Instead of the added benifets I would rather see it as more of a improved Shadow Strike. Same basis of 30 meter range but when you appear behind target you perform a Shadow Strike. Basicly you move behind target and stab them in the back. But I could see that being OP.

Ok imo guard is not a gurantee on the healers all the time. From what I have experienced I usually guard our dps most of the time. They drop faster than a healer and with out them the amount of heals dosnt matter if you can drop the enemy. That being said I usually am peeling off the healers. If a healer is getting focused then yes I will guard him but I'm usually just making sure he isn't in trouble. We have a abundance of tools that help us keep the healers up with out having guard on them. 1 - Single Target / Group Taunt : this is a 30% damage reduction 2 - Slow Time : Snare and a 5% damage reduction 3 - Force Slow: 50% snare 4 - Force Stun : stuns the target 5 - Spinning Kick : incapacitated the target 6 - Force Pull : removes enemy from the healer 7 - Tele Throw : Snare As you can see we have massive damage reduction, 3 snares, 2 Stuns ( i count Spinning kick as a stun as its a 1.5 sec knockdown), and a reposition move. With all of this you can make the life of you healer better with out actually having guard up on them. This also frustrates the enemy just as much.

Ok not tring to hijack this tread but I was wondering if the cyber mods are any good at 50. I took up cube tech should I waste the time learning the purple ones or just screw it and run the dailies?

I don't think it's spinning strike on cool down. Shouldn't it be Slow Time on Cool Down? Edit: never mind saw that this is the 27/0/14. Not the 31/0/10 build

Even with out the reusables I see biochem as the best crafting skill. The stuff you make will be in constant demand and you won't have to pay inflated rates for them. The benifet is also in the you have it when you need it. You won't have to scour the GTN and hope that some one made what you are lookIng for as you can make it your self. Most other skills are a 1 time purchase or isn't needed as the PVE gear and PvP gear is better. The way I look at it is: Artifice - 1 time buy for the crystal you need and won't need it again until a patch updates with new more powerful one Cybertech - Armor slot and Mod slot that can be crafted is going to be the same you can get from PvE or PvP and that's after they reverse engineer it to start. These are also a 1 time buy until new schematic are available. Sythweaving / Armortech - makes armor and you will want a crit crafted orange as a 1 time buy. The Enhancements, relics, and augments are also a 1 time buy. BioChem - provides a 2 hr buff that you will constantly need to purchase over and over as you run out. I also as I mentioned above consider the inflation as every one will want the same couple of items so the demand will be high as will the price. This is my thoughts on it but then again I'm not 50 yet.

I'm looking at the patch notes and the changes/new crew skills and it appears that 2 things are still true that have been in the past. 1) Armor crafters and Artifice will have a short lived boost. This will be due to everyone wanting to have a crit crafted orange gear for the added augment slot or the new crafted crystals (I still have not heard or read if this is better than the ones from PvP or end game gear. ) 2)There is still no reason to do anything other than Bio Chem. all the other crafting materials will have better items that can be easily acquired from PvP or Ops. Biochem is the only crew skill that can not be replaced by PvE or PvP content. Did I miss something? I read somewhere that reusables will be removed in future patch and I'm ok with it but even then the same remains. No where else can you get the craft able stims but you can get better armor, mods, and enhancements from the dailies and for armor/weapons it's a 1 time buy at level 50. Where as the buffs that biochem give last 2 hours and then are gone. So there will be a 1 time our base or crit crated orange gear no need for Mod, Armoring, or Enhancements and a continuos use/need for Biochem buffs and Andreanals. Did I miss something or isn't this a mirror of the current state as well? You ding 50 and need/have the top mods, enhancements and Armoring made so that they can be replaced by the Dailies rewards and then replaced again by the raid gear / BM gear.

But you also need to look at cooldown. Knight/vanguard is a 8 sec where as smuggler and consular is a 12 sec. I don't know about the vanguard, smuggler, or consular but I know as a sentinal the watchman spec brings it down to a 6 sec cooldown. This is on top of locking out the ability for 4 sec. I have no problem paying for this.

I am wondering if the 2% life per crit is on a per dot basis. For instance Overload saber has 3 charges that are applies with a non force attack. Does that mean that regardless of the charges on a single target you only get 2% or when overloadsaber crits you get 6% life (2% * 3).

The shadow/assassin one is better as it removes all negative effects and makes you immune for 3 sec on a 1 min cooldown. http://www.torhead.com/ability/dEsVsc4/resilience

I'm wondering if this changes or if it broken and I don't know it but at level 36 I have 36 expertise. I read that new 50's don't have any and complain about not having any being a fresh 50. How I got it was from my double bladed lightsaber of the eclipse. I bought it at 34 from the PvP vendor an noticed it was orange and went to look at the mods. The Mod slot had expertise in it so I removed it and put it in my armor. I then repeated the process and bought 5 more after some more wz action and now have 6 expertise in my boots, legs, helm, chest, gloves, and light saber. I looked and at level 38 there is another tier of lightsabers that has 8 in it. Didn't look beyond that but it seems that you should be able to have some as a fresh 50 with out champ/ cent gear. Is this broken and I'm just wasting coms?

I disagree with that. I'm level 39 Shadow atm and have been spending my coms on buying 5 lightsabers from the PvP Weapon vendor. You can yank out the Mods and Enhancements for expertise and some decent stats. The Light sabers are 580 coms apiece and can be slotted into orange armor. There is a new light saber every 4 levels or so to repeat the process as you level up. I plan on continuing this trend. The only thing I have to get at the GTN is the armoring slots. Saves time and money ( yes I know credits are not hard to come by)

I guess from what I can see it's strictly a better burst but it appears that the damage is about the same. Using the example above: 2/31/8 0.0 sec Project 1500 1.5 sec CS 500x2 3.0 sec CS 500x2 4.5 sec CS 500x2 6.0 sec Project with Upheval 2250 7.5 sec CS 500x2 9.0 sec CS 500x2 10.5 sec CS 500x2 Total 9750 7/31/2 0.0 sec Project 1500 1.5 sec CS 545x2 3.0 sec CS 545x2 4.5 sec CS 545x2 6.0 sec Project 1500 7.5 sec CS 545x2 9.0 sec CS 545x2 10.5 sec CS 545x2 Total 9545 Now this assuming perfect world with force enough to continue to spam all abilities at the same pace at every GCD. The difference is 205 damage over the 8 GCD's. If I remember correctly Project and Breach is not affected by armor to begin with so the extra 3% won't mess with the damage. But the SS, LS, and SK are and will benefit. Also I don't know if any one has done any theorycrafting but (from what I have read on the forum) it is understood/believed that the 6% armor penetration equates to more damage than the 6% from CS so having both with the extra 3% will just add more on top of it. I can see the benefit of spike damage and bursting some one down but just wondering if any one had tried the sustained damage so that it's not a hope for the process from upheaval. I also know that I'm not 50 and don't have any real knowledge of how the class is at that level or what PvP is like at 50.

The spec is: http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/jedi_consular/shadow/#::e9fe3fef2e2f5ef2ef7ef7ef14 The other spec I'm looking at is the cookie cutter 2/31/8. Comparing 2/31/8 with 7/31/3 you loose out on the 2% dmg mitigation and the 45% chance on 2nd Project for 1/2 Dmg but gain force speed every 20 sec (Good for getting in combat/Chase and getting out) as well as the extra 3% Armor penetration and 6% extra damage from CS which from the videos I've seen ( currently only lvl 32 and Valor 26 ATM) is used way more than Project. Is the increase in damage from armor penetration on all abilities and the boosted damage on CS able to make up the chance of 2nd Project?

What I was referring was if you stealth then activate sprint would the 85% update then or at the time stealth was activated. If it only calculates at the time it is activated then you could reach 135%

I think ithas to do withthe way Sprint works with stealth and when the rebuff is calculated. Normal Speed + Sprint = 135% with Stealth = 85% of 135% = 114.75% or 115% with Sneaky = 115% + 15% = 130% Means that you with Sprint and Sneaky run at 130% while the rest of the group runs at 135%. But that is assuming it is done in that order. I wonder if changing the order would effect the end result. If you stealth an then activate sprint if the speed calculation would change. Also don't know if this how it works as I do not have Sneaky.