I don't disagree with anything OP posted, but PLEASE let fix the UI shortcomings. I mean no ready check...still...really???

Happens a lot to me. I have a Logitech G13 and Razer Naga. I have movement on the G13 using the mini joystick (Forward, back , strafe right, strafe left...I turn using the mouse) and some skills on the Naga. I notice it most on my Juggernaut. When going forward and then force leap to the next target, it gets stuck going forward. My theory is that I have let go of forward on the G13 as I was hitting force leap on the naga so the key up even didn't register. To fix the the problem, I have sucess just rotating the mini joystick 360 degrees. I seem to avoid the problem if I consciously stop moving prior to leaping.

You are not going to match the AOE healing of a Sorc with either of the other healers. However all three healers work. In general, make sure you have clearly defined healing targets. Nothing wastes resources like two healers trying to top off the same person. For the specific fight you mentioned, you know when they are going to happen. As an Op, make sure you have a 3-stack of TA. Then as you are running to collapse as a group, start hotting your targets. Once the group is formed, throw your AOE and get your targets there 2nd hot. Throw SPs as needed. As a BH, use RS as you collapse, pop SCG, Use Aoe, hit targets with HS for heal + hot, used AOE again, The biggest key is assigning healing targets so your non-AOE heals are not getting stepped on or sniped. If one person drops low and both healers throw a heal on that same person, someone else may die. More so with KP and Denova than EV, I like having a group of 4 with a tank, healer, and 2 ranged DPS. The other group is a tank, healer and 2 melee DPS. That way each healer is responsible for their group and one will use AOEs on the Melee hitting 4 people and another will use AOE on ranged hitting 4 people.

Disclaimer: As noted in my Sig, I am still very disappointed in the 1.2 Changes to BH healing which caused me to unsubscribe from the game. However, that is one tree of one advanced class, so I do not think its fair to paint the whole game based on that even though it still needs to be fixed. I think Bioware has made huge strides towards fixing the major problems this game has had. So much so that combined with rolling a new healer, I may re-enable my subscription. Server Consolidation followed immediately by LFG and Ranked warzones (even though I dont PvP) is HUGE. Probably should have been done sooner, but better late than never. Going forward, I think they need to focus now on quality of life issues. I know there is new content coming, new level cap, etc., but really the major pieces are here now. Fix some of the stuff that drives us crazy. Examples: Can we PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE, get a Ready-Check? Especially in 16 man Ops, I am so tired of "OK, Everybody jump if you're ready" and other similar workarounds. PLEASE give us a ready-check. Gear Preview. Can we get a zoom and rotate? Hots/Debuffs Need to be easier to see and incorporated into the Raid Frames. GTN: Option to filter by stat. Eg.: Show me only heavy armor with AIM on it. Space missions - Ability to quit when objectives are complete. Nothing like having almost 3 minutes left when my main and bonus objectives are done... Show/Hide Companion head pieces. Dromand Kaas: Connect the shuttle paths. You are telling me that in the CAPITOL CITY they couldn't figure out how to connect the shuttle paths? Every time I have to meet with The big bosses, no matter which class, I have to shuttle to the outside of the city then speeder to the middle in order to take another shuttle to my destination. Seriously? Fix it please! There are plenty more.

I have it happen frequently. I unbound alll autorun keys thinking it might help. It does not. The best thing I have found is to hit all the directional keys in sequence (forward, strafe left, backward, strafe right). Seems to work. Its really "fun" on the Platform phase of SOA.

That's not all that is not strong in that one. The padawan does not know the difference between possessive and plural. Since the OP was using a possessive, "Jedi's" is correct. As far as the lack of toilets goes, what do you think the ship droid is for?

I'm not sure I'd agree with BH being able to DPS more than other healers. I will have to look into that. I was so paranoid at becoming heat locked on my merc, that outside of specific "burn phases" I didn't add much damage even during lulls for fear of heating up some and then not having enough heat to spend on healing. I don't want to turn this thread into Ops Vs Mercs, but after healing for another week, point #1 in my original post seems more relevant. When I burst on an operative and spend too much energy taking me well past my optimal regen zone, it is so easy to fix with Diagnostic Scan that I think I used my equivalent of Vent Heat once this week. That would really be a quality of life improvement for mercs. Having Rapid Shots be able to be cast on yourself and have crits vent a little heat similar to Diagnostic Scan would be a nice improvement IMO.

1) Why anything but sorc? Because you enjoy a different playstyle and unless you are competing for world/server firsts, all three healers do just fine. 2) Bountyhunter healing is broken as I have explained in detail here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=481231 Because of pride and reading false information over and over making it true, many BHs will continue to thump their chests in spite of math. Having played both a BH and Op in HM raids, I can give you my $0.02: The burst is not SIGNIFICANTLY better on a BH and can be done more frequently on an OP. HOWEVER... 3) The whole topic of burst healing is absurd. A Sorc, who has the worst burst in most people's opinion, can heal a tank through any burst mechanic that exists in PvE content when geared appropriately. Therefore, which healer bursts more is an inane discussion as it is completely irrelevant. 4) Its your $15/mo. Play what makes you happy and let others play what makes them happy.

I have heard several people are doing that.

Considering its a Hot, we are not Talking about HPS. That leaves HPCT and HPE as two other ways to judge it. For HPCT, if you hit 1 target it is comparable to Kolto Probe. 2+ Targets it is the best HPCT you have. For HPE, 1- Target is no good. For 2+ the only thing with better HPE is refresihing a double probe stack. If you can hit 4+ that use the whole hot, it is the best HPE you have. So according to the math, your friend is right. Practically speaking tho, how well defined are your healing targets, can you cast it and get the full benefit or are other healers sniping your hots? Edit Source: http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/Thread-Operative-Healing-Analysis-Spreadsheet?page=5

What are you intending to heal? PvP? Flashpoints? Operations? Hard/Nightmare Modes? Fun is a very subjective term. What makes healing fun for you?

I am done as a Bodyguard(BG) in PvE content. I still love PvE Healing, but for me - BG healing is broken. I have healed for the last few days as an Operative and healing is so much better from an enjoyment standpoint, that it will be my new main since there are no changes coming to BGs in 1.3. I hope that some BG's, especially new ones, find value in my opinions and observations. Please keep in mind that my thoughts are entirly within the bounds of PvE Raiding, not PvP, Flash Points, etc. Let me define broken: It does not mean that a BG cannot heal all available content without being carried or having to over gear it. Anyone that says otherwise either sucks or raids with a bunch of poo standers. What it does mean is that IMO the design is broken. IMO, each healer essentially has three things that set them apart from other healers: Resource System BG has the least flexible resource. There is nothing you can change to get resources back faster. Both other healers have mechanics that allow them to change their actions and regain resources faster. Core Mechanic SuperCharged Gas (SCG) was completely broken by patch 1.2. As for our core mechanic, gaining a 3% healing buff then trading it for a temporary 5% buff plus some fluff at the cost of taking time to rebuild the 3% buff is close to worthless and more importantly lacks any real decision making. Why this wasn't addressed in 1.3 I will never understand. Playstyle It plays like a DPS class. Because you are juggling resources and cooldowns, you have less options than the other healers. In some cases, this is probably a benefit and attractive as it makes a healing class more accessible and usable by people who have been DPSers. For me who has only ever been a main healer in MMOs, it was kind of a let down prior to 1.2 and more so after. A separate issue is the output. In the nerf/buff cycle of MMOs, which classes have the best and worst output is always fluctuating. I think it is foolish to change classes based on output alone unless you are in a guild going for server or world firsts. I am not. Patch 1.2 accomplished its goal of bringing the output of the three healers closer in line, however there is still a surprisingly large discrepancy. I also think they made the wrong adjustments and nerfed BG too far in output. Either that or both the other healers need their output nerfed. I hope they fix that for the rest of you as I think any BG would welcome that change. This is also not necessarily a bad thing. Since BG has the lowest utility and output, it is the most challenging healer to be successful with. If you are all about challenging, BG is a good choice for you. As a side note, after playing an operative in hard modes and some nightmare content, I am very surprised at the utility of always being able to instantly throw a small heal on someone to help prevent them dieing while I cast a larger heal to get them back up. From what I understand of Sorcs, bubble works similarly. It surprises that the BG similar ability has such a relatively long cooldown. Based on the three main points above, I am done with BG unless these areas are fixed. Even if BGs get buffed to where they have the most output, if these issues are not addressed I will not be back. Therefore, this will likely the last thread I participate in that is located in the Merc Forums. I have tried to be a helpful and positive influence here as well as hold a middle ground between BGs are worthless and BGs are amazing-L2Play. I still believe BGs are in the middle of those two schools of thought. To those of you who still enjoy playing BGs, congrats, and I honestly hope the devs do not change whatever it is that you like. To those of you who no longer enjoy playing a BG, I hope the devs fix that without affecting those who do. For those of you who may be new to BG healing and or the BG Healing community, I have a few final comments: 1) Don't listen to anyone who thinks Kolto Shell is worthless or only a pre-pull ability. This is someone who has no grasp of math. It is quite simply our most efficient heal other than rapid shots. Try to keep it up as much as possible, but remember that post 1.2, it has a significant heat cost, so try to re-apply it (even if it still has several charges left) during lulls of the fight where you have no heat issues. 2) Don't listen to the People saying the class is completely fine because we are amazing burst healers. There are two flaws with this line of thinking. A) As I and others have shown in several threads, the math is not there to back this claim up. B) There is no content that cannot be healed by all three healers. Any of the three healers can heal the tank through frenzies and other mechanics., meaning that even if BGs were the best burst healer by a significant amount, who cares and why would you trade output and utility for something that is not needed? 3) Don't be afraid to continue to call for buffs and changes. The L2Play crowd obviously fail at simple math. BG has the lowest output of the three healers even considering Effective HPS. It is not a L@Play issue. 4) Don't listen to those who say BGs are completely broken and fail. If you are failing and you are geared appropriately then you are not playing the class right or your raiders are taking damage that should be avoided. There are plenty of BGs, some of whom are raiding as BG & BG in 8 mans that have completed all current content. It is simply more challenging. Wear it as a badge of honor. As a parting gift for those of you who want to learn all you can about BGs and my last attempt at a positive impact, here are some valuable threads that I had subscribed to. Some are out of date and they are in no particular order, but all are at least somewhat useful IMO. RuQu's PvE Combat Medic Guide (Updated for 1.2) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=181357 Mercenary|Commando PvE End Game Healing Compendium - 1.2 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=413858 http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/Thread-Mercenary-Commando-PvE-End-Game-Healing-Compendium-1-2?pid=19672#pid19672 Mercenary Builds (PVP, PVE, Leveling, BG, Arsen, Pyro) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=279723 DJs Mercenary Healing Guide For Dummies http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=58702 Post 1.2 PVE BodyGuard Build Discussion http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=419153 Heal skill stats for 1.2 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=420623 The Bodyguard (not The Healbot) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=338252 BH Healing for PVE http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=120269 Healing Statistics PvE http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=428397

Its still not broken. You can still outgear content and do great. You can still complete all content with it. Its still the worst of the three healers. Nothing has changed since 1.2 and since the 1.3 patch notes are out. Nothing is going to. LOLOLOLOL yeah ok. Let me give you a dose of Reality. A sorc in Tionese will put out WAY more HPS than a Rakata BH could dream of. Yes, in most situations, it is a lot of worthless overhealing. However, a less skilled rakata sorc will still put out more Effective HPS vs a more skilled rakata merc assuming you are doing challenging content that is not just sniping heals. To say we are broken is inaccurate, but no more inaccurate than saying we are only *Slightly* behind sorcs in HPS and even in EHPS.

Congratulations!

I am right there with you. I am more in shock now that the "usability" of Supercharged Gas/Cells was not restored in some way than I was when it was nerfed in the first place. If that does not describe what they did to BG/CM healers' core mechanic then I must be an illiterate moron. I just don't get it. They are happy with the numbers? Fine. I can deal with that but fix our worthless core mechanic at least. Make us have to have 45 or 60 charges instead of 30. Or put a CD on it, but make it actually worth using. ***. I've tried to be a mostly positive influence in the Healing and especially Mercenary forums, and it has taken much restraint in some instances. Now I wonder why? Why bother? The complete lack of communication in spite of the recent spin to the opposite is so silently obnoxious that its...no I am not going there. I give up.