Honestly, Sentinels are pretty challenging up to their mid-30's. You get your healing companion waaay too late compared to other classes (especially Sith Warriors). You're relegated to liberal use of defensive CD's, interrupts, and relying on just blowing up your opponents before you die. Somethings that might help include having Biochem as a crewskill, and keeping it leveled. The re-usable med-pack is a life saver, as are the adrenals, and constant stims. Also, from personal experience, Watchman is a more viable early game solo-leveling spec. I like the self healing (it's not a lot, but it does help), as well as the reduced CD on Pacify and your Interrupt. Those 3 things will do wonders to keeping you alive when other Sents. might crump. Once you get Doc on Balmorra though, your life will change. You will basically turn into a whirling dervish of glowing blades of death...unstoppable.

36 (I think). Work as a Critical Care Flight Paramedic in the Canadian Arctic. Spend a month at a time up north, on-call, so I have lots of free time while at work to play. SWTOR is one of my preferred ways to pass the time. All my characters are on The Harbinger. 50 Mara, 50 Jugg, 50 Guardian, 42 Sniper, 40 BH, 38 Sent, and a few lower ones. It's nice to see an older group enjoying this game.

So you're saying SWTOR doesn't work? Huh...fooled me.

I took the LS route with my SW. And I am glad that I did. As the story played out, I really began to feel like one my favorite fictional characters. The LS SW is a lot like Conan, originally from the Robert E. Howard stories/novels, then later from the comics and movies. I felt like a total bad-***. Someone who could be a merciless ***** kicker when required, yet someone who was pragmatic enough to recognize that strength did not solely come from cruel brutality. I feel like a real warrior. Not a sociopath. And being LS gives you a more realistic view of the world then the holier-then-thou LS Jedi route. Plus Vette and Quinn both adored me. It's a great way to enjoy the SW story.

I don't mind the pack. Honestly, I don't really mind the helmet. I am sorry my view differs from the collective It's not the best set ever made, but I don't hate it as much as I thought I would now that I have it.

Now that I have it, I don't mind it at all. Especially without the helmet. Before I actually owned it I though it was terrible. Frankly though, it's a) nice to not be in a wizards robe, and b) it's nice to see my whole head. Both a pleasant change from the previous 40 levels.

Soresu as Vig in PvP is perfectly fine. Not only do you have the ability to Guard someone, but you will not be as Focus starved as you think. Especially using a Vig build optimised for PvP, you'll have focus basically coming in as you need it. And as you point out, the increased survivability of Soresu is hard to turn down. That being said, Shien is also good, and if you're going to PvE at all, you should pick it up. Switch between the two stances as required. There are lots of Vig PvP threads/videos in this sub-forum that you should look at to back up my claims.

I appreciate the advice, but you can take your attitude and your penchant for calling people idiots and shove it up your #$%. Head to toe purples in a few hours? Um...ok, sure thing champ. MAYBE on your server there is a good selection of epics for YOUR class on the GTN, but how dare you presume to know the situation on every server? Are you so arrogant to think that since its way that way for yourself that it is that way for everyone else? Get a clue pal, you'd have a really hard time finding ANY gear for my class/AC on the GTN that's a level 50 epic piece. And you can be assured that I have spent a great deal of cash and time gearing up as well as I can prior to submitting myself to the WZ slaughter - but no amount of level 126 armouring/mods/hilts/enhancements will really make up the difference between a geared PvP set and the Frankenstien set I have to make due with. And furthermore, I still think it's completely broken the way that one obtains PvP gear in this game. And apparently so do the developers. I just hope that once the gear curve flattens out that you don't quit when PvP isn't a face roll anymore for the Champ/BM geared folks.

The problem is the brick wall you meet when you hit 50. The disadvantage a new 50 has in obtaining gear is DRAMATICALLY more severe in SWTOR then it is in say WoW. Dozens of Champ bags, and I have 2 pieces of Champ gear, and 1 piece of Cent gear that I bought with commendations. That's after 2 weeks of PvP'ing. How I am I supposed to compete with people whom have been PvP'ing for weeks longer then I have or whom have had better luck with Champ drops from bags? It's like I am 5 levels lower then they are, and because of that new 50's feel like a total liability in WZ's. No amount of skill can really make up that imbalance. If the changes to this retarded bag system don't improve the situation, then you will see a lot of people like me: people whowant to enjoy PvP, but are not "hardcore" leave PvP or perhaps the game entirely. I want to feel like I am progressing my Jedi. Time should = a reasonable ammount of gear, at least the basic gear that allows you to compete. I can't stomach still feeling like a training dummy for every Sith Sorc in the WZ after a few weeks of PvP.

I hit 50 recently. I loved the levelling experience - it was sublime. However the game changed once I entered the end game. And not for the better. Ilum is a joke. A complete waste of my precious time. Why would I bother entering the PvP side - there are only ever 10-15 Republic there at any given time. And 2-4 of those are low levels levelling slicing. Getting dailies/weeklies done would be a disastrous misadventure in masochism. The PvE dailies on Ilum and Belsavis are also terribly boring and take far longer then their rewards entail. Ok, so scratch Ilum off the list - at least Belsavis is a cool planet with a great design, so it's far less painful to be there. As far as PvP in general - I am on Darth Scion, and I will do literally dozens to WZ's before I win one. Thus - gearing up for PvP is a terribly frustrating grind. We get slaughtered by well geared Imps who just get more wins/valour/commendations/gear by creaming our sorry asses. This seems like a self-sustaining cycle of getting the dominate faction geared and keeping the lower-population faction under-geared. And who conceived this abortion known as Champion Bags?!? What a frustrating way to gear up. Someone broke it down - to get your MH weapon in WoW would take approximately 5 hours of farming BG's. Seems reasonable. That's just the low quality weapon. Equivalent to Centurion gear. To do the same in SWTOR assuming no MH weapon tokens were acquired through bags, it would take approximately 68 hours. That's over ten times as long! For a single piece! Now, there are lots of variables in the above example - many assumptions. None-the-less, it's absurd. I wanted to have a well balanced end-game experience in SWTOR. I wanted to be able to enjoy the 3 pillars of MMO endgame - PvE/PvP/Dailies. As of now, I feel that I can still PvE, I am wasting my time if I PvP, and I am bored to death if I do what dailies are even possible. Do better Biowear - or you're gonna see lots of people who reach 50 and get disenfranchised. We don't want hand outs. We want control over how we gear up. How we play. We want to enjoy ALL aspects of this game. Until you fix 1. Faction Imbalance and the Ilum catastrophe, 2. Giving players more control gearing up for PvP and making it less random, 3. Making dailies less tedious and more engaging I'll be playing other games, and spending my time doing other things. The core of this game is great. It deserves better.

I can't stomach the idea of the Sith Empire. I view Sith as Justin Beiber meets My Chemical Romance meets Charles Manson meets the Waffen SS...in space. Why on earth ANYONE would want to pretend to be that trainwreck of lameness is beyond me.

I mouse with my left hand - as does ~ 10% of the population I'd guess. Having this keybound to "\" drives me bonkers.

I don't doubt for a second that Kira makes a capable partner. But I do think that by using her you're making the levelling process and elite fights harder then they need to be. Look at it this way - Guardians and Sentinels get the same 2 companions. Kira = Tank Guardian companion. She DPS's while the Guardian tanks. T7 = DPS Guardian / Sentinel companion. He tanks while the player DPS's. It seems so obvious. I get why people want to play Kira - she's pretty, her double-bladed light saber is cool, and she has a neat story. But I really think you're missing the point of these companions. That doesn't mean though that you're doing it wrong. If you kill stuff with Kira by your side and have fun doing it then by all means, keep it up!

I support this wholeheartedly. How my character looks is very important to my enjoyment of the game. Right now I am using a set of orange gear meant for a smuggler. While I like how I look, and it's much better then the ubiquitous fat-butt wizard robe, I would MUCH prefer these armours. If my Sentinel could look like this - I would be the happiest Jedi in the galaxy! There really needs to be a reevaluation of the Jedi look. It's a total drag to dangle this cool-armour carrot for the years leading up to release, then when the game launches force feed your new Jedi a steady diet of brussel sprouts.

Looking for Dungeon - the equivalent to looking for more players to fill a Flashpoint group. WoW uses an automatic system that will populate a group with 3 x DPS, 1 x tank, and 1 x healer from whomever is queued using the LFD system across all servers in a region (NA, EU..etc.). That group will then enter into a random level-approriate Dungeon.

Once you choose the Sentinel Advanced Class, look in your inventory for a backpack. It will contain a lightsaber for you. Bioware did not do the best job making this obvious to players - I have seen this question asked countless times by new Sentinels and Shadows.

The best way to look at companions is in my opinion: T7 = Sentinel/DPS Guard companion. Questing is MUCH easier with a tank. Much easier. Kira = Guard Tank companion. Killing stuff goes much faster when you have a DPS with you. I would suggest to all Sentinels to use T7 as your primary companion - gear him as a tank...you will be surprised how capable he is. However, do not neglect Kira - you will need her towards the end of act 1, and having decent gear on her will make your life easier.

As a follow up - I found the following worked for me: Use T7 as a Tank. Make sure that you are using all of your damage-reduction/avoidance CD's - this include Rebuke as soon as YOU have aggro (T7 is dead), Force Stasis ASAP to let T7 live a little bit longer, Pacify also as soon as Stasis is done. Zen is nice, but you might have to start the fight with zero stacks of centring - however, if you get Zen - use it ASAP...the healing will help. Save Saber Ward for the final push - med kit if needed. I did these fight as Watchman spec @ level 32.

There is basically zero margin for error in these fights. I enjoy the challenge - I really do. So please don't take this as a personal complaint, because I KNOW I'll keep playing this class...but I really think that these encounters are overturned for the level they are presented at. If I am a new player - new to MMO's, and perhaps not the most well-verserd at playing as a melee class in an MMO, I'd find these quests, and playing as a Sent. in general to be really frustrating. Especially when I see other classes with a way more forgiving play style having what can only be described as an easier time. Again, I personally as an MMO veteran am totally ok with this level of difficulty, but I just don't get what Bioware was thinking in making the Sent such a ***** to play.

First I though that I was clueless to the nuances of Win7 as I am running this game on a Mac using Bootcamp - but I am glad to hear it's not me. Therefore, PLEASE - allow me to have sound in game while running it in the background.

I am currently using an Orange quality chest made for a smuggler - I removed all the mods and put in my own. I imagine I'll use it until endgame. There are also some neat Smuggler head pieces that are available with commendations you can purchase as you level. Same deal: remove unwanted mods, replace as you level with wanted stats. It results in a pretty cool Smuggler styled Sent. It is a shame though that Bioware doesn't deviate from the bathrobe/housecoat template for Jedi gear. Everyone wants to look like the archetype they've been promoting all these years. As a compromise - I'd be willing to accept this.

After having looked at all of the commendation vendors available in the Republic fleet, I can't begin to describe my dismay at the Sent. gear available. With such awesome concept art available, why are we stuck with this? Hood up, headband for a helm nonsense?

Yes, and saying "Bootcamp" is not helpful. While I WILL be using Bootcamp to load Windows and provide a Windows OS to play the game it's FAR from an ideal solution.

Thank you for this guide - I appreciate it.