Same problem with a Solo + Group trying to help a friend unlock Bowdaar as a companion. Dropping the quest and resetting the instance resulted in an unlit and unclickable Intermission Terminal. Forced a full phase reset by swapping to an OPS group then dropping the group then starting a new group. Repeated the first fight and found the terminal lit and unclickable again. Took the additional step of attempting to circumvent via having a different character run the tournament. No change. This appears to be a bug for at least the Solo+ version of the tournament. Submitted bug report with steps taken to try and work around as well as their outcomes.

1. Depending on the environment the class is in and the spec being played, anything from bad to okay. Infiltration = Bad Balance = Okay (PvE) / Meh (PvP) Kinetic = Meh (PvE) / OP OMG (PvP...if in dps gear) or Bad (PvP...if in tank gear.) 2. I have played a Kinetic Shadow since the first Beta Weekends I got into back in September last year. It was a blast to play and still is to some extent. But since 1.3's changes the kinetic has been less rewarding to play. It is still fun of course or else I wouldn't be playing it, but my time would be better spent elsewhere if I were truly trying to do my absolute best for those I was grouped with. In solo play I no longer feel like a powerful hero trying to do what he can for the galaxy. Instead I feel more like just another nameless individual struggling to survive another day....because that's what the fights have turned into. From the heroic combat to a struggle to survive. Since 1.3 I have not done any group content as my friends no longer play. *shrugs* Such is life.

My only problem with the nerf is how they went about doing it. Given the different stats that they could have nerfed to "fix" PvE tanking as they claimed was their aim, armor and self heals were not the best ones to choose as they are the only ones that are universally effective in PvP. Shield/Absorb and Defense are useful against only a few specs in the PvP realm. Armor and Self Heals are effective against much more than that as they effectively mitigate many more sources of damage. Because of what was nerfed I believe one of the following is true. (Not that it really matters.) 1) The aim really was PvE balancing and they just chose the worst aspects to nerf if this was their only focus. (Possible...though I still have more faith in BioWare than this.) 2) The aim was actually PvP balancing because they hit the most effective tank stats in PvP, leaving the other stats alone. (I'm thinking this is the real reason.) 3) The aim really was both aspects of the game but they didn't want all of the people who QQ'd about shadows in PvP to feel like they accomplished something. Doing so would merely be feeding an eternal fire and lead people to increase the QQ in the future. (Also plausible.) -_- The nerf is noticeable. But I can still solo heroic two mans and even the heroic four man in The Black Hole. My healer says I am a bit more "spiky" to heal, but it gives him a little more to do so he doesn't mind. We have yet to do anything serious, PvE wise since the patch though, so I haven't been able to fully test it. I have no comment on PvP as the server my friends and I play on is dead now. >_>

This was my take on it as well, having both a sage and a shadow. Most of the time my sage will only see numbers after hitting the project button. But my shadow will have a piece of debris come flying in from a random direction to clock whatever it is he is fighting. (It is growing on me.) After having played SWTOR for about nine months now (including the weekend beta), this change to project will take some getting use to. But it is up in the air over if it is a permanent fix or not.

Alright everyone. Thanks for the input. Some of these people are borderline on staying in the game or not. Forcing them to move servers just may be the last straw for them so we were probably going to stick to the same server until the situation changed. Thanks again. ^_^

Before server transfers were available, the server my friends and I play on was a moderately populated server. But eventually free transfers were opened up for our server and now it seems that the server is basically dead. This wouldn't bother us as we most played the game with one another, but it did give me pause. Why would BioWare keep a dead server live if not many were actually playing on it? Does anyone happen to know if low population servers will be shut down in the near future? The answer to this question will determine my future in SWTOR and that of my friends as well.

Yes, force pull does affect droids. However, some droids (and other mobs) have immunity to abilities like force pull. Interesting thing to note about force pull. If you mind maze a target, and then force pull it, the mind maze will not break. This combination is one I use to make groups easier to AoE down while limiting the amount of incoming damage. (Force pull will agro the other mobs in the pull though, so be ready to move in with force speed!)

Just a few of my thoughts on the nerfs and the real reason behind them. These are just my opinions and thus are highly subjective, but I feel I raise an interesting point. Why did they nerf what they did and not another stat? (This is reposted from the the tanking role thread.) __________________________________________________________ This was a PvP related nerf and here is why I am so sure. -Self healing It is the most effective damage mitigation on the PvP scene as it works against any and all damage/attack types. And since that is the mechanic that the shadow/assassin tank class relies upon as a core feature it caused them to stick out most in the eyes of anyone fighting them. It was mitigation that actually WORKED. So nerfing the self healing was almost certainly a PvP focused nerf. Armor is the other form of mitigation that is reliable on the PvP scene as it was a consistent damage reduction against the most common player damage types. (Though not quite as good as self healing.) Also got nerfed. Now look at what they did not nerf. -Defensive secondary stats. If they wanted to nerf PvE tanking only, they would have focused on the secondary stats (I.E. shield, absorb, defense) as they are largely ignored in PvP by most classes. (Some still have a heck of a time with a shield though) But those stats are crucial to a shadow/assassin tank's existence in PvE. _________________________________ I know these changes are going to be big enough to cause a visible change in how well I can tank some content. But I also know that I am skilled enough and determined enough to work around them. I have been a shadow tank since the beta weekend days and I do not plan on changing that post 1.3. (Of course...if the changes turn out to be crippling and hindering to my guild's progress...I may have to step down as main tank and let someone else have at for a while.)

It is soloable because of stealth. I have tried to fight through the trash in there as a shadow tank and it does not go well unless you are in extremely good gear. If you could skip the trash pulls on any class that had any healing and the ability to take damage, they could do it too. I have debated going in there with my moderately geared infiltration shadow alt and soloing it. I am fairly certain I could with enough patience and a healing companion. This was a PvP related nerf and here is why I am so sure. -Self healing It is the most effective damage mitigation on the PvP scene as it works against any and all damage/attack types. And since that is the mechanic that the shadow/assassin tank class relies upon as a core feature it caused them to stick out most in the eyes of anyone fighting them. It was mitigation that actually WORKED. So nerfing the self healing was almost certainly a PvP focused nerf. Armor is the other form of mitigation that is reliable on the PvP scene as it was a consistent damage reduction against the most common player damage types. (Though not quite as good as self healing.) Also got nerfed. Now look at what they did not nerf. -Defensive secondary stats. If they wanted to nerf PvE tanking only, they would have focused on the secondary stats (I.E. shield, absorb, defense) as they are largely ignored in PvP by most classes. (Some still have a heck of a time with a shield though) But those stats are crucial to a shadow/assassin tank's existence in PvE. How do I know this? Take a string of unshielded attacks from a hard hitting boss and you'll know why pretty quickly as your light armor boosted by your stance and a talent are not going to be enough to stop your healer from a quickened heart rate. So from my point of view it looks as though these changes are highly PvP driven. Anyone who claims that it is a PvE fix would have to explain to me why they chose to nerf the stats they did instead of the ones they did not.

As a shadow tank, I can say that I notice it quite often. >_< Sure it isn't as noticeable as it is on my sage alt, but project is one of the biggest abilities for my kinetic tank, providing most of our damage and threat. (Outside of AoE situations where slow time works much better.) Doesn't really matter though. I found the thread just the same and my two cents allow me to say that this animation on the PTS seems like a quick fix to a long standing issue. I am not a fan of this animation either, but I do admit it solves the core problem of balance that they wished to address. Or at least I think it does. For the first time in my MMO experience, I intend to download the PTS and see this change first hand to give some feedback. Watching it play out in a video is one thing. Using the ability yourself is another.

And then your enemy learns to use it to THEIR advantage. Yes there is a slight advantage. But the disadvantage is far greater, imo. We have all just grinned in bared it for quite a while, but that does not mean we all want to keep it that way. It is fairly obvious to anyone who has played other classes that the consular had less time under the "developer microscope" during development. The companions have issues (Qyzen using aim still is an obvious relic from the days when he used a gun.) . The animations have issues. (Force Wave, Project, etc...) The story has been rated poorly by many. (I personally thought it was fine.) The class has issues. (All classes do...yes...but not like the consular.) I believe the vast majority of animations for the consular need to be reexamined by the dev team thoroughly and then addressed either in patch notes with changes or via a dev post for explanation as to why they feel specific abilities are okay or why they feel they need to be changed. (Because they are over or underpowered...and yes I can see reasoning for some abilities both ways.) Players can give their opinions all day long on what they think should happen, but we are not the developers. We did not create the game and we won't be coding the changes. But we can point out what we think may have an issue and BioWare has mentioned a few times they like to see suggestions on how to fix these things instead of just complaints. So with that last bit in mind, here are* my suggestions: For force wave, speeding up the animation would be a simple fix. (Worked well for the trooper's mortar fire ability) Shouldn't be too hard to impliment since it has already worked for another class's ability. Project's fix has had many solutions suggested. The devs could take their pick at this point. (See the numerous threads on that....most of which Dyvim has posted and suggested good solutions in so I won't rehash that here.)

Short answer: 7/10 Long answer: (You sure you want to read this?) I had finished the consular story on December 30th...so it has been a while. But I will try to rate it based on what I recall from then....and what I am seeing now as I run through it all a second time. (Just started in on the second chapter again.) As I took several creative writing classes in college, one thing I learned to do was point out both positives and negatives in a story. When I found a negative, I would try to give a suggestion on how to improve it. I will try to do that here. (Keep in mind these are just my opinions and nothing more.) In hindsight, the Consular story can really be divided into two stories. The prologue and chapter one together (possible five points) then chapter two and chapter three together (Possible five points). Prologue (2/2 Points) - Chapter 1 (1/3) - Chapter 2 (1/2) - Chapter 3 (3/3) - Character development is crucial to any story. If your character (and the characters around them) never change throughout their experiences, it is not very believable and thus not very immersive. I felt the consular storyline did a good job of this by the end. Your character has moved up in the galaxy and many that you have come across along the way are much different now than they were when you initially found them. I am anxious to see where destiny will be taking my shadow next. In the mean time, a bunch of other heroes in the galaxy and my shadow will need to team up to take down some big baddies. That should keep me busy in the... Interlude! So when is chapter 4? : p

There are ways around avoiding the miserable 1 GCD that swapping guard will cost you. Or are you afraid that Malgus's "pitiful damage" will be too much in the single GCD that will cost you in the case that you can't figure one out? Oh, I'm sorry. Am I supposed to watch people work a bit harder through something when I could easily have taken a moment to alleviate some of the pressure? I suppose I should just ignore that part of my role as a tank is to keep as much pressure on myself and away form others as possible. (What is better, I mentioned a way I could do this while I was otherwise incapacitated!) *laughs* Right. Well "us people" are the ones who are going to stand a better chance at keeping a group from wiping after a mistake because "us people" are the ones who are willing to go the extra mile and get the most use out of the tools at our disposal. Actually, this is what's best here. Just admit that you are not going to see things the way others do. That is fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But while you do that, keep in mind that because I opt to do EVERYTHING I CAN to help people survive does not make me a bad tank. The title of "bad tank" belongs to tanks who are immovable in their ways and prefer to degrade anyone who disagrees with them out of hand. As for me, I will simply agree to disagree with your stance on this issue and move on. Why? Because you are playing a game. I refuse to be drawn further into your childish game of arguing with everyone who disagrees with you. It is beneath everyone here. (Including you.) As for the OP, when you play with a group of friends like me, you find that we are all capable of owning up to our mistakes. It helps us learn and become better players much faster than learning to point the finger at someone else ever could. Rather than passing around blame, it would be better to pass around advice and think* of ways to improve the situation if it happens again. (Which it often does.)

The final fight of The False Emperor will often see me guarding my healer prior to their solo phase. There is one situation where it makes little sense to keep it on a dps when the dps will be generating no threat and taking no damage. And since you would argue that it makes most sense to have it on the one it will be most effective for, I would say your own argument, in this situation, works against you. Most of the time my guard is on a melee dps. (Because that is where it makes the most sense) But there are situations, like the one above, where it makes perfect sense to swap the guard to someone else as well. It could just be the Jedi in me, but I feel a movie quote is also in order. "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." or one of my own... "The stiffest tree is the one that is broken and on the ground the morning after a storm." My advice to tanks is this. Go into every fight with a plan in mind but be ready to adapt to the situation. Plans rarely play out exactly as they are designed...

In my opinion there are only one real issue with Shadow/Assassin Tanks in PvP that can be remotely valid. Shadows/Assassins that people are complaining about are usually those in dps gear but are in the tank spec. The problem here is somewhat tied into the fact that they have nearly as much damage mitigation as a tank geared shadow/assassin would (Again, because their main mitigation is through self healing) but can now do decent enough damage to actually be a threat. That's how a non shadow/assassin may see it. As a shadow player myself (since beta and not FOTM thanks) the real problem is that defense stats simply are not viable enough in the eyes of most players, so they naturally change their gear priority to something they feel is more effective. (So few player abilities are affected by defensive stats that unless you are facing a select few specs in this game, you are really wasting stats on your gear.) Complaining about Kinetic/Dark ward makes me tilt my head because it only affects attacks that can be shielded. Taking it away would pretty much ruin their ability to tank in most PvE situations where the ability does make a considerable difference. (Most attacks in PvP are not shieldable...not the case in PvE) The ability also is a severe weakness when it comes to PvE tanking against multiple opponents. (Those charges drop FAST and that is when things really hurt.) Singling them out because their class ability to mitigate damage through self healing does not solve anything. It is pretty much the only valid damage mitigation in the PvP scene. >_< Fixing how those defensive stats interact with PLAYER damage AND finding a way to keep tank spec'd shadows/assassins from using dps mods/gear is the way to fix the problem. (I have not seen a real solution to this yet, but I think about it every now and then.) In my opinion, "fixing" the problem by changing the class breaks the other half of the game (which the OP largely ignored in his post) would be the wrong way to do things. In my opinion it would be wiser to focus on the real problem so that we may well find the real solution. Just some thoughts, forgive the rambling in there please. (For the record, I am PvE focused but do dabble in PvP when friends are wanting to play a few matches.)