I politely disagree. In my opinion, "Tactical flashpoint" means "can be completed without tank and/or healer", not "can be facerolled". For clarity: I wouldn't make this argument before 4.0, but there's a solo mode now if you don't care about group gameplay (nothing wrong with it). I also don't say that some bosses aren't overtuned, or that some group composition/FP combination shouldn't be prevented. I merely disagree with the idea that Tacticals should be doable with zero effort from any of the participants - as said, there's the solo mode for that now.

Yes please!

OP, no option for proper matchmaking (covering everything from skill/level range to solo/team composition)? Or did you only include options which could be possibly implemented?

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=847514 There is challenging content in the game. Some people may still consider it too easy, but they may very well be under the Dunning-Kruger effect influence. Bioware's approach - wide accessibility to main content (Story, solo modes) and side activities for those seeking more challenge (HM Flashpoints, HM/NiM Operations, H2 Star Fortress mode) is, in my opinion, a wise one. If anything, I'd love to see something like Proving Grounds here. Bioware did a good job with providing alternatives for both "casual" and "hardcore" players - it would be great if they would also ensure these two groups don't (un)intentionally mix, as that leads to disillusion of the former and frustration of the latter.

I want to emphasize this because while it isn't limited to tanks only, it's in my opinion the main problem with HM Flashpoints right now. As soon as you reach level 50, you can go for a SM Operation (every day a new one) where your gear is bolstered ( = no need to "gear for Ops" via HM Flashpoints like it was in the past) and where you are almost guaranteed to get at least one 216 piece (the personalized drop introduced with 4.0) which is even superior to 216 commendations gear. Not to mention the commendation gain is better as well. So, why run HM Flashpoints at all? Gear - SM Operations are better for it Data Crystals - Glowing are the most useless ones, and again SM Operations are better for it Decorations - Much easier to farm credits instead and buy them on the GTN Conquest - Yet again, SM Operations are better for it, with few notable exceptions like Flashpoint Havoc. Moreover, the Conquest rewards aren't in the best spot either Achievements - Yes, unless you already have them Because you want to - Sure, if you still aren't fed up with them

No. Expertise isn't the reason why I don't play PVP.

Question (sorry if it was already asked/answered): is there an option to refuse to recruit the companion, which concludes the quest? Or will you be forever stuck with an unfinished mission if you simply won't run the 20 warzones? (Why not run the 20 Warzones? Imagine you have OCD and your character is Valor 1 with 0/1000 progress, all fine and dandy. Now doing the warzones would bring it somewhere to Valor 12 with X/Y progress, which would make you totally insane. The only way out now is to get Valor 100, but that is an extremely long grind in a game mode you do not enjoy ...)

Eartharioch beat me to it. OP is exaggerating with "bjorked" and "utterly pointless", but I do understand their frustration; the anti-stealth mechanics both in the story and in Star Fortress (auto-detecting mobs, auto-unstealthing doors and barriers) combined with the clear nerf to single target DPS and ongoing lack of any AoE make post 4.0 Concealment feel ... awkward? Don't get me wrong, it is still pretty viable - it just doesn't feel "right" any longer (subjective opinion of course).

Can't speak from first-hand experience, but making a guess - based on the fact that everyone says trash > boss in the new tacticals - the one I really wouldn't want to do with a PuG is Kaon Under Siege. EDIT: I just checked the 4.0 patch notes and apparently there are no TFP for Kaon or Lost Island - probably a wise move from Bioware . With these two out, I'd say Manaan has the hardest hitting trash (and the bosses can't just be tank&spanked either).

To counterbalance a bit the OP's negative experience, here's my own since 4.0: 6 (daily) SM operations, all pug, all completed, vast majority of bosses oneshot, zero rage-quitting or ninja looting 6 HM Flashpoints, all pug, 5 completed including bonus bosses. Some bosses were tough, but went down anyway on 2nd or 3rd try. A few leaves/replacements (including a brand new player with bought level 60, who most likely ended in HM due to inexperience and confusion). The only failed FP was Czerka Labs, where braindead duo of tank/healer wiped on the very first trash pack and then promptly dropped group (I didn't even have chance to check their gear and/or Achievements). To sum it up, pretty good overall. Admittedly, I don't queue for tacticals which seem to be the main reason for complain ...

As the previous posters pointed out, it's looking really bad for Concealment in 4.0 PVE. Next to last spot for Discipline which has positional requirement, loses DPS when going beyond 4 meters even for one GCD, and lacks any meaningful AoE whatsoever. Sorcerers who are just above us will compensate their lower "ideal" DPS with their decent AoE and 30 meters range in live enviroment; we have no such option. The "all Disciplines within 5% of DPS" looks good on paper, unless you realize that when confronted with actual mechanics, these gaps will go beyond 10% or even more. And Discipline which will lose the most relative DPS due to mechanics should start with highest theoretical DPS, not the lowest one.

To be fair, this is a bit flawed example. Hammer Station and Mandalorian Raiders were level 17 resp 25 Flashpoints before 4.0 with very simple trash/boss mechanics, and while Battle of Ilum was for level 50, it always belonged to the easiest Flashpoints with a lot of skippable stuff. I think the complains aren't about the difficulty in general, but rather about situations when 4 DPS level ~20 end up in Kaon Under Siege or Depths of Manaan. Which in my opinion really shouldn't happen (not only because of mechanics, but also because of story; imagine a brand new KOTOR fan checking the game, and getting as their first FP Legacy of the Rakata).

Completely fine with it. Pretty much only positives and hardly any negatives - definitely not "spending eternity knocked down from speeder by every trash group", like some clowns were crying here before 4.0 was released.

They could have farmed it from the pre-nerf slot machine

Sorry for off-topic, but it's not the first or second time I see you mistyping the name: Ortol is the final boss in Cademimu. The second boss in Manaan is named Ortuno.

OP, correct me if I'm wrong but nowhere in your post I see an explanation how this should be implemented. Aka, what would happen when a character with tanking/healing discipline would queue for a Warzone? Or do you suggest that for anyone with tanking/healing discipline, the WZ queue button should be disabled?

There is no longer a curator, but another (3rd) "Gift Merchant" in the same vendor stall who accepts the fragments. Better yet, they changed the ratio to 1:1 for all types of fragment, so for 8 Artifact Fragments (for example) you get 8 Purple gifts of your choice instead of just one.

Dropped fine for me post 4.0, so it's just bad luck.

The "Imperial Fleet Datacron Master" Achievement is counting properly as completed for me, but since (I guess) it gives no Achievement points, the progress on Location -> Imperial Fleet is showing as 0%, which is greatly hurting my OCD soul . Please fix it in a way which would show Location -> Imperial Fleet as completed 100% once you get the Datacron(s) and Achievement. "Republic Fleet Datacron Master" is suffering from the same, but in addition the Achievement itself is somewhat messed up - it has no description in the overview column, and detailed description shows 1 Imperial and 5 Republic "Fleet datacrons" counting for it.

Did Mandalorian Raiders HM (because Conquest) yesterday, we had average Sin tank, decent Merc healer, newbie Jugg DPS (who never did it on HM before) and me as second DPS (Operative). Trash was ok once the Jugg learned not to pull (he derped quite a bit, especially in the start, but also listened to advices once they were given, so it wasn't a lost cause). First boss (Braxx + Hounds) one wipe - tank struggled a bit with the aggro drop of Braxx, and the inability to control hounds made it hard on the healer (the DoT you get there must actually be cleansed now, it ticks hard). Made it on second try. Second boss (Boarding Party) we oneshot, though I took extra care to DPS the last two (Smuggler and Trooper) evenly, otherwise it would most likely be wipe as well. Bonus boss (Gil) one wipe (huge damage from red circle). Second attempt, we made the tank kite the boss while red circle was on, with me offhealing in that phase. Killed it, but it was a tight call. Final boss (Mavrix + Turrets) - tank wasn't able to hold aggro on both turrets and boss, leading to 3-4 wipes. Healer left after the 1st wipe there (RL emergency, he actually told us he only has 5 minutes before we first attempted Mavrix) we got a decent Sorc healer instead. After the 3rd-4th wipe tank left as well without a word. I grabbed a friend Powertech tank and with him we killed the boss no problems. Overall, just what I'd expect from a HM at the start of new circle - decent challenge, but doable if everyone knows what to do or at least listens.

The prices are indeed quite high. But personally, I'm mostly fine with it! It's some exclusive stuff after all, and it should require some work to get. Now, to elaborate a bit and explain why I said 'mostly fine': Rakghoul tokens - these drop like candy, and more importantly, it seems the frequency of Rakghoul event(s) was just increased to monthly. No problem there. Bounty tokens - event runs monthly as well. The amount of tokens gained is limited on 1-2 per day per character, which isn't much. However, these tokens are actually tradeable and purchaseable/sellable on GTN, so with that alternative (even if a bit costly) I see no problem here either. Gree tokens - these are in my opinion the only real bottleneck, the event runs infrequently and you get only 1 token per day per character + tokens from Xenoanalyst II. So speaking for myself, please lower the cost/involvement of the Gree tokens (especially since awesome new decorations were just added to Reputation vendors, and these cost tokens too!) but the other prices may remain as they are (of course, if they'll be lowered as well I won't oblige )

What I find even more curious is that with this huge amount of damage, you scored a grand total of 4 kills. The reason is easy to be found in the healing column, where the clearly biggest numbers belong to ... guess which class!

KDY, Starship Assembly scenario. We get the easiest one with only 5 hints, I offer to do it since I don't even need to check the clues for that one. After getting bonus XP for successful completition, one of the group members (whom I never met before) asks me if we "did a FP earlier together". Confused, I answer "No, why?" "Because this is the second time today when someone got it right." I am afraid the answer is self-explanatory

Preferences ->Keybindings -> Quickbar, scroll down and at the very bottom are Temporary Quickbar Slots 1-12. Btw., did the mistake to queue midbies with my level 44, learned fast and the hard way . Guess I'll have to wait 2-3 weeks until all the current 60s get to 65.

Had to quote it to keep the prophecy for future generations.