nerfing is lazy... nerf nobody. Buff toons to match what a sin/shadow/sorc/sage can put out over time, or a PT can do in an instant. regarding damage - The only class/spec I play that I feel got nerfed too much is the good old backstabbackstab/punchypunchy ops/scoundrel's. I feel like all other classes dmg is mostly ok. regarding defense - the only class I feel is at a real disadvantage is sent/mara. They have basically the exact same defensive CD's as sin/shadow, but with much more downtime. They either need decreased CD on their defensives, OR they can be added to the list above and given back the 15k autocrit smash/sweep. I've said this before in another thread, if this game chooses to adhere to the holy trinity, then the dps needs to be a dps... a mara has the glass, give him back his cannon.

Anyone have experience on multiple servers where the reg's PvP is fairly balanced between factions? I play primarily on Harbinger where it seems most stick to one faction or the other, and the pub's dominate... it's not entertaining to play on either faction when you slaughter, or get slaughtered almost every round. I want voidstars that come down to the last seconds or civil wars that don't end 300-0 every round. I'm looking for good fights and good players on both factions bashing heads because a good fight is far more entertaining than winning every round. Does it exist somewhere? Thanks all

not trolling, genuine question... really? The front page of every subforum on here has at least 1-2 petitions... I actually find it funny that they're frowned on, I would have never guessed.

my thoughts... a single target class will never end the round with the same numbers as a dot spreader, and they shouldn't, and I'm ok with that. My best round since 3.0 on my sentinel was just over 800k dps in combat. I play all 3 specs every night, although watchmen usually does the most dmg per round in 8v8's if you know how to use your dot spread correctly and a little extra healing helps. It was a round where every member of my team applauded the 2 healers in ops chat after the game AND it was a civil war map that was just one long fight at mid... basically the best possible case scenario. My best round as a sin was 1.8 mil dps on a Novarre Coast, with an average team... and we lost... honestly, I'm ok with that damage discrepancy because of the first point I made above, a dot spreader should never underperform a single target dps class on the overall scoreboard at the end. Both toons I'm comparing are close to equally geared, although a slight edge to my sin, who has 2 more reaver pieces than my sentinel. My recommendations... - Saber ward reduced from 3m to 2m to match sin/shadow. I agree that even in a bad team a sent/mara CAN be a wrecking ball... for about 20 seconds... every 3 minutes... but then has to be very careful between CD's while other classes do not. Survivability is obviously the issue we're all talking about on every thread in this forum. - Transcendence/predation changed to be more similar to force speed, perhaps reduced to a 3s speed boost, but on a 20s cooldown. - All 3 spec's should get a viable dot, burning for watchman, bleeding for combat, and an internal for concentration. Dot should be at moderate range, like clashing blast/devastating blast and also proc something, perhaps smash, since it's gone from OP to useless. I do think it was appropriate to give it a nerf as it was a little ridiculous previously (who doesn't miss those 15k smash crits on 5 players at a time). Either make smash an autocrit on a dotted target and surrounding targets, keep it at 7k-8k, and give it a 15s CD, OR make smash a dot spreader with NO autocrit, and a 15s CD as above. -OR- (a completely different approach) Since a lot of games are moving away from the holy trinity, but SWTOR is not, make sentinel a "true" glass cannon again. Give back an AoE 15k+ attack and a proc to make it autocrit. We've got the glass, give us the cannon. Dear BW... do NOT nerf the current supposed "fotm OP" classes... buff the other ones!!!

Had a tank ready check every single mob.... EVERY SINGLE MOB !!!

In HM the droids heal to full whenever their shield goes back up, right? I've only done Manaan HM once but my group blew through it like it was Czerka, actually thought it was the easiest. Perhaps just the group I was in and the tank explained mechanics on every fight prior.

has bugged on me a few times but never twice in a row. My favorite ever happened in a tactical a day or two ago. I got knocked off the ledge and respawned at the entry to the arena. I ran up to the bridge (which is down during the fight) and just watched, waiting for the other guys to down him so we could move on. He jumped to me across the bridge and reset the instance. it get's better. Another time I was knocked off the ledge and respawned at the entryway to the hallway, I didn't move an inch so that he wouldn't jump to me. All of a sudden he appears in front of me and punches me... resets the instance. Favorite screw up yet in this game.

Do you have the Revan expansion? If so, have you run the forged alliances story arc yet? 4 x FP's that can be solo'd and then you go off to the new planet Rishi. You should be at least lvl 57 by the time you get there. From there you start getting blue and green 178 gear immediately. At 60 you should have enough comms to get most if not all of your basic 186 gear. You should get more than enough drops for gear on Rishi and Yavin that you should ever have to purchase any upgrades between 55 and 60. As far as "boring" goes, yes with 3.0 they've changed a lot of combat mechanics on a lot of classes, but I'm still enjoying the class. The biggest change is the force sweep "smashmonkey" spec is just plain gone now. If sentinel just doesn't do it for you, you can always roll another toon. If you want dot spec, run a sorc/sage or sin/shadow... if you want a burst spec like sentinel used to be, then vanguard/PT has amazing burst. I'm also having a lot of fun on my sniper now with a boat load of burst, my opening rotation is hitting for 10-15k dps for the first 5-10 seconds, and I'm no where near geared yet. 3.0 changed a lot, so I'd approach it like a brand new game with brand new mechanics for each class, some haven't changed much, some have changed substantially.

wow this thread... Just for another opinion... it's reg's and you can queue with whatever class you want and play however you want with whatever gear you want as far as I'm concerned for reg's. People who Q.q in reg's probably aren't good enough to compete in ranked anyways. If you pvp often, you know who the best pvp'ers are on your server, and you never hear them whine in chat. It's a game, you pay for it, play however the hell you want.

agree on this. I've been a pvp junkie and assassin since I joined the game just before Hutt Cartel came out, and right when I get a ridiculous buff in 3.0 I, for some reason decide to start playing more on my sentinel in pvp? Glutton for punishment I suppose. Anyway, yes mara/sent NEEDS a good healer. One trick I've learned, the more often I pop transcendence/predation, the more likely i am to get heals. That's one trick, everyone loves the speed boost, and your healers will want to keep you in there if you're doing it all the time. You'll do more damage the longer you stay in there, even if you sacrifice your solo buff for one that benefits your whole team. I'm probably half geared in exhumed now, still rolling on combat and averaging about 400k dps per round, so i'm happy thus far, nothing like the mil + i put out with my far better geared assassin, but everyone needs a change, right? I'll be playing around with the other specs more too, but the flow of combat (middle tree, cant remember what it's called for mara) just feels the most natural for me. I will be honest though, I do miss the smashmonkey we used to have, but hatred sin/sorc is the new smashmonkey, so it'll get changed too.

Thought I'd share for those interested as the debate rages on... KeyboardNinja and Oofalong, two fairly well-known theorycrafters in the SWTOR world, were recent guests on the Ootinicast Podcast, about a 2 hour discussion on gear, stats, augments, etc. Worth listening to and hopefully limit the number of "which augments should I get" forum posts. Search for Ootinicast on iTunes or go to the website http://ootinicast.com/2014/12/ootinicast-episode-181/

Oofalong and KeyboardNinja, probably the two most well-known theorycrafters did a long podcast interview this week on Ootinicast, and imho have finally put this question to rest. See here http://ootinicast.com/2014/12/ootinicast-episode-181/ or go to your iTunes and search for Ootinicast and download the roundtable discussion.

entirely depends on what server your on and who is playing at the time. From what I understand from podcasts like Ootinicast, Imps pretty much dominate on every server EXCEPT for Harbinger (which of course I'm on, and play primarily imp). On my server it got very frustrating, about this time last year, imps were lucky to win 1 in 10 matches, now it's closer to 60/40. The only other server I have toons on is the Bastion, where imps dominate consistently. It's all about the people playing. My last round of the night last night I was in a Novarre Coast, topped a little over 1.4mil dps (my highest ever, kinda proud), followed by the entire pub team behind me, 3 of them were over 1mil dps. The 2nd highest dps on my team was about 500k... Even their healers out dps'd 1 or 2 guys on my team... it can be brutal. But an hour prior to that we were dominating every round... so it really does all depend on who's on.

as someone who has a sentinel collecting dust, I can say from an outsiders perspective the thing you are most missing is movement. There is so much root/stun available to all classes now it's just too easy to get away from a sentinel, dot em up and then just go on to the next target. It's not that the class has been nerfed, it's that other classes, especially ranged have been utility buffed to deal with them easily. The one AC that relies ENTIRELY on being within melee range has the hardest time getting into melee range (even jug/gaurd has an easier time closing the gap with their throw to leap combo). This is the imbalance more than anything else imho. On the other hand, if for nothing else than the speed buff (predation??) I love seeing sent/mara's in my 4v4's and 8v8's... however, it's unfair for the rest of us to expect you to continue to play the class just so I can have a speed buff regularly... I miss those root and 17k crit smashes that were pre 3.0, it's just too easy to avoid them now. Pre 3.0 if you saw a pack of 3 jug/mara's coming at you, you had no choice but to bail, or pop your CD's because they could pump out so much damage while you're rooted, you're globaled. Now it's just a mild inconvenience, too easy to get away from it. Everyone is complaining about how underpowered their class are, imho sent/mara is the most gimped in pvp these days. Will leave mine on the shelf for a while longer.

I love this priority list... an add for me, I usually finish off SoS with Corrosive Dart before i move again, just adds a little more oomph while I'm getting to my next position. I also do use shatter shot when I'm moving. I never use snipe, don't even have it on my main bar... but I've been contemplating using overload shot with Calculated Pursuit since i do move so often. Currently messing with a mix of Seek Cover, Augmented Shields and/or Pillbox Sniper. Might play around with dropping Augmented Shields for it and see if it helps or hurts. I've found that I really only ever stop moving for an SoS, or to lure someone in whose a little battle blind and drop my pp on them. It's a fun spec to play