If you're pulling that much threat, I suspect you're either doing something wrong or else have been unlucky enough to be running with bad dps. If you're kolto shelling the tank before the pull, stop it. Let him get in (and take) a few hits, then shell him. Get a healing scan up to get proactive med, etc. going, toss out a supercharged gas kolto missile on him for the extra damage mitigation. I find that my tanks very rarely need constant heal spamming because so much of our healing arsenal is designed to prevent/reduce incoming damage; our strength lies in proactive, not reactive, healing. If you find yourself having to spam heal dps and are generating a ton of threat that way, then that's no fault of yours or the tank, that's just bad dps who are likely standing in the fire/goo/poison or else playing Johnny Wondercluck Superhero and trying to tank a mob the tank isn't on.. i.e. they're on the wrong target.

Mara is a love it or hate it class, there's no gray areas... but then "only a sith deals in absolutes" so I suppose that's fitting. My mara is currently lvl 43 (rage spec) and I love it. Yes, it is challenging, yes you ARE very busy with keybinds, etc. (someone previously likened it to playing Mozart on a keyboard), yes one mistake is often fatal. That being said, the feeling of accomplishment you get once you finish off a pain in the backside quest or manage to emerge in one piece from a pull which you were pretty sure was doomed to fail from the get-go, is unmatched. If you're looking for a faceroll class, this isn't the one for you. If you're looking for immediate gratification and roflstomping mobs 4 levels higher than you are, this isn't the one for you. If you're looking for a 2 button wrecking ball, this isn't the one for you. If you are the type of player who actually READS their talents and abilities and is able to see how they all tie in together and utilize them all effectively, this IS the one for you. If you enjoy having to THINK and problem solve, this IS the one for you. If you enjoy feeling like you EARNED each and every level you achieve, this IS the one for you. There's no shortcuts as a mara. It can be tough... and honestly that's what I enjoy about it the most. Yeah, it's more work than my BH, but it's extremely gratifying work on a personal level. Don't let any of the very vocal naysayers dissuade you from giving it a shot. Try it, see if you like it. It's not a class that is going to appeal to the masses, but there are those of us that it DOES appeal to in a lot of ways. TL;DR: If you just like to zone out, push a couple of buttons and see big numbers, you're not going to enjoy a mara. If you like to engage your brain and have to think about what you're doing in order to achieve something, you'll love it.

11/15 and Thundercats are GOOOOOOOOOOOO <3 to all my fellow Novembros, see ya in game!

Nov 14th checking in.... The last couple of days have been like a cross country car ride complete with a carsick dog and the kids whining "are we there yet???" every 10 minutes. This thread helped me keep my sanity, so thanks all for that!