Everything that Parthis said goes for me too. I like playing tanks, and I like all of the available tanks. I simply feel that Vanguards/Powertechs are easier to play. Not better. Not more effective. Not more fun. Just simpler. And the question was about 'noob friendly' tank. Yes, once you get the hang of it, even the Shadow/Assassin eventually becomes comfortable and a breeze to play. I agree. That's totally true. I'm way more relaxed and comfortable running my Shadow, even though in theory it's more attention-intensive than the other tank styles. But see, I'm cool with it now...a couple months after launch. The Shadow was still the hardest to learn. midnitemonster: By the way, I never claimed stuff like the Vanguard/PT's lunge and pull are objectively better than the Guardian/Jugg's lunge, or that one could tank effectively at a distance. I simply said that they have lunge/pull and ranged attacks. Remember, the OP asked about learning the ins and outs of tanking. Knowing how to deal with lunge and pull abilities on one character is a good introduction. Having ranged attacks is just a quality of life thing. Makes your positioning easier. Lots of reasons. Ease of use and options. Saying that you can pick any class and eventually get the hang of it is true...but it doesn't answer the OP's question.

If the ping is the same, there's still an advantage - more players on the server during peak evening times in Singapore. I'm gonna shift a couple of alts to the new servers at least.

Dire-Wolf: I don't think you're being racist, and you do raise a valid concern. But think about this:- SWTOR is launching in the Asia-Pacific, but they're not translating the game into Chinese and Korean. They're not recording new voices. For now, SWTOR is only available in English, French and German. I think you can safely assume that for the time being, all Asian SWTOR players speak English. Maybe not perfect English, but c'mon, let's be frank - how many gamers type with perfect grammar and spelling anyway?

I'm in Singapore. Trust me, we're happy with this as well. I hope they have the free server transfers for other folks in the Asia-Pac/Oceanic region, though. Australian, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore players are definitely set, no worries for us. But there's lots of Malaysian players, Filipinos, Indonesians, and so on. I hope they qualify as well. I also hope it's a character transfer, rather than porting my whole roster to a different server. I'd certainly like to leave a couple of alts on my existing US server, to keep ties with my US friends. I imagine many folks feel the same. But I'll take whatever Bioware gives me! They've already done a great Valentine's Day present for our region.

Riggler gave some good advice there. Picking up on his last point - if you're playing a Scoundrel/Operative healer...no, you shouldn't be using the cover mechanic. It's well known that Scoundrel/Op is supposed to be the AC that doesn't use cover - it's for people who want to play a Smuggler/IA but don't like cover. That's sort of the point. A Scoundrel/Operative healer will be doing a lot of work in melee or close range. Your attacks are close range. And your healing depends on using the Upper Hand/Tactical Advantage buff...one reliable way to get it is to use your melee attack on enemies. It is possible to hang back and heal from behind cover, but this is very inefficient. Each of the three healing styles in this game is very different, so you'll have to see what works best for you. As noted above, Commandos/Mercs and Sages/Sorcs can work from 30 metres out, a Scoundrel/Op will work from 4-10 m. Commando/Merc uses an ammo/heat mechanic. Use of your basic free attack (it becomes a heal on allies) builds a unique buff on you. Once it reaches 30 stacks, you can burn this buff for a super-healing mode. And then start building again when it expires. Scoundrel/Op healing is based on the constant proc and consumption of its buff, which only builds up to 2 stacks max - hence the constant need to proc and use it. People often say that Scoundrel/Op is the Heal over Time class, but really this isn't precisely true - HoT is an important part of your arsenal, but not the lion's share of it. Sage/Sorc healing uses a mana bar. 'nuff said. You get a big fat bar of points, it goes down as you heal, it regens at a fixed rate. Simple. You do get some tricks later on to give you free Force back and so on, but the resource juggling isn't as core to the playstyle as the other two. Personally I think Sage/Sorc is the easiest and less stressful healer to play - but the other two can be really rewarding, and have a lot of advantages and their own nice toys.

Played both. Well, okay, played a Juggernaut and a Shadow rather than an Assassin, I'll be honest. But I know both styles, anyway. Juggernauts are easy to pick up, but hard to master. You'll find it really really hard to hold aggro early on, though this gets much better as you level up. The trick is toughing it out to then, especially if you're tanking Flashpoints and Heroics on your Juggernaut along the way. One advantage of being a Juggernaut is sheer bloody minded toughness. You're tough. You're damn tough. You have highly effective cooldown buffs. You have +defense proc'd from Retaliation, which costs you just 1 rage to activate once talented. You have a damage shield from Force Scream. Your Smash lowers enemy accuracy. So on, so forth. A Juggernaut is much harder to kill than an Assassin. Assassins are hard to pick up, but once you know the mechanics and get the hang of it...you're gold. It's a higher barrier for entry, but once you're there, the results roll in. You have more procs to watch out for, you need to know what your powers do and how they lock together. Even your cooldowns. All a Warrior needs to know is that if I hit one of these cooldowns, it will help me. An Assassin needs to know how it will help me. Assassins are not as tough as Juggernauts. No question. Especially when taking hits from multiple enemies due to the way Assassin mitigation works. I won't go into the details, just note that. I feel Assassins need durability buffs. But on the plus side, I feel the damage is better. Way better. Autocrit Shock, Wither, you're gonna roll face. It's damn nice damage output for a tank. Assassins also have more utility powers available. Way better crowd control - 60sec stun from stealth, f'ex. Force Pull to yoink enemies towards you. Lots of things. I also like Force Speed more than a lunge power, though this is a matter of taste. And Stealth. Oh good Lord, stealth is awesome to have. So there's pros and cons to each. I like both. I'd say I like the Assassin style a little more, and will probably eventually make an Assassin tank even though I already have a Shadow tank. But hey, pick your poison. Depends on your preferences.

Definitely Powertech/Vanguard, for several reasons: 1) Only tank that gets a lunge-to-target and a pull-target-to-self power. Juggernaut/Guardian gets lunge, Shadow/Assassin gets a pull. Powertech/Vanguard has both tools. 2) More ranged attacks than the other tanks, which gives you more flexibility. You still do most of your work in melee range, yes, but the option of ranged attacks is nice. 3) Fewer procs and conditional abilities to worry about - most of your mitigation is just straight up toughness. 4) Fewer attributes to gear, since you don't need to worry about +def as much as the Juggernaut/Guardian and Shadow/Assassin. 5) You get healer companions early on. A tank doesn't need to run with a healer companion - a DPS companion is a great match too - but tank + healer is HAHA YOU CAN'T KILL ME. Plus, if you need to tank group content where the other players are just DPS and not healers...well, so long as it's just three players, you can pop out your healer comp and go to town. Now, all that said - Juggernaut/Guardian and Shadow/Assassin have definite advantages to them too. But there's a higher learning curve. Juggs/Guards are easy to pick up, but hard to master, and tricky to hold aggro with especially while levelling. Shadow/Sin tanks do great damage for a tank and have a ton of utility tricks, but you need to be damn familiar with their mechanics to play one well. So you want Powertech/Vanguard if you're a new tank very unsure of yourself - because it's way more straightforward in comparison to the other two.

Other folks have covered this pretty well. Just some clarifications, from the way I see things: Faction - It'd probably help if you decided Republic or Imperial, unless you really don't care which, and the other criteria are more important. Hoods - All lightsaber advanced classes can get hooded gear, but how commonly available that gear is varies. You'll have a slightly easier time finding stuff with hoods on the Republic side, because a lot of Marauder and Juggernaut gear is actually hoodless armor or bodysuit looks. There are also more Marauder and Juggernaut chestpieces with the hoods permanently down, not up. Conversely, pretty much all the gear for Jedi Guardians is hooded. Hooded stuff is rarer for Sith Juggernauts and Sith Marauders. However, as a Jedi Shadow or Sith Assassin, you'll be swimming in hoods one way or another. Do note that if you want the hood up, you'll probably have to select 'Hide Head Slot' in options, and you shouldn't roll a Twi'lek. Head armor and Twi'lek heads will screw with the hoods. Resource and Playstyle - Sentinel/Marauder and Guardian/Juggernaut use a point-building system to fuel their attacks. You start with an empty bar. Some of your attacks build points. Other attacks cost points. If you've played a Warrior in WoW, this is similar. Conversely, Shadows/Assassins have a pretty standard mana bar mechanic, it starts at 100, it goes down as you cast attacks, and regenerates at a fixed rate. See which you prefer. Notably, if you're at all interested in playing a melee character with a significant number of long-ranged attacks as well, you want Shadow Balance-spec or Assassin Madness-spec. Seriously. If you just care about hitting things with your glowstick, then any of the other ACs and specs will be fine. Survivability and Downtime - You're looking for the least amount of downtime between groups, to just kill and move on. As an above poster noted, that means you most likely want to be a DPSer with a healer companion. Now, let's be clear, this doesn't necessarily mean you are killing things faster per-se, because your pet healer isn't gonna be shooting stuff as much while they're healing you. But it does mean you can kill, move on, kill, move on, you don't need to stop so much between groups. If that's the case, and you're looking for convenient PvE levelling, then I'll second what the above poster said:- the Sith Warrior (Marauder or Juggernaut ACs) gets their healer companion earlier, between level 16+ to early 20s, depending on how fast you clear your class quests. The Consular (Shadow) gets theirs just a little later, probably level 25ish, I wanna say. Which is still doable, mind. With one of the Knight ACs (Sentinel or Guardian) and Inquisitor (Assassin), you're looking more realistically at 35-40ish before you get your healer. Prior to that, you'd just have to run with a tank companion instead, most likely. It's worth noting that the Guardian/Juggernaut and Shadow/Assassin have the option of switching into tank stance and guarding your companion (or other players, if grouped) for extra durability. This is occasionally useful while solo, and even in some groups. You can do this even if spec'd for DPS - some of the tanking stuff is available in the basic Advanced Class. Sentinels/Marauders are pure DPS, and do not get these tanking tools. Spec - I really wouldn't worry so much about deciding on a precise spec/build - because you can always respec. Respec credit cost resets every week to zero, and since you'll always be DPS you don't need to re-gear between tanking and DPS if changing spec. Focus on choosing your class first. Story - I'll be frank, the Consular storyline is a little slow to start with. I liked it, but the Jedi Knight storyline is more of an action movie. The Sith Warrior and Inquisitor storylines are reasonably fast-based too.

With the exception of the belt and bracers, everything you see there is orange moddable. As TheMickey noted, the chest and gloves (these provide the flare bits around the forearms and wrists) are the Elegant set from the Coruscant Social Vendor - in the cantina under the Senate Tower area. They require Social I, which is easy to obtain. The pants and flared boots are Muse pieces from the Alderaan Equipment Commendations Vendor.

Jedi Consulars have a great range of looks, and the social gear just adds to that. Always cool to see what other folks have come up with. Here's my Jedi Shadow diplomat

You can get a full set of House Ulgo gear from the social vendor on Alderaan, located in the cantina near Castle Organa. Admittedly you do need to meet the social rank qualification. Likewise, a female character can get pretty nice-looking formal gear from Coruscant's cantina social vendor, which goes well with the white pants from the Alderaan commendation vendor if you don't like the ballgown bottoms look. If neither of those work for you, try Sacred Dramassian Silk Robe from the Alderaan Heroic 4 'Red Handed'. The icon on Torhead is wrong (for Consulars at least) - it's a caped outfit. If you can't get that, just trawl the Galactic Trade Network. There's a whole bunch of oranges that look something like that, or find a friendly Synthweaver.

First: Wrong forum for this, you want New Player Help or the Smuggler forums. This is the Crew Skills section, which is specifically for the discussion of item crafting and market stuff. Don't be surprised if the mods move your thread. But since I'm trying to be helpful: At level 10, you can choose the advanced class for your Smuggler - you can be a Scoundrel or Gunslinger. If you picked Scoundrel, your class trainer has a tab at the bottom for you to train Scoundrel abilities. This will include a heal. Alternatively, look for consumable items called Med Units - they heal you AND your companion at once. Biochem crafters can make these; if you don't know any Biochem crafters, ask on General chat or search the Galactic Trade Network. You will get gear upgrades specifically for Corso as quest rewards. Corso can also wear player gear - the same stuff used by Troopers - from drops, vendors, crafters, etc. If you meant changing his facial appearance, you need to equip a customisation item. Check the Security Key vendor, vendors in cantinas on various planets.

There are several good web talent builders. Torhead's is one, also try DarthHater's

I'm a little confused. How are you healing other players as a Shadow? All the ally heals are in the Sage AC. For Shadow DPS, you're looking at some variation of Infiltration or Balance specs. I haven't played Infil, but from what I understand Infiltration relies on stealth more, has overall better melee damage, and gets good at an earlier level, making levelling up more convenient. Better burst, more self-sufficient. I have played Balance - it has the best range for a Shadow (more 30m attacks), superior CC (instant Force Lift, with stun on breaking). It does Damage over Time, and DoTs can be real useful in stopping folks from capturing points. But burst is lower, and it doesn't level as smoothly - the spec takes longer to come together.

See, you're looking at this as an outside observer, not from the perspective of someone actually playing the Shadow tank. A lot of the issues identified in this thread are obvious to any Shadow player, like Kinetic Ward going poof too fast in focus fire conditions. They may not be immediately obvious to someone else. Moreover, a lot of Shadow tanks will acknowledge Guardians need attention as well. But even if Shadows are perceived as performing 'better' than Guardians, it doesn't mean these Shadow issues do not exist. It simply means these issues are not impacting our gameplay as much. Hell, some Shadow problems are outright bugs (or inaccurate tooltips) - nobody can argue these need to be addressed eventually. So sure, fix Guardians first, but Shadows need attention too.