Summary: I'm looking for help playing my Jedi Sage Seer. I find I either move through quests so slowly that it becomes intensely frustrating or die quite often, like a couple of times in less than an hour. NOTE: I'm not talking about any content labeled as Heroic. These quests are, nominally, solo quests and I am struggling to complete them on that basis.

Introduction: I really like the Consular story and, before launch, imagined my character bringing peace, love, and healing to the galaxy. Up through Balmorra, I felt I would succeed. However, as soon as I hit Quesh (at level 36) my mission came to a screeching halt. I currently have my Sage spec'd Seer with a couple of TK picks for a bigger Force pool and to reduce the Force cost of abilities. I have the character and Qyzen as well-geared as I can manage - Qyzen has all the quest rewards for companions thus far and I just bought him a new techblade on Quesh. I've also tried running with Zenith, but haven't put any gear on him yet - but I just got him so I'm guessing his gear is adequate at this point. My own gear is focused on Willpower and +Crit. I haven't been able to acquire anything with Presence on it.

When I started on Quesh, I had Qyzen as my companion, as I had since Tython. Healer+Tank is the classic combination, right? And, with any of the Regular mobs, we are the perfect combination. He runs in and holds all the mobs in one spot with his aggro abilities and I Forcequake them into oblivion. By the time I'm done with the flankers, Qyzen is done or near done with the primary mob. The only frustration here is that the companion is usually low enough on health that I need to take time to heal him and, often, Meditate, to restore my Force pool at the end of many of these fights.

With tougher mobs, Qyzen gets quite low on health while tanking the primary before I finish with the flankers. Even with one Strong and two Regulars, Qyzen gets quite low before I've finished with the flankers. I recently tried switching to Zenith and was pleased with how much faster I was able to progress, but found him significantly more fragile, so it ends up being a wash with dying more often.

To be specific here is how I fight a Strong and a pair of Regular mobs:

- Force Armor on companion

- Send companion to attack primary (Strong) mob

- Use FQ repeatedly or single-target damage* on other mobs, depending on whether they are close enough together or not.

- Force Armor on my character in here somewhere if I pick up aggro from the flankers

- Rejuvenate on the companion as needed

* Single target rotation is:

- Mind Crush

- Weaken Mind

- Telekenetic Throw

- Project

- Disturbance

- TK Throw again if needed

If there is an Elite involved, I usually Force Lift him, if I can, and deal with the flankers first. The first challenge to this is Qyzen's EMP Blast, which breaks CC, turning itself back on after I have specifically turned it off. The other is that Force Lift seems to miss sometimes, pretty much guaranteeing that I'm going to die if I can't run far enough away.

Problem: The main problem I am having - and what I'd like help on - is that, if I focus on healing** - which I pretty much have to do if the mob is Elite - the fight takes over a minute as Qyzen slowly kills them. Zenith is quicker at killing but, against an Elite, is pretty fragile and difficult to keep standing. If I don't focus entirely on healing, especially if an Elite is involved, my heals can't keep up with the damage and the companion goes down, leaving my fragile character alone with the mob(s).

**To be specific about the healing rotation:

- Force Armor on the companion

- Send companion after mob

- Rejuvenate for the Armor boost, reapply as it expires

- Healing Trance when he gets to about 80% health

- Deliverance if he is still below 90% and the cool-down on HT isn't up or I see a damage spike coming.

- Force Armor again when Force-imbalance wears off

I don't usually fire a Rejuvenate solely for the Conveyance because I think it reduces the overall healing-per-second. I do use Mind Snap (or Force Stun if that's on CD) when I see a mob firing up something like Death Field or a heal, although stopping my heal to do so can make it difficult to keep up with healing.

Request: I would appreciate any advice for getting a Seer through the solo and class content without having to seek out extraordinary gear or micromanage the everliving daylights of every fight that has at least one Strong in it. Should I be using Tharan instead? Should I gear for Power? Should I deck Qyzen in Christmas Tree Lights?

I'm not asking about respecing TK or Balance, trying another class, taking a friend along, nor am I interested in hearing how tired you are of hearing inadequate people whine about how hard it is - any comments in these directions will be taken as harassment and reported.

Honestly, at level 40 you shouldn't expect to kill all the flankers in a couple of forcequakes spec'd as "Seer". I played Seer for many levels and some fights can take quite awhile, I agree but you don't die often. It is just the sacrifice you have to make when playing as a healer is reduced DPS which results in longer fights.

Upside = Less Squishy.

If you want to increase your companion, presence and gear is the way to go. Remember that Qyzen is not Str, but Aim.

" Force Lift seems to miss sometimes" = Forcelift before battle.

Also in your rotation it doesn't sound like you optimize Rejuvination, it grants additional healing while activated and with the appropriate skill tree ability(Conveyance), it also reduces the casting time of deliverance making Rejuv + Deliverance a powerful combination.

Also, using Noble Sacrifice when your healing trance crits is great. Make sure you have a hotkey for it.

Good luck

Honestly, at level 40 you shouldn't expect to kill all the flankers in a couple of forcequakes spec'd as "Seer". I played Seer for many levels and some fights can take quite awhile, I agree but you don't die often. It is just the sacrifice you have to make when playing as a healer is reduced DPS which results in longer fights.

 

Upside = Less Squishy.

 

If you want to increase your companion, presence and gear is the way to go. Remember that Qyzen is not Str, but Aim.

 

" Force Lift seems to miss sometimes" = Forcelift before battle.

 

Also in your rotation it doesn't sound like you optimize Rejuvination, it grants additional healing while activated and with the appropriate skill tree ability(Conveyance), it also reduces the casting time of deliverance making Rejuv + Deliverance a powerful combination.

 

Also, using Noble Sacrifice when your healing trance crits is great. Make sure you have a hotkey for it.

 

Good luck

Conveyance works best in conjunction with Healing Trance as it gives it 25% bonus crit chance - more noble sacrifice procs.

I hit Quesh at 38 Hybrid spec. i never used qyzen past when you first got him. i went companionless until i got Tharan.

You should ALWAYS force lift the Toughest mob, then Burn down the lessers as fast as you can.. i go with project / TT (i am specced for endless TT)

Alot of the Sith / Droids like to use abilities Use mind snap, stun, mind snap as much as you can to prevent them using abilities, the more you interupt it the more they have to wait to use it.

If its Melee, there shouldnt be any problem killing it. You have snare/sprint, run/knockback, stun.. and TT to use when hes running towards you.

If there are too many adds at the start, use force potency to crit and even stun to lessen the damage to you.

Worst case you can break Line of sight against ranged to heal kite. use Knockback to get environmental damage against those that near cliff edges (you dont get loot if it dies. but if it lands almost dead you can kill it for loot. be warned it can work against you and you get shot through floors. works best on melee.

Please don't quit a character four planets away from endgame. What you are going through is normal. I went through it. I was also heal specced and I noticed that Balmorra and Quesh were noticeably more of a grind than the previous planets, and then it hit me. I figure that because of characters gaining more power/abilites BW had to balance the quest/mobs in order to keep the same level of difficulty; however, companions only gain relative strength when you level or get new gear. Thus, healers who don't share gear options with their companions start to lag behind others such as troopers for instance. These are the best tips I can give you.

tip 1: Buy command stims and drinks from cantinas that will give your companion DPS gains for relatively small costs.

tip 2: Respec either full balance, or at least enough points into the tree to get "Pinning Resolve" which I think is a must for all sages. Further into the tree you make your CC instant, so you get an instant CC that effects three targets. That allows you to pick them off one by one.

tip 3: Try to do every quest at every hub, even on old planets, because getting to a planet overleveled is way better than underleveled.

tip 4: Kite, and use pillars, walls, debris, to your advantage.

tip 5; Realize that the heals you are speccing are really overkill to heal a companion with, the shield is your best "heal" and other than cost that tree doesn't help your shield.

If you do all these things and you still die a lot and find questing frustrating but enjoy the story too much I recommend creating a new character and making a shadow tank and running with Tharan to heal you. Stealth alone makes questing a breeze.

The Seer play style changes depending on the situations.

Regular mob packs that are close enough, you can AoE.

Regular mob packs that are far apart, you are better off focus fire on Qyzen's target.

Strong +1 with the strong hitting not too hard, you can AoE down the regular while helping DPS the strong.

Strong +1/2 with the strong hitting very hard, you should cc the strong on pull. Kill the regular first.

Elite single, even level, you might be able to do a round or two DPS but on stronger elites, you'd be healing majority of the fight.

After mid 30s, you should avoid trying to take down mob on your own. It is just not efficient. If you need more than 1 cast of, say, Telekinetic Throw, you are wasting time and force. If a mob is half dead and Qyzen is in no danger, by all means take it down. But you are at best half DPS. Accept it and let Qyzen do the work and you do yours (healing)!

Also, you must micro manage Qyzen's Hunter's Surge, EMP Blast, and Flare Gun. Get used to thinking it through before every fight whether you want him to AoE. This drives JK/SW types crazy as they are used to just charge in. But a little tactical thinking will make the class so much more efficient and drama free.

Also, Somehting I have not seen mentioned. You are on Quesh. One of the first things many of us noticed when we first got to Quesh was the huge leap in damage that the mobs deal out.

I was having little trouble before Quesh levleing in much the same way you described and after I left Quesh I was able to go back to that same type of leveling. But while on Quesh I found myself having to heal alot more my companion and/or meditating to recover after fights more often.

It's not entirely you. When asked in genreal chat that morning, several others on my server reported the same thing. We were all getting hit a lot harder then the previous planet. Stick it out and get off Quesh and, I would wager, you should be able to go back your standard rotation.

As was said previously, Quesh is that 'wake-up call' planet. It surely was for me. At Athiss Station, those little pig-men hurt, and they hurt bad. I knew I needed to catch up in more ways than just gear.

I spent some good amount of money for gear from the GTN - I improved the mods in my five pieces of moddable armor. I went back to Alderaan and Tattooine to double check if I could buy anything else with Comms. I then spent some money and comms on my go-to companion. Tharan.

I know that sounds odd, a healer for a healer, however, I found that until Nadia, Zenith wasn't cutting it at killing things fast enough. I needed to do it myself. So Tharan kept me alive while I DPSed.

Force Lift the strong, kill off the weak. Heck, on Quesh I soloed Champions with Tharan. Except for those Force Users, they hurt.

As I've just finished Belsavis, I'm understanding the versatility of Zenith, Iresso and now Nadia. I've not pulled out Qyzen since Nar Shadaa. He's my mission mule unfortunately.

Now that I have Forcequake, all weak (normal) enemies are this: Force Armor me, Force Armor Tharan, run in and knock them down. One will get the Holiday treatment, while I pound the others down.

Strong, is usually just me. Two strong, one gets a Force Lift. Strongs with weaks, Force Lift Strong, take out the weaks then concentrate on the Strong. Elites, usually me, unless they are Force Users, then I have been using Iresso or Nadia.

I have just finished Belsavis and will take some of the tips I see here about Zenith, who's been kind of ignored except for when I do Heroics with a Jedi Knight. Doc > Tharan sometimes.

I am a Seer, and reserve my healing for 4+ heroics or FPs. Otherwise, I do some pretty good DPS.

Hang in there, it's very worth it. And well, it is time to retire Qyzen. Your 'stable' of friends is so much more versatile.

I hit Quesh at 38 Hybrid spec. i never used qyzen past when you first got him. i went companionless until i got Tharan.

 

You should ALWAYS force lift the Toughest mob, then Burn down the lessers as fast as you can.. i go with project / TT (i am specced for endless TT)

 

Alot of the Sith / Droids like to use abilities Use mind snap, stun, mind snap as much as you can to prevent them using abilities, the more you interupt it the more they have to wait to use it.

 

If its Melee, there shouldnt be any problem killing it. You have snare/sprint, run/knockback, stun.. and TT to use when hes running towards you.

 

If there are too many adds at the start, use force potency to crit and even stun to lessen the damage to you.

 

Worst case you can break Line of sight against ranged to heal kite. use Knockback to get environmental damage against those that near cliff edges (you dont get loot if it dies. but if it lands almost dead you can kill it for loot. be warned it can work against you and you get shot through floors. works best on melee.

The above is good advice and honestly I've been doing this since day 1 on my Sage. We have a ton of CC's, there is no reason not to use them because they make your life easier. Shield Qyzen from the start, heal him as needed, shield yourself if you get hit. Lift strongest mob and cc/interrupt lessers as you take them down. So much easier. Just because every mob is in a group in this game, doesn't mean you should take them all on at once. Use the skills they've given to us and it's a lot easier. I tend to switch between the lessers constantly until they're dead - stun/slow/interrupt/whatever and then go back to my main target. If I can prevent them from hitting me or Qyzen for a few seconds while I'm focusing on another mob, then I'll do it.

I noticed no mention of using Tumult at all. Do none of you use this ability?

On a pull of Strong + 2 Normal, if you were to lift the Strong, and then Project+Tumult one of the normals you'd likely instantly kill that normal mob given a crit leaving only a single normal standing.

Tumult is not like our light saber, it does grow with us and deals more damage as we gear up with willpower. Currently I'm able to hit normal mobs for 1500 damage before a crit, and we have a pretty good crit level, so often I can crit on that Tumult for well over 2000 damage.

Tumult is your big PvE strike intended to allow you to blow up normals and get through quests quickly. It's not tied to spec at all, everyone gets it.

Also, the animation rocks.

Another bit of advice would be to go back and clear bonus missions on previous planets, group up for flashpoints and heroic areas, do your space missions, and maybe a PvP match. Doing all that and pretty soon you'll be higher level than the content. The last planet I wasn't doing green quests was Tython.

My problem in this game has been out leveling content with all the extra missions and such. When I got to Quesh the starting quests were green, then I got a level and they turned gray, same thing on Hoth, my class quest was gray when I landed, 5 XP for completion.

Your are at Quest at 36? Did you skip a bunch of quests on other planets? I am more a completest I guess, I am still on Balmorra at 38.

I would suggest buying gear made by Players for your companion. You can get stuff that is far superior to the quest greens. Or get him some Orange gear and plug in good mods.

Forcequake is great for large packs of weak and normal enemies, but I usually forego it when dealing with strong opponents.

I noticed no mention of using Tumult at all. Do none of you use this ability?

 

On a pull of Strong + 2 Normal, if you were to lift the Strong, and then Project+Tumult one of the normals you'd likely instantly kill that normal mob given a crit leaving only a single normal standing.

 

Tumult is not like our light saber, it does grow with us and deals more damage as we gear up with willpower. Currently I'm able to hit normal mobs for 1500 damage before a crit, and we have a pretty good crit level, so often I can crit on that Tumult for well over 2000 damage.

 

Tumult is your big PvE strike intended to allow you to blow up normals and get through quests quickly. It's not tied to spec at all, everyone gets it.

 

I don't see it as being very useful for a Sage for a few reasons. This was my thought process when I saw that skill, dunno what anyone else thinks:

We normally stay out at range since we're caster classes, so running up to melee a mob is completely different from our playstyle. Why would I run into melee when I can start attacking from 30m away? Or should I project from 30m and then waste a few seconds not attacking to get into melee so I can hit it?

The mob also needs to be stunned/CCed in some way to use it which is kind of annoying. It seems to me to be more of a Shadow skill and it fits perfectly into their playstyle. Besides, we have a ton of skills we can use instead of that which do plenty of damage, I don't think there's any need for it.

We normally stay out at range since we're caster classes, so running up to melee a mob is completely different from our playstyle. Why would I run into melee when I can start attacking from 30m away? Or should I project from 30m and then waste a few seconds not attacking to get into melee so I can hit it?

 

I use Tumult on normals all the time. Project, Force Sprint, dead mob. Plus it looks cool.

In another game I play a healer, and I play in melee as often as possible, as it's more interesting to me. I try to do the same thing here if I can - plus in PvP, no one lets me just pewpew or healheal from range off in the distance for very long so I usually end up in the middle of all the mess

Wish Tumult worked on other players, heh.

I noticed no mention of using Tumult at all. Do none of you use this ability?

For my money, I'm a ranged character with no call for getting close enough to use it. I haven't even spent the credits to train it. I did enjoy it's equivalent when I played a Juggernaut in the beta.

Your are at Quest at 36? Did you skip a bunch of quests on other planets? I am more a completest I guess, I am still on Balmorra at 38.

I pretty much skipped Tatooine as I was level 27 when I got there and it has bugger all for Archaeology nodes. I got to that point as you describe. I'm still doing Space Combat every time the dailies come up.

Quesh was a little difficult I thought.

There are just a lot more strong and elite mobs. Plus a lot less room for error. I pretty much skipped Quesh and came back when I had Nadia at level 41. Then I just rolled the whole planet.

it kinda confuses me how you can fail. the play style is very similar to mine and im steamrolling in pve grind. maybe you could respec or put the next two talents in telekinetic defense since that bubble is your best defense!

i have qyzen in dps mode (he wont loose agro and even if he does you can just shield yourself)

pre bubble + hot qyzen.

mind crush + weaken mind on any stronger mob.

weaken mind on the rest.

after this i either instagib 1 mob with tumult or just aoe them all with force quake.

always keep an eye on qyzen and be ready to stop dps to heal him up if needed.

elites / champions. just single target DPS but make sure your not burning your force to quick so you cant keep qyzen up.

i find this tactic true for all encounters.

I use Tumult on normals all the time. Project, Force Sprint, dead mob. Plus it looks cool.

I do the exact same thing whenever possible. Project + tumult = dead regular mob more often than not (and when not, Qyzen's next AE finishes it off). Since Force Speed is off the GCD you can get in there and do more damage in less time than standing casting.

When equiping the big lizard, remember that Aim is his primary stat. You may be thinking of stacking Endurance like most other games, but he gets more for Aim in all cases.

A healer/tank combo is solid and reliable but it is not going to be fast. Find a comfortable pace and keep it. Pushing too hard leads to high energy use and a slow rate of return. Maintain 60% or better will be less downtime in the long run than trying to burn down mobs fast. I do not use Project unless it is a finishing move or I want to cast something on the move. Once the weak mobs are dead I back off doing damage and just keep dots going on any strong or better mobs. Also, I stun any time it is up since it will prevent damage for 4 seconds. At level, it may take 2 minutes to kill elites or phase bosses but if you keep a slow and steady pace, you will end the fight at 80%+ health and energy for both you and you companion both. No deaths and no downtime. There are a few specialty encounters where you need to just go full burn in a DPS race but those are few.

Come to the Dark Side! We have Cookies!

Kind of an exploit, but if Qyzen is low on health after a fight, instead of meditating to heal him, toggle your speeder on/off with a hot key to get instant full health. Saves you from having to sit there for several seconds or wasting a heal on him after the fight. Only works outside of course.

You can also dismiss your companion and resummon them with full health which will work indoors.

Apart from that, from playing an SI we hit a wall around the same level when it comes to killing stuff. As said previously, it is the wake-up call part where you have to really start focussing on what is and isn't working and adapting your strategy. Up until that point you really do just walk over everything.

Stick with it though, in a few levels your skills will catch up with it all and even though it won't be as easy as it was before, it won't be as hard either.

Kind of an exploit, but if Qyzen is low on health after a fight, instead of meditating to heal him, toggle your speeder on/off with a hot key to get instant full health. Saves you from having to sit there for several seconds or wasting a heal on him after the fight. Only works outside of course.

You can also just dismiss him and them resummon him. Right click on his nameplate and you'll get the option, and that works anywhere. Edit: Guy above me beat me to it!

When equiping the big lizard, remember that Aim is his primary stat. You may be thinking of stacking Endurance like most other games, but he gets more for Aim in all cases.

 

A healer/tank combo is solid and reliable but it is not going to be fast. Find a comfortable pace and keep it. Pushing too hard leads to high energy use and a slow rate of return. Maintain 60% or better will be less downtime in the long run than trying to burn down mobs fast. I do not use Project unless it is a finishing move or I want to cast something on the move. Once the weak mobs are dead I back off doing damage and just keep dots going on any strong or better mobs. Also, I stun any time it is up since it will prevent damage for 4 seconds. At level, it may take 2 minutes to kill elites or phase bosses but if you keep a slow and steady pace, you will end the fight at 80%+ health and energy for both you and you companion both. No deaths and no downtime. There are a few specialty encounters where you need to just go full burn in a DPS race but those are few.

Should also add that some fights are impossible unless using the tank/healer role (such as champions and bosses). I definitely prefer levelling as such as I just feel much more formidable. When I tried levelling as DPS I found that I only killed marginally faster yet had downtime/companion issues that were not present at all as a Seer. Not to mention in random pvp encounters with sorcerers I manage to kill any of the DPS ones with little issue at all (though admittedly that may be playstyle more than skillset).

You can also just dismiss him and them resummon him. Right click on his nameplate and you'll get the option, and that works anywhere. Edit: Guy above me beat me to it!

You can do this but it is not as safe as just mounting on your speeder. If you dimiss your companion and get jumped by enemy player..

Also on your spec, I would spec out of valiance and put the the points into 20 percent bigger shield.

Another idea is simply to q for some warzones to get your levels up by one or two levels to make it easier and also have your warzone point to buy for your level 40 gear for both you and your pet.