Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Manfred Hideous]

There's a side quest on Tatooine that funnels rep/imp together into a final plex. I think I spent more time finishing the side quest than I did the storyline. I was ganked a bunch of times (running solo) but I managed some sweet fights with other scrubs. I do wish I could see my stats now that I've managed to kill a few reps.

Maybe Daragon Trail is the odd man out but there seemed to be plenty of republic players on Tat. I'd say they slightly outnumbered the imps running through that plex.

[Murr]

Anyone experiencing the 'launcher doesn't launch' issue? If yes and you have a solution, please do post.

[Rer]

You should check the Bug Fixes section on the official forums (cesspool of all that is evil I know), but I'm pretty sure while browsing through there a few days ago I saw a fix to that issue.

[Murr]

No fix that I found and a bunch of megathreads with people who can't log in after the latest patch, and not a single reply of any substance from bioware. I unsubbed till they deal with this, I won't be doing the thing again with this game.

[Venetian Tar]

I'd link you a picture of a turd but I respect you more than that.

Its still shit though.

You've seen Quesh and Taris, right?

If you want a really big shithole, go to either of those.

[Rer]

Hi everyone; I wanted to give you all an update on the ability delay situation.Thanks to constructive feedback from the community, including some great videos, we were able to identify an issue that could cause abilities on global cooldown to appear available to the player, resulting in unresponsive/ignored player input. A fix for the issue is currently scheduled to go to the public test server with our next update.Additionally, we have located an issue that would cause player input for certain instant abilities to fail in frantic combat situations, resulting in unpredictable and frustrating gameplay issues for the affected player. A fix for the issue is currently scheduled to go to the public test server with our next update.Finally, our engineers have identified an issue introducing a significant delay between player input and ability execution in certain game situations, most notably (but not limited to) fast paced PvP. The magnitude of the delay varies with a number of factors, including processor hardware, but can, especially on dual core CPUs, result in a very perceivable reduction in game responsiveness. We are in the later stages of testing a fix for the problem and hope to be able to roll it out to the servers very soon.We're still investigating a number of additional issues, along with some usability and quality of life improvements for responsiveness regarding player input, but the above mentioned developments should provide a very measurable improvement in combat responsiveness.Thanks again for your patience and support and we hope to see you on the public test server to help us validate these improvements before pushing them to the live servers.Georg Zoeller Principal Lead Combat Designer

FINALLY, god this is annoying as hell when I'm trying to tank and can't silence.

[Zakhodit]

Ran into a rather hilarious situation the other day.

[spoiler=Dirty Deed]After completing the storyline for the Sith Marauder at level 48, I parked him in a cantina and then proceeded to create one character of every class and go about unlocking ships. (Imp Agent ship is my favorite. Trooper wins for best layout. Honorable mention goes to Bounty Hunter for best copy of Serenity.)

So it had been two or three days since I’d played my Marauder and I realized that I needed to get him to 50. So I headed to Voss to clean out the 20 or so side quests I had skipped over. I came to a medical droid and was checking my map when a Republic Trooper appeared in front of me.

The first part that confused me was that there were NPC “guards” about the area. They were green to me and evidently green to him as well. The second part that confused me was how he had just popped up on my screen. PVP reflexes, long honed on EVE Online, allowed me to ponder these oddities as I swished my lightsabers around, over, and in, his person.

He quickly fell in a heap; his reaction to my gank was that of confusion and then weak resistance. I think he managed to fire once before I killed him. As his crumpled body lay smoldering before me I found out, irritably, that you can no longer even emote to the other faction. I tried a /say “Good fight?” but he didn’t respond. Then he was gone. Respawning at the Medical Station.

Which, evidently, was precisely what he had done to start the first ass whoopin.

There he was, looking around as if to say, “Didn’t I just leave this party?”

Again I jumped on him and ended his poor existence in about 7 seconds. Still unsure myself what was going on I took a good look around. The NPCs around us were Voss. The Voss are neutral, and thus friendly to the Empire and the Republic. The Medical Droid wasn’t the nightmare medic of the Empire or the vibrator replacement top of the Republic.

This was a ganker’s paradise (or a noob’s nightmare)

The Trooper appeared again, and I thumped him. Again. By this point I was cursing the censorship between factions. I wanted this man’s tears! I wasn’t going to get any other paltry award or merit so at the very least I wanted to hear what vile curses he was spewing at me. With emotes disabled he couldn’t even /spit on me.

The fourth time he got up, he didn’t respawn at the Medical Center. I had thought he had logged off, when I saw him appear a short distance away, half dead. He was probably mashing his sprint button when I jumped on him again.

He disappeared. I waited. He appeared again. I killed him.

Five more times.

At this point, I got bored. There was no loot, no Valor, no XP, and most importantly, no rage spewing into the local chat. The latter alone would have been enough for me to persist for hours . Not quite ready to give up but not really interested it letting him go, I decided slow torture was the next best thing.

Dismissing my companion, I chased him down, giving him a slash here and there, keeping his health low but not killing him. He ran in frantic circles trying to get away, the first hint that his mental state was diminished, for he never activated his sprint. Well, maybe there was little point. Force leap is a hell of a thing.

He tried diving into mobs, which backfired. They would kill him and then I’d just wait until he appeared again and I would continue my harassment. After an unknown amount of time, and one accidental slaying, (oops) he managed to get to an actual Republic medical station. There were no guards but when I got close to him, PVP was turned off and I couldn’t slay anymore.

He activated his quick travel and got the hell out of there. I blew him a kiss as he left. [/spoiler]

I can't understand why: 1) once we were out of sight of the med staion, he didn't spawn there to evade me. 2) once we were in the middle of bumfuck nowhere he didn't try to spawn to any med staion, again to evade me. 3) why I couldn't stop giggling.

I don't always PVP in SWTOR, but when I do, I ruin someone's day.

[Dumuzid]

So my friends and I have devised a near-perfect Huttball strategy - I say near perfect because nothing ever is, however, we have never lost a game. This is likely because we're a pre-made for the most part, and the enemy isn't, but whatever.

Two Sorcerers and someone that can Intercept (or whatever the Star Wars term for Intercept is - its where the guy charges/leaps at a friendly ally). The rest can be whatever, Powertechs/Operatives/whatever.

Warrior gets the ball with the Sorcerers positioned along the route to the enemy's base. Warrior runs towards the base, the first Sorcerer 'Extricates' the Warrior to his position - immediately followed by the second Sorcerer 'Extricating' again. From there its running the ball like normal - this simple strategy avoids all the traps, and we've won games in five minutes simply because the enemy team can't keep up. If the Warrior gets grabbed by someone, he can 'Intercept' back to one of the Sorcs and continue on.

I actually got a few hate messages in general because of this strategy; 'Wow sorcs op fuck bioware' is probably my favorite.

[Zakhodit]

Inquisitors and Consulars are very suited for Huttball. Either Advanced Class.

Also, any coordinated effort in Huttball wins. Just my brother and I, on comms and playing as Marauders, can usually turn a game of huttball our way. A whole team using *gasp* stragety and tactics? Clearly Bioware are assholes for not stoping people from working together as a unit and not a gaggle of cats on cocaine suffering from Epilepsy.

The game is still very new so I suspect it will be a long time before you start to see any competition.

I stopped queuing for warzones all together. I can get the same, if not better, XP from missions. The money is better on missions. Except for operations, the people in my group can be pants on head retarded and we will still complete the quest. And I've had my fill, forever, of the Huttball announcer.

[Venetian Tar]

They need to add a few more Warzones if they're going to keep me interested in PVP. Huttball is fucking boring when all you do is win, win win.

[Dumuzid]

I stopped queuing for warzones all together. I can get the same, if not better, XP from missions. The money is better on missions. Except for operations, the people in my group can be pants on head retarded and we will still complete the quest. And I've had my fill, forever, of the Huttball announcer.

Fuck the huttball announcer - when I close my eyes I can hear him screaming about rotworms and frog-dogs.

I really enjoy the pvp at level 50, lot more challenging - I'm rank 32 atm, aiming for 60 by next week so i can get those sweet sweet battlemaster bags.

They mentioned adding another warzone that's like huttball in that players from the same faction can play against each other, just please god don't let it be capture the flag

also madness spec is overpowered - people complain about Tracer Missile spam and they have no idea I can burn entire groups of people down from full to nill in 20 seconds, so I'm riding the easy win train all the way home

[Rer]

Haven't been able to log in for almost two weeks now from the "Account Does Not Recognize You Have A Subscription" error.


yay

[Murr]

Attachment 2408

Attachment 2409

[July]

I'm worried about the rumored buff they're going to give marauders/sentinels. My friend plays one and he says now that he has his lvl 50 pvp gear he's a wrecking ball of rape and that people who whine asking for a buff just 1) don't know how to play the class 2) aren't adequately geared.

[Rer]

that people who whine asking for a buff just 1) don't know how to play the class 2) aren't adequately geared.

So anyone who has ever played an MMO ever.

[Zakhodit]

1) don't know how to play the class 2) aren't adequately geared.

The foundation of every player request to change a game.

FAKE EDIT:

So anyone who has ever played an MMO ever.

Beat me to it!

P.S. Did they fix log in glitch?

[Murr]

I'm worried about the rumored buff they're going to give marauders/sentinels. My friend plays one and he says now that he has his lvl 50 pvp gear he's a wrecking ball of rape and that people who whine asking for a buff just 1) don't know how to play the class 2) aren't adequately geared.

He's half wrong. Marauders have issues, but it's very easy to overbuff them if they aren't careful. The problem with marauders is that to be on par with most other classes you have to put three times the effort you'd put with most other classes. If you go through the marauder forums you'll see very good players (top raiders+top ranked pvpiers) most admitting the class is good but has issues.

I'm currently leveling a sorcerer and it's so stress free that it's like playing a different game. With my mara not only I skipped heroics in the beginning so I was always 3 levels below in every area, it's also one of the worst classes for leveling.

[Dumuzid]

Sorcerer's are easymode, really. Easy wins in Huttball because every Sorc gets Extrication, easy leveling because you can burst down Strong and Elite enemies very quickly (having Khem, one of the most damaging companions in the game while he's in tank stance helps too), etc etc.

I'm just glad they're fixing Operatives.

[Rer]

P.S. Did they fix log in glitch?

Haven't logged in, in... 11 days now?



Got me a reply in 2 minutes flat.

Still haven't fixed my problem though =A=

[Zakhodit]

I'm just glad they're fixing Operatives.

What is wrong with Operatives?

He's half wrong. Marauders have issues, but it's very easy to overbuff them if they aren't careful. The problem with marauders is that to be on par with most other classes you have to put three times the effort you'd put with most other classes. If you go through the marauder forums you'll see very good players (top raiders+top ranked pvpiers) most admitting the class is good but has issues.

I hit 50 with mine and just lost interest. Bounty hunter is my new easy mode. Also getting a head start on my lvl 50 PVP gear instead of waiting until I hit 48 to realize I may need it.

Haven't logged in, in... 11 days now?



Got me a reply in 2 minutes flat.

Still haven't fixed my problem though =A=

Three cheers for customer service! HIP HI-

[July]

It might be true it takes more effort to make the class work, but as more marauders get geared more threads are now popping up with people complaining they're OP.

The only complaint that I've seen that you can't attribute to skill/gear is the concerns on sage/inquisitor resource pool. They basically have "infinite mana" for their abilities because when their resource pool is drained up it bounces back very easily. They also can raise the pool's cap. The "heat/ammo" resource the other classes use is less forgiving with bigger downtimes once they've sucked up all the resource. It's related to it being percentage based, including on how it passively regens. (The closer you are to depleting the resource, the less it recovers.) I've personally played both resource pool types and can easily say: Fuck the heat/ammo resource pools.

[spoiler=Terrible joke]One might say... I can't stand the heat. YEEEEEEEEEEEAH[/spoiler]

TL;DR - The sage/inquisitor have much, much higher staying power than the other classes due to how their resource pool works.

Also, the nerf they're hitting operative/scoundrel might be too heavy handed because they're not buffing/tweaking it anywhere. Some feel it's going to neuter the class. Personally, I main a JK, so I'm fapping over knight/jugg dps specs getting buffed even if I don't know if they need it. All you non-force user peasants can suck it.

[Dumuzid]

What is wrong with Operatives?

Operatives were bursting down everything, including fully geared tanked specced players in PVP from 100% to 0% in about 5 - 8 seconds. All it takes is one Operative to climb behind you, and you're dead, period. I saw a fresh 50 Operative zip in behind a fully geared, tank specced Powertech on our server (Battlemaster gear in seven slots, Champion gear in the rest) and kill him immediately. Part of the reason is Hidden Strike dealing too much damage, the rest of it is Acid Blade giving RIDICULOUS amounts of Armor Penetration (which I guess seemingly bypassed Expertise too - the pvp stat).

The whining from the PvE crowd is only going to grow from here (see Blizzard and their repeated nerfs to Warlocks/Paladins due to PvP complaints) - I admit, the Acid Blade nerf will severely gut their PvE damage, and BioWare doesn't seem concerned about finding an alternative (Maybe make the Acid Blade bonus half of what it is in PvP but normal everywhere else?)

As for Sorcerers, the regen rate is abnormally high compared to other classes/specs - I shit all up and down anything that isn't a Sorcerer simply because Madness Sorcerer's can kite and burst, putting a large number of melee classes at a loss. Add in a shield with a 17 second cooldown on yourself (PvP gear at least, 20 seconds otherwise) that absorbs around ~3 to 3.5k, a snare every 9 seconds that lasts for 2 seconds, a slow that is always available, a stun, a cyclone, a knockback, a sprint, and the ability to heal for ~5k a pop when not specced into healing (for health pool reference, the highest health pool I've seen is 20k - I'm sitting at 15k atm) and Sorcerers/Sages just outshine pretty much everything except Operatives/Agents - for now.

I once had three Operatives jump me, and I took so much damage at once it kicked me out of the server.

[Rer]

Maybe make the Acid Blade bonus half of what it is in PvP but normal everywhere else?

No troll, when was the last time a developer got wise enough to actually split how abilities work in PvP and PvE? :P

[Dumuzid]

No troll, when was the last time a developer got wise enough to actually split how abilities work in PvP and PvE? :P

you got me there

actually, Whirlwind is a good example though; in PvE it affects a target for a full minute, whereas in PvP its only 10 seconds

[July]

I once had three Operatives jump me, and I took so much damage at once it kicked me out of the server.

Sounds like they tore the fabric of reality with all the burst dps they hit you with.

Seriously though, it's surprising how much sages/inquisitors can heal when they're not specced into healing. I've heard nightmare stories about teams heavy in "hybrid" sages/sorcs.


Edit:

No troll, when was the last time a developer got wise enough to actually split how abilities work in PvP and PvE? :P

I can't remember which off the top of my head, but I know there's more than one ability my juggernaut has that has different effects depending on if it's used on an NPC or a player.

[Rer]

Yea I know there are some exceptions (sidenote, I hate that I can't use Call on the Force in PvP! ), but generally speaking most developers think its too much to separate the two. Personally (armchair dev GO!) I feel like you'd save yourself a bunch of headache later by designing them with the intention of separation from the start.

[Dumuzid]

Been camping Republic in Ilum all day (gotta get that weekly done man!); I rolled them so hard it took four dudes using the /stuck bug to kill me (if you die in the PvP zone, you can type /stuck to respawn where you died)

[Zakhodit]

Despite the nerf, I think my Operative is going to be my main squeeze. The ship is gorgeous, the joy of sticking what amounts to a short sword into someone's back, and she looks hot in the Battlemaster gear are all the reasons I need.

Really, I'm terrible at games. An OP class is just as good as a nerfed class for me since I'm going to fail anyway.

For example, a recent exchange in the chat of Battlefield 3:

Dude, you suck. If you can't fly don't.

Hey, any landing you can walk away from. amirite?

Is a useless landing since you respawn in 15 seconds.

Ineptitude: if you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.

[Dumuzid]

Operatives got nerfed to the ground - according to one of our server's best ops, you aren't hitting 5k crits unless you're wearing full battlemaster gear and popping a trinket

[Zakhodit]

Wow.

Speaking of Battlemaster Commendations, do you ever get more than one out of a Champ Bag?

[Dumuzid]

Wow.

Speaking of Battlemaster Commendations, do you ever get more than one out of a Champ Bag?

you get zero battlemaster comms out of a champ bag I believe

you have a 1 in 5 chance to get champion level gear out of a champion bag, rest of the time its Centurion Comms

same with battlemaster except its a 1 in 5 chance to get a battlemaster commendation, rest of the time its champion comms

[Venetian Tar]

What server are you guys playing on?

[Zakhodit]

you get zero battlemaster comms out of a champ bag I believe

you have a 1 in 5 chance to get champion level gear out of a champion bag, rest of the time its Centurion Comms

same with battlemaster except its a 1 in 5 chance to get a battlemaster commendation, rest of the time its champion comms

Bah... I need to get crackin...

What server are you guys playing on?

Rataka Mind Prision:
Zakhodit: Sith Marauder lvl 50 (way the fuck under geared)
Sophie: Imp Operative lvl 22
Acr: Bounty Hunter Merc lvl 15

Space Slug:
Zakhodit: Trooper Commando lvl 16


In other news...

WOULD BE JEDI, JAILED OVER LIGHTSABER ATTACKS

According to The Oregonian, police attempted to shoot Canterbury with a Taser but the suspected deflected one of the wires away.

Now that right there, is why you practice at home!

[Dumuzid]

What server are you guys playing on?

Shii-cho. Carebear server, but my friends picked it so

Bah... I need to get crackin...

you also need rank 60 valor to even open the boxes or buy any battlemaster gear

[Zakhodit]

you also need rank 60 valor to even open the boxes or buy any battlemaster gear

That explains why I never saw it...

[Dumuzid]

That explains why I never saw it...

to emphasize how long it'll take to get to rank 60, i've been pvping the last week about 6 hours a day every day (i'm mid-move and in a hotel, so its about all i can do really) and i'm still only rank 46

and that was with me trading kills with republics in ilum to get my weekly done quicker

its a grind, a bad one at that

you know what's crazier? there are people actually trying for elite warlord (rank 100)

i'm totally not trying for that either btw

[Zakhodit]

I looked at my Marauder, he's at 23. Talk about a sudden lack of desire.

Did my first PVP with my Hunter and loved it. For the first time ever, Hutt Ball was fun. So rank 60 will take a while but at least I'll enjoy it more than waving my glowsticks at people who refuse to hold still. Damn bastards, don't they know I'm trying to kill them? Really I should be slapped for starting wtih a Melee class. Guns are better than swords. Even Blue lazor Swords. Duh.

you know what's crazier? there are people actually trying for elite warlord (rank 100)

There's always a grind, and the grind is always

[Rer]

So, account's still bugged. I get an email from one of the reps asking me to call into BioWare's Customer Support. I mean its not like its been 20 days or anything.

I call in, and am forced to wade through 6 automated messages to get to the 'Correct Representative'. Luckily one of the responses is specifically the "Account shows no active subscription", so hey, maybe I'll get lucky.

Surprise surprise, after spending 20 minutes with this chap, he can't do shit for me. Looks like I'm getting escalated again, whoopie!

(I worked in Customer Support for two years, so I know how it works, and I did this all the time. Doesn't make it any less annoying, and I always felt bad when I did it)

<30 Minutes Later>

Seriously? Even their top dog couldn't help me and gave me the canned "Hey sorry its FUBAR'd but we'll call ya back when we fix it!"

[Zakhodit]

There is a lot of blood on this page.

Incidentally I'm enjoying my Bounty Hunter far more than I ever did my Marauder.

As far as customer support, I'd demand a full refund on the game and any subscription money. SWTOR is fun and all but that's just insanity.

[Rer]

Ha, I got the Collector's Edition, a full refund would be a nice boost to my bank account.

[July]

Wow, Rer. That's crazy.

Zak, Mercenary and Commando are the most mindless classes in the game for pvp. Literally spam the same 2 abilitie, get top DPS every time. I was getting top dmg at lvl 15 as a Commando. I enjoy my commando in pvp more than my juggernaut. The only downside is how underpopulated the Republic side is on all the servers. Also, I'm pretty sure they're going to nerf that missile/charged shot spam at some point.

[Rer]

Finally fixed, jesus.

[Dumuzid]

Wow, Rer. That's crazy.

Zak, Mercenary and Commando are the most mindless classes in the game for pvp. Literally spam the same 2 abilitie, get top DPS every time. I was getting top dmg at lvl 15 as a Commando. I enjoy my commando in pvp more than my juggernaut. The only downside is how underpopulated the Republic side is on all the servers. Also, I'm pretty sure they're going to nerf that missile/charged shot spam at some point.

there was a blue post stating that tracer missile and the equivalent on the other side would be getting nerfed - either by reducing damage in pvp or by adding a CD to it

[July]

Don't suppose you have a link to it? I definitely believe it. In honour 1v1 duels in warzones I never lose with my lvl 24 commando. And most of the time when an invisible guy dishonours our 1v1 I still manage to drop the guy before I die. And it's not because I'm doing anything elite or skill based. I just literally sit there and spam 1 key. And because of it's effects (armor shred, etc) the harder you spam, the more your dps ramps up.

Edit: The tracer missile equivalent for Commando is called Grav Round.

I don't know how they'll balance it since the entire tree is basically based around the idea of "Spam this key, when you get 5 stacks, hit your proc'd abilities, rinse/repeat."

[Dumuzid]

Don't suppose you have a link to it? I definitely believe it. In honour 1v1 duels in warzones I never lose with my lvl 24 commando. And most of the time when an invisible guy dishonours our 1v1 I still manage to drop the guy before I die. And it's not because I'm doing anything elite or skill based. I just literally sit there and spam 1 key. And because of it's effects (armor shred, etc) the harder you spam, the more your dps ramps up.

Edit: The tracer missile equivalent for Commando is called Grav Round.

I don't know how they'll balance it since the entire tree is basically based around the idea of "Spam this key, when you get 5 stacks, hit your proc'd abilities, rinse/repeat."

I don't have a link to it sadly, and searching the forums isn't turning it up. I know I saw it somewhere though

I unsubbed a few days ago. Combination of not enough time + too many games (already playing EVE and a few others semi-seriously) + being really bored of huttball.

Shame too, reminds me a lot of vanilla WoW, which I wasted many sleepless nights on, but oh well.

[Venetian Tar]

I unsubbed a few days ago. Combination of not enough time + too many games (already playing EVE and a few others semi-seriously) + being really bored of huttball.

Shame too, reminds me a lot of vanilla WoW, which I wasted many sleepless nights on, but oh well.

I've still got a month or so on my sub, but my motherboard is currently out of action so I can't play.

I was really enjoying my BH story, and PVP was getting easier in the early 30's stages of levelling. I'll probably not bother re-subbing when it runs out though.

[Zakhodit]

Yeah, my Merc is Easy Mode. Although my brother, with his Powertech, out scores me every match. Not in damage but in overall score. All he has to do is put his guard on the guy with the ball and before the first minute has passed he racks up three awards for "Damage prevented". I have to hope that one of my rockets tops 2500 damage, plus pull off a 2500 heal to come close to matching his award count. The Merc is a shitty healer. I respec'd for healing to give it a try and I don't do nearly as well as my Operative, and She's average. Switching back to DPS I made sure all my gear was top notch and even took three of the Red PVP Stems. Sure I killed 40 people but I still didn't top 200K damage and only one attack hit for 2800. I'm level 31 and I'm not sure what more I can do to up my stats.

Again, another game I'm not very good at. And it's not even a good game.

Bioware seems to be clueless when it comes to making a true MMO. All of these classes fit in just fine, in the single player role. I'm baffled at the crafting skills that only allow you to use the items you craft if you have the crafting skill that creates them. (Biochem re-useable medpacks. Speeder bikes from cybertech) It's just as inbalanced as the classes. I mean what's the point of not being able to sell your best wares? And Slicing? what is the fucking point of Slicing? I think they had more crafting planned but couldn't get it ready for launch so they piled together what they had and hoped for the best.

The novelty of newness is wearing off and the ugly truth of cluster fuck is starting to shine through. I'm subbed until May, but I may not be after that.

[Fartman]

my main, IA/snipa, is now 49 on corellia.. thank god voss in finally in my rearview mirror. if you look at it as just a
way to pass a few hours here and there, there are plenty of worse ways. i don't get all emotional about shit like
i've seen some faggots whine about this game, like the color of their friggin light sabres, etc.

that said, the main impediment to me playing this long term is going to be running out of stuff to do on my main
but never wanting to see some of these fucking planets again on an alt.

i haven't done any pvp at all yet either btw.

[Dumuzid]

Yeah, my Merc is Easy Mode. Although my brother, with his Powertech, out scores me every match. Not in damage but in overall score. All he has to do is put his guard on the guy with the ball and before the first minute has passed he racks up three awards for "Damage prevented". I have to hope that one of my rockets tops 2500 damage, plus pull off a 2500 heal to come close to matching his award count. The Merc is a shitty healer. I respec'd for healing to give it a try and I don't do nearly as well as my Operative, and She's average. Switching back to DPS I made sure all my gear was top notch and even took three of the Red PVP Stems. Sure I killed 40 people but I still didn't top 200K damage and only one attack hit for 2800. I'm level 31 and I'm not sure what more I can do to up my stats.

Again, another game I'm not very good at. And it's not even a good game.

Bioware seems to be clueless when it comes to making a true MMO. All of these classes fit in just fine, in the single player role. I'm baffled at the crafting skills that only allow you to use the items you craft if you have the crafting skill that creates them. (Biochem re-useable medpacks. Speeder bikes from cybertech) It's just as inbalanced as the classes. I mean what's the point of not being able to sell your best wares? And Slicing? what is the fucking point of Slicing? I think they had more crafting planned but couldn't get it ready for launch so they piled together what they had and hoped for the best.

The novelty of newness is wearing off and the ugly truth of cluster fuck is starting to shine through. I'm subbed until May, but I may not be after that.

One of my friends is a merc healer, and not only is he probably better then I am at healing in hard mode flashpoints and operations, he manages to keep up with me in score in pvp (and i usually would get 9-10 medals, easy). Merc healers are quite good.

As to ways to up your score, honestly, look at the medal list and focus on getting those as much as possible. At 50 it gets really easy to grind medals (so much so that I wonder how any 50 seems to score lower then 5 medals). I had a medal grinding format for certain maps (huttball, for instance, I'd shield myself and intentionally run over a fire trap to pop it - it counts as a heal, and my shield regularly protects 2.5k damage or more; ergo, Medic medal (2.5k heal in one go) within the first ten seconds. Then pop my crit talent and drop death field on a group of people; bam, Demolisher medal (2.5k damage in one spell)etc etc).

You have to remember that the medal thing is balanced around level 50 and not level 30~. As lightning spec at 30 I wasn't even approaching 250k; shit, I sometimes can't reach it at 50.

as to the different tradeskills - well, they have issues, yes, but not the ones you're talking about. Those are specific things tailored to that tradeskill that make it desirable to players; otherwise, there'd be no point in leveling up say, Biochem over Synthweaving if you could just buy the best stuff from Biochem; everyone would just roll biochem alts and do things that way then. Same thing vice versa; why level up Synthweaving if you could just buy the Rakata (t3) gear? just roll a synthweaving alt.

it honestly makes things easier to balance and provides incentive to level up a specific skill over something else

that being said, the incentives themselves aren't very good. once you're decked out in t3 (either pve or pvp gear) synthweaving and the other crafting skills become utter shit and are pointless. in WoW, the equivalents would have both bind on pickup and bind on equip modifications for armor that you could make use of/sell on the auction house; naturally, the BoP ones were better, and thus, an incentive to level said skill. As it stands, the only skills worth leveling is Biochem (for pvp potion dominance) and Artifice (because magenta crystals are fucking expensiveeee)

slicing WAS a money making thing but they nerfed it; was too good (trading in 1k for approximately 3k or even 5k credits was complete bullshit)

[July]

They're already adding flashpoints, so I think they're honestly trying to add endgame content. They're also tweaking the crafting classes so you can use the resusable medpacks etc without the crew skill associated, etc. And as Dumuzid and I have discussed, things that are OP are being looked at in PVP. From what I understand the lvl 50 hardmode flashpoints are actually very difficult and you'll wipe every time if you're trying to "tank and spank." You have to coordinate CC and be on the ball with interrupts. The bosses themselves have mechanics to keep you on your toes. (Such as the boss fight that has 3 enemies with a "musical chairs" shield setup. One shield being massive tank, one shield that mirrors damage.) So even your dps has to be awake while they're doing their rotation or they'll kill themselves.

In regards to slicing, they've had to nerf it 3 times (if you include the beta nerfs) because of how inhumane the income was. People were literally just sitting in station all day just mass producing credits by the millions. The inflation was ruining the markets etc. I don't know how useful it is now because I have never taken it at a crew skill, but my understanding is that it's "balanced." *Citation required.