What MalignKarma said. I would also like to add that stealthers (operatives and assassins) are a sniper's natural worst enemies, just as a sniper is the bane of any pure melee class. Don't let this experience dampen your hopes, as you will eventually grow to become one of the deadliest classes on the battlefield.

I may be going off topic, but I am very curious here. While browsing the forums on our server, I couldn't help but notice that Alphababe has been mentioned quite a few times. What I want to know is what has he/she done that brings his/her name to the forefront of every despicable act that is mentioned? I've been playing since late March/early April but only just recently started actively reading the posts, and I don't often stay long on the fleet, so I'm pretty clueless when things like this is said.

Not to put dampers on your spirit, but the gaming experience when you hit level 50 is drastically different from the ones you've been having while leveling. Most of your time will be spent doing dailies (every-day missions that give you mats, loot, and of course credits), but you will also be doing lots of raids with your guild members (it's important that you find a good and helpful guild) so that you can slowly but surely get better gear. It's the same for the pvp side as well, you do dailies for its rewards, and pvp nonstop so that you can gear up to the max. Although I have to say here, pvp-ing when you have just reached level 50 is not going to be very enjoyable, at least not until you can get yourself decently geared. What you can do besides this, especially on a pvp-server, is go to a planet like Tatooine or Alderaan and be a nuisance to people on the opposite faction. Yes, I know people may fuss when reading this, but there isn't really all that much to do besides raiding and pvp-ing. It breaks the monotony. SWTOR's greatest strength lies in it's 1-49 bracket leveling experience. At level 50 it's a little wanting, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Actually the rebellion in SWTOR, if you come to think of it, is actually the Sith Empire. The rebellion against the Republic and their order of Jedi has been going on for a couple of hundred years, and has been pretty successful for the most part. So to the OP, if you really want to join a rebellion, come to the Dark Side and join the might of the Sith. Darkness-specced Assassin or Immortal/Vengence (Hybrid)-specced Juggernaut is what you want to be if you are looking to try tanking (they are Force-users). But you don't have to be a tank to be able to solo stuff in the 1-49 category, you can be a DPS with a healer companion. And at level 50, each role (DPS, tank and healer) will have an important part to play in their group. For the crew missions, if you pvp a lot, you should pick up either cybertech (for grenades) or biochem (for reusable health/stim packs). Even if you do not pvp often, they will still come in handy during your end-game raids. Trust me, money will not be an issue once you get to level 50.

Hi there guys, I don't usually post much on the forums but this has been bugging me for a while, and I would appreciate your advise on the matter (even if only for the peace of mind). My question is how many pvp matches are going on a server at any given time, especially in the 10-49 category? See I am from the server Master Dar'Nala, which has an abysmally low population, so I understand that the pvp queue does not come as frequently as it did many months ago. We tried to reach out to Bioware to see if they could merge our 3 AP servers together just like they did with the US and European ones, but that was as effective as trying to reason with a wall. But I'm digressing here...lol. Anyways, lately I've noticed (on my server at least) that there is only one under-50 pvp match going on at any given time. This is despite others waiting on the fleet for a pop (at one time, there were over 70 under-50s online, more than 8 of whom were on the fleet just running around). Thank you.

Yeah you will have 2 separate DoTs ticking at the same time. Everytime you apply a DoT, there will be a small symbol indicating it on the enemy's health bar (either below or above it, depending on your settings), so this is how you monitor how many DoTs you have applied, as well as which DoTs are ending.

Also, if it's only about gaining experience, it is advisable not to bother with killing mobs randomly unless they are part of a quest. The only exception to this rule would be elites and champions because they grant you a substantial amount of experience. The best way to gain most exp is through quests (planet/class/flashpoints) and to some degree pvp. Go back to the earlier areas of the planet and do the quests that you avoided, and complete the bonus parts as well. I understand that meeting jerks in the past have ruined your experience in heroics/flashpoints, but you should not let that deter you away from doing them. Remember that while there are jerks out there, there are good and helpful ones as well (just like the ones who are helping you in this thread). Besides, the end game in swtor revolves around 2 things (pvp and raids), so you won't be able to avoid groups for long.

This. The trick is to control your companion in fights, deciding for him who gets cc-ed, who gets tanked, and who gets killed first. Being a level lower than what is recommended for the quest is alright for the most part (it becomes a little difficult only on certain elites/champs and boss fights). If you are doing DPS, use a tank companion to soak as much damage from you as possible. There is a good chance your companion will die after every difficult encounter, but then that's why she's there. Also try to take away pressure on her from time to time (such as by CC-ing certain mobs, etc) so that she lasts longer. On champion and boss fights, you may need your healer, and to survive it you will need to utilize your surroundings (keep moving always, hide behind pillars and walls,etc. It can become a sort of hit-and-run-hit-and-run at times). Won't be easy but it can be done. Alternatively, you can spec into a tank. With a healer companion, you will then be able to beat the champs and bosses rather easily so long as your companion stays alive, even if the quest is a level higher than you.

Hi there, the link above discusses some simple movement mechanics in SWTOR with regards to vanguard (but it can also be applied to other classes as well). He describes strafing at 1.14 in the video.

This. Remember that the bulk of your damage as an anni mara comes from bleed. Also, just a word of warning: don't expect to melt faces and survive most of your battles just yet. Marauders are extremely late bloomers, and they only start to shine when they get to around level 40 and above. Till then it will be a bit of a struggle, but once you hit 40, it should be smooth from there on.

http://imgur.com/7D1Pl Look at the link above, I was at position X, and I pushed the enemy on the platform at position Y. I wasn't aware that you could push people off the ramp as a consular / inquisitor if you weren't on the ramp yourself (in their midst). I may be wrong, cause I only started playing my shadow not too long ago (currently only level 40), but I believe the range of the previous Force Wave was too short to do what I am able to do now.

I just wanted to drop into the forums here and say thank you, and give a congratulatory pat on Bioware's back for the new change to the Jedi Consular's Force Wave ability. It was in Hutball the other day when I realized the true potential of the new Force Wave. My team was playing pretty badly (by this I mean they were playing what appeared to be a deathmatch), and the enemy was constantly trying to score goals. Suffice to say, I found myself on the defensive, and was looking for ways disrupt the enemy's play. On one occasion, the enemy was on the lower side ramps that led to the goal line, and I found myself on the raised platform next the lower side ramp. I was near the heal buff next to the pit, and I saw the enemy ball carrier and his supporters approaching the final fire trap between him and the goal line. I looked at my available abilities and realized Force Wave was off cooldown, and out of desperation I just pressed it. The result was as funny as it was surprising: the ball carrier and all his supporters were flung from the ramp and into the pit! It was only then did I realize the new potential of this ability. Bioware has, in a way, taken away our old ability to push back all the enemies around (aka Force Wave pre 1.4) and given us a new ability to push all the enemies in front of us (Force Wave post 1.4), very much in the same manner a Jedi Guardian and Sith Juggernaut pushes his enemy away. The only difference here would be that the Guardian/Juggernaut gets to push away only one enemy while we get to push just about everyone in front of us. I've always loved the Force Push ability of the Juggernaut and Guardian, and so I am now excited to have a similar ability on my Consular. What do you guys think?

Why do they put the Crit at 40%? I thought after 30% the returns are diminishing...most good players that I know say that between 30-35% is the optimum range. Just wondering...

Yeah, from my experience, you don't really want to go one on one with a sniper if you are a marauder. Any good sniper worth his salt will be able to spot your twin sabers from afar, and kill you before you can get within striking distance. Unless, of course, he's distracted and you can get the jump on him.

CD - Cool Downs, basically referring to your defensive cooldowns

I guess you missed the memo given out a while ago by the developers on the powertech class. Here is the summary of what they said: Apparently the developers felt that the powertech class, particularly those of the pyrotech specialization, were not performing the way they had envisioned it to. Their original version of the pyrotech powertech was a mid-range melee class, that worked best in the 6m-10m range. Now, if you've played a pyrotech powertech before 1.4, you would know that we were not exactly mid-range melee class. We were quite capable of destroying a few unlucky people from as far out as 30m (IM + TD + RS = half life instantly gone). This seemed unacceptable to Bioware, and hence the nerf. I hope that clarifies your doubts. Here is something more for you to ponder: - Why were we allowed to use IM and TD from 30m out if we were originally intended to be a mid-range melee class? - Why take this long to make this change? - Now that we are a completely melee class (mid range or not), why do we not have a gap closers like the other melee classes?

Allow me to first thank everyone for their replies, I really appreciate your effort in helping me try to understand my class better. Yeah I think I understand that the above might have been the case, because as soon as I moved away the entrenched cover screen was gone. Still, the main reason why we use entrench/hunker down is so that we are not torn away from our cover screen by being CC'ed (at least that's what I think). And in order to use entrench/hunker down, we need to be in cover. Am I the only one who finds it weird that diversion would rip you out of your cover but not out of entrench/hunker down? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to still be immune to CC and all, so I'm not complaining here. It's just that I find it weird. I guess I could just accept it as part of the game design and move on, but then again maybe it isn't. Anyone knows what Bioware's official stand in this matter is?

Hey there guys, my question is more relating to pvp but it's specific to the sniper class, so I apologize if I'm posting in the wrong forum. What I want to know is if an enemy sniper is entrenched, can you throw Diversion at them to get them out of cover? This happened to me in a warzone recently. I was fighting an enemy sniper, and had just entrenched my self (thinking that I would be safe from his Diversion ability). That wasn't the case. As soon as he cast it, my entrenched cover was still up (I could see it) but I wasn't able to use any of my skills that required cover. Thanks in advance.

Unless you want to re-live the story of the Bounty Hunter, it won't be advisable to restart the same class again. If you are doing little damage, you can remedy it in 2 ways: 1) Look at your skill tree and if you need to change them, visit the Skill Mentor on the fleet (he's in the same area as your class trainer) and have him reset your skills. You can reset your tree once a week for free, after that it will cost a little. To have a better understanding of what skills to put points into, see the forums or visit noxxic.com/swtor. 2) Look at your gear. Are they the same level as you? If not, then you should probably get new ones. General practice is that you don't usually spend credits buying gears from vendors, use commendations instead. If you do not have enough commendations, then go to the GTN on your fleet for excellent deals. I would also like to point out that Nar Shaddaa is mainly for level 20-24 characters. As a level 19 BH, try to avoid mobs always. Things should start to become a little easier when you get your full range of abilities later on, so hang on till then! Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Unless you are a tank, always kite your enemies (run around non-stop), never ever ever let them catch you.

Anyone else having extreme server lag issues and disconnections over the last few days? The lag, for me, spikes from around 100ms to over 10000ms every few minutes...just wondering if it's only me. Edit: And just today, I've lost connection to the server (Master Dar'Nala) 3 times over the last half hour...

From my experience, it is like this: Lvl 10-49: Less objective-based gameplay, but more evenly matched (somewhat). Hence very fun. Lvl 50: More objective-based gameplay, but unless you are geared in at least augmented BM, you are like a dog humping on a person's leg. You know, you're irritating but not lethal.

Yes, if you are below 50, it scales everyone up to 49, so there is a somewhat even playing field. While you may not have the utilities available to those at higher levels, you will do just fine so long as you pick your targets carefully. In fact some classes, such as the Sniper/Gunslinger, do extremely well even at low levels.

He must have gotten the Destroyer Medal, which you get for doing 300K damage.