I'm a little unsure about this. When an ability says, "strikes the target for [number] damage. attacks with both weapons if dual wielding," does that mean it does [number] damage total or [number] damage per lightsaber? If that's the total, then what's the point of dual wielding? Increased hit chance? Increased crit chance?

The damage shown in the tooltip is the total possible damage.

Dual wielding is largely cosmetic, apart from the skill tree ability to increase off-hand damage, and the fact that if you have any abilities that proc on a sabre strike, they can proc off either the main hand or off-hand strike, so in theory they should proc twice as often as if you single-wield and strike a pose with the other hand.

Actually what we said isn't that different when you keep in mind that at 42 my offhand damage is 47-87 with the same weapon in both hands, while my mainhand damage is 358-492. I know the mainhand damage is part of the tool tip, you can see this simply by changing barrels or hilts and watching all your gun or sword abilities go up in damage more than can be accounted for by the added stats. Since offhand damage is so low I can't say if it's already part of the tool tip. Plus the tool tips tell you the amount before it hits the person, they have damage reduction so it's rarely the amount you see on the tool tip unless you crit.

If you are trying to decide between a Jugg and a Mara then dual wield isn't the deciding factor for dps. I've played both and a Jugg is not going to touch Mara damage on it's best day. All things being equal a Mara would do slightly more damage dual wielding than a Jugg would with a shield/focus, but all things are not equal. They are far from equal, because of the different abilities and trees a Mara does more damage than a dps specced Jugg.

But of course as a Jugg you get the ability to tank, and until Mara's get to like 35 they die helplessly and horribly in pvp. Though at 50 Mara is considered overpowered because of their high dps coupled with survivability, while Jugg is reduced to suiciding so that others may live. That being said, I like Jugg better, I more about helping the team then basking in the stack of dead bodies at my feet.

Actually what we said isn't that different when you keep in mind that at 42 my offhand damage is 47-87 with the same weapon in both hands, while my mainhand damage is 358-492. I know the mainhand damage is part of the tool tip, you can see this simply by changing barrels or hilts and watching all your gun or sword abilities go up in damage more than can be accounted for by the added stats. Since offhand damage is so low I can't say if it's already part of the tool tip. Plus the tool tips tell you the amount before it hits the person, they have damage reduction so it's rarely the amount you see on the tool tip unless you crit.

 

If you are trying to decide between a Jugg and a Mara then dual wield isn't the deciding factor for dps. I've played both and a Jugg is not going to touch Mara damage on it's best day. All things being equal a Mara would do slightly more damage dual wielding than a Jugg would with a shield/focus, but all things are not equal. They are far from equal, because of the different abilities and trees a Mara does more damage than a dps specced Jugg.

 

But of course as a Jugg you get the ability to tank, and until Mara's get to like 35 they die helplessly and horribly in pvp. Though at 50 Mara is considered overpowered because of their high dps coupled with survivability, while Jugg is reduced to suiciding so that others may live. That being said, I like Jugg better, I more about helping the team then basking in the stack of dead bodies at my feet.

I see. That clears things up a bit. I definitely prefer tanking (my main is a jugg), but I created a marauder on a more popular server until I can transfer my Jugg (playing as a tank isnt fun when there arent any groups), so DPS is somewhat new to me. I guess the offhand is practically negligible when you factor in defense, but it's better than nothing. It seems the real benefit is the possibility of better stats (DPS related) from a lightsaber versus a shield.

It seems the real benefit is the possibility of better stats (DPS related) from a lightsaber versus a shield.

Uh nope, not really. Cause you can also use a focus if you are dpsing as a Jugg. The real difference in dps comes from the abilities, not the offhand, things like Berserk and the Affliction tree ensure that a Marauder will out dps a Jugg even if the Marauder had a stuffed bunny in his offhand.

Uh nope, not really. Cause you can also use a focus if you are dpsing as a Jugg. The real difference in dps comes from the abilities, not the offhand, things like Berserk and the Affliction tree ensure that a Marauder will out dps a Jugg even if the Marauder had a stuffed bunny in his offhand.

hahaha ok. thanks

I have a related question - if the offhand saber does so little damage, does it make a big deal if the offhand saber isn't the same spec as the main saber? For example, since I have Artifice as my crafting skill, should I go out of my way to make 2 equal sabers every time, or can I just pass my old main-hand saber to my offhand with relatively little difference?

Well a lower weapon would have lower stats too, but yeah, you'd probably drop in damage like 2 points, if you did it that way. I upgrade my gear when I start having trouble beating content, at 31 I couldn't kill a 32 elite, so I looked at my gear for myself and my pet, I was in low 20s gear and some of her gear was still in the teens. Just spent most of today updating it.