Umm, as a guildlaunch site owner, I haven't paid a dime for it. I haven't paid a dime to be a guildlaunch member, either. Feel free to check us out, link in signature.

Thank GOD! Now I can actually finish a daily in a day. I generally PuG my Warzones, and as you all know... you cannot win and PuG often. My dailies had become weeklies, and my weeklies had become monthlies. Now I can actually start progressing in PvP again.

I'll explain it to you from my point of view: The point of view of an Operative. I missed beta, but apparently Operatives were pretty damn useless in beta. Just before release apparently we got a massive buff that made us way over powered. When I initially started this game, I had no idea Operative was a stun-lock based class. To boot, when I first rolled Operative, we were the least played class in the game, and therefore the least understood. No one understood how our energy resource worked, or at least damn few ever figured it out before 1.1.1. They didn't realize we are penalized for using more energy, that our energy recharges slower the more energy we use. Once we're out, if we don't have our Adrenaline Probe up... we're done. Never the less, we were hitting too hard. We had a 50% armor penetration cap stone in the Concealment tree that completely ignored global cool down, which added substantial damage over time in its own right by itself, in addition to the 15 seconds of 50% penetration. We took a well deserved nerf in 1.1.1, the penetration was reduced to 30%, our Hidden Strike damage was reduced by 20%, and the duration of Jarring Strike was cut in half. The Operatives shrugged their shoulders and moved on. We thought the balance had been achieved. We were wrong. We examined our new class, and adapted. Since Jarring Strike now has half the duration, it no longer fills up the resolve bar like it used too. That meant we could chain CC from our openner. Deadly... very deadly. We also learned we could use our Cloak Screen offensively, instead of for defense. We learned to interrupt the flow of combat by Cloaking, only to wheel around --because Concealment Operatives get a speed boost from Cloak Screen-- and smack our unlucky victim with another Hidden Strike... a SECOND openner in a fight that should've ended when we hit the Cloak Screen. No, we played dirty. We thought we were playing as intended. We were so wrong. Between 1.1.1 and now, they made a number of changes to the way stats are calculated, gave them diminishing returns, which indirectly nerfed Operatives further. They nerfed everyone that way, but the changes hit the Operatives hardest, who had come to rely on Crit and Surge to get that DPS back to pre 1.1.1 levels. Then 1.2 lands. 1.1.1 was a well deserved nerf, but no one ever explained to us what the "intended" use of Cloak Screen was. I mean, how dare a player come up with a creative use for an otherwise cookie cutter skill? Right? Wrong. They hit us with the nerf bat again, arguably harder than the first time. Buffed our bread and butter "Back Stab" with 10% extra damage, only to increase its cooldown by 33%, and reworking the Concealment tree so it is no longer is free of energy cost. In that one change, they also reduced our application of Acid Blade, something we would use every time Back Stab became available, because Acid Blade also has a DoT.; it is extra DPS, extra DPS they took away, a lot of DPS they took away. Meanwhile, we're still penalized for using energy. More energy used means a slower recharge. Operatives basically had 1 really good tree, and two useless ones. Concealment good, Medicine and Lethality bad. Marauders were in the same situation. They had 1 really good tree, and two useless ones. What pisses Operatives off is this: Marauders had their useless skill trees buffed heavily. Operatives had their really good DPS tree nerfed instead. Yeah, they buffed our healing tree. Damn few Operatives rolled the class to be healers. We were forced to be healers. While Marauders were given options. That's why Marauders are catching so much hate.

You don't see that on my server. You don't see that at all. The only way I get those kind of healing numbers is if I'm lucky, and the opposing team is full of scrubs who don't know how to identify healers. I think a lot of scrubs seem to have "dress fixation." They assume the healer is the one in the dress, and ignore the Operative who carries a rifle. Unfortunately, in 50 PvP that's rarely the case. Most people on my server know who I am, know I'm a healer, and when they see me out of stealth abandon whatever they're doing specifically to come and take me out. A decently coordinated pre-made will 4 on 1 me whenever I get anywhere near the fight, take me out in a matter of seconds, and resume whatever they were doing before. I'm lucky to break 200k healing anymore. You rarely ever see a healer break 200k healing anymore on my server, and not because they're bad healers, they're the best healers on the server, old names that have been around for a long time. They're barely able to break 200k because the DPS is so out of control they get roflstomped out of the gate, focused down without a prayer. Occasionally you get a Guard, but that won't last. The player Guarding you will run off to go attack a juicy target or cap an objective. No more Guard. On servers with substantial PvP the healers are pinned down really fast. We get marked. We show up, we get waylaid on the high end of the DPS freight train, and sent back to the respawn... sometimes before the gate can close after letting us out before. It's THAT quick.

Even as silly as PvP is right now, I still do it. I'm an Imperial Agent, Operative Medicine spec... a healer, level 50, full BM, working on the War Hero set. There is a huge sob story about Operatives and Scoundrels, but I'll save that for some other time. You seem to have had a good game, and for that I salute you. The 10-49 bracket is the time to PvP, especially when you hit 49. When you do, PvP the entire level, because once you hit 50 it is an entirely different game. Level 50 PvP is PvP grad school. You're playing with some players who have been PvPing since beta, others maybe not so long, but who are just as skilled, and since 1.2 took so long to come out... just as well geared. And that's what it boils down too in 50 PvP: Gear. It takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get. You'll walk into your first 50 PvP match without a lick of that precious Expertise stat, and you're going to get ROFLstomped, hard. You'll run into players who have their PvP gear tricked out with very specific, very well stacked mods. You'll run into players with full hybrid builds who defy everything you thought you knew about how a class plays. You'll run into players who have found every datacron in the game, those actually stack up and make a big difference. You'll also learn really fast, and die really fast, but if you like the challenge of playing against other players like I do, no matter how bad it gets... you'll keep coming back for more. So, don't lose hope about PvP yet. There is a lot to it, and you know there's a lot to it. It is an entirely different side to this game, and I think it makes it much better.

Resource management is why Operatives are your best healers these days. Operative heals are very efficient. Kolto Probe stacks twice, costs a total of 30 energy to get both stacks up, but only requires one stack to refresh the rate of healing of two stacks. The result: An Operative healer can tab through friendly targets in range and maintain HoTs on an entire 8 player team for very little energy, especially since each tick of those probes has a 30% chance to grant Tactical Advantage, which can be used to drop Surgical Probe on single targets for no energy cost at all. That same ability is spammable on targets at or below 30% health. Of course, now we carry 3 stacks of TA instead of just 2. Recuperative Nano Tech now dumps 10% more healing in only 6 seconds, with a slightly longer cool down than before, costs 40 energy, but doesn't require players to remain in an area of effect. No, Recuperative Nano Tech heals up to 4 players within so many meters including the Operative who activated it, and those players are free to move. I get singled out ahead of Sorcerers for good reason. You see an Operative/Scoundrel healer, if you're smart, you'll do the same, because for all that awesome healing... we're easier to kill than the Sorcerer.

Well, if the nerf is a problem, I just happen to have this taser........

Apparently so. No matter for me. I abandoned Concealment when the 1.2 changes were announced. I went Medicine. I'm now one of the most sought after healers on my server for Operations and Flash Points. In PvP I have to be careful who I heal and when I heal. I used to top the healing charts, but after that they basically kill me on sight. So, I heal from as far away as I can, which works sometimes, and other times just means I get attacked far from the group. Oh well. Can't win them all, right?

As an actual socialist, I'm not entirely sure you understand what socialism actually is, since you're comparing an economic model which varies greatly from nation-state to nation-state, to a game which is supposed to be enjoyable to play. That means... making it fun for everyone. If that's socialism to you, I suggest retaking a few courses at your local community college. Start with Political Science 101, and move into Public Policy Analysis, and then into Economic Policy. So you ran from Paladins and Warriors, and were OK with that. That's because WoW is a cookie cutter, rock-paper-scissors MMO. TOR was never intended to be that kind of game.

Seems legit.

Absolutely. We run into this in Political Science: The unintended consequences of public policy. Huge changes reek havoc on everything. Small tweeks to policy work much better in the long term than huge changes in the short term. Major changes are short term stop-gaps, but what happens with a huge policy or design change is sweeping adaptation. Players take these huge changes, and do things with them developers did not foresee. Then, the players sort of internalize these adaptations, get comfortable with them, think they're doing well. Unfortunately what they're doing is not what the developers intended, who in turn make more huge changes. It's a snow ball effect. I suppose I misnamed this thread. I know nerfs are necessary sometimes, but those changes should be small, measured, and not so quick. Small tweeks also leaves more developer time to work on new content, which is really what the players want. I'm a role-player. I really, truly, wish BioWare would tone down their abrupt changes to class balance, and give me chairs in the cantinas I can actually sit in. It's the small things that make a game really cool. Likewise, small changes help the developers gauge how players are adapting to their classes as they evolve. It means you can be more precise with your adjustments in the long term.

Actually, Operative is my main class.

Very simple: Stop nerfing classes. If you think a class is over powered, do some homework with your detailed metrics and identify the classes most vulnerable, and buff them instead. Stop trying to fix everything all at once. Small tweeks, BioWare... small tweeks. Incremental change. Massive buffs and nerfs aren't going to fix your game, they'll just confuse and frustrate your players. We don't know how you want us to play our characters. We discover little tricks and think we're playing smart, or playing outside the box, and then you turn around and define it as an exploit. That happens because you make changes too quickly. Your metrics tell you everything that's going on, but your metrics will never ever tell you how your players are going to adjust. Ever. Small tweeks, BioWare. Small tweeks. Very simple.

Yeah, that one made me giggle. Lethality is far more useful for an Operative, anyway. I really wouldn't want to try it on a Sniper. That... LOL... would suck. Lethality requires you to be mobile. Snipers aren't mobile. An Operative on Lethality would be far more effective than a Sniper on Lethality. Then again, Lethality is useless for PvP anyway. There are some hybrid builds that make good use of some Lethality skills, but none that would benefit a Sniper. Absolutely none.

Unfortunately a healer focusing on themselves does nothing for the team. A healer healing themselves isn't doing any damage, and may kite a single player for a few minutes. That's... that's not helping anything. You may think it is, but it's not. There are rare moments when I can laugh at a Marauder or Sentinel chasing me while I spam Surgical Probe below 30% health (Surgical Probe only consumes Tactical Advantage, and with appropriate spec automatically regrants Tactical Advantage when the target is below 30% health, consuming no energy). But, one stun... and I'm done. That's why you see healers not bothering to heal themselves, because I can spit out more healing with Kolto Probe by spamming it on my team, than trying to use it on myself. It means more medals. More healing done. More valor. There are few benefits to healing yourself. Sometimes it works. Sometimes I can sit there and heal myself and someone will notice and come to my aid. THEN healing myself becomes a serious issue for the pursuing player, who is faced with a choice: Answer the immediate threat, or sit there and take the hits while chasing me down. Never a good situation to be in. Then again... One stun, and I'm done.

You're not alone. I played Concealment faithfully, adapting to the nerfs like a good player, and continuing to be a force to be reckoned with in Warzones. Then I got wind of the 1.2 changes to Concealment, how they nerfed Back Stab into the ground. And they did, to anyone who says they did not: Back Stab used to have a 9 second cool down, and for Concealment Operatives was free of energy cost. It was one of those bread and butter attacks we would use to get a little extra DPS with Acid Blade. Not anymore. Free Back Stab is gone. The talent which granted it is gone, and the replacement only reduces the cost by 5. To add to that, Back Stab had its cool down increased by 33%. So, when I saw those changes I immediately rolled into Medicine. I knew it was my only option. I got good at it. I topped the pre 1.2 healing charts, beating the Sages and the Sorcerers like a boss. I was learning how to use heal pre 1.2, in preparation for the big Operative healing buffs post 1.2. My calculation proved correct. My healing is outstanding. Unfortunately everyone else's DPS went through the roof. As good as my healing is, I topped the healing charts a few times, now I'm kill on sight. And kill me they do. Quickly. Without breaking a sweat. I can't heal myself fast enough to soak that DPS, much less heal anyone else. There are some Warzones against scrubs who are dumb enough to leave me alone. But against the seasoned players I leveled up with? Not a chance. I sympathize with you. I really do.

TLDR: I don't buy OP's claim DPS Operatives kill him easily. I don't think he knows how to play his class against an Operative. Did I just see OP say that DPS Operatives kill him easily? I'd like to meet these Operatives, because as a player whose main is an Operative, who played Concealment from way back before 1.1.1 when Acid Blade had 50% armor penetration, who's been there for every Operative nerf since... I think OP is full of it. Marauders have vastly superior defensive abilities than Operatives, who rely on trying to maintain a stun lock which inevitably culminates in resolve immunity. They recently nerfed back stab for some reason, further reducing our ability to get that extra DPS from Acid Blade (yes, other than armor penetration, Acid Blade does extra damage straight up. It's a bread and butter skill). All the Operatives and Scoundrels I see these days are Medicine/Sawbones... we've turned into healers... some of the best healers now, though the least survivable. I don't hold it against players when they single out healers, it's a smart tactical decision to shut down healers, but for all our buffed healing with 1.2 we are the easiest of healers to eliminate. At least it looks that way on my end. I've had my glory moments of kiting a Sentinel while spamming Surgical Probe under 30% health, but that chase can only go for so long, especially while I waste GCDs tapping Toxin Scan to cleanse his DoTs. Eventually... he gets me. Sometimes I can turn around and hit him with a Debilitate. I can get away when my Cloak Screen isn't on cooldown (it usually is). Sometimes I have a flash bang up, but I have to pop those skills so often they're always on cool down. When I get away from one attacker, there's another after me: I'm a healer. I deal with it. I accept it. I would go back to Concealment and DPS, but BioWare has made it glaringly apparent they don't want Operatives hitting very hard, or sustaining DPS for any period of time. I think they always intended for us to be a support class.

Server merges would be huge red flag on the business end of it. EA's share holders don't want to hear about server population issues, as that translates into reduced quarterly profit, and reduces the value of EA's stock. Never forget this is not just a game. This is a business. This is someone's bread and butter, and they will always put business and profit ahead of all other concerns. They're objective is to appeal to the widest possible demographic, and I can guarantee you their business model does not include server merges of any kind, rather a marketing scheme to bring in more players. Whether or not that marketing scheme succeeds is up for discussion, but server merges would be a concession on BioWare's part of poor management. They're not going to concede that under any circumstances.

Once upon a time jumping did make you move faster, in games where the jump mechanic gave you just a little bit of extra speed to help make jumping easier. Not anymore though. Instead of helping you jump, they just design the terrain to be easier to jump. Some people are just spacebar spazzes though. They spam it out of habit or because they're 12 year old ADHD kids. Try to ignore it.

Imperials get a uniform. They come in gray with pips, gray with pips and a braid, gray with red trim and a braid, and dress white diplomatic service with gold trim. Most uniforms in the game follow the Imperial design. Not sure why. I'd think the Republic would have its own.

I would construct a double-blade with black, banded steel grips with inlaid cortosis knot work. The projectors would be lined with spiked flanges, with jeweled ignition switches. One switch would be a two-way toggle single ignition, and the other a single-toggle dual ignition. The blades would be magenta, because I simply love that color, and projected with minimal halo.

Wow! I'm quite flattered at the responses. Keen opinions from authoritative individuals does me great honor. I'm glad you replied, Walsh, and I was thoroughly pleased to read you. I'm still stuck in a hospital and replying on my Android so replying is a real chore. I'd love to have more of your opinions on The Force, because mine aren't really based on any canon at all. And Slaine I'm going to enjoy reading that story. I hope this finds you all well.

We've got ourselves a new meme.

Who you calling scruffy?

I can't say I have ever been CC'd that long, nor have ever been able to achieve such lengthy times. What I have noticed is that one CC will over-ride another. If I use debilitate on a player it stuns for around 5 seconds, but does not completely fill the resolve bar. If I immediately follow up that debilitate with a flash bang, as in flash bang while the player is still debilitating, the flash bang will take precedence. Yes, I know it is possible for me to debilitate, wait for it to wear off, and immediately follow up with a flash bang --or another Operative use their debilitate-- but that's not necessarily what I would call a chain CC. 2 in row... ok... What needs to be fixed is how much resolve is gained per second of CC. Absolutely. It is not fair that Debilitate only fills the resolve bar 98%, leaving just enough room for a follow up. You're right. That's a problem. What I am saying, is that you cannot have two CC's active on a target at the same time. One will over-ride the other, in order they are applied, regardless for duration. That's all I'm saying. Perhaps I get confused with what people consider "chain CC."