Is there any tactic in Jedi combat??

To tell the truth, when starting out I had a hard time differentiating from all the icons showing a blue lightsaber.

OK, this picture of a lightsaber does THIS, and this picture of a lightsaber does THAT, and this one... awe crap.

Tactics? Oh yes indeed there are tactics. But as previously mentioned, you aren't going to get it all coming out of the gate. And unlike other classes, you aren't going to avoid melee confrontations. You have to be up close and personal to do damage but of course you are a melee class. Maybe you are looking for more range and tactics based on that?

In short, the different slashes do different things. They all do damage, but some build focus, some penetrate armor, and some will do crit damage with damage over time bonuses or instantly. Still others slow down adversaries, minimize their healing abilities, and stun or incapacitate. How you approach a fight will vary depending on cool downs the mob or opponent etc. not to mention your cool downs and special abilities specific to your class.

So... you are just scratching the surface with the Jedi. As you progress things get much more complex and tactical in both PvP and PvE. So... I don't think you are doing anything wrong yet. But if you don't pay attention to the details and use your new abilities, you will not get very far.

I understand that you don't get all abilities right from the start but I also don't want to wait until level 30 or even 50 (as somebody wrote) to have some fun!

And based on my smuggler observation - you can be level 1 and already see the tactic and the combat having a lot of diversity and tactic.

I've never played any MMO before so is it common to have so many different abilities that differ only slightly? If I had a singleplayer luxury to pause the game and give commands I would understand it but in a hurry of a combat I can barely use more than 4 or 5 abilities. Is it a part of the never-ending-MMO-experience to learn how to click all the hundreds of buttons in the right sequence to get the most damage?

Sigh, why couldn't they just make KOTOR 3.

So... yes in short. It is part of the experience learning how to manage multiple things at once during combat; your combat resource and differing attacks depending on the situation and how the fight is going. And yes, there is a learning curve.

But you are in luck. Certain character classes require less of this. IMO Trooper and Bounty Hunter are easier in this regard. Doesn't make it any less fun to play, but they can rely less on multiple abilities because their heavy armor and ranged damaging attacks. Smugglers are not this way btw.... at higher levels you are to "squishy" and will have to use many abilities to survive.

Jedi/Warriors, and most specifically Sentinels and Marauders are, IMO,the toughest classes to master in the game. Because of the squish factor previously mentioned and the melee attacks with little avoidance you have know how and when to use almost all of your abilities. But it can be very rewarding as well. And... if you master a Sent or Mara as your first toon, everything else will be a walk in the park.

It all comes down to preference. I recommend you play to your strengths what ever they may be. In time you will get used to it. And I promise you... (I know you wont believe me) after a while, you will to back to your pause and attack games and question how or why people play that way.

This is not Guild Wars 2 son.

The combat is repetitive, boring, conservative and non-dynamic like WoW.


But, hey, lightsabers!

Thanks Rafaman for a thoughtful reply. As my Jedi character would say - I can see your wisdom :-)

It only saddens me that it is so because I can't really afford to give this game so much time. I play for the story and when that ends, so does the game for me.

Not sure why you even bother to play the game with this kind of attitude.

You are judging too quickly.

First and most importantly, i disagree completely with the statement of the combat beeing boring and just attacks with different names. That is the kind of combat you get on WoW and RIFT. What you dont notice, and i dont know how, is that every single melee attack on SWTOR has a different animation. There is no repetition of the same animation with a different color effect or sound effect. On every one you character moves differently.

With that said, i also think you didnt play enough to get a real feel. You can only get that at lvl40 when you unlock the 31 talent point skills. All the skill are obviously melee, wich is why they are melee classes. But, you have an aoe ability that can be powered to single target damage with talents, you got a channeled attack, you got DoT attacks, you got rage generators, Defensive cooldowns, stack building, resource management.
There is alot to the combat, and its frankly really good as i play mainly melee classes. I really have trouble seeing where you find boredom. I do play every class, but the melee ones are my favorites.

The notion that WoW's combat is dynamic, not repeptetitive and not boring is laughable at best.

I really dont see how people think that 2-3 character animations recycled over 10 abilities of wich you only need to use 2-4 is anything but err... well utterly poor.

While I'm not a big fan of either the Jedi Knight or the Sith Warrior, the combat does get a little better once you reach about lvl 20-25, and the effects of your talents or skills become more apparent. At that point, you'll find some of your attacks become nearly useless, while others become more importent because of their buffs, additional effects and procs. I think the bigger problem of especially the initial levels of the Knight story would actually be the planet Tython. Once you leave, you'll be glad to not see another Fleshraider for ages. There's just too little variation in enemies, which takes a bit of the variety from the entire gameplay.