I've been pvping as a shield tech BH, and at L32 I'm finding my survivability is plain terrible compared to the other classes I play (have 50 sorcerer, sage, scoundrel, and guardian). Considering how bad my dps is, I would have thought I would at least have some survivability. On my scoundrel I can pop shield, on my sorc I can shield and run, and my knight has so many defensive cd's that acually work (i.e. halve incoming damage, etc).

 

My defensive cooldowns seem to boil down to oil slick, which presumably does nothing against range at all, and my -20% damage bubble, which increases my survivability from 3 seconds to 3.2 seconds - hardly worth the button press. I know kolto jolt is coming, but at less than half the healing of a medpac it also seems it will only extend my existence by a fraction of a second - i.e. less than one hit from an enemy. What am I missing in this equation? What strategies do you guys use to stay alive in WZs?

 

Don't get me wrong, I get a lot of medals, particularly from popping taunts, so I know I am being useful in WZs (I usually top medals and protection, if nothing else). Coming from a war hero ranked slippery sorcerer to a surprisingly vulnerable shield-tech-bounty-hunter has been a bit of a slap in the face so far. Even my dps guardian felt more resilient.

Personally I think it's not so bad end-game but yes a guardian can live 2x longer if he has all his defensive cooldowns, which are very good compared to our pew pew pew shield and a 15% healing on a 2 min cd -useless.

That being said I can still take a beating and I have yet to see a guardian with 31 points in the tanking tree do 460k damage

Besides the shout of my little lady vanguard when stockstrike resets ... I respec sometimes from tactics just to hear that shout.

I play a ST Powertech and I am doing great in warzones, ending with lots of protection and (decent) DPS. Maybe it is your gear, but survivibility is naturally pretty good for a tank class. The spec (if you go all the way and get Jet Boost) has a LOT of utility imo, especially in Huttball with Grapple/Jet Charge. Edited July 6, 2012 by Mrtwo

The survivability is fine once you start wearing expertise. Common tactics I use to increase my survivability are as follows:

 

Don't enter into WZ without medpacks. Many people want to use the wz credits for gear which is very smart, so get on a low lv and mail your 50 some medpacks

Shield and kolto at 40% health and pop the med pack. This will take your HP to 70%+. This trick will not save you if you have 3 people beating on you.

Use flamesweep on 3+ groups followed by carbonize and another flamesweep, and then flamethrower

Pull an enemy to you out of group combat and then jetpack to the group leaving the enemy stuck behind alone

Look at your power, crit, and surge stats. If you have no stats in these categories get some so you can kill faster. Buying a medic gun vs a tank gun will help. Or buying 1 medic implant/earpiece

Having 47%-49% shielding is crucial - it will help proc rocket punch

Diminishing effects on shielding happen at 50% so don't go over 50%

Having over 40% absorption is crucial

Remember you cannot shield tech attacks. No one can.

Get your aim past 1400 so you have about the same DPS as a Merc in recruit gear. Do this with augments and datacrons