Before 2.0 playing a healer in a WZ was not that fun, as soon as you were marked the other team would send 1 or 2 DPS at you and could eliminate you quickly, regardless of being guarded. Now healers ARE more relevant to a WZ as it SHOULD be. Healers are a little tougher to kill but under *sustained focus fire* healers can be killed. I hate to say it but this is entirely a L2P issue. If you leave healers alone then yes they are going to be left to heal and you are likely to loose. Focus fire or at least "harass" healers so they can't heal the team and you have a good shot at winning. If there are multiple healers it will require 1 player to lockdown/occupy each healer while another healer is focused by the rest of the team. This takes communication and coordination (which is the REAL problem, not healers). If you can't take out healers than maybe you aren't as good as you think you are. Talk to healers in your guild and learn their weaknesses or roll one your self. Whining about "healers are op" is ignorant and shows you need to adjust your tactics. I play healers/DPS/tank so I see all sides in PVP. Healers can be frustrating, but so can ALL other classes if they are left to play to their strengths. The fact is that PVPers can't rely on their gear advantage to win and roll over other players, they are actually going to have to develop skill and learn some tactics to out play the other team. Whether you love or hate bolster, this is some of the most balanced & competitive PVP we have had, and the community should be grateful rather than whining about it because they have to adjust. I have seen so many matches that have been close or have pulled victory out from what looked like a loss. Having all roles relevant in WZ again is good for PVP.

Did the developers state this in patch notes or are you just going out on a limb here? I have not noticed any significant difference on threat. I mainly heal (but also DPS and Tank) and the only times I have seen ANY threat problems was when we had a DPS pull a boss off a tank after landing a few crits and I also pulled off a few mobs one time with a 10k heal followed by an 8k heal. What I think we are really seeing is not an actual difference in agro, but rather seeing the effects of higher damage and heal bursts. With the increase in gear, DPS and HPS has gone up significantly, while the taunt mechanics have stayed the same. Further more, the DPS from tanks has not gone up significantly since their primary stat focus on gear is END and damage mitigation skills.

I play both. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Both are fun to play. Commando definately has a higher learning curve on the high end to be really good and effective. I will tell you right now, if you want to be effective as a commando healer in PVP, you need to learn when and where to use your green beam. Too many commandos I see don't use it cuz they think "is gives them away." Well guess what, a commando medic is easy to spot anyway. So use the green beam. Even if it draws the attention of the enemy, it is a vital part of our healing abilities. Commandos got a lot better in 2.0 (as did scoundrels) and I find them very fun to play in PVP again.

Balphowan, Why do you feel you need justify your self to the community? As long as you are operating within the bounds of the game and the ToS/EULA, (ie, not cheating) then what does it matter if you do or do not enjoy "face rolling noobs"? We all have our own convictions and I do not determine mine by what the community says. There are those who will come down on either side of any given fence...so it's for you to decide which side you want to be on in regards to this issue. Just be warned though, if you land on my side, I'm going to blast you with my assault cannon

The first of your comments I highlighted essentially answers this. The frustration that new players were experiencing was becoming detrimental to PVP as a whole. It was not frustration form L2P, learning curve, etc. It was from "unfair competitive advantage". Most matches were simply won before they were begun due to a gear advantage of one team over another. I have never played any PVP game that had given such an unfair advantage simply from gear. We all like winning so it IS fun to stomp on others competitively sometimes. But is it really that you out played them? Which brings me to your 2nd comment. If you like a competitive match then you should be a fan of the bolster system as it has produced some of the most competitive matches that I have seen. The fact that a new can come in and BE COMPETITIVE is good for PVP. It means we "veterans" cant rely on our "earned" gear but rather we are going to have to out play them. Maybe some might find out they are not as good as they thought they were when hiding behind a significant gear advantage. I play PVP for the fun of putting my skill up against other players, not to play STAR WARS Barbie doll dress up. I agree it is fun to have something to work towards and it is fun to be "rewarded" with new gear. Was it fun to cut through opponents like butter and mop the floor with the other team? Sure it is at times. But if there is no real chance in loosing, there is no real thrill in victory! Something had to be done to bring the competitive balance back to PVP. Should you feel "ashamed" for stomping noobs? Eh... Who knows. But I for one gladly trade my gear advantage to compete on a more equal playing field. Remember it is a game, frustrated new players who are not having fun means SWTOR dies a premature death. So maybe in the end we have more to gain by balanced competition than we do flaunting our gear and rubbing noobs faces in the dirt.

I agree, the helmet is kinda cool if it didn't have a satellite dish on the forehead. Seriously, who signed off on this? Please remove the dish!

ALL healer classes are very viable in end game PVE. I play both a commando healer and a scoundrel healer in end game HM/NiM ops. We have run 2 commando healers for many ops and have done just fine. (but I find it best to run healers of 2 diff classes usually) The added HOT to kolto bomb is a very nice upgrade to the skill and the upgrade to trauma probe is a nice addition too. Prior to 2.0 in full 63s I could heal FPs and most ops with hammer shot (greenbeam),kolto bomb, and bacta infusion, barely having to use AMP or MP. If you are geared appropriately and have a good rotation, commando medic is VERY resource friendly, by this I mean you don't run out of ammo. All in all the commando is a very solid healing class and If well played is a valuable asset to have on ops. Along with the excellent healing ability and easy resource management, commandos have great utility skills. Healing Sages and scoundrels have their strengths, but so do commandos. An added benefit is that by respecing and swapping 4 armor pieces (for set bonus and accuracy) you can easily switch to a very good DPS. I think at times commandos have had an unfair rap of being "inferior" to other healers, but I am convinced it is not due to the class but the player at the KB. Scoundrel and sage have had it easier in the past due to the HOTs at their disposal. Those HOTs really serve as a safety blanket and can make even a bad healer look OK. The big difference with commando is that you have to really play and heal smart. The changes to the CM in 2.0 has only made our life easier as a healer. The hot on KB, longer lasting and more efficient TP, and even the Concussion charge heal make things easier. In my opinion, commando and scoundrel healers paired up are the best healing team you can have for an ops. I'm not trying to downplay sages, they are good too, but if I had to pick, that's what I would go with. If you like the commando class and want to heal, don't be afraid to give combat medic a try. It is still has a special place in my heart and is a lot of fun.

Are you talking about 55 PVP or sub-55 PVP? Because essentially all sub-55 PVP is how lowbie PVP was before, where expertise is irrelevant. The problem is that WH/EWH gear is still floating around and people think that it should be relevant in what is now a 2 tier lowbie PVP system. They have removed the use for "expertise PVP gear" in sub-55 WZs. The only gear now that you can get with exp. on it is for 55 WZ for where it is intended. In the 55 WZs PVP gear is still relevant as the bolster system only will increase stats so far, where as conquerer gear is better than the benefit of bolster. So where is the problem?

Other than the naked gear issue and some minor tweeking it is fine. It's the most balanced PVP we have had so far. What do you think is so "broken" about it? Once WH and EWH gear is completely phased out there shouldn't be any real gear issues as there will be no sub 55 gear with expertise on it. I think what people are failing to understand is that there are now to tiers of "lowbie PVP" now. 55 + PVP is where you still have the gear grind.

The changes over all are quite good and were long over due for commandos. With the bolster system PVP is more balanced than ever so commandos, and especially commando medics, can hold their own. Prior to 2.0 I rarely cracked the top 3 on the scoreboard (based on medals). Now I'm consistantly in the top 2 and that's just from playing for the objectives, not trying to pad stats. With the changes I feel we are more durable and have a couple of new tricks to get out of trouble. A well played commando medic is hard to bring down. We are still not a good 1v1 class (nor are we likely ever to be) but I CAN actually win a lot of 1v1s now where before it was rare. Commandos are not "an easy kill" any more, which is good. With the changes I think the commando is now (or at least close to being) what the role was supposed to be all along. A healer that can still do some decent DPS. Because of salvation, sages are still going to put out he gaudy heal numbers, and smugglers have their HoTs, so it takes some skill to be effective with the commando medic in straight up healing. This does not means that sages or smugglers are "better". I can still put up big heal numbers too, but I find that those excellent commando AOEs, durability, and other utility skills still make us a useful addition to a WZ. The long and short of it is that you will find commandos much improved and once again FUN to play in PVP. EDIT: I almost forgot, as far as the commando build, it's not rocket science. Take the skills that increase healing abilities and any others that suit your play style. I do 5 points in the gunnery tree to get the AIM increase and the kolto bomb increase, the rest of the points all go into the combat medic tree.

No. The only thing broken is that naked is over bolstered. Other than the "naked" thing, it is great. I have PVPed ALOT on my 3 toons. Does it require some adjustment, yes. Is it perfect, no. It still needs some tweeking, but This is the most balanced that WZs have been. Skill, teamwork, and strategy rule the day as it should be. Gear will still matter some, but BW is moving in the right direction with this change. Once WH and EWH gear is a thing of the past and people stop whining because they can't hide behind a gear imbalance (yes I had EWH too) then PVP will truly be what it was meant to be.

I COMPLETELY disagree. I play a combat medic commando and a scoundrel healer in WZs and I find the new system make healer even more vital. Why? Because it's the most balanced PVP we have had and healers make the difference in most fights. Do people die quick, ya, sometimes they do, but I find that throwing heals around are what gives that little extra edge and often determines who takes the objective. I have had some of my best games as a commando healer recently. Partly because of the changes to our class and partly due to the play balance. If focused properly healers still go down, but as a commando I feel more durable than I ever had before. If played properly, a good healer will make a big difference in the WZs now. It may take adjustment, but they are vital. Because of the quick kill time timely heals are sometimes the difference maker. Many times I see a teammate and an enemy dueling it out and both are at 10% health, a small heal gives the teammate the win. Then you have the time to top them off. Tanks are actually relevant again in WZs as their survivabity has been significantly increased. They are again the meat shield that they are supposed to be. I have found that a good tank-healer combo now is VERY difficult to take down. A vanguard friend and I are consistently holding our own vs 4 at a time. On Voidstar just the 2 of us can hold a doer for a good long time against an assault. I don't won't to be one of those people who smugly say L2P, but I have found that the changes are a welcome boost to the healer and tank roles. There may be some adjustment, so keep working at it. HEALERS 2 things you really need to be good at and work on now are: 1- stick with a group, don't run around solo. Although I think the bolster actually helps healers ability to solo, we need to remember our primary role and support the group and heal where we can. (I can actuall solo maras on my commando now!) 2- learn how to keep your self alive, this is easier said than done, but between HoTs, quick heals, def. CDs, LoS, stuns, etc. a healer can significantly prolong their life, become difficult to kill, and tie up more than one enemy player in the process. TANKS 1- stay near your healer and don't LoS them. 2- guard and DEFEND your healer. Don't chase one enemy around, harass and taunt the people attacking your healer. These few things can make a tank/heal combo exceptionally tough in the bolster system. In the new system tanks AND heals essentially got better and more relevant than ever!

I'm finding that since EC is in the same que we are getting players under geared for EC. 16k HP is fine on SM KP/EV but it is not ok on EC, especially if half the group are new to the op. I agree it should be in its own que. however, this problem *should* get better as better gear is more easily attainable. Right now there is nothing to stop new 50s still Wearing lvl 40 gear to que for EC. It may require the group to "police" others' gear more and boot them if they show up under geared. I also don't like the lockouts as people get screwed if one or 2 decide to bail. There are not always replacements readily available.

In the skill tree I think it would be very helpful to be able to "save" skill tree profiles so that when we "respec" we do not have to redo the entire tree each time. For example I play commando and I respec from healer to gunnery DPS frequently. It would be nice to save my combat medic tree as one profile and my gunnery tree spec as another. People could use it for PVE / PVP variants or what ever. Perhaps allow no more than 2 or 3 profiles per character. But having at least the ability to "save" an alternate skill tree spec would be extremely helpful. I would love to see this implemented.

I do not know if this idea has been suggested before or not, but the character screen needs to have a tab for PVP gear and a tab for PVE gear. Which ever tab is "active" is the gear that your char will equip. If a slot is left empty the it will keep the item equiped from the other set (ie. relics, etc.) This would allow you to quickly swap sets upon entering WZs or in open world PVP. It would also free up some inventory space so we don't have to use up those slots with the extra set. I think this would be a very beneficial and practical addition to character information pop-up screen.

It IS in the game and working as intended. Very nice and welcome upgrade, however, I'm still not sure why all specs of commando get KB now.

Hmm. PVP where gear doesn't matter and everyone is on a level playing field and skill is all that matters? OmG bioware what have you done!?! Ok, so the naked thing is a bit silly, but seriously can people over react any more? All my toons are geared so ya, I'm in the same boat, but I find it humorous (maybe more disturbing) reading the posts in this thread. People can't hide behind their gear any more and skill is the determining factor. (Ooh! How horrid!). Naked people with better stats than geared players? Of course they are going to fix it. Should they have fixed this before launch, ya probably, but all the whining and hateful comments I think are uncalled for. People canceling subs over this? Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I think we should enjoy a funny period of naked PVP where gear is finally not the primary factor in determining the outcome of a WZ! I'm happy to have some new content, new levels, skills, and other things new to do for end game content. Did you REALLY expect everything to be flawless upon launch? If you did, please go look up "naive" in the dictionary and contemplate. Frankly, I find this a refreshing change to PVP that had become repetitive. It will be changed before long and we will have something to look back on and laugh. Now if you excuse me, I need to slip out of this heavy armor...

Everybody is getting a taste of what it has been like to PVP as a merc/commando for the last year. I'm enjoying this while it lasts, mercs/commandos are competitive again, even if it is naked. P.S. if you see me naked in a WZ that big "gun" is not my assault cannon.

I think you are missing the point that the OP was trying to make (even though he was not very tactful). I agree that it gets frustrating to have to teach and carry *significantly* under prepared and under geared players all the time. I don't see why it would be too much to ask to require a player to do SM FP first on their legacy somewhere. If it is a prerequisite for HM then the spawn timers would likely improve some. Also the min gear req. is not too much to ask. I don't think the OP is making outlandish suggestions as he is addressing the issue of the severely under geared. Last week I entered a HM FP with 2 players that we're UNDER 12k hp... For HM! Oh hell No! The Free tionese gear is acceptible, but sporting those 45 mods in a HM is not. Furthermore I don't think it is in appropriate to require a SM FP run through prior to HM. I'm all for helping and teaching new people, but it does get old seeing unprepared and undergeared players in *HM* FPs. If you want to run it like that with your guild, go for it, but don't expect others in GF to give you a warm welcome with anything less than tionese gear and some knowledge of the FP. The ideas have merit, but I doubt it will happen.

I'm not saying it *always* procs in over heals, but that you can't control *when* it procs so you will likely loose some of the procs in over heals. For example if someone is 60% health and you throw a heal on them and it crits and fills them up, your relic might proc then and be wasted. This is not to say it is always wasted and useless, the proc is ok and the extra healing is nice. I'm just saying I much rather *prefer* static power which boosts all heals all the time. I know it's there and I can rely on it. I have played around with the proc heal relic and looking at combat log parsings, it didn't really add up to that much over the course of a whole fight. You can calculate (on average) how often it should proc and since the amount is static it's not hard to calculate how much it will do for a given period of time. What limits the proc relic is that it can only proc once every 20 seconds or so (I honestly cant remember how often, feel free to correct). For the little amount that it actually heals, for no more often than it procs, and that *some* of those procs are completely wasted in over heals, I just don't see the benefit being all that great. If you like it, use it. That's totally fine, its your choice. I do find that the click power relic is OK and is great for burst healing and "oh crap" moments. Personally I don't like having to click/hot key another thing. There have been other posts in this forum comparing the actual benefit between a static relic and the click relic and the end result is not that different since you can only benefit from the click relic about 1/4th of the time if you are clicking it every time it is available. I prefer to have that power all the time on every heal and limit the "oh crap" moments as much as possible. I keep adrenals on hand for when those moments occur. In the end it's preference. Each healer really should try all the relics and see what suits them best. Being that they are doing away with the PVP relic of boundless ages, I'm not real thrilled, but I will have to adapt and move on.

I'm not sure I follow you, I find it quite convenient to use the same PVP relics for PVE (I use 2 EWH boundless ages). I don't have to swap them and I like the static power on them and it was less gear to buy. So I don't see why it would be a "pain" to use the same for both. I DO agree with you that the new relics seem to be underwhelming at this point. I don't care for "click" relics as i feel there are already enough skills to have to "click/hotkey". And like you said the procs are not very useful for healers as much of it is wasted in overhealing. Just guess we will have to wait and see how it pans out and go from there.

You can't have a viable hybrid if the class itself isn't viable. Its still a broken class, the changes in 2.0 did little to help that. I love my commando, my commando just doesn't love me.

There have been many good points listed in this thread and it is painfully obvious that commando/merc needs some real help. I was really frustrated the other day when a marauder in recruit gear was able to 1v1 me the other day and I'm in augmented WH. I did get him down to 10% health, but really it was disturbing. I know the commando is a ranged class but ther isn't ANY class that we can effectively 1v1. Other rocks have their scissors, and scissors have their paper, etc. I'm tired of commandos being an easy kill for all classes. Unless commandos are left alone to free cast it is pretty much a forgone conclusion of the out come. Im not not the best pvper but I'm not terrible either so keep the L2P comments to yourselves, because it just highlights your own ignorance. I'm curious, what classes (besides other commando/mercs) do you have good success against as a commando/merc in 1v1 settings, if any at all? BW. help the commando/merc for PVP. Please listen to the community on this issue. I know 2.0 comes out but so far no one has said the changes in 2.0 really "fixed" the commando for PVP.

Just report it and move on. And do not call out other players on the forums. It is against BWs terms of service on the forums. Better edit the players name out.

To OP: I have augmented WH/EWH with over 1300 exp. and I take 6 k hits all the time. It sucks but that the way it is right now. It no just your class and it's not just "the reps". The imps hit hard too. Do you actually read these forums because there are a TON of threads about this topic already.