I don't know what magical computer you guys are using, but I can't get this game to run on Windows 8, no matter what I try. I spent hours downloading it, then when I launched it played the movies and then dropped with to desktop. Without any errors. I rebooted and now even the launcher wont appear. Nice.

There is a mixture of issues here. Firstly, being stuck on an empty server is absolutely miserable. As mentioned, trying to get a group together for a heroic is impossible. I've spent 2 hours on the fleet with me as tank and a healer with me, begging people to join our flashpoint for maelstrom and not a single response. Which brings me to my next issue. Ease the pain by implementing a grouping system. At the moment, I picked a busy US server to live on for a while and although the fleet can peak at 130 people, lets me honest, most people are idiots. You have people spamming chat with drivel, quoting memes etc and of course you have others doing crew skills and such. Meaning that out of the 130 people, 2 are interested in joining your group. Far short of offering credits as a bribe, I can't get people to join a group. Which now brings me on to my final issue of the day. You know what guys? Its not worth it either. During a 2 hour Taral V session, with a stupid tank, I was rewarded with 4k xp. Which as you can imagine is NOTHING. When I can make 20k doing my space dailies and take a fraction of the time. Bioware, if your going to make us wait for hours to get a group, then play through a long flashpoint, can the rewards at least be worth it? I've had better rewards doing single quests on Hoth.

I had to re-roll on a US server. The EU one I was on was a ghost town most of the time, finding anyone to quest with was a chore and got so bad, every heroic quest I was given I had to abandon right away as I knew I would never get a group. If they allow transfers, charge for them. All the ************ about them being free, guess what? You will pay for it, because it's worked for Blizzard and it will work for Bioware. Don't want to pay? Goodbye. People will pay for anything for convenience and for something unique. The WoW mounts at £15 a pop are awful, but I bought one. Transfers, race changes, name changes. It is a few keystrokes for Blizzard but they make a fortune so why stop Bioware making some money back?

I have to come back to this. I totally agree. It's easy to forget you have other companions and just try to get to 50 with one main one. You pour all of your credits and items into gearing this one companion up to epic spec but forget about the others. On Aldaraan today, I switched from Jorgan to Dorne to take on elites and found that although she isn't geared properly, with no implants or earpiece she kept my health up to 75%. With Jorgan I was down to 30%. It's a tactic I really recommend people get used to and I can totally understand people who forget, because I have for the past 10 levels. But Now I will gear her up and have her on standby.

If I were to get say, 4/5 commando armoring 10 or below, could I reverse engineer them and learn how to make them?

Still puzzled by the lack of commando armoring pre 13. But alas. Another advantage of using 4X as a dps is that he can take some decent damage himself. I managed to take on an enemy with 24k health compared to my 4k. When my health got low, about 10%, I use the aggro skill on 4X so he took aggro, this left enough time for my medpack to finish cooldown and then I could take over again. Besides, if in doubt, always sacrifice your companion. If they die, you can still fight on, if you die you are both finished instantly.

I think that one way to fix this issue, is rather than have combinations for the cube, just have a set combination that adapts to your class. In you are in a flashpoint and kill the boss, the loot is based on your class. Maybe a blaster rifle, or a lightsaber. I think you should create a cube with a red, yellow and blue shard and it creates a cube just for you. Rather than having to wait to find the right colour and then be too low a level to get it meaning you have to wait ages to get a cube while other classes luck out and get one early. As a sith Jugg I got my cube around level 35, as a gunslinger I have to wait until 42+ to get the same level cube because the shard is on a level 41 planet. It's just frustrating, it's not fun its annoying!

Great advice, as is the others. One issue is the only commando armoring I've found to be able to make is commando armoring 14. Wheres the other 13?

Just wow. There is already a heated discussion over the maintenance times during the day. And now only a few hours after the servers come back after 8 hours, they go down again. Yowzers.

Thanks for that. Now at level 21, I'm slowly starting to feel more of a tank. My next question is, the droid companion you get, who is a tank I believe, is he worth using since I am also a tank? I think he looks awesome.

I'm not sure if this is annoying or good, but I have noticed that although they say it's offline between 8am gmt and 3pm gmt, I've found I can often get back on, much earlier. Sometimes an hour or two.

Is it worth switching to dps build until I'm nearing 30? Or should I stick at it?

Thanks man. Much appreciated.

Here is my current build. After reading the replies, well, the decent ones, would it be better to go full out dps with this vanguard? Since what I've read here, its more work to tank as a vanguard.

I am using Ion cell all the time, have tried to get all my gear (only got 2 orange pieces so far) with aim and endurance. And using a shield. Oddly, with my companion I do ok, I like the solo experience. But its embarrassing to say, Tank LFG and end up being the first one to die.