As expected, fun stuff in KDY over the weekend - unusual gearing choices, lots of aggroing the whole room, many mobs being pushed out of AOE. And of course the groups with no healers where players don't bother healing up between fights, running straight into the next group of mobs with next to no health, resulting in either their death or a hasty retreat from the mobs. I didn't come across any rude or aggressive players though, which was nice.

The one that made me shake my head was the group I got that had 1 DPS and 3 heals. We zone in and the lowbie operative healer said "So you'll both be respeccing to DPS then". I say sure and respec, but the other healer doesn't, saying there is no need. We go through and I notice that there are no heals going out, not even from the operative who had specifically wanted to play heals. Not when we are fighting elites, and not even when the whole room gets aggroed and we are close to death. I spent a lot of time healing myself and throwing down kolto missile on the group.

I had a tank fight with a DPS the other day. Running Boarding Party with my boyfriend the other day and notice that when I throw my single-target taunt, the wrong guy has the red lighty thing on him. Wait, no, both enemies do. I think well maybe it's just someone's attack or a debuff that looks similar. But later, no, I notice the taunt debuff. I tell the assassin not to taunt and he goes, "Sorry, I hit it by mistake." My bf, an avid MMOer, starts going off next to me about how he shouldn't have his taunts anywhere on his bars as a DPS, but luckily doesn't say so to the guy - he's less than tactful sometimes

 

So I say something along those lines to him and immediately in the next pull he taunts again. I comment and he says sorry, and I point out that he's been doing it for a while, I'd noticed it on a couple earlier mobs, etc. He flips out and says he hasn't been doing it at all. Vote kick goes through, pull out HK, and walk right up to the final boss with no issues before we get another DPS. The first guy whispers me and says sorry, he didn't mean to, blah blah blah. /ignored and went on with my day.

 

I don't understand people.

Well the way that DPS was using his/her taunt was wrong but your BF is equally wrong in thinking he/she shouldn't even have taunt on his skill bar. In certain situations a taunt might be needed , all be it very briefly , if the tank struggles and/or the healer is struggling for a brief moment. Otherwise yeah DPS shouldn't taunt the way he /she was doing.

Cheers,

BadOrb.

Well the way that DPS was using his/her taunt was wrong but your BF is equally wrong in thinking he/she shouldn't even have taunt on his skill bar. In certain situations a taunt might be needed , all be it very briefly , if the tank struggles and/or the healer is struggling for a brief moment. Otherwise yeah DPS shouldn't taunt the way he /she was doing.

 

Cheers,

 

BadOrb.

I can definitely see DPS pulling taunts if the tank is overwhelmed and the healer's got a nasty one on him/her; that's a scenario my former dps-shadow has been in many times. Tank tunnel visions, maybe aoe taunts once or twice, and, especially in low flashpoints, the healer grabs all the aggro through little fault of his own. A tank-capable class with decent dps gear/dps spec should be able to hold out on a few seconds of taunted attack if they kite it to the main tank and the tank gets the hint.

Taunting for the sake of taunting will get one wiped very quickly if they're not the tank, though.

KDY:

First thing we get in chat even before the convo: "skip plz". Great start already!

During convo while waiting others I say "Hey."... and nothing.... "skip" x2 from same person, assassin.

We go to shuttle and start doing first scenario. Everything is fine except that this assassin has obsession: to knock every mob out of range of my Death From Above / Sweeping Blasters. We get everything done though and get to boss: Major Benes (easiest fight mechanics in the FP): but still this assassin manages to die more than once. Adds spawn -> I think it's time for DFA -> Assassin uses Overload-> Assassin says "n00b".

I HATE assassins/shadows or mercs/commandos that do that **** with their AoE knockbacks. And it never fails, a tank will get all the mobs gathered up, group will start to AoE them down, and then some ******* assassin or w/e will knockback all of the mobs out of the AoE like an idiot.

Yes, I get that overload is the about the only AoE damage an assassin has, but seriously. Knocking the mobs out of the MUCH STRONGER AOE of other classes is not worth you getting a measly punch in with your non-AoE class you chose. I wish people who play assassins/shadow would learn that in AoE situations, they are suppose to mainly single target the stronger adds to help kill them quicker, while the other classes that are better suited for AoE finish off everything else.

And then to top it all off, when you ask them to cut it out (even when you ask nicely), they either ignore you or tell you to **** off. Noobs.....all of them....noobs!

I can definitely see DPS pulling taunts if the tank is overwhelmed and the healer's got a nasty one on him/her; that's a scenario my former dps-shadow has been in many times. Tank tunnel visions, maybe aoe taunts once or twice, and, especially in low flashpoints, the healer grabs all the aggro through little fault of his own. A tank-capable class with decent dps gear/dps spec should be able to hold out on a few seconds of taunted attack if they kite it to the main tank and the tank gets the hint.

 

Taunting for the sake of taunting will get one wiped very quickly if they're not the tank, though.

Yes indeed and thank you. I didn't give examples but you have explained the type of scenarios I was referring to.

What has been a bit weird for me whilst playing my tank is that I didn't realise ( until say about 4 months ago ) that some of my party members might have been taunting as DPS's , which may have been a factor in many a wipe.

Cheers,

BadOrb.

I can definitely see DPS pulling taunts if the tank is overwhelmed and the healer's got a nasty one on him/her; that's a scenario my former dps-shadow has been in many times. Tank tunnel visions, maybe aoe taunts once or twice, and, especially in low flashpoints, the healer grabs all the aggro through little fault of his own. A tank-capable class with decent dps gear/dps spec should be able to hold out on a few seconds of taunted attack if they kite it to the main tank and the tank gets the hint.

 

Taunting for the sake of taunting will get one wiped very quickly if they're not the tank, though.

Healer pulling agro from trash pulls is *usually* the DPS fault--not killing mobs in the proper order.

DPS should be killing mobs in the proper order, not taunting. If you're not a tank, take taunt OFF OF YOUR QUICKBAR, PLZ.

More funny stories, now?

I HATE assassins/shadows or mercs/commandos that do that **** with their AoE knockbacks. And it never fails, a tank will get all the mobs gathered up, group will start to AoE them down, and then some ******* assassin or w/e will knockback all of the mobs out of the AoE like an idiot.

 

Yes, I get that overload is the about the only AoE damage an assassin has, but seriously. Knocking the mobs out of the MUCH STRONGER AOE of other classes is not worth you getting a measly punch in with your non-AoE class you chose. I wish people who play assassins/shadow would learn that in AoE situations, they are suppose to mainly single target the stronger adds to help kill them quicker, while the other classes that are better suited for AoE finish off everything else.

 

And then to top it all off, when you ask them to cut it out (even when you ask nicely), they either ignore you or tell you to **** off. Noobs.....all of them....noobs!

^^This! So much this! At least I have RL friends I play with who I've trained--they use their big AoE knockbacks to knock groups of mobs into corners so that everyone can have an AoE-fest.

Had two very different Czerka Core Meltdown runs. I was healing both times.

To save time and text the first involved a tank new to the HM, in a mix of 61, 66, and 69 gear. One DPS left after the first wipe on Duneclaw so I asked if the tank had done it before, he hadn't. Explained the fight, grabbed out my lovely DPS!Temple and away we went. One more wipe, then we got it down. Got to the Vrblther, explained the fight, only wiped cause the poor Tank got literally stuck inside a tree, but smooth sailing the second run. Another DPS joined at this point and we downed the final boss no issues.

Second run... not to smooth. Was running with a guildy who knows his DPS. Like, really knows. Like, if he's not guarded he'll be tanking half the damn fight. To make it worse he was on his DPS!Jugg and their threat drop is frustrating at the least. We get a DPS!Assassin (who was brilliant) and a Tank!Jug. Tank's gear is a mix of 61s and 66s but I've healed worse so off we go. After he slaps guard on me my guildy asks for guard. Nothing. I tell the tank to guard my guildy. Nothing. The assassin asks... yep, nothing.

Duneclaw was annoying with my DPS guildy ripping aggro but we got there. However, on Vrblther we wiped. And again. And again. Reason? DPS ripping aggro off the boss again and again and again. That and the tank being tossed around everywhere. We're all asking the Tank to guard the DPS but he's insisting healers need the guard.

He then starts with the "I've been playing this game two years" "you're all wrong" "I have three Jugg Tanks" blah blah blah. Quick achievement checks shows 0 operations completed and his most recent achievements were for Sith Warrior storyline credits. After attempting to explain again he turns to insults so he gets a swift kick. Assassin tank swoops in, guards the DPS, saves the day as we finish with no issues.

I wish it ended there, but oh no. Next are whispers from the kicked Tank!Jugg continuing the argument. When I refuse to accept his stupid, suddenly the blame switches from "DPS using too many powerful attacks" to "well you (I was heals) let me die" and the like *eye roll*. Needless to say the Tank was introduced to my ignore list.

Very few things can break my patient nature but folks who refuse to listen are one of them.

Didn't have a weird group, just a BAD group, last night.

Have been leveling my Commando healer through flashpoints, and decided for a quick KDY last night. Queue pops and I see I have a tank (guardian), DPS (Shadow), and another Commando healer (no problem, can switch to dps depending).

Well literally everything that could go wrong did. DPS, in tank stance, only knew double strike and to be the first one to pull. Tank had no stance and taunt? *** is that? Other healer went primarily DPS and would off heal so that was fine. Did anyone heal between fights? Heh. Target fixation on golds/elites? Did folks pull entire rooms, or different rooms at the same time? You bet. I was ripping aggro like I had a mass taunt with a single hammershot heal.

After one excruciating fight where the guardian pulled an enclosed room with a bunch of mobs and a gold and the shadow pulled an elite AT THE SAME TIME, where the only way we survived is that the tank went down and his mobs were so far away they didn't transfer threat to us while the rest of us sequentially died, released, and ran back to finish the elite, the tank got pissed because I could not res him (oh yeah, did I mention him not releasing and running back despite being the first to die?). "Why not?" he asks, "Because I will aggro the gold, and the rest of the group have run off to another room where they are engaged in combat" So as soon as he releases he goes back to that same gold. Two rooms away from the rest of the group.

Got the robot boss and after a wipe I spam "kill adds. kill adds. Adds die first. Forget the boss. Kill adds. Oh and dont stand in anything red" and get called either "bossy" or get the inevitable "u mad" from the Shadow (who I got to at least changed to force technique by this point. Somehow we get the boss down, but it took approx 15 minutes. I was seriously worried about an enrage.

Only really noteworthy group so far. I've had the odd bad player but these fps can be cleared with a three person group if players know what they are doing. Its helping me learn how to heal through "oh sh*t" moments. But I wonder how some folks can hit 30-40 knowing so little about class mechanics.

Second run... not to smooth. Was running with a guildy who knows his DPS. Like, really knows. Like, if he's not guarded he'll be tanking half the damn fight. To make it worse he was on his DPS!Jugg and their threat drop is frustrating at the least. We get a DPS!Assassin (who was brilliant) and a Tank!Jug. Tank's gear is a mix of 61s and 66s but I've healed worse so off we go. After he slaps guard on me my guildy asks for guard. Nothing. I tell the tank to guard my guildy. Nothing. The assassin asks... yep, nothing.

 

Duneclaw was annoying with my DPS guildy ripping aggro but we got there. However, on Vrblther we wiped. And again. And again. Reason? DPS ripping aggro off the boss again and again and again. That and the tank being tossed around everywhere. We're all asking the Tank to guard the DPS but he's insisting healers need the guard.

 

He then starts with the "I've been playing this game two years" "you're all wrong" "I have three Jugg Tanks" blah blah blah. Quick achievement checks shows 0 operations completed and his most recent achievements were for Sith Warrior storyline credits. After attempting to explain again he turns to insults so he gets a swift kick. Assassin tank swoops in, guards the DPS, saves the day as we finish with no issues.

 

I wish it ended there, but oh no. Next are whispers from the kicked Tank!Jugg continuing the argument. When I refuse to accept his stupid, suddenly the blame switches from "DPS using too many powerful attacks" to "well you (I was heals) let me die" and the like *eye roll*. Needless to say the Tank was introduced to my ignore list.

 

Very few things can break my patient nature but folks who refuse to listen are one of them.

Saw thst myself kinda often... but usually a simple trial and error should fix it. That wasn't the case obviously, and I agree with you on kick + ignore. I just wonder if he was aware ppl can verify his boasting with just a right-click + inspect achievements... Probably not.

Tbh, I myself guard healer from start in FP, especially if I don't know ppl. However, once I keep an eye on things for the first 2-3 mobs I switch guard to whoever rips agro off me. I even swap guard if I see both dps do sometimes... But that's very situational, so not standard.

Oh, and about the final question on this post...

Didn't have a weird group, just a BAD group, last night.

 

[...]

 

Only really noteworthy group so far. I've had the odd bad player but these fps can be cleared with a three person group if players know what they are doing. Its helping me learn how to heal through "oh sh*t" moments. But I wonder how some folks can hit 30-40 knowing so little about class mechanics.

I guess asking ppl for help. Last few weeks I saw so many ppl asking for help on CLASS missions that I kinda wonder how can they manage to play without wondering if they're doing something wrong... when the mission they should solo is unwinnable for them.

This story is during the weekend. Decided to dust off my Jugg Tank for a change of pace and queue for a HMFP. Few mins later I get a pop for HM Corp Labs. Zone in and I see some very nicely geared Folks. A Merc DPS in 69s and 72s with set bonus, a Mara in 72s with set bonus and a healer with 78s set bonus. Me on my Jugger who's in 72s, itemised as best as possible with excess comms (by itemised I mean I got rid of all accuracy/alacrity crap and was packing 19/42/28 mitigation stats).

I say my hello, get in position at the entrance to pull the roving droid. What happens next, blows me away -

Mara : Tank- Da *** with your gear man? too busy runnin weeklies and getitng wellfare gear?

Me: Come Again?

Merc: What's wrong with his gear?

Healer: Nothing, His stats are right - A LOT better than what I expect from tanks in GF queue.

Mara: PFFT!! Yo Healz Baby! Stick with me, screw the tank, he ain gonna last 10s secs with the **** he's got on.

Following that, he charges ahead, pulls the droid. At first I was too stunned and trying to wrap my head around what just happened. Merc and Mara takes down droid and move ahead. I shake myself back to reality and jump after the group of mobs just before the first door. With the mara charging in right after me and typing obscenities in chat. I decide not to pay attention and move on. But Mara had other ideas. Never looked for the keys, charged head first into mobs with merc and healer doing their best to support him all the while telling the Mara to wait for me to pull.

We come to the Water Droid boss, by this time, I had enough. I get the final key, drop down and even before I get a chance to heal, Mara leaps in. By this time, I had enough, I backed myself into the a corner, and just stood there. Merc asks why am I just standing there and not taking aggro from Boss while healer I can see is dropping everything she can to keep the mara alive, thinking I will shrug it off as I have been and jump in. I calmly respond to the Merc - "I am learning how to tank from the Mara, can't learn unless I observe, so I am observing."

Water gets electrified, Mara stays in, gallantly hacking away at the droid. Merc gets pulled, but he HOs outa there. Healer is busy doing all she can to keep mara alive and he survives, thank to the efforts of the healer.

By this time, Merc whispers me- Dude, jump in, we wipe, it ain gonna be good. I reply - Let the wipe come, I'll pay the healer and your repair bill. I want this knob goblin to learn a lesson. Get the nod from merc and tell the healer that if we wipe, I'll pay her repair bill. She sends me a smiley and stops healing the mara. As soon as Healing Stops, Mara drops every he has to keep up - Saber Ward, Cloak of Pain and finally - Undying Rage, but he goes down. I move in, grab aggro and we get going. Mara is in chat shouting and cursing at the healer for not healing him and the merc for not DPSing hard enough and how the whole group is a fail. We ignore and I tell the merc and healer to be ready because we may hit the enrage timer. Merc replies - don worry, we got ya covered. Now healer starts off dpsing - throwing dots on the boss. We beat him down 10 secs after he enrages, take care of the adds and healer puts in chat - it was more fun when the mara was tanking, at least I was healing!

Mara now demands a rez instead gets a vote kick - without the rez. I have yet to figure out what happened there, but I'll never find out - got the Uber Tank Mara on my highly exclusive ignore list.

Got the robot boss and after a wipe I spam "kill adds. kill adds. Adds die first. Forget the boss. Kill adds. Oh and dont stand in anything red" and get called either "bossy" or get the inevitable "u mad" from the Shadow (who I got to at least changed to force technique by this point. Somehow we get the boss down, but it took approx 15 minutes. I was seriously worried about an enrage.

First of all it's not hardmode so there's no enrage timer.

And that sounds pretty much the group I was in a long time ago. It was droid boss back then too. I actually already told this but yeah, I got votekicked because I tried to tell everyone how to defeat the boss and more importantly how not to die in that fight. We died many times and I was ready to leave so getting kicked out wasn't a big problem.

Well the way that DPS was using his/her taunt was wrong but your BF is equally wrong in thinking he/she shouldn't even have taunt on his skill bar. In certain situations a taunt might be needed , all be it very briefly , if the tank struggles and/or the healer is struggling for a brief moment. Otherwise yeah DPS shouldn't taunt the way he /she was doing.

Sure, there are times when you might need it and having it on your bars is fine, but what he was saying was that they shouldn't have had it in a place where they could accidentally hit the button during group play. Especially as often as they were, which clearly was not on accident Sorry if that wasn't clear.

I can definitely see DPS pulling taunts if the tank is overwhelmed and the healer's got a nasty one on him/her; that's a scenario my former dps-shadow has been in many times. Tank tunnel visions, maybe aoe taunts once or twice, and, especially in low flashpoints, the healer grabs all the aggro through little fault of his own. A tank-capable class with decent dps gear/dps spec should be able to hold out on a few seconds of taunted attack if they kite it to the main tank and the tank gets the hint.

 

Taunting for the sake of taunting will get one wiped very quickly if they're not the tank, though.

Yeah, taunting can be okay sometimes, but this guy was taunting just because; there was no reason or need for it. The fact that he didn't stop and the attitude when he was asked not to taunt was what annoyed me most, though.

This story is during the weekend. Decided to dust off my Jugg Tank for a change of pace and queue for a HMFP. Few mins later I get a pop for HM Corp Labs. Zone in and I see some very nicely geared Folks. A Merc DPS in 69s and 72s with set bonus, a Mara in 72s with set bonus and a healer with 78s set bonus. Me on my Jugger who's in 72s, itemised as best as possible with excess comms (by itemised I mean I got rid of all accuracy/alacrity crap and was packing 19/42/28 mitigation stats).

 

I say my hello, get in position at the entrance to pull the roving droid. What happens next, blows me away -

 

Mara : Tank- Da *** with your gear man? too busy runnin weeklies and getitng wellfare gear?

Me: Come Again?

Merc: What's wrong with his gear?

Healer: Nothing, His stats are right - A LOT better than what I expect from tanks in GF queue.

Mara: PFFT!! Yo Healz Baby! Stick with me, screw the tank, he ain gonna last 10s secs with the **** he's got on.

 

Following that, he charges ahead, pulls the droid. At first I was too stunned and trying to wrap my head around what just happened. Merc and Mara takes down droid and move ahead. I shake myself back to reality and jump after the group of mobs just before the first door. With the mara charging in right after me and typing obscenities in chat. I decide not to pay attention and move on. But Mara had other ideas. Never looked for the keys, charged head first into mobs with merc and healer doing their best to support him all the while telling the Mara to wait for me to pull.

 

We come to the Water Droid boss, by this time, I had enough. I get the final key, drop down and even before I get a chance to heal, Mara leaps in. By this time, I had enough, I backed myself into the a corner, and just stood there. Merc asks why am I just standing there and not taking aggro from Boss while healer I can see is dropping everything she can to keep the mara alive, thinking I will shrug it off as I have been and jump in. I calmly respond to the Merc - "I am learning how to tank from the Mara, can't learn unless I observe, so I am observing."

 

Water gets electrified, Mara stays in, gallantly hacking away at the droid. Merc gets pulled, but he HOs outa there. Healer is busy doing all she can to keep mara alive and he survives, thank to the efforts of the healer.

 

By this time, Merc whispers me- Dude, jump in, we wipe, it ain gonna be good. I reply - Let the wipe come, I'll pay the healer and your repair bill. I want this knob goblin to learn a lesson. Get the nod from merc and tell the healer that if we wipe, I'll pay her repair bill. She sends me a smiley and stops healing the mara. As soon as Healing Stops, Mara drops every he has to keep up - Saber Ward, Cloak of Pain and finally - Undying Rage, but he goes down. I move in, grab aggro and we get going. Mara is in chat shouting and cursing at the healer for not healing him and the merc for not DPSing hard enough and how the whole group is a fail. We ignore and I tell the merc and healer to be ready because we may hit the enrage timer. Merc replies - don worry, we got ya covered. Now healer starts off dpsing - throwing dots on the boss. We beat him down 10 secs after he enrages, take care of the adds and healer puts in chat - it was more fun when the mara was tanking, at least I was healing!

 

Mara now demands a rez instead gets a vote kick - without the rez. I have yet to figure out what happened there, but I'll never find out - got the Uber Tank Mara on my highly exclusive ignore list.

Duran'del here:

That is hilarious. Almost butter worthy.

Last night I was at loose end and I noticed my Operative healer had never completed the Ilum quest line. She'd got up to the final quest before the FPs but not done it. So I decided to finish the quest and run the HM Ilum FPs. PUGing False Emperor HM at 2am is a bad idea.

I'm outfitted in mostly purple 69s with one or two items with 72s. So ok gear but nowhere near BiS. The group has a level 55 Jug tank and two level 52 ish dps - an Assassin and some kind of Hunter. I knew I was in trouble when the tank guarded me and I noticed I had the most health in the group - more than the tank! I think he had about 25k hp, one of the dps had less than 20k hp. I actually decided not to tell him to guard the dps because I figured with my level and gear I would create more threat than them anyway. I was right, I spent more time healing myself than I did them.

None of them knew the tactics. Or any tactics for that matter. Every time I used an Orbital Bombardment on a group the Assassin or Jug would push them out of the AOE. Every time I sliced an elite droid the tank would break my cc. At one point our Assassin used his sleep dart on a droid, the tank broke it then started hitting another target so I used slice and seconds later the tank switched targets to break it again. I gave up trying to be useful with either AOE or crowd control.

At Tregg they all stood in his slash thing. No big deal but not a good sign.

At Jindo Krey I was concentrating on healing everyone when I realised they were ignoring the console and the missiles. So I ended up stood next to the console trying to click it when necessary while also healing everyone, who of course were standing in the red circles. Somehow we got through it without a wipe but at one point I almost lost the very squishy tank, a fraction of a second slower with a heal and he'd have been dead.

The fight with the prototype droids went ok but then there isn't any trick to it. I was a little concerned about them all standing in the blue aura from the shielded droid, turns out it doesn't do anything but I've always avoided it myself.

By the time we got to HK-47 I was getting frustrated. Normally I don't dps in boss fights and concentrate on my healing but he appeared out of stealth next to me and I let fly with my close range damage abilities. For the rest of that fight I was dropping an occasional Kolto Probe on the tank and a Recuperative Nanotech on myself when it came off cooldown but otherwise I was dps. The fight went much faster.

I continued dpsing in the remaining boss fights. I will admit to almost losing the Hunter during the Sith Entity fight, due to my own screw up. I was too busy killing copies of the entity and only noticed he was taking damage when he had 1 pixel of health left. I just managed to heal him in time to keep him alive and decided to be good and stick to heals for Malgus.

Ah Malgus... On my Jug tank I always keep him on the stairs with my back to the wall so he can't push me off and the rest of the group is behind him. Once he becomes vulnerable I'll take him near the edge. Not this Jug.

We start on the stairs but our tank immediately takes the fight to the middle of the walkway and keeps it there. I get pushed back and almost go off the ledge early on so I'm keeping my distance but trying to not let the group get out of heal range at the same time. I'm the first person to face Malgus alone so I lead him right up the stairs away from the group. My solo phase ends and our tank taunts him back to the walkway.

The Assassin copies me on his solo phase but again the tank taunts Malgus back to the middle of the walkway. Eventually we get Malgus down to < 10% but despite everyone picking up grenades and at least 2 people having some kind of push ability no one is finishing him off. So I went running down the walkway and threw my grenade at him to finish the fight.

What is it with late night PUGs on ToFN?

Next time I'm going to tell them I need to go afk for butter, at least then I'll have a laugh.

Eventually we get Malgus down to < 10% but despite everyone picking up grenades and at least 2 people having some kind of push ability no one is finishing him off. So I went running down the walkway and threw my grenade at him to finish the fight.

Wait, didn't they change it ages ago so you just kill Malgus instead of having to get him with a knockback? Please tell me they put it back the way it used to be!

I mean, I'm known to carebear on some things but taking the mechanics out of the fight (not even one of the harder fights, really) is just stupid.

Wait, didn't they change it ages ago so you just kill Malgus instead of having to get him with a knockback? Please tell me they put it back the way it used to be!

I mean, I'm known to carebear on some things but taking the mechanics out of the fight (not even one of the harder fights, really) is just stupid.

You can do both, push him to death or kill him with DPS, either way is fine. But since he's invulnerable for a solid part of the encounter when close to his demise, it's probably faster to throw him into the abyss.

BTW, am extremely disappointed that he doesn't have a hilarious death scream if he goes flying

Now, do I have a fun story to contribute? Hm, not really, the only FP I did during 2x XP weekend was Colicoid Wargames. Because I lacked the achievement for completing it, and I had only played it once, like 2 years ago, so I gave it another try. Still not a fan.

I was tanking, had a guy who was new and had never played the FP as a healer, some overleveled DPS who just left after the opening turret sequences for apparently no reason. Or maybe he, in contrast to myself, who only noticed it after the final boss, right then and there realised our 2nd DPS was rolling need on everything. Who knows. So that 2nd DPS was apparently the only guy who played the FP more than once. Needless to say, he didn't show any knowledge of the mechanics whatsoever.

Our other DPS was replaced by the groupfinder pretty quickly, by a guy who said like 3 things throughout the FP: he greeted us, told the other DPS where he got his armor (one of the Galactic Starfighter ones) and later said thanks and goodbye. He was silent, but did well.

Other weird stuff include both the DPS who claimed to know the FP and our healer being knocked to death on the puzzle with the consoles simultaneously, by the FIRST droid, the DPS locking me out from getting access to the final terminal (I had to Jet Charge across the chasm, hoping to not die to knockback and then solo the droid) and said DPS also calmly dying to the fire at the final boss. Total expert with the mechanics, that one . And yeah, then I realised he had been needing on everything, but it was too late already and we all went our ways.

This story is not nearly butter level, but let's face it, what is ?

Strangely enough, I saw very little derp during the last double-XP Weekend. Sure, there was the odd hairy moment, but nothing crazy, and for the most part, smooth sailing.

Maybe I just got lucky and always PuG'ed into groups of veterans who were speed-levelling heretofore-shelved alts? (PvP was another matter entirely, however :/)

After the double-XP, though....

Yeah: Czerka Core Meltdown normal mode.

A Merc who queued as heals, me and another derps-er, and a tanker, so I figured this was gonna be even easier than normal as we had an actual Trinity-group.

Except that the heal-Merc was actually a damager --unless Insta-Tracer ---> Heatseeker ---> Barrage'ed Unload ---> insta-Tracer ---> RailShot is part of the Bodyguard rotation/priority with this latest patch.

We got through with a few tense moments --it's hard not to faceroll your way through in the CZ-198 normals-- but I admit I was curious about this change to BG Merc that wasn't in the patch notes, so I says at the end of the run, I says:

(My Lightning-Sorc): "I didn't know that Tracer ---> Heatseeker ---> Barrag'ed Unload were part of the heal-Merc's abilities/rotation, did you?"

(Special Merc): "They are now."

(Me): "Don't queue for roles you're not spec'ed for, and are not prepared to play." (He didn't even cast so much as a single self-heal, let alone heal anyone else even once.)

/Me puts special-Merc on ignore.

/Me IRL face-palms whenever people do this, especially queuing a damager as a healer: Such a fundamentally selfish act for what is the opposite of a selfish role is just....man: I wish all these bads would pick an NA West server other than Bergeren Colony

The group has a level 55 Jug tank and two level 52 ish dps - an Assassin and some kind of Hunter. I knew I was in trouble when the tank guarded me and I noticed I had the most health in the group - more than the tank! I think he had about 25k hp, one of the dps had less than 20k hp.

Hmm, alltough 25k HP is a bit low for a lv 55 tank it isn't that bad considering the flashpoint you were in. False Emporer HM is meant to be downed in lv 50 blues and greens. Back in the old days the bosses there used to drop tionese crystals and tionese commendations. I'm not sure anymore if some bosses dropped columi, its to long ago to remember it

Basicly anyone being above a 51 gearrating is overgeared for it.

The rest of the story is quite an example of either new/unwilling/annoying/tired people Can be a pain indeed.

Strangely enough, I saw very little derp during the last double-XP Weekend. Sure, there was the odd hairy moment, but nothing crazy, and for the most part, smooth sailing.

 

Maybe I just got lucky and always PuG'ed into groups of veterans who were speed-levelling heretofore-shelved alts? (PvP was another matter entirely, however :/)

 

After the double-XP, though....

 

Yeah: Czerka Core Meltdown normal mode.

 

A Merc who queued as heals, me and another derps-er, and a tanker, so I figured this was gonna be even easier than normal as we had an actual Trinity-group.

 

Except that the heal-Merc was actually a damager --unless Insta-Tracer ---> Heatseeker ---> Barrage'ed Unload ---> insta-Tracer ---> RailShot is part of the Bodyguard rotation/priority with this latest patch.

 

We got through with a few tense moments --it's hard not to faceroll your way through in the CZ-198 normals-- but I admit I was curious about this change to BG Merc that wasn't in the patch notes, so I says at the end of the run, I says:

 

(My Lightning-Sorc): "I didn't know that Tracer ---> Heatseeker ---> Barrag'ed Unload were part of the heal-Merc's abilities/rotation, did you?"

 

(Special Merc): "They are now."

 

(Me): "Don't queue for roles you're not spec'ed for, and are not prepared to play." (He didn't even cast so much as a single self-heal, let alone heal anyone else even once.)

 

/Me puts special-Merc on ignore.

 

/Me IRL face-palms whenever people do this, especially queuing a damager as a healer: Such a fundamentally selfish act for what is the opposite of a selfish role is just....man: I wish all these bads would pick an NA West server other than Bergeren Colony

Well..... what i tend to do is click both roles to speedup my queue. I queue for both random hm and czerka lowbe. I can fully understand why the Merc didn't respecced to healer. If it is not needed i wouldn't either. If an hm would pop i respec to whatever is needed. I might miss some extra info like if you guys wiped a lot but in theory it's better to 3 dps it instead of 2 dps. Healing required is very low on bossfights. My sent once tanked it in a 4 dps group and only lost I 25% hp.

If you're ready/willing to re-spec, then fine.

Oh, the other Czerka FP (the easier one of the two) for the [WEEKLY] just now:

One of the people dropped group right at the start without a word...then the other...then the other.

(Another Merc, this one in "time-capsule" Battlemaster PvP gear)

/Sigh....

...

So, I pulled out my purple 66-geared Ashara --my darling Ashara <3-- and she and my aforementioned Lightning-Sorc went and solo'ed the damned thing with almost no problems. The last phase of the Security Chief fight got a little annoying, but not too hard as long as I kept moving (Force-Speed on cooldown, basically).

I'm not even geared on that character, either:

Comms-vendor 69s mostly, 72 off-pieces and off-hand, still missing a relic, plus a 58-modded mainhand.

Yeah:

Too much of this game is just too easy, and that brings in too many dumb-dumbs. MMOs need to get hard again, IMHO. (The only real exception is EVE-Online --thank God, a game for adults that I'll always have-- but it is still fundamentally a niche-product. Mainstream MMOs need to be a little less mainstream, though.)

Hmm, alltough 25k HP is a bit low for a lv 55 tank it isn't that bad considering the flashpoint you were in. False Emporer HM is meant to be downed in lv 50 blues and greens. Back in the old days the bosses there used to drop tionese crystals and tionese commendations. I'm not sure anymore if some bosses dropped columi, its to long ago to remember it

Basicly anyone being above a 51 gearrating is overgeared for it.

 

The rest of the story is quite an example of either new/unwilling/annoying/tired people Can be a pain indeed.

Level 50 hardmodes (minus Lost Island) used to drop mostly tionese, but it was either last boss or the two of the last bosses that dropped columi instead. And full tionese gave a dps maybe 15k hp (not sure about this since I usually pvped, so I usually wore a pvp set). Not sure about tanks, but since recruit gear gave a tank about 18k hp and a mix of war hero and elite war hero (which is what my assassin tank was wearing when 2.0 hit) gave you 21k hp and it was more than enough to tank hm fps, 25k hp should be fine for False Emperor. But people seem to have forgot what's the gear minimum for level 50 stuff. I was once in a EC SM group where the group leader almost denied access from a lowbie dps with around 24k hp for "being undergeared" even though EC SM used to be columi minimum and drop rakata. (I convinced the ops leader not to kick this guy and, surprise surprise, we didn't have any problems.)

Anyway, funny story. Last week, Lost Island hm. Me, lowbie jedi sentinel (level 53 or 54) in rakatan gear with around 22k hp, level 54 operative healer with around 24k hp, level 55 dps (can't remember class) with around 30k hp, and a lowbie guardian tank (can't remember level, something between 50-52 I think), who had never done LI before, with maybe 15k hp - ridiculously undergeared for LI HM.

The funny part? We actually freaking completed the fp with that group. And it wasn't even something that the level 55 dps was so tanky that he could take over the tank's job when he died, the level 54 operative healer somehow managed to keep that tank alive. Sure, it wasn't easy, and combat rez was used at least on your final (and successful) attemt at dr. Lorrick, and me and the other dps actually killed Sav'rak after the healer and the tank had already died. But in the end, I was still having hard time to actually believe we completed Lost Island with an undergeared tank and a lowbie healer. Damn, that operative was amazing.

Too much of this game is just too easy, and that brings in too many dumb-dumbs. MMOs need to get hard again, IMHO. (The only real exception is EVE-Online --thank God, a game for adults that I'll always have-- but it is still fundamentally a niche-product. Mainstream MMOs need to be a little less mainstream, though.)

I tend to agree on this. I'm not a hardcore gamer in any possible way, but I struggled a lot more because of bad players, rather than because of the game itself, even though random lag peaks caused me to die enough to recognize it as a problem... Anyway, imo a simple trial and error approach should improve things already, if only slightly.

Seriously, I managed to hear:

"[Advanced Attack Name or Skill]? Never needed it, I just spam [basic Attack or Skill] and the enemy dies. Eventually."

A LOT more often than I would have considered possible... And I'm not referring to low lvl content only here, but to higher-than-mid-lvl ones... and once to top lvl (read: pug Op, only once luckily for me...).

This is going to be a TL;DR type post, just a heads up.

My husband and I are not people who do Ops, Flashpoints, or PvP. We aren't in a guild because our play time is erratic (we have a 16 week old daughter) and my sister and two friends who occasionally play the game don't play at the same times we do. In fact, the ONLY attempt at a Flashpoint that my husband and I ever did was a year ago. I don't know which one, but I recall an icy cave and the second to last Champion was someone who summoned continual waves of mobs that my husband and I (with our companions) just couldn't handle. But we were pretty stinkin' proud of the fact that we made it that far just the two of us.

One year later. I take it upon myself to try out KDY using Group Finder. I'm getting pretty bored with the same planetary quests, but I really want to see all the stories. So I decided that my Sorc, who was in her upper 20's, should be the one to try it out.

Now, COMMON SENSE told me that seeing as I was specced in the Madness tree that I should queue myself up as a damage dealer, not a healer. I popped quickly (as I'm led to understand that pretty much anyone can do KDY, which is why THAT was the first Flashpoint I wanted to try). I was the only person in the group who had the healing capability; everyone else was a DPS class. NO PROBLEM. I just made sure I bubbled everyone and threw heals out when I could. I told everyone that I wasn't specced for healing, so please be patient with me. NO PROBLEM. I was even THANKED for healing.

Bolstered by the fact that not everyone who plays this game is a terrible person, I queued up a few more times. I even respecced myself into the healing tree (and changed my queue to flag me as a healer). NO PROBLEMS (though, hey, you guys? Not everyone has rocket boosters, so please don't out run the healer. My 2 second sprint with a 20 second cooldown just isn't the same).

SO. I was excited. I told my husband that we should grind out with our Jedi characters on KDY for the night. He's a tank, on the tank tree, wearing purple gear (we're in our 30's and we only PvE) and his damage reduction is something like 75%. My Sage is identical to my Sorc (which meant she was specced in the...Balance tree? The one furthest on the right; the one parallel to Madness). I queued myself up as a DAMAGE DEALER because I wasn't specced for healing and KDY pops quickly no matter what you are.

Before I continue, I need to clarify something: I know how to heal. SWTOR is not the first MMO I've ever played. I've been doing this for a dozen years with some very demanding and persnickity people. Every MMO I've played, I was The Healer. EQ1? Healer. E2? Healer. WoW? Healer. When I play D&D, I'm The Healer. Heck, I've LARPed and guess what? I WAS THE HEALER, the Head Healer no less! I know how this healing stuff works. I know how to keep people alive and monitor their buffs.

So here's my ACTUAL story of the "people you meet in Group Finder:"

I know with KDY it doesn't really matter what you do because it's relatively easy. BUT, you know, if you have a Tank who is very good at holding aggro (my husband has gamed with me for a dozen years and he is always the tank to my "Armor made of tissue" caster AND, as an added bonus, we're sitting in the same room in real life) you'd want to take advantage of that, right?

So we get into the instance, we spacebar through the conversation (much to the husband's irritation because he's never done the Flashpoint). I was happy to see another Sage who had the green flag over her head indicating that SHE was the healer (I say "she" because that's what the avatar was). "Sweet," I said to the husband, "I don't have to worry about it, ESPECIALLY since she's 40th level!"

And then it began. The "Healer" Sage decided that she was the tank. Well, we ASSUMED she decided this because she started running to the mobs and aggroing them without even waiting for the Gunslinger who was having problems zoning in. The very first fight, we all wiped. The gunslinger (who had finally zoned) valiantly started shooting everything while we all died. She died right along with us. We all rez at the med center. The "Healer" Sage didn't even wait for us to buff. She went off running and aggroing the group (which, you know, slowed all of us down because we were in combat while still at the starting point). We managed to wipe out the rest of the Imps in that section...and that was because I started to heal.

Because, you see, the "Healer" Sage, didn't even bother to heal herself (or stand still long enough for me, with my crappy healing cast time, to heal her). She didn't wait for anybody to meditate. SHE didn't even bother to meditate. She would run forward, aggro the next group, and die.

She was a one man zerg.

So I said in Group that I wasn't specced for healing.

"Neither am I," she said as she went off running towards the next group. She was at half health, again, when she did this. Mind you, she was FLAGGED as a healer.

At that point I had decided that I would only bubble myself, my husband (remember, he was the tank), and the Gunslinger and I concentrated all my heals (which were NOT very cost efficient mana wise because I WASN'T SPECCED FOR HEALING) on the three of us.

"Healer" Sage didn't get the hint.

We finally reached the point where we were on the ledge with the two Sith bosses who love using their force pushes. "Healer" Sage didn't even bother waiting for us to run up the ramp. She just aggroed them and died. Well, you see, because I was trying to frantically heal the Gunslinger (who got knocked off the ledge) and my husband (who also got knocked off) I got all the aggro to myself. YAY! LUCKY ME!

Well, this isn't a story about how I beat them against all odds. I have blue mods in my armor and I'm 33rd level. I died.

When I rezzed at the med station, I said in Group, "If you are effing FLAGGED as a healer, EFFING HEAL! Let the TANK do, you know, THE TANKING!"

Her response? "What is this your first time?"

Guslinger dropped from the group. The Husband and I dropped from the group. I put her on ignore. Dropped the Flashpoint in our journals. I went to respec my character into the Healing tree, convinced my husband that, no, HONESTLY, I DID meet some competent players while doing KDY, I SWEAR! We requeued (me flagged as a healer). Did it again.

I told everyone straight up that this was our first time running the Flashpoint on the Pub side, so please be patient. I was told, "Any no-talent butt clown (different word obviously) can do KDY, so it's no problem."

I said, "Well, you know, unless a Sage decides to become the tank." That was met with an agreement that, indeed, that WOULD be a problem. That run through went fairly smooth. People waited for the Tank and the healer to catch up. They waited for the tank to pull. They waited for me to bubble. It was all good.

So there you go. I'm somewhat bolstered, again, by the fact that not everyone who plays this game is a terrible person. Just Sages who decide that they are the tank.