oaceen, thanks for the guide, it helps a lot. I will have to memorize some of those rotations. I am less concerned about more intense ops, as any time we go out with 8+ people I will run healing. The typical group I run with for the non-serious ops is me, a sage, a sentinel, and a tank, so the sage and I always switch off being DPS, so I am more interested in the one-off 4 person jobs than the serious ops. I am definitely not used to using sneak before battle, but using that to get in position is something that I have to get used to. Thanks again

As background, my main is a lvl 50 sawbones, and I am very happy healing. When we do larger ops, I always run healing. That being said, the group in my guild that I play with more often than not has both me and a sage, so the sage and I take turns respeccing to DPS on smaller runs. Basically my problem is this. I grew up as a healer and I have no damn clue how to DPS as a soundrel. which build should I go with? Can anyone give me a rundown on how to not be so pathetic as a non-healing scoundrel?

It absolutely went over his head. $15/mo is peanuts in term of hours played. That was exactly my point when I mentioned 'missing the big picture'

So my point went completely over your head...you don't think the game as it stands is worth $0.31/hour? You already have the game for a steal given the hours played.

I continually see people complaining about paying the $15/mo due to the lack of content relative to the increasing content in the Cartel Market. While I understand that, are people losing sight of the big picture? Assuming the average person plays 12 hours/week (a decent average between the casual and hardcore player), that comes out to roughly $0.31/hour to play. I am not trying to troll, and am not trying to be obnoxious, but what other form of entertainment can you find for $0.31/hour? We are more than willing to pay $10 to watch a two hour movie, or $45 to play golf for four hours but complain about $15/mo? Would anyone be willing to pay a little more ($1/hr, still next to nothing related to other entertainment) and pay $50/mo so a company would have more resources to make and support the 'perfect game'?

Here is another way to ask my question: Is there a decent way to find non-idiotic tanks/dps-ers in pugs?

I can definitely get some of them grouped. I usually log in later/stay on later than many of the crew I play with, so I typically only have an hour or two at a time where I am solo, but I know my gear is my weak point right now so I am looking for ways to fill that gap. It seems like this is a pretty constant recommendation I am getting. I am low on affection and haven't finished my class quest, so that might be worth more than shooting for (what will soon be) outdated gear

lol, did you miss the part where I group with guildmates all the time? I am talking about times where we don't have 4 level 50's on at the same time. I play a healer and am sick of pugs with tanks that can't hold aggro, DPS who attack CC's, etc. I group all the time when I know the people in my group, I just have no interest in grouping with complete strangers. For everyone else, thanks for the recommendations. Maybe I will work on simply building cash for the next few weeks until new gear comes out.

I have very recently hit 50 for the first time in this game. While I currently have a guild that I love to group with for FP/Ops, I frankly have very little interest in pick up groups. That being said, I have crap gear right now and often am the only level 50 online from my guild. Are there any quests that I can do solo that can help me build beyond the basic tionese gear?

I know that obviously the hardcore, have no life in the real world players would be vehemently against this, I was just wondering what the opinion was of the crowd who isn't focused on 'maxing gear' and BS like that

You obviously have to make it server wide given the advantage 3rd person has in a game like this. Obviously all of us play zoomed out as much as possible in a fight to get the advantage. Back to my question, would any of you give it a shot?

When I first read this I read lactate instead of Lacerate and thought "wow...that would be a hard ability to actually use in the game..."

I was curious what people's thoughts about a 1st person POV server for SWTOR? For people who like more realism in games, would anyone give it a shot playing the game in a server where everyone could only view the screen from first person POV?

To start, I am very new to MMO's in general. I played EverQuest #1 way back in middle school/early high school, but never got beyond screwing around in level 20 or so. I picked up SWTOR about a month ago and have gotten to level 42 so far, expecting to hit 50 somewhat shortly. I have read most of the guides linked from this forum, but so far I have only really done class quests and jumped into PvP warzones quite a bit. I never gave a second thought to gear/credits. While I am having a blast, I am somewhat clueless on how to actually get better equipment as well as money. From reading some guides, I know my equipment is pretty bad right now, and I never seem to have more than 50k or so credits. I have also not touched crew skills at all, but there are some very detailed guides on that, so I think I know how to bring that up to speed. Can any of you experienced guys give a new guy some pointers on how to catch up in terms of gear and money?

I have only spent $50 so far, but given I played $10/hand blackjack for three hours at a casino IRL last weekend, I don't think the cartel market is my biggest problem. It is only a problem if you run out of money

You do realize you can take a day this week, not get exp and just work on crafting for a while, don't you? Shocking, I know.

I am brand new to this game, so the weekend was great for me. I got a sentinel and a sawbones to level 30, which was great for me to get a flavor of a few play styles in the game before choosing a main. Why would you care about gear before 50 anyway? If this game is like any other, I imagine you can use gear you pick up from quests/kills to get to 50 without too much of a problem and then start spending time on gear. Or is SWTOR not like that?

If you can't afford a few dollars per month then maybe you should play video games less and work more on getting a better paying job...I blow $10 on lunch every day and I am supposed to be upset over a few bucks for entertainment?

Oh, I don't disagree with anything you are saying. I was just making the point that if no one communicates a problem, many people assume there is no problem.

I have seen this already. I just started SWTOR after about a three year break from MMOs, so maybe I simply forgot what it is like, but I have been b*tched out by people in my PvP groups already for not healing when I had 2-3 on my the whole match, forcing me to kite around just to stay alive. A lot of people just don't realize that when they see me slowing/stunning 2 enemies while running in circles that they should come and do something about it if they want me to heal anyone. Hopefully that gets better in later levels.

Hey, so I am pretty new to healing. I have a lvl 31 sawbones that I tried just to see what it was like. I have never healed in my life and even only being level 30 I think I have been converted to healer for life. I don't know what I have been doing my entire life never trying a healing class. That being said, a question for PvP. I tried PvP as a healer for the first time a few days ago and despite having the highest total heals at the end of the WZ about 90% of the time, I never hear thanks/MVP, etc. Only one MVP even though I had over twice the net healing of the next best person. Is this normal? Is this what you all have gone through for years? If so, as a former stereotypical DPS I deeply apologize for my years of not noticing what goes on around me.

I have historically (in other games) always played DPS. No real reason, it is just what I have always done. I just recently started up a Sawbones build just for the hell of it. I am only level 30, but I have a new appreciation for healing now. My once piece of advice from someone who has only ever played a non-healing class, communicate your concerns! I know healer's energy is always an issue, but day to day I simply never thought about it before playing as a healer. I usually assumed that if the healer wasn't asking us to hold up to regen then they were fine to heal us on the move, and I wouldn't self-heal. If before the battle a healer tells us to self-heal between pulls I always did it. If they didn't say anything I always assumed they had a handle on it. I am not saying this is right or wrong, but that is how I have historically thought.