Go with the spec with offers the most dps for the minimum effort possible - and thats lethality. In all honesty none of the specs have a complicated rotation, but don't forget that in end-game encounters you're going to going to be moving around a lot or have your rotation in general disturbed by something like a boss mechanic or running to the aid of the healer. Which is also why lethality is golden - its the most mobile of the specs where your first 4-5 abilities don't even require you to be in cover.

It really is miles above every other armor set available for the agent. I absolutely hate our end-game look so I was delighted when I finally picked up the entire vendetta set That being said I'm not a fan of the helmet, or maybe it just looks awkward with my agent's hairstyle. I much prefer the master medic headgear to go with it.

Short answer - no. There might be a few green pieces of armour that give you a close enough look, but them being greenies doesn't make them feasible really. You can look like an Imperial 'officer' pretty easily, but the trooper looks seems reserved for the CE folk.

Male body type 2 is hardly 'boyish', unless steroid junkies are your norm. I'd say that 1 is 'boyish' and 2 represents the average male physique. But I agree that a body type between 2 and 3 would do nicely.

I get the impression BW expected most Agents to roll with Lokin so they didnt think she'd be that big a loss, thats how awesome Lokin is I do feel for Operative healers though, they're more or less stuck with Kaliyo throughout the long haul.

I never really thought to check the gear if I'm honest, or the tank's stance (he was a Guardian), so perhaps that was somewhat my fault. Ahh well thanks for the pointers, I'll be sure to be more scrutinous over my group members, though in my defense I'm only used to grouping with guild members so I usually take things like appropriate spec, gear and stance for granted. Also in my situation the DPS tended to side with the tank for whatever reason (no idea if it was a fellow guildie, friend or whatever), so in hindsight I think the best situation would have been to leave the clowns to their fate and get on the GF queue again (not really all that taxing for a healer).

A couple of things - firstly I never claimed that the year off was a disadvantage, only that it was the reason I no longer had a guild and was hence forced to pug. I remember the mechanics quite clearly. And trust me I was more or less spamming Disappearing act and surrender off CD because of the group, so I never always had it available. I was actually standing up for myself - reminding the group that I shouldn't be healing the DPS and myself more than the tank, and hinting that the tank really ought to be doing a better job with aggro. Alas its a little difficult to get your point sincerely across when the entire group decide from the beginning to paint you as the scapegoat for anything that goes pearshaped. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not this fragile, sensitive little flower that crumbles at any sign of 'bullying', I've dealt adequately with bullies in the real world and I can deal with them with pleasure in MMOS too. Perhaps my only downfall is my patience and civility - I tend not to want to engage in mindless e-peen arguments online with the whole "do you even lift brah?!" rhetoric, instead opting for manners and courtesy. Perhaps they were futile and wasted in the case of this group. I only reported them after they insisted with the insults AFTER I'd left the group - prior to that I was happy to ignore these clowns for ever and move on, but the fact they felt the need to pursue their clown levels of behaviour for me felt they prompted being reported. And trust me this isn't just about my sole experience, after that little ordeal I grouped with others and cleared content with ease. It was just a little surreal seeing a group gang up on you when you were clearly not in the wrong, perhaps people were desperate to deflect any sort of blame and hence jumped on the first scapegoat bandwagon which happened to be me. Its exemplifies a sad portrayal of some jerkish behaviour in PUGs if anything.

Just thought I'd share the worst flashpoint experience I've ever had on this game the other day (its a long one I warn you). Now usually I don't pug, since I always roll with my guild, however I've only recently returned to this game after a long hiatus and without a guild now, so PUGing has become the norm for me. So I just hit 50 with my Scoundrel, and have leveled him as a healer all the way. I geared myself up in a nice gear including Rakata craftables and some 140 rating GTN gear. I'd like to think I know my class healing mechanics very well and not once have I messed up a group doing so. Granted I've always been DPS with my Sniper main, but after research and experience I was sure I was ready to go as a healer. Ok so I queue up for any HM flashpoint and get a group for the easiest one - Esseles. We start the group relatively simple enough but then I'm noticing a trend - I'm healing the DPS more than I'm healing the tank, but I think nothing of it since this is just trash. The tank then drops a peculiar comment - "hey healer focus on healing only", a strange comment considering I haven't used a single offensive ability the whole time. But regardless we move on. We get to the first boss which we down with no problems, except I found myself healing the DPS and myself more than the tank, no bother I think, the group were probably in a rush and didnt bother with traditional tactics and just wanted to faceroll it. Then we got to that second boss - the Mandalorian, thats when things went horrific. For some reason the DPS always initiated the pull, and the tank was doing god knows what. Suddenly, I find I'm taking the most of the threat and damage, so Im healing myself more than anyone else. Inevitably I end up dying, and hence the group wipes. It was then at this point I was greeted with an onslaught of insults in the group chat - "OMG healer u noob" "heal yourself otherwise we all die" "*** group will go reaaly slowly with this noob healer" See, me being a fresh healer (in terms of end-game content) I thought it was probably my fault that we all wiped, (actually I had a niggling suspicion at the back of my mind that we died because the DPS fancied himself as the tank, whereas the tank was doing something else) but I did the humble thing put it down as my mistake and apologised. So we had another go at the boss, and this time I was working my *** off healing not just the tank, but both DPS and myself - all of us for whatever reason swapping aggro between the boss. Now again I find myself in the position where Im heal-tanking, while the DPS and tank go AWOL. Naturally I die first again, and the group wipes. Again I get greeted with the insults which become more nefarious - "OMG go kill yourself you nooob, delete ur character etc" Now at this point I was done being polite and humble. I did something I would never do in an MMO and told them I was sure i was doing everything right and kindly instructed they go **** themselves, and left the group. It didnt end there, back in the fleet I was being spammed with private messagess by 2 of the 3 group members, continuing with the extreme insults. Now naturally, I ignored and reported them but I was shockened by the much of jerk they were. Heck, they went beyond 'jerk' levels, they were flat out cold and evil in their insults. Now for me being a relatively experienced player I laughed off the experience, but I could imagine how disconcerting and demoralising that might be for a new player freshly hitting level 50. So if you do come across idiots like that who are not willing to tell you where you went wrong (or in my case deny their mistakes), then dont take it to heart, tell them to do one, leave the group and find another one. Sorry for the long rant.

lol that was the best part of the story for me, when they took her I was all like "yeaaaah alright Empire! I've been waiting for this since level 8". I was hoping they'd never give her back and she was forever used as torture practice for new acolytes Sadly she's back on my ship now, so I make sure she's permanently on the crafting table so I dont have to see her everytime I walk into the ship.

Well that's the thing, many people lucky enough to have it drop sometimes sell it for cheapish prices, thinking they're just another generic orange drop. Though most the time they average 2million credits at the minimum. I remember before 1.2 where you couldn't take out mods from end-game gear, back then Vendetta gear was being sold for peanuts. In hindsight I should have bought the pieces en masse, I would have made an absolute fortune today

The coat is unfortunately only a green quest reward I got from Corellia. I only wear it on the fleet or where I'm not expected to engage in any combat. Though I think Armormechs can create a very similar one which can be RE'd to purple quality. The pants were just normal Rakata pants I unified to match the coat.

Well I've finished the class story and in my story: , so as far as I'm concerned I'm only an Imperial sharpshooter specialist now hence it makes perfect to be wearing Imperial military attire.

I love the traditional Imperial look. Field uniform: http://i.imgur.com/9LD7FGs.jpg Off-duty: http://i.imgur.com/iWDqWc3.jpg

^ I'd argue Risha is actually one of the better developed romances. You don't have her as an active companion until the end of Act 1, but she's always around in your ship and very much part of your crew from the beginning of the act. The end-game result with her is pretty serious too:

Go with the Scoundrel - feels more mobile and dynamic out of all the healers. Lots of utility too in the form of CC and stuns, and you have a neat "oh ****" ability which lets you cloak out of danger. Not to mention Smugglers are a cooler class than Consulars and Troopers combined