I'm hoping to find a good group configuration for normal-hard mode operations. We don't have many operatives or BH's in our guild and I have a feeling that's hurting our ability to run operations. I know some of these fights can be done (EV) without having those classes but it seems like it may be easier with the extra range dps and buffs they provide.

 

Any thoughts from your experiences for what classes make up a good ops group dynamic?

It's usually two tanks, two heals, and four DPS.

 

Ideally you want all four classes for the buffs but it's not essential. Also ideally you want one ranged DPS but I've seen some done without as long as you plan your strategies out.

 

You obviously don't always need a specific advanced class of any type to complete ops. You also don't always need two tanks or heals (but generally the above setup will get you through all of the ops content). Just learn the boss fight and understand how it affects your particular raid and plan accordingly.

Edited February 27, 2012 by xGBox

Tonight doing EV normal we had 2 jugg tanks 2 sorc healers, 2 marauders, dsp sorc, and sin. Now, I know we probably had too much light/medium armor and no heavy. We got to SOA but couldn't quite down him. We had him down to around 10% at our closest before we wiped. I'm just wondering if our problem is our group set-up. We perform just fine but I think we may be lacking because of heavy armor, more class buffs. This isn't the way we run all the time. It's just who we had available tonight.

Having a lot of light/medium armor DPS puts a bit of extra stress on healers, which of course only happens if they are getting hit, but can be mitigated as healers get better gear. In terms of Soa, I don't remember if you have to facesmash the lightning balls on normal, but if they despawn the overall damage being dealt to DPS would be from fall damage.

 

It can also come down to an issue of gear as well. Ideally when starting out EV, people last longer when their gear is mostly (50) purple or blue mods in their gear. Anything less and they put additional stress on others, which doesn't help if they're in the same situation.

Edited February 27, 2012 by xGBox

Fixing a few mistakes:

 

You need only 1 tank for any boss in this game except the double-boss in Karagga's so far.

 

Having no heavy armor wearers is not a problem at all as most of the AoE damage tends to ignore armor (Internal and elemental damages.).

 

Soa is more about surviving the fight and managing cooldowns more than anything else.

 

With these in mind i'd suggest you to deffintly use 1 tank. Gear him in columi if he is not already. (Boost him in dungeons.) This makes your dps go up by -a lot-.

 

On soa normal you can simply kite balls around as only 1 spawn at a time i believe but still running in it to make it disappear is an option. At last phase you have to make sure people are ready to nuke the boss before he goes vulnerable saving cooldowns (most randoms ive seen use them on traps and such..which decrease their nuke on boss.) - do not miss any pillars and it should be okey. (In-depth tactics would take too long and you seem to know it anyway.)

 

Edit: The ops config is really up to you. I'd only suggest 1 sage for AoE heal on ground which helps tons.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Ecmelt

If we're talking ideal setups, I would have to say you want 1 main tain, 1 off tank that does good DPS, 1 melee DPS (prefer sentinel for inspiration), 3 ranged DPS and 2 healers (prefer different ACs so no 2 sage groups, you want 1 sage, 1 scoundrel).

 

Ranged has a big advantage in most encounters, especially Karagga's Palace. A minimum 2 ranged is a must for the fabricator droid. Melee are at a large disadvantage due to all the proximity damage and PBAOE that several bosses have. For this reason, a ranged DPS is always preferable to a melee. However, you do need at least 1 sentinel/maurader for their inspiration buff (+15% damage/healing for short duration).

 

There are fights where an OT is desirable, but only the fabricator droid and Jorg and Sorno in Karagga's Palace require the 2nd tank. All other encounters can be done with a single tank. The OT need not be in full tank spec, but should have 2 sets of gear.