SIGNED. I am DYING for a 'generic' personnel bundle. The very few ordinary personnel (the citizens I'm thinking of, togruta, kubaz, selkath) are quite rare and frankly, too expensive to buy in bulk. The nightlife ones helped, but those still lean towards a certain stronghold theme (there are a few that are generic), and I would happily pay for a 'citizens' pack (or probably more likely, buy multiples of it). Some SH's are tough to fill, and personnel really give them life, we need SO many more packs of them.

This is the case for most classes, tbh. And even those with options...do not have MANY options. It's usually only two. Count your blessings your one good set didn't get nerfed into the ground at least (poor merc/commando).

Hatred is the DOT spreader, and if you take the quick escalation tactical, they become much more survivable. Also you get death field with Hatred which hell yes.

Cadimemu, testing out my concealment op before I take her into some ops next week. One other op, and two maras. Other op is 71, I’m 75, one mara is 75, other is 69 – should be fine yeah? Lol. Straight off the 75 mara stealths past the first two groups, op follows him, leaving me, who did not realized they ditched, and the little mara (who doesn’t have stealth yet) to take the first group. Death. Realized after we were dead the other two had straight up left. Basically, this is the pattern through the whole thing until I quit out. I start trying to follow but I’m not just gonna leave the smaller mara to eat all the mob damage just because they’re not decent enough to clear. As if it wasn’t bad enough, guess what – no scavenging in the party. Yay. They actually fight this time, but it takes two tries (no heals with the two droids is hell), and then we have the 75 mara, who decides to start clearing, and the other op, who straight up gave up, stealthed past all the mobs to the boss, and starts soloing it while we’re trying to get past the trash. After about my third death and watching all the trash that the op sent our way chase the baby mara, I was done. I just closed the game.

Got trapped in queue about three times with an assassin who only knew how to click two things: whirling blow and basic attack. It was the buttcrack of dawn queue and I was just trying to take advantage of some double XP and I was stuck with the guy. Listen, when I'm the best DPS in the group (I'm a bad DPS), you know things are gonna be very VERY slow.

No. Also, no.

Forgive me for any mistakes here, but I’ll give the basics if what I know. I don’t have any pure aggro per second numbers because I rarely parse on my tanks, and if I do, I never check numbers (I never have aggro issues on anything, so I never felt the need to). PT tanks are mostly passive mitigation tanks. They have some CDs, but compared to the CDs of the other tanks, they’re not great. But PTs gain passive mitigation through just their rotation, as rail shot and heat blast grant DR. PTs are best for ‘damage eating’ tanks, they seem to be able to take the most punishment. If any of this has changed, whoops – it’s been a loooong time since I played PT, anyone feel free to correct me. Jugg tanks have CDs for DAYS and are kinda the in-between of outright facetanking ability, what with reflect and enraged defense. Taken the right utility point they can also have a self-cleanse, which is super handy (PTs, no matter what they do, have no self-cleanse and are at the mercy of their healers). I’ve only jugg tanked a tiny bit because I personally found it boring, but they’re a solid choice with lots of ‘oh crap’ buttons. Sin tanks are the cheese it tanks. They’re the squishiest of the tanks, and have the highest skill floor, but done right you can straight up ignore mechanics in a lot of fights. Shroud is a self-cleanse and a ‘screw you I’m immortal’ button that can be used to great effect. With the right utilities and tactical, you can shroud 3 times in a row, making for some super cheese goodness. I’ve also personally noticed Sin having fantastic aggro-holding ability, especially for trash mobs. I struggled with aggro on my jugg a lot (it could have been because I was new to tanking, to be perfectly fair), and PT was kinda so-so.

As a rule, I disapprove of kill options for characters because it means we will NEVER see significant content for them ever again, but if they allowed it with Xalek, they should allow it with Ashara. I dislike double standards, and this is a big one. But here’s a downside if they do add in the option: it will likely be far less fitting than the moment Ashara stood up for herself. It will, very likely, end up dumb and delayed and honestly probably really random, like many of the other kill options are. The moment to kill her passed by already (unless they put some effort into writing, but given how much attention they give old companions, LOL)

I'm conflicted here, because while I do like variety in my content, at least with Hammer Station I know even with the stupidest group I can carry them through and just get my weekly done. It becomes an issue of 'do I want to get it done' or 'do I wanna have fun' and those two rarely intersect unless I'm in a guild run. There's been an influx of...questionable flashpoint runners since the drop of 6.0 and the quarantine. I'm happy to teach newbies, but there's 'new' and then there's 'hopeless'. And the latter makes Hammer Station a blessing to get.

I’ll tell you right now, tanking is a thankless job. When you’re good at it, no one notices, when you’re mediocre or below, everyone notices and yells. Also, some people are just dumb and don’t know fights (examples being the two you mentioned – those dogs in Mando Raiders are untauntable, the fault is not yours at all, and the droid has a targeted attack that hits at random – there’s nothing you can do. In those cases, if you were yelled at, THEY were wrong). Most people in this thread have covered the basics really well, but I do want to add, where your stand in a fight can be vital. This does require knowing some fights first, so you may hit some trial and error sadly, unless you have someone to guide you. If the boss has a knockback, put your back to a wall. If adds have a set spawn-in point, plant your *** right on top of it. Tanking is rough as hell at first because you’re stuck reacting after things instead of predicting those you know. As a possibly unhelpful suggestion, a guild sometimes help. I mean, yes, you have to find the right one, but I learned tanking in a guild group, where they were all super helpful and guided me through the beginning roughness. This may not be the case for every guild, because some guilds are ******s too, but if you find the right one, it helps a ton. As a side note, if you play on either Star Forge or Satele Shan, I’d be happy to run MM FPs with you as your healer while you learn. I’m a big girl and know how to use my DCDs so I don’t mind things looking at me.

I’m really struggling to find good excuses to made saboteurs in the Empire that want to go Rep. Even my lightside Imperials are usually loyal as hell. But I’ve managed one, which I’ll be getting around to soon: someone who was fighting for the other side all along. I have an agent that’s a deep cover SIS agent sent to infiltrate Imperial Intelligence, and when time comes, she’s going home. I’ve recently gone back to my OG server and sent my oldest toons through the rest of their story, and my knight’s has been one of my personal favorites (she’s a light-leaning knight that’s now siding with the empire). She’s ALWAYS laughed off most the Jedi code, always thought they were stuffy, and ALWAYS thought they needed to take more action (she’s A LOT like Ashara). When the Republic abandoned her and refused to help out, this compounded her issues with them even more. With Lana showing her sometimes better solutions have to be more pragmatic, she started to lean neutral, killing one to save many, that sorta thing. This all came to a head when the Empire of all people came to help her when the Republic refused to, and nearly being assassinated by the former chancellor shortly thereafter, honestly she’d just mad as hell and absolutely done with the Republic. She was unsure about siding with the Empire, but when she went to Ossus and saw the Jedi were there playing house while thousands of people were dying, she knew she was making the right choice. The death toll leaves a sour taste in her mouth, but at LEAST the Empire actually DOES SOMETHING. TLDR: it depends on the story you want to tell, how your character progresses, all sorts of things. You can twist almost anything into working if you jump through the right hoops.

I’ve had an asston of weird to bad groups in my life (ESPECIALLY as a healer, for a while I boycotted queuing random FPs as a healer because MAN do they get **** on) but FINALLY, I shall contribute to this lovely thread, because I hit a milestone. The FIRST EVER time I got kicked from an FP. Vet Cadimemu. Me, baby level 42 rage jugg. 75 sin, low end gear, but still should be fine. Level...50-ish? Op healer, and a level 30-something mara. All same guild, I’m the only odd man out. Seemed simple enough, it’s just Cadimemu. For a minute or so they all stand there while I wait for the 75 to pull...and clearly they’re expecting me to pull. The baby jugg. Kay whatever, no ED yet, but still two DCDs, I should be fine facetanking. Pull, healer is okay, but I’m tiny so it’s a feat, and the DPS is really low so the fights take absolute ages. I have no way of telling but pretty sure I was highest DPS (which is...BAD, I’m a **** DPS and I have no idea how to play jugg) because I had NO issues holding aggro of absolutely everything. I don’t think I saw the mara use a single skill, all reg hits. Get down the elevator, someone pulls the extra mobs on the side as we run through (not sure who but it wasn’t me), wipe. Not an issue, pick myself up and carry on. They’re clearly not super-experienced players, that’s fine, I don’t mind carrying – gonna be rough with no ED, but I think I can do it. We get to the trash at the fenced area, and I try to LOS em, and the whole party stands out in the center and dies. Wipe. Respawn, head back, couple things dead now so think we can just do it out in the open. Nope, DPS is too low, wipe again. Next thing I know I’m vote kicked. I mean, yeah sure. I could be optimistic – maybe another guildie was gonna join and carry them – but I’m not optimistic, and if they thought I was the issue...oh honey. A 75 was too scared to pull ahead of a level 40. That right there should have told me what to expect. Honorable mention: that one time, months ago, when I encountered an op healer who only used kolto waves, and only when everyone was full hp. I’m happy to say, most master modes I’ve queued are smoother. Vet modes are honestly a nightmare to PUG.