We hit EV again this weekend and I thought I'd refresh my thoughts on the topic. We couldn't fully beat it because of the Soa resetting bug hitting us repeatedly (grumble grumble) along with a few instances of platforms not resetting properly or people clipping through them, but otherwise the run went fairly smoothly, either from experience or having somewhat better gear. It is funny how much difference the Kolto Cloud makes when it costs 26 energy instead of 30 due to my new gear's set bonus. That small reclaimed one second worth of energy regeneration really feels substantial, which leads me in further agreement that the Scoundrel's healing is the fiddliest of the healing classes. Learning that Crouching protects against being knocked back into lava (you just fall over in place) was a tremendous help. So, one small boon over the Sage, at least? During the Soa falling damage cavalcade, though, the Sage was still king. The number of instant cast spells we have certainly weren't unhelpful... I could send slow releases, emergency packs, triages, and clouds around without pausing the descent from platform to platform... but though clicking like mad it seemed to contribute relatively little, at least compared to what hopping into the Sage's area heal provided. So, my opinion softens a little bit, but I still really believe Kolto Cloud needs a buff for Scoundrels to be fully viable as Operation healers. If reducing the cost by 4 due to gear increased its utility as much as I felt like it did, then if it started at 20... heck, even 25... I could forgive most of its issues. I still also believe it should not have its cooldown, so it can be spread around an operation in emergencies, should simply removing the cap not be an option. My observations, at any rate!

I just hope the Set Bonus traits will live on the modifications as well, so that I can keep my character's "iconic appearance" while still receiving the full benefit of the end game gear...

Heck, just removing the Kolto Cloud limit would have me overjoyed; I wouldn't feel like a liability in Operations any longer. Removing the need to 2 stack SRM would certainly be nice, upping our capacity for Upper Hand charges would be wonderful, and allowing us to Screen party members instead of only just our selves would be the metaphorical bee's knees, but the *biggest* pain for me is the Kolto Cloud limit. Please please *please* I hope this gets addressed.

Heck, even if they had a rage progression, where once the time is hit they ramp up to the full rage % over some period would help. Instead of "things are going okay" going immediately to "uh, why is everyone around me suddenly dead", having things become increasingly dire and stressful would be much more thrilling. People at least then have a chance for a final desperation burn before they inevitably succumb, as opposed to simply suddenly falling over dead and wondering whether you got hit by a glitch or not...

Oh yes, Triage is the awesome-sauce... when constantly on the move, slow release, emergency medpack, *perhaps* Kolto Cloud, and Triage are wonderful "stay productive while running for your life* skills. Sadly, the heal tends to be all its good for in Operations, where effects you'd normally be able to dispel are no longer removable. I've used the ol' Triage fire extinguisher on Corso more times then I can count (dude seems particular fond of being lit up) but in an Operation, everyone's simply got to burn fully... sorry, nothing I can do except wish for a /marshmallow emote.

Thank you. Yes, Ironfist is... notorious. We've got the headshot part largely dealt with, but then the missile spam, and the adds, and the crazy short rage timer, all together, make it rather hard to stay on top of *everything* going on. Inevitably, the missiles or adds cause enough distraction and a headshot gets through, and then its all over but the bleeding. At least he's a mid boss rather then the final one. Fighting through the whole instance just to wipe to him repeatedly at the end before giving up would be far more frustrating.

I've healed a few successful Rakghoul HM runs as well as a Directive 7. Haven't yet successfully gotten past Ironfist on HM Esselles. I found they went alright; my sawbones didn't have much trouble keeping people up, and we died most often to the Enrage timer then actual damage. It helps I party with a really skilled Vanguard. What you really want to do as a Sawbones in HM is ensure your group has a good understanding of the limitations of Tranq dart: as we can only do it from stealth, pre-combat, the tank and dps have to stay back while we apply it. In Directive 7, likewise make sure to label the droid you are slicing to people don't accidentally break it. As for the healing, a pre-combat Kolto Cloud on the group and slow-release stack on the tank goes a long way; after that, just keep the slow release up, spot heal any damage that leaks onto the group, and maintain a underworld medicine + emergency medpack cycle as necessary on the tank. Scatter a few extra emergency medpacks around the party if the slow releases are being productive with extra Upper Hands. If things get quiet, heal-wise, throw in a few blaster shots, but keep those slow releases ticking!

For all my frustrations about it I wouldn't go so far in that description. Even as it stands it does come in handy in solo or 4 man Flashpoints. Could it be better there, sure, yeah, of course. I particularly like the suggestion that it refresh Slow Release for free when cast. Less energy would be good. No cool down could be helpful. But primarily my beef is that if we are expected to play in Operations with guaranteed full-party damage, our multi-target heal should likewise be applicable to the full party. By having only one class that can effectively manage full-party damage in Operations, it marginalizes all other classes in that role.

The primary problem though is that that really doesn't scale; a 4 person Flashpoint is difficult to keep fully Slow Released, but it is doable, and when that can't be maintained a Kolto Cloud + Cool Head can be burned to do much the same. The problem is that in an Operation there isn't enough time to keep a slow release on 8 people and Kolto doesn't help either. When a boss attack means the whole party needs healing *right now*... and picking some arbitrary four to mend while also keeping the tank going is simply insufficient. There are another 3 targets who need healing *immediately* or its a wipe anyway. The Sage has the ability to heal everyone clustered around *and* keep the tank up. It isn't only harder for the Sawbones, I'd put forth it isn't even reasonably possible. The best solution would be removing the Kolto target limit, but if that takes too much uniqueness from the Sage's capstone, at least if the cooldown was removed we could still cover the Operation... for crazy amounts of energy, sure, but it would be something.

Indeed, my poor wrists ache just trying to imagine it.

Well, the spec was pretty standard... points up to Kolto Cloud, left Sedatives and Scramble alone. The extras put into Scars to up the healing power a bit and then the rest into Dirty Fighting for the Crit and Alarcity. Rotations likewise pretty standard: An initial pre-combat Koloto plus two stacks of Slow Release on the Tanks, then UnderworldMed -> EmergencyMed cycle while topping up Slow Release when it nears completion. What was particularly irksome was that Triage doesn't work to remove the fire effect from the lava in that Operation. Could have saved a fair bit of grief if I could actually remove the debuff like I would normally be able to. My gear is largely spec'd for +Power, so that I can have the reliable boost to the effectiveness of the heals rather then gambling on crits. Though many people seem to swear by +Crit, +Surge? Do people find that the reward vs energy cost of Crit + Surge outweighs the contribution of Power? Many thanks for the feedback folks!

Enjoying the game, have some ideas! Disregard at your leisure! interface 1) Do not include Daily / Weekly missions in the 25 Quest Limit. I can understand the need to keep the amount of entries in the quest log manageable, but the Space / PVP / Flashpoint / Operation Daily and Weeklies can take up a *lot* of that space. Could they be counted separately, or not at all? 2) In character creation, please improve the "invalid character" message when entering the name to indicate explicitly what characters are allowed. (Aka "Only letters and dashes allowed"). It may likewise be helpful to tell characters who try and enter a space character that the Legacy will let them choose a last name later on. 3) When a PVE creature is about to detect a stealth character, reflect their 'attention' icon not just over their head but the target player as well. (It can be hard to tell that an off-screen enemy is close to spotting you.) World Travel 1) If the class quests are complete on a planet, allow the Taxi or Fast Travel to bring you directly to your ship interior. 2) Allow Sprint to be trained at level 10. Smuggler 1) Kolto Cloud: Please remove either the 4 target limit, or the cooldown, so as to improve the ability's usefulness in Operations as compared to the Sage equivalent. Likewise the Imperial Agent equivalent, I imagine? Datacrons 1) Allow more then one shard cube to be created. We have slots for two relics, and can certainly collect more then 3 shards. It would be a nice bonus gimme for Datacron collectors if we could leverage both slots, instead of only just the one. Space Combat 1) Add a 1v1 PVP rail combat. Both players follow their own rails and can not directly shoot each other, but allow them to throw or divert enemies or obstacles from their rail to the enemy's. It would just be a very cinematic Puzzle Fighter, but it could be quite a hoot without 'breaking' the mechanics of the shooter directly.

I enjoy Space Missions. My one beef with them was that they actually gave too much experience, causing me to be perpetually over-levelled during the story missions. But other then that they were a fun diversion, a nice change-of-pace, and wonderfully cinematic. They could certainly be expanded on a bit, though. I would like some multiplayer options, either with people acting as crew or multiple ships in the same battle, even if such does stay on rails. (Oooh, ideally, the actions of one captain could change the rail for the other, say be disabling a cruiser or diverting an asteroid or the like. Could even make for an interesting "Puzzle Fighter" style PVP. But I'm drifting.)

Hey folks! I've been enjoying SWTOR fantastically, and have been absolutely *loving* my Scoundrel Sawbones all throughout the campaign and flashpoints. Easily the most fun I've ever had playing a healer in any game; I love the cloak, the ranged gun when far, the pure visceral fun of Dirty Kick when up close. I've gotten a huge kick out of the Smuggler class stories, feel fake camaraderie with my crew... wonderful, wonderful experience. And then i played my first Operation with my Guild over the weekend and now I'm feeling like I should be rerolling. I know all the stats about how strong a healer the Sawbones is compared to the Sage or Commando, and they frankly didn't bother me because in PVE and Flashpoints I felt I could hold my own and really contribute regardless. It was fun. But then we played Eternity Vault... and now the performance of Kolto Cloud has got me down. When the party gets slammed into lava, it is only the Sage that can save us. When we take repeated falling damage when platforming versus the final boss, again, only the Sage can keep the party alive. Sure, I could do well enough keeping the Tank up, and spot healing after the occasional 'ignore threat' attack. But it is unmistakable that the group would have been better off with two Sages rather then one "cluster around the messiah" Sage and one "cover the slack" Sawbones. I found myself kind of resentful, I'll admit. My character is a healer, but here in the Operation, he's not a good enough one. Can save one or two people, maybe three or four if lucky and I don't miss any clicks or cooldowns, but I can't save *everyone* like the other healer could. If Kolto Cloud didn't have a target limit, I'd of been okay. If Kolto Cloud didn't have a cool down, I'd still of been okay because at least I could have spread it around the group then hit Cool Head to replenish my poor obliterated energy. But with both restrictions... well, shouldn't have played an Operation that guarantees whole-party simultaneous damage without being a Sage, eh? Anyway, that's my ramble. Besides whining to Bioware for a Kolto Cloud buff, or rerolling as Sage, is there any advice that would improve my utility in such circumstances?

That would clutter up the abilities page way too much I think, though a distinct "fast travel" tab would make sense I suppose? I don't mind so much the delay leaving the ship to reach the planet, but the delay to get *onto* the ship is the height of tedium. A fast travel ability (or taxi terminal option) that is enabled once the class story is wrapped up on a planet would do much to alleviate the frustration, I agree.

While I love my Kolto Cloud dearly, it could certainly tick a little faster, or cost a bit less energy, I agree. I find the greatest obstacle to my healing is dealing with first-round burst damage. The HOTs take a while to kick in and even with the skill tree unlocks, Underworld Medicine takes its sweet time to activate. Whereas once some Upper Hands are accumulated Emergency Medpack handles, well, Emergencies quite well. But unless you maintain a full stack of Upper Hands at all times, it easy to get overwhelmed at the start. I think this is a limitation of Upper Hand more then the skills themselves. What I would prefer, honestly, would be if none of the skills that currently require Upper Hand actually need it... you can cast them any time, but raise their energy costs by, I don't know, 10 or 20 or so, but if Upper Hand is present they'll exhaust it to reduce the cost by that amount. So Upper Hand becomes akin to Metroid style Energy Tanks rather then a whole other resource to manage. You also then don't get occasions when you click the skill but it doesn't hit because your UH just timed out a second or two ago. Thoughts?

Wow, alliterative title! Anyway, I'm curious what people think of the following concept... if liked maybe I'll put it in the official suggestions thread? The main problem with the Sawbones' Sedatives skill tree unlock is that the Tranq Dart then causes aggro when it breaks, as the applied Sedatives debuff triggers hostility. Normally you can Tranq all you like, with the only limit being that only the last mob you used it on stays under. I think it could prove more useful, even if the aggro problem remained, if the Sedatives skill allowed Tranquilizer Dart to be used to deliver the debuff during normal combat. The enemy needn't be fully CC'd (that could certainly stay a benefit of use from stealth), and even if the debuff severity was reduced by half when used in such an application, it would be nice to be able to manage some of the healing needs by being able to reduce incoming damage post-opening round, rather then just reactively patching it up after it happens through the rest of the fight. Thoughts?