Hey everyone, just thought I'd post links to the boss guides I wrote for Sithwarrior.com Posts are a bit rough as I'm still going through video/screenshots/combat logs and pulling out ability names and exact descriptions, but the fight explanations should be accurate (although still in need of some formatting and cleaning up). In the next day or two I'll add diagrams, videos, and more details (HP, abilities, etc) to each of the fights. Overall I found the fights extremely fun. They are very mechanic based (good) and requires people to be very raid aware. This is a HUGE step up from Bioware's previous raids, and the higher difficulties will really make people work for the kills. First Encounter: Zorn and Toth: http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-EC-Zorn-and-Toth-Story-Mode Second Encounter: Firebrand and Stormcaller: http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-EC-Firebrand-and-Stormcaller-Story-Mode Third Encounter: Colonel Vorgath: http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-EC-Colonel-Vorgath-Story-Mode (And yes, there is a PTS forum, but these are not my opinions or feedback - these are purely informational posts on Operations.) I'll try to answer any questions people may have, but I spend most of my forum time over at sithwarrior.com, so sending me a PM there is much more likely to receive an answer.

Hey everyone, Sith Warrior (sithwarrior.com) has basic boss guides for all of the new bosses in Karagga's Palace. They'll be updated, cleaned up, and made pretty over the next day or two, but all the information needed to down the bosses can be found there, and any questions someone has can be answered. http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Forum-Tier-1-Operations Enjoy!

It's certainly possible to switch back and forth in hard/NiM mode. Our first couple weeks in we did the first boss on hard, because his cannonade hits for 20k and our DPS just couldn't quite take it. We'd then go and do all the other bosses on NiM up to Soa, then switch back to HM for him. Now we just do it all on nightmare up to Soa and then switch back to hard. Never seen a bug related to this. You do have to reset your phase between each switch, and you can only do so every 5 minutes. Maybe you ran into issues with that.

"So? If you waited 6 months for BIS that'd be easy. Stop trying to nerf content after only 3 weeks just because it's literally impossible"... These forums make my day, sometimes. Other times, they make me want to cry. Guess we wait for everyone (Who probably hasn't even stepped foot into EV or even hit lvl 50) to show us how you can do 6.6k crits every global, and how wrong we are.

Can confirm, neither social or alignment points are gained in any hardmode flashpoint, *after the first time they are done.* I did receive gains the very first time I did each one though. Sadly, since I leveled alone (hit 50 day 4) I'm still social 1. This means my only real option to raise my rank is farming normal mode flashpoints solo, instead of letting it naturally raise as a grouped at lvl 50 as I intended.

Just want to confirm everything the OP said. I was actually coming here to make a post on this myself. Our Mind traps were showing up at 214,000 - not 220, or 240, but either way, it's all impossible. Those are the same numbers as on 16man, and even on 16 man that's just not doable. To put it into perspective for some who don't believe - the first boss has about 600,000 hp. That means EACH mind trap on soa - which you have 20 seconds or less to kill (with between 1 and 3 DPS out of the picture) has 1/3rd of the health of the first boss. You have 5+ minutes to kill him. Yes, obviously, things should be harder between Normal mode and Nightmare Mode, but you're not doing anything but trolling if you think this is intended. Look at the difference between tionese and Rakata gear. At MOST it's a 20% dps increase (I'd call it more like 10%.) Having 80kish HP on these Mind traps would be HARD. It's a good challenge though. Having 214k though is just a joke. As an aside, this fight is very fun on Hard Mode, and is the only fight so far that's remotely challenging. Hopefully future instances will be more like this particular encounter, where you don't 1 shot it on nightmare with a half geared PUG group on Christmas day, like we did with a couple of the bosses. Not sure what numbers you've seen, but I call BS. Even IF (not possible - not even remotely) someone could kill their add on infernal council in 30 seconds - that's only about 4,000 dps. That's not enough. That's besides the point though, because even in absolute BiS gear I'd like to see someone do it in 60 seconds - 2,000 dps. There's a difference between blowing all your 1.5 - 5min CDs and doing 5,000 dps for 3 seconds, and sustaining 5,000 dps. I doubt there's anyone who can even sustain 2,000 right now. Or ever, until a new tier is added.

Mine's critting for 800+ with about 1800wp, 615ish power, and 75% crit multiplier. That's actually more than that republic in the video, but both are very close. As far as working as intended... mine always hits for those two upfront hits even if someone moves out. So, however it appears on your screen, in effect, it IS healing once, and then as a hot if they stay in it. The two numbers pop up behind eachother, and can be hard to see, but they've always been there for me. Wouldn't mind seeing a video of you cast yours, so I can see how yours looks, but without a doubt mine is hitting upfront, for the same amount as a republic character.

I actually think it's working as intended for us. If you notice in the video, it hits for about 1400 and then a second later starts ticking for a smaller amount. When I cast the heal I get two ticks upfront, instantly, for about 800 each. AFter a second, it keeps ticking. It seems to be the exact same amount of healing, however republic has 1 large tick upfront, and we have 2 small ones. Same healing, at the same time.

Only time I let people die is if it benifits the win. Doing that, I still get plenty of medals. As far as your last sentence... that's the real issue. It has nothing to do with healing/dps/tanking medals being balanced or not, but rather the fact that you get medals for healing/dpsing/tanking, instead of playing the game.

You're right, but my point is that healers can get a lot of medals. Sure, not all from pure healing, but my position is that pure healing is bad anyways. Playing as a team, and supporting your group, WILL get you as many medals as anyone else. Honestly, if anything, DPS gets the shaft. Healers and tanks can (and should) both get DPS medals, but DPS can't get heal medals. To stay on topic, I think healing medals are perfectly fine where they are. I do think the 5k heal is pretty insanely hard to get at this point, but then again we're only 3 weeks into launch. Once people are fully geared I expect healers to easily pick up all 4 healing medals, in addition to 3 - 5 of the DPS ones.

Gotta really disagree with you here. Utility is VERY OFTEN better than pure DPS or pure heals. knockbacks, stuns, CCs, snares, killing people, etc, reduces the overall damage being dealt to friendlies. Often times an interrupt or CC will reduce incoming damage WAY more than what a heal will heal for. Play smart, don't tunnel on what you're "supposed" to do.

More badges/Valor And you're 100% right with your last sentence. If someone is at 10% health (1.2k - 2k) and they are hitting the person I'm trying to heal for 5 - 9k, what is better? My instant cast shock, that will kill them, and stop me from healing for 1.5 seconds? Or using my 2 second heal (with haste) to heal them for 5k, and that I'll have to repeat over and over? Obviously, removing the threat (Kill/CC/Stun/Interrupt) is OFTEN worth stopping my healing for a few seconds. Sometimes, I even let people die so that I can interrupt people about to cap an objective. Healers are part of the team just like anyone else, and our ultimate goal is to win. If I have to let someone die so that I can sprint across and score, so be it. Obviously, keeping people up is ideal, but anyone who just mindlessly spams heals is doing their team a disservice, ESPECIALLY as a sorcerer. We're freaking beasts. With my 10% resilience, and 8% increased heals to myself (talents), I: Take 10% less Damage Do 10% more healing to other people Do 18% more healing to myself. 10% less damage taken + 18% healing done effectively means I'm 28% more survivable than someone else. Add my utility, a guard, and good healing to that, and I can live with 5 - 6 people on me for a minute plus. (Assuming those people aren't also in 10% gear). My point being, oftentimes, as a Sorc healer, the BEST thing I can do is heal myself while I run the ball, and let everyone else live/die. It might not sound nice on paper, but it wins games. In Alderan/Void I can turtle in front of a door or turret, and can generally hold it against several people, indefinitely. If they come with 5 or 6, I can almost always last long enough to get some help over. Sitting there spamming heals on myself, interrupting enemies when they try to cap, is honestly one of the most useful things I can do in a warzone. You lose my healing, but I'm tying up 2 - 4 people from their team. I think 1 person effectively removing 2 - 4 others is about as good as you can ask for.

1. Hardly. I don't die most of my games, and many times the people I run with get 9 medals with no deaths. (Granted, I run a premade with people in full champ gear.) I tend to guard a turret in Alderan by myself, and I can take 3 people most of the time, and kill all of them. Easy solo kills, and TOTALLY doing my job. (Again, I have 10% expertise. Makes a HUGE difference.) 2. I RARELY cast my aoe heal. Resurgence and innervate make up about 80% of my healing. Each Innervate heals for between 5 - 7k, with a 7.5 second CD. (2 piece set bonus). That means, on inervate alone, in 7.5 minutes I do 300k healing. Add in all the other stuff I can cast during that 7.5 second CD... 300k heals are easy. 4. Eh, If I do 10 warzones, it's probably 4 huttball, and 3 of each of the others. Guess I have good server balance. In the last 2 weeks (again, running with a premade, HUGE difference, I know) I've lost 2 warzones. Most of the time I'm the only healer. I think it's fair to say I have an accurate representation of what you COULD achieve. Granted, running with pugs, without expertise gear, and not being level 50... sure, it's a different story. My only point is it's like crying that you can't solo a 50 elite when you're 30. Played to it's potential, with a premade, you don't need ANY more healing medals. What we need is medals for playing the damn game. Scoring, defending, etc.

1. Being a healer is the EASIEST way to solo a player. An Operative in 10% expertise gear is the ONLY thing that can come close to taking me 1v1. Affliction snare, interrupts, root, and blowing your CDs on your Lighting strike/shock should allow you to take down any form of DPS in less than 15 seconds. 2. 300k healing is pretty easy to get. 3. Recklessness + Adrenal + Shock = 3k. Get some Expertise. 4. Defender medals are just free Medals in Alderan. They're not that hard to get in Huttball either. QFT

There's also a medal for 5k heals that no one here has mentioned. Been over a week since I haven't received that in a match. I tend to pull 6 - 7 medals on an average game, and up to 11 if I do well. Heal: 2.5k heal 5k heal 75k healing 300k healing - (can confirm there's nothing for 500k or 600k.) DPS: 2.5k damage - (Get this on a sorc if I pop my CDs and get a crit, hard to do) Killing blow - (if you can't get this, you fail) 75k damage done (hard to do if you're healing constantly, but I get this one half the time) Solo kill - (probably get this one every 4 or 5 games. Generally someone comes in and hits the enemy before I finish them. 10 enemies slain 25 enemies slain - (toss an affliction up on everyone - 2 easy medals) Objectives: 1k defender points 3k defender points There's 12 medals right there that are easy(ish) to get. If you pwn the other team and are farming kills in hutball you can get the 300k damage one as well. Honestly, if you get less than 5 medals your team either just wrecked the enemy team and you had no time, or you weren't playing very well.