Hilt Strike is on a 1 min CD and costs at most 3 focus / minute and at best (with solidified force) 1 focus / minute. What 'big move' are you going to pull off with that extra 1-3 points of focus per minute? I'm almost never short of focus anyway... The damage nerf to both Hilt Strike and Guardian Slash is completely unnecessary. The new guardian slash mechanic essentially renders it pointless in PvP (where the knockdown component is never going to apply and in general people aren't dumb enough to line up in a row for you anyway). Whilst the change to Single Saber Mastery makes some sort of sense at first glance, they're effectively just giving back the 3% they took off Blade Barricade. I never have a problem keeping riposte up pretty much continuously when it matters. So we lose 6% damage and gain... nothing. I've been specced 31 / 8 / 2 (31/10 prior to 1.2) since I got to 50 in January: I can even make it work in PvP (with the right group... although obviously I'd prefer it if Unremitting was available without a total rebuild... but right now I don't see how a deep defense build can be a viable in PvP any longer... now where did I put that hybrid spec?

At 1.2 the Command skill lost the Challenging Call CD reduction (without any comparable replacement), leaving it with just the Force Push CD reduction. At 1.3 Hilt Strike will be a focus-free effect so the 'Solidified Force' skill will no longer provide a focus reduction on that skill. Although Solidified Force is still useful giving a free snare, the cost of the Command skill is hardly worth taking. I suggest that these 2 skills are merged into a single (2 point) skill.

We had this one bug out last night as well... interestingly we had 2 troopers in the party but it only bugged out for the one with dark side points... unfortunately that was the healer. We managed to muddle through it with a pocket healer while the medic trooper sat outside the zone until it was dead.

Yup - Rakata is BoP not BoE - so you can't sell them on GTN. Also the bug with the biometric crystal alloy not showing in your materials list is a known bug, but it doesn't stop you crafting the item if the mats are in your inventory.

I critted Rakata War Leader's Armguards [exceptional] last week (first shot) and War Leader's Belt [exceptional] about 30mins ago on my second try. Lucky... except I must have done about 50 HM FPs to win just those 3 alloys Obviously this was using Kira for the task as she gets a bonus to crit synth. Crafting is just extremely random - I've seen Kira crit 4 items in a row and then not get another one for a couple of days despite keeping up a continual production line of green / blue synth items (still missing many purples from my known schemas as my RE luck is terrible). I'd like some sort of confirmation that they can be RE'd / Mastercrafted before destroying my first (standard) belt though (as Scourge can certainly use the upgrade)

Buggy

I wouldn't say they were 'terrible', but they're certainly not 'good'. I didn't think it was possible to make the interface any uglier but this patch achieved it... and personally I had no problem with how they were before.

Hey I never said it was easy, I said it was great practice :-D I don't know what you get up to in that flashpoint but I don't get to spend 40% of the time on my back... maybe I just haven't met the right Rakghoul for me yet... As for the flying lessons, one of the things you get to learn in there is how to position yourself so you don't get thrown by the screamers. Admittedly the second boss can be problematic for that too, but you can kite him fairly easily.

As a defensive guardian tank what I'd prefer is Kira... or Rusk just for a change. What I end up using 95% of the time is Doc, because I know that (unless I really screw up) I'm safe solo-tanking any group outside a Heroic.

I'm not disputing that we have awful threat building ability - our generally low / back-loaded damage output, coupled with the meagre bonus from Soresu form is insignificant in the face of the averagely equipped DPS, and gods help us if the DPS are equipped with ops gear when you only have basic 50 with the odd piece of Columi / Tionese gear My point was just that (from experience in several MMOs) the DPS classes on PvE servers are more likely / better trained to hold off the nukage for 5 seconds while the tank establishes a little aggro, than on a PvP server where their basic instinct is to dump their largest damage ability up front. SW:TOR isn't that other game, nor the ones that came before it... but it is definitely noticeable when you have a group where the DPS gives you that few seconds head start compared to one that doesn't.

Firstly, don't give up after one run. The first time through any FP should be taken as a learning experience and people should make allowances. Next time there should be less surprises and each encounter / group of mobs should feel less chaotic. Secondly, I completely agree that our ability to taunt large groups of mobs is sorely lacking and we need something like a proximity threat-over-time effect to help out. I don't think it should be entirely tied to damage output (force sweep / cyclone slash) for the reason you mentioned (CC'd mobs) A few tips that might help... talk over with the group before you start and when you have large groups tab through the targets, identify your primary / secondary threats and mark up a kill order. Don't let the DPS dictate the speed of the party though the FP . It's not our fault that all our CDs are long duration. Just tell them the 10 seconds they spend waiting for your AE taunt to come off CD easily cancels out the 5 minute run back through the FP. If you can establish some aggro on the strong / elite mobs and let the DPS clean up the yard trash then you're doing your job as well as can be expected. Two useful tricks are to saber throw at one mob (preferably a melee) and leap to another, (preferably a range type)... and if there are more than one range type in a group use your force push to move one of them closer to the other. Save your AE taunt for those 'oh sh*t' moments if you can and save your primary taunt if you see a mob shooting / running after your healer. I've tanked False Emperor a number of times on HM now and generally (with the exception of a few 'more-uber-than-thou jerks) people have been quite happy with my tanking. It does get easier - especially with new gear. Also, Kaon Under Siege is a great FP for guardians to practice on (and it's a lot of fun), simply because most of the mobs there don't pack ranged weaponry

I levelled to the 18 def /23 vigil hybrid build and found it moderately difficult but not impossible for PvE, but not very good in PvP (although this is at least in part due to my PC / framerate in PvP ...yeah ok and possibly my own lack of skill at PvP - it's hard to improve if you're usually dead before the PC loads anything more than the enemy's nameplate ...but I digress). After tanking a few Hard Mode flashpoints with that (18/23) build and getting a lot of criticism (none of it constructive) from various l33t DPS about not being able to hold aggro, and complaints about general squishiness from healers I respecced to 31 def / 10 vigil. Now I am slightly less squishy (mostly down to improvements in gear) but still have a hell of a job holding aggro from overnuking DPS. (I think part of the problem is playing on a PvP server the trigger happy DPS get in the habit of unloading everything they have in 5 seconds flat, which doesn't work so well in flashpoints).

Like.... yes. Love... no. Sad as it is, there are so many little things that detract from the experience, from outright bugs down to little niggles. I'm sure many of them will be fixed in time. I really hope so. I'm sticking with it for now and hoping that I do grow to love it.

No nukiler missl wud B cumpelte withot a Raidyashun sicknus DoT 10 tix of 10000 points wud not make it OP

I don't think you can boil it down to a single number, but from a personal (guardian's) perspective the top three things we need: 1) A 'large' boost to AoE taunt (without linking it to force sweep please - I'd prefer it to be 'damage free' so I don't break nearby CC). Just a continuous (or reasonable duration) local proximity threat effect (for PvE only) so I'm not forced to run around like an idiot hitting everything that the DPS catch in their AE nukes. 2) A medium boost to mitigation / shields - and better resistances to both internal and elemental damage. Especially in PvP. What's the point in wearing heavy armour if it is apparently made of wet paper bags? 3) A small increase to direct (non-force) damage. Mostly just to help with the threat and so cyclone sweep damage isn't so laughable. Oh, and fixing our companion quest bugs would be nice too.

Heh Kira is just one of 5 companions that refuse to talk to me on board the ship (even though all of them show the icon that they want to talk when you take them out for a bit of exercise). Doc has 10K affection and is stuck on 'Crazy Talk'.

The guide was in the first post of this thread, but the OP removed it. This site however lifted it almost verbatim and reposted it, without even bothering to credit Seraphimm... go Internet plagiarism http://wowdata.org/other-games/jedi-knight-guardian-tanking-guide-swtor/

I just threw that in there because up until lvl 50 I was specced 23/18 vigil / defense, but due to complaints about general squishiness and inability to hold aggro I was 'encouraged' to try the 31/10 defense build. Now I'm almost as squishy, still can't hold aggro, and get thrown on my *** whenever I force leap at a boss mob.

Something... anything... to let me hold AE aggro from over-nuking DPS for more than 5 seconds... doesn't have to be long range - just a short range 'proximity threat' effect will do. The improved mitigation that was hinted at a couple of weeks ago wouldn't go amiss either - would be even better if they fixed shields and gave us slightly more resistance to all damage types Also, switching Unremitting into the Defense tree would make my day

You know that bit in the film where they turn off Threepio.... a kill switch would be so nice... I'm sick of the smell of Alderaanian nectar already

What they forgot to mention is without exception they all play Imp side

It's your own fault??! Seriously? I read the forums but I specifically choose not to read stuff which may include mission spoilers - some things I prefer to work things out myself rather than having them handed to me on a plate. This particular mission was the first time I broke that rule, because it just seemed so broken. I still feel cheated that the Emperor died when I threw my lightsaber at him, but after 4 hours and over 50K Cr in medpacks, stims and repair bills, not to mention the cost of re-equipping T7 to L50, there was no way I was going to reset the mission and do it all again.... one of my friends jokingly said that all tanks are masochists who enjoy getting beat on, but even I'm not that much of a masochist to do all that again - at least until it's fixed and properly balanced.

Heh I was just trying this quest right now and finally decided to break my personal 'no class mission spoilers' rule because I've been having such a nightmare in the last (temple) section. I haven't even got to the final fight yet I also had to use a Fleet Pass to abort the first attempt and spend a small fortune upgrading T7, as I've been using doc since L33 (low DPS guardian spec). Despite that T7 dies repeatedly when he leaps into an assassin's Spinning Strike move (sometimes there are 2 or 3 together and I can't interrupt them all), unless you micromanage the daft droid. Nice to know it's not just me but I've blown a small fortune in repair bills, medpacs and stims already... [edit] Well, after trying the final fight more than a few times and dying horrifically quickly the first few times, I got the hang of it and nearly (I think) beat him on the Nth or N+1th time. Went back in to try again and he bugged... one lighsaber throw to the face and he was beaten If I hadn't spent the whole evening trying this and maybe 50 or 60K in repairs, I'd reset the quest and try again. As it is I just feel a little cheated. Also, the chest was bugged for me too. How did this ever make it past testing in the first place?

At L50 I can solo (with any geared companion as backup) almost any elite. The exception being Sith sorcerors that spam spells faster than my interrupts (Kick, Awe, Push, Leap, Stasis) CD refresh - I'm currently using Seraphimm's 18 Defense / 23 Vigil spec The only other mob(s) I've had trouble with solo-ing recently were the pair of 'boss' droids in the Corellia mission 'Research and Development' which I just couldn't kill fast enough. In the end I asked a Vanguard to help and he demolished them for me :/

I'm not disputing anything in this post, and I agree that in a group a guardian is a fine addition to any PvP squad, but when I clicked on this thread I was hoping it might contain some nuggets of wisdom on what the hell to do when you are solo. The problem is I play on a PvP server where getting ganked when you're minding your own business running missions is part of the 'fun'. I'm the first to admit that I'm no great PvPer, and I'm only on that server because our guild got deployed there (guildleader likes PvP more than the rest of us). I'm seriously finding it difficult to do and continually getting smacked down by ranged classes 4 or 5 levels below me (currently L45) is demoralising to say the least. So any advice on how a guardian is supposed to survive 1:1 encounter with any of the ranged classes when you can't even get within melee range before you're down 75% of your hp would be appreciated. Comments like L2P are not. That's what I'm trying to do - I just don't live long enough to learn any lessons in that situation. I'm fine in group mode - I know my role (protect and serve) - it just doesn't really apply in the situation where you're ambushed / ganked by a player when you're on your own (usually while you're already dealing with a group of mobs).