Like others said game is pretty easy right now. Propably you can't go wrong whatever you choose. I just finished three class stories doing the Legendary Player achievement, one from level 1, and thus have some perspective. And I am returning player, had few years I did not playt at all. There are some differences in my opinion - sorcerer/consular is propably quite easy and smooth to play. Propably one of the easiest - operative/assassin has big advantage that they can stealth past many encounters which makes leveling easier and faster as you dont have to kill everything on your way - sentinel/marauder is. propably harderst needing most work because you have to kill things fast with it hacking throuhg most thing and your protection and CC is not very good My personal opinion is that I would propably go operative or assasin road. Both have good stories, can stealth and I feel are pretty fun to play. Sorcerer is very good but I feel its bit one sided on long run for me. Some would say its bit boring but its naturally highly subjective. Mercenary is no bad either but I dont think its story is on same level as those prementioned. What comes operations have not done them lately. My recollection was that ranged class has there big advantage. They are far more flexible where they can stand and move.

I agree. For me Rish feels often pretty limited otherwise too. I bought it with all extensions just to notice I could not do much of things I wanted. I few times tried build things but then I noticed I can't put things on many walls either. Or somewhere missing that certain sized hook like you. Can. be it just me. But it feels in practice far more limited than Nar Shaddaa, Dromund Kaas or Corucant. Despite huge size. Seems to have lot of floor but not much else often.

Same here! I found it handy and also cool effect. Take something else but not this one! its a good supplement for the class and enables to do sometimes damage when you cant otherwise reach target.

Yes what OP says happens often to me. Despite I am in no combat, combat stays after using Disappearing Act. I've even confirmed this by first using it then looking nobody is following me by walking away from area. Still in combat. Even so far that despite I killed other mob coming visible combat would not go off after handling them. Only using DA again would reset combat finally.

Well my experience is that they are easy to kill. So maybe I just haven't seen really good players a lot but then it suggest that they are only OP with good players. Infact I've heard lot of players who play them complain their survivability is not so great. Most of classes with good players do seem to be pretty good. You should pick one that fits your own play style and which you can understand. Only way to do this is test them.

I'm bit mystified by your statement. Far as I can tell best way to top damage in WZ is to do AOE dots. Or by what way you mean you're carrying WZ's?

Its dull as hell. I wish I could respect my vanguard to some other AC. I always try to play it but at best it feels medicore. Its even duller than being a smasher. Explosions are dull and slow. Also cant remember maybe one or two pyros I've found annoying. Most of players simply seem to ignore pyros I've noticed. Maybe they shine in ranked arena, but low level pvp, higher level warzones and pve seem not to have them quite much. Troopers are second least popular class in game propably because many people like commmandos/bountyhunters. Without it would be least popular IMHO.

I have almost same keyboard setup. When I played WoW I started to build it and like you its so far been for me also most convient. Personally I have not keybinded everything. I do have naga but I found it unpractical for myself to use. Maybe I'm just lazy bastard but my fingers and workings dont seem to be able to use it effectively. To me it seems more there is keybindings to remember slower you get. I basically just prioritize those abilities I know I will be using most and rest I just use mouse to press on. Maybe there is some other way but I'm pretty sure you can't control effectively more than maybe 10 or more abilties just because physical limitations given by keyboard and mouse.

I went to full tanking after level 40. Both Deception and Madness work rather well but its really easiest just to tank. Easier with bosses, easier with multiple bosses and even duels work nicely. But would not use in warzones.

No you should not need it. All the talent trees are pretty self sufficient and should have synergy within. With Madness if you play correctly and have enough good gear you propably will do massive AOE damage with Death Field + Overload which should take care most of weaker opponents. Only thing you need to worry that you dont take too much aggro from opponents you can't fininsh quickly enough. And of couse dont forget maximize utility of whirwind or other crowd control. Yes and dont forget either you dont need to kill everything thanks to stealth you can pass too. What you should do on lower levels is to get as much of levels and xp before moving to next place so that youre on higher level than what is on the next place. Opponents should be green difficulty level for levels 10-35. It will make it lot easier to hit and you be more resilient to damage they dish on. Because on lower levels SWTOR characters have quite few abilities and many dont work even fully until about level 45+. On higher levels its easier handle even higher level opponents because there are more things to interrupt and more synergy between talents/abilities. What I also do is that I have checkups with gear. On level 20 I take pvp gear. On level 31 I've taken cartel gear you can get at that level. And at level 40 again pvp gear. It gives you good baseline what stats you could/should have on those levels for your class. Some things like earpieces are also somewhat hard to get from missions and are markedly better on pvp vendors. Also dont forget pvp weapons that you get on different levels from the fleet. And I also always do some flashpoints to get nice drops and learn that way he mechanics for a class I play in pve against bosses. PVP also gives good notions how to play class altough there of course burst and resilience matter more. Basically to make advancement easy you need three pieces to work together: 1. Your relative level to opponents(higher the better) 2. Your gear that should get better all a time 3. Understand how to maximize current class abilities If you get all those done well it should be a breeze to advance any class. Also if you dont have cash limitations the Ultimate Advancement pack will make wonders to rate of XP. You can also get some stuff from Cartel Markets that is quite useful. Crystals for example are not bad for their level 41+ to critical is pretty nice for the level you can get it. and the gear sets are pretty good too for their level. I hope above helps.

I have Guardian, Vanguard, and BH at level 55. When I started to play Assassin I found it pretty easy. Way I see it you play the dps side like a smuggler or then you about level 40 get to tank when the abilites start to support it. What I mean like a smuggler you maximize the interrupts/cc and stealth. I always for example do the knockback with weak mobs. And if there is a big trash or boss I usually cc it first from stealth. Then do reckleness, crushing darkness, lightningl+ dots which should most of time be enough. And of course always interrupt casting by cc'in him or just interrupting action. Samekind of stuff I do with smuggler but use sabotage+charged burst. More I play SWTOR more it seems that most of abilities are same with different classes and they work about same way too. What I've noticed however that Deception feels bit weak on when doing missions. I think Madness is far more effective at average encounter and gets better faster. And usually I dont use lot of maul. I think its good for flashpoints and pvp but lets be honest you cant spam it normally quite lot. Its an good opener but other damage effects and skills should carry the rest of the way if target is not gone down in few seconds.

I did this firs time ever today with my Scoundrel at level 47. I had Guss with me and first time I died despite I tried to bring him down by running away and let the dots do the work(was playing Dirty Fighting). Way I handled him eventually was that I maximized dps to him(First shot, sabotage, dots+wounding shots) and protection so long as I was close to him and able to interrupt his actions. When I could not interrupt him anymore I just ran to behind nearby pillars so he could not hit me. Healed myself much as I could until Voidwold would come near and then throw shranpel + vital shot. Then run again for cover breaking the Line of Sigh repeating previous while Guss would toss heals to me when he could see my Scoundrel. Would do this rotation over and over until he would be run down by dots. I got him HIm at second time.

Its their fault. And it really does not depend on level.. I readed others comments here and my experience is that it does not get better on level 55. True there is now resilience and imbalance is bigger at lower level but against competent players result is still same. Enough dps concentrated with interrupts, cc and any healer will die. Three is pretty much enough if they are competent. because each one can slow you down, cc and have 3 x interrupts to stop most healing actions. Ask them instead why they did not either harass the dps after you or kill opponents healer faster. With knockbacks or awe. taunta and protection any tank/dps can give enough time to healer to heal himself to stay alive. If they dont kill other side faster or support you they are failing. They lacked dps, could not catch healer and/pr did not figure this early enough to support healer but instead let three dps concentrate fire on you while they were failing. Healers will always get targeted in these games and without support you need to have right class, be really well geared and be really fast player to stay alive. And it helps a lot too if other side is full of amatereurs too.

I agree. Personally I think that having fixed arena for fighting is just a stupid idea. Ability to adapt should be foremost just after right rotation and teamwork. To make arenas work they should have random element that would make it impossible to calculate which team composition is best. For example some arenas should have high advantage on ranged while others should be mostly melee. And might have some random damage/armor buff or debuff for each round. Even better would be if the enviroment would change middle of fight suddenly. "What the hell, healing was just halved???" All this such way that you can't make team that would be optimal for each enviroment. Everything that is static, predictable and easy to calculate kills both learning curve and joy to play in long run. Real world combat happens mostly in chaotic enviroment and so should virtual ones too. Ability to adapt to changes fast should be winning key and in that even people with not best rotations & gear could actually steal the win. Some people will absolute hate the idea because some want to calculate everything nicely beforehand. But basically if its same enviroment to everyone so best team should win anyway.

Sorcerers are weak but no way bad in my opinion. Most of players ignore them for some reason. I've played quite many games where smart sorcerer basically stands and shoots lighting without anyone interfering. Then people wonder why they die fast. Especially funny this is in Voidstar where I actually won one game just by chasing sorcerer endlessly which about halved the attacking groups dps. And I didnt kill him btw. If they die fast it is because somebody wants to kill them first. High ranged dps and healing ability are really good reasons to kill one fast. They are high on my target list because best are really annoying and deadly.