Hey all. I have been gone for nearly 3 years now while finishing school. My hobby game went back to wow for the story and gw2 for the pvp. But man how sad I am to have forsaken my love for star wars. I'm back because I am really hoping to find a challenging raiding scene again. Blizzard has pretty well killed of mythic raiding and if the challenge isn't there anymore I hope to find somewhere it still exists. I'm not talking challenge of downing bosses but challenge as far as becoming proficient with a class and applying that set of abilities to the encounters. Tanks and heals are a complete joke anymore over there. So I come In hopes that they survive here and to see that defense and shield rating and hit still exist makes me super hopeful.

 

All of that said and I apologize for the word puke I'll get down to my question. Is there anything that isn't capable of downing top tier stuff right now? And are there any healing/tanking specs that are in demand at all? I can't jump directly onto a bandwagon but I would love to hear from the pve nerds what would be on their wishlist of things they wish they saw more of. As for pvp I'm not competing in that and as such I will accept the downfalls of what ever I decide on for pve.

 

Are tanks or heals more in demand?

Is there particularly good/bad synergy between specific tanks/healing combos atm?

And what do you believe has overall the most impact (reflected in logs or not) in progression.

 

And I guess is there enough pve interest in the game right now to make pushing high end content a goal in the first place. If 95% of ops are done by pugs it might be a short lived subscription.

All tank and healing classes are viable for all content. Powertech tanks struggle with the last phase of brontes NiM but other then that they work fine. Assassin tanks are the most preferred tanks atm cause of there ability to negate some mechanics. For healers merc and sorc are the most common healers. Operative healer are a bit morr difficult to play and require a bit more proactive healing in some of the fights. Personally i think the most needed role in this game for progression raiding is strong ranged dps. Edited December 31, 2017 by ZouYan

All tank and healing classes are viable for all content. Powertech tanks struggle with the last phase of brontes NiM but other then that they work fine. Assassin tanks are the most preferred tanks atm cause of there ability to negate some mechanics. For healers merc and sorc are the most common healers. Operative healer are a bit morr difficult to play and require a bit more proactive healing in some of the fights. Personally i think the most needed role in this game for progression raiding is strong ranged dps.

 

MAN!!! What a great response!

Ok! So I’m a collectors edition early start Player with every class to the original 55.

Both Empire and Republic.

I’m back to SWTOR too after years off. My original character was an an assassain raid tank.

My second raid player was a NiM sniper. I love Merc dps, can heal (but don’t get the same kick.)

Anywho, since 5.6, what, iyho, is a ranged dps that can (a) fill in at 6-8ms lag day raid US or (b) 200-250 ms lay EU prime time?

refer to this thread for approximate numbers. New augs in 5.whatever we're on now haven't shifted anything much.

Remember to adjust to alacrity tiering

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=918622

if you are going to tank, the easiest one is Immortal/Guardian, the best is Assassin/Shadow

 

if you are going to heal, its Sage/ Sorcerer, and I make no apologies.

 

If you want to switch roles tank DPS - same as above

 

Healer/DPS -I'd have to say Commando/Mercenary

 

Operative is hard to play regardless of the role you choose.

Thanks for the responses. I ended up going with the sage and a GS. Not sure which I will ultimately end up gearing and running on but I have definitely fallen in love with ranged dps. Both classes are wicked fun only downside for me is the stories. Smuggler is great fun where sage honestly puts me to sleep. Maybe I will have to try sorc as well. Tanking I gave a good go but ultimately I felt I had more control over outcomes as a healer and a ranged who could look after himself and take care of adds quickly on the swaps. I must say being put on the interrupt rotation as a sage healer was legit and I love that you can stretch any role in the game to be useful so long as you learn what stuff to eliminate quickly and how to do it. GS has a few really cool utilities I have found use for so far and honestly I don't think my decision has gotten easier haha only trickier to figure out what I want to fill in as.

 

I just wish tele sage/lightning sorc was a bit more competitive with the GS. When the specs proc off its a ton of fun and easily mobile as well but when RNGeezus doesn't smile upon you the slinger just feels so much smoother. Although I think having the ability to respec for heals if needed would be a large boon. Anyway thanks again for the responses.

if you are going to tank, the easiest one is Immortal/Guardian, the best is Assassin/Shadow

 

if you are going to heal, its Sage/ Sorcerer, and I make no apologies.

 

If you want to switch roles tank DPS - same as above

 

Healer/DPS -I'd have to say Commando/Mercenary

 

Operative is hard to play regardless of the role you choose.

 

So Virulence sniper Dirty Fighting gunslinger nis right out out?

sniper and gunslinger are pure DPS and not relevant to the thread.

if you are going to tank, the easiest one is Immortal/Guardian, the best is Assassin/Shadow

 

if you are going to heal, its Sage/ Sorcerer, and I make no apologies.

 

If you want to switch roles tank DPS - same as above

 

Healer/DPS -I'd have to say Commando/Mercenary

 

Operative is hard to play regardless of the role you choose.

 

When I played my sin, he was a great off tank but could get 1 or 2 shootteld like that. regardless of play. not full NiM. is the mitigation a bit more consistent?

When I played my sin, he was a great off tank but could get 1 or 2 shootteld like that. regardless of play. not full NiM. is the mitigation a bit more consistent?

 

At no point should you get one-shotted unless it is by an avoidable mechanic. Except for saber reflect, which can only reflect specific attacks, a Jug don't have on-demand, in your face mitigation, like a sin. You can force speed (with utility) and soak up a ton of damage, and remember force speed has a short CD. Similarly, you get a reflect with deflection, if you chose that utility. So, as long as you keep your dark ward up and time your force speeds, you can negate a ton of damage, consistently throughout the encounter. Jug is just a whole lot easier to play.

All of that said and I apologize for the word puke I'll get down to my question. Is there anything that isn't capable of downing top tier stuff right now? And are there any healing/tanking specs that are in demand at all?

I concur that all classes are capable (with good gear and good skills). But some spec are easier to play good, some harder.

For example currently Scou/Oper healer is hard to play well and doesn't heal as well even when played well, while Sage/Sorc is easy to play heal but very hard to play dps.

 

Are tanks or heals more in demand?

Is there particularly good/bad synergy between specific tanks/healing combos atm?

And what do you believe has overall the most impact (reflected in logs or not) in progression.

Tank is in high demand in master flashpoints. We need more tanks.

For operations, I think tank is often the one to start and find people, if that explains why I think I see more heal than tank need on gen chat (it may also be my bias as an apac healer.). But tank is in high demand too.

Half the team or more is dps so dps is kind of always needed, but also easiest to fill because every class can be dps. It is very hard to find a tank who can't do dps, but I don't expect dps to be able to tank.

 

All three healers has good synergy with each other, but bad when they team up.

Scou/Oper excels at HoTs, Comm/Merc is king of burst heals, while Sage/Sorc is versatile and can complement either.

Two S/O will find it hard to response to big damage spikes, two S/S results in bubble (pre-heal) conflicts. Two C/M not only see pre-heal conflicts but may also waste big heals on same player; this happens with any combo, but C/M suffer most.

 

Stealther can help the group get pass encounters, sometimes skipping a whole section, and I'd rank them as having the greatest impact.

Sage/Sorc pull can save a player from an otherwise wipe worthy mistake. I pulled two in my last sm EV's final boss, if I didn't we'd be left with only half the team for the final stage.

Third on my list is probably team-wide buffs, namely raid buffs and shield dome.

 

 

And I guess is there enough pve interest in the game right now to make pushing high end content a goal in the first place. If 95% of ops are done by pugs it might be a short lived subscription.

I doubt even bioware knows the numbers. Most ops are pre-formed before queuing gf for the gf bonus and conquest points, it's really hard to distinguish gen chat pug from established groups. And I think many runs are a mix of both.

 

I ended up going with the sage and a GS. Tanking I gave a good go but ultimately I felt I had more control over outcomes as a healer and a ranged who could look after himself and take care of adds quickly on the swaps. I just wish tele sage/lightning sorc was a bit more competitive with the GS.

 

Welcome to the family of food spice!

It should be obvious I play healer a lot so... I'd say it's a team effort, since we can't control how tank and dps do their numbers.

One thing I won't deny is healers has a one way control over wipe. Healer dying is often the hardest to recover from, and my mistakes has led to more than a few wipes.

 

I personally prefer Balance over Tele; you may find it very very boring - there is no random proc at all and it's less mobile - but it got great survivability because of the massive self heals.

If you are interested I'm writing a sorely needed guide:

http://sheep-y.github.io/swtor/ac4/balance.html

 

(Madness has a "machine translated" version here.)

http://sheep-y.github.io/swtor/ac4/madness.html

@Dajman

 

Long story short: You should begin with a class, that is easy to start with and easy to veteran it, so that you can gain experience in the different enviroments - flashpoints, operations, pvp.

 

Short story a bit longer: 1. Before you enter Master Mode Operations or Harder Veteran Mode Operations (Temple of Sacrifice, Ravagers, Gods, Styrak), you won't encounter any serious DPS checks. You will definitely encounter short burn phases. So, start with a Burst Spec.

2. In PuGs, you will meet many leap-monkey-sentinels or other melee-dps in your group. So, choose a ranged dps-class. As a ranged DPS, you will always have to do the work, while the others are doing raw DPS, so you will learn the mechanics and your class even better - target switch, Knockbacks, Interrupts, CC's.

3. Take a class/spec with an armor debuff. After nearly all classes with armor debuffs received a nerf, classes without one are overrepresented in PuG's. So, you will help your group by providing it.

 

Your decision should be Gunslinger - Sharpshooter or Commando - Gunnery. Both of them do have good defensives, both classes/specs are viable for all PvE and PvP-content. Gunslingers are probably a bit more difficult. You have to get used to the cover-mechanic. Commandos on the other hand are more mobile. The Gunslinger has some other specs, that can become useful in the future in your career as DPS. The Commando can switch to healing spec if necessary. Mando healing is as easy as sage and there is more healing coming around (at least for PvE-content. For regular Warzones you won't do something wrong with Mando Heal).

 

I hope, that helps a bit. If you have further questions

 

 

@OP: Welcome back (a bit late, I know). Tanks are very much in demand. But, be warned. Assasins/Shadows are a joke atm. They are ludicriously overpowered. Probably there will be some balance changes in the near future.

For raiding, most of the not-so-challenging content became easier over the years. Nightmare (it's called Master Mode now) is still challenging. We are currently a bit overgeared (Ops were designed for 242 item rating - we got 248 gear half a year after released). 6.0 will be interesting, when we won't be overgeared as now and classes hopefully won't be broken with the start, so progressing through the old content will be a bit more challenging.

New content is very rare. We got a new operation over the last year with the last boss will be released in a few weeks, but there is only Veteran Mode (fair enough, it's a bit more challenging then old veteran mode). Master Mode is currently out of sight.