I don't think we have any numbers for bubble, but it is pretty damn effective. You should use it to prevent damage -- roughly, keep both tanks bubbled as much as possible, and bubble anyone else who's at risk of taking more damage. In case of raidwide AoE damage it's generally easier to heal through it, but if, say, the main tank suddenly drops to 20%, bubbling them buys you both additional time to get off a Dark Infusion and launch into your burst healing rotation.

Dark Infusion -- especially with Force Bending -- is your best burst heal. It's got a cast time, sure, but you can go Static Barrier -> Dark Infusion -> Dark Heal and do a ton of burst healing very quickly. You're not going to use it nearly as often as Innervate, but it should still be used at least once a minute to exploit your set-bonus proc; more frequently when damage output is high. Dark Heal, I generally only use with the instant + free proc from Revivification, Dark Infusion, Crushing Darkness or Lightning Strike.

Hey all! After reading about the changes 4.0 made to the leveling experience, I decided to do something I'd been meaning to do for a while: level from 1 to 50 without choosing an advanced class. Upon leaving Belsavis today, it's done. http://i.imgur.com/psV6HDB.jpg I leveled by doing my class quests, most planetary storylines, and some of the heroics when I felt like it. I also did the Black Talon, Boarding Party and Foundry solo flashpoints when they became available -- though without using the GSI droid provided, as I found the kolto stations and my companion's heals were more than sufficient. That said, I quickly discovered that having my companion with me and active rather took the challenge out of it. By the time I left Dromund Kaas, I already had my first companion at rank ten without even trying to pander to her, and right now she's at 22. Personally, I'm in favour of having companions as strong as they are now -- it's not like leveling normally or running dailies at maxlevel is supposed to be a challenge to begin with, and a powerful comp rather reduces the tedium. However, I found that running with my companion's heals rather made my self-imposed challenge pointless, so I set her to passive mode. I still used her heals for heroics and for the flashpoints I ran. Other than that, she mostly stood there looking casually sexy as I took a beating. I used Shield Probe a lot! There were a few times when I forgot to return her to Passive Mode after going through a loading screen, but I always turned her back off once I realised. The reason I played an Agent was a) it was a story I wouldn't mind seeing again, and one that would take me through the tedium of spec-less combat, and b) it let me equip an offhand, gave me a few basic DCDs, Adrenaline Probe and a few basic CCs. As I was playing, however, I felt like another class may have been a better choice from a gameplay perspective. Inquisitors still get an offhand focus, and more damage abilities (Crushing Darkness, etc). Force-management may have been an issue though, as well as survivability. Warriors get some DCDs, Ravage and some CC, as well as simplistic resource management. A Hunter, finally, would have given me some much-needed AoE! Do you guys have any thoughts on this? My rotation basically consisted of using Shiv on cooldown, interspersed with fillers of Snipe and Rifle Shot as energy permitted. I used Shield Probe pretty much on CD from the moment I got it, Corrosive Dart on silver, gold and platinum enemies, and Frag Grenade on groups of weak and standard enemies (naturally). I did not, surprisingly enough, use my Slice Droid a whole lot, though I got plenty of mileage out of Flash Bang and Debilitate. I pretty much only used Heroic Moment during heroics, to get the additional DPS from legacy abilities against groups of golds that were ganging up on my companion or against particularly tedious bosses. All in all, I'm not sure what the point of this experiment was apart from bragging rights. I didn't even get to troll anyone who tried to explain to me how to choose an advanced class -- I imagine the Legendary icon next to my name and the <The One and Only> legacy title let people know I had some idea of what I was doing. I did at one point join a Warzone, which was hilarious mostly due to being reported for trolling almost immediately and then proceeding to out-damage a number of people (I think -- some people joined the group pretty late in the match and obviously don't count.) I do feel that I gained a bit better understanding of the game and the class, but I'm not sure it was worth the tedium. My /played is 1 day, 10 hours -- deduct 2 hours or so for AFKism, and it still took quite a while. Legacy datacrons and blue gear from heroics helped, though I do miss the orange rewards from heroics a bit. Still, it was a fun experience. Do forgive me if I select my advanced class now, though, lol. TLDR: guy levels from 1-50 as a baseline Agent (mostly) without using companion, is pretty underwhelmed by it but got some laughs out of it.

Welcome to the game! Please note this is all highly subjective. 1) Imperial Agent. Played it four times now, loving it still. One of the only story lines that gives you more than two or maybe three options to complete major events, often with major consequences. There's a lot of intrigue and betrayal going on here, and a lot of cool plot twists. Feel: James Bond IN SPACE! My recommendation for playstyle: pragmatic, but patriotic -- or pragmatic, leaning towards moral -- or anything else, really. Also, try playing this one as a Chiss for quite a bit of unique dialogue. 2) Sith Inquisitor. Maybe it's because I'm a historian and an archaeology nerd, but I don't get all of the hate this story is getting. It's got a real personal feel to it, and is a true rags to riches story as you face adversity to climb to the top. Try playing this light-sided with a philosophical bend, no matter how good it may feel to [shock] certain NPCs. 3) Sith Warrior. This is very much the polar opposite of the Inquisitor. Unlike your electifying cousins, you're already at the riches -- you're implied to be the heir of an ancient Sith bloodline, which is why I particularly enjoy playing this class as a kind of honorable, aristocratic blood knight and a Sith Pureblood. Everyone is expecting great things of you, but some may despise your easy victories as you aspire to greater power. 4) Jedi Consular. Starts out slow, but It Gets Better. You're very much a diplomat, the very ideal of what a Jedi is supposed to be -- at least on the surface, if you're Dark-sided, though I wouldn't recommend it as such. Think Obi-Wan Kenobi on his best days. 5) Bounty Hunter. It's pretty much what it says on the tin (you hunt bounties) but each is original and fun enough to make it worth the playthrough. It helps that this class gets some great companions, though they're not as amazing as the agent's. 6) Jedi Knight. It's a bit clichéd, honestly. You're Luke Skywalker -- or a more psychopathic Anakin. You may not have been prophesied to Do The Thing, but you still Do The Thing. If other classes are overpowered in the gameplay department, this is in the story department. Unfortunately, you too often come across as a bit of a simple thug with a glowstick, playing enforcer for the Jedi (and lacking the wit and sophistication of the Warrior). Play it if you want to get a better grasp on certain endgame events involving the Bigger Bad of this game and the KOTORs. 7) Trooper. Meh. This is your average modern military shooter, basically. Jennifer Hale uses her FemShep voice for the female trooper, and it's basically Mass Effect without all of the fun or dramatic stuff. 8) Smuggler. The smuggler gets some great gags every once in a while, but is not sufficiently funny to hide that there isn't much of a story going on here. This is a sketch show, not an epic storyline. Avoid.

Can't talk about gear optimisation beyond the theorycrafting Bant has done, but I listed some of my thoughts on PvE healing here -- http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=850454 RobTWC also made a lot of good points about PvP healing. As for utilities, I generally use Empty Body - Sith Defiance - Tempest Mastery / Dark Resilience - Lightning Barrier / Force Mobility - Corrupted Barrier. Depending on the fight, you could swap out Tempest Mastery and Corrupted Barrier for something else, but it's up to you.

True, this must be considered: PvE healing (what I wrote about) works very differently from PvP healing. In my experience, PvP is high damage throughout, whereas PvE has periods of relative lull when there's not much damage going out or all the damage is focused on the boss. So running a full "burst" healing rotation throughout a boss fight doesn't make sense. You can't heal someone above their maximum HP, after all, and would just end up wasting Force you may need later on for the inevitable near-wipe when some idiot doesn't follow the mechanics properly. CC also isn't generally an issue in PvE -- so while in PvP it is best to cast Revivification instantly, in PvE you're better off casting it at two stacks if not on the move, simply because an instant cast triggers a full global cooldown whereas two stacks of Force Surge will make casting it slightly shorter than a GCD and not trigger one. That is really a minor detail though, and you'll not miss out much by casting Revivification instantly. Personally I use Recklessness and Polarity Shift together on two quick Dark Infusions when single-target burst-healing (again, no worries about being interrupted), or Recklessness alone on Roaming Mend when group healing. As a sorc you've also got great utility. You can pull people standing in stupid (or receiving undue attention) to you using Extricate, though be careful with that as it tends to upset people and try not to use it on tanks in particular. Your cleanse, Expunge, is a required ability for certain mechanics, so keep it on your bar -- if you're unsure whether a debuff can be cleansed or not, give it a try! Those you can't cleanse, you can still usually purge on yourself by quickly channeling Force Barrier and then immediately breaking the channel. E.g. Draxus' Mass Affliction or Heirad's Doom can be removed thus if they're annoying you. And of course you've got a pretty powerful self-heal in the form of Unnatural Preservation. Edit: I just realised you're a sage, not a sorc, so your ability names will be different. Quick key:

You don't have a rotation. A healer's job is to adapt to the circumstances and do what is appropriate in a given situation. Some rough pointers -- when healing is tough -- is to use Resurgence on cooldown for the Force Bending buff it gives you, and use that to empower your other heals. It's also useful for topping people up, and gives a buff to armour which is useful on tanks and everyone else who might take damage. Innervate is your main single-target heal, you'll be using that a lot both for heals and for Force management with Consuming Darkness. Dark Infusion is another strong option for heavy burst healing, especially if you follow it up by a free and instant Dark Heal. Revivification is your main AoE heal, use that against raidwide damage -- ideally with two stacks of Force Surge. Roaming Mend is a very strong heal if multiple people are low, especially with the Force Bending buff, and can now be used fairly regularly due to its reduced cost. And of course your strongest heal isn't one at all, use Static Barrier liberally to prevent damage (not heal it). So when you can see a large incoming hit on a player, bubble them, or when they're being attacked and losing health, bubble them. In most content, bubbling your tanks regularly is very helpful. When healing isn't intensive, first get your Force back up by using Resurgence -> Innervate crits -> Consume your Force Surge stacks (don't use Consumption without Force Surge unless you're desparate!). After that, if healing isn't an issue, you can do damage quite well. For DPS, your priority list is Affliction -> Crushing Darkness -> Shock -> Force Lightning -> Lightning Burst. Even when healing is intensive, you can always spend a GCD to toss out an Affliction for a bit of additional damage. But yeah, basically pay attention to what's going on and adapt accordingly. It's wasteful to use Dark Infusion to top up a barely-scratched group member, but Resurgence would be perfect for that. And

I don't think there's anything matching the actual uniforms, but what I did was dye a Formal Militant's set in Light Brown (?) to evoke a sort of "dress uniform" feel.

I'm a fan of the consular but it's not for everyone clearly. Pretty slow start, for one.

What Joeeyy said. Healing never really was a desirable option for solo-play since it's much faster to go DPS while your companion heals (or tanks). I've been doing all of the new content on my sorc, including endless Star Fortress runs for the Fallen Knight achievement, in heal-spec because I couldn't be bothered to respec, and it just took forever.

Rather less contemplative and rather more proactive than the prompt implies, perhaps. Also, once again, without proper resolution. Prompt: Missing You Characters: Lord Trebial Aquilla (Warrior), Ashara Zavros Length: 2528 words Spoilers: chapter one of KotFE, political state of the galaxy throughout the endgame

This. Conversations with Ashara have let me to believe that the Inquisitor is actually one of, if not the most intelligent player characters (before the Agent and the Consular). They're certainly one of the more academic ones -- the story gives you many, many opportunities to squee about archaeology and Sith philosophy, not to mention the occasional wicked multi-levelled pun. ("Luckily for you, manipulating power is one of my specialties." KHEM VAL APPROVES +15)

To me, it felt like a vehicle for pithy one-liners more than anything else, with the actual story tacked on as an afterthought. Your mileage may vary on how much you enjoy the Smuggler's sense of humour, personally, I prefer the Inquisitor's.

1386 hours, or 57 days 18 hours since 11 May 2014. Bit of guesswork is involved since I deleted two characters created during 12x XP.

Pretty much this, except I'd rate FemTrooper higher because rehashing FemShep is the only thing that makes that story worth playing, for me.