Is this noticeable? I feel extra squishy as I level (currently 33) and it is a bit cringy that my companion in DPS mode both outdamages *and* outlasts me, a jedi, by a large margin. That big lizard dude will happily take on two gold mobs and probably kill one where three silver will munch through my shield and Force Mend and probably kill me before I've taken them down.

If I remember correctly, i didn't swap to Madness until much later. Have you tried lightning. It seems to work much better in the earlier levels with leveling. Once you are higher, madness performed well for me

Madness/Balance self-heals doesn't really come together until you have all your abilities & utilities. Also, a sage's best defensive cool downs are its stuns (sadly). So, when pulling a mob w/ multiple gold, you should always be whirlwinding one of them to remove them from the fight. And remember to burn "up." Trash first, then silver, then gold, then champs. If you find yourself running away ... that's a correct move. Sage's are built to "kite" (i.e. dps while running away) in PvP. Meaning, you will never be able to just stand & deliver against solo PvE content the way some other classes (or companions XD) are able to. Eventually, you'll get you teleport ability, which you should drop before difficult combat, which will let you re-establish range if things go sideways. As the more "thoughtful" Jedi class, you *actually* do need (sometimes) to prepare before entering combat --- for better or worse.

 

Also, if you leave Balance behind while leveling, be sure to give it a look at max level. Especially if you decide to step into raids with it. The optimal rotation for Balance (barring tactical changes) is a short, set rotation, with an inbuilt timer for dot refresh on your FiB's cooldown. This makes it IMHO, a much easier spec to use (as opposed to TK's priority rotation, which requires more looking at abilities if you don't know them cold) when first attempting to learn optimal rotations for harder endgame content.

 

Good luck, happy Sage-ing

Well the life steal ability (Force leach? The last ability that you get in balance) with force mend usually will get half of your health back. But if that's not enough for you, get the utility that heals you for 1% whenever you have a shield on yourself. Alongside with heal from your dots and force in balance and the two abilities mentioned above it's gonna make you a tank in sage's robes.