I hope you'll forgive my temerity in making this my first post--I'm fairly new to the game--but this is a question I've wanted to ask of every Vanguard I've seen. Searching through other threads has revealed glimpses of what folks like about the class but nothing this direct. Hopefully, at the very least, it's a chance for you to rave a little about the class.

 

Myself, I love the combination of survivability and dps. Not that I'm a huge expert, but I've yet to play any class in any MMO that can both take and deal out punishment quite like the Vanguard can. So fun to wade in, take their best shot, then lay down some thunder. There's just something about Stock Strike. For some reason, I can't get enough of it especially if it happens to be the killing blow. Lasers and explosives be damned! I shall smite thee with plastic!

 

And for the cherry on top, with all those saber-wavers around, there's some pride in playing a grunt. Just a fun, fun class.

i play cuz i think trooper armour just looks cool... (tho SW is better)

Playing an Assault Vanguard makes me feel like I'm a wrecking ball. I go in, stuff explodes, I come out the other side (usually, though if I don't I leave alive, I tend to leave enough damage in my wake). The burst is crazy and it's ultimately gratifying just to see stuff go boom.

I'd been following SWTOR for awhile (since it was announced, to be honest ) and I'd been thinking of creating a Jedi Knight as my first character.

 

And then they released the

and my mind was blown away.

 

From that moment on I followed everything that was released on the Trooper and made up my mind that I was going Vanguard (tank *and* damage dealer? sign me up! ). I was sad though to learn that Vanguards would not use Assault Cannons (I was looking forward to tanking with a BIG gun ).

 

When the game launched I created a Trooper from the get-go and started playing. Started out as Shield Specialist and loved the fact that the whole spec was built around proccing my shield and then smashing enemies in the face with the stock of my rifle . However, the game was different back in the beginning, (no Group Finder, population spread out among too many servers), I spent most of my time solo and while I almost never died stuff took ages to die. In the early 30's I decided to spec Assault: I still got to use Stock Strike but now as a proc generator for High Impact Bolt. I never looked back.

 

As Ezrafetch so eloquently put it:

Playing an Assault Vanguard makes me feel like I'm a wrecking ball. I go in, stuff explodes, I come out the other side (usually, though if I don't I leave alive, I tend to leave enough damage in my wake). The burst is crazy and it's ultimately gratifying just to see stuff go boom.

 

Solo survivality isn't a big issue. Maybe it's my time as a Shield Specialist but I tend to never forget my defensive cooldowns (Cryo Grenade, Reactive Shield, Adrenaline Rush and Neural Surge) and I always use Elara (Hey! "For better or for worse" means that she gets to go out into the field with me ). Also, having mostly instant attacks means kiting is a breeze so even Champion mobs just die.

 

In a group the Vanguard is a lot of fun. We also have a lot of flexibility. Single target DPS? Covered! Mobs clumped up and ready for AoE? Covered! Off-tanking needed or tank died at 5% boss health? Covered!

 

The Vanguard was my first toon. I've since levelled 4 others to 50 (Jedi Knight finally got created as my 3rd toon ), but the Vanguard is still my "first love".

I love me some force users, I've been waiting around since I was six for somebody to invent irl lightsabers (a kid can dream, lol) but, there is something about just being a "regular" old soldier. Maybe it's my own experience in the military. My Vanguard's motto is "Screw the Force, I have ammo!"