I don't think it's that (or maybe somehow they gave her more armor penetration than they meant to).Akaavi seems to damage the way Watchman Sentinels do.Not many big hits,no big flurries,the target just seems to melt when she hits them.

Please don't speak about this anymore.I don't think Bioware meant to make Akaavi so capable.If they find out how good Akaavi really is,they might nerf her! I think somehow Akaavi's attacks bypasses the target's armor,I don't know if it's by design or by mistake.I think that's why she seems to hit so hard.

The most important skills that need a Double-saber are Force Breach,Shadow Strike and Cyclone Strike(at least i think it's called Cyclone Strike).You need a Double-saber to cast your Techniques,but once they're up you can switch to a Vibrosword(or electro-staff).I know the damage proc from Combat Technique goes off regardless of what weapon you use. In Kinetic,Force Breach damage isn't all that great,and you can easily substitute Slow Time for it in your rotation.Cyclone Strike isn't very efficient in terms of damage per Force use,so it's no great loss either. The loss of Shadow Strike does hurt,because it is does a good bit of damage and does have high crit damage.But it's Force cost is pretty high,and it's easy to substitute two Double Strikes for the same Force cost of one Shadow Strike.It takes longer to do the same damage (because you have to swing twice instead of once) and you won't get the high critical damage that Shadow Strike brings,but your are swinging more often so your Combat self-heal procs more often. You need to use a Double-saber in Infiltration or Balance,because those builds rely on Force Breach.But in Kinetic it can be possible,though there is no benefit whatsoever other than cosmetic.And it's no good in 50 warzones,since in wz's you need the burst damage that Shadow Strike gives. I did it in PVE and under 49 WZ's because Double-sabers were annoying me.

I used to run around with a single Vibrosword on my shadow .I would even go in the under 49 warzones with it.I think I actually went from level 20ish to level 50 using a Vibrosword. No way I could do it in a 50 warzone,or an OPS.(It's hard enough to compete with a DBL lightsaber,a Vibrosword pretty much nerfs you).I might try it if every other piece of gear I had was Warhero(augmented),which I don't have. I know from experience you can do just fine with a Vibrosword or single saber PVE if you're Tank/Kinetic.And in the 49 and under warzone,where the gap in gear isn't all that great,you can also do ok if you're Tank/Kinetic.The stats with a Vibrosword/single saber are pretty bad,but they tend to swing faster,which means your Combat self heal procs a lot more often.You lose damage,but you do self heal more. You can just spam Double Strike twice then Project,and the lack of a DBL Saber won't be noticed.And it is funny when the other team confuses you for a Sage.I would put Guard on the real Sage,and opposing players would focus fire on me,while the real Sage healed me.But ,yes,the damage output is pretty bad.

Not sure why a Scoundrel would be boring.Maybe if you specced Scrapper and used the same 3 skills over and over it might be.When I was levelling my Scoundrel ,I just picked whatever skills I wanted and didn't care at all about builds or spec trees.I just put half my points in Sawbones,half in Scrapper.Had a blast. -Don't feel like fighting mobs to get to a quest location?No problem,stealth by them. -Some mobs look tough? No biggie,Tranquilize/Hack Droid ,kill off the weak ones,then let your companion tank the hard ones while you heal. -Just wanna kill a bunch of weak mobs real fast?Thermal grenade,Blaster Volley and XS Freighter Flyby. -One big tough mob by itself? Open with Shootfirst,backblast then Surrender. Let your companion tank him while you alternate between heals and Sucker punches,Back Blast and Sabotage Charges.Or kite the mob with Vital Shot + Blaster Shots and duck behind a pillar/wall,heal yourself,rinse repeat. -Mob guarding a quest clicky? Just sneak towards,Tranquilize the mob,click on quest clicky,walk away. -About to die? Vanishing act. -Some Imp decides to gank you while you were fighting monsters? Vanishing Act, sneak towards him,Tranquilize his companion,sic your companion on him and Dirty Kick him while you and your companion beat on him as his companion just stands there .If he tries to run ,snare him. If he chases you ,Slow Release Medpac + Triage on yourself ,a snare on him, and kite him while your companion finishes him. Next thing I knew,I was level 50.Not sure how that could be boring.Most people who have Scoundrels like their Scoundrels,because of all the little toys you get to play with.

If she insist on fighting from cover,then put points into Dirty Fighting instead of Scrapper. With Dirty Fighting she can open with Shrapnel Grenade(AE DOT) and Vital Shot(Single Target Dot),then spam Charged Burst the rest of the fight. While healing herself with Slow-Medpac. It's slower,and a lot less efficient than Scrapper but it's probably less confusing for her and she wouldn't need to move around as much. If she wants she can even Dot the mobs,run back a bit while the DOTS eat at the mobs,then go back into cover and resume fighting.She should be able to do that simple trick.

The simplest way to spec a Scoundrel for a noobie: 1)First put enough points in Sawbones to get "Slow Release Medpac" 2)Then put everything else into Scrapper. When she is soloing, all she has to do is use Tranquilize on the strongest mob,cast slow release on herself and her companion,then attack the weaker mob with her companion. With decent DPS she should be able to kill mobs fast enough before the medpac wears off.If not,she can re-cast Slow release Medpac during combat,it has no casting time and she wouldn't have to bother with Upper Hand.

First things first. 1) Just because someone calls you a bad healer,doesn't make it true.There are a lot of whiners in this game who blame others for their deaths.Most of those guys never played a healer,so they really have no concept what a good healer is vs what a bad healer is.If those guys ever played a Healer,they would know enough not to whine. 2)Your capacity to heal in warzones is dependant on how much support you get from your team.If noone puts you on Guard,if noone back up heals when enemies focus their fire on you,if your team is undergeared or spread out too far from each other, you will not be able to get much healing done.If noone targets opposing healers,your team will lose.If they don't try to cap objectives,your team will lose. As a healer,your part of the team is: 1)Put yourself in a good position where you can target as many of your team as possible but still keep away from enemy fire.It's hard,but you need to learn how to do that.Learn how to use Line of Sight to your advantage,as well as ledges,pillars,walls etc.Learn to stick next to the Tank who has you on Guard.Learn to use your defensive skills. 2)Learn to watch your team's health closely and target them using your Group/Ops HUD.Watching other ppl's health is your responsiblity . 3)Learn how to use your healing skills as efficiently as possible,and try to stretch your power as far as it will go. That's it.The rest lies with your team.

I spec both Scrapper and Sawbones. Scrapper -PVE: perceived by others as a very, very weak DPS role.Their inability to sustain reliable DPS makes them the least appealing of classes to fill the DPS role in a group.They also lack much of the buffs that many other DPS roles can provide. -I agree with others.Although soloing a Scrapper Scoundrel is quite fun pve,end-game PVE we are shunned from any self respecting OPS. PVP: Perceived by others as "Mostly Harmless". Effective against weak,undergeared ,isolated players,but useless is a long drawn out fight,or any class with decent hitpoints/defenses. They are effective in the under 49 Warzones,but in the over 50 Wz's their damage doesn't scale up as well. -I agree with others on most these points,but I personally feel that a Scrapper Scoundrel can be a productive member of a PVP group if they back up heal and remove debuffs from teammates once in a while.I also feel that Scrapper Scoundrels have to be a lot more picky about which targets they go after,and have to assist other players on a weakened target rather than try to go off and solo someone. Sawbones PVE and PVP Generally perceived as a very viable and capable healer,but only at later levels.(Over 40).Which means goings through much of the game's content underpowered.Noone wants a Scoundrel healer if they are doing a level 24 Flashpoint. I agree with the general perception. On a side note--I am increasingly annoyed with the constant nerfs that Scoundrel DPS has received since this game has launched.For months after launch the real issue had always been the ridiculous Crit/Surge rates that could be achieved by stacking Stims/Adrenals ,yet not till recent patches have those items been balanced. Yet,the whole time,the Scoundrel/Operative class have been blamed and their damage reduced! Our damage has constantly gone down,yet the amount of hitpoints that a level 50 character can have have steadly gone up. To summarize: Scrapper damage issues are at level 50. Sawbones healing issues are under 40.

You should give it a try for sure.It cna be a lot of fun. But if you've never played a healer before,you should practice first before going into warzones.Start by soloing things with your Companions,then once you're a little more used to healing do a Flashpoint,then a hard mode Flashpoint,then go into a warzone. PVP healing can be really frustrating if you're new to it,but at least Scoundrels do it well.

Akaavi. A lot of Companions can play the role of high DPS.Not many can DPS wearing heavy armor.

To clarify: Kolto CLOUD is useful,Kolto PACK is not. Kolto Pack is only useful to a Scoundrel who isn't Sawbones,but decides to backup heal in an emergency (ie the main/only healer dies) .Even then,it's barely worth it,as it only gives a meagre amount of energy savings over Underworld Med.It might allow a non-Sawbones Scoundrel an extra heal before his Power runs out.

Also,you need to train yourself to see if your healing target has any harmful effects on them,and remove them as fast as possible. When you target a someone for heals,check the top left corner of their health bar.Any icons on the top left means they are under harmful effects and you need to use "Triage" on them.Once you get high enough in the Sawbones tree spec,Triage will also heal effects from Jedi/Sith attacks as well as providing a little heal.Triage is instant,and doesn't use power.,and you can use it while running. Some of those harmful effects are actually quite nasty.Some flashpoint mobs have dots that do insane damage and bypass the Tank's armor. In pvp,like Huttball for example,removing a snare from the ball carrier can help your team score big time.You can nullify a lot of classes who rely on DOTS for damage,just by spamming Triage on yourself or others.

They tried separating paying customers from f2p in EQ2,and it backfired.Sorry,I don't think that's the solution. The solution for me,is to have BIoware fix end-game.They spent a lot of time on the most useless of endeavours,like Legacy items and Unarmed Attacks.That was time and money they should've have used on something else. What this game needs is a good old fashioned MMO dungeon,with good old fashion MMO loot for level 50's.The kind of place where you show up at the entrance, and ask around if anyone needs your class in a group.The kind fo place that encourages socializing. It could also use a Dark Age of Camelot -style Battlegrounds.If you ever played DAOC (which is an ancient game by now,and oddly enough still around and subscription based) you'd understand what I mean.It's a place where you go to pick a fight with the other realm and not constantly have to wait for queues and loading zones.Kind of like Ilum,but smaller so you can find fights easier and no lag inducing cannons firing.You go there you fight,you win some ,lose some,die,pick yourself up and keep going. At launch,EA/Bioware claimed there were 1.7 Million subs.That means, there were 1.7 million folks ready to spend the $60 for a client and pony up a $15 bucks a month if the content was there.The business model isn't the issue,the issue is content.If they bring the content,the subs will follow.I wish EA would realize for themselves what is so clear and simple to us players. If EA has no interest in listening to player feedback regarding content,they should get out of the MMO business.They've already sunk so many other MMO's in the past,yet they still don't learn.

Not sure why you'd want a Gunslinger,when you already didn't like Snipers. Personally,Scoundrels are the most fun class in the game.I would say they don't make a good "DPS" slot for an elitiist 8-man OPS,but they are good everywhere else.If you want to PVP,get a Scoundrel to around level 30ish (they aren't that good before that) .Once you get level 40 and Flechette Round (Scrapper line Capstone) you'll see why so many ppl like their Scoundrels,despite all the nerfs. Don't worry about not getting into OPS at 50.Just switch to healing(which is in demand),do your OPS for a week,then switch back to Scrapper.It won't hurt you to pvp a little as a healer for a week,just so you understand their strategy so you can hunt them easier. There's a lot of misinformation about Scoundrels in general,but if you talk in-game most level 50 Scoundrels will tell you the class rocks.

Some basic advice that I realized learning how to play a Sentinel(which is the Republic version of a Marauder) 1) Don't assume because you do badly at low level you will continue that way.Like all classes,you get more skills to use at higher levels that really give you the edge. 2) Don't open with Force Leap.Run straight into your target and start whacking,whenever possible.If your target tries to knockback,or snare you or stun you,you can use Force Leap then to get back in their face.If you opened with Force Leap,you couldn't do that. 3) Use slows.It's never the wrong move to slow your target,especially healers.Even if you don't kill them,by slowing them down you encourage every other melee guy on your group to jump on your target,because melee guys love hitting a target that can't run away. 4) Focus Fire.Find a target someone in your group is hitting and join in. I'm sure there's a more in-depth Marauder playguide out there that can give you better advice,but this is a good start.

I couldn't agree more.It's tough for any class to go into level 50 bracket with only recruit gear. I found out as a new 50 scoundrel that the same game style I had at level 49 wasn't going to work at bracket 50.Ppl have way to much hitpoints at level 50 and they are a lot smarter than level 1-49.At level 50,ppl know how to focus fire.If they decide to focus fire on a scrapper scoundrel who's annoying one of their healers,that scoundrel will simply evaporate into nothing under that kind of firepower. To survive I learned how to sneak to a quiet spot with good cover then heal my team or throw range attacks.If I saw my team decide to focus fire on one target,then I would try to sneak in with them and land a BackBlast or Shootfirst.Or I would run with another scoundrel or shadow,and hit their target. Even in full Scrapper spec,you still have a few not bad range attacks like Sabotage Charge + Thermal Grenade, and base heals,plus a Cure. If you stay on the outside,use them while in Cover (so Marauders and Juggernauts can't Force Leap at you) you don't die in 10 seconds.

It was hard for my scoundrel too when he hit first hit 50.At the time,Centurion gear was still around,and that's what I had to use at first. Most of your problems stem from the big jump in damage you receive against uber-geared opponents at the 50 bracket.It's not a class issue,it's a gear issue. At level 50,you have to realize that you will get dropped in a few seconds.It's just the way it is.If you're scrapper build,you have to adjust your gamestyle around your squishyness.You have to do a better job of picking targets,make sure you focus fire along with your team and don't try to be a hero and take on a guy with uber-gear 1 vs 1. With weak gear,you need to hit wounded,unguarded targets and try to kill them fast.If someone stronger than you tries to lock you into a one vs one fight,Flash Grenade or Dirty Kick them off you and go pick on somebody you can beat. You can forget about trying to carry the ball in Huttball.If someone passes you the ball,hit your defensive screen and pass the ball as fast as you can to someone else. If you get real frustrated,switch to Sawbones for a while,until you can get better gear.Then switch back.

You don't understand the LOTRO model.The VIP's pay for the game so that the f2p players can have gametime. Yes,you have more players,but you don't have more subs.Very few of the f2p players end up as VIP.Heck I was VIP,and I realized once I was max level I no longer needed to sub,thanks to the f2p model.So yes,my account is active,but I'm not paying a dime.That's a loss of income right there.Turbine had to implement an item mall and keep pumping out expansions like Rohan,because they didn't have enough subs to make money. I welcome the idea of an unlimited free trial,but not the way Bioware wants to implement it.I'd be tickled pink if the f2p guys were limited to the starter worlds,but if they will have access to Fleet and to Warzones which I think is silly.Especially Warzone's where they can choose to act like idiots and paying customers have to group with them. If Bioware keeps the f2p players out of generat chat,keeps them from overcrowding Fleet,not allow them mail access(to prevent spam) and keeps them away from the under 49 warzones then f2p under 15 might be a good thing. It would be better if Bioware simply made viable end-game content for level 50's,that would solve their pop problem better,because that would be a long term solution.

These are exactly the problems that a "F2P" model brings.I know in Eq2 they used to limit how much cash a f2p char could have and limit chat options,or else the general chat would get flooded.The ppl who say that this is "just a trial" don't understand that ppl can create f2p accounts over and over.Banning problem players gets difficult because these players just open a new account.Same thing with gold farmer spammers. I can tell you when LOTRO adopted their f2p model,Bree general chat took a nosedive in terms of civility.A lot of ppl won't log in to play a game,they'll log in to use general chat as their personal soapbox. With most MMO's,newbies are confined to starter or lowbie areas,so if you didn't feel like dealing with drama you could just go to a high level zone. We won't be able to do that in Old Republic.Fleet is a central hub,especially for Flashpoints and these f2p players will have access to it.

Shadows don't need to be behind a mob.They only have one attack the needs a rear position. Scoundrels need it for Shoot First and Back Blast.Not a problem,unless the mob can't be stunned or mezzed or it sees through stealth.(which is 1% of the mobs in the whole game.the other 99% you can cc and attack from behind). Even then they have a couple of range attacks they can pull off instead,if opening with Shoot First isn't viable. Besides all that,most pve raids/ops prefer a ranged DPS over melee DPS.So DPS Guardians,Shadows,Sentinels and Scoundrels are considered 2nd rate in raids that want DPS.If being end-game DPS in PVE is what you're looking for,you need to roll a Gunslinger or DPS Commando. But for pvp,Scoundrels are a blast.

The big diffierence between the two is how the damage is dealt. At high levels,Scoundrels open with their best shot,Shoot First with Flechette Round.So they start with a pretty big hit,that has a knock down,a dot with ONE shot and can easily be followed by another shot,usually Back Blast.If you open up on a target that is already wounded,you can kill them outright before they know what hit them or have a chance to use any defensive skills or before they can run.That's the biggest issue,before they can run.A lot of times,the knockdown alone is lethal,since good melee pvp players will focus fire on a downed helpless target. Shadows do their biggest shot as part of a combo(that needs to be set up) or when they use Spinning Strike ,which you can only use when a target is under 30% health.Sure,it's great against NPC's,that tend to stay and in one spot and let you hit them,but it can be a pain in pvp where ppl run around alot.People like to kite ,and you spend a lot of time chasing them,instead of landing shots.So it takes a while to get them to under 30% health so you can use your big shot.And they can run around even if you land Spinning Strike,because it does damage but has no knockdown.

You don't get your most useful heal till you can spec 31 points in Sawbones and pick up Kolto Cloud. Post level 40,Sawbones become awesome healers because they can heal and run at the same time.

I have a level 50 Scoundrel and a level 50 Shadow.There is no comparison in terms of damage,or fun factor,Scoundrels win.Maybe a Shadow can sustain a slight higher level of damage over time,but Scoundrels make up for it in utility and secondary skills. As for pvp,sadly,Scoundrels are far more competitve than Shadows,which annoys me because I leveled my Shadow to 50 so I could have a dps class to play and delegate my Scoundrel as a healer-type.Instead I play my Scoundrel as dps instead ,it's way more fun than on Shadow. A dps Scoundrel can frontload their damage,so they can kill someone real fast,under the right circumstances.It's especially deadly when you coordinate with another dps class in your ops, and focus fire on one target.

I pretty much agree.Spinning Kick is surprisingly useless in Infil Spec.I think most Shadows end up playing Kinetic because they don't have any other choice.I also agree with how poor a Tank a Kinetic Shadow is,compared to the other tanks--Shadows have to be continually hitting a target to get their survivablity up,and that's not always possible in pvp. Bioware should get rid of Spinning Kick,and simply add a knockdown effect in the Infil Spec for when Shadow Strike is executed from Stealth.I mean,why else would they call it "Shadow Strike"?They should also lower the cost of Shadow Strike for Infils.