I'm a returning player to SWTOR after a few months away, and I'm looking to return and do some casual rading. I'm a mature player (more mature than I care to admit... LOL) and a veteran hardcore progression raider in previous MMOs. I still enjoy raiding but just don't have the time anymore to be as hardcore as I once was... damn those mortgages and fiancees and such that get in the way of raiding. I started casual raiding Pub side before other games drew away my long time guild friends, and so I started working on a Sith Juggernaut tank before life got in the way for a few months. Anyways, I'd like to finish my Juggernaut (currently 38) and find a group of mature players to enjoy some casual raiding as my time permits. If any guilds are looking for a VERY experienced raider (both as tank and healer) for casual raiding, let me know. Thanks!

Actually, FabioMartinazz addressed a very specific situation in his initial post... one which he is rather correct on... He mentioned that he had issues healing a Shadow when they were attempting to tank lots of mobs, which is a common complaint from both Kinetic Shadows and their healers. Anyone who is a Shadow tank knows the failings of Kinetic Ward against large groups of mobs, when it drops in 2 seconds and can't be reapplied until it comes back off cooldown. Yes, we are great tanks against single bosses or small groups, but Fabio pointed out a very distinct situation of large groups, where most Shadows understand is our weakness as compared to other tanks due to our mechanics. The healer that typically heals me in HMs says the same thing... it is barely any effort to heal me against a boss, but I get a lot more squishy when tanking a trash pull of 7 mobs simply because KW drops as soon as it goes up.

In that prison area on Ilum, the Imperial Prison Officers are the ones seeing you. The Wardens don't appear to be any better at stealth detection than any other mob. I had the same problem, and with a bit of messing around discovered it was specifically the Officers that were doing this. It did not bother me that there were mobs that had significantly better stealth detection, but it does seem a bit silly that they see/aggro steathed characters from farther away than if you just walk up to them unstealthed. I dont know if it's a bug or not, but it is rather ridiculous.

Later on you get Slow Time for AoE grabbing (have to be careful of breaking CC though). I thought by 18 we already had Combat Tech and Force Breach, which should be enough initial theat for AoE grabbing on the pulls. I forget what level we got Force Breach, but I thought it was before 18.

I pray there are better relics we'll be able to find for shadow tanks. Those are both pretty terrible for us. If forced to choose, I would take the yellow.

I didnt have any issue with her either on my Seer Sage with Qyzen or on my Kinetic Shadow with Tharan. You just have to use your interupts, which is usually the case with any elite mission boss. If you think Sidonie is tough, wait until you meet Stark...

This would definitely agree with what I have been seeing. I was often noticing that KW still had 8 charges left just as it was about to drop off due to time, and thought it odd that I had just engaged 3 mobs with about 40% shield chance and not shielded a single attack. Just this weekend I started noticing the pattern that my KW charges were not dropping when I was fighting single mobs using tech attacks, which I wasn't picking up on previously due to groups of mixed attack type mobs. I hope that is a bug and will get fixed soon. Kinetic Ward is a bit of a pain to keep reapplying, but it timers up with Force Breach closely enough that I just reapply KW when I reapply Force Breach. There are two other things that drive me far more crazy... 1. As some have already mentioned, the need to almost stare at my buff bar to watch for PA procs, HS stacks, and keep an eye on my force level constantly so I can manage it in conjuction with expected procs and KW/FB/ST refresh timers. It would be nice if there were some sort of HUD style visual or audio cues to tell me when PA procs or HS stacks or when KW runs out of time/charges so I dont constantly have to watch my frame. Especially when one considers the Kinetic Shadow is a tank, and really needs to be looking at the combat, not at their buff bar and unit frame. 2. The short duration of FB and ST. I feel like I spend half my time reapplying FB/ST/KW. KW being the least bad since it is off the global cooldown, but still an annoying use of force. It seems like I get in maybe a couple DS at most, sometimes only one depending on whether PA procs and if that makes HS fully stacked, and then I have to reapply FB/ST/KW. Of course, that uses up nearly half our force, so by the time all three are applied, I have to do a couple slashes while I wait to get enough force to do DS or Project, which eats another 3 secs off the FB/ST/KW cooldown. So by the time I get back to using a DS with enough left over force to go straight into a PA Project if it procs, I'm already halfway back to having to refresh FB/ST/KW. It would be nice if at least FB/ST were longer duration/cooldown so we didnt spend half our time refreshing them and recovering their force cost.

I can't say that I have had any issues either. I am a 45 Shadow, and don't even come close to having issues with any mobs I have come across yet. I usually solo heroic 2s. I have not tried Infil or Balance spec though, which maybe makes a difference. I have been a kinetic tank spec right from the beginning, and using Tharan since I got him.

It is a bit of a pain. I spend most of my time watching timers and procs also, which is particularly bad since tanks really need to be looking at what is going on around them more than anything. I would be ok with just a distinct visual or audible cue for each proc or timed ability. Like, if the encircling rock graphic for Kinetic Ward remained up until Kinetic Ward's timer or charges went down, that would help. A distinct audible cue for Particle Acceleration procs would be great.