Cool. And it's better to prioritize primary over secondary if I have a talent that boosts the primary by a percentage?

This is great advice. Exactly what I was looking for. I hadn't considered taking mods and armorings from offhands for BiS. Good thing the only things I've spent comms on so far were for bonus-granting pieces, otherwise I'd feel very silly! Many thanks.

In the case of my Sage, alacrity. In the case of my Assassin, accuracy. I'm sure other classes are similar. (Merc/Mandos try to avoid alacrity like the plague, but can they?) I read a lot that those stats just aren't worth stacking up on, yet I see no way around it. The mods that come with the PvP gear are the only mods with expertise on them, as far as I know, and all of them are chock full of alacrity, accuracy, or shield. So how do you gear up prioritizing other stats? Do you just have to take what's given to you in BM/WH gear and make up for it with augments of the stats you actually want?

I miss my Ice/Ice Controller... Indeed, I am also a graduate of the CoH School of More than Just Three Roles in an MMO. CC'ing, imo, is a role all on its own, and a class should exist to specialize in it. You can tell BW doesn't get it by looking at their "Roles" forum. And it's not like Shadows would LOSE their CC's, or that they'd become totally useless, they'd just be far less effective than a Sorc/Sage, and probably less effective than they currently are. Think Ice/Ice Blaster vs Ice/Ice Controller. The Blaster still had plenty of CC available to it, but damage was its main thing and it never matched a Troller in the CC department. But it could use some of it to support others or increase it's survivability. I pondered that if all other CCs in the game gave much more resolve than they currently do, maybe what could happen is that the Sage/Sorc CC tree would have a 31 point talent allowing their CC's to trigger no resolve (key word: trigger. If they are already at full resolve, then they will be immune to even a Sage/Sorc CC, encouraging CCs to be used more often by the Sage/Sorc than by the other classes, and encouraging the team to protect their CC'er, because they'll otherwise have very gimped CC and lots of people with full resolve) and work through bosses with immunity in PvE. That would effectively leave everyone's playstyles intact, nerf their CC, and make the Sorc/Sage the dedicated CC'er all at once. I can dream...

Just curious, since I'm roling a Trooper soon. Two things have always seemed apparent to me: 1) Everyone complains that DPS Mandos are horrible in PvP. 2) Everyone complains (complained? Pre 1.4?) that Assault Vanguards were OP in PvP. Considering the Assault tree is the shared tree, what makes such a large difference between the two classes that the same tree, with the same purpose, is OP in one and UP in another? Why aren't Assault Mandos as threatening?

Even our sustained DPS is sub par. Firstly because we have to actually stay alive and manage to cast it first, whilst being the squishiest and most interruptable AC, and secondly because, unlike all other DPS which needs to be healed through to nullify, ours can just be dispelled, easily, simply, and repeatedly. No heals required. The only reason we aren't as crap as DPS mandos is because we have CC like the bubble stun, that let us cast, or survive, or be useful, though barely at any of those. This thread is deliberately posing the question of the hell we WOULD have if we didn't have such reliable CC, not what we DO have now (because everyone wants to take that away anyway). The answer is nothing. Like a DPS mando, with less armor, but Force Speed.

Like I said in the OP, what everyone seems to want "fixed" about resolve is to make CCs less effective. You want CCs being less effctive to be a sweeping change, but this sweeping change would nerf us harder than any other class because we simply don't have the damage, survivability, or utility otherwise. You're angry because you're getting CCd too much, well maybe the real problem is that too many classes can CC too well. Maybe people would whine less about resolve if everyone else's CCs got nerfed and Sorc/Sage became the dedicated CC class. In light of that, the bubble stun currently is probably a first step in that direction.

As a DPS Sage/Sorc. We don't have the tools to stand against the big boys of damage. PT/ Van, Snipe/Guns, Mara/Sent, Jugg/Guard all outdps us and slice through our squishiness in no time. They all do huge burst DPS while our DPS is DoT, meaning they wipe us before our damage even gets the chance to tick all the way through. Everyone knows burst is king in PvP. That makes us peasants. Possibly even pheasants. All of their attacks are instant, ours can be interrupted with extreme ease (except for 10 secs every 2 mins... Woo). Guns/Snipe are immune to interrupts. And while they even get CC immunity (every 60 secs for 20 secs) to counter their lack of mobility, we get nothing and are still not mobile at all due to our cast times. All of them have defensive cooldowns and can outsurvive us easily. All our DPS can be effectively nullified by a 5 sec cooldown Restoration/Purge. So everyone whines about resolve, CC, bubble stun, and overall wanting CC to be way less effective, and what will that leave us with? At the moment our only purpose is CCing. It's what balances us and gives us some survivability. Maybe the problem is TOO MANY OTHER CLASSES CAN CC TOO MUCH. Maybe instead we should nerf everyone else's CC and make Sage/Sorc possibly a dedicated CC AC. If you want to lock someone down, you'll need a Sage/Sorc. I think that would be better balance. We already have more CC related talents in our trees than any other AT, so maybe that was the original vision at some point...

Like I've been saying, we need some true customization in this game. Why? Because it's already so tantalizingly close that it's mind-wrecking! -Sell the shells on their own. -Sell the armorings, mods, and enhancements separately. -Remove set bonuses from stats. Make it its own type of armor modification, a new slot, with no stats. -Remove color crystals from stats (like you already want to do, BW). Color goes into a new slot, with no stats. -All of these can still cost whatever comm price you want (just be reasonable... no reason to need to grind a WH amount of comms to buy a PvP set bonus mod for a bonus that is available as early as BM...)

And hopefully this means we're getting hood up/down toggle soon?

Won't fix the problem, sadly. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=551447 Set bonuses need to be detached from stats, like color crystals should be.

I thought mezzes (breaks on damage) gave resolve per second of the duration, which I read was 100 per second. Stuns give 200 per second. So if I were to break the mez right away, it should only cause 500 resolve by the end of the stun. But it seems to me that every time I use it, no matter how early or late I break it, the resolve bar always goes up to almost full. Just using it on an enemy at half a resolve bar seems to fill it up to white, and then the subsequent on-damage stun will have no affect at all - it'll just give them longer immunity. With Force Stun nerfed to complete uselessness, I was hoping Containment would serve as a replacement tool at 30m, but with the amount of resolve it seems to be causing (definitely more than 500 for an immediate break-and-stun), it just doesn't seem all that worth it. Am I wrong on this? Do I just not understand resolve enough yet?

This is the problem I mentioned. I want to use the PvP set bonus in PvE. I can do this two ways: 1) Use BM gear. Bonus comes from shells, so I can fully deck it out in PvE stats. I will be forced to look hideous because the BM gear looks hideous to me. 2) Use WH armorings. I can put that into any gear and look as I want. Except I'll be PvE gimped with those stats. Both options are terrible. Why, BW, why? I grinded the crap out of WZs for these bonuses, why am I not allowed to put the bonuses onto whatever gear I want? I hear everyone mentioning the Campaign armorings coming in 1.5, but that doesn't really solve the issue. If you want to PvP with the PvE set bonus, those armorings are gimping you equally as much, with their lack of Expertise. And I know for a fact some people DO prefer the PvE bonuses in PvP (Stalker set, for example, for that 15% crit). They are gimping themselves over customization and shouldn't have to. Either that, or they can't look the way they want because they are stuck using the PvE shells. Like I said, I'll gladly work hard for my customization, just make it possible! Give the bonuses their own gear mod slot, like you're hoping to do with color crystals. You want me to PvP in order to get the PvP bonus mod? No problem! I'll do it! As long as I can then pop that into my PvE gear, I'll grind WZs no worries. I already did that for the WH armorings..... (though I still don't see why I had to grind to WH for a bonus that's available as early as BM.....)

From levels 10-49, you let us buy mods for our orange gear with comms. You make Legacy orange sets to give us more orange looks to play with. You sell new orange gear in the Cartel Shop for cash so people can get a new look. Yet, when we hit 50, why do you hate letting us properly, fully customize our gear with endgame mods and bonuses? What's the use of all the above if it ceases to be relevant for most of the game (sadly, endgame is most of the game)? Case in point, my Sage (and more than a few Slingers/Snipers I'm aware of) much prefers one of the 2-piece PvP bonuses rather than the PvE ones, for use in PvE. But I find the look of the BM shells really unappealing - I don't want mummy hands and feet. So I grind away in WZs and manage to secure myself some WH pieces, from which I can take the armoring and transfer the set bonus to something nicer. But now what? That armoring can never be replaced again! More PvE content will get released, with more gear, and upgrades will be required to progress. So while all my mods/enhancements will be, say, level (70) down the line, two of my armorings will always be drastically left behind at the (61) level, with PvP stats. You have no issues letting us use PvP bonuses for PvE content, as long as we look hideous in BM gear. We can even upgrade it to keep that bonus and stay up to date with content with full PvE stats - but must stayed pigeonholed to the singular appearance of the BM set. Why is this only way? Why do you throw up so many barriers to customization, then decide it'll be a great idea to charge people money for customization at the Cartel Shop? Why did I have to grind all the way to WH for a set bonus that is available at BM level, just to get a measly armoring for customization? Players have more fun and stay subbed longer if they feel they can tailor make their characters exactly how they want them. I can't do that, even after having grinded for the WH gear, as I said above. Remember when you said this? That is a brilliant idea. Make it happen. Make it happen with set bonuses. Make it happen with everything. Let us customize. Let us play around. Let us have the look we want, the stats we wants, and the bonuses we want. It doesn't have to be a handout. I'll (within reason) gladly grind PvP for a "Set Bonus Fortification mod" or whatever, then happily grind away doing HM ops for the stats mods, then happily pump my Legacy level up to buy some pretty orange gear, then happily use my Cartel Coins to buy a sweet color crystal. You get everything you want, I get everything I want. I got what I paid for, you got paid. IS THIS NOT THE DEFINITION OF SYNERGY? TL;DR Just let me look the way I want, already.

Yeah, that's the main issue. This is why I was wondering if it's worth it. I mean, it's a hassle, but it's probably an easier way to get to full WH since, as others have mentioned here, 10-49 bracket is easy mode. Is entering 50 bracket with full WH worth all the grind of 10-49 and the constant refunding hassle? Will I have more fun in "easy mode deathmatch fest", or in more coordinated 50 with weeklies/dailies but undergeared? I might just have to answer this myself with some playtime, probably.