I would actually go towards stacking Accuracy first. I know the question is between defense and absorption, but it all depends on the available mods you have. Basically tanking mods are: Accuracy + Absorption Accuracy + Defense Shield + Absorption Getting maximum accuracy will require quite a few of your items to have accuracy on them. I would focus slightly more on getting absorption with the accuracy as it is slightly better stat per point than defense. The strength of the absorption depends somewhat on how much shield rating you have, so I would suggest trying to have about 120-180 shield rating. You should be able to gain this without really gearing for it at all. I am currently standing at 182 Defense Rating, 195 Shield Rating and 252 Absorption Rating. Mitigation spreadsheet still gives absorption slightly higher value than defense. However, the difference is so small that they are basically equal.

This was my biggest disappointment in HM and Nightmare operations. There is no new mechanics other than enrage timer. The bosses are exactly the same as on normal with some more hitpoints. I was expecting to see something new when we went to clear Nightmare, but absolutely nothing. I would like to see new abilities on the bosses that need to be figured out, not just more hitpoints and more dmg.

I have to agree with you, people tend to overestimate the benefits of having previous MMO experience. It is basically the same skills people use in gaming regardless of what the game is. So I would look at peoples gaming experience as a whole rather than looking at MMO experience only.

True, Bonethrasher is anti everyone. To me it feels that at this point of MMO development, people should have grasped the basic ideas behind creating encounters that do not punish being melee. Especially as melee does not gain any real benefits in this game as pointed out by kainsec. For example, skills that hit only melee range have to always be balanced with skills that only affect ranged players. As each ranged and melee have slightly different weaknesses, this would allow creating more interesting encounters. It is few skill designs that just completely show how little the operations designers understood about the problem. The clearest example is Gharj as a whole, both Frenzy and Pounce are just ridiculous for melee. I know the encounter is a joke in difficulty, but it does not remove the fact that it is just poor design.

We have done the same with nightmare as well. We normally have 3 ranged and 2 melee, everything is doable. But it does not remove the fact that everything would be easier with 5 ranged.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=2190974#edit2190974

Three tier system to difficulty clearly does not allow them to create encounters that are accessible, but can also be really challenging. Also Nightmare clearly does not sound like it is extremely hard.

Well this does show the point quite well. Just because something has happened in the past, doesnt mean that there isnt a better way to design it. And we arent really even talking about small differences between melee and ranged dps. Currently there is almost no reason whatsoever to bring melee over ranged to any encounters. This might change if we get combatlogs and see the actual dmg each class does, but somehow I doubt we will see larger numbers from melee.

How I see it, it is hard to argue that Heat Blast is completely useless. It does decrease the heat you have, which is good for sustainable dps and very good in certain situations. However, I would argue that the skills is underwhelming. It is not the kind of a skill I would assume to get with 31 points spent in a tree.

I have been wondering why there isnt any discussion on operations regarding melee friendliness. Anyone who has done any of the operations and some hardmode flashpoints can see that this game just hates melee. I think the most obvious examples are Soa and Bonethrasher. Both of these fights might as well be done without bringing any melee at all. As an empire player I really do not see any use for melee in operations other than bringing some marauders for their group buffs. Assassins are quite useless as they bring no buffs and their survivability is weak. Powertech DPS has no mobility to speak of, the same goes for Operative DPS. To me it feels this should be a large outrage about the end game design. But are people just so used to melee getting shafted when it comes to raiding, that people do not even bother to comment on it?

We have done Nightmare pylons by randomly pressing different directions on both sides for two weeks now. We have only encountered the bug where you can press the button, but the top wheel does not turn. We have not used any north or south first tactics and we havent even bothered to figure out the least amount of turns.