Haha, what a bunch of borderline autistic twerps in this thread (for the most part). OP has a fair point and a very valid point if we want to get ranked to pop more often. Comments about gear, ability, rotation and all that junk are all well and good, but the truth remains: even if he did all of these things, became geared, guard swapped etc etc. the toxicity wouldn't end. Maybe some of it wouldn't be directed against him, but, frankly, for a thinking, mature adult even that shouldn't be acceptable. So, OP, educate yourself, gear up, queue up and learn to use ignore liberally. It's your sub, do what you will with it.

Meh, honestly who cares? And I don't mean to troll or anything, but comparatively few SWTOR players even go to these here forums. Let alone post on them. Most people are here to play the game and if the game runs, smoothly, with no lag or weird FPS issues, then why in the freaking world would they care about a trifle such as a slot machine? Seriously. What sort of a person does care? I don't blame BW for having just 3 people to moderate this mess. Most things people complain about are not worth responding to anyway. Small number of issues that do matter, ones affecting the game's performance (we're here to play the game, remember?), should be addressed promptly and in a number of ways including forums, Twitter, FB, official website and whatever. And that BW has been doing.

'Upward advancement'. Well done, thank you for a laugh lol

Turning off shadows and whatever, while normally a good suggestion, doesn't work for most people having these issues. I had the game stutter on 'low' settings. Low across the board. That's with ESO Cyrodil running smoothly on ultra. There is really a problem here.

Of course there is a problem. That of course won't prevent people from questioning your ISP and hardware setup. I do have to say, as of last patch I either got used to the stuttering or it got a little bit better.A little. Now I don't know which

It was the case last year. At least for a while. Not in game currently, so can't verify, but the game does give the target of your snowball a buff/debuff sort of thing. Ergo, you get flagged if your target is flagged.

OP, you may be too 'hardcore' for this game. And I'm not even being snarky. As far as I'm concerned, the game is casual enough for me to give me a sense of accomplishment without actually running out of content to do. I have plenty of RL interests and should the game require more time investment than it currently does, I'd quit it. Simple as that. To answer your question then: nope, plenty of stuff for me to do still.

I took a slightly different approach as DPS: switched Nadia (my DPS companion) to Qyzen in tank stance. He kept Revan interested most of the time. I detaunted as needed. Otherwise, I took a hands-off approach, doing a steady stream of damage, but nothing to raise my threat too much.

Guys, seriously, there is no need to go into the nitty-gritty of things here. You all have great, valuable suggestions, but why not keep it simple? The key, as always, is civil communication. If you are having issues with someone in an FP, please just say so. Without snark. Without name-calling. Civilly, like adults. By the same token, civil communication is what you should have a right to expect when you are the one being addressed. Only after such attempts to communicate don't work do you have a right to kick a player. Should you have a juvenile need to curse him or her out, do so then. But first, always try to communicate. I once joined an in-progress Cademimu group. Upon zoning in I was told, laughingly, that I was their fourth dps replacement. I could see a healer/tank duo from the same guild, wearing decent gear, so while my BS detectors started beeping, I decided to give it a shot - I'm a decent dps right? Well, fellow dps dropped for no reason apparently, so we got in queue and quickly got a replacement - a sage. I wasn't really paying attention, but everything seemed to be going swimmingly. Imagine my surprise when our largely silent chat erupted in Caps Lock-addled pile of invective directed by the tank at the other dps. Turns out he was healing instead of dpsing. As he explained he queued for both roles and was going to respec - naturally - but got distracted and simply assumed that he was the designated healer. No one died because of this. No boss got enraged (I'm such a great dps it seems ). So why the hate? And so freaking sudden? If someone did that to me in RL, I'd probably call an ambulance fearing he'd gone crazy. Long story short, as the tank/healer duo kept piling on the poor sage, we both got to talking and left. So yea, again, don't be a bloody sociopath. Talk. Don't yell. Aspire to be an adult.

Yes, this is very easy to bug. As above, try not to use any 'gap closers', like guardian leap. Also, and that's how I bugged it myself, should you be a stealther, do not use your emergency stealth.

A little off topic, but 'back in the day' a tank spec in dps armor used to be viable. Is that still true you guys think? Or is it the case of a complete 'meh' in both departments, i.e. a crappy tank, crappy dps sort of deal?

For a tank spec, it's a pretty squishy spec (in PvP). He has a point there. But yea, wait and see.

As above, middle tree is very viable. 'Most OP' award however goes to - per critical acclaim of the huddled masses - Balance tree (Madness, isn't it?, I just play a shadow). Darkness is Kinetic Combat right? Well, if you do enjoy playing a support role, then definitely go for it. Thing I found with this tanky build is that it is more dependent than others on the team makeup. As a pure dps shadow I will have my fun in every warzone, if only ganking, trying to get that one on one. Your burst is usually enough to kill someone, anyone. As a tank, if there is not a decent person to guard, heals are absent, you're pretty much screwed. Your dps is rather low. Your survivability poor. Guard someone anyway, you'll just die that much faster without heals. Still I played this for close to two years or so. It is fun when the team is right. It is insane fun in Huttball too. So yea, there you have it. Play what you like.

Whoa whoa whoa. What do you mean 'totally dead'?! It's not dead or even close to dead by a long shot. Granted, talking US time zones here, but we're sitting on 'heavy' often enough. Do come though please! We're a very friendly bunch. Both Imp and Pub side

After a break this long, I'd start at the beginning, i.e. roll a new character. Lower tiers are populated enough to make that a valid proposition and you'll get slowly exposed to whatever you missed. For guilds, check out server forums on this website or just watch capital planet/fleet chat for adverts. For class advice, check class forums. Currently all classes/ACs are viable. But most of all, welcome back!