I did a very basic Darkness dps breakdown a while back, and it gave me higher numbers in Lightning Charge than Dark Charge. That shouldn't be much of a surprise as Darkness tanks don't get a great deal out of Energize (at least before the Assassinate Range); see this and that. Then there's the Discharge and proc damage to add on top, so it's not really a contest. I can't see this being bigger than Deception/Madness dps though... something seems wrong if that's happening.

True story: my sub runs out today, so I just sold my spare pair of SM bracers on the AH for 1 credit.

If I were to subtract the regen from the cost of FL then I'd have to begin with less than the 17.85 Force per GCD. It is not flawed. The extra GCD is not forgotten in the spreadsheet; it is used for calculating the number of Saber Strikes over the period.

Because after Buff/Debuffs you won't even have enough Force to keep Shock on cooldown (with appropriate use of Force Lightning). Any use of Thrash will decrease the number of Shocks over time, putting you closer to V than to Ib (V coming out slightly lower). The most Force you can have per GCD is 17.85, that's assuming perfect proc rate on Lightning Reflexes (strictly impossible) and Dark Ward used once every 20 seconds. Wither used every 15 seconds is 3 Force per GCD, then you'll have an extra 1 per GCD used on Force Lightnings from Wither (one FL per three Withers). Discharge once per 18 seconds is 1.67 Force per GCD. That leaves you with 12.18 to use on Shocks and additional FL. Shock on cooldown (glossing over cooldown clashes for the moment) is 39/4 = 9.75 and you'll spend 30/12 = 2.5 on FL. Now you have 12.18 - 9.75 - 2.5 = -0.07. So keeping Shock on cooldown and converting all 3 HDs is not possible; that's with no Thrashes used at all. The best you can do is use Shock as much as possible, which is what Ib does. Now I have mentioned previously that in practice with cooldown clashes/alignment you may end up with periods of overfill following Ib. For that, Thrash is probably your best tool for a Force dump (though using extra Withers is very viable). Remember the listed strategies aren't either/or; you can mix it up mid-battle. With the numbers coming out as close as they are, it's probably better to think of the convenience of the moment at hand than anything else. I suppose I could do a further sim with occasional Thrashes but with the slant firmly on Shock, but I can guarantee the values will lie strictly between those of Ib and V.

My spreadsheet is on SW here: http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Sith-Assassin-Jedi-Shadow-Tanking-Compendium?pid=13825#pid13825 Ib uses Wither/Discharge minimally, then fills remaning Force/time with Shock and Force Lightning (where appropriate). III uses Wither on cooldown and fits in occasional Shocks + FL. V fills remaning time with Thrash only using Shock on Energize, and FL again where appropriate. It would make a huge difference, a negative one. Assassinate is comparable even with 3 HD Force Lightning. You absolutely want to be using this on cooldown once it's available.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Grease

MMOs I've played, in order of enjoyment: WoW DDO SW:TOR Neocron PSO WAR big gap... Conan

Food for thought: the tooltips for talented abilities always show base damage based on the minimum level they can be specced into, even though their actual base damage is based off caster level. All talented abilities show lower damage on their tooltips than they actually cause. This is well known.

Here's a very basic comparison: http://www.mediafire.com/?i3gj5logqaogloa Seems too big a difference to matter what stats you and the target have.

In essence, Bioware came up with a great idea in moddable gear, and then abandoned it for end game. Bemusing to say the least.

The only quirky thing in the calculation would be the extra crit damage on Thrash. I'm not so familiar with the dps specs so I don't know what sort of crit and surge values you'll have. If someone wants to post me their stats (crit, surge, weapon and melee bonus) I can do a quick number crunch for you.

Made sense to me. The +affection option is to trust in Khem's ability to handle it by himself.

I paid 100k for Grand Inq belt; I was already using the space one, but I hated how it looked. I've seen the G.I. belt go for 400k before. I've also once bought heavy belt/bracers for around 5k each and resold them for 200k.

I don't believe anybody in the thread has said they have trouble holding threat either way. Regardless it is the usual practice in MMOs to use the most optimal priority/rotation available. You are still fully capable of succeeding with a less than optimal strategy (and I must stress again that the differences are very slight).

They can't. Their version of Spike (I think?) has an animation that looks like our Tumult. That's what you saw them using.