Well, at least I can properly allocate my time now instead of hitting 'Refresh' on the server page in the hopes of playing today. Thanks.

Reiyn, As a first timer who you (and several others on Republic side, Harbinger) annihilated time and time again yesterday, I whole heartedly agree that it was not fun and had I something better to do, I may not have stuck around as long as I did. See this post: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=926658&page=30 (Flying under 'Loose Sausagewallet')

I played GSF for the first time ever yesterday. I am between projects at work so I went home early instead of twiddling my thumbs. Being bored, I figured I'd look into GSF since there was a CXP bonus for it and it seems to be on CXP bonus more than anything else. I did the tutorial which seemed simple enough but in my first 5-8 matches I had something like 200 damage and 10-15 deaths. It wasn't until I watched the GSF videos on youtube, specifically the GSF School ones, that I actually figured out the basics of tracking my target, using the throttle, shields, and weapons, and figured out how to use the class skills. By the end of the day, I was performing mid-tier (approximately 15-20k damage) with a somewhat decently geared strike fighter (blindly following the build guides online) and having fun with it. To answer your questions: It is steep. People don't realize this is a game unto itself. I did not. This is MMO PVP meets FPS meets Flight Sim and you can't just hop into something like that and expect to perform well. The resources are there though if you want to get better. To be honest, I have no idea. I initially poked around at other ships but figured that if I were going to contribute to my team at all, then I'd have to focus on one specific ship (in this case the Rycer or whatever SF). As a brand new player I have no idea which ship is better and why, other than bombers are hard to bring down even if I get a jump on them and gunships are the FPS snipers and you cant approach them directly. It would be nice to have legacy based ships but I really don't mind either way. It took me one day of slow queues to get my first ship somewhat decent (I assume) so I think the gear up issue is where it should be. As far as matchmaking, perhaps if you had a regs and ranked queues, you could allow the veterans better competition amongst each other and noobs time to learn without being one-shotted (population dependent of course (x-server?)). More often than not, I found myself getting annihilated by the same people over and over and over.

*slow claps* *steps out of the shadows* Heh... not bad, kid. Not bad at all. Your meme, I mean. It's not bad. A good first attempt. It's plenty dank... I can tell it's got some thought behind it... lots of quotable material... But memeing isn't all sunshine and rainbows, kid. You're skilled... that much I can tell. But do you have what it takes to be a Memester? To join those esteemed meme ranks? To call yourself a member of the Ruseman's Corps? Memeing takes talent, that much is true. But more than that it takes heart. The world-class Memesters - I mean the big guys, like Johnny Hammersticks and Billy Kuahana - they're out there day and night, burning the midnight meme-oil, working tirelessly to craft that next big meme. And you know what, kid? 99 times out of a hundred, that new meme fails. Someone dismisses it as bait, or says it's "tryhard," or ignores it as they copy/paste the latest ****post copypasta dreamt up by those sorry excuses for cut-rate memers over at reddit. The Meme Game is rough, kid, and I don't just mean the one you just lost :^). It's a rough business, and for every artisan meme you craft in your meme bakery, some ********er at 9gag has a picture of a duck or some **** that a million different Johnny No-Names will attach a milion different captions to. Chin up, kid. Don't get all mopey on me. You've got skill. You've got talent. You just need to show your drive. See you on the boards…

Maybe you could stop bouncing from FOTM class to FOTM class? t. Op healer since 1.0

As an OP Healer in PvP and PvE, these changes couldn't come soon enough. Previously, when going into a ranked match, my teammates were disgruntled at the start because my mere choice of Operative Heals over sorc heals was a detriment to them. Hopefully that will no longer be the case.

Incorrect. Operatives were nerfed. Everyone rejoice.

Operative DPS is lackluster. Lethality is great for putting up fluff numbers in reg's but falls on its face in 4v4. Concealment has a few instances where it works in regs but underperforms in 4v4. The only saving grace is the glitched offheal for helping out a focused teammate when it's not you. Operative Heals are lackluster. They are ok in regs and can sometimes put up big numbers due to the aoe heals, but the burst heal is nonexistent (outside of the two minute window) and the two second casts are too easy to shutdown. Both of the other healers are superior in this instance, and burst healing, like burst DPS, is what PVP is about. The one big burst heal we have is glitched and tbh, if you're playing the class right and keeping your HoTs up, it doesn't work anyway. Currently the #1 Operative is ranked 24th across all classes. 24TH!. It's not even close. This class needs serious help. >inb4 lethality parses #1 in pve! >inb4 great 1v1 when opening out of stealth and tranquilizer debuff applied.

This is what I'm lol'ing about: the irony that Mercs think its 'their time', but in reality BW is f'ing you ULTRA hard. With the new patch, you cant just start another character at 65, level to 70 via wz's, and be in BiS gear like you could in the past. No, you have to grind out your class to tier 3 to get that BiS set gear, and by that time you will be nerfed. So not only will the bads getting carried by their ranged dps-tank be screwed, but you'll be in your next FOTM class with global command rank 1 getting farmed. So enjoy! As a side note, it's amazing the amount of people that are swearing they were loyal Mercs/Troopers.

seconded

I tested this as well. -if the target to be healed has no kolto stacks, it heals for 70% of their bar -if the target has a kolto stack, its an extremely disappointing heal I for one hope they keep it. It's been very helpful coming around the center of Voidstar to help a door defender and get him back up.

same issue

10% nerf for heals isn't enough. There's no reason you should have such a significant hps difference compared to mercs and ops, especially when you account for all the utility sorcs have - instant teleport between points in CW, VS, and AH, the ability to pull into end zones in the various huttballs, and the ability to deactivate any point with impunity.

Good thing the majority of mercs are terrible. Seriously, it employs re-re mechanics and caters to embiciles.

Firstly thanks for the great write up. It is much appreciated and really allows for freedom of maneuver come opening day. Secondly, do you have any idea how Warzones, ranked or regular, factor in to this?