thats how my battlemaster guardian goes: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500cRzZhZGrRbdbRdGo.1 playing in soresu except protection is not necessary. not the mega burst dd but a very strong allrounder that way. warzone gameplay is awesome

thats a common mistake people do here. its not true. IF you want to play a pure DD being as destructible as possible where you are, THEN go for vigil OR go for focus and get any damage increasing talent and item possible and play in shii-cho IF you want to be generally successful at pvp, a help to your team and have flexible gameplay you can adapt to different situations and enjoy tactical gameplay THEN i highly recommend going for focus in soresu stance and equipping a defensive shield while collecting vindicator gear. the damage decrease is noticable but minor to the added protection and survivability of soresu. exception if you have a pocket healer, if hes not on pressure shii-cho would be an obvious choice. i am a champion geared battlemaster focus guardian, for those interested: my sweep goes from 2 to 5,5 k with relics/adrenal etc. (low end due to guard, non guarded standard players get hit by approx 3,5-5k) check my posts on this thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=271304 for closer details about vigil versus focus and general focus gameplay

i come from a wow gladiator warrior and wanted to keep the great stance dancing mechanic in this game, so i began with regularly switching between soresu und shii-cho. i rather quickly came to the opinion, that the dps benefit of shii-cho over soresu is rather minor and does not make up for the lack of survivability and protection compared to soresu (for most warzone situations). oberserving losing situations in warzones i never thought, that shii-cho would have been better for the overall situation, as i very regularly use protection on allies to win the fight rather than hunt for insane crit kills, which seems to appeal to many people. i consider this playing a hybrid DD/Tank over a pure DD, because the hybrid is more flexible and in the current state almost as good in damage as a pure DD in shii-cho. i understand others are more oriented at playing a pure DD, where shii-cho is favored. i prefer tactical play. EDIT: considering your statement of build gameplay around sweep crits, i think this is only partially true. yes, sweep crits are an important part of our dps, however bladestorm and force exhaustion are very big parts as well. its not a one-trick-spec as it easily appears. of course i am very careful not to miss my sweep (non-slowed opponents, knockbacks). i guess sweep makes about 20-50% of our damage, depending on AoE. when gearing up i prefer survivability over higher crits. depends on whether you group play much or not. if you usually have a pocket healers it makes sense to go fure pure damage. in my case i switch between solo and group play often, therefor i appreciate more endurance and expertise very much. for example i use the rakata endurance stim to get extra hp. note that some heals are based on HP-Percentage

this was supposed to be a youtube comment but went too long: i watched the video now, im playing a champion geared battlemaster guardian on focus spec, soresu form. i agree to nick (@youtube) that this video makes me more confident of my opinion to play focus over vigil. commenting your points: vigilance offers better dps considering sustained dmg. yes. but the rotation is more vulnerable to disturbances. you show a lot of 1v1 fights. there it might be true (none of your opponents seriously tried to kite you, i know there are few people who are good at it). in warzones its not. you are talking about burst on the forums and youtube - i am not a friend of showing off big numbers, but seriously i didnt see a noticable burst in your video. very constant dps. considering the "feel" watching your gameplay compared to my focus guardian i can say watching you felt like having not much of control over the fight, lack of possibilities and it felt like your enemies dont lose hp. from the "feel" i doubt that vigil dps would be higher than focus, yet i know it is by rational thoughts ^^ and by the way, leave out fights of opponents not fighting back. i feel like giving a thumbs down for this video but do not, because there are FAR worse pvp videos out there. i appreciate the effort

ive dealt with focus versus vigilance for a while, on the forums as well. outcome: focus slightly wins at utility comparison (vigil offers situational outstanding utility, especially for huttball - unremetting. still overall focus offers far more general utility) focus wins at overall damage in RANDOM warzones (bursty damage style of focus is not bothered much by disturbance of the rotation) vigil wins at overall damage in PREMADE warzones (group support lets you unleash your full pve dps potential) focus wins at group benefit (far better protection cuz focus can play soresu as standard stance) generally focus is considered a strong and flexible allrounder while vigilance has some great potential, which is more situational edit: focus wins at valor progression, since focus supports medal gain: - protection is more easy. no warzone i dont get to 10k protection, some i get 50k - 10% heal of cc break ability can crit giving you 2,5k heal medal - 2,5k dmg medal is guaranteed, 5k damage medal is doable with little preparation. expecially 5k dmg and 2,5k heal are only for focus build. thats a lot of valor over time.

simple reason. guardian can practicably do everything a sentinel can do, with added possibility to protect. playing a guardian: big UP for protection, no DOWN at all (dps decreases, but not significantly at all)

a big lol for 4 pages of FAIL people who are not capable of undestanding the intention of OPs post. you feel like those guys that can laugh two days if they find a typing mistake until someone tells them it was a correct spelling anyway

i found myself being a significant factor of bringing my "bad" team to a close win over a stronger team sometimes. i wouldnt say the effort of one does not show. and remember: you get rewarded personally for personal efforts in many (not all) ways. meaning if you really try to make the best out of the game you often get more medals than your bad teammates. depends on class a little. i collected some screenshots of losing games where i top the charts in damage/protection and medals, then have the enemy team and below my whole team. happens. yet i got a considerable high amount of valor in such games, and usually some mvp votes as well.

a high amount of blatant kill traders got banned, normal ilum zerg play gives UP TO 20k valor an hour in peak times (few hours after weekly resets) and between 2 and 8 k in other times. (experience) warzones go between 3 and 8 k an hour. so yeah, ilum is strong for valor imo. not gamebreaking if not abused.

very true. im in champion/battlemaster gear on my guardian. fighting the FEW very good (skill wise and equipment wise) operatives i get a real hard opener on me, dropping me to 30-50% depending on crits. however going in a direct exchange of blows afterwards the operative would most likely lose if i use some cooldowns (as he does). i understand an operative who is STRONGER geared than oneself can do insane openers, but thats ok since gear gives an obvious reason for imbalance of the fight. my guardian stomps non-pvp geared people in the first rotation as well, no surprise considering my gear i dont encounter operatives with significantly stronger gear than mine. they are tough fights, but thats completely ok with me. if an operative of stronger gear destroys you, you should gear up. if an operative of equal gear destroys you, you should reconsider your tactic and gameplay in the current state of the game fighting operatives is the only pvp encounter you have to seriously ADAPT playstyle to. imo it should be that way in EVERY fight. not adapting and going for standard dps rotations wont win you a fight against operatives.

i agree juggs/guardians are strong. as operatives/scoundrels are and as sorcerers/sages are. but none of them is overpowered really. some classes are kinda underpowered. marauder/sentinel dps increase over equivalent advanced class does not make up for the lack of protection abilities, gunslinger/sniper generally needs tweaking. but if someone cant deal with a class in the current state of the game i can surely say its not a class being overpowered, its a player being underpowered.

so many people do not understand the difference between burst and dps. even after the (unneccessary) operative nerf, a sweep jugg/guardian still does less dps. DPS is below average for guardians/juggs. the burst is a single attack, it might be higher than an operative attack. but remember operatives have 1-3 opening high damage attacks? the cooldown for the punch is 8 seconds. compare it to a full buffed sweep, its at least 10 seconds and requires at least 2 preparatory skills. just do the little math. one 5k crit does not kill someone. it may be about medals, but not about killing people. people here lack logic alot

sorry im ignoring your pattern. their is only one true concern i have about pvp: the lack of adaption considering enemy classes. that means, i miss having to adapt playstyle to the enemy class i am encountering. in the current state with current skill levels pvp feels almost like pve as you primarily go for standard dps rotations with very small changes based on enemy class. operative was one of few classes you had to adapt playstyle to, that was great. however since the nerf they arent a threat anymore. pvp should be completely about adapting your gameplay to your enemy.

of course because intelligent people realize swtor class balance is surprisignly good. operative nerf was unneccessary for true pvpers and guardian'/juggs are FAR from overpowered, people see big numbers and go cry. i have lost interest to explain the game to any new forum flamer in every single thread.

you are on jenjidai right? /whisper me ingame for some stuff about operatives and class balance. see you /closed