Hm, well I'm not going to do any hardmode FP without knowing what I'm doing. I owe that much to my team. So I'll probably start of easy - the way I used to gear my tanks in any other game as well: Get the basic gear -> get the muscle memory by and basic knowledge of the instances -> if I like it get more/better/expensive gear. I thoroughly dislike the tanks that think because they got the gear they really are tanks... and are clueless and quite often totally arrogant. Hence me tanking whenever PvE is concerned. I like to teach newbs. I am one at some point myself. Usually not this far into a game, but then again: PvP is great fun. AAAAND I hadn't played a class that fits Tanking mood like the PT. I'm beginning to fall in love with him...

And everyone else needs to stop blaming them for not knowing the ropes or having the gear, yet. Learning is actually one of the important functions of the unranked queue.

Field respec is great - it just doesn't work: I play outside a warzone as pve specced class and queue for warzone. I get the invite... I need to finish my fight and respec before joining wich leaves me with ~30 seconds to do it. And after the warzone has ended (if it's an arena thats ~5 minutes) I need to respec back to pve. PAIN. So: ADD a "save" button to the specs & button-layout. Put a combobox next to the field-respec button that lets you 'respec to saved set' or 'previous set'. So that field respec is required for it and it's getting easy to use.

I don't think I want to pvp as a tank. I feel stupid if I can only prolong death instead of dealing it. Especially with the low damage numbers that are so common in random queue these days.

If not random unranked... where should those players queue? You know... to get to learn about pvp?

So... basically: Do stuff to improve participation in ranked pvp? Stuff: - More gratifying winning (double awards time was great, apply it to victories only and make it permanent) - Less punishing losing (as in get stuff for winning, nothing deducted for losing - most people hate getting things taken vom them.) - Cooler rewards for ranking high (as in 'draws attention' or is highly wanted by anyone... blackblack stuff... traditional jedi robes... ) - No more Solo Ranked. With the teams being the ranked instance (see wow arena - that worked pretty well for a very long time to keep the pvp alive) - No more grouped regs (or a seperate queue for grouped regs - wich would probably be as frequented as the ranked queue is today - because all those 'we premake to have a challenge' teams are... mostly bu**sh*t.) More players encouraged and a more positive overall feeling. Shiny awards won't make players put in effort. Motivation an coolness will. If you want to do something REALLY awesome: Preferred grouping of players in solo queue - automatically prefer to group players with other players that they have a history of winning with. hm... yeah... you WILL need a VERY GOOD matchmaking system and have to hit that sweet spot between "making people hate the game" and "not requireing to win" in pvp... Not easy to do. Not easy at all.

Wow - thanks for that detailed post. Greatly apreciate it. Going PT Tank feels very right for PvE so far (still just DPS gear) but I seriously dislike it in PvP. So... I guess I'll need to optimize my respeccing and reconfiguring my toolbars until I can safely complete that in under 50 seconds (pop -> 10 seconds to finish the fight -> respec -> enter warzone -> change gear). ^^ Stinks a bit, but hey, who doesn't enjoy a challenge?

Actually the cc immunity after charge alone makes the Vengeance Juggs 'burst' much better than the maras. The mara WILL get shut down as soon as the windows up. Unless all you do is fight superbads. And even the PvE-players who've never fought a mara before tend to "ARGH! IT HURTS!" -> stun, knockback, slow, kite, mezz, root, ... You see: the things that shut the mara down are the same that work against NPC. Hence: MEH!

So: Just in case I would take a pvp break... To tank PvE (no ops, just FP with hopes for the stronghold stuff to motivate me): This spec? Gear - the stuff from the oricon quest for PT tank for starters. Augments - (see stats) Stats - Hit chance to 104%; Shield:Defense:Absorb @ roughly 2:2:1 ratio Color Crystals - Endurance Prio - Basically obvious with a quite common rapid-shot to keep heat low. Relics - Can I use some PvP ones? Or do I have to waste creds? The rest I gotta learn on the go - going to run a few of the story modes solo to take a look at how things go. I plan not to spend more than 1 - 1.5 Mill on this experiment. Unless it rekindles my passion for tanking I used to have. With swtor putting me off due to the first experiences when queueing as a tank... (yeah, I'm looking at you black talon with no ae skill, no ae taunt, no tank stance....)

Yeah... I'm still missing the kolto tanks - so my "doc bot" is currently serving as receptionist in the entry room. I absolutely hope they'll add some less "imp or rep" npcs. I need thug guards... etc. Also: Can you tell me why the "guards" count into the NPC limit? It's not like they are anything but a statue...

Indeed - that limit just stinkt. I've seen gorgeous strongholds on tor-decorating.com... and they all look dead and devoid of life. I myself am adding potted plants en-masse just to have SOMETHING living in the rooms. I like the idea of adding 'decorative npc' to the furniture. But I'd much prefer the "It's alive!!!"-Expansion that ups the limit to 100 and adds two comboboxes: "Mood" and "Emote". Maybe even a freeze button besides the emote... so you can stop it.

I never got why the game developers don't work with some hardware companies and provide 'suggested systems' for best performance in exchange for money and expertise on optimizing... I've been looking for some plain and simple: Get this - it's great... but since my computer can handle the game rather well, haven't gotten anything... yet.

Uhm - tot is already in swtor? To be honest - the whole "let the users build cool interfaces" was win in wow. Imho. Many disagree and some would even call it cheating to clean up the mess. But UI wise bio could take a lot from all the player-inspired improvements that were added by blizzard over the years. Dual Spec, Equipment Manager, Proc Displays, Buff-Grouping for long time buffs, ...

- but other than many PvP players I am not too full of envy. Strongholds are a bit of a bummer without any of the cool trophies from all those flashpoints, though...

Really - if you want solo late night adventures - pick something that is stealthed. All classes mostly work right now, and if they don't there will be changes within the next 3-6 months that totally tip the tide anyways. So, in comclusion: Play what you like.

I sincerely consider this a bad timing, horrible bad luck experience. because: Many of the actual rep teams I fought are awe-inspiring. Best matches ever actually. You really end up with novare coasts with no team over 10% bunker or that never forgotten 0:10 (NOOOO!!!! they won!!!) on alderaan. The really close matches have - for the same random reason as above - been mostly Imp-vs-Rep. Also I play a rep scoundrel on the same server. And I feel we are whiping the floor with the imps, mostly. Sometimes I think the "nicer athmosphere" or the "do-gooder-prejudice" make rep players slightly more willing to help one another. In all honesty: You either have bad luck (yeah, matchmaking lottery is random), play at a really bad time (like when all your factions players level alts) or you are on that one server where there really is an issue (wich I doubt).

The reason is probably, because there actually are teams like man and wife, two or three real life friends... etc... who just want to play together. Not being able to casually play a bit of pvp might be offputting for the small teams and small guilds. So... yes, premades are bad for the ones not in premades. But in reality the solution is not to prohibit premades, but to create amatchmaking system that matches them with appropriate oponents. THAT is the underlying problem. The fair fights. A ragtag pug of PvE players who want conquest points, amateurs and uncoordinated egomaniacs who press more buttons while flaming the chat than to fight... vs a premade with 2-3 heals and tanks and dd who actually help one another (with a degree of selflessness)... yeah... stomping time. With a good matchmaking system that uses statistical data and character attributes this would just massively change. Palpatine: "And then... we .... shall have ... peace."

O_o a) The idea to give people who at least think they don't like to pvp rewards in warzones no matter the outcome is mindnumbingly stupid and will hopefully be revised. b) The additional "single turret guards" are... really bothering, if you were planning on putting up a proper fight. Unmotivated PvE players that AFK their warzone must be as great as unmotivated PvP player that just want the loot. c) PvP is ONLY rewarding if you get off your a** - because it's the fight that is the reward not the items. This might be hard to grasp for the Collector-Type player, but really, the gear is just the tools to even out TTK and Numbers to be able to compare and compete. But I see where all the confusion comes from. d) It's equally hard to grasp for a pvp player that pve - and collecting stuff be beating scripted encounters - is rewarding. Because the way to fight is totally different. *shrugs* Gear grows old, content gets trivial...In the end, it's always who you play with, not what you play. *shrugs* So, I'd say: play for your mates.

I have an great idea about hybrids: DEAL WITH IT! Yeah yeah... matchmaking is difficult (not really, just count hybrids as either heal or tank and be done with it). But in all honesty: If someone really does want to play hybrid, let them. Because it makes the game more diverse! It's one of coolest parts of having skill trees: you can chose. Just because it doesn't fit your idea of a "ah - there: a <class y> so it's <spec 3> so I have to do <z>" .... CR*P, doesn't mean it is not or should not be part of the totally intended spectrum of possibilities. Being able to create a spec - be it pure or hybrid - that you like and enjoy playing is more important than the dreadful cookiecutter specs where every dd of a class specs the same. Enjoy the diversity, man! It's not supposed to be obvious. The only thing that should be done is to keep the hybrids a valid but painful choice. PS - I've never been happy with any hybrid spec. They always feel unfinished.

Just that wow dual spec would suck hard without equipment manager... so: don't just copy ONE part.

This is by far the most underlying problem pvp has right now. Too much "stomp or get stomped".

Yeah... they might be good and play as a team and melt face. I'm pretty sure they'd be godlike if not stuck on that class. Might be. Or - not that unlikely - I'm really no good at playing mara. It's just my experience: I play mara and I want to smash my mouse after a match too much. (I shouldn't let a game get to me like that... *sigh*). I play my PT or my scrapper or my Agent and I feel... - to quote the emperor, one of the greatest macs of all - UNLIMITED POWERRRRRRR!!!! *cough* Well... Meh, maybe it's just that I love the one class I really REALLY don't get to anything decent. My definition would be "to be as good as with some other half heartedly played class". Don't you guys have that: This feeling of immortality when playing a scrapper? You can escape anything and heal yourself up without waiting for this really REALLY weird ooc-timer... This feeling of kick*ss when playing a PT? Your target is already melting to 50% before you're even in melee range (if that is where you decide to go) and you can counter their control with HO and your own cc all the while protecting your mates with taunts? This feeling of "Have you been shooting that red stuff at me?" When playing a Juggernaut with ED, SR, Intervene, Push, Charge, AESlow, Unstoppable, Taunts, instant stance-switch... And then there's this mara... with a feeling of... oh cc break on cooldown and so is cloak? Rooted by the sniper? Knocked down by the sorc - jump back -knocked down by the second sorc/sniper. Oh stunned! I wonder if I'll surv... nope. Respawn. Oh stunned - maybe this ti... nope... Might not be as bad if it was only the stun... just root's are basically just as well as a hardstun. Even a slow against a moving target is just as well. Basically "anything from anyone + movement" keeps you from doing something. It's all good though. If they change it, I'll be back to my mara. If they don't I'll continue wrecking every mara and/or sentinel I meet... after making them watch how I kill their backup. It's just too easy to screw them. Just keeping them stunned, rooted, mezzed, slowed and... running away... i.e. around a tree. Or a pillar. Feel their hatred fuel... NOTHING. How do I know? Been there. ^^ So yes, It's me who's broken. I actually gave up on the frustration. *shrugs* sue me! At least I've never given up a Warzone and never stood at 1/3 objectives prior to sub 50% of enemy points on alderaan. Or not try to grab both nodes in hypergate. Or attack the first doors in void with less than 3 minutes on the timer. And I respect those deeply who I see fighting equally. But I'm not being the "lol"-victim to all who know what they are doing anymore. I broke.

I still think the best idea so far war to change the quest: "Win once - within the next three games you join." One disconnect is possible. If you get it three times in a row... you lose a day, but have totally different problems. Quitting a game or not fighting to win will hurt you the most - as you are losing the game for your team and the regular pvp crowd is going to just keep playing anyways. Playing and fighting 1-3 games a day can be either good fun or at least tollerable. One in three should be winable if everyone FIGHTS.

Probably. Also: Have you considered fighting at the objectives? Participation in defense or capture gives a bunch of medals, compared to that lone spot somewhere in nowhere.

I guess I know what you want to say - but isn't there are not missing? Or a n't too much? But yes, it heavily promotes the forming of LARGE guilds.