Ability bloat is general problem of SWTOR. Each class/discipline I know have so many skills which you should have good access to that you run out of buttons. I use every button around WSAD, 3rd and 4th mouse button and I still have 2-3 abilities which I could benefit from in certain encounters but I just dont have keys for them and clicking skill plate sucks. Players are rarely happy when skill is taken and not replaced by something else but seriously... Base SWTOR probably had reasonable amount of active abilities but expansions were only adding or replacing them never removing skills and so we have more tools than we can put on keyboard.

You can't use traditional single lightsaber however go to cartel maket and preview light pikes. Yeah I know they are not the same but perhaps you will enlike them. They come with different animations so perhaps before you purchase something expensive you should try out cheapest availiable light pike.

I also returned to SWTOR after years and while I did not stared to play Imperial Agent I didn't noticed them to spend lots of time preparing for each fight. Simplest ways to ge idea how does class works is to watch some guides/overwievs on youtube or to hit class trainers and read about all skills IA has + read discipline description and perks.

On veteran difficulty there is no need. Enemies are not damage sponges and 4xDPS can deal with them. Sometimes it will lead to few deaths on way to the finish, sometimes just to faster clear. With 3xDPS1xHealer it it also works since i doesn't take full tank to survive. Its Blizard's MMORPG World of Warcraft which artificially forces tank and healer to be mandatory part of the team. More damage is also way to victory. Especially against lesser challenges. I personaly love this approach instead of copy-paste.

I stand corrected then.

We don't know for sure if various techs are so similar level. We don't know if lightsabre's in old republic have as much power as those in E1-9. I mostly watch movies and take knowledge from RPG games but when I saw Jedi and Sith in armour I assumed that in old republic lightsabres were weaker so armour could actually resist some contact with them while in E1-9 times Jedi/Sith abandoned them because they wouldn't provide significant protection and it would impair dodges, attacks while also being tiresome. When it comes to ships I'm not 100% sure they are as fast as in E1-9. When it comes to their weapons not being more damaging in E1-9 keep in mind that they need to rival stronger armour and shields.

Excause me if I'm wrong but isn't madness DPS discipline with self healing? Solo it provides extra survival which lets your companion to be more offensive. In groups it allows groups healer to spend more time on other allies.

1. When you are playing solo you should set your companion to TANK. 2. I'm not an expert regarding SWTOR (at least for now) but I suspect few possibilities: -Your class a.k.a. advanced class doesn't have all necessary tools to do good damage at your current level -Your gear is that bad (blue for level 12 is worse than green for level 20 and sometimes peoples not noticing this detail). -Your class is more gear dependant than others (but I doubt it heavily). -You don't use abilities correctly. -Your class needs set bonuses to unlock its potential.