I've currently got my artifice skill up to 400. I assumed that you could reverse engineer the color crystals you got from the artifice trainer and get a schematic for the +41 stat color crystal, but the best I could get was +31. I know you can make the level 50's but I'm not sure what to do to get the schematics. Do I need to find a schematic from a drop, or is there something I can reverse engineer to learn the schematic?

Thanks so much to everyone who replied its been really informative. I think I will read some of the guides that were mentioned and see what I think once I've read up on it a little more. Again, thanks for all the replies.

This is the first mmorpg I've ever played. A while ago I finished the game as a level 50 sentinel, and I wanted to start a new character as a Shadow. I'm wondering how difficult it will be to learn how to tank effectively. If its really tough to tank I may go with another class, but if it's not too hard I would like to play as a shadow. I don't play any PvP and I'm mainly interested in solo play. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm a level 50 Sentinel with the watchman tree. It seems like anytime I see another sentinel they have way more hitpoints than me. I've even seen a couple level 48 or 49 sentinels with more hitpoints than my level 50 sentinel. Today I saw a level 50 sentinel with 14800 hitpoints, while I only have 11600. I'm hoping someone can tell me if I have below average hitpoints. Is gear the only way to gain hitpoints? Does my watchman tree have anything to do with hitpoints? All of my gear is set up with higher strength than endurance. I've been gearing up with the assumption that I should always take strength over endurance, so I always use might armor and might hilts. The result is that I have 911 endurance and 1000 strength, is that a bad ratio? The only way I know to raise hitpoints is by raising endurance, if there is another way let me know. I'm on corellia right now and I'm not having a lot of problems yet, but I'm worried that I will start having problems soon because of the low hitpoints. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm a level 46 sentinel on Voss, with the watchman tree. I'm having a lot of problems with the bosses on the Voss quests. I'm finding it quite easy to take out mobs, and some elites, but I am having a lot of problems with the various bosses. I think I may need to warn about some spoilers if you keep reading, so if you don't want to know about some of the quests on Voss stop reading. The problems I am having are on the bosses at the end of quests, quests like The Trials where you fight the Gormak Warrior, or the Visionary quest, where you have to beat Lord Beldiss (I think they are classified as elites). I am able to beat some of the elites that you meet throughout the quest, but when it comes to the actual boss elites I'm getting hammered. I think I'm having trouble because the bosses are dealing out too much damage for me to deal with, I'm just dying really quickly. The elites I can beat just don't seem to be able to deal out a lot of damage, but when I fight the elite bosses I start losing health alarmingly fast, and I can't figure out why. I am using Lord Scourge, and I always send him in first so the boss concentrates on him, but the boss just finishes him off really quickly and then kills me really fast. I thought about maybe using doc, but I think I am losing health too fast for him to heal effectively. I read the sentinel primer hoping that it would help me out, but this is my first time playing an mmorpg and I didn't understand a few of the things in the guide. I'm wondering if there is some key concept I'm missing, I'm not sure what stacking is or what is meant by dots and if these are pivotal concepts I may not be using them effectively. I've gotten stuck a couple times at earlier points in the game and this forum helped me out a ton, so if anyone can help me with this problem I would be very greatful. Thanks.

It sounds like I need new equipment, and some new strategy. But now my problem is I don't know where to get the best equipment. I went to the taris commendations vendor and all he had was the chest armor I'm using right now. Everything else was either lower quality than my current gear or gear I couldn't use, like heavy armor. I went to the weapons vendor on Nar Shadaa and I think they had one hilt, but it was worse than my current hilt. Should I try GTN? I know someone said not to, but that may be my only choice. Thanks so much for the help.

Where can I pick up better equipment? I went to the Taris Commendations vendor and all he had was the chest armor I'm using. He didn't have any equipment better than my current equipment. I went to the weapons and armor vendors on Nar Shadaa and they didn't have anything I could use either, should I try the GTN? Whenever I come up against a mob, I send Kira in first, having her target the strongest enemy, then I jump in and join her, trying to kill the strongest enemy, then once he is dead I take out the weaker guys. Am I doing that backwards, should I be taking the weakest out first? I was also wondering if there is a specific skill tree that would be best for a rookie. I haven't really concentrated all my skill points on just one tree, but I am going to change that asap. I was just hoping to get some advice on which one to pick, then I will reset my skills and chose one tree. Thanks so much for the help, it's very informative. If someone could tell me the best place to get a good hilt I would appreciate it, I can't seem to find a vendor that sells any good hilts.

I am stuck on Nar Shadaa, I just finished Taris and reached level 24 as a sentinel. I went to Nar Shadaa, and now I'm really struggling. This is the first mmorpg I've played so I don't really know what to do. I figured I could just supply as much info as possible and hopefully someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong, apologies for the length of the post. I'm on a mission in the red district fighting Bleeders. If I run into a group of four or five level 20's with 1000 hitpoints each I can take them. But usually there is a group of 3 enemies, 2 level 20's with 1000 hitpoints and a level 21 with around 3800 hitpoints, when I try to fight groups like this I either barely make it out alive or I die, mostly I die. And if there are two level 21 3800 hitpoint enemies together I don't stand a chance. I'm not sure what is meant by equipment level, but I figure its the level requirement of the equipment, and my equipment all has a requirement of level 17, except my chest armor and gloves which require level 19. I'm using two lightsabers and they are level 16 and 17. Is my equipment too crappy? I've just been using equipment I pick up on missions, and haven't really tried to buy any, I don't know if thats the best way to equip yourself, or if buying equipment is the best way. I did use commendations to buy some equipment on Taris, and my level 17 stuff was the best I could get. I can't really level up anymore because I'm too high a level for taris and wasn't getting any xp there anymore, but since I am at least three levels above my opponents I didn't think my level was the problem. I don't know if my problem is with equipment, my fighting strategy, my companion, my level or a mixture of all of them. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I'm really stuck so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am stuck on Nar Shadaa, I just finished Taris and reached level 24 as a sentinel. I went to Nar Shadaa, and now I'm really struggling. I figured I could just supply as much info as possible and hopefully someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong, apologies for the length of the post. I'm on a mission in the red district fighting Bleeders. If I run into a group of four or five level 20's with 1000 hitpoints each I can take them. But usually there is a group of 3 enemies, 2 level 20's with 1000 hitpoints and a level 21 with around 3800 hitpoints, when I try to fight groups like this I either barely make it out alive or I die, mostly I die. And if there are two level 21 3800 hitpoint enemies together I don't stand a chance. I'm not sure what is meant by equipment level, but I figure its the level requirement of the equipment, and my equipment all has a requirement of level 17, except my chest armor and gloves which require level 19. I'm using two lightsabers and they are level 16 and 17. Is my equipment too crappy? I've just been using equipment I pick up on missions, and haven't really tried to buy any, I don't know if thats the best way to equip yourself, or if buying equipment is the best way. I did use commendations to buy some equipment on Taris, and my level 17 stuff was the best I could get. I can't really level up anymore because I'm too high a level for taris and wasn't getting any xp there anymore, but since I am at least three levels above my opponents I didn't think my level was the problem. I don't know if my problem is with equipment, my fighting strategy, my companion, my level or a mixture of all of them. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I'm really stuck so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm at the Jedi Temple Ruins trying to take out tarnis, after reading the replies I am thinking I may be fighting enemies that are beyond me at this level. I do okay on the normal empire soldiers, but throw in an emperial commando (I think thats the name) and I can barely survive. I haven't done many side quests so I guess I need to do them and level up. Thanks for the help and advice.

I'm a level 14 Jedi Sentinel and I'm not sure what type of strategy I should be using. I've read that if you are the Guardian you just rush into battle, and soak up the damage. But I know the Sentinel can't take as much damage, which is why I'm a bit confused. I came to the conclusion that if you can do a lot of damage but not take a lot of damage you should do hit and run tactics, but I don't think thats possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am kind of getting pummeled right now. I was also wondering if the Sentinel can ever use heavy armor, or is his highest armor level medium?