Made a long targeted post so I spoilered it.

Day #2 of completing Manual Shutdown, the weekly is still not updating. How many bug reports in game should I file?

Man you play with/against a lot of crappy tanks. Unfortunately, so do I. Thankfully there is about 5 on each side that are good. This about hits the nail on the head, and why my PvP tank became an alt. Believe it or not I kinda follow around you, and a few others when you're on your healers and Im on my tank. You guys actually know what to do heal wise and how to receive peels*. There is honestly more than 5 on each side (and more than 10 pvp healers), but they mostly hide unless it's ranked, or they spec DPS or play alts it seems. I seriously don't blame them. *Receiving peels is a lost art. Even on my DPS toons when I peel with the meager amount of CCs I have, healers seem to just run off, hide, and pretty much do nothing instead of heal up. I'm like, super in love if the damn healers know how to stay within guard range, let alone the rest of the aspects...

This was actually hilarious and fun last night. Somehow our healer kept getting flagged no matter what they did. So we just put on our PvP gear and went to town. I've never seen so many dead imps in one area in my time in this game. Heh. I have a screen shot of me sweeping 3 people around a pile of about 20 dead imps. Those poor people in PvE gear...

So we ran both, HMs, last night without looking at any guides. Simply put, you need a tank who knows how to play. Running these with random tanks with better gear than our first tank were disasters. The first guardian had 66 crafted and did better than two guys in 69/72 optimized tank gear. Labs is easy, but Core you have to have a tank who does not suck at positioning bosses. Our DDs were running 66-69 gear. Possible helpful hints if you're having problems: Eradicator: Charged plating has a cast time, just watch for it. Use trans/predation. Sorc/Sage pull also helps for the person pulled in. Simple fight, DPS, move (and kill adds), go back in. Zokar: Every single one of his reticule attacks are avoidable. If you're getting hit by them, you're not paying attention. Our second try at this guy we avoided every single reticule attack but the tank just taking the shotgun blast. Ramsus: We didn't figure out the tanks thing until the third time through (we didnt look at guides). Without doing so it's a tank and spank, just keep moving and putting down the adds. 100% possible without doing the matching kolto tanks thing. Duneclaw: Spread out with the sandstorm, have the tank pull it to the green generator thing. Use Trans/Predation to make it easier. Vrblther: This is the true test of a tank not being an idiot. Pick a side (use right, as left seems to make the boss reset) and stick to it - be careful not to LOS your healer. Pay attention to the spore timing. Don't move the boss till the spores wear off, pre moving the boss to the next spore actually lowers DPS. Tank and spank. Again, party speed increase here helps. Vigilant: Put the damage reticules at the wall when they spawn. Past that this is the easiest fight of all of the FPs. The spin attack was almost laughable damage wise. Edit: /signed NIM versions of these FPs.

Stop being defensive. It's silly. I'll spell it out: -Snipers will outdo the Maras and Juggs in everything DD related (Especially CC when compared to Maras). The reason you bring Melee classes is to apply frontline pressure with DD, not pure DD. While I don't mind killing people in focus, it's not my job. It's to pressure the front lines and healers because I just 6-9k'ed everything, can take some hits, and the sniper is finishing people off. -5-15% is not comparable. It is the difference between losing and winning, especially vs another good player. There isn't always 4 targets, at times there is two, at times there is one. It's wholly situational, and dependent on group composition and if you're playing regz or ranked as well. And were also talking short burst capability here, which is what PvP is centered around. -People don't play combat in ranked often because snipers do a better job at single target damage. People play combat in regz because it's easier to get solo kills and take nodes from 1-2 people. I'm def better at focus Id say than combat (Not by much though). I can easier take out a double guarded node in combat than I can in focus.

1. Zoning to Cz-128 causes the program to crash at intermittent times. This happened to multiple guildmates in different groups at different times. Straight program crash. Both sides, pub and imp. 2. Cannot complete the quest "Czerka Takeover" on the pub side. The quest "Complete Manual Shutdown" does not give credit (This was the last quest three of us did, and it did not give us credit. I have screen shots of completing the quest and not getting credit for the weekly) 3. Both HM FPs did count towards the HM "Galactic Conflicts". Worked fine second time around on the Groupfinder weekly. The new FPs were really fun to figure out without spoilers! Thanks!

Sniper/Gunslinger. But were talking about Sents/Maras and Guardians/Juggs with Focus/Ragehere buddy. (Single target its about 5-10% better, sometimes close to 15% as combat over Focus. Depends on the RNG. Yes, I'm sure. Its also easier to solo most classes in Combat. Try it. I swear that Vig is about the same % but Ive never run either enough on the jugg to really say for sure.)

Gearing: Step 1: Unless its for set bonus considerations, upgrade all of your armorings to 66 grade. It's super cheap to do. Step 2: Get rid of all of your lettered mods for unlettered mods. If you have to go with crafted 66 mods (Deft A mods), be sure to replace those asap. Use deft mods ONLY. Step 3: Actually, this should be first - get rid of all of your bad enhancements. You need 395 accuracy between your ear, implants, and enhancements. You can actually get by on just grade 66 accuracy enhancements getting you to 395 (6 of them), leaving ear, implants, and 1 enhancement open for surge. See Oof's guide: http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/thread-1202.html Step 4: MK-9 augment your gear. All of it. Even if its the blue augments, its a big difference. After that, run a 55hm fp every day. Without fail. Do the simple sm Ops be it with friends/guild or Pugs when you can as well. Get all your gear to grade 69 as the above. Save money, purchase (or have someone make them for you, for mats) the 72 grade hilts. Biggest issue you're facing is the gear optimization - 395 accuracy, unlettered mods. Past that read up on the Combat/Carnage and Watchman/Anni rotations to ensure you're doing it right. I parse way better (like 300+ dps better) than another better geared guildie because I'm better at my rotation, and can utilize Combat or Watchman depending on the boss fight.

Capt, Add learning to play your class well (IE using optimal rotations/skills/timing), utilizing CCs properly (Including grenades) and knowing the warzone objectives and playing to them as a team - and you can respond to 90% of the threads with a cut and paste. It seems most forum and in game complainers are missing at least one of the above with or without going in with a premade.

Excellent, ty for the info!

Hi Folks, I was debating transferring a 55 Imp toon here (I have several...) as I've gotten tired of fighting the same 50-ish people on BC. I like my variety, what can I say. Level of derp in regz doesn't matter to me, the last 3 incarnations of BC's PvP has made me completely numb to sheer idiocy. -Is there a ranked scene on this server? If so, when/how frequent/what nights? -How fast are the regz in terms of wait time during normal evening periods? Thanks

It is. There was no voidstar change in the patch notes. http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/2.2/operation-nightmare I've backfilled into a voidstar only to have it end before the door dropped. To the OP, it only registers the parameters before you get the pop. It's why you can easily slide into a lost warzone if your loading time is long enough. It's better than it was before though.

Believe it or not, Makeb purples would be better than your high end PvE stuff. The cut off is about grade 61 stuff. You may think you're contributing, but funny enough someone in Makeb 58's should overall do better.

1.4k? We have experts with 1.1k on BC.

You missed my part about Regz, and "Both smashers seems optimal for Ranked, but I've had a few ranked saved by the Mara/Sent in Combat/Carnage getting his or someone elses *** to the door quickly." Not all servers have pro ranked squads. I mean hell, I won ranked CW match vs another guild while being two guildies down (And yes, I respeced to Combat to win the nodes, and went back to Focus to keep em). (Also, as the vast majority of PvP is done in regz, we should prolly avoid the ranked talks) Some situations call for single target damage and roots, some call for massive amounts of aoe damage. However, if you're gonna tell me that Focus/rage single target bursts better than Combat/Carnage, show me your parses and Ill show you where your rotation is off. Also I can find more people that would disagree with you on that composition, with even vids to prove it, on your composition, than would agree with you (Especially on the DPS Sorc). Truth of the matter is you're more of bringing the player than the class or gear. I can think of two mostly-partisan Guardians I'd bring over several I know in nearly full min max conq to tank for me. *shrug* do whatever comp makes your team click, unless youre on Bastion, then bring three ops for the turtle fest. And no, I dont laugh that the DPS powertech or Sin for 8th slot. That slot is so group and player dependent I wouldn't be surprised at anything in that slot (Besides maybe, a madness sin who refuses to respec).

I play both, but I've had to play with and against the Yetis on the Pub side, and fought the same Yetis with my Imp toons. It's sort of nice to play both, you get the best of both worlds (When they're not derping) and get to know your fellow pvpers behavior and personality wise. Seen a few Yetis on the Imp side, but no where near as common as the pub ones.

If it was a jugg, I was gonna state about the rumored Unstoppable bug (Which I swear Ive experienced myself once), or if it was a Mara, Predation being goofy and making it look like you're on a node when you're really half way to Taris and already stopped for lunch. I had zero lag, full FPS, etc last night, while seeing the weird resolve issues. It's like how some huttballs have goofy lag issues yet none of us have connection problems. I've seen a lot of Yetis lately, especially on the pug Pub side. Rocketmanron is practically a celebrity (Bonus points if you know why).

I just had a dumb idea of something to bring up. It's by far not priority, but should go on the list later in line: Do the devs/combat team have plans to make Crippling Slash/Leg Slash useful anywhere? It's a waste of a GCD (IF you can even be in range where you'd want to use it) in PvP.

I'm gonna disagree with you both, and agree at the same time. They're both viable, particularly in regz. Offense: Combat/Carnage will kill healers better, and roots will slow advances so your team can move ahead. Predation/Trans allows for quicker support to objectives. Reduced cooldown of awe/roar allows more frequent CCs for locks to finish plants. Camo immob break also allows for greater movement throughout the zone. I also like the increased range of Obufscate/Pacify to get at snipers when needed without getting shot in the face as much. Focus/Rage allows for better damage to pressure healers, and kill the opposition wholesale. It's also better at survival, given they are trying to get you dead to relieve pressure. Force leap/charge and zealous leap/obliterate also create a slow, which helps as well. Zealous and Obliterate going through immobs also help for advancement. Defense: Carnage/combat here is essentially...the same pros as offense just in the defensive capacity. Except in this case, utilizing trans/predation on you and your team to get to another objective is an extreme benefit over Focus. Focus/rage also has the same pros as offense, with our main aoe interrupt also being our biggest hitter. Main bonus here is the double leaps, giving us 1 more ranged option to stop a capper. BUT, I play very objective minded so thats why I see them being even. Best option? One mara/sent plays combat/carnage the other plays smash. Both smashers seems optimal for Ranked, but I've had a few ranked saved by the Mara/Sent in Combat/Carnage getting his or someone elses *** to the door quickly. To the people saying Anni/Watchman is good for either on Voidstar? I still think you're crazy. Only true advantage it has is the double close range interrupt for killin healers.

Yea not what I thought then if it was an Op I was talking more about bugs than "DIDJA KNOW CLASS X COULD DO Y?" Thats weird, and worth a report. But to be on topic and helpful: Add in something about grenades to your guide. The amount of people who don't know about/use them is like, insaaaaane.

Two things: 1. What class were they. 2. I noticed a lot last night, especially in voidstar, people were getting white barred but the white bar wasn't showing till the stun that white barred them wore off. Others noticed this too, as if it was server lag (the bar showed empty, then poof they started moving and it was a full white bar). I was also white barred last night a few times, but it didn't show to others. One teammate had the same thing too. I didn't notice it on the opposition tho, as they were dying too fast or we weren't doing dumb things with stuns to come anywhere near capping resolve. Not saying you're a noob, but there was some oddball server issues with resolve showing correctly last night for sure. I've had a CS Rep contact me about a hacking accusation once, and I had to explain I was playing Vengeance vs a bunch of newbies who suddenly learned they have mezzes and stuns, and the rep laughed and understood. (Like seriously, who stacks 3 mezzes on top of someone already stunned by a Sorc?)

Where I was approaching it was the idea that Guardian DPS = Less damage, more survivability. It's kinda not like that right now. Although I can build Singularity way faster on my Sent than I can build shockwave stacks on my Jugg (Especially if I'm being retarded like most DPS Juggs/Guardians in regz and ignoring Objectives). I do NOT agree they need a damage bump in Focus. Suggesting this is insane. If you aren't topping the charts and beating people down in Focus/Rage on a Guardian/Jugg just fine something is wrong with your version of the game. Taunts and Guardian Leap are nice, but don't increase YOUR survivability. The aoe slow is cool tho, but isn't spammable like with Defense. And again, YOUR survivability. I consider Taunts and etc to be more of CCs/Support skills. Vigilance is RNG based, but has some odd inconsistencies for rotation that could be ironed out (Combat has this issue too). Personally? Add some more survivability to Vigilance and Focus and I'd put up with the odd ball RNG/inconsistency issues just fine. Sure, it's odd and things happen in weird places. But its more tanky. And that would be a better balance. Focused defense is terrible as is though, and has always been the glaring wth hole in the class. I'd almost say - whats their vision for the class' DPS specs? Less survivability than a Mara/Sent but more Damage? Less damage than a DPS class but more surviability? Good damage, support skills, but less survivability? Collect Underpants? I think that question with a follow up of "Would you be willing to take suggestions on what to change to meet your vision?" might be the most beneficial. As far as I understand, this is a Q&A for the combat team, not a request line.

On rateds: I can't fully agree that they won't take Guardians/Juggs who can DPS spec. In situations where you only need one tank, or you need to increase DPS to get past their tanks and 3-4 healers, respec and regearing for Focus or Vigilance is important. If anything, depending on style, its a preferred 8th slot or even a second melee DPS slot if you have a core Sent/Mara already. On Focused Defense: One, I would suggest 20%. But, only gives it in Vigilance and Focus (Make it 3+ steps up in the tree somewhere, or part of the form). This puts it on par with Rebuke. My issue with adding it across the board is Defense already is absolutely ridiculous as is, and when you compare it t the other tanks it's a lol factor. I 100% agree that Focus definitely needs a tiny bit more survivability (not too much, I see the balance of Guardian vs Sent being in that Sent focus is more tanky, but less damage potential), and vigil isn't too bad - but it needs something extra. 20% DR from Focused defense in Vigil and Focus would be fine and not too horrible. On Focus: You're right, second wind is a crap waste of points for what it gives. Force guard is Meh, but better than nothing. Call me crazy, but I'd expect the Juggs/Guardians to do LESS damage in focus than Maras/Sents, but be more tanky. Yet the opposite seems to be true in PvP. Of course, a lot of things in terms of sense with the classes don't happen in this game, I guess thats intended?