even. Just take into account that Vanguard takes some getting used to. Not a very typical playstyle in any spec, which is why you will find just as many lovers as haters .

Biotech and defensive cooldowns make a big difference to the amount of health you end up with. Generally what people mean by "I end fights @ full hp" is that by the time your shield, grenade, adrenaline, medpack and 2 relics run out, the fight with elites+silvers is usually over, Elara pops her next 2 heals and you're back up to 90%. Because of all the defensive cooldown goodness you simply don't get into a situation where you could lose a significant portion of your HP. Champions are a different matter, but then either a Champion deals more damage than you can mitigate/heal, in which case if you win you end up with any amount of HP between 100 and 1 per cent... or it doesn't, in which case you end up with he fabled "almost full hp bar". As an additional note: I'm personally not at 50 yet (48), so I run a full damage kit on my shield spec, for leveling purposes. (I choose Reflex armoring/barrels over Commando when possible and have settled on Power/Surge as my enhancement of choice. I guess you can tell I have an unhealthy love for Stockstrike). Anyway, it really speeds things up when it comes to killing things and doesn't necassarily hurt your survivability very much. The only problem with it is when you encounter snobby know-it-alls who are convinced you absolutely must have tank stats to deal with stuff you encounter while leveling.

A couple of points: 1. People claiming Commandos have some magical uber-damage should get off their cool-aid and/or learn to play. Assault Vans mature near 50 due to synergy with secondary talents from other trees. Tactics deals slightly lower damage but has impressive mobility, and is a fascinating potential flavor for people who like this kind of thing in pvp. 1a. One downside to Vanguard DPS is in PvE: unlike Commandos, they don't have a long-term CC. 2. Commandos rely on casted attacks and are therefore more reliant on their groups. Vanguards use 2 channelled attacks w/o pushback (Pulse Cannon and Mortar), rest is insta. 3a. Vanguards need to get up close to deal their damage, but PvP-wise they aren't necessarily a melee class. There is quite a bit of space between 4 and 10 meters. Unlike Shield, Assault doesn't need to close into melee to reliably apply their speed debuff. 3b. Tactics is more of a jump-in, jump-out kind of play, but when they stick up close, they provide best-in-game interrupt capability for burning down healers/cast time DPS. 3c. Commandos are all about keeping the baddies away, for which you have a number of tools (blast 'em away, stun, heals, preferably friends). 4. Vanguards make great hybrids. 23shield/18assault (you run it with the tanking cell) provides the best of both worlds: incredible survivability with very respectable damage and both Storm and Harpoon.

Sorry, but it's your clumsiness. Which is not a problem - any lack of skill is easily remedied through patience and training! All in all, the Vanguard is an incredibly easy class to level. There is some initial learning curve with your basic concepts: ammo, cooldowns and interrupts, but as soon as you grasp them, you're golden. They're not very difficult either, and can be summarized as such: Ammo: Keep in the highest regen zone. If you screw up, use Recharge Cells. Beyond level 20 you shouldn't be screwing up anymore. When you're nearing the end of the fight, burn down to 0. If you haven't used Recharge before, use it in the burn phase. You recharge 0.9 ammo + skilltree regen talents every global cooldown. Do the math (protip: Hammer Shot is your friend). Cooldowns: If your Reactive Shield and LS/DS Relics are not on cooldown, you're doing it wrong. Same for Smoke Grenade if you're a shieldie. At 46 you will also receive a very powerful area stun. Interrupts: Enemies who are allowed to use their abilities deal more damage. Every time Riot Strike comes off cooldown, something to interrupt appears rather quickly. Cryo Grenade interrupts too. As does Harpoon. Shieldguards have a fourth interrupt in the form of Storm. Also: Use consumables. Elites can, at least initially, require a medpac. Ask a friend for stims. Use your brain to make the best use of our ridiculously powerful Pulse Cannon. Mortar can't be pushed back, so you can fire it behind melee while being pummelled. Take Explosive Shot off your skillbar (put it back on for Voidstar/Alderaan). Pretty soon down the line you also obtain a healing companion whom I personally loathe, as she trivializes the game. At least for Shield Specialists she can turn the leveling process into a moronic zombie adventure, where you kill elites almost in your sleep by spamming some basic abilities and letting your healing companion go to town with her green goo. Which is why I stuck with Aric - good, too, since his personality meshes with mine perfectly . He just needs to be shown the right target sometimes. UPDATE: Also, don't face tank melee mobs. You're a quasi-ranged class, for chrissakes. To heal up against ranged, break line of sight. You can do many champions etc. by running around boxes .

Post in-game bug reports until the support center bleeds!

I am a level 46 shield specialist and I find your experience very strange indeed. It may be that you're not taking advantage of all the orange items being thrown your way. Most heroic quests, some random drops as well as flashpoints should provide you with a multitude of moddable items. You can then spend your commendations on up to date barrels/armorings, mods and enhancements. It depends on the planet, but it is not unheard of to afford 4 or 5 fully upgraded items by the time you leave the larger ones. The other side of the coin is using your abilities correctly, which is much more difficult to achieve than upgrading a few pieces of gear. If you're not doing well on this front, expect to be hitting that wall for quite some time yet . I have noticed many players leveling in zombie-mode, which later infuriates me to no end when they join my flashpoints. You have a number of key abilities you are supposed to be using. They make most encounters easily manageable. As a rule, you should be able to take down any even-level elite 1 on 1 with any of your companions when you use these abilities appropriately. You should also be able to grind down any champion and heroic +2 quest about three levels below you when using Elara. Your skills are these: 1. Riot Strike and to a lesser extent Cryo Grenade. These are your absolute number one skills. Learn to switch targets for them too. You can insta-gib trash by Cryo-ing and following with Blitz+SS. 1a. Storm is also an interrupt. You can quite comfortably jump between a silver and an elite or a bunch of silvers in a difficult fight. Analyze the fight a bit. 2. Reactive Shield, Smoke Grenade, Recharge Cells - if they are not on cooldown, you're doing it wrong. 3. Buy Relics in the Light/Dark Side shop and put them on your skillbars. 4. Learn a proper rotation of skills for AoE and single target pulls. Don't underestimate Hammer Shot (and later Energy Blast). As a rule you should keep your top ammo regen rate for most of the fight and then burn down all your ammo as the fight is coming to a close, to end up with 0 ammo and a dead elite/champion. 5. Learn to position mobs for Pulse Cannon, which is your second most powerful skill after Mortar. Use this as an opportunity to train Line of Sight pulls and Harpoon positioning, which are both very useful. 6. Your companions have skillbars too. It is often advantageous to use them (to focus fire, for example). Elara works better when very close to you (she will get a little damaged and then proceed to cast her powerful AoE heal on herself). Elara, Aric and Yuun can comfortably off-tank a silver and also temporarily a gold. Another important tip is: consumables exist for a reason. Biochems have it easier, but even a non-biochem can hoard medpacs. If a mob has a yellow star by its name, it is expected that you'll pop a medkit somewhere down the line. Ask a friend to cook you up a batch of stims, too. I have to say that for me leveling has been very easy. I generally do 2+ heroics on my own to have a bit of a challenge (the aoe heal that Elara receives at 35 makes her insanely good). At about level 40 I decided to remove absolutely all of my defensive mods/enhancements and started using power/surge modules for convenience.

If you're leveling slow with your healer, you're doing something wrong. Simple as that.

I'm still running with my original orange rifle (the one you receive on Ord Mantell). Currently on Commando Barrel 7 . Works like a charm. I really wouldn't mind keeping it all the way to 50.

There are hardly any super-powerful survivability talents because you don't really need them. We are very tough by default due to our itemization and the overall class design. On top of that the Shield Specialist tree gains top-notch resilience by improving the utility of our Ion Cell (which you receive at level 14). The Ion Cell provides +60% armor, +5% damage reduction and +15% shield chance. This game is in general of a somewhat different nature than WoW when it comes to encounter design. BioWare has put a premium on action and control of the battlefield and it shows - the Vanguard is not a walking tank, he's just tough enough for what he is supposed to do: take the heat off allies, provide utility and, in PvP, discourage the enemy from action. Our one serious defensive cooldown - Smoke Grenade - is very powerful. Being a Trooper also entitles us to Reactive Shield (-25% damage for 12 seconds) and Adrenaline Rush (15% self-heal). We have a very low cooldown interrupt in Riot Strike, and near level 50 we also gain access to a long duration AoE stun. The Shield Specialist additionally receives a very versatile mobility/disengage tool in Storm, which can be used both offensively and defensively. All Vanguards can use Harpoon, another very powerful control ability. The damage bonuses you are so unimpressed with come very useful in later fights, especially when non-trivial adds start factoring in. That guaranteed Ion discharge coupled to much quicker Stockstrike vastly improves our quality of life . We are also PvP powerhouses. Our taunts (one is AoE) and the Guard mechanic are brilliant and turn us into perfect bodyguards. Coupled with all our control abilities and a healer, a Vanguard is largely unkillable . Just ask any Beta veterans. We are a freaking nightmare.

While some Pulse Cannon love would be nice, I really like my Stockstrike spam . Stockstrike is very heroic. It's certainly much more heroic than blasting stuff from safe® range.

Pushback reduction is there so that you can spam your Grav Rounds with only minor cast time penalties while being hit in the face by an angry rancor. Or while being exploded by a giant robot. Very useful .

Seriously, BioWare, just ban the OP? You may very well later get sued for coercing a mentally challenged person into paying a subscription!

Nah, the Vanguard uses his rifle like a boss! You don't really shoot much - it's more a combination of smacking people in the face with the rifle butt, zapping unfortunates with various kinds of lightning (real lightning, not that pathetic purple Sith nonsense) and pressing little buttons to make your shield explode! And you're supposed to hit ALL THE PEOPLE in the face with your rifle butt. Every 4.5 seconds or so.

100% cookie-cutter. Obvious, yes?

Haha, nice one. That whole Step 1, Step 2, Get Out of Here Now process is a little scary, but if you read all the fine print, the info's there . Everything is ok! Just don't forget your security questions/answers because you will need them at some point and if you screw up it's off to the Customer Service phone line with you!

Having a life, mostly. Working. Thinking about new ways to make my print shop more awesome. Engaging in erotic activities! Cooking. Doing chores. Reading. Seriously, OP. And I did the same when I was 17, only then I didn't have a business, so I just fixed people's computers and did other stuff like that. For sweet, sweet, tax-free illegal money!

I think, and I think you will think so too if you devote even a minute to thinking, that the "outrage" currently in progress is absolutely appalling. Truly, if I were in charge of this game, I'd be strongly in favor of sacrificing a few thousand subscriptions right away and banning all the most ridiculous offenders to prevent them from polluting the community later on. All this uproar, those 1000-reply long threads about why BioWare has various genitals and/or genital analogs up their various orifices - it would be unacceptable among baboons. It's certainly unacceptable among people. Those of you with even a shred of mental capacity remaining, stop mashing your f5 buttons and go back to your lives. If you don't have a life, it's a perfect time to get one! Get on Wired and read a science blog. Learn about the everything-resistant bacteria that are going to kill you or the proto-whales that sunbathed along Egypt's beaches. Download a new TV series. Cook something! Take care of that backlog of chores. Take a shower and go for a beer. Have some sex. All that frothing at the mouth should make for wonderful oral! Nobody to have sex with? Start a dating service profile. Just don't stalk anybody on the street, please . The funniest thing is that there isn't even any reason to be angry. There is nothing in the entire history of this universe that could've possibly made a cognizant person expect to receive anything more than zero days of early access. That's because all of us had read EA's offer. Now, I understand that we all have our hopes and dreams, but "up to X days" is not a poetic device or a devious riddle. It's not even super fancy wording. "Up to X days" is pretty much the definition of an openly stated lack of promise. Yes, I understand it's also underhanded marketing of the most pathological nature, but remember about your brains, people. Use them! And if you don't manage that at first, try again, this time with some fracking feeling! Anyway, now not only do we get actual early access to an essentially bug free game, which is a marvellous development, we also get it extended! Some lucky people will play for seven extra days, and it seems very realistic that many if not all of us will actually get those five or maybe four days that we initially dreamed of. Me, I think it's quite awesome. PS. Take all the above with a grain of salt - I mean, I can't even abandon my work schedule because people depend on me and my girlfriend refuses to take over all the house chores, so maybe I simply can't appreciate the "lively cultural phenomenon of early game launches".

Hey there . I wanted to write something myself, but I remembered this little guide. It's fantastic. The player in general is very good too and his class videos for SWTOR are very much worth watching if you're new to this whole thing. http://taugrim.com/2011/04/07/guide-to-strafing-movement-and-keybindings/

In my opinion BioWare should implement a system similar to the one currently in WoW: can't personally use it, can't need on it. Solves the problem really well. It may be a little simplistic, but for now would do. The approach I would personally like the most would be for a new loot window with three options to appear in the future. The three options would be the ones already proposed: personal need, companion need and greed. It is important to take note however, that the option to need for a companion in and of itself doesn't make much sense. After all, our teams of companions have been designed to encompass the entire spectrum of playstyles, so it could be argued that any player is well within their rights to roll for every little piece of equipment! The system could work very well however, if players had to designate one companion to serve as their "main" for looting purposes. If a piece armor works for your artificial best buddy, the "Need: Companion" button lights up. That way group memebers would have the ability to put their solo-powerhouses ahead of other people's permanent crew skill grindbots, but would never be able to grab items valuable for actual player characters. Of course, in an ideal world the entire system would be considered petty and juvenile! Unfortunately, as some posts in this thread show, we've still got some way to go before we get there .