Whatever you do, just focus on your own performance and do your best to make decisions that help your team win. A lot of (or even what may feel like most of) the time in regs, you can top the scoreboard in something and your team can still get battered for a variety of reasons. Don't get emotional over losses and focus on eliminating mistakes from your game. Also, watch plenty of youtube, Twitch, etc. Some excellent players out there have helped me improve my game immensely in a hundred little ways.

Even with all the premades, it's a generally favourable split in favour of wins even on a bad day overall for me. Just sounds like you had a REALLY bad day, which can be pretty soul destroying. Worst thing you can do in regs is care about the result, it's pretty much out of your hands. Just care about your own performance, which sounds just fine considering the circumstances.

Got vote kicked for not LOSing a single patrolling silver mob the other day on vet Raiders. It was actually a relief.

Being in a premade would definitely help, otherwise all I can offer is the very unhelpful answer that it's entirely luck of the team draw. Either you have a team who can play their class, know the objectives and use a bit of common sense, or you don't. Some days I play like a spastic melon but don't lose a single game, others I'm topping damage, objective scores or both and still can't buy a win. Really isn't any more to it than the whims of the matchmaking gods.

Even then in the early days, the Imp v Imp matches were all Huttball by default. I recall that drove a fair few PvPer types away early.

While I still have good fun in regs no matter the tier, I have a high tolerance for repetition. Even then, after 8 or so years with only a tiny handful of new objective maps, most of which are inferior to the originals then what's to be expected? You get out what you put in. Sadly, and I say that because I genuinely enjoy the PvP in this game, one just has to face the fact that it's nothing more than a sideshow to the main event and is treated accordingly. It's stale, repetitive and it's going to take a genuine effort - starting with a slew of new and exciting objective maps - to make 8v8 a big draw again. Probably more of an effort than BW will be willing to make.

Carnage is fun to play when performance isn't an issue, I used it to do solo/story content for the cool aesthetics and it still packs a punch in lowbie PvP. Then come late-end game it's Annihilation for PvE and Fury for PvP. Honestly, it's why I like Mara, there's a spec for every mood.

Even if we're talking about a lore/RP perspective it would be very sad that after 12 years the Pubs and Imps are still fighting over the same three guns on Alderaan.

I used to treasure nightly PvP when playing Pub before cross-faction. Two or three pops an evening really made you appreciate the time you spent in-match. I missed the birth of my first child because Voidstar popped for the first time in two months just as my wife went into labour. Didn't even win. Didn't matter.

This may well be utterly, horrifically OP but a tactical for Vengeance Jugg which provides heals on bleeds like the Anni Mara. I never said I wanted to be fair.

It looks like they're trying to do something that would get them sued for sexual harrassment.

Madness needs either extra DR/drain heals - which would put it into conflict with Lightning's own options for tankiness - or more mobility. I would prefer the latter to keep it as different from the other specs as possible, so a force lightning cast while moving would be sweet. Seeing as how it slows the target as well though, wouldn't that be a little OP? Maybe not, with all the immunities and such flying around these days - Fury Mara and Ops would still laugh at them - but it would be a fun and useful kiting tool. I like the suggestion of tying it into a utility, that would even things out a bit I think.

Ops are primarily a de-facto 1v1 PvP spec. I've never been more than an average-skilled player with them but I had good success (in regs, mind) just by picking sensible fights and playing to the class's strengths. If you find yourself 1 on 1 with an Ops, unless they've already blown their DCDs it's just not a fight you're likely going to win. You have to manage the conditions of the fight, not play into their hands by trying to DM with them. The only way to beat or scare off a good Ops player is teamwork, no more, no less. You see an Ops, you concentrate fire on them until they run or stealth, in which case they're not DPSing. Their HOTs, contrary to the beliefs of some, are insufficient to stand up to the DPS of two or more players. Leverage numbers against them and if you have those numbers, for the love of god don't all just follow the Ops in the same direction like a spastic conga line, encircle them and they're easy pickings. I can't speak for ranked, but I'm sure ranked players would echo this sentiment at least.

#nerfnerfs

I never played old school Scrapper/Ops, what made them more fun back then?

We very narrowly won a lowbie Alderaan game in just such a way yesterday. The other team were technically better, though I couldn't add my DPS to the mid brawl as not a one person went to grass, so I was left with my lvl 13 or so sorc to guard. Didn't even have my shield. Anyhoo, aside from being kept in a state of constant, catlike readiness I did gather that two of our stealthers managed to cap snow a few times after the bulk of the marauding enemy went back to mid. These 2-3 caps ended up being enough to win the game by the narrowest of margins despite my screen being filled with "[insert name] has been defeated" and "[enemy] is invincible!". And to our credit, when I did run into trouble the call for help was answered quickly. Job done in spite of overwhelming numbers thanks to exactly what you describe.

On the flipside, beating a premade with a team of pugs is one of the best feelings in the world.

Just seems plain odd that they would give the merc, a heavy armour-wearing class with strong heals, healy shields, a reflect and the powerful defensives granted by Chaff Flare, more mobility. Meanwhile the squishy ranged class with an unimpressive shield, a bubble that renders them useless while it's in use, nerfed heals and an absolute requirement to kite in order to survive (in PvP at least), less mobility. Seems backwards to me.

Simply this. Love/hate for HB will always be a spectrum of opinion, and I don't hate HB per se but to quote another BW game, familiarity breeds contempt and I'm as familiar with Huttball as I can get.

Having Huttball 80% of the time yesterday evening, 4 out of the 5 WZs I had time for, was soul-crushing. The first three I played to win. By the fourth I just didn't care any more and joined the deathmatching mosh pit in the middle. I don't think it's ridiculous to assume the other folks in that melee ignoring the ball had seen Huttball a lot more than even I had that evening. This is not a new experience after playing for 7 years. The fact that it's not a 'remember the bad old days when...' experience after all this time is inexcusable. You can find threads complaining about too much Huttball since launch, back when it was blamed on faction imbalance. Well, PvP's been cross-faction for a while now and it's still happening. Sort it out and stop mugging off Trixxie here.

Can't get better if you don't play, pal. The PvP guide in this here forum is great for learning basic dos and don'ts of WZs. Most important thing of all is to enjoy yourself, though.

For what it's worth, as a player who's been playing on/off since about 6 months after launch and left this class till last to play, after coming from a mainly Vengeance Jugg dabbling in Rage from time to time, I feel this class is very close to being one of the most well-balanced I've played in PvP and PvE. I'm nowhere near good enough to be called truly skilled but I pull my weight in utility and DPS and never need to be carried. That said, coming from a Jugg and a Merc before that, Deception's burst does feel a tad underwhelming, but I couch that more as a problem with other classes being overtuned. For the most part it's been great fun. It's got the tools to dictate the conditions of a fight and when working with a good team it is devastating. Hatred is simple rotation-wise but a totally different beast where playstyle is concerned and again, great fun to use in both PvE and PvP. In mid Arenas I've brought down 1mil-dealing Rage Juggs 20 levels above me with their own pocket healers, with nothing more than a good buddy to co-ordinate with - a good challenge sure but isn't that why we play? Merc nets are still cancer but it's like that for most if not all classes anyway. Point is, I've found them perfectly viable, and certainly no less viable than anything else. Merc and Jugg DCDs/DPS are a different story but I wouldn't want to see Sins part of an arms race when the better answer would be to tone down a couple of things on the other classes. That said, really sad to see PW disappear, really feel the need for an instant 'see ya later' button when IAs get roll, Mercs get RO, SW gets MD and Sorcs get...PW. If anyone else here's been playing the game for 7 years, you should know that buffs and nerfs spew out like candy from a pinata, so FOTM time will likely be around the corner if that's what you want. Personally, I'd just settle for PW. On the bright side, it could be worse. BW only really hates PTs.

I'm planning to go back to heals proper for the first time in 3-4 years soon so I'll have to relearn all that stuff again, though at least I'll know what not to do having one of those stealthers in arenas myself recently. Still, I know what to expect when I roll my new ops healer - a lot of pain in lowbs unless I can befriend some good DPS to run with. Are pocket healers still valued these days?

Healers are stealth-fodder in arenas anyway till you get your kiting skills, which makes the process painful enough as it is. Recruiting the better DPS into a group makes things easier but still, 8v8s are where the fun really is for a healer IMO. I miss those active low/mid PvP days too, such a better place to hone your skills as you got them rather than being chucked in at the deep end but I can't see the situation reversing at all now.

How extraordinarily true. The first time I dabbled in PvP heals was on a sage some time ago, did a few lowbie arenas with mixed success but it took some perserverence, what with lowbie heal sages/sorcs being fodder for stealthers. But not long into the venture I came upon a Hypergate pop, a genuine treat for lowbs. I recalled my own distant, long-ago experiences as a tank on this map and how too many healers just stand on the stairs to mid, refusing to go anywhere near danger even if the situation was more or less under control. I resolved not to cower like I only had one respawn and got right in the thick of it. Within reason. Despite being something like lvl 19 I healed my *** off at mid. It was brilliant, exciting stuff. Despite my lack of class experience (and I'm no great pvper in general, decent at my best but competent for the most part) I positioned well, keeping pace bravely with the front line but dropping back if things got too hairy, I kited uncharacteristically well in spite of the limited tools, and we won the game inspite of constant 3v5/6 in mid. I got 5 MVP votes that match and three group invites, and that one game will still give me motivation to roll another healer toon in future. So I completely agree. Hypergate heals are a great barometer.