Many thanks for the advice! My primary concern was exactly as you've answered... is my gear capable of withstanding the majority of blows I'm dealt and the answer was, yes! I'm extremely confident in my abilities and rotations, and I'm not all that afraid of having one or two mobs slip past my grip because the group can't focus-fire targets. My concern is that I'll pull the first boss and get 3-shot to the point where we can't finish the run because I'm unable to keep myself off the floor. As far as Hard-Mode Ops go, I'm perfectly content with doing Story Modes... I'm not a hard-core raider and have little intention on diving into them this close to 2.0. Thanks again!!!

Hey Gang, Hit 50 a few days ago and haven't really done much with it primarily out of fear of failure. I've tanked pretty much all of the way from roughly lvl 15 to 50 as a Juggernaut but now that I'm at the 'end-game' I'm afraid to join Heroics because I don't want to be the cause of wipes, or be the reason the healer is exhausted after a run. I've been told "You can tank HM FP's and SM OPs no problem in Tionese gear" but how much truth is there to that? Maybe it's peer-pressure or some other disorder that keeps me from clicking the 'Queue for Group' option but I'm wondering how others 'jumped into' tanking HM's? Did you DPS them for the 1st run so you could learn the fights? Did you find people you knew and were comfortable with healing and DPSing with you?

I was DPSing in a group last night as a BH-Mercenary and was booted before the final boss. The reasoning given by the tank: You rolled Greed on something I needed and you've been rolling greed the entire run! You are so selfish!. He then continued to tell me I do not understand the English language since apparently Greed > Need You can't engage someone in a battle of wits if they're unarmed. Decide before the run what the drop rules are and if the tank rushes in pulling before you can discuss it let'm die.

Application submitted on the website =) Looking forward to hearing from you (or someone) ~Mitrath

This doesn't help the OP at all since it's an entirely different class... but on my Juggernaut when I see straglers away from the main group I'll do a saber-throw on the nobodies out on the side and leap into the strongest mob in the big group and slam. The initial saber-throw gets everyone's attention in both group and the leap + slam will give you a threat boost on the main group. That single saber-throw should be enough threat to nullify any threat the healer is making. The only reason that mob should fall off of you is if the DPS hits it. You could try to adopt the strategy on a PT, I've never leveled one so I'm not sure of the mechanics but any ability you can fire while running can be used for the 1-hit threat boon.

I agreed with the vast majority of info you posted with the exception of 'Damage Smoothing' for Juggernauts/Guardians being the worst. Last I checked Shadows/Sins had the largest spiking in damage, not the heavies. And Guardians/Juggs have more than 1 defensive cooldown at their disposal so I'm not sure what you're referring to. Right off the bat I can name blade-ward, Immortal, and enraged defense for my Juggernaut (not to mention the sonic shield given by screaming).

If you're doing straight-up calculations then you are correct and I revoke my previous objection. However you ARE assuming the player is performing perfectly which 99.9% of us are incapable of on a consistent basis. So really the numbers are severely skewed from person to person. The only observations I can make are the ones I see and I've seen every tank class do a fantastical-mind blowing job and I've seen them all facepull the floor due to their stupidity and ignorance. I will agree to each and every observation you have made using statistics without question. I believe all of your points are valid and justified, however theoretical knowledge and application of that knowledge are like comparing apples to Nazi oranges.

Not straight questing for 8 months =P And yes I do enjoy the pain... Low-mid lvl PvP is entertaining and the flashpoints are more than interesting enough to keep me occupied. Plus I only play about 4-6 hours per week which might change your perception a bit =P. My bottom line was that if you buy a game and aim for the end-game you're only pissing your money away. If you level to 50 in the first 2 weeks you need to find another game to play on the side or get another hobby. Games are meant to be enjoyed... not conquered and dismissed.

Blame the mind-set of modern gamers and the saturation of MMO games on the market. Hell... you can't even find a good turn-based RPG anymore because people want action action action. ToR, like many MMO's, harbored people that bought the game, rushed to the level cap, and then whined about lack of content. I've been doing each planet's story-line thoroughly for about 8 months and I think it's an incredible game. People are just impatient and want it all here and now.

Then I stand corrected

That Wiki's made up of average Joe's without quotes and half of the resource links are from the Old Republic. Either way I'm not a Lore buff so I'm just stating what I know (much like the Wiki people).

Not entirely sure about this since I'm not a lore-nut... but in the OP's post he/she refers to Shadows as being first-strike troop. I'm thinking Jedi Shadow were created solely for the purpose of balance in this game. Knights and sentinels could easily wield a saber-staff of dual-wield sabers. The lore isn't restricted for balance purposes like the game is and I don't think 'Shadows' existed outside of this game.

My simple rule of thumb. Find best geared or highest lvl'd MELEE dps and guard them. If no Melee DPS is present then I guard the healer and add Chilling Scream into my rotation so if I DO lose threat it'll take the mob an hour just to run back to the DPS. Damage reduction for ranged (including heals) is useless so my only perk for using this ability is for the threat reduction. 1- Are there Melee DPS present (Yes? - Guard them, No? - Proceed to 2) 2- Are there Ranged DPS that are WAY to high as far as gear or level goes? (Yes? - Guard them, No? - Proceed to 3) 3- Do you have a healer? (Yes? - Guard them, No? - Proceed to 4) 4- Are you low-balling it with a companion healer? (Yes? - Guard them, No? - Drop group and do something else)

OP stated the entire PvP tank philosophy right there. I PvP almost daily on my Juggernaut (lvl 42 at the time of this post) and 90% of what I do is piss off the other team. Survivability can be boosted in situations where you're being hit frequently by standard abilities, you can turn people away from objectives because of your intimidation and brutality (always a MAJOR plus on Voidstar... stupid Pubs don't watch the door), and if you have the ability to focus anger from the other team collectively you can get an OP or Smugg to pop in and out of stealth to hit you with 1 or 2 big heals and vanish. An AoE taunt on a node in either Alderan or Novaris is juuuuuuust enough to piss off people on the opposing team while giving your fellow imps a small smirk at their apparent immortality. You are tank... you are tough, you are immortal, you are savior. The MVP vote gains you nothing but an ego. Save your allies and capture your objectives.

I'm still trying to figure out why all the numbers and statistics are being thrown around like a high-school calculus class. The best tank is determined by the player's skills and abilities behind the monitor than anything else. You could be an ungodly geared Vanguard and suck *** at keeping threat or you could be a Juggernaut in all greens & blue's holding threat like a boss. If you know your abilties, know your rotation, and are able to tab between targets to maintain threat (while increasing your mitigation through screams or barriers) then in my mind you're the better tank. I've tanked as a Shadow, I've tanked as a Juggernaut... both were highly doable in any aspect of the game once you knew your ****. Now if you're thinking of rolling a new alt to tank that's an entirely different story. Juggernauts/Guardians are pretty much born-tanks when it comes to mitigation and threat management, Shadows and Assassin's need to keep in mind that their ability to hold threat might not become sufficient until their early-mid 20's. There are multiple abilities that both classes will have in common with different names (namely the defensive abilities after 10 talent points) as well as cleaves/swipes that hit multiple targets. At the end of the day, pick a class you enjoy and learn how to play that class correctly. If you can keep threat off of other party members and can blow cool-downs to make your healer happy... you're doing it correctly.