Since I can't yet put augments on my Imperial Dancer set, I'm currently going with the following look. http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/jkcheng122/SWTOR%20Screenshots/Screenshot_2012-05-09_19_08_14_983921.jpg http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/jkcheng122/SWTOR%20Screenshots/Screenshot_2012-05-09_19_07_56_435861.jpg

To OP: Are you recommending the no-Thrash spec/rotation for PvP or PvE? No fights last 10min in PvP so I honestly don't believe doing a 10min dps log is beneficial for the experiment. Also with only a 10% chance to proc Duplicity, it is hardly reliable enough to use in PvP with the fights being so dynamic. If for PvE unless you're tanking you shouldn't be using a Darkness-heavy build to be worrying about Thrash vs Maul. If you're tanking you're not going to be able to Maul. While the theoretical numbers might favor throwing Thrash out of the rotation, I don't think it will be beneficial in real encounters. One thing I'd like to see tested though, is if you still use Thrash in the rotation but prioritize Wither and Shock (use them on CDs rather than only use Shock when Energized) over Energized Shock. Basically I'd like to see a comparison between using Shock on cd vs using it only when Energized.

Question regarding how damage mitigation is calculated in regard to damage reduction from armor and shield absorption. Say for example i have 50% damage reduction via armor and 50% shield absorb. Would a 5k hit that is shielded hit for 5000 * .50 *.50 = 1250?

Get someone to crit craft you guys the Traditional Brocart Vestments.

That only applies to belts and bracers. The set pieces (helm, chest, gloves, boots, pants) you can only learn to make the shell (no mods, just appearance), but they still cost grade 8 blue and purple mats so I don't see anyone trying to crit craft those. The belt and bracers though you are right. They can be crit crafted to have augment slots and are BoE. They are currently the only way to get augment slots on belts bracers for non-Synthweavers/Armormechs.

At the Fleet in the PvP area. There's a group of vendors for each class.

Craft the Rakata belt and gloves for PvE, buy the Recruit gear for PvP. You will need both if you intend to be serious in both.

Crafted gear is BiS in that you get a shell with 4 sockets. End-game gear has 3. You extract the mods from your Campaign gear and put them into crit-crafted armor and add an augment for it to be BiS.

Depends on how long you can play per day. I get about 2k to 3k per match. Here's a chart on how much valor is needed for each rank: http://dulfy.net/2012/02/20/useful-warzonepvp-info-statistics-3/#4 If you're at 0 now, you might as well just wait for 1.3 where augment tables will be introduced so you can put augments on existing gear.

Neither, currently the only schematics that exist for moddable gloves and boots are the Battlemaster, War Hero sets, and Campaign sets. The BM set requires valor rank 60 to wear, the War Hero set requires 70. Campaign ones require Grade 8 mats just to make the shell, I can't see anyone spending Grade 8 mats for chance to crit.

Not true, custom gear can be used through your toon's life. These are considered small issues that should be a quick fix, especially considering the option was available in beta. Stupid to you isn't stupid to others. Many people who play this game care about their toon's appearance. We have people in our guild who refused to wear custom gear with augment because he found a chestpiece he loved.

Are you looking for exact same colors too? Because there are several robes, including craftable moddable ones with augments, that have that same graphic but different colors.

Think the Toolkit is determined by who gets the killing blow on the probe droid.

A lot of people who are new to the Assassin tanking specs are going to get outdated information if they only read the opening posts, I think this is why it is no longer stickied.

Buy a difference piece then, or get the Black Hole armor and rip the Mod and Enhancement out and put them in your Rakata gear, you want to do that anyways to retain the set bonus. You can just remove one less mod (44k cred each remove) if you don't want the extra Endurance. Keep in mind also there are several different Black Hole armors, MK-1 to MK-4. You get the other MKs via drops. Not every piece of Black Hole gear has Endurance > Willpower, so just pick which one you like best and go with that.