This discussion is only in reference to unranked WZ's. I've been running an assault DPS commando for quiite a while and do very well with damage. I've got 8 WH pieces (eliminator) and the rest BM. I had noticed an incredible lack of any healing in WZ's lately so I decided to bite the bullet and just respec for healing. I had never healed before so I got some practice with PVE before moving on to PVP. My gear is obviously not made for healing so I don't expect to put up the best numbers. At this point I consider a "good" match for me to be about 100K damage with 200K heals. I'm curious what the pure medics with good combat medic gear are able to do in comparison. I would say that based on my small sample of matches so far my winning percentage is higher when I'm playing a heal spec rather than pure damage. I think this is more a result of the fact that it's better to have at least 1 healer than no healers, not so much that I have mad healing skills. Also, any tips on countering pyrotechs? My "heavy" armor pretty much melts like butter and I just can't heal through the damage. Does the combat medic gear give you the ability to heal through a pyro or do I just need to stun/run? I also find it pretty sucky that the "green beam of death" is almost totally useless in PvP. It would be nice to weave it in for ammo conservation and build stacks for SCC but as soon as you light that thing up it's like the entire enemy teams stops what they're doing and kills you in 3 seconds.

I understand the argument that things are balanced because commandos have the ability to heal, but it doesn't hold up in reality. The DPS of my assault commando far outweighs the healing that I can do. So, just because I CAN heal doesn't mean that it's actually useful in a WZ unless I'm completely ignored and allowed to cast freely. Even then, the cast times/cool downs/ammo costs make it very inefficient to try to heal as a DPS spec. That being said, I would say that I top the DPS of my team 90% of the time unless I'm defending an objective. The problem with mando/merc is the utility. PT's and VG's can output the same or higher damage and also have grapple and area stuns. I would also point out that we're the only class without an ability to effect someone when they have full resolve. (I'm not counting a gunnery spec for PvP because that's just silly) All other classes can slow/root/pull a player with full resolve. (<please correct me if i'm wrong on this one) Stuns/slows/pulls/throws are often what win a match and our one KB that is plagued by lag just doesn't cut it.

I don't think it's class imbalance, I think it's player imbalance. For whatever reason (on my server) the imps are just generally better and take it more seriously. If I try to formulate a plan before the spawn opens on Rep side people usually just make jokes or tell me to F'off and then we go lose. The Reps I see almost always over compensate when an INC call is made which guarantees that we lose the other node/side. The Reps that I see talking smack in the server threads about how great they are pretty much always quit the match the first time something bad happens rather than try to come back to win. Other team took a 1-0 lead in Huttball? The first door got planted on Voidstar in less than 3 minutes? Get 2 to 1 turrets on CW? Yep, the self-proclaimed leet players just quit. Ironically, I have seen many of those matches turn around and become a win. I still see people that don't understand that the far left/right speeders take you to the node on CW and people asking what "rotation" means on the Rep side. If this game is for casuals, then for whatever reason the Rep side seems to be for the most casual of casuals (on my server). Regardless, I keep fighting and keep trying to help those that are willing to listen. I sympathize with the frustration of fighting what seems to be a losing battle, but the next time you think about complaining imbalance, perhaps you should spend that time reading PvP strategies rather than posting about the unfairness of imbalance when you can freelly roll any of the exact same classes that you complain about.

Okay, I'm actually against the bolstering at 50 idea. You can wear recruit gear and that's it. You pick the set of your choice and that's what you wear. The only real advantage would be how many datacrons someone picked up. It's that or naked, but no bolstering at 50 IMO.

I'll have to admit that I've come around and decided that this is actually a really good idea. I made an operative which I enjoy playing in lowbie WZ but I have no intention of gear grinding as I'm working two 50's up to full WH. I realized that once I hit 50 my operative WZ time will essentially end becaue I'm not going to put in the time to grind the gear and I don't want to punish my team. The key to making this work is that you only get rewarded with credits (and possibly social points). I think this would help enourage more alts to play PvP after 50 and would give casuals a level playing field. As long as nobody is getting rewarded with WZ comms, why would anyone be against implementing this? It's basically just playing a game for fun, isn't that why we play games anyway (rewards or not)?

Sadly, this is absolutely correct. I saw this coming and rerolled as a sentinel to get ready for ranked. I still PvP with my commando in hopes that some day they will be a viable option. It's a little disappointing to see that not much is being done in terms of helping the commando utility belt. The truth is that stuns/CC/slows/speedboost/roots/leaps/pulls/pushes are what really control a match and can lead a team to victory. Unfortunately, the commando is very light in "gamechanging" abilities. The knockback is great but the lag can totally kill its usefullness and the added 5 seconds to cooldown (1.2) seems like a much bigger deal than I would imagine most people expected. It's still a fun class to play, but don't be too disappointed when people leave you out of the conversation when ranked WZ teams are discussed.

I agree with the worthless crew skill. I'm dumping it this weekend. I like the augment kits, but there's no denying that they screwed some of the skills over big time. Artifice could at least make/sell augmented sabers for some decent monies, now it's pretty worthless unless you find a purple crystal schematic....which you'll find sitting in between the unicorn and the leprechaun located in the secret area on Alderaan.

It seems the only reason left to keep it is for crystals which are completely aesthetic. I wanted purple crystals for my sabers, but not bad enough to keep a worthless skill while I roam around looking for the mythical schematic. It seems that the new augment kits have really killed what little usefulness there was for artifice. Has anyone seen or read anything that would indicate that artifice might actually be a decent skill in the future?

Yeah, I'm sure that works great on the training dummies. Have you ever even been in a WZ against geared opponents? Seriously, you wouldn't survive 5 seconds in a ranked WZ let alone 15

It's time to accept the fact that commandos may never be a serious PvP option. You can PUG and out-damage your teammates by 100K all day long, but there's just not enough tools in the bag to play ranked. I've got commando and a sentinel and it's laughable when you compare the utility of the 2. Heavy armor means nothing and there's just so little survivability that you're putting a burden on the healers while not putting out enough damage or stunning/rooting enough people. Probably the commando's best utility was the knockback, but 1.2 bumped the CD up so you'll usually die about 2 seconds before it comes off CD. I feel your pain man, but it's time to move on.

There's a HUGE bug in Voidstar. There's some giant obtrusive object between the two doors now that really annoys me

As far as DPS goes, I totally agree. I'm able to put up great DPS numbers with my assault commando. I play objectives, try to protect healers and have no problem standing on a turret to call out inc's if that's what's needed. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that the large majority of people just don't want commandos because we don't have stuns/pulls/pushes/speed boosts/invis or other utilities that can help in other ways. I can hang in a 1v1 with just about anything, but if nobody wants class "X" on their team, it's going to take a helluva lot to change their minds.

Pretty funny, was talking to a friend last night about ranked WZ's. I have a 50 assault commando in almost full WH and a sentinel with a couple of pieces of WH. The only question asked: "How's the sentinel coming along?". I really kept thinking that BW would give commandos some much needed utility so that this wouldn't happen. As it stands, the only thing my commando is good for now is making augment kits. The 1.3 patch is great, but between being in a guild that has almost completely died and having my commando scorned for ranked WZ I feel a little disillusioned. I'm not blaming, pretty much just QQ'ing and I know it. But I just can't help but think that one utility could make commandos a viable option. An area stun, speed boost, push/pull, I don't know...but I don't think anyone cares. I guess it's time to retire my commando. I suppose I'll dust him off every once in a while if someone wants to do Lost Island

I use the mouse wheel for targeting. Forward goes to next target and back goes to previous. I kept finding that I would get anxious and tab past the target I wanted and point/click is sketchy at best. I would recommend trying it out. I use shift/mousewheel for zooming now. Just my 2...

I know right. Like, commandos and mercs are dominating like crazy while the mellee classes can't do anything but like stand there and eat their plasma. Totally lame. I think sentinels should totally get like at least 4 seconds of invisibility to sneak up on people or escape. They should also have like a 6 second invcincibility button for all those time you want to leap in to a nest of snipers and totally kill them all. That would be so freekin' allsome !! On top of that they should be able to give the entire team speed boosts all the time, cause, like, who doesn't like being speed boosted...right?

Working as intended. You can queue 8 people together, but it has to be for ranked or you can do either/or. No queue'ing of 8-man premades just for regular WZ's. I agree with this approach as I believe an 8-man premade using vent/ts would roll against pugs. If you can only queue 4, then at least there's a chance that you'll get 4 bads to help level the field in regular WZ's.

I totally agree. They should reduce the amount of stuff to do at endgame. When I turn 50 I want a "win" button that I can push and always be victorious. That sounds like a super fun game. I hope BW is paying attention to this idea. Seriously though, people are going to keep crying about this and Bioware will finally cave and give fresh 50's a full bag of WH. Then they'll cry because it's not augmented, so they'll change it again. Come on people, just take your free recruit gear and start earning some BM. Here's another interesting thought, stuns/CC's/roots/slows don't have anything to do with gear. Use the tools that you've got to try to win and stop getting obsessed about top damage. BM is so easy to get now, so just put in some time and get the gear. I'm honestly surprised that PVE'ers aren't annoyed by the fact that you can get BM gear and start doing HM ops to jump right in to Columi/Rakata.

I only hope that it does not deter people from guarding/defending nodes/bunkers. I'll sacrifice the "fun" of going mid to help my team win. Quite frankly, the guy standing there is one of the most important roles in the match. He defends and calls out inc's (or at least should) so that you can balance your team on the map and move reinforcements accordingly. I will continue to do this regardless, but many people will leave the point unguarded to go get their medals/comms. I fully understand the point you're making, but it's a slippery slope to start taking away defender medals

It sounds like you're cancelling each other out, assuming that the healer is just keeping himself alive. So, in the grand scheme of things, your team is losing a DPS and the other team is losing a healer. I would honestly consider that a "win". Also consider the fact that DOT based classes can often have their DOT cleansed(or at least partially). I think you have pinpointed the reason that we mark and focus healers. Good talk Russ....

Am I misunderstanding something, or are you saying that myself and 7 to 9 other people should spend 4 to 6 hours EACH DAY playing SWTOR PVP so that we can be a good team?!? Good luck with that. I'm guessing you're out of school for the summer, live off the government or your parents set up an incredible trust fund. I have a life outside the world of SWTOR and I intend to keep living it. If that makes me casual, then I guess me and the other 99.9% of the players out there will just be casuals

I disagree. I think one of Paul's posts indicates that the gap actually narrows assuming that people are willing to gear properly. The augments cost money, but you should only have to buy them once so they'll move with you as you progress in gear. The cost of the augment kits is an unknown atm, but anyone who is remotely serious about pvp will be augmenting BM gear (I will for sure). The only thing left for people to whine about is money, and that's just a part of life (literally). Spend 30 minutes doing the Black Hole dailies and you should have enough money to augment your gear. I live close to home and do them during lunch, it's a really quick/easy way to make money. I think TTK will be interesting to see the difference. Burst is pretty much gone so you don't have to worry about someone popping relic/adrenal and saying WTH just happened there? It also slightly levels the field for non-biochem players as adrenals can get costly if you're not making them yourself. Also, is the burst stat from relics going to transfer over directly as a stat stick? I thought the stat values were going to be lower than the burst

I think this nails it. The QQ'ers should have less to QQ about (at least regarding gear). I think my head may explode if I still see people playing with lvl 40 greens after recruit gear is free

Please define "grinding", because unless you're playing some other game you must have started at level 1 and leveled to 50. Was that a grind? Should we all just turn on the game, be level 50 with full campaign armor and full WH? Did you ever die while getting to 50? That must have really pissed you off because you probably would have lived if you had just been 50 and had the best gear. Grinding is simply leveling, whether it's a number next to your character or the numbers next to your gear. If you just want to steamroll then go run low level FP's and crush the competition. Or, just hit 49 and quit every WZ right before it ends. You'll stay in the lowbie bracket and you won't get any of those pesky rewards. I guess the QQ'ing has gotten so bad that recruit gear will now apparently be FREE. BW is doing everything possible to take the grind (leveling) out. They created recruit armor so you didn't have to get stomped playing in lvl 50 pve gear, then people cried because it cost monies so it's now going to be free. What next!?! Keep these posts coming and I guess everyone will eventually hit 50 and get a free War Hero bag with a full set. Why not 2 War Hero bags for duel spec!?! Even better.... Seriously, you can get full BM in a couple weeks (or days) which will now be augmented with kits. This should make the gap between BM and WH even more narrow. Then put the removal of burst on top of that and I think the game should be dumbed down enough even for the most casual of casuals. If all that isn't enough, then I really want to know what else can honestly be done to level the playing field without turning this basically in to a static shooter type game.

I've been told by several people that 8-man premades will be an option in 1.3. I've done a little digging but haven't come across any proof either way, can someone confirm/deny this? I'm not a big fan of this option if it's true. This would give the opposing faction the ability to queue up their best 8 and use undergeared pugs as punching bags while they practice some strategy. Or, more likely, they can get a new recruit geared quickly by loading up 6 or 7 highly geared players and steamrolling through regular WZ's. If the opposition can only queue 4, then at least they have a chance of getting some crappy pugs to even it out a bit. I know, the door swings both ways, but it just kinda sucks when it swings around and smacks you in the face. If it turns in to "don't bother playing WZ's if you're not grouped with 7 others" , then I think the overall impact on WZ's will be negative. I'm sure some people disagree, so please feel free to tell me why I'm stupid.

That's what I'm talkin' about!!! Kudos to you good sir