Honestly, it doesn't take that long to notice how awesome Sages are for PvP. My alt is a Sage, and from my first Warzone at 14 until my most recent at 43 it's been nonstop yuks. And she only gets better with every level. I crush EVERYTHING 1v1 if we both start at full health, and let me tell you - I'm not even that good of a PvPer. I do have a solid build, and a fundamental grasp of which buttons I should be pushing when, and those two combined pretty much equal instant victory for me. Sages are amazing in PvP. I can't speak to Shadows, but Sages have every tool they need to rock against any other player. The difference between playing my Sage and playing my main (Vanguard) is night and day.

It's actually closer to 0.7 seconds, which may seem trivial to you, but it is not. The first time you fail to stop a door cap or turret flip or stealther escaping because of the delay (and yes, it happens more than you'd think) you will come to understand *exactly* how long 0.7 seconds really is in PvP.

Bring the Praag RvR lake to TOR. I loved me some solo hunting in the ruins of Praag on my Witch Hunter. Could make it Corellia or Taris.

Yeah, that's my thought as well. In a perfect world you basically say "at level 50, you have two progression paths for endgame gear. You either PvE or PvP. Both will have a similar rate of return for effort, and both will have a comparable level of difficulty." Obviously it's never perfect, but if you look at it as two means to the same end (instead of two exclusive paths) then you allow people to play how they want and still enjoy a reasonable progression arc. I mean, a person who never does a flashpoint or hard mode will still need to learn the mechanics to succeed at PvE, and a person who never steps into a warzone will need to learn how to PvP before they succeed. All you're doing is minimizing the gear dependence/requirement of these two gaming experiences. No, because a "hardcore" PvPer can kick your *** regardless of a few stat points' worth of difference. Min/maxing is a PvE game; in PvP the ability to know your opponent, your class, and your skills is FAR more valuable than +2 more End or +3 more Critical rating.

Imagine if they just dropped the Expertise stat completely, and rebalanced the PvP gear to be inline stat-wise with PvE gear. Then you'd have essentially equality between both sets, and you'd have both PvEers and PvPers with an equal progression path to endgame gear. Neither would be "better" than the other, because both would have similar stat loadouts. They would probably favor slightly different stat weightings, but that's just a nuance. If they did that, why would people be unhappy? Battlemaster gear would still be a top end item - comparable to Rakata gear in stat and set bonuses. Champion gear (which will now be harder to get) will be approximate to Columi gear. Same with Centurion and Tionese stuff. The PvPers couldn't complain that their efforts were "wasted", because the gear they've earned will still be equal to the PvE gear, and the PvEers can step into PvP without getting a hole kicked in their heads. Do this, and PvP becomes more (somewhat more, at least) skill-based. If you in PvP gear meet an equally-geared PvE player, you will not have an automatic 10-13% bonus against them. You will need to be better than they are to beat them. I went the PvP route. Valor 51, full Champion gear (except for the #@$%ing weapon!), 11% Expertise. I'd be happy to see Expertise go away, because I would much rather see PvP not be decided by a gear advantage. I doubt this is what they will do, but it's nice to hope. PvP stats are always a bad idea, as they require you to play a very specific path to be competitive in PvP. There exists no such parallel in PvE; in PvE you need to learn your class and rotations to excel. PvP should be likewise: the only "requirement" to excel in PvP should be to get better at PvPing.

I don't get how this hasn't been fixed yet. Mortar Volley, Full Auto, Pulse Cannon; even friggin' Energy Blast has an incorrectly applied "cast delay". This has existed since BETA, and is a massive imbalance between the two mirrors. It makes using those abilities (particularly MV and PC) practically worthless in PvP. Given that MV and PC constitute our only good area effect attacks, it definitely hurts the damage output of Vanguards.

Wha? That's not even close to what he's saying. A better analogy is this: a woman LEAVES (not "cheats on") her husband because she finds out he's a criminal, and his criminal attitude led her to do many things (sometimes unknowingly so) that were questionably ethical. She then remarries, and her new husband is a pretty straight-up guy - a trait which she values. One might construe that she will be more loyal to her new husband specifically because his values and her values are more closely aligned. His argument was sound. Yours was most definitely not.

Yes. Next level, at 14. Prior to that you are not a tank, because you do not have your tanking buff (Ion Cell).

It would definitely encourage small group fighting over a mindless zerg. They could focus the number around 4 or 8 or even 16, to support either party-level tactics or Op level tactics. Having been on both sides of the zerg in other games (I'm looking at you, Warhammer) I find I dislike being the winner as much as being the loser.

Does the Rakata medpac give you the immediate extra 15% in health? I was under the impression that it raised your max 15% but did not provide that 15% in healing; i.e. - it heals for around 4k, and you CAN go above your normal health limit, but the medpac wouldn't provide that 15% as additional healing. If it grants the 15% in bonus healing I may have to reconsider making one; I used my last Biometric alloy on the +Aim stim (good for PvP, and I already have the level 48 purple +End one). Good thread - I was really underwhelmed by the "new" Rakata medpac, but if it gives you that 15% as more health then it might yet be useful.

It's funny, but back when the game was in development I was sold on the Trooper the minute I saw the first rou8gh play videos. They looked awesome, played awesome, and felt awesome. Soldiers that can go toe to toe with Sith and win? Sign me up! Then, I started watching the publicity videos. In the early ones the Troopers were completely ignored (the sacking of Coruscant? Agent, BH, Sith, Jedi), but even worse were the later ones. In Hope, the Troopers start off looking like bosses, but within 30 seconds they get their clocks thoroughly cleaned by the Sith - to the point where they're just offhandedly captured and executed en masse. Then, they're rescued by ONE Consular, and suddenly they're winning. Even the main Trooper's moment in the sun (the grenade to the face of Malgus) was largely ineffective; it was Satele Shan's attack that won the day. Summation: Troopers are goons that can't win without a Jedi present. Then, in the last video where we got to see the Smuggler in action, how do Troopers fare? Two faceless goons escort the Smuggler while the base gets attacked. BOTH Troopers get dusted by an exploding door, and what does the Smuggler do? He just turns around, whips out his pistols, and frags the attackers basically single-handedly (the story Trooper shoots in the background, but it's barely noticeable). As they escape to the ship, what does everyone do? The Knight and Consular fight the Sith, the Smuggler prepares to fly them through a Sith armada, and the Trooper... uh, the Trooper warms up the guns. He also helps Satele on board. Truth is, EVERY video we saw showed the Trooper as an irrelevant class, while the Jedi retreat and the Sith are shown as absolute monsters who tend to win whatever fight they pick (on Coruscant, on Korriban). People say "no one paid attention to the pre-release marketing", but that's absolutely not true. People absolutely DO pay attention to pre-release marketing; if you disagree, there's several firms on Madison Avenue who would like to explain to you how advertising works. I ultimately picked the Trooper anyway (and I'm glad I did, because it's a great class), but the fact that the Republic were positioned as squabbling losers while the mighty Sith were positioned as unstoppable conquerors was not lost on me or the people I play with.

You are in the Shadow forums. Shadows only get a 10m range on that ability. Ergo, it is not useful for the reasons you've described. Personally, it's just a skill I rarely use, and that's fine. Plenty of other things to take up skill bar spots.

I've been pondering my build all throughout leveling, and now that I've hit 50 I'm starting to rethink my basic 30/11/0 Shield Spec for PvP tanking. Here are some of the conclusions I've personally reached: Energy Blast is crap. I'm sure some people like it, but I very rarely have ammo management issues, and the cast delay on this skill annoys me enough to skip it. Gut is... meh. It's not terrible, but it really never seems to deliver much damage. The DoT is nice, and has its uses, but it's really not so strong a skill that I feel compelled to keep it. Ion Cell or Stockstrikes usually get me the HIB openings I need. Harpoon has so many uses in PvP I wish it was up every GCD. Separating people from a pack, preventing a bomb in Voidstar (or pulling someone away while a teammate does the flip), Huttball ball carrier harassment... you just can't go wrong with Harpoon. (Unless someone has full resolve.) 8 seconds cooldown on Riot Strike is painful when trying to kill a healer. Even with Cryo Grenade, when you're harassing a healer you need every interrupt you can muster. That being said, I'm thinking of a build that cuts both Gut and EB, and focuses on more Riot Strikes and Harpoony goodness. My question to you all is whether or not you think bypassing both Gut and EB will harm my damage output over the long term? http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GoGrboroTZMsbr.1 I'm also pondering a way to slip 2/2 Defensive Measures into this build. I know a lot of people seem to think it's not useful, but having an immobilize off Harpoon would be amazing in PvP, and having one off Stealth Scan would be great in world PvP when some punk stealther tries to duck away from you. I also wish I could get 2/2 Heavy Stock into this build, but I don't want to lose 4% off my shield chance from Counterattack. (Which is the only way I can see to get it in.)

Several of the blaster rifles look very much like shotguns. One I used for many levels (called a "303"-something, and purchased with commendations somewhere low level) doesn't have a stock, and has a short triple-barrel design. It's basically a shotgun.

Honestly, this. Once you get your healer (end of Taris) it's pretty much free money until cap. You tank, she heals, things die that don't include you. Once, for yuks, I took on some champion-level gold mob on Alderaan with just me and my healer. Granted, I had three levels on the thing, but it had 73k health and was some giant robot. I won, no sweat. (It did take a while!) There literally isn't a single mob I have *ever* encountered in the open world I could not kill solo with a little time and patience. I'm almost worried about playing another class because my Vanguard is so stupidly strong I'm spoiled by him. Yeah, I certainly don't have the highest DPS, but the fact that I pretty much only lose 1v1 PvP fights against healers (specifically Sorcerers; I can usually beat Operatives) means I really can only go down from here. Free bit of advice? Pair Biochem with Vanguard. The reusable stims, medpacs and adrenals take an already tough class and make it noticeably more so.