I understand things pop up. I can get a little frustrated at 2 to 3 maintenance periods, which is a normal reaction I think. But what erks me the most is that all we get as a description is that it's maintenance. Is it too much to ask, BioWare, for us to get a little more detail about these unscheduled maintenance periods? Is this an issue with server stability? Is it glitching, bogged down? Something not start up right? When you just say maintenance, we wonder why it wasn't done Tuesday. What's different, if anything, between Tuesday, and last Friday's, the Friday before that, and tomorrow's? Are you guys trying new things or implementing future stuff behind the scenes that's causing problems? Tech pains? What's going oooon? D:

Healer specced Commando. Primarily PvPer. Take my feedback with a grain of salt. My Commando is only 31, but my experience watching and playing with other very skilled Commando/Mercenary healers gives me enough insight to provide a bit of feedback. 1. How do you think your Commando spec is perceived by other classes? Equally powerful and weak. Good at keeping self alive, or one friendly target alive (huge burst potential). Very immobile, weak AoE heal, very difficult resource management (with nerf to Supercharge Cells and adding ammo cost to Trauma Probe). 2. How do you perceive your own spec? Fulfilling its niche: burst healing on 1 to 2 targets. Couples very well with a Sage or Scoundrel healer. Resource management and healing kit must be seen as parts of a whole, and with the lens of huge single target healing ability (i.e. it's okay for the target to get below 80%, since your heals are much larger and more powerful). Positioning and movement is as much a part of our rotations (for both healer and DPS Commando) as any other ability, a fact I think many players overlook when they complain of low healing or damage.

Healer specced Operative since launch. Primarily PvPer. 1. How do you think your Operative spec is perceived by other classes? Ridiculously OP, virtually unkillable (especially with Guard), does everything better than Mercs and Sorcs in every scenario. Too mobile, too high of a healing thoroughput, and has stealth and a vanish mechanic. 2. How do you perceive your own spec? On par with skilled players at the skill cap of Mercs and Sorcs. Not OP, easy to kill with basic understanding of our rotation and how HoTs work. Fills the 8-man raid healer niche, with great sustain via Nanotech and Kolto Probe, and low burst comparatively speaking (i.e. great at keeping a big group alive through assorted damage and moderate AoE, but weak single and double target healing).

Healer specced Sage. Primarily a PvPer. 1. How do you think your Sage spec is perceived by other classes? Weak, low burst, low sustain, too squishy, high in utility that is perhaps redundant in many scenarios. Lackluster and not wanted outside of Voidstar (AoE heal: Salvation), and Huttball (friendly pull: Rescue). 2. How do you perceive your own spec? Extremely powerful utility healer. But suuuuper high skill cap due to clunky/awkward resource management and Rejuvenate buff (Conveyance), which leads to the outside opinion represented above. In the right hands with a solid teamwork focused team, the sage has THE most effective thorough-put for PvP due to their utility and wide variety of healing abilities, meaning they can fill in for powerful single/double target healing, or multi-target raid healing easily.

Agreed. Sage has an awesome healing kit, and tons of utility. With the blanket nerf to burst, their day becomes much brighter

I think this is the heart of the problem right here. Healers can manage the CRAZY amounts of damage HM operations throw at single targets and entire 8-16 man groups. Throw that at PvP where the damage is significantly less unless there's 6+ people hitting one target, and the healer is gonna come out on top. If they really want a super tight PvP balance between burst vs healing, they might have to scale down some of damage healers need to manage in operations, then nerf healers to that level, however much or little that may be.

Yus! I approve of this suggestion

4v4 might work, seeing as you get 4 classes per side able to potentially fill every role. Heck, it's the way flashpoints are designed. 2v2 or 3v3 would be a nightmare, just from what I see in warzones (and WoW >.> ). Every AC in this game works way better with someone else to help. Preferably several somebody elses. xD

Resolve works great to counter CC when you have a healer and tank on your team. I haven't yet been in a scenario where I was unhappy with the amount of CC vs Resolve. Been annoyed cause I got outplayed? All the time. But there is a difference.

I think the biggest problem with healers, and perceived imbalances, is actually a skill cap issue. With the quality of life changes to operatives for 1.2, it's easy to faceroll to success. That does not mean, however, that the facerolling is doing well. Just that he can put out decent numbers with less effort than another class. It's also no guarantee that it was effective healing (ie, how much was healing himself over others, did he actually save anyone, etc). A good operative healer realizes that he can keep all 8 players topped off through limited AoE and skattered skirmishes, while easily staying mobile. That's the operative niche in healing. Mobility. They severely lack in burst healing though. Surgical probe doesn't count, even under 30% health. It's simply too small of a heal to counter concentrated burst. There's ways around this limitation (my trade secret), but it's still relatively weak. The skill cap for the mercenary is higher. You have less heals that can be used on the move, and and have these small buffs that you need to stack to reach full efficiency (super charge, kolto missile buffs). You have to be planning while reacting. But their burst is huge due to quicker, larger heals than an operative. Especially with the short immunity to interrupts. A merc more often needs to decide whether healing or moving is the better choice during every GCD. Now, with the 1.2 changes, the skill cap for sorcerer, rose way more dramatically. A sorcerer's strength is in their abundance of utility, both in control, and wide variety of heals (especially in covering multiple targets rapidly). Jack of all trades, master of none for SWTOR. But the skill cap is so huge, that an equally skilled player of another class will almost always neutralize the sorcerer by default. A sorcerer is less effective at healing the 8 on his team while pressured, because he is so utility focused as a healer. He is required to channel his utility into himself (and maybe a guarding tank) to survive, versus mercs and operatives who can take a few hits, or keep moving/vanish. It's not necessarily a balance issue. It's an issue of usability, as BioWare said in the 1.3 Q&A, due to the particular array of abilities the three healers have. I know anecdotes have little worth, but I'll add one in anyways. xD On my server, there are about 2 or 3 players of each healer (merc, operative, sorc, and their mirrors Repub side) who seem to have come pretty darn close to the skill caps for their class. These players regularly hit over 425k of useful healing (ie, objective oriented, not just spam heals) during an average match. It tells me that each class is more or less 'balanced' in the sense that each can achieve the desired result, but I can tell the mercs and especially sorcerers work a lot harder to keep up with the operatives. Here's to hoping for awesome usability changes in 1.3!

It's still bugged. Was on my 34 powertech earlier today in an Alderaan Civil War match. Started the match with guard on a operative healer, then switched it to a Sith sorcerer. When I tried to switch it back to the operative when the coast was clear, it said the target was already guarded. I dropped guard to put it on a DPS, only to find that now I couldn't put it on the sorcerer. Or reapply to the DPS I just guard. The only thing that fixed it was either them dying (which, uh, as the tank I'm supposed to help prevent by using guard ._. ), or me dying. I'd certainly like to know if this is intended behavior, or an actual bug.

Prioritization. A sound bug isn't too important in the grand scheme of things. BioWare has said this. Several times. Because people have asked. Several times. How do they organize bug reports? True enough. But since most of the serious PvPers will be doing ranked (ie, the ones that really really care about the leavers), and ranked will have the no-requeue debuff, the point is kind of moot. lol. Don't need an interrupt to kill a healer. Either you're really good. They're really bad. Or you brought half your team with you. On my server, healers are operating much the same as before 1.2. They're just a tad squishier. I've seen multiple healers of all classes heal through all the burst classes (mara, pyro powertech, sniper), of all gear types. There's no absolute domination or no contest like you think there is.

This is exactly what I meant. Of equal or greater skill, the recruit geared player still has a chance. It's not as painful as some people are making it. I remember the start of arenas in WoW. Oh gosh. The gear difference there was mind boggling. This is nuffin'.

To be honest, I haven't seen any hardcore PvPers or PvEers leave yet. Just the elitist ones.

Ah, right. Missed that. Was thinking of something else apparently. Agreed, pretty much.

The cost for Recuperative Nanotech, outside of the set bonus that already existed before 1.2, was reduced? Uh huh. Right. Also. The increased healing was marginal at best, geared towards making RN a 'bursty' HoT, instead of a long term buffer HoT (ie bringing it in line with the two AoEs for sorcerers and mercs). We were not 'buffed,' like the community seems to think. The reason everyone thinks we're OP is because we weren't nerfed alongside the others. Good players behind a sorcerer and a mercenary can match an operative pace for pace in their own ways. But people selectively ignore that.

So they should FORCE every one to play on the PTS? Not everyone plays on the PTS, of course some stuff is a little undertested when it hits the live servers. >.> Entering Warzones short a few people isn't BioWare's fault. You know what the problem is? People queue up, the finder gets two groups of 8, and sends out the ACCEPT! and LEAVE! panel. 2 or 3 people hit the leave button, or time out, and voila. You start short some people. It's players' faults. Not BioWare's. The difference in gear between recruit and WH isn't earthshattering, by any means. If you're still getting roflstomped, I'm sorry to say but... You might be bad. Some classes hit really, really hard. Same as some healers heal for a LOT. Get a pocket healer. I've had way closer, longer, and more skill-based fights in 1.2. Granted, not in the first couple weeks while we were still adjusting. But it happens almost every match now. And it's not boring like 1.1.5 was. Get a group with 2 healers and a tank and there simply was no contest. Nobody on that team would die. Ever. Ugh. Much better now. Not perfect, but better. Burst could be lowered a bit. That's all.

As an operative healer, yes. I do not worry too much when a deception assassin with surging charge jumps me. It's relatively easy to heal through unless he has help.

The operatives and scoundrels must be really bad on your server then. Deception assassins hit like wet noodles compared to an operative pounding someone right out of stealth. It's much easier for me to ditch a Deception assassin than a concealment operative. They have more tricks up their sleeve. Yes. That means an operative is less useful when out of stealth for a long time and when all their CDs are down. But we're talking about unique niches here.

A sniper can be LoSed easier. A tankassin is... well... a tankassin. Not a killassin. Pyro Powertech would be better off nuking people on his own healer, and can't sneak up on said caster. Operative still fills a niche by their self that others need a buddy to fill complete. Other classes can perhaps hit harder. Stealth. Root and stun. Operative gets all the tricks. Not some. Quit pigeon holing the AC. It has strengths.

It's a different kind of space control. Sniper/slinger has a very active control. You set up your cover, and zone out players within 35 meters, either because they avoid it, or you wreck them. Operative/scound is the fear and caution space control. It's much more flexible. You can be anywhere, so it puts the enemy on the defensive. It's not a direct space control, but it's space control regardless. It's even more effective when the two tag team. Sniper sets up his 35 meter zone, and an operative sets up his kill and harass zone just outside, to maneuver players either completely away from the controlled space (ie mid in huttball), or directly into the withering crossfire of the sniper. It's kinda silly to make a direct comparison between the two, when they fill completely different niches.

DPS Scounds/Operatives are extremely good at controlling space. The stealth plus burst combination makes it so you can force players to retreat in the direction you want them to. Or they die if they don't try to get away. You're a very slippery target. Ignoring the threat of a good scound/operative DPS can lose a skirmish because they force you out of good positioning and space, but focusing the scound/operative (especially if you have most or all your CDs up) is almost an error of prioritization because it frees up pressure on healers and ripper DPS (sent/mara, slinger/sniper). Scoundrels and Operative provide a very unique role. Yes, Assassin and Shadow also have stealth, but their utility around it is much different. They have a higher sustained DPS (assuming a long duration outside of stealth), meaning they can avoid needing to weave away from combat longer. But they offer much less space control because the burst threat is lower, and their control utility is geared more toward ally protection than enemy annihilation. You need to think outside the box. Ignore your own weaknesses, and take every advantage possible from your strengths.

Movement is ESDF 1 - Hidden Strike 2 - Basic Attack (Rifle Shot) 3 - Shiv 4 - Overload Shot 5 - Backstab 6 - Frag Grenade Q - Kolto Infusion W - Stim Boost R - Kolto Probe T - Toxic Scan A - Surgical Probe G - Kolto Injection Z - Diagnostic Scan X - Corrosive Dart C - Carbine Burst V - Distraction B - Recuperative Nanotech Mouse 4 - Stealth Shift + A - That reusable Cybertech sludge grenade with 70% slow Control + Mouse 4 - Huttball Pass Shift + 2 - Countermeasures (aggro dump) Shift + 3 - Shield Probe (the one ability in my setup that makes absolutely no sense where it's placed, but it's muscle memory now, can't change it xD ) Shift + 4 - Sleep Dart (Well, this doesn't make much sense either, but whatever) Shift + V - Orbital Strike Shift + G - Sever Tendon Shift + T - Flash Bang Shift + R - Debilitate Shift + W - Adrenaline Probe Shift + Mouse 4 - Cloaking Screen Shift + Mouse 5 - Evasion Mouse 5 - Escape F1 - Warzone Medpac F2 - +Crit and +Surge relic F3 - Warzone Expertise Adrenal F4 - +Power relic My other classes are generally pretty similar. Tanking/healing abilities are on letter keys, all my stuns and AoE are Shift + R, T, G, and V. My interrupt is always on V. I might switch some stuff around and add in Y and H. They're really not much further away than B, and I don't like having to push modifiers if I don't have to.

Combat log, please. That's just... No. Just no. With the trauma debuff, you heal for 25% or less on per average cast time heal. Nobody can heal 50% of a health bar with one ability in PvP unless we're talking a super geared healer healing a naked person. Sounds like epic competitive PvP to me. See SCII and other fast paced PvP games. First mistake that's capitalized on loses. ... I... just... what? ._. Very few classes can interrupt reliably? What, exactly, do you mean? Every AC has an interrupt except Merc/Commando. That's 7 out of 8. Or 14 out of 16, if you want to count mirrors. If that's not what you meant, what do you mean by reliably? Are you including stuns in the interrupt category? Yes, it punishes all CASTERS. Caster. As in, needs a cast time to do anything of worth. As in, if interrupted properly, they're locked out of an important ability for 4 seconds at least. Plus stuns. We're talking upwards of 12 to 18 seconds of nothing as is. You add in a doubled cost, when non-Sage/Sorcs struggle with resource management as is, and you just demolished casters in PvP. Period. Interrupt that automatically refreshes upon success? No caster anywhere would ever do anything. Ever. Interrupt as an option every GCD or two is so awful and stupid and OP. Hell. No. Good casters kite. And fakecast. And seek cover. Bad ones don't. If you can't kill the bad ones, l2p. Honestly. Or recruit 2 buddies to focus the caster. It's not hard. Everyone can throw up target markers these days. I'm speaking from a healer perspective. I couldn't care less about your proposed guard changes because nobody freakin' guards me these days anyways. Go figure.

No. But if you think so, and your team thinks so, file a ticket to CS. They'll investigate, and ban if the suspect players are hacking or exploiting.