I never forced anyone to ditch their other companions, but yes. I still think they are a complete waste, design wise. While they prove personality and what not they are, in general, not used unless it's a healer (to some degrees a tank). It's a shame, really, that one type should dominate over the others (and then we have Treek > everything). Go out in the fields (Hoth, Belavis, Voss, etc) and you'll mostly see ppl with green/kolto beaming/bombing companions running behind them. Downtime vs (hardly any) little downtime, really. I myself leveled before our big "buffs", pre 2.0. I decided to roll an Scoundrel (bada** hats <3) to be in awe how seamless and fun the leveling game has become, compared to before. I do juggle between Conc and Letha on him (lvl 41) and tbh, Letha along with Lokin just seem to perform better, in my eyes, while Conc seem to work wonders with Temple. Cull is an excellent ability, that hits as hard, if not harder with all dots up, without forcing/stressing you about the positional requirement. Only reason I choose a Merc/Manndo as a replacement for Op/Scoun is 'cause RDPS are in general more popular and guilds/pugs tend to favor them. I'll do agree with you (tho you never said it), Conceal perform way better in less gears. But to say "Letha who knows what they're doing can be "on par" or a "little better" than Conc is underkill. And you call my statements laughable? There is legitimate reason why Lethality is classified as the endgame spec. Sustained DPS will (almost) always > burst.

Pardon my rude interruption, and arrogance but... why do you have EP in your rotation? I just see a DPS/DD loss, why, with the A) massive energy cost B) cover mechanic attached to it and lastly, C) all our other million effects and abilities already consuming energy, there is hardly any left to spare. Or might I just miss a point in here somewhere? o:

Why are people stuck in their way. No, really? Concealment is only great the first 30-36 levels or so, from there Lethality picks up. By that time you'll also have Doctor Lokin, which furthers boost your performance. I would not recommend using Kaliyo at all. She never were any good tank to begin with, and only tolerable for healing operatives. Also, leveling with a healing/non-tank companion rends Concealment semi-useless, since the tree beefs up Backstab and you won't be using it while tanking the mobs yourself. To further boost your solo kill speed I'd recommend using Temple. Her dmg output can be overwhelming. However, for champs/HC2+ quests you'll HAVE to use Lokin, along with your amazing utility buttons (stun, shield, daze, etc). While Conceal still has it's spot for PvP, I wouldn't recommend it for PvE, not even for the lower 40ish tier. Lethality is also the only acceptable DPS spec us Ops have for endgame PEWPEW. Some may argue otherwise, that Concealment is indeed competitive endgame wise. Let's not kid ourselves: Operative/Scoundrel DPS/DD is rather low as it is, at least Lethality pumps out acceptable enough numbers to grant us a fighting chance... 'till that pesky Sniper/'Slinger or Merc/Commando shows up and steals our show. Oh, and another thing: the tree is great fun, too! it makes us both a semi-ranger and a melee DDer/DPSer (unlike Conceal, Leth focus less on dagger attacks, and more focus on the blaster). Regarding tanks: in general, tank comps are not recommended for solo leveling, unless you decided to level up as a Healer. Their dmg output is low, meaning longer time on the trash/NPCs, and they take quite a beating, meaning you'll have a lot of downtime healing yourself up after every fight. In my experience, and that of many others, a DPS/DD companion can "tank" stuff much better than the real "tanks", whilst they burn thru NPCs in seconds, too. Healer comps are the greatest, tho: hardly any downtime, if any at all, good CC and decent damage. They prove the most effective.