This is why I believe the game didn't launch with combat logs and why we don't have them yet. Based on purely theorycrafting, there is a 20%+ DPS difference (unacceptable for a "top end" game) between some classes for a straight up tank and spank style fight. Being able to see this sort of imbalance in practice would probably cause a riot -- based on how people overreact to everything else.

There's a thread in every AC forum about how they suck in PvP. If everyone sucks, sounds like it's balanced to me.

Oh. Woops. I was thinking Kinetic Ward. But yeah. Kinetic Field won't show up.

It's under the Shadow tab of your ability book.

As other have pointed out, Voice Chat helps with on the fly changes (missing interrupts, getting CC'd, etc) that would be difficult to alert to the raid via typing. Honestly, with so much going on in modern games, I hardly ever read my chat box. Ever. If people are chit-chatting over vent during a raid, it's poor leadership. Personally, I have muted people in vent during my time playing WoW because they had diarrhea of the mouth which made it hard to hear things when the raid leader called stuff out/making assignments. Although, normal modes are so easy that I could probably roll my cat across the keyboard with my monitor turned off and still win. Outside of that, if people still refuse to use TS/Vent for OPs, then my advice is to not join PuGs/Guilds that require it. No one is forcing you to join those groups/guilds.

Only thing I really have to add is that Clairvoyant Strike, Shadow Strike, and Spinning Strike are all subject to the 8/10% (depends on what site you read. both figures are best guesses for the time being) avoidance of bosses. Force and Tech attacks are unavoidable so Force Breach and Project are unaffected by Accuracy. I could write you a longer answer based on my own merits and stalking SithWarrior, but the jest of it is this: Accuracy capped (8/10% or 252/329 rating)* Crit to ~300 Surge ~200 (was way better prior to the patch 1.1.3 nerf) Power Crit Surge Accuracy past 8/10% As Boarg pointed out, we don't have a whole lot of freedom in customizing stats so, in a way, we get stuck with what we get. So spreadsheet analysis and EP values may be irrelevant unless you’re in a guild getting tons of excess drops from which you can just rip modifications out of. However, it’s not too bad. There’s 306 Accuracy Rating on the Rakata gear (Weapon, Head, Chest, Gloves, Boots, Legs) or 357 with the Rakata Stalker Earpiece (I know some people are grabbing the Force Master earpiece due to the higher Willpower and their assumption the hit cap is 8%).There is 336 Accuracy Rating on a full set of Columi gear. So, really, stat allocation isn’t that bad especially if the hit cap is 10%. If you’re looking at Tionese gear paired with poorly selected purple crafted earpiece/implant/focus, then yes, there could potentially have a ridiculous amount of Accuracy Rating. If anything, I feel there’s too much crit rating available on Rakata gear, and swapping out Crit/Acc enhancements for Acc/Power enhancements and Crit mods for Power mods maybe be an option to explore for min/maxing. If you’re running NMs, there should be no shortage of Rakata gear to rip stuff out of. At any rate, I'm not ready to carve in stone the accuracy of my spreadsheet since it hasn't sufficiently been scrutinized at this point. So take this rambling however you will. *Accuracy rating per point drops off significantly before getting capped. I only recommend getting capped to avoid getting screwed over by the RNG gods with a string of misses on Spinning/Shadow/Clairvoyant Strike. The addition of Spinning Strike to the rotation during the "execute phase" of a boss fight increases the value of Accuracy during that time frame. The last thing anyone would want is to miss a couple Shadow or Spinning Strikes in the closing seconds of a neck-and-neck boss fight. Avoid RNG where possible. Note: This rambling is based solely on an Infiltration build. If you're playing Balance, I would ignore this as I can't say, with any amount of honesty, that these generalizations hold true for that tree -- or hybrid builds.

I would like to add another suggestion for the GTN: Ability to search for gear by slot.

Ripped from SithWarrior in regards to tanking stats for ***./Shadows:

Since all secondary stats suffer from diminishing returns (except power), it's hard to say what would be best for each individual. Kor at SithWarrior is working on a SimCraft module for Assassins/Consulars. Only then will you be able to get a definitive answer. However, in all likelihood, the Rakata* implants will be better since Crit/Surge will be lower in value per point due to diminishing returns assuming you're in Columi or Rakata gear. *Some of the Rakata daily comm. rewards have more stam than primary stat. These may not be better than MC items for that slot.

It's coming. Don't fret. And it will hopefully be cross-server assuming BioWare learns from Trion's mistake.

This is why I don't see the AoE on Slow Time as that big of a deal in PvP. You should never clump up. If you clump up, you'll get destroyed by Sages/Sorc's or Commandos/Mercenaries. The AoE slow by Slow Time even makes it more important to not clump up. Snare + massive AoE = a lot of dead fools who clumped up.

This will not exist in raid scenarios. They are DPS or Tank. The tree and the gear you have determine your role. If you're geared properly and have the appropriate trees filled out, you'll be able to DPS or tank just as well as any other DPS or Tank. If you're in a tank spec using DPS gear (or vice versa), you're half useless. PvP is a whole other story. "Hybrid" talent distribution is popular to increase survivability. @OP: +1 iDiggory

The "tank" companions are junk unless you're a healing Sage. I have used Tharan exclusively since I got him. My other companions are glorified farmers.

If I could do it over again, I would've gone Assassin. Not necessarily because of the ability delay of Project, but because 70% of my server is Empire. As such, quality players are far and few in between, and Ilum is just stupid.

Or I could trust what he wrote. He could have very well been correct in what he wrote and erred on the talent calculator. At any rate, I agree with Hydruz. Bioware needs to hurry up with combat logging.