I have to echo this, also. I'm pretty damn good at healing during hard mode FPs. I also had zero problems in EV...all the way up to this Soa fight. I'd never felt so inadequate as I had when falling from platform to platform trying in vain to get off my 1.75 second UW cast on enough people that they wouldn't die from fall damage. Our raid finally broke down after the third try and replaced one of our DPS with another Sage healer. After that, it was smooth sailing. Our two sage healers would cast a double AoE heal whenever we had to wait for a platform and the whole raid would instantly go back to full health. Honestly, the only thing I brought to the table was a second combat rez via vanish/rez before combat kicks back in and hope I don't get hit by anything in the 5 second cast. In 4-man content, though, I can keep up very well. It sucks that my entire 'rotation' is based off of Underworld Medicine + Emergency Medpack, with Slow-Release Medpack kept up for Upper Hand procs, though. I'm actually currently leveling a Sage healer alt as well as a Trooper healer alt. Figure I'll just bring whoever is most handy at the moment. Which is unfortunate, since I love my Scoundrel to death.

Just don't roll a tank or melee DPS. Everything else seems to be getting rave reviews. If you go healer, most people would say sorc/sage. If you're good at healing, you could probably do any of the healers pretty well, but sorc/sage has a lot of utility that helps with weird mechanics. Endgame seems to be oversaturated with tanks, unfortunately. Our guild is swimming in them. Most have rerolled DPS.

Do this option. I'm a level 50 Scoundrel Sawbones who leveled primarily through PvP. I hit Valor 50 at the same time I hit level 50. I actually really enjoyed the PvP in this game. I'm coming across this Sorcerer/Sage thing as well now, though. Honestly, in Voidstar/Alderaan, I could really care less. They're usually pretty easily dispatched and things kind of boil down to whoever has the more coordinated team. I mean, as a Scoundrel that can't cleanse force dots, it's a little annoying when I hit multiple DoT specced Sorcerers in a match, but it's still manageable. Really, Huttball's the only match that I have problems with. I love the game, but when I can literally go down the list of our ops members, count the number of Sage/Sorcs and Jedi Knights and predict the winner every time based off just those two factors, something's off. I had a match the other day that was 5 Sages, 2 JKs (think they were Guardians), and 1 Powertech. We couldn't really do anything except watch the other team run over, through, and around us the whole match. A JK would pick up the ball then get immediately pulled up to the rafters. If they got knocked down, there was always another Sage to rescue them. With their speed, it also wasn't hard for them to get right back to our goal line after dying, or at least get somewhere that they could pull someone up to. Was kind of obnoxious. Unfortunately, though, the imbalance is everywhere, even in PvE. I find that I really enjoy running hard modes with a regular group. We've gotten to know each other pretty well and tend to blow through most hard modes in 45 minute to an hour and a half depending on the FP. The imbalance didn't really hit me until our guild ran an operation and reached the Infernal One battle in EV. Life sucks as a Scoundrel Healer or any manner of Melee there. We were running a Sage healer and myself and we eventually had to grab another Sage healer to survive through some of the mechanics. I'd never felt so inadequate as a healer, especially since I can destroy hard mode flashpoints. It's a good switch, though. Something different to do. I still queue up for my daily PvP quests, but after that, I usually only queue if I'm waiting for an FP group to get together. I'm also semi-guilty of taking the 'if you can't beat'em, join'em' and I rolled a Sage healer. I'm liking it so far. It's part of my overarching plan of leveling all three healers to 50 so I can just jump over to whoever is more useful/overpowered at the time. I'll probably still only PvP with my Scoundrel, though, despite her limitations. I'm too invested in her at this point.

I actually never noticed this. Sounds like something implemented to prevent possible exploits. Not sure what type of exploits they'd be stopping (Jedi Jumping to places, maybe?), but that's probably the reasoning.

This is your problem. Esseles is probably one of the hardest hard mode FPs to start with when you're undergeared. The trash mobs are incredibly easy, but the bosses are tweaked to hell and will give you serious trouble if you go into it undergeared. I suggest doing hard mode Maelstrom first, as it's pretty easy. If you have a team that can handle unusual boss mechanics, False Emperor is pretty easy too (make sure your DPS know exactly how to use turrets to shoot the ship during the Jindo battle). I also recommend doing your PvP weekly/daily, as you can get a piece of Champ/Cent gear just from that that'll even out your equipment a bit. From there, it's really all just about running the FPs that give you the gear you need. I've got a mix of champ/cent/tionese/and columi gear and the only hard mode FP I have trouble with is Esseles 'cause the last boss can down me in one hit with double saber throw if I'm not shielded and the lightning will one-shot you if you're not constantly moving. Ironfist is a game of interrupts. Once you know which attacks to interrupt (the ones that almost one-shot you) then he's not bad at all. The Sith warrior's just cheap, though.

I know, right? Hell, Scoundrels/Operatives even have an ability that 'enables exploits.' Check out the tooltip for the Upper Hand/Tactical Advantage buff sometime.

Yep, I'm in the same boat! Just hit Valor 54. I'm really looking forward to the extra 15 champ comms in BM bags on top of BM gear. Should definitely help fill out my set, since I'm sitting on a measley three pieces of champ gear at the moment.

I'm actually planning on saving as many bags/comms as I can for when the patch hits. I just recently broke a 25 bag dry spell with a pair of champ gloves, though, so it could just be the knee jerk reaction to past bad luck. Would much rather have gotten 375 Centurion comms and 175 Champ comms in those empty bags rather than just 75 Centurion comms.

I think the point he's making is that one side has 6 Sorcerers, a BH, and an SW while the other side has 6 Troopers, a Consular, and a JK. Implying that Sorcerer/Consular and Trooper/BH are FotM.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I always know when I've been interrupted. Every time, since every heal I go to throw out is usually a crucial one. Also, people who are smart enough to use their interrupt on me are also usually smart enough to continue to harass me with stuns/knockbacks/mezzes and such even after the interrupt wears off, so it's usually a non-issue.

This is the true atrocity! I was spoiled by playing through the Smuggler storyline. If there was a male character anywhere, chances were you could flirt with and eventually sleep with him. With the Consular....nothin'. I do, however, get the option to outright kill many more storyline characters. Guess it evens out, somehow.

I find this very interesting, actually. I'll have to check Sanctum of the Exalted later. Pretty sure the Reps outnumber Imps there (might lend creedence to the 'light side name' theory). With the exception of one guild, though (Pax Imperius), it seems like Republic side mostly dominates PvP there, including Illum. Everytime I go there we have all points captured and there's 10-15+ Republic players circling the center for salvage while waiting for WZ pops. Anyway, thanks for the perspective!

Personally, I don't think the 31 point tracer missile perk is worth it. You're better off just putting the extra points into tracer missile, or maybe tracer missile if you want to optimize your DPS. Tracer missile is also a good choice for some more utility. Other than that, good spec!

Slight edit for you. You ever try doing 1 vs. 1 as a Scoundrel/Ops healer? There's a reason we have Vanish as an escape.

There are plusses to each. Capping both sides makes it far easier to return to the nodes on death due to the shorter speeder ride, but it also makes response time for reinforcements from one node to the next longer. Mid and a side allows for quick reinforcement, but mid is usually pretty heavy and the speeder ride from death is a little longer. I definitely do the DoT defense when I'm alone at a turret, though. If I see three people coming at me, I usually call for help, then spam insant dots on all of them until they take me out. Also, the first thing I do when one of my teammates is taking a node (or myself) is cleanse dots.

I'm the same way. The only time I've quit a Warzone is when I accidently queue without my group due to the stupid way premades are handled, but even then I do it at the beginning so it doesn't mess with anyone in the WZ. Yeah, the random "*** Noobs!" or "You guys suck" crowd really tick me off, especially since it's usually the one or two people that aren't contributing anything to the WZ that say it. I actually find that throwing out one or two pointers does wonders in WZs. I remember a Huttball match I had where we were getting slaughtered. It was 0-3 pretty quickly. When I had the ball, I noticed that everyone was running behind me, waiting for the incinerators with me, and just not giving me anywhere to pass. So, I say over the ops channel "Hey, just run through the incinerators ahead of me so I can pass to you without going through them." Just like that, with only that one strategy, we became a well oiled machine. Everytime one of us got to an incinerator, there was always someone on the other side to pass to, who would then pass over the following incinerator to another guy who'd score. We ended up winning 6-3. A lot of the time, I think people are just waiting for someone to take charge and give them sort of direction or strategy to cling to (even a bad one) without being an a** about it. Left to their own devices, people tend to medal farm or just do their own thing.

Amen! All I want is my simple, red Smuggler jacket with white pants. Instead, I get to look like a post-apocalyptic caped crusader. X.x

Luckily, an operative can backstab 10 times in a row for 10K crits each with no cooldown and kill them! Or a BH can tracer spam for 8K a missile and kill them! Or a Warrior can Smash crit for 20K and insta-kill! So....all's balanced!

This actually sounds like a fun idea. Only problem, though, is you'd have to be really dedicated in order to do it. I mean, how many medals would you get just standing in your spawn goaltending? I think that's the main reason people aren't doing it more. It doesn't even count towards your kills, so the people sitting up there 'exploiting' actually aren't even getting anything for their effort.

*blink* What part of "I think I do pretty well in almost zero PvP gear vs. vastly better geared opposition" came out sounding like "I'm Valor Rank 53 and PWNZOR all of you?" Wasn't trying to boast about my prowess, was trying to explain why I've stopped caring about gear, since I still only have two pieces of champ gear at Valor 53. I figure if I'm doing pretty good now without gear, then it doesn't really matter if I ever get geared up, so I'm spending my commendations on aesthetic things that make me happy, rather than RNG bags that frustrate me. Would be nice for my gear to not be laughed at in PvP, though. Laughs that immediately turn to shock when I tell them how much time I've put into PvP and how little gear I've received in compensation for it. It's a good thing I just enjoy the PvP for the PvP, or else I'd really be vexed about the whole thing.

Honestly, grab a healer? I know it's not very good advice and might not be applicable all the time, but I have a Sentinel buddy that I follow around sometimes and he does great when I'm there. He's squishy, but he can take down single targets very quickly, so I keep him healed up as he does so. He doesn't have many protection abilities to help me out, but he can usually take out someone attacking me before I run low on energy healing myself. I wish I knew more about the Sentinel specs. From what I've seen, though, they're not really built for fighting in groups. As a healer, though, if someone tells me that they'll keep an eye out for me or peel enemies for me, I'll follow them regardless of what class they are.

I would refute this... but I have three Republic healing classes, no Empire characters, and I hate DPS 'cause I suck at it. So....carry on. X.x

Yeah, those people just make me however, I tend to stay and hope that once all of those people leave and I go then everyone else will see what an awesome game this is and be all

I actually like these and hate these at the same time. I like them 'cause it forces you to be tactical. If your CC break isn't up, you have no business trying to cross an incinerator. I find that it promotes team play, 'cause it's much safer to have a player without the ball run through the incinerator first, then catch a pass rather than risk getting stunned in an insta-kill spot. I do get frustrated when a random BH/Trooper grapples me for an instant kill into a lit incinerator, though. Coming from a class with ZERO knockback/recovery abilities (Scoundrel Sawbones), I can say that I absolutely HATE knockbacks, knockdowns, pulls and that sort of junk, but I accept them as part of the game. I'm probably a class that's forced to use teamwork more than any other class. I've got only my CC break to get me out of trouble if I have the ball. Otherwise, I have to constantly look for a pass, or position myself somewhere in the rafters to receive the ball. I'm constantly moving in, over, and around the other team to try to set myself up for a scoring pass from someone else. It also forces me to be aware of my positioning and what classes are around me. If I'm running with the ball and there's a Sage/Assassin near me, I try to run straight at them so their knockback won't kick me off the edge. Unfortunately, there's a lot that I can't prevent (like getting grappled into the pit), so I have to be aware of where my teammates are so that I can make a quick pass out of the pit if I get knocked down. There're tons of counters to getting knocked down (Rescue/Extricate, Force Leap, whatever the Bh/Troopers version is, even just passing). It's obnoxious, but still fun. For the Obstacle bit, I have the same opinion of them that I do of the adic pools and such. Forces teamwork and maneuvering, which I like. I haven't dealt with the backfacing bit.