Hey guys, so I just began and I'm really having trouble deciding which class to play. This isn't exactly something new to me, I always have difficulty settling on one class in MMO's. It also doesn't help that there isn't a lot of information on how exactly specializations alter an advanced classes play style to help me make up my mind. So, I have three things that I'm looking at to attempt to find my correct class and specialization. (Obviously it doesn't have to fulfill all three, just an outline of what I'm looking for.)

 

First, a mixture of offensive force powers and lightsaber melee. Obviously who doesn't want to play like this in a Star Wars game? I prefer Sith so I had my eye on Sith Assassin, but I'm not sure which specialization would offer it of the three. I asked this single question in General earlier and I believe someone said Shadow, but unless I'm wrong I believe the corresponding classes are relative mirrors. Anyways, a recommendation for lightsaber melee and force offense, spec included, would be appreciated.

 

Second, I like to heal! The only problem is I've played basically every healer class in every decent MMO, meaning I'm a little fatigued by it. So if I was to do it in this game, I need to know which healer has the most intense/difficult rotation. Basically which one is doing the most "things" at a time to keep me interested.

 

Lastly, and sort of tying in to the second question, which class do you believe to be the most difficult? I know this is a common and very subjective question, but it's necessary to ask it again since the game is updated constantly and things change. Note by difficult I mean executional or rotational difficulty, not difficult because it's bad.

 

So a suggestion of a class and spec would be very appreciated. If you suggest something that isn't Sith, please outline if it's different since I'm still new and I'm not sure if the classes are mirrored completely. Thanks very much for the read and any responses.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Aidoc

Sith Assassin (inquisitor advanced class) plays similar to a WoW feral druid. You can stealth around, stab people in the back and you also have a tanking tree (but no healing tree). Assassins and Shadow (Jedi Consular mirror) get a double bladed lightsaber similar to the one Darth Maul uses. There is also Sith Warrior which has Juggernaut which uses a single lightsaber and can dps or tank. Or a Marauder which has two single lightsabers and they are pure dps.

 

You mentioned healing, but the only Sith healer is the Sorcerer the other advanced class of the inquisitor. But Sorcerers heal and do ranged caster type dps. The only healer that can also melee dps are Operatives (agent advanced class) and their republic mirror Scoundrels (Smuggler advanced class) but of course those arent force or light saber users. I cant really comment on difficulty since all i do is level.

Sith Assassin (inquisitor advanced class) plays similar to a WoW feral druid. You can stealth around, stab people in the back and you also have a tanking tree (but no healing tree). Assassins and Shadow (Jedi Consular mirror) get a double bladed lightsaber similar to the one Darth Maul uses. There is also Sith Warrior which has Juggernaut which uses a single lightsaber and can dps or tank. Or a Marauder which has two single lightsabers and they are pure dps.

 

You mentioned healing, but the only Sith healer is the Sorcerer the other advanced class of the inquisitor. But Sorcerers heal and do ranged caster type dps. The only healer that can also melee dps are Operatives (agent advanced class) and their republic mirror Scoundrels (Smuggler advanced class) but of course those arent force or light saber users. I cant really comment on difficulty since all i do is level.

 

Thank you much for the response. I suppose I should clarify a little further. By Sith I meant the entire Sith Empire, meaning I'd be fine with trying the other healers if they fit what I'm looking for. I also don't necessarily care if the class that I choose has a spec to do EVERYTHING, just that I find one of these things I'm looking for. I can always role another character later. As for the Assassin, that's pretty much what I thought. I believe Assassin is the closest thing to a class that both uses lightsaber and offensive force powers, but I could be wrong? Again I have no idea which spec to choose of the three for that goal.

I do believe indeed that assassin is the class you are looking for my friend! double bladed saber melee , force lightning here and there , throw in a force DoT or two , there you go !

I do believe indeed that assassin is the class you are looking for my friend! double bladed saber melee , force lightning here and there , throw in a force DoT or two , there you go !

 

Which specialization though? Sorry to nitpick so much, I just have no idea what's what. As someone who's new to the game and doesn't understand it yet, I can't really look at the talent trees and understand the playstyles each promotes.

 

Thanks for the post by the way.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Aidoc

The first spec tree of the assassin is tanking (lots of saber combat , force lightning to restore a bit of health)

The second is the one you want if dps is your thing AND you love melee

The third is the one that use DoTs and the force a bit more , but still in order to dps

 

(DoTs =Damage over Time , should you not known that )

Edited April 16, 2014 by dark-jehts

The only thing with Sith Assassin is you wont be able to heal, you can only tank and melee dps.

 

The Operative (agent advanced class) is more tech based. You use a blaster rifle and a vibroknife and your attacks are melee and also close-mid range attacks. An operative also plays a little bit like a rogue/druid from WoW but you are a dps and healer. I dont know how important having a lightsaber is to you, but if you go with an agent then you obviously wont get one.

 

A Bounty hunter can go powertech for close-mid ranged dps and tanking while a mercenary is a healer or mid to long ranged dps. Just to make sure you know too you cant switch between advanced classes. Bounty Hunter, Sith Inquisitor, Sith Warrior, and Imperial Agent are the basic classes. Each of those basic classes has 2 advanced classes (AC). Sith Inquisitor for example has Assassin and Sorcerer. Once you pick an AC you are stuck with it. If you want to try the other AC you have to roll a completely new character. You can change your spec or tree within your AC too though so dont worry about that. If you get tired of tanking as an Assassin you can respec and go with one of the other dps trees.

There was a great post about this a few weeks ago, but I can't find it.

 

Keep in mind that what I am about to call your "basic abilities" are the abilities you get before, say, level 15. Very bread-and-butter, basic stuff that you'll be using a lot. By "advanced abilities" I mean the abilities you get in your 30s and 40s (and maybe late 20s) which aren't bread-and-butter, usually, but are often highly effective at their purpose.

 

For ANY advanced class, here are the way the trees work:

 

FAR LEFT TREE is focused on group play. If you have the ability to tank or heal, it will be in the far left tree. That's what you should focus on if you want to be combat support, or (on a pure DPS class, such as Gunslinger) an excellent group player. This is a good tree to choose if you like doing a lot of Flashpoints.

 

FAR RIGHT TREE is focused on improving your basic abilities. If you want to strictly do damage, I would start by speccing into this tree, as you will see benefits from it right away.

 

MIDDLE TREE is focused on improving your advanced abilities. If you want to strictly do damage, I would respec into this once you hit your late 30s/early 40s, unless you have fallen in love with the far right tree by this point. If you start by speccing into this tree, it will make leveling harder as most of the skills will benefit abilities that you have yet to train.

 

This is, of course, a generalization, but works in pretty much all cases. As you learn more about the game, you can totally branch out and try different things, but this is a good rule of thumb for when you're learning the ropes.

As most focus on helping with the class picking I'll try and give some info on healers.

Operative- HoT healer, stealther, very easy to heal on on higher levels do to a very good resources management.

Sorcerer- Absorption bubble, best AoE heal in the game, resource management can be tricky do to high costs of abilities.

Mercenary- Reactive heal on damage taken, the burst healer of the game, has the most unforgiving resource management in the game.

 

For me the list of difficultly would be like so:

1) Merc

2) Sorc

3)Op

 

I play all three and the only problem I have is falling a sleep while playing an Op then again I main a Merc healer so....

 

Edit: ooops, mixed up DoT and HoT there fixed now.

Edited April 17, 2014 by toha

Sorcerer- Absorption bubble, best AoE heal in the game, resource management can be tricky do to high costs of abilities.

 

High cost? Maybe only if you spam Dark Heal, otherwise nah, 600 won't run out anytime soon.

High cost? Maybe only if you spam Dark Heal, otherwise nah, 600 won't run out anytime soon.

 

That 600 runs out real quick if you need to do 4 bubbles, AoE for the Dps , HoT + channeled for the procs, And then Dark Infusion a couple of times and then get back to 65% to 75% force. And this is something that you'll need to do during FPs.

 

Dark Infusion-55 force (base cost) > Rapid scan-25 heat(base cost)

Not even gonna give numbers for the Op as most heals consume TA

Edited April 17, 2014 by toha

One consideration is that if you are a new player and not playing in a group, a Sith Inquisitor might be hard to start, so Sith warrior might be better. I had to take my IA to the Sith starting planet to allow my husbands abandoned Inq to live to see level 10... With a Sith Warrior, I had no problems, and I am like lowest 10% player. The game is also designed to play with a companion, and each class has its own healer that way. It is hard to beat a dual-wielding Sith in terms of gaming appeal imo. It has gorgeous animations and that crazy feel of awesomeness. And the healer comes early on. Edited April 17, 2014 by DomiSotto

One consideration is that if you are a new player and not playing in a group, a Sith Inquisitor might be hard to start, so Sith warrior might be better. I had to take my IA to the Sith starting planet to allow my husbands abandoned Inq to live to see level 10...

 

??? Granted, it is a while ago that my inquis started, but problems to see level 10? Why?

 

As for the OP's question: Mind that it is rather easy to level in this game, especially in the lower levels. So I would encourage to just stick your nose in. Start what appeals most to you, and feel free to delete the char again should it not suit you after all. Naturally, some key talents only come with the higher levels but one does get a feel for energy management etc. early on. Furthermore, respecing the skill trees is not that expensive (free if you have abo), so what really matters is the advanced class, IMO. I do recommend to play around with the skill trees a bit anyway. Going with the general recommendations is nice and good, but knowing why you choose this or that tree or skill gives you a lot of insight into the class.

 

Also, do jump into group content as early, and much as possible. Leveling with your companions is very much not comparable to group content, and end-game, for all classes.

Sith Assassin (Jedi Shadow) has mix of Force powers and lightsaber attacks. But they do not heal and shadow dps is not very good (a lot things to keep eye on, even if you master it master Sentinels, Guardians ans Scoundrels will outdamage you) right now. They do not heal

 

Jedi Sage has lightsaber but they use it little to none. This is good healing class with a lot force powers.

 

Scoundrel deals DPS in midrange-melee but has not lightsaber. HoT based healing class.

One consideration is that if you are a new player and not playing in a group, a Sith Inquisitor might be hard to start, so Sith warrior might be better. I had to take my IA to the Sith starting planet to allow my husbands abandoned Inq to live to see level 10... With a Sith Warrior, I had no problems, and I am like lowest 10% player. The game is also designed to play with a companion, and each class has its own healer that way. It is hard to beat a dual-wielding Sith in terms of gaming appeal imo. It has gorgeous animations and that crazy feel of awesomeness. And the healer comes early on.

 

My Inquisitor had no trouble getting to level 10. My inquisitor was my first character and it was quite simple to get to level 10. I actually beat my boyfriend to level 10 (lol). In fact I made two inquisitors, an assassin which is the double blade user and my sorcerer who is a dps-ligtening tree.

 

So op Inquisitor is very fun but if you are the assassin can not heal. They are tanks and dps but the double-blade on the assassin is awesome.

 

The Sorcerer does not use their saber. It is mostly for looks and for the stats you get off the saber but the force storm is awesome as well. They are also a very good healer if you chose to be a healer.

 

My healers are the Agent (operative) and the Smuggler (scoundrel). I just prefer that class to be the healer and my sorcerer is dps.

 

Either way OP I hope you enjoy the game.

Edited April 18, 2014 by casi