It would certainly make a bit more sense if the highest expertise percentage boost was applied to whichever role you were performing... but then there's not much in the pvp game right now that makes a great deal of sense.

This wouldn't work based solely on expertise.... it's far too easy to exploit. e.g. you queue your character wearing PvE gear... 150 expertise from PvP relics, load up against a bunch of noobs in recruit / green gear, then before the game kicks off switch gear into your uber 1200 augmented war hero gear and pwn the poor noobs. And you can't really ban people from gear swapping in the WZ - I sometimes want to swap roles based on the composition of the team, or whether I'm defending or attacking in Void Star...) Balancing based on Valor would be possible, but there are still people with valor rank 80 who play like noobs too

Yeah.. every move in the direction of "MOAR DEEPS" makes attempting to tank in PvP a more or less futitle activity. I'm fully specced WH Guardian with a defensive spec (obviously with enough points in Vigilance to get Unremitting because you'd be stupid not to). Tanking specs already pretty much give up the possibility of killing anyone in a 1v1 "fair fight" situation (except in the case of extreme gear or skill discrepancy, dps will mow you down, healer will laugh at your pathetic dps and heal themselves faster than you can dent the health bar). I have 22K hp (unbuffed) and I die in 5 or 6 seconds without CDs (which only delay the inevitable by a few seconds). So what if I die in 6 seconds and a dps dies in 4 seconds? - chances are we'll be trapped behind the door for the same amount of time anyway and at least the DPS probably took someone down with him. I'm not claiming that I know what the answer is - obviously there's a fine line between making tanks 'viable' and making them into 'immoveable objects' - but right now the 'irresistable force' of DPS is still gaining momentum and coupled with the changes to resolve and the insane stacking of AE dps effects it's getting to the point where I'm starting to think 'if you can't beat them, join them' and re-speccing

I don't want guard to be more powerful (although I would suggest that somewhere high in the defense tree there should be some way of reducing the percentage of damage transmitted to the guarder), however I do want guard to be 'working as intended', which most of us believe it is not doing. Once it is working as intended they can factor it into their 'perfect balance' as intended too. If their spreadsheet / matlab formulae are saying one thing and the code implementation is doing another, due to the interaction of various factors that are not accounted for in their modelling, then something needs to be fixed.

I think that the resolve bar method of dealing with CC was a good idea that was poorly implemented. As a basis for a system of mitigating stun lock it seems fine at first glance, but in practice it simply doesn't work. I think they need to revisit the mechanic and, at the risk of taking the discussion off on another tangent, I'd propose that the various different stuns, roots, snares, mezzes and holds (and whatever else I forgot) should have a 'saving throw' applied every 'tick' (however long that is) to see if they're broken before their expiration timer. The chance of breaking any particular type of CC could be based vs. one or more of your stats.... so for example if a guardian throws an AE 'Awe' mezz out then after each tick (say 1.5 sec) each affected player gets a 'save vs willpower' to overcome the effect. Obviously this favours classes with high will.. but the similarly, should I be rooted by a sorceror or sniper then after each tick I should get a 'save vs. strength' to break free. Each class should be more or less vulnerable to different CC's, making the choice / use of CCs more situational or at least more selective. Alternatively (or in addition) gear slots could also include + x% resistance to certain types of CC. You could then choose to equip resistance gear instead of maxxing your primary stats. (Similarly gear slots could also buff resistances to different damage types but that's a different issue). Another idea could be to consider revising the meaning of the current resolve bar. For example, everyone starts the match with full resolve... with the size of the bar based on your primary stat (just for an example again), then each time you are CC'd you can choose whether or not you want to 'break' that current CC... if you do then it reduces the level of your resolve proportionate to the effect... if you don't then your CC meter slowly regains resolve, up to the 'value' of whatever CC you are hit by but only whilst the CC is in effect. If you don't have enough resolve left in your bar to break whatever CC has been applied then you just have to suck it up until your bar fills up enough to apply the breaker. Not saying any of these ideas is a perfect solution and would certainly need a lot of playtesting, but right now anything is better than the stunfest that is the usual result of the current system.

Just an idea that it would make the planets seem less static would be for the 'front lines' of npcs to move back and forth instead of being static (known positions) all the time. Whilst the (lack of) accuracy of troopers is legendary, it is a little silly that the two sides blast away at each other for hours and never hit anyone (at least until a PC comes along). The opposing groups should (left to their own devices) kill or be killed by the opposing group, advance to a new position and repeat - or be pushed back / killed. On PvP servers you could either make the advances / retreats (up to a point) related to the relative performance of PvP win / loss on the planet... on PvE servers maybe just relative to the proportions on PCs from each faction actively completing missions on the planet. Obviously there should be limits to the amount of ground that the mobs from either faction could 'hold' before reinforcement mobs of the opposing faction pushed them back again, but at least it would mean that some (unimportant) areas of the zone are changing hands from time to time.

Yup the massive chat lag is back again on ToFN and lag in WZ is making it almost impossible to coordinate teamwork. Only consolation is both sides are probably equally screwed.

Most (although not all) of the arguments against the changes are centered on PvP scenarios. Mostly WZ's, some 'open world' Point is, threat / aggro level is meaningless in PvP. Unless you can force a player to attack you it is meaningless... sure taunts are good for lowering dps temporarily, assuming you're not the one under attack, but although damage == threat, threat != damage. The only way you're going to get a player to stop attacking the guy you're defending and start attacking you is if he considers you to be dangerous to his health bar. It doesn't matter a damn how much threat you have in PvP, if you yourself are not a threat, DPS that are beating on your healer will just continue to do so, knowing full well that as soon as the healer goes down the tank that was guarding them will follow very quickly afterwards (as the majority of their health will already have gone guarding the healer).

It's not just guardian slash that needs to be reversed. There were, prior to 1.3 being released, 3 threads in the PTS forum all detailing at length the shortcomings of the Guardian defense tree. One of the threads was over 50 pages in length, and contained remarkably little in the way of "Imma QQ :mad:" but a great deal of "Why....this makes no sense? :confused:" Guardians were already bottom of the stack as far where DPS is concerned. All those threads were ignored by BW and deleted when 1.3 was released. Many of the posts suggested reasonable measures to adjust the skills (especially guardian slash) or even revert it to pre-1.3. As it stands, especially in conjunction with the change to Single Saber Mastery, Guardian Slash is not a skill I'm prepared to invest 31 points in defense to achieve. This is not only because guardian slash itself is weak in it's current incarnation, but the whole top 3 tiers of the defense tree need a serious re-evaluation. Command is really weak, especially since the CD redux on Challenging Call was removed. TBH the effect should be combined with Solidified Force and the damn thing replaced with something more useful (especially since Solid Force lost the Hilt Strike focus cost benefit which is no longer necessary). Hilt Strike was nerfed as well... sure the focus cost was removed but correctly specced it was only costing 1 focus point per minute anyway. Big deal. I'll call a nerf a nerf. Shield Specialization ...4% shield chance... wow. If it was double that, with an additional 8% absorb I might think about it. If it had some chance to cancel out crits... if it made shields in some way useful against the majority of damage types that get slung at guardians in PvP then I might think about it. Cyclonic Sweep merely compensates for the Soresu form reduction in focus gain /yawn Inner Peace... why? it's considerably less effective than Commanding Awe, especially as the latter reduces the CD of Awe Guardian Slash. Revert to 1.2 damage levels and / or make it somehow more useful in PvP. Add an interrupt / knockdown to players who have 5 stacks of Sunder Armor on them. Reduce the CD timer to match OH Slash. DO SOMETHING to make this skill worthy of being a 31 point cost.

The problem with this attitude (well, one of the problems...) is that when you play on a PvP server where open world conflict (i.e. ganking) happens on a regular basis, right now there's very little a guardian tank can do when they are attacked, even in a 1v1 (never mind 1 v 2) other than curl up in a ball and whimper while you receive a fatal kicking. You may extend the time until you die, but that just makes it more painful really. Unless someone comes along and bails you out of the cr@p, you're dead. I'm good at PvP... according to the people I play with anyway. I know I am a damn good tank and I make the best of a bad lot with the tools at my disposal... but right now, even with hybrid spec, almost full WH War Leader gear, if I get jumped on Ilum by pretty much anyone who knows how to play their class in PvP, (except a jugg ofc), I'm dead meat

When people are rude / rip into you, don't respond right away. Spend a little time coming up with a witty comeback. Then next time somebody says the same thing (or something very similar... people can be startlingly unoriginal), then you'll have a snappy bit of repartee to bite them with... it takes practice, but everything does. Don't let them get to you. Just play the game to the best of your ability and let your actions do your talking for you. You have to put yourself out there a little bit. When people are nice to you, friend them and say hi occasionally for no other reason (good idea to make sure they're not in a WZ / FP / operation first though). If you're lucky they'll start saying hi back sometimes... I know it's not easy and can be quite intimidating but there are plenty of people who are worth getting to know, and the rest... well they're easy to ignore if they're consistently rude / obnoxious. Some people take themselves way too seriously

The changes mostly affect defense tree - especially if you were specced 31 points to get guardian slash. Whilst the changes are possibly useful or at least 'interesting' for PvE, they make the deep defense spec not really viable in PvP. The DPS we put out was already low and now it will be 10% or more lower (depending on gear / rotation / luck). Your threat level is meaningless in PvP... from PTS experience there is really no choice if you want to tank in PvP now than to go hybrid tank, with the majority of points in the Vigilance tree (up to OH slash & Commanding Awe) Also just like to say nice job BW on wiping the threads discussing these changes from the PTS forum. Way to listen to your player base again.

At the moment guardians can shine, with a bit of luck and a good player behind the keyboard. I would say though, to do so takes much more effort than a lot of other classes. However I think defense spec guardians are about to become the most UP (or least most OP) in PvP given the changes coming in 1.3. i.e. a rather large DPS nerf in exchange for nothing at all (in PvP at least) , to the extent that every 31 point defense spec guardian (that PvPs) I've spoken with has decided to go hybrid tank after 1.3.

The set bonus on War Hero gear is attached to the specific WH Armor pieces, so you can transfer the gear to the augmented custom shells and the set bonus also transfers. For BM gear the set bonus is on the shell (i.e. the costume) instead of the armour. This means you can wear one augmented custom BM piece and still keep the 4 piece set bonus, (or up to 3 pieces and keep the 2-piece bonus). On the other hand this means you can turn in the BM item shells for your WH gear after stripping out the mods The augmented custom pieces themselves are just the standard crafting crit from synthweaving / armorcrafting after buying the schematics from the PvP vendor. Not sure whether the chance to crit is the same as everything else but I made 36 pairs of gloves before I critted my WH gauntlets

As you haven't figured it out yet, I guess someone should tell you that, in the event of Huttball finishing in a tie, whoever has possession of the ball at the end wins the match. Not how I'd have done it, but that's how it works.

I don't want speeders that are 'just' faster. I want ones that you can customise similar to t he spaceship... fit bigger thrusters or more armor / shield generator or a blaster pod or smokescreen generator or... you get the idea

Personally, as an ex-Eve and ex-EQ (original) player I agree with you, it is far too easy to level, far too easy to get loot and far too easy to coast through the game without ever really being challenged. But the problem is if you make it harder you lose a lot of casual players along the way. Rather than make it a blanket difficulty I'd like to see a 'hardcore server' where you could roll a character after you'd already got a L50 on a 'normal' server. Hardcore server should require groups to complete most, if not all, quest lines (except those which are core storyline, and those should be bumped up to be a real challenge). Maybe getting a L50 on hardcore mode should get you a special title or something

Yup - a 'wardrobe' button that switches gear sets would be really useful... you could even 'buy' extra wardrobe slots / tabs with legacy or credits, so you can have a PvP, PvE, Social set etc.

I was thinking what would be a way to improve the defense tree in PvP and started considering this. I know several healers who will, when they get focus fired, click off the guard buff so they don't take down the tank with them. The argument is it's easier for them to shield / heal themselves rather than themselves + their guard. That's pretty noble, but pretty much defeats the object of guarding them in the first place. So I thought about an improved guard skill that might work by 'losing' a percentage of the damage transferred. e.g. for each rank it still absorbs 50% of the guarded target's damage, but the tank takes 10% less of the damage. (i.e tank takes 40%, prior to mitigation with 10% lost in transit). Alternatively you could have it transfer 5% more damage to the tank and have only 5% lost in transit.

It's the sort of thing you should only be allowed to do once. Going over to the other side in a war is considered high treason and would get you put up against a wall and shot. And you'd deserve it.

You want your armour / weapon with that tasty augment right? And of course you won't settle for anything less than being decked out in purple.... have you any idea of the number of materials it takes to get that augmented purple? Not just 'any' purple but one of the few that have a combination of stats deemed ideal by the playerbase (unless you really want the ones with +Presence on ...yah thought not). The number of crew skill missions where your companions don't get the purple mats (sometimes failing the mission entirely).... or splashing out 30-40K on a purple crew mission so you have a decent chance to get some rare mats (I've even seen a companion fail on one of them). Just for the record, I'm currently 0 for 35 on attempts to craft augmented War Hero Gloves... that's more than 100 ciridium, upari crystals, primeval artefacts and whatever else it uses, just because the RNG hates me Roll on 1.3 augment kit crafting. It's not about 'profiting' - TBH you can't profit from crew skills, unless somehow you have managed to craft an item that is of high demand that nobody else on your server has the schematic to make. You can attempt to cover your costs however... most of which will be re-invested in materials to craft the next piece. Oh and to the OP, you can get an Advanced Might 22 armor piece from completing one of the Heroic 2 missions in the Belsavis bonus area. No crafting costs applied. One of the other H2's also gives a decent choice of Mods as a reward

I prefer PvE, but eventually it gets stale... there are only so many times you can run the same content before it gets old. PvP has the potential to always be different... although even that gets a bit samey, when it's always the same few groups facing off on the same 4 maps...

Agreed - it's already way too easy to outlevel the content on each planet before you complete even the basic class-quest series... if you're doing the missions with a friend or two (levelling as a group? Perish the thought!) then you are ridiculously overpowered in no time due to the group xp bonus... throw in a few Flashpoints and before you know it you're facerolling the mobs without a care for actual tactics or understanding how to work as a group. And 1.3 is offering the option to make it even easier. I don't get it.... why people can't enjoy the journey as well as the destination.... also it makes getting to the endgame actually feel like you achieved something. I think you should be able to choose what proportion of your xp gain goes to your xp bar and how much goes straight to legacy.

Yes... then I'd use the money from the sale of the gun to hire a bounty hunter to kill the guy.... justifiable homicide - you all saw him - he had a gun! I support the idea of a checkbox though... not that it makes much difference since you can mail toons on the opposing faction if you want.

Yeah ... I agree with you that hybrid is the way to go for PvP ...I'd just love it if the defense tree was viable too. I wouldn't mind the damage nerf if I felt like I was a rock that the team could rally around... whilst we should be by no means indestructible solo, or even when we get focus fired by half the enemy team (which will inevitably be ranged dps), we should be able to take an absolute hammering whilst making a real nuisance of ourselves. I just don't feel like I'm a tank in PvP... or if I am a tank, then the enemy team are all equipped with the latest in long-range anti-tank missiles (i.e. most of the damage cuts straight through what defenses we do have), and there's nothing to compensate for the appalling lack of DPS, except a few CDs which, once they're used up, are on such a long CD you will probably die 2-3 or more times before they refresh. Point is, especially since 1.2 patch, PvP in this game is a total gibfest... it's DPS uber alles. Whilst I don't expect to be able to kill very much on my own I should be able to stand there and take a battering until help arrives. At the moment I'm lucky if I can live 10 seconds without CDs available when you are the next focus target. I'm by no means a noob in PvP, valor 67 & I have 5 pieces of War Hero War Leader gear, (and yes, I'm wishing I'd bought the Vindicator set). I think I play the 31 / 8 / 2 spec to the best that it can be played most of the time... it just doesn't feel half as resilient as I feel it should.