Long time Vanguard just returning since 1.3 here. I haven't hit 55 so I can't and won't comment on their usefulness aside from in the lvling bracket you can still have a lot of fun getting to 55. As for the vid my only complaint is that you can't compare Smash and HIP. I'll take 5K at 30m over 7k at 5m. Even it is aoe. Of course leap really cuts down on the hindrance of it being 5m but that is a different issue. Now if some how they could get Explosive Surge to be the main focus of a build (as Smash is) that could make things more interesting Other then that I agree with the summary of the Vanguard to this day. I'm sure once I hit 55 I will be feeling a similar pain to yours and all the others. EDIT: Listen again to the vid and you start of comparing Assault Plastique then start saying HIB. So in terms of AP being close to or above smash damage then yes I can agree with that.

I agree, but maybe a second day notice would suffice. The fun of it for me was checking out my daily swtor sites and i caught wind of the event and was like what?!?!?!?! I HAVE TO LOG IN!!!!! It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun if we knew ahead of time that it was coming. Thank you Bioware for the awesome event you have created! keep it going and keep the secrets/exploration alive!

From the patch notes: "A vendor that sells a variety of previously unavailable endgame crystals has been added temporarily to the Imperial and Republic Fleets until Game Update 1.2." Hopefully its a PTR only thing and doesn't carry over to live since its "temporary", but I fully agree that nothing better then what can be crafted should be flat out bought with credits. Not to mention with no restrictions. >>>> <<<< of the vendor if any are interested.

For the most part non-Biochem players don't care so much about reusables. It's the fact that in no way shape or form is it feasible to keep up with the demand to supply everyone with consumable stim+adrenal+medpacs. Drop the crafting cost for each and most would be satisfied. As long as Reusables are in game all my alts will continue to have Biochem simply because i can't imagine keeping more then 1 toon stocked with consumables. To those claiming there is no benefit at all from having Biochem since it keeps getting nerfed.... no other game has ever had such a useful item attached to crafting much less 3 in 1 crew skill. Consumable crafting is ALWAYS the most beneficial because frankly at some point in time all other crew skills will have no use once the BIS item is made. That is the reason to have Biochem even if reusables were to be removed (don't worry i highly doubt they ever will)

IMO he is one of the toughest HM boss fights and rightfully dropping a head piece. I won't waste my time and repair bills with him anymore if he doesn't drop Columi. The final fight is 10x easier and a yawn fest compared to the bonus boss :/ (true for most HMs it seems) It's sad because I think its one the the most fun and challenging HM fights. Granted it all depends on group make up and gear but bringing in semi new 50s its a fun challenging fight.

I have to give a thumbs up for this spec! I've been messing around with the Storm+Mit builds since hitting 50 and although yes, incendiary round does make for some good DPS I don't think it at all makes up for the survivability. In my opinion it makes for far more fun and in your face gameplay by going up tactics. Stock will typically crit for 2200-2600 / High impact crits for 1800-2100 and ion pulse crits for 1000-1200 / Explosive surge crits for 1000-1200 all depending on relics and buffs(mind you this is typicaly in full supercommando champ gear with crit/surge relic). It doesn't sound like much but with gut dot and ion cell dot it makes for very respectable TANK damage. After Hitting 50 i messed around with builds but quickly fell back onto something very similar to this build and have stuck with it right up to rank 59. It's a very different playstyle from any build that uses assault so I can see it's not for everyone but if your into Guarding and harassing enemy caster this is an amazing build mind you there are 5 ways (between stuns, Storm, Harpoon, and Riot) to ruin a casters day! If you really want to annoy them go get yourself some crafted grenades too!

Ok so I'm TRYING to deal with this (still) unbalanced crewskill system. Everyone in Guild has dropped their crewskills for Bio. So there's no need for yet another. I figured ok well i'll just pick up either the gathering or mission skill for biochem and send them mats to make me the consumables. Problem is its WAYYYYYYYY to costly! Seriously? 17mats for 1 prototype ultimate medpac? I know this is the best heal in game but that's way to costly. I know crits will give you more but with no real control over crit chance that's unacceptable. I'm Cybertech and the same goes for grenades. Just not worth the mats. The problem wasn't so much that unlimited use consumables were OP, but rather that there is no reasonable way otherwise to obtain normal consumables. Then after that shock you realize that was just your medpacs. After that you have to bring in a few more truck loads of mats to dump out a few adrenals.... oh and make sure you have a couple more truck loads parked and waiting for the stims...... sigh you just can't keep up. Let's not forget them time it takes just to make 1 of each :/ Please rethink this mess Bioware......

For letting me have enough free time to roll an alt. Level 50 Republic pvp is a waste of time. Figure I can get at least another 2 toons to 50 (while sitting through every dialog) before this mess gets fixed

+1 I see why it's an issue for all the pvper's since Biochem is rather OP for pvp. But buying with commendations is mindless and easy. Heck it can be done while afk. Now if there were commendations specifically for winning and you needed alot of those then it would be a bit more fair. Overall I stick to the "if you want the most out of the game play the Full game" mentality.

Crew missions are essentially the same as buying your mats off the GTN only you have no clue how much if your getting if any. You'll never make money with a craft if you only buy your mats. that being said it can get very difficult for the mission only items like say Underworld Trading mats. Weather or not people like it they have to sell many of their valuable mats to sustain their own crafting .... or pick up Slicing and depend on the GTN for your rare mats. I'm not sure if I like this model or not but it does work on paper ..... lol We will have to see if the economy adjusts to the abnormal system in place or if changes are necessary. For now I feel it will all balance out.

The way i see it is that mod gear will likely make great starting tier raid gear for alts since its easy to buy mods and gear up that way. More then anything honestly im just hoping the lvl50 speeder is awesome lol. And the granades will help with managing power costs in skill rotaions for some classes.

Drop UT. You can level off of just scavenging. You just wont be able to make the nice stuff without the UT materials. For leveling I find this far more convenient. and eventually when the AH picks up you will start to see all the UT items on there and you can use your slicing money to buy them for the times you want to make something nice. Once you hit max level you will likely want to drop Slicing for UT if you plan on being a dedicated crafter. If you just want access to the nice items make them once and never craft again for anyone or for selling then you better off sticking with slicing/scav and buy the few UT mats you will need.

As mentioned mods are your friend. I'm 28 and still using the coruscant accomadations blaster. Ive noticed alot of cannons dropping in instances so i still roll on them and just remove the mods for my blaster.

IMO the best option is... 1st Add every appearence (if they aren't already) to the orange gear list. 2nd Remove set bonuses from directly being on gear to a new gear slot/ new mod slot. (Something similar to the system Rift uses would work.) With this you still get full customization, minimal overhauling of current systems, and orange gear is still an option albeit far more time/credit consuming. Overall I feel your apearence is a major part of an MMO and if you want to look great it should be a result of efforts. Not hey that ally rat had this cool chest piece in his loot table. (I think all greys should be modable but thats a whole other issue)

The fact that you can ignore the apearence tab if you don't want it is fine and dandy but you cant say it doesn't effect crafting. You severely criple the usefulness of most mods. Mods are on par with ops gear at best but never better. So why take the time to fully mod out orange gear when you can just get potentialy ugly gear that already has all the good stats and cover it up with an appearence tab?