The whole point of F2P is for BW/EA to make a greater profit. Period. Allowing CC to be traded or bought without spending some green backs defeats the purpose.

Mercs are one of the best PvE classes. I heard they dont fare well in ranked PvP, but thats the only "real" criticism i heard. Unlike PTs, they get two CCs (one humanoid and one droid) which allows them to easily solo PvE content. When geared correctly, they do insane damage. I persoanlly play a PT for the tank tree. However, there are many times i wish i made my main tank an assassin and went up the merc tree for the rdps and healing options. PT dps shines much more in PvP then PvE... The lack of any CCs can really be an issue at times when soloing. Also, the AP tree is kinda of worthless leaving only pyro and shield tech as viable options. I've played all the trees extensively and what you lose with AP in damage is not made up with what you get in mobility... And flamethrower (which is the AP main damage dealer) is truely worthless in PvP unless you can convince people to stand still while you channel your FT. Furthermore, aside from the pyro's PvP advantages, if you want to do melee dps, marauders and assassins are much better choices. Just my two cents

Depends... If you have geared players who know what to skip (especially if there is an operative or assassin able to sleep dart) pretty much all the tier I HM FPs going pretty quick... The False Emperor is probably the longest since there are a lot of fights you cannot skip. Kaon can be a little longer as well... But the rest can be finished quite rapidly imo

Exactly. And if anyone read my first post, it was pretty clear that is what i was lmao about. I assumed the people in question were talking about one-shot killing bosses cause a clean run in HM LI is not remarkable in anyway for a team who knows the mechanics.

Perhaps im misunderstanding the terminology of "one-shooting" LI HM. If by one shooting you think you can one-shot kill any of the bosses in BH gear or less, no you freaking cant. If you mean you can clear LI without wiping or dying and do so in 20 minutes, yes you can. I agree once the mechanics are down and people know what they are doing it isnt a difficult HM to do. The droid boss is all about not dropping bubbles where the party is moving and interrupting incinerate. The platform boss is all about stacking and healing... The last boss is tanking phase one / DPS phase two. HOWEVER, LI HM is much harder to get down then any of the tier ones which i can two-man with ease and i know some can solo. So please, you're not cool or UbEr, or anyhing other then competent if you can clear LI HM in 20 mins after practice.

PERFECTLY SAID. I have zero motivation to make anything a first time 50 can afford because it isn't worth my time. If i can make more money running dailies in said time VS the profit I'm making from what i sell, why craft? Its not like the crafting system in this game is any fun. My main is an armormech and i sell blue and purple armormech wares on the GTN for players wanting optimized pieces without paying premium prices buying blue/purple armor/mods/enhancements from the GTN. And for those peeps who want a complete set (or near complete set) of armor shells, i can do that as well (or you can spend significant time buying the suit piece by piece, randomly, off the GTN). I dont cater to "bargain hunters". I look for people who want to have a full optimized suit for their alt(s) and/or companions, have plenty of credits, and are willing to pay for connivence. I know for a fact many players have many millions of credits (many have tens of millions and more). Paying 200k - 600k for a updated armor is nothing to them... But to noobs and super casual players, it seems like a lot.

Hey man, Best of luck finding a leveling buddy, and if nothing else regard this response as a free bump. However, while i cant provide you someone to run missions with you, i can extend an offer to join WRIS. If you are an evening player (8pm EST +) WRIS will help, when you hit 50, get you geared in columi and beyond. Our guild doesnt run class missions with sub 50s (just to be up front) but we do have a guild bank that offers repair funds as well as misc gear, mats, ect. We have many very knowledgeable players from every class in the game that can help with questions, and once you do hit 50 you will be invited to run HMs, dailies (which you can actually start at lvl 47), and OPs. So, while i cant help you lvling at 38, i can offer you a guild that will include you when you can run lvl 50 content. The main prob with leveling buddies is it is so hard to sync times up (unless you're real life friends or are younger players with minimal responsibilities). So, while we do have sub 50s in the guild, we are all adults with crazy schedules and cant always be on at the same time as others. See my sig if you want to contact me in game OR contact out guild leader Sorcero / Count-Burkley.

LI hm can not be one-shooted through to the end boss lmao. If that did happen, you were doin SM or it was bugged / some was using an exploit. LI is mechanic intensive and atleast the tank and one dps has to know what they are doing cause there aint a single tank in this game that can bring down the droid's 370k health bar by himself before that thing enrages. And the platform boss requires a healer who KNOWS how to clense and use his healing rotations efficiently. And the last boss requires everyone knowing how to do their role (especially dodging those satchels). If you know what you're doing, can be cleared in 30ish minutes give or take 10mins. If you dont know what you're doing you're going to wipe ALOT.

This guy is 100% correct. Im a powertech and i cashed my BH offhand in for a shield generator.

As others have said, droid CC'ing the claw is one way as is "just avoiding damage". Another suggestion is to have the tank target the droid and taunt it to attack him. Of course, you have to be a decent (not great) tank to handle it... But as a tank, my role is to protect the party from as much damage as i can. So, if i have the claw on me and im running in circles around the two bots that spawn, im not putting out a perfect damage rotation. However, Directive 7 is not any where near being more then what two tionese or better geared DPS'ers can handle... Much better to have it on me then the healer who may not be able to properly do his job when he cant stand still.

Hi tarkhis, WRIS is an evening guild geared towards the 20+ crowd (many of us are in our later 20s, 30s, and older). We have a republic mirror guild (Republic WRIS), guild bank, ventrillo server, and a guild website. At the moment we have been running SM KP and SM EV as we are building up our OPs team and getting all interested OPs members ready for some more advanced content. We also enjoy running HM FPs, dailies, and lvling alts. In a nut shell we are a pretty laid back and we look for similar minded people. As an adult guild things don't always go as planned and sometimes, due to scheduling conflicts, OPs may not happen.. But we try our best to run an OPs on Tuesday and Saturdays (approx 8pm CST) with another day (possibly Thursday) in the planning phase. We are also in desperate need of people willing to take leadership roles as our guild has grown past 56 active members (40 some on the pub side). We may not be a good fit though for guys who just want to jump right into HM EC and beyond... But for those people wanting to get in a guild on the verge of breaking into that type of content for the first time, we are your guild! Good luck and I wish you well finding that right guild. If you need more info you can get me in game (see sig) or shoot a whisper to our guild leader (count-Burkley / Sorcero / Grimowl).

Congrats!!

In addition to my PT tank, I also play as a marauder (Annihilation). The only people who pull aggro off my tank are marauders and when I play my marauder I frequently pull aggro off tanks (both pugs and guild mates). Basically, I keep my eye on any maras over 20k health and I am always ready to throw up defensive CDs when I play my marauder. The only time I notice other classes rip aggro from me is when they either throw out taunts or dump aoes over the mob I'm holding (will usually shake one or two guys lose).

I totally agree man. But the players I find in HM FPs have a very different game IQ then many of you guys. I throw my guard on the mara / assassin / jugg I get the, "don't worry about me bro, put the guard on the guy wearing tionese". Now, I know and you know guard is about reducing threat so the guy who hits the hardest (especially maras) benefit from guard. But I don't give two craps about having to explain that in a FP that I could 2-man with companions. So, I just guard the healer and everybody smiles.

If you have no desire to tank or played in ranked PvP matches, go merc. They do amazing PvE damage and can CC both a humoid and droid. I have a lvl 50 PT shieldtech that I also had spec'ed into pyro and AP. PTs make great PvE tanks and in the pyro spec are an amazing PvP class. They can put out some serious damage in PvE as well, but honestly there are better melee dps choices (marauders and assassins are a far better PvE class when looked at as a whole). Mercs on the other hand make amazing PvE dps'ers with hard hitting aoes and the ability to throw out pocket heals (or spec into a full healer). So, for PvE go merc unless you may want to tank. For PvP consider the pyro dps class.

Operatives are amazing (both dps and healer) from lvl 10-49. Their ability to stealth and CC, simultaneously, both humoid and droid targets allows them to solo almost all the pre-50 content when properly geared and played. However, the dps trees are not competitive at end-game content and if you wish to run HM OPs you are going to need to stay spec'ed as a healer (though operative dps is more than adequate for the 4-man HM FPs). Powertechs are great tanks (when spec'ed into shieldtech AND wearing tank armor). When spec'ed into the dps tree of pyro, they do excellent burst damage in both PvE and PvP. They also have great utility with their taunts and grapple. However, for PvE, there are better melee options such as marauders and assassins. If you have no desire to tank and you're not a big PvP guy, marauders and assassins (of equal skill and gear) can, overall, provide more dps and utility to a PvE team. Assassins are, IMO, the best melee class in the game. Thy have a stealth, a CC (that doesn't initiate combat), and potent DoTs (for dps) and fantastic passive migrations and self heals for the tank spec. In fact, when you watch videos of players solo'ing HMs it's almost certainly an assassin toon. The only downside to assassins is they take a little more time and effort to learn and play well. But ultimately it's not about what class is the best, it's about what class would you have the most fun with. If you like tough, mean, in your face classes with simple rotations then powertech all the way! If you like a more tactical play style and want the option to heal, pick operatives. If you prefer tactical play style and prefer a tank hybrid over a healer hybrid go with an assassin. Just remember that operative and assassins require the use of stealth and CCs.

As a tank I always guard the healer... Not because I think that's a good use of my guard but because I'm just sick and tired of dps'ers telling me, "don't need the guard bro put it on player x". Yeah, I could argue... But why? I really don't care if I use guard or not. If it makes a healer feel better I'll put it on them... If some "omg omg leet über DPS'er" wants to throw a tantrum and try and "school" me on why they should have it, I put it on them. Whatever it takes to shut the noobs up so we can get to killing

As others said, jugg if you want an option to tank and marauder if you just want to DPS. Remember, once you pick your advanced class you can not go back and change. So, if you think there is any chance you want to tank (and don't want to level another toon) go jugg. They have pretty good dps when geared. However, marauders have the ability to CC droids, much better defensive cool downs, and atleast annihilation specs get a temporarily force stealth that is awesome to skip mobs as well as help in the solo'ing of heroic 2+

I like annihilation myself... But then again, it's the only tree I tried

A geared AND well played dps operative is fine for all the 4-man HMs and would probably be fine in the SM OPS. But for the HM OPs, operatives just don't put out the numbers for those boss fights... And I play an operative and they they are one of the most fun classes to play next to assassins. However, the utility that operatives bring to the table is minimal in ops where their CCs and stealth don't make up for their sub par dps. However, when leveling or doing HM FPs with a group that isn't over-geared, operatives are truly awesome. In fact, I would argue that operatives are the king of solo'ing >50 missions and heroics... It's just too bad that all that utility is lost towards the end when things essentially become a "duke it out" DPS fest.

On the Jedi Covevant, 3 of our guild members were wanting to run some HMs. We had 2 DPS and one healer. We sat in que for 20 mins nothing happening. I log onto my tank, re-que, it instant pops. This is just one example of many. During prime time hours, healers should get decent ques... Outside of prime time, tank fare much better on my server. Not only do tanks need special tank gear in addition to being the assumed leader, they required a greater understanding of both fights and mechanics. Unless you're an off-tank you can't just wing HM OP fights.

Pyro is viable in end-game PvE, and much more so then operative dps. If skill and gear are equal marauders and sniper can out dps pyros BUT those are pure dps trees and dps is all they can do. With their long range dps nerfed, I agree pyros need more than grapple as a range closer... And the AP tree loses too much dps and gains too little mobility to make up for it... For PvE dps, marauders, mercs, snipers, assassins, and sorcs tend to be the main classes people like to play... However, pyros are pretty awesome in PvP and can put a world of hurt on most of the other classes when played right... Of course with PvP now being a stun/root fest, I personally think all melee classes kinda suck to play.

Assassins (shadows for you pubs), compared to the other classes I leveled (or are leveling) has the most potential IMO. I can completely see peeps being able clear heroics and FPs solo with em. Stealth + CC + fantastic offensive and defensive abilities FTW. However, the average player possesses little to no tactical ability. Their mind set tends to be, "I got my laser!!! *pew* *pew*" as they run straight into a mob... Which isn't really where assassins shine lol

Tanks>healers>dps

Sorry to hear the sad news