I actually use S + F for my strafing.

 

I guess you use W + R to easier reach the number keys?

Yep.

But S/F works as well as W/R. The main thing is to make sure that you are using your ring and index fingers to strafe, because it's intuitive. Some people use pinky and middle finger, which doesn't make sense, and you'll get carpal tunnel in your pinky.

Yeah, ESDF user here from way back and I just can't figure why people use WASD, but I am a touchtyper and the neutral position is with the index finger of the left hand on F. Certainly gives you access to everything you need with all the extra letter keys rebound to abilities, natural position for shift etc.

No criticism for people who are used to wasd, but it seems like they are locking themselves out of a more central position on the keyboard and putting a lot of load on the index/middle finger while underutilising the ring/pinky.

Some people use pinky and middle finger, which doesn't make sense, and you'll get carpal tunnel in your pinky.

Wow, that sounds really uncomfortable.

UPDATE (2012/02/17): with the nerf to Surge Rating in 1.1.3, burst damage is down significantly for all players and time-to-kill has increased. An implication is that "mana" management has become more important.

As such, I moved the point in Oil Slick over to the second point in Shield Vents. The idea here is to get your internal cooldown on the Heat vent proc from SV ticking as fast as possible.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301GRGb0RroMZMcrroZb.1

UPDATE (2012/02/17): with the nerf to Surge Rating in 1.1.3, burst damage is down significantly for all players and time-to-kill has increased. An implication is that "mana" management has become more important.

 

As such, I moved the point in Oil Slick over to the second point in Shield Vents. The idea here is to get your internal cooldown on the Heat vent proc from SV ticking as fast as possible.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301GRGb0RroMZMcrroZb.1

Thanks for the update. Gonna try this out tonight.

Yeah, ESDF user here from way back and I just can't figure why people use WASD, but I am a touchtyper and the neutral position is with the index finger of the left hand on F. Certainly gives you access to everything you need with all the extra letter keys rebound to abilities, natural position for shift etc.

 

No criticism for people who are used to wasd, but it seems like they are locking themselves out of a more central position on the keyboard and putting a lot of load on the index/middle finger while underutilising the ring/pinky.

I actually still use WASD, I just have a Naga. I never had trouble before the Naga however, just have to get used to moving your hand around the keyboard well. I'm constantly switching what fingers are moving with WASD. I could probably get rid of the S since I never back up anyway, but just haven't had the need. I reach all the way to M-J-U-7 keys easily, and haven't need anymore keys while playing, and it never really effected my speed in hitting them either. 24 possible ability keys this way, not including using shift or ctrl for them.

I honestly think the bigger thing is knowing how to strafe, and properly setting your key binds to the proper keys, rather then getting use to this 2 key strafe system. Such as any ability that's going to plant you anyway (like unload) might not need a key bind right next to your fingers. My unload is actually set to ctrl+f for example.

Then again, maybe I'm just too lazy to bother switching to this sort of strafe. Using my thumb to hit keys is pretty easy as is. I think this type of 2 key strafe will be much less needed as there are tons of multi button mouses out there.

I still use WASD and wind up having my pinky on A a lot while I auto run.

I'm a piano and guitar player so I guess I just have more muscles there than you people

UPDATE (2012/02/17): with the nerf to Surge Rating in 1.1.3, burst damage is down significantly for all players and time-to-kill has increased. An implication is that "mana" management has become more important.

 

As such, I moved the point in Oil Slick over to the second point in Shield Vents. The idea here is to get your internal cooldown on the Heat vent proc from SV ticking as fast as possible.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301GRGb0RroMZMcrroZb.1

I'd honestly say, just put a priority on +Power.

Your TTK won't change really at all..(Especially with such a high crit chance on RP it might even kill faster). A stat that was seemingly overlooked with all the Crit/Surge Stackers, is incredibly powerful...

I'd honestly say, just put a priority on +Power.

 

Your TTK won't change really at all..(Especially with such a high crit chance on RP it might even kill faster). A stat that was seemingly overlooked with all the Crit/Surge Stackers, is incredibly powerful...

Understood.

In my Guide, Power has become the top damage-related stat with the changes in 1.1.3.

Thats quite possible. After patch geting a demolisher medal is much much harder for iron fist. I am not sure how bad its for other clases/builds but iron fist got hit pretty hard by this nerf. We are crtiting a lot but our max damage is relativly low and at same time our total alpha is hard caped in pvp because we have to rely on geting hit by attack that can be shielded. I have respeced to pyro to test how that change affect it and performance hit is much less noticable, another nerf like this and i am afraid shield tech will be reduced to guard bot because more and more specs/clases has their ehp extended beyond our "mana" pool.

At same time i have found out that my usual total damage done is a bit higer crossing 300k more offen.

"Players affected by a Damage Over Time ability are no longer interrupted when interacting with objectives."

So if/when this change goes live what would be the ideal point placement since it seems that Retractable Blade is no longer worth the investment?

I'm thinking of putting the point back into Oil Slick, since having moved it to get 2/2 Shield Vents after the 1.1.3 surge nerf.

Any suggestions?

I'm looking to roll a powertech with capability to do some tanking in pve and be useful in pvp and I am wondering if this specc still viable in 1.2?

i lvl'd in this spec from 10 to 50 while pvp'ing, tanking FP's and later

offtanking KP and EV OP's (we haven't done denova yet but from what

i've seen thats where a full tank spec might be more desireable for

the second tank).

from my own experience i can say this spec is perfectly viable for

all of it.

i lvl'd and tanked normal FP's in full dmg equip only with a shield gen

and it never gave myself or the healer any trouble.

high attack plus ~30% crit and ~70% surge combined with still

good tankiness and an up-to-date equipped gault as companion

guarantee you to fly throug the content with nothing left to be desired.

in pvp you are sturdy enough to whittle down most of your opponents

by yourself and distract the **** out of your enemies while still doing

enough damage to be on their to-kill list.

1.2 didn't change anything for IF itself so its still a perfectly viable

choice. but since it buffed heat blast it now just comes down to

the choice between more utility (IF) or slightly more burst and

survivability (full ST).

Hey there,

I've tried some other builds and keep coming back to this build. It seems to work the best for the way that I play and I think that's the underlying message that you've been preaching. If you don't like taking a tanking stance and want to do more DPS, then go DPS rather than a hybrid.

Keep rocking bro...would love to see more vids of your Vandguard in action.

Thanks for staying on top of this post and responding as it has gotten quite long.