Endurance my friend, ever since I've had endurance as my main stat I've never had a problem like that. I've also found that defense does much more during the long run then shield or absorption

Oh pvp mechanic's why you hate shielding. So I did 4 pvp matches this morning before leaving for work and again in all 4 my dark ward proc 1-2 times before expiring which is making me really sad that my shield generator isn't working well in pvp even with a 40% chance. So I decided to find out what makes a shield proc in pvp as it has to be different then in PvE and this is what I found: http://taugrim.com/2012/01/19/understanding-swtors-avoidance-and-mitigation-mechanics-for-tanks-in-pvp/ That explains a lot, most of the maraudars and sentinels that I have been facing probably have been having a higher crit chance then my shielding so I'm not shielding as much even with dark ward. It's official I'm going to start using focus as it's not even worth it having a generator hopping on the rare off chance that you might reduce the standard damage by 30-50% and you can't even shield against a crit, no thank you! I can't wait to see how much more powerful my tank assassin will be with crit gear as currently I'm also one of the top 3 players per pvp match in pure pve tanking gear So on that note "Yeah those PT/VG & Mara/Sent are WAAAY to overpower they should be nerf, just don't look at us tank sin we suck in pvp"

What kind of attacks do marauder's and sniper's have that can be shielded. I've been doing a lot of pvping the last 3 days with untold amount of mara/sent, slinger/sniper, & PT/VG and everytime my dark ward runs out I still have 5 charges left. I'm almost sold on that focus is better then shield generators in PvP as I rarely get my shields to proc even with a 45% chance with Dark Ward unless most of them are just playing stupid. I've notice that most of the mara/sent are playing balance, is that the new spec now?

Wow you have a lot to "up" at this point. IMO from your post this is percentage that I think is affecting your PvPing. 1. Gear - 60% 2. rotation - 20% 3. You "suck" at PvP - 20% (not trolling just read on) Gear Currently the main thing that is affecting you in pvp is your gear hands down. Having gear around your level is vital, if everything you have on is from DK (lv. 10-16 zone) except for your weapons which are from Balmoraa (lv.16-20 zone) and you're level 27?!?! What have you been doing, selling everything??? Currently this is what is hindering you from doing anything in pvp, this also explains why level 10's are able to beat you so easily. Right now you should be on equiping every gear that is around your level you find, don't worry about getting the pvp gear, it really isn't worth it until you buy your level 40 gear. What you should be currently doing is getting yourself geared, period! Rotation Once you're geared rotation is also an important aspect as this help you utilize your class as close as you can to it's complete potential. Gear alone will help you get those 3 medals but rotation will turn those 3 medals into 8+ medals. The key is knowing your role and to focus only on that (besides objectives). You want to play as dps then find a rotation that can maximize your dps output depending on your spec. If you're playing arsenal then a lot of your skills are heavy hitters with AoE so try to target as many enemies as possible to maximize your damage but also you generate a lot of heat so don't spam all your abilities at once or you'll be dead in the water. You "suck" at PvP Here's the bottom line, you suck at pvp but hey there is good news, you can improve! Skill comes with practice but that doesn't mean you'll benefit from just doing hours of pvping. Any good athlete's know that when you practice (here's the key) with proper form then you'll improve your game. Practicing without proper form will get you no where other then you just wasted hours on it. Ask fellow mercs on what they do in pvp when it comes to gear, rotation, and how they play in the different pvp matches. There is a lot of good data and idea's out there, just ask around. Also try to find a guild with other higher level mercs that do well and do group pvp so you can see what/how they do.

I'm not sure what you mean, do shield generators only shield against generic attacks like right clicking / spaming the one attack that uses no energy/rage/ammo/heat/force? I'm safe to assume you're talking mainly about the absorption and shield and not so much defense? What stats should I mainly be focusing on then, Endurance/Willpower/Power? If shielding doesn't really do a whole lot in pvp I came up with this new spec and wanted to get your guys opinion on it. It's still heavly in the darkness tree but removed dark ward and went down a little in deception. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200MIbszrskbsZhMRZb.2

I'm tanking and not trying to DPS in a tank stance.

The title pretty much says it all, I want to know as a tanking assassin in PVP is it more benefical to equip a shield generator or a focus for my off hand? I know in PVE dark ward is awesome and I'm always hitting when the cooldown is up but in PVP I'm starting to notice that I still have 4-5 charges left by the time I'm hitting dark ward again. Could I be doing more with a focus or is dark ward also worth it in PVP?

I know that I should be mainly focusing on cunning but secondary stats like Power, Surge, and etc which one would benefit the most from with using Talos for healing as I'm a tanking assassin?

Ok so for awhile now I was starting to hate my sith assassin. First the storyline for chapter 1 and 2 is alright but not that great. I only had Khem (whom I think is a beast but was starting to get bored of as I'm tank spec) and that stupid pirate guy who khem could match on DPS and has more health, armor, and utilities. Seriously Andronikos you suck! And there was the fact that I was playing a LS inquisitor which did make the storyline more interesting but the purpoes was to romance Ashara. I heard how annoying she is and such but I thought those were haters just hating but as soon as I got to Taris I rushed through all my storyline quest on Taris and got Ashara at level 30, I was so happy Yeah in a few of the cutscene she does seemed a little annoying but nothing bad right? Well I started to give her gifts are started doing her companions conversations/quests and WOW do I now regret not letting her sith father ghost or whatever kill her. I really really REALLY hate her as a companion now. Now after finishing Quesh I was really tempted to reroll as I had nothing going for my character other then Khem but I decided to stick it out as I was heading to Hoth I knew I would get my new companion there. I'm soooooo glad I stuck it out because he is my favorite companion EVER! Talos Drellik is awesome, he's great at healing, has an awesome voice actor, great one liners (Are we dead y-- oh my goodness, we won!), and he is just pure win! Now that I got such an amazing companion what is the best way to gear him for healing?