I played SWTOR at launch but took a hiatus shortly after RotHC. Just came back to the game and am trying to get up to speed on all the changes to my beloved Operative. SWTOR has always suffered from a bit of "ability bloat". I'm curious about how you have your bars set up? It seems I have a half dozen self-heals, a few abilities that spend TA that are more utility in nature, and a distinct absence of Orbital Strike and Carbine Burst. Are there any abilities that are pretty much useless for Concealment Ops? Right now I literally have all abilities on my bars while I "re-learn" how to play, but I'd like to trim it down to the essentials and useful utility abilities. Any feedback is appreciated. I've been gone for 3+ years and so much has changed to the class and the game as a whole, it's a bit overwhelming.

Ah, OK. Thanks. We thought they were dispatchers. Lesson learned!

We did an 8m SM tonight and couldn't get past wave 5. We split into two groups (T, D, D, H each) and on wave 5 with the bulwarks and dispatchers, but we keep losing healers. For some reason they'd just suddenly start taking massive damage (I assume reflective, despite healers not DPS'ing and everyone standing within the shield). Group 1 stacked on West, and Group 2 stacked on East. Everyone was within their respective bulwark shield. We tried killing the bulwarks first. As soon as 1 bulwark would die, we'd suddenly take massive damage spikes. So we tried killing the dispatchers first, and the same thing would happen--we'd get big damage spikes. One of our tanks died to his own AOE attack, despite being stacked up on the bulwark. We couldn't even get the East and West groups killed to go handle South. Meanwhile, OT was keeping boss busy so he wouldn't hit either group with a cone attack. I'm just not sure what we're doing wrong. Saw the Dulfy guide but it seems to imply all you need to do on those waves is stack within the bulwark shield and pew pew. Thoughts?

Thanks! Bought a card from them, and had to do phone verification since I'm in the US and paid with Paypal. But otherwise it was a breeze. Redeemed the code on the SWTOR site and had my pet waiting when I logged in.

If I buy this card, but have a US account, will the code work? Or are they region-locked?

Thanks for the prompt reply. The success sound definitely played for me, but the schematic does not appear in my character's Artifice menu. I even logged out and logged back in hoping it might change, but no luck. The thread you linked to is informative, but seems to center around Arkanian and Underworld relics. This was a Dread Guard relic. Not sure if that matters in the grand scheme of things, but I wanted to mention it. Please let me know if there are any steps I should take next.

Earlier today I tried to reverse engineer a Dread Guard relic I had purchased for 150 Classic Comms. The item had a tooltip saying there was a 20% chance to learn. I began the RE process and was excited when I heard the "success" sound the game normally plays when you learn a new schematic. However, a red text error message popped up: "No reverse engineering information available for 'Dread Guard Relic of Shield Amplification'". The loot window that normally pops up with a few paltry mats from the RE process was curiously empty. I checked my Artifice menu, and the schematic is not listed. So now I am without the relic, no mats, no comms, and no schematic. I attempted to submit a ticket, but received a "the system is unable to process your request" error so I am turning to the CS forums for help. Bioware, since I got the success sound, I'm assuming my attempt to learn the schematic was successful. I'd like the schematic. If not, the very least that needs to happen is my comms need to be refunded. Thanks.

Well, I am primarily talking about not having to taunt bosses pre-2.0. I mean, I might have fired off one taunt at the outset of a fight, but normally I'd save my taunts for mechanics (ex. Toth/Zorn HM switch) instead of working it into a rotation. It just seemed unnecessary--nobody EVER pulled a boss off me pre-2.0. And in 2.0 I'm still not having problems with boss threat, but I am on trash... especially in the new HM FP's where you might have trash packs consisting of 6 or 7 mobs. It's just hard for me to keep everyone corralled. Quite honestly, I think Sonic Missile is broken or bugged. I'll fire it off into a trash pack of, say, 5 mobs, and will watch 2 of them still make a bee-line for a healer or dps, even if that dps isn't hitting that particular mob. It's weird. And I'm not the only PT tank in my guild this seems to happen to. Conversely, on my Shadow tank, I can hit Mass Mind Control and mobs are on me like Hutt on cake--no strays. What's the range limit on Sonic Missile? The tooltip just says all "nearby" enemies, whereas MMC specifies a range (15m from the tank). Is SM's range based on where you fire it TO, or where YOU are standing (like MMC)? Thanks for breaking it down. That's actually quite helpful. Small favor: would you mind linking your spec, as well as posting your AOE rotation? TIA. So, to clarify: firing off a taunt will put you on top of the highest threat on the targets hate list + 30% more hate? But from the outset of the taunt, right? Not continuously for 6 seconds? I'm thinking of situations where maybe a sniper drops Orbital Strike--if I'm concerned about losing the mob, I am better served taunting after all 3 strikes hit, as opposed to just after the first one, correct?

See, this was my thinking pre-2.0. In 1.7, I almost NEVER had to taunt (see OP). Jet Charge + 2x Flame Sweep + Flame Thrower was enough to hold aggro on even the pickiest trash packs. Bosses were never a problem, and still aren't in 2.0 (good god, what kind of tank would I be?). But with trash in 2.0 I'm finding taunting is somewhat of a necessity now, at least in my gear. I'm hoping as my gear improves (keeps pace with, or out-paces, the DPS that I'm running with) that this will be less of an issue over time.

But dipstik and keyboardninja seem to vary in their respective threads on whether or not stacking Defense (kbn) is preferred over stacking Shield (dipstik). Interested in your thoughts here, because you seem to grasp it better than I do. Admittedly, math is not my strong suit, so a lot of the formulae go over my head. But reading both threads as a layman, it still seems that there's no discernible mitigation differences if you prioritize Defense over Shield Chance. The only thing that seems to be in agreement is that Absorb is pointless until you're in full Underworld and/or have a stat budget in excess of 2500. If anything, I would think stacking Defense and Shield somewhat evenly is preferred (not the %'s, but the budgets), leaving Absorb for those unavoidable situations where you can't drop it (implants, earpiece, relic, etc.) and it's more like a "passive" stat than one you actively stacked. Or am I waaayy off-base in my grasp of dipstik and kbn's threads?

Thanks for all the replies. I will probably keep my spec as-is for now and make minor adjustments as my gear improves (specifically dropping the endurance from Integrated Cardio talent in favor of something for threat, like Prototype Burn Enhancers or Iron Fist). The jury is still out on trading Fire Storm for Rail Loaders, IMO. One thing I have done, in response to KeyboardNinja's theorycrafting, is to stack Defense with my new MK-9 augments. This has resulted in current stats of 21.52% (1052) Defense, 32.42% (496) Shield Chance, and 29.52% (207) Shield Absorb. My guild ran SnV SM the other night (we got past Thrasher before it got too late to continue) and I had absolutely NO problems with survivability. My usual healers said I seemed to be taking less damage than I was before, which is nice. Of course, it could also be that everyone's gear is improving organically. Threat was still a bit of a problem with our snipers, but nothing I couldn't handle. Side Question: in a few threads, I've noticed people are saying the BiS relics are a tank relic and the "healing relic", but nobody ever says which one. Does anyone know specifically the BiS relics for tanks in 2.0? Thanks!

I'm hoping this is just an oversight by Bioware and that both the pets and the mounts will return. There's no reason to remove them. Yet they keep the Aratech speeder missions in, which are now easier than ever to obtain. SMH

Finally racked up enough WZ comms and valor to buy this speeder, and I can't seem to find it for sale from the PVP items vendor anymore. Was it removed, or simply moved to a different vendor? If removed, why???

Having issues with both threat and survivability in 2.0. This was never a problem pre 2.0, so I'm reaching out to the community to see if anyone else is experiencing the same, or if I need to tweak my build and/or rotation? At L-55, I'm running 36/8/2. Thanks to some lucky drops in HM 55 FP's, I'm sitting at 32,500 HP, 16.5% Def, 34.1% SC and 33% SA. Survivability: My usual healers (Operative and Sorc) both say I'm taking a lot more bursty damage than I did pre 2.0, and I agree. I'm not quite happy with how they changed Heat Screen to be consumed with Heat Blast and only good for 6 seconds rather than stacked with Flame Sweep and Flame Burst and good for 15. But either way it certainly doesn't seem to offer anywhere near the defensive benefits as it used to. Threat: I've also noticed that Sonic Missile doesn't seem to work as it used to. I've fired it directly at trash mobs in 55 FP's and still watched them make a bee-line for a healer or DPS. Not sure if it's bugged, but it's just one of many threat issues I'm having. Pre 2.0, my opener would usually be Jet Charge + the 2 free Flame Sweeps. I'd then toss out Flame Thrower and Rocket Punch various mobs as it went on CD until the pack was dead. Even in HM Ops, this would be enough to keep trash on me without needing to taunt. But in a pinch I'd do Carbonize + Explosive Dart, and MAYBE use Sonic Missile if we had a bunch of Orbital Strike-happy IA's. But for the most part threat was never an issue. If a single mob started to head towards DPS or heals, a Rocket Punch, Grapple (if they got too far) or even a Rapid Shot was all it took to bring them back. Post 2.0, I'm having a helluva time keeping mobs on me as a PT. Comparatively, my Jedi Shadow tank has no such issues, and actually seems to have seen some improvements in survivability. So am I doing something wrong? Or are we just feeling the growing painsof new gear + new level content? Any tips on build, rotation, and stat balance for the post 2.0 PT tank would be much appreciated. Thanks! EDIT: FWIW, I have 1.97% Alacrity (138 rating) due to a few new drops, but I am still not sure of its viability for PT tanks. Thoughts?

Gotcha. It doesn't make sense to me why they'd choose such a low cap, but I guess with the ability to earn unlimited Planetary Comms is a somewhat fair trade-off. You'd just have to spend-as-you-go to stay below the 50 cap. As for the other comm caps, I'm OK with that. We've been rather spoiled for a while now, able to gear up alts and companions far too easily. With the weekly caps in place, it actually forces me to think and choose which gear I want and plan my gear progression carefully. As opposed to right now, where gearing up is like being a fat guy at a buffet restaurant.