Won't leave - no balls.

You need a shield for your guard. Just because you're not stacking shield rating doesn't mean guarding other players is ineffective.

Originally posted here. LG 5760x1080 Surround Monitors Intel i7-5930K @ 4.2GHz on 6 cores/12 threads EVGA Superclock GTX 980 Ti dual SLi (but I have SLi disabled for this game, so it's just using 1 card) MSI Pro X99 PNY 32Gb DDR4 2800 Mushkin 120Gb SSD in 2x RAID-0 WD Black 1Tb in 2x RAID-0 WD Green 2Tb Interestingly, with this beast rig of mine, SWTOR runs comparatively terrible in 16 mans, only second to Tera. I only get about 50-60 FPS with all settings maxed when I'm in a WZ - keeping in mind that my card is drawing only 1/4 less than the number of pixels of a true UHD 4K display. If I turn all setting to their lowest while still keeping my resolution, I still only get about 90-100 FPS in warzones because the game is not utilizing all 12 threads past about 40-60% each.

LGA 5760x1080 Surround Monitors Intel i7-5930K @ 4.2GHz on 6 cores/12 threads EVGA Superclock GTX 980 Ti dual SLi (but I have SLi disabled for this game, so it's just using 1 card) MSI Pro X99 PNY 32Gb DDR4 2800 Mushkin 120Gb SSD in 2x RAID-0 WD Black 1Tb in 2x RAID-0 WD Green 2Tb Interestingly, with this beast rig of mine, SWTOR runs comparatively terrible in 16 mans, only second to Tera. I only get about 50-60 FPS with all settings maxed when I'm in a WZ - keeping in mind that my card is only drawing 1/4 less than the number of pixels of a true UHD 4K display. If I turn all setting to their lowest while still keeping my resolution, I still only get about 90-100 FPS in warzones because the game is not utilizing all 12 threads past about 40-60% each.

I really have no idea why BW decided to remove the basic colour crystals from mainhands/offhands. Seems like a bad marketing move, but there's not enough of a push towards CM crystals to say it really is marketing strategy. I don't know - I just think some downie kid at BW got his wish.

These are all pretty terrible nerf suggestions. Really, what needs to be nerfed in the bonuses derived from Rejuvinate's procs, and swap the mobile casting from Healing Trance to Deliverance. Those two simple things would be far more effective while still giving the class a distinct play style and efficiency in PVP/PVE.

lol 8/8 gr8 b8 m8

The OP is talking about the drivers crashing and recovering - not the game. Driver crashes are typically the result of one - or the combination of - three things: 1. Overclock is too high. 2. Heat is too high. 3. Not enough available power for the current clock (default included). Fixes for the above can include: 1. Reduce clocks OR Increase voltage and/or power target. 2. Reduce voltage and/or apply aggressive fan rpm curves. 3. Reduce voltage and/or reduce number of unneeded components drawing from the PSU (e.g. fans, optical drives, dedicated physx cards). The game now places much more strain on graphics hardware due to a multitude of factors, which includes poorly optimized shaders. Just because you were able to run the game fine pre-3.0 does not mean your card is stable with the added effects of SoR. The game is also suffering from frame buffering issues, causing stutter and high draw latencies.

If you're sitting at a desk, and you only want a single monitor, then you'd be fine to go with a 27-32" 1440p display. Your card can more than handle this game at 2560x1440. I would recommend BenQ or Asus for the high-end WQHD monitors, and it will cost you. However, the price is very well worth it for a single display. With that said, you really can't beat an Eyefinity/Surround display setup. With your card, you could easily power three 22" 1600x900 displays with game graphic settings maxed (other than cascading and shadow map size due to memory limitations). If you're looking for 1080p Eyefinity, you may have to turn off AA, and go for lower settings in Shaders and Shadows. Either way, you're still only looking at a 300-450 USD investment for three AOC entry-level monitors.

I keep on telling myself I'll do it later, but you know how that goes. I stopped making videos because I was having issues with encoding, and I had to format my boot drives to do a clean install of Win7. It was just a huge pain in the ***, and I spent weeks battling the encoding issue, so I was really burnt-out on making videos. I'm actually leveling a Shadow to 55 right now, but I'll be making a new Pyro/Assault guide for 2.8...later. lol

I'm not 100% with you on what you mean by "filling that GCD," so, sorry if I don't hit the nail on the head here. I used to use ED as a normal part of my rotation back in 1.7 because IM was expensive and didn't do a lot of damage. I'd basically ED (closing-in) , TD, FB, RS, RP, RS. It was an extra bit of damage. Now, however, I find it the opposite in regards to the damage IM does per its heat cost. It's been fixed for a long time, but it's especially effective since 2.8, right? Well, now I'm basically going RpS (closing-in), TD, IM, RS, RP, RS and then a bunch of FB and RpS depending on heat and other factors - then my RS procs, and hit with that. Then a couple more RpS or FB until TD is off CD, and I save my RP for the RS proc. You know how it works from there. In a perfect world, that would be my static rotation, but there are chances I get to throw out a Flame Sweep for the dots, or an ED for the juke, or to keep an Op/Sin from stealthing out (just in case the Sin's tech/force immunity is on CD). It's just all extremely situational and completely depends on who or what I'm fighting; that's why I don't include it in a static rotation. I still use it often, though, just more for utility rather than applying it for straight offensive DPS. I really hope that answers what you are asking, and it helps you understand where I'm coming from.

It's so highly underrated and I hardly see any PT's use it. Such a shame. While Pyro Shield can be an effective deterrent against incoming damage, it's my opinion the points are better spent into VI if we're talking about offensive tactics. My point of view lies on VI being decent aoe damage which keeps healers very busy, and it keeps their cleanse on CD. I can't count the times I've been sitting on top of a healer, they run through a group of their teammates, and I've been able to hit them with a Flame Sweep. Back and forth they go, through their group, for "protection." Which actually brings me to your next point: I, personally, never really have an issue with heat management in this spec. Back years ago when I switched from NORS to Pyro, I had a hard time because NORS was definitely more heat efficient. However, in that time, I've learned how to effectively weave Rapid Shots in between abilities once-in-a-while, and it comes naturally at what could be considered barely even a marginal DPS loss. Before 2.8, when I was still running 2 points in GAJ, I found myself pretty much never using TSO or VH even a single time during a match. I seem to get a 50/50 reaction out of my ED juke. Like you said - people are either too tunneled or too unaware most of the time. ED is is just too expensive to use for as little damage as it does; except for juking and stopping caps right before you go down. I think it really comes down to playstyle and personal preference. At the end of the day, not all players are going to have the exact same methods, and my playstyle allows me to shift around a few points to better suit my highly aggressive style of offense. There is no perfect "god" spec, and sometimes it pays to play around with points.

lol I made something like this like a year and a half ago and posted on the VG forums. Even used the exact same stock pic for the controller. http://imageshack.com/a/img546/6119/assaultvanguardpvppromo.jpg

This guide needs an update for 2.8, but most of the information is okay. I only see Shoulder Cannon mentioned once in the entire guide. Shoulder Cannon is so clutch for so many reasons. It's literally free DPS which is off the normal GCD rate. It's used for burst, guarding nodes when you get mezzed/stunned, and stun retaliation. Always have it on CD, unless you're guarding a node. Don't activate it if you're guarding a node solo - wait until you get stunned, THEN activate it, because otherwise you might get mezzed while it's on CD because you didn't use any rockets for 5 min. The 2 points in Pyro Shield should be spent in Infrared Sensors, and the points spent in Gyroscopic Alignment Jets should be spent in Volatile Igniter. IR gives a damage mitigation bonus, and WAY better stealth detection. The 2 additional points of detection is way underrated. VI is also more important now due to the changes in DOT damage through Power Bracer. Flame Sweep now does the channel damage of Flame Thrower without having to spend more than 1 GCD outside of your normal rotation. Don't use it as a DPS filler, only use it once every 4 GCD MAX when 4 or more enemies are grouped together, and ONLY when you are able to trigger Thermal Sensor Override (when using more than once in a single in-combat instance). In addition, it makes AOE cap stopping more heat effective. Also, use of Explosive Dart is not recommended unless you're trying to juke soemone into blowing defensive CD's so you can line up your burst. The only time it should be used outside of juking is to plant on an enemy trying to cap if you're about to die. The splash damage will also interrupt other cappers nearby. Your relics should be Serendipitous Assault (Power) and Focused Retribution (Mainstat). The mainstat relic works better for bonus damage + Crit due to our aim skill synergy. That's about 150 extra bonus damage and 1.4% crit if you only take 2/3 in Steely Resolve. Which brings me to my next point; Go 2/3 Steely Resolve and pick up Prototype Cylinders for the additional DOT crit. It's better than the ~90 AIM, at this point, due to our Power Bracers buff. Otherwise, I agree with almost all of what the guide states. This is all my personal opinion, of course. It's just what I've learned from playing a Pyro PT/Assault Van for in pvp 2.5 years, and belonging to pvp-only guilds.

Perhaps you were seeing your buffs vanish when the server and client calculated your death, but your death animation had not started and portrait had not yet updated this info. There is a split-second delay between what actually happens "behind the scenes" and the any of the health bars on any of the UI elements. It's just a split second, but when you're "in the zone" it can seem like a million years at least. This can be exacerbated when you're lagging (even just the slightest bit). I'm not saying that's exactly what happened, but I'm just saying it's a possibility.

I think that link really covers why WoW is down in subscriptions; The game is 9 years old and it's just super played-out for nearly all of its original player base. I was a dedicated WoW player from BC until the launch of TOR. By the time TOR launched, I was only logging in twice a week to run arenas/rbg's and Conquest cap. I had simply been around so long that there was nothing new and amazing for me, like there was when I first started playing WoW. WoW has SO MUCH to offer to newcomers, and that's primarily the kind of players you'll see, as well as who Blizzard primarily markets to. That's why the game has been made so easy for players level up and gear up; It's the best MMO for people new to the MMO genre. All of its content is extremely accessible. The LFG tool was actually first, WAY before LFR. LFG was introduced in (iirc) 3.2 for LK, while LFR was 4.3 Cata. However, I really disagree with the idea that BG's became impersonal because of xserver queueing. Sure, there was a much more massive pool of players, but good players and good guilds still stood out. Also, people would be able regularly see these good players/guilds often throughout the day if a person would actually pay attention. The idea that xserver queues were what caused WoW's decline is a little skewed since WoW only continued to increase in popularity, as these features made the game more accessible to a wider audience. Also, I was never able to get "instant queue" as a DPS, and even during WoW's peak, I would sit in queue for up to two hours waiting for Heroic queue pops. It has only ever been instant for tanks. Two things here; Gear progression is inevitable, and boss mechanics largely stayed the same for two expansions. The reason why LK seemed so easy is because the boss mechanics were all recycled. When Blizz got wise to this and saw players were roflstomping Ulduar, RS and ICC they took a step back and changed/added boss mechanics for Cata. People nearly crapped themselves because Cata was all-of-a-sudden "too hard" and required "too much effort" to down even the common heroic dungeon bosses. On the PVP side of this, people were tired of how the Arena rating system worked. First losing games at the beginning of the week was bad, then it didn't matter, but you would fight all week, then get your rating based on your best games? It was just a bad system that needed to be revamped and for the most part, the majority of the hardcore rated PVP crowd was pleased with the changes. LFR at the end of Cata gave "bads" the chance to experience end-game content without end-game rewards. The loot for LFR kills was nowhere near as good as the loot for normal mode kills. People didn't understand how the LFR system worked or how the loot ilvls were so horrible that they assumed Blizz was throwing "bads" a bone and letting them complete content that should only be there for "the best of the best." Truth is, the LFR content was a joke and the rewards were awful compared to even a 10man normal mode. LFR rewards were barely above heroic rewards. But it did give new players a chance to get into raids, learn the mechanics, and then graduate to real 10/20man content. You're being a bit dramatic here. LFR was put in place so new players didn't wipe real raid progression guild 10/20man groups. It wasn't a fast-track to running hard mode content, because the rewards were just awful and the fights were pathetically easy. LFR is for people that, A) Need to gear a new toon fast because their guild 10/20man needs a specific class/role badly, or B) people that have no interest in ever actually participating in real 10/20man nm/hm raid progression. The achievements are even tracked separately, and LFR heroes (people that do no other pve progression content except clearing LFR runs) are generally considered to be noskill bads. I get that it upsets you because plebeians are able to SEE the same content as your super hardcore 20man hardmode raid progression group, but...c'mon...They're nowhere even close to being on the same level and you can check their armory and laugh at them all day (like I used to). There still is hard-to-reach, difficult content that only the most dedicated can clear. No group of scrubs wearing old pvp gear is going to clear a current nightmare mode operation. If an LFR-like feature is added into TOR, don't despair because some awful, mouth-breathing mongoloids are downing a boss with the same name as your nightmare mode boss...just be happy you don't ever have to worry about them wanting to group with you, because they're going to always take the easiest kill and the easiest loot. You're better than they are, so start acting like it instead of crying about how cross-server queueing will make the competitive pool larger. It only matter for pvp anyways, because is there honestly any glory in clearing a hm flashpoint? Like, seriously, you're going to be jealous because some random group of 4 guys ran a 55 hm? Or you're going to be mad that some group of 8 people might not all be from your server and might get a healthy fear for you? TOR isn't so huge that your name will get lost if you're a total pvp bad-a. lol Trust me.

I think both queue types require a different kind of skill. On the one hand, you have a skillset which is really only viable in solo queue. Then on the other hand, you have a skillset which is really only viable for coordinate premade groups. The way you approach solo and premade queues should be with different tactics. Solo queue is much more about self-reliance, while premade queue is much more about group-reliance. However, it's not to say that the fundamental concepts are not the same in both queues; Know your class, time your abilities, understand your opponent.

I have spec "how-to" guides on my Youtube channel which I made publicly available and posted the links to in the appropriate Class forums. I would also help by replying to topics every third or fourth day (not enough traffic to reply every day) in the class forums. What happens? Some people appreciate the help, but most people want to argue with me about it. They try to convince me that their spec is the best, because beating on a dummy for 60 seconds is the best way to test PVP specs/builds. Yet they could provide no real-world data from actual duels/skirmishes...and then get roflstomped and complain how the class is broken.

I've read their exit blogs and it reports very nicely to the community. However, they were VERY personally invested into SWTOR, and when it hit rock-bottom in Summer 2012, it broke their hearts. You should go back and read some of their feeds and blogs from SWTOR production, beta, launch and post-launch. Ray Muzyka was especially personally/emotionally invested into SWTOR, all but claiming it to be the crowning achievement of Bioware. I'm not saying that the rock-bottom low of SWTOR caused them to retire, but it certainly had an obvious impact. It was also the point at which (the new) Bioware announced they would be launching F2P models and the Cartel Market. I don't think either Zeschuk or Muzyka wanted to see SWTOR have to institute a F2P model along with a RMT model. I don't think they were willing to accept that the game was in dire straights.

I've tested out the new mechanics and I was really impressed with their changes. I think, if anything, PT's will be more powerful because of increased utility for ALL specs. Annihilation/Watchman will be literally the ONLY spec to provide a hard-counter to Assault/Pyro in 2.0, if everything goes live as-is. The thing people don't understand is, Pyro PT's were balanced as soon as the PPA proc got a 6sec ICD. Plus, it's all single-target damage. If you're not able to mitigate the initial burst from a PT Pyro, then it all comes down to learning what Pyros can/can't do as a class. They're not hard to kill, you just have to survive the initial burst.

I'm not one of those people. I do call incs in caps, because upper-case text is easier to catch during heated node fights than lower-case. Also, I generally only run with premades from my guild, so we're communicating effectively in our TS3 server. I completely understand that there are going to be varying degrees of player skill. There might be people better than I am, but I would never know or be able to play with them, because there is no cross-server queues for Warzones. So, I'm limited to the stagnant pool of level 50 players currently residing on the server I used to play on. No, because you have to earn it. However, I believe that Bioware should be ready to grant you with free supplies and gear, due to the dedication and zealous defense you provide them with ever-so-witty signatures.

I've had numerous players argue with me to the bitter end about how my spec/gearing/playstyle is garbage, and I need to do this-that-and-the-other to get on their level. Then we either meet in a WZ or duel and I completely annihilate them. I've parsed higher numbers in my PVP gear than some people have in their PVE gear, who argue against me using a specialized Pyro spec of mine for PVE. There is no end to these type of people that believe, just because they are the best in their guild, that they are the authority on my class. Hell, I'm not even trying to say I'm the authority on my class, but at least I know where to start.

Regardless if you're being sarcastic or not, I wish i did not have to. However, the glaring inadequacies are simply too profound to ignore them when your sole purpose is to PVP competitively in an environment which encourages such dedication. I honestly love the mechanics of this game. The response feels so good, barring the heinous GCD bug. From a purely numbers/nerd stand-point, this game has very solid throughput for role mechanics. For example, as any of the DPS classes, a skilled player can clearly asses the strengths of his/her class and execute devastating results with calculated situational rotations, synergistic skill specs, and careful CD management. Literally every class is lightning in a bottle, even if some have a little more lightning than others.

Clever, however, not the point. I don't believe it's a good idea, because people excited about being new to the game shouldn't have to share a sub-forum with why people are upset with the game and leaving. Hence the thing about bird poop and cars and metaphors and dry humor.

I believe that's not the best of ideas. I'm providing my post as feedback to Bioware - not trying to communicate with other players. Also, it just wouldn't look good for new players to see metaphorical bird poop all over their shiny new metaphorical car. I realize that a majority of players will contest my opinions and statements contained in this thread. They're not going to change my mind, and I'm not going to change theirs. That's the way it works, and I'm fine with that, as long as my feedback is read by a moderator.