I'd say the 4-set bonus is a must for PvE tanks. It's actually considerably better than just a standard 2% defense increase. The bonus is 2% defense against everything, including against tech and force attacks. Those types bypass normal defense as well as shielding, making this one of the few ways to reduce those types.

Yes, you can augment things you are equipped with, but for augmenting companion's gear, you do need to unequip it first.

This amazes me. He says that Vanguards/Powertechs don't get anything in exchange for the stun range reduction, and you quote changes to Commandos/Mercenaries. They aren't the same. The ONLY changes to Vanguards and Powertechs is the range reduction on the stun. NOTHING ELSE.

I went with 3 for my powertech tank, and it fits very well. I'd say consider role as well, as I think I'd prefer 2 for a merc.

Powertech dps can do very well going most of the way up pyro, then taking the +9% aim from the tank tree and improved cylinders from the AP tree. Otherwise, stick with one up to the top before going to another. This is for PvE, btw, I know next to nothing of PvP builds.

I agree that you should have to queue for everything at level 50, but I definitely have issues at lower levels. At level 30, my guardian was still getting queues for Mandalorian Raiders, which is a level 23 instance. Completely useless for me to run. I ended up checking the levels of whoever I ended up with and declining if they were too low, as I knew the run would end up a colossal waste of time. An easy fix would just be to tighten up the level ranges for random queues, at a minimum to the level where you'll still get experience from everything.

I've been having even worse problems with the roles. I tried grouping for an op with a couple friends. I wanted to queue as a Powertech tank, and I was with a merc healer, an op dps, and a sorc dps. Before queueing, we all made sure that our roles were properly set. We got an instant group, but it made one of our dps into a healer. We declined, made him lead, made sure he had healer unchecked, and requeued. Another instant group, this time making the other dps a healer. No matter what we did, we COULD NOT queue with the proper roles, and due to instantly getting into a group, we couldn't change them after queueing. It was essentially impossible to queue correctly, with no workaround.

They actually had this in beta. They took it out because so many people were purposely saving ALL of them for later use. Personally, I'd like it. Leveling my first character, I was a Powertech with Armormech. I crafted all my own armor for myself and companions, and used commendations for new weapons. With trade-ins, I could have used the mostly useless commendations from planets that didn't have weapons.

They could even implement this using the GTN UI they already have built. Just use the "usable by" option they already have, pick yourself, and have it not even show anything you already know. In WoW, I'd check the AH all the time for stuff I didn't know, but here I basically ignore it because it's so difficult and time consuming.

Looking at that build, it looks like you meant for pvp. When you said leveling, I assumed pve. They are frequently completely different. I don't pvp at all, so I know little to nothing about those builds.

Hybrid specs generally don't work very well. Neither of these will be remotely close to a properly built focused spec. If you truly want to go hybrid, this is your best bet: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301MsZfhbbdGhMMZhMh.2 Otherwise, stick to one tree until you complete it.

I completely agree. I have an alt at level 41 that already bought piloting I and II before the patch. I'd like to buy III right away, but I'm unwilling to waste the credits on the redundant pre-reqs.

Personally, I'm using the absorb proc relic and the defense click relic. Augments are almost entirely defense, with a couple absorb thrown in. Nothing changed enough with 1.3 to warrant changing strategies.

Yep, pretty sure that skill alone is the reason. When a pre-req changes, they pretty much have to reset to cover those cases where someone doesn't meet the new requirements. Though I find it unlikely anyone that far up the tree doesn't have jet charge...

I've started trying to stack defense, at least for augments. I'm already getting diminishing returns on shield and absorb, but our default defense is the lowest of all the tanks, so it's reasonable to pump up without issues. A couple of the recent dev posts have also mentioned how the current operations bosses lean heavily toward tech/force attacks instead of weapon damage, so avoidance is more important than shielding.

Another thing I've noticed is that as long as there is at least one target in range, she won't move. So, if you charge forward to the middle of a group, just outside her healing range, but one guy is close enough for her to shoot, she'll just sit there attacking the one guy and won't bother taking the two steps forward needed to get back in range. Once you know this happens, it's easy to avoid the issue. Just get closer before initiating the fight (so she starts closer) or run back to her. All else fails, put her on passive long enough for her to run in a bit, then back to active.

As Xavin said, that's not your flamethrower. You're comparing YOUR legacy flamethrower to TORIAN's flamethrower. Two completely different things.

There are multiple different issues going on here that many are ignoring. From my own testing, DFA still does the same amount of damage - provided something actually takes all the hits. The real nerf was the radius. I play a powertech tank. DFA was a great pulling move. It is still decent in very limited situations, but for most trash pulls it is now almost useless. In operations, the damage I deal with it is insignificant compared to that put out by the rest of the group, but it gets everything on me from the start. Now I have to charge in, use flame sweep a couple times, and still end up losing outliers just from heal aggro. Also, as has been noted before, DFA still does knockback against normal and weak mobs. In many cases, it is impossible to hit more than one target with the full volley where before I could hit 3-4. It has also lost quite a bit of damage versus some mobile bosses. Note - I do not PvP. I understand the issues with the radius there, but I have no issue with it. It seemed rather situational to begin with. So yes - the total damage is the same against a single immoble target. But the net effect is a huge nerf.