I've seen and responded to a few questions on here regarding Guardian tanking, its overall usefulness and how to optimally utilize their abilities. I have to be honest, most of what I have presented in response to these questions is simply a regurgitation of information I have found elsewhere, information that I then put into practice and adjusted to my own play style. Beyond a sprinkling of my own thoughts and experiences, there is very little that I have to offer this community (at this time) that has not been covered elsewhere and in exhaustive detail. That being said, I thought I would provide a few links so that others who are willing to research for themselves might have a place to start. Hopefully this will eliminate some of the regurgitation we're currently seeing on the Guardian forums. First and foremost, if you have not already done so, read the sticky titled "The Secret to Guardian Tanking" at the top of these very forums. It is fantastic and the resulting discussion answers many one-off questions. Hats off to Seraphimm. Once you've absorbed that particular wealth of information, I urge you to read Elobi's Guardian Defense Compendium: http://swtor-tanking.com/?p=322 Note that the above site also offers a wealth of useful resources for all of the tanking AC's, including skill calculations and the invaluable Tankulator spreadsheet calculation tool for stat weights, rating conversions and BiS composition. I cannot overstate the usefulness of this tool. Secondly, do look at blackrabbit2999's blog at blogspot.com. I don't know who this guy is but he's compiled guides for every MMO under the sun, including an exhaustive list of SW:TOR guides for AC's, flashpoints and Operations. He has quite a few useful Guardian compendiums, the best of which I find to be: http://blackrabbit2999.blogspot.com/2011/12/swtor-immortal-defense-tanking-guide.html And lastly, utilize the skill calculator at torhead.com. This should be common sense but I see far too many people complaining about respec costs because they did not read the available information and then plan their build with this most basic of tools. It can be found here: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500.1 I sincerely hope some of you find this information to be useful. I certainly have. As this list is by no means exhaustive, I urge the community to reply with any resources not listed here or directly provided by one of the above sites. I will then attempt to compile a catch-all of Guardian (and SW:TOR tanking in general) resource links to add to this post. Edit: Keep in mind that some of the theorycrafting provided by these guides is compiled of data parsed from beta, and the exact numbers may not be applicable to the current release version of the game. For now, I suggest considering them to be simple estimations.

Nobody on these forums has done the market research to justify calling this game a failure from a financial standpoint. Most of the real numbers are not even available yet. No, your friend who works at Bioware did not slip up at a drunken New Years party and tell you. You're a liar. Nobody on these forums has the development experience to call this game a failure from a development standpoint. As a developer myself I can only conjecture the difficulties this team faces on such a large and ambitious product. It is conjecture because I do not make MMO's. If I made MMO's for a living I would likely be bound by an NDA not to mention it or even post on my competitions forums. No, you do not put your job at risk by violating your own NDA and proxying to the SWTOR forums. You're a liar. Everybody on these forums is qualified to judge whether or not they themselves enjoy the game. Not one of them is qualified to then present their opinion as facts, yet every single one of them does so. /thread

This. To OP: Thanks for the regurgitation. Funny, some of these issues you have been 'criticizing since beta' didn't exist in beta. i.e; Disable Smart Camera was in game. So was a chat log. The current iteration of the interface is only a half dozen pre-builds old. Good job trolling the forums for things to complain about, though. Do you happen to have any original thoughts? No? k. tl;dr: Your tl;dr isn't a tl;dr. New much?

Vigilance early for upgraded sweep, then Tier 1 of Def Back to Vigilance for upgraded armor, then Tier 2 of Def Lastly, Vigilance for the Str bonus. Finish out in Def.

Actually I have no idea where that first link got its information, but it approximates what is available in the market reports you are welcome to research on your own, or purchase from the second link.

You're right about the 8 hour maintenance window being excessive. Oh, and about geography. I used Oceania as an example because its the second largest set of servers for that 'other' MMO. You are dead wrong about everything else, sorry. I'm sure those old forum posts concerning how this went down on that "other" MMO are still available via Google. Use it. I see this come up with every MMO launch I've been a part of, and there's always a group of Europeans or! in some cases Americans (depending on the MMO) who just "don't get it" and make a stink and try to Change The Way The World Works to suit them. And I'm sorry you find it to be arrogance, but consider this: You are complaining to an American company, who developed a game in America that is licensed to an American fiction, about not catering to European players. That, my friend, is true arrogance. And I suspect you would say the same if I were on European forums for a European game targeted at a European franchise complaining about something similar.

I only quickly looked for a 'laymans' report of the detailed market research available in the second link I posted. Feel free to look a little harder for something more concrete. I, for one, am not willing to shell out $100 for a subsection of a report containing information I already know, just to prove something on the forums.

Uhm. This information is just flat-out wrong. This HAS been attempted before, with the result of Oceanic servers becoming swamped during US maintenance times and vice-versa. It will not be done again. It was bad. The Internet caught fire.

Perhaps you should have read my edit...that was quoted before you posted this.

Official sales figures? Not published. General information on MMO market demographics can be found online. http://coobico.com/index.php/blog/article/mmo_market_share_60_higher_in_the_us_than_in_europe_probably/en/ If you want the full report feel free to purchase it: http://www.strategyr.com/MMOG_Massively_Multiplayer_Online_Games_Market_Report.asp The fact is, the US playerbase for MMO's is roughly 60% greater than the EU's. We are both dwarfed by APAC regions. The service goes where the money is. This should not surprise anybody.

Teek was not an Ewok and it is only a matter of presumption that he or any other Teeks would have been anywhere near the very localized battle on Endor during RoTJ. There would have been little to no reason for the Republic to maintain a presence on Endor after the generators powering the second Death Star's shield were destroyed. Assuming that the Republic is indeed the paragon society portrayed in the films, they would not have stayed to harness the planets natural resources. Noting Lukes sense of character, he likely would have asked that the native species be allowed to remain in peace. The harmony of the small moon would have been something he, as a Jedi, would find value in preserving. Having been the most profoundly effected by Leia's arrival and subsequent friendship, it makes sense to me that Wicket would have most easily adapted to the language the Towani's used, having had several years of exposure to the family by the time he is seen conversing in basic in CfE. I doubt, however, that he would have picked up much of the language during the events of RoTJ as C3-PO was translating for the Republic. One tends to ignore gibberish and focus on translations when they are available, as opposed to naturally picking up a language when it is the only form of communication. This is how I've always seen it, anyhow.

If they arrange server downtime so that it doesn't inconvenience EU, it will inconvenience US players. This is not difficult to understand. We are the larger market (US). Move or get over it. Edit: Maintenance windows are always coordinated affairs. They will never have a separate maintenance window for separate time zones, as they then run into the complication of different people playing different versions of the game. This is never acceptable, never has been, never will be.

There is a focus-target modifier you can use, I believe the default mapping is to your 'End' key. Change it to suit you. Hold down that key while casting your heal or whatever and it will be applied to your focus target, regardless of whether or not you have an enemy targeted. Edit: Saw someone had already posted this. Sorry.

Taunt puts you on top of the aggro table for six seconds and causes the target to ignore threat generated by other players during that time frame, exactly as you described. This is how taunt has always worked, everywhere. It seems people expect it to erase the aggro table completely? Is what I'm gathering from previous posts. This would be OP and IMO quite broken. I really think people just aren't paying attention to their abilities properly. Soresu form gives a Guardian an immediate threat bonus up to 150% of normalized damage. There are then two further abilities that generate an additional bonus equal to 200% of normalized damage. With the exception of the threat bonus that should be applied to Sunder stacks, this is exactly the same as the original iteration of "that other game" before they buffed threat to first 300% and then 500%. I personally believe a tweak to threat generated by sunder stacks is the only change that needs to be made to balance Guardian tanking. People are currently spoiled by being able to basically smack a mob and go make a sandwich in WoW. It's a little bit more difficult here, and with the current cd's on the bonus-threat abilities you are going to lose aggro on a mob in packs of three or more and be required to throw out a taunt. Hence why taunt is on such a short cd with such a long range, along with the AOE shout. I don't mind "re-thinking" a little bit in terms of how I use my taunts and mitigation CD's. Most other tanks don't either. There's just a few who in one breath shout that this game is a wow ripoff and then in the next scream at any mechanic differences they find. It's ridiculous.

That six seconds isn't just six seconds of a mob focusing their attacks on you, its six seconds of nobody else gaining threat against them. You're the only one gaining ground on their aggro table. This is better than most MMOs. Having tanked in several MMO's I have never seen a "erase everybody elses threat" mechanic, that'd almost be cheating. Mark your targets clearly and communicate clearly. If your DPS wont follow your instructions, kick them.

I don't care who you think you are, you have no idea what you're doing.

And I'll post THIS again, with the added subheading of Learn 2 Play before you get aggressive on a discussion forum. Just because you suck and don't want to put the effort into improving doesn't mean you need to act like a ******* to everyone else. That being said, try reading and following some advice as opposed to sticking your fingers in your ear and "LALALA"ing your way through the discussion. It is absolutely a threat mechanic. You're not using your threat modified abilities properly. Yes, taunt and and shout are part of your rotation as opposed to being 'oh crap' buttons, but that doesn't mean its 'broken', its just different. The same goes for your mitigation CD's, they should be in your general rotation. Tanking in SWTOR is very difficult in comparison to a certain other MMO's "current" system, with their 500% threat buffs that allow you to lolaoe your way through everything. Gather initial aggro with a shout and stomp, then use the time it buys to tab through some sunders. Apply Blade Storm to ranged to keep them interested in you, and Pommel Strike anyone who seems to be getting out of control. Tab a -lot-. Taunt a -lot- to buy yourself time. Every time you finish a threat rotation on your mob pack, shout again and do it over again. Threat races are a constant source of challenge, and with the way threat ramps it takes 4 GCD's to regain threat if your DPS snags lead. Make sure your DPS is focus-firing the correct mobs so once you gain initial aggro you can hold it with Force Sweep and your conal AOE strike.

That quote was in agreement.

If you don't like the game, stop playing. If you stop playing, stop posting on here. Then I don't have to get angry at the forum communities collective stupidity -every single morning-. It would be appreciated. Thanks.

It's an awkward level to tank at, I admit. They need to give us the AOE shout a bit earlier in our progression.

Firstly, we do 150% threat the moment we go into Soresu with every attack, as opposed to DPS' 100% (or less with threat-drops). Secondly, Blade Storm also enjoys a threat modifier to 200%, talents into a short CD and has a decent range. Use it. Lastly, absolutely do work taunts into your rotation as I mentioned above. It has a retardedly long range and while taunt is active no other party members build threat on that mobs table. So use it along with that Blade Storm to keep ranged in hand while you tab-sunder and stomp/aoe melee packs. Do not rely on them for initial aggro unless you need to ranged-aggro something to LOS and your Saber Throw is on CD.

I will agree, the reliance on droids is a disappointing crutch. We need more faction action, especially in later flashpoint bosses. And how about some faction-restricted operations? I don't want my raid boss to be "a bigger droid". I want him to be a bad-assed Sith Lord.

I don't really agree with this assessment. Most of the people who are here "because its Star Wars" love this game for the Star Wars story, which is where it excels. I think very few people want just a grindfest with lightsabers.

It is absolutely a threat mechanic. You're not using your threat modified abilities properly. Yes, taunt and and shout are part of your rotation as opposed to being 'oh crap' buttons, but that doesn't mean its 'broken', its just different. The same goes for your mitigation CD's, they should be in your general rotation. Tanking in SWTOR is very difficult in comparison to a certain other MMO's "current" system, with their 500% threat buffs that allow you to lolaoe your way through everything. Gather initial aggro with a shout and stomp, then use the time it buys to tab through some sunders. Apply Blade Storm to ranged to keep them interested in you, and Pommel Strike anyone who seems to be getting out of control. Tab a -lot-. Taunt a -lot- to buy yourself time. Every time you finish a threat rotation on your mob pack, shout again and do it over again. Threat races are a constant source of challenge, and with the way threat ramps it takes 4 GCD's to regain threat if your DPS snags lead. Make sure your DPS is focus-firing the correct mobs so once you gain initial aggro you can hold it with Force Sweep and your conal AOE strike. There is nothing broken about tanking in this game. It just isn't ez-mode.

David Hayter is one of the best in the industry. You're just weird.